Jewish Life March-April 1971

THE OTHER POLLUTION PROBLEM —PORNOGRAPHY '

BROADCASTING IN ISRAEL * RED CHRYSANTHEMUMS SEPHARDIC CULTURE IN AMERICA * THE PASSOVER HAGGODAH FEDERATION AND THE DAY SCHOOLS * RAV ISSER ZALMAN MELTZER

NISAN-IYAR 5731 MARCH-APRIL M W S M

ANNUAL NATIONAL DINNER of the UNION OF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA

SUNDAY EVENING, MAY 23,1971 - 28 IYAR, 5731 at THE NEW YORK HILTON

Guest of Honor and Recipient of the UOJCA KETHER SHEM TOV Award SAM UEL LAW RENCE BRENNGLASS

Recipients of the 1971 UOJCA Presidents Award:

Lawrence A. Kobrin

Milton Angel Max Baumgarten

Joe Rothman

Frank Friedman

Dr. Manfred Sklar

Herman Herskovic

Elliott Stavsky

Dr. Theodore Katz

Max Weintraub

$75. — per couvert For reservations and information, phone or v*.ite: National Dinner Committee, UOJCA 84 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10011 "212" A L 5-4100 JOSEPH KARASICK President

RABBI BERNARD BERZON Chairman, Rabbinic Dinner Committee HAROLD H. BOXER, Chairman

Vol. X X X V III, No. 4/March-April 1971/Nisan-iyar 5731

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S au l B e rn stein , E d ito r D r. H e rb e rt G o ld stein L ib b y K lap erm an D r. Ja c o b W. L an d y n sk i R a b b i S o lo m o n J . S h arfm an E d ito ria l A sso cia tes E lk a n ah S ch w artz A ssis ta n t E d ito r JE W ISH L IF E is p u b lish ed b i-m o n th ly . S u b sc rip tio n tw o years $ 5 .0 0 , th re e years $ 6 .5 0 , f o u r y ears $ 8 .0 0 . F o reig n : A d d 4 0 c e n t s p e r y ear.

E d ito ria l a n d P u b lic a tio n O ffice: 8 4 F ifth A venue N ew Y o rk , N .Y . 1 0011 (2 1 2 ) A L 5 -4 1 0 0 P u b lish ed b y U N IO N O F O R T H O D O X JEW ISH C O N G R E G A T IO N S O F A M E R IC A J o s e p h K arasick P residen t H aro ld M. Ja co b s , Chairm an o f th e B oard S am uel C. F e u e rste in , H onor? ary Chairm an o f th e B oard; B enjam in K o enigsberg, S en io r V ic e P resid en t; N a th a n K. G ross, H aro ld H. B o x er, David P o liti, D r. B ern ard L an d er, L aw ren ce A . K o b rin , Ju liu s B e r m a n , V ic e P r e s id e n ts ; E ugene H o llan d er, Treasurer; M o rris L. G reen , H onorary Treasurer; Jo e l B alsam , S ecre­ tary; D an iel G reer, F inancial S ecreta ry D r. S am so n R . Weiss E x e c u tiv e V ice P resident

THE EDITOR'S VIEW

■ ’»'3

THE CHALLENGE OF SOVIET JEWRY’S REDEMPTION............................................................3

ARTICLES SEPHARDIC CULTURE IN AMERICA/ Marc D. Angel........................................................ 7 THE OTHER POLLUTION PROBLEM ■ PORNOGRAPHY/ Jacob J. H echt..................................................... 12 FEDERATION AND THE DAY SCHOOLS/ Moses Avra Missri................................................ 21 BROADCASTING IN ISRAEL/ Ronald I. Rubin........................................

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THE PASSOVER HAGGODAH/ H. Rabinowicz.....................................

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RED CHRYSANTHEMUMS/ Rivka G. Spiegler................ ............................... 45 RAVISSER ZALMAN MELTZER/ Aaron R othkoff........... .......................................51

BOOK REVIEWS JUDAISM FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW/ Isaac L. Sw ift.............

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JEWISH EDUCATIONAL SPECTRUM/ Zalman A. Diskind............................................ ..62 LATIN AMERICAN PANORAMA/ William Bernstein................................................ 67

DEPARTMENTS FROM HERE AND THERE........................................ 71 AMONG OUR CONTRIBUTORS................ ..............

Cover and drawings by Naama Kitov

S aul B e rn stein , A d m in is tr a to r S eco n d Class P o stag e p aid a t N ew Y o rk , N .Y .

© C o p y rig h t 1 9 7 1 b y U n io n o f O rth o d o x Je w ish C ongre­ g atio n s o f A m erica. M aterial fro m JE W ISH L IF E , in clu d in g illu stra tio n s, m ay n o t b e re p ro d u c e d e x c e p t b y w ritte n p e r­ m ission fro m th is m agazine follo w in g w ritte n re q u e st.

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DR. RONALD I. RUBIN, whose careful researches into Soviet anti­

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semitism resulted in a noted anthology (“ The Unredeemed“ ), brought the same expertise to the pages o f JEWISH LIFE on three previous occasions.

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Now on leave from his New York C ity college teaching post, he is Visiting Senior Lecturer in Political Science at the University o f Haifa. .. .In A pril, 1969, JEWISH LIFE readers were introduced to “ The Jewish Community o f Istanbul“ and to its author, RABBI MARC D. ANGEL. A Sephardi

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himself, his concern fo r the uniqueness o f history and traditions o f this component o f Jewry inspired the reflections in the article contained here­

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in. He is now assistant minister o f Congregation Shearith Israel, the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in the C ity o f New Y o r k .. . .A chapter

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o f personal experience in pre-Medinath Israel by R IV K A G. SPIEGLER appeared here in November-December, 1970 (“ The Move“ ). Her return to Israel comes simultaneously w ith the enclosed remembrance o f another episode o f another tim e .. . .As Executive Vice President o f the National Committee fo r the Furtherance o f Jewish Education, RABBI JACOB J. HECHT is exposed to the various currents in American society that shape the mind and mode o f man. Such concern led him to participate in Citizens fo r Decent Literature, concerned w ith the report o f the U.S.

b u t o r

Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, whose subject forms the basis o f the enclosed observations.. . .DR. AARON ROTHKOFF o f Yerusholayim continues his series o f portraits o f Torah luminaries o f the past generation.. . .RABBI H. RABINOWICZ o f London needs no introduction to the readers o f JEWISH LIFE. A fter his first appearance in June, 1959, writings on aspects o f Jewish bibliography, Chassid ism, and related interests have often been featured.

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the EDITOR'S VIEW

THE CHALLENGE OF SOVIET JEWRY'S REDEMPTION EPORTS have been appearing in press channels that Soviet authorities may soon yield to the pressure to permit a large number o f Russian Jews to leave for Israel. The reports, which may be no more than planted rumors, are to be treated w ith great caution. There can be no doubt that the rulers o f the Soviet Union find themselves in an awkward position as a result o f worldwide condemnation o f their anti-Jewish policy together with spreading, increasingly bold resistance among Soviet Jews.

To deflect public outrage, a trickle o f emigration is currently being permitted, among those released being some activists. A t the same time, carefully shielded from the public gaze, action to intimidate the resistance goes forward in classic police state style.

The tw ofold tactic can be but the expedient o f the moment. The Kremlin must now reckon w ith the fact that the movement fo r the freeing o f Soviet Jewry is irreversible.

We can expect a continuing series o f gyrations in the Krem lin’s e ffo rt to extricate itself from its dilemma, w ith every ounce o f well-tried Communist agility brought to bear. It can be anticipated that Soviet Jewry w ill be subjected to manifold new pressures and that world Jewry’s endeavors fo r the rescue o f the

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imprisoned three m illion w ill be confronted w ith further tortuous decisions and endlessly disruptive counter-moves. Obviously, the situation is one calling fo r the clearest o f thinking as well as fervent determination. This is always d iffic u lt o f combination.

Much hangs on its being attained and adhered to now.

One thing is clear: the atmosphere o f sheer hopelessness which invested the plight o f Soviet Jewry fo r long years has been dispelled. The Kremlin has been checked; its proS°fUthe ^ram ^or

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Jew> sh life is ¡n

rec°ü* What brought this about? There comes to mind at once, as key factor, the wondrous upsurge o f Jewish consciousness among Soviet Jewish youth and Beven more wondrous B the upspringing among them o f the burning w ill to a Jewish life. Less easily recognized is the bedrock factor: the indestructible tenacity o f those who, amidst all terrors, cleaved through a half century o f unceasing persecution to the faith o f their fathers. These humble, anonymous heroes kept the heart o f Jewish life beating. And it was the consciousness, how­ ever remote, o f this beating heart that spurred the self-discovery o f the young Russian Jewish generation. It was, likewise, this message o f Jewish perseverance that inspired the unduly belated rise among Jews across the world o f the great e ffo rt fo r Soviet Jewry.

New chapters o f Soviet Jewish travail lie ahead, w ith the final outcome a searing question. But the knowledge o f the radical turnabout that has been accomplished fortifies hope and gives impetus to heightened action. Beyond that, it brings w ithin range a new challenge — rebuilding in Israel the lives o f those coming from the Soviet Union.

Turnabout

HIS challenge, in fact, has an immediacy even now, fo r the number allowed to leave fo r Israel in past months has reached an appreciable total, w ith others coming each month.

Should, as we all pray, the trickle become a stream and the stream a flood, a settlement problem o f great magnitude w ill ensue. Fitting the newcomers into Israel's economic life and For A S0C'aI structure w ill pose much d iffic u lty , but the Jewish experience o f the past years o f mass immigration Self from the most widely varying countries w ill fa cili­ tate the process. As distinguished, however, from most o f the Olim who have arrived since - and fo r that matter

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before — establishment o f Medinath Israel, the great m ajority o f the Russian Olim w ill have had less than a minimum o f Jewish background. Except fo r those o f advanced years and fo r the relative few o f younger years who have succeeded in covertly clinging to religious life, they w ill be o f the second or third generation completely cut o ff from Jewish life and Jewish knowledge. Reared in totalitarian Communist atheism, the mass o f Russia's Jews have not had a shred o f Jewish nurture. Yet, knowing less than nothing o f Judaism, w ith notions hostile to it instilled in them from infancy, unnumbered thousands o f them have found and passionately affirmed their Jewish identity. They thirst fo r the Jewish word. They crave to be made whole as Jews.

In the whole soul-rending saga o f Soviet Jewry, nothing offers more exaltation than the stories becoming known o f young men and women incurring untold sacrifice and risk to be re-united not only w ith their people but w ith the Tdrah faith o f their people.

Some, then, have found their way through subterranean depths to lo fty heights o f spiritual fu lfillm e n t. The rest, and they are more numerous, have not reached this far in their search. They are groping in unfamiliar paths. They need and want guidance. It is the prime duty o f Torah Jewry to bring it to them.

Let religious Jews be m indful o f what transpired in the years o f Yetziath Europe. I t was the non-religious political parties who were quick to see and seize partisan opportunity among the thousands o f Holocaust survivors in the DP camps and whose emissaries saw to it that they were brought under their tutelage while there and when transferred to settlement in Israel. So too was it in the case o f the “ Teheran children" and again w ith the Yemenites and again w ith masses from North Africa. So it was through the whole era o f the “ percentage key,” w ith the large m ajority o f refugee immigrants, most o f them o f religious back­ ground, arbitrarily parceled o ut to the disposition o f non-religious forces, to be converted in short order to Mapainiks and Mapamniks. Let it not be so in the case o f those who have foresworn the furthest dimension o f goyishkeit in Soviet Russia in seeking the completeness o f Jewish identity in the Land o f Israel.

UT unless Torah forces cast aside accustomed ways o f deal­ ing -r or failing to deal — w ith large new problems o f the Jewish world, the pattern o f yore w ill certainly be repeated. The non-religious forces, always fearful o f losing their hegemony as

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rèligious currents grow stronger, are eager fo r the opportunity o f new recruits.

Between them, the organized religious groups in Israel, together with those in Chutz Lo-Oretz, can m ount ail effective program fo r the Olim from Russia. We say ‘‘between them” advisedly. m cannot be accomplished by rival approaches marked by the familiar backbiting and Vision jockeyings fo r position. Nor can it be achieved by resting on a defensive, self-justifying outlook. It can be accomplished by unity o f purpose and harmony o f effort, by largeness o f vision and breadth o f understanding. N ot least o f all, the task, in all its sacred ness, must be thoroughly planned, and w ith fresh imagination as well as perceptive realism.

I f we indeed merit, B’ezrath Ha-Shem, to see the day o f Yetziath Russia, all o f Jewish life w ill feel the impact. It is up to religious Jewry to see to it the seekers find their way to the Torah With Fresh

JEWISH LIFE

in America

by MARCO. ANGEL HEN the first Sephardic jews to se ttle in Seattle, Washington arrived there in the early 1900*$, the loca l A s h k e n a z im had d ifficu lty a c c e p tin g th e m as Jews. T he Sephardim spoke Judeo-Spanish rather than Yiddish. Their names — Alhadeff, Calvo, Policar, etc. — did not sound “ Jewish.” Even when the newcomers from the Levant showed their Tephillin, the Ashkenazim were not abso­ lutely convinced o f their Jewishness.

This episode is indicative o f the cultural gap that divides Sephardim and Ashkenazim. Products o f different historical forces, it is not surprising to find the tw o groups varying in their attitudes and life-styles. Indeed, the Jewishness o f the tw o groups, though ultim ately based on the same beliefs

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and religious sources, manifests itself in quite different ways. Thus, it is possible fo r members o f one group to misunderstand the Jewishness o f the other group.

Certainly most Ashkenazic Jews have little or no understanding o f Sephardic Jews. They either know nothing o f Sephardic existence, or they foster false ideas based on incom­ plete knowledge. The result o f this phenomenon is that the Sephardim have not been fu lly integrated into the A m erican Jewish community, and have not been able to make the cul­ tural contributions o f which they are capable.

Since the Ashkenazim form the vast m ajority o f American Jews, their brand o f Jewishness has been accepted

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by the general public as the standard.

Jewish sterotypes are inevitably drawn from Ashkenazic prototypes. When n a tio n a l w om en ’s magazines give recipes fo r Jewish cooking, they de­ scribe Ashkenazic foods like gefilte fish and tzimmes. When politicians want to attract Jewish voters, they d ro p Y id d is h phrases into their campaign speeches --feven when their audiences are Sephardic. What effect has the equating o f Jewishness w ith A s h k e n a z ic sta n d a rd s had on Sephardim? How can a legitimate m inority w ithin Jewry maintain its identity when its very existence is mis­ understood or ignored?

EFORE we can answer that question, we must first give a general definition o f who the Sephar­ dim in America are and what their culture is. The old American Sephardic fam ilies are, o f course, the most widely known. Their association w ith the Spanish and Portuguese congrega­ tions o f New York, Philadelphia, and Newport has been the subject o f many works. Most recently, Steven Birming­ ham has written a book about them significantly entitled, “ The Grandees: America’s Sephardic Elite.” But these old families represent a minute per­ centage o f the American Sephardim.

T he largest number came to the United States during the twentieth c e n tu ry , mostly from the Balkan countries. Concerning these Levantine Sephardim, little has been w ritten. It is precisely among them that the identity

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crisis is most crucial.

The Sephardi immigrants from the Levant, descendants o f the Jews expelled from Spain in 1492, had several major obstacles to overcome in order to adapt to American society.

They were separated from the non Jews not only by religion, but by language (Spanish) and culture (orien­ tal). The last two factors also divided them from their Ashkenazic coreli­ gionists. Notwithstanding these prob­ lems, the Sephardim made a significant adjustment to their new environment, and achieved economic security. They established large communities in New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle, and smaller ones in such places as Atlanta, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Miami Beach, M o n tg o m e ry (Alabama), Highland Park (N ew Jersey), and Portland (Oregon). All o f these communities have becom e quite Americanized w ithin several generations.

HE culture o f the Levantine Sephardim has been profoundly influenced by its Spanish sources. The Sephardic mother tongue, until re­ cently, has been Judeo-Spanish. A t all fa m ily and communal gatherings, Sephardim would sing Judeo-Spanish ballads and folk-songs, developing in the course o f centuries a rich folklore.

Sephardic culture has been able to blend religion and life into a harmony; thus, Sephardic folklore contains sensi­ tive poems o f nature and passionate love-songs as w ell as religiously o r ie n te d poem s. T he r e lig io n -

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secularism clash that so much bothers orthodox Ashkenazim is irrelevant for the Sephardic mind.

A n o t h e r c h a ra c te ris tic o f Sephardic culture is jo ie de vivre. Re­ ligion is not austere and meticulously strict for the Sephardim. Rather, it is the spirit that subtly pervades their daily activities and celebrations. The Sephardim are optim istic. Their posi­ tive view o f life manifests itself in their many parties and gatherings, in their love fo r music, in their enthusiastic communal synagogue singing.

Sephardic culture also imbues the individual w ith a strong sense o f personal pride. Sephardim do not look at themselves as lowly, humiliated people, but as w orthy and dignified citizens. They face man and G-d w ith self-respect. Rich and poor, learned and ignorant, all have a feeling o f selfworth and dignity.

Aside from the features already mentioned, other components which make up Sephardic culture include: S eph a rd ic liturgy, hazzanuth, and p r o n u n c ia tio n in the synagogue; S e p h a rd ic m in h a g im ; Sephardic cuisine. A ll o f these factors, differing from Ashkenazic modes in so many ways, go into the making o f Sephardic Jewishness.

Due to th e initia l lack o f communication between the Sephardic and Ashkenazic groups, the Sephardim w ere compelled to maintain their culture in isolation. This was feasible in the first generation because the Sephardim were saturated w ith their

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S e p h a rd ic character. They spoke Spanish to one another, they lived in the same neighborhoods, they enjoyed a clo s e ly k n it comm unity. These factors served to help them preserve their Sephardic identity. However, the second and third generation Sephar­ dim do not have the same forces w ork­ ing fo r them. They are no longer tied to th e ir heritage by the Spanish language or the Sephardic neighbor­ hood. Hence the identity crisis o f the young Sephardic Jew. He may try to delve into his own history and culture, renewing himself as a Sephardi. He may assimilate into the Ashkenazic community. He may, tragically, find no tie to Judaism at all, seeing that his notions o f Judaism are inextricably tied to his Sephardic roots and that these ro o ts have now become weakened.

HE forces o f Americanization have nearly destroyed JudeoSpanish among the new generations.

Therefore, the language which bound Levantine Sephardim together as Jews for nearly five centuries no longer unites young American Sephardim.

With the language, much o f the fo lk ­ lo re has fa lle n in to o b scu rity.

Celebrations and religious observances have tended to assume an American rather than oriental or Spanish air. The secularism o f American civilization has also lessened general religious observ­ ance among Sephardim.

Americanization and seculariza­ tion, though, are problems all Jews

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must face. The particular d iffic u lty the Sephardim have in preserving their culture, however, stems from the fact that Jewishness in America is set by an Ashkenazic standard. The Sephardi's customs and attitudes, his history and people> are ignored. Sephardim are expected to be Ashkenazim if they w a n t to be recognized as Jews, especially as orthodox Jews. Several years ago, Dr. Alan Corre delivered a paper fo r the American Society o f Sephardic Studies called “ The Im por­ tance o f Being Ashkenazi." Dr. Corre argued th a t Sephardic culture in America cannot survive on its own, but w ill assimilate into the Ashkenazic mainstream. He suggested areas where S e p h a rd im m ig h t in flu e n c e the Ashkenazim. Even when addressing Sephardic scholars, Dr. Corre con­ tended that Sephardim must, in effect, become Ashkenazim.

