Jewish Life April 1953

CVB \

Is Mizrachi Right? Yavneh-On the-Tyne Arabs Seek Second Round

Stories - Letters (y) Kashruth Directory

8

IT'S HERE! NOW!

Ask your grocer for Breast-O’-Chicken tuna—the one brand of tuna that bears the © seal. You get the same premium quality in either solid pack or chunk style, too. Yet Breast-O’-Chicken costs no more than ordi­ nary brands without the © .

Bx&sr-O'mcmf the brand that brings you only the

/

*

Saul B ernstein , Editor M. Morton R ubinstein D r. E ric Offenbacher R euben Gross R abbi S. J . S harfman

Editorial Associates

Seymour R osenberg

Editorial Assistant

. Cover and........... Inside Illustrations by N orman N odel

JEWISH LIFE is published bi-monthly. Subscription one year $1.75, two years $3.00, three years $4.00. All rights reserved .

Editorial and Publication Officer 305 Broadway New York 7, N . Y. BEekman 3-2220

• EDITORIALS TASK OF THE NEW M U S M 0 C H IM |S S

RESTORE THE ORPHANS

3

5

• ARTICLES

PRELUDE TO THE SECOND ROUND HR 6 I. Halevy-Levin WHY WEAR A YARMULKA? 20 Joseph Weiss .GATESHEAD .....:.............................. ._ r,... 27 Abraham M. Babad RELIGIOUS ZIONISM IN ISRAEL'S CRISIS 34 Isaac B. Rose UP FROM DESPAIR ....................................... 49 Iacob Lestschinsky ,. DIALOGUE ON ILLUMINATED HAGGADAHS, ,53 Cecil Roth BEZALEL AND OHOLIAB: 1 9 5 3 K ^ ^ S 62 * Alfred Werner

• SHORT STORIES CERTIFICATE OF MERIT Sifra Tendler ; •" AND THE WALLS FELL DOWN Fay S. Sheldon

' 16 r.. 42

• BOOK REVIEW Published by U nion of Orthodox J ew ish Congregations of A merica Max J . E tra President Rabbi H. S. Goldstein, Wil­ liam B. Herlands, Samuel Nirenstein, William Weiss, h o n o ra ry P residen ts; Benja­ min Koenigsberg, Benjamin Mandelker, M. Morton Ru­ henstein, Vice - P residen ts; Joseph Schlang, Secretary; N. Kenneth Gross, Treasurer; Saul Bernstein, Adm inistrator

A “JEWISH" OMNIBUS Ward Moore.

69

• FEATURES

AMONG OUR CONTRIBUTORS JÉ H H ''* 2 LETTERS' TO THE EDITOR 75 Excerpts selected and translated by Solomon I. Spiro • SERVICES

U.OJ.C.A. PUBLICATIONS .................... KASHRUTH DIRE;CTORY

81 88

COVER THEME : Eliyohu Ha-novi, Eliyohu Ha-tishbi . . . . Come with good tidings! (Zemiroth)

Among Our Contributors RABBI ISAAC B. ROSE, National Executive Director of Hapoel Hamizrachi of America, spent several years in Israel pursuing doctoral studies at the Hebrew University. Previous to that he served as chaplain in World War II with -the Canadian Army in England, France, Italy, Holland and Germany. He is a rabbinical graduate of Yeshiva University and holds an M.A. degree from Columbia University. ‘* *

*

*

DR. ALFRED WERNER has written on a variety of subjects, particularly the fine arts. He has edited a number of volumes, including the Little Art Book Series and a Portfolio on Utrillo. He is the author of a monograph, Story of Jewish Art, and is a frequent contributor to Jewish periodicals. *

*

*

DR. JACOB LESTSCHINSKY, a leading authority in the field of Jewish socio-economic studies, made his first contribution to Jewish Life with "Migra­ tion and Aliyah" in our Nisan 5712 issue. Born in a small town in the' Ukraine, he studied in Odessa and at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. His first! literary work appeared in the Hebrew periodicals "Hashiloach" and "Haolam." The author of several books on Jewish sociological problems, he has been a writer for the Yiddish daily "Forward" for more than thirty years and is also associated with the World Jewish Congress. *

*

*

RABBI JOSEPH WEISS is an instructor of Talmud at Yeshiva University, where he received both his ordination and a baccalaureate degree. A research specialist in Talmud and Halochah, he is Secretary of the Commission on Halochah of the Rabbinical Council of America. A previous contribution by Rabbi Weiss appeared in the Kislev 5712 issue of Jewish Life. *

*

*

CECIL ROTH, famed historian and author, is a frequent contributor to Jewish Life. *

*

*

FAY S. SHELDON, born in Dublin, Ireland, came to New York as a child. Mrs. Sheldon's first short story was published in the Tishri 5713. issue of Jewish Life. *

*

*

SIFRA TENDLER was born in Russia and came to the United States in 1937. Her story in this issue draws upon the Russian scene familiar to her younger years. *

*

*

RABBI ABRAHAM M. BABAD is the eminent Rav of Sunderland England.

2

Jewish LIFE

EDITORIALS TASK OF THE NEW MUSMOCHIM At its recent “Chag Hasemichah” Yeshiva University marked the entry into the Rabbinate of 85 newly-ordained rabbis. This was a significant event in American Jewish history. No other group of young American Jews today is likely to exercise such ultimate in­ fluence upon the community as is this assemblage of musmochim, These young rabbis appear on the scene at a time when American Jewish life is taking on defined forms, when the very character of the American Jew is in process of decisive change. In the successive stages of American Jewish history, religious outlook, economic development and social aspiration have been in constant flux. With the fabric of Amer­ ican life as a whole tending to crystallize, with the channels of Jewish immigration largely cut off and with the basic imperatives of com­ munal living gradually imposing themselves, we now enter upon an era in which enduring patterns are being formed.

T O A large extent, the character of American Jewry will result from the impact of that outer environment into which we have, quite liter­ ally, been flung. With this mass force we have been inadequately equipped to deal. But will this, or the force within ourselves, The ultimately govern our course? Will American Jews Ultimate spiritlessly accept a mold imposed by blind circumInfluence stance, or will they grasp higher — to a life and destiny formed on Jewish essentials? The answer to the question lies at that point 'where communal leadership makes contact with the individual and collective American Jew. The Rabbinate, as it operates in the America of today, is a force of uncharted potentialities. We tend to wince at the much abused designation of the rabbi as the “spiritual leader,” yet the term bespeaks a vital function. The Jew of today, rudimentary in his Jewish training, is baffled by conflicting influences within himself and uneasy in his adjustment to the world about him. Remotely conscious of a great inner void, he hungers for a leadership which will make known to him his own spirit. It is the task of the rabbi of today to help the Jew to discover his own soul. TN EARLIER years, orthodox religious leadership in America was It was inevitable that intimate understanding was often lacking between a Rabbinate and a laity at­ tuned to differing conditions. It was perhaps inevitable, too, that nonorthodox religious forces, more familiar with the American scene, should profit by this circumstance. Within the past generation, howMarch, 1953 3 4 largely nurtured in European soil.

ever, a new development has slowly been unfolding. Great yeshivoth have sprung up, nurturing both an informed lay leadership and an American-trained orthodox Rabbinate. Year in and year out, their harvest of Torah leadership has made increasing impact on the com­ munity; The Yeshiva University “Chag Hasemicba” forms a graphic demonstration that this movement has reached a commanding peak. Quantitatively, the cumulative force of American-trained musmochim assures that the fermer trend of leadership has been reversed, and that the orthodox Rabbinate is recovering its rightful predominance. To what effect, however, will this predominance be exercised? TN THE period of their temporary leadership, the Reform and Con• servative forces have sought influence and advantage by accommoda­ ting themselves to the more assimilative trends in Norm the community. A pattern of grudging “acceptance” and of minimal Jewishness has been nurtured, which Sub-norm has established itself beyond the normal limits of Reformism proper. The tendency to accept this sub­ norm as the functioning norm forms the gravest problem in American Jewish life. The burden of this problem falls upon the shoulders of orthodox leadership. Above all, it becomes the task of the orthodox rabbi, the spearhead of religious life. Taxed as he is with the numberless everyday cares of his office, the rabbi may often be tempted to yield, “momentarily,” in his struggle against so pervasive an influence. Treacherous is the tempta­ tion to “make the best of the situation,” to be “a good fellow” — namely, to be* content to permit his congregants to live their lives as they will, so that he may pursue his livelihood undisturbed except for qualms of conscience. So we find, not seldom, “orthodox” syna­ gogues, led by “orthodox” rabbis, whose seating, preaching and teach­ ing differ in degree rather than in kind from the church-inspired Reform temples. And so we find large numbers of Jews floundering and sinking in a spiritual morass. ■pORTUNATELY, we have been blessed with a greater number of * rabbis who have been firm in their purpose and far-seeing in their leadership. It is thanks largely to these that Torah Firm Judaism in , America stands in its present position Leadership of great and ever-growing promise. And it is,spirit­ ual leaders of this calibre whom we see in the newlyordained rabbis who now come into action. The young rabbi of today is the tried and valued leader of to­ morrow. Discouraging and uncertain though his path may be, let him 4 Jewish LIFE

but truly lead and his people, however reluctantly at first, will eventually follow. In all humbleness, we say to our new-fledged spiritual leaders: what you do today will determine what American Israel does tomorrow. Divine Providence has charged you, at a key moment, with an historic mission. The American Jew stands hesitant at a spiritual crossroads. One, only one, path leads to a true Jewish destiny.* You can determine whether this will be the path of his final choice. RESTORE THE ORPHANS T H E KIDNAPPING of two French Jewish boys, Robert and Gerald Finlay, to thwart their restoration to Jewish guardianship, bring­ ing to mind the Mortara case of a hundred years ago, forms no com­ pliment to the march of civilization. The Mortara case involved a little Italian Jewish boy whose nurse secretly had him baptised. Soon after, the child, claimed as a Christian, was seized from its horrified* parents and thrust into a monastery. There, despite world-wide protests, he remained, eventually becoming a Roman Catholic priest.

T H E WORLD again stands aghast at an even more reprehensible ■ outrage against humanity. The parents of the Finlay Children, upon being deported from occupied France to a German death camp, entrusted them to a Miss Brun, a non-Jewish woman; Betrayal Miss Brun promptly had the children baptised. Ignorof ing the moral trust placed in her, she refused to Moral yield them up after the war to their legal guardian, an Trust aunt resident in Israel. Defying two judgments issued*against her by French courts, Miss Brun secreted the children away and apparently, with the connivance of others, had them smuggled over the Spanish border. Efforts to recover these victims of both anti-religious racial frenzy and ruthless religious fanaticism have so far been fruitless. An article by Dr. I. Grunfeld which appeared in the Sivan, 5710 issue of J e w ish L if e revealed that thousands of Jewish children, or­ phaned by the Nazis, have suffered a similar experience to that of the Finlay children. Now the issue is brought before the conscience of the world. TTNLESS the child victims are restored to their rightful guardians and to their own people, the claim of moral leadership which reli^ gious forces assert will stand as a mockery. The public repute of religion, as well as ordinary justice and civilized morality, are at stake in this case. The Finlay children and all others who share their pitiful fate must be restored at once. . 8; March, 1953 5

jordan against aggression, has been invoked. Iraq has offered military aid to Transjordan in the form of artillery and anti-aircraft units. In Egypt General Muhammed Naguib has promised a dele­ gation of Arab notables from the “Gaza Strip” that he will “liberate Palestine,” once he has got rid of the British. And in Syria, Adib Shishlakly is showing off his brandnew tanks and jet-planes, and is mouthing threats against Israel. For a long time now the citizens of this country have evinced little interest in relations with their Arab neighbors. Israel is sub­ merged in a complex of problems affecting the personal interests of every individual resident. The lo­ cal Cold War and the Arab boycott

have come to be accepted as normal conditions of life in this country, while the sporadic scuffles on the border have been regarded as the professional concern of the army, by which they are effectively dealtwith.

a state of reaction. That the eightPower proposals in their original form implied de facto recognition of the existing status of Jerusalem (as of Israel's present frontiers), despite the fact that the resolution for the internationalization of the city still stands, raised barely a T H E NEW anti-Jewish drive be­ ripple. , What counts for the ordinary hind the Iron Curtain and its repercussions here and elsewhere citizen is that Jerusalem, or most have monopolized public interest in of it, is the national capital, and this country. So much is this the no resolution to the contrary is case that the “four point propos­ litkely to alter that fundamental als” for direct Israel-Arab peace fact. Even if the proposals had talks, sponsored by eight nations mustered the necessary two-thirds at the recent session of the United majority in the Assembly as they Nations Assembly, evoked little at­ did in the Political Committee, tention in Israel. After decades o f . their practical effect would have seisniographic sensitivity, verging been nil, and their fate similar to upon psychosis, to the slightest that of the resolution pertaining fluctuation in world opinion on the to the passage of Israel-bound subject of Zionism, we are now in vessels through the Suez Canal. 4ra(b Threat Realized ■DUT A recent series of develop­ ments is producing a less cyni­ cal and more realistic appraisal of this highly inflammable situation. Political observers are beginning to ask themselves how otherwise the present relations between Is­ rael and the Arab states can be explained if not as a prelude to war. It is only too apparent that the Arab states whole-heartedly subscribe to the former Grand Mufti's view that the Arab refu­ gees' resentment and frustration must be maintained at fever-heat, that they must not bè settled else­ where and that they must be con­ centrated along Israel's 700 kilo­ March, 1953

meter borders. The large-scale acts of armed infiltration and frequent killings that result and the rigor­ ous Israeli counter-measures, bear equally within them the danger of some unforeseen development, some major flare-up, which it would be beyond the capacity of the Mixed Armistice Commission to extin­ guish. Evidence that such incursions are aided and even organized by the Arab Legion is already in the hands of the United Nations staff of observers. It has been charged that on occasion the infiltrees are given covering fire by the Arab Legion and the Transjordan Na7

(Photo by E isenstark)

Colonel Moshe Dayan of the Israeli army meets with Colonel Abdalla a Tal of the Jordan forces (now In exile in Egypt) at the Mandelbaum Gate which is one of the landmarks separating the old and new sections of Jerusalem.

tional Guard. Another threatening augury is the non-observance by the Transjordan authorities of various agreements covering the return of civilians and military personnel who inadvertently stray across the frontier. A series of incidents of this kind culminated in the repudiation of these agree­ ments by Israel. It has been noted that following a secret con­ ference of the Transjordan, Le­ banese, Syrian and. Egyptian rep­ resentatives to the' Mixed Armis­ tice /Commission, the Arab dele­ gates have adopted a legs coopera­ tive' attitude, and have even sought 8k .

to expunge such expressions of mu­ tual accommodation as have ap­ peared in the records of the re­ spective commissions. DECENT pronouncements by 1 General Naguib, the dictator of Egypt, on the subject of relations with Israel have also given rise to considerable disappointment here. The seizure of power six months ago by the military junta headed by Naguib and the enforced abdi­ cation of Farouk were regarded as hopeful signs in this country at the time. Egypt’s attack on Israel in 1948, it has been revealed, was Jewish LIFE

Farouk's private affair, undertaken against the advice of his army chiefs. The war was launched to cover up colossal defalcations by the King and his political cronies from the Egyptian exchequer, as well as to divert the attention of the masses from their unspeakable misery. Naguib, it was said, is an honest soldier and a sincere reformer, all * of whose energies would be ab­ sorbed in affairs nearer home, in solving the chronic problem of his country's relations with Great

Britain and Sudan, in curing the economic and social ills which are devitalizing his people. Aside from the 75,000 acre “Gaza Strip," a hang-over from the Palestine de­ bacle, there is no issue that can constitute a possible bone of con­ tention between Israel and Egypt -f|| except of course the latter's possible desire for a revanche. Even the common frontier between the two countries, running through a formidable desert, provides a natural guarantee against any act of aggression by either country.

Familiar Egyptian Pattern QO, IT SEEMS, Israel's leaders ^ and political observers wanted to believe. Six months of Naguib's regime have proven on what a flimsy foundation this was based. For Naguib, the Egyptian, is run­ ning true to form. He loves to talk and possesses his full share of the national propensity for swash­ buckling. No less than his prede­ cessors in office, he tries to drown the bitter memories of past defeat in bouts of boasting. He has al­ ready assumed full powers to mo­ bilize Egypt's manpower and re­ sources if and when circumstances warrant. And what those circum­ stances are likely to be, he has made clear in his recent statements on Israel. It is already clear that Naguib stands no less in need of Israelophobia and xenophobia than did Farouk and the Pashas in their day. The extent to which Naguib has succeeded in cleaning the Au­ March, *1953

gean stables of Egyptian ^politics is still doubtful. Certainljrlhe in­ terests — pecuniary and otherwise — involved are far too great to be liquidated by the facile expedi­ ent of suspending the Constitution and banning the political parties. Nor does Naguib's recent rap­ prochement with Nahas Pasha, a close second to ex-King Farouk in the contamination of Egyptian public life, indicate an ability to effect a clean-up. The prospects of another major point in Naguib's revolutionary program —• agrarian reform — are even more tenuous. He has, it is true, issued a decree limiting landholdings to fifty acres, but little information is forthcoming as to how this reform is being imple­ mented and how the land held in excess of such a unit is being re­ distributed and to whom. Egypt, it should be recalled, must support its present population of twenty 9

A meeting of the Israeli-Jordan Armistice Commission. Major General Bennett Deridder, the U. N. representative, sits at the head of the table, with the Jordan representatives

millions on less than three per cent of its territory, the remaining ninety-seven per cent being useless desert. It has been estimated that if the entire cultivable area of Egypt were fairly divided among the peasants, the holding per fami­ ly would not exceed two acres. Agrarian reform, even if carried to extremes and totally successful despite the stupendous obstacles, cannot solve Egypt's most pressing problem the imminent mass starvation of its steadily growing population. TN EXTERNAL policy, Naguib has been more successful. His agreement with all major Sudanese 10

political groups, even those tradi­ tionally pro-British, over proposals regarding the political future of Sudan, outmaneuvering Great Brit­ ain in its eiforts to maintain its hold on that country, must not be underestimated. For Israel, any move in the direction of closer unity between Egypt and her southern neighbor is of paramount importance, for it would not only enhance the former's economic strength, but would open an in­ exhaustible recruiting ground to reinforce and, to a considerable extent, to replace the low-calibre Egyptian soldiers. Surprisingly enough Syria, Is­ rael's northern neighbor, has been Jewish LIFE

(Photo by Eisenstark)

sitting at his right and the Israeli representatives, at his left.

less bellicose of late, though her dictator, Adib Shishlakley, regular­ ly gives vent to routine diatribes and threats to “liberate Palestine” and to repatriate the Arab refu­ gees. For the time being Shishlakley’s hands are full with his own troubles. He has successfully put down a plot against his regime, though the ringleaders have fled to Lebanon, thus aggravating Syrian relations with that country. In the past, such a situation was resolved

by the creation of incidents on the Israeli border and the generation of a wave of chauvinistic fervor, as in the case of the Huleh fight­ ing in May 1951. But now Shish­ lakley is gambling for a bigger stajke. He wishes to get more French and British arms and jetplanes, besides American aid, and he is aware that an unseasonable show of truculence would make his suppliers a little uncomfortable.

Jet-Planes Mean Arms Race jyrOST DISTURBING, however, countries,* recently highlighted by A in this already precarious sit­ strong Israeli protests and diplo­ uation is the supply of arms, matic representations on the sub­ notably jet-planes, to the Arab ject. In regard to the United March, 1953

11

States, these protests have met with a temporary and limited suc­ cess, and shipments have been suspended. The United States, of course, pursues a more construc­ tive policy in gaining and main­ taining a bridgehead in the Middle East. The response of the British, however, though shrouded in such vague and specious terms as “le­ gitimate defense requirements” and “maintenance of internal se­ curity” (jet-planes, of course, are a notoriously effective means for the internal. policing of any coun­ try) , has been an unambiguous refusal. If by arming Egypt and Syria, Britain can make Israel the conductor for the rising tide of ill-will against herself, she will be merely following a policy that dates back to the close of the first World War. This triangle of British-Egyptian-Israel relations is not with­ out a comic aspect. Naguib promised the Gaza delegation to deal with the Jews in Israel after he had driven out the British. It is difficult to imagine under such cir­

cumstances what arguments Eliahu Elath, Israel's Minister in London, could possibly have used to dis­ suade Anthony Eden from sending arms to Egypt which will use them against Israel only^ in the second place, after the suppliers them­ selves have been disposed of. T H E REPORTED offer to sell Israel a number of jets equiva­ lent to the total supplied to the Arab states (which, indeed, consti­ tutes the most cogent argument against all transactions of this character) reflects the levity with which responsible statesmen can treat a dangerously delicate situa­ tion. Such an offer, of course, is tantamount to encouragement of an arms race in the interests of the armament manufacturers. Pur­ chases of this nature, involving a very substantial segment of the national income of all Middle Eastern states can only be financed by ruthless economy in other, more constructive directions. This is the case with the Arab states no less than with Israel, though the Arab

Israeli police and soldiers and Jordan soldiers during the short period of foint border duties. (Photo by Eisenstark)

ruling cliques may be less sensi­ tive to the fact. But obviously, Israel cannot permit herself to fall behind in such a life and death contest, whatever the cost; and as the arms race will not end with the one hundred jet-planes offered, the prospect can only be the ruin of all concerned. Israel, which despite her im­ mense financial difficulties can still maintain a fairly equitable stand­ ard of living for all sections of her population and can implement

a country-wide development pro­ gram, is better equipped to bear the sacrifices that such a policy, if forced upon her, must entail. For the Arab states, however, with large sections of their populations living below the starvation level, and with revolution always just around the corner, further post­ ponement of long overdue reforms, inevitable if the arms race should develop, can only spell social up­ heaval and the rise of communism.

