January 1, 1956 

THOUGHTS AFTER CHRISTMAS

Shalom  (Peace Be With You):-

             We pick up our pen to write on New Year’s Day.  It follows so closely the experience of welcoming the New Year with a few Israeli friends at a party given by Mrs. Chaim Weizmann, the widow and helpmate of the first President of Israel, at her home in Rehovot.  Such holidays are the milestones that mark life’s journey.  For us they are a time of remembering.  Many previous New Years shared with several of you who will read this message became a part of the mosaic –New Year’s Eve – 1956.  We are grateful for the year – indeed the years that are past.  Life has been full and good.  We wonder about the future.  What will 1956 bring?  Will it be white or black or gray?  We pray that the efforts of all men of good will working in unison will prevail, that the goodness of life may come to men, women and children everywhere and that peace may be maintained.  We, you and I, dare not fail!  To no greater end can we dedicate our lives, our fortunes, our all.

             The holiday season of Thanksgiving, Hannuka and Christmas has bestowed its blessing upon us:-  blessings of gratitude, joyous remembrance, radiant lights, eternal hope of peace, love and good will among all men and nations.  Never before have the ideals of America meant more to us.  Hannuka’s festival of lights with the joyous laughter of happy children and the voices of oldsters lifted in the songs of youth has further interpreted Israel to us.  For weeks, in a world of nations where it seems that with little of official war there is no peace we anticipated Bethlehem and drank deeply in these days of the eternal truth of God’s love with its angel song of Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men.  The many greeting cards from friends across the sea and from Israelis peopled our home with a host of unseen companions.  How grateful we are for your greetings and messages

 In these weeks I have spoken to several Israeli audiences:- a joint meeting of Hadassah – Wizo women, - meetings of the Israel-American Friendship League in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.  It is a rare privilege in sharing one’s thoughts about our American aid program, to be able to interweave the Pilgrim story and the Christmas story as expressive of the ideals of America and as explaining the rationale of our U.S.O.M. program.  On Thanksgiving Day I was asked to read President Eisenhower’s Proclamation at the American Community dinner at the Jerusalem YMCA.

 Our days are brightened by the visits of those who have come from America.  There was a delightful two hour exchange of ideas as Sallie and I drove over the hills around Jerusalem with Congresswoman Frances Bolton when a combination of clouds and setting sun canopied us with nature’s riotous colors.  On a day’s trip to Beersheba and the south with Richard Javits, Attorney General of New York State, we discussed at length the activities of USOM and Israeli’s development.  An old friend, Robert Kazmayer, who gave two commencement addresses at Evansville College in the early forties, spent two days with us on his honeymoon.  Congressman Boland of Massachusetts had dinner with us.  With all these friends we talked about Christmas and sent our greetings home.

 We continue to be refreshed and inspired by the rich cultural life of Israel.  The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is ever a joy.  Yehuda Menuhin charmed us at a recent concert.  Last week, Erich Leinsdorf  directed Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony and Liszt’s Piano Concerto (Shura Cherkassky, soloist) in superb performances.  Never have we heard the Concerto played with greater power and feeling.  Productions of “Medea” by the Habimah Theatre and Kofka’s “The Castle” by the Chamber Theatre were well done and thought provoking.  The high light was attendance at a Druze wedding at Daliah, a village high up on Mount Carmel.  There were native colors, picturesque customs, village feasting, a bride changing her dress every half-hour, sitting in state with the women, a groom entertained for hours by men dancing, horses with colored saddle bags and trappings galloping through the streets.  These all added up to a fascinating experience.

 You’ll remember our letter last winter, “The Beauty of Israel in the Winter”.  The rains have come again.  The land has a freshness of green that is inspiring.  The profusion of flowers is everywhere.  Narcissus are on our dining room table.  An Israeli secretary graced my desk this week with a bowl of red anemones.  Fields have been blanketed with yellow flowers.  So nature’s beauty will reign until Easter in an ever changing bevy of colors.  Our journeys across country are made amidst this beauty.  Sallie and I drove some 35 kilometers south of Beersheba to participate in the dedication of the new road and the school at Dimona.  I spoke briefly to the pioneers of the Negev.  A picturesque sight unfolded along the new road as we saw score upon score of Bedouin plowing their fields with camels.  On another occasion, we crossed over to Jordan for a week-end.  It included a drive north to Nablus.  We stood again as we did a quarter of a century ago beside Mary’s well.  How close to the footsteps of Jesus!  What memories were aroused!  What challenges renewed!  That same day, I tarried for a moment in the dungeon from which John the Baptist went forth to satisfy Salome’s whim.

