Jewish Currents 1967

40c 00ToBER, t967

LUIIEROlI THE IIIIIDIEEAST An Answer By BEN TOSEPH

RI|SHHASHOIIA fflll JEUTISH IDEI{TITY By MIORRISU. SCHAPPES

'{!;oo!!'ft !{,i',,ro"lJ,,f !tH'l,f,u!*,,iVi:",rf Museum,,IYew Yorlt, Oct. 24 to Dec. 3,

EXPtoSrOlr il RoxBuRY THE COIWIWSSIONON CHARCH AND RACE IWASSACHASETTSCOUNCIL OF CHARCHES

$PEAKS IIIA KATII]ISKA

By RATH HEIT BAHARAS

T0[cTr0rN FR0rfi REvulsr0il O]IYIET]IAilI AN EDITORIAL

V o l . 21, N o. 9 (235) Oct.,1967 BOARD EDITORIAL Lours H,tnep Seu Pnvznpn Devrn Prarr M o n n IsU . S cl raprus Editor

TOACTIO].| FROllil REI|UISIO].| O1.| I|IEI1.|A1[/ AN EDITORIAL

CONTBNTS To AcrtoN on Vlrrnlm FnovrRsvur.stoN Explosron IN Roxeunv

Luurn oN Tr{E Mtnor.s Emr IN Isurr, Ir H.q.ppnNED Ioe K.lrrtNSKA Sprers Auscrrwtrz SoNc oF rHE CrurunpN oF AuscHwrrz Tnr ErrroR's DreRv Rosn Hlsnoi,l.t exn Jswtsn Iornrlrv Ilcsroptnr Jrwlsn ColruuNITY Frvn BooKS oN GsnNrlNv

An Editorial The Commission on Church and Race,M assachusetts Council of Churches Ben toseph L. H.

T4

Ruth Heit Baharas

16

Poemby Leon Felipe

20

Poem by Martha il'Iillet

2L

M. U. S.

22

Morris U. Schappes

26

S. P. Book review by Charles It. Atlin lr.

32

Anrr-SBrvurISM; WHIra Rl,clsnt

37

RploBRs'Fonuu oN IsRAEL Anouxo rne Wonrl

CHANGE OF ADDRESS

To be Eureyou d.o not tnissan issue, your

change

ol

add.ress tnust

be receioeilby uE no tater than the 70th of the month.Changesreceioed not tdke effect lotr afrer ihot -rlt ornother month.

4

39 46

1l[. U. S.

1967,yor.,21, NoJEvr H Cunryry1p,Ocrober,,

o^"J,3?tJ;." tili:Hf,tr:ff'!!f','ti't1'.,#;i:tni

Bgqg 091'. 22 Ea.st--l7^St, New York,. N. Y.,

198$?lr,Xf'ff:i?Jif uli:'lif?0"1",*Xor;.,l;':

clas postage El g year.-Secon-d:ltfl!:t.-.1dd tl.t*,3t:'t,ift:,,"!nf'* York' Copvright f|'fr tr 4E!'

zoe

against the U.S. presfIEVULSION It en"" in Vietnam is spreading among all levels of the American people as LBJ persists in systematically escalating the war-to the point where the U.S. air force has already bombed North Vietnamese sites seven miles, less than one jet minute, from China.

Vlassive action is needed fully to express this revulsion and to compel LBJ to stop the bombing. The peace forces in our land have set Oct. 2l as the date for the culmination in Washington, D.C. of tides of protest being mobilized all over the land. We urge the fullest, most energetic sup' port of this mobilization. spreads, The wave of rwulsion deepens and reaches into higher and higher government circles. "An unnecessary and immoral warr" is what the Vietnam venture was called by Sen. J. W. Fulbright, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Cornmittee (1V.Y. Times, Arg. 20). Immediate withdrawal of all American troops from Vietnam was advocated by Catholic Bishop Fulton J. Sheen of Rochester in a sermon at the Sacred Heart Cathedral July 30. Retired Lt. Gen. James M. Gavin resigned Aug. 3 from the Massachusetts Democratic Advisory Council because "I strongly oppose the Vietnam involvement" and declared Aug. 15 that the U.S. should phase out "our vast commitment to Vietnam as quickly as possible and turn our energies to our domestic ,crtsls.

In the Jewish community, after an understandable preoccupation with the danger of destruction taced by Israel OcronrR, L967

in June, there is beginning to appear the sign of an awareness ol the decrsive importance of the Vietnam issue. Even the convention of the jewish War Veterans, while endorsing LBJ's policy for the third year) registered criticism of Administration aims and methods.

And Morton London, past national commander of the JWV, stated the views o{ large numbers of veterans inside and outside the JWV when he said on the convention floor: '0. . . there is a deep sense of futility and frustration among many Americans on the military aspects of the war and the debacle of the pacification program and the myth of national interest and commitment to South Vietnam."

In a Rosh Flashona message released Sept. 15, Rabbi Levi A. Olan of Dallas, president of the Central Con{erence of American Rabbis (Reform), pointed out, "The accelerating war in Vietnam becomes more senseless and wanton every dayJ' In his Temple bulletin Sept. 6 Rabbi Louis M. Levitsky of Conservative congregation Oheb Shalom in South Orange, N.J. writes about Vietnam: "What is absolutely terrifying is that we have given rp uny semblance of rationality in even attempting to justify it. We even stopped talking about stemming the tide- of communism. As o{ now, there is no vestige of any cause. . . . Let us get out or restrict ourselves to one enclave to mark our 'presence.'"

Undoubtedly such statements could be multiplied but much more will be needed-especially in terms not only of words but of action. Let us help make Oct. 21 the day of decision.

3

EXPLOSIONII\ ROXBTJRY Eyewitness aecounts of the role and conduet of the police

BY THE COMMISSIONON CHI]RCH AIVDRACE NIASSACHASETTS COUNCILOF CHARCHES o.f the 70,000 lYegroeswho make up 2.0 per. cent-ol Boslon,spopula,tion, most liue.in An eription' ol uitolen'c"-;i;;;"li"i z-s was. repressed'--by_R_oxbury_. r,7.00-police,,1uin[ s.ubmachincguns, b"yii"ii ond, police -do_s:.-[Yegro lead,irs called ii "a polic:e riot.,' ouer r00 were iniured,, L_59arrgsted and ilrc property iamage u)as or",, #f,ooo,ooo.

We p.ublish the accompanyilg report lrom obuiousiy -chick'the -"y9:witn_ess" r.esponsiblesources t.o hilp obseruable ,,ihite bi"kiorh,, (which is also affecting_si^-" Jews). This "backlash" auoitl-s tioking ,;iio,rpr-r.; at the 2?use:-of the oitbreaks antl'sees only the lvegro nut a:san e^ditori'al,"whatDid we Expect?," irrihe EortoiJewish Advocate tune B pointed out, ". . almoit anything hr;; ,ri-g["*i l"r, "o"ti os it is ueekend'seuents,in the.Roxbury-ghetio,ptigur:i and, hasbeen. with graue problems ot' publi.c iihoolr, -substaidird, h,oit!r,"g,-a-bysmal unemployment estimated most recently bipirr*"",t ,1 -by"'the'i.i. cent, deteriorated,ond dui"ri,oiating potice.com,nuniti, !:2::^::r^!:__?!", relations,seriouspublic health problems locusing ,noit ,"r"ntltr around community,protests ouer treatmentot' thi poo, it Bostornctli'i"rpttot calculntedto.destro.y.theintegrity of tiy" ::o.^::r:!:r,? :ystem at the .tametime it treats the recipients ol its largesle ,iith' i io^tty ,l"p,irror_ alized lack ol dignity."

To the thougEtt"is white workers and, others, includ,ing Jews. who react to tlrc .6lr"r:o.explosio.nsby turning. a.way1i"i1ni ,ignt, mouement,Abe Feinglass,international Jice-pieriqgnl i1 "b;1" -"di;;;;, ,i" )*kgomated Meat cutters and Butcher worhmei, eir-fuci, a sharp question: "shouhd we desert the ciuil niij, moaement because sonTein its ranlu haue made mistakes, becauie ir" ,o make any distinction between the unitid stit"r- a;ni " f"i1,"rini'C;; """if" *, expect all the-millions !t',ne2ple who are impou"rishea a"ndiobiii" ona alierwted,and, frustr?!"qby th.einhumanity i1 tilg t! ghcttos will always act like sir Gala'had?Toiay wg haue_notnore right to desert the cause of ciuil rights b_ecause so*b gt' its ad,herentshaie mad," i;iniir"lho,, we,haue the right to turn scab'son felrow-*oriiii br"";r;-;;;;';;;r", and some leaders h''ae also mad,eeulenmore seriousmistakes. . . . These f.res ol uiolence haue had glegt aisibitity; i"in iu* -(Butcher uisible is th.e z0 "wo*ilur,, years ol racist uiolence ,oiich gaue thim t'ueti; Sept.,1967).

Jawrsn Cunnpxrs

following account of Roxbury,s THE I disorder of June 2, 1967 is composed from testimony of eyewitness accounts of members and staff of the Massachusetts Council of Churches' Commission on Church and Race.

The following members of the Commission on Church and Race were present in Roxbury on June 2: Mrs. Ruth Batson, The-Rev. Gilbert Caldy_ell, The Rev. Michael E. Haynes, Mr. Melvin King, Mrs. Ellen Ja"ksor,, The Rev. Edward Blackman. Th; Rev. Earl Lawson, Mr. Leroy Boston, The Rev. Virgil Woo.cl, Mrs. Doris Bland, lhe Rev. James Breeden, Mr. Byron Rushing, Mr. Charles Turner. . . . In a situation as explosive as that which is described in theie pages, it is diflicult to assemble an acc6unt of rvhat really happened. The news media found this veiv difficult. The account that follows was carefully written and carefully checked bv those whose knowledge ^of the situation was personal an'd first hand.

The Commission has had a cont'inuing relationship with the Mothers for Adequate Welfare. This is a 'jgrass_ roots" organization which was form_ed three yei.s ago. MAIV seeks to alleviate the often painful conditions of being on welfare. The Commission has sought to assist them to secure those conditions which rvould make for a more humane lvelfare system.

There will be other reports of the Roxbury week-end. Some will confirm what is here written; some will contest it. The Commission believes that it has "no ax to grind" except a deep interest in the welfare of the peopll of Roxbury.

The Mothers for Adequate Welfare fformed in 1964] planned and began a sit-in at the Grove Hall welfare office on Thurs.. June l. 1967 at 3 P.M. The purpose of the sit-in was to Octonun, Lg67

evoke response from the Welfare Commissioner to the following demands: l. No denial of aid based on hearsay evidence or malicious gossip.

2. Removal of police from al[ welfare offices.

3. Welfare workers must be available every morning to talk with recipierrts-not just one day a week.

4. W'elfare workers must respect clients and treat them as equal human beings. W'orkers must have the power to make decisions quickly without running to supervisors.

5. There must be boards set up in each office, with a majority of recipients, that can act on emergency demands and policy statements "without waiting for the long appeal system.

6. Welfare mothers must be appointed on all policy making boards of welfare 7. All mot'hers should be able to save as much money as they can for their children's education-and each dollar should be matched by the welfare department-so that our children won't be on welfare, too.

B. Mothers should be able to earn $85 a month, and to keep T0 per cent of the amount above $85.-There should be no deductions of this money rnothers earn.

9. There should be a campaisn to change the image of the weliare" .yrtem. 99 per cent of the recipients ire honest and responsible.

10. Welfare Director Daniel J. Cronin should be dismissed-and we should be able to have a say in who replaces him.

The MAW's had been trying to get the Department of lVelfare to" act on their concerns for several months.

The immediate cause of the sit-in was that a welfare mother had been deprived of support without notice and without hearing. The mothers

5

rernained in the Welfare office Thursday night, June I. Police were present within the building. They did not charge the motherJ rvith irespassing.

The police were reported to be cordia-l but they did not allow representatives of the news nredia into the building.

On late Friday afternoon, having received little notice or t"rponr", urrd feeling that the sit-in would prove futile, the MAW locked themselves in the welfare building with bicycle chains at about 4 p.m. Police were in the building at ihe time. Several nrale members-of conrmunity organizations had ioined the motheri in order to offer support and assistance.

They also remained inside.

The_ strat_egy of locking the doors was devised to encourage the Commissioner of Welfare, Danlel J. Cronin, to come to the Welfare office to talk rvith the mothers. The mothers and their supporters sat down before the front and side exits of the buildine. both of which had been chained.

After the doors rvere locked. Mr. Cronin arrived but refused to discuss the issues with the mothers unless the chains were removed from the doors, and unless he was admitted through the front door. The mothers refused, saying afterward thev beIieved that they-the would not be ailowed to remain in buildins. A small ,crowd besan to gather Sutside the building. The impaise was interrupted bv the report tlrat one of the white welfare workers who had been locked in th_e bujlding was suffering a heart attack. The demonstrators offered to help the woman out of the window, but she refused._ This report apparently panicked the police officei i., charge of the detail. H" sul'" an order and officers began to move the demonstrators from the doorn,av in the Welfare office.

6

The participants inside at the front door heard those at the side door scream, "they are beating on a woman." The demonstratori at the front door began to go towards the scream. Police blocked their way'"l,rbr. and began to hit them with their Th"y clubbed the people about the head ."1{ body.. 4J people fell they were kicked and beaten.Th"y were -not told that they were under arrest. Some were never arrested although they were clubbed and kicked; the police inside the building beat those people who were insidE the building,- bolh men and women.

Two staff members of community organizations who were standinq ouiside responded to the cries by *kinn for admittance to the buildins"in ordei to investigate what was tak'ing place inside._ As they approached u .tuirthey. were mei by police pushing ryay, them back down the .tii.r br. swins: ing their night sticks. The t:wo mJr rushed out into the street and approached a police -chargeofficer to ask him who was in of the police detail. One o[ the men received a blow with a 'obilly" club rvhich cut his heqd badly. The policeman grabbed and twisted his arm and threw him into _the paddy wagon. Another bvstander wis in'the wigon already. The doors to the wagon were closed and opened while another man, a lawyer, was tossed in. He also had been beaten.

The police at the same time were smashing the doors at the Welfare building" and broke througho -"it scattering people. Someone said, seemed Iike all hell was breaking loose."

A nxan on his uoyv horne frorn work observed the ruckus and'came up to a policeman, who was beating a woman lying on the ground. to protest this brutal action. Two policeJrwrsn

CunnsNTs

men went after the man with their sticks. He ran to the hallway of a nearby building and the officers followed and clubbed him on the head and body. The man reported later. 'oAfter the first few hlows I didn't feel anything, you just hear the thud, and know you hurt." He was dragged to, and thrown in, the paddy wagon.

By this time the crowd had begun to respond with bricks, stones, and bottles.

When the first paddy wagon reached station nine, some ot'her community leaders and organizers had already arrived. The Captain in charge had indicated that he was ignorant of any details of what had happened at the welfare office. When the paddy waâ‚Ź{on arrived, the police moved peoole from the rear entrance of the building so that the unloading could not be observed. People were removed from and the wagon inside the building beaten. They were knocked against the walls and thrown to the floor.

The Captain in charge rvould not admit that prisoners were present or identify those arrested. When a lawyer arrived he finally allowed individuals to be interviewed only if the lawyer knew their names. Men" visiblv injured and bleeding, came out tb see the lawyer, were booked and placed in cells. While one man was taken to Boston City Hospital for treatment, others refused treatment.

One man was so severely beaten he did not know where he rvas. Pale and trembling, he was unable to stand alone. He had been brought in manacled, with his belt tied around his feet.

Another man, badly beaten, reported that he had been arrested while waiting for his wife, a welfare worker.

