'i
STORV HOFFfIIAN THEABBIE
By LARRY BASH
$1.00 JAilUARY t98l ProgressiveIewisb Youth Issue i
ftlAKIilGYIDDISH
ouR owil By IONATHAN
BOYARIN o
ilnmrcRA]t BAR.TIITZVA BOY
mYrNf"{ii'rlil o
I}ITER}IS FOR PEACE 11{ lsRAEt By IEAN GORDON "He Posed,He Mugged" by Ben Shahn
DISEASES JEWISII GEI{ETIC
By HARRY BIIOCH, lUl,D.
ARIHUR Illl[[ER'SJEWISH IHEIIES CHURCIf ftilDEASMEWS C0UilCl['S
BvloELsHArzKv
annditoria
Vol . 35, N o. I (381) ]anuary, 1981 EDITORIAL BOARD Lours H,rnee, Contributing Editor Seu PrvzNER Davru Plerr Max Rosrwrnr,o, Contributing Editor lr{onnrs U. Scgeppns, Editor Lennv Busn, AssistantEditor Eurrctnral Aovrsony CouNclt.: Chirrles R. Allen Jr., Max Gordon, A. B' Magil, Paul Novick,' Isabel Pearlman, Billie Portnow, Dr. Albert Prago, Sicl-Resnic\, D.' Annette T. Rubinstein, Dr. Jay Schulman, tledy Shneyer, Yuri Strhl'
CONTENTS CrtuncrI CouNcrl's MDsesr Vrsw Tnr Asnrr HorrueN SronY Mexrwc Yroorsn Oun OwN Ir HIPPPNEDrN IsneBL BsroRE I Lnrr INtenws ron Frecr rN IsRAEL GENErtc DrsBesssrN JnwrsH Cnrr-onnN WertrNc FoR THEGnrBx Lrcnr Tun AcgurrrAls rN GnrnNsnono, N.C. Tgs Eorron's Dt,uY Anrsun Mrr-lpn's Monel Vrsrox Srcur,enrsM ANDOun HnnITAGE: hnlrr,ucneNr Ben-Mrrzve BoY INsrpr run |ewrsH Cor.,rlruNrrY HennY Boox Norss Lnrrrns Fnolt RreoBns AnouNo rsn Wonr,u RneoBns' Fonuvr oN THEPLO
3 4 7 l0 t2 13 15 l6
An Editorial Larru Bush, ]onathun Bouarin L.H. Poern by Alison B. Carb ]ean Gordon Harrg Bloch lsabelle Friediger
t7
t{.u.s.
1B 22 Ioel Shatzku Max Rosenfeld,GuestColunln 27 by lruing Kaplan 31 s. P. 36 Mauer Eric Poemby 38 40 46 M,U,S. Staois Morton an'd CarI Bloice and AnnetteT. Rubinstein 48
( ) t r ( ) o a a r : " H e P o s e d , H e l v l u g g e d , " c. 1958, rvatercolor bY Ben $hahr' ( l l t g t i - 1 9 6 9 ) , f r o m h i s e x h i b i t i o n , N o v . 6-27, LL)71,at the Kennecly Gtrlleries, \t'*' York. N. Y.
I I A V E v oa M O YE D ? un To be sure you do not nljll nruil irrttt,, yoUr chonge ol addrett I t r r e c e i t e d b y u s no later than the l U t h o l t h e m o n t h . Changes received take ellect lo, not will tt lter that untillrer
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CHURCH COUI{CII'S TUIIDEASI VIEW Dec. lB q, O MUCH unjust abuse has been tJ heaped bV major Jewish organizations on the "Policy Staternent ol -the the Middle East" of goveming board of the National Council oT Churches of Christ, USA (NCC ) adopted Nov. 6 that one rnust asi< rvha-t thesc Jervish organizations really rvant. . Nov. 6 the National Jeu,ish Conrrnunity Relations Advisory Council called the Council statement "a nrajor disservice to the cause of peacc we are shocked that the NCC has called in e{fect for recognitiorr of the world's leading international terrorist organizaiion, the P[,O, r.vithout making their conferral of legitimacy on the PLO conditional on its first accepting the nrost t'lernental standards of civilizecl conduct. . . . In the end. the self-deterrrrination which the Palestinian Arabs demand . . . is an unremittinq plan for the destruction of Israel.t . Nov. 7 the Synagogue Council of .\nrcrica "sharply criticized" the statenrent for its desire "to reward terrorist organization. ." Nov. 7 'the Arnerican |ewish Comrrrittec "deplored" the NCC a statenrcnt for ". endors[ing] the concept of a PLO state to be establishecl on the borders of Israel . . . the NC( )'s irppeal for simultaneotrsand nrutrurl acceptance by Israel and thc l'[,O of cach other's legitimacy flies irr the face of history. ." l-he Anrerican Jer,vish Congress ,trrd the Zionist Organization of \rrrerica also scored th'e NCC staterr r t ' n t . Nou'
the NCC
statement's
r .trrt pari l graph reads: ",\t this time, the PLO functions r\ tlre only organized voice of thc I rxuenv. 1981
An EDITORIAL Palestinianpeople arrd appearsto be tht. only body able to riegotiatt, .r settlt'rrrcnt on thcir behalf. Stc,ps tou,ard peace rvhich would *ui." possible direct negotiations betrvecn lsrael and the Palestinians must include official action by the palestine National Council. the deliberatiug body of _the PLO, including either an amendntent of the palestine National Covenant of lg68 or an unanrbiguous statenrent recognizing Israel as a sooereigLrstate anil its iigln to continue os a Jercish stote" ( italics added) . Significarrtly tht' NCC places its dc'nrandsuporr the PLO fiist bcforc continuing. "At the same tirue. Isracl nrust officially declarc its recognition of thc right of palcstinians to self-detern-rination.including thcr option of a sovereign state. . . ." Norv rvhen thc NCC. representing ll2 Protestant and Eastem Orthodo.x Churches with 40,000,000nrcrnbers. lpeaks thrrs moderately. insisting on Isracfs right to sccurity as a ;eivish state but also recognizingPalestinian rights that do not conflict r,vith Israel's security, is that nlass of Christians to bc scorned and attacked because it does not agree rvith Begin's line, rvhich is rneeting increasing opposition in Israel itselfP The Christiun Science Llonitor Nov. 13 also reported thartthc. PLO was unable to get the NCC to recognize it as "tlte Iegitimate" representative of palcstinians btrt only us "the onl.yorganized voice . . at this tinte." ,{nd-the proposal to _strike otrt the phrasc "as i.l Jervish state" \\'as clcfeated. Ilegin's policy has isolated Israel irr the u'orld conrmunitv. IV{ust maior Amr.rican Jervish organizations follou' Bcgin to isolate ]eu's in tht' Anrerican community? 3
The Abbie Hoffman Storv By LARRY
Soon To Be a Maior Motion Picture, by Abbie Hoffman. Putnam's, I{.Y., 1980, 319 pages, $13.95. 66I EWS, espccially first-born male J 1".ur," writes Abbie Hoffrnan in an caily chapter of this au'tobiogra' phv. "have to rnake a big choice very luickly in life whether io go for the money or to go for broke.,WiseguYs u,ho go around saYing things like 'Worke'rs of the world unite,' or 'Every guy r.vantsto screrv his moth'E=rtlc2,' obviously chooseto c,r,' oi go for brokc. It's the greatest Jcrvish tradition" (p. 14 ). During the mid-'60's and carlY '70's. Hofiman went for broke lvith Mitccabeean vigor and intemperate lrutzpa,lc'irding (often rvith his chin -bv'hii o*n ad"ount he lvas arrested 47 iirnes ) many thousands of Young people into confrontation with the iynrbols and might of thc' American capitalist establishrnent. Holvever critically or rrpprovingly -ong may iudge Hoffman's own brand of aotiv' ism-auarc,histic, full of surprises, ignorant of classquestions,emphasiz' and cultural transins snontaneity -people-his account forma'tion of here of the dramatic benchrnarks of the anti-Vietnam movenlent will stir the blood of most young progressives' Those were daYs. we remember, u,hen our outraqe had focus and gave birth to action, o-ur ideals had cultural expression,and our lives had sccmingly clear priorities' By contrast. i; f981. one feels 'tamed, culturally isolated ernd hard-Plessed to rnainiain an activist style of life' Hoffrnan's book, however' delivers 4
BUSH
more than just a dose of melancholic nostalgia. Nortnan Mailer writes in the introduction: ". . . I never gave hirn whole credit for being serious. Reading this book lets you in on it" (p. xivJ. Onoe the clown'Prince of "th" yonth nation," Hoffman has at least i"mpora.ily removed his make' up. We see hinr as a 43-year'old man rvith three children. We learn that involved Civil he had been a deePlY Rights organizer in the South ("Those y"a.s. 1963-1965,were filled ivith thcj crv of a movement at its purest rtrourbnt"-p. 6l )-, and before that as an activist for the American Civil Liberties Union. Though 'he still jokes around, Hoffman's ultimate antic is his sobrietY, which is intense and personal, and r'vhich confirms the best hoPes we may have had about "the real Abbie" rvhen confronted rvith his wild-man media image. Nlost importanto ute are assured ol his sustained dedication to progressive change. "Revolution," he rvrites, "is not something . . . fashioned to a rrarticular decadi. It is a perpetual pto""tt inrbedded in the human ipirit. . . . No amount of rationaliza' tion can avoid the n-romentof choicr' cach of us brings to our sifuation here on the planet . . : . HalfwaY through life, at 43, I stil! .say^$o for broke"" (pug"s 297-298-). Clear'ly' should not bt: Abbie Hofiman lunrped together rvith the more tran' sieni or vacillating New Left figures rvho have run out of political steam. In tl friendly manner, Hoffman also challenges us as |ervs to gauge ]nwrsn CunnuN'rs
our supply of political steam. "For 5,000 _years," he writes, "|ews always had the opportunity io rebel against authority, because for b,000 years there was always someone 'backs. trying to break their And yet most Jews, aware of having be,en chosen, back off fronr this ineJitable clirsh with society" (p. l4). It is as an outlarv and survivor that he most identifies with being lewish. He shows little of a firmer- richer ctrltural Jewish identification or knowledge of American ]ewish life, though he can shpritz rvith the besi of the ]e,'vish coinics about lervish stereotypes, assinrilation or gentile manners 'nrodesty' ("I reject the noti-on of as sornething invented bv thc WASPs to keep ttie Jews out oi the banking indus[.y"-p. t6O). And Hoffman fs an outlaw. onlv recently emerged from six years undtrground as a fugitive from a drug charge carrying a mandatory t5.hfI .st'ntenceunder the infamous Rockt'fcller dryg larv._ Perhaps the jitteriness of his underground lifestyle (briefly and heartbreakinslv 3"scribed in the book) expliins the .1uick-jab character of his writing, rvlrich is full of one-liners. hit-andnur criticisms, headlines and anecrlotes. with a sense of cohesion and irrsight that only slowly accumulates. More likely, though, the book's stvle rvotrld be no different had lloffman calmly been rvorking on rr srant in a university librarv. Offtlrr'-cuff stufi was always his'fort6; irr his_rvriting_ it_ is nicely cornplerrrr.ntedby lack of self-righteous" n(,ss or of fussing over pariiculars. Skt'pticism about his interpretations is permitted, but respeCt is de" S o I' m a st and- up com e,,,,rrrcl ed. rl i rr:rand not a schol ar ?"he r vr it es. ' So sueme?" (p. IOO). I'rl rzrtherlisten to him. vlews f rrrrenr, 1981
of an era that was at times bizar-re and outrageous are for the most part syprisingly temperate and alwavs humanistic. About drugs he warns: "Total absorption with the internal voy,age mad-e you easy to erploit and - convert" (p. gl )a prophecy about the religi,ous cults !q4eY (see my article in-our Dec., 1980 issue). On violence: "I never believed in unrestricted violence. Nothing- during those years warranterl tlle taking_of a single life by participants in the anti-iar rnovejustice is far more ment. But essential than peace, because too 'peace' often simply means the oppressor has successfully controlldd the aspirations of the oppressed" (p. 242). On bureaucratic socialists: "Left:vilg rnoonies! The sort who probably take over socialist revolutions after the inspired leaders have been dc'ad and canonized" (p. 252). On terrorism: "No one wins a revolution through hatred and intimidation of the general population. peoplel .gg fleqh 3nd blobd, not symbols" (p. 249). Yet Holtman lails to extend this sincere but rather facile anti-sectarian view to his own political activities. As public relations man for the New Left, he turned ofi broad sectors of the American working class with his turned-on anarchisrn and often reckless verbiage. Yes, he sparked many people to inritation and to self-discou"t'tr.while rvinning cautious respect from others, but he unnecessarily caused stili nrore Americans to tighten up rvith Lesc'ntmentand fear. Demanding a cultural revolution before economic transformation. and rvithout a popular program to blend the tu'o. H;firnirn contributed to the New Left's D
fatal isolation oIr college campuscs ancl in youth cottrtnunitit:s. At Ronalcl llt:agan's vict<1ryparty Nov. 4, the bancl rvas playing the song "Thc Agt, of A<1tarius," the most fetmousntttnber from thc counter-culttrrc thcater production, IIair. 'fhc sccr)o wels alrrtost clinractic proof of horv corporate:America has absorbcd, commercializcd attd cvctn comc to valut: many of thc stylcs and ideals of the Ne:rv Lcft counterculture whilc derailing tht: Ncw Left ils a rerdicalpolitical tnovt'trtcnt. F{offn"rnn.in obscrvations abtlrt RoIling Stone rnaglizine and thc Wood' stock mttsic fcstival, shows sharp awaren('ssof this colnnrcrcialization but fail.s to .sceit as^syrnptomatic of the political supcrficialitics of thc Ncrv [,r'ft. In all, hc is not critically c'valuativc of thc cra, his hcy-day; his fast-pacecl rvriting style sccms almost a psychologicaldcfenserncchanisrn to prcvt'nt any dc'ep analysis. This rvcakncss is rcflccted tnost clc:arly in his comtncnts about thc u'omcn's nlovt'ffrent. He dcclares, "I consider rnysclf a macho-fenrinist. Which mcar.rs I cornpletely rcjcct N{idgc Dccter's conservatisntancl, in gcneral. fecl the only good thing about the good old days is thtrt rvc survivcd ancl outgrew thertt" (p.
2[il). Yct he dcals only pcripherally and srrpcrficially rvith thc role of sexism in the New Left. Moreover, hc hardly givt's thought to the fact that tht: \vonlelr s nrov('rneltt in the nricl-'70'swas the most clynarnicconveyor, in coutetrt if not in style, of the idcas ubotrt ctrltural revolution, sexuality and pcrsonal liberation that hc values so highly. Soon To Be a Maior Motion Picture thcnrfort: fails to rnakc, a real to progressive strategies contribution 'fJ0's. pruticularly in the face for thc of thc Nerv ltight forces that are using tr.lcvision artcl other meclia, as rvcll-as thc pulpit, to broadcast their brand of politics to thc country. But .such a failurc is lterhaps inevitable in a r.vork 'uvritten on thc run by a nran rvho could maintain only tenuous contact with political currents for six yeirrs. Thc gift that Abbie Hoffrnan offers us for now is his stamina and oP' tinrisnr and thirst for freedom. He slrouts "Mir zenen do!" ("We are here!" ) in nn era of "Oi aag!" sighs. This inspiration we can use. What sort of participation or lcadership rnight hc providc to a renascent lrrogressivc Inovement? First things hrst-har rrn Abbie Hoffrnan Defense I Committee been formed vet?
