Jewish Life December 1961 by Jewish Action

T H E B E N T O R A H M E E T S B E N JO N S O N SOUTHTO W N, IT. S. A. •

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J E W I S H H IG H E R E D U C A T IO N -IT S VA LU E TODAY I N R EM O TE C O R N E R S O F L A T IN A M E R IC A A R E R E L IG IO U S P A R T IE S N E E D E D ? C A R E E R S: T H E P H Y S IC A L S C IE N C E S

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5722

DECEM BER

1961

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Vol. XXIX, No. 2/December, 1961/Teveth, 5721

EDITORIALS SOVIET JEWRY MUST NOT D IE .......................... 3 FOUNDATIONS FOR THE AMERICAN TORAH ERA.. 4 NCSY: FORWARD SURGE ................................ 6

ARTICLES Saul B ernstein , Editor M. M orton R ubenstein R euben E. G ross Rabbi S. J. Sharfman Libby K laperman Editorial Associates T hea Odem , Editorial Assistant 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. Editorial and Publication Office: 84 Fifth Avenue N ew York 11, N . Y . ALgonquin 5-4100 Published by U n io n of O rthodox Jewish Congregations of A merica M oses I. Feuerstein President Benjamin Koenigsberg, Nathan K. Gross, Samuel L. Brennglass, M. Morton Rubenstein, Harold M. Jacobs, Vice Presidents; Edward A . Teplow, Treasurer; Herbert Berman, Secretary; Harold H . Boxer, Financial Secretary. Dr. Samson R. Weiss Executive Vice President Saul Bernstein, Administrator Second Class postage paid at N ew York, N . Y .

DECEMBER, 1961

ARE ISRAEL’S RELIGIOUS PARTIES NEEDED/ Nathaniel Zelikow....................................... 8 SOUTHTOWN, U.S.A./Joseph Kaminetsky ........... 12 AMONG JEWS IN REMOTE CORNERS OF LATIN AMERICA/Jacob B e lle r........................ 17 JEWISH HIGHER EDUCATION; ITS VALUE TODAY/ Leo Davids................................................ 27 LITERATURE ON JEWS IN THE SOVIET UNION/ William W. Brickman .................................. 40 THE BEN TORAH MEETS BEN JONSON/ Michael Rosenak ........................................ 51 CAREERS IN THE PHYSICAL AND EARTH SCIENCES/ Walter Duckat ..................

FICTION PARADISE/Lee Brian ...................................... 31

REVIEWS A NEW VIEW OF NACHMANIDES/ Solomon J. Sharfman................................... 65 AN ISRAELI ANTHOLOGY/Meyer J. Strassfeld . . . . 68 WITH COURAGE AND COMPASSION/ Mollie N. Kolatch....................................... 69

DEPARTMENTS AMONG OUR CONTRIBUTORS........................... 2 HASHKOFAH: Trust in Divine Providence........... 38 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR................................ 75 Drawings by Ahron Gelles Copyright © 1961 by Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America

RABBI LEO DAVIDS holds a B.A. and M.A. from City Col lege of New York, where he also lectured in sociology. A graduate of the Chofetz Chaim Yeshivah, Rabbi Davids cur rently serves as youth director of Congregation Shaare Hatikvah in New York City. NATHANIEL ZELIKOW, for many years an active member of the religious Zionist movement, was a delegate representing Hapoel Hamizrachi at the 23rd and 24th World Zionist Con gresses in Jerusalem. He is an attorney, practicing law in New York City. LEE BRIAN lives in Eugene, Oregon, where he teaches and writes. He has contributed to numerous literary quarterlies, as well as to various Jewish magazines, and writes also for radio and television.

among our contributors

DR. JOSEPH KAMINETSKY is national director of Torah Umesorah, the National Society for Hebrew Day Schools, and editor of “The Jewish Parent.” A noted educator, author, and speaker, Dr. Kaminetsky was a leading pioneer worker in the Day School movement and has guided its growth for almost two decades. DR. WILLIAM W. BRICKMAN is professor of educational history and comparative education at New York University and editor of “School and Society.” A recognized authority on both general and Jewish education, he has made numerous trips abroad, notably to Eastern Europe. Dr. Brickman’s reports on these visits have been published in J e w i s h L i f e . JACOB SELLER has travelled widely as a Yiddish journalist of note. Last based in Latin America, he reported from there on “South America’s Jewish Heritage” in the June, 1961 issue of J e w i s h L i f e . Mr. Beller makes his home in Canada. MICHAEL ROSENAK, a graduate of Yeshiva College, received his Master’s degree in history at Columbia University. For the past several years he has been living in Israel, teaching English and history at a religious high school in Haifa, and is now visiting this country to pursue his studies. DR. WALTER DUCKAT, supervisor of the Guidance Division of the Federation Employment and Guidance Service, continues his series on career opportunities for observant Jews. Dr. Duckat also serves as vocational consultant for Stem College or Women.

JEWISH LIFE

S oviet Jew ry M ust N ot D ie is the world silent in the face of persecution of Jews in the Soviet Union? WWhyHY does the Soviet program for suppression of Judaism go unchallenged by world leaders? Why have Soviet measures to extinguish the remaining embers of Russian Jewish spiritual life been ignored by world Powers? Why, when members of the United Nations feel free to de nounce and take action against French, South African, Portuguese policy in their respective domains, on grounds of oppressive vio lation of human rights, are they so totally unconcerned with Soviet Russia’s extirpation of Soviet Jewry? Times, it seems, have changed. In the days of the Czarist regime, oppression of Russian Jews gave frequent occasion for The world-wide protest, by governments as well as by voluntary M odem groups. Today, in our presumably more advanced age, the Soviet Im prove Union’s rulers preside over an oppression of Jews more subtle but m ents no less ruthless than that of their Czarist predecessors, but there are none in positions of power who will say them nay. In the yesterdays, even in the blackest darkness of Czarist Russian Jew-hatred, the right and opportunity of the Jew to the exercise of his religion was, however hindered, never foreclosed. Today, amidst Communist “enlightenment,” synagogues, except for a few still kept for show, are closed, Jewish religious educa tion has long been banned, production of Bibles, prayer books, and other religious necessities is prohibited, personal religious ob servance of any kind is suspect and subjected to public slander. And yet, is there a single one of Soviet Russia’s fellow-members of the United Nations that would fail to proclaim its affirmation Except of religious freedom as the right of all men, binding upon all the nations? From the argument of silence, stony silence, it would Jew s seem that this is the right of all men, except the Jews, and binding on all nations, except the Soviet Union. O, it becomes quite matter of course when reports come from Soviet Russia of the arrest, “trial,” and imprisonment of Jew ish lay leaders in Leningrad and Moscow, on grounds of “es pionage” whose transparency of the Soviet rulers scarcely try to conceal. No more is the world perturbed when other reports follow, in quick succession, and with no Soviet effort at denial, of actions against religious leaders in other cities and of the track-

DECEMBER, 1961

ing down and closing of synagogues in remote places. It is clear that Soviet authorities are no longer concerned to hide the facts The Soviet and nature of their anti-Jewish oppression—in fact they deliber“ Dare.” ately choose to make it known. Their implied message is: “Yes, we are out to extirpate Jewish life; and since the root and sub stance of Jewish life is the Jewish religion, we shall uproot, once and for all, the last vestiges of Judaism. Ours is the power, the might, the terror. Dare anyone challenge us!” OR over forty years, the Jews of the Soviet Union have dwelt in shadow. Through the first years, the instrument for their destruction was the forces of the Yevsektia, the renegades of infamous memory, model for the Kapos of the Nazi death camps. Lashed by these scorpions, Russia’s Jews struggled for the breath of life. Thousands upon thousands of rabbis, scholars, teachers, lay leaders were driven to imprisonment and death. All efforts to maintain religious life were interdicted under pain of harshest penalty. Once it was thought that the Yevsektia renegades had ful filled their evil mission, they were contemptuously tossed into Faith discard. But events proved that the job was incomplete. Stripped A m idst of their leaders, cut off from all sources of religious replenish Terror ment, with great numbers of those born under the hammer and sickle inevitably strangers to their religion and people, the core of Soviet Russia’s Jews nonetheless clung with heroic determination to the faith of their fathers. Again terror closed down, and again. The shadows lightened at brief intervals but never lifted; there have been greater and lesser degrees of oppression but never any thing approaching even the degree of tolerance which the Soviet rulers have perforce been obliged to yield to the vast numbers of the Christian faithful. And now, are the final chapters of the story of terror being written? The world is silent; it must be made to ring with the cry for justice. No cleverness of strategy, no subtleties of diplomacy will To the serve. The occasion will not sustain niceties of style and dignity. Kremlin There must be raised a voice that will be well heard, that will Walls echo and re-echo without cease throughout the world’s capitals, until it penetrates the walls of the Kremlin itself.

Foundations fo r the A m erican Torah Era “The St. Louis Rabbinical College— first Jewish seminary in this area— began classes with fifteen students on October 12th ” O reads a quiet, unpretentious announcement from St. Louis, Mo. So too perhaps, had public announcements been in vogue in past ages, might have read notice of the opening of any one of scores of institutions of Torah learning in Poland, Lithu-

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ania, Hungary, Germany, France, Spain, Northern Africa . . . schools, as often located in minor towns as in Jewish capitals, which grew to spiritual greatness, pivots of Jewish strength. There is a natural tendency today to look back upon the Jewish life that once flowered in Europe and today is, alas, no more not only with sad nostalgia but with the sense that history will never see its like again, at least not in the Diaspora. A JewAMatrix ish milieu of such depth and richness, Jewish in every fibre, of stronger than tempered steel, a world in itself—surely, runs the Jew ish unconscious assumption, this can never recur. Such a view, howLife ever, is drawn from a picture of that Jewish world in its ad vanced stages. We forget that in its beginnings and early stages, the scene was altogether different. Then, Jewish life in these same areas was weak and superficial, with little or no capacity for meeting the dangers surrounding it, without means for inner development. It was the planting and flowering of higher Torah learning that brought to this world the character that we look upon with such admiration today. Only when we keep in mind the before-and-after picture of the effect of the great Torah schools of the past can we grasp the vision of the American Jewish future. Only when we understand their role can we perceive the historic potential not just of the great yeshivoth and mesivtoth which have arisen in and around New York but equally those which have emerged or are newly Spanning emerging in communities distant from New York’s massive rethe sources. The roster is striking: Chicago’s trail-blazing Hebrew Country Theological College, Detroit’s Beth Yehuda, Baltimore’s Ner Israel, historic Telz re-born in a Cleveland suburb, the establish ment within the past few years of the Talmudical Yeshivah in Philadelphia and the West Coast Talmudical Academy in Los Angeles. And now, St. Louis. And later, why not like develop ments in additional regional centers . . . Denver, Atlanta, Kansas City, New Orleans, Dallas . . . ? It is apparent that the upsurge of Hebrew day schools, on the elementary and high school levels, is now to be matched by the upsurge of the higher yeshivoth. N exciting vista forms when the full scope of American cen ters of creative Torah study come into focus. No longer A localized, no longer confined to a segment of the American Jew ish populace, it is broad and sweeping. But, in contrast to some other phases of American Jewish development, it is not “a mile wide and an inch deep.” The very essence of true Torah learn ing, Torafi lishma, is learning and living in depth. The challenge to the American Jew, dwelling amidst the free-flowing winds of American democracy, is to attune his life to the depth of his timeless heritage. The rise in every part of the country of “yeshi voth gedoloth”—schools that are “major” not because of their DECEMBER, 1961

physical size but because of their concept—gives notice that the challenge is finding positive response. There is another challenge, which the yeshivoth, new and old, themselves must face. We refer not only to the daily battle for existence, and not only to the maintenance of high standards in sheurim and ideal. The test which the higher Torah schools ultimately face is that of their ability to generate the Torah spirit The to the entire community. A yeshivah is not simply an institution Yeshivah for the training of professional functionaries. It is also not, Test lehavdil, a monastery and a ben Torah is not, lehavdil, a monk. The task is not to produce Jews who, upon leaving the yeshivah or mesivtah, will pursue the ideal of Torah lishma in seclusion, “far zich alein,” or in association only with a private coterie of their peers, but rather to nurture Jews who will bring that concept to the highways and by-ways of the Jewish world. The promise of the yeshivoth must be fulfilled, as of old, in participation and leadership in the full gamut of Jewish life. HOSE who know Rabbis Menachem H. Eichenstein, Ronald Green, and Yecheskel Hartman, whose guiding hands brought about the creation of the St. Louis Rabbinical College, will testify to their dedication to the goals we have cited. “This yeshivah,” they have stated, “must be more than a seminary, it must be a way of life*” And the many who are aware of the role of the St. Louis Vaad Hoeir—that uniquely successful example of an American city Kehillah—which backed the undertaking, will be confident that the goals will be implemented. May the Giver of Torah bring his blessings to their endeavors; may this newest of yeshivoth and its fellow-yeshivoth throughout the land grow and flourish as they implant and bring to fruition the American Torah Era.

1SCSY: Forward Surge N the face of despairing cries from many quarters about the outlook and trends among American Jewish youth, it is par ticularly encouraging to find one phase of the youth scène that is suffused not with pessimism but with vibrant purpose and cre ativity. Within coming months, no less than twenty cities will be hosts to weekend conferences of Jewish teenagers, assembled under the banner of the National Conference of Synagogue Youth. The number of those expected to participate, about four thousand, is significant but by no means the measure of ultimate impact. The conferences illustrate the progress of a movement of great promise, applying a revolutionary approach to the charac ter of American Jewish youth. The National Conference of Synagogue Youth, the teenager organization sponsored by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congre gations of America, was activated on an organized basis less than three years ago, and has grown at a pace beyond all ex-

JEWIStt LIFE

Sw ift pectations. Chapters have sprung up in 140 communities across Rise the country, grouped together in regions. Many new chapters are in formation and the members of those already organized is growing fast. With equal speed, teen-age leadership has emerged and the organizational structure has developed on sound lines. The key factor in this development is the response of Jewish teenagers to the standards, demands, and direction of the NCSY program. Other youth agencies, apart from those sponsored by ideological parties, have been governed by the philosophy that Jewish young people are to be offered primarily entertainment and diversion. Under this philosophy “activities” and “projects” are concocted, put together of synthetic materials into which is Program introduced the thinnest possible flavoring of “Jewish content.” of Jew ish The Jewish worth of such programs is minimal at best; and at Living worst they actually are a barrier to the development of a positive Jewish outlook among their supposed beneficiaries. The NCSY program presents an altogether different concept. It projects a positive Jewish climate and commitment, addressing Jewish youth in Jewish terms and with Jewish values. NCSY offers its mem bers the purposefulness, the meaning, the joy of Jewish life. Each chapter, each region, the organization as a whole, is en gaged not in “Jewish also” stunts but in a varied pattern of experiences—of which Torah study is an integral phase—that flow organically from an affirmative concept of Jewish living and penetrate deep into the lives of the individual members. T first, even some community leaders who otherwise wel comed the advent of the National Conference of Synagogue Youth were hesitant about attempting a program of such un equivocal and challenging character with their local youngsters. “You must meet them on their terms—thin it down,” was the cry. But meeting the American Jewish teenager on his terms, his real but hitherto unexpressed terms, was precisely what NCSY, as guided by the UOJCA Joint Youth Commission, underOn Their took to do, and has done—with unmistakable success. The boys Real and girls themselves proved that what they really wanted, what Terms they really, if unknowingly, were hungering for, was a program for Jewish living. Boys and girls from, in very many cases, homes devoid of Jewishness, together with boys and girls from observant Jewish homes; young people with day school and yeshivah back ground, together with teenagers having only the rudiments of Jewish education or none at all . . . they came together and found themselves and together are building something of untold promise under the NCSY banner.

DECEMBER, 1961

Are Israel’s Religious Parties Needed? By NATHANIEL ZELIKOW In Israel, contrasting philosophies of life find expression in political parties that compete for influence on the emerging character of the Jewish State. This article r e v ie w s the case of religious parties, with reference to the growing tendency for some to question the advisability, and others the propriety, of their separate role in the political arena.

HE new government organized as a result of the August elections in Israel was recently confirmed by the Fifth Knesseth. As in the case of every government formed after an election since the founding of the State, the National Religious Party (Hapoel Hamizrachi-Mizrachi) entered as a member of the “tight coalition.” Poale Agudath Israel has joined the coalition as well. Except for short periods, during an early “education” crisis and more re cently during the “who is a Jew” con troversy, when the religious parties resigned from the government after its formation, the dominant Mapai has had to include the N.R.P. in every one of its coalitions in order to rule with a stable working majority. Although this is the fact, to Mapai and to the other political groupings it is an unhappy fact. Again and again they have argued against a role for religion in politics. Each sees in the dissolution of the religious parties sub stantial additions to their levels—theo-

retical as well as practical. I^or has the argument been confined to Israel. It is presently being directed, with emotion and force, to the ears of the American supporters of Israel’s re ligious Jewry. The goal is to ignite sympathetic sparks in the minds of Americans, who normally seek to ex clude religion from politics on the American scene. The basic argument made is that political parties are normally born of specific social or economic goals. Re ligion should be neutral in these areas and transcend social and economic partisanship. In support of this point, proof is adduced that religious people vote in accord with their economic interests and not solely in line with their religious convictions. Commonly cited, for instance, is the fact that over ninety per cent of the population has registered for kosher meat, while the maximum strength ever mustered po litically by the religious parties has never exceeded roughly twenty per cent. Another example often cited is JEWISH LIFE

the fact that prominent persons in dif ferent parties count themselves among observant Jews. Thus, President Ben Zvi is a top leader of Mapai; Menachem Beigin leads Cheruth; and Professor Abraham Frankel is now claimed by the Liberals. These ex amples can be multiplied.

religious parties still a substantial factor in Israeli political life? What justifies their continued existence? The answer lies somewhere between the historic, the theoretical, and the prag matic. i s t o r i c a l l y , the Zionist ideal

APAI has also joined the battle on the practical level. Asserting that religious parties have no mono poly on religion, it refused the Minis try of Religion to the National Re ligious Party in the last cabinet. It continued in this post the late Rabbi Toledano, Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, who had assumed the office at the height of the “who is a Jew” controversy and in the face of the united opposition of the N.R.P. and the Chief Rabbinate. Upon the death of Rabbi Toledano, seemingly to pre serve the principle, Ben-Gurion him self assumed the portfolio. Histadruth, too, has organized re ligious arms to compete for religious support. For the elections Mapai cre ated a religious section to curry favor with the religious electorate. Rabbis have been recruited to head these activities and so to give authoritative coloration to these functions. Talitoth tefillin. sifrey Torah, and all manner of tashmishey kodesh can be gotten from Histadruth organs. In B’nei B’rak, as another example, where the community coloration is predomi nantly religious, an orthodox syna gogue has been founded and is sup ported by the Mapai group, These organizations also compete with Hapoel Hamizrachi and Poale Agudah in fulfilling the needs of religious workers in the trade union field. Why then, despite all this, are the

DECEMBER, 1961

was espoused by the religious Chovevey Tzion movement (Lovers of Zion) even before the founding of the Zionist movement by Herzl. Upon the founding of the World Zionist Congress the Chibbath Zion move ment entered its ranks as an integral part and in time it lost its separate identity. At the Fifth Zionist Congress “Cultural Zionism” was embraced. This laid great stress on Hebrew lan guage and literature but ignored his torical Judaism. Thereupon Rabbi Isaac Jacob Reines set himself to the task of organizing a separate party within the Zionist Congress, dedicated to the preservation of Torah Judaism. His move was predicated on the funda mental idea that Zionism was rooted in the Torah and was fired by the vision of the “Return” preached by the Prophets. The nationalism inherent in Zionism was a meians to protect Torah Judaism and to fulfill the heavenly promise of the Land of Israel for the people of Israel. In short, in 1902 Mizrachi was founded as the religious conscience of the Zionist movement-—together but separate. In homiletical terms. Rabbi Reines described the role of Mizrachi as play ing the role of the ethrop. While the arba minim— lulov, hadassim, arovoth, and ethrop—are united in the hands of the worshipper at Succoth time, nevertheless the ethrop is held in a separate hand. It is only joined with

the former three in the pronouncing of a blessing. Since, then, the Zionist Organization was the “state in formation,” Mizrachi became a member political party, dedi cated to the protection and advance ment of religious values. When the State was ultimately established Miz rachi and Hapoel Hamizrachi, the religious pioneer and workers party— which in Israel, by then, represented the vast majority of religious Jewry— continued their previous political iden tity, as did all the other parties which held membership in the Zionist Con gress, the state in formation. In 1956, a formal merger between Hapoel Hamizrachi and Mizrachi yielded the National Religious Party. The program remains primarily the realization and protection of religious values, although social and economic issues are not neglected. The second grouping of religious parties consists of the Agudath Israel and Poale Agudath Israel. Agudah was founded in 1913 to combat the rising secularism in Europe of that day. Later Poale Agudah came into being to combat secularism from within the labor movement. In 1948, with the birth of the State, these organizations assumed the status of political parties. While the goal of all religious parties is the ultimate realization of the Torah State, the emphasis of the Agudah political program is on religious issues alone. AVING traced the historic forces which gave life to the religious parties, we might be moved to ask the question which Mapai and the other Israeli parties have arrogated to answer in the negative. Is there at present any need for the continued existence of

religious parties within the framework of a modern democratic state? It seems almost too simple to seek the answer in a definition of a political party. Yet, what is this entity if not a group of people taking the same side in public matters and who seek the same kind of government action? That the kind of action is religious in nature does not diminish the democratic right to employ the most direct instrument to accomplish the desired end. This method is the organization into a po litical party to achieve a definite type of governmental action in an area of overriding concern. To the religious parties in Israel this is the safeguard ing and advancement of each and every aspect of Halochah. While other parties may “respect” religion and pro claim a desire to take it out of politics, what they are really saying is that they object to the use of the democratic process to concentrate on the religious area of life and the making of halachic goals naramount to every other con cern. Moreover, while engaging in the practice of the type of democratic process in use on the Continent, they choose to ignore the factual existence of religious parties in most West Euro pean countries. Finally, have the religious parties justified their existence by attaining religious goals which were unobtain able without the use of the political franchise? The record is replete with evidence of these positive achieve ments. Some major accomplishments will be summarized here. HE law vesting in religious courts sole jurisdiction over marriage, di vorce, and personal status, thus making Torah principles in these areas appli cable to the entire state,* is from the

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religious viewpoint probably the single most important piece of legislation to be enacted. This was the price of Hapoel Hamizrachi’s support for an early coalition government. The law establishing and maintaining the judges of the religious courts on the same basis as those of the secular courts was also exacted as the price for sup port of a government by the religious parties. The establishment of a sepa rate religious public school system within the framework of the state educational system and putting reli gious schools under the administration and supervision of a religious deputy minister of education is another of the religious parties’ achievements. Nor should one forget the assumption by the state of a major part of the budget of Agudath Israel’s separate non-pub lic schools, which was fought for and achieved by the religious political com munity. The sharp issue created by the “who is a Jew” controversy, wherein the government sought the enactment of a statute which would serve to allow the registration within the Jewish com munity persons who cannot qualify as Jews under religious law, was ulti mately resolved in favor of the reli gious view. This was accomplished by the pressure of the unequivocal with drawal and decisive departure from the coalition government of the Na tional Religious Party over the issue. The following election resulted in a summons to the N.R.P. to rejoin the new coalition government with the proposal eliminated. While the examples may surely be expanded, this part of the discussion

DECEMBER, 1961

may be concluded with current events. The concessions wrested from Mapai for the formation of the present cabi net add additional evidence to the record. The concessions were yielded only after months of negotiation as the price of the adherence of the N.R.P. and Poale Agudah. While the specific commitments have not all been offi cially disclosed, much to the conster nation of the Israeli press and the non-members of the coalition, it has been stated by the religious ministers, without contradiction, that their terms included the return of the Ministry of Religion to the administration of a religious party minister. Post-ele mentary school, or high school educa tion of graduates of the state religious school system, is to be put under the control of the religious community and shall be maintained senarate from but similar to the general high schools of the state educational network. A commitment was also sought for a national Sabbath observance law and a prohibition on pork breeding. RANTING the primacy of the Torah in the life of the religious Jew, the maximum utilization of the democratic process, by direct action of the political party, cannot seriously be questioned where its use serves to safe guard the halachic view. The record discloses that major religious interests have been preserved and advanced by the religious parties, which are exclu sively dedicated to the achievement of this end. The few feeble attempts made by Mapai and others to act as the army of the Lord forbids entrusting to them the religious conscience of the observant Jew.