N{ore people, bruised and bleeding, began to arrive at the police station looking for their friends.

One of

Ocronrn, 1967

had seriously lacerated them a shoulder from a blow that barely missed his head. Some were from the welfare office, others from the street.

The Captain denied that any arrested women had arrived at the station. He reported that they were taken down to the Women's House of Detention. Bvstanders later saw a woman who was' brought out to make a phone call, but the Captain refused cleruy or the lawyer permission to see her.

Meanwhile the crowd would be chased from one side of Blue Hill Ave. to another by line of police " cursing, with riot sticks and helmets, calling names, knocking people down.

A minister entered the Welfare office buildinq and tried in the confu"ion to find out who was in charge.

The deputy in charge was anxious about the safety of the welfare workers who were still there. Some community Ieaders suggested that the workers could leave without fear if they were not escorted by the police. The police asreed and about half of the welfare wtrkers departed. Some were escorted leaders and others bv communitv walked out by themselves.

The deputy agreed to move one half the police out. Horvever, at that moment, riot equipment from headquarters began to arrive. So, while the discussion about reducing the police force was continuing with one deputy, another denuty near the door helmets an'd riot rvas distributing sticks. In the front hall of the building someone announced that "tear gas is coming." ft seemed to those present almost a declaration of war. A moment later the depury at the door yelled t'Clear the area." to the men outside, community from the Persons again attempted to reduce the tension and restrain the police. However, the

7

situation rapidly was deteriorating.

The police had carried it beyond all possibility of control and the comniunity, leaders left the building.

In the meantime, a meetin! was hurriedly convened at Freedom House and a call was put through to the Mayor. Back on Blue Hill"Ave., the police had gathered in assault formations and were moving up and down the street. In phalanx positions with clubs swinging, they charged groups of teenagers, many of whom were hurt. In one instance, a policeman was chasing a teenage boy down Blue Hill Ave. As he ran past an old man seated on a doorstep, the policeman struck him, leaving the old man with a long gash on his head. The policer6an continued running after the boy without even looking back.

By this time a medical station had been set up at Operation Exodus [a local organization that buses Roxbury Negro children to predominantly white schools]. Injured people were treated t'here and at Carnev. Beth Israel and Brigham hospitals as well as at the Boston City Hospital. Members o{ the staff were dispatched to several police stations and hospitals to observe and aid the injured. Manv went unattended. In listing the injuries, the reporters were apparently counting only those at City Hospital where all of the police were treated.

By l0:30 P.M., Operation Exodus' office had become a focal point for organized attempts by the community to reslore order. The group at Freedom House had reached Mayor John F. Collins, who responded cooperatively to all attempts to control the police and restore order. The police, ho'wever, continued to act rvith a large show of force which was felt b1' the community to be an attack upon them and which served to prolong the conflict.

B

On Blue Hill Ave., near Intervale St., where several small fires had begun, someone threrv a rock at a police wagon. The police then moved into the crowd and knocked a woman down. When a community organizer moved to protest this action the police began to beat him to the ground. A friend moved to his aid and was beaten and arrested. The police then attempted to enter the Exodus office. A local law student denied them en. trance, pointing out that the office was peaceful and that the police did not have a warrant. He and a companion were knocked to the ground, and beaten, cut about the face, and were thrown into the wagon. By this time a majority of the young community leaders had been beaten and arrested.

Later on in the night a troop of 25 tactical patrol policemen assembled in the street in front of Exodus. They moved up !h" street firing carbines into the air between 40 and 100 times.

This incident greatly increased the tension. It Iater was described as a mis_takeby a deputy. It was a mistake, and another provocation to whiclr teenagers and others responded with angry bottles and bricks.The remainder of the ni.qht was spent in sporadic battles between the police and community people. Rocks, bottles and bricks intermirtently rained down on police. The police would then be reinforced, and temporarily disperse the crowds. Severil fires broke out, many store windows were broken, and many people were hurt.

Finally the street settled into an uneasy calm as dawn broke. The members of the Commission on that first night clearly observed that the conflict was precipitated by the panic and overreaction of the police. The issue became how to forestall further violence while restrainins their actions.

Jrwrsn Cunnpwrs

lumerontheMiddleEast A refutation

of his analysis of

the Israeli-Arab

war

By BEN IOSEPIT

The lVlidrlle East Crisis, by Hyman Lurner. New Outlook Publishers, N. Y., 1967, 23 pages, 25 cents.

ITHE recent Arab-Israel war was the -E third act o,f an unfinished tragedy.

The claims and grievances of both Arabs and Israelis are largely valid and rnutually exclusive. Right and wrong are intertwined on both sides.

Anci on both sides the {use of chauvinist hate burns toward a new explosion.

The 50th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration Nov. 2 is a reminder that the Zionist colonization project, from which Israel traces its descent, was sponsored for its own ends-and British betrayed-by imperialism, with the United States empire-builders also lending a hand. But Israel is more than the culmination of that Zionist enterprise. Next month marks another 20th of the United anniversary-the Nations partition resolution of l{ov.

29, 1947, and this is a reminder t'hat hundreds of thousands of non-Zionist refugees from the Nazi gehenna helped create the Jewish nation in Palestine.

BnN JosneH, a stud,ent ol Palestine and, Israeli affairs lor 20 years, has written utidely on the utbject in many period,icals. He last appeared in our pages in our Sept., L966 issue.

Ocrospn" L967

And it is a reminder too that the struggles o{ both Jews and Arabs drove the British out of Palestine and, with the decisive aid of socialist Russia, enabled Israel to be born.

Had not the Arab governments then chosen to inake war on the UN partition plan, there would be an independent Arab as well as a Jewish state in Pale:tine. And we should not today be speaking of war and tragedy.

To say that both Arabs and Israelis have valid claims and grievances is not lci abdicate judgment, but rather to recognize complexities and the need for rooting judgment in ;fact and not in prefabricated formula. The ArabIsrael conflict, which for so many years has defied solution, contains many shades of gray as well as black and white, and simplistic approaches are likely to founder.

The ilIiddle East Crisis is an able statement of the U.S. Communist Party view by its national educational secretary. Lumer unequivocally brands the six-day military action as a war of aggres:ion by Israel against its Arab neiehbors. He argues: l. The crisis that developed in MaY had its origins in a U.S. plot to overt'hrow the government of Syria.

2. In collusion with the United States, Israel planned to attack Syria.

3. This attick failed to come off 9

himself refers to, the closing of the Grl-f of Aq?-!", the sudden sfning of urilitary alliances between governments that only yesterdav were it each -and other's throati, tho complete encirclement of Israel-all this indicates a- purely defensive Arab posture! And the facts that lead to thii conclusion?

"The UAR stated at the outset that its actions were taken not for the purpose orf attacking Israel but for the purpose of defending Syria . . . in the event o{ an Israeli attack." Thus the UAR's assurances-but never fsrsgl'"-_a1s accepted at face value, and Lurner adds u'no that visible evidence has been offered to the contrary."

Cul^f-of Aqaba and stationing troops in Sharm el-Sheikh. Lumer rninimizes the economic importance to Israel of the closing of the port of Eilat by the UAR blockade. To a small struggling country he suggests that giving-developup the port which is_s-ovital fof the rnent of the Negev "could hardly be said to be t'atal" (my emphasis-B.J.).

Above all, he sees no reason why the blockade rhould have caused Israel to go to war.

Of course, the blockade was only one part of a noose-tightening p.ocer-" -quite that Lumer also finds irino".rou..

As to the blockade's aggressive impligations, Nasser's opinion evidently differed from that of Lumer. "Taking By aoerting onets eyes lrorn cerover Sharrn el-Sheikh," he told the tain phenomena they become invisible, Arab trade union council on May 26, but they do not thereby cease to exist. " n r e a n t c o n f r o n t a t i o n w i t h Iirael.

It is true that prior tc the lVlay-June Talcing such action also meant that crisis Nasser had played a moderating we were ready to enter war with Israel. role among the Arab rulers and had It was not a separate operation." arg-ued for postponing a confrontation (Draper, source cited.) with Israel, in contrast to the Syrian And the Soviet Llnion did not seem leaders'clamor for immediate wai. But as confident of Nasser's peaceful intentions as does Lumer. In his resiena_goadedby the Syrians and Jordanians, he evidently decided that the time had tion speech Nasser revealed that on"the come to prove himself if he wished to is, only a few -night of May 26-that assert leadership in the Arab world. hours after his statement aboui Sharm On Muy 25 Piesident Nureddin elel-Sheikh-"the Soviet ambassador Attassi of Syria told a meetins of the asked to see me urgently at 3:30 A.M. Central Council of the Interiational and told me that the Soviet sovernConfederation of Arab Trade Unions: ment strongly requested we shoirld not "Today we are living in a prelude to be the first to open fire" (N. Y. Times, war. The time of the battle- you have June 10). Whv should the Soviet arnIong awaited has come." (Monitored bassador have'awakened the head of a radio broadcast, cited in Theodore friendly state at such an hour and Draper: "Israel'and iVorld Politics," made this kind of request if he did not Commentary, August, 1967. Draper's think Nasser's actions may have set article contains important documentahirn on a eollisioncourse? tion, but its attitude toward Israel's For that rnatter. whv does Lumer foreign policy is uncritical and it is himself speak of "the long-threatened weighted with anti-soviet bias.) n'ar of extermination against Israel"?

The following day Nasser addressed Why does he write thai "one must, of the same group, explaining the meancourse, take into consideration the implacable hostility torvard Israel which Tg of his actions in ousting the UN Emergency Force, blockading the exists on the part of Arab leaders"-

advice which he unfortunately does not follorv? Why does he chide the Arab leariers for thinking that their problems "can be resolved by wiping [Israel] off the map"? Why does he write that "such an appeal only plays into the hands of imperialism . . . and aggravates the lvar danger" ? If all the acts of the Arab leaders in the latter part of May and early June were not designed to implement their threats" then Lumer's cautionary words are rneaningless. Can he conceive of anything else that the Arab governments rnight have done to indicate that they really meant business?

But it rvas Israel that launched the Although UN obwar, Lumer tells _u_s. servers were unable to determine who started the fighting in Sinai, there is circumstantial evidence that the Israelis struck first. (On the eastern front it was the Jordanians who struck first.)

Has this any bearing on the character oI the war? Who fired the first shot in the American Revolution? Did the Latin American governments that declared war on Nazi Germany commit aggression? As a Marxist Lumer must know that for Marx, Engels and Lenin the question of who attacked first in a military conflict was inconsequential. And I believe that progressives today can agree rvith the founders of Marxism that the decisive question is the interests of the workin-people, and this is determined by the political objectives of the contending si'des.

The basic political objectives o{ the two sides in the Arab-Israel war are clear. The Arab governments sought the destruction of Israel as a state and nation; the Israeli government soueht to preserve its state and nation. The fact that reactionary elements in the Israeli government also have annexationist aims no more nullifies the fundamental objective than did im-

12

Ocronnn,1967

Jnwrsn Cunnanrs

perialist influences in the Roosevelt Administration nullify the anti-fascist character of World War II. Lumer points out that "the crisis in the Middle East has also siven rise to a terrifying flood of intenie nationchauvinism" alism and anti-Arab amonq the Jewish people in the United States. This is true. But the antidote is neit'her national nihilism with respect to Israel nor pro-Arab chauvinism.

The Middle East crisis and war have divi'ded the Left in this country and in nlanv others. Nor is ihere unanimity of official view even among the socialist countries since Romania does not agree t'hat Israel was the aggressor.

I believe that many Comrnunists and others of the Left have repeate.d the en'or made during the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact of regarding the exigencies of Soviet foreign policy as r. prescription for their own approach to a most complicated question. This habit has led to uncritical identification with Arab nationalism, which has 'well as progressive reactiondry as aspects.

No one has more clearly delineated the role of that nationalism in relation to Israel than Dr. Moshe Sneh, editor of the Israeli Communist daily Kol Ha'am: "The common denominator. tte basic element in the war front against Israel is not a.nti-imperialism but pan-Arabism. . . . This anti-Israeli Arab chauvinism objectively serves imperialism and invites its intervention no less than Israeli anti-Arab chauvinism" (Freiheit, July fB).

One can agree wit'h Lumer that Israel's military victory solve'cl none of its basie problems-though it did temporarily solve the core problem of Israel's survival. He rightly points to the fact that Israel must continue to exist in the midst of the Arab world arnri in the long run its survival can be (Continued on page 38)

13

sReffiL Wl The lyfi !"lrl

ol Ben-Gurion and Nloshe Dayan oo,tetraug. 2iI

to rejoin the Mapai Party, 'from which it seceded-in 1965. In th"e last elections Rafi recEived eight per cent of the vote while the Mapai-Ahdut Avodah slate reecived 37 pei cent. . . . Arg. 27 the Mapai paity central executive committee voted unanimcusll' to ipprou" a thiee-party merger of N!ap11 Ahdut Avodah and Rafi thaf wouli control 55 of it iZO seats in the Knesset. Ahdut Avodah, however, announced Sept. "5 it c;uld not accept the merger terms. the "Goaernrnent o! National l,o.ong- dJoisirln exists n:ithin Unitl'," whoEe constituent parties range from the left-rving- Mapa* to the right-wing Gahal. Cabinet discussions has been so .ha"rp u.,d o.olonged on issues left by the war that no debate has been held at ihis lvriting on the serious economic siLuation and the severe unemployment problem.

The first official t:isit by-an rcrlrai presid.ent to an arab aillage took lrlace Aug. 28 when Pres. Zalmai Shazar was feted in Nazare"th and received honorary citizenship of the city. . . . Sheikh Muhammed Ali Jabari, mayor of the Arab city of Hebron declared July 30 that no residents of the_ city had been harmed by Israeli soldiers.

Mayor l{ohammed Habaishi of Acre said in July that both Arabs and iews of Israel are tired of wars and bloodshed. . . . Three Arab villages in west Galilee in mid-Aug. celebrated electrification of their urlu; 1,500 houses will have electricity {or the lirst time State-owneci television broadcasting will begin in Israel in a few months. Broadcasts will be aimed chiefly at Arabs on the west bank of the Jordan River and on the Gaza Strip. Three-quarters of the broadcast time will be in Arabic, only one-quarter in Hebrew.

Great concert, has been in Israel by the prayer seraices "our"dt Goren, chief rabbi of the conducted by Brigadier Shlomo Armed Forces, and his proposal to build a synagogue on the Temple Mount, which contains the Haram Esh-Sharif, Is-lam's most ru"t"d shrine. Ii is feared that these actions will arouse great resentment among Moslems.

Three mernbers ol the Centraltcorn^ittee ol the Nlikunis-Sneh Communist Party resigned July 1l because of disagreement with the party_ on_policy now although they had supported the ParLy's position that the June ryar was a war of netional def-ense.Among them was the

14

Jrwrsu CuRRrNrs

poet Alexander Penn. However, they have not joined the Vilner-Toubi Lommunist Party; Meir Vilner rvrote that the three still retained some positions held by their former party. . . . The Mikunis-Sneh Communist Party has proposed that the Palestine Arabs on the right b,ank of the Jordan decide by referendum whether they wish to form a separate state, an autonomous state federated with lsrael or join with Jordan.

I)amages to Israeli buildingr" ,luring the Loar arnounted. to 7,500,000 Israel pounds ($2,500,000 ) . Two thirds of the damages were suffered by Jerusalem structures during the fighting and the rest by 36 kibbutzim and 18 moshavim.

Neus briefs,...

A large rroui ol cultu,ral figures and, prolessors in Israel issued a call in Aug. "to all citizens and soldiers strictly to follow a policy of hurnanism ancl not to violate the rights and property of the Arabs." The statement asserted that "We did not wish tcr make war but, since it was forced upon us, we should keep our hands clean and conduct ourselves accordrng to the principles o{ morality and justice."...

