Jewish Life February 1958

c w \s In this issue:

CLOSEUPS OF JEWISH COMMUNITIES FAR AND NEAR

M

uss

IN THE MOROCCAN MELLAH . . . . . . .

See page 25

SHABBOS “”d KASHRUTH go hand in hand at

SHABBOS . . .

Barton’s office/ factory and 65 owner-operated stores are closed on the Sabbath and all Jewish Holidays.

K O S H E R ____ All Barton’s products are manufactured under the supervision of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congre­ gations of America.

J

Famous for Continental Chocolates

For year-round serving and gift giving . . .

For specially designed Purim packages . . .

Visit any of Barton’s Shops . . .

Or write for brochures to Barton’s, 80 DeKalb Avenue, Brooklyn 1, N. Y .

A Meal-Time Treat for Your Family!

People who appreciate the finer things on their table love Wish-Bone Italian Dressing.

It has the full-flavored goodness that pleases appetites brought up on Old World treats.

Made of a perfect blend of pure oil, vine­ gar, rare seasonings, and “Just the right touch of garlic,” Wish-Bone on your salad jives “tam” to the entire meal!

And I t ’ s K o s h e r !

©

Has the (y) Seal of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.

At Yóur Favorite Grocery or Delicatessen!

U I I S H - B O N E Italian DRESSING m

quit“hockin'” and m essin’ get

GEFILTE FISH, ready to serve N O W ! choose your favorite with GOLDEN JELLED or liquid broth

W O M E N ’ S BRANCH of the

UNION OF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA proudly announces

the publication of its second in the series of its

PLAY-AND-LEARN LIBRARY presenting • Jeremy and Judy’s Book of Blessings .......by Lillian Abramsson and

Lillian T. Leiderman • Jeremy Learnt About God.......................... ............. by Libby M. Klaperman

by Mollle Kolatch • What’s A Mitzvah............... ...........................................

• Jeremy’s A-B-C Book................................................ by Libby M. Klaperman First Set of the Series: Sabbath is Special Jeremy and the Torah

Jeremy’s and Judy’s Hanukah Jeremy and Judy Say the Sh’ma

INDIVIDUAL SET OF 4 BOOKS (one of each title)—$2.00 IN ORDERS OF 1 DOZEN OF A T IT LE (or 1 doz. sets) — Special Price $16.40

ORDER YOUR COPIES NOW!!!

WOMEN’S BRANCH, UOJCA 305 Broadway, New York 7, N. Y. Please send sets of PLAY-AND-LEARN LIBRARY as marked: P I sets of First Series f~l sets of Second Series Send to .......................................................................................................

Address

..............

City and Zone.................................................................................. State Check for $ .......................... enclosed.

LF8

2

JEWISH LIFE

M. Morton Rubenstein Dr . Eric Offenbacher Reuben E. Gross Rabbi S. J. Sharfm an Libby Klaperman

5

A REVOLUTIONARY DEVELOPMENT......

NEW HOPE FOR FAIR SABBATHLAW

•

7

ARTICLES

Editorial Associates

A VISIT TO SOVIET JEW RY....................

William Brickman

JEWISH LIFE is published bi­ monthly. Subscription two years $3.00, three years $4.00, four years $5.00, Supporter $10.00, Patron $25.00.

8

THE REMAKING O F ISRAEL'S COALITION ............................................... 20 I. Halevy-Levin NOTES O F A M OROCCAN JOURNEY.... 25 Solomon J. Sharfman

A ll rights reserved

THE CON TINUING BATTLE FOR SHECHITAH .....................................

Samuel L. Brennglass

Editorial and Publication Office: 305 Broadway N ew York 7, N . Y. BEekman 3-2220

39

ORTHODOX JEW RY IN BOSTO N........ 46 Philip K. Isaacs FROM W ARSAW TO SAFED.......... ......... 56 Moshe Dluznowsky

Published by

Un io n of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of A merica

• Moses I. Feuerstein

BOOK REVIEWS THE RELIGIOUS KIBBUTZ....................

Louis Bernstein

President

61

FROM ZION SHALL COM E TORAH...... 67 Moses D. Tendier

Benjamin Koenigsberg, Nathan K. Gross, Samuel L. Brennglass, S. David Leibowitt, Vice Presi­ dents; Edward A. Teplow, Treasurer; Reuben E. Gross, Secretary.

A HIRSCH A N TH O LO G Y........................ 69 Isaac L. Swift A PIONEER STUDY........................

Abraham A. Kellner

Dr. Samson R. Weiss Executive Vice President

•

71

DEPARTMENTS HASHKOFAH: MIRACLE IN NATURE...... 36 Samson R. Weiss AM O N G OUR CONTRIBUTORS.............

February, 1958

4 3

PHILIP K. ISAACS is a Research chemist in Cambridge, Mass.

A graduate of Bard College and Yeshiva University, he received post-graduate degrees at Columbia University and the University of Cincinnati. His communal activities include Young Israel of Brookline, the Boston Orthodox Community Council, the New England region of the Religious Zionists of America, the Maimonides School4Committee, and the Israel Bond campaign.

DR. WILLIAM BRICKMAN is Professor of Education at New York University. He is the editor of the magazine School and Society and president of the Comparative Education Society, an international group of 400 professors. He received his Jewish education at the Jacob Joseph School and Talmudical Academy, Yeshiva University, is a graduate of College of the City of New York, and received his Ph.D. at New York University, RABBI SOLOMON J. SHARFMAN is President of the Rabbin ical Council of America. For the past nineteen years he has Served as Rabbi of the Young Israel of Flatbush. He received semichah at Yeshiva Ghofetz Chaim. A graduate of City College of New York, Rabbi Sharfmari received post-graduate degrees from Colum­ bia University, and is a member of the Bar of the State of New York. He is an Editorial Associate of J ewish L if e .

SAMUEL L. BRENNGLASS is Vice President of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America and chairman of its Communal Relations Commission. An attorney practicing in New York "City, he lives in Rye, New York and is president of the Westchester Day School.

MOSHE DLUZNOWSKY is the author of “The Wheel of For­ tune”, “A Well on the Road”, “Autumn in the Vineyard”, and the Hebrew novel “Bnoth Hakadar”. He has achieved literary note with his short stories on Jewish life in North Africa. He is a frequent contributor to Anglo Jewish publications.

DR. MOSES D. TENDLER is Assistant Dean and assistant p ro ­ fessor of biology of Yeshiva College. Ordained by Yeshiva Uni­ versity's Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, Dr. Tendler received his B.A. at New York University and Ph.D. at Columbia University.

RABBI LOUIS BERNSTEIN is the Rabbi of Young Israel of Windsor Park, Queens, New York. He is on the faculty of Yeshiva University High School, and is editor of the Record, news periodical of the Rabbinical Council of America.

RABBI ISAAC L. SWIFT is the Rav of Congregation Anshe Sfard in Boro Park, Brooklyn. He formerly held Rabbinic posts in Sydney, Australia and his native England.

DAVID M. HAUSDORFF is the author of “Ye that Thirst”, “A Book of Jewish Curiosities”, and other books, booklets and ar­ ticles treating of various phases of Judaism. He is active in the educational programs of the National Council of Young Israel and Yeshivah Ohel Moshe.

JEWISH LIFE

e

d

i

t

o

r

i

a

l

s

A Revolutionary Development HE country’s Kashruth scene has recently been illuminated by a development of revolutionary potential in the field of meat distribution. After many years of searching for means of solving the problems of the community with reference to the supply and price level of Kosher meat, a program has now been launched to bring modern methods of marketing, packaging, and distribution to bear. The practical means that has now been undertaken in the problem is the preparation and distribtion, on an ultimately national scale, of frozen Kosher meats, in sealed packages, for sale at competitive prices at retail food outlets of all kinds. To assure an exacting and universally ac­ ceptable standard of Kashruth, the firm engaged in this project has sought, and has been granted, the official © supervision and certification of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.

Apart from a few recent undertakings of local scope, this is the first time in history that modern packaging and mass-dis­ tribution techniques, wedded to authoritative national Hashgochah, have been applied to the Kosher meat industry. Farreaching consequences may well ensue.

There can be no doubt that the benefits of this development will be apparent to, and acclaimed by, the great majority of American Jews. For years, Kosher packaged and canned products other than fresh meats—including meat products and M eans frozen chickens as well as matzoth, gefilte fish, soups, and many to others—have been distributed through general food outlets. observance The benefits, in terms of both price and availability to the con­ sumer, have been marked, contributing notably to the facilitating of Kashruth observance in Jewish homes everywhere. The need for such facilities has been even more acute in the case of meat, and the prospective rewards to religious life large indeed.

Many religious problems, however, have impeded the dis­ tribution of meat in general food outlets. It was not until the technique of packaging could be applied that a solution could and now has been—found. At last then, these problems have been definitively solved. The new program provides that all meat cuts are made Kosher prior to packaging, and each package is doubly sealed and made tamper-proof. Thus, the meat can be handled by any one as long as the seals are intact.

T

OREMOST among those welcoming the new development will be, of course, the Jewish housewife. Aware, of course, that inherent differences in the slaughtering and butchering of

F

February, 1958

5

Boon Kosher meat make for an unavoidable price differential beto tween such meat and the non-Kosher supply, she is willingly the prepared to pay a reasonable differential. The Jewish housewife, H ousew ife however, has long had misgivings as to the amount of the dif­ ferential, feeling that she is often charged an unreasonable markup. Now she will be in a position to share the advan­ tages, supermarket-wise, of the non-Jewish meat purchaser and will further benefit by the competitive check this places on the price scale of the Kosher butcher shop.

Aside from the initial impact, substantial gains will ultimately accrue to the Kosher butcher shops too. Besides being equally able, with other outlets, to participate in the sale of the new packaged frozen meats, they and all elements in the Kosher meat industry will benefit by the dramatic spur to Kosher meat consumption which the move will evoke.

The effect on those many young families whose religious ob­ servance hangs in the balance will surely be salutary. One of the most encouraging developments of recent years is the un­ mistakable trend among large numbers of previously non-obser■ vant young Jewish couples toward traditional religious practice.

Aid to typjcaj attitude toward Kashruth among this key element,. young ^ a gjven stage, is one of marked preference, but not yet of fam ilies £rm commitment. The question as to ultimate commitment to Kashruth—pivotal as this is in the pattern of Jewish life—is of the utmost moment. Subject as they are to the need to make a limited income cope with a high cost of living, a heavy dis­ parity between the prices of Kosher and Treyfah meat is fre­ quently a determining factor. No single act can contribute more decisively to the Jewish salvation of these young families than can a lowering of the prices of Kosher meat.

The availability of the packaged frozen Kosher meats in chain stores and supermarkets will prove a blessing to yet an­ other large element—those who do not live accessible to a Kosher butcher shop. With the migration of many scofes of thousands of American Jewish families to suburban areas, new city housing developments, and small communities, a major and constantly increasing proportion of the American Jewish popu­ lace now dwells distant from Jewish centers. The great problem which has thus arisen with reference to Kosher meat supply can now be met.

Y no means the least of the benefits of the new undertaking will be that to Kashruth itself. Modern conditions and the circumstances of American Jewish life have impeded the main­ tenance of satisfactory standards of Kashruth at all stages of the production and distribution of meat. The technique under the Kashruth new program will contribute significantly to the resolution of standards these problems. Under © supervision continuously, at every

B

6

JEWISH UF£

stage from the point of slaughter to the completion of sealed packaging, the meat so provided is treibered (porged—removal of the veins), trimmed, soaked, salted, and rinsed—made Kosher ready for the pot—under the most vigilant and exacting of safe­ guards, maintained under communally-responsible Hashgochah.

The heartfelt good wishes of the American Jewish community have been well earned by the Tovah Company, the firm pioneer­ ing this project. To them, and equally to the Kashruth Division of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, which undertook this far-reaching responsibility after the most scrupulous study of all factors in the situation, is due the grati­ tude of all for a contribution which, B’ezer Hashem, may prove to be one of the greatest in Kashruth history.

New Hope for Fair Sabbath Law ICTORY has long eluded efforts to secure amendment of state Sunday Closing laws. These discriminatory laws, in V force in numerous states, compel all stores, except for certain favored categories, to close on Sunday, without exception for those which observe a day other than Sunday as “holy time”.

Stores which observe the Jewish Sabbath are thereby penalized.

Hitherto, the long-standing campaign of the Joint Committee for a Fair Sabbath Law to secure remedial legislation in New York State has been balked by intricate political and religious barriers.

In conjunction with a new “Ad Hoc” committee which has been formed, this agency is striving, with renewed vigor and hope, to obtain passage of an amendment at the present session of the New York State legislature. Their endeavors are sustained by an aroused public opinion.

Designed to obviate a number of long-standing obstacles, the Bill now being sponsored would permit New York City the option to exempt from Sunday Closing restrictions, under given conditions, stores which observe the seventh-day Sabbath. Assur­ ance has been given by political leaders that upon issuance of an official “home rule” message by Mayor Wagner of New York City, the Bill will be promptly submitted for Assembly vote.

Mayor Wagner has promised that the message will be forth­ coming, assuring optimal basis for a favorable vote in the state Assembly and subsequently in the Senate.

Continued, and in fact intensified, demand by the public for passage of the legislation remains needed. It is the duty of New York State residents to urge upon political leaders and their representatives in Albany action to assure passage of this longoverdue measure. Victory in this instance will not only end the discrimination in the city with the world’s largest Jewish com­ munity, but will also contribute to a like result in other cities and states.

February, 1958

7

A Visit to Soviet Jewry

By WILLIAM BRICKMAN llllllllllllllllllllllllllll>llllllllll!l!lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!!ll!l!ll!lllllllllllll!lillilllllllNllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllilllllllll!!lll!lllllllllllilH!lil^

|

Revealing views of surviving Jewish life in present-day Moscow and Leningrad, as seen by a distinguished educator.

|

illlljlH lIfllllllllljilillllllllH IIIIIIIIiliM

ROM Mid-December, 1957, to early January, 1958, in the course of a mission to several Soviet-sphere countries on behalf of the Compara­ tive Education Society, I managed to visit the Jewish communities of Mos­ cow and Leningrad. My journey took me also to Warsaw and Prague, and with special permission I was able also to get into Vilna (now Vilnius) in Soviet Lithuania, for a few hours only.

This article will offer impressions of Jewish life in the two first-named cities.

My arrival in Moscow was on a late Wednesday evening. After a full day of conferences the following day, I asked the Intourist Service Bureau at my hotel to arrange a car for my use in the evening to see the city.

“Where would you like to go?” asked the clerk. Not knowing what the re­ action would be if I indicated a desire to visit the synagogue, I said that I simply wanted to enjoy the sights at a leisurely pace. I instructed my chauffeur to take me to the new building of Moscow State University, a most impressive structure. We rode around this huge building and then the chauffeur asked me what I wished to visit next. My answer was, “Spasoglinichevsky Street.” “Where is that?” inquired the chauffeur. “I am a stran­

F

8

ger here myself”, was my answer.

The chauffeur asked a few police­ men and was finally on his way.

“Spasoglinichevsky, Spasoglinichevsky”, he repeated to himself several times. Just then he had to stop at a red light. His face was illuminated: “yevreishki sinagogi!” he exclaimed.

My secret was out. “Da!” I said.

HE MAIN synagogue is T located about two blocks below Bogdan Chmielnicki Street, about fif­ M o scow

teen minutes walk from Red Square.

Known as the Choralni Shool, it is a handsome Greek-temple style build­ ing, similar in architecture to many non-Russian-Orthodox churches. I ran up the dozen steps and peered into the synagogue. There was a single light inside and several persons who were talking to each other.

I rapped several times on the win­ dow. One figure detached itself from the group and approached the win­ dow. “Vos.villt ihr?” “Ich vill arein in shool!” ; *>Es iz shoin tzugemacht.

Kumt morgen.” At this point, I raised my voice, “Ich breyng a gruss fun Rav Hollander tzu Rav Levin.”

The man literally ran to the side door and opened it: “Sholem Aleichem!” “Aleichem Sholem,” I an­ swered, “Vos macht a Yid?” “Vos JEWISH LIFE

soil a Yid machen? Boruch Hashem!

Ich nem aich shoin tzu Rav Levin.”

Rabbi Yehuda Leib Levin, the new Chief Rabbi of Moscow, arose as I entered, greeting me with, “Boruch haba”. I introduced myself and con­ veyed the greetings of Rabbi David B. Hollander, who had headed the dele­ gation of the Rabbinical Council of America to the U.S.S.R. a year and a half earlier. We discussed the situa­ tion of the Soviet Jews briefly.

After learning of my educational mission to Moscow, Rabbi Levin sug­ gested that I visit the new Yeshivath Kol Yaacov at once. It was almost 8:00 p.m. and the students were still at work. Two classes were going on simultaneously in this one-room school. One group was studying He­ brew grammar in Hebrew, under the direction of Abraham Rabinovitsch, instructor also of Chayey Odom. The second group was engaged in Talmud­ ic study: Berochoth* Chapter Two. The Yeshivah bachurim had copies of the text which had been brought from Israel.

About five minutes later, the mashgiach, Rabbi Shimon Trebnik, who is also the administrator of the Ye­ shivah, indicated that it was time for Maariv. Afterwards I had a chance to chat with the rabbis and the bachurim.

They were highly impressed that a layman who was active in general edu­ cational work should take a deep in­ terest in Jewish studies and in their yeshivah.

T IS one of the ironies of history that the main synagogue of Mos­ cow is located close to a street named after the arch-Antisemite who had slaughtered some half-million Jews in the middle of the seventeenth century.

But Bogdan Chmielnicki has been held forth as a great hero by the

I

February, 1958

A daily schedule of Moscow's new Yeshivath Kol Yaacov.

Soviet Government; during World War II, Jewish soldiers singled out for exceptional bravery were awarded— the Order of Chmielnicki.

The Choralni Synagogue, so-named because it has a choir, is about sev­ enty years old. At present, it has from seven to ten minyonim vdaily. There are adult classes in Gemora, Mishnah, and Schulchon Aruch each weekday morning. In the evenings the congre­ gants can study Gemora, Eyn Yaacov, and Tehillim. The Gemora class at­ tendance averages from fifty to sixty.

The classes that I studied with were marked by concentrated attention and enthusiasm, but by paucity of seforim.

On Shabboth mornings, the first minyon begins at eight and is followed by the main service at ten. A smaller minyon worships separately at the same time. A class in Chumosh is held every Shabboth morning. During the summer months, Pirkey Avoth is studied every Shabboth before Minchah. Rabbi Levin usually speaks be­ tween Minchah and Maariv.

9

had not seen for 39 years. When I arrived, about 10:15, I was ushered up front to sit next to the Israelis.

Mr. Chelouche had the honor of reading Maftir, while the rest of us were also honored with Aliyoth.

The synagogue was full of middleaged and elderly men and women.

Younger men were few and there were no adolescents or children. All of the congregation stared and pointed at us. We were from another world.

One middle-aged man told me, “Every time you come to shool you give us hope”. The Israelis come every Shab­ both to the synagogue practically in

The late Chief Rabbi Schliffer of Mos­ cow and a student at the Soviet Union's sole yeshivah. (photo by Sovfoto)

Moscow has three other synagogues and many private minyonim and shtibelach. I did not have a chance, because of my very busy schedule, to visit any of these.

Rabbi Levin estimates that there are about 400,000 Jews in the Mos­ cow area and between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000 Jews in the entire Soviet Union. A census it to be held in 1959 to determine the exact number of Jews.

HE Great Synagogue of Moscow seats 1,000. On Shabboth Chanu­ kah, I observed that there were only a few seats unoccupied in the ladies’ gallery. On the main floor, there was not a single square foot of space in any of the aisles. The Israeli diplo­ mats, headed by the Charge d’Affaires, Mr. Aviezer Chelouche, sat on the platform near the Aron Kodesh.