Arab Masses Driven to Revolt T H E THREE Western Powers and particularly Great Britain, facilely point to their declaration of more than two years ago, which guaranteed the present interna­ tional frontiers. It is extremely difficult to envisage how this guar­ antee will be put into effect in the event of the status quo being upset. It is interesting to note in this context that inspired sources are interpreting the Czech trials and the "impending Soviet purge, as part of a new drive to enlist Arab support, the implied corollary be­ ing that the West must raise its bid if it wishes to retain Arab favor. It is remarkable with what facility and persistence canards of this type are disseminated to di­ vert attention from the true nature of the ailment of the “sick men” of the Middle East. The Arab masses are ripening for a social revolution and communism, but it is the inhuman exploitation by a March, 1953

small oligarchy that is driving them in that direction. And this oligarchy is supported by the West simply because it is the oligarchy. That any Soviet drive against the Jews, however much it may compensate a frustrated Arab lust for revenge, can materially affect the situation, is discounted by statements of the Arabs them­ selves. The latter, it seems, are great realists. Recalling the wave of immigration set in motion in the years 1933-39 by the rise of nazism, some of the Arab leaders, far from rejoicing, are apprehen­ sive lest a new influx be caused, this time originating from Soviet Russia. ^ \U R neighbors already appreci­ ate that the situation can develop into something more seri­ ous than the usual border clashes. By a process of projection they are charging Israel with seeking war as a way out of her economic 13

straits. This, of course, is. an in­ version of the traditional Arab policy, evidenced by the constant threats of a second round. Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Trans­ jordan are all in a state of politi­ cal turmoil, to which the military dictators offer no solution. That the Arab states genuinely fear Israel is undoubtedly true, for they know that the present borders are untenable. (It is remarkable how little this aspect is considered by the ordinary Israeli citizen.) The Arab campaign against the Ger­ man Restitution Pact is motivated to a considerable extent by the fear that tha rapid pace of indus-

trialization which it will set in motion will upset the very uneasy equilibrium of the existing balance of power. The Arabs appear to be flirting with the idea that Israel's current difficulties offer a last op­ portunity for the launching of a preventive war. Israel, of course, cannot view the repeated Arab threats with the same degree of equanimity as do the Western Powers. These threats are not only for internal con­ sumption. They definitely express an aspiration which waits only for a favorable opportunity for realization.

Arab States Intent on War J^R E WE approaching a collision with our neighbors?- The an­ swer may be “yes” if the necessary preventive measures are not taken in good time. The refusal of the Arabs to negotiate with Israel; their refusal to replace the armi­ stice agreements with some more permanent instrument for regulat­ ing mutual relations; the concen­ tration of the Arab* refugees along our borders, in itself a tacit act of incitement to irredentist vio­ lence; the overt organization of armed incursions into Israeli terri­ tory; the refusal to honor agree­ ments voluntarily entered into within the framework of the

Mixed Armistice Commissions ; the ceaseless threats of a second round by heads of Arab states and other responsible leaders ; the pressure brought to bear upon Western Germany to repudiate the Restitu­ tion Agreement ; the tightening of the Arab boycott/ including re­ prisals against non-Arab states trading with Israel; and finally, the feverish arming of the Arab countries — all these point in one direction. Upon more than one oc­ casion the Arabs have created situ­ ations from which they could not extricate themselves. It seems that they are intent upon doing so again.

Rabbi Eliezer the Modai says: “One who forsakes the Holidays/ though Torah and good deeds be his, has no share in the world to come."

14

Jewish LIFE

C ertificate of Merit By SIFRA TENDLER V*•' 4 ■\^v. TT WAS the night before Erev Pesach. The suffused light of the kerosene lamps brightened the interior of the weather-beaten wooden house in the little Russian village. In the one-room dwelling Sarah had gone to bed behind the drawn curtain. Her parents were occupied with Bodek Chometz, sea&ing each nook and cranny to rid the premises of any last crumb of bread before Passover. Sarah’s mother held the candle aloft for her husband while he peered at the floor and sidings. But Sarah was not asleep. The festive excitement had driven the sleep from her eyes and she was quite alert. She strained to over­ hear the muffled conversation be­ yond the heavy curtain. “And he also writes,” her father was saying, “that there is a good chance of obtaining visas this year.” Sarah was a bit shaken by the significance of her father’s remark. To go to America . . . this year! It was almost unbelievable. It was almost dreamlike . . . . “I don’t know,” her mother was saying thoughtfully. “I’m not so sure that . . . . ” 16

“You’re not so sure!” her father protested. “But we’ve been praying and living for this all these years!” “I know. It’s almost seven years now that we’ve applied for visas. And now, at last, we may be get­ ting them.” “And you say you don’t know,” he said scornfully. “But it’s such a hard step to take 4^ to leave Russia. Our peo­ ple have lived here in Luban for the last three hundred years. They’ve survived in spite of po­ groms and in spite of discrimina­ tion. With G-d’s help we too will survive even the Communists!” “Physically, perhaps,” lie said, “but spiritually? Has there ever been such determination; on the p'art of any government to wipe out religion?* Think of the chil­ dren! They’re growing up in ig­ norance of all Jewish matters. Look at David! Seven years old and he doesn’t even know the Aleph Beys! When I was seven I was already beginning toVlearn Talmud!” He spoke haltingly, each word a tor­ tured admission. “And Sarah — thirteen years old and already a iull-fledged Communist — no bet­ ter than a shikse!” Jewish LIFE

CARAH pulled the covers around her and burrowed her head into the pillow as if to shield herself from her father's indictment. But they were talking about her. What more would they say, she thought. She threw back the covers and listened. “I know," her mother was say­ ing sadly, “but that isn't her fault. If it were up to her, she would be a good Jewish daughter. It's just that she has to go to school on Shabbos and holidays. She can't help that and neither can we. But," she said redeemingly, “she's never eaten on Yom Kippur and she's never touched bread on Pesach." They had moved to the other end of the room and Sarah could no longer distinguish what they were saying. The conversation drifted over in isolated syllables. She lay very still for a long while staring into the chiaroscuro of the parti-, tioned corner. Adolescent impulses contended with parental authority. She gave her covers a defiant kick and turned to the wall. “I don't care what they think," she said to herself spitefully. “I don't care if I'm not a good Jew! And I don't want to go to America! I want to stay here, and I want to join the Communist Youth Corps. But they haven't asked me to belong. No wonder! With a name like mine! And everyone knows that my parents are reli­ gious. Oh-h-h," and she gave the covers another angry kick. “But if I prove myself, if I do some­ thing great — something unusual March, 1953

that will show them that I'm a real good Communist . . . . But what? If only my parents weren't so religious . . . . And then of course I jcould . . . . But never! I would never do- such a thing. I'm not like Theresa, reporting her grandmother for talking against the Movement. They made her a captain in the corps but sent her grandmother to Siberia. But I'm not li,k.e Theresa. I'm not at all like her!" ■J*HERE WAS a great deal of ex­ citement at school the following day. The students were presenting a play that evening and the entire school was required to attend. That meant that Sarah would be unable to be with the family at the Seder that night. Her parents were distraught at the news. When would this plague cease! Not to have the children at the Seder was impossible. But what can one do! But Sarah was undisturbed. She had been given an important role in the play, and her mind was filled to the exclusion of all else. She was too young and too thrilled to harbor the anxiety of her par­ ents. In the frame schoolhouse she stared enviously at the corps mem­ bers as they filed in. Each member was wearing the red neckerchief with the Communist emblem em­ blazoned on the back. They marched in in double file and were now sitting in the middle section. The others ¡gji the less fortunate, in Sarah's opinion — were sitting in the side and rear seats. The corps commander S | a tall blond 17

boy of seventeen — was master of ceremonies and choral leader. The play was the last event of the program and a great success. Sarah played the role of one of Stalin's comrades artfully »im­ buing her part with the singlemindedness of her entire being; and she directed all her lines to the middle section. At the close, many school friends came over and congratulated her on her acting. “You seemed to be actually liv­ ing through it, Sarah.” “It was like real life, Sarah.” “You were an inspiration, Sarah.” “Well done!” She looked up at the older girls with shining eyes. Hope mingled with despair. “If I can only con­ vince them,” she thought. Olga, a captain in the Corps, looked at her searchingly for a moment and then turned away.. Sarah stood looking after her. Her heart was pounding — the way Olga had looked at her, as if see­ ing her for the first time. Per­ haps . . . ? Then she felt her little brother David tugging at her hand. “I want to go home.” “What! Oh, all right, all right!”

“I go your way. We'll go to­ gether, Sarah. I live only a few blocks away.” “I know.” Sarah was too thrilled to say anything more. She clutched David's hand and dragged him along as she tried to keep in step with the boyish Olga. Her breath came very fast; she was almost panting. Fortunately for her, Olga was not inclined to talk so she could devote all her energy to keep­ ing up with her. David was too sleepy to complain. Finally they reached Sarah's house. fl'll come in with you for a while,” Olga announced. Sarah blushed with pleasure but said nothing. She opened the door of the cottage and gazed horrified at what she saw. She had forgot­ ten that tonight was the first Seder. The family had begun the ceremonial dinner. They were pre­ paring to eat. Her father, / with drawn face, dressed in the tradi­ tional white linen kittel, was in the act of washing his hands; her mother, wearing her silk holiday apron, was holding the towel; her grandfather, who had already washed, was reclining against a pillow placed at the back of his chair ; her grandmother was re­ moving the wine goblets. CJIGHING once more, she picked Sarah saw this and much more. up her homemade costume and She saw her dreams of popularity started for the door, followed by — of membership in the corps — the sleepy little boy. She paused vanish into thin air. She stood at the door and looked back re-. transfixed, unable to move, unable gretfully. She was reluctant to to think beyond her first stunned leave. This was her night of hope. comprehension. And then suddenly She found Olga waiting for her there welled in her throat a child outside. cry of pain and bewilderment. And 18 Jewish LIFE

as if this wail had brought her baqk to life, she turned quickly, and still clutching David's hand, bolted out of the house. Sarah's parents stood as though trans­ figured into frozen grotesque stat­ uary as placid Olga slowly closed the door behind her. ^ y H E N SARAH turned away in­ to the darkness, it was to nowhere. Some force kept driving her on and on — to flee the scene of her humiliation — to run on and on till her frenzy was spent. David was whimpering and sob­ bing but she didn't seem to hear. In a few minutes Olga caught up and, putting a firm arm around Sarah's shoulders, led her to her own house. There, while Sarah sat on a bench by the table, too stunned to move, Olga put David to sleep in her own bed,. Then she walked over to the food closet, cut off a thick slice of black bread and a hunk; of hard cheese and put them on the table- before Sarah. Without a word she turned away from her and, sitting down at the little table, began to write. Sarah stared at* the bread with a strange fascination. Slowly she stretched out her hand, but quickly drew it back, as from some sinister threat. Her mind was a turmoil of thoughts and emotions. Taking the bread meant the repudiation of another family tie. She could see her mother crying and her father's stern visage. The figures blurred

March, 1953

in her mind. She could also see her steps till now. She had walked, out of the house in humiliation and anger. She could hear her mother's voice, “Sarah never ate bread on Pesach . . . never ate bread . . . never ate bread." But they had humiliated her. Olga had seen . . . Olga had seen . . . . She picked up the bread and held it gingerly between her thumb and forefinger. Suddenly she shook herself, closed her eyes tight, and resolutely raised the bread and bit deeply into it. And Olga went on writing. Several hours later, when Sarah's mother found them, both her chil­ dren were sleeping. T ATER that night, while Sarah was sound asleep behind the curtain, her parents discussed once more the possibilities of obtaining visas that year. Her mother was no longer skeptical. She was as anxious as her husband to leave Russia. The next day, at school, Sarah was handed a certificate. It was an official invitation to join the Communist Youth Corps. With it was a page entitled “Merit." It read: “For successfully defying parents who attempted to corrupt her healthy mind with supersti­ tious notions; for being a good influence on her younger brother in aiding him to grow up to be a good Communist in spite of parents . . . . "

19

WHY

By JOSEPH WEISS £VNE OF the most respected and best loved Jewish traditions is to cover our heads at all times, in all places, and on every occasion. This covering may of any form and any shape — hat, cap or the specially devised yarmulka. The yarmulka is a clear sign of a Jew and his Jewishness, and its ab­ sence is a show of weakness and loss of faith in our tradition. The Jewish manner of dress has changed from time to time and from place to place, but the yar­ mulka, the most vivid mark of Jewish appearance, has remained alive throughout the ages wher­ ever Jews have lived and Judaism has flourished. Any planned and deliberate de­ viation from the practice of cover­ ing the head was always considered as an assault on Jewish tradition and as a step towards breaking with Divine religion. Judaism sees in the yarmulka a sign of devotion to G-d and loyalty to His Com­ mandments. No wonder then, that since the last century, elements aiming to reform the Jewish re­ 20

ligion moved to discard this sym­ bol, uncovering their heads in order to manifest a different cul­ ture and a new civilization. The removal of the cap signified .the removal of traditional Torah and the adoption of secular doctrines. Faithful Jews, on the ’other hand, though they have responded to modern demands upon less es­ sential forms of dress and appear­ ance, have remained firm and resolute on this issue. They have clung reverently and tenaciously to the head cover as an expression of pride in their religion and devo­ tion to the service of G-d. ■pO INVESTIGATE the meaning of the head covering, its in­ herent significance, and its mes­ sage to . the Jew, let us first look into the Halochic sources of this practice and find its exact position in the measure of duties prescribed by Jewish law. Is it a Din —1- a Halochic requirement based on Biblical or Talmudic sources; a Minhag — a Halochic requirement based on*a recognized Jewish cusJewish LIFE

tom; or just a Midath Chasiduth — a voluntary practice of Jews which may be worthy but not obligatory? That the Torah considered the covering of the head an essential part of dress can be seen from the Biblical, account of the clothes which, the Kohanim, the priests, were required to wear. The or­ dinary Kohen, as distinct from the High Priest, wore only essential clothing, not ornamental vestments. His attire was composed of shirt, breeches, belt and hat. For the Kohen, these were made of special material and in a special fashion as is described in detail by the Torah. This shows that the Torah considered the hat in the same important category as the other three. Admittedly, the Torah did not directly specify use of a head cov­ ering by Jews in general, but the

trousers and belt are also not found to be a general requirement by a direct commandment. Never­ theless, they are necessary because of the statement in the Torah: And He shall see no nakedness with you. For the Kohen, however, this becomes a positive requirement and an expression of priestlyi distinc­ tion. In the same manner, we find that the hat too, though not di­ rectly required by the Torah except in the case of the Kohen, may still be rooted in other aspects and re­ quirements of the Torah. We shall later see that this is exactly the ease. We know that the shirt too is required generally, during pray­ ers at least (Shulchon Oruch, 91, 1). Thus, it would seem that the Torah prescribed for the Kohen all clothes in general use and endowed them, by the quality of their tex­ ture and by their design, with a special mark of priestly distinction.

Sense of Yirafh Shomayim Q N E OF several statements re­ flecting the Rabbinical view in the Talmud is found in the Trac­ tate Kidushin 31a where it says that Rav Chuna did not walk a distance of four orbits with an uncovered head, and he commented thereby that the “Shechinah — G-d’s dwelling — is above my head.”* A similar statement is found in the tractate Shabboth 156b relating to Rav Nachman, who covered his head from his early infancy as a precautionary measure to give him a sense of Yirath Shomayim — fear of G-d. March, 1953

These statements clearly show that the Rabbis regarded the head cov­ ering as an inducement to, and an expression of, fear of the Lord. Thus, the hat was considered en­ dowed with a concept and attitude which is basic to Judaism and is a cornerstone of our 613 command­ ments. However, there still remains the question whether this particular way of expressing fear of G-d is a duty for everyone or was just a pious custom adopted by some rab­ bis as an euphatic expression of 21

their deeper sense of profound fear of G-d. It is related of Ravina and Rav Yirmia (Kidushin 33a) that a man passed them by bareheaded. This drew from Ravina a remark condemning the man’s audacity. To this Rav Yirmia replied, “per­ haps he comes from Masa Mechasya, a city where rabbis are nu­ merous” (meaning that rabbis are a commonplace to him and hence his disregard for them). Here we see that even a layman was ex­ pected to cover his head. To one who may argue that this was ex­ pected only when appearing before rabbis and notables, as Rav Yirmia’s reply may suggest, we could reply that nowhere do we find special requirements -for appear­ ance before rabbis except pertain­ ing to their respect. The covered head, a symbol of fear of G-d, if not required elsewhere should also not be required in the presence >f elders. Be it noted that Rav STirmia defended the offender, but, nevertheless, did not condone the actual violation of .going bare­ headed. Why, then, did the Talmud give special prominence to the fact that certain rabbis did not walk a dis­ tance of four orbits bareheaded, if this was an observance required of all? ^■HE explanation given is that just as in other mitzvoth rabbis excel in their performance and ex­ ercise them in perfection, so too the Talmud says that these rabbis observed the duty of the head covev 22

completely, as prescribed and re­ quired. As short a time as it takes to walk four cubits they^were not uncovered — never in their life­ time. Though the same is required of all, this praise could not be said of all. Another explanation is offered by Rabbi Joseph Karo, auth­ or of the Beth Yoseph and Shuldhon Oruch, and by Rabbi Israel of Brunno in his Responsa. We find in Pesachim that one remarked on another’s headgear that it was like that of a rabbi. This shows that the rabbi’s head-dress was differ­ ent from that of others, and it had a mark of special distinction. The Talmudic praise therefore meant that these rabbis never failed to wear their rabbinic hats, thus car­ rying themselves always with be­ fitting dignity. The ordinary people, on the other hand, undoubtedly

Jewish LIFE

wore their kinds of hat at all times. As proof of this last point, I quote from Kiddushin 30a. “Rav Chiya noticed Rav Yehudah don a cap and hurriedly take his child to the synagogue. He said to him, ‘why do you not cover your head properly as befits you V He an­ swered, ‘to bring a child to learn Torah is the first occupation of a man/ ” We thus see that rabbis wore special kinds of hats and that an ordinary cap was worn by everybody. The Zemach Tzedek draws on another Talmudic source to show how strongly regarded was the necessity of covering the head. In Berochoth 60b, it is mentioned that upon arising in the morning when we cover our head, we recite the. blessing “Oter Yisroel B’siforah” —G-d adorns Israel with splendor.

This has found its place in our Siddur and we are all accustomed t o *say it. Of all the blessings of thanks that are said at the begin­ ning of the prayers, only this and one other include the word “Yisroel.” The reason is that the hat has a special Jewish quality, and we thank:G-d for giving it to us. This alone is proof enough that cover­ ing the head is not just a Jewish custom but definitely law whose practice is preceded by a B’rochah like every other Mitzvah. We have thus far seen from the Talmud that to cover the head is mandatory for everyone as a sign of “Yirath Shomayim” — fear of G-d. This ruling with this motive has been recorded in the Shulchon Oruch by Rabbi Joseph Karo in Chapters II and VIII.

Imitation of the Non-Jew JJ^NOTHER approach is offered by must keep our heads covered lest we the Turey Zahav, known by his follow a non-Jewish habit in an act initials as the Taz, one of the of worship. greatest authorities on Jewish law. Does this motive of “UvechukoHe writes (Chapter VIII) that to theyhem” also apply to the wearing go bareheaded, besides the above of the yarmulka out of the syna­ considerations, is also a transgres­ gogue? It has been shown that the sion of the Torah commandment hat represents a distinct Jewish Uvechukotheyhem al theylechu— .characteristic, that of remember­ Thou shalt not• walk in their cus­ ing and fearing the Lord. To imi­ toms. This is a prohibition against tate the non-Jewish habit of re­ following a manner of dress adopt­ moving the hat even when not ed by non-Jews in their mode of engaged in religious activities worship or as a fashion considered means adoption of a custom lacking by us immodest. Now, when gen­ this Jewish trait, and abandonment tiles enter their houses of worship, of a peculiar Jewish practice—thus they remove their hats as an act of a direct violation of “Uvechukoreverence. We, on the other hand, theyhem.,, March, 1953 23

Modern scholars have established that the removal of the hat was introduced by the early Christian apostles in an attempt to change the existing Jewish mode .of dress in Palestine. Therefore, the point about “Uvechukotheyhem” raised by the Taz assumes even more sig­ nificance in light of this discovery, whose source is one of the evangeli­ cal writings.

dwells above our heads. This ex­ planation needs further clarifica­ tion. What is possibly meant is that just as we say that in holy places G-d's dwelling is more keenly felt, so too, the head, which is the seat of our intellect, is a place of G-d consciousness, and, therefore, we apply the word Shechinah to this particular region. However, if this is the meaning, why does the Tal­ ^^NOTHER interesting reason for mud say “Shechinah lemaalah merothe gentiles* uncovering of the shi”— G-d*s dwelling is above my head is found in the early books head? Furthermore, what is there of Responsa which deal with this in the head cover to signify respect subject. The head, upon which wa­ for the Shechinah? How did, it ter is sprinkled at baptism, be­ originally suggest to us Yirath comes the concrete symbol of that Shomayim? religion. For this reason gentiles I believe that we can find the were taught to uncover their heads. ’answer by investigating the signi­ All these reasons and motives ficance of clothing in general. This for covering the head are in addi­ leads me to draw upon the fountain tion to the clear law found in Tal­ mud and Shulchon Oruch as a sign of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, of Yirath Shomayim. The Talmud, whose treatise on the meaning of in Kidushin, says that the head clothing appears in his commentary is always to be covered because on Bereyshith and in Jeshurun Y, the “Shechinah” (G-d’s presence) year no. 4. Spiritual Purpose o f Clothing "J’HE ORIGIN of human dress is lives and moves expresses G-d’s related to us in the beginning will by instinct and by nature. The of our Torah. There we find that planets, all natural forms, the it was only after the first human worlds of plants and animals, all beings sinned by eating the for­ operate and function in G-d's plan. bidden* fruit that they discovered G-d speaks through them, and they the need to cover their bodies. can do nothing but carry out His What is the connection between will. sin and clothing? To understand Man, however, was called into this, we must consider the unique being to follow G-d’s will by his position of man among his fellow own choice, reason and will. G-d creatures. Everything else which speaks to him, not through him. 24 Jewish LIFE

However, man is also given the power to follow the dictates of his own selfish desires. Unlike the rest of Creation, he is composed of both body and divine spirit, either of which could dominate him. Choice, then, becomes man’s own responsibility which may give him either success or failure. A creature who will follow G-d’s will by his own volition and under­ standing was G-d’s plan in crea­ tion. Adam, charged with this task, was given one commandment to test which was the controlling force of his life. The forbidden fruit, which his highest conscience abhorred, appealed, at the same time, to his senses. At the begin­ ning, Adam refrained and followed only the dictates of his soul. He was thus the perfect being who carried out G-d’s will by his own choice, his body being no hindrance, but rather cause for his higher position in the world. Body being obedient to the will of his spirit, it bore a spiritual stamp and func­ tioned like a natural being, g O LONG as this was so, body was a source of pride to man, and he had nothing to hide or of which to be ashamed. As soon, however, as man turned about to heed the call of his bodily desires over the protest of his spirit and took from the forbidden fruit, he failed the very purpose of his crea­ tion. Adam realized his failure and a sense of shame entered his mind. This sense was directed at the body which had revolted and March, 1953

had refused to be led by his in­ tellect. Were this allowed to con­ tinue, man would be lower than the rest of creation, since he alone would be acting against the will of G-d. The sense of shame, a' divine gift to man, calls to him from within and drives him to re­ gain control over himself and live as an intellectual being. This feel­ ing came to the rescue of Adam, and it helped him to rededicate his life to the aims for which he was created. The sensuous and desirous body was the source of his failure and the resulting shame. This he cov­ ered, expressing his firm resolu­ tion to give his spirit control over himself and make the mind ruler of the body. Clothing, therefore, is a positive declaration by man that he belongs not to his senses but to his spirit, and it is a symbol of his determination to work to­ wards the attainment of this goal. . The question now arises: Is Divine guidance necessary? Is not the influence of man’s intellect sufficient to counteract the evil designs of his lower instincts? The Tefillin which we wear on our heads evidence that the Torah does not consider it safe to rely on our intellect alone. Our minds are very much affected by our senses and wrong impressions may result in wrong judgment. The Tefillin Shel Rosh were given to us to impress us with the necessity of subjecting our faculties to the will of G-d, as revealed to us at Mt. Sinai. Not cold reason alone 25

but the divine spark which has been implanted in us and which receives pure enlightenment from

the words of the Torah can safely guide us to achieve the purposes of life.

