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JEWISH    WESTERN BULLETIN
Friday, June
Fortune frowns on Nasser
"DON'T GAMBLE WITH YOUR ASSETS"
call
HAROLD MANN
OAKRIDGEINSURANC
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5504 Cambie St. FA 1-1
Insofar as Israel is concerned, news reports of events in the Middle East these past few weeks are now more heartening than they have been for a long while. This does not mean that the danger has entirely subsided, for the Egyptians are still receiving large quantities of modern armaments from the Soviet Union and Nazi scientists are still at work on projectiles   and   non-conventional weapons •whose manufacture is outlawed by most civilized countries. And although in the political arena Abdul Gamal Nasser has received two setbacks, there are indications that he has managed to sidestep any possible crisis at (home by not permitting the setbacks to appear as his own failures but rather as events beyond his control.
Nasser's biggest setback by far was his now aborted plan for the establishment of a new federation of Arab states. The scheme, which seemed so close to realization only a short time previously, has been thwarted as a result of Baathist domination of the governments of Syria and Iraq. Both of these countries, it will be recalled, had experienced pro-Nasser coups and it looked almost certain that a new U.A.R. would be formed, particularly after the announcement from Cairo that agreement on such a union had been reached.
To make matters even worse as far as Israel was, concerned, the "unity" talks were followed by pro-Nasser demonstrations in neighbouring Jordan and mounting indications that the ruling rhohafchy would soon be overthrown. The reign of young King Hussein seemed to hang in thie balance and it seemed imminent that he would be removed either by assassination or by his seeking personal asylum and choosing not to return home after his state visit to America.
But tjien came word cf: disagreement among the Arab "unity" delegates meeting in Cairo, differences on important constitutional matters for the as yet unborn unified state. This was followed by a strong Baathist show of force ih both Syria and Iraq which succeeded in subduing completely the pro-Nasser revolutionaries. Of course Nasser can now say that these new developments only go to prove
that he had not subverted their governments and that the revolutionaries had never been supported by him. Yet he will not be able to deny that he strongly favoured the new federation and had pubhcly acclaimed its formation. That his statements turned out to be somewhat premature has now been confirmed and there is little prospect that a federation of the kind which Nasser originally envisioned will come about in the near future.
In nearby Jordan, therefore, and in Saudi Arabia, two kings breathe easier. Hussein seems safe for the moment, as does King Saud who also had had good reason to fear that he would be next if his cousin lost his head.
In Israel, also, the immediate danger has passed. For her the crisis was essentially as grave as that which Jordan faced except that Egypt has never promised to drive the Jordanians into the sea. There is no doubt whatever that had Nasser succeeded in his plans for the overthrow of King Hussein, the State of Israel would have been in the gravest jeopardy. Israel would have had little choice but to movQ her armies across the banks of the Jordan River as perhaps the only means of defending her sovereignty. (A glance at a map of tHe area reveals that  Israel's longest border adjoins Jordan and that the diminutivie size of the Jewish State prohibits a successful defensive war within her own boundaries; I na country a fraction the size of Vancouver Island there is just no place to retreat). That is why the Israelis, on numerous occasions, have proclaimed their intentions of taking defensive measures such as these in the event that pivo-Nasser  elements  overthrow  the Jordanian king. Incidentally, the defensive nature of such
From the
Rabbi's Study
Rabbi Bexnard Galdenberg
Schara Tzedeck Congregation
During this celebrated the
past   week we Holiday of Sha-vuoth.   The celebration of this Festival has many overtones and undertones.   There   are echoes md nuances.    Wrapr?d un in his holiday   are   History, Religion and Agriculture.   But basic to all   nuances,   shadings and echoes is the central core of the hoUday — a commemoration of the giving of tHe Torah at Sinai.
This is Shavuoth, and we are fairly safe in thinking that this sveiit, so central to the history, mission and purpose of the Jewish people, is well worth celebrating and commemorating.
the security preparations made by the U.S. in the face of Cuban acquirement of Soviet missiles. The only difference is the disparity of strength between the two threatened nations. And it is also interesting to note that had Hussein's government toppled as a result of direct Egypt intervention, as in Yemen, the young Hashemite monarch would have found a rather strange but formidable ally coming to his aid, the army of Israel.
Well, then, an event of such vast importance surely deserved to be pinned down in time and place. The specific time ought ;o be underlined and trumpeted in the original   telling   of the
an action on Israel's part would not be unlike (event.   And the event certainly
needs a glorious and most specific setting or physical place. So would we think. So it has been throughout history. But not so the Torah. Not so the enduring spiritual heritage of our people.
