Jewish Currents July-August 1974

tflhat Are"Palestinian Legitimate Rights"? anEDrroR 50c JU[Y. AUGUST,

rg74

lll THE "JEWS''

SIIUIET GREAT EI{CYCLtlPEDIA By IUIICHAEL MIRSKI

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SIIUIET JEWISH slTUATl0l{-1 974 An EDITORIAL

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ATIIIGHT By DOVID BERGELSON

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Readers Forum on Black-Jewish Relations

"Certrude Steilt" (lBT4-1946) by Iacques Lipclitz (1U91-197,i) bro:tze, 1920, ISt/z irr. high. I"ronr the Cone Collection, Thi l|aLtilnore hlusucnt ol Art. Courtesy WiIdenstein Gallery, N. l''. Exhibition, March 29-tlay 4 ('.seep. 27).

EMMATAZARUS' I25THAII]IIUERSARY

V r , l2. l l ,N , , T . t . i l t t t. l r r l 1 - A u g . , 1 9 7 4

illhat Are"Palestinian Legitimate Rights"?

EDITORIAI, B0ARD l ,o u t.sI Intrnt' ,(,'ttrt! r i l ttt!i .rt74 E di tor Sanr Prvzruurr Davru Pr.art Monnts U. Scueppr:s.IitJitor EuroRrar- AlvrsoRv CouNctr.: Max Gordon, A. B. Nlagil, Paul Novick, Isabel Pearlman, Billie Portnow, Sid Resnick, Max Rosenfeld, Dr. Annette T. Rubinstein, Dr. Jay Schulman, Yuri Suhl.

CONTENTS J-Ecttttul.tp Wnar ARp "PaTESTINIAN :i lllcnrs" ? An Editorial 4 OnsnRvlrroNsrN IsR,q,Er Herman,Pollaclt B Ir HappeNEDrN Isnanl. L . H .

Po e tnby l l orcuri l Osl u,i ttd l 0 Hnen, O Isnlrr.

An litlitoriul 11 Sovrul Jawrsu SrruauoN-197,\ " J Ew s " IN T H E G n u ,q r' 12 Sovtur Er t:vt:r.optrut n lL'|il'hucllllir:;l,i Ar Ntt;tt't' Slorr lrl l)oritl ll,'rg,'l.s,rtt f5 PRacur Rluro Bnoaocesrs Ar{rr-SuN{rlrt: t7 Art,rcrs or Zrorrsnr 1B T H r Eo rro n ' sl )ra n y I ' 1 .t . 5 .

A SnlucuoN oF Poovrslnn Pnosr; l ' ) t r t t t r t I t t : t t r t t . , 22 Tun llanulrt: l'ot'nr ltt' 'lttt,,rt l','. littlnturt 25 G n a N o p lC o rrr,;l l ' r r e t n l t l ' l ' l t r ' , , r 1 t , t , ' I ) t t . t l t t t t r u r ,25 N tt;u tt: A l " n n ' rn s r I u r i I ' r i t ' l 26 S nc uleR rs MA N DO u rr Il u l u ' r' A(;r,:l / r r . r ' / i r , . s ,;'tl , ' 1 , 1 .( , r r r . - t (lolttttrr I'r

I l s r o r r u e J u r J u w l s r rC o t r n r r i N n ' \ ,s./,.

M u v En L n v tn ' .sSti ,i l i r:rt l f t r i t r r Henrupr Wrnrry Antsrnnoant Nrlrs o u N 4 ,q n r.o ' r' Rneor ns ' F on u u o l B ra r:r-J u l v rs u R u tl ' t' ro rs Larrnns FRoMItr,rur,:ris A R o u n ur l l n W o r i r , n \ t . l . s CHINGE

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in New York. ISSN #US-ISSN-002r.6199 Copyright @ 1974, by JewishCurrenrs,l'c ''"iS$o 4lz

An EDITORIAL

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tJml$ fT IS not a palestinian I

national righ_t to perpetraie such murders as atkiryut _gfrimo"u eprit ll, Maalot May 25-o,- Kibbutz Shamir June 13. These are crimes that no anrount .of, political interpretation or socrotogrcal explanation ca! j ustify.

It is not a Palestinian leeitimaie national right to destroy, or iivocate destroying, the Jewish State of Israel.

As Morris U. Schappes wrote in his answer to Huey Newton Feb., Lg7I, "To call for the destruction of a state is imperialist tactics and smacks of genocide." (See our parnphlet. .,The Black Panthers, Jews- and Isiael,,50/ by mail.)

- However, Palestinians clo have a legitirnate national right to determine their own destiny, 6 have, if they wish, a state of their own that could co-exist with the State of Israel. It is this right that we have advocated since I)uu. ??, L947, when the UN General Assenrbly voted for two such states in Palestine, one Jewish, one Arab.

Had not the reactionary Arab rulers of I;;q, P8ypr. .(Farouk! ),'Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and other AraL states rejected the UN decision and rnade war against it, there would have been such a Palestinian Arab state for 26 years. Had not Jordan annexed the West Bank and Egypt seized the Gaza Strip, the territoiy would have been the major part of an Arab state.

No.*, 26 years and four wars later, , the right of the Palestinian Arabs to a state of their own is more obviously inalienable and is in fact now th; crucial issue in the progress toward just and enduring peac6, within the * framework of the U-.N. Securitv Ctrun_ cil Res. 242 of Nov. 29, 1967. Ever

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:il"g June, 1967, the progressive Jew_ ish forces in our .ountrf have linked their active campaigrr io. Res. 242 with the need foi thle Israeli sovern_ to.recognize the palestinian legitTent ir3raj.e rig}t to .self-deterrninatio.r, "i._ cluding the right to a state of their on'rr. buch a recognition by the Israeli government would have strensthened those Palestinian national forcL who want legitirnate rights and weakened those Arab chauvinists, among pales_ tinians and other.s,who calledl in one lv-a[ or_ another, {or the disrnantling of the Jewish State of l-srael.

One such proposal sought to disgulse rts reactionary essence in the demagogic for.mula of et Fatah for a ".democratic and non-sectarian pales_ tine in which Christian, Moslern ancl Jew will worship, work, live peacerights.',, As lully and enjoy equal P."hupp-"9explained irr his- reply ro Huey Newton, such a L,rogr;- re_ 'the quires the clestruction of State of Israel and could be enforc"d o.,ly by genocide. We mention this pol-emit with Huey Newton because just'yester{ay rve_received from his ofHce'in the Black Panther Party a new position paper on the Middle East, ..Tlie Issue ,,: Ng, Territory }ut l{uman Righrs.,, He has sent ihts statement to the Palestine Liberation Oreanization. headed by Yassir Arafat. NEwton now recognizes Israel's right to exist and calls for a Palestinian state to exist sicle by side with it. This advice from an outstanding Third World Ieader should help the P. L. O. re-orient its positiorr. Indispensable at this moment would be a statement by the Rabin governrnent recognizing palestinian legitinrate rights.

Observations ln Israel o

Before and During the tYom ha-Din'War

By HERMAN POLLACK

"Go and, see what the people are 'Eruvin I4b). saying" (Talmul:

from Hiltel at D EFORE t ,"tii"a ,fD the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Atg., L972, students, faculty, alumni and adult friends in the comrnunity presented my wife Sophie and me with a purse to visit Israel. Not only would this be our first trip to Israel, but our first trip abroad.

I"rom the outset we rvanted it known that we were not "tourists" but "pil'olim ba-derskh, that \s, gayen grims," tsu fus, "going on foot." There was some legitimacy to this t:laiut, sittce a good part of the time I limped as I walked because of the discom{ort in my right l"g. We also arrangerl to stay in modest quarters antl live as

sirnply as possible. It was our intent to spend as much time as we could talking lo'anshe ha-shuk, "the people of the streetn" so we could hear directly f rorn them what are their major concerns. We planned our schedule so as to be in Israel before and during Lhe yonr" loo season, fronr Sept. L4Oct. 20, L97:1.

Granted, ou. oiJ was to be critical, objective and analytical regarding our relations to Jewish life and Israel, but we must edmit that there were mo' ments when we were stirred to tears, such as on our landing in Tel Aviv on ,the El Al plane; the visit to the Kotel, the Western Wall and Yail ua' Shem, the Mernorial to the Heroes and Martyrs during the Nazi period.

We do not atternpt to number the varied scenesof sheer physical beauty.

Nor do we rvish to disrniss Israel's cultural and spiritual accomplishments, just to rnention: development of the Hebrew language and culture, interest in the Yiddish language and literature, establishment of universities, creation o{ the Jervish National University Librarv with its collection oI historic manuscripts, publitration of daily newspapers and l.rooks, encouragement given to the arts, sponsorship of museums, cliscovery and restoration of ancient lanclrnarks. Sulely such concel'ns have as their un.derpinning a senseof hisloly nrrrl a love of learnlllg' o

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W t , r ' i l r n r ,t o l s r i t c l i t t t l r e h e i g h t o f s te s p o k e t h e e l t : c t i o r cr i t t t t p l i g - r r . ' l ' h . r n to or visiLt:rlu ith in thcir' Itontes r e a r l i l y l e c o g t t i z e t lt h a t l s r a t t l l u t s l r t , e t t r n o v i r r gp o l i t i t ' a l l y t o " t l t e r i g h t " s i t t t , t : Hunrrax Por,r.q.crcis erneritus rabbi the 1967 Six-Dav War. Thev wele und ad,uisorol B'nui B'rith llilT Hillel, aware of the social cleavages'in Isleaclresat Boston Uniuersity, and is rael, the extrernes of poverty and afthe autltor of JewishFolkwaysin Ger- fluence, the real estate speculation and rrrarticl,trncls,1648-1806(MIT Press, rnountitt:r- inflation rvith lhe rising cost of iivitrg.

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Among those who made such observations \\'ere Israeli faculty members who r\ere previouslyvisiting professors in Arneiica and'form".'Hill"l students nolr, residing in Israel. Like our-selyss,th.t felt that socially progressive ideals and goals need'to be e n r p h a s i z e dm o r e .

Our point of reference was the ".L-estival of Kibbutzim and Moshavim" that rve visited in Tel Aviv the second day rve were in Israel. The various exhibits, which were dedicated to I00 years of sacrificial rvork on the part of pioneers and idealists, underiook to lxoject the social philosophy of A. D. Cordon and Ber Borochov, among others" relating to "the sanctity of labor," "the restoration of the land," "Lhe elimination of exnloitation of rnan by man" ancl "the creation of a classlesssociety." Our friends agreed with us that tlre kibbutz outlook is being eclipsed by that of "free enterprise" ,because of so-called practical rrecessity.

We ourselves carne flace-to-facewith the social conflict that rnust be taking place between the goals of cooperative living an.d private enterprise. As we came to Jerusalern, wâ‚Ź saw in the vicinity of the Hebrew University a sign reading: "Kiryat Wolfson-Givat Ram. Tourists ! Have a Foothold in Jerusalem,_F'or Sale Luxury Apartrnents." Also in Jerusalem, on King George Street, directly across from thi new synagogue (Bet lta-Kneset haGadol be-Yerushalayim) being erected, -built the Jerusalern Plaza is to be and is advertised as an "exclusive Iuxury apartment hotel" under the mana,gement of the Anglo-Saxon Real Estate Agency.

Israelis told us that opposition to high-rise apartrnents is growing. An Israeli official._with rvhom we spent some time" said to us before the Yom Kippu_r War: "Let us have security and then we shall tackle our social

Jurv-Aucrrsr,1974

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problems." I asked whether the two can be divorced and, for emphasis, I mentioned the social ideal bf the prophet Isaiah, that through -be the practice of justice will peace assured.

In a mor" *"n",:u, rvay, what were individuals saying before the war broke out? We heard both optimistic and pessimistic attitudes eipressed.

For example, there were those who were convinced of Israel's invincibility. As they spoke, they reminded one of the Midrashic parable in which Israel is likene.dto an olive: The more Israel is pressed. the more will it vield. Their mood of certainty might be compared to the ancient homi-ly: Israel is "the lily of the valleys whiih goes on blooming"; or l.rull is "a lily (a ro,se) among thorns." To be sure, fsrael's lot is not easy, but iust as the lily can grow amid i.uhbish or debris, Israel can overcome the oJrstacles presently hampering it.

On the other hand. there rvere those who sounded less optirnistic-perhaps pessimistic-and sorre may even say defeatist. Often we would hear: "Es i,z sluLer tsu zayn a Yid: It is hard to be a Jew." It becomes obvious that Israelis feel that they live in a friendless world. We heard it said repeatedly: since ancient times Israel has been "a people that had to dwell alone," and today, were it not rnainly for the Jervs of Arnerica, we Israelis would be left almost entirely to ourselves. Or it would be saidonically said by Israelis: "If we had the oil, the nations of the world would be giving us their support." Israelis stated further in this connection: "If it is our lot to suffer and struggle, \,-e are prepared to do so to th; bitter end, even like Samson arnons the Philistines or the martyrs of Masiada."

To Israelis, from whai we could learn, Massada is not symbolic of an act of futility in time of despair or hope-

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Services had not yet resumed. A crowd was sathered listening to the radio : War iiad been declarel; Israel was being attacked in the South by Egypt and in the North by Syria. We took our seats, when one o{ the choir members said: "Let us get back into the Yom Kippur spirit." We were told: "The reserves are being called into service. . . . If it is necessary {or you to go to the air-raid shelter, you will be directed. Just follow the person in charge." At intervals the news over the ra.dio woultl be shared with the congregation.

That night the black-out began. BY the time Yom Kippur services concluded, streets were totally dark; the bright moon guided us as we walked.

Buses were not running. Finally, we located a taxi to take us to the home of dear friends. In their home lights were out; only candles were burning.

Windows were being covered with shutters and curtains. As we sat around Again and againtr, *u, saicl: "Noththe table, everyone was glued to the ing moves on Yom Kippur; it is the radio. Two of our friends' children one day when everything come,s to a were called into the service. Also stand-still." However, throughout the seated at the table was another family. evening of Yom Kippur on Oct. 5, In the morning two of their children we heard autos driving at rapid be leaving to report to military will speed; in the early morning planes duty. The radio called this the War were flying overhead. As we went to of Yom ha-Din., "the Duy of Judgservrces, our suspicious were further aroused when we saw cars speeding ment," based on the lines recited dureastward. When the rnorning services ing the Yom Kippur service: ". . . who shall live and who shall die, who at were over around 1:30 P.M. we went measure of man's days and who the to our room to rest. ." Yes, the lines read before it.

Around 2 P.M. we heard a siren; survival was at though as ominously, we recognized the sound from World stake.

War II as an alert call. The siren While in Haifa, on Oct. L4, we aoain was sounded. We looked out of first heard that the Big Powers were our window and saw people on their calling for a cease-fire. I was prompted porches staring above. A few minutes to ask-: Why was war necessarY-with later we heard a knock on our door. its toll of death and destruction-be' A voice said: "Please, come downfore the Big Powers would under' stairs to the air-raid shelter." We take to arrange for Israel and Arab asked" "What is happening?" There nations to engage in negotiations? was no answer. We then decided to An Israeli mother, whose son was return to services. which were across in the army, rightly understood the the street.

lessnessbut of courage whereby those who were left in the fortress would rather die as martyrs than fall into the hands of enemies. Israelis would therefore say that Massada was not "suicide" but "a fight against tyranny." The Israelis we spoke to stated emphatically that under no conditions will they tolerate another Auschwitz to be led to the slaughter. Jews outside o{ Israel, so it was said to us, are not fully cognizant of this fact.

Admittedlr'. these views can be countered. Let it be understood, however, that one does not have to accept any of them as one's own position in order to understand what prompts the Israeli to think as he does. If world Jewry wishes to establish closer, nlore meaningful-and less casualties with Israel then these opinions must be recognized as having their roots in the demands of daily survival.

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SHANKER SLATE BARELY VINS HEATED ELECTION fN u record turnout of some 30/o oI eligible voters May 14, a slate r heavily backed by the united Federat]on of rea"herc won 5 out of 9 places on the School Board of Dist. 1, the Lower East Side of New York. In the 2l schoolsthere, 73% of the pupils are Hispanic, 20/o Black or oriental,.7/o _white_, but of the regisiered voters, only some 55% are white (mostly elderly Jews without children in thl schools).The UFT-backedslate made much of charses of anti-Semitism Sttd hostility to other ethnic groups against Scliool Superintendent Luis Fuentes; an investigation5y st-ateslhool authoritieshad substantiated the allegation-sbut ruled that a statute of limitations on thern had expired. But Muy 6 Victor Gotbaum, executive director of Dist. 37 of the State, County and Municipal Employees Union, endorsing the slate advanced by local parenis' groups, -He said: "I think the accusations against Fuentes are partly tiue. was an antiSemite. I haven't liked what he said. But he wants to live it down and I think he should be given another chance. . This cityu. has to learn by examplethat *"' h.rr" no future in being polarized. . ."

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underlying political factors of the war, when she said to us during a casual meeting: "Israel is not fighting the Arabs. The world powers are pit. ting the Arabs against Israel." It is our thought that Israelis and Arabs could live peacefully in coexistence.

