Jewish Life Jan-Feb 1970

WHAT EVERY OLEH SHOULD KNOW * EPISODES MISSION TO FRANCE * MAUTHAUSEN - HILL INTO HELL! SPIRITUAL REALITY VS. ROMANTICIST MYTH THREE POEMS BY NELLY SACHS

SHEVAT-ADAR 5730 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

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Vol. X XXVII, No. 3/January-February 1970/Shevat-Adar 5730

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T H E E D I T O R 'S V IE W

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WHO IS A JEW O R WHAT IS A JEW ?...... ................... 3

■ A R T IC L E S Saul Bernstein,

E d ito r

Paul H. Baris Libby Klaperman Nathan Lewin Rabbi Solomon J. Sharfman

MISSION TO FR A N C E / Elkanah S c h w a rtz ..................................................... 7 SPIRITU A L REA LITY VS. ROM ANTICIST M Y TH / H. Joel L ak s..............................................................33

E d ito r ia l A ss o c ia te s

Elkanah Schwartz A s s is ta n t E d ito r

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EPISOD ES/ N ancy H erskow itz..................................................40 WHAT EV ERY OLEH SHOULD KNOW/ A aron R o th k o ff..... .................................................4 5 MAUTHAUSEN - H ILL INTO H E LL !/ Allan M. B lu stein ....................................................53 POETRY TH REE POEMS BY NELLY SA C H S.......................... 30

P u b lish e d b y

Union of Orthodox J ewish Congregations of America Joseph Karasick

B O O K R E V IE W S FAITH AND F O L K / Isaac L. S w ift........................................................... 57

P r e sid e n t

Harold M. J acobs C h airm an o f th e B o a rd

Benjamin Koenigsberg, Nathan K. Gross, David Politi, Dr. Bernard Lander, Harold H. Boxer, Lawrence A. Kobrin, V ic e P resid en ts; Morris L. Green, T reasu rer; Emanuel Neustadter, S e c re ta ry; Julius Berman, F in an cial S e c re ta ry.

Dr. Samson R. Weiss E x ec u tive V ice P r e sid e n t

Saul Bernstein, A d m in is tr a to r

IN SH O RT/ N athan L e w in .......................................................... 60 ON PR A Y IN G / Benjamin W. M intz................................................. 61 D EPA RTM EN TS FROM H E R E AND T H E R E ................................. ......... 63 LETTER S TO TH E E D IT O R .........................................67 AMONG OUR C O N T R IB U T O R S...................................2

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Cover and drawings by Naama Kitov © Copyright 1 9 7 0 by U N IO N O F O R T H O D O X JEW IS H C O N G R E G A T IO N S O F A M E R IC A

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

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NELLY SACHS was known to only a very limited circle until she was designated to share the Nobel Prize for Literature with Shmuel Yoseph Agnon. Only then was an English-language volume of her poetry published, in translation from German. A second volume is to appear shortly, to include the poems appearing in these pages. . . . DR. AARON R O TH K O FF, well known to our readers- as biographer of sages, turns his eye in this issue on a recent pivotal point in his and his family’s lives. Having given up a New Jersey pulpit and a Yeshiva University classroom to undertake Aliyah, he is now on the editorial staff of Encyclopaedia Judaica and a teacher in Machon Zev Gold —in Jerusalem, of course. . . . A musmach of the Hebrew Theological College in Skokie, Illinois who received an M.P.A. degree from the City University of New York is promising material for the United States/ military chaplaincy. Add to that, for M AJOR ALLAN M. BLUSTEIN, a four-year stint as instructor at the U.S. Army Chaplain School, plus service in Texas, France, New Jersey, and Germany, and a varied experience results. One episode of his experience, of which he tells here, stands alone. . . . NANCY HERSKOW ITZ of Los Angeles,/ California is a senior at UCLA who spent her junior year at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. As an English major, what better source material to draw upon than personal impressions?. . . . As a spiritual leader (Jewish Center of Torath Emeth in Flushing, New York), college lecturer in Contemporary Civilization (Queens College, New York), and contributor to scholarly journals, RABBI H. JO EL LAKS is concerned with the tendentious misinterpretations of Biblical figures that have gained popular currency today. Herein he exposes the motives at play in fashioning the distorted; stereotypes with the figure of Avrohom Ovinu as particular example. . . . ELKANAH SCHWARTZ finds all year that his functions as Assistant Editor of JEWISH LIFE and his other duties in the headquarters of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America bring him into contact with Jewish communal problems in all their diversity. Came vacation time, he was recruited to delve into the problems of a trans-Atlantic community. He records here impressions garnered from this busman’s holiday.

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JEWISH LIFE

the EDITOR'S VIEW

WHO IS A JEW OR WHAT IS A JEW? ERE it not fo r the profound gravity of the matter under concern, the action of Israel's Supreme Court in issuing its ruling on "W ho is a Jew" could be seen as simply ludicrous. It brings to mind the well aged story of the delegation calling upon the congregation's ailing Mora D'asra, w ith the message: "Rabbi, we are authorized to inform you that the Board wishes you a Refuah Shelemah, by vote of nine to seven!" Having occupied itself w ith the question of Jewish identity, Israel's high court has decreed the divorce of the "n atio n al" from the "religious" facet o f Jewish being and has solemnly pronounced that non-Jews are thus to be accorded Jewish identity, by vote of five to four.

Jews everywhere are appalled by the courfyfulmg. Yet, the decision "overruling" Torah law and the ages-long criterion of Jewish identity can have a salutary consequence. A contrary decision could have left many eyes closed to an aspect of the situation no less menacing than the prospect of a calamitous splitting of the Jewish people. Had Israel's Supreme Court ruled in accordance w ith Jewish law, many who are aroused by what Self- did transpire would have remained content and by tacit accepj|| Exposed ance, the precedent would have been established fo r this court to Menace exercise jurisdiction in the area o f Halochah. Thanks to the sheer outrageousness o f the court's ruling, this danger has become apparent to one and alb

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The danger, in this respect, would not have been contained w ithin the bounds of Medinath Israel. Directly and indirectly, Jewish communities throughout the world would have been affected by the juridical pattern set in the heartland of Jewish t^Ìife , Jtìst as they would by the fragmentation of Jewish identity.

In Israel itself, an additional problem is raised, one w ith which Americans too have become familiar: What is the sphere of C om pe te nce of the Supreme Court? May it rightfully go beyond the interpretation of basic law to the promulgation of new law? Is it a super-legislature?

In the present situation, Israel's high court seems to have breached its vague constitutional powers in tw o regards. First, it chose to assert jurisdiction in a matter of personal status, an area reserved under Israel's basic laws fo r the religious courts. And, while arbitrarily treating the question before it as governed by civil law, it ruled — on no apparent constitutional grounds — in Multiple contradiction to the functioning policy of the state since its Imposition inception. This policy has had the force of law. There was no w ritten law in the civil code on "w ho is a Jew," nor, o f course, any provision for or conception of "n atio n al" identity separable from, "religious" identity. The Supreme Court, in effect, simply proceeded to promulgate such a law!

Israel's government, much embarrassed, has moved to repair the situation by submitting to the K'nesseth legislation which would write into law the policy heretofore in effect, but w ith a tricky ambiguity on a key point. The bill o fficially identifies as Jews those of Jewish birth and "converts" to Judaism. The text as submitted to the K'nesseth omits the qualifying word “kadin” (signifying conversion in accordance w ith Torah law) which appeared in a previous draft. The bill seems sure of passage but, as is to be expected, the occasion is being seized to belabor d iffe r­ ences which a country so beleaguered can ill afford to sustain.

HE extreme untimeliness of the controversy is an indicator of calculated purpose at play. Clashing attitudes towards Jewishness have scarred the Eretz Yisroel scepe since the onset of the Second Aliyah. The issue has simmered throughout the history of the young Jewish State, again and again erupting into bitter conflict. With the Six-Day War, however, the pervading sense of Divine guardianship brought a searching of mind and

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heart and a deling of purposive Jewish destiny that went far to allay differences. Theipirit evoked by this historic test.has ebbed, but Sn^f^ e ri^ ice so^profound"cbtiId not fail to leave a lasting imprint. Many have b£en S w ly kM)Sto^the ranks^of the Torah' <SoVnJmiittd^JEHre Iigiolus^Shojbls ' turn awaV thousands seegghg ^ ^ ^g llm e n t, 'fb V Ilck’ of room, and ^¿Ihivoth likewise*, while multiplying in number, ar^fsiniHaHy taxed. Among all elements H j feWish^donfciousrifesg has become af&mpjjling force. There is a seeing for Jewish meanings, readiness.To move, in a Jewish dir^tjSh, an urgeHjr the complete JeWish identity.

Why, if iif ^ t h is new erupt iotf^bf the “ Who is a Jew?" con­ troversy? PrebrselV bbcadse Wf thglmass re-discbvery of Jewish id e n tity /T h e diehard secularist, tlio inveterate assimilationist, Israeli version, and the atheist fanatic have been left behind. They The Diehard See their intellectual hegem&ny w ith||inQ .” away, their grip on at Work sbcial and political life threatened. Each pS%sifig day pb$e&, for them, a morb dismaying j5ls$§pect. Hentlfe th ^ap tinn now — now, befbre their position is irretrievab1e/'3ow, when universal piffc ^ ^ Ifu p a tio n with external dangers takes everyone off-guard. Hence the move, via “ Who is a Jew“ agitation, to reawaken polarities, to f i l l the air with ¿infusing dogmas, to deflect the spiritual current, to fracture^)nce+:#and fo r all, the meaning of Jewish identity.

ISCHIEF has'jtsejsn dopj||and more will undoubtedly be d o n d /B u t events w ftf Suretyprove' th a f'th e era of deJudpjjzation is||pm ing to iti/'M )se, Throughout the world and espdjpally in Israel. Ip/vts Israeli aspe^|> the drive for “ nor maltja-/ ^ o n " of the Jew waWfn aberration born%f a paradox. ln ^o n tr§ jr distinction to tb o |§ who came to the Land of Israel to be free fo r |,|d£wishness, there were those who'came to be freed from Jewish-ness. The, one t y p lio f Jbw ^ought/the^lfdlly Jewish M ciety per­ m itting the T u lly Jewish life^free^from the inevitable hindrances of the' non-Jewish environment. The other sought^a society b uilt The Basic of h i/ vd^®|re tS befundifferOntiated from the non-Jew — whose Conflict World had rdpbted him; a non-Jewish s o ftty composed of Jews.

■Thqj tensSn between those oppbsfhg'elements is engraved in the fabri(||pf the Jewish S t8 |i| For a variety of reasons, the Torahabjuring "C hofshim " have gained and maintained pommand in the direction of public life. Thus they have been in position to impbld th e B '^H lo o k upon th;e :Israeli publte.. They have also been

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in position to propagate the false n q tio iftb a t the m ajority of Israelis are non-religious;, citing as proof, the m inority electoral status of th e ^ 'D a ti" political patties. Actually, as is well known, it is ; only because many thousands of traditional believers are persuaded to vote for the non-Dati parties that the latter retain their ascendancy. The fact is that the overwhelming m ajority o f H sraelis adhere -¡¿in whatever degrees of observance — to the faith their fatlpçrs; on this fact rests the integrity of the State of Israel.

It is true enough that a massive proportion of Israel's popus^jace though rooted in Jewish allegiance have deemed themselves apart from the fold of those who hold Torah sovereign. They and the Datiim alike are now discovering that the apartnesses unwar­ ranted, a ./frame of mind engendered by outdated historical conditions^/fostered and played upon by elements foreign to the Power very nature of the Land of Israel. It is,also true that this Land is of the the decisive^influe.bie*, in determining the character of Israelis Land peo|)l&?4mmeasurably potent is, the holiness of the Holy Land. It suffuses the^ew ish mind, invests the Jewish being w ith eternal purpose. To a people restored to this land touched by the Divine Presence, the query ''Who is a Jew?'-can be no more than empty wordplay. The real, compelling question is rather: What is â Jew, and how, and why? The State of-Israel came into being, as the Jewish state, out of the thrust of thi.s$question. In finding the valid response, MedinatT Israel w ill fu lfill its-purpose.

-S.B.

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JEWISH LIFE

by ELKANAH SCHWARTZ T HE P’Eylim organization was in need of someone to visit France this past summer, at his own expense, to further the establishment there of day schools. Shelving plans for a conventional vacation, I undertook the assignment. Soon enough the picture began to piece itself together.

A m ong th e differentiations, natural and artificial, within my own social circles, certain dichotomies per­ sist: Litvak and Galitziyaner, Yekke a n d H u n g a r i a n , C hossid and Mithnaged, this yeshivah and that m in h a g , and so fo rth . Mention Sephardi ^ B a n d it is universally met with reactions of : “That’s another world.” And few make the effort to view that world, to understand it, to appreciate it, to help it. But those who do face it come to recognize a unique problem: there is much beauty and much substance that stands to slip and fall because the Sephardi way of life

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JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

was nurtured in the Orient, while the re st H Litvish and Galitziyanish, Yekkish and all the others subsumbed under the category Ashkenazi'!— was nurtured in the Occident. And the pattern of contemporary civilization is unmistakably assuming more and more the imprint of the latter.

When France began cooking up Parshath Algeria, and North Africans of a variety of religions began their thick stream across the Mediterannean into France B over a million French tongues in less than ten years —France and De Gaulle opened themselves to their brethren» Among these million were close to 300,000 Jews. And to these, as to Sephardi immigrants ijjt Israel for the past twenty years, P’Eylim addressed itself.

Why to France, and not Israel?

The Algerian Jews know Hebrew, as do their lantsleit from Tunisia to the east and the two Moroccos (French

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and Spanish) to the west (in Tangiers, War Europe and its teeming Jewish formerly capital of Spanish Morocco, populations and one thinks of Poland! the language is French); Surely, some of Hungary, of Russia and of Germany did go. Why not the quarter-of-a- and of other countries, but who thinks of France? Yet no sooner did I leave million plus?

Th# answer lies in understanding the Paris airport upon arrival when the the other half of the problem, a taxi passed a sign reading “Drancy.”

As if to make sure not to miss it, my p h en o m en o n called nationalism.

Although present in many quarters of host pointed it out: -From this train the world, including Israel, in France it station the Nazis shipped the Jews.” assumes a special intensity. It means *He should certainly remember | | his that a French Jew is not a Jew living in father-in-law was among them. Today France but a Frenchman of the Mosaic France has the third largest Jewish population in the Free World,joining persuasion.

For her sons* the mother coun­ after America and Israel.

The French language I neither try opened her arms wide. The exodus from Algeria, it should be borne in speak nor understand, never before mind, was essentially a French prob­ had I visited the country, and I was lem. Algeria’s Jews became part of this traveling alone, yet some vital facts problem because they were identified, about the French Jewish community politically and culturally, with the were soon brought home to me. For French community, a benevolent atti­ example, there is no such thing as tude that opens wide the door of orthodox,' Conservative, or Reform.

But a single synagogue in Paris desig­ assimilation.

To all Algerian immigrants, nates itself as “Liberal.” Nor is there a France gave full citizenship. It built list of religious organizations in contra­ for them, overnight, housing develop­ distinction to secular ones. The French ments that rival America’s. It honored Jewish community is loosely organized civil service status and gave jobs. To around one central body, the Consismerchants it gave long-term low-inter­ toire Central Israelite de France et est loans. It opened its schools and its D’Algerie. When there arises a situa­ universities. Why, then, should these tion confronting French Jewry, there Algerian Jews have gone to Israel? is a spokesman, not a delegation, for There, in a predominantly Ashkenazi the community: Rabbi Jacob Kaplan, s o c ie ty J g th e y w ould have been Le Grand Rabbin de France. There is S ep h ard im ; in France, theyv are one central federation-type fund rais­ Frenchmen. Or, as one Tangierian ing unit, the Fonds Social Juif Unifie. said: “Do not think of the Algerians:as But the two groups are at sword’s edge refugees. To them, it was merely with each other. (Two cousins and moving from one part of France to partners de Rothschild are the presi­ d en ts: Alain, who on a visit to another.” : America proudly introduced himself as HINK Jew ish and mention orthodox, with the Consistoire; Guy, France and one thinks of Rashi. whose wife is not Jewish, with the FSJU.) To the latter, Jewish education And since then, what? Mention pre-

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JEWISH LIFE

means Alliance Israelite Universelle, generally viewed as the strongest force for assimilation in the community.

There are few Jewish day schools in F ran c e. Of these few, most are “ Jewish public schools:” basicallysecu lar schools limited to Jewish students and with some hours devoted to Jewish subjects.

OMETHING else I learned that is new to an American: in the French public school system, classes are held every day except Sunday and Thursday. These are the only two days du rin g which Talmud Torahs (of which there is a substantial number) function. On other days, they cannot: public school,^ including homework done in school, is an all-day affair. On S h a b b o th th e children, including Talmud Torah children, are in public school. Only day school children have no school on Shabboth. But many parents are hesitant to send their chil­ dren to day schools. The French

public school system is considered (by Frenchmen, anyway) to be the best in the world. French nationalism dictates pride in this system, and few parents will think of a school for their children where the education is not at least superior to the public schools. Add to this a tuition fee in the day school, and you have disqualified the bulk of Sephardi families as potential clients.

Small wonder, then, that assimilation is so rampant: how can you tell a Jewish teenager to avoid becoming close to a non-Jewish friend of the opposite sex after the two have sat together in school, including Satur­ days, for many years?

So into this atmosphere com­ pounded with problems of national­ ism, nationality, orientation, finance, and freedom S the government pre­ sents no major obstacles to establish­ ing yeshivoth -Scomes the trickle that makes a splash. I was now part of that trickle.

BON ARRIVEE TEPPING out of the plane at Lebourget Airport in Paris on Wednesday morning, my wonder as to how I’d recognize my host was soon disspelled: his full Jewish beard, which in Boro Park and B’nei B’rak would have gotten lost, stood out as a badge.

Before I said goodbye a week later, I was ready to nominate Rabbi Roger (alias Gershon) Cahen as one of the lamed vov.

Born in France and a fighter in the French Resistance in the War, he lives in Strasbourg with his wife and eight of his ten children, two daugh-

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

ters being married. Three days a week he functions as a Consistoire rabbi and teacher in some Strasbourg suburbs.