But the best of all the past weeks have been blessed with the anticipation and fact of Christmas.  Our hearts were filled with affection and good will as we bought in Old Jerusalem the Christmas cards of Bethlehem and Jerusalem carrying flowers of the Holy Land and addressed them to carry their message to all of you across the sea.  Sallie added several beautiful lines of poetry to the card for our staff and American Friends here in Israel.  Let us share the thought with you taken from “How Far to Bethlehem?” by Madeline Sweeney Miller –

                          “It isn’t far to Bethlehem Town!

                         Its anywhere that Christ comes down

                          And finds in people’s friendly face

                          A welcome and abiding place.

                          The road to Bethlehem runs right through

                           The homes of folks like me and you”.

 We read Manuel Komroff’s “In the Years of Our Lord.”  Its opening lines read:- “The enchantment was over.  No words had been spoken.  All three (Magi) drew their silken robes about them and departed.---Then they turned to take one last glance at the Child.  It was more than true.  The guiding star had shown the way.  Destiny’s end was here in Bethlehem.”

 Yes, but I would add, destiny’s beginning!  Never had there been such a tale of wonder since the beginning of time and as the fullness of that life was consummated it became the Story that has transformed the world.  May its power deepen to influence the lives of men in a world sorely beset in these present years.

 We had hoped to be in Bethlehem but the disturbances in Jordan made it not feasible.  We went up to Jerusalem on Friday night.  On the day before Christmas, we saw Father Patrick, a Franciscan, and Mrs. MacDonald of the Jerusalem Consulate, both delightful friends.  Each told us each would utter a prayer for us at the manger.  Then on Christmas Eve, we shared an experience that will ever be a gem in our Garden of Memories.  Come and live it again with us.

 As dusk approached on Christmas Eve, we went out to Ramat Rahel to look across the valley to Bethlehem.  It was some four miles distance.  To the east of Bethlehem, we could see the Shepherds’ Field encompassed in a grove of pine trees with lights here and there as darkness came.  From here the shepherds of old had gone forth.  Soon pilgrim feet would again be moving to the Manger site.  While we watched for three quarters of an hour as night descended, the lights of Bethlehem appeared one after the other.  The Bells of Bethlehem floated across the valley.  And lo, the larger star atop the Church of the Nativity blazed forth.  In our mind’s eye, the memory of the great drama had begun. 

 We returned to the King David Hotel and read Van Dyke’s “The Other Wise Man” with the Bells of Jerusalem ringing in our ears.  Near midnight, we returned to Ramat Rahel for the completion of our experience.  From eleven thirty until 20 past midnight, we gazed at Bethlehem.  Christmas Day was born!  The sky was partly overcast yet as midnight came, the stars shone brightly and a half moon revealed Bethlehem sitting on yonder hill bathed in heaven’s sheen of light.  The star above the church which we had seen lighted at dusk, glistened in the midnight sky.

With binoculars we could see individual persons in the lighted square before the church.  An occasional flash of light telling of a picture being taken added a modern touch.  We were joined by a few Israelis, several members of the village, a half a dozen Arab Christians; some twenty-five of us paying homage in the clear cold moonlight.  The Bells of Bethlehem pealed across the valley.  Then someone asked, “Can you not hear the voices of song?”  It seemed that music floating over the valley was faintly echoing in our ears.  How like the angel song that heralded the birth on that night long ago!  We strained to listen, cupping our ears, but it did not come again.  In our mind’s eye we reconstructed the old, old story learned at mother’s knee blended with the cradle alter we had visited weeks earlier and paid our homage from afar.  Yet it was very close, for the truth was within ourselves.

