Jewish Life Jan-Feb 1971 by Jewish Action

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The emergence of a “Minhag Israel” becomes especially meaningful when seen through the eyes of as keen an observer of the Israel scene as DR. L O U IS I. R A B IN O W IT Z . He was Chief Rabbi of South Africa until he immigrated to Israel ten years ago, where he is now Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopedia Judaica (with which two other contributors to this issue are also associated). . . F R E D R O S N E R , M.D. and R A B B I S E Y M O U R G R U M E T join forces here in bringing our readers insight on both the medical and Halachic aspects of the abortion question. Dr. Rosner is Director of the Division of Hematology, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Jamaica, New York, and Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York; a member of the Editorial Board of Medica Judaica and a Contributing Editor to the Encyclopedia Judaica; author of four books on the medical writings and aphorisms of Moses Maimonides; and author of “Heart and Other Organ Transplantation and Jewish Law ” (JEW ISH L IF E , September-October 1969) and other articles in medical-Halochah. Rabbi Grumet, ordained by the Mesifta Torah Vodaath and a doctoral student in education in New York University, is an assistant principal in a New York City elementary school, and principal of the Community Hebrew High School of New Rochelle, New Y o r k . ... Those who have been following the biographical series by DR. A A R O N R O T H K O F F on Torah luminaries of the past gener ations need no introduction to him. For JEW ISH L IF E newcomers, let him be known as a resident of Jerusalem and a staff member of the Encyclopedia Judaica.... C H A R L E S R A D D O C K appeared in JEW ISH L IF E first in 1947, came back twice in 1961, and re-appeared last year (“The Bachelor Chossid from Prague,” May-June). He is a free-lance writer and author of “Portrait of a People,” a work on Jewish history. . .. DR. S IM O N L. E C K S T E IN , Rabbi of Congregation Beth Shalom in Ottawa, Canada, received Semichah and a doctorate in Hebrew literature from Yeshiva University----- When E F R E M Z U R O F F graduated as a history major in June, 1970 from Yeshiva College, he took a short trip to Mexico. His vacationing eye did not escape the article around him. He is now enrolled at the Institute of Contemporary Jewry of the Hebrew University under a Bauman Scholarship..... R A B B I N A T H A N K O P S of Congregation Shevet Achim Chaverim Kol Yisrael, in Montreal, again brings our readers the fruits of his researches in the spiritual geography of the Holy Land. He previously contributed to these pages in May-June 1969 (“The Precincts of Holiness”). His present article “would be most appropriate. . .as many tourists go to Israel.. .and they are sure to be intrigued by the ongoing ‘digs’.”. .. . F L O R E N C E J E A N N E G O O D M A N of Los Angeles, California, whose verse appears here for the first time, writes: “M y poems have appeared in newspapers and magazines of varying degrees o f obscurity and have been read with pleasant results in various likely and unlikely places. I teach English with great hope and few results at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, California.”

Vol. X X X V III, No. 3/January-February 1971/Shevat-Adar 5731

THE EDITO R'S VIEW

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JL ife Saul B ernstein, Editor Dr. H erbert G oldstein L ibby Klaperman Dr. Jacob W. Landynski Rabbi S o lo m o n J. Sharfman Editorial Associates Elkanah Schwartz Assistant Editor JEWISH LIFE is published b i-m on th ly. Subscription tw o years $ 5 .0 0 , three years $ 6 .5 0 , f o u r years $ 8 .0 0 . Foreign: A d d 4 0 c e n t s p e r year. Editorial and Publication O ffice: 8 4 F ifth Avenue N ew Y ork, N .Y . 1 0 011 (2 1 2 ) AL 5 -4 1 0 0 Published by UNIO N OF ORTH O DO X JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA Joseph Karasick President Harold M. Jacobs Chairman o f the Board Sam uel C.. Feuerstein, Honor ary , Chairman o f the Board; Benjam in K oenigsberg, Senior V ic e President; N athan K. Gross, Harold H. Boxer, David P o liti, Dr. Bernard Lander, Lawrence A. K obrin, Julius B e r m a n , V ic e Presidents; Eugene H ollander, Treasurer; Morris L. Green, Honorary Treasurer; Joel Balsam, Secre tary; D aniel Greer, Financial Secretary Dr. Sam son R. Weiss Executive Vice President Saul Bernstein, Administrator S econ d Class Postage paid at N ew Y ork, N .Y .

AND NOW, CHILE................................................. ....2

A RT IC LES THE MORALITY OF INDUCED ABORTION/ Fred Rosner and Seymour M. Grumet........... 5 TOWARDS THE ESTABLISHMENT OF “MINHAG ISRAEL”/ Louis I. Rabinowitz.......................................... 13 THE MAID FROM LUDMIR/ Charles Raddock................................................18 MEXICAN JEWRY/ Efrem Zuroff........................... 29 THE HIDDEN MIRACLE OF PURIM/ Simon Eckstein..................................................35 CHALLENGE OF THE OPEN SOCIETY/ Judah S. Cohen..................................................40 FROM DESTRUCTION TO EXCAVATION H 1900 YEARS/ Nathan Kops...................................................... 46 THE*BAAL TORAH TEMIMAH/ Aaron Rothkoff......................

POETRY MA’ARIV/ Florence Jeanne Goodman............................. 28

BOOK REVIEW S CARICATURE OF JUDAISM/ Henry Biberfeld.................................................60 TWO FOR THE RECORD/ Nancy Herskovitz............................................. 63

DEPARTM ENTS FROM HERE AND THERE..................................... 65 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR....................................71 AMONG OUR CONTRIBUTORS, inside front cover Cover and drawings by Naama Kitov Drawings on pages 34, 39, and 59 by David Adler C opyright 1 9 7 1 b y U nion o f O rth odox Jew ish Congregations o f A m e r ic a . M aterial from JEWISH LIFE , including illustrations, m ay n ot be reproduced ex cep t b y w ritten perm ission from this m agazine follow in g w ritten request.

the EDITOR'S VIEW

AN D NOW, CHILE HE coming into power of a Marxist-led coalition of leftist forces in Chile can have far-reaching consequences. World Jewry as well as the Chilean Jewish community, the world power constellation as well as the domestic Chilean scene and the rela tions between Chile and its neighbors, will feel the effects of the revolutionary change. Chile’s Jewish community, numbering some 35,000 and consisting largely of business and professional families, fears drastic elimination from the country’s economy. They are appre hensive too of the onset of a totalitarian atmosphere in which Jewish religious and communal life would be stifled. And beyond this, Chilean Jews foresee the extension to Chile of Soviet-gen erated antisemitism. A substantial proportion of the Jewish populace has already left the country and many of the remainder contemplate doing so, according to reports. Chile’s new President, Dr. Salvador Allende Gossens, has made earnest efforts to allay Jewish fears. While the sincerity of his assurances is fully re spected, it is widely felt that other influences and the weight of inevitable developments will have contrary force, leading to dire results. Though serious enough in its internal dimensions, the problem touches the security of Jewish communities throughout Latin America and perhaps ultimately throughout the Western hemisphere.

JEWISH LIFE

Widened Kremlin Foothold

There can be little doubt that under the new regime, Soviet influence will be strong, and perhaps dominant. Already having a firm foothold in the Western hemisphere via Cuba, and with the situation in Peru lending itself to a Kremlin role, Communist Russia will now have a multiple base in the area. This gives her much power of maneuver not only against the rest of Latin America K a i l of it struggling with grave economic, social, and political problems — but also against the United States. The inter national balance of power is thus sharply affected. In view of the implacable hostility of the Kremlin to Judaism and Jewry, the extension of imperial Soviet power to this hemisphere represents a threat to the Jewish communities in both Americas. The danger to Jews is of course overshadowed by the much wider danger to Western hemisphere security. In light of the reality of this danger, it is not to be expected.that the United States will simply sit with folded hands under the threat of encirclement. But the situation is an extremely difficult one to cope with and the Kremlin's proven ability for deft exploitation of American perplexities will undoubtedly find wide scope. View ing, however, the enormous strength of the United States and its resources of brainpower, we cannot fail to believe that these capacities -- however entangled and lured into self-defeating channels — must eventually prove more than a match for a Communist empire whose reach so far exceeds its grasp. O R Jews, the situation calls for the application of strength and brainpower too. For us too the problem presents tortuous difficulties, not to be met by slick moves or head-on chargings. But it would be a fatal mistake to remain transfixed in an attitude of helpless resignation while, whether by force of circumstances or by brute force, yet another Jewry is stripped of its means and evicted. It is tempting to see a ready solution to the dilemma of Chilean Jewry in Aliyah to Israel. Aliyah is a Mitzvah in season at all times and under all circumstances and Israel needs, wants, and rightfully seeks the greatest possible number of Olim. But, with one Jewry after another dispropriated, expelled, and extin guished, the question must be faced: Are we Jews to forfeit the right to live, and to live freely as Jews, in the lands of our domi cile? To go to Israel by free choice is one thing; to flee to it under

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It's Happening Now

duress is something else again; and the sacred right of the one is not to be permitted to vitiate the iniquitous wrong of the other. A stock-taking of the sequence of post World War II mass migrations necessitated by danger to Jewish existence, whether or not accompanied by direct threat to life, must shatter illusion: All the countries of central and eastern Europe, all the countries of the Arab world, Soviet Jewry straining for release, now, seem ingly, Peru and Chile — and next... .? This is happening now, not in the Middle Ages but in the enlightened era of the Modern World. It is in this very era of mastery of nature and overthrowal of age-old bars to human freedom that the right of the Jew to his home, livelihood, and community, a right unchallenged for others, is being silently but definitively cut off. The situation of Chile’s Jews must be dealt with in the perspective of world-wide challenge to the right of Jewish ex istence. If that right is denied anywhere and the denial is permitted to stand, it will sooner or later, Heaven forfend, be denied everywhere, even for the Jews of the western democracies, even for the Jews of Israel itself. Geographically, the Chilean Jewish community is at the periphery of the Jewish world but in the complex of world Jewish affairs it stands right now at the very center. Jewish policy must be governed accordingly.

I S.B.

JEWISH LIFE

The MORALITY of INDUCED ABORTION

by FRED ROSNER and SEYM O UR M. GRUM ET INTRODUCTION H E R E are two extreme viewpoints in the abortion controversy. One says that there is no moral justification for abortion. The other proclaims that it is a woman’s right to have an abortion on demand. In the last few years, the debate has become heated and sometimes even borders on fist fights. “ Reform” or “repeal” are the words of today’s abortion discussions. Prior to 1967, induced abortion in every state of the Union was considered a crime unless performed to save the mother’s life. Why did three states (Colorado, North Carolina, and California) reform their abortion laws in 1967? Why did Georgia and Maryland follow suit in 1968? Why did five additional states in 1969 (New Mexico, Arkansas, Delaware, Oregon, Kansas) and five more in 1970 (New York, Hawaii, Virginia, South Carolina, and Alaska) reform their abortion laws? These fifteen states now allow abortion for pregnancy resulting from rape or incest, or where the fetus may be born malformed physically, or deficient mentally, or where the mother’s life or health are threatened. Why have federal and local courts in the past two years declared the abortion laws in five states (Texas, California, Wisconsin, Illinois, and the District of Columbia) un constitutional? Why does it appear as if many other states will soon either reform or repeal their abortion laws? Legislation to legalize abortion on a nation wide basis has been introduced in the United States Senate by Sen. Robert Packwood (Democrat) of Oregon.

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Why is the abortion controversy and movement for reform or repeal only a few years old? The past few years seem to' have heralded a time for change. W hy? What has happened in the United States to move even the ultra-conserva tive American Medical Association (A M A ) to twice modify its archaic 1871 position which sanctioned abortion only to save the mother’s life? In 1967, the A M A House of Delegates adopted a resolution stating that it is not opposed to abortion if 1. 2. 3.

there is documented medical evidence that continuance of the pregnancy may threaten the health or life of the mother, or there is documented medical evidence that the infant may be born with in capacitating physical deformity, or mental deficiency, or, there is documented medical evidence that continuance of a pregnancy, result ing from legally established statutory or forcible rape or incest, may constitute a threat to the mental or physical healtfrof the patient.

In 1970, the A M A adopted another resolution which is interpreted by many to indicate that the A M A favors abortion on demand. In fact, the resolu tion, which is a substantial liberalization over the 1967 A M A position, places abortion in the position of being a decision between the patient and her physician. In addition, it safeguards physicians who object to abortion. The resolution’s exact wording follows: Whereas, abortion, like any other medical procedure, should not be performed when contrary to the best interests of the patient since good medical practice requires due consideration for the patient’s demands; and Whereas, the standards of sound clinical judgement, which, together with in formed consent, should be determinative according to the merits of each individual case; therefore be it Resolved, That abortion is a medical procedure and should be performed only by a duly licensed physician and surgeon in an accredited hospital acting only after consultation with two other physicians chosen because of their professional com petency and in conformance with standards of good medical practice and the Medical Practice Act of his State; and be it further Resolved, That no physician or other professional personnel shall be compelled to perform any act which violates his good medical judgement. Neither physician, hospital, nor hospital personnel shall be required to perform any act violative of personally held moral principles. In these circumstances good medical practice re quires only that the physician or other professional personnel withdraw from the case so long as the withdrawal is consistent with good medical practice.

REASONS FOR ABORTION REFORM S there a new moral climate in our society, as some people claim, that has caused all the above changes? Why has our moral code been altered? By whom? Is there increased premarital sex leading to more pregnancies, as some statistics seem to indicate? Are there more contraceptive failures with increased numbers of unwanted pregnancies? Numerous reasons put forth by protagonists

JEWISH LIFE

of abortion reform have in fact been applicable for several decades, rather than just for several years. For example, population control, women’s rights, and the ending of illegal abortions by putting abortionists out of business, are points of controversy that have been debated for many, many years. Major impetus for abortion reform in the various state legislatures fol lowed two incidents that occurred in the United States in the early 1960’s. In 1962, an Arizona housewife, Mrs. Sherri Finkbine of Phoenix, early in preg nancy, took a tranquilizing pill called thalidomide. This drug had produced approximately seven thousand deformed babies, usually born without arms or legs, in women who took this medication during the first few months of preg nancy. Mrs. Finkbine, denied an abortion in her own state of Arizona and in several other states, finally went to Sweden where an abortion verified the fact that her baby would have been born with only stumps instead of arms and legs. Two years later, in 1964, a major German measles e"pidemic in the United States resulted in the birth of many thousands of physically and mentally de formed babies as well as many other thousands of stillborn infants, over and above the expected number for a comparable period. Thus, the thalidomide and German measles tragedies, occurring in rapid succession, provided the stimulus for Colorado to become the first state to reform its abortion law on April 25, 1967. Although the legal status of abortion in this country and abroad has drastically changed in the past few years, the Jewish viewpoint as governed by Halochah (Jewish law) toward abortion remains unchanged. For a detailed dis cussion of the Jewish attitude toward abortion and abortion in Halachic litera ture, the reader is referred to two articles in the Winter 1968 issue of the journal Tradition, published by the Rabbinical Council of America. The remainder of this paper examines the morality of abortion from the Jewish viewpoint. We ask the reader to consider the various reasons for abortion requests by the mother: the physical (thalidomide or German measles infection), the emo tional (the unwed mother or the accidental pregnancyy), the social (the unwed mother), and the economic (impoverished or overpopulated families). It would appear that the physical reason would statistically be the least likely to be given. The major thrust of our thesis, therefore, will be directed to those women, physicians, legislators, and other interested parties who would cite emotional, social, or economic reasons.

