Prof. Gutmann Commends Jerusalem Planning Volume
Blueprint for Holy City Tells Charm of Historic Site
A Review by DR. JOSEPH GUTMANN
Professor of Art and Art History, Wayne State University
"Planning Jerusalem" is a handsome, informative and
beautifully illustrated book. It should prove of interest not
only to Jews and students of religion, but to city planners
and architects as well.
The book blueprints the exciting, challenging and
awesome task that confronts the contemporary planners
of this ancient city. How do you preserve the atmosphere
of the old and at the same
time allow for the new? How
do you achieve a balance be-
tween them? Jerusalem, the
writers point out, is unique
in the history of civilization.
It not an archeological
site of a dead past, a frozen
historical monument — al-
though it preserves archeo-
logical treasures that span
3,000 years — but an impor-
tant center of three contem-
porary faiths. Every stone is
sacred and its groUnd is hal-
lowed by tradition. Old Jeru-
salem is also a living city,
Dr. Gutmann
the home of more than 24,000
people who work and study there. It is, moreover, the
heart of the reborn state of Israel. Its history - and
archeological treasures are a part of the world's heritage;
the sacred remains of this compact area of land are
a source of deep concern for many.
Jerusalem is first mentioned in Egyptian execration
texts in the 19th Century BCE. It achieved its prominence
for Judaism when David made it his capital in the 10th
Century BCE (around 3,000 years ago); later Solomon
adorned it with a temple and other royal buildings. It
became linked. with the final ministry of Jesus some 2,000
years ago, and is of importance to Islam because of a
dream Mohammed had some 1,300 years ago.
Jerusalem has seen many conquerors, such as the
Babylonians, Romans, Byzantines, Ayyubids, Crusaders,
Mamelukes, Ottomans, to name only a few. All have left
their indelible imprint on the landscape of Jerusalem. The
Roman emperor Hadrian in the Second Century CE wanted
to eliminiate it from the face of the earth and renamed
it Aelia Capitolina; Emperor Constantine rebuilt it and
turned it into a Christian holy city in the Fourth Cen-
tury CE. The Muslims erected the magnificent Dome of
the Rock—the oldest extant Muslim building. This octag-
onal building is reputedly built on the very spot where
God commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.
From Despair to Dedication
Hart had a single source—
the files of the Jerusalem
Post. While he could have
gone into hundreds of other
newspapers and magazines,
the Jerusalem Post, serving
Israel as the country's only
English language daily, is
unquestionably the most au-
thoriative work for the task
Hart had undertaken.
Painstaking as the effort
he assigned to himself_ was,
Hart achieved his aim with
distinction.
Primarily, .he sought the
facts, in the day-to-day occur-
rences in that tragic period
in Israel's and Jewry's his-
tory. Therefore, what he had
undertaken emerged as a
major journalistic chronology.
As history, it becomes an
impressive result, and be-
cause the compiler accumu-
lated not only the human in-
terest stories that detailed
the war but also the photo-
graphs that illustrated the
narratives and the reports
from._ the.. two.. major . . war
fronts, "Yom Kippur Plus 100
Days" serves a valuable pur-
pose.
The book, with pages num-
bered "Yom Kippur Plus 1
Day," "Yom Kippur Plus 2
Days," etc., does not omit a
single basic fact aboutA the
events that will be spoken of
for generations to come.
History humanly treated
emerges as an inerasable rec-
ord for the generations. This
volume has that aspect. A
letter from the mother of a
son who fell in Israel's de-
fense, a comment by a father
who, after the period of
mourning, t a k e s up the
weapon the son had lost in
the war, the attitudes of chil-
dren, the responses of the
communities—all combine to
provide the data that will be
needed to make necessary
information available about
an unexpected and dismally
experienced event.
Even more: the volume
contains the record of world
Jewry's response to Israel's
needs in the first 100 days
after the sad events. Also: it
includes the record of the
American labor movement's
aid provided to Israel in time
of need. - Declarations by
Leonard Woodcock and other
labor and Jewish community
leaders are part of this
•record.
