Purely Commentary
Nehama Lifschitz's Approaching Visit Here:
Federation's Lesson in Communal Cooperation
Detroiters have a treat in store for them at the concert to be given
at the Masonic Temple by Nehama Lifschitz, Oct. 22.
For a time there was the possibility of a conflict in dates, with the
annual meeting of the Jewish Welfare Federation set for the same
evening. But the Federation, in spite of encountered difficulties, decided
to postpone its meeting to Oct. 29. It was a gesture denoting the man-
ner in which communal cooperation is so desirable and often extremely
vital in planning events that interest all of our people. The Federation
has earned commendation for having delayed its important meeting in
order that those participating in the annual session of the major com-
munity organization should not be deprived of the opportunity to hear
the noted Russian-Jewish singer who became a citizen of Israel last
March. '
When Golda Meir, Israel's prime minister who was the first Israeli
ambassador to the Soviet Union, heard the noted singer at the concert
c in the Tel Aviv Mann Auditorium, she commented:
"Her coming here is a great gift to us. I know she will also sing
outside Israel. It's more important than all the best speeches: How
does one explain what her appearances must have meant for the Jews
in Russia!"
When Nehama came to Israel, having been permitted by the Soviet
authorities to join her family there, she said that upon her mind was
engraved the impression of packed audiences "hungry for identifica-
tion." It is this hunger among Russian Jews that emerges so often as
a desire not to abandon their links with the Jewish people.
Because her specialty in addition to Russian and other lanugages
is the Hebrew-Yiddish repertoire. Miss Lifschizs offers a special appeal
to her American and other audiences in the Diaspora. She has fre-
quently commented that the vast audiences she drew in Russia indi-
cated that they were seeking identification. She spoke of her pride in
the new link with Israel, stating that while "it was good to sing for
them (her fellow Jews in Russia)" she was happy to have the chance
to go to Israel because "an artist needs her national home to create."
Thus, while being treated to a concert by a great artist, the visit
▪ of Miss Nehama Lufschits offers another opportunity: to acquire an
additional awareness of loyalties that link our people in the quest for
▪
life, in the refusal to yield to terror and destruction, in the will to live
and to share the identification that marks the entity of Jewry.
Egyptian Anti-Semitism . . . Conflicting Views and Analyses
of Existing Conditions . . . Some Hopes for Impending Peace
In his analytical address to the United Nations General Assem-
bly, Israel Foreign Minister Abba Eban referred to "a violent anti-
Jewish racialism (that) dominates the Arab educational movement,
and it spills over into every street." He quoted from an Arab ; writer
who, returning to Cairo, told of having found that there was a: "virulent
anti-Semitic literature" that was being distributed, that the Protocols
of the Elders of Zion were circulated, that the ritual murder libel
was being revived.
Eban was referring to an article in the London magazine En-
counter by Ibn el-Assal, a returnee from North America to Egypt who
preferred to use a pseudonym and who gave his views in which he
was not entirely pessimistic. El-Assal had written:
"A picture that is often presented abroad is of Nasser as a
moderate, holding back—with increasing difficulty—an infuriated
Egyptian nation that is hell-bent for war. My own impression is the
exact opposite — of a peaceable and weary people lashed and
dragged by their leaders."
The Egyptian author, writing under the title "Return to Cairo,"
stated in his description of the average Egyptian:
"He asks nothing better than peace, even with Israel, on
terms that are reasonable and honourable for Egypt. It is the re.
gime which needs a state of war and a war-psychosis, with an
endless series of incidents and crises, in order to maintain its rule
over a reluctant country.
"Nasser himself is too heavily committed to pan-Arabism
and the struggle against Israel to make peace even if he wants to
—and the appearances are that he doesn't."
Some of the comments by the Egyptian writer appear to be
contradictory. But in the main his views should be made known as
widely as possible. Since Eban quoted only about 200 words from the
el-Assal article, the longer text with references to Egyptian anti-
Semitism should become known. El-Assal wrote in Encounter:
"One of the sadder changes that has happened in Egypt is
the virtual destruction of the minority communities. It is often
said that the Egyptian Jewish community has been a casualty of
the Arab-Israel struggle!, In a sense this is true—but it is not un-
likely that the Egyptian Jewish community would have suffered the
same fate even had there been no Arab-Israel struggle. The Jews
in Egypt were by no means the only minority. There were also
some 70,000 Greeks, 50,000 Italians, and smaller groups of Levan-
tine Christians, Cypriots, Maltese, Armenians and others, many
of them established in the country for generations. All these have
suffered the same fate. Without actually being driven from the
country, they have been induced to leave by the steadily increas-
ing pressure of Egyptian Moslem nationalism, which made it very
difficult for members of foreign communities or even minority
religious communities to make a livelihood. The Greeks, the Ital-
ians and the rest have gone home, and the 65,000 Jews who once
lived in Egypt are now reduced to barely 3,000. Theoretically, the
Jews, who had been in the country for thousands of years, were
an Egyptian religious minority like the Copts, not a foreign minor-
ity like the Greeks and Italians. But in fact this distinction was
blurred. The poorer Jews were indeed genuinely Egyptian—poor,
sick and down-trodden. The upper-class Jews, however, were main-
ly foreign by origin or adoption, and preserved their foreign lan-
guage, culture, and citizenship. While the poor Jews spoke Arabic,
the rich Jews usually spoke French or Italian, and were in con-
sequence seen as part of the privileged alien domination. When
the end came, they shared the fate of other foreigners in Egypt—
but worse, because of the conflict with Israel.