THE MORALITY OF ABORTION H E destruction of the unborn fetus, although Halachically not considered murder, can be considered to constitute “moral murder.” The unborn baby has a heartbeat, a brain, arms, legs, and nearly everything with which a

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healthy newborn baby is endowed.. Thus, killing the unborn fetus, according to Chief Rabbi Unterman of Israel, is an ‘‘appurtenance of murder” and strictly prohibited although, because of a legal technicality, such an act is not considered murder for which the death penalty is imposed. The major Biblical citation dealing with abortion, a passage in Shemoth (Exodus 2 1 :22-23), concerns accidental abortion, not intentional or induced abortion, a deed initiated at the outset (lechatchilah). Therefore, one can argue that premeditated interruption of pregnancy is not allowed except perhaps to save the life or preserve the health (mental or physical) of the mother. Though some may cite Jewish law which may not impose a death penalty upon the mother or the person performing the abortion, there may, however, prevail a Rabbinic concept of a non-penalized but prohibited act (potur avol ossur). The concept of time seems all important. If one destroys a baby five minutes after birth, it is considered murder, legally and Halachically; yet if one destroys the fetus five minutes before it is born, such an act is not murder. Why not? What is the difference? Certainly it is moral murder, although perhaps not legal murder. The same principle applies if one destroys a baby five hours, five days, or five months before and after birth. To some people, abortion is acceptable if done prior to the time the fetus might be expected to live. How then is life defined? Must there be a heartbeat? Limbs? Is not the fertilized zygote already alive? Does life mean that which is able to duplicate itself in the biological sense? Does life refer to the stage of fetal development when physical movement is first detected? Or is life the “breath of life” instilled in a newborn infant immediately after the birth process? The recent era of heart transplanta tion forced society, the medical community particularly, to re-examine the definition of death. The present abortion controversy and the question of legal murder versus moral murder seems todemanda re-examination of the definition of life. H E next moral issue is the question of potentiality. The unborn fetus, if left alone, may turn out to be a genius. Or he may just be a person of normal intelligence. Or, if physically deformed, he may still make a positive contribution to society. In the secular world, should we not cite the contribu tions made by such handicapped or deformed human beings as Helen Keller, Ludwig von Beethoven, and Henri de Toulouse Lautrec? Or in our religious experience, should we not marvel at the learned and soul-rending contributions made by the blind Talmudic scholars Rav Sheshes and Rav Yosef, the unsightly Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananyah, and the limbless Rabbi Am non of Mayence (author of the renowned Unethaneh Tokef prayer recited on the High Holy Days)? The potential of an unborn infant is unknown. However, as Chief Rabbi Unterman points out, the potential human being, i.e., the unborn fetus, if left

JEWISH LIFE

alone, will develop into an actual human being. Hence, this potential person (sofek nefesh) has enough status to prohibit its destruction. Jewish law also allows, and in fact requires, that one desecrate the Sabbath to save the life or health of the unborn fetus in order that the fetus may observe many Sabbaths later, after it is born. The Talmud compares the unborn fetus to an extra appendage of the mother (ubar yerech imo h u ), destruction or damage to which requires that financial remuneration be paid to the mother for pain, shame, anguish, medical bills, inability to work, and the like. However, how can one compare the unborn fetus to a finger of the mother? If one destroys a finger, the woman has lost a finger which would never have become anything other than a finger. The unborn fetus, if left alone, would have developed into a full and complete human being. Philosophical-moral arguments against abortion are also very potent. If a woman becomes pregnant, then certainly Almighty G-d so willed it. How dare we interfere? Even if the child might be born physically deformed, this too is the will of G-d. One is reminded of the encounter between King Hezekiah and the Prophet Isaiah as described in the Talmud (Berochoth 10a): The Holy One, Blessed be He, brought sufferings upon Hezekiah and then said to Isaiah: Go visit the sick, For it is written* In those days\:Hezekiah was, sick unto death, and Isaiah, the prophet, son o f A moz, came to him and said unto him, Thus f~orc^> y ° ur h°use in order, fo r you shall die and not live, etc. (Isaiah 3 8:1). What is the meaning of you shall die and no t live? You shall die in this world and not live in the World-to-Come. [Hezekiah] said to [Isaiah]: Why so bad? [I§aiah] repliedd: Because you did not try to have children. [Hezekiah]ifpaid: The reason was because I saw by the holy spirit that the children Issuing from me-would not be virtuous. [Isaiah] said to [Hezekiah] : What have you to do with the secrets of the All-Merciful? You should have done what you were commanded, and let the Holy One, blessed be He, do that which pleases H im .. . (Although this defiance of G-d’s will by Hezekiah was punished, the outcome of the story is a happy one: Hezekiah was healed and lived another fifteen years.)

King Hezekiah apparently knew that his children would be morally corrupt so he put aside the “first” commandment of the Torah which states: “be fruitful and multiply , and he did not take a wife. However, Isaiah charges him with lacking faith. In a similar vein, is not the faith in the Alm ighty’s future being challenged by the mother who requests abortion because she can see no way of solving her future social or economic difficulty? A further philosophical argument against abortion contends that through out the ages, millions of Jews have perished at the hands of their enemies. Are we today to kill even more by performing indiscriminate abortion? Certainly not! The State of Israel needs Jews. Yet, according to a report by Britain’s Chief Rabbi Dr. Immanuel Jakobovits, 50,000 induced abortions yearly may be per formed in Israel. Since the birth of the State of Israel in 1948, over 1,000,000 potential Jews may have thus been “aborted.” Such facts and figures, as JANUARY-FEBRUARY

shocking as they seem, may nevertheless be true. ET us turn to some of the possible consequences of liberalized abortion laws. If abortion on demand becomes a nationwide practice, will legal infanticide follow? Legal genocide? Legal extermination of social misfits as# Hitler proposed? Legal euthanasia? Where does the trend end? What about psychological consequences to the mother? After the abortion is over, she

cannot change her mind.The deed is done. The next area to be discussed is the decision-making process. Who decides whether an abortion is to be performed? Why only the mother? How about the father? Has he nothing td say? Why not? Why should not the boy-friend be consulted if an unwed pregnant girl seeks an abortion? How about the siblings of the unborn fetus? Should they have a say in this matter? Furthermore, to use a “Catholic” argument, who speaks for the fetus? We have a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Against Animals, a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Against Children, yet there is no Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Against Fetuses. Theoretically, if we could communicate with the fetus and ask it whether it would still choose life if it knew that it would be born without arms or legs, the answer would doubtless be a resounding “Yes.” If the fetus were told he would be the twelfth child in a very poor family living in a very small apartment, he would still probably choose life. So who speaks for the fetus in the decision-making process concerning an abortion? Why is the mother the major, if not the only, determining factor? Why should we, society, not speak for the fetus? In divorce proceedings, the courts decide the disposition of the involved children, if any. Why should not the courts have a say about the continued life of the fetus? The woman, as all h^man beings, was created in the image of G-d, and thus is not the sole owner of her body and soul', to treat as she pleases. She has no right to take her own life, i.e., to commit suicide, for the same reason. G-d wills it that we live, and live by the Torah. Turning to the unwed girl who is pregnant, the dilemma is severe indeed. Which is better, to have the baby and to give it away, or to destroy it before it is born? How would she feel in giving her child away for adoption to a foster mother? How would she feel in aborting her pregnancy? The argument that this unfortunate girl should not have become pregnant is no consolation to her present predicament. Should this mother-to-be be permitted to extinguish the life of what will probably be a healthy human being in order to avert her personal shame or a socially unpleasant situation?

JEWISH LIFE

ET us now briefly examine the moral issues involved in the various social reasons proposed for liberalizing abortion. Practically everyone loyal to Jewish law would subscribe to the proposition that to sacrifice a potential life to save an actual living person is permissible, if there is danger to the latter. But even if abortion in thalidomide and German measles cases were allowed, should abortion for social reasons, or abortion on demand, be permitted? In such a situation (i.e., poverty, inadequate housing, accidental pregnancy, etc.), one is sacrificing a potential life solely for the convenience or happiness of an adult, either mother or father, or both.

If one is told to kiil somebody or to be killed, one is not allowed to kill because one may not set aside one person’s life for that of another. True, the unborn fetus is only a potential life, but why should the mother be able to spill her unborn baby’s blood? Why is her convenience more valuable than a potential life? If a woman seeks an abortion for social reasons, might not the social conditions change? Perhaps the family’s financial situation will improve. Per haps larger living quarters will be provided to the family. Is not the abortion for social reasons a denial of o n e ’s faith in G-d and His ability to provide sustenance? There are alternatives to the mother of eleven children seeking an abortion because she cannot afford or has no room for another child, or is emotionally drained by the present eleven children. Jewish foster homes are available. An Israeli kibbutz might be the answer for some. A t a time when Israel appeals for increased immigration and population growth, shouldn’t these unborn souls be given an opportunity for fulfillment in a homeland which begs for increased manpower? Society should help to see the implementation of such solutions, rather than help to see the implementation and spread of liberalised abortion. H E R E are other reasons, moral and otherwise, which speak against legalized abortion. When a married woman or an unwed girl has an abor tion, what guarantee does she have that she can ever become pregnant again? Is she so certain that the Divine mystery of conception will be hers again? Should she not pause and ask herself, ‘‘Will I ever regret denying myself this ultimate of feminine fulfillment, if I should never conceive again?” Might it not happen that an abortion is contra-indicated for medical or psychiatric reasons? If a physician can reject a woman for abortion because of such a contra-indication, why should the abortion request not be rejected by the physician or society because of a moral contra-indication? If induced abortion becomes commonplace, will there not be an undermining or subversion of the ethics of medical practice? Will there be a shift from the “healer” physician to the “exterminator” physician?

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A totally new moral issue has been recently raised by a report from England which claims that aborted fetuses are being sold for medical research. Who should have the say regarding the disposal of the fetus? The woman? The father? The gynecologist? The pathologist? Society? Who? Jewish morality and law require burial not only for a dead body but for removed human organs (for example, as a result of an operation or an accidental amputation) as well. Our Sages refer to the human body and its parts as “vessels which contain the human soul.” How coarse, therefore, are those who would deal with, and profit from, the sale of the fetus, this potential “soul container.” Concluding Note HE Halachic, legal, medical, theological, psychiatric, and other aspects of abortion have been presented in great detail in numerous books, pamphlets, articles, and television and radio discussions. This essay has attempted to raise some of the moral issues involved in the abortion controversy. More questions are posed than answers given. Intimately related topics such as procreation and birth control are not even mentioned, because these topics are beyond the scope of the present discussion. We would like to leave the reader with the ancient pronouncement: “He who maintains one life of the people of Israel is as if he has maintained an entire world.” A single life, in Jewish

teaching, is equivalent to a whole world.

JEWISH LIFE

T o w a rd s th e E s ta b lis h m e n t o f “ M inh ag

Is r a e l”

by LOUIS I. RABINOW ITZ HE Ingathering of the Exiles, the most striking phenomenon of our age after (both in importance and in 4ime) the establishment of the State of Israel, has brought forcibly to the fore one of the phenomena of Jewish observance, the bewildering variety of liturgical Minhogim or rites. It is a phenomenon which has to be seen in its proper setting and framework. There is not a single orthodox Minhog in the world which does not rigidly follow the pattern of service as laid down in the Mishnah Berochoth, of which the essence is — to confine our selves to the morning service — three paragraphs of the Shema with the two preceding and one concluding blessing, the Amidah, and, on the Sabbath, R o sh Chodesh, and Festivals, the Musaph. In addition to that, the com plete disappearance of the ancient

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Eretz Yisroel custom of reading the Torah in three years instead of one has made universal the one-year cycle of the reading of the Torah. It is in the additions to this basic order of service that the variations to which I refer apply, though there are differences of wording in the Shema b le ssin g s and espe cially in the formulae of the paragraphs which precede the actual blessings of the Amidah. They include the Pesukey De-Zimrah, especially on Sabbaths, and are especially noticeable in the Piyyutim of the High Holy Days. To give but one example, in the Friday night service in Jerusalem alone variations can be noted in: 1. the Psalm s recited for Kabbolath Shabboth 2. the s in g in g o f Yedid Nefesh 13

4. 5. 6. 7.

the number of verses of Lechah Dodi which are sung the inclusion of Psalm 23 “Kegavno” and/or Bameh Madlikin the singing of Yigdal the singing of Adon Olam.

H E b road divisions of the I A s h k e n a z i a n d S e p h a rd i Minhogim have their almost innumer able sub-divisions, the Ashkenazi into G erm an and Polish and Chassidic (which is largely but not entirely identical with the Sephardi) and in Jerusalem the unique Nusach of the Gaon of Vilna (which is itself subdi vided into the unadulterated Minhog of the Gaon as adhered to in the S h a a re y Chesed sh o o l and the modified form developed in Yeshurun Synagogue and Hechal Shlomo). The Sephardi Minhog differs among the Y e m e n ite , M o ro c c a n , K u r d is h , T u rk ish , B a gh d a d i, and Persian communities. In one synagogue in Jerusalem the ancient Roman rite with its unique insertion of references to the Sabbath in the two paragraphs before the Shema on Friday night is jealously and lovingly preserved. In general, each group continues to adhere to its traditional order of service. I am not a fervent supporter of the appeal which is often heard for the need for a^“Nusach Achid’j H a uni form order of service, and I see no real harm in variations in the non-essential part of the service, all of which have Halachic authority, even if it is that of 14

local custom. In the large urban centers where there exist innumerable synagogues a problem hardly exists, though there is an increasing feeling that it is time that a “native” Israeli Minhog emerged. Where the problem does exist, however, is in the smaller communi ties. I spent a Shabboth some years ago' in the Maoz T z ’y o n (previously the Kastel) where I noted no fewer than fifteen different ramshackle huts which served as synagogues, each with a different Minhog! Seven of them were of Kurdish Jews, among whom the virtual atomizing of Minhog is m ost pronounced, each village in Kurdistan having developed variations; the others were Persian, Moroccan, Yemenite, Ashkenazi, B a gh d a d i — I forget the rest. HE Rabbinical Council of the National Religious Party pub lishes at irregular intervals a volume entitled “Torah U-Medinah” “a F o ru m fo r the clarification of Halochah in matters affecting the State of Israel.” There lies before me, as I write, Volume 12-13, dated 5721 -23/1960-1962, which includes an exhaustive examination, extending over 120 pages (288-407) by Rabbi Yehudah Zerachiah Halevi, the Rabbi of Kiryath Shalom in Tel Aviv, of the question of these varying and various Minhogim. In it he comes to the con clusion that it is under all circum stances forbidden to those Eydoth (com m unities of different proven ances) to introduce any change

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whatsoever in the Minhog which they have brought with them from the countries of their origin, the prohibi tion including both the adoption of another pronunciation and the intro duction of changes effected by intro ducing elements from other Minhogim. Were this ruling to be adopted in practice the result would undoubtedly be that “ad sof kol ha-doroth,” succes sive generations of Israelis would have to rigidly adhere to these various local Minhogim and pronunciations, and the Jew ish State would be the only country in the world where its own liturgical usage would not develop. The small particularistic converiticles would be perpetuated; a community synagogue would become an impos sibility. The Mizzug Galuyoth, the assimilation of the various groups from different countries of the Diaspora into one homogenous people, which is growing apace and gathering momen tum, powerfully reinforced by com p u ls o ry u n iv e rsa l education, the common service in the army, the steady increase in inter-community marriages, and the unifying effect of the State in general, would stop short at the walls of the synagogue! In everything else they would be Israelis, in their form of worship they would remain Ashkenazim and Sephardim, Moroccans, Yemenites, Kurds, and Persians. Fortunately — to my mind, and I hope to that of my readersfrexperience and necessity are bringing a b o u t the gradual emergence of Nusach Eretz Yisroel.

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H R E E factors are conducing towards this desirable develop ment. The first is the unifying factor of the Israel Defense Forces, with n a tio n -w id e co m p u lso ry military service. A t one time the dynamic and purposeful Chief Chaplain of the Army, General S. Goren, considered the idea of evolving a uniform service, consisting of the best and Halachically most acceptable elements of the two m ain divisions, the Sephardi and Ashkenazi. He has actually done this, w ith regard to the Hagaddah of Pesach, but has apparently not pro ceeded with the unified Siddur. He has^l however, done the next best thing. He has issued the Arm y Prayer Book, which is, in fact, the Sephardi Order of Service, but has laid it down as a Halachic rule that this shall be the standard service for the Army. A s a result, during the three years of their military service, as well as during the not inconsiderable periods spent in reserve, observant soldiers observe this Minhog in congregational prayer. The second factor is the influ ence of the B ’nei Akiva and related movements. The thousands if not tens of thousands of members and follow ers of this movement, in the kibbu tzim, in their yeshivoth, in the uni versities, and subsequently in the academic and government spheres have evolved their own distinctive service complete with their tunes which are becoming traditional. Their burning enthusiasm and their spirit of “Serve the Lord in joy” attracts thousands to

their services. It is impossible to exag gerate their influence and their service is fast becoming the standard Israeli order of service. To give but one example, the fons et origo of their service in Jerusalem is the remarkable and heartwarming service of the Yavneh orthodox students' organiza tion in the Beth Hillel. It is so well attended that hundreds crowd into the anteroom. To no avail are appeals to the large number of ordinary wor shipers who are attracted to the service that they are occupying the places of those for whom the service is organ ized. It is the favorite place of worship for the President of the State. Never theless it has been responsible for the establishment of two other congrega tions, in Yerusholayim* that in the Beth Studentim and one in Jabotinsky Street. To this development one must add the services of the Yeshivath HaKothel both in the Yeshivah itself and at the Kothel, the services at the Boys Town Yeshivah, etc. And thirdly comes the fact that it is essentially young married couples, among whom they predominate, who move to the new centers of develop ment, such as Carmiel, Arad, and to come to the experience which I had, which represents the culmination and the putting into effect of all that has been written above, Be’er Sheva. H A D o c c a sio n to spend a Sabbath in Be’er Sheva, and attended the service in the newly erected synagogue in the suburb which is prosaically called “Shechunah Hey

Le-Dugmah” (Model Suburb No. 5). It is indeed a model suburb from the point of view of planning, with wide, tree-lined streets, an abundance of greenery in the middle of the drab sandy area, open spaces, and cultural amenities. Am ong these amenities is the attractive dome-shaped synagogue which has been provided and erected by the committee of the suburb, which is not, by the way, a religious one. The congregation was a remark able one; it consisted overwhelmingly of young marrieds, and a considerable proportionate I think the majority were professional men. The gabbai, the son of a well known Moroccan rabbi, was one of the outstanding atomic physicists of Israel; I was introduced to no less than three judges, university lecturers, teachers, scientists, etc., and the service was a delight both in the decorum and the fervency of the prayers and the tuneful singing. But what made that congregation unique was that it bore, and bore out, the name Beth K ’nesseth Al-Adathi, a phrase which is almost impossible to translate literally, but which me^ns “ above and beyond a community Synagogue,” the word eyc/ah, commu nity, to be understood in the sense of a group hailing from one country or belonging to one religious tradition. In other words, it had set itself out to devise an order o f service which, though strictly orthodox, would be suitable for all “Eydoth,” Sephardi and Ashkenazi, Yemenite and North African. It had been deliberately set up to put an end to the religious JEWISH LIFE

separatism in worship which has been And one of the reasons for the referred to above, and to provide one large congregation was that - mirabile unified service. dictu for modern Israel; S the service From what I saw it had suc had succeeded in attracting not a few ceeded admirably — the details of the who had hitherto not been synagogue service on Friday night and Shabboth attenders. It is the first synagogue of are too technical for an article of this its kind in Israel; I am sure that the kind. Invited to address the congrega “Dugm ah” will become a “Dugm ah” tion, I made this phenomenon the for others and that it serves as the first subject of my sermon and congratu gratifying sign of the emergence of an lated them on their initiative. In a established Israel Minhog. It seems subsequent discussion with the leaders fitting that it should be so. Was it not they agreed with me that the problem in Be’er Sheva that Abraham “rose up of such a service on Rosh Fla-Shonah early in the morning/’ a verse which and Yom Kippur appeared so far to be our Rabbis interpret to mean that he insoluble, but in any case the syna instituted the first of the statutory gogue was full on ordinary Sabbaths prayers, Shacharith? and they would have to provide other services on these days.