Nearby sat an elederly American who had come to visit his sister whom he

T

10

Teachers and students of the Moscow yeshivah.

full force— the Ambassador when he is in Moscow, the First and Second Secretaries, and the attaches. I no­ ticed that the Israelis were ever will­ ing to talk to anyone who approached them. Their friendliness is unlimited and their patience is extraordinary.

My newly acquired friend, First Sec­ retary Abraham Shaanan, a highly ed­ ucated and cultured lawyer from Tel Aviv, is fully cognizant of the nature of the Jewish situation in the U.S.S.R. and of the needs of Jews. Israel is for­ tunate in having men of his type to represent them abroad. He has a deep devotion to Jewish tradition and JEWISH LIFE

learning and is likely at any moment to insert a maamar chazal into his conversation. It is evident that the Soviet Jews value the presence of the Israeli diplomats in their midst. They are a link with the outside world.

XCEPT for one day, I made cer­ tain to visit the synagogues in Moscow and Leningrad at least once daily. It was good to share in the affection shown by Jews of the Com­ munist sphere to their brethren from the free countries.

The Choralni Synagogue has signs and announcements in Russian, but not a single word in Yiddish can be seen. There are such signs as Tal Umottor and A l Hanissim in Hebrew.

A blessing for the government of the U.S.S.R., in Hebrew and in Russian, appears on large signs on either side of the shool. The Kaddish is also prominently displayed in Hebrew in very large letters.

Although Yiddish does not appear anywhere in print, owing to the re­ cent Soviet campaign to uproot this language, it is used in conversation, in the rabbi’s sermons, and in public announcements. However, the lan­ guage does not have the international flavor any more than the New York, Paris, or Mexico City versions of Yid­ dish. It was easy for me to communi­ cate because I used a non-Americanized Yiddish. On the other hand, the Soviet Jews punctuated their talk with Russianisms: “Di pagodi iz heint plochayi” (the weather is bad today) “karandash” (pencil), “familya” (name), “samolot” (airplane), and “palton” (overcoat). Chief Rabbi Levin, in a sermon, made reference to a young man and young woman having become acquainted, both of whom now wished to “machen a sayuz” (to get married).

E

February, 1958

The future of Yiddish is very dark indeed in the U.S.S.R. Since the Biro Bidjan fiasco, the authorities have been bearing down on all forms of Jewish culture especially as expressed in the Yiddish language. No longer can there be found anywhere in the Soviet Union a Yiddish newspaper or a Yiddish theatre. From time to time, there are performances of Jewish music, but they lack taste and quality.

ET US get back to the Shabboth service. The Chief Rabbi is quite busy. He carries the Torah, before and after the reading, all around the shook He pronounces the blessings—four of them-—for the Soviet Govern­ ment. Finally, he delivers a sermon of 20 minutes length, during which the already-crowded congregation crowds all around the pulpit. At the end of

L

11

Musaf, the rabbi receives the Shabboth greetings of a multitude of men.

One, saying “Gut Shabbos”, kissed the rabbi’s hand.

The Chief Rabbi’s sermon stressed the theme of peace. Later, during the meal in his private room in the syna­ gogue, he asked me about the possi­ bilities of peace. He appeared very worried. His sermon had ended with the words ¿ “Shalom al kol haolom!” rather than with the customary “Uva Vtzion goel!” Mr. Shaanan told me, however, that the rabbi sometimes follows the traditional closing for­ mula.

The blessing for the Soviet Govern­ ment characterizes it as the “defender of peace all over the world” (magen hasholom b’chol haolam), a phrase which cannot be found in any syna­ gogue liturgy anywhere. As I said be­ fore, there are actually four blessings, one of which contains the words, “viyapail soneychem bifnaihem”. I did not answer “Amen!” after this beseechment.

During the prayers, there was some conversation, but considerably more when the Torah was read. The Shammosh had to call for quiet several times. In this respect, the Moscow shool resembled synagogues the world over. I felt, for the first time, as if I were in shool at home. But who can really blame the Moscow Jews for talking during fourteen aliyoth?

IDDURIM are very scarce, with several men peering into each prayer book. On the other hand, nearly everyone has a tallith. The men’s voices conveyed deep feeling in prayer. Their faces reflected hope— for redemption.

Americans and other foreigners are asked by Moscow Jews for their sid-

S

12

durim and taleythim as gifts. This is one way of increasing the supply of religious articles. I also observed the “absent-mindedness” of foreign visit­ ors, who, (carefully observing the prohibition on carrying on the Sab­ bath,) do not take home their prayer books and taleithim after the morning services and “forget” to reclaim them upon the conclusion of Shabboth.

The services on Shabboth Chanu­ kah lasted from 10 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.

The chazzon, who has a powerful voice, showed his gifts. The choir took its share of the time, with the basso lingering lovingly over the Hebrew language.

I was informed that on Rosh Hashonah, Yom Kippur, and the last days of the festivals, there are thou­ sands of Jews in the street outside the Choralni Synagogue. The entire street is roped off against traffic. Children come to the synagogue in large num­ bers on holidays, especially Purim, Simchath Torah, and Yom Kippur, according to Rabbi Levin. It must be remembered that schools are open on Saturday in the Soviet Union, and that the Jewish children are com­ pelled to attend classes.

OME children were present at the special Chanukah Maariv service on Sunday, December 22. Also at­ tending and seated near me was a six year-old Sabra, Miriam Agmon, the beautiful, bright daughter of an Israeli diplomat. The evening service featured the Chanukah candle-lighting ceremony by the cantor and choir, an address by the Chief Rabbi, and several songs by the Yeshivah bachurim under the direction of one of them.

The Israelis were there in full force, joined by a Jewish official of the American Embassy. All of us sat on

S

JEWISH LIFE

the platform near the Ark, close to the students. The faculty of the Yeshivah sat on the other side, near the Chief Rabbi.

After the services, men came over to us and asked for Hebrew calendars and siddurim. Many expressed a de­ sire for contact with relatives in the United States. As usual, the Israelis were most friendly and affable. The only opportunity for Soviet Jews to meet Israelis is in the synagogue.

They are afraid to invite them to their own homes. There are two policemen on either side of the Israeli Embassy, as there are in fact in front of all embassies including the American.

Soviet Jews are barred from visiting the Embassy of Israel.

since Jews are not permitted to have Hebrew printing type. Apart from the Siddur, the Moscow Jewish com­ munity publishes a Hebrew-Russian calendar. My copy is called “Yevreiski Kalendar, 1957-1958 (5718)” and was issued in Moscow in 1957.

In Hebrew, the title is “L ’shonah Tovah, Luach Lishnath Tav Shin Yod Cheth”.

It is a 32-page booklet, with the photograph of the late Chief Rabbi Shlomo N. Schliffer on the first page.

The calendar information includes the Molad in Hebrew, the Hebrew months in Hebrew and Russian letters, the Russian months, the time for candle­ lighting, and the identification of the religious holidays and fast days. In addition, the calendar takes note, in

T h e JEWS in Soviet Russia con­ p m cede the loss of their Youth. Re­ r ligious education in any organized n Vy .o46 . n l - tY io n .1 * * It form is forbidden until the age of U&p sixteen, by which time there is, as a * TO 21 anpenb rule, neither interest in nor appetite a Y* 22* for Torah. Some fathers teach their ♦1 X own children, thus obeying literally n* 23 24 •n i the Miizvah of Vshinantom I’vonecha, 23 n 0 7 .5 5 a#V while others engage a private tutor. a'na t» 3 ,u & .y i2 o r Tn naitr 1 When we realize that the Soviet cur­ K3 26 Y' riculum and school atmosphere are 33 27 rbp M iy n .o n permeated with Communist content 33 28 •I 0 and symbolism, then it is clear that 13 29 •i the status of religious education nec­ .13 30## * n'ayn essarily is very low. Such education 13 l aia u 8.0 9 .1 3> has no means to compete with govern­ T3 2 pit> ,0 ’ tm p 'm t jw p x* ment-sponsored atheistic ideology, as no 3 well as with the opulent palaces of 00 4 *K 1» the Pioneer Youth (young pre-party Rina n'ayn ,3 10 5 Communist group). * 22 a n p e / t p - Henb n a M p m u BU. He H U H a After many years of religious fam­ 8 187 0 r p o d u /icp 8 /tddU M U p ine, the Soviet Jews succeeded but re­ U / ! b U «/ /¡O H U H * * 1 h a 9 - jQ.eHt> Me?f<dynapodnou cently in getting permission from the COMuda/oMocmv mfxy,di3Ujjux c ft . authorities to publish a Siddur. This is a large-sized volume which was Page from the newly-published Luach reproduced via photo-offset process, of the Moscow Jewish community.

February, 1958

13

Moscow Jews gaze with pride at copies of the Luach, the first to have been published under the Soviet regime.

(Photo by Sovfoto)

Russian, “November 7, the fortieth anniversary of the October Socialist [Bolshevik] Revolution”; December 5, Constitution Day of the U.S.S.R.; April 22, Lenin’s Birthday; and May “the day of international workers’ solidarity”.

The Luach includes a large Aleph Beth table and the N’kudoth, and a page devoted to combinations of let­ ters and vowel points. Parents who so wish thus have the basic teaching ma­ terials for getting their children to learn the rudiments of Hebrew read­ ing. There are no other textbooks available.

The rest of the calendar contains the Kaddish and the Kaddish d’Rabbonon, Yizkor, and the “Moley” in Hebrew and Russian translation, and, in transliterated Russian, a list of twenty holidays, fasts, and other not­ 14

able days of the Jewish religious cal­ endar, with short historical notes in Russian. The inside back cover lists each Rosh Chodesh of 1957-1958 and the corresponding civil date, as well as the civil dates of the four Yizkor days, HAVE described this calendar in detail because it illustrates the will to Jewish education, both for the child and for the adult. True, there is very little here, but we must remember that years ago, before the “thaw” in Soviet political policy, it was hardly possible to have even this minimum of religious teaching material.

The community gets its kosher meat in a butcher shop outside Moscow.

Since all shops are the property of the Soviet state, with private enter­ prise being strictly forbidden, it is pos-

1

JEWISH LIFE

sible for anyone to purchase anything anywhere, if he has the money. It was explained to me that if the kosher butcher shop were located near the synagogue, the customers would have included non-Jews, with the result that the limited supply would have been far too insufficient to meet the demand by religious persons.

If private enterprise has been of­ ficially discontinued, private begging seems to go on. There was a woman beggar at the door of the synagogue Saturday night after Maariv, “Vos villt ihr, unzere Shabbosdige keshenes?”, asked one indignant indi­ vidual. There was another woman who held out her hand on Sunday evening after the special Chanukah service.

This has been the tale of Jewish life in one Soviet city. Now let us look at another.

ENINGRAD is generally regarded as more beautiful than Moscow and There seems to be some sort of rivalry between their respective in­ habitants. The Jews, too; ' share in this spirit of rivalry.

There can be no doubt that the main synagogue of Leningrad, at 2 Lermontovski Prospekt, is one of the most magnificent anywhere. Built in 1884 and with 5000 seats, it is prob­ ably the largest in Europe. Its “Chupah Zal,” or wedding room, is un­ matched, so far as I know, for ele­ gance and beauty. When I visited it, this large synagogue was not being used for services because installation of a new heating system was in process.

The synagogue dominates the grounds where it is situated. Inside, there is a smaller shool and a per­ manent succah. The main synagogue building contains a mikveh costing

L

February, 1958

250,000 rubles, and a Beth Hashechitah. To the left of the entrance to the synagogue yard stands a state children s hospital which had formerly been the Jewish community’s second­ ary school. From the size of this building it is evident that Jewish edu­ cation was once flourishing in the former Russian capital.

The 300,000 Jews of Leningrad have one more synagogue, a copy of the famous Paris Synagogue, which is located on the cemetery and used during burial services. There are also eighteen private minyanim. A kosher butcher shop is maintained in one of the markets of Leningrad. Evidently, the reason given for the peculiar loca­ tion of the Moscow butcher shop does not apply to this city.

RRIVING at the Leningrad com­ munity on a Thursday, between Minchah and Maariv, I walked into the smaller synagogue and found a large number of persons waiting for the evening prayers to begin. To the right of the Aron Hakodesh was an extension which also served as Beth Midrosh and as a separate shool. I walked over to the crowd of about a hundred persons, seated and standing, who were listening with total attention to a class in Eyn Yaacov (Shabboth, Chapter N ine). For this group of one hundred adult students there were only nine copies of the text, and these were well-wofn, nineteenth-century editions.

The aged instructor noticed me as I squeezed in among the crowd. In explaining the text, he dwelt for a while on the meaning of Freedom.

He contrasted the Czarist period with the current scene. Jews, he stated em­ phatically, now live in a land of free­ dom, where there is no Pale of Settle­ ment limiting their choice of a place

A

15

to live and where there are no po­ groms organized against them. In a voice full ot emotion, he shouted “Mir hobben nisht kein gollus in dem lant!” His conclusion, however, was that Freedom can be obtained through the study of the Torah. I was re­ minded of the famous remark in Pirkey Avoth, “Eyn I’cha ben chorin ella mi sh'osek b’Torah”, After this session came Maariv.

The plural would be more correct, since five minyonim were worship­ ping at the same time, each one re­ moved from its neighbor by a few feet only.

Classes for adults are carried on before morning prayers. After Maariv, each night, there is a class in Talmud.

baal koreh. The choir joins chazzon for the holiday services.

the

HILDREN come to synagogue mainly on holidays and in the summer weeks when school is closed.

Bar Mitzvahs are celebrated from time to time. During the Shabboth

C

Imposing exterior of the Leningrad Synagogue. Like its Moscow counter­ part# this is also known as the "Choralni Shool", having a choir.

Interior of the Leningrad Synagogue# whose magnificence has survived through long, dark years.

During my visit, the Jews were study­ ing Bova Metzia. Again, the few copies of the text were very old and worn. Friday evening, after Maariv, there is a well-attended class in Chumosh with Rashi.

On Shabboth, Mr. Mikhail Freiman, president of the community told me, about five hundred persons come to the three services, held in sequence at 6, 8, and 10:30 a.m. There is a competent chazzon and a first-rate Ü

spent in Leningrad I noticed several young people and one boy in shool.

In spite of several attempts on my part to arouse interest in the Jewish education of children, the Jews in the synagogue avoided any discussion of this painful subject. The only time I was able to dent this stone wall of silence was during one of my talks with Chief Rabbi Abraham Chaim Lubanov of Leningrad. This elderly scholar reminded me of the fact that more than a year ago, Professor Abraham I. Katsh, my colleague at New York University, had obtained a written promise from the Russian Republic’s Ministry of Education to the effect that Hebrew or Yiddish would be taught in any school, pro­ vided ten parents make the request.

I was told that no ten parents could be found to express themselves in favor of Hebrew instruction. To me JEWISH LIFE

it is obvious that no ten parents feel that they dare make such a request.

Rabbi Lubanov assured me with great emphasis, as did Rabbi Levin in Moscow, that Jews need no material help, but only siddurim (Nusach Sfard and Nusach Ari), mezuzoth, talethim, tefillin, and other religious articles. When prayer books are left behind in the shool, Rabbi Lubanov sells them and gives the money to the Moscow Yeshivah. In my presence he examined minutely a tallith and a mezuzah which had come to him from Rabbi Hollander. He told me that he could not accept them until he felt that they were perfect accord­ ing to the Din. His examination, I could see, left him satisfied.

The demand for prayer books is very great, all the more so since for­ eign visitors tend to spend more time in Moscow and sometimes overlook the Leningrad community altogether.

I saw many a patched-up siddur which testified to the critical need for religious articles on the part of Len­ ingrad’s Jews.

According to Mr. Freiman, this ne­ glect of Leningrad is also shared by the Israeli diplomats. He assured me of the community’s full appreciation of them. Whenever they are in town, they always come to shool. More­ over, for Succoth, they managed to fly in a supply of Ethrogim to the city. However, he felt that their visits were too infrequent. As for the other Jews, I was frequently asked for news about “Artzeynu”. My descriptions of life and learning in Eretz Yisroel were listened to with avidity.

N Shabboth I was called to Maftir. I tried to enunciate each O syllable in the proper manner, read­ ing as clearly as possible. There was a long line of worshippers to conFebruary, 1958

gratulate me on my lack of errors and on my nusach. I had all I could do to decline the offer of Musaph.

My winning argument was that I came to listen to the Leningrad chazzon and not to myself. Their pride in their cantor (“Vi gefellt eich.unzer chazzon”?) was by no means mod­ erate.

My talks with Rabbi Lubanov were most interesting, if not really infor­ mative about the actual status of Jews in the U.S.S.R. His major contention was that the United States and the Soviet Union must become more friendly to each other. Only under such conditions, he urged, can So­ viet Jewry prosper; war can and will ruin the Jewish people in his coun­ try. He ended this discussion with the revealing statement, “Mir varten oif yeshuah”. During the Shabboth service,, after I inquired about the necessity of four prayers for the So­ viet Government (again ‘‘Magen Hashalom B’chol Haolam”), he coun­ tered with, “Don’t you bless the United States Government in your shool”? I made it clear that we are free to do as we please and are un­ der no traditional compulsion as in Russia. I also asked him as to the source of the phrase, “Defender of the peace all over the world”, in our tradi­ tional liturgy or literature. We went over to another topic.

I met a number of interesting per­ sonalities in shod. One, 85 years old, was formerly a wholesale but­ cher in Trenton who had returned to Russia in 1911. His English was broken but passable after all these years. His sigh as he reminisced told me a great deal. Another man told me, also in English, that he had lived three years in Philadelphia, “sheine shtot”.

17

Mr. Freiman, also an interesting in­ dividual, was full of information, but he too, like the rabbi, had little of basic importance to tell me. He did mention that the baking of matzah had already started the week before my arrival in Leningrad. He also stressed the desire of the Leningrad Jews to have the Yeshivah located in their midst. “We have much better facilities than Moscow has”, he de­ clared and he without doubt is right.

LL THIS helped me gain some insight into Leningrad Jewish A life, but I had to work hard to get any inkling of a fundamental fact in his conversations with me. It is not hard to understand this evasiveness and we should not press it too far.

As leaders of the Jewish community, the rabbi, president, and teacher are out on the proverbial limb. It is not only their personal safety that is at stake, but also that of their families and even that of “Klal Yisroel”. Cau­ tion is advisable for all concerned, under these circumstances.

The status of the Jewish mind in the Soviet Union can also be studied from the types of questions which were asked of me. HeTe are some of them: Where could I possibly have learned the Yiddish language, as an American-born Jew? Are American Jews allowed to go to Israel? Do Americans know that Marshal Zhukov was deposed? Are American syna­ gogues crowded? What did I think of Sputnik? Is President Eisenhower a Jew? Do American Jews eat Sholosh Seudoth? Do our synagogues have classes in Gemara and Mishnah? How can an American Jew like yourself refrain from travelling on Shabboth?

In Leningrad, one Jew noticed the siddur which was given to me by the Shamosh for the duration of the serv­ 18

ices. ‘Iz dos an Amerikanski siddur”?

I was asked. “Nein”, I replied, “dos iz a yevreiski siddur vos iz gedrukt in Americka”. This answer was soon quoted all over the shool and I re­ ceived many a hearty “Yasher Koach” for it.

NE OF the questions that I put O to the Jews, both the leaders and others, in Moscow and Leningrad was, “How do you feel about the vis­ its of the American rabbis last year”?

My impression is that all greatly ap­ preciated these visits. They remem­ bered with most affection the delega­ tion of the Rabbinical Council of America. Also well-remembered was Rabbi Solomon Freilich of Mount Vernon, N.Y., who came along at a later date. This young rabbi taught the Yeshivah students various niggunim and songs which were sung with gusto for my benefit at the Fri­ day evening meal.