A protest was sent to the World Federation for the Deaf an'd Dumb and to Unesco by the Israel Association for the Deaf and Dumb over the exclusion of Israeli delegates from the world conference of the organization to be held in Poland. The protest urged transferring the site of the conference. . . . An agreement will be signed by the United States and Israel for sending to Israel about $27,500,000 in agricultural commodities, prirnarily food grains supplied under the Food for Peace Program. . . . The Israeli daily Doaar denied in midAug. a report that Moscow Chief Rabbi Y. L. Levin had criticized Israel for its war with the Arabs in a letter to Israeli Chief Rabbi Itzhak Nisim. The article explained that in a letter received three days belore the outbreak of war, Rabbi Levin had criticized some actions o,f the Israeli Embassy in the Moscow synagogue as inappropriate in -in a holy place and had said that Jews should pray for peace iny war.

The Israel Philharmo'nic OrchJs*a cond,ucted. a 24-d,ay tour in the U.S. beginning with a concert in New York's Philharmonic Hall JuIy 29, visiting Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago, D_enver,St. Louis, Cleveland, Louisville and Toronto in Canada. Noted a.rtists and conductors appeared with the orchesira without fee, since the procee,cls of the tour went to the Israel Ernergency Fund. . . . The Seventh Annual Festival of Music and Drama was held in Israel beginning July 27. Several of the groups from India, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia withdrew from the Festival because of their government's position on the crisis. An evening of Yiddish folklore and a liturgical evening with many noted cantors were held The Fourth International Conference on Health Problems in the Developing World was held in Israel in Aug. Twenty-five representatives o[ 15 African countries, including feven ministers of health, three representatives from Asian countries and eight from international health organizations attended.

L. H.

Ocroeen, 1967

I5

IDAIOMI]ISKA SPEAKS An fnterview

By RUTH HEIT BAHARAS conversation took place in the flUR r-z building of the State Yiddish Theater in Warsaw, where, Ida Kaminska serves as manager, artistic director and leadins actress. _ On _the wai to her office I passed through the theater lounge, bire of any furnishings save a bronze bust of the legendary Esther Rachel Kaminska I,LB70-I925), famed as the "mother of the Yiddish theater." Under the leadership of her daughter, Ida, the State Yiddish Theater has carried on the tradition of the realistic-expressionistic theater, completel). communicative and socially engaged, which Esther Rachel had worked to establish at the beginning orf this century.

Several days before our intervierv the ^company gave its opening night performance of Cecil Taylois ilIr. Dg,uj.d,_a,fantasy about the appearance of the Messiah in a Jewish community somewhere in England. Miss Kamin. ska, who does not"appear in the play, translated the original English text, adapted and direct""a it.

Now the excitenrent of the premiere ryas over and she had settled back into

Rurn Hnrr Blnanls is an American Iew who, a lew years ago, settled,in Poland zuith her husband. She uorks for the.Polish radio.

16

her norrnal routine of work. On this day she had given an extensive intervierv to representativcs of the Polish Radio and our conversation was sandlriched in between several consultations. One was with Jacob Rotbaum. director of a Polish theater in Wrocl_aw, who has also staged several productions for the State Yiddi.tr Theater and was in Warsaw to discuss a revival of his Goldt'aden's Dream, a musical-dramatic spectacle based on Goldfaden's most popular characters and creations.

Miss Kaminska ushered me into her office and took her seat behind a qlasslopprd- desk. Seeing her at close i.ngu is both a heart.warming experience and a bit of a shock. She is u di-inutive woman, barely five feet tall.

Across the footlights, playing an aged grandmother, a proud matriarch or a bereaved ghetto mother, she comes through larger than life by virtue of her utterly authoritative, compelling stage presence. Here she is ui' o.r"" frailJooking and beguiling in her smallness and thinness.

Then she begins to speak. Her warm, blue, intelligent eyes carry half the conversation and you are struck bv the mobility of her face, by her wide expre:sir.e mouth, which breaks so easily into a rich, captivating smile. Soon

Jnwrsn Cunnrurs

the personality you know from the stage begins to, mesh with this slight 1,et vibrant an.d still youthful-looking woman perched on her high-backed upholstered chair.

Shq spoke of many things: the founding of the Theater, its work, its accomplishments and its plans. Her first remarks were in response to my question about what she considered to be the role of the Yid.dish State Theater here in Poland and in the world.

"I don't think I need to answer that," she said with surprising vehemense. "The Theater speaks for itself.

It is a well established institution, fully integrated in the Polish theatrical sceneeand its acceptance in the world is unquestioned. In f965 we toured South America. We played in Buenos Aires-a city with 350,000 Jews and not one Yiddish theater; in Sao Paulo, in Rio de Janeiro and in Montevideo.

We gave 60 performances in 62 days for 10,000 spectators. Jews came to us backstage with tears of joy and gratitude. Back in Warsaw a vear. we were still receiving letters from members of the audience. One man wrote us: 'Your appearance was a Yom Tou. When vou left vou took our Yom Tou away.'

"And when we toured Poland earlier this season we had sold-out houses not only in cities with Jewish communities such as Lodz, Cracow, Katowice, Bytom, Gliwice and Swidnica, but in Poznan" Bydgoszcz and Zielona Gora, where the audiences were chiefly Poles."

"There was a timer" she said, more reflectively, "when I had to explain my passionate, mI fanatic feeling on the subject of the Yiddish theater, that is, in on the need rfor a Yiddish theater 'Warsaw.

Poland, precisely here in rvhich had nurtured the finest seeds of Jewish culture, and where all that OcroenR, L967

had remained were the roots of that culture. I had to explain and demand that help be given so those roots would continue to exist, perhaps, even, still to bear fruit. That was over 20 years ago, soon after the war. I had ipent the war years in the Soviet Union-and my return to W'arsaw had been a cruel con{rontation with reality. All the people whom I had ever- performed with, worked with, dreamed with about shaping the future Yiddish theater were gone. Warsaw was in ruins.

There were no theaters, there were no houses There lrrere no Jews.

"What was my choice? To leave, to say t'hat Hitler had triumphed completely? To go to another land and yage the perennial struggle against the impresarios, to tremble foi the morrow?

"I remained, and so did others. A small group of actors, survivors of the concentration camps or, Iike myself, persons back from the Soviet Union, formed an ensemble in Lodz.

Performing in an old converted cinema, under the most difficult conditions, the ensemble began to stage revues, concerts and regular productions. The group was joined by others.

Hevel Buzgan, who had been a leading member of the I/ilna Trupe, came from Argentina with his wife, Riva Shiller.

Jacob Rotbaum, formerly a director of the Vilna Trupe, came ,from New York. ln 1947 I took over leadership a.ncisoon we built our own house. And then, three years later, we rvere nationalized. We became the Esther Rachel Kamin--ka State Yiddish Theater of Poland. Our great 'dream had corne true of a permanent Yiddish theater in which we coul'd guard and carry forward the fine traditions and values which had formerly pervaded the entire Jewish culture.

"For the first tirne we had a t'heater which could exist year in, year

t7

out, could be accepted just like all other theaters in Poland; a theater where one does not have to worry that tomorrow the play will be a failure and the manager will stop paying. A theater in which the actor knows he will work through this season and the season after this. "fn W54 we moved to W'arsaw, where we have had our base since. performing eleven months out of the year-71 tirnes in Warsaw, the other 75 in the provinces. The following year we made our first trip abroad, to Paris.

To our surprise we found a large number of Jews from Poland. It was then that we realized that our Theater, now unfortunately the one perrnanent theater performing exclusively in the Yiddish language, provided a living bridge with the past for Jews uprooted from their native lands and scattered far and wide over the European and American continents and in Israel.

"Since then we have been to Paris three more times. to London three times, to Israel once, to Amsterdam.

Brussels, Vienna, East Berlin, South America-as I mentioned-and most recently to East Berlin a second time, where we took part in the Berlin The'Festtage' ." ater There was special pride in Ida I(arninska's reference to the Festtage.

The Yiddish Theater was the only nonGerman company invited to appear in the Berlin festival. The two plays it presented, with Ida Kaminska in the leading roles, had an excellent reception and a capacity crowd filled the l\{axim Gorky Theater to see the company in an extra non-festival performance. Undoubtedlv'is the name of Ida Kaminska, which now known throughout Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union following her appearance in the Czech frlm, The Shop on Main Street, has reflected glory 0n,

IB

and generated wider interest in, the State Yiddish Theater itself. I raised this point and Miss Kaminska concurred: "I t'hink you will believe me that from the moment the success of the film became widespread and everybody got to know about it my first and automatic thoueht was whether it' lras good for the TYheater.You knorv how we put it among ourselves: 'Is it good for the Jews?' It was good and it has gained us many new friends."

Ida Kaminska's neto pride and confi.dencein the Theater is not based solely on the current \rave of popular approval. As she says: "Today we have a stable company.

This was not always so. In the earlier years when we loEt an actor there was nobody to replace him. We also suffered a drain around 1956 and many a time the greatest ingenuify was required to be able to work out a season's production plan, to juggle actors around so as to cast each play.

"Now we have both a core of seasoned actors and a group of younger people who have been drarvn into the company. Most of the latter have been trained in our Actors' Studio; 15 are attending the Studio at present. We could have SO-there is always an excess of applicants-but that is beyond our possibilities. A very significant thing is that young Polish peonle are also interested in acting in our Theater.

Several are now enrolled in the Studio, learning the Yiddish language as well as studying their craft. 'oWith respect to repertoire, our chief problem is still the dearth of plays on contemporary Jewish themes.

Not that we restrict ourselves to Jewish material. Aside from plays by Jewish writers and adaptations of the classic writers: Mendele Mocher Sforim, Peretz and Sholem Aleichem,

Jpwrsn Cunnunrs

we have presented Moliere, Gorky, 'Wolf, Brecht, Priestley, Ostrorvski, Miller Arthur as well as Polish dramatists and authors: Fredro, Orzeszkowa, Kruczkowski and others.

[One produtcion was Leon Kruczkowski's play, Iulius ond Ethel, about the Rosenberg case, with Ida Kaminska Neverin the role of Ethel-R.H.B.] theless the bedrock of our repertoire remains Jewish material, and finding new plays is still a difficulty. This year we presented Mr. Dauid, by a contemporary English playwright. Of the two nelv plays slated for production, one is Ben Jonson's Volpone and the otlrer. Haim Sloves' War with God. 'l'hough based on the Sabbatai Zvi story in the time o{ the Hmielnicki pogroms in the Ukraine during the ITth century, Sloves' dranra has important links to events of our era.

"Then too, there are our foreign appearances. We have invitations to come to Paris, London, the Scandinavian countries and Israel. Of course the big event is our forthcoming first tour in North America. We shall be appearing in New York in October and then in Philadelphia and Montreal.

Of the three plal's we expect to take with us, one has been definitely decided on and that is Mirele Efros, in which I will be playing the title role.'o This play is one of the company's nrost popular productions. It is part of what is called here the Theater's "iron repertoire." It is also part of its pre-history. Jacob Gordin's play provided Esther Rachel Kaminska with her greatest role and when Ida was seven years old she was appearing toher mother, playing sether with Mirele's grandson. The melodrama, revised by Miss Kaminska, still wears rvell. In depicting the humbling and near-destruction of the rich, despotic Mirele Efros by her social inferior, whom she had so condescendinslv acOcronen,

1967

ROI}TANIAI\ CHIEF RABBI oN CHARLES H. IORDAN deathin Prague TalE mysterious r AuB. 16 of CharlesH. Jordan, executive vice-chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee (his largely decomposed body was found Aug. 20 in the Vltava River) drew this comment from Dr. Moses A. Roserr.

Chief Rabbi and member of the Romanian Parliament, in the Sept. I ol Romanian Religious Iournal lewry: ". . . For more than half a . the noble activities of century 'Joint' saved hundreds of thousands of lives, restored to our communities so much of what they had lost, warred against suffering wherever it existed . . . Charles Jordan was foremost in the leadership and direction of the activities which ha'd as their end the healing of the wounds suffered by Jews and the rebuilding of communities in Europe which had been destroyed during the Second World War. . . . The trasic and untimely death of this grEat man has shattered us all. . . ." cepted as her daughter-in-law, jacob Cor.din created a powerful study of life among Jews in old Russia.

Ida Kaminska's special talent lies in her ability to express great, ageless things, above all those dealing with the life and de,ath of a person. Mirele Efros, like Tfe Shop oi Moin Street, offers her full latitude for t'his talent.

The appearance in ihe United States and Canada of this professional Jewish company which has for 2l years steadfastly upheld the finest progressive traditions of the Yiddish theater will be an important event. It willto paraphrase Ida Kaminska-be good for theater-lovers, it will be good for lovers of Yiddish theater, it will be good for the Jews.

L9

AUSGHWITZ

By LEON FELIPU I t F-T those in,fernal poets.

I Dant'e, Blake, Rinrbaud, Speak more softly, Play rnore softlv.

Let them keep quiet !

Today Anyone living on this earth knows more about the Inferno than those three poets combined.

I know that Dante plays the violin very well Oh. he is a great virtuoso !

But let him not now pretend that rvith his marvelous tercets and his perfect herrdecasyllabics he can frighten t'hat little Jewistr girl that is there, torn from her parents . .

And alone, Alone ! waiting her turn at the crematories of Auschwitz.

Dante! you descended to Hell in the company of Virgil ( V i r g i l , t h a t i v o n d e r f u l ' g u i d e! ) and your Divine Comedy was a venture full of music and sights.

But this is something else . sonrething else.

How shall I explain 1t to you, S-ince-you can have no conception of it?

You, Dante, cannot imagine it!

Agree, that in your Infefro There is not a single little girl . . .

And that one you see over there, is alone, alone! Without a iuidel Waitiirg for the do"ors of such a Hell to open as you, poor Florentine, cannot inragine !

S(|]IGt|F TIIECIIIHNEilAT AUSGHWITZ

By MARTHA

I}TILLET

rf,\HEY made us pull the wagons. r The u'agons full of ashes; Like tiny beasts of burden, They drove us on rvith lashes.

Some of us were nine and ten, None of us rnuch older; Even the smallest darecl not crv.

And they nere weaker. colder.'

They made us strew the ashes, The ashes gray and enclless.

We paved the road with ashes, Shivering, friendless.

God of Hell, defend us I Orphaned sisters, brothersThese ashes were our fathers.

These ashes were oul rnothers.

LpoN ^Fnrtpn (pseudonyrylo, Felipe Camino y Galicia) , born ln lBB4 near ,salamanca, !voty,_ b:6"? pltblishing about 1920. supporting the Loyalists in the Spanish,Ciuil War, he ient into exile in'Mexicoi nrgarded a,so_neol the lorernostSpanish poets,he has recently id,entifierl hims_elfwith the lewish past and the !ewish people. The poem u;asfthnsla1"edft Fnuonruc rwrw lrom Cuadernos'Americuno., Mexico, t/ol.

I44, lYo. I, Ian.-Feb.,1966.

20

No, you can never imagine it !

Yes, this is a different thing! Ho*, shall I explain it to y,u?

L--ook:This is a place n'here-.rnecannot play the violin.

Here the strings of all the violins of the world )nap.

Hty" you _understood me, you in{ernal poets: Virgil, Dante, Blake, and Rimbaud?

Speak more so'ftly !

Play more softly !

Hush...

Keep quiet.

I too am a great violinist and have often played in Hell.

But now, here, I break my violin, And remain silent.

JE w rsu C uR R eN rs

Like tiny beasts of burden, They drove us on with lashes.

