Jewish Life October 1954

Missions and Missionaries In Israel —P Halevy-Levin

Should Jewry Reinstate Spinoza?

Master In Metal Paperback Revolution Why Jewish Symbolism?

BOOKS RECORDS LETTERS

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UNION OF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA Announces Its

NATIONAL CONVENTION ON

NOVEMBER 11 - 14, 1954 15 - 18 CH ESH VA N , 5715 AT

BREAKERS HOTEL ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY Assembling Under the Theme "THREE HUNDRED YEARS OF O RTH O DO X PROGRESS IN A M E R IC A " 1654 - 1954

5415 - 5715

The National Convention, marking th# 300th anniversary of the establishment of orthodox Judaism in America, will map a positive program of religious action for the American Jew of today and tomorrow Guests and Visitors Are Invited to A ttend Public Sessions Detailed Information May Be Obtained on Request m

Union Of Orthodox Jewish Congregations Of America 305 BROADWAY, NEW YORK 7, N.Y.

• EDITORIALS S aul

B ernstein ,

THROUGH THREE C E N T U R I E S , • 3 STOP ARMING THE AGGRESSOR...,™.-! 4 BINGO AND RELIGION 4

Editor

M. Morton H ubenstein D r. E ric Offenbacher R euben Gross R abbi S. J . S harfm an

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Assistant Editor Cover by P au l H ausdorff

Inside Illustration by N orman N odel

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• ARTICLES PERMANENT VALUES IN JEWISH SYMBOUSMJjHRLj<p£____ 6 Israel Abrahams MISSIONS AND MISSIONARIES IN ISRAEL__ 11 I. Halevy-Levin READING FOR THE MILLIONS 20 Harold U. Ribalow SHOLOM LOCH YERUSHOLAYIM „4 25 Abraham Stern THE APOCRYPHA__ 31 Eliezer Ebner SPINOZA'S CHRISTIAN BIAS..J...L‘ii^.......-.; 35 Jacob Chinitz DOES HE YET 42 Jacob Rassan as told to Arnold J. Miller / A MODERN BEZALEL......S^E j,....Uv'1__ 46 Alfred Werner . / COMMANDMENTS FOR JEWISH r EDUCATORS AND PARENTS...53 Joseph Kaminetsky

• POEM PSALM FOR ATOMIC AGE....jJL.:...:i;jS Louis Eisenmayer

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• 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, Honorary P residents; Benja­ min Koenigsberg, Benjamin Mandelker, M. Morton Rubenstein, Vice - Presidents ; Joseph Schlang, Secretary, N. Kenneth Gross, Treasurer; Saul Bernstein, Adm inistrator

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CHARTING THE SEA OF THE TALMUD.....: 59 ^Vryeh Jlewman AN AGUDAH SPOKESMAN AT THE U.N. 65 Henry Siegman

• ON THE JEW ISH RECORD • FEATURES

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AMONG OUR CONTRIBUTORS..,..™..,^^..... 2 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR................................ 77

» SERVICES UOJCA PUBLICATIONS...... . ......... 82' KASHRUTH DIRECTORY...B H B B W W I 88

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OutContribute

RABBI JACOB CHINITZ, spiritual leader of Congregation Ahavas Achim in Detroit, Michigan, is an alumnus of Mesifta Torah Vodaath, Yeshiva University and Columbia University. He is a lecturer in the Synagogue Adult Institute of Detroit. *

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ARNOLD MILLER, a practicing attorney in Worcester, Mass., is president of the Young Israel of Worcester. *

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PROF. ISRAEL ABRAHAMS, Chief Rabbi of Capetown, South Africa, and Profesor of Hebrew at the University of Capetown, has contributed several outstanding articles to JEWISH L if e during recent years.

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DR. JOSEPH KAMINETSKY is director of Torah Umesorah and editor of

The Jewish Parent. *

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/ RABBI ELIEZER EBNER is the Rav of Brothers of Israel of Long Branch, N. J. He studied at Yeshivath .Mir in Poland and Petach Tikvah in Israel and received his Doctorate degree in the Department of Jewish Education at Dropsie College.

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DR. ALFRED WERNER, especially familiar to JEWISH L if e readers for his articles on the fine arts, has edited numerous volumes including the "Little Art Book" series and a portfolio on Utrillo. *

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HAROLD U. RIBALOW, anthologist, author and sports columnist, is a popular contributor to periodicals dealing with Jewish and general subjects. *

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ABRAHAM STERN, who is professionally engaged in orthodox youth work, has travelled extensively throughout the United States, Mexico and Israel.

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Jewish LIFE

EDITORIALS TH RO U G H THREE CENTURIES TUST 300 years ago, twenty-three men, women and children arrived ^ in a town, then called New Amsterdam, to establish the first Jewish settlement in North America. Historical records of these pioneers are scant, but yet they have left a record that is imperishable. They brought to this land the Torah. They implanted the faith of Israel in the soil of the New World, an enduring vine which flourishes to this day.

Immediately upon their arrival — shortly before Rosh Hashonah, 5415 — the pioneer band established themselves as a congregation m Shearith Israel, the Remnant of Israel. Thus they attested their pur­ pose. The founders of American Jewry strove not merely for the right to live but for the right to live, and to perpetuate, a Jewish life. For­ bidden, at first and for many succeeding years, to establish a house of worship, they nonetheless could not be deterred from offering to the Almighty the Service of Israel; Through seventy-five years the settlers and their descendants continuously maintained congregational worship in their own homes. And, as a living congregation, Shearith Israel sustained observance of the mitzvoth and fidelity to Torah among its members amidst all the rigors of frontier life. It is upon this conse­ crated foundation, rather than the attainment of civic rights, that American Jewry stands. *J"HE JEWS of America and our brethren throughout the world are now celebrating, as the American Jewish Tercentenary, the 300th anniversary of Shearith Israel, New York's Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue. Particularly as we approach the Yomim A Noroim do Jewish thoughts today go back to that Triumph Rosh Hashonah of three centuries ago, the first Rosh For Hashonah of the first American Jewish congregation.

Faith How great might have seemed the odds against their surviving to another Rosh Hashonah, how overwhelm­ ing the obstacles against them, against all that they represented. But adverse odds and loomipg obstacles count for little to those whose faith in the G-d of Israel is unshakable. The pioneer settlers had been tried in the cauldron of persecution, and were strengthened and purified by their sufferings. Their prayers, uttered by humble and contrite and yet courageous hearts, were heard./ Through their Jewish faith, they won peace, security and dignity for themselves and for those who came after.

Through the doubts, hesitations and fears of these troubled times a beacon shines to us from the past, a light kindled when America was Sept. - Oct/, 1954

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young. May we be guided by this Tight; may we inherit the faith and valor of the pioneers of 1654; may their spirit be transmitted, through us, to the generations to come.

STOP A R M IN G THE A G G R E SSO R ^ H E unilateral arming of the Arab states by the United States and Britain has clearly evoked an adverse reaction among wide elements of American public opinion. It is apparent that few, outside State Department circles, are convinced that this policy, undermining Middle East equilibrium and threatening further the security of Israel, will contribute to the defense of the Western world.

That there is need to build up a rampart of defense in the Middle East against the Soviet threat needs no exposition. But stability within the area involved is a prerequisite to a sound defensive structure. In the face of unremitting Arab enmity and aggression towards Israel, a State Department spokesman has declared: “We fail to find evidence that any Arab state is desirous or capable of sustaining an aggressive move against Israel.” Such self-delusion threatens dire consequences.

Each passing day spells out more clearly the urgency of establishing peace between Israel and her Arab neighbors.

The rising tide of American public opinion will, it is earnestly to be hoped, induce the abandonment of an illusory policy in favor of one which will more truly serve the interests of the Arab nations and of the world at large.

B IN G O A N D RELIG IO N CH ALL religious institutions in America be maintained through gambling?

This is the question, stripped of all trappings, which has been raised by the “insubordinate” act of a Brooklyn police official who insisted upon enforcement in his jurisdiction of the New York State laws against gambling. And behind that question lies another, yet more forbidding: shall American religious institutions serve as hatcheries for the giant American gambling industry?

Within past years an increasing number of religious institutions have adopted “bingo* games,” with money “prizes,” as a means to secure a regular flow of income. Well-advertised and conducted on regular and frequent schedules these bingo sessions take on the character of com­ mercialized gambling, for no element of skill is involved and the appeal is purely to the gambling instinct rather than to the desire for recreation.

The problem of religiously-sponsored bingo-gambling is by no means confined to the state of New York, Over the years, it has been fought, with varying legal results, in most states. Among some religious de4

Jewish LIFE

nominations, bingo, legal or illegal, is tolerated while in others it is frowned upon or strenuously opposed. There can be no doubt of the Jewish position on the question: The employment of religious auspices or religious premises for the operation of gambling enterprises is a chillul Hashem, a desecration and perversion of religious life.

DELIGIOUS Jews are not impressed by the rationalization, frequently offered, that the end, the maintenance of religious undertakings which might otherwise lack support, justifies the means. One can vis­ ualize that line of thought easily leading to activities T reacherous that are strange indeed. Nor can there be accepted Logic the extenuation that “people are going to gamble anyway — you can’t stop them, so better have them gamble under religious control and for religious benefit, rather than under the wings and to the profit of professional gamblers.” This logic, too, can lead religious institutions into progressively murky paths.

One comes up, finally, against the hard core of institutional bingo defense, namely, that there is nothing inherently bad about gambling and, accordingly, there is nothing wrong with religious institutions sys­ tematically exploiting gambling.

Opponents of this ominous philosophy can only point to the in­ compatibility, surely inherent, between the religious way of life and that of the gambler, between the pursuit of G-dliness and the pursuit of chance. Each attitude militates against the other. Religious groups which systematically exploit the gambling craze are hacking away at their own foundations.

TT MAY be noted that the demand for acceptance of religiously-spon­ sored gambling is often accompanied by the demand for the removal of legal restrictions on other forms of gambling. We do not propose to go into the merits of the latter issue on this Q u estio n a b le occasion but it would be dangerous to ignore the Sponsorship implications of the overt sponsorship by gambling circles of the cause of institutional bingo. With gambling given both religious and legal sanction, all moral barriers to gambling must crumble and the big-time gambler, his net spread beyond the sanctuary door, will capture new tens of millions of Americans.

Institutional bingo, feeder for the gambling industry, is a menace to religion and to society. It is a malignant growth which should be eradicated, without delay, from the American scene.

Sept. - Oct., 1954

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, Permanent values in Jewish symbo \ J ! / ^ U aJLM (Mm

^ISRAEL ABRAHAM S

rif^r(A^ M ltis u d l ■pHE MEDIEVAL Jewish ^hilosophers wer^ wont to characterize man as essentially the “speaking creature.” M is noteworthy that modern psychologists strongly sup­ port this vjiew. : “The importance of speech in human psychology,” states C. K. Ogden, “is even yet generally underestimated. It is not too much to say that our minds differ from those of the animals because of speech. Its discovery was probably the origin of man.”

Instinctively, the man in the street senses this truth that the scientist has ascertained by laborious in­ vestigation, and pointedly, if inelegently, calls the fool “dumb.”

The importance of language in every sphere of human life and activity cannot be overestimated.

And yet the greatest orators and writers, pbets and thinkers wi:i readily admit the inadequacies of language. We need not agree with

Voltaire's cynicism that “Men use . . . speech only to conceal their thoughts,” but irrestibly we are compelled to recognize the extreme limitations of the verbal structures we employ, even in the most ex­ alted forms of rhetoric or philo­ sophical dialectic, completely to convey all within the human soul that demands expression. From earliest times man has realized this linguistic weakness intuitively, and has consequently sought men­ tal and spiritual release through other channels, too; hence the Arts, to which Andre Malraux has applied the significant phrase: “The Voices of Silence.” When we delve to the deepest truths, when we climb to the sublimest heights, when we experience the profoundest emotions of which the human spirit is capable, “words,” as the trite phrase has it, “fail us;” we become conscious that there is a Jewish LIFE

“still small voice“ which trans­ cends all our vocabularies, which is ineffable.

TN THESE inspired moments we seek not a word but a symbol.

No eloquence, for example, of prose or poetry, can bring' home to us, with so much emotional power, the meaning of Country, of Nation­ hood, of the historic continuity of Tradition, of Belonging, as does a simple coloured cloth we call “The Flag.“ Ceremonial symbolism ex­ tends not only beyond linguistic boundaries^ it crosses the periphery of the conscious mind and sparks nameless sensitivities, which, once enkindled, become creative forces of immeasurable potentiality. There is vast wisdom in Havelock Ellis’ statement that ceremony is the one indication of profound culture, the one single way to fructify indi­ vidual endeavours and to render beautiful collective living.

Let us now consider, more par­ ticularly, the symbols employed by Judaism and the values to which they testify. In the ultimate analy­ sis, it must be emphasized, all the mitzvoth are symbolic tokens of an inexpressible reality. Even the most ethereal ritual — be it prayer itself is significant only if re­ garded as an expression of our desire to approach the Absolute, to bridge the infinite gulf between the human and the Divine, to com­ mune with the inscrutable G-d, Whom the heart alone knows in its yearning for Him, though the mind remains powerless to con­ ceive Him. But the way to G-d Sept. - Oct., 1954

has many paths, which are as varied as the complexities of man’s nature and the multi-faceted char­ acter of his needs and moods. To meet this human (not Divine) problem, Jewish religious symbols are of wide range and variegated significance. Broadly speaking, the precept-symbols of Judaism are di­ visible into three main categories.

T H E FIRST of these comprises commandments that may be described as Oth — “a Sign.”

These Mitzvoth are related mostly to palpable ritual objects such as Tefillin, Mezuzah, Tallith and the like; but they may also be, as in the case of the Sabbath, wholly intangible. It would not be in­ appropriate to regard these ob­ servances as the insignia of our faith, the regimental colours, as it were, of the Jewish religion. For, since the dawn of its history, Is­ rael has been a spiritual army fighting “the battles of the Lord,” defending the citadel that en­ shrines civilization’s most precious moral and religious values. These 7

Jewish insignia are instinct with spiritual poesy, are rich in his­ toric association, are hallowed by memories of untold heroism and martyrdom. They form an integral part of the fabric of Jewish life and thought.

The second stratum of observ­ ances is of an historical nature.

This group includes the Pilgrim Festivals (the Sholosh Regolim — Pesach, Shavuoth, Succoth), the Minor Feasts (Chanukah, Purim), and also those fast days and peri­ ods of mourning which bring to mind the unforgettable catastrophies that led to the destruction of the Jewish State at two differ­ ent periods of our history. These Memorial Days have served not only as a kind of religious cement that has helped to unite the gen­ erations in a single historic tradi­ tion, but they have acted as a dynamic regenerative force which has revitalized the Jewish will to live, bringing spiritual renewal and cultural renaissance in each epoch of our millenia-old existence. Re­ membering our great past, review­ ing and reliving its stirring events and radiant achievements, became a perennial source of strength and courage for the present, of in­ domitable faith and resolution for the future. If we look well, we shall find the roots of our modern national efflorescence, of the burg­ eoning Jewish State, in the free­ dom-celebration of Pesach, in the miracle flames of Chanukah!^ even in the tear-laden Kinoth of Tisha b’Av. 8

^■HE THIRD type of precept be­ longs to the Laws of Holiness.

These incorporate Kashruth, the commandments concerning purity and similar ritual practices whose object is to establish Israel as a kingdom of priests and a holy na­ tion. This category of Jewish rites has, in recent times, become the object of much prejudiced criticism based on a complete misunder­ standing of the intrinsic values inculcated by these observances. It is not always realized that these ancient Jewish rituals have ex­ erted that incomparable prophylac­ tic power that has wrought the miracle of Jewish survival. Dubnow, although no pietist himself, was compelled, as an objective scholar, to conclude that “The spiritual discipline of the school (i.e., the Talmudic pattern of Jew­ ish living) came to mean for the Jew what military discipline is for other nations.

His remarkable longevity is due, I am tempted to say, to the acrid spiritual brine in which he was cured.”

Thus wrote the secular histori­ an; the religious philosopher, prob­ ing deeper, perceives in the cere­ monial rites formulated by the rabbinic schoolmen — and not least those classed as “laws of holiness” — a character-building instrument of rare potency. He recognizes that they have not only given the Jew unsurpassed resili­ ence in time of calamity, but also the heavenly grace wherewith to imbue the most material act and object with a Divine sanctity, transmuting a meal into a sacraJewish LIFE

ment, the very table on which he eats into a hallowed altar, and the humblest dwelling into a Taber­ nacle of G-d.

T H E S E fundamental values of Jewish religious symbolism — the symbolism inherent in the per­ formance of every Mitzvah — are apparent to every earnest student of the subject. But there are, in addition, indirect values flowing from our religious customs which are often overlooked. They are comparable to the overtones in music, without which the most im­ maculate playing would lose its beauty. Consider Pesach: it pro­ claims the message of freedom; that is its primary significance.

But the family reunion around the Seder table, augmented by dear friends and perhaps a stranger or two for added hospitable measure, inculcates another ideal — it be­ speaks the need and value of Jew­ ish unity, which, overflowing from home to home, ultimately embraces the entirety of K'lal Yisroel. Thus Passover proclaims not only the ideal of freedom but also its ines­ capable corollary, Jewish solidari­ ty, which is, as it were, the over­ tone of freedom's melody.

Or analyze the significance of Chanukah. The brilliant military exploits of the Maccabees might easily have engendered, in a differ­ ent people, the chauvinistic spirit of “Deutschland uber Alles.” The Menorah lights, radiating the ethos of prophetic Judaism, saved the Jewish soul from being defiled by the barbarism of the pagan glorifiSept. - Oct., 1952

cation of war. N ot by might, nor by power, but by m y spirit, saith the Lord of hosts, is the sublime note of a celebration that is itself a victory — the triumph of the highest spirit of man over hi§ baser instincts deriving from a world “red in tooth and claw*" Purim strikes an attitude that is of surpassing interest. The fes­ tival commemorates an episode in Jewish history that almost ended in tragedy — in the complete an­ nihilation of the Jewish people. If on such an occasion the Jew were to indulge in a little self-pity at the dire fate which makes him the innocent victim of all the world's Hamans, it would be both under­ standable and forgivable. Instead, we are confronted with the aston­ ishing phenomenon that tradition has turned Purim into the one carnival day in the Jewish calen­ dar. “Laugh, Jew laugh," Judaism seems to say, at the machinations of Haman and all his evil brood.

What an absurdity not to realize that the Jew, as the bearer of the eternal Torah, is indestructible!

What moral pigmies these Antisemites appear when viewed in his­ toric perspective beside that great spiritual giant, Israel, who wears the immortal crown of prophetic revelation; yet they presume to vanquish him T ET the last example be the Sabbath. It requires no great effort of imagination to visualize the Day of Best reduced to a day of dull indolence,* of uninspired passivity, the keynote of which 9

n would be the avoidance of/Work —• nothing more. The genius of Ju daism, however, not only, gave peace to the toiler on Shabboth, but, sanctifying the culminating day of the week, envelope^ it with an at­ mosphere of spiritual idealism, of gracious ceremonial, of intellectual activity and /social communion, which has rendered the Sabbath Day unique /among the religious and cultural forces of civilization.

Jewish tradition has transmuted what was/potentially a day of recrefttio^kJAto one of re-creation, of souKrenewal. At the magic touch of ( Princes^ Sabbath, the forlorn Ghetto denizen became ennobled once^agaiii -— a scion of Biblemakers, the messenger of G-d. It is of more than *passing signifi­ cance that men and women of the most diverse types have equally fallen under the spell of the Sab­ bath's enchanting beauty. The apostate Heine, the proselyte Elisheva, Tchernichowski the Hellene so different in character, out­ look and the setting of their life — were conscious, each one in a different way, of the sublime maj­ esty of the great day; they heard the blissful cadences of its melody and sang its sacred song — not because they were pietists, but be­ cause in its harmonies they felt the human and the Divine comingle and become an integrated living symbol of* a deathless world to be.

