tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12677825.post1354847219476792392..comments2024-03-14T02:22:26.957+00:00Comments on Point of No Return: Jewish Refugees from Arab and Muslim Countries: An illuminating interview with the late Simon LevyUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12677825.post-22994694858077585342012-02-29T01:45:24.698+00:002012-02-29T01:45:24.698+00:00Just a clarification: when he speaks of "stud...Just a clarification: when he speaks of "studying" Arabic, he is evidently referring to the standard, or as they used to call it, the classical Arabic - the language of the Koran, books, speeches and newspapers.<br /><br />It is evident that most Jews in Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Morocco knew those countries' respective dialects, which are also called "arabic". Those arabic dialeects are still widely spoken in Israel.Sylvianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12677825.post-7980849230146973442012-02-29T01:27:54.766+00:002012-02-29T01:27:54.766+00:00I have a lot of respect for Simon Levy z"l, t...I have a lot of respect for Simon Levy z"l, there are just a few points of the interview I would like to address.<br /><br />When he said "Hebrew" he meant Hebrew language of course. It is true that Hebrew was not taught as a living language in the Alliance schools, but rather as means to understand Hebrew texts, and for reasons that should have been obvious to him: The AIU has never prepared its students to be Israelis, has never discussed modern Israel or preached Aliya. That point should be clear.<br />Having said that, when I went to school we had - girls - 2 hours a week of Hebrew and boys many more (perhaps 6 or 8) hrs a week, outside of religious instruction. <br /><br /><br />Arabic was probably not taught in his day in Jewish schools yet- for the simple reason that Arabic was taught only in the ecoles coraniques and the madrassas well into the period of the French Protectorate. Even Muslims didn't study Arabic as a living language, but rather in a theological context. The AIU started teaching Arabic to its students when it became permitted. He should have known all that.<br />Another point is that Muslim governments didn't generally finance education of Jews, and it was the business of the communities according to their means. So when you have two famines, a French war of conquest, and a WWII back to back, Simon Levy should have thanked God for the AIU, growing up as he did under Vichy France.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Another thing that puzzles me is the jump from 1948 to 1956, skipping over the dramatic events of 1953-55 in all of North Africa and in Morocco in particular, that sent hundred of thousands of Jews packing. I have noticed the same phenomenon in a program on radio Israel for the State's sixtieth Birthday. I have also noticed the same omission in Martin Gilbert's book. <br /><br />I am going to say something controversial here - for a change - but for all those inaccuracies, as I look around me today and I read some of the antisemitic venom spewed by Jewish radical leftists and anti-zionists of the Ashkenazi persuasion, with their insinuations of dual loyalty and their total indifference to the fate of the Jewish people, I must say that I am proud of people like Simon Levy, Amram Elmaleh, Abraham Serfaty and others, who, for all their radical anti-Zionism and socialism, remained true to themselves, kept their feet where their heart was, and never ever attempted to harm their fellow Jews.<br /><br /><br />May he rest in peace.Sylvianoreply@blogger.com