Hence, I asked an Israeli professor of modern history if he could cite a single instance from the past when a nation that was the so-called victor could not negotiate with the so-called vanquished. He said that he dicl not know of such an example. Previously, I had posed the same question to a professor of history in the Boston area; the answer was the same. My own contention is that the American Jewish community, weakened over the years by "u shah-shah, apologetic position," did not have the moral strength and courage to appeal to world Jewry to join in reaching out to all lovers o{ peace and human rights to assure Israel's security. Over the years Israel became a project-too closely identified with philanthropy-rather than a cduse in behalf of which all rnen of social and ethical concern

Jur.v-Aucusr,1974

should become involved and engage in struggle.

Herein we are not implying Israel should be only "wedded to the United States"; efforts must be made to gain new friends. There should be no [esi. tancy in admitting Israeli officials alienated_ pro-gressive people by sup. porting the Vietnam War and by endorsing the election of Richard Nixon as President. As Israel, through a cri. tical examination of its outlook and policies, strives to gain more support for its ri,ght to eiist, it should re. emphasize that, along with survival as its goal, it is-eager to encourage and strength_e1_gtro{i to establish"peace in the Middle East.

We left Israel ,io auy, before the cease-fire was declared. More and more we thought of those who lost dear ones and are in grief. When we asked: When will there be peace?and the reply-was,o'In Meshiabh,'stsayten: In the days of the Messiah," we c,ould not be satisfied. Would not the time be too lone?

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Prernier-Designate Yitzhak Rabin's neu) cofllition goaernrnent was approved May 19 by the Labor Party Central Committee by 302 to i36, with six abstentions. The new coalition, considered more "dovish" than the previous one, includes Labor, Mapam, Labor-affiliated Arab parties, Independent l-iberals, and Mrs. Shulamit Aloni's new Citizens' Rights Movement. The new regime commands a slim majority of 6[ votes of the I20-member Knesset. The narrow margin of the Central Cornmittee vote for Rabin for premier, 298 to 254 for Inforrnation Minister Shimon Peres, who is affiliate.d rvith Moshe Dayan's Rafi sroup, sives Peres qreat power in the next cabinet, in rvhich Rabin, and Peres as the new Defense Minister, are likelv to Lre the strongest figures. The vote for premier showed considerable crossing-over- of Labor factional lines, indicating beginning in the creation of new alignrnents. . . June 4 the Knesset formally endorsed Rabin's cabinet of 19 members by a vote of 6l to 51 with 5 abstentions and 3 absent.

Of the 19, I4 are carry-overs. Shulamit Aloni of the Citizens' Rights Party is a Minister without Portfolio; Yigal Allon is Foreisn Minister. . . . World Jewish Congress Pres. Nahum Goldmann *u..rEd in Tel Aviv May 19 that the government should "stop bickering over a settlement or two" in its negotiations with Syria because peace is of ertreme urgency. "In four or five years." he said, "the Arabs will be so strong that they rvill not stoop to negotiations."

Shocking cleficiencies in tnany d.epartrnents ol tlrc Israel goaernrnent were expo-.ed in the annual report of Cornptroller Itzhak Nebenzahl in May.'fhis post-Yom Kippul War report revealed frightening negligence irr the annecl forces--ierit'rus deficiencies in the iepair and maintenance of trucks" tanks. half tracks and armored vehicles. and rnaintenance in the Air liorce and Navy. X{any aspects of o{ficial management came under severe criticism, together with incornpetence and negligence; in some departments, partiality toward moneyed interests, as in agreements with mortgage banks, rvhere ercessive income was allowed to banks and higher interest rates to the public.

Yerrthtun Meshel tctts el,ected Histidrut April secretttry-general 21 with the opposition of the left groups, Meri, Moked and Black Panther; Likud and Rakah abstained. A few central committee of 15 was also approved. . . . Although the Labor May Day holi.day has no leg,-alor national standing in Israel, the Histadrut continues to sponsor it and issues an annual proclamation to the workers for observance with the slogan" "I-ons live 'socialism: long live the solidarity among

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the workers of the world !" f)espite its non-legal status, May usually finds the country at a virtual halt for thJ day.

Duy

Ind'ustry is expanding in the kibbirtz rnouentent, toith the udd.ition of 22 new factories in the past year anrl an expected increase of,25 kibbutz factories this year. The investment in induitry in the kibbutzim now exceeds that in farming. . . . Religion is reviving in the kibbutzim, and the Histadrut religious department is prornoting the establishment ' of synagogues in kibbutzim.

A- soaiet delegation aisited Israel fo, ,t annuctl celebration in " restoration of cliplomatic May.of the victory over Nazism, a.rd prorrrised relations o'as soon as obstacles are overcome." . . . To their previou-s jamming of Israel broadcasts to socialist countries in Yiddish, Georgian 314 Russian, the Soviets have added jamrning. of transmissionJ ir, Hebrew, - Hungarian and Romanian Leopo--ldTrepper, legendary leader of the Soviet spy ring "Red orchestra" during-late World Var Ii, obtained Israeli citizenship, together with his wife, in April in Jer_usalem.Trepper n'as reiently allowed to leave Poland after a iorldw.ide campaign for his release. He is planning to go to Europe to write his _lutobiogr aphy.

Authentic neu' docutnents recently revealed

by Dr. Avraham Ber'ran and Itzhak Zukermau ("Antek") include one in which the London Polish Governnrent-in-Exile directed Polish underground groups to uithhold money collected by Jervish groups from the Jewish resistance in Poland "because the Jews are unstab-b und led by Communists" !

Em'igration statistics in Israel rnol* an. increase ol emigratiort in the past eight years, as follows: 1965, a net o{ 9,600 Israelis who left but did not return; 1966,12,000; 1968, ?,000; 1969,7,000; 1970, 7,200; I97I, 8,700; 1972, 15,4001' 1973, 12,984.

Ner,os \r-iefs. . .-. By the end. o7 tt"i third, week of Apritr 15 Is. raeli soldiers had been killed and 60 wounded durins the war of attrition on the Golan Heights. . . . The Israel Air forcJ has thus far obt-ained 7 military planei rnade in Israel. The planes" performed well in the Yom Kippur War._. . . By I9B0 Israel plans to have in operation eight nuclear power plants. . After complaints by ultra-Gthodox Jerusalemites, a sex b_outiquein the city was closed-down by Mayor Teddy Kollek as a disturber of public order. Appeal by the shopowner resulted in May in a, decision by the Supreme Court granting that the sex boutique was a legitimate business atrd may not b-e closeJ down. . . . A fund of $I0 million has been raised by the Wolf Foundation in Israel for the award of prizes for outstanding contributions in the arts, sciences and the promotion of peace. The award has the appro_val. of the cabinet, and will probably be the counterpart of the Nobel _prize. -. . . Hundreds of Jews and Arabs repair each week to the Reshediyah School in Jerusalem where they learn each others' languages-Arabic and Hebrew.

L. H.

Jurv-Aucusr,L974

- lg74 $oviet Jewish $ituation HtrAR.O ISRAtrL

An EDITORIAL

By HOVARD

OSTVIND

ITEAR O Israel rl Your name is fire The name that turns the dead earth into song That burns ovens With the white heat of renewal Hear O Israel your name is fire We will not forget you The poor, rich and sometimes Jew Will rise rvith you in rage against your death And raise the shiel'd of David to sustain your breath Hear O Israel your name is fire Crematoriums, the bodies, the skulls All broken bones that staggered To your unclaimed wilderness and found For the first time a tenderness A soft place in the earth to sit And hear the sun To rest in twenty languages and together f,earn one dead one Resurrected from the slaughtered Shamed, beaten an,d tortured shtetle The chants of redemption Forge your rnettle Together we rvill rise from the burning sancl And bury the dead, make solid our stand From the far flung earth an ancietrt u'arrior Will shout Hear O Israel your name is fire.

choir

How.lno Osrwtlo, & senior student, has alreatly pu,blished, poerns inEgret, Black Smoke, New nnd other periodicals. He is also an editor, painter and trwnpet-teacher. He &ppears here t'or the. first time.

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actors have given up the struggle to promote Soviet Jewish culture'in the in which the Aug. 12, L9S2 anni_ face of obstacles put in their way by versary of the criminal execution of Soviet society and have emisrated. the best of the Soviet Yiddish rvriters, Anti-Sernitic propaganda, rvhetf,er in intellectuals and commur)al spokesmen the form oI ant"i-Zionisrn or in other is commemorated, has been an oc_ way,s,continues unabated.

So much so casion for stock-taking on the current that Arorr Vergelis, editor of. Souetish Soviet Jewish situation. It is our sacl H-eirn.land,,firrally felt it necessary in d u t y t o r e p o r t t h a t i r r t h e p a s t y e a r his June and Dec., l9Z3 issues to speak t h e r e h a s b e e n c o n t i n u e d d e t e r i o r a t i o u out against sorne of this propunundu. of that situation.

However, even his rnild protestl have We do not refer prirnarily to the not been reprinted in the Russian Dress issue of Jewish emigration frorn the and have had no effect in stopping Soviet Union, on which the rttention the propaganda. of the major Jewish organizations is It is in this context of the Jewish unfortunately fixed. We stand for the situation that Nixon rvill be visitins democratic right, necessary even under the USSR June 27 in the cau,seof d6socialism, to emigrate. The departure tente. We believe that the pursuit and t o d a y f r o m t h e S o v i e t t t n i o n ' o f t h e development of d6tente ui" the best long-suffering great ballet dancer possible frarnen'ork in rvhich the neValery Panov and his wife" undoubtcâ‚Źssary changes in every aspect of edly becauseof an international clarnor the Soviet Jewish situation cair beein on their behalf that the Soviet authorito be achieved. The Cold V/ar can oilv ties could no longer disregard, is welIreeze th-e possibility of change. It comed by us as it must be bv all was for this reason that Nov. Z, IOZ:r, humanists. We continue to protesi the the Soviet Marxist dissenter Roy A. harassment to which so many annlica- N{edvedev condemne.d the Ja"kson tions for errrigration are subjected. yet Amendment. Now his exiled brother" the current rate of Jewish emisration Dr. Zhores A. Medvedev, speaking of almost 2,000 a month is subjantial.

May 12 at the California Institute oj even if less than that of last year.

Technology, declared, I think Our main concern, as rve have said this amendment is counterproductive repeatedly, is with those millions of and could actually hinder imieration Jews who will continue to live in the ancl lr,eaken relations between the two USSR and who are entitled. bv all I.f.S. ancl Soviet Union nations. The democratic, humanistic and soclalist Soviet governrnent may consider this principles, to enjoy their national Jew- amendment blackmail.'; We share the ish cultural and communal riehts. In vieu' that the defeat of this Cold War this respect the situation is worseninq. amendment r,vould clear the air so the The emigration has led to a serioul struggle for change in the Soviet Jewdrain of Yiddish cultural {orces. Some ish situation could continue more very fine Yiddish writers, singers and effectively.

theyearsourJuly-AJ;:;.1"1 IIVER v

Jurv-Auousr,L974

II

actual political need,s ol th"e glaen political. administration of the land. comI make these introductory rnents in connection with the entry "Jews" found in Vol. 9 oI the new third edition of the Great Souiet Encyclopedia which appeared in L972.

This entry is the best example of what \r'as mentioned above.

In 1957 I wrote an article about the entry "Jelvs" which appeared in the second edition of the Great Souiet Encycloped,ia of 1952. [This article appeared in our issues of July and Arg., L957 and is reprinted in our "lewislt, Currents" Read,er, available By ilttCHAEL MIRSKI in paperback for $1; in hard cover, Even at that time I pointed #2.-Ed.l out the change the editorial board of tTtHE designation encyclopedia, ency' the Crea,t Souiet Encyclopedia made I concerning the entry "Jews" as com;lopedic data, encyclopedic, inforpared u'ith its first edition of 1932. rnation, always calls forth from us The quantitative reduction itself from respect. which is proper fol a book 160 columns in the first edition to thal gives exhaustii'e in forrnation {our columns in the edition of 1952 about'horrrutt activities and thought bears witness to the "seriousr" "scienon various subjectstific" attituile torvard the subject. I When you pick uP the Great So' arn not referring here to the qualitauiet Encictopidia you can find sci' tive chanses irnplied by the A-t'old' entific information only in the fields reduction in the entry "Jews." That of chemistry, physics, mathematics and was the symbol of the height of Stalinsimilar disciplines. But as soon as you look into th-e field of social science ism.

But what appears in the new third \rou become enveloped in fog and edition of the Great Souiet Encyclo' smoke which rise up fro'm the boiling pedia on the subject of "Jewst' is medieval alcherny. cauldron-from nothine more than a mockerY of a Any socio-economic or socio-polit' national minority of more than 2,000,ical phenomen is aPPraised in the 000 Soviet Jews, with their 800-year Greai Souiet Encyclopedia not for its history on Russian soil. The miserable intrinsic value, in its objective'historifour columns of 1952 have now, in cal setting, but in compliance with the the third edition, been reduced even further, by half. The entry "Jews" Mrcrr,qer, MtRst<t, nou in Denmarlt, norv consists of a total oI two columns" felt com,pelled, to lea'ue Poland during 'the bibliography. waub ot' anti-Semitism that b.egan including the our in in 1968. He last aprteared 'usith here The reduction was made at the ex' un historical April. I973 issue' of information c-oncerning tl-t" pense Upris' aialy'sis of the Warsaw Ghetto 'Iife and history of the lews itt Russia, ing." The present article, written ex' the Ukraine, White Russia and other piessly fo/ IIs, uos translated lrom 'the ctiuntries rvhich comprise the Soviet l-itttiish, by Rebccca Soycr.

in the "Jews'n

Great$oviet Encyclopedia

12

Juwrsn Cunttuilrs

Union and which formerly belonged to Russia. The editorial board of the Great Souiet Encvclopedia apparently believes that the-Sovlet citizen needl to know nothins about the life of the Jews in the S5viet L]nion nou) and about their history, about the heroic stmggle of the Jewish proletariat and intelligentsia against Tsarism, about their participation in the revolutionary movement in Russia, especially in the October Revolution. To this information about the life of the Jewish national minority in the Soviet lJnion now and in the past. the Great Souiet Ertcrclopedia allolted 16 lines, literally 16 lines, including the fact of the establishment of Birobidian in 1934.

Even to the entry "Horse'o the Encyclopedia in 1952 gave 7 columns. that ir, 500 lines. Nloreover. to the entry "Russky Rissak" ( a certain breed of Russian riding horse) the second edition gave 50 1ines, plus an illustration. In the third edition the subject "Horse" will surely not be eiven less space. But to the life o{ the-Russian Jews and their historv. their contribution to the develop-".rf of the economy and culture of the countrynot more than 16 lines ! That's cailed oonational equality" ! That's called "proletarian internationalism" ! That is indeed great Russian chauvinist mockery !

Concerning the co,ntent ol what is Ieft in the entry "Jews" therL is really nothing to write. The fact of Leninis struggle.?guitrl the separarist ideology -oi of the "Bund" at the beginning the 20th century is pre.ented i; a 1ul-S-ar llalne_r, just as though the Bolsheviks had not, together w-ith the Bund and the Mensh-eviks in those great times, built one Social-Democratic movement.

Also concerning Zionism, about which the tone in the third edition is sharper than in the second, the infor-

Julv-Aucusr,1974

mation is sketchy; there is no serious socio-political analysis.

But it is necessary to consider one new point. That anti-Semitism is a phenomenon which finds expression only- in capitalist countries is iepeated in this entry several times. Thit the capitalist countries have lost their privileged spot in this area is not the place to discuss here. Stalin, Gomulka and others have their own records in this field.

- I want to point out here, however, the innovati.r'e approach of the "Greai Encyclopedists" in relation to antiSemitism of the past in the capitalist countries. In that field also the method of focusing the projector of the current politics backward, toward the past, is beginning to be operative.

When the "Encyclopedists" speak about the condi'tion of the Je*i in West-European countries, they properly inform us that the Jews i" the Middle Ages and at the beginning of modern times were robbed- of every political right. rvere herded into ghettos, had no right to live in the villages, to engage in agriculture and were not adrnitted to membership in handcraft unions and merchant suilds.

But in describing the anti-Semit"ismof that__time,there "suddenly" pops out an "innocent" sentence: "Th6 competition of Jews with local merchants and hand-cra{t workers contributed to, caused, the sprea.d of anti-Semitism.,i Here you lrave a formulation in the spirit of the official in Gogol's Inspector Ceneral, who claimed- he did not beat the so]dier-woman, ,that she whipped herself : Jen's themselves are the cause of anti-Semitism!

9o., then,_ it is not the complete political rightlessness, not the poiitics of throwing them into ghett6s, not the politics of forbidding th"- to enfiage in agriculture, not the politics of excluding them from memLership in the hand-craft unions and merchant

l3

AMERICAN TBVISH EDITORS YISIT ARAB R.EFUGEE CAMPS ItrEADED by Robert A. Cohn,president,AmericanJewishPress

rr

Association, 15 editors of the Jewish press arrived May 25 in Cairo as part of the first editorial tour of the Mideast by 91 journalists.

May 31 a group of lB of them r{as escorted by representatives of the Palestine Liberation Organization to the Ain Elwi refugee camp: scene of retaliation strikes by Israel for the Maalot Massacre May 16. Later the group was escorted to the PLO headquarters in Beirut for a discussion with PLO representatives Shafik Al-Hout and Nabil Shaath, clirector of the PLO planning center.