‘Tis a privilege to share Christmas in this land.  One realizes God belongs to no religion and to all religions.  He partakes with equal relish of the Passover Supper, the Christmas dinner and the Moslem feast at the end of Ramadan.  The great truth of the birth which occurred in a Bethlehem stable was that out of it would one day come peace on earth and good will to all men.  The great hope of Bethlehem is not just religious, or Christian, or Jewish, or anything like that, but human and universal, which can only come about when men recognize that the God everyone worships, in one manner or another, is within himself and that if he goes out killing and burning and blowing up and making sad mischief among his neighbors, he is not so much defying his God as being untrue to himself.  (This paragraph contains thoughts suggested by a columnist in the Jerusalem Post on December 23).

These are days that call for vision and faith.  We must stand as never before and look at Bethlehem.  It is well to look from afar so that we place its truth in the reality of time and space – in the reality of today’s tasks and problems.  We need gird ourselves with the daring and courage of the early believers of the Truth.  Never, it would seem, could days be more difficult, be it the stress and strain that exist in the microcosm of the Near East or be it the stress and strain in the world family of nations.  That which affects each of us in the Near East also affects each of you in America.  I beg you to grasp this simple truth.

In this Christmas time, we have come to see as never before the importance of our American aid program as it circles a world.  The technics are different but the message it carries, the goal it would achieve is the same as the song that came floating across the valley unsung by mortal voices, yet heard. – Peace on Earth, good life and good will to all men.

One fortifies oneself with the thought that workers for good will believe that those things, the right and good things that ought to be, can be.  He recognizes the place of time and that the long view coupled with patience is on his side.  Finally, his faith tells him that the God of Love, however men describe Him, is concerned with the welfare of His children and works with the men of good will.

A cartoon drawn by an Israeli journalist came to me on a card as a New Year’s Greeting.  It pictures “the child 1956” looking at a sign post pointing out two roads.  One reads “The World in Pieces;” the other, “Peace in the World.”  What will 1956 and 1957 and 1958 bring?  God grant that the workers for Good Will may prevail.

 Recall with us the lines –

“The road to Bethlehem runs right through

The homes of folks like me and you.”

Shalom

/s/Uncle Lincoln

Aunt Sallie

 September 6, 1956

BETWEEN THE TWO NEW YEARS 

SHALOM  (Peace Be With You) –

 How time flies when one is engrossed in a task!  We last wrote you on January 1sr, New Year’s Day.  We pick up our pen to write again on a New Year’s Day, on this September 6^th that marks the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah – Year 5717).  The quiet we know each Shabat has been with us all day as the Israeli spend the first of two days which inaugurates ten days of penitence, concluding with  Yom Kippur on September 15^th.

             We deeply regret there has been no letter in the long interlude between the two New Years.  It has been a kaleidoscopic period of time as events and activities have filled our hours and kept us keyed up to meet ever changing situations and challenging problems.  We have lived deeply and fully.  There is ever the feeling that our task is significant at a crucial place in a critical period of history.  In kaleidoscopic fashion we shall try to share some of the high spots in the intervening months – 8 in number.

             JANUARY – It started with “Our Thoughts After Christmas” which we shared with you.  How often we’ve recalled the last paragraph.  Remember?

            “It pictures ‘the child 1956 looking at a sign post pointing out two roads.  One reads “The World in Pieces’;  the other, ‘Peace in the World.’  What will 1956 and 1957 and 1958 bring?  God grant that the workers for Good Will may prevail.”

            So far around the world a precarious peace has been maintained.  The workers for Good Will have striven valiantly.  Yet what of the road ahead?

             The month brought one of those rare days when we went to Galilee to drink the same inspiration that Jesus knew in the days of long ago.  Bishop Hazen Werner and Mrs.Werner of Columbus, Ohio were our guests.  North along the Sharon plain we drove amidst the orange groves from Tel Aviv to Hadera – then northeast through Wadi-Ara where the armed hosts, centuries upon centuries, have marched to by-pass Mount Carmel.  Now it is inhabited by Arabs who grow tobacco and barley and in picturesque costumes walk beside their donkeys and camels.  At its northern end we broke into the Esdraelon plain to see Nazareth on a far away hill and Mount Tabor rising like a knob out of the plain.   Verdant green dotted with red poppies was rising mute evidence of the winter’s rains and foretold the beauty of flowers to come.

