“My great-grandfather and namesake, the rabbi of a farming community on Mount Carmel a century ago, learned Arabic in order to converse with his neighbors. (Unfortunately, he and his family were massacred while visiting relatives in Hebron during the 1929 Arab riots.)” – brief, but very telling. Perhaps we will all learn Esperanto ?! Maybe then peace and harmony will prevail in our battered region? It’s not that learning Arabic isn’t a great idea, but still, one feels a bit weary.