Strasbourg is in Alsace, a section of France that is a ping pong ball with Germany (during the last century, it changed hands almost half-a-dozen times). France, catering to Alsatian practice, has not imposed church-state separation on the province; hence Rabbi Cahen is on government payroll.

Then, no other country in the world has a tax system like France, Every employer must pay 35% tax on every employee’s salary. The government

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pays its citizens to have children, the franc equivalent of thirty dollars per month per unmarried child. Also, the g o v ern m en t-o w n ed railroad gives discounts: to families with three chil­ dren, each member of the family is granted a 30%} discount; with four children, 40%; five children, 50%; six or more, 75%; Rabbi Cahen travels a lot.

W hat d istinguishes Gershon Cahen is not simply such character­ istics as his regular learning of thè Daf Yomi, but that for the past twenty years, from the moment the yeshivah in Aix-les-Bains was established, he has served as its director for no remunera­ tion. Monday through Wednesday, as a rule, he travels around the country to raise money and recruit students for the yeshivah. This must be especially appreciated in a country that does not consider a charitable contribution taxdeductible.

I joined Rabbi Cahen in a taxi, and, passing the sign announcing Drancy, were on our way to Le Rainey-Villemomble, a suburb, to visit Rabbi Yaakov Tole4ano.

On th e w ay, Reb Gershon p o in te d to bleak-looking housing developments. “See those houses?” he said. “Full of Jews, hundreds and hundreds of families. I was there recently, registering children. All you need is one address* because each one you visit gives you a dozen more. They are crying for chinuch but don’t know where to go for it.’kf £ This was the beginning of the third year of Rabbi Toledano’s tenure in France. While with Rabbi Cahen and o th e r A shkenazim I spoke Yiddish, and with Sephardim in Ivrith,

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with Reb Yaakov I had a choice of three languages: \ a Sephardi, he had just spent ten years as Rosh Ha-Kollel in Gateshead, England, where he had acquired the use of both Yiddish and English.

Soon we sat at his dining table, Reb Y aakov and his »wife, Reb Gershon and myself, and a niece of the Toledanos from B’nei B’rak, brought to Villemomble a few weeks before to meet a young student of Reb Yaak-ov’s who comes from Gibraltar, and the effort proved mazeldig.

When the Toledanos had come from Gateshead two years before, they had brought with them a minyon talmidim. Reb Yaakov explained that after deciding to leave England, he contemplated going to Israel. But his concern for the spiritual wasteland that was his neighbor to the south prevailed, and in this quiet northern suburb of the City of Lights he estab­ lished a bridgehead of Torah.

“We started with the top*/* a yeshivah and a kollel, where I give sheurim and mussar shmoosen in French,” he said, “until we realized we needed a bottom too. So with five children, three of them my own, we began a day school. We use the facili­ ties of the nearby Consistoire syna­ gogue, and we have a full-time princi­ pal, Rav Moralli. For the coming term we have 150 children in the five pri­ mary grades/and forty in the first grade of high school. The primary grades are co-ed, but the high school grade is separated: there are two sec­ tions of twenty boys and twenty girls, respectively.” Back in the office, he showed me the registration forms. The places of birth of the registrants

JEWISH LIFE

covered the entire North African coast.

As with most of the schools, their budget has three divisions: the educational program, the lunch pro­ gram, and plant and maintenance. On Thursdays, when the synagogue has Talmud Torah classes, the day school meets elsewhere on a makeshift basis.

His senior-level yeshivah also serves other purposes, as a center for Torah study by university student^. They come for an hour or a day, a week or even a month at a time, on days off or vacation, for a dip in the sea of learn­ ing. Plans are afoot to build a mikveh on the premises.

Oruch off the shelf. Yet, the brother told me, they hardly sell any. Pointing to French-language paperbacks on Israel,^he said: “From these and Havdolah candles we make our living.”

In the back office there was a poster on the wall, advertising a benefit concert from February. “Le Rabbin de la Guitar,” it proclaimed, and next to it th e unm istakeable picture of Shlomo Carlebach.

ARCELLES-LOCHERES, a twin suburb with Garges to the north of Paris, was one of three projects given me by P’Eylim. Monsieur J. Charbit lives in Garges and is the treasurer of the yeshivah high school PON our return to Paris, Reb of the community, located in SarcelGershon and I headed for Rue les. As such, he was more than a mail­ Richer, on our way to Tibrarie Colbo. ing address for me. We wanted to see In New York, when I asked P’Eylim him and the principal of the school, for a mailing address, they gave me Rabbi Jean-Paul Amoyelle. The latter, th is Seforim store, identifying its who had awaited us all afternoon but lo cale as across from the Folies had to leave to host, in his home that Bergere. I found it was in fact two evening, a Shevah B’rochoth celebra­ blocks away, and these two blocks are tion for a niece, had left a message now the center of a thriving immigrant that he was awaiting us for dinner. So Sephardi community. Every other Reb Gershon and I went. store is a kosher butcher, displaying a For a moment I thought we had certificate from the Beth Din of Paris, arrived in Forest Hills, until I realized or else a cafe with a Mogen Dovid on this was much nicer. Blocks and blocks its sign, or a grocery displaying a full of modern housing lined the streets, line of Israeli products. When an hour a p p a re n tly a French response to later we went to daven Minchah and Parshath Algeria. Space between the Maariv, it was in a beautiful shool in buildings, space for children to roam, an apartment two flights up around instant apartments — already home to the corner from the Folies.

3,000 Jews, and more buildings going Joseph Charbit of Colbo had up all around. We passed the shool, come from Morocco seven years be­ and the taxi turned the corner. A fore, and with his brother owns what young boy with a yarmulka standing might be the only shop in all France near the entrance was our clue as to where one can walk in from the street which building. Up two flights in an and buy a Shass or set of Shulchon elevator, and standing soon on the

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terrace.,!^ Jean-Paul joined us and immediately set about in what I came tolearn was a Sephardi custom: stuff­ ing a guest beyond control, and being insulted if refused.

First there was machyah, short fo r mayyim chayyim, and tasting every bit of it. Then nuts, cake, and other delicacies. Then dinner, about fourteen courses (I gave up after six, and begged mercy as an American citizen): one plate for a slice of rice cake soaked in gravy, then a plate for a green salad soaked in another gravy, then my own small bottle of wine ( Jean-Paul said this avoids having others handle the wine). Soon neigh­ bors began arriving, Algerians all, and all of them professionals or merchants — a doctor, an engineer, shopkeepers — while Jean-PaulY children played Pirchei records on the phonograph.

Then Divrei Torah, in French, first by Jean-Paul, then by Roger who turned his remarks into an appeal for completing the local mikveh.

Jean-Paul Amoyelle had come to F ran ce tw o years before, from Tangiers, where he had been head of an Ozar Hatorah school. First he worked in Paris for the Consistoire, then directed a major effort funded by American orthodox Jews, the United Emergency Rescue Fund, relating to Jewish emigration from North Africa.

After that het moved to Sarcelles where, with Charbit and others, he established a high school which util­ ized the facilities of the Consistoire synagogue we had passed. On Shabboth, Jean-Paul and his wife gave sheurim in their home for their neigh­ bors. Now they were to move to Strasbourg, Jean-Paul having been

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appointed head of Ecole Akiba, a co­ ed day school and high school with over 500 students, succeeding Benno Gross, headmaster there for twentyone years, and now leaving for Israel to teach at Bar-Ilan. To succeed JeanPaul in Sarcelles) he arranged for A vraham E lh ad ad ||a colleague in Tangiers, to come and take the reins.

(A p o in t w o rth noting: Cahen, Toledano, Amoyelle, and all the other communal workers I came to meet have French names, use the French language almost exclusively, but wear full Jewish,HaS|/ distinguished from French, beards.)

ARCELLES AND GARGES are physically separated by the rail­ road, but Joseph Charbit told me of another difference. “Many of the resi­ dents of Sarcelles are AlgeriansJJ he said, “while many in Garges are Tunisians. Those in Sarcelles are here longer, and we discovered it easier recruiting students from Garges than from Sarcelles. Apparently, the longer the people are here, the more at home they feel and the more difficult then to get them into yeshivah.|| A Arriving, the next morning, at the Sarcelles synagogue for Shacharith, we found there a triple Bar Mitzvah celebration ¿ full scale,, with no one ru sh in g . Among these Sephardim, when one has a simchah, he simply informs his boss the day before that he will not be in the next day. Before returning home, Jean-Paul took me to the back of the synagogue and showed me an empty lot. “We should buy this land while available,” he said, t^for future expansion,” and pointed across th e s tr e e t to n e a rly -c o m p le te

JEWISH LIFE

Sarcelles: S tu d en ts o f th e day sch o o l o f th e T.E.C. A ssociation “ Tora — E d u cation — C ulture” at s t u d y .............

. . . . and at play

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

multiple-dwelling houses.

Of the high school’s twenty-one students (thirteen boys and eight girls) of the year before, Jean-Paul told me, twenty re-registered for the coming term, the twenty-first having gone with his famiiy to live in Israel. In addition, twenty more students had already registered for the new term.

Jean-Paul’s own children, not yet in high school, had to commute into Paris for their primary instruction.

Soon Reb Gershon, who had spent the night at a friend’s, joined us with his host from Aubervilliers, Shimon S him oni, recen tly certified as a shochet. Born in Algeria, he was educated there in a Lubavitch school, where he learnt to speak a fluent Yiddish. A month later I was to meet him in Crown Heights in Brooklyn where he came to see his Rebbe on Rosh Hashonah.

After lunch at Shimoni’s home, Reb Gershon left for Strasbourg, and I m et a new acquaintance, Rabbi Yoseph Frankfurter, the first French “P’Eylimnik,” whom Gershon wanted to persuade to move with his wife and two children to Sarcelles, to fill the personal vacuum to be created by Jea n -P au l’s im m in en t departure.

Yoseph took me in his car to Ecole L ucien de HirschT known as the' R othschild school, where he was conducting a summer day camp. The campHunrelated to the school, is ,a Yoseph Frankfurter creation, with the cooperation of Rabbi Elie Munk and other interested individuals. For the two hundred North African kids in the camp, the school was non-existent. In fact, the camp was their only exposure to any kind^ of Jewish training they

14

had all year E and for some, all their lives.

One of the counsellors, in con­ v e rsa tio n ,'; mentioned “Belleville.”

When Tasked what it was, he replied: “Harlem, only worse.” Yoseph had agreed to drive me to Orly Airport to fetch my valise (which in a mix-up had arrived in another plane) and I was later to take a train to Strasbourg, where I was to spend Shabboth. Oh the way to Orly, we drove through Belleville.

It is an old section of Paris, with crowded old dwellings on narrow streets. Squeezed into the confined area are thousands of North African Jew ish families. On the borders, luxury dwellings stand on the other sides of the streets. But in Belleville, the sun is a stranger. Facing it on a main thoroughfare is a public school. /-L o o k ,” Rabbi Frankfurter said.

“How can I ask a parent, who would normally be agreeable to a Jewish education for his child, to send the child many blocks away to a day school when here stands an excellent public school? And even if I could already convince one, he couldn’t afford to — while here the school is free.”

He had previously shown me the registration applications for the camp.

Included were questions on Jewish education and participation in Jewish y o u th organizations of any kind.

Almost every application had these spaces blank. From all over they came, North African and Middle Eastern countries, identifying themselves as Jews but little more said. Frenchmen in France they were, socially unable to establish their own communal institu-

JEWISH LIFE

tions (there are a few synagogues standing in Belleville) and basically neglected by those who could and should but don’t.

It took but a few moments at the airport to fetch my luggage, and already Reb Yoseph greeted me with a mitzvah: two yeshivah boys from New York were wandering through the halls, stranded. On their way to Israel,

they flew from New York with the assurance they would find connecting flights in Paris. They did, for Monday morning. Meanwhile, they were look­ ing for a place for Shabboth. Rabbi Frankfurter took my lantsleit and placed them on a train for a suburb w here a Lubavitcher yeshivah is located, then took me to my train.

STRASBOURG URE as promised, Roger Cahen stood waiting at the gate in Strasbourg, just as the day before he h a d p a t i e n t l y aw aite d me at Lebourget. This time, however, he had his own car (which he kept referring to as “ah vuggin Madame Cahen, nee Ackermann, was born in the apartment where now she raised eight children and received their many visitors. The dwelling is not large, the children are exuberant, yet never in those three days was any undue noise heard. After breakfast on Friday, Reb Gershon took me with him to the train station. At ten a train was to arrive with a number of local Jewish children returning from a camp in the Alps run by the Yeshurun youth organization. Among these children were a nephew and niece of Roger, children of his brother who lived in Metz, where Reb Gershon’s mother and one of his sons were then visiting.

It appeared that all of Jewish Strasbourg came to await the train, among them little tykes with berets and their tzitzith hanging out. Soon after lunch at the Cahens, Roger took his charges back to the station where they caught a train for their home

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

city.

At six I accompanied the men of the family in their “vuggin” to the Ashkenaz synagogue on Rue Cagenak, known also as the Yekkishe shool. Rav Shmuel Akiva Schlesinger, son of a Tel Aviv dayan and son-in-law of a neigh­ bor of mine in Brooklyn, looked familiar; it turned out that he and I were once students together. Before leaving, I received a Seudah Shlishith invitation from Mr. Leibel, the Rosh Hakahal.

The Cahen Sabbath table was set, and not until the Motzi was I able to count how many were present: seventeen, keyn yirbu. To my right sat Monsieur et Madame Bamberger, who the day before had returned from vacation in Belgium. She is the oldest Cahen daughter and mother of her parents’ only grandchild. Of the many little girls around the table, some were Cahens and others friends, I knew not which was who until, before the sing­ ing of “Sholom Aleichem,” the Cahen children lined up to receive their parents’ Sabbath blessings. As informal as was the atmosphere — the four males sat with jackets off ¡¡|l had to converse with Bamberger in a whisper

15

so as not to disturb. After every course, a Cahen girl would get up, quietly and uninstructed and with a smile, to clear away the dishes, while another would, in a like manner, bring in the next course for her mother to serve.

BLOCK from the Cahens lies a park in which stands the magnif­ icen t structure of the Consistoire synagogue. Its sanctuary, of impressive beauty, contains close to a thousand seats including the gallery. On a regu­ lar S h a b b o th morning there are a p p ro x im a te ly fifty congregants, although for the High Holy Days, the partition in the back is pushed aside to allow for more seats. (Gershon has a limmud seder once a week with the Rav of the shool, Grand Rabbin Daitseh.) The building also houses the Centre Communaire, and a restaurant under the supervision of the rabbinate of the city.

On S habboth mornings two additional services are held in the vast building, one a youth minyon, the other of Sephardim. On this Shabboth morning, the youth held their services in th e larg er q u a rte rs o f the Sephardim, for the Bar Mitzvah cele­ bration made by Benno Gross drew many participants. The service was a blending of the two: Shirath Mosheh was sung word for word in an Oriental rrtelody, the Chacham in the lead; the red-headed Bar Mitzvah officiated at both Shacharith and Musaph, and read thp Torah and Haftorah. He was just like many an American yeshivah boy at his Bar Mitzvah celebration, except for the lengthy D’var ^Torah — the Gross boy delivered his in French.

16

At the Cahen table, some of the guests of the previous evening were replaced by others, plus. I counted n in e te e n p e o p le |ffin c lu d in g the Amoyelles from Sarcelles. Later Rabbi Philippe Cohen (no, relation to Roger Cahen), whom I was to visit at length the next dayH walked with me to Yeshivath Eshel and left me there for Minchah. Eshel is a high school for boys, with dormitory, and has am e n ro llm e n t of about seventy-five, mostly Sephardim. I was introduced to R abbi Elkayim, the head of the school. Actually, the yeshivah was not in session, but Mrs. Cahen’s brother Dr. Theo Ackermann, a dentist and a lay leader of the Yeshurun youth movement* was making a Shevah B’rochoth celebration in his home for a couple who had met in Yeshurun, and so he arranged for this special minyon. I was invited to this simchah, b u t excused myself to keep my appointment.

Mr. Leibel, a merchant, received me first in his study, where seforim and books on secular subjects (includ­ ing some in English) shared shelves near a small Aron Kodesh. At his table, he made Kiddush before wash­ ing. In the course of our conversation he told me that although the lay leadership of the Consistoire syna­ gogue had come, around a few years ago to ‘‘recognize” the existence of Ecole Akiba, after years of persuasion in that direction by Rabbi Daitseh, they have not yet “given recognition” to the existence of Eshel; in fact, when Eshel was being organized, the presi­ dent of the Consistoire synagogue approached the Mayor of Strasbourg with the request to deny permission.

JEWISH LIFE

There was no animosity, just a sincere belief that a yeshivah creates a ghettq.

UNDAY morning, after missing the minyon at Rav Horowitz’s, the local Chassidic shtibel, I went to the Consistoire shool and became the tenth at a minyon of Sephardim. After b reak fast the Cahens saw off a number of their daughters and their friends leaving for camp. Soon Rabbi Philippe Cohen took me to the Kollel he established and conducts.

O nly two hours earlier, the dozen students — ten of them married (and one of them Bamberger^the Cahen son-in-law) B H had reconvened for the new f 'man. After viewing the Beth Medrosh, Philippe (alias Yaakov) Cohen received me in his office.

He is a university graduate in the faculty of law who then studied in B’nei B’rak. When ready to “tackle the world,” he consulted Rav Yaakov K a n y e fsk i, brother-in-law of the C hazon Ish and know n as the “Stypeler,” who advised him to estab­ lish a mokom Torah in France to train leadership for the French Jewish community.

“You must understand*” Rabbi Cohen explained, :|fthat my concern here is not to supply a Beth Medrosh for yungeh leit. If someone applies here, I tell him: ‘If what you seek is a place to learn, go to Israel and be matzleach. If you come here, it is only on condition that, when we tell you it is time, you seek and accept a com­ munity position: Rav, Mechanech, or anything similar.’ You see, I don’t think of this Kollel is training twelve students, I think of it as developing twelve communities.”

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

He showed me a chart listing the students, complete with background.