Only they know the time Nigun of Judaism who are cpnipMely at­ tuned to the full diapason\ of its «Whfeafl\ \

richly varied symbolism. Ignor­ ance can distort the melody ; preju­ dice creates cacophony. The most poetic customs lose their inspira­ tion if they are mechanically or perfunctorily observed. Rites that are meaningless to the worshippers not only fail of their religious pur­ pose, but become a spiritual canker that ultimately destroys faith and all its values. The remedy is not to abolish the symbol, the cere­ mony, the tradition, but to re­ vitalize their significance, to re­ new their meaning for current life and its problems, to reinterpret them in the light of the imperative immediacy of present Jewish needs.

T CONCLUDE with the summary question: What are the perma­ nent values of Jewish observances, of their religious symbolism? What do they give the Jew? The answer that I have submitted elsewhere may fittingly be repeated here.

“They give him a sense of G-d’s nearness. They make His presence felt in the home. They cause the common everyday happenings of life to glow with the poetry of religion. They consecrate the Jew at every important milestone in his life. They keep the thought of Duty, like a perpetual lamp, con­ stantly shining before him. They give him strength in the hour of trial, hope and faith for the time to come. They speak to him, in the language of symbols, with an eloquence that no words can match/*

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V .

i A Jewish LIFE

•

From our Israel correspondent

missions an6

Hr m is s io n a r ie s f ix

By I. H ALEVY-LEVIN J erusalem

'JHIERE ARE few problems in version, of 6,000 -10,000 apostates this country about which it is made over the past few years and so difficult to get true and au­ of an extensive “yeridah,” deser­ thentic information as that created tion of Israel, organized by the by the activities of the Christian missionaries, are wild exaggera­ missions. Among the Jews, it must tions of a kernel of fact. That be borne in mind, there has been, kernel of fact is sufficient to justi­ throughout the Christian era, a fy concern and far more energetic horror of apostasy. In the modern counter-measures than have been context in Israel this has often led the case in the past. It certainly to exaggeration of the inroads of is not sufficient cause for the the missions and the danger they alarm, sometimes bordering on present to the Yishuv. Among the panic, which has taken hold of missionaries and the diverse Chris­ some sections of the Yishuv. tian bodies operating in this coun­ try, the reaction has been in the T H E Christian “Mission to the direction of deliberate understate­ Jews in the Holy Land” was ment and secrecy in all that per­ first launched in the early 1820,s. tains to their work.

While its progress since that date Yet for any rational discussion has been marked by some acts of of the question it is essential to genuine charity, its few successes get it into a less distorted perspec­ — such as they were — were tive. At the outset, let it be said made mainly by sedulous exploita­ that the reports about mass con- tion of the misery and destitution Sept. ¿ Oct., 1954

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of the Jews of the Old Yishuv.

However, a knowledge of the true purpose of the clinics and schools of the various demoninations which began to dot the country led to a virtual boycott of these institu­ tions by the Jews. A notable con­ sequence was the development of a series of Jewish hospitals — the Rothschild Hospital in the Old City, founded just a hundred years ago, wag the first — schools and other institutions : to raise the Yishuv from its depression and to strengthen its powers of resistance.

At no time did the missionaries' encroachments upon the Jewish community reach serious propor­ tions, and whatever individual suc­ cesses they registered were more of statistical than of real signifi­ cance. Nevertheless a veritable psychosis was created about their work, and there was not a single convert of whatever calibre, whose desertion of the Jewish faith did not give rise to feelings of shock and grief.

Since the establishment of the State of Israel a number of factors most of them of transient na­ ture, the result of the immense influx of immigrants — have com­ bined to create a rather more favorable atmosphere for mission­ ary work. rTlHE three quarters of a million newcomers who entered the country in this period included a considerable element of “erev rav,” flotsam and jetsam of the death camps and the ghettos, whose only creed it is to survive at whatever 12

cost. No official figures have been published but it is known that during the early years of the State, the Rabbinate was confronted with the problem of the large number of newcomers who had come ac­ companied by Bulgarian, Yugoslav and even German Christian wives.

The conversion of the latter to the Jewish faith — and not all of them underwent a formal conver­ sion — was rarely more than an act of convenience, indicating no change of heart or outlook.

There is also the category of Jews forced during the years of the Nazi domination of Europe to assume the guise of Christianity and even to become baptized.

Through years of association with the Church they have learned to regard its rites and tenets with complacency if not conviction, while some of them are not un­ mindful of the benefits member­ ship in one or other of the Chris­ tian denominations has to offer.

There are also many Jews in Israel who, in the countries from which they come, in the absence of suitable Government or Jewish schools and hospitals, had recourse to Christian institutions, and con­ tinue to resort to them. The pov­ erty of many of the newcomers and the inability of the Ministry of Social Welfare and Jewish phi­ lanthropic bodies to extend ade­ quate assistance, is another factor facilitating the work of the mis­ sionaries.

Finally, full regard must be had to the international implications of the treatment accorded the misJewish LIFE

sionaries who operate in this coun­ try often under the protection of powerful foreign governments.

TAK ING into account this favorA able combination of circum­ stances, it is doubtful whether the six hundred converts -— the most reliable estimate of the number of Jewish apostates over the past six years — constitutes a major achievement for the churches, espe­ cially in view of the immense re­ sources at their disposal and their wide choice of means to achieve their object.

Obviously, a line of demarcation must be drawn between activities the avowed object of which is to bring Jews within the fold of Christianity, and the educational work conducted mainly by the Catholics. It need hardly be urged that there is little genuine altru­

ism in the Christian schools — certainly not in the State of Israel, whose school system, for all its shortcomings, is capable of meet­ ing the needs of its citizens and is probably of a higher standard than that in most of the countries from which the missionaries and Chris­ tian educators come. The Christian religions, and the Catholic faith more than others, are avowedly proselytizing, and though from time to time, for reasons best known to themselves, they deny any missionary intent, they have never renounced the centuries-old ambition to win the Jews over to Christianity. At all events, the Finaly affair in France and the Beekman affair in Holland provide conclusive evidence that they are still prepared to encompass Jtand and sea to make one proselyte.

Material Inducements TN THE field of education the achievements of the Christian schools among the Jewish popula­ tion are hardly more than modest.

There are, it seems (again it is impossible to obtain official and authentic figures), no more than fifteen hundred children of compul­ sory school age — six to thirteen ^Sattending the various Christian schools in Jerusalem, Haifa, Ramleh,J and Jaffa. For comparison, there were over 250,000 children attending the Government Hebrew schools of parallel grading in the outgoing school year.

By definition this figure does not Sept. - Oct., 1952

include the children attending the kindergarten and secondary schools maintained by these bodies. In the closing years of the Mandatory re­ gime it was estimated that be­ tween nine and twelve hundred Jewish children were attending the Christian schools. The increase in attendance, accordingly, has not kept pace with the growth of the Yishuv over this period, namely by 125 per cent.

That the attraction of these schools is more material than spir­ itual — although we must con­ stantly keep in mind the part played by material benefits in all 13

aspects of missionary work — is borne out by an analysis of the curriculum and methods of teach­ ing, and of the social composition of the pupils.

Fully fifty percent of the chil­ dren come from destitute or near­ destitute families, for whom the free meals, distributions of cloth­ ing and other material induce­ ments are very important. In ad­ dition, the fact that lessons con­ tinue until five o’clock in the after­ noon (Hebrew State schools finish their day between eleven and two o’clock depending on the grade) is another great advantage for work­ ing parents. Snobbery, a perverse sense of social distinction at hav­ ing children who attend a nonJewish school, is another consider­ ation for a certain type of parent. ^■HESE schools, which in addition to their fifteen hundred Jewish pupils have some seven thousand non-Jewish pupils, are under no Government supervision over their school programs or buildings, and apparently to this day, in the seventh year of the State of Israel, enjoy a status of virtual extra­ territoriality.

Their educational methods are antiquated, stress be­ ing laid upon the teaching of lan­ guages —- French, English, Arabic and Hebrew — even to children in the lowest grades. An indication of the pedagogic methods in use is provided by the emphasis upon learning lessons by heart. On the other hand, standards of discipline and general conduct are high, far higher, according to competent ob14

servers, than obtain among the pupils of the State schools.

The proportion of Hebrew stud­ ies in the curriculum varies from school to school, from one hour daily in the Protestant schools to three hours in the Catholic schools.

The teaching staff includes some Jews, and in one Catholic school in Jaffa there are fourteen profes­ sing Jews out of a total of seven­ teen teachers on the staff. In some schools, it is stated, celebrations were held on Israel Independence Day. The classrooms are decorated with religious pictures, the Bible is studied and in some schools study of the New Testament is ob­ ligatory and is even a compulsory subject for the matriculation ex­ amination. Normally there is little direct pressure of a proselytizing nature, and charges on this score are refuted by the school princi­ pals who declare that their gradu­ ates are loyal Jews and citizens of the state. The influence of these schools is far more subtle, especial­ ly among the impressionable un­ derprivileged children who tend to go to extremes in their expres­ sions of gratitude for any act of kindness.

Y ^ h i l e the picture presented by the schools and convents in this respect is not entirely nega­ tive, the work of the professional missionaries and the missions has less agreeable aspects. Undoubted­ ly there are many missionaries in this country, who are sincerely con­ vinced of their mission and are Jewish LIFE

five years ago and caused some sensation at the time by having full advertisements inserted in all the daily newspapers (with the ex­ ception of one, the advertising manager of which was less gulli­ ble): proclaiming his intention of embarking upon a large-scale — larger than anything the country had yet seen — program of hous­ ing construction. His brief and brilliant career as a tycoon of the building industry terminated abruptly when the newspapers found their bills unpaid, and the would-be tycoon was sent to jail for nine months for obtaining money under false pretenses.

Fritz Kahn, leader of Israel’s “Hebrew Christians,” who has himself photographed in front of a seven-branched candelabra, and, paradoxically enough, wants the Government of Israel to follow India’s lead and ban all missionary activity, is a different type. Kahn’s Christianity is a product of the re­ action to Hitler’s Germany. Born in Düsseldorf, he is married to a woman claiming to belong to an orthodox family of Jerusalem, her father having seen light, inde­ pendently of his son-in-law and daughter, in the United States, where he has built himself a Hebrew-Christian church.

Kahn’s views are interesting in view of the fact that he revives the claim of apostates to continue to be regarded as Jews (and in TL MORE colorful character, busy Israel as loyal citizens of the spreading the Christian gos­ State) despite their defection from pel, came from Shanghai four or the Jewish faith.

15 Sept. - Oct., 1954

inspired by their faith. But the percentage of fakes, crooks, and cranks is high ||- though these too can claim to have seen light and repented of their sins. In many cases the widespread practice of offering material inducements to prospective converts may be traced to the pressure of backers upon the missionaries to show results.

It is this system of bribery, in the form of food parcels, clothing, aid to leave the country, free educa­ tion and jobs, that has intensified feeling against them to an unpre­ cedented extent.

One of these missionaries has printed invitations to his services, bearing the very significant legend, “Food parcels will be distributed after prayers.” The services are held in the Musrara Quarter, a slum district, bordering on the Old City of Jerusalem, which is in­ habited by the poorest type of new immigrants, Small wonder that the congregations are fairly large.

A photograph of this missionary, published in the local press, shows him in shirt sleeves and suspend­ ers, standing in front of wellstocked shelves of tinned meat, sar­ dines, cocoa, and preserves, for all the world like an up-and-coming grocer. Some time ago he had a difference with the local police over a receipt for air-letters which, it was alleged, he had altered from IL.100 to IL.700.

T H E MISSIONARIES, like the multifarious sects they repre­ sent, are sharply divided among themselves and sporadic interne­ cine warfare is not an unusual fea­ ture of their activities. They even go to the extent, at times, of up­ setting each others’ meetings. The above-mentioned Kahn, for in­ stance, has publicly charged his colleagues of other denominations with providing converts with mon­ ey (a euphemism, apparently, for bribery) and assisting them to emigrate to the United States, Canada, Brazil, Austria and Ger­ many. Kahn is of the opinion that the converts should stay here and reinforce his apostate community.

The Yishuv, it has already been pointed out, has a lengthy experi­ ence with missionary activities, which it has never regarded as ser­ iously jeopardizing its own integri­ ty. Jews are very skpetical about the tenets of Christianity — insofar as they do not derive from the

parent-religion — and find it diffi­ cult to believe that any Jew can be convinced of its superior truth.

It is a fact that in this country the number of converts who can be considered genuine is infinitesimal­ ly small, far smaller, indeed, than the conditions operating in favor of the missionaries would seem to warrant. But in waging war upon the missions the Yishuv draws no distinction between good Jews and bad, nor does it enter into the considerations which have driven any convert towards his new faith.

The wave of feeling against the missions must be attributed to the crude methods of persuasion they use in disseminating their beliefs and especially to their share in the “yeridah,” which Israelis regard as a form of treachery. That this charge, though probably exagger­ ated, is not without foundation is proved by evidence from various sources.

Legal And Political Aspects T H E intensification of, and the wide publicity given to, the work of the missions has evoked a very strong reaction, shared by circles so far apart as those repre­ sented by the Agudist Hakol and Mapam’s Al Harmshmar. For some months a Knesseth sub-committee has been studying the problem and has submitted a series of recom­ mendations, including the promul­ gation of special legislation pro­ hibiting the offering of material inducements for conversion, impos-

16

ing Government inspection of edu­ cational methods and sanitary ar­ rangements in Christian schools (similar to the inspection and con­ trol to which the State schools are subject), insistence that threequarters of the curriculum be in Hebrew and forbidding religious lessons in schools. The advocates of legislation upon these lines point to the fact that similar laws already exist in such staunchly Protestant countries as Norway and Switzerland. Another proposal Jewish LIFE

The former Chasan Beque Mosques in Jaffe, now used an as anti-missionary youth qenter and school by Hapoel Hamizrachi Women for potential victims of missionary activities in under-privileged areas.

is to publish the names of the converts.

The Keren Lemaan Hayeled, in which the major women’s organi­ zations collaborate, was set up some months ago with a view to combatting missionary and Chris­ tian educational work among the children. The Keren was recently the recipient of a considerable sum of money from a donor overseas to finance its activities. It enjoys considerable prestige in the Yishuv and is headed by leading person­ alities including Zalman Shazar, Mapai, Member of the Jewish Agency Executive; Shoshana Persitz, Member of the Knesseth and Sept. - Oct., 1954

a leader of the General Zionist Party; Herman Hollander, a Mizrachi leader; Rabbi A. I. Unterman, Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv; Dr. Aaron Barth, Managing Director of the Bank Leumi; Aryeh Shenkar, president of the Manufactur­ ers Association and Professor Ab­ raham Frankel, Professor of Math­ ematics at the Hebrew University.

The work of the Keren Lamaan Hayeled is widely ramified. Es­ chewing propaganda, it arranges meetings with parents to persuade them to send their children to State schools, organizes summer camps, where children who have been extracted from the mission 17

schools are prepared for their fu­ ture studies in the Government schools, assists needy parents and establishes and maintains clubs and the like. In the short period of its activity the Keren has been successful in inducing 350 Jewish children previously attending mis­ sion schools in Jerusalem and Haifa to register with the State Hebrew schools.

T H E unwillingness of the Government to act upon the rec? ommendations of the Knesseth sub­ committee was justified by Profes­ sor Benzion Dinur, Minister of Education and Culture, by the con­ viction of the Government that they would not prove effective.

Clearly this is not the reason. The recommendations governing educa­ tion, Professor Dinur's special province, are so reasonable and necessary that it is difficult to see how the Government can delay act­ ing upon them for long. No selfrespecting State can permit educa­ tional enclaves in its territory over whose curriculums and methods of teaching it exercises no control at all.

The true reason is that many of the missionaries are in one way or another supported by their Gov­ ernments and that the entire ques­ tion has an international and po­ litical character. Not so long ago a prominent Catholic dignitary de­ clared that a full report on the drive against the missions had been despatched to the Vatican. It is interesting to note that the cam­ paign to prohibit pig-breeding in 18

this country is regarded askance in Catholic circles and is adduced as evidence of theocratic tenden­ cies in Israel.

Ti VERY candid exception of the “ light in which the French Government (the traditional pro­ tector of the Catholic Church in this and neighboring countries) would regard any attempt to curb or control missionary activity in Israel was given some weeks ago

by French Ambassador, M. Gilbert.

The occasion was a celebration to mark the conclusion of the school year at the Freres College in Jaffa, and the award of the Legion of Honor to two of its principals.

Tracing the development of the College and its work in the Mid­ dle East, the Ambassador was at some pains to prove that whatever missionary activity the College had engaged in in the past under the Ottoman regime was the result of the ignorance and the squalor of the people among whom it worked.

Under the Mandate, M. Gilbert de­ clared, the missionary aspect was relegated to a position of second­ ary importance, stress being laid upon its educational work. The point which M. Gilbert appeared to wish to make was that educa­ tion would be the overriding task of the College to an even greater extent in the State of Israel, and in his view its main function would be the dissemination of French ideals and culture. M. Gil­ bert, it seems, wished to allay the fears of the Yishuv regarding cer­ tain aspects of the College's work.

Jewish LIFE

M. Gilbert's views, of course, echo those of a Government with a peculiar interest in the status of the Catholic church and Catholic schools in this country. Other missions too, find a willing ear in the chancellories of their home country. The quandary of the Gov­ ernment of Israel, when in any case the international prospect is none to bright, is apparent. On the other hand, however, on both the question of the educational au­ tonomy of the Christian schools and the offering of bribes, in one form or another, for conversion, it cannot adopt an attitude of neu­ trality for long.

Supervision of education is a prerogative of sovereignty, and if private bodies, religious or other­ wise, wish to open and maintain schools, they must be prepared to accept Government supervision and inspection. And in regard to the work of the missions, the State cannot be expected to permit so unethical a practice as the offering of material inducements to gain converts. Both aspects require careful handling, but the prospects are that given a résolute attitude on the part of the authorities, Christian missions to the Jews in Israel will cease to constitute a problem.

Psalm For Afomic Age

By LOUIS I, who am anchored to you, 0 G-d Am not haunted by the spectre of annihilation.

Though the Earth may shake and wildly flounder Within a sea of heaving combustion, The devouring breath of the holocaust Shall find me still in the silence of things.

I shall seek my guarding shield in the temple, And know the gifts of your sanctuary.

Though the Earth may heave and be tormented, And desolation found on every hand, Your sustaining qualities shall reward me.

The buffeting of the surging winds, Of restlessness and dire confusion, Shall not find me weary of endless constraint; iior shall my song vanish amongst the clouds, Or leave me standing alone and afraid.

When |he devouring holocaust consumes, T shall find in You refreshing thoughts And salutary meditations.

Till then, O G-d, Your spirit enfolds me.

Sept. - Oct., 1954

19

mu

M I 3LMON; Jewish Aspects of the Paperback Boom B y HAROLD U. RIB ALOW ■PHE PAPERBACK revolution — the immense circulation of all A the soft-cover reprint book in­ titles (few of these books sell dustry which now allows American less than 100,000 copies; most readers to buy a book for twenty- attain sales of 250,000 to a mil­ five cents to seventy-five cents at lion) reach audiences infrequently more than 100,000 outlets all over interested in minorities or minori­ the United States — has been so ty problems.

That many of the outstanding overwhelming that sociologists and literary critics periodically assess books on Jewish subjects have been it — and find it both good and bad. reprinted in these popular editions It is by this time a bromide to stands to reason, for the editors of say that the success of the paper­ reprint houses are eagerly looking back books has made book reading for good titles to feed their mam­ John Hersey’s — and buying — as simple as pur­ moth audience. chasing a good cigar. It is also "The Wall;” Ann Frank’s "Diary obvious that of the thousands upon of a Young Girl;” Laura Z. Hob­ thousands of titles available, some son’s "Gentleman’s Agreement” of the best contemporary and clas­ were bound to be reissued in the sic volumes in all fields of writing paperback format.