The Ashkenazication process is clearly evident, fo r example, in the day schools and yeshivoth. Sephardic students quickly learn to use Yiddish words, to dress and think like the other students. Sephardic history and culture are seldom if ever taught. Most Sephardi students, let alone Ashkenazi students, know practically nothing o f p o s t-1 4 9 2 Sephardic history. The yeshivoth hardly ever mention the names and w o rk s o f the great L eva ntin e Sephardic rabbis. Thus, S e p h a rd ic stu d e n ts w ho w a n t advanced Jewish education in America run the risk o f losing their own culture in the process.

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N O T H E R e xa m p le o f th e Ashkenazication o f Sephardim may be drawn from some Ashkenazic ra b b is w ho o c c u p y p u lp its o f Sephard.ic synagogues. Although several such rabbis have made sincere a tte m p ts a t fo s te rin g Sephardic culture, most have not. They lead congregations w itho ut knowing the first thing about their congregants' h e rita g e . They casually introduce A s h k e n a z ic m e lo d ie s in to th e Sephardic synagogue service. They teach their congregants to call the synagogue “ shool" instead o f “ kahal."

They preadh sermons and give lectures w ithout ever drawing on the classic works o f the Levantine Sephardim.

They do not realize that Sephardim are not Ashkenazirti.

The main problem in the pre­ servation o f Sephardic culture, though, is the Sephardim themselves. Not having b u ilt day schools and yeshivoth o f their own, they have necessitated t h e ir c h ild r e n ’ s a tte n d a n c e at A s h k e n a z ic s c h o o ls . Not having trained enough o f their own rabbis, they have been required to turn to non-Sephardim fo r leadership. More­ over, the inability o f the older genera­ tio n s to tra n s m it the Sephardic heritage to their children has been d e tr im e n ta l. T h e y showed their c h ild re n the external features o f Sephardic culture, but did not convey th e h is to r y and p h ilo s o p h y o f Sephardim well enough. Thus, un­ satisfied w ith a seemingly superficial c u ltu r e , m any e du cate d young

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Sephardim have become disenchanted with Judaism and have drifted away.

Whatever ties they have w ith Judaism, though, are inextricably linked with their Sephardic backgrounds. To in­ crease their involvement with ortho­ dox Judaism, we must first teach them their Sephardic roots. We must explain Judaism to them in terms o f their own Sephardic heriiagk It is an error to try to attract them to O rthodoxy by asking them to follow Ashkenazic patterns.

EOPLE are the products o f their c u ltu r e , fn each individual's mind are the latent voices, dreams, and visions o f generations o f his ancestors.

Sometimes when he least expects it, a voice from his past w ill emerge. He may see something, or hear something, or do something that w ill give him a profound sense o f nostalgia, that will let him penetrate into his past. W ith­ out this dimension in human experi­ ence, he is deprived o f something sacred. To carelessly ignore or suppress Sephardic culture is to deracinate the Sephardim. As their Sephardic roots are weakened, so ultim ately w ill their Jewish roots wither.

T he ch a lle n g e to American Jewish Orthodoxy is significant. The Sephardim, whose rich heritage goes back to the golden age o f Spanish Jewry, have historically been tradi­ tional in their Jewish practices. If we seize the day, we may stimulate a renaissance o t Sephardic culture and a c o n se q u e n t re tu rn to orthodox

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Judaism. The key to the solution rests in th e a c k n o w le d g e m e n t th a t Sephardim have a right to exist as Sephardim. They have a right to have a Sephardic Jewishness.

Day schools and yeshivoth could establish Sephardic studies programs.

Teachers could help their Sephardic students to appreciate their heritage.

Ashkenazic rabbis and leaders could make serious attempts at understand­ ing the Sephardim and their past. The Ashkenazic laity could encourage the e x is te n c e and d e v e lo p m e n t o f S ephardic culture and not doubt S e p h a r d ic Jewishness because Sephardim do not necessarily eat gefilte fish, wear kippoth in public, or have th e same litu r g y as the Ashkenazim.

HE main hope is, o f course, that the Sephardim themselves w ill be able to impart their own culture.

There are indications that they are beginning to do just that. The time is rip e fo r an upsurge in Sephardic culture.

It is not easy fo r a Sephardic Jew to maintain his identity. Being a Jew, he is a m in o r ity am ong Americans. Being a Sephardi, he is a m in o r ity am ong Jews. But the Sephardic Jew must maintain his Sephardic identity — or ultim ately lose his Jewish identity.

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Tke O ik er Pollution Profcl <em^ PO RNO G RAPH Y

by JACOB J.HECHT HE world is aroused about many issues these days, and one receiv­ ing great attention is the pollution o f o u r environment. To combat the contamination o f our air, water, and food, citizens' groups have mobilized gigantic campaigns, anti-pollution laws have been enacted, manufacturers have been pressured to be more responsive to ecological needs. Yet, an equally serious pollution problem exists which is receiving far less attention. This is the pollution o f the mind, the chief polluting agent being pornography.

The rapid rise o f pornography in the United States is another manifesta­ tion o f the assaults that have been waged against our society in recent years. Indeed, an American o f an earlier generation would hardly recog­ nize the nation o f today. We have seen

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a succession o f hammerblows batter the standards o f m orality that have been honored and treasured through­ out American history. Campuses have been the scene o f riots culminating in bloodshed. We have been perplexed by the strange malaise o f our youth who seem to go to abnormal lengths to avoid conform ity to established prin­ ciples o f behavior. We have seen our citizens defile the American flag to protest against an unpopular war, our youth go to jail rather than serve in the armed services. We have witnessed those sworn to uphold the law delib­ erately flaunt it. We have witnessed many o f our political leaders unable and seemingly afraid to act decisively in the public interest.

Such revolutionary upheavals s h o u ld have p repared us fo r

JEWISH LIFE

c o rre s p o n d in g changes in sexual mores. But what has actually hap­ pened in this field has gone far beyond anything that could ever have been anticipated.

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o r n o g r a p h y , once limited ¡n

its extent and fo r all practical purposes hidden from view, has sud­ denly assumed gigantic proportions.

Now out in the open and as readily available to all as a daily newspaper or a candy bar, pornography is literally flooding our mails and our communi­ cations media.

There is hardly an American city over 50,000 population that does not have its “ little Copenhagen” with its brazen clip joints, seedy houses o f prostitution, lurid peep shows, and tawdry book stores where the most unimaginable filth is openly sold to the public. Through our postal system com es d ir e c t mail advertising o f materials so obscene as to defy de­ scription.

Even in movie houses and on T V screens) subjects are shown openly that were not even whispered about a decade ago.

How our nation has suddenly become the victim o f this pornogra­ phic blight is a story in itself, and one which certainly bears investigation.

Just when more stringent law-enforce­ ment is needed, the law mysteriously becomes ineffectual. The Supreme Court in a series o f unfortunate deci­ sions has loosened one barrier after another, until now there are almost no

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re s tric tio n s against the possession and/or manufacture, distribution, and sale o f pornographic materials. Under the guise o f protecting constitutional rights, most liberals have vociferously defended the rights o f the pornographers, ignoring the rights o f the majority who not only find pornogra­ phy distasteful, but feel as strongly as a n yo n e can th a t p o rn o g ra p h ic materials represent a danger to society.

The Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, which was formed at the urging o f Congress to do something a b o u t p o rn o g ra p h y , ended up whitewashing it, claiming that pornog­ raphy has no relation to sex crimes, and does not affect m orality.

In face o f this widespread ac­ ceptance o f pornography, it would seem that those m illions o f Americans opposed to it can do nothing. But such is not the case. The very extreme to which pornography has gone has pro­ voked opposition from those who previously were silent. There is emerg­ ing a citizens* fight against the spread o f mind-polluting filth .

Among leaders o f the drive to reverse, or at least contain, the trend are Charles H. Keating, Jr., founder o f Citizens For Decent Literature, and F a th e r M orton A. H ill, head o f M orality in Media. Their main attack­ ing points, which both o f them as Commissioners o f the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography expressed in dissenting reports, offer rallying grounds for all those who want to protest the pornographic onslaught on

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our m orality.

As they point out, there is abso­ lutely no good in pornography, and no one really benefits from it — except those profiting from its manufacture and sale. Once pornography becomes a fixed part o f a nation’s culture, that n a tio n is cheapened. Even more serious, that nation is weakened.

History offers ample proof o f the rela­ tionship between sexual excesses and a nation’s political health; the fall o f Rome is one prime example o f what can happen to a mighty empire that thinks more o f its sensual pleasures than its governmental responsibilities.

HERE are some who argue that pornography is not completely evil, and that if one is to be attuned to what is going on today all over the world, he should realize that previous moral standards were too high, and that a relaxation o f these standards is not only inevitable but “ modern.”

Such an argument could not be more fa lla c io u s . Something immoral is always immoral. The trappings around it — and the fact that everyone else may be acting immorally — make absolutely no difference. Stealing is stealing no matter what the circum­ stances are. So is killing killing, and adultery adultery. And so is pornog­ raphy pornography.

Similarly, others argue that al­ though they personally abhor pornog­ raphy, they see no reason why it should not be allowed for those who do want it. “ It is not up to me to tell

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others what they may or may not do,” they say, and by doing so, they see them selves as being tolerant and forward-thinking. Again their reason­ ing could not be more fallacious. A poison is a poison whether it is con­ tained or not, and like all dangerous substances, it should be gotten rid of.

Common sense also tells us this is so.

If the poison is around at all, the possibility always exists that it can becom e e xpo sed , and once this happens, it becomes a threat to every­ one around it.

In order to combat the evil o f pornography, it is necessary to under­ stand how it works its insidious effects. Like all “ messages” that reach the individual, pornography is commu­ nicated to the brain through one or more o f the five senses, in the case o f pornography chiefly through hearing and sight. An impulse, received by the ear or eye, is transmitted to the brain where it is either stored in the brain’s memory bank or re-transmitted to some other part o f the body in the form o f movement and reaction.

The fact the brain can be acti­ vated immediately by what it receives in the way o f an impulse negates the findings o f the U.S. Commission on Obscenity and Pornography to the effect that pornography has no rela­ tion to sex crimes. Obviously most in d iv id u a ls , stim ulated erotically, would, given the right circumstances, attempt to do something about it.

Even so, a greater danger from pornography exists from the impulses

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stored in the brain’s memory bank.

HE tragedy o f today’s pornogra­ Once there, these impulses can be re­ phic explosion is that it ensnares trieved at any minute and as many the unwary and the young. Several times as any individual wants. Thus, a months ago in walking through New single exposure to pornography can be Y o rk’s Times Square I spotted a young multiplied ad infinitum .

Jewish boy w ith a yarmulke on his This is one" reason why a moral head, peering in the window o f a man must avoid contact o f any kind Times Square sex peep show. He had with pornography, simply because that been walking by and could not help one contact may be enough to poison but be attracted by the lurid signs and his mind for years. Some people un­ photos outside. Standing there, eyes fortunately rationalize a contact with open, mouth agape, he was obviously pornography by saying that no harm is repelled at what he saw, but at the done if no immoral action results. As same t i m e ! as any normal individual all religious Jews know, thinking about would react in a similar situation — comm itting a sin is itself a sin. It is # was also attracted. true that the brain is in a hidden spot, What, we may ask, w ill his im­ and that no one knows what another is pression now be o f sex and marriage and womanhood? How w ill he relate thinking about at any given moment.

But the very fact that the person him ­ what he saw to what he learned before about sex from his teachers, rabbis, self has an evil thought means that this and parents? From that time on, how thought has come to the fore. And could he possibly have normal feelings once there, it is as eradicable as if it in this sensitive area? were painted on a highway b illb o a rd .

The truth o f the matter is that A nother reason why an evil for whatever innocent reason this thought can lead to moral ruin is that once inside the brain, it is w ithin strik­ young Jewish boy was walking up that ing distance o f accomplishing its goal. street, he has now been contaminated.

What happens next to him I whether Our Rabbis were aware o f the.frailties he pursues pornography further, or o f Man, and understood well the danger o f even a slight contact w ith thereafter shuts it from his mind — evil. They realized that however strong depends on him and the circum­ a man may be, however confident that stances. But a certain damage has been he could repel an evil thought, the permanently done. Sex, which is (and powers o f evil are strong, and the flesh should be) one o f man’s most beauti­ weak. Hence our Sages warn us not to ful experiences, is cast in a different fly w illy-n illy into situations, but to lig h t by pornography. Everything always maintain some barrier, some beautiful and decent has been blotted distance, so that emotion w ill not get Out. What remains is sheer filth . Such the better o f logic. qualities as love, character, honesty,

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warmth, and consideration — all essen­ tial ingredients in the relationship between a man and woman — have been replaced by an obscene focus on sexual organs, as if that is really what the relation between the sexes is about.

Perhaps the yarmuIke-wearing Jewish boy is already a lost soul be­ cause o f that one sordid experience.

Hopefully not. But this personal epi­ sode bears the lesson that pornography must be driven underground again where no one who does not actively seek it out w ill come in contact with it.

O d riv e pornography under­ ground, only the most extensive and coordinated e ffort on the part o f the government and the public w ill succeed. Do not th ink the government alone can do the job. It is from the rank-and-file public that the pressure must come that w ill force government officials to be energetic in the crack­ down against pornography.

As fo r what can specifically be done on the level o f the Federal government, various recommendations can be made. First, existing legislation — which has more teeth than most p e o p le , including law-enforcement agencies, realize must be better enforced. Second, U.S. customs laws must be revised to shut o ff the flood o f pornographic materials streaming into the United States from Denmark and other European countries. Third, postal regulations must be tightened to

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ban the mass dissemination o f porno­ graphic materials and advertisements from the U.S. mails. Fourth, a division should be established in the Depart­ ment o f Justice to centralize the F ederal governm ent's prosecution effort against those who engage in the business o f manufacturing and selling pornography. F ifth, a new Federal agency should be created, containing representatives from all other govern­ ment agencies involved in combating pornography health, education, etc.

— to coordinate the government’s overall campaign, not only in regard to law-enforcement, but also fo r drafting new legislation, devising programs that local anti-obscenity agencies can im­ plement, and preparing educational materials th at w ill counteract the effects o f pornography. Sixth, Con­ gress should be urged to enact new legislation that w ill plug up the loop­ holes that presently allow the pornographers to ply their trade freely throughout the nation and to assure the right o f every American to be free from being contaminated by pornog­ raphy w ith o u t his or her express desire.

Similar but less sweeping legisla­ tion can be enacted on both the state and local levels. Here restrictions can be more specific. In some states and lo c a litie s , m ovie houses can be licensed, such licensing being refused to those showing pornographic films.

In other states, fines or special taxes can be levied against theatres showing pornographic films. Those disgusting JEWISH LIFE

sexual exhibitions can also be pro­ h ib ite d , and book stores selling obscene books can be fined, their owners jailed.

O f course none o f these moves could possibly be successful unless the public supported them*. The power o f the individual is still supreme in the United States, but such power must be exercised. One constructive move that citizens can certainly make is to support those organizations currently spearheading the anti-pornography fight. Another move is to report to local authorities all seeming violations o f local obscenity laws and to exert constant pressure on local authorities to not only n o t relax their law-en­ forcement efforts in regard to curbing pornography, but also to intensify these efforts.

None o f this can be accom­ plished easily, but if a concerted effort is made, those who p ro fit from por­ nography w ill realize they cannot continue unopposed. Some w ill always remain in their d irty business, eager for the last cent o f illic it profits. But others w ill remove themselves to more profitable, less destructive fields, and the spread o f pornography w ill be checked, at 'east somewhat, to the ultimate benefit o f all.

But lest we think the battle can be won here, we must realize that an even greater danger exists from an­ other form o f pornography that many do not even recognize as such. This is what can be defined as “ soft-core” pornography.

MARCH-APRÍL 1971

H A R D -C O R E pornography is II easily recognized. A sex peep^ show, an obscene film , an under­ ground sex newspaper, a live sexual exhibition, a pornographic book — few could mistake the content o f these pornographic materials. But when some o f this same content is presented w ith in 0the framework o f respect­ ability, it becomes d iffic u lt to recog­ nize, for here the pornography is contained w ithin, say, a best-selling n o ve l, o r H ollyw ood film , or a national TV show, and as a result is passed o ff as literature, art, or legiti­ mate entertainment.

Adm ittedly, such presentations are not as graphic or (if we can d iffer­ entiate pornography as to degree) not as obscene as hard-core pornography, but the c o n te n tm a s k e d as it may be — is pornographic nevertheless, as is its subject matter. Indeed, no subject dealing w ith sex, however extreme, has not been presented recently to the American public w ithin the framework o f “ realistic” entertainment and liter­ ature. “ That's life the way it is,” we are told, and millions o f Americans -jj; who as part o f their American heritage try to keep open minds on every sub­ ject -fijare taken in by these blandish­ ments.

M ultiplying the insidiousness o f soft-core pornography is the fact that because o f the vehicle in which it appears, it makes its way into families and minds that hard-core pornography does not reach, and once there, it is accepted to a degree that hard-core

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pornography is not. This happens because o f tw o reasons. First, because this material is presented more profes­ sionally than that o f hard-core pornog­ raphy. Secondly, because this material is passed o ff as being realistic, sup­ posedly reflecting typical American behavior. Those who come in contact with the material are thus deceived into thinking that what they see or read is “ normal” when actually it is abnormal and perverted.

What follow s as a result is that millions o f Americans grow up accept­ ing a false and completely distorted view o f sex. One facet o f this distor­ tion is that the role o f sex in our society is magnified out o f all realistic proportions f l sex being portrayed as more important than almost every­ thing else in life.

A day's viewing o f the commer­ cials on television w ill prove this in­ stantly,, since sex is used by modern marketers to sell practically everything from automobiles to toothpaste and travel. “ Drive the right automobile,” a man is told, “ and you wilT be able to attract the beautiful girls.” “ Use the correct toothpaste,” a girl w ill be told, “ and you w ill be kissed by the hand­ somest man.” “ Fly to the Caribbean and you w ill find romance (sex).”

1 NOTHER example o f how sex f t rules the artistic roo f is afforded by today’s motion-picture fare. A person who has not seen a Hollywood film fo r several years would hardly recognize what is on the screen today.

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N ot so long ago the movie industry self-governed itself w ith a code admin­ istered by the so-called Hays Office, later by the Johnston Office. Under this code, nudity was forbidden as well as compromising situations, improperd ia lo g u e , and i l l i c i t sex. Basic standards o f m orality were at least nominally upheld. Films were not permitted to allow crime to be seen to pay o ff and violence was kept at a minimum. But now m oviesjj- foreign and domestic alike — boldly feature nudity, promiscuity, extra-marital rela­ tionships, homosexuality, and in some cases, even simulated sexual inter­ course.

Many organizations and indi­ viduals have protested the lengths to w h ic h to d a y ’ s film s have gone.

H o lly w o o d ’s answer is the rating system which the moviemakers have designed to both inform the public as to what kind o f movie is playing and to re s tric t attendance for certain movies. Movies rated X, for example, cannot be seen by youth under 17 years o f age. Movies rated R can be attended by children only if accom­ panied by their parents. Movies rated GP are to be attended by children only at parental discretion.

The fallacy o f this system is that the very establishment o f the ratings announces to parents and children alike which movies have a high erotic content, and thus stimulates attend­ ance to films that would be passed over if no rating system had been in existence.

JEWISH LIFE

A ls o , so m e th in g the movie own right.

