Jewish Life April 1956

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ZMAN CHEYRUTHEYNU ..........

AMMAN AND N ATH AN YA...... ..........

S aul B ernstein , Editor

I M. M orton R ubenstein D r. E ric O ffenbacher R euben E. Gross ' R abbi S. J. S harfman L ibby K laperman

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: Assistant Editor

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A R T IC L E S

RELIGION AND THE JEWISH STATE. . 6 Isaac Nissim YARMULKA VS. CREW-CUT.............. . 13 Leonard B. Gewertz DEATH AT DACHAU......................... • 18 David Greenfeld WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT? ......................................... 23 I. Halevy-Levin ELIJAH'S C U P ......................................... 29 S. B. Unsdorfer THE SACRED PLACES IN THE HOLY LAND ..................................................... 31 Eugene Duschinsky THE GLORY OF C H A G A LL.............. . 36 Alfred Werner SCHOOL OR SH O O L?.......................... 42 Simon Eckstein MARJORIE MORNINGSTAR AND THE INTELLECTUAL .......

45 Emanuel Feldman CLOAK AND DAGGER PH.D. ........... 49 Joseph Fried

® BO O K R EV IEW S

Published by U nion of O rthodox J ew ish "CONGRETATIONS

E D IT O R IA L S

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President Rabbi H. S. Goldstein, Wil­ liam Weissj Samuel Nirenstein, William B. Herlands, Max J. Etra, Honorary Pres­ idents ; B e n j a m i n Koenigsberg, Nathan K. Gross, Ben­ jamin, Mandelker, Samuel L. Brennglassj Vice, Presidents ; Edward A. Teplow, Treas­ urer; Reuben E. Gross* Sec­ retary.

Saul Bernstein, Administrator

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WHERE TRADITION REIGNS----- . . . . . 61 Joseph M. Baumgarten SCIENCE IS CATCHING U P!.-------- . 65 Israel Gerstein ON T H E JE W IS H R E C O R D .............

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FEA T U R E S

AMONG OUR CONTRIBUTORS........... 2 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. . . . . . .. 67 UOJCA KASHRUTH D IRECTORY.------- 70 Excerpts from "A Book of Jewish Curi­ osities" (Crown Publishers, N. Y.) by David M. Hausdorff.

PHOTO CREDITS: Cover (Israeli settlers of Kib­ butz Saad on the Gaza strip pause for prayer), Israel Speaks; 18-22. M. Judah Metchik; 38, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; 50, Israel Office of Information.

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RABBI ISAAC NISSIM is the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel and accordingly bears the traditional title, "Rishon L'Zion." Born in Baghdad, Iraq, he settled in the Holy Land in 1934. Rabbi Nissim is the author of several scholarly works, including "Ayin Hatov" and "Mishpatey Tzedek."

RABBI LEONARD B. GEWIRTZ is the spiritual leader of Adath Kodesh Congregation in Wilmington, Delaware. He received his Semichah at the Hebrew Theological College, his Bachelor of Social Science degree at thé City College of New York and his Masters of Arts degree at the University of Chicago. This is his first contribution to J e w i s h L if e .

JOSEPH FRIED, whose article, "The Truth About Communist Antisemitism," appeared in our Adar issue, is a free-lance writer. He has recently returned from Israel.

RABBI EUGENE DUSCHINSKY is the director of the Committee of Religious Organiza­ tions for Aliyah of the Jewish Agency. A former resident of Cape Town, South Africa, he was Chief Rabbi of Rakospalota, Hungary, from 194G to 1948. His article, "The Pattern of South African Jewry," appeared in our Tishri, 5716 issue.

DR. ALFRED WERNER is the associate editor of the Chicago Jewish forum. His prolific writings on the subject of Jewish art have been published in numerous AngloJewish and general publications.

RABBI SIMON ECKSTEIN is the Rabbi of the Vaad Ha'Ir in Ottawa, Canada. A musmoch of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, he is a frequent con­

tributor to Anglo-Jewish publications of articles on community life on the American Jewish scene.

I. HALEVY-LEVIN is the Israel correspondent of J e w i s h L if e . .Prominent in religious circles in the Jewish State, he is the editor of "Modern Israel Library."

RABBI EMANUEL FELDMAN is the spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Jacob in Atlanta, Georgia. He received his Semichah from Ner Israel Rabbinical College of Baltic more, Md., and his M.A. from Johns Hopkins University.

2

JEWISH LIFE

ZEM AN C H EYR U TH EYN U T H E MIRACLE of the Departure from Egypt, reenacted every Pesach, brings unfailing strength to the Jewish heart. To be re-born in freedom, each year, throughout life and throughout the ages—-such is our priceless heritage. The goal of Jewish life is to be worthy of our heritage, and to fulfill it.

Ancient as is the Pesach festival, the day has yet to dawn in which the Jew might deem himself truly fit for the freedom bestowed upon him. The present era is surely no exception. W e are blessed with unparalleled oppor­ tunities for Jewish living.. The two major centers of Jewry, Israel and America, however besieged in the one case and incoherent in the other, have almost unfettered means of inward development. In terms of cultivation of the dis­ tinctive Jewish character and belief, of the basic Jewish self, those elements which constitute the very essence of freedom—in these respects we still bear ourselves, unnecessarily, as bondsmen. W e shrink from keriath yam suf.

Torn between the urge to plunge into the Red Sea and the fear of doing so, many Jews seize upon supposed compromises. The present era, which has brought Jews both the most inveterate of Pharaohs and the broadest of civic liberty, has achieved a record degree of Jewish spiritual com­ promise. Massive movements, organizations and institutions Taint of afe ku *it Upon such compromise and innumerable thousands Compromise of iives are fashioned of it. The equivocation possesses equally the Yishuv — numerous Israelis visualize a state in which a Hebraic facade decorates a non-Jewish content—and the Golah, where many conceive of a Jewry translated into the likeness of its neighbor. Even the realm of Orthodoxy is not free of this taint, a not incon­ siderable element within it holding equation with the heterodox as a prime tenet.

THESE IMPEDIMENTS to the message of Pesach are consequential yet, we may hope, impermanent. W e see them daily falling of their own weight, and though as often replaced, at ever greater cost, a truer purpose comes to the fore. The will of the Jew for spiritual freedom can be deflected and diluted but it cannot be suppressed. A looming kulturkampf—equally real, if less equally apparent, in Israel and in America—testifies to the heightening conflict for the Jewish soul. Some, understandably, "blame" the believing Jew for this conflict, since he no longer passively yields the standards and governance of the Jewish community to the non-believer and the compromiser. The believing Jew, if not yet the leader of the Jewish community, is its propelling force. The March-April, 1956

3

more militantly he pursues his purpose, the more bitter grows reactionary opposition.

Accordingly, realism dictates that an era of differentiation lies ahead for us. Jewish-minded Jews cannot, short of abandonment of all that they hold sacred, and Gentile-minded Jews will not, short of yielding their communal prerogatives, willingly yield their respective positions. The conflict already manifests itself in diverse areas and takes on a variety of colors and forms; but seldom are the lines of battle clearly drawn. The situation calls for the utmost exercise of judgment as well as firmness of purpose. Nor must we fail to bring to bear, at all times, every measure of brotherly understanding. It is a battle, not for power nor for gain but for the redemption of Kilal Yisroel, for Kiddush Hashem. Let us, in the highest sense, gear ourselves for Zeman Cheyrutheynu.

AM MAN AN D N A T A N Y A H g H O R T L Y after King Hussein’s dismissal of Glubb Pasha, The New\ York Times featured a profile of the Jordanian leader in its "The Man in The News” column. On the opposite page the Times carried a report by its Israel correspondent describing the arrival from the United States of the Klausenburger Rebbe, a leader of some 12,000 Chasidic Jews. The Rebbe participated in the laying of the foundation stone of a settlement in Nathanyah, named Kiryath Sandz, whose settlers will come in great part from the United States.

The juxtaposition of these two items makes a comparison of the back­ grounds of the individuals somewhat irresistible. Hussein of Jordan is the great-grandson of King Hussein of Hejaz, who was the proud scion of the Sheriffs of Mecca, the protege of the British and of Lawrence of Arabia. Hussein of Hejaz, history records, was driven from the center of Moslem pilgrimage not

by Christians, Jews, or Western Imperialists, but by his fellow-Moslem foe, King Ibn Saud. The Hashemite refugees have never made a claim in the councils of nations to be repatriated to Mecca, which they ruled since the times of their ancestor, Mohammed, the founder o* Islam. Indeed, the British gave them "indemnification,” and Hussein’s sc*is and offspring rule in Iraq and Jordan to this day. For Abdullah and his successor, the present Hussein, any part of the Holy Land is a mere substitute. Abdullah was assassinated in the Mosque of Omar at Jerusalem not by Jews, but by his own subjects. But his grandson still reigns—not in Mecca, but in Amman.

For fear of Ibn Saud he cannot hope for the support of his Arabs in a battle to recapture his ancestral Mecca. So his mob of school children in Amman’s streets clamor for a "war against Israel.” ^■HE REBBE on the other hand, a descendant and successor of the giant of Sandz, the author of "Divre Chayim,” is a victim of the Nazis, who murdered 4

JEWISH LIFE

hio eleven children. He and his followers are Jews dedicated to one eternal aim: to live their religion in their own land. He maintains that there is more Judaism in Israel than in the whole of the world outside To^BuHd t^ie l i l l i ^ an<^* He proclaims that while all efforts for the strengthening of Yiddishkeit abroad may be futile,. every con­ structive religious step taken in Israel is destined to build the Jewish spirit forever.

The Klausenburger Rebbe’s heroic move is historic. It marks the first group-Aliyah of Chasidim from America. It may well be the beginning of an American religious Aliyah movement. It stresses more than anything else that we need Israel for the spiritual blossoming of our faith—not for military or geopolitical reasons.

This is the basic difference between the road from Sandz to Nathanyah and that from Mecca to Amman. For those in Amman the Old City of Jeru­ salem is a mere substitute for the loss of Mecca by the hand of fellow Arab swordsmen. For those in Nathanyah, it is a home coming, the fulfillment of a dream of generations in bondage. For the refugees in Jordan there is room in the wastes of Arab lands whence their kings were exiled. For the Klausen­ burger victim of Auschwitz, Nathanyah is an eternal goal.

The road from ancient Mecca to modern Amman is the road of the scimitar, of skirmishes, blood, treachery and assassinations.

The road from Sandz to Nathanyah is the road of martyrdom, of eternal power, of regeneration. Always, even in the ghettos of Poland, the extermina­ tion camps of Nazi Germany, or on the freedom-loving shores of these United States, it was the road of faith, of thé service of G-d, of learning and devotion to Torah.

Those who hold the reins of power in the world should know that in the turmoil of the Middle East the real choice is that between the sword of Amman and the Book of Life, the eternal choice of Sayaf v ’Sefer.

For American orthodox Jewry the construction of Kiryath Sandz in Nathanyah will serve as a turning point, uniting us with life for Torah in Israel.

MJM

March-April, 1956

5

There Can Be No Separation Between the Two> Asserts Israel’s Distinguished Sephardi Chief Rabbi By. ISAAC NISSIM J H E QUESTION of "Religion and State,” in its application for Medinath Israel, has not ceased to interest writers and thinkers. Some express their opinion from their view of Juda­ ism and Nationalism, while others, through a lack of knowledge and of proper understanding of the spirit of Israel, its T.orah and history, create a view of Religion and State and the relationship between them that does not always follow from the facts.

W ith the former it is possible to debate. Such a debate could serve to stimulate thinking and clarify ideas.

But debating with the latter could only bring an undesirable result. As our Sages tell us, Rabbi Eliezer said, "Be diligent in your study of Torah, and know what to answer the non-believer.”

Rabbi Yohanan explains, "This refers only to a Gentile non-believer, but a Jewish non-believer would only be further alienated by argument.”

Non-believers have no desire to de­ fine the problem or to find a solution.

On the contrary they cling to their 6

ignorance, and expound what they please, as illogical as it may be. The conclusion is obvious to them before any deliberation. They start with the assumption that Religion and State are separate entities, which should have no connection at all. W ithout a proper grounding in the fundamentals of the problem, they demand of the leaders of the State, both religious and non­ religious, that they too conclude that the separation of Religion from the State is good for everybody. Under such circumstances it is obviously im­ possible to debate, for what could such a debate accomplish? gEFO R E I begin discussing the prob­ lem itself I would like to point out that these questions are difficult and to answer them requires a comprehen­ sive knowledge of Torath Yisroel, an understanding of its spirit and of the meaning of Nationalism and the State to the Jewish People. One who is not so equipped cannot present an authori­ tative opinion. It is therefore astonishJEWISH LIFE

ing to see all those who deal with these difficult questions without the proper training. They decide Halochic ques­ tions, and ascertain what is proper for Judaism and what is not, what should be accepted and what should not, what is humane and what with the develop­ ment of civilization and society seems, Heaven forbid, improper for a "pro­ gressive” nation. It is true that one who has not studied such Torah can be a profound thinker. But this is a far cry from the ability to decide accurately difficult questions of Halochah. There is much in nature and science that at first glance seems absurd, but when we delve deeper we find the truth hidden there. So it is in the physical sciences and so it is in spiritual matters. There are laws and definitions in the realm of the spirit and they are just as neces­ sary as boundaries between nations or one m ans fold and another. If not for these spiritual boundaries, who knows where man’s way would have led? Just as one who is not a mathematician or a physicist could not express a valid opinion on a problem in these fields, so the authority to deal with the ques­ tion "Religion and the State” rests with those who are familiar' with all aspects of Judaism.

■pHERE ARE three issues that are basic to our discussion. W hat is Judaism? How was the Jewish nation preserved in exile? W hat place does Eretz Yisroel occupy in Jewish con­ cepts?

The first issue is, in keeping with the concept of other nations, usually associated with religion alone. This concept does not exist in the Jewish nation. If you will search in early Jewish sources you will not find it.

The Jewish nation is linked with its Torah and no division between them March-Aprii, 1956

can be found. Each segment is a part of both Religion and Nation and one who would create divisions must go astray.

The Jewish people have a Torath Chaim, a Torah that was created as the path in life. Because it is a Torath Chaim it is always as fresh as the day it was given on Sinai. As our Sages put it, "Each day you should consider it new.” There cannot be found any other system of law that has stood the test of so many generations and the many different circumstances in which the Jews found themselves, as has Torath Yisroel. At the time it was given, in contrast with the other faiths of the period that were not developed at all, our Torah was, then as today, on the highest level in regard to justice and human ethics. This fact attests to the supernatural power embodied in it, which is above time and human com­ prehension. The Torah is G-d-given and eternal.

The Torah imposes many Mitzvoth upon us, some very difficult. But not all that is difficult is inadvisable nor what is easy desirable. There are also many things in the Torah that we mor­ tals cannot comprehend. But has man revealed all the secrets of nature?

Indeed, the more science advances* the more we realize how far we are from solving the mystery of existence. Sci­ ence changes from generation to gen­ eration. It develops and advances, na­ ture remains the same. W e cannot change nature, we can only study it.

So it is with our Torah. It is perma­ nent and we cannot change it. But we can study it to reach its essence, for in reaching this we arrive at the ulti­ mate good and eternal happiness.

Therefore we are not permitted to change the Torah or, Heaven forbid, abolish any of its commandments.

7

When we do not understand some segment of the Torah it is because we have not yet reached the substance of knowledge and wisdom. Had we, Heaven forbid, adjusted the Torah to the needs of each generation then Torah could not have been preserved.

W e adjusted ourselves to the Torah and thereby preserved our national unity and were not assimilated.

Avowed secularists admit that in the course of the generations of exile, the religious tradition was the instru­ ment that preserved the ember of Jewish nationhood. Hence in the view of even the extreme secularists, if not for Torah, Israel would not have been preserved in exile. Religion and na­ tionalism then are linked in our people.

This conclusion is very important. For if a raison d’etre is found for some-

thing under negative circumstances, it necessitates a continuation of it under favorable conditions. If in Exile, when we were subject to the laws and cus­ toms of other nations, the Torah was supreme and the laws of the different nations secondary, and we obeyed two sets of laws — no simple matter — in order to preserve our unity and uniqueness, now that we are in our own Land and desire to establish our independence not only territorially but spiritually, is it not logical that this Torah should serve as the basis of our spiritual renaissance? If we were able to observe the Mitzvoth, besides ful­ filling the obligations placed on us by the states of our dispersion, now when we are in our Land, we should rejoice that we are required to observe only the Mitzvoth Hatorah.

Nucleus Created J J O W WE reach the third issue, we do it joyously and faithfully. Which the position of Eretz Yisroel in law compelled us to travel to Eretz Judaism. On the connection between Yisroel, to bring the memory of Jeru­ them we need not waste many words. salem to our lips every single day?

Many of the Mitzvoth Hatorah are ob­ Was it not with the strength of this served only in Eretz Yisroel under faith that our forefathers traveled Jewish rule. In Exile we considered months and years over seas and deserts ourselves a torn and oppressed people. to a land ruled by opponents who W e mourned the loss of our independ­ squeezed taxes from them, oppressed ence. When our rule over part of the them and denied them freedom? Thus Land was established our consolation the nucleus of a society in Eretz Yis­ was incomplete, not only because the roel was created even before the ad­ prophets' vision of a united Eretz Yis­ vent of Zionism. If not for this nucleus roel is not yet realized but also because would the issue of a Jewish National many Jews remain dispersed in all Home have ever been revived? This corners of the world and the Redemp­ was the conclusion reached by that tio n 's not complete until all exiles are student of the history of the Yishuv, President Yitzchok Ben Zvi in his gathered in their land.

The Torah commands us to go to book "Eretz Yisroel Vyishuvan” ("The Eretz Yisroel, to settle there, work the Land of Israel and her Community,” land, and protect it. The Torah places Jerusalem 5715^ p. 15). He writes, upon us exalted national duties and "Without the knowledge of this period when we fulfill them because of faith, that lasted exactly four hundred years 8

JEWISH LIFE

it is impossible to understand the battle for independence and the victory, nor to evaluate propçrly the vision of re­ birth.” He ends his book with the words, "The idea expressed one hun­ dred years ago by the great visionaries of Israel, led by Rabbi Judah Bibos, that the redemption of the land can be achieved not through entreaties, but with faith in the future of Israel and the visions of the Prophets, that must accompany the power of arms — this idea to return and settle in the land of their forefathers was not mere fancy, but was turned into deeds . . . the vision was realized and the State of Israel stands secure at her post” (p. 416).

On what basis, then, can the charge be made that it was religion that pre­ vented the return to Eretz Yisroel lo these many generations? This is a ridiculous libel on Judaism which, with her strength and through her com­ mandments, enabled us to see the es­ tablishment of the State of Israel. Who were the first immigrants to Israel before Zionism? They were all devout believers who risked their lives to come to Eretz Yisroel just to fulfill the Commandments pertaining to the Land. Only in their footsteps did others come.

March-April, 195

y jH E N ISRAEL achieved independ­ ence, the question arose, what form should we give to the State? All agreed that the religiously observant should be given the right to live their private lives according to their ideals. But is this a gift? How is it possible to super­ vise someone’s private life? This dis­ cussion will examine whether religious requirements pertaining to the com­ munity as a whole should be preserved.

The Commandments of the Torah can be divided into two groups. 1) Mitzvoth dealing with man’s relation to G-d and to his fellow man. 2) Mitzvoth that are in the hands of the State to preserve or abolish.

No one can demand of every citizen of Israel that he fulfill the former group. The latter category, however, is in the province of the whole com­ munity, and responsibility for them must be placed on the whole commun­ ity if these Commandments are not to be denied to the religious. Let us take vehicular traffic on Shabboth as an example. The automobiles that travel the city’s streets on Shabboth disturb the Shabboth of those who observe Shabboth as a Commandment of the Torah. This should not be taken lightly.

9

Restraints are necessary in order to preserve the spiritual form of the State and these are incumbent on the indi­ vidual. Here we reach the question, "How is it possible in a State, most of whose inhabitants vote for secularist parties, for religious laws to be passed?

If this question would pertain not to the field of religion but to another, to taxation, for example, what might the answer be? Is there any doubt that most people would gladly free them­ selves from taxes? And is not the military draft a heavy yoke? But when the government has the power to col­ lect taxes and draft soldiers the indi­ vidual accustoms himself to them and accepts the yoke. Therefore we need not shudder if the observance of the Mitzvoth is called "compulsion,” be­ cause this term does not apply to our discussion. Compulsion is properly such only when the individual, as an indi­ vidual, is compelled to do something that is related only to him and not any­ one else, something contrary to his will or conscience.

