Jewish Life October 1959 by Jewish Action

in this issue

Liberty, Equality, and Confusion in Morocco

An Islan d Rediscovered

Torah, Party, and State

The Institutional Summer Cam p

The Lesson of W a d i Salib

W ill Yiddish Survive?

T H I S \ l S MY G - D HERMAN WOUK, famoui novelist, play wright and orthodox Jew, turns his prize winning literary skill to an account of the Jewish people and their religion. In THIS IS MY G-D, he paints not only the broad sweep of Jewish history, the Faith and the Law that helped our people survive down to the turbulent Present, but also a highly candid personal state ment of faith. Under his pen, the rites and holy days of Judaism quicken to life as an exciting, colorful drama of personal living. The Torah and the Talmud, thousands of years old, come to link up with the main problems and dilemmas of the 20th Century. —

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Vol. XXVII, No. 1/October, 1959/Tishri, 5720/

n "3

EDITORIALS Saul Bernstein , Editor M. Morton Rubenstein Reuben E. Gross Rabbi J. Sharfm an Libby Klaperman Editorial Associates THEA ODEM, Editorial Assistant

CHIEF RABBI HERZOG

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

WORLD LEADERSHIP AND THE MORAL C R IS 'S .....

ANTI-SHECHITAH CROSSES THE BORDER...........

ARTICLES AN ISLAND REDISCOVERED/Cecil R o th ...............

SOME VIEWS ON INSTITUTIONAL CAMPING/ JEWISH LIFE is published bi monthly. Subscription two years $4.00, three years $5.50, four years $7.00, Supporter $ 10.00, Patron $25.00.

Solomon H. G reen............

........ 11

TORAH, PARTY, AND STATE/Aryeh Newm an........ 17 WILL YIDDISH SURVIVE?/Uriel Zimmer ............ 28 THE LESSON OF WADI .SALIB/I. Halevy-Levin....... 34

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

LIBERTY, EQUALITY, AND CONFUSION IN MOROCCO/Mordechai Lubelsky ...................41 GENESIS OF A WASHINGTON SYNAGOGUE/ Aaron Krumbein/Lee M. Spetner................... 54

STORY Published by

U n io n of O rthodox J ewish Congregations of A merica

THE BEATEN ONE/M. Dluznowsky........... ......... 45

BOOK REVIEWS WOUK’S OWN BOOK/Saul Bernstein

Moses I. Feuerstein President Benjamin Koenigsberg, Nathan K. Gross, Samuel L; Brennglass, M. Morton Rubenstein, Vice Presidents; Edward A. Teplow, Treasurer; Herbert Berman, Secretary. Dr. Samson R. Weiss Executive Vice President

................61

AIDS TO UNDERSTANDING/Alexander S. Rosenberg 64

DEPARTMENTS AMONG OUR CONTRIBUTORS....

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

HASHKOFAH: Justice and Mercy ....................... 26 LETTERS TO THE EDIT O R................

........ 69

EXCERPTS selected and translated by David M. Hausdorff Second class postage paid at N ew York, N . Y.

October, 1959

SOLOMON H. GREEN, assistant professor of social work at Ye-

shiva University’s School of Social Work, is a graduate of Brook lyn College and received his Masters degree at Western Reserve University in Cleveland. For the past twelve years Professor Green has been actively engaged in both country and day camp ing and other areas of group work with youth. OR. AARON KRUMBEIN works in the field of reactor physics.

He received his Ph.D. at New York University and is a graduate of the Teachers Institute at Yeshiva University. Dr. Krumbein was one of the founders of Shomrai Emunah Congregation in Washington, D.C. DR. LEE M. SPETNER is a research physicist at the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University and is president of Shomrai Emunah Congregation. CECIL ROTH, eminent Jewish historian, is the author of such

among our contributors

outstanding works as “The Jews of Venice/’ A History of the Marranos,” and “A Short History of the Jewish .People.” Re cently Dr. Roth served as editor-in-chief of the newly-published Standard Jewish Encyclopedia. MOSHE DLUZNOWSKY has achieved literary note with his

short stories on Jewish life in North Africa. He is the author of “The Wheel of Fortune,” which won the Zvi Kessel Literary Prize. URIEL ZIMMER writes for publications in various parts of the world in Hebrew, Yiddish, German, French, and English. He is the United Nations correspondent for Hakoi, a Jerusalem daily. Mr. Zimmer has translated several works of Rabbi Samson Ra phael Hirsch, and is the translator of Tanya, a book on the essentials of Chasidic teachings. I. HALEVY-LEVIN’s articles continue to provide J ewish L ife readers with discerning insights into developments on the Israel scene. He is the editor of “Israel Argosy” and the Modern Israel Library. ARYEH NEWMAN, a frequent contributor to these pages, is

assistant editor of the Torah Education Department of the Jew ish Agency in Jerusalem.

Cover and inside illustrations by Hovav Kruvi. A graduate of the Bezalel School for Arts and Crafts in Jerusalem, Mr. Kruvi is in this country to study American developments in graphic design.

JEWISH LIFE

D I

Chief Rabbi Herzog y'W HE death of Rabbi Isaac Halevi Herzog, saintly Chief Rabbi of Israel, has brought grief to millions of Jews throughout the world. Revered and beloved, Chief Rabbi Herzog was a pillar of our faith and our people. His impress on Jewish life will be felt through the generations. . ^ Marked as an ilui in early childhood, the late Chief Rabbi went on to world-wide recognition as an authority in Halochah. Mastery in Torah learning, exemplified in his “Divrey Yitzchok” and “The Main Institutions of Jewish Law”, was accompanied by distinction in other fields of scholarship. A model of the abil ity to bring secular sciences to the service of Jewish teaching, he was withal a man not of “two worlds” but of one, the boundless world of the Torah. Dr. Herzog’s sense of historic Jewish need did not permit him to confine his endeavors to scholarly pursuits. He served as Rav in the fullest sense. As Chief Rabbi of Ireland for eighteen years, he demonstrated qualities of spiritual leadership which led Liqht his election, in 1937, as Chief Rabbi of the Ashkenazi comr. munity of the Holy Land. In this capacity, through twenty-two mi S. years of the most agonizing and challenging years of modern Travail Jewisll history, Isaac Halevi Herzog stood in the center of the travail and striving of our people. Every effort at Jewish succor knew his inspiration. The rescuing of Jewish lives from the Nazi holocaust and its wake, the upbuilding of Jewish life in the Holy Land, the securing of Israel independence, the integration of the hundreds of thousands of newcomers into the new-born state, and the shaping of Israel’s national life in concordance with the Jewish heritage— all alike were the subjects of his constant care. And ever foremost, Chief Rabbi Herzog devoted himself to the

October, 1959

binding of spiritual wounds and upholding the Torah standard Amidst the confusions of a time of revolutionary change. 'T 'O D A Y , the Chief Rabbinate of Israel is looked upon by J- believing Jews throughout the world as well as by those within its official jurisdiction, as the premier rallying point for Jewish spiritual life. That the office has acquired this stature is a tribute to the work of Chief Rabbi Isaac Halevi Herzog, as it is to that of Chief Rabbi Avrohom Yitzchok Kook, of sainted memory, before him. May the achievements of Chief Rabbi Herzog bring inspiration to his yet-to-be-chosen successor in turn, and may his memory be for a blessing to all Israel.

World, Leadership and the Moral Crisis

TH EV IS ITt0 the United States of Nikita Khrushchev, a his

tone phenomenon in itself, has been preceded by another phenomenon, the rocket to the moon. Most spectacular achieve ment to date of science and technology, the moon rocket is a compelling demonstration of man’s capacity to probe and chan-/ nel the forces of nature. The Soviet leader’s visit reminds us that this phase of human progress is attended by grave danger, no less than by promise of great blessings. The threat of physical de struction through unleashed natural forces looms as a terrifying reality. Less apparent but perhaps not less real a danger is that of moral breakdown. The enthronement of materialism has Price brought unbalanced concentration on science and industry as the of mef IlT7’t0 power~ at tlle expense of moral values. In both East and West the prevalence of such social ills as juvenile delinM aterial quency, adult crime, sexual promiscuity, and many like disorders Progress P°ints to the undermining of basic moral standards. The strains on the social fabric and the continuing thrust of science and echnology must both be taken into account in viewing the world power conflict. v u WM eVer may be achieved by the present visit of Mr. Khrushchev and by the projected return visit of President Eisen hower, it is hardly to be anticipated that the two will address themselves to the moral crisis which pervades all modem lands Their agendas can not be expected to go beyond the gigantic problem of seeking means to enable Western democracy and JEWISH LIFE

Soviet Communism to dwell together in the close-meshed world of today. With the sole seeming alternative to a thought-through peace between the major Powers being universal cataclysm, every human being of sense and conscience must hope and pray that the coming together of the leaders of East and West will lead to a definitive solution. But it is none the less imperative that world leadership begin, before it is too late, to focus respon sibly on the moral crisis, from which neither East nor West may isolate itself. All recognize with horror the menace of the nuclear bomb; but the ultimate threat is the unchecked drive for power through conquest of physical nature, of which the nuclear weapon, the moon rocket, and a thousand-and-one like inventions are but the mechanical products. Can we fail to reckon with the fact that as ever higher values are attached to this drive, lower and lower values are placed upon spiritual needs? The inevitable result is the fatal corrosion of basic morality. ECAUSE we Jews have learned to see Divine Providence manifest in the affairs of men, we cannot fail to hope as well as to pray that light from the Power that is beyond all Portents powers will be vouchsafed at this era of total crisis. Pórtente and to terrors and wonders converge upon the world, bidding mankind Change seek a chanSed Path for living. May it be destined that the meet ings of the two leaders" not only bring an end to the threat of cataclysmic war but inspire the beginning of a re-evaluation of the goals and standards under which mankind may live or die.

Anti-Shechitah Crosses the Border HE PROBLEM of defense of Shechitah is now broadened with the passage of a Humane Slaughter bill by the Canadian Parliament. Like the measure passed previously by the United States Congress, this bill includes Shechitah as a humane method of animal slaughter, but it ominously fails to follow the United States act in a vital respect: that of handling preparatory to slaughter. The Canadian bill is silent on this point, leaving the Government authorities presumably responsible for determining whether or not the present method of pre-slaughter handling is permissible. If the Canadian authorities were to refuse to recog nize the latter as humane, Shechitah would therefore be in effect banned. Canadian Jewish leaders and the Canadian Jewish commu nity at large aré hopeful that the Government authorities will

October, 1959

not permit themselves to be coerced into a decision violative both of religious freedom and of genuine humanitarianism. It can be assumed, on the other hand, that the anti-Shechitah ele ments that haye penetrated the “humane slaughter” campaign will unceasingly press for condemnation of hoisting and shackling, Coercion £ 3 me^ 0^ used in Canada and the United States for Shechitah preparation, as inhumane. Flushed with power, they can be exanc* pected to adopt tactics with Government personnel similar to Calum ny those successfully employed at hearings before the committee of the Canadian Parliament which studied the bill prior to passage. At this occasion, clear evidence was brought forward by Jewish communal representatives that hoisting and shackling is at least as humane as any method advocated by the “humane slaughter” people. This was met on the part of the latter by an outpouring of threats, calumnies, malevolent distortion, and open Antisemit ism. While the character of this “testimony” was unmistakable, the atmosphere thus created led to the absence of provision for pre-slaughter handling in the passage of the bill. n p H IS ominous development reveals more clearly than ever J- before the ultimate aims of some sponsors of “humane slaughter”. Defenders of religious freedom and of Shechitah are determinedly opposing the current move of the “humane slaughter” forces to get bills passed in every American state. This move is obviously designed to foreclose the findings of the Advisory Committee set up under the Federal Humane Slaught ering Act, which is only now beginning its studies. In eleven states the proposed bills have been defeated, with legislators firmly resisting the bullying and high-pressure tactics of propo nents of the bills. In five others, however, the legislators have yielded. Defeated everywhere in the attempt to falsify the humane ness of Shechitah itself in the public mind, its opponents now concentrate their attack on pre-slaughter handling. To resolve . the question of the humaneness of shackling and hoisting, the A nn- j 0int Advisory Committee of the Synagogue Council of America Shechitah and the National Community Relations Advisory Council has Strategy projected a major study by an internationally recognized scien tific research organization. It can be taken for granted though that the question of shackling and hoisting, however resolved, is but a means to an end for the anti-Shechitah forces, who will constantly seek and find new points of attack. In the face of this, the Jewish community, side by side with all real humanitarians and anti-bigots, must stand united.

JEWISH LIFE

An Island Rediscovered By CECIL ROTH

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’ k ns .T'a

AM deliberately beginning my ar ticle by giving the place and date line in Hebrew. For it is probably the first time that this has been done, here in Sardinia, for four hundred and sixty-seven years —• ever since the ruthless expulsion of the Jews here by Ferdinand the Catholic, the hated Aragonese ruler of the island, in 149?. I have come here partly to rest, partly to study; for I do not think that any serious or professional student of Jewish history has ever visited these shores before. Yet they are, for the student of things Jewish, redolent of the aroma and recollec tion of the past. Indeed, one of the indicated joys of Judaism is that the historically conscious Jew, as he travels about in the Old World at all events, is seldom on wholly strange ground. Wherever he goes there are records, monuments, or recollections of the Jewish past; places of nostalgic pilgrimage familiar to him from an cient records or from Rabbinic litera ture. I wonder how many of the read ers of this article will have heard of the ancient, old-world walled city of

October, 1959

Alghero, now a fashionable seaside resort, where I am writing these lines? Their grandfathers would have been, I am convinced, better informed: for religious problems of the Holy Con gregation of this place five hundred years ago are reflected with a mass of picturesque detail in Sh’eloth Ufshuvoth of those great Rabbinical lum inaries of the fifteenth century, Rabbi Isaac ben Sheshet and (if I recall aright) Rabbi Simeon Duran. LREADY then the local Jewish record was very old. Possibly it may go back nearly to pre-historic times. For Sardinia first emerges to light as the seat of a mighty Phoeni cian colony some twenty-five hundred years ago -Af and as is well known, an increasing body of learned opinion inclines to the view that the Phoeni cians owed something at least of the impetus that drove them to explore the ends of the world to their asso ciation with their Israelite neighbors of the tribe of Zebulun and Naphtali. It was however only in the first cen tury of the Christian era that the

authenticated association of Jews with Sardinia begins. The Roman Emperor Tiberius, expelling the Jews from Rome, sent a large number of stalwart young men to forced labor in Sar dinia, although it was anticipated that they would soon be killed off by malaria. Vile damnum, observed un feelingly the Latin historian who re cords this, Tacitus: “Cheap loss.” A pointless one, too: for though the brutal Roman Empire collapsed long since, a Jewish state is in being. Thereafter, for some 1,500 years the Jewish association with Sardinia was probably unbroken. Perhaps some of these exiles from Rome survived, to set up a permanent community. For dating back to Roman times there have been discovered all over Sardinia Jewish epitaphs in Latin and Hebrew, lamps bearing Hebrew words or representations of the Menorah,

eVen (at the ancient mining center of S. Antiocho, in the south of the Island) a Jewish catacomb. It is said that a long Hebrew inscription found hereabouts, dating back to the classi cal period, has never yet been copied or deciphered: one of my tasks, while L am on the island, is to attempt to trace it and to study it. In the mu seum at Cagliari, there are relatively numerous Jewish relics dating to this same period. In this city, certainly, the Jewish record knew no interrup tion. The correspondence of Pope Gregory the Great, around the year 600, contains details of the manner in which a spiteful apostate dese crated the church of this place, and tells of the Pope’s intervention, in accordance with the nobler tradition of Papal tolerance, to safeguard the Jewish place of worship. Some schol ars, a century ago, imagined that the

JEWISH LIFE

great Hebrew religious poet Kalir owed his name to the fact that he came from Cagliari, though this view is now entirely abandoned. And a no torious eighteenth century forger fab ricated a whole series of documents to show inter alia the importance of the Jews in the island in the Dark Ages: quite unnecessarily in view of their well-established significance at a slightly later date. The Jews now were metal-workers, peddlers, merchants, financiers, military purveyors, physi cians, and ,— a phenomenon almost unique in medieval Jewish history — mining experts, with interest in the silver mines which are still worked on the island. N THE fourteenth century, Sar dinia was conquered by the Kings of Aragon. At the beginning their rule did not affect the Jews adversely. Im portant communities continued to ex ist in the principal towns, such as Cagliari and Sassari: and a new one sprang up here, at the place which I am visiting, the port of Alghero, which became the main Aragonese center — to such an extent indeed, that medieval Catalan (as in Barce lona) is still spoken here. The Jews contributed to the building of the town’s fortifications: and I have suc ceeded in tracing the actual medieval tower for which they are responsible, and restored and rebuilt subsequently, which was long known as the Torre degli Ebrei or Tower of the Jews. Alghero is the place which figures most prominently, as I have said, in the Responsa of the medieval Spanish Rabbis. I have been able to inform the local antiquarians, to their great delight, of the vivid picture that is given in one of these Hebrew records of the great feast in the palace of the Aragonese King here about the year

October, 1959

1423, a number of Jews (including the Rabbi) being present and joining in the festivities. The other day I was taken to see the actual building where their celebrations must have taken place. . . . But the Aragonese occupation was ill-starred — for the Jews and for the island as a whole. In the Arago nese dominions in Spain there ex isted the problem of the Marranos, or crypto-Jews: and this was the reason for the establishment there of the Inquisition in 1484 and the pre text for the expulsion of the Jews; in 1492. In Sardinia this problem did not exist. But nevertheless Sardinia being under Aragonese rule, the In quisition was introduced there as well, and the royal edict for the expulsion of the Jews from all the dominions of Castile and Aragon issued in 1492 was callously made to apply to the overseas Aragonese dominions— Sicily as well as Sardinia. Thus, in the mid summer of that fateful year, the Jews of Sardinia joined the sad pilgrimage of their brethren Eastwards and all their traces were absorbed in the new ly made amalgam of Sephardi Jewry in the Levant. From that day to this no Jews have lived in Sardinia and no community has been formed. ET traces of the medieval Jewries still remain to repay the pilgrim’s zeal _ documents in the archives (though none, so far as I know, in Hebrew or bearing Hebrew en dorsements), a ring with a Hebrew inscription, a Scroll of Esther which emerged there — three quarters of a century ago — in the hands of a local antiquarian, an ancient pair of tefillin, I suppose concealed from prying eyes many centuries ago, found when an old cottage was pulled down (and since then lost again like these other

objects). In the three principal cities — Cagliari, Sassari, Alghero— the syn agogues were converted into churches, known in each case by the name of Santa Croce. Only that in the firstnamed place still exists. I have been able to ferret out the sites of the others, with some difficulty, and not withstanding the scepticism of the local inhabitants among whom the very tradition had died away. Last Shabboth I could not go to Synagogue; but I saw where the

Alghero synagogue once stood, and where five hundred years ago the Torah was read on this day as we read it and the praises of G-d were sung as we sing them. I felt a sense of melancholy but also of pride. They went forth to their martyrdom, these predecessors of ours, so many years ago, not overwhelmed by their disas ter, for they knew that G-d does not abandon His people. And their con fidence was justified. Am Yisroel chat!