             From Tabor’s top, we sensed anew the Transfiguration story, looked across the plain to Gilboa where Saul lost his life, to the hill were the witch of Endor lived and upon the plains where Deborah faced her opponents.  The inspiration of Mount Tabor defies description.  The view of the plain and surrounding country is breathtaking.  Indeed one’s spirit is transfigured.

             Quickly our car took us east to break over a hill where we beheld the southern part of the Sea of Galilee spread out before us and the River Jordan winding its way south among prosperous villages made fruitful by the river’s sweet water.  It is a view against the barren mountains to the east that feeds one’s soul.  As the road took us along Galilee’s shore, Mt. Hermon rose majestically to the north and a picture was taken.  Through Tiberias with a brief stop for lunch.  Then Capernaum with its synagogue which begs for piling up of the stones again in reconstruction.  Up to the hill of the Beatitudes where the simplicity of a chapel brings alive those golden words of yesterday and today.  The hills, sky and lake speak to you.  You become aware of the multitudes who through the centuries have moved along these roads.  Your spirit is fed as you mingle nature’s message with man’s.  It was here that a humble Jew had walked and you are in His footsteps.

             As the shadows began to lengthen, our car speedily climbed the hill out of Tiberias.  The Horns of Hattin where Saladin defeated the Crusaders were passed on the left.  You peopled the plain and hill with lightly clad Saracen horsemen and mail burdened Crusaders and knew the secret of the eventual victory.  We tarried a while in Cana.  “Water changed into wine”, and you conjured up a happy wedding party grateful to a quiet clear-eyed man in His early thirties.

             But now was to come nature’s crowning treasure of this day of inspiration.  As we approached Nazareth the western sky was emblazoned with soft colors of pink, yellow, red and gold.  We came over the hill to see the town of Nazareth bathed in all the beauty that nature can assemble as the sun goes to sleep amid the clouds of the western sky.  We hurriedly visited the Chapel of the Annunciation, Mary’s Well and the reputed home and workshop of Joseph.  But Nazareth’s message was in nature’s beauty seen as a youth growing into manhood must have seen it and read the same message long ago.  This is an experience we share again and again with friends who come and go.  Details differ but the message of inspiration is ever the same.  From it we draw strength sufficient for any task we face.

            FEBRUARY – This period we recall as our Feast of Books.  In January, it had been a rare privilege to see the Dead Sea Scrolls which are in Israel’s possession.  The discovery of these Scrolls on the shores of the Dead Sea reads like a novel as it brings to light the story of a religious community.  Many questions for the scholars have been raised.  Burrows’ Dead Sea Scrolls, Wilson’s The Dead Sea Scrolls, Dupont-Somer’s Dead Sea Scrolls, and Dr. Yadin’s writings have been invaluable and stimulating reading.

             We also read a story which reminds one of the Arabian Nights.  It is the record of the migration of some 50,000 Yemenites to Israel.  Since they came from Aden by airplane, it is entitled “Magic Carpet,” by Shlomo Barer.  These people came literally out of a civilization of the distant past – the mysterious and inaccessible land of Yemen – possessed of a burning zeal to return to Zion.  They entered the airplane with no fear because the prophecy had proclaimed that “…They shall mount up with wings like eagles.” (Isaiah 41-31)  Their sacrifices, trials and tribulations are indeed a saga.  It is of further interest that these Yemenites have high native ability, work hard, are adaptable and are making a distinct contribution to the building of Israel.

             An old book dated 1850 by Commander Lynch of the U.S. Navy, tells the fascinating story of the first U.S. technical assistance to Palestine.  In 1848 he, with a Navy party of 16, with two boats dragged by camels from Acre to the Sea of Galilee, navigated the Jordan River to the Dead Sea.  He carried out a survey of the Dead Sea that is still the best available record of depths, etc.  He then went through Jerusalem to Joffa and ran his line over Zion to tie his levels into the Mediterranean.  A fascinating book and another saga of the land.

             Two other old books written in the early 1800’s described the many sieges and destructions of Jerusalem through the centuries.  So we have steeped ourselves in the lore of this ancient land.