This does not exist in Israel. Has anyone heard of a law or bill that "re-

quires every citizen to place a Mezuzah on his door?” Secularists could jus­ tifiably claim that there is religious compulsion in the State of Israel if such a law existed. Indeed, the religious Jew strives to see that every Jew un­ derstands the necessity for: placing a Mezuzah on his door, but not every desire is realized through the passing of a law.

W hat we ask of the Knesseth is not that it fix the religious content of the State but that it do nothing that would attack religion. W e ask the Knesseth to give the Rabbinic Court the author­ ity to implement its decisions, but not that the Knesseth fix the laws of that court. There is then no overlapping between the Knesseth and the Rab­ binate. The Knesseth cannot pass religious laws, but it can give the Beth Din the authority to implement its decisions. There is also no foundation to the fear that the anti-religious Jews will organize and appoint their own "Rabbi.” For the Knesseth, with all its authority to pass laws, will still abide by the traditional definitions as to what is a Rabbi and what his duties are.

Are There Two Jewries?

J DO NOT believe that "a crisis be­ tween religion and the secular pop­ ulation” exists in Israel. It exists only in the imagination of those who strive to make the Holy Land completely secular.

The opposition to "religious laws” that some have tried to create lately is actually an attempt to make an impres­ sion on the community in order to create a problem. The election for the third Knesseth shows that the secular­ ist parties — and we will take the three largest parties as an example — know that opposition to religion would affect the outcome. Each in its own way em10

phasized its regard for religion. This is borne out by the party that claimed, although it favors certain changes, that it is still bound to religion. There is no greater mistake than to think that the number of religious people is in proportion to the number of votes re­ ceived by the "religious parties.”

W e reject the contention that in Israel there are or can be two Jewries, one religious and the other not. Juda­ ism means following its precepts.

Therefore there is but One Judaism.

There are those who discharge their duties to their Creator and faith and those who, because of convenience or JEWISH LIFE

ignorance, do not fulfill the Mitzvoth. the Diaspora dependent on Israel? For The latter, however, are also interested European culture? This it receives in seeing in Israel a life of Torah and from the original source. It is in need authentic Judaism. They endeavor to of Judaism, the Jewish tradition. If in give their children at least a minimum Israel itself tradition will not be a part knowledge of Judaism. Relatively few of our existence, how will we influence would remove religion from all areas our brothers in the Diaspora? How of life. will we preserve our ties with them?

W ithout impressing the form of Therefore there can be no separation authentic Judaism upon the life of between Religion and the State. W e the State we will not be able to merge should reject any idea of establishing all the groups in the State that have separate sections for the religious and drawn from different cultures. W e will the secular. Such a program would not be able to preserve our ties with divide our nation far more than it is the Diaspora that thirsts to receive at present divided into congregations from Israel guidance and counsel, to and tribes. W e cannot ignore the fact receive spiritual support and a sign of that "all Jews are responsible for one cultural renaissance. For in what is another.”

Opposition to Reform ^ H E R E IS no doubt that Reform will not solve the problem, for in our view Reform is not religion. Religion is not man-made. It is G-dly, higher than man’s understanding. A "reli­ gion” that is merely in keeping with the ideas of its violators who strive to fix their own way of life is nothing but an "arrangement” that fixes the rules to be followed by the members of that sect.

It is then our duty to oppose with all our might the introduction of Re­ form in Israel. Through the external means of building beautiful edifices, they desire to diminish the authority of Torah and alienate our youth from Judaism. As the Prophet said,. "Israel has forgotten his Maker and has built beautiful buildings.” Reform is a greater danger to Judaism than sec­ ularism.

It should not be forgotten what Reform has done to the Jewish people.

It has brought confusion and assimila­ tion to the Diaspora. It has erased the March-April, 1956

name of Jerusalem from its prayer books and weakened Jewish and N a­ tional feelings. It has erected a bridge and paved a way from Judaism to Christianity. If under the impact of the miracle of the establishment of the State, Reform has changed and is now more interested in Eretz Yisroel, who can say how long this interest will last?

Does their support of the State give them the right to interfere in the life of the State and split the people in Zion? Did it ever occur to anyone that we should have closer relations with Christianity because there are Christians who support the State? W e are obliged to preserve our spiritual unity along with our national and political existence.

W O N D ER M EN T is widespread in f the Jewish State. There is wonder­ ing about the past — the exile and the great catastrophe in Europe — and there is wonderment about the present m

— the establishment of the State and its spiritual form. W e trust that the ’secret” that has saved our ancient peo­ ple from the destruction that has overtaken other nations, that has pre­ served us in exile, although a nation cannot exist without a State, that has let the nation see the establishment of its State in a land that was in strange hands, this "secret”- —“The Strength of Israel shall not fail”—-w ill preserve our nation in the future forever. If we do not learn this we will go from wondering to wandering.

It is advisable then for the non­ believing to examine their deeds and

realize where their ways can lead Israel; the uprooting of Faith; alienation from the past; pursuit after material wealth; hate and a splintering of the nation at a time when there is need for unity to develop our spiritual treasures. Only if we preserve the "secret” that has preserved us in the past can we exist in the future.

May the Lord cause to rest upon us His Spirit from above, and show us the way we should travel and the deeds we should do, so that the Earth should be filled with the Knowledge of the Lord and from Zion should go forth the Torah.

Translated by Mendel Kaufman.

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12

JEWISH LIFE

Y arm ulfea vs. C rew -C ut Pictures About Judaism and Jews

By LEONARD B. GEWIRTZ

Y ^H E N the critic of culture analyzes subtleties in reactions and attitudes of people, he is accused of making mountains out of molehills. The par­ ticipants are obviously unaware of the depth of their motivations and be­ havior. Pictures about Judaism and Jews and the reaction towards them offer an illustration of subtleties that are related to deep and hidden emo­ tions.

Two articles, about five months apart, recently appeared in two of the largest “picture” magazines, Life and Look. Life magazine featured a study on Judaism, part five in its series on “The World’s Great Religions”; while Look carried a story on “The Position of the Jews in America Today.”

The article in Life was primarily a presentation of Judaism as a religion, and sought to present an explanation of Jewish religious belief and practice.

In conformity with the series in which it was included, this article treated Judaism as a religion with world-wide proportions and with three millennia of history. The Life article discussed the theology, the ethic, the ethos and the Halochah of Judaism. At the con­ clusion of the article, there appeared a section entitled “The Jews in U.S.,” wherein orthodox Jewry and the Re­ form and Conservative groups are de­ fined in religious terms; the subtitles are: “The Orthodox Keep Strictly to the Law,” “The Conservatives Modify March-April, 1956

Orthodox Practice,” and " R e fo rm Group Does Not Consider Torah Bind­ ing.” Some debatable statistics are offered on the relative numbers of the three denominations.

The article in Look, in great con­ trast, dealt with American Jews as such.

W ritten in a catechism, questionanswer format, it posed and offered answers to such questions as: “What is a Jew? Where do American Jews live and what do they do? When did Jews first come to America? How are Jews different from other Americans?

Is there a Jewish vote? Why are there so many Jewish organizations? Are there sharp divisions within the Jew­ ish community? Is there much inter­ marriage between Jews and Gentiles?

Is there a Jewish religious revival in America?” These questions are of a general sociological nature that would cover any religio-ethnic minority.

There was also another category of questions-and-answers. These fall into the “inter-faith,” “Antisemitism” cate­ gory: “Can a U.S. Jew support the State of Israel and still be a good American? W hat makes Jews so clan­ nish? Is there much Antisemitism in the United States today? W hat makes people Antisemitic? Is Antisemitism declining in America? How do Jews react to Gentile prejudice? W ill Jews ever be completely in te g ra te d in America?”

13

J T CAN be seen immediately that the two articles are so divergent in char­ acter and content that any comparison is unwarranted. The Life article dis­ cussed the theology of Judaism and the Look article treated the sociology of American Jews and those aspects of Antisemitism that affect the Jew. Yet a remarkable thing happened: Jews did compare the two articles. In many conversations with people of my own community I learned how a reac­ tion to these two articles can be a "litmus paper test” indicating the presence or lack of self-acceptance.

Some Jews told me that the pictures in Life portrayed the Jew as "queer” and "quaint,” while the Jews in the Look article looked "American.” They did not like the Life pictures, but they did like the ones in Look. These peo­ ple, my experience indicates, did not evaluate the content of the articles, but were concerned rather with the impres­ sions the pictures might make upon fellow-Americans.

It is this writer’s opinion that the Jews who displayed a positive reaction to the Look pictures and a negative reaction to the Life pictures reveal their own ill-adjustment to their Jew­ ish heritage and their discomfort about Judaism and "ost-Juden.” A cursory examination of the pictures will dis­ close the inauthentic Jewish feelings of these overly-sensitive Jews, some of whom constantly receive non-Jewish reactions with their built-in radar ap­ paratus, which reported that Life*s pictures were "bad for Jews” and Look*s pictures "good for Jews.”

Life carried fifteen pages of pictures: seven of them were full-page. The pic­ ture on the cover was captioned "Scran­ ton Woman Blesses Sabbath Lights.”

The woman wore a kerchief on her head, a peasant blouse that is Slavic or 14

Semitic in appearance and a large white apron, Vkovod shabboth. She is of dark complexion with large, heavy, black eyebrows -—markedly different from the "white-Protestant” type. The lead full-page picture shows three gen­ erations of the Fink family a t an aliyah; the grandfather and father are wearing heavy large woolen taleythim with wide silver-encrusted atoroth, while the lad is wearing a short rayon talith. An­ other full-page picture shows bride and groom under a Chuppah, all males with covered heads. The fourth fullpage picture shows a bespectacled sofer, with thick lenses, black grizzly beard and large heavy yarmulka, poring over a large Torah scroll. The fifth fullpage photograph shows a Chasidic teacher with long peyoth, dangling pendulously as he stoops over three little children with thick peyoth. Ex­ cept for one full-page and a few smaller pictures devoted to "modernism” and a Reform Temple, the over-all effect is that the Jewish woman wears a tick el to cover her hair during Kiddush and keeps a kosher home; that Jewish men and boys always wear yarmulkas and that the grandfathers all have impres­ sive patriarchial beards.

The over-all impact of these pictures is the strong emphasis on traditional: ism; the profusion of beards and yar­ mulkas is unmistakable.

TN GREAT contrast to Lifes pictures is the Look picture study. Here we behold not one yarmulka and only a few beards — and these on the faces of immigrants in steerage. Look*s very few pictures fall into two categories: picture portraits of "successful” Amer­ ican Jews and the Hurand family.

The heroes are men of Jewish faith who fought America s historic wars and contemporary men of accomplishment JEWISH LIFE

in industry, journalism, communica­ tions, movies, baseball, science, com­ merce, politics, government, and re­ ligion— e.g., Philip Sporn, Arthur H. Sulzberger, David Sarnoff, Dore Sharey, Kirk Douglas, Hank Greenberg, Dr. Salman Waksman, Dr. Jonas Salk, Lessing Rosenwald, Jacob Javits, Felix Frankfurter and Dr. Louis Finkelstein.

All of them, it must be conceded, look like 'real Americans”; uniformly selfconfident smiles beam from visages that uniformly bespeak success.

The Hurand family pictures are "typically American.” No yarmulkas or beards. "Daddy” Hurand, in one picture, is seen romping about with three boys in the backyard. Says the caption below the picture: "Neighbor­ hood kids, Hurand, and sons practice football plays in the big backyard of A rts five bedroom brick house.” This is a clean-cut American pastime for All-American fathers like Art. The. Hebrew school picture is also a cleancut American classroom with no yar­ mulkas. There is no yarmulka in any picture of the Hurand family. As Art Hurand serves two little girls in his modern bakery, the caption below this picture tells us that this American busi­ ness man is a "joiner” and he is active in Community Chest and Elks. The largest Look picture is devoted to a social scene "at home with friends.”

The caption says they are enjoying "an explosive laugh over a Jewish story.”

Two men are holding highballs, as be­ comes men of distinction; one man has a Jeff Chandler crew-cut and with grey hair like Jeff Chandler. A foxterrier, properly becoming to the good American home, was also posed into the picture.

The contrast in pictures is as clear as the Jewish nose on these people’s faces. Life magazine shows us yarMarch-April, 1956

mulkas and beards; Look magazine shows us successful American Jews, with Jeff Chandler crew-cuts, holding highballs. Life makes Jews look dis­ tinctively Jewish, at least in their religion; Look makes Jews appear "typically American.”

Why this reaction? W e are wont to assure each other h o w .secure we feel in our Americanism and how naturally we accept our Judaism without apol­ ogies and self-consciousness. Yet, put a picture of a sofer, with a beard and yarmulka, working over a Torah parch­ ment, into a national magazine and some of us become embarrassed! Sub­ consciously preference is exercised to­ wards the picture story which makes us look like "real Americans,” while the picture story which relates us to a universal, historic religion, to* other continents and other time evokes dis­ comfort. W e have not outgrown the melting-pot desire to be monotyped Americans.

The whole matter may be treated as a very minor symptom of Jewish in­ security. However, this self-conscious­ ness about "streamlining” Judaism to fit somebody’s definition of "American­ ism” can have seriously detrimental consequences upon our spiritual devel­ opment as Jews. People who look upon Judaism as a public relations activity will deform their religion to fit the contemporary impressions of would-be public relations counselors. The inter­ pretation of Judaism will not be a holy task committed to rabbis and seriousthinking laymen, but an assignment handed-out to the bright boys in an advertising agency. The decisive factor in spiritual adjustment will not be the Faith of Judaism but the inter-faith activity of Jews. The crucial question is no longer "What does Judaism ex­ pect from me?”, but "How can the 15

Jew become more integrated into American society?” W ith such an in­ authentic approach to our Judaism, religion becomes not a deeply-held conviction with roots in Divine sources, but a shallow feeling brought on by the "triple-melting-pot” awareness of the religious-revival in 1955. Judaism is not related to Moses or Akiva but to what is superficially deemed typi­ cally American. Censored by selfconscious "Americanism,” Jewish ex­ perience becomes diluted and Judaism reduced to a suburban, middle-class respectability.

TX7HAT, in the depths of our being, ? is our major concern? Do we want to live with our religious heritage as Jews, or do we want to be accepted as Americans? (Basically and in prac­ tice, there need not be a contradiction between these two wants; but the cru­ 16

cial question still r e m a in s w h a t do we want?)

I shall never forget the apprehension upon the face of a community leader who was deeply troubled by the fact that the orthodox Congregation en­ gaged a rabbi who wore a beard. He said to me: "Everytime that rabbi walks down Market Streep he undoes all the wonderful work of our JCRC (Jewish Community Relations Coun­ cil). ” Ludwig Lewisohn made it abundantly clear (somewhere in his "American Jew”) : Unless the American Jew can calmly accept the beard upon the rabbi’s face like the American Cath­ olic accepts the garb of the Nun, with­ out this being an equivocation upon his Americanism, the Jew has not yet learned to live his Jewishness nor his Judaism. And let’s not be pedantic about the beard. Lewisohn is referring JEWISH LIFE

to a fundamental approach to selfaffirmation, in being Jewish and all it entails, and in accepting the Torah heritage.

The reaction of discomfort that the Life pictures brought forth among some Jews revealed a feeling of shame at that which is distinctive in Judaism.

It demonstrates why all particularistic aspects of Judaism seem "un-Amer­ ican' to the insecure Jew. This reaction demonstrates how superficial is the in­

fluence of Zionist psychology and thinking upon certain sections of the American Jewish community.

Franz Rosenzweig, in his return to Judaism, recognized and appreciated the authentic, natural Jewishness of "ost-Juden.” This spontaneous affirma­ tion of one’s Jewishness is basic to any affirmation of Judaism. Without this self-affirmation, the structure of Jewish faith and life rests on shaky foundations.

THE SECRETS OF NATURE Rabbi Zeira once asked Rabbi ludah some questions concerning the secrets of nature. Why do she-goats lead the flock? Because that is in accordance with Creation—at first darkness, then light.

Why are she-goats not provided with tails like sheep? Because those who cover us are themselves covered. Why has the camel a short tail? Because it feeds among thorns. Why has the ox a long tail? Because it grazes in plains and must protect itself against gnats. Why do the eyelids of the chicken close upward?

Because it ascends at night upon elevated roosts, and if the eyelids would close downward, the least smoke coming from below would blind its eyes.

Shabboth 77b DIFFERENT RESPONSE The Almighty does not conduct His affairs the way mortal man does. When man provokes his fellow-man, the offended one tries to embitter his life. But though the serpent was cursed by the Lord, it finds its food wherever it climbs or descends; He cursed Canaan (making him a slave) yet he eats and drinks what his master eats and drinks; He cursed woman—yet all run after her; He cursed the earth, yet all are sustained by it.

Yoma 75a MINYAN When the Almighty enters a synoagogue and does not find ten men present His anger is kindled, as it is written (Isaiah L, 2): "Why have I come and no man was there, why have I called and there is no answer?"

Berachoth 6b March-April, 1956

17

D eath at D achau [ Editor's Note: Pfc. David Greenfeld of Baltimore, Maryland , w as only thirteen

years old when the second World War ended. In this letter written recently from his U. S. Army post in Germany he describes with remarkable feeling his reactions to his face-to-face contact with the sight of a Nazi Concentration Camp.]

J}E A R FOLKS, During my nine and a half months of Army life, of train and plane rides, of mountains and of desert sand, of quaint towns and of large cities, I have noted actions and reactions of people, their habits, their lives and livelihood; I have written of disappointments and thrills, of satisfactions and advance­ ments. All of these and much more is life. Even if only for hours at a time, still I have seen States and Countries: Ball games in Boston, Mountains in New Hampshire, Rain in Georgia, Heat in Texas, Family life in Brussels, Charm in Austria, Sharks in an Ocean.

And now I have seen a Concentration Camp at Dachau. How is it: in my; power to tell you of such horroilp Should what I write be gruesome and horrendous, think of the people who were at Dachau and who lived such hell! , Today the little area is a shrine, and even though flowers, neatly kept grass and pleasant paths are what re­ main, we can still see the evidence of an age not so long-gone and never to be forgotten.

I can only write the few words of which I am capable. They are not for Dad nor Mother but father for Dorothy and Simon. Yes, and they are for all our cousins—lest we forget and in case we weren’t told.

18

■J*HE CITY of Dachau is nice enough. * The houses are even a bit more pre­ sentable than most little German towns.

It has its little parks and its tree-lined areas and its streets, though narrow, are fairly neat, and it is quiet. But all you have to do is to follow a one-way train track which runs right through the town and leads into what is now JEWISH LIFE

Dachau Station of the U.S. Army. This track runs within fifteen feet of rows of houses, much like a Baltimore street car at home. And over those rails — probably in the very same boxcars that now sit along nearby sidetracks-— rolled hundreds of trains carrying as their cargo: People. Not cattle, or dogs, or rats, or wood — but people.

Over one-quarter of a million people, most of them Jewish, were exter­ minated at the Dachau Camp. This is

the known figure. There were prob­ ably many more. Most of Dachau Sta­ tion is an Army base now. I don’t know just what it was before. It is difficult to imagine that a German Army Unit would be stationed here so close to the murder area itself. But then again isn’t it difficult to imagine six million people being killed? As the Chaplain said, "Can you imagine six million pennies! Can you count to six million!”

CCvC\\\Y\

A simple operation took place in this building. There are five rooms. In the first room the Nazis had their victims get undressed. In the second the victims were told they were to take a shower. Instead, gas was poured through the pipes. The third room stored their bodies and they were cremated in the fourths The last room was used to stock their clothing. All so simple.

March-April, 1956

19

You park your car after turning into could hear six million people scream­ the gate and the small area stands be­ ing and I know that I can still hear fore you. Facing you is a statue in them. The rear of the larger building memoriam to the martyrs who died is occupied by a very unique group of there. To the left is a small building booths which are equipped on either approximately the size of a small gar­ end with thick iron doors. Get inside age— it looks like a tool shed. But and have your friends close-the doors the smokestack tells you that it is a and you feel what it’s like in the Crematorium. I will not explain, be­ inside of a gas chamber! "Disinfec­ cause I cannot explain, what two ovens tion,” the poor souls were told, but look like in which people are burned on the outside of each door is still to nothing. But they are there. I saw written "GASZIST: Z u — (the hour them. And I saw another larger build­ of turning on), Auf— (the hour of ing, built because the first one was too turning off).” And the hour of jus­ small, which had more ovens for burn­ tice? Never for those six million.

And those iron doors? I will never ing people. I will never forget a single feature of either of those structures. forget them.