One of them comes from Boston and studied in America before coming to France and marrying a French girl. He also told me he could supply a list of graduates,, all of them occupying posi­ tions of Jewish community leadership throughout France. (I then came to realize that, for better or worse, France is not as central-community oriented as is America around New York, Israel around YerusholayimB’nei B ’ra k |i|O r England around London-Gateshead. The French Torah community is more diffuse and much less provincial.) Two days later I was to meet two of these graduates in Nice.

Then, showing me a map of France, . he drew an east-west line across ■the country south of Stras­ bourg, and said: “South of this line live a quarter-of-a-million Jews. Except for Lyon, there are no day schools or yeshivoth.”

At my request, Rav Cohen tele­ phoned Jean Kling, the Chief Rabbi of Lyon, whom I was to visit. He was informed by Rabbi Cling’s secretary that the Chief Rabbi was spending the month at a camp he was running in J.a Roche sur Feron, a resort community an hour’sr ride from >Lyon. We then visited the building of YeshivatH Shaar# Ha-Torah.

There is a large university in Strasbourg to which come students from all parts Wof France as well as from other lands»- and among the students are many Jews. The local kehillah maintains a kosher dining hall for them, and from this^informal gathering of Jewish students developed

17

the open doors of the synagogue. We qjanaged to find a parking space be­ hind a tractor, and joined the cele­ brants inside. The Consistoire rabbi of Metz, a friend of the groom’s family, had come to officiate. The shool was long and narrow, a center aisle leading to benches on both sides, upstair? a gallery for the ladies. Seven Jewish families live in the village, and with a few men walking in from surrounding towns, they maintain a minyon. On this occasion, it was standing-roomonly.

First the rabbi spoke, then the cantor sang, all the while the shammosh, dressed in a black jacket and vest, striped pants, gondola-shaped hat, and white gloves, going around shushing everybody. Then the cere­ mony, bride and groom standing with a tallith draped over their heads. After the first cup of wine, the shammosh handed to each bridesmaid a net TRASBOURG is surrounded by attached to a handle, with which they shtetlach of somewhat rural th e n proceeded, while the organ played, to go among the celebrants atmosphere that once enjoyed substan­ tial Jewish populations. The Holocaust and collect tzedakah offerings. When (Alsace was attached to Germany the collection was completed, the during the War) and the State of Israel rabbi continued the ceremony.

Soon after, I followed Gershon (voluntary Aliyah) account for there now remaining only a small number. It as he wished the couple well, then is to these communities that Gershon mingled in the crowd to greet his Cahen goes on Thursdays, Fridays, and students and their parents. Back at the Sundays to teach, and one of his car, he said: “Did you notice I said students was now getting married in Mazol Tov to a girl in a green dress? the quaint little shool of Wolfesheim. She is a student of mine. When I first The ceremony was announced for found her she was preparing zich tzu 2:30; and at 2:25 we went ripping shmaden. Now she is engaged to a over th e roads, in deference to talmid from the Gateshead Yeshivah.”

He later asked me of my plans punktlichkeit.

We arrived in time to see the from Paris the next day. I described whole town, non-Jews included, stand­ Philippe’s call to Lyon and where I ing in the street and looking through was to see Jean Kling. Leave it to

Torah classes and study groups, from which in turn developed Yeshivath Shaar Ha-Torah, an independent and unique institution, designed for uni­ v ersity s tu d e n ts . R abbi Gavriel Toledano, nephew to Rav Yaakov of Villemomble, heads the school, which is adjacent to the headquarters of the Council of Europe. The Yeshivah was to reconvene the next day, but a young man who accompanied us, a student of the school, gave us a guided tour.

Every student in the Yeshivah is either a university graduate, or a stu­ dent or enrollee on leave. Thirteen study full time and dorm there, while hundreds of others come through for an hour or more, each day or week, in an organized and supervised study program. There is no semichah or certificate granted — it is study for study’s sake.

f

18

JEWISH LIFE

Gershon: from his briefcase he drew a flight schedule and a map and said: “Instead of stopping in Lyon on the way to Nice, and from Nice straight to Geneva (as the schedule called for), go instead straight to Nice, and there change your Geneva ticket for a flight to Aix-les-Bains, where you can visit o u r yeshivah. South of Aix lies Grenoble (one of my P’Eylim assign­ ments), north is La Roche, and north of that lies Geneva, each an hour’s ride from each other.”

Were it not for a pending trip to Russia which required a return to Paris to complete arrangements, I would have gone to Nice straight from Stras­ bourg. Arriving in Paris alone at eleven that night, I already felt as if returning to a familiar city.

LACING my luggage in a locker Monday morning, my first stop was to book the earliest flight to Nice (8:00 that evening); then to the Post Office to telegram Nice about my arrival; a phone call to Yoseph Frank­ furter, who the week before had asked me whether I could take money to an aunt of his wife’s near Kiev (it’s legal), arranging to meet him at his apartment at six; a walk to Colbo to check on the mail (there was none, but it gave me opportunity both to say goodbye to Joseph Charbit, leaving that day with his family for vacation in Switzerland,

and greet his brother); finalizing my arrangements for Russia; then I be­ came a tourist for a day.

It was a bore. Impatiently I awaited the hour to keep the appoint­ m ent w ith the Frankfurters, and returning to the locker, took a bus (as per instructions) to their flat.

Yoseph Frankfurter was bom in Cairo to parents who had fled from Lemberg and had brought him as a child to France. He studied in various yeshivoth and entered community service, including three years in a Lyon pulpit. Still an official Consistoire Rabbin, he spends the year giving classes in various institutions and programs. His wife is French-born to Galician parents. Our conversation grew lengthy jit and Madame Frank­ furter kept urging her husband to save his words for the car.

Too bad he didn’t listen. We arrived at Orly too late, and the next flight was the next morning. Yoseph insisted I return to his home to sleep, with the assurance we’d arrive the next morning on time. We telephoned Nice to tell of the changed plans.

It was bashehrt we had missed the plane for on Tuesday morning Y oseph remarked something that proved significant. niff When you’re in Nice,” he said, “please give my regards to Duvid Frant.”

"125,000 JEWS - NO SCHOOL" VEN before the plane landed, ity, and until departure the following the world-famous Cote d ’Azur afternoon, I walked around in a pool and Mediterranean Sea came clearly of sweat. into view. Not until disembarking, Only conviction told me this too however, did I feel the intense humid­ was France, for the climate was

£

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

19

markedly different from up north. An important feature of the weather was later pointed out to me: many North African Jews found themselves unable to withstand the temperate climate of Paris and other northern cities, and moved to various shorefront communi­ ties where more sun more often was more in keeping with the climate “back home.” This helped contribute to the problem at hand, as far as P’Eylim is concerned, for throughout my two days in the city my main host recited over and over again in his broken English: “Le Cote d’Azur — M arseilles, Cannes, Nice®Menton, Monaco — one-hundred-twenty-five thousand Jews, no school.”

Trying to heed Roger Cahen’s advice about altering my itinerary, I learned I could not use my ticket for flying to Aix, and was advised to fly to Lyon, and from there proceed by train to Aix. I took the advice, booking the latest flight the next day (4:50 P.M.) to Lyon. Meanwhile, I was to meet a whole hew cast: A half-hour later, a talk thin lad with a distinctly Jewish beard went scurrying through the hall, and I knew this to be mine. Into his car we went, and he introduced himself (in Ivrith; he 4s a Sephardi) as Rav Mosheh Mehrgi, son-in-law to the kingpin and center of our efforts, Monsieur Joseph Pardo.

In New York, when I was briefed* each name given me carried with it some indication of respect.

When Pardo’s name was mentioned, it elicited respect mixed with smiles.

Soon after Mehrgi deposited me at his father-in-law’s business, I met Pardo, got a guided tour, and understood all.

20

Pardo’s business was closed for the few Weeks, everyone having vaca­ tion at the same time. For himself, his wife* and sixteen-year-old boy, a talmid in the yeshivah in Aix-les-Bains, he had taken a cottage outside the city, coming in every day awaiting my visit. (For the two days I was there, they stayed home, afterwards return­ ing to the cottage.) He is a wealthy man, manufacturing the most expen­ sive and artistic books I have ever seen.

But at this time, he was strictly on vacation. He is a short man with a beard that is French-turning-Jewish, and when I met him he was wearing a g o lfe r’s hat, loud shirt, corduroy pants^land sandals. All thisgw ith a smile on his lips and twinkle in his eye* gave him somewhat the appearance of a pirate.

Yet this colorful individual has almost single-handedly, with determin­ ation, intelligence, and money, altered the religious character of the city for the better. He speaks neither Hebrew nor Yiddish, so we conversed in broken English, or Mosheh acted as interpreter. When the P’Eylim leaders in New York debriefed me on my r e tu r n , th e ir first question was whether I enjoyed myself with Pardo, and indeed I did.

DJOINING his book factory, Joseph Pardo had built a syna­ gogue, complete with ladies’ section; classrooms for a Talmud Torah; a sm all Beth Medrosh with seforim (w here every afternoon Mosheh Mehrgi and his friends gather to learn); two mikvaoth, for men and women; and two years before had engaged a chacham,:£Rabbi Ben-David, who is

JEWISH LIFE

assisted by Mehrgi. Over the doorway to this whole section is emblazoned: “Eth achai onochi mevakeysh” (my brothers do I seek). Joseph Pardo appears to have addressed himself to the problem of intermarriage arising from French nationalism. While orig­ inally removed from tradition, his and his family’s dedication to Yiddishkeit know s no bounds. He personally chases after his lantsleit who have cooled, and persuades them through North African warmth to return. Soon after our initial meeting that morning, Pardo and Mehrgi took me to a b’rith milah of a nine-day rold applicant for gey ruth.

Rav Ben-David was the mohel.

The fifteen or so affluent-looking people (it was close to noon) appeared somewhat out of place. Yet among them, Pardo was as if a torchbearer, sufficiently part of their expensive way of life while appealing to their sense of Jewishness at the same time.

After a l’chayyim or two, he took me to his home for lunch. ‘‘In honor of the guest,” he opened a bottle of Israeli wine. Speak­ ing with him of the purpose of my visit, he turned out to be a hardheaded businessman with a heart of gold. If P’Eylim sent me, he argued, how much were they willing to give towards opening a day school? He drew a line on the tablecloth with his finger. “Le Cote d’Azur,” he began the refrain. “Marseilles, etc., etc.”

The sight that greeted me later at their spiritual center almost per­ suaded me that I was in Yerusholayim.

The window of the Beth Medrosh was open, and six bearded young men were seen (and heard) studying vociferous­

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

ly. There were Mehrgi; Hassan, six weeks a son-in-law to Pardo’s brother; Duvid Frant and his brother, both born in Nice^.- then studied in the Slabodkah Yeshivah in B’nei B’rak, now running a textile shop in the city of th e ir b irth ; Y aakov Halevi Poultorak, le Rabbin of the local Ashkenazi Consistoire synagogue; and an Algerian shochet who had that week returned from Crown Heights visiting the Lubavitcher Rebbe. All but Hassan were learning jointly in a chaburah, this day being Duvid Frant’s turn to conduct the discussion. It was the first time I ever heard Mesechthah Kethuvoth discussed so heatedly in French. How starkly the point came through that Torah was given in many languages.

E arlie r co n v e rsatio n s with Mehrgi had disclosed that there were three congregations in town: two of them of the Consistoire, a Sephardi one led by Rav Moralli, the Ashkenazi

by Poultorak, and the third Pardo’s.

By this time, relating to my assign­ ment, I felt somewhat like a veteran trooper, hopping cars, trains, and air­ planes (and missing some), and gather­ ing experience, came up with a verbal questionnaire: are there students (or potentials)?; teachers?; a director?; a lo cale ?; com m unity interest?; an organizing force?; and are there funds?

The answer to the last was always in the negative, for good reason: in each and every instance, the refrain was: “Once the school is going, support will be forthcoming. The problem is creat­ ing the yesh may ’ayin. ” Students, teachers, directors, and locales were usually available or at least accessible, even at a late date. The sensitive areas

21

were community support and an organizing force: was a school just a dream of an individual (which too is not implausible), or a concerted effort of the community? I gave Mehrgi my request: with all respect for himself and Pardo, I wanted to meet, separ­ ately with each, with Rav Moralli, Rav Poultorak, and Duvid Frant (as a lay­ man, he’d be ah gooteh frant).

ND so now, as Mehrgi intro­ duced me around to the b ’ney ha-chaburahy he gave me my itinerary: to go with Rav Poultorak to his home, the next morning to meet Rav Moralli at his home, then to Duvid for lunch, and in the afternoon meet with Pardo and Mehrgi for a summary.

Rabbi Yaakov Poultorak, who had assumed his pulpit eight months before, is one of the two students of Philippe Cohen who are now in Nice (the other being Mehrgi), and Yaakov’s wife is a cousin to Philippe. The initial impression Yaakov Poultorak creates does not indicate the qualities which conversation with him reveals; he proved to be informed, alert, and possessed of ability.

Mosheh Mehrgi had told me that morning that until two months before, the Alliance had conducted a high school in town, then on its own decided to discontinue. Mehrgi’s idea (prompted by Pardo) was now to purchase or rent those quarters owned, not by the Alliance but by a local community group — for a high school and recruit some of the stu­ dents for a nucleus. Rabbi Poultorak cited to me various practical objec­ tions to this plan, among them its distant location, at the outskirts of

22

town. Further, he said, why start with a high school when there was unmet need for a day school?

He then revealed for me a plan that he and Frant had been working on. In a suburb of Paris stands a yeshivah high school With a dormitory, headed by a young rav with sources of support and interested in relocating.

Poultorak and Frant negotiated with this rav, all expressing interest in relo­ cating the school to Nice, in the build­ ing now abandoned by the Alliance.

The Nice Jewish community would gain an existing school while for at least some additional students it would not be too difficult to commute.

Reb Yaakov described a problem with Pardo: while he would unhesitat­ ingly comply with the least require­ ment of Halochahgihe was not as receptive to other’s opinions in nonHalachic matters. This had been the case with the mikveh, when Duvid Frant worked with Pardo to build it.

At the same time, Reb Yaakov pointed out, it would be impossible to do any­ thing without Pardo, as he was the only layman with power to move forces. The highest accomplishment from my visit, he urged, would be the arrangement of a meeting of himself, Frant, and Pardo, on a basis whereat “each will have a chance to express an o p in io n b e fo re a consensus is reached.” There was no animosity, he was quick to point out. After all, don’t he and Frant go each day to Pardo’s beth medrosh to keep a seder with Mehrgi and the others? Also, that morning Mehrgi had volunteered to be director and teacher in the proposed school, and Poultorak approved.

“One favor I ask of you,” Reb

JEWISH LIFE

you do: make no mention to Pardo or Mehrgi about the transfer of the Paris school. Instead, take them up on establishing a day school, not a high school, and in the building Rav Moralli wants to give, not the building of the Alliance. Meanwhile, in New York, you can speak to the Vaad Hapoel of P’Eylim about helping us transfer the N Wednesday morning Mehrgi high school to the Alliance building, invited me to visit the Talmud and this way we can have both a day and a high school where now Torah later that morning, where school he was conducting classes for volunteer we have neither.”

Telling him of Poultorak’s re­ students. It happened, however, that Monsieur Pardo joined me for my quest to be informed and of his inter­ est in a meeting, we placed a few appointment at Rav Moralli’s.

T he la tte r had assumed his p h o n e calls, and m inutes later pulpit three months before, after serv­ Poultorak, Duvid, and I marched into ing as the rabbi of the Nancy commun­ Pardo’s office, Mehrgi too joining us ity for thirty years. His first reaction shortly thereafter. “Monsieur Pardo,” to me, after I explained the purpose of I said, “let us drink Uchayyim to the my visit, was: “Certainly a community day school.”

We drank the toast and began of over 25,000 Jews should have a day school.” Then, after an exchange with consultations, a four-way conversation Pardo: “The Alliance building is too in French, with Mehrgi interrupting far. Instead, near Monsieur Pardo’s every five minutes to brief me in synagogue is a Sephardi shool which Hebrew. Pardo agreed to cover the belongs to my congregation, and only expenses of converting the synagogue a few people still use it. We will close to a school, and they agreed with it and convert the building for a Poultorak to make a day school rather school.” And at the end: “You under­ than a high school. (As Poultorak said stand I do not have time to be active to Mehrgi: “Mosheh, you and I need a but shall be glad to be of assistance.” school for our kids.”)

At 4:15, I cut in to report that I Pardo took me to his office, where I wished to leave for the airport. Mehrgi awaited Frant.

With Duvid’s family away on got Roger Cahen on the phone, who vacation, we dined at his brother’s and gave me directions on how to get from were joined by their mother and her Lyon to Aix-les-Bains where he would mother. Duvid, also a businessman, got be awaiting me. I bade Shalom to all, right to the point (after I gave him and two hours later set foot in Lyon.

From there I took a train, arriving at regards from Frankfurter).

“Tell me what you’ve learned,” ten in Aix. Just as he had awaited me he said, and after I did, he replied: at th e Paris airport the previous “Rav Poultorak is right. Here’s what Wednesday, and at the Strasbourg

Yaakov said. “Whenever an emissary like yourself comespthey meet with me and then depart. Please, before you leave, let me know what you’ve learned.” I suggested he call me at Frant’s at one the next afternoon, by which time I would have met with Rav Moralli and Frant.

O

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

23

te rm in a l on T h u r s d a y ^ so was punktlich Roger Cahen awaiting me now. We walked to the apartment of his second married daughter, wed just a month before. The bell was answered by his son-in-law, radiant and hand­ some hfc a full Jewish beard* and full uniform of the French Army.

He was in for a six-month tour, on a basis no one could complain about: every evening he came home

for the night, leaving in the morning for camp as another leaves for work, and Shabboth and Yom Tov he was off. Also, he had his entire uniform checked for sha’atnez at a laboratory in the yeshivah.