They made us ,clrawthe wagons, The wagons full cf ashes.

Mlnrna MIner has published seuerol,uolumes ol poetry; she last appeared, in our pages with a poent. in our Aug., 1957 issue. The present poelrr is based on the l{. Y. Times lune B, 1967 report ol the testimony ol an Auschnitz suruiaor at th"e Eichmann trial.

Oc:rosun, L967

ZI

o 7a- 0nalonio, "3i0eLEhide,t'

o ttn

flIdeaL Sabtrnil:pn, Epnlha W. ?{patp-

On Nov. 6 she will be 101. When she says, "my age-it's my greatest claim to renown," she is not telling the whole truth. For it is not only quality continuing the length of her life but the quality o{ her life-a into hei l0lst year-that makei it notable. Her story is well presented in An American Century, The Recollections ol Bertha W. Howe, 18661966, recorded (on tape) and edited, and with a biographical introduction by Oakley C. iohnson, rvith ( I I ) photographs, published for the American Institute for Marxist Studies by Humanities Press, N. Y., 1966, 142 pages, indexed, $5. The book is unique, for it tells o{ one who has bei.rin active rank-and-file radical since she became interested irr socialism at the beginning of the century, joined the Socialist Party iri 1906 and later turned c<.rmrnunist. For almost 40 years she worked as a clerk in t'he N. Y. Surrogate's Court, but all this time her after-work li{e, which she regards as her real life, was devoted to her cause. If Upton Sinclair gave a fictional name to her male counterpart as Jimmie Higgins, the veritablbe name of the woman Jirnrnie Higgins is _Bertha W. Howe. One of her distinctive traits is her continuing intellectual curiosity. In 1956, for example. she became a subscriber to our magazine from her home in Orlando, Fla. We knew nothing about her. Occasionally she wrote me letters; frorn them l inferred that she was a Centile int'erested in progressive matters, but she expressed her failure to understand the purpose of the magazine. Replying briefly each time, I could give only scanty and obviously inadequate answers. Then on Jan. 17, 1959 wie had our Conference on Jervish Survival and published the main papers in our April. 1959 issue. From Bertha Howe came a letter, printed in our Sept.. 1959 issue, saying t'hat at last she understood us and, rnore important, grasped why Jews wanted to survive. "My better understan'ding contributes greatly to my peace o{ mind, and for 'olmpact of Antithis I must thank you and Dr. Harap" (rvhose paper, Semitism on Jewi:h Survival," was in our April issue).

But non' that she understood, Bertha Howe had to do something about JewIsH CunRrNrs. By that time I had learned from subscribers in Miami that she was over 90 and a local spark-plug. One day we received payment from her. collected from a group of her friends in Orlando. for four or five subscriptions to Jswtsn CunRpurs to go to all the Orlando rabbis. Soon thereafter, the name of one of these rabbis appeared on a petition in behalf of Morton Sobell. And Bertha Howe is still sowing seeds . . .

22

The music of Jacob Schaefer (1888-1936) to "Zvei Brider,, bv peretz (1852-1915), york .cogpose.d when Schaefer was conducting the New Philharrnonic Chorus. has since then bJen sung by proiewish P99n_19's gressive Yiddish choruses in rnany lands. Generations of rit!"ir L"d audiences have -grown to_love it. and concerts at which it is pe'iformed are crorvded- Now the Jewish Vlusic Alliance has issued a i'ecording, PILgut by Tikva_Records ($5t. u'ith iVlaurice Rauch c.on.ductingtfe JPPC, and with.Ingrid Rypinski, rnezzo-soprano,and william ffoIff, bass-baritone. An_acc.orypanying booklet helpfully provides the text _ in Yiddish and in Englislrtransliteration, and'therl is a ,rerse translation into English .by William Avstreih. Although I should have preferred piano rather than the organ accompaniriient, the Chorur, ,irrgf ing with _1{:.gives a. good account of itseli in this'classic of the progressive Yiddish rnusical ^repertory- The Chorus conveys with conviction the deep rneaning of P;eretz' fable about the brothlr who learned from the snake how to turn his brother's sweat into riches for himself.

Jpwrsn Cunnnxrs

c

Jrrlahinq- on- Ihp- Illiddlp- â&#x201A;Źaal

Sunday afternoon, Aug. 6, at the Reynolds Hills Colony in Ner,v york, talked on the present situation to 95 LoloniEts and guests. a.rd answered questi_onsfor another hour and a half. Very few i-ndeed are those who regard Israel as the aggressor in the Six-Day War.

o

"AAltpA-and- hiarutnd^ai' At the Museum of Modern Art Aug. I0 u'e caught up with the r95B polish fiIm, Ashes and Diantontls..- Picturing 1[" counter-revolutionary groups operating in Poland imnrediately after the wgr, the film helps one understand the situation out of which carne the Kielce poero-'-und the execution of a large number ,,rf the pogrorn-makers. Iiro"- the first shot of a cross over a church to the last one of one of the counter-revolutionary assassins dying in a garbage heap, we get an effectiu" d"pi"tion of how tho.se who fo rght-th" Ger-a.ts in the Warsaw Rising' of 1944 turned their guns against the communists after May 7,1945.The film is candid about the role of Soviet troops, about careerists who turn left, about the difficulty of building socialisrn against such a background.

o

"AtL fwninq- atillL lamnt- Ealduiil'

After -two yearsin Ista'bul, JamesBaldwin has returnedfmt:i3

electedto make his fi_rstpullic appearanceat the Village Theater under t'.L" jo^i1t_agsqice_s9f^ thb _ch_a_rtei Group for a pledge of Corrrci"rr"" (Box 346, cathedral_Qtu., Y. ry.

10025) ind the Dorcliester,s. c. committee-_("_l_o Grace Methodist _Church,200-08 Murdock Ave., St. Albans, N. Y. LL4l2). When Baldwin, after a long, varie.dand sometimes exciting program that included,JoeFrazier, Dick Davey"Richie Havens and a montage of poetry read by four actressesand a'narrator. finallv came on it was after ll P.M. and he therefore could speak for onlv Ocroaun, L967 2?:

some 20 minutes. But he said "plenty": "You must bear in mind t'hat I am speaking about the salvation of a fyoung] generation. You must realize I am past 40 and you can expect nothing frorn my generation. . . . The American black man is a surpius population. The economy cannot absorb him. The Great Society has no room {or him. . . . By white people I do not mean biologically white, but those who think white-supremacy. . . . The fault lies in white supremacy, which still rules this country and will rule it as far as I can see until long after I am dead. . . . In 1954 fwhen the Supreme Court decision on ichool desegregation was handed down] Rap Brown was l0 years old. . . . One has to consider what that generation has watched in terms of broken promises, bad faith, pure brutality, sheer oppression. I and other people have tried to warn the nation that a day was coming when the young would not speak not only to Bobby Kennedy-t'hey would not speak to Martin Luther King and me. . . . Black power is Eelf-determinawhat's happening today is simply part of the age-old battle tion between poverty and privilege in a rnask of color. . . . It is the failure in the rniddle of the 20th century of all the social arrangements.

I have concluded for myself that if we cannot reach the Arnerican conscience, we must find some n,ay of intimidating the American sel{-interest." Therefore he proposed a massive boycott of General Motors, etc....

The proceeds of the Evening with James Baldwin went to the Dorchester Committee, which sends aid to a community of 14,000 Negroes in South Carolina engaged in various self-help projects, and for the defense of the Harlem Six, which has been espoused by the Charter Group.

The Harlem Six have been sentenced to life imprisonment after a trial that is being appealed, on grounds of grievous injustice, on charges of murdering Margit Sugar and wounding her husband Frank in a hold-up of t'heir second-hand clothing store at 3 W. 125 St. April 29, 1964. An illuminating Fact Sheet of 22 pages quoting from the trial record has been drawn up for the Charter Group by Dr. Annette T. Rubinstein and Ruth Messinger and can be obtained from the Group. A petition circu. lated in behalf of the Harlem Six by the Charter Group has been widely signed; one of the signatories is Rabbi Simon Greenberg of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. The Fact Sheet notes particularly that Frank Sugar persistently refused to identify the clefendants as involved in the murder of his wife.

o EnoutinqIt rvas good to see our Louis Harap's name on the cover oI The. lVation July 3, announcing his review of four books, "The Holocaust: Myths and Facts." In two pages he dealt succinctly and critically with Steiner's Treblinlm and digested the essential significance of Yuri Suhl's 'Wiesenthal's Th9, Fought Baclt, Simon The hlurderers Among IJs and Norman Cohn's Warrant t'or Genocide, dealing with the forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion ( which circulate extensively in the USA and, recently, in the Arab States).

24

Jswlslr Cunnpilrs

Our C. E. Wilson has an incisive article. "Black Nationalism at the Crossroads," in a nev/ magazine, Onyx: A llellection ol Black Thought, (for subscriptions at $5.25 per year and the first experirnental issue, write to Onyx. 626 Riversi'de Drive, Apt. 15-O, N.Y. 10031) . Onyx, is directed to "the generation of black people who have matured during and since the 1950's to the type of person who consi'ders himself a black man. and who does not wish to lose and leave behind his uniqueness as his economic opportunities broaden." The first issue contains a moving poem by Sara E. Wright, "l-ament of a Harlem Mother," and a revealing profile of "Core's Floyd McKissick" by the editor, Charlie L. Itussell, guided bv the pointed formula: "first you consolidate, then you integrate." At one point, however, Mr. Russell lapses into a stereotype: "in New York City the Jews control education."

If he means that Jews are well or even heavily represented at all levels of the educational apparatus in the public and high schools, that may be true-but control? lt is not the iews who make decisions on policy and on the budger, which defines the limitations of policy. . . . Other meaningful contributors to the first issue are John O. Killens.

Lansston l{ughes and Douglas Turner Ward. I look forward to the next issue.

Our Eric Mauer has 1,'1,poems in a new "little rnagazine," Virgin, published rnaybe bi-norrthl), by Nathan Weber, 266 W.73 St., N.Y. 10023, 56 pages. photo-offset. 50c. "It's calle.d Virgin," Weber explains. "because new people are going to sail into your minds on a maiden voyage . . ." Mauer's poems are deeply felt, simple in form, often very expressive. All the work in Virgin is youthful and bewildered but there is also a welcome strain of human involvement and social commitment.

The militant ra'dical monthly. The llfinority of One, devotes almost its entire Sept. issue to an indispensable aiticle by its editor, M. S. Arnoni, "Rights and Wrongs in the Arab-Israel Conflict (To the anatorny of ihe forces of prJltess and reaction in the Middle East)."

In 227/z laree pages that rvould add up to a little book, Arnoni has compressed more vital and often little-known facts than I have found anywhere else in current discussion of the Middle East crisis.

While I may not agree with all of his approaches (for example, I dissent from his criticism of the Sor,iet position on Vietnam an'd regret his ignoring the position of the progressive Jewish movement), I found his facts frequently illuminating. his argutnentation sober and effective, his conclusions mature and constructive. Particularly useful is his carefully documented material on the Nazis who infest the Arab governrnents, and thus ad.d a senocidal background to the clamor for the destruction of the state of Israel. and his discussion of such details as napalm, prisoners of lt'ar and "atrocities" in war. I anr a'dding this issue to my top-ready arsenal for discussions of this subject. Copies at 50 cents each (5 for $2) from TMO. Bor 5++.

Passaic, N.J. 07055.

M. U. S. ocroBER" 1967

25

-l

0ahanla (ontun

By MAX ROSENFELD

HASHO]IA IIND RI|SH IIIETITITY JEWISH

By MORRTSU. SCHAPPES middle-class Americans, thrust out into it ever occurred to you that I|AS If the suburbs and swelled the rolls of Rosh F{ashona, the Jewish New Jewish congregations, it was the memYear, has become-nhatever else it bership in congregations that mulnray be-the day of maximum, but not tilrlied but not synagogue-attendance total, voluntary Jewish identification? at I do not mean only that the 1,100 for services of worship-except Rosh Hashona and Yom Kippur. synagogues that function in the city But I meant more than this when of New York all year round were I suggested at the beginning that Rosh filled to capacity on Rosh Hashona as Hashona has become the day of maxthev have not been on any other day imum-but not total-voluntary duiirtg the year, or that they may even Jewish identification. I am thinkins of be overflowing for Yom Kippur. the those Jews who do not go to iervDay of Atonernent. Many rabbis have "ny Yom ices even on Rosh Hashona and r:ried out against the s\varrns of what Kippur but who still make these days the1. call "three-clay-a-year Jews," rvho virtually boycott the synagogues the occasions for their annual reaffirmation of Jewish identity. all vear round but flock to them for Rosh Hashona and Yorn Kippur; There is a large nurnber ol lews sometimes this seasonal floo.d cannot who are on principle non-observant, be contained in the existing synagogue or non-believing, or apinostic or athefacilities and ordinary meeting-halls istic. Not being religious, such Jews are rented, and easily filled, for servdo not join the throngs in the synaices for improvised and transient congogues or temples, but seek other ways gregations. of expressing their Jewish identity.

But these "three-day-a-year" Jews The most common way oif doing this is are nothins new in American Jewish for such Jews not to go to work on life. I"or a long time now the inrvardlv Rosh Hashona and Yorn Kippur. pious Jews and the ritually observant Now in the earlv 1930's. when I was Jews rvere joined on Rorh Hashona in teaching in the English Department at the synagogues by those who were the City College here, it was a matter even conformingly onlv formally-or -religious. of principle for me to come to work These "three-day-a-year" on Rosh Hashona and Yom KippurJews have for some time constituted although almost none of the Jewish the majority of American Jews. Even students attended and very little teachwhen middle-class Jervs, like other

26

Jnwrsn CunnoNrs

ing was actually done by the non-Jewish teachers or by the few Jewish teachers who came. But for sorne time it has been a matter of principle for rne not to go to work on Rosh Hashona 1nd Yom Kippur. Why the change?

And what is the meanins of ih" " change?

In the early 1930's I was an unsophisticated atheist who assumed, as so many Jews maintained, that the iervs constituted only a religious community. In a Jewish religious comnrunity, a Jewish atheist-or an atheist who had withdrawn from the Jewish religious community-had no place.

So, to assert the principle of my separation from the Jewish religious community, I went to work on Rosh Hashona. There were many like me.

The change was brought about mainly by two factors. The first was Hitlerism, the wave of nation.wide anti-Semitism in our own land, and the slaughter of six million Jews-two thirds of the Jews orf Europe, one third of the jews of the world-bv the Nazis. The second factor was a more scrphisticated examination of my assumption, and the common assumption, that the Jews were only a religious community. I reached the conclusion that the Jews were an ethnic sroup that included both adherents of Judaism, the religion, and non-believers in Judaism or any religion, that is to say, atheists. The link between lhe two factors was the fact that Hitlerism slaughtered Jews without reqard to whether they were religious or not. His genocide of the Jews was qenetic, ethnic; he aimed at all Jews, including atheists.

The content of the change, then, in my going to work or not going to rvork on Rosh Hashona was that not going to work was for me an act of solidarity with my ethnic group, my .fewish people. In the context of AmerOcrosnR, T967

FOR ROSH HASIIONA October 5-6 A HAPPY NEW YEAR -trrl tt-t-

rrtrl lt/a/

THE EDITORIAL BOARD

ican life, almost all non-jews regard the Jerus as only a religious community. (Too many Jews itill have this false definition, but that's another rnatter.) Going to work on Rosh Hashona as an act of separation simplv from the Jewish religi-our "o--.roity is sure to be misunderstood by nonJews and Jews as an act of separation from the Jewish people, from the iewish ethnic group.

I avoid such a misinterpretation.