Above the Head o f Man ■THIS THEN brings us to the meaning of the yarmulka. Just as with clothing which man devised to cover his body as an expression of the weakness of his physical being, so too the Jewish genius saw fit to cover the head to express realization of the shortcomings of man's intellect. Unguided and un­ instructed by the Higher Power, the brain too is a source of evil and shame. The uncontrolled mind can design the greatest evils and can bring the greatest calamities, upon the world. World events of the last few generations form strong evidence in support of this statement. To the Jew, bareheadedness symbolizes unguided freethinking which can bring harm and ruin, individually and collectively. We cover our heads to show that there is yet something higher than our own limited intelligence and that we must look to Supreme Wisdom for instruction and guidance. This, therefore, is, /the meaning of Rav Chuna's saying that the head is to be covered because “Shechinah lemaalah- meroshoh shel odom” G-d's dwelling is above the head of man. Man's thinking

is limited, his sight short, and his judgment unreliable. G-d's “dwell­ ing", His Wisdom, is above our own, and we must accept His di­ rection, His light, which is the only truth. To signify this, we cover our head, and we demon­ strate that we are subservient to His word and dedicated to His service. I have thus shown that the yar­ mulka has a meaning parallel to that of the Tefillin. How inter­ esting is it, therefore, to notice in Shulchon Oruch XXV,3, that Rabbenu Asher recited the B'rochah of Oter Yisroel B'siforah upon placing the Tefillin on his head. The B'rochah, we have seen above, is to be recited upon covering the head with the hat, as is also found in Shulchon Oruch 46,1. Rabbenu Asher, it seems, saw the close con­ nection between the hat and the Tefillin. Of course, Tefillin is a direct commandment of the Torah, and the yarmulka is an indirect ex­ pression of the commandment of Yirath Shomayim. Both, however, convey a similar thought: not only instincts but also our intelligence must be controlled and directed by G-d's Supreme Wisdom.

They ate only a portion (of the Paschal lamb) as large as an olive. But their songs and praise filled the house till the rafters. Yerushalmi Pesachim ch. 10

26

Jewish LIFE

By ABRAHAM M. BABAU TT IS perhaps one of the most remarkable phenomena in pres­ ent-day Jewish affairs that a com­ paratively small town in England has become world famous solely, and exclusively owing to its nu­ merous institutes for Torah study. This little town of some seventy thousand (non-Jewish) inhabit­ ants, on the banks of the river Tyne in the north-east of England, occupies no more importance in the life of the British people than do other towns of its size. Neverthe­ less, it has become a household word for orthodox Jews the* world over. In the words of its able former Rosh Yeshivah, Rabbi Nachman Landynski, who now re­ sides in the United States, Gates­ head has proven that it is through Halochoth, devotion to Jewish studies, that Halichoth Olom, world-fame, is achieved. The development of Gateshead as a center of Jewish studies has March, 1953

come about thanks to the untiring efforts of a few dedicated indi­ viduals. This achievement has shown that, contrary to common belief, zeal and devotion on the part of a very few can and often do replace numbers. The estab­ lishment of the Gateshead Kehillah and all that it stands for can be traced back to the sincerity, devo­ tion to Yiddishjkeit, perseverance and obstinate endurance of one man with the cooperation of others who gathered round him in the course of time. JEWISH MIGRATION to Great Britain began to take shape in the early eighties of th^ last cen­ tury. Persecution and pogroms in Czarist Russia, poverty and unem­ ployment in Austria, mainly Ga­ licia, caused many of our brethren to seek bread and safety in far­ away lands. The majority of the emigrants ultimately landed in 27

#

America, but some stopped in Eng­ Newcastle. Not having found there land. The north-east coast of Eng­ •satisfaction for his nostalgic long­ land at the time maintained a ing for “a little Yiddishkeit as at regular sea traffic with its counter­ home,” he moved to the nearby part on the other side of the North town of Gateshead: It was he who Sea, the German port of Hamburg. founded the Gateshead Kehillah, It was there that most of the unique in form and character in Jewish emigrants gathered, and the whole of Great Britain, and prepared to emb&rk for overseas. one which, it may be assumed, has Of those who landed in England, very few equals in the world of to­ some went inland and *a few chose day. And, though it may seem to remain on or near the poast. Hence, a. few Jewish communities strange, Gateshead, is the. only sprang up in north-east England. -really and truly “old fashioned” One of those immigrants, “Reb” orthodox Kehillah in Great Britain. Eliezer Adler, originally of Stani- The town has no other organized slau, Galicia, tried to settle in Jewish communal body. Background of a Unique Community TN ORDER to fully understand of the Din is binding on all the Gateshead's “pride” in being constituents of the United Syna­ unique as a Kehillah — fully loyal gogue. The “Federation of Synagogues,” to traditional Judaism, one must have an idea of the structure of the second largest synagogical the Anglo-Jewish community. With body, originally Conceived 'to ac­ the exception of the very small commodate and serve the religious and, fortunately, unimportant sec­ needs of the then newly arrived tion of Reformists and their so- immigrants of about half a cen­ called “synagogues,” the bulk of tury ago, claims to represent an the Jewish community is orthodox even more orthodox religious point in its constitution and character. of view. The youngest but most active, The “United Synagogue” which comprises some seventy of Lon­ “Union of Orthodox Hebrew Con­ don's most important synagogues gregations,” with the German-Jew­ is orthodox. (One must not forget ish “Trennungs - Gemeinde” - type that about 60% of Anglo-Jewry Adath Yisroel Synagogue at its dwell in London, the metropolis of head, is obviously justified in Great Britain.) Its constitution ac­ claiming first place for Orthodoxy cepts the sovereignty of the Shul- amongst the Anglo-Jewish com­ chon Oruch in the conduct of all munity. The provinces, though its affairs. The Chief Rabbi is they owe no allegiance to, any of recognized as the highest religious London's central organizations, are authority and his interpretation also orthodox in the main. Man28

Jewish LIFE

Chester, the second largest Jewish community in the United Kingdom, with a strictly orthodox Beth Din at the head of its affairs, is, in addition» adorned by the exist­ ence of the entirely independent» well-organized and ultra-orthodox Machzikei Hadath, with all the paraphernalia of a separate Kehillah; this includes a Rav, shóch. tim, butchers, kashruth supervi­ sión, day-schools, mikvah, etc. ND YET, all the above in no . way contradicts or impairs Gateshead's claim to uniqueness, Gateshead is not a “tear-away" Kehillah. There is no other- Kehillah in town and there is no other synagogue. The only syna­ gogue is run on strictly orthodox religious lines of the old type. The Rav 1must be, and is, of the kind óf rabTbonim of old, noted for his high' scholarship and piety. The present incumbent, Rabbi N. Shakovitzki, is an outstanding rabbinic personality of this type, the last word in orthodoxy. The Gateshead shophet must similarly be one who possesses exceptional skill, learn­ ing1 and above all yirath shomayim. Even the local doctor conforms to the general character of Gateshead. For, in addition to his professional knowledge, he possesses a profound knowledge of Jewish learning, and is staunch in his orthodoxy; other­ wise, he would not be allowed to act as the mohel of the town. Needless to say, the báaléy-bhttiiri, too, display f an exceptional degree of conformity. “If, on a Shabboth, you observe March, Í953

from a distance, somebody carry­ ing a parcel in the streets of Gates­ head, you can state with certainty," I was assured the other day, “that the carrier is not a Jewi" A "pleas­ ant statement that could haMly be made with justification' in any other Jewish community in the Diaspora. No shop whose owner is a Jewish resident of Gateshead is open on Shabboth or Yom Tov. Almost all male adolescents of Gateshead have attended a yeshivâh at one time or another. The number of baaley-battim whose sons or sons-in-law are talmidey chachomim is by no means small. Almost every baal-habayith attends one or another of the public shiurim. Entering a Jewish home in Gateshead unexpectedly in the eve­ ning, one may find before him the pleasant picture of the host sitting at a Gemora. The number of wom­ en in Gateshead, of the older gen­ eration as well as of the newly married, wearing sheiteln com­ pares favorably with any other community. *It must riot, however, be con­ cluded that rtGateshead" is some sort of a ghetto, reminiscent df the Middle Ages into which the “light" of modern civilization has not yet penetrated. Outwardly, Gateshead appears no different from any other British Jewish community. Its baaley-battim are businessmen and professionals ànà no less successful than others in Great Britain. All thé mëshulochim from Israel, and they are by no means few, will testify that they find Gateshead the most gen29

erous community in the United Kingdom, for nowhere else are Israel's emissaries received with a heartier welcome than there. The virtue of Hachnosath Orchim, the accommodation of strangers in one's home, rather than leaving them no alternative but to lodge in

boarding houses, is unfortunately generally on the wane. In Gateshead, however, it is still “in fashion.” For Gateshead “must” have a “clean record” in every aspect of Jewish life, and thus far, this standard has been maintained to a large extent.

Gateshead's Institutions C*ROM WHAT has been said, it * should be clear that Gateshead's atmosphere is one in which Torah institutions expand, develop and flourish. The first in renown among Gateshead's Torah institutions is the Yeshivath Beth Yoseph, the senior institution in age, scope and size. Having reached its silverjubilee year, it can look back proudly on its vast achievements. From a small beginning of some twenty students, it has grown to be the largest yeshivah in Europe, with well over a hundred talmidim. There is probably no country in Europe which is not represented on the role of its pupils. Europe, however, is not the only continent where the fame of the Gateshead Yeshivah has reached. There are pupils from the United States, South Africa, North Africa, Australia and even from yeshivahrich Israel. Young men of a di­ versity of backgrounds (Chassi­ dim, Mithnagdim, German-Jewish Orthodox, Sabra and English bornand^bred youths) blend together in one happy and industrious Torahstudying entity. Scores of rabbonim, ministers, shochtim and 30

Hebrew teachers owe their Torah* education and knowledge to the Gateshead Yeshivah, and what is more important, the impact of “Gateshead”, by which name the Yeshivah is popularly known, is happily beginning to be felt in the rank and file of Anglo-Jewish laity. Young baaley-battim with a “Gateshead” upbringing are be­ ginning to take an important place in Anglo-Jewish public life, a phenomenon that augurs well for the future of Orthodoxy in the United Kingdom. For this, debts of gratitude are owed to the in­ defatigable Rosh Yeshivah, Rabbi N. Landynski and the Menahel, Rabbi E. Kahan, who were there from the very start, and to Rabbis L. Gorowitz, L. Lopian and Moshe Schwab, of whose very valuable services the yeshivah now avails itself. ■PHE SECOND institution in size and “internationality” is the Beth Medrosh L'Moroth, the Girls' Hebrew Teachers Seminary, ably conducted by the well-known peda­ gogue and organizer, Mr. A. Kohn, who was a pupil in Jerusalem of the late Rabbi Y. Z. Dushinsky, of Jewish LIFE

The Gateshead Yeshivah.

blessed memory. With about eighty part-time and full-time students, the seminary has representatives of nearly all countries in Europe, in addition to students from places as far apart as South America, Israel and Morocco. Amongst the nearly three hundred young Jew­ ish women who have at one time or another attended the Seminary during the few years since its inception, there are some who now themselves bring Jewish education and culture to their pupils in Jew­ ish schools in England,^ Belgium, America, Canada, South America and last but not least Israel. The spirit that animates these welleducated young women, coming as they do from all possible shades of Jewish upbringing, from the strict­ March, 1953

ly Chassidic to the French assimilationist, is indeed remarkable. Equipped with an adequate knowl­ edge of Torah, these young girls are imbued with a great love for Judaism and all that it-stands for. Strong in their beliefs, they can be relied upon to build homes and contribute to schools that will be­ come strongholds of traditional Judaism. “Torah before all else” is the slogan of these young gradu­ ates of what has become known in Gateshead as the “Girls’ Yeshivah.” An elderly Rav complains of the independence of his seminary-edu­ cated daughter, in the matter of a choice for a husband. She wanted a Talmid Chockom, of more learn­ ing even than her father. A young graduate, fresh from the seminary, 31

explains to her well-to-do parents that the value of expensive carpets and modern furniture is nothing compared to the value of the Kol Torah, resounding in the house where the husband is a laipdbn — these manifestations fill one with, confidence that, contrary to what some would have us believe, tra­ ditional Judaism is, thank G-d, far from being extinct. “Im eyn gedayim eyn tayoshim” (where there are no kids, there will be no goats) is an old truth of our sages. Yeshivoth could hardly expect to have their benches filled, if there were no schools to prepare the very young for future life in a yeshivah., Gateshead has made itself independent and selfsupplying in this respect. The" Gateshead“Jewish Boarding School, under the able guidance of Rabbi Dr. M. A. Bamberger, an old “Slobodker” and formerly Rav of Mainz, is fulfilling this task very well. Having provided a truly Jew­ ish atmosphere for its pupils, in which they receive their Jewish as well as their secular education, the “School” educates its . charges up to a yeshivah standard so that they can —: and they do! — enter the yeshivah as they reach the age of fifteen. The popularity of this school, whose pupils range from the age of ten and upwards, draws students from France, Holland, Switzerland and other, more dis­ tant countries, as well as all parts of England. The need for Jewish Day Schools is gradually being realized by all who have at heart the interests of Jewish education; 32

and the boarding school at Gates­ head has in no small measure proven the usefulness of such schools, if properly conducted. T AST, but surely fn no way least among the -Gâteshead Torah institutions, comes the -Gateshead Kollel Horabboriim, the Institute for Higher Rabbinical Studies. Smaller in size, owing to its very nature, and perhaps less “inter­ national” than the other institu­ tions, it was conceived by Reb David Dryan, the now retired but still active and well-deserving shochet of Gateshead, and made pos­ sible by Rabbi El. Dessler. Both of these men did much for the other Gateshead schools as well. The Kollel Horabbonim is ac­ complishing an enormous though not always adequately appreciated task for the benefit of Torah-true Jewry. It is obvious that Torahstudying youths can not indefinite­ ly stay single. If , is equally ob­ vious that the vyeshivoth, as such, cannot accommodate married men. The Kollel was therefore instituted to enable capable and willing young married lomdim ,to complete their studies above yeshivah level, and in order to give them a few years for what in other spheres is called research work, before they are dis­ tracted by their business or pro­ fessional duties. The Kollel. serves outstanding ^yeshivah .graduates who devote their, .first few years of married life to Torah and who are prepared to do so with a mini­ mum subsistencedncome. Ill the short time of its existence, a little Jewish LIFE

over ten years, the Kollel already counts among its one-time chaverim a member of the British Chief Rabbinate, a Rav of the orthodox Kehillah in Zurich, a Rav of the orthodox Kehillah in Copenhagen, and heads of yeshivoth in Gateshead, Sunderland, Liverpool, New Yor^, Zichron Yaakov and Tangier. A visit to the Kollel and the vision of twenty scholars, fathers of families, deeply immersed in higher Talmudical studies and ob­ serving a full-time schedule of learning, with complete disregard for material comforts and career

prospects, is indeed inspiring to anybody genuinely interested in the future of Torah-study. The Kollel is a source of pride and en­ couragement not only to Gates­ head, but to the whole of Torahtrue Jewry in Great Britain and throughout the world. All in all, the numerically small Gateshead Jewish community, with its Torah-true way of life and numerous Torah institutions, has a message to convey to orthodox Jewry the world-over, the message of: Ki lo almon yisroel — netzach yisroel lo yishaker; Israel lives on.

Faculty and students of the Gateshead Yeshivah. Seated eighth and ninth from the left In the third row are Rabbi Nachman Landynski* Rosh Yeshivah, and Rabbi E. Kalian, Menahel.

By ISAAC B. ROSE r/

This article continues a discussion of Israeli political- ' religious issues initiated with / . Halevy-Levin’s article “Religious Jewry’s Dilemma” in the Kislev J e w i s h L i f e . This was followed, in our Shevat issue, by Rabbi Morris Sherer’s article “An. Agudist States the CaseJ

T H E RESIGNATION of Agudath Knesseth. Politically, this action Israel and Poalei Agudath Is­ has left the religious parties in rael from the Coalition govern­ Israel at the mercy of the com­ ment in September 1952, over bined irreligious forces. The Agudah leaders, after per­ issues which were within reach of a satisfactory solution, dealt the petrating what is unquestionably religious forces of Israel a weaken­ their gravest blunder, are now call­ ing blow from which it will not be; ing upon religious Jewry through­ easy to recover. It threw David out the world to support and ex­ Ben Gurion, the leader of the domi­ tricate them. nant irreligious Mapai party, into the lap of an equally irreligious TF THE actions of the two Agu­ dah parties had been motivated General Zionist- p a rty . It gave the forces unfriendly to Torah in Is­ alone by religious zeal, one might rael a clear majority with which be tempted to sympathize with their to rule. Thus Ben Gurion was no plight. But the truth is, as veteran longer compelled to call upon the1 Israeli observers well know, that religious parties for crucial politi­ the Erev Rosh Hashonah action of cal assistance formerly necessary these parties was a political ma­ in order to maintain his precarious neuver from beginning to end. Poalei Agudah, jealous of Aguedge in the voting of Israel's 34

Jewish LIFE

dath Israel representation in the cabinet, persuaded the latter to re­ sign in the expectation that the Poalei Agudah leaders would suc­ ceed to the cabinet post left vacant by the unwitting Rabbi Lewin. The two Poalei Agudah leaders, Rabbis Mintz and Kahane, then announced an agreement with Ben Gurion, governing conscription of religious women, which was acceptable to their own rabbinic leaders.* Des­ perate Agudah pressure being brought to bear, they were finally forced to reverse their announce­ ment and to maintain their resig­ nation from the government. What a tragic situation was un­ covered to the religious and non­ religious world alike! The loser however, was. not this or that Agudah party. Far more serious, it was the cause of Torah in Israel which suffered, as events follow­ ing the resignation clearly showed. Can we entrust the leadership of the religious communities in Israel and throughout the world to a party which has from its very be­ ginning misjudged Jewish history?

jqONE will deny the contribution which the Agudah parties have made to the preservation of Juda­ ism in the countries in which they have been active. It is a source of the greatest sorrow to the writer that the zeal, devotion and energy of the Agudah leaders — so neces­ sary at this crucial time in our struggle to make the voice of the Torah a vital factor in the recon­ struction of the Jewish people and its land — should have been so blindly applied in the past and should have benefited so little from experience when confronted by the hard realities of today. Unfortunately Agudath Israel leaders have remained recalcitrant. They now seek to rewrite the his­ tory of the past half-century so that the Mizrachi—Hapoel Hamizrachi parties may become dis­ credited and Agudath Israel may emerge as the party which always succeeded in doing the right thing at the right time. A glaring ex­ ample of such propaganda is Rabbi Morris Sherer’s article in the last issue of J ewish Life .** The article*

* The agreem ent governing the conscription of* religions women which has been ac­ cepted by the partners ■in the present co­ alition contains essentially the requirements which were acceptable to Poalei Agudah a t th at tim e. Conscription is by the M inistry of Labor and not by the M inistry of D efense. R eligious girls are recruited for “national service” such as office, social welfare, medi­ cal and teaching services and not fo r armed ser v ic e ; the recruits w ill be quartered in their own homes or in religious surround­ ings w hen the service is aw ay from their homes. From the beginning; H apoel Ham iz ra e h i and M izrachi have taken the stand that there should be no conscription of women, religious and non-religious alike, for m ilitary service, but fo r national service only.

** The charges brought by the Israeli A ttorneyGeneral against Rabbi Grossman which are cited in the sam e article are based on pam phlets distributed by Rabbi Grossman in which he accuses the governm ent of having fostered prostitution in th e, Israeli A rm y. He has beep requested to bring evidence o f his accusations or be punished fo r m aking fraudulent and libelous attacks' oh the State of Israel. N o governm ent _ can tolerate public libel of its institutions, no m atter w hether the libeler is a Rabbi or layman. Certainly there is no ground for Agudah to proclaim th at religion itself has been attacked.

March, 1953

3®

referred to is so full of misstate­ ments* that it would take much more than the limitations of this space to correct them for the record. The tragic fallacy of the Agudah point of view is that it thought always in terms of saving only the “believers” — the individual Jews in their individual communities and neglected the interests of the people at large who may have been non-observant. How to protect and

maintain the religious observances of individual observant Jews was and still remains the chief^concern of Agudath Israel’s leaders. The Mizrachi—Hapoel Hamizrachi par­ ties, on the other hand, have laid stress on the need to bring Judaism to the entire Jewish peo­ ple, be they religious or not, and on the importance of developing the teachings of the Torah so that they became acceptable to the peo­ ple who live in Zion.

Attitudes to Zion

VL GUDAH has felt that Zionism was not only unnecessary but a great mistake. From the outset, its leaders condemned with one “Cherem” after another those cou­ rageous rabbis of the Mizrachi who began to preach to their fol­ lowers the importance of building “Eretz Yisroel Tam Yisroel al pi Torath Yisroel” (The land of Is­ rael to the people of Israel accord­ ing to the Torah of Israel)* As late as the time of Hitler’s terrible attacks on Jewry, Agudah leaders are known to have obstinately re­ fused to accept the reality of a homeland and to encourage immi­ gration there. While others proclaimed that the “Jerusalems” of Europe and Ameri­ ca were Frankfort, Berlin, War­ saw, Paris, London and New York, Mizrachi and Hapoel Hamizrachi were actively engaged in redeem­ ing the Homeland shoulder to shoulder with Zionists as repre36

sentatives of the Jewish people. While Agudah shunned Zion and consigned it with the exception of a few scattered strongholds of piety in Jerusalem and Safed to the “unbelieving” Jews, Mizrachi and then Hapoel Hamizrachi with its Torah V’Avodah (Torah and Labor) philosophy undertook to shape the religious character of Israel in the settlements and des­ erts of a Torah-less land. Exclusive of the handful of Yeshivoth in which secular training was unobtainable and which were not equipped to answer the needs of a growing Yishuv, Mizrachi set up as early as 1904 a system of religious elementary schools, sec­ ondary schools and teachers’ semi­ naries which have provided for the religious needs of thousands of Israeli children from that date until the present time. Were it not for the farsightedness of Miz­ rachi, there would have been no Jewish LIFE

religious elementary schools in Is­ rael today to speak of. The Torahtraining which would have been provided by yeshivoth alone could have accommodated only handfuls

of children each year and would have denied it to the thousands who for many reasons would not have been attracted to yeshivah life.