Southtown, U .S.A. By JOSEPH KAMINETSKY The dynamic impact of, the Day School upon parent as well as child has often been remarked. The experience related here is an unusual and colorful illustration of how exposure to positive Jewish values can remold Jewish lives.

OUTHTOWN, U.S.A. is not an aggregate sociological term to de note the thriving cities of the South. I have a real city in mind, but have decided to use this fictitious name to obviate embarrassment to the char acters in my story and to feel free to tell my tale, as much as possible, in its entirety, unencumbered by the sen sitivities involved in describing the metamorphoses ill the lives of a num ber of wonderful people. For this will be a tale of thé changes in the lives of individual Jews who were toùched by the magic of the Hebrew Day School. It is not a new story. The saga of

* E came to Southtown for a re gional conference of Midwestern and Southern Hebrew Day School parent-teachers associations and yeshivah principals. We chose Southtown because of its proximity to areas of the Midwest as well as the South— little realizing, in the planning stages, that the occurrences in Southtown over the weekend would depict most dramatically what the Day School has

the Hebrew Day School is already well known—especially to the readers of J e w i s h L i f e . Yet, the experiences I had over a Shabboth and weekend in Southtown have dramatized most boldly for me the full measure of the spiritual revolution generated by the Hebrew Day School— such as I have not witnessed in many a year. The tale will be told essentially in human terms. I shall not indulge in excessive theorizing, and moralizing. The facts will speak for themselves. And to preserve the full flavor of the narrative style, I shall present the facts in chronological fashion to a large degree. * accomplished in these two vast regions of our country, where until recently Jewish life was on the decline. (This is really an understatement. At least in the South traditional Judaism—it was claimed—was passé.) Most of us arrived in Southtown on late Friday afternoon to find the “southern belles” of Southtown busy sending the delegates to the homes where they would stay for Shabboth. JEWISH LIFE

The Sabbath meals were to be served by the women themselves at the local day school, situated in one of the most fashionable suburbs at the edge of town. And what homes we were sent to! Large, sprawling ranch-type homes where five, six, and even as many as nine of us could be accommodated in a single residence. We had heard about southern hos pitality—but such graciousness had been hardly expected. During the course of that most inspiring Sabbath, however, a number of salient facts be came evident to us. For one, the Southtown Hebrew Academy had much experience in giv ing its parents, pupils, and friends a real taste of the holy day. Ta’amu ure’u — taste and see—says King David. You cannot talk, teach, and lecture about Shabboth; you must live it. Every once in a while the Southtown Hebrew Academy invites its stu dents to spend Shabboth at the school. The library and a few large utility classrooms (they are now building a gymnasium in a new wing of the build ing) are converted into dormitories. Cots are brought in; the students bring sheets and blankets— and they go through a real “yeshivishe shabbos” at the Academy itself. More than that, the leadership of the school had decided that to attract parents and friends to the Academy— and to obviate chillul Shabboth (Southtown is a large, sprawling city, and its synagogues are scattered far and wide) ?||-they would institute a synagogue at the Academy. And already a small group meets every Shabboth in the temporary synagogue of the school. Our coming to the conference was deliberately planned to coincide with an “Academy Shabboth” for parents DECEMBER, 1961

and friends—to show some new “con verts” the way to real Sabbath observ ance. For behind these two projects there is a real plan to help people keep the Sabbath. Southtown is the only city in America—as far as I know—which boasts of two “Shabbos Houses.” HAT is a “Shabbos House”? Simple. The president of the day W school, as he climbed the ladder from superficial observance of the Mitzvoth to full Jewish living, was determined to daven each Shabboth at the influ ential orthodox synagogue in town, but it was beyond walking distance from his residence. He could not bear to give up his luxurious home. He there fore hit upon the simple expedient of buying a small home within the environs of the synagogue, where he spends Sabbaths and holidays with his family. His “mechuton” (the father of his son-in-law) has a “Shabbos House” too, and frankly told me that the idea was really his in the first place. All of this has provided a terrific challenge to the young people who have been attracted to the school. The monthly Student Shabboth, the Acad emy synagogue; and the ; “Shabbos Houses” are dynamic leaven in raising the sights for real Sabbath observance. The soul-searching of at least one wonderful young man took place be fore our very eyes. To me, the most important figure in the present saga of Southtown’s “spiritual revolution” was Bud Shaw (that’s not his real name, of coursé) who dramatized for me the full impact of the forces for Shabboth observance in Southtown. As soon as I got on intimate terms with Bud, he described his dilemma 13

to me. Bud is a young, successful lawyer, scion of one of the most im portant families in Southtown. He has his own four-passenger, private plane and a lovely home— and he is not yet ready for a “Shabbos House,” he told me. What should he do? Should he ride to shool or spend Shabboth at home? My answer, you all know; but talk is cheap. How could Bud work out his problem? The Conference Shabboth solved matters for him. His first full Shab-

both as an authentic Jew was spent with us over that inspiring weekend. And—as he told me over the long distance phone a few days later— that provided him with enough “spirit ual fuel” to spend his second Shabboth alone at home. His third Shabboth was spent with his folks near the large orthodox synagogue, since there was an important Bar Mitzvah there. With three Shabbosim now under his belt, Bud has a “chazokah.” He is now on his way to full Shabboth observance.

ITH such a tradition behind or paraphrase this delightful announce them, Southtown’s “newly born ment could render to the reader its W Jews,” together with their friends who full spiritual and “musical” enchant had “seen the light” sometime before, joined our delegates for a Sabbath of Torah, spiritual thought—and song and dance. And how they sang and danced! “Ana, ana, avda d’Kudsha B’rich H u” T am a servant of the Almighty.” These words from the Zohar, from the B’rich S’hemey prayer, did for our southern brethren and for us what it has done at many Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America re gional conferences. It moved them to thank the Lord, through song and dance, for the new vistas that service to Him and worship of Him had opened up to them. Those of us who were aware of some of the intangible forces at work in Southtown were therefore charmed — and not too surprised-—to hear the extraordinary announcement made be fore the Sabbath lunch in a slow southern drawl: “We want y’all to know that the meat in the cholent this morning is glatt!” (No form in which I could attempt to transliterate 14

ment. You would have had to hear it to appreciate it to the full!) Shabboth was not enough, however. The “planners” had insisted upon a Melaveh Malkah. After all, there were many Southtowners who could not spend Shabboth at the Academy. And the whole town must be subjected to the charm and power of “Chasidic” song and dance. So, on to the Melaveh Malkah we went—following to the full the desire of our hosts to bathe the community in simchah shel mitz vah. By now a goodly portion of our Southtowners—and some of the dele gates—had mastered the words and the rhythm of “Ana, Ana” and the many other melodies which had satu rated the rafters of the Academy. And so they took their friends to dance with them, with all the verve of “newly born Chasidim.” One of the enterpris ing Southtowners even brought his bongos down to help in the rhythmic strains of the rikkudim. JEWISH LIFE

HE Conference was not all song Sunday afternoon at the Academy. T and dance, however, although they (Another “social” way of involving set a delightful spiritual mood for the the whole community in authentic deliberations which followed. As the speakers dwelt on the achieve ments and promise of the Day School, and the delegates joined in the discus sions, we were treated to many “con fessionals”—heartwarming stories of the return to Yiddishkeit of our South ern friends. Not that these were spoken from the floor, but between and after ses sions the full impact that the Day School had had on the lives of our friends was spelled out for us. In essence, these are some of the stories we were told (all names are fictitious—but not the facts). Harry Cohen was a busy lawyer; he was against the Day School. He did not want his children to go there. He forbade his wife to become active in the PTA, even after he had “weak ened” and had sent his two boys to the school. Now, however, there is no day in the week for him like Shabboth. His recent heart attack would have become fatal had not Sabbath observance slowed him down. And, he told us,\ it is quite natural for his wife Belle to do what she did when we came home on Friday night. “Wait a minute,” he said, “I want to get the house-key; it is hidden in the lemon plant.” Is it any wonder that they now plan to send their boy to an out-of-town yeshivah? One of the other women told us that life before the Day School had been an unending, meaningless round of the “balls” (dancing at the Country Club) in the evenings, and canasta in the afternoon. But now, all that was gone. Life was filled with PTA meet ings and preparing kosher meals every DECEMBER, 1961

Jewish living: The PTA runs a “Kosher Restaurant” for all of Southtown Sunday afternoons.) The wife of the Day School presi dent proudly, unashamedly outlined the metamorphosis in her family wrought by the Day School. When Saul first became president he did not even put on tefillin regularly. Now he learns Torah on a regular basis, thrills to his “Shabbos House,” and takes joy in guiding his two sons-inlaw in full practice of the Mitzvoth. The third prospective son-in-law is not yet won over. “But, he’ll get there,” says Saul with a meaningful smile. OW has all this come about? This H is the heart of the miracle of Southtown. To Southtown there came a few young men, trained in European or New York yeshivoth—one as a shochet, one as a chazon, one as a rabbi (who then went into the building busi ness), and one or two more as “k ’ley kodesh.” They saw in Southtown a fine Jewish community—somewhat committed to Orthodoxy, but only superficially. At the time of their ar rival there was not even a Conserva tive temple in town, but they knew that they and their children were lost unless there was a Day School in town. And so they began to battle for a Day School. It did not come easily, but they worked quietly and effectively and won many friends for the Day School idea. Today the Day School is one of the most dynamic Jewish institutions in town. Yet, that was not all. They formed 15

a close, homogeneous unit and decided to work on yechidim—on individuals. They would build one soul at a time — and in due time they would have a strong corps of authentic Jews who would provide an inspiring force as teachers by example. It is hard to say which one of this fine coterie— or any of the inspired administrators or teachers whom thè Day School brought to Southtown— was responsible for -leavening the

dough.” I am inclined to give a good share of the credit to the “rabbiturned-builder.” He is fond of quot ing, A l tikra banayich ela bonoyich--Jfe read not “your sons” but “your, build ers” who bring peace and healing on their wings. In their own way, he and his comrades have helped build a, thriving Jewish community which taught us—who came to teach—a beautiful lesson in the power of Torah to change the lives of individuals for good.

JEWISH LIFE

Among Jews in Remote Corners of Latin America By JACOB BELLER

U TEWS! Rabbi Nahum Gitlin is J speaking to you. It is time you abandoned your sinful ways and adopted the way of truth, the holy light of Christianity!” I heard these words on the radio in my hotel room in the beautiful town of Baños nine hours travel from Quito, the capital of Ecuador. Herr Wolff, a German Jewish refugee who owned the hotel, told me this was the “religious hour” which once a week was “devoted” to the Jews. Herr Wolff, a native of Breslau who ran a tourist hotel on the mountain range, was lighting the third Chanukah candle that evening and in his German-accented Hebrew was in toning the “Mo’oz Tzur” hymn. You can hardly imagine how the Chanu kah candles look on a warm equatorial night in one of the world’s beauty spots among Indian tribes with broad sombreros and colored ponchos. The little flames were enchanting in the soft warm night. Even my host’s odd, old German-Jewish chant rang in my ears like great and inspiring music: “Sie verstehen,” Herr Wolff argued, DECEMBER, 1961

“dieser verdammter missionarischer ‘Rabbiner’ hat mich veranlasst ziinder diese Chanukah Lichte. Ich bin doch ein Jude,” (You see, this confounded missionary “rabbi” is the one respon sible for my lighting the Chanukah candles. After all, I am a Jew) he ended proudly. Besides Herr Wolff’s resort, Baños, a mineral spring center, has three other hotels owned by German Jews, all constructed on the model of Swiss chalets in the Lucerne area. Mineral baths abound everywhere among these giant mountains that stretch round about in serpentine fashion. Four Jewish refugees from Germany dis covered this beauty spot and trans formed the hotels which had been in fested with dust and filth into veritable Edens equipped with all the neweist devices. The president of the republic and his cabinet are regular clients here. Other guests are Jews living in Quito and Guayaquil who come to take the baths and to enjoy a change of air. Many of these are former habitues of the European spas such

as Carlsbad, Marienbad, and others. In the season you can see the vivid contrasts: severely pressed trousers, a neatly tied cravat, and a tattered poncho, a dame elegantly attired in the newest fashion and on the other hand a rag used as a shawl with half a dozen children peeping out from *

behind it. Here “wird Deutsch ge sprochen” and even Galician Jews aspire to High German. The Catholic Church apparently feels it can do some fishing for souls here and for this reason it has the “rabbi” on its radio hour every Sunday. *

N enchanted night in Guayaquil. The hundred Jews who live in After a hot, suffocating day cool Guayaquil were quickly acclimatized A breezes come in off the gulf. The ship that is to take me to Porto Bolivar on the Peruvian border issues its last piercing whistle, the signal for visi tors to leave. My three visitors — two old bachelors and a leather goods dealer from the interior of Ecuador who had come to see me off — take their leave quickly. Slowly the boat starts to cut the waves of the gulf. I can still hear their Yiddish words, “fohrt gezunt!” In the last ray of light I can see the sad faces of my friends watching the ship depart. The two bachelors were weeping like small children. I had spent two weeks in Guaya quil. From the first day these two had attached themselves to me. I had met the leather merchant while looking for an Indian pueblo travelling in a balsa-bamboo boat with an Indian guide, quite a distance away from Guayaquil. The two old bachelors have lived in this tropical city for many years. Both are lonely old men for whom life has provided not a shred of joy — nothing but want, hunger, and struggle. A piece of blind, unfeeling chance tossed them ashore in this Ecuadorian port town. 18

and even more quickly acquired the ways of the land. The home that was built became a kind of fortress — barred and bolted against prying male eyes that might try and look in. The general social center is the Cafe Galmonia where everyone meets over a coffee. During the day it is hard to work because of the fiery tropical sun, so most meet in the cafe, complain of the deadbeat customers who do not pay their bills, of the Jewish world beyond, from which they are totally cut off. Then when the sun is a bit milder they go back to work. Late in the evening back to the cafe for some relief from the blistering heat, and then home again. All but these two, who stay on in their loneliness, one a Bessarabian and the other a Galician.

HE Bessarabian has been so buf feted by life that he has become an embittered misanthrope who speaks only in curses and anger and who is shunned by people, who want to avoid clashing with him. The other, the Galician, has been affected quite dif ferently. His troubles and loneliness have led him to adopt the pose of a

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patient saint who willingly bears the burden of sorrows as a good, pious Jew should and who seeks some merit for all. Both are equally burdensome — one with his anti-social bitterness and the other with his overdose of virtue and very few townspeople will have anything to do with either. And so it was that both seized on me a stranger who was willing to listen to their stories. The Bessarabian complains; “I haven’t been inside a home here in twenty years! As a ped dler I broke a leg and lay in my room like a dog, perishing in loneliness. It’s unheard of for Jews to be so mean!” The other interrupts: “What do you want from these poor Jews? They work hard and long to support their families”— and here his own com plaints start. “I injured my shoulder from carrying my peddler’s pack on my back in the hot sun. The doctor says it will be permanent; one shoul der will be lower than the other. Well, let’s hope that’s my worst mishap. There were Jews who suffered far more in the concentration camps. True, it’s not good to remain alone as one gets older but what do the Jews of Guayaquil owe me? If one could move to a larger community where there are more Jews it might be different. Believe me — and here he blushes like a girl —“I could make a woman very happy. I have a few thousand dollars in the bank, but”— and suddenly he turns sad — -“what can you do when the tropics have crept into your very bones. I no longer have the energy to tear my self out of here. I know I’m getting weaker from day to day. If only I could find a relative of some kind, an heir . . . And what do you say?” he looked at me sadly. “Someone with pull assures me he can get me a pass DECEMBER, 1961

to Chile. There are lots of Jews there I B | different Jews. I’m told in fact it’s possible to get through the border to Peru. What do you think?” He is silent for a while and then answers his own question. “I’ve stolen through enough frontiers in my time; starved and served in prison for it — how much can a man bear?” MET the leather merchant when my balsa and bamboo boat stopped at a primitive and forlorn port some where half a day away from Guaya quil. Indian huts of lime that looked like cages, palm leaves and bamboo strewn everywhere . . . soon the sen ses are dazzled by the bright browns, blacks, and shining white teeth of the natives and their carefree, loud chatter. After a long walk one comes across the first street with bazaars offering the traveller cushions, Pan ama hats, and articles made out of the skins of various animals. I en tered one of these bazaars which had a placard, “English spoken.” After hearing the proprietor’s first few words of “English,” I tendered him a “Sholom Aleichem, Reb Yid” and his re ply was: “Fun vanent kumt a Yid?” We had little time to talk, for soon the little shop Was filled with tourists who were buying and Indians who came to sell their leathercraft work. He briefly indicated the hotel of the pueblo. That evening he came to visit me with his wife, and took me to his home. Here I heard the lament so familiar to me in these remote corners: “Business is good and the dollars are available, but what good is it? One is cut off from other Jews and alone. I want to live with other Jews and what can be the purpose of this kind of life? Is $50,000 enough to settle in Israel with?” I assured

the childless couple that with this sum — in fact with less they could live quite well in Israel. “I’m sure I’ll leave here eventually,” he went on. “Of course we will,” added his wife. “What is the alternative — to finish our days here among the Indians? We must get away from this wilderness.” It was decided on the spot that the next day he would go back to Guayaquil with me to get his travel documents. “For years,” says his wife, a warm, friendly person, “we’ve been thinking of getting away.” N the morning when I went to his shop the man hardly noticed me, he was so engrossed in selling his articles to American tourists to whom he spoke in his English. That night the same story was repeated; they begged and entreated me to stay for another day, they received me warmly and repeated the same arguments: “How can we waste our lives in this wilderness? The loneliness is killing us. Tomorrow I’m definitely going to Guayaquil. I know someone there who for a few dollars can fix me m

a passport.” “Please stay another day,” the wife asked. When I returned to Guayaquil I re ceived letters from him: he was com ing the next day, in two days. Before I left Guayaquil I wrote him I was leaving and he came to see me off. When the boat pushed off he shouted he would escape immediately and was getting his passport the next day. Now in the cool of the late eve ning when my boat was churning its way out of the harbor of Guayaquil heading for Peru, I see his wife’s gentle, weary face and I hear her say ing: “Are we to end our days here among the Indians?” I see the dis torted, desperate faces of the two lonely old bachelors, and the nervous face of my friend in the pueblo say ing p “Tomorrow I go to Guayaquil to get a passport.” The tropics and lone liness have totally consumed the spirit of these people. He, the Jew in the Indian pueblo, earning his dollars from his tourist customers and from the Indians from whom he buys his stock — they will all of them stay there until their end comes — dis jointed and displaced souls. . .

