64 Friday, June 20, 1980 .
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Ptoneering Katsh Judaism-Islam Study Re-Issued
Growing interest in Islam
and the relationship of the
Muhammadan codes to
Judaism and Christianity
lend special significance to
the studies of the subject
conducted by the eminent
Hebraic scholar, Dr. Ab-
raham Katsh, who recently
retired from the presidency
of Dropsie University.
Dr. Katsh's "Judaism and
Islam," now re-issued by
Sepher Hermon Press, was
the scholar's doctoral thesis
when he earned his docto-
rate from Dropsie in 1943.
The volume was published
in 1954 and is in revised
form in its current edition.
The heavy leaning upon
both Judaism and Islam is
indicated in Dr. Katsh's
analysis which points to
Muhammad's having origi-
nally considered himself as
the prophet of Judaism, not
the founder of a new cult,
and he formulated the
theology of Islam after ac-
ceptance by Jews and Chris-
tians.
Much acclaim has
greeted Prof. Katsh's
study of Islam and its im-
portance was em-
phasized in the foreword
to the original volume,
reproduced in the new
edition, by his teacher at
Dropsie, the late Prof.
Solomon L. Skoss.
Tracing the original
study of the subject of Islam
and the Jews by Prof. Ab-
raham Geiger, Dr. Katsh
outlines the differing views
which judged Muhammad
as having possessed knowl-
edge of the Bible and Jewish
traditions, and the opposing
view that the acquain-
tanceship was superficial
aid rash in errors.
Dr. Katsh makes a
thorough study of the Koran
as well as the background of
Muhammad and his life and
activities. Most definitive is
his preface to the new edi-
tion in which he provides a
detailed definition of the Is-
lamic influence. He states:
"Like the Torah, the
Koran represents the writ-
ten law. As Judaism has the
Talmud, so Islam also has
an oral law (Hadith) based
on recollections of Muham-
mad's disciples as he
preached the new faith. One
can hardly exaggerate the
importance of the role
which the Koran played
throughout the centuries in
molding and transmitting
the Islamic system.
"In a number of ways,
however, the Koran dif-
fers from the Bible as
scripture. The creators of
the ,Hebrew Bible were
the heirs of a long tradi-
tion. In all the ancient
scriptures the writings
included were of varied
authorship, generally
anonymous, and stem-
ming from different
periods in the life of the
ABRAHAM KATSH
community whose Holy
Book they comprised.
"In each case it was the
community feeling and
judgment which decided
what was to be included or
excluded. Neither Amos,
Jonah or Isaiah, for exam-
ple, ever realized that their
writings would be included
in the scriptural canon.
"The Koran, on the other
hand, is the creation of one
man and stems from only
one period. While the bibli-
cal writers could model
themselves after a long line
of earlier thinkers and
teachers, Muhammad had
no Arab model to follow.
The Koran thus represented
a new genre in Arabic liter-
ature and thought.
"Our study shows how
Islam incorporated a series
of beliefs and practices,
many of which have their
counterpart in Judaism.
"The Shahadah, or af-
firmation that "there is
no God but Allah," is the
Islamic counterpart of
the Jewish Shema Yis-
rael. Like Judaism, Islam
does not recognize saints
as mediators between the
individual and his
Creator. Like the Jews,
the Muslim believes in
the immortality of the
soul and in personal ac-
countability for his ac-
tions here on earth.
"Like Judaism, Islam de-
nies the doctrines of origi-
nal sin,and salvation. And
like Jews, Muslims believe
that each individual must
follow a righteous path and
secure atonement by im-
proving his own conduct
through sincere repentance.
"The Koran is studded
with passages extolling the
importance and necessity of
giving sadakah (alms) to
the poor, the widowed, and
the orphaned, and as in the
Bible and the Talmud, this
is regarded as an act of
righteousness, not merely
charity. According to the
teachings of Islam, the prac-
tical fulfillment of the belief
in God's oneness, in Divine
revelation, and in the exist-
ence of the hereafter, is best
achieved through prayer
and in the service of human-
ity through charity and
philanthropy.
"Every Muslim is ex-
petted to make a pilgrimage
to Mecca at least once in his
lifetime (unless his is physi-
cally or financially unable
to do so). A pilgrim adds the
honorary title Hajj to his
name.
"The Israelites were in-
structed in the Bible to
make a pilgrimage to
Jerusalem three times a
year. After the First
Temple was destroyed in
586 BCE and the Jews
were no longer able to
travel fo Jerusalem, the
institution of the
synagogue arose. The
church and the mosque
developed out of this in-
stitution. Like the
synagogue, the mosque is
a house of worship with
no images or figures,
which are forbidden by
the tenets of both
Judaism and Islam.
. "Where Islam stands
quite alone is in its having
elevated to the dignity of, a
canonical obligation the
duty of Jihad or 'Holy War.'
As Ulrich Haa-rman has
shown, 'the Jihad holds a
privileged position in Is-
lamic ethics . . . The 'house
of Islam' was not only to be
safeguarded but, if at all
possible, to be expanded all
over the world.'
"Though Islam is far from
being monolithic, and many
sects hostile to each other
have evolved, all followers
of Muhammad share this
hope of 'Islamizing' the
non-Muslim world.
"In general, three factors
have historically char-
acterized the position of
Jews and Christians in the
Islamic realm: (1) their
status of tolerated outsiders
and inferiors, (2) their sub-
jection to special taxation,
and (3) the autonomy under
which they administered
their own communal and
religious' affairs.