Over the tea table, I filled them in on Parshath Nice. Roger walked me to my hotel and, after directing me to take a taxi in the morning To the yeshivah, bade me “Bon S o ir.|||f

ALPINE TORAH-TOWN N the center of town stands a drove to a small building in town. government structure housing Inside Reb Gershon showed me a small the natural baths and springs that have shool and downstairs a mikveh “made made Aix-Ies-Bains an international with all chumroth ” that was extremely tourist center. And these baths and well kept, both these endeavors built springs, I came to learn, were the in­ by the small group of frum towns­ direct cause of making this resort city people, many of them employees of a Torah city. the Yeshivah. Then we drove to the When the War had left a massive other side of town to the Tomer refugee problem, the hotels of Aix-les- Devorah school, which all year is a Bains began to house as many Jewish Bais Yaakov-type high school and war orphans as could be squeezed in. post-high school for young women but Presently classes were established for with no general studies (the Yeshivah the children. That was the origin of has general studies on the high school the Yeshivah to which I now went by level). Just then, a three-week camp ta x i th is T h u rsday morning for was in session, as Tomer Devorah has a Shacharith. dormitory and many acres of land.

The Yeshivah was established in There were thirty girls in the camp, 1949, after Vaad Hatzalah contributed mostly Sephardiyoth, and their pro­ $4,000 to purchase the building on a gram included cooking and housekeep­ hill overlooking the landscape. There is ing. Roger’s daughter was a counsellor now an all-year enrollment of one there. From there we drove back to hundred young men in high school and T rasserv e, the section where the post-high school classes. An additional Yeshivah is, and on the way Gershon b u ild in g was under construction. showed me a small building recently During the summer the school was not acquired to house the day school in session, but many students (and established by the townspeople. He non-students) had come for extra­ told me of a kosher hotel in the city, curricular studies. and it became clear that with the day After viewing the Yeshivah, we school, the synagogue and mikveh, and

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Aix-les-Bains:

(le ft) R abbi Chaim C haykin as h e appeared in 1 9 4 6 w ith stu d en ts w ith w h om he began the sc h o o l and (right) in a recen t p h o to .

M em bers o f th e fa cu lty and stu d en t b o d y in fron t o f the n ew ly added building. S ittin g fifth from the right is R abbi R oger (G ershon) Cahen.

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the Yeshivah and Tomer Devorah insti­ tutions, and with the city a tourist center in summer and ski resort in winter (it lies at the foot of the French Alps), once could live an enjoyable and full Torah life in Aix-les-Bains.

Back at the Yeshivah, he intro­ duced me to R abbi Waknin, a Moroccan who had studied there and was now Rav of Lille, a city in north­ east France near the Belgian border.

Rabbi Waknin told me later that not only is he the only rabbi in his city, but also serves many smaller surround­ ing communities that have no spiritual leaders. He chose Aix for his vacation so that he and his two sons, who all year attend public school, can spend a few hours each day in the Yeshivah, after which they enjoy the splendid air and scenery. He was a friend of Jean Kling, and planned to drive that after­ noon to La Roche to visit. Roger had arranged that I go along.

After lunch, Roger took me into his office and introduced me to two young Sephardi men from Grenoble.

One of them had just finished high school and was entering university, the o th er had one more year (called “terminus”) to complete high school.

A lth o u g h n o t s tu d e n ts o f the Yeshivah, they had come now volun­ tarily for as much Torah study they could grab in before the new school semester. Both displayed an awareness of their community’s situation, and, even more important, an overriding concern. /GRENOBLE rings a bell in an American’s ear for only one thing: it was the site of the most re c e n t w inter Olympics. Jewishly

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speaking, it perhaps never existed, until Parshath Algeria. Now there are 1,200 Jewish families there. They have two synagogues, each with a rabbi, and three Talmud Torahs. During the year, the community is augmented by about 300 Jewish students who come to attend the local university. Was there an interest in a day school? Most definitely, they answered, and Reb Gershon added: the two rabbis asked the Yeshivah in Aix to organize it.

Gershon told me something else: the day before, these two young men (who wore their tzitzith out) had pleaded with him to arrange for send­ ing someone from Aix to Grenoble to give Torah study classes for the uni­ versity students, who were anxious to have them. They had even assured G ershon th a t once the program started, they themselves could and would raise funds to help defrdy expenses. Finally Gershon gave in (he was certainly agreeable to the idea but was not sure he could work it out) and agreed to send someone three times a week. This had left the young men disappointed. “Not three times a week,” they had replied. “Every day.*’ Now they were just as anxious to have a day school. I went through the questionnaire: Are there students?

M yes, they told me, interested and ready to register;® teachers?^® yes, Gershon said, from Aix, prepared even now in August to start in September; a director? — yes, Gershon said, in fact the day before the candidate for the position had asked what was doing; a locale? ||- yes, the young men replied, there is a Centre Communaire which was being made available; community interest? I this had been answered by

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them very much in the affirmative; organizing force? — Gershon himself; and finally, funds? —ah, money, there was none now, they all agreed, but once established, it should not be difficult raising it from the commun­ ity.

I thanked the young men, and as they got up, one of them whispered a few words in French to Gershon. I caught one of the words, “mikveh.”

Gershon turned to me and said: “You see, they are asking if we can help them build a mikveh too.”

After giving a warm goodbye to Roger Cahen, thanking him for his warm hospitality in three cities, I joined Rabbi Waknin and his wife and in an hour we were in La Roche sur Feron. We still had to go to a nearby smaller village, Saint Laurent, where tucked away in the mountainside was the camp.

arranged by the rabbi.

Rabbi Jean Kling is a bear of a man, with a heart as golden as he is big. His unmistakeably cheery voice rings loud and clear for a great dis­ tance all around, and his spirit fills the camp. He is Chief Rabbi not only for Lyon but also for a vast surrounding te r r ito r y . In Lyon, among other duties, he supervises two large day schools, one for boys and the other for girls, which P’Eylim had helped him establish. While the school was being established, an approach was made to Lubavitch, and support came forth.

The school is also supported by Ozar Hatorah, and is the only yeshivah in France to receive FSJU funds, a tribute to Jean’s efforts towards rap­ prochement. Another sum had come, in te re stin g ly en o u g h , from the Satmarer community, in this manner: A sum of money had been raised by the Satmarer community for an T WAS a couple of farmhouses endeavor in Marseilles which was with an abundance of acreage, aborted. With the money untapped, Rav H orow itz of Strasbourg was distant from any sound of urban tumult, rented for the summer. During solicited to recommend a use for the July, a camp was run there with girl funds, because he has a daughter living counsellors for seventy girl campers; in Williamsburg in Brooklyn, married for August, young men ran the camp to a Satmarer chossid. This daughter for seventy lively boys. Lyon is the once taught at the Lyon school. Also, only kehillah sponsoring camps, the there is in Lyon a communal shochet others being run by organizations, and named Markevitch who is a Satmarer this was one of four of Lyon’s; a teen­ chossid. He and Rav Horowitz wrote age camp in Israel, a day camp in separately to Brooklyn, recommending Lyon, and another similar to this one the money go to the Lyon school.

Kling and Waknin and I sat were the others. This year, for the first time, they experimented with an adult shmoozing for a while, discussing the camp: in another building at this distorted opinion many Ashkenazim locale, rooms were rented to vacation­ have of Sephardim. Kling, of German ing families who cooked for them­ origin, is married to a Sephardiyah. selves and were free all day, but at Most of the youngsters in camp were night attended classes and discussions S ep h ard im . In fact, Rabbi Kling

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pointed to an eleven-year-old standing nearby and said: “Tir’eh, hayeled hazeh hu m itzri” (“See, this boy is an Egyptian”). The boy reacted almost violently: ‘A n i lo mitzri, ” he shouted, “ani Yehudi” (“I am not an Egyptian, I am a Jew.”) After the Waknins left, Jean drove me to Annecy, a scenic town with a large lake in its center. The pleasant ride with its fantastic views allowed us to talk in Yiddish about the overall situation in France, the rela­ tio n sh ip s to and b etw e en th e Consistoire and the Fonds Social, the special problems created by the huge and sudden immigration, and the need for outside help from Ozar Hatorah, P ’Eylim, and everybody else who could help.

We re tu rn e d to cam p for Minchah, when my host made an un­ sch ed u led speech, in French, of course. Suddenly I heard my name, apparently in his introducing me, and while most of the words were foreign to me, I managed to understand the next phrase: “Rabbi Schwartz comes from Brooklyn, a place that has more Jews than there are goyim in Lyon.”

Seventy pairs of eyes looked at me unbelievingly.

I conversed in Ivrith with the

director, Yitzchak Elhadad, brother to Avraham, soon of Sarcelles. We dis­ cussed the unique problems of the French Jewish community in general and the French Sephardi community in particular. The most pressing need was for qualified personnel. In desper­ ation, I asked about sh’lichim from Israel.

“We’ve tried it,” he said, “but it does more harm than good. They do not understand the unique nature of the local situation, and by the time they learn, they leave. Their experi­ ence is lost, and we have to start all over again with their successors.” ; A fte r M aariv, a sister and brother-in-law of Jean’s, vacationing in the adult camp and living all year in Belgium, drove with Jean and me to Geneva. The trip took an hour. In fact, Jean was to drive it again the next morning, to go to mikveh before Shabboth. They took me to a hotel, gave me some tzeydah laderech (which lasted me until Moscow), and bade me “Au Revoir.”

On the second Monday follow­ ing, I returned to Paris for a day to check, in person and by phone, on developments. As there were none of a nature to detain me, I left that evening for New York.

* * * * *

POSTSCRIPT HE Jew has always asserted that more powerful sources of aid. The real he is indeed his brother’s keeper, problem is the lack of sufficient con­ and history proves it. But the same cern for Torah chinuch on the part of history also shows that occasionally those Who control the pursestrings of there is neglect. P’Eylim is not only most of these sources. doing its bit but is also trying to move Mr. Leibel had said to me in

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Strasbourg: “What P’Eylim is doing is important, but alone it cannot solve the problem of French Jewry. Only the larger agencies with major funds can try. P’Eylim’s only hope to save FranceE- anyone’s only hope B is to persuade these agencies to do their share.”

Meanwhile, criticism is heard of the rank-and-file American Jewish community for sitting on its hands.

“Just because some funding agencies are not doing all they should,” it is said, “is no reason for the broader community to sit still.”

tion was told me by Rabbi Avrohom Hirsch, Executive Director of P’Eylim, quoting his brother Yissacher, who a few years ago spent two years on active duty in France. “How smart is the French Government,” he said, “and how we suffer from it. It permits the establishment of day schools and yeshivoth. The Soviet Government forbids it, so everyone here cries. If tom orrow the Soviet Government should suddenly announce it is permis­ sible to build these schools, the American Jewish community would turn itself inside out to supply millions of dollars within twenty-four hours.

HICH way French Jewry? Every But th e F ren c h Government is day the sun sets on a community smarter. It gives permission all the that has that day become a bit more time, so no one cries, no one gives, no ac clim a te d to its environmental one does anything.” society, with its identity as a Jewish That is why, when on my return com m unity becoming a bit more people asked me how things are in faded. To its brethren round the Russia and France, I said that while world, it presents an opportunity that the two are not to be compared, in is almost invisible at a distance but all one respect things are worse in France. too apparent up close. The influx from In Russia, the Jews know little can be North Africa has brought a number of done, so they look only for that little. qualified mechanchim, whose hands But in France, they know they could are bound by a shortage of resources. have more. And until that more is What might be the most dramat­ forthcoming, the vacuum grows ever ic comment I’ve heard on this situa­ more dangerous.

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Strasbourg:

Inside the Centre de H autes E tudes Talm udiques, the kollel o f Rabbi Philippe (Y aakov) C ohen.

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I saw you again, smoke had marked you, you cast o ff the cloak o f the chrysalis made o f dying substance a sun that had sunk on the thread o f your love lit the night which rose like the folded flight o f a swallow’s wing.

I grasped a blade on the wind, a shooting star hung from it.

How light earth will be only a cloud o f evening love when released as music the stone goes into exile and rocks which squatted like nightmares on human breasts blast burdens o f melancholy from the veins.

How light earth will be only a cloud o f evening love when black-hot revenge attracted magnetically by the angel o f death perishes cold and silent at his cloak o f snow.

How light earth will be only a cloud o f evening love when all that is starlike vanishes with a kiss o f roses out o f the void

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What do you do to me who am with you for the flicker o f an eye-lid in the universe Draw my time from the face o f the living subjugating the night and like iron bent into flaming existence Dreams out o f wounds And the day when the sun sketched me a flower or a star o f snow bird-catchers everywhere lying in wait fo r song But death is destined for us all Wait till the breath ends it will sing for you as well

translated from the german by ruth and matthew mead copyright 1970 by farrar, straus & giroux

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S C R IP T U R A L

R E A L IT Y

v s

R O M A N T IC IS T

M YTH

by H. JOEL LAKS E are inform ed in Midrash Rabbah that there are “seventy 'faces to the T o r a h T h e Torah is capable o f innumerable interpreta­ tions, limited only by the alchemy of the human mind. The Sages urged| ^¡‘Interpret, and receive reward.” Thus the Torah invited reflective analysis and an abundance of exegesis, particu­ larly with reference to its historical, descriptive, and ethical content. Never­ theless, the Sages insisted upon dis­ tinguishing between D’rash and P’shat, between interpretation and the direct meaning of Scriptural passages. The two were not to. be confused. Interpre­ tation dare not be allowed to supplant and overshadow the evident meaning of the text.

The prudence and wisdom of this approach cannot be overempha­ sized. Unfortunately at times it is diffi­ cult to adhere to the original sense of textual material,?!,particularly when

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through repeated affirmations^,“selfevident” interpretations acquire ac­ ce p ta n c e . Plausible interpretations may be advanced in line with the perspectives dominating a particular age which then become entangled with, and even dominate, and finally distort, the plain meaning of Scripture.

An example of this invidious type of error is offered here, designed to exemplify the danger latent in this type of confusion.

The example I cite is that of­ fered by the life of Avrohom Ovinu as presented in Bereshith. A series of illuminating narratives pertaining to the first of the Patriarchs is here pre­ sented, perusal of which has left an indelible impression, upon innumerable generations, both Jews and non-Jews.

Legendary material in Talmud and Midrash has amplified and embellished these accounts of Avrohom Ovinu, the Father of his people who has, most

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significantly, been entitled in Scripture by the Almighty Himself as “Father to a Multitude of Peoples.’* PON opening the average text­ b o o k , re ad er, or workbook pertaining to this element of Scriptural history, it will be observed that a certain type of background material designed to “ clarify” this period for the benefit of the contemporary stu­ dent or reader is common to all. It is suggested that Abraham can be under­ stood intuitively when viewed as a nomadic chieftain, styled upon the sto c k creatures that populate the Hollywood or TV films pertaining to the Near East, the Bedouins traveling about, rootless, encamping at different oases together with their tribes, be­ longings, and, of course, their camels.

Such chieftains, it is understood, are noble folk. A picture is automatically conjured up and seized upon, the h au n tin g image of a picturesque, lonely, brooding Arab sitting on his faithful and submissive camel, in the midst of sandy dunes arrayed endlessly about him.

Taken as a presentation carrying appeal to the visual sense and titillat­ ing to the imagination, there seems to be little not to condone in this inter­ p re ta tio n . There are, however, a number of implications of deep con­ cern to us. What seems implied is that the virtues and way of life tradition­ ally associated with the Patriarch are no longer derivative, as the observant Jew has in the past understood them to be, from Avrohom’s acknowledge­ ment of, and commitment to, G-d. His ethical practices are no longer to be viewed as correlated with his revolu­

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tionary theological doctrine. The in­ trinsic relation between them is, by im p licatio n , being challenged and asserted to be non-existent. These values are no longer to be seen as a consequence of the radical acknow­ ledgement by Avrohom of the Father­ hood of G-d, with each person being a precious creature fashioned in His^ image. Instead of this unique relation, of values and belief streaming from the trail-blazing achievement of Abraham not only logically but genetically as well, the flat and trite claim is now being made that Abraham’s values are simply the practices and behavior ty p ic a l o f B edouin in general, Abraham merely serving as a classic example of them.

Seen in this manner, the ap­ proach which we may call Abrahamic Nomadism serves to undermine a sig­ n ific a n t elem e n t of doctrine in Judaism. How has it emerged? How has it gained currency? The answer is. that it is in great measure due to the appeal of Romanticism in the Nine­ teenth Century, and particularly to the poets, writers, and historical novelists who emerged then. The search for local color and folk differences led far afield, with Sir Walter Scott extolling the Middle Ages and its practices of chivalric knighthood, Fichte singing the n a tio n a lis tic virtues of the Germanic peoples, Byron revelling in the Hero. As pointed out in a recent study by Oeter L. Thorslev, Jr. (“The Byronic Hero”), through Byron the N oble O u tlaw , impassioned and romantic, gained wide currency as a sympathetic figure worthy of emula­ tion, or at least of dreaming about.

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T IS not surprising that the writers of this and later periods turned to the Arabian Desert for m a te ria l, u n e a rth in g Selins and Saladins as intriguing figures, with d ra m a tic motifs culled from the Arabian Nights to lend spicy effect.

This movement culminated in the “Lawrence of Arabia” saga that, so to speak, introduced the Western world to the era of the scimitar, the camel, and, of course, the age-old Bedouin virtues.

It was Lawrence himself, an enigmatic figure in British military affairs and letters, who set the pace with his account of the World War I Arab revolt against the Turks, which he called “Seven Pillars of Wisdom: a Triumph.” It proved to be an instant success, and drew attention not only to the adventures of Lawrence but also to the “lonely fighters” to whom he dedicated the work. In it he deals with the “people of the desert,” their clans and tribes, their venturesome move­ ments through the “inhospitable” sand for oases and pasturage. He describes the bravery of the Arabs, their “in­ n a te ” courtesy, v their clannishness, hospitality, and fierce temperament.

It is in this context that the c o n te m p o ra ry re-interpretation of Avrohom is to be understood and evaluated. In this re-writing of his life, it is assumed that Abraham’s hospi­ tality is merely symptomatic of the general attitudes toward the fellow traveler, weary and gaunt, that is prevalent in the desert. The strong ties of kinship manifested by him with regard to Lot is similarly to be under­ sto o d . Abraham’s insistence upon arranging a marriage for his beloved

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son Yitzchok with members of his own family dwelling in Aram reflects this natural feeling of the desert folk.