African rebuff
Meanwhile, Nasser has also been suffering other setbacks. The Egyptian forces which he sent to help in the aforementioned Yemen revolution did not fare too well, militarily speaking. At one point, in fact, the Nasser armies were in dire danger of total defeat and had to be rescued from disaster by the other revolutionaries. The resulting loss of prestige proved costly, for such a lacklustre display could hardly inspire the people of Syria and Iraq to turn over their sovereignty to another nation so poorly equipped to defend her own borders, much less theirs.
Another most serious loss of stature for the Egyptian dictator, which experts consider may have far-reaching consequences, was of a political nature. For many years Nasser has succeeded in using the forums of African conferences to launch violent attacks against the Israelis.
Thus it was expected that he would do so again at the recently concluded Addis Ababa all-African conference. He made the attempt but failed. Nasser was forewarned, reportedly by his confrere, Ben Bella of Algeria, that any anti-Israel motion he might try to put before the assembly was doomed to defeat. Not only would the African states which are friendly to Israel vote down such a measure, but even the other Arab nations would be certain to oppose it.
The address which Nasser finally made was considered one of the v/eakest at the African conference. He devoted one paragraph to Israel:
"We have come here without selfishness. Even the problem which we consider
In the Torah's telling of the Sinai story the date is nowhere mentioned. Also, the place and setting for this event is a no-man's-land, a midbar, a wilderness, rather than a specific, clearly marked inhabited place. There is a suspicion about in Rabbinic sources that this is deliberate, a conscientious unconcern with time and r.'ace when related to Torah. Why?
Well, let us look at it this way.   Without  too   critical an examination there   are voices which relegate Torah, its disciplines and ioys to an obsolete past.    A lost world, a sort of {spiritual "Atlantis" bounded by the cave age, the first wheel, fire from rubbing sticks and stones : together and a hot climate that I knew   not   freezers and frigi-daires.
"Ah, but times have changed" — goes the litany of the critical
cipation of the committe This is the vague rejoin excusing to one's self on noring the demands of a discipline.
To this   the   divine m says: Sorry, no time and recorded for Torah. Fr very  beginning the Tora placed itself beyond the b ries of time and place. The has meaning for all Jews, ficance for all climes, rel for all times.
Twenty-two orbits and a ship to Venus have no diminished the joy of th bath or its urgency. (Th may even be on the othe Donning Prayer Shawl a Jin is compatible with technology.   Who knows, may even be wisdom lef in Sabbath, Tfilin, Kashru the Torah standards for lity to propel a drifting towards peace and serenit
The Jew in 1963, no les his nomadic ancestor of ries ago will find in the rich rewards and many jo short, life and a way of lif indeed it is a tree of life to that grasp it, and of the uphold it everyone is re happy.
How could it   be oth when this Torah of ours yond   the   fadings of tim tarnish of r.lace and the quacy and firiiteness of th tal mind.
Thought for the
Collectors of charity r a reward equivalent to t ward of all those who d Zohar,  The T
to be one of our most serious problems, namely that of Israel, on which the Casablanca member states rightly share our view that it is one of the tools of imperialist infiltration to the continent and one of its bases of organization, we shall not
submit the problem for discussion at this meeting in the conviction that the progress of the free African endeavour will, through trial, reveal the truth day after day and lay it unmasked before the African conscience." gentry who have not tasted the
involvem-snts of Judaism and Generally speaking, the failure of Nasser have not experienced the parti-at the Ethiopian conference was seen as a most important victory for Israel whose diplomacy and aid to new African countries outweighed i anything that the Egyptian leader could mus- I ter. (Nasser was doubtless aware that had he I insisted on presenting the customary anti-1 Israel motion, forcing the African states to go \ on record against him, this would have hurt i him in the long run.) i
It therefore becomes apparent, once again, i that Nasser is not prepared to provoke another ; 2'ound with Israel—be it political or military— ' as long as there is a risk of another Sinai. He knows, better than anyone, that one more \ such defeat could result in his own downfall, i In the meantime, therefore, he continues his ; waiting game, all the while building up his strength for the day when he estimates the ■ gamble will be in his favour. i
JEWISH CALENDAR (LU
Candle Lighting
JUNE 7 - 8:52
1963 5723 Rosh Hashana Se Yom Kippur Se Succoth
All holidaj's iDegin on preceding evening.
Endorsations Gran
T.T.  Barbeque .......... J
Pioneer AV'o. Garden Party Ju
S.T. Picnic..............Ju
B. B. 66S Inst. Officer.s and   Reception ................ Ju
R.B. No. 77 Garden Party Ju
B. I. Si.ster'.s Scliecter Tea Ju
Golden As^e Bazaai'......Ju
L. Freiman Garden Party ..Jui
Pioneer Wo. Donor Lunch Ju
Richmond C.C. Splasii &
Cliuckwagon .......... Jul
The Jewish Western Bulletin
Official Organ of the Vancouver Jewish    Community Council
FRIDAY, JUNE 7. 1963
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