y vr7>a-

JAIMUARY-FEBRUARY

The MAID from LUBMIR

by CH A RLES RA D D O CK HE story begins in VladimirVolynskiy, in the Ukraine. Or Ludmir, as Jews called the town, where by the Lug river a frum Jew named Monesch Werbermacher ran a small but fairly successful dry goods shop. Monesch and his childless wife might have been content — but for the lack of a child. If the Ribbono Shel Olom, they kept saying, would bless them with a male child, they would surely consecrate him to G-d’s work, make him a rabbi. But as ten years went by and still no male or female off spring, they were advised to consult the Seer of Lublin. Rebbe Yaakov Yitzchok ha-Levi Horovitz, it was said, could see into the future and perform miracles. Though about 100 miles aw ay, at least one-day-and-a-half’s journey by covered wagon in those

days, Reb Monesch took his childless wife to Lublin. Monesch, in beseeking the Seer’s blessing, promised that if his wife were to bear a baby boy, they would con secrate him to a lifetime of Torah study. The Seer indeed gave them his blessing. About a year later Monesch’s wife gave birth to a baby girl. Mother was overjoyed, of course, but the father would have preferred a son, not a daughter. A son might be a rabbi some day, a daughter never. But one morning, as he looked into the tiny infant’s blinking eyes, the thought occurred to him that this very baby girl — named Hannah Rachel, after both grandmothers E could really be educated, like a boy, even if she could never become a rabbi. So when Hannah Rachel was a JEWISH LIFE

young child he placed her in the best cheder in Ludmir. The little creature would be the only girl cheder pupil among three dozen boys. The melamed agreed to accept her, however] on one condition, that she be segre gated from her classmates, in the back of the classroom. A s in a synagogue, w here w om e n are always seated separately from men, up in the Ezrath Noshim. But Monesch did not object. W hat d iffe re n ce where his little Hannah Rachel would sit? Some day she might marry a rabbi, who would love her more for her education. O R did Hannah Rachel mind sitting in the back. She would be getting the same lessons as the boys. After a while, though, she found out for herself that she was in fact the ^only girl cheder pupil in the whole town. One of the oldest towns in the Ukraine, Ludmir had a population of well over ten thousand, of which at least half was Jewish. And Jewish girls always took lessons at home, with some pious elderly lady, or, if seeking more advanced study, with her own father or brother. But little Hannah at last got used to her lone status in the cheder community.

She took to books like a duck to water, was a good student, an avid reader, and after some time showed promise of going on to Talmud. Only the brightest boys went on to Talmud, which required a keen mind and fine memory. But Hannah was not at all frightened by the big, tall Talmud volumes, and her parents were proud. JANUARY-FEBRUARY

Neighbors, however, seemed to think the little pig-tailed girl a know-it-all, a bit bold for her age. Reb Monesch doted on his clever little auburn-haired child as she cheerfully every morning trotted off with a big volume of shas under her arm. After about a year of that, it suddenly dawned on his wife that being so studious kept the child away from girls her age, for Hannah seemed to avoid the company of her own sex, rarely spoke to anyone unless spoken to first and, after school hours, would shut herself in her bedroom with a big book and hardly even speak to her mother. The poor woman would press an ear against the closed door, listen ing in to the plaintive Talmudic sing song of her studious little daughter. Like a man indeed, Hannah always d ro n e d the lernen niggun as she swayed back and forth pondering the difficult pages of Gemorah. Mother and father, in short, now had second thoughts about her education. But they could not suddenly cut her off from her favorite books. Though she always .looked serious, almost sad, forever in deep thought, Hannah enjoyed her books. M oody at the table and merely nibbling what was put on her plate, she would sud denly excuse herself with a brusk nod and run off to her room again. Mother would come after her with a glass of milk and a platter of cookies, but Hannah would leave it all untouched. Mother heaved a deep sigh and, one day, probably weakened from belated c h ild b irth , a c o n d it io n further 19

aggravated by worry over her only child, the poor woman took to bed. Hannah Rachel was only nine when her mother closed her eyes forever. HE tiny orphan, alone with a father who spent all day at his store, now withdrew even more into herself. Though Ludmir town was not small, as said, its Jewish community was one big family. News got around from synagogue to synagogue, cheder to cheder, and above all from shtibel to shtibel, where everybody rubbed elbows with everybody. Thus after a while strange stories made the rounds about the widower Monesch and his motherless daughter, the “ Gemorah yessomele. ” Hannah is a queer one, said gossips, and Reb Monesch was upset over the wagging tongues. After such gossip it would not be easy to find for his little Hannah a suitable match. One night, Reb Monesch con fided in a wise old chossid and, as the father had suspected all along, he was urged to remove his daughter from the boy’s cheder, the sooner the better. But Monesch pondered this for days till he was able to get up enough courage to tell Hannah that, now that her mother was gone, it was she, the only daughter, who should be running the house. Hannah said nothing. But the very next morning she did not leave the house, but took charge of it instead. And of her father the widower too. Like a loving daughter indeed. Her school days were over now. After serving supper and snatch ing a bite herself, she would do the

dishes in a hurry and fly off to her bedroom, no matter how early in the evening. The melancholy lernen niggun would again echo till the wee hours, as if making up for time lost. Though she had left school for good and had no teacher to guide her through the intri cacies ~of the long pages of Talmud, Hannah absorbed it all as easily as others read fairy tales. Monesch shook his head, thoughtfully stroked his graying beard, and sighed. His little girl had not changed at all. E B M O N E S C H w on d e re d whether any day now he should not bring up the subject of “match.” Though Hannah was still in her teens, it was not unusual for young Jewish girls in those days to be “promised” by parents. When, one night, Monesch did broach the subject, he was in for a sh o ck . A f t e r h e arin g him o u t thoughtfully, Hannah dismissed him with a strange remark: “ Father, I have no wish at all to plan my life as other females do.” The troubled father could not cope with such curt answers. Hannah Rachel had an answer for everything. All he could do now, again, was to consult a Rebbe, though the Seer of Lublin was no longer alive. Monesch was advised to see now Rebbe Mordechai of Chernobyl. About a d a y ’s jo u rn e y from Ludmir and though hardly a third of Ludm ir’s p o p u la tio n , the little town of Chernobyl, fifty-five miles northwest of Kiev, had become famous in the expanding world of Chassidism for its great “Chernobyler,” as the Rebbe was

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called. Hannah promised her father not to be frightened by the famous Chernobyler though she would of course show him all the respect owed a great rebbe. N o r o f co u rse w as Rebbe Mordechai put out by the learned little wisp of a girl, even if he did raise an eyebrow at the oversize volume under her arm. The Chassidic sage gave little Hannah a fatherly smile when as he asked her to name the book she was holding, she not only gave its full title but began quoting from it. From the start, it was clear to the sage that this little girl knew her mind. She sat up right in the tall chair, boldly staring at him with shining, stern, gray-blue eyes, her auburn braids respectfully rolled up into a bun covered with a babush ka. The wise Chernobyler studied her and, after a while, asked Monesch why he had forced such a big book on a “ mere girl.” Hannah bristled and, unable to contain herself, told the Rebbe in plain words that a woman’s place with big books is as fitting as a m an’s and no learning should be denied to a “mere girl.” The Rebbe stroked his beard calmly, smiled compassionately, and let her talk on. But when he put up a hand at last to interrupt the talkative little scholar, she only went right on with “proof” after “proof” of her views. The Rebbe then cut her off, saying sternly that it was never G-d’s intent to confuse the feminine mind with deep studies that would never help them as wives or mothers. Hannah now reminded the Rebbe that JANUARY-FEBRUARY

B ’ruriah, the wife of the Tanna Rabbi Meir, and Yalta, the wife of the Amora Rabbi Nachman, both were famed for Torah learning. HE Rebbe merely smiled at that and politely asked Hannah to leave him alone with her father. Hannah stalked out of the study, into the vestibule. When the men were alone, the Rebbe placed a hand on the unhappy father’s shoulder and asked him whether he was fully aware of the import of the Czar’s terrible decree. O f cou rse , replied Monesch, but the C z a r’s terrible decree could never affect him since his child was a girl, not a boy. The Rebbe stroked his beard ||Monesch did not seem to get the point. T h e R e b b e explained. Czar N ic h o la s I, em peror of all the Russians, had decreed that Jewish lads from the age of twelve must be drafted into the army, and every Jew with a son of course is worried. The decree means much more than military train ing. Once a Jewish lad is whisked away from home he is forced to give up Judaism, is baptized. A s soon, in fact, as Nicholas mounted the throne in 1825 before he was thirty, the plan had been worked out that from age twelve on, and for a period of twentyfive years, the Jewish draftees must be “encouraged by peaceful persuasion” to leave Judaism, and where persua sion does not work ^ the whip! Monesch was beginning to understand. Nicholas I was to reign for thirty years and his Minister of Education

Uvarov was a fanatical patriot whose motto was “Orthodoxy, Autocracy, N a tio n a lity !” This meant Eastern O r t h o d o x Christianity, the Pravoslavnaia (“right belief”) church. It was the second blow to the Jews, for barely pne generation earlier, in 1791, Em press Catherine the Great had segregated the Russian Jews in a re stricted area in the southern and western part of the empire, the Pale, as it got to be known, a word meaning “fence.” And now under Nicholas I the Pale was forced to turn out its full quota of Jewish children for the cold, grim armories of Ludmir, Lutsk, Kiev, Smolensk, Vitebsk, Pskov, Kherson, Kazan, and Nizhni-Novogrod. .. . Reb M o n e s c h n e e d e d :,n o fu rth e r explanation. S soon as he got back with little H a nn a h from Chernobyl)^ he began lin g e rin g around Ludm ir’s b arracks, w ithout informing her. Hoping to make friends with the o ffic e r in charge of the Jewish platoon, Monesch’s purpose was to convince the commanding officer to allow him one guest a week for the Sabbath. Reb Monesch offered a patri otic reasonH- he wished to do his part by feeding one young Czarist soldier a week for one whole day and, his home being Jewish, it would be logical to feed a Jewish trainee. When the commanding officer laughed in his face, Reb Monesch came back the follow ing week with decanters of vodka, pouches of tobacco, and a handful of gold rubles. The Jew was

promised one Jewish “guest” every weekend, beginning Friday eve, ending Saturday night. And for her part, Hannah de clared it a mitzvah to cook Sabbath meals for a Sabbath guest, to make a homeless one feel at home. Reb Monesch smiled to himself over the great Chernobyler's wisdom. Soon his little Hannah, among other things, deemed it her duty to instruct her house guest in the Judaism the lad must have forgotten at the barracks. And Sabbath after Sabbath passed off smoothly, with week after week find ing Hannah easier to be with. She not only waited on the house guest but carried on cheerful chatter with him, as she had never done before with strangers. The guest always stayed the whole Sabbath, overnight, though the officer allowed Monesch one boy to a Sabbath. A n d never the same boy. Monesch did not like the latter condi tion, and he multiplied the vodka and tobacco and the gold rubles till the commanding officer even agreed to let “the Jew” have his pick. The lad whom Reb Monesch picked was darkeyed, dark-haired, and one with whom H a n n a h had seemed particularly comfortable. It was for this lad, as Monesch found out, that Hannah had begun to knit a tallith koton. He was about four or five years Hannah's senior, well spoken though with little Jew ish learning. Monesch secretly wondered where his bookish daughter had ever learned the feminine art of looping together skeins of yarn with JEWISH LIFE

long needles. One Friday noon he caught her even primping before the m irro r, twisting her long brownauburn braids this way and that. The distant expression vanished from her taut little face and there was a sparkle in her gray-blue eyes. Tidying up the house before the guest's arrival, she would smile to herself. A happy father thanked G-d in his heart for the shrewd Chernobyler.

N E F r id a y a fte rn o o n Reb Monesch got down to barracks to pick up his Sabbath guest, and was given a message. The Jewish draftee, Reb Monesch was curtly told, was despatched to Omsk during the week, to the remotest northeastern end of Russia and, as His Imperial Majesty had decreed, would not be back before he had served his full twenty-five years. The officer with whom Monesch had been dealing was nowhere about. The whole Jewish platoon, said an aide, was sent off under the super vision of their immediate officer. For the re m a in d e r o f the afternoon Monesch could not get himself to go directly home, and he hung around the barracks wondering how to break the news to Hannah. But his daughter said not a word after he had given her the plain facts. Though her little face paled a moment, she shed no tear and Monesch knew his girl well enough to realize that, no matter how miserable, she would never sh o w a crying face to anybody. Hannah turned around and as if look

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ing

fo r

shelter

somewhere

made

straight for her bedroom. She plopped down at her little table with an open book on it and buried her chin in her palms, her bony little elbows resting on the open book, a Talmud volume she had kept ready for her expected guest. And from that day on whenever she could snatch a moment from her day's chores, she swayed over the Talmud as of old though her singsong sounded more melancholy than ever. She kept it up for weeks till, one Sabbath morn, she stalked out of the house and did not return before dark. Monesch had no idea where slie had been, but would not ask. Then one morning again she left without word, her face clouded with secret thought, her sm all body sheathed in her mother's woolen shawl and her auburn braids rolled into a bun on top of her head covered with a red babushka. Monesch dared not trail her as she slunk through muddy alleyways, past the ruins of the old church where, at the other end of the hill beyond, lay the Jewish burial grounds.

H E R E at her mother’s tomb stone she prayed for hours. Hannah at last became drowsy and sat down to lean her head against the stone. She did not open her eyes till night had fallen. The moon faint, the night damp, Hannah gave a shudder at the misty blanket of darkness all about. Though barely able to see two feet ahead, she started running across

graves, wet shrubbery, headstone to headstone, her little fingers groping for a path out of the cemetery when, sud denly, she fell with a shriek as from behind her the fringes of her long shawl tangled on to a headstone. She lay there in dumb silence, and hours passed before the old bearded gravedigger, making his morn ing rounds, spied the little creature on the wet grass all ashiver under an old shawl that covered her like a heavy blanket. Her eyes were open but blankly staring into nowhere. The gravedigger recognized her — he had seen her several times in past weeks. A n d , in his rickety wooden cart packed with straw and pulled by an old mare, he carried her home. F o r tw o weeks and a day Hannah did not get up from bed, as if she wanted forever to hide under the quilt. Then one morning as Monesch, wrapped in tallith and tephillin, was davening, she softly called to him, “Tatte!” She had had a dream, she said, in a whisper, that she, Hannah Rachel, daughter of Reb Monesch Werbermacher, was standing before the Yeshivah shel Maalah, the Heaven ly Assembly, and there the gift of a neshomah yetherah, an oversoul, was given her. Monesch could only nod at her strange story and, as he made a move to help her from bed, she pushed his hand aw ay and, faintly smiling, showed him she was steady on her feet and could walk by herself to the oaken closet where she kept her things. Monesch silently watched her take down the little tallith she had 24

once k n itte d fo r her dark-eyed Sabbath guest and the bag with the tephillin she had pjanned to give the lad. She tore the bags open and began to wrap the tallith around her shoul der, like her father, and then wrap the tephillin around her left arm and on her head, as men do, and started to chant the morning prayers. Father watched her out of the corner of his eye, pretending to be busy himself with prayer. When they had both finished davening, Hannah went right into the kitchen and got up breakfast. After they had eaten, she was right back at her shas, as if nothing had changed. Monesch left for the store, at least somewhat relieved that she was on her feet again. S months passed by, he was resigned to her new-old routine. Then months turned into yearfrjHtill she was about nineteen when Reb Monesch Werbermacher died. During the first year o f mourning for her father Hannah swayed only harder over her holy books. But when it was over she sold first the store and finally the house. With some of that money the “maid/1 as she got to be called, bought a small, green-painted tworoom hut on a , side street off the Jewish market place. There she settled down, kept house by herself, always cooking her plain meals in a hurry so she could devote all day to study. A s before except for one thing, every weekday morning before breakfast, like every Jewish male, she would recite all the morning prayers in tallith

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and tephillin. A s her strange conduct got to be known, some folks called her heUikker moydy holy maid. Others called her “Rebbe.” Most of them did it in fun at first, but as they kept seeing her daily by her window forever swaying over an open shas, like some old greybeard of a scholar, Rebbe ceased being a mere joke. Word was spreading that in a small green hut in Ludmir dwelt a holy bethulah “whose ways are like unto a male’s and who can perform miracles.” Pious womenfolk, and a handful of menfolk too, even formed a small congregation in the hut, crowd ing into the front room on Shabboth mornings to hear the “holy maid” expound Torah. And she did discourse to them, but only from behind a screen, and never came out to mingle. S her story spread beyond the banks of the Lug, they began coming from all over Volhynia, from Podolia, and Galicia too & the lame, halt, and blind — for blessings from the “ L u d m irre r M o id ,” Out of curiosity, too, Jewish scholars would show up now and then. But she would only speak with them through the small window of her inner sanctum, never allowing a man into that small chamber which served her as bedroom, study, and chapel. Some Chassidic Rebbes were sympathetic to her be cause of her moral conduct and great piety. But others found her conduct “incredible” and at best put her down as a female upstart. Still others were becoming more