"Egyptians react rather angrily to any suggestion of 'anti-
Semitism.' Sometimes they produce the rather illiterate argument
that they cannot be anti-Semitic because they are themselves Semi-
tes. This is, of course, absurd. Egyptians and other Arabs are,
however, justified in disclaiming the kind of hostility to the Jews
which is to be found in Christendom. This is a Euro-American
rather than an Afro-Asian phenomenon, and has no real equivalent
in
the lands of Islam.
2 — Friday, October 3, 1969
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
The Quest for Peace: Presently
Remote Yet Not Impossible . - .
Expose of Egyptian Jew-Baiting
By Philip Golda Meets Diggs
3i0MOVitZ
"Nevertheless, it is not surprising that the impression of
Arab and Egyptian anti-Semitism should have got around. A visit
to the bookshops of Cairo, even to the kerb-side, kiosks, shows
them to be full of the most virulent anti-Semitic literature, much
if not most of it translated or adapted from European works.
Arabic translations of the famous Protocols of the Elders of Zion'
are to be found everywhere. and are quoted and distributed by the
government in its various propaganda and information agencies.
Hitler's Mein Kampf, in Arabic is another widely distributed
classic. There is an enormous literature of books dealing with
Zionism and Israel—natural and reasonable enough. Many of them,
however, begin and conclude with statements about the wickedness
of the Jews as such and the Jewish conspiracy against the human
race, for which they rely very heavily on the 'Protocols' and
other European anti-Jewish literature. The choicer specimens in-
clude charges that the Jews use Christian and/or Moslem blood
for religious ceremonies, were responsible for both World Wars as
well as numerous earlier troubles, are trying to dominate the world
by secret conspiratorial means, and — a recurring theme — thor-
oughly deserve the hatied and persecution which they have
throughout their history attracted to themselves. This sometimes
leads to-the exoneration of Hitler and Eichmann, who are present-
ed as martyrs in a worthy cause.
"Even serious authors go in for this kind of theory. A well- -
known professor of political science, in a widely-read book on
Zionism, quotes Hitler in support of the authenticity of the
'Protocols,' which (he argues), is in any case demonstrated by
the whole course of modern history; he goes on to argue that the
study of what Hitler wrote about 'World Zionism' is a vital
necessity for the Arabs after what happened in 1948. Another,
among many, is a distinguished diplomat, Ahmad Farrag Tayeh,
who was Egyptian consul-general in Jerusalem during the final
stages of the Palestine mandate, minister to Jordan in 1951-52, and
,foreign minister after the revolution. This gentleman wrote an ex-
tremely important book describing what he saw in 1947 and 1948.
His book begins with an introductory chapter based on the
'Protocols' and French anti-Semitic tracts, on the Jewish plot to
corrupt and rule mankind and their secret domination of the Anglo-
Saxon countries. Most other books dealing with Israel, Zionism, or
the Jews — and there are literally hundreds of them — bear to a
greater or lesser extent in the same direction. Similar views are
expressed in newspaper and magazine articles, and in radio and
television programs.
"This general impression of 'anti-Semitism' which one
gathers from literature and journalism is reinforced if one con-
siders some further factors, for example, the presence of large
numbers of Nazi refugees, many of them now disguised under
Arab names. Most of them live in Meadi, once the favorite suburb
of British administrators and officials in Egypt. The former Eng-
lish club at Meadi is now largely frequented by Germans of this
and other kinds. It is a strange irony.
"Yet in spite of this, in spite of the anti-Semitic literature,
the Nazi advisers and the destruction of the Jewish community,
the observer would be wrong in ascribing racial anti-Semitism to
the Egyptians. Foreign visitors, accustomed to the anti-Semitism
of Europe and North America, expect to find a physical and per-
sonal rejection of Jews. There is none, not even among the authors
and translators of anti-Semitic propagandist works. The regime
has no doubt tried very hard—but it has failed. From the Egyptians
in general, and what is more important from those Jews themselves
who still remain in Egypt, I was assured again and again that
'there is no real hostility.' . . . The Egyptian is capable of
violence in moments of passion and anger, but he is at root a
humane and easy-going sort of person. It is difficult, for example,
to see Egyptians engaging in the kind of blood-bath that has char-
acterized changes of regimes in Iraq in recent years, or enjoying
the public hangings which appear to be the most favored spectacle
in that country.
