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CANADIAN   JEWISH   REVIEW
April 17, 1959
"Peace, Peace To Him That Is Afar And To Him That Is Near"
ADDRESS TO THE BROTHERHOOD OF TEMPLE EMANU-EL, IN  MONTREAL
�Y AMIASSAOOR AITHUR LOUUI,  OP  IUAIL
The history of modern Israel, now moving into its second decade of independent national life, has been relatively brief. But no one would deny its lively vigour or its kaleidoscopic variety. Israel is no more than 8,000 square miles in area/ and much of that is desert. But, small as it is, this ancient land continues to arouse everywhere an interest and attention out of all proportion to its size.
For countless millions this is the land of the Book. The thoughts conceived, the words uttered, and the events that once took place in this sparse territory are woven into the very fabric of our civilization. And today the powerful tug of religious association has been stimulated and strengthened by the drama of the revival there of Jewish nationhood after an interval of ^two__thousanA- years of dispersion. As Winston Churchill once put it, "the reestablishment in our day of a Jewish State on the banks of the Jordan has nothing about it of the click-clack of
contemporary happenings. This is an event in world history."
And this has indeed been an act of national reassertion unique in the annals of man. It was given poignant emphasis in that it followed in the wake of the Nazi slaughter of the Jews of Europe. Six millions, more than four-fifths of all the Jews, who in 1939 had lived on that continent west of the Soviet Union, were done to death in a mass butchery beyond comprehension in its horror and magnitude.          ~
With this as background, the birth of the State of Israel and its survival in the face of immediate and seemingly overwhelming military assault, was rightly seen by the whole of the western world as above all a victory of the human .spirit. But statehood Was necessarily only a .beginning- -and -not -an^ *nd,�The years that followed 1948 have been years of struggle and of ferment for the people of Israel.
In the course of a single decade a million immigrants have poured
into Israel from all * over the world; the face of the country has been changed; dry lands irrigated and swamps drained; bare hills clothed with a covering of green trees, and the battle launched to conquer and make fertile the desert south. Industry, like agriculture, has been revolutionized and expanded to keep pace with the economic needs of a rapidly growing .and modern civilization. Most of this strikes the imagination and is visible to even the most casual visitor, though I recall an interesting contrast in perception between two visiting MP's from the United Kingdom whom I met on their arrival in Jerusalem after travelling up through the stony hills of Judea. One had noticed only the crags and rocks. The other, with more seeing eye, was stimulated
the ^yount^- trees-
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which he had observed everywhere shooting up between the rocks.
While all this feverish development has been going on, the people of Israel have had to face constant harassment and provoca-
munity in Europe outside of the Soviet Union was that of Rou-mania. Upon the establishment of Israel, the Roumanian Government initially placed no obstacles in the way of Jewish emigration. And in the first years of the State some 160,000 of the 400,000 Jews of Roumania sought home and haven in Israel. But suddenly in 1951, without warning or explanation, the Roumanian government put a total ban on all further departures. Thousands of families in~process of-transfer to Israel were split and broken, husbands were separated from wives, parents from children. Tens of thousands more saw the prospect of a new life in the land of their hopes snatched from them. Appeals for reconsideration seemed to fall on deaf ears,
And   then,   as   abruptly   as   it
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firm
Israel has in the last few months been suddenly resumed. Tens upon tens of thousands are taking advantage of the longed-for opportunity. Once again our slender resources are being taxed to the limit. Tl
reduced only after the defeat inflicted on Egypt two and a half years ago in the Sinai campaign. Throughout this -period the dominant themes of Israel's policy have been immigration and eco-
nomic development, defence of its people and territory, the consolidation of its international position, and peace. My purpose this evening is to talk to you about this last named aspect, peace. But before doing so I am bound to make at least a fleeting reference to a startling new development in another field.
At   the   end   of   the   war   the largest   remaining   Jewish   com-
inflow of refugees into the Israeli economy, already hard pressed, will be a herculean task. There will be hardship an4_suf-_ fering. Nor shall we succeed without the help of the Jewish
people everywhere. But these are our brothers and sisters. It was for just this that the State was created. This new situation will call for new even greater, more sustained efforts than in the past. It is a challenge which must, and I am sure will, be met, and you will hear much more on the subject in the coming weeks and months. For the mo-
M Pap Sixty-Fin)
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I wholly disapprove of what you **g and will defend to ike deatk your
right to toy it. � Voltaire to Helvetia*.
APRIL 17, 1958
OffiW
VOL ILL No, 29