JEWISH LIFE

Some Views on Institutional Camping By SOLOMON H. GREEN a

n n WO contrasting developments of JL the current year: In the midst of the largest Jewish community in the world a well known institutional camp, Camp Wei-Met, decides to stop using Kosher meats; in a relatively small Midwestern Jewish community, St. Louis, the Jewish community’s only resident camp, Camp Hawthorn, accepts and implements a policy of strict Kashruth. All over the United States, each summer, camps sponsored by Jewish social agencies (most of which are supported by local Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds) receive thou sands of Jewish children who are seeking the educational and recrea tional opportunities obtainable in the out-of-doors, away-from-home settings. The philosophies, policies, and prac tices o f the greater number of these social agency camps adhere to the highest standards of the American Camping Association and of the Social Work profession. Careful thought goes into the development of programs that will benefit the campers’ physical, men tal, emotional, and social development. Attention to the camper’s health and safety is stressed; skills are imparted; generally a worthwhile and purposeful camping period is provided. Only one October, 1959

vital facet of the camper’s life is over looked: his Jewish life. The Jewish camper usually comes to camp looking forward to having a pleasant time, doing things that the summertime seems to have been cre ated for, and to make new friends. This he will usually achieve and en joy. Only there is something about his life at the institutional camp that makes it a little different from his life at home . . . the Jewish spirit is missing. N present-day America one finds a network of children’s camps conducted by agencies of the Jewish community, supported by the funds of the Jewish community, and di rected by Jewish social workers who are undeniably dedicated to their call ing, that are individually and collec tively replacing with “new ways” the Jewish attitudes and values to which the camper has been reared. “Traditional dietary practices are respected” — or some such circum locution — is apt to be employed for a situation in which Kashruth is cari catured by ostentatiously refraining from serving milk with meat — the meat itself, and most of the other foods, being t’refah. “It just isn’t Jew-

Ill

ish to serve milk or butter with meat!” In many, if not most, of the institu tional camps all the Mitzvoth of the Torah are to be considered as nought in the light of this ritual of separat ion of the milk from the t’refah meat. And in those few institutional camps where some attempt at Kashruth are actually made, the standards of Kash ruth are marvelously elastic. Under no circumstance is rabbinic supervi sion, with mashgiach t’midi, to be tol erated: “We don’t want these charac ters with beards floating around!” Shabboth, it need hardly be said, is subject to much the same considera tion. The Sabbath spirit and atmo sphere, the Sabbath sanctity and joy, are scarcely known. In most camps, it is true, some kind of bowdlerized service is held -fk usually on Friday nights only. In some, a minor modifi cation of the regular camp program is in effect on the Sabbath day, but in the rest the day is no different from any other day of the week. Hebrew may be used for “cultural” emphasis in singing but may be considered too difficult or too abstract to be used in Sabbath services. Services may have to “compete” with other activities; for Shabboth services may be equated in educational value along with story, song, or dance sessions — at least not in the same way the camp re quired him to learn to swim by mak ing the camper’s presence at the waterfront compulsory once each day! In many camps the Hamotzi b’rochah is deemed too stereotyped, so an Eng lish (Protestant-derived) rhyme may open each meal— Birchath Hamozon would mean holding up the camp, but singing sessions after each meal makes for a “happy camp”. Yarmulkes at services and meals may be seen as an “imposition”, but camp uniforms (beanies and T-shirt) build loyalty 12

to the camp. The “traditional” way “things” have been done at the camp must be respected— but Jewish tradi tion is found to be too rigid! In essence what the camper finds is that camp may not help him make meaningful use of even his minimal “Sunday School” education and there is little or no reinforcement of the Jewish values, attitudes, or knowledge and feeling that the camper may bring with him for the summer. E HAVE drawn a composite picture of a social agency camp to illustrate how the future oT the Jewish community in America is be ing shaped and molded. In some of these camps the situation is better or it is worse; from the viewpoint of Jewish meaning and Jewish substance it is not a good picture. It is true that the camper generally knows he is among Jews, and that he is in a camp sponsored by the Jewish community. This may foster or rein force his identification with K’lal Yisroel, but a narrow chauvinism is all that can result when the spiritual meaning of K’lal Yisroel is absent. What is most disturbing is that the parents whose Jewish observance is casual and who have no thought to give scrupulous investigation to the matter may not know of these facts when they send their child for the summer. Social agencies without doubt have no intent to deceive these peo ple— they just feel no obligation to relieve them of the assumption that Jewish communally-sponsored activi ties are to be equated, as a matter of course, with Jewish observance. There is an imperative need to make the facts known. Religious leadership and the Jewish social agency camps have a joint responsibility to awaken par ents to the need to assure themselves

JEWISH LIFE

that the camps to which they entrust their children are in fact, and not just in label, Jewish. This is especially important since many such camping programs are used by Jewish families who live in the small outlying communities, away from the centers of Jewish concentra tion. These families often turn to the nearby Jewish social agency camp with the hope that their children will “meet Jewish boys and girls”, and to have the camp fill the gap produced by absent or inadequate Jewish edu cational facilities in their small com munities. The continued neglect of the mitzvoth in the social agency camp need not be self-perpetuating. Social agencies with their sense of responsi bility to the communities are becoming responsive to the expressed needs of the orthodox Jewish community. This newly developed respect, we believe, is due to the recognized affluence and influence within the orthodox com munity. In addition, social workers and social agency board members are developing new perspectives on the Torah-committed Jew and a new respect for the value of his commit ments as the foundation of the mean ingful endurance of the Jewish indi vidual and the Jewish people. CASE in point is the new policy of Kashruth approved by the board and staff of Camp Hawthorn, sponsored by the St. Louis Jewish Community Centers Association. The joint interest of those dedicated to Torah and of those dedicated to serv ice to the whole Jewish community resulted in a plan whereby the finan cial and moral responsibilities of the new Kashruth policy were shared and developed. The social agency staff, in whom the spark of Yiddishkeit had been

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October, 1959

nurtured in childhood, responded, and to this “spark” they added their con cepts of professional responsibility and professional ethics. The camp director, Sam Nagrin, was not a Shomer Mitz voth or a Shomer Shabboth, but his ethical commitment brought the reali zation that the new Kashruth policy would mean a new approach to the total program at Camp Hawthorn. I served at camp as the program director. Accompanied by my family, I came there from my home a thou sand miles away because Rabbi Yecheskel Hartman of St. Louis and Sam Nagrin had impressed us with the exciting opportunities to demon strate that explicit Jewish content can enrich and add an atmosphere of meaningfulness to the camp program. Weighing their enthusiasm against the sobering lessons of a good many years experience with communallysponsored camps, I permitted myself no facile optimism as to the task at hand. It soon became apparent though, that the hopes placed in the undertaking were being fulfilled to a remarkable extent. Overnight miracles, it is true, were not achieved, but if there were no miracles there were at least deeply satisfying indications that the changed approach was finding a positive response. HE KEY element in the situation lay with the attitude which the program might evoke among the camp staff. A hostile or even an indifferent reaction on their part would have raised an impenetrable barrier be tween us and the campers. Happily, though, it was from the staff members themselves that our activities gained momentum. Their response to the Jewish elements of the camp program made it clear that therein they found expression for their own seeking for

meaningful Jewish experience. Longinured patterns of life and thought, it was evident, were being examined afresh, with somewhat puzzled eyes; a new outlook on things Jewish was beginning to germinate. They began to talk about their synagogue or temple affiliations; they began to eval uate the degree of their own commit ments to Jewish life and practice— and deeper, to the beliefs of which Jewish life and practice are the pro duct. Their ferment communicated itself to the children in unpredictable ways. One night while passing through the youngest girls’ village we heard a cabin-full of girls preparing for sleep reciting the K’riath Sh’ma. The camp director’s wife reported that her daughter, after three weeks with a cabin group, continued to recite the Sh’ma at bedtime. What makes this unusual and exciting is that we had never urged this form of content; rather this was the counselors’ own expression of how the Jewish tone at camp had freed them to do “what comes naturally” to them. The first Friday night meal began with a candle-lighting, followed by the chanting of the Kiddush and the Hamotzi. The ceremonial dignity ad ded by the Kiddush produced a spon taneous request from the staff that since the meal was opened in this special way, we ought to close it in a more significant way. This led to reciting the Birkath Hamozon after the meal, followed by zemiroth! HO CAN describe the beauty of Shabboth at camp? All special ists were given the day off so that Shabboth would not be a day of in struction and thus possibilities of Chilul Shabboth were in this way re duced. The Onegey Shabboth follow

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ing Friday evening services were developed in a number of ways. One Shabboth night we would have Israeli folk dancing and singing, the next Shabboth we developed a “Progres sive Oneg” so that the campers ro tated among three activities: Hebrew songs, Hebrew dances, and Jewish stories. While these were regarded as satisfying and successful, our third Oneg Shabboth forum, which was devoted to the discussion of Jewish topics, was for all at camp the most exciting and the most stimulating— it became a necessary part of our Shabboth plans. On Shabboth itself there were services, song sessions, hikes, and other relaxing activities. To be sure, there were counselors and campers impelled by their desire to do well, who did use the Shabboth in ways that were not in consonance with its spirit or its practices. Where they could be discouraged, it was done; where they persisted, we asked them to be cognizant of the practices and beliefs of their campers, or of others in their group. The revered Rabbi Eichenstein, head of the Beth Din of the St. Louis Vaad Hoeir, responded to our request for a hundred yarmulkes. We acted on our hunch that the Jewish background of our campers was such that given the opportunity that reminded them of the practice they followed in the city, the boys would wear yarmulkes at services. At flag lowering, before Shabboth, we announced that all campers accustomed to wearing a hat at religious events could borrow a yarmulke from camp. This accom plished two things: most of the camp took to wearing the yarmulkes at all services; the second, unexpected re sult was the new consciousness that a hat should be worn reciting the Hamotzi at each meal. JEWISH LIFE

Every meal was opened with the b’rochah Hamotzi lechem min ha’aretz, in Hebrew and in English. Some staff personnel wondered if this could be alternated with a rhymed grace in English. We explained that the Hamotzi was the Jewish way of opening the meal and it became the way at camp. NLY the camper or counselor can know the significance and meaning the campfire has for the boy or girl just arrived at camp. It helps set a tone, creates a mood of anticipation and begins the camp season in a dramatic way. Since the campers ar rived on a Thursday, the first all-camp campfire was previously held on Fri day nights. While it was felt that it would be more effective if done early, the campfire was moved to Saturday night, without loss of its meaning or effectiveness. It became the practice that fires were lit much after the sKkiyah. The cooperation and understand ing, the readiness to accept, on the part of the camp administration and staff made it possible to introduce new ideas and changes in method and content. Much-credit must go to the “ground-breaking” initiated in the Jewish program the previous season, when the counselor-staff reaction to Jewish programming was: “You really mean it this time.” There is another dimension that we feel needs to be recognized as im portant in creating readiness for the acceptance of Jewish material and practices. This dimension is one’s use of himself. We believe that the ex pectation of more Jewish content in the program became more significant because the expectation came from someone who himself was committed to this content, and who personified,

October, 1959

if you like, Torah and Mitzvoth to the campers and the staff. E SPARE the reader a recount ing of the numerous ways the Jewish interest, knowledge, and prac tices were expressed in the camp pro gram, in the minute-by-minute living at camp. We will only mention the nine-year-old campers who said they could not eat meat on Tisha B’Av or that they could not go swimming on that day. We will only point to the evidence of content about Jews that was always present in camp-wide pro grams. No one can feel the change that took place in the Jewish “sights and sounds” at Camp Hawthorn, with out having participated in the changes. If the reader has not done so, let us remind him to stop and think about the orthodox Jew in a setting such as described earlier, or in the changing milieu of Camp Hawthorn. It may mean davening ten weeks without a minyon; ten Weeks without hearing K’riath Hatorah; saying Kinoth alone in one’s room on Tisha B’Av; and finding that your family’s cabin is the only spot in camp where the Shabboth Hamalkah is at peace. Admit tedly Shabboth can be a lonely day for the orthodox staff member— when he is the one and only such staff mem ber! For us the experience was well worth it. We have always believed that the orthodox person belongs in the community amongst all Jews, sharing with them his most precious posses sions — Torah and Mitzvoth; from whom else will other Jews in the community learn about and feel Yiddishkeit, if not from us! All summer long we were impressed with the possible effect that counsel ors with strong Jewish commitments

and knowledge could have had on the campers and on the camp. Where are the young men and women who are needed to serve these Jewish chil dren? Is it not time for the orthodox Jewish community and for orthodox

Jewish young men and women to be come involved in the “informal! Jewish education of Jewish children in the social agency camps all over the country? We think the time is long overdue.

Thirteenth Anniversary This issue, appearing at the season of the Yomim Noraim, marks the thirteenth anniversary of J e w i s h L i f e . Having grown up to its “Bar Mitzvah” year through a fateful period of Jewish and world history, J e w i s h L i f e has endeavored to serve basic Jewish needs of our time with purpose and understanding. Friends of our magazine throughout the world have given encouraging evidence of the belief that J e w i s h L i f e has made contributions of value to Jewish life; many salute the character and role of this publication as unique and vital. We re-dedicate ourselves now to the task for which the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America brought J e w i s h L i f e into being: the bring ing of T orah light to the Jew of today. May that light, B’ezer Hashem, ever illumine and guide our magazine and its readers. W arm appreciation is hereby expressed to our growing family of subscribers for their devoted interest in J e w i s h L i f e . Throughout the years of publication, most who entered subscriptions have remained enthusiastic readers of J e w i s h L i f e , and many have enrolled their own friends too as subscribers. Because we know that our readers deem themselves partners in our work, we confidently hope that they, will mark the Bar Mitzvah of J e w i s h L i f e by entering gift subscriptions for friends. They and we will be equally appreciative. T o our readers and friends, and to all Israel, our best wishes for a Kethivah V’chathimah Tovah. May the year 5720 be a year of blessing and peace for our people and for all mankind.

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Torah, Party, and State By ARYEH NEWMAN

HATEVER. our attitude to the state of Israel, positive, reserved, or negative, we cannot deny that its emergence has brought to the fore problems which hitherto belonged to the realm of pure messianic specu lation. In that sense we can all admit the messianic overtones of the Jewish state. To this we must add the messianic inspiration that undoubt edly informed much of the struggle that led to its realization. How many of us dreamed and still dream of the ideal Torah state and how much bitterness and disillusion has been en gendered by the painful discrepancy between the Jewish State in its ac tuality and the commonwealth of our messianic dreams! More than ten years have passed, marked by moments of unutterable pride and glory, and also by religious and political struggle bringing many to the brink of despair and the prob lems no nearer solution. Does the Torah commit itself to a specific social order? Are religious parties an

anomaly? On the one hand, we have increasing demands for what is called separation o f religion from politics and on the other, the state promotion of a program of religious knowledge, assertions that religious parties have outlived their usefulness, and the sponsoring of “religion” by “secular” parties. The Jew brought up to respect the inviolability of his tradition, to pray three times a day, to keep the Sabbath in accordance with the pres criptions laid down in the religious codes, to regard the Holy Land as the natural home of his people and the locale for the full observance of the Torah, is perplexed. This very fact that opinions amongst religious Jews vary from the most venomous, voci ferous condemnation of the Jewish State to enthusiastic and understand ing support, and that a united front cannot be attained even politically amongst the so called religious parties (which was achieved ten and even five years ago) affords eloquent testi mony of this perplexity.

Torah and “ism s”

UT let us start from the begin ning. Is the Torah committed to a specific social order? What are its relations to a state? The Torah

October, 1959

is full of ordinances, ritual and moral, presupposes the settlement of the Jewish people in its homeland— Eretz Israel, forecasts exile as the price of 17

disobedience but contains legislation of an individual nature binding in all circumstances, and other legislation of a national territorial nature bind ing only in the homeland. It pre scribes priests to administer ritual and sacrifice, judges to dispense justice, permits the appointment of a king and binds him to keep special commands over and above those in cumbent on the rest of the populace (Devorim 17:14-20). The Torah does not concern itself with the abstrac tions of state organization — whether democratic, oligarchic, or absolutist, but with rules, which though cover ing every facet of existence are not crystallized into any predetermined, artificial concepts of philosophy and politics. Josephus, the Jewish apolo gist par excellence, did, admittedly, try to fit the Jewish scheme of living into one of the predetermined neat classifications of Aristotle’s politics for the benefit of his gentile audience, talking of a Jewish theocratic state, but his undertaking was all too artifi cial. The priests in the Temple did not rule and the exact details of the state organization — under the varied conditions of both Biblical and post-Biblical eras— cannot afford any grounds for asserting that there ex isted any particular type of Torah state. Even in the realm of messianic speculation where it might be thought that the Jewish sage or prophet might have been tempted to delineate one single form of ideal commonwealth, there is no unanimity on the subject. One Talmudic sage talks of a per sonal messianic monarch, another of a messianic age, and the nearest we have to definition of any particular form of social order is distilled for us out of Biblical and Talmudic sources by Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon in his immortal code (Melachim 18

12:5) when he states that: “In the messianic era there will be neither famine nor war, neither jealousy nor strife. Blessings will be abundant and comforts within the reach of all.” OLITICAL thinkers are only now realizing how mistaken and futile were the recipes of Plato and Aristotle in laying down ideal forms of commonwealths and that terms such as “democracy”, “communism’^ “liberty”, etc., are meaningless unless we refer them to particular concrete situations. The disciples of Marx in Russia have found that his principles have had to be altered to fit present conditions and they have reintro duced class distinctions, wage dif ferentiations, strict marriage and fam ily laws; the champions of individual liberty and democracy in the west have intensified state control and di rection, whittling down real or im agined liberties in the interests of a common good which has more in common with the teachings laid down in the Torah than the abstractions of political philosophy. They realize that the state has changed, and will con tinue to change, with human needs and that it is purely a means of regu lating the lives of large groups of people. It may be co-extensive with a particular religious, linguistic, terri torial, or ethnic grouping. Each age is characterized by its own archetype of political organization and displays legitimate differentiations conforming to the different levels of development and culture of its members. In the light of all this it is ob viously futile to discuss whether the Torah state ought to be geared to private enterprise or to socialism. For two reasons: the state is not a fixed concept, and the “ism” is an abstraction which has a. different

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meaning for each person and con sequently no meaning at all. And in actual fact no socialist party pursues a “pure” socialist policy just as no private enterprise party allows the in dividual complete freedom to do as he likes. How many taxes have been levelled on free enterprise by the Re publican Party of the United States and look at the extensive “socialist” services in health and insurance spon sored by the Conservative Govern ment in England. We cannot but wonder then that we can find relig ious Jews, meticulous observers of Jewish precepts, in almost all the parties of the political spectrum in Israel and that we find religious parties favoring private enterprise and those imbued with a socialist program. What then is a Torah state? What guidance does the Torah offer us in the context of ordering the state? As I see it a Torah state, a state

wherein the laws of the Torah reign supreme, is workable where the ma jority of citizens have been brought up to observe the Torah, accepting its dictates by upbringing and convic tion. The exact form it will take, the distribution of power and mode of administration, will be decided in the context of the practical and feasible at the particular time. There are no hard and fast rules as far as details. The commandments of the Torah can be practiced on a collective settle^ ment as well as on a privately owned one. The only things we can safely rule out are government by one in fallible person and complete laissezfaire. The rest has to be decided on the spot by people deeply versed in all the ramified sources of our faith which are based on considerations of general welfare (yishuvo shel olam) “which a man should follow to live through them and not die.”*

State a M e a n s

The State, from this viewpoint, is thus the name given to a means for supplying certain wants just the same as a house or clothes are respectively required to shelter and protect us. Just the "same as we require-—as re ligious Jews— that our clothes should be shaatnez-hQQ, or that a mezuzah be affixed to the doorposts of our houses, so we demand that the Jewish State respect and promote the observ ance of the Torah. But what are the realities of the present situation? An undetermined number of Jewish Is raelis are not observant—either by upbringing, or conviction, or both. October, 1959

While many of the rules and regula tions incorporated in the workings of of the state are in harmony with the Torah, either deliberately, as in the case of marriage and divorce laws (so far) or simply because they now form part of the general heritage of morality in the western world, as in the case of laws against perjury, fraud, and breaches of the sexual code, religious prescription does not form the basis. The Sabbath is not enforced in the traditional manner *Vayikra 18:5 and Talm ud Yoma 85b. T his is the source for the ruling that saving a life (pikuach nefesfi) overrides the Sabbath.

and the laws of the Torah are treated to a degree as the rules of a private association accepted by its loyalists, given, it is true, a “privileged” position by reason of its historic identity with

the Jewish people and the continuing religious loyalty of major elements of Jewry. In a sense then, religion is sep arated from state, Judaism from con ditioning public life in all its aspects.

Religious Parties Serve V alid Purpose

T IS therefore reasonable that re ligious Jews should band them selves together to uphold the cause of Judaism in thi§ state, as fervent be lievers have in all ages attempted to keep the Jewish community true to its heritage. The Torah expects us to be missionaries to our own people, and rabbis and pious laymen have suc ceeded priest and prophet in that task. “A Jew who sins still remains a Jew,” and we are all responsible for each other. We are doubly charged with the task of sanctifying our na tional activities in the state context in the Holy Land. We are bound to teach actively and by example (K iddush Hashem) and to use all the legitimate means at our disposal for doing so. The emphasis is on the le gitimate. A means that is illegitimate, that causes Chilul Hashem, of course defeats its purpose. Bearing this pro viso in mind, the setting up of re ligious parties to further this sacred aim requires no justification. “Religion and politics don’t mix!” is an old war cry but quite an un justifiable one. Historically speaking the laws of all states, even the most enlightened, originate with religion. You may separate religious organiza tion from state, but morals cannot be divorced from politics. It is purely

a difference of medium, or quantity not quality. The statesman may have considerations of public welfare which the private individual does not have to consider, but he is bound by the same system of values. The war cry is of course in those societies that have suffered a split between the adherents of the traditional rules binding on the association and the secessionalists, between the “relig ious” and the “freethinkers”. It does not express anything about the intrin sically unmixable nature of religion and politics, but merely that the re formers don’t want to accept some of the old rules. It certainly does not describe any inherent defect in re ligion, though even some “religious’’ people have been misled into im agining that such is the case. Religion is too sacred, too clean to be soiled by the taint of politics, they have ex claimed. It is like saying that man is too gross a being to be devout, the house too material to qualify for the sacredness of Mezuzah, our clothes too vain to be sanctified by having them shaatnez-ivQQ. But that is not all. How often do we hear the assertion that the es sence of politics is opportunism and compromise, concepts incompatible with absolute fiats of the Divine

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word? The Torah cannot agree to compromise, its rulings are not to be subject to the whims and fancies of political bargaining. Here again we have the old bogey of absolute abstractions versus the realities of a concrete situation. Admittedly, the principles are the same, adher ence to our timeless code of be havior, to the principles of public welfare satisfying both man and G-d, but the application will vary with each circumstance. To take a con crete example from our traditions: The rules of defilement are inescap able and relentless, as far as the individual is concerned. He is de barred from partaking of sacred food, setting foot in the Temple, until he has purified himself. But what if the whole community, the nation, is de filed? Are they debarred from— for

instance-— making Pesach? By no means. Their defilement, pertaining to a whole community—to a people— is waived. We know too that the cate gories of “forbidden” and “permit ted” in our religious law can vary from one individual to another, in some cases, just as all the demands of the Torah are suspended where danger to human life is involved (ex cepting idolatry, murder and immor ality). On the other hand, the Torah can be more exacting in public “po litical” morality than in private. Things which an individual may do may be prohibited in the public field because of “appearances’^ (marith haayin). No religious Jew or party therefore need have qualms about en gaging in politics, however much the interference may be resented by others.

Dangers o f State-Controlled Religion

O THEN no dangers at all at tend the efforts of religious lead ers and parties to obtain, increase, or maintain their foothold in the sphere of state activities? (We are speak ing of course of present realities where religion does not dominate the state.) Is everything in the garden really so innocuous and satisfactory? What about the admonitions of our Sages to the Maccabean kings to leave the crown of priesthood and confine themselves to the monarchy? There is a danger, but not from the source that is usually suspect. When religion in defense or propagation of its own ideals treats with the secular

October, 1959

state, it is faced with the prospect of “state” control, of becoming a de partment of state. The price of “es tablishment,” of support by the state, is often interference by the state in its administration in a way not com patible with its doctrines. This is pre cisely what happened in Great Brit ain when Anglican clergy were forced to marry divorced persons&and allow their churches to be used for such purposes, in spite of the fact that there existed civil marriage. “This was indefensible . . . The Church can claim absolute freedom for her doctrines, her forms of wor ship, and the inculcation of her moral 21

standards,” ( “The State and Citizen,” J. D. Mabbott, p. 137). Indeed this principle has since been recognized that “the Church [is endowed with] the right and power, subject to no civil authority to legislate and to adjudicate finally in all matters of doctrine, worship, government, and discipline of the Church.”^ (op. cit.

P-134) This is what we are witnessing in Israel today as well— attempts to dic tate to the Rabbinate what the pres ent rulers of the state feel should be the rulings of Judaism on marriage and divorce and the definition of a Jew in the religious and traditional context of the term. The situation is complicated by the fact that there is no civil marriage or strictly speaking, no other form of Jewish marriage but the orthodox one, since Jewish marriage is of course the only form

recognized for Jews by the civil au thorities. Every day brings new prob lems of state dictation as the price to be paid for partial establishment of historic Judaism as the state religion for Jews. This is the real danger. Obviously Judaism must always re main the end and never allow itself to become a means, an instrument or plaything in the hands of some other factor. It is here that we come to the crux of the problem, the distinc tion between means and ends, and it is in this context that the legitimacy of religious party frameworks must be ultimately tested. But this requires a more detailed analysis of the vag aries of the internal political situa tion in Israel and a review of the achievements and/or failures of of these parties. This will form the subject of the second part of our discussion.

The Judgment of History

HE proclamation of independence of the State of Israel was signed on the fifth of Iyar, 5708 by repre sentatives of every shade of opinion in Israel, excepting the Neturei Kart a, who have consistently dissociated themselves from any approval, tacit or direct, of the Jewish State, regard ing with revulsion that the pious Jew is bidden to view the false prophet whose successful signs and miracles are sent merely to test the faithful (see Devorim 13:2-4). For our pur pose, however, we can accept the fact that religious Jewry as a whole, headed by its sages, put its seal of approval on the Jewish State and undertook the mission of sanctifying

its framework, as far as possible, with the observance of the Torah. They banded themselves together into a united religious front comprising four groups: Agudath Israel, Poalei Agudath Israel, Mizrachi, and Hapoel Hamizrachi, to employ all legitimate political media to promote Torah life in the new state. They knew what they were up against and that they were fighting an uphill battle to pre serve values in a Jewish society that had disintegrated from its common religious unity of a century and even half a century earlier. One of the greatest Torah scholars and thinkers of our time, the late Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Isaac JEWISH LIFE

Halevi Herzog of blessed memory, has recorded his approval of the situ ation on the emergence of the state. There is no doubt that his views have formed the basis of organized re ligious action in the state at its be ginnings and that he, by reason of his mastery of Jewish and non-Jewish culture, of both Western and Tal mudic law, a mastery unparalleled in our times, was best equipped to give religious Jews the leadership they needed in these matters. After de ploring the inertia of religious Jewry in equipping themselves to fight the battle of Torah on a state basis with twentieth century techniques he pointed out: “Had the Jewish state arisen even fifty years ago, there would still have been certain prob lems, but not on the scale that face us today. Then the vast majority of Jews were observant. To our regret this is not the situation today. The chief problems facing us are: 1) guaranteeing the observance of the Sabbath, at least in public, in ac cordance with its real character as emerges from the Torah, both written and unwritten; 2) guaranteeing of Kashruth in the public context, as far as this lies within the prerogative and power of the central and local gov ernment; 3) Torah law; 4) ensure that there should not be any pos sibility of marriage and divorce be tween Jews (whether citizens of the state or foreign nationals) except in conformity with the law of Moses and Israel.”* Rabbi Herzog then proceeded to deal with point three in detail, ad mitting that while he realized the * Cited iri Haiorah Vehamedinah (Torah and State), Vols. 7-8, 1956, journal of Hapoel Hamizrachi rabbis, from a book on “Legislation and Justice in the State of Israel,” still in manuscript. ,The passage was penned in the summer of 1948, soon after, the proclamation of the State,

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quixotic character of any immediate expectation that Torah law would be accepted in its entirety by the state, it was the duty of rabbinic authorities to prepare a code of legislation which could be used in a modern state and all efforts be made to publicize it, so that at least parts of it might be adopted and “the chillul Hashem not be so great.” It also devolved on ob servant Jews exclusively to apply to rabbinic courts for redress in all spheres, whenever possible. He fore saw that rabbinic courts would con tinue under the state to exercise ex clusive jurisdiction in marriage and divorce and that therefore they should become the nucleus of Torah legisla tive activity that would spread, in G-d’s good time, to other fields. NE OF the most effective ways of furthering his four-point pro gram, he urged, lies in the uniting of all religious Jews, of the four parties mentioned above and: “I think that . . . we shall achieve, with the help of G-d, almost forty per cent repre sentation in the parliament of the State of Israel and our voice will find a strong response in the hearts of many of those who have become more or less divorced from Jewish tradition.’’ We know now that his expectations were not fulfilled. Only twelve to fourteen per cent represen tation was achieved in the Knesseth for the religious parties and this pro portion has remained more or less the same during the whole of the last ten years. This implies that a large proportion of observant Jews voted for other parties in accordance with other considerations of a political or economic nature. I would say this was the first setback for the cause of the religious political party in Israel, depriving it of much of its effective-

ness. From that moment on, it should have been obvious that additional if not alternative means must be found of activating all those people sharing the aims embodied in Rabbi Herzog’s four points. Perhaps, at the beginning, it was natural for the largest religious po litical party, the unified MizrachiHapoel Hamizrachi, to cherish the fond hope that it would enlarge its following, particularly from the large numbers of religious immigrants pouring into the country. But what happened? The ruling party, also quite naturally and logically, determ ined at all costs to prevent this from happening. And so began the great struggle for the souls of the immigrant children. The secular out look of the ruling party in the coun try became reinforced by the politi cal desire to smash the influence of the religious parties, to weaken, in a long term policy, their power, and to whittle down their representation in the Knesseth. The result was the attempt to “depoliticize” education, the abolition of the trend system in the schools and the introduction of state education of two varieties — General and Religious, instead of Agudah, Mizrachi, Labor, and Gen eral (Zionist). The struggle has grown less intense as the question of religious schooling is becoming in creasingly divorced from association with a parliamentary religious party. UT that has not meant leaving the field of education to the tender mercies of secularists. On the contrary, we have witnessed the de velopment of non-party religious or ganizations— the banding together of volunteer yeshivah students who go out to the new immigrant centers and apprise the newcomers of their

rights, urge them to ensure a religious milieu for their community, without prejudice to the interests of the po litical party to which they happened to be affiliated. These volunteers, called the Pe’eylim, have been able to force the government to fairer practices in school registration, with out any political backing or repre sentation in parliament. On the con trary, they have improved religious life and succeeded in introducing re ligious state schools, sometimes in spite of their religious political party. We have witnessed the strange sight of a Mizrachi deputy-minister of ed ucation repudiating the accusation of the Pe’eylim regarding unfair prac tices in school registration aimed against religious schooling and the State Comptroller validating them. One of the next major religious is sues, after education, which divided the religious parties themselves, was that of the call-up of girls for army service. Over this, one party I— the Agudah |g ||le ft the government and has since not returned. The govern ment itself relented after mass dem onstrations both in Israel and outside, but it is questionable whether this was forced on them by the existence or pressure of the religious parties. After this came the well-known at tack on exclusive rabbinic jurisdiction of marriage and divorce in the form of the who-is-a-Jew controversy, as a result of which the Mizrachi-Hapoel Hamizrachi left the government. Al though the party’s leaders expressed their willingness to return so long as a satisfactory formula was reached on this matter in conformity with rab binic law, the government showed no signs of being interested in their re turn. If anything, the question of their joining any government will obvious ly be decided on purely political conJEWISH LIFE

sidérations as to how far those votes are needed in the cabinet and on the relations between the various parties. N THE light of all this, it can be seen that the four points outlined by Chief Rabbi Herzog will have to be furthered by other means. On the question of Sabbath observance we have the example of spontaneous demonstrations of citizens forcing the local authority to desist from widen ing Sabbath desecration, or the eco nomic weapon wielded by Chief Rab bi Nissim against the Hadera paper factory. We have seen the Histadruth itself set up its religious department to spend money on mikvoth, seforim, and religious teaching for its observ ant members. In this connection it may be main tained that the very existence of religious political parties forces other parties to compete for the religious vote and makes for greater respect of their needs, but that if there were no such instrument, all would be lost. There is some truth in this so long as there exists no substitute form of organization for expressing the de mands of Torah Jewry. But one thing muk be clear, there is absolutely no justification for political activity for its own sake, or for decisions reached by party machines that seem to fur ther the ends of the party but violate the principles of Torah and cause a chillul Hashem. Thus it happened that the Mizrachi or National Re

October. 1959

ligious Party voted for Dr. Nahum Nir, an outspoken opponent of Torah, as speaker of the Knesseth, because it seemed to serve their interests in teaching Mapai a lesson. Similarly, the Agudah have on occasion made political bargains that would seem to the ordinary citizen to run counter to their religious principles. The practical conclusions that seem to follow from our discussion are that the religious party is purely a means to achieve certain ends, that the hopes reposed in its effectiveness have been shattered by the history of these last ten years in Israel. Some other way must be found of organiz ing religious opinion on a non-party basis, perhaps through synagogue membership. All the means of mod ern publicity and pressure compatible with the principles of Judaism should be employed in making the voice of Torah heard. This non-political religi ous activity is already making head way on the Israel scene. It is still premature to call for the immediate abolition of religious parties, bujt they must take much greater care to limit their activity to furthering the four points outlined by Chief Rabbi Her zog, in close cooperation with those outstanding rabbinic authorities aware of the realities of the contemporary situation. The emphasis must gradu ally shift from Torah, Party, and State to Torah, Peopled and State, and the parties, in particular, must active ly further this process.

Mtashh o fa h — Justice and Mercy By SAM SON R. W EISS

“He turned to the supplication of the destitute and did not spurn their prayer.” (Psalms 102:18) Said Rabbi Yitzchok: This refers to the later generations who have no prophet and no priest to teach right eousness and no Holy Temple to atone for them; but one prayer is left them which they pray on Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur. Do not dis dain it, for it is written: “And He did not spurn their prayer” (Midrash Tehillim) n p H E central theme of the Days of JL Awe is the recognition and the acceptance of the sovereignty and the rulership of the Almighty, the Kabbolath Malchuth Shomayim. It is the acknowledgement that behind the be wildering and seemingly accidental occurrences of life are found the di recting will and wisdom of the Creator which alone determine our fate. This will and wisdom set the frame of our existence. Whatever happens to us is either the Divine response to our ac tions— reward or punishment— or His test of our integrity and strength. Whether reward or punishment, we are bidden to recognize both as the Almighty’s call to higher ascent and development. “The reward of the good deed is a good deed”— not to reap fruits is the purpose of our existence in this world but rather to gain wider fields to till and to plant. “The reward of sin is sin”— not the suffering of 26

pain is our greatest fear but rather the further downfall and diminishment of our stature and value. The purpose of Divine justice, of Din, is that we may fathom the approval or disapproval of our Maker in the consequences of our actions. The good opportunity offered to our choice as well as the abyss yawning before us in the wake of our transgression, the joys allotted to us as well as the pain and the anguish we must suffer— equally they are signposts guiding us to betterment. Likewise, the test is not placed in our path by the Almighty to ascertain our value, for His omniscience pre cludes the need for such exploration. Man is tested to the end of bringing to realization his inner potential, for the purpose of gaining greater strength and scope. The Divine knowledge of his possibilities does not determine his development. It is his own action which is decisive for his growth. Ex tended between the poles of good and evil, torn between the impulses of the Yetzer Ha-tov and Yetzer Ho-ra, he rises or falls solely by the exercise of his Bechirah, of his sovereign will. It is, in fact, this sovereignty of decision which makes him the image of his Maker and the master of his soul, of its shrinkage or its infinite expansion. Without the test, he would remain sta tionary and bereft of purpose. Only out of the test can he emerge with higher quality, ready for further ele vation and merit. JEWISH LIFE

IVINE justice, then, is the very pulse-beat of human existence. In reward, in punishment, or in test, man is constantly called to his purpose. Even if hardship and suffering are de creed upon him, he ought to welcome this judgment in gratitude and joyous acceptance rather than submit to it with a sense of resignation or despair ing helplessness. He ought to acknowl edge it as an act of grace, as the mani festation of the Hashgochah Protith, of the unbroken and constant link be tween him and the guiding hand of G-d. Where, then, is the place of Rachamim, for Divine mercy, where the place for the prayer to spare us from what we deserve or to grant us what we do not merit? Is not His jus tice highest mercy? And how can we hope or do we even dare to suggest in prayer that we be exempt from His justice, while confessing by our very turning to Him in prayer that His jus tice is true and wise and good? In real ity, is not such supplication, couched in whatever terms of submission, either rebellion against His judgment or a blasphemous attempt to sway it? And yet, the Almighty Himself taught Mosheh Rabbenu the order of prayers and revealed Himself to His children as the G-d of boundless mercy. T IS in the very purpose of Divine justice that the place of Divine mercy can be found. It is in the intent of Din that our prayers for Rachamim become justified. As long as we are granted life, our sins and our failures are revocable. If we but so choose, we can rise today above our yester days, not prodded by the punishment inflicted upon us, not coerced by the bitter consequences of our transgres sions, but propelled by our recognition of the truth and motivated by our yearning for righteousness, goodness, and purity. By the power of our deci-

October, 1959

sion, by a process taking place entirely within the realm of our own being, we can shed and leave behind us the ignominy of our evil deeds, break the entanglements of habit and temptation, repair the broken walls of our prin ciples and restore to its pristine fresh ness our relation to our Maker. If in earnestness and truth, before the One Who is not deceived nor swayed, we so resolve; if such upheaval takes place in our hearts, sweeping away all grime of our debasement; if in the pain Of, inner rebirth we become divorced from all that is shameful in our past, then Divine justice will be spared, so to speak, the task of punishment and outer direction. “For He does not desire the death of the one guilty to die, but that he return from his way and live’ — then justice will be fulfilled by the gains of the life granted in mercy. We pray not to escape justice but to be given the chance by merit to offset failure, by goodness to atone for cruelty, by piety to rebuild the de structions of callousness, by love to heal the wounds of hatred. In prayer, we ask that the purpose of Din, change and betterment, be accom plished by Rachamim, for we recog nize His will and desire life to fulfill it. Before the One Who knows our hid den thoughts and desires, we clarify in our minds and hearts that henceforth any bounty granted us will not be mis understood nor be misused, but that fit will be accepted as His gift of greater opportunity for service and true at tainment. Thusly identifying ourselves with the Divine purpose, we may hope that life and blessing be not denied us. In all its multiple variations accordriig with the needs of man, this is the one prayer still left us: that we be granted in Rachamim life, so that we may stand up in Din and earn justification before the throne of Divine justice. 27

"sh-

■Pi Will Yiddish Survive? By URIEL ZIM M ER

ILL Yiddish survive? How and where? Who speaks Yiddish, who knows Yiddish, and who “likes” Yiddish? What type of language is Yiddish? All these questions may quite frequently be heard wherever and whenever the subject comes up. It is really surprising how little people really know about a subject which by no nieans belongs to the remote past or to distant regions, but is still part of our everyday life. “Is Yiddish a language?” Surpris ing as this may sound, this question is still frequently heard and by no means is it necessarily accompanied by any amount of malice. What is more, it happens more often than not that the question is asked by people whose own parents or grand parents spoke no other language. Of course, many know that Yid dish originated as a medieval Ger man dialect intermingled with a vast number of Hebrew words plus a loc ally-varying number of Slavic idioms ’— mostly Polish, but occasionally also Ukrainian and Russian. But most of our modern European languages, in cluding English, similarly evolved from dialects. All Romance languages started as local dialects of Latin, moulded after the ancient vernacular of the respective countries, with some of these ancient elements prevailing;

Dutch is basically a German dialect, and the peasants of certain northern German regions still speak a dialect very similar to Dutch. The fact that a language began as a dialect of an other language, spoken by a specific group — whether geographical or ethnic — certainly does not disqual ify it from being a language on its own. Does Yiddish have a grammar? It certainly does, regardless as to how many grammar books have been writ ten or as to when their compilation began. The Rumanian language, in comparison, did not have a unified spelling until several decades ago, and Rumania adopted the Latin al phabet only less than a century ago — yet nobody has ever intimated that this would disqualify Rumanian from being a language. HERE IS, however, something special, something indescribably different about Yiddish. Every lan guage of course has its own peculiari ties; in every language there are certain words or expressions which cannot accurately be translated into any other language, since they ema nate from the individual national character of the nation or people us ing such language. Yet somehow the characteristics of Yiddish are unique,

JEWISH LIFE

just as the characteristics of the Jew are unique. It is not merely a poetical or meta physical figure of speech, but a scien tifically proven fact that every lan guage has what we may call body and spirit. The body of the language is its vocabulary, the skeleton of its gram matical structure. Its spirit is the intangible individual character of the language. Usually, body and spirit of a language are of like type, but there are exceptions, mostly due to his torical reasons. Yiddish is one of these exceptions. Yiddish, as said above, originates from a German dialect of the Middle Ages, the stock of its vocabulary is basically German, as are its declen sions, conjugations, most of its pre fixes, suffixes, etc. But for the many Hebrew words, an average German— particularly one from Southern Ger many, could roughly understand Yid dish without ever having heard it before. Yet, Yiddish is by no means a Germanic language. Nothing is so alien to Yiddish (although, incident ally, its very name used to be in ancient days Jüdisch-Deutsch, i.e. Judeo-German) as the stiff, Germanic character. The commonly used epithet for the Almighty, der Eybershter, for instance, may etymologically be the equivalent of the German der Oberste, but how different from the German is the Yiddish expression and the as sociations it arouses. How much warmth and cordiality does this Yid dish expression convey and how sharp is the contrast with the rigid, almost military sound of the German Ober ster. Through the many centuries in which Yiddish has been spoken, its speakers — first in Germany and later in Eastern and Central Europe— aniOctober, 1959

mated it with a typically Jewish spirit. Only the skeleton of the grammatical structure remained German, but the language grew and became totally Jewish. One more point should be emphasized: Yiddish grew and could grow only and exclusively on the soil of a Jewish life which was imbued and dominated by Torah and Torah alone. Even its jesting phrases are deeply rooted in Torah-true life. It is only in Yiddish that a man looking for trouble koyft zich maftir; that staring dumbfoundedly at some un known phenomenon means looking vi a hawn in bney odom; that mis leading someone means firen in bod arein; that an enterprise with a very gloomy prospect will last only fun Esther Tannis bis Purim; that a “dead-beat” is a ogeklapte hoshane, and so forth. Not even the most fanatic protagonists of secular Yiddishism could and would try to re move such expressions from Yiddish. One might even go further and say that the entire raison d’etre of Yid dish was to preserve the distinctness of the people of the Torah and to combat assimilation to the ways and cultures of the peoples among whom they dwelt. Once this raison d’etre disappears, once the soil of Torah is abandoned, the very ground on which Yiddish grows becomes barren and the language withers. If this was a theory or an abstract philosophy several decades ago, it is a fact corroborated by present-day realities. ET US take a look at the Yiddish speaking population of today’s world, beginning with America. In the United States, the average age of Yiddish-speakers becomes higher every year. Very few secondgeneration American Jews, if any,

speak Yiddish regularly, and the per centage of those who have a working knowledge of the language is also very small. There is no large influx of Yiddish-speaking immigrants to be expected, for the simple reason that there are very few this side of the Iron Curtain (and even behind the Iron Curtain Yiddish is being abandoned — voluntarily or under compulsion — by the younger set). Thus, the reservoir of new Americans speaking Yiddish is not being re plenished, i.e. the average age be comes higher, with no younger age groups following. The youngest age group of the foreign-born, the post war immigrants (most of whom are obviously by now approaching or past their middle age) are in their vast majority trying to integrate in the English-speaking world, and certainly in most cases send their children to

ing the various Yiddishist schools. Frankly, this writer is not too well acquainted with those quarters, but from what little I know I think that it can reasonably be said that the graduates of these schools in the best case have some knowledge of the Yiddish language and literature, but do not speak Yiddish among them selves, or even with their parents, and will in most cases probably not be speaking Yiddish to their own children. During a certain period I hap pened to pass by one of those Yid dishist schools in the Bronx every day at the hour when children were leaving the school building. I pur posely tried to listen to their conver sations in an effort to catch a Yid dish word or phrase but I never suc ceeded in overhearing even a single Yiddish word.

schools where English is the exclusive teaching language, and mostly speak or try to speak English at home. The children of these postwar immigrants, therefore, are to a great extent either American-born or American-schooled, with no particular interest in Yiddish as a language or culture. 2 There is of course the group of staunch, veteran Yiddishists maintain-

The dedicated Yiddishists con tinue to write enthusiastic articles about the greatness of Yiddish and continue to maintain heated debates on such topics as whether or not the phonetic YIVO spelling should be used, but the vast majority of all these devotees belong to the senior age group.

JEWISH LIFE

OWEVER, there is a single, two fold exception to the general trend. For the sake of brevity let us call it the Williamsburg and Yeshivah type, although this definition is by no means exact, if taken literally. The Williamsburg-type immigrant, the beard-and-peyoth Jew, regardless of whether he is a Satmarer or Lubavitcher Chasid, or no Chasid at all, reads Yiddish, makes his business agreements in Yiddish, ¿ speaks Yid dish at home and with his children. Yet, he has no interest in the secu lar Yiddish writings, not even in its classics. At the meetings or social gatherings attended by him, nobody ever speaks about the importance of the Yiddish language and culture— and yet not only does he and his wife speak Yiddish, but so do his children as well. The latter attend a cheder or yeshivah where the mel-

by a large number of children, and their monthly Yiddish children’s mag azine Schmuessen mit Kinder (Talks and Tales) is perhaps the only and certainly has the largest circulation of any magazine of its kind in this coun try. Many of the yeshivoth in the United States, and the parallel insti tutions for girls, are not of the Wil liamsburg type. Their student bodies largely consist of first or second gen eration American-born, or of students who came here as children — stu dents whose native tongue is not Yid dish. Yet, when these young people reach a higher level of study, they automatically learn Yiddish and use the language, although very few if any of the yeshivoth have special Yid dish language courses. When they reach adulthood and marry, many who are trained in these schools try

amed still uses the vayomer-hotgezugt method. To hear a living Yid dish spoken, one need but listen to the small-fry when they assemble waiting for their school buses in the streets of Williamsburg, Crown Heights, or similar sections. The pub lications of the Lubavitcher Chasidim are perhaps the only Yiddish publica tions in America enthusiastically read

to maintain a certain Yiddish atmo sphere in their future homes, and will see to it that their children “know how to learn” in Yiddish. There is also a trend whose dimensions must not be overestimated — among American-born yeshivah graduates to speak Yiddish to some extent with, and in the presence of, their children.^ Although most yeshivoth can offer

October, 1959

tuition Iff English even in Talmudical studies; yet a “bochur” reaching a higher level of Torah studies will at least try to reyden in lernen in Yid dish — the language spoken by his Rosh Yeshivah. And be it noted that among the Roshey Yeshivoth in this country there is a considerable per centage of American-born men who would not think of holding their shiurim in any language but Yiddish. Yet, there is no more interest not only in secular Yiddish literature but even in the cult of the language per se among this group than among the “Williamsburg-type” group. Thus, we have seen that if there is a group in American Jewry among whom Yiddish is a living language today and promises to remain so for at least a few more generations, it is the Williamsburg and Yeshivah type. T

ET US now turn to the other

I J large Jewish center of our pres

ent-day world: Eretz Israel. Here, of course, any mention of Yiddish arouses the controversial topic of Yiddish versus Hebrew — into which we shall not go here, clinging only to facts as they are. Yiddish in Eretz Israel is, of course, still very extensively spoken all around the country, including the lob bies of the Knesseth. During heated debates epithets like “smarkatch” (not to be found in any Hebrew diction ary) are occasionally thrown at or to the rostrum, there being apparently no Hebrew idiom of equal eloquence. Nor is there any party line drawn this or that side of Yiddish. Three female members of Parliament still proudly bear their old-fashioned first names of Golda (M eir), Feige (Ilanit) and Bobbe (Idelson), without fol lowing the common practice of Hebraization of names of that type. 3?

Yet, all these Yiddish-speaking Israelis belong to the older set. Of course, Yiddish is still very largely spoken among new immigrants from Eastern Europe — but again, only by the older generation. In gen eral, the tendency tp preserve the knowledge of Yiddish is far less no ticeable, even in strictly orthodox quarters, than it is in the United States. The immigrant in Eretz Israel is naturally less afraid of seeing his children speaking only Hebrew than the same type of immigrant in Amer ica might be of seeing his children speaking only English. The only exception in Eretz Israel is almost the same as in the United States, with only slight differences. Let us call it “Meah Shearim and the Yeshivoth.” Meah Shearim is, in ac tuality, only a small section of Jeru salem, and the designation is used here only as a symbol for the so-called “old Yishuv” of which geographic ally and statistically Meah Shearim is also but a small part. For the purposes of our topic, this group is by no means limited only to what is usually referred to as “Neturei Karta,” but it embraces people of many political denomina tions or orientations and includes also the very large Chasidic groups out side Jerusalem. The children of the old Yishuv speak Yiddish — in Jeru salem it is the Lithuanian dialect-— from their birth; they play in Yiddish, their schools teach in Yiddish, their parents and teachers speak Yiddish, and, when grown up and married, they will speak Yiddish to their wives and children. Yet, they are hardly aware of the existence of a secular Yiddish literature, nor is Yiddish as a language taught at any of the Israel yeshivoth — a situation much like the one described above. JEWISH LIFE

The same analogy applies also with regard to the yeshivah world of Israel beyond the old Yishuv or the Chasidic denominations. All major yeshivoth teach in Yiddish, and the students automatically learn it, al though they may not necessarily have known it before or heard it at the lower-grade schools. Here, too, there is a certain trend among the younger generation of yeshivah-trained sabras coming from Haifa, Tel Aviv, and elsewhere to speak Yiddish and try to teach their children Yiddish, to prepare them for yeshivah education. All this seems to come naturally, without any special propaganda or even discussion. HE PICTURE in other Jewish centers of the world is not very much different. In South America, it is true, there is still a considerable secular Yiddish-speaking element, but here too the younger generation mostly switches to Spanish or Portu guese. The same of course applies to

Europe, Australia, South Africa, and whatever other places there may be. Summing up, therefore, we reach the following conclusions: Yiddish can grow lastingly only on the soil of Torah-true Jewish life, since it is only the Torah-Weltanschauung that constitutes its raison d’etre. We are witnesses to a somewhat paradoxical situation: The only areas where Yiddish is still alive among younger age groups and has likelihood of remaining alive in future genera tions is among those who are so fre quently labeled “ultra-orthodox”— and it is in those quarters that practically no interest prevails in “Yiddishism” or any other cult of the Yiddish lan guage per se. Yiddish is dying slowly but surely among those who do con sider Yiddish a cause in its own right and who do devote so many efforts to the cultivation of Yiddish language and literature. This situation certainly is a point to ponder.

R abbi Levi Yiizchak of B erditchev ra p p e d for silence one Yom K ippur Eve a t Kol N idrey, a n d sa id to the co ngregation: "My friends, w e h av e a tradition to the effect th a t "w hoever q uotes in the n am e of the one w ho u ttered it, b rin g s salv atio n to the w orld'. W ell, I will q uote in the N am e of A lm ighty w h a t He said: 'A nd the Lord said , I h av e forgotten according to your w o rd !'"

October, 1959

The Lesson of Wadi Salih By I. HALEVY-LEVIN

Je r u s a le m

N TERMS of actual damage done, the series of violent demonstrations in the Wadi Salib Quarter of Haifa, in Migdal Ha’emek in Galilee, and in Beersheba does not add up to anything serious. Policemen and civilians were hurt, mainly by stones, but none of them seriously. Shop windows were broken, some cars set alight, and the Mapai clubhouse and Labor Council offices wrecked and burned. The dam age does not amount even to ten thousand dollars. But the Yishuv— and particularly the Jews of European origin, namely the Ashkenazim— has suffered a shock that will not be for gotten in a hurry. In Wadi Salib disturbances were sparked off when police, trying to ar rest a violent drunk, used firearms, wounding the latter in the groin. Ru mor rapidly spread throughout the en tire quarter, inhabited by some 5,000 new immigrants, mainly from Moroc co, that the police had “killed one of our people in cold blood”. This was the opportunity an organization call ing itself Irgun Likkud Oley Tzafon Africa (The Organization of the Union of North African Immigrants) had been looking for to make its first pub lic appearance. After women and chil dren had stoned the police, without provoking any counter-action, tfre

menfolk took courage and with a bloodstained flag as their banner marched into the Hadar Hacarmel sec tion of Haifa, smashing windows, burn ing automobiles, and setting alight to the Mapai club and Labor Council office. The police, apparently still with a bad conscience at having used fire arms to arrest a drunk, tried to check the rioters without resorting to force. The latter, interpreting police self-re straint as fear of their own strength, refused to desist until called off by their own leaders. HAT HAPPENED in Migdal Ha’emek a few days later was no more than an outburst of anger of discontented relief workers — also members of the Moroccan community. Outbreaks of this kind, over labor dis putes, are not uncommon, the basic cause being frustration over low wages and dead-end relief jobs. In Migdal Ha’emek the Jewish National Fund had taken over an afforestation project from the Ministry of Agriculture, in troducing its own system of daily norms. The output expected in pro jects of this kind is hardly more than minimal, and is fixed in consultation with, and with the consent of, the Agri cultural Workers Union. The laborers, however, led by a gang of toughs, nat-

JEWISH LIFE

urally preferred the previous system, which meant less work for the same pay, and so declared a strike. A dele gation of thirty workers made their way to the Jewish Agency’s office in Haifa, where after four hours of ne gotiations, they began to smash pic tures hanging on the walls. As a re sult fifteen were arrested. That eve ning the inhabitants of Migdal Ha’emek demonstrated for the release of their compatriots, blocking the roads and stoning the police. The demonstra tors, again mainly women and children » -th is seems to be a preconceived tac tic, the assumption being that the police will not use force against them— broke into the Labor Council office, smash ing the furniture. It was only after sporadic skirmishing lasting for half an hour that the police were able to restore order. The fact that ten police men and only two civilians were in jured once again reflects the forbear ance shown by the police. N BEERSHEBA the riot— it was no less— was obviously premeditated and carefully planned. For days pre viously housemaids whispered to their employers that trouble was brewing. On the day of the riot few of them put in an appearance. Here there was no shooting incident or labor trouble to serve as a pretext. A dispute about change staged outside a soda-fountain in the main street of the town was the signal. One of the teenagers involved picked up a chair and stove in the plate glass window. Immediately groups of toughs armed with stones ganged down the crowded streets, systemati cally smashing windows of shops own ed by Ashkenazim. The gangs made their way down the street in successive waves, smashing windows and then melting away into the side alleys or mingling with the crowds. Others arm-

October, 1959

ed with kerosene-soaked rags tried to set fire to the Municipal Rates Office and parked automobiles. But the police were ready. Within five minutes they were in action, and before the night was out forty-two rioters and ringlead ers, all of them from Morocco, many of them known criminals, were in the lock-up. The round of riots came to a head on the night of Friday, July 31st. David Ben Haroush, leader of the Likkud Oley Tzafon Africa, the group respon sible for the outbreak in Wadi Salib three weeks before, had declared that he would allow no political parties to operate in “his” area. Mapai decided to defy the ban, and advertised a meeting in the local movie-house. Ad mission to the meeting was by invita tion only. Strong-arm men carefully scrutinized all those who entered the hall. Police patrols were on hand in case of trouble. Inhabitants of Wadi Salib, mindful of the ban imposed by Ben Haroush, remained outside. Ben Haroush, with the success of his first demonstration still in mind, decided to make this meeting a trial of strength. Just as the meeting was about to begin Likkud supporters gathered outside the hall, insulting and stoning the police. They were chased into the adjoining alleys. This, however, was only the overture. The main act was yet to come. Likkud members were deploy ing on the rooftops, where, at strategic points, ammunition dumps of lumps of concrete, bricks, stones, and chunks of gasoline-soaked wood had been col lected. At 10:15 the barrage began. By now, however, the police were con vinced that self-restraint and patience were misunderstood and were out to get the troublemakers. After the roof tops had been cleared suspicious move ments were noted in one of the houses. Police orders to open the door were 35

disregarded. As the door was forced a shot was fired. In the building were Ben Haroush, with an unlicensed re volver in his hand, and three other lead ers of the Likkud. NE QUESTION that has troubled the Yishuv, in view of the close succession of the acts of violence, and the fact that only members of the Mo roccan community were involved, is whether they constituted part of a cam paign, whether some body was not be hind them. The commission appointed by the Government to enquire into the causes of the incidents has found no evidence of any conspiracy or of the influence of any outside factor. The police, too, do not think there is any real connection between the various incidents, except that just as there are waves of crime, there are waves of violence. What Israel experienced last month, they say was a minor wave of violence. In each case, it has been noted, the incident was triggered by a different cause— in Wadi Salib the shooting of a drunk, in Migdal Ha’emek the de moralizing conditions of relief work, in Beersheba, rowdyism pure and simple. Two things they have in common, the soil from which they sprang and the community involved. The Moroccan Jews in Israel suffer from all the disadvantages of other eastern communities— that is, all the Jewish communities hailing from North Africa and the Middle East— namely, the common background of political repression, lack of education, absence of vocational skills— only to a greater degree. Their difficulties, however, have been compounded by the peculiar nature of the exodus from Morocco in the years immediately pre ceding that country’s independence. The small business and professional

classes, the more educated and the well-to-do elements, who somehow had acquired French citizenship (for Mo roccan Jews were regarded as “pro tected subjects” — a euphemism for second-class citizens— of the Sultan) made their way to France. The poorer element— that is, those who were vir tually destitute— settled in Israel. In part, at least, this explains the depressed conditions, the inferiority complex of Moroccan Jews, the absence of any rec ognized leadership, the multiplicity of North African (that is, Moroccan) organizations, which at best, like the Likkud, owe allegiance to a local boss, and the rise of leaders of the type of David Ben Haroush. AVID BEN HAROUSH has been longer in Israel than most of the Moroccan immigrants, and apparently has learned something of political or ganization. After service during the War of Liberation he found employ ment successively as a watchman and a messenger of the Israel Electric Corporation. He left both jobs be cause they were ¡ B l in his own words — beneath his dignity, notwithstand ing that on his own evidence he is without any education. The Ministry of Defense then set him up in a cafe in Wadi Salib which failed, and is today the headquarters of the Likkud organization. The Likkud Oley Tzafon Africa is apparently organized upon semi-secret lines. Ben Haroush has refused to an swer all questions regarding the num ber of its members or the source of its funds — though it has been re ported in the press that he received IL.3,000 from Achduth Ha’avodah and IL.700 from Mapai, and from time to time has been in contact with certain local political leaders. It is as difficult to generalize about

JEWISH LIFE

the Moroccan Jewish community as it is about any other in Israel. Cer tainly one must distinguish between those who come from the larger cities —' Casablanca, Rabat, Fez, and Marrakesch —- and those from the pro vincial towns and villages of the interior. Common to both categories is lack of education and skilled trades, and indeed of any economic initiative. Those from the cities, brought up on the outer fringe of French civilization, have acquired a smattering of French,

Religion is still a powerful influence in their lives — no religious Jews took part in the Wadi Salib and Beersheba riots and Israel’s planners have found them an excellent element, after the initial difficulties were overcome, in the new settlements and the devel opment areas. It must be borne in mind that those who today occupy slums like Wadi Salib are immigrants who were un able to settle down in the villages and the development areas, and gravitated

Wide World Photo

Firem en douse a blaze in a c ar th a t w a s overturned a n d set afire b y dem on stratin g North A frican im m igrants d u rin g d istu rb a n c e s in H aifa this sum m er.

and of French manners and manner isms. It is largely members of this category who constitute the problem in Israél’s cities. Those from the small towns and villages - | | who still speak their various Berber dialects — are more tractable and responsive to pa tience and understanding,, notwith standing the fact that they are rather more volatile than their fellow-Jews coming from the eastern communities. October, 1959

as soon as they could to the larger cities. ADI SALIB, a quarter of Haifa abandoned by its Arab inhab itants during the War of Liberation, is probably no worse, as slums go, than any other. Perhaps it is even better. At any rate it has sewage, piped water, and electricity. For the officials of the Absorption Department

in 1948 and 1949, at their wits’ end trying to cope with the sudden onrush of immigrants, it was a godsend. Situ ated between the Port and Upper Haifa, they could hope that the new comers whom they billeted there would soon be able to fend for them selves. And so it was. The dilapidated Arab buildings of Wadi Salih served as no more than a temporary shelter, a s . many of the immigrants found jobs, saved money and moved out to more salubrious districts. Dwellings changed hands rapidly and in the course of the past decade the charac ter of the area has altered several times. The present inhabitants are poor, but by no means destitute. Most of them have jobs in the port, the railway workshops, the Ata Tex tile Works, the Fertilizers and Chem icals Corporation, etc. Indeed no more than sixty or seventy out of a total population of 5,000 are em ployed on relief projects. Many of them, like the previous tenants, prob ably regard themselves as temporary residents, waiting for an opportunity to move out. Blit for many, the crumbling buildings of Wadi Salib (a large proportion of which have al ready been condemned as unfit for human habitation) are no worse than what they were used to in Morocco, with the added inducement that the Development Authority, the legal owner of the quarter, refuses to ac cept any rent in order not to recog nize any tenancy rights. Migdal Ha’emek is an immigrant town but its origins are not dissimilar from those of Wadi Salib. Formerly the Arab town of Mejdal, near Naza reth, the abandoned buildings were turned over to new immigrants in 1952, when accommodation was the most immediate problem of absorp tion. Little thought seems to have 38

been given at the time to the eco nomic basis of the town. Apparently the absorption officials, themselves of Ashkenazi origin and used to dealing with the European Jewish mentality, expected the North African immi grants settled in Migdal Ha’emek to show the same feverish ambition to get on that is so characteristic of immigrants from Rumania and Po land in all countries of the world. Necessity, they trusted, would be the mother of invention. Some would find jobs in the flourishing kibbutzim in the valley below. Perhaps even some factories would be established. But Migdal Ha’emek, off the beaten track, is far less favorably situated than urban Wadi Salib. And when all these hopes failed to materialize they fell back upon the expedient of relief works to provide the newcomers with some means of subsistence. ELIEF work is a European method of dealing with unem ployment, and it has never been a satisfactory method. It seems that it is totally unsuited to the mentality of immigrants from the Islamic coun tries. There are 23,000 relief workers in Israel, who together with their de pendents constitute a sizable segment of the country’s population. Sixty per cent of them are physically unfit and are a major social problem. But prob ably if more productive employment were found for the 9,000 or so who are capable of undertaking normal jobs, some progress would be made towards a solution. The Ministry of Labor insists that relief work — com prising mainly afforestation, soil im provement and soil conservation ¡ ¡ ¡ || can be productive. But the fact that the number of days of work per month is allocated on the basis of the domestic status of each applicant —

JEWISH LIFE

ranging from fifteen days per month for an unmarried individual to twenty-four for the father of a large f a m i l y t h e low wage paid (the equivalent of less than 2.5 dollars per day) and that on Jewish National Fund afforestation projects the latter pays only thirty per cent of the wage, the Labor Ministry covering the bal ance, combine to indicate that even officially relief work is regarded as a disguised dole. That certainly is how the workers themselves see it. Relief work could be a means of extending aid to newcomers; it could constitute work training for people who have never worked in their lives, who have been brought up to regard manual labor as degrading. But it has not. The relief workers — the overwhelming majority of whom are Jews from Morocco — accept their ♦status and low wages (kept low to provide some incentive to seek more productive employment) because it involves little physical effort. (The demonstration in Migdal Ha’emek was touched off when Jewish National Fund overseers insisted upon a min imum daily norm). The paradox of this situation is highlighted every year when the cotton-picking season comes around. Hand-picking of cot ton provides thousands of jobs in the late summer. It is not arduous work. Young people, indeed, are the best pickers, and with a little effort, on a piece-work basis, good money can be earned. But year after year protests recur at the shortage of labor —^ while the Government has 23,000 re lief workers on its books and the authorities are under pressure to per mit the import of mechanical pickers. One problem retarding the progress of cotton growing in Israel — for which the soil and the climate are favorable — is the trouble growers October, 1959

have in getting labor to pick their crop. OW the Government is trying to solve the problems of the immi grants’ towns by introducing indus tries, but progress is heartbreakingly slow. Why, after all, should any in dustrialist set up his factory in out lying Migdal Ha’emek, when Haifa, with all its economic advantages, beckons less than twenty miles away? And there is always the strange, ex asperating mentality of the immigrants to be reckoned with. For example : with Government aid a diamond pol ishing plant has been set up in Migdal Ha’emek. Training courses for dia mond polishers have been organized. The factory can employ 120 workers. It employs no more than sixty-five. And of these twenty-five come from outside Migdal Ha’emek. The immi grants are convinced that diamond polishing causes blindness and tuber culosis. The fact that the demonstrators vented their anger „on the Labor Council offices and Mapai clubs has thrown Mapai on the defensive. Davar, the Labor daily, has hinted darkly at a hidden hand pulling the strings. The Government Commis sion of Enquiry, however, has found none. There seems quite a simple explanation for the singling out of Mapai institutions as targets. The Moroccan Jews, politically primitive, identify authority in Israel with Mapai. Mapai propagandists, indeed, have sedulously fostered this notion among the immigrants because of the political advantages involved. It seems that they have been more success ful than they thought. The outbreaks may have wider repercussions. They provide grist for the mills of Cairo and Damascus,

persistently broadcasting that in Israel the North Africans are being ex ploited by the ruling European Ash kenazim. This, of course, in no way detracts from Cairo’s contention that no Jew in Israel, be he from Poland or Iraq, Rumania or the Yemen, has any right at all on the Asian con tinent. The Sultan of Morocco will now have a new pretext for dishonor ing his undertaking to allow the Jews of this country to leave for Israel. And Le Monde, the influential French daily, has published reports from its Tel Aviv correspondent— himself, it seems, of North African origin p g comparing the Wadi Salib and Beersheba incidents to the riots in Natal, and decrying the repression of the North Africans in Israel. T IS only natural that in this con text and in view of the proximity of the Knesseth elections, the ques tion of communal lists should be mooted once again. Leading members of the non-Ashkenazi communities, including Rabbi Yaakov M. Toled ano, Minister for Religious Affairs, and Bechor Shitreet, Minister of Police, are opposed to any such pro posal. Feverish preparations are in the meantime being made, notably by the Sephardim, for the nomina tion of candidates. The existing po litical parties, needless to say, are strongly opposed to such lists. Rabbi

Toledano has stressed that in the absence of candidates of the neces sary stature, capable of enlisting the confidence of the voters, and of the necessaiy organizational and politi cal experience, any attempt to put forward such lists would be bound to fail. The best solution, under ex isting circumstances, would probably be for the parties to nominate lead ers of the Eastern communities; in cluding North Africans, to “safe” seats. The Ashkenazi community, con scious of its own good intentions towards the Eastern communities, may be tempted to throw up its hands in despair. But it cannot give up. Wadi Salib constitutes a warning that must be heeded. Good intentions, certainly, are not enough. The ruling stratum in Israel has been guilty of bureaucracy and complacency in dealing with the communal problem. It has followed the line of least re sistance. But the problem has its natural limitations. Even the Commission of Enquiry had nothing more revolu tionary to offer than the creation of some special authority to accele rate the process of fusing the diverse communities in Israel. It seems that there is no substitute for productive employment, educational, and voca tional training, fortified by good will and tolerance.

JEWISH LIFE

Liberty, Equality, and Confusion in Morocco By MORDECHAI LUBELSKY

The author, who is both journalist and communal worker, has recently returned from a two-year stay in Morocco .

n p H E AFTERMATH of Moroccan JL independence has brought a num ber of complex influences to bear on the Jewish populace, which reveal themselves in the policy of integration. In an effort to find a solution to the Jewish problem (including the ques tion of emigration) once and for all, the authorities have come to realize that it is first necessary to emancipate the Jew from the shackles of Koranic Law under which he was traditionally considered a Dhimmi, or protected person, and give him a legal basis on which to claim equality with his Arab fellow citizen. As yet Morocco still remains without a constitution which guarantees the rights of the Jew (or anyone else for that matter) in the eyes of the law, but in appointing a number of Jews to high offices in the judicial service, the government has attempted to take tangible steps to wards fulfilling its constant pledges of absolute equality. In calling for the complete integra tion of the Jewish and Arab popula tions to form a united Moroccan nation, the government is trying to effect a similar state of affairs to that which exists in the Western democ racies where Jews play an equal role, and carry the same civic responsibilOctober, 1959

ities, as their gentile fellow-citizens* Whether or not these lofty ideals are genuine remains to be seen, but what the authorities have apparently over looked is the fact that in the West one is still able to draw a clear dis tinction between simple integration and absolute assimilation, whereas the backward masses of Moroccan Jewry have yet to grasp this difference. We know for instance that a Jew can remain faithful to his traditions while at the same time occupying a distinc tive role as a citizen of the country of his adoption. To the uneducated Moroccan Jew, however, integration denotes the complete destruction of the fabric of Jewish life. Once he leaves his traditional surroundings— the environment of the Mellah— he also discards his religious principles and is lost to . the Jewish people. ROM the beginning of Moroccan national independence until some months ago, the question of integra tion remained purely academic in nature and was primarily designed to instill a sense of unity into the coun try’s partly primitive multi-racial pop ulation. At the same time it served to act as a public tranquillizer and to distract attention from the more seri-

ous complexities of international rela tions and internal conflict, which at the time of gaining sovereignty were far beyond the means of Morocco’s inexperienced leaders. The disturbing turn of events of the past few months, however, culminat ing as they did with Morocco’s entry as a full-fledged member of the Arab League, clearly indicates the govern ment’s desire to adhere ever closer to the dictates of Arab nationalism, including the pronounced discrimina tory anti-Jewish policies embraced thereby. In addition to this, the Mo roccan authorities are most anxious not to neglect the development of their own brand of nationalism— hence the concentrated effort to speed the process of integration and Moroccanization which is currently gaining momentum. Unfortunately, since the leaders of Moroccan Jewry are already more than eager to demonstrate their willingness to cooperate with the fer vently nationalistic Istiqlal party’s po

litical whim, any realization of these policies must necessarily endanger the integrity of some 200,000 Jews to whom emigration is at present barred. While integration is thus endanger ing the whole structure of Jewish life, as well as the future activities of Jewish welfare and communal bodies (not to mention the confusion it causes in the mind of the simple Jewish “man in the street”), a difficult position is further complicated by the ambiguous status of the Jewish community councils. These were de centralized in January, 1956, and for all practical purposes were rendered impotent with the dissolution of the Central Council of Jewish Communi ties in Rabat, which formerly played a similar role to that of the Board of Deputies in England. The violent internal strife that inevitably accom panied every meeting of the Central Council led to its abandonment and has since left Moroccan Jewry with out an official representative body.

Politics in Com m unal Affairs

A T PRESENT the status of the various local community councils is extremely obscure. Among almost all of them there has been a marked decrease in activity and efficiency, and many have practically ceased to func tion altogether. Democratic commun ity elections have long since been abolished, since it was claimed that these had in any case always been faked. The councils are now almost entirely composed of Istiqlal party appointees whose prime duty it is to hasten the process of integration. Sub sequently these offices are now merely

jl \

being used as political handouts for services rendered to the State, and as further rungs in the party hierarchy. Under such conditions the original function of the community councils has virtually become non-existent. A notable exception to this crim inal neglect of communal affairs is the recently installed Casablanca Jewish Community Council, headed by its young and able president, Mr. Meyer Obadia. The council was appointed by Governor Ahmed Bargash after several months of violent dispute and confusion. Although its activities have JEWISH LIFE

now been drastically curtailed to deal ing solely with charitable matters, the new council has already made a good beginning by tackling the formidable task of clearing from the streets of Casablanca, and rehabilitating the hosts of Jewish beggars who only a short while ago constituted a source of great embarrassment to the city’s 80,000 Jews. The experience and good will thus gained will shortly be used by the city authorities to institute a similar program for the remaining Moslem beg gars who are still at liberty to solicit for alms. An ambitious development program, of which any Jewish com munity may well be proud, has been planned for the coming year. When completed, this undertaking will much enhance the present communal amen ities. It must however be mentioned that the new council’s policy of hastening the process of “Moroccanization” has lately caused much concern in respon sible Jewish circles, for it starkly reveals the true power behind the council. Up to now no facilities have

been provided for a free and legal opposition in the council’s delibera tions, for any such resistance is im mediately deemed a direct attack on Moroccan nationalism and is conse quently stifled with threats of expo sure and expulsion from the council. A similar state of affairs applies to almost every other aspect of Jewish life in Morocco today. Zionism has been banned, and Israel may not be so much as mentioned. Betrayal and common informing among Jews have become the order of the day and pro vide a handsome source of income to an ever increasing group of unscrupu lous and ambitious individuals. More often the-object of their treachery is entirely innocent of the deed of which he is accused (the most common be ing Zionist or Aliy ah activities), a matter which the authorities rarely bother to verify before incarcerating their victim. In view of this, Moroc can Jewry lives in far greater fear of itself than any direct political discrim ination on the part of the government or the Istiqlal party.

Social Care and Welfare

OOKING on the brighter side of A the picture, hope is portrayed in the vigorous efforts displayed on the part of the Joint Distribution Com mittee and the OSE (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants Israelites), work ing through various other agencies such as ORT (Organization for Re habilitation Through Training), Ozar Hatorah, and the Lubavitcher move ment, to improve the general condi tions in the Mellahs and to raise the standard of living of the destitute Jewish masses.

October, 1959

The schools, which are naturally the most effective proving grounds in which to test new welfare schemes to benefit the community, are playing a leading role in creating a healthier and more prosperous Moroccan Jewry. By introducing a balanced feeding program in all school can teens (which now cater to nearly 35,000 Jewish children), the Joint’s nutrition experts have managed to revolutionize the eating habits of many centuries in thousands of homes throughout the country in a com43

paratively short space of time. Where as not many years ago a boy over the age of three could never have been induced to drink milk, today .every Jewish child of school age receives at least a quarter of a liter of milk daily, and moreover, thoroughly en joys it. This balanced diet, coupled with regular medical examinations and treatment, not to mention lectures in hygiene and improved sanitation, has resulted in a marked change in the physical conditions of the chil dren. After only a few months of such meticulous care their rate of growth can be measured in inches. Practically each school now has its own little OSE clinic, staffed with a group of dedicated doctors and nurses. UCH is also being done to allevi ate the domestic budgets of poor families by providing the children in the schools with adequate supplies of footwear and clothing. The latter is generously donated by the people of the United States and distributed by the JDC. Food kitchens have been established throughout the country to

help those too poor or too weak to support themselves, and these, now supply about 1,000 meals daily in Casablanca alone, apart from hun dreds more in the provinces. For those in need but unable or unwilling to apply at the communal soup sta tions, a new aid project was recently inaugurated whereby a specially ap pointed committee distributes ration parcels whose carefully chosen con tents often make up a third of a family’s monthly income. These and other welfare programs are just a few of the many now being undertaken by the JDC, OSE and various other welfare agencies. They are primarily aimed to alleviate the destitute conditions in the povertystricken Mellahs, and to prepare the Moroccan Jew to become eventually self-supporting. With no opportunity at present of emigrating abroad, his only chance is to stay and make the best of things. Suitably trained, he; may at least take his rightful place as a useful citizen in the Morocco of tomorrow.

R abbi Israel M eier (the "Chofetz C hayim ") once said: "The A lm ighty does not forgive a n d p a rd o n the one w ho sm ites his heart w ith 'a l ch et' (for the sin com m itted)—bu t the one w hose heart q u a k e s a n d sm ites him for the sin he h a s com m itted!"

JEWISH LIFE

The Beaten One A Story by M. DLUZNOWSKY

A T

DAWN Chalifah the Dyer awakened, opened his tired eyes and for a moment looked at the grey ish blueness outdoors which was hov ering over the small window of his tiny room. He rose from his bed, washed his hands and face, donned talith and tefillin and recited Shacharith, then sat down to study the sidrah of the week. A Chumosh with yellowing leaves lay open. Chalifah sat on his haunches and in a guttural, sighing voice in toned the words of the Torah. He swayed in the flickering light of the kerosene lamp on the table. His shadow danced on the wall. He was unable to collect his thoughts and recite the portion, as he was accustomed to do each Friday. To his ears came the chant and the raw, sleepy voice of the muezzin, the Arab sexton, who stood on the minaret of the town’s mosque turning to all four sides so that the wind might carry his call to all the faithful everywhere and rouse them for the first prayers of the day, Chalifah was usually never disturbed by the chanting of the muez zin. But today it disturbed his thoughts and confused his studies. Chalifah looked around him. On mats that were strewn across the floor x jL

October, 1959

were sleeping his wife Berachah and a flock of boys and girls, their hands and feet intertwined. His gaze fell upon his sleeping daughter Mazalah. In the light of the lamp he looked into her face, sighed, drew out a let ter from his pocket, held it between his shaking fingers and read: “To the scholar and householder Chalifa Bengabar of the city of Barkaz: Years ago I was in the town of Barkaz where I entered your home and saw your houshold. If my memory serves me, you have a grown-up girl fit to be married and to bring a new generation into the world. Therefore I take the privilege of letting you know that in the forthcoming days there will depart from the town of Sus a son of a friend of mine who is a merchant of fruit, spices, and tapestry. The son is going out into the world to study. I have asked him to visit your home and transmit our bles sings. I ask you to befriend him and hope that in your home he will find his real mate. Your humble friend, Yosef Medinah.” Chalifah was so absorbed in his own thoughts that he did not hear his wife Berachah getting up from her bed. Berachah, clad in a wrinkled dress with a multicolored kerchief on her head, stooped over a pot filled with coal and blew into it with all her might in order to get it to burn, so that she might heat up some water 45

for breakfast. Her thin body bent from side to side of the brazier, from which presently smoke came up. - “Chalifah, why do you sit and dream?” asked Berachah and coughed. “Today is Friday, isn’t it? So we must prepare for the market the colored cloths and kerchiefs. Lame Mustafah is coming today from Magazan to take the cloth. You’re burning oil needlessly. You sit and meditate and there isn’t a bit of bread or a drop of tea in the house. Today is erev Shabboth and we need a little money to buy kuzkuz and at least a few loaves of bread. “Yes, Berachah, you’re right. Right away. I’ll start work.” He hid the letter, closed the Chumosh and went to get his painter’s tools, which consisted of two big pots and a few dishes for washing cloth. A damp smell issued from all of them. The poverty of the poor artisan cried out from every corner.

n p H E early morning blueness dis-

JL appeared. Bright daylight appeared in the town of Barkaz. From all the crooked streets, from old, half-ruined houses, came bent figures clad in torn, dirty abayas. Upon their heads towered whitish turbans. Shuffling along in their torn shoes, they were hurrying to the open doors of the mosque for the morning prayers. Other women and men were hurry ing to work. Here an Arab loaded the donkey with sacks of fruit and went forth to trade. Another Arab at a well filled his two ewers with water, threw them over his shoulders and in a monotonous voice began to peddle his fresh water. A sleepy camel-driver swayed on the hump of a camel which with majestic strides was twisting and winding around the narrow, crooked 46

streets on his way to the open field. Jews came out of their cramped homes. A respectable householder, garbed in his long, fluttering attire, wearing a small, black, roundish cap, his feet in woven sandals, was surrying with a tallith-bag under his arm toward the nearest synagogue for morning prayers. From a corner of the street there came a blacksmith, iron bar swinging from his half-bent shoulders, from another corner, a tailor, a piece of cloth slung over his shoulder, each hurrying to earn his daily sustenance, and perhaps too, if the Lord so will, to earn something for the Sabbath. Chalifah the Dyer loaded a basket with colored wool and thread on a lame donkey. Walking on one side and his wife Berachah on the other side of the donkey, they went out into the market. Y THIS TIME the town was wide awake. The tiny shops in the holes of walls opened up with a color ful display of all sorts of goods. The day was hot. Soon in the market-place people were trading, shouting at the top of their lungs. White-robed Arabs loitered around the market-place with feverish eyes, handled the goods, hag gled over prices, and bought nothing. An old-grey-beared Arab accompanied a monotonous melody upon a wooden instrument. Jews cried out their wares, praised their fruit which was rotting and the fish over which swarms of flies were hovering. An Arab scribe on a small bench was writing letters with a goose feather pen for a dozen women. In the center of the market an Arab with a shaved head was pull ing snakes out of a basket, while another was playing upon a whistle and the crowd surrounding them was enjoying itself.

JEWISH LIFE

Chalifah and his wife Berachah called out their goods: “Grey cloth for an abaya, fit to be worn by an effendi! Red, green, y e l| low wool thread for weaving bonnets for the most beautiful women of Barkaz. Blue cloth for making pantaloons for the Ramadan holiday!” Chalifah cried his ware mechanic ally. His head was awhirl. He was thinking of his unhappy daughter Mazalah, of the letter in which he was told that perhaps the right hus band will come to her. Over and over he tried to estimate the distance from the town of Sus to Barkaz. The guest might arrive even today, before Sab bath eve. Within him stirred a turmoil of woe and hope. As soon as the day’s sustenance was gained, he re solved, he must go to the “Ohel” of the holy saints and pray to G-d that his daughter might find favor in the eyes of the guest. Perhaps, who knows. . . . Berachah disturbed his musing. “What ails you today, Chalifah — your head is somewhere far away, rather see that we should earn a little money. Shabboth will arrive and we may not have enough coins to buy bread, fish, tea. And we’ve got to buy shirts for the children.” “What shall I do?” Chalifah’s eyes turned upward to heaven. “I cry out my goods, but the buyers do not re spond. Soon Mazalah will come out with Nessim and they’ll help out. Perhaps . . . ? ” Berachah sighed, drew the kerchief over her head and in a despairing voice said: “Mazalah wept again when she awoke today, and cried that she is afraid. She tore her hair. What will become of our daughter? She’s getting on in years.” “She’s now more than seventeen,” Chalifah lamented. “Were it not for October, 1959

that calamity, she would have been married already. Maybe G-d will finally take pity on us?” “Why do you think that G-d will suddenly take pity and hear our prayer?” retorted Berachah with bit terness. Chalifah scratched his little beard, raised his eyes heavenwards, but said nothing about the letter. In the center of the market Jews in guttural voices sang out the praises of their goods. Fishermen praised their fish and the spice merchant his wares. Fruit dealers sang, “Dates that drip with honey, prunes full of juices, apples that nourish the body!” O Chalifah’s corner in the mar ket there came a young girl, thin and wan. Her neck and forehead were framed in locks of black hair, of a fine texture but in ill array. Eyes deep and dark, clouded with sadness, spoke of nameless fear. She wore a short dress; her feet were shod in torn sandals. By her side ran Nessim, her little brother, barefoot and in torn trousers. His hungry little eyes searched all around with longing to taste the delicacies of the market place. He ran up to his parents. “I want bread, an apple.” “You’ll get everything, Nessim. Everything will be on the table tonight.” Silently the girl stood near Chalifah and Bera chah. She started taking the goods out of the containers, patted the donkey and then remained standing in a daze with lowered head. A stout Arab accompanied by his veiled women-folk approached the dyer, greeted him and began to look over the colored cloths and the woolen threads. “From this thread you can weave garments for your household,” Chalifah and Berachah

together started praising their wares. “ From the cloth you can clothe your household so beautifully that all strangers’ eyes would be mirrored in them when they appear in the street.” “You’ve got a clever tongue,” the Arab laughed, “a sharp tongue, but an honest one. You’re also my neigh bor. So it was fated that I should buy from you today.” The Arab bought up the remnants of the col ored goods, bargaining for them un

til both parties were satisfied. When the Arab went away Chalifah left the donkey with the containers to his wife and children and said that he was going to the baths in honor of the Sabbath. He started walking to the outskirts of town to the chapel where lay the remains of the saints of Barkaz. There he went to cry out his sorrow, as well as to thank the Lord for having brought him some earnings this day.

OW different from now had been the Mazalah of but two years before. Then she was the prettiest girl in the mellah, the Jewish quarter of Barkaz. Pious and well-mannered, she was a girl of joyous spirit, full of laughter and song. Mothers would bless their children that they might have the charm of little Mazalah,

while evil-minded people were envi ous of the dyer and his wife because df the precious treasure the Lord had bestowed upon them. In appearance she seemed like a child of the Atlas Mountains, brownskinned, agile, delicate limbs and eyes reflecting the storms of the desert and the coolness of the bare hills. Her

JEWISH LIFE

parents watched her every step, fear ing the Evil Eye. She was then in her fifteenth year. Once there came to the ^dyer an Arab from a neighboring village bringing some cloth to be dyed, and with him his son, a tall, strapping youth. He saw Mazalah helping her father at his work, singing and laugh ing at the same time. He saw her girlish charm, and could not take his eyes off her. Some time later the son himself came to take the goods. Chalifah filled the sack and gave it to him. “Why, we brought much more wool and cotton,” the young man blus tered. “This is all you brought me,” said Chalifah “there wasn’t even one thread more.” “You’re lying” the young man roared. “You want to take from a poor Arab all his hard-earned pos sessions. I’ll show you!” After a few more angry words between them a fist-fight broke out. Like a flash it spread through the crooked alleys of the mellah. The Arabs who had been sitting in the coffee-houses drinking green tea, smoking nargilas and humming tunes,

suddenly awakened from their leth argy, ran out with clenched fists and yells: “Jews are robbing G-d-fearing Arabs who fast during the Ramadan days. The Jews are taking away all our possessions. They covet our wo men, take the bread out of our mouths!” The fight lasted several hours. There were bloody, battered bodies on both sides. During the fight Mazalah disappeared. The Jewish youths of the town banded together to look for her. On the third day she was found, wracked by pain and despair, in a rock cave of the Atlas Mountains. The delicate Mazalah fell into a deep melancholy. Her dark eyes lost their glitter, her lips became pale, her graceful body shrank. She became fearful of every shadow and for days would not utter a word. . . . Sadness and sorrow entered the house of the poor family of Chalifah Bengabar. “Who will now want to become engaged to such a girl?” la mented the father. “What Jewish young man will want to tie himself to her?” The mother wept quietly and mur mured: “Mazalah, Mazalah, what has become of you?”

n P H E half-blind sexton Naphtali l poured oil into the basins holding the burning lamps of the Eternal Light, straightened the wicks with his shaky fingers and turning to the cor ner where Chalifah was standing said: “What has brought you here today to the Ohel of the saints, Chalifah? Haven’t you cried your heart out October, 1959

enough because of the calamity that befell you?” “My heart can’t quiet down, Naph tali. The Lord is testing his poor servant Chalifah. I’ve come to pour out my troubles, find some comfort perhaps.” “May help come down to you from Heaven.” 49

The chapel, a little hut, stands in the middle of a field among humpy hillocks. Inside burns the oil in basins and over them are letters with the names of the saints that lived in the Moroccan town of Barkaz, and had done much good during their life time, had performed miracles and been a comfort and salvation to the Jews of those days.. > * To this Ohel on the outskirts of town there come Jews and Jewesses, the sick and the hale, old and young, the lame, beg gars, and even the well-fed and prom inent people. A blind Jew stood holding a Meir Baal Haness box in which coins are dropped, shaking the box and asking coins of the sick and the healthy who had come from all over Morocco to pray at the graves — some for a live lihood, some for health, some for a

bit of happiness. Chalifah stood near the Eternal Light. His lips uttered a prayer. It was getting late. Jews were pre paring to walk back to town. The blind sexton put aside the box with the coins. The psalm-chanters uttered their last verses. Chalifah remained, unmoving. Naphtali put his hands upon Chalifah’s shoulders and said: “Chalifah, Shabboth is coming down upon the earth. Enough of sor rowing. Go home to your household. May your heart become filled with hope, like a bottle filled with sweet spring water.” As from a deep sleep Chalifah roused himself. He kept cracking the fingers of his hands, murmured thanks to Naphtali, piously read the names of the saints over the oil lamps, and went out of the chapel.

of my way, which leads to the great city of Fez, and stop over in Barkaz to bring you regards, to inquire of your health and the health of your household!” “Oh, from Sus!” Chalifah inter rupted the stranger. “Sholom Aleichem! Boruch Haba! Peace be with you, my friend and guest. Why do you stand by the door? Come into the house.” “Berachah, bring a basin of water. Our friend will wash from his feet the dust of the journey!” Chalifah turned from the pots, from the thick steam. He went to the door to meet the guest and suddenly stood still. Only now, by the light of the outdoors, did

THICK fog of steam filled the where Chalifah, halfnaked, was working at a seething cauldron. Flames burst forth from under the vessel. In a corner stood Berachah, bent over a big wash tub. Her bony hands kept deftly rubbing over a board. She sighed, rinsed the water from the clothes and threw them over to Chalifah. From his hands they swiftly flew into the seeth ing cauldron. “Is this the house of the wise man and householder, Chalifah Bengabar?” Chalifah swiftly turned, peering through the thick, steamy fog. A man stood by the door. “Your friend, Yosef Medinah from the town of Sus asked me to go out x j L room

JEWISH LIFE

he see the man; a dark little beard rimmed a young delicate face. From above the breast of the young man and from his shoulders rose humps which the broad abaya had for a moment hidden from Chalifah’s eyes. In one hand the man carried a fully loaded sack, and in the other a cane. Chalifah’s lean body twisted, his feet wobbled. He began to stammer: “My friend, Yosef Medinah, whom I haven’t seen for several years, wrote me that you would be here. He asked me to receive you well. Y qu . . . will be my guest. Today is only Wednes day. But you must remain in our home until over the Sabbath.” P “If such is the will of my master Chalifah, I will surely remain,” said the stranger and his pale face with the flashing eyes looked around the dye works. Now Chalifah understood every thing. But what should one do now? How does one acquaint Mazalah with such a person? Who knows? Perhaps it is so fated. Perhaps it is written in Heaven that these two unhappy ones should be united? “What is your name? Forgive me, I forgot to ask.” “Shimon Barani.” Chalifah led the guest into his house. Shimon put down the sack, dusted off his clothes, stroked his beard and sat down by the table. From a drawer Chalifah took out a white tablecloth which he spread over the table while his hands were shaking and his heart was pounding. Shimon Barani noticed Mazalah. She was standing in a corner of the room, gazing at him intently. Their eyes met. The pallor of her face gave way to a crimson flush. Her eyes became alight. Shimon’s eyes glowed with a flame, his lips became pale. October, 1959

He opened his sack, took out a colored silken shawl, gold-braided sandals, a pair of trousers for Chali fah, a silver-wrought bracelet for Berachah. He put all these things on the table and murmured, “It is cus tomary that when a guest comes he brings gifts. Here are my gifts.” r p H E young man remained over the JL. Sabbath in Chalifah’s home. Dur ing those few days Mazalah’s face be came as the face of one reborn. Again and again her glances met the eyes of Shimon. One day after Shabboth Shimon Barani said to the dyer: “I left my prosperous, happy home in order to 51

come to a great city to acquire knowl an Arab concubine, another wife, who edge as well as ability in conducting gave birth to me. . . .” business. My father is rich and prom Chalifah shuddered. There were al inent. Our friend Yosef Medinah ask ready too many blows for his pained me to stop in Barkaz. I listened wracked body. Why is the Lord to him. I’m not sorry I went out of testing him so much— is it a nisayon? my way. I have seen your daughter Or is it simply the play of fate? He and, if it will be your will and her wanted to withhold his words, but will, I wish to marry her.” Chalifah could not. swayed and barely stammered out, “Then you are . . . you are not a “She is a victim of misfortune. Her Jew, Shimon?” mind is affected. Her language is un “I am a Jew. My mother embraced clear. . . the faith of Israel, was properly con “I too have been punished. I have verted and brought me up as a Jew. been a cripple from the day of my In our district, deeper in the moun birth.” tains, that happens not seldom. Every Chalifah spread out his hands like one in my town of Sus, young and wings and, pointing to his household old, knows of this. I can bring the effects continued: “This is all I own. proper witnesses!” “I need no witnesses, Shimon,” We are very poor, have barely enough for a day. Mazalah has no proper said Chalifah in a choked voice. “I dress to cover her body, no shoes for want you to tell me openly— if, for her feet.” instance, it weren’t as you’ve told Shimon Barani again stroked his me, would you also have insisted beard and said calmly, “My father upon marrying Mazalah?” Shimon Barani did not hesitate a will give me enough for a livelihood and for other expenses until I will moment. He said firmly, “She is my intended one from Heaven.” become self-supporting.” Chalifah yielded. “It seems then Chalifah, perplexed, was like one that thus it must be. Take the gifts, who stood upon two scales. He said slowly: “Listen, my friend. I am an Shimon, and give them to Mazalah. honest artisan. I’ve never fooled any Perhaps she will become well again.” one, never sought to rob one of even HALIFAH went out. His heart a penny. I must therefore reveal was in turmoil. He saw his wife something to you. A great calamity bent over the wash-tub. He told her has befallen my daughter. She has the news. been defiled. A hot-headed Arab ab “Mazalah has found her intended ducted her and defiled her. Young and one!” old in Barkaz know it.” “Shimon!” Shimon’s eyes lowered. His voice “Yes, Shimon from the^ town of trembled: “I’ve already heard of that. It was brought to me here in town Sus.” with all the details. I must therefore Berachah straightened her tired also tell you what is pressing on my body, shook her head and spoke to heart. My father had no children from herself and to none else: “At last! his first wife, surely that must have Happiness for my child . . . came been G-d’s will. He therefore took from a far city. Oh, woe is me, woe

JEWISH LIFE

is me. My Mazalah, the prettiest girl in Barkas . . . a man with two humps . . . a match sent from Heaven. . . . ” That same afternoon Chalifah went again to the Ohel of the Barkaz saints. This time, not to pray for surcease

from the blows which had fallen upon him, sudden, bitter blows that rained upon him endlessly, but to give thanks for that amidst the depths he had cried forth and his cry had been heard.

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October, 1959

Genesis of a Washington Synagogue By AARON KRUM BEIN and LEE M. SPETNER

REATER WASHINGTON, with v T the nation’s capital at its center, is unique among American metropol itan areas in several ways. The govern ment is the chief and practically only major industry, and as a consequence the proportion of professionals, i.e. lawyers, engineers, scientists etc., is un usually high. Very few Washingtonians are “natives”, practically everyone having his “home town” elsewhere. This results in a partially transient pop ulation but also creates a greater feel ing of mutual dependence and makes Washington a particularly effective “melting pot” area. These factors are, if anything, in tensified among the Jewish popula tion. Here the proportion of profes sionals, particularly among the more recent arrivals, is unusually high, with the result that in many new areas the traditional financial backbone of the Jewish community, the business man, is scarcely found at all. In the present configuration of the American Jewish community, the impact of these con ditions on the formation of an Ortho dox synagogue is especially striking. 54

On the negative side, because new synagogues or community centers must now have a very broad financial base, with hundreds of member fam ilies, the compromise which frequently occurs results in at the very least a “right wing Conservative” congrega tion. On the positive side, if the young professionals who would be the back bone of any new synagogue in the Washington area are determined to build it in the spirit of Torah-true Judaism, they have a G-d-given op portunity to make it something unique on the American scene. They are or thodox Jews by complete conviction, having tasted and even excelled in sec ular learning and scientific endeavor and emerged with their faith, if any thing, stronger than ever. They have seen the failures of the old city shool, particularly with young people, and are determined not to repeat its mis takes. If, as in Washington, a larger than usual proportion are scientists and engineers, they teach, by example that in the “Space Age” one can be at the same time a fervent Torah-true Jew and a capable, or in fact an outJEWISH LIFE

standing, scientist. This circumstance, when coupled with the sincerity indi spensable to such an undertaking, at tracts to them people whose souls still have the true Jewish spark, whether they have been “Shomrey Torah Umitzvoth” in the past or not. The influence of these factors, both human and en vironmental, on the forging of a new synagogue is well illustrated, we be lieve, by the history of Washington, D. C.’s Congregation Shomrai Emunah. UR STORY begins in -1951 when Riggs Park, a section in the north east portion of Washington, D. C. was just beginning to be developed with semi-detached brick homes, which were priced to attract middle-income families. That the new home owners attracted there from apartments in all parts of Washington were predomin antly young families with small chil dren is not surprising. But for some unfathomable reason, perhaps discov erable by anthropologists of a later generation, the overwhelming majority of these families were Jewish. This is all the more surprising in view of the fact that Riggs Park turned out to be the first such “Jewish section” in Washington’s modern history. Since no synagogue existed in the area, a movement soon arose to or ganize one, though the various organ izers were in many respects inspired by markedly differing motives. As in so many other communities, those who were actively interested com prised only a very small portion of the total Jewish population; it was an un employed non-orthodox clergyman in search of a position who initiated the first organizational meeting. The ques tion of motivation very soon caused a split in the fledgling congregation along the now all too familiar lines of

October, 1959

Torah-true Judaism vs. “community centerites”, focusing sharply on the question of mixed seating. Although among the active workers the two ide ologies had about equal numbers of ad herents, the mixed seating proponents kept hammering away at the issue and by what can only be called a rabblerousing technique, finally secured the necessary majority. As a result the or thodox elements withdrew and organ ized Congregation Shomrai Emunah. The founding group of this new con gregation was by no means itself ho mogeneous. The ideological core con sisted of a dedicated group of scien tists and engineers whose earnestness attracted many other professionals, not all of whom were strictly observ ant Jews. All felt, however, that the only type of synagogue which made sense was an orthodox one. There were also a number of regular shool-going Jews, some old, some younger, who were naturally attracted to Shomrai Emunah and have helped considerably in its maintenance. As time went on the basic nature of the membership remained about the same, although the total has increased quite considerably. EFORE the splitting of the orig inal nascent congregation, and while the controversy of mixed versus separate seating was raging, the ortho dox faction had proceeded to establish a Shabboth minyon in private homes on a rotating basis. Bookcases seemed to be the style for the mechitzah. It was quietly arranged that the services should always be held in the home of one of the orthodox, pending establish ment of a synagogue. After the organization of Congrega tion Shomrai Emunah the Shabboth minyon continued for a time to be held in private homes. Then in a series of ascending steps which took five

years to complete, it was successively moved to an old V.F.W. clubhouse, to an apartment project basement, to a condemned house awaiting demolition, to a Masonic building, and finally into its own newly constructed edifice. Among the many vicissitudes encoun tered during these “Goliyos” was a rather spectacular fire in an oil stove used to heat the condemned building mentioned above. This occurred just before Minchah on an Erev Shabboth and necessitated davening in the open air. It is worthy of mention that our Hebrew School, like the Shechinah perhaps, followed us from “Golus” to “Golus”. A few words should be said about the nature of the Shabboth services in Shomrai Emunah in those early days. In order to demonstrate to the community that services could be both orthodox and understandable at the same time, several of the members would take turns reviewing the sidrah in English and interpreting various prayers. It was certainly an inspiration to all to hear the 19th chapter of Tehillim, Hashomayim M ’saprim K evod Kel, profoundly interpreted by an outstand ing nuclear physicist or to have the ethical code of “K’doshim” applied to “modern” lives by a senior staff mem ber of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. And we dare say that few will ever forget how the in tricacies of the “Molod” and “Kiddush Hachodesh” were put into understand able terms by one of the U. S. Navy’s mathematical physicists with the aid of orange and grapefruit models. These explanations were, it should be pointed out, in the nature of experi ments and were in the main successful in attracting to the services many who had rarely attended a shool since childhood. 56

ROM the beginning, Shomrai Emu nah literally catered to the children and being in a young community, children often outnumbered adults at services. The children had a “cola and cookie” Kiddush every Shabboth with a chazan, usually age 3 or 4, leading the b’rochoth; they “took over the services” from the singing of “Eyn Kelonkeynu” to “Adon Olom”. A unique innovation was the chanting in unison of the three paragraphs of the “Shema” with “trop”. Within a few weeks, children who could not yet read, knew not only the words by heart but the cantillations as well! Even before Shomrai Emunah was officially organized, a unique Shiur was instituted in the area. Although led by Musmochim who were also sci entists, the majority of the active par ticipants were scientists and engineers many of whom had never had the ad vantages of a yeshivah education. As a result, they brought to the study of Gemora not the traditional Talmudic logic, but that of mathematics and science. Not a whit less devout in their learning nor any the less interested in resolving a difficult “inyon”, they nevertheless thought in terms of equa tions and mathematical models rather than in those of “pilpul”. As a result, although learning Masecheth Shab both in this way at first disconcerted those used to traditional shiur, it proved to be peculiarly attractive to those of a scientific turn of mind and opened to them new vistas on the “Sea of Talmud”. This Shiur eventually became a part of the permanent program of Shomrai Emunah, and today attracts many from other parts of the Washington area as well as the congregation’s own members. In addition there has re cently been instituted in Shomrai Emunah, along with its regular adult

JEWISH LIFE

education classes, a weekly Talmud Night. At that time, those who are able to learn come and learn in the Beth Hamedrash. For beginners, the Rabbi teaches a first-course in Gemorah, lecturing on Bova Metziah. HE FORMATION of a young or thodox synagogue in the Washing ton area stimulated not only its organizers but the Washington Rab binate as well. The leaders of the local Vaad Horabonim were extremely help ful and actively aided in obtaining a donation of land for a .synagogue. Rabbi Abraham Kellner, then execu tive director of the Washington He brew Academy, agreed to sejve as part-time rabbi of Shomrai Emunah and was greatly instrumental in stimu lating its growth spiritually, numeric ally and financially. Raising money for the new building was, as expected, a difficult task. The idealistic spirit that prevailed, how ever, was responsible for causing most of the members to pledge and to pay sums of from $360 to $500. It should be understood that these sums were in addition to the few hundred dollars per year many of them were already contributing for running expenses. Approximately $15,000 in cash was raised in this way, which with a $35,000 mortgage covered the cost of construction of a modest synagogue structure. In its new building, Congregation Shomrai Emunah has continued to grow and to act as a focus for Jewish life in the area. Newcomers to Wash ington, particularly if young profes sionals of religious bent, almost in variably try to settle in its vicinity. In fact, if Shomrai Emunah did not exist many of them would probably not

■

October, 1959

accept positions in the area at all. This steady influx has helped to keep alive the original spirit of its founders and this is manifest in many ways. When a full-time rabbi was engaged, a trueTalmid Chochom and scholar, Rabbi Gedaliah Anemer, a graduate of. the Telshe Yeshiva, was chosen for the position, certainly a reversal of the usual suburban trend. On a recent visit to Washington by one of the authors, who had left it in 1956, he found a bio-chemist teaching Perek and a State Department linguist as the regular Baal Koreh. Another young man, who had accepted a position on the mathe matics faculty of Catholic University, was arranging to live near Shomrai Emunah. N OTHER respects it is perhaps more difficult to determine accu rately all that Shomrai Emunah has contributed to the strengthening of Torah Judaism in its locality. It has been the cause of some families start ing to observe Kashruth, to others it has hfelped introduce Taharath Hamishpochah, while for a still larger num ber Shabboth observance has been greatly elevated. In its brief history this congregation has become known from coast to coast and even abroad. Articles de scribing the shool have even appeared in the London Jewish Chronicle, and in the Israeli paper Ha-aretz. If the existence and success of Shomrai Emunah will serve as, encouragement to other faithful Jews attempting to es tablish orthodox synagogues through out the country, then those who worked so hard to establish this con gregation in the nation’s capital will feel that their efforts have had more than just local significance and that theirs is a contribution to all Israel.

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Booh

Be Wouk’s Own Book By SAUL BERNSTEIN

THIS IS MY G-D, by Herman Wouk; Doubleday & Co., 356 pages, $3.95. ERMAN WOUK, world-famed novelist and playwright, has de voted himself in this book to an un dertaking far different from his previous literary efforts — an expo sition of his creed. Let it be said at the outset that this is an important book. The stature of the author is but a contributing factor to this import ance. “ This Is My G-d” will make a stir in the book world and beyond. For familiar reasons, interest in things Jewish has led to the publica tion in modern times of an endless series of books and magazine articles that seek to summarize and explain Jewish belief, history, and life. Per haps never before, however, has a work of this kind been penned by a major figure in the world of popular literature who is a shomer mitzvoth, and “ken lemen a blatt Gemorah.” The merit of “This Is My G-d” is of course not to be determined in the light of this fact, but the fact itself has contemporary significance. It is a pleasure to report that every line of “This Is My G-d” bears testi mony to the author's stature as a writer; it evidences too his broad knowledge and intimate understand ing of Judaism and Jewish life. The book is warm, alive, reaching out fluidly to the reader and sweeping him along with its vibrant flow. The

October, 1959

scope of this compact work is vast, for it traverses the broad gamut of Jewish belief, experience, obseryahce, and heritage. Wouk has undertaken to portray the essence of the Jewish story — to describe and to explain, to summarize and to interpret: “I have had to write a short book about a subject that spans nearly all history, that fills whole libraries, that ranges across the classic problems of human life, and that causes turbulent manysided controversy to this hour. The undertaking forced appalling com pression.” For the most part, the great task of selection and compres sion has been accomplished with re markable judgment and skill; all facets are brought into unified focus. Richly informative though it is, the book is no conglomeration of pre digested facts but rather a distillation of meanings, presented in a way that continually whets rather than sates the appetite of the reader. In short, as a practical ■■“introduction to Jews and Judaism” Wouk's book is a gem. UT “This Is My G-d” does more than introduce Jews and Juda ism. It is a personal testament. It is Wouk, a thinking man of our time, addressing his inner mind to those about him, and to his people, and to the world at large. Less consciously, he is addressing also the deceased grandfather who, as passages indi cate, has obviously been a major in-

fluence in his life. And ultimately he is addressing himself. Perhaps indeed Herman Wouk has attempted to speak to too various an audience, with resulting impediments in approach. Most often does he seems governed by the aim of addressing the man of modern culture—of whose mental makeup Wouk is sharply con►isctotts- Jjk':in terms acceptable to his concepts‘and outlook. In consequence, the .manner assumed is often one of Careful detachment, of painstaking objectivity, when an attitude rather of spontaneous affirmation might have been truer and more expressive. Oc casionally; a note almost of apology is sounded and at moments an air of man-of-the-world knowingness in trudes. But when Wouk refrains from looking over his shoulder to see if the sophisticate reader has a scof fing expression on his face, he pens his finest passages. Deeply felt, di rect, these passages are luminous, richly meaningful—and convincing. X: In the opinion of this reviewer, Wouk’s determination to speak to the man-of-today in the latter’s own terms impinges seriously at certain points on the content as well as the form of his elucidation of Jewish belief. He states, for e x a m p l e , W e received our statutory law from Moses in the desert.” However, technically correct, this does not truly represent Jewish belief on this focal point, for we received our “statutory” hot from but through Moses. Again: “Tradi tion says the Creator gave our folk the task .of bearing witness to His moral law on earth.” Tradition is a shadowy word; the Torah itself spe cifically states that Israel was given this task. And again: “. . . Moses% the Lawgiver, who in a spectacular, in some respects supernatural,’ triumph freed the slaves . . .” That too is not 62

“What the Bible Says” (the title of the chapter in which this passage appears). The Bible says in fact— and this is the crux of all — that G-d Himself delivered Israel from Egyptian bondage. Moses, as eman cipator, as lawgiver, as leader, was but the emissary. Numerous vital parts of the book are marred by the ill-conceived tendency to permit the personality of Moses to overshadow the vision of G-d. Surely this is con trary to the ultimate intent of the writer of “This Is My G-d,” as is made evident by such more clearsighted expressions as: “We take it on faith that the law of Moses is from G-d.” One must take issue also with the “survival” philosophy which per meates the book. The laws and way of life flowing from Torah are visual ized as a “survival system” -— unique indeed, and to be observed “because it is the will of G-d” ; the premise of Jewish existence is continued exist ence: “. . . the eternal people survives [reviewer’s italics] by the grace of G-d.” The premise itself, and the as sumption that the premise is that of historic Jewish belief and ihotivation, must alike be challenged. Israel was brought into being not to co-exist with the Torah but to fulfill it; Jew ish life has purpose, and that purpose is not merely self-perpetuation. It is far truer to say that in the Jewish view our people has ever sought and must ever seek not to survive but to live, in living testimony to the compact with G-d and in fulfillment of His will. And the laws and teach ings by which we live have sanctity and eternal meaning in themselves; their significance lies not frierely in their visible consequences but in their immutable role in the Divine cosmos. JEWISH LIFE

A BRILLIANT yet disappointing that will bring comfort to many. i l part of the book is the chapter On “The Prayers, the Synagogue, on “The Prevalence of Symbols.” and the Worshipper” Wouk offers Here the author addresses himself to some of his keenest insights. Here he the role of the mitzvioth maasiyothy leads the ever-present rationalist most ingeniously, most persuasively. reader with a sure hand, evidently Surely no reader of whatever back reaching deep into personal experi ground will fail to gain a better ence to convey understanding. Yet in appreciation of the worth of the “sym discussion of the mixed seating prob bols and rites” of Judaism from a lem, Wouk shows a superficial view; reading of this chapter. Yet it is an he sees it as a “head-on clash of opportunity missed, for the author American manners and Hebrew makes no attempt to offer insight on forms.” In his portrayal of the Tal the innermost concept of “Mitzvah” ; mud, Wouk achieves the rare feat of the term itself does not ap'pear, nor making the topic graphic; this re any adequate equivalent. And it may viewer does not recollect a compar be relevant to note at this point that able treatment which tells so much in the concept of Kedushah too finds no so few words, and tells it so well. On adequate consideration in this book. “Jewish Common Law” the author is A chapter on “The Sabbath,” on again highly effective; yet one misses the other hand, is deeply satisfying, sharply an exposition of Torah She an inspiring, even exciting, experi B’al Peh in its own terms. ence in itself. Here there is no strain ing to explain, to justify; just ShabHE SECTION of the book deal both Kodesh in its own clear, warm ing with the Jewish world in mod light. “A Personal Digression,” a ern times gives Wouk free scope for passage in which the author offers a evaluation of contemporary develop glimpse of his own Sabbath, is a ments and trends. He acquits himselfclassic in miniature. with distinction on the whole, though Wouk’s synopsis of the Shalosh of course every observer of the Regolim is done with expert facility Jewish scene has his own evaluation and might well be a model upon and some may find Mr. Wouk’s lack which writers of popular handbooks ing in depth. While unavoidable tele might draw — except for their con scoping precluded discussion of most ception as “. . . celebrations of the of the important figures of recent plenty of nature; and like the Sab generations, it is nonetheless notable bath; each is also [reviewer’s italics] that the figure and philosophy of a historic holiday.” The Yamin No-' Samson Raphael Hirsch finds no raim, however, evoke a deeper note mention except in a cursory sentence from Mr. Wouk’s pen, bringing in among the notes appended at the end sights that will lure many to re-read of the book. This is regrettable, for this passage again and again. In his one feels that not only is this a ques treatment of “-The Minor Holy Days” tionable omission b u t*that Hirsch’s we find a most engaging sketch of thought could have been drawn upon the reading of the Megillah charac to needed purpose in the book’s entire teristic of many synagogues, and a conception. In other respects, the above-men shrewd appraisal of the contempo rary aggrandizement of Chanukah tioned notes are highly rewarding.

October, 1959

That dealing with “Higher Criticism” is quite a masterpiece in itself. This is one of the many parts of the book that one wishes could be made avail able for widest mass distribution. Superlatively written by a master writer, “This Is My G-d” contains an abundance of riches. But it is more than the sum of its parts. Despite some questionable aspects, this book

is a contribution of major value to us Jews and the world in which we live. It will uphold the man of be lief; it will bring lights and under standing to many thousands who wan der in the shadows. Herman Wouk has set out to do a basic task. In large measure, he has accomplished his task and the world will be better for it.

