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The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, June 9; 1983 - Page 9
A major
By
DAVIDBIRKAN
-Dr. Immanuel Velil^ovsky was bom June 10, 1895, in Vitebsk, Russia. At age 28, tfie physician-scientist declined ChaimVVeiz mann's invitatrdii to head the new Hebrew University of Jeriisalem, goin^ on to formulate a revolutioniary theory of history based in part on the literalness of biblical events.
Velikovsky grew up with Hebrew, thanks to his scientist father Simon, an ardent Zionist. Thelatter raised fiihds to establish the pioneer settlementfrof Migdalin the Galil and Ruhama in the Negev, and introduced scientific vocabulary into Hebrew. Velikovsky worked on a plantation in Palestine before taking up medical, historical and legal studies in Edinburgh and Moscow.
After the Russian revolution, the hew Soviet regime's suspicion of his Zionism forced Simon to leave. In 1921, Velikovsky obtained the first legal exit ever granted by the Soviet authorities.
He and his father proposed a scripta aniversitatiis, an anthology of Jewish scholarly and scientific works. Velikovslty solicited, edited, translated into Hebrew, and distributed the two resulting volnmes: Orientala and Judaica, and Mathematica and Physica. Helping edit the latter wa$ Albert Elnstehi, then in his early 408, who would become Velikovsky's lifelong friend. On the scripta's basis and his knowledge, ardor and Hebrew expertise, Velikovsky was asked by Weizmann to become the Hebrew University's founder.
Velikovsky practiced medicine in Haifa and Tel Aviv; his wife Elisheva, an accomplished violinist, became part of the Palestine String Quartet. He was the first to suggest that distorted or abnormal brainwaves were characteristic of epilepsy.
In 1939, Velikovsky left for the U.S. to initiate a study critical of Sigmund Freud's disparagement of Moses and Judaism. In New York, an associate's remark, that there seemed to be no corroborating evidence in Egyptian annals about the biblical Exodus, set Velikovsky on a 10-year hunt through documents, traditions, legends and religions from around the globe. His Worlds in Collision elaborated 'on and synthesized cataclysmic theories thousands of years old that were discarded by science in the 19th century in favor of theories iiivolvinjg long term geological and evolutionary changes.
The book caused an uproar, redoubled several years later when Ages in Chaos and Earth in Upheaval presented, respectively, a reworking of ancient history and evidence in geography, geology and fossil remains of world-shaking disasters.
According to Velikovsky's voluminous documentation:
The 10 plagues of the Exodus were among the effects of a near collision between a massive comet, originally discharged from Jupiter, and Earth. For example: the "blood" was the settling of rust-like dust from the comet in the water; the all-swarming lice, flies and locusts were spawned in the super-heated air; the darkness — traditionally described as thick and palpable —' came as Earth entered the comet's sooty tail.
The parting of the sea occurred when the waters were drawn heavenward by an electromagnetic buildup between the Earth and the comet's head. The comet eventually settied as the planet Venus.
The poles shifted and Earth's orbit changed. Seas boiled, forests ignited, burning oil rained from the skies, titanic mountain ranges rose from the plain, meteorites (some large enough to cause the Arizona crater) bombarded Eartfi, giant volcanoes erupted, and small continents in the sea collapsed. Whole species of animals werekilled and civilizations destroyed. Human life was nearly snuffed out.
Velikovsky was ostracized from the scientific community, condemned, denounced and mockedin many cases by those who had not bothered to read his work. He continued to write and predict. The emission of radio waves by Jupiter, the unexpectedly high temperature of Venus, and the existence of an electromagnetic field around Earth (dubbed the Van Allen Belt) were confirmed by scientific technology. Some predictipns were apparently disproved, although prior to his deatii several years ago, he had an answer for everyone.
Whether or not his theory \was the culmination of an auspicious scientific career may not be determined for a generation or two,
r
[Cont'd, from page 1]
could be out of Lebanon within a few weeks, Peace Now claimed.
The opposition Labor Party called for a unilateral Israeli pullback to. the Awali River, north of Sidon, so that casualties can be kept to a minimum, Nearly 500 Israeli troops have fallen and some 2,700 have been wounded since last June
6. . ■
In the past few months, scores of Israelis have been killed and wounded in Palestinian ambushes.
In the Knesset, Begin said no one in Israel is hurt more by the casualties than he himself. He criticized the opposition for attacking his government in this difficult time.
"We shouldn't try to create the impression that there are those whose pain is greater
and those whose pain is less," hesaid.
Declaring confidence that Syria and the PLO would withdraw. Begin called on all Israelis "to stand together in this trial . . .. to attain conditions which wilT
enable our soldiers to return to their homes and families . . ."
Referring to the recent buildup bC Syrian forces in Lebanon, Begin wanted that Syria still poses a military threat. But, in a conciiiatory statement designed to lower the tensions of recent weeks, he added: "We should like to hope that hostilities won't break out, and I wish to state that we Imve absolutely no intention of attacking the Syrians."
Syria paid no heed.
President Hafez Assad, following a visit
to Libya, said thait war was coming because Is-
rael wants to create "a: state stretehing from the Euphrates River to the Nile." ■
The Syrian head of state said that the troop withdrawal agreement, which he has vigorously denounced, was in its "death stage."
Assad's ally, Muam-mar Quadafti, called for a "popular war" against Israel, and said he would finance, train and arm an Arab force.
Back in Lebanon, Libya's charge d'affaires in Beirut was severely wounded by unidentified
assassins, and shopkeepers opposed to Israel's presence staged a 1-day strike;
Exactly a year after Israel's invasion, Lebanon continued to be the focus regional turmoil and uncertainty.
antp-
are posing greater dangers
NEW YORK [JtA] —
The head of Italy's Jewish community said here recently that new anti-Jewish attitudes stemming from the Middle East conflict now posed greater dangers for European Jewry than older and more familiar forms of anti-semitism.
Tullia Zevi, president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities,
said also that "classic" anti-semitism was diminishing in Western Europe biit, she stressed, "continued vigilance against known neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic forces'' was still necessary.
Zevi, the first woman to serve as Italian Jewry's president, made her remarks at a session of the American Jewish Committee's 77th annual meeting.
Declaring that ''dealing With anti-semitism is how more complex than it was Just a few years ago,^' Zevi said that anti-Israel feelihgs that arose in many Western European countries after the
Lebanon wair haid "spilled over" onto local Jewish communities, causing a "tense and at times dangerous atmosphere."
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