The names which were mentioned most to me were Rabbis Hollander, Hershel Schächter, Gilbert Klaperman and Freilich. No one seemed to remember any names of members of another rabbinical delegation which also visited Soviet Russia in 1956. So far as I was concerned, it became clear to me that the delegation of the Rabbinical Council of America per­ formed a great mitzvah by its visit.

This is not to disparage the other group, but I found no evidence of any deep impress on Soviet Jewry.

There were many eyebrows raised, however, about the status of Ameri­ can rabbis. Soviet Jews seemed to be confused because the rabbis had no beards or their beards were too recent or not long enough. “Vos vilt ihr, a Yid ohn a bort oder a bort ohn a Yid”? was my retort to such ques­ tions. After all, I added, “a gallach JEWISH LIFE

lehavdil trogt oich a bort in Russlant”.

HERE is no visible future for the Jewish religion and culture in T Soviet Russia. There is no possibil­ ity, at present, of immigration, except in the case of the very old. The Sab­ bath is observed by few, not because of laxity but rather because of com­ pulsion to work for the Government on the Jewish day of rest. Jewish education for the children and ado­ lescents is a rarity.

For the peace of mind of Soviet Jews and for the perpetuation of whatever Yiddishkeit there is in the U.S.S.R., it is urgent that foreign

Jews come to that area as often as possible. Such visits have contributed to, and will continue to inspire, a religious revival. Not only rabbis but also laymen have been and can be of great help in this respect. I know of some Christians who have been so moved by their contact with the Jew­ ish community that they have ex­ pressed a desire to help Judaism in whatever way they best can.

The Soviet Jew is full of fear about the future. I am convinced that he has the will to survive as a people.

Let us hope that the “am k’she oref * will utilize this characteristic to en­ sure an eternal existence in the serv­ ice of G-d and man.

TlowL Tl&wJ FRESH

FROZEN

•

COMPLETELY

KOSHERED

© P A C K A G E D M E A T CUTS R e a d y for t h e

Pot

JOÜÛdi RIB ROAST

RIB STEAK

BONELESS POT ROAST

HAMBURGER

Porged, Trimmed, Soaked, Salted, and Rinsed Under Supervision of UNION OF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA DISTRIBUTION BEING EXPANDED RAPIDLY Ask your supermarket manager for

TOVAH © KOSHERED MEATS Tovah Company, Riverside, N. J. February, 1958

19

The Remaking of Israel’s Coalition

By L HALEVY-LEViN Jer u sa lem :

SRAEL’S three-weeks Cabinet crisis has come the full cycle and a new Government with the same composi­ tion as before has been formed. It is the same Government but a little more chastened and disciplined. Prime Minister David Ben Gurion has given one of his principal partners — Achduth Ha’avodah — and the country at large an astringent lesson in dem­ ocratic responsibility.

The crisis broke suddenly in midDecember when Israel Barzilai, Mapam’s Minister of Health, on the basis of a news item published in a German paper, raised the question of a topsecret mission to Germany by a highranking Israeli envoy. Mr. Barzilafs question touched off a stormy debate terminating in a Cabinet decision to approve the dispatch of the envoy.

Seven Mapai Ministers voted in favor, two Mapai Ministers abstained, while six Ministers representing other par­ ties in the Coalition Cabinet — the National Religious Party, Mapam, Achduth Ha’avodah and the Progres­ sive Party — voted against.

The proceedings in Cabinet meet­ ings in Israel are secret and the com­ muniques subsequently issued barely indicate the subjects discussed. Never­ theless two days later Lamerchav, Achdut Ha’avodah’s daily, and two evening papers carried a sensational reference to “a certain political de­ cision taken by a small Mapai ma­

I

20

jority”, and its own demand for an emergency Cabinet meeting to recon­ sider the matter.

In this particular case secrecy was of the essence and the publicity given to the mission torpedoed it at the very outset. On the day following publi­ cation of the press reports Mr. Ben Gurion informed the Knesseth’s De­ fence and Security Committee that as a result of the leakage the mission had been cancelled. Under such cir­ cumstances, he declared, he could not remain responsible for the country’s security and he called upon the Ach­ duth Ha’avodah Ministers to resign.

Achduth Ha’avodah, however, was not only unrepentant but gloried in the sabotaging of the mission, which it regarded as an act of patriotism or so it said. Its organ Lamerchav openly boasted, “The aim which Ach­ duth Ha’avodah set out to achieve has been attained by its decision to make its demand public.” As for resigning their members of the Cabinet were not thinking of it. Their purpose hav­ ing been achieved, they stated bland­ ly, there was no longer any reason for resignation.

T IS doubtful whether at the time Achduth Ha’avodah’s leaders ap­ preciated the gravity of the step they were taking. Certainly they did not foresee the immediate consequences.

Leakages from Cabinet meetings had

I

JEWISH LIFE

been published before, though never regarding major security issues. Coali­ tion discipline was lax and its mem­ bers, especially of the left-wing par­ ties, allowed themselves a very wide interpretation of the joint responsi­ bility which Coalition Government im­ plied. Achduth Ha’avodah also relied on the fact that the hands of the Gov­ ernment and the responsible Minister were tied in putting the facts before the public. The facts, indeed, turned out to be rather different from what Achduth Ha’avodah had represented them to be.

obtained elsewhere, providing that there were “no enslaving conditions”.

Neither Mr. Galili nor anyone else has ever charged that any “enslaving conditions” were suspected.

Unexpected and Unwanted

ROM every point of view and for all concerned the crisis was as unwanted as it was unexpected. It could not have come at a more awk­ ward moment. Even leaving aside the external dangers and internal diffi­ culties, which are always with us, a General Election in this Tenth Anni­ versary year is unthinkable. For Ben While admitting that the exact na­ Gurion, who has been working hope­ ture of the mission had been kept a fully for closer collaboration between top secret and that not all the details the three Histadruth parties, with an were known even to Mapai Minis­ eye to ultimate union — at least with ters* Ben Gurion declared that there Achduth Ha’avodah (which broke had been no opposition in the Gov­ ernment to the mission itself, but only away from Mapai thirteen years ago) to the personality of the envoy. Of — this new rift came as a personal the mission, Mr. Ben Gurion stated setback. Finally Mr. Ben Gurion was in the Knesseth: “A new danger has fully aware that the enforced res­ arisen in a new dimension which ignation of the Achduth Ha’avodah threatens not only the security of the members of the Cabinet (the Israel State but also its international trade Premier does not possess the authority and its immigrants before they reach to dismiss Ministers), would be fol­ the shores of the country. The new lowed by the withdrawal of Mapam danger operates in a new dimension from the Coalition, the only feasible and the answer to it is equipment alternative being a narrow Coalition effective in the same dimension — one of Mapai, the National Religious which is not visible from land, sea or Party and (not very happily) the Pro­ air.” West Germany, he declared was gressives, commanding a bare major­ the only country in the world where ity in the House.

It was for these reasons that Mapai such equipment was available to Israel leaders, while conducting talks for and for that reason he had insisted on sending a top-ranking envoy to a small Coalition Government, em­ barked upon a desperate effort to Bonn. patch up the quarrel.

Achduth Ha’avodah was clearly not Prime Minister Ben Gurion, how­ opposed to securing arms from West ever, was in no forgiving mood. No Germany and indeed one of its fore­ subject is closer to his heart than Is­ most leaders, Israel Galili, avowed rael’s security. It is a subject upon publicly that his party favored ac­ which he has been absolutely candid. quisition from any source whatever, Achduth Ha’avodah has been crim­ even Germany if they could not be inally irresponsible from the most February, 1958

F

21

doubtful motives. He refused to be istered —than was the latter in com­ lenient. He insisted upon a public ing back. The approach of the Gen­ condemnation of Achduth Ha’avodah, eral Elections in the middle of 1959 tighter provisions for Cabinet secrecy, might tempt other parties to curry and the right to dismiss Ministers who favor with the electorate by espousing violated that secrecy. ^ome popular issue in opposition to But for Achduth Ha’avodah, many the official policy, and to prevent this of whose leaders had been high-rank­ he sought a safeguard. He was think­ ing officers in the field or otherwise ing, of course, not only of the Achduth connected with Israel’s defence, se­ Ha’avodah leakage to the press but curity was also a major interest. Any­ of the action of the General Zionists thing that could be construed as an in 1955, who while members of the admission that they or its members Coalition voted against the Govern­ had acted contrary to the country se­ ment over the Kastner issue rrr just curity was out of the question. six weeks before the Knesseth elec­ tions.

N THE fortnight that followed the air and the press were full of fev­ New Coalition Agreement erish proposals to break the stalemate.

Rosen’s three points, Eshkol’s six EN GURION has secured most points, Achduth Ha’avodah’s five of his objectives. The new Gov­ points, all followed each other in ernment is still founded on the Basic breathless succession — to no avail. Principles (KaveyHayessod) endorsed The Cabinet passed a resolution de­ by the five Coalition parties in 1955. claring the publicity given “by Ach­ Now, however, there are important duth Ha’avodah to the Government’s addenda carefully defining Coalition confidential decision to be harmful to discipline. Now all members of the the State and a grave violation of the Government and all Coalition par­ principle of the collective responsibil­ ties have undertaken to support Gov­ ity of the Government for its deci­ ernment measures in the Knesseth, sions.” Then on December 31st Mr. whatever opposition they may express Ben Gurion carried out his threat and in the closed Cabinet meetings* ex­ tendered his resignation. In his letter cepting where the Cabinet expressly to the President he took the unpre­ permits abstention. (The National Re­ cedented step of reporting on and con­ ligious Party - 4^- Mizrachi Hapoel demning Achduth Ha’avodah’s action Hamizrachi —- spokesman in the Knes­ which had generated the crisis, under­ seth has stated that this undertaking lining once again the gravity of this does not apply to any measures that breach of confidence. run counter to the Torah). In a num­ Once Ben Gurion had shown that ber of spheres, not only in foreign he was not merely bluffing events mov­ affairs, the two left-wing parties, no­ ed swiftly. Though at times it seemed tably Mapam, have followed a pec­ that the rupture was complete and ir­ uliar in-and-out policy, of membership reparable there was at no time any in the Government and opposition — doubt that Mr. Ben Gurion was no when they saw fit — in the Knesseth. less interested in bringing Achduth Ha’­ The new agreement is designed to curb avodah back into the fold — after this aspiration to have the best of both condign punishment had been admin­ worlds.

I

B

22

JEWISH LIFE

The clause imposing absolute se­ become another arena in which the crecy on proceedings in the Cabinet Cold War is being fought out. and the Knesseth Committees, dealing with matters of security and defence, The International Alignment was made necessary, of course, by SRAEL-ARAB relations now loom Achduth Ha’avodah’s irresponsibility. larger in international affairs than Previously, it should be .noted, this principle was scrupulously observed was the case only a year ago. The even by the opposition parties (which 1955-56 pattern of raids and counterraids culminating in a super-raid to participate in Knesseth Committees). end all raids, is obsolete today. The The final proviso for the legislation Western Powers may weigh the pros of a State Secret Act is regarded with and cons of talking to Russia about some apprehension in view of known the Middle East but for Israel the tendencies in official and Government Russian presence is a stark fact. So circles on the freedom of the press. too is Russia’s willingness to sacrifice There is no question that such a Bill every vital Iraeli interest to gain the will be bitterly contested when it is support of the Arabs and its generous brought before the Knesseth. supplies to the Arab states of arms including equipment, such as subma­ NE condition formulated by the rines, not previously in use in this area.

Premier in an early stage of the (Arms, indeed, are the only commo­ crisis is conspicuously absent in the dity the Russians have supplied to the Six Points of the new Coalition agree­ Arabs not on a strictly business basis). ment — his insistence upon the right The new weapons at their disposal and to dismiss Ministers provided that he the consciousness of virtually unlim­ is supported by sixty percent of the ited Russian support are once again Members of the Cabinet. Under con­ lulling the Arabs into the belief that ditions of Coalition Government — they can encompass Israel’s destruc­ which will be a feature of Israel’s poli­ tion. tical life for many years to come —: It is against this background that such power in the hands of the Prime Minister would tend to undermine the the issue of Israel’s international align­ stability of the regime. Few minority ment, and more specifically, its future parties would agree to serve in a relations with West Germany can Government from which they could properly assessed. Mr. Ben Gurion be arbitrarily dismissed over any dif­ has stated with the utmost candor, “If ference of opinion. In the present you were to offer me a choice between Government, for example, in which all the ideals in the world, glorious there are nine Mapai Ministers out of though they may be, and the security a total of sixteen, it would be very of Israel, I would not hesitate to easy for the former to get rid of any choose the latter.” The statement member of the'Cabinet it found un­ made by Achduth Ha’avodah that it favors the acquisition of arms from congenial. every source, including Germany, in­ The crisis, however, is symptomatic dicates that it substantially agrees. Mr. of the broader dimensions which the Ben Gurion went further when he de­ problem of Israel’s security has as­ clared that he personally was of the sumed, now that the Middle East has opinion that Israel’s welfare demanded

I

O

February, 1958

23

the establishment of normal relations with West Germany, since Israel must live not in the world of yesterday, but in the world of tomorrow. Whether Achduth Ha’avodah regards such an eventuality as “an enslaving condi­ tion” is a question upon which that party is not yet ready to answer in such unequivocal terms.

HE Government has denied that it has proposed to the NATO states that Israel should be accepted as a member of that organization.

But, clearly, the closer ties with the Western powers and with NATO which is one objective of Israel’s de­ fence and foreign policy, implies a readiness for closer relations with NATO’s major continental partner — West Germany. In this light the very moderate tone in which Menachem Begin dealt with the question of rela­ tions with Germany — he hardly more than formulated the problem — must be regarded as indicative of a more realistic approach to the complexities of Israel’s security. Mr. Ben Gurion has stated bluntly where he stands.

Certainly in the not distant future Israel’s Government will find itself in an excruciating dilemma on this prob­ lem.

T

The recent crisis highlighted that even within Mapai there are painful doubts on this issue. For the minority parties the quandary is proportionate­ ly less difficult, for they bear a small­ er share of the responsibility for major policy decisions. Then, of course, the orthodox Marxists of the left insist —

24

without believing it themselves, prob­ ably — that if we do nothing to of­ fend the Russians, somehow we shall be able to keep ourselves clear of the global struggle, and bypass the whole unpleasant problem of international allignments — despite developments in our immediate neighborhood.

HIS IS the background, but too much should not be made of it in extenuation of Achduth Ha’avodah’s ill-considered action. It is a hard thing to say but there is adequate rea­ son to believe that that party was actuated, partly at least, by pre-elec­ tion irresponsibility. It is fearful of being crushed between the moderate Mapai and the more militant left­ wingers of Mapam. The latter, with one eye on the electorate, are indulg­ ing in a typically Marxist orgy of selfcriticism, confessing their sins in re­ gard to their stand on Stalin’s Russia and their violent opposition to Tito’s Yugoslavia.

Achduth Ha’avodah’s weakness as a political party is plain and simple: lack of a political raison d’etre. Hence the violence of its at­ tacks on religious Jewry and the Chief Rabbinate — it is the spearhead of anti-clericalism; hence its opposition to Israel’s Western affiliations — it is the spearhead of neutralism. Hence, too, its irresponsibility in publicizing Israel’s security secrets, and its re­ fusal to choose the more honorable way of resignation from the Coalition, which involved loss of the fruits of office and would not have created the same opportunity to pose as the guar­ dian of Israel’s political morality.

T

JEWISH LIFE

Notes of a Moroccan Journey

By SOLOMON J. SHARFMAN |nilli!il!lill!ll!ll!l!l!ll!||j!|||l!lllli|j!!l||||[||!||||||||t||j||||||||^^

MA first-hand report on conditions in North Africa’s newly independent | |

kingdom, by the President of the Rabbinical Council of America.

I

OROCCO — land of pictur­ pay rather than risk a public quarrel.

M esque misery. I visited Casa. . . The policemen have only lately blance, Rabbat, Tangier, Marrakeesh and outlying villages around these cities. In each, the centers of town are marked by striking white edifices of ad­ vanced designed erected by the French.

Side by side with business people, offi­ cials and office workers, fashionably clad in modern style, are to be found the veiled women and turbaned men of the year 4,000 B.C.E. In the midst of all, are the ever-present beggars.

The djabellas of the men are of all manner of material and color, as are likewise the gowns and veils of the women. The headgear is representa­ tive of the styles and tastes of the different regions of the country; but head covering is universal. . . . Every move you make is at­ tended with a request for money, for you cannot hide the fact that you are a foreigner, indeed, one of the fabu­ lous Americans. Men with brass badg­ es approach every attempt of your car to move or park with a demand for payment and they seldom act sat­ isfied with what they receive. In addi­ tion, those will approach who have no authority or governmental privilege to ask for anything but do so none­ theless, convinced that the driver will February, 1958

taken over from the French, who never permitted them to direct traffic.

They prove their innocence of knowl­ edge and skill by constant traffic jams that are not at all alleviated by the cries and screams of frustration that these traffic officers call forth. But even these things lend a color and exotic atmosphere to what is truly glamorous sight. . . . The shops feature beautiful displays that can rival store windows on Fifth Avenue. The in­ teriors of the hotels and apartment houses are sumptuous, with largely modernistic design and furniture.

Those I saw had elegant lobbies and spacious porches and verandas where one could enjoy the dazzling sun and blue sky for at least a few hours, if not the entire day, even in the month of December, although it is the rainy season from * November through March. In these palatial modern edi­ fices, in the center of town, live the French and American residents. . . .

These areas are limited to a few blocks. Farther away are areas that vary in appearance. Some sections have narrow streets, but even here it is easy to be deceived, for inside a narrow, unprepossessing, seemingly 25

medieval entrance of pink wall, you may find a rich and large apartment with rugs, furniture, and furnishings that the well-to-do anywhere would be happy to possess. In some sections, there are stately mansions, striking from the outside and dazzlingly wealthy within. Here live the wealthy merchants, and their taste in appoint­ ments, art, and furniture is excellent; fortunes in furnishings meet your glance on every side. . . .

eat meat, and although they take pride in the possession of separate meat and dairy dishes, they are very often not finicky at all about mixing them upon removal from the table. . . .

There is an old custom that is no longer extensively observed, they tell one, to celebrate the entire week be­ fore a Brith Milah. I attended one such function and the hospitality was overwhelming. They served many va­ rieties of wine, liqueurs and whiskey and a large variety of nuts, pastries, In the Modern Areas candies and meats and sausage. They HE JEWS living in the modern sang oriental songs and danced ori­ sections of the Moroccan cities ental dances. There were some Arabs are very hospitable. Those one meets present. I was told that most people insist that you partake of a meal with celebrate only on the day of the Brith, them. The bread, they assure you, is but the dinner then is also a very kosher, since the Arabs will not par­ elaborate celebration. . . . take of animal fat and the bread is In the Moroccan cities proper then, baked of flour and water, and was although there is a mixture of mod­ bought in a Jewish bakery. They ernism and medieavalism, of poorer urge that you need have no appre­ and richer areas, of natives and hensions as to Kashruth. (Indeed, French and foreigners, and though practically all I saw, young as well mule-drawn carts may halt traffic for as old, observe the Dietary Laws in agonizing and boisterous periods of their own homes, even though many time—the cities are more glamorous will violate Kashruth on the outside.) than, and probably as comfortable as, They will affirm, further, that the those we know in the Western world. meat is kosher and was slaughtered Outside the centers, it is the pink by shochtim who are under the super­ coloration which predominates, not vision of the Beth Din, and that it is only because the earth is red but also hygienic as well as kosher, having as a reaction against the white archi­ been purchased in a store that had tecture of the French. Picturesque refrigeration. They know how to, and seem entire areas with orange trees do, salt and kosher meat. When you lining the walks and pink walls like indicate reluctance to eat meat, they battlements enclosing the buildings— will ask you to partake of dairy; and but you learn that the symmetrically with milk, cheese, Cus Cus (a Jewish planted trees were planted by the version of this oriental dish, minus French and they built walls for a various ingredients used by the Arabs; utilitarian purpose. It is much easier it is really cooked farina) boiled arti­ to control a mob within the walls than chokes, and mint tea, you can have a in the outer streets. Housing develop­ really excellent meal. One must be ments have been put up in some areas careful, however, for soon you will and they too, seem to be well con­ notice that while you eat dairy, they structed buildings.

T

26

JEWISH LIFE

I •f

Typical youngster at one of the numer­ ous schools in North Africa established and conducted by Ozar Hatorah.

an hour later will prove the adage caveat emptor.

The Mellah is the Jewish quarter and the Medinah, the Arab. That sig­ nifies that the Jewish shops and dwell­ ings are in one series of winding, narrow, cobbled, filthy streets and the Arab in another. The entrance is the same and many Arabs now live and own shops in the Jewish quarter.

There have been, as a result, un­ pleasant instances of violence, rape, and kidnappings of Jewish girls. Per­ haps for this reason the Mellah and the Medinah are off limits to Amer­ ican military personnel.

Here the odors which assail your nostrils are overpowering until you become accustomed to them. The smell of poverty mingles with the odors of the foods that are sold here.

Sometimes in what is practically a hole in the wall, sometimes in larger but usually still dark interiors are the shops. Almost every conceivable item

. . . But at least fifty percent of Moroccans do not live in the city areas, but in the sections known as the Mellah and Medinah. There you see the old Morocco which possibly will never change into the new.

The M ellah

N FRONT of these sections there is a wall, like the ancient walls that repelled the Greeks, Romans, and barbarian invaders for a time.

A picture book entrance, high and wide, leads into the sections. In front, there is usually a square where crowds gather to watch snake charmers, ma­ gicians, or auctions. There frequently are outside the wall small shops with some very costly antiques, rugs, silver, and handicraft wares. You are button­ holed constantly to buy a watch, a knife, and dozens of other things that

{

I

I

February, 1958

At one of the clinics conducted in Morocco by the Joint Distribution Committee.

27

A typical scene in the Mellah of Casablanca.

(Photo courtesy Joint Distribution Committee)

is sold here. Foods, rugs, books, met­ als, leather goods, radios—the prod­ ucts of the ancient and modern worlds are comingled together. There are meat stalls, where meat hangs in the open throughout the day covered all over with flies. There are bakeries where bread and all kinds of pastries are baked in the manner of ancient days and as you wait a young girl or old woman will come with risen dough to have it baked and carried home. . . .

N THE Mellah, there are book stores, where menoroth, mezuzoth, taleithim, and the Moroccan black yarmulkas are sold. You stand out­ side a stall three feet square where sits an aged patriarch who is too old

I

28

and tired to beckon you in as the rest do, besieged sometimes by many cus­ tomers, sometimes totally deserted for hours. Here is a stall five feet square that sells groceries, manyr— it is intriguing to find in this locale so distant from 305 Broadway, New York—bearing thé © insignia. ^Every few feet, old, blind, crippled men and women sit resting on their haunches, presenting a most pitiable aspect. The din and hubbub are great and the jostling is constant. Up the street come the customers, Jews and Arabs, and women in their characteristic garb. Jewish women wear no veils and are in most instances recogniz­ able when you acquire the experience.

Jewish men wear the inevitable high, coarse, black felt yarmulke and a JEWISH LIFE

gown different from the Arab djabella. . . .

In between the stalls and shops are the entrances to the living quarters.

You must bow your head as you enter, for the entrance is usually nar­ row and low. You can see some of the household activity from the street.

Inside there usually is a courtyard and radiating from it are the dwell­ ings, on the sides and up above. You constantly meet the unexpected and the human misery and squalor are indescribable. Some apartments are quite decent and occasionally are clean, with usable furniture. These are the exceptions. Usually, the court­ yards are filthy and wet. Families of five may live in a room ten feet long and four feet wide, often made of boards mailed together. Too often

someone lies in bed, an old man, a middle-aged woman or a child, drippled and confined. There is a great deal of blindness. There are no win­ dows. Most of the time the cooking and preparing of food are done right on the filthy floor. There is an abject and beseeching look in the faces which brings a lump to your throat.

You see contenances out of Rem­ brandt and bearded patriarchs out of Biblical times. They are very devout.

HE MISERY of the Mellah is in­ describable. Some of the “apart­ ments” rent for two or three dollars a month. You ascend the stairs, often at the risk of your life, and come out in the open. There are tenements and hovels all around you, as far as the eye can reach. Often, one roof-

Children of the Mellah . . . struggling for life amidst unbelievable want and squalor.

(Photo courtesy Joint Distribution Committee) February, 1958

29

top is separated from another by a barbed-wire fence on which there hangs the ever-present laundry. There is no visible source of heat. It is very picturesque but heartbreakingly pitiable. . . . Often, you find a synagogue on the second or third or fourth floor. There is no uniformity in height, width, or building material, only a common air of helplessness, desertion, and abandonment unites them. Within some of the synagogues live the family of the sexton and you see five or six barefoot and tattered infants scampering about in puddles of unclean water on the floors. Usu­ ally, the synagogues are long and narrow. Hanging from the ceilings of many are beautiful lamps—like the Ner Tamid, with the names of the now long-forgotten donors inscribed upon them. Sturdy wooden benches line the interiors. The Bimah is lo­ cated at the rear of the synagogue and the Aron Kodesh in its custom­ ary position at the front. They are proud to show you their synagogues and many a one has a beautifully wrought Aron Kodesh handed down from ancient times, and beautiful Sifrey Torah. Frequently you find a syn­ agogue either on the ground floor or at the end of a rickety landing that is only large enough to contain a minyon, but it is still kept up. The benches are always covered, some­ times with straw mats, often with potato and flour sacks with the names of American products and cities long m since faded out. . . .

Very often the synagogues are crowded with old, bearded men who look so saintly and are so friendly, you long to take them with you. I did not notice them actually lernen.

They sit and chant Tehillim all day 30

From the alleys of the Mellah to the soil of Eretz Yisroel . . .

(Photo courtesy United Israel Appeal)

long. A fair number of young people come to the weekday Shacharith and Maariv services, but on Shabboth, sad to say, few young people attend the morning service, coming only for Maariv, for many work on Shabboth.

Little Hebrew is known among the Jews of the Mellah. Only the greet­ ings, an occasion word here and there and the parting salute: Chanun V ’rachum. In the dwellings they will point with pride to two, three, or more photographs on the wall, their sons and daughters in Israel, usually some in Israeli uniforms, others often wedding pictures. The pride and hope with which, they tell of these sons in Israel is deeply touching. . . . You walk out into the narrow streets again and the fleeting rays of JEWISH LIFE

Jewish mother and child in an ancient Moroccan Jewish village community.

(Photo J.D.C.)

the sun. You are beseiged constantly and asked for alms. It is a miracle you are not run over by bicycles and motorcycles; horns and bells sound continuously. You look around and see Arabs with turbans or fezzes and their womenfolk in all colors of veils — some, unveiled. You take one last look at your brothers and sisters. The men, grey-bearded and black-bearded, like saints and scholars . . . the wom­ en, their gentle, soft beauty obscured by the imprints of suffering . . . the children, the Jewish children, poign­ ant eyed, who screamed and almost mobbed so, so pathetic you long to take them with you. . . .

Arabian Nights

HE ROADS from place to place are wonderlands from the Arabian Nights. Here are packs of camels.

T

February, 1958

There flocks of sheep. Here a camel and a donkey are plowing together, a very common sight that reminds you of the Biblical injunction. There are two camels pulling a modern tractor that has become disabled. Huts with straw roofs. Tent-like structures made of baked mud. Deserted and crum­ bling walls. The water carrier trudging along in bare feet out of the pages of history. . . .

By day you travel from Casablanca to Marrakeesh and the road becomes so incredibly straight that it could have been built in a land of perfect planes. Passing through the lower At­ las Mountains, you see small families toiling in the field—the father, mother, and little children working together.

Glimpses of some larger buildings as you ride by. Large flocks of sheep with a young shepherd looking for all the world like one of our ancestors watching over them. You pass land filled with palm trees and beyond them, you see the snow-covered tops of the middle Atlas. . . .

When you return at night, it is at the risk of committing manslaughter: suddenly a lone figure looms up in the middle of the road; he saw your headlights long ago, and never both­ ered to move. Mule-driven carts loom suddenly of the darkness—three feet in front of the bumper. Cats and dogs, dazzled by your lights—beneath the very wheels. Even though dwellings abound, you see no light for miles and miles. Either their huts have no win­ dows or they have a lamp on the floor in an interior room. Every little while you see the inevitable figure, either a woman with a basket on her head, or a man sitting on his haunches at the side of the road, miles and miles from nowhere. . . .

3L

The Chief Rabbinate

E WERE very pleasantly sur­ prised by the Rabbinate in Rabbat, the Beth Din building, the secre­ tariat and the educational systems con­ ducted under the auspices of Ozar Hatorah, the Joint, and the Alliance Israelite Universelle.

Questions of domestic relations, such as marriages, divorces, and in­ heritance, are under the jurisdiction of the Beth Din. Its decisions are sealed with a tax stamp and are rec­ ognized as legally binding by the Mo­ roccan government. Indeed, they told us that the courtrooms in their build­ ings are larger and better built than those of the secular courts. There is one large courtroom for cases in ap­ peal before the Chief Rabbinate and a smaller one where local cases are

W

brought. On either case, three judges preside.

A number of young men, duly or­ dained rabbis, act as a secretariat and draft the form and language of the decisions. These range from questions of desertion, support, and custody of the children, to technical questions of divorce. It was fascinating to enter the office of the Beth Din of Rabbat and witness the dayanim, with the Even Hoezer open, discussing intricate ques­ tions of the laws of divorce. When the Beth Din sit as judges, they wear judicial robes and special hats.

The Rabbinical school has forty students at the present time and they study and are examined in primarily Hilchoth Nashim and the Even Hoezer.

They greeted us very warmly and asked us to help raise money for their yeshivoth. . . .

At Ozar Hatorah schools such as this, Moroccan Jewish boys and girls are given care and meals, and receive a modern education and vocational training together with positive religious instruction.

32

JEWISH LIFE

The Political Situation

ING MOHAMMED is apparently friendly to the Moroccan Jews, who nonetheless fear for the future.

At the present time, the Government needs the Jews because they are the only ones who are educated enough to carry out the functions of admin­ istration. It is very interested to send promising young Jewish students to study at universities abroad, so that they may then occupy posts in the various ministries in the government.

The Jews realize, however, that the need for them is only temporary and as soon as the Arabs will manage to educate their own, they will gradually replace the Jews in government.

K

At an Ozar Hatorah school for girls.

The Moroccan Government con­ stantly asserts in official statements that Jewish emigration is not restricted and that passports are granted on re­ quest. The facts are completely the reverse. Professionals and important people, it is said, can obtain exit pass­ ports but the average Jew cannot. Re­ cently many attempted to obtain cer­ tificates testifying that they needed to leave for medical reasons. This was soon stopped. A large number of those who tried to leave and were stopped are stranded in Tangier, where they are practically interned. Many children February, 1958

are among them. These are cared for at a kindergarten which is now sup­ ported by the Joint. The conditions amidst which the group exists are not good. . . .

The Jews dwelling in the villages would all leave but they are now even fearful of applying for passports. Ac­ tually, there are three groups.

I. The upper bourgeouis class, which at present has excellent earnings and fears that in Israel they would not have similar opportunities. They do not want to leave at present.

II. The lower bourgeoiusie, who are not as well off as previously, since economic conditions have worsened.

They would leave if they could, but they are non-committal.

III. The villagers and the residents in the Mellahs. They would leave im­ mediately if they could.

Those who speak officially for the Jews at present occupy their official posts simply because they are malle­ able and do what the government wants. A delegation of these recently visited Paris and asked the Jewish Agency and other Jewish organizations to leave the Moroccan Jews alone, claiming that the latter do not want to emigrate. They expected their mis­ sion to have far better results than actually were achieved. . . .

Summation

OROCCO, land of pictur­ M esque m isery. . . of brilliant color and somber want, of lavish wealth and of monumental destitution . . . land where the ancient and the modern crowd hard upon each other in a fantastic confusion of social and economic patterns . . . land, for the Jew, of a long and memorable past, of an uprooted, chaotic present, of a grim, foreboding future. In the teem­ ing alleys of the Mellahs, in the re­ moteness of ancient, scattered villages, in the modern quarters of the cities, 33

Moroccan Jews know all too well that they must go . . . before it is too late.

Not easily may the crucial dilemma of Moroccan Jewry be solved. The political, social, and economic com­ plexities of the situation call for the most carefully considered approach.

But, whatever the techniques to be brought to bear, Moroccan Jewry must be enabled to emigrate. Let it be re­ membered that like difficulties were faced in Tunisia, which today for­

tunately permits Jews to emigrate at will, without loss of possessions. Mo­ rocco’s relations with the United States are similar to those of Tunisia. The United States Government could and should urge the Moroccan Government-^-which is completely dependent upon external economic support—-to change its policy with reference to Jewish emigration.

The way must be opened for the tomorrow of Moroccan Jewry.

"So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah because of the faultfinding of the Israelites and their testing of the Lord by saying, 'Is the Lord in our midst, or not?' Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel!" (Shemoth 17:7-8) A youngster was accustomed to ride on his father's shoulders through the streets. Whatever he would see that he desired, he would ask his father to get it for him, and his father would comply once, twice, thrice.

They encountered a neighbor's son; and the youngster called out, "Have you seen my father?" "Fool," the father exclaimed. “You have been riding on my shoulders; whatever you have requested I have given you; and. yet you say to your friend, 'have you seen my father!'" The father impatiently cast him off of his shoulders, and while the boy was lying on the ground, a dog came running up and bit the child.

This parable illustrates what occurred after the Exodus. The Children of Israel were enrobed in and riding on the Clouds of Glory. They clamored for food—The Almighty gave them Manna. They demanded something more substantial—He gave them quail . . . and thus continually supplied their needs. Yet they asked, "Is the Lord in our midst or not?" So The Almighty said: “I will show you—the dog will come and bite you. And Amalek came, as it is written immediate after their query . . . "And Amalek came, and fought with them."

Midrash

34

JEWISH LIFE

MEMO TO: ALL ORTHODOX JEWS FROM: Charles H. Bendheim, National Chairman, OUA SUBJECT: ORTHODOX UNION ASSOCIATION 1. The goal of the Orthodox Union Associa­ tion, the individual membership arm of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, is to assist the Union in spreading the ideals of orthodox Judaism.

2. It is essential that every loyal Jew participate in this national, vibrant, traditional Jewish movement. O.U.A. mem­ bership identifies you personally with our great program of religious resurgence.

3. As an O.U.A. member you will receive: a. JEWISH LIFE. b. Holiday Pamphlet Service— bringing into your home informative and authentic booklets and pamphlets on Jewish holidays, beliefs and practices. c. Kashruth Bulletins — keeping you posted on the new ® developments. d. News Bulletins 4. The annual membership fee is $10.

5. 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, New York Please enroll me as a member of the Orthodox Union Association. é

NAME m

Address __________________ CITY___________ __________ _ STATE________ _ □

Check for $10 is enclosed.

February, 1958

□ Please bill me.

35

Blushh»fith Miracle in Nature

By SAMSON R. WEISS

“And it shall be for a token upon thine hand and for an insignia between thine eyes, because with a strong hand has the Almighty brought Us forth from Egypt ” (Sh’moth 13:16) “Since the Holy One, blessed be He, will not work a sign or miracle in every generation for the eyes of every evildoer or G-d-denier, therefore He has commanded that we shall always make a remembrance and a token for what our eyes beheld and that we shall transmit the knowledge of these miracles to our children and they to their children, until the last generation. . . .

“Reflecting upon the great undeniable miracles, men will come to acknowl­ edge the hidden miracles, an acknowledgment which is the foundation of the entire Torah. For indeed, one has no portion in the Torah of Mosheh our Teacher, unless he believes that all our circumstances and occurrences are in reality miracles and not the consequence of nature or the course of the world, be it concerning the multitude and be it con­ cerning the individual. But if one fulfills the Mitzvoth, he will succeed in their reward and if he transgresses against them, he will be uprooted in their punishment, all upon the decree of the Most High. . . . ” {Rabbi Mosheh Ben Nachman — Ramban— Commentary to Torah, l.c.)

HE STORY of our people begins with the achievement of an in-^ tellectual giant who, as our Sages tell us, recognized the Creator behind the obscuring curtain of the Universe. He scanned all phenomena of existence.

In the contemplation of their interlock­ ing, cosmic order he found, in utter loneliness of view, this world to be “a palace full of light”, rather than an accidental and conflicting jumble of appearances ruled by opposing pow­ ers and spirits. This palace, he fur­ ther concluded, was built and is maintained and lit by the Divine Ar­ chitect Who in His Oneness and In­ finity and Omnipotence is the source of all existence. (Midrash Rabbah B’reshith, 39,l.) When Abraham our patriarch thus found G-d, he was

T

36

chosen to become the father of a people which was forever to be dis­ tinguished by its ability to compre­ hend the Creator within and above His creation, a people of seers and sages who conceive of nature as of the first and enduring revelation of the Almighty.

The marvel of existence never pales to a mind identifying nature as but the outer mantle of the constant mir­ acle. Every day anew, the Jew is bidden to look upon this world with fresh wonder, not permitting his heart and thought to be dulled by the con­ stancy and predictability of the ever recurring “works of Creation”. Every morning, he thanks the Almighty for the splendor of the heavenly lights and for the creative renewal of all JEWISH LIFE

existence, as he thanks Him for hav­ ing chosen Israel in the abundance of His love, to be the recipient of the second enduring, and even greater, Divine revelation, the giving of the Torah on Sinai. While in the “Birchath Ha-m’oroth” we thank the Creator for revealing Himself in Crea­ tion, in “Birchath Ahavah Rabbah” we thank Him for revealing on Sinai the purpose of Creation. The “Onochi Hashem” of the Decalogue is the Al­ mighty speaking as the Master of “B’reshith Bora” Whose creative power was evidenced to Israel and the entire world in the miracles of the Exodus from Egypt, since only nature’s Master and Maker can bend and suspend its rules to do His will.

Likewise, only man’s Master and Maker can give him command and direction (see Ramban, Sh’moth 2 0 : 1 ).

In the “Sh’ma” which follows these blessings of gratitude for the gift of Creation and the legacy of Torah, we acknowledge G-d both as the Creator, Who in His Oneness is the source of all being, and as the Sovereign Whose law we accept, to fulfill it with all our heart and soul and might. Our daily “Kabbolath Ol Malchuth Shomayim” is based on these two great revela­ tions of the Most High, on Creation and Torah and on their enduring continuance.

N HIS explanation of the meaning of the Tefillin and the Mezuzah, and of our also otherwise constantly referring to and remembering the great miracles and signs of the Exo­ dus, Nachmanides projects this fun­ damental cognition of the constancy of Creation from the Macrocosm, the universe, to the Microcosm—to indiv­ idual man. Torah is active in and the principle of this world. It is di-

I

February, 1958

rected in its postulate to man. All that happens to man, “all his circum­ stances and occurrences” are never accidental. They are the consequence of the Divine will and justice, they are “created” for his reward or pun­ ishment. Cloaked in the mantle of nature, hidden behind the curtain of circumstantial developments, Divine Providence — the “Hashgochah P’rotith” — is unceasingly concerned with man, and his fate is the constant re­ newal of the great revelations of Creation and Sinai.

Thus, from the school of the Exo­ dus and the lesson of Sinai, the peo­ ple of the Torah advanced from the teachings of the “Nes Nigley” — the open miracle — to the higher level of understanding Him in the “Nes Nistor” — the hidden miracle of nature and circumstance. In this advance­ ment, Ramban sees the very criterion of faith. Without it, man has “no por­ tion in the Torah of Mosheh our Teacher”, for he nullifies by his fal­ lacious acceptance of blind fate and disrelated accident, or by his demand for a repeated suspension of the rules of nature as proof of G-d’s mastery, the very purpose of Torah. He denies, by such myopic insistence, at once both the revelation of the “B’reshith Bora” and the revelation of the “Onochi Hashem”.

N THE sacred canon of ohr Bible, among the books of our T’nach, there is one scroll in which the name of G-d does not occur. This is the Scroll of Esther, the story of a rescue which Jews will always remember and continue to celebrate even in the days of Moshiach, as it is written: and these days of Purim shall not be for­ gotten among the Jews nor their mem­ ory cease from their seed (Megillath Esther 9:28). It is a story of a per-

I

37

secution and a deliverance which, if taken in its fractional components, is a conglomerate of accidental hap­ penstances and fortuitous coinci­ dences. And yet, not one can read this story without being moved to the core of his being by the transcendence of the Divine Omnipresence which in its awesome, hidden way is the ul­ timate and final authority over the fate and history of all men.

Unspoken and yet undeniable, the name of G-d illuminates the story of Purim. In even greater glory than in the “Nes Nigley”, the Almighty re­ veals Himself in the “Nes Nistor”, of which this story is the Jew’s classic example and from which he has learn­ ed to penetrate the darkness of exile with the light of his knowledge of G-d’s loving nearness and constant concern.

For Yourself And Your Friends

A PRECIOUS GIFT

T W O Y E A R S for only $ 3 .0 0 (TWELVE ISSUES)

JEWISH LIFE, 305 Broadway, N. Y. 7, N. Y.

Send Gift Subscription to: Name .........................................................................................

Address

.... .................................................................................... □

Include my own subscription □

New

□

Renewal

Check Enclosed for $

38

JEWISH LIFE

The Continuing Battle for Shechitah

By SAMUEL L. BRENNGLASS flllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll.....IIIINIIIIIIIIIII...... HI............

.

.

............................................ ............................................................................Ill........ .

| Is proposed “Humane Slaughter” legislation really humane? Battling |; I

a grave threat to Shechitah, representative Jewish bodies take

j

|

differing roads to a common objective.

|

HE THREAT to Shechitah and to religious freedom lurking in the various forms of Humane Slaugh­ ter legislation proposed at the past session of the United States Congress has been revealed in previous issues of Jewish Life . At the time the session adjourned, in August, 1957, none of the proposed measures was passed, but it is certain that efforts to secure passage will be pressed with utmost vigor and determination at the present session which commenced in January.

Heretofore, the representative Jew-, }sh organizations of the United States have acted as one in opposing the pro­ posed Humane Slaughter legislation.

All are aware that in Europe, legis­ lation of this kind has paved the way for restrictions upon Shechitah, to the point, in some countries, of actual prohibition of Jewish ritual slaughter of animals. These measures, in Eu­ rope, have been accompanied by ra­ bidly anti-Jewish propaganda, leaving little doubt as to the Antisemitic, rath­ er than humanitarian, motives of some ,of their sponsors.

Unity among American Jewish or­ ganizations as to the undesirability of fhe proposed forms of legislation has

T

¡February, 1958

remained unbroken. A difference of view has arisen, however, as to strat­ egy, some groups fearing that active opposition to any and all forms of Humane Slaughter legislation may re­ sult in passage of legislation least likely to protect religious rights.

Discussion in this connection has focused upon the Poage Bill, H.R. 8308. This measure is sponsored by a number of influential Humane So­ cieties, and was favorably acted upon by the powerful Rules Committee of the House of Representatives during the last session. Upon the representa­ tions of leading Jewish organizations, vote by the House upon this bill was postponed at the time, in order to provide opportunity for further study.

In keeping with legislative procedure, this bill should come to the floor of the House at the current session.

This bill, for reasons previously widely publicized, was opposed by the entire Jewish community. Its dangers were found mainly in 1) The acknowledgment of Shech­ itah as a humane method only “in the meaning of this Act”, thereby implying that Shechitah is not otherwise humane; 2) Not providing any exemption 39

for the handling of the animal in preparation for Shechitah; 3) Opening the way to severe eco­ nomic hardships and restric­ tions, by basing the exemption on the religious motive, thus making it entirely possible to interpret the bill as prohibiting Shechitah as a method of slaugh­ tering unless intended for and used by the religious consumer.

This would be tantamount to a “numerus clausus”.

The Problem of Amendments

IRTUALLY every Congressman approached by the Jewish com­ V munity and its various organizations in this matter sympathized with the Jewish position and admitted that the Poage Bill, in its original form, does not offer sufficient protection. They would not, however, go along with the position that no legislation should be passed at all.

In view of the danger that under the pressure of the Humane Societies the Poage Bill would be passed, in all its insufficiency, by an overwhelming majority, these Congressmen pressed the Jewish community for amend­ ments which would ostensibly provide protection. They assured that such amendments would be accepted by Congressman Poage and his Commit­ tee as well as by the Rules Committee.

In the face of these demands, diver­ gencies of opinion developed among the Jewish organizations. While the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congrega­ tions of America and the Rabbinical Council of America steadfastly main­ tained their opposition to any legisla­ tion, refusing to submit amendments to the Poage Bill or to take the posi­ tion that they would not oppose an 40

amended bill, other organizations felt it preferable to give up such unyield­ ing opposition.

Accordingly, the American Jewish Congress, the two national organiza­ tions of Conservative Jewry, and the two national organizations of Reform Jewry agreed not to oppose an amend­ ed Poage Bill which was submited in January by the Humane Societies together with a letter in which these societies clearly stated, in contradis­ tinction to previous statements, that they consider Shechitah an acceptable and humane method of slaughter. The amended bill declares Shechitah to be a humane method, usable without any previous stunning or desensitizing of the animal.

It is important to note that: 1) The five above-named organiza­ tions deem such non-opposition to be in the best interest of Shechitah protection and that the divergency of opinion exist­ ing is only one of strategy and not of principle; 2) The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America and the Rabbinical Council of Amer­ ica were apprised of the lan­ guage of the proposed amend­ ments even though they opposed and continue to oppose any leg­ islation; 3) The amended bill, too, will not be endorsed by any Jewish or­ ganizations and the above-men­ tioned organizations are only committed not to oppose it; 4) The opposition of the orthodox Jewish national bodies is not only a matter of principle with them, but is also of greatest moral and strategic value for the future.

JEWISH LIFE

It should be noted, too, that the National Community Relations Ad­ visory Council has served, and con­ tinues to serve, as the coordinating agency for the Jewish community in this problem. Through the Ad Hoc Committee, established by NCR AC, the orthodox organizations maintain continuous liaison with the other major national Jewish bodies in the

A joint statement of the UOJCA and the RCA has been submitted to every Congressman setting forth, in detail, the reasons for their opposi­ tion to any legislation. As a matter of record and for the interest of read­ ers, the text of this statement is cited in full herein, as follows: common endeavor to protect Shechitah.

STATEMENT OF RABBINICAL COUNCIL OF AMERICA AND UNION gfOF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA January 13, 1958

HE orthodox Jewish community in America is gravely concerned with proposed legislation now before the Congress aimed at introducing hu­ mane slaughter procedures. We readily recognize and identify ourselves with the deep sense of compassion innate in the American spirit which would motivate such legislation. We are proud that a basic principle of the Torah incumbent upon every Jew prohibiting the causing of pain to any living creature is part of the American way of life.

Nevertheless, we must oppose the proposed humane slaughter bill now before Congress, and specifically H.R. 8308 on the agenda of the House of Representatives. Should this bill be enacted, an agency of the Government will be responsible for the supervision of religious practices. Certainly, such legislation flouts the fundamental American tradition prohibiting the Gov­ ernment from interference with the religious practices of any faith.

Our concern is further underscored by the following: 1. The possible effect of such legislation on the right of the Jewish com­ munity to practice the basic religious tenet of Shechitah (ritual slaughter).

This divinely ordained method of preparing animals for human consumption is most humane.

2, Our deep concern for the humane treatment of all G-d’s creatures as ordained by Scripture and Jewish religious law.

For the past two years we have exhaustively studied the problem of leg­ islation from all aspects in consultation with interested groups and individuals.

During the past six months, our study concerned itself specifically with H.R. 8308, and possible revisions or amendments thereto. We find that within the framework of this bill, it is impossible to satisfactorily resolve the prob­ lems inherent in such legislation.

T

Analysis of Bill H.R. 8308

HE BILL seeks to establish at its very outset, that “slaughter shall be carried out by the most humane practicable methods”. (Sec. 1, P. 2, L. 3). It then appears that a single ultimate method is to be sought which may easily exclude other humane methods including those prescribed by religious practice.

T

February, 1958

41

Even the exemption for “slaughtering in conformity with the practices and requirements of any established religious faith” is illusory . . . (a) Because the Bill would require, under the guise of handling, pre­ liminary treatment of the animal which would thus render impossible Shechitah in accordance with religious requirements. (b) While the reference to “slaughtering in conformity with the practices and requirements of any religious faith” may be taken to mean that Shechitah is “declared to be humane within the meaning of this Act”, we note that this is not so by definition, but only by reference. This reflection upon Shechitah may constitute a defamation of Judaism because it implies that Shechitah is not humane per se, but is considered humane only by the grace of an act of Congress.

Inferentially, it also appears that the Bill may seek to restrict the con­ sumption of meat from ritually slaughtered animals to the followers of that faith. H.R. 8308, while allowing “slaughtering in conformity with the prac­ tices and requirements of any established religious faith” may open the door for the demand that such slaughtering be permitted only for the adherents of such religious faith and the meat is not to be sold to the community at large. A percentage clause for the meat requirements of the Jewish people would then be set.

We well appreciate the difficulties the Congressional Committee encoun­ tered in the writing of the proposed Bill. The present uncertainty as to what constitutes humane methods of slaughter, is further emphasized by Section 2 of the Bill, which is couched in negative language. The Bill does not set forth affirmatively criteria for humaneness because of the impossibility at the present time to set forth such affirmative standards of humane slaughter.

It approves as humane methods of slaughter those which in fact are presently deemed inhumane and injurious by, among others, the United States De­ partment of Agriculture. Certainly, our conscience will not permit us to underwrite in any manner the treatment of animals which violates a prin­ ciple of our religion concerning the humane treatment of animals.

The bill as now constituted specified that the animals are to be rendered insensible to pain b y — (a) A single blow or gunshot; (b) Electrical; (c) Chemical; (d) Or other means that is rapid or effective.

The inadequacy of these provisions is self-evident: (a) A single blow is now the practice in most slaughter houses as far as cattle are concerned. It is, however, a fact that a single blow does not al­ ways render an animal insensible. Testimony has been presented that some­ times over twenty blows were used. If the first blow is insufficient, is the animal to be allowed to suffer? (b) According to the testimony of the experts of the United States Department of Agriculture, electrical stunning is a disapproved method be­ cause it is not always accompanied by unconsciousness because of the lesions produced in the lungs of the animal, and because such method renders im­ possible proper examination of the carcass. (c) Chemical — This method has been found practicable only in the case of hogs and even there its effectiveness is questioned by many author42

JEWISH LIFE

ities. In the case of turkeys, for instance, and cattle, chemical stunning has produced asphyxiation, with the fowl and cattle exposed to great preceding torture. (d) Other means that are rapid and effective obviously, these have no particular meaning since the law does not specify what they are.

At the present time, the humaneness of these methods is questionable and legislation characterizing such methods as humane is not warranted by present scientific evidence. (See excerpts of testimony appended hereto.)

ONGRESSIONAL leaders have indicated that they would welcome changes in the bill which would eliminate the objections of the Jewish Community. We have made serious efforts to examine the possibilities of such alternative language and have come to the conclusion that this is im­ possible within the confines of the present bill.

C

It is not surprising that within the Jewish community there was un­ animity of opposition to this bill when first considered by Congress during the past session. There is a sorrowful history behind legislation such as this.

We do not impugn in the slightest the motives of the proponents of the bill.

Unfortunately, however, the motivations of those who have pressed such legislation in other countries and at other times have not been as benevolent.

The exemption of Shechitah wherever such laws were enacted, has been used as a springboard for a continuous campaign to label Shechitah as in­ humane and to ban it.

May we submit that the entire civilized world looks to the United States of America for leadership and guidance in the exercise of religious freedom.

H.R. 8308, if enacted, may be misunderstood in other lands as official sanc­ tion of religious regulation and discrimination. Our apprehensions are underscored by the fact that already in several state legislatures bill are being introduced calling for “humane regulation’? in the slaughter of an­ imals. Indications are that these Bills may, and in some cases do omit the so-called protections that the Congress is attempting to include in the instant bill.

The problem of the humane treatment of animals is a very real one.

We are convinced, however, that the present efforts to cope with these prob­ lems by legislation fall short of their purpose and indeed fail.

We do not see how legislation which in most instances is impossible of application, can serve the best interests of the cause which it seeks to pro­ mote. Until such time as there is developed an effective method that is prac­ tical and applicable, the purposes envisioned will be defeated.

Furthermore, we call attention to the fact that slaughter is only one small aspect of the treatment of animals. No concern has yet been ex­ pressed tor the mistreatment of animals that is common in all segments of our community. We refer to such things as branding, castrating, de-horning of cattle, docking of lambs, hunting, etc. These also present serious viola­ tions of a humane principle and should certainly be included in the overall effort to establish standards for the treatment of animals.

February, 1958

43

We must, therefore, state that our commitment — a religious commit­ m en t— to the principle of the humane treatment of all animals, compels us to oppose present legislative efforts to pass an enforcement bill. We should like further to state that our organizations and the orthodox Jewish community generally are prepared to lend their active participation in and support of any educational and other programs designed to solve the problem of humane treatment of animals in this country and throughout the civilized world. $

*

Additional Background Material

A Dr. M. R. Clarkson, Deputy Administrator of the Agricultural Research Service, in his statement before the Sub-committee on Livestock and Feed Grains of the Committee on Agriculture, on April 2, 1957, asserted (see Hearing Testimony, pg. 10): “No one has yet devised a method of slaughter that does not involve some pain. Yet food animals must be slaughtered and attention must be directed toward improvements in equipment and techniques, the adoption of more rapid and orderly methods of handling the animals just prior to slaughter, and of course, the avoidance of abuse.

“This orderly approach in our view represents a method that is prefer­ able to the enforcement of mandatory Federal legislation.

“Judgement of a procedure or of a device to determine whether it is in fact “humane” when slaughtering livestock or poultry is extremely difficult, since no one has developed the basic criteria for evaluating animal reactions to stimuli that might cause pain or fright. Wide differences of opinion are usually expressed about the practicability as well as the humaneness of any new method proposed. Each such proposal must be carefully considered and finally tested in the plants to determine these issues. Mpch fundamental knowledge is lacking upon which to base an opinion of the acceptability of one method over another from the standpoint of humaneness. Research, is needed to develop information which may shed light on this aspect of the problem.”

His associate, Dr. A. R. Miller, Director of the Meat Inspection Division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, informed Congress that the so-called humane slaughtering methods widely used in Europe were seriously ques­ tioned at a seminar held in November, 1954, at Utrecht, Netherlands, in terms of the humaneness and practicality of the handling methods employed.

“The Department of Agriculture”, Dr. Miller declared, “does not have avail­ able methods it could recommend that meet the criteria of legislation”. And, “as humane handling of animals becomes the subject of legislation, those affected by the law are entitled to know with some degree of certainty how they might comply with the law with reasonable confidence that they will accomplish the objective of the legislation”.

44

JEWISH LIFE

B Excerpts of additional testimony of Drs. Clarkson and Miller, appearing be­ fore the Sub-committee meeting on April 12, 1957.

CHEMICAL (C 02) STUNNING: pg. 133 “The C 02 method of immobilizing hogs before slaughter has been found practicable in several plants. Observations of its use appear to show advan­ tages from the standpoint of labor requirements. But really, no one, to our knowledge, has authoritatively evaluated the effects of this procedure from the standpoint of humane treatment of the animal. As far as one can ob­ serve the animal entering and leaving the device, it appears acceptable. We hope it is humane, but we do not know. Research is needed to supply the answer.” (pg. 135) “The point of the mandatory legislation is primarily that an­ imals be rendered insensible by some method approved by the Secretary before they are bled, such as in the use of the C 02 gas involved in the ren­ dering of the animals insensitive.

“The matter of whether or not they are hung is also contained in those bills, but the primary point is to prescribe methods by Department action that would say how they are to be made insensible, and with the present stage of our knowledge. I don’t see how we could say that subjection of an animal is C02 is any more humane than the use of the knife with its quick thrust”.

ELECTRICAL STUNNING: pg. 133 “The electrical method of stunning animals has been discussed exten­ sively and has been widely advocated. Competent observers have expressed the opinion that the spasms accompanying the electrical stunning may not in all cases be immediately accompanied by unconsciousness. They have pointed out that while the desired result might accompany the use of a proper balance of voltage and time, in the practical application of the method by packing house workers this fine balance might not always be acceptable.

“In many cases of electrical stunning undesirable hemorrhaging occurs in the muscular portion of the carcass. From the standpoint of inspection the hemorrhaging that occurs in the carcass and internal organs causes con­ fusion. These confusing marks can be distinguished from evidences of disease, but this takes additional time in each case to be sure. Our inspection procedures are geared to the high-speed operations of American plants and we must take the position that the intrusion of artificially induced situations which create uncertainties in the inspection system must be avoided.” % The Battle Ahead

HE ABOVE statement, as pre­ viously mentioned, has been sub­ mitted to every member of the United States Congress. There is reasonable grounds for hope that it will bear the desired effect and that the proposed legislation will fail of passage in the House of Representatives. Should the bill be passed by the House, it will

T

February, 1958

then, of course, become the subject of Senate action. It is the intent of the national organizations of orthodox Jewry, in that event, to make the po­ sition of the community for which they speak concerning this legislation known to every Senator. The battle to safeguard Shechitah must and will be carried on.

45

Orthodox Jewry in Boston: A Survey

By PHILIP K. ISAACS glflllillllillllttlliPiPPpgiJllipjliHHIIIIIIIIIIIIllllip

An incisive evaluation of one of America’s older—|

|

and newer— Jewish communities.

[

... ............................................................

YOUNG orthodox couple of my acquaintance recently moved to a Boston suburb from New York. With­ in a week their parents flew to Boston to inspect. The girl’s mother spent two days surveying her daughter’s sur­ roundings, with evident approval. As she boarded the homeward bound plane, she confessed “I really had thought that any place outside New York would be a wilderness for an observant Jew.” A real problem faces an orthodox Jew who wishes to move from one city to another. The average Ameri­ can simply moves his family when­ ever he finds a better job or more attractive living conditions. The reli­ gious Jew, however, has to know a great deal more about the commu­ nity he is moving to: Is there any sizable number of other observant Jews? Can one find an area where others of similar background are liv­ ing? Are the religious needs of orth­ odox Jews satisfied? Are there schools in the neighborhood? Are there Yeshivoth and Day Schools for the chil­ dren? Is Kashruth assured? Are orth­ odox organizations effective in im­ proving religious standards? Are reli­ gious Jews active in community life?

What are the chances for making a

A

46

real contribution to Judaism locally, nationally, and in Israel? Finally, what is the outlook for Orthodoxy in the area?

These questions confront profes­ sional men, rabbis, businessmen, and students who are considering a move.