Sure they’re just buildings. In fact, they’re very ordinary buildings, in a jyjID W A Y between the two build­ very quiet area, Maybe all those peo­ ings is a marker telling where the ple who were there yesterday (about "hanging-tree” stood. This was blown 50) couldn’t feel it, but I believe most over a few years ago. To the left and of them did. I believe most of them forward of the second building is the pistol execution spot where hundreds were lined up and shot to death: Shot to death, hanged to death, gassed to death, burned to death, starved to death! Why? They did nothing. They said nothing. Six million were killed because they were Jews. That’s all and that’s why. If I — if we-—were in that spot at that time, I — we — would also have met death in the same way.

Because we are Jews. W hat power of hatred could have forced human beings to be such ruthless murderers?

Across the street from this camp of horror are the remnants of what must have been the actual camp itself — that is, the living quarters, so to* speak.

Huge stone walls topped with onceelectrified barbed wire ring a half-mile square area. At regular intervals stand the guard towers, now hollow shells, but eleven years ago manned with machine guns that were used by trig­ ger-happy beasts of the SS. 20

JEWISH LIFE

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And what do you suppose is within this area (only two sides of the wall are now present) ?

People are living there. New houses to be sure, somewhat like a housing development. How in the world, after such atrocities and horror, can those German people live on that ground!

"Graves of thousands of unknown” says the marker in three languages on the mass graves. "Ashes stored here” says the stone next to the small wooden box.

March-April, 1956

o

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^

Meanwhile, the bird house still stands over Crematorium No. 1, having been erected by some schizophrenic SS man. *

*

#

W e spent Sunday night in Munich just walking around and travelled back to Baumholder on Monday. A wonder­ ful trip: Pleasant days in Berchtesgaden and a memorial forever at Dachau.

Naturally, it is Dachau which I remember. I wrote more of it, per­ haps, than of the rest. As I said this 21

is because we know now what we did not know ten and fifteen years ago.

I myself remember the stories and the times vaguely.

Just as we are told to tell our chil­ dren of the going out of Egypt; so, I believe, are we to tell of the going in to Dachau and to Buchenwald and to Belsen and to Auschwitz.

The history of the Nazi horde I have not written but I ask you, Dad, to tell Simon. Make him know, Dad, so that he, among others, will make sure that this will not happen again.

22

I have no numbers on the inside of my arm to show the world as many have (many have come back and have written their names on the ovens and the walls). I am only a "ten years later” spectator. But I saw a ghost — a ghost that says tell the woHd that it should know and that it should do.

Tell this to Simon and to Dorothy and if they tell it to others we have done at least part of our duty.

Love, D avid

JEWISH LIFE

•

In the Light of the Forthcoming Zionist Congress:

W h a t is th e F u tu re O f th e Z io n ist M ovem ent?

By 1. HALEVY-LEVIN Jerusalem

ZIONIST Congress is becoming an increasingly rare event.

In the eighteen years between 1921 and 1939 ten Congresses were held.

During the war years, of course, it was impossible to convene any truly international conference. Since the war, however, only two Congresses have been held, with the third — the twenty-fourth since the foundation of the Movement scheduled to convene in Jerusalem, towards the close of April.

The plight of the World Zionist Movement is reflected in these figures.

In the inter-war period a Zionist Con­ gress was the culmination of two years of resolute and often dramatic work.

In the post-war period it seems to have become redundant. It is post­ poned on various pretexts from year to year, the interval between one Con­ gress and the next being now five years instead of the statutory two.

The apathy surrounding the Zionist Congress is no more than one aspect of the entire apathetic atmosphere in which the Zionist Movement is lan­ guishing.

The Zionist Movement can be lik­ ened to a runner who, unexpectedly reaching his goal, is thrown off his balance by his own impetus. W ith one difference, however. What has March-April, 1956

been achieved— s ta te h o o d — is no more than an interim objective, itself a means to a greater end. There is no unanimity about what that ultimate end is. In this country, generally, among Religious Zionists everywhere and within some other sections of the Zionist Movement it is the complete redemption of the Jewish people (geulah shleymah), to be achieved by kihbutz galuyoth (ingathering of the exiles). But there is also another opin­ ion making itself heard. That end, according to the members of this school, is the revival of the Jewish people in all countries. The role reserved for Israel within such a scheme is that of a spiritual center. g U T WHATEVER its ultimate ob­ jective, the Zionist Movement is languishing not because its task is done.

Some idea of what this task is at pres­ ent can be gained from the size — I£l60 million — and the compass of its current budget. More than twothirds of this sum is being invested in immigration and settlement, and most of the balance — after deducting inter­ est and debt repayment — is being spent on educational and cultural ac­ tivities.

Yet despite the magnitude of this expenditure and its far-reaching effects 23

on the economy of the country, public opinion in Israel shows little interest in the work of the Zionist Organiza­ tion. It has no deliberative body, for neither the Zionist General Council (Actions Committee), meeting once a year for ten days, nor the Zionist Con­ gress meeting once every five years for about a fortnight can be so regarded.

The infrequency and brevity of their sessions do not permit them to de­ velop into anything more than con­ ventions of the standard type, at which delegates speak into the record, rather than discuss the questions at issue so­ berly and responsibly. There is no counterpart to the debates on the Budget Estimates and the State Comp­ troller’s Report, which occupy the Knesseth for anything up to one third of its sessions in the course of the year, during which Government policy, the national economy and the working of the administrative machine all passed under review. The Zionist Budget at best is only formally presented to the General Council. It is discussed and approved by a Permanent Finance Committee, whose sessions are not public and whose proceedings are only rarely reported in the press. This lack of publicity has another negative effect.

Only such items as are likely to make sensational headlines are brought to the knowledge of the public.

J H I S APATHY runs deeper. In Israel the Zionist Movement, to all intents and purposes, has lost all meaning. There is no longer such a thing as Zionist obligations. Even the Shekel is bought en bloc by the vari­ ous parties on behalf of their mem­ bers, making a small monthly addition to membership dues for this purpose.

The people of this country pay taxes or invest in Government loans to 24

finance development; they do not — normally — make contributions. W hat­ ever they do in defense, in settlement or in any other sphere is done under the ultimate authority of the State.

Of course no other arrangement would be compatible with the ordinary func­ tions of government.

For the older element — and it has been pointed out that all Zionist lead­ ers are approaching if not past their sixties — the Movement still has some sentimental appeal. It evokes memories of the Youth Movement, hachsharah and chalutziuth. But for the younger people it is significant that the word tzionuth has entered Hebrew slang as the equivalent of patriotic cant.

Of course it must be borne in mind that the idealism that permeated the atmosphere of this country down to 1948 has almost vanished. The Yishuv, wearied by the political and military struggle that almost without surcease marked the concluding twelve years of Mandatory rule in Palestine, and then submerged in a new complex of economic and military problems, dur­ ing the initial period of statehood, has not been in any mood to contemplate the broader aspects of Zionist aspira­ tions. Then again we must remember that the new scope and tempo of de­ velopment has made the Yishuv richer, and though poverty does not breed ideals, in this country it has shown a remarkable faculty to sustain them.

Thus it has been not so much the changed conditions governing the main fields in which chalutzim previously engaged settlement and defense — that is responsible for the decline in the spirit of pioneering. There is still ample scope for a more idealistic and patriotic element, especially among the youth. It is rather the changed mood of the citizens of the State.

JEWISH LIFE

Relationship of Diaspora Jewry F

THE Golah, too, the young people exhibit none of that spirit character­ istic not long ago of youth in Europe, which set in motion the Second and Third Aliyoth. Indeed it is remarkable that a generation that has lived through the tragedy of European. Jewry and the epic drama of the reconstitution of Israel as a sovereign state should have remained so cold and insensitive towards the fate and the future of the Jewish people. Today probably the only thing that would evoke a warmer response to the point of self-sacrifice would be the spectacle of Israel fight­ ing for her life.

There is another interesting side­ light on Zionism in this era of Jewish statehood. The only people now im­ plementing the supreme personal ob­ ligation of every Zionist — hagshomah atzmith — namely, the Jews of North Africa, have no notion whatever of the precepts and principles of modern political Zionism.

And yet the need for somebody to channel the support of the Jews of the world for the State of Israel — as the Zionist Organization channelled it for the work of colonization in Palestine — is too patent to be labored.

The twenty-third Zionist Congress formulated the present function of the Zionist Organization as to .extend as­ sistance in the consolidation of the State of Israel, in the ingathering of the exiles and the maintenance of the unity of Israel. David Ben Gurion has another formulation, less prosaic and more susceptible to broader interpreta­ tion: to maintain and intensify the ties of Jews in the Golah to Neytzach Yisroel* and the spiritual values of the Jewish people; to support the State in its messianic mission to implement the March-April, 1956

full redemption ("geulah sh’leymah”) of Israel. g E N GURION, a Chairman of the Zionist Executive (Jewish Agency) for sixteen years and today a strong opponent of the Zionist Organization in its present form, is one of the few Jewish leaders who have thought deeply on the problems of Zionism after the establishment of the State.

Ben Gurion has emphasized, again and again, the metamorphosis in Jew­ ish life which has come to pass before our eyes, the salient features of which are: a) the annihilation of European Jewry; b) the emergence of the American Jewish community— the largest Dias­ pora community the Jewish world has ever seen; and c) the creation of the State of Israel.

The Zionist Organization, he de­ clares, developed under c o n d itio n s which have ceased to exist. It was adapted to the European context, in which the majority of the Jewish people, concentrated in Eastern Eur­ ope, and almost immune to the corro­ sion of assimilation, were at one and the same time repelled by the .Golah and guided by a messianic urge back to Eretz Israel. This Jewry constituted one of the two elements in the Zionist Movement. The other, of which Herzl himself was an outstanding exponent, was made up of Westernized Jews *The construction put upon the term “Neytzach Yisroel” by the commentators varies. For that reason I have preferred to leave it in the original Hebrew. It is very interesting that Ben Gurion, who is not an orthodox Jew, should have so much recourse to religious concepts and the term­ inology of geulah, in his discussion of this ques­ tion.

25

who, recognizing the frustrations of assimilation, sought to develop their concepts of Jewish nationhood.

The Second World W ar changed all that. The new American center dif­ fered fundamentally from the Eastern European center, whose successor it was. It no longer spoke a Jewish lan­ guage nor sought to develop a Jewish culture or way of life. All its strata were equally exposed to assimilatory influences. In America — as in most other countries in which considerable numbers of Jews continued to live (with the exception of Russia and its border states where special conditions obtained) — assimilation was divested of its ideological trappings, just as Antisemitism became less virulent and aggressive. But American Jews, un­ like their parents and brothers in Rus­ sia and Poland, were now conscious of a high degree of identification with their environment. In a country de­ veloped by immigrants they could re­ gard themselves as just another immi­ grant community.

The decline of religion, Ben Gurion points out, was another of the factors

undermining the defenses of Jewry.

Stressing that Zionism is nothing more than a modern name for the mes­ sianic urge which has inspired the Jew­ ish people throughout the ages, Ben Gurion goes on to draw a clear distinc­ tion between the attitude of Jews to­ ward Zionism prior to 1948, and towards the Jewish State today. For­ merly, to be a Zionist had a special implication — though as he is careful to underline that even then it did hot formally involve any personal obliga­ tion— setting him clearly apart from the non-Zionist. Today there is little to distinguish one from the other.

Neither the Zionist nor the non-Zion­ ist normally intend settling in Israel; both however are keenly interested in its welfare. Indeed because the nonZionists are wealthier this interest takes on a more tangible form.

Ben Gurion goes further. He denies that the State was created by the Zion­ ist Organization. Rather, he says, it developed out of that nucleus created in Palestine before and after the estab­ lishment of the World Zionist Organi­ zation.

Shekolim Issue J T IS symptomatic of the lassitude which has overtaken the Zionist Movement that while a morbid discus­ sion of its right to exist has been a recurrent feature of almost every Zion­ ist gathering since the foundation of the State, it has not shown the strength to effect even minor structural reforms.

The thesis that the revolutionary changes in the conditions of Jewish life require a shake-up of the Zionist Organization is vaguely conceded:— and indeed how can it possibly not be?

But it is when any attempt at reorgani­ zation is made and the reform of out­ 26

worn privileges, which cannot be de­ fended neither on grounds of principle nor of expediency, is considered that the Movement comes to life.

Probably the best example of this hidebound conservatism is the stand taken on what is known as the Double Shekel. Once upon a time when the Yishuv was small and its members were regarded as having implemented personally the basic precept of Zion­ ism, Eretz Israel was given privileged status, and each Shekel distributed in the country was reckoned as having double the weight of a Shekel in the JEWISH LIFE

Golah. Thus if one thousand Shekolim were required in the Golah for the election of a delegate to Congress, in Eretz Israel five hundred sufficed.

Though obviously democratically un­ sound the rule could perhaps be de­ fended on practical grounds. Since 1948 the situation has changed — but not the Double Shekel. A high pro­ portion of the Shekolim are distributed in this country, largely because of the practice, already referred to, of the parties buying Shekolim for their mem­ bers. The delegations at the sessions of the Zionist General Council and the Congress — organs ostensibly repre­ senting Golah Jewry vis-a-vis the State of Israel — are overwhelmingly com­ posed of Israelis, who exploit their preponderance to perpetuate it. Not a single member of the Zionist Execu­ tive (Jewish Agency) in Jerusalem can be regarded as representing the Diaspora. All are Israelis, permanently resident in Israel.

I ) R NAHUM GOLDMANN, Amer­ ican Chairman- of the Jewish Agency, has openly avowed his dis­ couragement and skepticism about the future of the Zionist Organization. It is because of his knowledge of the feel­ ing of the Zionist party leaders (who control the Movement), on the larger questions of reorganization that he has set himself a more restricted goal and instead of advocating basic reforms, seeks their support for the amendment of some of the more glaring defects — apparently not with very much success.

Dr. Goldmann wants the Movement to be reconstituted on the basis of ter­ ritorial organizations, membership in which will be personal and direct, and not as at present through the political parties. (The likeness of the present system to the structure of feudal soMarch-April, 1956

ciety is striking.) He has stressed the artificiality and emptiness of the Zion­ ist party system operating in the Golah and reflecting the political fragmenta­ tion in Israel. In such a territorial organization non - partisan Zionists could be members, which they cannot under existing arrangements. This is a limited objective. It leaves unsolved the question of representation of the pro-Israel non-Zionists, an issue which Dr. Chaim Weizmann tackled almost thirty years ago. It will be recalled that Dr. Weizmann established the Jewish Agency in which both Zionists and non-Zionists were prominent, with the object of securing the financial and moral support of those Jews who, while not subscribing to the Basle Pro­ gramme, were willing to assist in the settlement of Jews in Palestine.

J H E ATTITUDE of Dr. Goldmann towards the Shekel — which enjoys in the Zionist Movement all the pres­ tige which its sixty years give it — is more radical. At the session of the Zionist General Council held in Au­ gust 1955, Dr. Goldmann forthrightly came out with a demand that it be abolished, calling it "a ridiculous farce” which had "become a source of de­ generation.” Instead he would intro­ duce some system of ^registration of members.

He has also proposed a reorganiza­ tion of the Jerusalem Executive which should comprise a larger body meet­ ing once every three or four weeks to decide questions of major policy and an Inner Executive consisting of eight or nine Heads of Jewish Agency De­ partments, who would be in almost constant session, to control the current work of the Organization. Dr. Goldmann’s statement that he would not object if five or six members of the 27

Israel Government would sit on the Executive indicates that by way of this arrangement he hopes to achieve more satisfactory cooperation between the Zionist Organization and the Israel Government. At present coordination is secured through the Moassad Letium, an ad hoc institution, on which repre­ sentatives of both the Jewish Agency and the Government sit, which meets only if and when the occasion for mu­ tual consultation arises.

Dr. Goldmann is also seeking a new content for the Zionist, Movement in the Golah. This cannot be in the field of fund-raising where in any case the non-Zionists surpass the Zionists. In certain respects — in terminology cer­ tainly— he is reverting to Herzlian concepts. He is advocating a program of "gegenwartsarbeit,” which is really a surrogate to keep Zionists outside Israel occupied. The main features of this program are "the conquest of the communities” and the fostering of Jewish education. Neither of these planks are revolutionary and Dr. Gold­ mann in the recent session of the Gen­ eral Council stressed the vital need for the Zionist Movement to retain its historic, revolutionary character.

##£JONQUEST of the communities” was a policy put forward by Herzl to overcome Jewish opposition to his program. But today practically all Jews—¡with the exception of the Communists and the Lessing Rosenwald group — are favorably disposed towards Israel. The need for securing control of the communities with its attendant danger of a clash with the pro-Israel non-Zionists is therefore not clear. As for the proposal to place greater stress on the development of Jewish education in the Golah, reli­ gious organizations have been working in this field assiduously for many dec­ ades and indeed it is day schools of the type they have been so successful in developing that Dr. Goldmann ap­ parently wishes to foster. But how­ ever innocuous this suggestion may appear it has aroused apprehension and even opposition within the Zionist leadership, where it has been argued that the public schools open to chil­ dren of all creeds is an achievement fof the Jews, which Jewish day schools might jeopardize.

CHALLENGE The Almighty left the most extremely northern portion of the earth uncompleted, so that anyone claiming to be His equal might attempt to prove that contention by finishing it.

•—Midrosh Temurah 5 THE TURNING POINT The prayers of the righteous are symbolized by a shovel. Be­ cause just as the shovel turns the grain from place to place at the threshing floor, so do the prayers of the righteous turn the Almighty's dispensations from anger to mercy.

Yevamoth 63b 28

JEWISH LIFE

E lija h ’s C up

By S. B. UNSDORFER VERYBODY remembers some ob­ ject or other from his home to which he was particularly attached as a child. Some will never forget the kitchen clock and the strange chime which it gave, others will remember grandfathers rocking chair standing in the corner of the living room. I shall never forget the huge silver cup, the Kos shel Eliyahu, which occupied the most prominent position in our china cabinet and which, to me, was the most precious piece on the Seder table, outshining even our large silver Seder-plate.

"This becher must be over 100 years old. My grandfather had it made to order,” my father used to say every year as he placed it on the Seder table.

W e all knew the history of the cup, yet every year we waited to hear father’s announcement being made before he put a full litre of wine in to fill up the cup. It was not a par­ ticularly imposing piece of silver-craft.

It was rather plain and looked very old, indeed, in spite of the continuous polishing by my poor mother. Yet it was, at least to me, the most essentia] part of the atmosphere of the Seder evening. W ithout it the table would have been just as empty as without matzah or wine. W hen the door was opened for Elijah and the Shefoch Chamothcha recited, my eyes stared at the cup as I expected the Prophet to enter and drink. I was scared stiff and held on tightly to my father’s hand.

On the day the Germans deported us to Auschwitz, forcing us to leave all our belongings behind as loot for March-April, 1956

the "more deserving citizens” of the town, I gave a quick glance into the silver cupboard, looking at the cup as if saying, "you’ll wait for me, won’t you?” At that moment it seemed to me that it was glowing particularly brightly, as if to provide a gentle and favorable reassurance for the future. £jO M IN G BACK from the camp after the war I remembered the cup as Pesach drew near. I searched for it in antique shops, silversmiths and even pawn shops, but all in vain.

On Seder night, apart from missing my parents and some members of the family, I missed the cup too. The years went by and I adapted myself to an­ other existence. My memories were stored rather than forgotten, yet every year with the approach of Pesach the cup carried on an uneasy dialogue with me as if urging me to pursue it.

Eighteen months ago I went on my first visit to Israel. Strolling along the narrow lanes of Mea Shearim I seemed to sense it within my grasp. Indeed, I actually saw the cup glaring at me in the bright sunlight from a shop window—a dusty, misty window but incapable of disguising the treasure I sought. W ithin a minute I was telling the shopkeeper the whole history of the cup, concluding, "I want to take it to London. How much do you want for it?”

The shopkeeper, after, carefully siz­ ing me up and making swift calcula­ tions on the basis of the rate of ex­ change for tourists, asked me for a mere IL250, with an air of one con29

ferring a favor on some lonely tourist.

I cursed myself for my folly in con­ fiding my eagerness and assured the shopkeeper that I wasn’t going to pay anything near that price.

"Then you had better leave it ” he said quite casually; "and let me show you a smaller and much cheaper cup which I have here.” "Look,? I argued, "this becher isn’t worth more than IL50 at the most. You must have had it in your window for years judging by the amount of dust which has ac­ cumulated on it. I don’t want to rob you of your commission. I am pre­ pared to give you IL100 for it, and can assure you that no other man will pay anything like that price.”

"I prefer it to adorn my window rather than to give it to you for noth­ ing. Don’t teach me British business methods,” the Mea Shearim .dealer insisted.

I walked out of the shop determined "not to be taken for a ride.” I was sure that he would follow me and call me back. But this was not the case.

