I was moved by the article, which in true Arnold fashion was literary, descriptive and from the heart. I will share a brief story relating to our taking a team of our Model UN trainers to the UAE in 2019. Although I have the obviously Jewish last name of Jacobson, I and our band of educators were treated to warm Arabic hospitality and graciousness. But in the classrooms we visited, no map in any of the text books showed the State of Israel. Only desert. And on our last day there, a young student came up to one of our instructors and handed her a flower, as he said, "You are truly a great teacher. It is a shame you will burn in Hell." The Arab street, as well as the Jewish street have a lot to overcome.
I too have been fascinated by the Middle East, since I met my life long friend, Yasin Balbaky, z l'b, on the steps of Dwight Hall, UCBerkeley in September 1956. We were both first year medical students, I from Beverly Hills and UCLA, he from Damascus, Syria, and U. of Texas, I, a reform Jew (who knew nothing about Judaism) and he a Damascene Muslim, educated in Madrasas and as culturally Arabic as one could be. Our friendship lasted 50 years, until he died in Boston, MA, and I, at his bedside. He and his wife Barbara braved the "Storm of the Century" in March, 1993, to be at my Jewish, Orthodox wedding and he, after the party was over, arm on my shoulder, said "It was like a beautiful Arab wedding".
All of this to show how a restricted intimacy with the Middle East, through experience with one person and his family, leads to a different point of view from that of another, who, like Dr. Arnold Rosen, sees Jewish-Arab relationships through the fine reporting of the ladies on either side of the conflict
I, the neurologist, Yasin, the psychiatrist of the Great Era of the American drug culture, looked at the same world, while walking next to each other, on different paths. He loved Arab culture and Moslem history. I loved listening to his recitations of Arab poetry, and finally, in 1974, traveled to Damascus and lived in his father's house for two months, specially to be there to meet his father, mother, siblings, nieces and nephews, and servants. I went to Heflis, Turkish Baths, visited the family of his father's second wife and began to understand the many, complicated, family arrangements in our own , Jewish, polygamous, biblical history.
On and on, living through the modern history described by Dr. Rosen, I watched with Yasin, both saddened by tragic killing and murders of young men (women and children too) and neither understanding why those living in that earthly spot where our ancestors discovered the nature of the One, Great, Eternal and Blessed God, could not forgive each other and live in peace.
I am glad that Yasin did not live to see the tragic agony of the Syrian world and the ruins of the so called Arab Spring. He and I always had hoped for a peaceful ending -- I still do. Rabbi Sacks said that Jewish history did not permit Jews to be optimists -- those who were, ended up in Auschwitz whereas those who were pessimists, ended up in Palestine. Nonetheless, out of that came "Ha-tikvah", that which Jews have always given to this fragmented world that so needs tikkun olam -- we have always given it hope.
The great American-British physician, Sir William Osler, said that a true physician was always at the bedside to give his patient hope. Perhaps that is why there have been so many fine and true, Jewish physicians.
May I offer this comment to Dr. Rosen's wonderful, nostalgic essay with a blessing that we find true peace and hasten the coming of the Moshiach in our day. I will gratefully settle for a day in the time of my grandchildrens' children.
I was moved by the article, which in true Arnold fashion was literary, descriptive and from the heart. I will share a brief story relating to our taking a team of our Model UN trainers to the UAE in 2019. Although I have the obviously Jewish last name of Jacobson, I and our band of educators were treated to warm Arabic hospitality and graciousness. But in the classrooms we visited, no map in any of the text books showed the State of Israel. Only desert. And on our last day there, a young student came up to one of our instructors and handed her a flower, as he said, "You are truly a great teacher. It is a shame you will burn in Hell." The Arab street, as well as the Jewish street have a lot to overcome.
I too have been fascinated by the Middle East, since I met my life long friend, Yasin Balbaky, z l'b, on the steps of Dwight Hall, UCBerkeley in September 1956. We were both first year medical students, I from Beverly Hills and UCLA, he from Damascus, Syria, and U. of Texas, I, a reform Jew (who knew nothing about Judaism) and he a Damascene Muslim, educated in Madrasas and as culturally Arabic as one could be. Our friendship lasted 50 years, until he died in Boston, MA, and I, at his bedside. He and his wife Barbara braved the "Storm of the Century" in March, 1993, to be at my Jewish, Orthodox wedding and he, after the party was over, arm on my shoulder, said "It was like a beautiful Arab wedding".
All of this to show how a restricted intimacy with the Middle East, through experience with one person and his family, leads to a different point of view from that of another, who, like Dr. Arnold Rosen, sees Jewish-Arab relationships through the fine reporting of the ladies on either side of the conflict
I, the neurologist, Yasin, the psychiatrist of the Great Era of the American drug culture, looked at the same world, while walking next to each other, on different paths. He loved Arab culture and Moslem history. I loved listening to his recitations of Arab poetry, and finally, in 1974, traveled to Damascus and lived in his father's house for two months, specially to be there to meet his father, mother, siblings, nieces and nephews, and servants. I went to Heflis, Turkish Baths, visited the family of his father's second wife and began to understand the many, complicated, family arrangements in our own , Jewish, polygamous, biblical history.
On and on, living through the modern history described by Dr. Rosen, I watched with Yasin, both saddened by tragic killing and murders of young men (women and children too) and neither understanding why those living in that earthly spot where our ancestors discovered the nature of the One, Great, Eternal and Blessed God, could not forgive each other and live in peace.
I am glad that Yasin did not live to see the tragic agony of the Syrian world and the ruins of the so called Arab Spring. He and I always had hoped for a peaceful ending -- I still do. Rabbi Sacks said that Jewish history did not permit Jews to be optimists -- those who were, ended up in Auschwitz whereas those who were pessimists, ended up in Palestine. Nonetheless, out of that came "Ha-tikvah", that which Jews have always given to this fragmented world that so needs tikkun olam -- we have always given it hope.
The great American-British physician, Sir William Osler, said that a true physician was always at the bedside to give his patient hope. Perhaps that is why there have been so many fine and true, Jewish physicians.
May I offer this comment to Dr. Rosen's wonderful, nostalgic essay with a blessing that we find true peace and hasten the coming of the Moshiach in our day. I will gratefully settle for a day in the time of my grandchildrens' children.