HELP NEEDED IN RESCUING YIDDISH BOOKS NATIONAL Yiddish Book Exohange has been established as a non-profit organization by graduate students of Yiddish literaturc and iactrlty nrcmbcrs at Amherst, Hirnlpshirc. N{t'-Holyoke and.Smith Colltigesand thc University of Massachusetts.Thcir' goal is to collcct, iestore, catalogue ?nd shelve "hundreds of iirowat.ls of old Yiddish books . . . neglected in cellars and attics across the continent" for use by fufure generations' Books clonated will be assigncd valuation as tax-deduc',tiblegifts and shippc'd to a central repository in -Northhamption, M3t:' S3t" volt mei *ill go to the YIVO Institute for ]ewish Researchin N.Y. contact Aaron Lansky. P.O. Box 969 Amherst, Mass 01002. Jrwrsu CtrnnrNrs
lUlakins Yiddish OurOwn
Yet in other ways it is clear that a confercnce of this type was pos_ sible only now. As thit.l-generation American |ew, "born afler the Sccond World War, I see the generation of rny parents as the one that was taught to forgct. How many By IONATHAN BOYARIN tin'rcs have I hcard American Jervs in their forties, fifties or sixties tell N_ trvo bitterly cold days Iast F'ebruary, dozi'ns of enthusiasts me -that their parents spoke yiddish of the Yiddish language and culture to them in the-home ar chilclr"n, but met at the new building of the He- they alw:ry^srcplied in English? In brew Union College-J-ewish Insti- my mothcr's family. the pioccss of tute of Religion in New york to dis- extinction rvent back one stcn further: in order that her inrnrigrant cuss "The Integration of yiddish father could learn English pro[erly u'ith Contenrpoiary Jewish Lifcand function as a buslnesrrnun. n.rstyles." The. ionfeience was sponyiddish, glish became th_e- sole language ;orecl by Yugntruf-Youth for spoken at homc. Others have heartbut the participants were of all ages. In sorne ways, the discusiion breaking mcmories of public school principals calling theii parents to seemed, lo3g overdue. In so many wrlys, the Iiving basis of the yiddisir tcll thenr to stop using the yirldish Irrnguage has becn eroded, through rvorclsrvhich their children innocent. in class. Thus " gopl," which both forces internal to Jewish so- ly u-s_ed easily have coexiited with ciety and the ruling classei of hostile, could "fork" in the flexible mind of a por,verful natiorrs.The integral Jew- child, \vi-rsungraciously pushed out. ish way of life btrsed on tiaditional Iarv and custom is today upheld Although negatiae leelings tousarcl only by a.stubborn religioui rninority )-iddish \\'ere inheriicd bi manv in (arnong rvhom Yiddish remains our generation (I remember reientstronger thiln among any otht,r J"w- ing l>cing gallcd Yognesnin Sunday ish group). The eaily idh,,r,,,,ts of 19h.ool,and insisting on the Israeii Jc:rvish"free-thinkingt' ancl socialist Flcbrew version, Yonatan) they , rlovements, who focused on thc uni- \,vcrenot entangled- with cultural invcrsal aspectsof Jer.vishtradition ancl securities to the extent that our paron the Yiddish languagc as a vehicle ents' feelings were. Thus some oi .r, for prolet:rrian c.iltuie. failed ade_ have been able to overcome this rlrratcly to pass on their Ianguagc attitude to Yiddish as part of our and organizationsto their children's processof reaching adulthood. There gcneration, although the effort con_ is another "advantage" that we have: tinues. to the extent that they were concerned with the conti.t.rity of |ewish Boyenrx last appeared, and Yiddish culture, our parents Jouarrrel and l:ere in luly4 IgB0 rcith a ,uitun iy grandparents could look to the hometlte ptaA "Bent." A Fellou of thb land in Eastern Europe. After the il[ax Weinreich Center at the YIVO slrattering of that comfort bv the I n,stitute for ]ewish Research he Nazis,- Israel was seen by many as lrclds a Master's Degree in Anthro- the place where |ewishness would pologg from the Nerc School. consist of more than nostalgia, sofexueny, lgSl
ciability and charity. tsut the integrtr' tion, preservation and synthesis of the rnany Jewish cultures represented by today's Israelis is incomplete, to say the least, and we Americarl Jews cannot wait. What is the "advantage" of our generation? Precisely that we havr: not had to undergo this bitter process of disillusionment, which dernands great courage for anyone to facc. Those of us who have learned to value Yiddish culture and wish to have it preserved for our generation and generationsafter us have quickly realized that the task rests on otrr' shoulders. And so there was born the or' ganization Yugntruf, tvhich explains itself in English as Youth for Yiddish but which liternlly means Call to Youth. The group was founded sol])e 15 years ago by students at the Hc.rzlia ]ew'ish feachers Seminary. One of those founding members, Dr. Dar id Roskies, is now a Professor of jewish literature at the Jewish Tht:ological Seminary; a second, Itakhmiel Peltz, has become a graduzrte stuclent in Yiddish after obti.rining a Ph.D. in biochemistry , and u'orking professionally in that field. Sincc its founding, Yugntruf htls been publishing a iournal oJ the sarne rianrr', entirely in Yiddish and rvritten and edited by the rnernbers thernselves.In addition, it htrs spon' sorc'd social cvents, reading circles ancl an atrnual symposium. But this ycar's confer'encewas unusually arrtbitiotrs. As the editors rvrote in a reccnt special issue of Yugntruf de' r.'oted to the conference: "First of all a conference isn't the siulrc thing as a convention. Though lroth involver inviting speakers and rlrgirnizinga sympotiu-^. . . the real rliffr'rence is in audiencc' participa' tirln. The main goal of a confc'rencc ,g
is actively to draw the audience into u,orkshops and discussion groups, provide it with materials and resources and give it strength to carry out the goals which the conforence sets forth." Ancl indced therc was a broad rturge of concerns and resources shared at the conference. The organizers are to be congratulated for having included round-table discussions in English and u'orkshops designed for the non-Yiddish speaker. One of ,the English lectures was the keynote speech given by Dr. Joshua Fishman on "Yicldish and the New Ethnicity." Fishman is a national cxpert on bilingualism, a native speukcr of Ukrainian Yiddish, and a defender of the positive values of all ethnic cultures. Fishman noted the short-range rise in ethnic consciousnesson the part of millions of .\mericans but argued that tr rcvival of Yiddish on the order of the revival of Hebrew in Israel would reqttirr: the drastic steps of residential, familirtl, i.rnclinstitutional separation from rnonolingual English speakers, for a lirnguage can be complete only on the basis of a community's everyday l i fc . Not all of the discussionand workshop lc,aderspresented such drastic alternatives. however. Here I'll discuss three of tht'm. Ol the workshops that I partici' prrted in, the most enjoyable was Dora Wassennan's session on Yid' clish drama. Ms Wasserman was a sttrclentof Solomon Mikhoels in Mos' co\\,', and she has brotrght the erlthusiasrn of his troupe to Montreal, lvhere she dirccts and tcaches drarna at the Bronfman Center. One of the rntrin tl-rings she stressed is the virlue of dramatics as a means of teirching the language itself: "Onc
Jnwrsu Cunnuurs
production is equal to at least one use. And rvith a lot of ioy and a little yeirl in the classroom," shc sarys.Ancl eflort you cttn raise cliildren in yidirr_the improvisational .,*,,r..ir", oll u'hich hcr rvorkshop rvas centerecl,it lIiriam Herbst ol Los Angeles con. becanre clear that she seesher tisk rltrctt'cl il sessiori on orglnizing a not only as the prcservation of yidYicldish club. She emphlsized'ihc rlrsh culturc. but as rnaking yidclish intportanct: of an inforrnul organizai.r part of her students' lrrlr," liu", tional strtrcttrre_to allorv p"rii"i1r,,and dcveloping gcnuinc creativity. tion by all nrcrnbers.but at the,sar)lr) Altlr<lugh lVassernran sun.ouncls tinre .shc'fclt thtit all rneetingsshould Yiddish theater with no rnystique, lrc conclucteclin Yiddish, anii chairecl .shcis quitc finn about basic i.,.1.rir"- bv pcoplc rvho trrc'conrpetcnt in the nrcnts for tr succes-sful, onloing larrguagr'.Although .shc'.saicl tltat co_ . tloupe: a professional clirectorl.and oltt'ration rvith other institutions ancl iur institutional honre rvhich ltc,urs organizations wils irnportant. shc full financial rcspon.sibility arrrl st r t . ssedt hat t he yicldiih clulr 's in_ tloesn't intervcnc' in artistic nratters. rltltcudence and identity as a culttr_ "I'm certain," she r,vrites, ,.that ral group \\rere crtrcial to its .srrr.r,ival. r.very- Y or conrmunity centt,r has Sh<' rnade it clctrr thart it yidclish thc physical capacity to organize and cltrb cirn havc an effect bc,yonclthe rnarintain il Yicldish tlrcaier group. ccltrcation and cntertainrneirt <lf it.s All it takes is desire on the rrart of owrl nlcrnbership.-It can be a su;>port thc organization's leaclt,rship."' group for Yiclclish cllsses in svnirlleylu Gotesman, herself nrother. gogucs, conrmunity ce,ntersrtncl-col_ Yugntrufniks, led a workshop on It'gcs, ancl rvork ivi,th therrr in or9f_ " l l ai si ng a C hi l d in yidclish. "'She qanizing Yicldish filnr fcstivals arrd tolcl about the group of voulg, thcatt'r gl'oups. sc'cular Yiddishists lvlio fonired 1 Thcre w(.re rllany other rvorkshops t'onrrntrnity in the l\,{osholu sec_ lt tht' confcrenc.,, on thc place ilf tion of the Bronx 'l'hcv lorrl.edecades ago. Yiddish u'ithin various ;eri,ish re_ had a Yiddish aftemoon scliool Iigiotrs nrovcnlents, on nciv rnetlrocls u'hich the children attended en_ for sccular' Yicldi.sh schools and so thrrsiastically,although it took sonlc forth. A-ll in all, the conference repto get thc chilclrt,n to play lcst,rrteda stc'pforrvrrrdin yugrrtruf's 1'rt11j1g. i n Y i ddi sh. cttorts to reach thc thousanrls of Ootesnran'.sernphasisivas consis- Arrrerican jervs rvho rvant to recaptt'rrt rvith lVasserrnalts: the oppor_ trrrt' thcir. Yiddish heritagc. trrniticsoffered in play and in It has happc.ncdso mllnv tinrc,sirr rl:rv sittrations for cornmunicating "u,,.r,a our peoplc,'shistory: clisnsicr strikes It'r'ling of warmth ancl naturalness 'rrlrorrnding the use of yiddish. After the Jervish conrrntrnity ancl threrrtcns rlr.rnonstrittingsont(rof thcse gall(,s, to extingtrish its continuity. Almo.st rr rtlr the assisttuce of children rvho aln,ays thcre are a ferv rvho r(,cog\\'('r('present, she conclucled,"Thc,r1, nizc thu nragnitudc of the potc.ntial ,u'('-nrAr)y versions of thesc garn(,s loss. striving to reconstruct rvhat .,rr<ltherrl ax, dozensof otlx,r*.i{u,,r. thc'v can irnd reintegrate it into their , rlrlt.r' lreople r.enrcmber nror(, of ncrv situation. In that sense,yugnl l rcnr. It' s w orthw hile t o ask t henr tnrf is as traditional us can bc,.\\'iiat ,,nrl rnake a collection for your own cirn I say but "Yasher kogekh!,' r I rrunnr, l g8l
sRnEL wl
A\ter inllation ro.se 77Vo in Oct., the Begin goDerntnent, nar' rowly avertcd its fall in a Kncsset conficletrctrvote by 57_to 5_! (of 120 deptrties). Regin's two formt:r cabinet tninistcrs, Ezer _Wciznran :tncl Moshe Dayan, both voted against the governlnt'nt. Dayirn commented: "It's impossible toclay to vote irl favor of 2A0"/o inflation," For the yc,ai ending Oct. the rate was 135.4'%, with the prospect of a higher rate as the ycar wears olr. _Rcal wages fell a rr,cord L4'1, in'the first six n-ronthsof 1980, and unemplo_yment rose 5,ji, in tlic third cluarter. About 10,000 trircle rtnionists dernonstrirtcd Nov. 20 in protest against the c'cortomic situation and de' rrranclcdrcsignation-of Financc Minister Yigatrl Hurvitz. . .-B-egin cut short by'onc day a U.S. visi,tto bcrpresent at thc vote. Whiler in this country Bcgin-asserted approval of a U.S. military presence in tlrt' \{iddlc East. o A bill to extend Israeli lau lo the Golan Heights, which means annc'xrttion,was offered in the Kncsset in Oct. rvith a ntrrtlbt'r of Knessct sponsors.Five cabinet ministers were reportcd to favor the bill, btrt iis final pilssage is in doub't' The govcrnnrent had not yet offerc,dits policy on thc bill at this rvriting, and lllany, cven among those rvho'agree, hold it would be regarded as !1 provocation by rvorlcl opinioii. N,iapam rvarned thc Labor Party that it would pull out of the Labot Alig.tnlernt if Labor Party Knesset members supportcrl this or any similar bill. . Following Israeli Pres. Yitzhak Lanson'shighly successlul oisit to Prt's. Anwar Sadat in Egypt late in Oct.. threcrprospective Labor Party cilbinet ministers, Shimon Pc-rc.s,Abba Eban and Htrim Bar' Lcv, Nov. 7-9 visited Pres. Sadat, who is said to despair of rc'aching rvith thc Ilegin regimc:' This a s"ttl,',11entof the Palestinian (luâ&#x201A;Ź)s^tion National Den'rocratic ruling Sadat's and success, also a visit u,ars Partv acct'pted thcir invitation to sencl -a dcle.gation to the Labor Partv Congrt'ss in Dec. Strdat belicves he cttn negotiate rvith the L;6r Paril' though he disagrereswith the Labor- P^arty'1proposal foi u lotclanian-Paiestinian siate. . . . Polls in rnid-Oct. shorved an election then would give Labor Alignmcnt 61 seats,Likud, 29. The religious parties in tt e nelin coalitior. are has-tening -to try to collcci on th'e promises made io them for passageof-their desircd Ilrvs on clrrrs,ticilly restricting autopsit's -(demanded by Agucla, s,lrich threirtcns to leave the coalition if the larv is not er-racted),
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rnaking -daylight savings time "discrctionarv (dcmanclcd by the N ational Rcligious Party, rvhich fears violation of thc: Snbbath because of r:xtensionof^twilight), and l"galiii"g conversion only as acl nri ni stcredby t he O r t hoJo*. ' Arab-Jewish relations . . . Bir |.u ,nraersity on the west Bank rvas orclererfl5[s1 clown for one weck Nov. r/,l"ri"g tii""hrl,-v.r,, old institution of Palestine weck, r o"a tion. It rvas charged the Week rvould "iiti.,i"i b" ,r.,J-i'o.""tl&-iirt^""l.iur"i,r"itJio" ogoi"rt lsraerl.Dc:nronstrltions_by-stude,rtr i'bilo*"a-to.,"rr"roi a"vr]-""a lsraeli troops -n,ounclcd il te.,nage stuclent, No,r. llJ in thc t,flort to disperse a dc'onstration Th" Irrn.,li-supreme court oct. 30 lr-crganhcari'gs-on the app,'-a\ of two p,ir"itiirinr v,,yorr, n,nna KrlrvasnlchofHcb.ott *tri'Mohilnrrnecl Milhenr of Halhoul. asainst their dcportation. . . . Bonrbs continued i; ;.-pi;j; -'""r",".ir'fil,"", in Isracl and thr, occtrpied tcrritorics \f,lrcn Likucl tonk'oifi"., i, 1977, thcre w::e.3^,^20_0 Jcr,vsin 24 s.ttle'crrti on the wesi tiank; today the're are 17,400]cws in 6g s.ttl"menlr-it"r,,.-.-. . ir;;-;.r., settl.ment sites^begagfo b. occupiccl i. N;;. . . . t,, sevc,ral-r1uestion,uircs in 1965 and 1968, of Israeli youth ,hon*.I iir"t _rattrpiirrgs had a pegutlyc irnage-of Arabs i,',og" of Jc,ivs;'b.t """ i;;t;l;;ro.,Jd after th. 1973 wg,-the i'ragc "ira "t;;;;J of_theu-jr"ut"'a"ut " rvhik' that of the Jews was l'css idcalizecl ;;i .i;;;, t"-.J"riiv lYeros.briels . . - Inrerior Nlinrrl", yogel Burg earry irt Noa. re. iected thc reco'r'rcndation on the "nhck rtlBr"r,rr* probr"- of the govelnrnent conrrnission.It had rc.co;r";;J;; th"iih;'"gro,rp be given. legal status and assignecl a r"tii"-"rrt i" th.i-f"g"r. ll'r'g's .rcjcctio' is widely deploied. . . . Thc g"p.u". trvccn -Europeanand Asian-Afiican Israelis is narrorving: "Jii"niio""i in it-,i, turt rlt'cade the pcrcentage of the latter childien- rvith f,u, u"u.r- or school grc\\' fronr 8.1to sp7i,: those in school until agc 13 in"re,ir"d -.-.-. !2')'r,; those rvith ninc school years rose frorn so toTor" tr," Intcrnational Monetary conference, a federution of t"he' *ori,l', nt<lstintpoftant banks, early in Oct..refuseclto adnrit k.n"f'r -rro.rta Eunf. Lcumi, 90th in international banking, becauie- aclmittance 'rak. it.i'rpossible for Arab banks t;'io;n. ..". oeaths from heart irttrrcks in Israel have decrcased over slo from lg68 to tsizz. . . . A r.ccnt Israeli poll showed that 3Q.2%,'io"ld b" wiiting tL-r"a.r"" th.ir .st.'dard of living tg q"4 a.'p"""a"".y ott th" ir.b., *rrrit" 56'77,' clid not want to-end u.s. aid. so,ooo North a.,-,"ri""r* 'ow livc in Israel. The return rate of strch i,ri"iigr^,rts is 401[). . . . A nutio'rvide round-up of both users and seileii of d."[,'i"it".l 200 .rrests late in_ oct. Abguj r}% oi Bar-Ilan L?nirrersity st'clents.are Eng.lish-speaking,and they arc ofior".l 2E course;";". . . The about trvo rnillion volume fltfl* 1tl *"gtjrh. ]udaica colNational Library at the Hebre# C"i"".rity Jewish l:":t_.:,-:,1, !h.", r.s prollirbly thc rvorld's largest. L.H. I rrueny, f98l
Before I Left
By ALISONB. CARB
f knew vott for a ft'w months t before I left you on the corner vour dark curls blowing vnr:t boncs crackling in the sun vour blue and white flag tattered' I raced throtrgh the stree'ts of the OId Cigv and all the while someone rvhispered in my ear "Kee'p your eves straight ahead." But mv cves rolled uselesslyin the cavern of my face likc dice on a battered craP table' They ran over dtrnes through exploded stars into the desolatesea. For a moment I let mv eves link with a stranger's as he tot ^t the bar of a smoldering Tel Aviv cafe and the smokeii.o- our lips embraced only to separate aftcr a rush of cold air. No, my thin shoulders have never known caresses nor have my restlesshands feltthe ripple oi a lover's body in the morning' Instead rny footsteps tread without echo on the pavement. I drive alone on the corrugated highway irnd fix rrry gaze on the road. livery rest station is a land'mine and my foot sticks to the gas Pedal unable to retrieve itself. "An ArrsoN B. Cens apqeared lwre in Maa. 1979 uaith a Poem, of AnthologY fn uai'reprinted which Nightmare," lsraeli Solfuet's Magazine Verse and Yearbook of American PoetrY, 1980, ed. bg Alnn F. Pater.
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is now a clubhouse, Next they recruited high school students to supervise the playtime. Their drama group for high school rrctrcssesand actors has become popular rvith players and audiences. It is Ar'Ara's first theatrical venture. In a ncarby village a pre-school doy cr.re program has been estabBy IEAN GORDON lished. There the Interns also helped sttrrt a discussiongroup, which meets f NTERNS FOR PEACE. a non- regularly with a teacher and a nurse r political program funded by the Ford Foundation and other private to talk about elements of child develcontributions, has a team of ll North opment ranging from discipline to Americans and Israeli Jews and nutrition. Other projects either underway or Arabs rvorking in villages as cornin plannir-rgstagersinclude: pre-natal rnunity rvorkers-in-training in the eclucationfor Arrrb and jewish rvomfield of Jervish-Arab relations. Their programs are designed to foster proj- cn. summer camps, scouting and ccts ancl activities which will pro- lrhy'sicaledtrcation for Arab and Jervish youth. mote cooperation between Jervislr Interns and community members and Arab communities in their purare also exploring the feasibility of suit of common goals. According to Intern David Lerman establishing a cooperative for Arab of Milwaukee, "We Interns act as and Jervish farmers who could share in the purchase and operation of excatalysts. We try to help the people pensive agricultural equipment. see what their problems Are, ancl Anothcrr hope is to foster a iointly then r,vork with them toward soluoperated industrial plant in the Galitions." For example, in Ar'Ara, one of the lec, and to encourage joint business littlc villages which dot the lower ventures. Underlying all of this is the Galilee, an elementary school teacher ultimate goal of Interns for Peace: "To develop rnodels for rvorking tosuggested that they needed an afterge,ther rvhich rvill carry over to coschool program rvhich would provide a safe place to play. Lerman re- operative action in the future." Farhat Agbaria, the Arab field marked that with no parks or play supelrvisor, said, "I'm glad to take erluipment, "I,t was a challenge." Here is horv they met the chal- part in the r,vork of the Interns belenge: A committee, including In- cause it's a program I believe in. Interns, a teacher and some parents stead of sitting around a table discussing abstract ideas, rve bring peoarranged to rent a small building near one of the schools. Together ple together to deal with concrete they cleaned and painted it, and it problenrs. In the course of dealing r.viththesermutual problems we begin to build bridges betrveen our culof Milwaukee, GonooN neu) a Jurrrv contributor, is a free-lance iournalist tures." rcho has appearecl,in the Milwaukee He continued: "Our languageproJournal, Capitol Times. Jewish Spec- grarn is an exarnple of horv we cotator and Jewtsh Frontier. operate. We teach our Jervish coun-
lnterns for Peace ln lsrael
JeNuenv, 1981
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Genetic Diseases in Jewish Children
DIARTIIV LUTHER KING JR., INSPIRES AIUTI.NIILITARISTS A NTI-DRAFT activists involvcd in protests during registratior-r fr rveek, Jan. 5-10, will bc "rededicating" thcnrselves to "N{lrtin Ltrther King's dream of social and econonric jtrstice through nonviolcnt direct action," according to the Fellorvship of Reconcilitrtion (Box 271, Nyack, N.Y. 10960), peace orgtrnization that has dcclarccl the u'cek of King's Jrrn. 15" birthdav irs "ltights of Conscicncc Week." "Our potential irllics includc lllack ancl urinoritv groups n'hose chilclrerr^are bcing draftecl throtrgh econonri; pr('ssrlres,rcligious organizations,rvomcn s groups,tracleturions . . ." 1'hc group encorlragclsconscierntiousobjcction to the clraft rather than non-registration.
