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Yishaq Epstein

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Yitzhak Epstein (יצחק אפשטיין), also known as Yitzhak and Isaac Epstein (Lyuban, Belarus 7 December 1862 – Jerusalem 26 February 1943) was a linguist and educator known for his text “The Hidden Question” which focuses on relations between Zionists and Arab Palestinians. He was also a major proponent in the revival of the Hebrew language, teaching in and directing public schools in Palestine. He pioneered the “natural method” of teaching Hebrew, in which the teacher makes explanations only in Hebrew. He was brother of the writer Zalman Epstein.

Biography

Yishaq Epstein moved to Rosh Pina in Palestine in 1886. He participated in the acquisition of Palestinian land by an organization headed by the German Zionist Arthur Ruppin. He witnessed the expulsion of 600 Druze inhabitants from the Palestinian village of Metula in 1908.

Writings

"The Hidden Question"

Epstein presented his essay "The Hidden Question" as a speech at the Seventh Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland in 1905. He focused on “one trivial thing we have overlooked so long in our lovely country: there exists an entire people who have held it for centuries, and to whom it would never occur to leave.”

“For a number of years,” Epstein continued, “we have been hearing that the population of exceeds 600,000. Assuming that this number is correct, even if we deduct from it 80,000 Jews, there are still over half a million Arabs,…80 percent of whom support themselves exclusively by farming, and own all the arable land. The time has come to dispel the misconceptions among the Zionists that land in Palestine lies uncultivated for lack of working hands, or laziness of the local residents. There are no deserted fields. Indeed, every Arab peasant tries to add to his plot from the adjoining land…

“Therefore,” Epstein concluded, “when we come to take over the land, the question immediately arises: what will the Arab peasant do when we buy their lands from them?” Epstein’s foreboding was ignored by most of his Zionist contemporaries, and his suggestions were also directly attacked in the press by other Zionists such as Moshe Smilansky.

"A Question that Outweighs All Others"

Epstein again urged Zionist leaders towards reconciliation with Palestinian Arabs in his article "A Question that Outweighs All Others," published in 1921 in the Hebrew publication Doar Ha-Yom. In the piece, he "focused on the advantages of Zionist settlements for the Arabs, and emphasised that these advantages should be institutionalised, rather than remain a by-product of Zionist activity."

Hebrew schools in Palestine

As principal of the Hebrew school in Rosh Pinna, Epstein encouraged Arab children from neighbouring Al-Jauna to enroll — although only four did so.

Legacy

The historian Hillel Cohen characterizes Epstein as having "a more nuanced approach" than many of his Zionist contemporaries.

Reference Notes

  1. ^ Cohen, Hillel. “Zionism as a Blessing to the Arabs: History of an Argument.” In The British Mandate in Palestine: A Centenary Volume, 1920–2020, edited by Michael J. Cohen, 157–71. Routledge, 2020.
  2. School & Society, vol. 34. James McKeen Cattell, Will Carson Ryan & Raymond Walters, 1931, page 294: “Dr. Isaac Epstein, one of the greatest Hebrew educators, and so-called father of the modern Hebrew school in Palestine, tells us in a most charming way about his first steps in creating the Hebrew elementary…”
  3. Memories of Two Generations: A Yiddish Life in Russia and Texas Alexander Z. Gurwitz, Bryan Edward Stone · 2016 p 390 “Its first principal was D. B. Lichtenhartz, who had previously been superintendent of a Hebrew school in New Orleans. ... sometimes known as the ‘natural’ method, pioneered in Palestine by the linguist Ishac (Isaac) Epstein (1862–1943).”
  4. “Epstein, Izhac” from Encyclopaedia Judaica. Encyclopedia.com
  5. Dowty (2001). ""'A Question That Outweighs All Others': Yitzhak Epstein and Zionist Recognition of the Arab Issue."". JSTOR 30245563. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. Herzl, Theodor; Charbit, Denis (2004). Altneuland: nouveau pays ancien (in French). éditions de l’éclat. ISBN 978-2-84162-093-7. Retrieved 2024-01-15., p.112
  7. “The Hidden Question” August 1907. Yitzhak Epstein (lecture delivered at the Seventh Zionist Congress in Basel 1905).
  8. “The Hidden Question” August 1907. Yitzhak Epstein (lecture delivered at the Seventh Zionist Congress in Basel 1905).
  9. “Yitzhak Epstein: The Hidden Question” from Avi Shlaim, The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World. The Balfour Project.
  10. Educating Palestine Yoni Furas · 2020 " In his capacity as school principal in Rosh-Pina, for example, Epstein attempted to welcome Arab students from neighbouring ..."

Bibliography

  • Alan Dowty, “"A Question That Outweighs All Others": Yitzhak Epstein and Zionist Recognition of the Arab Issue”, Israel Studies, volume 6, issue 1, 2001
  • Gil Gertel, “The Zionist educator we should have listened to”, +972 Magazine, April 2, 2016, https://972mag.com/the-zionist-educator-we-should-have-listened-to/118345/
  • Nathan Weinstock, 1891-1907 : le mouvement sioniste découvre l’existence des Arabes de Palestine. Paris, Honoré Champion, 2016; propose une traduction, accompagnée d’une introduction et d’un commentaire du texte « Une question occultée » d’Yitzhaq Epstein (1907), review by Alina Schlaepfer
  • Aline Schlaepfer, « Nathan Weinstock, 1891-1907 : le mouvement sioniste découvre l’existence des Arabes de Palestine », Archives de sciences sociales des religions , 184 | octobre-décembre 2018, mis en ligne le 01 décembre 2018, consulté le 10 décembre 2023. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/assr/45272
  • Yosef Gorni, Zionism and the Arabs, 1882 –1948: A Study of Ideology (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987), pp. 42 –51
  • Adam Shatz (ed.), Prophets Outcast: A Century of Dissident Jewish Writing about Zionism and Israel (New York: Nation Books, 2004), pp. 35–52.

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