Abba Eban's Fluent Analysis of World Jewish
History Fully Evidenced in His 'My People'

A long-awaited personal com- "opens in the twilight zone where upon the historical records com-
mentary on the history of the Jew- fact and legend meet," and the piled by Dr. Jacob R. Marcus in
ish people has finally come off fusion is accomplished in master- "The Jew in the Medieval World,"
the press. The brilliant narrator ful form.
and his story deals with the search
is Abba Eban and his subject is
And as he traces the history for freedom under the Reforma-
"My People — the Story of the through all the crucial eras, to the tion, yet the continuing restrictions
Jews," an immense volume co- present time, the reader experi- upon Jews.
published by Behrman House with ences w ith him his f eeling
Thus in his review of mystics,
Random House. It is a story writ- ing "passionately committed to mysticism, Messianism, Eban de-
the strange destiny which he i s scribes the rise of movements that
trying to elucidate."
served to give hope to Jews in
We are introduced in Eban' s atmospheres of despair. The Ka-
skillful fashion to the birth of the ' bala, the False Messiahs, the
nation, to the emergence of a 22- roles of the New Christians, lead-
letter Hebrew alphabet, to the ing up to the adventure of Shab-
struggles in the land against in- betai Zevi and the despair that set
vading Philistines, the naming of a in with his apsotasy, are part of
king who solidified 'the people in the drama portrayed.
Dealing with the dawn of
defense, the priestly warning of
Samuel against the dangers of
emancipation, Eban brings his
monarchy and the final yielding to
readers closer to our time. Then
the people's demands in time of
he reviews the growth of migra-
crisis.
tions, the anti-Semitism of the
There began the period of Saul's
past and the present centuries,
rule, the Davidic time, the succes-
the Dreyfus Affaire, the appear-
sion of Solomon, the split of the
ance on the scene of Theodor
nation into Israel and Judah, the
Herz', the emergence of the
fall of the kingdoms, the exile, the
Zionist idea and of the World
return, the trials and tribulations
Zionist Congresses. World War
of wanderings.
I and the Balfour Declaration,
It is interesting to note that in
Palestine between the wars and
dealing with "The Age of Islam"
World War II and the Holocaust
Eban credits the Arab world with
are delineated here with deep
ABBA EBAN
having witnessed "world Jewry
feeling, and in the course of his
entering a new period of physical
story Eban deals also with the
ten in Jerusalem, giving the book
and intellectual expansion." It is
Arab-Jewish relations.
the "special dimension" described
an extended study of Jews and
The
chapters on the Holocaust
for it by the author as being a
Judaism in an important era dur - and the Birth of Israel are the
journey of return "to where it
ing
which
"the
social
position
o
f significant portions related to
first began."
Jews in Moslem lands was deter
The personalization is in the mined by inconsistent discrimina - modern times and the heroic
foreword in which the author tory legislation," varying in vari - roles of the builders of Zion forms
speaks of "the fruit of sporadic ous locations. Despite the restric- - part of a history that is told with
labor extending over seven years" tions, "Jewish leadership did not deep emotion, mingled with en-
during times when "a special role object to the severity of Moslem thusiastic dedication, by the man
was thrust upon me at an early segregationist legislation" be who has gained recognition as one
public age and has clung to me cause Jews were "interested in of the world's greatest weavers
of words into effective weapons to
ever since."
preventing a removal of the bar- describe ideas and to dramatize
That, in the course of all the riers between the faiths, and did history.
labors he was charged with he everything in their power to main-
The Eban story would have been
"should have wandered into a tain a segregated situation with- incomplete without the final two
well-plowed field to sow a seed out jeopardizing the physical chapters, "American Jewry in the
and add a furrow" of his own, safety of the community." And Twentieth Century" and "The Jew-
creating a great work of history, there is this important summa- ish World Today." In these two
is another amazing chapter in the tion:
analyses he offers a commentary
life of the eminent foreign minis-
". . . the fact remains: for at on Jewry in modern times.
ter of Israel who is skillfully de-
least two centuries, under Arab