I returned to the shop in the late after­ noon and was welcomed by an an­ nouncement that the becher had been sold. I thought that he was once again up to his business tricks but soon realized that he had in fact sold the cup. Apparently, he said, a gen­ tleman who had come in to buy a Mezzuzah had noticed the cup and paid the full price for it. I was frantic. I had lost trace of the treasure once again. After a strict cross examination I was able to learn from the shop­ keeper that he believed that the pur­ chaser was a Mr. Admoni and that he came from Tel-Aviv. I hurried to a taxi and went to Tel-Aviv.

MY HOTEL I began telephoning all the Admonis in the directory.

30

All Tel Aviv seemed to be called Admoni; but I was lucky; the fifteenth or sixteenth call connected me with the purchaser of the cup. He seemed to be a polite, courteous man who in­ vited me to call on him. W ithin a few minutes I rang the doorbell of his flat in the southern section of the city.

-'You must be the youngest,” Mr. Admoni said as he opened the door.

1 stared at him. "I am the youngest,” I said. "How do you know? Who are you?”

Mr. Admoni, alias Roth, patted my shoulder affectionately, asking me to sit down and offering me a cold drink.

As I gulped it down, he embarked upon his life story. "As a young Yeshivah student I studied in your home town and ate on Sabbath and yom tov at your parents’ home. You were very small then. But ever since those days I have remembered the huge Kos shel Eliyahu, and I shall never forget the way your father conducted Seder. As I walked into the Mea Shearim shop yesterday I saw the cup on the table and could not help identifying it on the spot. I knew I had to buy it. The shopkeeper said that he had just had an offer of IL250 which he refused.

Without argument I offered him an extra IL25 and brought it here.”

"Would you let me buy it from you —I’ll pay any price you want,” I im­ plored my new acquaintance.

Mr. Admoni, with a smile, said, "No one in the world could buy this cup from me, but I want to give it to you and thus return it to its right­ ful owner.”

Last Pesach I put the cup on my own Seder table and without thinking found myself announcing: J "This becher must be 120 years old. My great-great grandfather had, it made to order. . . : ” JEWISH LIFE

•

Pathways Through Our Holy Shrines.

T h e Sacred Places In th e H o ly L an d

By EUGENE DUSCHINSKY

^ P A R T from such 'rational” factors in Jewish life as the Synagogue, the Rabbinate and its courts, the Yeshivoth, institutes of learning, lit­ erature and religious art, there is an "irrational” but powerful factor mak­ ing itself felt in modern Israel. It is the Jewish holy places. 4 Our generation of national cata­ clysm, redemption and fulfillment is a miraculous generation. For two thou­ sand years the nation dreamed the legend of revival. Our generation saw the legend come true. Ours is a gen­ eration of those who turn legends into reality. It cannot be understood in rational terms. The "irrational” striv­ ings of Jewish religious sentiment crave for expression. The religious personality of the individual finds its fulfillment and very often its refuge in the prayerful expression granted to it by the holy places.

Whilst the synagogue served as the shrine of the prayers of the commun­ ity, the individual found his own shrines in the "Beth Olom,” the ceme­ tery, in the "courts” of Chasidic rab­ bis, or in some corner of the yeshivah.

When in our own age all these sources have become "institutionalized” to a great degree, the holy places, which March-April, 1956

have in the past fulfilled the role of the Beth Olom, serve today as the places for the expression of the individual’s deep religious experiences and yearn­ ings. They became the shrines for the outlet of the individual’s irrational personality and as such they deserve of a new evaluation. In these shrines the unbridled, elementary, straight and uninhibited forms of the soul express themselves; sentiments are revealed which cannot be understood in the accepted terms of ordered and planned society and its rationalistic approach.

The sick person who makes a pil­ grimage to pray at one. of the holy places believes in his prayer. Not nec­ essarily because of the special sacred­ ness vested in the locality, or of the prophet, or sage buried there: he be­ lieves in the power of his prayer. His prayer flows from deep faith. The sacred place need not be conceived of as more than the tangible means lend­ ing expression to the feelings of the heart. ^ “HE MORE than five hundred sacred places in Israel today include differ­ ent types: graves revered by different religious communities, remains of an­ cient synagogues, fountains connected 31

with miracles, trees, ruins, caves, rocks.

A special authority concerns itself in Israel with the sacred places and their care. It is headed by Di. S. Z. Cahana, the Director General of the Ministry of Religions, Mr. J. Green­ berg, Vice-speaker of the Knesseth, and Mr. Samuel Hacohen Winegarten, president of the Religious, Board of the City of Jerusalem.

The main task of this authority is to solve the many important problems connected with the sacred places of the Holy Land and it embraces many aspects: the identification of the local­ ities, keeping them in good repair and guarding their inviolability, the revival of the legends attaching to them and the work on the documentary and traditional material about them. ^ H E N SPEAKING of holy places we have to discern between those which have been recognized as falling within this category by the United Nations, having a special internation­ ally guaranteed status, and between other places not yet included into this category by the UN. No international obligations exist in the case of the latter.

The sacred places are mostly con nected with one of the three faiths, but some of the outstanding, well known places, originating from Bib­ lical times, enjoy equal reverence by more than one of the three religious communities, e.g., the tomb of David, of Elisha, the tombs of the children of Jacob, the tomb of Elijah, Mt. Zion, etc.

The Jewish sacred places have, apart from their religious significance, a great national importance too. They were always the source of inspiration and national yearning, an important magnetic factor that drew the Aliyah to the Holy Land of many thousands of our people throughout the genera­ tions and served as the nucleus of Jew­ ish settlement never interrupted in the course of the centuries. Many of these places were neglected in the hundreds of years of non-Jewish rule and some of them were even turned into monasteries, mosques, or graves of sheikhs. The aforementioned num­ ber of over 500 sacred places was stated in a memorandum submitted to the former High Commissioner by the present (second) President of Israel, Yitzchak Ben-Zvi.

M t . Carm el ■JHE GREATEST number of sacred places are located in five main areas of Israel: in Jerusalem, Safed, Meron, Tiberias and Mt. Carmel. Each of these places is considered a place of worship, with ancient traditions. In the case of many of them there are special prayerbooks available with pray­ ers written centuries ago by Tzadikim who settled in the area of the graves and shrines. They are mostly prayers for the individual G-d-thirsty soul, mo­ tivated by powerful faith.

32

Arriving by boat to Haifa harbor, the sight of that holy Mountain of Carmel greets the visitor; it is the site where the cause of Monotheism had been won for mankind by the struggle of Prophet Elijah against the priests of the Baal. One of the many caves of Mt. Carmel has, for ages, been considered Prophet Elijah’s Cave. It is not so much by the result of exact historic research as by the tradition of generations that this shrine has become the place of reunion and association JEWISH LIFE

with the spirt of Eliyohu Hanovi, of the hero of our Motzaey Shabbath songs, of the forerunner of Messiah.

Eliyohu’s mountain, the Carmel, meant in our own days also the anchor of safe homecoming for the thousands of the illegal Aliyah, who jumped off their boats to run the British blockade and felt the outstretched hand of the Prophet’s Mountain, fulfilling the Bib­ lical promise "Karmel bayom yavo,” feeling the welcoming redeeming power that came to rescue them from the waves. . . .

THE road from Haifa to the Galilee we pass the mystical tomb city of Meron, the grave of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, author of the Zohar and of his son the Tannaite Rabbi Elazar, this father and son, whose miraculous lives are shrouded in leg­ ends from Talmudic times. Here is the site of the graves of Hillel and Shammai and their disciples. Every year on Lag Baomer a traditional pilgrimage takes place to the grave, a beautiful living tradition of Kabalist mysticism.

March-April, 1956

From Meron the road leads through beautiful mountainous scenery to the nest of the "Lion,” to the holy city of Safed, the cradle of medieval Kabalah, founded by Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, the place which inspired our beloved wel­ come-hymn to the Sabbath-Queen, the "Lechah Dodi.” This is the center of the sources of living Judaism, the source of the Kabalah of the Ari’s dis­ ciples, and at the same time the seat of Rabbi Moshe Alsheich, the giant of the Agadah, and of Rabbi Joseph Ka;o, the author of the Shulchon Oruch.

Words formulated hundreds of years ago in Safed mould and formulate tra­ ditional Jewish life and thought even today all over the globe. Apart from the ‘cemetery and graves of Safed here we find the Synagogues that housed the schools of Safed in its glory, when the expellees from Spain found their homes and founded their schools there.

DESCENDIN G from Safed to the Lake of Galillee and its capital, Tiberias, we understand that this is a Jewish lake. It was the capital of the Tetrarchate, a vestige of Jewish state-

33

hood until after the destruction of the Second Temple. At the health-giving springs of Tiberias Spa stands the old shrine on the tomb of Rabbi Meir Baal Haness, the disciple of Rabbi Akiva; the Master of Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi, who edited the Mishnah. His name has been prayerfully invoked by generations of Jewish mothers upon lighting their Friday evening candles and depositing their donations into the wall-collection box with the words: "G-d of Meir, answer me.”

The grave of Rabbi Akiva, the martyr of Bar Kochbas time, and of thousands of his disciples looks down upon Tiberias and the Lake of Galilee, a lake claimed by the legends of other faiths, a lake for which so much Jewish blood was shed in many generations.

In the midst of the city we find a cemetery with the reputed graves of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, who, upon the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, had the vision and the courage to found the future of his nation upon the rock of learning, by the rescue of Yavneh and by securing the right to teach Torah. It is in the same cemetery that the greatest repre­ sentative of medieval Torah Jewry, the

Rambam, should have found his eternal place of rest. ^H R O U G H the valley of the Jordan * and Beth Shean, through the valley of Yezreel, or passing Mt. Tabor, we may have a distant glance at Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal, whilst we pass the citadel of modern Yeshivoth of Kfar Haroeh and Bnei Brak on our way to the Holy City of Jerusalem.

W ith the mountain of the Temple in non-Israeli territory, Mt. Zion and the legendary tomb of David has be­ come the Jerusalem center of "Aliyah le’Regel” since the establishment of the State. Situated at the Zion Gate right on the Wall of the Old City it houses the legendary Kever David, and also the Cellar of Horrors, where the rescued remains of martyrs from H itlers Europe have been gathered.

It is the "Grave of the Unknown Martyr,” where thousands gather on the tenth day of Teveth to say Kaddish for the six million martyrs.

Mt. Zion houses the woods where the ceremony of Hakhel was revived by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel in commemoration of the Biblical pre­ scription of the Sabbatical year.

M essianic Faith

ML ZION is not only the shrine of Jewish traditions, Eastern and West­

the grave of David, the anointed king; on the rooftop of the building is the only point in the State of Israel whence a glance may be taken of the Har Habayith, of the Holy of Holies, of the cemetery on the Mount of Olives, where, according to the prophet, the feet of Messiah will stand on a day yet to come. Mt. Zion today is the expression of the abiding Messianic faith of all religious Jews, giving life and reality to the faith of redemption.

The holy places unite all sections of 34

ern, Oriental and Yemenite Jews in the common shrines of our nation, a unity which the synagogues and the Rabbinates could not' yet achieve.

The sacred places — their care and inviolability — are a responsibility not only of the citizens of the State of Israel. They are a duty of religious fulfillment to all religious Jews the world over. In a growing measure they become the focal point of believing Jews who .wish to merit the privilege of "walking four yards” on the Holy JEWISH LIFE

Ground. Our predecessors undertook voyages fraught with danger, driven by the love of the Land and drawn by the yearning to be absorbed in the spirit emanating from the sacred places. In our generation this privilege has come within the reach of every religious Jew. The sacredness of the Land shall forever remain the eternal bond be­

tween the Jewish people and its Land.

It is highly desirable that all religious Jewry the world over give thought to the historic duty and privilege which has made us, in this miraculous gen­ eration, for the first time in thousands of years, to be the guardians of the sacred places in the Holy Land.

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Sweet full

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Table Wine.

MALAGA — Very sweet, distinctive flavor and aroma.

TOKAY — Superb, quality. Very smooth.

PORT — Soft and sweet, brilliant deep ruby color.

SHERRY — Mellow, creamy and rich bouquet.

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IMPORTED BY CARMEL WINE C0.f INC., 580 FIFTH AVE, NEW YORK 36 March-April, 1956

35

% A gTypically Jewish” Artist with Advanced Ideas.

T h e G lo ry of C hagall

By ALFRED WERNER J T IS, perhaps, hard to believe, but Marc Chagall’s debut in New York was a complete flop: neither the critics nor the public cared for his pictures hung in a Manhattan gallery in Janu­ ary 1926. Ten years later his work was shown here again, and was wel­ comed by the vanguard, while the more conservative art lovers still agreed with Thomas Craven who, in Modern Art, had grouped Chagall among "sorrowing, and humorless” artists indulging in a "cult” of feeling.

Damning him with faint praise, he had this to say about him: "There is Chagall, a Russian Jew, who paints jackasses with visions in their heads, and topsy-turvy villages shot through with memories of his childhood. His disorderly (sic) con­ ceptions would be ridiculous if they did not convey a little of the vagabond poetry and the pathos of his uprooted soul.”

But the retrospective exhibition, held in 1946, first in New York’s Museum of Modern Art, and subse­ quently at Chicago’s Art Institute, convinced all who were reluctant to yield their prejudice against his un­ orthodox concepts that Chagall was not a charlatan, as his enemies claimed him to be, but simply a man with advanced ideas. Today everybody, with the possible exception of a few hardboiled reactionaries, loves the great and indefatigable Marc Chagall, who 36

will soon have completed his three­ score and ten. Hence, a new retro­ spective, currently on view at the Peris Galleries in New York City, is sure to receive a most cordial reception.

His work has long ceased to offer any surprising new angles. Chagall may be compared to song writers who have created only one tune, and through­ out their careers done, little more than to vary it slightly from time to time.

But what a beautiful melody it is, nevertheless!

0H A G A L L was the first typically Jewish painter to make his ap­ pearance in the Gentile world. For the Jewish artists of note who made their conquests before him painted Jewish motifs rarely, if they cared for them at all. Though of Jewish origin, they were not basically Jews: Israels was a Dutchman, Pissarro a F re n c h m a n , Lieberman a German. Because he is a typical Jew, imbued with the spirit of the Shtetl, Chagall has baffled the critics of all countries where his works were shown. One of them, unable to circumscribe this individualist by com­ paring him to others, even coined the term "la Chag&llite” for the sum total of his being.

In order to understand this "Chagallite” it is important to know that the artist was born in the town of Vitebsk, W hite Russia. Though inimical to the arts, dirty and drab like most small JEWISH LIFE

towns in Tsarist Russia, Vitebsk ap­ pears as a background in many of Chagall’s canvases — notwithstanding the fact that he left Russia for France as a young man, and that he has spent most of his sixty-odd years either in Paris or in one of several small villages in France. The reason behind Chagall’s one-sided love is entirely clear; be­ cause he had the eyes of an artist, Vitebsk could serve as a source of in­ spiration for the rest of Chagall’s life.

In a brief autobiography he wrote many years ago, the artist nostalgically recalled the Jewish holidays, especially Succoth and Simchath Torah, that were joyously celebrated by his family. Marc was thrilled by whatever sights Vitebsk afforded. The alert Jewish boy eagerly watched the procession of merchants, peddlers, beggars; of children going to the cheder,. old men to the shool, women coming from the market.

INHIS autobiography Chagall refers

His early background also makes us appreciate Chagall’s faculty of faith­ fully rendering the atmosphere of Eastern European Jewry, Chasidic or otherwise: the lighting of candles; men moaning and sighing in their taleythim; merrymakers at Purim festi­ vals, and, above all, the religious dances of the men. The Baal Shem himself called for prayer accompanied by phys­ ical ecstasy, since dancing and singing would bring about the necessary unity with G-d.

Chagall is closely related to the dance. W e have in mind the Chasidic dance in a shool, which begins slowly with a definitive, touch of sadness, and gradually assumes faster rhythms, until it reaches a climax in a state of veri­ table ecstasy. It is no coincidence that the ballet plays a certain role in Cha­ gall’s work — he designed the scenery and costumes for several ballet per­ formances in New York and Paris.

The Chasidic dance which he watched as a boy, or even participated in, is still "in his blood.”

to some members of his family who were strict followers of Israel ''Baal Shem Tov,” the founder of Chasidism.

One has to understand Chasidism to g U T LET US accompany Chagall step by step. He was only in his understand the man who painted roost-, ers crowing for joy. It is a philosophy teens when he left Vitebsk for the of love — and Chagall is the painter capital, St. Petersburg, to enroll as a of love. He adores tho men and scen­ pupil in the School of the Society for ery of his native country, despite the the Protection of the Arts. Being a blows and pogroms he witnessed there. Jew, he was permitted to reside in the He loves flowers and animals; he loves city only as a servant, and he had to It- love. There is sadness in his paint- go through "the life of the ostracized, in g s-^b u t rarely the agony of un­ the pain of exile, the terror of arrest, limited despair. There is„ always a of expulsion, the protection of patrons, metaphysical hope deeper than the at times intelligent, at times incom­ platitude about the cloud and the sil­ prehensible and demeaning, servile oc­ ver lining. If he paints a beggar in cupations, uncertain quarters.” As a the snow, he puts a fiddle in his hands, rule, this outcast slept on the floor in and if he sets a mournful rabbi on the a corner of a room shared- with others.

The young idealist got little formal canvas, he adds to this symbol of sor­ row an innocent white cow, a symbol education in St. Petersburg, either at the Society’s School, or in the studio of the peace of the universe.

37 March-April, 1956

fffPí:

of Leon Bakst, a fellow-Jew, best known for his scenic and costume de­ signs for the Russian Ballet. "I can grasp things only by my instinct/* he once declared. "Scholastic theory has no hold whatever on me.”

In 1910, at the age of twenty-three, Chagall went to Paris, the gay, toler­ ant Mecca of modern art. The nostal­ gic Russian youth was so intimidated by the great city that he might have returned to Vitebsk had not the Louvre Museum, with its masterworks of classic art, cast a spell over him. His unusual talent was *soon discovered and hailed by such pioneers of mod­ ernity as Guilleme Apollinaire and Blaise Cendrars, whereas the lesser spirits were amused or infuriated by what they considered sheer eccentricity.

At any rate, at that time he still longed for and still belonged to Russia, and he went back to his native country at the start of the first World War. J^F T E R the Bolshevist Revolution Chagall was made commissardirector of the art school of Vitebsk.

Alas, he taught the good townsfolk to paint men and women and cows fly­ ing across the sky instead of teaching them how to make portraits of Marx and Lenin. He was dismissed by angry officials, and went to Moscow, where he painted every wall and stage setting of the Jewish State Theatre. But here again he did not get along well with the Soviet authorities, so he, his wife, and their five-year-old daughter re­ turned to Paris, their future home.

"Neither Imperial Russia nor the Rus­ sia of the Soviets needs m e” .he com­ plained at the end of his autobiography, finished in Moscow in 1922. "I am

incomprehensible, strange to them. I am certain, though, that Rembrandt loves me/* The Chagalls lived in Paris uninter­ ruptedly from 1923 to the start of World W ar II; to escape from the Nazi menace, they thereafter lived in Southern France, but they did not feel safe there, either. Hence, they finally fled to America where the couple ar­ rived on the very day when Hitler's legions invaded the painter’s native Russia, While the Nazis were unable to do physical harm to the great modernist artist, they did their utmost to damage his reputation. For instance, his works loomed conspicuously in their propa­ ganda exhibition of what they termed "Degenerate Art.” W hen the repre­ sentatives of the Kunsthalle in Basle, Switzerland, asked the Germans to lend them some of Chagall's paintings, the Nazis were willing to oblige pro­ vided each item carried a caption to the effect: "This specimen of degenerate art for which the poor misled German people had to pay 10,000 marks is not even worth 10 marks.” Naturally, the?

Swiss laughed at this nonsense. p O R A WHILE the Chagalls lived very happily in New York, but in the fall of 1944 Madame Chagall died, after a twenty years' marriage. I hap­ pened to visit the artist a few weeks after Bella Chagall's death. He lived in a spacious studio on Riverside Drive which afforded a wonderful view of the Hudson River and the New Jersey landscape. A middle-sized man, he was wearing a pinkish blouse and light trousers. His halo of grey hair shook,

LEFT; Chagall's "Green Violinist"— 1918.

March-April,1956

39

and his kindly eyes shone as he talked to me, partly in French, partly in "Litvak” Yiddish. Chagall was heart­ broken. Bella had been his compan­ ion in the years of struggle, but had lived long enough to witness her hus­ band’s international fame. Herself a sensitive writer, she had- translated Marc’s autobiography from Russian into French, and had just completed a volume of her own prose before her death. Chagall said to me that he could not have produced a single pic­ ture without the inspiration he re­ ceived from her; time and again he painted Bella and h im se lf flying through the sky. When he talked of her, I had the impression that she was still near, as though any moment she might walk into his studio ,and place her, hand on his forehead.