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indignant from week to week. How dare she, a woman, strut about in tallith and tephillin! Did some demon take possession of her? Could her learned preaching be anything but mis b egotte n utterances? They soon assailed her with letters which always began politely with, ‘T o the Holy Maid of Ludmir,” but always ended with, “In the name of the cause of the Holy Besht, desist from your strange conduct!” The Holy Besht, they went on to say, founded the pious move ment of Chassidism to bring Jews near er to G-d, but she was now corrupting it all by her masculine antics. Hannah always replied in kind, citing sources in justification of her conduct. Her opponents finally threat ened to expel her from the Chassidic fold. Though almost a century old now, Chassidism was still under a cloud of suspicion for its novel ways which had attracted the masses in great numbers, and the rebbeyim could not afford to be lenient. So they did finally put her under a formal ban warning all: “Come not within four ells of her and her defiled assembly! Wage the war of G-d against Satan who now flourishes in Ludmir town under guise of a brazen female! ” A s if Hannah did not have trouble enough, rumor got around one day that her heresy had reached such a low that two Pravoslavnaia nuns had promised her asylum. The nuns told Hannah, said the rumor, that the Russian Orthodox Church would be happy to find room for her in their elite Florovsky convent, safely located 25

authority felt if she did not cease posing as a rebbe, Hannah broke down. For the first time she wept before strangers. She is not a poseur, she protested, but as no truly pious Jewess may oppose a Beth Din, w hose authority derives from the Torah, she assured them that she might even give thought to marrying her scribe, though her senior by many years — that is, if he agrees. Within several days the chuppah was put up under an open sky. The three rebbes took turns chanting the seven wedding benedictions and read ing off the kethubah. A s customary, too, the bride pledged naddon to the groom the green hut. But the rebbes shrewdly reminded the bride to in clude her tallith and tephillin as well — those sacred vestments must hence forth be the possession of her mate, a •G-d-fearing male. But lo, the following morning the young, learned bride drove her H E very next week, the three husband from the hut. She demanded announced themselves in their a divorce. The tallWpale-faced scribe capacity as a court of Jewish law to a threatened to summon the Beth Din tall, pale-faced scribe in the anteroom again. Hannah shocked him, however, of the green hut, who served Hannah when she plainly confessed that she as a Hebrew secretary when crowds had only agreed to the chuppah for were big. Since the three visitors were the sake of Chassid ism, but that no a Beth Din, as she was told, the Maid invited them directly into her private body could ever force her “to live as other women.” The scribe spat on the chapel, the first males ever allowed in floor and left. there. She encouraged them to speak The Beth Din, as expected, re frankly, which in any event was their vived the ban on the Maid. Thus with a intent; They restated the objections to stronger ban upon her, Hannah was her practices, and Hannah gave her now abandoned by her followers. customary rejoinders. But when they Except for some kindly old crones finally and flatly warned her that they would make the full force of their who felt sorry for her, she was left a

400 versts away in Kiev. A ctu ally, no nuns had ever spoken to Hannah. What had hap pened, it seems, was that the Chassidic opposition to her had attracted an un frie n d ly m o n k from the nearby Zimnieskii monastery, only five versts away from the green hut. When told her “manly habits” was causing all the commotion, the Pravoslavnaia monk laughingly remarked that in her own special way this Jewish Hannah must be a sincere lass even like Joan of Arc, who was burnt at the stake for her “manly ways.” By now word had reached all of her opponents that the great Mordechai of Chernobyl who had already passed on - had once urged her father to marry her off quickly. And a commit tee of three rebbes was now set as a Beth Din to compel her at long last to follow the Chernobyler’s instructions.

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lone, brooding figure in the hut. After months went by and she could no longer bear the indifference of one time friends and admirers, she sold the green hut, without informing any body. And, shaking the dust of her native Ukraine from her feet, she sailed for the Holy Land. T R A N G E as it may seem, too, in the then sparsely settled Meah Shearim quarter of Jerusalem, where the Maid of Ludmir now settled down for good, her old habits attracted people anew, the very habits that had driven her from her native town. Apart from her sincere piety, her great Talmudic learning seemed to impress Chassidic adherents favorably. And there turned out to be enough of them ¿fter a while to form a modest con gregation in her new hut. And so once again, Hannah Rachel set up a new Chassidic “court,” presiding over a new coterie of the faithful. Jeru salemites soon became accustomed to seeing the short, gray-eyed spinster hurrying on Fridays to the Kothel Hama’arovi for prayer. They were well aware of the tallith and tephillin bulging from her purple reticule, but they understood that with her it was not a mere caprice but something deeply related to her profound piety. A s in the old days, too, pious souls openly sought her blessings, w hich she liberally dispensed. On Sabbath noons, as an old follower informed me in 1951 on my first visit to Israel, the bethulah would hold court in her home for about twenty-

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some devotees, her Shabboth table a lw a y s decked with twelve little challahs, as customary among Chassi dic rebbeyim. On the eve of Simchath Torah, too, many more pilgrims would come in from Chevron, Tiberias, and Safed to watch her dancing the seven traditional Hakafoth (processionals) of the Torah Scrolls. UT her biggest annual rite al ways occurred on the 11th day of Cheshvon, Memorial Day of the Matriarch Rachel. M y informant still remembered how on that Yortzeit day the Maid would be leading a solemn re lig io u s p ro c e ssio n to M other R a c h e l’s T o m b on the road to Chevron, where she held a nightlong vigil and chanted Psalms appropriate for the occasion. Thus, as the greybearded Chossid recalled, the Maid of Ludmir continued to the end. He could not recall, however, whether Rebbe Hannah Ra-che-le, as he fo n d ly called her, was ninety or ninety-one when she passed on in the year 1905 in Meah Shearim.

1 i7 K U /

□ f DUS

MA ’A m by FLORENCE JEANNE GOODMAN

Mute before the beauty o f Your world, Father, In a silent praise singing, We watched Your evening ceremony. Slowly You were removing the lamp, Permitting the rosy suffusion o f its light To play a while among the clouds. And we, Your wordless worshippers, Could only gaze in awe, As cattle, standing in perpetual mystery, Stare after wonders far beyond their ken.

JEWISH LIFE

Mexican Jewry

by EFREM ZUROFF E C E N T visitors to Mexico City might have been surprised to find a plethora of Israeli flags and symbols adorning shop windows, bill boards, and cars. These decals were not an indication of how the Mexican people feel about the Mideast conflict, but rather an outpouring of affection and support for the Israeli World Cup team by the capital’s Jewish popula tion. The Israelis who competed in the Jules Rimet Cup competition found that they had the fervent support of Mexico C ity’s Jews. Each game in which Israel played was attended by thousands of its Jewish supporters despite the fact that these contests were held in Puebla and Toluca, each at least an hour’s drive from the capital. It was my pleasure to witness this loyalty to the State o f Israel first-

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hand on a recent visit to Mexico City. W hat follows are the impressions garnered during a stay with the Jewish community of that city. A t present, there are approxi mately thirty-two thousand Jews in M e x ic o . Almost all, about thirty thousand, live in the capital. There are 110 Jewish families in Monterey, and 150 in Guadalajara. In addition, there are several hundred Jewish students from the United States studying at the university in Guadalajara. The outstanding characteristic of Mexican Jewry that impresses itself on a visitor is its strong sense of Jewish ness. This expresses itself in several ways. One is a feeling of estrangement from the Mexican populace. Despite the fact that antisemitism is not strongly entrenched in Mexico, Jews

do not mix freely with non-Jews, c h o o sin g to rem ain a tight-knit community. A s in all other parts of the world, Jews live together, mostly in the se c tio n s o f Hipodrom o, Polanco, and Alamos. (There has not been a mass move to the suburbs as Jews prefer to remain near their insti tutions which are still in older neigh borhoods.) This separation from the non-Jewish world also extends to education. Almost half of the Jewish children of school age are educated in Jewish schools. A large percentage of the others are sent to private schools where often the majority of the pupils are Jewish. HE dichotomy between Jew and gentile is also maintained in recreation. The Jewish community provides ample recreational facilities for its members. It has built a beauti ful sports complex on the outer limits of Mexico City. The Central Deportive Isra e lita (C e n tra l Jewish Sports Center) is one of the largest, if not the largest, of its kind in the Jewish world. Its huge swimming pool, tennis and sq uash courts, soccer fields, and gymnasiums enable all of Mexico City Jewry to enjoy superior athletic facili ties. In addition, the center also has a theatre where plays of Jewish interest are staged, a library stocked with books of Jewish interest, and rooms for socials and simchahs. Another center of Jewish activities is the build ing of the Ashkenazic Kehillah. This five-story edifice houses a Hebrew Teachers’ Seminary, a Judaica library,

and an excellent museum with a permanent exhibition on Jewish life in Eastern Europe (the origin of most of the older generation of Jews), *the Holocaust, and the founding of the State of Israel. A kosher restaurant, a beautiful synagogue, huge ballrooms, and the offices of the various Jewish agencies that serve the community are also found at the Kehillah center. O n e o f the most important factors in inculcating Jewish commit ment is the Zionist youth groups. They play a key role in the develop ment of Jewish youth in Mexico today, and are responsible for pro ducing Mexico’s young Zionists. Such groups as B ’nei Akiva, Ichud Habonim, and Betar are instilling a love for Israel in their young members. All of the above factors contri bute to a keen sense of Jewish identity among Mexican Jews. They support the State of Israel to the hilt, contri buting large sums of money to Israelrelated charities. More important, many young people are going on Aliyah, or are seriously considering doing so. They are concerned about Soviet Jewry. A few days prior to my arrival a mass meeting was held to protest the injustices perpetrated upon Russian Jews. Posters publicizing the plight of Soviet Jewry are prominently displayed in schools and at the sports center. Besides their Jewish loyalties, material success also sets Jews apart from the local populace. In a country where the preponderant majority sub sist at poverty level, the Jews stick out JEWISH LIFE

like a sore thumb. This expression may be taken quite literally in a neighbor hood such as Hipódromo where Jews live in tall, luxury apartment buildings built next to lowly Mexican hovels. The older generation of Jews has for the most part succeeded in business, while their sons are highly successful professionals. S a student of contemporary Jewry, I have read articles about many Jewish communities the world over. Often the prognosis for these communities is a dismal one. With intermarriage at an unprecedented high, and the Jewish birth rate steadily declining, the future is indeed very bleak. In Mexico, however, this is not the case. Due to their extensive network of Jewish schools and institu tions and their feeling of estrangement from the local populace, Mexican Jewry has been spared the menace of intermarriage. With increased Jewish education and intensified activities by the youth groups and cultural institu tions, there can well be envisioned an expanding Jewish community “south of the border,” committed to the perpetuation of Judaism, the preserva tion of the State of Israel, and the brotherhood of the Jewish people the world over. In view of the foregoing, it is not surprising that Mexico's Jews, like those of numerous other Diaspora communities,^ tend to justify their G o I ah situation by remonstrating about the ease with which one can maintain one's sense of Jewish identity

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in their own country. They proudly p o in t to b e a u tifu l synagogues, luxurious Jewish centers, and modern Jewish schools. These institutions will insure Jewish continuity, the commu nity leaders insist. But what is be coming increasingly clear is that while a fully equipped gym might draw youth to the Jewish sports center, plush carpeting and soft-cushion seat ing do not bring people to the syna gogue, and stained glass windows will not inspire anyone to Sabbath observ ance: This is most obvious to anyone w ho has ever visited the Jewish community in Mexico city. The Ashkenazic Kehillah center of that city houses, as previously mentioned, a beautiful synagogue. Replete with elaborate artwork in gold, lovely stained-glass windows, walls of marble, and the latest in comfort seating, the synagogue is, esthetically speaking, a most impres sive sight. Despite their admiration for its physical beauty, Mexican Jewry seems to be uniformly unimpressed with the spiritual aspects of their house of worship. Evidence of their displeasure is the woefully low number of worshippers that pray there. With the exception of Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur the shool is distressingly empty. T h e experience of attending Shabbath services at the Kehillah shool during my stay proved unsettling. There was a miniscule gathering on hand. Mostly old pensioners/ these men seemed to be swallowed up in the vast emptiness of the huge hall. The 31

few young people present were there for a Bar Mitzvah ceremony, and most appeared to be totally ignorant of, and singularly uninterested in, the proceed ings. They did not bother listening to the rabbi’s sermon, perhaps because it was delivered in Yiddish while they speak Spanish. I dread to think how many congregants would have been there had there been no Bar Mitzvah occasion. r V E N if this instance were but an L isolated case, it would still be a cause for concern. Unfortunately, however, this is the norm in Mexico — e m p ty synagogues and religiously alienated youth. Although almost half of the Jewish children in Mexico City go to Jewish schools, only a minority know the basic rudiments of the Jewish religion. The reason for this phenomenon is the lack of religious education. With the exception of a newly opened (two years ago) yeshivah, the Yeshivah of Mexico, and one school, Yavneh, which is moderately orthodox (Dinim are taught, but not G em orah; male pupils must wear kipoth in school; the great majority of the pupils, however, are not observ ant), the Jewish schools do not give any religious instruction. In emphasiz ing Hebrew language, literature, and c u ltu re , the approach is strictly secular. The tenets of Judaism remain a mystery to the pupils of these schools. The lack of religious education and the consequent laxity in observ ance among the young are particularly 32

distressing for the older generation of Jews, th o se who established the community in Mexico after fleeing from Europe. Steeped in Jewish learn ing and tradition, very many remain to this day observant Jews. Their sons,, however, were not given a Jewish education, and therefore most became irre lig io u s. T h e ir grandchildren, th o u g h the beneficiaries o f some Jewish schooling, continued in the way of their parents. I saw evidence of this on a visit to Eishel, the communi ty’s old age home in Cuernavaca, an hour’s drive from Mexico City. A t that institution, age is not the only way to distinguish visitors from permanent residents. A s a general rule, residents w ill be wearing yarmulkes, while visitors will be bare-headed. Watching a family dine at Eishel, one witnesses the religious evolution of the Jewish community in capsule form. The old jman wears a skullcap, his son has brought one along in his pocket, while the grandson has forgotten his, and dons one provided from the home’s ample supply expressly set aside for such occasions. When the time comes for Birkath Hamozon, the grandfather recites the benedictions by heart, the father appears to be acquainted with the custom and struggles through a few paragraphs, while the grandson seems a bit bewildered. One wonders who will recite the blessings after the older generation passes away. H O U G H the situation has been ste a d ily deteriorating, recent developments give hope that this trend

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may be reversed. The most important of these is the work of B ’nei Akiva. The religious Zionist youth group has done a magnificent job of influencing youth to follow the Torah way of life. Through shiurim, minyonim on the Sabbath and on festivals, and recrea tional activities, the group has succeed ed in creating an attractive, religious e n v iro n m e n t. F o r m an y young Mexican Jews, B ’nei Akiva has meant a new way of life. Every Shabboth, over one hundred and twenty boys and girls crowd into the old, dingy B ’nei Akiva synagogue to daven, hear a lecture on the Torah portion of the week, sing Israeli songs, and hold group meetings. The most encouraging aspect of the success of B ’nei Akiva is the fact that the great majority of its members come from non-observant homes. In some cases, the youngsters participate in B ’nei Akiva despite parental objec tions. If not for B ’nei Akiva these boys would know nothing about the Jewish religion. A second significant factor was the o p e n in g of the Yeshivah of Mexico, the first of its kind in that country. Normally, the opening of such a school would be of decisive importance, but the extreme rightwing approach of the Yeshivah of Mexico has so far much limited its potential appeal to the community. In addition, many parents have reserva tions about the quality of the secular studies. Consequently, the enrollment of less than two hundred is less than what could have been hoped for. Nevertheless, the establishment of the JANUARY-FEBRUARY

yeshivah is a step in the right direc tion. Another auspicious sign is the strong identification of all of the Jewish youth with the State of Israel and with Jews the world over. What ever their religious feelings, Mexican Jewry cannot be faulted for lack of lo y a lty to Israel and the Jewish people. This strong sense of commit ment to Judaism (of a secular variety) has been until now a successful deter rent to intermarriage. In addition, one must also cite the work done by Israeli sh’lichim, both in the Zionist youth groups and in the Jewish day schools. Unfortu nately, no Mexican boys go into Jewish education so male teachers and even principals must be “imported” from Israel. While this practice has generally raised the level of instruc tion, it has led to a whole complex of problems, the most serious of these being teacher-pupil communication. H A T E V E R degree of success the above factors achieve, it must be realized that these endeavors can only stem the tide of assimilation, not reverse it. To prevent assimilation the Jewish community must adopt a new set of priorities. Until now, Mexican Jews attempted to meet their religious obligations by contributing large sums of money to their organizations, while re m a in in g p erso n a lly uninvolved. E v e ry o n e gave money, but few deemed it necessary or desirable for their children to learn Torah, observe r e lig io u s practices, or attend the

sy n a go g u e . T h e re su lts proved d isa stro u s. The community built beautiful schools and synagogues, but failed to rear a Torah-trained genera tion and had to import teachers and rabbis. Is it any wonder that youth feel alienated from religious life? No matter how beautiful the synagogue is, if the rabbi cannot speak Spanish fluently and address himself meaning fully to those reared in the Mexican environment, his chances of influenc ing anybody are practically nil.