By HARRY BLOCH DISEASE derivesits inrportance in time _and_spacc.lVhen polionryelitis, --diphtheria, whoopingcotrgh, snrallpox and tetanus tiitt.:it uncl nrtrintccl countless chilclrcn. the r:florts of scicncc:wcre vigorouslv directccl tor.r'rrrdsthcir cure and prcvention. This wr.r.s also true for measlcs. lnunlps -areand Gemran n)ca.slc.s.Cliildren still harassed bv illncssesthat urgently rcquire prioiity of governnrent rrncl scientifi-crcsorlrccs, notably those derived from socio-c'conomicand cultural dislocations. (We are not discussingcanccr. czrrdio-r.'trscular cliseaseand other disabilitics that favor acltrltpopulation.) In_ this crrtegory are inclidcd thc "abuseclchild," a particular dilemnra of the non-socitrli.st countries: crlotional zrnclnlcntal disttrrbanccs:rnitlnutrition di.scascs;adolesc.entproblernrs.; dr],g acldiction; accidenti; juvenile dclinque'ncy: chlld prostitution; and the millions of childrc,ndeprivecl of preventive carc: of teeth. vision ancl hcaring, and with orthopeclic defects.
Golclburg in Hirnrden, Conn., ht' canlrr to Isracl in 1976 from lltrffalo, N.Y. to rvork in thc ficld of ArabJervish relations. Interns is thc vehicle he conccivecl as viable for that u'olk. 'fhc' first group of Interns lracl an uho is enthusiastic cight-ruonth training course that inAnothennan trbotrt thc u,ork ancl potcntial of thrr chrcli:cl ek'nrcnts of Anthropology, Intcrns is Dr. Sanri N{ari', an Aritb, Ilistory of Arab-|ervish Conflict, nativc of Ar'Ara. FIe is anrong tht' Zionisnr ancl Principles of Commuscholars at Haifa Ulrivcrsity' rvho irrt' nit1, Work. hrtt'r'ns are cornnri,tteclto revieu'irtg the program for thc Forcl .spcncltu'o yeals in the ficld; this Foundation. Intervicrvcclat his office sroup rvill finish its stint in March, in the: Dcpartnrcnt of Education at 198f. In ordcr to assurc the protl-reunivcrsity, hc said, "Tht' Itrtt:rns {rrilr)ls contintritv, a sccond caclre of hal'c takcn hold in thc communitics cight traincesbegan training in Nov., they are living anrong. Thcy are 1980.A third group of 15 rvill begin learning Artrbic quickly and adapt- trtrining ir-rAtrg.. 1981. ing renrarkably u'ell to the culturc. Itabbi Cohcn's hope is to start They're u,ell-rcccived ancl thc pcoplc groups annually. "Wc'll be looking for college graduates rvho have at of thc villages feel close to them." He praised the accomplishrnentsin lctrst six months of living expc'riencc the field of community clevelopmcnt in Isrerel ancl trrc able to operate at and hope"^ tlrcy rvill coutinue ancl girrtnrcl level in Hebrcw. But rnost expand. He termed the program ideal inryrortantis the personality factor. for Jervsand Arabs to rvclrk and learn Our interns must be ablc to reach orrt to strangcrs and must haoe o togcthcr, and hopes it rvill bring morc people from abroacl and urore senseof huntor." Hc hopcs that at least half of JervishIsraelis to Arab villtrgcs."The Arab.s here are quite seuregatedcul- futtrrc gl'oups of fic'ld rvorkers rvill bc turally. The intcraction pronrotes Isracli Jervsancl Arabs. This, he saicl, gror,vth ancl undcrstancling." u,ill depend upon the availability of Interns for Peace is the brtrinchilcl scholarship funcls.To train and mainof Rabbi Bruce Cohen. After scrving tain a rvorker in the field costs I as assistantlabbi to Rabbi Robcrt E. $9,000.
tcrparts Arabic, irnd thcy ht'lp us rvith Iinglish and Hc'brcrv. Wc're lloth lcarning more than voctrbulalic's and gran'rrnar-wc'rebcginning to urtclerstancl eirch other. \Vithout that. peacr)is just another pit'cc of papcr."
14
_ In thc past clecade, disetrsescausecl l;y an inborn genctic alteration havc attractccl ntterrtion. Sickle ccll cliseilsc, becausc of high incidcnce in cle.sccnclirntsof Afric.an slirves. always concenred nrc'clical investigators. Lintrs Paulir-rg succ(,ssfullv discorrerccl it.s ctruse ancl reccivecl rl Nobel prizr'. Ccrtairr hcritaltlc rUsorclc'rs,unconrmon ancl cvon rare. arc a s s o c i a t t ' d r v i t h d t ' s c t ' n d u r r t so f A s h kenazi Jcrvs. 'l'he follorving arcr gt'netically cletcrnrine'clcliscascs:
._ Tuu-Sach,sDi,seu,seis An cnzyme ck.fcct thrtt pcnnits accunrulatioir of injuriotrs rnaterial.An carly form exist s in inf ancy ( a I at er t yir t , is also 'bv kr r ou'n) . I t is r r r ir nif cst e. i blint lIl(rss,ar-rt'stc<ldevr:lopnrent,ivasting, physicrrl and rnental regrcision anii 9ar:ly clcath. Although preclorninant in Eastern Etrropcan ]clvish fitrnilit,s, cases have becn reportcd in lllack an<l Chinersc'infants. . l,Jienrunn-Pick Disease is a {renr:tically ckrtt,rminc,daihncnl ;"&ling itself in neurological hanclicaps; involvcrr-rcntof bone nrArro\v.snle.en and liver'; und rrniforntly fatal. Not all victinrs ure of Jervislrancestry. . Guuclrcr's Diseo.seinvolve.s liver, spleen,boncs ancllyrnph nocles.N4os[ r.ictirns clo not survivc the first veilr. . Fanliliol Dy,suntonomia is g(,ner ally I inr it c'dt o Jcr vishchildr en'ancl is a clisturllanceinvolving thc cntirc n('rvous .sy.sterl. Thc victim.s rrr(, small; r'nrotionally unstable; coorcliDn. Henny Blocrr of So. Orange, nate poorly; strffer rcpcated rcspiraN./., a retirecl pecliatrician, rc(Ls tory infecrtions; and are rr.on" to Senior Lecturer in Pecliatrics at the crippling injurics due to insensibility Dorcntorcn Meclical School ancl ho,s t o pain. pultlisherl ntarutrarticles on medical I strongly advise clescendantsof Iti-stot 11in the N.Y. State Journal of AshkenaziJcrvs not to panic ancl not Medicinc ond Pediatrics.fIe h,st uyt- to lteconrr, involvcd with private Ttearerlhere in Iulu-gu*., lg7B rciih groups fostering "research" iri thcse a reaieu: of a book on Jonusz Kor- diseases.As in the planetary proczak. gral-ns,govcrnm()nt grants at.e ab-
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JeNuenv, 1981
f
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WAITING TOR THE GREEN LIGHT ,LE FRIEDIGER By ISABELLE MILLENIUM can sometinrespass beforc on ne's eyes in rr ferl' l, as it took for minutes. In fact, the incident lasted only erslong the red traffic light to change to green. And, of course, it hap' ew York City. pened in this ofte,n ugly but mostly beautiful New r the young d only Traffic was zooming down Second Avenue and That left six of us and fleet-footed dared to cross against the light. Thr obediently standing and waiting our turn. olding his toddler The first one I noticed was a young father hold lresseclin the Jeu'son. He caught nry oye imnrcrdiatcly,for hc was dres hanging ea ish Orthodox manner-black hat with reddish earlocks fc the father to down below the brim. It seemed a little unusualI for rn that because of be rvithout the wife and I rnade a qtrick calculation sor from whoever her illness or confinement he was picking up his son had cared for him carlier in the day. rn mother-a gaily Next thcre wns the ebullient, round Puerto Rican ihe clutched a bag flowered dress shorving below her brorvn jacket. She y, noisy offof cookies trnd began to dole them out to her two) young, rild and smilingly spring. Suddenly she looked at the uran and child wonder' in placed a cookie into the child's hand. I watohed intently, bhis piece of noning what the Orthodox father would do about thir kosher food thrust into the hand of his son. her did not flinch. The next few moments were climaotic. The father aspccl the cookicHe snriled and thanked the rvoman. He also grasl holcling hand of his son. The light turned grcen. The father ah The rnother and her two skipping children ran ahead. Should < and son crossed more slowly. I found myself inn conflict. I kcep paoe with the father and watch him trrge his son to give up the cookie or should I iust go my way at my own pace and be I content that I had rvitnessed a beautiful pieoe of history? I chose the latter. *"ht", Isennrrn..Fnrrotcra of New York, a neu contribu " "t*jt for Conrsalescents. tnd retirecl Exec. Secretary of the Jercish Home fr solutelv essential to achievc' resttlts. Pressuie t'xertcd on elected officials to support health legislation, such as proposed by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, can assure progress towalds the understanding and prevention of these lamentable affiictions. Pro grams of genetic detection condtrcted by hospitals are a legitimate endeavor in which concerned families can participate. At its convention Aug. 16, 1976. 16
Hadassah and the then newly' founded National Foundation for Jervish Genetic Diseasesplanned coirrdinating their efforts to combat a gcnetic disorder that, a't the present tinre, affects primarily Ashkenazi Jer.vishchildren. This disorder, ma' i:o-lipidosis irs,bc.ginning with cloudy cornea and progressing to psycho' nrotor retardation during the first vear of life, was first reported in the r Iournnl of Pediatrics in 1974.
Jnwrsn CwnnNrs
acQaTTTALS
I{
GREETVSBORO ZRDTESTED
the.all-wl.'itejury, headed by an anti-cornmunistcuban \f,/HIN v v *'tuf{r'c. brought . _i'- i,ts verdict Nov. 17, Igg0 "not guiltv" of 'rurder or rior in_rhe killing of five leaders ;a th; munist workers(inc:luding a woman "i;-T.,fr''con,. u.,.1 u Jeivish doctor) Nov. 3, Ijrty.there *r., pi6t"st Qlack both local una ,,,,itiorr,it.rn" lg7g, jtrry view that the four Klansrndn and two neo-Nazis on trial actcd in self-defcnse was greeted with incrcdulity,.-itabbi nicfrara ttu"kuf.,T"nrple Israei-in charlottc, N.c. d"6iur"d,,,l-i"rt aJr,i ,"" l]r] horv the jury could come back with a verdict ui in"u..",ral; ,u"h a seriotts,atrocious critne." Marvin Bienstock, clirector oi tt lotte Jewish-Federation, stated. "when ;ilry "-Cfrr,.vindicates violencc by the_mcnrbers of orgtrnizations sworn to violenc;, A; 1.,."y'tru, oltc'ned the door to terrorism." In irn cclitorial Nov. 18 thc: clrurlotte llerc,y *,rote: The defendants came to the dcrnonstration h"u"iiy'or,.,.,",1.l-h" y-r,gsecutionproduced massive evidcnce-inclucling videotapi,s ancl Irrb reports-linking the dcfcndants to the scene utr.i to ih" ,,i.,,iponr. Thcre rvas testimony to show that the defenJants had the oinortunity to escape.There rvas testimony shorving that onc. victini-'ruo, shot frorn behind. It is deeply disappointi'g ihat all this produc.d blanket 't]ot guilty' verdic^ts. And *otri.o,,r" as ,,vell. Thc-state ought to lre worried about the process that producecl irn all-rv|itg juy in this case. It ought to be worried about the absenc.l of eflective lar,vsto prevent iuch clashes;policc, lo. tiu,i b"". told that they lacked the legal authority to siop ""n,rpt.,. ur.l i""ic.lr the Klan caravan on the way to the demonitration though thr,y, believed it to be cagrlrinf-armed men be't o'lroubl". "rr"n . . . , Nov. 26 an editorial in the Charlotte Obseraer askecl sharper "why did the prosecution rlucstiorr.s,inclrrrling, "u.lr 'two agrcc rvith the dcfense not to crtll .rnd"r"ouer agents, one of ouf,on1hu,i- b""r, rvith thc defe'dants when they plann"d th" N;". 3 confronioiionl" Thc sar'e .day in the same'n"r.rrpuper tliel-Rev. David Lervis N{oore of salisbury, N.c. pointedly asked, "what if fi; bin"k 'b""n rnen had done the killings?'would it have .self-clefeni"r'--or co.rse) thc' American Nazi party local reader HarolJ-Couingto", who garnerred 56,000 votes in i losing primary contest for- Re'hailed publican no'rinee as Attorney Generai, the ;'carolina called for the fonnation of a "uiai"rrvoulcl ""a Free siate" rvhich "' "non-white, cleport those_oj or mixed ,u"iui ,-,;ili;."" Jewish Dec. I a delegatiorl to Gov. James B. Hunt in Raleieii,-x.c.. ir,'icirschba.,L-,
cludjng.Ronald
hJu.l of the Arii ri"?"-;?i,o'r'Liun.,"
in North carolina, obtained a pronrise he would ;;;f; ;h;;g., the iuryselection process so as to include Blacil jurors and ,vo.,ld appoint Blacks as district attorneys and judges. iti" lrrti*-o"p"rt1111)Dt, meanwhile, is being pressbd to intervene in "defense# tt civil rights of those murdered. "
Jarvueny,1981
17
spring" (p- 21),- a f_ew of them achieved still unrecognizecl com11un.al and public distinction, including the matria,rci, Rebecca Machado, who was a founder and activiit i., a couple oi *o-".,', organizations, and Roserlie solomons phillips, whb "achieved a notable career of her own" (p. 5t ) in Neu' york City ancl Statc: Democratic politics. For the student of Anrerican Jervish history, this book is full of valuable rnaterial. Helpful tvould have been a geneillogical tree with dates, a ntorc clctailccl inder, and a firnr cclitort, har,.i to crcisc. freclucnt repetitio,ns, corrcct tho score of rnisspellcd 11rnes and g{reck.a couple of intrccurate <luotations.Ne'r,ertireltss sociologists. historians and rvritcrs of Anrcric'anJervish historical fictiorr can'ivcll make good use of this uni<1uestudy.
Two Centuries of an American Jewish Famillt
Samuel Rezneck, *lio." ()nrecognizerl Patriots: The leus in tlrc American Reoolution I hailed in our Sept., 1975 "Dhy," now oflers us an unusual kind of book that may be described as a sociological genealogy: The Saga of an Arnerican lewish, Familg sirrce the Rea' olution: A Historg of the FaniLg of lonas Philli,ps (foreword by genealogist Malcolm H. Stern, University Press of America. Washington, D.C., 1980, 239 pages, indexed, $16.75 cloth, $9.25 paperback ). This family, founded in colonial darys by Jonas Phillips ( 1736-f803 ), of German |ewish background, and Rebecca Machado, of Sephardic stock, who survived her husband until 1831, begap with [he 21 children they produced-and continued into the fourth generation, with N. Taylor Phillips (1868-f955), the last of the direct lirre, dying without issue from his wife and cousin Rosalie Solomons, "herself a Phillips through her mother" (p. 56 ). Seeing in this family "a vigorous fusiou of a strong Jervish identity rvith a profound sense of Amercanism" (p. 3 ), Rezneck traces both trends for trvo centuries, until "the extinction of the principal lines of the family, because of celibacy or infertility [and an occasional intermarriage] eventually reduced its scope, so that only a ferv largely collateral survivors rcmain as evidence of its onetime magnitude" (pages f9-20). The farnily's jewish communal activity, to the extent that it rvas present, tended to revolve around the old Sephardic congregations in New York and Philadelphia. The Americanization expressed itself in careers in lar,v, medicine, journalism, theater, diplomacy, naval afiairs and especially in politics. Ten or so held elective or appointive offices. The best-knbwn members of this _family are Mordecai M. Noah (1785-1851),about whom llezneck has dug up some new details, Comrnodore Uriah P. Levy ( 1792-1862) and Henry Mayer Phillips (1801-1884), rvhom,Rezneck sees As "undoubtedly the most distinguished member of the whole-family" (p. 66), not only because of his term in Congress, lB57-59,_butbccause after the Civil War "he was at the very oenter of the country's cornpatlies. corporate system" in railroad, telegraph and in_surancc' I^n passing, Rezneck ffnds it "rvorth noting," but rvithout critical comnr^ent,"ihat the Phillips family as tr rvhole. including lv{. N4. Noah . . .-also took a moderate, even pro-southern, conciliatory position on the current issue of slavery in the territories, and the preservation of the Union" (p. 67 ). ' while "The women of the family," according to Rezneck, "made their contribution only through marriage and their resulting off-
18
frwrsn
CrrnneNrs
Sorea n uSorea n uSorea n uSorea ru t
Novcm bcr '2 with Jack Nathan went to Torvn Hall for a seconclhelping of Mary Soreanu in sonrething callcd vintsh L[ir L[azel Toi (ivist, N,Ic Lygk), a "Yidclish-Israeli Musical corncdy" about horv a virgin rvidorv gets ^a husband Disrc'gard the contraption ancl concentrate on Soreanu srlging, acting, mugging, c,rrrying on, rr-roving into the audience to kiss the: arging tn"t-r in-the fiotii rows rvhile mu_rmuring,to the wivcs alongsi4.', "Horv I envy you!"-and vou will enjoy and enioy. Don't rlisunderstancl me-thcrlc arc other actors, and ggod ones (Reizl Bozyk, Davicl Ellin, salo Moise, Karol Latowicz, David^Cart'y)-btrt tlie play is undeintrncling,,,r,i ,,rr"rvarding-exce'pt for thc mcrcurial Sorcianuall the wav .
o
Barbara Moskow and tbe r(ape$e wowed Us! November 9 Plaud-ih and praise from all sidc'sof the varicgated auclierrcetrt our of Jcwish Music a[ the. High School of Jervish_Crrrrents-Afternoon Art and D."liS-" bore in-upon me the high ticlings that'our progrnnr made one-big-hit-that those who carmeout of a'iense of cluiy foturcl lr"iTtg.thgrg a great pleazure and showcd horv plctrsed they rvcrc both in their reaction to thc stellar perforn're., ,,,i.1,significantly, to the Fund 4ppeal. From an audience of 615. rve carne away rvith a grand collection of 93,616.25. The Kapelyr', five bearclcd yollng nren in vest and shirtslceves and a woman on the accordion, charmcd and arouseclus trll. Anrplification. by-its .sound systenr produccd n vohrmc. approaching disco decibel level. Those of us w'ho had herarclthe olci-iine klezmer were ercited by this rc'ncrvalof a popular tradition; those rvho were nerv to klez'merei fotrnd it frcsh irni exhilarating. For joyous musi c-mak ing_r vewer e indebt ed t o N{ichacl Alpcr i, f iddl; 'ancl vocals; Eric Bcnnan. ttrba; Lauren Brocly, piano' ar-rclaccordion; 5_"1 v-"ltz, clarinet;- Henry sapoznik, fidcile rurcl vocals; ancl Joslr Waletzky, piano trnd vocais. Barbara N4oskorv,u'ith Rose Jarvis Cohen rrt the piano, captivated the audience rvith her lovely voicc'. somctirrresiyric. sorne-forceful. times dramatic, here tcnder, therc ir-r zr rvell-chosen pro-
jarvuenv,1981
t9
gram of songs in Yiddish, Hebrew and English. Her passionate grief in Shike Driz's Babi Yar Viglid touched you to the marrow while he,r selections from Goldfaden's operetta Slrulamith transformed familiar material. Her tall elegance, dramatic presence and clear diction underlined a splendid performance.
o
"JewisbSocialist Critique"-No. 3 This delayed issue was worth waiting for-and should stimulate many subscriptions ( Spring-Sumrner/1980,84 pages, $8 for 4 issues from 2000 Center St., Rm. 1366, Berkeley, CA 97404). |ack Eisner crisply exposesthe Lyndon H. LaRouche-led U.S. Labor Party for its anii-Semitisrn and-fascist trends. Jack Zipes notes that in West Germany "even the Left has overlooked the oentrality of antiSemitism in fascism," as he outlines, sometimes confusingly, the struggle for "holocaust consciousness" among Jervs and socialists there. Alan Wald traoes what are called the "New York intellectuals" on a path from cultural pluralism to "revolutionary intcrnationalism" but underestimates the effect of left-wing assimilationism. Interviewed June 20, Maxim Ghileln makes predictions about the Israel situation that are al,ready outdated. Victor Trcschan appreciatively but critically reviews the documentary film on the U.S. Jervish anarchists. Poems by Yuri Suhl, Mark Stein ttnd Irwin Rosen, Madelyn Katzman on ]ewish papercuts and Paul Buhle's intervierv with Martin Birnbaum on the Proletpen fill out a varied is s ue.