The totality of the coverage
from the Jerusalem Post is
evidenced in the many letters
to the editO'r, advertisements
and statements indicating the
political struggle that devel-
oped as a result of the tem-
porary military debacle on
Yom Kippur day. An exam-
)..YOUR CHILDREN SHALT COME BACK
TO THEIR OWN COUNTRY
la(h11/4111,17
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Helping Israeli Schoolchildren Overcome Fears
JERUSALEM — Helping
children of ,all ages to cope
with anxieties, fears and
guilt through the "thera-
peutic teaching" of litera-
ture, especially the Bible, is
a project of top priority for
Dr. Dvorah Koubovi of the
Hebrew University's school
of education.
Her long interest in thera-
peutic classroom teaching
took on added importance
recently, as children's fears
of Arab terrorists have be-
come of serious concern in
Israel. The tragedy at Ma'-
alot, where 22 children were
56 — Friday, October 11, 1974 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
PLANNING JERUSALEM. THE MASTER PLAN FOR THE OLD
CITY OF JERUSALEM AND ITS ENVIRONS. By Arieh Sharon.
New York: McGraw Hill Co., 1973.
Dr. Chaim Weizmann Man of Destiny
Editor's Note: The 100th
anniversary of the birth of
Dr. Chaim Weizmann -will be
observed in November. The
following, by the late David
Beni-Gurion, Israel's first
prime minister, is one of a
series of articles in tribute ,to
ple is the inclusion of a letter Dr. Weizmann to appear in
from Max Nosanchuk in The Jewish News.
which the Southfield, Mich.,
resident while in Israel,
wrote to affirm his determi-
nation to be a tourist in Israel
.11533.
rather than help nations that
ALFOUR
CLARATION
are antagonistic to Israel.
1917-1967
The chronicler's 'splendid
compilation of the historic
facts for this volume gains
added inspiration from his
.135iaa513 7.32 lava
selection of a • most suitable
1"o.N"7 war
epilogue. Concluding the
volume with Elie Wi e sel's
inspiring words of courage
I srael postage stamp is-
for interminable dedication to
the cause of justice, tradi- sued in honor of Dr. Chaim
tionally inherited, the im- Weizmann.
mense work has a positive
By DAVID BEN-GURION
factor in a message of hope-
Weizmann was not the first
fulness. The epilogue includes in the great galaxy of the
the entire text of Wiesel's Jewish leaders in our genera-
speech at the Oneg Shabbat tion. Before him there were
of the United Jewish - Appeal other noble figures whose
conference in New York last achievements,' each in his
December, in an hour of prep- own field, were outstanding
aration for Jewish solidarity and glorious. Baron Edmund
in Israel's defense.
de Rothschild from the depth
Hart attained a notable re- of his Jewish attachment
sult and the Jerusalem Post wrought tremendous things
served a great purpose in the for the revival of our ancient
compilation "Yom Kippur homeland. Neither before nor
Plus 100 Days" by Harold H. after him has there been a
Hart.
man who poured out such
loin Kippur Plus 100 Days' Serves
as Journalistic Chronology of War
Retention of the historic
record of one of the most dra-
matic occurrences in Jewish
history is accomplished in
"Yom Kippur Plus 100 Da,y‘ s,"
compiled by Harold H. !tart
and just issued by Hart Pub-
lishing Co. •
Recent excavations outside the walls of the sacred
Temple Mount have turned up remains from the Temple
of Herod.
The planners of Jerusalem want to preserve the
charm of this sacred and historic city. They are anxious
to rid the old city of its slums in the Muslim quarter
and to restore the completely destroyed Jewish quarter
and its old synagogues.
They are determined to keep Old Jerusalem a pedes-
trian city, where only mules, donkeys and carts can gain
access. At the same time, they want to provide adequate
parking facilities and roads for easy entry. They are also
aware of the superb landscape that surrounds the Old
City and want to maintain its unmatched view of the hjlis,
slopes and valleys.
