Forum
FORUM Pure Bigotry Hershel Shanks' remark, ("MOMENT Interviews Benjamin Netanyahu," March 1988, p. 31) "It's nothing new that Arabs talk out of both sides of their mouths," is bigotry, pure and...
...Why stop there...
...Both are based, I believe, on the same assumption: that Israel is surrounded by implacable enemy states who are poised to attack and destroy the Jewish state...
...It's callous insensitivity to brutal bloodletting made me sick in the pit of my stomach...
...However, one statement that Eizenstat made points out a gross mispercep-tion in another critical area of American Jewish life: Jewish education...
...Burt Levinson, on the other hand, has chosen the non-committal geographic description which implies nothing beyond its actual location...
...One should strive, rather, to be a Jew and a mensch (and, one might add, a good citizen of one's country)—these are hard enough...
...Rather than being the site of rich informal Jewish contexts, American Jewish families today need Jewish enrichment and support...
...Who cares for these islands...
...Mann, enough already...
...His is a negative and defeatist attitude...
...If the Arab countries are so strong, with so much greater numbers and so much greater levels of firepower and with that oil wealth, which could all come against Israel, it makes more sense to negotiate with them and make friends with them than it does to anger them to the point where they might finally come against Israel...
...Your editorial choice to juxtapose these three articles was, (I presume by design) brilliant...
...Jewish education is our best hope for nurturing Jewish identity in our contemporary open society, and ultimately, for ensuring Jewish continuity...
...which is why no country has ever been beyond criticism...
...Robert J Schreiber Stamford, Connecticut The West Bank, Occupied Territories and Judea and Samaria Your March 1988 issue presents what first appears to be a simple lesson in semantics with Ted Mann's use of the phrase "occupied territories," Burt Levinson's "West Bank" and Ambassador Netanyahu's ' 'Judea and Samaria...
...Few if any Israeli experts see the situation in quite such black and white terms...
...A S Epstein Los Angeles, California Is moment Becoming a Unifying Force...
...It simply does not occur to him, as another possibility, that the slaughter could be carried out against Jews and Arabs friendly to Jews in the Galilee, in Haifa, in Jerusalem and in other Israeli localities, once the savages have a solid base on the West Bank...
...the havurah and "New Age" movements...
...FORUM Pure Bigotry Hershel Shanks' remark, ("MOMENT Interviews Benjamin Netanyahu," March 1988, p. 31) "It's nothing new that Arabs talk out of both sides of their mouths," is bigotry, pure and simple...
...There can be only two reasons why Jews would not criticize Israel...
...Levinson's position is that criticism of almost any Israeli position by American Jews would give aid and succor to those enemies and might tip the balance so that Israeli security would be jeopardized...
...Please Mr...
...Our Torah demands of us that we be, not "there," but here, in the present, every moment—in the here and now...
...Yariv, a retired General in the IDF, was Israel's military intelligence chief and is now head of the Strategic Studies Institute at Tel Aviv University...
...Oh," he said, "you know a Yiddish putt, crooked...
...We look for what each of us feels is the best solution while they have only one final solution...
...Irwin H. Rosenthal Ellenville, New York I should have said "Arab leaders" (that we were talking about...
...The time has come when Diaspora Jewry has an obligation to recommend to Israel—not to decide for it, but to suggest to it...
...Adelyn Raich Hampton, Virginia Are We Becoming Murderers...
...Punishable by Death Congratulations for having the guts to speak out on Jewish mailing lists (' 'Choking Jewish Communication," Perspective, December 1987...
...What good would Israel's strength be with its army and the West Bank if the Arabs finally got angry enough after the Iran-Iraq war ends and decided to go against Israel...
...This is a prescription for a remarkably un-whole—and unholy—life...
...Finally, in the very apogee of illogicality, he concludes that the Arabs will choose either butchering one another or to live in peace with the Jews...
...Until 1948 that was the attitude of non-Jews toward Jews...
...Does our loyalty to Israel require that we endorse every move of the state...
...As a former employee of Israel Bonds in Washington, I know that your comments are on target...
...It is the same term used in the American news media that has made Israel-bashing a major editorial practice in recent months...
...Mann has been an anxious, if not energetic, leader in Jewish communal life for many years...
...Will Israeli leadership not respond to his written mail, cables or telephone calls...
...Yariv opined that the threat of war is very, very small indeed...
...Levinson disturbs me even more—he argues that American Jews should only speak out when there is ' 'overwhelming understanding in the broader community that Israel's course is self-destructive...