Mr. Cohn reported that at the refugee camp of 20,000 Palestinians the PLO "claims there n,ere 7 people killed . . . and at Nabathea there were reported 40 killed and 100 wounded. The headquarters of the Popular Democratic Front of the Liberation of Palestine in the camp rvere also hit.. . Milling about the rubble with the lB journalists \vere dozens of Palestinian children of all ages, all of whom were friendly and intrigued by the cameras and tape recorders."

At PLO headquarters, Mr. Al-Hout, born in 1932 in Jaffa, indicated "an important shift in" the PLO position: "if the Palestinians on West Bank and in Caza l oulcl decide they u,anted a Palestinian State, they could respect the wishes of those Palestirtians. He stressed, however, '.demoratic and secular state' over all of that the goal of establishins a Palestinel including what is-now Israel, would not be abandoned." Nabil Shaath added that "the Palestinians will never be satisfied with only 19% of Palestine." Mr. Cohn conclud,ed, ". . . the conversation with the PLO leaders was relaxed and free-wheeline."

The significance of this visit by American Jewish journalists is great, for it finallv established ,direct lines of discussion.

the entire system of poguilds-not litical and economic persecutions, of expulsions and pogroms embodied in the anti-Semitism of the feudal rulers and merchants, but it rvas the competition of the Jewish merchant and worker that caused the spread of antiSemitism. Thus the "Great Encyclopedists," taking pains to distort the concept of competition as an economic operation of two sides, consider the activity of only one side, the Jewish merchant and artisan, in order thus to establish "sociologically" that the Jews thernselves are guilty of causing anti-semitism. You have here the ready ansrver of reactionaries of all time: Anti-Sernitism u'as create'd by the Jews

I4

themselves, by the mere fact of what they do, by the mere fact of their existence in this world!

That is how the "scientific" informatiorr of the Great Souiet Encyclopedia of 1972 looks concerning the l-easons for anti-Semitism in the past -information which later will be reported in the columns of the small Sputnik Agitatora, a handbook from n''hich the agitator will draw his "knowledge" for his activity among the masses.

To sum up: the entry "Jews" in the new edition of the Great Souiet Encyclopedia, quantitatively and qualitatively, is a perversion of "genuine proletarian internationalism."

JswrssCunnrnrs

AT]{IGHT A Storv

By DOVID Tr.

BERGELSON

from rhe yiddish by Joachim Neugroschel

T night once, I awoke in the dark, A A crorvded, loudly-snoring railroadcar. Instantly I saw him oi the seat across from me and instantly I rec_ ognized him. There he sat, ihe old, familjar night-Jew, who, whenever he travels on a train, can never sleep at night; ald when he can,t sleep at _ night,- he bores you, and when he t,ores you, he looks for sornething in your eyes, and exacts something f"rom your soul, exacts mutely, but n{gingly,'and unceasinelv. he glanced at me .'jYglfi'man," with his watery, ioorrrnful eyes, "where are you off"u", young to, man?,, And his voice echoed ir," my .u.s, so acrid and ancient, older than time

out of rnind. And because that was all he said, it seemed as though the voice \\'el'e coming not from him but from somewhere far away, calling me to accounl "Young man, just rv-hereare man?,, ) oq o_fl !o., young -I And when opined my eyes a sec_ oncl time in the iark, heaviiy-snoring railroad-car, the train was still roli_ ing across black srvamps and clesolate rratery fields, and the-night was still l hirring_and lashing raind-rops against the win.dows, and fir off in the &r.,", of the car, the light u,as still flicker_ it kept flickering-and vanishing. *St Beyond the thin partition, in the sec_ gn.d train-compaitmen,t, a swaddled lulry was squalling endlessly, and there, next to the w-aking night_Jerv, across from me on the se1t, i-"on" Dovro BnRcsrsox (lBB4-I7S2) Laas else was already sitting, a red-cheeked one ol the outstq.nding yiddish writers youth in a jacket and boots. and I rnartyred, and, execuied, in the mess lelt as thotrgh I had knovr-nthis youth, f.rgm-e-upol Yiddish writers and, !en_ t o o . ^f o r a _ l o n g t i m e . S o m e , o r t o f tsh lead,ers in ]952. Among his books mrstortune has always just come upon ',l^^9PsTg .(!??zl, Bgiir Dnieper him and driven him iro- his home (.!932), Birobidzhaner Dertseilungerr ton n, ?nd people are always listen(1934) and, Printz Reubeni (1947).

'Jewish l l g l o h i s s t o r l - , l o o k i n g p i r i i u l l y i n t o !ry- ?", [Voa., I94B issue (os 1,Th" hrs lace and listening in silence. But, looking pitifully into"his fu"" und lir_ Li{") , w-9 published his ,iory," Witness." tening in silence, they realize that he's

Jury-Aucus.r, L974

15

a decent sort, and they say: "Young rnan, rvhy clon't you get up and fix us a pot ol lea?"

By now, the youth had already told the waking night-Jew all about the misfortunes that had come upon hirn.

"To top it all off, I can't sleep," he quietly lamented, "and wha,t can you do, what can you do, in such a long night?"

The krored night-Jew did not understand.

"What do you mean . . .?"

He had been looking and looking for somethins in the eves of the redcheeked youtii and kept'exacting somethine from his soul. "What should you-do?" he repeated, and again his voice became low and monotonous, it sounded acrid and ancient, older than time out of mind. o'Open up a sacred book," he said, "studv the holv writinss."

"But I don't" know hiw." the vouth larnented.

"You don't know how?"

The Jew rneditated.

"If you don't know how, then just repeat a{ter me, word for word: "'In the beginning, the earth was waste and wild, and the chasm was darkness, and the spirit of God hovered over the waters."'

"In the beginning," the youth repeated, "the earth was waste and wild, and the chasm was darkness, and the spirit of God hovered over the rvaters."

All the way through, the heavily rolling, darkened car was still full of the snoring and wheezing of the passengers who, in the flickering light, were asleep in three layers, atop one another. Sweaty faces were ruddy and puffy as though swollen, cheeks bulged ou,t, noses were whistling, each in its own way. There was a sedate and respectable rvhistle that sounded like the very soul of innocence and seemed to be saying: "Well yes, I'm sleeping. . . . Of cour,se I'm sleepitg."

16

There was also a despairing whistle of helplessness:"I'm sleeping because the world is waste and wilcl, the rvorld is waste and wild."

There was also a cantorial coloratura, spiraling up like a biblical chant and asking: "So what .? If the whole world is asleep, so what?"

And a stronger whistle that .didn't care about an1'thing, and warned: "Do not disturb, it won't help."

And amid the snoring and whistling, the red-checked youth repeated what the bored nieht-Jew said, word {or word, about how God created the heavens and the earth, the sun and the stars, duy and night, reptiles and beasts,birds, plants, and humans; how the serpent was cunning, and the evil that men did increased, and God reerette.d that he had created mankind and he spoke: "I wish to wipe {rom the face of the earth everything, everything that I have created, every last reptile, every last bird that flies through the air. l-or I must regret that I did create them."

And suddenly, suddenly, next to the bored night-Jew, there emerged sofile sort of man named Noah: "Repeat word for word," he said to the 'And red-cheeked youth, "repeat . . .: Noah found grace in the eyes of God."' "And Noah." the youth repeated, "found grace in the eyes of God." All around, there was still the heavy and hearty snoring.. Tb" train was still running across black swamps and desolate watery fields, and the night was still u'hining and lashing raindrops against the window. The only passengers not asleep were myself, the bored night-Jew, and the redcheeked youth in the jacket and boots.

The old Jew and the youth were sitting petrified, looking at one another, and I was lying and thinking: 'And Noah found "A good word: grace.' It saved the world."

JnwrsnCunneNrs

PRAGAB RADIO ANTI.SEMITIC ATTACKS ON ZIONISM the B-ritishBroadcasting company,smonitor servicewe exF'lRoM ,rcerpt the following outrageous comments from prague Radio:

o Prague-Radio broad,castin German lor abroad, Mor"i IB: "" ' The Zionistsactive in those-states ir.""it-i".ruit th" population for Zionist aims and with the [out.id" various Zionisr orgurrizationstrv to t'or? fi.t'thcotunr,nsunited 1r"lo_ "f uy'zi""iJ ia".r"sy.-rir*rrry Zionism wants io domilnatuthe worl( its own cenrer,i.e., ""'vv'Lur' l!;"."iyl; from the state of GreaterIsrael . . .,' (itali.;;;;;?i:The "fifth column" idea is borrowed from Co^ulka, who launched the anti'semitic campaignin poland ,"a.r-iiiir-Jiogu.,.

The ,,dominate the world" idea of cbu.ie is from the Proto."lr the Elders oI Zion. o Prague Rad!,q, G_erman "r lor abroad, March 19: _in ".. - A truthful and all-roundassessment of the trag;iceventsof the second world war and knowledgeof the real and essential -""-".[-*"rra causesof the orisin. rise and fail of Hit'ier's -u.rd fu."i.rr,- rr"rp i" Zionisri, its imperialist ,rui,rr" zrs i,ith. Hitler,s fascism. . . . the racial hegemonyof_Zionism,*hi;'[-;;;;;;; "piry T;;;;"uJ?"ru"* predestinedbv hiitory to.,tle the u:o,rld. . . .'zionism . . . even assumes the -mantle ot' Gennan_lascism in the fo.- oJ-ir.u"ti Zionism . . .,, (italics added). Neo-Nazisi" Ger-?ny u'd Au.tria must lap up this "new" anti-semitism d"tiu"."d-io th_emdirectly in German frbm a "socialist" s161s-\^/hichis of coursenyirg i" tirf tu., of all the noble principles of socialismby such pofiti"li fro;;",g*phy. o Pra_gueRadio : -in German t'or abroad,,March"2l In 1968 it will be rememberedthat Du[c"[ "u;; others tried to save the human face th";;;;i.ii" ,of sociali.- f--urk that hacl been put over^lt by thosewho perpetratedth"'iru-"-up triars and execu_ Htr of--Slan*y and his aisociates.most of rvhom rvereJewish ,,old Bolsheviks." For some time the official li;; ;i,;ho."- *t o- a".troy"a Dubcek's rrovemenr^hastried ro^ji."l"ait'lt"fr rr'i; a Zionist conspiracv.Says prague Radio: "trril"ii"* "It was no surpris" ihut *fi"" crassreaction united with Right-win,g opportunists in a common endeavor to liquia"t"tl," ;.;l;;",ilri, "czechosrovak the czechoslovak-w-orking in 1968,'-the "r Zionists immediatelvioined this reictionary "ru.. compact as a hory ailiance. within "i[ this alliance-thev distinguist'"Jir-'"ilJi;;; i", surpassins their non'Iewish Rishi-win.gopportunist partners in iheir propagandaactivities in the cariseof ihe'*-""it"J sfciarism *iir.-" ';"1 human face which they conductedfrom. their..po.itio_nsand in the interests of the Zionist movenrent._. :,'1i*pt,"ri "i;; iai"J).-"' Here is the "fifth column" iJ"! ugui", this'time in practice.

A'd here also is the idea that no matter how repulsiveothersmay be, Zionist,sare always ygre ."putriu" it u; ;;y" '"u' opposition.

The clovenhoof of anti-Semitis'm i. .b;i;;*."' ";"_Ieuish Such anti-Semiticp-rlpaganda,any anti-Semitic propaganda,contradicts the fundatt"t..ttur' piinoipi", ,".iJi.-,'in *hor" name the Prague Radio propagandistspresume "rto speak.

Jurv-Aucusr,1974

L7

o Ybn qLrilLlnun - 1775 The following text of mine of a radio-spot has been illqg:d ba- the People's BicJntennial Commission, 1346- Conn. Ay"., N.W., W.ash.

D.C. 20036. With this we begin our o\f'n Bicentennial commemoration: It is not news that for ma.ty centuries Jews in many lands have been driven into exile. It is news that in 1776, in New York, Jews decided to go into aoluntary exile. This was the first such decision in post-biblical Jewish history. H-ere is what happ.ened.

New York in 1776 *ar .rot like Boston or Philadelphia, where the held sway. N"ry York__was revolutionary movement for independence ^of loyalty to the- misrule of K1"-S in fact the center of loyalism, George. In New York, the rich merchant-shippers_had many profitable ties with England, and the Anglican Church rvas dominant.

As if in anslver to the colonial upstart insolence of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, L776, the British tnoved d.own upon New York with a large fleet and some 32,000 redcoats. Among the troops were 9,000 hired Hessians, imported {rom that German state.

In July, and Aug. , L776, these troops were grouped on Staten Island and Long Island, threatening the city itself-.

It was" obvious that Washlngton's weak forces coul'd not prevent the capture and occupation of New York. The British were coming !

The Hessians were cbming ! What should the populatio_n do ? What shoulcl the 100 or so Jewr in the city do? Thls-was the issue that was debated in the little synagogue on Mill St. in downtown New York. The congregation, Shearith Israel, the oldest in North America, on in l{erv York under British occu' was torn apartl Should they stay -British in what was now to be the pation, collaborating with .the Itrategic center for"the British, the Qity 9f New York? Or should thev iefuse to collaborate tvith the British occupation and go into voluntary exile for the first time in more than a thousan_dVel1s?

The patriotic young "rabbi" of the Cgng1egqtion,_Gershom Men'des Seixas,'was against collaborating with the British.-So was the young President o{ ihe Congregation, a merchant named Solomon Simson. tlnder such leadershif, the majority of the -Cong-regation decided to leave the city. On Aug. 22" I7i6, *-h.l the British noose was almost strangling the Ameriian for"es, which were tryllg, to . defend. the CitV irom Long Island, the Rev. Seixas removed all the ritual objects He packed .tp the congregatiolal records froir'r the little"synagogue.

-He, like tlie others who ha'cl decided to leave, and minute book.. packed his own movable belonging:, ottq went into e$Ig,. They. con' ii.r,r",l the struggle for Arnerica! in-dependence-mostly-in Philadelphia, the capital of ihe Revolution. The Rev. Seixas himself, who first went

1B

Jrwrsn Cunnpnts

acrossL9"g Island sou'd to stratford, conr., soon joined the others.

Tlryr it happened that for full ."u",r y"urr- th"r" rvas no official , in rhe o{ New York. Ironically, the 15 or l:*l:h -.".Tgl"gltion, .ciry so Jelrs that stayed behind under the British occupati'on,and got tog.ethe'for. pray:ers_ in a kind of ''rump', o. ,"o-mii"i-*i"rol ri"a u lf^:1.i:.p_resid3n,1-:l , HessianJew who hacl b"een!ro"g by the"llp::rll: B.itish ! Bur in the minutes of co'gregatioi Ltf.: ,ll1p,ort.q Shearith lsrael, there is this seven year gap. It rvas not until the British were defearedand had surrenieredit'vort town i, t?-gt that the New York Jews returned to the city, .""p.;t th" ;il;g;g;i resumed the functioning of congregation Shearith Israel. "",a agaln; th"eseAmerican patriots announced - when they were lgi" their return in an Address to" Gov. Georgeclinton, head of the militia and navy of th: state of New York. In"this r"-u*uli" ejJlr.,^ir,, Jews wrote: "W'e, the_members of the u.r"i".ri congregation oi Israelites,lately returned from exile, beâ&#x201A;Ź leave to welcJm;t;;; u,riuut in this city ._. . we flatter ourseivesth"atnone has rnanif"rt"d a more zealous attachmentto the sacred cause of America . . .r' Thus for these Jews as well as for all the people of the country, the sacred cause o{ the. Diviniry- of Kings t,ad nei" *pt".La" ly li" sacred cause of America-an indepenjent America. This irr"ide.rt can tell us much about the Americ-an Revolutio' and it. ,n*urring, which the Bicentennial can celebrate.Jervs have much to learn fro.,, these revolutionaryancestorsof theirs. All can learn thesel".ronr.

o filtp- ilalurwfu Jit* A documeTtug film by a veteran of the Abraham Li.coln n.i*Hltirr4 the Spanish Civil war about that war is something new-ancl "in this instance something Son1.a and I were -of Sogd, Dreams and lYiglttmaresl thoroughly absorblcl for the 60 minutes its showing at the First Screening Ro9m, a new little theater specializing" in such off$n". beat productions. osheroff makes the film personal iiv being both actor and narrator, as well as script-writer.-We see Abe firsi as a poy in a Brooklyn Jewish "ghetto" during the depression of the 30,s, his growt[ int-o social consciousness,hiJ resistance to evictions, to the Nazi Bund, finally to Franco. We see clips of the fiehtine in Spain, the- defeat, the aftermath, the present. Has his d."ain tu'ined into a nightmare? Not for osheroff, who at 59 holds to his ideals and notes..the^growing dis^content_with Franco (rnuy Portugal be a harbinger ! ) . Accurately .reflecting his 1930's ideological list,'his class consciousness and anti-fascist consciousness drown out Jewish consciousn_esji,a.ld Osheroff has not rnanaged to incorporate his present level o{ Jewish consciousnessinto this work. In all, though, the film is moving and instructive.

o Slulan- AlpichpmL We.L Mal 12 Sonya and I gladly accepted an invitation by Bel Kaufman, a gr-and-

