Jewish Life April 1958 by Jewish Action

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Nisan 5718 - April 1958

Israel's Tenth | Anniversary The Asch and : Poage Bills !

Theocracy and The Jewish State

“Jewish Identification

Visit to W arsaw andj Prague

Derech Erefz

Mergers in the Middle East

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April, 1958

Nisan, 5718

Vol. XXV, No. 4

Saul Bernstein , Editor M. Morton Rubenstein Reuben E. Gross Rabbi S. J. Sharfm an ' Libby Klaperman

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EDITORIALS ISRAEL'S TENTH A N N IV E R S A Y ............

LEG ISLA TIO N A N D RELIG IO U S RIGH TS

ARTICLES "JEW ISH ID EN TIFIC A TIO N " IN ISRAEL 11 J. Goldschm idt

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53 57

BOOK REVIEWS FIVE V O IC E S Leo Jung

A C H A SID IC TREASU RY.......................... Chaim U. Lipschitz

HAPPY IS THE PEO PLE............................... 67 Eugene S. Duschinsky

DEPARTMENTS HASHKOFAH: JEW ISH C O N T IN U IT Y .... 45 Samson R. W eiss O N THE JEW ISH R EC O R D ....................... Eric O ffenbacher

A M O N G OUR CO N TRIBU TO RS

EXCERPTS selected and translated by David M. Hausdorff April, 1958

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JEWISH LIFE

DR. JOSEPH GOLDSCHMIDT is the director of the Depart

ment of Religious Education of Israel’s Ministry of Education and Culture. DR. WILLIAM W. BRICKMAN, Professor of Education at New

York University, appears for the second time in J ewish L ife . His first article, “A Visit to Soviet Jewry,” evoked plaudits as an illuminating first-hand account of Jewish life in Leningrad and Moscow. Dr. Brickman studied at the Jacob Joseph School and Talmudical Academy, Yeshiva University, is a graduate of the College of the City of New York, and received his Ph.D. at New York University. RABBI RALPH PELCOVITZ is Rabbi of Congregation Knes-

seth Israel, Far Rockaway, New York. He lectures in philosophy and history at the Young Israel Institute of Jewish Studies, and has contributed articles to various publications. REUBEN E. GROSS, a Staten Island, New York, attorney, is

among our contributors

national Secretary of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congrega tions of America and chairman of its Armed Forces Commission. He studied at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and is a graduate of Harvard Law School. His previous article, “Religion and State—A New Look,” has become a subject of wide discussion throughout the country. SHOLOM STAIMAN has contributed articles and short stories

to numerous Anglo-Jewish publications. He is secretary of the Eastern Pennsylvania Zionist Region and is currently serving as secretary of Congregation Ohev Sholom, Williamsport, Penna. RABBI VICTOR SOLOMON is the spiritual leader of Congre gation Ezrath Israel in Philadelphia. His article, “Missionaries Unmasked,” appeared in the October, 1955 issue of J ewish L if e . s

S. B. UNSDORFER is the Managing Editor of the Jewish Post

of London. His articles and stories have appeared previously in L ife and in other Jewish publications in various countries.

J ewish

DR. SAMSON R. WEISS is the Executive Vice-IPresident of the

Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America. A noted Jewish educator and thinker, his column on Jewish concepts is a regular feature of J ewish L ife . Cover: Yemenite girl in an immigrant’s settlement gathers provision for Pesach. (Photo courtesy United Jewish Appeal.) April, 1958

ME MO 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 $10.00 (Member) $15.00 (Friend) $25.00 (Patron) 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. N A M E _______ : _____________________________________ Address__________________________________ _______ CITY____________________ _ □ 6

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JEWISH LIFE

Israel’s Tenth Anniversary HE tenth anniversary of the establishment of Medinath Israel provides valid occasion for heartfelt rejoicing and thanksgiving wherever Jews dwell. The event should serve to evoke an intensified awareness of the unique character and sacred mission of the young state. In the ten years that have passed, the wonder of the re-establishment of the Jewish State has waxed rather than lessened. As we begin to assimilate the reality of Medinath Israel, its ultimate significance emerges more clearly from the haze of transient events. Amidst all the marvels of this age of marvels, this one bespeaks most compellingly the intervention of Divine Providence in the affairs of mankind. Wherefore the State of Israel? All questions as to the char acter, policies, and development of Israel* and as to its relation ships to Diaspora Jewry and to the surrounding world, can be realistically approached only in the light of this key question. Only by appreciation of the purpose of the Jewish State can its dynamics be grasped. Only by recognition of Divine Will can the course of history from Yetziath Mitzrayim to the establish ment of , today’s State of Israel become intelligible and meaning ful. And only by seeing in this state the vehicle for fulfillment of the Covenant can its true function be perceived. The Jewish world has not yet become fully cognizant of the meaning of Medinath Israel, and hence the verbose futility of the endless debates as to the relationship between Israel and the Spiritual Diaspora, the hunt for synthetic new ideologies, the lack of Struggle direction and purpose in much of Diaspora activity. Nor have all Israelis been awakened to the sanctity of the Jewish State, and hence its tortured spiritual struggle, its seething social undercurrents, its grim kulturkampf. Sharp and painful is the contrast between the spirit of lofty dedication which marks some phases of Israeli endeavor and the urge to stifle Israel’s sanctities which marks others. Many examples might be cited of blindness to Israel’s pur pose, as often wilful as inadvertent, fruit of a many-pronged effort to stem the Judaizing of the Jewish State. The dragooning of religious immigrant children into non-religious schools and settlements, unremitting political and economic pressure to sub ject religious elements to the well-organized power of non-reli-

April, 1958

gious forces, constant agitation against “clericalism’ijp h ese are the product of elements who seem convinced that to merit poli tical sovereignty, Israel is obliged to forfeit its Jewish spirit. UT let none do Israel the injustice of supposing that such un-Jewishness is its dominant trait. As against this spirit, we see Israel standing gloriously steadfast against the aggression of its neighbors, maintaining a high ethical position in the face of external provocation, undergoing every sacrifice to open its doors to hundreds of thousands of fellow-Jews, performing pro digies of achievement in the upbuilding of the country, settling the waste places of the land, developing its arts and sciences, fusing its variegated folk into a homogeneous nation, and yes, holding aloft the Torah ideal of the House of Israel. This last counts, above all, as Israel’s proud distinction. Nowhere else under the sun is Torah rooted in the soil as it is in Israel and nowhere, despite all blemishes and blots, does Torah flourish as in Israel. There, institutions of Torah learning grow and multiply, great networks of religious elementary schools educate an increasingly large proportion of its youth, Israel's religious high schools and a university of great promise grow Proud fr°m daY day, religious settlements and economic institutions multiply and become an increasingly potent force in the land. Distinction ^nd, outside the great area of development specifically labelled “religious,” Israel as a whole bears the impress of Torah, in a manner and to an extent inconceivable elsewhere. The laws, the traditions, the ideals, the goals of the land, these everywhere reflect the awareness of Torah, even though Torah sovereignty may yet be disclaimed. At the eve of Israel’s tenth anniversary, we see it groping and stumbling, falling now into a detour and now into a blind alley, yet withal steadily climbing its upward path and adjusting its vision and hearing to the Message of its existence. This its first decade has been an epic of striving and achievement. May it be granted that the decades and centuries to come find Medinath Israel fulfilling itself as the truly Jewish State, leading the entire House of Israel to the days of Redemption.

Legislation and Religious Rights CCASION for serious concern is to be seen in the fate of two recent items of legislation affecting basic Jewish reli gious interests. One, the widely-supported Asch Fair Sabbath Bill, which would have given New York City the right to exempt business establishments observing the Jewish Sabbath from Sunday Closing Laws restrictions, was defeated in the New York State Assembly. The other, the Poage Humane

JEWISH LIFE

Slaughter Act, which it is feared may pave the way for restric tions on Shechitah, has been passed by the U. S. House of Representatives and is now before a committee of the Senate. Although not directly related, both developments raise basic questions of Jewish rights and of religious freedom. With regard to the Fair Sabbath Bill, a measure of comfort is to be found in the fact that this was the first time that such a measure finally came to the floor of the legislature. Similar bills, sponsored for many past years, had each in turn died in com mittee. The Joint Committee for a Fair Sabbath Law, which has led this battle for many years, the newly formed Ad Hoc Com mittee, and all cooperating groups have merited the praise of the community for their dedicated work. It is no secret that the defeat of the Fair Sabbath Bill was determined by the opposition of leaders of the Roman Catholic Church. In previous years, the main resistance emanated from Sectarian Protestant circles, especially in the upstate areas. More recently, O pposition however, some leading Protestant bodies, including the Protestant Council of New York, had withdrawn their opposition. It was in contrast to an outpouring of public support from all sides, practically assuring passage, that the Roman Catholic forces made known their open and determined opposition. The case for the Fair Sabbath Law in terms of religious freedom and American principles of civil rights is so apparent as to require no debate. One can well understand, and be in complete sympathy with, concern as to protection of the present laws— already weakened by exceptions for favored categories of business— against further commercialization. But the Aseh Bill offered precisely such protection. It would have permitted Sun day opening only for those observing another day as the Sabbath. It would thus have facilitated religious observance by «// ele ments, and would thereby have strengthened religion as a whole. The fight for a fair Sabbath law must and surely will go on. Realism dictates that the program must henceforth extend F* ht bey°nd tbe Political sphere. It would be most unfortunate if a lasting difference of view on this issue be permitted to arise ^ o es between the Jewish and Roman Catholic communities. It is earOn nestly to be hoped, rather, that the Catholic, as well as the Prot estant, leadership will now come to realize that removal of the discriminatory aspects of the Sunday Closing Laws will con tribute to the rights and security of all faiths. HE proposed federal Humane Slaughter legislation, unlike the foregoing, manifests no specifically sectarian overtones. Its sponsors, various humane societies, are apparently concerned only with lessening cruelty to animals. This aim, needless to say, all believing Jews share, for it is integral with our religion, as is manifest in the laws of Shechitah. In the pages of this magazine,

T April, 1958

however, and in other sources, it has repeatedly been shown that measures similar to the Poage Bill in other countries have led to restrictions on Shechitah, and in fact have proven to be moti vated by that very purpose, rather than by humanitarianism. In the framing of the Poage Humane Slaughter Bill, effort was made to allay Jewish opposition by including Shechitah among the methods of slaughter approved as humane. Whatever value this might have in the light of overseas precedents is negated by a clause governing preparations for slaughter. This could be interpreted in such manner as to erect practical and economic barriers to Shechitah. All orthodox Jewish organiza tions, and many others, have stood firm in opposition to this bill. In the opinion of many opponents of the Poage Bill— among whom are numerous leading scientific authorities and the U. S. Department of Agriculture, as well as those concerned with reli gious freedom and with Jewish rights— the humanitarian bona Q u estion able fides of the measure can be judged in the light of the forms of Processes slaughter which it lists as “humane.” The actual humaneness of A p p ro ved several these, including electrical stunning and chemical pro cesses, is altogether questionable. But the very first method listed as humane in the bill is more than questionable, for it is as cruel as any method of slaughter can possibly be. We have reference to “stunning with a single blow.” This process can be seen and evaluated any day in the week at almost any abattoir in the country. It is accessible to the view of Congressman Poage, spokesmen and members of humane societies, and anyone else interested in the subject, provided they will only take the trouble to see for themselves. They will not see a pretty sight. They will see, and they will hear, a great mallet crashing with full force on the head of a writhing, tortured beast, cracking the skull, hammering away with that “single blow” not once, nor yet twice, but again and again and again. They will see that not one out of five animals so treated is completely stunned by the first blow; that multiple blows are unavoidable in the “single blow” process— and that even in the exceptional cases where one blow suffices, the pain of slaughter is not lessened but actually increased by the stunning. Yet this process, by edict of the Poage Humane Slaughter In validates Act and of its humanitarian sponsors, is the one which leads all p others under the banner of Humane Slaughter. Apart from all ** other questionable aspects, this alone invalidates any claim that the bill will serve its professed purpose. Federal legislators, the memberships of humane societies, and the American public at large are being victimized by the agitation for Humane Slaughter legislation. The legislation does not make for humane slaughter; it can serve only to imperil Judaism, to invade religious rights, and to undermine American freedom. The Poage Bill must be defeated. 10

JEWISH LIFE

“ Jewish Identification” in

Is r a e l

HO could have thought that of all places under the sun the problem of Jewish identification would crop up just in Israel? Everybody understands that the in volvement of the Jewish citizen of the United States or of Great Britain or of France with the affairs of those countries, which must be his affairs too, as long as he lives in them, will lead him one day to ask himself how much is left of him to make him also

By J. GOLDSCHMIDT istry of Education and Culture at top level, and the Ministry in its turn keeps lots of writers, thinkers, edu cators, and the run-of-the mill head master and teacher busy with work ing out a satisfactory answer or at least elucidating the problem. You can hardly open a Friday edi tion of the Israeli daily papers with out finding in it a new searchlight on the problem of the day, Todaah Yehudith — Jewish identification. If

A searching appraisal of the efforts being made, under the slogan of “ Todaah Yehudith”, to combat the effect of de-Judaizing ideologies upon young Israelis. a Jew. He will feel that in making his living, in renting a house, in read ing the newspapers, and, going to the polls once in a while, he is doing really everything that goes with be ing an American or an Englishman — and what will identify him as a Jew? This seems a reasonable question, and the greater the involvement with the country in which he lives, economical, cultural, emotional, the harder it is to find an answer to it which makes sense. But in Israel — where every thing is Jewish, the soil and the air, 90 of its citizens and all its govern ment, where the daily paper is printed in the same letters as the Tanach and in almost the same words — what sense is there in posing the question of Jewish identification? And yet, it is a fact that for quite some time now this very problem holds the stage: it occupies the MinApril, 1958

you ask just how did it all begin, you may be referred to Section 44 of the program of action adopted by the cab inet formed in November, 1955, where you find that the government undertook to “deepen the Jewish iden tification of its youth”. True, from then on the discussion has emerged into the public, but it is evident that there must have been factors, forces or experiences that brought the prob lem into the program of action in the first place. We shall hear about those factors a little later. The Zionist Solution

T IS ony natural to seek the answer to the Israeli quest for Jewish identification in the basic tenets of Zionism. For it was Zionism that claimed to know the answer to the Jewish question — and that answer was the Jewish State in the Jewish

Students in an Israeli State Religious School at prayer before beginning the day's classes.

homeland. That answer could indeed have been satisfactory to all who wanted to be Jewish, whether they adhered to Jewish religious law or not. For surely the political independence of the Jewish people in its historic homeland is a prerequisite to the ful fillment of the messianic hopes of the faithful, as everyone can verify in Maimonides’ “Hilchoth Melachim”, chapter 12. But there was an ideolog ical under-structure to that answer, which made it purely secular: the Jewish people is in need of an in dependent ■state, it was argued, be cause it is “a nation like every other nation”.- It is a nation like all others in body -— and therefore it needs soil of its own, and it can no longer exist “in the air” as it were, never sure where its members would be allowed to set their foot. And it is also a 12

nation : like all others in its soul, for we have an old culture of our own, linked to a language that is spoken nowhere else and by nobody else — and only in an autonomous Jewish community can we live that culture of ours. The purport of this theory was that here we haye a better, indeed the final, answer to all quests after Jewish identification sought by Jews in the Diaspora* There, among the guest nations, the Jew needs his Dietary Laws, his prayer language, his social tradition, in order to keep himself aware of his identity, and the friend lier the guest nations are, the greater the need for such reminders. But once you are a Jew amongst Jews only, once the whole framework of your political and private life is Jew ish: and no other national claim is JEWISH LIFE

made on you, you will find that by token of this alone you are as Jewish as the Spaniard is Spanish and the Frenchman is French. You will love your land, you will build it up, you will develop it, you will govern it in the light of the best and most just political theory, you will defend it with your blood, if necessary! You will be proud of your country and its achievements, of its position in the council of nations — and the worries of what being Jewish means will be forever forgotten. Zionism Applied

O ALL appearances this solution has been put into practice in the State of Israel and in the decades of preparation which preceded its foundation. And, to all appearances, it has worked out well and close enough to what was expected of it. We have the State now, the popula tion has increased in these first ten years by mass immigration and by a satisfactory birth rate, the land is be ing aroused from its slumber and put to the plough, industries spring up, roads, railroads, airfields are being built, the Hebrew language willingly serves all needs, however new, and the youth of the country grows into this state of affairs as if there had never been anything else. They are here by birth, they see no reason why they should not live their lives here, if they wish to, and who could inter fere with this? They are trained to understand what the country expects of them, and many have given the supreme proof of their devotion to their country by giving their lives for it. To many citizens old and young, the need to affirm their Jewishness by Jewish prayer (or any prayer), by observing the Shabboth or the high festivals, by studying the Law or by

April, 1958

any of the many duties, customs, ways of life by which a Jew ordinarily keeps himself Jewish, has receded to the point of oblivion. Some 68% of Israel’s school children learn little of those parts of the Torah which make demands of the practical kind on them. They learn next to nothing of the Oral Torah, and they virtually never hear that any of those demands are meant for them to observe, for the secular state schools do not edu cate to any form of religious obser vance. Thus, if it were not for the near-third minority of youngsters who receive a religious education, the ideal state of affairs as envisaged in the Zionist theory might become reality in a generation from now. Down To The Roots

HEN, what is the trouble now, suddenly? What more does Gov ernment want of the young people? If living in the country and for the country is not enough, what then is missing? Now that we are a nation like all other nations and have the State, the language, the ingathering of exiles, how could the question of Jewish identification again raise its head? Who has heard that the French ask themselves how to be French, or the English how to be English? Why should the Israelis ask themselves how to be Jewish? What is wrong now? Could there be anything wrong with the Zionist solution? The answer is this: secular Zion ist theory has been proved wrong be cause it succeeded too well! This will need some amplification. Take, first, the somewhat out-of-theway phenomenon of the Canaanite group. It is not a large group in numbers, but they count some able young intellectuals among their mem bers. These young people got it in

their heads that they do not wish to be heirs and cultural successors to what is commonly known as the Jews, those communities who lived for over two thousand years in Europe, Asia, Africa or America, and formed there a certain culture of their own, which was obviously detached from the land Canaan, from which they had orig inally come. The Canaanites refuse to recognize identity of blood or of culture if it is not at the same time bound up with the soil of Canaan. They wipe out, in other words, most of the Jewish history and almost all of the cultural inheritance of these two thousand years as irrelevant to their existence today, and demand that our lives be built now anew with no strings attached. In spite of its small numbers, the group has been highly rated as a symptom, and offshoots of its ideol ogy, often disguised and unaware of the connection, can be found in many quarters. It would be wrong to say that the Canaanite movement is an active danger to Israeli youth today. But it has undoubtedly an appeal to many, and an attraction which comes from its rigid consistency and the easy way out of the tangle of the Jewish question. Those who want to escape the demands of their con science or of their convictions regard ing their obligations as Jews in the conventional and historical sense are agreeably surprised to find that those fetters might be done away with, if need be. Ignorance and Estrangement

UT THIS is not all. Many felt that with all the lip service paid to the supreme importance of the Tanach, the actual influence of The Book on our lives was waning. For two or three generations the secular

school in Israel had laid all its stress on the beauty and the moral loftiness of the Later Prophets and had passed discreetly over the specific demands of the Torah. Small wonder, you would say, that little notice was taken of the general ideas of the Prophets in the actual day-to-day business of running the affairs of the state. With the Bible deemed not really necessary for daily guidance for those who re ject the binding force of its precepts, it may soon be outmoded as a source of inspiration, too. Then, there is the daily widening rift between the young generation and the post-Biblical literature — Talmud and Commentaries, Maimonides, Shulchon Oruch, Jewish philosophy. Since its contents are virtually denied rele vance for our age and its problems are described as lacking significance in our day, it is only just that the Bible finds only a negligible place in the curriculum of the secular school. But the result is inevitable: complete ig norance of the very rudiments of the Jewish way of life. Leaders of Israel secular education were shocked one day to find that of a class of forty boys and girls only one could say what “kiddush” was, or had seen a Sefer Torah or knew how to find - “Shema Yisroel” in the Siddur. Add to this a few more dis coveries of the same kind, and you will understand that at least the older generation of Israel leaders stopped to ask, “Are we educating our chil dren as Jews or merely as Israelis?” Add to this just one or two cases where Israel youngsters who happened to get abroad showed no interest at all in mixing with the Jewish commu nities there, to join them at the syna gogue, whether orthodox or Conser vative or Reform, and you will underJEWISH LIFE

stand what we mean when we say that the theory of secular Zionism succeeded all too well. It became apparent that by the fer vent wish to be “a nation like all other nations” we were in a fair way to become just another small Mediter ranean country, perhaps more deeply westernized than others around us, more democratic in our system of gov ernment, with better scientists or more of them and so on — but a state not in any meaningful way identifiable as Jewish. After so many centuries of a deeply felt will to live and a unique demonstration of the power to live as a nation without land and without language — could it be suffi cient now to live on as a nation with the land and the language only? One would have thought that those old-timers who spend their lives in

developing, preaching, and living the secular Zionist theory would reply with a strong and confident “Yes”. But, lo and behold, their answer is “NO”, “Never”. And thus the Gov ernment decided to “deepen the Jew ish identification of the young gen eration”. How Is This Task To Be Done?

ROADLY Speaking, three areas have been mapped out for this operation. First in order comes the knowledge of the Jewish inheritance. This is meant to comprise literature as well as the real life. More stress is to be laid, relative to the past, on the study of Chumosh as compared with the Later Prophets. The weekly portion (Parashath Hashovua) is to be treated cursorily at the Friday gathering of the school or the class;

(Photo courtesy of Zionist Archives and L ibrary)

Reflecting the "Todaah Yehudith" influence, this classroom in a school of the non religious wing of Israel's state school system displays the motto, “Torah Li, Orah Li". April, 1958

selections from the Mishnah should be taught and properly explained; and last but not least, the prayers for every day, Shabboth, and the Festivals should be studied. From the sphere of Jewish life the pupils are to be made acquainted with the essential meaning and the customs of the festivals, the fasts, and days of rememberance. Schools are advised to in troduce some forms of Jewish tradi tion into organized school life. But they have been warned in an official statement of the Ministry that “the secular State School does not thereby change its character as a national Jewish school, which, in the past, educated neither for nor against reli gion, and will adhere to this same course in the future”. No special time allowance is made for these new aims in grades one through six of the elementary school, but one period a week has been added in grades seven and eight. This extra hour may not be devoted to the above aims only, but it has to serve also the two other areas, of which we shall speak below. It needs little imagina tion to realize how little real knowl edge of these intricate matters and difficult texts can be acquired in this way. It will further be observed that the most that is aimed at is a fleeting acquaintance from reading or a mu seum demonstration of the Jewish way of life with hardly an empirical basis of personal experience.

tyrdom are to be developed; and the never-extinguished longing for 're demption in Zion is to be brought out clearly. By these means it is hoped that bonds to the past will be formed and the sense of unbroken continuity strengthened. The third area is the knowledge of the Jewish people in the Diaspora, the great centers and their organiza tion, their forms of life, their rela tions with Israel, etc. In this field it is hoped to foster understanding for the unity of the Jewish people, of which only a small part, by numeri cal ratio at any rate, lives today in Israel. These proposals have aroused a variety of reactions ranging from glad acceptance as something whose ab sence had long been felt, to bitter opposition for fear of a “return to religion”. The Ministry of Education and Culture is moving quickly to have textbooks, reference works, and an thologies prepared, without which lit tle can be done in the classroom. N o less serious is the lack of teachers who have the requisite knowledge and are ready to teach in the new spirit, although they personally stand far away from it. But it may be assumed that all those efforts will, for a time at least, result in some renewal of spirit in many schools. And yet, there is a basic mistake in all this, which must jeopardize the ultimate outcome.

HE second area is a new ap proach to Jewish history. More attention is to be paid to the pre sentation of great Jewish personalities of the past, designed to create ad miration and a sense of belonging in the young student. Themes such as the purity of the traditional Jewish life and supreme sacrifice and mar

T THIS point we might explain our statement that the theory of secular Zionism has proved wrong. “A nation like all other nations” is not the whole truth in respect to the Jewish people. We are like other na tions in many respects, no doubt. The common forces of history have had their way with us, too. We have had

Where Is The M istake?

JEWISH LIFE

our wars and conquests, our treaties with other nations; we have had pe riods of material prosperity and of poverty; we have had contact with other nations in body and in soul, and the historian and the sociologist can describe and explain those events as well as they treat other nations. We believe in the truth of the mir acles related to us in Scripture, but we do not claim that Jewish history throughout is a miracle story. We may even claim that the survival of the Jewish nation through times and in conditions where all other nations* failed and vanished from the scene1 has the quality of a miracle and is evidence of Divine Providence for our people, and yet we do not remove our history from the realm of scien tific research. But this is not all. There is on® aspect of our national existence, which defies all compari son with other nations! The moment Israel appears on the stage of history, it appears with a charter of its destiny and with a pro gram of its culture. No sooner do we hear of Israel as a nation, than we hear that it is meant to be a “king dom of priests and a holy nation”. A land is promised to the people, but on condition that it live up to its destiny, and expulsion is held out as inevitable punishment if it errs froni its path. The law given the new na tion at its birth comprises all spheres of human existence — civil and crim inal law, ceremonial law, laws of wor ship and of faith, laws for the citizen and laws for the king, eternal laws of a specific nature which do not leave room for interpretation, and legal and moral principles as a source o f guid ance in all ages and under all condi tions. Israel has not been faithful to its ordained path; it has erred and sinned, A&ril, 1958

it has tried many a time to be like everybody else, it sought guidance from alien sources — but at all times it was clear that there is a law and a standard by which to judge the Jew ish people. However far Israel moved away temporarily from its path, it was drawn back to its destination by the contents of that charter, with which it was born. OW different is all this from other nations! Other nations may have developed, from a material point of view, very much like Israel, but they were not drawn to their place at any given moment in history by a predestined order. They were at any given moment the result of all the natural forces that had been acting on them. The concept of aim and destiny is not applicable to their na tional existence as it applies to Israel, for they have no such destiny. Or again, Israel's culture, whose unchang ing basis was laid right at its begin ning as a nation, is obligatory on all members of the nation, and without that culture the very existence of the nation is threatened. It is not a cul ture merely to know and admire in the spirit and to neglect in actual life; it demands to rule the life of the na tion. Can such be said of any other nation? Is the Englishman only Eng lish as long and inasmuch as he ad heres to Shakespeare? Does the Ital ian depend on Dante, the Spaniard on Cervantes, to make himself a son of his pation? But with Israel this is exactly the case: our culture, ex pressed in the Torah, is binding on every member of the nation, and a condition of his “belonging”.

Conclusion

N equating Israel in every respect with all other nations secular Zionism has made its gravest mistake

and committed its deadliest sin. The graveness of the mistake was not at once apparent to everybody. During the years before the State we grew only gradually into national autonomy, and not everybody felt clearly that the desire to be “like all other na tions” was robbing us of the most indispensible national characteristic — the recognition of our culture as obli gatory. Now, ten years after complete independence, the danger has become clear to everybody. We have been so completely absorbed in asserting our nationhood by the language and the land, that we have come to the brink of an abyss, in which all Jewishness threatens to disappear. One can appreciate the clearsight edness of the present leaders to the extent of being able to see the danger signals and deciding to act. On the

other hand, one can only be alarmed at the blindness to the real causes of the crisis, which they so clearly rec ognized. For all the recipes devised for deepening the Jewish identifica tion in the secular state school are based on the very error that has brought us to the present situation. Jewish youth is, at best, to hear of things Jewish, but is not to be shown the way to live them. Nay, they are not even to be told that all that Jewish inheritance is meant to be lived, that it was lived through the centuries, and that only through accepting the Jewish inheritance as binding did the Jewish people survive. The illness has been spotted, but the diagnosis has not penetrated to the causes, and the treatment, alas, must be feared to be powerless to bring the remedy.

THREE DEGREES "We were slaves unto Pharaoh in Egypt/' This embraces three degrees of oppression: (1) We were slaves. (2) To Pharaoh—an oppressive king. (3) In Egypt—an oppressive land. And therefore this statement in the Hagadah is followed by a phrase of triple meaning: "And the Lord our G-d took us out of there/' (1) "The Lord took us out"—to demote Pharaoh, who had proclaimed himself divine. (2) "Our G-d"—to substitute ourselves as servants to our G-d rather than slaves to humans. (3) "From there"—to prove that we shook off the curse of that oppressive land specifically. From the Commentary on the Hagadah by Elijah, Gaon of Wilna 18

JEWISH LIFE

The Lost Art of Derech Eretz By RALPH PELCOVITZ

Where lie the roots of today’s juvenile delinquency and family problems? A noted rabbi views the question in the light of Jewish principle and practice.

HE RECENT troubles besetting the public schools of New York City, with comparable woes prevalent in other large urban areas, have once again focused our attention upon the ever recurring and painful problem of juvenile delinquency, acts of violence, and a general state of chaos in our modern society, especially among our adolescent population. A general de terioration of discipline against estab lished authority has aroused our grave concern and resulted in articles, dis courses, grand jury investigations, and charges breeding counter-charges, all attempting to discover the cause and root of this decline of basic elemen tary law and order in our commu nities. It is not the purpose of this article to propose a solution or find a pa nacea for the real and aggravated problem of terror in the public school system, or to judge the wisdom or lack of good sense in the mass sus pension of incorrigibles from the classroom. We would rather discuss what is felt to be the very core of this entire question of adolescent re bellion as it affects all of us, whether

April, 1958

we be among the unfortunates who are confronted directly with this prob lem or the more blessed ones who feel that their house is in order. We would direct our analysis to the gen eral question of respect, or to use a phrase which speaks so much more eloquently— “Derech Eretz”. This hallowed virtue, now threaten ed with eclipse, is one which affects the lives of all, adults as well as adolescents and children. Its decline is keenly felt even in those circles which cannot be characterized by the stock phrases of “broken homes”, “economically depressed neighbor hoods”, or even religiously neutral households. HE perceptive observer of the American scene must be cogni zant of a general deterioration of re spect and discipline in many areas— the home, the school, the house of wor ship, and the community. This alarm ing trend is to be observed not alone in the general American environment but also in the Jewish world, U.S.A.style 1958. How shall we account for the rapidly changing atmosphere

of the Jewish home, even including the orthodox household, wherein the attribute of Derech Eretz is becom ing a lost art? What is the true pic ture of parent-child relationship and how are we to explain it? Our Day Schools have increased and enroll ment is at a record high, but what are the true facts regarding Derech Eretz of Yeshivah students for their teachers? Rabbis have attained a sta tus of economic security and com munity prestige supposedly surpassing any period of Jewish history of the past century, but what is the real attitude of the laity— men, women and youngsters— towards their spirit ual leaders? Is there indeed a sincere spirit of respect, reverence, obedience, and discipline? These are the de manding questions of our time which cannot be evaded but which require a full and frank appraisal. The home in Jewish tradition has unquestionably been regarded as the stronghold of our people. The strange and alien winds of a hostile and often brutal World could never penetrate the house of Israel. Within the walls of the truly Jewish home reign sere nity, peace, and warmth. It is not only a place of shelter from the ele ments, both natural and human, but a fortress of the spirit as well. It is the training ground of our youth, more so than the school, for within its coniines Torah is taught not the oretically but Vmaaseh. In word and in deed, the Jewish home has created an atmosphere molding and shaping the character attitudes, values, and standards of the young. MONG the virtues and attributes which have traditionally permeat ed the Jewish home, imbuing its members with its teachings, is of course the midah of Derech Eretz.

This element of respect is all-embrac ing, affecting the behavior pattern of parents and children alike. The tradi tional home is parent- and elder-cen tered. Throughout the ages, Jewish children have been cherished, love has been lavished upon them, and a sense of security implanted within them from infancy, without benefit of books on child psychology. The child, however, has not been made the center of the truly Jewish home; never was he the hub of the wheel around which revolved the activity or motivation of the family. The head of the household was ever the father, to whom all have looked for guidance, authority, and leadership. The attitude of the wife and husband toward each other is a major factor, for it serves as an object lesson for the children insofar as Derech Eretz is concerned. Mutual recognition and respect, deference and consideration as displayed by the parents, implant within the children a spirit of regard and reverence toward both, which serves as an excellent preparation for conveying this attitude toward their elders and superiors outside of the home. This disciplined spirit is logi cally transferred to teacher, rabbi, and communal authority, emanating as it does from the center of the home to the periphery of society and its established institutions. In other words, an adult-centered home has developed an attitude which quite na turally affects every aspect of life experienced by the child. This spirit of Derech Eretz has historically manifested itself not only in the parent-parent and parent-child relationship, but also in the attitude of the elders to certain standards and values of life and toward the ex ponents or symbols of these values. JEWISH LIFE

Children are impressionable and re ceptive. They sense their parents’ ap probation or disdain, their acceptance and admiration or disparagement and irreverence. The home wherein par ents hold Torah standards,, the teach er, rabbi, and authority in esteem and regard, is bound to inculcate these attitudes in their children. A home where Torah knowledge* piety, mod esty, and sincerity are valued and revered, serves to imbue the children with the same spirit. The yardstick used by adults to measure the goal and objective of life, their definition of happiness, success, and fulfillment, will ever be applied by those who are exposed to this spirit, in their own endeavors. RANTED that this description of the traditional Jewish home, the spirit that has pervaded it and im pressed itself upon the outside com munity, is authentic and correct, we can proceed to examine the condition of the Jewish home today and its effect upon other areas of human re lationship. While many American Jewish homes have, Boruch Hashem, preserved this ’ .spirit, the average American Jewish home today, to the contrary, presents at times a curious and disturbing picture. Instead of being parent-centered many families have become child-centered. The ex pression ‘Tor the children” has become a familiar refrain. The child is the focal point of the household, with prac tically every activity revolving around him. Every effort is extended to make life comfortable and convenient for the offspring, and this is often accom plished at the expense of the dignity and position of the parents them selves. The emphasis in general to day is upon youth, to such an extent that maturity, age, and even wisdom

April.- 1958

are relegated to an inferior position. Responsibility, obligation, and accep tance of a yoke are little known to the child or adolescent in the average so-called midde class Jewish house hold. How then can a spirit of Derech Eretz for the elder be en gendered? The spirit of condescen sion or at best tolerance displayed by the adolescent toward the adult is no mere accident nor the strange fruit of a world we have not created. The roots are in the home and the fruits are those of the seeds planted from the initial phases of child develop ment. The decline of discipline and re spect can also be traced, to a great extent, to the quasi-matriarchal so ciety which we have seemingly fallen heir to in our modern American culture. Without reaching the radi^ cal conclusions of the exponents of the philosophy of ¡0“momism’j 3 one must reluctantly admit to the rapidly declining status of the husband and father in twentieth century society. Too often our “women of valor” are guilty, albeit unconsciously and with out malice aforethought, of casting the father into a position of inferior ity and disesteem. The leveling of the sexes which has progressed so rapidly in recent years has taken its toll of the “head of the household” concept, which is so very important in implanting a spirit of Derech Eretz in the home in particular and society in general. Jewish tradition has always granted major status to the wife and mother, recognizing fully well her important, inimicable role in rearing her children and guiding them in their formative years. The central authority of the father, however, was inviolate and joyfully accepted. Au thority and discipline cannot ulti mately be shared; in the final analysis 21

it must be embodied in one person. By returning to the father his rights and responsibilities as the true head of the family we shall be tak ing a major step toward re-establish ing the proper spirit of discipline and respect in the home. This in turn will certainly result in a greater efficacy of Derech Eretz in other areas outside of the home. ET u s now consider the school and above all the teacher, the dedicated, consecrated, much malign ed and little appreciated pedagogue. What degree of respect for him or her is fostered and nurtured in the average home? The educator is dis robed of his prestige and esteem when the true value of Torah and her standard bearers are spoken of disparagingly around the dinner table. How many Jewish parents are guilty of this far too common indoor sport? The Rebbe cannot become an object of reverence if even a shadow of ridicule or deprecation is cast upon him in the home and his qualities of knowledge and piety will not be appreciated by the youngster if these values are not recognized and re spected by his parents. This may seem an overly harsh and ill-consid ered indictment, yet let parents search their hearts frankly and honestly and determine whether they are indeed innocent of these actions. Only by creating an attitude of respect and regard toward the faculty of a school can there be proper discipline on the part of the children toward their teachers in the school.

There are two other disturbing de velopments which have manifested themselves on the American Jewish scene which warrant our considered attention. These are the spirit of democracy in religious life and the 22

modern version of hero worship. The Jew, since his acceptance of the yoke of Mitzvoth at Sinai, has been a disciplined individual. This admirable virtue has been extolled in lore, legend, and song. Moral suasion has ever been the great de terrent cultivated from childhood as the potent weapon against transgres sion and violation of law. In the realm of religious law the Jew has looked to Torah authority for guid ance and direction. The eternal laws of Torah, with flexibility and adap tability inherent in the unique struc ture of Halochah, have served as his code, with the only questions being the “Shaalah” which he presented to the rabbi for a “Teshuvah”. What was true of the individual was hither to also accepted procedure for every congregation. The laws of synagogue practice, the standards of the house of prayer, have been those of the Shulchon Oruch; Derech Eretz for the decisions of the code as inter preted by the Rav was ever the norm. In recent years, however, we have witnessed the startling spectacle of subjecting questions of Halochah— religious law and usage— to votes of lay memberships. The concept of majority rule, which never applied to questions of Jewish religious law in sofar as the laity was concerned, has made a travesty of synagogue sanc tity. Whether it be mixed seating, or various questionable social func tions in the synagogue, all these have become issues to be decided on a par with budget or similar items on the agenda. The rabbi has in many cases abdi cated his authority and responsibility, with resultant chaos and confusion. This abdication cannot however be too severely condemned when we consider the great pressures brought JEWISH LIFE

to bear by individuals who control the personal security and future of the rabbi. This flouting of the auth ority of the Rav has taken its toll among many members of the com munity, undermining reverence and respect toward the spiritual leader. The deterioration of Derech Eretz in the school and community can be at tributed to a great extent to this dis torted democratization of the syna gogue. Not until the rightful role of teacher and interpreter of law is re stored to the rabbi can we hope for

April, 1958

a favorable improvement of respect and Derech Eretz in all areas of synagogue activity and in the rela tionship of layman and Rabbi. DISCUSSION of the art of De rech Eretz would not be com plete without one final observation, regarding hero-worship. Since the dawn of history man has felt a cer tain emotional hunger and need for an object of adulation. There has ever been a desire for emulation of and identification with a superior

symbol. Hero-worship is the ultimate in the area of reverence and regard. We have no argument with any hu man emotion, especially one that is seemingly so deeply rooted in the consciousness of the individual. We do however feel that it is important to note whom our youngsters estab lish as their symbol of adulation and reverence today. Our environment and culture is so constituted that our youngsters’ feel ing of respect and esteem, coupled with a desire for emulation and iden tification, is directed toward the glamourous stars of movies, TV, and the sports world. Parents and teach ers must realize that although this hero-worship is quite natural, shal low and superficial as it may be, nonetheless this intense adulation cannot be squandered upon the rockand-roll artist or home-run hitter without decreasing and diminishing the reservoir of awe and reverence within the youngster vis-a-vis others. We must give most serious consid eration toward devising intelligent ways and means, in the school and the home, of re-channeling this in herent desire and need for hero-wor ship toward personalities and figures who are our true “gedolim”. Our history abounds with spiritual giants and dramatic, colorful personalities who could; well supplant the relative ly drab, colorless, and insignificant objects o f our children’s adulation and esteem. A conscious, well-planned effort should be made to direct the attention of our children to these Jewish heroes, thereby imbuing them with a healthy spirit of respect for men and women of Jewish stature. This in turn would enhance their

Derech Eretz for the values and phil osophy of life which these person alities reflect. HE AGE we live in is one mark ed by tension, turbulence, and disruption. It is an age wherein man has split the atom, harnessed the forces of nature, conquered outer space, and discovered the means and powers which can destroy him as well. “Atomic”, “Hydrogen” and “Space” are the successive names given to this age. Our generation has been described by some as the “silent generation”, by others as the “beat generation”. As Torah Jews, however, we look upon this age and generation as the forerunner of “Geulah”— of Redemption— for we see in all the Divine pattern of the Almighty. Redemption, however, must be earned; it presents a challenge which must be met with wisdom and maturity. What has become increas ingly clear is the imperative need for a renewed ascent by all ranks of Americans Jews to our original source, and a common reaffirmation of our ancient principles.

The Book of Books— the Torah— is being rediscovered. Every book, however, has a “Hakdomah”, an in troduction, and our Book is no ex ception. The introduction to Torah has been taught to us. “Derech Eretz Kodmah L’Torah”— Respect precedes Torah! That is the introduction and we must peruse it most carefully and diligently. Before we can hope to open once again the book that shall guide and direct us, we must study and apply the “Hakdomah”, in order to make the teachings of Torah meaningful to our generation.

JEWISH LIFE

Theocracy and the Jewish State By REUBEN E. GROSS Is the principle of “ separation of Church and State“ applicable to the Jewish State? May the legal prom ises and philosophy of Israel's courts be borrowed from non-Jewish sources, or shall they rather rest on Jewish foundations? HE PHRASE, “building a wall of separation between Church and State”, had its origin, as has been shown in a previous article,^ in a let ter of Thomas Jefferson, being his interpretation of the First Amend ment. From time to time the Su preme Court has given the nod of ap proval to this Jeffersonian concept. Mr. Justice Black, however, once pointed out in a dissenting opinion, that the Court speaks most approv ingly of the^“separation” doctrine in those very cases in which the effect of the decision is to disregard it. Never theless, no member of the court has ever doubted that the United States is a secular state. Although accepted a$ a commonplace fact now, the con cept of a secular state was a revolu tionary idea in the eighteenth century, not only in the Old World but in America as well. Puritan New Eng land, which was founded in the seven teenth century as a Bible State, plant ed the cultural roots of the New World. To Bradford and Mather, the theocratic commonwealth of the He brew Judges was the supreme ideal of government. To their descendants of the following century, the accept ance of a secular state was a com-

*“Religion and State—A New Look” by the same author, J ewish L ife , A v 5717-1957.

April, 1958

promise with the necessities of reality, rather than the substitution of a high er ideal for a lesser one. The theo cratic ideal persisted. In the latter half of the nineteenth century an in fluential movement for the adoption of a “Religious Amendment” to the Constitution was formed. The pur pose of this amendment was to write into the Constitution that government is a divine institution and the United States a Christian nation. In oppos ing this amendment, John Norton Pomeroy, one of the most prominent lawyers of his day, wrote: “The theory which underlies the ad vocacy of the suggested amendment presupposes that the relations of G-d toward all political societies are the same as those which he sustained to the Jews, although the Scriptures ex pressly declare that they were a peculiar people and that their con dition was anomalous.” Thus, both sides were agreed on the virtue of the theocratic common wealth in ancient Judea. Their dif ference was solely as to the applicabil ity of the principle to the United States. OW that the Jewish State has been re-established, it would seem that the theocratic principle would be joyfully accepted. Nonethe-

less, the theocratic state, which was an admirable model to Gentile writ ers on political theory for almost two millenia, has been rejected by the State of Israel today, in favor of the alien principle of the secular state. The paradox is magnified by the fact that while the United States, where separation is necessary for historical reasons, has always shown a certain restiveness in trying to reconcile its basic religious roots with the doctrine of separation, Israel has adopted the principle of separation with such com pleteness that judges with orthodox background take it for granted. A case in point is the decision of the Supreme Court of Israel in Mendelson et. al. vs. City of Tel AvivJaffa et. al. on April 30, 1956. The issue before the court was the vali dity of a municipal ordinance forbid ding the raising of pigs and licensing the sale of swine-flesh. The decision, a learned dissertation of sixteen pages, bristling with citations and quo tations from British and Common wealth reports, is written in the very best tradition of the common law. The precedents are distinguished with great judicial acuteness; the search is made outside the jurisdiction for persuasive authorities, the nice distinctions be tween ratio and dictum are observed. Indeed, it is a very model of a proper judicial opinion. Except for the He brew, in which the opinion is writ ten, the reader might well believe he is reading a report written by a bewigged justice of the House of Lords. But the Hebrew exists only on the surface — in translation. The learned justice who wrote in Hebrew was thinking in English. The Court held that the ordinance in question was invalid and outside 26

the competence of the municipal au thorities because, as the Court said, it is its duty to annul prohibitions which are “datiim tehorim” (trans late “merely religious”). The very thought that an act or prohibition is “merely religious” is inexpressible in traditional Hebrew. While modern Hebrew has adapted the word “dath” to express the idea of “religion”, there is no word in traditional Hebrew to express what is known as “religion” in Gentile languages. The reason for this apparent deficiency is that reli gion pervades every fiber of tradi tional Jewish living. To describe any thing Jewish as religious would be redundant — like saying “a Jewish Rabbi”. To deny that anything Jew ish is religious would be a contradic tion in terms — like speaking of a “living corpse” or of “black daylight”. Borrowed Concepts

O ONE living and thinking with in the framework of traditional Jewish life, looking outward, there could be no concept of “religion”, for in a world where everything is white, a white spot does not exist. Only to an outsider looking in, would it occur that the unique religiosity of Jewish life needed definition. Thus, in condemning an ordinance as “religious”, the Court speaks from a non-Jewish Weltanschauung. But the twist given to the innocent Hebrew word “dath” is trivial compared to the “reverse English” on the word “tahor”. This word is taken as the equivalent of “pure”. “Pure”, how ever, is an ambiguous word. It may have the positive connotations of saintly, sacred, perfect, holy, as does “tahor”. It also may have negative connotations of “mere”, “simple”, as when used in the phrase “pure non-

JEWISH LIFE

sense”. These negative connotations are alien ,to the traditional meaning of “tahor”; yet when this court says it is duty bound to annul prohibitions which are “datiim tehorim”, it is thinking, not of “tahor” in the positive sense, but of “pure” in the negative sense, of “mere religion”, a concept which is completely foreign to the genius of the Hebrew tongue, and which can be expressed therein, only by committing mayhem upon two in nocent words! Our great Sages of the past would be mystified and baffled if they read the sentence of a Jewish court saying that it is duty bound to annul ordinances which are “datiim tehorim”. F too much emphasis seems to be placed upon what may be an un fortunate slip of the pen, then an ex amination of the basis of the court’s decision would set the matter aright. In its search for authorities to sup port its position the court cites with approval two Canadian cases which held that provincial legislatures could not enact Sunday laws. The compari son with Canada underscores certain assumptions which bear closer ex amination: (a) That Israel, like Canada, is a secular state; (b) That Judaism, like Christianity, is merely a religion; (c) That the relationship of Judaism to Israel is no different from that of Christianity to Canada. Implicit in the decision as a whole is a certain underlying doctrine of natural rights — the natural right to sell t’reyfah meat which cannot be restricted, short of an act of Israel’s Knesseth. Corrollary to this assump tion is a holding that Torah has no authority, unless approved by positive statute. Is the situation of Israel analogous

April, 1958

to Canada (taking Canada merely as a convenient example of a Western democracy)? A brief comparison of the history and the forces which created these two nations would read ily show how fruitless any analogy between them would be. Canada is a bi-lingual nation with roots in Protestant England and Cath olic France. Its character as a state has been shaped by this circumstance and by the historical forces at play since the Reformation era. The 17th century religious wars between Cath olic and Protestant forces that ensued from the Reformation led to a stale mate. The subsequent rise of cap italism and science led to a depart mentalization of thinking: politics is politics; business is business; and re ligion is religion. A truce was en forced between Catholicism and Prot estantism, and between religion and life. Science, exploration, and the rise of capitalism reduced the field of re ligion to merely a matter of con science. These were the forces that shaped the modern state and espe cially the countries of the New World. How then could anything but a se cular state result from such events? Modern Israel, however, has sprung from a completely different complex of forces. Foremost among these forces is the four-millenia-old longing for the Holy Land which begins with Abraham. This longing was sustained by Torah during the last two-thou sand-year exile. Eretz was not merely another land, nor another homeland, but the only place where Torah could be completely fulfilled as commanded by the Creator of the Universe. While modern nationalism has strongly col ored this vision of Zion, there was no historic necessity for such coloration. The impulse to make Israel like unto the nations is simply an imitative in27

stinct. It is paradoxical, therefore, that the ideal of a Jewish State which was envisioned as a means of redeem ing Jews and Jewish thinking from the Galuth and Galuth ways, should itself be immersed in the Galuth con cept of a secular state. Moreover, Torah living cannot be described as religion as that word is understood in European history. To the Jew Torah is “life and the length of days”, not a form of worship which could be changed like a cloak when a new king arose in accordance with the formula of cuius regio euis religio — “he who has the kingdom, his is the religion.” It is worth noting, parenthetically, that the original proponents of sep aration were religious men interested in freeing religion from this depend ence upon the state. Thus, before the separation of church and state, the sovereign state was the primary prin ciple. Religion derived its influence from the sovereign. In the case of Judaism the matter is quite the other way, both in theory and in fact. In theory, Eretz Yisroel exists only as a means for fulfilling Torah. In fact, Torah living has existed for two millenia without a state, bearing within itself during that time the idea of a State. Nationalism Without Torah?

T would seem, therefore, that the Supreme Court of Israel, if it is to be true to itself, to its people, to its destiny and to the forces which brought it and the State of Israel into being (even from the viewpoint of the least believing person) would rely more on the authority of the Rambam and the Talmud than upon common law precedents. For even if the tradi tional hierarchy of values is reversed, and nationalism, instead of being a

value derived from Torah, is made an end in itself, it is soon discovered that without Torah, nationalism is a vacuous thing. The government of Israel has al ready realized that Torah has a unify ing value as a national instrument, because in the world of experience there is no “pure religion”, isolated from nationalism and the other facets of life. Though isolated in the judi cial laboratory, religion pervades all life when brought forth into the street and market place. Nevertheless, it would seem that under the authority of the Mendelson case, municipalities within Israel are powerless to enact ordinances making the desecration of a Sefer Torah, for example, a penal offense because such a Sefer is a “purely religious” object. At any rate, it has been held that the desecra tion of holy land by swine-herding may not be enjoined by municipal police powers. Would an American court find the local police powers wanting in dealing with a public de secration of the Stars and Stripes? HE RETENTION of the nonJewish common law in the Courts of Israel is fraught with grave dan gers. Precedents taken from an alien legal system carry many silent impli cations deeper and more pervasive than the overtly enunciated principle. Mendelson v. Tel Aviv-Jaffa is an example of how an innocent looking precedent can carry over within it self an entire political philosophy in appropriate to a Jewish State. If Is rael is to be a beacon unto the na tions, it must first set its own legal system in order according to the eternal principles of Torah, and go forth with the boast of Josephus to the Romans, that Israel is a “G-druled commonwealth— a theocracy”.

JEWISH LIFE

• How a Hungarian Jewish family escaped from Community terror.

A Tale of Two Encounters By S. B. UNSDORFER 66T T A V E YOU ever had an unX I pleasant experience because of your beard and peyoth during recent years in Hungary?” I asked a Hun garian refugee who visited me at my office some days ago. He was a tall, rather lean man with a full-grown beard which was turning grey at the edges. “I only remember one particular in cident” he answered “but I will thank G-d for the rest of my life for it”. I thought that he misunderstood my question, but was soon listening to a story as strange as only life itself can be. Let him tell it in his own words.

All my life I was a business man, nothing spectacular but I made a com fortable living. With the advent of the Communist regime in Hungary about ten years ago my business was taken away and I had to change. I was then father of a young baby, having gotten married for the second time. I lost my first wife and children in the Con centration Camps. I was fortunate enough to have learned Shechitah as a yeshivah student and, having lost my business, I accepted a position of shochet and teacher in a small pro vincial town in southern Hungary. My community, once a well-known Kehillah, comprised only fourteen Jewish families. Nevertheless, I made a good living. Half of my salary was paid for by the Government and the rest came from the congregation. It was a happy little community. We had a synagogue, a mikvah, a Talmud Torah, and a Beth Hamidrash. We had no April, 1958

minyon on weekdays but there was always one on Shabbos and whenever someone had yortzeit. My duties as shochet required me to slaughter poul try twice a week for our own people and to visit neighboring villages where one or two Jewish families lived. In the Talmud Torah there were about eighteen children, some of them coming from the nearby villages. 1 taught daily from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. The peasants in and around our village got used to seeing me riding my bicycle from place to place and even greeted me quite heartily. But I always dreaded the journey to Buda pest, which I had to undertake once or twice a year to meet the Dayanim and also to purchase the various com munal needs. I was afraid of the jour ney because I never knew whom I would meet on the train. My fears were not unfounded. One day, about three years ago, whilst waiting at the main station in Budapest to board a homeward bound train, a thick-set burly Budapestian walked up to me with an arrogant air and, blocking my path, began abusing me in a most vulgar tone: “What,” he yelled, “is a Jew of your type and looks still doing in Budapest; how come you escaped Auschwitz! Why don’t you go back there! We don’t want you here . . . We hate the Jews.” None of the many people on the platform made the slightest attempt to protect me from this drunkard. On the contrary, they gathered round ob viously expecting an enjoyable scene. I became pale and shaky and was afraid that any minute he would at29

tack me. I worked my way through the crowd and ran towards the main entrance of the station where a po liceman was usually to be found and asked him to come to my aid. By the time the policeman decided to return with me to the platform, the man was not to be seen. I walked along the platform with the officer when sud denly a well dressed and very re spectable looking gentleman came along and said to the officer “you needn’t look for him, he has gone”» BOARDED the train and after a few moments was joined by that elderly gentleman. He sat down next to me and said in Yiddish “Come on friend, pull yourself together, you are still green in the face . . . Let’s talk about happier things, where are you from?” I was afraid to answer him. Not only was I still too distressed but if there was one thing that I learnt dur ing all those years under Communist rule, it was not to speak to strangers. He however, kept talking and eventu ally pulled out a photograph from his wallet and handed it to me: “This man with the beard and peyes on that picture was my father-in-law,” he said, “I am a Jew and my household is kosher . . . ” He was too well dressed even for a townsman, and I was about to ask him whether he was a tourist visiting his relatives, when he startled me by producing another document from his wallet. “Look” he said, as he flicked a card in front of my eyes, “I’m a cap tain of the Secret Police.” He told me with pride that the man who abused me on the platform was taken into a detention room and, placing his hand on my shoulder, added proudly: “By the time I have finished

with him, you may rest assured, he will be in no position to insult another Jew again.” I thanked him for his assistance, but nevertheless, was pleased to see him leave at the next station. AST YEAR the revolution came. It was quite obvious that no mat ter who won, Hungary was no longer a place for a religious Jew. I was by then a father of a nine year-old boy, a six year-old girl and a two and ahalf year-old baby. Like thousands of others I wanted to escape while the going was good and packed my few belongings and journeyed towards the Austro-Hungarian border. I arrived there on the night of December 23rd. One of the peasants promised to take me across the border, a walk of about four kilometres, for 3,000 forint. I gave the baby a sleeping pill, strapped it on my back, and my wife led the other two children. But that peasant was an amateur in the job. We walked twelve kilometres. The children’s feet were swollen, their faces were blue and chapped with cold and the driving snow. The child on my back was in danger of freezing to death, but the peasant kept saying that in a matter of minutes we would reach the Austrian side. Suddenly flares shot up and we were caught by a Hungarian soldier. He saw the pitiful condition in which we were and I said to him “Look here, tomorrow night is your holiest night of the year, you probably have par ents, or a wife and children, here is my watch and my wife’s rings, you can turn them into money and spend it in any way you want”. I almost came to a deal with him but, to our misfortune, my baby began to cry. The sound of this brought other sol diers onto the scene. It was hopeless;

JEWISH LIFE

I had nothing to bribe four soldiers with, even if I dared offer it. They led us back to their station and on the next day we were brought into the city of Gyor where we joined over 1,000 other unlucky escapees who had been caught in the process of crossing the border. Amongst them was a man clad in white from head to toe, who had hoped that he would not be detected if flares had shot up because of the knee-high snow. A high-ranking police official came in and made a fervent speech pleading with us to remain in the country in which we were born and assuring us that the Russians would soon restore it to its old glory and prosperity. We were not punished. We were put on a train and with my wife and children I journeyed to Budapest. WAS still determined to leave the country but as time passed, the border crossings became more and

more hazardous until an illegal cross ing had to be ruled out, particularly in view of the children. I was des perately anxious to try and get a passport and leave the country legally, but I knew that this was more a question of money than anything else and I had no money at all and little chance of making any. But urged by my wife and eldest child, I went daily to the Passport Office, which was in the hands of the police, to apply for a passport. It was a hopeless— and indeed very dangerous— daily excur sion but I had no alternative. One morning I was ushered into a room to be interviewed by a senior officer. There, behind a well-polished desk, sat the man whom I had met on the train three years before. He recog nized me immediately and explained that he had been transferred to that office on that very morning. Yet he appeared displeased to see me there, obviously sensing the purpose of my

call. He was a Communist allright, and an ardent supporter of the Party. He tried to convince me, even before I said a word, that the country would soon be peaceful and that it was fool ish of me to emigrate at my age and to settle down in new surroundings, with an uncertain future. But I plead ed with him to help me. I reminded him of the incident three years ago and said “you have your own beliefs and so have I. I want to bring my children up to a true Jewish life with out running the danger of being abused and insulted like I was that morning. I have nothing against this regime”,'I added quickly, “I have no complaints at all but you yourself have seen how impossible it is for a Bearded Jew to live here.” “I was sent here,” he said sternly, “to take charge of this department be cause too many passports have recent ly been issued. I have orders to cut them down drastically. We don’t want our people to leave us. We need them here . . . Everyone of them.” He eyed me closely and must have noticed the tears that worked their way down my cheeks. Perhaps, I

thought, I should offer him something/ Maybe he was expecting it. But I had nothing to give. He cut in on my thoughts, rose from his chair to close the interview, and said: “Get out!” I left his room broken and dejected. He was behind me. As we passed the outer office he turned to the official behind the desk and said: “See that he gets his passport . . . date-stamp it last week” he added. My heart bounded as I turned towards him to thank him . . . But he ignored me, returned to his room, and slammed the door in disgust. HIS then is the story of the two encounters. That man and his fam ily have reached London via Vienna and he is no longer afraid to walk in the street with his beard and peyoth. He is happy to take his children to a Jewish school every day and feels that he will be able to bring them up in the true traditional way. He is free. But, like with so many of his friends, one vital factor is missing: “If only I could find a job” he sighed, “even in a small community of just fourteen families, I would be the happiest man in the world”.

Why was the First Temple destroyed? Because of three flag rant violations: idolatory, adultery, murder. As for the Second Temple—when the people were occupied with Torah, Mitzvoth, and acts of benevolence-—why was it destroyed? Because of c a u s e l e s s h a t r e d (Sin'ath chinom). Which teaches us that cause less hatred is equivalent to the three cardinal sins. Talmud, Yoma 9

JEWISH LIFE

A Visit to Warsaw and Prague By WILLIAM W. BRICKMAN Present-day Jewish life in the Polish and Czech capitals, as seen at first-hand by a distinguished American educator and traveler. FTER two weeks in the U.S.S.R. (as reported in J e w i s h L i f e , Adar, 5718), I was ready for a change of scenery. The next part of my educa tional trip took me to Warsaw and Prague. Poland may be well within the Iron Curtain area, but the atmosphere seems to be somewhat freer than that of the Soviet Union. This fact im presses itself upon the traveler the moment one sets foot in the country. So far as Jewish life was concerned, I knew I was in another world when, while riding in a bus from the airport to downtown Warsaw, I observed signs in Y iddish advertising the play, “Sender Blank,” by Sholom Aleichem. These signs, prominently displayed on the main streets, proclaimed official recognition of a Jewish culture. As I stated in my previous article, I had seen no proof of Yiddish culture in the U.S.S.R. I devoted New Year’s Day to the Jewish community of Warsaw. It was a bleak day and the streets were cov ered with snow. I checked the map for the street on which the Jewish religious community office was located. There was a bit of problem — Tvarda 6 had been renamed Krajowei Rady Narodowej 6 and the building is set back a good distance from the street. Several retracings of steps and a bit of patience were necessary before I located the center of the Vaad Hakehilloth Hakedoshoth b’Polin.

April, 1958

The building appeared deserted when I entered. I walked upstairs and knocked on door after door. Finally, one opened and I was greeted with the customary “Sholom Aleichem!” Within five minutes I was sur rounded by twelve leaders of the Kehillah: Rabbi Ber Percowicz, the 85year-old Chief Rabbi of Poland; Rabbi Nisanel Shmukler, the Rabbi of War saw; Zalman Fridman, the president; and others. HERE are some 50,000 Jews in Poland, including repatriates from the U.S.S.R., I was informed. The Polish Jewish Kehillah is made up of 23 communities. Only two of these, Cracow and Lodz, have rabbis. The Kehillah building houses a ko sher kitchen set up by the American* Joint Distribution Committee. Here a noon meat meal is served, and even non-religious Jews are welcome. The price per meal is five zloty as against an actual cost of 13-14 zloty. The meal I had was generous and nourishing. Next to this building stands the synagogue. It is a “Mikdosh Me’at,” the only shool in Warsaw, but very few come to daven. There is barely a minyon on Shabboth, let alone a daily service.

Y MEETING with the Kehillah M leaders lasted several hours. The venerable Chief Rabbi sat at the desk in the office, with a picture of the 33

Gerer Rebbe on the wall behind him. On another wall was the symbol of the Polish Government. Rabbi Shmukler, the president, the Kehillah admini strator, and the Shammosh had served sentences of up to seventeen years in Siberia for “Zionism.” This charge was made whenever one showed devotion to, or more than average interest in, religion. These functionaries remem bered with much bitterness their years of persecution in Soviet Russia. Al though they were now also within the Soviet orbit of influence, they ac knowledged that they had religious freedom.

is ample proof that Polish Jewry can express its recognition in public of the existence of the State of Israel, something which the other Iron Cur tain countries cannot. Another useful fact to keep in mind is that Polish Jews have been per mitted to go to Israel, but repatriates from Soviet Russia are not given exit permits for Israel at this time. The impression that I received from the community leaders is that all Polish Jews wish to leave for Eretz. As a matter of interest, reports from Warsaw at the end of January indi cated that very few of the 33,000 Polish Jews who had migrated to

The extent of this freedom may be determined from various facts. There are Talmud Torahs in several of the Kwiecien 1958 provincial towns. In Warsaw, however, 5718 rr'wi T\S there is no Jewish school, because, as 12 iinK . n l .» 48 eskj»© I was told, the Jewish population of about 6,000 is widely scattered all through this large city. The religious services include a blessing for the State of Israel and a memorial prayer TIDmi&D for Dr. Chaim Weizmann. 21 ft P oniedzialek

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Even more impressive as an indica nv&D tion of freedom is the content of the 22 S “Tashen-Luach,” the pocket calendar p i:CD,3H issued by the Kehillah. The 5717 edi W torek tion is a 128-page booklet which con m mice 23 J tains, in addition to the usual calendar information, illustrations of Polish S roda Jewish life, a page dedicated to the ©1 rtV&D Yizkor and Moleh prayers for the 24 *1 p't£ttnj?iJ$n victims of Nazism, and a list of the C zw artek Polish Jewish communities (Bialystok, 25 3 rYVEiD fi Przemysl, Lublin, Cracow, Lodz, Czes ?i4tek ‘x'rusM rijnw bw m x m y n an pit:”ns 6.35 tochowa, Wroclaw, etc.). On page 82, May 1st is identified as “internazionaler 26 kjd nvs© t arbeter yom tov,” while the Fifth of Sobota 3“ B3“ rD '» ynun n a ttf Iyar is Ta’anith Sheni Kamma. On the 7.52 other hand, the 64-page edition of 5718 ignores May Day and describes A page from the Warsaw Jewish com munity's 5718 “Tashen Luach/' noting the Fifth of Iyar as “Chag Ha’atz- Israel Independence Day on the Fifth mouth shel Medinath Yisroel.” Here of Iyar. 34

JEWISH LIFE

Israel during 1957 returned to Poland. The actual count of returnees was put by the Israel Embassy in Warsaw at seven families and several individuals. The estimate for 1958 is that 7,000 Polish Jews will leave to settle in Israel. The Kehillah official and I discussed Jewish religious needs. The commu nity needs slaughtering knives, Mohel knives, sharpening stones, Mezuzoth, Tzitzith, Taleythim, Teffilin, Siddurim (Nusach Ashkenaz), and Chumoshim. Much satisfaction was expressed at the promises made by the delegation from the Rabbinical Council of America, headed by Rabbi David B. Hollander, and of the later visit ’of Rabbi Solo mon Freilich of Mt. Vernon, N. Y. The Chief Rabbi and his staff were looking forward to the receipt of these religious articles. Apart from the religious require ments, the religious community is in dire material straits. Funds can be sent in the form of a check or money order to a private individual through the PKO Bank. Such money will yield 100 zlotys to the dollar, although the official rate is pegged at 24 zlotys to the dollar. Matzah baking for Passover began in December. Ordinarily, the commu nity can satisfy its demand by begin ning so early. However, since it was expecting an influx of repatriates from Soviet Russia, there was a possibility that the matzah supply would prove to be inadequate. Therefore, Chief Rabbi Percowicz made a special plea to me to ask the American rabbis to see to it that they get a matzah reserve. “Mir muzzen hobben matzah,” he said with considerable emphasis. HIEF RABBI Percowicz proved to be quite lively in spite of his advanced age. He debated with the

April, 1958

(Photo by Eastfoto)

Polish Jewish expatriates returning from their long stay in Soviet Russia.

other Jews the extent of the necessary matzah reserve. He also asked me several penetrating questions about Jewish religious life in America. Whenever he had a question, he leaned forward and looked directly at me. He showed much interest in my travels and inquired concerning the 31 coun tries I had visited: “Vos iz di beste meluchah?” My reply was prompt: “Malchuth Shorn ayim.” He straight ened up, rose to his feet, and ex claimed, “Doss iz an entfer!” We talked about Jewish education in Poland and especially in Warsaw. They mentioned the Talmud Torahs of Lodz, Wroclaw (formerly Breslau), and Schwiednitza, as well as the ORT schools. When I inquired why the community did not use a bus to trans port the Jewish children of Warsaw to study Yiddishkeit, all shrugged their shoulders. The excuse of the far-flung Jewish families was not convincing. I was certain that the religious Jews 35

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FROM THE WARSAW SCENE: Front and top left, posters advertising "Sender Blank"; lower left, front page of "Folks-Shtimme"; top right, children's supplement, "Far Unzer Kinder".

JEWISH LIFE

of Warsaw were fully aware of the bleak future. Their despair was best expressed by Chief Rabbi Percowicz when he asked me, “Vellen mir gehen zugrund?” ET US now consider the non-re ligious Jew and his cultural life. The weekly Yiddish newspaper, “Die Folks-Shtime”, plays a significant role in keeping Polish Jews informed about current events in Poland, Eastern Eu rope, Israel, and elsewhere. The issue of December 31, which was presented to me at the Kehillah, contained gen eral and Jewish views from various countries, descriptions of Chanukah celebrations in Kattowitz and Liegnitz, various literary features, and a list of missing relatives. Of special interest to me was the illustrated article on the teaching of the Yiddish language and literature in a public school in the Jewish quarter of Bucharest, Accord ing to the author of this essay, Yiddish was also being taught in two other Rumanian cities — Jassy and Timishara. It is noteworthy that, while Soviet Russia forbids the teaching of Judaism in a Talmud Torah, the teach ing of the Yiddish language, and the publication of a Yiddish newspaper, such practices are possible in the Iron Curtain countries of Poland and Rumania. Interestingly enough, “Die FolksShtime” may be purchased at some of the leading newsstands in the center of Warsaw. I saw one displayed on Nowy Swiat Ulitza, only a short distance from the University of Warsaw. There can be little doubt of this newspaper’s sympathies with the U.S.S.R. and with Communism, but it is also read by non-Communist Jews who wish to have some Yiddish reading matter in preference to none at all. My copy of the newspaper also had

April, 1958

a four-page children’s supplement en titled “Folks-Shtime far Unzere Kin der”. This contained photographs and drawings, a poem, song, proverbs, di rections for a do-it-yourself paper rocket to the moon, pieces by Mendele Mocher Seforim and Sholom Aleichem, and other reading matter. There was also a short Chinese story extoll ing peace and a brief note on the re ported refusal of the United States to return the remains of Sputnik I to the Soviet Union. ABBI Shmukler volunteered to guide me to the non-religious Jewish institutions of Warsaw. He showed me the buildings of the Jewish Historical Society and of the Jewish Cultural Society. The latter structure, located at Novogrodska 5, houses the editorial offices of “Die Folks-Shtime” and other cultural activities of the community. In the lobby is a display o f Yiddish books which are leftist in tendency. I could not leave Warsaw without a visit to the monument to the Ghetto fighters. This impressive memorial is now a tourist attraction and is clearly labeled on all maps. As our taxi was taking us to and from the monument, Rabbi Shmukler pointed out to me the locations of what were once the living centers of a thriving Jewish commu nity: “Da iz gevain Nalewki Gas, da Zhika, da Tlomacki, da Nowolipi, da Nowolipki, Frantziskaner.” The name of each street hit me like a sledge hammer. All I could see was ruin. The Rabbi directed me to the Yid dish theater and declined my invita tion to join me at the evening’s per formance: “Es passt nisht far mir als Rov.” The “Yiddisher M’lucha-Teater” ( Teatr Zydowski) is named after one famous actor, E. R. Kaminski, and is directed by Ida Kaminska. It is sub-

sidized by the Polish Government and patronized reasonably well by the Jews of Warsaw. ATTENDED a performance of Sholem Aleichem’s comedy, “Sender Blank,” as dramatized and directed by Yacov Rotboim. The cast was large and properly costumed. In my judg ment, the acting was sincere and effec tive. The references to religion were mixed — respectful and otherwise. The articulation of Yiddish was ex cellent, a joy to the ear. That the au dience understood Yiddish was evident from the frequent laughter at the proper moments. About three hundred persons, in cluding several children, occupied the 400-seat auditorium. Between the acts

I heard them speak only Polish. Two new acquaintances, one of them an actor, and I were the only ones to speak Yiddish. The actor asked me to send his best regards to four of his former colleagues now playing in the United States. The theatre program was an item of interest. It devoted about two pages to critical appreciation of the play in Yiddish and about six pages to a Polish synopsis of the play’s story. The Polish Jews feel fortunate that they can enjoy a measure of cultural freedom that their brethren in Russia are not permitted to have. In spite of the extra religious and cultural privi leges, however, the Polish Jews do not have a sense of security. The threat of Antisemitism, which raised its head

( Photo by Eastfoto)

Scene from a Goldfaden comedy on the stage of Warsaw's “Yiddisher M'luchaTeater".

JEWISH LIFE

(P hoto by Eastfoto)

Learning to write in a Yiddish language school in Lodz, Poland.

about two years ago, is still present. Very many eyes are turned eastward — not to Moscow, but to Israel. OLAND and the Soviet Union were new countries to me. Czecho slovakia was not. In 1945-1946, as a soldier, I had many opportunities to visit various parts of that once liberal country and to observe the resumption of Jewish communal life. My trip in January, 1958 evoked memories of Jews twelve years ago: lack of food and clothing, scarcity of children, a beaten generation of adults. The center of Jewish activity in Prague is the vicinity of the Alt-Neu Shool (Starynova Sinagoga), in Maiselova Street, near Josefovska Avenue. In this old district, besides the 800year-old synagogue of which the Maharal Mi’Prag was Rabbi, there is the Jewish community house, the famous cemetery, and two museums. When

April, 1958

one comes toward the shool from the main stffeet, he passes a non-Jewish restaurant named “Stary Sinagoga.” The Alt-Neu Shool is decidedly the number one tourist attraction of a Jewish nature in Prague. It is built in the Gothic style and every inch echoes Jewish history of the remote and the recent past. During World War II Hitler designated the syna gogue as a museum of the only rem nants of European Jewry — an elderly minyon. Visitors would be able to see the slow death of Jewish manhood and Jewish culture. The ironic point is that Hitler just about realized one of his objectives. If he did not suc ceed in exterminating all of the Czech Jews, let along all the Jews of Europe, his desire for a daily minyon of Jew ish survivors came close to reality. During the four days that I spent in Prague, I visited the shool four times for prayers, and at each service the 39

congregation averaged fifteen men. This infinitesimal number of wor shipers — of the approximately 5,000 Jews of Prague — is more the result of choice than of force. The only other shool in Prague, the beautiful edifice on Jeruszalimski Ulitza, has services on Friday evening and Shabboth morn ing only. The Maharal’s shool has about a hundred seats for men. The Ezrath Noshim is in an adjoining room, with slits in the wall to enable the women to hear the prayers. I believe that only one woman prayed in this cold room. The chair of the Maharal is never occupied. The aged Chief Rabbi, Dr. Gustav Sicher, sits nearby. I never got to talk to him more than the brief words of Shabboth greeting. Nor did I get to meet the other Rabbi, Emil

Davidovic, who was ill at the time of my visit. HE worshipers are truly interest ing people. One is a farmer who comes to Prague for Shabboth to en joy the religious atmosphere denied to him in his village. This man was the most forthright person I had ever met inside the Iron Curtain. He was critical of everybody in any and all official positions. Friday night, after our Shab both meal in the kosher kitchen of the community house, he and I marched through the streets of the neighborhood singing the traditional jeering song of the days of Czarist oppression, “Fonya, Fonya Ganef.” Another man speaks English very fluently, as well as literary-style He brew. He sees no possibility of getting

The interior of the eight-century-old Alt-Neu-Schul in Prague. 40

JEWISH LIFE

The historic AltNeuSchul as seen from the street.

together with his fiancee, who is now in a free country. The shammosh, Shlomo Kurz, in vited me to his apartment in the com munity house. This was the first home which I was privileged to enter behind the Iron Curtain. He has three-yearold twins. Zundel recited Modeh Ani by heart, while his sister Sarah deliv ered an explanation in Czech of the meaning of Chanukkah. It was thrilling to be invited to lead Kabbolath Shabboth. To reach the Omud, one must walk down a step, April, 1958

since it is written, “Out of the depths I call Thee.” I was also honored with Maftir. On Shabboth afternoon, a gabbai brought his seven-year-old daughter to shool. There were some new faces re placing some of the congregation who had been present at the earlier services. HE JEWISH community situation in Prague is a very sad one. The shool Jews complained that the com munal offices were held by Amey Haaretz, some of whom had non-

Jewish wives. “And these are our Jews represent the religious element in leaders!” complained one man bitterly, the community, and so the cleavage is Shortly after the war, it would appear, on national, social, cultural, linguistic, some returnees assumed control of the and religious lines. The rabbis seem to Jewish community and ran it to suit have little to say or to do toward rethemselves. solving this conflict. E x-concentration camp inm ates I noticed a great deal of fear and charged these leaders with withholding mistrust by one Jew to his fellow Jew. from them the funds which they were The atmosphere was charged with entitled to receive as reparations from nervousness and tension. I was con g e s t Germany. They claimed that the stantly made aware of the fear of Jewish officials gave the money to Jewish informers, whomever they pleased, rather than to those who had suffered. T TNLIKE the Soviet Russian and There has developed a deep conflict U Polish communities, the Prague between the native Czech Jews and the Kehillah has plenty of religious books East European Jews from Carpatho- and articles. There are very few users. Russia with respect to communal I discussed the possibility of sending affairs. Several arguments were con- some of the Siddurim and Taleythim ducted with little regard to the pres- to the other Iron Curtain countries, ence of a visitor from abroad. The The Prague Jews are willing to do so, Carpatho-Russian, Yiddish-speaking if they are permitted. In any event,'

Matzevoth in the ancient Prague cemetery—poignant reminders of a once-proud and strong community. 42

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they will give religious articles to Western travelers on their way into the Iron Curtain area. The reaction to the delegation from the Rabbinical Council of America was much different from that in the other Sovietized countries. A number of religious Jews felt that these rabbis did not really get to know the people. That is, they were aloof and did not mingle sufficiently with the “frumme Yidden.” It seems that the community officials took charge of the rabbis dur ing their brief visit and kept them so busy that they did not have enough time to study the religious problems of Prague. In my own case, however, because I obtained my contacts direct ly in shool, the reverse happened. The religious element took me in hand and I never did get a chance to meet the community leadership. Dissatisfaction with the general situ ation is expressed, but very cautiously. Jews cannot leave Czechoslovakia for Israel or for any other country. Some show evidence of despair, others of cynicism. Many apparently regret that they returned to Czechoslovakia after the war. Of course, they did not real ize then that there was a possibility of a Communist regime.

implored me, “Nemt uns mit in eiere keshene!” There is virtually no Jewish educa tion in Prague. Some of the parents teach their own children. However, there are no Hebrew or religious classes for youngsters, for the majority of the people have neither interest in nor desire for Torah. When this fact is considered together with the preva lence of intermarriage, it is easy to see the justice of the statement, “Dos

EAR is rampant. Jews were afraid to enter my hotel. They are even afraid to talk to the Israel Ambas sador in the synagogue. They are always on the alert against mosrim. There is good reason for all this fear. Stiff prison sentences, up to twenty-five years, are meted out for “Zionist” activity. In non-political cases Jews are said to receive more severe sentences than non-Jews for the same offenses. One person summed up this situation thus: “Ir darft kushen die erd fun a freiye land.” Another

bissel Yiddishkeit geyt da unter.” I asked the gabbai about adult classes or shiurim. There were none, he told me. Since he said he was in terested in Torah, I then suggested that he start a Chumosh group of two or three persons. With this modest beginning, I felt sure that my plan was worth trying. Although the religious state of affairs in Prague is so deplorable, I cannot leave the subject without some words of praise. The Luach (Kalendarium) is impressive for its cover, layout, and

April, 1958

Eighteenth century pewter Seder dish now on exhibit at the Jewish Museum of Prague.

content. While it contains the inevit able Yizkor prayers and the Kaddish, it also offers eleven pages of Minhogim (Synagogalne Predpisy) in the Czech language. There are dates of the quarterly Tekufoth, Tal Umotor, holidays for 5719, Rosh Chodesh, Moladim, and the time for the start and end of Shabboth in the city of Bratislava (formerly Pressburg). In addition, there is some miscellaneous information, as well as some extracts in Czech from the Haftoroth, Tanach, and the liturgy. $ $ $ N THIS and the preceding article I have endeavored to sketch some im pressions of Jewish life, especially religious activity, behind the Iron Cur tain. What I have presented indicates that Judaism does exist in the coun tries under Communist control, but that there is no flourishing Yiddishkeit. We should keep ourselves informed of the problems facing our brethren in side the Iron Curtain. Let us not judge them because of the weak status of Torah learning and religious observ ance in their midst. “Do not judge

your fellow man until you are in his position,” say our Rabbis. In my judg ment, no one is capable of appreciat ing the difficulty of keeping the Torah until he has at least observed the restrictions imposed upon religious Jews in the Soviet area. Let no one be smug at a distance. As my friend in Prague said, we must kiss the earth of a free country. Wherever we Jews have the good for tune of possessing freedom, we should do all we can to live as Jews in the spirit of Torah. Inasmuch as over two million Jews are prevented from the full exercise of their religious rights in Eastern Europe, it is an especially crucial matter for us Western Jews to keep the spirit of Judaism alive. Let us therefore devote more time and energy to the perpetuation of Torah Judaism in our own country and in all other free countries. Let us also maintain an active concern for the fate of our co-religionists in bond age. Our synagogues and Yeshivoth, our communal institutions, and our Tzedokah are the cornerstones for the future existence of all Jews wherever they are.

THE SEARCH FOR LEAVEN The night before Passover Eve we still have leaven in our homes, search for it, and burn it the following morning. This is analogous to our long darkness of Exile, our sweeping away all base thoughts and sins, and seeing them consumed forever on the morrow of Redemption. Rabbi Israel, the "Riziner" Rabbi

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M M a sh h o fa h Jewish Continuity By DR. SAMSON R. WEISS In every generation man is obliged to consider himself as if he himself had come forth from Egypt because it is written, “And you shaH tell your son on this day as follows: for this reason did the Almighty work my deliverance when I went forth from Egypt/' N ot our fathers alone did the Almighty redeem but also us with them, as it is written:’ “And us He brought forth from there to bring us into, and to give us, the land which He had sworn to our Fathers.” (Hagodah Shel Pesach). T WAS in Egypt that the Divine promise to our Father Abraham that from his loins shall spring forth a great people, saw its first fulfillment. His children, the twelve tribes of Jacob, became a people in exile and slavery. Pharaoh, their cruel master, was the first to recognize it when he said: Behold, the nation of the sons of Israel are greater in number and stronger than we (Sh’moth, 1,9). Dis tinct by their names, their language, and their garb from their Egyptian host, the sons of Israel resisted the natural tendency of the servant to imitate and assimilate to their rulers. In spite of oppression and serfdom, in abject misery and pitiful wretchedness, they retained unmistakably their iden tity and their heritage. They remained sons of their fathers, and the sanctity of their family life was kept inviolate.

Possibly because our people was born in exile, we have remained throughout history immune against our temporal masters and oppressors who “stood up in every generation to de stroy us.” True, our people lost many of its sons and daughters by physical annihilation, and many fell by the April, 1958

wayside by the spiritual decay of sub mersion in foreign worships and cul tures. Even from Egypt, as our Sages tell us, only a small minority, “chamushim,” emerged as worthy of re demption. The others fell prey to the darkness of Egyptian enslavement and were not capable any longer of re sponding to the prophetic call to free dom. They perished in the days of the ninth plague, the days of darkness. And yet, historically seen, these losses were peripheral. Always, as in Egypt, the healthy core persisted and linked the Jewish past with the Jewish future. NLIKE other nations, we live a qualitative and not a quantitative existence and not necessarily is our fate determined by the majority. Jew ish continuity does not always flow through the broad river of mass par ticipation. Often, it chooses the cur rent represented by the few who are heroically determined to make their existence a manifestation of Jewish identity and who conceive their lives to be both the repository of our heri tage and the seed of our promise. This heritage is a freedom under the Divine Law and a discipline which alone

make men worthy of standing on the apex of creation. This freedom and discipline have come to us with the acceptance of Torah. The promise is the vision of a redemption not limited any longer to Jacob’s children, but bestowed upon all children of men, a vision of a world void of oppression and pain and filled with the joy and the light of all the goodness and all the nobility of which man’s soul is capable once it has recognized its source. Continuity means to take the past into the present. It is to overcome the finality of time and its passage. It is man’s triumph over death and his approximation of G-d’s eternity. While only He is truly eternal, above and beyond all time which is His creation, man, having once not been, can never be eternal in the true sense. Still, he can bespeak the eternity of the Almighty in which he is wrapped and from which he came forth, for he can merit and gain continuance, immor tality and everlasting presence. Mosheh our Teacher, before he accepted the mission to redeem his people from Egypt, asked the Al mighty: When they say to me, what is His name — what shall I tell them? (Sh’moth, 3,13). In answer, the Al mighty revealed to him His ineffable Name and commanded him to teach it to Israel. This Name bespeaks the eternity of the Creator, His being the source of all existence and His loving will to maintain it and not to suffer its destruction (Commentary of Rabbenu Ovadyah Seforno, l.c.). This was our first lesson when we became a nation: that time need not efface us, as indi viduals or as a people, but that we

can máster it and make it submissive to us as an instrument of transmission and perpetuation rather than being submissive to time as to the inexorable quicksand of oblivion. For the Jew, the past is never just a story to be read, possibly to give some knowledge and enlightenment and then to be laid aside. For the Jew, the past is more than even a lesson of his duties. It is a revelation of his inner self and of his very present. In him, his fathers are alive. In him, all they were, all they achieved, remains true and constant. Only the Jew who declares, “I was enslaved in Egypt, and the Almighty redeemed me. I then stood on Sinai, and here I still am, proudly carrying His will and word,” only this Jew belongs to the persisting core which carries the seed of the Jewish future and its promise. ESACH is the Yom Tov of Jewish redemption, the birth hour of our people, for it is the “Time of our Freedom.” Lest this freedom be lost, every year anew Jewish fathers teach their sons and mothers their daughters in the night of the Exodus, that this redemption is not an occurrence of the past but the constant and living ex perience of the Jewish present. Once redeemed and delivered from bondage, this freedom has become our freedom, an integral part of our ability to be recipients of Jewish tradition and sanc tity, and to transmit them to our chil dren in continuity. It is this ability which makes “Pesach Mitzrayim” into “Pesach L’Doroth” and transforms the event of the past into the pillar of light accompanying us, throughout our gen erations, in the nights of our exiles.

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•

FromOur Israel Correspondent

Mergers in the Middle East By 1 HALEVY-LEVIN

Je r u s a l e m :

ASSER’S victory at the SyroEgyptian Union referendum was, of course, a foregone conclusion. Nor need the virtually total unanimity of the polls— 99.99% in favor in Egypt, 99.98% in Syria— raise any eyebrows. This is the sort of thing that Johannes van Leers— Goebbels’ right-hand man in the heyday of the Third Reich— and his team of Nazi propaganda ex perts, now on Nasser’s payroll, take in their stride. But it would be a grave error, for that reason, to ignore the fundamental fact that the merger is an expression of deep-seated Pan-Arab aspirations, which have inspired Arab nationalism throughout the past two generations, and that it answers the chronic inferiority complex of the Arabs that in the past decade has been aggravated by successive defeats at the hands of Israel. Nasser, in his blueprint of empire, “The Philosophy of the Revolution”, has spoken of the Arab countries seek ing a national personality. It is in this role that he has cast himself. For him— and for millions of Arabs in the Middle Eastern countries— the new United Arab Republic represents a first phase in the realization of the Arab dream— a vast empire stretch ing from the Atlantic to the Persian

April, 1958

Gulf, ruled from Cairo, the active sphere of influence of which will in clude the entire world of Islam and the African continent. UT EVEN within a more immedi ate context the creation of the new Republic, whatever its basis in economic and geopolitical fact, repre sents a major triumph for Abdul Nas ser. Its propaganda value in terms of Arab nationalism can hardly be ex aggerated, and will go far to restore Nasser’s shattered prestige at home and abroad. In one of the first speech es he delivered during his visit to the “northern territory” of the Republic— Syria— he spoke of “the ejection of the British, French and Israelis from Port Said and Sinai.” But the union has far more tangible advantages for Egypt. Syria, with its extensive un cultivated lands and potentialities for irrigation, can help solve Egypt’s ma jor problem— over-population. Then the United Arab Republic now effec tively bestrides the major oil transpor tation routes— the Suez Canal and the Iraq Petroleum and Transarabian pipelines— through which 90 percent of the Middle Eastern output flows. This strengthens Nasser’s international po sition and enhances his bargaining

power in relation to the Western Powers and the producers and con sumers of Middle Eastern oil. Finally — and this, it is reasonable to assume, was the immediate motive behind the merger— it gives Nasser full control of a second front against Israel. On this last aspect Nasser and his lieutenants have been completely frank. In his Damascus speech Abdul Nasser promised that the Arab Union would “advance from victory to vic tory against imperialism in North Africa and would restore the Pales tine Arabs to their homes.’’ Akhram Hourani, leader of Syria’s “socialist” Baath Party, and one of the principal architects of the new Republic, was even more explicit about its aspira tions, recalling the defeat of the Byz antines, the Mongols and the Crusad ers at the hands of the Arabs (al though as a matter of historical fact only the Byzantines were defeated by the Arabs—who, however, failed to conquer Byzantium proper. The Mon gols were vanquished by the Mame lukes— of Caucasian origin, while Saladin, who broke the power of the Crusader Kingdom, was a Kurd). HE MOTIVES of the Syrians in seeking union with Egypt have been entirely negative. Political in stability in Syria is chronic, and for both coups d’etat and more violent changes of government it holds the Middle East record. In the thirteen years since the French relinquished their mandate over the country, dic tators and prime ministers have fol lowed each other in rapid succession. Had it not been for the pusillanimity of Nuri as-Said, Syria would long have been a province of a “Fertile Cres cent” stated ruled from Baghdad. Fear of such an eventuality among the pow erful anti-Iraqi elements in Syria was

a major factor in consummation of the merger. Fear of Israel, it need hardly be said, was another. Syria, it will be recalled, refused to come to Egypt’s aid at the time of the Suez Campaign despite the military alliance between the two which placed the Syrian Army under Egyptian supreme command. Western observers also in cline to the belief that the Baath Party, fearful of a Communist putsch, engineered the merger as the only way out, mindful of the fact that in Egypt the Communist Party is proscribed. How much there is of fact and how much of wishful thinking in this theory is uncertain. What is clear is that the Syrians, convinced that the loss of their independence was a mat ter of time, opted for annexation by Egypt.

Even without the revealing “Phil osophy of the Revolution” it is ob vious that for years Nasser’s ambitions do not rest here. The “Philosophy of the Revolution” may reflect a dream of the future, but Nasser is a realist whose realm is the present, and he has mobilized a vast, widely-scattered JEWISH LIFE

army of agents, under the command of his right-hand man, Wing Com mander Ali Sabry, assiduously prepar ing the ground in all territories of the proposed Egyptian empire and the ad jacent areas of influence. Hussein of Jordan has been the main target of this subversion for a long time. It was Hussein’s knowledge of this fact and of his limited powers of resist ance that spurred him into resolute action immediately after Egypt’s union with Syria was accomplished. N the face of it there is much geopolitical justification for Jordan’s union with Iraq. They have a long common frontier, they are of the same Bedouin stock, they are ruled by members of the same Hashemite dy nasty. But there, practically, the af finity ends. The two countries are separated by an expanse of Syrian Desert that constitutes a far more ef fective barrier than does the Sinai Desert between Israel and Egypt. Jor dan is an artificial state carved out of the body of Palestine, to which it organically belongs. In the present po litical context, however, the salient facts are that Jordan is not a viable state and is without prospects of achieving viability. Annexation of part of Western Palestine in 1948, far from strengthening it, introduced a far more advanced and vociferous opposition element, of which Egypt made— and is still making— effective use to topple Hussein’s throne. Whether union with Iraq— failing massive Western support— can save Hussein’s throne is very doubtful. Iraq, notwithstanding its wealth, is a socially and politically reactionary state which has done Virtually nothing for its own poverty-stricken peasants. Jordan has always been a pensioner, first of Britain and today of the United

April, 1958

States. Probably the limited nature of the federation reflects Iraq’s own qualms about its practicability. While Feisal has been recognized as king of the federation, Hussein will keep his crown and his diplomatic representa tives abroad. Moreover each country retains its existing obligations, obvi ously to keep Amman out of the Bagh dad Pact, to which Iraq is a signatory. Nevertheless the two countries— or the new state (it is difficult to decide which is more in keeping with the facts of the situation)—-will have a single army, school system, and eco nomic and financial policy. They will also have equal representation in par liament. OR JORDAN, most of whose ar ticulate population is opposed to the Hashemite regime and its current pro-Western orientation, the federa tion represents insurance against con trol or even annexation by Egypt. Closer relations with Iraq may strengthen the pro-Hashemite ele ments and bring some degree of sta bility. For Iraq, the federation keeps Egypt at arm’s length, at least in this quarter, and bolsters its own position. In parenthesis, the fact that Iraq pre fers a common frontier with Israel to one with Egypt is illuminating. Iraq suffers from under-population. The reverse is the case in Jordan, whose indigent native population has been augmented by hundreds of thou sands of displaced Arab refugees. The initial test of the Iraqi-Jordan federa tion, accordingly, will be the policy adopted towards these refugees. In Jordan they have been granted full citizenship and freedom of movement, though because of lack of economic opportunity, as much as for any other reason, they have remained tied down to their camps. There they constitute

a potential Fifth Column for Nasser. Their resettlement on the fertile lands of the Tigris and Euphrates— financed partly, at least, by Israeli compensa tion— would be a great humanitarian act, besides contributing towards sta bilizing conditions in the Middle East.

ITH remarkable clumsiness Ab dul Nasser has seen fit to syn chronize achievement of union with Syria with the reopening of an al most forgotten frontier dispute with Sudan. Sudan, it is sometimes for gotten— and not Sinai—was the scene of Nasser’s most salutary setback. For generations Egypt has sought expan sion southwards, to control the head waters of the Nile and the fertile tropical lands of the Nile Valley, rather than eastwards where the re wards are little more than prestige.

Union with Sudan is, of course, the only one that for Egypt makes political and economic sense. At vari ous times in the past Egypt has gov erned Sudan, with which— and par ticularly with the more advanced Arabized and Mohammedan northern provinces — she has strong ties of 50

culture, language and religion. The economic argument in favor of union of the two countries is also strong. For Egypt, Sudanese control of the upper reaches of the Nile and Sudan’s anticipated growing requirements of its flow for its own irrigation schemes, constitute a constant threat. Sudan has vast vacant lands, which can pro vide an outlet for Egypt’s surplus population, to cultivate food crops for export to Egypt. Potentially, too, Sudan is rich in mineral resources and in the disputed area, north of Latitude 22, traces of oil have been struck. Finally a powerful Sudanese Party, which gained a clear majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate, just before the country achieved final independence from Great Britain, favored union with Egypt. In 1951, two years before Sudan was scheduled to achieve independ ence, Farouk, by special decree, as sumed the title of King of Egypt and Sudan. The deposition of the King by the Officers’ Junta, led by Muhammed Naguib, who is half Sudanese, strengthened Egypt’s already strong hand. Egyptian influence in the ter ritory, aided by intrigue and bribery among the southern tribes, grew apace. It seemed only a matter of time be fore the Sudanese themselves would opt for union. So indeed they might, had it not been for Nasser’s impa tience and ambition. The removal and arrest of Naguib struck the Sudanese with consternation. They were not slow in drawing their own conclu sions. They decided in favor of com plete independence and the proEgyptian party suffered an eclipse from which it has not recovered to this day. SRAEL’S reaction to the formation of the two unions, of whose ag-

JEWISH LIFE

gressive intentions she is fully aware, has been one of restraint born of quiet confidence. Mr. Ben Gurion has stated that if the Arabs do not get any new weapons which Israel has not got— atom bombs for example— or outside, the Israelis can take care of themselves. Punch, the influential British weekly, seems to hold the same point of view. A cartoon recently pub lished depicts Ben Gurion and an Israeli soldier standing on the tower ing ramparts of a fortress, around which Nasser and Kuwatly, under the banner of the United Arab Re public are making circuits, blowing toy trumpets. Israel does not regard the new Republic as a very practicable project and it is prepared to wait and see how it works out. Of course she does not ignore the increased military potentialities of the United Republic, with its sixteen divisions of infantry and four of armor, an air force num bering 350 MIG fighters and 40-60 Ilyushin bombers, and a growing fleet of submarines. Israel has even regarded the union of Iraq and Jordan with some equa nimity though Mr. Ben Gurion has stated that Israel reserves her freedom of action, should Iraqi troops be sta tioned on the banks of the Jordan. Iraq refused to sign an Armistice Agreement with Israel, though she led the war of aggression in 1948, and the two countries are technically still at war. Jordan, moreover, in her Armistice Agreement with Israel un dertook the removal of Iraqi troops from Arab-occupied Palestine. Re garded realistically, however, this union is preferable to Egyptian domi nation of Jordan, which seemed in evitable sooner or later in view of the state of feeling in the Hashemite kingdom, particularly among the ref ugees and the population of Western Palestine.

POSSIBILITY that must always be borne in mind is that both united states may start baiting Israel to prove their own loyalty to the Arab cause and to divert internal discon tent. But perhaps the disastrous results of such a policy in the past will prove a deterrent. So far Saud, ruler of Saudia Arabia, has remained discreetly in the back ground. He has indicated his backing of the Hashemite kings, but the lat ter are seeking his outright adherence to the federation. Meantime Saud seems to have been unsuccessful in his efforts to persuade his Yemenite neighbor of the inadvisability of join ing the United Arab Republic. Israel is certainly less sanguine than Britain and the United States about the capacity— or even the desire— of the new unions to block the Russian drang nach osten. In the United States particularly, there is a tendency to regard the departure of Khaled Bakdash, the Syrian Communist boss, for Moscow, and the scheduled dissolu tion of the Syrian Communist Party — together with other political groups in that country— as symptoms of wan ing Russian influence. It is true that Russia has not shown itself overenthusiastic about the United Arab Re public, and may not even have been fully informed regarding its establish ment. Marshall Voroshilov’s congratu lations to Nasser on his victory at the referendum polls did not go be yond thé bounds of normal courtesies on these occasions. For the Russians, however, dissolution of the Syrian Communist Party is a small price to pay for keeping Egypt and Syria in the Eastern camp. Nasser’s much pub licized proscription and prosecution of the Communist Party in his own coun try has not prevented Egypt from de veloping very cordial relations with Soviet Russia or from serving it in its

plans of Middle Eastern penetration. Then again no Communist Party ever liquidates itself. When it is outlawed it goes underground— as the Egyptian Communists have done— and the clan destine organization together with that little army of Soviet instructors and advisors in both countries will prove adequate to ensure that the Kremlin does not suffer from the ambitions of Pan-Arabism. HE PROBLEMS facing the Egyptian-Syrian union are immense, and it will require a formidable degree of political and administrative capacity — of which neither country has hith erto given any evidence— if it is to

survive. The experience of Pakistan, also cut from its province of Eastern Bengal, has not been a happy one and it is possible that, like Karachi, Cairo will adopt a policy of repres sion towards its northern territory, should l Syria have any second thoughts. Some indication of the light in which the United Republic is re garded by the Syrians, despite the unanimity of the referendum and the vociferous demonstrations in Damas cus, is provided by the 15 percent decline in the free value of the Syrian pound in Beirut on the day the Re public was proclaimed, and the con stant drain since of Syria’s not very large currency reserves.

WORD AND DEED On a trip to Capetown, South Africa, Shmaryah Levin, Zionist leader and writer, was royally received by one of its wealthy citizens. The latter, endeavoring to display his deep love for the Land of Israel, pointed to the doorway, and said to Levin: "I hope you have noticed that on the entrance to my home are engraved the words, 'Tel Aviv'." "Yes," replied Shmaryah Levin. "I saw it. But frankly, I would have preferred it if you l i v e d in Tel Aviv and had the word 'Capetown' at the entrance to your home!" It was also said that Shmaryah Levin was the author of the famous remark, "It is easier to take Israel out of exile than to take the exile out of Israel!"

JEWISH LIFE

The Shabbos-Goy and The Shabbos-Clock By SHOLOM STAIMAN NE of the simplest operations in this age of electricity is the turn ing on and off of electric lights. So simple is it that we take it for granted — flick a swith, and the lights are on; flick again, they’re off. Unless it hap pens to be the Sabbath, and one hap pens to be a Shomer-Shabbath, a Sab bath-observer; in which case things can sometimes get complicated. For one of the forbidden labors of the Sabbath is the lighting or extinguishing of lights — and thereby lies the story of the Shabbos-goy and the Shabbos-clock. In our house we’ve had the opportunity to know both of these creatures inti mately. I’d like to tell you about them. Needless to say, to the Sabbath-ob server as to others, the electric light is a most convenient way of illuminating the home, on Shabboth as well as dur ing the rest of the week. So, as the Sabbath approaches, we carefully turn on all the necessary lights we expect to use, making sure to do so, of course, before candlelighting time. Our lights are on therefore, with little difficulty. Getting them off again gives rise to our first problem. In days past, this problem has tradi tionally been solved by a device— usu ally a small boy (of non-Jewish persu asion, of course)— known as a Shab

April, 1958

bos-goy. For a small fee— a quarter in the old days, up to a dollar in these inflationary times-—he would come to the home at bedtime and extinguish the lights. This was a position of no menial proportion. The biographies of our most successful citizens testify that many a great politician, many an in dustrial giant, many a skilled scientist found his first job as a Shabbos-goy, an important stepping-stone on the ladder of success. Regardless of the fine caliber of lad the job attracted, however, it is true that the Shabbos-goy was not the ulti mate solution to the problem of Sab bath lights. This is due largely to the human element involved. So far as I know, none of the Shabbos-goyim we have had in our days has yet become President of the United States, nor even of General Motors. In fact, they all seem to have had certain shortcom ings. All of which give us a pretty good representation of reasons of why something better should be invented. NE of our boys was forgetful, averaging a miss about every third or fourth Shabbos. He simply forgot to come. Another, with a better

memory, was extraordinarily suscept ible to the childhood diseases, con tracting mumps, chicken-pox, two va rieties of measles, scarlet fever, and a few additional contagious diseases which the doctors are still pondering over for identification, all in rapid suc cession during the relatively short pe riod he held the position. There were others, each with his particular faults and foibles, and the net result in each case was that all too often our home was left with lights blazing all through the night. While this was profitable for the power company, it exercised an adverse effect both on our pocketbooks and*"our nerves; for the embarrass ment of having our lights burn con spicuously throughout the night was complicated by actual physical dis turbances of our rest. Specifically, our well-meaning next-door neighbor knocked on our door at 3:00 A.M. one well-lighted night, in concern as to whether the lights indicated some crisis. On the very next occasion we were left unextinguished, our wellmeaning next-door neighbor on the other side knocked on our door at 4:00 A.M. to tell us we had forgotten to turn out *the lights. After a hasty and somewhat sleepy explanation of the whys and wherefores, our good neighbor, a non-Jew, obligingly dark ened our surroundings. As a further dividend, he supplied us with his young son as a successor to the position, which was a most happy arrangement. The boy was the most reliable yet, and, if he happened to forget, he was close enough to be easily summoned. The times he was ill, his father was most gracious. For a time, we had no problems— until the lad became troubled by adolescence. He began going out Friday nights, leaving us with a choice of having our lights turned out very early or 54

very late. We tried it early— before he left for his evening’s fun. This was unsatisfactory— eight o’clock is too early to go to bed, and sitting in the dark is an even less desirable alterna tive. A good night’s sleep is fine, but enough1 is enough, and who wants to get up at five o’clock Shabbos morn ing? Then we tried it when he re turned from the particular doings of the night, but this extreme was equally unsatisfactory. The curfew invoked by our Shabbos-goy’s parents may have been reasonable for a teen-age boy, but was very hard on sleep-loving adults. After only a few weeks of this (imagine having to wait up for some body else’s kid to come home!) we knew the time had come for a change. S OUR Shabbos-goy had outgrown the job, so had we outgrown the Shabbos-goy. With the advent of mechanization, with the dawn of the electronic age, we were ready for the Shabbos-clock. Forthwith we went to the store and purchased such a clock, looking upon the wonderful little timepiece as our Declaration of Independence from the Shabbos-goy. A Shabbos-clock, of course, is an electric clock which con tains a receptacle for plugging in other electrical devices. Upon being ap propriately set, it will activate and deactivate these lights and appliances at whatever designated hour its master should desire. In other words, the clock would do anything a Shabbosgoy would do, and do it more quickly, more cheaply, and more reliably. Well, not quite. For instance, it would not walk around the house from room to room and turn out the lights. It was necessary, therefore, in order to light more than the immediate area of the clock, to string a maze of ex tension cords from the clock to other

JEWISH LIFE

points of the house. Some limitations on the use of the clock were set there by, and some literal stumbling blocks were created. (Try as we would, we could not hide all the extension cords under the rugs.) The system, too, un fortunately did not extend to ceiling fixtures, so our Friday evenings were lamp-lit in multiple degree. Our little Shabbos-clock did a job for us. We cussed a little when we tripped over the extension cords, and we longed sometimes for a ceiling light, but all in all, and considering its limitations, we were far better off with the clock than we had been in the days of the Shabbos-goy. As long, that is, as we were careful when tripping over the wires not to kick the plug right out of the clock, as happened once or twice, with a pen alty of early and unexpected darkness. UT as we grew, and our family grew, and the electronic age grew, we felt the need of better things. When we moved from our apartment to our new house, we looked for a bigger and better Shabbos-clock. We found one, the kind used by stores to turn out window lights at night, that would control all the lights in our house. Here, at last, promised to be the final word, the real thing. As the electronic age coincided with the age of do-it-yourself, I was determined not to pay an electrician an exorbitant fee to install the new clock. I did it myself, and did a very satisfactory job. Came the first Friday night, and the test. I was proud of myself— it worked perfectly. It turned off all the lights in the house. We awakened on a chilly Sabbath morn to find the refrigerator and freezer defrosted, the electric stove cold, and the oil-burner silent and in

active. Our clock had turned off more than the lights. It was evident that some selectivity was indicated in the installation of this master clock. I hired an electrician, who untangled the various circuits and gave us some choice as to what should be turned off and what should be left on. The fee was not too exorbitant. These mechanics having been per fected, we were at last in good shape. Our master clock now works in a fool-proof manner, and we are very happy with it. We must remember after Shabboth, of course, to throw the clock out of the circuit and return our lights to normal operation, or the clock will continue to turn off the lights Saturday night, Sunday night, and throughout the week at the same designated hour. N OCCASION we have forgotten to do this, and are abruptly re minded of it when the lights on Sat urday night suddenly and unexpect edly go out. We simply make the needed adjustment at this time and all is returned to normal. Once, however, we scared the living daylights out of a baby-sitter, by forgetting to readjust the clock before we left. Fortunately, she was an extraordinary level-headed girl, and after instructions on the phone was restored to equanimity. And once it happened in the midst of our entertaining a large number of guests. We laughingly explained what it was all about, and our Jewish friends were very understanding. Some of our Gentile friends left rather early, we thought. Perhaps we only imagine that they look at us a little queerly ever since. The kids were having a party the other night, and it happened again. The youngsters thought it was hilari ous— they had a wonderful time. Our

stock up! There may be a run on your merchandise! And it may not be en tirely due to a sudden resurgence of Sabbath observance!

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JEWISH LIFE

Time and Challenge By VICTOR SOLOMON

AN is subject to four distinct tive pressures, whose power resides in pressures which demand his the temporal sphere. We shall first M consideration at all times. They are examine the weaknesses inherent in the force which pulls him back to origins, the power which drives him onward to progress, the inner com pulsion which seeks self-fulfillment and satisfaction, and the outward drive which demands self-expression, response to the environment, and ad justment to reality. Judaism comes with a carefully balanced program which is designed to meet these four great challenges of life, to render them harmless, and to convert them to practical use. This program is called Halochah, the cor nerstone of Judaism, and it has a long history of great accomplishments in the miraculous preservation of Is rael. The highways and byways of his tory are littered with the carcasses of empires and civilizations which were crushed by these destructive pres sures. Arrogantly, they had marched forward against the laws of history and survival with swords and spears, great stores of wealth and brilliant accomplishments of the intellect. They died because they fought in space against pressures of temporal substance. Israel lived because it found the philosopher’s stone which translated its existence, hopes, tools and weapons into time. Israel, through Halochah, became the master of time and the victor over the four destruc April, 1958

the responses of past civilizations to the great challenges of survival, which brought destruction upon them. NE civilization responded with an unnatural emphasis on the great and glorious past. It literally lived in the past. The atmosphere of death choked every aspiration in life. Ancestor worship and a help lessness born of hopelessness destroy ed all moral and ethical initiative. This culture succeeded in its answer to the call of the past but was crush ed by the overwhelming pressures which it dared to ignore. Another civilization took up the challenge of the inward pull. It found in the satisfaction of man’s inner needs the highest goal of society. Hedonism or the philosophy of physi cal self-gratification on the one hand, and asceticism on the other, became the Janus-faced angel of death which brought it low. Man cannot live by bread alone, nor can he live by or for himself. A society which is rear ed to satisfy only the inward pres sure of existence must crumble from within. A third civilization concentrated all its energies on the successful media tion of the outer pull of existence. Make life pleasant, happy, enjoyable, it commanded. And a thousand thou sand philosophers, engineers, politi-

dans, and assorted men of intellectual attainment put their shoulders to the wheel. The response to the environ ment and to the exigencies of living was successful. But the empire col lapsed because the great builders had neglected to face the dangers bearing down on them from three other di rections. Finally, we are living today in the midst of a civilization which is re sponding with incredible success and

ET, with all our vast array of accomplishments where do we stand today? Before the frightening abyss of annihilation and self-destruc tion. Our entire civilization is crumb ling before our very eyes— and like the self-intoxicated societies of old we do not see it. How will the cataclysm strike? Will it come in the form of a hydrogen bomb dropped from a sa tellite, an atomic warhead on a mis sile fired from a submarine, or a yet

dazzling brilliance to the fourth great challenge of survival, the beckoning call of the future, the challenge of progress. We have sent satellites into space and we are hopefully planning a trip to the moon. We have prog ressed in all fields and have even tainted the traditional and the prudent with the label of orthodox and re actionary because of his restraint and reluctance to abandon all to the call of progress.

more frightful cosmic bomb riding an intercontinental ballistic weapon? May G-d spare us, for there is yet good ness in our society upon which a bet ter world could be built. But an op timist today must be half blind to reality. In the midst of tumultous history attended by the cataclysmic rising and falling of civilizations, Israel has weathered the storm and outlived its enemies and friends. Why? Our num-

JEWISH LIFE

bers, military prowess, martial accom plishments, scientific ingenuity, and great wealth have never warranted this distinction. What then is respon sible for Israel’s miraculous endur ance? To admit, at last, that the thrill ing prophesies of a Divine Torah are true and that the loving hand of G-d guides the destinies of men and the special destiny of Israel is the only recourse open to honest men. But to study the master plan is to bring glory to the Divine Will; to seek cos mic purpose is to find reassuring hope. For in the history of Israel we find the solution to the Gordian Knot of perpetuation.

with the lamb and universal peace for all mankind in the future. More over the force which projects this spiritual flight into the future is not a pious wish or a humanistic hope, but the certainty (for the religious Jew) of Scriptural promise and un equivocal fulfillment. With the tre mendous pressures of past and pres ent balanced on the needle of a vi talized meaningful present, Judaism turns to the remaining cross pressures which complete the picture of tem poral dimension. Man’s craving for inner satisfac tion and self-gratification which led other civilizations to the exaggerations UDAISM, through Halochah, tele of hedonism and asceticism posed no scoped all the dimensions of ex problem for mature Halochie Juda istence into a temporal reality, whichism. Our Halochah balanced them off contains within it the breath of eter against each other with amazing dis nity. Only people close to the Source patch. It sanctified the mundane. It of life and time could possibly suc produced the unheard of “Chulin al ceed in such a project. Judaism takes Taharath Hakodesh”. It never inter the past and brings it into relevant dicted the use of liquor. Yet al focus for the present. Traditions are coholism was never a Jewish prob not abstract symbols or sentimental lem. It frowned upon asceticism and curiosities but a vital part of Jewish monasticism. Nevertheless, modesty living. The life of Abraham, the sta reigned supreme. It created days and tutes of the Torah, the teachings of deeds designed to give it dominion the Sages, the traditions of the peo over this force too. Halochie Juda ple, the customs of the community ism through Mitzvoth— deeds, action blend into a powerful stabilizing force — mastered time. Mitzvoth are the influencing language, molding ethics, Divine harness which places time at shaping philosophy, creating mores, the service of man and destroys the sanctifying life and lifting it above ravaging effects of this great killer the material and the mundane. This of man and men. is Israel’s response to the backward HEN, Judaism turned to meet pressure of time. the final test, the outward pull. At the same time Israel looks to This proved to be a most manageable its golden age not in the past but in challenge because of the strong foun the future. Classical Judaism finds its dations upon which the Halochie way inspiration, experience, and treasure of life rests. All enticements of en houses in the past, but it projects its vironment, every challenge of exist hopes and aspirations into the future. ence, the demands of each exigency, It sees the beating of swords into were measured by the yardstick of ploughshares and spears into pruning eternity. Not man, not convenience, hooks, the lion dwelling in peace not progress, not popularity, were the

April, 1958

measures of all things. Only the ob jective word of G-d served this function. With these four destructive pres sures balanced and tamed Israel en dured in the face of endless mortal dangers. Halochic or classical Judaism was intentionally wronged when it was tainted by its sectarian opponents with the title “orthodox”. The cur rent movement to replace this with “Traditional” is historically as well as philosopically unjustified, and un justifiable. “Traditional” conveys only one, though extremely important, as pect of Judaism and is as unrealistic as the terms “Futuristic” Judaism, “Contemporary” Judaism or “Medita tive” Judaism would be. Without en tering into the pedantry of etymologi cal controversy, it is the opinion of this writer that what authentic Judaism needs today is a clear and unequivocal definition of its relevance and signi ficance for contemporary Jews in the

context of Jewish history. Names are unimportant. What we need is defini tion in terms of purpose and method -^-k’lolim and p ’rotim. The present state of confusion in American Israel calls for a bold and positive articulation by the long silent authorities of Halochah. The ra tionale of a victorious Judaism must be presented to a spiritually eager generation of Jews upon whom will devolve the great task of perpetuating our faith. Alas, the present compulsion to live like the nations has made us vul nerable to the ravages of time which destroys the nations. The time has come for those who love Israel and revere the Lord to pull the protective coat of a defined and tangible Halo chah— be it a kaftan or a tw e e d more securely around the body of Is rael as the storms of time approach to take their toll of a capricious and oblivious humanity.

Diet monotony cannot be the excuse for eating nonKosher fish! In the Talmud Yerushalmi (Taanith IV) we are told that there are 700 species of fish permissible according to the Dietary Laws.

He who enables his fellow man to perform a Mitzvah is also rewarded as if for its performance. Talmud, Sanhedrin 99

JEWISH LIFE

Rook Reviews F ive Voices THE JEWISH POST BOOKLETS (1955-1957); Published under the auspices of the Jacob Rosenheim Foundation and Jewish Post Publica tions, 257 Seven Sisters Rd., London, N.4, England; $.50 per booklet. HE Jewish Post Booklets are pub lished under the auspices of the Jacob Rosenheim Foundation of Lon don, with the assistance of the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations of London and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims, New York. Of the first series of six booklets, this reviewer has received five: “Memories of Frankfort” by Hermann Schwab; “Isaac Breuer, His Life and Work” by Dr. S. Ehrmann; “Rabbi Victor Schonfeld — Essays and Sermons;” “Essays of Nathan Bimbaum,” edited by Prof. S. Birnbaum; “Jacob Rosen heim — Essays and Addresses,” edited by H. A. Goodman. The pam phlet on S. R. Hirsch, “After Three Generations,” by Dayan D. I. Grunfeld, seems to be in the press. One notices, with satisfaction, that the Jacob Rosenheim Foundation, its Agudist orientation notwithstanding, has published the essays and sermons of a British Mizrachi leader. That not intramurally alone, but in the wider horizons of the Jewish scene the Claims Conference was wise enough to aid in the financial under pinning of this worthwhile enterprise,

DR. LEO JU N G is Rabbi of T he Jewish Cen ter, New York City, and Professor of Ethics at jYeshiva University. He is author of ’’Living Judaism” , “Crumbs and Character”, and other •works.

April, 1958

By LEO JUNG

augurs well for interdenominational Jewry. Even non-Torah-true Jews may learn that “Judaism alone is the solution of the Jewish problem.” Like certain modern movements and organizations, Torah-true Judaism, in our age, has suffered from inept pub licity departments. The American Jewish weeklies, (“rarely Jewish and always weakly”) have in almost every issue reference to “extremist,” “ultraorthodox” and other “fringe-Jews.” Cumulatively these appellations create the impression that what is called “orthodox” is “medieval,” “foreign,” in the long run unviable and what not. In his “Grapes of Wrath,” Steinbeck makes the point that workers are the people, at times prosperous, at others indigent, long-suffering AND impa tient, good and bad, but indestructible, because they are the bulk of the: people. The Torah-true Jews are the bulk of the Jewish people. HE authors of these pamphlets áre as modern as they aré anchored to the Jewish tradition; as learned as they are alert to the pressures of the day; as seasoned in loyalty as they are adventuring in the intepretation of Jewish spirit, method, hope,; and duty. Because they are part of a millennial religious tradition, they can afford to be of a colorful variety of approach. There is a homiletical trend in many of the essays, but there is also fine, stimulating analysis* There is the harmonizing tendency of Torah Im Derech Eretz^ but there is also more than a trace of that glori-

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JEWISH LIFE

ous stiffneckedness which defies or ig nores the intellectual fashions of the day. Jacob Rosenheim was the founder of local, national, and international movements to present the faith of our Fathers — on the level of the best of modern trends in its strength and beauty. His life has been the most eloquent commentary to his work. As Torah she be’al peh, his comments, pleadings, warnings have been most precious and even the printed page retains some of their charm. It is difficult to stay unaffected by the moving grace of Schwab’s sketches. One envies the atmosphere — force fully though subtly depicted — of the Kehillah where everyone knew every one else, and vied in fealty to the Din Torah as in loving respect for Rabbi Hirsch, who, in a few bold strokes is revealed as teacher, preacher, and luminous personality. HE incisive quality of Isaac Breuer’s mind, his capacity, with out obvious effort, to stir our emotions and to stimulate our intellect, is am ply conveyed by the chapters that bear his name. Horizontally, his influence extended from V.J.A. (Verein Juedischer Akademiker — Society of Jew ish Academicians) to P.A.I. (Poale Agudath Israel — the workers’ kib butzim, moshavoth and groups in the Holy Land). Vertically, his message will be potent for generations who will study his “Elijah” and “Elishah” among other creations of his pen. Victor Schonfeld, the brave and de voted pioneer, for decades spiritual leader of the London Adath Israel, is represented by perceptive and solid essays and by inspiring talks. Nathan Birnbaum is perhaps the most interest ing of the group, because of his re turn from extreme negativism to a full acceptance of dedicated service to

April, 1958

the Torah. His message is taut, pro phetic, as impressive as it remains un impressed by a host of compromising, superficial, fashionable “ways out.” Of all the authors, only Jacob Rosen heim is still in the land of physical life. The record of his colleagues in this series is complete, their reward is in their olam ha-ba. OR future editions (or reprints) the follow ing suggestions are submitted : 1. The source whence the essays were derived should in each case be stated S on grounds historical as well as moral. 2. Teutonisms, still evident, should be eliminated — on grounds esthetic as well as rational. 3. A consistent system of transliter ation should be introduced, as well as more correct reproduction of the He brew. The festival is Shavuoth (not Shevuoth, which means “oaths”) ; “Eicho” might be read “Etcho” by the unwary, etc., etc. To conclude with a positive note: in every case an author’s life offers the best context of his writing. Only on that canvas does the reader derive a maximum lesson. That is why the short biographies are of more than casual interest and deserve to be studied with spècial care. They ex plain action, re-action, reflection. The autonomous character of the interpreters’ views should prove semi nal to adherents not only of normal or Torah-true Judaism, but also to those who found it desirable and logi cal to indicate their deviation from the classical type by adjectives en deavoring to indicate the scope of their dissent. Shalom al Yisrael! It is a commendable effort to which we wish a great number of interested readers.

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JEWISH LIFE

A Chasidic Treasury By CHAIM U. LIPSCHITZ CHASIDUS UN YOM TOV, By Menashe Unger, Published by the author, Bronx, New York, 1958, 450 pp., $5.00. HIS new Yiddish work by Menashe Unger is a comprehensive and con sistently interesting compilation of Chasidic lore. “Chasidus un Yom Tov” should prove to be an excellent means of deepening contemporary under standing of Chasidism, as well as be ing a valuable reference volume for scholars. It contains selections from the teachings of approximately 800 rabbis and sages, beginning with Rab bi Israel Baal Shem Tov, founder of the Chasidic movement. A separate listing gives biographical data on each of the notable personalities mentioned in the book. Moreover, published here for the first time are the musical nota tions for the many Chasidic melodies handed down by the Baal Shem Tov and other Chasidic leaders. Preceding each chapter is a fine reproduction of some significant ancient Jewish mus eum piece. Included also is a bibliog raphy of the 150 books on Chasidism consulted by Menashe Unger in pre paring this collection. Obviously, it was no easy task to choose from such a vast array of source material suitable selections for a single volume which would properly depict all aspects of the Chasidic movement. Chasidism did not repre sent a clear-cut new philosophic doc trine which can be succinctly eluci-

RABBI CHAIM U. LIPSCHITZ, director of the Community Service Bureau of Mesivta Talmudical Seminary in Brooklyn, received semichah in Israel, where he was born.

April, 1958

dated by expository statements. It was, rather, a mass upsurge to re vitalize Judaism, whose many rabbini cal leaders were each memorable for their own individual interpretations of Biblical and Talmudic texts for their local followers. To cull over all of their sayings, the anecdotes about them, and the folk legends which were developed among their adherents, to pick out the nuggets of real gold worth preserving, requires, therefore, an anthologist thoroughly conversant with and steeped in the Chasidic milieu, aware of its historical impor tance, yet attuned to the needs of modem readers far removed from those communities where Chasidism originated. F ortunately, Menashe Unger was well equipped to success fully carry through his formidable undertaking. HIS background has enabled Men ashe Unger to ferret out for the present scholarly volume the most pertinent and meaningful items in the great range of Chasidic literature he surveyed, and to present these in a fashion sufficiently clear and color ful to make absorbing reading for ordinary folk as well as serious stu dents. While the extensive scope of the book makes it a sort of miniature encyclopedia on Chasidism, its skillful narration of the best of the Chasidic tales should serve to enlighten many Jews who hitherto knew little about this important phase of Judaism. Leaf ing through “Chasidus un Yom Tov,” the reader will, for example, come across such illustrations of how Cha sidic rabbis put fresh life into the

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study of religious law as the story of a Chosid quoting his rabbi’s interpre tation of the Commandment “Thou shalt not steal” as a Divine order that “Thou shalt not rob thine own self.” The book is full of similar apt re countings of Chasidic pronouncements. This is a time when Jews are again becoming aware of their heritage. The historically unparalleled carnage which led to the tragic annihilation of one-third of the Jewish people under Nazism has currently led many a Jew who had previously considered himself thoroughly assimilated to re evaluate his status as a Jew, and to take a new pride in becoming an active member of the Jewish commu

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nity. Along with this fresh binding together of Jewish ties has come a re newed interest in the Jewish past, resulting in many research projects on Jewish history and theology, a harvesting of the grain sown by many centuries of Jewish scholars. In “Chasidus un Yom Tov,” we have a bumper crop from those grains sown by the Chasidic rabbis on the fields of Galicia. One of the aims of the author of this book is to introduce into every Jewish home on this continent the radiant splendor, warmth, and nobil ity of the Chasidic message. Certainly it ought to find its way into every Yiddish-reading home.

The. . . ” By EUGENE S. DUCHINSKY

WHY I AM A JEW by David de Sola Pool, Bloch Publishing Company, 1957, 207 pages, $2.75. PON terminating a half-century of service and leadership as spiritual leader of the oldest Jewish congrega tion in the United States, Rabbi Dr. David de Sola Pool has presented the contemporary world with a muchneed volume of relevant and authentic presentation of Torah Judaism. Unlike Edmond Fleg’s book which bears the same title, Dr. de Sola Pool’s work does not portray a spiritual-

RABBI EUGENE S. DUSCHINSKY is the director of the Committee o f Religious Organiza tions for Aliyah of the Jewish Agency. He for merly lived in Capetown, South Africa.

April, 1958

intellectual odyssey. It is, indeed, very rarely in the 207 pages of the book that the author speaks in the first person. The few autobiographical re marks reveal the great-great-grandson of the late Haham of British Jewry, Raphael Meldola, the great-grandson of the first translator into English of the Sephardi prayerbook, the Rev. A. D. de Sola, whose lineage has been traced back to over eleven-hundred years. They present a modern Rabbin ical leader in World Jewry, who, in his half-century of religious leader ship travelled far and wide through out the world, and “. . . worshipped in synagogues in forty-four countries in five continents, from Finland to New Zealand, from Turkey to Thailand.” 67

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JEWISH LIFE

They are the wards of a scholar, ¡preacher, and writer whose armory of ¡sources includes rich Biblical, Talmudical and Rabbinical learning, wide erudition in philosophy, history and ¡science, a deep knowledge of contem porary thought; a devoted Jew who ¡speaks only once in the whole volume of his personal spiritual-emotional re ligious experience: “When I enter a ¡synagogue I am deeply moved by the memories enshrined within it. I sense the mystic echoing of 4,000 years of ¡prayer, it is to me a living organism, the very body of the Jewish people.” He defines being a Jew: “A syn thesis of religious, historic, cultural, and emotional consciousness that tran scends all diversities within the people, theological, philosophic, demographic, linguistic or geographic.” “Being a Jew makes me happy,” states the au thor; the true Jew “never lost heart to face life with hope.” The entire book speaks in the tone of rejoicing and happiness in lived Judaism, of “Simchah shel Mitzvah.”

unitary concept of life.” In the path of Halochah, Dr. Pool summarizes with remarkable expres siveness and clarity practically the entire “Orach Hayyim” section of the “Shulhan Aruch” in chapters on the Synagogue, prayers, festivals, and the Jewish home, explaining Judaism to Jews and non-Jews alike. As did Yehudah Halevi in his dialogue with the Khazar king, Dr. Pool considers it a pivotal duty “to tell our story to ex plain why we are Jews.” Zionism, the Hebrew language and its unifying role, prophetic universalism, Jewish contribution to civiliza tion—ancient, mediaeval and modem —are discussed in the third part of the book which ends in a crescendo, reaching the height of musical accord of “Ani Maamin” in his proud affirma tion of Jewish Chosenness and our “Awaiting the Messiah.” While never descending to the tone of polemics, the book very lucidly disputes and rejects several doctrines opposed to Torah Judaism.

R. POOL’S method is that of ven erated Sephardi authors of old: lucid, comprehensive, systematic. He embraces Jewish law and lore, history and everyday life and practice, prob lems of Jewish faith and folk, State hood and “Jewish Selfhood,” Jewry’s relation to G-d and to universal man kind. He describes the essence of 4,000 years of Jewish history in two chapters, each encompassing two mil lennia. He gives a summary of au thentic Jewish religious philosophy —^ that of Messianic optimism and of the “vision of man’s boundless poten tial for good.” In a chapter on “Mind and Spirit” he postulates that in Juda ism “science and religion are in har monious sythesis as complementary aspects of the quest of truth in a

ITH a view to the Christian read er many an anti-Judaistic miscon ception is refuted. “Nowhere in the Hebrew Bible or in post-Biblical Jew ish teaching is there to be found the maxim, ‘You shall hate your enemy.’ Judaism is truly a religion of love.” The Moshiach is “altogether human. He is not a divine being.” “No priest can shrive and absolve anyone from his sin and no angelic interceder, no mediating savior, no beatified pleader can come between the individual’s soul and his G-d. When man is bom he is not enchained by original sin.” As to the Marxist anti-religious “opium of the masses” slogan: “The Jewish outlook on life does not com fort slaves with hope for reward in a future life, bidding them accept

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JEWISH LIFE

slavery because of ultimate recom pense beyond this earth.” His Zionism stems from the Torah and the prayerbook. “Zion and the return to the Promised Land occurs well nigh thirty times” in the Sab bath morning service alone, the au thor notes. Zion has dwelt in Jewish consciousness throughout the centuries “as a spiritual anchorage.” He quotes Disraeli who said that “a race that persists in celebrating their vintage, although they have no fruit to gather, will regain their vineyards.” Rabbi de Sola Pool, who may so well deservedly claim “personal participation in the rebirth of Zion and the rebuilding of the Land of Israel” can state with authority that “any presumption of conflict between loyalty as a citizen and devotion to the Zionist cause is based on a complete misunderstanding of Judaism, Zionism, of history and of the character of one’s country.”

O THE AUTHOR there exists only one Judaism: the practicing Juda ism of the Halochah, of the sanctity, and integrity of the Jewish home rightly associated with the Biblical laws of purity; of the Shabboth meti culously observed; of Kashruth main tained; of synagogue where “separa tion of the sexes is a characteristic feature in the concept of chastity which plays so important a part in Jewish life.”

An exponent of Orthodoxy, an hon ored knight in the battles of the Lord, Rabbi David de Sola Pool has given us a potent weapon in the defense of Torah Judaism; a lucid,comprehensive document, an authentic up-to-date pre sentation of Judaism proudly lived, and re-lived “all days in the year, all hours in the day,” of Judaism living and eternal.

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April, 1958

Correction In “Among Our Contributors” in the Kislev, 5718 issue of J e w i s h L i f e , Pinchas H. Peli was errone ously listed as the director of Mosad Harav Kook in Jerusalem. Mr. Peli was formerly a member of one of its departments, but is not now associated with that institution. 71

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOREWORD............ ................ . . . • • • • ................................................ ....................................... S o lo m o n J . S h a r f m a n

B o H NH Q ◄ tt¡ H o «5 m* O O

E D IT O R 'S INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................................N o rm a n Lamm ARROGANCE OR HUMILITY IN PRAYER..................................................................................... E m a n u e l R a ck m a n PH I LO-SEM I T ISM AMONG ANCIENT INTELLECTUALS.................................................. L o u i s 9 .

F e ld m a n

THE EXPERIENCE OF REPENTANCE: T h e V i e w s o f M a im o n id e s a n d W i l l i a m J a m e s ................................... ........................................ ..................................... H o w a rd I .

L e v in e

1ALAKHIC IM PLICATIONS OF THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS..........................................S i d n e y B . H o e n i g THE D ISSE C T IO N OF THE DEAD IN JEWISH LAW: A C o m p a r a t i v e a n d H i s t o r i c a l S t u d y ....................................................................I m a n u e l J a k o b o v i t s G IA N TS OF TRADITION: RASHI AS COMMENTATOR ............................................................................... ..

B e r n a r d B ergm an

REVIEW OF RECENT HALAKHIC PERIODICAL LITERATURE......................................... . . . . H y m a n T u ch m a n

BOOK REVIEWS: C u lt u r e an d J u d a is m

by S . » ,

U llm a n .

R e v ie w e d b y W a lte r F e d e r .

CO L i v i n g R e l i g i o n s o f t h e W o r ld b y F r e d e r i c R e v ie w e d b y S id n e y ■ . l o e n i g .

S p ie g e lb e r g .

P e s h a t ( P a l i n E x e g e s i s ) i n T a lm u d ic a n d M id r a s h ic L ite r a tu r e by I s r a e l F r a n k e t. R e v ie w e d b y J o s h u a Y our N e ig h b o r C e le b r a t e s b y A r th u r G i l b e r t T arcov. R e v i e w e d b y E m a n u e l F e ld m a n .

F in k e l.

and O scar

H e S p o k e i n P a r a b l e s b y H erm a n A . G l a t t R e v i e w e d b y M a u r ic e Lamm........................................................................................

IN FUTURE ISSU E S OF TRADITION.

JEWISH LIFE

On The Jewish Record Multicolored Sedorim By ERIC OFFENBACHER ROM year to year, and in increas ing numbers, the Exodus from Egypt is being commemorated by our people through another exodus* the one from the big city to the health re sorts. Good reasons for such travel ling notwithstanding, the focal point of the Pesach observance thus fails to be met. By its very nature the Seder constitutes a home ceremony, with all the splendor and elaboration that only a family group around a domestic Yomtov table can properly provide. The atmosphere which permeates the colorful Seder rituals, acompanied by the Haggadah recitations, has been preserved and re-created for centuries, even by those Jews who are generally not of the orthodox persuasion. It is, therefore« quite understandable that enterprising record companies search ing to place on disks material with dramatic appeal should attempt to cap ture some of that mood in an authen tic setting. To what extent they have succeeded (or failed) will be discussed in the evaluation of the following three records on hand for consideration by this department. THE MOISHE OYSHER SEDER. Script and Direction by Daniel Sloan; produced by Benjamin Schur; narra tion by Barry Gray; with the Abra ham Nadel Chorus. Music arranged and directed by Abraham Ellstein. One 12" LP Record, issued by Rozanna Records, Inc. List Price $4.98.

DR. ERIC OFFENBACHER, a dentist by pro fession, has been a devotee of Jewish music for many years.

April, 1958

A PASSOVER SEDER WITH JAN PEERCE. Music selected and com posed by Ario S. Hyams; directed by Barry Hyams. Choral arrangements by Abraham Ellstein. One 12" LP Record, RCA Victor, LM-1971. List Price $4.98. HAGADAH — YEMENITE PASSOVER, recorded in Jerusalem in 1955 by Sam Eskin. Notes by Theodore Gaster. Cover and Hebrew script in the notes by David Kurlan; mastered by Peter Bartók. Production Direc tor, Moses Asch. One 12" LP Record, FOLKWAYS RECORDS, FW-8921, List Price $5.95. The first two fall far short of offer ing any true impression of home en vironment and suffer from lack of con tinuity. Yet both have their high spots and are excellently recorded. Moishe Oysher, better known for his perfor mances emanating from a certain Cel luloid City, stems from a progeny of distinguished East-European Chazonim. He takes great care not to pronounce the Shem, down to the last “kah”. Yet one cannot help but feel that the dignity befitting the occasion is not realized. The theatrical ar rangements, Hollywood fashion, dom inate the scene, from the opening cho rus “Happy Holiday to You”, through the connective theme of “Miriam’s” drums to the final encores of “rhythm” music, billed as Chassidic but, on ac count of the instrumental background, more closely resembling an idiom re lated to the Harlem variety of Jazz frenzy. Yet there are beautiful exam ples of schooled chazonuth faultlessly executed, like the extensive passages 73

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JEWISH LIFE

during bentshen, the attractive recita tions utilizing the recurrent “Sh’neemar” refrain, the sweet-voiced boy soloist (unnamed) in Hallel. But some aspects struck this listener as ridicu lous, even comic. At one point, Mr. Oysher sends off a bravura “Omen” to a B’rochah uttered by himself. At another, just after the Hillel “sand wich”, he calls into the microphone: “Esst un drinkt un hot hanooh”. The choicest bit of unintended humor is evoked when a group of boys, after reciting the “four kashes” intone in unison | fRabbosai, Rabbosai, we have asked the four questions, Moishe, Moishe, please give us the answers”.

summon recollections of the deathmarches to the concentration camps— not altogether appropriate on this holi day record! The disk appears to have been de signed primarily as a vehicle to exhibit Peerce’s peerless voice (no pun). In this it succeeds perfectly. But then, one could have done without the mix ed choir; also without the endless repetition of the children’s wailing “Kadesh, Urchatz”, because the mean ing of these programmatic words is never explained. A change of order, placing “Chasal Siddur Pesach” at the end, thus allowing the Seder to conclude with “L’shonah haboah birusholayim” is rather clever and so A N PEERCE, in contrast, inhabits are the flashbacks Peerce effectively the realm of opera. There nobility employs with this perennial outcry of of manner prevails and it is reflectedhope and consolation.

on the record. More than that, at the end of his “Shehecheyonu”, to the words “lazman haseh” we get a flour ish kindred to the conclusion of the famous “La donna e mobile” from Verdi’s Rigoletto. However, Mr. Peerce, too, served his apprenticeship as a cantor. If his attempt to provide an aural picture of a traditional home Seder misfired on this record, it may be more the fault of his collaborators. Like on the Oysher record only (com paratively few) excerpts are presented. Two of the most essential highlights, the “four sons” and the “ten plagues”, are omitted. Instead a good deal of text is recorded which forms no part of the Haggadah £t all. To wit, parts of Psalm 150, the Shirah, the song “Eliyohu Hanovi” and the famous “Ani Maamin”. Introducing the latter number, the narrator states: “In the presence of Elijah we pause to mem orialize the six million who perished by the hands of a tyrant in our time more cruel than the Pharaoh of yore”. For many a listener the melody will April, 1958

F A different color— and indeed an entire world apart— are the contents of the third record, a most unusual one. Folkways acted wisely to send its recording equipment into a Yéménite home, a simple and au thentic environment. Sam Eskin wrifts in the very instructive booklet accom panying the disk: “The recording was made in the home of this family. They lived in the section of Jerusalem oc cupied by the very religious Jews, not far from the Jordanian border . . . A small bare room furnished only with chairs and a table was the setting for this Yemenite Passover service”. This disk is a treasure trough for scholars. According to William H. Greenburg, the liturgy of Yemen con sists of a ritual which contains por tions common in some cases to the Sephardi and in others to the Ash kenazi ritual. However, it is probable that they possessed alsp in more an cient times a distinct liturgy of their own unlike any other modern ritual.

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JEWISH LIFE

Before the time of Maimonides that ritual was based directly upon the Talmud and Midrash, after Maimoni des the prayer book was remodelled according to the decisions laid down by him. The Yemenite Haggadah differs ma terially from our Western version. This reviewer compared two Yemenite Haggadahs, one published from manu scripts in 1896 and one contained in a Yemenite Machzor printed in Jeru salem in 1952, and found variations in text between the two. The following differences with our Western Haggadah stand out and can be noted on this record. The Ye menite ritual expands the Kiddush in to a lengthy chant incorporating most of our traditional formula. The Ha lachma anya is prefaced by the three words Bivhilu yotzonu mimitzrayim (in haste went we forth out of Egypt). In the Mah nishtana the order of the four questions is reversed; our third becomes their first, our first is their second and our second their third. Instead of Moror they say M erorim. This is not the place to go into a re search analysis, however. Suffice it to point out two more characteristics in cluded in the record. At the passage “I will pass through the land of Egypt— I, and not an angel, etc.”, they insert a legend (mentioned al ready in Machzor Vitry) telling of the angels beseeching the Almighty to let them go down to Egypt to wreak vengeance on this people, but the Holy One replied in the manner known to us. At the end of the Seder, instead of our Western-oriented folk tunes (K i lo noeh, Chad gadya, etc.) they add their own specimen recorded here. It is called Ayumah Hemshi and was composed by their poet laureate, Salim ben Joseph of Shebez. It is an

impassioned plea for the restoration of Israel. The recording itself for documen tary purposes and as such a very laudable enterprise. It does not bother with smoothness or polish of perfor mance, nor can the monotone cantillations be rated a musical experience. At the same time, there is freshness and spontaneity here, lacking on the other disks mentioned above. The realism and the eagerness of the voices, with the youngsters’ ofttimes audible above their elders’, leaves a lucid impression. The Yemenite voices are nasal, sometimes shrill and highpitched, and definitely akin to those of their Ethiopian brethren (see “From the Land of Kush”, J e w i s h L i f e , Nisan 5714). Moreover, one senses a sort of primitive joy, espe cially in the concluding Ayumah Hem shi when clapping of hands and drum accompaniment bring the genuine cere monies to a sonorous climax. One question, though, for the Folk ways Corporation to whom we are otherwise indebted: Why only twentyfive minutes of performance on a twosided 12" disk? Economies (reflected also in sales promotion) ought to dictate otherwise. In conclusion, none of these Passover Sedorim reviewed above is quite satisfying. On the 10th birthday of the long playing record, and with the importance of audio-mass media long established, Jewish record companies should be prevailed upon to issue disks of this kind with authenticity. The most beautifully illuminated Haggadahs have been printed, Seder tables are exhibited in department stores; when will we have a completely tradi tional Jewish Seder on records? Will this too have to await the coming of the Moshiach?

JEWISH LIFE

"This" or "Like This"? Jacob ben Wolf Kranz, the famous Dubner Maggid, was once asked whether it is proper to say "Ha Lachma Anya" or "C ’ha Lachma Anya" in the Hagadah. As usual, he replied with one of his pertinent parables: A poor peddler traveled from town to town, eking out a modest living. In addition to his pack of wares, he carried along a sack containing pieces of stale bread from which he would make his meals. After a number of years and through a series of fortunate circum stances, he became exceedingly wealthy. On the anniversary of the day his good luck began, he would call his family and friends together, seat them at a long bare table, and serve them dry crusts of bread. Then he would clap his hands, servants would set the table lavishly, and at the wonderful feast he would hand out costly gifts to all. This procedure continued for many years. Then he lost all of his money. When the friends and family gathered on the usual anniversary, they sat at the bare table, ate the stale bread crusts, and waited for the customary feast and presents. "No, my dear friends," the erstwhile peddler lamented, "this is your meal . . . just these dry crusts." And so, said the Dubner Maggid, it is with us. When we were in our own Holy Land, on the anniversary of our Exodus and the beginning of redemption, we could say " C h a Lachma Anya "— "like this was the bread of poverty (affliction)." But now, living in exile, that is all we have . . . and we must in all truth say, "Ha Lachma Anya"—"this is the bread of poverty . . . for we today are eating the same bread of affliction as our ancestors.

April, 1958

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JEWISH LIFE

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