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November 16 With Milt Pokorne, hugely enjoyed the Folksbiene production of Der Klezmer un zein llign (The Klezmer and His Melody) :rt the Central Synagogue Playhouse. Basing himself on a three-page story, "The Musician's Death," in The Book of Fire (Yoseloff, f96l ) by I. L. Perctz (I852-f915), David Licht has n.radean aclirptation that elaboratesthe simple story in a style faithful to Peretz' insights and symbolism. The shtetl klezmer is the free "bohemian" type chafing at small-town restrictions (a wife and eight kids ) as he lusts after the luscious Peshe. who yields to family pressures and nrurries a vulgar Warsaw allrightnik. Albert Ninio of the Habimah brilliantly directs the skilled veterans of the Folksbiene Ensernble and the guest artists, Leon Liebgold and ]ack Rechtzeit. The music by Zal' men Mlotek, the lyrics by Abraham Shulman. the choreography by Felix Fibich as well as the costumes by Marina Neyman and sets by Alex Gomburg blended well with Peretz' folklore and dramatic confrontations. In its 65th year, the Workmen's Circle's Folksbiene is a marvel of Yiddish theater art.
"specialIssueII, German arxdltr"
Jrwrsu CunnBNrs
ProgressiveJews protest Anti-semitism Chaireda 'reeting
t1,.,'"1*Tli_p of
.#\;Iil}:fi3: Jr,r Jewish movement it "u'e,{ the N. y1 siotr"r-+ 6.p.il'. tr^p.o[rt thc sur.gc of an'ti-sernitism in France that i;^ih; 6;: 3 bombing of a svna.gogr.ein paris_trrat i"ri^i;;r "i;,u*;J .l"al ;i;; ;;"y rvoundc,cl and the rise of racist n,rd inciclents i' the uSA as the KKK and nco-Nazis spread "nti-sl,r-riii" th;; ;"tiritiers. About ll0 turned out for short addresses tru vr- L;;;"-;;.r"rro.,. associ.tc dirr.ctor of the National conf.'."ri"" of nhck Loiuy.'rr, active in the .'ti-Klan r]rover-'entin the South as well as Noitht'MoJri" Coidra"in, viccpresident of thc Emma I.azarus--h".1*.-ntio' of Jcrvish wonre''s clubs; Hai-m Suller, co-eclitoi trr"-.ryrorgn Freilteit and l).rricl soyer' youth organizer for the "i te'wis'h'nt,.ra. After Martin llir.nbarrm recited his horoc.austpo.rn, ..Kos/rr,.r;; i-xi;h;;,.)^ Ior,., pcvznt,r llrcscnted a rcsolution caliing on ioonl, stirtc ancl ieclcr.l governnrents "to undcrtake energetic acts of racist and anti-s""iiti" "nd "ff""tivl action'i ,rlain^rt illegal Tel..g.o-, 'Days u,ere also authorizerd to Deputy "G"ir"tions. to initiate /acquitted federar prosecu,ti,i" ^Attor""y-c.'*""ot or"* s.
A "Folksbiene"Triumpb
New Cerman Cri.tique, No. 20, Spring-Summer/1980, 202 pages, tri annual, $8 per year (German Department, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee ) continues the incisive analysis of German-Jewish
20
relationstregunin the precedingissue-(seethis ,,Diary,,for Dec., 1980). The F-rench-Ie*irh,;;;t";irt. y"r".r. spcrbcr the Gc'rrnans he i. iaar"rrrrg"ir"iiir- y"-ishn-ess, crprairs to which consists of his solidaritv rvith Jgtlr-^r.l-ttth'-;ii";;;il, or injustice,. is his sociarism.-prof. pnll g."r*, 6;ii,rg""t"tt. ,.. tale of Jewish-leftistidentjty"r'B"ri; ln A,rcrica,:' ir;r" 6e ,.began the long processor shedcli; "or'rr.,rlo' ;;"r;i;;;;;;; ..,,'t,r.cc the f.ct that I aIrLa Jc'w" at the-i-frir"iriiy'-of wisconsin .t Macliso' in the lg60s buf tod.v he stili t";h; hi; .ir;iii"rr'^l,,ro.rri,.,g"about "being Jewish"' t"uitittg fo. th,;;;'il nrk! Moishe postoncstrc,sses that the idear of assiiniiaii;-.;i.;; i.." <1uestion,,. F;" ""ll"a*".,lT,,r., recognizesthe contrib.tion of ;;;"h- i"rr;;'h m.d. by pre-'varPolishand Lithuani.n " J"*rv,- rri,t ir a simil:rr secularJervishculture is alivJ ""-tuii,l'thnt in'th" usA. probing articlesbv Toni Oclsner.Iean Arnery, _DanyDiner irncl severalothcrs coniplete a challenftingand _1"a"ir"i"n1ng issue.
br Ki;-;";"ri"o-ryori r.iri"r in Greensboro.N. c. and to pres. .,r".1a congres_ Jin;niy c;;i";I" sional act that would p."u"ni" tri""i,r(ti"," o"pn.t,;;;i from s*pporting busing ut -"uns. of il*-r";;;'il; segregation. In my ru.,',nra[ioncrosing " th; ";l;;i;; stressecr the need to mar";;ar"g^'i
R""t;;, ;to' *o,"il"t"li;-";i;i,it, :?li:iffifl'ffi. againsi o
Tbe Generation Aft , Newsletter
Edited by sheldon Ran-2,-this increasingly useful nervsletter of a group of offspring of Holoca.rst;;;;rs, now in its third issue, is outsnoken ind scrappy iqitl -364,'riil;i"I,", .'-p;;i'of .,eo-Nazi forces here and abroad($o a vear,^pl6.sord., r\.r. Sta.. N.y. rt 10469).The data are geared to stimui^t" l"tl"ir;.-"'"' M.II.S. Jewuenv. .{981 Zl
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Arthur Miller's Moral Vision The playwright's
Jewish themes BY IOEL SHATZKY
of the plays' and rnHls collt'ctiorr,Tlrc T'lrcutre,Es- 1977,a cliscograptry -happily, found in such a as-rar:ely | ,ous of Artlrur"Miller,ubly t'clitt'd In surn, this is index. collciclitm-an 26 of consists bv Roterl A. Mu.tin, rvork for any' reference vtrluablc it,rrtrr, both essirys ald intervierrvs, a in the developmen't intc'rested ono thret' into Ji"ia"a chronologicallyArtrericanTheatre over the last ,t.l"tiotttz Death di u Sulesrrrdnto A of the dccades as seen through the three tht' 1;i;r;- f rom tlrc britlge, , taking critics' 'In of out' of its most sc)vere rcader' from N'{illei's carliest impor- cvt's one book, the through looking his in tant essttysto the nrid-point faot that over these by-the struck is preface Pluys CoLlecterl .'ui""t; rite ilO y",.it Arthur Miller harsmainifrr"r.,et, 7'1rc LIisfts, ir tiansitional last iris position as tlra social critic tirint'cl devt'loparti.stic in Millt'r'i Arncrican Thcatre' Implicit i; the ""rioi uid A1tu,'tlrc Fall to Lincoln ;;rt alnclthemcs of his criti' toue the in -throughout tnilior his Ct'nter. rvhich incltrde is his turabashed cisnr picccs ,tpon his retum to thc theatrc is <luoted in Miller t-t"". tit nroralistic A nutnber years of silence' ni:rr^e to introduction excellent "ft"t ui th"nt r'vould be difficult to obtrrin Vlartin's "In all mY PlaYs and book: th; has Martin r"p".ut"ty toclaY, and to the N{iller irook. I try to take settings and JJ;.' eoi,,l t".ui"" siluations frottr life which scholarl-by bringing the-sg-pieces to' clrarnatic of right and questions real iii"otu" -I Press, (Viking book. ont, scther info rtrther imout, se! Then n,roflg. X.V.. 1978. 40f P a g e s . $ 1 5 ; P a p e r' realistic tnost thc in placably and lrtrck, Pt'nguin. $5.95.) dilem' rnoral the find, can I situations The t'clitor has adclccl a litcrary a rcal.' though point to try ut.l ir'r" rvorks, trnd of Millt'r's lifc see holv- you "hirrttology cirsts of original hrrrd, lratlt out. I don't of pliry ;;;pp,';air decent without irnything iut'it" cr.ur u-pdatetl ,ro,f,,.'tion., a thorotrgh, ,,rinq the rlirt'stion of right and [if,iiogt,,phi' of rvorks by \lillt'r and ,r rorig as the basis" (Introclttctiou, . .\ ini*tul"tut of the play*'right through p' . \ \ ' r r ) . ,, a This matter of "right and rvrong," D" r"Jsrrotr*t, ;;,""'nt* the thc it seents to m(', distinguishesplly' of E-nglish-.ut ii, "ii Profes,sor many those frorn ciranratist 'Cirit,,"a. Stite ()nioersittl of New York at the past tn'o decades who His it"a, The DrrY-TheY ii'.igfttt of rt'gard suc'h an issue as to i.rr)Deitr Praisecl Se,rver, tiot produced Ofi'"didactic" or irrelevant' n',liiitrrnrr. He' hos ul,socontributecl "itit"t In this sense.the nran rvho ques' itt-ticles on the theater to Players' the values of American society. tionecl Studies naJ". ]ervish Frontier and Sons (1947) and Death ol ,\fry iti .qti in Anreiican Jervish I-iterature' 22
Jrwrsrr CtrnnnNrs
a Salesnmn(1949), who indicted the insanities of the McCarthy era in his a4aptation of An Enemg of the People (f95f ) and The Crucible ( 1953) might be considered in sor)re ways, in our cynical era, as "old fashioned." Iiven in Tlw Price ( f 968), rccently rer.'ivcclin New York. Ir{illcr is still relentlessly probing and exrunining the values of a scerningly "valuefl'cc," society. In the rvords of one of thr: characters,Gregory Solomon: "Nothing in the world you believc. nclthing you respect-how can you liveP You think thart'ssuch u smart thing? That's so hard, u,hat you'r'e doing? Let nrc give you a piece of irclvicc-it's not that vou can't bclieve nothing, that's not so hardit's thtrt you still got to believe. That's hard. And if you can't do that, my friend-you're a dead man!" (The Price, 1, in The Portable Arthur Il[iller, N. Y., 1972, p. 375.) Qrrestionsof belief values, in short. nroral issues.ure the ntaior coltcems of Arthur Miller. Ancl in these cssrrys, one is inrpressed by the consistency of N,Iiller'srnoral vision. In the prelace to his adaptation ol An Errcntu of the People, he tells the leirdcr tliirt hi: nrost admired the rr-roralisticIbsen of the l880s for his "insistence, his utter conviction, that hr, is going to say rvhat he has to sry, and the audience, by God, is goi ng to l i sten" (Mar t in, p. 16) . In his essay "On Social Plays," \{iller declares:" [The] socialdriinra is the mrtin stream and the antisocirrl clrama a bypass. I can no longer take with ultimate seriousness il dranra of indivicltral psychologr. rvritten for its own .sake.. . . Time i.s rnoving; therc is a rvorld to nrake. a civilization to create that rvill nlo\/e t<>n'arcl the only goal the hurnanistic. Jaxuenv. 1981
democratic mind can ever accept rvith honor. It is a rvorld in which thc' human beine can live as a naturrlly political, naturally private, naturirlly engaged person 57-5fi). This essay, rvritten in 1955, was 11 protest against the fad of the "psychological drarntl" that was donrinating the American theatre cluring that time to the exclusion of inrportant plays on social issues. Evcn thrr title of an intervier,v,"Morality and lllodcrn Drama" ( 1958), indicates \{iller's cmphasis as a playwright. All through thesc cssavs,as rvcll as in thc'plays, one feels thc dramatist's necd to conreto some judgment about the individual and society. Onc' nray rvell ask, then, in vieu, of tlrc chtrnging styles and fardson the Broaclrvtry stage over the last 30 years, rvhat has impelled Arthur NIiller to mrrintain his position as a moral evaluator of Anrerican life in his n ork for and about the theatlc? The editor of this collection scems to totrch upon this question u'hcrr hc obst'rves Nliller's ernphasis on "la\\' rurd larvyt'rs" in his plays and "his intellecttral identification of thc Lrrt' as il synrbolic ancl affirmiltive svst enrof values" ( I nt r o. , p. xxxv) . This question of "law," I believe, is u'ell rvorth eritntining because it s('enrs to ure to throrv light on tht' cc'ntrlrl concelns of Miller's u'olk through arl aspect that htrs becn given little critical attention over thc vctll's: his ]en'ish background. \Iiller has never rnaclea secret of his Jeu'ish origins. His rvell-publicized nrarriage to \4aril,vn N{onroe inclucleclthc fuct that she converted to Juclirisnrprior to the n'edding. But tht' n'irson that little lras bt'en nracle of \Iillr.r's orisir-rsi.s that the rvorks fol u'hich lre is bcst knou'n, partictr-
23
larly Death of a.salesma.n, to have nothing to do with lppettr ;iwish '"1 thcmcs, rvith the cx_c.r,ption i;cident at viclry trnd. lreriphertrlly,
After the Fall.