Jurv-Aucusr,L974

19

daughter of Sholem Aleichern, to come to the annual Yorzeit ceremony that"was intiated by B. Z. Goldberg, his son-in'law, and is -perpetuated since Ig72 by Ms. Kaufrnan (author of the humorous book about New York teaching, Up the Doun Slaircasd1. In his famous will' Sholent Aleichem h"ud Juggested that on his Yorzeit his family and friencls gather to read, ii"whatever langu-agejhey could understand, his funniest stories, ,o h" would be remeirbered in joy (not untouched with a sigh and a tear) . And so _it transpired-: I,:eib Lenski read the will in yYaaisn. Stories were read ot recit"d by Tsunia Rymer, Rita (uipi"o"i"h, a_young T3n, and_Dav^id RogoffMoishe Rosenfeld,'gathering:s, Howard Da Silva read a und^ a. an innovation at these story in English. Among the 100 or so-..guests,there were veterans newcomers lik'e ourselves. A rare evening ! of th"se .o-io"-orations"and

o JhaL $eil,iahL â&#x201A;ŹMranfL

o 0nfatniaurinq-6lhie-Jota fliar

OinnilL

To promotehis newbook,Land,ol the Hart: Israelis,Arabs, ?l ritories and, a Vision ol the Fttt.itre, the Jeu'ish Publication"Yit Societr'

May 19

The bare statistics (293 present, a coilection of $2806 plus $380 in pledges, 1l new subs) barely convey the spirit, the elevatio,n,-of the itrui? i" the Grand Ballroom of the Staller Hilton Hotel. In the S"pt issue we shall print Sam Pevzner's tribute to our fellow-editor Harap and hi's Response, Prof. Stephen -A. Schwerner's adiJ.,i. of James clress on the 10th annin"rruty of the murder in MiTilsippi Churr"y, Andrew Goodman, and his brother Michael Schwerner, and thr fiiat address on the 2bth anniversary of the Supreme Court decision on school desegregation by N. Y.-C. Huma" Fighlt, Commis;i;;i"t Eleanor Holme"s Norton, and you will get a full idea of the vital substance of the Dinner. But there were also passing but memora' -o-""tt t when a message was read from the mother of Andy -Good-u.t, bl" Dr. Carolyn Goodrian Eisner, who was_traveling in China; when Naiha.t and Ann Schwerner took a bow and when Mrs. Norton b;g;" by d".".ibing how Nat },ad- helped her orient herself in the in New York whe.r she first came here from ii;t- r.igirts *ou"-Jnt Washinlton; when in response to Dr. Annette T. Rubin-stein's appeal fc,r LifJ'subscriptions Rose Noon announced she was taking./r'er own Life Sub in addiiion to her husband Max's, and a young Black reader, said she too would take a Life Sub. This last was Barbara Jennings, "of'*hut we nrean when,_at all seasons, we work {or ; ;";i .y-bol relations. Another innovation was .the- presBlack/Jewish i-p.ouitig u'dor"n ytrrrg people who have written {or our Jewish Youth "rlJ" of ih"r"" rlspo"ded with _special enthusiasm to the three i..;;.. "t M";t of tfr.i Rev. Fredelick- Do-uglass Kirkpatrick, accompanving him;t; self" on his guitar. And the Dinner Journal, .runnilg-to- 32--p:g.et hafi as special features a rep_ri.lt of Dr. W. E. B. DuBois' ifrir ti-i ,,200 Years'of Segregated Schools" from our_Feb., 19^55rfsue, urii"l", of diawl.gs b_y Ben _Shuht-of Chaney,. Goodman ;;l-;'reprod,rction year, tf,e date will be May 18. Is it a date?

Schwerner.-Next and

o Sorial nnd- fuolitiral Tilru ShrttL

May 22

We finally caught the thircl and last in a series of showings by Tom

20

Brandon at the Museurn of Modern Art of nine shorts, from fir.e to 20 minutes each, o_n social and political Problems of rhe 30's and 40's. Uneven but all quite interesting *e.e hltrls of the Bonus March ln 7932, the Depression, the Mooiey Case, racism, Indonesia in 1.946-4,7,and post World War II strike struggles. Although many of the screen writers, photographers and editoiJ were Jeu,il.h" I aeain had to note the underestimation of the Jewish question as' refleited here. There lvere only tr,voreferencesto Jews: to Mboney's co-defendant w-einberg (acquitted), and to Kuhn, Loeb as second only to Morsan.

Withal, not- only an exercise in nostalgia but a sign of what b" "un" done in social film-at a time when sexjn'violen." &...un the screens.

Jewrsn Cunneilrs

brought over Mr'. Eliav, merrrber of the Knesset and formerly secretary general of the Labor Party, in which he has been playing the role of a moderate ("dove"), bucking the annexatio.rists "anJ expansionists_inside and outside his party. Eight of us crowded into his small hotel rool11 for an hour and a hilf intervien I arraneed for the progressive Jewish pres-s.At 63 he is a veteran rnilitary rian and political lea'der, professing socialism, seeing the need for a solution to the Arab-Israel conflict that would recognize Palestinian national rights. Since the USA and USSR are "ihere to stay in the Middle East," he stressesthe need for d6tente; he noted that'if Israel is more flexible with the Arab problem. the USSR can be more flexible with Israel. The Israelis knew, he thought" they have to give back territories for peace; new elections r,r-ouldbe needed to .atify agreements on the West Bank.-His important book will be reviewed later. t)

6miL ltuwln

irL AeriIaL

Mav 26 The Kaufman Auditorium of the 92d St. YMHA was overflowine its 800 seats with a couple of hundred paid standees for the first Li. S. recital of the former Sovret Yiddish and Russian singer, Ernil Gorovets, and his wife, the Yiddish actress Margarita Polonskaya. Coming here from Israel (he had emigrated earlier this year) for a concert tour under the auspices of the Workmen's Circle, Gorovets attracted several hunclred Soviet Jewish emigrants (1"4+9 entered the USA in 1973). These made themselves felt by sustained rhythmic applause when Gorovets touched thenr deeply, as he often did. In an engaging manner, he sang Soviet Yiddish songs, folk-songs arranged by Soviet composers,- and some Russian songs, delivered in a broad, popular style, trailing his microphone across the stage. Most affectirry; were songs he composed reflecting the bitter Soviet Jewish situation that led hirn to emigrate. His wife, in reciting a poem by S. Halkin and a storv bv Sholem Aleichem. was a real virtuoso. Too ba,d these artists could no longer feel at home in the USSR !

M.U.S.

Jurv-Aucuy,1974

2L

i!

For the l25th Anniversary of the birth of

THE

NEW

COLOSSAS,T

like the brazen giant of Greek fame, NOT r \ With conquering limbs astride from land to Jand; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

EIVIMALAZART]S July 22, lB49-November 19, 1BB7

Emma Lazarus was the most promhtent antJ end,u,ring tewislt literary ligure ilt our country during the l9tlt, century. As poet, essayist, 'liierary critic and polemicist she achieued,recognition. in-her day among the outstanding li,terary lights oJ her day. Her worh, howeuer, lay tlorman.t ttntil i,t 'Llon a new reading public in 7944, uthen the Jewi_shAmerican Section ol the Int.ernational Worlcers Ord,er pub_Iished Selections from Her Prose and Poetry, edited, and, with an ilfirod,uction by, Morris [i. Schappes. It is frorn tlrc third, enlarged and -reaised in 1967 by the Em,ma Lazarus Fed,eration editiort. oJ this aolurne, issu,ecJ ol leu,Lish,Women's Chtbs, tlmt the foll,ouirtg two poems and, briel excerpts lrom her prose are taken,

* Written in aid of Bartholdi Pedestal Fund, Nov., tBB3; now i n s c r i b e d o n a plaque on the Statue of Liberty.

From AN EPISTLE TO THB HEBRBWS: IIid

Then smiling, thou unveil'dst, O trvo-faced year, A virgin world where doors of sunset part, Saying, "Ho, all who weary" enter here!

There {alls each ancient barrier that the art

. . . It is very difficult for the modern student of history to insulate his mincl so completely from the intellectual and moral conditions of the present as to adapt himself thoroughly to the limitations of an earlier age. And vet through only such u fto""r, is'a true knowledge of the past accessible.

Certain moral ideas are the birth of a very complex or.der of civilization and can only be developed in the slow progress of time. Such for instance is the idea of the sinfulness of slavery, which it would be as absurd to expect from the ancient Jew or Greek wliose rvhole systern of society was based upon the institution, as to look for a desc,ription of the telephone in Homer or the Bible.

Another such idea is the theory of H-umanity as a grand u,hole torvards whose common weal every individual

Of race or creed or rank clevised, to rear Grim bulwarked hatred between heart and hearb!"

* From The Americun Hebrew, Nov. 10 and 24, 1882.

7492 HOU two-faced year, Mother of Change and Fate, Didst weep when Spain cast forth I'ith flamine sword, The children of the prophets of the Lord, Prince, priest, and people, spurned by zealot hate.

I{ounded frour sea to sea, from state to state, The West refused them, and the East abhorrecl.

No anchorage the known world coul'd afford, Close-lockedwas evel'y ltot't, barred every gate.

22

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glorvs world-wide welcome; her rnild eves conrmand The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frarne" "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your hu'ddled massesyearning to breath free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

JswrsH CunRnxrs

Jurv-Aucusr" 1974

rnust strive. This great idea dawned upon the mind of man about two centuries before the birth of Jesus. and was the natural result of the fusion of Greek and Hebrew thought. To the early Greek the rvorld wis divided into Greeks and Barbarians; the prim-blasitive Jerv saw only "strangers." pherners and idolitors in lhe nations that surrounded him. But when the Greeks lvere themselves sr,vallowed up by the Barbarians, and the chief city of Hellenistic thought was no lonser Athens but Rome, the Pagan poet foinulated the immoratal axior.,, "I am a NIan. and nothing that is human can he alien to me.'i Similarlv when the Jews who had hitherto been acquaintecl only n ith intellectually inferior nations, suddenly found themselves face to face in Alexandria with the race that had invented philosophy and art, then they too arvoke to the fact that good existed also outside of Judaism, and without abandoning their own

23

lintellectual stronghold, they proved as usual swift and prompt to assimilate all that was desirable in the surrounding civilization. The careful historical critic will find a gradual and orderly evolution of this idea of I{umanity through the deepening and broadening charity of Deuteronorny and the Prophets, to the Rabbis of the Talmud including the immortal Hillel, and finally to the Alexandrian Jew fPhilo, at time of Caligulal in whom the new doctrine of Universalisnr finds complete expression. From this time onward, the accusation of a narrow tribalism can never be made with iustice against Judaism; it has irnbibed and thoroughly assimilated the broad notion of a common humanity, by the Iight o{ which it interprets into a new significance the teachings of the older Prophets.

To combine the conservation of one's own individuality with due respect for the rights of every other indivi.duality, is the ideal condition of society, but it is a foolish perversion of this truth to deduce therefrom the obligation to renounce ail individualitv: and this remark is no less applicable to nations than to persons.

I\ot by disclaiming our "full heritage," but by lifting up our own race to the standard of morality an.d instruction shall we at the same time promote the advancement and elevation of the Gentiles. Teaching by example, not by proselytism, has ever been the rnethod of Israel. But he can fulfill his hieh vocation only on condition of maintaining himself at that level of moral and intellectual eminence where he becomes a beaconlieht to others. To carr1, out this exwe require a nation uii"d "onception of priests, that is to say of priests in the best and original sense of the rt'ord-der,otecl servants of the holy spirit. But if our people persist in entrenching thernselvesbehind a Chinese

24

wall of petrifiecl religious forms, the great modern stream of scientific philosophy will sweep past them, carrying Humanity to new heights, and will leave them far in the rear. The question is, where are we to look in America for the patriotic Jew whose intellect is sufficiently expanded to accept all the conclusions of science, and yet whose sense of the moral responsibilities and glories bequeathed to him by his ancestors is sufficiently vivid to kindle him into a missionary andaprophet?...

From EPISTLE IV . . . Jewish historians delight to dwell upon the love of learning displayed by the Jews of the Talmud period and the early Christian centuries, in contrast with the mental darkness that prevailed around them. Jewish schools, and colleges such as the famous intellectual seats of Mehusa, Sura, Babylon, Nehardea and Purnbeditha'* flourished in the midst of what has been aptly called a "mental wilderness." But cheering as this picture is, it has still another bright side which is not sufficiently taken into account.

"These youths and men rvho attended the schools," says the eminent Talmudist, Dr. [Marcus] Jastrow, "were larmers, mechanics, trad,esmen, none of them taking up learning as a means of support, or to speak Talmudically 'spade as a to dig with' . . Jewish f armers devoting their leisure hours to study, Jervishlouths and rnen twice a year, uthen. their agricultural pursuits tuould, allon thent a, uacation. streamed to the centers of learning."

This is the feature of our past up'on r,r'hich it behooves us to insist at present. .

- F"m"u-"acatlemies flourisheclin Mehusa, Sura, Nehareleaand Pumbeditha in Babylon from about the years 219 to 1000,when Babylonian Jewry was dominant in world Jewry.

Jrwrsn Cunneurs

THE IIERETIG

By AAROIUE. BULMAN don't you say something \f/HY vv why don't you thunder or give me a cancer or make me fall or something ['ve stopped no more mornrng straps no more fringed bibs no more mumbo jumbo Lookmy bare head my shabbos-cigarette my yom kippur-meal I don't care anymore your don'ts are gone and your voices and your sins f6u sssI've read the Nietzsche and the Dostoyevsky and the Spinoza and the big-question-books and I don't scratch my head anymore I've set my own standard ['ve carved my own destiny['ve thrown you away .

GRAl{DPA GllHEI{

By THEODORB DASHMAN tTtHE rvind across the Narrolvs Bay r tossed the threads of hair of Gramps sitting in front of his sho;r reading books of Verne.

Tailors' needles pierced your fingers you joked, I laughecl The next customer ca[re wrote his name (in Yi.ddish) 'ocome next week"

Rows of becls Army barracks were nicer but for the hospital-given shot Grandpa you surrendered

Sunday night deli & poker fingers flicking, ace high folding Gramps our spine is nerve and bone.

[{ow come You don't care?

A,tnow E. Bur,lraN appeared,in our .lan. 1973 issuewith three poems. He is teaching part-time in a Hebrew .schoolto be able to deuotehimselt to tt,ri ti ng. .[ur.v-Aucusr. 1974

Tnrooonr f)asrrlrlN of Tearteck,N.l. is a biochernistuho appeared,in ou,r Oct., 1972 issue uith two poems. He has also appeared ln American Bard and, 1972 Shore Poetry Anthology.

25

Away fro_m me, sunshine. Away from rrre, laughter. Moonlight is .,i,hut i crave, moonlight and melancholy.,, Disillusionei, I left it F"r, and rvent to see the Psychiatrist.",rI am melan- "-Help rne," I said, cholic." are notr, answered the _ "l!o, you 'oYou only think you are. .{sychiatrist.

There is no such thing as melanch;iy: Most authorities ugr"! that what you A Fantasy think of as melanci,oly is, actually,-a deeply inrooted urr*i"ty ,t"-"ii"g ,!" improp_er sexual desire! fro,T .turkrng ln your subconsciousness.fm_ Pfoper, I must stress, f.L- the point of r,'iew of our socieiy. The sense of

By VURI PRIZEL -nor a natural feeling l]:l:lP.i"tl,.is but the result of social indoctrinationl This vierv, however., is disputed t; other, no less authoriiatiu", u,iihorities.

-i-proqEVEN very. learned physiciansex_ T\"t claim that the ."r,.1 oi \-/ amined nle very caiefullv. tsut priety is not the result of social'inthey alt spgkgLuii,i,-th"y doctrination b"^t is buriJ Ill:ts.h nle J""pfv i, urought no cure. I left thern and the substrata of racial *"-orui ena rvent to see the Poet. there is a third. school oJ-uuth'oriti.., ..help "Poetr" I said, eq.ually me. I am -authoritative, rvhich mainsuffering from melanchoiv.,, tains . ." ,,Mel_ "Melanch,olyz,] sairt the poet, But I was too nrelancholic to listen ancnory rs the blessing of mankind. to any longer, so I left.

Is .h,in.r rnere anythrng rnore beautiful than "I'll my bill later!,, io, , - :"n{ melancholy ? What a joy, rvhat shoutecithe Psl chiatrisi after rne. a ecstasy, to weep over a rose, to I knocked on the door of the l,lutlt" Spirit_ shed tears over a nightingale, ual Leader. to whimper over a young "gi.l,ri-o.otn.

I, noaned. .-help! NIy 'n- r. ^e,l a_n' Tc "hl o , Ol y! ' ] What can be mor" a!r#abl" io -i.urr. tt 'itself is der.ourinsme.,,' soul than to drown " ir, _ "And quite rightly !o,,, answered

I\IGTJIT

,,i; .,J'iorg.r, the SpiritualLeaier.-'

nly son. that u'e are livinig in a world Yunr Pnrzrr, appeared, in-poi^, otrr lutyof sin and corruption. dreat is ,,Retrug: 197! issie' with o the bur.den of sin o.r or. yydk f,'T eDye';"I n t_h e Sir;i)t'Uni,oi, c'orn-rnitted by. ou-r- .houkl.rr.- Si.r. fathers are upon trhere he uas born. he had publishecl u s . s l n s c o n r m i l t e d b y u s _a r e u p o n poetns in children,s ^ogoiinrr. us, He and sins to be bv oir'ror,, came to the USA. in 196{ alrcr a "o**ltt"d t'ew are upon u_s.The Shadorv of Death is years in Israel. A graduate'stud,ent at hoverrng the City f/niuersiti ol N"w" Virfr, _ab-ove,the Gates of Hell are t," yawning belorv. The Day o{ Trial has-publ,ished,itt A-"ri.* is Litllutu." coming, the_-Terrible Dalj o" *hi"i, and done translations ull lor So"i.i-btud_ our sins will be laid at our door, - and ies in Literature. there will be no escapi.,g Hir j"jg-

26 Jnwrsn CunReNrs

THE CENTENNIAL OF GERTRI]DE STEIN in Allegheny, Pa. Feb. 3, IIORN .'*/ l-, I ^1871., Gertrude Stein, daughter j of German-Jewish imrnigrants, was graduated frorn Radclifre Collese, f studied for three years at the Johns Hopkins Univer-siiy Medical School, and then turned to the cultural pursuits that brought her fame both as a patron of auant gard,e artists in Paris and as a writer who made a type of repetition ("a rose is a Claribel Cone rose is a rose") a by-word.