             MARCH – What memories of beauty!  The winter rains had been evenly spaced and the Holy Land burst forth as it does every fourth or fifth year.  It seemed that every tine bulblet which had lain dormant for several years received the inspiration of the drop of water that sent its beauty shooting heavenward.  Again and again, Sallie murmured softly, “What glory in the God planted flower gardens as contrasted with man planted gardens.”  The whole countryside was a riot of color.  In a square yard of space a dozen different colors smiled at you and seemed to say, “Life is good.”  Truly it was the Holy Land in all the exquisite beauty one’s imagination could ever conceive.

             The last half of the month saw me off to the East to attend a conference at Bangkok, Thailand.  The three day stop in India gave a picturesque impression of that fabulous land.  The women of Bombay were sculptured figures of beauty in their saris.  A half day’s visit to several villages bespoke the quiet revolution of people hopelessly mired in the ignorance and tradition of the ages as they were moving forward into the 20^th century.  The soft and dignified beauty of the Taj Mahal seen in the shadows of late afternoon and in the brilliant brightness of early morning left its indelible message.  Bangkok with its quaint Buddhist temples, its soft colors, its river life and markets, with its inherent beauty of line and dress, contrasted with smells and odors left pictures to be shared with friends.  A stop at Karachi, Pakistan, for two days was spent entirely with associates of the USOM.  A brief stop-over in Athens brought a rare joy – a visit with Marika’s uncle, the Metropolitan of Sideracastro, now 83 years old, a dear friend who as Bishop of Saloniki, assisted in our wedding ceremony in 1928 – a first visit since 1930.

            APRIL -  I came back from the East for Sallie and me to share Easter in Jerusalem.  The following days were full and overflowing.  Dean Liston Pope of the Yale Divinity School was our guest with a trip to Beersheba, Lachish, Ashkelon and the south a privilege.

            We found ourselves several times in Danny Kay’s company in the week he spent in Israel making movies of children for UNICEF.  He is an amazing personality who was practically mobbed at every turn.

             A Management Team of five leading industrialists arrived under USOM sponsorship for a series of Seminars for top flight Israeli industrial leaders with whom there had been many preliminary meetings to pave the way for the effective utilization of their skills and abilities.  This was a first move in an extensive program to bring management skills and know-how to Israel to assist their industrial development programs geared to potential export markets essential to stabilizing their economy.  And believe it or not:- the brother of Mrs. Murphy whose husband, Vice-President of the Williamson Co., Cincinnati, was the Team’s leader, - is Mr. Glazer, who had directed an Evansville College financial campaign with me back in 1940.

             There were speeches;- one to a district Rotary Club gathering (15 or 16 clubs in Israel) with 250 people present – the subject, “Rotary International and Point 4”,- another, at the opening of an Electrochemical plant shared with Mr. Eshkol, Minister of Finance with an audience of 1000;- another at historic Safed located on a mountain top in Galilee where we shared an evening with Rotarians and their friends, some 75 people.

             But it was also the month when Independence Day fell on the 16^th, - always a dynamic and inspiring experience in a country only eight years old, where freedom had been bought at a price by many citizens who remember the day with deep emotion.  President Ben Zvi held his annual Independence Day reception in the beautiful garden of one of Jerusalem’s hilltops.

             In addition, there were receptions, dedications of buildings and a movie premiere – “The Land of the Bible”- a 20^th Century Fox documentary film, truly beautiful in its colors and views of the land.

             Does April indicate why we have used the word, kaleidoscopic?

             MAY  -  It started with a party as I entertained at the Accadia Hotel, introducing the five Industrial leaders from America to the Industrial Leadership of Israel.  At the same hour, Sallie had an At Home for their wives to meet a group of Israeli women and the women of USOM.

             The Greek Easter fell on May 6^th.  In 1930, Marika had made the pilgrimage with us from Greece.  Now, 26 years later, she returned to Jerusalem with her husband and daughter.  We crossed over to Old Jerusalem on Friday to go again to Bethlehem, Olivet, Gethsemane, Jericho, the Dead Sea and the shrines of Jerusalem.