Lately, Boston has been the object of many inquiries in this regard . . . the expanding technical industries attract orothdox Jewish scientists and tech­ nicians, rabbis are needed to lead con­ gregations and to teach, and a grow­ ing number of religious students are enrolled in the many universities for professional training.

To know the answers to the above questions would also benefit other communities, which can profit by Boston’s experiences. ❖ * % HE JEW coming to Boston must T first know what Jewish life is like in general, before evaluating the po­ sition of Orthodoxy in particular— we will therefore give a brief sketch of the community.

Although the Massachusetts Bay Colony was one of the first settlements in the New World, Jews did not ap­ pear in significant numbers until the middle of the nineteenth century.

JEWISH LIFE

Even by 1902, when there were about 40,000 Jews in Boston, the Jewish Encyclopedia could devote only a column to the city. Philadelphia, Bah timore, and Cleveland received much more space. Boston Jewry did not really become articulate until the 20th

century, with a large influx from Russia and Lithuania. There are now about 150,000 Jews in the Greater Boston area, out of a total population of 2,300,000. It is the fifth largest Jewish community in America and about eleventh in the world.

The Boston Scene

The Jews of Boston are probably engaged in much the same occupation as their co-religionists in other parts of the country. They are particularly prominent, however, in the shoe and leather industries, in textiles and cloth­ ing, and in the professions. In addi­ tion, the scientists and scholars of Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston University, and of course Brandeis University include a large proportion of Jews. The majority of Jewish Bostonians are small busi­ nessmen, artisans, and workers in com­ mercial and industrial fields.

The major part of the Jewish com­ munity is American-born now, and most of the foreign-born have spent their adult lives in this country. De­ spite this* one is still more likely to hear Yiddish than English in certain areas of Greater Boston. Two Yiddish newspapers are published locally, as well as two Anglo-Jewish weeklies.

Jewish programs conducted in English and Yiddish are heard over more than one local radio station.

In their outward characteristics and in their activities, the Jews of Boston are much like the popular picture of a Bostonian: liberal in outlook, cru­ sading for causes, yet conservative in action and slow to change, participat­ ing in community affairs, and con­ cerned with culture and education.

NE’S first impression of the Bos­ ton Jewish community is that

O

February, 1958

of a highly organized, intense group working for myriads of causes.

Women’s organizations* particularly, are in the forefront with fund-raising, luncheons, banquets, and social gather­ ings. There are social service agencies, hospitals, workers groups, and units of the Jewish War Veterans, B’nai Brith, American Jewish Congress and numer­ ous other national groups, and local supporters of institutions here and in Israel. All Zionist groups are active in the area, and have produced their full share of both funds and national leadership in these moveemnts. Among the orthodox groups, there are units of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Con­ gregations of America, Yeshiva Uni­ versity, Religious Zionists of America, and Mizrachi Women’s Organization (which has over 2000 active mem­ bers) and Agudath Israel. The non­ orthodox temple groups are also pace­ setters in their fields. The Conserva­ tive United Synagogue is doing ex­ tensive youth work.

Most of the local charitable insti­ tutions receive their support through the highly organized and well planned Combined Jewish Appeal, which in­ cludes the UJA. Recently the local Community Chest complained that it could not raise as much from 2,000,000 non-Jews as the CJA could from less than a tenth that number of Jews.

Israel Bond purchases are always pro­ portionately higher than in other parts of the country.

47

The eighty-five synagogues and temples carry on a wide range of social and cultural activities. Each congregation generally has an affiliated sisterhood and brotherhood, or men’s club. Adult education classes, dis­ cussion groups, “young married” cou­ ples clubs and public lectures are all functions of these institutions.

Boston’s Jews also concern them­ selves with civic affairs and with poli­ tics. The lists of patrons of the Boston Symphony and the Museum of Fine Arts include a number of Jewish names. Many Jews hold office in cities, towns, and the State, despite the pop­ ular misconception that the Irish run everything in Boston.

With all this activity, and concern for both Jewish and public causes, many Boston Jews remain indifferent to Judaism. As pointed out below, over half of them do not attend any Syna­

gogue or Temple. Perhaps this atti­ tude is taken from the traditional Boston “Brahmin”, who is usually more concerned with culture or with church affairs, than with religion it­ self. In any case, the situation can best be summed up by the following incident: I was talking to a woman in one of the more fashionable Boston suburbs—she explained how her time was taken up by countless organiza­ tional duties, with Hadassah, with the PTA, with CJA solicitations and with the Beth Israel Hospital. I asked whether she belonged to the Reform temple three blocks away. She replied “Oh, I’m not that religious.”

There is a basic ignorance of Jew­ ish practice; most people do not know what is forbidden on the Sabbath. It is against this background that Boston Orthodoxy should be viewed.

The Synagogue Scene

O BEGIN with: how many orth­ odox Jews are there in Greater Boston? This is the most difficult ques­ tion to answer, because it is not easy to define an grthodox Jew. Some Jews go to non-orthodox temples, but try to keep Shabboth and Kashruth. Oth­ ers attend orthodox shools, but drive there on Shabboth. Perhaps the best practical definition of an orthodox Jew is one who believes in the Divine origin of the Torah, tries to learn more about it and to observe its Mitzvoth and precepts more fully, and affiliates himself with an orthodox synagogue.

The only statistics available on the subject are for orthodox synagogue membership and participation in re­ ligious activities. From these we es­ timate that out of the 150,000 Jews

T

48

in Greater Boston, 6,000 families — constituting about 22,000 men, women and children — are affiliated with orthodox shools or groups. Not all of these consider themselves orthodox in personal observance. Percentage­ wise, this number may not seem large, but a recent survey showed that at least 50% of Greater Boston Jews do not attend any synagogue or temple even on the High Holy Days. Fur­ thermore, here as elsewhere many orthodox synagogue-goers consistent­ ly fail to formally affiliate — in the dues-paying sense — with a congrega­ tion.

Orthodox Jews are found in most of the forty cities and towns that make up Greater Boston. Within this dispersion, there are three or four areas where any religious Jew can JEWISH LIFE

find many people like himself. In Dorchester and Mattapan, which have been the “Jewish sections” for forty years, the atmosphere is much like Boro Park in New York. Malden, Lynn, and Winthrop have thriving traditional communities. The newer suburbs of Brookline and Newton are attracting large numbers from older areas. In Brookline particularly, there is a close-knit goup of young ortho­ dox couples.

T h i s general survey leads us to the main questions: are the needs of religious Jews satisfied in Boston?

The most obvious need is a minyon; there are over fifty orthodox syna­ gogues in Greater Boston, over half in the Dorchester-Roxbury Mattapan area. Malden, Chelsea, Winthrop, and Lynn have more than one each, but the 20,000 Jews of Brookline have only one. Newton, the largest and most popular suburb, recently organ­ ized an orthodox synagogue. Likewise Milton has a new congregation. Some outlying suburbs like Belmont and Lexington are served only by a tem­ ple or by a Jewish Center which of­ fers services on Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur.

Orthodox shools have to compete, in many sections, with non-orthodox temples which are older and physi­ cally more impressive. Some of these temples have traditional services in th e, vestry every Shabboth and on weekdays — a compromise which some religiously observant families have come to accept. Even when a new orthodox synagogue is established, many stay away because they have a picture of orthodoxy as declining, unesthetic, and foreign.

Where orthodox congregations have been successful in building new struc­ tures, gaining members, and increasFebruary, 1958

ing observance, it has usually been through the enthusiasm generated by the efforts of individual rabbis. This is particularly true in Malden, Brook­ line, and Dorchestra. In Malden, there had been a strong religious commu­ nity for more than fifty years. The largest congregation, Beth Israel, had been led by noted rabbis, but none of them recognized the need for attract­ ing the second, American-born gener­ ation into the synagogue. This allow­ ed the youth to drift away from Ju­ daism — much the same as in other parts of the country. Fortunately, a young and energetic rabbi took over Beth Israel eight years ago. He re­ built the congregation through a pro­ gram of youth work, well-run syna­ gogue services, and adult education.

His inspiration sparked the building of a new community center which has made the shool a center for both re­ ligious and general Jewish activities in the city. The rabbi’s formula is simple: “They all realize that in re­ ligious matters the rabbi’s word is final, and out of this respect for the rabbi, Orthodoxy prospers.” This is part of the explanation. Another fac­ tor is that in Malden the orthodox were first in leadership, and with this head-start, they were able to raise the funds to grow even more.

N BROOKLINE, the only orthodox congregation is the Young Israel Synagogue. Founded ten years ago, it now numbers 150 families, most of whom are Shomrey Shabboth. It is a unique congregation in that it has a high proportion of scientists and en­ gineers, and includes eight musmochim. The Shabboth morning services attract scores of students from Har­ vard, Massachusetts Institute of Tech­ nology, and Boston University. The rabbi, although only one year with the

I

49

congregation, has been able to expand the activities considerably. Youth groups and intensive Torah study have been emphasized. Under his leader­ ship the Young Israel has begun to build the first new orthodox synagogue structure in the entire area in over twenty-five years. Until now, like many other small shools, it has occu­ pied a converted house.

Despite its relatively small size, the Young Israel has made quite an im­ pact on the community, especially through its efforts for the annual Israel Bond campaign. Last year the group was cited for contributing more vol­ unteers to the campaign than any other group in Boston. One of the State of Israel Bond leaders had his first glimpse of modern Orthodoxy through the Young Israel of Brookline.

He was amazed to realize that devout religious men and women could at the same time be “well educated, ra­ tional and well organized”.

The Young Israel branches in Brook­ line, Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, and Malden have contributed much to Orthodoxy in the area. Commu­ nity leaders are often heard saying:

“If it had not been for early asso­ ciation with Young Israel, I would never be religious today”. in some of the older sections are feeling the back­ wash of the mixed-versus-separate seating problem. This issue, ebbing in the country at large as a result of redawning appreciation of Torah stan­ dards, is belatedly penetrating to some of the older communities. Significant­ ly, the newer orthodox synagogues, in the Boston area as elsewhere, are not having this trouble. The stronger Jewish educational backgrounds of the members, as well as the general re­ orientation towards tradition, is un­ doubtedly a key factor in this de­ velopment.

Strenuous efforts are now being made to keep the afflicted synagogues traditional. The rabbis find it ex­ tremely difficult to deal with the sit­ uation, even with the aid of national organizations, because members often do not have a strong enough Jewish training to understand the reasons for the arrangement of an orthodox syna­ gogue. ynagogues

S

Religious Education

HE KEY to the future of ortho­ dox Jewry in Boston, as else­ where, is thus a sound religious edu­ cation. This brings us to the next question about the community: can one's children get a thorough Jewish education in Boston? The answer now is “yes”, but it was not always so.

Until the 1920’s there was not even a traditional Talmud Torah in the en­ tire Boston area. During that decade a number of schools were established both by synagogues and other groups.

Most of them have since united under

T

50

the Bureau of Jewish Education, which boasts a uniform curriculum for all five-days per week schools. This cur­ riculum emphasized religious practice.

However, many of the teachers are not observant, and sponsoring con­ gregations are mainly non-orthodox.

Traditional Jewry in Boston has no equivalent to a local “secular” institu­ tion, the Hebrew Teachers’ College, which gives courses on the high school; college, and graduate levels. Religious subjects are included in a curriculum emphasizing secular Hebrew studies.

JEWISH LIFE

The first Jewish day school in New England — the Maimonides School — was founded in 1937 by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik in Dorchester. It now has an enrollment of over 500 in twelve grades, and it will soon build a new school building in Brookline.

There is also a Lubavitcher Yeshivah with 200 students, and two smaller schools in Malden and Chelsea. A new day school was recently opened in Lynn, to accommodate the students on the “North Shore”.

Another institution that deserves mention is the Boston Rabbinical Col­ lege, which trains advanced students in Talmud. In addition to its full time students, a number of business­ men and professional people study there in the evening and on Sunday.

Like most of the other schools, it was founded within the past few years.

Although Yeshiva University is in New York, it has made a significant contribution to Boston Orthodoxy. For thirty years, students from this area have gone to YU, and have returned to raise the level of religious under­ standing and practice. Most of the leading synagogues are led by rabbis who are its graduates.

DULT education is not neglected.

Foremost in this category is the A “Chevra Shas” of Rabbi Soloveitchik which meets at the Maimonides School every Saturday night. For this shiur, more than a hundred men and women travel up to fifty miles each week. In addition to the deeper knowledge it gives, the Chevra Shas provides a focal point for the orthodox Jews of the area. In fact, when someone who has been to the shiur meets a friend

The Maimonides School in Dorchester, Mass., first lewish Day School in New Eng­ land, now has over 500 pupils.

February, 1958

51

the next morning, he is likely to spend two hours explaining the profound in­ sights he has gleaned.

Most of the large synagogues in the area have adult education programs, and recently some have combined forces to form “regional institutes.”

Virtually all orthodox educational institutions are forced to conduct yearround fund raising campaigns involv­ ing banquets, journals, and much private solicitation. There is np united fund drive for religious schools com­ parable to the well-organized Asso­ ciated Jewish Philanthropies which supports other Jewish institutions in

Boston.

What are the other needs of a re­ ligious Jew? Tephilin, Mezuzoth, and books are obtainable at many Jewish book stores in the area. Certified mohelim are available. Two modern mikvaoth were recently built. More than thirty outstanding rabbis are in the area if a housewife needs an an­ swer to a “shaalah”. “Cholov Yisroel” has just been introduced, and shaatnez inspection is available. For many of these services, people turn to the “Bostoner Rebbe”, Rabbi Levi Horowitz, who has done much so that the needs of religious Jews may be met.

Kashruth — Community Organization

NEWCOMER is likely to ask one question first: “What about Kash­ ruth?” In Boston it is very hard to give any simple answer. There are kosher butcher shops in all Jewish neighborhoods, but there are no bak­ eries under any sort of official super­ vision. There is no kosher restaurant at present, one which formerly existed having closed because of financial dif­ ficulties. There is only one kosher delicatessen serving meals in the en­ tire Greater Boston area. At least seven kosher caterers serve private functions, and many hotels have kosh­ er kitchens for banquets.

The supervision of all these enter­ prises is in a confused state. This arises from the fact that for at least twenty years, there was no general orthodox supervisory setup. Few in­ dividual rabbis undertook to sanction Kashruth. An agency designated the Associated Synagogues, led by the Conservative group, established itself as a supervisory body and now has jurisdiction over some caterers and ho­ tels. (The character of the Associated Synagogues is indicated by the fact that

A

52

it is composed of Reform and Conser­ vative temples, with some orthodox synagogues.) Now the slaughterhouses áre under the hashgochah of one rab­ bi, the butchers under another, and some hotels are supervised by the Orthodox Rabbinical Council. As a result, one often has to rely on the integrity of individual enterpreneurs.

In the field of packaged products the situation fortunately is better, since most stores in Jewish areas carry stocks of nationally distributed food products bearing the © Kashruth cer­ tification of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America. Few bakeries make any attempt to conform to Passover laws, and finding permis­ sible bread after Pesach is a real problem.

Kashruth for college students is somewhat difficult. The Harvard Hillel House serves kosher suppers three times a week. There is a kosher kit­ chen at Brandéis University, some ten miles from Boston. Students from MIT, Harvard and Boston University either eat at the few private homes that take boarders, or set up their own JEWISH LIFE

apartments. On Shabboth many of them are invited to homes in Brook­ line.

ASHRUTH problems bring up the next important question: are orthodox community organizations ef­ fective in improving religious stan­ dards? The answer is “yes”, but their effectiveness is limited by the fact that there are at least twenty such organ­ izations. Some of them are regional branches of national groups, and oth­ ers are designed to fill specific needs of the Boston community. Two years ago the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations organized a Kehillah (Orthodox Community Council) to establish new synagogues, supervise kashruth, promote proper milah, de­ velop youth activity, conduct com­ munity relations work, and coordinate other area-wide endeavors. The group was recruited from the lay leaders of orthodox synagogues, and works in conjunction with the Orthodox Rab­ binical Council.

K

The UOJCA and its Women’s Branch are active throughout New England. They have held regional con­ ventions where delegates from syna­ gogues and sisterhoods present their problems and experts from national headquarters advise. These get-togeth­ ers have a morale-boosting effect. In addition, the UOJCA has been instru­ mental in promoting Kashruth in the colleges and at nearby army bases.

Yeshiva University’s community service bureau also aids synagogues through rabbinical placement and holds an annual “Synagogue Caval­ cade,” where community problems are discussed. Yeshiva University also sponsors adult education programs, holds an annual youth conclaves, and for adults^ an annual “Shabbaton” which serves to inspire those who at­ tend this weekend “retreat.”

The majority of the orthodox syna­ gogues in the Boston area are affili­ ated with both the UOJCA and Ye­ shiva University. Both groups helped found the two newest congregations.

General Community Life

UE TO the pressing need for losing stigma, as more and more or­ D greater activity and unity among thodox Jews prove that they can be religious Jews, it is not surprising that “modern” and still adhere to their the answer to our next question is “generally no” : Are religious Jews active in general Jewish life? With several notable exceptions, the Jew­ ish philanthropies, hospitals, fraternal societies, United Jewish Appeal, and Zionist activities are led by non-reli­ gious men and women. Within the past two or three years, however, there has been a new noticeable trend. More of these groups are holding kosher dinners; - fewer activities are held on Shabboth, and orthodox synagogues are often chosen as meeting places.

Why this change? Being religious is February, 1958

faith.

One area where orthodox Jews are asserting themselves is on the campus.

Hillel Societies and other groups are often led by orthodox youth. Religious students in the area recently formed an organization called “Taryag,” which is now in its third successful year of operation.

A question which a prospective resi­ dent will ^sk is “What are the chances for making a real contribution to Judaism in Boston?’’ As a medium­ sized community, Boston offers a real chance for the individual to lead, to 53

contribute his ideas, and to grow. The many organizations and the need to coordinate them is a constant chal­ lenge to the orthodox Jew here.

On the national scene, some of the most prominent religious leaders and teachers in the country are from the Boston area, and association with these men cannot help but produce more leaders and effective laymen. activities abound in Boston, and the Religious Zion­ IistSRAEL-oriented groups are striving to increase their membership. Unfortunately, the rela­ tively small number of wealthy reli­ gious Jews has limited the amount of money that has been sent to support institutions in Israel. Still, chapters of the newly-united Religious Zionists of America in Boston have whole pro­ jects in Israel to their credit. The “Couples Club” of the Mizrachi-Hapoel Hamizrachi is particularly active, both culturally and socially. The Bnei Akiva in the area has sent more than its share of chalutzim to Eretz Yisroel.

The synagogues have an outstanding record in Jewish National Fund and Israel Bond drives. Through the Agudath Yisroel and its allied organ­ izations, many other orthodox people are contributing to Israel.

There is an opportunity, too, to serve as an example to those who have not been fortunate enough to see Or­ thodoxy in its contemporary form.

While no mass movement toward ac­ ceptance of Halochah has occurred among Boston’s Jews, a sizable num­ ber of families have become more ob­ servant. Three influences were at work here: individual rabbis’ inspiration and guidance, exemplary laymen living a completely Jewish life, and day school influence on children. One congregation counts at least ten fam­ ilies which were brought back to 54

Judaism by these farces. These “new­ comers” have turned out to be the most active leaders of the community. ❖ ❖ HAT does the future hold? Per­ haps the best way to assay what may develop is to analyze the reasons for the situation we have de­ scribed and then trace the trends that are occurring now — trends that will doubtless continue into the future.