The time has come for Mexican Jewry to realize that there is no sub stitute for personal commitment. Until the Jewish community produces its own rabbis and teachers, the quality of their religious life must invariably remain inferior. Under such circum stances, the future of the community is placed in jeopardy. Mexico's Jews could well ponder the wise words of Hillel the Elder: “If I do not take care of myself, who will? and if I do not do so now, then when will I do it ?"

JEWISH LIFE

by SIMON ECKSTEIN H EN our Sages of blessed memory met in judgment on the books that are to be included in our Biblical Canon, there were some whq felt that the Scroll of Esther was not to be included in our Bible. A s the Talmud Tractate Sabbath puts it: “ Bikshu Hgnoz megiUath Esther” I f they wished to “hide” and remove from circulation this particular scroll. A great debate arose centering on the question whether the Scroll of Esther was written b ’ruach ha-Kodesh, through inspiration of the Divine Spirit, and therefore merited inclusion in the Bible, or, whether it was not so sanctified* and should become part of theifc‘safruth chitzonith ■” part of the apocryphic literature. Those who opposed the inclusion of the Scroll could readily point to the fact that G-d’s name is

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never mentioned in it;* that the author does not ascribe the miraculous deliverance of our brethren to G-d; that the victory of the Jewish cause over their enemies seems to be all due to simply a matter of good luck, coincidence, and the accident of fortuitous circumstances. In a sense, this point of view seems to be correct for there is no single incident in the Purim story that does not lend itself to an explanation in purely rational terms. Some of the Rabbis in fact offer the answer to the question of *Some maintain that the name of G-d was purposely omitted lest the Persians associate the B ook’s characters with their many deities. Moreover, the name of G-d was not to be written in a secular letter to be sent out to all Jewish communities. The Cabalists have, however||detected many cryptic references to G-d in the Megillah. 35

why prayers of Hallel are not recited on Purim, whilst Hallel is offered on Chanukah, by differentiating between the miracle of Chanukah and that of Purim. They tell us that the Chanukah deliverance was due to a supernatural miracle while the Purim deliverance o cc u rre d through natural circum stances. No wonder, then, that the point of view that the Scroll of Esther should not be included in our Biblical Canon seemed to make sense. Verily, in reading the Scroll of the Purim story, one does not immediately recog nize the role and handiwork of the Almighty. T h o se Sage s who held the affirmative opinion that the Scroll of Esther should be included presented their case and their viewpoint in this fashion: “ If you read the Purim story superficially, then you are right. If your eyes see only the surface and not what is between the lines, then logic would dictate that it does not merit to be included as part of the Bible. If on the other hand, the Purim story is read carefully and with spiritual depth per ception; if you look beneath the sur face view and probe behind the scenes; if you see not only the incidents but the Purim experience as a whole, the entire concatenation of events, -the forest and not only the trees, then you will catch a glimpse of G-d’s Divine Providence and you will recognize the Etzba Elokim, the ‘finger of G -d \” T h e p orte n to u s debate was finally resolved when the great Rabbi A k iv a arose, and proclaimed that “ Esther b ’ruach ha-Kodesh ne ’emrah” 36

«‘the Scroll of Esther was uttered in the spirit of Divine inspiration.” Rabbi Akiva was surely trying to emphasize to his colleagues that behind the abortive machinations of Haman; be hind all the intrigues in the royal palace; behind the capricious conduct of Achashveyrosh; behind the glorious tenacity of Mordechai; behind the self-sacrificing zeal of Esther Jgbehind all these events, there is concealed from view the operation of the Hashgochoh Ha-Elyonah, the care and concern of Divine Providence. True that every ‘‘p’rat” and every incident by itself can be explained naturally and on a rational basis. When all the pieces are, however, seen together in totality as one “geshtalt,” then we recognize the Master Plan of the Great Architect. Surely, the whole structure cannot have come about by sheer accident. “ Moh rabu m a’asecha HaShem” *^?Y\aw many are thy deeds, O Lord” — when you view the total oneness as a whole, when you look at the many deeds of the Lord together, then you proclaim “Ha-Shem,” you see the handiw ork of G-d. The authority of Rabbi Akiva and the weight of his affirmation prevailed and Megillath Esther was recognized as sacred literature and became an in tegral part of our Holy Writ. HE whole debate helps us to u n d e rsta n d th a t “ n issim ,” miracles, are of two types. There is, firstly, the type that is obvious as a miracle to all who witness it. Even one who is not spiritually attuned to feel

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the presence of G-d must, even with a surface glance, recognize the handi work of the Lord. Recall the scenes at the setting when our forefathers marched out of the bondage of Egypt and the miracles witnessed when Pharoah and his hordes were drowned in the Red Sea while Israel marched forward on dry land. Here, even to a mere surface view was disclosed unmistakeably the Etzba Elokim in the miraculous deliverances. The Bible tells us: “And all of Israel witnessed the mighty Hand of the Lord and they believed in Him.” The Rabbis comment that even a simple “shifchah” (maid servant), the type unschooled in reli gious sensitivity, instantly recognized that here was no sequence of ordinary coincidences but that it was a miracle wrought by G-d. Such a type of miracle, one that is visible to all and unmistakeable as to its Authorship, does not represent a great challenge to the “spiritual eye” of a person. Far different, however, is the second type of miracle, which is not recognizeable on the surface as being from G-d. For it is only when one probes behind the scene and reads between the lines that he recognizes that it is not a mere acci dent but rather a revelation of G-d’s plan. We realize, of course, that in order to recognize such events as being miraculous, there is the prerequisite that one be equipped with spiritual depth and religious insight. In Yiddish, “to see” is “tzu zehen” and “to hear” is “tzu heren,” but when you wish to imply a deeper type of seeing and a JANUARY-FEBRUARY

pro founder type of hearing, then you say “ tzu d e rz e h e n ” and “ tzu derheren”; meaning, to see and hear much more than what is on the sur face. It implies grasping of a deeper insight. OW wise and far-sighted indeed then was Rabbi Akiva, in urging that the S c ro ll o f Esther, the “megillath sethorim” which tells of a hidden miracle, is a Holy Scroll and is in the category of Divine inspiration warranting inclusion in our Holy Bible. It has taught all the past generations of our people to see the events around them as much more than merely acci dents of a capricious history. Rabbi A k iv a ’s approach has inspired our people to probe deeper into the events and then with a “spiritual eye” to find concealed the operation of G-d’s Will in shaping the course of events. The Purim Scroll, “ Esther eynah magid ah, ” which does not mention G-d’s name, and yet is part of sacred Scripture, has taught our generations to see all of Jewish history not as a meaningless and purposeless chain of events, but rather as a “gilui Shechinah,” as the manifestation of G-d’s Plan in the affairs of Man. Whether it be the de struction of the Temple and the spolia tion of our Holy Land; whether it be the exile into Babylon or the exile from Spain; whether it be the rise of achsanyoth she/ Torah, new Jewish settlements in North Africa, Germany, Poland, Russia, America; or whether it be the eymek habochay the valley of tears under the Nazi rule or the heroic

rebirth of our homeland as the inde pendent State of Isra e l^ H “ b'chol d ’rochecha d o ’eyhu” — in all these pages of history shall you read the handwriting of the Lord. The Purim Scroll reminds us that “m ’eyth HaShem hoythah zoth,” that all are but integral parts of the Lord’s blueprint for Israel and Mankind. Our Sages offer us a unique play on words giving emphasis to the point of view of Rabbi Akiva. They tell us that already in the Chumosh can we find an allusion to the sanctity of a hidden miracle: “When do we know that one can find a reference to the Book of Esther in Holy Writ? For it is written: 1 shall hide my face from them’.” In Hebrew the spelling of the word astir, hide, is almost the same as the spelling for the word Esther. Thus, in their own way, the Rabbis sought to teach us the very same lesson that the miracle of Purim was one hidden from view.

presence is in this place and I knew it not.” The Rambam in Hilchoth Megillah states: “Even when all festivals be annulled in the Days of the Messiah, yet the festival of Purim will never be annulled.” For Purim brings with it the message that miracles do happen and that history is, as our Prophets taught, but the unfolding of G-d’s Will. Purim reminds us that though G-d hides we can find Him. Rabbi Akiva brought us the truth: the Scroll of Esther is holy and its message is eternal for all peoples and for all times.

E R E is therefore the heart of the Purim story that “miracles do happen” and that G-d is always part of history. In was Dr. Chayyim Weizmann, the first President of the State of Israel, who though himself far from devout said that “a Jew in Israel who does not believe in miracles is not a realist.” We need but to learn to look at events with more depth and with an “eye of the spirit” and then we too will proclaim as did Father Y a ’akov: “Behold I see now that the Divine

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C H A L L E N G EO FT H EO PE NS O C IE T Y by JUDAH S. COHEIM

This article was written ju s t before the tragic death o f its author two years ago at the age o f 26. O f rare character and b rillia n t promise, Judah S. Cohen had been studying fo r Semichah at Rabbi Isaac Eichanan Theologi cal Seminary o f Yeshiva University u n til illness compelled him to return to his home in Brookline, Mass. He was working fo r his doctorate in Philo sophy at the Graduate School o f Boston University when his life was cut short. in sending us the article, the a uth or’s father, Mr. /. Edward Cohen, explained that his son had w ritten i t with inten t to subm it i t to JEWISH LIFE. We are privileged to be the bearer o f Judah S. Cohen’s final message. E ditor

U D A IS M is conservative by its very nature, in the sense that conservatism can broadly be viewed as an appeal to an antecedent authority whether it be G-d, the T o ra h ,th e Talmud, the Rabbis, or to Tradition itself. However, American society is b e c o m in g increasingly liberal and open-ended and by definition anti thetical to Orthodoxy. It will be the

thesis of this article that the basic philosophy that is fostered by tradi tional Judaism runs against the grain of American liberal society and that this fundamental dichotomy engenders a friction between the two mentalities. (Two brief clarifications of the fore going: a. Antecedent authority is here not to be confused with authori tarianism; b. Conservative -Hliberal is JEWISH LIFE

never-ending, unfolding process, evolu here to be understood as a framework tionary in nature. Thus, if a permissive from which one makes social value judgements, and a fundamental con society is produced where the criterion for judgment is the situation ethic, text for social perception.) then that is good. Here, progress is Several important corollaries follow from this definition of con measured in terms of quantity, i.e., by the passage of time. But in traditional servatism. The ethical and spiritual Jewish values, progress is measured by ideals of Judaism have already been clearly defined in the Torah and the quality and its adhesion to a hitherto promulgated ethic. fundamental principles of the Oral Tradition. Even the first generations at E R T A IN L Y , one of the most Sinai and afterwards were on the im m ed iate and challenging highest of planes and further genera problems that orthodox Jewry faces is tions tend to diminish in religious level “ If the first generations are like America’s changing attitude towards angels, then we are mere men” sex. The increasing popularity of (Talmud, Shabboth 112b). Thus, for •steady dating in high school and the us to achieve the ideals of Judaism, we widespread acceptance of premarital are in a sense going backwards in time. sex by college students simply run The lives of the Ovoth and their against the grain of everything that is conduct serve as paradigms of religious Jewish. The initial shock that blatant and ethical observance for us today. sex in the theatre and on television The traditional Jew thus lives in a closed produced has now been accepted as system of time where going forward routine fare by the public. Here, means going backward in time. This is freedom borders more on the licen not to be interpreted as a slur against tious with the ever-decreasing control closed systems of time, as Bergson of good taste. In this context then, the felt,* but rather as an expression of prohibitions of sayor vekol b ’ishah the fundamental teleological nature of ervah (“It is forbidden to listen to a woman singing, and to see a married the Jewish philosophic belief. H ow e ve r, A m e rica n society w o m a n ’s u n c o v e re d h e a d ” — tends to adopt an open system of time Berochoth 24a) is apt to be viewed as from which the liberal viewpoint or not simply outdated, but as almost mentality follows. This world view indefensible. And the entire chapter in conceives of man’s ideals as lying in the Shulchon Oruch that deals with the future, in the realm of the newly rhithracheyk min h o 'a ro y o th ^m to possible and achievable. Here the further oneself from illicit relations ethical, moral, and spiritual are a (Even Ho-Ezer 21) loses its meaning. If *Henry Bergson, “Two Sources of Religion so, then what has happened to our axiomatic dosed system of time and and Morality.”

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its eternal truths and values? = Here, an analogy with Plato is interesting, for Plato in the Republic and in an attempted application in Syracuse tried to set up a religious state but without a religion to fall back on. He thus failed. In America we are faced with the opposite problem of establishing a religion not simply in a non-religious society, but in an antireligious one. N the area o f ethics and m orality,,; the challenge, to Judaism is open and obvious. How ever, in the area of higher education, the challenge is as great but goes seem ingly unrecognized. One fundamental precept that runs through all of traditional Judaism as a binding force is the belief of each Jew that he is a unique creature and that Judaism is a unique religion. Thus, atah vechartonu, ‘T h o u hast chosen us,” sums up this idea most eloquently. Only recently have Jewish apologists attempted to water down this notion to a mere poetic outburst devoid of its fundamental meaning. Orthodox Jews have always been able to adapt themselves to the fields of medicine and law. Even the fields of mathematics, physics, and chemistry have never presented any real idea tional conflict with ’ the tenets of Judaism, for these sciences have noth ing inherent in them to make one challenge his beliefs. The only real problem that has stirred up contro versy over the ages in these sciences is the utter dedication that each of these

studies requires in order to be pro ficient. Dedication and proficiency have always been the hallmark of Limmud Torah. In my opinion, the real conflict lies in the social sciences. In anthropology, not only the Jew but all men lose something in the evolutionary process — their unique ness. The story of Creation thus b e c o m e s j u s t a n o th e r q u a in t mythology of just another religion, and 5728 is a totally indefensible date in the lig h t o f anthropological findings. In comparative religion, Judaism can come out second or third best to Buddhism, Christianity, or any other religion, depending on the likes or dislikes of the instructor. In the sociology of religion and psychoanalytic theory, no religion can really stand up well under the cold and harsh light of the sociologist and his endless classifications, and the reli gious believer is often regarded by the atheistic psychiatrist as a misguided zealot with an underlying psychologi cal problem. Freud, for example, dis missed religion as a neurosis and illu sion to be overcome. In Spinoza's “Tractatus,” one can find the philosophic basis for Biblical Criticism. In Criticism, the Torah is regarded simply as a good piece of literature with great spiritual meaning written by men for men. Ultimately, we come to philo sophy where the orthodox student must confront such powerful anti-reli gious thinkers as Spinoza, Bergson, JEWISH LIFE

Nietzsche, the materialists, the neoHegelians, etc. There are many more fields in the social sciences whose specific teachings tend to run counter to Jewish thought. Here, however, I am not so much concerned with the specific fields but rather with the basic approach and mentality they foster. A sociologist must be able theoretically to raise himself above the various cultures and analyze each one in a cold and objective manner. In the same spirit the philosopher lifts himself above the d ive rgen t systems of thought, evaluates each one analyti cally, and ultimately must be given the right to choose whichever system appeals to him. The student, then, in the context and spirit of the social sciences, cannot only question his own religious beliefs but must be given the concomitant right to accept or reject his religious beliefs. This is an open society. This is a liberal education. This is a liberal mentality. This is sh’riru th lev ’¿f free and rebellious spirit (DVorim 29:18; N.B. Rashi’s comment). But this viewpoint is opposite to that of traditional Judaism. Thus, one can readily understand the Rabbis’ constant exhortation against the study of Chochmath Yavonith, Greek philo sophy. The Jew must accept the authority of G-d, the Torah, the Talmud, the Rabbis, the Mesorah; the ritual and the ethical mitzvoth arealike binding obligations. T h u s, the orthodox Jewish student in college and graduate school JANUARY-FEBRUARY

faces a distinct but subtle challenge. An intellectual tension arises between the liberal and conservative viewpoints and mentalities. It is my contention that this conflict is so subtle that most orthodox students are not aware of it on a c o n s c io u s level. However, whether on a conscious or a subcon scious level, the orthodox student senses the inherent pitfalls of many fields in higher education. Thus, many sim p ly avoid these conflict areas. (Others take these courses but^.not being sensitive to the basic problems, go unaffected.) For example, I know of no o r t h o d o x Jew ish anthropologists (although some might exist), and the few Jews who are in anthropology often concentrate in the innocuous area o f linguistics. Compare the meager number of orthodox Jewish philosophers, sociologists of religion, anthropologists, psychiatrists, etc., to the overwhelming number of orthodox Jew ish mathematicians, physicists, biochem ists, etc.! One can easily rem ain orthodox-conservative as a physical scientist but dare he enter into the many conflict areas of the social sciences and problems arise. (This, of course, does not mean that there are not many orthodox Jewish sociologists and psychologists, but the areas of their investigation are not those of conflict to which we have addressed ou rse lve s. T h u s, for exam ple1/" when Yeshiva University makes a valiant attempt to synthesize Torah and science, the product is not a synthesis but an intellectual schizoid, a 43

veritable hydra, for by definition, the mentalities are mutually exclusive.) T is interesting to note histor ically how Chazal have handled this problem of a liberal and open culture which challenged Judaism. The first time J udaism came face to face with a liberal culture was when it encountered the Greek civilization and philosophy. Chazal banned the study of Greek philosophy.* Later, Rabbi Akiva banned the study of s e p h o rim c h itz o n im (uncanonical Apocrypha literature)** because they did not believe in G-d (Rashi) nor accept the authority of the Rabbis (Rosh). Judaism again faced the problem of an intellectual and open society in Spain and its Golden Era. And once again philosophy was frowned upon. The Rashba’s famous ban on the study of philosophy until the age of 25 stands out as a landmark to all future generations. Yet the warning went and goes unheeded. The Haskolah movement once again mirrored this same tension be tween liberal and conservative, open