But it is seldom realized that are now on sale in candy stores, newsstands, bus depots, railroad some two hundred titles of Jewish stations and other areas where interest, both deep and peripheral, books were hitherto unknown. Now are available in soft covers. Meyer and again, too, reference has been Levin, in a recent article, has made to the fact that books on stressed the paperback books which Jews and on Negroes, because of include Jewish gangsters, and he 20 Jewish LIFE

bewails the trend which highlights the Jewish stereotype which Goebbels loved to promulgate. Too many of these books are published in trade editions and, unfortunate­ ly, most of them discover new life in the twenty-five cent and thirtyfive cent reprint. (Few books of this nature are in the fifty cent or seventy-five cent class.) ^ H U S the juvenile delinquency novels of Irving Shulman ( “The Amboy Dukes,” “Cry Tough” and “The Big Brokers”) ; the equally sordid novels by Harold Robbins (“A Stone for Danny Fisher” and “Never Dove a Stranger”) ; the gangster books by David Dortort (“Burial of the Fruit”), Harry Grey (“The Hoods”) and Jack Karney (“Cop”) are titles which take advantage of the obsession for violence and lawlessness which seems typical of the most popular volumes in this field. The astonish­ ing success of the nightmarish sexand-violence detective stories of Mickey Spillane is reflected in the above titles.

Then there are the “Jewish” books which do not deal with law breakers but with otherwise un­ scrupulous Jews, all of whom form an unsavory gallery of unlikeable and miserable American citizens.

These books, it should always be realized, appeared in trade editions first, many of them years ago, when the reprint industry was non­ existent or minor. But the revival of interest in them has made them influential to a new and impres­ sionable audience. Books in this Sept. - Oct., 1954

category include the notorious “What Makes Sammy Run?” by Budd Schulberg; the Jerome Weidman novels about the garment in­ dustry, “I Can Get It For You Wholesale” and “What's In It For Me?” ; Norman Katkov's unpleas­ ant story of intermarriage, “Eagle At My Eyes ;” Arthur Markowitz's incredible story of a Jewish nym­ phomaniac, “The Daughter” and Leonard Bishop's two harsh but equally incredible books about Jew­ ish dope addicts and charity fund rackets, “Down All Your Streets” and “Days of My Love.” | I N IMPORTANT group of books dre those which do not deal with Jews primarily but contain Jewish characters who are minor individuals in the hovels, or who, in one way or another, reflect the Jew as a symbol of either heroism 6r maladjustment to the American scene.

Most of these volumes are those concerned with the last war. Not all of them are written by Jews, but in most of them the Jew stands out as a symbol for which the war was fought. These books are most influential ¡because they are read by persons who, in picking them up, have no interest in Jews as such and so their attitudes toward Jews are more readily colored by the characters in such books than by those in the clearly indicated “Jewish” stories like “The Wall” or “Gentleman's Agreement” or Arthur Miller's “Focus,” a novel on Antisemitism and which is em21

phasized as such on the jacket of the novel.

Who picks up James Jones’ gar­ gantuan “From Here to Eternity” for the portrayal of Corporal Bloom, the neurotic, maladjusted Jew who commits suicide? But how many readers will remain un­ affected by Jones’ distaste for the wild-speaking, peculiar Jew who is so obviously the outsider? For that matter, what of the Jews in Norman Mailer’s “The Naked and the Dead,” both of whom are odd, unhappy and tense. Add to this list the tortured Jew of Irwin Shaw’s “The Young Lions” and you have a group of alienated, bit­ ter; frustrated Jews. These three titles have sold millions of copies in their paperback editions and the readers did not' look for the “Jew­ ish angle.” Yet it was there and could not help color their attitudes toward Jews. They could scarcely be blamed if they looked upon the next Jews they met as pretty strange fellows, for Bloom, Gold­ stein and Ackerman are quite twisted characters.

■J*HE ISOLATED and alien Jew has become a familiar figure in American fiction, so that one can­ not blame the paperback publishers for offering these books to their public. A Jewish soldier who can­ not reconcile himself to the Army or to life as an American Jew is to be found in James B.Nablo’s <vThe LongNovember;” Vance Bourjaily’s “The End of My L ife;” Joseph Landon’s “Angle of *At­ tack;” Martha Gellhorn’s “The 22

Wine of Astonishment;” Louis Falstein’s “Face of a Hero;” John Horne Burns’ “The Gallery;” as well as other, less important, novels.

The unhappy miserable Jew ap­ pears in other types of novels as well. In Irving Schwartz’s novel of the South, “Fear in the Night/? a Jew is portrayed as the con­ science of the South, but also as a frightened, unsure person. In Wil­ lard Motley’s huge “We Fished All Night,” a Jew, again, is neurotic, maladjusted and a curiosity. In countless short stories in the avant garde" magazines in book form, that is, in “New Writing,” “Dis­ covery,” “New Voices,” eccentric, intellectual, queer Jews predomi­ nate. In the list of two hundred titles before me, Jews play roles — large and small — in every one Jewish LIFE

of them. In only a few instances does the Jew emerge as large and whole.

XJAVING said this, however, it also needs to be stated that apart from the books with an antiJewish slant by Christian writers (the Graham Greene “entertain­ ments,” Scott Fitzgerald's “The Great Gatsby,” Ernest Heming­ way's “The Sun Also Rises”) and those dealing with the problem of Antisemitism (by Niven Busch in “The Hate Merchant” and Victoria Lincoln in “Out of Eden” and James T. Farrell in his many novels and short stories), there are some important and provoca­ tive Jewish books available in the reprint editions.

For example, Harold E. Livings­ ton's current "The Coasts of the Earth” and Michael Blankfort's “The Juggler” are two of the con­ temporary and interesting novels about life in Israel and the war for Jewish independence, political and personal. Both are in paper­ back editions. John Knight's “The Story of My Psychoanalysis,” a penetrating study of the effect of Antisemitism on the health of a sensitive Jew, is a revelation to those who read it. Few readers were expected for the trade edi­ tion. In a twenty-five cent reprint, it was made available to hundreds of thousands of readers, Jews and non-Jews, all of whom could learn something about the impact of Antisemitism and self-hate on an American Jew. Meyer Levin's “The Old Bunch,” a minor classic in Sept. - Oct., 1954

American fiction and a landmark in American Jewish fiction, will soon be ready in a paperback print­ ing. Leon Feuchtwanger's “Jew Suess,” otherwise unobtainable, is now at hand for anyone who wants it — in a fifty cent edition. In “Stories of Sudden Truth,” a col­ lection of tales; there appears Arthur Miller's excellent narrative account of a Jew who rediscovers himself, in “Monte Saint Angelo.”

Christopher Isherwood's sensitive “Goodbye to Berlin” and “Mr. Nor­ ris Changes Trains,” both on the theme of Nazi Germany and the Jews, have been published in paperbacks.

Even in detective stories (Bart Spicer's “The Golden Door”) and in translations from other lan­ guages (Rene Masson's French novel “Cage of Darkness”) and in historical fiction (Dorothy Wil­ son's “Prince of Egypt” ) the Jew and Jewish issues pop up intriguingly. The Jew looms large in American writing and he conse­ quently appears in hundreds of paperbacks.

B E C A U SE 'the impact of the pa^ perbacks is so enormous, there are those who wonder whether the trend toward mass reading is good or bad. A person who spends three dollars or four dollars for a book knows beforehand, to some extent, what the book will be about — and the assumption has been that the reader willing to spend such amounts for a volume is, somehow, more discriminating and less im­ pressionable than the reader who 23

buys a book for a quarter and, as soon as not, throws it away, like a magazine, when he is finished with it. Thus, the reader of “From Here to Eternity,” a $4.50 book in the trade edition, is more likely to take the neurotic Bloom for granted than the mysterious Mr. X, the reader who purchases the book because he knows it is full of brothel scenes or because it was made into a hit movie. It is a question, to a great extent, df the masses versus the classes. And how dangerous is it, in the long run, when millions of former non­ readers gobble up books In which Jews appear as aliens on the American scene, neurotic and mal­ adjusted? On the other hand, how much good will does “The Wall” or “The Diary of a Young Girl” do on the mass level? Will the hero­ ism of the Jews of the Warsaw ghetto offset the impression of the reader of the Shulman books or

the countless war novels with their symbolic, and unappetizing, Jews?

Whether it will or not, the paper­ back revolution is not to be held responsible for what is written in America. It merely reflects the work now being done by creative Americans. It follows and does not set trends. It is powerful as any great medium of communication is powerful and one can only hope that the more thoughtful books will be made available, together with the more sensational ones, which pander to the urges of sex and violence which seem so firmly imbedded in the American psyche.

JT SHOULD be borne in mind, all along, however, that you can now buy the best books for less money than ever before, including those which will enlighten and en­ tertain the aware and intelligent Jew. For small favors we should all be grateful.

LET THE SLEEPER AWAKEN Although the blowing of the Shofar on Rosh Hashonah is decreed by the Torah, it is nevertheless significant of a call to repentance, for it seems to say: Awake from your slumbers, ye who have fallen asleep in life, and ponder over your deeds. Remember your Creator, and be not of those who miss realities in their pursuit after ephemeral shadows, and waste their years in seeking after vain things which do not profit or deliver.

Look well to your souls, and let there be betterment in your acts. Forsake each of you your evil ways and thoughts.

Maimonides, Hilchoth Teshuvah

24

Jewish LIFE

• Pathways Through

The Holy City

Sholora Ijoch yerusholaw u

f

¥

£ 2/ ABRAHAM STERN THE black-frocked, top-hatted, distinguished looking gentle­ man walked briskly through the streets of Jerusalem. His somber outfit contrasted sharply with the pinkish brown masonry about him.

At his side he carried a silver trum­ pet, which he raised to his lips and sounded every few paces. “The Sab­ bath is approaching; make haste, my brethren/' he intoned at regu­ lar intervals. Traffic was diminish­ ing. Citizens with bunches of news­ paper-wrapped flowers under their arms were rushing homeward in all directions. The Holy Sabbath was coming to Jerusalem.

Earlier that day the city's gabboim had made their weekly round of the eruv. The public busses, too, were informing Jerusalemites that Sabbath was nearing. Little pla­ cards above the drivers' seats an­ nounced zeman hadlokath neroth (the candle lighting h ou r): “Bus service will be discontinued from this hour until fifteen minutes after Sept - Oct* 1954

Havdolah, which takes place at 8 P.M." The announcement seemed a bit out of place next to the sten­ ciled lo le’ashen (no smoking), but this was no ordinary sign and these were no ordinary busses, but Jewish signs in Jewish busses, in the capital city of Israel. ^^ISITORS find it rather strange to see people carrying taleythim and siddurim in the streets on the Sabbath. It is quite as peculiar to see the Cohanim going up to duchan (twice no less!) on that day. But the duchan, too, is dif­ ferent here, particularly when it takes place in the Yeshurun Syna­ gogue, the major synagogue in new Jerusalem. Here, anyone who is ^anyone in Government, the Jewish Agency, as well as visiting dig­ nitaries gather for regular morn­ ing and holiday services. In Yeshu­ run, it is not uncommon to see the Mayor of Jerusalem davenning next to some army private, beside them 25

a visitor from the United States and a kaftaned yeshivah bochur.

The Synagogue, occupying almost a square block, is semi-circular, with narrow slit windows which admit sharp rays of light. The il­ luminated ark is covered by a slid­ ing glass parocheth etched with Biblical scenes. Before the ark lies a matted carpet for the Cohanim, who, after having water poured over their hands from silver urns by the Levites (in a small chamber along­ side the ark), ascend, face the con­ gregation and offer their benedic­ tion.

Two blocks from the Yeshurun Synagogue, stands the Israel Knesseth building, styled like an apart­ ment house and obviously intended originally for some other use. It is guarded by two khaki-clad uni­ formed soldiers, and above its en­ trance is an official looking sevenbranched menorah.

Almost in the center of this unique parliament, in front of the speaker's stand, is a Minister's ta­ ble. A visitor rests an arm on the Prime Minister's chair and ob­ serves the official-looking papers piled neatly around the table. In the center of the table is a thick volume of Tanach surrounded by a Haichal Hakodesh (Bible Con­ cordance) and the Knesseth pro­ ceedings.

T5EAUTIFUL, significant street names are tacked on to corner buildings — Rechov Oneg Shabboth, Hachnossath Orchim, Rechov Rashi, Bikur Cholim and equally impressive historic and idiomatical26

ly Jewish names. Jewish streets, housing Jewish life . . . . . . The Yemenite Beth Knes­ seth, an earlocked, bearded congre­ gation in faded khaki shirts, paja­ ma tops, seated on low benches, sing-song wailing — many without the benefit of siddurim. A distin­ guished djimmel punctuating their soft rhythmic prayers . . . . . . The Neturei Karta, Reb Amram Blau and his followers in a side street shool, accessible only through an outside fire escape-like stairway. The devout, shtreimelhatted worshippers sway in fren­ zied unison. Beads of perspiration run down pale faces into thick beards. Though it is mid-July, their heavy black coats are buttoned tightly. In contrast, the shortsleeved, shorts-clad young people at the B'nei Akivah and other “sabra" synagogues look almost bare.

Notwithstanding strict food ra­ tioning, meat being perhaps the

scarcest of all commodities, every family appears to have a chicken for Shabboth. Often these are home-grown, a coop on the roof or in the backyard of a dwelling, in the courtyard, or even in the rooms, perched on a bed (as is seen in some Meah Shearim houses). . . . Not far from Meah Shearim: the Mandelbaum Gate, a few hun­ dred feet of no man’s land, a U.N. Observer’s position and then the Jordan section of Jerusalem. Jew­ ish children play nonchalantly in

the rubble, just a few feet from the gate, amongst pock-marked buildings that testify to the re­ cent real war, and almost daily pot­ shot exchanges. Through this gate pass the Christians and others en­ titled to cross from Israel to Arab territory. Ironically, though a ma­ jority of the Jewish sacred places — the Wailing Wall, Migdal David, to mention but two—are within stone’s throw, Jews are forbidden to enter them.

Tzadi Hey Lamed TT IS a strange experience indeed, sitting in an office of the Sar Hadathoth (Minister of Religion), watching a procession of Christian clergy of all denominations enter with the traditional greeting of Sholom, tipping their hats to the rabbi-official, presenting papers and requesting approval for trips to areas where Jews cannot visit.

More briefcases per capita are seen in Israel, particularly in Jeru­ salem, than on any campus imagin­ able. Numerous public officials hus­ tle about from home to office and to official meetings with weighty docu­ ments in their bags. More often than not, though, the contents of these official looking briefcases are identical with those carried by working men, shopkeepers and others j - the daily newspapers and lunch. There still is a serious pa­ per shortage, especially of napkins and paper bags; hence the brief­ case as a practical and helpful con­ tainer.

Sept. - Oct., 1954

The frontier is a phenomenon about which one must constantly be cautioned. The Jerusalem area is a fingerlike projection, surround­ ed on all sides by hostile neighbors.

Stray a few hundred feet off the beaten path and you might end up in enemy hands, that is if you do not step on a land mine first.

The K visk Hagevurah (“Courage Road”), the corridor between Tel Aviv and the capital, is littered with dozens of burned out vehicles, a zeycher leckurbon to the sacri­ fices of the War of Independence that was fought only a few years ago. Whether you travel by bus or share-taxi, a fellow passenger is likely to brush a tear from his eye as memories are awakened by the overturned rusting chassis. If you are a newcomer, you are bound to hear how this new “Burma Road” was carved out of the Judean Hills at the height of the fighting, when Jerusalem was cut off from the rest of Israel, and when it was impera27

tive to reestablish communication so that help could get through.

K T THE military cemetery near “ the end of the road you can see how dearly Israel paid for this highway to freedom, and for its in­ dependence in general. Row upon row of waist-high granite tomb­ stones bear name, age and location where the supreme sacrifice was made, below a greenish “Tzadi Hey Lamed” (Z'va Haganah Leyisrael) over the sword and olive branch symbol of the army of Is­ rael. The fresh-turned soil, newly sprouting potted flowers and ter­ raced walls, the graves arranged in sections — the Lamed Hey group, thirty-five Hebrew University stu­ dents who fell defending Jerusalem, the defenders of the religious set­ tlements, of the Etzion Block . . .

If this is not sufficient reminder of destruction, come to Notre Dame.

If talkative, the young soldiers on sentry duty in the partially ruined monastery will tell you how the new Jerusalem was saved in this building. The wall, destroyed on

that historic May 14, buried under it a number of Jordan Legion tanks, and the resulting rubble prevented any further tank incursions. He might even take you through the inner ruins of the building — and after climbing shaky ladders to a vantage point, you find yourself looking over the wall of the Old City into an Arab market place.

But do not raise your head up too high. The Legionnaires and irregu­ lars occasionally grow trigger-hap­ py.

On either side of the monastery, which stands as a major marker between the Jewish and Arab sec­ tors, life goes on — an Arab beats his donkey with a cane, trying to convince him to move; a recent Oleh, obviously a North African, an ice cream box half filled with dry ice, slung over a shoulder, calls “Arctic . . . arctic.” Not to be out­ done by him, a competitor with a more watery substance known to Americans as popsicles, attracts a group of covetous children with his throaty “Eskimo . * * eskimo.”

"M i Yaaleh Behar Hasham" "■TRADITION has set aside Har Tzion as the resting place of King David . . . and as you ascend the steps set in the hillside, leaning heavily on the rope rail, you pause to read different passages from Psalms painted on wooden posts every few feet. Your heart beats fast from the climb, but faster still thinking of the inscription on one of the markers you have just passed, 28

“Mi yaaleh behar H ashem ” At the top a number of little houses, a Beth Midrosh, where Sifrey Torah are written in memory of deceased Jews all over the world, and where each Israelite is given an opportunity to “write a Sefer.”

A courtyard, another little shool with people saying Tehillim, and then a slightly larger domed build­ ing. In an inner chamber, a promJewish LIFE

inently featured velvet parocheth horse-drawn tanks of a street ven­ with five neatly arranged crowns dor.

Peanuts present a similar prob­ over it — the traditional resting place of King David. Above the lem to Israeli movie-goers as does mausoleum in faded letters, “Dovid popcorn to the Americans. It is Melech YIsrael, chay vekayom ” The slightly more difficult to concen­ King who founded the city three trate on the cinema, though, when thousand years ago, here in your you don’t understand English, the language of a majority of the films. midst.

Beyond the Tomb is the “cellar The sound is English, Hebrew titles of horrors,” the remnants of the appear on the left of the screen, European holocaust ^ skin lamp­ French below, and German is shades, sandals made of rent Torah- thrown in for good measure. Al­ scrolls, urns filled with ashes, hu­ ways good for a laugh is the man soap — the remnants of six “Shush” sign on the wall of the million — destruction, rebirth and theatre: “Achilath garinim asurah eternity, on the same mountain . . . behechlaith” (it is absolutely for­ In the sprawling city below, with bidden to eat peanuts!). its uniform structures and glisten­ ing tree-lined streets above which T H E Hebrew University, displaced the multi-million dollar Y.M.C.A. from its spectacular campus on (with a membership which is about Mount Scopus, carries on in the ninety per cent Jewish) towers, Terra Sancta monastery. Sole con­ live some 160,000 Israeli citizens. tact with the old campus and build­ This is probably the only place in ings is maintained by Jewish po­ the world where you will see beard­ lice who ascend through the Arab ed Jews working alongside others lines with supplies every two weeks who are clean-shaven, emptying in an armed van. garbage cans into trucks. Where In Rechavia, the official section else can you see a peddler out in of town, you will see ministers with the street sitting on a box or a step the ever-present glass of tea at the beside his wares — studying a outdoor cafes, explaining to inter­ “perek mishnayoth” when business ested constituents why certain mea­ sures were proposed. Nearby is the is slow?

This is Jerusalem where m itz stately looking Jewish Agency and gazoz kiosks take the place of building, President Ben Zvi’s home our soda fountains; where lebenia, with the No. 1 licensed, official­ looking, Israel-made Kaiser parked a yogurt-sour milk formula has be­ outside. come part of each dairy meal, and Word has it that Mr. Ben Zvi is felafel, a substitute for hot dogs; a traditional Jew. It is not uncom­ where cooking is done on little mon for him to be found in shul kerosene stoves supplied with on Shabboth and Yom Tov, and a “neft,” a smelly fuel from the familiar sight in the Rechavia disSept. - Oct., 1954 29

trict is the elderly president walk­ ing to his rabbi’s house for his veekly shiur in Talmud, escorted by a policeman carrying a heavy volume of the Talmud.

The Chief Rabbi’s home is also located in the Rechavia section. The bespectacled snowy white beard and modest countenance of the frail Rabbi Isaac Halevi Herzog is well known throughout the country.