E arrived in Porto Bolivar quite official, however, was asleep so we all early in the day, as soon as the marched over to his building and W first blue streak of daylight pierced stood around until he awoke. Finally the mountains. Two large farm wagons — reminding me of the kind Polish peasants would use to carry their stacks of wheat — were waiting to take the passengers to the border of Peru. First the Ecuadorian frontier guard had to stamp our passports be fore we could leave the country. The

2(3

we were in a large dirty room. A sleepy looking official was sitting next to an oil lamp and mechanically put ting a stamp on all documents being presented, too sleepy to look at them or to ask questions. We crawled back to the farm wagons. In a few hours we are at the Peruvian border. More JEWISH LIFE

new stamps, this time from the Peru vian frontier guard and from here we are to take a bus to the Peruvian town of Tumbu. But the bus is late and we have no choice but to wait for it. The heat is merciless. I am hungry and desperately thirsty. There is a rancho where nothing is avail able except a white-colored drink that looks like chalk. After waiting half a day the bus finally arrives and in an other half day of steaming heat we are in Tumbu, our first Peruvian town. Tumbu is an old fashioned town with broadly built houses and a plaza of sand and stone. It once belonged to Ecuador and for this reason the police are doubly watchful at the bor der. You can be anything at all so long as you are not a citizen of Ecuador. There is a great deal of illi cit trade at the border but the police are more interested in your passport. If you are an Ecuadorian your stay in Tumbu is limited, you must report to the police, and you may not pro ceed to another part of Peru. After staying in Tumbu’s only modern hotel made for the tourists travelling the Pan-American Road, I started on my trip to Lima, a journey of a few days. We passed dozens of towns, pueblos silhouetted against the dust laden road that winds its way to Lima. From time to time a town appears on the road that is like an oasis in this South American Sahara. The bus stops and the passengers get out to wash the dust and grime out of their clothes and hair and have something to eat. But there is nothing but chicha and hard biscuits. The people here have permanently red eyes as a result of the irritating and pervasive dust. Young and old suffer from eye com plaints. The town generally consists of a few streets, a police station, and DECEMBER, 1961

a tavern which always rocks with the carefree song of a few drinkers who have had a drop too much. . There is nothing else to drink but chicha and when you get dry and thirsty there is nothing to do but take a few glassfuls. The stomach will complain but there is no other choice under the circumstances. This is the Pan-American Road of which so many dream romantically in the U.S.A. the vision of travelling through an entire continent and seeing the exotic scenery, the señoritas with their allur ing dark eyes. HE bus stopped at a small town T named Tablaris. This is an oil center and during World War II was an American military base. The Amer ican soldiers might have stayed on indefinitely if an incident had not oc curred in which American officers as saulted a Peruvian officer. The fight, of course, was over a Peruvian girl. The Peruvian government issued a sharp protest and was not at all dis pleased about the incident, for it pro vided the opportunity of getting rid of Uncle Sam, who, they supposed, was in no hurry to leave Peru. In the middle of the town, which still looks like a military camp, I sud denly caught sight of a sign with the name prominently displayed: Moses Furmann. I stepped in and was greeted with a warm “Sholom Aleichem” by a Jew who hailed from Bessarabia. There were four Jewish families in the town during the war, he told me. Business wasn’t bad then. Now they have left and he is the only Jew left. In Plura I found ten Jewish fami lies. The delegate of the Keren Hayesod had just preceded me. All had contributed beyond their means. In Chiclayo they told me there was a 21

somewhat larger community, about twelve families. The bus stopped for half an hour. I had time only to take a look at the shops on the main street, read a few Jewish names on the pla cards, and was able to pick up a copy of one of the New York Yid dish dailies — the first printed Jewish word I had seen in weeks of travel. Trujillo is one of Peru’s most beau tiful cities, famous for its university. Known also as the center of the cream of Peru’s aristocracy, it is crowded with historic monuments. In the city’s center is the largest monument, a mas terpiece of modern architecture: art istic figures carved of the country’s very best stone and bronze domes which mirror the tropical sun. A bus is available there to take you to Lima, a day’s travel away. Having to stop overnight in Tru jillo, the city’s Jews learned I was there and would not let me proceed. Their communal president, Senor Zim merman, insisted that I stay to tell them what was happening in the Jew ish world a world from which they were isolated and remote. ABBATH eve I was the guest of the fourteen Jewish families of Trujillo. After the Sabbath worship which, in my honor, the prayer leader converted or confused into a High Holy Day chant, I conveyed a greet ing and a report on Jewish life in other lands. They were intensely in terested in what I had to say and were envious of my plan to visit Israel. “What kind of life is it,” complained a Jew who retained much of his tradi tional learning, “to live so far from other Jews. When the children grow up there’s no one to marry. Do you see my daughter?” ---- a charming, olive-skinned brunette —- “She speaks

no Yiddish but she understands it quite well. She must understand du ller schoolmates don’t let her forget she is a Judia. Well,” he spoke slowly, “I tell her about the Judios. But there are no other young Jews. And do you think it’s any better in Lima? The young men there want a dowry. And where is a dowry to come from in this kind of livelihood? There’s no decent living to be made here as a salaried man or a worker so a young man has to turn to trade, and for this of course you need capital. You can’t blame the young men I suppose. But not everyone has ‘found his America’ here in Peru. There was plenty of rocky road until some kind of safe haven was reached. It took days and nights for many years of weary trudg ing over the burning pavements with a pack of goods on the peddler’s back. “. . . Do you have some advice per haps? Should I send my daughter to Israel? I’m sure the chalutzim don’t ask for a dowry. And once she is over there the rest of the family will be sure to follow.” Early in the morning before the bus was due to leave Lima the seats were already all occupied. Most travel ling here is done by bus, for rail traffic is not fully developed. Every town has a number of bus stations of various lines which take passengers on the American plan, pausing for a snack every few hours and continuing further. Seats must be reserved, how ever, a few days in advance. I was lucky; a Jew who had reserved a seat for Lima — the front seat incidentally — gave me his reservation. HEN I took my seat I found myself sitting between two pas sengers who were speaking German

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with a broad Berlin accent. When I entered and sat down, they looked at each other as much as to say, “Who is this stranger?” At first they spoke softly but seeing that I paid them no heed, they grew bolder. As I looked out at the dusty road, I couldn’t help hearing what was being said on either side of me. They were speculating on the nationality of the new passenger : “Is he an American?” “No,” said the other, “more likely French. Can’t you see he’s dark?” “Then why is he wearing an Amer ican hat? Perhaps he’s English. And what in the world is he doing here? Could he be a secret agent of the American security police?” “What ideas you get, Fritz!” inter rupts the other. “What of it? The Peruvian government has admitted us legally since we have Peruvian wives. Americans can’t do anything about it.” “Anton,” warned the other, “you’ve no idea what kind of devils these Americans are. Have you forgotten Marseilles? We already had visas for Peru then, and how close we were to being arrested. . .” My face was burning; I could no longer conceal my feelings. I wanted to avenge myself on the spot on these two Nazis who probably have more * REQUIPA is in the most remote l area of Peru, near the border of three lands: Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. When you fly on an interna tional plane you do not notice this town deep in the Cordilleras. The lo cal airlines, however, do stop at Are quipa, a town that looks as though it has not changed in centuries, with

DECEMBER, 1961

than one Jewish victim on their con science. The question is how do I do it? Suddenly it occurred to me. I re membered the Yiddish newspaper given to me by the Jew in Chiclayo. I quickly took it out of my pocket, unfolded it, and spread it out before me with the bold Hebraic script star ing the two Nazis in the face. Their faces flushed and the nose of one of them suddenly turned pale. They looked from me to the newspaper and back and began to blink nervously. The one sitting to my right hissed under his breath, “Donnerwetter, ein Juder “Dammit!” I shouted in my best American profanity. The other Nazi looked at me, his eyes turning green and his face redder than ever. He was about to say something but seeing the look of undisguised contempt in my face, he looked away. He began to mumble something unintelligible. “You swine!” I shouted again with all my might. Both began to look around for some way to hide their faces. At this point the bus stopped. The driver called out that it was a thirty-minute recess for lunch. When the passengers re-boarded the vehicle both seats near me were empty . . . both my neighbors had vanished. * its ancient buildings surrounded by palms. The town is a veritable sea of flashing color. The national costume is a poncho with a broad hat which looks different in each district. In some places it is broader, and in oth ers broad in the brim and narrow at the crown, like an old-fashioned coneshaped chimney or ¡even like a slant23

ing, thatched roof. The hat serves to protect its wearer from the extremes of both sun and rain. Arequipa has ten Jewish families. Walking through its main street with its quaint old doorways you can read a few Jewish names over the doors. In the very center is the name Leon Feldman, and you feel sure you’ve located a Jew. But Leon Feldman is more; he is a poet who writes in Yid dish and Spanish. A book of his re cently appeared in Spanish under the title Los Muevos, which describes the color of Peru and its mountains and landscapes, a book well received by Peruvian critics. “This Jewish immigrant,” wrote a newspaper,K‘has caught the beauty of our Peruvian environment.” Arequipa is a university town and Feldman is a close friend of many of the professors who have crowned him as Peru’s national poet. Feldman has also written a Yiddish volume of nostalgic poems, stories, and experi ences. A pity I lost the copy he gave me as a present. It was meant as a symbolic present to the outside Jewish world which can hardly imagine that at the edge of the giant Cordilleras lives a Jewish poet who sings of the beauties of the Peruvian landscape and bitterly bemoans the ruin of his Bessarabian birthplace. The ten Jewish families have their own little synagogue where they as semble every Sabbath. On this Sab bath I was their guest to give my usual report from the Jewish world outside. HEN I came to Tacna, the last border town within Peru — a settlement almost wholly Indian in character — the police gave me quite a severe grilling. I had seen two pas

sengers on the plane who appeared to me to be Jews but once we landed they vanished. The police, who pos sibly were watching for them, appar ently only caught me —- with nothing but legal documents in my possession. From Tacna a small train links the traveller to Chile. The Chilean fron tier police board it to screen the pas sengers’ documents. Peruvian residents who go to Chile regularly have a permanent pass allowing them to en ter freely. Other than these very few use this train and since my passport was stamped with a few dozen visas and since the political situation in Chile was uncertain, a cross-examina tion set in. Why, for example, am I taking this route to Chile? Because I like it, I reply quite briefly. “And what will you do in Chile?” ; “Inter view the President,” is my curt re ply. The official blinks his eyes, looks me up and down, re-reads my pass port, and when he sees the designa tion periodista (journalist) he becomes more congenial, waves me on courte ously, and moves on to the other pas sengers. The train reminds me of a similar railway not far from my home town in Galicia. It was called the “Katchuger train.” Jews from villages and towns near Blasow who would visit the Rebbe of Blasow will no doubt remember this train. The locomotive was reminiscent of a Russian samo var; the coaches were tiny and rather odd in appearance. The train, like the “Toonerville Trolley” of the American comic strip, would stop if a passenger who arrived late would shout to the conductor to wait for him. I re-lived this feeling when I boarded this rail way to Tacna. Once we left Tacna we were in a desert. All around us was a sandswept JEWISH LIFE

wasteland which stretched for miles. Strong winds blew white sand into the train and into our throats and noses. Not a living creature was to be seen anywhere about. After two hours of this we came to a small rancho where people awaited the train. The train stopped to let them get on, clad in long ponchos, worn over the head. We made a few such stops till we arrived at Arica, the Chilean port which links three coun tries, Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia. RICA is an outlet where ships l pass from the world over. Bolivia uses it as a kind of transit port, a privilege granted her by Chile. A rail way connects the port with Bolivia, and this same railway goes to Argen tina via Salto. Arica is covered with green palm trees and the whole city seems to be ablaze with the greenness of vegetation. The Bolivian consul advised me against going to his country, which was on the verge of a revolution. I did not follow his advice and started out for Bolivia, but a few days later when revolution did break out I had to change my plans and head for San tiago. However, a boat trip would last weeks and no airplane was available for three days. So I took a room at the Hotel Americano. For the first time in my journey I find myself in a city without Jews. The streets at night are fascinating and it is impossible to stay in one spot — one feels impelled to wander about the streets soaking in the atmosphere. The townspeople sing and play mel odies on the guitar, melodies that awaken pleasant memories and yearn ings. You can hear serenades sung by a young man in the quiet of the night

DECEMBER, 1961

before a maiden’s house. Night after night the same youth stands in the same place singing out his heart to his chosen señorita till she shows some pity and appears on her balcony . . . and if she doesn’t appear he keeps on playing. Late into the night these romantic lovers’ melodies ring out through the city. In Arica everybody sings: the sail ors off the ships who have been at sea for weeks and months; the towns folk; the lovers, of course. In my hotel a choir of guitars drummed out a national song, a sort of Chilean tango. My eye caught a Chilean with a broad straw hat, his face bronzed like the others but with a somewhat different look about him. He kept looking at me too. Our eyes met a few times and I could have sworn they were Jewish eyes. I thought: I must be in error — many Latin Americans look like Jews. But he kept looking at me with some curiosity. I went up to his table where he was nursing a glass of beer. He began talking first. “Yes, sir,” he said in English, “an Amer ican?” And he looked a little closer and added softly, “And perhaps a Jew?” “Of course,” I replied, and he responded with a joyous “Sholom Aleichem.” “Well, well — a Jew! Where are you from and where are you head ing? Jews are so rare hereabouts!” he kept repeating in great excitement. “A Jew!” Soon he took me up to the second floor to meet his family, who were equally delighted to meet a Jew in this most unlikely place. He told me his name -f*- Szmuel Kreikerman. “What,” I asked, “are you doing in this remote corner?” He told me that he had moved to Santiago several times to be near a 25

large Jewish community and to be with Jews, but something drew him back to Arica each time, “What is it?” I asked. “You see,” he replied, “I often come across Jews here wandering about the world -4 ^ some with a pur pose and some without. Sometimes there’s a favor to do for them ^ an immigrant might need some kind of legal access to the three countries that are close by ***?,■Peru, Chile, and Ar gentina. I’m the one who can do that favor. I have enough contacts here for it. What would the Jewish wan derers who stumble across this place do if I weren’t here?” In the center of the city this man has a business. He is known to all as a Judio. His business is a sort of as sistance society and advice agency, a traveller’s aid office for Jewish emi grants who wander over the face of the globe. The question does arise: what would these migrants do without this solitary Jew in Arica?

VEN in more concentrated areas of Jewish settlement, such as Lima, Quito, and Guayaquil, as well as other smaller settlements where there are greater numbers of Jews, these too feel themselves isolated from the greater Jewish world. Close contact must be developed and main tained by the American national re^ ligious organizations, who should send representatives on periodic visits to the far-flung Jewish settlements and should form some sort of Jewish “Al liance for Progress.” “Why is it,” I was often asked by Jews in these remote communities, “that we see so many Catholic missionaries, and our only Jewish visitors are delegates or emissaries to raise funds?” Our chil dren are being taken away from us; why is the Jewish world silent?” In fact, the Reform and Conserva tive groups have already begun to set foot in these countries, whose Jews are practically all of orthodox back ground. The question is, why is Or thodoxy silent?

JEWISH LIFE

Jewish Higher Education: Its Value Today By LEO DAVIDS The thirst for Torah learning cited as a new phenomenon among Israeli youth by Aryeh Newman in our previous issue has a close parallel on the American scene, giving im mediacy to the question weighed here by Rabbi Davids.

the point where more than half of

RADUATION from a yeshivah high school often means a crisis them will do so is generally conceded G of decision for the graduate and his to be but a few years away. College parents. Increasingly, the disposition of the first post-high school year finds the older and younger generations deeply divided. This was not always the case; conditions once changed more slowly than they do now, and young people were aided by the cheerful (if not always professionally accurate) advice of uncles, aunts, cou sins, and grandparents. Going to work was the obvious next step for high school graduates, with one or two other alternatives sometimes being possible. Life’s questions had timetested answers ready for them. The old solutions, however, are no longer accepted automatically. Whereas, not long ago, high school graduation meant immediate entrance into the regular labor force, and only a minor part of the population was able to continue the student life and pursue higher education, the propor tions are now vastly changing. A full third of American high school grad uates go on to college nowadays, and DECEMBER, 1961

enrollment, now totalling some 3,500,000 people, is expected to double dur ing this decade. Such an increase has already occurred in the decade from 1940 to 1950. Further studies are generally ac cepted as natural and proper (espe cially for middle class families) and hence the problem of selection and direction has become a concern for an ever larger number of people. Jew ish families are in the forefront of this national trend.* OMETIMES, when this problem is faced by a religiously observant Jewish boy, he earnestly contemplates continuing his Torah studies at the yeshivah in which he has already achieved educational success. Perhaps he has already succeeded in grasping,

* See “American Public Education” by Calvin Grieder and Stephen Romine, N ew York, 1955, The Ronald Press Co.; and, on the latter point, “R acial and Cultural M inorities” by G. E. Simp son and J. M . Yinger, N ew York, 1958, Harper & Bros., pp. 653-4.

as enlightened adults have for many years, that a good education consists not so much in the accumulation of many facts and the acquisition of specific skills, as in the general devel opment of one’s mental powers and in perfecting an analytic and rational ap proach useful in meeting all of life’s problems. Probably the yeshivah stu dent has already felt how valuable his deep comprehension of two great cul tures — Jewish and Euro-American — is for understanding the world and its people. Just as vision in three dimen sions is made possible by our possess ing two eyes which present two slightly different images of the world to us, and thus produce (upon combination into a single image) a picture which monocular vision could never attain, the yeshivah boy’s double schooling affords him a penetrating insight into the meaning of self, group, nation, and world, which no secular educa tion alone could ever provide him with. The youth may thus feel like defer ring his college education for a year or two, and concentrating on his Jew ish studies without the pressure of simultaneous double schooling. He thereupon presents this idea to his parents. BVIOUSLY, there are several di rections that the parental guid O ance now asked for could take. The boy’s father and mother might greet the suggestion with more or less en thusiasm, telling their son that if he feels that his mind would benefit by a continuation of his yeshivah studies, he ought to remain at them. Whether the parents have found their son to be capable of wise choice in most cases, so that they are ready to respect his judgment in this one as well; or 28

whether they are afraid to take the decision themselves and are quite will ing to see others sharing the respon sibility of determining a course of action; or whether the parents have themselves benefited from a sound Jewish education and are therefore able to appreciate Torah studies from personal experience, the attitude of en couragement is not uncommon. On the other hand, the parents may fall back aghast upon hearing their boy’s proposal. The usual pattern of argument in the latter case would be: -How can you think of pushing off college and staying on at the Yeshivah for a while? You’re not out to be a rabbi, and I won’t let you waste your time on those Talmudic studies you like so much. Such things may have been useful a millenium ago, but they are quite out of step with the world today. . .” Whatever words are used, the theme of obsolescence is frequently presented as a powerful argument against ye shivah studies, and must be taken into account when any serious considera tion of Torah scholarship is made. Student years are finite, and highly valuable; people hesitate to commit these golden hours to any type of schooling which has not proved itself to their satisfaction to be superior. Besides the notion that a Jewish edu cation is strictly theoretical and could really be dispensed with altogether in sofar as practical needs are concerned, parents may be worried about such matters as an increasing competition for professional and white-collar posi tions, the expectation of college train ing as a standard background in almost any field, and so on. Let us try to evaluate this line of reasoning in terms of what we know about mod em education generally. JEWISH LIFE

MPORTANT research in the be values current in that culture. Given havior sciences, during the past few the appropriate training, a child can Idecades, has greatly expanded our be raised into any human way of life grasp of the actual nature of educa tion. Social scientists have been able to clear away various fallacies about the learning and maturation processes, and have helped us to see the progress of the child to adulthood as it ac tually happens.* For one thing, it has been clearly demonstrated that mental development is not a hereditary phenomenon which proceeds in a direct and automatic fashion. Formerly, it was believed that character and intellect blossom forth as naturally as a flower opening its petals to the sun, so that if the child’s regular needs were met, he would de velop into a spiritual replica of his father as a matter of course. In fact, the particular nature and qualities of education were not too important, ac cording to this view, since the product would be the same regardless of the processes. We know now, however, that the process of development is much bet ter explained in terms of environment and experience. Rather than being the result mainly of biological forces, mental growth is the product of social forces. How does a child be come an adult in mind and feelings? Ordinary life gives him the chance of observing repeatedly the activities and decisions of those around him, and of learning by direct experience expected standards of behavior. At the same time, formal schooling inculcates other rules, reveals more about the working patterns of the growing child’s society, and teaches the goals and * The interested reader can see, the excellent discussion in Chapter V III o f “Fundamentals o f Social Psychology” by Eugene L. Hartley and Ruth E. Hartley, 1955, N ew York, A lfred A . Knopf, especially pp. 204-206.

DECEMBER, 1961

known. Hence, innate forces neither determine nor explain one’s spiritual development, and we must look to schooling and example before we can correctly trace the making of a mind —and heart. In the present article, it is impos sible to explore this theme much further or to give even simple mention to the many significant principles that have been formulated by scholars in psychology, education, and related fields. What we will consider is: what use is being made of this new knowl edge? How are we applying our under standing to educational planning? nfo rtu n a tely ,

we have in many instances employed these scientific facts to comprehend the faults and flaws in contemporary edu cation, rather than to apprehend them. Instead of a vigorous improvement of our approach and methods, we have too often condoned and forgiven a dangerous drift toward materialism, mental laziness, moral laxity, and an obsession with security at the expense of almost everything else. That there is a worrisome tendency towards such things has been made clear by the great debate on American schools which has been raging during the last few years. Among the most outspoken critics have been men like Admiral Hyman Rickover, who may perhaps be guilty of overemphasizing weaknesses and under-recognizing strengths, yet are unquestionably right in subjecting the educational systems of their coun try to a constant, searching reapprai sal. Others may add that we see an overpowering parental desire to keep young people in a constant state of

happiness which is quite at variance with reality, and this type of upbring ing will never build us a people cap able of facing the future unafraid. The problems and weaknesses of the American school are by no means un known, and have received redoubled attention in this Sputnik era. There has been a great volume of criticism, of fact-finding, of soul-searching— and even of witch-hunting. On one side we may see people bewailing the lack of moral content in contempo rary curricula; on the other, we hear bitter attacks on the destructive rela tivism, now dominant in most of our informational and educational media, which undermines any and all firm stands on principle. What some of us may not realize is that this weakness, rather than being accidental and a fault which can be dealt with, is a permanent lack built into the concept of public schools in a free, modern society. Maintaining the separation of church and state, it is impossible for a government to have basic life values, which are always connected to some philosophy on the basic meaning of society and the uni verse, taught in its schools. If a public school teacher were to say anything about moral conduct, the nature of humanity, or other matters which are not subject to empirical inquiry and demonstration, a complaint from some side would be sure to follow! The oftrepeated question which ensues is— have we overlooked anything which can help us counter such deplorable tendencies? We have indeed. Those very same Torah studies which are considered by so many people as outgrown by civili zation are the antidote to the slow poisons we are so frightened of. Tradi tional Jewish higher education—in 30

which the student is given the oppor tunity to find himself, to form and set his character—is not pampered, and censored, and constantly pushed aside in favor of social and recrea tional activities of every imaginable sort. T the Yeshivah, students are pre pared for exploring the endless fields of the Talmud by themselves as soon as possible, and they are allowed to find and employ their own methods and pace in wandering up and down the well-worn paths of Jewish learn ing. The senior student, furthermore, is not troubled by written reports, examinations, and other mechanical tasks which may so effectively ruin the unhurried, individualistic, reflective search for knowledge. Yeshivah years, rather than being lost time, provide just precisely the spiritual self-reliance, the vigorous exercise of mind so bene ficial to developing intellectual powers that our youth needs! As we find said of the Torah in Psalm 19: Eyduth Hashem ne’emonah, machkimath pesi —it makes wise the simple. If we face up to the realities of this muchtroubled world, it will be obvious that we should not deprecate yeshivah edu cation, but should embrace it with open arms. Hopefully, it has now become clear how much Torah studies can contrib ute to the education of Jewish youth in this country. Our repeated discov eries of the last few years must con vince us that true and lasting happi ness cannot be sought in continual ease and unruffled contentment dur ing childhood and adolescence, but that it emerges as a result of selfdiscipline and sustained thought. A yeshivah is the place where these can be found.