F o r these actions alone the industry ignores completely is the fact that rating a movie X by no means movie industry should be given an insures that youth under 17 w ill be X-rating by the public. But the story o f Hollywood and pornography unfor­ shielded from its contents. I recently tunately does not end here. Those talked to one set o f parents who took responsible fo r producing films today their small children to a Walt Disney are betraying the American public movie. This movie, as all the Disney films, was rated G^*- the most accept­ further by gradually interjecting into their R,GP, and even G films an in­ able rating. Yet, just before the feature creasing quantity o f sex and immoral­ came on, a “ coming attraction” trailer ity. Today it seems to be the rule o f suddenly appeared on the screen. thumb that no movie leaves the editing Before the parents®- or their children room unless it contains a specified ^ realized what was happening, a shot number o f sex scenes. Also, the very o f a completely exposed woman was seen, w ith an accompanying announce­ themes chosen fo r many films have as their chief feature either sex or sexual ment in a teasing suggestive voice telling the audience about various sex aberrations. Homosexuality and other perversions, illic it relationships, nudity thrills contained in the movie that would play the theatre next. For a fu ll R one would th ink there are no other minute or more, pornographic scenes subjects to film . from this X-rated film flashed across UT m otion pictures can not be the screen. The parents were horrified, singled out as the only entertain­ and their children were frightened, m en t m edium which disseminates unable to comprehend what they had seen. Their young minds were just as soft-core, pornography. The Broadway theatre selects themes o f an even more damaged by the erotic content o f the pornographic nature, and not only preview as if they had seen the film in nudity and sexual intercourse are seen its entirety. on the stage, but in one horrifying Such exposure to X-rated films example, an entire play was based on also reaches children in the advertising for these film s carried in newspapers the theme o f sodomy between a human being and a pig. and magazines. Last winter, a typical Here, too, although attendance sex-exploitation film opened in New is restricted, the content o f these plays York that was so lurid, the c ity ’s leading newspaper, usually not at all squeam­ reaches far beyond the seats o f the theatre, because o f advertisements ish in this regard, refused to review it.

But that did not prevent this same which carry the plays’ content to newspaper from accepting the film ’s unsuspecting youth via newspaper and magazine advertisements. advertising which was obscene in its

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Then, too, there are the porno­ graphic books, most o f which find th e ir way to public libraries and neighborhood drug stores. For the m ost part, hard-core pornographic books are recognizable, but here again there are soft-core pornographic books which on the surface seem innocuous, but which are replete with obscene passages and descriptions.

And again, in an e ffo rt to sell those books which are not porno­ graphic, publishers all too frequently market them by playing up their non­ existent erotic consent via lurid covers that have no relation to the text. In many cases, such as paperback re­ prints, titles are changed in the re­ printed versions to a “ sexier” title.

HE major problem in combating those movie companies, those theatre producers, and those book publishers responsible fo r soft-core pornography is that, unlike hard-core pornography, the content o f their work usually falls short o f the mark where any legal action can be taken to prevent their sale and distribution.

However, there is no reason why the

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public cannot step in and fight, back by effective protest. One approach is to protest to the newspapers, maga­ zines, and broadcasting stations which carry the advertising o f these soft-core pornographic products. Another is to w rite letters to publishing companies protesting the over-use o f sex in books. When all else fails, the public must boycott: 1) the movie houses that show the objectionable films; 2) the theatres that stage plays with pornographic content; and 3) the book stores that sell obscene books.

Such an organized protest can get results. We have moratoriums for peace. Why not moratoriums for decency? Why not one month during the year when all those who want to return the nation to its pre-pornographic status w ill refuse to attend any movies or stage plays, stop buying books, and call a halt to the purchase o f newspapers and magazines that perpetuate the spread o f pornography in their advertising? In this way, perhaps sanity can be returned to the United States, and we can check p o rn o g ra p h y ’ s p o llu tio n o f the American mind.

JEWISH LIFE

FEDERATION and the D A Y SCHOOLS: A Parent’s Vieus

by MOSES AVRA MISSRI HE w rite r o f this article is a professional who has five children attending yeshivoth in a middle-class suburb o f New York C ity. Over $3,000 o f m y moderate salary goes towards tu itio n and other student fees fo r m y children.

What hurts m ost is th at w ith such whopping tu itio n b ills / am s till on the “ welfare ro lls ” o f the three schools m y children attend, and each year / am subjected to interview s w ith three tu itio n comm ittees who cross-examine me w ith a ll the cunning and directness o f a battery o f skille d iR S agents: The burden o f p ro o f th a t Tm n o t concealing other income, th a t m y w ife is n o t working, and so on, is upon me. / was to ld a t various sessions th a t “i f y o u can a ffo rd a car yo u can a ffo rd fu ll tu itio n ; i f yo u can a ffo rd a vacation....“ M y resentm ent was a t firs t directed towards the yeshivoth and th e ir lay • leadership, p rim a rily because they were,three-dimensional while the explanations and apologies / heard were abstract non-dimensionats. Then, one year ago, l was appointed to a sub-com mittee o f m y children's school, which required attend­ ance a t m any meetings o f the board and o f the N ational Association o f Yeshivah P. T.A. 5. This gave me an e ntirely new perspective o f the economic structure o f Torah education in this country. When l discovered the tru th o f the situation, it struck me as ludicrous, alm ost unbelievable. I t is unknow n to the average man in the street. C ertainly i t was unknow n to me, and I am a fa irly well-educated man whose associates are a ll college graduates and are active, o r a t least id e n tify w ith, Jewish organizational life .

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The “ludicrous, unbelievable tru th ” was th at the Federation o f Jewish Philanthropies o f New York, which supposedly represents, and lays claim to the support of, the entire spectrum o f Jewish life in New York C ity, supports the Torah education schpols in its domain to the extent o f a d ollar a year per student j i y e t funds m illion s fo r the dancing and dramatics programs o f the Jewish centers, fo r YMHA gymnasiums, fo r karate and ju d o instruction, fo r steam rooms, fo r sauna baths, and sim ilar high p rio rity cu ltural and philan­ thropic needs.

While these agencies doubtless m ust have some m erit, l ju s t d id n ’t under­ stand the reasoning th at gave b irth to this seemingly distorted set o f values. / therefore undertook a study o f the problem and set fo rth m y findings, which are offered here as the observations o f a lay member o f the com m unity. * * U R IN G the early, formative years o f Federation, the a tti­ tudes o f its founders and guiding personalities reflected the social serv­ ice philosophy dominant in Western Europe, especially Germany, at the end o f the 19th Century. The leaders o f the organized American Jewish community were then in great measure the children o f that society. Some o f these philosophies were sound and still serve our comm unity well. Others may have been sound in the context o f the era in which they were formulated.

However, times change, people change, and ideas change. Many o f the philoso­ phies then universally accepted as axiomatic are totally incongruous to the conditions o f today.

Although a good number o f these archaic ideas have been dis­ carded, many Federation policies are manifestations o f philosophies that have long outlived their day, and quite a few were valueless in the first in­ stance yet still linger on. As a matter

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* * o f fact, the longer they linger, the deeper they permeate the grain o f the wood, becoming regarded as hallowed because o f their very age.

It behooves an alert and respon­ sible leadership to pause and reflect on many such “ traditional” Federation policies and, even more important, on the philosophies and attitudes from which they grow, in light o f the exper­ iences o f the decades that have passed since they were instituted. To do o th e rw is e w o u ld put Federation leadership on the level o f the prover­ b ia l ra ilro a d stationm aster who countered all arguments w ith the irre­ futable logic, “ no reason for it, just Company Policy.”

ED ERATIO N ’S founding fathers viewed themselves as much more than mere philanthropists whose o bli­ gation it was to lighten the burden o f their less fortunate brethren. They understood their relationship to the p o o r, th e i l l , and the indigent

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‘‘greenhorn” to be far more encompas­ sing. They regarded themselves also as g u a rd ia n o f the “ tired, huddled masses” who wer& not capable o f caring fo r themselves. (Did not the fact that they were dependent on the benevolence o f others prove, ipso facto, that they were incapable o f caring fo r themselves?)

In the role o f Patron o f the Poor, the ladies and gentlemen o f the wealthy families which constituted Jewish “ Society” in the late 1800’s would personally visit the homes o f the poor to determine the needs and to advise what course to follow , in­ cluding the callings the sons were to follow . Subsequently, they would call again w ith parcels o f groceries and some warm clothing, ready to benignly receive the “ biess you, kind and noble sir” o f the beneficiary and then pro­ ceed to check on whether the advice (instructions) was being followed.

The “ kind and noble sir” was relied upon not only fo r the dowry o f the orphaned girl who had reached her m ajority, but also to pass on the propriety o f the match itself. Should the match be found “ unsuitable,” then u n s u ita b le it was. Young people seldom defied the directions o f their “ betters,” and if they did, it placed them outside the philanthropic responsiblfty o f the comm unity.

Viewed against this 19th century philosophy o f philanthropy, many in e x p lic a b le F e d e ra tio n policies become understandable, if not more palatable.

F o r instance, most hospitals MARCH-APRIL 1971

belonging to Federation refused to p ro v id e ko sh e r food fo r Jewish patients, although the vast m ajority o f Jews in New York City during the first half o f the century observed Kashruth and would not eat the t ’refah food p ro v id e d . N o t th a t F e d e ra tio n hospitals were anti-religious, mind you. On the contrary, they would not, for instance, serve meat on Friday out o f respect for their religious Catholic patients. It was just that as Reform Jews they felt the laws o f Kashruth and the Shulchon Oruch had no place in the enlightened 20th century. They fe lt they knew what was best fo r the backward Russian and Polish Jews and could not allow these immigrants to transplant their prim itive ways to progressive America. “ It is in their own interest that we start American­ izing them and integrating them into the new w orld,” was their fatherly thinking.

What appeared at that time as contemptuous arrogance toward the Ost-Juden can now be viewed more charitably. The Federation leaders may not have been contemptuous or arrogant, but the philosophy that ruled them certainly was.

M any m ore such communal injustices can be attributed to this philosophy. But it is not the purpose o f this review to examine Federation history, nor to conduct an analytical study o f its character and personality.

It is our purpose to call attention to an area which s till suffers the inequity and injustices described above — Torah Education.

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Jewish com­ such import. But the time had come munal organizations have ever w hen the thinking Jewish parent, considered the educating o f the young aware o f the mass flig h t from Judaism in Torah and the instructing o f them by sucessive generations o f Americanin the tenets and practices o f Judaism born Jews, was determined to make to be a communal responsibility o f the every sacrifice to raise his own chil­ first rank. This is not merely a matter dren as religious Jews equipped with o f custom or inclination but a legal Jewish learning. requirement clearly spelled out in the Once the basic inadequacy o f Talmud and in all the later Poskim, the after-school Talmud Torahs be­ including Rambam and the Shulchon came apparent and the religious and Oruch. academic effectiveness o f the all-day Federation leadership, however, “ yeshivah ketanah” became evident, in keeping w ith its father-patron role the growth o f the latter could not be inherited from previous generations, halted. They struggled w ith o u t proper undertook to sit in judgment over the facilities, housed in sub-standard struc­ various trends in Jewish education and tu re s never intended to serve as decide which were w orthy o f encour­ schools. Inadequate budgets led to agement and which were “ negative” p o o r standards o f cleanliness and factors in the development o f an maintenance and payless paydays fo r A m e ric a n Jewish comm unity and teaching staffs which were underpaid therefore to be frustrated. It is not as it was. T uitio n and other yeshivah surprising, therefore, that Federation fees often formed a major portion o f a violently opposed the elementary level fa m ily’s expenditures, running as high yeshivah, from its very inception and as fifteen and tw enty per cent o f in­ throughout the decades o f its develop­ come, especially where several children ment and growth, on the claim that it attended. was unamerican^ segregationist* and, During this formative period, generally, an institution o f the ghetto Federation leadership gave a measure unbecoming the free atmosphere o f o f attention to the Talmud Torah b ut the New World. ignored the Day School except to T h a t th o u sa n d s o f serious- manifest open hostility to it. minded parents eventually wanted a D ay school protagonists w ill yeshivah education fo r their children long remember the battles in Albany was irrelevant. It merely proved in the o f the 1930’s when various organiza­ eyes o f the benevolent ones, once tions, w ith support o f Federation again, how “ u n tru stw o rth y” the leadership, went so far as to encourage “ tired, huddled masses” were when it the Board o f Regents and other educa­ came to such major decisions as tional authorities to institute regulaeducation. They were judged as simply tjo n s w h ic h would frustrate the not capable o f making decisions o f d e ve lo pm e nt o f the Day School.

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is t o r ic a l l y ,

JEWISH LIFE

“ Parochialism,“ it was whispered into th e proper ears, “ was not Judais tic .. . . those people are a sect.. . . they are corrupting the education o f ch ild re n.. . . ” They were the cle^n-cut Anglo-Saxon-type Jews who spoke English impeccably, many o f them know n as among the captains o f commerce and quite often prominent in Society, while the yeshivah case was pleaded by representatives who still smacked o f Ellis Island and Delancey Street.

ET yeshivoth grew, and grew, and g re w . Soon Federation could not close its eyes to the fact that yeshivoth were the leading and most successful instrument o f Jewish educa­ tion and the then Jewish Education Committee (now the Board o f Jewish Education), a Federation subsidiary, reversed its traditional anti-yeshivah attitude and proceeded to open a Yeshivah Department.

This move did not win fo r the J.E.C. the confidence o f the rank and file o f Day School circles. It had not grown from the ground up, acquiring its m an da te from the principals, te ach ers, and parents themselves.

Rather, its authority was ordained by fia t from above. It represented the philosophies o f Federation, not those o f either the teaching professionals or the families o f the community. The J.E.C. viewed the Day School as an institution fo r instruction in various subjects conceived as o f basically equal im p o rta n c e . “ Bible“ is a subject am ong numerous others, such as

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Hebrew language, knowledge o f Israel, its geography, its people, and its p o liti­ cal beginnings, Jewish history, current events, “ Jewish Customs and Ceremo­ nies,“ Jewish music, Jewish art, et cetera.

The yeshivah professional's view o f the Day School, however, \s far from being national-group-oriented, in the above sense. He views the yeshivah as an institution fo r teaching Torah and indoctrinating a commitment to the practice o f Judaism. The other values described may be appended, in addition. Thus Torah Umesorah, The day school servicing and licensing organization most yeshivoth are a ffili­ ated w ith, could never possibly con­ side r endorsing a teacher who is m echallel Shabboth or in any way not committed to the observance o f the Torah, even if he be quite fluent in modern Hebrew and have a good knowledge o f modern Israeli literature.

J.E.C., on the other hand, would not only license such a teacher but would prefer him to a yeshivah bochur or Beth Jacob Seminary graduate Whose area o f excellence is limited to Torah studies. Some o f the most competent and successful Day School teachers could never meet the J.E.C. criteria fo r licensing, while some teachers who would not be considered for a lower yeshivah grade because o f their gross ignorance o f Torah studies sport J.E.C. licenses, cum laude. This is not meant to condemn the J.E.C. licensing capacity, but to point up its significant difference in philosophy.

Where yeshivah loyalty lies was 25

put to the acid test just fo ur years ago when an opportunity was presented for the first time in Day School history to choose a central agency in connection w ith various government programs o f school assistance, includ­ ing religion-rated schools. To satisfy the laws' requirements, it was neces­ sary fo r the yeshivoth to designate a central agency to act on their behalf, and through whom the government assistance could be channelled. The J.E.C. vied for this role, having always projected itself as the central Jewish educational agency in New York C ity (in rare charitable moments, they reduced this projection, and modestly referred to themselves as merely “ the major” agency). Needless to say, they poured all resources at their disposal into a campaign to be so designated by the yeshivoth. When these claims were put to the test, they went down in defeat. The yeshivah representatives rejected J.E.C. by a landslide and chose Torah Umesorah as their agency.

These results came as no surprise to those engaged in the field o f Jewish education. But many an eyebrow must have been raised amongst the Federa­ tion hierarchy who had been cultiva­ ting the illusion that the Jewish Educa­ tion Committee is, indeed, the central Jewish educational agency.

It should be noted here that in recent years Federation has been giv­ ing token grants, ranging from $100 to about a thousand dollars, to many yeshivoth. This started as an incentive to the schools to recognize the J.E.C. license. The schools were told that if 26

they became “ affiliated” w ith J.E.C. and required J.E.C. licenses o f their teachers, they can expect annual grants. Most schools, however, includ­ ing the poorest, refused under these c o n d itio n s . Thus rebuffed, J.E.C. lowered the price demanded fo r these grants: the grants would still be paid provided that the schools undertake to fill out a detailed questionnaire each year on enrollm ent, tu ition , and similar raw material fo r the J.E.C. statistics mills.

These ann ua l g ra n ts , inci­ dentally, are awarded w itho ut any visible rhyme or reason. That is, they bear no relationship to need or size.

There are small, wealthy schools which receive larger grants than schools w ith large enrollments and low tu ition rates. As far as this w riter can deter­ mine, there is a clandestine air sur­ rounding the grants, and a list o f beneficiary schools and amounts is not available to the public.

HE dominant role o f the yeshi­ vah day school on the American Jewish scene is well established by now. Even its long-time antagonists are admitting that it has proven itself uniquely successful in the develop­ ment o f young people committed to Judaism and w ith a sound grounding in Jewish education. It is the only source, aside from Israeli imports, o f teachers and other professionals to man the growing requirements o f the country's Jewish educational institu­ tions. Even Conservative and Reform schools most rely upon teachers who

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JEWISH LIFE

are products o f the day schools.

Yet, Federation stubbornly re­ fuses to recognize its responsibility as the central Jewish phijanthropic organ­ ization. While it is generous to many Jewish and non-Jewish causes — in­ cluding a few whose need fo r support may be questioned — it pleads poverty when it comes to Jewish education.

And this at a time when Federation has been relieved by government o f some o f the greatest responsibilities it carried in previous years, namely, caring fo r the poor, the immigrant, and the ill.

Federation no longer considers itself responsible fo r the poor Jew who does not earn enough money to pre­ pare fo r the Sabbath or fo r Yom Tov. Should any such apply fo r help, he is referred to the Welfare Department.

Hospitals and old-age homes, another great budgetary responsibility in pre­ vio u s years, are much differently situated in this age o f Medicare, Medic­ aid, Social Security, and almost uni­ versal medical insurance. Indigent sick who cannot afford today’s swollen hospital rates are accommodated at the welfare wards at Bellevue. Indigent aged w ithout government resources can simply not find their way into homes fo r the aged.

Surely, then, today more than ever, Federation can afford to include yeshivoth in its multi-faceted list o f w orthy institutions.’ Surely in this age when the vanishing Jew is a stark reality, Federation should attach at least as much importance to yeshivoth as it already does to teaching drama, MARCH-APRIL 1971

folk-dancing, swimming, and ceramics.

There are literally thousands o f children who would like to attend yeshivoth but cannot because their parents cannot meet the ever-growing tuition rates. There are dozens o f yeshivoth which are housed in dis­ graceful buildings because they cannot raise sufficient funds to acquire proper facilities. There are many devoted Day School teachers who are leaving the field because they cannot subsist on the going salaries. With the schools forced to resort to an unending series o f fund-raising programs in order to keep afloat, the pupils’ parents are under constant pressure to help in the work; delicate rebbetzins who have led sheltered lives become floor clerks at coarse bingo games, and store-to-store solicitors fo r rummage and bazaar hand-outs.

When Marie Antoinette was told that her husband was upset because the trade guilds o f France were sinking and their members were not earning livelihoods, she replied that she was “ genuinely sympathetic,’’ which she was, “ but what has this to do w ith the King?” The Minister, taken aback by her remark, asked in turn, “ What then, Your Highness, is the concern o f the King?” In all naivete she replied it was conducting state balls fo r generals and ambassadors and private receptions for visiting kings and princes. it is the w rite r’s fervent hope that the New York Federation, and its c o u n te rp a rts across the country, awake to the realities o f the new circumstances o f life sooner than did 27

the Bourbons in their time. Gone is th$ gracious er4 when Federation was an elite group o f wealthy families who functioned at grand charity balls and e le ga nt co tillio n s , and could set policies fo r the Jewish community oblivious to the views and desires o f

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the man in the street.

