Jewish Life February 1960 by Jewish Action

Shevat, 5720 — February, 1960

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CAMP HI L I In th e H eart

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o f th e C atskills

O w n ed an d O p era ted

WHITE LAKE, N. Y.

b y th e

B oys & Girls

HEBREW INSTITUTE

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OF LONG ISLAND

3 0 0 A c r e s o f ro llin g w o o d la n d o f

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b r e a t h t a k in g s c e n ic b e a u t y - o n l y

K a s h ru th s t r ic tly o b s e r v e d —M a s h g ia c h on p re m is e s a t a ll tim e s.

1 1 0 m ile s fro m N e w Y o r k C it y .

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t re sse s in e v e r y b u n k . •

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R e sid e n t P h y s ic ia n a n d N u r s e s .

For detailed inform ation call or write RABBI JACOB I. NISL1CK executive Director

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XM/ VoL^eemrMs^/February, 1960/Shevat, 5720/

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

MIDDLE EAST MEMOIRS AND MISTAKES . . . . ..........

WORLD-WIDE ANTI-SEMITISM..................................

THE CULTURAL SURVEY: A PROMISE UNFULFILLED

ARTICLES

Editorial Associates

VISIT TO SURINAM/Manfred R. Lehmann....................

The A Odem , Editorial Assistant

ISRAEL’S PROSELYTE PROBLEM/Aryeh Newman...

THE SOUL FLOWER COMPACT/Zalman M. Schächter 22 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.

ISRAEL’S NEW GOVERNMENT/I. Halevy-Levin........... 29 MOSHEH ISSERLES/Meyer Waxman................................ 39

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

Published by

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

Moses I. Feuerstein

ORDER FULFILLED/Harry E. Wedeck I ............................. 26

POEM SAHBRA/Marve Feinberg........................................................ 21

REVIEWS CHAYEFSKY’S MINEOLA MINYON/Thea Odern............ 45 SOCIOLOGISTS VIEW THE AMERICAN JEW/ Manuel Laderman..................................................................... 52 TRIBUTE TO A MARTYRED LEADER/ Hugo Mandelbaum................................................................ 54

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

JEWISH TEACHING ON MEDICAL PROBLEMS/ Paul W. Hoffert..................................................................... 59

DEPARTMENTS AMONG OUR CONTRIBUTORS.................. ..........................

HASHKOFAH: The Concept of Rabbinic Authority... 36 DRAWINGS by Ahron Gelles

Second class postage paid at N ew York. N . Y.

February, 1960

MANFRED R. LEHMANN heads a New York firm engaging in international trade, which also represents in certain fields the governments of Ghana, Togo, Somalia, and Surinam. Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Mr. Lehmann came to this country in 1940. He has published several scientific studies on phases of Biblical scholarship and Near Eastern history and philology. ARYEH NEWMAN, a frequent contributor to these pages, is assistant editor of the Torah Education Department of the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem. RABBI ZALMAN M. SCHÄCHTER is director of the Hillel Foundation at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. Rabbi Schächter came to the United States from Europe in 1941. He received Semichah at the Lubavitcher Yeshiva in 1944. DR. HARRY E. WEDECK serves on the staff of the Classics Department at Brooklyn College. Born in England, he studied in

among our contributors

Scotland, France, and the United States, and has traveled widely in Europe, Asia, and Africa. He has contributed feature articles, stories, and reviews to the press of many countries. I. HALEVY-LEVIN continues his incisive reporting and penetrat ing analyses of events in Israel as the Israel correspondent of J ewish L if e . Mr. Levin is the editor of “Israel Argosy,” a series

of anthologies of the works of leading Israeli writers, and editor of the Modern Israel Library. MARVE FEINBERG is a young writer-actor. He has just com pleted a play dealing with integration, and is presently writing a long story-poem dealing with Israel from its inception until the present. DR. MEYER WAXMAN, eminent Jewish literary historian, offers in this issue another of his articles on great Jewish thinkers.

Cover: A view of Safed, center of the Kabbalah and Jewish learning since the Middle Ages. In the background, Mount Meron. (Photo courtesy Israel Office of Inform ation)

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M iddle East M em oirs and M istakes UBLICATION of the memoirs of Sir Anthony Eden has brought some significant sidelights on the events surrounding P the Sinai campaign conducted by Israel in 1956 and the coinci dent Anglo-French attempt to recapture control of the Suez Canal. President Eisenhower, in the course of a recent news con ference, has disputed the former British Prime Minister’s asser tion that the President, in the period immediately following Egypt’s seizure of the Suez Canal, recognized the possibility that “the use of force might become necessary in order to protect inter national rights” if “every possibility of peaceful settlement” should fail. To the contrary, the President stated, as quoted in the New York Times of December 27th, that he had “made it clear” in the weeks prior to the Suez action that the U. S. Government was opposed to force and that “we were going to apply this [policy] to anybody.” The President made it a further point to say: “Sometime in early October [1956] Mr. Eban was going back to Israel for a short time. He came in to see me. And I told him I’d hoped that he would not allow any misinterpretation of sentiment in this country to sway him, and particularly because of possible Jewish sympathy for the, what seemed to be an intention of building up around the mobilization of Israel February, 1960

at that time—I hoped that this would not sway his judgment as to what this Administration would do in doing its very best to prevent any outbreak of hostilities and the, you might say, settlement of international issues by force. And I told him that if he thought that this would have any part, iota of influence on the election [of 1956] or that that would have any influence on me, he should disabuse his mind about it.” HE MOOD which the extraordinary passage cited indicates is presumably an echo of the State Department policy-makers of the Suez period, just as is the policy approach which the state ment recalls. There is brought to mind the storm of denunciation and villification which was poured upon Israel in the special session of the United Nations convened following the Sinai and Suez actions—with U. S. spokesmen joining with Soviet and Arab Policy representatives in leading the cannonade. One contrasts this, and Continuing the policy which was imposed, with the tap-of-the-wrist treatment the accorded Soviet Russia for its bloody invasion of Hungary—and Pattern with the fact that Soviet troops still rule in Hungary with none to say them nay. One recalls that but shortly after the United States Government had so passionately denounced Britain and France, and had yet more passionately denounced Israel, our country found it inescapably necessary to dispatch military forces to Lebanon— an action which Sir Anthony Eden asserts “was rather more heinous” than that of Suez.

Eden’s memoirs and the President’s comments give emphasis to present developments too. One sees that notwithstanding Nas ser’s consistently anti-Western, pro-Soviet policies, and notwith standing his violation of commitments, our own Government has deemed it wise to give continued aid to the United Arab Republic and to facilitate a huge loan to that country by the World Bank. Echo In the face of the continuing series of Arab armed and economic of warfare against Israel, of the acts of brazen piracy and flouting of Past international law and the United Nations with respect to the Suez Canal, our Government and the United Nations too have but made empty gestures. In fact, not only have the Arab leaders been permitted to force American— and other Western—-business firms to boycott Israel and discriminate against American Jews, but the United States Navy itself has been permitted to yield to the boy cott, as was recently disclosed. HE SEQUENCE of events discloses a pattern which has led inevitably to the calamitous weakening of the position of the free nations vis-a-vis the totalitarian powers, particularly in the Middle East, during the past few years. One wonders: to what extent was the Middle East policy of the past the victim of preju-

JEWISH LIFE

dice—and to what extent is policy of today riveted to this bank rupt past? Today the State Department is in new hands. Those who steer United States foreign policy have inherited from their prede cessors a heavy debit of blunder and error. The task before them is not to justify the mistakes of the past but to rectify them insofar as possible and above all to guard against their recurrence. Hence forth, it is earnestly to be hoped, Middle East policy will be keyed to the elementary need to uphold the just cause of those in the area who identify their welfare with American welfare, their free dom with American freedom, and their future with the American future.

W orld-W ide A n tisem itism ITH the bombing of a Kansas City synagogue, the wave of anti-Jewish outrages has proceeded from the defacing of synagogue walls with swastika smears and ugly inscriptions to open violence. Many parts of the country have been the scenes of these desecrations. The problem is one which affects every Ameri can, not merely because the wave of outrages has spread over to Christian houses of worship too, but because it poses a threat to the security of all. To uproot the evil, it is necessary that rigorous, widely encompassing measures be taken by governmental autho rities and law enforcement agencies and that public shock and condemnation be translated into programs of corrective education and enlightenment that will penetrate deep into social life.

The problem of course is practically world-wide in scope. Within recent weeks, more than 500 outbreaks of anti-Jewish activity have come to light in thirty-four countries. Many more Spontaneous such incidents may have escaped public record. No one knows H whether or not these outbreaks are, in whole or in part, mani° f festations of a concerted, international program of Jew-hatred, or Planned? whether they are altogether the work of unrelated individuals. But there can be no doubt in the mind of any intelligent person that on display is evidence of the resurgence of Jew-hatred as a domi nant motif in the lives of many and as a conscious force in public affairs. OR all too valid reasons, public attention has focussed on Germany as the nurturing ground and central scene of this ominous development. West Germany has—with the aid of the United States and others—made a phenomenal recovery from

F February, 1960

the wreckage of World War II. Its cities have been rebuilt, its economy restored. And outwardly, at least, democratic principles, political structure, and leadership have replaced the apparatus of the monstrous Hitler regime. But behind and within the new structure lurks the vestiges of Nazidom. Former Nazis—and in M ade the case of many the qualification “former” does not apply—have been permitted to infiltrate the country’s governmental, judicial, in educational, and economic spheres. Nazi-type movements have Germany come into being. Little is done to impress on the consciousness of Germans at large the iniquity of the Germany of Hitler. The younger generation is growing up without sense of the horrors that were committed with the complicity of multitudes of Ger mans and through the direct participation of vast numbers of their storm troopers, soldiers, and civilians. It is little wonder then that the current rash of anti-Jewish outrages commenced and has shown greatest persistence in Ger many, and it is with good cause that all the world now turns to the West German government with the demand that measures be taken to eradicate not merely the symptoms but the very roots of the evil disease. Whatever be the factors that have gone into the rise and spread of the Antisemitic occurrences, and however superficial may be their immediate significance, their very occurrence is a warning of grave danger to civilization. Unless and until Ger many is geared to the thoroughgoing moral and practical regener ation of its people and life from every taint of Nazism, the danger will remain and grow. ITHOUT qualifying in any way German responsibility due note must be taken of the fact that it is not in Germany but in the Soviet Union that hostility to the Jew and Judaism now has its most malevolent manifestations. There three million Jews are bereft of the right to maintain communal life, forbidden to teach The their children the tenets of Judaism, increasingly impeded in their Soviet efforts to conserve such cherished facilities for religious worship Share and observance as have survived four decades of Communism, excluded from areas of economic, social, and political life, de prived of their very language, more and more subject to physical attack as well as to open, violent propaganda of hate and slander. In one recent instance, a synagogue in the Ukraine was burnt and destroyed, and burned alive within it was the wife of the caretaker.

Civilization has a grave case against Germany for the recru descence of Antisemitism, but has a yet graver case now against the Soviet government. The latter is culpable for the anti-Jewish policies which it has itself imposed and which have given impetus to bearers of the Jew-hate virus within, and perhaps beyond, the 1

JEWISH LIFE

Soviet domain. It is heartening to see responsible leaders of many nations pressing upon the German government the insistence that fundamental action be taken in the problem. Even more impera tive is the need for these leaders, and for world public opinion, to demand like action of the Soviet authorities.

The Cultural S u rvey: A P rom ise U n fulfilled OMMENDABLE initiative has been shown by the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds in undertaking its study of “National Jewish Cultural Services in America.” Never before, apparently, has there been a serious attempt to bring into ordered focus the “national cultural efforts” of American Jewry, with a view to systematic appraisal of what is being attempted in this area and what the needs are. Such a study, under such spon sorship, could lead to a drastic re-orientation of American Jews to their own spiritual potential. It could bring broader horizons, deeper, clearer vision. It could do these things, and more. It could —but it did not. The report of this study has now been published by the Council. It is a study in superficiality.

Granted that the term “culture” is susceptible of differing meanings and applications, and making due allowance for the report’s own qualification that “it was not essentially its task to examine Jewish culture in the broadest sense of that term,” it was Reverse nonetheless to be expected that this pioneering study would come Values to grips with fundamental aspects of Jewish spiritual expression. The expectation is not fulfilled. In well over 25,000 words of text, the report, studded with generalities, commonplaces, and truisms, treats of those phases of activity which, under any meaningful definition, are only auxiliary to the creative endeavor which springs from the soul. A Technical Advisory Committee of thirty-three “outstanding scholars,” together with a CJFWF Board Committee of the same size, worked for over a year on the gathering of information and the formulation of recommendations. The standards brought to bear are indicated by the fact that thirteen of the fifty-six pages of the report, its largest section and main focus, are devoted to “Archives.” Apparently the most critical field of cultural concern for American Jews and the one which should get primary con sideration in the allocation of their funds is “the preservation of the manuscripts” of the American Jewish past. True, “Scholarship and Research” receives respectful attention also. It appears though that “the wellsprings of Jewish learning” are important mostly to the extent they water the study of history. February, 1960

It appears that within the proper purview of Jewish learning lies little of what Jews throughout the ages, in their innocence, believed to constitute that field but much of such subjects as the study of alcoholism, juvenile delinquency, and Jewish political behavior. HE CULTURAL services report of the Council of Jewish Federations cites a wide variety of organizations and institu T tions. Amongst them but one of the great Torah institutions, Yeshiva University, finds casual mention; not amongst them are any of the other great Yeshivoth, Mesivtoth, and Kollelim, such as Torah Vodaath, Hebrew Theological College, Telz, Ner Israel, Chofetz Chaim, Tifereth Yerushalayim, Beth Medrash Glaring Qovoha, and others. The learning to which these institutions are Omissions dedicated presumably does not qualify as “Jewish scholarship,” for how otherwise could such a study fail to mention them while not overlooking, for example, the Reform and Conservative seminaries, YIVO, the Hebrew Teacher’s College in Boston, the College of Jewish Studies in Chicago, the Conference on Jewish Social Studies (location not given), and the American Academy for Jewish Research (location not given)? Too, it seems we must abandon any naive notion that Torah has to do with Jewish culture. The very word does not appear in the entire length of the study report, nor any implied awareness of its role. The capital deficiencies of this CJFWF study completely out weigh any merit it might otherwise claim. The conception of “ Jewish culture” which the study projects is useful only in illuminating its own barrenness. The blind have undertaken to lead the lame; in so doing, they have shown that those with living vision must themselves take the lead, lest all wander into futility and darkness.

JEWISH LIFE

Visit To Surinam By MANFRED R. LEHMANN

NLY EIGHT jet plane hours from The physical picture of Surinam is New York in the heart of South equally fascinating. At 1:30 P.M. each O America is a charming, almost other day the whole town of Paramaribo, its worldly community clothed in a makebelieve aura of Seventeenth Century Holland. This last outpost of European colonial civilization on the American continent is the near and yet so far away exotic little country called Suri nam. Here dwell several hundred Jews, a remnant of those who found their first haven in the New World in that old colony. Recently I had occasion to visit Surinam on business and was greatly interested to explore the nature of that community, where our co-religionists have become wholly integrated with the local populace. The composite face of Surinam is distinctive, being made up of a unique blending of colors and races of four continents molded to share a common role in their country’s growth. Take away any one component—Chinese, Javanese, Hindustani, Negro, or Euro pean— and that smiling, composite Su rinamese face, with blurred color lines melting into one another, Negroid, European, and Asiatic features gently ^crossed, could not possibly remain the same. February, 1960

capital, withdraws into a deep slumber. A casual visitor would find himself suddenly alone in the sun-drenched streets lined with wooden houses and porches supported by square white wooden pillars that project over the roadways. In some streets these houses seem old and dilapidated. Others, like those on Lim-Apo Street, are well-kept and stately. They are distinguished by portals of fine wood, fine brass name signs, beautifully sculpted hand knock ers (perhaps used by former Jewish owners who would not sound a bell on the Sabbath)— and an amazing num ber of mezuzoth on the doors. The broad, grass-covered main square, framed by the Governor’s Mansion, the Ministry of Finance, the Palace Hotel, and other stately build ings, bring to mind a typical American college campus. At the head of this square, giving an almost regal impres sion, is the Finance Ministry, built of light red brick, topped by a white wooden clock tower, and supporting majestic white pillars at its entrance. It could be the main hall of any college campus in the United States, or for that 9

matter even Liberty Hall in Philadel phia. The statue of Queen Wilhelmina, matronly and motherly, looking down on the square is exactly what would be expected here. This is no place for some heroic conqueror charging into nowhere astride stone or bronze horse. Such a statue would break up the serenity of a sunny Paramaribo after noon, and would be contrary to the gentle country’s history. HE architectural ties with the United States cannot be acci dental. It was Surinam which the Dutch accepted in exchange for New Amster dam when in 1667 they ended their war with the English. The last Dutch Gov ernor, Petfer Stuyvesant, is buried in the United States, but he must have died thinking that he helped the Dutch ex change New Amsterdam for a much more desirable piece of real estate. The people of Paramaribo share a love for their past, and the Jews of the city are no exception in this respect; among them an almost fanatical devo tion to the House of Orange, the great benefactors of the victims of the Inqui sition, is still apparent. Three royal visits to Congregation Neve Shalom during the last 130 years are recorded on stone plaques inside the synagogue. Each Sabbath the old parnass wears the medal bestowed upon him by Queen Juliana for forty years of faithful serv ice to his congregation. Lengthy bene dictions for Queen Wilhelmina and Queen Juliana are read during the Sab bath services. The local historian, Mr. Philip S. Samson, is revered by young and old for his constant research into the his tory of the city’s buildings, street names, weights— anything at all con nected with its past. Upon my first ex pression of interest in Surinam’s his tory, I was promptly brought to Mr.

