Jewish Life April 1969

THE ADOLESCENT SOCIETY * THE BEN-TORAH BUSINESSMAN HAVE NO DONKEY, WILL TRAVEL ON JEWISH INDIVIDUALITY * INSOLENCE VS. COWARDICE THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF ISTANBUL

IYAR 5729 APRIL 1969

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Vol. XXXVI, No 4 / April 1969 / lyar 5729

THE EDITOR'S VIEW THE THRUST OF ORGANIZED TERROR----2

A RTICLES Saul B ernstein, Editor

Paul H. Baris L ibby K laperm an N athan L ew in R abbi S o lo m o n J. Sharfm an Editorial Associates Elkanah Schw artz Assistant Editor JEWISH LIFE is published bi-monthly. Subscription two years $5.00, three years $6.50, four years $8.00. Foreign: Add 40 cents per year.

Editorial and Publication Office: 84 Fifth Avenue New York 10011, N. Y. (212) ALgonquin 5-4100 Published by U nio n of Orthodox Jewish C ongregations of A merica J oseph K arasick

President H arold M. Jacobs Chairman of the Board

Benjamin Koenigsberg, Nathan K. Gross, David Politi, Dr. Bernard Lander, Harold H. Boxer, Lawrence A. Kobrin, Vice Presidents; Morris L. Green, Treasurer; Emanuel Neustadter, Secretary; Julius Berman, Financial Secretary.

Dr. Samson R. Weiss Executive Vice President Saul Bernstein, Administrator

THE ADOLESCENT SOCIETY / Jerry Hochbaum.............................................6 THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF ISTANBUL / Marc D. Angel .............................................U INSOLENCE VS. COWARDICE / Arnold B lum berg........................................ 19 THE BEN-TORAH BUSINESSMAN / Bernard M erling....................................... *26 HAVE NO DONKEY, WILL TRAVEL / David S tein................................................... 37

POETRY ON JEWISH INDIVIDUALITY / Jonathan Kellerman ....................................32

BOOK REVIEW A NEW TRANSLATION OF AN OLD MIDROSH / Isaac L. S w ift...............................................51

DEPARTMENTS FROM HERE AND T H E R E ............................... 54 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ............................. 59 AMONG OUR CONTRIBUTORS /inside back cover Cover and drawings by David Adler © C opyright 1969 by U N IO N O F O RTH O D O X JEW IS H C O N G R EG A TIO N S O F A M E R IC A

Second Class Postage paid at New York, N. Y.

APRIL 1969

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the EDITOR'S VIEW

The Thrust of Organized Terror T H E continuing process of organized terror and calculated | disruption on college campuses has brought bewilderment to all segments of the American public. Grim enough though these fascist-type eruptions are, what gives greater apprehension is the equally consistent process of supine yielding to the New Left and Afro terror by the faculties and administrations of these proud centers of teaching and research. To American Jews this spreading pattern of submission to force, coinciding with a similar subjugation of public authorities in cities across the country, ap­ pears particularly ominous. The question arises: Does this spell the crumbling of the liberal society?

What is taking place on the campuses and in the ghettos must be viewed in the light of trends in the American structure as a whole. A central reality is the competition for economic, social, and political power. The shifting complex of power blocs which has emerged has left little room for the concept of society as the association of free individuals. Big Finance and Big Industry have brought Big Labor and Big Government; Big Mass Communica­ tions has spelt Big Idea-Manipulation; Big Technology has prompted Big Education; and an assortment of other Bigs, among 2

JEWISH LIFE

them Big Church and Big Race, have taken shape in pursuit of a place in the power configuration. All these Bigs have risen out of the soil of liberal democracy, out of the clime in which Western Grasping civilization rose to unparalleled development. Within this clime for Jews have shared with others —in principle if not in realized Power fact — equality of rights, status, and opportunity. Now the race for power control threatens to nullify the very concept of society out of which power emerged. Those with most to gain and least to lose from the ravaging of the democratic process reach for a power base of their own, applying the tactics of disruption and terror at vulnerable points of the social fabric and centers of social training.

Never before has the totalitarian method been so effectively projected on the American scene as by today’s S.D.S. New Left and Afro militant forces. The test of their success lies in their ability to so manipulate the course of events as to win, time and again, influence over vastly greater numbers than are included in their own small ranks or are to any degree identified with their own philosophies. But even more than this, their success lies in their repeated cowing of university administrations and faculties and public authority. Let none of us be so naive as to suppose that what these forces have so far attempted represents the limits of their goals. The formula has been well tested; it will be applied all the way if America continues to yield to it as did Germany a generation ago.

VER since the late Senator Joseph McCarthy discredited by his demagogue antics his own expose of subversion, Ameri­ cans of practically all persuasions have shied away from publicly attributing domestic conflicts to Red machinations. So pervasive is the fear of being labelled ‘‘McCarthyite witch-hunter” that for all the manifest signs that the pattern of agitation is too well planned to be without skilled background direction, the word The “Communist” is never heard in this connection. The Communist New Party itself, a sorry parcel of aging party hacks obviously incap­ Communo- able of any serious role, keeps itself pointedly distinct from the fascism center of the disturbances. On its part the S.D.S. as pointedly disavows allegiance to “official” Communism. The disclaimer, however, can convince only those who, recoiling from ugly real­ ity, are eager to be so convinced. The New Left is simply the new face of yesterday’s totalitarianism, with the doctrines of fascism absorbed into the ideology of Communism.

It is clear enough that Moscow’s rulers, and to a lesser extent those who reign in Peking, are adept at manipulating situa-

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APRIL 1969

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tions in the Free World to their purpose. From the conclusion of World War II through the latest chapters of the Vietnam war, the Black Revolt, and the campus takeover, those in command of totalitarianism have shown remarkable dexterity in so entrapping American might that it turns upon itself. Shelving the passe crudi­ ties of the Proletarian Revolution line, they have re-directed their thrust to ambitious new targets. Far more subtle techniques than before are employed to penetrate focal centers of economic power and social influence. Some students of the American scene see the impact of this thrust not only in campus circles but also in the response of certain segments of industry and finance to Soviet jockeying. Perhaps none can judge yet the extent of totalitarian influence on American affairs, but it would be well for all of us to learn how to deal with it.

The Jewish community, despite its crucial stake in liberal democracy, has scarcely begun to reckon with this vista of totali­ tarian penetration of the American scene. But reckon with it we must.

It is not within the capacity of American Jewry to arm American society against the growing menace, although we can certainly make an important contribution to this need. But the organs of American Jewry must arm their own ranks with realistic understanding of the forces at play and can and must develop a response to at least that facet of the challenge which immediately threatens Jewish life.

This requires a drastic overhauling of philosophies of Jewish action as well as of methods of community relations. Frozen in the human relations techniques of a past day, Jewish defense agencies have presented a spectacle of pitiable confusion when forced to face the reality of antisemitism among white and black militants. How sorry but how exact an illustration this was of the Needed: total basic approach to the realities of the era of power A Jewish blocs and the new communofascism. Let these agencies turn from Stand their mechanical pursuit of ultra-libertarian judicial rulings, their hunts for breaches of church-state separation, their traffic on the ecumenical road to goodwill, and their endless polls and surveys to finding the means to make Jewish weight most effectively felt in the swirling currents of American life. Jews must make a Jew­ ish stand if the process marked by the forced abandonment of homes and institutions, jobs and businesses is not to lead to a more fatal state of affairs. The forces of the Jewish community cannot shilly-shally with the forces of totalitarianism, nor can they make terms with them. We must know that this is the case, 4

JEWISH LIFE

we must let the world know that this is the case, and we must act in accordance with that knowledge. ^ H E drastic overhauling of communal direction must encomf pass the upbuilding of Jewish foundations. Only as Jews secure in Jewish belief, inspired by Jewish purpose, can we claim and hold fast to our rightful place in the American scheme of things. Jewish strength springs from the affirmation of Jewishness and Jewish weakness from its negation. We dare not close our eyes to evidence of weakness ¡S to, especially, those of our young people who, whether in reaction to the coddling of Jewishly ignorant parents, from lack of life purpose, or from misguided idealism, and in all cases from deficiency of Jewish nurture and orientation, fall prey to the lure of communofascism.

Self-evident as it is that American Jewry must conserve, above all, the loyalty of its youth, the superficial efforts in this direction must be supplanted by a program which will give the masses of Jewish young people firm roots in Jewish life. Such a program would comprise the greatest enterprise in American Jew­ ish history, commanding the lion’s share of communal resources and demanding a revolution in the Jewish attitudes of a large proportion of the American Jewish populace. Can this be done?

It must be done, for it is that or . . . .

- S . B.

APRIL 1969

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THE ADOLESCENT SOCIETY X

by JER R Y HOCHBAUM HE orthodox Jewish community in the United States has not al­ ways been finely attuned to the social trends emerging in American life. Even where such awareness has existed, the traditional community has rarely re­ sponded with comprehensive programs for coping with the new forces. Up to the middle of this century this neglect was excusable, if not understandable.

As one immigrant generation followed another, the herculean task, recurring again and again, of establishing and maintaining religious and communal institutions amidst a foreign and ofttimes hostile environment, imposed a crushing responsibility which taxed leadership energies and drained meager resources. But now that the traditional J ewish community has achieved a measure of status, stability, and suc­ cess on the American scene, its new position requires that it become more sensitive to the social and cultural for-

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ces that are re-structuring American life. However self-contained the tradi­ tional community is or seeks to be­ come, these forces inevitably have a powerful impact on the internal func­ tioning of all Jewish life. To respond effectively, the Jewish community has little alternative but to confront these evolving social and cultural forces and to develop courageous and intelligent policies and programs for contending with them. In no area is this challenge greater than in the critical situation that faces Jewish youth.

In the last decades, the world of the adolescent has changed rapidly and radically. Some of the newer patterns of adolescent behavior have caused alarm and consternation among par­ ents, educators, public officials, and clergymen. Although Jewish adoles­ cents, particularly those from tradi­ tional homes and those who have re­ ceived religious training, do differ JEWISH LIFE

from their American counterparts in significant ways, as Jewish accultura­ tion gains ground, they are coming more and more to resemble other American teen-agers. Because the two groups of adolescents are becoming less distinguishable, it appears most fruitful to approach the world of the Jewish teen-ager by first examining the transformation that is occurring in the social life of the American adolescent.

URING adolescence, the young person passes in transition from childhood to adulthood. He is no long­ er a child, not yet an adult, but some­ thing “in between.” However, in to­ day’s society neither the adolescent nor the adult generation has a coher­ ent conception of what that something “in between” is. Indeed, this is the es­ sence of the adolescent’s problem —he occupies an ambiguous social role, without any explicit rights and obliga­ tions. His condition is best described as living in social limbo. As a result, in his social life, the adolescent is ex­ posed to inconsistent and contradic­ tory demands, for he is defined, simul­ taneously or in different situations, as an adult by some and as a child by others. It is trite but true, for example, that at eighteen years of age a young man is considered sufficiently mature to fight and die in war but not ade­ quately qualified to cast a ballot in a presidential election. This indefinite­ ness, uncertainty, and lack of clarity in his status creates much of the tension, frustration, and anxiety the modern adolescent experiences.

It should be noted that the acute discomfort the adolescent must bear is not of his own doing —the direct re­

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APRIL 1969

sult of his activity and behavior —but inheres largely in the status that so­ ciety now imposes upon him. In simp­ ler, more traditional societies a man’s occupation was ascribed to him and was largely based on his father’s oc­ cupation. Training was started during childhood, and early in life the young person began to be assimilated directly into adulthood. There was never an emphasis on adolescence as such, for the youth was viewed as, and was be­ coming, an adult in stages. At the cul­ mination point, the community was obligated to acknowledge and respect him as a full-fledged, responsible mem­ ber of the group.

In our society, in contrast, occu­ pational status is not ascribed but achieved, almost solely through formal education. In addition, because of the advanced state of its economic and technological development, modern in­ dustrial society possesses an enormous­ ly complex culture, which its young citizens are ostensibly trained to mas­ ter. Education, as a result, becomes a process of increasing length and dura­ tion. Yet during the long interim per­ iod in which the young person is pre­ paring for his adult role, he is assigned minimal meaningful adult responsibil­ ity, even on a graduated scale.

It is evident that the strain and tension of adolescence today are not generated by the universal process of physical maturation but in tie way so­ ciety handles the physiological transi­ tion. For complex reasons, modern so­ ciety has not assigned adult responsi­ bility or allowed adult identity to de­ velop in stages, nor, except symbolical­ ly, has it made use of the “rite de pas­ sage,” signalizing attainment of full 7

their peers who maintain rigid control over a large range of adolescent atti­ tudes and behavior, supported by a set of values revolving around loyalty and allegiance to their own fold. Indeed, for many young people the youth world becomes theNormative standard and yardstick for self-evaluation. Be­ ODERN adolescents respond to cause this realm of their own confers their dilemma by creating an the status so sorely desired, it is no surprise that adolescents are extra­ a d o le sc e n t society. Out of their mutual need emerges a unique social ordinarily sensitive and responsive to universe in which they are able to lo­ their peers’ expectations, even when cate themselves and be located socially these may be incompatible or in con­ by their peers and in which they can flict with standards upheld by their fashion for themselves meaningful parents and other figures of adult roles and identities. Whatever forms authority. Peers thus become as signif­ the adolescent collectivity takes B an ic a n t as —if not more significant informal clique at school, a club in a than parents and other adult author­ community center or religious institu­ ities. tion, a street-corner group, or in the extreme case, a delinquent gang; what­ HILE it would be unfair not to ever its aims —recreation, study, ath­ recognize the undercurrent of in­ letics, or dating, its major function for tense idealism and serious purpose its members is providing them with the among the sectors of the adolescent status the adult world has denied (although not always fully articu­ them. lated), most observers have also been Of major significance in this ado­ struck by its focus on self-gratifica­ lescent society is its constellation of tion. Although hedonism is far from self-generated norms which regulate being unique to the adolescent society, behavior and attitudes. One major set the absence of the retarding pressures of values centers around independence that operate in the adult world make from adult authority. The adolescent the pursuit of sensate pleasure more society attempts to reduce adult con­ visible here. Such activity diverges trol and neutralize adult influence, to sharply, if not from contemporary insulate itself as much as possible from adult standards, certainly from Torah the adult world. This the adolescents morality. Furthermore, this deviation, achieve most effectively by erecting unlike much of the dereliction in our barriers between themselves and their society from Judaism’s moral stand­ elders, by enveloping themselves in a ards, is not an individual but a collec­ “conspiracy of silence.” tive phenomenon, i.e., it is socially Within the adolescent society, it sanctioned and normatively supported is not adults but youth who regulate by the adolescent society. As such, the how to dress, talk, think, act. It is new adolescent morality is doubly adult status. Not having the benefit of such a process, the modern adolescent, neither child nor adult, lives in a state of social suspension and the conflict that inheres in this predicament brings severe social, psychological, emotional, and sexual pressures.

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JEWISH LIFE

dangerous.

The foregoing outline of the e m e r g e n c e a n d c h a ra c te r o f contemporary adolescent society in the community at large was not in­ tended to be taken as applying com­ pletely to its counterpart in the Ameri­ can Jewish community, particularly the traditional sector. Yet the bulk of social scientific evidence demonstrates th a t th e ad o lescen t society has emerged and may already be a fully mature phenomenon. As a powerful influence in the lives of all young people, it poses a challenge to Torah Judaism, if not to all traditional moral­ ity.

This brings us to the crux of our discussion —how can the Jewish com­ munity penetrate the adolescent so­ ciety and hopefully transform and re­ fashion it in accordance with “ daath Torah?”

IN Jewish life, training has always I been ^ ‘vertical,” i.e., it crossed generational lines. However, the links between parents and children, so char­ acteristic in Jewish history, are now being weakened by the “horizontal” socialization of young people in the adolescent community. Furthermore, the youth culture not only threatens family ties, it is also, and increasingly, undermining the influence of the syna­ gogue and school, the traditional insti­ tutions that have transmitted Yahaduth. The rabbi preaches in the pulpit and the teacher expounds in the class­ room, but rarely are either fully cogni­ zant of the invisible shield in syna­ gogue and classroom separating the adult and adolescent worlds, insulating adolescents from their exhortations.

At best what occurs is selective osmo­ A P R IL 1969

sis, young people filtering and sorting out those ideas and ideals which can be assimilated into the outlook of the adolescent society, modifying, distort­ ing, or rejecting the remaining norms in accordance with the degree to which they are not reconcilable with the youth culture. Certainly in the more informal and flexible youth pro­ grams over which adults maintain only indirect control (by managing the physical but not the social environ­ ment in which adolescents function) the youth culture remains intact and flourishes.