* B o v a Kam a 8 2b : “ O r r y r ho-odom sheyilameyd eth benoh chochmath yavonith (without any time limit attached).” Note the M e’iri’s remarks on this point concern ing the study of philosophy. **Sanhedrin 90a and the clarification of the Gemora on 100b.

and closed views of society. (I wish to point out that the traditional Judaism of which I am speaking in this article is not to be understood solely in terms of Eastern European Jewry of the past several hundred years, but as reflected in Jewish history from the times of the T a n n a im and A m o ra im ... .until today.) It seems that every time Judaism has faced an open and permissive society, there have been segments who adopted the liberal attitude and philo sophy. These Jews tended to merge w ith so c ie ty , lost their religious identity, and disappeared into the anonymity of history. It is only when Judaism could separate itself from its surrounding society did it survive. C o n se rv a tism implies uniqueness, uniqueness means separation, and separation is continuity. N important element of liberal society and philosophy is the developm ent of ethical humanism which, in considering the welfare and happiness of mankind as its primary function,^ seeks to emancipate man from the dogmas of religion. The rituals of religion which depend for their very existence upon an ante cedent authority are questioned, for the very existence of G-d is ques tioned. It is felt that religion has d ivid e d men, and caused endless turmoil and friction. The brotherhood of man is to be achieved, in the ethical humanist view, when all are governed

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by common goals and ideals. Liberal ism then has a total leveling effect upon all of mankind. Now,V although Judaism does affirm the basic notion of humanism and equality,, — zeh sepher toldoth odom (Bereshith 5:1) — it nevertheless strongly maintains the concept of the uniqueness of the Jew amidst his fellow man. (The Ha-go’oth Maimoniyoth goes so far as to insist upon a differentiation between observant and non-observant Jew.) Once Judaism forgets the notion of atah vechartonu, waters down the Mitzvoth, and does not differentiate, the Jews will lose their raison d ’etre, merge with their surrounding culture, assimilate, and die. (It is to be understood that I do not address this article to the problem o f m aking Judaism “relevant” to today’s society and the obvious grey areas which one encounters. However,

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I do feel that relevance and greyness should be viewed in terms of a liberal — conservative polarity and proceed from there.) In America, Judaism then faces its greatest challenge — survival in an open society. This confrontation is equal to if not greater than the prob lem s encountered in closed and oppressive societies which we have faced and outlived in the past. An ancient parable tells: The wind and the sun vied as to who was the stronger. Seeing a man walking by, the wind claimed it was stronger for it could blow the man’s cloak off. The wind proceeded to blow, and the more it blew, the tighter did the man cling to his garment. The sun then dispersed the clouds and concentrated its rays upon the man. Soon the man removed his cloak and dropped it to the ground.

F ro m D e s tr u c tio n to E x c a v a tio n — 1900

Y ears

by NATHAN KOPS

the reign of King Herod and com pleted in the year 3751 (9 B.C.E.). In 3830 (70 C.E.) the Beth Hamikdosh was destroyed by the Roman legions of Titus, son of Emperor Vespasian; all that remained was a section of the western waif. For many years, Jews were permitted to visit the desolate site of the Beth Hamikdosh only once a year, at Tisha B ’Ov, the anniversary of its destruction and of the destruc tion of the first Beth Hamikdosh. Because Jews annually gathered for lamentation at the Western Wall on th is tra gic anniversary, non-Jews named it the Wailing Wall. A t the Kothel Ha-ma’arovi, Jews would sit on the ground on the eve of that anniversary and, by candlelight, read from Megillath Echah, the Scroll of Lamentations* composed by the Prophet Jeremiah as he witnessed the

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JEW arriving in Israel is mag netically drawn to the Western Wall in Jerusalem. A s he nears the Wall and touches it, or lovingly kisses the sacred stones which have been hal lowed by nineteen hundred years of prayer and supplication, he buries his head between the crevices of the massive stones and, with tears of joy mixed with sorrow, offers prayers from the recesses of his heart. NonJews, too, are emotionally moved by the sight of the ancient Wall, with its huge* drafted stones (each stone averages 6 x 4 feet), towering majes tically above the multitudes who come to pray there. The Kothel Ha-ma’arovi is one of the four outer walls which encircled the courtyard of the magnificent Holy Temple of the Second Jewish Com monwealth. These walls were built in

destruction of the first Beth Hamikd osh , the Temple built by King Solomon. T h e year 1970 marked the 1900th anniversary of the destruction o f the H o ly Temple. This past summer, from dusk of the eve of August 10th until after night-fall on the 11th, over 50,000 Jews prayed at the Western Wall; for this was the illfated 9th day of Av. To appreciate the significance of the Western Wall, one must have some perspective of the historical posture of the Holy Temple.

The majestic Beth Hamikdosh stood for 410 years. With the rise of the Babylonian Empire, black clouds loomed heavily over Israel and the House of the Lord. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylonia, ransacked the Beth Hamikdosh on his first foray against Jerusalem. About twenty years later, Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Beth Hamikdosh on the ninth day of Av and exiled the Jews to Babylonia. Seventy years after the initial attack on the Judean kingdom by the Babylonian ruler, the Jews returned to U R IN G the reign of Dovid Hatheir homeland led by Zerubbavel, a Melech he unified all of Jeru descendant of King David. Plans for salem and proclaimed the city as the rebuilding the Holy Temple began capital of Israel; David’s wish was to with the return of the exiles; however, erect a permanent House of G-d there, it took twenty years for the second “How could I dwell in a house of Holy House to be completed, since the cedar wood and the Holy A rk dwell in S a m a rita n s constantly interfered, a tent?,” David asked of Nothon, the directly and indirectly, with its con Prophet. And the Prophet replied that struction. Finally, about seventy years not he, David, but his son, would erect after the destruction of the first Beth a permanent spiritual home. Because Hamikdosh, the second edifice was David had been engaged in war he completed under the inspired leader would not have the privilege of build ship of Ezra and Nechemiah. The ing the Holy Temple. Only a king younger generation, having witnessed whose reign would be peaceful could the construction of the new Holy build the House of G-d, symbol of Temple, the House of the Lord, re peace. Shelomoh Ha-Melech under joiced gre a tly at the dedication took the building of the first Holy cerem ony; however, some of the Temple 480 years after the exodus oldest generation, remembering the from Egypt. The Holy Temple was glory of the Temple of yore, were b u ilt on M o u n t M oriyah where recalled to sorrow at the calamity their Abraham underwent the supreme test childhood eyes had witnessed. A l of faith in G-d. Seven years after the though the second Beth Hamikdosh initial construction began, the Holy was on the same site as the first, it House of G-d was dedicated by King lacked the magnificence of Solom on’s Solomon amidst joy and ceremony. edifice, and missing from the House of

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the Lord was the ineffable Ark of the Covenant. In place of the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy of Holies (which only the High Priest entered, but once a year) contained a stone,'* slightly raised from the floor. The stone was known as “Even Shethiyah.” No other object adorned the Holy of Holies in the Beth Hamikdosh. HE Second Temple existed for 420 years, while the land of Israel came under the sway of a succes sion of empires. During the reign of Antiochus IV, “Epiphanes,” ruler of the Seleucid Empire of the SyrioGreeks, the Holy Temple was defiled by Hellenist apostates who offered sacrifices to pagan gods. After three years of heroic battle against over whelming forces of Antiochus IV, Y e h ud ah Maccabee and his brave soldiers succeeded in regaining the Beth Hamikdosh. They removed the defiled altar and replaced it with a new one. D e d ication ceremonies were observed for eight days beginning on the twenty-fifth day of Kislev, 3596 (164 B.C.E.). To this day we com memorate the holiday of rededication, Chanukah. Years passed; the Hasmonean D y n a s t y fo u n d e d by Y e h u d a h Maccabee’s brother Simon lost its luster and finally fell into the hands of Herod the Idumean. The Beth Hamik dosh, which had previously undergone renovation on several occasions, was now in dire need of major repair. Herod, though subservient to pagan Rome in his policies and bitterly hated

by his oppressed Jewish subjects,'saw fit to sponsor the renovation. In the year 3751 (9 B.C.E.) the reconstruc tion of the Holy Temple was com pleted. Wishing to aggrandize himself in the eyes of the Roman overlords of the Land of Israel, Herod had caused the second Beth Hamikdosh to be rebuilt and enlarged in a most gran diose manner. Sages of the Mishnah who saw the Holy Temple or heard of its magnificence praised the beauty of the rebuilt edifice. Herodghowever, characteristically outraged the people by placing above the entrance of the Holy Temple a golden eagle, pagan symbol of Roman authority; a most shameful insult to the sanctity of the House of G-d, not to be borne by the Jewish people. The Temple survived eighty stormy years more, until, in climactic war between Roman and Jew, on the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av, it was razed to the ground by the conquering forces of Rome. o u n t m o r iy a h was now desolate, the holy place lay in ruins, and Jews were forbidden to enter there. Foxes roamed the Holy Site, now but a mass of crumbled, charred rock. The only known rem nant was an outer wall which orig inally surrounded the courtyard of the Holy Temple. In the year 4398 (638 C .E .), the Caliph Omar occupied Jerusalem and built a mosque on the Holy Site where the Beth Hamikdosh once stood. The mosque, known as the D o m e o f the Rock, which now

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occupies the Holy Site, was completed in 4451 (691 C.E.). Through century after century, Jews from the four corners of the earth travelled on pilgrimage to the Western Wall, sole visible remnant of the ancient Holy Temple and its environs. In course of time Jews were permitted to pray at the Western Wall every day of the year, not only on the day of national mourning. Throughout the centuries, Jews made their home in ancient Jerusalem in order to be close to the Western Wall, “Where the Spirit of the Almighty Father has never abandoned the holy place, even after the desecration of the Holy Temple.“ Some who came to Jerusalem left security, comfort, and even family ties in order to live there; others came because they were persecuted in their native lands. Major-General Sir Charles Warren, a 19th century British ex plorer who wrote several books on his diggings in Jerusalem, records that in his time (1867), there were 10,000 Jews living in the ancient City. Three times daily the Jews would congregate in front of the Kothel Ha-ma’arovi to offer their daily prayers. The Western Wall became their Synagogue and House of Study. Many would remain throughout the day to study there from the holy scriptures or from the folios of the Talmud. On Shabboth and Yom Tov the Jews would crowd the narrow path in front of the Wall.

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R IO R to the Six-Day War, the Western Wall was exposed only 28 meters (91 ft.); the rest of the Wall was blocked by dome-top Arab houses which rested against the sacred wall. Some of the Arabs who lived there used the wall as one of the walls of their homes. (From the writings of historians and explorers as well as p ilg rim s w ho visited the site in previous centuries, it appears that these houses did not exist in the past.) Many legends had sprung up with regard to the Western Wall and how it had survived destruction in the year 3830 (70 C.E.). For many years it was thought that this was the sole surviving wall of the Holy Temple Court. Since the Six-Day War, through extensive excavations which the Israeli Government undertook, two hundred and eighty meters (885 ft.) o f the Western Wall have been excavated to date, and the Southern Wall has been unearthed. What a magnificent sight to behold as one approaches the site of the Western Wall and views the majesty of the two walls joined at the so u th -w e st corner, by smoothlychiseled anglestones, supporting the famous Herodian border. One of these anglestones is 38 feet 9 inches long and w eigh s about 90 tons. The Southern Wall is now in clear view up to the double gate which once led to the Temple Mount. It is believed that the original twin gates, known as the “Gates of the Prophetess Hu Ida,“ are

vating and exploring these sites. The Southern area, around the Robinson Arch,* is being excavated in depth. This huge area, including part of the Western Wall and the entire Southern Wall, is exposed to public view and, naturally, attracts scores of onlookers. The Northern facet of the Western Wall, around the Wilson A rc h ,** is being only partially excavated, in a subterranean area beneath the streets of the Old City of Jerusalem. The goals of these two excavations differ widely. The southern portion of the r a v e l l in g on an Egged public bus from Tel Aviv to Western Wall and the Southern Wall Jerusalem, I sat next to a native Israeli. site are being excavated by experi In the course of our conversation, I enced archeologists, sponsored by the asked my travelling companion,“ What Israel Exploration Society and the is Israel's favorite pastime?" Without Institute of Archeology of the Hebrew blinking an eye he replied: "Excava University in cooperation with the tions." The Sabra then continued, Israel Academy of Humanities and "M an y nations have robbed us of our Scie n c e s ánd the National Parks relics (a reference to the many arti Authority. This socio-scientific ex facts o f Israel in the w o rld 's ploration is headed by the renowned Museums); but they'could not remove Israeli Archeologist and professor of our historical sites — these were left Biblical History at the Hebrew Uni for us to excavate and rebuild." Exca versity, Professor B. Mazar. The ulti vations are on-going throughout the mate goal of these excavations is to land of Israel. All Israelis point with unearth the topography of the area; to pride to the heritage they are unearth unve il the various societies that

buried beneath the present double gate. Contemporary archeologists hope to excavate the original gates. A t present^ one cannot walk about the Southern side of the Wall. Because of extensive ongoing excavations, that area is off-limits to the public. The Western Wall, since the Six-Day War, has been exposed to ten times its previous le’ngth. Even with such a large exposed area there are times when the crowd is so huge that there isn't suffi cient room to come close to the Wall.

ing: a glorious past which lies buried in the debris of 2000 years. The extensive Jerusalem excava tions to the north and south of the Western Wall (including the Southern Wall) pivot about two famous arches, the Wilson Arch and the Robinson Arch. Two groups, differing from each other in scope and interest, are exca

*The Robinson Arch was discovered by a famous American, Edward Robinson, who explored Jerusalem in 1838 and 1852. **T h e Wilson Arch was uncovered by a British Officer, Colonel Sir Charles W. Wilson, on his Jerusalem expedition in 1865.

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followed one another in rapid succes sion in the city of Jerusalem; and to trace the historical process of settle ment in this area. To date, sixteen layers of civilization have been un earthed. Some of the major periods uncovered are: the Arab period; the B y z a n tin e / the Roman; and the Herodian. These main periods have been subdivided into shorter historical spans, as for example: the Omayyad period; the Abbasid era; the Fatimid period; the Hadrian; and the period of the Bar Kochba revolt. Coins, pottery, stone slabs with inscriptions, and sec tions of pillars found in the area have shed m uch light on the various periods. An original, paved street dating fro m the Herodian era has been partially excavated. Aqueducts and tunnels which supplied water to the Temple area were discovered beneath the Herodian street level. The most important part of the excavation, thus far, was the removal of debris from the depth of the Southern Wall, thereby exposing to view a part of the famous Wall whose existence was heretofore unknown to the average Jew, although it had been a subject of studies by archeologists and historians. HE nature and goal of the exca vations in the northerly section of the Western Wall are remarkably different from those at the Southern Wall site. Rabbi Dov Perla, director of the Department of Sacred Sites and Antiquities of the Ministry of Reli gious Affairs, took me on a private

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tour of the dank, musty, subterranean vaults that flank the northern end of the Western Wall. Rabbi Perla has spearheaded the development of the Western Wall site over which he has complete jurisdiction, answering only to Dr. Z. Warhaftig, Minister of Reli gious Affairs of the State of Israel. I asked Rabbi Perla if his department is duplicating the work headed by Prof. Mazar. Rabbi Perla answered: “We do not claim to be archeologists, nor is this an archeological expedition. The p u rp o se of this excavation is to remove the debris, stones, rubbish, brackish water, and cess-pools that for nineteen-hundred years have accumu lated in front of the Holy Wall. Thus far we have unearthed over two hundred meters (650 ft.) and we have, at least, two hundred meters more to uncover to reach the northern end of the Western Wall. “This Wall,” Rabbi Perla con tinued, “is holy to the Jewish people; at the Wall thousands come to pray. It is our function, indeed our duty, to clear the Wall and the surrounding area enabling thousands more to stand in front of the Wall and worship G-d. On many occasions, ¿even the presently excavated area has been too small for the number of Jews who have come to worship there. There are days when as many as a hundred-thousand Jews crowd the Kothel Ha-ma’arovi. The purpose of our excavations is religious in nature and not archeological.” The excavations here began soon after the Six-Day War, beneath a build ing known in Arabic as “Mahkama,” 51

the Council House. This building, which stands adjacent to and leans upon the Western Wall, is so named because there sat the “Cadi,” the Moslem judge. Tradition has it that on this site the Sanhedrin, the ancient Jewish Council consisting of seventyone judges, met before its destruction nineteen hundred years ago. This fact is also mentioned in the writings of Flavius Josephus.* N E H U N D R E D years ago two famous British officers, Colonel Sir Charles Wilson and Major General Charles Warren, explored the same subterranean area beneath the Council House. In fact, it was here that Sir Charles Wilson discovered an arch forty-eight meters wide which seemed to spring from the Western Wall. This arch was later named after its dis coverer. Major General Charles Warren also did extensive explorations at the Southern Wall and its environs. C on temporary explorations and excava tions are based on the findings and detailed recordings of these two re nowned Englishmen. Beneath the Sanhedrin site and b e yo n d it are vaulted chambers, arches, and tunnels that were com pletely filled with stones, earth, debris, rubbish, and stagnant and foul water.

