JEWISH SENTINEL

JEWISH SENTINEL • JUNE 18 - 24, 2021 25 Dylan Treasure continued from page 19 continued from page 24 T hemission of Jewish day schools should be to teach students how to think, not what to think. I am sure that Heschel and other day schools see themselves as doing just that. But the school’s anti-racism state- ment suggests otherwise, at least in the domain of the most important social issue of our time. How many Jewish day schools’ anti-racism curricula examine the various assumptions of CRT and provide competing theoretical ap- proaches, such as the role of eco- nomics, culture and past oppres- sion in explaining disparities? How many schools that assign students to read How to be an Antiracist also assign them read- ing from a black heterodox think- er such as John McWhorter? I’ll be pleasantly surprised if any do. Books like How to be an Antiracist and Robin DiAngelo’s White Fra- gility are often treated more like holy texts than books. Is this really the only way Jewish day schools can teach about racial equality? The obvious answer is no. New Trier Township High School, a magnet school in the Chi- cago area, makes its commitment to kids from the ghetto to the out- side, personally saving a child of a friend by taking her through the sewers. The descriptions of what she and the child endured – similar to what the other guides and their groups of 10 children each encoun- tered – was terrifying. She and the Underground saved 2,500 Jewish children from certain death. Irena was betrayed, arrested and tortured at Gestapo headquarters in Warsaw. The Nazis wanted the names and whereabouts of the Un- derground leaders and the children. She refused. A gain, the descriptions are painful to read. “Irena woke. Her eyes were puffed, and she could feel the pain in her cheeks. The fire in her legs was worse. She lay on the floor of her cell, her clothes in rags.... “How long had she endured his [the Gestapo chief’s] torture? She couldn’t keep track of the time. Months had passed, that was cer- tain. She had no idea how she had endured.” I’m of two minds when it comes to history-fiction hybrids like Irena’s War. On the one hand, they bring historical epochs to life much better than scholarly accounts, and educate people who might not read about im- portant events in history books. But these are essentially works of fiction. Because this is a novel, the author is not as obligated to stick to the truth as a historian would. After all, the main purpose of a novel is to tell a good story. Inevitably, there- fore, we leave books like these with strong impressions and ideas that may or may not be accurate. With that said, I must admit that this is an extremely well-written, interesting account of a heroic woman whose exploits deserve more exposure. Actually, “interesting” is not the word, “haunting” is. The images of ghetto life are so strongly construct- ed, the characters so well drawn that I found myself worrying about their survival. It was hard for me to look away. And I desperately wanted to. So, yes, fellow senile seniors and masochists, Irena’s War is for us. Aaron Leibel is a writer. His mem- oir, Figs and Alligators: An Ameri- can Immigrant’s Life in Israel in the 1970s and 1980s (Chickadee Prince Books), can be purchased online. an educationally diverse approach very clear. It states unequivocally that “a fundamental aspect of our mission is to develop critical think- ers who can navigate a complex world through civil discourse, re- spectful inquiry, engaged listening and open consideration of multiple perspectives … the open exchange of ideas lies at the core of a demo- cratic society in which individuals are accountable for their actions and treat one another with dignity, compassion and respect.” Jewish day schools should be no less dedicated to critical think- ing and viewpoint diversity. Every Jewish day-school parent should insist that their children are given a full range of perspectives. Ev- ery day school principal should articulate the value of viewpoint diversity made explicit in the Tri- er school statement. Every day, school teachers should teach mul- tiple points of view — not just on Israel and Zionism, but on race and racism, gender and sexuality. In today’s polarized environ- ment, rife with fake news and ma- nipulation, if ever there was a time to double down on teaching criti- cal thinking skills free of dogma, now is it. David Bernstein is the founder of the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values (JILV.org ). “I love Dylan’s voice but I think artists here realized they didn’t have to sound