Samson’s home on my first everting in town. This dignified and cultured law yer, who was also once active in his country’s politics, is a member of one of Surinam’s oldest Jewish families. In his home I was met with a kind ness and hospitality that is lost in most countries today. Mr. Samson spoke of the past of Surinam with reverence, and showed me an array of documents, pamphlets, books—many of them pen ned by himself. He delved into each topic of conversation until he reached a point in the past where he would say, “We don’t know where this! came from,” or, “We don’t know whfet the meaning of this was.” In his home I also met another living monument of the past, Dr. Bueno Mesquita, one of Surinam’s leading physicians and, an international authority on leprosy." Since I have studied the history of the Jewish community of Pernambuco, Brazil during and before its Dutch oc cupation from 1624 to 1654, including the visitations of the Inquisition in Brazil in 1598 and 1618, the nfeme of Mesquita was very familiar to me. To this day the Mesquita family im $ao Paulo, who are owners of Brazil’s lead ing newspaper O Estado De Sao paulo and of other enterprises, consider themselves “Da Nacano” or i ‘NjfeVos Cristaos,” that is, Marranos. What a thrill it was now to meet a member of the Mesquita family — one who re mains a Jew, keeping alive thei tradi tions of a family which, after hundreds of years of concealing their Judaism in Portugal and Brazil, followed by a brief breathing spell of openly profess ing their religion in Recife, then again chose exile over the alternative, of bap tism. He is descended from that part of the family which settled in Surinam in the 166Q’s, coming via Cayenne, from whence they were driven by the French. A few days after I had made JEWISH LIFE

the acquaintance of the Mesquita fam ily, the local congregation joined in sending off the son of Dr. Mesquita to Holland, where he was to study in Amsterdam as the house guest of the Sephardic Chief Rabbi, Dr. Rodrigues Pereira. Was this not like the days three hundred years ago when young Sephardic Jews braved the hazards of

these buildings dwarf the surrounding houses of the local populace. When they were built they must have stood out like royal castles. Through Mr. Samson and the litera ture he gave me, the epic of Jewish history in Surinam unfolded before me. Only the doggedness and internal strength of the first Jewish settlers,

A view of the side facade of the Ashkenazic synagogue, Neve Shalom, in Paramaribo, Surinam. The synagogue was built in 1835.

a sea voyage to study in Amsterdam under Menasseh Ben Israel or Isaac Aboab da Fonseca, the latter himself once Chief Rabbi of Dutch Brazil? WO large, shining white buildings in the center of town, each sur rounded by spacious lawns, are the synagogues of the Spanish-Portuguese congregation Zedek Ve-Shalom and the Ashkenazic congregation Neve Sha lom. They are landmarks which be speak the wealth and high position en joyed by the Jewish grandeas of colon-

February, 1960

ial times. Even in today’s Paramaribo, starting in 1639, could open the jun gle-infested colony of the Dutch Crown. They were in a sense, however, pinned against the wall, a point of no return in their tragic history. Exiled from Brazil and Cayenne, and with a memory of still earlier exiles from Spain and Portugal, they had practi cally nowhere else to go. Some of their brethren had set sail for Amsterdam, others for Curacao and New Amster dam, but surely the prospect of such hazardous voyages must have seemed

grimmer to many — especially those with wives and young children—than founding a semi-autonomous Jewish state in the jungle. The “Jewish Savan nah,” as the settlement was called (savannah meaning forest), had or ganized its own militia to protect their settlement against Indians, and also to supervise their African slaves. The membership list of the Jewish com munity of those years, still neatly kept by their descendants, shows mili tary titles on almost every page. The Jewish Savannah had its own court, and no Dutch judge would challenge the Dayan’s or Hacham’s verdict. In a characteristic case, a Jew who was once found guilty of shaving on Choi Hamoed and exiled by the Jewish court, found that he had no recourse in the Dutch court in Paramaribo to which he turned for relief against the decision of the autonomous court of the Jewish Savannah. The archives of the Paramaribo con gregation also reVeal a development of unique historic interest. On January 9, 1797 the head of the Portuguese congregation in Paramaribo appealed to the heads of the Ashkenazic con gregation of that city to join in financ ing a Rabbinical Seminary. The funds were promptly approved, including the costs for a special building. Undoubted ly this is the first record of a Rabbinical Seminary in the Western Hemisphere, 162 years ago! HE Sephardic cemetery of Para maribo, now unfortunately sadly dilapidated, holds impressive tomb stones with Hebrew, Spanish, Portu guese, and Dutch inscriptions. One stone raised over the grave of a man born in 1732 lists his professions as Hazan, Mohel, and Sofer Mushbai. The latter title had till now been translated as “Jewish Scribe.” When I studied the

old documents of the congregation, however, I found the mistake in this translation. This term stands for “No tary Public,” and is sometimes found in other legal documents of Surinam. The occurrance of a Jewish notary public in Paramaribo during the 18th century shows that even then, as to day, the Jews held high positions both in the Jewish and public administra tion. The present president of the Ashkenazic congregation, Dr. D. H. Emanuels, is a member of Surinam’s Supreme Court. A Jewish woman is a member of the country’s parliament. A brother of Mr. Philip S. Samson is even today a notary public, an office of great importance in the Dutch judicial system. The literally thousands of Jewish tombstones still found among the ruins of the Jewish Savannah deep in the jungle bespeak the flourishing and large Jewish population of that settle ment which disintegrated after slavery was abolished during the last century. About a hundred Jewish families still live in Surinam. During the Second World War, as a result of Hitler’s per secution of European Jewry, the com munity experienced a sharp increase in its population. Since then, however, emigration to Holland, Israel, and the United States has been heavily drain ing the remainder of this old Jewish community. ET the study of the history of Surinamese Jewry is still very much alive today. This was proven by the recent controversy which erupted concerning Paramaribo’s Chief Rabbi of a hundred years ago, Rabbi Moses T. Lewenstein. Rabbi Lewenstein, bom in Utrecht, came to Paramaribo to serve both local congregations. Over much opposition, he introduced a multitude of regulations governing every phase

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of congregational life and specifically the synagogue service. Today, some claim that he saved Surinam Jewry from certain “reform” and decay, es pecially by preventing the introduction of an organ into the synagogue* (At almost the same time the Portuguese synagogue in Curacao installed such an instrument and consequently lost its old traditional, orthodox character.) However other historians today take a militant attitude against Rabbi Lewen stein, pinning the stigma of a reformer on him. His huge sarcophagus-like tomb is, nevertheless, a beloved object of pilgrimages by present-day Suri namese Jews. Paramaribo honored his memory by naming one of its streets Lewenstein Straat. (Other Jewish street names are also found: Jessurun Straat, Da Costa Straat, etc.) The encounter with Rabbi Lewenstein’s memory in Surinam was some thing of a revelation to me, even though almost a hundred years have passed since the youthful clergyman suc cumbed to the tropical climate. Only eight years ago I had met his son, Rabbi Tobias Lewenstein, in Switzerland on Yom Kippur. A venerable elder of al most ninety years, Rabbi Lewenstein stood erect on his feet in Zurich’s syna gogue from early morning till the last blast of the Shofar, without sitting down even once. But beyond that, I had been impressed by what I had known before about him, namely that when he was Rabbi in Copenhagen, Denmark before the First World War, he had opposed the introduction of an organ into that city’s synagogue. This refusal led to a prolonged, celebrated court case which ended with the con gregation having to pay a fine of 100,000 crowns in severance pay before Rabbi Lewenstein could be dismissed. Here in Paramaribo, where he had been born, it dawned on me that Rabbi February, 1960

Tobias Lewenstein was simply follow ing in the footsteps of his father who had been through a similar ordeal in his own congregation. An old Talmudic saying was confirmed here: Maasey ovoth simon labonim—the deeds of the fathers foreordain the experiences of their children. N THE religious terminology of Paramaribo’s Jewish community I had another encounter with the past— a very far distant past. Two important Hebrew terms are used by today’s Por tuguese congregation of Surinam, which I believe are related to the term inology of another isolated Jewish com munity which existed before the dawn of our Goluth, namely that of Qumran, the site of the famous Dead Sea Scrolls. We know today that the men of Qumran called themselves members of a yachad, meaning a congregation or community. The full-fledged mem bers of Paramaribo’s congregation Zedek Ve-Shalom—like the men of Re cife’s congregation Zur Israel before them and other Spanish-Portuguese congregations — ca lle d themselves yachidim, which can only mean “mem bers of the yachad,” the congregation or community. The men of Qumran speak of a central institution called the ma’amad, and, interestingly enough, the building set aside for board meet ings of the Paramaribo congregation is called the Mahamad, the Portuguese way of transcribing ma’amad. Who can plot the turbulent course which the Jewish nation’s ship has taken during all these thousands of years? Here and there we encounter markers of that course and it is for us to take loving care of the memory and meaning of our forbears’ actions and institutions.

HE HIGHLIGHTS of my stay in Paramaribo were my visits to the places I liked to come back to from

The interior of Neve Shalom as seen from the front of the bima;

time to time, namely the generouslybuilt synagogues. Since the sparse com munity of today can no longer support two minyonim, the Jews of Paramaribo by tacit agreement take turns worship ping in the Sephardic and Ashkenazic synagogues on alternating Sabbaths. (The proud Sephardim of yore would have recoiled from the idea of joining ranks with the Ashkenazic “newcom ers” whose community was only founded in 1735!) It is hard to show preference for either synagogue, for both are magnificently built. The ex teriors follow completely the style of the neighboring Protestant churches built during the same colonial period. In fact, one morning I wandered into the Protestant church, fully believing that it was the Sephardic synagogue! The almost square, white stone build 14

ing, with black, slanting roof, a central side entrance, high arched windows with wooden shutters, without a tower or outside symbol, can be either ,a syna gogue or, l’havdil, a church in Para maribo. (Only the Ashkenazic syna gogue, built in 1835, deviates from the pattern in that it has a Hebrew in scription over the wooden pillars along the side entrance.) Inside the synagogue it is hard to tell which feature is more captivating—the vast spaciousness or the peculiar white sand which covers floors, steps, and even the upstairs floor of the women’s gallery.* Because the wooden benches are arranged along the northern walls, facing each other and leaving the great er part of the floor empty, one always has a feeling of utter freedom and movement, especially since—because of the oppressive heat—windows and portals are left wide open during serv ices. I was proudly told that slaves had brought the choicest lumber from the forest to build the synagogue; and indeed the artfully carved mahogany “Hechal” and “Tebah” bear Witness to the superb aesthetic taste of their planners. Ornamental brass chandeliers are suspended from the high white ceiling, and bear the names of their donors and such Hebrew dates as 5490 (1730). One group of seats, more lux urious in design and craftsmanship, is screened off on one side by a wooden fence. By the perfect and almost shin ing condition in which this sections is kept, one may expect that it is held *Editor’s note: T his custom may be explained by the fact that in olden times idolatry was prac ticed by carving idolotrous pictures or symbols ; in the stone floors of the temples or by depicting the idols in mosaic. Even now, this is still being practiced in some primitive cultures. It is^ for this reason that the custom prevails ip many synagogues of spreading rugs or paper on the floor on the H igh Holy Days when the congrega tion prostrates to the ground at the Oleinw and during the Avodah, lest such prostration be iden tified with idolotrous rites. Thus, the spreading of sand on the floors of the Sephardic synagogues may be an extension of this usage. JEWISH LIFE

in readiness for some soon-expected guests or worshippers. But not so. These seats were last occupied about eighty years ago, when the Dutch gov ernment still appointed Jewish “cor respondents” or ambassadors for Jew ish affairs who had direct access to the Governor’s Mansion. The echo of the medieval “Shtadlonim,” the “Hofjuden,” come to mind. When, a few weeks later, I visited the Touro Syna gogue in Newport, Rhode Island, I dis covered the same “special” seats on the left-hand side of the synagogue, where once George Washington, and more recently President Eisenhower, had sat. (The famous Newport Synagogue was built with funds partly contributed by Paramaribo’s congregation Neve Shalom.) MENTIONED before the abund ance of mezuzoth in the main streets of Paramaribo. I was told that not only did gentile occupants not remove the mezuzoth of former Jewish tenants, but they, too, liked to affix these won drous “amulets.” But I also experienced more deep-seated appreciation of Juda ism among the gentiles of Paramaribo. When the negotiations with the Surina mese government, in which I was en gaged, approached Friday afternoon, and we had reached the contract-sign ing stage, the Negro Minister of Fi nance, his Dutch legal advisers, and my own Chinese lawyer all, as a complete matter of course, scheduled our pro gram so as not to interfere with the ¡pbbath. “We must have the signing before 6 P.M. tonight, since Mr. Leh mann does not work after sundown,” were the instructions of the Minister. I never had to say a word on the sub ject. But whether white, black, brown, or yellow, the Surinamese knows< for a fact that a Jew will not work on the Sabbath. How many untold generations

February, 1960

of exemplary Jewish lives have laid the groundwork for such a pattern! HE BONDS with the past are strong, but the bonds with the fu ture are feeble. The Jewish community of Paramaribo has lost the inner strength of renewal and retention of Jewish values and traditions that make up a vibrant Jewish life. Their concern is for the new generation growing up in the perfectly kaleidoscopic and integ rated society of Surinam. How, without a rabbi, without properly trained teach ers, and without support from Jews abroad can they be kept within the Jew ish fold, proud of their long tradition and heritage? The best education they can offer their children is a small Sun day school attended by about a dozen pupils of all ages, and conducted by a Dutch Jewish housewife who acts as the teacher. To remedy this unhappy situation, the few Jewish families remaining to day in Paramaribo are desperately try ing to keep contact with their brethren overseas. They are openly unhappy about the neglect which the SpanishPortuguese Jewish communities of the United States are showing them, al though they would consider this link the most natural one. Before my de parture, the leading officers of the con gregation gave me lengthy requests for Jewish books, records, school books, toys, mezuzoth, tallithoth, periodicals, etc.—in short, anything Jewish at all. Indeed the future of Surinam’s Jews, after three hundred dramatic and labo rious years, is in the balance. This be came clear to me when the president of the Neve Shalom congregation opened up for me the meticulously kept con gregational records, dating back to the early 18th century. There were long membership lists, marriage records, cir cumcision lists, and endless copies of

kethuboth (often coupled with a unique legal document guaranteeing the bride “chalitzah” by her future brother-inlaw, in case of her husband’s death without leaving children). In the min utes of board meetings, election rec ords, etc«, always the same names oc curred and reoccurred: Fernandes, Emanuels, Samson, Gromperts, Polak, De Vries, etc., for the Ashkenazim: Pereira, Nassy, Delvalle, Henriquez, Ghumaceiro, etc., for the Sephardim. But suddenly the marriage records come to a stop— there has not been a Jewish marriage in Paramaribo for al most ten years! The young generation drifts away to Holland and elsewhere; some of them intermarry. ERHAPS the oldsters are hopeful of a Messianic solution; they call their Jewish newspaper Teroenga (the