*Josephus, who played a role in the great revolt against Roman tyranny which culmi nated in the destruction of the Second Temple and deserted to the Romans, is famous for his works on Jewish history, including “The Jewish War/’ the main literary source for the history of the era.

In order to reach the Western Wall, it was necessary to clear the area, to remove the tons of dirt that had accu mulated for nineteen-hundred years. This herculean task was entrusted to the Department of Sacred Sites and Antiquities. Under the auspices of Rabbi Dov Perla, laborers have worked three shifts, twenty-four hours a day, for close to three years, removing end less debris and layers of earth. Rabbi Perla told us, “Requests have poured in from laborers all over Israel, asking for the privilege of working, without pay, at this sanctified site — so much love is there for sacred historical places.” Rabbi Perla added, “ In the three years that we have been digging we have, thank G-d, not had one acci dent. The greatest Israeli engineers are guiding us, for there are many hazards in this excavation.”, . O D A Y , many Jews pray in these vaulted chambers before the newly uncovered section of the West ern Wall. One can still smell the re cently dug-up earth and see a thin layer of dark brown earth imbedded in the m assive Herodian rectangular stones. Many visitors are intrigued by the ancient walls, the Wilson Arch, the recently excavated sector of the West ern Wally and Warren’s Pier, a shaft which shows fifteen meters (approxi mately 48 ft.) of the Wall still buried beneath the present ground level. At this time, however, the area- surround ing the Western Wall is not being fully explored and excavated. To excavate it in depth would mean to close the area

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to the multitudes, Israelis and tourists, who wish to pray there or merely to stand in reverence and awe before The Wall. To do this would mean denying the rights of all to whom the Wall is sacred. The archeologists and secular ists would prefer to excavate the entire area down to its base, some fifteen meters, in search of precious relics of the past. There is opposition also to the archeological excavations taking

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place at the South Wall. This Wall is also sacred: many feel that it should be consecrated as a place of worship and not exploited as a sight-seers’ curiosity. Between these two opposing positions the Ministry of Religious Affairs, through its Department of Sacred Sites and Antiquities, maintains a balance, ensuring that religious rights will not be overborne in achieving peaceful co-existence.

by AARO N ROTHKOFF EW sifrey kodesh written in modern times have achieved the popularity of the “Torah Temimah.” It has become a classic for both young and old and an indispensable part of every Torah library. Its author, Rabbi Boruch Halevi Epstein, was never a practicing rabbi, but rather a banker who devoted all his spare time to his studies and writings. Boruch Epstein was born on 5 Shevat (1860) in Bobruisk, Russia, into a distinguished rabbinical family. H is father, Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein, was Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Spektor’s successor as the Rabbi of Novohrodak. The elder Rabbi Epstein also achieved fame as the author of the Oruch Ha-Shulchon, a detailed analysis and commentary to all four divisions of the S h u lc h o n Oruch. Boruch

Epstein’s uncle, his mpther’s brother, was the illustrious Rosh Yeshivah of V o lo z h in , R a b b i N a f t o li T ’zvi Yehudah Berlin. The young Boruch early achieved recognition for posses sing a photographic memory. A t the age o f th irte e n he entered the Volozhin Yeshivah where he enjoyed his uncle’s guidance and instruction. He emulated his uncle’s method of study and gradually became convers ant with the entire range of rabbinical literature. His diligence intensified at Volozhin, and he did not again return to his parents’ home until Pesach dur ing his fifteenth year. While continuing his rabbinical studies at Volozhin until his eighteenth year, the young scholar also devoted time to mastering secular studies on his own. He was particularly interested in economics and composed JEWISH LIFE

a manuscript on commerce and trade. Although this volume was never pub lished, it did result, in 1878, in an offer for him to join the staff of a large bank in St. Petersburg. However, due to the opposition of his parents who feared lest his commitment to Torah be lessened by the environment of the Russian capital, Boruch Epstein did not accept this position. Later that year, he married the daughter of P i n s k ’s R a b b i E la za r M o sh e h Horowitz. While in his father-in-law’s home, he continued both his sacred and secular studies. He was later or dained by the leading rabbis of his time, including his uncle, Rabbi Berlin; Rabbi Yoseph Dov Soloveitchik of Brisk; and Rabbi Raphael Shapiro of the Volozhin Yeshivah. A B B I Epstein refused to accept a rabbinical position. He de clined to succeed his father-in-law in Pinsk upon the latter’s death. He also refused requests from Moscow and St. Petersburg. Instead he chose to enter the banking profession. He first served as an accountant, and later became a bank manager and director of a Pinsk b ank. T h e scholar-official rapidly gained the confidence of the bank’s customers and unlimited trust was placed in him by many Pinsk residents. He continued to devote every spare moment to his studies. He corre sponded with many contemporary scholars and his erudition became widely acknowledged. In 1890, he published his first volume, Nacha! D im ’ah, consisting of

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his eulogy for his father-in-law and an account of the latter’s life and achieve ments. This book was printed by the Pinsk Kehillah and its proceeds were dedicated to communal charities. His next book, Sophoh Le-Ne’emonim, appeared in print in 1893. In the first of its three chapters, Rabbi Epstein stressed the mitzvah inherent in mastering the Hebrew language since its knowledge was fundamental to dis charging basic religious obligations. In the n e xt ch ap te r discussing the efficacy of vernacular Biblical transla tions, the author demonstrated that tra d itio n a l interpretations of the Torah cannot be conveyed in the vernacular. Am ong his examples was Avrech (Bereshith 41:43) which can on ly be interpreted to m e a n ‘av (father) of wisdom, although rach (young) in years” when the Hebrew language is utilized. Rabbi Epstein opposed translations of the Bible and even felt that a recent German rendi tion had intensified antisemitism rather than lessened its influence. In the final chapter the adoption of Aramaic and vernacular words by the Hebrew language was analyzed. Rabbi Epstein held that Aramaic could be used freely due to its close association w ith Hebrew. However, vernacular words were only to be utilized infre quently. N 1902, after fifteen years of labor, his magnum opus, the Torah Temimah, appeared. His father was still alive at its publication, and his p ro u d a p p ro b a tio n graced the

Bereshith volume. In the five volumes of the Torah Temimah, corresponding to the five books of the Torah, Rabbi Epstein illustrated the unity of the Scriptural and Oral traditions. He collected the elucidations and infer ences derived from each Biblical verse in the Talmud and the Halachic Midrashim . T h e se rabbinic texts were printed beneath the Torah text. Below this, at the bottom of each page, was Rabbi Epstein’s commentary in which he elaborated on the intrinsic inter connection between the written and oral Toroth and displayed their abso lute correlation. Many of his own Halachic and Aggadic noveuae were also included in this commentary. R a b b i Epstein included the Five Megilloth in his Torah Temimah. To these Biblical volumes, he also pub lished a digest of the Midrash Rabbah in his anthology of the rabbinic ex planations. Immediately upon its appear ance the Torah Temimah was enthusi astically received by scholars and students. The first printing was soon depleted, and the work was reprinted in 1904. It was subsequently to be re issued many times in Europe, the United States, and Israel. U R IN G th is period, Rabbi Epstein became known as a lead ing figure of the Pinsk community. With his limited wealth, he constantly engaged in unpublicized charitable acts. He became very close to his c o m m u n ity ’s new spiritual leader, Rabbi Aharon Walkin, with whom he

was in constant contact. Rabbinic leaders visited Rabbi Epstein whenever they were in Pinsk, among them Rabbi Chayyim Soloveitchik of Brisk. Upon the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Pinsk was soon caught up in the difficulties engendered by the hostilities. Business came to a near stand-still. Trade with Germany was cut off and monetary transactions between Russia and Germany were abruptly severed. Boruch Epstein’s source of sustenance thereby ended since his bank’s income was cancelled. A year later, Pinsk was conquered by the Germans and Rabbi Epstein’s tribulations intensified. For the next three years the city remained com pletely cut off from the res.t of the world. Its inhabitants struggled to gain the barest necessities of life and fear was their daily companion. During this period, Rabbi Epstein lacked the m ental calmness and serenity to engage in deep studies and writings. Instead he devoted his energies to writ ing his memoirs and gathering the material for his next major publica tion, Mekor Boruch. After the conclusion of the war, Rabbi Epstein’s lot did not materially improve. In 1923^ihe left for an ex tended visit to the United States. His relative, Rabbi Meir Berlin, the son of Rabbi Naftoli T ’zvi Yehudah, was then the p re sid e n t o f the American Mizrachi organization. Rabbi Berlin aided R a b b i Ep ste in during his A m e rican sojourn, and the latter succeeded in raising the necessary funds for his next publication. JEWISH LIFE

While in America, Rabbi Epstein was likewise active in the Mizrachi and also participated in the Union of Orthodox Rabbis and other orthodox organizations. He keenly observed the American Jewish scene and later re corded his observations in Mekor Boruch. He vividly described the reli g io u s breakdown within the new American generation and the chagrin of new arrivals from Europe who discovered they could not eat in their children’s non-kosher homes. Rabbi Epstein preserved for posterity the unique interpretation propounded by a desperate grandfather who was sternly reprimanded by his daughterin-law for enrobing himself in an ' ‘out landish” tallith in the presence of his grandchildren. The grandfather ex plained that he often wondered why the prayer stated “deliver me today, and every day, from impudent man and from insolence” if the prayer was recited daily. It should therefore have been sufficient to recite “deliver me today” However, he now understood the true meaning of these additional words. The first prayer for deliverance from such people was for the day in which the prayer was actually recited. The next prayer was for the early part of the next day before the prayer was again recited, the period during which his daughter-in-law had so severely rebuked him for putting on his tallith. How ever, Rabbi Epstein did praise American Jews for their gen erosity and their eagerness to aid their overseas brethren. He attributed their material successes to the constant JANUARY-FEBRUARY

b le ssin g s fo r the well-being of American Jews which were recited by grateful Jews throughout the world. Nevertheless, Rabbi Epstein did not find his proper niche on the American scene, and in 1926 he returned to Pinsk. A B B I E P S T E IN published his M e k o r B o ru c h in 1928. It appeared in four volumes, containing over two thousand pages, including an introduction of 667 pages. He de scribed this work as comprising “re miniscences of his life, his family, and the previous generation.” However, m any additional topics were also covered in its many pages. Talmudic novellae, philosophy, Biblical exegesis, and grammatical expositions were interspersed among the biographical and historical sections. These volumes were particularly comprehensive in th e ir description of the Volozhin Yeshivah era. Rabbi Epstein also de tailed the biographies of his father, uncle (Rabbi Naftoli T ’zvi Yehudah Berlin), paternal grandfather (Rabbi A h a r o n Y it z c h o k Epstein), and maternal grandfather (Rabbi Yaakov Berlin). The value of these volumes was further enhanced by an exhaustive index in which Rabbi Epstein listed all the people and sources cited in his work. The books concluded with an e x p r e s s io n o f a p p re c ia tio n to American Jewry for financing their publication. The final sentence reflec ted the difficult pecuniary position of its author, who was now dependent upon the sale of his volumes for

sustenance: “May those who remem ber me by purchasing this work be d e sig n a te d fo r p ro s p e rity and blessing.” Rabbi Epstein’s next published work was his commentary to the Jerusalem Talmud which was also entitled Mekor Boruch. Printed in the 1928 Romm edition of this Talmud, it was devoted to establishing the proper meaning of many of its passages. He generally accomplished this by com paring the Jerusalem texts to parallel passages in other rabbinic literature. On occasion, Rabbi Epstein emended the Jerusalem text in accordance with variant readings. In 1930 his commentary to the five M e g illo th entitled Gishmey B ’rochah appeared. It was published in a volume called Avodath Ha-Levi’im together with the commentary on the five Megilloth of Rabbi Michael Halevi Horowitz of Cracow. In this work Rabbi Epstein explained the basic meaning of the text in accordance with the exegetical interpretations of the Chazal. He also utilized his pro found knowledge of Hebrew grammar in elucidating difficult words and passages. Rabbi Epstein published his second largest w o rk , T o so fo th B ’rochah, a 1,700-page commentary to the five books of the Torah, in 1937. Here he explained the Chumosh text in accordance with what he considered its simple meaning. He also recorded his interpretations of rabbinic com mentary to the Torah which he had composed since the appearance of the Torah Temimah. Most striking was his 58

widespread use of philology to explain Biblical passages and the interpreta tions of the Sages. Most of the con tents of these five volumes originally appeared in the Friday issues of the local Pinsk Jewish newspaper, Rinsker Vort. Although other Jewish news papers simply printed collections of quotations from previously published writings, Rabbi Epstein insisted upon publishing original articles each week. He later enlarged and translated these articles into Hebrew and they formed the basis of his Tosofoth B ’rochah. The final published work of Boruch Epstein appeared in 1938 in Pinsk, at a time when the clouds of war were rapidly gathering over Europe. Entitled Boruch She-omar, it contained a detailed commentary to the d a ily and fe stiv a l prayers, p iy y u tim , s e lic h o th , the Pesach Hagoddah, and Pirkey Ovoth. Instead of an introduction he wrote a “bles sing of thanksgiving.” In it he ex pressed his gratitude to G-d for having permitted him to continue his studies despite the hardships of life, and for being able to publish a new volume in his old age. In this commentary, particularly to the Hagoddah, he seem ingly chose to stress the future re demption although it was a time of tribulation for the Jewish people. Although this volume was widely dis tributed locally, the outbreak of the war cancelled plans for its export abroad. Fortunately, Rabbi Epstein had sent a copy of the volume to the Strashun library of Vilna’s Jewish community. This copy was later to be JEWISH LIFE

the sole one to survive the Holocaust, and close to thirty years after its initial publication the Boruch She-omar was reprinted from this copy. PON the outbreak of the war d u rin g September of 1939, Rabbi Epstein became a source of particular aid, encouragement, and guidance to his fellow Jews of Pinsk. He contributed to the support of many scholars and rabbis who were in more difficult financial straits. After Pinsk was occupied by Soviet troops,

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Rabbi Epstein foresaw that the pact between the Soviets and the Nazis would soon be abrogated. He urged those who could to flee although he was too old to do so. A t the start of July, 1941, Pinsk was overrun by the German Army. Rabbi Epstein’s health was now failing, and he was hospital ized in Pinsk’s Jewish hospital. Later that month, he passed on at the age of eighty-one, mercifully spared from witnessing the full fury of the Nazi inferno.

Booh

B eview s

CARICATURE OF JUDAISM

by H EN RY B IB E R F ELD T H E E N C O U N T E R ; by Malaehi Martin; New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1969

whose field encompasses Semitic languages, a rchaeology, and oriental history, Dr. Martin also studied at Oxford and the Hebrew University, and published works on N 1965 Harry Frank Guggenheim sent a letter to the Foundation bearing his Semitic paleography. name in which he said: “The great prophets Martin’s thesis is neither novel nor of all religions have preached gospels with surprising: the three great Western religions, much in common for human progress. The Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, are in deep apostles of the prophets have created reli trouble and unless they mend their ways gious sects dividing mankind into contest they are bound to lose what relevance they ing, and often power-hungry, groups. still possess for mankind. How did this “A world-wide educational project, happen? Because each of these three reli with a simple explanation of the common gions, at some point of its early develop ideology of the great prophets, might be of ment, faced a critical choice, “a priceless some benefit in improving man’s relation to moment,” and each one made the wrong man. Such education should be completely choice, thus forever forfeiting its chance of objective and must reach the masses for bringing salvation to mankind. To prove this effectiveness.” point Martin delves back into the earliest Chosefi to pursue this ambitious pro stages of the religions. It is where he ex ject was Dr. Malaehi Martin, a former Jesuit amines early Hebrew history that we have to priest, whose credentials, as we are told on take issue with his reading of the historical the dust jacket, are exceptional. A scholar records, not because of the intrinsic impor tance bf^fMartin’s work, but''because the kind of wild and woolly presentation of this D R B IB E R F E L D is the author of “ David, period that he offers prevails in many King of Israel,” and of a paper on the rela similar p opular b ooks. tionship of Oral and Written Torah in the Proceedings of the Associations of Ortho T is not easy to ascertain what Martin dox Jewish Scientists. He lectures on Bible really considers historical facts and in the Beth Jacob Seminary in Montreap what is imaginative interpolation. In its where he resides and is a chemist.