Instead; Federation must realize that a local system composed o f 150 schools and enrolling almost 50,000 c h ild re n represents an im portant segment o f New York's active Jewry and cannot be ignored.

JEWISH LIFE

BROADCASTING IN ISRAEL i

by RONALD I. RUBIN HEN the Egged bus driver pre­ dictably raises his radio volume for the hourly news summary and a hush falls over the passengers, it shows that keeping informed in Israel is more than a casual pursuit. Given its pre­ carious peace, Israelis are among the w orld’s most avid radio listeners. Since Israel’s fate also carries international implications, foreign audiences follow Is ra e l’s official broadcasts with a degree o f concern belying her small numbers.

What broadcasting media does the Israeli listen to? What is the role o f her incipient television programming?

How does Israel use the air waves to project her messages abroad?

To be sure, the flic k -o f a radio dial in Israel brings home stations in

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Cairo, Damascus, Beirut, and Nicosia (Cyprus) as well as Jerusalem. The Voice o f America (VOA) and British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) are also heard at various times o f the day.

Inasmuch as Israel’s lone télévision network broadcasted only fo u r hours daily at the beginning o f 1971 (with an additional half hour to be added in Arabic in the spring), Israelis add to th e ir view ing time by tuning in programs from Beirut,; Amman, or Cairo (depending on one’s location in Israel).

B e fo re the establishment o f Medinath Israel in 1948, broadcasting was controlled by the British Man­ datory Government which operated the Palestine Broadcasting Service In English, Hebrew, and Arabic. Meam

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As a public body, the IBA has a Board o f Governors consisting o f thirty-nine persons appointed by the President on the recommendation o f the Government. This is a representa­ tive body and Israeli Arabs also serve on it. To prevent government control, the founding legislation o f the IBA also limited to four the number o f State employees permitted to serve (teachers are not included in this category). A series o f advisory com­ mittees in such areas as music, litera­ ture and art, the Jewish legacy, and Israel values, also aids the Board o f Governors.

The Government also appoints an Executive Committee o f seven whose function is to plan daily events and to draw up financial plans. Terms ROM the time o f Israel's crea­ for both Executive Committee and tion until 1965, Kol Israel was Board o f Governors run fo r three administratively part o f the Prime years. The Government also names the Minister's Office. Since 1965, radio Director General o f the A u th ority — and television has been controlled by today, Sh’muel Almog — after com the I BA (Israel Broadcasting A uthor­ suiting w ith the Board o f Governors, ity). The I BA is not government con­ for a five-year term.

Although the IBA is not govern­ trolled but rather a public or state authority. Its independence o f the ment controlled, the K'nesseth sets government was shown in the bitter certain broad policies such as, for Sabbath TV dispute, wher,e I BA went* instance, having final approval as to against the wishes o f the government w h e th e r Is ra e li television should as well as overriding the opposition o f perm it commercial sponsorship. In much o f the populace in scheduling K'nesseth debates, the Minister o f Education and Labor acts as spokes­ broadcasts that day. man fo r IBA interests.

while, various Jewish resistance groups tra n sm itte d from secret locations.

A fter Israel's establishment, Kol Israel was born. Its personnel came from the former British station as well as from the underground stations. Although perhaps still popularly referred to as “ Kol Israel," the Hebrew name now used fo r Isra e l's broadcasting is “ Shiddurey Yisrael" — Israel Broad­ casting.

Broadcasting House in Jeru­ salem, a few minutes away from busy Jaffa Road, was designed to be the sum m er palace for an Ethiopian princess, but the British converted it into radio facilities. The current T V building was originally the center o f Israel's diamond industry.

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OBJECTIVES N LIKE a commercial network, S h id d u re y Yisrael has very p ro n o u n ce d political and cultural

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objectives, as spelled out in the Broadcasting A u th o rity Law. These include “ fostering good citizenship" and reJEWISH LIFE

fleeting the achievements o f the State, deepening the Jewish heritage, promo­ tion o f the Hebrew, language, and re­ flecting the life o f Diaspora Jewry and broadcasting to it. Included in this law, in addition, is the responsibility o f providing broadcasts in Arabic for th e Arab-speaking population and broadcasts fo r promotion o f peace and understanding w ith neighboring states.

T he I BA b u d g e t is raised through a dual arrangement, depend­ ing on whether funds are to be spent on internal or foreign transmissions.

The current 1970-1971 total budget, a figure which is first approved by the K ’ n e s s e th ( o r ig in a tin g in th e K ’nesseth’s Finance Committee), is 14=..

45 m illio n ($13 m illion approxi­ mately). Nearly all the money for domestic broadcasts is raised by either radio or television license fees and by revenue from advertisements on radio network B, one o f the I BA stations.

Each household having a radio must pay an annual licensing fee o f /£. 20 ($6) and /£. 85 ($24) fo r a television.

The fee is not increased fo r additional radio and television receivers.

The 1971-1972 budget calls fo r revenue from television licensing to be more than 250% the income from rad io licensing. The current radio advertising rate is /£. 100 ($29) per 30 seconds, although an increase in the fee is a possibility. Net income to the I BA from radio commercials in the 1970-1971 fiscal year was about /£. 5 m illion ($1.4 m illion). According to I BA regulations, only six minutes per

MARCH-APRIL 1971

hour may be devoted to radio com­ mercials, most commercials being in the form o f spot announcements.

Money raised by licensing and advertisements is not used, however, for financing foreign broadcasts inas­ much as the I BA considers it unfair to make the Israeli public pay fo r such programs. Indeed, up until 1965, the Jewish Agency was directly involved in running such programs. In addition, the Foreign M inistry is a junior partner in financing overseas broadcasts. How much money is provided by the Jewish Agency and how much by the Foreign Ministry depends on the nature o f the program; thus the Jewish Agency mainly pays fo r Yiddish broadcasts, whereas the cost o f the transcription service (taped radio programs for broadcasts overseas) is about equally shared.

HAT radio programs should one e x p e c t to hear in Israel?

Shiddurey Yisrael, to begin w ith, is not one network but four and there are good prospects that a fifth w ill be shortly established, which would in­ clude local foreign language broadcasts and increase the time devoted to Arabic broadcasts. Shiddurey Yisrael’s networks are on the air currently a total o f fifty -tw o hours a day. Each network is geared to certain audiences, although there is some overlap in domestic programming. Network A during the week is on the air at peak listening hours, beginning at 11:16 A.M. and closing down at 12:05 A.M.

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the follow ing day. From 3 P.M.-5 P.M., Network A leaves the air. This is a “ highbrow” network whose content features serious music, documentaries, ta lk s , d iscu ssio n s, broadcasts to s ch o o ls, a d u lt education, drama, children's programs, religion (“ Lesson in the Book o f Tanyah” ), and Jewish folklore. A ll programs on this station are in Hebrew and no advertising is carried. There are also hourly news­ casts and a 45-minute news magazine.

Network B broadcasts from 6 A.M., opening with a 10-minute reli­ gious service followed by ten minutes o f physical exercise. Beginning in A pril, 1971, this station w ill be on the air until 1 A.M. the follow ing day. In addition to hourly newscasts (the same as those carried on Network A) and a 90-minute program o f news and music, N e tw o rk B fe a tu re s pop music

(“ Hebrew H it Parade” ), light tun.es, special p ro g ra m s for house»vives ( “ Housewives' Corner” ), teenagers, industrial workers, motorists, sports enthusiasts (reports on the main soccer matches while they are underway), and light drama. Although this is the lone network carrying commercials, advertisers have no say in program content.

Network B also sets aside two peak hours (7 P.M.-9 P.M.) fo r pro­ grams for new immigrants. These consist o f news in easy Hebrew, followed by a short feature and news broadcasts in Yiddish, Ladino (JudeoSpanish), Romanian, Russian, Mograbi (the language o f North African im m i­ grants), and Hungarian. Future plans call fo r moving these tw o hours, how­ ever, to the fifth network cited above.

RADIO PROGRAMMING O N S ID E R IN G Israel's small population, the radio audience is afforded a rich variety o f program c h o ic e . D ire c t d ia lin g , featuring audience participation, is common to many programs. Disc jockeys have strong personal followings. Other pro­ grams are marked by spontaneous performances by guest entertainers.

The variety o f recent programs on Networks A and B include “ The C u rta in Rises,” in which foreign language p la ys are presented in Hebrew; “ A Book to Study,” review­ ing works on Judaica, history, and

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philosophy; “ Sixty Years Today,” providing excerpts from Palestinian newspapers o f that era; and “ Popular Radio University,” featuring faculty members lecturing over the air.

M any Shiddurey Yisrael pro­ grams, in addition to being entertain­ in g , also have educational worth.

Illustrative is the highly popular show “ Treasure H unt,” in which listeners and guests help one another in locating im portant sites or documents o f Israel.

The IBA features a wide range o f Jew ish religious programs, ranging from daily Bible readings to talks on

JEWISH LIFE

th e ethics and spiritual values o f Judaism. Special broadcasts normally note Jewish holidays such as the read­ ing o f the Megillah on Purim eve live from the Tel Aviv Central Synagogue and the recital o f excerpts o f the M e g illa h th e fo llo w in g morning a c c o r d in g to d if fe r e n t Jew ish nusachim — Ashkenazic, Sephardic, and Yemenite. Other religions prac­ ticed in Israel (Moslem and Christian) also have programs devoted to them in the Arabic and English services o f the I BA. Network D, I BA's Arabic station (Dar el Iza'a el Israiliya), is currently on the air \AVi hours daily. It is heard in Israel and neighboring countries. The Arabic service, which employs a con­ siderable number o f Israeli Arabs, operates a full schedule including news, m u sic, comments, cultural features, women's programs, drama, and documentaries. Although there are no special programs fo r the Arabic­ sp ea kin g b u t non-Moslem Druze community, Druzes hold key posts in the I BA's Arabic language services (radio and television).

A c c o rd in g to Arie Hauslich, Director o f External Services o f the I BA, there are three groups o f Arab listeners: Arabs living in Israel's pre1967 boundaries; Arabs in admini­ stered territories; and Arabs in border­ ing countries. The aim o f the Arab language network, according to the Israel Government Yearbook, is: to expound and justify Israel's stand in the Arab-lsrael conflict,

MARCH-APRIL 1971

to dissuade the Arabs o f the administered areas from giving aid or com fort to terrorists, to deter the terrorists themselves, to emphasize Israel's aim o f peaceful co-existence, and to render essential services by the radio medium.

Despite the Arab-lsrael conflict, this network has achieved a high degree o f credibility in the Arab world. One o f its specialties is broad­ casting general news developments among Israel's neighbors. By now, Arabs recognize that these broadcasts have no ax to grind. On many occa­ sions, the Arab press outside Israel cites as testimony statements made on these Shiddurey Yisrael broadcasts. In order to develop informed transmis­ sions, the I BA also monitors all Arab radio stations from the neighboring lands.

Although Network D broadcasts chiefly in Arabic, it carries news and feature programs fo r one hour each in both French and English. These pro­ grams are not aimed at immigrants per se, but at a wide audience including the d ip lo m a tic community, nonJewish clergy, students, UN personnel,, and tourists. According to Hauslich, surveys taken follow ing the Six-Day War indicated that a large percentage o f the Arab elite on the West Bank regularly tuned in these English pro­ grams — an estimated 9% o f the urban West Bank population (mainly profes­ sionals). Moreover, the I BA has found that an estimated 11% o f all Jewish

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listeners in Israel regularly fo llo w the English programs on this network, and 9% the French broadcasts.

Network C, the final station, is the Overseas Service o f the I BA. Over fifty staff are employed in this opera­ tion alone. Currently, overseas broad­ casts are on the air 6% hours daily, beaming programs in Hebrew, English, F re n ch, Russian, Yiddish, Persian, Romanian, Hungarian, Ladino, and Mograbi. Russian is the language with the largest on-the-air time, 21/4 hours daily. In recent years, the I BA has increased p ro g ra m m in g in that language, and w ith the severance o f

Soviet-lsraeli diplom atic relations, in the wake o f the 1967 war, these trans­ missions make up the main daily contact o f Russian Jews w ith Jews abroad.

N on ethe le ss, compared with America’s official foreign broadcasting network, Voice o f America, Israel’s message is not extensively aired, financial limitations being the prob­ lem. For instance, VOA broadcasts in Russian daily about eight hours, plus also broadcasting7 programs in the m in o rity languages spoken in the Soviet Union.

OVERSEAS BROADCASTS HE I BA Overseas program stresses transmissions to Europe and secondarily to Africa. It devotes fifteen minutes daily programming to East Africa and Southern Africa, in English. Due to financial considera­ tions, the I BA eliminated a popular program to West Africa beamed from 1960 to 1963. A unique feature o f the discontinued West African program was that it specialized in news about Africa rather than, fo r instance, the Middle East. As a result many Africans turned to the Israeli-sponsored pro­ gram in order to keep informed on continental news. Israel was the first country to undertake such a broadbased program to West Africa.

Economy reasons also forced the cancellation o f an experimental pro­ gram transmitted in 1969 to North

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America. During its six-month life, this p ro g ra m p ro ved to be one o f S h id d u re y Yisrael’s most popular p roductions, drawing about 2,000 letters from abroad in its first three months on the air. Even today, dozens o f letters come weekly into its Jeru­ salem headquarters inquiring about p o s s ib ly re v iv in g th e program .

Actually, this program was only o f fifteen minutes duration daily and consisted o f news, comment and, when time allowed, a disc o f Israeli music.

C o n te n t-w is e , IB A ’s foreign transmissions fall into two categories.

The first, didactic, emphasizes material on Hebrew, Judaism, and Israeli c ivili­ zation. Thus, on Jewish holidays such as Purim and Tu B’Shevat, the I BA sponsors special programs. The second

JEWISH LIFE

broadcasting category, informational, features news, talk shows, interviews, and discussions.

D R A W B A C K in S h id d u re y Yisrael’s foreign programming is th e r e la tiv e ly loose coordination existing between the radio station and o th e r informational arms (Foreign Ministry, Tourist M inistry) o f Israel.

Meetings take place among officials in various governmental agencies con­ cerned *with Israel’s foreign “ image,” but these meetings basically set overall policy rather than develop coordi­ n a te d , s y s te m a tic themes. What S h id d u re y Y israel broadcasts, o f course, is no haphazard decision inas­ much as abroad its transmissions are taken as the official policy o f Israel.

Thus, the I BA script writers check w ith the Foreign M inistry before w riting up sensitive announcements.

Such coordination is along informal lines, fo r instance through a phone call.

By contrast, it seems that United States foreign inform ation arrange­ ments provide fo r the American broad­ casting arm, VOA, to have a more in te g ra l and in s tru c te d role in American propaganda. The VOA is also administratively part o f the over­ all American information program, whereas the I BA is administratively in d e p e n d e n t fro m o th e r Israeli agencies.

In addition to scheduled broad­ casts, the I BA operates a transcription service which prepares taped radio

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program s fo r foreign distribution.

Programs are produced regularly in English; Spanish, French, Portuguese, Yiddish, and Hebrew. According to th e Israel Government Yearbook, S o u th America broadcasts weekly fifty-one such programs in Spanish and seven in Portuguese. Uruguay carries the I B A ’s news program weekly and a weekly concert o f the I BA Symphony O rc h e s tra is performed over the U ru gu a yan and Paraguayan radio networks. Shiddurey Yisrael programs are distributed to 500 stations in the United States, including a weekly review o f the Israel press and a m onthly magazine on science, art, and theatre. Some 750 programs go out annually to Africa and Asia to some fo rty stations, mainly in English and French. In all, the I BA today transmits to some 800 radio stations worldwide.

The Transcription Service also produces special programs fo r Israel Independence Day and the inde­ pendence days o f friendly countries.

Since 1965, the I BA has carried its “ International Bible Quiz.” Contest­ ants in this program were winners in national preliminary contests in such d iverse countries as Ghana, New Zealand, Holland, Malta, Ethiopia, and Finland.

Listeners in Israel and abroad regularly hear performances by the Is r a e l B ro a d c a s tin g A u t h o r it y Symphony Orchestra. A fter the Israel Philharmonic, it is the country’s lead­ ing orchestra and it specializes, in pioneering new Israel music in addi-

35

tion to performances o f the classics.

The orchestra is made up o f fu lltim e m usicians on the payroll o f the A uthority.

O develop broadcasting person­ nel, the I BA operates a training center which conducts radio classes fo r people aspiring to enter broadcasting, for its own staff (announcers, script writers, technicians), and fo r students in the Communications Department o f the Hebrew University. Reflecting the I B A ’s increased attention to Soviet Jews was an announcement in early 1971 about the opening o f a training course fo r Russian language broadcast­ ing. Courses in television instruction

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are now in their beginning stage.

In d ic a tiv e o f the important cultural status o f the m ilitary in Israel is the fact that it is the only other national institution having a radio station o f its own — Galley Tzahal (“ Waves o f the Armed Forces” ) which has a weekday schedule from 11 A.M. to 12:05 A.M. the follow ing day. It broadcasts shows o f m ilitary interest such as announcements fo r troops, shows from m ilitary bases, and inter­ views w ith troops. Its schedule also includes light music, discussion, inter­ views, and news. Under the Broadcast­ ing Law, Galley Jzahal’s non-military programming is under the supervision o f the I BA.

TV UPSURGE HE phenomenal growth o f tele­ vision in Israel is one o f the main cultural transformations since the SixDay W ar. Following an eighteenmonth period o f active on-air prepara­ tio n during which programs were beamed several times a week, regular daily broadcasts began in May, 1969.

By early 1971, with 356,000 sets in th e co un try, nearly every second family in Israel had a television set, according to the Central Bureau o f Statistics. Interestingly, only 31% o f Israeli families have phones in their homes. One o f the main casualties o f the growth o f T V viewing has been movie houses, many o f which have been turned into catering halls.

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Currently, the I BA lone televi­ sion network transmits Sunday-Thursday a n d S a t u r d a y evenings 6:00-10:00 P.M. Friday programs run from 3:30-4:00 P.M. and 6:30-11:00 P.M. Following controversy about broadcasting on the Sabbath, the Supreme Court upheld such telecasts.

(The radio stations too transmit on the S a b b a th , a lth o u g h fo llo w in g an abbreviated schedule.)

T V s c h e d u lin g is basically d iv id e d in to th re e audiences — ch ild re n ’s programs (one half-hour viewing time in the early evening); Arabic programs (currently one hour, but w ill be expanded another th irty minutes) featuring news documen-

JEWISH LIFE

taries, fam ily shows, and movies (“ A Man Named Bogart” ); and Hebrew programs (two and one-half hours) carrying news, interviews (an interview w ith a captured El Fatah frogman received much public attention), films, documentaries (e.g., the changes tak­ ing place in the Israeli Druze com­ m u n ity ; A z te c civiliza tio n ), and variety shows.