After the war, Chagall went, back to France. He was received with en­

thusiasm and had a huge one-man show at the Musee de l’Art Moderne. Ten years after Bella’s death he remarried.

From northern France the couple moved to the small town of Vence, in the South, where the artist started a new venture; he became a maker of ceramics, transferring his lyrical fan­ tasies from oils to tiles and vases. He also turned quite successfully to sculp­ ture.

Ttf EXT to his marriage, the most im­ portant event in the painter’s life during the last ten years was his visit to Israel in 1951. He arrived there a short while after the opening, at the Bezalel Museum, of his .largest oneman show. Chronologically, it started with Le Mort (D eath), painted in 1908, and was concluded with Le Roi David (King David), finished only in the spring of 1951. While Le Mort

"Solitude"—! 933.

is one of the master’s earliest works, it already contains the essential elements of Chagall’s art, ingredients he was bound to develop to greater maturity in subsequent decades. The subject matter is "Chagallesque,” indeed. A dead man surrounded by candlesticks, lying in the street, violin player sitting on the road of an Izba (small Russian house), a hurrying street sweeper, a woman fleeting desperately, flower-pots tumbling into the streets — there is no obvious connection between the various parts of the composition, yet the agony of death overwhelms the spectator.

While Le Mort is an expression of the Jewish spirit in its gloomiest mo­ ment, Le Roi David is a manifestation of Jewish pride and joy. The latter canvas is a big picture of King David wearing crimson; at his foot is a typi­ cally Chagallian view of the Old City of Jerusalem. Referring to this King David, an Israeli critic correctly stated that, by means of this work: • "Chagall, after a long process of alter­ nately approaching and diverging from western ideas of art, finally returns to that direct Jewish folk art whose seal is simplicity and imaginative power, and which constitutes that stem from which ■proceed the various attributes of Chagall’s creative art, so rich in scope. This particu­ lar work is- at once extremely individual­ istic and yet most characteristic of the " spirit of the race portrayed.”

AK FOR the current show at the Peris Galleries, many of the paint­ ings are devoted to Paris themes. They are not photographs of the City of Light, but Chagallian interpretations of well-known sights. So don’t be sur­ prised to see a sleek donkey offering flowers to a mermaid floating in a bubble above the Bastille, or to notice an ass couched on the spire of the church of Saint-German-des-Pres. Be­ fore entering the galleries, please listen to what the eminent British critic and March-April, 1956

artist Michael Ayrton, himself a Jew, has to say: "The art of Marc Chagall is one to which the spectator must be prepared to surrender, or from which he must retreat.

If he is prepared to come to terms at all,« and Chagall will go far to meet him, he must at least surrender all solemnity and , all preconceptions of such a proper order­ ing of things as a proper upbringing may , have installed in him; . . .' The spectator must, if he is to enjoy Chagall’s work, abandon gravity in both senses of the word and must accept the sight of poetic • images in paint without prejudice, enpowered as those images are in Chagall’s case by his magnificent technical accomplish­ ment. . . .”

Today, it seems difficult not to ac­ cept Chagall. He is now an Old Master whose subject matter and technique have not changed considerably in the last forty years, though his colors are growing brighter and bolder as: the years pass. Nor is there any doubt that the world has benefitted by "la Chagallite,” by the "Chagallian idiom.” The artist has opened new vistas, rich and joyful for all mankind, regardless of origin or creed (though a Jew is better equipped than a Gentile to grasp the intricacies of Jewish life and lore that spread all over this master’s canvases) .3J BOVE ALL, it is not only the priv­ ilege of a few sophisticated ones to "understand” Chagall’s works. Per­ haps "explanations,” prof erred by some long-haired critics, have spoiled the fun for many to whom the merrymaker of Vitebsk and Vence had addressed him­ self. For, actually, his work can be understood with the heart; it is within the grasp of the simple-minded1,', the ignorant, the children — all who. can understand that a man can fly without an airplane, all who can enjoy Charlie Chaplin’s movies, or a circus. Chagall’s world is closed permanently only to those who stubbornly insist that two and two make four.

41

•

When Jewish Holy Days Conflict with Public School Classes, W ill Students Choose'.

S chool o r S hool?

By SIMON ECKSTEIN

J T ACTUALLY happened a few weeks ago. A principal of one of our local schools called me about the scheduling of mid-term, exams as it related to a possible conflict with the Passover holidays. In the course of our conversation he remarked, "Rabbi, you know that in the course of the past few years we have readily complied with your wishes. Though it often entailed cumbersome procedures on the part of the authorities charged with school administration, we never­ theless cooperated by arranging for Jewish students to be excused from attending classes on Jewish holidays as well as affording them an oppor­ tunity to take their examinations on days which would not conflict with Passover . . . and now Rabbi, frankly, why should we go to all these onerous administrative difficulties . . . our records indicate that a high percentage of Jewish students do come to classes and do take exams on these days which you indicate are sacred Tewish festival days.”

I could not speak for a moment or two. In the pause which followed his remark, the principal must have sensed a sad testimony in the eloquent lan­ guage of my silence.

This issue involves more than an individual Rabbi being perennially dis42

mayed. It involves more than a chal­ lenging and disconcerting question fired at a Rabbi by a decent and wellmeaning public school official.

The principal was fortunately well grounded in the philosophy of de­ mocracy and therefore readily under­ stood my eventual response and recog­ nized the need for school authorities to show consideration for Jewish holi­ days, irrespective of whether Jewish students attend or absent themselves from school solely on a matter of the democratic principle involved.

I feel impelled, however, to call attention to this issue because the "embarrassing incident” represents more than a fleeting moment in a Rabbi’s daily calendar. I am inclined to think that it is, alas, quite sympto­ matic of the conscious or unconscious shedding by some Jews of our own religious patterns. It would seem to be in full conformity with an age wherein religious commitments ap­ pear to be irrelevant to every day living. ^ H E WHOLE issue is inextricably linked with the message of out Passover festival, the birthday of hu­ man I freedom. Pesach is the "even pinah,” the foundation stone for the democratic edifice, the mortar of man’s JEWISH LIFE

eternal quest for selfhood. The Passover story is ever topical, for it affirms that true freedom for the group as well as for the individual connotes the inalienable right to distinctiveness, to being uniquely loyal to, and consis­ tent with, one’s true and inner self.

It is no wonder that the democratic form of government embraces as a cardinal point the freedom of re­ ligion, the right to live and worship in keeping with one’s own religious convictions. As a matter of right and not as a concession of tolerance, do we enjoy the opportunity to practice the Mitzvoth of Judaism and to re-live, on Jewish festivals and holy days, the sublime experiences of our people’s hoary past. Observance of our Jewish holidays is an occasion of national reminiscence, when the individual Jew­ ish family unit becomes, in the psy­ chologist’s nomenclature, an "includ­ ing self” and experiences an "at-onement” with G-d, Torah and the peoplehood of Israel past, present and future.

Failure to observe our Jewish festi­ vals means depriving ourselves and our home of "simchah shel Mitzvah,” the exhiliration and joy of bringing religious content -and spiritual mean­ ing into our vacuous, tension-filled lives. Failure to observe Jewish fes­ tivals means in essence a self-denial of emotional and psychological rootage, an attenuation of the "sense of be­ longing” to one’s kith and kin and a loss of identity with the raison d’etre of one’s heritage and people of one’s own essential self. ^ H E SAGES of Israel remind us in succinct fashion of an object lesson in the art and technique of Jewish endurance. As they saw it, "Israel was redeemed from Egypt, thanks to four March-April, 1956

things: they did not change their Hebrew names, they did not forsake their Hebrew tongue, they did not reveal their secrets and they did not neglect the commandment of circum­ cision.”

Here is the acid test of the great­ ness of any constructive minority grouping, that of knowing oneself and of being true to oneself and of pos­ sessing the backbone to be different from the prevailing majority culture.

Dr. Rollo May, in his excellent vol­ ume "Man’s Search for Himself,” em­ phasizes this unique 20th century pressing need "to stand against the insecurity of this age and find a cen­ tre of strength within ourselves.” We Jews, as individuals, as family units and as part of a minority group, while experiencing acculturation and tranculturation, must not permit ourselves and our children to become watereddown religious anoymities. There are moments in life, to paraphrase Em­ erson, when man must be a "nay sayer.” Man becomes truly a man only when prompted by his true being, he has the courage to be a dissehter and a non-conformist.

Our young people of today, the post-adolescents arid collegiates, are in need of many guide-posts in their daily striving for maturity and inde­ pendence. Foremost among these needs is the courage and self-respect to be at times a non-conformist. This is the Passover lesson applied to life’s con­ temporaneity. Progressive parents and alert clergymen are not blind to many of the temptations that attract our young people and which pander to their immaturity and to their desire for thrills and excitement. When these temptations do present themselves, how great the need then for our young people to be equipped with a 43

spiritual reservoir, a code of morality which can serve them as an armour and a sense of abiding worth in one’s heritage and faith which will give them belief in themselves.

WECAN give our children many

material things in life. That to the average parent is not too difficult a responsibility or too challenging a duty. If we fail, however, to nurture in them, by dint of our own personal example, a, readiness to sacrifice for what we hold to be holy and dear, a readiness and unfailing courage "to be different” when our "holy ground” is in danger of desecration, then, no mat­ ter what else we have done for them, we have failed to fulfill our parental obligation in one ofl the most vital areas of rearing our young.

Dr. Simon Doniger, in his introduc­ tion to "Religion and Human Be­ havior,” writes that one of the funda­ mental lessons which psycho-dynamics, in its search for the deeply hidden motivations of human behaviour, has discovered is that goodness, love, fellow­ ship, values, including religious values, cannot come about as a result of auto­ matic pressures, habit or even formal education; rather are they almost en­ tirely dependent upon emotional atti­ tudes engendered in the individual all through the process of growth and development, beginning with the earli­ est period of childhood. Man cannot give what he has not received; and if we want him, as a mature per­ son, to give love, to live in fellowship with his fellow man and to have faith, he must have deeply experienced these feelings jn his own early life.

Our youth must, therefore, mean­ ingfully experience (and school at­ tendance is a most crucial and impres44

sionable battleground) the readiness to pay the price for Jewish selfhood and self-respect. Our youth must be encouraged to see our society’s intoxi­ cation with the false gods of con­ formity as challenges to the maturing self of their growing personalities.

TPHE ISSUE of attending school on Jewish holidays, seen in this light, is an issue pregnant with personality­ molding implications. It is one which parents may not lightly disparage.

Whether our sons and daughters are at school or in a synagogue on Pesach represents a decisive factor whose traces will be clearly detected in the future character and outlook of our children.

W e of the House of Israel are his­ toric people who affirmed the Pesach message of human freedom through the grace of G-d even in days when the world was primitive and progress was fettered by slavery. We, mankind’s first protestants, have taught from days immemorial that man does not live by bread alone, but that there are some values in life that constitute the worth of life itself. Shall we, the proud bearers of this hallmark of freedom, not instruct and imbue our young people with the lesson that everything worthwhile in life has its price?

Shall we fail to utilize the opportunity, which the aforementioned decision represents, to teach them the true meaning of democracy and Jewish self­ hood? Or shall we, true to our high calling as Jews and to our high duty as parents, join with our children at our Pesach Services in expressing Thanks­ giving to the Almighty for the miracu­ lous Exodus and delivery of Israel from bondage to freedom.

W ill Pesach mean Shool or School?

Jewish parents, it is up to you!

JEWISH LIFE

•

A Critique of Wouk’s Critics.

M arjorie M o m in g sta r A n d th e In te lle c tu a l

By EMANUEL FELDMAN K FTER THE success of 'T he Caine “ Mutiny” it was said that the critics were waiting for Herman W ouk’s next book with "meat cleavers.” This was an understatement. For though the reviews of "Marjorie Morningstar”* have varied from praise to damnation — as criticism of any book will vary — what distinguishes the reviews of "Marjorie” is that of late we have wit­ nessed extremely bitter and angry and even venomous denunciations of Wouk by responsible writers. As the months since the publication went by, the author was assaulted with increased vigor; the angry tones increased in inverse ratio to the book’s soaring popularity. And the most remarkable aspect of these attacks is that they are being led by Jews.

Some of these Jewish critics are re­ spected and articulate writers. Yet each is almost vicious in his attack.

These Jewish critics seem mortally wounded by the book. It is not so much their feeling that the writing is inept which irks them, though this too is clearly demonstrated; their wounds go deeper than that. Wouk is attacked on moral and religious grounds.

Their chief arguments run like this: * Marjorie Mcniingstar, by Herman Wouk, Doubleday & Co., New York, 1955, 561 pages, $4.95.

March-April, 1956

How can an orthodox Jew present such a shallow picture of Judaism in America? How can he claim to be pious if his religious scenes are tainted by the comic and the ridiculous? What kind of a religionist can this be who pokes fun at Bar-Mitzvahs and Sedorim? How can he say that he is religious when not one of the chief characters in the novel shows the slight­ est understanding of religion? Wouk is not only an unsophisticated writer, he is a charlatan. So runs the tenor of these reviews. ^ viewers, to ask why their annoy­ ance reaches such an abnormal state that they descend to name calling. Is it because Wouk is an orthodox Jew that their wrath has been kindled? Is it because he has a dislike for profes­ sional intellectuals, as embodied in his characterization of Geoffrey Quill nee Feder? Is it because he has a million readers?

The reasons undoubtedly go deeper than this. Certainly one hesitates to attribute to responsible writers such motives as these. W hat then?

It is Wouk’s picture of American Jewish life in operation which enrages the reviewers more than any other as­ pect of the novel, and this suggests the key to the problem. For what seems 45

to motivate the bitterness — and this will explain why the severest critics are Jews — is the ancient Jewish la­ ment, loma yomru hagoyim, why should the Goyim say, Where is their G-d? After" reading this book, the critics seem to say, everyone will know the truth: that many Bar-Mitzvah cele­ brations accent the bar without the mitzvah, that our weddings are often vulgar affairs, that American Jews know little about religion or G-d or piety. Though nowhere do they say it explicitly, one senses their deep embar­ rassment that all this should be reveaieci for the world to see in all its naked goriness. That a Sabbath-observing, Bible-studying Jew should be the revealer and should suggest that what­ ever religious practice has remained in vogue among American Jews has become vulgarized is beyond their comprehension. Ergo, Wouk is dis­ honest, hypocritical — or both.

All of this fury, then, stems from one basic assumption on the part of the critics: it is Wouk himself who utters the religious banalities of his characters, and it is Wouk who is in complete agreement with the state of acters. It is possible for a novelist to affairs in Jewish religious life. create a character and, having breathed into it the breath of life, to give the J T IS precisely here —- in assuming character free will to develop in its that Wouk is speaking through his own way and on its own terms, to talk book that he is being judged unand act as it would in real life and not fairly. W e — and the critics — have necessarily as the author would talk been accustomed to novelists who de­ and act. Inevitably, of course, the liver a "message” through the charac­ writer s own person is injected into a ters in their books. Faulkner and Hem­ character, but with restraint and pa­ ingway and Dos Passos and Scott tience and time, the writer can hold Fitzgerald have all used their novels this to a minimum. This, I submit, as sounding boards for their own ideas, is what Wouk has done. And if we and the critics immediately assume approach the novel from this angle, that Wouk is writing in this tradition. and view it not so much as a book of But not every author is a puppeteer ideas but as a book of human, living who controls completely the actions creations, much of the criticism falls and speech and destinies of his char­ by the wayside.

46 JEWISH LIFE

This, then, is the basic misunder­ standing of the critics: "Marjorie” is not a defense; it is not an indictment; it is a statement. But the critics do not concede this. Where Wouk says, This is how things are, the critics hear him saying, This is how things should be.

XXZOUK is accused, for example, of glorifying the dull, bourgeois life of Mrs. Milton Schwartz and of sug­ gesting that this should be the norm for all good Jewish girls. But the world of drabness to which Marjorie finally succumbs is the only world open to her. Brought up in a vacuum and in a society devoid of all real meaning, a thousand other Marjories inevitably follow the same path. Far from ideal­ izing this situation, Wally Wronken, who, more than anyone else, speaks for the author, finds Marjorie quite dull.

"You couldn’t write a play about her that would run a week or a novel that would sell a thousand copies. There’s no angle.”

Thus also, when the reviewers hold up Marjorie’s religious views to ridi­ cule— as in her "curiously evasive” answers to questions about Kashruth — it is a misreading to say that she speaks for the author. This is simply the way a Marjorie Morgenstern re­ acts. Wouk does not say that it is good or that it is bad. But it is so.

He is essentially a photographer, and his pictures come uncaptioned. He does not condemn or condone.

But, complain the critics, why pic­ ture Judaism in such a light? Surely Wouk as an orthodox Jew knows that there is more to religion that this.

Here we encounter the basic in­ tegrity and compassion of Herman Wouk. As an observant Jew, he knows that religion is meaningful. For him it has beauty and purpose. But he also March-April, 1956

knows that for a good many Jews, re­ ligion is, to say the least, perfunctory and secondary. It is of these Jews that Wouk writes, and it is their way of life that he describes, honestly and candidly.

TX7HAT Wouk depicts is the result of * a negation of all thè authentic qualities of Jewish faith. It is the nadir of a half century of slow erosion, and of cultural and spiritual assimila­ tion. In Maxwell Geismar’s percep­ tive words, it is the culmination of "the tragicomic meeting of traditional Jewish culture and the American suc­ cess myth. The children abandon the best part of their heritage in order to take on the worst aspects of the new environment.”* The American brands of ersatz Judaism which have attempted to make the Torah palatable for mod­ erns and which fondly hoped that they were thus rescuing it from stagnation at the hands of the orthodox; the cult which jogged along with expediency and popularity as its only guide, with­ out G-d and without learning — this same sham Judaism has resulted in a nothingness of faith which can find its only symbolic expression in religious vulgarity. Herman Wouk, in love with his religion and practicing its teach­ ings, can see the barrenness of today’s substitute for Judaism. And' it is this which forms the backdrop to the novel — painful as it is to Wouk as well as the critics.

This is not to suggest that Wouk set out to write a religious polemic, and to satirize that which he sees. Such is not his purpose as a novelist. He rather paints a perceptive picture of the tragedy and the comedy. In fact, his understanding and love for his people *New York Times Book September 4, 1955, p. 1.

Review

Section,

47

arc so real that the reader even finds feels that we are crossing the no-man’s lmself at times in sympathy with land between bona-fide literary criti­ their religious cavortings. If there is cism and sheer prejudice. Certainly a m ajo r fault in the novel, it is that no author can expect only favorable Wouk confuses his satire with his reactions. But no matter how worth­ sympathy. He is almost too under­ less a book may be, every author has a standing Because of this, the critics right to expect a certain amount of misread him and feel that W ouk is respect from fellow writers, even if actually preaching that this is how only for the fact that a novel repre­ things should be. sents a great deal of love and toil.

There is a certain code of decency in YET, do these misreadings criticism, even where "rubbish” is in­ simply indicate differences in lit­ volved. (And we must remember that erary viewpoint? One comes away some quarters did see it as a great from the critics with the distinct feel­ novel. Non-Jewish quarters, of course.) ing that some of the misreadings are more than accidental. The methods MORNINGSTAR” is employed do suggest that more than not a world-shaking novel and literary criticism is involved here. will in a few years no doubt be for­ When one Jewish critic says outright gotten. But if its accurate portrayal “ at wouk seems to imply that the of American Jewish life serves to survival of Judaism depends on vul­ awaken , a sense of shame among our garity; when another says that Wouk people and they thus become aware of writes only for money, that "for Wouk the lack of substance and content in the book-form is a not quite dispensable our "modern” Judaism; if it shows stage on the way to becoming a movie”- how comic and pathetic is a Judaism when a third uses terms like "drivel” without Mitzvoth and without learn­ ing: if it causes the masses of our Jews and "disgust” and "offensive” and says that Wouk "has neither principle to see themselves in a new light — nor genuine intellectual ability,” one Dayenti — it will have served an ad­ mirable purpose.

AND

"MARJ°RIE

EFFECTS Arrogance removes wisdom from the w ise and prophecy from dOSS Iik6WiS6- In fac*' even such a one predestined to be great his greatness would vanish.

Pesachim 66b SELF-CRITICISM The sages could be as self-critical as they were discerning.

When | was taught that there are three types of individuals to m life is not h ie -th e sympathetic, the quick-tempered and the -Udm us Rabbi Joseph remarked that he possessed unfor tunately, all three characteristics.

48

Pesachim 113b JEWISH LIFE

•

The Little-Known Story of Dr. Joseph Burg.

C loak an d Da ééer P k D .

By JOSEPH FRIED TW EN TY-ON E years ago this Feb* ruary a handful of Jewish youngsters scampered aboard a train in Berlin’s central railway station for a trip that was to lead them from persecution to freedom — and history.