Preparation For Life

■FHE CORNERSTONE of Miz* rachi—Hapoel Hamizrachi ac­ tivities in elementary religions education has been the combining of Torah with Haskalah (secular knowledge) and of bringing this to the widest groups of Israel’s population. Secular knowledge was and still is forbidden in most Agudath Israel schools in Israel today. Such a situation may be justifiable in some of the Ye­ shivoth, where the. stress is on pure Talmudical learning, but can­ not be condoned in the elementary and secondary schools when it is a question of preparing the youth for life amid the hard realities of todayv It is the aim of Mizrachi— Hapoel Hamizrachi to create a re­ ligious Jew who will be able to take his place in the ranks of his people in whatever position he may be required to fill. They are shap­ ing a religious Jew who will not be handicapped because of his re­ ligious connections, who will not be jockeyed into becoming a sec­ ond-class citizen of the State of Israel. Nor has this Mizrachi—Hapoel Hamizrachi school system neglected the area of yeshivah education. To name but a few examples, the two Benei Akivah Yeshivoth at Kfar Haroeh and Meron have been ac­ March, 1953

claimed for their high standards of Torah learning. The Yeshivah Torah U’Melochah at Kfar Abra* ham produces students who are equally well versed in a trade and in the intricacies of a Tractate. No party can claim for itself a monopoly on Torah, on saintliness and respect for learning. TT WAS Mizrachi and Hapoel A Hamizrachi alone who were re­ sponsible for the institution of the Chief Rabbinate in Israel. The first Chief Rabbi, Abraham Yitzchok Kuk (of blessed memory), was appointed in 1924 in the face of® the unrelenting opposition of the Agudah leaders, who refused to recognize him to his dying day. It is amusing to hear today of Agudath Israel’s concern for the authority of the Chief Rabbinate, which has been democratically chosen by the observant Jews in Israel. They, more than any other group, including the most irre­ ligious, have consistently attempted to undermine it. Agudah, contrary to fact, ac­ cuses the Hapoel Hamizrachi and Mizrachi parties of having entered the new coalition cabinet without the consent of the Chief Rabbinate, asserting that the office of the Chief Rabbinate has made a pub37

lie announcement to this effect. it not true that they were im­ That both charges are untrue has plored by responsible religious au­ already been announced in the Is­ thorities not to take such rash raeli and local press. On the action? contrary, the Chief Rabbinate has The fact is that Agudath Israel categorically approved the action of asserts that the only religious au­ the Mizrachi—Hapoel Hamizrachi thority they can accept is that of parties with the statement that: “It is impossible to desert the 80,- the Moetzeth Gedoley Hatorah. 000. children who have been re­ .This group of learned rabbis has never had ‘the status, among the ceiving religious education.” One might well ask the Agudah religious Yishuv as a whole, of an leaders in turn whether they left authoritative body. It appears to the Coalition government with the be subservient to Agudah leaders consent of the Chief Rabbinate. Is in political matters. Test of Achievements

RELIGIOUS Jewry rightfully fol­ lows the leadership of the religious parties which have so many constructive achievements to their credit in Israel. Can Agudath Israel point to Kibbutzim, to co­ operatives, to settlements, to insti­ tutions which act on behalf of the religious Jew in Israel? It is the religious Zionists who have shown that the Torah is a way of life which envelops the human being, be he a Yeshivah Bochur or a brick­ layer, be he a shopkeeper or a soldier, be he a private farmer or a Kibbutznick. What part of the land of Israel except for Jerusalem could have been pointed to as per­ meated with the Torah were it not for the network of settlements which was set up by the Hapoel Hamizrachi in the dry Negev, in the dangerous Jordan valley area, in the Galil and in the Sharon? An accounting of the facts of Israel’s rebirth shows that there 38

would have been no Israel for Agudah leaders to flee to from warravaged Europe were it not for the pioneering work of the Zion­ ists, religious and non-religious alike, who understood what the Agudah still does not understand — that a great religious miracle has taken place in our time. The very fact of the revitalization of a long-suffering people should have awakened every religious Jew to the awareness that the Almighty has once again intervened in his­ tory on our behalf as He has done before. Yet any attempt to attach a religious significance to the birth of Israel has' been bitterly de­ nounced by Agudah leaders. QN

THE other hand, Hapoel Hamizrachi has identified it­ self completely with the Jewish community of Israel and Zionist efforts all over the world. It has become the largest and most powJewish LIFE

erful religious party in Israel, win­ ning eight seats' to the Knesseth in the last election, more than all the other religious parties com­ bined. Its platform, based on an ideology of Torah and labor, at­ tracted the support of thousands of religious workers who saw in it a solution to the problem of building Israel on the basis Of the Torah and a satisfaction of their needs as laborers, artisans, farm­ ers, white-collar workers, small businessmen and pioneers. As the second largest labor organization in Israel, it maintains a network of services and institutions for re­ ligious workers including unem­ ployment fund, social assistance fund, insurance, technical training and health, insurance. Its three cardinal principles are: 1. That the State of Israel is in­ dispensable to the continuation of Jewish life everywhere. 2. ■That the State of Israel must become the spiritual laboratory for vital Jewish living in every aspect of our lives. 3. That through the ideals of labor and social equality, we can best concretize the mean­ ing of the prophetic principles.

Should we not follow the leader­ ship of an ideology which has from the very outset of Zionist endeavor served as the spiritual conscience of the Jewish people in its struggle to win freedom and respect among the nations? The Mizrachi and Hapoel Hamizrachi parties, be­ cause they were within the Zionist movement and not self-excluded like the Agudath Israel, were able to make possible the incorporation of the Sabbath as the official day of rest in Israel. No mean accom­ plishment this, when one realizes that it 'might well have been any other day so far as the average non-religious Jew in Israel is concerned. The institution of rabbinic juris­ prudence in Israel, which governs family and personal relationship, including marriage, divorce and in­ heritance, would never have been a fact were it not for the insist­ ence of the two religious Zionist parties. These concrete achievements demonstrate the success until now, partial though it may have been, of religious Zionist strategy.

Unity in Religious Education

TRTHEN the state was declared V in 1948, Mizrachi—Hapoel Ha­ mizrachi leaders pleaded with Agudath Israel leaders to form one unified religious educational sys­ tem. Such a union then between two religious ideologies would have indicated that Agudah, seeing the March, 1953

state a fact, was prepared to throw itself into the real problem of guaranteeing a religious character to Israel. It would have made it impossible for Ben Gurion to call far governmental religious educa­ tion on his own terms. Religious education would have been a fact, 39

in whose apparatus and control there would have been possible a minimum of outside interference. Agudath Israel rejected such an ed­ ucational union with the Mizrachi —-Hapoel Hamizrachi and called instead for the political unity of a Religious Bloc of the four re­ ligious parties. This proved to be impossible to maintain when Agudah made entirely unwarranted de­ mands in representation —- a fact which was borne out by the suc­ ceeding elections which established the Mizrachi and Hapoel Hamiz­ rachi parties as having twice the votes of the Agudath Israel and Poalei Agudah parties combined. Thus the resignation of the Agudah parties in September 1952 and their earlier refusal to join with the Mizrachi—Hapoel Hamiz­ rachi parties on a common educa­ tional front made it possible for Ben Gurion to insist upon a sepa­ rate religious education system — which places religious education in a position requiring constant vigi­ lance and alertness — side by side with a secular educational system. CJHORTLY after Ben Gurion’s plans were announced, Agudah declared that it would not continue its schools under the new plan of government control to be instituted next fall, and would set up a pri­ vate school system which would provide its own financial support. Agudah has thus publicly, an­ nounced what has long been a * 60,000 in th e Mizrachi system and 20,000 in th e Agudah System , not 30,000 as claimed in the above-m entioned article in J ew ish

’L ife .

40

Cardinal point in its program — cqncentration on providing a nu­ cleus of individual observant Jews with what they consider to be necessary for their continued re­ ligious existence. A breakdown of the costs of educating 80,000 children receiving religious instruction in Israel' to­ day* shows that £1 7,000,000 is re­ quired in maintenance costs alone (not counting the cost of replace­ ment of the present buildings, which, as government property, would not be available to the pri­ vate religious system). Only a frac­ tion of this sum would be raised by private campaigns throughout the world. This would mean, in effect, that if the religious groups were to adopt this as a policy, the great majority of the 80,000 chil­ dren would pass out of the con­ trol of the religious parties and would be lost to the religious Jew­ ish communities. It is interesting to note that the Poalei Agudah party has come out strongly against the plan to finance private elementary education, declaring it to be an illusion. ■J"HAT IS wrhy the Chief Rabbi­ nate has approved Mizrachi— Hapoel Hamizrachi action with regard to the agreement. The religious community will be re­ quired to stand on constant guard to ensure that the agreement covering government control of re­ ligious education is observed both in the spirit and in the letter in which it was signed. The agreement* which goes into Jewish LIFE

effect next September, calls for a separate system of religious edu­ cation which will be un’der govern­ ment control, but which will have a separate Authority composed of fourteen members, twelve of whom will be definitely religious. The Authority will decide on the pro­ gram, teachers, principals and su­ pervisors of the religious school system. The new program will have the advantage of making re­ ligious education available to many

thousands of children whose par­ ents heretofore hesitated, because of party pressures, to place them in religious schools. The thousands of religious Jews in Israel and throughout, the world, whose faith in the ideology and strategy of Mizrachi—Hapoel Hamizrachi has been vindicated by the past, will have confidence that this new challenge in religious educa­ tion will not cease no matter what the obstacles.

?4

TheMagazine of Your Life 1 YEAR — $1.75 — 6 Issues THREE YEARS for $4.00 — 18 Issues Enter names and addresses below and send with check to:

JEWISH LIFE,

305 Broadway,

New York 7, N. Y.

Send Gift Subscription to: 1 yr. 3 yrs. Name ............ Address .... . ' City and State -

□

□

ill.

Donor's" Name ...v. ....______________ .'.iT. 1»*.....;. *» Address __ .......... ..... | | i K j „ City and S t a t e 1 HB| P I Include my own subscription for _ year(s)Q ] New Q Renewal Check or M.O. enclosed for

March, 1953

41

By F A Y S. SHELDON

THROUGH the open door of the¡kitchen where I was preparing Sunday dinner for my little family I heard the gentle voice of my father in the living room, telling his fabulous t.ales of Jewish lore to my eight-year-old Jonathan. Suddenly my son was standing in the doorway, his eyes bright and shining with inward excitement. “Mommie,” he burst out, “d’ya know what Joshua did? He blew on the rams’ horns, and the walls of Jericho fell down, and he told the sun to stand still and the moon, too, and they stood still. Didja know that, Mommie? Daddy, didja know that?” He turned to­ ward his father, whom I could see through the door, burrowed deep in the big easy chair near the window of the living room, reading the Sunday paper. Quickly my husband raised his head and flashed a glance at me. “Look,” it said, plainly as words, “I wish your father would stop 42

filling the kid’s head with that stuff about miracles. Now you’ll have to lie, telling him you believe it when you don’t, you know you don’t.” Jonathan’s voice broke the si­ lence. A note of uncertainty had come into it. “It’s true, isn’t it, Mommie? Grandpa said it really happened.” His eyes were on my face, wide, questioning. I bit my lips. How bridge the chasm of belief between the gen­ erations? I smiled at my son. “Of course, darling,” I said lightly. “And it’s a wonderful story. Grand­ father told me all about it, too, when I was a little girl, but J ’ve forgotten a lot of it. You tell me all about it while I finish dinner.” T GLANCED defiantly at my hus* band. Let the child believe in it, I said mutely to the quizzical look in his eyes. I did, too, when I was a child. Did it hurt me? What about the fairy tales I deJewish LIFE

voured by the dozen? Besides, I thought, remembering a book I had read recently on the life of Joshua, it really did happen. The book had explained ^what seemed to be miracles from a natural, scientific basis. Jonathan followed me into the kitchen and while I fixed the salad and prepared the vegetables he poured out in his childish -wordf the famous tale of valor and con­ quest, the saga of the Promised Land. 'Then the priests carried the Ark into the Jordan River, and the water dried up, Mommie, and all the people walked over with their, cattle and sheep and all the children. And Mommie» seven priests marched around the city of Jericho for six days, and on the seventh day they blew the rams' horns and golly! all the walls fell

down, just like that! And then Joshua told the sun and moon to stand still, and they really stood still, Mommie, and then Joshua and the other Jews fought a great battle and they won. Gosh, what a guy!” I glanced at the flushed face and glowing eyes, filled with. awe. The Moon and the Sun stood still! Was it necessary for me to break the enchantment, to explain the mir­ acle away? I shrugged and smiled at him. "Yes, dear, Joshua was a great Jew and a great leader of our people. Now help me set the table for dinner.” 7VFTER dinner Jonathan went * * out to play ball. My father stroked his beard as we sat in the living room and gazed meditatively at Saul and me. "Well, children,” he said quietly, "don't you think it's time you sent the boy to Cheder, to Hebrew School? You ought to start get­ ting him ready for Bar Mitzvah already, start making a real Jew out of him. Let him learn what it means, bping a Jew.” "Oh, there's time enough, Grand­ father. He's only eight. What's the rush? And besides . . . , ” My husband's voice trailed off and my father sighed; my mother's eyes loo.ked sad. They knew what "and besides . . . . ” meant.JiYes, Saul and I no longer observed the Jewish practices, the separate dishes, the ceremonies of the holi­ days, the elaborate religious ritu­ als. Little by little along the way 43

these manifestations of Jewish life had lost their meaning for us. /'B ut how else will he learn ?" asked my father reproachfully, and my mother nodded her head sor­ rowfully. This was the first time they had ever so openly voiced their disappointment. "He knows we're Jewish, a lot of his friends are Jewish, we go to your house for the Seder, you tell him stories. Isn't that enough?'' My husband spoke brusquely. j^JY FATHER kept stroking his beard. Slowly he answered, “No, my son, I don't think it's enough. A child lives mostly by what he sees, not by what you tell Kim. Besides, how often do we see the boy?" My parents' visits were infre­ quent. Saul said sharply, “Well, if he goes to Hebrew school he's going to learn a lot of things we just simply don't" — he hesitated—“well, we don't believe in any more. Like that story of Joshua you told him, the miracle business. He glanced at me. “You know you don't believe in it, .Miriam, all that stuff about miracles." I kept silent, afraid to say the wrong thing, the wounding word. “And besides," Saul continued, still looking at me, “he'll start asking why you don't light candles on Friday night, why you don't do this, don't do that — he'll learn a lot of things he'll only have to unlearn later on, just like I did." He $poke vehemently. His par­ ents, long dead, had been unyield44

ing in their observance. His adult rebellion had been complete. * My father sighfed again and be­ gan talking of other things. The awkward moment passed, but my thoughts were jumbled, uncertain. Later, that afternoon Jonathan came up from play and my parents prepared to leave. As I was help­ ing my father on with his coat, he said, * “Miriam, next week M g Pesach — you're coming for the Seder, are you not?" “Of coursC Father." JT WAS a great event every year, the table crowded with my brothers and sisters, the children, a few friends, and father con­ ducting with poetic eloquence the .rich, triumphant ceremonial. Sud­ denly Jonathan's high treble broke in: “Mommie, Daddy, why don't we have the Seder in our house this time? We're Jews just like Grand­ pa and Grandma, aren't we? So why don't we have it here? Golly, it'll be fun. And then when you put the bread crumbs in the cor­ ners I'll find 'em and we'll burn them, and I'll as.k the four ques­ tions, and I betcha I'll find the afikomon, not Stanley or the other kids. Aw, let's have it here." Saul and I stared at each other. A fleeting thought passed through my mind: goodness, the work, the bother. Then I looked at Jona­ than's eager face and a twinge went through me. Why not? came the sudden thought. After all, it's natural, isn't it, that the child should want the Seder in his own Jewish LIFE

home? Why should he not experi­ ence there the lovely charm of the ancient ritual so sacred to Juda­ ism? What harm if we shared with him in his own familiar sur­ roundings some of the rich and glorious fabric of our common heritage ? I caught my husband's eye again and swiftly there were lightning sparks, an erection of barriers, de­ fenses. Then my father's voice broke in, soft, soothing: “Everybody has been invited to our house, Jonathan, for this Sed$r. Maybe next year your fa­ ther will have the Seder at your own house." “Aw, O.K." Jonathan pouted and glanced reproachfully at Saul and me. I^ATER that evening the three of us were having a light supper, Jonathan was chattering about his ball playing >vith his friends in the afternoon, about Grandma and Grandpa, about the coming Seder. Suddenly he stopped. “Mommie," he said, “what does it mean to be a Jew?" I gave Saul a quick look. “Why darling," I said, “what makes you ask that?" “Well, my friend Johnny, he's a Catholic, isn't he? Why am I a Jew?" Saul was watching me. “Well," I said, “Daddy and I are Jewish. •. Grandfather, Grand­ mother, they're Jews. So you're a Jew, too." “But what is a Jew, what does it mean, to be a Jew?" March, 1953

Saul's face was a mask as I tried haltingly to put into words my sense of kinship with my Jew­ ish heritage, my feeling of identi­ fication. Jonathan accepted my ex­ planation silently, looking at me with wide, trusting eyes. After he was in bed I said to Saul, “Maybe Father was rig h t; we ought to send ■Jonathan to ,Hebrew School. Then he won't ask such questions. He'll know, he'll learn there, much better than I can tell him. He'll get the feeling of belonging." “Oh, don't worry about it," he said easily. “It'll come to him, sooner or later. He's only a kid. After all, we're always talking about Israel, about Jewish things. It'll sink in in time." , “How do you know?" I as,ked. “In school he'll be in a real Jewish atmosphere." “Yeah!" said my husband caus­ tically. “I had more than my shar.e of it. I'm not putting my son through all that! He doesn't have to have it drummed into him for hours. And besides, what'll you do when he starts asking about miracles^H is it true? — and all the other things, too. What'll you say?" He stared challengingly at me and I kept silent speculating. He turned irritably to his paper. “Just let him go out and play in the fresh air," he muttered. “It'll do him more good." ALL DURING the rest of the week I kept thinking, was he right? I searched my memory. No, never had a question like Jona­ than's entered my mind. Why? 45

Suddenly the answer came to me. As a child Jewishness had been inculcated into the very fibers of my being, of Saul’s, right from the cradle. Even though we no longer observed, we were* tied to our Jewish background with cords of steel; there was in us an in­ eradicable sense of belonging. Never for one second did we waver from our spiritual affiliation with Judaism. It was this sense of identification, of belonging, of pride in one’s heritage, that I wanted for my son. Yet how could he get it in a home where there was no visible sign of Jewish living ? On the other hand, I thought, if he went to Hebrew school how could we reconcile the things he would learn there with his non­ observant home life? What, for instance, if he were taught* of miraculous happenings in which we no longer believed? Then I scolded myself: after all, wasn’t the larger significance of the tales the really important thing? Fur­ thermore, I asked myself, would it be so terrible if you brought into your home some of the beauty of the religious festivals, if you bought Chanukah candles for the Chanukah festival, for instance, and let Jonathan light the candles each day? Or even lit candles on Friday evening and recited the kiddush? How could it hurt? WouM it not foster in Jonathan tharfeeling of unity with his Jew­ ish- heritage which you and Saul had, help to nurture it so it be­ came an integral part of him, 46

which nothing could eradicate? , I didn’t sleep well that week. JpiNALLY Sunday came and we were waiting for the bus that would take us to my parents’ home and the Seder that evening. The bus arrived and soon we were seated together in a row of three seats. In a little while the bus was crowded; people were stand­ ing. At one of the stops a heavyset man got on and pushed over towards us. A* faint aroma of liquor drifted down to us. The man’s eyes were half-closed and he swayed slightly as he hung on to the strap. Suddenly he leaned for­ ward and mumbled, “Hey, kid, how about movin’ over? I’m kinda tired.” Jonathan pushed toward me and I gave a fleeting glance at the big, bulky figure and the small space left by Jonathan’s slender figure at the end of the row. I was about to whisper to Jonathan to get up and give the man the seat when the man straightened up and began muttering to himself. The words came out indistinctly: “Bet the kid didn’t even pay for that seat — must be a Jew kid IIfl them Jews get away with murder — no damn good.” Saul made a motion as if to get up, but I pushed him back. “Don’t you see the man’s drunk?” I whispered. Suddenly I heard my son’s piping voice, clear and high and ringing: “I did so pay for my seat. And Jews are so good. Joshua blew the rams’ horns and .all the walls Jewish LIFE

of Jericho fell down, and he told the moon and the sun to stand still, and they stood still. Could you do that? Could you?” My son was standing up and his young face was alive with indigna­ tion as he stared up at the big, bulky man. The man’s bleary eyes blinked, he looked startled. His mouth opened, then he closed it and stared morosely out through the window. I pulled Jonathan back into his seat. There was a buzzing murmur of voices around us, and a man behind leaned over and patted

March, 1953

Jonathan on the shoulder. “Good boy,” he said. I looked at Saul. He was star­ ing at me with a curious expres­ sion in his eyes. He leaned over and spoke softly. “Jonathan,” he said, “the other day you asked us, what does it mean to be a Jew. Well, one of the things it means is what you did just now. You defended your religion, you stood up for wha^ you believe in. I’m proud of you, son.” Jonathan’s round face beamed: “I tell you what,” con­ tinued Saul, “how would you like to go to Cheder, Hebrew school, in the fall?” Jonathan nodded. “Sure,” he said. “I was wondering when you’d send me. All the other kids’ve been going for a couple of years already.” Saul sat up and gave me a slightly disconcerted, quizzical look. Then he bent forward again and said, “You know what, Jonathan?” There was a gay* lively note in his voice and Jonathan looked at him expectantly. “Tonight you in­ vite everybody to come to our house next year for Seder. O.K.?” “Gosh, Daddy, sure.” A grin spread over Jonathan’s face. I settled back, a deep realization welling up in me. Yes, I thought, the core, the root, the foundation remains. “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Not altogether.