Forty years ago in Boston, as else­ where, Orthodoxy was the norm. Little thought was given to the future. When the European-born generation began to diminish, their American-born chil­ dren drifted away from tradition be­ cause they had received little Jewish education, and had little in common with their parents. Orthodoxy soon became the exception, instead of the norm. By the 1930’s this trend had

W

JEWISH LIFE

reached alarming proportions. People Judaism, that strives to learn and prac­ had little respect for Orthodoxy. tice the precepts of Torah, and that The remaining religious families be­ provides an atmosphere in which or­ gan to take action. They established thodox Jews can reap the greatest day schools, they sent their sons to spiritual benefit from their religion. It out-of-town yeshivoth, and they join­ will be several years before the grad­ ed together in organizations to pro­ uates of the day schools will make mote Orthodoxy. Synagogue services themselves felt in Boston, but when became better attuned to the modern they do, the actual number of ortho­ American atmosphere. Throughout dox Jews will likely wax far beyond all they held fast to Halochah. Only a present gains. few realized that Orthodoxy had now become a movement rather than a N ADDITION to the hopes for complacent way of living, but the feel­ native Bostonians, there is the ever ing of being a single movement did increasing number of young orthodox not develop fully enough. Too many men and women who have been at­ groups set out to reestablish orthodox tracted to the area by academic and practice. This lack of unity and the industrial opportunities. They take an numerical weakness of orthodox lead­ active part in synagogue school, and ership was an invitation to the more organization life when they arrive. militant non-orthodox groups to fill These newcomers and the leaders the spiritual vacuum. The situation, who are now growing up will have a which had parallels all over the coun­ special task: to coordinate, to channel try, led to the confused Kashruth and and to intensify all orthodox activities. synagogue situations we have des­ Some of the work should be done on cribed, among numerous other prob­ a national level, but much of it must lems. be accomplished locally. Synagogue Now, the pendulum is swinging building, Jewish education, raising again, but slowly. Synagogues, schools, community religious standards, and individuals, and organizations have all helping Eretz Yisroel, must all be made progress toward the same goal: done together if Boston’s orthodox a Jewish community that respects Or­ Jewish community is to realize its thodoxy as the authentic form of great potential.

I

Man should take an example from his Maker. For the Almighty formed all of the mountains and hills, yet the Shechinah (Divine Presence) rested on lowly Mount Sinai; He created all the beautiful trees, yet the Shechinah rested in a thornbush.

Talmud, Sotah 5

February, 1958

55

From Warsaw to Safed

By MOSHE DLUZNOWSKY ......................................... .

^iiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiiiiiiw

Ary eh Merzer— Artists in Metals . iliiiiiiiiiii'iiiiiiá iiy lifM imiiiiiiiiiHiiiiiiíiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii jiÉ iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiM

SHORT time ago there appeared in Israel an album of illustrations entitled “Safed and Its People” by the well-known artist, the metal-en­ graver Ary eh Merzer. These are re­ productions of sixteen metal bas-re­ liefs in which Merzer has hammered out his portrayals of the people living in the ancient city of Safed. Within its covers appear the narrow streets and houses of Safed with their ori­ ental-medieval architecture, the little wrought-iron balconies on the houses like fine, symmetrical webs, the dig­ nified Jews with dreamy eyes who are followers of the Safed Kabbalists, schools, children, holidays, joy and sorrow—the entire aroma and roman­ ticism of this ancient town of the Kabbalists, a town which is engraved in the heart of every Jew. In his introduction to the album the artist states: “From my earliest childhood years I can remember a little book lying in my father’s big book-case, which always fascinated me because of its quaintly-drawn circles and figures.

Father would always hide it behind the big Talmudic volumes and I would drag it out again. It was the little Kabbalistic book “Raziel Hamalach” through which I became for the first time acquainted with plastic art. It is therefore perhaps no accident that almost forty years later, after the old Jewish houses in Europe perished together with their inhabitants in fire and smoke,

A

56

| imH

fate brought me to the Kabbalistic city of Safed—this city which adorns the meditative, sacred hills of Gal­ ilee, with its ancient synagogues surrounded by caves and ancient graves going as far back as the days of the great Talmudic sages (Shemaya and Avtalyon, Simeon Bar Yohai, his son and pupils, and many others), Safed with its mystical stor­ ies and legends, where Moses of Cordova and the Rabbi Yitzchok Luria, “Ari Hakodosh” taught their pupils Kabbolah, where the “Maggid-Ha’Mishnah” would come every night to Joseph Karo to teach him the secrets of the Torah, the town where Shelomo Alkavetz sang the great love-song “Lecha Dodi” in honor of the Sabbath Bride, Safed the wonder-city where generations of Jews would come from all over the world to seek perfection and salvation.”

T WAS after wandering through IMerzer many lands that the artist Aryeh attained his maturity in the ancient city of Safed. This work, the sixteen bas-reliefs of Safed and its people, is Merzer’s greatest achieve­ ment. With the eye of a true artist and with the instinct for ancient Jew­ ish beauty, he had felt that here in the atmosphere of basic folklore and of mystic-Kabbalistic meditativeness he would be able to create the same wonderful Jewish portraits that he had hammered out and engraved on his metal plates in Poland—the musicians with their instruments on joyous occaJEWISH LIFE

sions, the portly water-carrier, the dreamy-eyed “batlan,” the recluse with a song on his lips in an old shod somewhere in a Polish shtetl, the wed­ ding-dance, the Jew who in the middle of the night mourns the destruction of the Temple and chants special prayers, the scribe bent over his work on the Holy Scrolls, the Simchath Torah dance, the bearer of Purim gifts. All these were Jews in whose lives were interwoven beauty, sorrow, joy, the holiday atmosphere and the grey week-days of poverty, a life that was destroyed in thousands of European Jewish communities.

Aryeh Merzer, who is now celebrat­ ing his fiftieth birthday, is one of the very few Jewish artists in metals to be found today. He is continuing the art of the Jewish coppersmiths, silver and gold engravers, and metal carvers, who with rich artistic sense, brought out the beauties of Jewish folk life.

From the depths of folk sources they wrought ornamentations and decora­ tions on the walls of synagogues, on the Arks, on metal plates and trays, spice-holders, ethrog boxes, Chanukah menoroth, jewelry for bridal gifts bear­ ing a specific Jewish charm. Many were the subjects they hammered out for synagogue decoration: flying stags, crouching lions, angels, soaring eagles, bunches of grapes, leaves of olive trees, ears of grain, fruit— all done with true artistry.

In all Jewish communities, in the most out-of-the-way places of eastern and western Europe as well as in the narrow shops that are holes-in-the walls in the mellahs of North Africa, in the ghettoes of Rome and Avignon, in the old Jewish quarters of Paris— everywhere these Jewish artists sat at their work, and with such primitive instruments as hammer and chisel hammered and carved out Jewish art February, 1958

Aryeh Merzer's "A Baled Jew".

objects. With true feeling for harmony and symmetrical lines, for inner folk beauty, they wrought aesthetic crea­ tions which adorned synagogues and Jewish homes throughout the world.

RYEH MERZER always drew from deep Jewish folk sources.

All his European creations were on motifs of Jewish folk life—the Siddur, the Chalah knife, the Sabbath fruit, the besomin holder, and numerous similar themes drawn from Jewish ob­ servance and custom.

He has linked the past to the pres­ ent. The great, spiritually rich Jewish life that was destroyed in the Jewish communities in Europe and that of

A

57

assistant Elihav Ben-Ahismach of the tribe of Dan. In 1939 Merzer arrived in Paris. There he worked assiduously and created a number of works of art, all animated with Jewish charm and folk interpretation. In Paris he exhibited in the Bonaparte Gallery and took part in the exhibits of the Salon d’Automne. His works were ex­ hibited also in various other French cities, such as Lyons, Bordeaux, Nice, Strassbourg, and Metz. Caught in the Nazi net upon the German invasion, in 1944 he escaped from a concentra­ tion camp and found haven in Switz­ erland.

HAD the opportunity to meet Merzer in various countries. For many years we were neighbors in Paris. I admired his work, the progress he was making in his field, his hard work and tremendous stubbornness, wilLpower, and driving-force. He had undertaken a mission which he felt had been entrusted to him and would

I

Merzer's "Synagogue of the Ari Hakodosh" (in the collection of Israel's Presi­ dent Izhak ben Zvi).

today’s city of Safed represent one continuous life. One golden Torah chain links them, one source gave them nourishment, from the watercarrier in the market-place of an old Jewish townlet in Poland to the pres­ ent-day Safed Kabbalist; from the Chassidic dance in a synagogue some­ where in a Polish village to the Simchath Torah dance of Safed Jews; from the old synagogue where the town goat eats away the straw of the thatched roof to the synagogue of the Ari Hakodosh in Safed.

Aryeh Merzer was born in Warsaw.

He studied with Professor Adam Richter. Later on he worked with a group of Jewish artists who sought to revive the ancient Oriental-Jewish art of metal-working, a branch of art which goes back to remote Biblical days, the days of the first Jewish master-craftsman Bezalel Ben-Uri, Ben-Hor of the tribe of Judah and his 58

JEWISH LIFE

not budge until his work could be brought to fruition.

The last time we met we were both on the wanderer’s path from Paris to the Spanish border, during the days when the Germans had occupied France and thousands, tens of thou­ sands, of people were fleeing whereso ever they could. It was a hot June day. In the dust, the turmoil of wagons, horses, automobiles, soldiers, children, cannons, the sick, airplanes, bombs, fire and death, was a path of hell which even Dante’s imagination could not have conceived. Suddenly I noticed Ary eh Merzer. He was sitting on a military truck crowded in among a mass of terrified people. He got off the truck. Part of the way we walked together and bewailed our situation and the terrible situation of the world which in those days was on the eve of disappearing.

Towards evening a bombardment started and a terrible panic ensued.

German and Italian planes were bom­ barding the bridges spanning the big Loire River and were machine-gun­ ning the wandering mass of humanity.

We then lost track of each other. I was fated to arrive in North Africa and Aryeh Merzer . . .

Only years later did I learn that he had arrived in Switzerland. From there he sent me a beautiful album of drawings.

For a long time Merzer lived in Geneva, where he exhibited his works and issued a fine album with twentyfive illustrations of old Jewish life, still-lifes and folk-tales. In 1945 he with his wife and children arrived in Israel. There he exhibited in the Art Pavilions of Tel Aviv and Haifa. Later on he settled in Safed and arranged the first exhibit in the Artist’s Quarter, which developed into an important aft center.

February, 1958

"Simchath Torah Dance" (collection of Z. Resnick).

fTHHE tourists and visitors who come JL to Safed marvel at Merzer’s home, which has been literally transformed into a local museum. Many who re­ turn from Israel bring reports on the artist Aryeh Merzer, on his works which adorn many Jewish homes in Israel. Merzer’s home in Safed is a center which attracts everyone. His works are to be found in museums and in homes of celebrated Jewish persons, writers, artists, statesmen in Israel and in various other countries.

Only a short time ago Merzer com­ pleted a large work, a bas-relief hammered-out on metal which depicts types of Jews in Polish towns before the Great Destruction. Here one sees a gallery of familiar Jews in their joys and sorrows, their trades, their folk­ ways, their charm and sadness—every­ thing that Polish-Jewish life had con­ tained, everything that grew out of the folk tradition and that was destroyed by the murderous hand of the Nazi. The exhibit of Merzer’s works together with this extraordinary bas-relief took place in Haifa. This great portrait in metal was bought by the Knesseth of Israel. A few months ago there took place in Tel Aviv a big exhibit of Merzer’s works which re­ ceived lavish praise from the Israeli press.

59

On his fiftieth anniversary we express the hope that Aryeh Merzer will continue stubbornly on the path he

has chosen and will not tire in his uphill journey toward artistic perfection.

BREVITY Hebrew is known for its laconic brevity . . . the ability to express complete ideas in a word or phrase. Two remarkable examples of this comprehensive conciseness are contained in two paragraphs in the Siddur. The fifth stanza of “Ma'oz Tzur", the hymn forming part of the Chanukah ceremony, gives the complete story of the Maccabean struggle against the Syrio-Greeks and the miracle of the oil—in a mere 24 words! And in 52 words, the prayer for Purim gives the full story of Megillath Esther, which in the original consists of five chapters totalling 167 verses!

The word “pilpul"—which is a penetrating and detailed discussion or argument on a Talmudic subject—is derived probably from the word meaning “to spice" or “to season"—as a subject thoroughly explained is “wellseasoned".

60

JEWISH LIFE

The Religious Kibbutz

By LOUIS BERNSTEIN THE RELIGIOUS KIBBUTZ MOVE­ MENT, Compiled and edited by Arieh Fishman, Published by the Religious Section of the Youth and Hachalutz Department of the Zionist Organiza­ tion, Jerusalem, 1957, $3.00.

HEN this reviewer came to Is­ rael for the first time in the autumn of 1950, while yet in the Haifa port, he struck up a conversa­ tion with a policeman. The policeman spared the orthodox Jew, no invective, attributing to them every character­ istic of the non-productive parasite who does nothing for the country’s growth and defense. “What about Tirath Tzvi?” I asked “They’re dif­ ferent!” he replied.

It is with the elements that make Tirath Tzvi and the other nine settle­ ments of the Kibbutz Hadati distinc­ tive among orthodox Jews that this anthology of articles compiled by Arieh Fishman deals. Many of the articles were previously published in

W

February, 1958

the magazine Iggereth Lagolah, al­ though some were written expressly for the book. Together, they present the first total picture of pioneers of the religious collective settlements, not only in the military, social, and po­ litical areas but also in matters of religion. It is with this latter aspect that the book deals.

Their approach to religion and Halochah has caused Hakibbutz Ha­ dati and its political arm, Lamifne, to be censured in some orthodox cir­ cles. But, as the book will reveal to the objective reader, Hakibbutz Hadati’s “sin” consists of its insistence upon living a maximum Jewish life according to Halochah without re­ sorting to legal fictions or the “Shabbos goy.” Even during the critical days of the defense of the immortal Kfar Etzion and of the siege of Ti­ rath Tzvi, the gallant chalutzim of these religious kibbutzim were ex­ tremely careful as to religious ob­ servance. The clash with established 61

Second Edition Revised and Enlarged A SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF THE JEWS By Salo Wittmayer Baron JUST PUBLISHED Vol. I ll: Heirs of Rome and Persia Vol. IV : Meeting of East and West Vol. V: Religious Controls and Dissensions $6.00 each $15.00 set

ALREADY PUBLISHED Vol. I : To the Beginning of the Christian Era Yol. II: Christian Era: The First Five Centuries $6.75 each $12.50 set

COMING IN 1958 Vol.

VI: Laws, Homilies* and the Bible Vol. VII: Hebrew Language and Letters Vol. VIII: Philosophy and Science

Columbia University Press New York 27, New York 62

SU6ARINE Is Kosher and is Approved by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations

STATEN ISLAND BOARD OF JEWISH EDUCATION INC. Offers and

cemetery family

in

plots

individual

beautiful

United

Hebrew Cemetery Memorial Park Division,

Richmond

Town,

Staten

Island. New center tract available.

Convenient transportation. For in­ formation phone or write Staten Island Board of Jewish Education Inc., 300 Vanderbilt Ave., S.I., N.Y, Gibraltar 8-9534, between hours of 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

JEWISH LIFE

religious authority has arisen when the religious kibbutznicks have felt that that authority, seated in large urban centers* fails to understand the urgency of clear, uncomplicated Halochic answers to the agricultural, economic, social, political, and military problems posed by a collective com­ munity located in an exposed position in the Beisan Valley or facing Gaza in the Negev. To the chalutz in Shluchoth or Sa’ad, these problems are of real substance and not of an aca­ demic nature.

HAT IS Hakibbutz Hadati? The editor's excellent introduction W presents both the historical and ideo­ logical background necessary for an adequate insight into the book's text.

Its history goes back about three dec­ ades to the German village of Rodges in the province of Hessen, where thé first hachsharah of religious Zionists was organized. “Rodges" continued as a group in Eretz Israel and was joined by “Shachel” a second com­ munal group, in 1930. In 1934,, the Federation of Religious Kvutzoth, later known as Hakibbutz Hadati, was formed in affiliation with Hapoel Hamizrachi.

Because they were relatively late on the scene and because they were religious, these kibbutzim were located in distant and exposed positions. They were primary targets in all Arab at­ tacks and as a result suffered heavily.

The immortal Etzion bloc of three religious settlements was totally de­ stroyed and eight per cent of the adult members killed. Today, there are ten religious collective settlements with a total population of 3,000.

Yavne, Side Eliyahu, Tirath Tzvi, and Saad are among Israel's leading kibbutzim and have won respect for orthodox Jews in circles where anyFebruary, 1958

thing remotely connected with reli­ gion is usually disparaged.

The religious kibbutz movement is deeply conscious of its national, social, and religious aims. It does not iso­ late itself from the community at large and seeks to influence that com­ munity. However, it seeks to also elevate the individual by stressing the “mitzvoth beyn odom l'chavero" as well as those between man and G-d.

It is probably easier, in the planned and controlled society of a tightlyknit religious collective, to make the awareness of G-d a common factor in the daily life of the individual than in the city community.

HE most important part of the book is the first section, “The Re­ ligious Pioneering Community". Of particular interest is the article en­ titled “The Extension of the Scope of Halachah" by Simha Friedman, a member of Tirath Tzvi. It is the writer's thesis that the principles of the Torah must be extended to cover new contingencies created by techno­ logical problems. “Naturally, the im­ minent principles involved m ust be employed but the new formulation has to be suited to the nature of the new circumstances that have arisen. Hence it is impossible for a new reality to lead to a new Halachic formulation without violating the heteronomy of the laws of the Torah; it will still bear the Divine seal upon it."

This article also recounts the inter­ esting problems of milking cows on the Sabbath. An important factor which the writer takes into consid­ eration is the stability of the national economy. Previous heterim were de­ signed for individuals with one or two cows, or were based on non-Jewish labor, which Hakibbutz Hadati rejects because of the moral implications in-

T

63

One of the best books!

GOOD NEWS FOR PASSOVER!

A TREASURY OF JUDAISM

PREPARE N O W for a Healthy, Ko-

Here is a treasury of Jewish ideals and ethical teachings as they have developed over a period of thirty cen­ turies, down to the present day. Dr. Birnbaum’s English translation has been acclaimed for its lively language and for the ease with which it may be read.

“This precious book should be a MUST in every layman’s home.*’ “This is a useful book for the average Amer­ ican Jew.” “A book to be kept next to every family’s Bible.” “This book will really prove to be a treasure.” “This is the best book for adult study groups.”

“It has been written with never-flag­ ging devotion.”

by PHILIP BIRNBAUM

sher and Happy Pesach! There is no longer any need to suffer without aspirin or other daily drug needs during Passover.

Send for free booklet and information on the FREEDA - KOSHER - PASSOVER Drugs.

All under the supervision of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, bearing the (U)P seal.

FREEDA PHARMACEUTICAL CO.

$5

at all bookstores

HEBREW PUBLISHING COMPANY 79 Delancey, New York 2, N. Y.

110 E. 41 sf St., N. Y. 17, N. Y. MU 5-4980 CLOSED SATURDAYS

REFRESHING, FLAVORFUL

...D E L IC IO U S !

4823235348535323

m

} êtrUtly Ittlftr Q

£

¿ s ie v e s - $

34th ST. & EIGHTH AVE., N. Y. C. LO 3-1000, Ext. 407 Facilities for 50 to 1000 Guests CATERERS AT ALL LEADING HOTELS AND SYNAGOGUES ASK FOR SCHREIBER MEALS ON AIRLINES AND IN HOSPITALS V

64

Prepared under Rabbinical Super­ vision, in America's most modern Ice Cream Plant ¡2

Costa's

ICE CREAM

FOR FINEST QUALITY JEWISH LIFE

volved. Nor do they desire to use non­ observant Jews: “As long as Halachah concerned only the Jew in the Diaspora, the question w as: what was the individual to do? It did not make any difference how many individuals were involved; for even if ten thou­ sand of them were concentrated in one town, they did not become respon­ sible for the nation’s economic life.

