PURELY COMMENTARY

The Silent Voters

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Editor Emeritus

T

here are two simalarities in the
two elections a week apart —
Israel's Nov. 1, ours, Nov. 8. Both
have serious aims for peace — the
American on a universal basis, Israel's
as an aim for that nation's survival. In
both nations their electorates do not
hold opinions approaching unanimity
on major issues and in both there are
the silent voters who possess the
balance of power.
In spite of the polls and their fre-
quent inconsistensies, the effort is made
here to avoid overconfidence. Truman
and Kennedy and their successors are
not forgotten. Polling is not ignored, on-
ly overconfidence is shunned - if only to
a degree. That's why the verbal
onslaughts will continue, some of it in
the hope that the candidates will know
their obligations to deal with the ma-
jor issues. The voters must decide
whether they will adhere to the church-
state separation issue, how they feel
about the death penalty for certain
crimes, in what direction should the na-
tion go in matters involving the educa-
tional processes. We have enough time
to study and decide on the issues.
In Israel, the testing of the voters
is much more serious. The very life of
the nation is often at stake in the
challenges under dispute. There are ex-

In Both Elections

tremes that often frighten the outside the one in the American election, must
observer. Vital problems are on the be respected.
Yet, in Israel's instance, there are
agenda for the voters, and there are
always the silent ones with balancing always ways of serving in the people's
best interests that may evolve as con-
powers.
An urgent obligation exists for the trary to the advocacies of those who
Israel government and its nation to triumph in the election. Menachem
make every effort to guarantee reten- Begin showed this in concessions to An-
tion of whatever friendship or war Sadat when he invited him to come
cooperative desires may exist for them to Jerusalem to address the Knesset.
Whatever the results, however the
among the Arabs residing and working
in Israel and the governed territories. silent voters dictate them in both elec-
There have been instances of assassina- tions, the hope is that peace will be ad-
tions of Arabs working on an amicable vanced, that there will be a continuing
basis with Israel by Arabs. Whatever American-Israel accord, that the "voice
amity can be established must be pur- of the people" will dominate toward
sued. Hopefully, this may become a ma- humanism and peaceful relations
jor aim in the political agenda in future among all peoples.
statesmanship planning.
It is difficult to foretell, to make any Progress As Watchword
predictions, whether there will be a ma-
jority for any faction, whether there will In Israel's Existence
be a trend toward concessions on the
As the outside world watches
matters involving the Arabs, if there Israel's functioning, especially under
will be an opinion favoring an interna- current tense situations, there is a con-
tional involvement in peace planning, tinuing admiration for the manner in
as statesmen like Abba Eban and his which life goes on there.
associates in Labor ranks advocate or
In spite of the violence and the
a signal toward rejecting such sharing threats that have evolved against the
in a peace conference with the Soviet nation's very existence life does, indeed,
Union.
go on with dignity, courageously. The
Every election result is a vox populi universities function and their pro-
that cannot be ignored but must be fessors are publishing. Books are
adhered to. What the people's vote dic- printed and people read them. Musi-
tates the government chosen must con- cians are visiting there and concert
sider its policy. The ultimate result, as halls are filled.

The sad occurrence stems from the
outside. With an interruption in the
hitherto sizable tourism, Jews are not
handshaking sufficiently with their
Israeli kinfolk.
Universities, concert halls, art
galleries, synagogues must again be
visited there by fellow Jews. What
Israel publishes should be read.
Exemplary is the noteworthy project
that has just been inaugurated, with a
cultural aim that seems certain to serve
numerous purposes to advance Israel's
literary accomplishments and ap-
proaches to every aspiration for a
Jewish cultural dominance. The Tel
Aviv Review, which has already ap-
peared as an inauguration by Ah'shav
Publishers with Duke University Press
in Durham, N.C., as its distributor, has
so impressive a purpose in its advance
planning that it invites acclaim for a
truly courageous task even under most
difficult conditions in Israel.
An eminent scholar, Gabriel Mok-
ed, author of numerous widely-
acclaimed works, is the editor of this
undertaking. The members of the
editorial board include the prominent
author Sir Isaiah Berlin, American Ir-
ving Howe and other scholars.
For an appreciation of the
publisher's aims, the following state-
ment is worth reading:

The Tel Aviv Review is an an-

Continued on Page 44

Advocacy Of Yiddish Gains Momentum

E

nthusiasm on a high linguistic
level has marked the many
means that have been resorted to
in the last two decades to increase an
interest in the Yiddish language. The
popularity of many Yiddish literary
works added to the effort. Introduction
of the language in the curricula of
American universities certainly aid
that task.
It is the advancement of such efforts
in Israel universities and the en-
couragement given it in Jewish schools
in this country that give it impetus.
One of the positive undertakings in
this regard was the establishment of a
Yiddish lecture program in the United
Hebrew Schools as the "Morris and
Sarah Friedman Lecture On Yiddish
Language and Culture." The fourth
such annual cultural event established

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Vol. XCIV No. 9

2

October 28, 1988

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1988

by the Friedmans will be the lecture at
the headquarters of the United Hebrew
Schools on Nov. 6 by Itche Goldberg, one
of the most distinguished American
Yiddish scholars.
With Goldberg as interpreter of the
Yiddish contemporary scene on a world
scope, the forthcoming Friedman lec-
ture will be another cultural plus for
our community. Goldberg is editor of
the Yikuf — the literary magazine of
the Yiddish Kultur movement — and on
the faculty of Queens College of the Ci-
ty University of New York, where he is
professor of Yiddish language and
literature. His several books, scores of
literary essays, have enriched the
library devoted to Yiddishism and the
personalities in the linguistic
movement.
The Friedmans are now in the front
ranks in creating cathedra for Yiddish
studies and teaching the latter is impor-
tant in the learning process.
Funding a chair for the training of
teachers of the Yiddish language and
literature, Morris and Sarah Friedman
arose as encouragers of Yiddish
alignments more than half a century
ago and have now provided means for
higher studies in the language.
The Yiddish training program they
are funding at Bar-Ilan University in
Ramat Gan, Israel has already bought
impressive results. Scores of schools in
Israel now include Yiddish in language
studies and the results exceed the ex-
pectations, matching the best at-
tainments in comparable programs in
other universities.

Bar-Ilan University Chancellor
Emanuel Rackman and Dr. Gershon
Winer, who inaugurated the Friedman
Yiddish program in its initial stages,
expressed pride in its achievements and
appreciation to the Friedmans for mak-
ing it possible.
Reviewing the achievements and
the successes attained as an assurance
that Yiddish will gain new status
linguistically and in world literature,
Rackman and Winer acclaimed the
following attainments registered by the
functioning program:

Whereas American univer-
sities teach Yiddish literature in
English, and Israel universities
do so in Hebrew, Bar-Ran takes
the view that Yiddish is a living
language and culture and
should be taught as such, on an
equal footing with other foreign
language programs.
Nothing could have been a
more fitting culmination to the
Friedmans' lifetime devotion to
Yiddish culture than their in-
itiative in approaching Pro-
fessor Gershon Winer, who
holds the Bar-Ban University
Yiddish Rena Costa Chair, with
the aim of establishing a Yid-
dish teacher training program
at Bar-Ilan. Thanks to the fund
they established, the program
was started, subsequently
developing into a four-year
teacher training course under
the auspices of the Yiddish

chair, in cooperation with Bar-
Ilan's School of Education.
Results have been phenomenal:
in 1982 only two schools in the
whole of Israel were teaching
Yiddish. There are now 40, 21
secondary and 19 primary
schools in the current academic
year.
With no precedent anywhere
in the world to follow for the
training of Yiddish teachers
within the university, it has
taken some time to organize the
program. However, it is now
completing its second year with
16 students, 10 in their first year
and six in their second. Enroll-
ment is limited to students
under 25 in order to ensure that
the image of the Yiddish teacher
is comparable to that of the
Hebrew teacher who starts his
career in his twenties. Official
inauguration exercises of the
Friedman Chair are being
scheduled, hopefully with the
participation of a large Detroit
delegation. The first graduation
exercise is planned for June
1990.
The creation of the Moshe
and Sarah Friedman Chair for
Yiddish Culture in Israel Public
Schools has been essential to
completing the structure of Yid-
dish education in Israel, which
now ranges from elementary

Continued on Page 44