Israeli television also broadcasts programs on Jewish tradition, daily Bible readings, and a program o f reli­ gious content at the end o f the Sabbath, Hamavdil. In 1969, the issue o f telecasting on the Sabbath stirred bitter debate in Israel. As regards radio, the I BA and its predecessors have always broadcast on the Sabbath, for which it received special permis sion from the Labor M inistry.* The decision by the I BA to begin broad­ casting on the Sabbath was taken by m ajority vote in plenary session, al­ though the Israeli Cabinet had earlier called upon the I BA to defer action until the matter could be considered by the new Government. An appeal to the Prime Minister against that vote was allowed and statutorily Sabbath telecasting had to await a Government decision. In the face o f this require­ ment, however; on a petition by a private citizen on November 8,1969, a

♦This is but one of many instances of “ special permission” by the Labor Ministry granting exemptions from legal require­ ments as to Sabbath observance by indus­ trial and commercial institutions. — Editor

MARCH-APRIL 1971

Supreme Court Justice “ issued an order against the Prime Minister to show cause why the appeal in question should not be disallowed, together w ith an interim order to resume Sabbath eve telecasts pending the Court's final verdict. That verdict up­ held the interim order” (Israel Govern­ ment Yearbook for 1969). Despite the opposition by religious sources, such TV broadcasts are regular fare today HE growing pains o f Israeli tele­ vision are perhaps more painful than those o f other nations just begin­ ning such programming because not only does Israel presently have just one single station to satisfy the d iffe r­ ent national viewing tastes, but also because o f the need to produce m ulti­ language and multi-cultural broadcasts to meet the demands o f both Jewish and Arab viewers.

One o f the important reasons for Israel's decision to develop television was the desire o f the Government that her Arab population receive the other side o f the story and not only view programs from enemy Arab countries.

Yet, at present, Arab programs run early in the evening and ending at 7:30 P.M., an hour which, according to Azar A rtu l o f Nazareth, an Arab member o f the I BA, prevents them from watching programs in Arabic later in the evening.

Another problem is the fact that some half the material shown comes from abroad (Hebrew or Arabic sub­ titles are added), financial limitations

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preventing the production o f more- K'nesseth voted in early 1971 against Is ra e li s u b je c t matter. The IBA adding commercials. m anagem ent also complains that According to a survey taken in cinema owners working hand in hand the summer o f 1970, some 70% o f the w ith film distributors make it nearly Jewish population aged 14 and above impossible to get Israel film s fo r the watched the television station's daily T V public because o f high sums asked Mabat newsreel, good testimony to the by potential suppliers. m edium ’s popularity. Israelis place During the day, the television much credibility in the truth o f the station is used fo r educational pro­ I BA's news reports, despite the fact grams directed at school classrooms in that owing to security considerations such diverse subjects as arithmetic, these broadcasts may be relatively p h y s ics, English, citizenship, and slow in transmitting certain items technical drawing. Educational televi­ (foreign audiences, fo r example, knew sion is operated by a trust established about the devastating Arab toll in the by the Rothschild Foundation under early stages o f the Six-Day War before the supervision o f the Ministry o f the Israelis). Program announcers Education and Culture. (several newscasters are women) have Whether or not to introduce personal followings, and each vacancy commercials is one o f the major con­ for an announcership brings about troversies associated with Israel televi­ 1,500 applications. (Pay fo r such a sion. The main argument in favor o f position is not excessive.) The jump in commercials is that the extra money TV sales also reflects a confidence that w ill enable the IBA to present better such an acquisition - Israelis are taxed programs. Secondly, such advertise­ highly fo r T V ’s, as a luxury item, ments, its proponents claim, w ill spur making the cost at least double o f competition fo r various products and what the same T V would be in the will ultim ately benefit the consumer. United States ^Brepresents a w orth­ Forces opposed to commercials while investment in fam ily entertain­ maintain that they would stimulate m e n t and e d u c a tio n . A b ro a d , further buying, a situation contrary to Shiddurey Yisrael must be scoring the Government's current objective o f points, as indicated by the abuse reducing public spending. Despite the heaped on it by both Arabs and re c o m m e n d a tio n s o f E d u ca tio n Russians.

Minister Yigal Allon, the Cabinet and

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JEWISH LIFE

by H. RABINOWICZ ECOND only to the Bible itself, the most popular book among the people o f the Book is undoubtedly the Haggodah shel Pesach. Throughout the centuries, this slim little volume has found its place in every Jewish home, The first Hebrew book was probably printed in 1475. Seven years later, in 1482, the Haggodah was p rin te d m Guadalaxara, Spain,, a decade before the Expulsion o f the Jews from Spain. A copy, the only one in existence o f this priceless Haggodah, is now part o f the Schocken Incun­ a bu la C o lle c tio n at the Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem. Printed in tw o columns, with 32 lines per column, it has neither vowels nor illustrations. It was p ro b a b ly in Constantinople rather than Spain where the first illuminated

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Haggodah was printed early in the 16th century. Three leaves o f this Haggodah are preserved in the Elkan Adler Collection o f the Jewish Theo­ logical Seminary Library, New York.

In Italy, the first Haggodah was part o f the prayer book which was printed in 1486 by Soncino and it consists o f 32 pages. The first fu lly illustrated text o f the Haggodah was produced by Gershon ben Shelomoh K a tz H a -K o h e ri and his brother Gronem in Prague in 1527. It has 85 pages lavishly illustrated with woodcuts, showing fo r instance Samson carrying aloft the gates o f Gaza, Judith holding the head o f Holophernes, and the Messiah riding to Jerusalem. The b ib lio p h ile L azarus Goldschmidt (1 8 7 1 -1 9 5 0 ) p o in te d o u t th a t G e r s h o n p u b lis h e d an e a rlie r 39

prototype in 1520. Only twelve leaves Edition. New York, printed and pub­ lished by S .H . Jackson 1837.” o f this copy are preserved in the American Jewry soon made up fo r this Library in Copenhagen. time lag. In 1943, the Haggodah edited I m p o r t a n t , to o , was th e

by David and Tamar de Sola Pool and Haggodah printed in Mantua in 1560. published by the Jewish Welfare Board The boat in which Avrohom Ovinu for members o f the armed forces o f crossed the river (the Euphrates) th e United States was printed in resembles a gondola w ith the oarsmen 145,000 copies in its third edition. standing behind the passengers. The In 1901, bibliographer Samuel passage “ Pour out Thy w rath” is asso­ Wiener, Librarian o f the Hebraic col­ ciated w ith the portrayal o f Moshiach lection at St. Petersburg, listed 909 at the gates o f Jerusalem and Eliyahu editions o f the Haggodah.

In 1930, Ha-Novi blowing a great Shophar.

Abraham Yaari in his work Kuntres S im ila r ly the Venetian Haggodah Haggodoth found another 315 editions printed in 1609 by Israel Z ifroni of up to 1901.

Abraham G. Duker, too, Gustalla depicts the participants o f the listed another 164 editions.

Yaari in Seder service in contemporary cos­ his great “ Bibliography o f the Passover tumes. A group o f ten small rectangu­ Haggadah” enumerated 2,713 printed lar w o o d c u ts illustrates the ten editions in over 170 places up to 1960. plagues. The Haggodah appeared in A new supplem ent by Theodore three editions, Judaeo-Italian, JudaeoWiener added 300 items, and another Spanish (Ladino), and Yiddish. The 175 editions were listed by Naphtali p r in te r o f th e 1695 Amsterdam Ben Menachem, 118 items by Harrv J. Haggodah used copperplate illustra­ H irschhorn, Abraham Meir Habertions which became the prototype fo r mann, and Ruth P. Lehmann, bringing many subsequent editions. The first the total o f known Haggodoth to over Haggodah in English was printed in 3300 editions.

London in 1770. It has the following heading: “ The Haggodah containing TRANSLATIONS the ceremonies and prayers which are used by all fa m ilies.. . the tw o first ND you shall relate to your son nights o f Passover fa ith fu lly translated H o n this day” exhorts the Torah from the original H ebrew .. . . by A. and it has ever been regarded as o f the Alexander and assistants.” The New utmost importance that the Seder World had to wait till 1837 fo r its first service should be interesting and in­ Haggodah: “ Service fo r the first two nights o f the Passover, in Hebrew and volving the children. Rabbi Mosheh English, according to the Custom o f Isserles (1520-1572) advocated that the German and Spanish Jews. Trans­ the Haggodah should be available in lated into English by the late David the vernacular. A Latin version Ritus Levi o f London. First American et celebration Phase was printed in

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Frankfurt in 1512 and since then the Haggodah has been translated into scores o f languages including A fri­ kaans, Marathi, and Chinese. Abraham Yaari lists over 218 translators. The text o f the Haggodah formed part o f the Etz Chayyim by Rabbi Ya’akov ben Yehudah Chazan o f London, w ritten in 1287. Apart from innumer­ able reprints, Anglo-Jewry has pro­ duced sixty-nine different editions o f the Haggodah, and very many more have been produced in the United States. To date there are 258 editions o f th e H aggodah w ith English translations.

ILLU M IN ATIO N S INCE the te xt o f the Haggodah is comparatively brief and since it is essentially fo r home use, the scribes and illuminators were con­ stantly devising new ways to adorn the pages and intrigue the readers. The Haggodah is more than a blueprint o f the Seder ceremonial and upon its pages, scribes and illustrators through the ages have lavished their artistry.

The Second Commandment, “ Thou shalt riot make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner o f likeness that is in the heaven above or that is in the water under the earth,” did not inhibit the creativity o f th e artists who found in the Book o f Freedom an ideal o ut­ le t fo r elaborate calligraphy and pictorial imagery.

In the fragments discovered in the Cairo Geniza (10th century) there are crude illustrations o f the Matzah

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and Moror. The Matzah, too, is de­ scribed in the Casalmaggiore Machzor o f 1486. There are* however, no illuminated Haggodoth prior to the 14th century.

P ride o f place among the illuminated Haggodoth is the 14th c e n tu ry S arajevo Haggodah, an illuminated codex o f the Pesach Eve service executed in Northern Spain and now in the public library o f Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. The manuscript has 84 leaves o f parchment and no’ fewer than sixty-nine illuminations.

The illustrator cast his net wide, begin­ ning with the Creation o f the World and concluding with the wanderings o f the Children o f Israel in the wilder­ ness. He devotes seven illustrations to Yoseph and describes the Mishkon, showing the wings o f the Cherubim (Shemoth 27:9) and enclosing the Ten Commandments. There is a full-page miniature o f Rabban Gam’liel, and a half-page representation o f a domestic scene*, showing a fam ily at the Sedertable. On the opening page there is the coat o f arms o f the King o f Aragon, adopted in 1137 from the city o f Barcelona.

A n o th e r far-famed Haggodah manuscript is preserved in Hessische Landes und Hochschbibliotthec (Cod. OR 8) in Darmstadt, Germany. The manuscript was w ritten in the 15th century by Israel Ha-Sofer ben Meir from Heidelberg and once belonged to Simon van Gelden, the ancestor o f Heinrich Heine. Rich illuminations in gold and vibrant hues enliven the ornate pages o f this medieval master41

piece. A t the end o f the manuscript there is an illum ination o f a stag hunt scene and the fountain o f youth, showing old and crippled men and women climbing the steps o f the fountain and emerging younger and healthier. The work was executed in West Germany about 1430 and was reproduced in colored fascimile in 1927.

HE ancient illustrators, however, tempered a sense o f reverence with an irrepressible sense o f humor.

In the Washington Haggodah which was acquired by the Library o f Con­ gress in 1912 through Jacob H. Schiff and which was w ritten by Yoel ben Shim’on in 1478, the misogynistic illustrator points to the mistress o f the house when he deals with the “ bitter herbs.'’ Another illustration illustrates a man in the attire o f a wanderer carrying a satchel and a lance in connection w ith the passage “ Come and Learn.” The First Cincinnati Haggodah in the Hebrew Union Col­ lege in Cincinnati was probably w rit­ ten by Meir ben Yisroel Yaffe o f Heidelberg in 1480 or 1490. The colophon reads: “ I, Meir the scribe, son o f Yisroel Yaffe the scribe o f Heidelberg, wrote this w ork.”

Important, too, is the Kaufmann Haggodah o f the late 14th century preserved in the Oriental Library o f the Hungarian Academy o f Sciences in Budapest. It consists o f sixty leaves w ith fourteen full-page miniatures.

Two o f the panels extend to a full page. Among the illuminations are the

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infant Mosheh taking o ff the crown from Pharoah’s head, the three coun­ sellors o f Pharoah, Jethro, Bilaam, and Job, and the infant Moses directed by G-d’s angel taking live coals from a yessel. A facsimile edition was pub­ lished in 1954.

The British Museum in London possesses six illuminated Haggodoth.

In one 14th century text, the illumina­ tor traces the Biblical narrative from the Creation to the celebration o f the Passover. He shows, inter alia, Adam naming the animals and Eve emerging from the rib o f Adam. Another text portrays Miriam, sister o f Moses and Aaron, celebrating w ith the women o f Israel the deliverance from slavery.

The Spanish school concentrated on the narrative o f the Creation whereas the German school o f illustrators con­ centrated on the preparations fo r the Seder Service, the Rabbis at B’ney B’rak, the Four Sons, and the Ten Plagues. O f great interest is the Haggodah (Add. Ms 14762) by Yoel ben Shimon called Feibuch Ashkenazi o f Bonn or Cologne. It consists o f forty-nine leaves on vellum. Among the illuminations is one o f Adam and Eve standing on a wheel o f fortune. It combines German and Italian styles o f illuminations.

The Golden Haggodah (Add Ms 27210) o f the British Museum has thirteen full-page illuminations and seems to have originated in the northern part o f Spain. It consists o f three parts. The first^section consists o f miniatures in the French Gothic style. Each picture represents a scene JEWISH LIFE

from Biblical history from the last day o f the Creation o f the World to the triumph at the Red Sea and the preparations o f the Passover. The second p a rt is the text o f the Haggodah itself and the third part is a selection o f liturgical poetry connec­ ted w ith Pesach. The manuscript contains two hundred pages, over one hundred o f which are ornamented with gold and silver. Among the illus-* trations are the call to Moses by the Angel at the burning bush, Moses hiding his face and removing his shoes, Moses, his wife Zipporah, and their two sons meeting Aaron, Aaron’s rod turning into a serpent, and Moses delivering G-d’s message to the people.

The facsimile was published in March 1970 by the Eugrammia Press and the price is I t210 or $500 a copy. The edition was limited to 500 copies.

The John Rylands Library in M a n che ste r has th re e beautiful Haggodoth. Especially noteworthy is the Hebrew Ms. No. 6 from the collec­ tion o f the Earl o f Crawford, known as the John Rylands Haggodah. It con­ sists o f fifty-seven leaves o f vellum and begins w ith a series o f hymns. Among the noteworthy illuminations are a servitor pouring wine, the celebrant reclining and holding the basket o f unleavened bread, Rabbi Eleazar, the wise son, the wicked son represented as a warrior, Rabbi Yose the Galilean, and Rabbi Gam’liel* sitting in a cano­ pied chair. While executed in Spain in the middle o f the 14th century, the style reveals Italo-Byzantine influence.

There are a number o f handsome MARCH-APRIL 1971

Haggodoth in the Sassoon collection at L e tc h w o rth , Hertsfordshire. Manu­ script No. 514 combines the te xt o f the Haggodah w ith “ laws o f Pesach, p iy y u tim for the Sabbath before Pesach, and other p iyyu tim .” The manuscript consists o f 336 pages and Is a fin e exam ple o f Byzantine Bolognese influence in Spain in the first half o f the 14th century.

The Israel Museum in Jerusalem is the proud possessor o f the “ B ird’s Head” Haggodah — most o f the human figures illustrated in it are shown with birds’ heads — which is one o f the earliest surviving illuminated German Haggodoth. It was probably w ritten in 1300 in southern Germany. The Museum, too, has the Erna Michael Haggodah which contains “ Pesach rules with commentary on the te xt.”

The miniatures are painted in the margins. Among the illuminations is a child giving the Afikom en back to his father, the hiding o f the Afikomen, and Mosheh receiving and handing down the tablets o f the Assereth HaDibroth. The Israel Museum, also, has the Yahuda Haggodah, given to the Bezalel National A rt Museum in 1955 by th e w idow o f Professor A.S. Yahuda. The manuscript contains two fu ll-p a g e illu s tr a tio n s and was probably written in Germany in the middle o f the 15th century.

The Schocken Library in Jeru­ salem has 'the Second Nuremberg Haggodah which consists o f forty-tw o leaves, three full-page paintings o f preparations fo r Passover eve* as well as many marginal illustrations. One 43

illustration shows a child opening the door for the Prophet Elijah while r e c itin g ' ‘ Pour o u t Thy Wrath.”

Eliyohu is moreover depicted riding a donkey w ith the Israelites following him.

T is o f interest to note that in most o f the illuminated manu­ scripts o f the Haggodah, the Wicked Son is depicted as a soldier armed with d e a d ly w eapons. The Wise Son naturally enough wears a long beard.

The Simple Son holds his head in the air, and the One Who Cannot Ask trots along thinking o f nothing and caring o f nothing.

The discovery o f printing did not curb Haggodah artistry and during the succeeding centuries the high standard o f Haggodah illustrations had been maintained, in our day by Ben Shahn’s illustrations and lithographs reproduced by the Trianon Press o f Paris in a volume o f 154 pages. “ An Only K id ” is illustrated by ten fu llpage color drawings in deep brick-red.

B e a u tifu l, too, is the illuminated Haggodah o f the Polish Jewish artist A rthur Szyk (1894-1951).

The text o f the Haggodah de­ rives largely from Biblical, Mishnaic,

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and Midrashic literature. Many o f ks customs and ceremonies are rooted in antiquity. It is not surprising that rabbis through the ages have scanned each word ceaselessly explaining and pro du cing commentaries, liturgical, historical, homiletical, and Cabbalistic, from Rashi in Sepher Ha-Orah, David ben Yoseph Abudraham o f the 14th century, to the statesman and philosop h e r and B ib le exegete Isaac Abravanel, whose commentary was published in Constantinople in 1505-6.

In all, more than 437 commentaries are available, The Vilna edition o f 1892 contains extracts from 113 commentaries and the edition pub­ lished in 1907 in Podgorz quotes 238 commentaries.

I t is probably every rabbi’s desire to w rite yet another commen­ tary. When an author once requested an endorsement for such a new com­ mentary on the Haggodah, the rabbi hesitated and asked: “ Why another commentary? Are we not provided with ample commentaries?” “ Yes,” replied the author. “ There are many commentaries but from last year’s edi­ tion I cannot provide the necessities fo r this year’s Pesach.”

JEWISH LIFE

by RIVKA G. SPIEGLER N 1948, we had a bleak, cold F e b ru a ry in Jerusalem and everybody on Ben Yehuda Street said i t was surely going to snow. The man where I used to buy my butter and cheese compared his patch o f back­ yard sky to that in Riga, Latvia. My cleaning woman, a w orthy rotund Yemenite o f over sixty, black o f hair and brown o f skin, prophesied the coming o f a swarm o f locusts. Yoshua, my neighbor from Sofia, Bulgaria, still had a few greens from Kibbutz GalYam because Anna lived and ploughed the desert there and Anna was his pep­ pery Hungarian sweetheart who would marry him the day he got a license in Hebrew. Yoshua was forty-eight and a doctor and I twenty and a student at the Hebrew University and we sup­ ported each other in hours o f poverty

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and other griefs. I was almost as ro­ tund as my cleaning lady but my skin was clear and I had all my teeth and there was a glimmer in my eye and I didn’t speak German all the time.

Jerusalem, o f course, is beautiful, and I lived my semi-Bohemian hand-tomouth existence w ith all my Viennese heart.

Before I became a soldier in the Israel Arm y, I was posted into the Negev as a hospital orderly — I recall it was the thirteenth o f February and a Friday and I had lost a good solid fron t tooth in transit. The Syrians had got at us from the rear end and the bus acquired an enormous hole. I fell on a hoe that a man carried humped over his shoulder and my mouth bled pro­ fu s e ly . T h e n , in the hospital, I couldn’t find a uniform my size, so I

45

looked rather squeezed in a size 16, but in gleaming white. It was a nylon uniform from New York City, and putting it on for the first time I visua­ lized fifty Hadassah ladies knitting a sock each, w ith my measurements in mind, in the depths o f Brooklyn. It was very reassuring to think o f moral support five thousand miles away .