For these reasons, it is now im­ perative to recognize that the institu­ tions that educate and socialize Jewish youth can no longer be geared to the individual teenager or post-teenager. It is folly to believe that the average youth can be isolated from the social context in which he functions in any meaningful and permanent fashion. A Torah-committed youth can be pro­ duced only be creating a Torah-com­ mitted adolescent community, because individually, our young people are now within the compass of the adoles­ cent society. The mass of Jewish ado­ lescents can hardly be reclaimed for Judaism unless their youth culture is transformed as well. Thus the unit for religious and moral training must be­ come the peer group, not the individ­ ual.

The value of this approach is evi­ dent from the success of some of the earlier Zionist youth groups and more recently the National Conference of Synagogue Youth, Yavneh, Yeshiva University Youth Seminars, and some experimental summer camp programs.

All of these organizations have made notable progress in disseminating tra9

ditional Jewish values and practices among third and fourth generation American adolescents. Unfortunately, their programs are still limited in scope because of inadequate resources. In ad­ dition, their philosophies, policies, and programs have still to be refined. For example, it is still not fully recognized that because of the distance and cleav­ age between the adult Jewish com­ munity and the adolescent society, the bridge-building programs can never be on adult terms. While initiated and sponsored by the Jewish community, real leadership should be entrusted to charismatic peers or post-adolescent, Torah committed persons. They would be more knowledgeable about the subtleties of youth life, more cogni­ zant of adolescent standards of be­ havior, more apt to attract young people’s trust and therefore most ef­ fective and potent in regaining or new­ ly winning adolescents for the Jewish life. Most such groups and programs, of course, need to be supra-geographic, i.e., not located in one community but crossing community lines. Thus ortho­ dox communities of smaller numbers and those of larger population can work together in the common interest and a substantial body of membership

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for a Torah-committed adolescent so­ ciety can be realized.

It would be unfair to besmirch the Jewish teenager or student by sing­ ling him out for abandoning the tradi­ tions that have guarded and guided our people for centuries. On the whole, he has demonstrated remarkable poise and deportment in a rapidly changing and confused world. Yet there is no denying his exposure to the adolescent society which has emerged. The Jewish community, however, has failed to comprehend fully the full dimensions of the youth world and the changes it has wrought in the lives of adolescents.

The traditional Jewish community, in particular, is hardly in contact with and has certainly not refashioned the adolescent society of its own young, most certainly not of the wider Jewish community. To assure that young people who emerge from adolescence do so as committed Jews —not with a warped or distorted set of values, or divorced entirely from Jewish life — we must confront this challenge with all the resources the traditional Jewish community commands. On this issue we dare not falter, for where there is no youth the people perish.

JEWISH LIFE

The Jew ish C o m m u n ity o f I s ta n b u l

L (I

by MARC D. AIMGEL A s I discovered on a recent visit, j ] Istanbul’s Jewish community is a colorful mixture of past and present.

In all the main phases of life —reli­ gious, economic, and social —many ancient traditions and mannerisms sur­ vive the pressures of modernism. The subtle blending of old and new gives this community its distinctive flavor.

In order to understand today’s community, though, it is essential to understand the historical forces that have shaped it. Dating from the Ro­ man era, the Jewish community of Is­ tanbul has known great moments and tragic ones. In recent history, Jewish life in that city has been imperiled by the strong Turkicization policies of the Turkish government. These nationalis­ tic policies, which reached a peak under Kemal Ataturk, significantly re­ duced Jewish rights, weakening their religious and educational institutions in the process. In the 1930’s and A P R IL 1969

1940’s, government jobs were closed to Jews and a heavy tax, the Varlik, nearly bankrupted the Jewish com­ munity. While conditions improved following World War II, Jews still did not enjoy full religious freedom and many joined the tide of emigration that had begun in the early 1900’s. At the beginning of the twentieth cen­ tury, 375,000 Jews lived in Turkey.

Today only 40,000 remain, 35,000 of whom live in Istanbul. This steady drain of Jews and the continued Turk­ icization policies have left deep scars on today’s community. Most obvious­ ly, some synagogues must remain un­ used for lack of people. Jewish institu­ tions have shrunk in proportion to the population shrinkage.

UT looking beyond these overt j ^ changes, one discovers how deeply the forces of Turkish national­ ism have cut into Jewish life. Judaeo11

Spanish (Lading), which for centuries outside, but my cousin insisted that I has been the mother-tongue of the Se­ take it off saying: “It’s no good to phardic Jews, is in the gradual process show off your Jewishness here. It’s not of disappearing. The Turkish language, 5New York.”

On a n o th e r occasion, some now a required subject in the public schools, is by and large preempting La- Turks told my cousin’s children to dino as the language of the younger play on the other side of the street. generation. The extent of the decline When my cousin’s wife objected, the of Ladino is so great that Rabbi Nisim Turks told her scornfully that Jews be­ Behar, author of numerous volumes in longed in Israel, not in Turkey. She that language, has decided to write in hastily and quietly led her children in­ Turkish in order to make his works ac­ to her home without offering the cessible to Istanbul’s Jewish young­ slightest resistance.

I spoke to Rabbi Nisim Behar, sters. He has also undertaken the task of compiling a Turkish-Hebrew dic­ the real though unofficial leader of the tionary. He told us, with a tinge of com m unity, about this timidness. sadness in his voice, that the forces of “Jews are pachdonim, cowards,” he modernism are successfully eradicating told me. “We are outnumbered and an old and traditional Jewish language, not well liked. We are considered for­ and that he is trying to prepare for the eigners though we have lived here all our lives. What can we do?” future.

Because of these unhappy cir­ But Turkish nationalism has bro­ ken down more than a traditional lan­ cumstances, it is no wonder that the guage: it has shaken pride in Jewish steady migration of Jews to Israel con­ identity among the masses of Jews. tinues. Zionism provides an alternative This is not to say that Istanbul’s Jews to Turkish nationalism. despise their Jewishness. On the con­ T HE external pressures against the trary, they openly affiliate with and f community, though, have soci­ regularly attend synagogues and Jew­ ish cultural activities. In their syna­ ologically forced the Jews into a tight, gogues and homes they never for a mo­ tradition-oriented community. Jews ment try to camouflage their loyalty mingle with other Jews and involve to their people. However, when not in themselves in synagogue activities: these Jewish settings, they are for the what else can they do? Assimilation is most part defensive and, one might out of the question because the Turks will not allow it. Thus, intermarriage, say, timid about their Jewishness.

While spending an afternoon at for example, is practically non-exist­ the home of some relatives, for ex­ ent. In this insulated community, the ample, all the men and boys wore synagogue enjoys a central role, serv­ kippoth and spoke freely about Jewish ing as the main religious, educational, subjects. When I asked everyone to and social center.

Of the many synagogues in Is­ step outside so that I might take some snap-shots, they immediately removed tanbul, only one is Ashkenazic. It is the kippoth. I kept mine on as I went located, together with most of the ma12

JEWISH LIFE

jor Jewish institutions, in the Galata and to certain religious practices, they section, the principal commercial quar­ generally are not scrupulous in their ter of the city. Four synagogues in Is­ observance of Jewish law. They see no tanbul are over three hundred years contradiction in attending the Shab­ old. The largest and most important both morning service and then going synagogue is the Nevey Shalom, lo­ to work or otherwise violating Shabcated near the Galata Tower. We wit« both laws in the afternoon. It is not nessed a surprisingly high amount of. that they are aligned with a formal libf religious activity on the part of dozens eral movement - Conservative and Re­ of young men who attended services form movements do not exist there. there every morning and evening. They They simply do not think about their conducted their own services. Between actions. They observe what they do the Minchah and Arvith services, they only because of tradition, and in their gathered around a large table where own eyes they believe they are observ­ Rabbi Behar taught them laws, cus­ ing Judaism in full. To go into more toms, and melodies of Tisha Be-Av, c o n siste n t religious observance is which was then not far off. Most of branded as fanaticism and is reserved the young men know the daily prayers for rabbis. by heart. Even during the school year they attend the synagogue twice daily.

Y WIFE and I spent a wonderful Shabboth at the summer home T h e centrality of the synagogue of our cousins in Buyuk Ada, the larg­ I does not stem simply from out­ est of the Princes’ Islands. A descrip­ side pressures on the Jews. A main tion of the events of the day would do force, that must not be overlooked, is much to illustrate the general religious tradition. Istanbul’s Jews have for all psychology of the community. their generations attended prayer serv­ On Friday night, we attended ices with unbroken regularity; faithful services at the new and beautiful syna­ attendance at synagogue services has gogue of Buyuk Ada. Built several remained a social obligation. Every years ago, this structure was financed morning and evening, synagogues are by the Jews who have summer homes crowded with Jews. Minyonim take on the island and serves them only place one after the other and often during th e summer months. But even simultaneously in different rooms though it is a “temporary” synagogue, of the same synagogue. Tradition is it is in every sense as fine as a perman­ manifested in all areas of synagogue ent one. The interior is lined with mar­ life. Services are chanted in traditional ble columns and has a splendid chan­ melodies preserved over hundreds of delier hanging from its high ceiling. As years. The synagogue structure itself is we entered the sanctuary, I noticed constructed traditionally, with a bal­ that at least two hundred people were cony for women and the almemar in already present. Of that number, near­ the center. ly half were under the age of twenty.

Yet, paradoxically, though Tur­ Several teenagers sang the preliminary key’s Jews are tied to the synagogue psalms of the Kabbolath Shabboth serAPRIL 1969

13

vice as the rest of the congregation read along in low voices. When the Mizmor L’Dovid came along, though, the entire congregation burst forth in loud and hearty song. As I looked around at the singing throng, I sensed a genuine feeling of happiness in their faces. I was moved by their pious sin­ cerity, and although many probably could not understand the words they were singing, the depth of their emo­ tions was real. They sang the rest of the Kabbolath Shabboth service with equal fervor, and then one of the can­ tors led them in the Arvith.

When we returned home, we ate a delicious dinner consisting of broiled eggplant (asatha), boiled chicken, string-beans cooked in oil (fassuliahs), and for dessert we ate our full of watermelon (carpuz). (Let me note that during the week our cousins sel­ dom eat meat, preferring a diet of veg­ etables and fish. They commonly eat, for example, salt fish (salado), Greek olives, vegetable stew (cuartos), fish cooked in special tomato sauce (pishcado con tomat), and other assorted fish, vegetables, and fruits. In honor of Shabboth, though, they insist on hav­ ing meat.) We sang a few Sephardic zemiroth, and then took a slow walk along the shores of the dazzling Sea of Marmara. Many Turks and Jews were out walking during the warm and peaceful evening hours, and little tea shops and ice-cream stands were crowded with customers.

On Shabboth morning the syna­ gogue was filled nearly to capacity (500-550 men and women). The ser­ vice very much resembled those in the oriental-Sephardic synagogues in the United States. Just before the Musaph 14

service, the rabbi rose to deliver his sermon. Rabbi Benveniste is a young and energetic individual, extremely de­ voted to the welfare of his commun­ ity. He received his early training in Istanbul under the tutelage of Rabbi Nisim Behar, and later went to the P o ra th Yoseph yeshivah in Israel where he received ordination. This, in­ cidentally, is the normal process of ed­ ucation for Istanbul’s young men in­ terested in becoming rabbis. Rabbi Benveniste’s sermon was given in Ladino. He spoke in rather simple lan­ guage, using parables to illustrate his points.

In the afternoon, classes were held for Buyuk Ada’s youngsters in the synagogue’s large courtyard. Liter­ ally hundreds of children sang songs and ate candy and cake. Their leaders were all teenagers who had been trained in the same system. Rabbi Nis­ im Behar has organized a network of such classes throughout the Istanbul area, involving approximately 1,200 youngsters in Shabboth activities.

At the Shabboth Minchah ser­ vices there was a Bar Mitzvah celebra­ tion. The boy was called to the Torah, after which he shook hands with all the rabbis and returned to his seat.

Rabbi Benveniste said a few words praising the boy and his family —and that was the whole ceremony: Bar Mitzvah ceremonies are not held on Shabboth mornings because the con­ gregations would be unduly delayed with the calling of numerous men to the Torah and extra speeches. “Bar Mitzvah celebrations thus do not reach the gigantic proportions in Istanbul that they do in the United States.

JEWISH LIFE

I N the course of that Shabboth out of love for Judaism and the Jewish | we learned much about the reli­ people. For a living* he owns a small gious attitudes of Istanbul’s Jews. But clothing store from which he manages we asked ourselves a basic question: to eke out a living. Aside from his how long can a community live on tra­ community work, he has had fifteen dition alone? How long can this tradi­ works published and is in the process tion, accepted without real philoso­ of writing several more. His books phic or intellectual basis, remain rele­ range from a learned explication of vant to Jewish youth? Of course, we Jewish laws, El Gid Para El Pratikante, realized that the strong Turkish na­ to Hebrew grammars such as his Moreh tionalism tended to pound Jews to­ Aderehy to Jewish histories, including gether, hence giving them added asso­ his La Istorya Cudia Para Los Eskolarciation with traditions. But if the Jews yos. Most of his writings are aimed at should receive more freedoms, or if educating the young and unlearned. they should move out of their tightlyknit community, will they take their HEN we asked Rabbi Behar traditions with them? In a new situa­ about the Jewish education of tion, can they make their religious tra­ Istanbul’s Jews, he described to us the ditions meaningful to their children? It fo rm al educational structure. For was with these questions in mind that children of grade-school age, the syna­ we sought to learn about the Jewish gogues conduct classes that meet three educational system in Istanbul. We days a week after public school hours. turned to the city’s greatest Jewish ed­ The teachers are teenagers who had ex­ ucator, Rabbi Nisim Behar. celled in their studies when they at­ Rabbi Behar is a short, middle- tended these classes. There is, there­ aged, ordinary-looking man, who fore, a constant replenishment of speaks softly and carefully. On first teachers. An added advantage to this meeting him, we saw nothing of great­ system is that the students can associ­ ness in his appearance. Yet, it took ate with their teachers, realizing that only a few minutes of conversation to they too can be teachers if they are convince us that we were dealing with diligent. The curriculum primarily con­ a unique and outstanding personality. sists of Hebrew language, and is sup­ In the first place, Rabbi Behar plemented by the study of prayers, actively leads the entire community’s holidays, and Jewish history. Large religious activities. The younger rabbis, numbers of Jewish children receive all of whom he taught, turn to him for this elementary education, but unfor­ guidance. He knows the problems of tunately many others do not, mainly all the synagogues, and he knows per­ because of lack of interest on the part sonally most of the Jews of the city. of their parents. Even most students Though he devotes the majority of his who do study in this system never pro­ time to the Jewish community’s wel­ ceed to more advanced Jewish studies. fare as he has done for the past thirty Consequently the mass of the Jewish years, he takes absolutely no payment population has only a faint idea of Ju­ for his work. He volunteers .his labors daism’s depths and gains most of its APRIL 1969

15

working religious knowledge from at­ vices. He also teaches a group of adults tending synagogue services and com­ several nights a week at his home.

These classes generally attract about munal affairs.

Naturally, such a sketchy and forty men. Adult women attend clas­ b rie f education cannot appeal to ses given by Rabbi Behar’s wife. There everyone. Some students wish to learn *is, thus, a hard core of Jewishly edu­ more, to become deeply involved in cated ¡people in Istanbul, and there are Torah. For them, a Kollel has been es­ people working tirelessly to spread tablished. Ten young men devote their Jewish learning. They work with an days to Jewish studies and are taught advantage that many American rabbis by several rabbis, including Rabbi do not have, namely, they have a com­ Behar. They study in Hebrew. Their munity strongly tied to Judaism on curriculum consists of Talmud, the traditional and social grounds. The codes of Jewish law, Bible, and Jewish Jews are within the fold; the task is to history. They study in this Kollel for give them a deeper education.

The formal body that governs Haseveral years and then leave for Israel lochic areas in Istanbul is the Beth-Din where they continue their studies and receive ordination. Rabbis are not or­ headed by Rabbi Baruch Avraam Alkoen. The Av-Beth-Din is highly re­ dained in Istanbul.

In regard to the Kollel, an inter­ garded for his outstanding erudition. esting aspect of the community’s The duties of the Beth-Din are to regu­ psychology comes to the surface. The late Kashruth and the Mikvaoth and to students, of course, need money upon resolve communal and individual reli­ which to live while they devote their gious difficulties. In practice, however, days to learning. Traditionally, Kollel the Beth-Din lacks real authority over students are supported by the com­ individual members of the community munity and are held in high esteem. In and is, for the most part, an uninfluenIstanbul, though, it is different. The tial body.

J ews cannot quite understand the URNING from the religious to sense of young men “idling their tin|e the economic sphere of Istan­ away” on the study of such abstruse bul’s Jews, one again finds the forces things as Talmud. They think a Kollel impractical and thus offer it little sup­ of tradition and modernism at work. port. Once these boys become rabbis, The Jews appear to be a very cosmo­ though, they will be much respected politan gfoup on par with any busi­ by the community for their learning; nessmen of western Europe. They are but while they study, they are consid­ solidly middle-class, and in the words ered slothful! Interestingly, the Luba- of Rabbi Behar, ?*we have few very vitcher movement is the key supported rich Jews, but we have no poor ones.”