"There remains, however, the genuinely difficult situation
of the few thousand Jews who are still in Egypt. There is a certain
irony, too, in that situation. During the last twenty years or more
most of the Jewish community of Egypt have left. Some have
settled in Israel, most have gone to Europe and the Americas.
Those who have remained are the most authentically Egyptian of
all. These are the poor Jews from the old Cairo ghettos, who still
wear the galabiya, who speak nothing but Arabic, and who cannot
conceive of life in any other place. Their life has always been hard
and poor—the discrimination now levelled against them by the
regime makes only a marginal difference. There have been other
troubles in the past, they say 'and God has helped and they have
gone'; these, too, will no doubt go in time. During the last two
years the authorities have arrested several hundred adult male
Jews, for no apparent reason; at least, no charges were ever pre-
merred and no trials ever held. The reason given in statements
abroad was that these were defoulters from military service. This
is palpably untrue, since Jews are never permitted to serve in
the Armed Forces, let alone required to do so.
"Several hundred Jewish heads of families were detained
at the Toura prison near Cairo. After a while arrangements were
made to release them -in small batches, but this ceased after the
death of General Riyad and the wave of indignation that followed
it. The remaining prisoners, between 300 and 400 of them, were
transferred to another prison near the Barrage, where they are
being kept in conditions of great hardship. Those Jews who remain
at large do not appear to be subject to any kind of restraint or
persecution. They are allowed follow their professions, and to
move freely around the country. They are not, however, allowed
to leave.
There is the need to understand Israel's enemies, to understand
them. to make every effort to reach their minds. Golda Meir stated it
well when she said that Israeli grandparents do not wish to see their
grandchildren at war and that there surely are Arab grandparents who
have the same hopes for peace—and therefore there must be a reten-
tion of faith that peace will come. It will be more easily attainable
when the peoples at war understand each other. Through understand-
ing, the stupidities like those revolving around the anti-Semitic tenden-
cies may vanish quickly, and neighbors may hope to become brothers.
At the moment such hopes are distant. As long as academicians,
from whose ranks come so many of the haters of Israelis and Jews,
are dominating the scene, the situation remains tragic. But if we are
to believe in the human element and in what el-Assal reported—and in
the hope expressed by Golda Meir—perhaps we are closer to peace than
is presently apparent.
167
Israel Prime Minister Golda
Meir greets Congressman Char-
les Diggs Jr. in Jerusalem, when
Diggs, chairman of the House
foreign affairs subcommittee on
Africa, discussed U.S.-Israel re-
lations with Mrs. Meir and For-
eign Minister Abba Eban. A
member of the subcommittee on
Asian and Pacific affairs, Diggs
visited Bethlehem, Jerusalem
and Tel Aviv en route to the U.S.
from his recent official mission
to southern regions of Africa.
Atzeret Quiz
By RABBI SAMUEL J. FOX
(copyright 1969, JTA, Inc.)
Why are special hymns refer-
ring to rain included in the late
morning service of the festival
of Shemini Atzeret?
In our custom it is beginning on
this day that mention is made of
rain as one of the powers of the
prayers.
Originally, the sexton or the leader
of the congregation simply an-
nounced to the congregation before
the late morning service began
that one must from here on insert
mention of rain in the regular
daily service (something which the
congregation had not been doing
during the summer). The poets
with religious feelings among
Almighty in the daily
the Jewish people could not let
such an occasion pass without OB.
pressing the mood of the situation
in poetry. These were so touching
that they were included in the offi-
cial liturgy of the late morning
service. It should be particularly
noted that mention of rain brings
to mind the fact that in the Holy
Land of Israel there is hardly any
rain at all in the summertime and
the rain which comes in the fall is
a decisive factor in the failure or
success of the crops. This is an
other reminder to man that he
must still depend upon nature
- 1
through God in spite of all his
technological achievements.
* * *
Why is there a special melody
which is used in the synagogue
for the chanting of the prayers?
Some rabbis have commented
that there is as much sanctity in
the melody of the prayers as there
is in the prayers itself. The pray-
ers of the Jewish people are much
more than lip service. They are
deep expressions of the heart.
Even those who do not understand
most of the words of the prayerS
are carried into emotional ecstasy
by the melody which
sometimes
speaks louder than the words.
Upon hearing the melody, the con-
gregation becomes aware of the
significance of the occasion and
the prayers and thus
becomes
properly attunded to the spirit of
the moment. The beginning of the
mention of rain in the prayers is a
special occasion and therefor
called for a special melody.
Hadassah Youth Center
Dedicated On Mt. Scopus
JERUSALEM (JTA)—The Had-.
assah youth center was dedicated
recently in a reconstructed build-
ing on Mount Scopus in the pres.
ence of Mrs. Rachel Shazar,
of Israel's president, and
American donors of the bull
Mr. and Mrs. Meshulam Riklis
New York.
The reconstruction cost $250,
The building contains live-in an
study facilities for 120 students.
is intended for use by the Je
Agency's youth and hehalutz
partment, and for courses
seminars for youth from abroad.
•