Even the near-zero winter tempera­ ture failed to chill the spirits of a dozen scantily clad teen-agers com­ posing the first of 65,000 youngsters to be rescued from war and hatred through the Youth Aliyah program over more than a score of years. Tens of thousands were to follow in the footsteps of that first group, boys and girls who were to find a new world awaiting in Jewish Palestine; a world of work, education and purpose.

While much has been written of Youth Aliyah, relatively little is in­ scribed in modern Jewish history of the devoted men and women who often at the risk of death, first blazed a trail over which the youngsters might escape to freedom.

Anonymity may now be stripped from at least one of these daring and resourceful heroes: a doctor who saved the lives of more children than a dozen hard-working physicians in any city, in any country the world over . . . and without medicine.

TO D A Y , YOSEF BURG, Doctor of 4 Philosophy, gives little evidence of the epic cloak-and-dagger role he played in the rescue operations of Jewish children from Nazi massacre.

A leader of Hapoel Hamizrachi and a March-April, 1956

member of the Israel Cabinet, Dr. Burg is an intense and studious figure.

His round, almost boyish face, the broad forehead and sharp wit, all of them are as firmly a part of Israel’s political and cultural map as is Tel Aviv an integral segment of the coun­ try’s geographic chart.

Biographical accounts of Dr. Burg for the most part gloss over the period from 1935 to 1939.- Several sketches mention that he was engaged in Youth Aliyah activity, others fail to even note the fact.

None give a clue to the harrowing extent of a four year period during which the devoted bespectacled doctor played cat and mouse with the Gestapo to rescue countless members of other­ wise doomed Jewish youth from the scourge that was Nazidom. Dr. Burg’s operations were not limited to his native Germany. During the twilight hours of world peace in 1938, he hopped around Europe in search of havens where youngsters unable to gain immediate admission to Palestine under the strict quota system might put their waiting periods to useful training for the life that awaited.

No more than twenty-five at his entrance to a key post in helping res­ cue German.Jewish youth, Dr. Burg looked like a young man but acted like an old hand. Whether pitted against officers of the Gestapo twice his age or assigned to negotiate with officials of friendly European countries like Holland or Denmark where a "hach49

sharah,” or training farm, was to be established for detoured Jewish youth, the equally youthful Burg exhibited a patience, persistence and sharp-edged wit which extended far beyond his limited years.

These assets proved priceless for world Jewry on more than one occa­ sion. As war neared, Dr. Burg and his fellow leaders in Germany worked on an around-the-clock schedule knowing full well that once full-scale conflict commenced, rescue operations would become a near impossibility.

The need for temporary refuges where visa-less youngsters might wait out permission to enter Palestine grew more urgent as the pace of time s tick quickened. Dr. Burg, whose earlier missions had won havens for young refugees in a handful of neutral Euro­ pean countries, drew the important assignment.

Dr. Joseph Burg

"Exactly,” continued Dr. Burg. "You JPREQUENTLY shadowed by plainclothes agents of the Gestapo, Dr. want to clear Germany of Jews, do you Burg was a not' unfamiliar character not?” The Nazi nodded. "Well, so do at the dreaded Secret Police headquar­ my colleagues and myself!” the Zionist ters in downtown Berlin where he was leader said.

Dr. Burg got his visa and went on summoned one day shortly after the Zionist council’s decision to send him with the steady and arduous task of saving young lives. abroad had been reached.

Throughout the neutral countries, he A hard-faced Nazi officer massaged his polished boots as Dr. Burg ex­ helped establish a chain of havens for plained his request to leave the Third stranded Jewish youth which helped soften the blow when World W ar II Reich. struck.

The war abruptly severed his The Nazi punctured a sentence to interject: Why should I be so foolish plans to return to Germany and resume as to allow you to leave Germany?. operations. For a full year after war broke out, Dr. Burg remained in the Can you give me one good reason?”

Dr. Burg didn’t hesitate. "You ranks of the rescuers. In Switzerland should help me,” he said softly and ■ he helped set up a line of communica­ without so much as batting an eye tions with fellow Zionists trapped in because we are fo rking for the same Germany. By utilizing underground channels, another and yet another cause.”

"The same cause?” the startled Nazi handful of youngsters were squeezed through the tightened Nazi net to blurted. eventual freedom in Palestine.

50

JEWISH LIFE

51

A traced YEA*the footstepsYosefof the Burg re­ women who a score of years ago were thou­

the scared scrawny youngsters who sands he had sent before him He formed the winding lines in front of migrated to Eretz Yisroel to fulfill a the Youth Aliyah offices in central dream dating back to childhood. It Berlin. was in 1919 in his home town of Dres­ den that a little boy’s desire to join -AT LEAST ond count, the many the community’s Zionist organization years have failed to dim their caused a tumult. Because no youth group then existed in the city, 10-year- memories. Visits by Dr. Burg to vari­ old Yosef Burg applied for member­ ous settlements strung t h r o u g h o u t Israel have not been without touching ship m the adult body. scenes which came with mutual recog­ • I hI question of young Burg’s entry into the adult organization became the nition. Because in fact he has changed subject of group debate. Admitting so little in appearance, Dr. Burg has been more easily recognizable than his Yosef meant denying custom and set­ former wards. ting precedent.

■ A £itl in her late 20s, a baby tugging Yosef won out. He became a fullat her apron strings, will desert her ‘ iO f f l 8 8 1 8 1 of the "Blue and cooking in a kibbutz to approach Dr w hite, Dresden s Zionist group. His Burg, recall a bleak day in Berlin and nrst assignment was assisting the for a moment re-live the first lap of body s secretary in addressing what seemed to a little boy an endless list the long trip that was to end with their of invitations and bulletins to members. meeting that very day in an Israeli settlement which never existed when Ever since,” he recently mused, the drama of the doctor and his "pa­ addresses”' * rather S00cl memory for tient” was first enacted.

And like a doctor who never forgets Thousands of o t h e r Jew s w i t h a prescription, Yosef Burg is just as equally sharp memories have reason to remember Yosef Burg. Israeli set­ likely to remember the inscription on tlements are full of bronzed men and an identification tag lassoed about what was once a puny neck.

THAT SPECIAL FLAVOR w J v U lT J T r

m m m m m

°nCe OSked HabW Ioshua

Channina

f ave a spec5al flavor- The rabbi

.hrow Tmo Z f 7 SeaS° ning Called "Sabba,h" w**’ch .hey ow into the food, imparting this special taste. When the em­ peror asked^ for the seasoning. Rabbi Joshua replied: "Only he

?*•“rJ““ h M t » m " RnH

Z l l does not keep the Sabbath." who 52

Shabboth 119a JEWISH LIFE

M

E

M

O

TO: THE READERS OF JEWISH LIFE FROM: CHARLES BENDHEIM, Nat'l Chairman, O.U.A. SUBJECT: ORTHODOX UNION ASSOCIATION 1. I would like to invite you to join the Orthodox Union Association, the indi­ vidual membership arm of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.

2. The goal of this organization is the preservation of Jewish ideals and the perpetuation of our religious faith and way of life.

3. I believe it is essential that every loyal Jew participate in this national, vibrant, traditional Jewish movement.

O.U.A. membership brings you personal identification with our great program of religious resurgence.

4. As a member of the Orthodox Union As­ sociation you will receive: a. Jewish Action, monthly news organ of Orthodoxy in America ; b. Holiday Pamphlet Service— bringing into your home booklets and pam­ phlets on Jewish holidays,, beliefs and practices; c. JEWISH LIFE d. Kashruth Bulletins— keeping you posted on new © developments.

5. The annual membership fee of the Ortho­ dox Union Association is only $10.

6. I urge you to join now by filling out and mailing the application below.

Union of Orthodox Jewish Cong, of America.

305 Broadway New York 7, N. Y. Please enroll me as a member of the Ortho­ dox Union Association.

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A tim e to rem em b er he Passover is a time for reflection upon yesterday. A time for the young to question, and their elders to answer with the age-old story The Passover is also a time of gratitude, of thanksgiving fo^God's mercv

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On The Jewish Record

By ERIC OFFENBACHER PESACH ON RECORDS survey of available with orchids showered upon the edi­ A CURSORY phonographic literature highlight­ tor. For it is the first intelligently ing the Pesach season discloses a lamentable result, the dire indigence of Jewish holiday records. For rea­ sons assumed to be economic, the bigname manufacturers shy away from pressing discs that, while labeled ed­ ucational and enjoyable, would still cater only to a limited segment of the record buying public. The small com­ panies, interested in a Jewish reper­ toire, are often sponsored by or in close affiliation with orthodox institu­ tions. Yet they hover over 78 rpm shellac records which are cheap to produce with a small program re­ quired. At that, most of these Jewish firms gear their output toward the juvenile trade. What parent will not shmeichel upon hearing his offspring repeat the Mah Nishtanoh after a phonograph record? A safe bet.

Comes along a man with a new idea for adults. Why not combine the re­ vealing features of a story with the musical enjoyment of a record illus­ trating that story? His name is Dr. Sidnèy Reisberg, and he call's the un­ usual combination a “Soundbook.” As a first attempt at a Jewish subject, Book-Records, Inc. released THE TIME OF SINGING: The Story and Songs of Passover.* It is an attrac­ tive little volume, appropriately illus­ trated, with the 10-inch record con­ tained in a pocket which forms the backpage. This could have been a completely successful labor of love, * THE TIME OF SINGING. The Story and Songs of Passover. Book and Record Conibination. Text by Harriet Herbst; Music directed by Richard J. Neumann; Soloist: Michael Alexander (Baritone). Cover design by Anton Ref regier.

Book-Records, Inc. Price $4.95 (complete with book and 10" LP record).

March-April, 1956

selected and appealingly produced long-playing record of music con­ nected with the Pesach season that has come to this writer’s attention.

Alas, it becomes the more incompre­ hensible that the painstaking effort and care for authenticity employed in the preparation of the record are not matched by the interpretation of the holiday story in the book. Whether through ignorance or by design the elaborate description of the historical Pesach rituals is distorted to such degree as to border on vilification: “Actually, Passover was an established festival long before the Exodus. . . . In ancient times, a shepherd’s festival known as Pesach was celebrated in the spring. In the month when the lambs and kids were born, wandering herds­ men, who tended their flocks in the hills, would perform a sacrificial ritual. At sundown, on the first night of the full moon, each family slaughtered a young goat or lamb. Its blood was rubbed on the tent posts. The animal was then roasted whole and eaten in haste by moonlight. 'fk “As time went oh, another spring ceremonial came to be celebrated by groups of nomads who had settled m the more fertile valleys to the south. At the opening of the barley season, the tillers of the soil observed the Feast of Matsos. . . . All food made with fer­ mented dough, everything which rep­ resented the leaven of last year s crop, was burned. Then the ceremony of the “omer” was performed—‘the first sheaf of new-cut grain was offered by the community as a gift to the gods.

The aim of both ceremonies was the same. Each invoked the aid of their tribal gods in safeguarding the family or tribe, and the herds and crops upon which they depended for sustenance.

Gradually, as the nomadic shepherds found adequate pasturage for their flocks in the more settled areas, they joined with the farmers in celebration of the common spring holiday. The rituals of both festivals were combined to form Passover.”

In search after possible “documen­ tary evidence” for such preposterous

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“editing” of history, this reviewer found the following statements which he offers without comment (italics m ine): “Passover, occurring on the full moon of the first month of spring, is the great festival of the re-birth of Nature, and also commemorates historically^ the exodus from Egypt” (Louis Finkelstem in ‘The Beliefs and Practices of Judaism’) .”

“The Passover festival, which had been transformed from a nature fes­ tival to an historic one. . .

(Mordecai M. Kaplan in “The Contribution of Judaism to World Ethics.”)

In sharp contrast to the unfor­ tunate historical untruths stands the unique record itself. By its very con­ tents and manner of presentation it refutes all analytical fantasies. Its message is real—and it is orthodox!

Michael Alexander, a pleasant bari­ tone of medium range, does not pro­ nounce \he Shem in any of the 13, charming numbers. In one of the Yid­ dish songs “Velcher Yomtov” he ac­ tually describes in one sentence what Pesach is and why we celebrate it.

No disparagements here. The con­ tinuous enjoyment of the half-hour long disc is enhanced by the diversifi­ cation of its selections, some of which are sure to satisfy the most discrimi­ nating listener. Ma Nishtanah is of­ fered in the delightful version sung

Children ' One happy circumstance deserving of note in these columns is the pres­ ent concentration of almost all Jewish records on the market in the hands of one single distributing firm. Up to recent months Jewish parents had to hunt for records wherever they might have been on display; there was no unified catalogue available. Today, thanks to Mr. Z’ev Kronish of the House of Menorah, 257 East Broad­ way, New York City, readers request­ ing a list of current Jewish records may obtain a comprehensive list ar­ ranged according to specialties, with March-April, 1956

by Israeli children; Avodim Hoymu and Eliyohu Hanovi are based on Chassidic tunes; the brochah for S’fira, and the Kaddish before T’filas Tal follow the traditional liturgical melodies; excerpts from Shir Ha Shirim are of Yemenite origin, To these ears, however, the prize belongs to the dramatic performance of “Vos vet zain.” Here the soloist has cap­ tured the true chassidic spirit in the well-known Yiddish question-and-answer discourse which anticipates the arrival of Moshiach. Much credit must also go to Richard J. Neumann who directed the music and whose unusual arrangement of Dayenuf mixed with the Ma Nishtanah nigun, proves a successful experiment. The artists providing the piano, organ and wind accompaniments are not identified.

The cover design by Anton Refregier seems to emphasize the “Nature’ fes­ tival. The text written by Harriet Herbst, and described as “a refresh­ ing, new literary contribution to an understanding of Passover,” serves none of these three intents. It helps to confuse the public’s mind and to defeat the worthwhile purpose of the Soundbook idea. If you can throw the book away, you will have left a fine Jewish record, indeed one that might well be labeled a “collector’s item.

Records description of contents and prices. This department has neither heard nor endorses all the selections. The follow­ ing brief comments relate solely to the children’s records for Pesach.

With the exception of the first album they may be ordered through the House of Menorah. The speed on all of them is 78 rpm.

1. PESACH HOLIDAY SONGS, performed by Seymour Silbermintz and ensemble. Two 10" records in album. Price $2.95.

(Reviewed in April, 1954 issue of J e w i s h L i f e .)

57

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Still by far the best album for the orthodox Jewish home. Highly recommended. The distributors are Dauntless International, 750 Tenth Avenue, New York City.

Talmud Torahs and Yeshivoth are allowed special discounts when ordering directly from To­ rah Umesorah, 5 Beekman Street, New York 38, N. Y. 2 . PESACH ALBUM (Menorah).

Two 10" records in album. Man­ ual sequence. Price $2.95.

Hebrew spoken in Sephardith.

The Shew, is pronounced. Text for Kindergarten age {Sample: “G-d chose Moses to have a chat with Pharaoh.”) Not recommended.

3. PASSOVER (Tikva). One 10" record in sturdy liner, with text.

Price $1.25.

Holiday music sung by Cantor Abraham Davis. Shew, not pro­ nounced. But use of Sephardith, especially in the Kiddush, not practical when most American homes—as of today—still speak Ashkenasith. Connecting narra­ tion offers continuity. Piano ac­ companiment sounds improvised.

Features new Chad Gad-Ya by Julius Grossman. Recommended.

4. PASSOVER (Noam). One 10" record in envelope, with text.

Price $.98.

This project, apparently Cantor Davis’ own, duplicates Tikva to some extent. On Noam the good cantor chooses to sing in Ashken­ asith. Again he features Grossman’s new Chad Gad-Ya. How­ ever, Tikva’s sound is superior, it is also a better buy since more selections are recorded on its two sides than on Noam’s.

5. FIER KASHES. (The Four Ques­ tions). Sung in Yiddish by the Malavsky Family Choir. One 10" record in jacket, with text. Price $1.25 (also available on 45 rpm).

I nominate their Mah Nishtanah, in full oratorio-style chorus with organ and Grand Opera finish, for the Hall of Horrors. However, one amusing little sidelight. When recounting the two-time dipping they quickly explain, once in Charoses and once in saltwater.

How the Mi She’oso Nisim (from Rosh Chodesh Benshen) got on this Pesach record is anyone’s guess.

6. WHY IS THIS NIGHT DIFFER­ ENT? (Menorah). One 7" record.

Price $.44.

This little disc contains excerpts from the larger Menorah album reviewed above. Same lyrics and narration.

7. MENORAH’S LITTLE SEDER (Menorah). Two 7" records. Price $1.69.

Shew,-not pronounced. Hebrew in Sephardith. These two unbreak­ able discs in a cardboard folder (called “albumette”) can easily be handled by small children.

Recommended for juvenile lis­ teners in the 6-8 year age group.

It contains all the brochoth for the Seder night. The voices heard in narration and song are par­ ticularly appealing.

8. ADVENTURES OF AN AFIKOMAN (Reena). One 10" record in envelope. Price $1.08.

Animation of historical material by an exciting little narrative.

(Reviewed in April 1954 issue.)

The 13th century Talmudic commentator, Mordecai ben Hillel, author of the great legal code, “Ha-Mordecai,” asserted with logical evidences from Biblical and Talmudical texts that Purim is as great as the day the Torah was given to Israel at Mount Sinai.

March-April, 1956

59

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JEWISH LIFE

Where Tradition Reigns

By JOSEPH M. BAUMGARTEN AN OLD FAITH IN THE NEW WORLD—Portrait of Shearith Israel 1654-1964, by David and Tamar De Sola Pool, Columbia University Press, New York, 1955, 595 pp., $15.

TT WAS THE spring of 1895. A tense ^ meeting was in progress at Shearith ■ Israel. The trustees of the congrega­ tion had decided to leave the beauti­ ful synagogue on Nineteenth Street.

Attendance in the old building had been dwindling sharply. A new house of prayer would have to be built farI ther north in Manhattan. But what shall be the form of worship in the new structure? Shall it continue the old time-honored pattern followed hitherto, or was the. time ripe for a few “improvements ?” One proposal called for the introduction of family pews and an organ. Others insisted that the fixed prayers should be fewer in number; repetition must be avoided.

These reforms, they urged, would give new strength and influence to the con­ gregation. German liberalism was in­ evitably destined to capture the American Jewish community.

Then a young lawyer, named Ben­ jamin N. Cardozo, asked for the floor.

He spoke forthrightly in firm opposi­ tion to any change in the orthodox traditions of the synagogue. The ad­ dress of Mr. Cardozo, who was to become a Justice of the Supreme Court and one of America’s leading jurists, was “impressive in ability and eloquence.” A vote was taken.

The proposed changes were defeated

by an overwhelming majority of seventy-three to seven. “Shearith Is­ rael’s classic traditionalism was again vindicated to remain as the inviolate quality of America’s first synagogue.”

This is one of many interesting events in the long history of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue portrayed with vivid artistry by Dr. and Mrs. De Sola Pool.

“An Old Faith in the New World” tells in detail the story of Congrega­ tion Shearith Israel from its begin­ nings three hundred years ago to the present time. It begins in September 1654 with a group of twenty-three Jews who arrive in Nieuw Amster­ dam to seek a haven of refuge from the Portuguese Inquisition.

The climax is reached in a solemn pro­ cession of Torah scrolls carried by the spiritual descendants of those early pioneers. This service inaugur­ ated the recent tercentenary celebra­ tion of Jewish settlement in the United States.

PRESENT volume complements THERabbi Pool’s “ P o r t r a i t s E t c he d in Stone,” published in 1953. The lat­ ter was a study of the lives of some early Jewish settlers. Both works are the impressive products of years of painstaking research into historical documents, personal papers, archives, and congregational minutes. Even the remnant of the ancient congrega­ tional cemetery on Chatham Square has yielded some precious bits of in­ formation. Thus, we learn from tomb

61

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JEWISH LIFE

inscriptions that already in the eight­ eenth century Ashkenazim constituted a majority of the membership of the Sephardi synagogue. Today, Shearith Israel boasts one of the most cosmo­ politan memberships of any syna­ gogue in the world. Within its portals Jews from more than sixty countries gather to participate in the stately dignity of its services. Yet, the Ash­ kenazim are still the most zealous guardians of every bit of Sephardi minhag.

In sixteen sepárate chapters, the authors have recounted the history of the foundation of the congregation, its repeated northward migrations in Manhattan, the preservation of its liturgy and ritual, the story of its renowned ministers and pamassini, the educational, social, and philan­ thropic work of the congregation, and the biographies of some of its dis­ tinguished leaders. This arrangement, though logical, results inevitably in giving the book the character of a detailed chronicle ^rather than a sifted history. Happily, Dr. Pool is a master of the English language and his rev­ erent love for the traditions of his congregation animates every page with the breath of life.