They wear fashionable clothing, live in of Istanbul’s Kollel. comfortable homes, and many move ^^A B B I BEHAR, as was men- to summer dwellings in the Princes’ Is­ f^ tio n e d earlier, gives classes daily lands for the four summer months. On to the boys who attend evening ser­ the surface, they are a very modern-

S

16

JEWISH LIFE

ized community economically. Yet, in Jews are for the most part small some ways, their business habits strike business men. We met many clothing one as being the antithesis of modern. salesmen, vegetable vendors, and mer­ The reason for this is, no doubt, that chants of all types. We also met some the Turkish way of business is not employees of large firms such as the modern in the western sense.

Parker Pen distribution center of Istan­ The Kapali Carsi, the Grand Ba­ b u l From what we could tell, there zaar, is a good place to observe the are few Jewish professional people and business customs of the Jews. This ba­ no Jews in political office. zaar, in existence since 1461, is a vast network of alleys and streets lined HE “old country” mentality of with small shops of all types. One can Istanbul’s Jews is especially evibuy most anything there, from hand­ in the area of social customs. In kerchiefs to diamond rings. Jewish order to marry, for example, a young merchants from all parts of the Bal­ lady must pay a dowry to her prospec­ kans and the Levant own shops side by tive groom. If the dowry is not side with Greeks, Armenians, and enough, the groom could refuse mar­ Turks. The Grand Bazaar has had Jew­ riage until he is offered a more suitable ish merchants for centuries. Our cous­ sum. This system is particularly hard in, who owns a small wholesale cloth­ on girls of less affluent families, since ing shop in the vicinity, introduced us they must either find a man who does to a number of Jewish merchants in not demand much money or they the market. They all spoke French flu­ must settle for a second-best mate. ently and some also spoke English. The problem is complicated because When it comes to doing business with women are not permitted to work for them, though, one must be prepared pay. They thus have no opportunity to to haggle, scream, threaten to leave the earn money to help themselves. store, and otherwise get the man to A nother custom strongly in­ lower his price. This is the expected sisted upon is that a woman’s place is business practice. in the home. She is not permitted to The merchant states a price for a hold a job. Her duties are to raise commodity several times its worth and children and keep the house in order. the customer must bargain him down. To break the day, women often visit If one pays the full price, he is either a one another during the afternoons and fool or a tourist. In one instance, my chat over coffee and cakeu The women wife began a bartering session with a dress themselves up for these visitas Jewish merchant for an alabaster vase. rather formally, wearing their nicest The vase was marked 350 Turkish lira clothes and jewelry. The most wide­ (about $30). After about ten minutes spread fashion in jewelry is for women of haggling, my wife claimed the treas­ to wear numerous gold bracelets on ure for 35 lira (about $3). Both she their arms. This is something of a and the merchant were happy at the status symbol for them; the more sale! bracelets, the more their husbands are

J

APRIL 1969

17

half a loaf of bread with her dinner so thought to love them.

Almost without exception, Jew­ that she could become “healthy.” ish women of Istanbul are on the HEN we left Istanbul, we had obese side. (The men too have pot­ gained a few pounds, many bellies.) This is not due to carelessness but to design: when a woman is stout, laughs, and many fascinating experi­ she is thought more beautiful. My ences. We had come into contact with wife, a slim, American-style woman, a most remarkable and colorful Jewish received endless chastisements for be­ community, q community molded by ing scrawny, sickly, and maigre. Even a history of Turkish nationalism, by Rabbi Behar insisted that my wife eat the forces of modernism, and by tradi­ tion.

18

JEWISH LIFE

«Sul

INSOLENCE h COWARDICE The Campus Rebel vs The College Professor A7

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/.

by ARNOLD BLUMBERG T h a t homely and self-educated f philosopher, Eric Hoffer, has summed up the campus revolt with the two nouns which form the beginning of this article’s title. Would that he were entirely correct! The problem would be simple. We would have a clear-cut villain, and a readily identifi­ able, if despicable, victim. Our only task then would be to find a hero cap­ able of rescuing the degraded dean and the pusillanimous professor from the clutches of surly students. Alas, it is not that easy.

To the general public, the stu­ dent protesters may appear to be an undifferentiated mass of sick, un­ washed, and totally hostile paranoids.

In such a mood the town castigates the gown as utterly degenerate and be­ yond recovery. The layman sometimes gives the impression that he wished that he might close all the colleges and universities in this country, and start APRIL 1969

anew with some scrubbed and whole­ some kids from the further country­ side, or in our case from the small tow n yeshivoth and day schools.

Emotionalism aside, however, we must admit several facts which may cause us some discomfort. l-«^Mass education is here to stay. That means that our public col­ leges and even our private schools are committed to the education of stu­ dents who are academically marginal and economically deprived.

A short half century ago, college students were mostly young men, and a few women, who possessed high mo­ tivation, superior intellectual capacity, sound training in the basic fundamen­ tals, plus clear vocational goals. The only exceptions were the sons of rich fathers who spent four years in elegant idleness, content to earn “the gentle­ man’s C.” Today, a college diploma is required for the most prosaic jobs, 19

with the consequence that a kind of ards for everyone to accomodate the academic inflation has set in. Since the minority; the intensive expenditure of number of truly bright and creative vast amounts of money and manpower students, in proportion to the popula­ hours to hasten minority acculturation tion, has not increased greatly, it has to Middle Class mores; or retreat to a been found necessary to lower stand­ new segregation in which deprevation ards in order to admit more students. becomes 4a value and necessity be­ comes a virtue. < 2— Social and economic change and the Civil Rights Revolution have UR preoccupation is with the ef­ brought students into our colleges who fect upon Jewish students of this would not have had a chance to dream of collegiate education a short twen­ American crisis. It is evident that Jew­ ish loyalties are being severely chal­ ty-five years ago.

This is a source of strength. Able lenged even on that campus where youngsters with limited economic re­ there are few Negro, Puerto Rican, or sources, or whose ethnic or racial ori­ other newly emerged groups. No or­ gins would once have counted against thodox Jew can participate in the vib­ them, are today actively recruited on rant life of a modern campus without more than a token basis. It may be suffering daily pain at the evidences of safely said that any unmarried student attrition within Jewish ranks. Inter­ with better than average intelligence is marriage represents only the most ob­ assured a place in a college today with­ vious road to apostasy. Every one of out the necessity of too much burden­ us who is older than thirty-five years some “outside work,” to make ends of age remembers the ecstatic joy of meet. All of this presupposes, of the birth of the State of Israel. We are course, heavy subsidization by all lev­ rudely shocked to discover that some els of government. Nevertheless, our of the shaggy youngsters on campus, society is committed to this program, including some of the more or less well not only on human grounds, but also groomed junior instructors, equate the out of sheer necessity. The alternative Zionist:dream with the rest of Middle is an increasingly heavy dead weight of Class Jewish establishmentarianism.

The thoughtful adult who is past population rendered unskilled and use­ less in a technologically advanced the magic age of thirty-five does not have to look far before he finds the economy. roots of campus rebellion generally 3— For the first time the Middle Class is confronted with a huge seg­ and Jewish student nihilism particular­ ment of our society which has always ly.

It is popular to pin all the blame existed, but which could be ignored in earlier decades. For the most part, it is on the Viet Namese debacle. We must utterly unfitted for successful compe­ be aware, however, that the nightmare of our involvement there is only the tition in the college environment.

Comfortable academia finds i t | rock-slide which led to the avalanche self confronted with three choices: the of anarchy. In that war the govern­ adoption of increasingly lower stand­ ment does not dare to pursue full vicJEWISH LIFE 20

tory at the risk of involving other great powers. Neither does it dare to admit defeat when it easily possesses the physical capacity to sweep the field if the soldiers were not restrained by po­ litical shackles. In a war which is plain­ ly not being fought to win victory, but which cannot be easily abandoned as lost, it is difficult to perceive any ideal worthy of the risk of your life. The United States has fought unpopular wars before. She has depended upon conscription to fight her wars since 1917. Viet Nam is unique, however, in that it is the first unpopular war to rest for its pursuit upon drafted sol­ diery. What has resulted has been not merely some small scale draft dodging and a few experiments in outright trea­ son, but a social malady of much greater proportions. A thorough sense of disillusionment with “the Establish­ ment” and all its works has spread among American college students like a miasma. The professor who is cap­ able of compassion for:"his students will understand that his bald head and middle aged patach excludes him from their complete confidence. If he persists in wearing a coat and tie in this decade of the turtleneck, he is p lain ly a calloused monster who w atches young men go to futile deaths, without conscience or com­ punction.

Even if, however, there had been no war in Viet Nam, and even if there had been no Civil Rights Revolution, this “time of trouble” would have burst on us sooner or later.

E are face to face with the first human generation nurtured from APRIL 1969

infancy on television. No society in history has ever so completely sur­ rendered its children to the instruction offered by an insensitive and inani­ mate object, as has ours. Exposed to the best and the worst that television offers, our college student today is better informed about a vast variety of subjects than his professors were when twenty years of age. He is also utterly surfeited with emotional sensation.

Any normal or abnormal impulse ever felt has been explicitly described and fulfilled on the picture tube. Coupled with that concrete realization of man’s waking fantasies, however, is an almost total lack of twoway communication.

Your only response to an offensive program is to shut it off, or perhaps to write a letter of angry protest to the network central offices. «You cannot argue with your television set, how­ ever. In a room full of viewers, no one speaks. An evening spent before the television set with your entire family is an evening spent in lonely solitude. We have raised a generation of college stu­ dents who are accustomed to being ob­ servers, but who have forgotten how to speak in a normal tone of voice.

They shout to reassure themselves that they are not alone. Their music shat­ ters the ear drums and singes the brain as though only the most extreme sen­ sation can still excite the bored nerv­ ous system, already taxed to its limits.

Marihuana and LSD are not merely escapes from the pointlessness of life, but the only means of plumbing the outer reaches of human experience, al­ ready explored to the normal limits.

What has resulted can be called, “The generation of the unsmiling stu­ dent.” It is fashionable to wear a mask 21

o f indifference. The student who wears the same heavy woolen turtle­ neck sweater all through the hottest part of the summer session; the stu­ dent who attends every second session of your class with efficient inefficien­ cy; the student who takes an automa­ tic failure rather than take the trouble to withdraw legally from your class; the healthy looking male student who speaks only in a whisper: all thumb their nose at the value system of the bald old ‘‘square” in the tie and jacket.

Indeed, even at this hour the lo­ wer ranks of the faculty itself are be­ ing filled with the first products of that unhappy generation which is rep­ resented by the student body. The tra­ ditional rivalry between full professors and lowly instructors is accentuated by a sharp new cleavage: “the genera­ tion gap.” The parvenu instructor is impatient with the sacrosanct rules which have governed the rise of each generation to the top of the academic ladder. They reject the drudgery, the departmental chores, and the collegi­ ate routine which were accepted unquestioningly by previous legions of newly-hatched Ph.D.’s as the normal path to success and security. Precisely as their resistance mounts, the elder men already safely esconsed at the top resent those who would attempt a short cut to that goal without “a little salutary suffering.”

E are aware of the problem.

Some of its causes have become recognized. We are appalled at our po­ verty in finding solutions. We are fear­ ful that even if we obtained a more or less honorable peace in Viet Nam and started to recall the army tomorrow, it 22

would be a long time before our stu­ dents would remove their masks and smile again as they did only ten years ago. Nor can we hope ever to combat with complete success the debilitating effects of television upon generations of dehumanized humanity.

Nevertheless, if western civiliza­ tion is to survive, we must move ag­ gressively and with at least the appear­ ance of optimism toward certain goals.

We must recognize first of all that our student rebels fall into two main classes. The vast majority are dis­ illusioned with the evils of human so­ ciety, but do not despair of reforming that society from within by essentially peaceful means. These students are prepared to work with enthusiasm for a political leader who manages to cap­ ture their loyalty and their idealism.

Sometimes misguided, and often mis­ led by demagogues, they march enthu­ siastically for peace, or civil rights, or for a greater voice in government.

They do not, however, lock deans in the closet, hoot down unpopular poli­ ticians, block access to public or pri­ vate property, or hurl abuse at the uni­ formed agents of authority.

These activities are the exclusive specialties of a tiny but vocal minority who are not concerned with reform, but with destruction. The anarchic ni­ hilist admits with perfect frankness that he proposes to destroy our so­ ciety and all its works. He invited mar­ tyrdom to discredit authority. He is aggressively violent. His demands are deliberately so outrageous that he is surprised to discover that there are col­ lege administrators craven enough to discuss them and professors gullible enough to support them. This is the JEWISH LIFE

“ insolence and the cowardice” of which Eric Hoffer spoke. The future historian may discover that a miniscule minority of the present student revolu­ tionary leadership receives support from Havana or some other agency hostile to the interests of the United States. We would delude ourselves, however, if we oversimplified the gen­ eral unrest as a consequence of a cen­ trally financed and directed movement devoted to sedition. Indeed, the most nearly fatal error our society could make would be the easy dismissal of widespread nihilism as a problem for the F.B.I. It is much more painful to recognize that these “rebels without a cause” are pledged to the destruction of that very freedom which they would abuse.

T H E time has come for colleges to f use their Admissions Offices to begin the fight for survival. The Ameri­ can academic is a liberal by definition.

He hesitates to require pledges of con­ formity from student or professor. It is slowly dawning upon some college administrators, however, that a hand­ ful of malignant anarchists threaten the freedom of that very academic community behind which they shelter themselves. No one has ever had the right to cry “fire” in a crowded theater; no one has ever had the right to deny freedom to others while claim­ ing it for himself.

No student should be admitted to the privilege of a college education without having it driven home by per­ sonal interview and written communi­ cation that the price of entry is adher­ ence to rules imposed for the general good. The neo-fascist methods of APRIL 1969

those so-called democratic student groups which demand full freedom of expression for themselves but would deny it to everyone else must be given short tolerance.

It is not enough, however, for the collegiate institutions to cut the cancer of anarchy from their bodies.

They must do a much better job in reaching their students and involving them in two-way dialogue.

The professor who reads endless­ ly from his notes, never raising his head to acknowledge a question; the instructor who is never in his office to help a student with his problems; the graduate assistant who grades fresh­ man themes with brutal severity to demonstrate his own superiority are disfigurements on the face of academ­ ia.

The United States must recog­ nize that the absorption of masses of poor Negroes into the ranks of the Middle Class goes hand in hand with the humanization of all levels of edu­ cation. A man who is not ready for college ought not to be admitted to college. It will take courage to say “no.” It will require more courage, however, to prepare a school for him at which he, or at least his children, may prepare for college. The word “gradual” must cease to be tinged with shame. ^ OR the American Jew the task y is, at once, both easier and hard­ er. The orthodox Jew is not as severely dehumanized by the automation of our time as have been most other seg­ ments of the population. Certainly, the product of the Day School has been the beneficiary of the oldest con23

tinuing dialogue in human history. At an early age, a young Ben Torah learns to question his rebbe. It is difficult to imagine a system of Jewish studies in which the teacher and the student did not test one another to the utmost, in peaceful debate. The orthodox Jew, even if abandoned to television six nights a week, enjoys at least a Shabboth of human and humane inter­ action. The Jew who accepts the yoke of Mitzvoth is unlikely to pull society down upon his head in anarchy.

If, however, the orthodox Jew represents the stablest and most level­ headed element in the modern campus world, the secularized Jewish student is often at the vanguard of those who fly the black flag of anarchy. He pro­ tests the pursuit of material wealth, the utter indifference to spiritual inter­ ests, and the “edifice complex” which he found in his parental home. Indeed, his protest may be against the fact that no one has ever said “no” to him in a voice conveying authority. His protest may be against the fact that he was raised by baby-sitters who did not care enough about him to discipline him.

There was a time when the secu­ larist Jew was embarrassed by his Jew­ ishness. We were prepared for him and appealed to his pride and to his reason.

The young rebel of today is in­ different to his Jewishness, or at least he pretends to be. We are much less prepared for that. To combat indiffer­ ence we must penetrate his home, to remake his attitude toward his parents and to establish a system of values which, in that home, had never been brought into being.

24

E HAVE already admitted that there are no “easy” or ready so­ lutions to our predicament. Only if, by a wave of the “ magic wand,” we could translate American materialism into American idealism, would the campus revolt melt away. The student rebel equates the pursuit of wealth with the pursuit of evil, never stopping to ex­ amine the economic prosperity which uniquely permits him the luxury of protest. Ironically, he could not be se­ ditious if he were not supported hand­ somely by the society he proposes to seduce.

If the greater American society proceeds to treat its rebellious children with a firmness, tempered by love, it has little real reason for loss of com­ posure. There have been other great re­ volutionary ages in history in which morality, religion, social order, and even the stability of the state seemed permanently overturned. Invariably, the pendulum swung back, as though in compensation, to a generation al­ most obsessed with puritanical and even rigidly correct mores. Thus, Christian society generally need have no fear of the permanent alienation of its children. So long as a conventional framework exists, that society will ul­ timately normalize itself, and reabsorb its wayward members.

Our Jewish community cannot be equally at ease. The present crisis represents a crucial and permanent challenge to us. The Gentile college student who today flaunts his protest against conventional middle class m orality will some day reminisce about his wild youth in a nostalgic JEWISH LIFE

tone. He will, by then, have become pretty much what his parents were, or perhaps what they would have wished they were.

Our Jewish rebels will also some day accept the norms of societal be­ havior. In their case, however, if we fail to remedy their identification they will simply take on the habits, atti­ tudes, and even the religious outlook of that Christian society to which they will acculturate.

available for publicity? How can you reach a black flag anarchist with some­ thing more potent than a kosher pastrami on rye?

Don’t wait for the Jewish profes­ sors at the college to call on you. They may be more confused than their stu­ dents. Don’t wait for your rabbi to take the lead. Don’t assume that the Hillel Foundation is on the job, wheth­ er or not there is one at a particular college.

T H E problem is of such dimenI sions that some may doubt that there is anything really decisive which orthodox Jews can do to retrieve the majority of those who now seem irre­ trievably lost. We are not free, how­ ever, to desist from making the effort to provide a rallying point for that per­ ceptive minority among the rebels, which will search for a meaningful identity in the ash heap of their youth.

Can you teach a course in ele­ mentary Hebrew? Can you lead a Chug Ivri? Can you head a discussion group in Jewish historical topics? Can you give a Shiur? If you can spare two hours a week at any hour of the day or evening, you belong on the college campus. You may attract only two students. Two students are a triumph.

Are you a member of a Jewish woman’s organization? Has your or­ ganization contacted a local caterer to see if kosher sandwiches can be dis­ pensed at lunchtime, at moderate cost, to the Jewish students at your local college? Have you contacted the col­ leg e’s administration to find out whether a room can be set aside for such luncheons? What facilities are

FUNDAMENTALLY, the time is | past for small groups of self-re­ cruited individuals to turn the tide.

They must begin their work, however, not only for the sake of young Jews they may rescue from nihilism, but for their own peace of mind. In the long run, if we are to attain maximum suc­ cess against overwhelming odds, the great orthodox bodies must expand their fullest efforts to the campus. At present, the only meaningful work for the salvage of our greatest resource is being done by such organizations as Yavneh, with the backing of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, Young Israel, and that oc­ casional Hillel Foundation which is fortunate enough to enjoy the services of an intelligent and active orthodox rabbi. The rabbinical yeshivoth, the or­ thodox rabbinical and lay associations must plunge into the battle. Perhaps one of my readers will be privileged to exert his influence ip an organization not yet committed to the struggle. The sun sinks low, but the day is not yet over. Reinforcements near, and the tide of battle may yet be turned.

APRIL 1969

25

■V &u. ^ T h e B en -T o rah B usinessm an: profits and losses ¡ § i§ <— r "

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by BERNARD M ERLINE

i I OT too long ago, I had occasion

/Vito fly up to Canada on a busi­ ness trip. I was joined on the flight by a former schoolmate of mine, today a prom inent corporation lawyer. We were both going to visit the same firm, concerning a possible joint venture, and his briefcase was bulging. It never occurred to me that it contained any­ thing but financial statements, legal documents, and the like.

It was going to be a short flight —an hour or so. And we Were returning to New York that same even­ ing.

We chatted amiably while wait­ ing to board the plane, and also foi* a short while after we were aloft. Where­ upon my friend bent down to open llis briefcase. In the course of the next half-hour, I discovered - to my sur­ prise and delight - that in that brief­ case were a Chumosh, a Nach, a Mishnayoth, a Gemorah, and at least one 26

other sefer (a Chassidic one, as I re­ call). Naturally, the rest of that trip, up and back, was spent “talking in learning” and we had a wonderful time. (Just as well, because the “deal” never came through.)

This incident epitomizes a re­ cently emerged phenomenon on the American-Jewish scene: the Ben-Torah businessman.

And since I am about to say a few things about him (and want to avert as many irate “ Letters to the Editor” as possible), I would like to be rather precise in my terms.

By Ben-Torah I mean someone who has attended a yeshivah for at least several years beyond high-school age, someone who not only attended but also learned, someone who has at­ tained a degree of proficiency in Jew­ ish studies to be able to pick up any tractate of the Talmud, or any com­ mentary thereon, and after some study JEWISH L IFE

(but without any personal instruction from someone else) have a rather clear idea of what it is all about. And be­ yond this academic proficiency, the Ben-Torah must have absorbed (and, in the years he attended the yeshivah, must have reflected) the attitudes and thought patterns of his mentors —the Roshey Yeshivah. This is what / refer to as a Ben-Torah.

It would seem superfluous to de­ fine the term “businessman” —but for the purposes of this essay I must qual­ ify the type of businessman I have in mind. First, I exclude administrators and employees of Jewish organizations (in spite of the fact that some of them are better businessmen than many of the “real thing”). I also exlude those who run shops or businesses in or closely related to isolated Jewish com­ munity life —a grocery or a bakery in Williamsburg, a kosher senior citizen’s home or a resort hotel, wherever they may be. In any event, I do not mean to diminish or detract from their ac­ um en in either area —whether as B’ney-Torah or as businessmen. It’s just that the observations I have to make do not apply to them.

Unique and Not Unique T H E type of individual I am | thinking of is somewhat excep­ tional in Jewish history. While it is quite clear that in ages past our people could boast of Torah giants who also excelled in specific areas of the secular world, we must also remember that these were truly giants! A Rambam (medicine) or a Reb Shmuel Hanagid (government) was as much an excep­ tion in his own time as he would be

APRIL 1969

today. And even if we were to grant that there were some in each era who did not achieve lasting fame, but who were nevertheless outstanding in both w o rld s th e s e were not the rule. The plain fact remains that, usually, the Torah scholar either remained a schol­ ar supported by others in the com­ munity, or earned his daily bread in some business closely related to his Jewish brethren. Those who achieved success in the “outside” world were usually not B’ney-Torah to begin with, or had long since turned their backs on everything that such scholarship stood for. This, in broad general terms, was the picture until very recently.

It is only in the last few decades that Orthodoxy is witnessing the in­ creasing presence of a new breed —a true Ben-Torah, a lamdan, who has made his mark in an area where reli­ gious and learned Jews were generally not to be found. Whether he be an em­ ployed professional —scientist, math­ em a tic ia n , engineer, programmer (none of these categories are meant to be exhaustive) - or a self-employed (or employer) entrepreneur —lawyer, doctor, accountant, manufacturer, ser­ vice business —he is showing a new kind of Jew to the world.

Is It Good —And How Good?

T H E R E is much the orthodox I Jew can be grateful for in the appearance of this new kind of Jew. When the factors are all just right, the result can be a great Kiddush HaShem.

Cliches and stereotypes are sud­ denly shattered. Gone is the image of the money-grubbing ignorant Jew who

27

feigned a piety that no one could understand or believe in. Gone, too, are the other extreme images —the Jew who has totally abandoned his faith, on the one hand, and the Jew who is so remote and exotic in his ways and appearance that he evokes laughter, distrust, or outright fear.

Suddenly there is a new way to look at a Jew. The non-Jew or semi-Jew sees before him a man who can take his place alongside anyone else with com­ parable training —and yet remains steadfastly loyal to a moral code of behavior the likes of which the world has never seen. Not only is he loyal to it, he is intelligently knowledgeable about it and can discuss it and explain it in such a way that others can see the beauty of it, or at least appreciate the rationale behind it. Finally, the BenTorah can demonstrate, like no one else, that a religious Jew “ does not have horns,” that he is not a throw­ back to some prehistoric time, that it is entirely possible to live a fully reli­ gious life within contemporary soci­ ety.

It is also gratifying to see, on oc­ casion, that a Ben-Torah can be wellto-do. Although some may take pride in poverty (“Take great care with the children of the poor, for from them will go forth T orah.. . ” [Nedorim 80 a] and “This is the way befitting Torah study: bread with salt you should eat, water by measure you should drink, on the ground you sh o u ld sleep, etc.” [Pirkei Ovos 6:4], there is no intrinsic crime in be­ ing wealthy (“Whoever fulfills the Torah in poverty will eventually fulfill it in wealth” . .. [Pirkei Ovos 4:10]).

While I am not prepared to argue the 28

re la tiv e merits of poverty versus wealth (“If you’re so smart why aren’t you: rich?” versus “G-d must have loved the poor people, He made so many of them”) one thing ia sure: We among ourselves may know that a man’s intrinsic value does not lie in his material possessions and accomplish­ ments, but the “outside” non-Jewish or non-religious world is not impressed by this superiority of soul. If we dare speak in contemporary terms of public “image,” it is certainly more impres­ sive for “our side” to be able to point to a prosperous, well-dressed, worldwise, observant Jew than to a poor, bedraggled, pitifully-naive, observant Jew. F u rth e rm o re , our more ad­ vanced institutions of Torah learning desperately need a corps of well-to-do B’ney-Torah to help support them, for their programs do not generally find favor among the broad masses of American Jewry.

URTHERMORE, there is or can be, a great benefit to the BenTorah himself. There are those who take the philosophic stand that the ideal and ultimate goal for a man is to be solely occupied with the study of the Torah. Work, and the provision for his needs, would be done by someone else. It is only natural for many Roshey Yeshivah and B’nei Yeshivah to espouse this view. But there are many (as there already were in the days of the Talmud . . . cf. B’rochoth 35 b) who maintain that the world could not continue to function if this were the prevalent attitude. Indeed, the very order of Creation, according to the latter, calls for active participa-

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JEWISH LIFE

tion by man in the further develop­ supporting oneself by the labor of ment and improvement of this our one’s hands .. . Whoever decides to en­ earthly abode, (cf. commentaries on gage in the study of Torah, and not to “asher boro Elokim la’asoth” [Bere>- work, but to be supported by charity, shith 2:3] which interpret the “la% is profaning the Name and shaming the asoth” to mean that G-d created the Torah, for it is forbidden to derive world in such a way that man should benefit from the Torah, et c. . . . ” continue “to do” , to work on it, to While the Ramoh does go on to quote exert his own efforts to bring both more lenient opinions (which “legiti­ himself and the world closer to ulti­ mize” all contemporary rabbis and mate perfection.) It is not necessary graduate yeshivah students), it is a here to decide in favor of either of clear vindication of the theological va­ these philosophic positions —surely a lidity of the Ben-Torah businessman. cogent argument could be mustered to On The Other Hand validate each of them —or a delicate balance between them.* However, no T H E S E , then, are the “profits” one would deny that the man engaged | Judaism reaps from the Benin “Yishuvo shel olom” — cultivating the world we live in, in accordance Torah businessman. However, into with the laws and spirit of Torah —is every business a little “loss” must also performing G-d’s Will. Indeed, this fall —and the objective “ accountant” may represent this particular man’s cannot fail to see some “red” on our fulfillment in this world. The Ben- balance sheet.

First, great as the Kiddush HaTorah businessman, representing this unique combination of intense Torah- Shem is when Torah-living is practiced living with a concomitant involvement in the world of business, even greater in the affairs of the world, may pos­ is the Chillul Ha-Shem when a sosibly be “the compleat man” , the ideal called representative of Torah-livingdesecrates the principles he should towards which we should all strive.

H ala ch ically , th e preceding stand for. I have known (and surely so “philosophical” discussion is treated have many readers of these words) by the Ramoh (Yoreh Deah 246:21) highly learned men, B’ney-Torah in as follows: “There is great merit in the strict academic sense of the word, *In chapter 28 o f A voth d ’Rabbi N osson we whose piety and religiosity were de­ find the follow ing: * **Rabbi Y ehudah ben monstrated in the Beth Hamidrosh Ila’i said — W hoever places Torah above only, but whose sense of business eth­ w orldly endeavors, he w ill be im portant in this world; w hoever places w orldly endeav­ ics could only evoke one’s scorn and ors above Torah, he w ill be insignificant in disgust. While it can correctly be said t h is world. A n d he drew this parable that such men were not true B’ney— Im agine a prom enade that passes b etw een tw o paths, on e o f fire and on e o f snow . If Torah, the casual observer ||J e w or he walks to o close to the fire, he w ill be non-Jew —was not nearly so hair-splitburned; if he w alks to o close to the snow , he w ill freeze. What should he do? He tingly discerning. Of such it is said, should walk in b etw een , and be very care­ “Whomsoever his fellow-men are not f u l — n o t to get burned and n o t to freeze.” pleased with, neither is the Almighty APRIL 1969

29

pleased with him.” (Pirkey Ovoth 3:13).

Then, of course, there is the loss of those who fall by the wayside. The temptations of the “outside” world are alluring, and none more so than those associated with the financial re­ wards of business success. Few as may be those who are drawn down paths of permissiveness, B’ney-Torah are never in such great supply that we can afford to lose even a single one. If business exposure so affects this variant type, perhaps it is incumbent upon the Jew­ ish community-at-large to make it eco­ nomically feasible for such scholars to stay away from business. “Commen­ surate salaries” (a popular phrase in government circles these days) for leaders necessary for Jewish continuity would keep such people where they belong.

While I have demonstrated the halachic validity of a Ben-Torah busi­ nessman, there is a certain ideal he must conform to. Again examining the Ramoh quoted above, we find the fol­ lowing: “A person should make his Torah-study his main preoccupation and his work incidental; he should minimize his business and engage in the study of Torah; he should put aside from his heart the pleasures of the moment and occupy himself with work every day as much as he needs to sustain himself; the rest of the day and the night he should study Torah.” We know that such people existed in the “good old days,” I and my contempor­ aries have still seen such people —the pushcart peddler or grocery store keeper with his nose buried in a sefer, bestirring himself only now and then to acquiesce in making a sale. But we 30

sure don’t see many such pebple to­ day, and those that we do are usually not in the category of Ben-Torah busi­ nessman I have chosen to write about.

I may be wrong, I hope I am wrong (I am not personally acquainted with every individual in the type-group un­ der discussion), but I have not seen this “ideal” among these “elite.” And lest I be accused of ungracious quib­ bling, let me quickly point out that it is precisely and specifically from the Ben-Torah that we should expect the highest and finest form of Torah liv­ ing.

INALLY, and I consider this the greatest danger of all, there is the harmful effect on our educational system. The Ben-Torah businessman, as an end result, may be ideal. But as a model for the aspirations of young stu­ dents, he is fatal.

The uniqueness of the BenTorah lies in the quantity and special quality of his Torah scholarship. This can be achieved only through singleminded dedication to his studies for a long period of time. As one of the Baaley Mussar so aptly interprets the words of Resh Lokish, “Eyn divrey Torah miskay'mim ela b*mi she’memith atzmo oleha.. . ” (Berochoth 63 b): Torah learning remains only with someone who considers himself as if “dead” to everything else but the study of Torah. In other words, it is almost impossible to become a BenTorah unless, for a period of ten to fifteen years, a young man thinks of nothing, hopes for nothing, yearns for nothing, but to become a lamdan, a scholar with a deep and thorough understanding of the patterns of Torah JEWISH LIFE

learning. It is only after all this has been attained that a Ben-Torah can be­ gin to think of ways and means to en­ ter the business world.

Now, if at the tender age of 13 or 14, the young yeshivah student looks about him and sees so many suc­ cessful B’ney-Torah businessmen, he will find their positions not only an acceptable but also an admirable goal ^ Torah u ’gdulah b'mokom echod ...T o r a h and greatness to­ gether! He will not only aspire to emu­ late them but also begin planning to assure his own entry into “the world” when his time shall come. Not wishing to trust to luck, he will lay the ground­ work, so to speak, by excelling in his studies, ambitiously pursuing extra­ c u rric u la r a c tiv ities, perhaps be tempted to attend day sessions of col­ lege (with the attendant pitfalls that

APRIL 1969

lie along this road), and so on and on.

In short, he will never have the time, nor the mental concentration, to be­ come a real Ben-Torah. Of course, he will still continue to carry a dual pro­ gram of Hebrew and secular studies and will be a fine Day School grad­ uate Í but that’s not quite the same thing as a Ben-Torah.

T’S an old story . . . the admir­ able goal, the road to which is tortuous and dangerous. In such cases, it would seem that the tried and true method is the safest one: Y ’male k ’reysa b 'shas u ’poskim . . . let the young man first have his fill of Talmud and the codes .. . then let come what will come. Only after he is thus armed may he risk even this vulnerable suit of armor to the “ slings and arrows of out­ rageous fortune.”