Many a function has been graced by his presence. People, though, do not content themselves with thé honor of seeing the Rabbi at publié func­ tions, but form a steady beeline to his modest dwelling. Kiddush at the Chief Rabbi’s is an inspiring ex­ perience for visitors, but tremen­ dously straining on the beloved Rabbi and Rebbetzin.

Rabbi Herzog’s phenomenal mem­ ory is the talk of the land. It is not uncommon for the Rabbi to call a visitor by name, though he may not have seen him in fifteen or twenty years. Quite prominently displayed near the entrance of his house is a plaque presented to him some time ago by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.

His job is a trying one. The Chief Rabbinate is responsible for laws of marriage and divorce, often

for matters of inheritance and ar­ bitration, supervision of Kashruth, as well as implementation of the voluminous dicta of dinim hanoho* gim baoretz E- orlah, maasoaroth, shmitah, etc. ^FOLUMFS have been written about the beauty of Israeli children. The kibbutz child has little on his urban brother, who also receives the best of everything.

There are still many shortages in Israel, but you could hardly tell by looking at the youngsters. Noth­ ing is too good for them — eggs, milk and other “luxury items” are priority for youth.

Though surrounded by enemies, these children are psychologically secure. They grow as free and nor­ mal human beings with the assets and limitations that other well-ad­ justed children possess. The young­ er ones believe that things have al­ ways been this way; it is only the older ones, those who remember life in the old country and the struggle for life in the new, who sense their present real independ­ ence, and walk with their heads just a little more erect, breathing in deeply the pure free air of their homeland.

THE CALL OF THE SHOFAR Awake, ye slumberers, from your sleep, examine your deeds, and humbly return to G-d, the source of justice and truth. All ye who are absorbed in foolishness and forget yourselves, ye who pass your days in emptiness, remember your Creator, look into your soul, and amend your ways.

Forsake your impure thoughts and your wicked deeds, and follow kindness and righteousness. —Maimonides, 1135-1204

30

Jewish LIFE

By ELIEZER EBNER J>Y THE year 250 B.C.E. the books ^ of the Tanach, the Bible, with the exception of a few, were already canonized. However, Jewish reli­ gious literature continued to be created. From 300 B.C.E. to 100 C.E. there arose a body of litera­ ture, only part of which has reached us via Greek translations by early Christian church fathers. These books are called “Apocrypha,” which means “hidden away” or “se­ cret.” They are thus called because, although religious in character, they were never included in the sacred canon and remained, as the Rabbis called them, Chitzonim, “outside” books. We do not know how many of such books were writ­ ten. The Church selected those Apocryphal writings which they deemed compatible with the mood of Christianity and adopted them into Church canon.

Rabbi Akivah, the leading Tanna of his age, voiced emphatic appre­ hension over the possible danger to the purity of Jewish tradition emanating from these writings when he said: “He who reads the Sept. - Oct., 1954

‘outside’ books has no share in the world to come.”1 His colleague, Rabbi Tarfon, put it this way : “If they ever come into my house, I shall burn them together with the name of G-d they contain.” 2 These statements do not so much pass judgment upon the objective value of these writings, particu­ larly of those which deal with his­ torical and ethical themes — the book of Ben Sira is frequently quoted in the Gemora — but ra­ ther must their censure be under­ stood in the light of conditions in Rabbi Akivah’s time. Jewish re­ ligion fought a desperate war of defense. Roman policy under Em­ peror Hadrian called for a cruel suppression of Jewish religious practices. Spiritually Judaism had to ward off the confusing and per­ verting influences of Gnosticism and Syncretism, which were in vogue in the Graeco-Roman world, even while the Christian sect tried to gain followers among Jews and pagans alike.

1. Mishnah Sanh. 10, 1.

2. Yer. Shab. 16, 15c.

31

T H E Apocryphal books parallel in their content the books of the Bible, with the exception of the subject of law which had its own custodians in the Soferim, the Scribes, who were the teachers and interpreters of the Written Law. The Apocrypha themes are history (religiously interpreted) * narra­ tives with a moral purpose, lyric and didactic poetry, proverbial re­ flections and prophecies. Following this division, these are the books of the Apocrypha: I and II Esdras (Ezra), I, II, III Maccabees, Ju­ dith, Susanna, Tobit, Additions to Esther, Destruction of Bel and the Dragon (Additions to Daniel), Prayer of Manasses, Prayer of Azariah, IV Maccabees, Ben Sira (Wisdom of Sirach), Wisdom of Solomon, Epistle of Jeremiah and Book of Baruch.3 The content of these writings must be understood in light of the times in which they were written.

The work of the Soferim, beginning with Ezra, had borne fruit. Torah had moved to the center of Jewish life. Simeon the Just, High Priest who led the people in the middle of the third century B.C.E., accorded Torah first place, above Temple worship and the practice of kind deeds. 4 Zeal for the Law is a con­ stant theme, whether in the book of Ben Sira, which was written in 3. For the Text of the Apocryphal and Apo­ calyptic books see “Apocrypha and Pseudo-epigrapha,” translated by R. H. Charles, Oxford 1913. A new translation is now being sponsored by the Dropsie College of Philadelphia. For a detailed discussion of this literature see Meyer W axman: A History of Jewish Literature, Vol. 1 pp.

1 -4 4 .

4. Avoth 1, 2

32

the rather peaceful and prosperous pre-Maccabean era by a man of great experience and learning, who speaks of Torah as “wisdom,” or in II Maccabees, where the tenacity of the people in clinging to the Law of their; fathers, despite great tri­ bulations and distress, is empha­ sized. Judah Maccabee was not merely a great military leader, he was a man of exalted religious pur­ pose. The Apocalyptic book, Jubi­ lees, written rather early, main­ tains that not only the Written To­ rah, but the Oral Torah too was revealed to Moses, that it existed from the beginning of time, that it was observed by previous Bibli­ cal personages and that it has eter­ nal validity.

Undoubtedly, the authors of these writings were motivated not only by the desire to glorify the Torah per se, but by the desire to hold before the people the superiority of the Torah over other wisdoms and ways of life with which the people became acquainted. The most ser­ ious challenge to the Jewish way of life was, of course, first the peaceful and then the militant spread of Hellenism.

A separate group, though the * line of demarcation is not clear­ ly drawn, stand the Jewish Apo­ calyptic books, whose counterpart in the Bible is limited to some por­ tions of the books of Zechariah and Daniel. The author (who usually hides his identity, transferring by pseudonym, for reasons of greater effectiveness, the authorship to a Biblical personality), describes the Jewish LIFEr

things which were “revealed" to him in some mystical fashion; for Apocalypse means revelation. The subject matter of these writings is made up of eschatological ques­ tions, such as the immortality of the soul, the Day of Judgment, Resurrection, the Messiah and Olom Haba, the coming world of the righteous.

These are the boo,ks of the Apo­ calyptic literature: Jubilees, the Book of Adam and Eve, The Book of Enoch, The Testaments of the Patriarchs, The Assumption of Moses* the Psalms of Solomon, Apocalypse of Baruch, IV Esdras (E zra), Slavonic Enoch and the Sybilline Oracles. The curious fact of a fictitious authorship has given this literature the title of Pseudoepigrapha.

Again we must delve into the his­ torical setting of the books in order to understand their nature.

T H E MANY miseries to which the Jews of Palestine were subject­ ed during the last 250 years of the Second Commonwealth, culminating in /th e destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in the year 70 C.E., presented a problem to the pious that deeply agitated their minds: Where was G-d’s justice? Why did the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper? What of the glorious pre­ diction of Israel’s prophets in the face of foreign oppression and re­ ligious persecution? No doubt, some Jews, particularly during the Graeco-Syrian rule of Antiochus Epiphanes, broke under this strain, lost their faith, became assimilaSept. - Oct., 1954

tionists and turned apostate.

The Apocryphal authors gave abundant expression to this prob­ lem. They could not, of course, pro­ pose any immediate solution. The only thing they could do and which at times they did admirably well, was to strengthen the Jew’s faith in the ultimate vindication of G-d’s justice, lift up his painful outlook upon life to a wider horizon, where individual and universal salvation awaited him and justify these ex­ pectations by citing examples oi G-d’s mercy from the past.

There will be, they affirmed, a Day of Judgment on which reward and punishment will be meted out in accordance with individual beha­ vior. Those of the righteous who suffer and perish before the coming of the Messiah would find solace in the thought of the bliss in the life beyond this life and in the event­ ual resurrection of the body. There are two descriptions of the future noticeable. One is the spiritual as­ pect, like the immortality of the soul and its bliss in the Olom Ha­ ba and the other, a more material outlook, which envisages a revival of the dead in their physical form.

The same dualism exists in the treatment of the Messiah. There is one Messiah who is associated with material blessings and abund­ ance and one who will usher in an unending era of spiritual bliss for the elect. The one current of thought gives expression to the yearning for the immediate restor­ ation of the Davidic dynasty, with the establishment of national inde­ pendence and the vindication of Is* OQ du

rael’s chosenhood, while the other adopts a universalistic outlook, one which conceives of the Messiah to be divine and which encompasses the righteous of other nations to be beneficents of the paradisic age.

TT IS in the area of the treatment of the Messiah, which was high­ ly exploited by the Christian sect, that we must seek the reason for the antagonism of leading rabbis of the second century to these “outside” books. The apocalyptic books had become popular with groups and sects which did not anchor their way of life in the clear path of Pharisaic Judaism, with its insist­ ence upon law and observance, but searched for truth in the depths of mystical and fantastic theosophies.

To fence off the traditional body of beliefs and practices, the Rabbis drew a line of demarcation between the canonized Scriptures and the Oral Torah, on the one hand, and a literature that was not canonized and which, although intensely Jew­ ish, carried within it the potential of confusion and heresy.

Most of the Apocalyptic writings are assumed to have been written between 100 B.C.E. and 100 C.E., a period which is dominated by the shadow of imperial Rome. In 63 B.C.E. the Roman legions under Pompey, attracted by the rivalry of two Hasmonean brothers, invaded Eretz Yisroel and conquered Jeru­

34

salem. The subsequent rulers of the people were kings by the grace of Rome and not by the consent of the people, whom they alienated by their high and heavy-handed rule.

Their unpopularity intensified the expectations for the coming of the ideal Jewish king, the Messiah of the House of David. In the first cen­ tury of the common era these spiritual yearnings and national as­ pirations stirred the people into fervent anticipation of his imineiit arrival. So strong was this hope, that even Hellenized Jews, living in comparative freedom in Egypt, were seized by it.

Q E E N against this background, the books of the Apocrypha of­ fer us a rich insight into the prob­ lems and thoughts of Jewish writ­ ers who lived during one of the most formative periods of Jewish history. Their variety of topics and richness of style, noticeable even in the translations of the ori­ ginal Hebrew and Aramaic, are tes­ timony to the literary genius of Is­ rael, which found expression even after the conclusion of the canon of the Bible. When these writings were later frowned upon, literary creativity continued to flourish, finding expression in the codifica­ tion of the Mishnah and in the Midroshic interpretations and em­ bellishment of the Scriptures.

Jewish U F E

T^AVID Ben-Gurion recently suggested that upon the coming tercentenary of the excommunication of Spinoza in 1956, that excommunication be re­ voked, Spinoza be readmitted into the Jewish people, and a national edition of his works be published in Israel. Possibly the philosopher’s positive atti­ tude to Jews might be derived from this passage in the “Tractatus Theologico-Peliticus” — it may even make him a Zionist: “The symbol of circum­ cision . . . is so potent that I am convinced it alone will keep this nation alive forever. I would go so far as to believe that, if the foundations of their reli­ gion have npt enfeebled their minds, they may, if the occasion presents itself amid the changes to which human affairs are liable, even raise their empire anew, and that G-d may elect them a second time.”

Any appeal for a demonstration of poetic justice evokes sympathy. Jo assume the Zionist yearning for historic justification on the part of Spinoza is difficult, in view of his rational displeasure with all emotion, perhaps in­ cluding poetry. But in Ben-Gurion’s appeal we have a compound of stellar emotional attractions: a genius of modern thought, the unsavory intolerance of excommunication, and a chance to recoup for the intellectual tradition of Jewry a lost son whose reputation in the world has grown mightily since that sixth of Av in the city of Amsterdam.

JF THE original excommunication of Spinoza had been accompanied by any breast-beating engendered by the concept of Jewish corporate responsi­ bility, certainly the removal of the Cherem would have to be recited to the sombre tones of national repentance. It could not be possible that the former Prime Minister of Israel would admit the propriety of the original ostracism while advising a change of heart, not due to the return of a prodigal, but because of his great success and the changed historical situation.

V

Sept. - Oct., 1954

35

In the 1937 edition of his “Social ancl Religious History of the Jews,” Salo Baron remarked in his notes: “During recent memorials occasioned by the two-hundred-andfiftieth anniversary of *Spinoza’s death in 1927 and the threehundredth birthday anniversary in 1932, many Jewish pulpits and after-dinner speeches resounded with praise of the Amster­ dam philosopher as one of the greatest Jews of history. Jewish apologists of all kinds had long been prone to overlook not only his formal exclusion from the Jewish community, but also his violent attacks upon his inherited creed.”

Presumably, the formal exclusion is to be held against the Jewish com­ munity and not against Spinoza, notwithstanding the extenuating circum­ stances described by fair-minded historians. Even an admiring editor such as Joseph Ratner, in his prefatory biography to the Modern Library vol­ ume, grants that “The Jews of Amsterdam . . . knew that any significant default on the part of one member of their community would not be con­ sidered by the authorities to be a default of that person alone.” Strangely, it is in the Jewish histories that this is sometimes overlooked. In the new “Pictorial History of the Jewish People,” da Costa is lumped together with Spinoza as being subjected to “shameful humiliation and punishment meted out by the bigots.” Would it take too much space between the pictures to state that these supposed bigots were the sons of martyrs? Or would it be planting the seeds of intolerance in the minds of children to cast aspersions upon the “greatest philosopher the Jewish people produced?” In any event, in the eyes of Spinoza’s ethical determinism, innocence is irrelevant. “Men may be excusable, and nevertheless, be without blessedness.” By the same token, we shall have to discount the extenuating circumstances involved in the gentle philosopher’s “violent attacks upon his inherited creed.”

Apostate But Not Convert JN THE words of Baron: “Forced carefully to scrutinize every word with respect to the Christian Gospels, his criticism of the Hebrew Scriptures was much sharper than that of the New Testament. In fact, an im­ pression of leaning backwards when speaking of Jesus and the Gospels, while giving free reign to his emotional rather than intellectual opposition in discussing Mosaic legislation and He­ brew prophecy, is unavoidable.”

But as the father of Biblical criticism insisted on interpreting Scripture only by Scripture, and he eschewed the process of reading into the text any rationalization, let his Tractate speak for itself: “A man who can by pure intuition comprehend ideas . . . must necessarily possess a mind far superior to those of his fellow men, nor do I believe that any have been so S6

Jewish LIFE

endowed save Jesus. To him the ordinances of G-d leading men to salvation were revealed directly without words or visions . . . the wisdom of G-d took upon itself in Jesus human nature . . . the old law was given through an angel and not immediately by G-d, whence it follows that if Moses spoke with G-d face to face . . . Jesus communed with G-d mind to mind . . . Jesus was not so much a prophet as the mouthpiece of G-d . . . Jesus was sent to teach not only the Jews but the whole human race.” * IS only fair to state that Spinoza certainly did not accept the whole body of Christian dogma. In a letter to his friend Oldenburg, he admits he can­ not understand the doctrine of incarnation, and while he accepts the story of the passion, death and burial literally, he understands the doctrine of resur­ rection only allegorically. He was an apostate but not a convert; an apikoros but not a meshumad. He refused the invitation of his friends to join the Church. After he was through with the Jews, all his persecution c&me from his fellow Dutchmen who called him atheist, free-thinker, and ironically, Jew. He was unsparing in his criticism of the organized Christianity of his day. What was behind his kind attitude to primitive Christianity, to Jesus and the Apostles? Perhaps in the spirit of the Reformation he was looking for a “pure” form of religion. Perhaps as Dagobert Runes says in the in­ troduction to his “Soinoza Dictionary,” “He set down his sentences cagily, sometimes allegorically, often with tongue in cheek.”

It is difficult to assume this with reference to his negative pronounce­ ments concerning Jews and Judaism. “If they (the Jews) make money by a transaction they say G-d gave it to them . . . Moses could have condemned not merely the outward act but also the mental acquiescence (in adultery), as is done by Jesus, who taught only universal moral precepts, and for this cause promises a spiritual instead of a temporal reward . . . for the Phari|-es in their ignorance thought that the observance of the state law and the Mosaic law was the sum total of morality . . . ” These texts are not taken out of context. Spinoza adopts the whole mood and terminology of the New Testament, including the implicit assumptions that Christianity fulfills and universalizes the narrower Judaism, that Jesus was unique, that the yoke of the law has been removed.

INTERESTING parallel might be drawn between Spinoza and Jesus.

Ostensibly, both looked for an inner essence of religion. Jesus used the words “faith” and “love.” Spinoza used the same words but defined them as necessity and reason. Both underwent exclusion. Both were later recognized by other than their own people. Both had blessed Hebrew names: Yeshu, “he will help;” Baruch, “he is blessed.” Both were spurned on the one ♦Editor’s Note: Spinoza actually uses the designation for the founder of Christianity employed by be­ lieving Christians. We have substituted, in this passage and in other direct quotations, the given name.

Sept. - Oct., 1954

37

hand, and regarded as the source of salvation on the other. Nietzsche asso­ ciated them when, in an anti-Antisemitic passage, he refers to the Jews as having produced “the most .loving of men (Jesus), the most upright of sages (Spinoza), the mightiest book, the most effective moral law.”

We do not wish to press the analogy, but is it not true that there is some similarity between the “liberal” effort to place Jesus among, or even at the head of, the Jewish prophets, and the eagerness to find a place for Spinoza in the galaxy of Jewish philosophers? Perhaps Jewry will have to content itself with a narrower spiritual pantheon, which will have to ex­ clude some of its wandering sons who have been accepted by the world, but whose boundaries will be more sincerely and more genuinely delineated.

There is more integrity in the admission that great minds and great souls can develop in other milieus than in the greedy endeavor to sweep in as many geniuses as possible into the Jewish hall of fame.

Supposed Jewish Influences JtfEITHER an identity in abstract doctrine, which becomes visible after a process of distilling essence, nor a point of contact in specific details of accident, is sufficient to place a man and his work within a tradition.

The fact that Spinoza ground lenses for a living is attributed to the Talmudic praise for manual labor. Supposedly, his refusal of the professorship at Heidelberg offered by the Palatinate could be based upon the dictum in Pirkey Ovoth, “Usna, eth horabbonuth ^ Hate mastery.” Should his celibacy be paralleled with that of Ben Azai? Any number of traits of any number of people could thus be traced to some saying in a literature as rich as that of Judaism.

Alexander Altman in the article on Judaism and World Philosophy in the anthology “The Jews,” edited by Louis Finkelstein, acknowledges the obvious pantheistic nature of Spinoza’s philosophy, yet looks for the Jewish influence on his thought. He connects the doctrine of necessity with the Biblical concept of the omnipotence of G-d; Spinoza’s reduction of mind and matter to modes of one universal substance he attributes to the “Jewish passion for Unity.” Whereas Judaism has always objected to the identification of G-d with nature, Altman sees the way out by describing Spinoza’s system as having “nature exalted to G-d.” The fact that Spinoza comes to philosophy, not from physical science, mathematics or logic, but from the practical problem of ethics, he traces to his irrepressible Jewish moralism. The idea of virtue being its own reward is, of course, similar to the admonition of Antigonos not to be as the servant that worships his master for the sake of a reward. It is true that Maimonides concludes his “Guide” with a rhapsodic hymn to the intellectual love of G-d as the highest human happiness, as Spinoza does in his “Ethics.” Some have called Spinoza “G-d intoxicated.” Finally, Spinoza is supposed to have restored 38

Jewish LIFE

the world to its innocence, by positing the antithesis of the Christian doctrine of original sin.

the fact remains that Spinoza’s pantheism is not monotheism. Meta­ physics offers alternatives as to the basic substance of the universe: Idealism, only spirit exists; Materialism, only matter exists; Dualism, both spirit and matter exist eternally; Monotheism, G-d alone exists eternally; matter is created by G-d. As Meyer Waxman points out in his “History of Jewish Literature” Spinoza took his independent path as an attempt to solve the puzzle of Creation. Juda­ ism, both traditional and philosophic, had been definite on G-d creating from nothing. Perhaps Gersonides and Crescas compromised with the etern­ ity of matter. Spinoza, perhaps influ­ enced by them and also by the Cab­ ala, went one step further by mak­ ing both spirit and matter eternal through their identification. Appar­ ently his passion for unity was great­ er than that for Judaism. Whereas Judaism insisted on Achduth Haborey ■ — the unity of Divinity, inter­ penetrating the world but separate from it, above it, independent of it — Spinoza unified the world and G-d.

