Teach Jews Some Arabic

The Jerusalem Post has a report that the education system here wants to get serious about teaching Arabic to all kids. I love this idea. I wish they’d properly teach English, Arabic and Hebrew to every kid here.

You know what I think would happen if all Israelis learned Arabic? Israelis would notice how much they really hate us on their official media channels and they’ll notice that they rarely hate Zionists and often hate Yehud. We wouldn’t have to wait for MEMRI and PMW to translate everything.

Do remember that a sizeable number of Jews do come from homes that used to speak Arabic, I know the children of current generations of Sephardic and Misrachi Jews have declining Arabic but some still learn it (or learn to understand it). And these are often the right leaning voters the left are scared of.

So be careful what you wish for, happy-clappy, coexisters: I’m far from convinced that if we understand our neighbours better, we’re more likely to be able to live peacefully.

And remember, a larger number of Arabs (especially the ones who want to succeed and have a productive life) learn Hebrew. And this, somehow, has lead to an absolute refusal to allow one Jew to live in their dreamed for State of Palestine? How much coexistence did that give rise to?

I also think there is a religious aspect to this: learning the Koran is forbidden for Dhimmis and I suspect there would be more than a few on their side who’d be horrified if we started teaching our kids Arabic en-masse. Because some of us would pick up the Koran and look at that too (and even though most of the English translations are relatively honest) the Arabic is far less ambiguous on subjects like how harshly a husband can beat his wife.

Wider understanding of both Islamic and modern Arabic culture would convince most Israelis that there is very little chance of an accommodation.

For the record I think it’s astonishing that my kids aren’t taught Arabic.

Jerusalem Post: Ministers approve mandatory Arabic studies from first grade

A bill approved on Sunday by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation would make it mandatory for schools to teach Arabic from the first grade.

The measure was introduced by MK Oren Hazan (Likud), who said that in supporting the legislation in the middle of a wave of terrorism, the government was signaling that it seeks coexistence and calm.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett was also among the bill’s supporters.

Hazan encouraged lawmakers from the coalition and opposition to put politics aside and vote in favor of the measure when it is put to a preliminary Knesset vote on Wednesday. He saw Arabic studies from an early age as providing a bridge between different parts of Israel’s population.

“In these days, when terror is on the rise and coexistence is undermined, it’s important to lower the flames among the nation’s citizens, and there is no better way to do that than by understanding each other’s language, to understand the culture and mentality of 1.5 million Arab citizens of Israel and hundreds of millions of Arabic- speakers in the Middle East,” Hazan said.

“I have no doubt that when the Jewish population will understand Arabic, the way the Arab public understands Hebrew, we will see better days,” Hazan also said.

28 thoughts on “Teach Jews Some Arabic”

    1. ahad_ha_amoratsim

      Let’s just say that generations of living under ‘tolerant’ Arab rule has made them a bit more realistic about the joys of living under that arrangement, and about what to expect in a “state of all its peoples” with a non-Jewish majority.

  1. In NYC, many of my daughter’s friends had grandparents who spoke Arabic at home as their first language, mostly from Syria. Shame they were not given opportunity to use their language knowledge for US to translate the boxes of materials seized when Kahane was shot. The world could be in a very different place, if those reams of Arabic materials and threats were taken seriously and not stuffed in a back storage room.

  2. Learning to be proficient in three languages sounds like a good idea for Israelis, Brian. We Americans have a hard time with English alone, but too many of us oppose teaching Spanish as a second language in our public schools or even allowing all curricula to be taught in Spanish to limited English proficient students. For some, it’s a sign that by learning to speak Spanish, we Americans are somehow losing our culture and national identity. It’s a real political powder keg, too.

    1. ahad_ha_amoratsim

      See my reply to JB.
      I barely squeaked thru beginning French in High School and beginning Italian in college, and cannot use either language well enough to order a cup of coffee.
      Then again, you should have seen my latest attempt at ordering in Israel — two café hafuch, one decaf with regular milk and artificial sweetener, the other regular coffee, fat-free milk and unsweetened. The achi behind the counter did not speak English, but was very patient at guiding me thru my stumbling Hebrew.

      1. It was 4 semesters of college German in the intensive reading track for me and I cannot read the language today. Americans are not naturally inclined to pick up a second language. I notice that Hebrew speakers (I assume native ones) like to pick apart those who don’t speak or write the language properly. Maybe they’re trying to be helpful, but it sounds to me like they like to nit pick a little too much.

        1. ahad_ha_amoratsim

          A lotta Jews in Neve Yakov and even Ramat Bet Shemesh Alef, probably more in RBS Bais, Cholon, Z. Yakov, Geula, Mea Sharim, and in many places I have not been. That’s just for starts.

  3. Norman_In_New_York

    I am all in favor. It is noteworthy that the early chalutzim all learned Arabic. Moshe Dayan learned Arabic as a boy and first made his mark in the Haganah as an intelligence analyst. Likewise, Abba Eban was a scholar of Arabic at Cambridge before joining the Zionist cause, and this aided him immensely in his diplomacy. There is absolutely no downside to all Israelis learning Arabic as a second language.