What is most impressive in the story of Americans first congregation is not its valiant survival over three hundred years, but its unswerving loyalty to orthodox Judaism. Until 1825 Shearith Israel was the only synagogue in New York. It was the heart of the Jewish community. Since then its activities have continued to pulsate in harmony with every posi­ tive movement in American life. From Asser Levy, the sturdy champion of Jewish rights in Nieuw Amsterdam to Edgar J. Nathan Jr., a descendant of the twenty-three founders and the present president o f the congregation, its men have been leaders in public affairs. Yet, throughout, the sanctity of the synagogue has been preserved unscathed. Unquestioning reverence for Jewish law has become an integral March-April, 1956

part of the congregation’s heritage.

HEARITH ISRAEL has played a pioneer role in the organization of Orthodoxy in the United States. It was Dr. Pereira Mendes, one of the congregation’s renowned ministers, who in 1898 formed the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America. The founding session of the Union was held in the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue and Dr. Men­ des was elected its first president. He served in that office for fifteen years.

In 1913 an urgent appeal by Solomon Schechter to join the Conservative movement was rejected by Dr. Men­ des. The trustees of the synagogue, he replied, feel that they must, be loyal to the traditions of orthodox Judaism; the term “conservative” has the flavor of temporizing and the odor of compromise.

What is responsible for the tra­ ditionalism of this congregation?

What is the source of its unique religious stability? Perhaps the an­ swer lies in the word minhag. It is the profound respect for the timehonored custom, for ancient heritage, for the beauties of Jewish observance, which have always distinguished the noble traditions of Sephardi Jewry.

The American Jewish community has just completed the festivities marking its 300th birthday. By the timeless standards of the Jeivish past, three hundred years is not a long span. Nevertheless, there are impor­ tant insights to be gained from a sober study of this period. Many American synagogues are still in the primitive stage of religious experimentation.

They want desperately to avoid being “old-fashioned” ; they would like to be fully adjusted to modern American life. The story of this synagogue which is coextensive with that of American Jewry can be an invaluable guide in this adjustment. For by ad­ hering faithfully to its minhag, Shea­ rith Israel has demonstrated that “an old faith” can flourish in “the new world.”

S

63

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JEWISH LIFE

Science Is Catching Up!

By ISRAEL GERSTE1N A BOOK OF JEWISH CURIOSITIES,

by David M. Hausdorf, Crown Pub­ lishers, Inc*.* New York, 1955, 272 p p . , $ 3 .5 0 .

WHO is accustomed to heavy ONEscholarly tomes on Judaism may

While the book’s ostensible purpose is entertainment, it also provides a rather painless and pleasant road to useful knowledge in Jewish religion and history. .Each of the categories such as: “Discoveries and Inventions,” “Phys­ ics,” “Law,” “Psychology” and “Med­ icine,” has an introduction that one may read with interest and profit.

on his first encounter with this book treat it with an air of aloofness, mut­ tering under his breath, “What is its purpose?” A string of statements, loosely held together by categories, but having one thing in common, MPLICIT in the book is a love and namely strangeness, do not add up reverence for Jewish faith and life to a book. Still, resisting the prejudice which is bound to prove contagious. based upon the first impression, one In his simple but ingenious manner reads on and finds that the book the author demonstrates that the lat­ grows on him, for it fascinates him. est scientific discovery validates an­ And one comes across passages that cient Jewish practice. On page 140, he would like to treasure, for they for example, he quotes a Canadian sparkle gem-like. Moreover, one dis­ surgeon, a non-Jew, who found in his covers that the book, despite the au­ researches that the eighth day is the thor’s disclaimer, does project a ideal time for circumcision. Through­ thesis. out the book one comes across similar Th^ author has roamed over the statements of Jewish law, followed by vast field of Jewish literature, the excerpts from recent newspaper sacred literature that is, such as the stories which show that science has Bible, the Talmud and the Midrashim, just caught up with centuries-old and plucked therefrom statements Jewish practice. that are bound to excite wonder and The over-all thesis which the author to astound many a reader who will seems to project is that the architects exclaim: “How in the world could of Judaism were way ahead of their these men who lived thousands of years ago arrive at conclusions which times. Hence the inference that their science has discovered only recently!” teachings in the religious and moral However, in a number of cases the spheres cannot be dismissed as dated author deduces scientific foreknowl­ or obsolete. This thesis is never stated but each reader will draw his own con­ edge in the Bible from poetic figures of speech. For example, the fact that clusion. the Psalmist in chapter XIX says: -----JEWISH POCKET BOOKS “ 1. . there is no speech . . . their voice A series of 12 attractive books illuminat­ is not heard,” does not necessarily ing the Jewish way of life and thought prove that he was a Marconi or had a WITH PLASTIC BOOK STAND $3.98 radio set at his disposal. Still there WRIT® FOR BROCHURE are many other statements which JEWISH POCKET BOOKS would justify the author in saying 33 W. 42 St., Room 642, New York 36, N. Y. to his readers: believe it or not!

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JEWISH LIFE

ACTION ON ADOPTION

Yonkers, New York Let us hope that the article by Rabbi Morris Max on the subject of adoption will be widely read and that its in­ fluence will be widely felt. It is very unfortunate that the comparative in­ activity of Orthodoxy in past years re­ sulted in the Jewish adoption agency in New York being governed by people to whom the Torah's laws are not just matters of indifference, but matters to be defied. Perhaps it is not too late for orthodox action in other parts of the country; admonition alone is usually insufficient. Another point for concern lies in several well-publicized cases re­ cently where non-Jewish mothers gave their children out for adoption imme­ diately after birth to Jewish couples, and later sued to get them back. Con­ sidering the state of - emotional im­ balance in which unmarried women must be at the time of child-birth,' it would seem only fair that laws should be enacted forbidding final adoption until, let us say, a year had passed following birth. Much agony could thus be avoided. One more matter: Rabbi Max indicated that during the past twenty years the number of child­ less Jewish couples has greatly in­ creased. Considering the comparative fertility of Jews in the past, one nat­ urally wonders why. Can it be that a retribution is at last appearing for the gross neglect of the Jewish laws of Family Purity—separation and mikMarch-April, 1956

vah—and for the widespread practice of the un-Jewish and unholy device of promiscuous contraception?

A. A. Davidson * * * SUPPORTS CHERUTH

New York, N. Y. I have just read Mr. Halevi-Levin’s letter in your Adar issue, in regard to the Cheruth movement, and I cannot remain silent.

■ ri .

First he says that the Revisionist Party was violently anti-labor. The Revisionist movement was never anti­ labor either violently or otherwise.

Most of the Revisionists in Israel and all over the world always have been laborers. The Revisionist movement was a political opponent of the Histadruth and the Mapai, but this oppo­ sition was initiated by the Socialists and not by the Revisionists in a cam­ paign during the 1930's to force all Revisionist sympathizers out of their jobs, as well as a program through the Jewish Agency to deny immigra­ tion certificates to Revisionist and Betar Olim. In this campaign the Re­ visionists refused to give up their jobs and starve genteely. To Mr. Halevi-Levin this is a mortal sin. I do not think many readers will agree. No one will maintain that John L. Lewis is anti-labor because the United Mine Workers do not belong to the AFLCIO. What the Revisionists then and now considered of primary importance was that the interests of any one class 67

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68 JEWISH LIFE

of society could not be placed before tory and population on both sides of the overriding necessity of building the Jordan.

Yitzchok Heimowitz Israel.

Vice-Pre&ident, Brith The next piece of “evidence” is that Trumpeldor of America the Revisionist youth organization, * * * Betar, has uniforms and military WARY OF MISINTERPRETATION terminology. Are the uniforms of the Bronx, N. Y. Boy Scouts, or even closer to home, “Judaism is a democratic theocracy of the B’nai Akiva, Mizrachi’s youth group, also evidences of “incipient At first glance, this phrase by Dr. fascism?”

Samuel Belkin, in the Adar 5716 issue, We are also given as an example is a little startling. A careless reader of “demagogy” the fact that Cheruth could form an incorrect' conclusion. called for the use of Israel’s fleet to Theocracy is rule by G-d through save the Jews of North Africa. While priests and ministers. Ordinarily, this no one disputes that the Jewish means an exclusive set-up or oligarchy.

Agency is working on financial or This does not apply to Judaism, which absorbtion schemes, there is a differ­ is the very point that Dr. Belkin ence of opinion as to how pressing is makes. It is incumbent on all of us, as the need to get the Jews out of North Jews, to be priestly ministers of G-d; Africa to save their lives. There was and in this sense, Judaism is “demo­ a similar disagreement in the 1930’s cratic.” It is “democratic” because we about the Jews of Europe and the are all on the same level, we are all Revisionists were accused of dema­ equal, in the privilege of praying to gogy then. We know what the outcome G-d for His help; and, as Dr. Belkin was there. Cheruth maintains that explains, we do not require the inter­ absorbtive capacity is an excuse rather mediary of a rabbi. than a reason. Pikuach nefesh docheh But we are not equal or “demo­ Shabboth, The danger to life and cratic” in any other respect; certainly death takes precedence over the Sab­ not with respect to legislation or in­ bath. Cheruth believes that it also terpretation of laws. Of course this is ought to take precedence over “absorb­ the crux of our difficulties that We tive considerations.” This is disagree­ Think” we .can legislate by rule of the ment in basic philosophy and in the majority instead of conforming with ideas of what constitutes practical Torah as interpreted by Torah experts politics. But is this concern for the and authorities.

Our faith is not based on the Voice lives of Jews a sign of “incipient of the People but on the Voice of G,-d fascism”?

Mr. Halevy-Levin cites Cheruth’s as communicated to Moses.

Isaac Cohen “militarism” and says Cheruth seizes every opportunity to call for war as Deluxe WHIPPED CREAM opposed to the isolated punitive “re­ Fluff flavors, stiffens and taliations.” To this we plead guilty. makes whipped cream go .

As far as the retaliations go we feel further! Add cream to Fluff ^ before whipping. No they are worse than useless since they other flavoring or sweet­ alienate world public opinion without ening is necessary! at the same time accomplishing the goal of ending border violence. The basic problems of survival and peace­ ful integration in the middle East can only be met by an Israel large in terriMarch-April, 1956

69

UNION OF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA

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

KASHRUTH DIRECTORY Issued Nisan, 5716 — A pril, 1956

LOOK FOR THE

@

SEAL — AND BE SURE!

The © seal is your guarantee of communallyresponsibly Kashruth supervision and endorsement, conducted as a public service by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregation of America, UOJCA. All items in this Directory are ©, receive the con­ stant inspection of and are passed upon by the Rabbinical Council of America, Rabbinic body of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations.

CONSUMERS ARE CAUTIONED TO:

• Make sure that the © seal is on the label of every food product.

• Make sure that the seal shown on thè label is the © — beware of imitations !

• Read carefully the lièt of ingredients of each © product to ascertain whether it is a meat or dairy product. The © does not necessarily mean that the product is Pareve.

Please note that the © seal of Kashruth supervision and endorsement is exclusively the symbol of: Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America 305 Broadway, New York 7, N. Y. BEekman 3-2220 70

JEWISH LIFE

APPLE BUTTER MUSSELMAN'S ( C . H . M usselm a n C o ., B ig le rv ille , P a .)

APPLE SAUCE MUSSELMAN'S (C. H . M usselm a n C o ., B ig le r v ille , P a .)

Junior Vegetable Soup Junior Banana Dessert Junior Puddings * Junior Plums with Tapioca * Junior Fruit Dessert * Junior Chocolate Pudding (B e e c h -N u t P a ck in g C o ., N. Y . C . )

BEANS

HEINZ—with © label only Strained Vegetables & Salmon Strained Cream of Tuna Strained Bananas Strained Creamed Spinach * Strained Creamed Garden Vegetables Strained Vegetables Strained Fruits Chopped Mixed Vegetables Strained Puddings Strained Orange Juice Strained Tomato .Soup Strained Vegetable Soup * Strained Mixed Fruit Dessert Pre-Cooked Cereals (Barley, Oatmeal, Rice) Junior Creamed Carrots Junior Vegetables * Junior Mixed Fruit Dessert * Junior Creamed Garden Vegetables Junior Fruits Junior Vegetable Soups Junior Puddings (H . J . H e in z Co., P ittsb u rg h , P a .) t BEECH-NUT—with © label only Strained Vegetables Strained Fruits Strained Vegetable Soup Strained Tomato Soup Strained Puddings Strained Fruit Dessert Strained Plums with Tapioca Cereals Junior Vegetables Junior Fruits

HEINZ BEANS with molasses sauce HEINZ BEANS in tomato sauce (H . J . H e in z C o ., P ittsb u rg h , P a .)

FRESHPAK VEGETARIAN BEANS in tomato sauce (G r a n d U n io n F o o d M arkets/ E a st P a te rso n , N . J . )

BLEACHES

* PUREX BEADS O'BLEACH (P u re x Carp., L td ., S o u th G a t e , C a lif .)

¿ ^ ^ ^ I j C A K E S , CO O K IES CRACKERS ®P BARTONS BONBONNIERE (B a rto n , In c ., B ro o k ly n , N . Y .)

*©P CONTINENTAL FAVOURITES ( A B C B a k in g C o ., B 'k ly n , N. Y .)

DROMEDARY Chocolate Nut Roll Date Nut Roll Orange Nut Roll (above contain milk) (T h e D ro m e d a ry Co., N. Y. C .) * MOTHER'S * FAMILY * GRANDMA'S * TREASURE ISLAND * OLD MISSION (M o th e r's C a k e & C o o k ie C o ., O a k la n d , C a l.)

All items listed in this Directory bear the © seal. ..

Items listed ©P are kosher for Passover when bearing this or any other U U JL.A Passover hechsher on the label. , , , , Items listed • are kosher for Passover without Passover hechsher on the laoei. * indicates new © endorsement. ________ March-April, 1956

71

UOJCA KASHRUTH DIRECTORY Cakes (Cont'd)

©

CEREA LS

GOLDEN CRACKNEL EGG BISCUITS (G o ld e n C r a c k n e l & S p e c . C o ., D e tro it, M ich .)

SKINNER'S Raisin-Bran Raisin Wheat (S k in n e r M fg . C o ., O m a h a , N e b .)

RY-KRISP (R a lsto n -P u rin a C o ., St. L o u is, M o.)

C A K E FLOUR

RALSTON Instant Ralston Regular Ralston (R a lsto n -P u rin a C o ., St. Lo u is, M o.)

* Swans Down Regular * Swans Down Self Rising ( G e n e r a l F o o d s C o r p ., W h ite P la in s, N . Y .)

C A K E M IXES DROMEDARY Date Muffin Mix Fudge Frosting Mix 'Corn Bread Mix Corn Muffin Mix .Cup Cake Mix »Devil's Food Mix Fruit Cake Mix Gingerbread Mix White Cake Mix * Honey & Spice Mix * Angel Food Mix * Yellow Cake Mix * Pound Cake Mix

CO N D IM EN TS, SEASONING ®P GOLD'S HORSERADISH

( G o ld P u re F o o d s , B ro o k ly n , N

Y.J

HEINZ Horseradish 5 7 Sauce Chilli Sauce Hot Dog Relish Barbecue Relish Worcestershire Sauce Tomato Ketchup (H . J . H e in z C o . , P ittsb u rg h , P a .)

LAWRY'S SEASONED SALT (L a w ry 's P ro d u cts, In c ., Lo s A n g e le s , C a l.)

©P MOTHER'S HORSERADISH (M o th e r's F o o d P ro d u cts, N e w a rk , N . J . )

PRIDE OF THE FARM CATSUP (H u n t F o o d s In c ., F u lle rto n , C a l.)

CORN PRODUCTS— Bulk

(T h e D ro m e d a ry C o ., N . Y. C .)

CAM PS (for children) * CAMP KE-YU-MA ( G r a s s L a k e , M ich ., O ffice : 4 7 7 9 G le n d a le Awe., D e tro it, M ich .)

* OK PEARL CORN STARCH f* OK POWD. CORN STARCH ** OK WAXY MAIZE STARCH * OK CORN SYRUP UNMIXED * OK DRI-SWEET CORN SYRUP SOLIDS (T h e H u b in g e r C o . , K e o k u k , Io w a )

CORN ST A R C H — Packaged * POP'S / * TIGER (T h e

H u b in g e r C o ., K e o k u k , Io w a )

CR A N B ER R Y SAUCE CAN DY

@P EATMOR {M a rris A p r il B ro th e rs, B rid g e to n , N . J . )

DROMEDARY (T h e D ro m e d a ry C o ., N . Y . C . )

©P BARTON'S BONBONNIERE (B a rto n , In c ., B ro o k ly n , N . Y .)

72

©P APRIL ORCHARDS (M o rris A p r il B ro th e rs, B rid g e to n , N . J . )

JEWISH LIFE

UOJCA KÀSHRUTH DIRECTORY DESSERT TO PPING

* CASCADE (T h e P ro cte r & G a m b le C o ., C in c in n a ti, O h io )

• QWIP (A v o se t C o m p a n y , S a n F ra n c isc o , C a l.)

D IE T E T IC FOODS

DRESSINGS GARBER'S MISROCHI SALAD DRESSING

©P MOTHER'S LOW CALORIE BORSCHT (M o th e r's F o o d P ro d u cts, N e w a rk , N. J .) *• SUGARINE LIQUID SWEETENER ( Th e S u g a r in e Co., Mt. V e rn o n , III.)

DETERGENTS (S e e a lso D ish w a sh in g D e te rg e n ts)

( G a r b e r 's E a g le O il C o r p ., B 'k ly n , N . Y .)

HEINZ FRENCH DRESSING (H. J . H e in z C o ., P ittsb u rg h , P a .)

MOTHER'S Salad Dressing ©P Mayonnaise (M o th e r's F o o d P ro d u cts, N e w a rk , N . J . )

• ALL

(M o n sa n to C h e m ic a l Co., St. Lo u is, M o .)

WISH-BONE ITALIAN SALAD DRESSING

*

(K . C . W ish b o n e S a la d D re ssin g C o ., K a n sa s C it y , M o.)

GLIM (B . T. B a b b it In c ., N e w Y o r k , N . Y .)

• AD • FAB • KIRKMAN * • KIRKMAN BLUE • SUPER SUDS BLUE • LIQUID VEL • VEL (C o lg a te -P a lm o liv e Co., J e r s e y C it y , N. J . ) • AMERICAN FAMILY • CHEER * • DASH • DREFT JOY • OXYDOL • TIDE *• BLUE DUZ (T h e P ro cte r & G a m b le Co., C in c in n a t i O h io ) •

LINCO LIQUID DETERGENT (Lin e o P ro d . C o r p ., C h ic a g o , III.)

• TREND • LIQUID TREND (P u r e x C o r p . L td ., S o u th G a t e , C a lif .)

D ISH W A SH IN G M A C H IN E DETERGENTS (S e e a lso D e te rg e n ts)

• DISH-WASHER ALL (M o n sa n to C h e m ic a l C o ., St. L o u is, M o .)

•

FINISH (E co n o m ic L a b o ra to ry , In c ., St. P a u l, M in n .)

March-April, 1956

*

DEMING'S SALMON (D e m in g & G o u ld C o ., B e llin g h a m , W a s h .)

* EATWELL TUNA

(S ta r-K ist F o o d s, In c ., T e rm in a l Is la n d , C a l.)

MOTHER'S OLD FASHIONED @P Gefilte Fish (M o th e r's F o o d P ro d u cts, N e w a rk , N . J . )

ROYAL SNACK Cream Herring Matjes Fillets Spiced Herring Lunch Herring Herring Cocktail Tidbits Salmon (in wine sauce) (S . A . H a ra m C o ., N . Y . C .)

©p 1000 SPRINGS RAINBOW TROUT (S n a k e R iv e r Tro u t C o ., B u h l, Id a h o )

STAR-KIST * Tuna * Egg Noodles & Tuna Dinner (S ta r-K ist F o o d s, In c ., T e rm in a l Is la n d , C a l.)

73

UOJCA KASHRUTH DIRECTORY Fish Products

(C ont'd * SUNKIST LEMON CONCENTRATE * EXCHANGE LEMON CONCENTRATE * CAL-GROVE LEMON CONCENTRATE * CALEMON LEMON CONCENTRATE (E x c h a n g e Le m o n P ro d . Co., C o r o n a , C a l.) * SUNKIST FROZEN CONCENTRATED ORANGE JUICE

VITA * Bismarck Herring * Lunch Herring * Cream Fillets * Party Snacks * Cocktail Herring Fillets * Herring in wine sauce * Spiced Anchovies * Pickled Salmon * Whitefish Roe Caviar * Salmon Roe Caviar * Anchovy Paste (V it a F o o d P ro d u cts, In c ., N .