Spinoza at Study The fact also remains that Spinoza denied free-will. If this makes all men innocent, it also robs them of the opportunity for accomplishment.

For the naive it is difficult to see what ethics are possible after all is deter­ mined. Virtue is that which follows from man’s necessary nature. Man’s nature is determined by previous causes. Even man’s thought is deter­ mined by preceding thought. There is no sense in preachment and damna­ tion. But then there is also no sense in writing philosophy, in searching for truth, or in demonstrating that all is determined. For no more truth will be found than is previously destined to be found.

"DEN-GURION, living in retirement in Sdeh Boker, is perhaps thinking of Spinoza living in his one room, working at his lenses, eating his simple food, chatting with the landlady downstairs, and writing his great work. But how can this moulder of the Jewish State, with his forty years Sept. - Oct., 1954

89

in the thick of the battle in the area of human affairs, overlook the quietism that pervaded Spinoza's character? How can he ignore the philosopher's contempt for action as compared to thought? One word was inscribed on Spinoza's seal: Caution. While we must admire his steadfastness in face of the pressure of the Jewish community, the attempt on his life, the mob that came to his house after he had crossed the battle lines between the Dutch and the French armies, the offer to teach at Heidelberg, the bid to baptism, the isolation and the name calling — yet can we simply write off as proper discretion his flattery of the Gospels, his anonymous publications, and his glorification of the state?

If his retiring isolation showed a distain for human power and its trappings, it also saved him from the suffering that accrues to those who resist power. Bruno was burned. Spinoza's teacher, Van den Ende, died on the gallows as a revolutionary in France. His patron De Witt was torn to pieces by a mob supporting the House of Orange in Holland.

Concerning this event we are told that Spinoza lost his composure for the first time in his life and broke into raging tears. He wanted to go to the place where the murder occurred and plant an inscription reading: Uliimum Barb arum. But he permitted his landlord to restrain him from th’s action Ratner assures us that even on his own, Spinoza had “not the least aspira­ tion to be a martyr." He refers to “Spinoza's hard-headed political and ethical realism.” Discretion he defined as “rational valor." His policy was to “incur as little official displeasure as possible.”

One thinks of the Amsterdam Jewish community and the discretion that motivated them. One thinks of the courage of Nachmanides and the many others who, whin forced into the public disputes, spoke their minds freely upon Christianity, even though they had as much to lose by winning the debate as by losing. One thinks of the Marrano forbears of Spinoza who underwent torture and death, and also of those who refused to become Marranos. These things took place in the very same year of his excom­ munication. Perhaps not all the righteousness and bravery was on Spinoza's side in his dispute with the synagogue.

JJOW CAN Spinoza satisfy Ben-Gurion's criteria for greatness, particularly greatness as a Jew? These criteria would have to be at least four: Judaism, Zionism, Activism, Democracy. Can we possibly stretch Judaism to such a vacuous definition as would permit the body of Spinozism to enter into it? Spinoza's conjecture that the Jews might erect a state once more was prompted by the stirrings over Shabbathai Tzevi which took place at the time. Such a consummation would not have had his approval because he did not have a high regard for his people.

He was not an activist, but a quietist who thought philosophers were more important than kings and did not recommend their combination. Was Spinoza a democrat? Russell sums up his Political Treatise in this manner: 40

Jewish LIFE

“He holds that the sovereign can do no wrong J . . the Church should be entirely subordinate to the State. He is opposed to all rebellion, even against a bad government . . . he holds freedom of opinion important.” Today, perhaps many would settle for freedom of opinion. But can we say Spinoza’s political theory is democracy? Of course, the Dutch ruler De Witt admired him and protected him from his enemies. / It seemed just to oppose the resistance of the monarchists of the House of Orange who were supported by the clergy and the mob in the streets. But should Spinoza have allowed his judgment to sway from the local situation to the general? He advised all men to view matters^ sub specie aeternitatis, xmder the aspect of eternity.

1 1

T H E WORLD must have^eitheiLproof of truth or a guarantee of usefulness before it will accept a philosophy. Despite the geometric structure of the “Ethics,” the procession from definition to axiom to proposition, Russell is not convinced: “The whole of this metaphysic is impossible to accept; it is incompatible with modern logic and with scientific method. Facts have to be discovered by observation, not by reasoning; when we infer the future, we do so by means of principles which are not logically necessary, but are suggested by empirical data. The concept of substance, upon which Spinoza relies, is one which neither science nor philosophy can nowadays accept.”

But others have even questioned the consistency of the saint. An interest­ ing critique is that of L. L. Whyte in “The Next Age in Development of Man.” Spinoza’s position, which has a “superficial appearance of both religion and science” and sees “no sin in the eyes of G-d” is “relatively unfertile.” While it may be the “highest expression of idealism in the world’s literature,” the only thing wrong with it is that “his reading of nature and human nature was wrong.” And Whyte uses the test of Spinoza’s own life to determine the value of the truth of his philosophy. “Honesty in thought can only exist beside integrity in life.” Integrity we had assumed as Spinoza’s strongest point — where could he have failed?

“The eternal conflicts which he sought to escape still re­ mained reflected in his own heart. He renounced the world of men ^and women to pursue a lonely harmony. In his heart he failed to maintain that transcendent aesthetic comprehension in which all things are pure because necessary. In Spinoza the static ele­ ment represented a failure to live and think according to his own conceptions!”

Sept. - Oct., 1954

41

By JACOB RASSEN As Told to Arnold J. Miller ■JPHE TIME was early 1944 when the Nazi hordes had already engulfed most of eastern Europe.

The place was the concentration camp of Popervallen in Latvia, not far from the shores of the Baltic Sea. The crowded, bestial condi­ tions under which we lived threw me into contact with all manner of humanity, ofttimes in the most in­ timate fashion. One man stands out in my memory — never to be forgotten.

He was a blond young man, in his early thirties, from the city of Riga. Levin was his name. Not only was he possessed of the high­ est education in juridical and bio­ logical studies, but he was also an outstanding scholar of the Ger­ manic language and literature. In addition he was fluent in several other European languages. All his life he had been a “free thinker,1” that is, a person without any par­ ticular religious beliefs or convic­ tions.

42

Strangely enough, however, from the day that he was first herded into the Riga ghetto prior to be­ ing transported to our camp, and thus came into contact with a number of pious fellow-Jews, he began to evidence a keen interest in religious and social problems.

From then on, one might say, he began his personal pilgrimage along the road to faith and re­ ligion.

JpROM the confines of the Riga ghetto he was transported to the concentration camp of which I was then an inmate. By the time I met him he was already a deeply pious man, rationally convinced of the philosophical and logical validi­ ty of his religious tenets. Although by nature a quiet man, introspec­ tive and reticent, he was capable on occasions of holding a long dis­ sertation on religion and on social problems, and of demonstrating upon rational grounds the existJewish LIFE

ence of a Divine power over man and nature and the consequent necessity of our adhering to the Divine Will in human affairs. He would pray three times a day whether alone or in concert with a minyan, which he would assemble in some secreted spot, despite the ever present danger of apprehen­ sion and punishment by the guards.

Twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays, he would fast the en­ tire day, not touching his paltry food portions, and would distribute these to his usual “clients,” the weak and the sick.

To one who has never experi­ enced it, the incessant gnawing of hunger is a force which can not be fully appreciated. In camp we used to say, “Hunger breaks iron.”

And the truth of the matter is that the urge to satisfy one’s hunger supercedes and displaces all other human instincts. The hope of obtaining an added morsel of food to supplement their starvation diet led men to disregard great person­ al dangers, and more than one un­ fortunate soul in our midst was done brutally to death by our cruel masters upon being detected in the quest for extra food.

JT CAN surely be said of Levin then, without exaggeration, that he lived not for himself but for others. To better and to lighten the harsh lot of the other men was his constant concern. For him­ self he needed almost nothing and asked for nothing. His deeds were a martyrdom and a self-sacrifice almost unbelievable.

Sept. - Oct., 1954

Levin managed to get himself appointed a “capo” or overseer of a working group whose duty it was to go into the S.S. barracks every day to chop wood, haul coal, and to do all manner of servile work. He used to take upon him­ self the very hardest work and, despite his own emaciated condi­ tion, would carry it out with alac­ rity and dispatch. Thanks to his exceptional knowledge of the Ger­ man language and literature he acquired a few “friends” among the German military and they quite frequently engaged him in conversation. I used to wonder, upon hearing him several times, at the way Levin would expound his own political and strategic con­ cepts to the Germans and at the manner in which his “friends” lis­ tened attentively to his words. His boldness awed me.

Levin had an ulterior motive, if we may call it that, for working in the S.S. barracks. In the kitch­ en of the S.S. compound a consider­ able amount of waste food or gar­ bage was left over almost every day. Thanks to Levin’s willing­ ness to place his life in constant danger and to his “friendship” with the Germans, he managed to “loot” this waste food and smuggle it into our camp. Every evening at a designated spot dozens of starved, withered human beings would be waiting for Levin, ready to receive their “second portions,” as they were called. It was an un­ forgettable sight to witness with what inner joy and spiritual beau­ ty Levin used to apportion the food, 43

down to the last morsel. But he himself refused to partake of any­ thing!

Y e t ANOTHER purpose did Levin have in working in the S. S. barracks, namely, to keep us informed as to current affairs as much as possible. His German “friends” carefully looked the other way while Levin used to lis­ ten in to their ra­ dio every day to learn t h e latest news from t h e fighting fronts. He would also borrow their newspapers.

At great risk to himself he would, bring them into the concentration camp and turn them over to us to read. In this fashion we were always ac­ quainted with the developments at the various fronts and even, to some extent, with world news.

It was then already the time of German military reversals and their news reports from the front were unclear, slanted, and often replete with lies. However, we had already learned to read between tiie lines and we extracted “the choicest morsels” with which to renew our courage and hope to assuage the bitterness of our slave existence. Frequently we would hold meetings with Levin in some secreted place and he would dis44

course on vital political and strate­ gic matters. What a remarkable moral strength and spiritual vi­ tality must one have, in the midst of such a bestial environment, to be able to consider and to formu­ late solutions to mankind’s profoundest problems, as Levin used to do! jDUT TO all things comes a time.

At the beginning of spring, when I was as­ signed to work as a gardener around the S.S. barracks, my boss, the cook, called me over and confided to me that things looked black for Levin. Someone had accused him of being a spy. I was advised to warn him that he was subject to being arrested and shot at any moment. I was given to understand that it would be wise for him to plead with his overseers to be assigned to work elsewhere and not to be seen in the barracks any more.

I could hardly contain myself until I had delivered the message to Levin that evening. The fear­ ful news, however, made absolute­ ly no impression on him. He had already long felt that such might be his end and his principal con­ cern, as always, was what would happen to his “clients” — how would the food scraps from the Jewish LIFE

barracks continue to be brought to the hungry men of the camp? He refused to consider leaving his “post.” It was only when his com­ panions among the barracks work­ ers employed the argument that his continued presence would place all their lives in jeopardy that he finally consented to cease going to the barracks.

This time something in the na­ ture of a miracle happened. Levin was indeed arrested for a short while. He was subjected to jn terrogation . . . and was let free . . . not executed. Never again did he go to the barracks and never again did the food scraps find their way into the hands of the starved and emaciated.

QOME WEEKS later I encoun­ tered Levin in another camp, bruised and sorely beaten for the crime of having been caught pray­ ing in concert with others. And still later, while underway from camp to camp, I saw him briefly with the usual sad sweet smile on

his countenance and looking ten times as hungry as before. I had with me a few pieces of bread smeared with butter which I had managed to acquire secretly. I gave a couple of pieces to Levin.

He in turn took two bites for him­ self and the rest he divided among those around him.

This was typical of Levin — “Saint” Levin as we used to call him in the camp, not in sport but in the full literal meaning of the word. He was truly a saintly per­ sonality, modest, full of knowledge and deep understanding, yet withal a person of unbending and inflex­ ible will with regard to his own self denial. Truly, truly was he one of the spiritual great of the world.

I don’t know what finally became of him. Together with others he was transported to Germany. Do you yet live, you saintly Levin, you who so selflessly devoted the tragedy-laden days of your life to help your hungry and thirsty fel­ low men? Do you yet live?

MUTUAL RESPONSIBILITY Why w as the confession (of Yom Kippur) arranged in the plural number# so that w e say, "We are guilt-laden/' instead o£ "I am guilt-laden"? Because all Israel is one body, and every individual Israelite a member of that body.

Hence follows mutual responsibility among all the mem­ bers. — Isaac Luria

Sept. - Oct., 1954

45

By ALFRED WERNER ^TERY FEW of those who, last spring, flocked to the Brooklyn Museum’s exhibit of works by Myer Myers, or who read Miss Jeannette W. Rosenbaum’s new biography of that early American Jewish silversmith are aware that in New York today can be found a craftsman in silver and gold, brass and copper of equal industry and skill. This modern Bezalel is Ilya Schor.

The master who quietly cele­ brated his fiftieth birthday last April is, indeed, a link in the great Jewish tradition of craftsmanship that started in very ancient times.

Schor, incidentally, often talks of the widespread Jewish participa­ tion in the arts and crafts in the face of all obstacles in his native Poland. Skills were handed down from father to son through the centuries, in strict observance of the Talmudic admonition that a Jewish father ought to teach his son a trade, “for if one does not 46

do so, it is like teaching his son robbery.” Before the era of eman­ cipation no Jew in Eastern Europe could attend a trade school, and the Christian guilds used any means at hand to eliminate Jewish competi­ tion. Nevertheless, in 1786 all pewterers and coppersmiths in Lub­ lin were Jewish, and in 1797 there were more Jewish than Christian goldsmiths in Posen (Poznan). p Y A Schor’s father, Naftali, was a master craftsman, a shildenmoler, specializing in painting cows and chickens, plus the required leg­ end in Yiddish and Polish, for the meat and poultry shops of Zloczow, a medium-sized city in Galicia.

From the elder Schor—who died at the venerable age of eighty-six shortly before the outbreak of World War II — Ilya inherited the diligence and painstaking accuracy demanded by the always over-exacting patrons of a sign-painter.

He obtained his Jewish background Jewish LIFE

from this saintly man, but it was chiefly Ilya’s olderJbrother, Moses, a Hebrew scholar, who encouraged the youngster to become a profes­ sional painter, a Kunstmoler.

(Moses Schor was to die a martyr’s death in the Warsaw ghetto.)

Schor spent eight years of his adolescence .apprenticed to an en­ graver. This time was not wasted, for not only did Ilya earn his liveli­ hood as an engraver while attend­ ing the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, but the feeling for metal which he acquired was invaluable when he became a silversmith. Al­ though he had to work to support himself, Schor graduated from the Academy with honors, and he even received a scholarship to continue his studies in France. He arrived in Paris in 1937, worked as a sil­ versmith, but also studied at the

Sept. - Oct., 1954

Ecole des Beaux Arts, sent paint­ ings to various exhibitions, and settled down happily with his bride, Rezia; herself a gifted painter, in this city which has welcomed so many talented Jews from the days when Camille Pis­ sarro arrived there from the West Indies. " ■ * But the period of Schor’s bliss in Paris was brief. Like Chagall, Lipchitz, Mane-Katz and^ other Montparnassians, the Schors ar­ rived in New York in 1941.^T he initial worries and problems of ad­ justment were overcome by the in­ trepid and frugal Schors. Facing the difficulty of living in a new country on the sale of one’s pic­ tures, the determined Schor set up shop as a silversmith, and after a while had enough commissions, tto provide for a family now including two daughters born in this country.

T H E R E \are three Ilya Schors : A the graphic artist, the painter, and the. Silversmith. Schor’s book illustrations, especially those fpr works by Sholem Aleiehem, are in| sufficiently known, though they are I real gems of woodcutting. His rich Ffantasy crowds a, multitude of fas­ cinating detail into small compass.

He captures humor as well as tragedy in rhythmically whirling designs reminiscent of folk art as well as of medieval miniatures.

Schor’s poetic rendering of poor Mottel’s trek from the shtaetel to the confusing skyscrapers of New York matches the charm of the be­ loved book, The Adventures of Mottel, 47

■ ¡■ M ili® M M R iiiiiiifiiM fi

Three; of Ilya Schor's masterpieces in metal are his Kether Torah (Torah Crown),., above, a besohiim' box with engraved signs of the zodiac on the b ase/ left, and a wedding cup, center, bearing the pageant of; musicians, approaching the chupah. Chosid on lid raises his arms in expression of religious ecstasy.

Schor feels that he is not suffi­ ciently appreciated as a painter.

But his 1953 one-man show at New York’s Salpeter Gallery got at least favorable comments in the profes­ sional magazines. The same sen­ sitivity that guides his hand when he produces book miniatures ren­ dered with the skill and devotion of a medieval sofer serves him ini gouaches or oils describing jugs, flowers and leaves with love and tenderness, albeit with cool re­ straint in color. (His pure atH stractions seem to me less success­ ful.) But the bulk df his pictorial work is—and one might say: of course!—inspired by reminiscences of the artist’s youth. He still re­ members very clearly the bearded Chasidim in their fur-caps, the pious families gathered around the table, the musicians, the country Jews with their domestic animals.

He is at his best in very small pictures, often no larger than eight by ten inches. One of these, show­ ing a sofer, in tallith and tefillin, painstakingly copying a scroll of the Law, has been reproduced many times.

TLTE ACHIEVED his greatest ac­ claim, however, as a worker in metal. With the rise of the ma­ chine age, punch presses and power lathes replaced the hand crafts­ man, factory-made baubles took the place of beautiful objects lovingly fashioned and the silversmith al­ most became an extinct species.

But in récent years there has been a turn back to originality and in­ dividuality, and of these two quali50

ties Schor certainly has more than anyone else. It is astonishing how little he needs in tools and space to conjure up the most elaborate fantasies in metal. In the Schor home on West 79th Street, Man­ hattan, a tiny room is set aside as a workshop. The tools here are Jjasically the same as those used by King Solomon’s craftsmen, or those still employed by Yemenite masters —blow pipes, hammers, mallets, pliers, shears, files, saügs, drills, polishing materials, except that gas and electricity now save human forcé and energy. Still, seeing him bend, form, raise, planish and polish on his small work-bench, one needs little imagination to feel transferred into a work-shop of the pre-machine age. For him, no time-saving devices seem to exist, as he spends days and weeks and even months on an item that can be slipped into a pocket. What a keen eye is needed for the fineness of detail, and what patience is de­ manded to bring a work to its ultimate finish!

QCHOR luckily finds plenty of f compensation in his work (for whatever customers pay, the sum total of an artist’s labor can never be repaid in dollars and cents!).

In his work, he finds outlets for his imagination, his sense of humor, his metaphysical thirst. Rarely, if ever, do his customers, be they lay­ men or representatives of religious institutions, endeavor to give him more than the barest outlines for a commissioned work, realizing that it would make no sense to limit Jewish LIFE

Schor’s unmatched fantasy ■ — and they are not disappointed. Schor actually likes to set himself the most difficult tasks.

For instance, ordinarily silver­ smiths are content to decorate the outside of a piece, leaving the in­ side untouched. Not so Schor. Most ox his brooches, bracelets, and ear­ rings are filled out completely on all sides with intricate design, often so delicate that it pays to look at them through a magnifying glass in order to appreciate fully all the twists of his inexhaustible fantasy.

Take one of his celebrated pieces, a brooch, presenting figures that turn about — lovely ladies on one side, gay cavaliers on the other. In another brooch he shows the Greek philosopher, Diogenes, searching for his honest man with a tiny, free-swinging lantern. On the other side a child gazes up­ ward to a heart — yet the face of the heart swings aside to reveal a fanged serpent!