Aids To Understanding By ALEXANDER S. ROSENBERG COMPANION TO THE MACHZOR, by Rabbi A. I. Rubinstein, published by the author in Glasgow; 122 pages, $2.50. HIS BOOK by a distinguished Scottish rabbi is evidently inspired by the growing concern among our modern orthodox rabbis at the impact on their congregants of the tradi tional services which they so con scientiously uphold. The meaningful ness ever associated with the orthodox synagogue service is felt to be lacking in many synagogues today. Rabbi Rubinstein has addressed himself to the aim of awakening the present-day worshipper to the profound meaningfulness of the services and experience of the Yomim Noraim. “Companion to the Machzor,” if properly used, forms a meritorious contribution to this objective. With its proverbial lack of de corum, order- and uniformity and in

RABBI ALEXANDER S. ROSENBERG is Rab binic Administrator of the UOJCA Kashruth D e partment and Rabbi of Congregation Ohàv Zedek, Yonkers, New York.

spite of the valid criticism against the conduct of the worshippers, the typical orthodox synagogue of pre ceding generations was still far out ahead with its genuine and significant spirituality when compared to ' the artificial and foreign formalities of the deviationist houses of worship. For the worshippers in the orthodox synagogues were mostly religiously observant, who lived and breathed Jewish religious life twenty-four hours a day, at home as well as at the synagogue. They brought Jewish spirituality to the synagogue. With, the impoverishment of Jewish life, those who have adhered to the ortho dox synagogues have been both the ones who remained steadfast in Jewish belief and practice and others, not themselves observant, whose sense of decency and respect for their parents’ memories would not permit them to leave the ancestral synagogue. But the latter no longer have the knowl edge or feeling generated by a full Jewish life that their parents had: Hence, what they brought to the services so rarely attended was a JEWISH LIFE

mixture of wonderment, curiosity, and search for something that was missing. To fill the gap that became only too apparent, the modern orthodox rabbi has often resorted to the explanation of prayers, breaking the doldrums of a bored congregation with comments in English on the time-hallowed prayers of the Siddur or Machzor. At best, this has been a palliative. r p O ASSIST the rabbi in this effort,

JL the author offers his “Companion to the Machzor,” presumably with the intent to let the congregants help themselves during the services rather than depend on the rabbi for such comments. If this was the purpose, the author has done well. The historical refer ences as to authorship and meaning of the prayers are numerous and enlightening. The interjection of brief, aptly chosen anecdotes and parables attributed to the great Chasidic rabbis helps to illumine the mood of the prayers. However, it is the opinion of this reviewer that such an approach to the problem offers no real solution. Explanations of prayers do not make for more fervent pray-ers. And the criterion of a true prayer is not what we know about it, but what we feel while saying it. A Midrashic comment on the verse in the Song of Songs, “Vediglo olai ahavah” makes it clear to us that it is not the intellectual grasp of a prayer that counts. Changing the word “diglo” to “dilugo,” the Midrash interprets the verse to mean that G-d loves the skippings and mutterings of the am ha’oretz, as long as he utters them with a true heart (Midrash Rabbah, cih. II, Shir Hashirim). October, 1959

We must find a way to keep the fires burning in the hearts of the worshippers in order to make the services once more meaningful. Per haps it is the fault of our preachers turned unemotional lecturers, our chazonim turned egotistic performers, our worshippers turned into mere business or social members, all being severally and collectively responsible for this lack of warmth and fervor and, therefore, lack of satisfying ex perience that seeks such bolsterings. We welcome, of course, any help offered to bringing a little more knowledge to our people who have missed a basic education and who have therefore no access to the sources. We heartily recommend this “Companion to the Machzor” — for reading, however) not during the services but at home. It should be read while preparing for the great days, along with the study of the Dinim for the High Holy Days. The style is natural and lucid, the explanations brief adn clear. Perhaps it was just a printer's error to writethe “Rabbi of Bratislava” instead of Braczlava, in quoting a saying of that famous rabbi. The author should have been consistent in trans literating the Hebrew, and in citing sources more completely. EVERYMAN'S JUDAISM, by S. M. Lehrman; Shapiro, Vallentine & Co., London; 302 pages, $3.75. INCE Jewish life is kaleidoscopic, treatment of its many facets in the form of disconnected ess|iys, as the author of “Everyman's Judaism” presents it to us, is perhaps to be expected. Dr. Lehrman is a prolific writer on popular themes of interest to the Jewish layman. A combination of preacher and teacher, the {author

skillfully presents such widely sepa rated subjects as Jewish observances, Jewish personalities, Jewish history, and maxims of wisdom, all within one relatively small volume. Of the Jewish observances he sin gles out the Synagogue, Prayer, the Tephilin, Talith, Tzitzith, Mezuzah, reading the Torah, Kashruth. Sab bath observance, Taharath Hamishpochah, and the daily study of the Torah are conspicuously absent. Do these no longer belong within the scope of “Applied Judaism,” as the author heads Part One of his book? In a scintillating style the author applies his critical scalpel to the character of some present-day cus toms, pouring , out his wrath upon those who made the Bar Mitzvah ceremony the shallow and wasteful and completely meaningless ceremony that it is today. Throughout the book the author seems to be alive with a fervent de sire to inspire the readers *with his own deep convictions on the eternal values and verities of Judaism. In dealing with the laws of the abovelisted observances the author goes into detail, making the essays almost read like a page from the Kitzur Shulchon Orueh. Such a treatment of the law is often relieved with

homiletic quips, such as: “The Te philin must be laid and not m islaid” The author has, however, rather unfortunately insisted on a repeti tious demand to have a Sanhedrin review the laws of Judaism. Such a demand has no place in a book ob viously published for the general public. It tends only to confuse the lay reader. For, the uninformed may conclude, if the laws can be changed, are not the Conservative or Reform Jews justified? It is difficult to ex plain the difference between the San hedrin the author has in mind and the clerical assemblies convoked by the deviationist groups. Such an issue should be confined to rabbinic publications where it can be dealt with on the level of scholarship and moral earnestness which the subject deserves. The book is well written, with an notations — though incomplete — of sources. A popular error occurs among the source citations, attribut ing to the Talmud a statement not to be found there, namely: “Every thing depends on Mazal, including the Sefer Torah.” This statement actually appears in the Zohar. The book makes delightful reading and has a wealth of information for the average layman.

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Letters te the Editer

FAMILY PLANNING

Brooklyn, N. Y. You are to be commended for the fine article in your June/Sivan issue by Rabbi Moses Tendler on “The Jew ish Attitude Toward Family Plan ning.” This is an all-important topic requiring much greater clarity than has been given it heretofore. This ar ticle is an excellent step in this direc tion. Although Rabbi Tendler clearly im plies that his article is not intended to be an exhaustive treatment of the subject in question there are certain points therein which may be worthy of additional clarification. In accordance with the article there seem to be three Halachic opinions concerning the use of the diaphragm method. There are authorities who for bid its use under all circumstances; others who permit its use “when sig nificant medical reasons are presented to competent rabbinic authority/’ and those who feel that “the letter of the law is not violated when the dia phragm method be used even in the absence of significant medical consid erations as long as the reason for pre venting conception be not of evil intent.” October, 1959

It would be helpful to know who are the authorities setting forth each of the above opinions. What is meant by “significant medical reasons” and “evil intent”? Do those rabbis who maintain that the diaphragm method does not violate the letter of the law . . . maintain that the spirit of the law is nevertheless violated? If so, how can they permit the use of this method? The article gives rise to this same question in its discussion of the use of non-mechanical contraception, devices and . . . refraining from sexual relations by mutual consent. The re plies to. these questions may help in the better understanding of this im portant problem. Harry F. Gordon From Rabbi Moses Tendler : I w as happy th a t J ew ish L ife readers had th eir in terest aroused by m y article. I also hoped th a t they would consult th eir local rabbis for fu rth er clarification. I am preparing a much fuller treat ment of the entire topic for “Tradi tion” magazine which I hope will ade quately answer these and other ques tions. 69

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MÖGEN DOVID

New York, N. Y. This letter is in reference to the article “The Symbol of the Mögen Dovid” in the Av issue of J ew ish L ife .

The author proves that the Mögen Dovid had / ‘deep Religious signifi cance” and “was part of the Jewish tradition,” by the fact that the Ka raites used it in their m’zuzoth, ap parently before the 12th century. The reader might have difficulty seeing how the use of the symbol By a sect, which discarded Jewish tradition to make up its own religion, is evidence to the traditional origin of the symbol. The author continues “The use of the term *Mögen Dovid’ in the daily Amidah prayers . . . attaches signifi cance to the symbol so designated.’* My question is, why does the author feel compelled to bring a false premise if he follows it up with a non sequitur anyhow? (Neither does this term oc cur in the daily Amidah prayer, nor would its use indicate anything con cerning the symbol so designated.) I can not see how a symbol, whose religious significance is gone, (accord ing to the author) can serve as “a source of inspiration which binds Jews (of all religious intensities) into K’lal Yisroel»”. To my knowledge, since Jews are not a race, the only fact binding them together is a common obligation to adhere to Judaism—strictly a re ligious concept. On the other hand, I must admire the author’s insight when he states that, having lost all deeper meaning, the Mögen Dovid is now the appropriate symbol for Jewish secular nationalism. In conclusion, I find it difficult to understand how such an article found October, 1959

its way into the pages of a magazine of the caliber of J ew ish L ife . For a constructive contribution; my Rav once explained the Mogen Dovid as follows. When life leads you into straits (Tzara-narrow) symbol ized by the triangle with its apex up, and also when it leads you into the open (R’vacha-breadth) symbolized by the triangle with is base up, G-d is your shield. This was most eloquently expressed in his Psalms by King David, who experienced both to an un usual degree. (In our Shool there is not a single Mogen Dovid anywhere —except at the end of one of the Haftorah blessings.) I wonder whether this explanation, if popularized, would spoil the symbol for the Zionist organization—but then, apparently they don’t mind Kinuyim like “Tzur Yisroel” in the declaration of independence, and under pressure even accepted, instead of Uganda, Eretz Yisroel, despite its profound re ligious significance. Leo Levi CORRECTION

Numerous readers have called at tention to the obvious error in the sentence: “The usage of the term ‘Mogen Dovid’ in the daily Amidah prayer . . .” which occurred in the article “The Symbol of the Mogen Dovid” in our previous issue. The error was. not the author’s (Rabbi Samuel I. Cohen) for it did not occur in his manuscript but was due to the omission of lines of type in printing. The sentence should prop erly have read: “The usage of the term ‘Mogen Dovid’ in the process of prayer, comparable with usage of the term ‘Mogen Avrohom’ in the daily Amidah prayers and other places in the liturgy, . . .” Our apol ogies to author and reader. —Editor , 71

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REDEMPTION

New York, N. Y. The analysis by Rabbi Litvin in your August/Av issue (“The Torah Guide to Active Life”) was very wel come : it brought clarification on puzzlesome points. Towards the end of the article, however, I ran into difficulty. As Rabbi Litvin explains, the Oral Law was put into writing because of the fear that otherwise it would be forgotten. That would have been a natural consequence and since no other solution was indicated, the Oral Law had to be written down. Similarly, I suppose that if we must actively assist in the Redemption of Israel, it would be because of the fear that otherwise Israel would not be redeemed — by Moshiach. Would it not be more log ical to say that we should actively assist the advent of Moshiach by ac tively promoting the solution which is indicated, that is, that all Jews should keep at least one Shabboth. Otherwise, as Dr. Samson R. Weiss says in the same issue, “redemption may become meaningless for us”. Another point of difference between writing the Oral Law and directly “creating” our redemption may be that the first case presupposes the “Hidden Divinity” ; the prime requi site of the other case is Gilui Shechinah—manifestation of the Presence of the Almighty. Writing down the Oral Law so that it is not forgotten is an end in itself. Saving a person’s life is an end in itself. But, redemption of Israel is not an end in itself. Can there be redemption without Gilui Shechinah? The question an swers itself. The only reason for Re demption is to reveal the Presence of the Almighty, and this must be a pre requisite to Redemption. October, 1959

We need Moshiach. And anyone who keeps Shabboth is not passively wait ing for a supernatural event; rather, he is actively following the only path which will lead to the arrival of Mo shiach as a natural event. Isaac Cohen OATH IN COURT

Cincinnati, Ohio In the review of Judge Shneor Cheshin’s book (“Tears and Laughter in an Israel Courtroom,” August/Av J ew ish L if e ) mention is made that according to the law of the Torah a witness testifies without an oath. Re specting the commandment not to take the Name in vain, the rabbinical court imposes an oath only as a last resort and in awesome proceedings. The Israeli court procedure of to day follows that of the English com mon law. Judge Cheshin reports that in the Israeli courts orthodox and non believing Jews use all kinds of argu ments, like “I have never yet taken an oath.” The reviewer goes on to quote from the book: “This argument, however, does not suffice to free the witness from the obligation of taking an oath.” [Italics mine.] In any United States court—begin ning with the Federal court which makes a newcomer a citizen—anybody who for religious reasons does not want to be sworn can substitute an “affirmation under the penalty of perjury.” Do you know if this does not suffice in the Israel court? Ernst S. Koplowitz From Reuben E. Gross : To the closing query, the answer is yes. In an Israeli court an affirmation 73

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JEWISH LIFE

is accepted as a substitute for an oath. To the implied question—-Wouldn’t an affirmation be a satisfactory solution to the problem you pose?—I would say no. The “affirmation” is a substitute for something that should not be re quired in the first place. My basic ob jection is that the whole process of testimony is built on an alien basis, the requirement of an oath or affirma tion being only one aspect of reliance on non-Jewish law.

APPRECIATION

Richmond, Va. Although I am a member of an ex treme Reform congregation, I have warm feelings for orthodox Judaism and Yiddishkeit in general, and there fore am an ardent reader of your pub lication. . . . In your last issue I appreciated very much “The Symbol of the Mogen Dovid.” I found more information in that article than is contained in the encyclopedias . . . I think that if you would publish more pieces on similar topics your readers would appreciate them. . . . « Joseph Joel

TO REACH THE SEEKERS

Brooklyn, N. Y. May. I congratulate J ew ish L ife and Rabbi Zalman M. Schachter for the excellent article, “To Reach the Seekers,” in the April issue. The sug gestion of a quality rather than quantity group and of a retreat-type of weekend needs immediate action. This observer has been an officer in a number of national orthodox youth organizations which seemingly are just social clubs that are producing teachers and congregants for Conser vative temples, rather than observant Jews who are interested in “reaching the seekers.” As a leader, I myself have had difficulty with boys and girls who attend yeshivah high schools and refuse to recognize public school students who are most anxious to embrace traditional Judaism. If there any people hereabouts who would like to help organize weekends of a “retreat” nature as Rabbi Schachter implied in his article, this 23-year-old is willing to help “reach the seekers.” Sanford Zwickler

MISSIONARIES UNMASKED

Philadelphia, Pa. Four years ago J e w ish L ife (“Mis sionaries Unmasked”, Tishri ’55) pub lished my account of the expose of a group of crypto-missionaries in the Bronx who, four years earlier, sought to lure unsuspecting Jewish men and women into their “Synagogue” for “services”, and innocent Jewish chil dren into their “Hebrew School” for “Jewish education”. When the bright searchlight of truth was finally foOctober, 1959

cused on the dark recesses of this mis sionary haunt, the erstwhile “Rabbi”, J. M. Hoffman was compelled to ack nowledge affiliation with the Seventhday Adventist Church. It was reasonable to hope at that time that the costly scandal which they had brought upon themselves in the Bronx^ would teach the Adventist mis sionaries a much needed lesson. But fanaticism obscured reason and fraud prevailed. Confidential literature on 75

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JEWISH LIFE

'■How to Win Jews” was disseminated throughout the network of Adventist churches, heralding a new phase of intensified conversionistic activity. This booklet which was “for our church members only” made a Chris tian missionary out of every Seventhday Adventist. ; My published report on this new soul-snatching campaign brought the following comment from Howard B. Week, Associate Director of Public Relations, General Conference of Sev enth-day Adventists (J e w ish L ife , Feb. 1956, p. 68). . . It would appear that Rabbi Solomon had achieved his objective four years ago when pressure had brought Mr. Hoffman . . . finally to display a sign labeling his group, ‘Hebrew Adventists’. I should think then, that Rabbi Solomon would find little cause for alarm in this pamphlet inasmuch as our members are instruct ed fully to identify themselves as Sev enth-day Adventists. As for ‘hiding our identity’ as Christians, we assume that any identification as Seventhday Adventists automatically stamps us as Christian. . . .” Four peaceful years have since passed, but for J. M. Hoffman and his group they were apparently years of planning and preparation. This year Hoffman and his fellow experts in the field of religious deception crawled back onto the stage of missionary ac tivity. Their late debacle in the Bronx was, it seems, originally intended to serve as a pilot program to test the possibilities of a full seal offensive on a wide front throughout the coun try. In forestalling such a develop ment and thereby eliminating the threat of an “offensive” our counter attack in the Bronx did have its for tunate consequences. But these did not include a change of heart on the part of “Rabbi” Hoffman. This spring, October, 1959

J. M. Hoffman announced the “Grand Opening” of the “Hebrew Scripture Institute”, on Saturday, May 2, 1959 at 7:30 p.m. in the main auditorium of the Times Square Center, 410 West 45 St. (two blocks west of Times Square). Only a “selected number of advanced students” were privileged to receive an invitation to attend this program whose come-on was “one of the finest documentary films ever pro duced in the Land of Israel”. The student was assured that his “heart would be thrilled with what he will see and hear. . . . ” This “grand opening” was preceded by an intensive publicity program which reached the homes of thousands of unsuspecting Jewish men and wo men. One sincere young man, a Navy veteran in search of a Jewish educa tion al regel aehas, responded to an innocent looking advertisement in one of the New York newspapers which promised its Jewish readers instruc tion in “Judaism”. It was sponsored by the “Hebrew Scripture Institute.” After the first few lessons he realized that he was the victim of a missionary trick. Incensed at this outrage, he communicated with me and requested that I alert the Jewish community to the imminent danger. A recent phone call to the Hoffman group (Circle 5-8242) revealed that activities were at a standstill—-for the summer months. They assured me, however, that the Hebrew Scripture Institute would resume operations on a grand scale in September, 1959! How many innocent victims will fall prey to their current activities? How many children have been tom from the bosom of their parents by these fanatics? Only the files of the Seventhday Adventists contain the sad facts of their entirety. One thing I can as sure you. Their past efforts have not 77

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JEWISH LIFE

been without fruit. How can we cau legal action against these groups. I tion unsuspecting Jews to beware of am certain that the Post Office has the Hebrew Scripture Institute (for something to say about the use of its merly “Torah Institute”) and all sim services for misrepresentation and ilar groups with legitimate-sounding fraud. titles and dangerous potentialities. In the last analysis, however, we Their introductory literature is scrup will find our most potent weapon in ulously clean of all Christological ref the struggle against missionaries as erence. Their leaders know enough >*well as against all threats to the sur Hebrew and Yiddish to fool the un vival of our people, in intensive Jewish lettered tyro. Their methods and tech religious education for our children-^ niques are polished and convincing (at the kind of education which is offered least to the Am H aaretz) . What shall only in Yeshivoth and Jewish Day be done in view of the fact that this Schools. Only a Torah-true Jew versed menace will grow before it begins to in the teachings of our Faith can be diminish? ~r considered safe in the face of the ac I urge: (1) that the Union of Or tive as well as passive dangers of re thodox Jewish Congregations of Amer ligious disintegration and assimilation. ica organize a special Anti-Missionary Before closing, I wish to express my Division which shall coordinate, clear, indebtedness to an alert and loyal gen and synchronize the efforts of all ex tleman from Brooklyn who brought isting anti-sh’mad splinter organiza this latest manifestation of Seventhtions; (2) that sufficient funds be day Adventist legerdemain to my at placed at the disposal of this group tention. He will surely find his reward to investigate, expose, and publicize in the knowledge that he has made a the nefarious activities of all mission genuine contribution to the survival ary groups, especially those who have of our people. resorted to underground activities; Rabbi Victor Solomon (3) that it study the advisability of

D uring the Ten D ays of P enitence, R abbi Sim cha Zissel of Kelmy o v erh eard one stu d e n t ask in g another, "H ave you a l re a d y o b ta in e d a b eau tifu l Ethrog for Succoth?" The R abbi interru p ted the discussion, exclaim ing: "I'm quite su rprised th at you a re so e a g e r to p re p a re yo u rselv es for Succoth. H ave you a lre a d y finished p re p a rin g y o u rselv es for Yom Kippur?" M em bers of his co n g reg atio n once co m plained to R abbi A b rah am S am u el Benjam in, the "K 'sav Sofer", a b o u t som e peo p le w ho w orked on S h ab b o th , a n d w ho m ad e S u n d ay their d a y of rest. He an sw ered : "Do not w orry a b o u t those w ho deny S h ab b o th , b u t a b o u t those adm it S h abboth, a n d w ho profane it!" October, 1959

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