I choose instead to affirm my bwn Jewish identity as part of th" Jewish ethnic group by the elementary but noticeable method of not going to work on the days that, to th"e J""*i.tt r,eligiou.: community, are High Holy Days. There are many like me. In one form or another, our act is an act of solidarity rvith the Jewish people-with those slaughtered in the-Hiiler holocaust, as well as with the living.

This does not, ol course) mean that all Jews in our count.y uuuil themselves of Rosh Hashona io. p.urpose. of Jewish i.dentification in a ielisious or any other way. Ten days ago i met a young intellectual who looked suspiciously at a table displaying the magazine JawtsH CuRRENTsand said to me, "Oh no, Mr. Schappes, you are not going to trap me. I arn no Jew. I was

27

born a Jerv, but I am not a Jew. I arn a n i n t e r n a t i o n a i i .t . " Apparently, 2 | 1'ears aftel the tleattr o f H i t { e r a n d t h e . J e ui s l i h o l o c a u s t . there are still unsophisticated young iewish atheists who are trappecl in a web of jewish self-denial. The1, assulne falsely that ideological denial of the fact of their jewishness is somehow a Dassport to progressive social ucl ior,.

Obviously, one of the great lessons of the 1930's that has not been adequately transmitted to militant and progiessiv-e Jewish youth is the danger 1o iny real internationalism, of national nihilisrn. o,f ethnic self-denial, of personal psychological self-mutilation.

But so long as this trend exists, I rnust recognize that while Rosh Hashona has become the day of rnaximurn voluntary Jewish identification on the part of both religious and nonreligious or secular Jews, this identification is not yet total. Far more important, however, than the incompleteness of this Jewish identification is its vast extensiveness, encompassing the overwhelming majority. bf the Jewish population, despite diversity ot class and social position, organizational affiliation or belief and practice.

This diversity. of course. cries out for detailed description an.d analysis impossible in these brief broadcasts, William James once wrote a large volume on the varieties of relisious experience. As large a volume loul,d be rvritten by a cultural anthropologist on the varieties of Jewish experience^ secular and religious-and a fascinating chapter would undoubtedly include the varieties of Jewish experience u,ith Rosh Hashona.

First, perhaps, should be noted the attitude to the High Holy Da1's of the general or ncln-Js\a.ish cornnrunity.

Politicians, from the White F{ouse to city halls and state capitols, "greet" th; Jewish people. Tiaffic coirmis-

28

sioners suspend alternate-side-of-thestreet parking regulations so that (Jlrhodox jews rvill not have to violate their Holy Days h1' nroving their cars.

In Neu York and'Los An[eles, public school clas-es are suspended. In one l\eu' York college, Jewiih students were given alternate registration days to permit them to observe their Holy l)avs. In Harlem, the weekly ,ry. y.

Amstercl,arn News, which usually appears on Thursdays, was available lait week on the stands on Wednesdav. it announced, "because of the Jewish holidal-s," which began on Thursday.

Parenthetically, I wonder whether this particular change in publication schedule of the Negro weekly was rnade in deference to i-ts Jewish'rrewstand distriJrutors or to its Jervish readers.

Then our culturul anthropologist lvoul.d have to look into othei aspects of diversity. For example, Orthbdox and Conservative Jervs observe Rosh Flashona for trvo days; most Refornr Jews for oniy one. Secular Jews, I have noticed. decide whether to take two dll-: or one, depending on the days of the week involved. If there is a four day _week-endpo-ssible. any principled secularist will take two days-un.d *e noticed thai one liallsbure resort that advertised "Reforrn Servic-eson Premises" also stressed the four duy rveek-end this year. Of course the rvhole question of spending Holy Days in r,acation resorts deserves study-indepth _by thg cultural anthropologist.

'Iraclitionally the 10 days frorn-the heginning of Rosh Hashona to the end of t!" Dly o_f Atonement are supposecl to be Days of Awe, days ot aririetl' as to rvhat fate the Supreme .fu.dge of the tlniverse has written dow-n and sealed for each Jew in the iegendary book of life; days of serious searching o{ conscience to impro\-e man's relation to man in ways

JnwIsn CuRnnurs

of peac_eand social justice. And undoubtedly there are ieligious Jews of all persuasions to whom these days are just such l)ays of Awe. But along come the resorts with trdvertising-tlrgt offers what they call ''traditional Holy Day services"'in a setting of fun and frolic, in the Cat. skills or Atlanric City or similar areas. 'l'he biggest of them all announced that services will be conducted, not by i rabbi, but by u "world ,"no*.r"d Cantor" (name given) with a ,.mag'o nificent choir." Some had onlv "renorvned Cantor" (name olten not givgn ) without a choir. One resort, rrith a kosher cuisine, invited all ani sundry. to in -"live-it-up-Everything {rrll for the Higtr Holy Days-.swing services on premises-prominent can_ to.r--specia_l teenage programs, activities, band"-in facl, ihree bands.

One Monticello hostelry had not onlv an "outstan.ding tenor" Cantor and his .'hoir but also i rabbi to conduct the services-while one resort had only a rabbi. Some merely promised ,.services th,e premises,"-and a couple prof9n ferred the information that ih"., rvould be "traditional synagogue ser\,ices nearby." Rare indeed ila"s the resort that advertised nothing more than "Indian summer's wonderl-and of colr)r" in Chestertown or "the winev tingling season of autumn" in Ellenr ille.

Neverthelers, as Rabbi Maurice N. liisendrath, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (ReIorm), said in his Rosh-H-ashonamessage, "The world is increasinclv desperate for a way to end the in Vietnam . . . The bieots still "o.rfii.t fan the lires of violence I believe that larse numbers of Jews will express their Je-wishidentity this ttew vear bv extending their efforts on both frontJ. tT'ext, ot' a broadcast ouer WBAI-FM, .Sepr.20, L966.)

Ocroesn. 1967

In loving melnor) o f

ROSEYAFFE Devoted wife and mother An active fighter for Peace, justice and racial equality Leona, Sicl and Ross Roxbury, Mass.

In rnemory of my son

LIEUT. LEOIVARD WITKI]V He died October lB, 194+ While fighting the barbaric (lerrrranNazis in Worlcl War II l"or a bettel n or.lclto live in Jacob Wirltin Bronx

29

HBJEWISH OMMUI{ITY Anti-S emitisn'r, in SI\ CC o Anterican. tewish Congress: Will Maslow, executive of director AjCongress, issued a statement Aug. 15 on the anti-Semitism expressed in the June-July iEsue of S/VCC Newsletter. The staternent said: "The shocki.g vicious and anti-Semitism expressed in the S/VCC Newsletter must be condemned as a kind of poison that can only cloud the atmosphere in which white and black, Christian and Jew rnust work together in the cornmon effort to make the prornise of equality come true for every citizen.

There is no room for racists in . the fight against racism. As partners in the common struggle for racial justice . . . the Jewish comrnunity has a right to expect that those who claim to seek equality will neither give voice to nor tolerate anti-Semitism, publicly proclaimed or privately whispered.

"At the same time as Jews we reiterate the moral and historical imperatives that have determined our comnitrnent to the brotherhoo.d of all rnen and to the goal of full equality in a free society for all Americans." o Emrna Lazarus Federation: In a Ietter Aug. 18 to Stanley Wise, executive secretary of SNCC, the Emma Lazarus Federation of Jewish Women's Clubs "vigorously" protested: "Such anti-Semitic statements encourage racists and anti-Semites and will hurt not only the Jewish people, but also the Negro people and their heroic struggle for equality. We are sure that the majority of the Negro people

30

are not in agreement with your position expressed in your article, for the recent studies by the Anti-Defamation Leasue of the B'nai B'rirh show that in iir" big city ghettos the majority of Negroes are actually less antiSemitic than other Americans. Our organization has, since its inception, participated in the struggle for justice, equality and for the eradication of racism, anti-Semitism and all forrns of discrimination and will continue in this just struggle.

"We call upon you to change your position." . tewish Cultural Clubs: In a letter Aug. 21 to Stanley Wise, the Jewish Cultural Clubs and Societies expressed 'oprofound shock and protest" and declared: "As an organization which consistently supported SNCC and other militant civil rights organizations we feel it incumbent upon us to state that your historically-false and anti-Semitic answers pertaining to Israel and the Jews are a blow against your own avowed aims of equality, Black Porver, of a world cleansed of racism ul.d exploitation of man by man.

The I|ltra-Right

and

Israel

The Sept. issue of the ADL Bulletin dealt with the reaction of various grolrps to the Israel military victory.

Some examples from Ultra-Right orsanizations: The lYational States Rights Party's Personal lYewsletter: ursed "all other right r,r,inggroups" to j"oin in a "new

Jnwrsn Cunnnnrs

crusade" against "Jew dornination."

Another of the party's publications, The Thund,erbolt, announced it was r.u-shing- into_ print a pamphlet entitled "Jervish Crimes and At.ocities Against the Arab People."

Cerald L. K. Smith's Christian Nati.onalist Crusade lYeusletter hea.dlined: "Crucifixion Begins Jews r'apture Jerusalem Holy Shrines I)esecratecl. . . God Save the Christian lVorld."

The American lVazi Party. in its 2' "Rockwell ^ocftweLt, fteport," Report, warned against warned against

staternentby leaders of the civil rights movement "urging the Negro cornrnunity to reject mob violence," anrl endorsing "their call for Con:lre,.siolral action to end racial discrirnination an.d economic injustice against the Negro people." Calling for ai encl to "lawlessness and criminal acts.,, A J C o n g r e s su r s e d t h a t " t h o s e v i c t i r r r s * h o h a v e s u f f e i e dp h l s i c a l i n i u r y a n d economic loss be compensated.,, but it warned that "the senselessdestruction to which our country is now bearing witness will not end with the "a third World War to save these irnprisonment of those found euiltr,.

-rvt trouble-making Jews."

T!" despair and desperarion idt, Action Il[agazine, publication grip so. many black Americans today of _ Sons of Liberty, featured the Grand are a sign of our nation's failure to N{ufti of Jerusalem on its cover with nieet the promises made to every citithe headline: "Liberate Jew-Occupied zen of every color. We can continue Palestine." to d,en1,these-rights only at our own o In dealine with whar the ADL peril as a nation.

Bulletin calls ihe "Radical Left,,, the o Neu;a,rlt, lVJ.: Followine the editors fail to take into account that tlevastation caused by the eheito there are differences among left groups "*plosion_ in that city, the N.j. R"gion and individuals on charaCterizine the of AJCongress stited July.Z6 ihat six-da1'Arab-Israel war. It is not"true, "the City of Nervark . . . faces a grave as ADL asserts. that the whole left danger- today-the danger of ina"ction took the same position as the Soviet --the danger that we nill scold. promL'nion regarding the character of the ise, procrastinate and ultimaieiv do lothing. We must not allorv that to l.T. They omit the fact that quite different positions, in one degree or happen." The statement urged ..lr,hatanot'her, were taken by such publicaever steps are necetsary to close the tions as the Mornin.g Freiheit) Jetoish gap befween u,hites and Nesroes.', Currcnts, Yiddishe Kultur, Minority ol It added that "silence and iriaction One, I. F. Stone's Weehly and Nam'l)orlr would be an invitation to parts. Also progressive organizations d i s a s t e r . " such as the Jewish Cultural-Clubs and This r,r'arning applies as well to all Societies, Emma Lazarus Federation urban areas which have or have not .,f Jewish W'omen's Clubs, Yiddishe erperienced riots.

Kultur Farband (YKUF) and the _ o Deleat ot' BilI Asked: The Emma l"riends of Yad' Hana sent tens of I-azarus Federation of Jer,r,ish Womthousands of .dollars in emersencv en's Clubs and the Jewish Cultural Iunds in June and July to proerlssivl Clubs and Societies urged N.y. Seninstitutions in Israel. a-tors Jacob K. Javits ind Robert F. Kennedy and Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson Anti-Riot Bill Opposed to rvork for the defeat of the Anti_ o American tewish Congress issued .Rio, Bill, passed by the House and ;r statement July 27 welcoming the being considered br- the Senate.-S. p. o(;roBER. 1967

3r

rian corsciousness should be welcomed, since oniy our collective ignorance o{ China is as abysmalas the general illiteracy about tire GDR which pre-

BooK

REVIE,W

vails in this country.

Since specific data, coupled of oourse with insightful observations" are rvhat is needed above all on this issue, let us repair to the two more rvid_ely_acclaimed books - Hangen's and Elon's.

FIUEBt|t|TSl|]T GERITAilY

By CHARLES R. ALLE.N JR. Tuo Germanies,Mirror ol An Age,

by Peter Lust. Harvest House, Montreal, 1966; paperback, 240 pages, no price listed.

The Muted Reuolution,East Germany's Challenge to Russia and the West,

by WellesHangen.Knopf, N. Y.,231 pages,$5.95.

Iourney Through & Haunted Land, The lYew Germany, by Amos Elon.

Holt, Rinehart & Winston, N. Y., L967,259 pages,$6.50. fulenace6;l the Miracle, Germany lrom Hitler to Adenau,er, by Heinz Abosch. Monthly Review Press, iN.Y.,1963,278 pages,$5.

Berlin Diary, by William L. Shirer.

Popular Library, N.Y., L967, reprint, paperback,464pages,95c.

6|AN there possiblyremain a "Jewish \-t question" in today's GermanysEast or West-in view of the terrible fact that t'here are but some 30-odd Cnanrns R. Arr,BN Jn. is the author ol Heusinger of the Fourth Reich: The Step-by-Step Resurgence of the German General Staff and the essay "German Hand on the l,luclear Trigger," both ol u;hich are international best sellers. He recently returned from cr,n extensiae trip tirough both'Germanys. He last appeared in, our pd,ges in Il[ay, 1966.

32

thousand Jews living there-the majority in the W'est-since the Holocaust destroyed virtually the entire 550,000 Jews who were Gerrnan citizens at the time of Hitler's rise to power?

To raise the question in its broadest applicability-religious, ethnic, social, economic-implies essentially a twinpronged political and philosophical issue: what has happened to the fascist past in the two Germanys; and, once this has been determined, what does it augur for the future? Obviously, there are many aspects of the two Germanys which the books under con. sideration here treat but I am restricting my analysis to this single point, the heart orf the ma,tter as far as I'm concerned.

The most recent of the books-those

by Lust. Hangen and Elon-are significant enough, merits to the side for the moment, because they deal, either in part or in whole, with the German Democratic Republic. The GDR's extraordinary development over the past 17 years as a force to be reckoned with in Europe surely rnust be adjudged one of the impressive facts of modern history-despite the official American government's policy that the GDR does not exist. So the fact of at least this much recognition on the part of the Ameri-

Jnwtsn CuRnpNrs

Hangen proaides no intormation rvhatever on what has happened to tb" Jews living today in the GDR. His book is not reportorial so rnuch as it is the cornplaints of a handsomely salaried correspondent for the National Broadcasting Company, 1,!ose chief preoccupation is thit the GDR is not nearly s-o affluent as West Gennany; consequently, he is always having -trouble accommodating his poo'dle dog and Volkswagon.

As for Elon, that an Israeli iournalist can see clearly enough some of the more obvious featurei o{ the restored past in West Germany and not parrot the Ben-Gurion line that a new democracy has been established there is all to the sood.

He rightly" underscores the ,fact that Hit'ler's generals, the Big Business forces which financed fascism, the Nazi jurists and pro{essors are "respected citizens" and are to be foun.d "among_ the, mighty today in Bonn."

Yet the sharp limits of both Elon and Hange.r are demonstrated by nurnerous misfirings when it comls to prognosticating West Gernran politics.