JEWISH LIFE

A Story

Paradise By LEE BRIAN

S a boy still in his teens Laze Topletz had come to America before World War I from Gzarist Russia, and he had made his way to a distant relation of his mother’s who lived in one of the southern cities. Lantsmen, regardless of how remote the kinship, were always welcomed in Elihu Milner’s home, and the young boy with his bright eyes, his sharp intelligent face, his mass of red hair that had an almost fiery gloss to it, was a lively addition to the family. Uncle Elihu operated a junk es tablishment on Worth Street, and there Laze worked, in the beginning when he first arrived assorting bottles in the yard and then, in charge of the local sales, buying from the small dealers and peddlers who came in. He learned young how to take ad vantage of the unwary and the trust ing; he was quick at manipulation; and if at first he made mistakes in favor of the yard, he soon came to see that under the lax bookkeeping methods of Uncle Elihu he could pocket the difference. Later when he sold occasional items that were stocked in the yard — a piece of lead pipe, a discarded bath-

DECEMBER, 1961

tub, a bundle of newspapers — it was easy to put the proceeds into his own pocket. His salary was eight dollars a week with room and board at his uncle’s but it was indeed a poor week when he did not pocket another fif teen or eighteen on his own. His un cle suspected nothing. The good man went twice a day to the synagogue for morning and evening prayers, and well before sunset on Friday he closed the yard for the Sabbath. Laze had been working W HEN for one year in the yard he was joined by another relative of the fam ily, a thin, tubercular young man who because he could not speak the lan guage with Laze’s dexterity deferred to him in everything and became as a matter of course his confederate. In time the young man grew progres sively ill and when Laze went to see him in the state tubercular hospital he did not think he would survive the day. The cousin, recognizing Laze, raised his head from the pillow. “How can I face G-d when I know that I have wronged Uncle Elihu?” he whispered. 31

Laze gazed into his cousin’s fever ish eyes, waiting until the spasm of coughing had subsided. The cloth that the young man took away from his mouth was red with blood. “You will not face G-d for many years; stop worrying,” he said easily. “Besides, how can you tell Uncle Elihu? You will choke from the exertion.” “Then confess yourself — confess for both of us.” Laze looked again at his dying cou sin. A promise could be given readily enough. “Yes,” he said, “I will con fess for both of us. Now rest and do not worry.” The cousin seized his hand. “G-d give you long life,” he said, “and now before I go . . . I have one more favor to ask of you. My sister back in the old country needs my help. I have saved six hundred dollars for her. Promise that she will receive it.” Laze promised, and a few days later the cousin died. Uncle Elihu in sisted upon saying Kaddish for the boy, and though childless fancied that he had lost a son. But Laze could not bear to hear him extol the dead boy and said, “Save yourself the grief. He did you great wrong. He stole from the yard.” Uncle Elihu would not believe him, and Laze had difficulty convincing the credulous old man that there had been thefts. “So he stole,” Uncle Elihu said finally, “but whatever he took from me . . . he had to leave behind.” “You do not judge him,” said Laze in surprise, for he was sure that the old man not only would curse the dead boy but would grow suspicious of himself as well, though to be sure he was certain of his ability to prove his own innocence. “G-d has judged him. Still he was a good boy.” Uncle Elihu rocked on 32

his heels, his white chin whiskers trembling. “Aha, our rabbis say that for some salvation is achieved with a lifetime of good deeds; for others . . . it comes with a simple act of repent ance.” OME months later Laze found the address of the cousin’s sister in Lithuania and he was reminded of his promise, yet he put off sending the six hundred dollars. After all, he rea soned, the money might be lost in transit. Finally in the late summer he decided to make the trip and went first to the village of his birth, but with his parents dead none remained from his youth to remember him. He did not linger here but went north to Vilna and made arrangements to visit the village where the girl — since her own parents too were dead — lived with one of her kin. When Laze saw the frightful pov erty of the house, his first inclination was to extend but half the money, for to the girl that sum would have seemed a great fortune. Still when he met her it was something else again. He was not prepared to find anyone so lovely. She was dark and her features were delicately chiseled like those of a fine statue. .His eyes burned into her flesh with fire. He brought her gifts and drove her to the lake, where he tried without suc cess to take her into his arms. In the meantime the village match maker had not been idle. Here was the chance for a match; for himself Laze was not unwilling since this was the only way he could satisfy his hunger for the girl. Moreover, in his own mind he could see the fine house in America that he would build for her and he could envision her as the proud mother of his sons.

JEWISH LIFE

And with such prospects his new life opened before him like a dream. N the autumn after Succoth they were married. He had instructed the matchmaker to spare no expense in making the wedding a gala affair with the entire community invited. There were dancing and feasting until dawn; but in the bridal chamber it was still early evening when Laze sought to claim his young wife. He found her rigid with fear. The pupils of her eyes were distended; she gave a low cry of anguish; saliva flowed from her mouth; her whole appearance looked strange. Was this convulsive woman his wife? he asked himself, and fled in horror from the house. Outside on the porch he stumbled upon the limp form of the old match maker, where he sat stupefied by wine. “What has happened?” he cried at Laze’s approach. “You have given me a sick wife,” said Laze. He grabbed the old man by the collar and shook him. “You have tricked me.” The matchmaker tried to calm him. “It is only a passing seizure,” he ex plained. “Be patient and she will be well again.” Laze threw him on the ground and ran from the yard. That night he drove back to Vilna.

N America his job was waiting for him, but now there was another cousin in the yard to work with. Reu ben was a sleepy-eyed, indolent boy who had a passion for American cho colates and who cared nothing about work. At first Laze speculated how he could use him as a confederate,

DECEMBER, 1961

but it was fruitless instruction since Reuben could not grasp even the broadest hints. It was simpler,To find a confederate elsewhere. Laze’s meth od of operation was simple. Under cover of darkness he drove a truck into the yard and loaded it with met als — copper, brass, lead, iron, all taken from Uncle Elihu’s warehouses — and on the following morning one of his men brought the truck back and sold the pilfered wares. To be sure, Reuben suspected noth ing, but one day when they were un loading the illicit materials from the truck, he fingered a bit of streetcar railing, stencilled with an unfamiliar name, and laughed. “Isn’t this the same railing we bought yesterday?” he asked and winked at Laze. That smile disturbed Laze. He knew that Reuben was on to the scheme and he determined to get rid of the boy. One morning he went to Uncle Elihu. “I hate to bring such an accusation,” he said, “especially against a lantsman, but I know for a fact that he sells us stolen merchandise — your own.” “I cannot believe it,” said Uncle Elihu. “I can give you proof,” said Laze. “I can give you undeniable proof—” “No,” said Uncle Elihu sadly, “I do not want your proof. If you are certain . . . then tell him he must leave -— but tell him gently to spare him shame. He is young and has not developed a sense of right and wrong.” Laze waited two months before he returned to his night operations. The first night nothing happened. But the following week he brought the truck in again and as he opened the gate to pull away with the load of metals he saw Uncle Elihu and Reuben. They had been observing him from the shadows.

T n the street light Uncle Elihu loomed up tall, like a fierce tree sprung suddenly from the earth, but when he spoke his voice shook with regret. “Laze,” he said, “of you I would not believe this—” Laze made a gesture in Reuben’s direction. “Do not listen to that one. His accusations are false. As G-d is my witness . . . I swear-—” “Do not swear,” said Uncle Elihu. “I have seen with my own eyes— ” » “But I am innocent—” “For stealing from me I forgive you, but for slandering an innocent man . . . this I cannot forgive you.” “You yourself are to blame,” said Laze. “You did not watch your prop erty—you thus tempted others.” “I thought of you as an honest man.” “There are no honest men,” said Laze. “Every man seeks his own profit.” “Your words are false,” said Uncle Elihu. “But I will not argue with you. Let me have the key and let us part—” “Then let us part as friends,” said Laze, but Uncle Elihu withheld his hand, and Laze walked away from the street light, leaving behind him ten years of his life and a man’s lost trust. He went to another city in the state and opened his own yard. The years that followed were good for him and his success encouraged him to embark upon a new life. The war was over and his inquiries revealed that the village where he had married was now destroyed, without a single Jew sur viving. Now he was free to marry again and to start his family. N five years his second wife bore him two stillborn children*, the third, a girl, lived; but when she was

I 34

four years old the doctor discovered that she had a deadly blood malady. Laze took her to a famous specialist, who in turn recommended another, but they could do nothing, and she died early in spring. By the end of summer his wife suffered a nervous breakdown, refusing to take food or to sleep because she imagined that Laze wished to sell her blood. Med ical care could not rid her of her ob session and finally she had to be committed to a private institution where Laze went to see her each Sun day afternoon; and for the restoration of her health he contributed large sums to the synagogue. And all the while his prosperity grew with the years. With Uncle Elihu it was the re verse. After Laze left him his business floundered. During the depression of the early twenties he was caught with a large inventory of merchandise for which he had paid high war prices. His losses were so heavy that even tually he was forced into bankruptcy. Now he was penniless, and the rabbi of his shool journeyed across the state to ask Laze to assist the sick old man. Laze grudgingly sent Uncle Elihu five hundred dollars. The money was a trifle to him, but there was satisfac tion in knowing that Uncle Elihu, who had refused his proferred hand, had accepted his charity not only accepted it but had blessed him and wished him long life. It was small satisfaction, to be sure, for otherwise his life was empty. When there was a Bar Mitzvah in shool he stayed away, for he could not bear the sight of another man’s joy. His only pleasure was in the of fice; there were nights when he fell asleep over his ledgers as he searched JEWISH LIFE

them for errors and mistakes and to taled his earnings. ARLY one November morning he felt a hand on his shoulder. David, the young bookkeeper who had been in his employment less than a year, stood over him with a paper cup of hot coffee and, after Laze had drunk it, he urged him to go home for some sleep. Though Laze needed the rest he felt that he could not leave the yard. He stared at the young man with his seri ous young face as if seeing him for the first time, and all the while his head swayed with fatigue. “Yes,” he said at length, “I am tired. You must look after the shop for me. And mind you . . . watch the yard closely.” Before he left the office he took two five dollar bills from the cash drawer and placed them carefully on the floor so that it would seem they had been dropped by accident. In the morning when he came from home he found them on the desk under a paper weight. He wanted to put his trust in the young man but how could he be sure? Once more he tested him, this time with an altered bill of lading, an error that an astute bookkeeper could have turned to his private profit, but David corrected the mistake without mentioning the matter to him. At Pesach David invited him for Seder, and Laze was surprised to dis cover that David had a family — a wife, two boys. The house was tiny, the furniture cheap, the portions of food small, but the atmosphere was festive and Laze found himself join ing in the Seder recital and songs. But he thought, how does he manage on the salary I pay him, and once again he was stabbed with his sus-

DECEMBER, 1961

picions. Shortly thereafter when David asked him for a salary increase — his younger boy needed an eye operation — Laze fixed him with a cold stare and said, “I pay you for what you are worth to me. Anymore would be charity.” And he watched David go out of the office with his shoulders drooping. OME time later Laze happened to be in the outer office when the mail was brought in. Absently, from force of habit, he reached for a letter. Something in David’s man ner made him wary. He tore the envelope open and found a bill of lading for a carload of iron. His eagle eye saw an alteration in the tonnage figure. It was simple: two underpaid bookkeepers — one from each firm — could have agreed on the altera tion. “Bring me the daily ledger,” he demanded. David went to the back of the of fice. When he turned around his face had a greenish cast. “Sir,” he said, “it was only a hundred and ten dol lars.” He spoke thickly in a shaking voice. “I’ll pay it back — every cent.” Laze looked at the stricken man and saw fear such as he had never seen in a man’s eyes before. For the first time in his life he realized what power was. This man rested in the palm of his hand, like a fly. He had only to close his fist — he could see the wreck of that tiny home. He paused, for in that moment too he could hear his own voice under the street light saying, “There are no honest men. . .” He felt the perspiration on his neck but within him was a sense of peace, as if the whole course of his life had been changed.

He lowered his head and moved his hand softly to his side. “Make the ledger correction,” he said, “and send a check for the difference.” David seemed to fall against the door; tears came to his eyes and he did not bother to wipe them away, but Laze did not look further at the man whose life he had saved. He re turned to his own office and sat down before the picture of his mad wife. Aha, he said to himself, my life has not been given over to righteousness, as they say, and yet in this one hour, with this one gesture . . . Then he saw to whom he was directing his thoughts and turned abruptly to some business at hand. RESENTLY David stood in the doorway holding a letter. “It is for you, sir,” he said. “It is from the old country — ” Laze took it without recognizing the handwriting. A schnorrer. Always they were after his money. They called upon him for drives for yeshivas, for Eretz Yisroel, for orphans — money, money. He opened the en velope. The letter was written in Yid dish; it was long and rambling. His eye took it in impatiently, and then he sat forward and read it through. The old matchmaker wrote at length arid iri much detail. Having heard of Laze’s good fortune in America HE

for which he rejoiced in his heart — he now ventured to write of some momentous news, and as G-d was his witness it must be believed: the first wife had left Laze a son. The boy was now eighteen, a fine, handsome lad like his father — G-d give - him long life, the matchmaker repeated “ and seeing how G-d had blessed him so richly he must send transportation for the boy and, too, for himself, the matchmaker insisted archly, for he was old and had no one to succor him; and for this act of charity G-d would surely bless Laze with long life and devoted grandsons. Laze gave a little cry that brought David into the room. “Tell me,” cried Laze, “am I dreaming? Do I have a son?” David glanced at the letter and read through the Yiddish rapidly. “Sir,” he said, and there was doubt in his voice, “do not be so readily deceived. You must ask for proof. Lithuania is full of orphans —” Laze stood up, pushing back his chair. The look on his face stopped David from continuing. “I ask you only if I am dreaming!” he cried again. “No, sir, you are not dreaming,” said David quickly enough. “To be sure,” said Laze, “and you — you above all, today — you must understand . . . this is a blessing for me from the Most High!”

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M a sh k o fa h Trust in Divine Providence By SAMSON R. WEISS

“When you pass through the waters 1 will be with you, and through the rivers, they shall not drown you; when you walk in the midst of fire you shall not be consumed and the flame shall not burn you” (Isaiah, 43:2). HE Jewish concept of “Hashgochah P’rotith”-—in its literal sense m eaning individual supervision— places the human being into direct and constant relation to the Almighty. Maimonides made this concept part of the first of his famous Thirteen Principles in which he laid down the fundamentals of the Jewish faith. “I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be He, creates and guides all creatures and that He alone worked, works, and will work all deeds”. In this statement, Rambam com bines into one two apparently distinct Divine functions. The Almighty cre ates. By the present tense, Rambam indicates that creation is a continuous process expressing itself, within the framework of nature, by its very con tinuity. As the Almighty evoked all jexistence by His mere will, so its con tinuance is vouchsafed by precisely the same will. Whatever exists is ¡wanted by Him to be, for reasons ¡often hidden to the human intellect in Ithe unfathomable perfection of Divine |wisdom. I The Almighty also guides all his

creatures. Since He alone is master, through all the times, of all occur rences, of all that happens and is done. He not only creates and maintains but also regulates in His justice, mercy and wisdom the fate of every being. This first Principle thus defines crea tion in its meaning for man. Since I am, I know I am wanted by Him and that whatever occurs to me is not merely known to him but caused by Him. HE obvious problem as to the place in such a creation for “B’chirah,” for the freedom of choice, is treated by virtually every major Jewish think er. The answer lies in the two-fold appearance of man on the scene of life. As an active participant, he is endowed with the freedom to choose his role and his contribution. He can extend help and give solace to his fellow man and indeed to the entire world or he can choose to inflict upon them pain and misery. The premise of all the commandments and prohibi tions of Torah is the fact that the Almighty suffers man to sin, so that he many gain merit by the exercise of his

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freedom to refrain from evil and to but merely the conclusion of one of its perform the deeds of goodness and stages—and we know at least four of nobility. On the other hand, man is them—has never been shaken in its the target and the passive object of faith by the pyres of the Inquisition outer forces, not the least among them and the gas chambers of Auschwitz the malevolence, the cruelty, and the and Treblinka. The unspeakable in famy of murderous ages has never im cupidity of his fellow beings. pinged upon our faith and trust. The killer, therefore, cannot claim immunity because of the omnipotence and knowledge of the Creator. He is S active participants on the scene responsible for his actions which are of life we refrain from and oppose the result of his own free choice. The victim of the crime, however, does not all forms of murder. We seek to estab perish by “accident.” A classic expo lish a world which will not only out sition of this dichotomy is found in law murder and not only bring swift Torah itself. “If you build a new retribution upon its perpetrators but house, you shall make a fence around in which the moral temper of society, its roof and not place the guilt of will not permit even the consideration blood in your house, if there falls from of individual or mass killing as the it the one who falls” (D’vorim, 22:8). solution to any human conflict and “Though he is deserving to fall (the perplexity. It is the Jewish duty to Torah calls him ‘the one destined to contribute to the creation of such a fall’) still his death should not be society by example and by teaching, caused by your hands, for merit is by our own moral excellence and by brought by the meritorious and injury the ceaseless propagation of the causes of righteousness. by the wrongdoer.” (Rashi, l.c.). Still, we are exposed together with The death of the victim of violence accordingly is possible only by the all of humanity to the terrible dangers concurrent decree of Divine judgment. threatening the entire family of na This judgment is not necessarily co tions; but we draw from our faith a extensive with punishment. Death also serenity and confidence which prevents is atonement and, in the case of the us from falling prey to the paralyzing truly righteous, simply the transition global neurosis of all-consuming fear. which occurs when man has completed We have been assured by Divine the task set for him in this world, promise that there will be those who whereupon he enters the World to merit to survive in the midst of fire. Come. Death in itself, furthermore, Our task is to see that there be many may be the final test of faith, to be who so shall merit if, G-d forfend, accepted and “performed” with the there occurs another global conflagra Sh’ma as the last utterance or with the tion. Beyond this, we know that man blessing “al Kiddush Hashem” proudly kind is capable of ultimately rising to pronounced with the final breath. A the level when all of its members shall people which does not see in the end so merit, making impossible any war, of physical existence the finale of life and this is our Messianic hope.

DECEMBER, 1961

Literature on Jews in the Soviet Union By WILLIAM W. BRICKMAN

NE of the encouraging signs of the times is the persisting inter est in and concern with the plight of the Soviet Jews. This is true not only on the part of Jews themselves, which is understandable, but also on the part of non-Jewish people all over the world. In the many countries that the writer has visited in recent years, he has had numerous discussions with all types of individuals on the U.S.S.R. and its educational system, and quite frequently he was asked about the Jews in that land. Information is available in the press, such as the New York Times and the New York Herald-Tribune, but not as often as one might wish. For con stant contact with what is happening to the Soviet Jews, it is necessary to read the Yiddish and Israeli news papers: These media of information contain reports by travelers and sum maries of what the Soviet press con tains about Jews. The degree to which such information may be regarded as accurate depends upon the reliability of the observations and the validity of the translations.

Unfortunately for the truth, wellmeaning persons spread misinforma tion which can only redound to the disadvantage of the Soviet Jews or to the foreigners who endeavor to paint the picture of Jewish life in the U.S.S.R. in an accurate way. For ex ample, every once in a while the New York Times mentions the existence of a single synagogue in Moscow. Dur ing his most recent visit to Soviet Russia in 1960 ( J e w i s h L i f e , De cember 1960), the writer attended services in two Moscow synagogues, being prevented by circumstances be yond his control from visiting the third. Another typical example is the re port in the New York Times of Au gust 8, 1961, in which J. L. Fishbein, editdr and publisher of the Chicago Jewish Sentinel, is said to have “found that only one synagogue remained in each of even the largest Jewish cen ters in the Soviet Union.” This con tradicts the fact of the existence of more than one synagogue in such ma jor cities as Tashkent, Stalinabad, and Tbilisi. Should anyone suspect that JEWISH LIFE

the synagogues might have been closed between the summers of 1960 and 1961, let him be assured that such news would have filtered through the Iron Curtain. LL this points up the need for A detailed and accurate data on this question, as well as vigilance against incorrect and misleading in formation. The interested individual may examine the abundant publica tions of various kinds. Let us mention some of them. The periodicals de voted to Soviet matters, such as “So viet Survey,” contain articles of value on the Jewish situation in the U.S.S.R. Periodicals of general interest, like the “New Leader” or “Look,” con tain either an article or else dedicate an entire issue to Soviet Jewry. And let us not forget J e w i s h L i f e and other magazines of similar scope, which devote much space in an effort to enlighten the public concerning Jewish questions in foreign countries, especially the Soviet Union. Of spe cial significance is “Jews in Eastern Europe,” “a periodical survey of events affecting Jews in the Soviet bloc,” published in London. On this side of the ocean, Jewish Minorities Research publishes very informative and up-to-date roundups of Soviet Jewish life and problems. Among the non-Jewish sources of current news and analysis are the American Com mittee for Liberation in New York City and the Institute for the Study of the U.S.S.R. in Munich. What about the Soviet side? This can be examined by reading the Rus sian press or in the translations of extracts in the sources mentioned in the previous paragraph. Another pos sibility is to read the articles that ap pear at times in the Soviet propaganda DECEMBER, 1961

magazines, such as “USSR” and “So viet Weekly,” which are published for American and British consump tion. The issue for April 13, 1961 of the latter journal contains an article, “Jews in the Soviet Union,” by Aaron Vergelis, the editor of the new Yid dish magazine Sovietish Heimland. According to Vergelis, anything un favorable written about the Soviet Jewish situation is just so much antiSoviet propaganda. In the face of reality, he insists that Jews “have the right to choose any national environ ment they want and any national lan guage.” OW let us have a look at the larger works — pamphlets and N books f i ^ o n the subject. In recent years, these have been increasing in number. However, it will be helpful to be aware of the fact that the lit erature on Soviet Jewry is quite ex tensive. The Soviet phase of Jewish history has been illuminated by a variety of interesting and important works in Russian, Hebrew, Yiddish, English, and other languages. Much of the Russian literature, it is easy to imag ine, defends Soviet policy and denies any allegation that Jews are deprived of their basic rights as a nationality or that they suffer otherwise from antisemitism. The Hebrew writings originate in Palestine and Israel. Aryeh Leib Tzentziper’s Eser Sh’noth Redifoth (Tel Aviv, 1930) is a sizable volume which offers details on a decade of persecution and on Zionism in Soviet Russia following the Revolution.* * A n expanded edition of this book was pub lished in 1956 in Tel A viv under the title, Ba’maavaJc L ’geulah. Still another account of Zionism in Russia is furnished by Itzhak Rabinovitch in M i-M oskva v ’ad Yerushalayim (Jeru salem, 1957).

nity. As the author states, among them were large numbers who “ob served the holidays, festivals, and the Sabbath in the same manner in which our parents and grandparents 6bserved them”, (p. 64). It is not necessary to recite at length the troubles and tribulations experienced by the author. In general, they do not differ in kind from that which was described in harrowing de tail in the writings of Arthur Koestler and others. However, matters were worse, says the author, for Jewish prisoners than for others. And the re ligiously observant Jew suffered most of all. The boldness of the author grew with time. He kept on pressing for a review of his case. Trained in the law, he was able at times to confuse NE of the most moving books his interrogators and judges. Such ever to come to our attention tactics led to freedom, but after six is B’machanoth Hatzafon: Korotav teen years of inhuman existence. Mr. Shabath’s preoccupation with shel Asir Tzion M ’achorei Masach Habarzel (Jerusalem, Rubin Mass, religious observance is evident at fre 1959, 574 pages), by S. Shabath. quent intervals. He and others were Translated into English, the title reads constantly seeking in every conceiv as follows: “In the Camps of the able way to do justice to Shabboth North: The Fate of a Jewish Prisoner and to the holidays, under the most Behind the Iron Curtain.” This is a discouraging and indeed impossible revelation of how the Soviet Com circumstances. A Bokharan Jew in the munists tortured the body and soul prison camp publicly lit Chanukah of a Jew from 1941 all through World candles which he had received from War II and the postwar period until his family. Shortly afterward this man 1957, when he was finally freed and wrote to his wife requesting matzoth allowed to go as a Pole to Israel. The for Pesach. Fortunately, the package author was prevailed upon by his fel arrived precisely Erev Pesach. The low prisoners to describe in full detail Bokharan Jew, the author, and a the sufferings of some of the 2,000,- young man from Israel thereupon 000 Soviet slaves in the hope that prepared a Seder for three. It was a such tragedies might be averted in thè makeshift affair; the matzoth were supplemented with boiled potatoes future. The prisoners, most of them polit and some onions. “We had to be con ical offenders, were deprived of their tent with the reading of the Hagadah fundamental human rights and dig- and with the singing of Chad Gadya;

Professor Sbplom Goldelman’s Go ral Hayahaduth B’vrith Hamoatzoth (Jerusalem, 1958) is a 92-page pam phlet which reviews the fate of Soviet Jews from 1917 to 1957. (Those who cannot read Hebrew can find an ab breviated but updated version of it in the form of a chapter in “Religion in the USSR” published by the Insti tute for the Study of the USSR in 1960.) While the story is sound enough, this work draws on newspa pers and books; it is apparent that the author has never seen or talked with Soviet Jews in their own locale. Apparently the most recent Israeli pamphlet is P. Penimi’s Hayehudim Hasovyetiim V ’gorolom (Tel Aviv, 1959), a publication which was not available to the writer.