Etta Cone Best-known are Three Liues (1909), The Autobiography of Alice B. 1'oklas (1933) andThe frIakirug ol Americans (L92s). tX-"Melanctha" in Three Liue,s Richard^ Wrigh_t said that it was "the first long serious treatrnent of Negro life in the Unite.d States." An assimilited Jew and conscious American who spent most of her life abroad, Gertrude Stein expressed her Jervish identity subtly (Milton llindus in "Ethnicity and Sexuality in Gertrude Stein," Mid,stream, Jan., Lg74).

The scu$ture by Jacques Lipchitz on our cover is from the Cone Collection of Claribel (1861-1929) and Etta Cone (1870-1949), sisters born in Jonesboro, Tenn., -also into a German-Jewish farnily.

Both becante auant garde art collectors; Claribel was also an N{.D., ,a pathologist and ntedical researcher. The portraits arc. b1' lVlatisse.

t,ry.q."

rnent. lt is very commendable, my son, that your soul feels the horror of this rvorld. It is proper to be sorrowful and rnelancholic in this hovel of grief.

Go in peace, my.son, I corrmend you on your sorrow."

Next I tried the Politician. 'oMelancholy?" he said. "Yes, I feel deep syrnpathy for you, my fellow citizen. You are quite right, there should be no melancholy in our society, society enj oying the Godgiven gift of freedom. Joy should be our portion, not melancholy. And toward the achievement of this noble goal I promise to devote all my enersies and abilities. I do not knorv ivhether you have already made up your mind how to cast your vote on the day when you will be exercising vout fteedom, ireedorn given to yoi

by God and guarded zealously by us, \ our representatives. I do hope, how-

.lurv'Aucus'r,I974

ever, that your choice will be right."

I left him feelins more and more melancholic.

And then I heard it. It too was crying but its crying was different {rom mine. It too was crying over roses? fearing punishment for its sins, and struggling against irnproper desires.

But it also lived. Roses and sins, j oy and death, freedom and tears-it accepted them all and loved thern all. It had wisdom, the rvisdom of Hershele Ostropolier, buffeted, suffering yet passionately in love with life. It was the wisdorn of the very young and of the very old. Things might be bad, it was saying, but they will improve.

Sorrorv, too, has an encl. Let them kick 1'ou, let them stamp on you-it is still a good thing to be alive.

I do not know your name. little gray-bearded fiddleri b,rt your nigun cured my melancholy. Thank you.

27

By MAX ROSDNFELD

Writing Holocaust Fiction

By YURI SAHL The leruish, Book Council lllay S gaae Yuri Suhl the Charles and,'Bertie G. Schruclrtz A_taartJ (#SOfl1 fur a Ieuish, tu,uenile Book 'reuiewing lor hii iJncle Misha's Partisans. In the boolt in ou,r-May issue. Tess Swe"rdlow pred,icted that'oHis work will win autards . . ." In response to the presentation, Mr. Suhl deiiuered this iddress.

Incid,entally, S-uhI's book, They Fought Pu"!., will be back in print &s a p(rper_ bach in, the falt. Uncle Misha,s Par_ tisans uill also be published, in Great llritain later in the year.

hysteria. When that happens the novel_ ist has failed in his obiective, which wa: to engage the read-er's emotion.s and thus involve hinr personally in the world of the Holocdust.

But whereas a writer,s failure in a creative endeavor,. painful as it may be, is ultimately o..ly a p"..onui tuiture, failure in Holociust hction means that the author has tuif.a "oi ""ly him_self but also a theme th;;-is regarded as sacred. An awesomeburden to bear.

Thi,s, perhaps, explains whv the considerable body oi Holocaust literature we already__have is Iargely this occasion I should like to flN docurnentary, the bltt< of it V share with you some thouqhts on of survivors' m.emoirs, and"o^i.iing why so the writing of Holocaust fictionl Treatlittle of it is fictional. puir.ity _The ing the Holocaust theme in fictional is e.ven pronounced in tli, a..u Torg form can be a hazardous undertaking, or luvenrle hction. especially for one who has not lived As I now reflect on the literary through the experience. The pitfalls genesis of Uncle Misha's partisans. are nran) and the possibility of iailure it occurs to me that this rather slenlooms- large. The bare facts are so der volume of a little over 200 pages or.erwhelming, so was 25 years in the making, althorrth .imagination-stag_ gering, that only their" being full-y the actual writing took IJ.. than a do-cumented gives them their' crediyear. All my worl on the Holocaust bilitv. therne for the past 25 years as re-and - In the process of transforming these searcher, writer, editor teacher facts into fiction,_ both the en'ormity seems to have been a necessary prepof the crime and the depth of the aration for the writing of this suffering must be translated i.rto huEven so _I approachej the tart "ourt. wittr m.anly conrprehensible terms; other_ a great deal of self-doubt and trepi. wrse the drama embodied in the fact dation: Was I ready? Would I sucturns into melodrama and genuine ceed? emotion assurnes the shrill ii"g oi The first two reassuring answers to

28

Jnwrsn Cunnaxrs

t l r , ' s eq u e s t i o n s c a m e s o o n a f t e r p u b li rrtion and they carlre in the form of ,r r'r-'viel and a letter. The review char.r' terized the story as being, "r'ealistic , r r r lb e l i e v a b l e . " O f a l l t h e o t h e r p i e a s irr,,, adjectives the review contained, | , ,1'11s these two rvere the key words.

'Ihe letter was a fan letter from a \ {)ung reader out in San Marino, (,ulifornia, uhich reads as {ollows: "I irrst read your book, Uncle Misha's I'rtrtisans, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

I could really relate with the main , lraracter, Motele. I am Jewish. \lotele's parents were killed by the \azis and so were my grandparents!

I thought it was erciting when Motele lirst went out on his mission and was lrired in the German headquarter-s. \\/hv did vou write the book? Do r ou- have ; sequel . ? Sincerely \ ours, Steve Barlam."

In rny reply I told Steve that I wrote tlre book for him and other boys and :irls his age so that they could learn 'ornething about the Holocaust and lewish resistance. In their quest f or ru meaningful identity with their peolrle many young Jews ask searching rluestions related to the Holocaust: Why were the Jews selected for the l"inal Solution? How did they react to llitler's genocidal program? Is it true, ls some say, that they went passively to their death, that they did not resist?

It is terribly irnportant for them to krrolv that they are not members of t people of cowards; that in the face of their greatest catastrophe the Jelvish lreople, with minor exceptions, comporte'd themselves with great dignity ,rnd responsibility; that they did resist and, considering the conditions urrder which they fought back, their lesistance assumes a dimension of unlraralled heroism.

What a great inspiration it rvould lre for them to know how the ghetto historian, Emmanuel Ringelblum, described the relationship of forces on

,Jurv-Aucusr,1974

'W'arsaw the eve of the Ghetto Uprising. He wrote: "'We took stock of our position and salv that this was a struggle betrveen a fly and an elephant. But our natir-rnaldignity dictated to us that the Jews must offer resistance and not allow themselves to be led wantonlv to the slaughter."

Our young friend Steve is already well on the way to finding answers to his questions. His interest in the subject has been aroused by a real hero named Motele to whom, as he put it, he was able to relate. The fiction will serve as a stepping-stone to the documentary and, as he continues to read he will discover more young resistance fiehters whose courase and "will discipline {ascinate him io less than Motele's did. He will learn that in the ghetto of Minsk, in Byelorussia, a l2-year-old girl named Sima, and two l3-year-old boys, David and Banko, carried out dangerous assignments for the Jervish underground and became a vital, life-saving link betu'een the ghetto and the forest. As Pioneers, the Soviet equivalent for Scouts. they were thoroughly farniliar u,ith the terrain of the region. Their job was to lead young, combat-ready Jews out of the ghetto under cover of night and by the sa{est paths bring them to the forest, where they joined partisan detachments. Hundreds of Jews were thus led out by these three children, and when their mission was over, they remained in the forest, doing combat duty with the rest of the partisans.

As Steve continues to read, he will learn to appreciate the courage of those children who could not escape to the forest and fought in their own way to stay alive in the ghetto; the courase to attend an underground ,chooi, either religious orcecullr; the courase to hide themselves from the Jf the Nazis during a blockade; "y"r courage to leap over the ghetto the

29

lrall to the Aryan side and there to beg for food for themselves and their parents. They rvel'e breadrvinners at the age of five and six and to succeed in even a small measure in that responsibility.they hacl to be tough ancl fearless and cunrrrng.

Thry continued lo play hide-andseek, but n'hat a different garne it was nolv. Now it rras hide froni the euards while 1'ou seek a quick exit frin the ghetto; hide the piece of bread while you seek a safe return to the ehetto.

The fun game had turned into o" nu-" for survival.

Steve will be saddened to learn that his hero, Nlotele, did not survive the Holocaust. I{e fell in battle while trying to -save the life of a Russian officer. But he will be thrilled to know that Motele's commander, the legendary U-ncle Misha, and his part-isans took their lvar against fasciim right to Hitler's .doorstep. As a Jew, he sald, "I have a final account to settle with Hitler in Berlin proper." In Germany Uncle Nlisha liberated a laree concentration camp for lvomen ind expressed his feelings about it in these words: "It was worth sufferin,q hunger, cold and fear as a partisa"n, and now to face continuous danger on the front lines, in order to live t-o see that day when I . . . a son of the'inferior race' have with m\r own hancls flung open the gates of German concentration calnps and brought freedom to thousanclsof people of-var.ious nationalities."

Before leaving Germany Uncle Misha r,r'en[ to' Berchtessaden and there, on the wall of Hitlel's retreat, he wrote the followine in Hebrew letters: "I, Moshe, son- of Asher the Levite, have outlived you who condemned me to death. Tire Jewish people live (Am Yisroel Hai) !" What can one add to these words that so vividly expres,sthe spirit of Jewish resistancL to Nazisrn and the Holocaust period?

30

SAYE THE

,ilfiw

DATE:

A N ew lWusical Eoent /or Jewlsu CunRrnrs Thurs. Eve., Dec. 12, Lg74 Eugene Listo pianisl ALICE TULLY HALL Lincoln Center a

Now rnarking his 40th Anniversary season, Eugene List has the unchallenged distinction of having appeared:aspiano soloist with morE than 135 orchestras in the U.S. and abroad. With the N. Y. Philharmonic alone, he has perforrned 35 times. List made his professional debut at the age of l0 with the L. A. Philharmonic under Artur Rodzinski, playing the Beethoven Third, Concerto. Since then he has played more than 2,000 concerts throughout the world, travelins rnore than one million miles in the line of professional duty. _ . During _World War II Eugene List served as a sergeant in Spiciat Seruices. His name became a household word when he was summoned to the BiS Three Conference at Potsdam to play privately for Truman, Churchill and Stalin. Before the conference lvas overe he was invited to play four times more and was often thereafter invited to play at the White House.

Since then List has expanded his career all over the world. In 1964 he toured the USSR, playins for SRO audiences in Moscow" L"eningrad, Kiev, Tbilisi and Baku. The Soviet rnusic iovers who filled Moscow Conservatory's huge hall were so enthrolled with his performance they would not leave until he had played six encores.

Jpwlsu CunRnnrs

New Jewish Feminist

Group

May 5 an organization was established to represent the special interests of Jewish women both inside and outside the Jewish community. This .fewish Feminist Oreanization will deal rvith religious and secular problems and "defend the interests and imases ,rf the Jervish woulen in the "om-urrity-at-large against stereotypirg."

The group was organized at the \ational Conference on Jewish Wornen and Men in New York attended lry mor" than 400 persons from the trnited States and Canada. The conl'erence was sponsored by the North \merican Jewish Students' Network, arr umbrella or,ganization for hun.dreds ,rf student groups in high schools ancl ,'olleses.

Ms. Leora Fishman, rvho u,as elected to the board of the JFO, said that "the tirle has come for women in the Jew. ish community to organize their .trength and pressure the male-dorn" inated power structure for positive ,'hange.tt The group will set up an information clearing house and speakers' bur,'<tu, and it will provide names of \\ omen qualified to speak on Jewish topics "usually reserved for male -peakers. The Jewish comrnunity today -{relrrs to feel that women are only 'We ,1ualified to speak about lr,omen. rr ill push to change that attitude." In tlre conference this year. unlike last \ (rar, men were involved.

Congresswoman Bella Abzug told tlre conference that the elfort to coalr.sce the thinking and feelings of

L974 Irrr.v-Aucusr,

Jewish men and \\'omen around the issues of Jewish feminisnr "is extremely exciting." She said that "in our hierarchy there is a greater tendency to ignore women and not to recognize their leadership" and that prominent Jewish women are rarely called upon to speak out for Jewish cause-c.

Nazi

Criminals

jn

USA

Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman (D.-Brooklyn), a rnember of the House Immigration Sub-comrnittee, charged Muy 20 that "an appalling laxness and superficiality" in investigations by the Immiqration Service made the U.S.A. "a hal en for at least 7.t, alleged Nazi war criminals" over the last 25 years.

She said that a study of status reports of investigations showed at least f5 cases in rvhich the Immisration Service had failed to intervien'"eyewitnesses to atrocities allegedly committed by some of the suspects. She said the agency also failed to initiate contacts u.ith foreign governments ancl docurnent centers for key information on those under investigation.

In a letter to Commissioner Leonard f. Chaprnan. Jr. of the Immigration Service she u'rote: "Despite the high.priority nature of the I.N.S. investigation, its administration and conduct can onll' be described as haphazard, uncoor.dinatet{ and unprofessional."

N'Is. Holtzman named nine of the suspects lr,-hose cases have received attention in the press over the years.

Includecl rvere the man from Mineola, Boleslavs Maikovskis" rvho is under

31

a L-atvian death sentence for an alI,rrvish weekly,' the Serttinel, endorsed l_egedrole in exterminations if,"r". nn"y the L r r u sstand rano o ofr tthe he A Ameri m e r i c a n^ J e w i s h survivor. of ifr" nig;, Congress 11,_1_groyp..of for unconclitio"uf al amnestyo Latvlar ghetto picketed his home ln ""-,i""r"drafrresis_rers u"a tvtrneola, LJ., demanding his ll:ll9i.* deporoeserters,exiles and those veterans "ru,a"r., tation. have been penalired i; ryho life Two other war criminals named ^ by throush. less than i;;;;"b[ disF"p, Holtzman were: e,rd.iiu Artu_ cna|9e." kovic of Los Angeles, for,rrer'Interior Minister of Nazi-"run Croutiu, *iro tru. l{ixon Tupes orsickeningD successf-ully- rvithstood yugoslav cleman.ds for his extraditior, .ir." I95I; llabbi Alerand.erI{. Schindler,presand Bishop Valerian D. Trifa o{ the iclent of the Union of- e*L.i.un ftomanlan Orthodox Episcopate of H e b re w C ongregarr:I, rl i " i or* ;, America, now living in a D.tioii .ub_ NIay 6 called ?."r. Richard-M-.

Nixurb, former studen'i leader in-]ascist ,,the on's tape ."aar.i, Romania. The Bishop Trifa .transcripts *u. most sickening-docunrent. in ih" urranrlounced for action-by the Imniigra_ "ur" nals oi Americanhistory,,,rvhit:h have Service a while dr1o, b;; M-..

Iiol producedan all-tim" *oi.al

conrptaine,l thaT li"! l:I.]1r'i.r ".-"T /. rnvesti.gators

have not interviewed a srngle nrtness on Bishop Trifa. _ The Jewish Cultural Club. ancl Societies rvrote to Rep. H"ttr-"" M"y cooperation in her--q,,est ?? :{:.i"g Ior actlon-against the Nazi *ar cii_i_ nals strll Iiving in the United States. r ne cluJls also wrote to the Imnrigra_ tion Service to hasten all lrrr,"Jcu;iorr. and act energetically against rh;;;.

Suppo,rt

lor

Amnesty

The Sy.nagogqeCouncil of America, representing three religious ,the branches in the Jewish ",rr.r,rr.irrity, urged April 23 the adoption of u-nesty as a national poliC), ,,for those

g-rtrd.

,"fu."J lo pu.,Y_l: :" Tof*l trcrpate in the Vietnamese war."

The Council represents the national rabbinical bodies of Conservative, Orthodox and Reform Jua"i.*. and the Conservative and Relo.r" 1ui ,yn_ fsogal .org'anizations in the i'nit"d States. Positions for amnesty have been taken by the Nationaf ioin.il of Churches of Christ and the U.J."b"tfr. olic Conference.