. His concluding chapter equates
fended his people's cause on the
tutelage and with grudging Arab the events in Israel, the June 1967
international tribune.
condescension, the Jewish com- war, the world reactions, with the
Like the master orator, Eban
munities of Spain and North role of Jewry and Israel. "A his-
is here, the master narrator. He
Africa witnessed a florescence toric situation," he declares, "can
tells the story of our people fas-
in all areas of creative activity be unique without being unnatural.
cinatingly, with an eloquence un-
never before achieved in the A robust sense of identity has not
matched. It is his personal nar-
Diaspora, and unequaled there- prevented .this people from send-
rative. Yet, it is fully based on
after until the experience of ing the repercussions of its influ-
history, on the Bible, on the
the 19th-century Germany and ence far and wide into the oceans
very roots of Jewish experience.
Austria and 20th-century Amer- of universal history. It is when
He begins with the Patriarchs,
ica. The florescence, this sym- historic Israel is most persistent-
introducing Israel's history as it
biosis, lasted precisely as long ly distinctive that its universal
as it was allowed to last, until vocation is enlarged. The lesson
the Arab peoples, deflected from of history is plain. There is no sal-
the pursuit of social justice by vation or significance for the Jew
an age - old propensity to fana- except when he aims high and
ticism, blinded to the possibili- stands straight within his own
ties of fertile coexistence by a authentic frame of values."
craving for absolute power, re-
And he has the special reference
verted in baffled fury to the ster- to American Jewry, with whom he
ile tactics of suppression and has had such a vast relationship
persecution—to the doom, not since 1947, and for whom he has a
only of the Jews living in their positive and optimistic regard:
lands, but of themselves. The
"There is no evidence that
end of the golden experiment in
American Jewry will be effaced
Arab-Jewish symbiosis marked
by its assimilative inducements
also the end of Arab power in
of its environment or by a de-
Europe. The lesson here is a
cline in the anxious tensions sur-
sad one, perhaps sadder than
rounding Jewish survival. True,
usual for a people accustomed
there is erosion at the margin of
to periods of tolerance followed
the community through inter-
by periods of persecution and
marriage and alienation. But
intolerance. For never under
the main body seems disposed to
Christian domination has the
attempt the reconciliation be-
That's the way it should be.
Jewish spirit attained the heights
tween American national iden-
Every child is entitled to a
of cultural expression it had
tity and the particular intimacies
healthy start in life, but there
once realized under Arab rule."
out of which Jewish loyalty
are an estimated 250,000
Then, covering the period of the
grows and lives. Insecurity and
American babies each year
Jews in Europe, of the Spanish
frustration were once the incen-
who are deprived of that right
Inquisition,
of
the
sad
era
of
1492,
tives which drive Jews to con-
because of birth defects.
Eban discusses the centers of new
serve their special dreams and
fight birth defects
Jewish settlements, of the migra-
solidarities. Today, affirmative
tions to Russia, Poland, Holland,
impulses of confidence and pride
and other lands. Eban draws upon
seem able to evoke the same
:‘le
unifying spirit. The existence of
authoritative sources, especially

N,er been sick
a day in
his life

14

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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

34—Friday, January 10, 1969

a large Jewish influence in the his speeches have been landmarks

country whose strategic and
economic power surpasses that
of all the empires of history is
a reality that enrages Arab na-
tionalists and some others. But
it is an organic part of the mod-
em human situation. It may
gratify some and irritate others
—but it cannot fail to be taken
into account."

in dealing with the Jewish issues,
with Israel and Jewish destiny.

Four precepts: to break off cus-
toms; to shake off spirits ill-dis-
posed; to meditate on youth; to do
nothing against one's genius.—
Nathaniel Hawthorne.

It is such an affirmative, posi-
tive, enthusiastic, confident, optim-
istic note that is in evidence
throughout "My People." And it is
this, and the writer's fluency—
matched by his eloquence — that
makes his history as distinct as

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