The Phoenix Jewish news., 1959-03-27

OCAAA \ Al NAAASAAf W ~SAA ~
children"
HE PUT THE thinking of the Is
raeli on this subject into the follow
ing words: "I realize what we're
building here is too late for my life
time, but the next generation will
benefit"
And he reports the children,
quite conscious of this feeling and
in the knowledge that they must
also sacrifice although realizing
they could live quite comfortably
in the U.S., possess fierce ma
tionalistic spirit.
"The feeling of Jewishness in Is
rael," Fireman asserted, lis not
the religious type of Jewishness we
have here. 1t is a patriotic and
historic type of thing. The Bible is
known well, studied in school as a
historic document and quoted
much by young folk. This again is
not in a ritualistic sense but more
in a prophetic sense.
s"THE YOUNG PEOPLE realize
that theirs is long struggle. This
is brought home by the fact that
when they are youngsters in school
they start defensive military train
ing. Kids in the border kibbutzim
are definitely trained in the mill
tary, for the kibbutz not only is
farm establishment but 'front.'
ier military outpost"
Both boys and girls are subject
to the military draft and after their
service many serve year IN a
border kibbutZ, Fireman noted.
He quotes a remark attributed to
Premier Ben Gurion to explain the
spirit of the people: "A man who
doesn't believe in miracles is not a
realist."
"WHAT HE is saying" declar-
ed the columniSt, ''iS that the
whole Israel future is dependent
upon the miraculous change OF this
desert into a garden and its de-
fense upon almost miraculous
courage and tenacity.
'In an area smaller than Mari
copa County, not as rich agricultu-
rally, and hampered by limited
water supply, the people maintain
an army and navy, make iv-
ing, have their own industry. This
has no comparison in our own
economy. They appear to be do
ing quite a remarkable job, ap-
preaching economical balance In
agricultural imports and exports.
A remarkable example of the
Israelis' spirit, the newsmen point
ed out, is their acceptance OF new
burdens of immigration (which Will
throw the farm economy into inn
balance again-they accepted with
virtually no grumbling whatsoever
a compulsory "loan" to the govern
ment of 6 to IL per cent of their
/ income.
FIREMAN FOUND almost m-
limited farm land available but
a severe water shortage; hence, a
shift appears under way to in
crease industrial production while
a pipeline is being built from the
desert toward the Jordan River.
While the Israelis hope to settle
political problems now blocking
the tapping of Jordan waters by
the time the pipeline reaches the
river, he reported, industry is MAX
ing giant strides towards eXpan-
sion.
| 1.-The immigration is bringing
people with great skills into the
country" said Fireman. Zone OF
the problems is to re-educate the
Jewish people to do all tasks.
THROUGH THIS 'normaliza-
tion,' being achieved under the
leadership of the kibbutzim, there
is no sense of false dignity or false
pride by young people. The feeling
that a Jew must be a scholar or
a professional man has been over
come"
Now, he said, the stage has been
set for Israel to use new SkillS to
develop new products, and the
forerunners are such things as ad-
hesive tape manufacture for ex-
port to the entire Middle East,
production of raincoats for sale in
Europe and the United States, and