Conscious of the past, anxious to provide amenities
for a growing population of the future, the planners hope
to achieve an organic correlation between the Old and
the New city of Jerusalem.
This beautiful book is 'to be heartily recommended
to all lovers of Israel. It should serve as a model of
intelligent town planning and foresight.
murdered, intensified this
concern.
Dr. Koubovi's method of
directing teachers to apply
mental hygiene principles to
the teaching of literature has
been in use in Israel since
1969.
"The system was primarily
meant to promote the mental
health of pupils in general,"
she explained, but it is now
used to help children deal
with anxieties resulting from
the two recent wars—the Six-
Day War and the Yom Kippur
War.
Although Dr. Koubovi's
"therapeutic teaching" is so
far more widely used in
populated areas, such as Je-
rusalem, it is now being car-
ried by psychologists and
educators to border areas
such as the settlement town
of Kiryat Shemona.
Equipped with poems and
stories, school psychologists
worked with teachers in Kir-
yat Shemona after the trag-
edy there so the children
could deal with their fears of
terrorists, Arabs in general,
the noisy border situation,
and even their obsessive fear
of the mountain, Har Naftali,
from which the terrorist?
had approached Kiryat She-
mona.
fabulous sums and in so gen-
erous a spirit for the benefit
of his people and the recon-
struction of its land.. Even
greater and nobler was the
achievement of Theod or
Herzl. The seven or eight
years of his Zionist activity
were as a dazzling meteor
flashing across the grey and
heavy-laden skies of Israel's
dispersion. By his political
genius and his inspired vision
he changed the life of a
broken people and showed
them the way towards free-
dom and redemption.
Weizmann did not come
from the West as did Roths-
child and Herzl. He came
from a townlet_ in Russia, the
country which at the time
was the center of the Jewish
world. It was not anti-Semi-
tism that made him a Zion-
ist. It was his Judaism which
was at the root of his Zionist
faith. He was a scientist and
as such he believed in growth
by evolution, at times even
oblivious of the fact that the
ways of history are different-
from those of nature, and
that even in nature there
occur sudden explosions.
The great wonder is that
while Rothschild with his mil-
lions and his generosity failed
in his practical endeavors,
and Herzl with his vision and
his noble personality could
not succeed in the sphere of
politics, Weizmann labored
and succeeded in both. There
was in him a harmonious
fusion of political vision and
practical exertion. His every
thought and action sprang
from deep roots which were
closely intertwined with those
of the Jewish people on the
one hand and with science
and practical wisdom on the
other. That was the secret of
his greatness and his historic
achievement, of his influence
and his international renown.
None of the great interna-
tional figures which have
emerged from the Jewish peo-
ple in modern times reached
greatness on the strength of
their activities as Jews or
among Jews. The only great
international figure who was
truly Jewish was Wei2.-
mann. No other Jew in the
Diaspora ever reached his
international stature. Weiz-
mann, like Herzl, was born.
with the crown of statesman-
ship on his head. They were
the elect of the people before
they had yet been elected.
The Balfour Declaration, the
first great political victory of -
Zionism, was achieved by
Weizmann without his having
been a member of the Zionist
Executive.
Yet Weizmann represented
more than merely a fusion of
political and practical Zion-
ism. No other Zionist leader,
apart from Dr. Ruppin,
derstoOd and supported the
great struggle of -the halutzim
to the extent that Weizmann
did. No Zionist leader outside,
the camp of the halutzim so
appreciated the significance -
of the efforts of these pio-
neers. It was this -warm sym-
•pathy for pioneerdom which
was deeply engrained. in his
soul that constituted the third
element in Weizmann's
unique_ synthesis of Jewish
leadership.
Weizmann suffered many
disappointments in his life
but unlike other great lead-
ers he was destined to reach
the goal of his life, to see the
emergence of the state for
which he had labored as no
other man did. He was des-
tined to become the first
president of Israel reborn.
Weizmann the mortal man
has departed. Weizmann the
man of destiny—that dal .
image will never be
DAVID BEN-GURION