Reading Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein of the Simon Wiesenthal Center

This article was originally lined to the VOW site which no longer exists. I have linked to the article on the Layman site. For the second part of Rabbi Adlerstein's article look under the Laymen's archives of VOW articles.  

For the weekend I am linking to an article that is relevant to the subject of Israel and Palestine. It is at the Voices of Orthodox Women's web site, and is a review of Dr. Mary Mikhael's "Joshua: A Journey of Faith," Horizon's Bible Study.

The article is by Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. In speaking to the study he is also dealing with some of the issues I have been writing about here. In the body of the article he takes various statements from the study and explains how they are either insufficient in information or simply wrong. The article is "A Rabbi Reflects on the Horizons Study of Joshua Part I" it begins:

"The Book of Joshua is part of the Bible. To believers, every part of the Bible offers us some Divine instruction. In some cases, the message is instantly available and always uplifting. In other cases, the simple meaning of the text is obscure or even disturbing. In such cases, the true student will realize that he/she must work even harder to insure that what is learned is part of G-d’s teaching, and not our own agendas catching a ride on His words.

I read Joshua: A Journey of Faith by Mary Mikhael with sadness and pain. It does not at all read like a study guide, but as advocacy for a political position. I believe that the content is not only imbalanced, but full of distortion, error, and counter-factual material. I do not expect anyone to take my word for it, but I am honored to have the opportunity to present a very different narrative. It is my hope that people who are interested in the truth realize that it only emerges by listening with rapt attention to differing and often opposing perspectives. The truth usually emerges from the dialectic."

And a different part:

"Following the 1948 establishment of the state of Israel, approximately 750,000 indigenous Palestinian Arabs and Jews were displaced and forced from their homes. [From the Study]

"In 1948, after the UN Partition went into effect, five Arab armies attacked the fledgling State. Azzam Pasha, Secretary-General of the Arab League announced, 'This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades.'

Israel had explicitly welcomed its Arab residents to become citizens. Some Arabs ran in fright. Others were told by their own to leave their homes, because Arab armies were going to wipe out the Jews, and they would be able to return when the battle was one. They were forced by their own leaders, not by Jews, with some notable exceptions that did occur. Benny Morris, long a leftist critic of Israel, did the definitive study and brought to light the exceptions – and then surprised the world by showing how they were a very minor part of the exodus from Israel."

So please, here is an opportunity to read the story from the point of view of a Jewish scholar. Do go to the VOW site and read.