TEWISH motifs are often included ^ in items meant for secular use.

Typical is a beautiful silver brooch which shows the traditional Sab­ bath table, with the mother light­ ing the candles. Even where his work is destined for ritual use, he does not restrain his vivid imagina­ tion. I remember one besomim box, less than nine inches high, in thé possession of that famous collector, Charles E. Feinberg of Detroit. It is shaped like a tower. On the octagonal base are engraved signs of the zodiac, while the stem is decorated with harvest scenes^ Sept. - Oct., 1954

There are opening doors in the upper part of the tower which is filled with figures, pomegranates and flower blossoms. To avoid re­ semblance to a church tower, crafts­ men usually topped the spice box with a gay weather-vane. Schor often places a delightful little winged angel, or another figure on the top.

Making a yortzeit lamp, Schor filled the circle on the top with the Hebrew months, while each panel was made to bear a sentence of a prayer above the illustration. On a wedding cup, the center is filled with a gay pageant of musicians ap­ proaching the bridal canopy, while on the top of the lid a Chosid in prayer shawl raises his arms in ex­ citement. A candlestick is designed to show a balcony from which wo­ menfolk gaze down on the proces­ sion with the scroll. A particular masterpiece is his capsule for a

51

mezuzah: in this tiny confine is seen a family of three at the portal of a medieval synagogue . . .

QCHOR “suffers” with what is known as horror vaeui. Like the medieval illuminators of Haggadoth, or like the equally anonymous miniaturists of the Middle East and India, he objects to empty spaces.

This is, perhaps, not in keeping with the modernistic spirit, with a modern art that often presents us with large areas of monotones, with a blankness that cannot easily find a response in the onlooker’s rest­ less heart. But Schor, though a “realist” in his work in metal, does

not simply copy the masters of yes­ terday. He is modern in the sim­ plification of his figures, in “dis­ tortions” for the sake of emotional emphasis and drama, in composi­ tion that sees the highest good in beautiful design.

On the other hand, there are few contemporary masters who can compare with Schor in craftsmanship and skill.

To be more precise, there is none at all. One has to go back to Israel Roukhomovsky and his sons to find men who were his peers, who werjj filled, like Bezalel, with the spirit of G-d, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all man­ ner of workmanship.

UNDER THE ETHROG TREE The Midrash relates that when the Jewish mothers were about to give birth in Egypt, they went out into the fields and there gave birth to their children under the Ethrog trees.

In order to appreciate the deep significance of this Midrash, we must remember the Talmudic statement to the effect that all trees usually bear leaves first and then fruit, with the one exception of the Ethrog tree that has a reverse order.

Leaves naturally serve as a protection to the fruit from a scorching sun or from a storm. Teleologically, the fruit waits for its protector. The Ethrog, however, blossoms forth first because it has full trust and confidence that the leaves will follow. Now the story is complete. The Midrash paints for us a most beautiful and stirring picture of the Jewish mother in Egypt. She knew the fate that awaited her children by the hands of Pharaoh. Death was decreed for sons# slavery and persecution for daughters. Yet the Jewish mother pos­ sessed an indomitable spirit of courage and hope. Like the Ethrog tree she did not wait for the protector to come first.

She gave birth to her offspring in full trust and confidence that its protection will come too, that G-d will not forsake her child.

— Chochmachim Nachlah III., 31.

52

Jewish LIFE

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B y JOSEPH K AM IN ETSK Y TN A challenging article which api peared in the Shevat 5713 issue of J ewish L ife , Rabbi Simon A. Dolgin enunciated two principles which he feels should constantly be borne in mind by those responsible for the more effective Jewish rear­ ing of our children: 1) the staffing of our schools by men and women who are observant Jews and believe what they teach; and 2) the setting up of a program calculated to pro­ vide our children with opportunities for actual participation in Jewish life through the practice of the mitzvoth. Every responsible or­ thodox Jewish educator in this country will underwrite these prin­ ciples.

They are crucial in our attempts to inculcate in our grow­ ing generation a genuine regard for those values which will assure the continuation of traditional Judaism as we have known it throughout the generations.

It is no secret that the problem of staffing our orthodox schools •— Day Schools especially—with com­ petent, well-trained and experienced traditional teachers is becoming Sept. - Oct., 1954

really acute. In many circles the matter is receiving some earnest attention. Yet, what of the loyal, religious-minded teachers we do have in our schools today? Not all of our teachers fall into the category of the mere “detached maskilim” whom Rabbi Dolgin so effectively derides. What seems to deter our really religious teachers from effectively achieving the kind of education for which he argues so vehemently — that which will stress actual practice of Jewish values rather than mere knowledge of subject-matter?

T H E ANSWERS to these moot * questions will take us too far afield. They will have to take into account, among other factors: the lack of adequate technical prepa­ ration for our teachers, the almost complete absence of “in-service” training programs in our schools, our apparent inability to institute effective parent-education groups as part of our programs, and a critical analysis of the status of Orthodoxy in America. But we are not prim53

arily interested here in diagnosis; child psychology. Even before the we would rather concern ourselves child is enrolled in a p/e-school with some consideration of a num­ group (and such group/ are now ber of approaches and techniques part and parcel of our education­ calculated to enrich the educational al system ), the parent at home programs now being pursued in must provide opportunities for the orthodox Jewish schools. From my religious expression of his off­ own experience, I have found that spring. A special Kiddush cup what our teachers need is more for the baby-boy{ and special can­ knowledge of methodology rather dle-holders for/She little girl, for than awareness of and adherence instancpTshouldrb^ part of the edu­ to basic principles.

The will to cational externa/ of the Jewish train real Jews is there; what is home asNsoon^as possible. No age desperately needed are ways and is too young to begin the religious means to concretize the high objec­ training of our children. As never tives to which we all pay more than before in our history, perhaps, have adequate lip-service. we begun to realize the genuine Here, then is a series of ten such psychological truth contained in the approaches to the teaching of reli­ words of the Psalmist: Out of the gious values which I have come to mouths of babes and sucklings hast realize are most strategic in our Thou founded Thy strength. educational pattern.

They apply to all of us who have a stake in 2. Love and Understanding the educative process: administra­ tors, teachers and parents; and IIT LEAST in two dramatic must be made operative in school, passages in the Talmud (Kesuhome and community HH if we are bot 50a and Baba Bathra 21a), our to train a new generation of gen­ Sages decry rigorous disciplinary uine Jews. action in guiding our children to­ Frankly, the number 10 in it­ wards an appreciation of our val­ self is a technique — calculated to ues.

“A man is duty-bound to indicate by association how crucial roll with his child in his tender the following factors are in hand­ years” — is the literal translation ing over to our children a genuine of the wise words of our Rabbis. respect for the major principles of Patience, understanding and even our faith. play can accomplish far more than stern reprisals in training our 1. An Early Start children to live religiously.

Any teacher will tell you that JT IS important to begin the reli­ his most effective religious lessons gious training of our children were taught to children upon whom at an early age. The basic pat­ he showered real kindness and love. terns of personality are determined The mere didactic recital of reli­ in the truly tender years, we have gious habits will produce feeble re­ come to know from our study of sults. A “big-brother” attitude of 54 11 Jewish LIFE

friendship on the part of parent and teacher to his younger charge is a genuine desideratum in this day and age.

The practice of such love implies necessarily a true understanding of the child. The dictum of the wise King Solomon, “Train the child ac­ cording to his ways,” indicates the necessity to understand the child's habits and needs at every stage in his development. Knowledge of our children's ways, patience with their habits, and genuine love of them as human beings are, thus, corol­ laries to effective training.

3.

Accentuating the Positive

dren, for instance, we should stress the concepts of “oneg” (delight) and “kovod” (honor) repeatedly, before going over to “shemirath Shabbath” an examination of the prohibitions connected with the day's observance.

You may recall Samuel Gross­ man's famous monologue, “Why Benjy Likes Purim” — in which Benjy states that he prefers that holiday because it does not have “so many dont's” as the other festivals.

4.

The Law of Motivation

^ N O T H E R of the basic laws of learning is that concerning It TRUE love of your child or motivation. In plain language, it pupil as child will lead you to is important to “make a fuss” over constant awareness of one of the the religious habits we want to im­ basic laws of learning: the law of press upon our children, in order to effect, or of “satisfyingness and arouse their curiosity and get them annoyingness.” A child will learn involved in the process. This is quickly those lessons which he en­ best done by giving the child a joys, and will eschew those exper­ real stake in the entire experience, iences which are thrust upon him capitalizing on his interests, and forcibly.

It is good psychology, putting his individual preferences therefore, to begin your presenta­ to work. tion of religious habits with a For instance, Sammy will learn series of joyful experiences stress­ best about Sukkoth if weeks be­ ing the positive aspects of Juda­ fore the holiday you begin to draw ism. up the blue-print for the Sukkah One of our great “Rishonim,” an you are going to build, letting him early Rabbinic commentator, the do part of the carpentry work him­ Rashba, suggests that the positive self when the time comes. His commandments should be first in interest in arts and crafts will also the order of the teaching of the motivate his counting the Omer re­ mitzvoth. In the same vein, in gularly if you help him draw an our teaching of religious values we Omer calendar of his own. should “accentuate the positive”—* In the exciting, dramatic pre­ to borrow a phrase from a well sentation of genuine Jewish habits, known contemporary song. In pre­ teacher and parent must carefully senting the Sabbath to our chil- set the stage even as any producSept. - Oct., 1954 55

tion manager. Astute planning, keeping the child’s interests in mind, and letting him express his individuality will yield treipendous results.

5.

Religion Taught by Example

^■HE THIRD of the basic laws of learning is often forgotten or overlooked — the law of imitation or “learning by precept.” Rabbi Dolgin, as above, made this prin­ ciple the cornerstone of his pre­ sentation and it needs little ela­ boration here.

“Children learn religious values best by example,” I once heard the great Professor William H. Kil­ patrick state. No amount of di­ dactic teaching can do what a con­ crete act in the presence of chil­ dren can accomplish. Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, in one of his fam­ ous lectures which I heard, also indicated the great drawing power of personal inspiration in guiding one to religious living.

Parents must be the kind of teachers Rabbi Dolgin wants to see in our schools — those who will inspire religious living through actual practice.

6.

m

Controlling the Environment

ORDER to present our values ■effectively, we need the proper social milieu or atmosphere. Hence the urgency of creating the proper Jewish environment both at home and in the school.

Inspiration to Jewish scholar­ ship — or “learning” as such (there is no way of “stam lernen lishmah”) — can come oft-times 56

mòre effectively through the pre­ sence of “seforim” and books in the home or class-room than through lectures on “Talmud To­ rah.” The habit of Jewish prayer will more easily be impressed upon our children through the setting up of a little “Beth Medrosh” in the school for “Junior Services” (a bad term which we use only be­ cause of its popularity) than through the mere study of the laws of prayer the mere Shulchon Oruch.

The success of the Day School as a medium of Jewish education can be primarily attributed to the fact that it operates in a stable, more permanent Jewish environ­ ment than that offered by any other type of school.

7.

Dominating the Child's Time

'J'HE SENSE of constant aware­ ness which must accompany our efforts to teach our children reli­ gious values must be carried over too, to indirect forms of educa­ tion, as has already been implied in some of the techniques outlined above. We must be on the watch for any opening which will lend itself to the presentation of our basic truths and habits. One such excellent technique I call : dominat­ ing the child’s time.

This does not imply the constant feeding of subject matter and con­ tinuous poring over books. Far from it. It rather indicates the need to arrange for recreational activities through which we can easily and painlessly “smuggle” in Jewish values. A trip to the East Side of New York City which I Jewish LIFE

periodically arranged for my West Side students invariably included a visit to the Rabbi Jacob Joseph School and a “seforim” store — during which I taught more about Torah and Prayer than I could in class.

The proper exploitation of time is an important technique for teacher and parent to master.

8.

Doing Things Together

TIT HOME much can be accom­ plished through joint family activities. While it may be dif­ ficult to get Chaim to review his Gemorah on Shabbos on his own, the arranging of a “family discus­ sion hour” around the Shabbostable will invariably get him to give ample expression to the basic concepts he learned at school dur­ ing the week. A “weekly readinghour” at home will not only offset the insidious “télévision craze” of our day; it will make for the shar­ ing of experiences by all members of the family, cementing the proper relationships so much needed in our modern-day society.

At school, the sponsoring of clubs and discussion groups in an informal fashion will contribute much to the building together of your students for common goals and action.

9. Conquering Inadequacy Fear

TN AN attempt to achieve all of A the fine aims delineated thus far, the teacher or parent often Sept. - Oct., 1954

experiences a terrific feeling of inadequacy. Ours is so much the age of the specialist that the aver­ age parent or teacher sometimes becomes overwhelmed by his tasks.

How can he hope to cope with the many problems posed by a secular society? How can he ward off the impact of science ? How can he hope to assert his own authority?

In this connection, it is important to recall the now-famous words of the late Franklin D. Roosevelt: “All we have to fear is fear it­ self !” The evidence vis-a-vis the central part the parent still plays in guiding the destinies of his children is so overwhelming that it need hardly be stated here. The parent is still the “big-shot” to his offspring; and good common-sense, patience and understanding will help him exert the historic in­ fluence he has always had upon his children.

70. Above all, Grow Yourself

T H E FINAL point in these our “Ten Commandments” to par­ ents and teachers concerns itself with the need for continuous per­ sonal growth.

In order to help your pupils or children grow, you must grow yourself.

As the late William Jennings Bryan put it to his assistant, be­ fore he had to deliver a crucial address: “Any time you see some­ one asleep in the audience, come over and wake me up!” Or better still, as the Chofetz Chaim stated: pr, the word “othom” in “V’limad'tem othcrn^ (“and you shall teach them”) is written without a “vav” 57

so that it can be read too as “atem.”

You must continue to study yourselves, if you are to be adequate teachers for your chil­ dren.

Education is a process of inter­ action—between teacher and pupil, between parent and child. All of us must dedicate ourselves to G-d’s Torah and His ways together.

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Charting The Sea O f The Talmud

By ARYEH NEWMAN TALMUDIC ENCYCLOPEDIA, Halachic Literature From thé Tanaitic Period to the Present Time, Volume V, Talmudic Encyclope­ dia Publishing Ltd., Jerusalem Rabbi S. J. Zevin, 1954, 767 pp., $ 6 .00 .

■■pHE RECENT appearance ©f the fifth volume of a new type of Talmudic classic — a Talmudic en­ cyclopedia S- was hailed by the Israel press and public with the same en­ thusiasm and interest as that which accompanied the launching of the first volume of this imaginative project by that unique Jewish, religious and na­ tional figure, the late Rabbi Meir BarIlan (Berlin), six years ago. Since his untimely death, the editorship has been ably continued by Rabbi S. J. Zevin who is noted for the clarity and precision which he brings to bear on the wide Rabbinic knowledge that he has assimilated. Valuable support

has been tendered this project by, among others, the Emeth World Academy for Higher Jewish Studies, whose chairman is Rabbi Herbert S. Goldstein.

The latest volume covers the items Bath-kol to Get, truly symbolic of the fascinating variety of subjects embedded in the Talmud. Bath-Kol, literally “daughter of a voice,” de­ noting a prophetic voice from Heaven, touches ©n the mystic chords of Juda­ ism. Gety a bill of divorce, reminds us of the mastery with which the Torah regulates even the most delicate and intimate of human relationships.

The encyclopedia, in its conception, reflects the pressures and needs of con­ temporary Jewish history. Since the liquidation of that great storehouse of Talmud study in Eastern Europe and the impoverishment of Jewish cul­ tural life consequent on the disap­ pearance from the scene of hundreds

Tomorrow Is Yours, My Son, My Son They stand together: the father with his years of experience, the boy with his years to come. It is the start of a New Year —a time for all men to remember tolerance and brotherhood.

The tomorrow for our sons should abound with justice and peace. Man, dedicating himself to his fellows and his children, will move forward in that faith.

The Ford Motor Company is dedicated to this shining tomorrow. ^ ,

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60

Jewish LiFE

of those giants of Rabbinic scholar­ ship who were themselves living en­ cyclopedias, the project of the en­ cyclopedia represents an attempt to fill in that gap and make available its spiritual treasures to the rebuild­ ers of the nation in the homeland that has risen out of the ashes of des­ truction.

with under the following headings : title, conquest (which overrides the Sabbath), allocation, status of Joshua and Ezra’s settlement, and the sanc­ tity and mitzvoth pertaining to it.

The privileged status of the Holy Land is expressed in a wide variety of enactments ranging from the right of a person sentenced to death in the Diaspora to be retried in Israel, to the prohibition of the export of books from the Holy Land. In those days they were, of course, manuscripts and could quite legitimately be equated to the level of modern artistic and lit­ erary treasures, the custody of which every modern state jealously guards.

T H E WORK is confined to as­ sembling and expressing in clear modern Hebrew all items of Talmudic law, rules of behavior and life in all their ramifications down to the opin­ ion and ruling of the latest Rabbinic authorities of our own time without, however, laying down the law. The encyclopedia is meant to be a source of information on Halochah, Rabbinic governing the status of forced law, citing an astonishing variety of converts (of .which the Marranos of opinions, both accepted and minority Spain are a classic historic example), voices, but decisions belong to the are covered under the item Anusim. competent Rabbinic authority and the Between the lines can be read pages recognized codifications of. Jewish of Jewish suffering: “Anusim, or law. At the same .time, the original converts under duress who remain in applications of countless Talmudic their countries of domicile, but act phrases embedded in modern Hebrew according to the tenets of Judaism in and in Yiddish, for that matter, are private and are unable to escape to a laid bare for all to see. place where they can worship G-d Browsing through the five volumes openly, are to be considered fullof the sixteen that are planned, one fledged Jews. Although one is bid­ comes across the major item, “Eretz den to sacrifice one’s life rather than Yisroel,” which extends over thirty- accept apostasy, one who failed to five pages. Here is not the modern pass this supreme test is considered Israel or just the Biblical Israel but to be under duress and no punishment Israel seen through Talmudic spec­ is meted out to him.” The recurring tacles, in the light of all the legisla­ historical experience is mirrored in tion enacted to protect its sanctity, the very wording of the rulings on endear its memory, advance its pros­ this subject. “He who spurns the op­ perity and hasten its rebuilding. De­ portunity to escape is like a dog that fined as the land granted the Jewish remains at its vomit. Nevertheless, if people by Gr-d, occupying the borders a convert delays his departure to delineated in the Torah, it is dealt save his family or for fear that perSept. - Oct. 1954 :v * ' 61

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62

Jewish LIFE

mission has only been granted to leave as a subterfuge to weed out relapsed converts, he is not held culpable. If his motive is monetary, he is an apostate.”

Sometimes one meets with items of a highly topical nature, which give at a glance the Rabbinic outlook on a problem. Not so long ago Pope Pius XII reiterated the opposition of the Catholic Church, among other things, to any form of abortion, in­ cluding a legally permissible one con­ sidered necessary to save the moth­ er’s life. Stressing that there was no exception to the Divine mandate not to kill, he insisted that the life of the embryo in the womb was as im­ portant as the mother’s* One is im­ mediately reminded of the Talmudic principle, Eyn doehin nefesh mipney nefesh (one life may not be sac­ rificed at the expense of another).

The encyclopedia places on record varied views on this subject but it is generally accepted that until the child is born it is not considered a life, and that the saving of the mother is an act of self defence.