(E x c h a n g e O r a n g e P ro d ., O n t a r io , C a l. )

FR U IT (Dried)— bulk only (d)P CALIFORNIA PACKING CORP. (S a n F ra n c isc o , C a l.)

Y. C .)

FLAVORS *©P MERORY FLAVORS, INC. (L a k e H ia w a th a , N. J . )

FLAVO R IM PROVER ACCENT (In te rn a tio n a l M in e ra ls a n d C h e m ic a l C o ., C h ic a g o , III.) *

GREAT WESTERN MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE (MSG) (T h e G r e a t W e ste rn S u g a r C o ., D e n v e r, C o lo .)

FRU ITS— Packaged DROMEDARY Dates Fruits and Peels Moist Coconut Shredded Coconut

(T h e D ro m e d a ry C o ., N . Y. C . )

MUSSELMAN'S Cherries Sliced Apples (C . H . M usselm a n C o ., B ig le r v ille , P a .)

G LYC ER ID ES

EMCOL MSVK

(T h e E m u lso l C o r p ., C h ic a g o , III.)

FOOD PACKAGES ®P CARE

(N e w Y o r k , N . Y .)

FOOD FREEZER PLAN YITZCHOK GOLDBERG & SONS (N e w Y o r k , N . Y .)

* DISTILLED MONOGLYCERIDE EMULSIFIER-—with © label only (D is tilla tio n P ro d u cts In d u s trie s, D iv isio n Ea stm an K o d a k C o ., R o ch e ste r, N . Y .)

G LY C ER IN E— Synthetic SHELL SYNTHETIC GLYCERINE (S h e ll C h e m ic a l C o r p ., N . Y . C . )

>

FRO ZEN FO O DS

HO N EY ©P GARBER'S M1SROCHI ( G a r b e r E a g le O i l C o r p ., B 'k ly n , N . Y . j

MILADY'S Blintzes (blueberry, cherry, cheese, potato—all are milchig) Waffles (M ila d y F o o d P r o d ., B ro o k ly n , N. Y .)

ASSOCIATED WAFFLES (A s s o c ia te d F o o d S to re s Coop., N. Y. C .)

PURE DAIRY WAFFLES (S e r v ic e F ro z e n F o o d C o r p ., B 'k ly n , N . Y .)

©P 1000 SPRINGS RAINBOW TROUT (S n a k e R iv e r T ro u t Co., B u h l, Id a h o ) 74

(See a lso S c o u rin g

P o w d e rs, D e te rg e n ts a n d D ish w a sh in g D e te rg e n ts)

BRIGHT SAIL (A & P F o o d S to re s, N . Y .)

JEWISH LIFE

1

UOJCA KASHRUTH DIRECTORY

IN D U STR IA L CLEAN SERS

Household Cleansers

ARCTIC SYNTEX M BEADS

©P BRILLO PRODUCTS

(C o lg a te -P a lm o liv e C o . , J e r s e y C it y , N . J . )

N. Y .)

CAMEO COPPER CLEANER

(B rillo M fg . C o ., B ro o k ly n ,

INSTITUTION X ORVUS EXTRA GRANULES ORVUS HY-TEMP GRANULES ORVUS NEUTRAL GRANULES CREAM SUDS

(C a m e o C o r p ., C h ic a g o , III.)

• DURA SOAP FILLED PADS (D u ra w o o l, In c ., Q u e e n s V illa g e ,

(Q )

N. Y .)

(T h e P ro cte r & G a m b le C o ., C in c in n a ti, O h io )

• SPIC & SPAN (T h e P ro c te r & G a m b le C o ., C in c in n a ti, O h io )

LIQUID TREND OLD DUTCH CLEANSER • TREND

JAM S A N D JE LLIE S HEINZ JELLIES

•

(H . J . H e in z C o ., P ittsb u rg h , P a .)

®P BARTON'S BONBONNIERE (B a rto n , In c ., B ro o k ly n , N . Y .)

(P u re x C o r p ., L td ., S o u th G a t e , C a l.)

MY PAL (P a l P ro d u cts C o . , B ro o k ly n , N . Y .)

JU IC ES

HEINZ TOMATO JUICE

(H . J . H e in z C o . , P ittsb u rg h , P a .)

SOILAX (E co n o m ics L a b o ra to ry , In c ., St. P a u l, M in n .)

• SPRITE ( S in c la ir M fg . C o ., T o le d o , O h io )

ICE CREAM, SHERBET

MUSSELMAN'S Apple Juice Tomato Juice ( C . H . M ussulm an C o ., B ig le rv ille , P a .) * SUNKIST LEMON JUICE * EXCHANGE LEMON JUICE * ÇAL-GROVE LEMON JUICE (E x c h a n g e Lem on P ro d.- C o ., C o ro n a , C a l.) *

SUNKIST FROZEN CONCENTRATED ORANGE JUICE (E x c h a n g e O r a n g e P ro d ., O n t a rio , C a l.)

®P BARTON'S BONBONNIERE (B a rto n , In c ., B ro o k ly n , N . Y .)

COSTA'S FRENCH ICE CREAM (C o s ta 's Ic e C r e a m N . J.)

C o ., W o o d b r id g e ,

MET TEE-VEE (M a rc h io n y Ic e C re a m C o ., N . Y . C ., d is trib u te d b y M e tro p o lita n F o o d C o ., B ro o k ly n , N . Y .)

CRYSTAL BRAND (milchig) (L. D a itch & C o ., N . Y . C .)

DILBRO (milchig) [D ilb e rt B ro th e rs, In c ., G le n d a le , N . Y .)

All items listed in this Directory bear the © seal.

Items listed ©P are kosher for Passover when bearing this or any other UOJCA Passover hechsher on the label.

Items listed • are kosher for Passover without Passover hechsher on the label. * indicates new © endorsement.

March-April, 1956

75

(y )

UOJCA KASHRUTH DIRECTORY

Margarine (Cant'd) MAR-PAV (pareve) MIOLO (milchig—bulk only) NU-MAID (milchig) TABLE-KING (milchig) (M ia m i M a rg a rin e C o C in c in n a t i, O h io ) MOTHER'S PAREVE (M o th e r's F o o d P ro d u cts, N e w a rk , N . J . )

M EAT T EN D ER IZER ADOLPH'S

[A d o lp h 's F o o d P ro d u cts, B u rb a n k , C a l. )

SO-TEN (S o -T e n C o . , M e m p h is, T e n n .).. :

MONOSODIUM G LU TA M A TE (MSG) AC'CENT

NATIONAL MARGARINE SHORTENING

(In te rn a tio n a l M in e ra ls C h ic a g o , III.)

(N a t io n a l Y e a st C o r p ., B e lle v ille , N . J . )

NEW YORKER (milchig)

*

(R o sly n D istrib u to rs , In c ., M id d le V illa g e , N . Y .)

M ARSHM ALLOW TO PPING MARSHMALLOW FLUFF

M USTARD HEINZ Brown Mustard Yellow Mustard

PENNANT MARSHMAL-O (U n io n S t a rc h & R e fin in g C o ., C o lu m b u s , In d .

M AYO N N A ISE *©P MOTHER'S

GREAT WESTERN MSG (G r e a t W e ste rn S u g a r C o ., D e n v e r, C o lo .)

(D u rk e e -M o w e r, In c ., E a st L y n n , M ass.) *

& C h e m ic a l C o .,

(H . J . H e in z C o ., P ittsb u rg h , P a .)

NOODLES & M ACARO N I PRODUCTS * BUITONI MACARONI PRODUCTS (B u ito n i F o o d s C o r p ., S o . H a c k e n s a c k , N . J.)

(M o t h e r s F o o d P ro d u c ts, N e w a rk , N . J . )

GREENFIELD EGG NOODLES (G o ld e n C r a c k n e l & S p e c ia lt y C o .,

M EATS A N D PRO VISIO N S

D e tro it, M ich .)

HEINZ MACARONI CREOLE (H . J . H e in z C o ., P ittsb u rg h , P a .)

PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH EGG NOODLES YITZCHOK GOLDBERG'S ©P Meats ©P Corned Beef ©P Tongue ©P Frozen Meats ©P Salami ©P Frankfurters ©P Pastrami (I. G o ld b e r g & S o n s, 2 2 0 D e la n c e y S t., N . Y . C .)

(M e g s M a c a ro n i P r o d ., H a rr is b u r g , P a .)

SKINNER'S (S k in n e r M fg . C o ., O m a h a , N e b .) *

SOPHIE TUCKER [S o p h ie T u ck e r F o o d s , In c ., B a ltim o re , M d .)

* STAR-KIST EGG NOODLES & TUNA DINNER (S ta r-K is t F o o d s , In c ., T e rm in a l Is la n d , C a l. )

HADAR ©P Bologna ©P Corned Beef ©P Frankfurters ©P Pastrami ©P Salami ©P Tongue ( O x f o r d P ro v is io n s, In c ., 5 4 9 E. 12th S t., N e w Y o r k C it y )

76

©P GARBER'S MISROCH1 ( G a r b e r E a g le O i l C o r p ., B 'k ly n , N . Y .)

JEWISH LIFE

UOJCA KASHRUTH DIRECTORY O il

* ® P WARNER'S POTATO CHIPS

(Cont'd)

( Ea st C o a s t F o o d C o r p ., R iv e r h e a d , N. Y .)

MAZOLA (C o r n P ro d u cts R e fin in g C o r p ., N . Y .

©P NUTOLA (N u fo la P ro d u cts

C.)

Co., B 'k ly n , N . Y .)

OVEN CLEA N ER S *• HEP SAFE-T-SPRAY *• BESTWAY (B o stw ick L a b s , B r id g e p o r t ,

POU LT R Y — Frozen • YITZCHOK GOLDBERG & SONS (New Y o r k , N. Y .)

• MENORAH *• NER (M e n o ra h P ro d u cts, In c ., B oston, M ass.)

Conn.)

PEAN UT BUTTER BEECH-NUT

PREPARED SALADS HEINZ VEGETABLE SALAD

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

(H . J . H e in z C o ., P ittsb u rg h , P a .)

HEINZ

MOTHER'S Cucumber Salad Potato Salad

(H . J . H e in z C o ., P ittsb u rg h , P a .)

PIE F ILLIN G S

MUSSELMAN'S (C. H . M usselm a n C o ., B ig le r v ille , P a .)

POPCORN

TV TIME POPCORN (B & B E n te rp rise s, In c ., C h ic a g o , III.)

(M o th e r's F o o d P ro d u cts, N e w a rk , N . J . )

ROYAL SNACK Beet Salad Cole Slaw Cucumber Salad Garden Salad Potato Salad (S. A . H a ra m C o ., N . Y . C .)

VITA * Tuna Salad * Spring Garden Salad * Herring Salad (V ita F o o d P ro d ., In c ., N . Y .

GORDON'S Potato Chips Tater Sticks Potato Sticks (G o r d o n F o o d s , In c ., A tla n ta , G a .)

KOBEY'S Potato Chips Shoestring Potatoes (T a sty F o o d s In c ., D e n v e r, C o l.)

MONARCH SHOESTRING POTATOES (M o n a rch F in e r F o o d s , D iv isio n o f C o n ­ s o lid a t e d F o o d s C o r p ., C h ic a g o , III.)

SUNGLO Potato Chips Shoestring Potatoes (T a s ty F o o d s , In c ., D e n v e r, C o l.)

March-April, 1956

C.)

RELISHES PICKLES, ETC. HEINZ Pickles Dill Gherkins Dill Sandwich Chips India Relish Hot Dog Relish Pickled Onions Sweet Relish Cocktail Sauce Southern Style Relish 77

UOJCA KASHRUTH DIRECTORY RICE

Relishes, Pickles (Cont'd)

HEINZ SPANISH RICE

Sweet Cucumber Disks Sweet Cucumber Sticks * Sweet Dill Strips * Barbecue Relish Hamburger Relish

(H . J . H e in z C o ., P ittsb u rg h , P a .)

S A LT • MÖGEN DAVID KOSHER SALT

(H . J . H e im C o ., P ittsb u rg h , P a .)

( C a r e y S a lt C o . , H u tch in so n , K a n sa s)

DOLLY MADISON (H .

W. M a d iso n C o ., C le v e la n d , O h io )

MOTHER'S ©P Pickles ©P Gherkins ©P Sweet Red Peppers ©P Pimentoes ©P Pickled Tomatoes ©P Pickled Country Cabbage Hot Cherry Peppers * Pickled Country Deluxe * Spears

• MORTON COARSE KOSHER SALT • MORTON FINE TABLE SALT • MORTON IODIZED SALT (M orto n S a lt C o . , C h ic a g o , III.)

• RED CROSS FINE TABLE SALT • RED CROSS IODIZED SALT • STERLING FINE TABLE SALT • STERLING KOSHER COARSE SALT • STERLING IODIZED SALT (In te rn a tio n a l S a lt C o ., S c ra n to n , P a .)

(M o th e r's F o o d P ro d u cts, N e w a rk , N . J . )

SAUCES HEINZ SAVORY SAUCE

CAROLINA BEAUTY LITTLE SISTER WAY PACK PLAYMATES LITTLE REBEL MOUNT OLIVE PICK OF CAROLINA MOPICO

(H . J . H e in z C o ., P ittsb u rg h , P a .)

(M o u n t O/ive P ic k le C o ., M t. O liv e , N . C .)

SILVER LANE Pickles Sauerkraut

(S e e a lso H o u s e h o ld C le a n e r s , D e te rg e n ts a n d D ish w a sh in g D e te rg e n ts)

(S ilv e r L a n e P ic k le C o ., E a st H a rtf o rd , C o n n .)

VITA * Pickles * Relish * Gherkins * Peppers * Pimentoes * Onions * Kosher Chips * Cauliflower * Sweet Watermelon Rind (V ita

Food

P ro d u cts, In c ., N .

RESORTS ©P PINE VIEW HOTEL (F a lls b u r g , N . Y .j

@P WASHINGTON HOTEL (R o c k a w a y P a r k , N . Y .)

78

BAB-O (with Bleach) • BABBIT'S CLEANSER (B . T. B a b b it C o ., N . Y . C . )

CAMEO CLEANSER (C a m e o C o r p ., C h ic a g o , III.)

AJAX BEN HUR (bulk only) • KIRKMAN CLEANSER • NEW OCTAGON CLEANSER (C o lg a te -P a lm o liv e C o ., J e r s e y C it y , N . J . ) •

Y.

C .)

• GARBER'S MISROCHI CLEANSER ( G a r b e r E a g le O i l C o . , N e w Y o r k )

KITCHEN KLENZER (F it z p a t r ic k B ro s., C h ic a g o , III.)

• OLD DUTCH CLEANSER (P u re x C o r p ., L td ., S o u th G a t e , C a l. )

JEWISH LIFE

(ü )

UOJCÄ KASHRUTH DIRECTORY

Scouring Powder (Confrf)

*

(Ö )

HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE SHORT­ ENING—with © label only (T h e H u m k o Co., M em p h is, T e n n .)

• LUSTRO POLISHING POWDER MY PAL • PALCO POLISH POWDER PAL-LO * (P a l P ro d u cts Co., B ro o k ly n , N. Y.

SOAP

* SAIL (A & P F o o d S to re s , N. Y .)

©P BRILLO KOSHER SOAP (B rillo M a n u fa c tu rin g Co., B 'k ly n , N . Y .)

®P NUTOLA KOSHER SOAP

(N u to la F a t P ro d u cts C o ., B 'k ly n , N . Y .)

SOUPS

*

CRISCO—with © label only (T h e P ro cte r & G a m b le C o .)

©P GARBER'S MISROCHI PAREVE FAT ( G a r b e r E a g le O il Co., B ro o k ly n , N. YJ @P NUT-OLA VEGETABLE SHORTENING (N u t-O la F a t P ro d ., B ro o k ly n , N. YJ

SH O RTEN IN G — Bulk * FLAKEWHITE—with © label only * PRIMEX—with © label only * SWEETEX—with © label only * PRIMEX B. & C.—with © label only (T h e P ro cte r & G a m b le Co., C in cin n a ti.

O h io )

NATIONAL MARGARINE SHORTENING ( N a t io n a l Y e a st C o r p ., B e lle v ille , N . J . )

DELMAR MARGARINE SHORTENING

GOLD'S ©P Borscht Schav Russel (G o ld P u re F o o d P ro d ., B 'k ly n ,

N. Y .)

HEINZ Cream of Mushroom Celery Cream of Green Vegetable Cream of Tomato Condensed Cream of Mushroom Condensed Cream of Green Pea Condensed Gumbo Creole Condensed Cream of Tomato Condensed Vegetarian Vegetable (H . J . H e in z C o ., P ittsb u rg h , P a .)

MOTHER'S ©P Borscht Cream Style Borscht Cream Style Schav (M o th e r's F o o d P ro d u cts, N e w a rk , N . J . )

(D e lm a r P ro d . C o r p ., C in c in n a t i, O h io ) *

BEATREME CS (W r ig h t & W a g n e r D a ir y C o ., B e lo it, W ise .)

SOUP M IX

NUTOLA Chicken Noodle Soup Mix

All items listed in this Directory bear the © seal.

Items listed ©P are kosher for Passover when bearing this or any other UOJCA Passover hechsher on the label.

Items listed • are kosher for Passover without Passover hechsher on the label. * indicates new © endorsement.

March-April, 1956

79

H

UOJCA KASHRUTH DIRECTORY

Soups, M ix (Cont'd)

VEGETABLES DROMEDARY PIMIENTOS

NUTOLA Noodle Soup Mix (N u to la F a t P ro d u cts

©

(T h e D ro m e d a ry C o ., N . Y . C . )

Co., B 'k ly n , N. Y .)

*

CAVERN MUSHROOM PRODUCTS (K -B P ro d u cts C o ., H u d s o n , N . Y .)

VEGETABLES (Dehydrated) ©P BASIC VEGETABLE PROD.—with @ label only ( S a n F ra n c isc o , C a l. )

@P GARBER'S MISROCHI ( G a r b e r E a g le O il Co., B ro o k ly n , N. Y .)

@P GENTRY, Inc.—with @ label only

©P GENTRY PAPRIKA

V IN EG A R

( G e n t r y , In c ., Lo s A n g e le s , C a l.)

(Lo s A n g e le s , C a l. )

©P GARBER'S MISROCHI ( G a r b e r E a g le O il C o ., B ro o k ly n , N . Y .)

LAWRY'S SEASONED SALT (L a w ry 's P ro d u cts In c ., Lo s A n g e le s , C a l.)

SUGAR ®P FLO-SWEET LIQUID SUGAR ©P HUDSON VALLEY REFINED GRANULATED SUGAR (R e fin e d S y ru p s & S u g a r s , In c ., Y o n k e rs, N . Y .)

*• SUGARINE LIQUID SWEETENER [The S u g a r in e C o ., M t. V e rn o n , III.)

HEINZ Cider Malt Salad Vinegar Tarragon White Rex Amber (H . J . H e in z C o . , P ittsb u rg h , P a .)

MUSSELMAN'S Cider Vinegar ( C . H . M usselm a n C o ., B ig le rv rlle , P a .)

V IT A M IN S (Bulk) COLLETT-WEEK-NIBECKER CO. N. Y .)

(O s s in in g ,

SYRUP ®P BARTON'S BONBONNIERE (B a rto n , In c ., B ro o k ly n , N . Y .)

T Z IT Z IT H

V IT A M IN TA B LETS KOBEE KOVITE VITALETS (F r e e d a A g a r P r o d ., N . Y . C . )

LEON VOGEL (6 6 A lle n S t , N . Y . C .)

M. WOLOZIN & CO.

W IN E & LIQUEURS ©P HERSH'S KOSHER WINES (H u n g a r ia n G r a p e P ro d u cts, In c .,

(3 6 E ld r id g e S t , N . Y . C .)

ZION TALIS MFG. CO., INC. (4 8 E ld r id g e S t , N . Y . C .)

80

N. Y .)

*©P CARMEL—bearing hechsher of Chief Rabbinate of Israel (C a rm e l W ip e C o ., In c ., N . Y .)

JEWISH LIFE

TRYTHESE FAMOUS K |§ |g | AND PARVE WÒRK AND TIME SAVERS! V E L makes dishes shine without washing or wiping! !.. O»««** mSBm T^OOttNS SoKindtoHo«^' stockings

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

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

C U M ljS E *

H TJJJ F0IW AM 1N6 (SSSsER

- ¡ jll S r a g |

New formula FAB gives you more active dirt remover!

Milder to hands, new FAB gets the dirt out of EVERYTHING you wash.

Wonderful for dishes, too!

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

< fÖ illiiC P A ' LM o 'LÍVEC 0M PAN Y

MEMO from :

H. J. Heinz Company to :

The Jewish Public.

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