47

jQESPAIR may lead to lassitude, melancholy and passive submission to a cruel fate, but it may also evoke deeds of unusual power and daring, heroic struggles of the weak few against powerful hordes, that are eventually rewarded by victories. Jewish fate has presented' us with both kinds of despair within a few short years that which led to suicide and that which led to rebellions S,nd victory over a mighty foe. The Ordeal of German Jewry JJITLER’S assumption of power (1933) enveloped the greater part of European Jewry in profound despair. The focal point, however, was Germany. From 1933 on German Jewry was in a eonstant state of turmoil. For this community of a half million, emigration was the only solution. About 200,000 emigrated during the period from .1933 to mid-1938. This# took place at a time .when the world was in the grip of a severe economic crisis and all lands of immigration had practically shut their doors. The Nazi Government, dissatisfied with the slow tempo of emigration, began to take measures to speed up the process. On November 2, 1938 an infamous pogrom took place throughout Ger­ many. About 450 synagogues were burned and tens of thousands of people were dragged into .concentration camps. The number of dead has not been ascertained but it was by no means very small. The Nazi occupation of Austria and the Sudeten in 1938 was accom­ panied by pillage and murder to a much greater extent than in Germany. The desperation which prevailed was unimaginable. • Hasty emigration became a matter of saving oneself from a murder chase. Immigration possibilities in these desperate years were most limited. All international conferences ended with promises for the future, but to no avail. In its '

Translated by Samuel Rabinowitz M arch, 1953

49

issue of August 15, 1938, the Manchester Guardian characterized the immi­ gration possibilities as follows "In the U.S. — affidavits, quota restrictions, pedantic bureauc­ racy, the quota is always filled. Great Britain — at least one gets a visa but without the right to employment. Endless delays. France, . Belgium, Holland, Switzerland — absolutely closed. Italy — no visas. The Balkans — hermetically sealed. Argentina — extraordinary diffi­ culties. Brazil, Chile — closed. South Africa, New Zealand — closed". TOURING those tragically hopeless times the Austro-Geraaan Jews decided ^ to take to sea, sailing mostly to the shores of the American continent to seek mercy from nations which were in possession of huge areas of land th a t could absorb hundreds of millions. Space limitations do not perm it the enumeration of literally dozens of ships which sailed for months near the shores of the American continent and were finally obliged to return to Europe. Many boats held thousands of men, women and children. Numerous suicides occurred. We will dwell upon the fate of one ship whose fate illustrates thè tragic situation of Jews in the Diaspora as a whole. The steamship St. Louis reached the shores of* the U.S, in June 1939 with 900 refugees aboard. F or three weeks the boat sailed near the American coast. President F ranklin D. Roosevelt appealed to a number of American countries to adm it the 900. T he answer was no. Anti-Jewish sentiment in the United States was such th a t President Roosevelt could not decide to appeal to Congress to waive the quota ruling for these 900 desperate peo­ ple. The ship sailed back to Europe and its passengers were admitted into France. Some refugees, however, remained n ear the shores of the U.S. — .in the depths of the ocean. The number of suicides was never disclosed nor is it known how many of these 900 German Jews were consumed in gaschambers or tortured to death in • concentration camps.

Struggle Against the British Mandate K S EARLY as 1929 the author wrote from Poland in the Jewish Daily Forw ard th a t if he were in New York he would sound the alarm from the top of the Forw ard Building, with the cry: “ Save Polish Jew ry!” So desperate was thè economic situation; and so. insecure was the physical existence of the Jews, in Poland. The situation in Roumania and Hungary w as' no better. ^ Em igration became the dream of the Jewish masses in these countries, particularly the youth. The Hachsharoth were overflowing and continued to grow rapidly. In the early 30’s “illegal” ships appeared on the Mediter­ ranean. The B ritish hunted illegal im m igrants on the streets of Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem . Many were arrested and deported but many more succeeded

50

Jewish LIFE

in evading them. The Arab pogroms of 1936 and 1937 stopped this aliyah. In 1938 the “Ha’apalah” * was revived with the blessing of* the Histadruth and hence on a large scale. The following case is characteristic of the later development of the “illegal” aliyah. In January 1938 a group of members of a Polish kibbutz started out in an attempt to reach the shores of Italy illegally. A ship was awaiting them for transport to Eretz Israel. The kibbutz, near Lodz, was tense. Weeks passed by without a word from the “Olim”. One evening the Hebrew-Yiddish poet I. Katzenelson, who perished later in a concentration camp, visited the kibbutz. He brought out a book of Psalms and began to read in a loud voice the 107th Psalm: “And He gathered them . . . And He leadeth them to the place of their desire” A few days later the glad news came that the group had reached their destination. F*om this moment the true mass “Ha’apalah”, the struggle for a frfee Aliyah, the uneven struggle for Israel began. David Vs. Goliath "The Ha'apalah breaks the law which was proclaimed by rulers for the sake of expediency. It breaks down the fences erected by formal rules. Ha'apalah is an original political stand, an un­ paralleled method of struggle of a desperate people; a form and method which finds no precedent in history. "Hunted and tormented, face to face with the terror of liquida­ tion, surrounded by mortal dangers, facing bolted doors — the Ma'apilim dreamed and sought to break through — and they reached their goal. Beaten and hurt but never resigned, they split the seas and went to Israel." (The Book of Ma'apilim, Paris, 1949, page 7)

rpHE PRACTICAL growth of the Ha’apalah movement took place in 1939 as a result of the betrayal of the British Government which issued the “White Paper” in May of that year. The following typical example will serve to illustrate the nature of the struggle. On September 3, 1939, the boat “Tiger Cave” brought to Tel-Aviv 1400 refugees. 1200 were caught by the British police and taken to an isolation camp. What happened to the remaining 200? “Brave men jumped into the sea and swam ashore. Grad­ ually a large group of wet Ma’apilim, young men and girls, gathered to­ gether.” (Ibid p. 78) During the year’1939 the number of “illegal” immigrants was 11,156, as against 16,405 legal quota immigrants. Numerous ships of “illegal” immi­ grants roamed the seas for months and even longer — until an opportune moment came when the British naval patrol could be evaded. * T ranslator’s n o te: This Hebrew word is generally translated as m eanin g: daring, audacity. I t is found in its original m eaning o f “a daring attem pt to advance” in the book of Bemidbar —- 14:44.

March, 1958

51

With the outbreak of World W ar II the movement became more difficult and more dangerous for two reasons: escape from the occupied regions be­ came extremely hazardous and the coastal lands as well as the shores of Eretz Yisroel were more carefully guarded by the B ritish Navy. Thus the situation changed radically. It is the consensus of competent opinion th at the depths of the seas would .yield more Jewish victims than the known several thousand. We can only cite a few examples and refer the reader to the “Ma’apilim Book”. TN Nov. 1940 the steamship “A tlantic”, after roaming the sea for months, arrived in H aifa with almost 1800 refugees. A few dozen of the ill and weak were freed, but the rem ainder were deported to a distant tropical African colony, M auritius. H eartrending scenes took place when the refugees were taken aboard ship for deportation. Women and children were beaten. Several pregnant women fainted. But the rulers remained unmoved. On November 26, *1940 a bomb exploded on the ship “P a tria ” where 1800 refugees were held by the B ritish Navy Police. The number of victims was 257. A Reuter dispatch of December 14, 1940 stated th a t as a result of the sinking of the “ Salvador” in the Sea of Marmora 204 of the 326 immigrants, including 66 children, perished. The im m igrants were travelling from Bul­ garia to Israel. On February 2, 1942, the steamship “ Strum a” sank near Istambul. Of the 769 refugees aboard only one seaman survived. On February 27th the Yishuv demonstrated its shock and indignation by a work stoppage from ’ noon till evening. All Jewish homes displayed black-bordered flags. We cannot refrain from citing a t least one instance of German barbarianism even though it is hardly necessary to demonstrate the extent of German cruelty. On June 1, 1944 three boats left a Roumanian port carrying 900 refugees from Roumania, Poland, Slovakia and H ungary. German U boats set fire to the boat “M afkora” which carried approximately 300 people. Here is an eye-witness account: “150 children from Trans-Dniester, many of them infants in mothers' arms, were condemned to death by fire. Most of the people perished in the blaze. The Germans opened machine gun fire on the few who jumped overboard. Sea dogs were sent to finish off those who continued to struggle with the waves."« (Ibid p . 245) TTNDER these circumstances every successful disembarkation on the shores ^ of Israel was considered a great miracle. The fortunate ones would kiss the soil and cry with joy. But during the W ar the number of the fortunate ones was very small. During the period 1940-1945 there were only 7,999 — fewer by more than

52

Jewish LIFE

3,000 than in the single year 1939. For the same period the legal immi­ grants numbered 54,109. This is the balance sheet of the saving of Jewish lives in those years when 6 million Jews were slaughtered. It is obviously impossible even to estimate how many could Have been saved, given Britain’s good will. One thing is beyond doubt. The British Government of that period is certainly responsible for the many thousands who went down to the bottom of the sea. Despair in Goluth and Yishuv piNALLY Hitler was defeated. European Jewry faced the reality: twothirds of its numbers had been murdered. The atmosphere, particularly in Poland, Roumania and Hungary, was still saturated with hatred and bitterness as though it were regretted that all Jewry had not.been destroyed. True, many Jews went back to their countries of origin in the hope that they might find parents, children, brothers and sisters who survived the holacaust. However, they were met with cynical hatred, with open'contempt, and they were quickly sobered. The pogrom which took place in Kilce, ¡Poland in July 1946^^, horrible and cruel even by the standards of the Hitler period.— as well as the po­ groms in Roumania during 1947, fortified the irrevocable decision of the Jewish remnant to leave Europe. In Poland, where 160,000 Jews returned from Soviet Russia, in Czecho­ slovakia, Hungary, Roumania and in the Southern European countries (Bul­ garia, Yugoslavia and Greece), approximately 700,000 were gathered. Thus, about one million Jews were driven by a burning desire to emigrate! With the exception of Bulgaria, the native population of these countries took the most active part in the mass-slaughter of Jews. The Unconquered

TOURING the second half of 1947 approximately one quarter-million Jews were gathered in the camps in Germany, Austria and Italy. They con­ stituted an extremely unique branch of the Jewish people —- a unique physical and social selection of the millions of European Jewry. These people, who had cheated death many times, who felt the tragic fate of homelessness and being subject to the graces of an unfriendly world, these camp Jews, were possessed by a deeply emotional yearning for a home, for a secure corner for their own people who had suffered so much. The immigration possibilities that existed then, in ridiculous dispro­ portion to their needs and desire to escape the Valley of Tears, were a cruel joke to the remnants of European Jewry. FIRST blow to the camp Jews and their brothers in their countries of THEorigin was delivered by Great Britain. This was accompanied by such M arch, 1953

53

cynical perverseness that it shocked non-Jews as well as Jews. The British Government demanded, in return- for the “magnanimous” concession to ad­ mit 1500 Jews monthly, that the Haganah be dissolved and that the Jews in Israel should thus rely upon the good graces of the Arab majority and forever relinquish the ideal of the redemption of Israel. We shall not dwell upon the long-drawn-out negotiations between the United States Government and the British Labour Government concerning the admission of 100,000 Jews into Israel. Various Commissions investigated and appealed, but to no avail. In this instance, the Labour Government dis­ played such cynicism and stubbornness as poured oil on the fire of the deepseated desire of European Jews to free themselves. The desperate Jews of Europe received little comfort from the richest country in the world. The “Oswego incident”, when President Roosevelt brought a mere 1,000 Jews from Europe into the United States and shut them up in barracks near Lake Ontario, was regarded as an insult by world Jewry. President Truman showed much interest and sympathy but he was unable to'accomplish anything practical. A bill to admit 200,000 D. P.’s was finally passed by Congress in June 1948, but it contained provisions that discriminated against the Jews. During 1946 only 15,535 Jews entered the United States and in 1947 their number was 25,885. These included visitors, people in transit and other non-quota arrivals. The figures from other American countries are even more meager and insulting. Canada admitted only 1,517 in 1946 and 1,866 in 1947. Argentina 295 in 1946 and 126 in 1947. Brazil and Australia were somewhat more liberal with a total of 4,000 each for the two years 1946-47. The Final Struggle TWO GREAT historical despairs coincided. On one hand the Yishuv was ■"* confronted with the situation: Now or Never! Either a majority is to be attained and political independence achieved or the Yishuv is condemned to a permanent minority status; and the wealth of invested energy—physical material and spiritual—has been spent in vain. On the other hand the hun­ dreds of thousands of European Jews in lands formerly occupied by Hitler were physically and psychologically prepared for emigration. They were prepared for any sacrifice in order to achieve their goal. These two historical despairs were loaded with dynamite, but also with creative forces of resurrection and rebirth. Profound disappointment with other peoples was coupled with deep faith in their own people. These despairs strengthened, fortified and complemented one another and thus the H&’apalah was converted into a final bitter struggle for a free aliyah, for an ingather­ ing of the exiles, for a redemption of the Jewish people. Here is how a member of the Jewish Brigade describes his first en­ counter with the camp Jews: “You walk along the streets of Salzburg and you suddenly meet a Jew. Where to? To the Brigade! Why? In order to go

m

Jewish LIFE

to Israel! Who told you? We were told!" (Ibid p. 269) He continues to relate that almost as soon as they arrived in the area close to the camp locations, delegations began to form to discuss emigration to Israel. The liberated camp Jews, particularly the Zionist elements, could not imagine that the purpose of the brigade was other than to take them to Israel. .• *t*HAT WAS in August 1945. The British Government countered with arrests and later with deportation to Cyprus. On October 10, 1945 an official bulletin issued by the British in Israel stated: "A relatively large group of Jews equipped with guns# revolvers and knives attacked the central camp at Atlith on the ninth of October between 1:00 and 1:30 A.M. Then ten Arab watchmen were beaten with gun-butts# tied up and gagged. The attackers cut the telephone lines# and took with them 208 illegal immigrants and escaped across Mt. Carmel/'.

The bulletin is inaccurate but one item is beyond doubt: 208 “illegal” immigrants were liberated! They had been under arrest over a month and of the 208, 180 came from European concentration camps. The description of the event takes up nine pages in the Book of Ma’apilim and reads like the Song of Moses concerning the Exodus. The last lines read as follows: “Above all »Ifcome on time as lateness means — death! Delay meaiis destruction! Happen what may, we will fulfill our duty.” (Ibid p. 288) ^JSTE cannot dwell upon the struggle conducted by the Haganah in such ** forms as dynamiting of observation towers, shore stations, radar stations, etc. We must limit ourselves to a few typical cases* of “illegal” immigration. On August 12, 1946 it was officially announced that the ship “Yagor” carrying 758 passengers was intercepted in Haifa Bay. On the same day the ship “Henrietta Szold” carrying 450 people, including 200 children, was detained. On August 14th the transfer to deportation ships was begun. A curfew was imposed. The curfew was defied and the police opened fire. One was killed and nine wounded, two of whom later died. When those aboard the “Henrietta Szold” found out about the deportation scheme, many of the young men jumped overboard but were forcibly returned. The harbor was surrounded by the military and no one was permitted to approach it. Yet, thousands of people filled the streets surrounding the harbor. The masses attempted to break through the barrier of tanks and cars, and the police fired. Three young men were killed and six wounded. Thousands marched in the funeral procession. They attempted to break through to the harbor but the police again opened fire and wounded another ten Jews: The above-described scenes were repeated in a number of variations many times from the beginning of 1946 till May 1948. The resistance was March, 1953 ' 55

often greater, the cruelty often more pronounced but the essentials are typical. A striking, typical case is the world famous “Exodus” incident. Yeiziath Europe

»PHE BRITISH Government selectedi the appropriately named “Exodus” * for its major battle with the Yishuv. The bare facts are well known. The “Exodus” took on 4,554 immigrants at Marseilles — 1600 men, 1282 women, 1017 young people and 655 children. The British Government attempted to persuade the French to forbid the ship to move out to sea but was refused. The ship was intercepted by the British Navy on July 19th. The British victory was described in the Jeru­ salem press in the following terms: “After a heavy battle lasting three hours, the Haganah ship ‘Exodus 1947’, damaged and with two casualties and over 100 wounded aboard, entered the port of Haifa accompanied by a cruiser and five destroyers of the British. Navy.” (Ibid p. 344) On the same day it became known that the immigrants would be de­ ported to France, as the British Government declared that Cyprus was over­ crowded. On July 20th the Haganah headquarters publicized the oath taken by the immigrants* “We swear by the holy soil of Israel that we will not disembark in France! Blood will flow but we will not surrender!” Not one of' the over 4500 immigrants — many of whom became ill, and including many old, weak and tired m- accepted the hospitality of the French Govern­ ment. The latter did not permit the ships to enter port and dock and they remained a considerable distance from the shore. Hence, the British could not disembark the passengers forcibly. They appealed and threatened but to no avail. I /■CONDITIONS on the deportation boats were described by the only jour^ nalist who succeeded in getting aboard, a Frenchman, who wrote: "It is very hot. 1200 people, 1200 'convicts' who are in search of a land, are locked in cells behind barbed wire. I go down to the cabin by means of a filthy stairway. I am now in the so-called 'hospital'. How many people do I find in this 'hospital?' Two or three hundred, mostly women and children. There are a few canvas cots. Women lie on the crowded floor half naked. A woman gave birth last night. Her face is contorted» her body aches. She is hemorrhaging continuously."

The correspondent declares that he is not Jewish and not anti-British but his experiences compel him to cry out: “Grit your teeth, Comrade, and pass on! There is no society for the defense of Jews! The Red Cross oc­ cupies itself with German prisoners of war.” (Ibid p. 384) The most interesting aspect is the following. While awaiting the de­ cision of the British Government concerning their fate, the immigrants con56

Jewish LIFE

centrated on cultural work and organized a school where “the children studied diligently and with enthusiasm.” . For five long weeks they remained near France. Those were weeks of struggle, for the immigrants did not cease to appeal from behind the barbed wire to the press, to the nations of the world. Though the response was not too impressive the British Government felt the sting of the unfavorable world reaction. The French Parliament even adopted a resolution that “praised the French Government for its liberal steps in the tragic Exodus case.” The resolution also requested that the British Government be in­ formed of “the concern of the National Assembly and its hope that a solu­ tion will be found in a spirit which is in consonance with humanitarian principles.” (Ibid p. 379) The resolution was adopted unanimously, and though it was carefully and delicately worded, it nevertheless constituted a veritable slap in the face for the British Government. Finally the immigrants were sent back to Germany, back to Hitler’s camps, back to the land which was responsible for the slaughter of six million Jews. This cruel act aroused the Jews of the entire world and also evoked the resentment of the world press. The Bevin Government was not moved and the immigrants were forcibly disembarked in Germany. There were quite a number of wounded. The “Exodus” epic ended as follows: "The Ma'apilim never abandoned their desire to get to the shores of Israel as soon as possible. Despite their sufferings they decided to try again, this time in a different manner. They were taken in groups from the camps and in various devious ways reached the Israel shores. The world was astonished when one day the news came. 'Today the last group of Ma'apilim who were aboard "Exodus" reached Israel.' That day was May 11th, 1948, three days prior to the proclamation of the lewish State." (Ibid p. 443)

ACCORDING to the Jewish Agency 39,227 “illegal” immigrants entered Israel during the two and one-half year period from the beginning of 1946 till May 1948 (Yarhon Statisti Deisrael No. 1 p. 8), twice as many as in the years 1939-1945 and five times as many as during the war years (1940-1945). However, this figure includes only those who succeeded in evading the British Navy. Actually, the number exceeds 60,000 — as those concentrated on Cyprus alone in May 1948 numbered 24,000. According to Jewish Agency estimates, the number of “illegal” immi­ grants who entered Israel from after the first World War up to May 1948 was approximately 125,000. This is about a fourth of the total number of immigrants during that period. This single figure is sufficient proof that the Jews acquired their land not only with the hammer and plow, but also with blood and courage. March, 1953

57

Dialogue On Illuminated Haggadahs B y CECIL ROTH

ME my Haggadah', said edition, some twenty-five years I to my wife, that year we ago, of the very beautiful manu­ were in Jerusalem. script kept in the City Library of ‘What Haggadah?' said she. ‘Do Darmstadt in Germany. Why it. you want one of the three Hag­ was not exacted from the Germans, gadahs you edited yourself you as a trivial part-compensation for conceited man!—or the one printed the hundreds of thousands of Jewfor the Marranos in Portugal, or ish-owned boo,k.s that they wanton­ the Yemenite manuscript you ly destroyed, is something, that I picked up in Cairo in 1935 ? Or am unable to understand; that perhaps you are feeling superior however is another question. It tonight, and would like to treat us was not executed in Darmstadt it­ to the Avignonese rite?' self, but elsewhere in Germany, ‘Far from it', said I. ‘I am in early in the fourteenth century, an aesthetic mood. I think I would and is certainly one of the finest like to use the Darmstadt Hag­ of all manuscripts of the period. gadah.' The illuminations, of which many ‘Then get it yourself', said she. cover an entire page, are remark­ ‘It is far too heavy for me to able, and give every impression carry, and moreover it is on the that they were not executed by a top shelf'. Jewish artist |P t partly because ‘I think', she added meditatively generally they bear so little rela­ ‘that I like it best of all our tion to the text. Haggadahs'. ‘Then, I suppose', said my wife, ‘I don't', said I, contradictorily. waiting patiently until I had fin­ And, feeling in a loquacious mood, ished, ‘you would prefer the Sara­ I told her why. The first reason jevo Haggadah?' was of course that what we call the Darmstadt Haggadah isn't the J J S A MATTER of fact, I told original; it is the reproduction, her, I would: because I am magnificently executed in a limited keen on everything Spanish, and 58 Jewish LIFE 1J 7 E T C H

the famous Sarajevo Haggadah (so called because it is preserved in the museum of that town, an an­ cient Sephardi settlement in Jugo­ slavia) is a Spanish product of the fourteenth century. The illumina­ tions are not perhaps of quite so high a quality as those in the Darmstadt Haggadah, but they are far more profuse* and bear a closer relationship to the text; although (as is usual in Spanish Jewish manuscripts) text and illifminations are as it were in different sections. This is probably the most famous of all Jewish manuscripts of the Middle Ages, and its con­ tents are tolerably well known through a profusely illustrated book printed in Vienna at the end of the last .century. On the other hand, no complete reproduction has ever appeared; so that one cannot use it, #as one can the Darmstadt Haggadah, to follow the service. It would be a fine thing to have thiir reproduced in toto. On the other hand, it would not be neces­ sary to go to Sarajevo for this; for more than one other Hagaddah of the same type is known — one in the British Museum,, and one from the Crawford Collection in the John Rylands Library in Man­ chester. Here is obviously a chance for some maecenas to bring Man­ chester on a level with Sarajevo! Of course, these are not by any means the only famous medieval illuminated Haggadahs in the world. There is more than one in the De Rossi Collection in Parma, there are several others in the British Museum and in the Library March, 1953

of the Jewish Theological Semi­ nary of America in N.Y., there is one in the Library of Congress in Washington and another in that of the Hebrew Union College in Cin­ cinnati, which has been lovingly described by Dr. Franz Landsberger, and which has the dis­ tinction of having been both writ­ ten and illuminated by a known Jewish scribe. There is yet another, of exquisite beauty — a perfect specimen of Italian illumination of the Renaissance period ;— in the Rothschild collection in Paris. ‘Yes', said my wife, 'but we are in Jerusalem: and it’s a bit too much to expect me to go to Paris to look at a Haggadah'. 'Well', said I severely. 'If you can propel your delicate limbs as far as the Bezalel Museum, just around the corner, you will be able to see one of the most interesting of all'. 'Do you mean to tell me', said my wife, incredulously, 'that the Bezalel can outdo the British Museum V %T DIDN'T say so', I retorted.

'What I said was that this is one of the most interesting Hag­ gadahs. For the scribe of this rich­ ly-illuminated manuscript, which was executed in Germany about the year thirteen hundred, had some haunting religious objection to depicting human faces, although most of his contemporaries had outgrown this stage. In conse­ quence, he shows all the Jews (though not the gentiles) with birds' heads. Thus, you see a bird59

headed Moses receiving the Two Tables of Stone from Sinai, and handing them down in the form of the Five Books of the Penta­ teuch to bird-headed Israelites. And the contemporary Seder scene shows a bird-headed father, who is flanked, most properly, by his bird-headed wife. On the other hand, Pharaoh and the Egyptians are depicted as normal human­ headed individuals. It’s not the only manuscript of this type, but it's one of the most delightful'. 'What I find so appealing', ob­ served my wife, Ts the way in which some of these old Haggadahs are turned into miniature Zoos'. ‘I've not noticed it myself', said I. ‘What, pray, do you mean?' 'Why', retorted my wife. ‘Look at the way animals are introduced into the decoration at every pos­ sible opportunity; how they must have loved them! Sometimes even dogs are shown under the Sedertable. You never allowed our poor Binx in the room during the ceremonies.' 'Obviously', I commented, ‘Dogs were stronger-minded then. What else?' ‘Well, there's the delightful don­ key who is generally shown being led by the Prophet Elijah, some­ where in the middle of the pro­ ceedings', went on my wife. * Q F COURSE, he's a delightful donkey', I said ‘For he is a very important character:. he is the steed of the Messiah, who is shown entering the gates of Jeru­ salem. You see, whatever the oc60

currence in Jewish religious life, the Return to Zion was always central to it; and the artists like the poets could not let any oppor­ tunity pass of calling attention to it. The last scene of the conven­ tional illustrated Haggadah is gen­ erally a picture of Jerusalem Re­ stored.' ‘Isn't there a hare-hunt in some of the old Haggadahs, too?' in­ quired my wife. ‘Yes, but that's a funny way of showing a love of animals', I said. ‘As a matter of fact, there is a special reason for this. When the Seder-night is at the conclusion of the Sabbath, the proper order of the benedictions recited during the Kiddush is rather complicated: first* that over wine, Yayin; then the sanctification of the Day, Kid­ dush; then' the blessing over the light, Ner; then the differentiation of Sabbath and non-Sabbath, Havdolah; then the Shehecheyonu, or blessing over the time, Zeman. The initials of Yayin, Kiddush, Ner,. Havdolah, Zeman make up the word Yaknehaz, ■ which sounds vaguely like the German Jagenhaas or Hunt-the-hare. So, since a hare-hunt wa$ generally a fea­ ture of the Easter-season in the Germanic countries, it came to be represented in many of the old Haggadahs'. ‘Very ingenious!' observed my wife. ‘But why have you such a prejudice against the Darmstadt Haggadah? What is the real reason ?' ‘It is', said I spitefully, ‘because the Darmstadt Haggadah doesn't Jewish LIFE

reproduce one of the traditional features and I love tradition’. ‘And what may that be?’ inno­ cently inquired my wife. ‘Well’, said I. ‘It is when the text refers to the statement of Rabban Gamaliel, that whoever does not mention on Passover three things — the Paschal Sacrifice, the Unleavened Bread, and the Bitter Herb — has not fulfilled his duty. The Paschal Lamb isn’t usually rep­ resented, because nowadays we have no sacrifices, and the bone on the Seder Plate is only a symbol. However, when mention is made of the Unleavened Bread, the artist usually depicts a Matzah. Very in­

teresting from the point of view of Social History’, I added, ‘for it enables us to see how the Matzoth were made in the Middle Ages’. ‘And for the Bitter Herb’, said my wife, sarcastically, ‘I suppose that the artist, very ingeniously, depicts Bitter Herb’. ‘Not always’, I said. ‘Some­ times . - . . . ’ ‘Don’t hesitate’, she said. ‘What does he depict sometimes?’ ‘Well, sometimes, in the old Ger­ man manuscripts, he shows the celebrant pointing at his wife.’ *

*

*

We made it up, of course, before the Seder began.

In the month of Nisan were we redeemed from Egypt and in the month of Nisan will our future redemption come. Rosh Hashonah 11a

'As a rose among the thorns . . .' (Song of Songs 2) Rabbi Eliezer interpreted this passage as referring to the Exodus from Egypt. Just as a rose among thorns is difficult for its owner to pick, so Israel's redemption presented a difficulty for the Almighty. Both the Jews and the Egyptians at the time were uncircumcised; both worshipped idols. Why then did Israel merit redemption? It was only the covenant of the L—d in the days of our forefathers that prompted their redemption. Vayikrah Rabbah ch. 93

March, 1953

61

B y ALFRED WERNER

JT IS common usage to refer to bear in mind that nearly half a

Israel art as “young.” While it is a new fruit on the tree of civili­ zation, indeed, it is young only if compared to the output of such artistic centers as Italy or France. Those who talk of it as a “new­ comer” to the realm of world cul­ ture are right if we consider that only in 1898, when Theodor Herzl visited Palestine, the country was completely devoid of any works of artistic value save for some old houses of worship, highly vener­ able to the faithful, but often un­ satisfactory to the critical eye of the connoisseur. In 1898, not a single native artist lived in Eretz Yisroel, and not, a single European artist of note had, up to that time, bothered to go there for inspiration. By Oldnewland’s standards, how­ ever, Israel art is “old” ; in a coun­ try where the bulk of the popula­ tion consists of young couples and their infants, even one decade is a long period of time. We should 62

century has passed since the sculp­ tor Boris Schatz founded the Bezalel Academy and Museum at Jeru­ salem ; that this year the Agudath Hatzayorim V’hapassolim, the Is­ rael Association of Painters and Sculptors, celebrates its thirtieth anniversary; and that it is more than twenty years since Mr. Dizengoff, mayor of Tel Aviv, donated his own home to be used as the nucleus of a remarkable museum of world art.

■pHE EXHIBITION of six Israel masters, recently opened at Boston's Institute of Contempo­ rary Art; and scheduled to go from there,, first to Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Institute, and then to New York’s Metropolitan Museum, is not the first occasion where Israel aft submits itself, on a large scale, to the critical eye of the non-Jewish world. There was the Palestine Pavilion and its art Jewish LIFE

The artist Frenkel at work. trea su res a t N ew Y ork’s W orld F a ir in 1939-40. A fte r th e la st w ar, th e you n g R epublic o f Israel th ree tim es p articip ated in the

Esposizione

Internazionale

d’A rt

— th e w orld-fam ous B ien n ale a t V enice. I f th ere is y e t any q uestion as to w h eth er Israel can b oast o f som e sort ^of trad ition , th ere can be no doubt th a t it has an a r tistic life m ore vigorou s and m ore p rom isin g than th a t o f all th e M iddle E astern cou n tries com bined. T he Isra elis, need not be asham ed o f th eir ac­ com plishm ents, ju d g in g by figures alone. C urrently, -more than th ree hundred individuals are enrolled in th e A gu d ath H atzayorim V ’hapassolim . W e should bear in m ind th a t th e cou n try’s total population is fa r below tw o m illion, and th a t th e fine arts, in th e sen se th a t th e term is used in th e W estern World, do not e x ist fo r our b rethren from th e M oslem lands (save fo r a fe w March, 1953

c r a fts ), or fo r such non-Jew ish m in orities as the local A rabs, D ruzes, C ircassions, and others. By com parison, it m ig h t be stated th at th e U .S.A . w ith its 150 m illion in ­ h ab itan ts, has about 50,000 men and w om en w ho belong to the A r­ tis ts E q u ity A ssociation . M ere figures are not enough, though -— one .has to have traveled in Israel to note th a t tsena (a u s­ te r ity ) and political ten sio n s not­ w ith stan d in g , th e nation is adm ir­ ably resp on sive and alive to the fine arts. The m useum s and art galleries are seldom em pty; re­ cently, w hen M arc C hagall and Chana Orioff held tra v elin g onem an show s, so m any people came to see th eir w orks th at, tim e and again , th e doors o f th e museum had to be closed and m any enthu­ sia sts turned aw ay. M any Isra elis purchase w orks of art, origin a ls i f th ey can possibly m anage it ; b ein g people o f modest m eans, th ey do so- driven by a real love o f a rt rather than by snobbery. H ere and th ere monu m ents — m ostly ston es commemo­ ra tin g th e v ictim s o f H itlerism , th e W arsaw g h etto fighters, and th e heroes o f th e W ar o f L ibera­ tion — have r ise n ; m any people w ould like to see m ore o f th is kind, w ould like to see th e coun­ tr y ’s parks and public places adorned w ith b ea u tifu l w orks in ston e or m etal, but th ey know th at it m ay take m any years before Israel w ill have gained an econom ic sta tu s th a t w ill enable it to spend large sum s on w h a t m u st still be considered a luxury. 63

High Plane of Accomplishment ■PHE N O T IO N th a t Jew s are less g ifte d fo r th e fine arts than fo r litera tu re or religiou s th ou gh t has becom e so w ide-spread th a t it is difficult to erase. A couple o f years ago even so renow ned a scholar as B ernard B erenson, w ho is a Jew from L ith u an ia h im self, in a vol­ ume o f essays, Aesthetics and His­ tory in the Visual A rts, b elittled J ew ry ’s con trib u tion s to th e arts, in sp ite o f P issarro, Lieberm ann, M odigliani, E p stein , and others. It is curious th a t th e old gentlem an did not m ention a sin g le Israel a r tist by nam e. In Israel he w ould find a general level o f a r tistic en­ deavor as h igh as in any other civilized country, though, o f course, th ere are no equivalents th ere to a P ica sso or a M atisse. Compared w ith th e g ia n ts o f the E cole de P aris, even th e b est of Israel’s a r tists are d w arfs; y e t a people’s statu re m u st not be m eas­ ured by th e h eig h t o f individual colossi ■ rath er by th e average plane o f accom plishm ent. F rom th is v iew p oin t, th e “veteran p a in t­ ers” — such as A rdon M ordecai -B ron stein , Isaac Frenkel, N ahum Gutm ann, M arcel Janco, M ordecai Levanon, A rie Lubin, M oshe Mokady, P aldi, Rubin,j^M iron Sim a, Jacob S teinhardt, and Joseph Zaritsk y ; sculptors like Zev Ben-Zvi, A aron P river and M oshe Z iffer; and a rch itects and tow n planners like R ichard K aufm ann, Zev Rechter and Carl R ubin are people to be reckoned w ith in th e w orld o f art.

64

■PHIS, article has been su g g ested by th e occasion o f th e afore­ m entioned B oston, P ittsb u rg h and N ew Y ork show , an ex h ib itio n th a t w ill prove to th e spectators th at, as a gen u in ely dem ocratic country, Israel m akes allow ance fo r all pos­ sib le trends and m ovem ents. L ig h t and loose are th e w a ter color sketches by Gutm ann and Z aritsky, w ho realize th a t certain dream -like q u alities o f th eir country can be captured only i f th e form s are h id ­ den, bu t never lost, in a tissu e o f atm ospheric vib ration s. ArdonB ron stein ’s v ista s o f Jerusalem are sem i-ab stract — m agic v isio n s in ­ stead o f snapshots, sym phonies in w hich m ysteriou s colors applied in th ick layers are com parable to th e notes in absolute m usic. Q uite abstract, too, is Mokady, w hose phantom -like figures B B t h e soulim ages o f su fferin g m ankind — are shrouded in th e sam e m ystery th at envelop h is gloom y panoram as. U nlike Mokady, th e a r tist Janco is prim arily a d raftsm an w ho achieves h is m etaphysical effects through a cerebrally constructed in terp lay of lines, w h ile Rubin, at six ty th e “dean” o f Israel p a in t­ ers, lets h is colors sin g uninhibited ly th e im m ortal songs o f the an cien t G alilean hills. L im ited as it has to be, th is show is bound to w h et th e ap p etite of thousands o f A m ericans fo r more, and it is much to be desired th at th e Israel governm ent m ig h t arrange th e tra n sfer o f som e tw o hundred and fifty to three hundred Jew ish L IF E

canvases fo r th e sake of deepening un d erstan d in g betw een th e tw o countries. U n fortu n ately, hardly ever has a piece of Israel sculpture been show n in th is country. N a ­ turally, th e h igh cost of sh ip p in g m akes it im possible fo r individuals

to have th eir heavy stone and m etal pieces transported across the ocean; hence, an Israel Sculpture Show in th e U S A w ould be possible only if it w ere sponsored, or co­ sponsored by th e Israel govern­ m ent.

Landscapes for the Land and so fo rth ¡ ¡ ||| produced, fa cto ry MY n ative V ienna — w here fash ion , fo r th e benefit o f a r tis­ Z ionism as a political force tically naive to u rists. orig in ated and w here it w as very W e m ean, rather, the genuine stron g in th e years w hen I grew up — I learned o f th e in cip ien t w orks o f art in sp ired prim arily by Israel’s landscape. The “Greene “P a lestin ia n ” art through w h at­ F eld er” w ere m ore or less un­ ever reproductions w ere carried in known or, at lea st inaccessible, to m agazines. I saw m any origin als th e a r tis ts ’ fa th e r s and grand­ at th e N ew York W orld’s F air, fa th ers. N o w th e Israel a rtist, by and subsequently at variou s group show s, am ong them “ th e one con­ p a in tin g th e land, and th e land tain ed in th e 1947 exh ib ition , Pal­ alone, underscores, as it w ere, h is estine — Democracy A t Work , held legal and m oral r ig h t to it. Gen# at N ew Y ork’s how d efu n ct Mu­ erally sp eak in g he is preponder­ an tly a regional a rtist, com parable, seum o f Science aild Industry. It w as th ese w orks of art th at perhaps, to our “A m erican Scene” p ain ters, fo r he is b u sy w ith the prepared m e, sp iritu ally, fo r m y trip to Israel. S ir A rthur W au- . peculiar and exclu sive sig h ts w hich chopef th e B r itish «High Com m is­ th e country has to offer: tb e au s­ tere beau ty of, J eru sa lem ; | the sioner w ho w as an ardent lover of "art, once 'rem arked: “‘W alking on w in d in g narrow .str e e ts o f Old S a fM ; the b ro w n -sk in n ed 'B ed o u ­ th e road to A in K arem , I found m y self th in k in g : th is is a R ubin.” ins, black tents, and listless, cam els , F or th ose w ho have no opportuni­ around B e e r sh e b a ; th e A r a b ,ca fes w here idle old m en in d irty g ar­ ty to v is it th e land o f our F ath ers, m ents en d lessly sm oke th eir w ater the e a sie st and m ost th rillin g w ay p ip es; th e stream lined 20th cen­ to learn about th e country is to contem plate th e w orks o f its a rt­ tu ry settlem en ts; and, by contrast, ists. W hat w e have in m ind is th e A rab v illa g e s w ith th eir , odd not th e u n in sp irin g, alm ost photo­ little blue or pink disd’- shpped houses. graphic rep ortages I m ade by m en like L udw ig Blum , and m uch less th ose sen tim en tal daubs — Jerusa­ J T IS no coincidence th a t v f the lem at Sunrise, Hasidim at the six pain ters 'se e n in th§ U nited Wailing Wall, Rachel at the Well, S ta tes exh ib it only one ^— M okady I*

March, 1953

65

-— show s en tirely im agin ary land­ scapes th a t could have been dream t up in P aris, N ew York, or an y­ w here else. The other five m en use th e r ig h t sig h ts o f Israel as th eir poin t o f departure, even though, in th e process of creatin g a work o f art, th ey in evitab ly “d isto rt” the topographic fa c ts to fit th eir pre­ conceived aesth etic concepts. If you look through th e p ictorial m a­ teria l contained in volum es on Is­ rael art (notably th ose by E lia s N ew m an, Karl Schw arz, and H ayim G am zu), you w ill see an a s­ to n ish in g preponderance o f land­ scapes over figures or still life s, w hereas th e proportion w ould be en tirely reversed in volum es on m odern French, Italian , or A m eri­

can art. Secondly, w h ile Jew s in the D iaspora have been leaders in the ab stract and non-objective movem ents (Gabo, P evsner, L ipchitz, G ottlieb, and oth ers) as w ell as in Surrealism (C hagall, Berm an, B lu m e), in Israel th e relative un­ im portance o f th ese vanguard m ovem ents in fa v o r o f a m ore or less accentuated exp ression ism th a t never abandons r ea lity as a point o f departure can be said to be Is­ rael's common denom inator, al­ though hardly any E uropean or A m erican school is en tirely lack­ in g adm irers and im ita to rs there. B u t it cannot be said poin t blank th a t Israel a r tists have found th eir style, have developed som eth in g

The first study for a large mural painting by Rubin. This picture represents the First Seder of the "Ingathering of the Exiles."

th at is unm istakably of, and by, th e country. A fte r all, th e v ast m ajority o f her a r tists n ot only received th eir tra in in g in Europe, but arrived in P a lestin e w hen they w ere th irty , fo rty , or older. The trend tow ards im ita tin g , even copy­ in g, fo r e ig n m asters cannot be denied. In th e m id -tw en ties, th e p a in t­ ers w ho studied in P a ris fo r a w h ile could not easily in teg ra te th eir acquired sk ills w ith th e needs o f P a lestin e : “The m odernists be­ g an to p ain t th e country in th e colors o f P aris. The banks o f th e Y arkon suddenly blossom ed forth w ith th e hues, ton es and nuances o f th e S ein e and M arne.” (H ayim G am zu ). In th e "forties, th e n ext g en eration once a gain succum bed to th e spell o f P a r is up to a poin t o f lo sin g th eir id e n tity ; refe r rin g to th e w ork o f one m aster ex­ h ib ited in N e w York, th e N ew York T im es a rt critic m ockingly pointed to it as a proof “th a t th e fan ie o f P icasso and o f M iro has spread eastw ard over th e M editer­ ranean.” T K 7H IT H E R , Israeli art? Two im portant figures have lifte d th e ir fingers in w arn in g. One o f them is H ayim Gamzu w ho stern ly dem anded th a t Israel p a in tin g (and scu lp tu re), w h ile in te g r a tin g all technical and aesth etic ach ieve­ m ents o f th e tim e, ou gh t to have “enough v ita lity o f its own to ac­ cept only w h at su its our own sp irit, does not p reven t us from finding roots in our own country, does not in te r fe r e w ith , our gradual apMarch, 1953

The Israeli artist, Rubin.

proach tow ards th e a rts o f eastern peoples, and does not stop u s from draw in g on th e o rig in a l sources o f our own long tra d itio n .” Mokady, w ho, fo r a tim e, w as in charge o f th e D epartm ent o f A rts, is, how ever, not terrib ly w orried:

“ There is no reason for anxie­ ty and apprehension th a t the Israel a rtist will fail to pay heed to w hat is particular to us and to this country; there is no doubt th a t in the course of time there will arise here, influenced by conditions of life, a charac­ teristic a rt indissolubly bound up with the local scene and the eco­ nomic, social and cultural forms common to this country. I t were better to cease speaking of Israel art. Let us endeavor to be true to o u rselves , and let each one create in accordance with the dicdictates of his conscience. Then a characteristically Israel a rt will spring up of its own.” 67

Sculpture and Architecture ^■H R EE other branches o f art can be dealt w ith here ip a few p a ssin g Remarks only.. Sculpture is, f6 r m any reasons, a stepchiM of Isra el; in addition' to -ideological considerations, econom ic \ fa c to r s are p la y in g a gf*eat role in blow ­ in g its grow th. T here is a dearth o f appropriate m aterial; . large blocks o f wood are difficult to ob­ tain in a country w here every tree is Ja priceless p ossession ; as fo r stone» th e only* kind available in large q u an tities is th e b eau tifu l, but very hard, Jerusalem m arble. And to th is day, fa c ilitie s fo r bronze ca stin g are badly lacking. F ortu n ately, the sta te is doing a g reat deal to rem edy th e situ ation , and variou s kibbutzim have given a ssig n m en ts to sculptors w hose w orks em bellish the oth erw ise au s­ te r e facade, o f the average se ttle ­ m ent. N or can arch itectu re expect a M edicean rise and glory. U p to about 1920 th e settlers could not p ossib ly concern them selves r a th th e problem s o f arch itectu re as an art, th eir aim b ein g t h e ; redem p­ tion o f th e soil. In th e la st th ir ty years im m igran t arch itects from Central E urope (e.g. th e B auhaus School) have produced som e very fine houses. U sin g eith er rein ­ forced concrete (m ostly in Tel A v iv ) or ston e (in Jerusalem and H a ifa ), th ey gradually learned cer­ ta in trick s from th e A rabs J |i"

68

notably, how to build v ery thick exterior ‘w alls, and to keep the w indow s rather sm all so as to offer th e in h ab itan ts a protection from th e excessive heat. C ertain recent b u ild in gs — th e H a ifa Tow n H all, th e pow er sta tio n a t Tel A v iv and several syn agogu es —- prove th a t an edifice can be v ery b eau tifu l even if th e a rch itect underlines th e b u ild in g’s u tilita ria n needs, and th at th e sim p licity o f fu n ctio n a l­ ism m u st be regarded an a sset rath er than a lia b ility . JT

SH O U LD be sta ted , finally, th at several a r tists have devoted th eir talen ts to th e cra fts, w ith o u t con sid erin g th is step a self-d eg ra ­ dation; A aron K ahana and JeanD avid have turned out very beau­ tifu l ceram ics — K ahana g r a ftin g som e d elig h tfu l anim al form s upon h is flasks and v ases, w h ile D avid ’s plates and tile s are m ore in the ab stract vein. A s fo r th e role played by the ta len t brought into Israel by O rientals, especially Y em ­ en ites, th is should be a chapter by itse lf, en titled “The A pplied A rts in Israel.” T h is m uch can be said, th ou gh : fa r-sig h ted m en are rack­ in g th eir brains to find adequate m ethods b y w hich th ey m ig h t helpsom e charm ing folk arts to sur­ v ive th e h u stle , and b u stle o f a h ig h ly developed in d u s tr ia l. c iv ili­ z a t io n .^ . .

J ew ish L IF E

“Jewish” Omnibus By WARD MOORE YISROEL edited by Joseph Leftwich, Beechhurst Press, New York, 19j>2, pp. 723, $6.00. TUTR. LEFTW ICH has subtitled this collection of stories by Jewish w riters -Ifl or a t least, w riters whose ancestors were J e w s ^ H “The F irst Jewish Omnibus.” Exactly w hat dis­ tinguishes an omnibus from an an­ thology it is hard to say; possibly omnibus conveys greater * inclusiveness and less critical tests for ad­ mission. However, in his lengthy foreword, and in his introduction to the revised edition B B “Yisroel” was first published in England in 1933 — the editor sets up a series of stand­ ards for the constitution of a Jewish anthology which are admirable and which certainly do not suggest ap­ proval of a careless catholicity. March, 1953

W riting in 1945, Mr. Leftwich says, . . . I am even more doubtful about the supposed influence of *Jew­ ish Wood’ and ‘Jewish racialism / But on the other hand, I am more sure than ever about the reality of Jewish identity,, based on Jewish teaching and? Jewish tradition. We are Jews, in othe'r w ords,;according as we live the Jewish life.” ' The 1933 Foreword is too long for quotation and too diverse for brief summation; But Mr. Leftwich makes the point |gf among others — th at mere negative acquiescence to the designation Jew is, not sufficient; a Jewish w riter, to be acceptable to the acute anthologist, must make a posi­ tive affirmation. Otherwise his work, no m atter how skilful, stdnds in re­ lation to a Jewish anthology much as th a t of a non-Jew. 69

Why Buy 3 ? 1. Bar Soap for

dishes

2. Bar Soap for milchig'e dishes 3. Powder for kitchen cleaning

Kosher® Parve for Passover

DOES ALL 3 JOBS! Yes, you'll find Kosher© and Parve Tide will wash your fleish ig ’e and m ilc h ig ’e dishes and glass­ ware shining c le a n for Passover. And Kosher© and Parve Tide will get your heavy pre-Passover cleaning chores done q u ic k e r and e a sier, too. No wonder more Jew­ ish housewives in New York use Kosher© and Parve Tide than any other washing product! © Strictly Supervised by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Con­ gregations of America

70

Jewish LIFE

Having defined his aims, Mr. Leftwich concludes, “I cannot claim that this work is exhaustive, though I be­ lieve it is on the whole representa­ tive and even comprehensive . . . . ” MUCH for the critic defining ^ admirable theory; what of the editor in practice? “Yisroel” starts off with an “English Section” of fif­ teen stories, beginning with D israelis “Ixion in Heaven” which has no con­ nection with Judaism or Jewry and was written by an apostate, however amiable toward his former people. Follows an undistinguished bit, “Cohen of Trinity,” by Amy Levy, and a rather w istful comedy by A l­ fred Sutro. Zangwill’s “The Sabbath Breaker” is hardly in the vein which makes him an important voice for Jewry even today, but rather in the sentimental one which made him ac­ ceptable to his gentile contemporaries who could read into it a dead rather than a vital Judaism. Gilbert Frankau’s “An Outlier From His Tribe,” the story of a Jew who stops just short of assimilation, is repugnant because it is written from the viewpoint of a gentile to whoiú the Jews are rather a curious lot. This would have made an excel­ lent satirical frame, but Frankau, either in neurotic defensiveness or through a desire to be palatable to the general public, wrote it “straight.” The result is betrayal. “The Doomington Wanderer” by Louis Golding and Cecil Roth’s “The Martyr” are the only contributions in the initial section which m ight con­ ceivably còme in under a greatly re­ laxed interpretation of the editor’s

March, 1953

standards as laid down in the fore­ word. Neither are in the authors’ best manner, though Dr. Roth’s ironical conceit is very good indeed. The “American Section” has, sur­ prisingly, but seven items, and they are certainly far from being “repre­ sentative.” Herman Bernstein’s “The Greatest Funeral in the World” is a rather pretentious and thoroughly dated allegory. “The Samovar” by John Cournos is an interesting fan­ tasy — about gentiles. Gentiles also are the protagonists of the curiously related “Old Man Minick” by Edna Ferber, and “Grandma” by Thyra Samter Winslow. Both are slick, and concerned with old age and the ob­ tuseness of the young as contrasted with the wisdom of the old. It is barely possible that Miss Ferber’s story could not have been written by a non-Jew#S$$ certainly not with the same emphasis — but this hardly seems to warrant its inclusion in a book w ith the title “Yisroel.” The remaining piece, in this section, “Holy Land” by Ludwig Lewisohn, is a neat and devastating explora­ tion of a type of gentile mind. Con­ fronted by the paradox of a Chris­ tianity presumably born in a Jewish land and founded on Jewish figures, the protagonist retreats, hurt, be­ wildered, repelled, back to the small American town where she can re­ cover her Christian faith without as­ sociating it with the sounds and smells and people of A sia Minor. The next section contains sixteen stories by Heine, Schnitzler, Herzl, Max Nordau, Jacob Wasserinan, Ste­ fan Zweig, Arnold Zweig, Kafka, Max Brod, and others. Here again

71

Quick Sudsing Action Floats Grease and Grime A w a y ! E ven in hardest water, new Old D utch cuts grease faster . . . soaks up grime . . . cleans in half the time. I t ’s a joy to u se— fragrant, snowwhite, gentle to hands and fine sur­ faces. N ew Old D utch sanitizes and de­ odorizes as it cleans, too. M akes tough cleaning jobs easy. So shine up your pots, pans and porcelain with new Old D utch. A lways buy two cans, for kitchen and bath.

This famous cleanser—known the world over— carries the official seal of approval (U) of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America and has their approval for Passover use. The Cudahy Packing Company, Omaha, Nebraska

we have much the same pattern: most of the stories which might come up to Mr. Leftwich’s abstract standards are not particularly noteworthy; those which are well done do not fit the design he has promised. Heine’s “A Seder N ight” is slight, and w rit­ ten as though for gentile ears alone; Herzl’s “Thumbling and Sapling” is not a story at all, but a polemical allegory, interesting and useful, but out of place here. And so it goes; of the sixteen, three at most are both affirmatively Jewish and of literary merit. It is a relief to exchange the selfhate of Vicki Baum and the coercive persuasiveness of Lion Feuchtwanger for the eighteen stories of the Yid­ dish and the seven of the Hebrew section. Here too the literary quality is uneven and Mr. Leftwich’s own translations use an unexpectedly playful British-English which jars on transatlantic ears. Despite this, tfiese sections are the heart of the anthology, and come closest to the

editor’s prescriptions. Rabbi Nach­ man of Bratzlav, Mendele Mocher Seforim, Peretz, Sholom Aleichem, Peretz Hirshbein, Bialik and S. J. Agnon# are the best ambassadors for the simple reason thfat their Jewish­ ness is uncompromised; the notion of compromising or apologizing in order to persuade the interest or tolerance of non-Jews is inconceiv­ able in relation to them. The final sections — French, Rus­ sian, Dutch and Czech — with thir­ teen stories, are again wildly uneven. A delightful satire, “Heresy of the W ater Taps” by Jean Richard Bloch and Sh. Ansky’s folk tale, “Moses Montefiore” are outstanding. “Edmee” by Jabotinsky, surprisingly enough, anticipates situations and ironies* so brilliantly exploited recently by Hor­ tense Calisher. All in all then, “Yisroel” is a dis­ appointment, and one which is made all the more acute because the edi­ tor’s practice has lived up neither to his theory nor his title.

It occurred once that a heathen posed this question to Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai: "Both your religion and mine celebrate various holidays on specific days. Is there a day which we celebrate jointly?" "Yes/' said Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, "the day when rain falls from heaven. For it is written:" (After being blessed with rain) 'The. pastures are clothed with flocks, the valleys are covered with com' (Psalm 65:14). "And the succeeding verse states: 'Praise the Lord with joyful sound, all ye lands/" Devorim Rabbah ch. 8

March, 1953

73

TH E SED ER. • • the story of Passover told on a candy box cover by world fam ous artist f

. 'I 'lD S

T h e tradition al a n c ien t sy m b o ls and .cu sto m s o f P a sso v e r b e a u tifu lly illu stra ted in fu ll co lo r o n .t h e m etal co v er. A sso r tm en t o f B a rto n ’s fa m o u s C o n tin en ta l C h o co la te m in ia tu r es— K osh er for P a sso v er. I lb. $ 2.45 2 lb s. $ 4.35

HAIT #

© p

(rimrtyimuVijL

There are 55 B arton’s Continental Chocolate Shops i N ew York, Philadelphia, Detroit, and N ew ark. To order by m ail w r ite : Barton’s, Dept. J. L. 80 DeKalb A ve., Brooklyn 1, N .Y . Add 45c m ailing cost for fir s t lb. and only 10c for each additional lb. to sam e addressee. A ll B arton’s shops and factory are closed on the Sabbath and all Jew ish H oly Days. Open Sunday.

S E N D FO R B A R TO N 'S C O M P L E T E PASSO VER B R O C H U R E

Beech-Nut FOODS A B A B IE S Vegetable Soups, Vegetables, Fruits and Desserts

“ACCEPTED” B e ec h 'N u t high sta n d a rd s o f baby j o o d p ro d u ctio n a n d a ll B e ec h 'N u t ba b y f o o d a d v ertisin g have been ac* cepted b y the C o u n cil on F oods a n d N u tr itio n o f the A m e r ic a n M e d ic a l A ss o c ia tio n . 74

Jewish LIFE

CHAIM WEIZMANN Brooklyn, N. Y. I should like to express my most profound and hearty commendations of your magazine. I find it to be one of the finest and most edifying maga­ zines that I have seen. It was, however, with great con­ sternation that I read your favor­ able appraisal of Dr. Chaim Weizmann in the Kislev 5713 issue. I must assume that the editorial was a “rush^job,” but still I cannot compre­ hend why the editorial was not in harmony with orthodox Jewish con­ victions. In fact, I found the editorial to be somewhat contradictory in essence. You unequivocably stated that “Di­ vine Providence sometimes selects hu­ man instruments to carry out its mis­ sions.” It would* be mere conjecture on my part to say that you probably meant to imply that it is not the per­ son who accomplished the divine mis­ sion, but it is rather Providence which transacts the vital and signi­ ficant function, and that the person is no more than a human instrument

March, 1958

through whom is manifested the wishes of the Almighty. And yet you laud Chaim Weizmann as a man of remarkable achievements, who played a vital and decisive role in the shaping of the Israeli nation. Your praise of Chaim Weizmann gives the impression that he was an august personage whose name should be immortalized. Do you praise him thus for his scientific achievements? Admittedly, he achieved much in the field of chemistry. It may even be admitted that his fame should be per­ petuated because of his scientific achievements |j |j b u t among the ar­ chives of British science and not in J e w is h L if e .

i Is it then for his sagacity that you portray Weizmann as a paragon of Jewish leadership? Is not a leader one who is chosen from among his fellow men because of his ability to guide the vast m ulti­ tudes, he being intrinsically one of them? Does he not serve as a beacon of light for the harassed and the mis­ led? Dr. Chaim JVeizmann failed to

75

L E BO W I T Z

Pine View Hotel Fallsburg 7, N.Y. NEW LY ENLARGED Luxuriously Redecorated New Shul

Open for Passover through Sukkoth Steam-Heated Throughout Entertainment and Sports ‘ Supervision Foi? Children D ieta ry Law s © Supervision and Endorsement

Just Published! THE PASSOVER HAGGADAH nos

¡run

Translated and A nnotated by

Philip Birnbaum This H aggadah consists o f an entirely new translation com bining clarity of style w ith accuracy, and a running com m entary con­ tain ing inform ation derived from a wide range of works. E very e ffo r t has been made to produce an edition g iv in g the ancient te x t renewed force and interest. Excellently illustrated and beautifully, printed, and bound in washable cloth. P rice $2.50 a t all bookstores.

Hebrew Publishing Company, 79 Delancey St., N ew York, N . Y.

76

Jewish LIFE

possess these mandatory prerequi­ sites. As you admitted, “The late Pre­ sident of Israel was not religiously observant in the traditional Jewish sense.” What, may I ask, is the line of de­ marcation between a Jew and a nonJew, if not religion? Chaim Weizmann did not uphold his religion and thereforeuwe cannot consider him as being 01 the people. His lack of iden­ tification inevitably disqualifies him from leadership. Only another editorial or article which would portray Dr. Weizman in light of the magazine’s principles could completely obliterate the wrong done to your readers through that editorial. I was utterly dismayed that you did not make your reader cog­ nizant of .the true nature of Dr. Weizmann. Benjamin Hager

AGUDAH AND CONSCRIPTION OF WOMEN Philadelphia, Pa. T he^ rticle “An Agudist States the Case” which appeared in the JanFeb. issue of J e w i s h L i f e constituted a very informative presentation of the views of Agudath Israel. Discussing the conscription of wo­ men into the Israel Service forces, the article states: “In an official To­ rah ruling handed down by the Moetzeth Gedoley Hatorah and the Chief Rabbinate, the distinguished scholars called the drafting of women a vio­ lation of the Torah laws involving the traditional precepts of Jewish fam ily purity and forbade them to accept the draft.” In discussing Bon-Gurion’s deter-

March, 1953

mination to draft all religious wo­ men for non-military government service the author w rites: “Again the Moetzeth Gedoley Hatorah issued a Psak-din that this new form of non­ military conscription falls under the same category of military service in essence, and is forbidden by Torah law.” What are the Torah sources which lead to the conclusion that non-mili­ tary or even military conscription violates Torah laws? Why does the Agudah Rabbinate state that non­ m ilitary conscription falls under the same category as military service with respect to Torah laws? Cannot a case be made for the view that a serious lack of manpower in an en­ dangered Israel necessitates the con­ scription of women -B at least for, non-military service? Is the word “conscription” the key word — are women allowed to work in shops, factories, war-plants, as secretaries, bookkeepers, al pi Torah. Again let me express my appre­ ciation for your fine article. Moish Goldhirsh

EVALUATION FROM ISRAEL Raanana, Israel In the years that we have been reading J e w i s h L i f e we have found it to be a unique publication present­ ing a truly orthodox approach to Jew­ ish life in terms simple enough for a layman and, at the same time, suffi­ ciently learned to interest “klei kodesh.” The o n ly . complaint we have heard is that there were not more and more of these wonderful articles and stories in each issue. Sidney Bernstein

77

BRI LLO Kosher Household Cleaning Products for over 40 years

©P

W

An Unexcelled White Kosher Soap ALL BRILLO Products Certified Kosher & Parve for Passover and year-round by Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations

A HAPPY PASSOVER 19 5 3

Tel. BEUe Harbor 5-5771 - 1934 - 1834

May this Festival o f Freedom be a joyous season for our m any friends and patrons and for Jew ish people everywhere.

WASHINGTON HOTEL

•

Catering for All Occasions

D u rin g the H o lid a ys E n jo y th e F in e st

SHEFFIELD-SEALTEST KOSHER FOR PASSOVER DAIRY PRODUCTS Certified by Rabbi S. B. Friedm an, N ew York City

SHEFFIELD

DAIRY PRODUCTS 78

O pen A ll Y ea r

Reserve Now for Passover Supervised and Endorsed by U nion o f Orthodox Jew ish C ongregations

Levine Management

124-05 ROCKAWAY BLVD. ROCKAWAY PARK. N. Y. Jew ish L IF E

nos nnasÿ

M ANISCHEW ITZ AMERICA'S FIRST CHOICE IN

MATZOS TO GRACE THE SEDER TABLE

H W i iymb^ii & Vet»

STRICTEST KASHRUTH and FINEST Q lfA U T Y ! /4wJ rem em b er these other fine M a n isch ew itz P a sso ver produ cts: MANICHEWITZ GELFITE FISH • BORSCHT • EGG MATZOS • WHOLE WHEAT MATZOS • MATZO MEAL • CAKE MEAL • POTATO STARCH • MACAROONS • WINE • HONEY • SPONGE CAKE MIX • COFFEE • TEA • HONEY OFRUIT PRESERVES • CANNED FRUITS • JUICES# HORSERADISH • SPICES • FROZENFRESH CHICKENS and others.

America's Exclusive Kosher Hard Cheese made only with our own Kosher natural Rennet

Now Available for Your Convenience 8 oz. Packages Of Eight Slices Richer in Taste — Superior in Quality

KOSHER FOR PASSOVER Under Supervision of Rabbi Dr. J. Breuer Also ask for our SCHMERLING’S kosher imported Swiss Gruyere Cheese and 6 oz. cheese spread in jars SCHNALL PRODUCTS CO., Brooklyn 25, N.Y. PR 2-3615

March, 1953

79

Gleans Silver In Seconds ! KOSHER © PAREVE

If It's Sugar — A s k F or: F lo -S w eet L iq u id Sugar

and H u dson V alley G ranu lated Sugar ALL OUR SUGARS MADE U N D E R

<S> SU P E R V ISIO N and ENDO RSEM EN T.

Be sure to try our 5-lb. packages. • REFINED SYRUPS & SUGARS, INC. Yonkers, New York

The Finest, P urest Kosher Products M ade!

GARBER’S MISROCHI

'BEST FOR PASSOVER!

Kosher Products Pareve Fat : Oil : Honey Kosher Soap: Preserves: Spices .

•

G arber's M isrochi P ro d u cts are c e rtifie d and a p p ro v ed b y the U nion of O rthodox J ew ish C on gregation s of A m erica ,

©P nDStf IPD GARBER EAGLE OIL CORP. 345 Hewes Street, Brooklyn, N.Y.

80

and Gold's Borsht

Jewish LIFE

UNION OF ORTHODOX JEW ISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA 305 BROADWAY

NEW YORK 7, NY. (Use Order Form on Back Page)

BEekman 3-2220 MARCH, 1953

Periodicals JEWISH LIFE

Our famed national magazine. Published bi-monthly.

Subscription................. one year $1.75 three years 4.00 JEWISH LIFE IN BOUND VOLUMES Contains full year's complete issues ............... 3.50 P'RAKIM Monthly program and m aterials guide for rabbis, group leaders and men's, women's and youth . groups. Yearly Subscription ...............3.00 P'RAKIM — available back issuesS f l l l -.each .25

Pamphlets and Materials Number 1

Price BAR MITZVAH CERTIFICATES. Beautifully illustrated, impressive scrolls- for perm anent keeping. Simulated parchment. five for 1.00

each .25 2

3

4

5

6

BAR MITZVAH FOR BOYHOOD, YOUTH AND MAN­ HOOD. B. H. Pereira Mendes. A recognized, classic. Gives not only a complete summary of practical infor^ motion but profuse and fascinating background material. 89' pages, cloth binding, gold stafriped. .50 BINDERS. Suitable for perm anent file of JEWISH LIFE m agazine issues and UOJC pamphlets. 544 x 9"- Dur­ able imitation leather space for 25 booklets or ten copies of JEWISH LIFE. .50 BRITH OR SURGERY. Circumcision explained from the orthodox viewpoint. .10 Bulk Orders For © member cong. .07 BUILDING FUND MANUAL. Booklet outlining tech­ niques and practices in modern building fund cam ­ paigns. 24 pages, mimeographed. 1 .25 ESSENTIALS OF JUDAISM. By Rabbi Leo Jung. A lucid synopsis of basic Jewish beliefs and concepts addressed to the understanding of the present-day American Jew. 28 pages, paper cover. -20 Bulk Orders for © member, cong. .10

March, 1953

81

Happy

Pesach o

GARTENBERG & SCHECH TER HOTEL EDWARD

■

Collins Ave. & Tenth St., Miami Beach, Fla.

MATZOH

PIONEER COUNTRY CLUB Greenfield Park, N.Y.

O

w ith the taite

OPPORTUNITIES

W

| famous since 1884

For High School Graduates T earn to take care of others

nosn

PASSOVER 82

and you’ll always take care of yourself. Professional Nurs­ ing offers one of the most re­ warding careers any young woman can have! As a Student Nurse, you receive one of the finest professional educations. Then as a graduate nurse, al­ most unlimited opportunities to follow your career. Plus an assured income, security, and invaluable train in g to help make you a better wife and mother. Enroll now as a Stu­ dent Nurse. See the Director of Nurses in your local hospi­ tal or your School Guidance Counselor.

Jewish LIFE

— UOJC PUBLICATIONS — Number 7

8

9

10

11

12 13

14

.

Price

FAMILY RECORD FORMS. Provides for all necessary information on synagogue members and their families. A necessity for the properly equipped congregation. .021/2 $2.00 per 100 CHANUKAH FESTIVALS A 15 pages, illustrated cover .10 @ member cong. .07 THE HIGH HOLY DAYS B 16 pages, illustrated cover .10 © member cong. .07 C PASSOVER 7 pages, illustrated cover .10 ® member cong. , .07 D PURIM 7 pages, illustrated cover .10 (0) member cong. .07 E SUCCOT 16 pages, illustrated cover .10 © member cong. .07 F SHAVUOT 12 pages, illustrated cover .10 © member cong. .07 These booklets present the story and significance of the holidays in colorful, informative manner. • THE JEWISH ALL-DAY SCHOOL. An open letter to Jewish "parents. 10 pages, paper cover, illustrated. .15 © member cong. .10 JUDAISM IN JEWISH HISTORY. A succinct interpretation of the story of our people. 20 pages, paper cover. .10 © member cong. .07 KASHRUTH DIRECTORY. Listing of Kosher commodities and establishm ents under the official ® supervision and endorsem ent of UOJCA. Free Postage must be prepaid on bulk Shipments. MARRIAGE AND THE HOME. A Jewish guide for marital happiness. 66 pages, paper cover. .50 THE MEN'S CLUB.. An outline on club organization and activity. 8 pages, paper cover. .10 © member cong. .07 MIXED PEWS. A forthright, authoritative and compelling elucidation of a much-misunderstood question. 12 pages, p aper cover. .10 © member cong. .07

March, 1953

83

"Your Party Today •— The Talk of Tomorrow" W eddings — C onfirm ations — D ances Conventions — Theatricals

o

*

HOTEL RIVERSIDE PLAZA 253 West 73rd Street, N.Y.C. SU squehanna 7-30Q0

, Best Wishes For A Happy Passover

Lou G. Siegel, Inc. America*8 Largest Kosher Restaurant

•

LOUIS T. ROSENBAUM ,

209 W est 38th Street

Banquet Manager

New York, N.Y. Wisconsin 7-1262

KOSJ-IER FOR PASSOVER G O O D M A N ' S Delicious Matzos and Matzo Products Baked under Supervision of

Rabbi Mendel Chodrow

•i This Kosher establishm ent is sanctioned by members o f th e U nion o f Orthodox Rabbis of the U nited States and Canada and is tinder the constant 'personal supervision of Rabbi H. H. Orenstein.

Hotel Diplomat K o sh er K itch en is under the supervision of

ENHANCE PASSOVER MEALS!I

BREAKSTONE'S

Hotel Diplomat can accommodate

CREAM CHEESE COTTAGE CHEESE FARMER CHEESE SWEET BUTTER SOUR CREAM

from 50 to 1,000 people.

KOSHER FOR PASSOVER

Rabbi Abraham Reichlin

A n d th e E n tire Y e a r

J. Edward Saltzman,

Look for tiie name

owner and caterer

108 W est 43rd St., N ew York

On every product

Telephone: BRyant 9-2487 - 8 - 9

84

Jewish LIFE

— UOJC PUBLICATIONS — Number 15

16

17 18

.

Price

MODERNITY AND MITZVOT. Explains m eaning and importance, of H alachah or Jewish law in Judaism. 8 pages, paper cover. ^ .10 © member cong. .07 THE TORAH'S METHOD OF PRAYER. A practical an d in­ spiring guide; explains the significance of Talith and Tephillin.16 pages, paper cover. .10 © member cong. .07 YES, I KEEP KOSHER. Attractive, one-page leaflet on the woman's view of Kashruth. .01 YISGADAL VEYISKADASH. By Rabbi Leo Jung. Brings home the true significance of the Kaddish. 8 pages, paper cover. .10 © member cong. .05

Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America. 305 'Broadway New York 7, N.Y. I would like you to send me the checked publications. Q Bill Me I have Enclosed $.

...;...........JEWISH LIFE □ Igyear

□ 3 years

.............. 1 ......... ....7 13 ...... ...... 2 ....... .... 8 ............ 14 ............3 ....... ....9 . 15

............4 ....... ... 10

16 17 18

..............5 .......... 11 .............. 6 ......... ... 12

... eT..... P'RAKIM Name _____________1______ A ddress..............................1........................... ... City ............... Zone ... Orders under $2.00 must be prepaid.

... State

Add Postage to Billed Orders.

To Brighten Your Sed erT a b le.. Jphoose your traditional Seder objects from bur beautiful collection of tableware and religious objects.

M.

WOLOZIN,

INC.

House of a Thousand Traditional Hebrew Gifts

38 ELDRIDGE ST., N. Y. 2 March, 1953

85

Enjoy Nature's own s w e e t ...

. and most assuredly for PASSOVER only the best is good enough!

luscious Dromedary Dates! This seal on all Dromedary products is ydur guarantee that they are strictly kosher

\

. . . they're pasteurized! nos? . Certified by the noted Rabbis,

Rabbi M. M. Hochstein and Rabbi Isaac Siegel

Best w ishes fo r a

MANISCHEWITZ The Traditional

oyous Passover

KOSHER WINE

' PRODUCED AND BOTTLED DY MONARCH WINE COMPANY, INC. DOSH TERMINAL, BROOKLYN, N. Y.

Great in Vienna , . . Greater 5 in New York

Loft Candy shops $

Strictly

to serve you

ntso RESTAURANT - CATERING

with Candy gifts

HOTEL MILBURN 242 W. 76 St., N.Y.O. Tel. TR. 4-2399

Serving Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner All Week of Passover. Seder Reservations now accepted E xclusive Caterers at SH E L T O N HOTEL

Schreiber meals served on request by leading international airlines.

86

are always ready

of good taste.

$ 10FT CHOCOLATES• AS FINE AS YOU CAN GIVE

Jewish LIFE

W O U L D

YOU

LIKE

TO

EAT

T R E F A ?

Certainly not but to wear Shatnes i.e. a mixture of wool and linen, is the same transgression of the Torah. The following firms have pledged that they will not assure that garments are Non Shatnes unless the Shatnes Laboratory has removed, FREE, all linen found and attached this label. Atlantic Clothing Co. — 1 Allen St. B. Gordon M 11 Allen St., N.Y.C. Crawford Clothes See Tel. Book Three "B" Clothes — 80 Delancey St., N.Y.C.

J. M. Klein — <118 Stanton St,? N.Y.C. Litt Chinitz, Inc. — 85 5th Ave., NYY.C-. C. Goldsuit — 145 Stanton St., N .Y ^;|y Maxi’s Clothes — 385 B'way, B ’klyn.

SHATNES LABORATORY OF TORAH UMIZVOTH 110 LEE AVENUE, BROOKLYN — EVERGREEN 7-8520 Immediate Testing Monday 8 P.M. to 10 P.M. or phone for an appointment.

March, 1953

87

U N I O N OF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF A M E R I C A

Kosher commodities and establishments under official © supervision and en­ dorsement.

KASHRUTH DIRECTORY Issu ed N iso n , 5713 — A p r il, 1953

LOOK FOR THE (Q) SEAL - A N D BE SURE!

The © seal is your guarantee of coinmunallyresponsible Kashruth supervision and endorsement, conducted as a public service by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America—UOJC. All items in this Directory are ©, receive the con­ stant inspection of and are passed upon by the Rabbinical Council of America, Rabbinic body of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations. CONSUMERS ARE CAUTIONED TO: • Make sure that the © seal is on the label of every food product. • Make sure that the seal shown on the label is the © — beware of imitations! • Read carefully the list of ingredients of each @ product to ascertain whether it is a meat or dairy product. The © does not necessarily mean that the product is Pareve. lea se n o te

th a t th è

©

se a l o f K a s h r u th

su p e r v is io n a n d

e n d o rs e m e n t

is e x c lu s iv e ly th e s y m b o l o f:

Union of Orthodox *Jewish Congregations of America 305 Broadway, New York 7, N.Y, BEekman 3-2220 88

Jewish LIFE

UOJC KASHRUTH DIRECTORY All item s listed below bear the (0) seal. Item s listed (0)P are Kosher for Passover when bearing this or other UOJCA Passover Hechsher on label. Item s listed O are Kosher for Passover w ithout Passover Hechsher on label. * Indicates new (y) endorsement.

©

©

FFV — with © label only {S o u th e rn B is c u it C o., R ic h m o n d , V a .; d i s tr ib u te d b y M u tu a l B is c u it Co., N .Y .C .)

Coconut Macaroons Lemon Thins Orange Thins Vanilla Thins Chocolate Pecan Cookies Tea Rings (foil package) Short Bread (foil package)

Baby Foods Heinz — with <g) label only { H . J . H e in z Co., P itts b u r g h , P a .)

Strained Food Orange Juice Junior Food Cereal Chopped Mixed Vegetables Puddings (Butterscotch, Chocolate, Vanilla, Banana Custard, Banana Tapioca) Beech-Nut — with (0) label only

Cake Mixes Blair’s Ezy Angel Mix (contains milk) { B la ir M illin g Co., A tc h is o n , Kan.)

{ B e e c h -N u t P a c k in g Co., N .Y .C .)

Strained Food Junior Food

Dromedary

Cereal

{T h e H ills B r o th e r s C o , N .Y .O .)

Van Camp’s — with <0) label only

Date Muffin Mix Devil’s Food Mix Fudge Frosting Mix (above contain milk) Corn Bread Mix Corn Muffin Mix Cup Cake Mix Fruit Cake Mix Gingerbread Mix White Cake Mix Golden Mix Pancake Flour Mix Waffle Flour Mix

{ S to k e ly V a n -C a m p )

{G o td e n M ix In c., C h icago, III.)

Baked Beans Heinz Oven Baked Beans with mo­ lasses sauce Heinz Oven Baked Beans in tomato sauce ( H . J . H e in z C o .)

Camps I for

Cakes, Cookies and Crackers

{G le n S p e y , N .Y . — N .Y . o ffic e 4320 B e d f o r d A v e n u e B r o o k ly n , N .Y .)

{B a r to n 's , In c., B r o o k ly n , N . Y .)

Dromedary {T h e H ills B r o th e r s Co., N .Y .C .)

.Chocolate Nut Roll Date Nut Roll Orange Nut Roll (above contain milk) Golden Cracknel Egg Biscuits

childre

Camp Mohaph

^Barton’s <4

Candy ©P

Barton’s {B a r to n ’8, In c., B ro o k ly n , N . Y . )

Cereals Skinner’s

{G o ld e n C ra c k n e l & S p e c . Co. D e t r o i t )

{S k in n e r M fg . Co., O m aha, N e b .)

Ry-Krisp (R a ls to n -P u r in a , S t. L o u is, Mo.)

Raisin-Bran •>-. Raisin-Wheat

March, 1953

89

UOJC KASHRUTH DIRECTORY All item s listed below bear the © seal. “ Item s listed © P are Kosher for Passover tw hen bearing this or other UOJCA Passover H echsher on label. Item s listed • are Kosher for Passover w ithout Passover Hechsher on label. * Indicates new © endorsement.

Condiments

Fish Products

Dromedary Cranberry Sauce (The H ills Brothers Co., N .Y .C .)

©P Gold’s Horseradish (Gold Pure Foods , B ’klyn, N .Y .) Heinz (H . J. H einz Co.)

Horse Eadish 57 Sauce Chili Sauce Hot Dog Eelish Worcestershire-Sauce Ketchup Pride of the Farm Catsup ( H unt Food Prod., Bridgeton, N .J.)

Convalescent Homes

Dayton Nursing Home (1884 Marmion A ve. Bronx, N .Y .)

Dishwashing Machine Detergents Spic & Span (P rocter & Gamble)

Eoyal Snack (S. A . H aram Co., N>Y.C.)

Cream Herring Matjes Fillets Spiced Herring Lunch Herring Herring Cocktail Tidbits Salmon (in wine sauce) Mother’s Old Fashioned (M oth ers Food Prod., N ew ark , N .J.) © P Geiilte Fish Sweet & Sour Fish Breast O’Chicken Tuna (W estgate—Sun H arbor Co., San Diego, Cal.)

Flavorings Westag Lemon Westag Vanilla (Table Prod. Co.; Safew ay)

Food Packages @P Care (20 B road St., N .Y.C .)

Dressings

Food Freezer Plan

Cascade Salad Dressing Duchess Salad Dressing Nu Made Mayonnaise Piedmont Mayonnaise

*Yitzchok Goldberg & Sons (N ew York, N .Y .)

(Table Prod. Co., San Francisco Cal.; distributed through Safeway Stores)

*Sam Katz’s Quality "Kosher Food Plan (Brooklyn, N. Y.)

Garber’s Misrochi Salad Dressing (Garber’s Eagle Oil Corp., B ’klyn.)

Heinz (H . J. Heinz Go.)

Frozen Foods

Extracts and Flavors © P Plymouth

Rapoport’s Blintzes

(Plym outh E xtracts, N .Y .)

Extracts Emulsions 90

Flavors Toppings

Inc.,

Corona,

(Fam ily Frozen Food Prod., B ’klyn, N .Y .)

Cheese Potato Veg. Steak with Protose

Jewish LIFE

UOJC KASHRUTH DIRECTORY

D

A ll item s listed below bear the © seal. Item s listed © P are Kosher for Passover when bearing this or other UOJC A Passover H echsher on label. Item s listed • are Kosher fo r Passover w ithout Passover H echsher on label. * Indicates new © endorsement.

Frozen Foods leont'dl Milady Pood Products ( B ’k ly n , N . Y . )

Blintzes (blueberry, cherry, cheese, potato) Waffles

Fruit — (Dried— bulk only) ©P

California Packing Corp. (S a n F r a n c is c o , C a l.)

Fruits — l Packaged) Dromedary (T h e H ills B r o th e r s Go., N .Y .C .)

Dates Cranberry Sauce Fruits and Peels Moist Coconut Shredded Coconut

Golden Fleece Pot Cleaner ( M e ta l T e x tile C o rp ., R o se lle , N .J .)

My Pal ( P a l P r o d u c ts Co., B ro o k ly n , N .Y .)

Procter and Gamble Detergents (C in c in n a ti, O h io )

• Cheer • Dreft Joy ® Spic & Span • Tide • Sprite '♦ (S in c la ir M fg ., Swerl ( A llie d C hem .

T o le d o , O h io)

& B y e C o rp ., N .Y .C .)

Steel-0 ( V .S .B . In c., B r o o k ly n , N .Y .)

Honey ©P Garber’s Misrochi ( G a r b e r E a g le O il C o rp ♦)

lee Cream Costa’s French Ice Cream (C osta*s Ic e C re a m W o o d b r id g e N .J .)

Jelly Heinz

Household Cleansers (S e e a lso S c o u r in g P o w d e r s )

©P Brillo Products ( B r illo M fg . C o., W k ly n , N .Y : )

Cameo Copper Cleaner (C a m eo C o rp ., C h icago, 111.)

Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Detergents ( J e r s e y C ity , N .J .)

• • • •

Arctic Syntex M. beads (bulk only) Fab Kirkman Detergent Vel Felso (F e ls & C o., P h ila d e lp h ia , Pa.) Glim (B. T . B a b b it In c., N e w Y o r k , N .Y .)

March, 1953

( H . J . H e in z C o .)

Margarine

Crystal Brand (milchig) (L . D a itc h & Go., N .Y .C .; m a n u fa c ­ tu r e d b y M ia m i M a rg a rin e Go:)

♦Mar-Parv (pareve) Nu-Maid (milchig) Table-King (milchig) (M ia m i O h io )

M a r g a rin e

Co.,

C in cin n ati,

♦Mother’s (milchig) ( M o t h e r ’s F o o d P r o d u c t s )

Meat — Canned GG Brand (K o s h e r M e a t P a c k in g C o .f W in n i­ p e g , M an ., C a n a d a ; B e n ja m in W in ­ k ler, B r o o k ly n , N . Y ., D is tr ib u to r s

Beef in Gravy

91

UOJC KASHRUTH DIRECTORY All item s listed below bear the (y) seal. Items listed (y)P are Kosher fo r Passover when bearing this or other UOJCA Passover H echsher on label. Item s listed • are Kosher for Passover w ithout Passover ^ H e c h s h e r on label. * Indicates new (y) endorsement.

Meat — Canned (eont'dl

Peanut Butter

Beef Luncheon Meat Beef in Natural Juices Corned Beef Loaf Salami Veal in Natural Juices

Beech-Nut . (Beech-Nut Packing Co.) Beverly (Table Prod. Co.; Safeway)

Heinz (H . J. Heinz Co.)

Meats and Provisions

Planters

*Yitzchok Goldberg’s (I. Goldberg & Sons, 220 Delaney St.,

(Planters N u t & Chocolate Co., W ilkes Barre, Pa.)

N .Y .C .)

Meats (u)P Corned Beef <u)P Tongue Pastrami GG Brand •

Beal Boast

• Frozen Meats <u)P Salami <u)P Frankfurters

(Table Prod. Co.; Safeway)

( Kosher Meat Packing Co.)

• Salami Oxford

Poultry — Frozen

(Oxford Provisions, Brooklyn, N .Y .)

•

Yitzchok Goldberg & Sons

Corned Beef Pastrami

•

Mahtov Brand

•

Menorah Farms

Tongue

Meat Tenderizer Adolph’s (Adolph’s Food Products, Burbank, Cal.)

Mustard Heinz

(N ew York, N .Y .) (Mahtov Products, Inc., B ’klyn, N .Y .) (Menorah Mass.)

Products,

Inc.,

Boston,

Prepared Foods Kosher-Pak Sandwiches (488 A lbany Ave., B ’klyn, N .Y .)

(If. J . Heinz Co.) ,

Noodles & Macaroni Products Skinner’s (Skinner M fg. Co., Omaha, Neb.)

Fgg Noodles Macaroni Spaghetti Vermicelli

Relishes, Pickles, etc.

Oil — Peanut

H. W. Madison Co.

© P Garber’s Misrochi

Mother’s

(Garber Eagle Oil Corp.)

Oven Cleaner Easy-Off (The W olcott Co., H artford, Conn.)

92

Heinz

If

(H . J. Heinz Go.) (Medina, Ohio) (Mother’s Food Prod.)

Pickles" (y)P Sauerkraut Mount Olive Pickle Co. (M t. Olive, N.C.)

Jewish LIFE

UOJC KASHRUTH DIRECTORY All item s listed below bear th e @ seal. Item s listed © P are Kosher for Passover when bearing this or other UOJC A Passover H echsher on label. Item s listed • are Kosher fo r Passover w ithout Passover H echsher on label.

m

©

• New Octagon Cleanser • Garber’s Misrochi Cleanser (Garber Eagle Oil Co., N ew York)

Kitchen Klenzer

Resorts Perry House ( Bethlehem, N .H .) © P Pine View Hotel (Fallsburg, N .Y .)

© P Strath Haven Hotel (Miami Beach, Fla.)

© P Washington Hotel (Rockaw ay Park, N .Y .)

(F itzpatrick Bros., Chicago, III.)

• Old Dutch Cleanser (Cudahy Packing Co., Omaha N eb.)

Pal Products Co. Products (Brooklyn, N .Y .) • Lustro Polishing Powder My Pal • Palco Polish Powder Pal-Lo

Salt • Mögen David Kosher Salt (Carey Salt Co., Hutchinson, Kansas)

Morton Salt Co. Prodiicts (Chicago, III.)

• Morton Coarse Kosher Salt • Morton Fine Table Salt • Morton Iodized Salt International Salt Co. Products (Scranton, Pa.)

• Red Cross Fine Table Salt • Sterling Fine Table Salt • Sterling Kosher Coarse Salt

Sandwich Spread Lunch Box (Table Prod. Co.; Safew ay)

Shortening Durkee Vegetable Shortening (bulk only) (Durkee Famous Foods, N .Y .)

© P Garber’s Misrochi Pareve Fat (Garber Eagle Oil Co.)

Humko (The Humko Co., Memphis, Tenn.)

© P Nut-Ola Vegetable Shortening (Nut-O la F at Prod., Brooklyn, N .Y .)

Silver Cleaner ^Instant Liquid Dip Silver Cleaner (Lewal Industries, N.Y.C.)

Soap Scouring Powder (See also Household Cleansers)

B. T. Babbit Co. Products Bab-o Babbitt's Cleanser Cameo Cleanser (Cameo Corp.)

Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Co. Products • Ajax Ben Hur (bulk only) • Kirkman Cleanser

March, 1953

*Nutola Kosher Soap (N utola F a t Products)

Soups Gold’s (Gold Pure Food Prod., B'klyn, N .Y .)

©P Borscht Russel Schav Heinz (H . J. Heinz Co.)

Cream of Mushroom

93

U O JC KASHRUTH DIRECTORY

©

All item s listed below bear the © seal. Items listed © P are Kosher for Passover Tfrhen bearing this or other UOJCA Passover Hechsher on label. Item s listed • are Kosher fo r Passover w ithout Passover H echsher on label. * Indicates new (© endorsement.

Soups

l co n t.I

Heinz Condensed Cream of Mushroom Condensed Cream of Green Pea Condensed Gumbo Creole Condensed Cream of Tomato Condensed Vegetarian Vegetable Tomato Creamed Green Vegetable Mothers (Mother's Food Prod.) © P Borscht Cream Style Borscht Cream Style Schav Mushroom and Barley

Soup Mix *Joyce Egg Noodle Soup Mix {Joyce Food Products, Paterson, N .J.)

*Nutola Chicken Noodle Soup Mix *Nutola Noodle Soup Mix (Nutola F at Products Co.,

Spaghetti Sauce Skinner’s {Skinner M fg. Co., Omaha, N eb.)

Spices © P Garber’s Misrochi {Oarber Eagle Oil Co.)

© P Gentry Paprika { G e n tr y , In c., L o s A n g e le s , C a l.)

■

Tomato Juice Heinz

(H . J. Heinz Co.)

Tzitzith W O O LEN

M. Wolozin & Co. R A Y O N , FO R R A Y O N T A L E Y T H IM

Leon Vogel (66 Allen St., N .Y .C .) M. Wolozin & Co. (36 Eldridge St., N .Y .C .) ¿ion Tallis Co. (48 E ldridge S t, N .Y.C .)

Vegetables Dromedary Pimientos {The Tlills Brothers Co., N .Y.C.)

Vegetables — Dehydrated (bulk onlyI ©P Basic Vegetable Prod. (San Francisco, Cal.)

©P Gentry, Inc. (Los Angeles, Calif.)

Vegetable Oil © P Nutola (Nutola F at Products Co.)

Vinegar ©P Garber’s Misrochi (Garber Eagle Oil Co.)

Sugar @P Flo-Sweet Liquid Sugar © P Hudson Valley Befined Granulated Sugar (Refined Syrups & Sugars, Inc.) (Yonkers, N .Y .)

Syrup Sleepy Hollow {Table Prod. Co,; Safeway)

94

Heinz (H . J. Heinz Co.) Cider Malt Tarragon White Bex Amber ' Old Mill (Table Prod. Co.)

Wine © P Hersh’s Kosher Wines (Hungarian Grape Products, Inc., N .Y .)

Jewish LIFE

REFRESHING,

FLAVORFUL

..DELICIOUS!

C LEA N S O V EN G R E A S E L IK E M A G IC !

Prepared under Rabbinical Su­ pervision, in America's most modern Ice Cream Plant

No Scraping! No Steel Wool! No Razor Blades! No Ammonia!

O nly 6 9

GET

Economy S i z e 9 8 ^

ft m

S

ICE CREAM

FOR FINEST QUALITY

w cm ”

MILADY'S...®

H ER R IN G

MILADY'S...®

IN

WINE SAUCE Fancy tidbits of imported her­ ring, skinless and boneless, soaked in delicious wine sauce.

KOSHER-PARAVE Only R o y a l S n a c k fish appe­ tizers have this famous © seal of kashruth and quality. Ask your grocer I S. A. Haram & Co. New York 13

March, 1953

Ssta

C h eese B lin tzes C h erry B lin tze s B lu eb erry B lin tzes P otato B lin tze s S tra w b erry w ith C h eese B lin tze s P otato Pancakes P otato Pirogen C orn F ritte rs W affles A ll Kosher ©

A t all Stores Carrying Frozen Foods MILADY Food Products, Inc.

2699 Nostrand Ave., B’klyn, N.Y. 95

FOR PASSOVER YOU NEED

ROKEACH These high-quality foods are a tradition. You just can’t buy better Passover foods. . . there’s no substitute for the true, old-fashioned flavor and wholesome goodness only ROKEACH offers.

Î1D85 H YOUR

FRIENDLY

ROKEACH

HONEY ROKEACH

NYAFAT ROKEACH

PEANUT OIL

A. & P.

SUPER MARKETS and FOOD STORES

Extend Best Wishes of the Season

96

Jewish LIFE

AND: PARVE WORK AND TIME SAVERS! V E L makes dishes shine without washing or wiping! Vel soaks dishes clean. Don’t wash, just soak; dbn’t wipe, just rinse. And the hand test proves there’s no “Detergent Burn” to hands with VEL. It’s marVELous!

A J A X Cleanser ff with “ Foam ing Action Foams as it cleans all types of tile, porcelain surfaces, pots and pans. . . up to twice as easy, twice as fasti Floats dirt and grease right down the drain!

F A B washes clothes whiter without a bleach Whiter than any other product with a bleach in the wash water. Saves work, saves hands. Washable colors look brighter, too. Also wonderful for dishes. ALL OF THESE FINE PRODUCTS BEAR THE SEAL OF APPROVAL OF THE UNION OF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA

COLGATE-PALMOLIVE»PEET COMPANY

HEINZ ARE

© F O O D S

NOT

FOR

KOSHER

PASSOVER

The (g) on the Heinz labels means “Kosher”. . . all year ’round, but not for Passover. It is the “hechscher” seal of t h e u n io n o f o r th o d o x JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA. It does n o t apply to Passover. Don’t make a mistake! Let this announcement set you straight!

H. J. H E IN Z C O M P A N Y PITTSBURGH. PENNSYLVANIA

MAKERS

OF

THE

VARIETIES