ANOTHER Babbinic axiom of behavior coming under the “Alephs” and beginning with the Hebrew word Eyn (not), exemplifies the wonderful sense of proportion displayed by our ancient sages. “One may not enact a law which imposes too great a burden on the public.” In the item one reads: “A Beth Din which wishes to in­ troduce new measures must first of all ascertain if the majority of the public can bp expected to bide by them* Whep the second Temple was Sept. T Oct., 1954

destroyed, the ascetics who advocated complete abstention from wine and meat as a sign of mourning increased in numbers. Babbi Joshua took them in hand and said: ‘To refrain entirely from mourning is out of the question, but to mourn overmuch is also not feasible, as no measure can be im­ posed on the public which the major­ ity cannot abide by; but thus the Sages advised, when a man plasters his house he should leave a tiny space incomplete in memory of the destruc­ tion^ ” The strong moral basis of Talmudic law is brought out in the prominence occupied by such an item as Onaah (Overreaching), which takes up near­ ly twelve pages. Enumerated is a long list of the countless moral pitfalls to be encountered in daily busi­ ness routine, ranging from patent cheating, overcharging, and fraudul­ ent advertising to the inflicting of pain through words alone — an of­ fense which comes under the category of “verbal overreaching.*’ “Say hot to a repentant sinner: ‘Remember your previous deeds’ . . . ask not the shopkeeper the price of his wares when you have no intention of making a purchase . . . Overreaching by word of mouth is a far more heinous offense than dishonest behavior in money matters. The latter can always be rectified; the former, never.” rPHE LATEST volume is dominated A by the item Get, taking over a hundred pages to encompass in com­ pressed and precise phraseology all that the Talmud and Rabbinic auth­ ority have to say regarding the man­ ner and conditions of its writing. A 63

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photograph of a modern Israeli Get is reproduced side by side with its ancient counterpart over 1200 years old discovered in the Cairo genitzah.

It says much for the continuity and stability of Jewish tradition that they are, apart from minor variations and the state of the parchment, more or less identical. We have only to think of the enormous changes that have taken place over tha* period in the social and cultural norms of the peo­ ples of the world and the continuous upheavals experienced by Jewry to realize the extraordinary nature of the spiritual vitality with which the

acceptance of the Divine Law at Sinai endowed the Jewish people for all time.

Every century has made its char­ acteristic contribution towards the preservation and imparting of the Jewish heritage. There is no doubt that this bold attempt to make avail­ able in encyclopedic form the vast agglomeration of legal disquisition, decision and counter decision that make up the Halochic portion of the Talmud, will come to be regarded as a twentieth century landmark in po­ pularizing our age-old teachings.

A n Agudah Spokesman at the

.

By HENRY SIEGMAN RELIGIOUS JEWRY AND THE UNITED NATIONS, Addresses Be­ fore The United Nations, by Dr. Isaac Lewin, Research Institute for PostWar Problems of Religious Jewry, New York, 1953, pp. 136, $2.50.

- R E L I G I O U S Jew ry and the 1 United Nations” is a collection of addresses made by Dr. Isaac Lewin, Professor of Jewish History at Yeshiva University, in his capacity as representative of the Agudath Israel World Movement.

It is indeed gratifying to see an organization such as the Agudah, in some quarters identified as somewhat outside the main-stream of modernday life, take its place in the Supreme Council of Nations and make its con­ tribution to humanity’s progress. If Sept. - Oct., 1954

nothing else, it certainly is a tribute to the vision and personality of Dr. Isaac Lewin, who is also chairman of the American Section of the Agudah World Executive.

Dr. Lewin’s pre-occupation with matters that are not only of specific Jewish interest but also of general humanitarian significance is not news to those who are acquainted with his many works, most of which were written and published while he was still in Poland. Among these are a “History of the Bar in Ancient Poland” and studies of Jewish par­ ticipation in the political and cul­ tural life of Poland. This variety of background and interest is greatly in evidence in this most recent book on his activities at the United Nations.

In his address to the Commission on 65

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■ Jewish LIFE

Human Eights and its various com­ mittees, Dr. Lewin contributes the lessons of the tragic experiences of the Jewish people to such areas as religious discrimination, classification and definition of minorities, stateless­ ness and related problems and similar subjects considered by the Commis­ sion op Human Eights. He is in his best form when discussing the prob­ lem of Jewish orphans receiving a non-Jewish upbringing.

T H IS BOOK is of doubtful interest to the layman who may be looking for an eloquent presentation of humanitarian principles as voiced by our Prophets and Sages of old. The general reading audience will in all p ro b a b ility rem ain unmoved by lengthy discussions involving the ad­ dition or deletion of a word or the change of a paragraph from the ne­ gative to a positive form. I would venture to say that even the profes­

sional acquainted with the subtle technicalities of such debates and their important implications, would wonder what difference it would make if the word “right” is used only once or three times in a particular paragraph dealing with the freedom of religion and religious worship (Page 12). In spite of Dr. Lewies insistence, the additional words in this case do not seem to clear up any ambiguity and in no way seem to alter the significance of the para­ graph. This does not make for more interesting reading nor, in this case, is the nature of Dr. Lewin’s contri­ bution to the discussion at all ap­ parent.

T H E outstanding contribution of this documentary is its making the Jewish community aware of a littleknown phase of the activities of Agudath Israel. This type of work should be applauded and encouraged.

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Jewish LIFE

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On

TheJewish Record

By ERIC OFFENBACHER

A N T H O LO G Y OF THE SABBATH LITURGY "DE CORDING the traditional Synagogue Music for Friday Evening and Sabbath Morning services has been done before. Never previously, to our knowledge, has the monumental task been attempted to select, arrange and present the best there is in the output of our great Chazonim com­ posers of the last 100 years, and thus save part of our rich cultural herit­ age from oblivion. This is exactly what the recently formed Jewish Music Documentary Society has set out to accomplish with this first re­ lease in a cycle of liturgical music.

Combine the worthy purpose with a phenomenal cantor-discovery and the superior recording skill of a wellknown Hi-Fi company, and you have one of the finest productions of Jewish Music to reach the market to date.

To be sure, sifting such vast mate­ rial of cantorial and choral gems should have been difficult, and rea­ sons of personal taste and preference must have entered into the final choice. With the exception of one selection all 25 compositions are of East European origin and style. To listen to all of them uninterruptedly takes. about two and one-half hours

(but the Society may not expect this since they arranged the record sides in manual rather than automatic se­ quence; in any case, separating bands are provided to pick a preferred num­ ber at any future hearing). They broadly fall into three groups: 1. Cantorial Solo Recitatives, “mov­ ing musical improvisions which interpret meaningfully, embellish and bring to life the text of the prayer” (8 selections); 2. Cantorial Recitatives, with a more or less prepared choir ac­ companiment (5 selections); 3. Choir compositions, with or with­ out solos (12 selections).

TN THE first group, the cantor uses his own improvisions and, in or­ der to catch his breath from time to time, receives an assist from the choir by means of a short phrase-response or a hummed chord, equally impro­ vised. This is the group, also, in which the Chazon may shine forth in all his interpretive proficiency. Can­ tor Sholom Katz appears here as a most ideal SK’liach Tzibur and a worthy performer of a cantorial ar­ tistry rarely experienced since the

SABBATH IN THE SYNAGOGUE. Caiitor Sholom Katz and Male Choir directed by Seymour Silbermintz. Produced and recorded by Westminster Recording Company for the Jewish Music Documentary Society. Limited Edition; three 12” LP Records in album, includ­ ing 25-page booklet of translation and commentary by Sidney B. Hoenig, P h .D . Price $25.00.

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Sept. - Oct., 1954

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Jewish LIFE

days of “Yossele” Rosenblatt. Gifted ranks of foremost composers Of syna­ with a ringing, full-throated helden-1 gogue music. tenor, Katz draws from his vocal re-* ; The final group is in many respects sources a thrilling variety of tone the most noteworthy. It contains colors. Avoiding virtuoso “gymnas­ choice items of the liturgy set to mu­ tics,” his dramatic phrasing, finely] sic by stich famous experts in their shaped in a middle range of baritone-1 field, as Nowakowsky,v, Lewandowski, like timbre, grips the listener’s mood Dunayevsky and Schnipefsky, as well, as spontaneously as the entreating^ as the late Zavel Zilberts. Frankly, heart-rending outcry of the highest tiouis Lewandowski fits into this com­ register, or the smooth legiato perfect-: pany like a refugee from Central Eu­ ly intoned. All these qualities are de­ rope. His is a different world, entirely monstrated in the Cantorial Recita­ in the major key, and the piece tives, perhaps to best advantage in chosen is in no way representative of the impressive B’rich Sh’mey. The ex­ this giant innovator of his time. On cellent technique as well as the good the other hand, one might miss the taste in handling his vocal equipment great Boruch Schorr, whose composi­ reveal a true artist whose precious tions for the High Holy Days are es­ discovery the Jewish Music Docu­ pecially remembered. Maybe the socie­ mentary Society might be justly ty has him in mind for one of its fu­ proud. ture productions in this Liturgical The 35-year-old Cantor Katz was Series. chief cantor of Kishineff, Bessarabia The question also arises at this point (before the Nazis sent him to a con­ if a Jewish Music Documentary So­ centration camp from which he sub­ ciety, after offering to the public the sequently escaped), which might ac­ exclusively Eastern atmosphere, sur­ count for his exceptional affinity to charged as it were with much highthis type of East European music. tension emotion, should not also pub­ Since 1947 he has lived in the United lish a parallel anthology of the same States, where he holds a position in Sabbath liturgy featuring exclusively Washington D.C. (Thank G-d, he has the cooler (though perhaps less typi­ not landed at the “Metropolitan” as cally Jewish) Central and West Eu­ yet!) ropean compositions of men like Salo­ mon Sulzer, Samuel Naumbourg and ■PHE SECOND group includes com­ Louis Lewandowski? positions by Eisenstadt, Schlossberg, Kaminsky and Brody. The most ÇJPACE does not permit going into interesting selection here is the beau­ detail about the wealth of glorious tiful Retzeiy which this reviewer, ap­ music in this third group of choir parently like others before him, works/ Idelsohn calls Nowakowsky thought to have been the work of “the most Europeanized synagogue Cantor Sirota who has made it fa­ composer in the East,” and his Lechah mous. Knowing the true author will Dodi indeed confirms that judgment. add Aryeh Leb Schlossberg to the Zavel Zilberts used to have a flair for Sept. - Oct., 1954 73

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Jewish LIFE

Jewish folk motifs in his writings.

In the last two numbers on these records, Yism’chu and Sim Sholom, he shows just the right kind of this fla­ vor coupled with an engaging rhyth­ mic pattern. Finally, a word about the selection Hashem Molochy marked “from an old manuscript — composer unknown.” We assume that this was one of the items found in the Jacob Michael Collection of Jewish Music.

Here is a work of immediate appeal about which one would like to know more. As with the rest of this music, a path has been opened to us into a still widely unexplored field of study and research.

On all of these records Seymour Silbermintz, known from previous fine releases, directs a well balanced male choir, perfectly disciplined and reflect­ ing their leader’s musicianship. All numbers are sung a cappella (unac­ companied by any musical instru­ ment) and the Ashkenazic pronuncia­ tion is used throughout.

«7ESTM IN STER, the recording company, stands in the fore­ front of today’s producers of high fi­ delity discs. Without coining new “catch phrases” to attract prospective buyers, the consistent excellency of their music reproduction on LP rec­ ords has been widely acclaimed. They maintain this standard of excellence here. The society was well advised to join up with Westminster.

The accompanying attractive book­ let also deserves appreciation. By printing the Hebrew texts, transla­ tions, transliterations and Dr. Hoenig’s able commentary all side by side, it aids greatly to the proper underSept. - Oct., 7954

standing and enjoyment of the long program..

The price of $25.00 may appear a little steep to the average record col­ lector with a modest purse. However, there is said to be a luxurious leatherbound album stamped in gold, num­ bered and autographed, to house these records, which perhaps justifies the premium price over ordinary LP’s.

* * *

In response to numerous requests from our readers this department will conduct a survey of Cantorial Music on records. The best of these albums will be reviewed, beginning with the next issue.

H IG H H O LIDA Y PRAYER BOOK d .5

w n

i i i n d .

Translated and Annotated with an Introduction

By Dr. Philip Bimbaum This High Holy Day Prayer Book for the New Year and Day of Atonement has been carefully edited and arranged so that each service for each part of the day is complete in itself. Dr. Birnbaum has translated the ancient prayers into clear and simple Eng­ lish which gives them all the meaning, dignity and significance of the original Hebrew. His run­ ning commentary and explanatory footnotes, designed for the ordin­ ary reader, are concise, informative and instructive.

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76

Jewish LIFE

Columbus, Mississippi.

The moral fibre and deep religious training of Dr. Moshe Wallach (A y issue of J e w is h L i f e ) approach the epitome of a full Jewish life. As a physician in the Air Force, I cannot help but realize that it is the lack of these attributes in the overwhelm­ ing majority of the Jewish GFs that makes Chaplain Epstein's tasks (“Let's Guide the GI"), so difficult.

If the' young boys entering military service have not had religious train­ ing, a deep understanding of things Jewish, and optimally a fervor for their wonderful heritage, then what can “committees to prevent the dis­ ruption through these occurrences" avail? Those whose parents have been delinquent in their training have no solid basis upon which committees may dwell.

Perhaps Chaplain Epstein's closing sentence comes closest to the real so­ lution. It must come from the mes­ sage of father to son, the family circle of Jewishness, the background that enables a boy to leave the com­ fort of home and sally forth into the world without fear; to announce to Sept. - Oct., 1954

one and all that he is Jewish and bursting with pride to be counted as a Jew; and filled with a fierce devotion to things Jewish and a sincere desire to perpetuate a wonderful way of life.

In Dr. Wallach's credo lies the hope of our people.

David Katz, M.D. Flight Surgeon U.S.A.F. * * * Brooklyn, N.Y. Your July-August issue was very interesting and I fully appreciate the problems cited by Chaplain (1st Lt.) Joshua Epstein in his article titled “Let's Guide the GI.” It reminds me of a passage in Machane Yisroel by the Chofetz Chaim. He advised young men to get married before or during military service. Good advice.

Norbert Baroti * * * Brooklyn, New York.

The expression, The waters have reached up to the soul, quoted by Mr. Abraham Weiss in his article “My Mother's Pesukim” on Page 27 of the August issue of J e w is h L if e is not a folk saying, as he so states, but comes from a posuk in Psalms 69:2.

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However, his article was wonder­ fully written and gave me a great deal of delight as have all the other notable articles and editorials. Wish you continued success in your efforts to disseminate Torah-true Judaism among the masses.

Rabbi Abraham B. Hecht * * * New York, N.Y. I want to take the opportunity of commenting most favorably on your editorial in the August issue of J e w ­ i s h L i f e entitled “Agudah’s Oppor­ tunity.”

Unfortunately, as you are probably aware, the Knessia did not have the effect of opening the eyes of the Agu­ dah leadership to the critical need of the hour in Israel. The bill, relating to Dayanim in Israel, which had the support of the Chief Rabbinate and the Mizrachi and Hapoel Hamizrachi parties and which was passed on its first reading recently by the Knesset, was opposed by the Communist Party, the Mapam, and by the Agudah.

At the same time, the Knessia was was held without the participation of the Poale Agudath Israel who have almost been excommunicated by the rabbis of the Agudah for venturing to depart from the very rigid program of the Agudah parties.

I was similarly impressed by the very capable article by Mr. I. HalevyLevin in the same issue which an­ alyzed the party situation very well.

Rabbi Isaac B. Rose * * * Toronto, Canada.

It seems to me extremely important to show our youth how Bifcle critics work. In this letter I will clearly Sept. - Oct., 1954

show that Mr. Immanual Lewy, whose article “Archeology and the Bible’s Historical Truth” appeared in the May, 1954, issue of Commentary Ma­ gazine and who was presented as a top specialist, does not even know Tanach! I do not want to discuss in detail all the ideas and all the con­ clusions in Mr. Lewy’s article. I want only to show some of the many very remarkable mistakes in his article.

1. Mr. Lewy writes: “The pedantic priestly author, who is careful never to use the name (Havayah)* before the point in the narrative when G-d reveals it to Moses (in Exodus), pain­ stakingly lists in chapter five of Ge­ nesis the ten descendants of Adam through Noah and in chapter eleven the ten descendants of Noah through Abraham.”

In chapter eleven of Bereyshith G-d’s name, the Shem Havayah, is mentioned five times. In chapter five of Bereyshith Shem Havayah is men­ tioned in the middle of the list of the ten descendants (Verse 29).

2. Mr. Lewy writes: “One of the ways the different Pentateuchal auth­ ors can be distinguished is by the names they give to the natives of Palestine. $ The northern Elokimist calls the natives of Palestine Amorites, the southern writers call them Canaanites or Hittites.”

In Bereyshith 15:18-21 it is said to Abraham, Unto thy seed have I given this land . . . and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Canaanites.

In Shemoth it is written: Unto the * We substitute here, and elsewhere- in this letter, the term Havayah for the English rendering of the Tetragrammaton, the Inef­ fable Name, which appears in the material quoted. — Editor.

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Jewish LIFE

place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites (Shemoth 3:8 and 34:11).

The spies tell: The Amalekites dwell in 'the southern country, and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amor­ ites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and by the margin of the Jordan (Bemidbor 13:29). And Moses mentions them together: The Hittites and the Amor­ ites, the Canaanites (Devorim 20: 17).

3. Mr. Lewy writes: “In Genesis there are recorded two different ver­ sions of the expulsion of Abraham’s Egyptian concubine, Hagar . . . Both versions cannot be true.”

Anyone who reads these two stories with attention (one in Bereyshith 16 and the other in Bereyshith 21) can see that these are entirely different episodes in the life of Abraham, Hagar and Sarah. The first was an incident before the birth of Ishmael and the second many years‘later when Ishmael was a grown up boy and Isaac was already weaned.

4. Mr. Lewy writes: “Her son, Ishmael, was bom in the desert.”

It is clearly implied in the Bible that Ishmael was born after Hagar re­ turned to Abraham’s home.

And Hagar bore Abraham a son; and Abraham called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael (Berey­ shith 16:15).

5. Mr. Lewy writes: He (Moses) forbade his people to worship other gods than (Shem Havayah); but there is in fact no Biblical record Sept. - Oct., 1954

that he believed this G-d to be the only existing one.”

It is clearly stated: Hear 0 Israel!

The Lord our G-d, the Lord is One (Devorim 6:4). It is also written: Unto thee it was shown, that thou mightest know that the Eternal is the G-d; there is none else besides Him (Devorim 4:35). Once more it is said: Know therefore this day, and reflect in thy heart, that the Eternal is the G-d in the Heavens above and upon the earth beneath; there is none else (Devorim 4:39).

6.

Mr. Lewy writes: “His (Moses’) G-d is not a sun god but a storm god of the desert mountains.” On the same page, Mr. Lewy wrote: “That Shem Havayah was a storm god whose abode was in the southern Palestinian mountains, we know from the Biblical sources themselves.”

I read very carefully and with great attention all the chapters in the Chumosh that contain a reference to G-d. There are wonderful descrip­ tions of G-d as Creator of Heaven and Earth, as Euler of Human Destiny, giving reward to the righteous and punishment to the wicked, as Chief Justice, as Designer and Maker of this Universe, as Father of Widows, Orphans and the Poor, as Protector of Strangers, as the Almighty who revealed Himself in and out of Pales­ tine, as the Highest Wisdom. There are also descriptions of G-d being like a consuming or devouring Fire.

But I could not find any descrip­ tion of Him as a storm god of the desert or as a god whose abode was in the southern Palestinian mountains!

Dr. S. B. Ullman 81

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KASHRUTH DIRECTORY Issued Tishri, 5715 — October, 1954

LOOK FOR THE <Q) SEAL - AND BE SURE!

The (0) seal is your guarantee of communallyresponsible Kashruth supervision and endorsement, conducted as a public service by the Union oj| Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America—UOJO, 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.

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U O JC KASHRUTH DIRECTORY All items listed below bear the © seal.

Items listed © P are Kosher for Passover when bearing this or other UOJC A Passover Heehsher on label.

Items listed © are Kosher for Passover without Passover ^Heehsher on label.

Apple Buffer *Musselman’s ( The C. H. Musselman Go., Biglerville, Pa.)

Apple Sauce *Musselman,s ( The G. H. Musselman Cp», Biglerville, Pa.)

m

Junior Banana Dessert Junior Puddings Junior Plums with Tapioca Junior Fruit Dessert Junior Chocolate Pudding ( Beech-Nut Packing Co., N.Y.C.)

Beans Heinz Oven Baked Beans with mo­ lasses sauce Heinz Oven Baked Beans in tomato sauce (H. J. Heinz Co.)