"Despite the concept of
Jihad, however, JudaiF ----,
and Islam shared lo _
periods of peaceful aria
productive coexistence
in past centuries. A study
of the rise of Islam reve-
als that just as Judaism
made an impression
upon the development of
Islam, so did the latter
have a considerable im-
pact on the development
of the Hebrew language
and Jewish thought.
"Prof. Bernard Lewis
cites a letter which the
noted Jewish scholar Ignaz
Goldziher wrote to an Arab
student: 'For the sake of
your people and my people, I
lived. When you return
home, tell it to your
brother.' " -
Koranic commentaries,
the Islamic Bible sources,
Targumim as they relate to
the Muhammadan Koran
are in the numerous indices
in the Katsh studies.
—P.S.
Black Bedouin Goat May Become New Source of Protein in Desert
TEL AVIV — The desert desert food of inferior nutri-
black Bedouin goat is a tional quality and drinking
potentially copious milk water only once every four
producer and can be de- days, better utilizing food
veloped through modern and drink than any other
desert farming technology domestic animal.
Rated by the experts as a
as a first-rate milk-
providing domestic animal, "superior dairy animal"
as well as a plentiful meat producing milk at the level
source of protein, at a frac: (per body weight) of the
tion of the feeding costs of Holstein cow, the largest
milk producer in the world,
today's cattle.
A 10-year research study the black goat offers the
undertaken by a Tel Aviv added advantages of being
University team of suited to desert farming and
zoologists found that the development of desert
black goat, common to Mid- areas, and not requiring the
dle Eastern deserts, is capa- expensive feed given to
ble of thriving efficiently on cows.
The black Bedouin
goat's unique
metabolism enables it to
thrive on inexpensive
wheat straw, too low in
protein for other domes-
tic animals, because it is
capable of re-cycling re-
sidual nitrogen (the es-
sential element of pro-
tein), which creates addi-
tional digestible protein
within the goat's
stomach. This capacity is
common to cud-chewing
animals at a rate of 40
percent, but the black
Bedouin goat is capable
of recycling over 90 per-
cent of its residual nitro-
gen, enabling it to pro-
duce copious amounts of
milk, up to 10 percent of
its body weight daily,
even when its source of
nutrition is limited and
inferior.
So flexible are black goats
in food source, that the re-
search was occasionally in-
terrupted by the goats'
munching on computer
print-outs.
The black Bedouin goat.
The black Bedouin goat
can consume over 40 per-
cent of its body weight in
water, discovered the Tel
Aviv University scientists,
and, because it can wait for sulting in plentiful milk
four days before drinking production.
again, can graze extensive - For use as a source of
distances from water meat, the black Bedouin
sources, enabling it to goat is distinctive in its
utilize vast grazing areas high rate of twin births
(about four times the area of (44 percent of all births)
other grazing animals).
and the rapid growth rate
In ordinary mammals, of its kids. The young
water consumption at even goat doubles its birth
20 percent of the body weight in 15-17 days,
weight would result in compared to a period of
bursting red blood cells and 18-23 days for sheep used
endangering the animal's in meat production in
life, but the black goat Mediterranean coun-
stores water in its stomach, tries.
gradually and safely dilut-
Willi its favorable re-
ing the blood stream and re-
production and growth rate
and its potential to produce
approximately 22 kilog-
rams (5 pounds) of meat per
year per goat, the black Be-
douin goat can serve as an
important source of protein,
in protein:hungry desert
areas.
Following the findings of
the Tel Aviv University
zoologists, Israeli scientists
have begun examining and
developing farming
technology procedures
necessary for raising black
goats on a sophisticated ag-
ricultural level.
Israeli Farmers Applying Science
Israel Government
Press Service
JERUSALEM — In 31
years the Israeli farmer has
become the most innova-
tive, the most successful
and the world's best inten-
sive husbandryman.
The Israeli farmer pro-
duces a bountiful harvest on
poor land. On a quarter-
acre, about the size of an av-
erage city lot, Israeli far-
mers routinely produce a
crop worth $50,000.
If an American tomato
farmer grows 20 tons an
acre, he pays costs and
makes a bit. If he produces
30 tons an acre, he's made a
real buck. If he grows 40
tons an acre, he gets his pic-
ture in the paper: An Israeli
tomato grower does 200-240
tons an acre, and it's
routine.
These dollar and ton-
nage yields are for
greenhouse growing, the
most intensive kind of
agriculture. The kibut-
zim and the moshavim in
the Negev Desert pro-
duce their crops for the
European and American
winter markets, the sea-
son when prices for pro-
duce and flowers are at
their highest. That's one
of the reasons the Israeli
farmer is so successful.
There's a computer at
Kibutz Yotvata near Eilat
that, among other things,
does the irrigation.
Originally, its job was to
turn the valves on and off at
night.so no one, for security
reasons, would have to go
out in the fields. Everything
could be controlled by the
computer within the safety
of the kibutz.
Now the computer is
amazingly sophisticated.
Each field has a ten-
sionometer in the soil that
constantly measures the
moisture. Each area has a
gauge that tells wind direc-
tion, wind speed and humid-
ity. The computer- knows
what is planted in each
dunam and its stage of
maturity.
The operator punches
up field D-31 which has a
variety of Texas onion.
53 days old. The corn
puter checks existip'
moisture level, humic
wind direction and spetu
and figures that 53-day
onions need 18 minutes of
water.
It automatically turns on
and off the valves and
maybe decides to inject a lit-
tle fertilizer in the irriga-
tion water. All auto-
matically.
"We call that computer
either 'Wisdom' or 'Mis-
tress'. Both words fit," says
Hillel Gordium, secretary of
Kibutz Yotvata. "Besides, it
saves 25 percent of the
water."