In short, the entire ramified account of the life and career of Abraham reduces itself to a mosaic set of Arab tales congenial to the spirit of Roman­ ticism with which the 19th Century writers tended to depict social phe­ nomena and historical events, a spirit th a t continued on into the 20th Century, until the era of the First World War. T was no accident that the emergence and development of the Romantic movement coincided with the era of the Industrial Revolu­ tion. With the growth of science and technology, an increasing mechaniza­ tion of life and growing standardiza­ tion of human satisfactions and appe­ tite s ta k e s place. Not surprising, therefore, to find an escapist reaction via Romanticism, searching for vitality and color to overcome the arid and deadening dullness progressively en­ croaching upon life. Hence the search for pageantry and drama, the glorifica­ tion of the historical eras elevating q u a in t forms of knighthood and chivalry, the idealization of romantic love. Rejecting the elements of ration­ ality and universality that dominated Eighteenth Century Enlightenment, these novelists, historians, poets, and philosophers were stirred by cultural differences, taken to be reflections of the qualitative differences distinguish­ ing d ifferent peoples, particularly “pure” peoples.

Thus, it is not surprising that in this age we have the nationalistic views of Fichte being expounded, the appeal

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to the Zeitgeist by Hegel, the view of the nation being propagated as a supra-organic entity,having a reality of its own to which individuals are com­ pletely subordinate. It is the age of Carlyle’s Hero Worship, the search for the hero or leader to the tone deter­ mining the convolutions of the move­ ment of the peoples whom he domin­ ates. Its natural culmination in the Nazi and Fascist movements is too well known to need further descrip­ tion.

It is not surprising that would-be apologists for Judaism eagerly seized upon the obvious attractions of this a p p ro ach and, in a similar vein, stressed the “unique” customs and traditions of Jewish life. Thus, natural­ ist theologians urged a “re-in ter pretation” of Judaism in this vein. Judaism is not so much a religion as a civiliza­ tion in which unique features such as esthetic values are lodged. The survival of Judaism requires stress on distinc­ tiveness and oddity of color and custom. Therein, according to this school of apologetics, lies the raison d'etre of the Jew. Needless to say, this approach need not be dismissed as altogether false and inauthentic. Certainly, folk patterns are not to be minimized in plumbing the depths of the spiritual domain of Jewish life. But as a central exposition of the lore of Jewish life, claiming to clarify its essential doc­ trine, this approach must be declared to be flagrant distortion of Jewish ideals and teachings, a blythe disregard o f centuries of flourishing Jewish th o u g h t an d m agnificent Jewish achievement. The primitive pseudo­ exegesis of this school of thought is

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exemplified in its portrayal of the figure of Abraham. It is to this por­ trayal, in contrast to that depicted in Tanach, that I wish to limit myself in this article.

BRAHAM is not depicted as a romantic nomad in the Torah.

He is not one who glories in traveling hither and yon, pitching and unpitch­ ing his tent, enacting the role of a lonely and brooding figure. On the contrary, the earliest statement about him we find to be his movement from city to city. The Torah conveys the Divine command to Abraham to “Go from your land, your birthplace, and your father’s house unto the land which I will show you.” Stress is being placed upon his going from where he is. He is to uproot himself. He is being called u p o n to m ake sacrifices.

According to our Sages, he is under­ going a test, one of the ten tests to which he was subjected in the course of his lifetime.

In this context, it is worthwhile digressing to discuss one of the terms in the Torah, which I have translated in the passage above as “birthplace.”

The expression as given in the Torah is “Moladetecha,” a derivative of the noun “moledeth.” Today this term is one of the most emotionally super­ charged in Israel re-born. With intense, unparalleled fervor the native-born Israeli speaks of his Moledeth, of the indissoluble attachment he bears to it.

Every patriotic sentiment stems from it.

Bearing in mind the romantic tendencies of our age, it may not surprise us to discover that the ^.P.S. translation of the Bible renders this

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term as “kindred.” , Emphasis is not upon place but upon folk, despite the fact that the context in which it is found obviously refers to place, e.g., “your land. . . your father’s house,” On the other hand, I bn Ezra explicity sta te s its meaning to be “eretz moledeth,” the land of one’s birth.

Undoubtedly stress upon place is in harmony with the simple intent of the text.

Now, it is in the very same sen­ tence that we have the object of Abraham’s travels stressed as well. It is not merely traveling for travel’s sake; it is a journey with a purpose. There is a particular destination in view. A land is being promised to him and to his seed ‘‘which I will reveal unto you.”

Avrohom is being called upon to rupture his relationship with his home­ land, an act of intense gravity that is not underestimated by Scripture, as w itness the rising crescendo with which the text stresses 4‘your land, your birthplace, your father’s home.”

It is counterbalanced by the vision of a Divinely vouchsafed land, to remain the possession of his and his seed.

The problems attendant upon uprooting oneself are acknowledged as well. In their midrashic commentary, our Sages cast beautiful illumination upon this, not hesitating to stress this fe a tu re . They declare that travel imposes specifically three hardships, in addition to exhausting the strength of a person. “Travel leads to a diminution of childbirth, a diminution of wealth, and a diminution of prestige and acclaim.” To justify and overcome these natural liabilities flowing from trav e l, th e y say, G-d promised A b rah am , sh o u ld he fulfill His

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

command to travel, that despite the onerous disabilities attendant upon travel,¡¡|‘T shall make, you a great nation, and I shall bless you, and I shall aggrandise thy name.” It was no accident^ therefore,, that the Divine blessing was threefold in nature. The romantic ingredient in sojourning need not be overlooked or dismissed for us to acknowledge that it is not the im m ediate or dominant motif of Abraham’s mobilization of family and self.

HAT fortifies the assumption of Abraham’s nomadic character is the evidence of the aridity and bleak­ ness of contemporary Palestine, prior to the establishment of the State of Israel. It is assumed that this was the picture of Biblical lands in ancient days as well. The fallacy of such reasoning is easily apparent. The dubious nature of such argument is growing evident by means of the accum ulating evidence of ancient civilizations peopling these territories in the Bronze and Iron Ages through the work of recent archeologists.: David Ben-Gurion is undoubtedly correct in asserting that the Negev was a productive territory in days of yore, peopled by a settled and far from an uncivilized folk.

Another argument adduced to support the nomadism of Abraham is the fact that Scripture is replete with accounts of his travels. The Torah tells us of his stay at Shechem, of his con­ tinuing on to Beth El, and thence to the Negev. This renders plausible the argument that the Abrahamic style of life was preregrinative in nature, in­ volving a periodic movement probably

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in line with climactic and seasonal conditions, determined by the require­ ments of his flock. This may be rebut­ te d ^ however, with the observation that the diverse destinations men­ tioned were apparently settled areas bearing familiar names, capable of drawing travelers. Avrohom did move about, but only in order to find him­ self, that is, to find a proper location in which to settle.

It is evident that our Sages inter­ preted his conduct in this light. They too seem to assume that it was not merely casual movement but rather traveling with a destination in mind. In his commentary Rashi cites this view when, commenting on the sentence (Bereshith 12:9) “Avrom journeyed, going on still toward the South (Negev),” he declares that /‘Abram would tarry at each place for a month or so, pitching and then assembling his te n t, head in g at all tim es for Jerusalem, which is the portion of the tribe of Yehudah, the center of the world, and Mount Moriah his inherit­ ance.*- It was there indeed that the climactic moment of Abraham’s life took place, the supreme test of the Akedah, or Binding of Yitzchok.

It is in this purposive spirit that the Sages too interpret the passage (B e re sh ith 1 3 :1 7 ) “ Arise* walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for unto you will I give it.” They suggest that Avrohom was bidden by the Almighty to perform an act of possession so as to acquire this, the Promised Land, concretely on behalf of his descend­ ants, the Children of Israel.

As I have said, the interpretation

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offered by the Romanticists of the life of Abraham rests on the view that the dwellers of the desert are, by their very nature, innocent of guile, simpley noble minded, and honorable. That this is m erely a projection of Romantic fancy rebelling from the, u rb a n iz a tio n , mechanization, and standardization attendant upon the Industrial Revolution and is in flagrant defiance of actual reality, more sober studies of actual desert life have abundantly shown. Craftiness and guile, plundering of flock and of women, and tribal raiding were far from uncommon desert traits.

The code of justice, of sacrifice for kin, of refusal to profit from plunder, of impassioned concern for his fellow man that Abraham mani­ fests throughout his life are, it is the argument of Scripture, to be ac­ counted for by his intrinsic belief in G-d. They are moral consequences of A b ra h am ’s acknowledgment of a Creator, of a Baal Habirah, of a Master of this Cosmic Palace. Abraham’s ethic is not to be traced to nomadic ante­ cedents but rather to his revolutionary religious doctrine. It is the uniqueness of Abraham’s life that is the import of Scripture.

Indeed, it is not inconceivable that the tables were genetically re­ versed. Nineteenth Century secular­ iz a tio n m ay have seized upon Abraham’s life and, refusing to accept this uniqueness as suggested by Torah, proceeded to universalize it in a romantic vein, thereby giving rise to the saga of the desert hero. That this is a distortion both of Scripture and of fact is the nub of this article.

JEWISH LIFE

OTH T o ra h and R abbinic commentary are at one, then, in stressing the role of Abraham not as nomadic leader or tribal chief as portrayed so beguilingly by the follow­ ers of Lawrence of Arabia but rather as a settler, in fact as the first pioneer

B

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

settler of Canaan, who was uprooted and borne along by a Divine command and assurance, determined to found a new and different society dedicated to the G-d who seeks not human sacrifice but justice and mercy.

39

by NANCY HERSKOWITZ L A STRANGE LESSON S an American citizen born after the Second World War, I have never experienced foreign invasion or the fear, pain, and death that ac­ company it. Throughout the school year in Jerusalem I sensed potential danger: the reverent silence as the news came on the radio, constant ch eck in g o f bags fo r explosive m a te ria l, fen ces scraw led with “Ha-alah Ha-kibush” (“Forward, the conquest”) but it didn’t come close to me. Subconsciously I had felt some­ thing might happen in the university.

If old women shopping for Shabboth in Machaneh Yehudah were a valid target, why not the future intellectual leaders of the country young people with enough patience to sit a few more years after army service? Then it came close to me.

40

I was in the library when I heard the explosion. I hoped it was the builders. I knew it wasn’t. We ran to the windows and saw smoke coming from the cafeteria below us. A thin tongue of flame licked at the jagged slivers of glass that had been windows.

I started crying softly, “G-d help them; please, G-d, help them.”

The librarian spoke sharply to me: “Stop it. We don’t need hysteria.

Leave immediately.”

People filed down the stairs, quickly, quietly. The exhibition in the lo b b y was on Jewish martyrdom throughout history. I saw one boy pull his shirt over his head to go down into the smoke. I followed him, deluded that I could help. My feet crunched slivers of glass dipped in blood; my eyes smarted from the dust and

JEWISH LIFE

smoke. A janitor shooed me out of the building like a little girl tardy for class —a second explosion was feared.

A crowd moved uneasily out­ side, waiting to see what they had escaped. A worker, her white uniform stuck to her back with red blotches, got into an ambulance beside the driver; a boy on a bed, his feet covered, was rolled into the back. The rest of the injured had already been taken.

university to learn how to kill us. ..

—I must call my parents.

—Of course you must. . . after you are calm . . .

NOTHER explosion. The crowd jumps. A water main burst. The janitor can turn the valve off; it is only water. It trickles by a tiny puddle of blood turning brick-brown on the side­ walk, torn paper napkins smeared with chocolate frosting caught in its sticki­ ness.

A bush of yellow flowers is SAT on the steps sobbing and holding the balustrade. Cameras wildly blooming, a burst of buttery stars. I crush the petals — what right clicked. I would have to call my parents, but my purse was in the have they to be beautiful at a time checkroom —the checkroom where all like this?

A girl sits down and suddenly bags were checked in order to prevent bombs. An Israeli girl came up to me. begins to cry. She left her shoes under a table. My new friend runs over to —Little one, are you hurt? her. ¡¡I No, I am not hurt.

B Are you hurt? Let me see your feet.

—Then why do you cry?

—I cry for those that were hurt. I cry B No, no, I am all right. But I have a that they don’t let us live. I cry that it class now, an important class.

— Silly one, don’t worry. Classes will was terrible.

—Terrible, and awful. But do not cry certainly be cancelled.

A boy goes by, his sandaled feet if you were not hurt.

B Don’t worry 1 1 am not hysterical. cut and scratched. Someone crys out, B Then cry. Cry, little one, cry until “Go wash your wounds.” He grunts you don’t feel like crying anymore. I and rides away on a motorcycle. The police drive off with a carful of sus­ wish I could.

— Were you in the building? How pects: some Arab students from my dormitory, a priest, the man who sells many were hurt?

— A few. I don’t know if any were pretzels by the door. A worker com­ killed. I myself was at the checkroom, plains how she screamed for help and not three meters from the explosion. no one came. A reporter wheels It went off in the cafeteria and shat­ around to his cameraman. tered the big glass window. It is a —Is she hurt? miracle I was not hurt. You are an B No, the wounded were out within American? I am a Jerusalemite. I have minutes. You know how these security studied with Arabs ^ B Arabs who officers never let us have a story. joined the El Fatah or were put in jail —All right, all right. We’ll just have to for terrorist activity. They come to the start off with something about it

i

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

41

happening again . . .

ships for students from occupied townsy no man by the gate selling T IS less than two hours since pretzels. An American girl with brassy the bomb exploded. Workers, red hair burbles, “how exciting.” their faces still white with shock, are I was upset that students had put to work washing blood off chairs, done it, but then, the man laboring for sweeping the glass splinters from the a daily mouthful does not look up floor, putting fresh food out. Wooden from his burden — it is the man who» beams are brought in for rebuilding. gets a taste of a better life who wants Students, officials go in,; sit, ea t^ B it all.

By the way, I was late for my “davkah lamrothom ” (“specifically to spite them ”). Measures are taken: 1:00 class. No lessons were cancelled. more inspection of bags, less scholar­

Î

II. A FRIDAY NIGHT NE of my Shabboth guests, a things, you’d lose your American boy learning in a B’nei B’rak citizenship.

—That wouldn’t bother me if I really yeshivah, stood with me on a hill out­ decided to make the move. side Jerusalem. He grinned at me.

He was more serious now than I B Let’s count how many families are had ever known him to be. Before, he Shomrey Shabboth. had always joked and laughed; now he B How do you intend to do that? gl By counting which houses are dark. didn’t even wear a feather in his hat.

— No fair. Some of the people might He pushed his black “kipah” back and be using a timer. forth.

The rest of the group had —Have you thought of Aliy ah? walked ahead of us as we lingered to I smiled. watch an arc light probe into the dark Doesn’t every Jew? gulleys around the houses. His face —Will you stay? became more serious.

— No, I’ll go home, finish up my B You know, that’s how they search studies, then perhaps . . . for Arab infiltrators.

B ifh e sooner the better.

— Yes, I know . . . Strange how it’s b<5th comforting and frightening at the Î LOOKED at him puzzedly at his same time. | last remark, and he reacted.

— My friend and I are thinking of join­ B I myself want to stay, really want to ing the army. stay . . . It’s just the religious level of B As chaplains? the country . . .

B No, regular old foot soldiers; pay # Religious level? back some of what we’ve taken from B Perhaps more appropriately § th e the country. irreligious level?

That’s pretty brave. Among other B Irreligious? I think the situation is

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42

JEWISH LIFÈ

pretty good here in comparison with anywhere else. Where else can I go into a supermarket and know everything has been checked by the Rabbanuth?

Or practically not see a car on Yom K ip p u r? Or learn the names of prophets from street signs?

I smiled again. Well, maybe in Williamsburg. . .

He frowned in reply.

—At least in the U.S. the anti-religious factors are clear S you know whom you’re fighting. Here, the whole issue is confused with a nebulous meta­ physical search for the^Jt‘essence” of Judaism: nation? race? accident?

— I read a writer who feels that any­ one who suffers must be a Jew . . . Of co u rse that might include a few Biafrans and a couple of Vietnamese —„. . . these people feel that religion isn’t necessary anymore. It’s too anti­ quated in their twentieth century philosophical quest for themselves as men, simply not to be bothered with in the physical battle to exist, too complicated.

H Religious belief is always a compli­ cated field of dissension, and yet always really a simple one, for it in­ evitably boils down to a basis of per­ sonal conviction —inner principles. At least here, the next door neighbor is no “goy” to be impressed by the Hebraic moral code B it’s another Jew who will slap you down if you give him any apologetics. Moreover, if you want to be influential you would be spreading the Word to the right people.

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

E stared straight ahead, his hands thrust into his pockets.

— I don’t know. We’re an am kesheyorefy a stiff-necked people . . . these sabras go against Torah with such chutzpah, even vehemence at times . . .

It’s no Garden of Eden, I will open­ ly admit, but you think you’ll change it by sitting in America? There’s a big difference when a next-door neighbor tells you how to run your house and when a member of your own family does. The more religious people in Israel —the more religious the country —it’s got to come from within . . .

I No one really wants to stand alone — Who do you think you are — a Byronic protagonist? I mean, everyman is essentially alone, but you think you’re cheating if you have the emo­ tional support of £ family and friends?

Frankly, I don’t want to lone it the next time I come.

GROUP of Israelis passed us going towards the bus station.

One stopped in front of us and grinned. ^ Lo rotsim eth ha-autobus? (Don’t you want the bus?)

The yeshivah boy pointed at his feet and grinned back.

— Lo, todahy yesh li kav shenayim.

(No, thanks, I have Line 2.)

We w alked on. He looked straight ahead as he spoke.

— You know, it is said: “mi hu gibor?

Mi sheyivtach b ’h a S h e m . (“Who is brave? He that trusts in the Lord.”) I think the Israelis are religious accord-

43

ing to that sentence: a crisis strikes and they react, doing what they can and leaving the rest to G-d, fate, some supernatural power they don’t even reco g n ize themselves. They’re an unbelieveable people 9 or do I mean we?

44

We lapsed into silence.