Baby Foods Heinz — with. © label only Strained Vegetables & Salmon Strained Cream of Tuna Strained Vegetables Strained Fruits Chopped Mixed Vegetables Strained Puddings Strained Orange Juice Strained Tomato Soup Strained Vegetable Soup Pre-Cooked Cereals (Barley, Oat­ meal, Rice) Junior Vegetables Junior Fruits Junior Vegetable Soups Junior Puddings {H. J. Heinz Co., Pittsburgh, Pa.)

Beech-Nut — with © label only Strained Vegetables Strained Fruits Strained Vegetable Soup Strained Tomato Soup Strained Puddings Strained Fruit Dessert Strained Plums with Tapioca v Cereals Junior Vegetables Junior Fruits Junior Vegetable Soup

Sept. - Oct., 1954

*Freshpak Vegetarian Beans in Tomato Sauce {Grand Union Food Markets, East Paterson, N.J.)

Beans & Frankfurters *White Rose (Seeman Bros., Inc., N.Y., N.Y.)

Cakes, Cookies and Crackers ©P Barton's Bonbonniere {Barton, Inc., Brooklyn, N.Y\)

Dromedary Chocolate Nut Roll Date Nut Roll Orange Nut Roll (above contain milk) {The Hills Brothers Go., N.Y.C.)

Golden Cracknel Egg Biscuits {Golden Cracknel & Spec. Co., Detroit)

Ry-Krisp {Balston-Purina, St. Louis, Mo.)

FFV—with © label only Macaroon Krisps (foil package) Lemon Thins (foil package) Orange Thins (foil package) Vanilla Thins (foil package) {Southern Biscuit Co., Richmond, Va.; distributed by Mutual Biscuit Co., N.Y.C.)

87

U O JC HASH RUTH DIRECTORY

Cookies

I co nt'd.l

Chocolate Pecan Cookies (foil package) Tea Bings (foil package) Short Bread (foil package)

(Southern Biscuit Co.,* Richmond, Va., distributed by Mutual Biscuit Go., N.Y.C.)

Condiments, Seasonings @P Gold’s Horseradish (Gold Pure Foods, B’klyn, N.Y.) Heinz Horse Badish 57 Sauce Chili Sauce Hot Dog Belish W orcestershire-Sauce Tomato Ketchup

(H. J. Heinz Co.) Lawry’s Seasoned Salt

(Lowry's Products Inc., Los Angeles, Cal.) Pride of the Farm Catsup (Hunt Food Prod., Bridgeton, N.J.)

Cake Mixes DromedaryDate Muffin Mix Fudge Frosting Mix (abo vp contain milk) Corn Bread Mix Corn Muffin Mix Cup Cake Mix D evil's Food Mix Fruit Cake Mix Gingerbread Mix White Cake Mix

(The Hills Brothers Co., N.Y.C.) Golden Mix Pancake Flour Mix Waffle Flour Mix

(Golden Mix Inc., Chicago, III.)

Camps (for children 1 Camp Mohaph.

(Glen Spey, N.Y. ^ N.Y. office 4320 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, N.Y.)

Convalescent Homes © P Dayton Nursing Home (1884 Marmion Ave., Bronx, N.Y.)

Cranberry Sauce *® P April Orchards (Morris April Brothers, Bridgeton, N.J.) Dromedary (The Hills Brothers Co., N.Y.C.) *©P Eatmor (Morris April Brothers, Bridgeton, N.J.)

Dietetic Foods © P Mother’s Low Calorie Borscht

(Mother's Food Products)

Candy © P Barton’s Bonbonniere ( Barton, Inc., Brooklyn, N.Y.)

Dishwashing Machine Detergents •

Cereals Skinner’s Baisin-Bran

Baisin Wheat

{Skinner Mfg. Co., Omaha, Neb..)

Balston Instant Balston Begular Balston

(Ralston Purina Co., St. Louis, Mo.)

88

•

All (Monsanto Chemical Co., St. Louis, Mo.) Spic & Span (Proctor & Gamble)

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

Jewish LIFE

U O JC KASHRUTH DIRECTORY

©

All items listed below bear the © seal.

Items listed © P are Kosher for Passover when bearing: this or other UOJC A Passover Hechsher on label.

Items listed • are Kosher for Passover without Passover ^Hechsher on label. * Indicates new © endorsement

Dressings Heinz French Dressing (H. J. Heinz Go.) ^Mother’s Salad Dressing (Mother’s Food Products)

Fish Products Royal Snack Cream Herring Matjes Fillets Spiced Herring Lunch Herring Herring Cocktail Tidbits Salmon (in wine sauce) (8. A. Haram Co., N.Y.C,) Mother’s Old Fashioned ©P Gefilte Fish Sweet & Sour Fish (Mother’s Food Prod., Newark, N.J.) Breast O’Chicken Tuna (Westgate-Califomia Tuna Packing Co., San Diego, Cal.) *Golden Angp (Pure Products Sales Corp., B’klyn, N.Y.)

Flavor Improver Ac’cent (Mfd. by International Minerals and Chemical Co.)

Food Packages @P Care (New York, N.Y.)

Food Freezer Plan Yitzchok Goldberg & Sons (New York, N.Y.)

Sept. - G e t . , 1954

Frozen Foods Milady’s Blintzes (blueberry, cherry, cheese potato—all are milchig) ?Waffles (Milady Food Prod., B’klyn, N.Y.) Associated *Waffles (Associated Food Stores Corp., N.Y.C.) Pure Dairy ^Waffles (Service Frozen Food Corp., B’klyn, N.Y.) Indian Trail *©P Cranberry Orange Relish (Cranberry Growers, Inc., Wisconsin Rapids, Wise.)

Fantails *Canapes *Cocktail Frankfurters *Codfish Puffs *Kashe Knishes *Potato Knishes (Chase Food Products Corp., N.Y.C.) Home Town *Blintzes ^Fishcakes ^Pancakes (Home Town Foods, Inc., Harris, N.Y.)

Fruit — — bulk only I d rie ID ©P California Packing Corp.

(San Francisco, Cal.) Fruits — tPackaged) Dromedary Dates Fruits and Peels Moist Coconut Shredded Coconut (The Hills Brothers Co., N.Y.C.)

89

U O JC KASHRUTH DIRECTORY

Fruits l coni'd.)

Fels & Co. Detergents (Philadelphia, Pa.) Felso Eol ^Finish (Economics Laboratory Inc.^-^ St. Paul, Minn.)

Glim (B. T. Babbit Inc., New York, N.Y.) My Pal (Pal Products Co., Brooklyn, N.Y.) Procter and Gamble Detergents (Cincinnati, Ohio)

Musselman’s *Cherries *Sliced Apples (The C, H. Mussebnan Co., Biglerville, Pa.)

Gelatin Desserts — Vegetable Berish's Beal Kosher ©P Gel Desserts (flavored) Unflavored Vegetable Gelatin (Orthodox Kosher Products, Brooklyn, N.Y.)

Glycerides Emcol MSVK (The Enmlsol Corp., Chicago, 111.)

Glycerine — Synthetic *Shell Synthetic Glycerine (Shell Chemical Corp., N.Y.C.)

• • •

Cheer Dreft Oxydol Joy • Spic <& Span ® Tide

Honey ©P Garber's Misrochi (.Garber Eagle Oil Corp.)

• •

*Sail (A & P Food Storef,1N.Y.C.) Soilax (Economics Laboratory, Inc:, St. Paul, Minn.)

Sprite (Sinclair Mfg., Toledo, Ohio) Trend (Purex Corp. Ltd., South Gate, Cal.)

Household Cleansers (See also Scouring Powders) ©P Brillo Products (Brillo Mfg. Co., B’klyn, N.Y.) ^Bright Sail (A & P Food Stores, N.Y.C.) Cameo Copper Cleaner (Cameo Corp., Chicago, III.) Colgate-Palmolive Detergents (Jersey City, N.J.) • Arctic. Syntex M beads (bulk only) • Fab • Kirkman Detergents • Vel

90

Ice Cream f Sherbet © P Barton's Bonbonniere

(Barton, Inc.) Costa's French Ice Cream (Gosta’s Ice Cream Co., Woodbridge,

N.J.)

*Met *Tee-Vee (Marchiony Ice Cream Co., N.Y.C., distributed by Metropolitan Food Co., Brooklyn, N.Y.)

Jewish LIFE

U O JC KASHRUTH DIRECTORY All items listed below bear the (y) seal.

Items listed -® P are Kosher for Passover when bearing this or other IJOJCA Passover Hechsher on label.

Items listed ® a ® | Kosher for Passover without Passover ^Hechsher on label. * Indicates new © endorsem ent.,

Industrial Cleansers Institution X Orvus Extra Granules Orvus Hy-temp Granules Orvus Neutral Granules Cream Suds (Proctor & Gamble)

Jams and Jellies Berish’s Real Kosher

Marshmallow Topping Marshmallow Eluff

(Durkes-Mower, Inc., East Lynn, Mass.)

Mayonnaise ^Mother’s ( Mother's Food Products)

Pure Fruit Jams Marmalade Marmalade Butter (Orthodox Kosher Products) Heinz Jellies

(H. J. Heinz Co.) © P Barton’s Bonbonniere ( Barton, Inc.)

Juices Heinz Tomato Juice

(H. J. Heinz Co.) Musselman’s

*Apple Juice *Tomato Juice (The C. H. Musselman Co., Biglerville, Pa.)

Margarine Berish's Real Kosher (milchig)

(Orthodox Kosher Products) Crystal Brand (milchig)

(L. Daitch t Co., N.Y.C.; manufac­ tured by Miami Margarine Co.) Mar-Parv (pareve) Miolo (milchig—bulk only) Nu-Maid (milchig) Table-King (milchig)

(Miami Margarine Co., Cincinnati, Ohio) ' lotner’s (milchig) Pareve \ lather's Food Products) j other’s

Sept

- O ct, 1954

Meats and Provisions Yitzchok Goldberg’s

• Meats © P Corned Beef ® P Tongue © Frozen Meats ©P Salami ©P Frankfurters Pastrami (I. Goldberg & Sons, 220 Delaney St., N.Y.C.) Oxford

*©P Bologna ® P Corned Beef *©P Frankfurters © P Salami @P Tongue (Oxford Provisions, Inc., 549 E. 12th St., N.Y.C.)

Meat Tenderizer Adolph’s

(Adolph’s Food Products, Burbank, Cal.) *So-Ten

(So-Ten Co., Memphis, Tenn.)

91

U O JC KASHRUTH DIRECTORY Gordon’s *Potato Chips •Potato Sticks *Tater Sticks (Gordon Foods, Inc., Atlanta, Ga.) Kobey’s *Potato Chips *Shoestring Potatoes (Tasty Foods Inc., Denver, Col.)

Mustard Heinz Brown Mustard Yellow Mustard (H. J. Heinz Co.)

Needles & Macaroni Products Heinz Macaroni Creole (H. J. Heinz Co.) Skinner’s Egg Noodles Macaroni Spaghetti Vermicelli (Skinner Mfg. Co., Omaha, Neb.)

Oil ©P Garber’s Misrochi (Garber Eagle Oil Corp.)

Mazola (Corn Products Refining Corp., N.Y.C.) ©P Nutola (Nutola Fat Products Co.)

Peanut Butter Beech-Nut (Beech-Nut Packing Co.) Heinz (H. J. Heinz Co.)

Pie Fillings *Musselman’s (The C, H. MusseVman Co., Biglerville, Pa.)

Popcorn *TV Time Popcorn (B & B Enterprises, Inc,, Chicago, III.)

Potato Chips Blue Ribbon (Red Dot Foods, Madison, Wis,)

92

Sunglo *Potato Chips *Shoestring Potatoes (Tasty Foods Inc., Denver, Col.)

Poultry — Frozen • •

Yitzchok Goldberg & Sons (New York, N.Y.) Menorah Farms (Menorah Products, Inc., Boston, Mass.)

Prepared Salads Royal Snack Beet Salad, Cole Slaw, Cucumber Salad, Garden Salad, Potato Salad (S. A. Haram Co., N.Y.C.) Mother’s *Potato Salad (Mother's Food Products) Heinz *Vegetable Salad (H. J. Heinz Co.)

Pudding ©P Berish’s Real Kosher Chocolate Pudding (Orthodox Kosher Products)

Rice Heinz Spanish Rice (H. J. Heinz Co.)

Relishes, Pickles,etc.

Heinz Pickles (H. J. Heinz Co,)

Jewish LIFE

U O JC HASH RUTH DIRECTORY

m

All items listed below bear the (Q) seal.

Items listed (y)P are Kosher for Passover when bearing ».M« or other UOJC A Passover Hechsher on label.

Items listed • are Kosher for Passover without Passover Hechsher on label.

Indicates (0) endorsement. ^

Pickles ( e o n f 'd J *Dill Gherkins *Dill Sandwich Chips India Relish Hot Dog Relish Pickled Onions Sweet Relish Cocktail Sauce Southern Style Relish Hamburger Relish (H. J . Heinz Co.)

Dolly Madison Pickles (JET. W. Madison Co., Cleveland, O.)

Mother’s ©P Pickles @P Chorkins © P Sweet Red Peppers ® P Pimentoes © P Pickled Tomatoes © P Sauerkraut Deluxe © P Pickled Country Cabbage *Diced Sweet Pepper Relish *Corn Relish *Sweet Pickled Watermelon «Rind *Sweet Diced Mustard Pickle *Grenadine Melon Balls *Mint Melon Balls (Mother3s Food Products) Carolina Beauty Pickles (Mount Olive Pickle Co., M t . Olive, N.C.) Silver Bape Pickles , Sauerkraut (Silver J^ane Pickle Co., East Hartford, Conn.)

Saif •

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

Morton Salt Co. Products • • •

(Chicago, Inn.) 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

Sandwiches — Prepared *Kosher Snak (Kosher Snak Distributors, B’klyn, N .Y.)

Sauces *Heinz Savory Sauce (H. J. Heinz Co.)

p ?

ti

Scouring Powder (See also Household Cleansers)

•

B. T. Babbit Co. Products

• •

Bab-o Babbit's Cleanser

Cameo Cleanser (Carneo Corp.)

Colgate-Palmolive Co. Products

Resorts ©P Pine View Hotel (Fallshufg,' N.Y.) ©P Washington Hotel (Rockai&diif Park, N .Y.)

Sept; - Jlpfev 1954

• • •

•

Ajax Beh Hur (bulk only) Kirkman Cleanser New Octagon Cleanser

Garber’s Misrochi Cleanser (Ùarber Eagle Oil Co., New York)

93

U O JC RASH RUTH DIRECTORY

Scouring Powder (cont'd.)

Kitchen Klenzer (Fitzpatrick Bros., Chicago, III.) • Old Dutch Cleanser (Cudahy Packing Co., Omaha, Neb.) Pal Products Co. Products (Brooklyn, N.Y.) • •

Lustro Polishing Powder My Pal Palco Polish Powder Pal Lo

Gold’s © P Borscht Russel

Sehav

(Gold Pure Food Prod., B’klyn, N.Y.) Heinz Cream of Mushroom Celery Cream of Green Vegetable . Cream of Tomato Condensed Cream of Mushroom Condensed Cream of Green Pea Condensed Gumbo Creole Condensed Cream of Tomato Condensed Vegetarian Vegetable

(H. J. Heinz Co.)

Shortening National Margarine Shortening (National Yeast Corp., Belleville, N.J.—Bulk only) Delmar Margarine Shortening (Delmar Products Corp., Cinn., O. ¡—Bulk only) ©P Garber’s Misrochi Pareve Fat (Garber Eagle Oil Co.) © P Nut-Ola Vegetable Shortening (Nut-Ola Fat Prod., Brooklyn, N.Y.)

Silver Cleaner •

Instant Liquid Dip

(Lewall Industries, N.Y.C.)

Mother’s © P Borscht Cream Style Borscht Cream Style Schav Mushroom and Barley

(Mother’s Food Products)

Soup

Mix

Joyce Egg Noodle Soup Mix (Joyce Food Products, Paterson, N.J.) Nutola Chicken Noodle Soup Mix Nutola Noodle Soup Mix (Nutola Fat Products Co.)

Soap ©P Nutola Kosher Soap (Nutpla Fat Products)

Spices Soups *Golden Angel

(Pure Products Sales Corp., B’klyn, N.Y.)

94

© P Garber’s Misrochi

(Garber’s Eagle Oil Co.)

@P Gentry Paprika

(Gentry, Inc., Los Angeles, Cal.)

Jewish LIFE

Sugar

Vegetables — Dehydrated

© P Flo-Sweet Liquid Sugar

© P Basic Vegetable Prod. — with © label only (San Francisco, Cal.) © P Gentry, Inc. —■with © label only (Los Angeles, Cal.)

@P Hudson Valley Eefined Granulated Sugar (Refined Syrups & Sugars, Inc., Yonkers, N .Y .)

Syrup © P Berish’s Real Kosher Chocolate Syrup True Fruit Syrups Imitation Fruit Syrups (Orthodox Kosher Products) © P Barton’s Bonbonniere

( Barton, Inc.)

Tzitzith WOOLEN M. Wolozin & Co. RAYON, FOR RA YO N TALEYTH IM Leon Vogel : j(66 Allen St., N.Y.C.) M. Wolozin & Co. (36 Eldridge Si., N.Y.C.) Zion Talis Manufacturing Co., Inc. (48 Eldridge St., N.Y.C.)

Vegetables Dromedary Pimientos (The Hills Brothers Co., N.Y.C.)

Sept. -_Oct’., 1954

Vinegar © P Garber’s Misrochi (Garber Eagle Oil Co.) Heinz Cider Malt Salad Vinegar Tarragon White Rex Amber (H. J. Heinz Co.) *Musselman’s Cider Vinegar (The G. H. Musselman Co., Biglermlle, Pa.)

Vitamins — Bulk Collett-Week-Nibecker Co. (Ossining, N.Y.)

Vitamin Tablets Kobee Kovite Vitalets (Freeda Agar Prod., N.Y.C.)

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

95

A New Year's

for you

from The Jewish Horizon The Jewish Horizon w ould like to extend its best wishes for a nmtD

Among our contributors you will find

w ith a gift copy of our publication.

Justice David Goitein

In our pages, you will m eet anyone from R ajahs of T ravancore to Jew ish spacem en. Y ou will hear the latest r e ­ ports from Israel, from a study of

of Israel's Supreme Court

Jack Luria w riter for N ew Yorker and Commentary

Prof. Aryeh Tartakower of the Hebrew U niversity

Isra e l’s economy to the behind-the-

S. Z. Shragai

scenes story of the C hief Rabbinate.

Shimon Wincelberg

T hrough w ords and pictures, you will visit such Jew ish com m unities as ex­ otic Cochin, Rom e, G reece, Aretz

form er Mayor of Jerusalem Hollywood w r i t e r and adaptor o f Sands In The N egev

Rabbi Emanuel Rackman outstanding rabbi and au­ thor.

and various parts of our own country.

F R E

I Jewish Horizon ' 154 Nassau St. .

I N. Y. 38, N.Y. * Dear Sirs: Please - send V of Horizon. | Name .....

Address

E I |

96

FREE copy of the September issue

....

City ..............

Zone State In addition to my free issue, I want the special introductory offer of seven issues for $1. f#f§0f Money enclosed □ Bill Me;

Jewish LIFE

FAMOUSwi KOSHER AND ■' • •: K AND TIME SAVERS! VEL makes dishes shine without washing or wiping!

M STOCW**®* ■

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I SoKindtoHonösM

Vel soaks dishes clean. Don’t wash, just soak; don’t wipe, just rinse. And the hand test proves there’s no “Detergent Burn” to hands with VEL. It’s marVELous!

AJAX Cleanser with “Foaming Action” Foams as it cleans all types of tile, porcelain surfaces, pots and pans. . . up to twice as easy, twice as fast! Floats dirt and the drain!

FAB 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.

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ALL OF THESE FINE PRODUCTS BEAR THE SEAL OF APPROVAL OF THE UNION OF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA

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Dran ras nm

FOR A N E W

YEAR O F

gfoaM /, yiaflfwweM W

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"May you be inscribed for a good year!’

H. J. H E I N Z

COMPANY

M t T S I V l C H ,

MAKERS OF THE ^

PA.

VARIETIES

M a n y o f which b e a r on their lab els the ©

seal o f a p p ro v a l o f THE UNION

OF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA.