Jewish Life December 1960

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Vol. XXVIII, No. 2/December, 1960/Kislev, 5721

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EDITORIALS

; Bernstein , Editor M. Morton R ubenstein R euben E. G ross Rabbi S. J. Sharfman Libby K laperman Editorial Associates;

T he A O dem, Editorial Assistant JEW ISH LIFE is published bi­ monthly. Subscription two years $4.00, three years $5.50, four years $7.00, Supporter $ 10 .00, Patron $25.00.

SÉLF-DISCOVERY— GATEWAY TO ORTHODOXY’S NEW ERA ... ............................. ............

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JEWS AND THE ECUMENICAL C O U N C IL ............

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NEW PRESIDENT, NEW HORIZONS ...................

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ARTICLES “SHOULD MY SON BE A R A BBI?”/Norman Lamm ..

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THE LAVON AFFAIR/I. Halevy-Levin................... 16 WHEN EICHMANN CAME/S. B. U nsdorfer........... 22 THE VISION OF SAINTLINESS/Joel J. L it k e .........

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THE FREEDOM TO BUILD/Phllip Perlm utter........ 32 Editorial and Publication Office: 84 Fifth Avenue N ew York 1 1 , N . Y .

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EAST OF MOSCOW/William W. B rickm a n ........... 38

REVIEWS A SABRA RABBI ANSWERS SABRA QUESTIONINGS/^ Aryeh New m an.......................................... 56

of

O r t h o d o x J e w is h C o n g r e g a t io n s o f A m e r ic a

THE LONG LOST HEIRESS, OR, JEWISH-CHRISTIAN SAVE MY CHILD/Ward Moore ...................... 60

Moses I. F euerstein President Benjamin Koenigsberg, N athan K. Gross, Samuel L. Brennglass, M. M orton Rubenstein, Vice Presidents; Edward A. Teplow, Treasurer; H erbert Berman, Secretary.

D r. Samson R. Weiss Executive Vice President

Second Class postage paid at New York. N . Y.

December, 1960

DEPARTMENTS AMONG OUR CONTRIBUTORS..........................

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HASHKOFAH: THE TASK A H E A D .......................

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LETTERS TO THE E D IT O R ............................... 63 Drawings by Ahron Gelles

Copyright © 1960 by Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America

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DR. WILLIAM W. BRICKMAN isW history and comparative education at i f l editor of “School and Society.” A recoH general and Jewish education, he w rifl subjects and has made numerous trips ern Europe, in his professional capaB Brickman gives J e w is h L if e readers h isB the Soviet sphere.

S. B. UNSDORFER’s articles have appeared periodically in J e w is h L i f e . Mr. Unsdorfer, who lives in London, is editor of the English youth magazine, “Haderech.” A book on his experi­ ences in the concentration camps will be published in the spring

by Thomas Yoseloff, Inc.

among our contributors

RABBI NORMAN LAMM is associate rabbi of The Jewish Center in New York City and editor of “Tradition,” published by the Rabbinical Council of America, in which organization he is also a member of the Halachah Commission. Born m 1927, Rabbi Lamm attended the Torah Vodaath Schools, received his B.A. from Yeshiva College, his ordination from Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, and is now a candidate for the Ph.D. degree in the same school. His articles have appeared in various Hebrew and English journals, both popular and scholarly.

RABBI JOEL J. LITRE, rabbi of Congregation Gemiluth Chassodim in Detroit, Michigan, was born in Germany, studied in London, and received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Toronto. He received Semichah from the Rabbini­ cal Seminary of Canada, Toronto.

PHILIP PERLMUTTER, who has wide experience in the field of intergroup relations, is director of the Southwest Region of the American Jewish Congress. Mr. Perlmutter studied at Biarritz-American University, France, receiving his B.A. degree from New York University and M.A. from Columbia University.

This is his second contribution to J e w is h L i f e .

I. HALEVY-LEVIN is J e w is h L i f e ’s Israel correspondent, whose articles continue to provide its readers with incisive and illuminating reports on developments in that country.

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Self-D iscovery— Gateway to O rth odoxy’s New Era r r H E 62nd Anniversary National Biennial Convention of A the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, held in November, was a striking demonstration of the surging vitality of American Orthodoxy. In terms of the numbers that attended, the range of communities represented, the scope and caliber of the program, and the policies shaped and under­ takings set forth—in all these respects the convention surpassed any previous assemblage of American orthodox Jewry. Most meaningful of all, however, was the spirit which permeated and was generated by the convention. There came into view an orthodox Jewry conscious of itself as an integrated national force.

American orthodox Jewry’s growing strength thrpugh recent years has been a baffling phenomenon to many, f o r long the demise of historic Judaism had been predicted as certain under the circumstances of modern life. Epitaphs were prepared to hand and claims put forward for rights of inheritance. The sanguine view penetrated within the ranks of Orthodoxy itself, The giving rise to a mood of defeatism. But confuting all such O nslaught analyses, the Torah Jew proved that he could meet the onslaught Surmounted of the modern world and surmount it. At first, the evidence of Orthodoxy’s new upsurge was dismissed as a momentary spasm, of no real consequence. But with the growth persisting and wax­ ing year by year, its reality has compelled wide acknowledg­ ment. It has become clear that a deep-rooted process is under way which spells a basic re-alignment of the governing forces in American Jewish life.

The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations qf America has served a pivotal role in this historic development. As the one agency serving the common interests of all, the Union by its very existence formed a central rallying point and unifying in­ fluence amidst the uncharted diverseness of traditional endeavor.

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Through the Union as spokesman, the tenets, ideals, and stand­ point of Torah Judaism found articulate expression on the American scene, the role of Orthodoxy as a force in Jewish affairs was recognized, and national leadership was brought to bear. In ways both tangible and intangible, the Union became the conditioning factor in the upsurge of Orthodoxy. r r iH E 62nd Anniversary Convention brought to the fore what may prove the most momentous phase in the progress of American orthodox Jewry: the achievement of a living sense of its corporate personality. Unmistakably, the convention be­ spoke the emergence of an orthodox Jew whose identification is with the totality of Torah endeavor, the Torah commonweal, who thinks of himself and his local community, congregation, or institution as an organic part of a great national movement.

Self-discovery as a national force is bound to deepen the impact of the orthodox Jew on American Jewish life. Moreover, the trend towards evaluation in his own terms of his public role, relationships with other elements of the community, and stand­ ards of Jewish life is likely to be accelerated. Increasingly, the In His American orthodox Jew will be apt to turn away from definitions Own Terms and assumptions of an earlier era, bred of a psychology of weak­ ness, in favor of those flowing from his his own ideology. As events have already shown, the transition will not be easy; it cannot be accomplished without both internal and external friction. But with the exercise of mature thought and responsible discipline, this necessary stage in the history of American ortho­ dox Jewry will prove to be a key to an era of free growth.

Eloquent of these new currents, the Orthodox Union’s national assemblage pointed clearly to the organization’s historic function in the shaping of the American Jewish future. The extent to which the forces of Torah Judaism, acting through the Union, fulfill this promise will determine whether the mere largeness of American Jewry will be transformed into greatness.

Jews and the Ecum enical Council T N THIS day and age, “anything can happen” is very much

the watchword. But schooled as one may be to things tran­ spiring that were supposedly inconceivable, the proposal that 4

JEWISH LIFE

Jewry be represented at the coming Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church strains one’s capacity to confront the incredible. Yet such a proposal has been canvassed, and not by some irresponsible cranks, but by certain important figures in Jewish life.

The Ecumenical Councils, convened from time to time as each reigning Pope may determine, are ecclesiastic assemblages for the review of Roman Catholic doctrine and practice. By what stretch of imagination, by what torturing of reason, can the thought be entertained of any form of Jewish association with an assemblage of this nature?

The discussion on the matter emanates, it seems, from Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Zionist Organization and the World Jewish Congress. Voicing the notion that the Vatican might tender an invitation for Jewish participation in To W hat the Ecumenical Council to be convened in Rome next year, he End? communicated to a number of prominent Jewish leaders, and subsequently to the Jewish press, the view that participation or representation in some form could be warranted by the pos­ sibility of persuading the Roman Catholic authorities to delete or amend liturgical and educational texts redolent of Jew-hatred.

It is no compliment to Jewish intelligence, Jewish character, or Jewish history to hold forth this end as meriting the road to Rome.

To entertain this matter in any degree whatsoever is at mini­ mum an insufferable affront to Jewish dignity. There is in fact no present evidence that the Roman Catholic authorities have really initiated any “feelers,” but in any event no one should be per­ mitted to hold any illusions as to the possibility of any form of association with the Ecumenical Council by qualified representa­ tives of Judaism. Any further moves towards Jewish involve­ ment must be publicly discredited.

New P resident9 New H orizons rp iH E election of John F. Kennedy as President of the United States of America is an indicator of the winds of change affecting every country. A departure of far-reaching signifi­ cance is marked by the country’s choice as Chief Executive, December, 1960

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for the first time in its history, of one whose religion and ethnic background are not those which have constituted the primary texture of American life and within whose bounds "the presidential office has been confined. While Jews were no less divided than other elements of the populace as to the respective merits of the rival candidates, all must see in the decision of the electorate an evidence of, America’s widening horizons.

Himself typifying, in a sense, the new currents, President­ elect Kennedy can be expected to be alert to the epochal forces of our time. With the world in continuous upheaval from their impact, the ultimate scope of these forces can scarcely be meas­ ured. But it is clear that the eruptions rise from a common source Basics In in the nature of modern civilization. Only by measures geared N eed and to the very fundamentals of modern need can America and the Deed world cope with the dangers at hand. Jews in particular, with an acute sense of the meaning of history and of moral dictates, perceive that the resolution of material issues can derive only from man’s spiritual self-conquest.

The incoming President will bear unprecedented responsi­ bilities. May he receive Divine guidance in the performance of his tasks, and may he bring to our country and all countries the leadership for which mankind thirsts.

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JEWISH LIFE

rity leakage— an occupational risk in intelligence services—with tragic con­ sequences. The question which could not be decided at the time was whether the Minister of Defense had given the relevant orders. Mr. Lavon said he had not and it was at his request that the Prime Minister, Mr. Moshe Sharett (Mr. Ben Gurion was in seclusion at the time in Sdeh Boker) appointed a two-man advisory commission, com­ prising Acting Chief Justice (today Chief Justice) Olshan and Rav-Aluf Yaakov Dori, a former Chief of the General Staff, to conduct an enquiry.

Documents were submitted to the commission, witnesses gave evidence, but the commissioners reported to the Prime Minister that in view of the conflicting testimony they found it unable to allocate responsibility.

There was bad blood within the Ministry at the time. The Minister was at loggerheads with his Director Gen­ eral, Shimon Peres (whose resignation he demanded) and hardly on speaking terms with the Chief of the General Staff, Rav-Aluf Moshe Dayan. RavAluf Dayan has since revealed that in 1954 he handed in his resignation, which, however, Mr. Lavon did not accept.

A document had been submitted to the Olshan-Dori Commission which Mr. Lavon insisted was false, and called for the dismissal of the officer he held responsible, but Rav-Aluf Dayan refused to agree. Mr. Lavon, his critics say, is of a suspicious dis­ position. He viewed the false evidence Submitted against the background of the strained relations existing between himself and the heads of the Defense Ministry and the Army, concluded that he had been the victim of a con­ spiracy, and sent in his resignation.

The official reason given at the time was differences over reform of the December, 1960

Army high command, but those in the know put two and two together and drew the only logical conclusion-E that Mr. Lavon was regarded as re­ sponsible for the security mishap, the nature of which was common knowl­ edge. Mr. Lavon retired into the polit­ ical wilderness, an embittered man. A year later, as a gesture of reconcilia­ tion, he was called upon and agreed to resume office as Secretary General of the Histadruth.

THERS besides himself knew that certain of the evidence used O against him was false, Mr. Lavon told the Knesseth’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, but it was only at the beginning of the year that a senior officer came forward and pro­ vided him with the necessary testi­ mony, which he passed on to the Prime Minister. Meanwhile other in­ formation bearing upon the case had reached Mr. Ben Gurion, while during a recent treason trial the accused who had been involved in the essek bish— his cognomen has become “the third man”—revealed that he had been suborned by two officers, one serving in the regular army, the other in the reserves, to testify against Mr. Lavon.

This, Mr. Lavon insisted, was suffi­ cient to clear him, which he called upon the Prime Minister to do in a statement to that effect. But Mr. Ben Gurion refused. Rehabilitation of Pinchas Lavon involved incrimination of someone else, he replied, and in any case it was a matter for the courts.

He had not placed the blame upon Mr. Lavon and it was not for him to exonerate him.

It is not clear why the Prime Minis­ ter did not see fit forthwith to transmit the information he had gathered from various sources to the Legal Advisor, which was the reasonable thing to do, 17

but preferred appointment of an Army Commission of Enquiry, comprising two senior officers and headed by Judge Cohn of the Supreme Court (who, in keeping with established practice in Israel, was called up for reserve duty for the purpose). But whatever the reason, the cause of justice has not suffered.

The Cohn Commission’s Report has upheld Mr. Lavon’s main contention that he was the victim of fabricated evidence in the hearings of the OlshanDori Commission. The two army offi­ cers already referred to have been found to have suborned “the third man” (now awaiting sentence on charges of treason).* This, however, did not technically constitute a crime, since the Olshan-Dori Commission had only advisory and not judicial status. But, says the Report, one of the officers perjured himself before the courts in the trial of “the third man,” and again in testifying before the Cohn Commission itself. The other, still serving in the Army, has requested the Chief of Staff to institute an en­ quiry into the charges made against him.

Here the affair might have rested for the time being, for the courts and the High Command to take suitable action, had it not been for the rami­ fied political implications and the widespread public interest evoked.

HE security mishap and his own subsequent resignation must be taken together with the hostility sur­ rounding him during his term of office in the Ministry of Defense, Mr. Lavon has all along insisted. Translated into simpler terms, he believes that prima facie evidence exists of a frame-up against him.

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Mr. Lavon’s opponents, supported

by Mr. Ben Gurion—and also, as a closer reading of his statement jnust show, by Mr. Sharett—hold an op­ posite view. The security mishap was one thing and will be duly dealt with.

The resignation is quite another, and Mr. Lavon’s own statement at the time is speciously adduced as evidence.

Resignations from public office are a matter for historians, not for lawyers, and Mr. Sharett has very pertinently recalled that no demand for a com­ mission of enquiry followed the resig­ nation of other members of the Gov­ ernment, a pointed reference to the ousting of himself from the Foreign Ministry in 1956, and of Zalman Aranne from the Ministry of Educa­ tion at the beginning of the year.

But again Mr. Lavon has gained his point. A Cabinet Committee of seven, of which only three are members of Mapai, has been appointed. The Committee, it is true, has no defined terms of reference. It will study all relevant material on the Lavon affair and will have to decide whether, on the basis of the Olshan-Dori and the Cohn Reports, there is room for a duly constituted commission of en­ quiry, armed with power to subpoena witnesses (which it must be recalled the Olshan-Dori Commission did not have).

But it is only possible to understand the continuing furor, now that Mr. Lavon has been exonerated to his own satisfaction, within the context of the internal rivalries that are rending Mapai, and the relations between the Histadruth and the Government.

GOVERNMENT vs. HISTADRUTH IS a common error to regard the Israel Labor Party (Mapai) as a monolithic structure, at the top of which towers David Ben Gurion,

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JEWISH LIFE

whose fiat is unchallenged and whose INCHAS LAVON, a man of pro­ word is law. Nothing could be further nounced and rigid opinions, has, from the truth. Mr. Ben Gurion’s it is said, become increasingly difficult prestige, of course, in both his own and dictatorial in his past six years as party and in Israel generally is im­ Secretary General of the Histadruth. mense. There are few national leaders (One of the complaints of his subor­ in the world today who enjoy equiva­ dinates in the Ministry of Defense lent status. But his opponents within was that he had no capacity for per­ Mapai are numerous and active. That sonal relations.) It is characteristic is only natural for a man who has led that he is spoken of as the only man the Jews of this country continuously capable of standing up to Mr. Ben — except for a brief retirement to Sdeh Gurion. One of his most publicized Boker—for almost thirty years. Mapai achievements in his period of office as its largest constituent party controls in the Histadruth has been the cutting the Histadruth, but the group which down to size of the giant Solel Boneh dominates the Government differs combine, which threatened to domi­ totally in character from that which nate the labor federation. By forcing runs the labor federation. In the main the resignation of certain leading di­ the Mapai Cabinet Ministers today are rectors of the concern and breaking hand-picked, ardent supporters of Mr. it up into a number of loosely affi­ Ben Gurion. Mr. Lavon and his liated corporations he has insured friends control the Histadruth. Over the hegemony of the Histadruth, vast­ many issues, particularly in the eco­ ly strengthening his own position in nomic sphere, the Government and the process. the Histadruth clash. Wage policy is His views on the role of the Hista­ only one case in point. Long after he druth and its relationship to the Gov­ himself was finally convinced of the ernment have become more and more disastrous effects of linking wages inflexible. The Histadruth, he has automatically to the cost-of-living said, is not like other partial organiza­ index and had carried his Government tions in the State. There is no matter colleagues with him, Levi Eshkol, of national interest which is not Minister of Finance, had to struggle equally of interest to the labor federa­ long and hard to secure the; present tion. The Government stands in rela­ compromise. But of course t(ie most tion to the Histadruth, he seems to eloquent example is the present dis­ think, in the terms of the ancient pute with high school teachers, with formula, as the first among equals. the Minisfry of Education (headed He is opposed to nationalization of

by Mr. Abba Eban of Mapai) saying institutions at present controlled by one thing one day and the trade union the Histadruth, which accordingly en­ leaders saying the opposite the next. hance its political power, and he has Basically such rivalry between the clashed with Mr. Ben Gurion over the Government, representing the national nationalization of the Workers Sick interest, and the His4adruth, represent­ Fund, a huge organization, which in­ ing that of the workers, is democrati­ cidentally can only continue to operate cally sound. But since Pinchas Lavon’s with the aid of generous grants from resignation from the Government six the national exchequer. years ago it has become unnecessarily Pinchas Lavon is not alone. He is exacerbated. the leader of a powerful, resolute and

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sometimes resentful faction, the mem­ bers of which regard themselves as Mr. Ben Gurion’s coadjutors as long as he is in office and his rightful heirs when he is gone. But Mr. Ben Gurion has made no secret of his own prefer­ ences, not only in his policy of major appointments in recent years, but in siding openly with the Peres-Dayan group in the present imbroglio. “If I had to choose between Peres and Lavon,” he said with candor, “I would choose Peres!” His selection of the new cadre of leaders has not been arbitrary. All of them are capable men, young as politicians go, i.e. in their early forties, who have already proved themselves in their diverse fields. But in putting them into office he has not been over-gentle. He has forced the veterans out to make room.

This, then, is the real issue. The fight is for the leadership of Israel.

THE ARMY HE WIDER political implications of the affair and the fact that Army officers were involved whetted the public’s natural appetite for polit­ ical scandal.

In Israel today the Army is almost sacrosanct. It is regarded in much the same light as the kibbutz was a gen­ eration and more ago. In a sense the soldier is equated with the chalutz of other years. Not everybody had the privilege of being a chalutz, but al­ most everybody in Israel has served or is serving in the Israel Army, or has children who will serve when the time comes. The relation between the people and the Army is intensely per­ sonal. That is why anything affecting the Army arouses keen interest.

But somehow in the course of the present controversy the question of the relationship between the civil au-

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thority and the armed forces has come up, and whether the Army would al­ ways accept Government control.'' Per­ haps living in this corner of Asia has made us a little sensitive to this prob­ lem. In the Middle East it is the army that rules.

Mr. Lavon’s proposal, made in 1954, to create a Supreme Defense Council, composed of professional soldiers and civilians, was designed to ensure proper control of the Army.

It is, indeed, a fact that the respective spheres of the Minister of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff are inadequately defined. The contention that the present arrangement has worked holds no water. No army chief was ever likely to flout Mr. Ben Gurion, who in addition to his public stature possesses, as the event has proved, a flair for military tactics and strategy. But what will happen when a less capable and forceful Minister holds the Defense portfolio, is a legiti­ mate question. So far, fortunately the Israel Army has shown itself reason­ ably free from political influences and its officers, while on service, without political ambitions. Indeed, probably a Defense Council as envisaged by Mr. Lavon, if anything, would increase political influence, for its civilian members would naturally be political leaders. Moreover the Israel practice of changing the Chief of the General Staff every few years—the ex-chiefs fit very nicely into civilian life later-1^ seems to provide some sort of safe­ guard. The Israeli-in-the-street, how­ ever, regards the entire discussion as academic if not artificial. r p H E Foreign Affairs and Defense X Committee has not come very well out of the affair. The Committee, one of the most important and useful in­ struments of the Knesseth, has won JEWISH LIFE

high public esteem in the thirteen Nothing could be more damaging to years of parliamentary government in the standing and efficient working of Israel. The fact that its meetings are the Committee. For as Mr. Sharett closed to the press and the public has remarked, where matters that should made it the recipient of much con­ be treated as confidential are not, it fidential information from cabinet is better to keep silent. ministers, Israel ambassadors return­ The daily press, of course, lives on ing from abroad, high public officials scandal, but in the past weeks we have and ranking Army officers. The se­ been treated to a veritable bacchanalia crecy surrounding its debates has lent of distortions and tendentious report­ them a gravity and relevance that is ing. The main figures had barely made often lacking in the Knesseth. There their opening gambits before the press­ has been less oratory and less playing men had chosen their sides and were to the gallery. rooting and catcalling with about as In the present case the avidity with much objectivity as at a football game. which the Opposition and even Mapai’s Coalition partners have seized upon HE growing pains of Israel’s de­ the squalid dispute in the dominant mocracy have been marked by a party to make political capital is, one series of causes celebres, each of which supposes, only natural. But the con­ had its brief hour in the newspapers stant stream of detailed, and not al­ and went its way. The Lavon affair ways correct, information leaked must be seen in its proper context. If copiously to the press was entirely witnesses have been suborned and contrary to the traditions of probity documents forged the matter will be the Committee had previously estab­ dealt with by the courts, and Israel’s lished. Needless to say, both sides to courts are above suspicion. If there the quarrel were equally guilty. Indeed, have been intrigues, very ugly in­ outside the Committee communica­ trigues, that is a by-product of politi­ tions from one party to the other cal life everywhere. What is supremely made headlines in the press before the important is that Israel’s democracy addressees had time to read them. works.

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When Eichmann Came

By S. B. UNSDORFER A personal experience

of the anti-Jewish Nuremberg laws on

ES, we really thought that we had made it! It was the beginning of Slovakia’s nearly 100,000 Jews, which Y autumn, 1944, German troops were involved the “aryanization” of Jewish taking a beating on all fronts; Russian soldiers were penetrating deep into Hungary—in fact they were no more than a hundred or so miles away from my hometown Bratislava, capital of Slovakia, where I still lived with my parents in the “Judengasse,” right in the center of the Ghetto.

Slovakia, they said, was the Switzer­ land of the Axis! Apart from news­ paper reports and civil defense exer­ cises the Slovaks knew little about the war. Business was flourishing, food plentiful—ration books were a for­ mality which everybody had but never really used— and the war was a distant affair that made exciting reading.

Until the second half of 1944, the only visible change that occurred in the country as a result of the war was that the country managed to rid itself of over eighty per cent of its Jewish pooulation. That was “inde­ pendent” Slovakia’s only contribution to the war.

In 1940, Adolf Eichmann’s senior deputy, Dieter von Wisliceny, came to Bratislava as official “German Adviser” to the Slovakian Government. First he “advised” them on the implementation 22

business and property; the introduction of the “Yellow Star”; restriction of movement, travel, recreation, educa­ tion, professional practices, e"c., on all Jews. Then, in 1942, with the full and enthusiastic support of the gov­ ernment, he arranged the deportation of Slovakian Jews to the Nazi horror camps at the rate of one thousand Jews twice a week. Quietly the nonJewish populace watched their Jewish neighbors being dragged away to death camps, readily they moved in the fol­ lowing day to take possession of their homes and belongings.

As the months went by, the appear­ ance of a Jew in the streets of Slo­ vakia, with his yellow “Judenstem” firmly sewn on his left lapel, became a rare sight.

ESPERATE efforts were made by the leaders of a helpless people to avert complete destruction. Clande­ stine meetings of communal heads took place day after day. Incessant appeals and pleas to the Slovakian au­ thorities were made, but the trans­ ports, ordered by Eichmann, kept roll­ ing. Then, as only about 15,000 Jews

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were still in the country, these leaders decided on a last effort: direct to Wisliceny they went with an offer of cash for lives. Wisliceny wanted to think it over. Then, after a few days, he called them: “I will accept your offer! I have discussed the matter with Eichmann and I shall cease deporta­ tions for 100,000 dollars in cash!

Eichmann gets the money!”

That was in the autumn of 1942.

In four installments these men gave Wisliceny his one hundred thousand dollars in cash, and we lived.

Early in 1944, Eichmann moved in on Hungary’s Jews. He shipped them to Auschwitz at a fantastic speed. He ordered special “reception” facilities at the annihilation camp of Auschwitz to “cope” with transports of a thou­ sand Jews almost every day. Many of them went straight into the gas cham­ bers— Eichmann was breaking his own speed record in murder.

We, in Slovakia, were considered safe. Thousands of our Hungarian brethren made a desperate dash across the border. Hundreds made it, others didn’t. Eichmann’s men mowed them down at the borders in the dark of the night. Hungary’s Jews were held tightly in Eichmann’s grip.

Secretly our leaders informed the Budapest Jewish heads that Eichmann can be “bought.” They tried. But Eichmann, who was prepared to “sell” a mere 15,000 Slovakian Jews for dol­ lars, was not prepared to deal on equal terms with nearly a million Hungari­ ans. Here he proposed his infamous demand for “10,000 new trucks, coffee, tea, and medical supplies” in return for life. The bid, unfortunately, failed and Hungarian Jewish blood flowed like the stream of the Danube.

December, 1960

UMMER of 1944 arrived. The partisans began their anti-German activities in the Carpathian hills of Slovakia; Bratislava was bombed; Russia marched into Hungary, encir­ cling Budapest, and coming nearer; the Allies were chasing the jackbooted Wehrmacht on all fronts.

There wasn’t a day without a few air­ raid warnings. Our hopes rose. At last, we felt, the Germans were too worried about themselves and had no time for the Jews.

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But, we forgot about Eichmann. He wasn’t concerned with the war. His only task was the murder of Jews.

Disregarding the imminent collapse of his Reich, he took time off to look at the handful of Jews still living in Slovakia. And while Hitler ordered his tanks and troops into our land, in August 1944, to wipe out the parti­ sans, Eichmann despatched his righthand man, S.S. Hauptsturmfuhrer A. Brunner, to replace Wisliceny and deal with the Jews. Brunner was a skinny, small, and ugly creature who limned heavily. Only in his uniform did he appear to lose his obvious in­ feriority complex.

Brunner, like Eichmann, was a notorious Austrian Jew-baiter who by then had the lives of thousands upon thousands of Jews on his conscience.

Brunner, like his superior, was canny, ruthless, and fast. Brunner, like Eich­ mann, boasted openly that he had pre­ pared himself well for the future and that he “would never be found!”

Brunner pretended that he was not particularly interested in those few thousand Jews still in the country. He made out as if he wanted to negotiate “a deal” rather than go to the trouble of rounding up every Jew and re-commence deportations. He made the leaders of the Jewish community feel 23

“at ease” when he held meetings with them.

And so, one night after deliberately spreading a rumor that he was leaving the country for a few days and that the Jews had nothing to fear while he was away, this canny murderer ordered his S.S. troops to capture all Jews in Slovakia. That night, the night follow­ ing Yom Kippur of 1944, Brunner made the country “Judenrein” and the cattle wagons to Auschwitz rolled once again.

ESPERATELY my parents and I, together with about a hundred other Jews, took refuge in an old castle near Bratislava under the cover of false South American passports.

We had these passports ready as a last and final effort to save ourselves from deportation. The Slovakian police accepted our passports as true and valid, and held us under their protection in that castle as “alien internees.”

We spent Yom Kippur and Succoth in that castle. One day after Yom Kip­ pur a few fugitives from Brunner’s night-raid on Bratislava took refuge in the castle and our number grew to 180 men, women, and children. As the days went by so our hopes of sur­ vival rose.

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But there was no hiding from Brun­ ner. On the morning following Simchath Torah, out to the castle “came a bus-load of S.S., led by Brunner himself.

“Passekontrolle!” he yelled, as he pushed the Slovakian police guard aside and entered the castle. Within a few hours he had us all lined up on the lawn and by morning we were all behind barbed wire in the Slovakian detention camp Sered.

On the second day of Rosh Chodesh Marcheshvan our transport halted at the gates of Auschwitz. On that day I saw my parents— and most of the others in the transport—“selected” to the ranks of the millions of Jewish martyrs, our Kedoshim, who were to give their lives as a price for their religion.

With G-d’s word on their lins they were taken to the gas chambers, the last transport to go to the chambers prior to Himmler’s order of their closure.

After the war Dieter von Wisliceny was caught, tried before a court in Bratislava, and hanged. Now, fifteen years later, Eichmann is to account for a crime for which he will never be able to pay.

But where is the last of that trio of killers — S.S. Hauptsturmfuhrer Brunner?

JEWISH LIFE

H a sh k o f a h The Task Ahead

By SAMSON R. WEISS

1 excerpted from the final portion of the Report A • Vlce Pr. e.slc!ent, submitted by Dr. Samson R. Weiss at the recent 62 nd AnniversaryNational Biennial Convention of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America. We believe that readers will agree that i g | i | i message is in keeping with the ideological significance and literary distinction for which Dr. Weiss' Hashkofah essays are noted.

—Editor

HE Union of Orthodox Jewish purpose. Even within the two domi­ Congregations of America meets nating power blocs, new stresses and in its 62nd Anniversary National schisms appeared and assumed threat­ Biennial Convention at a crucial junc­ ening proportions, contributing an ture of history. Humanity has been added dimension to the feeling of help­ exposed, in the past two years, to lessness engulfing mankind. tremendous stresses. The spectacular The Jewish people has always evi­ scientific advances, notably in the ex­ denced a peculiar sensitivity to the ploration and the conquest of space, atmosphere of historic conditions and did not evoke the exhilaration which developments. This is due not only to used to accompany the accomplish­ our exposed position among the na­ ments of the genius of man and the tions of the world but also to our deep gradual unlocking of the mysteries of sense of identification with mankind the universe. They rather brought with as a whole. The People of the Torah, them an increasing trepidation for the the first to proclaim the sovereignty fate of mankind and for the very con­ of the Creator, has always seen the tinuation of civilization as we know it. brother in every human being. They The Cold War reached new intensities, never could isolate their own destiny, perhaps in the wake of the deep dis­ or attempt to retreat into their own appointment which followed the brief precincts, from the fate of the other rays of hope which appeared over the inhabitants of G-d’s earth. This pecu­ gloomy horizons only to soon give liarity continues to mark the Jew and ground to even darker pessimism. In­ has remained a sign of his spiritual ternational diplomacy continued in its nobility, though he may have become failure to find a common language and dissociated from the religious practices

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December, 1960

29

and observances which identify the Jew as the spiritual heir of the Chosen People. Not because we are neces­ sarily singled out for the threat, but rather because of the extent of our humane concern, we react with seismographic acuity to the slightest tremor and are shaken by the distant pain and distress.

N our age in which, due to the rapidity of communication and transport, distance has become an ever diminishing factor in the lives of men, territorial boundaries cannot serve any longer as shields of isolation. The fate of nations has become intertwined.

The resulting responsibilities for the leaders of the Great Powers have as­ sumed awesome proportions. We find ourselves in a new era which cries out for bold and imaginative new ap­ proaches and measures in all fields of collective human endeavor. The Jewish community, too, is thus bidden to discard many of the once possibly adequate approaches and techniques in acknowledgement of our new needs and contingencies. The challenge of today will only be met by the exercise of our highest creative potential and by a measure of inner discipline by which alone we can make our specific Jewish contribution to the building of a better tomorrow for all men.

Torah-true Judaism pronounces, as one of its basic concepts, the eternal validity of the Divine Law as revealed on Sinai. It charges man with the task to apply Torah’s eternally pertinent and unchanging principles to the effer­ vescent reality. It rejects the proposi­ tion that time-conditioned, ephemeral situations, and among them the human constellation, can justify any dispensa­ tion or abrogation or change of Torah or of any part of it. Deeply im­ bedded in Torah are those guideposts

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30

which enable the Jew to rise to the challenge of the outer situation and to make Torah and Mitzvah viable within them. It is the Halochah, the majestic system of Jewish law and Jewish tradition, which protects the constancy of the Jewish idea and pre­ vents time from assuming dominion over eternity.

More and more of our people are returning to Torah-true Judaism, to the Halochah, in their yearning for this constancy amidst the flux. The signs and the symptoms of this yearn­ ing and of this earnest search are evi­ dent everywhere. Jewish content and Jewish knowledge— as distinct and apart from concern with Jewish needs and from participation in Jewish af­ fairs—have become part of the com­ mon Jewish program, joined even by Jewish organizations and movements heretofore completely bent on assimi­ lation and secularization. We find it hard to share the opinion that the increase in “Jewish” interest is a sur­ face, and not a dep'h, symptom, and that the statistical increase of Jewish education can be neatly classified as the consequence of certain economical and sociological changes. These deveh opments must rather be recognized as of a much more profound nature, and they present the orthodox Jewish com­ munity with an immense challenge.

T IS the task of Jewish leadership to steer the ship of Jewish con­ tinuity through the uncharted seas of the future. We mav enter this voyage with confidence. The growth of Ihe Hebrew Day School movement and the development of the higher insti­ tutions of Jewish learning holds out the great promise of a learned, wellinformed orthodox laity which will supply inspired leaders and loyal fol­ lowing, guided by a rabbinate which

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JEWISH LIFE

embodies Torah scholarship and ana­ lytic understanding of the American climate. American othodox Jewry is also developing the type of organiza­ tion which holds out the promise of a steadily increasing ability to discharge our responsibilities in h disciplined and effective manner.

Our responsibilities are commensu­ rate with the great promise and po­ tential. We are called upon by Divine Providence to represent, in a world filled with chaos and fear, the con­ fidence of faith and the serenity which is the portion of those who chart their course by the signposts of eternity.

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December, 1960

31

The Freedom to Build

By PHILIP PERLMUTTER M a y religion be zoned out?

D

OES freedom of religion include the freedom to build a church or synagogue wherever a particular re­ ligion thinks necessary?

Catholics, Protestants, and Jews have argued “Yes!” They have done so where it counts most—in the nation’s law courts. With a prayer in their hearts and a carefully written law brief in their hands, they not only defend their own building projects but vig­ orously defend each other’s.

Early in 1959, the Missouri State Supreme Court handed down a deci­ sion supporting the right of a Jewish temple to build in a residential area of Creve Coeur, just outside of St. Louis.

Before the bar of justice, helping the temple, were the Archdiocese of St. Louis, the Metropolitan Church Fed­ eration, and the American Jewish Con­ gress.

The case actually began in 1954, when Temple Israel, desiring to relo­ cate, purchased land in Creve Coeur.

A few months later, the Creve Coeur board of aldermen passed two amend­ ments to its zoning ordinances, thereby undermining the temple’s plans. One of the amendments barred construc­ tion of churches in residential areas, while the other required a three-fourths vote of the aldermen to grant a build­ ing permit.

32

When the temple applied for a build­ ing permit, it met with a rejection.

After extended delay, an executive session of the board of aldermen met to review the problem. Catholic and Protestant representatives joined Jews in testifying that all religious groups are faced with the need to build in suburban areas and that barring any one or all would be a violation of con­ stitutional rights.

Their pleas were futile.

I s r a e l decided to take the issue to the law courts, where it was again joined by Protestant and Catholic leadership. Archbishop Joseph E. Ritter submitted a legal brief arguing that Creve Coeur’s ordi­ nances “are calculated to permit and do permit the officials of Creve Coeur to prescribe what is orthodox in re­ ligion by arbitrarily allowing them to welcome captiously one religious group and refuse another . . . Laws in gen­ eral that permit such arbitrary dis­ crimination between different groups tend to stir up unwanted and unneces­ sary hostility between the groups them­ selves . . . Under this system, a given religious group may enjoy a prefer­ ence in a given time and place, only to find that in another time or place the preference is for quite a different em ple

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JEWISH LIFE

enough, the court added that Creve Coeur s zoning amendments violated the right to the free exercise of rehgion, guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth amendments to the Conshtution.

The victory, though significant, could not be celebrated, for the city stubbornly decided to appeal the rulmg to the Missouri State Supreme Court but in vain. The Supreme Court not only affirmed the lower court s decision, but went further and said that to claim otherwise “would make it possible to interfere with the free exercise of religion.'

CTUALLY, zoning laws are no A new phenomena. They date back to ancient Roman times, when under the Caesars various laws were estabfished to exclude certain industries from the heart of the city and to set building lines and heights. The fall of Rome buried zoning laws until the early nineteenth century when in Germany detailed regulations were adopted to control the use and development of urban land. Other countries, particularly the United States, followed sult.

Americas first truly comprehensive zoning ordinance, based on German law and experience, was adopted in December, 1960

not occur to them that there was the remotest possibility that churches schools, and hospitals could properly be excluded from any districts. They considered that these concomitants of civilized residential life had a proper place in the best and most open localities.”

All religious groups have run into difficulties with zoning laws and officials, particularly in recent times. As the nation’s population increases and affiliates more and more with churches and synagogues, the need for building expansion has become unprecedented.

Also, the continuing population move­ ment from city to suburb has resulted in the relocation of old congregations and the creation of new ones. This religious booming and blossoming often bumps against various zoning laws which bar houses of worship from residential areas, Municipalities offer a number of reasons justifying such laws. Without them, traffic and parking problems would be created, neighborhood property would be depreciated, residents would be inconvenienced, noise would prevail, the city would lose money (since churches and synagogues are tax free). The accusation has even been made that churches do not advance public morality!

33

Though ail of these reasons have been used to prevent the erection of churches and synagogues, none of them has been held adequate justifica­ tion to restrict the constitutional prin­ ciple of religious freedom.

HE constitutional right to build is based on the First and Fourteenth amendments to the Constitution, stat­ ing that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of reli­ gion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . .” and that “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, nor shaU any state deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal pro­ tection of the laws.”

With these two amendments in mind, zoning ordinances which ex­ clude religious centers from residential districts are viewed as un-Constitutional restrictions on the free exercise of religion. They confine worshippers to a particular area, not selected by them, and not desirable for spiritual communion, as in commercial and in­ dustrial areas.

This does not mean that the Consti­ tution protects the absolute exercise of religion. As one legal expert pointed out, “A restriction of religious liberty would be constitutionally justifiable only if it is clearly and immediately necessary to protect an interest more important to society than the unre­ stricted exercise of religion.” Thus, the Constitution does not protect from prosecution those who practice biga­ my or refuse their children medical aid in the name of religion. Zoning laws barring religious centers are not “clearly and immediately” necessary to

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34

protect a higher societal interest than religious freedom.

An excellent example of this .point is seen in the case involving the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester and the town of Brighton. Here, a Jewish organization came to the legal assistance of their Catholic neighbors.

The American Jewish Congress sub­ mitted a legal brief stating that the town cannot seriously argue that “re­ ligious instruction derogates from the health, safety, morals or the welfare of the community or that it in any way vitiates the larger purposes for which a town and its governing authorities are responsible. This being the case, there can be no justification for zoning regulations which in effect will un­ necessarily expose children to the dan­ gers and hazards of traffic, to the rigors of inclement weather and to high transportation costs, in order to receive religious instruction to which they have a right under the constitu­ tional guarantees of religious liberty.

The obvious place, and indeed the only place, for a religious school is in the midst of the families which it serves and for whom it exists.” The court finally decided that the town’s restrictive ordinance was “arbitrary and unreasonable and should be annulled.”

N a case involving an Episcopalian congregation in Chicago and a property owner who sued the city to withdraw a building permit, the court held that “Wherever the souls of men are found, there the House of G-d belongs.”

When a Jewish center went to court against Garden City, in New York, the court said that barring the erection of a synagogue was an abridgement of freedom of religion, rejecting argu­ ments that a synagogue would create

I

JEWISH LIFE

a parking problem, depreciate prop­ church or synagogue is not sufficiently erty values or otherwise be “detrimen­ substantial to justify excluding such tal” to the neighborhood. buildings from the area.”

Actually the state has the legal An often quoted court passage from power to establish zoning ordinances a case involving the United Lutheran in order to provide the maximum Church typifies this attitude. “The benefit to the community and resi­ church in our American society has dents. Few people, for example, would traditionally occupied the role of both take issue with the right of a com­ teacher and guardian of morals. Re­ munity to bar a factory from building strictions against churches could there­ in an area zoned for private homes, fore scarcely be predicated upon a and the courts would most certainly purpose of protecting public morals uphold the constitutionality of such an . . . Fully to accomplish its great re­ ordinance. ligious and social function, the church When it comes to building a reli­ should be integrated into the home gious structure, the courts have taken life of the community which it serves a different position, even though some . . . To require that churches be ban­ residents may feel there is little differ­ ished to the business district . . . is ence whether it is a factory or church clearly not to be justified on the score which makes them unhappy. Dr. Leo of promoting the general, welfare.”

Pfeffer, a legal expert on church-state matters, has pointed out that most REEDOM of religion is indeed zoning boards and courts have held freedom from restriction, and our “that whatever inconvenience or an­ nation’s religious leaders, singly and noyance might be suffered by home in unison, are safeguarding this pre­ owners because of the proximity of a cious American right.

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December, 1960

35

You are invited to discover the majesty, poetry, and reverent beauty of the great ritual heritage of traditional Judaism as received, en­ riched, and transmitted from generation to generation from ancient times to the present. Translated from the original Hebrew and Aramaic by Dural D§ Sold Poo! and published by authority of ItfflCfl Of

liic l

FOR SABBATH AND FESTIVALS

Published by UNIVERSITY BOOKS

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55

B o o k Mtwit*tvs A Sabra Rabbi Answers Sabra Questionings

By ARYEH NEWMAN MA’ARCHEI LEV (Preparations of the H e a rt): ANSWERS TO YOUTH ON MATTERS OF HASHKOFAH.

By R ab b i E lim elech B a r-S h a u l.

Tel Aviv. news has come from Israel regarding the flock­ ing to yeshivoth of a new generation of religious youth and the springing up in all parts of the country of new kinds of religious high schools com­ bining an intensive yeshivah educa­ tion with the regular secular curri­ culum. The long awaited synthesis of the old and the new, of a thorough­ going pietism and the not-to-be-denied realities of this modern age seems to be dawning. Who is responsible for this devoutly to be wished turning point?

It can be said that the religious youth movements which combined loyalty to Torah with enthusiasm for the upbuilding of Zion, observance of Jewish precept with preoccupation with the bricks and mortar of found­ ing a national state, have a great deal to do with it. But, in addition, it was

R

e f r e s h in g

ARYEH NEWMAN, who lives in Jerusalem, is a frequent contributor of articles to J e w i s h L i f e .

This is his first book review in these pages.

56

the vision of the late Chief Rabbi Kook and his disciples who wished to consecrate the movement for national rebirth by their approval of its posi­ tive mainsprings, who wished to counter its negative aspects by nurs­ ing its authentic Jewish motivations.

The Yeshivah of Rabbi Kook, Mercaz Harav, and the B’nei Akiva yeshivoth have produced a generation of sabras as meticulous in their Jewish observ­ ance, if not more so, than their fathers, and builders and defenders of the country in all its material aspects too.

One of the spiritual guides of this new generation, himself a disciple of Rabbi Kook and graduate of the tra ­ ditional training grounds of pious Jerusalem scholars—the yeshivoth of Hebron and Etz Chaim as well as of the new foundation of Mercaz Harav ■ —is Rabbi Elimelech Bar-Shaul. Born in Jerusalem and now Chief Rabbi of Rehovoth, he has devoted his life to the guidance of religious youth, help­ ing to organize yeshivoth that would meet both their ancient spiritual and modern physical needs. Lecturing in Yeshivath Hadarom, of which he is a co-founder, and spiritual guide of Kerem B’Yavne, he is reckoned to be the uncrowned rabbinic head of the Kibbutz Hadati. He has given guidJEWISH LIFE

little inconvenience because of this, with respect to social status, liveli­ hood, and prestige and I am still not confident that my path will be so rosy henceforth. But I pray that just as I have withstood temptation hitherto, so may I remain true to myself al­ ways. But I must admit one weakness.

I am not satisfied with what are termed chumroth (stringencies of the law). I understand that where there is a doubt about the law it is only right and proper to take the strict view. But I don't understand those ^ho make a general practice of strict­ ness and .even take pleasure in this.

HE book is a veritable “guide for Since I am young and easily roused the perplexed,” differing from I sometimes become very annoyed at Maimonides' “Guide” in its being these machmirim, but when my an­ suited to a very different kind of au­ noyance subsides I deeply regret that dience—by no means philosophical but I ever felt any grudge against such whose object may also be said “to worthy Jews apparently more or­ enlighten a religious man trained to thodox and meticulous than myself.”

The questioner himself breathes believe in the truth of our holy Law humility and sincerity and is a wel­ who conscientiously fulfills his moral and religious duties” (from Mai­ come contrast to the religious skeptic monides’ prefatory remarks in his and scoffer who is more interested in “Guide”) . But the temptations of putting his question than in hearing Aristotelian philosophy have been re­ an answer. placed by other and equally perplex­ ABBI BAR-SHAUL analyzes the ing situations. emotional background to the The words “spirit” and “soul” are very difficult to bring within the ex­ questioner's misgivings, putting his perience of the modern youth, with finger immediately on the reason for the accent on palpable material things his lack of appreciation of the soin the world around. Rabbi Bar-Shaul called “ultra-orthodox.” Every chum* in a beautiful piece explains these rah is simply a sympton of the wor­ concepts in terms appealing to the shipper's desire to carry out the will referentials of an Israeli high school of his Creator to the last iota, not to graduate, enlisting the aid of such fail in his duty. On the one hand, awe widely divergent sources as Pascal, of his Creator makes him fear lest he has failed in his duty and, on the Goethe, and Rav Kook.

The next question reveals an arche­ other, love impels him to go to any typal emotional state of the religious lengths to fulfill His commands. The youth faced by a pattern of observ­ questioner has not yet made the neces­ ance more meticulous than his own: sary grade of both awe and love of “I think I may call myself an ‘obser-i his Creator, the distractions of mod­ vant Jew'. I have indeed suffered no ern civilization probably having

ance on their day-to-day problems to a whole generation of sabras, mem­ bers of the Ezra and B'nei Akiva movements. In his latest book, Ma’archei Lev, he has distilled for ns some of the questions and answers that have characterized the dialogue between him and his disciples. We can learn much about the character and religious standards of one type of sabra in Israel from the questions he asks, just as we can feel the im­ pact of a man who knows the way to the heart of his charges from the answers.

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December, 1960

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robbed him of that simple faith. The shows that it has always been the tra ­ only way to regain that state is by dition of Judaism from Abraham on­ saturating himself in a milieu steeped wards to go forth into the world, well in that attitude of Divine awe and armed, it is true, but without fear love—the Yeshivah. or favor. Public life must not be In another context, explaining to shirked by the orthodox Jew. On the the youth leader how to win friends contrary, his study of Torah, his con­ and influence people for Torah, Rabbi tinuous intensive acquisition of re­ Bar-Shaul once again invokes the ligious scholarship, is means for one Yeshivah as the ideal institution purpose—for the benefit of others. which gives the maximum freedom The Talmid Chochom is a living Sefer for the individual to find his own way Torah to be read and shown the peo­ and yet pervading every single aspect ple and not to be cooped up in an of his existence. The Chazon Ish and Ark, however holy.

Rav Kook are quoted for apt observa­ Today a Jewish religious collective tions on the theme of observing the life is no longer an innovation and finer points of the Law. To the former it is the toil in the Torah that endows the most exacting observers of Juda­ ism can be found living on kibbutzim the student with sensitiviy to its finer m Israel. But at the beginning there points; to the latter, every Mitzvah has its own musical note which Israel were many who doubted whether col­ lective living and its resultant pre­ has to catch and delight in. clusion of private ownership could be To conclude, it is the joy and bliss harmonized with Judaism. Rabbi Barm carrying out the will of the Creator Shaul examines this problem and by which lies behind meticulous observ­ quoting two seemingly opposing views ance, the wish to go one better in ful­ on tlm subject by two great rabbinic filling a precept, not a joyless fanati­ authorises, distills from both the cism which is what the spiritually answer that the modern religious kib­ impoverished and often misinformed butz is theoretically the most perfect critic sees. institution for observing a Jewish wav of life.

The Dubnow Maggid had one ob­ HE VALUE of tzniyuth—the jection to communism—that it pre­ modesty of Jewish womanhood, vented the individual Jew from carry­ the sacrificial service, the so-calléd ing out such precepts as giving contradictions between science and re­ charity, since all property was com­ ligion, the reasons for modern skep­ mon. Jacob Emden, on the other hand, ticism and divorcement from Judaism, could think of no better social frame­ are all dealt with, with a clarity and work for removing jealousy and hate lack of apologetics that could only de­ from the world, and cited the example velop in the background of Jewish of the ancient pietists in the time of national and religious independence. the Second Temple who pooled their Which is the policy for a Torah-true resources and lived collectively. The Jew? To adopt that of retirement from writer concludes therefore that a col­ the world with its secularism and lective framework which still allows temptations into his own chosen circle each individual to perform the pre­ of fit though few, or to sally forth cepts requiring individual contribu­ into public life? Rabbi Bar-Shaul tions and participation would be the

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58 JEWISH LIFE

ideal. The modern religious kibbutz strives to this ideal so long as it does not ignore the education and efforts of the individual. A kibbutz which is wholly governed by the dictates of Torah, in which all its members do not neglect their primary duty to de­ vote the maximum time to improving their standards of observance and regular Torah study, is a “holy asso­ ciation” that can be a light and an example to all. n p WO other subjects important to JL Jews everywhere are touched on in the last two questions in the book ,^-the attitude to Jewish statehood and Goluth. In the former the balance has to be struck between over-en­ thusiasm and over-hasty disillusion.

There is no doubt at all about the historic nature of the great change that has come about with the emer­ gence of the State. It is a part of the pattern of redemption, a fulfillment of the prophecies regarding the in­ gathering of the exiles, but it is only a beginning, a beginning that began many centuries previously; the in­ gathering has to be complete of all the exiles, the redemption of the whole of Eretz Israel, the coming of the Messiah, the rebuilding of the Temple, and the spiritual reformation

December, 1960

of the world. These are hidden things but we are called upon to prepare the people for the consummation of the redemptive process that has al­ ready begun.

In a forthright and fiery champion­ ing of Eretz Israel Rabbi Bar-Shaul dispels any of the notions about the positive values of the Diaspora. The Diaspora is exile and no amount of specious argument about the com­ forts, security, rich Torah life there can overshadow the fact that it is destined to be liquidated as a tem­ porary phenomenon, a punishment for our sins. It is an unnatural state of affairs. As soon as any Jew begins to accept Goluth, to acclimatize him­ self, he disassociates himself from those who desire redemption and wait for it. It is one thing to be grateful to a nation that has given hospitality to us but it is another to lose our bearings and forget our Jewish es­ sence, our national being, and our homeland. The slightest glossing over this is forbidden. If you will say “There is Torah in the Diaspora,” the answer is given us by our Sages: “There is no Torah like that of Eretz Israel.”

An English adaptation of this book would be a service to Diaspora youth too.

59

The Long Lost or, Jewish-Christian Save My Child

By WARD MOORE THE SECOND CRU CIFIXION , Maurice Samuel; 373 pp; Knopf, $4.50

solute playboy. They have fun till Marcella’s dowry is gone and she is pregnant. Julius, a stock villain, now reveals that he knows Marcella’s T IS hard not to treat this novel actual parents were Jews and that derisively. Yet Mr. Samuel has he doesn’t intend having one of them such a respectable place in Anglo- running around calling him “Daddy.”

Jewish letters, a place gained and As a Roman, he has the right to have held through forty years of clear, the child exposed, but his antisemi­ pungent, forceful polemics which tism is such that he threatens to have have fired Jews with pride and—it is it thrown in the Cloaca Maxima. hoped—enlightened many non-Jews, Marcella flies for refuge to the Jews that the reviewer hesitates before be­ but instead of picking just ordinary lieving the worst.

Yehudim, she appeals to a group of Yet Mr. Samuel’s fictional muffins Ebionites—schismatics who reject the simply don’t rise, and they have never divinity of Jesus but accept him as been nourishing. An accomplished a prophet equal to Moses. She gives dialectitian, a master of argument, birth to a girl. Julius divorces her, a superb marshaller of forensic con­ and after seven years she is betrothed tentions, it appears to this reviewer to Yohanaan ben Matthias who has he has somewhere in him the con­ studied not only Torah but Greek tempt of the attorney for the artist. philosophy, Gnosticism, and the wis­ He seems to belong, alas, in the ranks dom of the East while remaining a of those who are sure they can write staunch Ebionite. Now, when every­ a novel, given the time. Well, Mr. one is happy, Julius reappears to in­ Samuel has taken the time and written form Marcella that he has become a another novel, and it is as poor as Christian and must save his wife and its predecessors. child from the Jews, otherwise they In Rome, in the II Century C.E., will roast in hellfire through eternity.

Marcella, adopted daughter of a noble Marcella offers to turn over every Roman, marries Julius Fulvius, dis- sesterce she might inherit from her foster parents but Julius is fanatical WARD MOORE is a novelist and critic whose works have appeared in five languages in ten as well as greedy. He has the child countries, and who has contributed extensively to general and Anglo-Jewish publications. kidnapped and held as hostage for

I

60

JEWISH LIFE

Marcella’s return to him and her ac­ ceptance of his religion. Ebionites and Christians unite to attempt to rescue and in the grand finale the child, Julius, and Yohanaan drown together.

ITERARY artists from Homer’s L time to ours have taken the tritest plots and rewritten them successfully.

Shakespeare is notorious for his un­ originality. But in using the ancient platitudes they have created an illu­ sion of utter freshness. All the corny activities in Macbeth do not interfere in the slightest with our horror and pity, understanding and release at this tragedy, not of murderer and witchconsulter, but of humans caught by events, compulsions, and despairs. Nor is it enough to assert that the author must have something to say. Mr. Samuel always has something to say and says it very well when he is writing essays. He simply has not achieved the discipline of creative writing. The Second Crucifixion is not merely contrived; worse, every one of its contrivances show in all their awkwardness.

II Century Rome was as involved with comparative religion as the 1920s were with psychoanalysis or the ’30s with politics. Judaism was immensely attractive to cultivated Romans to whom the old polytheism had become mere allegory, useful for patriotic allusion or youthful instruction but no more to be taken as “truth” than we take the legends of Washington and the cherry tree or Lincoln’s presence at humble churches after his death. So were Mithraism and the exotic cults of Babylonia and Parthia.

Even Christianity, struggling to sur­ vive against intellectually more per­

December, 1960

suasive doctrines, appealed to certain types of personality, certain economic groups. Such material is eminently suitable for fiction; conflict between Jew, Ebionite, and Christian is legiti­ mate background for a novel, even with a thesis such as Mr. Samuel seems rather fond of: that it is just too bad the Ebionites didn’t reconcile Jews and Christians into a passion­ less Unitarianism. Not for him is Frank Rooney’s brilliant wordplay in McGinnis Speaks referring to the New Testament as “The Perils of Pauline.”

But the medium as well as the ma­ terial must be treated with respect, and this the author has most signally failed to do. His nitwitted heroine, his absurd Victorian villain, his host of minor characters who may have their prototypes in Sholom Aleichem or Dickens but who are handled with an appalling lack of dexterity, his stilted exposition, his inexcusable ending (Puccini made into an old B movie and translated back into vaudeville for the borscht circuit) with its pointless, willful doing away with a child in the hope that this will make the reader sniffle, are all symptomatic of Mr. ¡Samuel’s attitude toward the craft of fiction.

When one thinks of how surely Shaw depicted the varying and fre­ quently irreconcible types of early Christians in Androcles (the very job Samuel botches with his tv types), of how Koestler captured the atmos­ phere, the very smell of Rome, of how a dozen run-of-the-mill novelists even among today’s notably uninspired gen­ eration have been able to depict cor­ ruption clinically, one can only shake one’s head at the opportunities lost.

61

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JEWfSH LIFE

L e t t e r s to th e E d it o r

WHO ARE “NON-ZIONISTS?” San Francisco, Calif.

It is almost incredible to read in Gottfried Neuburger’s article “My Brothers Do I Seek” (Tishri, 5721) “. . . yet I feel that it is a basic fallacy and a grave error to equate this [Arab anti-Zionism] with ‘Antisemitism’.”

Then the writer states that American non-Zionist Jews could mediate with the Arabs and accomplish more, then he suggests a new board or committee for this purpose. What strange crea­ ture is this non-Zionist Jew? Is refer­ ence being made to members of the American Council for Judaism? Can a person truly be a Jew and also a non-Zionist? Could Neuburger argue that'Moses was not a Zionist?

Now, more than ever, is there need for unity among our Jewish people.

The author zealously tries to agree with the Arabs in Egypt and Morocco that there is a difference between Jews and Zionists. Is he prepared to prove there is a difference? Why this subtle attack on Zionism? Who are these American non-Zionists who are ready arid apparently willing and able to be so helpful in resolving Arab-Israel dif­ ferences? What have they done for Israel, the nation and for Israel, the people?

Instead of insinuations and slurs which would divide us into fighting December, 1960

factions, let us instead make every effort to avoid “passionate elabora­ tions of the differences between us” (Simon Greenberg in “Assignrnent In Israel”).

It may be necessary for the Moroc­ can Jews to be subservient to their Arab rulers; however, is it necessary to carry this servile attitude into the pages of a dignified American Jewish publication? I daresay even the Moroc­ can Jews do not relish such an attitude which at the same time does such violence to the unity of the American Jew and causes him to look for differ­ ences which really do not exist. I can­ not see how a person truly a Jew can be a non-Zionist.

Matthew J. Ritchie THE TORAH SUBURB Brooklyn, N. Y. Congratulations to your magazine on its new cover. But special congrat­ ulations on the remarkably interesting article on Far Rockaway by Michael Kaufman, followed by Rabbi Ralph Pelcovitz’s article (“The Yeshivah Alumnus and the Synagogue,” Tishri 5721). . . . How I envy a community and a rabbi who have reached that point where it hurts them that “yeshivaleit” are not active members of the local shool—the madreyga of missing 63

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JEWISH LIFE

the “Ben Torah.” Why, in my section of Brooklyn the “am-horatzim” in the congregation don’t even care to know what a “Ben Torah” is, let alone yearn for his company!

What a community that must be, how pleasantly Jewish a place to live!

William Shlukersky

away—Torah Suburb-by-the-Sea.” I was truly inspired by the dedication to true Jewish values by the residents of that community. They seem to lead such complete, happy lives as Ameri­ cans and Jews in this unique com­ munity.

Mrs. Lawrence (Kay) Mazey

East Hartford, Conn.

On many occasions have I heard it expressed that for Judaism to develop Halachically would demand a particu­ larly seminal environment. This type of living would have as one of its main component parts the non-in­ volvement of its residents in the life of the greater American experience.

Eo ipso, it is felt that the Yiddishkeit which can be experienced in its most happy relation to the Almighty and concomitantly with Torah cannot be lived in view of the “modern situ­ ation.”

This is certainly not the proper place to deny these strictures often raised against Torah Judaism. In all candor, however, I am much impressed with the materials which were de­ veloped by Mr. Kaufman.

It is rewarding to know that a new, fashionable, perceptive Torah-true gen­ eration is “by-the-sea”—by the sea of our vast heritage, and not as so many of us are— at sea. I can only hope and pray that the words of the writer . . . find their echoes in the lives of other communities throughout the country.

Rabbi Stanley Herman

THE RABBINIC TITLE

New Albany, Indiana A copy of the August issue of J e w i s h L i f e was given to me and I’d like to compliment you on it.

As a Reform Jew, I am not familiar with a lot of orthodox practices but did enjoy reading about “Far RockDecember, 1960

Philadelphia, Pa. I should like to share . . . somè melancholy reactions to Rabbi Emanuel Rackman’s article in your October issue (“Non-Orthodox Jews, Please Be Fair”).

Rabbi Rackman addresses a plea for fairness to “non-orthodox Jews.”

And yet he studiously and deliberately avoids bestowing the title of Rabbi upon the ordained leaders within thè Conservative and Reform movements.

Rabbi Rackman is resourceful, of course, and he comes up with interest­ ing euphemisms. Twice he uses the circumlocution “non-orthodox clergy­ men,” and once he is generous etiough to call us “spiritual leaders of non­ orthodox congregations.”

He concludes his appeal for fairness on a note of warm supplication— “Non-orthodox Jews, please give us at least what you want Christians to give all of us—good will and mutual un­ derstanding!” To which I can only answer, a little good will and under­ standing from Rabbi Rackman won’t hurt either.

Rabbi Sidney Greenberg S JE ditor’s Note: The usage in Rabbi Rackman’s article was in conformity with the policy of J e w i s h L i f e , under which the title “Rabbi” is ap­ plied in our articles only to musmochim—duly ordained orthodox rabbis.]

65

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JEWISH LIFE

THE MIDDLE GATE London, England Mr. Samuelson’s article .[“The Middle Gate Revisited,” Tishri 5721] makes interesting points. However, the language difficulty is only the first hurdle. Rabbi Yirmiyah, who did not have it, was said “not to have known what the Rabbis said” until he went on to a yeshivah in Eretz Israel (Ket. 75a). To grasp the full implications of a Talmudic ruling one needs ex­ tensive knowledge and a penetration which comes only from years of in­ tensive study under good teachers, and even then “to conclude according to the Halochah requires Divine as­ sistance.”

Mr. Samuelson’s application of the principle of “beginning with negli­ gence and ending with unforeseeable accident” would be sound only if shov­ ing the passenger had involved actual and relevant negligence.

Apart from this, an employer is not responsible for damage done willfully by his servant (except by express un­ dertaking or a takkanah), while he Would be liable for the servant’s neglect of the employer’s duties as a bailee delegated to him (and only if it was not understood that the servant should become the actual bailee). In this case it would therefore be neces­ sary to determine whether the shov­ ing was not wilfull damage rather than neglect.

In his other case, on “lease-back” amounting to usury, the application from Baba Metzia 65b is not as ob­ vious as one might think. The “lease­ back” arrangement does not in fact fit clearly into any of the three arrange­ ments dealt with there, and anyone desiring to enter into a “lease-back” agreement where both buyer and December, 1960

financier are Jewish should seek the decision of an authoritative rabbi.

To come back to generalities, Mr. Samuelson is right to praise the logic of the Talmud and its coverage of details. The latter would be expected in any system of law that has been practiced over such a long period as Jewish law; what makes the Talmud and Poskim such an efficient system, able to direct our lives in any period and place however remote from the one in which it was first committed to writing, is the fact that . . . one can seek and find a reason for any difference between one case and an­ other, so that an expert can apply the principles derived from such compari­ sons to any new case with confidence —unlike man-made systems, where it is often not possible to correlate ac­ cepted precedents with each other in any logical way.

It is true that the study of Talmud, even the mere sampling provided in yeshivoth, speedily develops both re­ sourceful and straight thinking; but this is a by-product. Its real value lies in engaging a man’s thinking capacity in G-d’s law, thus making his whole life more meaningful and directing it at every turn . . .

Rabbi S. Alter Halpern Mr. Samuelson writes: . . . While I find Rabbi Halpern’s comments illuminating, I am not sure whether he is agreeing with me, dis­ agreeing, or merely commenting, when he makes his several points.

Let me make it clear that I was not trying to elucidate any dinim, nor to explain any judicial holdings. Three courts and thirteen judges sat on the Palsgraf case. Two courts and seven judges voted for the plaintiff, but the 67

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JEWISH LIFE

defendant prevailed although one court and six judges voted for it. To­ day the majority opinion of Judge Cardozo is regarded as established law. t he dissenting opinion of Judge An­ drews, however, covering more than seven pages, contains exceedingly cogent reasoning. I will not put my head between Judges Cardozo and Andrews, or, lehavdil, between Abaye and Raba.

When Rabbi Halpern states that lia­ bility for negligence ending wLh un­ foreseeable accident exists only where the negligence is relevant, i.e. if the porter should have foreseen the result, he seems to be contradicting his orig­ inal premise, that the accident was unforeseeable.

As for the “lease-back” analogy, I was thinking of the chakira de narshai which is mentioned in 68a. I did so not for the purpose of showing a pre­ cise analogy, which it is not, but merely to illustrate the high level of sophisti­ cation that had been reached long ago in a relaiively simple socio-economic system. My point is not, as Rabbi Hal­ pern said, that this “coverage of de­ tails” is a result of practice over a long period of time. Jewish Law did not “evolve.” It was born full grown, I contend.

CHURCH, STATE, AND EDUCATION Bayside, N. Y. The challenging editorial in the October issue, “Politics, Religion, and Public Education,” is one which de­ serves careful consideration. If its premises and conclusions are accepted, the Jewish community will have to reverse its traditional position not only on education but on the entire area of church-state relationships.

This writer cannot accept the prem­ ise that “Protestant forces are them­ selves yet more deeply engaged in parochialization of public education December, 1960

than their Catholic counterparts.” If Catholic policy is not as constantly in the public eye, it is because many Catholics are unconcerned with public schools and concentrate on their own parochial schools.

On ihe very issue of the Dade County case, this writer has read some enlightened Protestant thinking on the subject. Certainly, it is far from ma­ jority opinion, but there is no such thing as one Protestant opinion as con­ trasted with Church policy in the areas where Catholics are in the majority.

Even assuming that the worst of the editorial’s assumptions are correct, one would prefer the fiction of the public school to the alternative of recognizing parochial schools as public institu­ tions. It is far more preferable for the Jewish community to extend every effort to prevent “spiritual and moral values” to be taught at the public ex­ pense, than to recognize the right of the public (i.e. the state) to enter the realm of religion.

The editorial errs, in my opinion, in not recognizing that the issue is not limited to the schools. Again, one pre­ fers the “fiction,” if this is what we may call it, of the separation of Church and State to the reality that America is a Christian state. It is under the guise of this “fiction” that we fight for fair Sabbath laws.

To recognize the “reality” that pub­ lic schools are Protestant must logi­ cally lead us to the conclusion that the country also is. Our status would then be reduced to one of a tolerated, if even respected, minority rather than of equality. The religious group rather than the individual becomes the cause celebre, an exceptionally dangerous position for Jews as history should have taught us. It seems preferable to try, regardless of the odds, to make fiction come true than to accept a 69

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JEWISH LIFE

“realism’1 that contains deadly ele­ ments.

Schools can teach democratic values by stressing history, civics, and citi­ zenship, that which we have in com­ mon. We Jews should know that socalled “spiritual and moral values” may be used to teach values that cause grief and anxiety to minorities. (Some Southern pastors teach racial suprem­ acy as based on Biblical texts.) In New York City, the number of juve­ nile delinquents from certain schools stressing “spiritual and moral values” is exceptionally high. Will orthodox Jewry give lip service to conventional lies?

One realizes that the basic concern of the editorial is to obtain govern­ ment aid for our own day schools.

The Jews of Czarist Russia and of Austria, realizing its dangers, rejected such aid. The orthodox Jewish com­ munity should and can support its own educational system. We can not lose sight of the fact that by facing the so-called “reality of the situation,” we concede the right of school boards to regulate -‘the spirifual and moral values” of the vast majority of Jewish boys and girls who will never attend Jewish day schools. Do we have the spiritual and moral right to make so dangerous a concession?

Rabbi Louis Bernstein From the Editor: We quite agree wi'h Rabbi Bernstein as to the problems of the public school teaching of “so-called spiritual and moral values”—which in fact is often made to serve as a means of compul­ sory sectarian indoctrination under public auspices, and at minimum serves to transmit Christian spiritual and moral teachings. Our editorial rested on this very point. Viewing the prevalence of such indoctrination in the public December, 1960

schools around the country and the character of its sponsorship, it is diffi­ cult to reconcile the situation which Rabbi Bernstein himself stresses with his prior refusal to accept the premise he cites. Study of the positions taken by leading Protestant bodies permits no other conclusion but that they are heavily committed to one or another interpretation of the policy of teaching “moral and spiritual values” in the public schools— and that under this commitment are forwarded programs for indoctrination in Protestant tenets.

In assuming that by facing the re­ ality “we concede the right of school boards to regulate ‘the spiritual and moral values’ of the vast majority of Jewish boys and girls,” Rabbi Bern­ stein draws a conclusion precisely opposite to that which the editorial bears. There it was stressed that the tacit “parochialization” of the public schools through the instrumentality of “spirifual and moral values” subjects Jewish children to compulsory Chris­ tian indoctrination. Obviously, in fac­ ing the reality and calling for policies addressed to reality we are far from conceding the very premise which the editorial challenges.

If the facts point fo the reality of the Protestant relationship to the pub­ lic schools, no good purpose, Jewish or otherwise, can be served by ignoring it or glossing it over. The problem to be faced is simply: how can this reality best be dealt with?

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JEWISH LIFE

This isby Harry noGolden 20 plane A As you fasten your seat belt on El Al’s Britannia, the pilot makes his opening announcement in the Hebraic accents of a Biblical prophet. Immediately, he trans­ lates this into precise Oxford English.

But by this time the versatility of the El A1 crew does not surprise you. I found out shortly after we took off from Idlewild that the trim, efficient, quite pretty Sabra stewardess had been a sergeant in the Israeli Army. Later, when I was in­ vited forward to meet captain and crew, I learned they had been trained by one of the world’s great pilots, Flight Superin­ tendent Tom Jones.

None of this is surprising really, be­ cause most of Israel’s history is inextric­ ably involved with the age of flight.

Israel is the only country whose airline

is as old as itself, and as modern. El Al’s service at Idlewild, London, Paris, and Tel Aviv is quick, personal, and punctual.

It is an important link between America, Europe and the Middle East and you are treated importantly flying on it.

El A1 is a cosmopolitan airline. I flew it. I know. Nor is this merely a matter of personal pride. Half the passengers who cross the Atlantic on the Britannia, fly only to London or Paris. And the atmos­ phere on El A1 is closer to $10 cham­ pagne than to 2c plain. In fact, if you order “for 2c plain” you will have to pour it from a Schweppes bottle.

Nothing gives you as much a sense of belonging to the twentieth century as fly­ ing. And no flying is as easy and as thor­ oughly enjoyable as an El A1 flight.

This Heinz symbol of quality and this © *seal of kashruth appear on the tastiest o f all vegetarian beans, ... on seven savory soups. . . on the world*s best liked Ketchup—and on a great variety o f pure and nourishing strained and junior foods for babies.

* th e (y) is t h e s e a l o f T h e U n io n O f O r th o d o x J e w is h C o n g r e g a tio n s O f A m e r ic a y o u r g u a r a n te e t h a t th e s e H e in z V a r ie tie s a re s t r i c t l y k o s h e r .