I wondered if he would be ex­ pelled if the yeshivah knew that he was with a girl, and how irrelevant that really was to the conversation. For M had he been talking to me at all?

JEWISH LIFE

by AARON ROTHKOFF UCH has been, written by the enter the Holy Land. First they must rabbis throughout the ages to dispose of their American dwellings, possessions, occupations, and responsi­ explain why Divine Providence willed that the generation of the Exodus not bilities, and shortly thereafter must be privileged to enter the .Holy Land. re-establish themselves and start life Many interpretations have been pro­ anew six thousand miles away. They posed for the necessity of having two do not enjoy any forty-year respite separate generations, those of Moses and this entire process takes place and Joshua, with only the latter finally within weeks and sometimes days.

This article is not being written entering the Land of Israel. Perhaps th e solution is quite simple and for those who still need to be won mundane. G-d in His infinite wisdom over to Aliyah but rather for those knew that the aggravations and stresses who are already convinced that the o f being both the generation of destiny of the Jewish people is being Yetziath Mitzrayim and the first gener­ forged in Israel reborn. It is planned ation in a new land were simply too for those who believe that it is their much for one generation to bear. sacred responsibility to fulfill the Therefore this burden was divided charge of the pre-eminent Mitzvah of between the eras of Mosheh and Yishuv Eretz Yisroel at this crucial Yehoshuah. If this explanation is moment in the eternal saga of our correct, then today’s Olim possess nation. It is designed to share the even greater merit than their Biblical experiences and reactions of a family ancestors since they are both the that has recently made the transition generation of Exodus and those who so that others may benefit from their

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JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

45

encounters and decisions.

and this has been reflected in the complete revamping of its Aliyah ITTING in your suburban home program and method. Its representa­ or c o o p e ra tiv e a p a rtm e n t, tives in this area are now competent, surrounded by all that is currently so capable, and eager to help. Neverthe­ familiar, you are probably apprehen­ less, perspective Ohm must remember sively wondering, “How do we begin?” that while their Aliyah plans are now However, before you begin to imple­ pivotal to their future existence and ment the practical steps of Aliyah, it is endeavor, they are still one of numer­ more important to develop the proper ous fam ilies being aided by the state of mind that is essential to suc­ A gency ¿ a n d not always will all cessful Aliyah. Granted that you have arrangements meet with their total made a most important decision and approval. are undertaking a momentous stepl The most basic decision which nevertheless, relax and trust in G-d. Olim must make concerns their future There is a host of minutiae to be means of livelihood in the Holy Land. arranged, and there will certainly be The Committee on Manpower Oppor­ some mishaps and disappointments. tunities in Israel, which functions in This is a move of six thousand miles cooperation with the Jewish Agency, and not everything you plan will go will attempt to secure employment for according to schedule. However, if you future Olim before they have finalized realize this from the outset and make their Aliyah plans. Their aid is essen­ your arrangements in this vein, the tial for academicians and professionals, disappointm ents will be minimal. since these classes of workers will be Remember that you are fulfilling a able to strike a better bargain and gain cardinal Mitzvah, and even if your lift ;; additional benefits from their poten­ of household possessions arrives late tial employees while still negotiating and is unloaded at the wrong port, grin from outside Israel. Arriving with and bear it. If you can transmit this employment also spares one from the attitude to your family, then you will intrinsic frustrations and tensions that be winners from the outset. are invariably interwoven with job­ Once y o u have made your seeking. These feelings will also be commitment, get in touch with the intensified when one is in surroundings Israel Aliyah Center of the Jewish which are still new and partially Agency. From this juncture they will strange. Nevertheless, many Olim, become your mentor, and guide you mostly businessmen and some profes­ through the labyrinths of Aliyah. sionals, arrive without employment.

Despite the old popular image of the After leisurely attending Ulpanim and Agency as incompetent and uncooper­ mastering the rudiments of Modern ative, we found their staff to be truly Hebrew, they gradually seek out an dedicated, concerned, and informed. appropriate field of endeavor. WillySince the Six-Day War, Aliyah has nilly it all works out, and the Israel become the touchstone of Israel’s relief rolls are not being swelled by the ability to retain the fruits of victory, current I^Anglo-Saxon” immigration.

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JEWISH LIFE

HAT to take and what to leave behind becomes the next major concern of the future Ohm. Ideally, it would be best to discard or dispose of one’s possessions in the Diaspora, not be concerned with transporting them, and starting life anew in the Holy Land. This may even be the interpreta­ tion of the opinion expressed in the Talmud that the Jews had to be forced to despoil the Egyptians through borrowing their gold and silver. It may be that they did not wish to be troubled by having to care for these precious metals during the long desert jo u rn ey (Berachoth 9b). However, there are items such as clothes, linens, books, and phonograph records which must not only be taken but also bought for future usage. These items are all expensive in Israel, and antici­ pating your future needs will later prove helpful and economical.

The real dilemma is what to do with one’s furniture. This is expensive to transport and American pieces are generally too large for the average Israeli apartment. On the other hand, furniture is expensive to replace, and y o u r present possessions may be unique, new, and enjoy your senti­ m en tal attachment. There are no steadfast guidelines in this area. Some have brought all their furniture, while others completely refurnished here through the excellent services provided

by Danish Interiors for Olim. Danish Interiors represents Denmark’s leading furniture, fabric, and carpet manu­ facturers in importing and distributing Scandinavian furniture in Israel. In our Aliyah, we disposed of some pieces, to o k m o st, and found ourselves limited to larger sized dwellings while

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

apartment hunting.* Regarding appliances, it is our considered opinion that all of these should be purchased in Israel. Not only will your appliances function on the Israel 220 volts/50 cycles electrical system, but you will be able to order item s for which spare parts and services are locally available. You will be paying slightly more when ordering in Israel, but the additional cost will be more than compensated for by local service, local guarantees, and a salesman or agent within shouting distance when your appliance must be installedSrepaired, or adjusted. In some instances, there is absolutely no need to import overseas appliances, and more and more Ohm are now buying “Blue and White.” The Amcor 15 cubic foot, two door, frost-free refrigerator is a favorite with new­ comers, and the Shavit five-gas burners and electric oven model is becoming increasingly popular. Although most people still import washing machines, it is still advantageous to purchase in Israel. In addition to the benefits of local parts, service, and guarantee, you must also know the exact measure­ ments of the area designated for the washing machine in your future home.

A friend of mine, who came on Aliyah during July, had ordered, during May, an expensive A m erican washing machine geared to Israeli electricity.

The washing machine never arrived, and after months of long distance * For additional discussion o f som e o f the topics covered in this article, see the ex cel­ lent b ook let en titled “Woman o f V alor,” edited by Sybil Kaufman, and recently pub­ lished by the A ssociation o f Am ericans and Canadians for A liyah, 515 Park A ve., N ew York, N .Y . 1 0 0 2 2 .

47

correspondence with the seller, the appliance was finally located and shipped. He then had to make all the arrangements for the machine to clear customs, and finally at the end of December the long-awaited mechanical ¡¡¡‘mother’s helper” made its belated appearance. Great was his chagrin when he discovered that it was too large to fit into its designated niche on the service terrace. Finally, he had to pay a substantial sum to have the machine installed in his kitchen. After all this, the machine proved vastly inadequate since it did not possess a built-in water heater which is so essen­ tial for Israel where the machine itself must generally heat the cold water which flows into it. Even worse, adequate water pressure was not avail­ able in the kitchen to properly fill the machine, and the family has to pour buckets of water from the sink to enable it to function efficiently.*

recommendation and that you trust you too will be able to recommend his services. U nder these conditions, reputable movers should prove satis­ factory. Nevertheless, there are factors which they cannot control, such as overloaded boats or port stikes; be prepared for exigencies if your lift is, delayed. Proper insurance is a must, and you will save a considerable amount by insisting that your mover insure your possessions with the “Chail” Insurance Department of the Jewish Agency (45 King George St., Jerusalem).

If you will not immediately need your lift in Israel, do not hesitate to have the Jewish Agency store it for you. Outside Haifa, in Kordany, the Agency maintains excellent and safe storage facilities where your posses­ sions can remain until you are reunited with them in your permanent apart­ ment. In our case, our lifts all arrived on time and promptly went into NCE you have decided what you storage where they remained for over are taking, contact a reputable half a year. Friends who desperately mover. The art of international moving needed their possessions were to enjoy is a demanding one, and only a a three-month chase until their lifts competent, proven veteran should be caught up with them after being sent entrusted with your possessions. In late, not unloaded due to a port strike addition, you will want a mover who at Ashdod, and being rerouted to has established a reputation for meet­ Germany. Another Oleh was finally ing a time schedule. It generally means officially informed after seven months a full month delay if he misses the that his lift of electrical appliances was boat’s sailing. It is most sensible to use lost. He was not overly upset since he a firm which has successfully moved was properly insured, and now will be the possessions of an acquaintance. able to purchase appliances which are Tell the mover that you are only more suitable for his Israeli living engaging him because of your friend’s conditions.

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*For your rights and privileges as an O leh, regarding w hat m ay be im ported w ith custom s and tax ex em p tion s, request a cop y o f the latest ed itio n o f “The Rights o f the O leh ” from th e Jewish A gen cy.

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T O sail or to fly is the next quesf tion which must be resolved.

The advantages of going by air are

JEWISH LIFE

speed and slightly lower cost. How­ ever, when going on Aliy ah, journey by ship is to be preferred. The twelveday voyage will be a welcome respite and vacation from the strains of Aliyah preparations. Modern ships are literally floating hotels and you will en jo y the multitude of activities.

Spiritually you will value the oppor­ tunity to reflect and experience the anticipation of returning Home after two thousand years of exile. Ship travel will also- aid in solving the moving problem, since each person is allowed a substantial amount of free space in the boat’s hold due to special arrangements made by the Jewish Agency. When a large family travels by boat, this space can be utilized to accomodate a fair-sized lift. Even more helpful is the fact that you are allowed to ta k e a substantial amount of baggage into your cabin.

Do not be misled by steamship regulations which limit your baggage to four or five pieces per person. In reality, bringing luggage on to a ship is entirely different from the careful weighing-in procedures that accom­ pany air-travel. The baggage is deliv­ ered on the morning of the ship’s sailing when total bedlam reigns at the dock. As long as they are properly tipped, porters will gladly assist you by taking all your luggage, regardless of the number o f pieces, and even when some are simply adequately tied cartons. The only real limitation on the accompanying baggage is the size of your cabin in which these pieces must be stored for the duration of the journey. We had a large cabin, and sue ce eded in bringing over thirty assorted valises, small trunks, And

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

duffle bags with us. These pieces contained all the essentials including the family’s summer and winter cloth­ ing, since we knew that it would be many months before we had a per­ manent apartment and could release our lifts from storage.

It is also advisable to take along some unused duffle bags in which the subsequent accumulation of laundry, momentos, and farewell gifts can later be packed. By the conclusion of the journey, we left the boat with over forty different pieces of baggage and the porters could not believe that all thisQand five people had comfortably fit into one cabin. Actually, we had the feeling that G-d was aiding us and that the cabin’s floor recessed to accomodate the luggage in emulation of the miracle in the Temple which made it possible for the sacred site to always comfortably hold the masses of pilgrims who there prostrated them­ selves (Ovoth 5:7).

TSEPENDING upon your arrangements with the Jewish Agency, you will probably be transported to an absorption center, ulpan, or hostel.

Conditions vary from place to place, and it would be prudent to correspond with an acquaintance who has pre­ ceded you at the designated location and can inform you exactly as to the facilities that await you. It is wise to arrive with some easy-to-serve foods such as dry cereal and cans of tuna, soups, and vegetables to utilize in your initial days in Israel. Arrangements for permanent housing obviously depend upon the location of your employ­ ment. Generallyf^you will be able to arrange this after your arrival, once

49

you learn the areas and survey the available apartments.

However, future Jerusalem resi­ dents are faced with grim and difficult housing problems. Since the Six-Day War and the liberation of the Kothel, real estate prices have been rising daily in the Holy City. Rentals are prohibi­ tive on *an Israeli salary since there is an abundance of professionals spend­ ing their sabbaticals in Jerusalem who willingly pay exorbitant rents. The governm ent’s housing facilities for Olim are severely limited in Jerusalem, and the purchase price of apartments on the private market is almost twice as expensive as elsewhere. As of December 1, 1969, the government is making special 50,000 I.L.-30 year m ortgages available for Olim in Jerusalem to aid them in purchasing apartments.

If you know that you are going to settle in Jerusalem, and are already familiar with its areas, you would be wise to purchase an apartment through a reliable agent, builder, or friend while still in the Golah. However, care­ fu lly check o u t any attractive Jerusalem building projects since they may be years away from the start of construction, let alone completion. All building plans will prove worthless when you arrive and find the site of your future home an empty lot de­ corated with a cornerstone and a sign announcing the heralded construction which is already six months behind schedule. In the meantime, prices have risen another fifteen percent.

will prove helpful to forget about the advanced technological and automated conditions you left behind. Instead, marvel that a Middle Eastern country as young as Israel, constantly caught up in war and crisis, has managed to achieve its present level of progress and development. The lines seem longer and the paper work incredible, but somehow it all gets accomplished.

Your biggest shock will be when the bank teller fills in your bankbook by hand after a twenty-minute wait on a line that resembles a circle. Neverthe­ less, we still have not lost or gained an agora, and the bank employees seem to be superb in good old-fashioned arithmetic. Instead of going to the bank twice a week as we did in the States, we try to limit it to once in two weeks, and thereby lessen the time dissipated awaiting your next.

When at government offices to arrange for your rights as an Oleh, always speak English even if your modern Hebrew is excellent. Officials generally are more sympathetic to an Oleh who seemingly has not yet mastered the mother tongue. In addi­ tion, they will more readily acquiesce to your requests rather than argue with you in a language in which they are ill at ease! An acquaintance went to the income tax office to receive a validated income tax exemption form for his place of employment in accord­ ance with his Oleh privileges. Speaking flawless Hebrew^the surprised secre­ tary asked whether he had previously spent time in the country. When he responded that he had been here years NCE SETTLED, you now have ago as a student, she promptly in­ to adjust to the realities of daily formed him that he did not enjoy the non-tourist life in the Holy Land.tax It exemption privileges. His protests

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JEWISH LIFE

were of no avail. A week later, he returned at a different hour, spoke to another secretary in English, and was instantaneously granted his tax exemp­ tio n . (This law was subsequently revised by the government and former students now enjoy the tax exemption privileges when they return to settle.)

HE biggest problem is adjustI ment is managing on an Israeli salary. Liroth are harder to come by than dollars, and they are spent much more rapidly. Although you were probably correctly assured that your m onthly salary is high by Israeli standards which considers 1000 I.L. per month substantial, you were not told that you will find it impossible to maintain your previous level of living on your new income. When you visited Israel as a tourist, everything seemed so cheap because you were still on the dollar standard and could mentally divide the price of every purchase by 3.5, the official current rate of ex­ change for the dollar. When you paid a lira for a kilo (2.2 lbs.) of bananas as a tourist, you felt you were paying 28 cents for slightly over two pounds, a decent price by American standards.

However, now that a lira ds your dollar, you are really paying a full dollar” for a kilo of bananas. When you previously purchased an air-letter sheet for 40 agoroth, you thought you were enjoying a bargain since this was less than the 13 cents you paid in America for a similar air-sheet. How­ ever, now you feel that you are spend­ ing a full 40 cents for each air-letter.

For the first few months, you will be overwhelmed by the cost of living in your new home. Gradually,

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

you will learn to make adjustments.

Dress is informal, expensive meat is a special treat, and producing your own soda with the aid of a seltzer-siphon becomes as natural as opening a can of Pepsi in the States. You will also learn where and how to shop.

Unlike the stores in the States, the modern and massive supermarket is considerably more expensive than the local open-air market, popularly called the shuk. The fruits and vege­ tables in the shuk are also of better quality and of greater variety. There are also stores in the vicinity of the shuk where you will be able to pur­ chase canned goods, baked goods, and sweets at prices substantially lower than those of the supermarket. At first, it may seem strange to bypass the familiar supermarket for the oriental atmosphere of the shuk. Nevertheless, once you see the difference it makes in your purse, you will learn to actually enjoy the shuk experience with the haggling, hawking, and clamor that invariably accompanies it. Here, speak your best Hebrew and dress in a fashion that will place you only one rung above the dress of the Gibeonites (Joshua 9:5). This will guarantee your being charged the current market price and will exempt you from the sur­ charge usually assessed on tourists and Americans. However, do not fret if you do occasionally get stuck paying the surcharge since your lira will still go a lot further at the shuk.

A MORE difficult challenge facing f I the newcomer is in the spiritual and ethical realm. It seems sinful to observe'how naturally and quickly we adjust to the miracles of Israel reborn.

51

We walk through the public thorough­ evening. We were all struck by the fares on the Sabbath, enwrapped in unusually large numbers of soldiers our Tallith, as if this has been our life­ and the obvious preparations for some long practice. We often give lifts to military ceremony. Finally we learned soldiers carrying machine-guns, and we that the latest class of paratroopers continue to drive as if we have long would be sworn in at the Kothel later been accustomed to having guns adorn th a t evening. This event is never our cars. We daily mingle with the announced in advance lest one million masses of Jews gathered together from people descend upon the Wall area to the four comers of the earth, and we witness it. An hour later we were held act as if we have always been mbbing spellbound by the ceremony. Against sh o u ld ers w ith Jews from Iraq, the background of the endless prayers Yemen, Morocco, and India. If only and Minyonim directly in front of the we could develop the ability of the Kothel, the hundreds of young para­ masters of Mussar to experience the troopers listened to their sergeant read thrill and exultation of the daily the first chapter of the Book of renewal of life in thedand of redemp­ Joshua. Their commanding officer tio n and fulfillment. Nevertheless, then charged them, reminding them even the least sensitive among us will that the paratroopers liberated the Old still be periodically awakened by the City and the Kothel. The Mogen David wonders happening in Israel. flag was raised to the tune of We shall long remember the last Y e ru sh o lay im Shel Z ohov and night of Chanukah of this past year, Hatikvah. Suddenly all the electric our first in the Holy Land. After read­ lights were extinguished, and to the ing that the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of eerie glow of the Chanukah candles Israel will kindle the final eight candles and torches, the soldiers pledged their at the Kothel, we all went there before loyalty to the Army of Israel. As their nightfall. The Wall is always a moving proud and youthful voices responded experience, and its beauty was en­ in unison" “we swear,” we, too, found hanced by the glow of the large ourselves likewise taking an oath. We menorah that stood at its base. In the were promising ourselves that despite K o th el area we m et scores of the occasional hardships, adjustments, American old acquaintances and class­ and disappointments, we would ever mates who are all new arrivals and had be thankful for the privilege granted to travelled from places such as Ramath us to contribute to the future destiny Gan and Beersheba to be present that of Israel.