____ ^

Dutch transcription of “Teruah”), the ram’s horn blast heralding the coming of the Messiah. But the young leader ship of the congregation knows that the immediate answer lies in the strength ening of Jewish education, and it is in this field that they are looking to the United States for assistance. We Jews are used to dead monu ments of our past. Ancient synagogues and cemeteries here and there bear witness of this or that Jewish com munity which once flourished but is no more. We have enough Toledos, Wormses, Romes; but in Surinam, on our very doorsteps, we have a monument of the past which is still alive. It is up to us to keep it alive. Before leaving Paramaribo, I was moved to write the following Hebrew lines in my host’s guest book:

-'j U / r < _ >

-t >

^>V^> i W

IEWISH LIFE

Israel’s Proselyte Problem By ARYEH NEWMAN

HE ACCEPTANCE of proselytes into the Jewish community is rather a painful subject in the Dias pora. Rabbinic responsa and codes from ancient times till the present day warn against acceptance of pro selytes for any other reasons other than genuine love of the Jewish faith, and orthodox rabbinic courts accept converts with the greatest reluctance, placing many obtacles in the way, in view of the danger to the integrity of the Jewish people amidst an alien environment. In earlier times this re luctance was prompted also by the hostile attitude of Christians and Moslem authorities to any conver sions to Judaism. Bearing this in mind, any chance visitor from the Diaspora to the pa vilion of the Religious Council of the Tel Aviv Municipality at that city’s jubilee exhibition last year must have been surprised to note that one of the achievements proudly publicized was the conversion of many scores of persons to Judaism. It is a fact that several hundreds of proselytes a year are accepted by the Israel rabbinic courts. They come from all parts of the world and from Israel, and their motives are as various as their back grounds. The Israel Rabbinate’s posi tion in this context is also not en viable. On the one hand, they have

February, 1960

been attacked by Diaspora rabbinates for the relative facility with which they accept proselytes, and the charge has been made that persons who have not succeeded in obtaining the nec essary certificate from their local Beth Din have gone to Israel and com pleted their conversion there. On the other hand, the Israel Rabbinate is at tacked by Israelis for the obstacles placed in the way of would-be pro selytes, and there was the well known attempt by Mr. Ben Gurion in the Who-is-a-Jew controversy to do away with the traditional formalities of in struction, immersion, and circumci sion. HE truth of the matter is that T Israel is different, the circum stances unique, and this uniqueness has been recognized from time im memorial. In addition, the emergence of an independent Jewish state has given an impetus to proselyte activity. The land of Israel has always been a proselyte center. ‘‘Beloved is the land of Israel in that it prepares or trains proselytes,” states the Talmud. Many proselytes from ancient to con temporary times have completed their conversion in the Holy Land. There is the famous Obadiah of Jerusalem who addressed three inquiries to Maimonides, and today we have the ja il

panese Professor Kotsujo, who after many years of study and practice of Judaism recently made a special pil grimage to Israel to become formally converted. There are sound Halachic reasons for easing the path of the proselyte who comes to make his home in Israel amidst an independent Jewish community. His integration is more practicable, his Jewish future is founded on a surer basis. Bearing this in mind the Israel Rabbinate examines each case, indi vidually, and judges each candidate on his merits. Once convinced that the person or family involved under stand the responsibilities involved and will make a proper Jewish home, it accepts them, after a probationary pe riod of from six months to a year and longer, if necessary. Very active in Israel is a voluntary body called the World Union for the Propagation of Judaism comprising some 3,000 mem bers, some of them prominent in dif ferent walks of life, including rabbis, writers, and university professors. This organization helps and guides wouldbe proselytes in their first steps to wards Judaism, motivated by the num erous (33) admonitions in the Torah to love the proselyte. The devoted chairman, Dr. Ben Zeev, an official of the Israel Ministry of Education, has grandiose ideas of turning Judaism into a missionary religion seeking converts all over the world—but Asia in par ticular-ideas as yet not shared by responsible rabbinic authorities. But in its day-to-day practical work this body eases the path of those who, for whatever reason, wish, genuinely, to embrace Judaism. HO ARE these converts? First of all they are those who have fallen in love with Judaism, have be come fully convinced of its superior

W 18

truth—the classical ger tzedek, the righteous proselyte. Such unusual in dividuals are to be found in all coun tries, their imagination fired by the historic resurrection of a Jewish state. There are members of Christian sects with a Jewish Bible bias, former Sev enth Day Adventists, and particularly the Russian Sabbatarians or SubbQtnikis who come to regard Judaism as the authentic interpretation of the word of G-d they had always treas ured. Such is the Krasnov family who now live under the very eyes of the Jordanians at the Mandelbaum Gate that marks the end of Jewish Jeru salem. Mother Krasnov saw her hus band burnt, her farm and possessions destroyed by the Bolsheviks in Si beria. She fled to China and remar ried. Came the Chinese Communists and confiscated again all her worldly goods. Her second husband died. She took her children, twelve in all, and started to make her way to Israel where she would be able to keep the Sabbath. Five of her children survived the journey. Now she lives in the Holy City, opposite the ultra-pious Hungarian Houses quarter, keeps the Sabbath as written in the Law of Moses, separates a tenth of her meager income to the poor, enjoying the inner spiritual comfort and wealth of having reached her heart’s desire— to shelter in the wings of the Divine Presence in His Holy City. Then we must not forget the fa mous villagers of San Nicandro in Southern Italy who, at the bidding of their “prophet” Manduzzio em braced Judaism during the Second World War, in spite of the ugly threat of the Nazi oppressor and on the emergence of the Jewish State emi grated to Israel. It was the reading of a Protestant Bible which started Manduzzio on his journey to Judaism. JEWISH LIFE

Today his followers are scattered in various towns and villages of Israel, merging imperceptibly with other Jews, having started out life together in the Galilee settlement of Alma. Though they experienced great hard ship in settling down and integrating into the language and customs of a religion they had reconstructed in their own native Italian from the Bible, their perseverance and simple faith has won through. If their pray ers consist of psalms sung to an Ital ian tune in their native tongue, their children have settled down like their fellow-sabras in religious schools and adopted completely the common Jew ish way of life. HE RANKS of the righteous pro selyte are today being swelled by newcomers from Asia, from the newly awakened peoples of the Far East. Many of their intelligentsia find the tribal and national religions they have been brought up in far from satisfying their spiritual needs. But Christianity and Mohammedanism appear suspect in their eyes because of their colonial and political asso ciations. Judaism as the parent reli gion, divorced from any links with white supremacy or Pan-Arab nation alism, seems to them the ideal faith and it is to Israel that they turn, not so much for trade and technical know-how as for spiritual inspira tion. The case of Professor Kotsujo of Japan, already referred to, is but one much-publicized example of the way individuals in these countries have found their own path to Judaism —the results of heart-searchings and pondering after the manner of the father of all proselytes, the patriarch Abraham. Whilst reports of mass con versions are without foundation, there will no doubt continue to be an ever

growing number of individuals from Asiatic countries who will turn to Judaism and to Israel as a haven for spiritual wanderings. The rise of Israel has also awak ened dormant memories in the hearts of the descendants of Marrano Jews ¿¿-those forcibly converted to Islam and Christianity in less tolerant ages. On the whole, it is easier for the Rab binate to regard them as non-Jews and initiate them into the faith like all other converts rather than declare

February, 1960

them Jews on the basis of their tenu ous, links with Judaism through the centuries, unless it can be proved that they have preserved the purity of theii* family life down the genera tions, a highly unlikely contingency, where no rabbis or authoritative re ligious guidance existed. A different but parallel problem has been pre sented by the Falashas of Ethiopia, who have been accepted as Jews on the basis of various rabbinic responsa. F A different character is the conversion of those confronted with Judaism for marital and eco nomic reasons. There are several hun dred Christian wives of Polish Jewish immigrants in Israel, most of whom wish to integrate, having thrown in their lot with their husbands’ people.

It was their plight which raised the identity card Jewish registration issue already referred to. Not hurried into any violations of Jewish prescription, the Israel Rabbinate considers each case on its merits but adopts a lenient approach in its endeavors to help these people rebuild their broken homes, especially for their children’s sakes. Where a genuine wish to live a Jewish life is evident and practic able, the age-old initiation rites mark more reinforcements into the Jewish fold. Then there are the constant appli cations from the members of the Arab minority in Israel—Christian, Moslem, Bedouin, Druze, and Circas sian—who wish to be identified with the dominant Jewish majority, Here security considerations restrict the movements and activities of the Arab minority, and the substitution of the word Jew on his identity card would solve a lot of problems for the Arab would-ber-proselyte. The secular au

thorities are equally interested in the genuine nature of the candidates’ con version. The Rabbinate does not deny them either, once convinced they will make truly devout sons of Judaism, but naturally, in their case, the hesita tions are greater and the path longer. One of the ironies of Jewish history is the way the descendants of those heretic offshoots of the Jewish people, the Karaites and Samaritans, are al so finding their way back, embracing the Torah and rabbinic precepts their rebellious ancestors spurned and re viled. In the face of this varied and not inconsiderable stream of would-be Jews the Israel Rabbinate cannot re main silent and inactive. It must adopt a positive approach, and indeed it finds in the age-old sources of Jew ish tradition the correct admixture of cautious welcome, “the right hand bringing near and the left hand put ting off” that is suited to the unusual context of Jewish statehood.

JEWISH LIFE

Sahbra By MARVE FEINBERG A sahbra cactus Stands tall in the wilds of Zin. Its thorny thick skin Has helped its m eat to live and Grow: two thousand years! T his stolid Ju d a h sentry, U p-jutting, waiting, T ow er of belief and hope, Has hot had beside Its sun-baked base a sign of Fellaheen or life. These BOOM!-grown years have given W ide-arched b erth to Zin. T h e furnace blasting heat whips Down, smack-like on the Rocky chunks. A nd they in turn, W ith split-lip cracks, lie B eneath the blazing blanket Of the sun, helpless: U nhelped, sand-swelled in their thirst. Sahbra sees, and wails Its lonesome cry, “W here are the Knife-slice rivulets, T h e m uddy tillings, and u p liftin g , hopeful hands? T h is land was also promised! H ere is place for life! T his moon of nothingness, "this Grave th a t’s not a grave M ust grow! I have waited, now Give me your arms, your Backs, and your bodies bending U nder plow. Give me Your minds, and I will give to You my fruit: my life! My sweet and sugary m eat Cries for Jacob’s child. H ear me wandered, re tu rn —!; I am ER E T Z ISRAEL!”

February, 1960

The Soul Flower Compact By ZALMAN M. SCHÄCHTER

E who signed himself “thé lad,” “the youngest of them,” is to us the most well-known of the group. His name was Chayirn Yoseph David Azulai. It must have been around the year 1740, when Azulai was about sixteen and chances are that his companions were not very much older than he was, when they signed the Compact. Such compacts were usually called a “Hithkashruth,” a committment. Since they refer to the week in which they signed the compact with a possuk from Parshath Pinchas, it is fair to assume that they, the men from Safed, had gath ered in Yerushalayim on a summer day in July. They wanted it to be in the Holy City. They felt that it was important that their compact be signed there. It would be only too easy to accuse them of wishing to force the coming of Moshiach through their chevrah. But somehow, in the context of their compact, this does not seem warranted. They simply wished to establish a chevrah. Now, to establish such a religious confraternity was really not something out of the ordinary. Such things hap pened in any Jewish locale in former days. If some folks banded together for the recital of Psalms, for the sake of imploring G-d for themselves and for Israel, for the sake of keeping the

death watch or the Yahrtzeit of one of their brethren, they would simply con stitute a Chevrah T’hillim. Then they would set aside their special feast and fast days and would promise their chaverim that, during the year of their demise and on the day of the Yahrtzeit, they would recite the Psalms and make a hazkarah. Perhaps they would state, with a believing candor, that they hoped through such practice also to raise that soul from strength to strength. Such chevroth in Eastern Europe gave us the wholesome phrase, “Zoll di n’shummeh hobben an aliye.” The same would have held true had they organized a Chevrah Mishnayoth or a Chevrah Shass. For the study of Mishnah or Talmud they would write their Takkanoth, rules, and casting lots, assign to each chaver the tractate of Mishnah or Gemorah they merited — “hobben zoiche geven,” as the Yid dish expression has it. Or, let us say that they would have chosen to organ ize a Holy Fellowship, a Chevrah Kaddishah, whose purpose it is to pro vide their neighbors with the last hon ors of an honestly Jewish burial. O it is especially interesting to note that our twelve friends, all of them bearing lilting Sephardic names, organ ized for the highest purpose of all.

JEWISH LIFE

m i j j Ambitions like theirs are seldom to be found nowadays. They organized their Chevrah with no less an aim than “to serve G-d for the sake of His unifica tion with the Sh’chinah.” Perhaps it was a passage like the one in the Zohar which praises the serving love and devotion of the one who exerts himself like a son for his father and his mother, ov6r any other form of love for G-d, that served as trigger for their motivation. Had anyone asked them why there was any need to make explicit what is so fully implicit in the whole of Juda ism, they might have answered that they wished to make this implicit goal the conscious target of their efforts. They may further have demonstrated to us that implicit assumptions have a habit of slipping altogether out of the mind and are soon forgotten in the lives of a people or individuals. If our purpose in life is to serve Him, then let us look at this service purpose at all times. Chances are, that they also felt that no individual can long main tain a vigilance over his purposes when he finds himself in isolation. Per haps tliey had learned, despite their youth, that the everyday exigencies of doing the accepted thing tend to blur even the noblest aims. It is also reasonable to assume that they felt compelled by the principle of the organized Kehillah to follow its pattern. The human body is such a good model for all other organisms, since it is the y ’tzir kapo shel hakodosh boruch hu, and made in His image. The head is above the shoulders, teach ing that the dominion over man’s be havior resides in the head . . . even the feeling of the heart is to be subject to the judgment of the mind. Yet, they realized that even the most brilliant head is in need of the support of hands, feet, and even an alimentary tract. And February, 1960

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so too, one man cannot function in all aspects of service in one lifetime, by himself. And “when you lift a person by his hand, the entire body follows.” As people from Safed, they believed very strongly in the mystic doctrines of the Kabbolah. Then the way out of the cycles of the many, many gilgulim is simply to make a chevrah in which each limb will lift the other. Of course, such a compact needs cooperation in more than this world: it needs it even in the other world. Such a compact must be fully legal by the laws of men and “by the laws of heaven.” There is one hitch though, sometimes in the heavenly economy: the Talmud states, the good that one person does, who in the end does not achieve merit, becomes assigned to another who did. This must be prevented in this Chev rah. No one of the Chevrah must take advantage of the good achieved by his fellow “member.” (How clear the ori ginal meaning of that word “member” becomes in this context.) “All the good each one achieves is to be his very own, in the secret of V’sim chelkeynu imahem — ‘and set our portion together with them’ — then truly the next part of the Amidah formula also applies: ‘we shall—I’olam—-in Olam Habba— not be put to shame, for we trust in Thee’.” T SEEMS that they practiced some form of communism, since they refer to “all shall be shared, save the wives.” And to them, the smallest ideal com munity is patterned after the smallest number that ever constituted a people which is organically complete, the Twelve Tribes of the Lord. Correction and discipline were to be the key phrases. Since the Chevrah was organized for this purpose only, no one who voluntarily joined can take issue with being corrected or disciplined.