...Netanyahu states this explicitly...
...Neither our non-Jewish friends nor our enemies will like us or respect us more because of public self-flagellation...
...Alan Rothman Kew Garden Hills, New York If the Arabs Are So Powerful...
...And we Jews should stand on the sidelines while all this bloodletting is taking place and let it happen—and cheer...
...Center for Modem Jewish Studies Brandeis University Waltham, Massachusetts Zel Lurie Is Callous and Insensitive I cannot understand why you printed Jesse Zel Lurie's "On My Mind" ("Former Hadassah Editor Calls on Israel to Grand West Bank Unilateral Autonomy," March 1988...
...Eizenstat claims that "only one-third of our youngsters receive any type of Jewish education, compared to two-thirds who did 25 year ago...
...In order to find the solution, we have to recognize the problem...
...Why doesn't he refer to Eretz Yisrael as Palestine and the United States as the Apache nation...
...Important informal educational experiences such as Jewish camps and Israel trips should be part of a coherent and comprehensive curriculum, rather than the random experiences of a privileged few...
...On the 18th hole, he missed a putt and responded: "Damn, a Yiddish putt...
...I can not believe that Jesse Zel Lurie was ever a member of Hadassah, the organization that built hospitals and clinics, and other life-preserving institution...
...It hurt at least as much to have seen Jewish children murdered in Ma'alot and Auschwitz...
...the revival of Jewish arts and crafts...
...Thanks, MOMENT magazine, for helping me to clarify my own previously uncertain opinion...
...If this is not clear from the context, I apologize...
...And socioculturally, both America and Israel are today ' 'centers" of Jewish life in the sense of' 'places which ideas and activity emanate...
...Syria, the best equipped of the Arab states, does have a huge arsenal of tanks and aircraft...
...We must learn how to best utilize the capabilities of Jewish education by analyzing our actual and potential clientele, through research and analysis'of existing successful programs and through innovative development of creative new programs to educate American Jews of all ages...
...Third, because most American Jewish homes do not currently provide a variety of informal Jewish educational experiences, Jewish educational institutions should expand their programs to coordinate and provide a multifaceted curriculum of formal and informal educational programs...
...America at least as much as Israel: vide the explosion of English-language Judaica...
...It should be widened to include Jews of every age group, rather than concentrating on pre-adolescents...
...But authentic religious life must of necessity be grounded in one's actual, physical place: one's family, synagogue, and Jewish community...
...Certainly Mann understands that the decisions of Israeli Leaders as to what they perceive to be in her best interest vis-a-vis her security and well-being will not be resolved or influenced by articles in American newspapers...
...Since our support would have nothing to do with an objective analysis of Israel's policies, it would have little influence on people who do try to base their political opinions on objective analyses...
...It's the same term used by many others within and beyond the American Jewish community who wish to placate the forces against Jews and Israel, but don't understand the reality of the Middle East or are afraid to admit that for reasons clearly stated by Netanyahu, this territory cannot, for security reasons, be completely relinquished...
...Clearly, no person should question Mann's right of dissent...
...The family would complement the school by providing Jewish experiences, which would enculturate children and give them a deeply felt emotional identification with the Jewish people and Jewish destiny...
...No nation-state but the ineffable Crea-tor/Torah source alone can properly be loved "with all your hearts, with all your soul and with all your might"— else we are adulterers as well as idolaters and will soon (to fill out our Jewish short list of ultimate taboos), in the name of our nation-state mistress, become—if we are not already—murderers as well...
...Parents need the Jewish skills that will empower them to recreate Jewish family experiences...
...And as to the former, Israel is not a perfect country...
...I walked over and said, "Ralph, what do you mean a Yiddish putt...
...one's city/ state/country...
...Joseph Epstein Jerusalem, Israel...
...David Gilfix New York, New York 1 : It's Not So Black and White There is a curious and disturbing relationship between the views expressed by Ambassador Benjamin Netanyahu ("MOMENT Interviews Benjamin Netanyahu," March 1988) and the Anti-Defamation League's Burton Levinson ("Should American Jewish Organizations Publicly Criticize Israel on Peace Issues?—It's Dangerous Chutzpah" March 1988...
...Three major areas in the American Jewish educational picture demand creative revision: • First, the chronological scope of the educational enterprise is at present extremely narrow...
...Mann's choice clearly implies a temporary condition...
...The percentage of American Jews receiving formal Jewish education today is far higher than at any time previous in American Jewish history...