German. That was Ernesto. Ernesto Coen, surgeon, Clinica Morgagni, Via Benvenuto Cellini, Roma. Our one and o n ly Ita lia n v o lu n te e r, w ith a Sephardic fam ily tree. “ Maledetto” screamed Wiesenthal, our seventy-eight-year-old head doctor, “ m ulto cattivo” . . . he grum­ bled on, in rickety Italian w ith a pure Frankfurt accent. Then, discovering OW it was Shabboth and five in the bundle o f me by the windowless the morning. I was half blind window, he descended on my early from exhaustion, staring and yawning morning defenselessness. at the same time into the orange“ Nina.” yellow o f Negev sunlight. Beer Sheba “ Ken.” looked like an army camp, rising out “ Don’t you dare do night watch o f no-man’s-land, a ghost town o f bar­ again for Old Man Steiner.” racks, sitting on a flu ff o f sand-colored “ Why not, Doctor Wiesenthal, pillows. Desert thistles, tin y patches o f he is a lieutenant. We need lieuten­ hesitant green, squatted against pieces ants.” o f grey, b rittle rock. Even the cacti “ Come into my office.” were lifeless, hairy things, and none I got up and plodded behind showed a single bloom. The hospital him. His “ office ” was a corner in the entrance was a graveyard fo r vehicles, corridor, closed o ff with three Arab trucks, and tractors made into tanks, turbans sewn into a curtain. Wiesen­ Willis stations, buses w itho ut windows, thal, the monster, creased, heavy, to w ­ civilian cars dyed khaki, jeeps, spare ering, enourmous, a skull cap on his parts, tires. A group o f American frizzly head, was going to lecture me. quonset huts, former supply stores, “ You and your male sympa­ now formed House B o f the hospital -fl thies! Wasting time on a drunken dere­ the emergency “ Camp Beth.” A Greek lict who makes eyes at the nurses! Just Beta and a Hebrew Beth were painted because he was lieutenant in the in black tar below the roof. Over the British Arm y and smokes pipes and mosquito screen door o f the main looks fortyish and dependable. You house, a few heartening announce­ listen?” “ Yes, yes, I should take care o f ments had been pasted: an American office decoration “ T H IN K .” Under Uri Fromm and the little kibbutznik this, “ No Smoking” in English and H e r b e r t a n d t h a t b o y fro m under this “ Speak Hebrew in Hebrew.” Wisconsin . . . ” “ R ight,” groaned he, “ and Uri is “ Du Altes Schwein” rattled a thick male voice behind m ein limping going to die, and don’t you dare sing a

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song as you always do.”

I had known that tin y blond Uri, an architecture student from the Insti­ tute o f Technology in Haifa, would n ot survive the brain injury. Dis­ tracted; I extricated the three red chrysanthemums from a sour milk glass, on Wiesenthal’s desk. They looked like red saucers. “ What are you doing?” “ Taking some flowers to Old Man Steiner.” “ You sentimental female you.

You German Romantic. You Valkyrie w ith a calf brain. You and your Papa, leave my flowers.” He took them out o f my hand and threw them at me.

•‘Pick them up” he said. “ Yes, yes” I screamed, puffing up my dignity like a frog. “ Stupid Yekke,” he went on boiling w ith rage. “ Get out; flowers and females flirtin g w ith patients and this jungle in the Negev. Urn Gottes Willen . . . now get out and remember that flowers are for the wedded and for births and old ladies that you can’t stand. N ot fo r patients and not for fu n e ra ls , dumme Gans ^ heraus, heraus. . . ” I was r e - p o s t e d into the Alma Mater, Wiesenthal’s establish­ ment in Jerusalem, the oldest hospital in the Middle East. A t 4 a.m. I had b oa rd ed a c o n v o y o f forty-tw o vehicles and my bus had no windows.

It was filled to the brim with people.

It stank o f garlic, sausage, infan t’s m ilk, and tobacco. We were travelling in a barrel: stenchful, old, slow, and rickety, and we had plenty o f ammuni­ tion in the back. We were advancing MARCH-APRIL 1971

fifteen kilometers an hour. “ Miss?” “ Bevakashah?” “ I am sitting behind you.”

I try to turn around but instead push against my neighbor. I got up.

Now I could do it. Behind me, yes, a very small boy. Brown skin w ith coffee-berry eyes. The velvet voice o f a cocoa-skinned child. A Tunisian kind o f Hebrew, half Arabic, half French in overtone. He makes his way through a heap o f suitcasesff paper bags, bun­ dles. He pushes hard. “ Where is your little boy?” he asks. He manages to make himself comfortable on my lap. “ I have no little boy.” “ No?” “ Be’emeth.” “ You look as if you had a little boy,” he states, and looks into my eyes. “ Do I?” “ If you don’t mind, I ’ll stay here till we get into Jerusalem.” “ I don’t mind.”

He was very small but his figure was square and strong and perfect. A well-made strong little brown body with muscles and a round chin and absolutely white teeth. “ Where do you live?” he asks conversationally, very securely. “ In Abraham’s Vineyard.” “ And, where you live, are there many little boys who have no mother because a bwullet fell on her head?” “ A what?” “ A bw ullet.” “ You mean a bullet.” “ Ken, ken. A ball to burn.” I 47

my

firm is in mine and then he stumps

neighbor has a healthy “ embonpoint’* and prevents me. “ You can always come and visit me.” “ Then I can be your little boy.

My father’s name is Levi.” “ And yours?” “ Yonothan.” . “ L ittle Yonothan.” My voice is a smile. “ You must not forget,” he says. “ You may not.” “ No, no.” “ We liv e on Princess Mary Avenue. The number is five. About a hundred steps from the King David Hotel. If I look out o f my window in the evening, I am always scared.” “ Oh?” “ O f co urse. The old Arab cemetery — it is fu ll o f ghosts. . . ” “ What do they do?” “ The stones talk to each other.

Terrible. To sleep, I must close the window and tell myself stories.” ‘‘Good.” “ You could move in w ith us.

Then we could sit and listen to the bullets together. I w ill be less scared. It is very hard not to be scared, being alone and little .” ‘ ‘ I understand that perfectly . . . ” Someone’s voice behind us. “ LadyB- my father is calling me.

Have you a first name?”

I tell him. “ Then I am telling my father that you move in with us. Good day” — and his hand, small and fleshy and

over the baggage again. He disappears.

m entally

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blow

my

nose, but

had been back in Jerusalem for about three weeks. There was nothing to eat and I was always tired, always on my feet. Yoshua was here too because one o f the doctors had been killed by a sniper so he practiced w ith his Bulgarian license. Yoshua lived next door now, in cheaper but more comfortable quarters, and he played the fatherly role that I needed, that my tired feet needed, that my tired head needed, that my Viennese temperament needed, and l was meek and gentle. I would never f lir t again with the like o f Old Man Steiner. My figure had shrunken and so had my outlook. Evenings, after coffee from a 'ten dollar Care package and a cigarette stolen from the “ G oy” Taddeus, the Pole, a Roman Catholic pleading the cause o f the Jews, Yosh and I com­ pared my native Vienna w ith his native Sofia. We had a terrible fight. The fig h t th a t tire d , underfed, overimaginative people have who have no room fo r play o f imagination. He said that the mosque o f Georgi Dim itrov Boulevard was older than my St. S te p h e n ’s Cathedral, perhaps even older than Prague’s “ A lt-N a i” Shool on Pacziska Street, where Rabbi Loew had conjured up the Golem. We even com pared architectural styles: the Byzantine with the Gothic and the Roman. And because we were very hungry we discussed the architecture o f food, like my Viennese shtrudel with his Bulgarian goat cheese on

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Italian bread. Suddenly there was a small whimpering voice from the chil­ dren's ward. We craned our necks. “ Ke’eyvim, Ninale," said Yosh. “ What does that mean?" “ It means pain." “ I t sounds lik e th e b o y Yonothan," said he. “ W h a t ? " I j u m p ed up.

-‘Yonothan?"

In th e children's ward: bed against bed. Worse than in Beer Sheba.

But pretty white curtains made from torn bed sheets and painted by me with dots and animal heads. Taddeus the “ G o y" was a landscape painter with a heart o f gold and he had dona­ ted the paint. “ Who are you?" said the child in a pale, far-away voice. “ Your nurse." “ Mine?" “ Just yours." “ N in a ," he said softly and sighed. “ Yes?" He waited. “ My little mother from the bus." “ Your sister." “ No. You promised to sleep in my mother's bed. You remember? The bwullets did i t . . . " “ Bullets, Yonothan . . . " He perked up a little. He could not move his left leg. He could not raise his head. A little color had come into his fallen in, ashen cheek. “ Have you been here long?" he asks. “ I just came." I sat down at the edge o f the bed and pulled out a story book with pictures. The book was in German.

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“ Pa’am echad/" I began. “ No, no" he protested. “ Talk to me. And sit better." He wants to make room fo r me but he cannot move. “ O f course."

I take his hand. It is yellowish and light and I can see the veins throbb in g under the skin. “ Please, sleep in my mother’s bed." “ Your father may not allow th a t.". “ He w ill," “ G ood." “ Then you come." “ I ’ll think about it." “ Think now ." “ I do." “ So you come. When I am well you come. You cannot stay here. In a h o s p ita l. F o r alw ays. It stinks.

Terrible." “ I live in Abraham's Vineyard." “ Yes, but I live on Princess Mary A ve nu e . A beautiful wide street.

Beautiful, tall houses. You have per­ haps a little terrace. I have a big bal­ cony. In spring I have three swallows in nests. I have enough room there, fo r boxes w ith bird feed. Now, o f course, the upper flo o r has been taken o ff by the bwullets but wait till it comes down again."; ; “ It's hard to move now, David.

Perhaps with a mule and a c a rt. . . " I reflected. “ What is a little moving. Imagine our soldiers, they move all the tim e." “ They have to ." “ You to o ." “ Soon." “ Can one trust you?"

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“ Don’t you th ink so?” “ N ot w ith moving. Perhaps with other things like combing hair or brushing teeth. N ot w ith moving.”

A few days later he was well enough to leave.

With the bandage around his neck he looked like a brown little owl, trapped, encased.

His bed, in that rounded alcove with the pretty curtains, was now y a w n i n g w i t h an u n b e a ra b le emptiness.

The mattress stood up, mena­ cingly, soldierly. It stood to attention, and to be aired fo r the next small patient. The child w ith his spotted valise was ready to leave. Now he raised himself on his toes. “ We have an understanding,” he said. “ L ’hitraoth.”

His steps in the hallway on Levi’s hand. The steps receding in the hallways, and the other children look­ ing at me, forlorn, yearning . . .

He was killed that same night by a sniper, facing his roofless house. “ E l o k i m n o th a n , E l o k i m lokach,” said Wiesenthal in a corner, not monster anymore but meek, old, weary. The little circle o f people sat in Levi’s large room, facing Princess Mary Avenue. The child, in silent beauty, lay covered on his mother’s bed — angelic, unaccusing. The praying lasted an eternity. Now we sat in the dark. I could see the frame o f Wiesenthal

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against the white wall, illuminated by wandering searchlight. “ Y o ur red chrysanthemums,” said Wiesenthal abruptly. “ Take them and plant them somewhere.” “ Such silken roots,” I say, musing o f the flowers that I have learned to love most here, because they are tall, proud, and sturdy like the Israeli flower should be. I lean against the wall. There was a barrel in my belly. It wanted to explode in pain. Suddenly I saw myself and Yoshua arguing about churches, shtrudels, and goat cheese. I saw myself in the too tight uniform , another me, fat, frolicky, Viennese, stupid, and o p ti­ mistic. I knew that I had to preserve something: optimism. “ Ninale?” Wiesenthal was ‘ age­ less. He was already in a country where age had ceased to matter. “ You plant them in Abraham’s Vineyard, where it faces the hospital.” * A cco rd in g to definition, the chrysanthem um is one o f several plants belonging to the aster fam ily, showing ball-shaped flowers in thè autumn.

They would catch root in the Jerusalem hills.

They would sway in the wind, their proud heads ablaze w ith color, somewhere in J udea.

Red and orange and yellow, with tin y spots fo r a blush in the cheek for beauty, they would murmur a dirge for one little boy who might have caressed the velvet o f their petal, who would now, perhaps, sleep in a nest o f silken roots, entwined . . .

JEWISH LIFE

by AARON ROTHKOFF H AN / Isser Zalman Meltzer, the 11 future leading Rosh Yeshivah o f his generation, was born into humble circumstances in Mir in 1870. His father, Boruch Peretz Meltzer, devoted the major portion o f his time to Torah study and barely eked out a living.

Many o f his children died at a young age, and he therefore considered it particularly propitious when the Rosh Yeshivah o f the Mirrer Yeshivah, Rabbi Chayyim Leib Tiktinsky, attended the B ’ r it h M ilah o f the young Isser Zalman. When the youngster entered Cheder at the age o f three, his father gave a collation to celebrate the event and once again Rabbi Tiktinsky graced the affair w ith his presence. The young Isser Zalman made remarkable pro­ gress in his studies and soon excelled

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as a student under the tutelage o f his relative, Rabbi Yom tov Lipman, the Av-Beth-Din o f Mir. A t the age o f thirteen, Isser Zalman entered the leading yeshivah o f this period, the Volozhiner Yeshi­ vah, where he was later affectionately known as “ Zundel Mirer.” A t first, the Rosh Yeshivah, Rabbi Naftoli Tzvi Yehudah Berlin, was peeved that such a young student was sent to his yeshi­ vah. He insisted that his father engage one o f the elder students to tu to r him, but his father lacked the necessary funds. Rabbi Berlin instead arranged for one o f the leading students, Zelig Reuven Bengis, the future Av-Beth-Din o f Jerusalem's Edah Ha-Charedith, to volunteer his help in guiding the new student. However, the newcomer’s

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p ro d ig io u s a bilities soon became known throughout the Yeshivah, and he was considered the school’s illu i p a r-e x c e lle n c e . A ll the advanced students enjoyed discussing Torah topics w ith “ Zundel Mirer,” and ; at tim e s these fre q u e n t discussions hindered his diligence in his own studies. When his father heard that these constant interruptions were impairing his son’s progress, he walked all the way from Mir to Volozhin to reprimand his son. However, Rabbi Berlin assured the father that there was no need to worry and that his youngster would be a Torah luminary.

Shortly after his return to Mir, the elder Meltzer passed on, not having been privileged to see his son become a famous Rosh Yeshivah.

While at Volozhin, Rav Isser Zalman was particularly attracted to Rav Chayyim Soloveitchik, the grand­ son-in-law o f Rabbi Berlin. Rabbi Soloveitchik was then developing what later became known as his unique “ Brisker method” with its insistance on exact definition, incisive analysis, and precise classification, and its em phasis on the Rambam’s Yad Hachazokah.Rav Isser Zalman joined the select group before whom Rav Chayyim reviewed his lectures prior to* delivering them to the entire student body. For six years “ Zundel M irer” continued his studies in Volozhin, constantly enhancing his reputation in the yeshivah world. During the entire period, Rav Isser Zalman was totally dependent upon the Yeshivah fo r his

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support since his impoverished fam ily could not aid him. A t times, he lacked even the necessary funds to purchase a new pair o f trousers. Nevertheless, when his married sister sent him a package o f clothing, he did not use them for over a year and a half, until he ascertained that she had sent these items with the consent o f her husband.

In 1891 Rav Isser Zalman left Volozhin fo r Radin where he spent one year in the Yeshivah o f the Chofetz Chayyim. There he studied in Chavrutha w ith Rabbi Abraham HaK o h e n , th e son o f the Chofetz Chayyim.

N 1891, Rabbi Meltzer became engaged to Beila Hinda, the youngest daughter o f the late Reb Shraga Feivel Frank, a leading lay disciple o f Rabbi Israel Salanter, the founder o f the Mussar movement o f e th ica l-m o ra l perfectionism. Frank devoted his wealth to furthering the goals o f the movement and he gave the attic o f his home to Rabbi Salanter.

Here Rabbi Salanter spent many months in solitude and seclusion w ith his most competent disciples. A fter F ra n k ’ s untim ely death, his four daughters all married brillia nt Torah scholars. One daughter married Rabbi Boruch Horowitz, who later became th e Rav o f Alaksat and a Rosh Yeshivah in the Slobodka Yeshivah.

A n o th e r daughter married Rabbi Sheftel Kramer, who was to serve as a Rosh Yeshivah in the Slutsk Yeshivah; afterwards, he emigrated to the United

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JEWISH LIFE

States where he organized the ad­ vanced Yeshivah o f New Haven, which la te r relocated to Cleveland, and whose branch in Baltimore developed into Yeshivath Ner Israel. The third s o n - i n - l a w was R abbi M osheh M o rd e ch a i E p s te in , th e fam ed Slobodka and Chevron Rosh Yeshivah.

A fter the youngest daughter’s engage­ ment to Rav Isser Zalman, he returned to Mir where he was stricken w ith a serious lung ailment. Doctors feared for his life, and the Frank fam ily was in a quandary regarding the continua­ tion o f the match. The decision was left to the bride and she consulted the Chofetz Chayyim after doctors assured her that her fiancee would live for at least an additional year. A fter hearing a b o u t her dilemma, the Chofetz C h a y y im assured her that “ some people are blessed w ith health, while others are granted long years by the A lm ighty.” The bride’s fam ily then arranged fo r Rabbi Meltzer to stay at a health resort until he recovered. Their marriage was celebrated shortly after­ wards, and Beila Hinda was privileged to be his life ’s companion until his death more than sixty years later. She possessed c o n s id e ra b le scholarly a b ilitie s and throughout his life assisted Rav Isser Zalman in transcrib­ ing his works and in arranging them fo r publication.

A f te r his m a rria g e , Rabbi Meltzer settled in Kovno where he came to know its rabbinic scholars, p a rtic u la rly its illustrious spiritual le a d e r, Rabbi Yitzchok Elchonon

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Spektor. In Kovno, Rav Isser Zalman studied in Chavrutha with his brotherin -la w , R abbi Mosheh Mordechai Epstein. Both young scholars began to dream about the redemption o f the Holy Land and they decided to invest part o f their wedding gifts in the purchase o f land in Eretz Israel. Rabbi Epstein twice visited Israel during this period, and he invested funds fo r him­ self and Rabbi Meltzer in the new colony o f Chaderah. Although they subsequently lost the money they invested, their love for the land was unabated and both were later priv­ ileged to settle there.

N 1 8 9 4 , R abbi Y i t z c h o k Rabinowitz, later the Rav o f Ponevez, resigned from his Slobodka Rosh Yeshivah position to assume the rabbinate o f Grozod. Rabbi Nothon T ’zvi Finkel, the founder and head o f the Slobodka Yeshivah, then decided to appoint the two brothers-in-law as the new Roshey Yeshivah. One lec­ tured on Mondays while the other gave his discourses on Thursdays. Rabbi Meltzer’s initial lecture was given on Rosh Chodosh lyar o f 1894. Many years later, Rav Isser Zalman was to recall his initial lecture and his fears th a t he would never be able to compose enough new Talmudic inter­ pretations on a sufficiently high level for the Slobodka student body. How­ ever, he concluded: “ Just as the Alm ighty grants His blessing to the storekeeper in his merchandise and to the craftsman in his trade, the Rosh

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Yeshivah is blessed in his lectures.”