o, Dea,th of a Sole,snmn, curiously rvas.given ,r s.,"c"rrful yicl",lgtgh, otstt prodttctiou itt 1951 as Toqt^f un o. salesman, ulilf1 Jo_senhtsuiof in the role of Willy- Loirr,rn. In his criticisnr of the pluy, Georgt, llo.ss notes that "thc rat-heiplrrin arrd oft"n unidentifiable linglish-bcco.res fn,rriIiarly rich-Yiddisii.. as if Miller \\'erc thinking in Yiddish ancl un. _ consciously (Gcorge "'Death-translatin_g." of a Saler,',-,"r' in tiie !oss, original," conmtentory, Fcb. lg5l, p. 184. q'otccl "Arthurl -'Jervish'. i1 Tv.article, \Iil]er's Salc'srnan,studies
is so altcrcld by this ,ri.sapprelrcpsiorr iir;i ;; the end of trre nover he: ,r.,u'k"Jt"onlmon caus(, rvith Finkelrt.'.i.,"irr" Jerviih ;;;.iy store keepcr
*'rro'h;A i*="'-rrirdila
by 'eigh_
lrorhood bullies. X**uu reflects: "'People have right a lo nrk,,,r.,* 1,, .tt_lou".[froni thcl ncighborhooJ] but they,'vi got ;;igir-i to forcc hir' to nrove. . . .t H.r fcll his nrind sninrrirtg. That rvasn't right fliir"j did-people have o iiehi"ittr"t. to clo to a J.*'f uihy ,u"r h"--io'crippli,cl- in il,inkiug about itltt1p-. rg4l. rt"r, throtrgh the expt.ricnc.i'of -Ncu,nran ti.srtt. recognizes"tiii-S","ihi.s rttolt hunranity rvith'lioth.r" p"opi". "o,rrI. All, LIy _sons (rg41) Miller,s first suc,c.";;iri;i;y,'.^h; playrvright ,,uoi,rr:'",ryr_ ,"f"i"ri""-lo ni, Jerrvisrr
I I
in Antcriconleris! I i!3rature,No..2, bn.'kgroi,.ia.v.i lii-irri, ari,,riu,it \\/inter' 1976-
" P ] ) I]-ut the maior rrajoi issue raiscd relatc'sto the one foctrs of Nlilleris hn,rdlr"i' in Focus. Miller .sks rvhat Jc,ivish Ititit,rg"',., it pertains to his.plays.appe:rrsio ,r-," kincl o1-r"rpo.rifrifity slroulclharvc to be nroralistic rathei trran lin""e] -l ih;:l;;l;. 19 .Fiie^,.outsidei, ;f guistic. ,.all Kclicr;f responsibiiitv to nrv
roo AriseiTh",ll,lt"$,"i*,1,il:ilu;"rl,l 4:^ e!,ty .asTh.y :j (1936). a plav the drt''atist
\r,rott' as an urlde-rgraduateat the Univer-sity of Michigan, -Miller o"'u"ulr. thl rather specific-tithnic origins of hir vit:rv of the httttran conclition. In tlris play, Abr, Simon, a small clothing matrttfacturer rotrghly nrodelt'cl after Miller's orv' fathe'i, r,"t.i-,.lu opposing the use of strike-breakers to end a labor dispute: "Mavbe it s Itonest for thc c,onrpanies, to u'ork this u'ay. .stecl brrt I sce that it.s the wlay fg'r Jervish"on'i nrc.n to ogr.'t (Typescript. the Thcater Collect'
*'as ir'pii"d iri it)ri7i"Arfse. KelIer's ':g"n".r,l Arnerican" backg.t,,"a, iowever., dirgiiir", 'seenrsthis point ;ithr;;h th. issue to have arisen ?lorr"r Miller's earlier work. t, O'u)ttt of tt Salesntan,however. will r.veal the eth" "*ir"ireacli'g ttii'"r,g;rs of the playrvright,s mor.lity. Like Jo-" Keller, -;o.,r"rug" Willy Lo'ran ;;r#;:to be u,, Amcri_ crrn.,, (I1 fact, his character was f,,."a .lpo,, tr ske,tchMiller *,rote as ;;;";;"jljce't of . Jervish salesman
vierv is sor'ervhat mitigated.by \,IilIcr's broader perspective in his o,nly novel,-Focas,rvritten iu 1945.In that u'ork Larvrence Ne$'mar, a gentile, beconresnristaken for a 1ew. iiis life
U'iversity of T";;, yet ,iniir.. j"J, trrto"g#"i ,ir" nr"y willy s('emsio be ,"ur"irirrg for his ,,roots.,, This is eviclent in his constant inquiries ni hi, older brother, Ben, as
/
I
to what happerted to their father. IJ ur early d.{qf th" play, in fact, Ilen reveals to Willy thai ttreir fathei had died; the salesrnanthen comrnits suicide ( Typescript in Hunranitics Rc'search Center. Universih, of 'Icxas, Austin ). As Iliff dcscribes Willv in the Rt,rluienr, "He never knelv rvho he :r:{r. (Portoble Arthur Miller, p. 132) Willy reveals this ignoranccr by his clenigration of leirrning. He say'.sto Biff: "Bcrniud can gIt tht, bcst rnarks in school, y'undeistand. but n'he'nhe gets out-in the busint,ss n'orld, y'unclerstancl,you arc goiug 'hin.,tt to bt' ffve tinrcs alic.ad of (p. 146). llilf's own ignorance is reflccted in rvhat nright be considcreda ntanitestation of anti-Senritism, for his fathcr's apparcnt an)usement, r.vhen hc nrin'rics his math teacher Mr. Birnbaurn, the only charactcr in the ltlay rvith a Jervish nanle. Bir.nbaunr strbseqtrentlyfails llifl and his ncccl to hirve his father aid lrinr brings the_votrngstc'ron his ill-fated journcy to Boston u'herc hc discovers Willv u'ith Tht' Wonran and reulizcs lri.s father's hypocrisy Vith _rhese points in mind, a case can then be maclerthat \Villv \\/ils untrue to himsclf, he did not-knou, ' rvho he rvas," by ignor ing onc of tlre basic tencts of hii tlrc "r""iio.r, irnportance-of learning. und failing to impart thenr to his children. pcrihaps had lris ornn father staycd rvith thr: family instead of abancioning it u'ht'n \Villy \l'as A child. the ..naternirl hand" of tradition and ".,ltur" nright have given the salcsnran thc senseof identitv u'hich n,ould havt, strstained him- in his aclulthood. Willy's lack of ethical values urakes him a hollorv man; but I believe that N { i l l cr' s val ues i n 't he play st enr
-c""1".,-ir, Nypr,, liii"br,, ,,,;:3ii The cultural chauvinisrn of this .L^;;,;;;.:l;1,.|x"Lli;":lh,t""',"n,?i fir"- Humanitics Research -Austin.) Center,
24
Jawrsn Crnnnxrs
JaNuanv, 1g8l
from the traditions of his own an. cestors. The issue of "l?*'_ cited, rvhich was raised -previously bV Martin, has a pa-Iticqlar relevan""'h"re, b". ciru.se"The Lau,"' is the backbone of the Jervish nroral code, both reIigious and sccular. It derironstr.ates il concc'r'nfor the moral health of the ccrrlrnruuity,not just the individual. lt: this light, Willy violated the Lrrv iu pur-suing a frivolous cult t-rf individualisnr ind inrorins the ir r r por t anceof lcar ning; 'his punishrnent is thr. social and'inoral iailures that rnark his life. It is the violation of thc "Lanv" of- one's reponsiblity tou'lld socit,ty u'hich leadi loe Kei_ Jer to his dou'nfall. In A Viiw front the Bridge, the violation of the code of irnother cthnic group, Italian, It'ads to Eddic Carbdne's social ostracisnr and death. Certainlv the 'social origins of N4iller's sonse of responsibility can be traced to his political c,ducation during the '30's, lxrt to ignorc thc ludaYc element Ieavesa nurnber of tlie points I hirve alrcady rnade rvith tinsatisfactory answers. In the plays rvrittcn in the last two dccadc.s, Miller has returned to clepicting Jewish figures in his work. Iy \fte1 tlrc Fall,'-he questions inclivid_ua_l rcsponsibility in relatidn to the Holocaust. ln Inciclent at Vich11, he dentonstrateshou' a. gentile. \roli flt'rg, is itble to realjze iii, "o,,r,r.,u,, hrunanity -r.vith the Jerv. Ler Duc, arrd be u'illing to sacrifice,himself to save a fellorv human being. In Tlrc Price, it is the "wisc" Solomon rvho s('l'vesas it rltoral focal point betrveen rvarring brothelrs,Victor ancl _the_trvo \\ialtc,r Franz. In "keeping faith" n'ith Solomon, Victor achieve, a sense of vinclication in r.cnraining trtrc to his ou,n father. Of most .significance,hou,ever, in Zit
tiris appraisal of Miller as a Iewish playwright. is the moral staice hc tirkes in his view of ,tragedy. Miller has been taken to task for iris statenrent in "Tragedy and the Cornn-ron Man" that "the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest senseas kings were ' (Martin,-p. 3 ). What many critics have founri to be unacccptable in Miller's clainr for his o\vn work as tragcdy is the lack of self-awarenessof ilch figures as Willy Loman and Eddie CarUonr,. even at the time of their death. yei I believe that Miller's problem is that he has used Greek fragcdv as his model in defending his ptuvr. I fc,el that s'hnt Miller-'really nreant in his cssayson "tragedy :rnd the conrnlo-nrnan" nright be callecl"Hebraic" rather than Gn'ck tragedv. He touches upon this conct'ption -couldrvhcrr he rnentions that "Joll facc God in his right '("Tragedy _anger,-demanding and end in submission" an d th e Com nr on M an ," p . 6 ).
"good" man, was not a great and m-1gl1tyruler. Although *of th6 Bible is filled with the lives many great figurc's punished by God foi vlolating the "Law," there are manv commonplace figures so punislied as u'ell. The purpose of fheir ptrnishrrrcnt is to set an example, to show that God is aware of the importance of tlrcr actions of euergonu in the comrnunity, not just the most pro_ nrinent. A case c-an be made, tfien, that fronr his family background Arthtrr Miller ac<luireil this sense of the intportancc of Lrnv. and that tragcdy can come to those average pcople 'uvhoviolate it just erswell iis to kings. 'I'hc theme of The Fall is inrportant in \{iller's work as is evidcnt frorrr the title of his play. After the Iiall ancl the retelling-of iirc story of Aclarrr and Evc in lhe Creation of tlrc World and Other Business(tg73), the rnost recent play of his to b; procluced on Bioadway. Miller's concern, then, with "commonplace" Briefly, my conception ol ,.He- protagonists: Jo" Keller. Wilfu Lo_ braic tragcdy is based upon the Jghn Proctor. Eddie Caibonc, Inal,, trageclv"_of Tht' Fall. It is in ignor_ is, I bclieve, as much due to the inance of the enormity of their act that fltrence of his Jewish background as Adarn and Eve are banished from to his desirc to "democriiize" the Eden. In their own eyes, they have conc('rns of tragcdy. In readins. The not sinnecl gre'atly; thc.ir action was Tlrcatcr Essaai Artfur Mi'lier, I _ofcommonplace:the eating of an apple, feel I havc finally realized for rnynot the slaying of a king. Adani irnd self the importanoe of Miller's rnor"l Eve are not "noble"; in fact. thcv valtres so evident in his work. yet "typi"oi" might be considered hri rnore should be clone to examine the nran bcings. Job, too, aithouqh a ethnic roots of that morality. r NIILLER'S "ANIERICAN CLOCK'' WINDS DOWN RTHUR MILLER's "The American clock," a portrayal A of an -.r rpper- nriddle class Jewish family's decline iirto-gift#;r""^u" -after Depression poverty, closed Nov. 30 u *""k', ;; ;t trr" -either dramatic tension or "morallis"";; th" -l,lg"4*?.y.,Lacking play is little more than a personar memoir of hard times in N.y. Rtrt,spccial applause is rese-rvedfor John 4undolph;rd i;;;"c;;"land as Mr.
and Mrs. Baum-hepl#;g ih; ;t"[k
piano, until the Crash.
26
in"ir," "i"rr.'"i, L.B.
]nwrsn CunnsNr.rs
Secularisnt. and Our
Heritage
By MAX ROSENTELD
Immigrant Bar-Mitzva Boy BY IRVING KAPLAN l\T Of until we reached AntwerP I \ did I get the feeling of the enormous distance from horne. It fclt likc I was on the other end of the world. We were led to a huge, spacious hall, packed with a mass of immigrants of many lands, clad in the gieatest variety of outfits to be scrcnassembledin one place. There were Russians,Poles, Scandinavians, Jews, Hungarians and countless other nationalities. Many were huddled together in a group, containing men, women, children and babies in their mothers' arms, avidly sucking away at their mothers' exposed breasts. Th"y _-were surrounded by large bundles, wicker bags and loose posst'ssions. _It rvas a -acophony of voic't's in different tones and pitches irnd languages. We founcl a site among jewish gatherings and made ourselves comfortable.-These emigrants consisted of olcler oncs who traveled to meet their childrcn, rvho sent them tickets for passage, and younge:r ones es' caping scrvice in the Tsarist arllly or-seeking opporttrnities in the ottter rvorld-opportunities denied to them in the shtetlrtkh ( small towns ) in their native land. For a number of years rumors had InvrNc Keprer.I. a nelr contributor, celebrated his BSth birthdoA lune 7, 1980. We publish here the last tuo chapters of his Recollections of Youth. uhtbh he u;rote and printefl, for his familtl. JeNuenv, 19Bl
been floating, particularly among the Jervish population in Russia and Poland, that there is gold lying in the streets of America, metaphorical' ly speaking. When, occasionally,-a visitor from the States came to his relatives in the shtetl, he was surrounded by half the torvn hungry for news of America and of relatives there. The prosperous appearance, the bearing of the visitor, garnished with a touch of boastfulness. fired the inragination of the poor deprived and stultified youth, as well as the middle-aged. I am ieminded of a valedictorY delivered many years ago by a young cousin of mine, a brilliant Young r]ran. He came from a very small torvn in Russia, not far fro'm Vangi. In a short time he graduated from high school. He told the audience how moved he was by the tales of rvonders of life in America. He was especially irnpressed by the report that here in New York one gets uP in the morning, opens the door to the street and ffnds a bag of rolls, a bottle of nrilk. eggs, all ready for breakfast. In his home town he rvould have to walk a mile to the bakery for bread, pick the_'eggsfrom the chicken coop and milk the cow -if everything was available. How' ever, he said, after a dramatic pause: "It never occurred to me ,that I rvould be the one to rise at dawn here and deliver the rolls and milk to the doors." (He is now a success' ful psychologist.)
27
We slept on cots on the floor in I wondered what language he spoke, the same hall rvhere we ate. The u'hat part of the world he came dining table extended along the en. from. I think norv that he must have tire length of the hall. F6od was been from the Belgiarr Congo. served on a bare table. no cover or We r,eachedthe harbor. A number napkins. We passed ,tp some disht,s of ships were moored to the long that wcre served to us. for fear that dock. rveaving in the ticle that was they rvere not kosher.- Bu,t we had conring in. The vast expanse of the enough to eat. Along with the rest ocean to the horizon almost terrified of the fare we eactr got a banana. me. Yet I was impatient to board No'ne of us in the family ever saw ship and sail. N{y lolks had to pull one ancl did not knorv how to eat it. me away fronr -the spot. Tr,vo d^ays Across frorn m,ea woman was peeling later \\,e boarded t-ire ship, The her banana. I watched her aid was Zeelanrl. entranced as she put the golden fruit into her rnout[. obviouilv rel- By the present standard The ishing it. Zeeland would be rated a ferry for The following morning we took crossing a lake, but to me it loomed a r,valk in one of the busv strerets. immense.We sailed secondclass.one rvhich led to a wide extcnsive plaza. cabin for all of -us, mother, faiher, Antwerp struck me as quite diferent -sistcrsirnd myself. Therc r,veretrvo from Warsaw. It seemed much lorver double beds and tr.vo upper vilster, buildings closer togcther and bcds to which r,ve had to clinib a considerably taller. The nrultitude laclder. I enjoyed sleeping on the of pe'ople milling around, walking in upper. all direction_s,itanding in groups, The first morning aboard ship I overwhelmed me. There was a nlore skipped breakfast. jif" I was in diverse collection of nationali,ties and death " struggle rvith my dinner than in Warsaw, a more varied type of thc night beJore. It took several of clressingstyles; I was fascinatld races from the deck to the bathUy _tt," miscellany of humanity and room to dispose of it. From both coul{ not help gaping art thern. I cnds. askc.d unansw"ra-6lb questions ancl On deck I did not :rllow my inner got appropriate answers. struggle to rnar the breathtakirg_Suddenly, not far away, - I saw a in this case breathgiving-seascape Black man: jet black, slim. tall, all around me. Overnighl the ship erect and well-dressed in modcrn sailed beyond any trace of land. Ii attire, so black that his eyes were was water, rvater everywhere I not discernible. He seemcrd to be turned. was I surprised to see birds waiting for son)â&#x201A;Ź)one.I had never in the air, and u,hen somc of them seen non-Caucasian people and clid landed on the railing of the deck not know rvhere they came fronr. I I rvas even more taken aback bv was completely innocent of racist their several times larger than orientation, having not yet reached I hrrd_size. ever seen in my 'town. What New York. The then-American image more inspiring spectacle tlran rolling of_Black people had not yet rubbed motrntains of waves, crested with off on me as it, unforfunately, shortly u'hitt' foamy shawls!!! It madc me did for a while. But I do recall that forget my troublesome innards. I was in awe of him. very curious. Trvo cvents gavc' nty ego a boost
iurd raised my spirits for the rcst of the trip. One duy, a kid about rlry age urnd size, apparently fron-r a rvell-to-do frunily, began to te'aseurc. Ihe object of his dcrision was m-v outfit. The first tinrcr I ignorcd hinr. This cnrboldened hinr and hc began to annoy me. I had nâ&#x201A;Ź)ver had a .scriousfight, cithcr fist or u'ru'stling or clinches. \4/ell, this rvas as goocl ir beginning as any, and I slappcd hinr hard. We got into clinchcs, .slappcd each other and I finallv Iloon'd him and stood ovcr him menacingly, rvhcn his mother, I prcsurt'te. pullecl him an'ay. I clicln'tundersttrncl u'hat nalncs shc called nle, trrtcl clicln't care. llut the ttrstc:of victory. the first in my life, wus exhilarating. I reached the argeof thirteen u,hile on the ship. and becarnc llar-N4itzva. With my father's guidance I learned to manipulate the phylacteries. There was no celebration of any kind. In the ]ervish tradition I had just become a full-flcdged Jcrv, asstrming the responsibilities, ancl t'ntitled to privileges of a mature Ierv. The responsibilitiesbegan at once. Phvlacteries every morning bcfore breakfast, and afternoon and evening prayers. Thc piety that had overtakcn n)e a ft:lv years back had clr,vindled and by now completc'ly cvaporated. My occasional praying ancl perfornring somc) rituals were perfunctory and in deference to tny fatht'r. Here, in justice to father, I nrust point out that he rvas not a fanatically religious person, btrt he rnaintained the customs and most of the rituals required of ]ews, rvith the full understanding of the depth of the nreaningsof those rittrals. As I grer.v to maturity in close contact rvith my fathcr, I retrlized fully the t'xtcnt to rvhich my father was the t'rnbodirnentof the ethics of religion.