JEWISH LIFE

and we ate the matzoth and the pota toes with real haste. We quickly parted, tears flowing from our eyes, saying, Vshonah habaah b’yerushalayim. This was the first time during my stay in prison that I ate matzoth on Pesach” (p. 484). From the con text it appears that Shabath did not have matzoth for Passover for at least eleven years.

Tsiferen un Fakten Vegen di Yidden in FSSR (Moscow, 1941), which ana lyzes the Jewish population of the Soviet Union on the basis of the census of 1939. Zinger, in collab oration with B. Engel, also issued Yiddishe Bafelkerung fun FSSR in Tabeles un Diagrames, a tabular^ and diagrammatic analysis of the Jewish population in the U.S.S.R.*

This book should be made avail able in English and possibly also in French, so that masses of people might read it and become affected by it. One wishes that it could also be rendered into Russian for readers in the “gan eden ha-sovieti ” The book would benefit by editorial con densation, removing repetitious inci dents and phraseology. It would then become an even more powerful docu ment of the inhumanity of the socalled human race.

We might also record the fact that Yiddish publications on Soviet Jewry were also prepared by Communists in non-Soviet countries. However, since these usually depended on So viet writings and were stridently propagandistic as a rule, there is no need to dwell upon them in this essay.

HE literature in Yiddish on the history and status of Soviet Jewry should by no means be overlooked. An early study was made by the Bol shevik functionary Samuil Agurskii, whose volume, Der Yiddisher Arbeter in der Komunistisher Bavegung, 1917-1921 (Minsk, 1925), was is sued the following year in a Russian version. Documents are included in O. Margolis’ Geshichte fun Yidden in Rusland (Etyuden un Dokumenteri, 1772-1861), which was published in 1930 in Moscow. In 1935, Semen M. Dimanshtein, the Commissar for Jew ish National Affairs and superior of Agurskii, edited Yidden in FSSR: Zamelbuch (Moscow, 1935), a vol ume which covered the history of Soviet Jews from 1917 and included statistics. A more up-to-date study is Lev G. Zinger’s Dos Banayte Folk:

DECEMBER, 1961

On the non-Communist side, the Yiddish writings on Soviet Jewry were published, understandably enough, outside the U.S.S.R. Information on Zionism in the first decade of the Soviet Union may be found in Di Lage fun di Yidden in Rusland (War saw, 1929), by Naum I. Gergel. The famous sociologist Jacob Lestchinsky issued in 1941 in New York the same work in two languages {Dos Soveyetishe Yiddentum: Di Fargangenheit un Gegenwart and “Soviet Jewry: Past and Present”). An important book, from the standpoint of religion, is Rabbi Aaron Pechenick’s Tzionizm un Yiddishkeit in Soviet Rusland (New York, 1943). The following year there appeared, also in New York, Gregory Aronson’s Di Yiddishe Problem in Soviet Rusland. An eye witness account of the attacks on Yiddish-language culture was pre sented by Shmerl Katzerginski in * In 1949 Zinger reissued his D o s Banayte Folk in M oscow as D os Oyfgekum ene F olk, showing the revival of Jewish life in the early postwar period, a situation which, ironically, was soon changed by Stalin.

Tzvishen Hamer un Serp: Tzu der Geshichte fun der Likvidatzye fun der Yiddisher Kultur in Soviet Rusland (Paris, 1949), with a second edition in 1950 in Buenos Aires. Finally, we should mention another book which appeared simultaneously, like that of Lestchinsky, in two languages: Wolf Blatberg’s Di Geshichte fun di Hebreyishe un Yiddishe Shreiber in Soveten Farband and “History of the Hebrew and Yiddish Writers in the Soviet Union” (New York, 1953). ET US now look at some of the L J writings in other languages be fore reviewing the literature in Eng lish on the Jews in the U.S.S.R. The well known scholar Bernard Weinryb, then called S. B. Weinryb, wrote an economic history of Russian and Pol ish Jews in German, under the title Neueste Wirtschaftsgeschichte der Ju den in Russland und Polen (Breslau, 1934). In the following year, also in Breslau, appeared Abraham Heller’s Die Lage der Juden in Russland von der Märzrevolution 1917 bis zur Gegenwart (Breslau, 1935), a his torical study of Jewish life and perse cution in the Soviet Union since the October Revolution. Another contri bution is Professor Salomon Goldelman’s Löst der Kommunismus die Judenfrage? Rote Assimilation und Sowjet-Zionismus (Vienna, 1937), which stressed the dangers of the growing Soviet antisemitism. Obvi ously, Communism did not and could not provide any solution to “the Jew ish problem.” Some attention should be directed to the existence of writings in Russian on the Jewish question. A significant early work in the anti-religious strug gle waged by the Jewish Communists is Doloi Ravvinov (Moscow, 1923), 44

by Ester, a nom de plume for Maria Ya. Frumkina. A vigorous proponent of an autonomous region for Soviet Jews and an active member of the Yevsektsiya, the Jewish Section of the Communist Party, Ester described with satisfaction the process whereby the resistance of religious Jews was over come by superior force when the Soviet regime closed down the syna gogues or transformed them into Communist clubs or warehouses. The title of her book translates, “Down With the Rabbis!” Another Russian book of interest is Yevrei i Antisemitizm v SSSR (“Jews and Antisemitism in the U.S.S.R.”), by Yuri M. Larin, pub lished in 1929 in Moscow. This highranking Communist expert in eco nomics reflected the concern of the top Communist leaders at the preva lence of antisemitism in Moscow. Larin, a non-Jew, was candid enough to document the presence of anti semitism in industry and among Com munist party officials, as well as to note instances of abuse, discrimina tion, intimidation, and even violence against Soviet Jews. Much of the book’s content is highly reminiscent of what has been taking place in the U.S.S.R. during recent years. The most recent work in Russian, to this writer’s knowledge, is Kniga o Russkom Yevreistve, published by the Union of Russian Jews in New York City during 1960. This volume, which presents essays by noted writers on the contributions of the Jews to society, economy, and culture in pre revolutionary Russia, is dedicated to the memory of Professor Mark Wischnitzer, who taught Jewish history at Yeshiva University. Such a compre hensive volume should be translated into English. Of special interest to JEWISH LIFE

those who are interested in Jewish values is the essay by A. Menes, V Mire Yevreiskikh Religionznikh Iskanii (“In the World of Jewish Re ligious Striving”). Here are discussed in some detail the spirit and teaching of the yeshivoth of Lithuania in rela tion to the Mussar movement. In close to 600 pages, the sponsors of the vol ume succeed in offering much interest ing and valuable information, even if scholars should like to have more foot notes to follow up particular points of significance.

Montreal, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, and Johannesburg. It is obvious that the author has the necessary qualifications to write on the subject of the tragedy of the Soviet Jews— all except one which is important, namely first-hand obser vation and analysis of the situation in recent years. The volume deals with the Soviet antisemitism of the past and present, with particular reference to the liquidation of Jewish culture and the annihilation of Zionism. Spe cial attention is given to the Com munist Jewish writers, of whom only one, Ilya Ehrenburg, has managed to HE writer has been able to locate survive by anticipating in time the one pamphlet in the Dutch lan twists and turns of Soviet cultural and guage on Soviet Jewry, J. de Kadt’s political policy. An especially inform Pogrom Praag-Moskou: Rusland, de ative chapter deals with Nikita S. Joden en de Vrede (Amsterdam, 1953). Khrushchev, “le Staline de VUkraine” In this publication can be found a As a Zionist, Leneman laments the denunciation of antisemitism in Nazi disappearance of Hebrew literature Germany, Communist Czechoslovakia, and explodes the Birobidjan myth. The and Soviet Russia. To the author, the major gap in his account is the “drama “communistic fascism” of the Soviets of the religious Jews.” Not that it is and their satellites is worse than that not important; Leneman states that he of Hitler and Goebbels. has knowingly omitted anything con The only work in French to come cerning this problem in order not to to the writer’s attention is Leon Lene- hurt anyone. This might possibly apply man’s La Tragedie des Juifs en to persons now alive, but it is difficult U.R.S.S. (Paris, Desclee de Brouwer, to appreciate why he left out the 1959). Leneman, a Warsaw-born jour history of the Communist attack on nalist, fled to the U.S.S.R. when the Yiddishkeit, which goes back to the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, and early years of the Bolshevik regime. he found himself deported to a forced However, let it not be implied that labor camp. After he was freed, he religion is ignored altogether; there are spent several years in Uzbekistan photogfaphs of the leading rabbis, the (Soviet Central Asia) and two years Moscow Great Synagogue, four pages in Moscow as an editor of the Polish on the late Chief Rabbi Solomon Press Agency and as a correspondent Shliffer, and several facsimiles of a for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency of religious nature. The photographs and New York. Since 1946 he has been facsimiles have extraordinary value as living in Paris, where he is now editor- documentary media of information in-chief of the Yiddish weekly M o about Soviet Jewry. ment, and correspondent of weeklies On the whole, Leneman’s book is a published in Tel Aviv, New York, sound contribution, deserving of the

DECEMBER, 1961

Prix de la Liberté, which it has been awarded. The one great weakness which unfortunately distorts the book is the omission of the story of the destruction of the men and agencies nourishing the Jewish religious spirit. The history of Jewish persescution in the U.S.S.R. is woefully incomplete and badly out of focus without a full treatment of the churbon of Yiddishkeit. While the fate of the Yiddish writers and of the Yiddish theatre is tragic, it must not be forgotten for a moment that to a large extent they served Communist purposes through the medium of the Yiddish language. Others, including Christians, have written informatively and movingly on what has happened to the Jewish re ligion in the Soviet Union. It is most difficult to accept at face value Leneman’s reasoning for the omission. OW we come to the literature in English. Over three decades ago, N Avrahm Yarmolinsky, the former chief of the Slavonic Division of the New York Public Library, wrote “The Jews and Other National Minorities in the Soviet Union” (New York, 1928). At the same time, Joshua Kunitz published his dissertation, “Russian Literature and the Jew: A Sociological Inquiry Into the Nature and Origin of Literary Patterns” (New York, 1928), for which he received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Columbia University. The maior and most authoritative work on Soviet Jewry remains “The Jews in the Soviet Union” (Syracuse University Press, 1951), which Dr. Solomon M. Schwarz prepared under the auspices of the American Jewish Committee. This is thoroughgoing, scholarly, and fully documented from significant sources in Russian, Yiddish, Hebrew, 46

and other languages. Like Leneman, Dr. Schwarz has not deemed it neces sary to include the fate of the Jewish religion in the Soviet Union. The most that he has done, even remotely along these lines, is to refer at infrequent intervals to Hebrew and to Zionism. Let us hope that the American Jewish Committee will issue an up-to-date edition of this valuable volume, but this time with a full account of the Soviet persecution of Yiddishkeit. It is interesting to note that the Chekhov Publishing House in New York City issued in 1952 the second part of Dr. Schwarz’ book in Russian, under the title Antisemitizm v Sovetskom Sayuze (“Antisemitism in the Soviet Union”). In this form, the volume could sell well in the Soviet Union^fif the regime should ever allow it a visa! Syracuse University Press has also published another important study, sponsored by the American Jewish Committee: “The Jews in the Soviet Satellites” (Syracuse, 1953), by Peter Meyer, Bernard D. Weinryb, Eugene Duschinsky, and Nicolas Sylvain. Without a doubt, this book contains information which is not easily acces sible elsewhere regarding the life and work of the Jews in Poland and the other Communist countries. Those who must rely on English, or even on French and German, for their knowl edge require this work, which makes use of materials in the Slavic lan guages. Like the study by Dr. Schwarz, this volume should also be revised and updated.

NE of the reports of the United States House of Representatives, “Treatment of the Jews Under Com munism,” is in many ways more sat isfactory with respect to exposing the

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facts of Soviet Jewry than the longer been closed, most rabbis arrested, and and more scholarly.'¿studies. This is the religious education of the youth is Special Report No. 2 of the Select forbidden. Religious observance has Committee on Communist Aggression, been made impossible and the few sur 83rd Congress, 2nd Session, published viving religious communities have been by the U.S. Government Printing taken over by Communist agents and Office in 1954 in Washington. Pre forced to serve Communist propa pared by the faculty of one of the ganda purposes. The synagogues still leading Catholic institutions, George open in a few places accessible to for town University, with the cooperation eign observers are maintained only to of other experts from different sec facilitate the police supervision of the tions of the country, this document of believers, and to deceive gullible visi thirty-four closely printed pages traces tors from abroad by a semblance of the history of antisemitism since the ‘religious freedom’.” Russian Revolution and mentions the These words were written in 1954. basic facts about the liquidation of The situation existing then still pre Yiddish culture. To a great extent, the vails today for the most part. content is drawn from the books by Schwarz and Meyer. However, this HE neglect to include religion is report is more explicit and forthright still characteristic of a recent study with regard to “the persecution of the by Guido G. Goldman under the aus Jewish religion.” Thus, the reader is pices of the Theodor Herzl Founda informed that after the Revolution tion. Entitled “Zionism Under Soviet “hundreds of synagogues were forcibly Rule (1917-1928),” this volume, closed down” and “thousands of rabbis which was published by the Herzl disappeared into prisons and concen Press in New York (1960, 136 pages, tration camps” during the anti-religion $2.00), narrates the Communist attack campaign by the Communists. In addi on Zionist ideology, activity, organiza tion, the document mentions outlawing tions, and individuals, indicating the of religious schools and private re factors which led to the demise of the ligious instruction, as well as the anti- movement by 1930 in the very area religious indoctrination in the govern in which it was born. Mr. Goldman ment schools. has drawn upon materials, few of them Some of the conclusions of this un original, in Russian, Hebrew, Yiddish, usual report are worth quoting; “The and German, but he makes the point Jewish minority is a special target of that few primary sources are still ex Communist persecution because it is tant and accessible. He wrote his study suspected of attachment to the re in order to provide documented in ligious tenets of Judaism and to the formation on a subject concerning humanitarian values of Jewish culture which relatively little has been pub and history, as well as of ties of lished. The story of “deliberate and cultural and emotional solidarity methodical policy . . . to expunge all reaching behind the borders of the vestiges of organized Zionism from Communist empire.” Soviet soil” is told with clarity and “The Jewish religion was and is accuracy. persecuted by the Communists, like all Yet, it is difficult to refrain from other religions. Most synagogues have criticism of an author who writes a

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chapter on “the suppression of He brew” without a discussion of the closing down of the religious schools, the prohibition of religious education, and the persecution of those Jews who wished to pray in the synagogues. Surely, here is a clear-cut example of “the suppression of Hebrew.” All Goldman permits himself on the sub ject is a terse explanation by a Soviet official that Hebrew was not to be used “to teach religion to small chil dren*” We might also inquire if there were not any religious Zionists in the Soviet Union. To judge from Mr. Goldman’s book, issued under the imprint of a Zionist organization, there were no such people. At best this is inexcusable; at worst, it is sup pression of highly relevant informa tion. Nowhere in Goldman’s book is any mention made of Rabbi Aaron Pechenick’s TZionism un Yiddishkeit in Soviet Rusland, which was issued in 1943 in New York. Goldman’s work was followed by B. Z. Goldberg’s contribution in book form to the understanding of “The Jewish Problem in the Soviet Union: Analysis and Solution” (New York, Crown Publishers, 1961; X, 374 pages; $4.95). The well-known Yiddish col umnist of Der Tog and son-in-law of Sholom Aleichem has written in a popular style but in detail about his visits to the U.S.S.R. in 1934, 1946, and 1959. As an overture, he provides a sketch of Jewish life in Russia before and after the Revolution. In the ap pendix he presents some of this ma terial once more, in the form of a useful chronological outline of the history of Soviet Jewry from 1917 to 1961. There is a selective bibliography in Yiddish, Russian, and English. The brief index is of limited value. Tn general, Mr. Goldberg’s book 48

provides a good synthesis of historical data, personal observations and inter views, and insight derived from experi ence and reflection. It is a book for the layman, not for the expert. It presents facts and ideas, most of which are familiar by now, but which add up to an accurate analysis of the decline of Jews and Judaism in the Soviet Union. Moreover, the author does not content himself with the statement and interpretation of the problem; he ven tures to offer suggestions to the Soviet government toward a solution. His proposal is threefold: the granting of “freedom, equality, and equal oppor tunity” to Jews; the Soviet power’s determination to obey its own laws and to fulfill its own promises in allowing Jews “to follow their own religion and enjoy their own culture” to the same degree as permitted the Russian Orthodox, the Moslems, and the Baptists; and “the safety valve of emigration.” This solution is regarded by Goldberg as in no way contrary to the Soviet social theories or .actions. At the present time, it does not ap pear likely that the Soviet authorities will accede to any requests to ease the burdens on the Jewish bodies and souls. The author seems to be some what naive in underestimating the significance of the Jewish question to total Soviet policy. The Communists are not trying to be consistent or rational; they modify their principles in terms of expediency. If there should be compelling reasons, they would modify their policy vis-a-vis the Jews. But how can one get them to change? Mr. Goldberg does not tell us in his book. Possibly books which^ expose the situation, such as his and others even more powerful, can persuade the Communists to consider a more bene ficial treatment of the Soviet Jews. The JEWISH LIFE

constant publicization in the world berg’s reiterated depreciation of the press of the deplorable status of Soviet importance of synagogue and yeshivah Jews, of the deprivation of their rights in comparison to the “Jewish culture” as a people in spite of the Soviet recog of the Yiddish newspaper, book, and nition of their status as such, may theatre. Thus, he tells us that the possibly lead the regime to bring yeshivah and the authorized prayer about some reform. book are “a small consolation for the Mr. Goldberg’s long chapter on suppression of their entire secular Birobidjan, which he visited in 1934, culture and the brutal execution of punctures effectively any illusions any their intellectual leaders and creative one might still entertain as to this far- writers. It was a crumb thrown to a flung region’s possibility as a Jewish starved, emaciated man hardly able territory. Even the Yiddish language, to digest anything.” supposedly the official language of this Mr. Goldberg sheds no tears for the Jewish Autonomous Region, seemed ruthless rooting out of rabbinical to be dying out in 1934. Goldberg leaders and religious teachers. He maintains “with absolute certainty,” wonders out loud if the inclusion by relying on such recent observers as the late Chief Rabbi Shliffer of the Harrison Salisbury and Max Frankel Asarah Harugey Malçhuth liturgy in of the New York Times and on other the Siddur would prompt the Yom first-hand reports, that, at the present Kippur worshipers “to think of the time, “there is not a Yiddish school, murdered Yiddish writers, likewise or any form of instruction in that lan murdered by the state, when they guage, in the entire region.” The few looked at this prayer.” Not a word remaining official signs in Yiddish by the author, let it be noted, about constitute “a tombstone on a stillborn the religious martyrs of the regime. hope.” Communists, if they only write in HE treatment of religion is rather Yiddish, deserve eternal memorializauneven. Goldberg discusses Juda tion, but rabbis and others martyred ism in the U.S.S.R. in a 28-page for their faith and teaching appear to chapter, “A Religion Gasping for the author to be of less significance. Breath,” and elsewhere in passing. It is also noteworthy that the author The official persecution is clearly set does not even mention Chief Rabbi forth, but the facts seem to be derived Levin. How can one write on Judaism almost exclusively from books and in the Soviet Union without discussing newspapers. The author mentions his role or referring to his views on rarely a visit to or discussion in a Jews in the Soviet Union? Even if synagogue. The paragraph that he what he has to say reflects his position does spare to the Yeshivah of Moscow out on the limb, there is no reason tells us nothing more than its location to ignore him. in the women’s gallery in the syna T F Goldberg has not been sufficiently gogue. As against this, he devotes con satisfying in dealing with religion, siderable space to the Yiddish writers, it cannot be said that he is totally un understandably no doubt in view of appreciative of its function in sustain his own profession. But what cannot ing Jews. He states that “the Jewish be appreciated by respecters of the problem in the Soviet Union has fallen Jewish religious tradition is Mr. Gold- into a vicious circle. The drive for

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assimilation makes the Jews more nationally conscious, and thus less likely to become assimilated; and the more nationally conscious the Jews become, the greater need the Soviet leaders feel for their assimilation.” Perhaps this is a left-handed compli ment to those stubborn Jews whose cleavage to their faith presents a solid front of resistance to the efforts by the Communists to destroy Judaism fully. If this is not what Goldberg means, it is nonetheless true. When one completes the book, there is the inescapable feeling that Goldberg suffers from frustration and disillusionment. During his previous visits, things seemed to go well in the Soviet Union and he reported favor ably on what he had seen and heard. His trip in 1959 left him in a mood of near-despair. The situation of the Jews should have been much better in a country dedicated to Socialism. “It would be a sad commentary on Socialism if that system alone had no place for Jews,” Alas, the commentary on Communism is a tragic one. The book reads smoothly and can be used with profit by the general reader, if he does not regard the author as an infallible expert. There are some factual and linguistic errors, H | pp. 270, 299, 300, 334, 341. ACK of Space makes it impossible i for the writer to discuss a new book which came to his attention as he completed this review article: Joseph B. Schechtman’s “Star in Eclipse: Rus sian Jewry Revisited” (Thomas Yoseloff, 1961, 255 pp., $3.95). A recognized expert on international affairs, Odessa-born Mr. Schechtman describes his fifteen-day trip to Mos cow, Leningrad, Kiev, and Odessa in the summer of 1959. His report is careful, reasonably objective, and

fair, and generally quite realistic. He paints a picture of Soviet Jewish life today against the backdrop of the past and the possibility of the future. The 32-page chapter on the fate' of the Jewish religion adds little that is not already known and does not ex hibit sufficient depth. A good part of this chapter is based on second-hand material and some of it is factually incorrect. Thus, he asserts, the Euro pean Synagogue of Tashkent was closed, presumably in 1959. The pres ent writer attended Minchah and Maariv services in August, 1960 in the European Synagogue in Tashkent. Schechtman advocates united action by Jewish organizations to protest the entire Jewish problem but not any particular phase of it. Although there are debatable issues and interpreta tions, his book presents more pro found insights and analyses than does the volume by Goldberg. T IS to be hoped that future books and pamphlets on the Jews of the Soviet Union will offer a reliable pic ture of the situation by including accu rate and representative content on the religious question. Jewish history in the Soviet Union has demonstrated beyond a shadow of doubt, beyond all doubt whatsoever, that religion is the abiding value and force which keeps Jews from disappearing as a recognizable group. Language, litera ture, and theatre, both Hebrew and Yiddish, have been eclipsed by Torah. That the so-called Jewish culture is not Jewish has been amply, if lament ably, demonstrated. Historians seeking an answer, perhaps the answer, to the riddle of Jewish survival and exist ence in the Soviet Union must look to Yiddishkeit, Torah and Mitzvoth, rather than to any other factor.

