Many Factors Prejudicial to Israel
Revealed in New Book by Prof. Khouri
ness and to provide haven for that there is internal strife among
nearly 2,000,000 Jews who escaped Arabs that militates against it.
But he is frank in indicating
from Nazism, Communist anti-
that direct talks would imply de
Semitism and terrorism in Moslem
facto
recognition of Israel's state-
countries — a proposed federation
hood. Perhaps this is major in
would wipe out all the benefits of
the considerations: the entire
independence that were attained
field of Arab animosities is cen-
through sweat and blood, in ful-
tered in this fact: the determina-
fillment of prophecy. Dr. Khouri's
tion not to acknowledge Israeli's
ideas would lead to such destruc-
existence. And on this point there
tion of Jewish rights.
can be no delusions and no yield-
In the Interview he gave to
ing by Israel.
Alfred Frienfly of the Washing-
There
are many similar factors
ton Post on March 6, Israel's
Foreign Minister Abba Eban ex- that point to veiled prejudicial ap-
posed the trick inherent in new proaches in Khouri's book. It is a
proposals for withdrawals with- work that should be studied by
out negotiations that would lead Israel's friends for an understand-
to reinstatement of Israel to a ing of what is implied in the bitter
"nightmare map" because "they hatred for Israel and in the deter-
want us to reconstruct our own mination to destroy the state. By
peril and put us back into the following the facts provided in this
straightjacket." work it may be possible better to
Especially regrettable in Khouri's evaluate the entire issue and to
analyses is his assumption, which face the dangers—as Eban and his
he passes on to his readers, that associates have faced so ably.
"the United States aims to keep
Israel better armed than the com-
bination of her Arab neighbors."
This certainly is not true, since Jor-
dan had been armed consistently
and it took many, many months to
secure approval of the sale of
Dr. William Braude, rabbi of
Phantom jets to Israel—a sale yet Congregation Sons of Israel and
David, Providence, R.I., whose
to be consummated.
When he discusses the question two-volume "The Midrash on Psa-
of direct negotiations. Khouri does lms," published by Yale Univer-
not hesitate to emphasize dis- sity Press, is viewed in Jewish
advantages to Arabs — believing scholarship as an outstanding
that Israel has most to gain, that work on the Tehilim, is the author
Arab masses are opposed to it and of the newest Yale University clas-
sic, the two-volume "Pesikta Rab-
bati—Discourses for Feasts, Fasts
ade
Up
5th
Avenue
`Salute to Israel' Par
and Special Sabbaths," translated
by him from the Hebrew.
Replete with tales from ancient
to Draw Thousands in NYC June 1
Jewish lore, "Pesikta Rabbati"
NEW YORk—Same 50,000 boys, • the parade will be UN Ambassa- contains a collection of discourses;
girls and adults from the metro- dor Yosef Tekoah and Consul
politan area will parade for peace General Rehaveam Amir. Hon-
up Fifth Avenue in 1969's salute to orary chairmen include Mayor
Israel Parade June 1, starting at John V. Lindsay, Governors Nelson
A. Rockefeller, Richard J. Hughes
11 a.m.
Led by grand marshals Ogden and John N. Dempsey; Senators
R. Reid, Charles H. Silver and Charles E. Goodall, Jacob K.
Percy E. Sutton, the parade will Javits, Clifford P. Case, Harrison
have floats, bands, dancing and A. Williams Jr., Thomas J. Dodd
and Abraham A. Ribicoff.
singing groups.
More than 100,000 spectators are
Original ideas based on the
theme, the longing of the Jewish expected to view the three-hour
people for peace, will be pre- parade, which will start at Fifth
sented in the parade by many Avenue and 57th Street and pro-
ceed up Fifth Avenue to 86th
groups.
Honored guests taking part in Street.
DR. WILLIAM BRAUDE
from synagogues and schools in the
Hebretv U. Sings Praises of Cantors first millenium of the present era.
The earliest Jewish attitudes on
traditional moral attitudes are in-
corporated in this work, and the
explanatory notes, the informative
introduction and the texts them-
selves combine in their offering of
an immense and truly great work
which denotes a labor of love for
learning and a dedication to an
aim of making ancient works
available for the present day.
Explaining the Palestinian ori-
gin of the Pesikta, Rabbi Braude
offers as proof the fact that the
Pesikta Rabbati contains a dis-
course for only one day of Pen-
tecost and none for its Feast of
the Tora—Simhat Tora—"for the
second day of Pentecost and the
Feast of Tora were initiated and
observed in Jewish communities
outside of Palestine."
Exploring the dating of Pesikta,
Dr. Braude states: "Since the
teachers are all Palestinian Amor-
aim (interpreters) of the third and
fourth centuries, and since the
evidence goes strongly against
compilation of the work in the
At the annual Cantors Assembly of America convention at Gros- eighth or ninth century, the most
singer's May 7, Seymour Fishman (right), executive vice president likely date for the Pesikta Rab-
of the American Friends of the Hebrew University, paid tribute to bati's redaction is the seventh cen-
the Cantors Assembly of America for "its untiring work on behalf of tury, although the sixth century is
also a possibility."
the state of Israel and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and in
While this work could well serve
particular, for its initiative in convening the first World Liturgical
as a guide for scholarly laymen,
Convention at the university in 1964." He gave a special certificate of
it
is primarily an outstanding clas-
honor to the assembly, as well as a Mount Scopus Citation to Samuel
Rosenbaum (left), executive vice president of the Cantors Assembly, sic for rabbinic students.