             We stood in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as the words “Christus Anesti” (Christ has risen) rang out at midnight and we lit our candles to create brilliant light which shone with glory all around.  We went down to the Jordan and stopped at the Greek Monaster, named St. John in honor or the patron saint of the Jordan.  Marika’s husband’s name is John.  The priest accompanied us to the Jordan to the place held sacred through the ages.  Standing in a boat in midstream, he chanted the Baptism service with John making the responses.  We thought we were witnesses, but at the climax, Sallie and I, too, were re-baptized – another of our treasured memories.

             John, Marika and Elleni crossed over with us into Israel to stay a week.  We visited the Greek Monasteries on Mt. Tabor and at Nazareth.  On the shore of Galilee where we spent a night in Tiberias, Marika was so enthralled with the charm of its loveliness, its serenity, she could not sleep.  At 3:00 a.m., she got up and went out on the balcony of her room.  There before her lay Galilee studded with a myriad of brilliant stars, the reflection of the heavens in the Sea – a picture etched in her memory forever.

             They spent several hours with us in an official visit to the Israel Industrial Fair in Haifa where we were entertained by the Mayor of Haifa and given a guided tour.  While in that seaport, we had the thrill of being escorted around one of our American Destroyers which was paying a courtesy visit to Israel.

            We were busy  with the Industrial Management Seminar all month including introductory speeches, social events and evaluation meetings.  Certificates were awarded some eighty Israeli who had completed study tours in the United States.  A major address was a part of the laying of the cornerstone for the Ben Cooper School of Industrial Management at the Technion.  The last day of the month found us attending Queen Elizabeth’s Birthday Party at the British Embassy.

            JUNE  -  We remembered our wedding anniversary.  June 2^nd found us at the Italian Ambassador’s reception recognizing Italy’s Independence Day.  A high light in this month was a choral meet of various groups of singers from new immigrant settlements.  Over the stage in Hebrew were these words – “Tears open gates.  Song overthrows walls.”.  Isaac Jaffe, Marian Anderson’s manager, returned with greetings from her.  The Philharmonic Orchestra presented Lucia de Lammormoor in concert form and Handel’s Judas Maccabeus. 

             Of particular interest was the visit of Governor George Leader of Pennsylvania and his party.  We were with them on several occasions and entertained them in our home for a buffet supper and shared with them some aspects of the work of USOM.  Long hours were spent with a representative of New York University planning for contract services which will assist the Hebrew University, the Technion and Israel industry in the field of Management know-how

JULY – The American Ambassador’s Fourth of July Reception was a gala occasion held at the Accadia Hotel overlooking the blue Mediterranean.  July 5^th marked for us the completion of 2 years service in Israel.  Fourth of July Eve was spent at the Chamber Theatre seeing a Hebrew play entitled “He walked in the Fields” – a story of youth’s part in the bringing of independence.  We also shared a luncheon on the 4^th with Mayor Dillworth of Philadelphia and dined with him the next night. 

 A visit to Hatzor in Northern Galilee put us in the footsteps of Joshua.  We marveled at the wood ashes, some 3000 years old, that blackened our hands as we fondled a lamp unearthed that day.  Two visits were made to Beit Sharin where the latest find is a catacomb with many passages along which are more than 200 sarcophagi, many with interesting inscriptions and beautiful decorations..

 Two opportunities to explain what is being done by USOM were offered by the visit of President Young with a group of students from Western College for Women and a luncheon with the American Christian Palestine Committee.  A Friday evening Shabat meal was shared with Rabbi Cahane and guests just preceding the commemoration  of the day marking  the fall of the temple.  I told them of recent visits to the Wailing Wall and cited differences between 1930  when I first saw it and now.  It is difficult to put into words their deep emotional reaction and their longing to visit the Wall again.  The month closed with a concert at which the Marian Anderson prizes for vocalists were awarded to four singers.  An array of splendid talent was revealed.  One of the judges commented that one could start an opera company with the group.

AUGUST – The highlight was our visit to Beirut from August 3 to 12 for conferences.  We visited Tyre, Sidon and Byblos.

 A reception by Mrs. Golda Meir, the Foreign Minister, was an interesting event after our return.  Visits were held with Dr. Wyzanski of the Ford Foundation and Dr. Burden of the Rockefellow Foundation.  We shared several delightful social occasions with Mr. And Mrs. Abe Stark, President of the City Council of New York.  Several representatives of the Washington office of ICA dropped in during the month requiring long conferences, visits about the country and conferences with Israel Government Officials.