April 1l the influential Chica,qo

io*^poi.,t in our narion. Itabbi S.lliJt". said ,,not that the tapes rtere itr"-tu.rgrug, o f th e P resi de,rcv,.hrr i l ," ' l * gr.ts" ,4" guuer.It ,="k. *irt, iirE-Ji"r,.t "f

of rnoral decay.,, Itl discrrssiriglhat ..

_the transcripts "..arr disclose,Itabbi' Schindlerl .uiJ, the talk about lrlackmail t ulslurim to b e c rrrrr.,:al ed; rhe w i l ful l y-;ni " nd" d a b u s eo f l he term 6nati orral j ecuri ty,to c o v e r cri nres;,the readi nessto sacri n c e ,s o rne A drni ni strati onuntl erl i ngs to -sn1's11,. necks of hig.her_*r; these a.re an app.opriaiJ'r"lriJ.i' ;ii r", olscussronof a shrewdlawyer iounsel_ ing'shadyclienrs,but no; f;iif," f"",r", u rree people-takingcounsel - rvith :t t h e n a t i on' s h i ,qhestod,i .or-i i

A|Committee

on Anti-semitism

_ Bertram H. Golcl. exec. vice-pres. ol the- American Jen.ish Co,n,,riiLi, irsr 6[Jrh annual meering. May f O ", Jltuit"d ner\r sources of anti-Seniiti.r,r in the including Arab propug;na, urrA ,,tt.S., g l ' o r ru t g r r r s e r r s i l i v i t lL o m a t t e r s , of J elr isll t;orrcern,,, but cautiorred that l\nlerrr.an Jerrs should be careful not lalrel cver) one rvho .l;.ogrr"." with .to " a n rnen) as anti_Sernite.', S. p.

32 Jrwrsn CuRnpNrs

Boo R MEYER LEUIII'S SEARGH

By IRVIIV SHAPPIN Itr Search, by Meyer Levin. Pocket []ooks," N. Y., L97:\, lralier]rack, 5,1,7pages, .$I.95.

Side Chicago, he reacts in an almost pathological manner to jibes and insults by gentile kicls in ihe neighborhood. Epithets suc hsa sheenie, kike, Meyer Levin paused midChrist-killer leave an indelible mark IYHEN v Y way in his career to lvrite this on the sensitive boy. Later it spills rrutobiography, he was impelled by over in his writine to the detriment lrotives transcending personal vanity.. of his career.

Leavine the novelist in suspension,, - His put,lishers, correctly appraising Ire penned this volume with the hot the mood of the Arnerican- reading l,r'eath of a prophet. No attempt was public, have second thoughts about the ',rade to prune it, give it greaier co' prospects of financial returns on their Irerence or filter it throush an artistic investrnents. In the case of his Yahude, one publisher suggests he change the t)rocess.The result is a chronicle oj rrremories and traumatic experiences title. Another, about to publish The I'requently vitiated by irrelevant ad.

Citizens, a damning-re-creates social document ,lenda and trivia. Notwithstanding, it which in retrospect the lives is a laga of vital significance, spun of the victims of the Chicaso Massacre. ,ut of the consciousnessof an Arneri. arising from the Steel SIrike in the 1'nl] Jew who, as reporter, observer f 9fOs, also suggests changes. Levin balks, and bottiiovels uppit without ,rnd historian" is caught up in an un, change, with disastrous-iesults. Des.nding chain of events. perately trying to sell his books door In Search, begins with a morbid to _door, he comes up against a stone .fewish consciousness arvakene.d early wall. in his childhood. Hemmed in in a pre,lominantly Irish-Italian ghetto in East Several other incidents brought him further humiliation. His pluy, frtod,el Tene_ment, scheduled for^ pioduction lnwtN Suapprl ol Los Angeles last by the Chicago WPA Theatir Proiect, uppeared, here in. our IuIy-Aug., 1973 is temporarily postponed beciuse r.sszreruith atl article on tlte Souiet .leuish sculptor, Isaac ltkind. fuIr. * Wrirr.n in 19418,the book found no .\happin's children's plays haue been publisher in the United States,It was first produced here and abroad; his historprinted in Paris and a year later was fol. ical, essays haue appeared, in Pennlowed-by_an American edition. The present sylvania Cavalcade. paperbackis a re-issue.

fury-Aucusr,1974

o.l DD

someone had fingered him as a .,Red.r, A charitable supervisor suggests he bud better straighten it o,ri" with a Father Giles, *ho, it appears, hacl served in the capacity. ;f uno{licial censor..I3y the time he'clearecl it with th." priest, the Theater proiect had other plan_s and his play *u, per. manently shelved.

The next bout with Catholic power occurred when his emplol.ment with Esqu,ire^ was terminatei ulorrg with that of an<,rther journalist iitt, a "Jewish-sounding" name. Though the publisher was i Je* he under pressure. The Catholic"ulriiulut"d hierarchv accomplished this bv the sinrple pedient of forcing Catholic fiims "ito withdran' their advertising. As if that were not enough, the publication ol

tion east of Karlsbad because it feared confrontation with the advancine Russiarrs. Levin was appalled fy ttE rnisery and suffering of ih"r" lattei-dav "re{ugees."

Py comparison the F."n"l, and Czechoslovak iefugees streaming along h.ighways on the"ir way t o*"1 l a d e r ru i t h G e r n r a n l o o t , * " . " i B o h . * ian strollers."

He was one of the first reporters to visit the DP camps, with their refugees from the deith mills that deci. rnated European Jewry, and the first to speak with the su.viuors. There are intensely moving pages describing the gaunt, emaciated, ragged survivois o{ the holocaust-uproloied, torn from -from families, -running_ pillu, to post, tornrented by guilty corrsiie.r"e. Inthis context, Levin The Akt Bun"i lrrougtt'it .^ Iio.,." o{ m a t i n g t h e is almost prophetic in following'obsirvation: "head. o'The Israel down on his The Antitrvisted sense of iralues, the lost l)efamation League took umllrage at ).ears, the starved years, the broken his portrayal of'-the Jervish yo,rih o{ years, the embittered hearts may yet Chicago as he sar{ it, lvith all its lead to strife and events that will-have irnperfections. to be understood."

In the period following the end oi , The eonlrontatiort ttith anti-Semi. the war, Europe n'as in ihambles. In tism in his profession brought echoes the .p.rerailing chaotic conditions the oI a painful childhood. It-opened a Jewrsh survivors had been almost h o l n e t ' s n e s t f o r . I [ e 1 . e r L e v i n . ^ s e e k i n g totally' neglected. Europe had neither an ansrver to the question, .,Who am the capacity nor the uill to absorb the I?"_h" probed mo." exteirsively into remnants, except in instances where his Jewish heritage. rt sorely needed skilled journeymen I, o desire to get closer to the tnu/"" he rnade frequent and. qualified professionals. A polish ,t..ipr to- Palestine, usually between gtglul cynically remarked in 1946 or literary failures. On these ,ir.ri"y., h" 794,7 that they did not mind the pres. f thought_he caught a glirrrp." of'ruhat ence of Jews becausethe countrv benehe had been seeking.The-land of his fitted from the inflow of dollar's i.ofore{athers beckonet to hirn. trut it the Joint DistriJrution Commlft"". was. only a beginning of a great ad. verrture.

Beginning es u trichle, -of emigration Ominous wind-s we_r_e blowing, open- assurned_ the proportions an"exodus. ing nerv vistas for Meyer Leiirr. He f-tlorts by such countries as poland, had seen the face of fascism at close flungarv and Rornania to stem th; range, first in the Civil War in Spain ;,illegal tide of what,they _referredto as ls qglrespondent, and a few years 'the fater blunted the movement Fut 191_ugees" in World War II. One of finesr did, not stop it. The situationwas bits of reportage is his coverage of tlrc lurther aggravated bv the division of esodus of the entire German"popula.

Ilurope into military zones, each re.

34

Jawlsn CunRanrs

rlriring

passports, visas, permits; l)asses,etc.

Levin graphically records the gigantic task of salvaging what was left of the teeming millions of Jews that inlrabited Europe. This is easily the best lrortion of the work. The story of l{aganah operations, picking up Jewish survivors and shuttling them across lhe continent, is both miraculous and Iegendary, bearing the overtones o{ irn eprc.

Levin is part of one such operation in the capacity of filming director, ru'hoseawesorne task was to film the smuggling of a large contingent all the way to the Italian seacoast. The Ioading of the refugees, among them \!omen and children, .some still infants, in the dead of night, the stormy hazardous voyage, the confrontation n ith British cruisers pursuing the ship r'lear to the Haifa harbor, is a story rrnparalleled in contemporary annals.

The clandestine route, known as the l)rayha, resernbling in many essentials the Underground Railroad in the days ,,f American slavery, was a tangled rveb of road-stations that criss-crossedthe continent. "It had been stuck together," writes Levin, "impetuously, in rlisorder, in desperation; the organization was formed under pressure ol people not wanted anywhere."

Further on, Levin adds: "Ever since the war, this road, the Brayha through Iiurope, has been cutting itself deeper into the Jewish historical experience."

It took guIs, hu,tzpah and phenomenal ingenuity to outwit civil and military authorities, to shuttle the contraband Jewish passengers across borders and rnilitary checkpoints. A transport visa r\:as copied ancl used over and over again to get the flowing tide ever ,:loser to shipping ports.

Levin's trek across post-rvar Gerrnany and Poland was a chilling experience.The destruction n as total and terrifying. He saw Warsaw as "a vast

.[urv-Aucusr,1974

archeologic excavation, where only foundations can be traced, with an occasional bit of wall." The villages he had seen, those still intact, were "picturesque, seen in the National Geographic X'[agazine-villages right out of Sholem Aleichem, but with no 'oa vast Jews." The W'arsaw ghetto was open field cluttered rvith crushed brick."

Perhaps one of the starkest tragedies dealt n'ith in the book concerns the children left behind by Jews who founcl refuge in countrl'side homes and orphanages. In some instances,the children were hrought up in another faith ruhose foster-paretrts {or one l'eason or another, refused to give thern uJ). "The task," writes Levin, "was indeed a tale out of Gogol-the lnan with the bundle of l]roney in searc,hof lost souls."

Ironic:ally, the fihns obtained at the risk of life and at the cost of many hardships, had rlever seen the lig-ht of day. The Jewish Agency, which sponsored the project, after privately viewins the filrns, refused to release thenr to the rvorld. Frightened by nhat they hacl seetr-the agonizing scenes of rnisery, suffering, degradation artd the dissolution of a people-the sponsors lacked the courage to bring them to the attention of the n'orld.

In a series of exciting vignettes, the final portion oI the book takes us into colonial Palestine. The reader sets a ringside seat at scenes of blind, unreasoned Arab rai'ds and depredations, ultirnately culminating in open armed conflict. We also get a glimpse of a confusec'|,fumbling, tottering British rule. Finally, there is an eye-witness assessrner)tof the rnixed feelings of surprise ancl utter incredulity experiencetl by the Jewish fighters on discoverins that almost overnight an entire Arah population vanished frorn neighboring settlements, never to return.

35

,As autobiography In

Searchis some_ what hishtv",i,"p;;";i--ut,iotion.

SATWT]ELARCHESS (tBB7-re74) qAMUEL ARCHESS, a Life

*'ii-hour lup.lynone !t"ffi;i,;;'a"i"ii. vi;tually of the "pro'pi" tt

ui?orr"a the n'rite_r,s path, by accidentor other_ wise (with ihe

^-,

Sub_

in his apartment ^scnber" at Co-OpCirv in th" B;";i-nirr"r, T r! t""'r.j"rii?i:l["::.:l'iu#kt10,_ aged^

Iugo:lav), comi, to hfe una th"v

l!" remain but names Levin, however_

to

the

reader.

a'"*Jin"i' "',il;ffi " fi*f_,fiilt ,.;" Jj co_mmirredby1 slishtly ;;i";

of hts people. He ls rmpressive modes t l and, n" " -.i ' ^ ;i j ," -' ^ ' : in his

-#h tr. ;#1"'aTi'?#iil:fl ,1iu'anted ,1'fg; "r'mosr_in he h;';n".*"r"a Jifr; u nequiv oc allv...r-9 b e

a -l"i'o g o o d ,J e w .,, L;nlike_Arthur ulro visited palestine, ry"".ir*,

d;;:..r9;"accepr the prerrrise that .}e the establishrnent of lsraet nill inhibit Jews]"';;#. ou.,, of the rvorld and lend ,o fr.""f ju*r, the age-ol.dresistance to assimilation, which to Levin v

"p:r;hi;;;il"ffi1.1,r'o"r-ouswith In Sear,ch

was the cross,-_t1l ing of.!f"r:, the Rubico.r,il which unendinssuest brought-hi; the lone ff i;,;: ish,ideaisof sociatj":il;;';;d'ln ail-

embracing Jewishness allowing for _ greater self_realization i;iAimenr as Jews rvherever "";- their they let roots grow.

NEEDEI) An

Air

Contlitioner

for our Offiee Can yotr, giue us orte or get us one as a gif,t?

Call Ms. Swercllow

(2r2) e24,.s740

died

86. For many decades he had .been an active rank_and_file member of Local 25 ,f* A_"f"t Clothing Worf.","""

ot

ill-r"l"d

^ n rerrcaas nel l ,as i n the Tai l ors, L'ultural CIub. ne expressedhis

idealsof sociali.mth.Ju;ru";;ouscontriburions. to thepi"sirrll"

Itt"j:,. irrcluding the Freiite

When he died, th".;" ;;; quest by him of his U"io" jiila bej"_ s u rancepol i cy of $500 to orl -" di _ tor, llori.is t'. S"hu;rl,"r."F;;; ,h" Arnalgamarecl Rerir.,';";; F;;;' tVir. Dcnappes -also received$85 due to Sam Archess.

NIr. S"f."pl".-iu, turned over this surn 'bSgS--io of J,Ewlsn Cunnnurs, as expressive of th e .conti nui ngsupport of S amuel Archess for Jur nragazine, Honor to his mernorv!

INFORMATIO]V VA\VTED F-gR a doctoraldisserratio" u, C".

[r' 1,,-l.i- rT-:--lumbia University on .,ft hi." and Decline of th" j"rirh " t;;;r-

Hartem, N; i"rf ii'dqo. {tf^."r t reso): A stuiy of l";l;l b;i,,. munall,ife

in u Ctru"gi"*'ari*ican LrrbanSeuing,',j;h;;"u'dl'E;rock is lookingt"r'f"r_., i"jarl" to

intervie*, io. co.ngregational or organizational leadeis 'who ,.,,;

hare records ,h"_i; *;;;;.,"i:r; ,1l.irf-, "i by, Haje_ ruaterialissued

institu.tions an.d other personal

o.r orEJanizational documents.If you such infornration, l,_ri l_lt^" o rners ltho mav h g y s i".

1 , r v r i t e t"f o or call Mr. Gurlock. l.,ig'Nf.;;;;"i "'iOIOZ

Bronx, lV.-V., lr::_. A_y_",, 1212)t\22-0syt.

JurvrsrrCunnutt,s

HARLEM WEEKLY A]VISTERDAM NEWS OIVMAALOT ,,An Eye fN an editorialin its May 25 for An Ey",,,the largest r circulationblackweekly issue, in the courrtryl;;;, 'orhe wantonmassacre 6t zs i;;;i;;iJr"i"rriiar""

by Arab guerlras is reminiscent the bitte;-s;L-", of_1063, -Bffi;g#L ,of wh"n four innocentBlack childrenwerekiled bv racis;-i; ;hr o'At thar churchbombinp time we were heartenJ ty l-h;";;;;il;;; ,.sponseof the Jewishcommunity thit ;;i-:';;#;"*"li,r" ;i;;;t.

-to rrr" AmericanJewishcommittee,ui-rd ,";;;;i ;i;;r" Jewishorganizations, for instance' supported tlre d.iu"

to raise funds

to help ihe families of victims of the bombing u"J r"uuild-;h; d";;;.d" those organizations p;;;: ii;;d;io .a "i,"irr,."u;;;;".r, -calleE;p;; establish day of national mourning for__thesJ innocent--yo_ungsters who were kilred -sym_ in the bombins ro txat ail a-.ri"uns wili b" ;t[ to exrend their pathies and help, and wilt-r*.og"i"" the solemn .esio.,sibirity this-iatio., """* l"."u.e_of this tragic event, _fa.", i;-i;rfiiil.;"t,r';F;;i." or freedom,equaliiy,undoppo.i;rl;y all of i-rscitizens., ;;;;""ij"r'r", "we can-affoid to dJ;; i;;i, "fq tl,i.ir"!i"'iurr.tur". The weaponof terror was used at Maalot to so irqlm; p?..r1,r. that any chance for rreacebetweensyria and Israer *g{4';"fi"i."."irrose wrro commi*ed -;;'reap

atrocity :l'J,T XtTHle' "s;i;",hi iJ,;;;;,;',, otb" "it;;;J

"w'e do not, of course, condone_the retariatory r.aids Israel has . mounted asainst l.ebanon in ,"prir"1. i., that nation- us a base for ii.- o!*ruti"r, "ri"*r"g the guerillas to use ilr." r<i"g "g"i"ri"rqru"tl-Ar^ us, an io, an eye only winds up with botf, "y" :,Htfi;reminded "when the Birmingharn bombings took prace, we did not cail upo' the Klan and south.in t"rrori.i, 6 cease it saults. we knew that wourd il1;"itr"rr.-i;r;;;4 "ii cruel and vicious asi" d"*u'ded government action to stop the bombinqs. "similarly, it wourd be u" L"."ise in futility terrorists to ceasetheir attacks-the-"""'""i'*rti.n .to call upon Arab would encl Israel reprisals. The united Nations does not appear to be able to stop the terrorists. Nevertheless,we call u

"tr;;t;-l;''il;;;s"gement",dr"$i",?.;:UT'ltt),,h1,:'$" UnitedNarionsSicIGe.,.t<"ririr"ranEi,i J"uii

i""lure a clayof world mourninsso thatthe peopres of th" *orrd mul rheir ^ni,""i,",'"ra svmpathies bereav"d "I["a r"-iii", ortn*"-^[iil"i' r,ir,'"i

ili,lflffi,the

clarence Jones,,editorand pubrisher of the Ants,erd'nt, News,in an inertview in the N.y. /ezaish wi"k nili r; ;;;;.e<l that as a means oI encourasingdialogue her*een tr," giu"['",,"jj"*i;h-;;;;iii"., "there should}u mor" reprinting i"-tn" i"Hications,, of ma,j#"t published in the others. Wl ug.". "*i"r.