JEWISH LIFE

The Ben Torah Meets Ben lonson By MICHAEL ROSENAK

HE witches, the witches, if M. only they understood about the witches.” The strong and flecked hands stroke the irritating Omerbeard and there is a resigned shake of the head. The Rosh Yeshivah, a citizen of Israel, veteran of the Palmach, and erstwhile university law student, unburdens himself while ori entating a new English teacher. It ap pears his bochurim, at least partially successful in fathoming the intricate deliberations of Rabba and Abaye, are having no luck at all with the witches of Macbeth (lehavdil). Shakespeare’s “weird sisters,” which rob men of sleep, have joined the lists against the modern Rosh Yeshivah in Israel. And their allies in the war up on sleep are legion. For not “merely” the Fear of the Lord and the syllo gisms of the Codes constitute the sub ject matter of the sabra yeshivah high school, but the formulas of organic chemistry, the “enlightened” verse of Bialik, and the mapping-out of hiking expeditions as well. All this and Mac beth too. Not to mention the distress ing English grammar and its two weird sisters, the present perfect and past perfect tenses which, in their perDECEMBER, 1961

versity, object to being confused with the past simple. When the Lord confounded the tongues at Babel, He afflicted the in nocent with the guilty. Since then, there has been bewilderment of spirit as well as stammering of the tongue. And, because the short stories of O. Henry and the plays of O’Neill are not written in Hebrew, the scholars of Torah sit in the back benches of the Beth Midrash, dig furious fists into bruised temples, and helplessly bear the sins of their haughty ances tors at Babel. AKE O. Henry, for example. The unfortunate boys, coming straight from a session in Bova Metzia, where two ordinary Jews dispute the posses sion of an ordinary, everyday talith, must now plow their way through a maze of new words and idiomatic ex pressions, neatly pressed against the right-hand margin of the notebook, to arrive at a hazy understanding of a tale of two impoverished lovers who sell their most cherished possessions to buy each other Christmas gifts. And once we have falteringly com prehended what a watch chain is, and

why, in English, two people love each other and not one another, the larger questions remain: What is this about Christmas? Isn’t that a time of po groms in the Goluth? And why do we have to bother our heads with it? Let’s get back to the two gentlemen with the talith as befits b’ney yeshivah. At this critical juncture, the astute teacher of English had better brush up on his Hebrew idiomatic expres sions. Even an angel can do only one thing at a time, and certainly an Eng lish teacher, much lower than the angels, cannot teach English usage and empathy at one blow. Yes, boys, Christmas was a sad day for the Jews in the ghetto. They were subjected to humiliation. The hate campaign against them was intensified on that day and sometimes bloody pogroms were per petrated upon them. But O. Henry knew nothing of this. For his char acters, living in the gray tenements of New York City (Yes, Virginia, there are poor Americans!), it is a cheerful day of gift-giving. And we, now that we are no longer children of the ghetto, concerned whether this or that is “good for the Jews,” but free men, are anxious to know how other men live and feel. It is the duty of free men to do so. Thus we learn about O. Henry and his Christmas. Inci dentally, let me tell you how this holiday is celebrated. To begin with, there are the display windows of Macy’s. Ah, that sounds different. The dis play windows, in particular, do much to reconcile the sabra to the notions of the outside world. It sounds almost like Dizengoff Street during chol hamoed. Perhaps this Christmas is even a plausible holiday, for the goyim. And while we’re still on the relative brilliance of New York’s 52

Thirty-fourth Street and Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff, the Rosh Yeshivah enters the room. Maybe he even asks a few questions about “The Gift” to reas sure himself that his bochurim will pass the matriculation examination. It’s all in a day’s work, and the edu cation of a ben Torah in the twentieth century on the Plain of Sharon en compasses even the terminology and trauma of a New York tenement family. E ascend higher into the strat osphere of English and Amer ican literature. The boys presumably have some of the nuances of the lan guage down pat, so let’s read Thurber’s “Walter Mitty.” Mitty, that shlemiel of Connecticut, a failure as a husband and as a man, fails again — the boys can’t stomach him. He’s a dreamer, an almost Jewish type, but as foreign and inexplicable as a char acter out of Sholom Aleichem. We proceed to Steinbeck, Orwell, and Katherine Mansfield. The time has come to discuss conflict, loyalties, and passions in English. A question is posed: Can we really believe that the Englishman is both arrogant sahib and home-loving tea-drinker? Does our story show us that he feels guilty about both? Do we have such con flicts? How many diverse traits are etched under the skin of a well-por trayed character! And how much more human are the complicated fig ures of masterful fiction than the wooden heroes and stereotyped vil lains of the simple-minded! Despite the very best intentions, we return to Hebrew to discuss English literature. After all, there is more to be learned than a few idiomatic expressions. World culture and humanistic tradi tion are at stake. And there may be

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some pertinent questions on the ma triculation examination. English literature is surprising some days — and a little disturbing. Lin coln actually quotes our Bible in his speeches. Bacon’s definition of friend ship rings true. And once, in a bold mood, the teacher cautiously suggests that a certain Shakespearean thought corresponds to . . . well . . . what is Macbeth but a dramatic enactment of Isaiah’s “There is no peace, saith my Lord, unto the wicked,” and “One transgression leads to another trans gression”? There is an outcry. This is going too far. Surely the teacher doesn’t mean to compare Torah and Gentile “chochmah.” Let’s stick to the text and omit the homiletics. We’ll take our Yiddishkeit from the rabbis who teach us Talmud in the morning and our Macbeth from you, thanks all the same. Why so upset, boys? Aren’t English men the children of Noah too? Why so unhappy that the truth of the Torah is dimly perceived, or even brightly flashed through the sky of world civil ization in the writings of men of genius? Isn’t the search for truth what makes us the children of G-d? Be con tent that we, who have accepted His Torah, are His first-born. Well . . . ND soon, the magic of Shakespeare produces new images pro A duced by novice interpreters. How is l

it possible to be, like Macbeth, a mili tary hero and a weak man? Of course. Yiftach was a warrior whose pride killed a daughter. Aren’t both stories tragedies? For what is a tragedy but the story of a great man succumbing to a greater weakness? And we know that military might is not identical DECEMBER, 1961

with greatness. Macauley, in his speech on conciliation with the Amer ican colonies, says it so convincingly. But wait . . . not only Macauley, Zechariah. . . From Macbeth to the plague par excellence, the unseen passage. Pas sages that abound in thickly under lined words and phrases, demanding translation into Hebrew. Nouns which must be arbitrarily transformed into adjectives and collective nouns. A veritable horror. And through it all, the ponderous musings of the world’s great men. Churchill describes the German invasion of Poland, Gibbon smacks his lips over the comforts of civilization, Huxley scoffs at supersti tion. The youthful readers would prefer to master the underlined words and move on. And so, in his heart of hearts, would the Rosh Yeshivah pre fer. For Huxley is best scanned and forgotten, if read he must be. But what is superstition to Huxley? Honor to Churchill? Civilization to Gibbon? Do we, as Jews, in 1961, in a pioneer ing country, agree with these men? What have they left out of their cal culations? What have we perhaps overlooked? Why judge a man whom we have disdained to understand first? ET’S write a composition. Don’t Á forget that all verbs in the pres ent tense, third person, take an “s”. Wait! Here’s a dividend. We shall write that rule on the blackboard. And keep your sentences short. The longer the sentence, the more confu sion, in syntax and in sense. And now for the subject: “What is a good man?” A flurry of protest. We can’t even write about such . . . such philosophy in Hebrew. The word “philosophy”

sputters out as the ultimate in in dignation, to articulate the absurdity of the thing. But after a few raps on the table and an announced time limit, muscular and tanned arms sweep over unkempt heads of hair and think ing commences, followed closely by the first tentative sentences. There are many glances at the elusive rule on the board and a few surreptitious peeks into hidden dictionaries. The compositions painfully take shape. There are personal anecdotes; Tal mudic adages, ridiculously translated. And cumbersomely thought-out ideas concerning good men. The teacher will die on the installment plan as he unwinds the twisted tenses and leads the adverbs, on the wings of red ar rows, from the middle to the end of sentences. The pronouns, alas, are per sonal rather than relative. But the ideas about good men are sometimes quite good. As might be expected of yeshivah boys. What do the rabbis, the Talmud teachers who are counsellors as well as the spokesmen for the traditional values, think of these mysterious witches and unseen passages? Well, of course it isn’t Torah and therefore . . . but tell me, Mr. --------- , how is David doing in English? I received a post-card from his father today. Very worried. He failed in the last test? Hmmm . . . Who could give him private lessons? He needs private les sons, doesn’t he? A shrug of the head. Not exactly a sharp mind, David, but

lately, you know what I’ve found? If I explain a sugya of Gemora a sec ond time, he usually understands what it’s all about. Perhaps there is also some hope in English? The Rosh Yeshivah overhears the conversation. Yes, yes, we must save the boy. The mother passed away last year. Father very worried . . . An orphan. Perhaps private lessons in English? Perhaps we can save him? A good boy, David, a real “y’rey shomayim.” N the evening, David and his friends leave the school buildings and walk, heavily laden with Talmud and Trigonometry, Prophets and Po etry, to the dormitories. All thoughts of the witches are flattened out in the pressed pages of the books. Or almost all. Occasionally, when the les son has been interesting enough, two or three will still be speaking of the vaulting ambition of the tyrant, the humility of the American president, the conflicts of a Japanese patriot who, as a physician, is also a servant of humanity. And while they speak, sparks ignited by young men im mersed in the study of Torah are sent up to join the expanding uni verse called civilization. And the Jew becomes what he can best be in his own land, free of fear and antago nism, a cultured and Jewish human being. For Rabbi Ishmael has said: “These are the generations of man — This is the great principle of the Torah.”

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Careers in the Physical and Earth Sciences By WALTER DUCKAT Another contribution in Dr. Duckatrs series of articles explor ing career opportunities in various fields for religious ob servant Jews.

NE of the most important group forty percent but the number of sci O ings in science is the physical and entists increased more than 500 per earth sciences. The physical sciences cent. Much of the growth occurred include such subjects as chemistry, physics, astronomy, mathematics. The earth sciences include geology, geo physics, and meteorology. These sci ences are distinguished from the bio logical sciences such as agricultural, animal, plast sciences, and microbi ology. ' Some specialties such as geophysics and biochemistry are new and repre sent the combination of our knowledge of two or more sciences. This has be come a characteristic feature of sci ence today when the many specialties crisscross and pool their information. No segment of science is really iso lated from another. Although a relatively small number of people are employed in the natural sciences, these scientists play an ex tremely important role in our econ omy and our national defense. Only about one of every 230 workers in the labor force is a professionally trained scientist, numbering about 325,000. Nevertheless, employment in this field has steadily risen. In the last thirty years, the population of the United States has increased more than DECEMBER, 1961

since World War II. As in most areas of science, Jews are also represented in the physical and the earth sciences. (For the quali fied Shomer Shabbos, too, many of these sciences merit earnest considera tion because of the interesting, useful, and well-paying careers they pro vide) . QUICK survey of Jewish repre sentation in the physical and earth sciences brings us back to the past. Let us take chemistry. The apothecary art was known in Biblical and Talmudic times. In modem times, Jews have been among the luminaries in chemistry. Probably, the first dis tinguished person of Jewish parentage (maternal), who distinguished himself by winning the Nobel Prize was Adolph von Baeyer (1835-1917). Von Baeyer was one of the pioneers of organic chemistry who discovered Eosin, important to medicine, and many aniline dyes including artificial indigo. Jews also greatly advanced indus trial chemistry. Adolph Frank (1834-

1916), after studying potash, estab lished this industry in Germany. He also played an important role in the manufacture of ammonia, bromide and the chlorides. Heinrich Caro (1831-1910), is credited with having virtually started the new powerful German dye industry. Nobel Prize winner Richard Willstatter made enor mously important discoveries in bio chemistry. Another scientific giant and founder of organic chemistry was Victor Meyer (1848-1897). His studies in vapor densities, in iodine and benzene, and his establishment of stereochemistry, made him one of the immortals of science. M. E. Liebrerich (1839-1908) dis covered, among other things, anesthetic drugs, lanolin, and a mercury treat ment for syphillis, as well as products important to chemotherapy. Among all the branches of chem istry, Jews contributed most to or ganic, industrial, and biochemistry. Now they lead in biochemistry. Lothar Myer is considered one of the found ers of biological chemistry and is regarded as the first to place the chemistry of gases of the blood upon a solid experimental basis. James Franck, a physicist, won a Nobel Prize for his work in physics and physical chemistry. Important contributions to organic chemistry, especially alicyclic compounds, as well as the dye industry, was made by Otto Wallach (1847-1931). He too won a Nobel Prize. Colloid chemistry, a seg ment of organic chemistry, exists mainly due to the efforts of Jacques Loeb, who later became an important physiologist. The field of photochem istry and the dye industry was en riched by Raphael Meldola (18401915) an English Sephardic Jew and friend of Charles Darwin. Another 56

distinguished English Jewish chemist was Ludwig Mond who founded the greatest chemical plant in England. Mond reclaimed sulphur from alkalies and discovered Mond gas and nickel carbonyl. As for American-Jewish chemists and scientists, the book “American Men of Science” teems with references to Jews who have become distin guished in Chemistry and in other sciences. OVING to Petrography and Min eralogy, we have August MichelM Levy, who gave us a standard classi fication for all igneous rocks and who made original studies in studying min erals microscopically. To Victor Gold schmidt (1887-1943) we are indebted as an author of a classic study of crystal formations in minerals. Gold schmidt was a professor in Heidelberg until the advent of Hitler. In astronomy and meteorology, we also find distinguished Jewish names. Jewish interest in astronomy dates back to earliest times because among other reasons they were interested in when the Sabbath and festivals began and ended and when the New Moon occurred. One of the most distinguished medi eval Jewish astronomers was the great Biblical commentator, poet, and phi losopher Abraham Ibn Ezra. Famous too, was Abraham Zacuto, inventor of the nautical instrument known as the astrolabe which was important to Vasco da Gama. Columbus too used Zacuto’s nautical tables to find Amer ica. William Herschell (1732-1822) was the greatest astronomer of his century. Along with his sister, he charted the sky, discovered planets, and built his own large-scale telescope. A thorough JEWISH LIFE

study of the moon was made by a Viennese Jew, Maurice Loewy (18331907), who invented the bi-partite telescope, an important boon to as tronomers. Additional luminaries are to be found in geodesy and meterology. Robert Rubensen was chief of meteo rology at the University of Upsala, George Lachmann was an important figure at the Meterological Institute in Berlin. In the United States, we had Albert A. Michelson who enriched astro physics by building a huge interprom eter and by his measurements of the velocity of light. There was also Frank Schlesinger (1871-1943) who headed the American Astronomical Society and won many other honors. Louis Berman too discovered new types of stars. Among the few wpmen astrono mers was Sophia H. Levy of the Uni versity of California where she was professor of theoretical astronomy. ECAUSE of the prevailing short age in most scientific fields, op portunities for the qualified Shomer Shabboth are better than ever. The marked demand for .natural scientists is due to the scientific discoveries which have created new products, processes, and improvements in many industrial fields. The most sensational and best known examples are the recent devel opments in aircraft and missiles, in atomic energy and related specialities in T.V. and radio, and in the many chemical products which have in creased our knowledge and comfort. Basic to all of these startling scien tific advances are chemistry, mathe matics, and physics, as well as some of the biological sciences. There are some scientific specialities, such as astronomy and branches of

DECEMBER, 1961

math, which are mainly of academic interest and provide employment mainly to college teachers. However, many of the natural sciences have during the past years provided many opportunities in business “labs” and in government jobs. Physics, which relatively recently offered only limited opportunities, has grown enormously in importance dur ing the past twenty years. Trained mathematicians, too, formerly had few outlets for their talents but now are sought by various companies as well as by government for research involving defense and civilian activi ties. Chemistry has produced many new products while physics and math have influenced manufacturing indus tries, especially electronics, aircraft and professional and scientific instru ments. It is still generally true, however, that unless a scientific specialty en joys broad industrial application its opportunities are limited to college teaching or research for persons with advanced degrees. Bulging college enrollments will pro vide m any more jobs for college teachers. Even more opportunities may come from increased expenditures bv government and industry for research and development in many scientific fields. HERE are more people employed in chemistry than in any other natural science. There are believed to be about 130,000 chemists in the United States, about ten percent of whom are women. Chemists study the composition of substances, the physi cal and chemical changes they un dergo, their reaction to each other, how they can be extracted from na-

ture or produced synthetically, and their practical applications. Most chemists work in laboratories, mainly in research and development, or in analysis and testing work. Those who work in research and develop ment are part of a team seeking to create new products or to improve in finding new uses for known products. Examples are antibiotics, synthetic fabrics, rocket fuels, detergents, etc. There are, however, increasing num bers of persons engaged in basic re search whose major concern is to acquire more scientific knowledge rather than in solving immediate prac tical problems. Yet, many extremely important discoveries have come from these “pure” scientific investigations. Chemists who engage in analysis and testing analyze the nature of the substances and test them to determine their characteristics. Any product, be fore it is marketed, is subjected to a variety of exacting tests. These activi ties require the services of many chemists. Other trained chemists work as ad ministrators, teachers, salesmen* su pervisors of production processes, as experts in patent work, technical writ ers, marketing research consultants, and as purchasing agents of raw ma terials. Most chemists specialize in one of the five main branches of chemistry: organic, biochemistry, inorganic, phys ical, and analytical. They also special ize in subdivisions of these main groups. The largest group is the or ganic chemists, who usually study substances mainly derived from ani mal and vegetable matter known as carbon compounds. The inorganic chemists study mainly compounds of other elements includ ing most of the minerals and metals. 58

Physical chemists study how organic and inorganic substances are affected by such factors as heat, pressure, light, and electricity. Biochemists study mainly the chemical reactions occur ring in plants and animal tissues and the influence of chemicals on life processes. Analytical chemists investigate the exact chemical composition of sub stances and thus furnish controls for all sorts of chemical operations. A number of chemists specialize in one product or industry such as plastics, synthetics, petroleum, etc. Frequently, this requires a knowledge of several branches of chemistry. Regardless of their specialty, all chemists study the composition and properties of substances and how they can be changed. They also investigate how substances may be obtained from nature or produced synthetically in a practical manner. BOUT three-fourths of all chem8 ists work in private industry, A mostly manufacturing. About 30,000 work in the chemical industry, other thousands work for manufacturers of metals, foods, rubber, electrical equip ment, etc. Many chemists teach in high schools or colleges and work for federal, state, and municipal govern ments. Others are employed by con sulting services, research institutes and by similar organizations. Significant for the Shomer Shabboth is the fact that most chemists work in metropoli tan areas of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and California. This allows him to work in areas where Jewish communal life is gen erally most developed. A minimum requirement for begin ning chemists is a bachelor’s degree and a major in chemistry. Better payJEWISH LIFE

ing, more interesting, responsible jobs usually require advanced degrees— preferably the Ph.D. Chemists with bachelor’s degrees or master’s degrees usually find jobs in industrial chem istry or in governmental agencies as research workers. Those holding master degrees may find jobs as as sistants or instructors in college while working for their Ph.D. degree. Those who find a berth in private industry usually start as trainees in “lab” research or development work in quality control, analysis, testing technical service, production, or in sales. As they become more experi enced, they may advance to more im portant research and administrative posts. Increasingly, industrial firms are providing their own training programs designed to supplement the employees’ scholastic training. The outlook is con sidered good in all phases of chem istry* manufacturing, research, teach ing, etc. ALARIES, according to the Amer ican Chemical Society, currently average $570 per month for those

possessing a bachelor’s degree without experience. Those with master degrees start at about $585 a month, while new Ph.D’s can expect about $800 a month. In our Federal government, beginning salaries for holders of bach elor degrees run from about $4,500 to $5,500, depending on the applicant’s scholastic record, master degree hold ers can earn from about $5,500 to about $6,300 and Ph.D’s about $7,500. Periodic increases are also usually given. Salary scales usually depend on the kind of work done, the employer, the amount and calibre of education, and ability and experience. Highest salaries now go to those who work for private industry, in industrial research and administration, and for the Federal government. Lowest sal aries are generally earned by college teachers. However, some of this group supplement their income by writing, working during their free time and from consultation fees. Information on schools, scholarships, earning, etc., can be obtained by writing to the American Chemical Society, 115516th St., N.W., Washington 6, D.C.