...On closer inspection, we see an obvious difference in outlook and future prospects regarding the state of Israel...
...Does Levinson really believe that the rock throwers on the West Bank and in Gaza are a threat to Israeli security...
...Mann, Enough Already Ted Mann's article in your March 1988 issue ("Should American Jewish Organizations Publicly Criticize Israel on Peace Issues?—We Must") attempts to justify his editorial pieces in various American newspapers...
...If Israel presumes to speak for world Jewry—which it does—do we not have the obligation to make our views known...
...Does that chutzpak preclude our applauding Israel when we think its course is correct...
...We are happy to see that the often strident and self-righteous voice of the old MOMENT intended for a small segment of the Jewish community has been replaced with a more convincing and unifying voice appealing to the totality of the Jewish people...
...We Jews debate (as has always been our tradition) while our enemies do not...
...What does Mann accomplish (other than seeing his name in print) by inviting a devastating schism within American Jewry, encouraging Israel's enemies by evidencing success in their efforts to divide and weaken the Jewish World and confusing American politicians who try to understand and relate to their Jewish constituency...
...then they will butcher one another for power...
...Eizenstat's obsessive references to the (undefined) "centrality" of Israel in Jewish life compound rather than answer the problem of assimilation in American Jewish life, which is not too little attached to Israel but too much, FORUM and hence vicarious rather than authentic...
...Therefore, the basic service unit of educational endeavor for individuals who live in families should be the family, rather than the individual...
...Why doesn't he refer to Eretz Yisrael as ' 'West Jordan...
...But it does not have the materiel, Yariv said, to support a war and has been cut off from more supplies from the USSR because of its huge debt to that country...
...Please spare us such "minds" in the future...
...While the school attended to the young Jewish mind, the family would attend to the Jewish heart...
...The Land of Israel is always a proper object of spiritual attachment for Jews—a ' 'center" focus of yearning (as, less concretely, is the ideal of redemption itself...
...Give the West Bank unilateral autonomy, he says to Israel, and the Arabs will butcher one another until almost none are left...
...Sylvia Barack Fishman, Ph.D...
...it's getting better all the time...
...When Jews object strongly to certain aspects of Israel's policies, they have not only a right, but a responsibility to say so...
...Second, American Jewish families have changed dramatically in the past 20 years...
...Joseph E. Breman Vice Chairman National Executive Committee Zionist Organization of America Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Why Jews Should Criticize Israel's Policies If Jews refrained from any criticism of Israel's policies, it would render all future support superfluous because non-Jews would assume, correctly, that we support everything Israel does simply because it is a Jewish country...
...the renascence of indigenous American-Jewish music...
...And finally, does Levinson believe that it is "chutzpah" for us to express our opinions to Israel about its future course...
...At least three-quarters of children ages six to 13 in Eastern and midwestern cities receive formal Jewish education—compared to only two-thirds of Jews over age 65...
...The difference is important, because it profoundly affects our ability to rethink and revitalize Jewish education in the United States...
...Out of a myriad of alternatives, these two...
...When, however, the very writing of these controversial editorial pieces by an American Jewish leader becomes front page news—not because the articles are necessarily well-written, meaningful or helpful but because they are counter to what journalists expect as being a unified Jewish posture—the issue of responsible authorship arises...
...While the percentages of Jewish children receiving Jewish education is lower in Southwestern cities, about 60 percent, it does not approach the egregious 33 percent that Eizenstat suggests...
...The focus should be on pre-school children, teenagers, young adults, singles, and older adults as well as school children...
...Our Zionism must flow from and be subordinate to our connection to Torah (in the broadest sense of worldview/way of life)—else we have, turning Eizenstat on his head, assimilated totally: to the reigning idolatry—nation-state worship—of our time...
...Very few contemporary American Jewish homes, however, have the requisite skills to enculturate their children...
...Stuart Eizenstat's essay in the January/ February 1988 MOMENT ("We Are Still One"), though well-intentioned and written with dignity, hardly offers an acceptable basis for American-Jewish identity...
...Robert L. Cohen Brooklyn, New York Jewish Education and What's Wrong With It ¦¦' Congratulations on the January/February 1988 issue of MOMENT, with its stirring exploration of the relationship between American and Israeli Jews...
...Take your debate out of organizational politics and bring it to Beirut or the Iraq-Iran border or Syria or Anwar el-Sadat's grave and see, firsthand, how the opposition ' 'debates" among themselves...