Tu'o quick exarnples are sufficient: Hangen confidently tells the rea.der that r . 1 r lformer urrrlur u Chancellor rraluellor L Ludwie u o w l g [Erhard rnard will

not

step down

before

ihe

1969

{general] elections." A month after ihe book's appearance,Erhard-whose lroiitical future was at bss[ fsnu6u5ir &s unceremoniously turned out of o(:roBER. J_967

office to be succeeded by the one-tirne Nazi Party stalrvart, Kurt Ceorg Kiesinger Elon-whose political acumen is easily measured by the unbounded faith he posits in the W'est German press, radio and TV corps-cites uncritically Der Spiegel's empty boast that it "succeeded iust in- iime in shooting doln" Franl joseph Strauss.

Defense Minister under Adenauer. Todoy Strauss is acknowledged as the "strong man" of West Gelman politics who hand-picked Kiesinger- for t'he chancellorship because of the balance o{ por!er exercised by Strauss and his Christian Social Union.

Moreover, Elon's imputations of officially inspired anti.Semitism-i{ not a subtle continuance of a latter duy cultural genocide-can not be passed over. An exarnple o,f t'his occurs o-n p. 130: "Herr [Heinz] Hennig, chairman of the Leipzig Jewish community [i" the GDR], gives the following count: before the War" 18,000 Jews lived in Leipzig, only fts are left today-69 of them above 60, tl under 30. The '{inal solution of the Jewish problem' will soon be completell' realized, at least in this part of C_errnany."( !) Mr. Hennig, bir it noted, endured I0 years in assorted Nazi death camps.

The implication that the GDR has anything to do with Hitler's "Final Solution" is a heinous affront. trn order to seeure an infortnaliae) balanced and insightful view of the Jevyishcluestion and its broader corollary, one must repair to the rvorks of Lust and Abosch.

Peter Lust is a Canadian -Canada's lournalist rvho is an editor of one of largest German language newspapers.

-digs He is above all a reporter wlro ancl comes up with the story. Moreover, he was born and reared in

33

Germany until shordy after the Nazi take-over. He knows his subiect thoroughly. He writes clearly and simply.

His two chapters entitled "West Cennany's Jewish Community" and o'East Germany's Jewish Cornmunit^y" directly confiont this issue; tliey should be reprinted in every Angloiewish publication in the U.S. and Canada.

Lust minces neither wor.ds nor facts on the obvious anti-Semitism and racism which lie just beneath the thirr surface of West German "democracy."

He points out that the Jews still represent a major target for the resurgent Nazi movement rvhich has rnade ominous gains recently in the F ederal Republic. Although there are fewer than 27,000 Jews living in West Germany to.day, it is not required to have an overabundance of Jews on hand to have virulent anti-Semitism; what is required ale anti-Semites and the socio-economic grounds which breed them.

He goes directly to the crux of the Right i'deology rvhich prevails in toclay's Gennan Federal llepuhlic ilr resard to restitution.

In 1951 I wrote an editorial in The lYation on the isrue of restitution r,vhich at that time exercised the Jewish comrnunity. While certainly conceding that in'dividual victims-should be able to collect damases frorn ,the Germans (after all, wh-=atare reparations if not restitution at the state level? ), I warned then that restitution was a trickl. danqerous resolution in and of itseif of t'he question o{ Gerrnan guilt in the extermination of the six million. No amount of monelr I insisted, could ever serve as a rnoral measure of genocide; an.cl I anticipated that once the Germans had paid up in terms of cold cash on this point" th"y would eventually take political advantage of their act; that a r".r.-

34

gent, unrepentent Nazism would use restitution for its own ends. Lust's assessrrent of what has happened in regard to restitution in West Cermany confirms this expectation. ln the first place, the vocal fascists (not "neo-Nazi" or any other emphemisrn accurately describes them) like the NPD (National Democratic Party), large:t minority West Cermany's party today, say openly, as did its chairman, Von Thadden: "We have endless indernnities in lraicl the Jews 'restitution.' what is called They [the Jervs] never stop moaning about the past. continually demand They more. . . ." (World iewish Congress Background Paper No. 2, Nov., 1966, p. 6). This patent anti-Semitism exercises a direct appeal to significant sections of West German society today.

This view is not extreme. It is nierely a logical extension of the official Bonn policy of re-establishing the national past which paved the way for Hitler. There is an indissoluble nexus between ending war crimes trials. calling for a blanket amnesty for Nazi war criminals, deman'ding the "return of the lost Eastern territories" (parts of Poland, Czechoslovakia and the whole of the GDR), insisting upon W'est Germany's "right" to a nuclear arsenal and the rise of a resurgent fascism in today's Federal Republic.

Per:haps it is in order to consider hou' restitution works out in West Germany. Lust comments as follows: "If rve take the word's meaning literally, the payments miss the rnirk by some 90 per cent.

No one may collect more than the salary of a lWest German] :enior civil iervant.

If a claimant lived throush the entire Hitler years, he will ieceive $6,000" no matter what the actual extent ol his claim! (Pages 86-87.)

He describes the demeaning difficul-

JBwrsrrCuRner,rrs

ties rvhich any victim seeking restitution must submit to: "Exact proof of lo-"s must be given-and the German Government is stricter than any North American insurance company would be. Affidavits mean little. There musr be corroborating evidence. Since the Hitler years were lawless . . precious lirtle evidence is available."

In Elnst Germanyt es Lust correctly reports, the contrast is striking and of far--reaching significance. I; the GDR there are I,642 "religious" Jqws- in eight regional groupings which c_omprisethe Jewish communiiy of the GDR. There are, it is estimated. an additional 3-4,000 Jews rvho do not consider themselves religious, yet honor and uphold the Jewiih heritage in many ways. All adult Jews are considered automatically-fascism."' (.ro proof is needed) "victims of As such -they are accorded not only sO"cial honors by the state but receive primary ^preferential treatment: they are the first to receive housing, cars, e'ducational benefits, vacationi. rest home passes and hospitalization care.

At_age 60 for men and 55 for women, a Jervish citizen automatically receives -in addition to his regulai pension --600 marks per month for fhe rest .rf his life. If a jew is a "fighter against fss6igrn"-4n even hieher t'ategorl'-his rnaterial and honoiific rervards are yet more substantial.

The GDR has preserved as memorialrnuseums the sites of the infamous camps Buchenwald, Ravensbruk and Sachsenhausen. Anyone who visits these places will treve, forget the ex1rcrience. Th-ere the precious memo.y ,,f those who perished is lovinolv rnaintained; and a porn'erfulpublic eclucational force ,for the survivors of the Holocaust is k"pt. All is relevant lo the extraordinary anti-fascist content of the GDR's educational, politi( )t;roetrR, 1967

c:al. social ancl cultural institutions. 'l'he real miracle of Oerrrrany is not the {everish American-inflattl<l coontlrn)' of the West but the genuine eliniination of the Nazi past ancl the creation of a truly anti-fascist generation of youth in the East. Lust u'rites: "The GDR's Jews are divided into truo easily distinguishable groups: ruper-assirnilatedJews who have either forgotten or would like to forget their baclground and origin; and irembers of the religious community. Assimilated Jews often hold hieh Government offices. In fact, proportionatelv they are more prorninent than nonjews, an'd this is understandable. The power of fthe GDR] Government is exercised by an 'elite' forged in the Nazi concentration camps. Most Jews nho had remained in Germany and survived went throueh the hell of 'KZ'. . . . 15 per cent of all resistance fighters hacl been Jewish. When the GDR Government was formed, resistance fighters became the nerv elite.

"The Jervs of the religious communities are the remainder of the qlce teemine Cerman-Jewish group.

The silent n'itnesses of their past are t'heir greatest assets: temples-, cemeteries, literature fall suppoited by the state-C.R.A. Ir.]. The small congregations-far from being persecuted by the Government-are treated like rare specimens. And rare_ specimens they are indeed prooff] to the outside r,i'orl.d that [the GDR] is indeed the most anti-Nazi government in Europe; that Jews are being helped and encouraged; and that religion is not p.rse"ut"d in East Germiny" (pages

213.214\.

Heinz .Abosch's Menaee of the Miracle remains the best all-around account of West Gernany at hand.

It is a brilliant. fundamental historl'

35

A1\TI.SEMITISM

WHITE RACXSM

30-37st LII'-E SUBSCRI PTIOI.S TO JEWISH CURREI\TS Your forthright stand and correct evaluation of the Israel-Arab question deservesthe support of all progressivepeople. Our support in the form of a life subscription for $200 is enclosed.

Invtxc ANDErHEr- GnrpNernc Flushing, lV.Y., Sept. I o all progressive NTS for life? For us-for Why not Jrwtsu Cunnn: Jews. Enclosedis our check for $200.

Rurn ANDARTHURVoGEL New York, Sept. B and analysis. (It is to be hoped that the 1962 edition will be revirss'd for current cotntuent.) Abosch. a West German journalist, deals in basics and his solid research forms the ground' work for innumerable profounC in' siehts. *H" put his finger on the fundament of today's West GermanY when he observed: "The young louts who daubed swastikas on synagogues are the inevitable product of this official [Bonn] reconciliation with the past: the swarms of ex-Nazis in responsible positions, of generals and judges once in the SA, professors who once t;rote weighty tomes in support of racism, of bishops who prayed for Hitler . . .

10 -vears of hypocrisy and consciously organized obscurantism were bound in the end to bear poisoned fruit . . .

[Bonn's] whole policy tended in this direction" (p. 201).

He also scored a cogent point when he showed that it is West Germany -not East Germany-which is purely the product of an artificial manufacthe impulse to create a ture: ".

W'est German state came, not frorn within the country, but from outside.

All the great nations of the world are the result of profound political movements, of moral revolutions or llopular upheavals: WesI Cermanv $'as brought into being on orders frorrr abroad, under foreign fcapitall donr-

36

ination and within the strategical framework of the Cold War. The latter s t a n r-is p e di t w i t h i t s s e a l " ( p . 2 8 ) .

It easy to forget this basic truth.

The implication of course is that t'here is much unfinished business left in West Germany, business which may yet have painful consequences. Perhaps it is not inappropriate to end with a grim observation which appears in the re-issue of the classic Berlin Diary. William L. Shirer made this observation at a hotel in Bad Saarow, a health spa outside of Berlin, on April 2I, 1934 (almost nine years 'Warsaw to the day of the immortal Ghetto uprising ! ) : "Taking Easter off . . . hotel here mainly filled with Jews . we are a little surprised to see so many of them prosperine and apparently unafraid. I think they are unduly optimistic."

In Loving Memory of SAMUEL DAT/ID GILL who alrvays worked towards a world of peace and freedom Mirinm, the Child,ren and Family Los Anseles

New York

Jnwrsn Cunnuurs

rg!t{IS disgusting. vicious rvhite racist It ' cartoon appeared in Der ToghI or gen lurnal (Day-l euish. I ournal), the Yiddish daily, on Sunday, Aug. 27 in the magazine section. The revolting figure at the right, rvith its horrible caricature of an African-type face on the body of sorne fanciful aninral with clarr,s and a tail, is labeled "SnickBlack Power." This creature is cranking an old phonograph out of whose IS the anti-Semitic cartoon horn comes what is described as TIHIS I that appeare'd in the June-July "Anti-Israel Propaganda." At the left .SNCC lVewsletter, illustratin;,; the is a figure of an Arab about to put a r:enterspreadof the tabloid, headlined: ne\,v record on the turn-table; the ''Third Pales- record is entitled "Jew-Baiting." The World Round Up-The line Problem: Test Your Knowledge" caption below reads: "He has someone ( s e e o u r S e p t . i s s u e , p . B ) . T h e c a r - from lvhorn 1s lssr'n?'-that is. SNCC loon shows the "Jew-Money" Power is learnins Jew-baiting from the Arabs.

'Ihis t Star of David around a $ sign ) lynchcartoon is a nasty. chauvinist reing Nasser and Muhammed Ali action to the anti-Semitism in the tCassius Clay) while the Thir'd World SNCC cartoon. n'ields the sword of the Liberation We call upon all those Jews who \'Iovement to cut the noose. This is properly scored the anti-Sernitism in "classical" anti-Semitic propagan'daup- the S/VCC l{ewsletter (Theodore Bikel, rlated. Its messageis that world Jewry Harry Gol'den, the Anti-Defamation is strangling the Arab world and the League, the American Jewish Congress, \merican Negro-typical anti-Semitic etc.) to condernn this rvhite racist carlies. This cartoon dorninates the page. toon in this Yiddish dailv an.d to sive lls lnessage is reinforced b,v other their conderrrnation the sarne curre-ncy rrrrti-Semiticand anti-Israel statements. thel' save the criticisrn of SNCC. oCTOBER. L967

?t7

LUhIER 011ISRAEL (Continued t'rom page 13.) assured only throueh reconciliation zThe with its neighbors. need for a reversal of the present Israeli foreign policy," he writes "is more crucial than ever, and especially with regard to the Arab refusee problem."

This problem has been placed even more directly in Israel's lup by the fact that the newly occupied Arab territories contain the vast majority of the L9+7-M refugees and their children. Surely the time has come for an Israeli initiative that could bring nearer a settlement with t'he Arab countries and beqin to renovate a moral imase staine'd with anti-Arab racism.

Lunier is on solid ground when he calls for a policy of compensation or repatriation-the solution probably lies in a cornlination of both.

WE REPOR|Ian.

L-Sept. 78

Fund,Driae New Subs Creater New York $7,866.50 I17 Los Angeles 2,73L.UJ 56 Miami Beach 1,346.50 16 Chicago 890.00 7 Ilpper Calif.

251.50 19 Philadelphia 231.85 5 Upper New York 211.00 5 Pittsburgh & Pa. 121.00 3 Massachusetts 120.00 4 New Jersey il6.00 I0 Wisconsin 102.00 N[exico 100.00 3 Wash. D.C.-NId. 89.00 3 Puerto Rico 85.00 I Arizona 55.00 Canada 52.00 3 N{ichigan 40.00 2 Missouri 34.00 Connecticrrrt 28.00 2 Nebraska 25.00 Colorado 25.00 Rhode Islanrl 18.00 Ohio 15.00 I Oregon 6.00 Minnesota 4.00 Texas

o J

TOTAL

$14,563.35

The author is also on soli.d ground in opposing all annexations. However, in demanding restoration of the status quo ante, he is holding to a position that the Soviet Union it:elf has, aI least on the diplomatic level, begun to modify. Toward the end of the special UN General Assembly session the Soviet delegation was reported ready to support jointly w,ith the United States a compromise resolution calling for Israeli withdrawal to the previous armistice lines in return for Arab abandonment of the state of rvar they have maintained against Israel for nearly 20 years. The Arab delegations refused to accept this compromise. It seems to me that this prolrosal is a minimal quid pro quo iI the next act in the Arab-Israel drama is to mark a break with the tragedy ,cf the past.

RUSH FUNDS OI\ EMBRGEl\CY BASIS Fund

$25,oOO $ 14,563 l,0oo 260

Drive

Have only New Subs Have

only Get

Sub

a

Give

e

to a a a a a ONLY

Sub

NOW! NOW

son or rlrrulihter friend neighbor library public figure E4 A YEAR

Send your contribution to the Fund Drivc to Jswrsn Cunnunrs, Dept. P., 22 E. 17 St., Suite 60I, New York, N. Y. 10003.

Jrwrsn Cunnrxrs

READERS'FORT]M OI\ ISRAtrL TIIR ouerwhelming majority ol our readers support ow position on the Israel-Arab war. Howeu_er,_there is also ol iourse sonle'd,issen^ti therelore enla,rged the Lerters from Readers to this specinl Y" !or?

Readers'Forum on Israel.-Ed. Disagreesq

l\apalnt?

It is sad (although not too surprisitg) to see the extent to which your Yiddish nationalism has carried you and Jnrvlsn Cunnnxrs. But I must admit I was startled to read in the first line of your editorial, "Having won a just war. . ."