28
fexuenv, 1981
]rwrsu Cunnru'rs
I bcgtrn to devclop a taste for tobacco at about eleven years of age. At homc I knew rvhere my fathcr kept his tobacco and tissue trrcl rolling mrrchine rvith rvhich the tobacco is rollerd into the papcr. I leamed how to roll the tobacco atrd rnake a cigtrrettcr.I remcmber horv u'oozy I fclt rvhen I took nry first snroke. I rvas not discouragcd rund in short tinre cravccl a 'smoke tlrri'r' or four tiurcs a drty. To concc,althe extcnt of rny ruicl on father's cigarctters, I rvoulclsplit onc cigarette in trv<l or threc ptrrts. At this tinrc, I have suspicion-I didn't at that tinrc-that he' had a prctty good irlca rvhat was going on and who rvas tlte culprit. but he looked awiry. All of rvhich brings nre to the seconcl event that happenecl to nrer on tlrr' boat. On or about thg lilth day at sea, r,vhcn rny meals began to be rnole trppetizing and better bchaved, I felt tr strong desire for a srnoke. As I watchecl sonle of the perssengers so patently cnioying their drags at their c'igarettcs,my craving for a cigarette bt'came irresistible. I began to plan erstrategy for approaching my fatherr for a cigarettc. Eirsicr said than done. Renrember. I had no rea.son to fear physical chastisemcnt. My father never laid hand on a child. But I could not. at that tirne, brook a refusal. So I was confronted with a problem and how to cope with it. I had to conre up rvith some strategy and resort to cliplornacy. Mentally I appointed rny mother ambassador plenipotentiary to negotiatc a cigarette. I r,vasin particularly good spirits ( an a.ssetrvhen angling for a favor ). I camc close to rnother. "Gosh," I said ( or a facsimile of it ), "I feel ,so good. WOULD I ENIOY A
29
SMOKtr, NOW!" Just like that! No preface. No rvhirnpcring. STORY WITH A BEARD -boldncssTo the point. This sudden on ther young yeshiva student, THE p.a+-of her -mizinik (youngest boy r engaged to be married, was child ) caught nry -ofher .rnaware. very nervous at the prospect of Suddenly, h_". baby boy had grown mo'eting his bride-to-be for the up. Shc snriled beriignly and lookecl first tinre and sought advice from rut rne rvith nroist eyes, and I was thc rabbi. "\\zhai shall I sav to further cmboldened. "After all," I h e r, l l a b b i l I' rrr shy. said, "I anr now il N,{AN. tsar-Mitz"Eh, don't rvorry," said the va, a full-flcdged Jerv!" rabbi. "Most people, when they I u'ill ncver forget the sensatior-r get together, talk first about the of thc first pufl on the cigarette operlfoocl, then about their families, Iy given to rne by rny Ia,ther. I^did and then, if thc conversation has not fccl conrfortable lighting it in u'arnredup, they talk philosophy." front of hinr, and I snroi<edit onuoy The stJdent' rp"rt the "ifftt frorn his sight. I did not. horv".,r"i, memorizing this lesson. ask hinr for a cigarctte after thc first After dinner the next evening, qn9. I helped nryself hcreafter, but hr, rvas left alone at a large banclicl not have thc feeling of furtivcrluct table rvith the girl and was ne'ss. itt once struck dumb rvith fear. l3trt, rernembering the rabbi's The rest ol the sail was uneoenttvords, hc looked up frorn his plnte ful. There wirs an occasional thrill of and asked her: "T;ll rne. dd vou sccing _anothc'r boat sailing in the likc herring?" "Yes," shc said. The student other direction. We used to wavc to the passcngers.Ilut the ship was too tl'as At a loss to continue. ftrr to identify it or the passengers. After rninutcs of excruciating sile,ncc,he said: "Tell rne. do vou On the ninth doy we heard a have a brother?" c-horusof yells, LAND! I ran up to the deck and go,t the first sighl of -"No," said the girl. Again, silence. Iand in nine days. The dec[ was Minutes later, he tried again: crowded with passengersshouting in "Tell rne: if you had a brolher, exultation, in a babble of languages, would he like herring?" from r.vhich one rvord stood out: Arnerica! America! We docked at the pier of Ellis hugging and kissing, crying on the Island, the final physic.al scverance shoulders of each other, Beryl, Shifrom the pas,t.At the-rails of the dock rnon, Chana, oy Velvelleh, Bashkele. hundreds of relatives and friends I lookecl around me. Where is were eagerly peering at our railing, Yudel, Zhamke, Avremel, and AidIooking for their kin. Finally we crossed the gangplank and touched leh? Tr,vo nren were approaching us. American soil. We were sucked I barely recognized -y oldest brothinto a _rnass of people, the immigrents â&#x201A;Źr, Yudel, but Zhamke had no resemblanceto my image of him. After and their reltrtives. who came to receive them. I looked around. won- fervent kissing, hugging, rnother's dering if I would recognize my three crying, and my sisters and me being brothers and sister. People were caressed,we were off to New York. 30
|nwrsu Cr.lnnnrvrs
THE JEWISH OMMIJI\ITY ADL Doings o U.S. Labor Party Loses Legal Tiff: Judge Michael Dontzin of the N.Y. State Supreme Court Oct. 23, 1980 threrv out a $26 rnillion lawsuit against the Anti-Defanration Lcague of B'nai B'rith by the reactionary U.S. Labor Party and upheld ADL's right to label the group "anti-Semitic." The USLP suit, filed April, 1979, follorved ADL's denunciation of the anti-jewish philosophies trnd associations of the USLP and its leader, Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr. Judge Dontzin, in a 22-page opinion, said the ADL's characterization of the USLP as anti-Sernitic constitutes "fair comment" in vierv of the group's "highly critical views about prominent Jervish figures, families and organizations such as ADL and B'nai B'rith." Taking note also of the USLP's linking of ]ovs and Jervish organizations with Nazism, fascisnr, the international drug tradc "and a myriad of purported co,nspiracies," Judge Dontzin concluded "the faots of this case reasonably give rise to an inference upon u,hich the ADL can form an honest opinion that the plaintiffs ( USLP ) rue antiSemitic." In lieht of the Holocaust, as rvell as the'hirtory of anti-Semitism,according to the iudge. "it was reaso,nable to poin,t out rvhat it (ADL ) pcrceivcd to be anti-Semitic ovâ&#x201A;Źrrtones" in USLP pronouncements. o On Ku KIux KIan Actiaities: ADL Oct. 23 made public a rr:port of Ku JnNuenv, 1981
Klux Klan paramilita.ry activities in six states and urged thc' U.S. Attorney General to undertake regular FBI surveillance of the Klan "to protect Anrerican citizens from further terrorism and violence." The findings of the ADL report and its lctter (Oct. 2l) to the then U.S. Attorney Ceneral Benjamin R. Civiletti rvere revealed by Nathan Perlrr.ruttcr, ADL national director, at a scssiorrof the agency's National Executive Committc.e rnceting in Dallas, Oct. 23-26. FBI rnonitoring of the Klan was sharply curtailed in 1976 by guideliners issued in response to charges of FBI abuse of its porvers-rvhich required evidence of actual or imminent violc'nce before probing thc actions of don-resticgroups. Describing the Klan as consisting of "anned racists, pathological haters of Blacks, jervs and other minority groups," Ir{r. Perlmutter warned that KKK camps and clandestine training sites in various parts of the country present,"a clear danger of ner,v Klan violence rnorc serious than ever before." The report namccl Alabarna,Connecticut,Illinois, North Carolinl and Texas as the sites of Klan pararnilitary training and cited California ils a Klan distribution c('ntc:r'for instructional nrantrals and handbooks of terrorism. . Septtration of Clrurch ancl State Enrlangeredz The ADL's National Erecutive Cornmittee mceting also heard that the constittrtional guarantec of church and state separation-
3l
thc conrerstone of Arnerica's religious liberty-is being weakened b1' recent court rulings ancl local government actions, according to a nationrvidcr survey nrack: public Oct. 25. Kenneth J.'llialki,n, i.hairman of ADL's National Executive Comlnittec, .said thc findings rcveal a "<listurbing trencl of officittlly institrrted rc:ligious activity in thc nation's public schools which violates the constitutional rights of persons u'ho do not rvish to participate in such religious practices." Tht. t'ncroachnrt'nt of religious activities in schoolswas attribtrted to a trt'ncl torvard rnore const'rva,tivesocial nttittrdes in thc, pultlic ut largt', thc grorving strength of Christian evangelical efforts to injcct religious practices into ptrblic instittrtior-rsanrl the rvillingnessof judgcs to acconrmodirtc pcrccivcd comn'runit_v ck'sircs ('\,('n though constitutional principles rnirt' lrc t'rocleclin the proces.s.
lv{cGrau'Edison TRW and the McCall Pattern Co. the Circuit
o American leu;ish Contnittee: At thc National Executive Council rrreetingOct. 24 in Clevelancl,Anita Miller', Project Spccialist for thc F-ord Fclundation. spokc on "Can Urban Jerwish Ncighborhoocls Survive?" She said that the LI.S. could crc'atc tr Jcrvish renaissancefor thc' first tirrre in decades in thosc urban ar('ils that u,ererthe springboard for rrrillionsof Jer,vsscttling in Anrericir <luring the first half of the centtrrl,. Slrc added, however a "gentrificatio,n." il nridclle-classretum to thc cities, is forcing poorer residentsout of their neighborhoods. Iilclcrly Jovs ilr(' anrong such threatened poor, as cvick'nced by tht: South N{iami Beach iir('a, li'vcrly-Fairfax in L.A.. Wyn. rrr'fielcl in Philrrdelphirr and Clevelan<l Heights in Ohio. o Re a Chicago Nazi Rullu Case: Arab Boycoat Reports St'ven Chicago area p('rsons donatc'cl lleports filcd by hundreds of cor- to thlce anti-fascist groups 91,300 porations in connections with the u'on in a scttkrmc"ntfrom four ChiArab boycott of Israel were rnade cago police officials rvho barred their public Oct. 20 by the U.S. Depart- rtttendance at a Nazi rally in N{ar. nrerrt of Commerce. In several in- <ltrettc Ptrrk in July, 1978. The larvstances cornpanies reported refusing strit c'hargt'clthat the First Ame'ndto coopcratlr rvith the Arab requests lrr('nt rights of the seven Jervish nren for information. Those companiesin- trrtd wor.non were violatcd when cluded U.S. Steel. Richardson-Mer- policc prevented thenr frorn attencling thc rally to express their opposin'll of N.Y. and Sutler-Hamnler of tion to Nazism. The plaintiffs were \{ihvaukce. A spot check of the estinrutc.d participnnts in a Warsaw Chetto Uprising Coalition organized by Chutz57.500 reports turned up re'ports by the follorving corltorations ilmong pah, a Chicago Jewish organization. others that said they had complied o Ralht Against KKK: A spokesnran u,ith Aralt rerluests for infornration: for the American Jewish Committee Gcneral Elcotric. GAF, Pennrvalt, \vils anrong the spc.akersat a rally Iiirestone Tirt' and Rtrbber, Hervlett- of 500 peoplc demonstrating against I'ackirrd, Mack Trucks, International the rtctivity of the Ku Klux Klan Oct. Harvc'ster,Nabisco, Armco Interna- 25 in Uniontor,vn. Pa. while Ku tional. Corning Glass,tht'|eep Corp.. Kluxers nret nearby.
32
Readerst Forum (Continued from hack page) it seemsto me, should be the 1lt'<lple, lrt'st intercsts of the working pcople rrrrd c,xploited everyr,vhere,including tlrr: I\{icldle East. But, these arc not rluestionson the agenda today. tlrc 'l'ht' nrain problt:rn in front of us is to t'nd the situation of war and belligerency in the area and find the lrasisfor a just and lasting peace betr\,('('nthc states involved. Stavis aud llubinstein ask thc pc'rtinent qucstiotr: How do we contribute to the achievet-nentof rvhat is nou' clcarly an intcruationtrl c<lns('nsllson the next steps to be takt'n in thc Middle East? They imply that pt'rhaps I do not appreciate or uuder.standthe historic importancc' of the Israeli peace movement. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ask anyone in the Israeli peace movement what we can do to aid their efforts. The chances are vcry good that the answer rvill be to u'ork on public opinion in the Unitt'd Statt's.Thc government of this colultry is, after all, the only one of any irrrpoltancein tht' s'orld today thtrt consistentlv bac'ks tlrc policies of tl rose i n Tcl A vi v r,'ho ir e leading Isluel into a blincl and clangerous rtllt'y. It is oncr thing to call upon the l'alcstinians to alter ther tenns of thcir covcnant. Horvever, if thnt i.s rrot coupled with an equally vigorous call for the elirr-rinationof expansionist aims frorn the political l)rograms of the political parties runrrinq Isracl it can only be seen as Irvpocritical.Also, to suggestthat the covc'nAntis the main sturnbling block to \'Iiddle East peace is, undc'r the lrllsent political situation, ttntrtt{-', 'rrrrcalisticand diversionary. 'l-he eclitors of Jru'tsn CunnrNrs f rxuenr, 1981
Jrwrsu Cunnrurs
arc to bc conrrnended for opening their pages to a forum on this subject. \{y only de.sirein taking part is thc hopc of developing grcatcr under.stanclingand clarity, and a common progressivc approach, to this nrost .seriousand urgent rlut'stion. Cenr. Blorcr: Iiditor, People's World Berkeley, Culif ., Iulu 3l Reply By NIORTON STAYIS and ANNETTE T. RUBI NSTEI N E very rrruch appreciate Mr. Illoice's spirit of dialogue but still believe that he fails to nreet the argument we hirvc presentcd. Mr. Bloice puts his thesis: "My point is that the demand for the rccognit ion of I sr ael'sr ight t o exist ( as 't hc Jcwish St at e of I sr ael') m ust be coupled with a total and complete clisavorval of cxpansionist designs, tlre elimination of any expansionist slogans and agitation and repudia' tion of all expansionistobiectives." \\/e ttgree btrt u'hat rvc' have bcen discussing is horv that nrlry be irchicvecl. That is u,hy wc have rc'ferreclto thc peace nrovcnlentlvithin Isracl ancl the necessary preconditions toward its achieving sufficient political po\v('r to force acceptance of a trvo-statesolution upon the govcrnnrent of Israel (this government or its anticipated replacement). Mt. Bloice, horvever. having stated his conclusion, does not concern himself u'ith the method of bringing it about. His approach is, in a sense, not much different frorn that of his proIsrael antagonists who rvould inr.'t'-rthis fornrulation so that it reads as follorvs: "My point is that the denrand for tlre creation of u Palestinian state
(as the secular statc:or in rvhatever form the Palestinians rnay choosr.) nrust be coupled rvith a total and complete disavorval of destructionist ( of Israel ) clesigns,the elirnination of destructionisl slogans and agitation and repudiation of all destructionist objectives." The foregoing is as valid er thesis tusMr. Illoice's. And thosr: rvho pxrnorulcc)it are as silent as to rnethods of achieving it as is Mr. Bloice. It is the refusal of both sides to discussrealistically method ancl political dynarnics rather than conclu. sionsthat createsthe impassein rnost Middle East discussions.Any serious discussionof method must start with a search for a crevioe rvithin the r,vall of confrontation. Our thesis is that the Israeli _peace rrovement repres-entsexactly such an opening ot 6 that, if it is encouraged by somc sort of response fronr modererte'sanrong its Palestinian counterparts, an interaction rnay develop which could le,ad to the gcneral accc'pttrnce of partition and, r'venttrally, to pcace. We have not, as Mr. Bloice infers, demanded of the Palestinians that fgt a prec-ondition to this process they must first amend their covenant. We have. horvevcr, suggested that it is nece^ssary to see at least the beginning_of sorne open discussion among the Palcstinian people as to the acceptability of ar two-state solution if the already visible Israeli peace movertrent is to move fonvard. This would certainly encourage an increasing number of the Israeli people to reject the claims of tfrose leaders who believe that thcre is no alternative but dependence on military- prowess. Naturally those leaders have ttreir precise counterparts in the Palestinian leadership; indeed, intransigence characterizes both sides at this time precisely be34
cause of domination bv extrernist leadcrs on both sides. An obvious and serious difficultv in our scenario is, of course. the disparity betr.vcen the Israeli and the Palestinian political processes.We do rrot undert.stimate thc courage required of Palestiniansu'ho 'uvishto engagc in open dialogue on the rluestion. Unfortunate]y. the alternative is, at best, contintrance of the prt'scnt inrpasse and, at \r,orst, the tlrreat of a traqic war. It bears noting that the conflict betu'een Prtlcstinian irud Israeli leadcrs is not formulated solely in terrns of thc' Palestinians' right io nationhood. Unfortunately evcn the "rnoderate" Palestinian political leaders insist that thcir nationhood requires that Israel bc.lirluidated "politically, rnilitarily, cultulally and^ ideologicrrlly" ( the quotation is not from t)ie original PLO covenant but from the' resoltrtion of the Gc:neral Congress E- fltah, adopted in the Sp-ring "{f 1_! o 9 8 0 ). hr the light of this kind of formuIation there is no way that anv dialogue about peace between Iiraelis and Palestinians can ignore the genuine concerns of the Israeli people for their security. Instead ol discussing warfs in rvhich we rnight help develop-political movernents striving for peace irmong both the Israeli and palestinian pcoples, Mr. Bloice reverts to the now farniliar proposal that progressivespr,essurethe American government to put pressure on the govemment of Is,rael.In our opinion ihat is as unlikely to produce results as a proposal to put pressure on the Soviet government to press the PLO to accept the exisrtenceof the State of Islael. Besides,no matter how much \\/e support encouragement of Israeli JrwrsH Currnnwrs
Ix'acc forces by Arnerican supporters of Isrirel, we cannot support Anrericirn goDernment pressure on Israc:I. lsracl's security irnd future rnust not lx' deterntined by a lleagan's perccption as to what is rvorth sacriftcing for N{iddle Errst oil. No! Expc<-rtingone or b<lth supcrpowers to control c.ithi.r the Isrrreli or Palcstinieur lcadcrship is not rln answer. A solution to this bitter con{lict of nationitlisrns can lte found only rvhen the indigernousleaclcrship of both peoples at least begin talking trbout cocxistence.Wc havc pointr.d out that in the peace nrol'rrrr.rt'ntin Isracl such incliqenousIcaclcrshipt'xists trnd is talking opcnly, propagandizing for coexistcncc.Wt: believt that n cotrntcrpartcxistsalnong the Palestinians, but as yet it is alnrost silc'nt. \\/c urgc thnt its progressivc Anrericiilr supportcrs ctrn make their bc'st contriltution tou,rtrds Midclk: East p('ace by encouraging that group to engzrgein opcn clialoguc. We havc enrphasizedthe trerncndous significance of the Pcacc Norv rnovernent in Isracl and \ve are pletrsed that Mr. Bloice appreciates ancl undcrstands its historic irnportance. Ilut that ntoventent is stalled; it is nrarking tirnc, looking for a re.sponse-not fronr thc PLO lcaderrship, which rvould be unreralisticlxrt from its countcrpart arnong Palcstinians \\'ho, as rccently indicated lry Nat Hentoff, a critic of Israeli government policy, "say one thing in 1;rivate meetings with Israelis ancl othcr_Jervs, but will not go against the official bloodbath line in public." I)rrblic discussion in Palz,stiiian circles of the acceptability of a twostatc' solution is the key to the continued vitality of the movement for I)('irce uithin Israel. We have suggcsted that Arnerican supporters of tl x' P LO say so to thc.Palesinians.I f Jnxuanv, 1981
\'1r. Bloice and his contstituency rlgrc(', they should add their voicci. If he clisirgrcrcs,w(-' wonder what is his prescription for peace in the Micldle East. rvhio,h cannot be se. crrrt'd by harping orr lvlr. Bt'gin's policies. Only thc peoplc' of Israt'l can change those policics ancl thr: peace movemsnrt-thc movement that nceds somc help now frorn thc Pal'estinians-is trying to do jtrst that. We note that Mr. Bloice. like many othcr critics of Isracl. implies thrrt Isrirel's right to exist is litcially to be linked with the politics it adopts._Hou'cvcr ntuch ',ve opposc tlrc policies of thc Israeli governrrrent, therc is no l'eilson why Israel shoulclbc the only nation in the rvorlcl u'hose right ,to exist is consick'rcd clepcndcntupon thc policies -Which of its vrrrving governmcnts. nation ha.s not, frorn tinre to tinre, trdoptcd bad policies? The stmgglc for n change in policies is not thc sanr('as <luestioninga natior-r'sright to exist. As for Mr. Illoice's espousal <lf "dcnrocratic secular statcs everyrvhere," we agrce and r,vc deplorr' cven the linrited rcspects in rvhich the State of Israel has yieldcd to theocratic presure. e.g., control of mirrriage, divorcc and rerlated fanrily rnattcrs. The power of religious groups rvithin Isrilcl, howcvt'r, cloes not florv from basic legal mandate lrtrt rathcr from the disproportionate political influencc of minor religious constitucnces u,ithin a society fractured by concerns for i,ts securiLy. In our country too, unfortunately, despite Constitutionalprovisionsseparating church and s'tate. we have learnc'd something of the power of single-issue religious groups to inflncnce important aspects of our lcgal and political life. But fundamcntally, Israel, like our own coun-
35
try, is a relatively democratic society with a relatively free press, and the vast majority of its people have a secular orientation. The Israeli people have it within their power to determine the extent to which rcligion is to afiect their lives. It is amazing, however, that in debates of Middle East issues Israel bears the brunt of intense criticism on the score of non-secularism but its critics seem to feel no conoern that almost every Arab state is designated as Islamic ( frequently in its very constitution) and that religion in many of those states is an omnipresenrt force shaping the lives of the people. Beyond what we have said, the PLO criticism of Israel on the score of non-secularism is more sinister than a mere attack on dornestic Israeli policies; it is but another form of attacking Israel's right to exist. The slogan of the PLO calls for replacem,ent of the Jewish State of Israel with what is deffned as "a democratic secular state in which Muslims, Christians and Jews shall have equal rights." Notioe that in this formula Arabs are not named and that "Jews," by being bracketed with two religious, are here consider,ed only as a r,eligious group. Thus this slogan denies the rwtional rights of Jews. offering them only equal religious rights. This slogan is, in fact, a denial of the right of f,ews to have a state of their own. Finally, we are glad to note Mr. Bloioe's commendation of the editors of Jewrsu CunnnNrs for opening their pages to a searchinq discussion of this subiect. We should be most pleased if Mr. Bloice would open the pages of his publication to the dialogue that we have had. The reprinting in the PEOPLE'S WORLI) of our original letter and the subse36
HARRY By ERIC ilIAaER If ARRY-the-Barber, rr I called vou. As if you had no last name. You, who cut my first haircut. I was three In your shop, Harry-the-Barber, I grew up. I wriggled in the chair. In your shop on Southern Boulevard, north of Elsmere Plaoe. near Tremont. Harry, I was a fidgety custom,er. Harry, I'm really sorry. Harry, yes, I never kept my head still; You purt up with me for years. Harry, I miss you. Eric Mauer, nou in San Francisco, has appeared here with seaeral poems.In April,7976 ue pubU$frcd his "Grief and Anger," a refl,ection in prose on the death of Paul Robeson. quent exchange could be a significant step in the effort to achieve a common progressive approach to the Middle East conffict.
