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Friday, October 12, 1984
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
PURELY COMMENTARY
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Tracing role of Moses the Lawgiver in Eban's glorious Jewish portrayal
Heritage: Civilization and the Jews
adds another chapter to the remarkable
achievements of Abba Eban. Statesman
with an international reputation for dip-
lomatic skill, brilliant in oratory, he has a
record for remarkable accomplishments as
an author. He is the scholar par excellence
in the nine-part television story, the fourth
part of which will be witnessed Monday
evening.
There is one aspect of the remarkable
story delineated by Eban that has aroused
puzzlement. Why did he provide so little
attention to Moses the Lawgiver?
Curiously, the emphasis on Moses
comes from the late Peacemaker- with-
Israel Anwar Sadat. Even more curiously,
that alignment is revealed in a dispatch
from Jerusalem to the New York Times
from its Israel correspondent, James Fe-
ron.
How intriguing that the story about
the oncoming Heritage televised series
should have been provided for the first
page of the New York Times Sunday (Sept.
30) Arts and Leisure Section! It carried all
the details about the sensational television
stations in close to 300 American cities.
The Feron revelation is thus introduced in
the NYTimes story about Eban and Sadat:
It was several years ago and
Abba Eban had just signed on as
host and narrator for an ambitious
series that WNET/CHANNEL 13
would produce, Heritage: Civiliza-
tion and the Jews. But the Israeli
diplomat, who has a keen eye for
political problems, saw trouble
looming with the filming of the Ten
Commandments. Israel was about to
sign a peace treaty with the Egyp-
tians.
"Although it was a bit prema-
ture," Mr. Eban said recently, "I
thought that since we were going
to give the Sinai back, let's rush in
and do the Ten Commandments be-
fore we have to depend on Egyp-
tian bureaucracy." And so it came
to pass that an expedition was or-
ganized and they climbed the
7,100-foot-high Mount Sinai, by
jeep and by foot, and finished just
in time.
Mr. Eban leaned back in a
large chair in the office of his
Herzliya home and shuddered
lightly at the recollection. "It's
very high up and we knocked our-
selves out. I got a little fainty —
change of temperature, I think."
He smiled, "How Moses at the age
of 120 shlepped himself up there, I
don't know."
Moses did it twice, a task that
Mr. Eban did not face, although he
thought he might. "We went to 15
countries eventually, some of them
more than once," he said. "There's
a lot of film you take that has to be
taken again. So I had a talk with
Sadat in case we had to go back."
And, in common with Mr.
Eban, the producers, historical
experts and probably a portion of
the television audience, the late
Anwar el-Sadat, the president of
Egypt, had his own special in-
terpretation of a portion of Jewish
history. "He said, 'You can come
back here as long as you make it
clear that Jewish history begins in
Egypt and not in Babylonia. All
that stuff about Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob — this is just legend, not
Congressional brothers
Parents have a role in children's
political aspirations and successes — if
only to the extent of expressing joy and
encouraging support.
The highly-respected Levin family
cheers from the sidelines. Yet, their collec-
tive interest is factual. Interestingly, a
special incident shows a most dedicated
concern in the social issues involved in the
current political debates. The mother of
the two legislative Levins — U.S. Senator
Carl Levin and Congressman Sander
Levin — is quoted on the issues in the
Jewish (Yiddish) Daily Forward. Bess
Levin had occasion to comment on the sup-
port enrolled for the re-election of Senator
Levin. She commented on both of her sons
in the Forward:
If you really want me to be
proud of you two, then hurry and
stop the arms race, solve the
budget crisis and bring peace to
the Middle East.
This is go typical of Bess, as it would
have been of her husband, the late Saul
Levin! There was always an idealism in the
Levin ranks. Bess, a University of Michi-
gan graduate of the early 1920s, shared
family interests and devotions, Jewish
communal concerns, propagation of the
highest motivations.
Anwar Sadat
Abba Eban
Sander
history. History begins with
Moses,' which incidentally is true,"
added Mr. Eban.