Here, in Israel, we are responsible, and we do not wish the national econ­ omy to depend on the work of Jews who profane the Sabbath, even if they are not religious.”

T IS precisely this attitude which leads the religious kibbutz move­ ment into direct conflict with religious authorities, even outside of Israel.

Some Torah authorities have not as yet accepted the very existence of the state. They are unprepared and un­ willing to deal with problems which are of vital daily concern to the kibbutz. Even if an Halochic decision does not meet the needs of the Kib­ butz movement, it accepts the Rab­ binate’s decision. “Laws cannot be obeyed only as they suit one; other­ wise they cease to be laws.”

However, the religious kibbutz does not accept the views of the Rabbinate in all matters. The Chief Rabbinate opposed the conscription of girls for military service, while the Hakibbutz Hadati favored it. The Chief Rabbin­ ate did not base its decision on Halochah but as a matter of public inter­ est. (The tremendous pressure on the Chief Rabbinate to oppose this mea­ sure, even from American orthodox circles far from the scene, was over­ whelming, yet religious girls would have been assigned to religious kib­ butzim and would have had the same care and education as do religious Nachal units today.) Here again, the

I

February, 1958

consciousness of national responsi­ bility became the dominant factor in the position taken by Hakibbutz Ha­ dati, which caused it to be attacked by circles which have never recog­ nized the State of Israel, let alone known the high moral and religious standards of those who live by the slogan of “Torah V’Avodah.”

It is this cognizance of national destiny which leads Hakibbutz Ha­ dati to independent conclusions even in the areas of prayer service. Ortho­ doxy has failed to create a meaning­ ful “Yom Ha-atzmauth” service be­ cause of the fear of learned authori­ ties who cannot make peace with Is­ rael’s existence. Hakibbutz Hadati helped build the state with its blood.

“This day derives not from tradition handed down to us by our ancestors, we ourselves saw the miracle that was wrought. We shall be the first to hand it on to generations to come.”

HE SECOND part of the book, entitled “Vignettes of Community Life”, describes festivals and religious ceremonies. Some of these, pertaining to agricultural life, have been long neglected. The description of Shabboth in an entirely religious com­ munity bent on injecting beauty and significance into every custom and ceremony cannot but be impressive.

The reaping of the Omer, once a major Pesach ceremony, is coming in to its own again in the religious set­ tlements.

Of special interest is the observance of the ceremony for girls when they reach the age of twelve. This is sim­ ilar to the ceremony marking Bar Mitzvah for the boys, but of course the girl is not called to the Torah.

HE LAST section of the book contains a personal account of each of the ten kibbutzim. A member

T

T

65

BUY THE BEST—

MILLER’S FAMOUS KOSHER CHEESE

Famous Carmel Wines U from Israel

@ Under Supervision of

Enjoy Newly-Arrived Malaga and Concord Wines and Champagnes

UNION OF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA AMERICAN MUENSTER— BRICK KIMMEL MUENSTER GOUDA— BABY GOUDA

In half-gallons, fifths and splits

EDAM— MIDGET EDAM SMOKED— MELLOW GOLD

DAVI D

MI L L E R

315 GREENWICH ST., NEW YORK, N. Y.

Imported by

CARMEL WINE CO ., INC 580 Fifth Ave., New York 36, N. Y.

13

Retail: ESSEX STREET, NEW YORK, Established 1892

N.

Y.

Certified Strictly Kosher by Robbi Isaac Halevi Herzog, Chief Rabbi of Israel A v a ila b le

at Your

toco/ l i q u o r S t o r e

Tel. BEUe Harbor 5-9671 - 9552 NEptune 4-4244 Just Published

CULTURE AND JUDAISM

By Dr. $. B. Ullman

An exposition of a scientific religious philosophy of life, which aims of harmo­ nizing and reconciling modern Science with Traditional Judaism.

“The message of this book is a passion­ ate plea for the integration of the teach­ ings of Sciene with the doctrine of divine causation.

Dr. Ullman’s study of nature phenomena seek to penetrate to the ultimate mys­ tery beyond them.”

Dr. J. Snowman, Editor of Jewish Chron­ icle, London, England.

Price $3.00

WASHINGTON HOTEL C atering fo r A ll Occasions

® Supervised and Endorsed by Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations

Open A ll Year

Lieberman’s Jewish Book Centre

2993 Bathurst Street Toronto 10, Canada

66

Reserve now for Passover

JEWISH LIFE

of each of the settlements either briefly describes the history of his kibbutz or concentrates on a salient point.

The book makes no pretense of be­ ing analytical or comprehensive. It does however succeed in giving an over-all picture of religious life in the Hakibbutz Hadati settlements.

There can be no question that the 3,000 dedicated religious kibbutznicks are making an inspired effort to make Torah all-inclusive and all-meaningful in their lives. When the trained soci­ ologist who will undertake a study and evaluation of the religious kib­ butz arrives on the scene, this book will be his primary source.

uFrom Zion Shall Come Torah

”

By MOSES D. TENDLER HA-TALMUD HA-BAVLI HA-MENUKAD: The Babylonian Talmud (Vocalized and punctuated edition).

Publishers, Hatalmud Hamenukad Hevra B.M., Tel Aviv, Israel, 1957.

URING the last three decades, the vigorous growth of the American Torah community has called forth several printings of the Baby­ lonian Talmud both here and abroad.

Jews at all stages of Torah study have turned to the Talmud, the source of our laws and customs, and the interpreter of the Torah, for infor­ mation and instruction. The intellec­ tual hunger of this community has been only partly assuaged by the English translations of the Mishnah and the Talmud.* For those lacking the scholastic background to use the original text of the Talmud, the Eng­ lish translations serve but to whet the appetite for the “real thing”. They can not serve to prepare the student for study of the original text. The

D

* H. Danby, The Mishnah, Oxford University Press, London; P. Blackman, Mishnayoth. Mishnah Press, London; The Babylonian Talmud, Soncino Press, London, I. Epstein, editor.

February, 1958

transition from an English transla­ tion to the original text is much too abrupt. Students hoping to use the English translations as a temporary crutch upon which to lean until full intellectual vigor is attained, soon learned that this crutch merely served to permit the atrophy of those facul­ ties previously developed.

Recently the first two tractates of a edition of the Babylonian Talmud has appeared. A product of the prolific Is­ raeli press, this edition published by Hatalmud Hamenukad of Tel Aviv of­ fers many novel and rewarding fea­ tures. The text of the Talmud has been completely vocalized and punctu­ ated. Thus the Talmud can now be read as easily as the Chumosh. But the most constructive inclusion in this edition, even more significant than the presence of “nekudoth,” is the punctu­ ation of the text of the Talmud as well as the text of the commentaries of Rashi and the Tosefoth. It is this fea­ ture that is designed to serve the needs of the student of the Talmud in his early developmental stages. Pos­ sibly this reviewer’s experience as a 67

teacher of the Talmud to young men causes him to overemphasize the sig­ nificance of this contribution. But only one who has heard the oft repeated complaint of the sincere student “I tried to study last night but I had no one to help me,” can truly appreciate the potential value of this innovation.

It is common knowledge that the deci­ sion as to where to put the comma, period, exclamation point, and the question mark, is the crucial first step in deciphering a difficult passage of the Talmud or its commentaries.

properly punctuated and vocalized.

After a few weeks or months the stu­ dent is exposed to the unabridged text of the Talmud. It is to the credit of our Yeshivah students and due to the magnetic power of the subject matter and the methodology of the Talmud that so many succeed, by dint of hard work, in making this transition and developing into mature Torah schol­ ars. But how many find this curricu­ lum too difficult? How many struggle only to admit defeat after several years? Could not the availability of this new edition serve our yeshivah population as it will surely serve our adult laity as a transition text, a tem­ porary crutch well designed to help its users over the rough spots along the road to Talmudic scholarship? Might not this edition serve to rekindle the waning interest of the great number of students who, because of difficulty with the “ivreh of the gemara,” are prepared to leave the life stream of Judaism, a yeshivah education?

HE editors have introduced sev­ eral other useful innovations. The reference commentaries found on the margin of the Talmud page have al­ ways been presented in small, hard to read “Rashi” script. This edition pre­ sents these commentaries in large, clear Hebrew print. The study of “Rashi” is simplified not only by the punctuation of the text of this essen­ tial commentary, but also by the use of large print to point up the Tal­ mudic expression being explained. Ex­ T IS sincerely hoped that the warm cept for the works of Rabbenu Alfasi, reception given to this edition of the Mordecai, and those less frequent­ the Talmud by the lovers of Torah in ly used commentaries found only in all Jewish communities may serve to the most complete Vilna-type editions, revitalize the study of the Talmud in this edition contains the usual roster all synagogues, adult education insti­ of Rishonim and Acharonim. tutes, and homes, so that the oft re­ One should pause to consider the peated expression “Torah-Judaism” value of such an edition to the ever may once again come to mean “Juda­ growing Yeshivah movement in Amer­ ism whose major characteristic is the ica. The study of the Talmud is usu­ daily study and observance of the ally introduced with selected passages precepts of our Torah”.

T

i

CHANUKAH SPECIAL

J E WI S H

G o l d 's America's Largest Selling

KOSHER HORSERADISH

68

P OC K E T B O O K S

A. series of 12 attractive books illuminat­ ing the Jewish way of life and thought.

With Plastic Book Stand or In One De Luxe Bound Volume, $3.98 Write for Brochure JEWISH POCKET BOOKS 33 W. 42nd St., Rm. 642, N. Y. 28, N. Y. JEWISH LIFE

A Hirsch Anthology

By ISAAC L SWIFT TIMELESS TORAH, An Anthology of the works of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, Edited by Jacob Breuer, Published by Philipp Feldheim, New York, 1957, 540 Pages, $5.00.

OR the Nineteenth Century Jew living in western Europe, there F was yet a further change superim-I

posed upon these—he had emerged from the Ghetto. Emancipation with its manifold blessings had come, bringing with it manifold problems.

HE Nineteenth Century witnessed After centuries of peering through vast changes in the thought and the dim windows of his confined quar­ outlook of western man. Long cher­ ters at the social, political, and in­ ished theories and ancient convictions tellectual scene outside, the Jew was concerning natural phenomena and at last able to go forth in quest of man’s place in the universe vanished the things of which he had for too before the new scientific methods of long been cruelly starved. Now he observation and experiment. That might take his place in the great seats which could not be measured by di­ of learning and in the ranks of the rect observation or be comprehended liberal professions. Now he might by man’s reasoning faculties was gratify social and political ambition abandoned by the scientist. The in­ without apparent hindrance other dustrial revolution following close in than the restraints of religious dis­ the wake of scientific development cipline and the hypersensitiveness of transformed the structure of society racial origin. and the patterns of everyday living.

His new freedom posed new prob­ Nor were the changes confined to lems. What was to be his relationship the fields of pure and applied science. to his new environment? How was Reason became mistress, and faith, his ancient way of life to withstand where it was retained, became her the economic and social pressures of handmaid. Doctrine and dogma must his new surroundings? How were his yield before the inroads of new forms beliefs, based upon the foundations of scepticism and of an intensified of a revealed Torah, to meet the im­ rationalism. Theological concepts long plications of the intellectual ferment held sacrosanct were abandoned while of the world of thought and learning the intellectuals of the western world into which he had emerged? How was groped for new formulae to explain he to take the fullest advantage of the universe to man and man to him­ his new opportunities and break down self. The Bible itself did not escape the psychological barriers that he felt the impact of this new age of reason, separated him from his new neigh­ and was exposed to a critical study bours? based, it was claimed, upon the canons For some, the answer lay in an of scientific method. Gone for countless abandonment of the old loyalties, thousands were the old foundations of alike in practice and belief. Apostasy belief in its divine origins and in its on a grievous scale disfigured Ger­ revealed character. man Jewish life and added a mourn-

T

February, 1958

69

fui chapter to the long tale of a great and historic community. Others saw as the answer the reform rather than the abandonment of the old disciplines of faith and conduct—they would adapt, they would trim, they would fit the old obediences to the orienta­ tions and conveniences of the new situation. But there were some who remained unfalteringly staunch, who recognized that the Torah and its claims were eternal and inviolable and as relevant in the new age as they had ever been in the old. Its truths must be rendered in the idiom of nine­ teenth-century thought, and its pre­ cepts must be made intelligible to the cultured and cultivated mind of the new generation.

O accomplish this task, the time produced one of the great figures in the history of Judaism, Samson Raphael Hirsch. Endowed with high qualities of mind and of spirit, he met the challenge with a rare combination of gifts—unswerving personal piety, an extraordinary capacity for organi­ zation, a compelling eloquence, a lucid intellect adorned with learning im­ bibed from the illustrious Rabbi Jacob Ettlinger, and, above all, literary powers of the highest order. All were applied with remarkable singleness of purpose to the supreme responsibility which he made his own—that of re­ lating the Torahs precepts to the in­ tellectual and social problems of his day.

Thè measure of his success is not the least splendid chapter in the his­ tory of German Jewry, and left its impress, even in his lifetime, fa r be­ yond the borders of his native land.

The purport of his teaching was sim­ ple enough: The Judaism of Torah, of the Written and Oral Torah, of a Torah divine in its origin and there­

T

70

fore immutable in its demands upon the conduct and mind of the Jew and upon the corporate life of the Jewish people, is in no way in conflict with the discoveries of science or with the fullest participation of the Jew in the progress and problems of his environ­ ment. The slogan “ Torah im Derech Eretz” which he stamped upon his concept of Judaism, meant precisely that to Hirsch, and came to mean that to growing numbers of his followers who fell under the spell of his im­ mense influence.

It was in his literary work that Hirsch made his strongest impact upon the minds and lives of his own generation, and that he will be long­ est remembered by the generations of the future. His Commentaries on the Bible and his miscellaneous philo­ sophical and polemical essays are his most enduring contribution to the vitality and continuity of orthodoxy.

G ^rrilM ELESS TORAH” is an anJL thology from his most im­ portant writings, selected with fine judgment and discrimination by a man steeped in the Hirsch tradition. Di­ vided into six sections, the selections are taken from the Commentaries on the Torah, the Prophets, the Psalms, the Ethics of the Fathers, Horeb, and the Collected Writings. All bear the authentic stamp of the author, and all convey persistently his doctrine of “Denkglaubigkeit” or enlightened or­ thodoxy. None will quarrel with the editor’s choice of material, for it dis­ plays the many-sidedness of Hirsch’s learning while at the same time re­ vealing his remarkable singleminded­ ness. One may express some disap­ pointment however, at what has been omitted rather than at what has been included. For example, some excerpts from the “Nineteen Letters of Ben JEWISH LIFE

Uziel” would surely have been in place. They represent the first flower­ ing of Hirsch’s literary genius, and exercised. a profound influence on European Jewish thought long before Hirsch’s leadership had brought him to the forefront of the exponents of orthodoxy.

It is difficult to refrain from re­ marking that Hirsch in his Commen­ taries is seen as an exegete of rare and sometimes daring penetration as well as a philosopher distilling his ideas from the Written Word. The excerpts in the present volume fail to show us the former, and the book is immeasurably the poorer for it.

There is little doubt that the com­ piler of “Timeless Torah” had in mind more than a reverent tribute to Hirsch when he embarked upon this publication, and that he felt that Hirsch’s teachings are relevant to our own time and are needed by our own generation. Certainly none will gain­ say that the Jewries of the Englishspeaking world at the present time stand in no less need of the influence of Hirsch than their forebears did a century ago, and for reasons not

dissimilar to those prevailing in his day. This being so, it is to be re­ gretted that the translators have pro­ duced a text which will discourage the would-be reader rather than stim­ ulate him. They have shown more faithfulness to the original than con­ cern for their readers; the English is labored and pedantic, and but too often obscures Hirsch’s meaning in­ stead of illuminating it. Pious at­ tachment to the works of an author suffers nothing from an occasional paraphrasis, and one hopes to see this serious shortcoming remedied in fu­ ture editions of the book.

Those editions would be improved, too, by rather more scrupulous proof­ reading, and by an indication, for the benefit of the lay reader, of the sourc­ es of the wealth of Talmudic and Midrashic allusions with which Hirsch’s Commentaries abound.

N SPITE of the palpable defects of the present edition, however, “Timeless Torah” will be read with profit by large numbers in America and elsewhere, and cannot fail to exert an invaluable influence upon the orthodoxy of English-speaking Jewry.

I

A Pioneer Study

By ABRAHAM A. KELLNER THE PARENT AND THE JEWISH DAY SCHOOL by Dr. Louis Numan, Parent Study Press, 1957, $3.50, 135 Pages.

O those of us who look upon thé Yeshivah Day School movement as a major lifeline of traditional Juda­ ism, this new study by Dr. Louis

T

February, 1958

Nulman is indeed a welcome arrival.

It is the first serious attempt to ana­ lyze and evaluate the motives parents have in sending their children to yeshivoth ketanoth.

The author examined the facts pre­ sented to him as a result of his sur­ vey with care and understanding. Al­ though he is cautious about drawing 71

conclusions himself, the data given helps the reader to make up his own mind on various important phases.

Like a choice morsel which usually whets the appetite for further enjoy­ ment, this book too is merely a fore­ runner, we hope, of many similar studies. Since Dr. Nulman studied a medium-sized school in a fairly large city, the question arises whether the same results would follow in a much smaller school or a much larger one and in communities of different size.

For instance, to this reviewer a cru­ cial issue is the question about re­ ligious observance in the homes of these day school children. The analysis given indicates that those families which were affiliated with a congrega­ tion were preponderantly members of orthodox synagogues. It would be well

BY

72

THE

BAKERS

OF

"OVEN

to know if this were likewise the case in the larger communities, or in the smaller ones.

Similarly,1the economic background of parents or the social motivation which is apparently evident might re­ sult in a different set of answers de­ pending upon the location, equip­ ment, scholastic achievements and leadership of the school studies. In other words, we will have to know the results of many more volumes like this excellent book before we can speak with authority about the crucial issues which this fine study tackles.

That he raises more questions than he answers is certainly no fault of Dr. Nulman. He should be complimented upon his pioneering efforts in this most important field.

CRISP”

UNSALTED

MATZOHS

JEWISH LIFE

TRY THESE FAMOUS KOSHER AND PARViKT^Rk AND Tl ME SAVERS! V EL for meat and dairy dishes 1 OISM**

• sto c k in g s

tlNGi«'*

Yes, Kosher and Parve VEL cuts dishpan grease in seconds.. .Yet, no “Detergent Burns” to hands. It’s MarVe/ous,

WOOiCN* I jo Kind to Hands^'

AJAX for pots, pans, sinks and tubs Now, Kosher and Parve AJAX “THE FOAM­ ING CLEANSER” has a new bleach plus a special brightener! New AJAX removes more stains than liquid bleaches . . . Brightens faster than other cleansers. . . Works easier than any other household product.

^h e f o a m i n g

cleanser

FAB for family laundry Clothes washed in modern FAB are Clean Clear Through — not just surface clean — not just bleachy white. And they’re deodorized too!

FAB is the modern, heavy duty detergent for the whole family wash. Kosher arid Parve FAB is wonderful for all your dishes, too!

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

THEY’RE A L L KOSHER Here aré some of the m any strictly Kosher Heinz Foods -each and every one bearing the © seal of approval of TH E UNION OF ORTHODOX JEW ISH CONGRE­ GATIONS OF AM ERICA! Among the .Heinz line of Kosher foods, you'll find six delicious soups; a wide assortm ent of Baby Foods, Heinz famous Vegetarian Beans and a host of other Heinz Varieties. N ext tim e you’re out shopping, stock up on these wonderful H ein z K o s h e r F o o d s. Look on the label for the all-im portant © seal* For a complete list of © Heinz Foods, write a postcard or letter to H. J. Heinz Co., P. 0 . Box 28, Dept.

D-21, Pittsburgh 30, Pa.

©