Í

31

on J E W IS H

IN D IV ID U A L IT Y

by JONATHAN KELLERM AN

Our history of pain, inflicted upon us by you, Christian brother is long —as long as your history itself But I won’t bother you with that so let’s just begin with Germany and forget Spain and the Cossacks let’s forget the blood of my distant ancestors on cobblestones and concentrate on the blood of my grandparents still fresh and moist as the gleam in your eyes.

Germany is a country of dark pine forests and blond hair and blue eyes and shiny pink tongues like those of a cat, scrounging in the trashbins for bones.

Civilization blossomed in Germany like a poisonous flower whose noxious pollen clogged the nostrils of the world and sprouted venomous buds and rotten blossoms, blood red and gas-gray 32

JEWISH LIFE

Civilization blossomed in Germany and died with the first Jew, who might have been bearded breasted or baby-faced, as his skull cracked against the stained bricks of the crematorium and when the smoke cleared to reveal what we had all known and had screamed to your deaf ears and we heard harsh, guttural sounds parlayed about the echo-filled voids of the world names like Dachau, Bergen Belsen arid Auschwitz, Hitler, Himmler and Bormann we dried our eyes in hopeful delusion that you would learn and renewed our anguish ten times over, reopened our wounds when we found you had turned boatloads back shoveled thousands into the skin searing lung bursting fires and Anglo-Saxon names were all the time involved in a curious game of illogical murder and were superimposed over the gutturals and that the world, which was you, had known and bared its decayed gums in careless smiles We began to realize That we stood alone.

Some of us set out to seek a Homeland and died in lowest decks of overcrowded rat filled “illegal” ships Others drowned, turned back into carnivorous storms by mustache-clipped tally-ho English officers

efficient and curt, they plied their trade and renewed our stay at Concentration camps a mere few months after our parents and children had been eulogized and mass buried.

Englishmen Seem to have very short memories.

Some of us rotted in Cyprus, smelling the Englishmen’s tea Others made it to semi-barren Palestine to be stabbed in their bony spined backs by razor sharp Arab knives.

Others wasted in the swamps A few remained to fight for their meager stretch of land and to bury the dead as well-fed diplomats vomited up phrases and platitudes and wallowed in Due process and paper agreements while we died and every Jewish death-mask taught us that We stood alone.

| 1

Meanwhile back at the ranches and cities and towns of America we found that the gold in the streets wasn’t even enough to replace our dental fillings removed by the Germans, carefully extracted and we turned deaf ears to words like Kike and pushed our sons and daughters into Ivy Leagues, greenback dreams, overstuffed nouveau riche furnishings, medical schools to succeed which they did some sacrificing faith, others losing self respect and still others losing little but their health and our success arrived without welfare aids smart young social workers Presidential committees or unleashed blind fury.

We knew by now that we stood alone.

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1 1 JEWISH LIFE

Events have since moved in a confusing jumble for us The Pope has forgiven us for allegedly killing One Jew (Christians have killed tens of millions o f Jews) Who forgave them?

The dung-smeared face of the Swastika has shown itself in Germany and America Adolf Eichman has died on a merciful scaffold Argentinians scolded and burned synagogues Negroes have become blacks and need a culture which they are building on the rubble of burning buildings hating our suburban success forgetting our aid seeing only the twisted envy filled slogans scrawled on tenement walls It was inevitable We should have known We stood alone And now as I read my Life Magazine and see the pictures of brave Arab terrorists who plant bombs in school buses and Sabbath marketplaces and new Che’s are created for the starved minds of masochistic youth and Genocide is repeated in Africa, silently Biafrans die as Israel is branded racist although it is Arab ammunition that rips into Sudanese and Biafran flesh and as I read my Newsweek that says that I should still help the black man who has just murdered my uncle the shopkeeper and burned my synagogue and as France sticks long nosed senility into the already absurd proceedings forgetting Dreyfus and as millions of my cousins waste away in Russia who in turn brands me an aggressor while grinding the ruins of Czechoslovakia under heavy heels, unheeded and ignored conveniently by APRIL 1969

35

swine-stuffed pompous asses in the U. N. arid twelve planes are valued more than twelve Jewish lives- bomb shattered, bones scattered and England sleeps and America tut-tuts as I and my brothers die on I tell you Christian friend, your help is worthless, it will never come, just spare me your hindrance Get out of my way I must stand alone.

Addendum And now I hear, I listen in stunned belief As my brothers are hanged while Arab laughs and giggles fill the square, perversely disgustingly and I am reassured, horribly once more.

I stand alone.

s.

flaw Na Donkey

Will Twwl

by DAVID STEIN T WAS the second night o f Chanukah. I was sure that El A l, “The Airline o f th e P eople o f Israel, ” w ould som eh ow celebrate this n ot n e c e s s a r ily religious holiday. Alas!

There was n o t a single candle aboard.

And there were ten children on the flight. H ow ironic it w ould have been for m e to miss lighting the m enorah for the first tim e in fifty-th ree years on a trip to the land o f the Chanukah miracle! Suddenly a m odern miracle occurred — an inspiration. I had a pair o f pliers in m y bag and a strip o f wire.

My seat neighbor had tw o cigarettes. I inserted m atch sticks in the cigarette ends, tw isted the wire around them and attached the crude candlestick to the curtain rod separating the plane’s tw o sections. I called ou t for all the children to com e to the plane’s center and alm ost all the other passengers fo l­ low ed. With th e assistance o f th e kids and a few adults w e sang th e blessings,

i

APRIL 1969

lit the “ candles” and g ot everyone to sing along “M aoz Tzur Y esh u ath i.” A round o f applause rang ou t as I bow ed in to m y seat w ith th e w ords “ Chanukath ha-m iz-bai-ai-ahch.”

One o f the parents paid me the supreme com p lim en t with: “ My kids“ w ill never forget this! My little b o y asked me if y o u ’re M oshiach!” I re­ sponded w ith: “ So w here’s m y d on ­ k ey?” A blank expression appeared on his face. I had to explain: “ In Jew ish literature there are m any predictions as to w ho w ill be M oshiach and w hat w ill happen w hen that Great D ay com es: There w ill be a m a jo r co n flict b etw een tw o great powers; Israel w ill no longer b e sub­ servient to other nations; fo o d and clothing w ill be produced autom atical­ ly, and Messiah w ill appear as a poor man astride a d o n k ey .”

My new friend laughed and re­ marked that the plane was big enough 37

to accommodate my donkey, too.

The incident must have gone to my head. I keep asking myself: “Who, really, will be Moshiach .. . ?”

N the Talmud (Sotah 49 :b) we read:

i

“In the time o f Messiah insolence will rise and endearment will diminish.

The vine will be fruitful and wine H expensive. In government there will be heresy, no discipline. Assembly halls will be perverted, Galilee will be de­ stroyed, Golan desolated, and the bor­ der patrols will circle around from city to city without pausing. The wis­ dom o f writers will become putrid, fearers of sin will be despised, and truth will be absent. Youth will humil­ iate the aged and the elders will stand in the presence o f the young. A son will disgust his father, a daughter will rebel against her mother and motherin-law. A man’s enemies will be mem­ bers o f his household and the [new] look o f the generation will be like the face of a dog. The son is not embarras­ sed before his father. Upon whom can we depend but our Father in Heav­ en!”

“The Days of Moshiach” are, no doubt, upon us. All indicators pre­ dicted in our literature have become stark realities. The promises and warn­ ings of our Prophets and Sages appear in our daily newspapers. Israel is an independent nation. The two greatest powers are virtually at war with each other. The younger generation of the world is in rebellion. Technology has made it possible for the blast of Mes­ siah’s shofar to be seen and heard around the world in a more realistic manner than any of our devout fore­ 38

fathers dared to anticipate. Israel is pleading for immigration and offering every possible inducement to encourage it. Formerly democratic, tolerant, hos­ pitable countries are no longer havens of refuge. Yet, the blast of the shofar is not being heard. Moshiach apparent­ ly insists upon coming only on a little donkey, without fanfare or plane fare.

Some of our co-religionists are actually sitting and waiting for some supernatural sensational miracle to arouse them from their lethargy and compel them to go “home.” But many of u& are not waiting. We are attaching ourselves to little personal deliverers and allowing them to lead us out of exile in a most undramatic manner.

Y handicapped son should be credited with bringing about our personal exodus. The New York yeshivoth were not physically equipped to handle his special needs and the public schools were not Semitically oriented.

The school we found for him in Tel Aviv insisted on at least one of his pa­ rents being in the country .

My family, therefore, is living in Israel. My wife, two daughters, and son. I only commute. I know, it does sound like I’m some kind of a million­ aire, but I’m only a workingman. I’m a typesetter, earning an average salary, yet, I find it possible to maintain a home both in Israel and in my old home town, the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

At first it seemed impossible.

The cost of an apartment, Israeli style, was formidable. But who said you have to buy? We found it possible to rent. Not only an empty apartment but a fully furnished luxury dwelling, JEWISH LIFE

came angelicer. He was not astride a little donkey nor was he blowing a shofar, but his simple suggestion that I persuade my father to join him as a permanent resident qualifies him as one of my many other little messiahs.

What holiness he expressed in the words: “ Der tateh vult du oifgelaibt!” (“Your father would gain here a new lease on life!” ) How moving was the sight of little Reb Pinchas on a Sab­ bath afternoon, seen from our bal­ cony, walking very leisurely, his hands behind his back, wearing a long kapota and a “spudik,” a tall fur hat, that seemed taller than he is. I called my family over and asked if they recog­ nized the little monarch below. They sang out in unison “Mizmor Shir!”

Especially on the Sabbath does one get the impression that B’nei B’raq is just one big shtibel. On Friday night zemiroth are heard emanating from every home as you walk from one end of Akiva Street to the other. In the familiar sight on the East Side beginning you see only teenage B’nei until about seven years ago was Akiva boys with teeny yarmulkes and Reb Pinchas Neihaus, a very short, separate groups of young girls, milling elderly chosid, who always seemed to about as if waiting for a parade to be in a hurry. We never referred to him start. Soon they are joined by Chasi­ by his name, only by his cognomen, dim in full Sabbath regalia, with shtrei“Mizmor Shir.” That was the name he mels, kapotas, gartles, wheeling baby once gave a Daily News reporter who carriages with one hand and placing took his colorful picture at a protest polly-seeds into their mouths with the rally and got it printed on the front other. Since carrying on Shabboth is page. When we no longer saw him rac­ permissible in B’nei B’raq streets and ing along East Broadway we assumed the weather is pleasant, and there is no that he had departed for a better traffic, and there’s no fear of walking world. He certainly had, only he’s glad in the streets at night, social life comes to tell you so himself. In a shtibel near to full bloom along Akiva Street on my home in B’nei B’raq I noticed his Friday night.

On S h a b b o th m orning the familiar face but dared not assume it was he, I walked over and asked, “Miz­ streets of B’nei B’raq seem like one mor Shir ?”and his angelic face be­ huge synagogue as the worshippers, at-

at a price even a workingman could afford. Not in the big city, but in B’nei B’raq, where the standard of living is in line with the average income.

My wife and children are work­ ing hard to adjust to their new envi­ ronment. The Hebrew they’re learning in school and Ulpan is not enough.

They also need Yiddish. I, however, found myself there like a fish returned to its water. For me the East Side of fifty years ago has come back to life in my second home. The grocer, the bak­ er, the herring man, the fish lady of Rivington, Suffolk, and Hester Streets seem to have been reincarnated in that almost all-orthodox city on Akiva Street. Each one of them recognizes me as a new Oleh and is anxious to have me remain. They hear horrible tales of what goes on in New York and they ask: “Is it true that no one goes out at night? You have to be an ideal­ ist to live there!”

APRIL 1969

39

tired in their Sabbath splendor, many cutting factory. Show the slightest inwrapped in their taleithfm, stroll to }terest and he’ll scoot you on the back and from their many houses of prayer. seat of the former to the latter and Each one of them is a potential mes- show you how diamonds are cut and siah, anxious to persuade Visitors from measured and what the average worker the four corners of the earth to share is paid. There is a shortage of diamond with them the joys of living in a land workers, he says, and he’d gladly teach they call their own. They pooh-pooh the trade to anyone I’d recommend. the concern we express over military “Even someone as old as you,” he conditions and chidingly they ask: “In laughed. When I told him that salaries New York is safer?” in America are much higher he answer­ Those were the sentiments also ed: “Noo, so you’ll buy one suit less a of Reb Boruch Halbershtam, father of year! Here it’s warmer and you don’t eleven children for whom I brought re­ need so much.” But his assurance that gards from his brother, my New York jobs are available even for those willing neighbor. Reb Boruch has every right to learn a new trade is, to my mind, a and reason, certainly the “yichus,” to very powerful messianic message. derive his livelihood from the rabbin­ I don’t think I look as old as ate. But he chooses to be a worker, a Cohen implied. Yet, not less than five civil servant, for the city of B’nei times during my last four-week visit B’raq. When I asked him how he man­ was I requested, under protest, to ac­ ages on the meager Israeli salary he cept their seats in crowded buses by pointed with pride to one of his sons bearded B’nei B’raq gentlemen. On and asked me: “In your rich America one such occasion I found myself seat­ he would have grown better? When we ed next to a Chosid who, I was sure, struggle here, we know the fruits of must be traveling to some religious our labor will be ours. We love the sun­ function. It turned out that he was go­ shine, but even when it rains, we know ing to his job as a truck driver. His it rains for us. Tell your friends in name is Yitzchuk Benet, learned his America that now is the best time for trade in Williamsburg, spoke with coming to live in their own land . . . *• pride of his profession, and stressed that being a “baal-agulah” is no longer OT ONLY the Chasidim are as­ a “shandeh.” He told of the great de­ sistin g M oshiach. Yitzchuk mand for trucks, particularly in the Cohen’s tiny knitted yarmulka brands building industry. His messianic mes­ him as a non-Chosid. His sister is the sage to all Americans is to come with owner of the furnished apartment in driver’s license and, not with donkeys, which we live and to him we come but with heavy diesel trucks. He, too, with all our household problems. He gave me advice, addresses, where to ap­ owns a motor scooter and a diamond­ ply and where to buy.

40

JEWISH LIFE

TOEING in the printing line, I was to investigate for them an Aliy ah pro­ N naturally interested in opportun­ ject. The mission occupied the major ities that may exist in that industry. portion of my latest four-week visit.

So many amazing coincidences My would-be deliverer in that field is Mr. Emanuel Reichman, a former occurred in the course of my investiga­ Williamsburg printer, now the B’nei tion and so much did I learn that it B’raq representative of Americans and would be criminal to keep the details Canadians in Israel (AACI). He got in to myself. Who can say that simple touch with my family even before I every-day coincidences are not the arrived, requesting that I see him. He kind of miracles we are to anticipate in sent me to a typesetting plant he had the wake of the genuine Moshiach? established where he had introduced Perhaps that is the very meaning of “a to Israel the American system of type­ poor man astride a donkeyfffl^simple, setting for the printing trade. The pres­ commonplace, unsensational, slowly ent owner would like to retire and but surely. would I be willing to take over? There, AST summer Dr. Pincus Soler, a I received quite an education in the fellow East Sider, of the Educa­ pros and cons of the typesetting bus­ iness in Israel. No, it no longer pays to tion Dept, of Mizrachi, visited Israel. import a machine. Used machines are There, he was informed by Mr. Slyper available at reasonable prices. Why do of Misrad Hashikun (Housing Dept.) that a tract of land was then available I hesitate?

Well. . . . Let me at this point in Jerusalem upon which four apart­ add to the list of conditions that must ment buildings could be built. A letter prevail before a genuine exodus can to that effect was sent to Dr. Soler. take place from the land of silken Considering that letter as a definite money to the land of milk and honey. commitment, the latter formulated the Pension funds must disappear! So long idea of a Kiriyah (little city), announc­ as the prospect exists for the receipt of ed it at the Mizrachi convention and American dollars without working, the sent out application forms to those in­ temptation to wait for it is irresistible. terested, requesting $500 from each as Those already receiving pensions or a token of good faith, to be deposited Social Security checks are no longer in a New York savings bank, return­ shackled to a life of bondage. For able at any time prior to further com­ seven long years, therefore, I am mitment.

A tract of land similar in size to tempted to remain an international that “ promised” by the Israeli govern­ commuter.

My frequent comings and goings, ment was also offered for sale by Bank I felt, should be put to good use. For­ Mizrachi. This offer, dated August, tunately, an opportunity arose which 1968, was accompanied by a sketch should qualify me at least for the posi­ and gave the impression that it includ­ tion of assistant advisor to an assistant ed the construction of four modern 6miniature redeemer. I was entrusted to 8-story apartment buildings, accom­ by two of my brothers with a mission modating 132 families in 2- and 3-bedA P R IL 1969

41

room units, at $16,000 to $20,000 each. The location was described as be­ ing between Talbiah and Katamon (not very far from the government site, but farther from central Jeru­ salem and in a less desirable neighbor­ hood than the one previously mention­ ed.)