The translator explains that he
for his "warm friendship and constant endeavors of inspiring the
members of Cantors Assembly with his own love and devotion to the followed the procedures he used in
translating his "hfidrash on Psa-
cause of Israel and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem."
For the uninformed and casual
reader, the extensive text on the
Middle East situation by Prof.
Fred J. Khouri of Villanova Univ-
ersity could easily mislead the
reader into believing that a pro-
posal for a "federation" could
solve the problem. But Dr. Khouri's
"The Arab Israeli Dilemma," pub-
lished by Syracuse University
Press, contains so much that is
based on the natural bias of a man
who stems from the American
University of Beirut, whence came
many of Israel's major antagonists.
that his approaches must be
studied carefully.
It is true that Dr. Khouri has
read much if not most of the pub-
lished Zionist and Israeli literature.
He deserves great credit for hav-
ing gone into all details of the Jew-
ish position.
But when he leans upon sup-
posedly authoritative data he re.1
sorts to the extreme leftist opin-
ions in Israel, to the critical
works of the New Outlook and
similar works.
It is when the feeling of good
faith is given in a proposal for a
"federation" that the reader must
be cautioned. What kind of a fed-
eration? One in which Israel would
be swallowed up and forced into a
ghetto under domination of over-
whelming and dominating Arab
states?
Having attained sovereignty—
having reached the only stage of
humanism to end Jewish homeless-1
IT IS ESTIMATED THAT ISRAEL WILL
RECEIVE 40,000 IMMIGRANTS
THIS YEAR __HELPED BY YOUR
GIFT TO THE UNTTEDJEWISHAPpEAL.
• --- ---
STUDENTS FROM OVER 40
COUNTRIES STUDY IN ISRAEL.
Rabbi Braude's 'Pesikta Rabbati' Presents
Ancient Discourses in Excellent Translation
--
56 — Friday, May 23, 1969
;400 VOLUNTEERS FROM
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND
eApenct FATED IN ISRAEL'S DEFENSE
DURING THE SIX DAY WAR.
-
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
lms" in the translation of the
Pesikta Rabbati. He makes this in-
teresting additional comment re-
garding translations:
"Men have been working ever
since the days of William Tyn-
dale (1530-31) to put the Hebrew
Bible into exact and idiomatic
English, but it was not until
1718 that there appeared in Lon-
don the first translation of a
Rabbinic text into English—Wil-
liam Wotton's version of Mishna
Sabbat and Mishna Erubin—and
only in the past century or so
have such translations appeared
with increasing frequency. These
translations have opened up to
the world at large a treasury of
Jewish literature to which only
a few scholars have previously
held the key. If the present trans-
lation of the Pesikta Rabbati
enhances by ever ever so little
the reader's appreciation and
understanding of this rich treas-
ury, which in Jewish tradition
ranks next in esteem to the Tora
itself, the efforts of the transla-
tor will have been amply re-
warded."
The variety of discourse topics is
so vast in these two volumes that
it offers guides for every conceiv-
able subject related not only to
We have in this compilation
the excellence of arrangement
and perfection In translation, and
the translator's many years of
scholarly research has been ap-
plied to the valuable annotations
which elevate these two volumes
to a high rank in providing anew
rabbinic lore for a generation of
English readers.
The immense value of having
these discourses in a perfect Eng-
lish translation and its valuable
annotations become apparent in
such discourses as "Tithes as hon-
oring the Lord," "The reward of
repentance and the need for peace"
and "Why the 22 letters of the He-
brew alphabet were rearranged in
the Tora into acrostics of mourn-
ing."
There are valuable guides and
revealing sentiments in chapters
like "Weeping by the Rivers of
Babylon," "The certainty of God's
comforting" which is an exception-
ally impressive discourse on Chap-
ter 40 of Isaiah ("Comfort ye, com-
fort ye My people").
The chapter on the 22 letters
of the Hebrew alphabet is a
study in acrostics and Rabbi
Brande's notes are commentaries
of note.
feasts and festivals, and the Sab-
The summations on which this
bath, but also to such matters as
the tithe, comforting, mourning great undertaking is based form
over the destruction of the Tem- excellent introductions to valuable
ple, repentance, and many, many literary studies in rabbinics.
A well prepared glossary adds to
more.
Thus, in the first volume, which the merit of this work. There are
commences with the Piska "The indexes on passages cited, the au-
New Moon as an earnest of Israel's thorities used, names and subjects
renewal and of the soul's resurrec- and "Plays on Hebrew Lords and
tion," we have discussions on Letters." The latter adds emphasis
Hanuka, Passover, the Command- to the scholarly approach to this
ments. and interspersed are such work by a man whose learning
items as "the exactness of God's elevates him to a role of authority
retribution," "Moses' journey on the subjects he has dealt with.
through Heaven," "the evil of Both his "Midrash on Psalms"
Amalek as the consequence of Is- and "Pesikta Rabbati" are imper-
rael's heretical ways" and others. ishable works.
Lubavitcher Scholars Sent Down. Under
,•,••
....
....
.
......
Leaving New York's Kennedy Airport are six young rabbinical
students sent by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menahem M. Sch-
neerson, for two years of study at the Lubavitcher Rabbinical Col-
lege in Melbourne. The young scholars periodically will address local
congregations and be in contact with the Australian Jewish com-
munity at large.