SPEEDY GET WELL WISHES to our dear friends
HARRY LEVITAN and LILLIAN MILLMANT We need your valuable work on behalf of soeial justice Jessie and Arrhur Agre Billie and Sol Angert
Lillian Kaunos
June and Sidney Axinn Laura Baylin
Fay Kravitz
Hertr and Edythe Kirschner Joe and Bertha l-â&#x201A;Źitf Bill and Vivian Lieberman
Hank and Sylvia Beitcher Naomi and Jerry Bernslein Leon and Freda Beskrone
Nora Levin
Clara Brind
Herb and Mollie Lovitz
Julia and Max Cohen Dave and CeIe Cohen
Joe Miller National Lawyers Guild, Phila.
Esther and Abe Cohen
Dave and Ray Neifeld
Gertrude Copperman
Eether and lrv Neimand:
Helen and Mike Coppennan
Herb and Ruth, Ostroff
Bert and Ike Freedman
Dave and Rosa Perchonock
Susan Freeman
Iz and Liz Reivich
Irv Gansky
Jack and Sylvia Rosenfeld Max and Rose Rosenfeld
Celia Gersenson
Ben and Rhoda Lichtash
Clara and Sid Gitlin
Betty Rotenberg
Bernice Goodsitt
Meyer Shapiro
Harry and Harriet Green
Si and Jean Slavin Betty and Bert Shaffer
Elaine and Bill Greenberg Iz and Sharon Hofferman
Joe and Faye Soffen Esther rStricker
Bess and Marty Katz
Rose and Iz Weiss
Al and Bea Katz
Jack and Anne Zucker
Rosalie Greenberg
Philadelphia
Jrwrsu Cunnrxts JeruuanY, f981
The Adaentures of Yemina and Other Stories, by Abraham Soyer, tr. frorn the Hebiew by Rebeccb S. Beagle and Rebecca Soyer, ill. by Raphael Soyer. Viking, N.Y.. 1979, 70 pages, $7.95. Antltologg of Lloclern lewish Poetrg, ln his fo,reword to these six tales Selected and tr. bv Ruth Whitman. Second Ed. Workmen's Circle, published by his grandfather over 40 years ago and trarslated by his N. Y., 1979,159 pages,paperbackmother and his aunt, Peter S. Beagle $4.95. This slim volume of Yiddish Poetry conrments understandingly that hunin translation is a valuable additioir ger is really the main character in to the growing number of Yiddish all of them. People. animals, even literary works being brought to the the u'ilcl animals -"dwell in a landEnglish reader for the most part for scape of starvation," but his zadeh, irr spite of the pain of shtetl life, had the first time. enough trust to make justice and lluth Whitman, in her succinct infropc.prevail. And conniving, cruelty troduotion, gives the new reader a and cvil -do lose out to kindness brief overview of Yiddish poetic rurd goodness. creativity; also explaining rvhy she However, these stories of people chose tl-resampling of poets that she irnd animals did not take hold of my did. irnagination. Their optimism seems Since the 54 poems ^*o-"r, by 14 poets, in- forced, almost sentimental. One hears cluding three appear iid" cchoes of La Fontaine in sonre-of l,y side, Yiddish and in English Peretz and I. B. Singer in others. translation, persons r,vith limited The conversations seern alvkward k-norvledge of Yiddish-especially iurd the endings contrived. They art' those studying Yiddish for the first, parrrbles rather than folk tales. The second or third year-will ffnd this gray, rvhite and black pencil sketchcs volume invaluabfe. bv Raphael Soyer are gentle and For those wlro know no Yiddish, conrpassionatr',realistic yet ide:rlized. this will serve as an introduction to Srr.rre R. Srrce the variegated creativity of Yiddish o poets, although the militant U.S. left l,Jobel Lecture, by Isaac Bashevis is excluded. Singer, in Yiddish and English. The poets presented are Zisha Farrar, Straus & Giroux, N.Y., 1979Landau, H. Leivick, M. L. Halpern, 36 pages, cloth, $10, paper, 93.25. Moyshe Kulbak, Abraham SulzkeSince the Nobel Prize in Literature vcr', Hairn Grade, jacob Glatstein, ar,vardedSinger Dec. B, 1979 rvas a Itzik Manger, Melech Ravitch, Aaron tribute to the Yiddish larnguage as Zeitlin, Rachel Korn. Anna Margolin well as to him, it is particularly apand Kadyia Molodovsky. propriate that his publisher should They are all 20th century writersissue the text in the original Yiddish some are Holocaust survivors-and as well as in translatioi (translator reflect, to some degree, the poetic unnamed). Had the texts been on modes of expression current at the facing pages. the effect would have time the respective poems were writbcen greater. ten. Also included are Singer's "Why Jeervnrrn Courrv 38
Jnwrsu Cunnnxrs
I Write for Childr,en," which he read l)ec. 10, 1978 at the Nobel Prize ban<1uet,and the evaluation of Singer's rvork by the perrna,nent secer''taryof the Swedish Academy that selects the prize rvinners, Proi. Lars Gyllenstcn. Speaking in Yiddish in Stockhohn, Singer feelingly described Yiddish as a language of exil,e, without a Itrnd, - without frontiers, not supported by any government, a languagc rvhich possessesno words for weapons, anmunition, military ext'rcises,rvar tactics; a language that n'as clespised by bo,th gentile.s and t'rnancipated ]ews. The truth is that u'hlt the great religions preaohed thc Yicldish-speaking people of the ghettos practiced day in and dav out. . . ," Unfortunately the price of this Iittle booklet is, both for libraries that rvill have to buy it, and for inrlividuals, a rip-off. M.U.S. ' l ' 1rc Meani ng of i U ro r , by Sebast inn Haffner, tr. by Ervald Osers, Macmillan, N.Y., 1979,165 pages,$7.95. I ltffner's analysis, a number one lrcst-sellcrin West Germany, shor,vs rt bizarre bias against the Soviet Uniorr and socialisnr generally. "Nothirrg{ is nlore ntisleading," Haffner u'rites, "than to call Hitler a Fascist. 'socialization . his of the human lrcing' has cxact parallels in such sot'iirlist countrit's as the present-day S ovi etU ni on and C DR . . . " ( p. 60) . llaflner thus places Hitler "neal'er to Stalin than to Mussolini" (p. 60) ,rrrcl baldly states that, "given the rurtrrreof a German hegemony [in l',rrroper]under Hitler, an Arnerican ()n(' \vas far preferable and even il llrrssitrn one sliglrtly so, although \{)nre people r.vould dispute the latt . ' r ' " !( p a g e sf 0 5 - O ) . 'l'lre book's principal thesis is that I rxuenv. 1981
Hitler's actions during the last three years of the war ( following the initial Nazi defeat in'the USSR) constituted his deliberate betrayal, or rnurder, of the Germany that had failed to fulfil his racist ideals. The dcstruction of European Jewry instead became Hitler's pre-eminent goal-"a plan thtrt had long rnirde his rnouth water" (p. 143). Haffner suspends moral judgment as he appraises,in separatechapters, Hitler's "life', achievenrents, successes, misconceptions, mistakes, crinres, betratyal." This "objective" approach too closely resenrblesa rationtrlizing or disavowal of German rcsponsibility for Nazisnr and the Holocaust. Would Hitler's leadership of Cennany not have been a betrayal of that nation's rnoraliW and hurnanness hacl he succeeded in his plans of rvorld conquest and genocide?
L. B. FROilI NEV HAYEN, CONN. rve received Nov. ?5 a check for $300 from the Peoples Center Association Fund through its president, Sanrucl Davis. This paynrent is the remainder of the total of $600 assigned to our magazine for 1980 by this devoted group of progressive Jervs. Mr. Davis rvrites that ". we recognize the need for your nragazine and unclerstancl the hardship to maint ain it . " Thc IUanagcrr-rentComnrittee deeplv appreciates the solidarity of tht, Peoples Center Association Fund arnd its offict'rs and nrenrbers.
Susfoiner
$l fo $10 ct Month! 39
238-243rd LIFE SUBSCRIPTION rO JEWISH CURRENTS To support the expressionof a progressivefewish point of view on world issues,we enclose$200 for a Life Subscription.
letlers Fto
m t llo
RocnBLLs (Krrzus) eNo BsnNeno TnNzsn o In honor of our 50th wedding anniversary, we are taking out a Life Subscription. Forest LIilI"s, N.Y., Noo. I Rrsncce ar..u Peur- JenrvroN NewYork,lfor:.9
rit
Opiniorc expressedin letters are not necessorilytltose of tlrc ntoi:(izine. Letters rcill not be published unlessoccontpanied bu the rvnne und adrlressof tlrc rcriter. Nanres u:ill lte rritlircld front Tniltliuiliorr on rcguesf.-Ed.
Teaching the Holocause
ptrst, and a deep commitment "Never to forgct, Never to forgive." I do no,t .sec'this awareness and commitment in fliends and acquaintances,Jer,vish and Gt'ntile, who learned about the Flolocaustas teenagersor adults (if, in fact. thev learned about it at all ). f'o them ii is "history," not reality. Tlicl' also learned about it from a cliflerent perspective. I see in thenr k'ss concern for the victinrs of Hitler. less concern for the human aspect of the Holocaust. Judging fronr my experiencc,I feel that it is important that elenrentarv school children understand rvhat happencd in the Holocaust. If tht'y clon't understand as children. they r)lav never understand at all. RurH Snln l)uais, Calif., April 23
Whcn I got nly copy of Jnvvrstt Cunnsurs today, I didn't think that I rvould ber interested in the article entitlt'd, "Teaching About the Holocatrst," by Bernard Schneider. I read it anyway. I'm glad I did, becausc nly experiencesdirectly relate to one: of thc questionsasked. I, too, rvonder about the real re'asons for withholding the horrors of the Holocaust fronr young children, ag('s 6-12. I started slrule (at Sirn Fernando Valley kind,ershul and mittlshul) in the third grade, at the age of 7r/2. Although I had cxposure to the Holoctrust at homc. it rvas in kinder,slrul that we were spccifically taught about nlany of the aspects of it. We sntg "Zog lfit Keynntol" And "Parti=uner LicI," we learned about The Soaiet Yiddish Vriters the rcsistanc'e in thc Warsaw and \/ilna ghettos, and we were even shorvn pictures and slides of the vic]ust to tell you how movcd I was tinrs of the concentration and death ln' \lorris Schappes'"The Martyred Sovict Yiddish Writcrs" ( lvlay issue) . carnps. I do undcrstand ptrrents worrying Iseec M. FUN about their children being exposed Brookline, Mass., Mau 15 to the inhumane and terrifying hor0n Staois and Rubinstein rors of the Holocaust, but thc effect it had on me and on those rvith Another small appreciation of the rvhom I went to shule, rvas to create a deep awareness of thc Holocaust fine s'ork you do for all of us. Please and of anti-Sernitism, present ancl send a sub to mv sister and brother-
To keep her in close touch *iti her ]ewish cultural background, I arn enclosing $200 for a Life Subscription for my youngest grandcousin, Sean Christopher Garguilo, age 10. Elmhurst, N.Y., Noo. 9 Evrvre ErcnnNwelo As plcclged at the Jcwish Crlri"tts Concert, we arc enclosing a check for $200 for a Life Subscription. Our vcry best wishes to all of you at ]ewish Currents, especiallyto Morris U. Schappes. Wr: enjoycd the conccrt Nov. 9 vcry much ancl cspccially applcciatcd the analysis of the election results [printed in our Dec. isstrecclitorial]. Bronx, .l/.y,, lrloo. 12 Metrrrw eNn Clene ller-rrn I r,virsheppy to bccome a Lifoos,.bscribcr at the Annual Concert for the folloiving leasons: l) Morris Schappcs said that all Life Subscribers would live to be 120; 2 ) thc unique role of the rnagazinc on the Anrerican jewish scl'nc; ancl 3 ) nrost of all, n)y warm affcction and great admiration for Hcdy and Bill Shneyr:r. luntaica, A/.Y., I'loo. 30 Jtrorrrr Tulmn It's rvith gleat plcasure that we enclose this check for a Life Srrbscliption. We hope that we live long enough to get tht: full vllue and appreciation of jnwrsrr Cunnnurs, Kecp up ther rvouderful rvolk. :rnd rnay you continuc to print rvhat tuitst bc saitl. Prrrup euo ANN Srnnrr\ralleu Streant, l{.y., Dec. 6 rrr-l urv i n C anada. Enclosed is a , ' l r t ' c ' kf o r $ 1 1 . .'\ special commendation for Stavis ;rrr<lRubinstein's "Opcn Letter" to l'l,O supporters. How badly the \rrrcrican fewish community needs to keep moving closer to a sane ,',rirspof the original partition plan ;rrrrl its absolute value for the enri rr. Mi ddl e E ast to day, as t he cold r r : r r h e a t su p . \gain in solidarity and respect, Mrcnerr Knrrssrnc \l i,s:;oula,Mont., Mau 70 I rrrr.,rny.1981
40
]rwrsu Cunnnxrs
Strong Objection I rvould like to strongly object to the r,vay the editor revier,ved the article by Mr. Gary Ruchwanger, membcr of the collective of JeuaishSocialist Critique, on "socialist Zionism." This article tries to wrestle with very difficult and controversial questions: the orientation of Israeli economy, the kind of collaboration between the Zionist movement and British colonialism, the issue of Arab lands, the ideology of "conquest of labor,"
4L
which precluded the collaboration between ]ewish and Arab workers, etc.. etc. Without referring to any of these issues, Mr. Schappes dismisses all the conclusions in the article, calling Mr. Ruchwanger a "young fogy" who cannot convince anybody. This paternalistic and completely uncalled treatment does not honor the serious effort put in the writing of the article. I myself disagree rvith sorne of the conclusions of the essay. I see it as too deterministic. However, in criticizing the essay I will try to exercise the same kind of intellectual effort u'hich characterizcd l\4r. Ruchwanger. Vrcron Tnnscuew Kerc Gardens,l/.Y., Iune 4 Greetings Zari and Malka Gortfried, Laguna Hills, Calif. Ben and Eva Friedlander. Chieago, IIl.
IEWISH CARRENTS EXCt CLUSIVESPECIALFEATURES. F R O MA E R O A D , ARTIr ITICLES N E: W WS O F A M E R I C A N . I STAEL. R A WORLD JEWRY o f10.00 o f 18.00 . f25.00 o t8.00 For s' sludentr or relirees, C a n a d a , $ l 1 . 0 0 , e l r e w h e r e ,t 1 2 . 0 0 Year Yearu Yearr year
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42
ZiP -
PTNNERS OF 79BO RAFFLE . First Prize-original watercolor by Varvara Vasilevska. Winner: Max Noon, Brooklyn. . Second Prize - hand-knitted stole by Elaine Katz. Winner: Sylvia Fish. Bronx. . Third Prize-$50 Savings Bond. \\/inner: \{, ancl S. Zell. Huckcnsack, N.J. . Fourth Prize - Selection of books. \\/iuner: Prof. Robert Coloclny, Pittsburgh. The Management Conrmittee congratulates the winners and thanks all who participatecl in our rtrffie sale! Dear IlIr. Schappes Enclosc'dis our subscription check. N{ay I take this opportunity to conglatulate you for an incrc'clible job of obicctive reporting. Ine STTEnMAN
Miami
Beaeh Miami Beach JEWISH CURRENTS CONCDRT Fri. Feb.6, l98l, 7 P.M. at the Jewish Cultural Centcr 429 Lc-nox Ave,, Miami Beaeh Guest Speaker: SID RE,JNICK writer, translator, leeturer ROSALIE V'ILLIAMS soprano lllinri trlers/tirr at the piano
IN MEMORY of our beloved
AARON SCHNI-EIDER
Sun., Feb. 8,2 I'.M. Centurl'Village, VPB C.rIl Sanr lforun, l-305-686-7433
O
SgIoia Chilclren
In loving memory of rny husband Henry Peurlman We miss him rnore eaeh passing day Wife, Eaelyn Daughter, IlIeryI and Grandchildren
and Grundchildren East Orange,N.I.
W. Palm Beaeh, Fla.
Brooklun,Sept.17 FROfuI NEV HAVEN, CONN. u,e learn that some 45 people at' tc'ncleclthe fervish Currents Forunr Sunday afternoon, Nov. 16 in the Library of Drvight Hall at Yale Universi,ty. The attraction rvas Dr. Paul Buhle, found,er and first editor of Radical America, a Nerv Left bi-rnonthly norv in its l4th year. and publisher of Cultural Correspondence, a periodical devoted to popular culture. He is also director of the Oral History Project on the Arnerican Left for thc Tamiment Library at N.Y.U. Dr. Buhle spoke on "Jervish Socierlist I\,[ovenrents in tht' U.S. and American Radicalisrn (1890-f940); The Lessonsfor Todoy." There was much discussion, especially from college sfudents present, lnany of them neu' to our nragazine. frwrsH Cunnnxrs
Greetings to Sgloin and lack Bosenfeld on the marriage of their son Arthur to Denise and to Jerry and Hossie Weirnan on the marriage of their daughter
TERRY TRAABER Monument Designer& Builder 142 l.angbem St. Br ooklyn,N. Y. 11235 Tel.: (212) 743-9218
Paula. to Leoi [,eaitans
Perchonocks
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r. J. MORRIS,INC. FUNERAL DIRECTORS lB95 Flatbush Ave. near Kings Highway 212-377-8610 Suffolko 21 E. DeerParkRoad(nerr terichoTpke.)o Dir Hills 516/6060 ilassaur t[6 Greenwich St. (near Peninsula8lvd.) o Hempsterd516/1E6-2500 Erooklyn. 1895FlatbushAve.(nearXingsHighwayl. 2121377-S610 GreaterMiamio Ft. Lruderdale lt. PalmBercho 305/85E-6763
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In loving memory of my dear husband LEO REISER died, Nov. 17, l9BO Leah Reiser Evanston. Ill.
A Happy B5th Birthdav to our dear mother BELLA
HALEBSKY Sari, Al.ex and, sons
Bethesda,Md.
The Management Comrnittee
FROilI LOS ANGELES we learn, through Bernard Fields. that a very sucoessful Hanuka luncheon was held Nov. 30, rvith over 80 friends coming to the Federal Loan and Savings Associa.tion building on Fairfax Ave. for the food and festivities. Prepared, catered and served by 'the hard-working members of the Jervish Currents Committee, the elaborate repast of Jewish deli caciesset the stage for an informative cultural afternoon. Motl Hororvitz opened the program with Hanuka and folk tunes to set the festive tone. A discourse on "Hanuka in Jewish Literature" was presented by the local lecturer, Pesach. Abe Boxerrnan, who presided, also made the fund appeal, rvith the result that $800 was sent to the office of the magazine and gratefully received. The Manaement Comnrittee thanks all the members of the Committee for their skilled services as well as the contributors to our great cause.
mourns the death Nov. 22 of its Life Subecriber and the art historian DR. HYMAN J. LEWBIN of Loe Angeles and condoles with the bereaved widow, Fay and their childr en and, gr an dchild.r en Magazine and Newspaper Samplee . . . only 50d each. Over 145 publications, covering wide range of interests, to choose from. For free descriptive list send stamped addressed envelope to Publishers Exchange, POB 1368, Dept. 169A, Plainfield, N. J. 0706f.