52

JEWISH LIFE

HiM Inio HELL!

by ALLAN M. BLUSTEIN URTLING over the speed-limit­ less autobahn from Salzburg to V ien n a, A u stria , most American military and civilian personnel glance unconcernedly at the row of signs lin in g th e expressway shoulders.

Generally, the average tourist is more interested in the opera, palaces, and the like which await him in Vienna, rather than in the unpronounceable towns along his route. For a thought­ ful minority, however, the signs are scanned meticulously until the eyes b eh o ld th e fa te fu l objective — Mauthausen. In a split second, the real­ ization hits home and tears suddenly well up in the eyes which behold the sign. As the pilgrim exits from the autobahn and heads toward his desti­ nation, he little senses that soon he will be walking on soil drenched with the martyred blood of hundreds of thousands of multi-national heroic men, women, and children whose only

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

crime was that they were “enemies of the state.’’ In a scant few minutes he w ill a sc e n d /';n a y descend, into Mauthausen Konzentration Lager the hill into hell.

The day Is bleak and chilling to the bone. The sun seems to be deliber­ ately avoiding the scene where so much tragedy and inhumanity was inflicted. As the visitor makes his way up the winding hill, he notices scores of apples fallen from the autumnal branches. He cannot help but sense the stark similarity between these sweet products strewn about, cut off from their sources, and those humble inno­ cent beings who were also brutally severed from their home# and lands and brought to this hell. Arriving, at the main gate to the camp, he notices the guard towers and the so-called “Wailing Wall,” at which newly arrived prisoners were compelled to /stand for long periods of time while being

53

interrogated and brutally beaten by the SS guards. The pilgrim pauses at the office to procure a brochure pre­ pared by a former prisoner under the ausp ices o f. the Lagergemeinshaft M a u th a u s e n and In te r n a tio n a l Mauthausen Komitee. As he reads the heartrending narrative, his whole being becomes anguished at the realization that he stands now in the bloodsoaked agony of a hell on earth.

J^ ^ # A U T H A U S E N , Austria, the pamphlet begins, was Chosen by the Nazis for the site of the camp because of its ready access to the “Wiener Graben,” or stone quarries of the Vienna area. Slave labor from the camp was employed in the quarries at a low economic cost and provided the Germans with an ideal situation, i.e., a place for both utilization and liquida­ tion of “undesirables.” As the camp commandant, Fritz Zieries, sadistically described his lager, “Here is only a marching in; the way out is through the chimney of the crematory.” If a prisoner’s record was stamped with R U (R ückkehr Unerwünscht, i.e., return undesirable), he was earmarked for death. It was an established rule of the camp that Jews who entered remained alive no longer than three days.

The pamphlet goes on to de­ scribe the daily regipien of the prison­ ers. Summer reveille was at 4 A.M. Mondays to Saturdays, roll-call at 5:15 A.M., work time from 6 to 12, lunch hour from 12 to 1 P.M., and work time again at 1 until 6 P.M. Winter reveille was at 5:15 A.M. To accom­ plish this, the prisoners were given a daily ration of less than half a pint of

54

“ersatz” coffee (no milk) for break­ fast. Lunch consisted of approximate­ ly one and a half pints of turnip stew containing three or four potatoes, and for supper about 250 grams of brown bread, 25 grams of sausage,; and some­ times some clear soup was given. On Sunday evenings the prisoner got 25 grams of margarine and one tablespoonful of marmalade.

In contrast to this,;;itheir SS guards were given ample meals often supplemented by special rations of brandy as bonuses for participation in mass executions. If an SS trooper shot a prisoner trying to escape||he was given an extra, three-day pass as a re­ ward. The more sadistic he was, the greater his recognition. The camp contingent of SS troops consisted of a b o u t 2 ,0 0 0 professional thugs, sadists, homosexuals, and the like who realized their perverted ambitions at Mauthausen. As the brochure states, once a man put on the tunic of the SS, he sold himself to a life of crime.

Vying for top honors in the sadism orgies were the so-called neckshot corner^ where prisoners were su p p o sed ly to stand while being measured, but were in reality shot through the neck from a small slit "in the wall; the “parachutists’ cliff” of the quarry where thousands of Jews and others were prodded into leaping to their deaths by the SS; and the gas chamber deceptively rigged up to look like a bathroom with sinks, but in reality connected to the SS room where the sadists could observe the writhing prisoners in the throes of asphyxiation. As was the case with the other concentration camps of death, after the bodies were gassed, the gold

JEWISH LIFE

dental fillings were extracted and tattooed skins were put aside for sundry uses. Subsequently the bodies were consigned to the three crematoria of the camp, from which the ever­ present - glow o f, the flamepshooting from the chimneys was to be seen as

far as the Danube valley.

The Germans let nothing go to waste. The brochure cites the follow­ ing profit calculation of the prisoners’: working capacity made by the Chief Economic Administration of the SS: RM (German Marks)

Daily entry by lease per prisoner (average)

6.00

less charges for food

0.60

less charges for clothing

0.10

average prisoner life expectancy 9 months

1431.00

proceeds from gold, clothing, valuables, money, etc. (average net profit)

200.00

total profit after 9 months

1631.00

less charges for cremation

2.00

plus proceeds from bone and utilization of the ashes (bones and ashes were not utilized in Mauthausen).

It is estimated that over 300,000 people underwent the torment of tte “hell on the hill” of Mauthausen. Of these,, over one hundred thousand perished. Czechs, Poles, Yugoslavs, G r e e k s , R u ssia n s! F re n c h m e n , Belgians, Dutch, Norwegians, as well as allied POW’s comprised the population during the eight years of the camp’s existence. In 1945, tens of thousands of prisoners from camps taken by advancing allied armies were displaced into Mauthausen. On May 4, 1945, the u n d erg ro u n d resistance committee took over the camp, disarmed the

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

remaining SS units, and on May 7, U.S. Army troops appeared in the lager, ensuring complete liberation.

Official SS records revealed that the number of prisoners to perish at Mauthausen was 122,767.

HE visitor is ready to depart the prem ises of the Mauthausen Memorial. He has walked haltingly through the prisoners’ barracks, the kitchen, the laundry room, the other enclosures. He has seen the photo­ graphs of the atrocities perpetrated on the prisoners as well as the national

7

55

memorials erected outside the camp.

Especially, he has observed the Jewish monument erected by the Viennese Jewish Community and has felt the beads of cold sweat emerge from his brow as he realized that had his parents not been granted permission to enter free lands, he too would have been part of the “Final,Solution” !

The question still agonizes^H why preserve," why visit; and why remember a Mauthausen? The answer agonizes even moreso 9 because the

ntrrm.

56

"tiifno

present and future generations of mankind must never be allowed to forget the horror unleashed upon the world by the mad dogs of Nazi Germany! We are still in 1970 payihg the price of those horrors, and we shall probably go on paying it for decades to com e. Yes, Mauthausen must remain as a living symbol not only of inhumanity and degradation but also as an inspirational testimony to the eternal., strength of the human spirit which can never be extinguished!

.

—-------

JEW ISH L IF E

Booh

Be FAITH

AND

FOLK

by ISAAC L. SWIFT

THE JEWISH LIBRARY, Edited by Leo Jung; London: Soncino Presfs, Volumes 1 and 2 OR long, productive years, the busy pen of Rabbi Leo Jung has combined his discriminating editorial skills to enrich the world of Jewish letters. A con­ stant flow of essays and books on major aspects of Jewish life and thought has come from that distinguished source, and has given multitudes of readers, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, valuable- insights into Jewish religious values and Jewish historic experience.

Much of the material published over the years is to be issued anew by the Soncino Press, as “The Jewish Library,” in twenty-three volumes, with Dr. Jung himself as Editor. The first two volumes of this

f

RABBI D R . ISAA C L. SWIFT is Rav o f Congregation A havath Torah in E n glew ood , N ew Jersey. In his active career in public service, he held a p u lpit in S yd n ey, A us­ tralia.

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

considerable enterprise have now appeared, and give high promise of supplying an important addition to Anglo-Judaica.

Like all publications bearing Soncino’s imprimatur, the books are handsomely produced and are in every way a pleasure to handle. Many of the essays and studies in them have - as stated above H appeared before, some of them under the auspices of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congrega­ tions of America. It is to be regretted that the appropriate acknowledgements have not been made. We may hope that in subsequent volumes of the series, and in future editions of the present two volumes, this deficiency will be remedied.

WIDE V A RIETY The two volumes bear the titles re­ spectively “Faith” and “The Folk,” and there has clearly been an attempt to classify the material according to subject matter.

The attempt is not altogether successful | | what place, for example, has “The Theory

57

of Evolution and the Faith of the Jew” in the volume entitled ‘‘The Folk?” But we need not quarrel over so relatively small a matter when we contemplate the general excellence of the work, and the wide range of subjects dealt with by men, each of them an expert in the field on which he writes.

These men are many and varied: scientists, lawyers, historians, as well as rabbis; and each gives abundant evidence of profound and careful study of the subject entrusted to him. So diverse indeed are the writers that, as is to be expected in an anthology of this kind, no two essays are alike in style or even in the type and level of the reader being addressed. Thus Rabbi Jung, in his own contributions, writes as for the man who is first being introduced to the fundam entals of Judaism while Dayan Grunfeld, for example, writes as for the man already well-versed in the essentials of Jewish law. The late Chief Rabbi Hertz writes as much for the Christian as for the Jew, .while Rabbi Joseph Carlebach writes primarily for the Jew. Some of the essays are as relevant today as when they were first written, more than three decades ago; others have the unmistakable flavor of anachronism clinging to th em . Thus Dr. Abraham Cohen’s “Judaism in Jewish History” might have been w ritte n y esterday while Moses Auerbach’s “Survey of Jewish History disappointing in itself, when we consider the eminence of its source —is so badly “dated” as to be scarcely readable in these days after the Holocaust and the rebirth of Israel’s statehood. Nor does Andre Neuschloss’s ^ E p ilo g u e ” th a t follow s P rofessor Auerbach’s article do enough to redeem the situation.

The quality of the essays, too, spans a b ro ad spectrum, from the clarity and strength of Waldemar Haffkine’s ‘‘Faith of a Man of Science,” to the poorly written weakness of Moses Isaacs’ “Faith and Science;” or from the lucid relevance of Haham Moses Gaster’s “Spread of Judaism through the Ages,” to the same writer’s

58

unsatisfactory “Romance of the Hebrew Alphabet.”

Even some individual paragraphs — and even phrases —from the widely diversi­ fied contents of the books invite compari­ son and contrast. Thus, to take but two instances, Dr. Jung’s statement: “It would be more just to term orthodox Judaism ‘Judaism’ unlabelled, and to use qualifying or designating adjectives to define its dis­ senting branches,” in his essay “What is Judaism?”, would have justified the inclu­ sion of that essay in the anthology, even if it said nothing else. And on the other hand, Rabbi Carlebach’s curious —and misleading — remark: “The Bible declares war against the entire visible world,” in his essay “The Hebrew Bible,” would have warranted the exclusion of that essay from the anthology.

One cannot say that the books would have suffered irreparable loss by the exclusion.

TWO NOTEW ORTHY A RTICLES I shall be charged with being invidious if I commend any one or other of the essays in “The Jewish Library” to the special notice of readers, and if I urge that these essays be read with particular attention.

Nevertheless, at the risk of being so charged and challenged, I do call to notice two con­ tributions which, in ' significance and pene­ tration, are worthy of an abiding place in any collection of material bearing upon the innermost life and experience of the Jew. They are “Study as a Mode of Worship” by Nathan Isaacs, and the complementary “Worship as a Mode of Study” by Edwin Collins. Together these two memorable con­ tributions call irresistibly to mind Heine’s noble words:

The Bible, what a book! Large and wide as the world, based on the abysses o f creation, and towering aloft into the blue secrets of heaven. . . It is the Book of Books. The Jews may be consoled at the loss of the Temple, and all the crown jewels of King

JEWISH LIFE

Solomon. Such forfeiture is as naught when weighed against the Bible, the imperishable treasure that they have saved. .. That one book is to the Jews their country. Within the well-fenced boundaries of that book they live and have their being; they enjoy their inalienable citizenship; thence none can dislodge them. Nations rose and vanished, states flourished and de­ cayed, revolutions raged through the earth — but they, the Jews, sat poring over this Book, unconscious of the wild chase o f time that rushed on above their heads.

FUNDAM ENTALS

m igrating people,” writes Graetz, “from degenerating into brutalized vagabonds, into vagrant hordes of gypsies? The answer is at hand. In its journey through the desert of life, for eighteen centuries, the Jewish people carried along the Ark of the Covenant, which breathed into its heart ideal aspirations, and even illumined the badge of disgrace affixed to its gar­ ment with an apostolic glory. The p ro scrib e d , outlawed, universally persecuted Jew felt a sublime, noble pride in being singled out to perpetu­ ate, and to suffer for, a religion which reflects eternity, by which the nations of the earth were gradually educated to a knowledge of G-d and morality, and from which is to spring the salva­ tion and redemption of the world.

“Such a people, which disdains its present; but has the eye steadily fixed on its future, which lives —as it w ereH H on hope, is, on that very account, eternal, like hope.”

AMID so much diversity in the volumes r fb e fo r e us, two themes run clear and unmistakable: the sovereignty of Torah in the life of the Jew, and the phenomenon of Jewish survival through anguished centuries of unparalleled affliction and suffering.

These are the ultimate issues with which the editor is concerned and in the examination It is because these first two volumes and understanding of which he seeks to of Dr. Jung’s “Jewish Library” lay their engage his readers.

And these are, in truth, the issues with stress on these fundamentals of Jewish life which we should all be concerned and in m the supremacy of the Torah, and the which we should all be involved. They are, marvél of Jewish survival — that we have for the Jew, fundamental issues. They have ample reason to welcome them to our ever been and will ever remain interdepend­ shelves. And it is in the hope that the ent issues —for survival without the Torah volumes still to be published will likewise could not have been wrought. The Torah give us proper insights into these ultimate has been at once the raison d'etre and the fundamentals of Jewish historic experience, that we have abundant reason to look for­ instrument of Jewish survival. w ard w ith eagerness to their early appearance.

“What has prevented this constantly

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

59

IN

SHORT

by NATHAN LEWIN

WHO WANTS TO LIVE: 101 Mesholim of th e Chofetz Chaim, edited by Mendel Weinbach; Jerusalem: Nachat Publications, 1968,240 pps., $3.95 GIVE US LIFE?: Mesholim and Masterwords of the Chofetz Chaim, edited by Mendel Weinbach; Jerusalem: Feldheim Publishers,

1969, 253 ppsi$4.50 ABBI YISROEL MEIR HACOHEN, known more widely as the Chofetz C hayyim , is rem em bered today by American Jewry principally as the author of the Mishnah Berurah 9 the definitive con­ temporary halachic-guide to questions: of daily ritual and rules of the Sabbath, Festi­ vals, and Fast-days. These two new volumes contain a potpourri of parables and brief epigrams gathered from his books and letters, as well as from reports by others of his discourses on Halochah and Mussar.

They thereby make available for the first time in the English language a rich source of material for rabbis, educators, and public speakers.

One could; however, have wished for more careful planning and better organiza­ tion in the preparation of the volumes. Both contain subject indices which are virtually worthless, and there appears to be neither rhyme nor reason to the sequence in which the mesholim are arranged. In at least one instance, the same basic parable 9 about a weary traveler who is offered a lift* going (unfortunately) in the wrong direction 9 k included in both volumes, with somewhat different trappings. (The first volume’s MR. LEWIN, Editorial A ssociate o f JEWISH LIFE, is an attorney in Washing­ to n , D.C, w ho form erly held positions w ith the U.S. D epartm ents o f Justice and State.

60

index; lists it under “Preparing for Tomor­ row,” while the second classifies it under wSuccesi§|p But for the reader who is pre­ pared to dabble at leisure, the pickings seem worth the effort.

BETRAYAL AT THE VEL d’HIV, by Claude Levy and Paul Tillard; New York: Hill and Wang, 1969, 284 pps.>$6.95 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE DUTCH JEWS, by Jacob Presser; New York: E.P. Dutton & Co.,1969, 545 pps. $10 I i l HILE they are strikingly different in 1A / literary and historiographic technique, these two volumes tell the same horrible story H the never-to-be-forgotten account of the relentless Nazi liquidation of West European Jewry. Professor Presser describes, in minutest heart-rending detail, each stage of the calculated disintegration of the vibrant Jewish community of Amsterdam.

The fiendish craftiness with, which the German occupying force in Holland alter­ nately dangled hope and threatened doom for the Jews is meticulously recounted from the first request in January, 1942 for Dutch Jews to serve in labor camps to the last major round-up and deportation at the end of September, 1943. Nor is the “Jewish Council” spared in Professor Presser’s care­ fully documented and meticulously fair account. Without ever making a rash judg­ ment or an emotional appeal, the author lays out the evidence which shows that destruction was hastened and its efficiency improved by the methodical cooperation given by the Jewish governing body to the directives of the Nazis.

No parallel to the Jewish Council existed in Paris, and more of French Jewry

JEWISH LIFE

survived as a result. “Betrayal at the Vel d’Hiv” focuses on the round-up of July 16-17, 1942, when the occupation forces in France wished to gather and deport to Auschwitz more than 25,000 named Jews in Paris. The Paris police succeeded in gather­ ing less than half the expected number, and only 3 per cent of these survived the war.