,lur,y-Aucusr', L974,

37

Readers' Forum 0nBlack-Jewish Refations On

Affirrnatiae

Action

than "equal opportunity to conrpetefor jol-rs or positions in schools, on their On p. 116of the lreb. issue, Mr. Max merit." I merely state.d a fact that the Cohen, in his Affirmatiue Action and, establishment of de lacto tluotas had Quotas, remarks: "I{ we (Jews) are opened doors that had hitfier'to been honest we will admit that it was d,e unopenecl. Nor rvas it my intent even f-acto_quotas that opened the doors to suggest that Jervs "deJired" quotas.

Jor_ Jews, ju_st as it- is doing in the But we did struggle for and apply building trade unions for bla-cks.,, pressure (both legal and morali-in This statement is patently false. Jews gld"l' to open those doors, just as rarely demande.d or received such Blacks are doins. quotas. What they did demand was I do acknowledge that my article equal opportunity to compete for j obs, did not make cleai the differ:ence beor positions in schools, on their merits, tween positive and rregative quotas. rvith a confidence amply justified by Jews were (and still aie) subiect to subsequerr.teve-nts thai they required negative quotas which limit the numno more than this to succeed.Th disber of "qualified" Jews. Because of proportionately Iarge number of Jew- this fact we Jews tend to reiect all ish scholars, professionals and edunotions of quotas cators has to do with certain features My plea was for positive (uotasof Jewish ethnic culture which foster the recognition that "special'; efforts -"the motivation towards and abilitv in are needed to overcome lonq and these activities. To suggest that'Jews tragic history of discriminatiJn of are indebted to anyone but themselves many Black Americans."

We Jews are for their successii disgraceful. "people of the book." We are the There is, as Mr. Cohen probably product of centuries of intensified s-ufngc1s,a distasteful implication in "learninp;," but Blacks in America this historical fact. That is, not every rvere for centuries denied educationethnic group or,culture produces reading and writing were crimes un"quul numbers of individualj competent in der slaverv. â&#x201A;Źvery form of human activitv. AffinnIf affirmative actions are to be more ative action is justified insofar as it than pious platitudes then ways have creates jobs for compet.ent members to be found to raise the level of Blacks -it of all eth_nicgroups; becomes per- not only in the education of the youns nicious when ii foices individuals into but on the job itself. This must bE positions whose responsibilities they done with sensitivity and dedication, are incapable of carrying out. not simply in order to fill quotas by Areunr S. Bnavannrex, M.D. putting people into jobs they cannot New York, Feb. 3 fit, bu-t by proper fraining to make Contment

by Max Cohen: It was them fit. certainly rrot my intention to suggest It is all too easy to use "merit,, as that Jervs had dernanded an). iror" an excuse for doing nothing and inciJ

3B

Jrwrsu CuRRuNrs

,ientally to exclude even the qualified lllacks.

As I pointed out in my article, rreither Jews nor building trades workrfrs are going to give up hard-won positions easily. But then neither did Christians willingly give up jobs to .lews.

The i'deal situation is for Jews and Blacks to combine their efforts in deman'ding enough professional and skilled jobs for all, rather than fighting each other for the too few that exist. And that needs to be done. But in the meantime I believe it to be essential that Jews show greater sensitivity to the needs of Blacks. Insistence on strict merit without real efforts to train and get professional and skilled jobs for Blacks is a self-serving fraud.

The Black community has the rieht to ask the Jewish community (as well as the total white society),'"Are you helping to raise me up or push me down." And we Jews must ask ourselves whether the growing polarization of the two communities does not play into the hands of those rightist forces in America who are fishing in today's troubled water,s and awaiting their day.l 0n

Black/

tewish

Relations

I take issue with the article, "Jewish Encounter With Black Publisher," rr'ritten by W. S. in your Feb. edition. I attended this meeting sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith and the Black National Newspapers Publishers Association and came away with a fairly rvarm feeling that we had a good discussion that had opened ,the lines of communication between the two groups.

Those of us rvho were at the rneeting were really astonished to see the New York newspaper IAmsterdanr News] give it the treatment it did. l'Iowever, we are just as concerned

lur,v-Aucusr.1974

to see it again rvritten up in your magazine, playing up the negative instead of the positive. Under no circumstances do two wrong,s make a right.

This is not to say that there are not strained relationships between Blacks and Jews. In fact in this day and time it is hard to find any group where there are not some disaereements but once this point is .Jrognized an'd you sit down to discuss the issues, many intelligent people do not call them "encounters" but a meetins'Dr.of the minds.

Carlton B. Goodlett, of San lirancisco, is an extrernely vocal spokesman for the Negro Nervspaper Publishers Association and I support him in many of his endeavors.

The Alro-American lYewspapers chain is 83 years old. We have often treated this subject editorially and we feel our position has been made quite clear.

I am sure any good library in your area will reveal our editorial stance since all of our newspapers ale on nricrofilm. Read us. We help America understand.

Fnawcns L. MunpnY, II Chairman, Board of Directors A I ro- American IVewspapers Baltintore, Md., Feb. l5 lWe agree with Mrs. Murphy that if James L. Hicks of the Amsterdam lYeus had not decided to breal< the story there would have been no need for our article. Since he did, however, splash the matter sensationally with a front-page streamer headline about "Jewish Power," and since his treatment of the matter stimulated several anti-Semitic letters that were published in the Amsterdam News, his report was finally picked up by a ferv English-Jervish weeklies and treated one-sidedly. None of them, for example, brought out the essential point in our article by W. S., that on

39

the issue of ,,quotas,,the Anti-Defamation, Lgugy" position l"uur.- much to be desired and dr_,es not represent all elemenrsin the A-r.i.ur, Iewish conrmunity. As for the *or,l ..en_ coun-tel',',we intended it to be taken in the current usage, i-piy*g ,rr"*., not so much a hostile iniercharigeas an exploratory one. ..Encounter,, groups, have been -,prirrging- r'rp all over the country in' thi! ,'.nJ". Of course, we welcome Mrs. Murphy,s assurancethat she came away f.o_ the meeting ,.with a fai.iy *#t".t_ r-ng rhat lre had a good discussion that had opened th"- lin"r* oi. "orn_ -municationbetweentrvo groups.,, We hoge_such discussion; *?x";;;tinue.

-E:d.l

had no Jews,llo synagogue,and "1850s litile if any.Black popuiatiJn.B .l\o, rnls rs not a tl.pographical er-an-".-. ror; it probably is based upol memory. The story was told to me between 40 and 50 y"urc ago by glul.dmother, - spent a'grear TL .who deal of tinre in review of her pastin,ith several of her grandchildren. Wh;; she camero this iuntry from tthiopia via the Caribbean, she took up residence--with a Jewish pt vri"i"I -Sf,L and his wife in New york tiiv. *", trained by this physician"as a midwrre and was a practicing Orthodox .my childhoo"drt"' p..I:l..,,During pared on special occasionKosher f'ood ror- us, and on a number of occasions i,t f*l to my lor to attend the Orthodx Synagogueon Fridays and Satur_ oays wrth her.

Question . .

Dr. Carlton B. Goodletr. . Th" error is probably one of recol_ lectlon on my part. It is regrettable pdltolPublisher, The Sun Reporrer that lve were unable to queslion her 1366 Turk St. more thoroughly about these matters San Francisco,Calif. 941f5. prior to her death.

Thank you very much for your kind , Dear Mr. Goodlett: letter. ^,In rcur addressat Jhe gatheringof C.tnmox Gooor,rm, ph.D., M.D. Black.Nevr-spaper publishe;; ;;J';""," Presid,ent Jewrsh leaders in l{ew york, the full Publisher, Sun-Reporter f Metrotext _of which was published in the Re.porterNewspapers N. Y. Amsterd,a* IV"ior, yii"Jo." *itt, ' ' San Francisco,Feb. 4 a -referenceto a grurrdmoth". oi vou., -J ---D' Ithgl you say, f_eioiqgato u-.yrugrgu" in I{arlem in the f"gSOs. ,rHomage to Ben Shahn, __So far as I know, Harlem in the 1850shad no Jews,no synagogue" and magnificent linoleum Iit[e. if any Black'popriuiiin."-"' .,,fhut "Homage to Ben Shahn,, yourblock, on Feb. th.ereperhaps'u iypographical ^_Y:q ln the Lila Oliver Asherl_Jo you error date or sonle-olh"i llver fr k1g* loy (perhaps via the artist,s fusion in the text? "orraddress ) I can obtain a larger print or Monnrs U. Sculpprs a copl-of this most wonde.Tulpiece of Dec., 17, 1973 art? I have rarely been,o *ouiJbu u poem or picture as I was by this. ...AndReply Enlc Meuan Ithaca, lv.Y.,lvlarch, thanks for your letter of Dec. __M-uny lYo.u _may write directly to prof. Lila i" rvhich you indicate as foilows: U. 1.7, Ashe_r,4100 Thornapp_leSt., Chevy "So far as I know, Harlem in the Chase, Md. 200I5.-Ed:l 40

JpwrsnCunnrNrs

letf 8r$ FROI

rrg#trFdil

REAOERS

opinions expressedin letters are not_necessarily -"il";;;;;;;p;;;;; thoseol the magazine. Letters wiH not published, ;i';;""r\^, .be and, address t' the w r iter.'N ames *ii u i;tiiit d' 1,o^- p"Lu,iiiii r' on .o request.-Ed. "I)isagrees

with

platt

tatlir:af r\'olrr(,n in those rlays lr,ho r l l e s s e r li r r j u s t t l r a l l a s l r i o n s , , a s t o t l e m o r r . s l r i t l et h e i l d i s d a i r r o f b o u r ._.I .disagree strongly with l)avid Platt"s review oI Th1'Woy We Verc g e o i s r : o n v e r r l i o n s .j u s t a s t h e r e v v e r e (Feb. issue). sor)le rarlir,al l)t('n i rr the tu-errties Furthermo{e, despite acknowledge_ and early th i rt it:s n ho rl ressed in . ment of "adrnirabli qualities,,, ihe Ieather jackets so ils to irlerrtify nith tone of the review is such as to tell the Soviet proletar.ians. the -reader, "stay_ away.', In fact, the Katie retains her intes'rity throus-lr closing paragraph of ,the review is: a s e r i e , so f e v e r r l s - - uo r . k i i r t l r e d f "Arthur Laurents should sue!,, If the fice of War Infornration (that's lrhat movie is such a travesty. such a dis_ I take the radio sequenL.eto be) ; tortion of the book from'which it was the Flollywood persecutions, u,ith the taken, then certainly one shoulJ not tnducement ever present to becorne a bother to see it. rat, if not by stoolpigeoning then by I too find the movie full of ,,admirsome more subtle surrencler in exable qualit_ies," but they are not limchange for comfort and luxurv: marited. to "the sparkling" performances riage, the birth of a dauehier. diot rts two, charismatic characters,,, vorc_e and, finally, the po.frn u. antiwhich is the sum total of platt',s bonrb campaign. accolade.

The development of character is The admirable quali,ties of this very well done. Katie learns frorn nrovie, in- *y opinion, are the fol_ her husbancl that, despite the existence _ towtng:. I or thg first time, to my of flippancy, other people feel as she knowledge, .an American movie pre_ does; that her corr,sttrntassertion of sents a leftist woman, a Conrmunist, r i g h t e o u s n e s s .s i r r t : e r ea s i t i s " i s n o t and a Jewish woman, who exemplifies the only possiblt' r'rpression of errrointegrity. 'l'haI tion and belief. is the aftermath The film shows her not as a static o f t h e s ( ' e n ei r r u h i t . h " a l t e r t h e d e a t h character, already fully formed. hut of Iloo.sevellK " atie ualks out on the as one who develops. In the beginning g a t h e l i n g ' r rh t ' r e s o m e o n e i s r n a k i n g she is righteous and dogmatic" at the ar bigoterl joke about Eleanor lloosesame time as she is dedicated. seri_ velt. An.d rvhere Platt sets the rrotiorr ous and selfless. To find fauli with Katie changes frorn "ugly duckl h a t her appearance, as Pla-tt does, is carpling" to "glanrour girl par excellence" ing, in my opinion. There were some seven years after she "has severed

usr, IgTq Jur.y-Auc

4L

732D.735TH LIFE SUBSCRIPTIONSTO JEWISH CURRENTS Your wonderful magazine_has wider scope than rnost magazines on Jewish affairs. You are analyzing the upslrge of interest irnong the you-tll in Jewish iderrtity. At th; same time, you discuss doriestic problems facing Americair Jews regarding the urtan crisis, racisrn, the inner-:itJ...Long life to yoy! In memory of my husband, Jack Gordon, who died Z_S, 1973, I take out this Life Subscription.

4-uS. ^ Brooklyn, l)ec. 19, 197.3 Rae Glauber (It was at our Town Hall Concert Dec. g, rgz:J that Rae Glauber pledged this Life Subscription. With the statement above. she sent $50 lr,{ u promise to remit the remainder shortly. She died Jan. 22, Lg74. r:llqryr^r.q- her instructions, her brother, Max, completed the payrnent oJ $200. Rae Glauber, a teacher, had for many y"ur. been active in interracial rvork in Brownsville. At a Memorial N{eeting on April 28 high tribute was paid to her work by many conrmunitv leaders. It is perhaps symbolic that with her last'energi'es she iderriified with our nragazine.-Ed. ) ^ .llnc]o:s-ed .please find a check toi .$ZOOfor a Life Subscription for Alfrecl lle'lev as direcror of the w. E. B. DuBois school oi Marxist Studies in Washinston. D. C. washington, D.c.)'ntav s Jewish Mutual Airl society o -_tlp.to now-I have had join_tLife Subscriptio' with my husband, Max, but at this time I have decided to take out my o*r-, Lif" S.,b'the scription because I want to show nry support for rnagazine. I enclose $ZOO. Brooklyn, May 19 llose Noon Since my sor, Seyrnour, t"ll, *J how much he Iikes ancl looks forrvar'd to. reading Jnwrsn CunRpnrs, I am enclosing my check for $200 jgr o gift Life gpJlsgription for hirn. I can think of ,,o better gift for him.

Brooklyn, May ,30 philip pugach

her ties with the YCL" is beyond me.

I.et's^say she spoke on the campus for Spain in 1937. That makes it IgM. She is working in radio. Her room is full of posters-stalin with the upraised hand, Roosevelt. She ar,gues with Hubbell about the Naz,iSoviet pact, about the change in the war. Far from severance, there is the continuity of the events towards which leftists had to define their positions.

The point is that Hubbell and

+2

Katie interact on each other, modify and enrich each other's characters.

The relationship is depicted with clarity and subtlety. An authentic development of character takes place.

This 'too I find unusual in the mbvies.

And I consider it admirable.

Along the walt Hubbell yields to corruption. She does not. That is the nub of the movie. She emerges as someone rvho has learned from life not cynicism but the more effective application of her original integrity.

JnwrssCuRnnxrs

And I must say llrat the rest of Platt's fault-finrling is also carping.

He demands of the picture that it be in detail the a documentary-telling rottenness of the unAmeric,an Committee and of its stable of stoolpigeons -an'd also that it be a replica of Laurents' book. Well, I feel the point of the rottenness of the Committee is quite clear by virtue of the integrity of Katie, and that this is a legitimate ancl efl'ective artistic device. As for Laurenls' book, I have not t'eutl it, b u t a m s u s p i c : i o u so f l h e a l r i l i t y t o transfer the terrns oI olre art [ol'r)r into another art fonn.

My own conclusion is, run--tlon't walk-to see The Way II/e Were.

InvrNc WrrssuaN New Yorh. Feb.4

Irving comments: Platt Daaid Weissman misrepresents what I wrote.

I did not set out to dissuade anyone from seeing The Way We were and I doubt that anyone who read my review care{ully would conclude that I thought it was a piece of trash. Although I coul,dn't help wondering why Katie, a ,good-looking and presumably politically tnature and radically inclinecl woman should want to get tied ul) r v i t h a I r r i n d l e s ss e x p o t l i k e H u b b e l l , T thirrk I described enough of the l i l r r r ' sa r l r r r i r a b l eq u a l i t i e s l o p e r s u a r l e ()n{} l}rat this wils ttot atl ordinary llollyu ood rnovie. Antl, t:otrtrary ttr W e i s s r t r a n ' s< , h a r g e , I i l i d n o t l i r r r i t nly praise to the t:harismatic pel-fonnances of Streisancl and Redford.