JEW ISH LIFE

almost 500 pages the book, as one reviewer puts it, •sc<often involves the reader in a veritable Se rb on ia n bog of historical m in u tiae , theological phraseology and categories within categories.” Still and all, som e statements emerge, presented as historical events and interpretations, that distort the image of early Judaism to a degree that every conclusion drawn on this basis must appear highly suspect. As far as Judaism is concerned, Martin finds himself, at the very outset, in a dilemma. He has to admit that early Israel cannot be compared to any other historical phenomenon. “ It was something unique in history,” the Biblical covenant “something unique in the religious history of man” (p.10). This pact between G-d and Israel “for imponderable reasons had been dissem inated and taken hold of the population” (ibid). Does this then mean that, unable to “ponder” the unique and majestic events of the revelation at Sinai, one should humbly and honestly admit one’s bafflement and, (as Graetz did,) confess that the simplest explanation would be a miracle? Far from it. Out of Martin’s magician’s hat comes this astonishing explanation of the inexplicable: “The occasion, as clearly as we can discern it, had probably been a particular ceremony in connection with the yearly fertility rites for men. . f i (ibid). Any Cheder boy learning Chumosh would recognize that, of all the unfounded hypotheses to account for Sinai, Martin here picked the unlikeliest one. No other idola trous cult is treated with as much abhor rence in the Torah as the Canaanitic fertility rites whose revolting obscenity has been revealed to us in recently excavated texts. T o associate the acceptance of Israel’s Magna Carta of morality with those orgiastic rites is simply absurd. M a r t in ’s tendency throughout his pseudo-historical survey is to depict the early part of Israel’s history as devoid of any semblance of organization. He denies the existence of written records. “An accredited

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body of men whose professional function resembling the later Pharisees would have been to preserve the oral law and to explain a codified written law” and “an official body of priests did not exist” (p.l 6). “There was no High Priest, only later, under Persian rule he would acquire the title of High Priest” (p. 19). In other words, in order to comply with a preconceived pattern cut in conformity with other cul tures, there must be an evolution towards “higher organization, more organization” as the younger Huxley put it. Yet every statement quoted here flies in the face of facts recorded in tradition and text. R IT T E N records dating from early Biblical times have been found in many places. They comprise business cor respondence and official communications, even the first faltering attempts of a school boy at writing the Aleph-Beth, indicating (according to the greatest living expert in the field, Diringer) that the art of writing was widely taught and practised.* As for Martin’s reference to a body of professional exponents of the law, this contains a number of such glaring errors of commission and omission that one almost doubts the seriousness of Martin’s claims. The Pharisees, to begin with, were not “ professional” law interpreters but, as F la v iu s Jo se p h u s mentions at several passages of his Antiquities, the party “on whose side the majority of the people stood” (X V III, 1) “because they had pre served through oral tradition many laws that had not been incorporated in the law codes of Moses” (X III, 10:6). No official accredi tation is mentioned nor was the interpreta tion of the Torah ever placed in the hands

* A captured boy writes down for Gideon a list of the prominent citizens of Sukkoth, as is casually reported in the Book of Judges (8,14).

of “professionals.” On the other hand, not only was there a body of Elders present at Sinai (Shemoth 24:14) but even before that, Mosheh’s first charge in Egypt was to the E ld e rs (Shemoth 3:16, 18; 4:29) and throughout the Biblical books they appear as the responsible spiritual and legal leaders of Israel. Equally unwarranted is Martin’s state ment concerning the priests. Anyohe even distantly acquainted with the Bible knows the essential role the priests played in Israel’s religious life and that the High Priest was an office provided for by the Torah (Vayikra 21:10) and first personified by Aharon and, after his death, by his son El’ozor. In the prophetic books the High Priest occupies a position second only to that of the King (2 Kings 22:4 et al.). .What should one say to a statement such as the following (referring to King Saul’s appointment): “ It is important that fo r the firs t time (our italics) this was not merely a charismatic appointment but a political office with military overtones” (p. 16). Has Martin never heard of the military e x p lo its of a Gideon, a Yiphtach, a Shimshon, and the other Judges who were sent “to save Israel from the hands of their oppressors” (Judges 2, 10ff)? Can this be

anything but a deliberate attempt to falsify the records of Israel’s early, history for a definite purpose? So it goes on and on throughout the book, remodelling the past in order to pro duce a caricature of early Israel. The dis maying aspect of this is that the caricature is being taken as a portrait true to nature. This writer has seen a number of reviews of this book in reputable literary and religious publications and, while some take issue with its style or logic, nowhere is the soundness of its historicarstatements doubted. A R T IN ’S prognosis as to the future of Western religion is pessimistic. But here again Martin is captured by a preoccu pation with organization. The decline of the Church he identifies with the decline of reli gion. We hear little of the fate of the ideas and ideals first proclaimed by Judaism, of justice and charity, of humanity and hope, ideas not born at an annual fertility rite but received in joy and trepidation by a free nation. If Dr. Martin were able to look beyond the confining walls of his refectory he might notice that these ideas did not die, that, often in strange disguises and configu rations, they are suffusing the world.

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JEWISH LIFE

TWO FOR THE RECORD by NANCY H ERSKO VITZ T H E P L E D G E , by Leonard Slater; New York, Simon and Schuster, 1970, 322 p., $6.95

and shipped war materials under the very eyes of the FBI. In the face of the enormous difficulties that such activity entailed, the prologue’s incident is seen as a relatively W A R A N D HOPE, by Elias Gilner; New minor set-back in the drive to equip the York: Herzl Press, 1970, 41 8p., $7.95 Jews in Mandatory Palestine with the means to defend themselves. The author carefully documents each reader’s pleasure in reading the first donation that made self-defense possible. book may smack of double loyalty. “The Pledge” deals with the crucial yearsSlater follows a refugee engineer and a Berkeley graduate as* they research armyimmediately preceding Israel’s War of Inde surplus catalogues and frequent artillery pendence and the problem posed to auctions. He looks in at a neighborhood American Jews by the bars to aid the Yishuv. The United States had levied an Young Israel to seen an orthodox Jew teach embargo on arms to the Middle East, leaving ing secret codes and discloses, in a fascinat ing chapter, how Reuben E. Gross, a con a chrysalis of a Jewish nation defenseless. trib u to r in subsequent years to this Mr. Slater chronicles the story of American magazine, maintained clandestine short Jews and non-Jews who came together with members of the Haganah to obtain the wave radio contact with the Haganah. He necessary military hardware through un shadows the secret-service man from the official channels. Sheared of euphemisms, Yishuv who sets up the Panamanian export these Americans helped to smuggle guns to front that will cover the tracks of the Palestine against the law of their homeshipped guns. He jumps over to Los Angeles country. But in such a situation, what to record the feeble beginnings of a first-rate reader can help but sympathize with the air-force. Every helping hand S from the embargo violators? hotel-keeper who rents them rooms to the d o ck w o rk e rs who grudgingly load the Most of “The Pledge” is written as a camouflaged crates^ is given recognition to flash-back. In the prologue, a crate of a certain extent. Slater’s list of “pledges” camouflaged T N T smashes on a New York occasionally gets a bit tedious to read and City dock and reveals to the United States keep track of. A t the same time, however, it authorities that the arms embargo is being is rewarding to read of the widespread evaded. The book then goes back to the support on an unofficial level of the Jewish origins of the Jewish smuggling project and cause. explains how its men bought, camouflaged,

M IS S H E R S K O V IT Z came to Columbia University in New York City after gradua tion from U C L A in her home town of Los A n g e le s, C a lifo rn ia . She appeared in J E W IS H L I F E (“ Episodes,/’ JanuaryFebruary 1970) in describing experiences at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. JANUARY-FEBRUARY

H E R E is an apologetic inherent in the subject matter erf “The Pledge” that does not necessarily detract from the read ability of the book. The book makes clear that American money bought the Israelis their guns and American technicians showed the Israelis how to use those guns. American

influence persuaded officials to avert their eyes and bailed the smugglers out when they didn’t. In the last analysis, though, it was the blood of Palestinian Jews that won the country, and no monetary pledge can match that donation. Slater is slightly biased toward empha sizing not only the American contribution to Israel, but also those American contribu tions that went to the Haganah. He con demns the Irgun for its appeafflof “un bridled emotionalism’’ (96) to the American people, then on the same page reveals that “Americans for Haganah’’ used some of the same tactics. There is a tone of affectation when he writes that the heroes of the book “leaned on their Bibles.4s well as their guns” (316), a description borne out in his book only by the use of Biblical names in the military code. Despite these elements, “The Pledge” is a satisfying book to read. Slater’s journal istic background gives the historic facts some suspense and emotion. He explicates the importance of these early organizations and ideas in the later formation of the state. The money for arms was channeled into funds for the war-torn* new-born nation. Gun research of the ‘4 0 ’s culminated in the “Uzi” submachine gun, the staple of the Israeli defense forces. The Panamanian e x p o rt facade e sta b lish e d then was successfully reutilized in 1969 to evade the French arms embargo.

N Y O N E who becomes enthusiastic about “The Pledge” may want to read “War and Hope: A History of the Jewish Legion” by Elias Gilner. Mr. Gilner writes of the Jewish Battalion that fought with the British Arm y in World War I. The period was tumultous, and the leaders of the Legion men like Vladimir Jabotinsky and Joseph Trumpeldor — dramatic. The author of “War and Hope” was closely associated with the men of the Legion, and his detailed knowledge and constant admiration are evident. Gilner’s military background unfortu nately also reveals itself in a rather dry writing style, however, and it will take patience and motivation to sit through his straight-forward reportage. It is difficult enough for a modern Jew to imagine his predecessors actually wanting to serve in a foreign army, and even agreeing to driving ammunition mules when the social milieu will not grarit them more prestigious duties. When the fervor of a blossomming Jewish nationalism of the times is made graphic, it is a strain to understand that petty duties like herding animals on a battlefront was a test of self-determination and a breakthrough in self-esteem for the Jews of that period. Gilner documents his events faithfully but does not instill the feeling vital to deep understanding of those events. Perhaps the reader will tolerate the author’s style for the sake of his subject.

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We have once again been treated to efforts to reform the Post Office so that it will “ pay for itself;“ that is, to take the deficit out o f the citizen’s postage fees rather than his taxes. Every analysis o f the problems points out that it costs more to deliver the mail than the cost o f stamps pay for. This means that the greater the number of letters, the greater the deficit. One way, then, to solve the problem is to persuade people that by sending fewer letters they would reduce the national deficit. A good place to begin is with organizations, the Jewish ones among them. Somehow these bodies seem to believe that the appearance o f worth (and the loyalty of their numbers) will be in direct proportion to the amount of paper they ink and mail. My good fortune has placed my name on the mailing list of one Jewish organization from which I receive a minimum o fte n mailings a week; sometimes as many as three in one day. Others are not much better. I am not aware o f the delicate balance in the complaints of members, who alternate between decrying the amount o f mail and charging that they are never told what’s going on. It is time we came to understand that the answer to this dilemma lies not in more mail but in mail which does indeed tell the members what is going on. Most o f the current mail, read carefully, is obviously intended to convey the impression o f activity but not to reveal what is really going on in the national office. Maybe the solution lies in subtraction rather than in multiplication; fewer letters which say more and are more candid. If we could persuade our organiza tions o f this truth, they would not only be more responsive to their members, they might also dispose o f the national debt. from an article by Manheim S. Shapiro in the Jewish Digest

HOW N C S Y H A S A F F E C T E D M E I f y o u had to come to services in our synagogue on a Shabbos morning three years ago yo u would have found a shut, virtually empty o f young people.. . JANUARY-FEBRUARY

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The Three M e g i/io th (Song of Songs, Ruth, Koheleth), which are recited during the three festivals, respectively, have been trans lated by Dr. Birnbaum for the worshipers of our time. These are amply provided with notes. For the convenience of both worshiper and student of liturgy, all recurrent prayers are systematically repeated. Each of the services is arranged as an integrated unit, so that the reader does not have to search from page to page and be confused as to what to say and what not to say. All the directions in this M a h z o r, as in all other editions by Dr. Birnbaum, are explicit, brief and to the point. 64 0 pages beautifully printed and bound, $4.50. A t Y o u r B o o k d e a /e r o r

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Today, there are a good th irty teenagers in our comm unity who observe Shabbos and besides attending services every Saturday morning, come in the afternoon to learn with our rabbi. N o t only do people from other synagogues fin d this unbelievable, but also the adults in our synagogue can’t quite under stand the cause fo r this revolution. They see a movement that is bringing the youth bach to the shu/s, bach to the traditions o f their heritage. They see a group growing in numbers, a group becoming more influential to the other Jewish yo u th by the example i t sets. The reason fo r the seemingly sudden boost in young people involved in NCSY is because NCSY offers new direction fo r many teenagers who, lihe me, wanted their lives more meaningful. NCSY came into m y life at a time when I was confused and searching the answers to questions which were plaguing m y mind, i t came at a time when / was grasping fo r something positive to shape m y life after B - something per manent to believe in. Through NCSY i came into contact with living JudaismJ came in contact with com m itted Jews who want to' share their Yiddishkeit with others. These young people have already, realized the beauty and intensity o f their religion. They are so strong in their b elief in G-d, that they can cope with any crises that challenge their society. A Job may be lost, hopes may be crushed b u t because o f their inner strength they can face those problems. These people told me how their whole week revolved around Shabbos. How Shabbos was a time to spend with y o u r fam ily and friends m a time to sing, a time when all worries o f school are erased from y o u r mind. They to id me how observing the Shabbos enabled them to challenge their weekday problems with a new attitude and refreshed mind. They d id n ’t ju s t tell me, they opened their homes to me so that i could share their Shabbos w ith them. A n d I saw m yself how when a m other lights the candies Friday night an atmosphere o f love and peace fills the home and all humdrum tensions disappear through the back door. The young people who i ’ve m et in NCSY are dedicated people always giving o f themselves. N ot only have they taught and inspired me — but also they have given me something tru ly precious — their friendships are superficial, a good friend is someone who can never be appreciated enough, i ’ve found that to apply to the friend these people have in turn introduced me to —Judaism. — from remarks by Sandy Mills, Vancouver, British Columbia at the first anniversary dinner of the West Coast region of the National Conference of Synagogue Youth

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JEW ISH LIFE began publication in 1946....1

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ENCOUNTER IN G REA T NECK Three meetings took place during three consecutive weeks in a gracious home in Great Neck. Parents, and a group of ‘‘Committed Jewish College Students” attending colleges on Long Island, encountered each other. The students, bright, articulate and outspoken, read the riot act to the elders. They accused the parent generation o f a lack of any true Jewish commitment; o f not practising what they preach, either in their private, public or business lives; of not knowing or caring to know what it means to be a Jewish parent; of not really caring enough to communicate with their children; of surfeiting their children with things, things, things, as a substitute for giving them a special set of values or a special way o f life. After the first, second and third flush o f anger and resentment had passed, the parents, all articulate and educated professionals, began to compare them selves with the portrait of the middle-class, middle-age American Jew painted by the young. A grudging admission that the likeness was not altogether inaccurate was wrung from some. All agreed that perhaps further examination was in order. As the first step the adults agreed that perhaps they had better learn a little more about Judaism to enable them to hold their own against youngsters who were insisting on a more intense commitment to Jewish values and practise. Plans for a study group were initiated then and there. ÎJl from a report by Dr. Fannie Chipman in the United Parent-Teachers Association News

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L e t t e r s to th e E d it o r ‘A T L A S ’

TO TH E E D ITO R

New York, New York

Bronx, New York

Thank you very much for the very fine and comprehensive review by Rabbi Dr. Swift on the official national “Atlas of Israel” in your November-December issue. A copy of Rabbi Dr. Sw ift’s review went off by air immediately to the Depart ment of Surveys in Israel. I am confident that the many members of the Department of Surveys staff who worked on the Atlas as well as the various department heads at Hebrew University who prepared and edited the various sections will also be heartened by this excellent review of a work that took many years of their labors. It was not clear in the review, how ever, of the part that the Elsevier group of companies played in this work, nor how the “Atlas of Israel” can be obtained in the United States. The fact is that the Govern ment of Israel produced the fine Atlas, but world distribution was placed in the hands of the Elsevier group of publishing com panies o f New Y o r k , London, and Amsterdam. Distribution in the United States is by American Elsevier Publishing Company at 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017. Nat Bodian, Promotion Manager American Elsevier Publishing Co.

In my recent letter in JEW ISH L IF E (Sivan-Tammuz 5730) I stated my belief that because Medinath Israel leaves juris diction for marriages and divorces to the R ab b in a te # ^a n essential commitment to Torah was present that permitted the state to claim the collective heritage of the Jewish people. Many fine Jews seem to disagree that there is such an essential commitment and point out in one way or another that the giving of jurisdiction for personal status to the religious courts was by act of the K ’nesseth which a majority membership could withdraw at any time. I believe these fine Jews are not look ing at all facets of this important matter. The decision to leave jurisdiction for marriages and divorces to the Rabbinate reflects the collective conscience of the Yishuv. When one of the most prominent secular leaders of Israel was once asked why he agreed to give personal status to the reli gious courts in the first place, he replied in essence:©The many pious Jews of Israel would never accept anything else.” Well then, the Torah commitment of these pious Jews is also included within the collective conscience of the Yishu\igM as well as the

JANUARY-FEBRUARY

political expediency of some secular offi cials. And it is because of the Torah com mitment of these religious Jews that I be lieve there is justification for saying that the decision to give Orthodoxy jurisdiction for p ersonal status represents an essential commitment to Torah by Medinath Israel. Let us not forget that almost 40% of the children of Israel attend religious schools and it is generally agreed the number would even be larger were more facilities available. Because the K ’nesseth can at any time dis honorably abrogate an essential commit ment to Torah does not mean it will do so. Because any Jew at any time can dishonor ably abrogate our sacred Convenant with G-d does not mean he will do so. What is going on now is an intensive struggle for the soul of the Jewish state to determine whether Medinath Israel will be able to continue to claim the heritage of Eretz Israel. Frankly I fear G-d and the consequences that would result from a Jewish state that would wish the rewards of our Covenant but that would deny its terms, I hope Torah Jews everywhere will engage in this noble struggle and try to make clear that the more Torah is observed the more worthy we are of a Jewish state in the Land of Israel. Irving Pollack

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