The hope of living in Jerusalem, within walking distance of the Kotel Maaravi and Heichal Shlomo, in the elegant Talbiah section, in a home built to American standards, at reason­ able cost, apparently influenced no less than 400 people (to date) to ap­ ply. Among them are some wealthy in­ dividuals, professionals, businessmen (like my two brothers) and some, like myself, simple workers.

At an early meeting the group voted in favor of accepting the govern­ ment “offer” rather than the Mizrachi Bank site. The impression was given that the government would proceed immediately with the kind of building described in the Mizrachi Bank litera­ ture. Since I was about to leave for a four-week visit to my family in B’nei B’raq, my brothers asked me to visit the site and to investigate whether they could depend on the project as their future home. I approached Dr. Soler, who invited me to his office at Mizrachi headquarters, showed me the letter from Mr. Slyper, gave me the bank’s literature and a list of indivi­ duals with whom to speak regarding increasing the size of the project and to check on the rumor that Sheraton Hotels was given priority to most of the land promised him.

I used Dr. Soler’s list as a pro­ gram of daily activity, checking off each name and place when that part of 42

my mission was completed. Many hap­ penings and strange coincidences came my way. Some are not directly con­ nected with my mission. Those enu­ merated here have a direct bearing.

Y first visit was to the office of Rabbi Dr. Samuel Gertz, direct­ or of Moadon Haoleh in Tel Aviv, a cultural and social center sponsored by AACI. His brother, Louis, now of Boro Park, happens to be a member of the Kiriyah project’s steering commit­ tee. 1 had known Sam as a youngster in New York and read of his proposals for mass Aliyah and the elaborate plans he had once formulated for the establishment of a model settlement.

He expressed a desire to cooperate ac­ tively in my investigation. 1 heeded his advice and accompanied him to a real estate agent in Jerusalem, in whom he has great confidence. The agent took us to M. Kleiner, a director of Bank Mizrachi in Jerusalem, who tried to convince me that the government “of­ fer” was not as simple or reliable as we had been led to believe and that it may be more desirable to deal with private property, such as offered by his bank.

For further information he referred me to the director of his bank’s invest­ ment department in Tel Aviv. The real estate agent took Dr. Gertz and me on a tour of Jerusalem trying to find the two sites, but could not locate them.

In the process the streets of Jerusalem, I thought, became as familiar to me as the streets of New York. Dr. Gertz had to give up the search for the Kiriyah sites. Later, however, with the aid of an official in the Municipal Real Estate Dept., the real estate agent drove me to the Sport Club location (Bank MizJEWISH LIFE

thuse over Aliyah is like listening to a genuine messiah. Tzvia echoed his sen­ timents and demonstrated how deli­ cious an Israeli lunch can be.

It so happens that the Glatt home is directly opposite Boys Town.

Boys Town happens to have a printing school and typesetting machines and hundreds of teenagers like the ones I used to lead as youth director in Man­ hattan. It so happens that the public relations director of Boys Town is David Amiti (Verikson), whose club leader I used to be about thirty years ago. A telephone call brought David running up to join us for lunch. What a reunion! Of course they’re all anxious to assist in the Kiriyah project! They offered advice and a new list of influ­ ential people who might be helpful.

On top of my own list, however, was now Naftali Landau, a long-time resi­ dent in the Meah Shearim section.

Amiti offered to drive me part way — to central Jerusalem.

At first I thought I’d measure the distance between the city center and the projected Kiriyah. With the aid of a beautiful pictorial map I wan­ dered at least three hours and ended up, as all would-be messiah assistants HE home of Tzvia and Yussie should, at the Kothel Maaravi. The Glatt is on the uppermost floor magnetic pull of the Western Wall can­ not be minimized. But looking alone is of the newest building on the highest point of Bayith Vegan, the highest not enough. Fortunately, I met there a point in the Jerusalem area. The view red-bearded member of Neturai Kart a from their balcony is literally breath­ who makes a daily pilgrimage to the taking. What a contrast to the dusty Wall. I asked him one question and re­ dwelling they had left behind only two ceived in return a guided tour of every months previously on the Lower East speck of the newly unearthed section.

Side! Yussie abandoned an excellent It was almost night time when I re­ position as executive director of a New tu rn ed to central Jerusalem from York institution in favor of a similar where I walked through Meah Shearim position in Jerusalem. To hear him en­ to fulfill a few missions, davened Min-

r a c h i’s) and to Pinsker & Malal (government’s). At the Jerusalem Hall of Records he obtained an official real estate map of the property offered by the bank. In addition to offering fur­ ther assistance in this matter he also informed me of the advisability of be­ coming a real estate agent like himself.

Upon learning my address in B’nei B’raq he remarked: “ My in-laws live in the next building! I’ll be visiting you next weekend! I’ll bring you all the information.”

The municipal real estate official was particularly anxious to acquaint me with the value of the bank pro­ perty. He walked the length and bread­ th of the area, pointing out where a road should be built, where a shipping section, where an entrance. “Tell your friends,” he enthused, “they’ll make a million dollars from this! But they should come soon! Now I must leave you . . . I have to go to Bayith Vegan.”

“That’s where I’m going!” I exclaim­ ed, “I have a lunch appointment with Yussie Glatt on Rabbi Frank St.” “Glatt?” said Kaplan, “Give him my regards, I sold him the apartment!”

And he drove me to the door.

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43

chah in one of the Shtibelach and end­ and asked for Betzalel Bazak, who re­ ed up at the home of the Landaus, 20 plied that the investigation was still go­ ring on. Kaplowitz supported his con­ Yechezkiel Street.

Naftali Landau is a very distant tention by telling of a neighbor of his, relative, but no brother or sister could David Telzner, an active Mizrachi possibly express a warmer, relationship member who had recently emigrated than he and his wife express towards from the U.S. Telzner sees him every night, yet, never mentioned to him our family.

Shabboth and Yom Tov Naftali about a Mizrachi project for Aliy ah.

Landau is a devout Chosid, attired in The land supposedly promised by the the shtreimel-topped uniform of his government, said Kaplowitz, is not fellow Belzer. In the weekdays he available at all. His organization, Mi­ sometimes wears the Israeli Army uni­ shav, owns a part, enough to build one form, being a member of the reserves. building. Two other buildings have He is a government employee whose been assigned by the government to duties are to supervise the activities of personnel of the Hebrew University.

Keren Yaldenu, a chain of settlement The rest, 70 percent of that land, was houses which rescue children from allotted to the Tourism Department missionaries and teach them construc­ for the building of hotels. Further­ tive, enjoyable occupations under or­ more, how can it be that a Mizrachi thodox supervision. His love for child­ group would embark upon a building ren has engraved so deep a smile upon p ro je c t w ith o u t firs t consulting his handsome face that it is contag­ Mishav, the building corporation of ious. He drives a “ Susita” with fantas­ the same Mizrachi? The sinister fear of tic ability and the eagerness with a scandal befell me. Can it be?

Naftali Landau hastily drove me which he offers free taxi service is typical of the generous hospitality he to see Bezalel Bazak, who remembered and his wife bestow upon all who having visited the Landau home “when make their acquaintance. When I arriv­ Reb Shloima was there about ten years ed in their home towards evening that ago.” Reb Shloima happens to be my Wednesday, Naftuli berated me for not father. Bazak is a cousin of the East calling him sooner. Yes, of course he’s Side Karpers. As general secretary of interested in the Kiriyah project! In World Mizrachi he confirmed the ac­ fact he has a good friend who could be cusation by Kaplowitz, basing it on helpful, Kaplowitz, director of Mishav, the argument that no official word was the building corporation of Mizrachi. ever sent to him from New York re­ garding the existence of a Kiriyah pro­ ject. He now hears that a David Telz­ T H E next day upon hearing my ner, who is now in the Misrad Haklitah I story, Mr. Kaplowitz said he sus­ (Department of Absorption of new im­ pects a swindle. The matter, he said, migrants), was put in charge of the was being investigated. To prove it he project. Landau and his Susita brought called up World Mizrachi headquarters me there in a hurry.

44

JEWISH LIFE

It so happens that Rabbi David to lead me to someone who would Telzner is the former director of relig­ handle my business in the absence of ious Aliyah at the Jewish Agency in Mr. Rice, since he knew everyone New York and it was through him that there. Upon hearing the nature of my my family took the first step in the business my new acquaintance —a for­ direction of our exodus. In fact, we mer government official, now an in­ were his last “ case” in New York and vestment broker - opened his note­ now, in his new position, Landau and I book and showed me a detailed de­ are his first “customers.” Telzner, too, scription of the bank property in Jeru­ is a long time member of the East Side salem regarding which I came to see Mizrachi. Of course he knows about Mr. Rice. He recommended that I see the Kiriyah project! He even had the bank president rather than any written an article about it for the Jew­ underling and immediately told the ish Morning Journal. He is not in favor bank secretary that I was a VIP from of the bank property because it is too America and she must let me see Mr. close to a sports arena where the Sab­ Aaron Meir immediately. We swept bath atmosphere may be violated. Why past those waiting before us and I told is he keeping his connection with the my story to the bank’s president. Mr. Kiriyah project a secret? Because he Meir seemed greatly impressed and hopes to influence the Housing Au­ apologized for not being able to hand­ thority to reconsider their decision to le the matter without Mr. Rice of the give preference to the hotel rather Investment Department.

The next name on my list was than allot enough ground for the en­ tire project on the “promised” land. Mr. Slyper of the Housing Authority.

When he accomplishes that he’ll tell The investment broker informed me Mishav and Bazak. It so happens that that Slyper was not in full charge of he is celebrating a Chanukath Habay- that department. The man to see, he ith in^iis new home at night. Would I felt, was Yosef Gur Ari, to whom Slyper would have to come for approv­ be able to attend?

That evening, in the palatial al. Why go to the middleman? He pick­ apartment of the David Telzners, built, ed up a bank telephone and made an incidentally, by Mishav, I again met his appointment for early Sunday morn­ next-door neighbor, M. Kaplowitz. Al­ ing with Gur Ari, whose name, inci­ so there was Abe Reese, executive dentally, was also on the list given me board member of the Mizrachi New by Soler.

Sunday, December 29, was a York Council. In my presence Telzner busy day.

Yosef David Gur Ari, direct­ revealed to the two others the secret of his involvement with Kiriyath Miz­ or of the Investing Authority of the Israeli Government, was late for his ap­ rachi. pointment with me in his Migdal Sha­ lom office in Tel Aviv. Also waiting HE next morning, I went to see Mr. Rice at the main branch of was Tuvia Dori and we became acquainted. He is a lawyer, native Bank Mizrachi in Tel Aviv. Waiting with me was a gentleman who offered Israeli, educated at Oxford, knows

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APRIL 1969

45

practically every important Israeli of­ politicians. ficial personally, and knows the right When Gur Ari finally arrived I people to see for any problem. Yet, asked him if his donkey had a “punc­ this was his tenth visit to this office to ture.” Funny how he understood what get approval for his current project. I meant. His is the task to enourage He, too, /represents a group of pro­ investment by the most desirable im­ spective Olim from America and he migrants. Upon his success depends showed me the beautiful architect’s the future of middle class Aliyah. drawings of the Kiriyah plans he was Hearing that some members of my submitting for Gur Ari’s approval. group are independently wealthy, he Dori, too, offered me the benefit of briefed me on various plans to encour­ his long experience and invited me to age their investments. He enumerated visit his home in Ramat Gan. He urg­ the many inducements offered by ed me to consider the possibility of government to investors in rental hous­ having my group collaborate with his ing, in the “Home Away From Home for their mutual benefit. He advised Plan,” financing, government loans, not to lose patience with Israeli beaur- and private mortgages. He confirmed acracyi “On my eleventh attempt I’ll all that the investment broker had said probably get the approval,” he smiled and authorized him to speak in his and departed with a promise to keep name to other officials in my behalf me informed of his progress. and to report to me. Gur Ari admitted While still waiting for Gur Ari, to me that dealing with the govern­ my investment broker acquaintance ment has many disadvantages and the arrived. “It’s no use,” he informed me. private property offered by the bank “There’s little likelihood of Gur Ari or “should be grabbed with eyes closed,’’ anyone else taking anything away because property value in Jerusalem is from the hotel people. Tourism is the rising very rapidly. chief industry of Israel and hotels for tourists get highest priority.” He advis­ HE helpful investment broker ed me to concentrate on the Mizrachi told me he had other proposi­ Bank property. While waiting he stud­ tions that may be of interest to some ied my maps, circulars, and floor plan of the people I know in New York. He and determined that the model apart­ mentioned a “Radio City” project ment described in the original circular which was being planned for the is much too small for American stand­ “Times Square” of Tel Aviv and would ards and the site offered would accom­ I be interested in seeing the plans. modate only 100 apartments of 120 What can I lose? I let him lead me to square meters at $23,000 each. The the eighth floor of the El A1 building. purpose in seeing Gur Ari was to per­ He opened a door and a surprised hand suade him to persuade the government came towards me with “What are YOU to allow a larger building area, since doing here?” It turned out to be the the government usually confiscates welcoming hand of Leon Rauchweger, 40% of such property for roads, parks, a close friend of my sister Lee Rubins. public buildings, or even homes for He was due to come to our house that

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JEWISH LIFE

night with his wife and with Lee for tea and Tea Vee. He also happens to be the manager of the defunct Mugrabi Square project, a colossal idea project­ ed by a multi-millionaire South Ameri­ can Zionist who died before his dream could be realized. The millionaire had purchased the choicest real estate in the heart of Tel Aviv at fabulous prices and evicted the occupants. Rauchweger showed me the elaborate archi­ tectural plans for theatres, hotels, and skyscrapers that were contemplat­ ed before the sponsor died. Now the properties are boarded up, waiting for new investors to take over. The government is extremely anxious to cooperate and has guaranteed all kinds of assistance and tax exemptions and priorities, so that the project could be completed.

Leo Rauchweger also showed much interest in the Kiriyath Mizrachi project. Upon reading the prospectus of the Bank Mizrachi project, he point­ ed out mathematical inaccuracies that would make it impossible to build the projected number of apartments on the land offered. He happened to have an appointment with the Bank Miz­ rachi president for the same day and undertook to discuss the problem with him and report to me at night in my apartment. He also told me of land in the center of B’nei B’raq at a much lower price than that asked for the Jerusalem site.

The idea of a Kiriyah for Ameri­ can Olim is not new to me. Ten years ago, as editor of the Young Israel Viewpoint, I wrote an editorial about Moshav Koach, brainchild of Celia and Meir S elzer, my sister-and-brother-in-law> now living in B’nei B’raq.

APRIL 1969

Their Moshav Koach dream, as yet un­ realized, called for a complete, self-sus­ taining community, providing employ­ ment to all the inhabitants. Their con­ tribution toward helping in the Kir­ iyah project consists of their introduc­ ing me to a neighbor, Jake Mintz, a very wealthy Chicagoan, who owns seventy dunams of citrus groves in B’nei B’raq. He was willing to sell for IL25,000 per dunam, less than onesixth the price asked for the Jerusalem land. We visited Mr. Mintz at his villa at the foot of the Karliner Yeshivah at one of the highest points in B’nei B’raq. We learned that in order to con­ vert agricultural land into residential, much “protektzia” is needed and for something so important as mass Aliyah it is possible to get it.

Another neighbor of the Selzers, Mr. Tekel, is a building contractor whose family recently moved into a nearby mansion built by his firm. His daughter happens to be my daughter Shifra’s best friend. He liked the Mintz offer and promised to send me an es­ timate of the cost per apartment should we become interested in a pro­ ject in his area. Tekel also has a num­ ber of newly built apartments for sale at prices lower than I heard quoted elsewhere. B’nei B’raq, incidentally, is undergoing a building boom that even surpasses the big city’s. The fact that it is almost 100% orthodox is a feature very much in demand.

INCE I was now considering the possibilities of the Kiriyah in a location other than Jerusalem, I look­ ed forward to visiting other possible sites in the Tel Aviv area. There, too, unexpected coincidences came my 47

way. Attorney S. Joshua Weiss of the East Side had asked me to deliver a package to his parents in Kiryath Yismach Moshe, not far £rom Petach Tikvah. I was not aware at that time that he, too, had joined the Mizrachi pro­ ject, nor that he was a member of its steering committee. When I delivered the package his father took me on a grand tour of Kiryath Yismach Mo­ she and gave me its history. The Sassover Rebbe, who originated that pro­ ject and was responsible for its rapid development, died suddenly. All plans for further expansion were thereby halted. It seemed to me as if Reb Boruch Weiss was whispering a mes­ sianic call for someone to continue what the Rebbe had begun. Why not a Kiryath Mizrachi here?, I thought to myself. But the people were promised Jerusalem. .. Here, however, there al­ ready is a mikvah, a yeshivah, a syna­ gogue, a shopping center, and almost unlimited room for expansion . . .