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CORRECTTONS . Dec. issue, p. 43: "Gertrude K. Schwartz" should not appear in our list of deceased donors (her name correctly appears in our Sustainer's list, p. 34 ). . p. 54: Yortzeit box for Paul Karell should read. "orlr beloved brother and brother-in-law." . p. 16, col. l, par. 2: the description of Charles R. Allen Jr. as "preeminent authority on Nazi war criminals" is from Soho lferos; his alleged "Communist Party connections" are reported in leuish Week.
]rwrsn CunnnNrs
HONOR ROLL of those who have given us $25 or more for our 1980 Fund Drive No, 7o-through Dec.9 Iloris and Yetta Gurstein, L.A. "In memory of Ch. Stein" Ilickie Roth, Los Angeles ( $50 ) !'rederic Ewen, New York \Iichael ancl Paula Brenner. New York Dora Rabinofl, Los Angeles ($Stll Joseph ancl Shirley Rarpoport, Petaluma, Cal. Harold I. Carnmer, New York Daniel L F'aden, Griffith, Ind. Frank Htrshnrall, Rockville Center, N. Y. ($50) Ilen lrving, New York ( $50 ) Barry Cohen, \linneapolis, N1inn. Ilertlia Slutzky, Brooklyn ( $50 ) Bernard D. Fischman, New York ( $32 ) Abrtrham Cohen, Peekskill,N.Y. ($40 ) Sarah Golclberg, Brooklyn ($aO I Irwin H. Rosenthal, Ellenville, N.Y. Samuel Bonrn, W. Palm Beach, Fla. ( $100) Ilen Benewitz, Bronx ($100) Harry Bloch, So. Orange, N.J. ($tOO; Billie and Irving Portnow, Seattle, Wash. ( $100) 'Irauber, Brooklyn ($f00) Jerry S o n y a S c h t r p p e s ,N e w Y o r k ( $ t O O ; Jacob Fishman, Bronx ($100) Iless Colter, Bronx ( ' 75 ) .ft'nnie and Itche Golclberg, New York
( $ l o o)
lilaine antl Lyber Katz, Bronx ( $50 ) I'itul antl Shirley Novick, N.Y. ($50) liay arnd Sarn Pevzner, New York ( $50 ) Sonclra Stone, Brooklyn ( $SO) (llarir ancl Hyrnan Altman, New York .lt'unette and Julius Cohen, Brooklyn Sherry and Nettie Farber, Bronx l,eon anrl Sylvia Fish, Riverdale, N.Y. .fcrry Ger<lwitz trnd Manya Zivyak, Brooklyn listhet and Sidney Golclberg, New York lillen lnd Mel Greenberg, Great Neck, N. Y. lrrc'k ancl Clara Levine, Long Island lrc'k Nathan, Long Island City, N.Y. \lir.r ancl Rose Noon. Brooklvn \lt'x ancl Rose Raynes, Brooklyn llrrphael ancl Rebecca L. Soyer, New York \lln'd Vogel, New York \rlt'le and Sherman Wolfson, Great Neck, N.Y. (Incomplete, to be contlnued)
I rrunnv. 1981
Please look aa our Goals belou. Haoe YOA contributed?
WeReport
Jan. L-Dec.9 Doruttions Szbs
Greirter New York $21,875.17 t24 Los Angeles 9,486.90 58 N{iarni Beach 3,764.00 19 Phila. and Penna. 2,405.OO L4 Petaluntrr ancl Upper Calif. 1,867.00 t5 Chicago ancl Ill. 1,831.00 16 g New Jersey L,754.00 W. Palm lleach, Fla. 1,739.00 3 Connecticrrt 1,580.00 6 Great Neck, N.Y. 1,473.00 7 Upper New York 1,191.00 t7 N{asstrchrr setts 586.75 I Washington State 480.00 t4 Citnacla 414.00 6 Wash. D.C.-Mcl. 4r2.OO 3 Wisconsin 325.00 I Nlichigan 286.00 4 Nlinnesota 160.00 2 Ohio 155.00 4 'fennessee Arizona hrdiirna Oregon North Cirrolina Vermont Ptrerto Rico Texas Colorado South Carolina Virginia Okltrhonra Iowa Kansas New lt{exico Nebraska N{issouri Georgia Montana Rhocle Island Virgin Islands Israel West Germany
Totals
u6.00 95.00 90.(x) 75.00 65.00 62.00 50.00 50.00 45.00 35.00 35.00 25.00 r5.00 12.00 10.00
2 1 I 3 3 6 3 2
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362
OUR GOALS Fund f)rive $60,000 Reeeived to date 521577 New Subs Drive 7OO New Sube to date 362
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AT HOME l9BO election, date: ol 16O,491,00O eligible to vote by voting uge, only 53.I'/,, voted (down fron 62.ti'/. in 1960). . . . The CllS/Times poll shorved only 39'/n of Jc'uvsvoted for lleagarl, conrpnred witlr 35')i, for Ni.ron in 1972 ancl 32(/, for Ford in 1976-certirinly not so rnuch of it swing to the riglrt as sorno woulcl have trs believe. Of the 435 rnenrbers <-rfthe Hotrse, of llepresentirtives, 26 in this Congress will be Jewish (only 6 Republicans); of tOO in the Senate, 6 erre Jewish; the total of 32 is thc largest Jervish representation in U.S. history. Most of these were re-electecl; of the new Jews elected, 6 are Democrats, I Ilepublican Blacks in the House of Ilcpresentatives increased from 17 to 20 ( all Democrats ). . The number of women grew from 16 to l8 in the House, from l to 2 in the Senate. Tom Metzger, KKK leatler running for a seat in the House after winning the Denrocratic primary in San Diego County, Calif., the most poptrlous clistrict in the USA, was defeated by the Republican incumbent, Claire Burgener, who got 253,949 vote to lUetzger's 35,107 (14% ) . Metzger ran an openly white racist, anti-Semitic campaign. Expelled Oct. 28 from the Democratic County Committee, Metzger is still a member of the Democratic State Committee, to which he was elected in the primary. In Dearborn, Mich., the "ex"-Nazi Gerald Cilrson, running on the Republican ticket for Congress but disavorved by his party, got 53,000 votes ( 32%) to 680/r, for the Democratic candidtrte, William Ford ( who won with SOVo in 1976 and 75% in 1972). Among those actioe in the outpouring ol relief to aid the victims of the Nov. 23 earthqrrake in sorrthern Italy (2,916 dead, 1,574 missing and probably dead, 7,305 injured and 265,000 homeless ) have been the American Jewish Joint Discrimination Committee with a $30,000 dontrtion; the Rome staff of the llebrew Immigrant Aid Society with $5,000; B'nai B'rith Women with $1,000, the American Jewish
46
Committee with $2,500, to be supplementecl by collections from its 75 chapters. Beach Dec. 2 the Cuban In Miqmi Sephardic Hebrew Congregation Temple \Ioses openerl a $1.2 million social hall and sirncturtry. Of the 450 members, 9O(/t' are Cuban refugees, the remainder coming frorn Argentina, Coloml>ia, Peru and Venezrrela. The congregation was founded in 1965. Moshe Dayan's racist remarks about ,he U.S. Army clelivered Nov. 14 in an interview on Isrtreli Television were denor.rnced by the American Jervish Congress. Dayan had saicl the tluality of the U.S. armed forces i.s low because up to the rank of sergeant it is rnude up "mostly by blacks who have low intelligence and low educil.tion." He added that a draft should replace the volunteer arnry: "They have to ensure that fresh blood and better brains go to their forces." Executive Director Henrv Siegman of the AJCongress declared, "W'e emphatically reject lr{r. Dayan's remarks. We urge him to repudiate his thoughtless and mean-spirited statement." In a telegram to Dayan asking for an apology, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson wrote, "If these <luotes are accurate, Black Americans consider such comments unkind. insensitive and an insult." Archbishop Valerian Trifa, head ol the Romanian Orthodox Episcopate in America, was stripped of his citizenship by Federal District Judge Horace Gilmore Sept. 3 after Trifa had agreed Aug. 25 to surrender his citizenship becarrse he had hidden his recorcl of war criminal acts against Jews in Romania when applying for citizenship. Oct. 28 the Justice Department moved to deport Trifa. Nov. 18 a Federal immigration and naturalization jtrdge in Detroit postponed inclefinitely a deportation hearing. (Trifa was first exposed as a war criminal by Charles R. Allen Jr. in our Feb., 1963 issue, part of his three-part series, Nazi War Crimirutls Among Us, also issued as a pamphlet, now out of print. )
Jnwrsn Cunnr:r-rs
ABROAD USSR: In the lirst 7O ntonths ol 7980, ]'rance: Noa. 25 in Paris, Eilwin Doueko Jewish emigration totaled 16,292 ( comlj, und his wife Michelle, 46, were aspared to 38,475 in the same period in .rrssinatecl and Gisele N{ammouh. an emf979). Only 7,L60 went to Israel (comployee in their travel agency, wtrs rvcluncled pared to L4,654 in t97g). . . Oct. t0 l)\ gunfire by a man described by anotiier Pionerskaga Prauda, reaching 10,000,000 , rnployee as "obviously an Arab." After Soviet children, carried an anti-Semitic l l r < 's i g n i n g o f t h e C a m p D a v i d t r e a t y , t h i s article repeating discredited lies that "the tlrrvel agency had organized "Tours of major plrtion of American newspapers and llope" to Egypt and Israel, advertising TV and radio companies are in Zionist tlrt'nr in French newspirpers. Polict: nert hancls." that "\lost of the biggest monop,lrty saicl tlie weapon trsecl, an Italian olies for the production of weapons are llcretta pistol with a siler-rcer,firing Czechcontrolled by Jervish bankers," that "Jewprodtrced bullets, was the sarne its tl-rat ish bankers and billionaires" establiihed rrsccl July 18 in the attempted assassina- the Jewish Defense League, and that tion of former Iraniirn Prenrier Shtrhpour Zionism is "modern-day Fascism" and "the llakhtiar, and July 2l in the assassination rnain enemy !f peace on earth." . . . Sputof exiled Syrian Premier Salah Bitar. rrik, published by the Novosti Press Agency 'l'rvo weeks after the bombing of tlre Ihre in Russiirn, English, French, German, Oopernic synagogue Oct. 3, with four clead Czech, Spanish and llungarian, in Sept. rrnrl miury wclunrlecl, a Prrris corrrt senpublishecl an article by the notorious antiIt'ncecl Nltrrc Fredriksen, 46-year-old head Semite, Vladimir Begun, in which he ,rf the outltrrved FANE (Federation d'Acdenorrnced as a "spy" the Polish-Iewish tion Nationale Europeene) to 18 months diplornat, _Julius Katz-Suchy ( l9l2-1971 ). irr prlson (of which 12 were suspended) Polancl's clelegate to the UN 1946-51 and ,rrrcl fined him $8,250 for incitement to 1953-5.1 ancl ambassirclorto Inclia, 1957-62, r i r c i a l h a t r e d , r a c i a l s l a n c l e r ,r a c i i r l v i o l e n c t , w h < l < l i < , <iln c x i l < : i n D c n r n a r k b c c a u s e o f "justification :rncl of crime" as tlefinerl in a tlrr. l'olish 196[J urrti-st.nritic campaign; l1)72 law. The court founrl hinr r-{uiltv of I l t ' g r r r r< l t ' n o r r r r t ' <l'rrilr r r f < l r g i v i r r g i n f o n n a y r r o - N a z i p r o p a g a n d a i n I , ' A N I i ' s o r g r u r , t i o r r t o t l r r , r r . r r o w ' l r t ' r ll r r r t i - N r r z i s l e t r t h , \ ' t t r e E u r o p e , i n w h i c h t h c 6 , ( X X ) , ( X X. )fr , r v s S i r r r o r r\ \ ' i , . s r . r r t l r : r l . Nor.. lfJ u lctter rlrurghtered under Hitler irrt' <L,rrir.rl rs rr r r ' ; r sr l , , l i r ' , . r ' r 'lr,lr l l r r . \ l o s t ' r l r v ( l i t y C o r r n c i l . r r r y t h c r e a t e d b y J e w s t r > t ' o l L , t . t r ( , 1 ) i l r l - r v i l l r r o g r i r . sl o l l r r . ( l t ' r r t r ' ; r(l l l r r i r r r i t t t , ro, f lions, "the concentration (.ilntl)s ol tlrr, l l r r ' ( l l ' S I I . s i l l r l r l l r v s l v c r r \ , o u n g ( , rt v r i t c r s 'l'lrird R e i c h a r e a n i n v c n t i o r r o l ' Z i o r r i s t , r r l i r r g lp r . r n r r s i , r rl o l o r r r r l r t . l r r l l t o p u b l i . l r r ' \ l ! r .rrr r r r , r r l . r lr"r . r , r L s ' i t l r r t r r tc ( , n l , r o p a g a n d t r , " a n d t h e m r r r r l t ' r o l ' l , r r , rr r , ( lolchnan was justifiecl. 'l'ht. r.orrrl (.orl r o 1 s l 1 i 1. r1r.r r r l . rl o r t l r r , , l r r l ro l ' r ' r l l c r i r r r t ' r r t a l , l r r r l e t l t h a t " T h e s e s t a t e r n t ' n t s , r c r r .I l , ) ' p , r r r r l ' r sf , r u r r ' . r l l l T I r r r r , l , ' (r l i t v C o r r n c i l ()rr,.,,f llrr. \(.\(.n is lrilipp llt.rr o r r t h i n p a r t i c u l o r , . . c n ( . o r l r i l g rl.o r l ; r t , ' s rro-Nazis in their acts of violt:nr.r,." . . . .\ , t r l r ,r r r t r l r . s o r r l l r r , S o v i c t I t . r v i s h l , o r r i s H a r r i s p o l l i n F r i r n c c l f c r v r l ; r rs ,rltcr the Oct. 3 bomlting arrtl rrrrssivl p r ' o t e s t a g a i n s t i t ( s e e o t r r N o v . i s s r r r . ,p . 17) showed 13% of the l,(XX) poll,rl l',.. \,,r ll Vrlt,,r llrrriLrvsky. l i ( ' \ ' ( : c lh o s t i l i t y t o J e w s i n l , ' r l r r r . r , \ \ . , r \ r r l r rr l r r l r , , 1 , . r .l r r , , ' tlrr l i r , ( t - , , \ ('ry wiclespread" and 42q+, thorrglrt it "rvirlespread." 12% thought tlrt.rr. \r'r.rr. l()o rnilny Jews in France l0(:( llrorrtilrt f r . r v sn o t " a s F r e n c h " a s o t h c r l , ' r l r r t . l u r r r . r r \uti-Semitic feeling was forrrrrl rnosl Jrr, r r r r 1 1 1 1 s si n{ f a c t o r y w o r k e r s , r c t i r r . r . s l r r r r l I'rrrcticing Catholics. Anti-St'nritisrn \r,.r\ l , ' r 1 1 y 1ml o r e p r e v a l e n t a m o n g v o l r . r s l o r t l r t ' C o m m u n i s t P a r t y t h a n f o r o t h < , rJ r r r r t i r . r , l,rrt Left parties were corrsirlt'rtxl "rrrorl r.slxrnSivâ&#x201A;Ź" to Jewish fears. Forcigrr lr,rrrr r' rirlt'nts are disfavorecl, 43/r, irr tlrr, pr,ll r r i r r 1 1 t h e r e w e r e t o o m a n y f o r r . i q r r r .rr rrrrllr rtl,,r, ,l ..f1,,|, ll,,r ltr,.,l ltt r r r { t ' n â&#x201A;Ź r a l " i n F r a n c e . W h i l c t 2 t l | , f o r r r r , l f , ' l l ,' r . , . , . t , l . , l , . . I 1 , rr,, r , l l ' , , 1 r, ,. i r r r , ' , r r r u l n y J e w s i n F r a n c e , 4 9 7 , f r l r r r r r l1 r , , , l l r , f r , , t 1 , , r , , ,| , \ \ , r l , , l , r r lr , r l , . r r r t s . , rrrrv North Africans. \l l' \
I rruenr, 1981
.17
Readers' Forum on the PLO By CARL BLOICE, and, MORTON STAYIS and ANNETTE T. RI]BINS?E|N Editor: Morton Stavis and IEAR rJ Annette T. Rubinstein were ylolg in their assertion ( ]uly-Aug., 1980) that I assumedtheir Opbn Le"tt"I (Maroh, 1980) was "siriply another unqualified, un,thinking' -b, proIsrael statement which could ,efuted rvith clich6s." Had that been the case I would not have bothered to respond. Indeed, it was the openness of their letter that prodded mt to join them in discussion.I must adn-rit to being a little put out at the suggestion that my letter was seen ils a repetition of "clich6s." you can't have it both yays; a dialogue is not an exercisein belittling oth6rs' cornments. Because I found so much in the Open Letter to agree wi,th I confined my remarks to only a couple of noints -examination that I feel need further by progressivep_eople.I still feel they are legitimate. Unfortunately. Stavis and Rubinstein strayed far affeld and didn't quite come io grips with the central thrust of my argument. Let's leave aside for the moment rny mistake about the wording of the PLO Covenant and the que;tion of hou' frequently Palestiniin leaders talk about the "democratic state." My point is that the demand for the lecognition of Israel's right to exist (ar "the Jewish State of Israel" ) must be coupled with a total and qomplete disavowal of expansionist designs, the elimination of exDansionist slogans and agitation and repudiation_ of all expinsionist objectives. Perhaps such- a stance bv an Israeli goveinment would not meet
a positive response from the Arab states and the Palestinians but we can be certain there will be no conciliation without it. The problem l'rn having is that sonle prolressive and peace people don't seeni to want to accept this. It is not hard for rne to imagine Palestinian progressives faced iuitt, a paradox: they insist our historic covenant rnust be changed and the dream of one de'mocratic Palestine rvith all its -people livine in peace ^rvhat forsaken. If that happened r,vould be the response? Thev have held the occ.,pGd territories Zs y.ears.They daily seize Arab land in the territories and inside Israel itself. They are about to annex East Terusalem. If rve are to be iudged bv our lvords, certainly the Israeiis must be iudged by their deeds. Stavis and Rubinstein put forward the vierv that the Palesfinians have advanced the idea of the democratic secular state "solely to entice Western liberals attuned to s"paration of church and state." I ffnd that an astonishing staternent. First, it's not true; I've heard arnred militants argu,e passionately for the idea in Southern Lebanon refugee camps. Secondly. it carries an infortunate image of leaders whose chief characteristic is dtrplicity. Let me be clear, I favor democratic secular states everywhere. Theocracy is just as unappealing in Israel as it is in Iran or Saudi Arabia. I'm also not enamored with national states. The central concern for progressive (Continued on page S3'j