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.