The close-up view of the brutality of the Vel D’Hiv maneuver (named after the sports arena into which the arrestees were herded and where they were kept for a week), and the poignant stories of individual families caught in the Nazi vise offer a different

ON

dimension from that given in Professor Presser’s book. The “betrayal” of the title is that of the French police, which showed unusual zeal and expedition in tracking down its quarry H and great inhumanity in its treatment of the prisoners. There is much to be learned, no doubt, about the psychol­ ogy of those who govern under foreign occupation or captivity from the reactions of the Jewish Council in Amsterdam and the French authorities in Paris. While neither book discusses that subject in detail, both definitely point the way.

PRAYING

by BENJAMIN W. M INTZ

PRAYER IN JUDAISM, by Bernard Martin; New York: Basic Books, 1968, 254 pps., $7.50 RITTEN for the “intelligent layman,” this book succeeds in conveying much of the beauty and variety of the Jewish prayer book. The author, Professor of Jewish Studies and Chairman of the Depart­ ment of Religion at Case-Western Reserve University in Cleveland, begins with brief sketches on the history of prayer in Judaism and the philosophy of Jewish worship. The main part of the book consists of transla­ tions of many daily, Sabbath, and holiday prayers, with short discussions of their origin and meaning. The author makes extensive use of both traditional and modern commentators, from Saadia Gaon and Bahya Ibn Pakuda to Eliezer Berkovitz and Abraham J. Heschel.

MR. MINTZ is D ep u ty C hief o f Planning, Q vil Rights D ivision, U .S. Departm ent o f Justice.

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

The author believes that the “heart of the Jewish faith .. . is best reflected in it's prayers.” He demonstrates this by exploring fundamental issues of Jewish philosophy in his notes on the prayers. For example, his comments on the daily prayer “Elokay Neshomah Shenothathah Bi” (My G-d, the Soul Which You Gave Me) include a discus­ sion of the “dualistic” notion of man as consisting of a physical body and a separate soul, comparing Jewish and Greek ideas on the subject. “Adon Olom” is the occasion for an analysis of Jewish views on the eternity of G-d.

The book closes with a section on “Prayers of Our Time,’^containing, accord­ ing to the author, the “liturgical creativity” of our period. Some of these recent prayers are of some interest but, on the whole, they are disappointing. Take, as example, a por­ tion of “A Modern ‘Hear, O Israel’ ’’:

But we, the Jews, still march on.

Obstinately we fight off Time and Man contending at each step with a

61

Thousand foes, yet ever, marching, marching on.

This bombast and self-indulgence should be compared to the directness and humility of the ancient “Hear O Israel” (Shema): And these words which I command you this day shat? be upon your heart.

And you shall teach them diligently to

Gold's H O R S E R A D I S H mm ^ R te ftio L 's ' t o w t puffioud m ® 4uhawuîUIi 1 ^ 1

v

your children and shall talk o f them when you sit in your house, and when you walk on the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.

Bernard Martin’s style is fluent and the translations, with only minor excep­ tions, are excellent. The book is carefully footnoted and contains an extensive bibliography.

IN I T E R I O R S

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JEWISH LIFE

THE PERSON BEHIND THE STA TISTIC Behind each statistical figure representing the migrant is a human being nourished by his dreams and hopes, bearing cherished memories and feelings, reacting to fears and pressures and enmeshed in a web o f relationships.. .

To become a migrant involves making a decision to uproot oneself from a place which tied the individual to a network o f sentimental, historical, cultural and material attachments, all o f which play a part in the formation o f his self-image. There are generally anxieties and guilt feelings and at times an agonized self-examination and weighing o f the chances o f community accept­ ance or rejection, o f prejudice or understanding, the chances o f future integration and success in the country o f destination. The decision o f an indi­ vidual to emigrate is thus the end-result o f a very complex process involving personal, socio-psy cho logical, and familiar factors. In many instances the migrant is forced to leave behind his goods and financial resources, laboriously accumulated in a lifetime o f labor and effort and self-denial. His skills and training may not be immediately applicable in the new country. / „— from the 1 9 6 8 Annual R eport o f U nited Hias Service

It has become obvious to all responsible communal leaders that there is a marked shortage of men of the highest calibre needed to fill vacancies in Rabbinic positions in this country and the Commonwealth. A number of Rabbis occupying important pulpits are approaching the age for retirement and it is likely that many communities will be bereft of adequate religious leadership.

There is a gradual but definite decline in the number of students willing to enter the Rabbinate. Nor should it be forgotten that the process of training a young man to become a successful and effective Rabbi is long and arduous.

A similar situation prevails with regard to the training of teachers, under­ taken by the College through its Institute for the Training of Teachers and with the assistance of the Torah Department of the Jewish Agency. There are insuffi­ cient qualified teachers for full-time positions at Jewish Primary and Secondary Schools as well as for part-time positions in various Synagogue classes.

— from the Annual R eport o f Jew s’ College

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

63

NEW FELDHEIM PUBLICATIONS Hebrew Classics Translated Into English For The First Time

ORCHOTTZADDIKIM THE WAYS OF THE RIGHTEOUS Newly prepared according to the first edition complete with vowel marking and source references. English translation by Dr. Seymour J. Cohen. A very attractive volume in the series of "The Torah Classics Library."

644 pages $10.00

SABBATH SHIURIM

by Rabbi M. Miller Vice Principal of Jewish Teachers' Training College, Gateshead.

Profound and thought-provoking Essays on all the Portions of the week, based on the teachings of Rabbi E. L. Dessler who was the spiritual father of the renowned Jewish Teachers' Training College of Gateshead. The author quotes extensively from Rabbi Dessler's Michtav Me'Eliyahu.

358 pages $5.50

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ASSOCIATIONS OF ORTHODOX JEWISH SCIENTISTS Just published vol. II 200 pages

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ZECHOR YEMOSOLAM (Remember the Early Days)

by Benjamin Schreiber Stories of Jewish Life, Customs and Folklore with many illustrations.

176 pages $4.00

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AFTER THE CONFRONTATION Our congregation has the distinction o f being the first synagogue in the city, and probably in America, to be visited during services by the Black militants. Having gotten over our latest distinction and having heard from the Black militants in person, there are now some serious questions we ought to ponder.

The Black militants would like us to consider their “demands*’and form a committee to work with them. Without commenting upon the dignity o f their representatives, the meekness o f their “demands” or the accuracy o f their facts, we have to ask whether our congregation ought to respond to “A ction”and/or to other such groups.

I think not. We permitted representatives o f the Black militants to speak from the pulpit in keeping with recommendations o f the Synagogue Council o f America, the National Community Relations Advisory Council, and the local Jewish Community Relations Council. It was certainly a dramatic way o f getting the suffering o f the Black community before the widest public audience. So far so good. But as for “demands,” who is this group called “A ction” which has taken it upon itself to speak for all Blacks? Whom do they represent? The newspaper reports o f their visit to the synagogue lead me to believe that they are more interested in publicity than anything else. The story as it appeared in the daily press (and, I ’m sorry to say, the Jewish newspapers as well) smacked o f the public relations handout rather than journalistic reporting. No newspaper covered the story in person or even called the synagogue to find out what happened. Consequently, I do not think we have to get involved with “Action;” they do not represent the Black community.

R abbi M ilton H. Polin o f St. L ouis in his synagogue bu lletin

The separatist communities have undoubtedly enough spiritual momentum to survive. The crucial question facing Anglo-Jewry is whether the vast network of nominally Orthodox communities in London and the provinces possess sufficient spiritual impetus to remain on the scene.

What does every Synagogue need in order to survive? The answer is an orthodox nucleus. What does each of these Synagogues need in order to prosper?

The answer is an orthodox “ginger-group,” a devoted band of Baalei Batim not contented with merely seeing to it that the formal practices of the synagogue as a whole are at the requisite level, but who deliberately seek in cooperation with the local Rabbi to influence the non-observant and have an impact on them.

What is required is that an example be set from within!

— from an article in the Jewish R eview by Rabbi C.K. Harris on Anglo-Jew ish O rth odoxy

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

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Letters to the Editor ‘VIETNAM OBJECTORS’ Brooklyn, New York I have read Rabbi Berel Wein’s absorb­ ing article (“Jewish Conscientious Objectors and the Vietnamese War” — SeptemberOctober 1969) with great interest. I do, however, take exception to two of the assumptions stated therein. Firstly, that the Noachide law not to murder includes war.

May I call to his attention the words of the Maharal in his Gur Ary eh al Ha-Torah in Vayishlach (concerning Shimon and Levies action against Shechem) that the Torah permitted war amongst nations.

Secondly, that “Dina D’Malchutha Dina” prevails to matters other than civil and financial law. Other than the obligations to pray for “sheloma shel malchuth,” I see no reason for one to feel baund to a Dina D’Malchuth which, if left unchecked, will put a greater number of people in danger.

Under no circumstances is one obliged to put his life in danger because of the above law (even in the event where he was bound to it).

Rabbi David Cohen

Miami, Florida Rabbi Berel Wein’s article on “Jewish Conscientious Objectors and the Vietnamese War” presented in his usual competent and scholarly fashion the position of Halochah on war. Judaism is not categorically paci-

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

fistic, as he pointed out, and Jewish law consists of a method that is not just con­ cerned with abstract principle but addresses itself to the exigencies of particular situa­ tions.

The “law of rodef ’ cited, few would take issue with as supporting the justifica­ tion for violence under certain conditions.

Human life is precious and anyone who jeopardises that life must be restrained.

However, its application from the individual to the affairs of nations becomes slightly more complicated in practice, for who can always absolutely discern who is really in pursuit of whom? The principle of “Dina D’Malchutha Dina” also indicates that Judaism allows a Jew to participate in the society in which he lives. However, Judaism does provide moral guidelines, which Rabbi Wein further points out. “There is a legal responsibility to abide by the laws of the land, when these laws are realistic and not potentially immoral by Torah standards...

This certainly would not be true if the U.S. embarked on an expansionist, genocidal war.” This type of war would be certainly prohibited. Rabbi Wein is quick to add with­ out any hesitation: “However, the reason­ able and objective view of the Viet Nam war is that it is not aggressive in intent or geno­ cidal in purpose, at least as far as the American involvement is concerned.”

It is here^ that I must take issue with the erudite Rabbi. His summary of the Halochah is unquestionably accurate; his grasp of the facts of the Viet Nam issue is not as equally comprehensive and precise. It

67

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is here that Jews, as all Americans of con­ enter into the presumed “realism” and science, may differ. The war poses very “objectivity” of Rabbi Wein’s position. To definite moral and political questions. Is the confront these questions may be necessary, war in consonance with “national interest’! but not in the course of these remarks. or is it a diversionary tactic to direct our I wish only to affirm that no group attention and energies away from the impos­ claiming to represent American Jewry, or a ing problems here at home? Is our foreign part of that Jewry, can claim the complete policy based upon “realistic” assumptions sanction of Torah for its position. There­ and assessment of the international situa­ fore, we should be cautious in any way tion? These are just some of the questions implying that any one exclusive position has upon which we must reflect. the complete, irrefutable support of the If we arrive at the conclusion that the Halochah. The application of the Halochah, war is neither morally defensible nor polit­ once discovered, is dependent on the in­ ically feasible, we may very well also con­ escapable personal judgements of the situa­ clude that a war such as this is not tion. consistent with Torah values and precludes My point is this: The Halochah is against Jewish participation in it. In any unquestionably significant; its relevant and event, the facts and judgements made with appropriate application is not so simply regard to the Viet Nam war are not as clear achieved and remains the legitimate object as they would be in an apparent attack on of concern and controversy among Torah the territorial limits of the U.S., and we Jews. Consequently, it should not be sur­ should not duck the issue by pretending it prising that Torah Jews may be divided and is. reach opposing conclusions on this agoniz­ The Jewish position is further clouded ing national quandary. by other issues which obscure a relevant My motive for writing this letter is to approach specifically to the Viet Nam situa­ clarify rather than criticize the position tion. Such an issue is the United States’ taken by Rabbi Wein, for no one has a posture towards, Israel if a vocal stand deeper respect for the scholarship, personal against administration policy in Viet Nam is integrity, and devotion tQ Yiddishkeit that taken. Would this jeopardize U.S. assistance he possesses than I. However, I thought it to Israel? Is there a connection between was necessary to correct the impression, Communist moves in Southeast Asia and the p ossibly unintended, suggested by the threat of expansion into the Middle East? article, that would place in repute the Then there is the issue of internal politics authenticity of any Jew who seeks to within the American Jewish community. wrestle with a moral problem out of the Should orthodox Jews ally themselves with depths of his historical identity. non-orthodox Jews on political issues?

Jerome Cohen Would this tend to further call attention to Professor of Sociology the differences of the orthodox Jew from Barry College the rest of the population? Can they afford to arouse the wrath of the Christian RABBI WEIN RESPONDS: majority establishment? Dare the Jew with his self-imposed distinctiveness test the 1. A careful reading of my article points “benevolent tolerance?- of his neighbors out that certain wars among nations are through political criticism? Is the anti­ permitted under the Torah’s Noachide code. semitism of the leftist critics of the war However, indefensible wars of aggression are more insidious and injurious to Jewish inter­ forbidden (see Rabbi Zevin’s article on war, ests than the antisemitism of the right? All in his book “L’Or Hahalochah”). The these concerns are implied, and I believe Maharal quoted by Rabbi Cohen refers

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

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certainly to a permissible war.

2. The concept of “Dina D’Malchutha Dina” is certainly to be understood as having broader implications than merely financial and civil law. This is true even according to those Talmudic commentaries that limit the actual practice and enforce­ ment of this concept to civil and financial law. (See my reference to.Rabbi Zevin’s article as well as to the Mishnah B’rurah in my original article.)

The essential question is whether our participation in the Viet Nam war is defens­ ible on a national security and globally moral basis. Good and great men disagree on this basic point, both within and without the Jewish community. Whether, because of this disagreement, conscientious objection to serving in the military can be maintained upon the grounds of Jewish tradition, is, to me, highly dubious.

‘JEW IN FEDERAL ESTABLISHMENT’ London, England Nathan Lewin’s article on the problem of “The Vanishing Jew in the Federal Estab­ lishment” is symptomatic of assimilationist trends even among the most orthodox.

Where has our history or our heritage given us the right to compare ourselves to other minorities such as the blacks? Does our concept of civil rights urge us to insist on Jewish seats or so-called Jewish recogni­ tion?, Is it not just this attitude which has proved disastrous for our people generation after generation?

Are we really surprised or indignant when Nixon’s “best friends (read advisors) are Jews” ? Yet he clearly avoids appointing Jews to fill Cabinet posts.

Our past is littered with those who sought official recognition and learnt their lesson too late. Feuchtwanger’s novel “Jud

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1970

Suss

illustrates one example very clearly.

Emancipation’ and ‘human rights’ have a very different connotation in our vocabulary, and it is important that those of us who aspire to high positions should be reminded of this. Let their ambitions not bring them beyond their goal - the goal of the Jew who may live freely in a country whose frontiers are open to everyone, but where the Jews’ goal must only be to ‘sanctify G-d’s name,’ and not to foist him­ self on an unwillingly secular society.

A.M. Dunner

MR. LEWIN REPLIES: Mr. Dunner stands logic and experi­ ence on their heads by charging me with “ assimilationist trends” because I urge recognition of Jews qua Jews and argue that the Jewish community is demeaned when it I as a cohesive unit, is neglected or deliber­ ately snubbed by the President and those around him. The “assimilationists,” I sub­ mit, are those who claim there is no distinc­ tion between American Jews and other Americans, and that it is improper to con­ sider Jewish nationality or religion in pass­ ing on Supreme Court nominees or Cabinet candidates.

Mr. Dunner gives his rhetorical ques­ tions an assertive and positive cast, but that does not prevent me from challenging their premises and conclusions. I definitely do not agree that insistence “on Jewish seats and so-called Jewish recognition” has “proved disastrous for our people genera­ tion after generation.” Quite the contrary.

Disaster has followed when we have tried to blend, chameleon-like, into the surrounding environment and denied, concealed, or minimized our own identity. Some of the proudest periods of Jewish history in the galuth have, I think, been marked by an assertive and self-respecting Jewish com­ munity — from formation of the Vaad Arbah Aratzoth to the selection of Jewish deputies, running on identifiably Jewish

71

slates, for the sejm in pre-war Poland. Would And how fortuitous it was that President Mr. Dunner — a respected spokesman for Harry Truman was most influenced in his the Agudah in London —criticize the exist­ attitude toward the Middle East by his ence of religious parties in Israel (including Jewish partner in the haberdashery business, the Agudah) on the same ground as he chal­ and that both Louis Brandeis and Felix lenges my thesis? Should the religious party Frankfurter had previously been able J o leaders in Israel repair to the yeshivoth and speak with the prestige of Supreme Court cease foisting themselves on the “unwilling Justices on the need for a Jewish State. secular society” which surrounds them? ‘ The above are major subjects Mi It is too bad if Mr. Dunner sees no hatzaloth nefashoth and binyon ha-aretz. more in this proposition than a plea on But there is no shortage of small questions behalf of Jews who “aspire to high posi­ of concern to Jews as a group or as a com­ tions.” My concern is neither for ambitious munity which are affected by decisions of young Jewish men nor for the “secular government. There are, to be sure, Jews in society” which will doubtless suffer if it policy-making roles who bend over back­ excludes them from positions of leadership. wards to dissociate themselves from matters The point I was trying to make is that the of Jewish concern. But far more often the Jewish community in the United States is Jewish policy-maker will bring a sympa­ degraded by a policy which ignores its exist­ thetic and understanding attitude to prob­ ence. And I could cite scores of illustrative lems of this kind, and that attitude may well incidents, both large and small, where make the critical difference.

Jewish representation in the councils of More than our self-respect is at stake, government was or could have been of great therefore, when Jews are shut out of importance to the American and world-wide policy-making roles in government. Indeed, Jewish communities. Could not hundreds of Ihe ability to “sanctify G-d’s name” may thousands — if not millions — have been turn in no small measure on decisions made saved if more Jews had been able to affect by government bodies - and those decisions the implementation of our visa policies will not be the same if the government is during the late thirties and early forties? judenrein as if it has the fair representation of Jews to which we are entitled.

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