Forgiveness to the others must be im mediate and complete. So too is no one to adopt any secret practices, no matter how noble and good, unless the major ity had first weighed them and agreed. Such a practice when agreed to be comes obligatory for the whole group and he who is unable to act in the man ner agreed to, must show good cause for his inability. Now while praise and the showing of honor is to be shunned, so is any other form of publicity. Either

way, it is unhealthy and detracts from the real purpose of the group. Of course, in an environment like ours, such a group would find itself branded as other-worldly and fanatic, while per haps in those days, they would have received an acclaim that might have inhibited any real progress on- their part. The language of the document itself is rather quaint but nonetheless so full of gentle seriousness:

A COMPACT OF FELLOWSHIP [From Siach Sarphey Kodesh, Jerusalem Bookstore, Brooklyn, 1955.] T^HE LORD, in His desire for the repentance of the patient, caused us, the youngest of the flock, to be inspired to band together as one person, for the sake of unifying the Holy One, blessed be He and His Shechinah, to give pleasure to our Creator. It is to this end, that we have made a covenant and have com mitted ourselves to abide by the following rule, which takes on force, as of now. Firstly, that we, the undersigned, twelve like thé number of the tribes of the Lord, shall love one another with a spiritual and bodily love, and all this, only to give pleasure to our Creator, by a cleaving of spirit in unit. The only exception being, that each one of us will have his wife separate unto himself. Yet, each one’s soul shall be tied to that of the other, so that we twelve be as one soul of great splendor. Thus, one will be able to raise the other, as if he were a limb of himself, of the same soul and of the same being. In case, G-d forbid, one of us failing. Under this principle too, we obligate ourselves, by our signature, to tie our love with a strong tie and from this very moment on, we agree that, in the length of days and years in the world to come, we shall spare no effort in that higher world, to save, correct, and raise the soul of any of our group, with all kinds of effort and exertion. Thus, in case that Heaven shall decree that one of us is to take the good portion of his friend, on the basis of “If he merits, he also takes 24

the good portion of his friends,” from this moment on, we swear that, for the sake of the benefit we shall each derive from the other through our Fellowship, we shall take an active part in any and all the troubles that may befall any One of us. By any formula of oath and vow that shall prove effective in the laws of men and the laws of Heaven, we hereby fore swear to acquire such assigned good, so that each one of us may have the holy results of his own service as his own, ac cording to the teachings of our Master, and give our parts among them. A S A result of the aforementioned, -^We, from this moment on;-i?become one council, one band and one knot, obli gated to help, strengthen, assist, and rein force one another, all, with all, and in all, to turn in penitence, to correct one an other and to coexperience all that will pain any one of Us, be it in this world or the next, and to do more of these ways, much more, than we can put down on paper. We also have obligated ourselves, that in each mending, fence, and good custom, we shall, each one of us, abide byJ the counsel of the majority and conduct our selves accordingly. The only exception being, in the case of a hindrance that we all will accept as such. Moreover is it agreed, that we shall in no way praise or , exalt any one of our number, even though he be greater in wisdom or experience, in JEWISH LIFE

of the vow and oath and is fully valid and legal through this contract. This complete commitment, is thus fully decided and in power, like all such commitments, from the days of Mosheh, our Master, peace be upon him. May the bliss of our Lord be upon us and may the works of our hands be estab lished upon us, may the work of our hands establish Him. Help us O G-d of our sal vation, for the sake of Thy Nam e’s Glory! To sign this in truth, we established this Compact here in Jerusalem, may it speed ily be rebuilt, ifi the week when we read: “Behold, I give him his covenant.” And may the Lord bless His people with peace. A ll this, is valid and legal, behold true, correct and established is it.

any way that will constitute a public dis play of honor, such as rising and standing up before him, but rather, quietly show respect, not insisting on displays of honor ing the other. For, if we are as one, such conduct is as unbecoming as that of one limb offering honor to another, of the same body.

SHALOM MIZRACHI, YOM TOV ALGAZI, SH’MUEL AL CHADIFF, ABRAHAM BA’ALIL, ’d id ’a s h a r ’e b u , MIOUS, SON OF JOSEPH, AHARON HALEVI, THE LAD CHAYIM YOSEPH DAVID AZULAI, SH’LOMO, SON OF DAVID FERNANDEZ, YA’AKOV BITUN, YOSEPH MASSAMANO, ELIEZER CHAYIM DI PERCHI ROSA.

Therefore, in all which the eye can per ceive, and that which can be merely “from the seam outward,” is to be shunned. We have further committed ourselves not to divulge this compact to any single creature on earth. Also did we agree, that no one of us shall bear any caprice or grudge on his fellow, be it in matters dealing with cor rection, or anything else, but rather, to forgive one another immediately, with the entire heart and soul.

We also agreed by majority, that the following three be admitted into the Fel lowship and that they are to abide by all that is mentioned. To this, they set their signatures.

LL o f this takes immediate force, through the obligation and the effect

RAPHAEL MOSHEH GALLICO, ABRAHAM YISHMA’EL CHAYIM SANGOTTAKI, YA’AKOV ALGAZI.

OT TOO long ago, someone re marked to this writer, “We have Kollelim in which people who wish to devote themselves to the study of Torah can do so and are supported. Why don’t we have any Kollelim for Avodah?” This question is of course a real one. True enough, the joining of a Torah Kolel implies that the student will use his Torah as a means for living a dedi cated life, renouncing worldly success. He may get married and rear children, but his lifes work is Torah Toratho Umnatho. All of American Judaism is

February, 1960

now, in one form or another, a gigantic Kolel for G’milluth Chassodim, the doing of charitable deeds. A Kolel for Avodah could train for us such reli gious geniuses as a modern Chayim Yoseph David Azulai, a man who wrote an Avodath Hakodesh, a manual which intends to transform a simple Jew into a Tzaddik. At a time when so many Jews are preoccupied with dimin ishing service to G-d, as it is set forth in the Halochah, it would be well that some be inspired to seek this goal. 25

Order Fulfilled By HARRY E. WEDECK

T WAS a bleak wintry afternoon. The clouds hung low over the Old Town, and shortly the long chill night would enfold the city. David shivered a little in anticipa tion: but he was young, and the future was uncertain. So he could take heart and comfort from the weekly boys’ papers that lay clustered on the kitchen table: Sexton Blake, The Magnet, The Gem. David had looked forward to this afternoon. He had just come from school, and an hour or two of relaxed enjoyment would shut out the sullen discomforts of the streets, and implant him in unreal fantasies, satisfying and timeless. “David,” Mrs. Barshan broke into his dreams as David put away his school books and opened out his Sexton Blake. “Yes, ma,” David answered. He looked up, but his eyes were really on ; Sexton Blake. “I would like you to go over to Gor don the Butcher’s.” Her voice was soft and soothing, almost pleading, and David could not refuse. “All right, ma. Can I finish this story? Or must I go now?” “I think now, David. It will soon be getting dark. Your father will be com ing home soon, and then he’ll go to the evening service in shook I’d like him to have a nice warm dinner. It’s getting so cold.” She stirred the small pieces of coal in the grate. A shower of sparks rose upward into the chimney, creating a deceptive feeling of warmth. David nodded.

“Money, ma?” He held out his hand. “David,” his mother came nearer to him. She laid her hand softly on his head. “You know how it is with us, David. One day your father earns a little. The next day he is so glad that he goes to the shool to thank the One Above. And meanwhile he forgets, poor man, that he should earn a little every day, not just once in a while. What can we do, David?” She fell silent. Then she caught herself, as it were. Her voice took on a more cheer ful note. “Never mind, David. When you grow up, you’ll go to the university. Somehow, we’ll manage. The One Above will provide, as your father says. Then you’ll get your degree, and you’ll be able to do anything you wish. Clothes and books and travel. Won’t that be wonderful? And you’ll have a good position, whatever it may be.” Her eyes glowed. David regarded her slowly. “Yes, ma. But the money for the butcher’s?” “David, go to Gordon the butcher’s. You know, in St. Leonard’s street. He is not a monster. I know, David. Just tell him we’ll pay later on.” “All right, ma. What shall I get?” “Half a pound of liver, David. And maybe a small piece of meat. Just tell the butcher we’ll pay. . . next time. He knows.” AVID rose from the table. He pulled on his cap and went out. It was gusty now, and the evening was fast

JEWISH LIFE

approaching. He had to cross Nicolson Street and plunge, head bent, through the narrow twisting streets of the Auld Toon. And as he went his thoughts ran on Sexton Blakes’s exploits in the Chi nese opium den, and his Latin prose for next week, and his sorrowful mother, with her sad meditative eyes, and her fits of long silences, and her tremendous effort to steel herself to the grim actualities. And he visioned his father, exhausted, frustrated, coming home at night, having done some feeble little business involving a few petty shillings. But how wonderful these oc casions were, however rare. His mother took heart then, threw a shawl over her head, and called to David: Come, we’re going to buy things for supper. “"While his father went into the other room, to pray and commune with the One Above, David would follow his mother through the darkling streets to the corner grocery. It was a communal spot, where mothers and children gath ered for supplies. It was small and con fined, packed to the ceiling, with pack ages on counter and shelves: Van Houten cocoa in tins, cans of salmon, bis cuits, pungent cheeses. The aroma of large warm loaves of brown bread. And the barrels of salted herrings from Holland, and the sprats from Norway. What a feast that could be. What end less banquets. Like that ancient Ban quet of the Philosophers, that Athenaeus described so succulently. But for David’s mother it was mere ly a few ounces of butter, half a loaf of dark bread, a herring, and sometimes a tin of cocoa. But that was a banquet in itself. And the contentment on his mother’s face when she returned and started to set the table, and the exalted thankfulness of his father as he pas sionately gave tremulous thanks to the One Above for the blessings at the table . . . February, 1960

S David approached the butcher’s shop, he observed that it was warmly lit up. A number of women stood around, discussing chickens, clothes, and their families. Hesitantly, and a little shyly among so many women, David slid gently into the shop, shuffling his feet in the saw dust. He waited until a woman had been served. There were still three cus tomers to give their orders. David hung back. “Yes, what can I give you?” The butcher asked, looking toward David. Mr. Gordon was a tall, lean figure, not at all like the usual butcher. He had a pale, elongated face, and a mournful disappointed look, and his voice was quiet and husky. “I’ll wait, if you don’t mind,” David murmured. “Not at all.” “Go on, Mr. Gordon, give the bdy his order. We can wait,” one of the women chimed in. David stood silent, slightly embar rassed. He tried to crouch down, men tally within himself. He regarded the women sideways. One was richly dressed, with garish rings gleaming on her fat red fingers. Another dangled deliberately a huge thick gold bracelet. A locket, of tawny gold, was perched ostentatiously on another’s velvet blouse. These people, David mused, so different from our family. They have enough to buy meat every day. They have enough for everything they crave. And they come clad in jewels and clothes that cost more, probably, than my father could earn in years^ Maybe they are better people than we are. Maybe, in spite of what father says, to the One Above, it is we poor folk who are at fault. My father spends long days and often wintry nights, suppli cating the One Above. My mother scrimps and saves odd pennies. Is that good? Maybe the Lord is busy, inti-

mately concerned about these other folk. Who knows? I wish I knew, David murmured within himself. He stood puzzled, disheartened, confused utterly. Every time he went on an errand for his mother he observed the same thing. Maybe, he suddenly realized, all this learning, all this passion for knowledge itself, is a fool’s errand. These women, and their husbands, know the truth. They know the shortcut to content ment. Why should we not follow them? How do they accomplish this? So David’s musings ran on . . . WO women finally left, having given large orders of steaks and poultry, to be delivered oil time, that very evening. One woman remained, sitting silent in a corner. Like David, she too seemed hesitant, clutching tightly on to her shawl. Then she too went. David moved nearer to the long wooden rough hewn counter, spotted, littered fat, slivers of meat. “Yes?” Mr. Gordon looked up from the work on hand, slicing off meat chops. “Could I have a piece of liver, half a pound? And a small piece of meat? My father will pay you next time.” He babbled the words, rapidly, like a for mula. Then he stopped, stood silent. “You are Mrs. Barshon’s boy, eh?” David nodded. “I got a boy your age. Ach, but he doesn’t want to do anything. Nothing. No books. No work. Just the races. You going to school?” “Yes,” David answered. “You want to go to the university?” David nodded. The liver and the piece of meat he hoped to get on credit seemed to move further away. If only he could seize the package and dash out. Mr. Gordon looked down at the boy,

his eyes warm, indulgent. “Ah,” he sighed. “If I had a boy like you. Ah.” He too fell silent. Then he turned round to a small wooden block. Mysteriously he rum maged among fragments of meat and oddments. He tore off a large sheet of brown paper. He wrapped the entire order in the paper, handed it over to David. “All this?” David asked, for it was a huge, heavy-weighing parcel now, un questionably far beyond his meagre request. “For you. Take it.” His tone was abrupt, but his eyes belied his voice. David took the bundle, gingerly, as if it were contraband. When he reached home, his mother opened the parcel on the kitchen table. Then she looked at the juicy pieces of meat and the liver and the oddments that went with a good stew. “So much, David,” she exclaimed, with a gasp. “I did not order so much. How can we pay for all this?” “The butcher himself gave it to me.” His mother was still. She gave a slight sigh. He knew, she murmured to herself. Perhaps some day he will be repaid. HEN David’s father arrived shortly after, he looked tired and haggard. He hung up his coat and went into the warm kitchen. “Ah! Dinner!” he exclaimed, rubbing his cold hands. His worn face took on a cheerfulness. “Where did you get it? Ach, why should I ask? It was the One Above. He always provides. See, Malka. I al ways told you.” David’s mother turned to the stove, ostensibly to stir the stew. But actually, to wipe away the tears that blurred her eyes. JEWISH LIFE

Israel’s New Government By I. HALEVY-LEVIN m Êêm

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Jer usa lem some date in the not-distant future the HE weary round of Coalition talks question of closer relations with West is now no more than a memory and Germany must be put on the table— Israel’s new Government has been in though the recent rash of Antisemitism stalled. It is a broad Government, com may well have put qff the day— and manding eighty-six seats in the Knes- for reasons of prestige if for nothing seth, and allows Prime Minister Ben else, both the United Workers Party Gurion considerable room for man (Mapam) and Achduth Ha’avodah euver. As usual Mapai occupies a cen must now oppose any step in that direc tral and dominating position. The de tion. (Parenthetically, it is not super fection of either the extreme Left or fluous to note that both of these parties the religious wing would merely reduce seem to have decided that Communist but not destroy the Government’s ma East Germany is more or less innocent jority. For that reason it will probably of the Nazi atrocities.) be the most stable—though, perhaps, O ACHIEVE this objective, which not the most harmonious—administra from the outset was to form a Coa tion the country has yet had. lition similar to that in office before the In retrospect Mr. Ben Gurion’s stra resignation of the National Religious tegy in negotiating the Coalition agree Party (Mizrachi-Hapoel Hamizrachi) ment with each separate party is inter in mid-1958, Ben Gurion chose a very esting. Already prior to election day it devious route, hoping thereby to streng could be foreseen that failing a major then his own position and weaken that electoral surprise the new Coalition of his potential partners. His first seri would rest upon an agreement between ous contacts were with the Progressives Mapai and the National Religious and the Agudah-Poalei Agudah Bloc. Party. Ben Gurion, indeed, took the With his own fifty-two seats (together precaution of jettisoning the debris of with the Arab members who support the “Who is a Jew” controversy which Mapai) and the six seats of the Pro might have cluttered the conference gressives in his pocket, he needed only table. It was clear that he could not the support of Agudath Israel, who also allow any future administration to be have six members, to get his majority dependent upon the good will and for in the House. Such an administration, bearance of the parties of the Left. At clearly, would not be a stable one, but

February, 1960

it would constitute a position of strength from which Mr. Ben Gurion could force his own terms upon the National Religious Party and the Leftwing. In terms of political strategy it was a sound plan. The Agudah-Poalei Agudah were eager to join, so much so indeed that they made no major de mands in return for their support. All they asked for was full Government support for their independent school system — the Ministry of Education covers eighty-five per cent of their edu cation budget today. The extra grant involved was in the vicinity of IL 500,000 (roughly a quarter of a million dollars) a year. The National Religious Party, how ever, also had demands to make—of a far more comprehensive character—in the sphere of education. It was only under pressure that Mizrachi and Hapoel Hamizrachi consented to the crea tion of state religious schools years ago but in principle, at least, the religious section of the population has little ground for complaint against the State Education Act, which recognized the existence, side by side, of State and State Religious schools. A section of Mapai leaders, however, regard their own consent to that arrangement as a major error. As the immigrants conso lidate their positions economically they tend to insist more vociferously and effectively upon their right to choose the school to which they send their children. Pressure, intimidation, and even the creation of Mapai-sponsored religious schools are some of the meth ods adopted to ensure that the new comers do not stray too far from the fold, but State Religious education of the primary grade is steadily gaining ground.