I shall be off on Sunday, September 9^th, for Turkey and then to Iran to attend a conference at Teheran until the 20^th.  Our date of departure has been delayed because my services are still needed here.  We should be back in the States within the next few months.  These are difficult and strenuous days.  We rejoice that our best efforts can be devoted to the promotion of international good will and understanding, perchance helping hold a line for individual freedom and the free world.

 “Lift up your eyes unto the hills from whence cometh your help.”  May each one of you, through us, feel a sense of sharing in this great task.  Put in a word or a deed whenever you can for tolerance, good will, mutual understanding and above all, for the preservation of freedom.

 Shalom

/s/ Uncle Lincoln and Aunt Sallie

Should be seeing you soon

Love to All 

                                   ASSIGNMENT COMPLETED

 March 1, 1957

SHALOM (Peace Be With You) –

            It was in early September that our last letter was penned.  Little did we realize then that events would move so fast. What has transpired in these intervening months!

 On Friday and Saturday, two weeks ago, as I drove to Beersheba and to Galilee with Jim Sears, an Evansville College associate of days past, the green fields, the red poppies, the lavender-pink anemones, the lushness of the countryside held the promise of what is to come as new life and hope are at hand in nature’s ever recurring miracle.

           You had our brief Christmas message indicative of the long separation that these months have brought.  That is now ended.  Sallie is with me here in Israel as we draw together the threads of these years and prepare to leave this task – assignment completed. 

            These months have been a time of turbulence of mind and emotions in this part of the world as men have sought a solution that would achieve a peace short of aggravation of war.  And the end is not yet.  I am always encouraged by the thought that the dawn is always preceded by darkness and one feels instinctively that the light will break through.

            The September-October days were delightful as fall made its advent.  Days of lazy sunshine when one felt the sheer joy of just being alive!  Hours in the sun by the beach were enchanting.  The trip of some ten days which I took to Teheran was a busy time with long days and full hours of conference and report preparation.

             It brought a long visit with Apostoles Koskinides to whom Evansville College had awarded an Honorary Masters degree.  He is directing a Sanitation School and health program under the auspices of the Near East Foundation and ICA that is making a vital contribution to Iran.  On a chance remark to a professor at the University of Tehran, I found the one Iranian whom I had known, Dr. Abbas M. Behbehani, a former student at Evansville College.  They were good friends and he arranged a delightful visit for us.  But imagine! – to have located one person in Teheran’s 2,000,000 in such a fashion.

             This journey also led to the acquaintance of Mrs. W. J. Blanchard, an observer at the UN for the League of Women Voters.  I met her on the place, visited at length in Teheran and again in Tel Aviv when she came to Israel.  We were kindred spirits in our searching for a way to heal the breach that exists among the peoples in this part of the world.  We were agreed that there is right on both sides (a difficult position to accept) and that infinite goodwill and patience are needed in all attempts at evaluation and solution.

             Among other visitors was Senator Allen J. Ellender with whom I spent the better part of three days traveling through Israel from Dan to Beersheba.  Most interesting were a couple of sequences he achieved with his movie camera.  At Jaffe the traditional site of the start of Jonah’s experience in the belly of the whale, we caught a harbor view between two buildings as a modern Jonah was being rowed out to the breakwater.  Again at the Sea of Galilee we discovered two fishermen, knee deep in the water, loading their nets onto a boat, as they prepared for a fishing cruise on the lake.  These are typical of the ever occurring linking of the present with the past.

             On October 29^th came the dramatic event as within two days our Mission staff of 60 was reduced to 6.  Technicians and their families were evacuated efficiently and promptly by two planes to Athens and then quickly on to Rome.  Sallie left on November 1^st and remained during the long weeks in Athens and Salonika.  Her sojourn was lightened by visits with old friends and in particular by reunions with many of her students of the mid-twenties.  They are now in their forties, but still expected her to be only twenty-five.  What stories she has of her experiences which were heartwarming!