...Now Jews are respected as Jews not because of anything in particular that American Jews have done...
...When I'm in Israel of course I open my big mouth, the same as other Jews living there about a lot of things, but I am damned if I am going to give other American Jews an excuse to do less than nothing for what they are getting back from Israeli sacrifice or the anti-Jews something to enjoy by Jews bashing each other...
...Indeed, the greatest contribution of the new MOMENT would be to create a unifying message defining and commenting on the often elusive common ground of our multifa-ceted community...
...It proves Netanyahu's point...
...Yariv pointed out that none of the Arab states is in a position to pose a threat to Israel at the present time and for the foreseeable future...
...Then reconsider how strong arid unified our support for Israel must be...
...My new study Learning About Learning: Insights on Contemporary Jewish Education from Jewish Population Studies, published at the Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University, uses the most recent statistics to indicate some of the actual challenges facing Jewish educators today...
...He is considered one of Israel's outstanding experts on the military threat of its Arab neighbors...
...Jewish educational institutions were created with the assumption that transmission of information to children was the school's primary goal...
...One can be a Zionist," Eizenstat reassures us, ' 'without physically being in Zion, if one's heart, soul and commitment are there...
...Jewish education is not achieving what we want it to achieve— but the reasons for its failures do not lie in our ability to get children through the revolving door into Jewish schools...
...I enjoy the new, vibrant format...
...It is the first published report on Jewish education to use data from the 1980s, collected in federation-conducted Jewish population studies from 18 cities in diverse geographical areas...
...As to the latter, it is ludicrous to think that an Israel that has survived four wars with countries intent on destroying her might not be strong enough to withstand criticism from Jews deeply concerned with strengthening her...
...Some organizations give the impression that releasing their lists is punishable by a death sentence...
...For shame...
...Without question he has developed personal relationships within all levels of Israel's political strata...
...If we don't demand that a Jewish country try to act according to our best understanding of Jewish values, how can we possibly demand it anywhere else...
...I'm sure it distresses Ambassador Netanyahu, as it does me, to see a young Israeli soldier punch and kick a teenage Palestinian into submission...
...Jack Fox San Bernardino, California A Yiddish Putt Just received the March MOMENT...
...Let them fend for themselves...
...Therefore, instead of looking to home life for support of educational tasks, Jewish educators must think in terms of educating entire families...
...Are we to sit mute at the pictures on TV of the Mishmar HaGvul beating Arab kids...
...The widespread silence among many major Jewish organizations in the wake of recent events on the West Bank, such as indiscriminate beatings and torture of Palestinian detainees, speaks of a double standard not in the Gentile world, but amongst ourselves...
...We have just received your December 1987 issue of the new MOMENT...
...No country is...
...What a non sequitur...
...In reality, the vast majority of American Jewish children today receive some type of Jewish education...
...Why does he (and others like him) feel that Israel's leaders will give credence to his thoughts, ideas and feelings only if they are printed in the New York Times...
...In 1948 I played golf at the restricted Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles, being invited by a banker who I usually would lose money to...
...Jordan Rabinovitz Tel Aviv, Israel Please, Mr...
...First they will massacre all Arabs who feel friendly toward Jews and Israel...
...Mann and others like him must comprehend the risk, exposure and severe harm that they cause by offering words, phrases and comments which will be misused by others for purposes not intended by their author...
...Incredible...
...Occupied," like on the door of an airplane restroom, means "soon to be vacated...
...When Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's UN Ambassador, spoke about the great power of the Arabs as a reason for retaining military control over the occupied territories in the West Bank ("MOMENT Interviews Benjamin Netanyahu," March 1988), I was shocked...
...I especially enjoyed Stuart Eizenstat's analysis of the misperceptions dividing the two...
...Netanyahu's selection of words go even further to undeniably connect this territory with the historic and present state of Israel...
...Netanyahu's conspiracy theory, that all troubles that Israel has are a result of PLO machinations, is discredited in part by his statement—added to your interview—that the current uprising in the Occupied Territories was a PLO action...
...At a public meeting in Jerusalem in mid-January sponsored by the International Center for Peace in the Middle East, Aharon Yariv presented an altogether different viewpoint...
...But doesn't dissent, if it has a noble goal, require a concurrent obligation to be responsible...
...As for the Jewish settlements on the West Bank...
...Either Israel is so perfect that it is beyond our criticism, or, Israel is so weak that we are afraid to criticize it...
Vol. 13 • May 1988 • No. 3