I 30

N ISRAEL only primary education is free and compulsory. Secondary

schooling is only supervised and sup ported by the State, by a complicated system of scholarships, the main object of which is to help under-privileged children. Now, however, the Govern ment is actively developing secondary education in the immigrant areas. New schools are being built and fees in most cases are hardly more than nominal. The settlers themselves are becoming more eager to send their children to high schools and are prepared even to make certain sacrifices to that end. The rapid expansion of religious high schools—including yeshivoth tichoniyoth, where a full religious educational program is combined with the normal school curriculum — notwithstanding the inadequacy of State aid, must be attributed, to some extent at least, to this new appreciation of the import ance of education among the new im migrants. An accelerated rate of expan sion is foreseen in the next few years. The Ministry of Education has in sisted that it can—and will—establish only one high school in any district, and that the provisions of the Educa tion Act for the creation of parallel religious and non-religious schools, where this is warranted by the number of children registered, is applicable only to the primary grade. The reasons given range from the ideological—two different typese of schools, it is argued, would widen the rift between the two sections of the population—to the prac tical—principally the shortage of funds and of qualified teachers. The validity of certain of these arguments has de ceived some sections of the public in regard to the true objective of Mapai’s education policy—for the Ministry of Education is a Mapai preserve—which is no less than to secure the complete secularization of the younger genera tion in Israel. The National Religious Party has all JEWISH LIFE

along insisted that wherever a Stateaided high school is established a Stateaid religious high school shall also be established, the sole criteria for its es tablishment being that parents ask for it and a sufficient number of pupils war rant it. Agreement on this point was reached in 1955 between the National Religious Party and Mapai, but it re mained a dead letter. In 1955, however, secondary schooling in general and sec ondary religious education in particular were of much smaller proportions than they are today. As a result of the growth of both the issue has acquired an entire ly new significance. For this reason, too, Mapai insisted that the dissolution of the Third JCnesseth ipso facto had cancelled all inter-party agreements and that new talks must begin from the very beginning. Alarmed that the adherence of Agudah-Poalei Agudah to the new Ben Gurion Government would destroy any prospect of Mapai concessions on the high schools, the leaders of the National Religious Party appealed to the Moezeth Gedoley Hatorah (Rabbinic authority of Agudath Israel), to which the Agudah-Mapai agreement had been submitted for final approval. A section of the Moatzah, led by Rabbi Yecheskel Sama, Rosh Yeshivath Chevron, recognizing the importance of the issues at stake and the inade quacy of the religious concessions Mr. Ben Gurion was prepared to give in return for Agudah support, refused to ratify the agreement. OR David Ben Gurion this was hardly more than a tactical set back. In any case he was aiming at a broader Coalition. Meanwhile dif ferences within his own party had come to a head and until these were settled the inter-party talks were hard ly more than an informal exchange of

February, 1960

views, which gave Ben Gurion time to put his own house in order. The Prime Minister’s determination to shake up Mapai’s Knesseth repre sentation by an infusion of new blood had come up against the stiff opposition of the entrenched old guard. The main difficulty was Mrs. Golda Meir’s un willingness to continue in the Foreign Ministry. On a number of occasions in the past the Foreign and the De fense Ministries had clashed. Mr. Ben Gurion and Mrs. Meir have worked fairly well together in the Government, but the former, like so many contem porary heads of government, likes to conduct his own foreign policy. In Israel, however, foreign relations are more subservient to considerations of national defense and it was here that there was friction between Mrs. Meir and the forceful Director General of the Ministry of Defense; Shimon Peres, whom Ben Gurion wished to elevate to the rank of Deputy Min ister. Another Cabinet appointment which Mrs. Meir felt might constrict her own authority was that of Abba Eban, one of Ben Gurion’s closest advisers, as Minister without Portfolio. Mrs. Meir has some outstanding achievements to her credit, some of the more recent of which include her recent South Amer ican and West African tours, and her leadership of the Israel delegation at the United Nations. Mr. Ben Gurion has a high opinion of Mrs. Meir’s tal ents and was ready to give her assur ances to enable her to continue in office. Zalman Aranne, Minister of Edu cation and Culture, has also had com plaints to make about Mr. Ben Gu rion’s interference in the sphere of edu cation, notably in the university stu dents’ strike last summer and during the present dispute with the high school 31

teachers. David Ben Gurion, of course, has no intention of giving up the sup port of the Mapai veterans—of whom he himself is one—-and so welcomed the efforts of the Tel Aviv Gush (the Mapai old guard) to patch up the quarrel. A little good luck—namely Mapai’s startling success at the polls— and a little maneuvering were necessary to make room for two other of Ben Guripn’s younger men. Mordecai Namir was recruited, much against his will, for he was very happy at the Ministry of Labor, to serve as Mayor of Tel Aviv, thereby making room for Dr. Giora Josephtal; while Kadish Luz, former Minister of Agriculture, was elected Speaker of the Knesseth, and was succeeded by Moshe Dayan. Once Mapai’s differences were solved and its own Cabinet team elected, the Coalition talks went forward smoothly. P TO this juncture Mr. Ben Gu rion had chosen to ignore the Na tional Religious Party, filling in the time with interminable talks with the Progressives—who, he knew, would join the Government in any case—and the Left-wingers, who would be brought to heel only when it was made clear to them that a Government could be formed without them. But at the first official meeting between Mapai and the National Religious Party the delegations were headed by David Ben Gurion and Moshe Shapiro, respective ly, a sure indication that both meant business. Because of their realistic ap praisal of each other’s strength and viewpoints the talks were concluded within a few days. Mapai’s stronger po sition, the National Religious Party realized soberly, would not make it amenable to any new concessions. At the same time it needed N.R.P. sup

port. The leaders of the N.R.P. appre ciate, that for the time being, and as long as religious Jewry remains divided and politically weak, the best that can be hoped for is some sort of armistice in the cultural cold war—peaceful co existence, to use a current term. Such an armistice can only be based upon respect for the status quo. For that reason National Religious leaders in

Member's of Israel's new government. Left to right, seated: Mrs. Golda Meir (Mapai) Foreign Affairs; Rabbi Yaacov M. Toledano (non-party) Religious Af fairs; President Ben Zvi; David Ben Gu rion, Prime Minister and Defense; Pinhas Rosen (Progressives) Justice. Standing: Moshe Dayan (Mapai) Agriculture; Giora Josephtal (Mapai) Labor; Mordechai Bentov (Mapam) Development; Pin-

sisted upon observance of the agree ment already reached in 1955, the main features of which were legislation of a national Sabbath Observance Law and recognition of the equality of sta tus of the religious high schools. The mooted Sabbath Law will not introduce any substantial changes in Israel. It will standardize existing legis lation passed by the local authorities JEWISH LIFE

and give them the imprimatur of the State. The allocation to the National Reli gious Party of the Ministry of Interior, one of the most important departments of the Administration (in addition, of course, to the Ministry for Social Wel fare, to be headed by Dr. Joseph Burg, former Minister of Posts), is to com pensate it for the loss of the Ministry

has Sapir (Mapai) Commerce and In dustry; Moshe Shapiro (National Reli gious) Interior; Israel Barzilai (Mapam) Health; Abba Eban (Mapai) without portfolio; Joseph Burg (National Reli gious) Social Welfare; Yitzhak Ben Aha ron (Achduth Ha'avodah) Transport; and Katriel Katz, Secretary of Government. Absent is Levi Eshkol (Mapai) Minister of Finance.

for Religious Affairs. Before the inter party talks were opened it was made clear that Mr. Ben Gurion would abide by the undertakings he had given Rabbi J. M. Toledano. Wisely, the ne gotiators of the National Religious Party did not make what public opin ion immediately interpreted as a per sonal question into a matter of prin ciple. February, 1960

NDER normal circumstances the Ministry for Religious Affairs is not of major political significance. By definition it cannot be. Its authority extends to a very limited sphere. The supreme religious authority in Israel remains the Chief Rabbinate, and it is because of the impending election of a successor to the late Rabbi Isaac Halevy Herzog that it has assumed more importance. Under one interpretation of a Mandatory law—which, inciden tally, is being disputed—the Minister for Religious Affairs, who in this sphere has inherited the powers form erly held by the British High Commis sioner, may promulgate regulations governing the election of a Chief Rabbi. There has been a mutual antagonism between Rabbi Toledano and the Na tional Religious Party since the latter supported the election of Rabbi Yitzchak Nissim as the Sephardi Chief Rabbi five years ago. (For the record it must be stated that Rabbi Nissim was not and is not associated with the National Religious Party, and the lat ter’s opposition to the election of Rabbi Toledano stemmed from his advanced age—he was almost seventy-five at the time.) This antagonism, which degen erated into a veritable feud when Rabbi Toledano accepted the Portfolio of Religious Affairs after the resignation of Mr. Shapiro and Dr. Burg from the Government over the “Who is a Jew” controversy, was exacerbated when Rabbi Toledano came out openly in favor of the Ben Gurion Administra tion during the recent electoral cam paign. Through Rabbi Toledano Mr. Ben Gurion has become a deciding fac tor in the election of a new Chief Rabbi. Ours is an orphaned generation and there is a dearth of suitable candidates for the august office of Chief Rabbi of

Israel. So far, indeed, no more than three names have been mentioned: Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik of Bos ton, Rabbi Iser Yehudah Unterman of Tel Aviv, and Rabbi Shlomo Goren, Chief Chaplain of the Israel Defense Army. The last is the Prime Minister’s personal choice. By a simple mani pulation of the electoral regulations Rabbi Toledano is trying to ensure Rabbi Goren’s election. Candidates for the office, Rabbi Toledano wishes to lay down, must be Israeli citizens— Rabbi Soloveitchik is an American—and not over seventy, as the retirement age for Chief Rabbis, who are elected for a term of five years, is seventy-five. Rabbi Unterman is just over seventy. The fact that the Chief Rabbinate is being made a political football in Ben Gurion’s continuing cold war with the National Religious Party is deeply resented by religious Jews not only in Israel, but throughout the world. A particularly unfortunate aspect is that Rabbi Goren is believed to be eminent ly suited to fill the post and is reported to be favored by large sections of the religious community. Indeed the sup port accorded him by the Prime Min ister and the Minister for Religious Affairs has proved to be an ill-service, for there is open talk that religious Jewry will not recognize a Rav Mita’am -—a state-appointed rabbi—-with all the unfortunate associations which go with the term. UT Mr. Ben Gurion cannot afford to quarrel with the National Re ligious Party at this early stage, and it is unlikely that he will prove stubborn on this point. Already a Cabinet Com mittee on Religious Affairs has been appointed—which means a curtailment of Rabbi Toledano’s powers — and there are reports that the electoral reg ulations will be less drastic than orig inally contemplated.

Strengthened by his agreement with the National Religious Party and the Progressives, giving him a majority of seventy in the House, and an assur ance that Agudah-Poalei Agudah would not oppose the Government on any more important issue, Ben Gu rion could force his terms on Mapam and Achduth Ha’avodah, The question at issue was the collective re sponsibility of all members of the coali tion for the decisions of the Govern ment. Throughout the term of the Third Knesseth, and particularly in the past two years, Achduth Ha’avodah and Mapam in its train pursued a pol icy of opposition within the Govern ment coalition. Such a course, they were persuaded, would give them the best of both worlds. Achduth Ha’avo dah, particularly was sure that it would boost its chances of emerging as Mapai’s main rival within the labor camp. But the electorate did not re spond to this technique and Achduth Ha’avodah’s representation in the Knesseth was reduced from ten seats to seven. Mr. Ben Gurion has decided to in sure himself against any recurrence of this opposition-cum-coalition game. He insisted upon the prior consent of all members of the Government coali tion to a clause in the Government’s program envisaging legislation making their opposition to or abstention from any Government-sponsored measure tantamount to resignation from the Government, such resignation of the party in question taking effect from the time of a statement made in the Knesseth by the Prime Minister. Ex cluded from this undertaking would be only such questions of conscience upon which the Cabinet recognized the right of its members to vote freely. Reduced to its simplest terms, the Prime Minis ter will be given the power of dismissJEWISH LIFE

ing any recalcitrant minister at his dis cretion. This is a far-reaching power but within the context of coalition gov ernment—and no other form of gov ernment is conceivable in Israel as long as the present proportional rep resentation system continues—there is no other alternative. Mr. Ben Gurion has lost no time in placing the necessary amendment, in this spirit, to the Law of Transition (Chok Hama’avar — Israel’s “Little Constitution”) before the Knesseth. The National Religious Party has re served its right to vote freely on religi ous questions, but in such an eventu ality has stated that it will resign from the Government—as it did over the Jewish identity issue. o t w it h s t a n d in g

its rather

Nheterogeneous character (but all

February, 1960

of the participating parties have a strong Labor character) the new Gov ernment is a strong one and a much younger one—as a result of Mapai re placements—than its predecessor. The new ministers must, of course, prove themselves under parliamentary condi tions, but each of them already has a record in other spheres of public serv ice of which he can be proud. It may not be a harmonious Cabinet—for ex ample, Yitzchak Ben Aharon, Minister of Transport, Achduth Ha’avodah’s sole representative in the Government, was apparently chosen for the post (Yisrael Galili or Yigal Allon were more logical candidates) because of his strong opposition to many of the Prime Minister’s ideas — but it has every prospect of weathering the storms that can be foreseen within the next four years.

Miashkofah The Concept of Rabbinic Authority By Samson R. WEISS

“And the Almighty spoke all these words”^ Said Rabbi Yitzchak: What the prophets were to prophesy in every generation, they received from Sinai. And not only the prophets received their prophecy from Sinai, but all Sages too, who are going to rise in every generation, every one of them received his share from Sinai. For the covenant of Torah was concluded, so Moshe spoke to Israel, “with the one who stands here with us today and with the one who is not here with us today,” (Devorim 29.14). This refers to the souls which are to enter this world in the future. (Midrash Rabbah Shemoth 28:4) ;

INCE our life, in all its experiences and manifestations, moves through the dimensions of space and time, the concepts of infinity and eternity which we associate with the Almighty remain beyond the ken of our grasp and imag ination. Escaping our positive identifi cation, these terms are subject to nega tive definitions only. Infinity is the status of non-confinement by any boundary, the freedom from any spa tial condition. Eternity is the status of timelessness, an unimaginable repose and constancy dissociated from any change, for change is an occurrence possible only in time and within the categories of "‘before” and “after.” I, The Almighty, have not changed (Malachi 3:6) — the Creator is im pervious and immune to any variation, for He is above the limitations of space and time which are His creations. “Be fore any thing was, didst Thou exist;

and when all was made, Thou didst fill all. Thy creations do not compress Thee nor do they diminish Thee. When Thou didst make the heavens, the earth and the waters, they did not attract nor distance Thee, for no enclosure can divide Thee.” Thus sings the medieval Kabbalist and poet, Rabbi Sh’muel Hachasid (Shir Hayichud, third day). While imminent in His creation, G-d has remained utterly unaffected by it. Encompassing and surrounding, so to speak, in His infinity and eternity all times and all boundaries, He is neither subject to, nor determined by, any of their limitations. The Jew, while con templating the universe, perceives in it therefore not only the evidence of Divine wisdom. He stands even more astonished before the omnipotence of the Almighty, Who, in spite of His infinity and eternity, could express and reveal Himself in a world of limitation JEWISH LIFE

in which the boundaries of time and space prevail. It is this awesome tzimtzum, the self-confinement of-the Cre ator on which all existence emanating from Him is based, in which he sees creation’s greatest miracle and grace. N SINAI, the Almighty revealed Himself to His chosen people as the Creator Who in His omnipotence and by His will bridges the gap between infinity and limitation, between eter nity and fleeting time. Elevated to the level of prophecy, the children of Israel heard the Onochi Hashem and recog nized, so our Sages tell us, that all existence is filled and maintained by the Divine Presence. They understood that the Torah proffered to them is the Divine disclosure of the purpose of all creation. They experienced in pro phetic view the Va-yered Hashem — the Almighty “coming down,” so to speak, into this material world, to make Himself understood to man, to express Himself in sound and articulation, in word and writ, and to infuse the human limitation with the content of the Divine postulate. On Sinai, infinity and eternity met space and time and were joined through the covenant of Torah whose carrier is Israel. Ever since, Israel and its Torah have remained the Divine instruments of this juncture be tween G-d and His world. It is this affinity to Sinai which has preserved our people. It is this recog nition of our juncture, through Torah, with eternity which has made us with stand all ravages of time and all ero sions of exile and persecution. 1, the Almighty, have not changed and you, the sons of Jacob, have not been con sumed (Malachi, l.c.) — as carriers of Torah we have been stamped with the seal of the Divine eternity and re mained impervious to destruction and decay. Often diminished, we have al-

February, 1960

ways risen again. Often truncated, the remnant of the people rooted in eter nity always brought forth again blos som and fruit, to be a testimony by their mere existence to G-d, the in finite and eternal. Those chosen by the Almighty to teach and to interpret Torah to His people and to the world, “received their share” on Sinai. The Prophets graced by the direct communication with the Holy One, blessed be He, as well as the Chochmey Hatorah, the Sages of the Torah of the later genera tions, represent the Divine will and wisdom revealed on Sinai. Though not as yet embodied in flesh and blood, their souls were present on Sinai and accepted their task to pronounce the eternal truth within the space and time set for their corporeal existences, for the revelation of this truth was perme ated with the timelessriess transcending the limitations of this world, encom passing all generations, and impreg nated with the constancy of eternity which proscribes any mutation. N THIS constancy is based the authority of the teachers of To rah, of the rabbis whose responsibility it is to safeguard the spirit and the letter of the Divine Law and to apply its unchanging principles to the effer vescent reality. Torah itself clearly de fines this authority and imposes upon the Klal Yisroel the obligation to ac cept it in reverence. The situations and conditions under which an individual Jew or the entire community may tem porarily be absolved from certain pre cepts and observances, are set forth in the Written and in the Oral Law and are, therefore, part of its system. Any change not foreseen in Torah itself and not stipulated as to its permissibility in the Mishnah or the Talmud and thence embodied in the Shulchon Oruch, the

authoritative Halachic compendium, is a transgression against the very essence of Torah. Such a transgression is of an incomparably more serious character than any iniquity caused by human frailty or lust, for it constitutes a de nial of Torah’s eternal validity. Any man advocating such change, arro gantly superimposes the limitations of his knowledge and insight over the in finite wisdom of the Almighty and makes eternity submissive to time. By so doing, he automatically loses all claim to rabbinic authority, no matter how learned he may be and how pious

he may appear in his outward behavior and actions. In defining in his Thirteen Principles of Faith the fundamentals of Jewish belief, Maimonides included the prin ciple of the unchanging constancy of Torah: f f believe with perfect faith that this Torah will never be changed and that there will never be any other law from the Creator, blessed be His Name” (Ninth Principle). For when this Torah was given, our fathers ac cepted it upon themselves and upon all future generations, and our souls were with them on Sinai and joined them in this acceptance.

