Beginnings
The task of editing this magazine involves such obvious elements as commissioning, selecting and revising the articles we publish, and, as well, some very small and less obvious decisions that...
...Begin and others have begun to refer to the entire area between the Mediterranean and the Jordan—that is, Israel plus the West Bank—as "Western Eretz Yisrael...
...think of yourselves as spice merchants...
...on the other, we don't want to confuse people or intimidate them...
...But there's a problem: It takes more work on our part to produce a first rate TSB than to produce a good article...
...These days, Mr...
...It is called the West Bank because is it west of the Jordan River...
...The task of editing this magazine involves such obvious elements as commissioning, selecting and revising the articles we publish, and, as well, some very small and less obvious decisions that present us with an ongoing challenge...
...And on May 29—ten days from when I write, so I must add b'sha'ah tovah (literally, "in a good hour"), they will become husband and wife (literally, chossen and kallah...
...Bear in mind, please, that your friendly editors now get their semi-annual chance to breathe...
...So: The West Bank is in fact to Israel's east...
...The original League of Nations mandate for Palestine, given to Britain after the First World War, encompassed all of what is now Israel, the West Bank and Jordan...
...Sometimes, however, we know we're in some degree of danger...
...I write these words as the magazine is about to be sent to the printer, and it's suddenly occurred to me that some people may well not know where the West Bank is, or why it's called by that name...
...Take, for example, the problem of Hebrew and Yiddish words...
...We need your help...
...her predecessor in that job was Jon Weiner...
...Prime Minister Begin does not use the term at all, preferring to call the area in question by its Biblical names—Judea and Samaria...
...Don't think of yourselves as subscribers...
...We like it, you like it...
...If current plans materialize, it will also be among the most memorable of all our Moments...
...The guiding criterion is, of course, the familiarity of the word...
...So we hunch along, hoping we're on target most of the time...
...On the one hand, we want neither to patronize our readers nor to interrupt the flow of an article...
...Shortly after its assumption of the mandate, Britain divided the territory and barred Jews from the area to the east of the Jordan River...
...Be careful in the sun...
...And there's no hard and fast way of doing the job, no style book that provides an authoritative guide...
...But what of "halachah...
...Ironies, foolishnesses, oddments—send them along...
...Our next issue is July/August, one of our two yearly combined issues, and it is scheduled for mailing on July 20...
...We're fairly confident about, say, "Shabbat...
...The intention here is to provide a subtle reminder not only of the integrity of the area, but also of the fact that the "East Bank"—that is, the Kingdom of Jordan—was also once part of Eretz Yisrael...
...In this issue, there's a good deal of writing about the West Bank...
...The reason that occurs to me is that I spent last evening with a group of Israeli shlichim (emissaries) who were reporting on their experiences in the United States, and several stressed that very many of the people they've met with don't know some of the most elementary geographic and historical facts regarding Israel and the Middle East...
...Whatever it is called, the reference is to that area which lies between Israel's pre-1967 boundaries (the so-called "Green Line") and the Jordan...
...And speaking of myrrh and frankincense, some of you will recall that our last Assistant (later Associate) Editor was Deborah Heiligman...
...I hope that helps and permits easier access to what I regard as an important set of articles...
...The Spice Box has been among our more popular features ever since its introduction over a year ago...
...More myrrh, more frankincense, please...
...But our estimate of its familiarity is based on hunch rather than on established fact...
...Each time one is used, we have to decide how it shall be transliterated, whether it should be italicized and translated, just italicized, or neither italicized nor translated...
...That's the first case of MOMENTrimony on record, and we wish them joy, delight and many good issues...
Vol. 7 • June 1982 • No. 6