In 1896, Rabbi Yaakov Dovid Wi l l o w s k i , p op ularly called “ the Ridbaz,” the rabbi o f Slutsk, desired to open an advanced yeshivah in his city. He requested Rabbi Finkel’s aid in this undertaking, and fourteen o f th e b rig h te s t Slobodka Yeshivah students were sent by Rabbi Finkel to the new school. Popularly called the Yad Chazokah (“ Yad” having the numerical equivalent o f fourteen), this group was headed by Rabbi Meitzer.

Gradually the Slutsk Yeshivah attrac­ ted a wider circle o f students, and Rabbi Willowski appointed Rav Isser Zalman to serve as the Rosh Yeshivah o f the new school. In 1903, when the Ridbaz emigrated to the United States, Rabbi Meitzer was also elected to be the rabbi o f Slutsk. However, he ini­ tially refused to accept this position, claiming that he had never form ally received semichah. The lay leaders o f Slutsk immediately went to Radin and told the Chofetz Chayyim about Rav Isser Zalman’s refusal. The Chofetz Chayyim agreed that Rabbi Meitzer was the proper man fo r their rabbinate and immediately wrote to him urging that he accept the new position. Rav Isser Zalman acquiesced and travelled to Brisk to obtain ordination from his rebbe, Rav Chayyim Soloveitchik. The lay leaders o f Slutsk also turned to R abbi Y.echiel Michal Epstein o f Novorhodok, requesting that he ordain their new rabbi-elect. Rabbi Epstein responded in a four-word telegram which stated in Russian script, “ Yoreh

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yoreh; yodin yodin.”

NEW venture began in 1908, when Rabbi Meltzer founded a periodical entitled YagdU Torah which was devoted, under his own editorship, to publishing the Talmudic novellae o f leading rabbis and advanced Yeshivah students. He was aided in this venture by his s tu d e n t, R abbi Mosheh B i n y o m i n T o m a s h o f f . R abbi T om ashoff later emigrated to the United States where he continued to publish this periodical until 1921.

During this period, the Slutsk Yeshi­ vah continued to expand, and in 1914 Rav Isser Zalman appointed his illus­ t r i o u s s o n -in -la w , Rabbi Aharon Kotler, to be his assistant in the school. Rav Aaron, who was born in the White Russian town o f Sislovic in 1892 and had studied in the Slobodka and Slutsk Yeshivoth, was later to be one o f the leading Roshey Yeshivah o f this era.

When the Communists came to power in Slutsk follow ing the First World War, they persecuted the Yeshi­ vah and its heads and Rabbi Meltzer was arrested fo r disseminating Torah knowledge. Despite his tribulations, he never lost his complacency. Even on the way to jail on a Friday, Rabbi Meltzer insisted on inviting an itiner­ ant preacher whom he met to spend the Sabbath w ith his fam ily. Rav Isser Zalman was finally released, but the new government continued its male­ volent attitude towards the Yeshivah.

In 1921, many o f the students led by

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Rabbi Kotier succeeded in leaving Slutsk. They opened a new school in Kletsk which was on the Polish side o f the border. In 1923, Rabbi Meitzer also succeeded in departing from Slutsk and he too joined the Yeshivah in Kletsk where he continued to lecture.

While still in Europe, Rav Isser Zalman was also active on the Jewish c o mm u n a l scene. He joined the Agudath Israel movement with its founding at the Kattow itz Conference in 1912. He later participated in all the K ’nessioth Gedoloth o f this organiza­ tion, beginning with the 1923 Vienna c o n v e n t i o n . Subsequently, Rabbi Meitzer became the Chairman o f the Eretz Yisroel branch o f its Moetzeth Gedoley Ha-Torah. The last announce­ ment he was to sign a few weeks before his death was a document in preparation fo r the 1954 K ’nessiah w h ich convened in Jerusalem. He constantly encouraged the Agudath Israel t o u n d e r t a k e constructive projects in the Holy Land, and dis­ played a positive attitude towards the nascent State o f Israel. He also aided the C h o fe tz Chayyim and Rabbi Chayyim Ozer Grodzenski o f Vilna in organizing the Vaad Ha-Yeshivoth after the War. This body was to sustain many o f the European yeshivoth during the interbellum period.

N 1924 Rabbi Meitzer was in­ vi t ed t o become the Rosh Yeshivah o f Jerusalem’s famed Etz Chayyim Yeshivah. This Jerusalem

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Yeshivah had been established by the old yishuv in 1841, and Rabbi Meltzer eagerly accepted this opportunity to emmigrate to the Holy City. He de­ livered his first lecture in Etz Chayyim on Rosh Chodesh Shevat o f 1925. The leading rabbis o f Jerusalem, including Chief Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, all graced this initial lecture with their presence. During the ensuing twentynine years Rabbi Meltzer was to con­ tinually derive much satisfaction from the bright students who frequented his lectures at Etz Chayyim, the oldest and largest o f the Israeli Yeshivoth. In 1929 Rav Isser Zalman visited Kletsk to participate in the dedication o f a new yeshivah building which his soni n- l aw succeeded in constructing.

From Kletsk he travelled to Radin to visit w ith the Chofetz Chayyim. There he was warmly received and his host insisted that he deliver guest-lectures to the students o f the Radin Yeshivah.

Whi l e residing in Jerusalem, Rabbi Meltzer began to organize the new interpretations he had proposed to d iffic u lt passages in Maimonides’ Yad during the many years he had been a Rosh Yeshivah. The first two volumes o f his magnum opus appeared in 1935 under the title Even Ha-Ezei He chose the name o f this Biblical place (I Sam. 20:19) since Ezel con­ tained the initials o f his name. Rabbi Meltzer also referred to Rashi’s inter­ pretation that the rock known by this name served as a guide and landmark for travellers. Similarly, he hoped that his approach to Maimonides would 55

serve as a guide for others in inter­ preting the Yad. In these volumes, Rav Isser Zalman not only included the material he covered in his lectures but he also expanded the composition to include all parts o f the section o f the Yad he was analyzing. The initial volumes covered Sefer Nezikin. In 1938, the third volume, covering Sefer Kinyan, appeared. Subsequently, he published f o u r additio na l volumes, covering Mishpotim and Avodah. An additional volume covering Madah, Ahavah, and Zemanim was published posthumously in 1955. These volumes were enthusi­ astically received by the Torah world, and in 1962 the first seven were re­ printed. The last volume was repub­ lished in 1969. Rabbi Meltzer also issued an edited edition o f Nach­ manides’ commentary to the Talmud.

It appeared in tw o volumes in 1928 and immediately became a basic te xt for Talmudic study. Rav Isser Zalman p a i n s t a k i n g l y edited the existing ma n u s c r i p t s o f this commentary, including a manuscript to Bova Metzia which was discovered in the Oxford Library.

Rabbi Meltzer also digested the T a l m u d i c novel l ae contained in Nachmanides’ code o f Jewish Law, Torath Ha-Odorriy and arranged them according to individual Talmudic trac­ tates. These tw o edited volumes o f Nachmanides’ Talmudic commentary wer e subsequently reprinted many times.

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Q A B B I M ELTZER ’S love fo r the I I Holy C ity was profound. He was injured by shrapnel during the 1948 siege o f the city. Although he was taken to a hospital in great pain, his main fear was for the safety o f his beloved city, Jerusalem. In the Holy City he resided in a modest dwelling in the Mishkanoth section. A constant stream o f visitors found their way to his residence. Many yeshivah students came to simply discuss Torah prob­ lems with Rabbi Meltzer while col­ leagues and communal leaders sought his guidance on the crucial issues o f the day. His graciousness and hospital­ ity were legendary. It was related that on one occasion he rebuked his fam ily for pausing to enquire who was knock­ ing at the door after midnight. Rabbi Meltzer insisted that the door be opened immediately since at such a late hour it might be an emergency.

On another occasion, his wife attemp­ ted to enable him to rest during speci­ fied hours each day when he would not be disturbed. She placed a sign on the door to their home requesting visitors not to come at certain times each day. Rabbi Meltzer insisted that she remove the sign when he saw two scholars turning away from his door.

In Israel, Rabbi Meltzer con­ tinued his Agudath Israel activities and was particularly concerned with sus­ taining its network o f Chinuch Atzmai schools. He also headed the Va’ad HaYeshivoth which supported all the Israeli yeshivoth. Rabbi Meltzer was

JEWISH LIFE

likewise active in the organization o f immigrant Russian rabbis. Towards the end o f his life, he was deeply grieved by the government’s attempt to draft all girls into its armed forces. Rav Isser Zalman was part o f a rabbinical delega­ tion which visited with the primeminister, David Ben-Gurion, pleading that he abrogate this directive. A t the meeting, Rabbi Meltzer barely uttered a word, but wept so profusely that all those present were deeply moved.

Despite these communal activi­ ties, Rabbi Meltzer continued to de­ liver his regular lectures at the Etz Chayyim Yeshivah. Although already over eighty years o f age, he did not need glasses and his frail health con­ tinued to hold up. The last night o f his life he prepared the lecture he planned to deliver the next day at the Yeshi­ vah. However, that morning, Novem­ ber 17 (10th o f Kislev), 1953, while removing his T efillin after the Shacha-

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rith prayers, Rabbi Meltzer suffered a sudden attack and returned his soul to his Creator. Tens o f thousands partici­ pated in his fu n e ra l,, escorting the Mirrer-born Volozhin graduate to his final resting place in the rabbinic sec­ tio n o f Jerusalem’s Har Ha-Menuchoth.

Besides his many students who continued his traditions throughout the Jewish world, his own children all were involved in teaching Torah. In addition to Rabbi Kotler, his second son-in-law, Rabbi Yitzchok Meir BenMenachem, was a member o f the Petach Tikvah rabbinate and later o f the Supreme Rabbinical Court. His son, Feivel Meltzer, taught Bible at Bar-llan University, while another son, Rabbi T ’zvi Yehudah Meltzer was first the rabbi o f Pardes Channah and then o f Rechovoth and the Rosh Yeshivah o f Yeshivath Hadarom.

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Book

Be

JUDAISM FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW

by ISAAC L. SWIFT reflect wide reading on their authors’ parts of classical Jewish sources and modern thinkers, Jewish and non-Jewish. Both are written with a deep awareness o f the con­ THE ROYAL REACH, by Norman Lamm; temporary scene and its religious problems; New York: Philipp Feldheim, 1970, 338 p., and both are profoundly concerned fo r the $6.95. preservation o f authentic Judaism amid the intellectual and social upheavals that beset HE authors o f these two volumes us. Both give supremacy to the Halochah need no introduction to the readers and its processes, but plead that the of JEWISH LI FE. They are among orthodox Halochah be shielded from petrification.

Jewry’s most eloquent voices in the EnglishBoth bid us turn to Judaism’s past fo r speaking world, and the volumes before us inspiration, but look to the future’s needs are altogether worthy o f the close attention for direction. And both speak fo r what has o f every Jew who takes his faith and its come to be called “ Modern O rthodoxy’’ — a future seriously. term which both authors dislike.

The two works have some aspects in There perhaps the similarity between common. Both are compilations o f articles the two works ends, fo r the one — Rabbi previously published by the writers in var­ Rackman’s workBappeals essentially to the ious periodicals B in Rabbi Lamm’s case, intellect, while the other lays its stress on some in the columns o f JEWISH LIFE. Both the emotions. It could scarcely be otherwise in the case o f Rabbi Lamm’s book, fo r it is drawn from sermons originally given from R A B B I D R . ISA A C L . SW IFT is R av o f C o n g reg atio n A h a v a th T o ra h in E n g le w o o d , his pulpit and subsequently published in N ew Je rsey . I n his active ca re e r in p u b lic article form . Where he turns to homily, service, h e h e ld a p u lp it in S y d n e y , A us­ Rabbi Rackman relies on dialectic, so that tralia.

ONE M A N ’ S JUD AISM , by Emanuel Rackman; New York: Philosophical Library, 1970, 386 p., $8.95.

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although both convey what are ultimately similar convictions, the two volumes differ vastly in manner and mood.

ECHOES OF MAIMONIDES

There is an echo of Maimonides in this latter statement. Writing at a time of ABBI Rackman’s mastery o f jurispru­ bewilderment and confusion not altogether dence colors his writing and provides unlike our own, Maimonides declares (Guide valuable insights into the Halachic process for the Perplexed, 11,25): not only in civil and criminal law, but in the laws o f Sabbath and Festivals and in the Accepting the Creation, we find that ritual disciplines o f Judaism. Readers will miracles are possible, that Revelation find his arguments penetrating even when is possible, and that every d ifficu lty they stir controversy and even where his in this question is removed. We might conclusions do not convince those who be asked, Why has G-d inspired a cer­ cleave to the more familiar attitudes and tain person and not another? Why orientations o f Orthodoxy. The orthodox has He revealed the Law to one parti­ reader w ill n o t q u a rre l with Rabbi cular nation, and at one particular R a ckm a n ’s a s s e rtio n : . . Orthodox time? . . . We answer to all these Judaism . . . insists that there is but one questions: He willed it so . . . Just as Judaism, and giving it a first name would He created the world according to make it appear that other interpretations are His w ill, at a certain time, in a certain equally valid and legitimate” ; but he will form, and as we do not understand nevertheless question the further statement: why His will or His wisdom decided “ Nonetheless, I admit that within the range upon that particular form and that of the authentic there is an enormous lati­ particular time, so we do not know tude in practice and interpretation.” ^B u t why His will or wisdom determined then that is precisely what Rabbi Rackman any of the things mentioned in the means when he calls his work “ One Man's preceding questions.

Judaism.”

O r again, the great majority of Other echoes of Maimonides are to orthodox readers will strenuously reject his be heard in many another passage of Rabbi s u g g e s t i o n : . the Pentateuch. Much o f it Rackman’s work, and some invite mention may have been written by people in differ­ here. His skillful, if not always convincing, ent times.” Indeed, they will regard this attempt at a rationale for the Command­ view as heresy, departing as it does from m ents reca lls M a im o n id e s ’ Taanriep hallowed Jewish belief in the Divine origin Hamitzvoth. R.ambam provoked the wrath of Torah Shebichtav. Nevertheless, they will of the anti-Maimonists for this effort, which fu lly endorse his assertion: “ In my commit­ appeared to fly in the face o f venerable pro­ ment, what matters is the fact that G-d did scriptions. After all, had not Rabbi Eleazar actually contact man. — partiarchs and ben Azaryah, fo r example, forbidden it? prophets — and covenant with them. How He did it will continue to be the subject o f One should not say, ‘my soul loathes conjecture and interpretation, but that He swine’s flesh,’ or ‘swine’s flesh is did it in history is the crucial point fo r me. un w h ole som e for me’; but one As Creation is a fact fo r me, though I can should say, ‘ I would indeed like it, not describe the how, so is Revelation a but what can I do, seeing that my fact, though its precise manner eludes me.*’ Father in heaven has imposed these

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d e c re e s upon Vayikrah 20:26)

m e?’

And was there not the celebrated declaration o f Rav on Shechitah?

The precepts were given only in order that man might be tested by them.

For what does the Holy One, blessed

by He, care whether a man kills an animal by the throat or by the nape o f its neck? Thus its purpose is to test man. (Bereshith Rabbah 44:1) There are, in fact, many statements in Talmud and Midrash that discourage the assignment o f reasons fo r the irrational laws, picturesquely described by the Rabbis as “ Commandments to which Satan objects” (Yoma 67b).

Rabbi Rackman may move many to anger by his own attempts at rationaliz­ ation, but if in his day Maimonides deemed it necessary to reconcile — or, better, to uni­ fy — faith and reason, who shall say that it is unnecessary today when faith and reason appear so to be in collision in the minds of many?

T hat Rabbi Rackman’s rationaliz­ ations do not always convince, and will fail to satisfy many readers|te||orthodox and heterodox alike — is not immediately rele­ vant. What is at issue is whether the attempt to assign rational bases fo r the Mitzvoth is legitimate or not, and even whether it is really helpful to the present-day practising Jew. It will be argued by some that few o f Rabbi Rackman’s Taamey Hamitzvoth will persuade the non-observant to assume the “ yoke o f the commandments,” while none o f his Taamim are needed by the observant; why then, the objectors will ask, fly in the face of the palpable reluctance o f the Talmud to assign' reasons fo r command­ ments when these are, in fact, “ decrees of the King” (Berochoth 33b; also Rashi ad loc).

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FAITH AN D REASON

(S ip h ra h ,

UR author is not concerned t.o re­ claim the heretic, but to retain the believer who finds his orthodoxy challenged by modern technology or by the arguments of sceptics and liberals. Here is another echo of Maimonides who writes in his Intro­ duction to the Guide for the Perplexed:

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The object o f this treatise is to enlighten a religious man who has been trained to believe in the truth of our holy Law . . . and at the same time has been successful in his philo­ sophical studies. Human reason has attracted him to abide within its sphere; and he finds it d iffic u lt to accept as correct the teaching based upon the literal interpretation o f the Law . . . Hence he is lost in perplex­ ity and anxiety . . . .

Again and again, Rabbi Rackman addresses himself to the problem presented in our time by just such a situation as Maimonides describes* But he goes further and concerns himself with the responsibility o f Rabbinic leadership to face up to that problem boldly. “ In the final analysis,” he writes in one essay, “ faith is never induced by reason. However, the m inority must IB like the prophets o f old — speak what they hold to be the truth . . . they do offer much to those who look to Judaism fo r something more than merely the culture o f a people or the inflexible imperative of a code,” And later, in the same essay, after a powerful plea for fle xib ility in the application of Halochah: “ If orthodox rabbis continue to denigrate the role o f man in Halachic creati­ vity, then they shall bear the guilt for failing to reach many o f our contemporaries who want to ‘return’ but resent uncompromising authoritarianism.”

This is not ^n iconoclastic attack on any “ establishment” or on any established

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code. Quite the contrary — the author makes an equally powerful plea for the observance o f the Commandments even when the rationalization o f them fails. “ These mandates are to be obeyed solely because G-d decreed them,” he says in a chapter on what he aptly terms Halachic equilibrium. “ Such mandates are to be found in every branch o f the Law. Obedi­ ence to them is o f the essence of one’s reli­ gious experience — one obeys not because one understands, but rather because one believes.” Naaseh v’nishma has rarely been better expressed, as it is again in a later chapter: “ . . . the Orthodox Jew obeys and does not wait. Obedience to G-d’s will by itself is meaningful to his existential situa­ tion, and the more he obeys the more he discovers meaning and relevance.”

But that Divine will must be made to have meaning and relevance fo r each gener­ ation by that generation’s Halachists, claims Rabbi Rackman. With the built-in apparatus for adaptation — the hermeneutic principles of Torah interpretation — the Halochah today calls fo r re-examination if it is to maintain its sovereignty in Jewish life and thought: such is the case which Rabbi Rackman argues with what one can only call rare forensic skill.

Here too he will meet sharp criticism from those who will read his plea as a de­ mand to lighten the “ yoke o f the command­ ments,” and as such an erosion o f Halochah, not a strengthening o f it. The Jew who holds that the ancient norms and the an­ cient forms are necessary and sufficient feels that any tampering with them may lead to a chain-reaction infinitely dangerous to the preservation o f the Torah itself.

Rabbi Rackman’s work will thus have mixed reception — ranging from the enthusi­ asm o f those who want Orthodoxy to speak in the idiom o f modernity, irrespective o f any chain-reaction that might ensue, to the hostile criticism o f those who would point to the damage wrought by other attempts at

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change o f time-tested expressions o f ortho­ dox Jewish belief and practice.

Covering a wide range o f topics that are central to Jewish concern, from the place o f Medinath Israel in Jewish life to the function of Jewish-Christian dialogue, and from the ethical foundations o f Jewish mar­ riage to the disaffection of contemporary Jewish authors, “ One Man’s Judaism” at once challenges and stimulates, and lays its claim upon the attention of every Jew to whom the survival o f Judaism is a vital imperative o f life.