There are those who tell us, and among them, surprisingly enough, not a few Ministers, that the motive of fear ought to be banished from religion. We ought no longer, it is maintained, hold before men's eyes the fear of divine retribution. Fear, it is said, is an ignoble thing, not fit to be held up before modern men. But is fear an ignoble thing? It all depends upon that of which we are afraid. It is certainly an ignoble thing to be afraid of death at the hands of man: it is certainly an ignoble thing to fear those who use brute power to suppress right. But are we necessarily degraded by being afraid of the divine moral order of the universe, and by thinking in all our actions of the judgment of G-d that breaks sooner or later upon evildoers? The fact is that the fear of G-d and His judgment has always hand an ennobling effect. It has always proved the way for overcoming the fear of man. The heroic centuries of Jewish martyrdom provide ample testimony to the efficacy of the fear of G-d. With the fear of G-d before them the heroes, saints, and martyrs of the Jewish people have defied kings, potentates, and tyrants and went to meet death with joy in their heart and song on their lips. — From an address by Rabbi Dr. I. Epstein, given at the Twelfth Conference of Anglo-Jewish Preachers.

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Mosheh Isserles By MEYER WAXMAN

VERY STUDENT of Jewish his tory is well aware of the fact that it is primarily a history of centers of Jewish life and thought, each of which went through a process of growth, rise, and decline. Beginning with the tenth century, France rose to leadership in European Jewry. Its distinguished scholars and savants exerted their in fluence upon all Jewish settlements, in cluding the rising communities in East ern Europe as well as those in the lands of Western Europe. As was men tioned in our essay on Rabbi Tam,* the school of this leading Tosafist drew students even from Kiev in distant Russia, and also from Bohemia and Hungary. When during the thirteenth century a series of expulsions of the Jews from France brought about the decline of that Jewry and the closing of its great academies, German Jewry took over the spiritual and intellectual leadership, and maintained it for sev eral centuries. And when the continual suffering, persecutions, and numerous local expulsions gradually undermined its vigor and sapped the strength of that community in turn, another was ready to assume the yoke of leadership and authority, this time an East-European one, that of Poland.

*J ewish L ife , Teveth 5719/December 1958. February, 1960

Jewish settlement in Poland and its neighboring provinces goes back to the ninth century. Undoubtedly the first settlement came from the East, espe cially Crimea, where Jews had lived as early as first centuries of the Com mon Era, thence spread to the Rus sian dukedom of Kiev, and from there to Poland. But from the time of the Crusades tens of thousands of Jews fleeing from the persecutions in Ger many and in neighboring lands had settled in Poland. The migration went on for several centuries, for the Polish king Baleslow the Pious (d. 1278) gave the Jews a number of favorable privileges which were later even im proved upon by his grandson, Kasimir the Great. These privileges attracted, during the years, more immigrants. Be fore long, the Jewish settlement in Po land became numerically the largest of all Jewish centers. OWEVER, for several centuries little was accomplished in Poland in the spiritual and intellectual phases of Jewish life. We hardly know of any famous scholar in Poland before the end of the fifteenth century, nor of im portant academies in that center. On the other hand, though Polish Jewry was not entirely devoid of intellectual activity, such endeavor was carried on

rather in a quiet manner. When the rise came, at the beginning of the six teenth century, it came with a burst of literary productivity which was the result of accumulated and stored-up energy. Even prior to the sixteenth century, numerous men of learning vis ited academies in Germany and in other neighboring Western countries, and on their return they established small academies in their various com munities, and thus a generation of stu dents were ready to make their con tribution to Jewish learning. But the fruition of scholarship needed a stimu lus from without. This came through the migration of several leading scho lars from Germany. The most prominent of these schol ars was Yaakov Polack (d. 1541) who was for a number of years Rabbi at Prague. In the year 1507 he left for Poland.and settled in Cracow where he became Rabbi and head of a Tal mudic academy, a position he filled for thirty-three years. Rabbi Yaakov was not only a famous scholar and a master of Jewish learning in all its branches, but was also the creator of an exceptionally keen-minded method of Talmudic study known as chiluk, i.e. division and analysis. In his academy Talmudic subjects were analyzed into their component parts, and these in turn were subjected to a scrutiny of the distinction in their meanings. New concepts of the subjects emerged out of this concentrated method of study. Due to the fame of the teacher and the method, Yaakov Polack’s academy was crowded with students eager to display their mental ability. These stu dents later became the scholars who carried on extensive literary activity. The leading disciple of Rabbi Yaa kov Polack was Rabbi Shachnah, who became the Rabbi of Lublin. After the death of his master Rabbi Shachnah 40

became the leading scholar in Poland and his academy likewise drew stu dents from all Polish communities. Rabbi Shachnah, however, did not fol low the method of his master all the way. He felt that while mental ingen uity and keen-mindedness in the study of the text of the Talmud is of great value, a rabbi must also be versed in the numerous codes, composed through the ages, in order to be able to offer the right decision in the practice of the law. He therefore devoted the teach ing ia h is academy not only to the in tensive study of the text of the Talmud, but also to that of the codes. As a re sult of the activity of these two men, there soon arose many scholars who made important contributions to both the commentation of the Talmud and to the classification of the ways and methods of codification. One of the most distinguished of these was Mosheh Isserles. is s e r l e s , known by the customary method of abbrevation as Ramcta (1529-1572), was born in Cracow. His father Yisroel possessed both wealth and great scholarship, for the son quotes sev eral of his legal decisions in his com mentary on the code of the Tur, Darchey Mosheh. During a large part of his life Yisroel Isserles also served as the leader (pamas) of the community. Mosheh displayed exceptional ability from his very youth. While still very young he attended the academy of Rabbi Shachnah and was greatly loved by the master, who later chose him as the husband for his daughter, Goldie. This union, however, did not last long, for Goldie, after bearing three daugh ters, died young. Rabbi Mosheh Isserles returned to Cracow in the year 1550. Though he was then only thirty years old, he founded an academy which he

abbi m o sh eh

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maintained at his own expense, for he inherited his father’s wealth. Due to his great literary activity his name spread throughout Poland and even beyond it. A legend was current in early times that the Magid of Yoseph Karo warned him to hasten to publish his work, Beth Yoseph, in order that a certain young scholar in Poland should not precede him. Turning to his. personality, we can note a certain two-sidedness in its char acter, though this did not result in any conflict in his soul. In a way Mosheh Isserles resembles in this regard his namesake Mosheh Ben Maimón. In his code, Maimonides is frequently more severe in his decisions than a number of his contemporary codifiers, while in the Guide of the Perplexed his views on certain religious phases and con cepts are liberal to such a degree that much opposition arose to them in later ages. Mosheh Isserles presents a similar case to a degree. Unlike all other con temporary scholars in both Germany and Poland who devoted all their time and energy to the study of the Talmud and codes without attention to other studies, Isserles was interested in the sciences, and as far as he could obtain their knowledge from Hebrew sources he mastered them. Thus, he was versed in astronomy and even wrote a com mentary—which is still in manuscript —on an astronomical work called Mahalach Ha-Kochovim (The Move ment of the Stars and Constellations), written or translated by an earlier scholar, Ephraim Mizrachi, which contains also drawings and explana tions of such movements. Likewise greatly interested in Jew ish history, Isserles wrote notes to Abraham Zacutto’s Sefer Yuchasin (The Book of Geneologies). He was especially interested in philosophy and studied the More Nevuchim of MaiFebruary, 1960

monides assiduously, quoted his views and even wrote comments on that work. He also introduced mapy phil osophical views in his work Torath Ha- 1 Olah (The Lesson of Sacrifices) in which he differs with Maimonides’ view of sacrifices and attempts to prove their great symbolic value in im pressing religious and ethical precepts in the hearts of men. OSHEH ISSERLES speaks fre quently in the language of Mai M monides and says that the separate in telligences which guide the spheres in the world are also called angels. He also asserts that man must investigate things and understand them through proofs and logical reasoning. In fact, this is Tachlith, i.e., the end to which a man must strive. Isserles explains very skillfully difficult Agadic state ments, such as the one “that G-d puts on Tefillin” (Tr. Berochoth, 6a). This statement, says he, “means to assert that man, when putting on the Tefillin which point to the heart and brain, organs which constitute his life power, must then bear in mind that G-d is the source of that power for He sup plies the life power of the world and guides it in a right and just way. Simillarly, man too must utilize his heart and brain in the proper manner.’* Ramaa introduces some of his phil osophic views even in his additions to the Shulchon Oruch. While the mystic, Karo, prohibits the reading of any works on the Sabbath, the Ramaa per mits the reading of historical works and serious discourses if they are written in Hebrew (Orach Chayim, Ch. 308, 16). He says elsewhere that it is proper for a scholar, after devoting much time tô the study of the Talmud and codes, to engage in the study of the sciences and philosophy. He even opens his addenda to the Shulchon 41

Oruch with a long statement from Maimonides’ Guide of the Perplexed.

opus, the completion of the Shulchon Oruch.

HE literary activity of Rabbi Mosheh Isserles was very exten sive; there was hardly a branch of Jew ish literature which he did not enrich with his all-encompassing knowledge. We have already mentioned his works in the fields of Jewish history and phil osophy as well as in science. The larg er part of his works are, of course, in the fields of Talmud and codification. The more important of these are: first, the Torath Chatoth, a logical arrange ment of an earlier code known as Shaarey Dura (The Portals of Dura) by Isaac ben Reuven of Duran. This code was considered authoritative by scholars, and Isserles not only im proved the arrangement of its content, but added comments as well as new material. Another work of great value was the Darchey Mosheh (The Ways of Moses) a commentary on the Tur, the great code of Yaakov ben Asher. It was orig inally intended to be a real commentary on the text, but meanwhile the Beth Yoseph by Karo appeared, in which as indicated in the essay on Karo,* the tendency to disregard the views of the Franco-German codifiers was in great evidence. Rabbi Isserles, who consid ered himself a champion of these views, therefore thought it his duty to defend them vigorously. He then turned the commentary into a polemic work, for the Darchey Mosheh is devoted more to opposing the views of Karo than to the explanation of the text of the Tur. In fact, this commentary formed the foundation of his later complement to the Shulchon Oruch. He also wrote glosses to other codes, and a volume of responsa. But all these works were really preparatory to his magnum

N ORDER to evaluate the great work of Rabbi Isserles, we must say a few words about the differences of view which prevailed, during the ages, as to certain aspects of Jewish law and practice between the two great Jewish centers, the Spanish, or Sephar dic, and the Franco-German, or Ash kenazic. These differences arose partly through external life conditions, such as political and economic circum stances, and partly through greater ef fort of the Ashkenazic leaders to in tensify and spread among the broad masses observance of religious prac tices. Without going into details, we can say that with respect to the dietary laws and kindred matters practiced in daily life— an area which received a special designation, Issur Ve-Hetter (Prohibitions and Permission) — the Ashkenazic authorities generally tend ed to more severe decisions. On the other hand, the Sephardic authorities were more strihgent in decisions on laws affecting the relations between the Jews and their gentile neighbors, while the Ashkenazim were inclined to len-. iency. This tendency can be explained by the surrounding conditions amidst which each group dwelt. The Spanish Jews, whose general relations with their neighbors were freer and better than those of their brethren, were afraid that too close relations between Jew and non-Jew would cause a certain degree of assimilation. They therefore placed fences around the law in order to pre vent its abrogation in such cases as buy ing or selling wine touched by nonJews, to prevent the possibility of drinking with them, which might lead to closer social relations. The Ashken azim, whose ghetto life separated them

♦Jewish L ife , Kislev 5720/ December 1959. 42

JEWISH LIFE

completely from their neighbors, had no need of such additional fences. Again, the Ashkenazim were, on the whole, more scrupulous in observance even of customs which have no solid Halachic basis, but contribute to more intensive religiosity. Yaakov ben Asher, author pf the Tur, already had said that the Ashkenazim are more careful in the observance of Mitzvoth than the Sephardim. As a result, there were numerous Minhagim (customs) ob served by the Ashkenazim and not by the Sephardim. HEN the Shulchon Oruch ap peared, there arose opposition to its acceptance in the Ashkenazi world both in Germany and in Poland, for in this great work there was hardly a reference, to the views of the FrancoGerman codifiers and fear was aroused that the whole effort of generations of scholars would be forgotten. It was then that Rabbi Mosheh Isserles ad dressed himself to the task, making a large number of additions to the Shul chon Oruch in which he set forth the Franco-German views of Jewish law. Wherever he noticed that Karo de viated from such viewsj he corrected him and offered another decision which is that of Franco-German codifiers. He called' his additions euphemisti cally a Mapah or Mapath Ha-Shulchon (The Table Cloth), thus indicating that if this code of Karo is like a table set for use, it cannot be presented with out the bright shining cloth of the views of the Franco-German codifiers. In these additions there are also in cluded hundreds of customs, popular modes of conduct. In order to indicate the authoritativeness of these customs, the Ramaa precedes his citation of each with either of the following ex pressions: “And this is the custom in these countries”—which means the

February, 1960

lands where the Franco-German tradi tions held sway—or “Thus we conduct ourselves.” Isserles raised the folk cus toms, or Minhagim, to the status of laws, for he believed that they are rooted in the life of the people and thus express its very soul. He of course distinguished between customs which have a basis in the Halochah and those which have no such basis but had been adopted by the people themselves. He did not omit such Minhagim, but in re ferring to them, he merely says “the people follow this way” instead of his usual] statement, “Thus we conduct ourselves.’’ T IS usually assumed that Mosheh Isserles, in spite of his otherwise liberal views and wider conception of Jewish theology, was inclined to sever ity in decisions, and thus made the yoke of Jewish religious living harder. In the days of the Haskalah movement many an essay- was written in which protest was expressed against the Ramaa’s severity; the charge found an echo even in stories and poems. How ever, due to the able studies of the late scholar Prof. Chayim Chernowitz in a number of essays and in the third vol ume of his Toldoth Ha-Poskim (His tory of Codes and Codifiers), we can see that the assumption is not valid. First of all, we must remember that these additions to the Karo code do not really contain his own decisions, but those of the tradition of decision in corporated in numerous Franco-Ger man codes. Isserles only used the power of selection between various opinions. ¡Second, as was noted above, this tradition was not always inclined to severity, but in a large group of laws it was more lenient than that of the Sephardic decisions. Nor were the Minhagim his; he merely found them in earlier codes and they were followed

by the people in Franco-German lands for centuries. Ramaa, whose respect for the life of the people was great and deep, considered them authorita tive and included them in his additions or Mapah. Chernowitz states that in going through the group of Sabbath laws in the code and counting the times when Ramaa is severer than Karo, and on the other hand, when he is more lenient, he found that his leniences ex ceed the severities. Again, Chernowitz points out the great value of the lenience of Isserles in case of a sirchah. According to the Ramaa, if there is a cartilage connect ing any part of the lung with another part or with another organ, such car tilage (sirchah) may be removed by the bodek by rubbing it gently between his fingers. If by so doing the cartilage is peeled off completely, the animal is considered Kosher, on the assumption that the cartilage was not a scab grown out of a perforation, but just mucous. This leniency saved many impoverished owners of animals from painful loss. Similarly, he allows that when a fire breaks out during the Sabbath in one’s house or even in the house of one’s ypeighbor, one may put it out, while Karo prohibits doing so. Isserles says that all the severities in such mat ters were proper in olden times when Jews lived either in their own land or in cities where the majority consisted of Jews, but we who live among the gentiles are allowed by many codifiers to put out the fire. And he adds that if there is any danger that the fire may spread and bring great suffering to many people, Jews are allowed to put out the fire even if it broke put in the house of a gentile. (Code, Part Orach Chayim, Sect. 334 at the end)