G E O L O G IS T S

HE largest field among the earth scientists is geology. Almost a half of all earth scientists are geolo gists. The study of rocks, which is a highly significant vocation, dates back to ancient times. It was only during the past 150 years, however, that geology became a recognized science and its greatest development has been during the past forty years. Geology involves the study of the structure and history of the earth as

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revealed by rock formations both on and under earth surface and by fossil remains of animal and vegetable life. Geologists seek minerals and fuels and examine the physical processes which have affected changes in the earth’s structure and features. Geologists not only study the nature and history of the earth, but they also attempt to predict future events. After studying various aspects of rocks and soil and their contents through a va59

riety of chemical and physical tests he may be able to perform his duties of minerals and fossils in the labora with far less religious conflict. tory, they draw up maps or diagrams About 200 colleges and universities of their findings. Whether an oil field and technical institutes offer training is drilled, or water development or in geology leading to a bachelor’s de railroad bed or a proposed bridge site gree. About 100 schools offer masters is selected hinges largely on their degrees and about 50 grant the Ph.D. recommendations. Since schools differ in their offerings, The geologist who works for the it is therefore wise to write to various Federal government or for a state schools for their bulletins. draws maps revealing the kind of Generally, a geology major amounts rocks or fossils lodged there and the to about a quarter of the total course amount of coal, copper and iron that taken during the four years of college. may be found there. They also study Usually about another quarter of the the amount and quality of under curriculum consists of related natüral ground water supplies, analyze the sciences and math. The remaining half erosion of soil and seek to conserve consists of general studies such as and develop the soil or other natural English composition, economics, or resources. foreign languages. In some colleges About three-fourths of all geolo from about one half to 90% of the gists work for private industry. The curriculum is devoted to geology and great majority are employed by the related subjects. petroleum and natural gas industry, mainly in Texas, California, Louisi ana, and Oklahoma. The Shomer XPERTS believe that the outlook Shabboth who is interested in this is good for the immediate and work will probably encounter a num long range view. The petroleum in ber of difficulties almost inevitable dustry is expected to expand and ge because of the nature of the work. ologists will be needed to explore While doing field work, the geologist sites for oil, uranium, and other areas usually works in an unexplored area used in atomic fission and water. It is under trying conditions where there already difficult to find new sources of may be extremes of temperature and supply to replace our steadily dimin where conditions may be very primi ishing petroleum, mineral, and water tive. His work is outdoors and usually resources. More geologists will be rather strenuous. He may be vulner required to find new techniques for able to falling rocks, and slides and probing the earth’s crust. Other geolo other dangers. He may be required to gists are needed to replacé those who work and live with hostile natives. He withdraw because of death or retire generally is expected to travel a great ment. deal. All this, of course, makes the The income of geologists, especially observance of Kashruth, Shabboth, of administrators, may run to $25,000 etc., extraordinarily difficult. a year and more. There are more If, however, the geologist confines geologists and geophysicists earning his activities to teaching or Civil Serv such salaries than any other scientific ice and jobs in museums which enable grout). Starting salaries for holders of him to remain close to civilization, bachelor’s degrees are about $400 to 60 JEWISH LIFE

$450 a month. Those with master de grees range from about $475 to $500 a month and those with Ph.D’s start at about $7,500 a year. Education and physical requirements are very high. A graduate degree is virtually indispensable—especially for college teaching positions. Applicants are also generally expected to have spent at least one year in field work. Some Federal agencies hire promising undergraduates for summer jobs. It is essential that those who plan on this career possess an aptitude for science and math and for such sub jects as physics, chemistry, biology, geography, and a modern language. Besides possessisng above-average in telligence, it is important to possess good health, strong legs and feet, good eyesight to recognize color, and the ability to get along satisfactorily with others. EW geologists enter the field in a number of ways. They may be N hired at college by industrial recruit ing officers who interview candidates before graduating college. Universi ties also have their own placement service. Professors of geology com monly recommend students to various firms. There are Civil Service jobs with

municipal, state, and Federal govern ments. The inexperienced geologist usually finds a job on a sub-professional level as a sampler in a mine, a surveyor, or as a surveyor’s assistant. His work often includes surveying, taking read ings with transit or plane table of sur faced features such as heights, or hills, the direction and height of the slopes. He usually gathers samples, makes cal culations, and aids the experienced crew. As he acquires experience, he rises to a professional level. Promotion may mean appointment as a geologist with a field exploration party where he evaluates the observa tions, calculates probable locations of sub-surface strata and helps to prepare maps. If he works for the oil industry, he analyzes the well, samples and sug gests how far down to drill or where tests may be made and well casings set. Training is also available for women in geology, but because of the rigorous physical demands, the primitive condi tions under which many geologists work, women tend to work mainly in laboratories, engage in research or teach on a college level. Some also work as editors, “ lab” technicians, librarians, draftsmen, and as members of the U.S. Geological Survey.

M E T E R O LO G IS T S

ETEROLOGISTS are becoming esses which produce the weather. The M more important in our scientific best known fruit of this knowledge world. New personnel is needed to is forecasting weather and gather take over the scientific tasks in which they are engaged. Meterologists study the science of the atmosphere. They seek to understand the physical procDECEMBER, 1961

ing and disseminating weather data. The meterologists, however, are also concerned with other problems. They may range from the study of photo61

chemical processes in the outer at sources, private weather services, utili mosphere to the impact of tempera ties, insurance companies, manufac ture changes on retail sales. turers of meterological instruments, The largest group in this profession for radio and T.V. stations where they are the synoptic meterologists. They announce the weather and as libra interpret current weather data such as rians and teachers. air pressure, temperature, humidity, Most meterologists possess a mini wind direction, etc., which are relayed mum of a bachelor’s degree. Many by observers in various places. From have a master’s or a Ph.D. degree. these reports, the meterologist makes Entry positions in the weather bureau his short and long range weather pre require a minimum of a bachelor’s dictions for specific areas. degree, with a prescribed number of Another specialist is the climatolo hours in meterology and related sub gist, who studies past records on sun jects. light, rain, humidity, and temperature About a score of colleges offer for any area from which he bases his training for a career in meteorology. forecasts for any future time. Those The U.S. Weather Bureau offers its known as industrial meterologists deal own in-service training program for with the relationships between weather its staff. Scholarships are granted to and human activities. They work for staff meterologists to permit them to individual companies, make weather pursue advanced study. studies for big agricultural firms, en Superior high school and college gage in cloud seeding, produce rain or students who plan on this career may snow, study air pollution, investigate obtain jobs with the Weather Bureau smoke control, etc. during the summer and later work as An increasing number of meterolo gists are involved in basic as well as a regular employee. Promotions are applied research. Since the atmosphere possible. A few meterologists have opened their own weather-consulting is a means of communication as well services. as transportation it has become of Essential for this profession is crucial importance in relationship to guided missiles, rockets, earth satel above-average intelligence and profi lites, cosmic rays, radio propagation, ciency in math and in physical science. and auroral activities. Scientists are Most of the meterologist’s work is also studying such problems as air done in an office. It is helpful in some craft icing, solar heating, weather con jobs to be able to draw neatly and trol, long range forecasting and radio quickly. active fallout. The Shomer Shabboth who works in There are currently fewer than 10,- a weather station, most of which insti 000 meterologists in the United States. tutions operate twenty-four hours a They work as officers in the Air Force, day, seven days a week, may encounter Army, and Navy, and in more than some difficulty. The work often in 300 stations of the U.S. Weather volves working at night, and rotating Bureau in all parts of the continental shifts. He may, however, be able to ex United States and in the possessions. change tours of duty with non-Jewish Others work for air lines, educational colleagues. While a few stations are in organizations and weather consulting remote spots, most are near airports 62

i JEWISH. LIFE

close to cities so that some religious facilities are usually available. The salaries for meterologists com pare with those of other scientists with comparable training. EOPHYSICS is a broad term used G to include a number of sciences relating to the physical aspects of our planet. Geophysicists devote them selves to the measurement and use of the earth’s many forces such as mag netic electric, radio-active, gravita tional, seismic, and geothermal, or the forces caused by the earth’s internal heat and solar radiation. Some geo physicists concentrate their studies on solid bodies, the earth. Others study the oceans and other bodies of water. Additional specialties include the phys ics of gases in the atmosphere. The largest group of geophysicists are exploration geophysicists, occa sionally known as prospecting geo physicists. They employ the techniques of the geophysical specialties to find sites where oil and minerals may be found. They are usually a part of a team which includes petroleum en gineers, economic geologists, and oth ers. The leaders of this group not only supervise field operations, but also interpret the data gathered. The second largest group of geo physical scientists are hydrologists who study the water supply of the land areas of the earth, both under ground and on the surface. Here too

there are specialties. Some work on water supply for cities — others on soil erosion, flood control, irrigation, etc. Some specialize in glaciers, snow surveys and the use of frozen land areas. Additional scientists known as hydrologists specialize in the control and removal of sediment collecting in river beds and harbors. Other specialists include the seis mologists, who are experts on earth quakes and the transmission of vibra tions through the earth’s interior. Oceanographers probe various phases of the ocean such as the effects on the shores, sea bottom and atmosphere. They may also look for petroleum deposits in the sea, prevent pollution of waters where oil is being drilled and advise aircraft how to rescue per sons at sea. The geodesist measures the size and shape of the earth, cal culates heights of mountains, hills, surveys and maps various areas of the earth. Geomagneticians analyze mag netic and electric processes in and about the earth including sunspots, the aurora, and the transmission of radio waves. Experts who study the phenomena of volcanoes, hot springs and similar natural phenomena are known as volcanologists. Authorities on the structure of mountain ranges, ocean beds and continents, the nature of natural materials constituting the crust of the earth and of those forces which provoke changes in the earth’s crust are known as tectonophysicists.

T R A IN IN G A N D O TH ER R E Q U IR E M E N T S

HERE are currently believed to be about 10,000 geophysicists, in the United States. More than half work for private industry, mainly in the petroleum industry. Some also

DECEMBER, 1961

work for exploration firms or in the consulting services. A few work for mining companies and for other in dustries. The second largest group of geo63

physicists are Federal employees who work for such agencies as the Atomic Energy Commission, the Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Navy Hydrographic Office, etc. A few work for colleges and universities, state govern ment and for private research groups. Since geophysics is a rather new specialty, many students who wish to enter the field concentrate their collegiate studies in geology, math, physics, or in engineering. Relatively few colleges offer a major in geo physics, leader to a bachelor’s degree. Most offer programs in exploration geophysics. Those who wish to enter a geophysics specialty other than ex ploration geophysics usually must pur sue graduate training which generally includes the intensive study of geol ogy, physics, math, and engineering. Recent graduates with bachelor’s degrees in geophysics, whether hired by the government or by private in dustry, are usually given on-the-joh training. Even as undergraduates, bright students may obtain summer jobs with a federal agency where they receive practical training. Unon grad uation, they may be hired as per manent employees. Private industry operates similarly. Basic to this career is a “good capacity” for mathematics and the physical sciences. Prosoects in this profession are con sidered to be good for an indefinite period. Our natural resources on the surface of the earth are running out. Geophysicists are necessary to track down new sources of fuel and miner als underground and underwater. Ex ploration work is becoming more complicated. Our government and others have become more cognizant

of the need for more research in geo physics. The International Geophys ical Year stimulated much research in geophysics. The sources which will require more geophysicists are the oil industry, which will probably continue to absorb the largest number of geo physicists and assign them for explora tion in various parts of the world; and mining companies, which will need more geophysicists to find new mineral deposits. In the Federal gov ernment, the growing military and civilian demands will require larger staffs of geophysicists to probe outer atmosphere for rocket flights, for re search in radioactivity and cosmic so lar radiation, to study water resources and flood control. We will also need teachers of geophysics. In general, the outlook is considered bright especially for those with advanced degrees. Here too, the Shomer Shabboth can find a market for this skills without sustain ing severe economic hardship. There are few women in this field because of the strenuous nature of the work and the rigorous training. There are, however, ooportunities for women in offices and laboratories and as teachers in colleges. For males, the outlook is considered to be especially promising. Salaries in this field compare fav orably with those of other scientists. Highest salaries are earned in private industrv, lowest by college teachers, although many teachers supplement their income. For further information write to the American Physicists Union, 1515 Massachusetts Avenue, N. W., Wash ington, D. C. or the Society of Exnloratorv Geophysics, Box 1536, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

JEWISH LIFE

Booh A

Be New View o f Nachmanides By SOLOMON J. SHARFMAN

RAMBAN, HIS LIRE AND TEACHINGS, by Charles B. Chavel. Philipp Feldheim, Inc., 128 pp., $2.75. Y teacher, Rabbi David LeiboM witz of blessed memory, used to point out the difference between the modern scholar and the talmid chochom. “The modern scholar,” he was fond of saying, “knows what Rashi ate, the clothes he wore, and the bench on which he sat. The talmid chochom knows what Rashi taught!” Until very recently this was the prevalent attitude in learned circles to biographical writings, and under standably so. The patriarchs, proph ets, leaders, and teachers of Israel were never figures of a vanished past, but contemporaries. Jewish life was so permeated by their influence that they were constantly present in every home. One argued and debated, ques tioned and answered, as though they sat at the same table. Even the aver age Jew was more acquainted with Rabbi Akiva and the Rambam than with his own melamed. RABBI SOLOM ON J. SH A R FM A N , past presi dent o f the Rabbinical Council o f America, is Rabbi o f the Y oung Israel o f Flatbush (Brook lyn, N . Y .) and Editorial A ssociate bf Jewish L ife . Rabbi Sharfman is also a member o f the Bar o f the State o f N ew York.

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Indeed, since Talmudic times it is rare that a notable authority is known by name. The Chochmath Odom, the Chofetz Chaim, and the Noda B’Yehudah are spoken of as persons, even though they are only book titles. How many know the real name of the Chazon Ish? The writer lives in time, while his work is timeless. Only bio graphical details that convey lessons in faith, ethics, and conduct were im portant enough to be written down. The times have changed. Compara tively few Jews study deeply. While learned Jews shunned biographies, others wrote them; and their misin terpretations have been especially tra gic for modern Jews. Many false notions about Judaism and its au thorities are directly traceable to the lack of true knowledge of the lives and teachings of our Sages. There is a great need for biography written by the talmid chochom, with understanding rather than with the distortions that pass for modern scholarship. It is this kind of biog raphy that Rabbi Chavel has given us of the life and teachings of Ramban. While the book was written for the layman, scholars will find new insight, for Rabbi Chavel came to 65

his task well prepared since he has studied the writings of Ramban for years and has published corrected edi tions of these writings in Hebrew.

fairs. For centuries, the Spanish and French-German schools existed side by side without any contact. Rabbeynu Yitzchak Alfasi of Northern Africa and Spain and Rashi of HE biographer of Ramban is France, who were contemporaries, limited by the scantness of facts never knew of each other. “Begin that are known about his life, and ning, however, with Ramban, we en concerning these others have written ter a new period in the spiritual in Hebrew as well as in English. The history of our people in which the chief contribution of this new biog three great streams of Jewish learn raphy is in its emphasis, rather than ing became united.” That is why he in its novelty, in its interpretation of was able to serve as the peerless con the facts, rather than in the details ciliator who helped stop the war that themselves. In addition, almost half raged between the followers of Mai of the book is devoted to a lucid pres monides and the opponents of Mai entation in modern terms of some of monides. The two historic letters he then wrote formulated the attitude the principal ideas of Ramban. Moses Ben Nachman Gerondi is which Judaism since then adopted to also known as Nachmanides and the philosophic works of Maimonides. As the leader of Spanish Jewry, Ramban. Biblical commentator, phil osopher, poet, preacher, physician, Ramban was called upon to answer and mystic, he was the foremost au the slanders of Pablo Christiani, a thority of his age, the generation Jewish convert to Christianity, who following Maimonides. He was born attacked the Talmud and the founda to a prominent family in the city of tions of Judaism. Fearlessly and with Gerona, in the heart of Christian incomparable genius, Ramban refuted Spain, in the year 4955 (1195). Pablo and the Dominican friars at Taught by some of the greatest Tal the famous Disputation held in Bar mudic masters, at sixteen years of celona at the Court of King Jaime I age he began to write novellae on of Aragon, in the year 1263. The king the Talmud and universally acclaimed saw the soundness of Ramban’s argu works in defense of the authorities of ment and at the end of the debate the preceding generations. Ramban presented him with a monetary gift. Since the Church could not accept also acquired a wide knowledge of philosophy and studied medicine, from this defeat and continued its provoca which he seems to have earned his tion, Ramban decided to leave Spain livelihood. His life is of paramount and departed for the Holy Land. importance because “it is the story There he spent the last three years of a leader in Israel whom Providence of his life. His efforts for the estab prepared to lead His people from one lishment of a permanent synagogue era into another — from the mil and communal activities in Jerusalem lenium of Torah in Exile to the grad led to the revival of the Yishuv in the ual beginnings of Israel’s return to Holy City that has continued from that day to the present. He did all the land of his ancestors.” Ramban was not only one of the this while completing his classic com greatest scholars but a man of af- mentary on the Chumosh, which even

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by itself would have made his reputa tion secure as one of the spiritual giants of Judaism. REVIOUS biographers of Ramban, like Graetz, Isaac Hirsch Weiss, and Solomon Schechter, have tended to portray him as an archconservative who only grudgingly de fended Maimonides, while actually combatting his influence. Rabbi Chavel makes it clear that while Ramban differed with Rambam on many points, he strengthened the authority of the great master and “gave the historic stamp of approval upon all the works of Maimonides, leaving no longer a shade of a doubt that in all the works of Maimonides the eternal voice of Judaism is heard.” Ramban almost seems to have anal yzed the differing views in Orthodxy today toward an interest in science and philosophy when he draws a con trast between conditions in Spain and those in France. “You [leaders of the French communities] have been taught reliance upon tradition from infancy, you have always been planted firmly in the House of the Lord. But because of this will you not recognize that it is he [Maimonides] who has brought back the dwellers in the far ends of the earth to the fortress of the Torah? Were it not for his words and the teachings of his books by which they live, they would have long ago faltered in the path of truth.” Rabbi Chavel tells us: “Ramban explains the stress and conflict of the Spanish Jew. His keen interest in philosophy, mathematics, and science was not in opposition to the Torah. Since many Jews earned their livelihood by being in the serv ice of the government, it was nec essary for them to have a wide

DECEMBER, 1961

knowledge of secular studies . . . Peo ple desiring such knowledge had to resort to the books of the Greeks, with the result that ultimately many drifted away from the path of the Torah. It was with this evil that the great spirit of Maimonides wrestled, and in order to overcome it and save his brethren, he prepared books which were to act as a shield against this danger.” HILE better editing could have improved on the language and style of this book, it is on the whole smoothly written. The notes at the end are very illuminating. Rabbi Cha vel utilizes the findings and explana tions of other traditional scholars to clarify the views of Ramban and calls attention to misinformation about him in other biographical essays. This re viewer only regrets that the com ments are so brief and would have welcomed a much more extensive ex position of the views of Ramban, which Rabbi Chavel is so able to sup ply. A passage like the following only whets the appetite for more: There is divergence of opinion also among scholars as to the pre cise nature of the doctrine held by the anti-Maimunists who objected to Rambam’s spiritualization of the anthropomorphisms in the Bible. How is it possible altogether, many wonder, to defend the principle of the corporeality of the Creator? See Rabbi Menachem Kasher’s il luminating essay on this problem (Torah Shlemah, Vol. 16, pp. 288321) where he establishes conclu sively that all scholars in Israel — Maimunists and anti-Maimunists — agreed upon the Incorporeality of G-d as being one of the basic and cardinal principles of belief in Judaism. The anti-Maimunists argued, how ever, that this doctrine does not

rule out the possibility that on cer tain occasions it may be the Crea tor’s wish to appear as a body, subject to the accidents affecting corporeate objects, such as move ment, rest, abiding place, etc. Therefore, the opponents of Maimonides argued that it is best not to press inquiry or question into this whole field, since the absolute essence of G-d is beyond man’s reach anyway. In P art II, there are a number of expositions that by themselves will

reward the reader of the book. Of particular interest are the profound explanations of Ramban concerning the uniqueness of Eretz Israel and the logical justification by Rabbi Meir Simcha Hakohen of the seemingly conflicting theories of Maimonides and Ramban on the subject of sacri fices. Every reader may find in this book enlightenment and inspiration. It is a valuable contribution to the understanding of our heritage.

An Israeli Anthology By MEYER J. STRASSFELD

ISRAEL ARGOSY, NO. 7, Edited by Isaac Halevy-Levin. Thomas Yoseloff, Inc., 196 pp., $3.95. HIS volume is the latest in a series of selections from modern Hebrew literature in English transla tion to come to us from Israel. From this book we can learn much about the cultural and artistic milieu of our Israeli brethren. It is also apparent that while the State of Israel is rela tively new, its artistic achievements reach well into the past for their source material. Much of the work presented shows signs of the history and culture of the Jews of other times and ages. “Argosy No. 7” is made up of short stories, poems, essays, and a special

R A BBI M EY ER J. STR ASSFELD is the spirit ual leader o f Congregation Agudath Israel in Dorchester, M ass. He received Semichah from M esivta Torah Vodaath.

section on art. It might be well to state here that the translations are all expertly done and they maintain the mood and feeling of the original. The short stories included are “An Enigma” by Benjamin Tammuz, “The Highest Awareness” by Sh. Shalom, and “The F irst Smile” by Miriam Yelen-Steklis. Two of these treat with great delicacy and sensitivity of the world of childhood. In each one there is a sense of tragedy and loss. P ar ticular mention should be made of “The First Smile,” whose author was awarded a literary prize for stories and poems about children. The author shows us the psychological processes of a child’s mind. It is the story of a girl who has been told that her f ather “fell a hero” in the Israel Army, and who cannot understand why no one picked him up. It tells of her mother’s remarriage and the child’s reaction to this. JEWISH LIFE

Also in this volume is Chaim N. Bialik’s “Aryeh the Brawny.” In this story we perceive the author’s rare talent for shrewd and penetrating characterizations. Bialik portrays Aryeh the peasant, who tries to rise in the eyes of the more substantial members of the community by invit ing them to a Kiddush with disas trous results. At the end of this story Aryeh reaches some self-understand ing and cries out: “Importance is a kind of gift, a kind of art, it’s some thing or other that Aryeh doesn’t need and doesn’t want.” OUR informative essays are also included in this volume. “Leah Goldberg,” by Ezra Spicehandler, gives a good biographical sketch and criti cal appraisal of one of Israel’s fore most modern poetesses. The author traces the various elements which in fluenced her life and poetry. The essay abounds with numerous examples of her works. “Israel Argosy No. 7” also includes a long, sensitive poem by

Leah Goldberg in Hebrew with Eng lish translation. There is a touching essay on Yitz hak Shenhar written with great feel ing by B. Benshalom and another on “Steinhardt—The Man and His A rt” by Haim Gamzu. This essay, too, has a biographical sketch of the artist and is a critique of his work. Included also are a number of the artist’s woodcuts. Finally, the volume contains some thing which will particularly interest the American reader. Four of Walt Whitman’s poems are presented in English with their Hebrew transla tions. It will be a particular source of pleasure to many readers to see this great American poet’s work translated into Hebrew. This reviewer found reading “Israel Argosy No. 7” a rewarding experi ence. The book gives firm evidence of the vitality and vigor of Israeli cul ture. It is surprising, however, that no material of religious content is included in a collection illustrative of the artistic creativity of the Israelis.