THE ROYAL REACH O does “ The Royal Reach.” Rabbi L a m m ’s concerns too are wideranging and embrace well-nigh every aspect of present-day Jewish expérience. He too builds always on the foundation o f the Halochah’s dominion: “ We Jews,” he says in one p a rticu la rly eloquent presentation, “ have only one standard o f normality — the Halachah. Our norm is the law of the Torah.

The validity of our Halachah remains unaffected by the magnitude of the defec­ tion from its observance. The normal Jew is one w ho studies Torah and performs mitzvoth ^e v e n if the average Jew has little connection with this kind o f life .”

He devoutly insists upon the evolu­ tion o f the Halochah within the framework of the hermeneutic principles o f Biblical exegesis, and demands that the reaching out to retain the generation of the future should not be sought at the price of rejecting the past. I would commend his chapter “ The Anatomy of an Etrog” to all who would wish to read this insistence expressed in per­ ceptive homily.

Modern needs and tastes must be taken into account by parents and teachers, by orth o d o x, leaders and Rabbis: “ Large sections o f the orthodox community,” he complains, “ reveal a progressively more sterile introversion. We have become so

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defensive in our encounter with contempo­ rary secular society, that we embrace self­ paralysis as a virtue, and elevate im m obility to the level o f sacred doctrine. We act, too often, as if we were weighed down by our past and bound by our roots, impervious to both present and future.”

Nevertheless, a modernity which looks contemptuously at the past — an attitude all too prevalent today — is scathingly attacked: “ Modernity — what conceit! As if the accident o f being born into the Space Age makes one superior to the past, because ‘we’ know so much more than those o f pre­ vious generations did . . . . If any o f us has advanced knowledge in any one specialized field, does that give him warrant fo r feeling better and greater than ancients whose wis­ dom often ranged far and wide, whose in te re s ts were usually U n iv e rs a l? ....

Judaism’s claim fo r Torah is that in its time­ lessness it is relevant to all times . . . . ” For Rabbi Lamm the ideal is summed up in his own words: “ A mature personality

will cherish the past and be open to the future. Each o f us possesses, in his own per­ sonality, a liberal and conservative ten­ dency, the ability to look to the future arid to look to the past, to consolidate and to innovate. . . a full personality can afford the absence o f neither.”

Such is the author’s crep/o, and he brings it to bear in this yplume on the full spectrum o f Jewish religions and social experience at the present time. Illumined by homilies from Talmud, Midrash, and Zohar, and by the occasional bon m ot o f a Chassidic teacher, the discourses in the book deal w ith every aspect o f the contemporary scene, and will not fail tb interest layman and preacher alike. * * *

It is safe tp foretell that long after the contemporary themes o f both these volumes will have lost their immediate rejevance, the thoughts o f both writers will have abiding worth.

JEWISH EDUCATIONAL SPECTRUM

by ZALMAN A. DISKIND accurate introductory essay on the develop­ ment o f Jewish education in the United States. What is most impressive about this little volume is that the author is fair and objective in his evaluation o f the various forms o f Jewish educational activity in this HIS volume contains many interesting country, including the Day School and the and worthwhile documents on the orthodox Talmud Torah. This quality of history, development, and philosophy o f the various forms of Jewish educational activity objectivity is something one meets too in­ in the United States. In addition, Gartner frequently in Jewish educational writings. In presents a most interesting and historically this field personal philosophy and institu­ tional loyalties are apt to cloud thinking. It is all the more commendable that the author R A B B I ■D IS K IN D , se c re ta ry o f a C o m m u ­ o f this volume maintains throughout a high n ity S c h o o l B o a rd in B ro o k ly n , is a R e ­ standard o f scholarly objectivity. se arc h A ssistan t fo r th e B u reau o f C u rricu ­ In his introductory essay, Gartner lu m D e v elo p m en t o f th e N ew Y o rk C ity B o a rd o f E d u c a tio n . details the development o f Jewish educaJEWISH EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES: A Documentary History, edited

by Lloyd P. Gartner; New York: Teachers College Press, 1969, 224 pps.

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JEWISH LIFE

tional activity in the United States, starting with, the original Jewish school in this country, that of Congregation Shearith Israel, the Spanish and Portuguese Syna­ gogue in New York. Needljess to say, all Jewish educational activity during this early era of American history, prior to the American Revolution and subsequent to it, was orthodox in content and orientation. It was not until the 1840’s that the Reform element made its appearance in the United States. The mid-19th Century period, how­ ever, also marked the initial development o f day schools as the prevalent form o f Jewish educational activity in the United States.

This o f course was prior to the widespread establishment of the free American public school system, during the 1860’s, at which time Jews in this country immediately fo r­ sook their established day schools and placed their children in the public schools en masse. For as Gartner states in his in tro­ duction,, “ i*. i .they came to believe, Jewish children could best become loyal and fu lly accepted Americans by mingling freely in public school with children o f all religions and social classes. Sectarian Jewish educa­ tion suggested undesirable, even dangerous separatism.” O f course, these sentiments underwent considerable change about a century later, especially in the larger cities of this country, racked by social and racial conflict. This was the honeymoon period and as Gartner states, “ The public school was viewed as the symbol and guarantee of Jewish equality and fu ll opportunity in A m e ric a . T h is deep American Jewish affin ity fo r the public school lasted a full century, and turned to disenchantment only in places subjected to urban school crises in the 1950’s and 1960’s.”

ITH the initial mass influx o f Eastern European Jewish immigrants to the United States during the 1880’s and 90’s, th e re was newly introduced into this country tw o types o f Jewish educational institutions, the Cheder and the Talmud

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MARCH-APRIL 1971

Torah. The former is generally depicted by contemporary writers in Jewish education in a negative fashion. Gartner describes the Cheder in the following fashion (p. 11): “ Children were taught after public school hours in a heder kept by a me/ammed in his dwelling somewhere in the immigrant slums.

Hedarim existed in the hundreds. The content of their teaching, with rare excep­ tions, was rudimentary Hebrew reading and perhaps some Pentateuch and synagogal rules and customs. The melammed seldom taught a class but tutored each child in turn amid the clatter o f the others. It was a poor system by any standard, whether that o f the old learning or of the public schools the children had just come from. The heder, however, was familiar to the immigrants, who came overwhelmingly from the poor, working classes of East European Jew ry.f The more institutionalized Talmud Torah of the era is evaluated by Gartner as follows: “ The Talmud Torah’s intellectual zeal and content were impressive on paper, but its realities were less appealing. For in fact, although the educators built Hebrew schools with burning devotion, they never really converted the mass o f Jewish parents to their o u tlo o k .. . . No Hebrew school really counted on boys attending beyond their Bar Mitzvah, and preparations for that event, so despised by the pedagogues, had to be pro­ vided to satisfy a virtually unanimous parental demand. On the other hand, girls were taken as pupils equally with boys. Be­ cause they had no Bar Mitzvah preoccupa­ tions, families were usually better motivated in sending their daughters, who therefore made better pupils.”

HE final section o f the introductory essay, and o f the documentary history, deals with the American Jewish Day SchoojL -movement o f the last twenty-five years. It would seem to this reviewer that the chilling impact on American Jews of the destruction o f European Jewry caused many o f them to reevaluate their attitudes

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n n x ' pi s Ethics of the Fathers Translated and Annotated by H Y M A N GOLDIN The H ebrew Publishing Com pany is proud to present a tru ly new edition of the Pirke A b ot. The tra n s la to r and a n n o ta to r, Hyman G oldin, a noted Talmudic scholar and auth or, enriched the w o rk w ith a w e a lth o f notes and explanatipns. A 'N e w S e ttin g 1 fo r the precious gems o f everlastin g value contained in the pages of the Pirke A b ot.

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towards Jewish education. Perhaps, they spent, pasting pieces of paper over answers thought, their faith in the “ melting pot” unsuitable fo r Jewish children, and many th e o ry o f a ccu ltura tion to American were the fruitless efforts o f those children standards was misguided and naive. What­ to read through, over, or under the hidden ever the reason might have been, American lines.” In another document entitled, “ A Jews started to consider the day school as a Survey of Jewish Education in New York possible alternative to the public school. To City (1909),” which is The Report of the be sure, the traditional a ffin ity o f American Committee on Jewish Education o f the Jews for the public school was and is still Kehillah (Jewish Community) Presented A t s tro n g . M uch opposition was and is Its First Annual Convention, New York, mounted to day school education by many February 27, 1910, we read the following Jewish groups. Gartner writes: “ Yeshiva day description of the Talmud Torah: “ A note­ schools stirred more controversy than any worthy fact in these schools is the over­ form of Jewish education. Questions were crowded condition of the lower classes and raised regarding the adequacy o f the secular the meagre attendance in the upper classes. studies, their lengthy hours, and physical The number simply tapers out, and there is fa cilitie s. The real issue, however, lay no need fo r any formal graduation.. . . ” deeper: The day school contravened the The same Report, in describing the congre­ venerable American Jewish alliance with the gational school, reports that “ . . .The deficit public school . . None o f the Jewish philan­ is supplied from the treasury of the congre­ th r o p ic federations would grant them gation. . . The rabbi of the congregation is support, and regnant philosophies o f Jewish u s u a lly the superintendent and he is education also regarded them dubiously.” assisted.. . . in his work by a school com­ (p. 29) mittee. Instruction is given from three to The volume under review then pre­ five times a week, afternoons from 4 to 6 sents thirty-nine well chosen historical docu­ P.M. and on Sunday morning from 9 to 12 ments which describe, and elaborate on, the A.M. A regular curriculum is fo llo w e d .. . various phases and institutions o f American The instruction is carried on in English and Jewish education. Starting with a historical English textbooks.. . . are widely made use document entitled “ Shearith Israel (Spanish of, fo r History and Religion.. . . ” and Portuguese) Congregation Employs A Schoolmaster (1760 and 1762),” the book SURVEY o f orthodox congregational presents a panorama o f American Jewish Hebrew schools in the United States, education from that period to the present presently being conducted by this reviewer, time. In the opinion o f this reviewer, the the results o f which will soon be available sources chosen were appropriate and repre­ for dissemination, points up some compar-. sentative o f the various existant philoso­ able data. Many orthodox congregations phies and institutions o f American Jewish presently supply deficit subventions for education. They provide a valuable, handy their Hebrew schools. In many o f our con­ source of information on American Jewish gregational Hebrew schools, the rabbi is still e d u c a tio n a l a ctivity. For instance, in burdened with the administration and super­ “ Memoir o f Rebecca Gratz and the Hebrew vision o f the Hebrew school, with the Sunday School o f Philadelphia ( 1850,s),*> School Committee assisting the rabbi in we read that “ The scripture lessons were various aspects o f the school’s management. taught from a little illustrated work pub­ The ty p ic a l o rth o d o x congregational lished by the Christian Sunday School Talmud Torah meets three times a week for Union. Many a long summer’s day have I two-hour sessions, fo r a total o f six hours o f

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instruction per week. The vast majority o f the schools follow a systematic curriculum, sometimes their own and sometimes that o f one o f several national educational agencies.

Most o f the schools utilize English as the medium o f instruction. There is a general downward trend in registration in the Daleth and Hey classes o f the surveyed schools.

This Documentary History is a most

valuable addition to the steadily growing shelf o f works on Jewish Education in the United States. Its value is further enhanced by an excellent bibliography of “ Sug­ gestions for Further Reading” (pp. 33-40) w h ich presents the names of selected volumes and writings in various aspects of Jewish education. I would commend this volume highly to all serious students of Jewish Education.

LATIN AMERICAN PANORAMA

by WILLIAM BERNSTEIN JEWS IN LATIN AMERICA, by Jacob Beller; New York: Jonathan David, 1970, 303 pp., $7.95.

communities in the last century, the new influx in the Nazi era, the post World War II development, and the impact and growing influence on Latin American Jewish life of MONG Jews at large, relatively little is the State of Israel. Beller’s work offers a known about the Jewish communities lesson in Diaspora history. in Latin America. This book can do much to In tracing the oldest strata of the spread awareness and knowledge o f these history M or rather pre-history — o f each s ca tte re d communities. Various of its community in turn, the author discloses a chapters originally appeared as articles in thread common to all: the secret Jews, the JE W IS H L IF E . The author, a Jewish* so-called Marranos, who began to arrive journalist o f long experience, joins accounts immediately upon the discovery o f the New o f his personal experiences during extended World and continued to seek haven from stays and travels in lands o f South and Inquisition terrors in the new lands there­ Central America with interesting studies o f after — only to be pursued by the trans­ the historical background o f each commu­ planted Inquisition in their new homes. nity and portrayals o f their present-day With the Anusim relentlessly hunted out sta tu s and characteristics. Graphically through long years o f matchless martyrdom, sketching the story o f Jewish life in each the embers of Judaism were finally ex­ land from the time of the Spanish Inquisi­ tinguished. Today, researchers are uncover­ tion onward, the author brings into per­ ing from Inquisition archivés and other spective the founding of the present records this saga o f Jewish heroism and Kiddush Ha-Shem. Beller contributes to the search much moving detail and presents, in a M R . B E R N S T E IN , a p rev io u s c o n tr ib u to r to concluding chapter, accounts o f personal JE W IS H L IF E , lives in B ro o k ly n , N ew encounters with groups in remote corners o f Y o rk . H is b u sin e ss a c tiv itie s in fo reig n tra d e Brazil and Mexico claiming descent from the h a v e r e p e a t e d l y ta k e n h im to S o u th M arra no s. Many scions o f aristocratic A m erica a n d o th e r reg io n s o f th e w o rld .

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MARCH-APRIL 1971

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Noting that some of the major Latin American communities have spent huge sums in the erection o f elaborate, magnifi­ cently equipped community centers and sports facilities, Jacob Beller shrewdly re­ marks that these may be an expression o f a certain ‘‘inferiority complex” towards Jews of the U.S.A., whom they seek to outdo with such show places. Protagonists o f these palatial institutions, however, maintain that they have established their raison d ’etre in serving social and recreational needs which otherwise would find outlet outside Jewish channels, thus minimizing intermarriage.

The chapter dealing with Argentina gives data indicative o f the .problems facing this largest o f Latin American Jewish settle­ ments — problems which it shares in greater or less degree with the rest. Buenos Aires, with about a quarter o f a miNion Jews, has only eight rabbis, all o f them brought in from outside the country. According to a survey made by D IA I,th e roof organization o f the Argentinian Jewish community, it was found that o f the 70,000 Jewish uni­ v e rs ity stu d e n ts o n ly about 8% are connected in some form with Jewish organ­ izations. Many students are attracted to leftist groups, including those o f Castroite character. The author states that tradi­ ITH religious life but feebly organized and equipped, assimilation, to the tionally oriented youth is p itifu lly small in as a result o f the secularist-Yiddishpoint o f intermarriage, is shown as takingnumber a ist educational policy. However, Beller’s grim to ll o f Jewish life in most of the lands.

Beller notes that the communities, alarmed examination of the current religious scene, at what is taking place, have become con­ in Argentina and in other lands too, is o f scious of the vital deficiency in their elabor­ lim ite d scope. Some current facets of ate educational systems. Teachings in reli­ development point to significant potential gious subjects are being added to the for orthodox Jewish life in major centers o f curricula o f various schools. And parents the Latin American world and mdVe com­ and youth alike are searching fo r deeper plete reportage on these facets would have Jewish values. It is well known that a con­ added to the high worth o f this book. families in Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Curacao, Ecuador, and Peru, he also dis­ closes, have Jewish blood in their veins as descendants o f Marranos.

A common pattern is also revealed in the origins and sociological development of the present-day communities. The immi­ grant peddlers struggling for a bare liveli­ hood presently became shopkeepers, then merchants or manufacturers. Their children became professionals and industrialists. The immigrant generations, endowed with a rich Jewish heritage mainly from eastern Europe, tried with little success to convey their traditions by establishing schools based on the Yiddish language and Yiddishist culture.

Jewish history was offered as a substitute for instruction in Torah learning. Such Yiddishist, secular-oriented schools continue to exist today in most Latin American communities, in some cases on the high school level. They are gradually being taken over by teachers from Israel who replace Yiddish with Hebrew. But the secularist folk-culture educational program has not been proof against the forces making for assimilation among each young generation in turn.

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siderable number o f students from Latin America are to be fpund now in North American yeshivoth. Many o f them, as a number already have, will return to their native lands as teachers imbued with Torah knowledge and true Torah purpose.

MARCH-APRIL 1971

LL in all, “ Jews in Latin America” serves a most valuable purpose in bringing together, as perhaps no other single volume addressed to the general reader does, the broad panorama o f Jewish life in the

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this jet-plane age, are nearly a m illion of our brethren. Desperately lacking in trained spiritual leaders, teachers, religious function­ aries, they look to us o f North America not fo r m a te ria l aid but fo r the needed co m m u n a l personnel and for practical guidance in sustaining Jewish life and re­ building its threatened foundations.

entire continent. Readable throughout, its pages make vivid the.color and feel o f these distinctive, widely dispersed, and in many cases isolated communities. Effectively, often movingly, the author brings us re­ minder that to the south of us in the same Western hemisphere, thousands of miles away in exotic climes yet but hours away in

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DIALOGUE WITH CHRISTIANS: A JEWISH DILEMMA That we live in a secular society is so commonplace an observation as to be a cliche. As the most accuiturated and Westernized o f peoples, Jews are also the most secularized. Most o f us are embarrassed and ill-at-ease when we encounter anyone — Jew or Christian H who seriously invokes G-d in his daily affairs, i t is n o t surprising, therefore, that the pioneer ^ecumenists"' in this country were largely secularized Christians and Jews, whose common bond was that neither took his religion seriously. For the same reason, by far the heaviest investment in interreiigious dialogue was made, n o t by the religious agencies who are most directly concerned w ith matters o f faith, b ut by secular Jewish defense organiza­ tions who, by and large, have n o t been noted fo r their devotion to religious faith and observance. The character and purposes o f these organizations determined the content o f early interfaith efforts, which were n o t nearly as much explora­ tions o f genuine religious distinctiveness as exercises in bland, interreiigious homogenation.

B - from an article by Rabbi Henry Siegman in Judaism

UNITY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER The questions whether there indeed is a “Jewish establishment“ and if it does exist is it really guilty — have not been asked with any seriousness.

In reading some of the statements, speeches, symposia, and articles it could be thought that somewhere in some secret place, a group o f persons (mostly elderly) have meetings where the destiny and program o f the American Jewish community is planned and manipulated. Actually, the whole “establish­ ment“ issue is a fiction. Anyone with any knowledge o f the American Jewish community knows that there is no such thing as the “ Jewish establishment.“ Actually, there are multiple “Jewish establishments.“ There are individuals in-

MARCH-APRIL 1971

71

volved in philanthropy; there are groups involved in running the pro-Israel activities o f American Jewry. The various religious federations and institutions have groups o f executives and key workers. All o f these represent “establish­ ments” in their various areas. Frequently, the most important “establishment” are the officials o f the local synagogues. With so many “establishments” it is inaccurate to speak o f “the Jewish establishment.” The various “establishments” have little influence over each o th e r.. . . There are very few interlocking directorates in American Judaism.

Moreover in past years the newest “establishment” to be evident is the “anti-establishment” establishment. No self-respecting organization feels that it has fulfilled itself unless it invites to its meetings or conventions someone who will deliver a scathing anti-establishment address. Frequently, the people invited to deliver such speeches are from a group o f well-defined “anti-establishment” types who form an “establishment” providing “anti-establishmentism” to the “establishment” —from an article by Seymour Siegel in Sh’ma

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