OST IMPORTANT is the prin M ciple for the decision of the law laid down by Rabbi Mosheh Isserles, which serves as a basis and source for many leniencies. This is the one known as Hefsed Marubah (Considerable Loss). The one who offers a decision of law, says h e ,,must always take in consideration whether his decision to ward severity will not cause much loss, and indirectly pain, to the inquirer. It is a very pliable principle, which makes for the mitigation of the law in a large number of matters. Decision as to what constitutes iHefsed Marubah is left to the rabbi, who may use his ability, as well as courage, to select the lenient opinion from the various authorities and support it 6n the basis of a Talmudic source. It is well known that a “small” loss is a “considerable” loss to a poor man. The Ramaa great ly emphasized this phase and as a re sult many a Sabbath or holiday meal or a Seder was saved through the ages for numerous poor families, sparing them heartache and pain. Rabbi Mosheh Isserles was not sat isfied to complete the Shulchon Oruch only by supplementing it with his ad ditions, but also endeavored to im prove considerably Yoseph Karo’s text. He added many explanations to passages and straightened out contra dictions in statements, whether real or apparent. He also improved the lan guage in many places and supplied con nections between paragraphs where they were needed. In short, the cloth which is spread over Karo’s table justi fied the title Shulchon Oruch and made it thé code of all Israel, which has guided the Jews all over the world in the religious conduct through the gen erations to this day.

JEWISH LIFE

Chayefsky's Mineola Minyon By THEA ODEM

FRIEND recently told me a story about an out-of-town pre-Broad way performance of Paddy Chayefsky’s play The Tenth Man related to him by Risa Schwartz, who has the only female role in the play. Watching the Scene One proceedings from off stage, she sensed after a few minutes that something was not going right. The men onstage, waiting for the min yon to gather, complaining about their daughters-in-law and rubbing their hands over an electric heater in the bleak early-morning chill of the storesynagogue, seemed more stiff (with cold) than their parts called for, and somehow very ill at ease. Not knowing what the trouble was, she made her entrance determined not to let what ever it was throw her playing off kilter. A quick glance into the audience made things instantly clear: filling Row One of the center orchestra was a sea of black-suited, clerical-collared, intent eyed priests absorbedly viewing the pre-Shacharith proceedings. Go make a minyon with a minyonand-a-half like that looking in your face! But in the course of subsequent performances, the cast must have be come well accustomed to such experi ences. The Tenth Man has drawn many of the clergy among its audi ences, eager to share the glimpse which it offers of the ordinary and the ex traordinary in a synagogue setting. As the play unfolds, we see this set ting come to life, with the as-yetincomplete quorum of worshippers —

February, 1960

each of those onstage a familiar-seem ing type to the shool-goer§§- variously occupied as mentioned above, more or less patiently awaiting the arrival of others so that Shacharith might begin. The atmosphere is evocative. The men who have arrived, unfetched, for the morning prayers, as well as most of the others who are still to be gathered via telephoned entreaties by that para gon of persistence, the shammosh, are late-middle-agers, including a beau tiful old Jew (it sounds better in Yiddish) in his eighties. One is a splendidly-goateed man, who by dress, manner, speech, and spats, gave me the feeling that he thought he was still in the old Cafe Royal on Second Avenue; another who impressed me as having retired from fur-cutting several years back and who spoke of his cemetery plot as if it held that golden promise of an olam haba where Persian lamb knows no season and daughters-in-law aren’t allowed. The other is an out spoken atheist — quite at ease in tallith and tephillin. Off by himself, as he is day and night, immersed in prayer and meditation, is Hirschman, the Kabbalist. Mr. Forman rushes in with his granddaughter, who has a long history of mental illness diagnosed as schizo phrenia, and is that day to be recom mitted to an institution by her father and step-mother; but not if zeyde has anything to say about it. He has brought her to shool, convinced that she is possessed of a “dybbuk,” to hide her there, and there, hopefully, to cure 45

her. The grandfather, in the grip of kabbalistic folklore and a haunted conscience, believes his granddaughter to be beset by the disembodied spirit of one whom he had wronged in his youth. IT BY BIT, the shammosh builds his quorum: the Harris boys, whom he phoned to tell that it was their father’s yohrtseit; and finally, literally pulled into shool from the street where he was dazedly wander ing, a young lawyer named Arthur Landau, the tenth man, looking like a wraith with five-o’clock shadow. He is a stranger to synagogues, but no stranger to his psychoanalyst, to whom he clings for dear life while having no use for life, love, G-d, or any of the material gain he has amassed. Evelyn, the demented granddaugh ter, could not convince me of either portion of her split personality. One must admit however that during her hallucinatory seizures she switched smoothly enough from sweet talk of love dotted with patter culled from Freud to the voice of the Jewish girl from Russia who had been shamed by the grandfather in his youth, had to take to the streets, and now was the dybbuk who had entered the body of the party of the first part to take re venge. As rabbis and synagogues in Long Island go, this synagogue and the rabbi have their work cut out for them. Actually, it’s really the rabbi who’s got his work cut out for him, and well he knows it. But th at’s another m atter; we’ll come to it later. It’s a store turned into a synagogue; you know it was once a store, but it’s hard to imagine that it was ever any thing but a shool, a real shool with damp morning light filtering through

a dirty skylight. Something like our “downstairs shool,” (not to be confused with the “upstairs shool” used on Shabboth and Yom Tov) before they bought the F irst Methodist Church when people started to move uptown. What we called the “downstairs shool” was the bes-medrash (in the basement, without a skylight), later, undergoing atomic-age-n^ptation, coming to be known as the vestry, and most recent ly, the locale of ye olde congregational gifte shoppe. UT to get back to the shool (the “downstairs” one, or the one in Mineola) where people come in, leav ing the seltzer truck parked outside, to daven-opp, have some honey cake, find out if Feldman really set fire to the store, and if the “upstairs” baalebattim are going to raise the Rabbi (and I don’t mean beatify). And, if necessary, run an exorcism. Perfectly natural in a place like that. I t’s these people that Chayefsky handles best, and the actors involved are excellent, one and all. These meanderings run through the mind while the atheist and Cafe-Royalexile are out trying to find Williams burg and the Kropotchniker Rebbe to take charge of the exorcism. They find neither (because they don’t know that the key to all quests is: change at Jamaica) , but provide vaudeville-type divertissement which wasn’t nearly as amusing as the man behind me at this matinee audibnee of all audiences, who, at every mention of the revered Kropotchniker’s name, squelched a dia phragm taut with chuckles as if some one had just told a joke about a min ister, a priest, and a rabbi, in mixed company, and explained at least thrice to his companion, “That’s the kind of men with the beards and peyes . . . they do some miraculous things . . . I

JEWISH LIFE

know this fellow who went to one . . .” It is finally decided that the Kabbalist is the only man in Mineola qualified to perform the exorcism. And when he does, we have before us the proposition that the dybbuk is in reality the in ability to love, and that by pulling the right lever, the dybbuk will be re leased. In the world that you and I know, the key to the release of the dybbuks within us is less easily found. At the Booth Theater, however, life is different. Ready-to-serve slogans are at hand and you can leave the theater humming whichever one you want: :£Love Conquers All,”, and/or “Believe and You’ll be Saved.” Nice and simple and pat. EREIN lies the crux of this writ er’s problem in evaluating The Tenth Man. The play actually is on two levels S - a split-level story, as it were. On the one hand we have a sym pathetically-conceived glance at the Jewish community and at Judaism — the “grass-roots,” in the persons of the minyonites, and a look at “problems in contemporary Jewish life” in the per son of the Rabbi. On the other hand there is Chayefsky’s cure-all (namely, Love) personified by as inane a char acter as ever trod the boards. When the exorcism takes place it’s not Evelyn who is purged, but Arthur, who is purged of the dybbuk of not-Ioving. Chayefsky figures, I guess, that once Arthur can love, he’ll be able to clear up Evelyn’s disorder and his own prob lems will disappear too. Chayefsky wants us to believe in a dual-purpose pill: one taken at break fast not only clears up that queasy feeling, but makes you love — and if you can love, brother, you can surely believe. It is in this respect that Chay efsky does a serious disservice both to Judaism and to psychiatry.

February, 1960

Our rabbis would be the first to say that there is no “pill,” no formula for achieving the goal of emunah shelemah. It requires, for most of us, the most tenacious seeking and searching before we can exercise our own dev ilish “dybbuks.” By the same token, no psychiatrist of any standing at all would invite anyone to the couch with the promise of sure-fire relief in only three easy sessions. In both cases (lehavdil) you have to be good and ready before either “cure” can be affected. Perhaps Arthur, who had reached the nadir and couldn’t sink any deeper, was ready. Evelyn, however, was just the same as ever, and when the play ends, the dybbuk is still in her. Out of the whole business only one man, to my mind, gets out of it whole, and he was pretty close to that when he started: the Kabbalist, wonderfully portrayed by Arnold Marie. Although Mr. Chayefsky did his best to make that character the personification of Love, Virtue, Compassion, Purity, and Holiness, all rolled intq one — a sort of super-Tzaddik high on the Zohar ladder the afternoon was saved, and so was Hirschman (imagine a Tzaddik without even a Mister in front of his name!) when, in the midst of a simcha-tantz, ecstatic with fervor, he reaches for the macaroons and with that simple motion reveals himself (perhaps despite Mr. Chayefsky) for what he is: a man, and not a saint, but a man who has emunah AND seycheL The lovers, unfortunately, are blessed with neither, but maybe there is still something to be said for them, if only in rebuttal to one of the two reviews I read. N REVIEWING The Tenth Man for The Reporter magazine, Gore Vidal takes pleasure in quoting some-

one who “said very beautifully, in the argot of Broadway: ‘The rocks in his head fit the holes in hers*.” Not a bad way of putting it, but I still say that at least they’re starting off fairly com patible; I could name a dozen couples that go regularly to the Family Serv ice or to a plain psychiatrist just to get the rocks and holes to fit. Some of them even get sent by their rabbis. Which brings us to what has prob ably been the most voluminously inter preted character in the play, among Jewish observers anyway: the Rabbi. It seems that people either stifle him with sympathy or verbally stone him to death. M'ken leben ober m'lozt nit. What some have called him both in private conversation and in print is enough to give him grounds for slan der. For the rabbi every shaft is poised for plunging. And all these perushim are based on the Rabbi’s telephone conversation with a colleague, who seeks guidance on his new congregation. We hear ex position of gimmicks and stunts, as the Rabbi of the play gives counsel to his colleague, with a conspicuous absence of words and ways of Torah. The one urges the other to go along with the situation in which he finds himself, to roll with the punches, to defer to the standards of his congregants. And yet (and this I thought implicit throughout) he calls upon him to stay in there fighting, to strive and struggle through. At what cost, nor eyn Tateh in himmel veyst. The Rabbi himself, we can see, is at grips with a situation which would soon find a man of weaker fibre divested of his pulpit. The Rabbi in The Tenth Man is young — much younger than his minyonites — but he has his own kind of seychel: he has respect for them (al beit tinged with disinterest) and the sense to leave them alone. The way 48

things are, they don’t need him, but the ones offstage do, and he’s doing the best he knows how to get to them. Is it really his fault that he has to do it with Little League and raffle tickets? What the fellows he went to school with are doing in the neighboring townships requires an article not in the context of a “review” but I’ll allow myself to admit that from t o e of them we’ll never have nachas; or, as somebody’s grandmother must have said: Fun di beste fish afilu, ken men krigen a beyn in haltz. Anyway, what with one thing and another the exorcism is held, and if you’ve never seen one, my advice is to go see this one — if you can get tickets. It would be a serious omission not to mention Tyrone Guthrie, the dis tinguished director, who tied all the elusive strands together into a firm knot, thereby helping Mr. Chayefsky a great deal in keeping the whole thing from slipping and providing us with an enjoyable experience in the theater. In fact, I have a feeling that Mr. Chayefsky appreciated every help he could get in researching a play whose plot is troublesome, to say the least (but when you start up with Jews, what can you expect?). Witness the special line of acknowledgment in the Playbill to Rabbi Emanuel Rackman. And it speaks well for Chayefsky (business is excellent, so he doesn’t need my hechsher) that he turned to other orthodox rabbis as well. Well, thank goodness we Jews have become commercial theater. By books, we’re also at the top of the heap. For good or ill, at least we are getting a chance to take a look at ourselves. One can only hope that Arthur and Evelyn settle in Mineola, get active in the shool, not fire the Rabbi after they put up the new building; and he should send them for therapy. JEWISH LIFE

MEMO

TO: ALL TRADITIONAL JEWS PROM: Moses I. Feuerstein, National President, UOJCA SUBJECT: ORTHODOX UNION ASSOCIATION 1. The goal of the Orthodox Union Associa tion, the individual membership arm of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, is to assist the Union in spreading the ideals of orthodox Judaism. 2. We call upon every loyal Jew to participate in this national, vibrant, traditional Jewish movement. OUA membership identifies you personally with our great program of religious resurgence. 3. As an O.U.A. member you will receive: a. JEWISH LIFE - the distinguished bi-monthly magazine that brings a wealth of good Jewish reading. b H o l i d a y Pamphlet Service - bringing into your home informative booklets and pam phlets on Jewish holidays, beliefs and practices. c. JEWISH ACTION - a publication of news and events in the traditional Jewish world. d. © Kosher Products Directory; © News Reporter - keeping you posted on Kashruth developments. e. Special memos giving inside data on current Jewish issues. 4. The annual membership fee is $10.00. 5. I urge you to join now by filling out and mailing the application below. Union of Orthodox Jewish Cong, of America 305 Broadway New York 7, New York Please enroll me as a member of the Orthodox Union Association. N A M E ___________________________________________ _ _ _ Address CITY _________________________ STATE__________ ______ ^ □ Check fo r $ February, 1960

i s en clo sed . □ P lea se b i l l me. 49

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B o ok Bevietvs Sociologists View the American Jew By MANUEL LADERMAN

THE JEW S: Social Patterns of an American Group, Edited by Marshall Sklare; April, 1957, The Free Press, Glencoe, 111. GROWING awareness about the proportionately larger place that American Jewry now occupies in the picture of world Jewry is produc ing a whole sociological literature of self-examination. Despite the draw back of dependence upon voluntary agencies like the Jewish Statistical Bureau and local Federations and Welfare Funds for data, since the United States census conducted by the government does not permit questions regarding religion, serious studies of the complex of questions presented by this largest of all Jewish communities in the world are being pursued. \ Dr. Marshall Sklare, a trained so ciologist, has collected from various Masters’ and Doctoral dissertations, journal articles, symposia, year books, monographs, and from larger works of a general nature, more than thirty ar ticles regarding the five million Jews in America. He has subdivided his book into six sections: historical setting;

RABBI M ANUEL LADERMAN is spiritual leader of Congregation Hebrew Educational A lli ance, Denver, Colorado.