like Sinatra, and they could fashion their own vocal style.” France, makes no attempt to sketch a complete account but offers sep- arate case studies, some thematic (Muhammad as idol or as fraud), others geographical (Spain, En- gland) or varied in outlook (En- lightenment, Judaism). As the author of many other books on the subject of European responses to Islam (indeed, he calls this study “the fruit of a career”), Tolan ably and elegantly steers the reader from one insightful example to another to build a convincing case for the “anything but mono- lithic” views of Muhammad. One favorite example: the extraordinary 1856 passage written by Heinrich Graetz in his 11-volume History of the Jews: If Muhammad was “not a loyal son of Judaism, ... he ap- preciated its highest aims, and was induced by it to give to the world a new faith, known as Islam, found- ed on a lofty basis. This religion has exercised a wonderful influ- ence on Jewish history and on the evolution of Judaism.” That said, there is something unsatisfying about examples not tethered together into a cohesive account. How are we to be sure that Tolan’s exemplars are rep- resentative or significant? For example, while Massignon and Watt definitely epitomize the school of Christian scholarship of those who “tried to reconcile their Christian faith with the rec- ognition of the positive, spiritual nature of Muhammad’s mission,” how do they compare in impor- tance to those Christian scholars who rejected such a reconcilia- tion? What is the relationship be- tween the schools, and which had more importance? Why discuss only the one and not the other? The Prophet’s Heir: The Life of Ali ibn Abi Talib. By Has- san Abbas. T his reader admits to certain expecta- tions on open- ing a book pub- lished by Yale University Press and written by a Distinguished Professor of In- ternational Rela- tions at the Near East South Asia Strategic Studies Center of the Na- tional Defense University. The center, it bears noting, is a U.S. Department of Defense unit “fo- cused on enhanc- ing security cooperation” between Americans and regional “foreign and defense policy professionals, diplomats, academics, and civil so- ciety leaders.” Those expectations primarily con- cern scholarly objectivity; one does not expect to find a devout Shiite Muslim tract. That, however, defines The Prophet’s Heir, an apologia for the key figure of Shiism, one of the most important personages of Islamic history, and the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, Islam’s prophet. Consider how Abbas describes his subject in his introduction: the Distinguished Professor of Inter- national Relations whose salary is paid by the U.S. taxpayer informs us on page one about Ali’s “match- less valour as well as spirituali- ty.” He describes Islam as begin- ning “when the archangel Gabriel graced the city of Makkah [Mecca] with a divine message for someone very special. ... God’s last proph- et on earth.” Page two goes on to explain that the divine message to Muhammad was “a continuation of what had already been revealed, but that had been forgotten or modified” — this being precise- ly Islam’s standard, superior, and disdainful view of Judaism and Christianity. Page four calls Ali “an avid advocate for justice ... a brave warrior.” The apologetics also go far be- yond Ali. Page nine announces that Muslims “excelled in areas rang- ing from arts and sciences to state- craft and empire-building across the continents during the last fourteen centuries.” The next 190 pages continue in a similar da’wa (missionary) spirit, not bothering even to disguise the hagiography as biography but overtly treating pious history as factual history. That a reverent Shiite Muslim should want to write such a paean to his religious paragon is natural enough. But that the U.S. govern- ment funds and Yale University disseminates such Sunday-school materials surprises and dismays this reader. The Prophet’s Heir should alarm those concerned about the separa- tion of church and state, those wor- ried about government waste, and those fearful of lawful Islamist en- croachments on the public square. Daniel Pipes is the director of the Middle East Forum and a prize-winning columnist. Ecstasy continued from page 20 “Muhammad occupies a crucial and ambivalent place in the European imagination …,” viewed as satanic to most positive. The Prophet’s Heir: The Life of Ali ibn Abi Talib By Hassan Abbas Yale University Press, 2021 239 pp., $30 Books like these leave ideas that may or may not be accurate. Still, I must admit that this is extremely well-written.