For the record, I am completely opposed to U.S. and French arms to lsrael, and just as much opposed to USSR arms to Egypt (and lndia !) but to justify the Israeli war as ju,st!

Let me ask you just a few questions: I ) Is it not true that, from the outset, lsrael has willingly served as a tool of American imperialism vis-a-vis the Arab world?

2) Is it not true that practically every year (sometimes more than once a year) Israel, since its establishment, has raided Arab territorv (with not a few casualties among Arab women and children) and illegally increased its own territory thereby? (Look up area statistics in any almanac !) And what about the million and a half refugees from our Chosen People's state (perhaps3 million norv!).

3) Is it not true that Israel has opposed all African liberation movements in recent years? Algeria is a good example.

4) Isn't Dayan one o{ the worst lrloodthirsty military types to be found ,rnywhere on this bloody earth?

5) Can a "just" war include incinerirting of the "enemy" with (U.S. pur,'hased) napalm? ! ( )CTOBER,L967

6) Hasn't the cocky government of Tel Aviv made it clear that a large part of its seized Arab lands are going to be kept as booty?

7) Can you find anything admirable in Israeli foreign policy since the very beginning?

I must admit that I have no love for any Zionists - even progressive ones.

Casry Siluer Spring, Md,. Iuly 2 iWe shall restrict ourselves only to comment on Number 5, about napalm.

We agree with I. Ir. Stone (VeeEly, July 3) that "Israel's use of napalm must lie heavy on every Jewish conscience." We also knolv that the lerusalem Post reported June 6 that the Egyptians had droppe.d napalm on Kibbutz Ein Hamifratz near Haifa. We trust this knowledge will lie heavy on the consciences of the Egyptiani, as must the fact, verified by the International Red Cross, that Egyptian troops have used poison gas against Yemenites.-Ed.l Renewa\

Pl,us-

I started writing this on Independence Dav. but mixed emotions re the Arab-Israel crisis seem to freeze clear thinking out of all the confusing pros and cons. Yes, I've read editor Schappes' WBAI broadcast of Muy 30, also the material dealt with in Nlay, June and especially the JulyAug. issue. But how could it be otherwise. since this horrible situation has been allorved to build up over l9 yearsl

39

I fervently hope and pray that despite many revulsions and convulsions" the hostility n'ill abate becausejust anrl humane nesotiations n'ill nin out.

And right on our cloorstt:ps, Los Angeles is still in the state o[ shock it suffered because of the polir,6 lrrutality of last June 2lJ. lvhen pe.r(:emarchers tried to cottlrorrt LBj at the l)enrocratic hucksters' $500 plate dinner !

And the rnarchers rvill continue until Vietnam is fre': of t.S. imuerialism.

Corning back to the Israel-Arab war" I rvas also taken aback when I rea.d your ad in the July I National Guardian., "L)o lou think the l,eft is o1:posed to Israel?" While you rnay have inserted this to attract readers to JnlvtsH CuHnnnrs, rea.ding the rest o,f the ad made nre {ee[ that in this ad you \,\'ere de{endins \,our position about the Israeli side. It made me feel funny. lW" rvere challenging the misconception that the Left as a whole was opposing Israel.-Ed.]

JEW'SH CURRFIITS EXCLUSIVE SPECIALFEATURES, ARTICLES FROM ABROAD, NEWS OF AMERICAN. ISRAEL, WORLD JEWRY exciting monthly rssueS Delivered in the mail1 Years . $4.0c 2 Years c $7.00 3 Years . $10.00 O u f s i d eU S A ,a d d $ l Per year JEWISH CURRENTS 22 E. 17 St., Suite 601 New York, N. Y. 10003 E n c l o s e Cf l n d $ o r d e r o r c a s h .S e n d Name Address City.

40

Ile that as it Inal, I'm enclosing a {or $10-$7 to cover a two year cl-rec,k sub renewal, plus $li contribution. . . . l/enice, Calil., .luly l0 Harntq Ross Kibbutz

Casualties

Enclosed is a check for $9. This n ill pay up our one-year subscription. and also renew my Israeli cousin's subscription for another year. They' like it very much. I am delighted that they in Israel are getting it. Please continue to send it to them at Kibbutz N{ishmar-Haemek. It is heartbreakinsjost four most indeed that ther- just -out peopie of the kibbutz rvonderful and many lvounded.

F. B. R. I(onstts City, luly It) "In

Full

Agreernenf'

Just a few nords to commend you an.d the sta{T for the latest issue o{ the masazine.

I u* in full agreement with your position on the \{icldle Ea t. I am completell. at a loss, to put it mildly, at the position laken by sonre of ottr people in relatiun to lsrael. It's very discouragine.

MAnrrN Jorr-p Chicago, luly l0 I)iscontinues

Sustainer

I am remirs. When I read Jplvtsu Cunnorlrs. I find I disagree, but although I have dra{ted a letter or two I have failed to rnail them. Horvever, at this tirne I can no longer be passive.

I have many tirnes objected to your strong{ nationalist view. It seenred to check, moneyme that you expected the Soviet Union Year Sub to: to be "a little more concernedu'; it seemed to me that you failed to recognize that nationalism is but a step to a people's rvorld. I am of the opinion State........-.. and belief that the working peoples all over the world have nrore in common

JnwlsH CuRRenrs

than the artificial boundaries of language and 'oculture." I believe that the "powers that be" encourage this n a tionalism to divide and Jonqu"r. I f people in the Soviet Union want to lose the nationalist view and are working at it, they are on the road to a better lifeNo ole says life is peaches and cream there but they are certainly rnaking their own deitiny. And ho# many_of us Jews keep the-',traditions,, 1nd how many inlerpretations are there in these "traditions.', I am a Jew-but first I am a worker, a mother. etc., before f am a Jew. Your present position on IsraeliArab situation is heartbreakins. \jothing is said about oil, or CIA\|!

All you seem to know is Israeli ,.statehood," which f am sure you know was never in jeopardy since lirael's alliance \vas an imperialist one with the U.S. lnd Western Germany! Rather it is the

Israeli and Arab workers who are in jeopardy.

I have been a $15 a year sustainer for many years but I now find that I cannot in good conscience support your policy. I am. therefore, continuing as a regular subscriber to the magazine. I am still in,terestecl in yhul you say. Enclosed is my check for $,1,for one year's subscripiion.

Nlantrn J,tcxsoN The Bronx, N. Y ., Iuly L2 fSince_Mrs. Jackson, a long-time ancl valued sutrscriber an.d sustai.rer, has decided to renew her subscription, we hope we can still "reason togeiher."

First, Mrs. Jackson coulcl not have read our July-Aug. materials on the Israeli-Arab iituation very attentively if she can write: "Nothing is said about oil or CIA!!!"

The fact is that we spoke about both on pages 14. and 16 of the July-Aug. issue. We wrote: "W.e have continually opposed United States

ROSH HASHONA GREETINGS FromFriendsof KihhutzYsdHsna Help in the $25,000 Rehabilitation Campaign of the Almost DestroyedProgressiveKibbutz yad Hana! $151000 already raised from all over the country. $l0,o0o

MORE NEBDED!

Send your own contribution today.

Speakto your family circle, shop-mates Members of your society,community center Make checks payable to:

FRIENDS OF KIBBUTZ YAD HAI{A AwcHur,Lrvlxn, Secretary 3121 Brighton Sth St. Brooklyn, N.Y. 11235 ( )(:ToBER, 1967

4L

policy on the Nliddle East because it is based on oil-imperialism and Cold War strategic needs rather than on the needs of the Arab states, the State of Israel or the principle of peaceful coIn our May issue, we existence. exposed the role of the CIA in the Middle East, showing that it was operating on both sides orf the street, financing anti-Israel propaganda in the Israel and in the USA, working in'We may add that the Arab States. . . ."

CIA would of course be operating among Arab chauvinists as well as among Israeli chauvinists. The CIA functions in Syria as well as Israel.

Mrs. Jackson is also sure that 'statehood' "Israeli . . . was never in jeopardy . . ." Because the Israelis won the war so swiftly and decisively, many tend to forget the real and terrible danger of destruction that the people and State of Israel knew and felt they faced. In the ll[orning Freiheit Jwre 29 in Yiddish an'd July 9 in English there was reprinted from an Israeli communist newspaper an article, "Was Israel in Danger of Being Wiped Out in 'Holy'War'?"

by Dr. A. Berman, one a

A PIGTORIIIHISTORY OF THEJEWSIlI AiIERICA

by Morris

U. Schappes

revised and enlarged edition, foreword by the Rev. Dr. David De Sola Pool.

Postpaid in U.S.A. $7.50 With a one-yearsub ($a) t o J E W I S H C U R R E N T S$10.00 A L S O A V A I L A B L E : R E P R I N TO F N E W C H A P T E R , F U L L Y I L L U S T R A T E D 2, 4 P A G E S , L A R G E S I Z E , P A P E R B A C K ,$ I Send check, cash or money order lo: , ept.P,22 E. l7 St., J E W I S H C U R R E N T SD Room 601, New York, N. Y. 10003

42

of the leaders of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and now chairman of the Anti-Nazi Alliance in Israel. Dr. Berman quotes a sampling of the _contin' uing threats of destruction and exter' mination that came unremittingly from Arab leaders in May and June. For in' stance, Iraqi Pres. Abdul Rahman Arif, acldressing on June 2 the soldiers he was sending to Jordan for the war against Israel, declared: "The creation of Israel is a fatal error. Now this error must be rectified. The Arabs and all the Moslems must, in the name of God, protect the holiness of Islam and correct this error. We now have a glorious opportunity to wipe out our dis' srace ii rqag. We have suffered from ihi. disgrace for 20 years. Now the moment has arrived to wipe out our shame. With God's help we will meet shortly in Tel Aviv and Haifa." And Dr. Berman comments, "This is the 'anti' true {ace orf the so-called Arab imperialisrll,' B blind, zoological hatred of the people of Israel." And Dr. Berrnat asierfs: "There is not the slightest doubt that the war which we live'd through these past days was a defensive war, a war for the existence of the State of Israel and for the physical continuity of our people."

Mrs. Jackson rejects our views as American progressives "nationalist." have a double standard, apparently, about "nationalism." Thus Freedom' wa,ys, A Quarterly Review o{ the Ne' gro Freedom Movement, early this year printed an excellent statement by Os' sie Davis, the militant Negro dramatist, actor and freedom fighter. In the course of rejecting anti-Semitism, Mr. Davis wrote: "You see, I consider my' self a Black Nationalist, and proud to be one . . . but not a Black racist." An.d so far as we know there has been no criticism in internationalist circles of Mr. Davis' announcing he is proud to be a nationalist. It is s'ood that the term

Jowrss CuRnuxrs

nationalist is not simply a term of being a worker and being a woman, abuse when applied to the Negro peo- or being a worker and being a mother? ple, or to the Arab people. But in ref- Could she, would she, sacrifice mothererence to Jews the term is still used hood to workerhood, or workerhood to only as a whip. motherhood? Would she not struggle Nevertheless, we deny that we are against anyone who tried to force her simply "nationalists." We are proto make such choices,? Similarlv lye gressive American Jews rvho integrate reject attempts to compel a choice betheir Jewish identity and Jewish con- tween a progressive international outsciousness rvith an international out- Iook and a progressive American Jewlook. ish outlook. We refuse to sacrifice one Mrs. Jackson writes i ". . . first I am t-o the other; we insist on integrating a worker, a womane a mother, etc. be- the two. Only dogmatists out of touch fore I am a Jew." Since she was born with present reality can deflne this as simultaneously a woman and a Jew, reactionary nationalisrn. - d'd.] what can it mean to say. "I am a w0man betore I am a Jew" or "I am an On the Arab Relugees American belore I am a Jew" or 'oI am irn internationalist belore I am a Jew"?

The editorial on Israel-Arab neso(See our pamphlet, Jewish ldentity: tiations in your July-Aug. issue is w6nllialogue with lewish Youth, for dis- derful in its views on the situation and cussion of such points.) Mrs. Jackson the clarity of expressing those views. rvas born an American Jewish woman; However, _it is very disturbing to me then she became a worker and a to find that Jrwrsn Cunnnxrs soes rnother and a progressive. We believe in integrating all these aspects of a person's rdentity, not in having to, or in vainly tryins to, choose rvhicfr comes In Loving Memory of first or second or third. We do not believe that in our historic period an DORA EDID international outlook requires that people give up or sacrifice iheir ethnic or national identitv. Could Mrs. Jackson died Aug. LB,1967 rnake an intelligent choice between

aged65 In Loving Memory of DORA BRIN who died July B, L967 Louis Brin and,Family Los Angeles

devoted to peace progress and progressiveJewish culture

emory Of :REENBERG and Lil adelphia ocroBER, L967

Rachmiel (Rubie) Edid New York

along with I. F. Stone on his views of the Arab refugeesituation.

I am enclosins an article from a -lThe local publication Calit'ornia leuish Voice], which states the facts of the refugee situation as I have known them for manv "I.vears. It does not seem possible that F. Stone or Jowlsn Cunnrilrs does not know these facts.

Assuming that these facts are known to you, for what reason can you disregard them or not believe them? I would like to know.

IN MEMORY OF TESSIESHENKER died, I,rtg.27,1967 partisan of peace, progress and progressive Jewish culture Morris U. Schappes My deepest sympathy to

AtvrvE

on the loss of Frank her beloved husband my dear friend

DAVID

In Memory of Our belovedaunt

In I.'he Voice the article says that in the War of Independence "Israeli Jeaders used every public relatiou means to persuade the Arabs to remain in their homes and become part and parcel o'f Israel." I wish to a.dd that a person close to me living in Israel at the time of the l9,tr8 war and still living there, told me that loud speakers were used in the streets bv the Israelis urging the Arabs to stay and to live in peaceful coexistence. But the Aralr leaders rvere using loud speakers in the streets urging all the Arabs to leave, to leave all their belongings, as they rvould be away only one week. during which time all the Jervs rvould be killed and they, the Arabs, could then come back and appropriate the belongings of the Jews.

I would also like to refer to Stone's statement that "a kindred people was made homeless in the task of finding new homes for the remnants of Hitler's holocaust," and add one word which he omitted. He omitted the word "murt'kindred" derous" between and "p"op1.." Also I would like to state that it is a lie to say that these people were made horneless. They made themselves homeless. It is also a lie to say that the area was needed for the Hitler victims since it is a fact that there was room for all and still is for people who want to work and not iust sit around.

LEAH ZILBERT

Yeta, Helen and Hy New York

M

BUYING SERVICB W'e shall be glad to get for you any book or record iesued in the USA mentioned in lewish Currents. Send us your eheck or cash and we ehall sent it to you postpaid. Add 15 centr for Pap'erbacke.

JEWISH CURRENTS 22 E. 17 St.. New York f0003

Jrwrss CuRnuurs

How can he say that now is the time to be magnanimous on the part ,,f the Israelis when he knows and t'verybody knows that the Arabs reluse to even talk with Israel?

How Jnwrsu CuRRENTScan go along rvith such thinking is very hard for ttte to understand' Sene GBnsr Los Angeles, luly 17 [The article in the Calilornia tewish I/ oice presents only one part of the picture about the origin of the Arab refugee question. Arab chauvinists are wlgng in holding Israel alone responsible for it. Zionists are wrons in liolding only the Arabs themselv& responsible._The fact is, as we have frequently stated in our pages, there were three factors that created the Arab refugee exodus.

