ISRAEL YHA
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leave, part of which he spends for his pleasure, in dining-room duties or milking cows.
What I love in Israel is the constant challenge to seek solutions, both in my own scientific work, or when I am engrossed in thoughts as a citizen. A mile away from that kibbutz — so heavily soaked in idealism and inhabited by people who know what they want and love what they know (to quote Cromwell) — one may come upon a settlement of newly-arrived immigrants from
Russia, Morocco, France or Rumania, who have been assembled here to start their life..
Such a settlement is a sample of what we call 'the melting-pot' — a term borrowed from metallurgy — and our challenge, or problem rather, is that we are dealing with human beings; how does one melt them? To me, Israel's greatest challenge as a nation today IS its ability to re-weld the "returned 'into one
people and not into a co-existence of various cultures and tongues.
It is almost a national sport in the Israel I love to invent new Hebrew words constantly, since the one common indisputable element embracing all its Jewish citizens is the language. From the very beginning it has be' come nearly an end in itself, even a passion; to revive the seemingly dormant language of the prophets, for we realised that here the language could be a uniting factor rather than — as in other cases — a barrier. And S? one has to invent words for, say, 'tractor' • newspaper 'fountain-pen ', as well as for thousands of parts of modern machinery.'' things unmentioned in the Bible for the simple reason that they did not exist in those days. I love the heated discussions in the newspapers, the daily announcements over the radio, concerning new words, and the Bpriboolef. given for their linguistic origin in the The Israel I love is not without blemisheS and shortcomings, but still, I love it, as on! does, with understanding and compassion. believe that the faults are not basic but rather an outcome of the unprecendented historicd
phenomenon happening in this country, an that they may disappear in time. But the Israel I love — perhaps unfortn'
nately — is not, to paraphrase the Bible, e people that dwell alone, not reckoned among the nations. Here, more than in any other sphere, Israel finds itself at loggerheads not only with those whose sole aim is its annihila tion, but also, sometimes, with friends. lt, seems to the latter (no use commenting aboul the former, since one cannot compromise on one's very existence) that we are sometiMes over-chauvinistic, too petty about suer' things as frontiers and do not offer our other cheek often enough. These traits may be true, but what irritates us is that such advice often comes froln people who act exactly as we do when it con' cerns themselves, although they are far mote secure, far more powerful and could hfivil demonstrated these high ideals with less ris than we. But then we are told: "true, but yo_u are the chosen people and should therefore different." Here, indeed, is one of the ba57
internal conflicts as well. The leaders of thl country often quote the Biblical expressio about Israel's raison d'être. At the same Pole'
for the sake of securing our very existence; we have to do things which, although do"w by others too, are not, to say the least, sYn.
onymous with 'light.' or
Maybe it has so been ordained that! • fe some time to come, the Israel I love will to be torn between high ideals and ban needs, with the hope, nay, the challenge, thiie some day the ideals will prevail and becorn
the sole criteria for its conduct.
Professor Yadin is the former Gerle'-f Yadin, Hagannah leader and Chief of Staff Israel's army, who returned to academic 14; and archaeology. He is worhing on the Sea scrolls, but does not exclude a return active politics.
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