Thus, as a plus to the Heritage report
there is the revealing Sadat attitude. Is it
possible that the Egyptian leader's interest
in the Egyptian-Jewish historical links
had an influence in his leanings toward
peace with Israel?
Whatever the Heritage series intro-
duces and emphasizes is of great historical
value and of interest to all mankind.
An item in The Jewish News (July 23,
1982) is of related interest. It called atten-
tion to the fact that by serving together in
both houses of Congress, Sandy and Carl
Levin became the 25th pair of Congres-
sional brothers since 1790.
There is this to be added to a comment
about the parents of legislators Sander and
Carl Levin. They were not in politics, but
they were in diplomacy. Saul Levin was
the Honduran Consul here and he ranked
high in consular ranks. Saul and Bess were
primarily the humanists — both active
A comment on the Heritage series
would be incomplete without recognition o_
the services rendered by the public TV sta-
tions to this nation. The fact that such prc
grams are available without the commer-
cialized interruptions, that subjects such
as "Civilization and Jews" become public
property, make stations like Detroit's
Channel 56 a great benefit to the entire
nation. If the Heritage program inspires
additional financial support for Channel
56, that's how it should be.
Eleanor Roosevelt and her many humanitarian roles
A very important anniversary is cur-
rently being observed. The centenary of
Eleanor Roosevelt's birth is remembered
not only on a national American scale. It
has an international interest. So vast is the
record of her services to humanity that it
embraced every conceivable need.
She was deeply interested in Israel
and appeared on public platforms in de-
fense of Jewish needs in many com-
munities, often in Detroit. She could well
have been listed among the eminent Chris-
tian Zionists.
Mrs. Roosevelt was concerned with the
plight of the survivors from Nazism and
and their loving mama
Carl
Rembrandt's Moses
Bess and Saul Levin
whenever they could be of service to youth
and aid for the handicapped. Saul was in
leadership ranks. of Young Judaea and he
was known more in such ranks than even
in his legal activities in partnership with
his brother, the .late Federal Judge Theo-
dore Levin.
A Levin record of humanism and high
ranking citizenship is something for fam-
ily to be proud of. It is equally glorious for
the community whose record they
enriched.
she never minced words in her chastise-
ment of anti-Semites. She was never
apologetic on that score and she corrected
errors even when her husband, Frankli
D. Roosevelt, was amiss in rescue efforts.
FDR's record on that score 4s imperfet,
hers is perfect.
Mrs. Roosevelt was concerned with the
plight of refugees, and that included the
Arabs, as well as the Jewish survivors from
Nazism. But when Arab spokesmen i
their refugee camps in Lebanon spoke ou,
with venom against Israel — that was
more than 40 years ago — she reprimandeo
them, advised them to work seriously for
peace, to cooperate in efforts to be rehabili-
tated.
Eleanor Roosevelt's itinerary of De
troit visits is recorded among many oth, -
historical records in Leonard N. Simon§
Simons Says. Simons introduced Elearg
to a Detroit audience on one important oc
casion — the establishment of the Detroi
Dormitory at the Hebrew University._, i
Jerusalem. The late Judge Theodore Levi
then headed the Detroit Friends of the He
brew University. In that introductor?
speech, Simons said:
In Mrs. Roosevelt's recent
book, titled On My Own, I read
about her visit to Israel back in
1952. I was particularly impressed
with the statement she made,
which I will quote verbatim. She
said, "Going from the Arab coun-
tries through the Mandelbawra
Gate into Israel was, to me, like
breathing the air of the United
States again."
She also mentioned that when
she visited the Arab countries, be,/
fore she arrived in Israel, she Tim.,
some - of the Arab leaders who;
wanted to know why she was so
interested in Israel. One Arab
leader said to her: "Madam, you'',
have been friendly to Israel." A.,:c!
Mrs. Roosevelt replied: "Yes, I am,
friendly to all. I am equal':
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