First was the fact that the British, before surrendering their Mandate on VIay L4, 1948, were calling on thc Arabs to leave Palestine because, without _British protectors, they would be at the mercy of the Jewsl Secondly, tfre A_rgb Higher Committee, headed by the Hitler collaborator, the Mufti, urged the Arabs to leave Palestine lest they get caught in the crossfire of the impending war; the Mufti promised the Arabs they would return very soon becausethe Arab invasion would-quickly drive the Jews out. But then'some extremist Zionist gloups, headed by llenahem_ Bei_gin and th-e lrgun, played into the handi of the Britiih u"a th" r\rab propaganda by such acts as the ,\pril, l94B "rnassacre of 25A men,

U pholst"era Craftsman: ReVebbing _& Repairs done in your bome. Reupholstery, slipcovers, drapes, foam nbber cushioning.

Serving all NYC boros. Fraternil attention. Tel.: [fY 3-8899.

Ocronnn, L967

RESERVETHE DATE December 10, 1967, 2 P.M. JEWISHCURRENTS ANNUAL CONCEITT Brooklyn Academy of Music

women and chiltlren in the peaceful Arab village of Deir Yassin perpetrated by the Irgun and the Stern group. . ." (A. B. Magil, Israel irt Crisis, International Publishers,N. Y., 1950, pages 120 and l4,6ff).

News of such actions by the Irgun o,f course led lnany Arabs to pa"ic flight, and the public appealsof Jewish leaders cited by Mrs. Gerst, by her friend in Israel'and by the Caliiornia Iewish Voice could noi undo the damage done by the Jewish terrorists.

Therefore the State of Israel shares responsibility for the existenceof the refugee question and must, as I. F. Stone pointod out. begin seriously to work for a solution io it-even' belatedly.-Ed.l Notiee of the

to Fortner Cemeterg

l|lelrnbers lDepolrttnent

l n c a s e o f d e a t h i n t h e f a m i l y , p l e a s eb r i n g with you the deed of the qiave plol ourchased from the Cemeieiy Department.

W e w i l l t a k e c a r e o f e v e r y + h i n g ' w i l ht h e leasl irouble to you.

f. J. Morris,

fne.

97OI CHURCH AVE.,BROOKLYN Tel.: Dl 2-1273 In HempsteadL. 1.,Tel. is lV 6-2500 Chapelsin everypart of the city

45

.A.rnateur DraUSSR: The Birobiiljan matic Collective, which won first prize in the recent All-Russian dramatic contest, ltas J e w s i n l r u b S'tlu' rtitb' rtiri r.r a. l . I n T u n i s I u I y 31 the trlilitrrrv s e n t e u c e d5 4 p e r ' - been elevated to the rank of a Peoirle's 'l heater by the iVlinistry ol Culture of the sons to ol(. l() 20 lears in prison for takrnli p a r t i n a r r t i - Je i v i s h r i o t s J u n e 5 , w h e n L itsl'S't. l'he group is now preparing prosynagogue rvas burned down, Jewish shops ductions o{ Emanuel Kazakevitch's MiLk and Honey and Sholem Aleichem's "200,000." . . . were looted and there were attacks on the British and US Embassies.All 54 pleaded Sholem Aleichem's llandering Srar in July guilty. Of the 23,000 Jews in Tunisia June was performed in Russian by ttre Cher5, about 8,000 left Tunisia during the sum- n o v t s y ( C h e r n o v e t s ) O l g a K a b i l a n s i i a X l u s i cal-Dramatic Theater.

The Kovno mer. .

In Morocco the opposition right(Kaunas) Anrateur Yiddish I)ramatic Enrving Istiqlal party conducted a boycott of t h e j 1 0 , 0 0 0J e w s i n t h e c o u n t r y , d e n o u n c e d semble performcd at the summer resort of its Ziorrisls for sympathizing with Israel. J'alarrgc, Lithuania i July 24, Ior the perfor-tttarrcer-rf illirele Eiros 600 crowded a . l t r ly ( l t l r e ( l al r i n r : t c o n r l e n r n e dt h c b o y c o l l 'r'ritttitnrl as a acl." Next rluv lht: NIoror:r'an llrcalcr holtling 400. The group also perL a b o r U n i , r r l , ' r , r l t ' r ' l r l i o.n' r i l l c , l a g r . n , , r a l f , r r r r r e r lN ' l i k l r o e l s ' F r e i l e c h s . .

Aug. 15, 'I'isha s t r i k e a g a i r r s l l l r c g o l ' e r r u r r t n l . w i t l r t l r e lor lJ'Av (9th of Av), commemorats e c r e t a r yg t r r c r a I o l ' I l r r , I " r r r l t ' r i r, ,l r r ,\ l a l r . i , , r r l r ing the destruction of the temple in JerusaB e n S e d r l i c k , r l t ' r r , , r t r r c i r rl lgr c g , r ' r ' r ' n r r r l r r l ' s lenr in 586 ts.C.E., the N'Ioscowradio "Progl'css and l'eace" had a program in Yid" c o n s t a t t I a n r l t t t t r ' , r t t r l i l i 0 t i lst lu l ) l ) ( ) t ' l( ) l ' l I h a n d f u l o f Z i o n i s t g r l o v r r l i r l r : r r l s . f"r r l y I L dish and Hebrew on the history of this anB e n S e d r l i c k u u s s o r l r , r r c l r l I o l l l r r r o n t h s . cient Jewish memorial duy and reported 'l'ntrLr that in Jerusalem thousands of Jews will T h e W o r l d l " t : r l c t ' r t l i r trt , [ Ilniorrs in Lre going to the Wailing Wall. At the end, P r a g u e p r o t es t c r l I l r r : r r r t ' r ' s t .r \ l r r a l r a r n S er the radio commentator scored Israeli DeI a L y , a J e w i s l r r : t t g i t t r , r 'irr r t l r c N ' l i n i s t r y o f fense Minister Gen. Moshe Dayan. . . . The Industry ancl t\lirrr.s,rrrarlc a statrrnenL itr N. Y. Post July 11 and /[. Y. Times Aug. 11 t h e l e f t - w i n g r v r : , ' k l r .. l l K i l u h u l V u t t a n i , s u p p o r t i n g t l r r : , , \ r l l r c l r r r s r :a n r l d c s c r i b i n g reported that Moscow hotel and restaurant bands have found the Hebrew song, Haua Israel as a "Nlz.i strrtr'."

Irr Iratl the g o v e r n m e n t l r u n r r r , , l t l r r . r v r i t i n g s o f J e a n - Nagi.la, very popular with their audiences. . July 27 the Soviet government inP a u l S a r t r t : a t r , l . S i r r r . r r er l e l i c a u v < - l i rJ u n e I b e c a u s e o l ' t I r r , i r s t i l l e n l c n I s u p p o r t i n g formed the West German embassy that ( ) Soviet files on Nazi war crimes were now I s r a e l . . . . . fr r l r Ilrr, governrncnt said it available to West German prosecutors (as would boy<'oll go,rls Irorn Iiomania, USA, ( i c r r n l n y England arrrl Wlst f o r s u p p o r t i n g have been the files in Poland, Czechoslovakia and East Germany) In Riga, Latvia, I s r a e l . E t ' o r r o r r r i r ', l t r : r c c s w e r e i s s u e d r e early in Aug. two Latvians were convicted s t r i c t i n g l l r e r i g l r l s o f . fc r v s l o o l l l a i n m o r t g a g e s o n l r i r r ; i l r t r r r l ( ) r l r r r i l r l i n g sa n r l l o of ryar crimes against Jews and others uns e n d m o t t r : y i t l , r , , l , l . ' l ' l r c l i l ( ) , ( X X. )f r : w s i r r der Nazi occupation in 1941. Jan Ladzins was sentenced to death and Felix Ulpe to I r a q i n 1 9 4 , 7l r r r r c , l r l i r r r l l r : rtl o l l - , 1 , . 0 0 0 . ln Alita, Lithuania, eariy in I n E g y l r t , a c r ' , , r r l i r r gl o i r L t ' , l l o n l e ( : o r r o - J 5 y e a r s . ( r 0 spondenlArrg. 22. llrorrt l ) o r c ( ' n l o f t l r e July Vladas Karpavicius was sentenced to In Glim a l e J e w s \ r ' ( ' r cs l i l l i n c r r s l o r l vi r l ' t e r l r c i n , r <leath for similar war crimes 'l'lrr' Ukraine, S. Velicasto lvas sentenced to r o u n r l e r lt t p . lt t r t r '5 . . fc r ri . l r 1 , , , p r r l a t i , r r lrov, r In Alma Ata, is over 2.(XX).

I r r l , i l r y a l n l i - . f c r v i s l rr i o t s tlcath for war crirnes. .

Kaz.akhstan early this year the historian against llte ovcr 4,ir00 Lilryun .lcws l,,rl t,t 2 . 5 1 0 r0, f t l r e n r f l t ' r ' i r r gt o I t a l y l r y . I u l y 2 1 . \lalik Kabirov published a monograph on I he rnodern culture of the Uighur people Comntotul ol NATO Forces in Europe (there are 60,000 Uighurs among the Kawill go in Jan. to West German Gen. Albcrr zakh poprrlation of 9,310,000. He reports Schnez, the Bonn Defense Ministry anthere are 60 schools now giving tuition in nouced June 20 whlle Der Spiegel June 19 the Uighur language ancl a department of indicated he had a Nazi record as a WehrUighur sturlics at the Institute of Linguismacht officer under Hitler. While servins in tics of rhe Kazakh Academy of Sciences.. . .

Poltava, Ukraine in l9M he reported-his In Russian translation, the N{oscow pubsuperior oflict'r for making anti-Nazi relishine house, Progress, issued this summer 'lVehrmlcht marks. FIe wirs known to his a novel l-ry Israeli Hebrew writer, Mordecai associates as "l lir0 per cent Nazi." Gen. Avi-Shaul, Sr.uiss Metamorphoses, dealing c o r r r r r r r r r r l Schnez will 23 divisions of US, with Spanish anti-fascists.

B r i t i s h , C a n r r , l i r r r r .l l . l g i i r n . D u t c h t r - o o p s .

N{.tr. s.

ABROAI)

AT HOME '0. . . u'nless U.S. troops ure withdrawn' there will be disastrous consequences not only in Vietnam but throughout the world" is the conclusion of a Position Paper signed by 659 returned Peace Corps volunteers, one-eighth of them Jewish, who had served in Asia, Africa and Latin America, published in the Sept. Ramparrs. Those wanting to add their signatures may write to Committee of Returned VoLunteers, Box 380, Cooper Sta., N. Y. 10003. . . . Addressing a Hiroshima Day rally Aug. 5 in New York, Seymour L"oy, World War II Army sergeant and father of Capt. Howard B. Lev,y, told over 1,000 demonstrators for the with' drawal of U.S. troops from Vietnamn "This is the 63rd day of Howard's incarceration.

He'd be very lonely if he didn't have support such as yours." Capt. Lelry, sentenced June 3 to three years and dismissal from the army for refusing to give medical training to Green Berets and for advising soldiers not to serre in Vietnam, appealed Aug. 14 to the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va. for release on bail. The appeal was denied Aug. 28. .

After two weeks in Saigon, Drs. Herbert Needleman and Frank R. Ervin of the Committee for Responsibility to, Save WarBurned and War-Injured Vietnamese Children (777 U.N. Plaza, N.Y. 10017), reported South Vietnamese governmental red tape ruas thwarting their efforts (N.Y. Times, Aug. 15). Dr. Needleman said that, in civilian hospitals in the northernmosl combat zone, they saw flies crawling in patients' open wounds and that "Typhoid cases and other cases of other communicable diseases were placed in beds next to patients who had been operated on."

Four men) two of them rnentbers ol the John Birch Society, were arrested Aug. 23 in the Bronx, New York, charged with attemntins to murder Communist theoretician Dr. Herbert Antheker June 15 by rrlantinq a home-made bomb on the roof of 683 Allerton Ave., set to explode when he was

46

addressing a social club on the top story of that building. Weapons seized in the homes of the four arrested included an antitank gun, a submachine gun, 45 rifles, 14 handguns, 7 shotguns, dynamite and 250,000 rounds of ammunition. The four are held in $25,000 bail each for a hearing Sept. 15. . . . Last Oct., 19 Minutemen were arrested in Queens on charges that they planned to bomb left-wing headquarters; tons of weapons were seized. No trial has yet been held.

June 2L in Queens 17 Negroes l{ere arrested on charges of conspiracy to kill Roy Wilkins and Whitney M. Young Jr., civil rights leaders; an arsenal of weapons was also found in the homes of those arrested. A hearing is set for Oct. 24.

In Silaer Spring, MiL. IuIy 26 huge swastikas were painted on a sign defining the site of the Silver Spring Jewish Center; a slogan praising Nasser was painted on the sidewalk. No arrests have been made.

Aug. 4 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, the stained glass window of Hevra Torah Anshe Hesed synagogue was smashed, prayer books were torn up and other religious objects vandalized. No arrests have been made.

The Morymount Manhattan College Aug. 23 named Dr. Elaine S. Klein as its academic dean, the first time a Jew or any nonCatholic has had an administrative nost in a Catholic educational institution. . . . A-onn the 24 members of a citizens committeE appointed Aug. 9 by Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller of N.Y. to review state laws asainst discrimination and to ascertain wh"ether stronger legislation is needed are Murrav A. Gordon, vice chairrnan, American Jewish Congress; Nat H. Hentel. former Oueen,.

District Attorney; Henry Minkoff, chairman, L. I. Advisory Council, State Commission for Human Riehts; Gus Tvler" assisranr president, ILGWU, and Peter' Weiss, chairman, Manhattan Advisory Council. Human Rights Commission. . William Reivich, owner of Lew's Lamppost, Glassboroosleading men's clothing store, orqanized the Soviet friendship tour of Glassboro, N.J. residents.

Jrwtsn CuRnrrsrs

Ocronrn.1967

47

IIJEWISH GURRETTS'' READER ".

an excellentant hology of short stories,poemsand essays. . ."

London Jewish Chronicle " A qi fi of thi s Reader t o Jewish would ser ve or genti l e fri ends a s a m o s t v a l u a b l ei n t r o d u c t i o n. . fo the best of cont'empor^ary Ameri can non-rel i gi ou s, non- ZionistJewish thoughtand feeling."

Annelte T. Rubinsiein ". fresh, sfi m ulat ing t r uly relevant to ihe problems and interests of our duy . ."

Frederic Ewen, National Guardian

FOR JEWISHBOOK MOllTH lll llOYElrlBER THE PERFEGT 6IFT a

275 menorable

pages

De Luxe Gift Edition-$l0 Hard Cover-$S Paperback-$3 (In N. Y. C. add 5lo sales tax) Order lrom CURRENTS, I)ept. P JEVISH 228.17 St., Now Yorlc, N. Y. f0003

F I R S T I M EI N T H E U . S . A .

IDA KAMINSKA and the PolishYiddishStoieTheatre BILLYROSETHEATRE 208 W. 4l S+.,New Yorl

Jewish Currents Theotre Porty for WED.EVE.,OCT. 18 eeYlSSt'E EFROS"

by JACOBGORDIN "Mirele Elros," wrote Itche Goldberg, Dirertor, Service Bureau For Jewish Education, in Jewrsn CUR' RENrs(Jan. 1967), "is a classicplay 'golden period' of the of the first Yiddish theatie; it has the aura and prerogative of a tradition. Like most works of this type, there is a timelessnessto it. It reachesbeyond the problems of its day and stresses constantsin human relations. . . ."

TICKETS AVAILABLE IN FRONT AND REAR MEZZANINE AND FRON,T AI{D REAR BALCOI{Y Transistor Translationinto English at each seat at $L charge Send irquiries toz JEWISHCURRENTS Dept.P, 22 E. l7 S+.

New Yorl, 10003

Tel: WA +5740