Here we come to another amazing co­ incidence: Another East Sider interested in the Kiriyah project is Harold Smith, His younger brother, David, had also 1>een one of my disciples about thirty years ago. “Doody” left for Israel about that time, fought in the War of Liberation, raised a family on a kib­ butz, studied law, and is now the chief attorney of the Zerubavel Bank in Tel Aviv. I paid him what I thought would be merely a courtesy visit. It turned out that his bank holds the mortgage on the unused Kiriyath Yismach Mo­ she property, which should become available soon. His eyes lit up with messianic joy when he heard that so many of his former acquaintances are 48

interested in Aliyah. Of course he’s anxious to give every possible personal and professional assistance. He can even recommend possible alternatives to the sites being considered in Jeru­ salem. He thinks, however, that the potential success of the venture is greater in the Tel Aviv area. Job and business opportunities are better; there is much more room for expansion; zoning restrictions are not as great, and, above all, the cost would be much lower.

Not every day of my four-week visit did I devote to the Kiriyah invest­ igation. One day I decided to follow a suggestion to investigate a possible placement for my son in Kibbutz Yavneh or in the nearby Yeshivath Kerem B’Yavneh. As everywhere in my mes­ sianic mission, I happened to meet helpful hands who recognized me from New York. This time it was Chavy Katlowitz who spotted me at the Tel Aviv bus station and led me to her din­ ing hall. Avrim Stein led me around at the Kibbutz. The son of Rabbi Paul Oratz at the Yeshivah recognized me as his father’s former leader and intro­ duced me as such to Eli Klein, execu­ tive director of his Yeshivah. It seemed that my trip had been in vain when I was told, regretfully, that my son can­ not be accepted there. But upon re­ peating the name of the executive di­ rector I recalled that it was identical to the one now heading the list given me

by Pincus Soler for the Kiriyah investi­ gation. “Eli Klein? President of Ameri­ cans and Canadians in Israel? You’re just the man I have to see! No wonder you’re not in Tel Aviv!” And of course he’s anxious to help the Kiriyah pro­ ject! After all, that is the purpose of JEWISH LIFE

AACI —to assist new and would be olim. Klein requested that I state my case at the Tel Aviv office to the di­ rector, Mr. Moshe Goldberg.

I f the title of mini messiah can I be bestowed upon a group, then AACI deserves serious consideration for the title. After a long session with Mr. Goldberg we worked out a questionaire which he felt, should be sent out to all applicants. Once the blanks are filled out and returned it will be possible to know more of the stand­ ards, tastes, and requirements of each member. Here, too, I received an edu­ cation in all the privileges granted to prospective American immigrants and was given literature to help me remem­ ber all that was told. AACI, too, has plans for building a housing develop­ ment in Jerusalem. Of course, our group can benefit from the greater ex­ perience of the AACI organization and there’s no reason why a part of their proposed project in Sanhedria cannot beassigned to the Mizrachi Kiriyah.

Since my mission was to ascer­ tain whether or not my brothers, friends, and the entire group could count on the original project as a def­ inite investment in Aliy ah, I deemed it necessary to discuss the matter on a more practical level with the people who would most likely do the actual building. I managed to get an appoint­ ment in the Tel Aviv main office with the president of Mishav, Mr. M. Kelmer, who called in his architect, Mr. Tzachor, and Mr. Rice of Mizrachi Bank. He reported that they had just attended a conference with Mr. Slyper of the Housing Authority and there is no likelihood that the original plans APRIL 1969

would ever materialize. The building to be built by Mishav will rise on pro­ perty bought by them seven years ago.

The Mishav people could think of no reason why the one unit they are about to build could not be assigned to the Kiriyah group. It will have thir­ teen stories, fifty-four luxury apart­ m ents . . . And who said everyone must live in one Kiriyah? Mishav has apartments for rent in already com­ pleted buildings. Not only in Jerusa­ lem but all over —especially in the Tel Aviv area, in Ramat Gan, Givatayim, B’nei B’raq, many in Kiriyat Herzog which, incidentally, also began as a Mizrachi project. Some of them were bought by the government and are be­ ing rented out at low rates to new ohm with options to buy. Yes, of course, investors can do the same —buy many units and rent them out. Here, too, I received a thorough education in the privileges granted by the Israeli govern­ ment to investors in rental housing.

A representative of Mishav and his chauffeur drove my wife and me to see various apartments at the afore­ mentioned locations, including the dwelling of M. Kelmer, president of Mishav. We were given floor plans, specifications, and prices. I departed from the office of the president with a promise that as soon as the specifica­ tions of the Talbiyah building are available they will be sent to me in New York.

E NOW know ah about jobs, businesses, prices, sizes and loca­ tions of homes, apartments,Kiriyoth, finances, lawyers, agents, banks, and bureaucrats. No major or minor mes­ siah should blow his shofar or mount 49

his donkey before acquiring a similar education. And after he receives it we advise him to be as patient as we arenas we wait for each o f9the above-mentioned friends to follow through with the further information they promised

50

to send immediately. They most likely kept their promises. Only they must have sent the information by donkey express. . .

Am I giving up my mission? You think donkeys are stubborn?

B ook

B

A NEW TRANSLATION OF AN OLD M1DROSH

by ISAAC L. SWIFT bach’s elegant rendering of the Mechilta.

Ten years ago, Yale University Press - whose Judaica series of translations has vastly enriched the English-speaking world — gave us William G. Braude’s excel­ VER 250 years have elapsed since the lent translation of Midrash Shocher Tov (the publication o f the first rendering into on Psalms). The Yale Judaica Series English of a work o f the ancient Rabbis Midrosh William Wotton’s version of Mishnah Ma- has now placed us further in its debt by sechtoth Shabboth and Eruvin. That was a publishing the same translator’s rendering of the Pesikta Rabbati. small beginning o f what, remaining small for many years, has become an enterprise of A NOTABLE TRANSLATION major importance undertaken by scholars and publishing houses at an accelerated pace T H E two volumes o f the present book in recent decades. For the present century f are in every way worthy of their pre­ has witnessed the production of English translations o f many classics o f ancient Rab­ decessor. Aiming at accuracy rather than el­ egance, the work gives abundant evidence of binic literature, not to mention some of the diligent and painstaking scholarship. The most notable works o f the medieval Jewish translation is given in clear, concise, work­ teachers and writers. manlike English; the footnotes, sparingly Although Gerald Friedlander’s English version of Pirkey de-Rabbi Eliezer was pro­ used, are short and succinct and have the merit o f being explanatory rather than inter­ duced as long ago as 1916, the acceleration pretative; the indices are as complete and came in the nineteen-thirties, when Soncino Press embarked upon its ambitious plans helpful as one has a right to expect; and the print throughout is o f the high quality that that gave us its monumental translation of the Talmud, its splendid translation o f Mid­ we have come to expect of anything bearing Yale’s imprimatur. rash Rabbah, and its much less satisfactory If the general Introduction to the translation of the Zohar. The same period work as a whole leaves something to be de­ saw the publication o f Herbert Danby’s fine sired, Dr. Braude more than makes up for translation of the Mishnah, and Lauterthis by the brief summary of each Piskah RABBI D R . ISAAC L. SWIFT is R av~of which he furnishes before submitting the C ongregation Ahavath Torah in E n glew ood , translation, a device of particular value to N ew Jersey. In his active career in public the lay reader. Much of the material in the service, he held a pulpit in S yd n ey, A us­ Piskah occurs in the Talmud, and in other tralia.

PESIKTA RABBATI, Translated by William G. Braude; New Haven, Conn.: Yale Uni­ versity Press, 1969, Two volumes* $25.00.

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51

Midrashim, and it would have added consid­ erably to the value o f the work without add­ ing significantly to its bulk if crossreferences had been supplied. There is indeed an index so far as Mishnah and Toseftah are concern­ ed, and to have expanded it to take in other branches o f Rabbinic literature would have added much to the volumes’ worth.

These are but minor criticisms, and do not detract from the ungrudging praise which the translation earns for itself as much by its lucidity as by its accuracy.

The translator’s interpretations o f the meanings of some o f the Piskoth, hinted at in the Introduction, are novel, and some show profound insight, but not all are con­ vincing. Altogether striking, for instance, is his suggestion that Piskah 23.1 makes Jere­ miah 10:8 a repudiation o f the Christian crucifix: “They prove themselves brutish and foolish, prove that the wooden emblem by which they are instructed is no more than vapor.” (Hebrew: havolim etz hu, rend­ ered in the Jewish Publication Society’s translation of the Holy Scriptures as “The vanities by which they are instructed are but a stock”). On the other hand, I find it diffi­ cult to accept, for example, his ingenious interpretation of the connection between question and answer in Piskah 2.1: even as David’s hope o f building the Temple was de­ nied him and he had to kindle its lights within himself, so in time o f danger does it suffice if the Chanukah lamp is kindled within the house and not at the window —a needless exercise in ingenuity on the transla­ tor’s part. *FHE question o f the date o f redaction j o f the “Peskita Rabbati,” to which Dr. Braude rightly devotes a considerable portion o f his Introduction, need not agitate the lay reader. For them it will suffice to say that the book is a compilation o f the teachings and obiter dicta o f the Tannaim and o f the Palestinian Amoraim o f the third and fourth centuries, and as such comes from men whose influence on Jewish life 52

and thought has been one o f the most po­ tent and abiding factors in the religious his­ tory o f our people.

In the “Pesikta Rabbati,” as in other Midrashim, timeless moral issues are to be found beside discussions o f contemporary events; the experiences o f the Rabbis are re­ corded side by side with great and enduring Biblical exegesis. All have their relevance to our own time, some with an immediacy that commands attention. Thus the recent Con­ vention o f the Conservative spiritual leaders would have done well to read Piskah 28.1 before proposing the abolition o f the Sec­ ond Days o f the Festivals.

The Midrashim, in general, are compi­ lations o f the Biblical expositions and dis­ courses o f the Rabbis o f the period o f Mish­ nah and Talmud. Some are running com­ mentaries on certain books of the Bible.

Others are collections o f the expositions o f the weekly readings o f the Law for the regu­ lar Sabbaths o f the year. The “Pesikta Rab­ bati” is a compilation o f the discourses and sermons based upon the Torah readings on Festivals and special Sabbaths. Similar in character, though o f course different in con­ tent, is the Pesikta de Rav Kahana, which is a collection o f the discussions based upon the Haphtoroth read on Festivals and special Sabbaths.

INFLUENCE OF THE MIDRASH T H E Midrashic literature exerted an influence not on Jewish thought alone but on Christian thought too. Thus, Euseb­ ius, Syrus, Chrysostom, Augustine, and Hieronymos are among the Church Fathers who introduced Midrash in their works.* Nicholas de Lyra, the most learned Christian Hebraist of the fourteenth century, made much use o f Midrashic material in his writ­ ings. John Milton, a Hebrew scholar o f no mean order, constructed much o f his mas­ terpiece “Paradise Lost” from material sup-

f

*See S.M. D u b n ow , “H istory o f th e Jew ish P eop le,” V ol. III.

JEWISH LIFE

plied to him from Midrashic sources.** But it is the vast impact o f the Mid­ rash on the Jew, rather than on the Chris­ tian, which is o f immediate consequence and which makes the present translation of such importance to them. Throughout Jew­ ish history, Jews have from the days o f Moses*** gathered on Sabbaths and Festi­ vals, and have been taught by the public ex­ position o f the Torah, and by what we would now call “the sermon” o f the day, where Jewish duty lies, what Jewish law re­ quires, what Jewish beliefs should be. The reading o f the Law and the public discourses were moments o f instruction in Jewish val­ ues which lingered long with the people, formed and shaped their Jewish outlook, gave Jewish content to aspiration, and up­ lifted downcast moods with the glory of the Torah. The “ sermons” were saturated with the Jewish spirit, and those hearing them could not but be impregnated with that spir­ it.

The Midrash served these high pur­ poses not only for the contemporaries o f its authors but for long generations afterwards.

They heard the same Midrashim from the **See H .F. Fletcher, “ M ilton’s R abbinical R eadings,” and H. F isch, “ Jerusalem and A lb ion .” ***Y alk u t S h im on i o n S h em oth 3 5 :1 .

APRIL 1969

pulpits applied to the problems and con­ cerns o f their own day, and came away from the Sabbath and Festival “Derashah” as up­ lifted by the Midrash as had been their fore­ bears by the same words and the same homi­ lies in the days o f Mishnah and Talmud.

How different things have become in our own day through much of American Jewry! The ancient Rabbis and their dis­ courses have been driven from the pulpit.

Their words rarely cross the lips of many an American Jewish preacher. In place of Mid­ rashic Biblical commentary has come the book review, or the discussion of current events, some o f them having no direct bear­ ing on Judaism as a faith or on Jews qua Jews.

It is precisely for this reason that. Dr. Braude’s present work is o f such impor­ tance. Apart altogether from bringing to the important world o f Christian scholarship an acquaintanceship with a jewel of Midrashic exegesis, it can serve as a timely reminder to the Jewish layman of what his forefathers once heard and heeded, and —we may hope —can so create a climate o f opinion in English-speaking American Jewry in which the occupants o f our pulpits will feel impel­ led to restore the Midrosh to its once sov­ ereign place in the Jewish sermon. If such should occur, Dr. Braude will have earned our abiding gratitude for his selfless labours.

53

WHY AMERICANS AND CANADIANS GO ON ALIYAH JERUSALEM-Jewishness and the desire to lead a more Jewish life is the basic motivation o f the majority o f Americans and Canadians who have gone on aliyah, according to a preliminary report on Americans and Canadians in Israel and their motives for aliyah.

O f the total number o f persons [1,672] interviewed, 28 percent now live in kibbutzim. Marked changes in their place o f settlement have, however, taken place in the course o f time. O f those who came before 1948, 44 percent are now living in kibbutzim. This percentage falls to 30 percent o f those who came in 1948-56. Only 17 percent o f those who came in the last ten years are members o f kibbutzim at present. Despite the downward trend, however, the figure pre­ sents a much larger proportion than that o f the general Israeli population living in communal settlements.

Thirty-five percent o f the American olim were active Zionists before im­ migration, 26 percent were inactive Zionists and 39 percent were not members o f any Zionist organization.

The first and most important motive, reaching as high as 90 percent was the wish “to contribute to the building o f a Jewish homeland.?* Even for the non-Zionists this reason appears at the top o f the list. In the course o f time, however, it appears that there has been a marked decline in its importance. By contrast, another leading motive, “to lead a fuller Jewish life” shows an increase in importance, particularly among those who were not active Zionists. The mo­ tive which is increasing in importance as time goes by is “for the sake o f the children, from the Jewish point o f view. ” This tends to move up in rank from one period o f aliyah to another, and is particularly salient for the growing number o f non-Zionist olim.

Most o f the American and Canadian olim indicated that they went on aliyah believing that they would lead more satisfactory lives in Israel than they had been living in America. Only a few felt they would be more satisfied in America; very few felt that it would make no difference.

- from an article by H.Schachter in “Aliyah News and Views,” published by the Israel Aliyah Center 54

JEWISH LIFE

THE INFINITE V A LU E OF E V E R Y HUMAN LIF E The first principle in the Jewish approach to medicine is the teaching that the value of every human life is infinite and beyond measure. From this all-im­ portant principle stem numerous practical rulings, such as the suspension of almost all religious laws in the face of any danger to life, the duty to heal the sick as a religious precept, and the Jewish prohibition of such acts as suicide, euthanasia and hazardous experimentation on living humans.

Why is Jewish law so insistent on stressing the evaluation of human life as infinite? Because this is the indispensable foundation of the sanctity of all hu­ man life. If a person who has only a few minutes or hours more to live would be worth less than one who can still look forward to seventy years of life, the value of every human being would lose its absolute character and become relative —re­ lative to his expectancy of life, or his state of health or his usefulness to society, or any other arbitrary criteria. No two human beings would have the same value; they would all be subject to rating according to one or several criteria used. Such a reduction of human value from absolute to relative standards would thus vitiate the equality of all men; it would be the thin end of the wedge dividing mankind into people of superior and inferior value, into those who would have a greater and others who have a smaller claim to life. There can be no stable and defensible line drawn between the Nazi position of liquidating so-called “inferi­ or” members of society and advocacy of euthanasia. The moment any human being is toppled from the infinitely high pedestal on which he stands, he drags down with him all others, and the whole fabric of the moral order is bound to collapse.