With Courage and Compassion By MOLLIE N. KOLATCH

ONE HUNDRED CHILDREN, by Lena Kuchler-Silberman. Doubleday & Co., 288 pp., $4.50. HIS deeply moving book tells the story of a group of Jewish chil dren clutched from the seething caul dron of chaos, hatred, and confusion

M OLLIE N . KOLATCH is vice-president of W om en’s Branch o f the U nion o f Orthodox Jewish Congregations o f America and editor of the W om en’s Branch Newsletter.

DECEMBER, 1961

that marked postwar Poland, and brought back to normalcy and life through the awesome efforts of one woman, Lena Kuchler-Silberman. As the story unfolds on a two-di mensional time level, the years of the war and the period right after it, the character of the author reveals itself in a curious dichotomy. During the war, as her family and friends 69

are successively swallowed into ob livion, Lena Kuchler maintains her safety by masquerading as an “Aryan” governess to a wealthy Pol ish family. She is emotionally drawn to this family, even to the brink of a romantic involvement with the brother of her mistress. It were as though her “Jewish self” were sus pended while the peroxide blond “Pol ish” girl took over her identity. Passing as a non-Jew, Lena Kuch ler is able to survive the war in various guises of employment. How ever, even from the comparative safety of her position she reaches out to clutch an ember of life from ex tinction. In the ghetto of Warsaw, which she visits clandestinely, she stumbles across the body of a woman. Examining it for some sign of life, she finds within the garments the still living body of a tiny babe. Lena Kuchler triumphantly smuggles the baby out of the ghetto, cheating death of its small victim. Again, while liv ing in the safety of a remote farm house fa r from the sounds of war, she discovers an old Jew in hiding. At great risk she brings food, and even more, her loving concern to this unknown Jew whom she calls “Reb Yid.” His tragic and haunting fate underlines her own situation and serves to strengthen the bond of iden tification with her people. With the w ar’s end, Lena Kuchler, like so many others, came out of hid ing to find her cherished and familiar world shattered: no member of her family survived; strangers inhabited her parents’ home; cynicism and dis solution were widespread. In Cracow, the author finds her way to the Jewish Committee head quarters. Although personally spared the misery that befell so many sur

vivors, she is irresistably drawn into the orbit of Jewish suffering. In its squalid surroundings, the Jewish Committee was faced with abysmal shortages of food, clothing, medical supplies, and insufficient personnel. The situation of the many survivors who stormed the Committee’s doors was desperate. Beyond these and in a realm of suffering of another dimension were the Jewish waifs, the homeless and orphaned who, like little birds with broken wings, fluttered toward the Jewish Committee or were left at its doorstep. It was to these children that Lena opened the floodgates of her love and compassion. The surging lifeforce that had helped her to survive the war was now directed toward every child that came within her reach, and their return to “life” be came her obsession. N astounding story of a fight for survival unfolds. In many cases A is was a physical fight against antisemitic attacks; it was continually a fight against food shortages; a fight to overcome the fears and horrors endured by the children, and even a fight to reclaim Jewish children hid den in an inaccessible monastery. Finding it impossible to maintain the safety and well-being of the chil dren in the antisemitic climate of Poland, Lena Kuchler embarked upon a characteristically bold undertaking: to spirit one hundred children out of Poland illegally to a point in France where they could await eventual transportation to Palestine. At this point in the book we are introduced to an amazing set of cir cumstances: a “contact” is arranged between Lena and unknown agents who will arrange for the children’s JEWISH LIFE

forged passports and hazardous jour ney. The “agents” materialize in the persons of an orthodox couple who are working under cover for the Vaad Hatzalah, a rescue agency organized and supported by orthodox Jewish groups. It is gratifying to note the life-saving efforts of the Vaad Hat zalah acknowledged in this book. This organization, without fanfare, saved and reclaimed countless Jewish lives and still continue to operate in a number of countries. The forged passports arranged, the bribes for frontier guards prepared, and a guide provided, all under the aegis of the Vaad Hatzalah, the chil dren make the final journey on Eu ropean soil to their destination in France. Here they remain together for nearly two years until the decla

STATEM ENT R E Q U IR E D B Y TH E AC T OF A U G U ST 24, 1912, A S A M E N D E D B Y THE ACTS OF M A RC H 3, 1933, JU L Y 2, 1946 A N D JU N E 11, 1960 (74 STAT. 208) SHOW ING THE O W N ERSHIP, M A N A G E M E N T , A N D CIR C U LA TIO N OF JEW ISH LIFE, published bi-monthly at N ew York, N . Y . for October 1, 1961. 1. The names and addresses o f the publisher, editor, managing editor, and business managers are: Publisher, U nion o f Orthodox Jewish Con gregations o f America, 84 Fifth Avenue, N ew York 11, N . Y .; Editor, Saul Bernstein, 84 Fifth A venue, N ew York 11, N . Y .; Managing Editor and Business Manager, N one. 2. The owner is: (If owned by a corpora tion, its name and address must be stated and also imm ediately thereunder the names and ad dresses o f stockholders owning or holding 1 percent or more o f total amount o f stock. If not owned by a corporation, the names and ad dresses o f the individual owners must be given. If owned by a partnership or other unincor porated firm, its name and address, as well as that o f each individual member, must be given.) U nion o f Orthodox Jewish Congrega tions o f America, 84 Fifth A venue, N ew York 11, N . Y ., M oses I. Feuerstein, President; Ben jamin Koenigsberg, N athan K. Gross, Samuel L. Brennglass, M . M orton Rubenstein, Harold M. Jacobs, 84 Fifth A venue, N ew York 11, N . Y ., Vice-Presidents: Herbert Berman, Sec retary, Edward A . Teplow, Treasurer, Harold

DECEMBER, 1961

ration of the State of Israel permitted them to sail in freedom to the Jew ish homeland. HOUGH unpretentiously written, this, book illuminates another seg ment of man’s darkest hour. It brings into focus the lives of individual chil dren caught in this cruel period. But above all, it demonstrates the ability of one individual, armed only with courage and compassion, to miracu lously breathe life back into “dry bones.” This book is also recommended as exciting reading for pre-teen and teen-age boys and girls. It affords the opportunity to identify with the or deal of Jewish children, for whom in this instance there is eventual ful fillment and life.

H. Boxer, Financial Secretary, 84 Fifth Avenue, N ew York 11, N . Y. 3. The known bondholders, mortgagees, and other security holders owning or holding 1 per cent or more of total amount o f bonds, mort gages, or other securities are: (If there are none, so state.) N one. 4. Paragraphs 2 and 3 include, in cases where the stockholder or security holder appears upon the books o f the company as trustee or in any other fiduciary relation, the name o f the person or corporation for whom such trustee is acting; also the statements in the two paragraphs show the affiant’s full knowledge and belief as to the circumstances and conditions under which stock holders and security holders who do not appear upon the books of the company as trustees, hold stock and securities in a capacity other than that o f a bona fide owner. 5. The average number o f copies o f each issue of this publication sold or distributed, through the mails or otherwise, to paid sub scribers during the 1 2 months preceding the date shown above was: (This information is required by the act of June 11, 1960 to be in cluded in all statements regardless of frequency o f issue.) 8,543. SA U L B ER N STEIN Sworn to and subscribed before me this 17th day o f September, 1961. SID N E Y GILM A N , N otary Public, State o f N ew York (M y commission expires March 30, 1963)

You are invited to discover the majesty, poetry, and reverent beauty of the great ritual heritage of traditional Judaism as received, en riched, and transmitted from generation to generation from ancient times to the present. Translated from the original Hebrew and Aramaic by D avji De S e ll Pool and published by authority of

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T h e a n c ie n t a n d m a je s tic S id d u r is th e tr a d itio n a l p r a y e r book o f th e J e w . I t is a lso o n e o f th e o ld e s t book s in A m e r ica . I ts h is to r y in th is c o u n tr y can be tr a c e d back m ore th a n th r e e hu n d red y e a r s , and it w a s p r in ted in N e w , Y o r k te n y e a r s b e fo r e th e D e c la r a tio n o f In d e p e n d e n c e , i TvO v A lm o s t a s m uch a s th e B ib le it s e lf , th is is th e book th a t h a s sh a p ed th e liv e s o f th e P e o p le o f th e B ook. I ts w ord s h a v e ech oed d o w n th ro u g h tim e, c h a n ted w ith jo y and w h is p e r e d in c o n so la tio n , a c r o s s e v e r y a g e a n d e v e r y la n d sc a p e in w h ich J e w s h a v e liv e d an d p r a ised God. F e w b o o k s h a v e e x er c ised so p ro fo u n d an effect upon th e m in d o f W e ste r n c iv iliz a tio n . r : AN EPOCH-MAKING TRANSLATION In 1946, th e R ab b in ical C ouncil o f A m erica m ade th e e p o c h -m a k in g d ec isio n to a u th o r ize a t lo n g la s t an official tr a n s la tio n o f th e tr a d itio n a l p r a y e r book in to E n g lis h . T he s t a g g e r in g ta s k o f a m a s sin g , stu d y in g , v e r if y in g an d t r a n s la t in g th e so u rce m a te r ia ls d ra w n fro m m ore th a n 2 , 0 0 0 y e a r s o f H eb rew l it e r a t u r e - a s w e ll a s e a r lie r tr a n s la tio n s in to G reek, A rab ic, m ed iev a l F r e n c h a n d S p a n ish , G erm an, and a sco re o f o th er la n g u a g e s - w a s e n tr u s te d to o n e o f th e g r e a t H eb rew s c h o la rs o f our tim e , D a v id de S o la P o o l, R abbi E m e r itu s o f th e o ld e st J e w ish Con* g r e g a tio n in A m erica , th e S p a n ish an d P o r tu g u e se S y n a g o g u e in N e w Y o rk . A ss is te d b y a c o m m itte e o f e x p e r ts a p p o in te d b y th e C ou n cil, D r . de S o la P o o l la b o red fo r fo u r te e n y e a r s o f in te n s iv e and dedic a te d s tu d y to p r ep a re th is lo n g -a w a ite d tr a n s la tio n .

To turn its pages (with Hebrew and English bn facing pages) is to open a great door that has always before been sealed to those who could not devote a lifetime to the mastery of Hebrew.

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H ere b e fo r e y o u r e y e s a t lo n g la s t is th e a u th e n tic H S id d u r b ased on th e h ig h e s t tr a d itio n a l a u th o r itie s, lov^ in g ly an d r e v e r e n tly tr a n s la te d in to th e E n g lis h o f to d a y , and r e -c r e a tin g w ith o u t flaw n o t o n ly th e m e a n in g an d s p ir it b u t th e v e r y m ood a n d ca d en ce th a t g iv e th e tr a d itio n a l S id d u r its u n fo r g e tta b le g r a n d e u r . W hen th e la s t o f th e B ib lic a l p r o p h ets had sp o k en , it w a s in th e S id d u r th a t th e s p ir itu a l v isio n o f th e J e w s c o n tin u e d to sp ea k and to s in g in c r e a tiv e e c s ta s y . T he m od ern r ea d er w ill find in it th e ra d i

a n t o p tim ism o f a lit u r g y w hich r eflects n o t th e tr a g e d ie s o f J e w ish h is to r y b u t th e s e r e n ity o f th e J e w ’s e te r n a l tr u s t in God. T H E ESSEN CE OF TRADITIONAL JUDAISM FOR TH E MODERN READER

To the American Jew in search of his legacy, its revelations will be not only enriching and inspiring but often surprising too. SIDDUR: TH E TRADITIONAL PRAYER BOOK FOR SABBATH AND FESTI VALS w ill be pu blish ed in a d e lu x e P r e se n ta tio n E d itio n o f 896 p a g e s ( 7 L4 " x 1 0 1/ / ' ) m a g n ific e n tly bound in g o ld sta m p e d w h ite le a th e r and e n d u r in g b lu e lib r a r y c lo th , and s lip c a se d in a h an d som e g if t b ox. D r. de B o la P ool h as co n tr ib u te d an h is to r ic a l In tr o d u c tio n and a u th o r ita tiv e n o te s on th e m a jo r p r a y e r s and c er e m o n ies. T he H eb rew ty p e used is a c la ss ic fa c e ch osen fo r its s im p lic ity , b e a u ty , and tr a d itio n a l c h a r a cter . T he E n g lis h ty p e fa c e is T im es R om an, a n ew ty p e s ele c te d f o t th is book b ecau se o f its c la r ity and d is tin c tio n . ADVANCE PRESENTATION PRICE A w ork o f such size an d sco p e and r ic h n e ss w ou ld o r d in a r ily be priced a t $25.00 or m ore. H o w e v er , la r g e fir st p r in tin g s w ill m ak e p o ssib le , fo r a sh o r t tim e, a price, o f $17.50. B u t y o u can sa v e ev en m ore b y r e s e r v in g y o u r co p y now . In r e tu r n fo r p la c in g y o u r order now ; y o u w ill r e c e iv e th e book a t an a d van ce p r e se n ta tio n p rice o f o n ly $12,50. M ail coupon to th e a d d r e ss below . — — — — —. —; --------- — ------------- — -i

advance reservation form UNIVERSITY BOOKS, N e w H yd e P a r k , N Y. Please send me an advance presentation copy of SID DUR: J ^ E TRA DITIONAL PRAYER BOOK FOR' SABBATH AND FESTIVALS, translated by David de Sola Pool and published by authority of The Rabbinical Council of America. If it does not“live up to my highest expectations, I may return it within two weeks. Otherwise I shall pay for it at the advance presentation price of only $12.50 (plus postage and h a n d lin g )-ev en if the final price is higher than the $17.50 now anticipated. N am e.................................... • • • •• • .

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Letters to the Editor JEWISH CAMPS

New York, N. Y. In your issue of August 1961, there appeared an enlightening article by Zalman Diskind, entitled “Trends in Jewish Camping.” In discussing He braic Zionistic camps, Rabbi Diskind reached certain conclusions about Camp Massad which are undoubtedly the result-of his limited acquaintance with the program of the camp. As one who has spent many sum mers at Massad in the capacity, first of a camper, then of a counselor and, ultimately, of an administrator, I would like to expand upon his im pressions and correct certain ob servations which were unintentionally misleading. Rabbi Diskind indicated that “most of the young people [were] conversing in English rather than in Hebrew,” as he observed them at the close of an evening activity at Massad. There is no doubt that the fact that English is the native tongue of Massad’s campers leads them instinctively to express themselves in English at cer tain times. Massad, however, makes a supreme effort, in a myriad of ways, to make the environment conducive to stimulating Hebrew speech on the part of the camp’s population at all times. The success of this effort can be pictured by an irregular curve in terms of the summer and in terms of each particular day. There are times during the summer when hardly a word of English is heard, just as there are periods when English is DECEMBER, 1961

used more extensively. With respect to each particular day, the use of Hebrew also rises and falls. Without a doubt, the low point in its use is reached in the late evening as the campers, tired from a day’s activities, revert almost automatically to their native tongue. The general impression which the visitor to the camp receives is that of a State of Israel in miniature. As a m atter of fact, astute observers asked this summer why 90% of the coun selors are Israelis. They were quite taken aback when they were informed that the correct figure is closer to 20%, Their miscalculation was based upon the prolific use of Hebrew among the counselors. To be sure, a visitor to the camp will notice that there is English spoken there. In this case, however, it is an indication of the general Hebrew at mosphere which prevails when a visi tor becomes aware of English. One always notices that which is out of the ordinary. At Massad, English is out of the ordinary; Hebrew is the natural tongue of the camp. Rabbi Diskind also mentioned some form of color war between “wolves” and “foxes.” This is a misimpression for which it is difficult to account. Color war at Massad is always an educational enterprise and provides a period of four days during which the campers and counselors rise to the peak of cultural creativity in addition to engaging in the usual athletic con tests. The names for the two teams always represent a cultural theme 75

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which has either historical or con temporary relevance—usually both. Rabbi Diskind was also disappointed in the deficiencies which he found in the religious atmosphere of the camp. His disappointment in this area is, I feel, also the result of an inadequate exposure to camp life in Massad. He was thrilled with Tisha b’Av; he would have been even more thrilled by the Friday night spirit, had he witnessed it. He would have been moved by the daily morning service attended by both girls and boys in each particular age level. He would have been impressed by the logistical problem in caring for the needs of the multitudes who wash their hands im mediately prior to entering the dining hall.

tionalism and the sacredness of the Hebrew language. Massad is a religious camp because of its leadership, because of its cli entele, and because of its program which is conducted in our holy tongue. Like our comments about the use of Hebrew in the camp, the only criticism which might properly be leveled in this last area is that re ligion is so natural in the camp and1 throughout its population that it is sometimes taken for granted. I believe that Rabbi Diskind would join with me in a fervent prayer to G-d that, in our lifetime, we might be privileged to apply such criticism to the entire American Jewish com munity. Rabbi Haskel Lookstein

Had he stopped to meet some of the Israeli counselors, concerning whose piety he had heard derogatory re marks, he would have realized that the head counselors of both camps, the supervisors of the Machon (for junior counselors), the coordinators of cutural activities, and many of the leading personalities in Massad are Israelis, whose piety is unquestion able and whose total commitment to the principles and practices of “Tradi tional Judaism” is uncompromising and firm. To say that Massad imports from Israel counselors whose sole creden tials are an “intense nationalistic and Hebraic background” is to be unfair both to the Israelis and to Massad. The Israelis are not imported; all of them are living, working, and study ing in this country. Furthermore, al most all, with rare exception, are observant and pious Jews whose ob servance and piety lead them to a refined appreciation of Jewish na-

Wichita, Kansas As one who has been involved in Jewish camping for the past nine years, I was indeed happy to notice, upon receiving the Elul-August issue of J e w i s h L i f e , an article, “Trends in Jewish Camping,” by Zalman Dis kind. However, upon reading the article, I was completely dismayed at his presentation of these trends. At the outset, the author asked the reader to determine the representa tiveness of the given samples. It was wrong of Rabbi Diskind to assume that a good many readers are “in the know” concerning camps and camp ing. The author might have been of the assumption that he was writing only to a selective eastern audience, and that this readership knows about the camps in that area. These assump tions, of course, are also wrong. If this article was to draw con clusions on Jewish camping — as was

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stated in the title — it was most un fair and unjust to visit only a few eastern camps. Questionnaires should have been sent to many more camps throughout the country (directories are available). Conclusions based up on the answers received would have given us a truer picture of the situa tion. . . I feel that his method of choosing camps was not one of true sampling, but rather of geographical conveni ence. Despite all of this basic criticism, the major area of unfairness to the reader was in the choice of camps that the author used as representa tives of the various types of Jewish camps. Of the cases cited, only the Conservative type of camp and the Hebraic-Zionist type were authenti cally representative of their genre. Camps Gan Israel and B’nos, which were cited in detail, are by no means typical orthodox Jewish camps. These camps cater to a select Day SchoolNew York clientele, and have very little of what might be called a “camping program.” Camping is a creative educational experience in cooperative group liv ing in and out of doors. A camp worthy of name is a place where this experience is provided under condi tions and with facilities that meet requirements such as those outlined by the American Camping Associa tion. I would assume that in an article entitled “Trends in Jewish Camping” we would study camps which have camping programs, not just summer extensions of a school or organization whose one raison d’etre is religious study. Although HiLi is not exactly typical of an orthodox camp, it is more typical than the cases cited, yet DfCEMBER, 1961

the author barely mentions it in pass ing. More typical camps in the above classification would be Young Israel Camp Shor in Aurora, Indiana and Camp Moshava at Wild Rose, Wis consin. These camps, while orthodox oriented, have a definite camping pro gram and cater to a larger geograph ical area of the American Jewish population. By citing Camp Wei Met, a poor picture was given of a typical Jewish Welfare Board style camp. For every Wei Met there are two or three Jew ish Center camps that have definite positive Jewish aspects to them, as well as a good level of Kashruth and Sabbath observance. In looking at the final category of camps, namely private commercial camps, we again find reported a some what distorted picture. Here the au thor did not list any specific camps, although conclusions about them were cited. Here, too, there are many camps which observe Shabboth and Kashruth and which, although they may not all have a specific “learning period,” do have programs filled with Jewish con tent and Jewish living. More details should have been sup plied and the author should have been more explicit in this category of Jew ish camping, especially since he felt it is the “private commercial camps which cater to the overwhelming mass of American Jewish youngsters.” It is for all these reasons that I feel that the pessimistic picture of trends in Jewish camping painted by the author is an extremely untrue portrait of what actually exists. However, as one who realizes the importance of and the need for more intensive Jewish education every79

where, I concede that there also is plenty of room for improvement in the religious programs of our Jewish camps. This may be in the form of a more intensive learning program (which it is possible to administer without detracting from the “camp ing” aspect of camp), or even better, the integration of Jewish ideals, ideas, practices, etc. into the daily camp routine. This is what has lasting ef fect upon both the campers and the staff members. Rabbi Diskind’s recommendation that a great national body, such as the Union of Orthodox Jewish Con gregations of America, embark on a mass educational program for camps is a very fine and noble one. Obvi ously though, this organization would benefit primarily only our own or thodox camps. I therefore would recommend that, in addition an or ganization such as the Jewish Edu cation Committee or the National Council for Jewish Education set up a commission on Jewish camping. This type of organization has rep

resentatives from all groups . . . and . . . could guide all types of camps and directors in establishing at least basic standards of Jewish living and programming. This commission might be able to form a type of Jewish Camping As sociation with standards in Jewish practices, education, etc., as well as in camping. It could also supply aids and suggestions for use by the camp directors and program directors. According to Rabbi Diskind, most of the campers in Jewish camps have had some kind of Jewish education. If the directors of the various schools would unite in an effort to encourage parents to send their children to camps with a more positive Jewish environment, then the camp directors would be more receptive to the com mission’s suggestions to upgrade their “Jewishness.” Jewish camping should be Jewish living. In many cases it is, and in many more cases it will be with a bit more effort and guidance. Sheldon Chwat

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