  4. My thoughts exactly.
    As for why it isn’t already required, I assume that’s because everybody needs to learn English, which is of much more practical value, and not everybody can handle a third language so easily? But maybe extra languages are not hard at all – I’m of American extraction, you know, and not European.
    But even so, it’s not like all that many Israelis have great English even with all the school lessons and the fact that American TV and movies are regularly consumed; I can’t imagine them doing all that well with Arabic on top of that.

    1. ahad_ha_amoratsim

      I’m told there’s a saying:

      What do you call someone who knows 3 languages? Trilingual.
      What do you call someone who knows 2 languages? Bilingual.
      What do you call someone who knows 1 language? An American.

      1. Kathy Prendergast

        That’s what I’ve heard too, as they are closely enough related and have many similar sounds, but both are very hard to learn for an English speaker. I would like to learn to speak Hebrew (so far I’ve only sung in it) but at age 52 learning not one but two additional languages seems like a long shot. I guess also new immigrants to Israel need first and foremost to learn Hebrew and then maybe they can tackle Arabic, but then there’s English too which is also an extremely difficult language to learn; if they are already native speakers of English they have that as an advantage but many aren’t, and English is such an international language now it really has to be a priority for anyone who wants to get a decent job. BTW I am Canadian and contrary to rumors most Anglo-Canadians like Americans are unilingual. I have high school and freshman-level university French but I would never say I can actually “speak” it.

        1. Canadian, eh?

          When I traveled to Jordan in ’77, I was ‘adopted’ by some
          Syrian U. students at the youth hostel in Amaan who pumped me full of Arabic.
          Clearly, they did not know I was a Jew who spoke Hebrew…..

    2. Arabic and Hebrew are sister languages. Many of the words are similar. The grammar of the Levantian spoken Arabic is very similar to Hebrew.

      It is easier for a Hebrew speaker to learn Arabic than English which is not a semetic language.

  5. For what it’s worth, it’s also forbidden to teach Torah to non-Jews. There is a lot of stuff in Torah that is appears very bad at first glance to a non-Jew (which is why the prohibition exists in the first place).

    Arabs learning Hebrew didn’t change the way Jews view Totah, I can’t imagine Jews learning Arabic will be any different.

    1. Norman_In_New_York

      If non-Jews don’t learn the Torah from us, they will learn it from King James and other translations which are flawed and inaccurate. That is why John Harvard, in founding his university, required his divinity students to learn the Bible in the original Hebrew.

      1. That’s nice, but the rabbis prohibited teaching Torah to non-Jews as far back as Gemara (Chagigah 13a). So if a non-Jew wants to pick it up, they can of course. But a Jew may not teach Torah to a non-Jew. I recall a mahloket somewhere that argues that you can teach if you have a genuine belief that they are interested in conversion, but I can’t recall where.

    2. Arabs learning Hebrew didn’t change the way Jews view Totah, I can’t imagine Jews learning Arabic will be any different.
      Yup.
      Easy enuff to come by in English.

      The Quran Dehumanizes Non-Muslims
      and Says that They are Vile Animals

      The Ayatollah Khomeini, who dedicated his entire life to studying Islam, said that non-Muslims rank somewhere between “feces” and the “sweat of a camel that has consumed impure food.” Small wonder. The Quran dehumanizes non-Muslims, describing them as “animals” and beasts:

      Those who disbelieve from among the People of the Book and among the Polytheists, will be in Hell-Fire, to dwell therein (for aye). They are the worst of creatures. (98:6)

      Surely the vilest of animals in Allah’s sight are those who disbelieve, then they would not believe. (8:55)

      1. You should not read Quraan because you read it in a wrong way . The word Al Dawaab means living creatures NOT animals

        Sahih International: Indeed, the worst of living creatures in the sight of Allah are those who have disbelieved, and they will not [ever] believe.

        إن شر الدواب عند الله الذين كفروا

        1. Marhaba:

          Thanks for the correction re:
          (I feel much better having the correct translation!)

          Sahih International: Indeed, the worst of living creatures in the sight of Allah are those who have disbelieved, and they will not [ever] believe.

          What do you suggest with this rendition?

          Allah himself fights against the unbelievers (9:30), so why should Muslims not fight in his cause rather than in the cause of evil (4:76)? About 19% of the Quran is devoted to the violent conquest and subjugation of non-Muslims:

          Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies of Allah and your enemies and others besides, whom ye may not know (8:60)

          Strive hard (Jihad) against the Unbelievers and the Hypocrites, and be firm against them.
          Their abode is Hell,- an evil refuge indeed.
          (66:9, See also 9:73)

  6. I also think there is a religious aspect to this: learning the Koran is forbidden for Dhimmis…..

    Discussing islam in any form by kafirs is forbidden and is considered blasphemy with the resultant death penalty.

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