— from A Hospital Compendium (Revised Edition), published by the Commission on Synagogue Relations o f the Federation o f Jewish Philanthropies o f New York

Much has been written on the alleged failure o f our public relations work abroad jgfj and responsibility for this ‘failure 1 is variously laid at the door o f the Foreign Ministry, the Prime Minister's Office, the Information Centre, or just o f our representatives abroad. Basically, we believe that the trouble rests else­ where — namely in the very image which Israel has o f itself and which she wants to impart to the outside world. Briefly stated, this image is one o f a Western, European country | | an island o f Western culture and Western civilization in the midst o f a backward Middle Eastern sea.........

We hold that such an image o f Israel is not only wrong factually but is also self-defeating as far as our “information” and “public relations” abroad are concerned. This we hold on two levels —and for two reasons: APRIL 1969

55

1• A majority o f the Jewish population o f Israel today consists o f immi­ grants who came from Arabic-speaking countries and o f their offspring. We consider it o f cardinal importance that, in our unending debate with the Arabs and their advocates abroad, this point must be continually stressed and ham­ mered in. A fter all, these Jews had lived in Arab countries for as long ^ and sometimes even for longer -th a n the Arabs themselves lived there. Their coming to Israel, moreover, was in the majority o f cases caused by official Arab policies o f discrimination and actual persecution. Now that they are in Israel, these Jews are here by right: they come from the Middle East; they were variously forced to seek refuge in Israel; and they have nowhere to “return” to.

2.

We belive that Israel's self-image springs from a basic policy o f active discrimination against the non-Western element in*Israel —and by thus doing it helps perpetuate the existence o f two separate Israels, the First and the Second.

It is our feeling, in fact, that the stubborness with which our purely Ashkenazi Establishment refuses to use the arguments summarized in the above paragraph is motivated by fear that any emphasis on the Middle Eastern character o f Israel will entail eventual recognition o f the Middle Easterner's simple right to be given his full share — or at least some sh a re^ in the “national pie,” not excluding a share in the actual running o f their own affairs and o f those o f the country as a whole. This, it seems to us, is something which the present East European Establishment is acutely afraid of.

— from “Israel’s Oriental Problem,” published by the Council of the Sephardi Community, Jerusalem

In spite of the temptation to generalize about them, students remain very different from one another. This is true even of that large minority of affluent heretics called “dissident students.” Some of the latter are so bent on social revolution that they oppose all sanctuaries and all local repairs to existing insti­ tutions. Each part of a decaying society, they hold, should illustrate the rotten­ ness of the whole. At least until the Vietnam war is ended, this group will continue to present the universities with problems of sheer security which can no longer be resolved within what is left of the tradition of civility, community, and informal administration. In this encounter, the stakes for the nation’s intel­ lectual life and social progress are very high, for until force can be made to yield to persuasion, there will be a grave danger that university affairs, including the conduct of individual students, will come under an improper measure of control by the political representatives of an alienated public. § B from “The Fabric o f Universities” by F. Champion Ward, published in the Ford Foundation Annual Report for 1968 56

JEWISH LIFE

In retrospect, it seems that what Lakeville Jews had unconsciously been most concerned with was the possibility o f another holocaust. They evidently felt that their sense o f self-worth depended on their helping to prevent such a disaster; and they feared that if Israel, which had created something new, clean and good out o f the ashes o f the Hitler holocaust, were to go down, it would altogether destroy the meaning o f Jewish existence. This, rather than simply Israel as such, was what moved them during the crisis; and so, when the crisis passed, Israel moved back to its usual place among their concerns. . . .

To observant Jews, involvement in Jewish organizations, particularly if it is connected with performing mitzvot and maasim tovim (good works), is a legiti­ mate, necessary religious activity. To the less observant, on the other hand, it offers a secular alternative to religion - a means o f expressing Jewish identity without the rigors o f religious sanction. Thanks to the large number o f Jewish organizations, Jews who have only the weakest o f ties with religious Judaism can yet maintain some sort o f association with the Jewish community. Indeed, cer­ tain Jewish groups have a special attraction for people alienated from religion. from “Not Quite at Home” published by the American Jewish Committee

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L e tte rs to th e E d ito r ‘PERSONAL MORALITY’ New York, N.Y. I wish to take strong exception to Morris Smith’s article (January 1969), “The Current State o f Personal Morality.” I am particularly concerned with the overall ap­ proach Mr. Smith takes to the Torah’s view of “personal morality.” Mr. Smith gives us a Torah definition o f “personal morality” strictly in terms of an individual’s sex life and habits. Thus he would have us believe that the Torah would consider anyone who does not misconduct himself in this regard as “personally moral.” Unfortunately, it is this very overemphasis on sex, to the exclu­ sion o f the whole spectrum of interpersonal Torah responsibilities —the Mitzvoth Beyn Odom Lechavero —which is greatly respon­ sible for the gross distortion of “personal morality” in this society.

When character assasination —leshon hora — becomes a public pastime; when the fast buck, the tax loophole, and the promo­ tion rat-race become ends in themselves and home and family are reduced to status symbols; when you can listen to the screams o f your next-door neighbor being knifed on the street below and “not want to get in­ volved”; then, indeed our standards of “per­ sonal morality” must be narrowed to the confines of sex.

Thus the very lines along which the article is drawn are themselves a very sad testimony to “The Current State of Personal Morality.” No doubt the turgid rehashing of APRIL 1969

warmed-over Kinsey report style statistics is reassuring to those o f us who do not harbor homosexual tendencies or venereal disease, but they are all too well known and ex­ ploited by this time to deserve such extend­ ed treatment in a magazine called JEWISH LIFE. Mr. Smith also seems to be enamoured with the Puritan origins o f our legal system, and the moral (that is, sexual) laws that stem from it. I think it only fair to add that the “blue laws,” which impede Torah life —^ and particularly Sabbath observance —in many states, also stem from these same puri­ tanical sources. I also wonder at Mr. Smith’s implied wish for a return to a more puritan­ ical legal code, which would be, at best, a mixed blessing, and a rather artificial at­ tempt to legislate morality (Prohibition any­ one?).

I would also challenge Mr. Smith’s list of so-called “Enlightened” principles. His first: “Man is a creature o f logic who is cap­ able o f solving all o f his problems by reason alone.. . ” was conclusively disproved to the academic community by Kant in “A Cri­ tique o f Pure Reason” back in 1781. I find it difficult to believe that anyone who fits the “Enlightened” category cán adhere to that idea, dead and buried almost two hund­ red years.

Mr. Smith would also limit to the “Enlightened” the fourth principle: “The pursuit o f happiness and the attainment o f comfort are primary goals of the individual, to which he has a natural ‘right’.” I refer him to the Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776), and the clause dealing with 59

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“life, liberty, and the pursuit o f happiness. ” I suggest that our basic disagreement with the “Enlightened” lies more in how our hap­ piness is to be pursued, and what true hap­ piness is.

Mr. Smith also implies criticism o f the “Enlightened” attitude: “. . . that all im­ moral actions are the consequence o f dis­ ease . . . : ” This same concept, however, is quoted by Rashi (Bemidbor 5:12) from the Talmud (Sotah 3a).

In his summation, Mr. Smith makes the statement: “We must demand public in­ stitutions (schools, courts, etc.) in conso­ nance with our religious needs . . . ” because present institutions too often promote “ sec­ ular religion.” I wonder if Mr. Smith really believes that the current practice of not preaching any particular theological doc­ trine in the public schools is more harmful to our Jewish children than the required readings from the so-called “New Testa­ ment” prevalent not too many years ago.

Does he feel that the teaching o f evolution and other modem scientific theories pose that great a challenge to the Torah? Let me assure him that they do not. And does he believe that if religious thinking does be­ come prominent in our schools and courts again, that it is likely to be Jewish, and that Torah Judaism will be better off as a result?

The lessons o f history make me doubt it.

But in closing, I feel that basically Mr. Smith’s sexually preoccupied article falls prey to the root moral disease o f our society by ignoring it in favor o f its more sensa­ tional symptoms. Oui'“Enlightened” youth have lost respect for our sexual mores only because we have lost our respect for the worth of the individual in most other as­ pects of our day-to-day lives. Only when we can restore meaning and value to each hu­ man life in our depersonalizing mass society through the concept of our Torah responsi­ bilities — Beyn Odom Lechavero —a pas­ sionate personal involvement (in its best sense) with our fellow man; only then can Mr. Smith’s limited concept o f personal morality be expected to become a natural

APRIL 1969

part o f life in our society.

Let us not forget the lesson of Rabbi Akiva’s students who, although they were great Torah scholars, died because they did not have the proper respect for one another.

The fault lies not with our schools or our courts, Mr. Smith, but with ourselves.

Yaakov Komreich

MR. SMITH REPLIES: Initially some clarification o f terms is advisable. In the first draft o f the article, there were definitions other than those pre­ sented in the magazine. One o f these de­ fined Personal Morality as “referring to con­ ducts, viewpoints, philosophy, etc., of the individual which are concerned with sexual behavior.” This application o f the words “ personal morality” is not uncommon among social scientists; it is to be regretted that our correspondent is not familiar with our use o f the term and therefore felt that ethical practices - Mitzvoth Beyn Odom Lechavero - were being denigrated. The scope o f the article, as established by the magazine’s staff, was deliberately limited to “personal morality” as defined above, not because ethical practices are considered un­ important (I find it difficult to restrain a feeling o f resentment that Mr. Komreich could impute such an indictment against JEWISH LIFE or myself), but because it was felt that the subject is o f major impor­ tance and unique enough to warrant special individual attention.

With respect to our correspondent’s dislike for the Puritans, the propaganda o f the Enlightened, which permeates our litera­ ture and our educational systems, stigma­ tizes two groups, the Pharisees and the Puri­ tans. Most people who are involved in the field o f social action, as I have been for more than thirty years, develop a distorted viewpoint vis-a-vis both groups (Jews are no exception); modem educated religious Jews rarely are made aware o f the similarity of their views to those o f the Puritans. One 61

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may appreciate their significant contribu­ tions to our present culture without con­ doning their fallacies and faults. For ex­ ample, our modem public school system was started in that stronghold of Puritanism, Massachusetts. Nor should we shrink with disgust from such terms as moral legislation and prohibitions. The Jew who accepts the yoke of the Torah subjects himself to the Creator’s prohibitions and regulations, with­ out feeling that they are unnatural and arti­ ficial.

Kant’s disagreement with my first principle of the Enlightened may have con­ vinced part of the academic world but it has not permanently or even temporarily de­ stroyed the idea for some of the Enlight­ ened. Vide the faith in science, the muted beliefs of the Communists, the fantastic faith in the power of communication per se to resolve all problems, etc. (Parenthetically, it may be that my definition of the Enlight­ ened differs from that of Mr. Komreich, and that we may have a problem in communica­ tion. My comments follow the connotations of the article.) Belief in the power of reason regularly and cyclically is pitted against the distrust of reason and the corresponding faith in instinct. It is this belief that sparked the French Revolution, which in turn drove it into temporary hiding; it has increased and waned since that period, but never has been interred.

My fourth principle of the Enlight­ ened is not in conflict with either the De­ claration of Independence or the life of joy and happiness which our Torah espouses.

The Enlightened who accepts this idea dif­ fers with basic American and Jewish atti­ tudes by establishing personal happiness as the fundamental principle, to which all others, including religion and ethical living, are subordinate. Basically the principle is that of Bentham’s Utilitarianism (“Nature has placed mankind under the sway of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do”). To the believing Jew this concept is APRIL 1969

paganism of the lowest type.

The reference by our correspondent to Sotah 3a is not pertinent to the Enlight­ ened principle referred to. The well-known concept in question, stated by Resh Lachish, is that “No man sinneth unless the spirit of folly (ruach shtoos) has entered in­ to him.” Our Rabbis never considered that this philosophical statement provided justifi­ cation for sinning; it does not refute our understanding that man is a creature of free-will, capable of good deeds and respon­ sible for his own sins. To free man from all responsibility for his errors and to blame them entirely or in large measure on illness, on nature, or chance, is foreign to our be­ liefs.

My comments concerning the school issue are necessarily brief; space limitations preclude doing it justice. Mr. Kornreich’s re­ marks are typical of the one-sided views too often presented by Jewish proponents of the Wall of Separation. It should be noted that the article offers no positive viewpoint or program on this matter; instead it urges a more meaningful consideration by Jewish scholars in terms of our modern conditions and needs. Current Jewish policy, as indi­ cated in our correspondent’s letter, is con­ cerned largely with the wrong battle. Basic to this policy is the thesis that we must deal only with the same types of attacks as those to which our ancestors were subjected, that we are concerned today only with imposi­ tion of fallacious theological doctrines. For the past fifty years in this country, the at­ tack on and attrition of Jewish principles (even a Gentile atheist like Sartre under­ stands this) has stemmed primarily from the secularists. The deaths of the Six Million, the current mental and physical pogroms in the Communist world —these are not based on theological differences. And in this coun­ try the loss to Judaism of many of our youth and many of their parents is not to the church but to the ranks of the Enlight­ ened. The course promoted by our Separationists guards the wrong gate.

Over-all, I sense (and I hope that I am 63

wrong in my interpretation) that Mr. Korn­ reich implies that ethics without personal morality are satisfactory If or that personal morality is secondary or of relatively little significance. The importance of refuting this pernicious misconception is noted in one of the questions posited in the article sum­ mary - how are we to contend with the thesis which places human interests on one side and the Creator and His (personal) moral demands on the other? That both ethics and sexual morality are fundamental to Torah Judaism is unquestioned - one is not permitted to determine for one’s self which of the Mitzvoth one will accept and which one will gloss over. Our ancestors pro­ vided themselves and us with a code in the field of sex relations that considered in de­

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tail the serious complexities which confront men and women in the moral side of their conduct. This code is not that which is pre­ scribed in the handbook of the Enlightened, who find it absurd, irrational, superstitious, unnatural, even a barrier to èfhical practices.

He mouths the cliches of the day —rele­ vance, involvement, meaning and value, communication, etc. —as shibboleths to cure the world’s ills. Unhappily there are Jews, even those with good religious back­ ground, who have become conditioned to lean on the same catch phrases. One of our serious modem problems is to provide suit­ able Torah-based guidance and education to inhibit this attachment to secular human­ ism.

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L I’ NEW YORK

To a people with a strong tradition of intellectual pursuit, the college campus became a natural magnet for the flowers of its youth. But the silent undertones that became corrosive overtones are causing sensitive re-examinations as to whether all is as was thought, or hoped, to be.

ARNOLD BLUMBERG, Professor of Diplomatic History at Towson State College in Baltimore, and author of a recent book dealing with the diplomacy of the Mexican Empire from 1863-67, reflects at close hand upon the changing texture of a once-green pasture . . . . From another sphere of intellectual pursuit, of longer tradition and deeper impress —the Beth Medrosh —comes a distinctively American phenom­ enon, the Ben-Torah in the business world, incisively observed by BERNARD MERLING. Graduate of Mesivta Torah Vodaath and of Brooklyn College, formerly on the staff of Torah Umesorah, and author of numerous articles that have appeared in Anglo-Jewish periodicals, he is currently in the advertising business, and resides in Kew Gardens, New York . . . . One of the many pleasant developments resulting from the establishment of the State of Israel is the path being more-and-more beaten toward that nation from the Port of New York. The bulk of the traffic is temporary: tourists, students, and the like. However, the Oleh —the American citizen voluntarily choosing to change his domi­ cile closer to where Abraham lived —is slowly elbowing his way along this route. DAVID STEIN, veteran citizen of the Lower East Side of Manhattan, is one such Oleh —at least half of one, or perhaps even three-quarters . . . . How does a Jew structure his community in relation to his environment? MARC D. ANGEL, a rabbinical student at Yeshiva University holding the Sephardic Studies Fellowship there, describes an example of vitality in adjustment —in Istanbul, Turkey’s capital JERRY HOCHBAUM, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Yeshiva University, and Community Consultant of the National Jewish Com­ munity Relations Advisory Council, whose views of American Jewish problems have appeared previously in JEWISH LIFE, focuses this time upon the evolving personality of the orthodox Jewish teenager. . . .

JONATHAN KELLERMAN of Los Angeles was a student at UCLA when he left to study at Yeshivath Kerem B’Yavneh in Israel. After certain historical occurrences, he wrote a poem which he sent home, saying: “It’s an expression of my personal feelings.” His mother says: “My son is a Yeshivah boy but his sentiments re his Jewishness were never expressed verbally. I think his year in Israel has crystallized for him what an essentially unique people the Jewish people are. In this age where especially on the campus there are so many unsavory pulls and pressures on our youth, I am grateful for his feelings.”

H e r e a r e s o m e o f th e H e in z V a r ie tie s w h ic h c a r r y o n th e ir la b e ls th e © s e a l o f a p p r o v a l o f th e THE UNION OF ORTHODOX CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA.

H- J. HEINZ COMPANY