demographic aspects and factors of social mobility; the Jewish community social patterns, and status structure; the Jewish Religion; psychological as pects; and cultural aspects and value orientations. The work suffers from an addiction to the terminology of the social sci ences that sometimes hides the simple meaning of what is being said. A phrase like “multi-dimensional typol ogies of group identification” is one example of obfuscating a simple idea of “different approaches to understand ing Jews.” This is typical, of course, of the technical nature of the studies included, though it does not lend itself to easy reading for the general reader. N THE opening article Dr. Weinryb has studied some of the efforts made by the first Jewish immigrants in America to discourage their co-reli gionists from following their example. We have reason for self-congratula tion that our generation sought out every means of opening the doors of immigration to refugees after the Sec ond World War, in contrast to actions taken by many of our forebears, as fa r back as 1769, to “keep the paupers of Europe out.” Dr. Ben Halpem has written a very

JEWISH LIFE

challenging article in “America is Dif ferent.” He begins by quoting a state ment by Abraham Cahan in 1890: “We have no Jewish question in America, The only question we recognize is the question of how to prevent the emer gence of ‘Jewish questions’ here.” He indicates that “American Jews never faced directly the whole historic com plex of problems, centering around Emancipation as a traumatic event, from which modern Jewish ideologies arose.” That leads him to the conclu sion that American Jews must now recognize that “without European Jewry, the face of the Jewish problem as it appears to American Jews is radically altered.” Ben Seligman has studied some of the figures involved in giving a pic ture of the face of American Jewry. Seventy-five per cent of the Jews in the United States live in thirteen cit ies. Using seven survey techniques, he has found that the Jewish population generally is older than the general population. Jews tend to marry after the age of thirty more frequently than other Americans. Family size among Jews is smaller than the average pop ulation. The economic status of Jews generally is higher than that of others. Advanced secular education is more characteristic of Jews than of other people in America. In an interesting study of Jewish social work, Herman D. Stein has pointed out some salient facts. Social service in America has advanced from money relief to areas of activity for the aged, the family, vocational guid ance, and other areas. A new profes sion of social workers which engages many intellectual Jews has developed. HE EDITOR and Joseph Greenblum, treating the attitudes of T small town Jews towards their commu February, 1960

nities, have found that the farther a small community is from any major center, the less dissatisfied its inhabi tants are with the paucity of Jewish activities or opportunities. A study of Orthodoxy in Milwaukee (iii the section on “The Jewish Reli gion”) employs a scalogram of atti tudes indicating that the highest per centage of practice relates to fasting on Yom Kippur, and the lowest to the obligation of wearing tzitzith. In a study of college young people the authors found that 30% disagreed with a statement : “Religion is neces sary in order to lead a good life.” On the other hand, they found, despite predictions made by psychologists gen erally, that “on the whole inconsistency in behavior and attitude appears to produce little psychological stress.” Basing his study of Conservative synagogues largely on his own work on that subject, Dr. Sklare has indicated that “only about one half of the in stitutions hold daily services.” An other observation : “ Conservativism has been a movement led by laymen rather than by Rabbis.” And a final summation, “. . . intellectual ferment has been missing from the Conserva tive Synagogue.” A very interesting study is included on “The American Rabbi.” Positing a theory that the ideal Rabbi is the “scholar-saint,” the author of the study investigated seven kinds of rab bis, and happily came up with this conclusion: “If any American Rabbi is to re-institute the scholar-saint Rab bi of Eastern Europe, it will be the modern orthodox Rabbi.” In P art Five there is a series of in teresting studies that contrast Kurt Lewin’s therapeutic approach to Juda ism with the position of the authors of the well known work, “The Authoritation Personality.” One of the essays 53

by Yarrow cites a quotation from Lewin that is well worth remembering: “Delayed recognition and minimizing of social problem aspect of group mem bership leads to greater difficulties for the child later on. An early, clear, and positive feeling of belonging to the group is an essential foundation.” For orthodox Jews who have always be lieved in making the earliest efforts at identification of a child with his tradi tion, this is a valuable scientific sup port. An important study contrasts the easy adoption by Jews themselves of some of the stereotypes of Antisemites with regard to other Jews. In a study among college students the authors discovered that the “ingroup” speaks of the “outgroup” in the same objec tionable terms as prejudiced gentiles use. In the same study there was the contradictory finding that this appa rent Jewish self-hatred did not neces sarily correlate with another enquiry on “ethnocentrism,” seeking to find strong pro-Jewish feelings. It was as

a result of these two divergent tests that the authors felt one would need many approaches in the question of studying Jewish attitudes. The final section of the book deals with such m atters as alcoholism that have been studied previously at Yale University, and other value areas. BOOK of this kind offers a chal lenge to easy generalization. The various authors always acknowledge the tentativeness of their conclusions^ It brings into sharper focus the need for understanding the relevant facts about American Jewish communities. We shall never know all of them. The search for discovering more about our selves is eminently worthwhile. There is a danger of course that most of the students approach these matters with the kind of objectivity which stems from indifference to re ligious values. It were well if people with a more positive religious orienta tion were to undertake these social studies.

Tribute to a M artyred Leader By HUGO MANDELBAUM JOSEPH CARLEBACH AND HIS GENERATION, by Rabbi Naphtali Carlebach; The Joseph Carlebach Memorial Foundation, New York, 1959. ERMAN JEWRY after the pe riod of Emancipation formed a distinctive aspect of the totality of Jewish life, bearing the unique mark

DR. HUGO MANDELBAUM , Associate Professor of Geology at Wayne State University, Detroit, was a student of the late Rabbi Carlebach. 54

of a distinct personality. Contributing essentially to the culture of its time, German Jewry vitalized world Jewry by its own character traits and by the strength of its leaders, who rose to universal recognition. An outstanding characteristic of German Jewry was the type and quality of its leadership —men whose decisions stemmed from a deeper understanding, derived from basic knowledge, detailed study, and a broad cultural background. RecogniJEWISH LIFE

tion was given to those men who rose above the intellectual, cultural, and moral standard. Such leadership could not grow in a vacuum. It needed a community of kindred spirits. Of nec essity there was an intimate relation ship between those men in leading po sitions. Rabbi Joseph Carlebach, of blessed memory, the last Chief Rabbi of Ham burg, was such an outstanding, rec ognized leader. A biography of this forceful personage, written by his brother Rabbi Dr. Naphtali Carlebach, has now been published. The book is an important contribution to the un derstanding of this period of German Jewry, especially since it portrays Rabbi Carlebach not as an isolated in dividual, but within the circle of his family, his friends, his associates. The edifice of orthodox German Jewry, built on the foundations laid by Samson Raphael Hirsch and his contemporaries, gained status and in fluence beyond the confines of the local community due to the work of men in the following generations, who added of their own ideas and original con cepts to the life of orthodox German Jewry. Outstanding among them was Joseph Carlebach, whose electric per sonality attracted into the sphere of hiis immediate personal contact men of creative and imposing mind. They stirred the life of the community, at tacking complacency and self-satisfac tion, striving onward and upward to more intense Jewish living, to a deeper understanding of the meaning of Jew ish life. WHOLE galaxy of men is pre sented to us in this biography, developing a fascinating picture. Look ing back upon this part of our history, one wonders how it could happen that a relatively small community like

February, 1960

German Jewish Orthodoxy produced so many outstanding men—-all contem poraries. Despite the undeniably lim ited scope of its environment, the Ger man orthodox Jewish community has provided a very fertile soil for spir itual and cultural attainment. The first chapter, by way of intro duction, describes the era and environ ment into which Joseph Carlebach was bom, a Jewish community where Re form had gone to extremes, but where “men like Chacham Bernays in Ham burg, Jacob Ettlinger in Altona, Sam son Raphael Hirsch in Frankfurt, Azriel Hildesheimer in Berlin, Seligman Baer Bamberger in Wuerzburg, and many others had created model Jewish communities.” A brief descrip tion of the members of the immediate family follows, a family that has pro duced not less than four rabbis who held important positions in leading communities of contemporary Ger many. The next chapter describes the edu cational career of Joseph Carlebach. His first work in the field of education led him in T905 to Yerushalayim, where he came into personal contact with Rav Kook, then of Jaffa, and with Rav Shemuel Salanter. This—in his time—extraordinary step of study ing and working in Israel shows the courage of mind, the versatility and universality of the then young man. He looked beyond the confines of his immediate environment, which showed all the signs of a self-satisfied men tality, secure in its own limitations. He looked beyond the time in which he lived to connect it with our past and with the hopes for the future. Another, similarly unusual, milestone in his life was his work in Kovno during the First World War. There he established a Hebrew gymnasium, a high school where Torah, Talmud, Hebrew, and 55

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Literature were taught, integrated with a thorough training in secular subjects. This school was the first of its kind in Eastern Europe. All sub jects were taught in Hebrew. The Talmud Torah School in Ham burg was the third important educa tional position of Joseph Carlebach. The book brings vividly to life the spir it that prevailed in that institution

RABBI JOSEPH CARLEBACH

under his direction. In this country it is hard to conceive in what esteem such a school was held by the commu nity. But such was its position that a vacancy in the directorship could at tract the interest of outstanding men. Needless to say, men of creative ca pacities and productive imagination were among the members of thè faculty. HE next chapter describes the short—alas, too short—periods of Carlebach’s officiating as Chief Rabbi of Altona and Hamburg. He became the last of a chain of illustrious Rab-

February, 1960

bonim in the tri-cities community of Altona-Hamburg-Wandsbeck. This pe riod saw an upsurge of Jewish con sciousness and a thirst for more and deeper Jewish knowledge, even on the part of Reform Jews. Then followed a period of slowly decreasing strength during the time of emigration after 1933, which ended in the tragic finale of forced deportation to death camps. The late Chief Rabbi of Hamburg personified the grandeur and courage, the wisdom and compassion of the truly great. He had the extraordinary gift of presenting the essence of Jew ish thought in a way that equally stim ulated those with a broad background of Jewish learning, and penetrated into the very heart of those who were coming back to Jewish thinking. Car lebach always found new facets of in terpretation that opened up new av enues of approach to the understand ing of emeth. The richess of his ex pressive language and the unique phrasing of his thought were deeply enjoyed by his listeners. In those days, which were indeed already full of trouble and premonition, Rabbi Carlebach^ lectures and sermons gave com fort and spiritual strength to thou sands who had to face an uncertain future, yes, even torture and death. His words drew magic power not only from the force of his intellect and imagination, but perhaps more so from the warmth and depth of his hu man understanding and compassion. Selfless devotion to the task of giving strength to those who needed it brought him finally, with his family and the remnants of his kehillah, to the extermination camp. There again, survivors reported, he exerted super human efforts up to the last minute to elevate inhuman misery by the ex ample of moral strength and com passion. 57

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JEWISH LIFE

HE monument in book form erected for this truly great man commemorates at the same time all those who went with him on the road to the bitter end. It shows not only the tragedy of the period, but also the greatness that can stand up in such troubled times. It shows the resources from which such greatness derives its strength. A comprehensive history of German Jewry of the last few decades has not as yet been written. But the historian will find in this book a wealth of facts, personal facts, interwoven with the life of the Jewish community. He might find some parts too personal, but

a personality manifests itself in fine details as well as in important trends. A monument of love perhaps is better constructed from the intimate rather than from the spectacular. The many friends and admirers of Rabbi Joseph Carlebach will find the book a fitting tribute to his memory. Moreover, everyone who is interested in a significant period of Jewish his tory will be able to get a true per spective by gazing, as through a win dow, into the life of an individual upon the circle of men surrounding him, and the background of circumstances upon whom he impressed the mark of his personality.

Jewish Teaching on M edical Problems By PAUL W. HOFFERT

JEW ISH MEDICAL ETHICS, Im manuel Jakobovits; Philosophical Li brary, $6.00 HE Jewish physician has never had a codified set of medical ethics to be guided by, unlike his Roman Catholic counterpart. For this reason, Jewish medical doctors who are tradi tional in their observance are fre quently perplexed concerning proper conduct in many circumstances en countered almost daily in an active medical practice. Now, at long last, a comprehensive, authoritative treatise has beeh-written. “Jewish Medical Ethics” is an outstanding contribution by a prominent student of the subject

DR. PAUL W. HOFFERT, of Yonkers, N. Y., is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. February, 1960

and should remain the standard refer ence work in this field for decades to come. The author, Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits, now Rabbi of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue, New York City, was formerly Chief Rabbi of Ireland. This book was originally written as a thesis for the Doctorate of Philosophy at the University of London and is presented by the author as an histor^ical study. Rabbi Jakobovits carefully warns the reader that no religious rul ings on medical procedures of any kind should be made simply- on the basis of this work, but that this should serve rather as a guide to the sources and principles governing the Jewish tradi tional attitude to medico-moral prob lems. The body of the book is divided into 59

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twenty chapters and covers such fun damental topics as the Jewish attitude to medicine, the sick and their treat ment, the dying and their treatment, the dead and their treatment, eugenics, sterilization, contraception, abortion, autopsy, and artificial insemination. In the early part of the book, Rabbi Jakobovits, quoting Paracelsus, defines the Jewish attitude concerning the re lationship between G-d and medicine: “All health and all diseases come from G-d, and in G-d is the cure. Some dis eases, however, do not directly come from G-d, but are natural (although they, too, come from G-d indirectly, because Nature is a manifestation of the power of G-d), but other diseases are sent directly from G-d as a punish ment for our sins . . . The physician is only a servant of G-d who works to ac complish His w ill. . . The physician may cure the sick by using remedies, but it is G-d who makes the physician and the remedy. G-d does not perform miracles without man; He acts through the instrumentality of man, and restores the sick to health through the instrumentality of the physician. Therefore, the physician should be in possession of faith (in harmony with G-d) . . . ” N THE section on “Healing by Faith and Prayer,” the laws and principles reviewed by the author in dicate clearly that “confidence in the healing powers of G-d was never al lowed to usurp the essential functions of the physician and of medical science.” The Jewish principle that the value of human life is infinite and beyond measure, so that a hundred years and a single second are equally precious, could well be considered the dominant theme of the major portion of this book. In the light of this fundamental

February, 1960

doctrine, the traditional attitude to ward abortion and euthanasia takes on greater and significant meaning. The Jewish attitude to the destruc tion of fetal human life is complex and is enumerated in detail. The artificial termination of pregnancy is strongly condemned on moral grounds; thera peutic abortion is sanctioned only in exceptional individual cases, for over riding medical reasons. During the birth process, and after the major part of the child is born, the child’s life is vested with a certain measure of in violability. Nevertheless, the value of its life is not quite equal to that of an adult person since the child’s viability is not fully established or preserved until the thirty-first day of its exist ence. Therefore, the child’s claim to life must be set aside in the mother’s interest if it is the child that threatens her life. Active euthanasia is strictly prohi bited and is condemned as plain mur der. Nevertheless, Rabbi Jakobovits shows, Jewish law sanctions the with drawal of any factor which may arti ficially delay imminent death. The problem of autopsy or anatom ical dissection of the dead is dealt with at length. The debate concerning this m atter continues to this very day. Rabbi Jakobovits points out, however, that in the modern State of Israel, be cause of pressing medical needs, an agreement was reached between Chief Rabbi Herzog and the Hadassah Hos pital of Jerusalem whereby post-mor tem examinations were sanctioned when: 1) they are legally required; 2) the cause of death cannot otherwise be ascertained (provided this is for mally attested in writing by three phy sicians) ; 3) they may help to save the lives of other existing patients; 4) they are required in cases of heredit ary diseases to safeguard the health 61

M ISH N AH T e x t o f th e T a lm u d Trans fated and annotated by

HYMAN E. GOLDIN With Hebrew Text Vocalized and Annotated

BABA KAMMA, BABA M EZIA, BABA BATRA The core of Talmudic Literature is — THE MISHNAH. These volumes will be useful as texts in adult courses, also as pleasurable reading for the layman who wishes to learn the basic source of Jewish ideals and prac tices throughout the ages. S e t o f T h r e e V o lu m e s B o x e d $ 6 .0 0 Also sold individually at $2.00 a volume AT ALL JEWISH BOOKSTORES

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©f the surviving relations. In all in stances, the hospital authorities must carry out the autopsies with due rev erence for the dead and they will de liver the corpses and all parts removed therefrom to the burial society for in ternment after use. HE ABOVE are a few samples of the type of material covered in the volume. Although the text is heavily infiltrated with an abundance of ref erences, the style flows easily and reads

moderately well for such a technical tome. The footnotes are all gathered together in a separate section at the back of the book, as is the enormous bibliography. This is not a volume to be read from cover to cover. It is rec ommended, rather, that it be perused periodically for precise, authoritative information on specific medical prob lems of interest to the observant Jew ish physician, the Talmudist, or the intellectually adventurous and curious.

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