            In the days of late October and early November, many people were missing from their usual activities as mobilization took place.  A blackout continued for some seven or eight nights.  Nary a disturbance occurred within Israel except for a shot or two from the Egyptian destroyer which was captured off Haifa.  In a quiet confident manner life went on and I had the feeling that our friends experienced a much more difficult time that that of those who were here on the spot. 

            I shall always recall with vivid memory attending concerts (for I shared four) of the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, carrying on during the blackout and after.  The (illegible…….) mous violinist, Zino Francescatti, his wife and the visiting conductor made the (illegible…….) cision to remain.  Under the inspiration of the situation it was an exquisite feast of Beethoven, Brahms, Bach, Mendelssohn, Mozart, played as I’ve never heard them played before.  The artist never missed a concert including small towns as well as the cities. 

 In the weeks that have passed, now grown to four months, life quickly returned to normal.  Our Mission activity of necessity has been a caretaker-operation.  I and my remaining administrative associates have used the time to visit most of our projects reviewing the activities and lending the fullest encouragement to the Israeli technicians who, now without their American counterparts, are valiantly carrying on the creative program.  I’ve been heartened by what I have seen.  The process works.  The degree of current successful achievement is almost in direct proportion to the length of time Israeli and American technicians have worked together.  A high degree of “know-how” and skill are transmitted in the two year normal tour of an American. 

      As Sallie spent the months in Greece I found interesting experiences here.  There was the Friday evening Sabbath meal, including the recital of the Kadish, shared with Sholam Asch and his wife, followed by a never-to-be-forgotten discussion with a great soul that has given himself to reapproachment between Judaism and Christianity.  Meyer Weisgal , Director of the Weizman Institute of Science had me as his guest for a weekend at Yad Chaim Weizman.  Senators Jacob Javits and Paul Douglass were here for brief visits.  The latter provided the opportunity for a visit to Gaza, El Arish and Sinai with his administrative assistant – another long-to-be-remembered experience.

            During these months one has seen Israel move through a time of testing and evaluation.  The result has been to bring within the nation a remarkable degree of un(illegible………) from the lowest worker to the top leadership itself.  They feel that they are striving fo(illegible…..) the survival of the state and covet the world’s understanding of the problem.  There (missing….) an abiding conviction that they have acted correctly and they seem determined, regard(illegible….) of the cost, to protect what they consider the essentials for survival.  They long fo(illegible….) understanding with their neighbors but feel frustrated in its achievement.  They recognize that above all else they need peace to survive and set in order a precario(illegible …) economy.  One’s constant prayer is that goodwill may be generated in Israel, in the (missing…)lands and in the world which will find a solution to this heartbreaking regional con(illegible….)

            It is in such a time that our tour of duty, now extended for eight months beyond(illegible….) original two years, comes to an end.  These have been glorious years.  All that we (illegible….) anticipated the experience would be has been realized.  In spite of the penalty of separation we have been glad we could stay on during this critical period to help I(illegible…) cause of goodwill and understanding.  Sometimes holding a line without evidence of (illegible….) in progress.

             We carry away with us a knowledge of a people dedicated to the creation of a democratic state in this era.  They have a spirit of creative energy that know no(illegible…) meaning of defeat.  There are the faces of happy joyous sturdy children that will (missing….) with us.  One cannot but admire the progress that has been made in building a land reforesting barren hills, in cultivating long unused soil, in creating new village their white houses shining in the sun, in building slowly an industrial plant, in (illegible….)gling with an extremely difficult economic problem, in settling immigrants who fo(illegible….) most part have fled insecurity hoping to find a better life in this developing co(illegible…).

            How much there is to share with each of our friends as our paths per chance (illegible…) cross.  We leave here early in March and will be back in the States at the end of (illegible…) month.  We return to find our place again in our native land.  If we have made th(illegible…)  of the world seem closer to you through the medium of these occasional letters we (illegible…) grateful.  Thus, the avenues of communication permit the development of internati(illegible….) understanding and goodwill.

             Our final greeting from Israel as our assignment is completed.

SHALOM 

/s/ Lincoln

Sallie 

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 ©Copyright 2006 by Passport Journal
on behalf of the Estates of Lincoln and Sallie Hale.

Fall 2006 issue of Passport Journal will have a short biography of Dr. Lincoln Barnard Hale.

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