I clearly said that the "real meat"

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43

of the fihn is in the "sharp insights -the into the stormy relationship of misrnated couple," in "their cultural differences, their political arguments rvhich constantly interrupt tlieir togetherness." I elaborateil on this at length. Then I dealt sharply with the second half of the film which purportedly sought to dramatize the Hollywood witch-hunts of 25 years ago. I am amazed that Weissman regards my criticism of this measly caricature of events that literally tore apart an entire industry and

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ruined the careers of many screen artists, as carping. His letter reinforces my feeling that the reality of that hectic era has been all but forgotten by too many.

As an active participant in the struggle against the movie witch-hunts and blacklists, I thou,ght it would be helpful to the viewei if I devoted part of my review to contrasting the inconsequential and evasive film's treatment of that era with some of the actual occurrences at the hearings of the unAmerican Activities Committee, and also with the intellisent evaluation of those times in the novel on which the film was based. Weissman has misread my concluding sugsestion that "Arthur Laurents should sue!" This referred specifically to the fact that the studio had deleted from the completed film certain k"y sequences relating to the witch-hunt "after a sneak preview."

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4.5

ABROAD

AT HOIUIE That Nixon used. ethnic slurs in Vhite House conversations F"eb. 28 ancl Uur.f.-ib.

1973 was *ia"fy charged on TV nt"y f1'".i ir itte pr;.t d4t t:z--tu.v. ri;;t,-;;'.;. fnstant ienials t V W6i," House "ourrff'i.

Fred Buzhardt Jr. were discounted u. ,T9,,,tine, subject _to examination of the unedite,l tapes-,which Nixon is stubbornly refusing to :y.pply. Amo.ng th-e epithets attributed to N|^g" -were_"yopr" "mick" and "Jew-boy."

O-f Irving M. Pollack and Stanley Sporkirr, director and assistant of the Division of Enforcement of the Securities and Exchange Commission who were k"y figures- in the Vesco-inquiry, Nixon is _reportedto have referred to "those Jew-boys - are all ov-er

iI"Jvbg9I.. l V . y . I ' i m e s-You Mr.

can'r -sropthern." Tn

S p o r k i n c o r n n r e n t e d lh: .tha.r Nixon "owes a lot of people apologies."

Nixon'_s reported reference to ?'stopping those Jews over in the II.S. Anrrrney's ,iffi"et seems to have been airned ar the rhree prosecutols, Earl J. Silber-t, Seymour Glanzer and l)onald E. Carnpbell, the larter a Presbyterian. Such attitudes,_it was noted, of course would not keep Nixon -from rrsing for lris purposes the services of such-Jewr as Henry A._ Ki:singer,_Arthur F. Burns. chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, and I--eonard-Garqent, one of his advisers.-. . . tUuv 7 ^U'S.- Sen. Tloward M. Metzenbaum was defeated in the Ohio Democratic -priItary by astrona_utJohn G. Glenn with a 95,ry0 vote plurality. Th_esyndicated column by_ Ivans and Novak May 4 indicated that *Underlying t^h" campaign is latent antiSemitism, a factor that some of Metzenbaum's blqck supporters are -trying to turn against Glenn in _th-is city's. lCleveland-l teeming black wards." A white woman is quoted -as say-ing, "I'm for Glenn hecause Metzenbaum is a Jew who likes colored p-eople." Evans a-nd.Novak added, '0. . i-l blue-collar_ city families and among_ small town rural Ohio Democrats, ^party leaders claim that anti-Semitism will swell the Glenn vote."

An editolial in Butcher Workman May, 1974 calls on Sen. William Proxmire of Wisconsin to block the nomination of Wis. Rep. Cong. Glenn Davis as a

&6

federal judge because "Davis is well known in Wisconsin for blatant anti_semitic commenrs He denounced _rhe-pas-t:,.,_ .uttered in'oJewish a-s a bill collet:tor" and :::,,:^tlti: -professional Jew," and has ii"^tl':l -T."aItalian-Americans. also sltrrred Nazi war crimincils who haue found. a 1runln l"-tfr" USA-;;"-["gir"i"g to get the p"t ti" uitrntion th"y d".l?ua in attempts to !,_ti_nsth"1o to justice. In Detroit, B:ishop Vut"iiu" D. Trifa came unde*huip ;i;;k *h;; ;;-"be,. oi R;;""i;; ahristians call.,Hor*.i ine them;;iu"" noniuuluns of ,,1{urri}"rto;,-d.r,orncing Ameri"ir,liru"J u Trifa,s ,ol" in-ii," anti-semitlc ir";--C;;;d;;"4;T;; rtr"r"ior",- naming 22 othe,r Iron Guardists who ,*houlJ l" fr?"ugfri to lult"", B in De-

r_roit,4 iir ct;i;;;;

wu.hi"gto",

D . C . ; L n s A n g E l e s , i n "u.i,-i" diun"poli., C"f;tor,, Ohio arui-Grass"Lake Ml"ii., 5 in Canatta. . . . ,qreo, 6fficial oigo" "lra of tn" Eastern Oithorlox Catholic Ch"."fi i., -ir" p"l: A-"ri.u, lished in F'e;; F;rk; Fl;., ln F"[.' i.."" carriecl the facts-Jli"-"h;.;;r against Trifa. . . . In March, CrerJinta (Th;-Fa:r[], "ali",i |y rhe Archimandiit" uf itr" ifo*u" O rito. dox N,IissionaryEpiscopate in t;;.i.",-;j;; e-xposed Trifais bioody ."1o.,t, u.rd ciied u bobk. published in tsuer.o. Aires in lg74 bi another lron Guardirt; N. Arnautu, containing inadverte_ntlyadcliiionai e"ia."J"-"g"i".t 'Irifa. . . . Ivluv f+ in iUineoia, L.I., i\.i.; 40 Latvian Jewish r"." u"l *o^"n de-orrsrrated outside the home of Boleslavs Maikovskis, sentenced to death in'City absentia in C;ll";; P6q IJ a Larvian tribunal.

Prof. Gertrude Schneider, who studied tfre Latvian trial record, "saitl the trial papers showed that N{aikovskis was ; Stirntbannluehrer in charge of the "*t"r. mination of J"rr in Rezek]re and hadwon an iron cross for his acrivities- (N.i: po;;', Nfay l5). . . . Muy 20 Rep. Eiizabeth Holtumati (D.-Brooklyn) called a press "onfeience to urg" ,"ni"r of the of Maikovs"member "us" kis. As a of the ;tnniigration subcornmittee of the House fual"iu"rv Cor"*iitee, she charged the Irnmigruiior'"tr,i Naturalization Seriice with foril-Jragging in the case of oomorethan 60 allegeJ war ".imirrals in the U.S."

JrwrsH Cunnpxrs

otter the ouerI ht,'r. rllt'lis Porlujul: t h r t r w l f t l r , , l { , r r . . r t, , l r l l a : r : i s t d i c t a t o r s h i p by a ttrtltt,rr, rrrrrlr llrl lr1 Gen. Antonio de Spilrolrr \1,rrl .1.r, tlrt lsraeli goyernment r â&#x201A;Ź c o g r r i r r . , lt l r , . n r ' \ \ r t , g i t n e ; t h e h o p e w a s c X t ) r c r r r . r l t l r , r t , l i ; r l o r r r a t i cr e l a t i o n s w o u l d b e estulrli.lr',1 ttlr, r'r: lratl lleen none with the oll lr.girrr. t . l',arl1 in X"Iay, Lisbon Jewish cotnrrrurritr lcurlt'Lssent Gen. Spinola a telegnurr riririrrg the junta success in its ann,,unr','rl plurrs for freedom in Portugal. The ?00 .lews of Portugal have two synagogues, one in Lisbon, one in Oporto, but no rabbi.

One third are Sephardim; the others are persecution who renrf rrgces from Nazi rrrlirrt:rl in Portugal; several thr,rusand refug ( : c s \ r ' ( . t ( ll l l , , w r , r l i n t o P o r t u g a l d u r i n g t h e llitlr.r \r'ius. rrrosI of thenr while en route I o o l l r r . r ' l r r r r r l . . . ll n i s l r r e s ( ' u e o r g a r t i z a t i o n s wetr, lrtlitrrllr.rll,r opelltll lront Prlrlttgal. of ttnttirersury l"ttr thr 2;ith Ronurrtitt: t h e l l r r c l r l r r , ' - t\ i , l , l i . l r S l r r l r ' ' l ' l r c i t l , ' ri r l t a t r r l s o n t e v o l t t t t t , ', , 1 l : l l f I ' r r ; 1 , ' 'l t : t ' l r , ' r ' t t i . t t t , ' r l . w i t h , t { ) l } l r l l r ' \ n r \ i , l , l i ' l r r r t r , ll r i r t t l i , , t t t r t n i a n , p l t t s l l l l , i r ' " " , , 1 l r i rl t l t r ' : l l , l l l s . t t l t ' o f t h e l i f 2 1 t r r r r l t r r I t . t r, , 1 | l t r r l t l r , , r t r r l ( l l ' l l 'l'lrr' r \ , 1 1 1 , , l t l , , l I ' r l - r r r , ' ll l c t r ' , , r i l i .

1973. l i t e r a r y r l i t r r l , , t , , 1 t l r , ' l l t . r r l t t . l r r , l t t , l , ' r li r r t h e r e 1 r e r l r , 1 1; 1 1 , 1 , 1 . t r l , r S l r , , l l t r t ' \ l c i , ' l r , ' r r r .

H a i n r S l , , r , ' " , \ r t . t t t t l , , , l r l l ; t r l l t t .S , l r i l l , ' r .

G o g o l , K o t t . l r r t r t r r\tt t t t , , t r , , r \. l , , i t l t , ' ( . t ' l - l t t ' l t z o n , J a t ' r t l r( , , , t , l t r r . \ 1 , ' l r ' r , ' . \ l , r r , l , ' l r '\ 1 , , t ' l t t ' r ' S e f o r i u r , l l i r l z r r, I t r , ' , l t , l t \ \ , , 1 1 , ( l r , l r l o r t i , B r e c h t , N r t r , i t r r l l r L r r l t . l l r r ,l t r r l t ' " 1 ' l t o r t t l o t t Wilder, Sltolrrrr \.,,lr, t lr''Llt,'r. hrrr'l (lrrtz.\rr.l.r. I'r'tclz, ll. kow, Itsik \l.rrr;r'r. s L e i v i k , l J r . r ' r r ,1 , , t t t | ' . t t r , l l r , r , ' l l l t t r ' , , r i t i .

April 7. I'ulttt .\rrrrrfrrr'. tt iltrtt' Austria: o n w h i t : l t i t t t l i \ r ' r t r t t ,, l t . r , l r l r r r r r : r l,l 1\ , ' l l l t ' i r w o r s t , 1 1 1 1 ' 1l1r c' y r t t l l r ' . r l r l r r . r t ; l ' i l l - i l l i r ) l l l l l anti-Senrilir' \r'l l.c tlr llr'' | "'tl'lt'trtt:t::'' hutn e n ' Z e i t u t t l : i t t \ t t ' t r r r' , r I r l ' l " r ' l r r i l l r ' r l i r ' C u l a t i o n 0 f l , ' i l X l . t t t t t t' r , . r 1 , , ' l r r l l .l rr l' l l , ' l 'l'lrr' , r r r t l r , , r .l ) r \ r l - t " r l i ' ' i t r r ; t t r t t .

7,000,000. { o u n d e r o f t l r , .1 1 , , \, . t r t l ' , ' , l , r t r r l ' . r t l r . ' r t t ' i n a n e a r l l l r l t t , 1 , , " l 1 , , ' l ' r r l r r , l rr l r l l t r ' r l a d i f f e r e r r t l l l l l l r l ' l t l " r r r ' r r r\ ' . l t ' ' t r r l r i "'l,rl r" tt''l tr | f e l l o w l t t t t t t l t t r l r rt l r ! ' .rl'"rrl l"'' lr spread by llr,' \.rrr ""tl'l c l o m i n a t i o r r .l l , ' , r , l , l ' . I l t r r , ' l l l , , r t r ' r r r l l" \ r ' t t r t l r t t r r t I r ' ' l l t lr causes rlf i111li 1 , , r tr l l lt t s o u g h t i r t l l r r ' . l, ' r r l , r r , ' ' l l t o b e d i f f e l t ' t t l . l t t " r ' l , i r r t 1 , ' ' ,l r , ' r r r l l r r r r ' r l Jew." Charl,'t'll,,rflt,rr," h" ' | ' I' r'l' r "l \"' rrlt I the Jewislr ('rttlltlllllrllt,','l tl'' 'l'""'tt" "l tl" o r g a n , A r b c i t , ' t ' / , r ' i l t t t t r : 1 ," ' c r u d e a n t i - S t , r r r i l i r r r'r, 1 r l ' ,

Jurv-AucIJSl', I r)7 l.

USSR: In Kishinea, Moldaaiao Sholern Aleiclrem's Teuye the Duiryman appeared in a Moldavian translation by N{ihail Bruhis. . April 77 permission to emigrate to Israel was given to chemistry professor David Azbel, 63, with his wife and son. In Feb. Prof. Azbel staged a two-week hunger strike in protest of the denial of his exit v i s a . . . A l l o s c o w p u l , r l i s h i n gh o u s e h a s r e i s s r r e dt h e b o o k , I N ' h a t t h e S t r e e t sT e l l I J s , d e a l i n g w i t h p e r s o n a l i t i e si n O c l e s s a i, n c l u d ing Nlendele Mocher Seforirn and Sholem Aliichem. (Incidentally, rvltert an Odessa Jewish cemetery \vas levc'lecl recently, the remains of l{endele were transferred to the lnternational Cemetery and those of Shimon Frug to the Third Jervish Cemetery. What happened to the remaius of rnany other Jewish notables is not known.) . . . 1\'Iay 17 in Moscow 26 Jews dentonslrating at the Lebanese Embassy against the Arab terrorist rnurder of two Arab rvomen and 24 Jews at \{aalot May 15 were ul'resled. Although the Soviet press hatl rlot rep(rrterlthe atrocity, J r : w s g o t l h e r t e w s f r ' , r n r f < - r r e i g nb r o a d c a s t s . t lrr hit'v, after the Arab terrorist murder , , l l t t . l e r r s a t K i r l a t S l r i n r r - r nAap r i l l l , . f, ' u s I r i t , r l l o l r l a t ' r ' a w r o a t h a t B a b i \ r , l l t t ' t t l r , l ' o t ' tet l t e r l i s t h e p t r b \ i r r ' t. l i r ' : r t i r r r i r r \ 1 , , . , ' , , t t i r r l ( ) ( r ( )o I u t t o ] l e c t i o t r , l 1 r , r ' t n . i r r \ i , l , l i ' l r . l ) i l " e r t c S l r t r r t r : ,b y S l ri k r . l ) r i r . ( l ( ) O t ll-( ) 71 ) . i n 4 , 0 0 0 c r - r p i e s . l n \ r , l . | , ' l l l r c t l r i r ' , t1^ , l i l i , , Ior f t l t e ( ) r t r t ! S r t t ' i t ' lt ' , ' t rttt l , t l t t t l i , r . : r r rl ' ) r r g l i . l rt r a r t s l a l i o n o l ' u l r i , ' l r \ \ r r s i - > u ( ' ( li r r l ( l 7 l l l r 1 X I a t : r r r i l l l r r .l l t r : r ' r a : r ' r ' t l r r ' l , r l l , , * i r r gl r t l t i t ' s o l ' . l c n i s l r i t t l e t t ' s t : r \ l r t ' 1 .N i k , , l r r iS l r r r r r i l o v i t : l r r \ l r c l r t r a r r ., ' \ l r r a l r a r r r .I r i e l \ r ' , : l i t . A l l r e t l , \ t l l t ' r ' . l " r i c r l r i t ' h , ' \ t l l e r ' .\ i k l , ' r ' \ r l l t ' r ' . , \ t l , r rrai, Liubov lsaakovrta Axclrotl, Itavel lJorisovich Axelrod, l'largarita Io-.olovna Aliger, Lev Bentsionovich,,\lter, Iloishe llich Altnran, Nalan Isaeviclr Allrnarr, Arnos, Angels (irr all "mythologies" inclurlirrg Judaic).

AutonomousRegions (one woltl referencelrr liiro-llidjan), Israel Aksenfeltl, Evno F-ishel,'rit'h Azef, Zair lsaakovich Azgttr, Hell (inr'lrrrling Judaic version) and the Anglol " r ' e n t , h - [ s r a ei ln v a s i o n o f t h e S u e z r e g i o r t i t t l()ir(r. T'he volurne covers only part of thtr In l,'tllr' "A" frorn Aalen to Anglo. t l r c f i r s t f i v e n r o n t h s o f 1 9 7 4 , 8 , 7 4 3 e x i t .v i s a s f rr l.rael rvere issued, 25Vo less than the ll.:t2{) in 1973 for this period. While Soviet rr.ri:lancc and harassmentcontinue, part o{ t l r r . r e t l r r t : t i o nt n a y b e d u e t o h e s i t a n c y o n tlr. purl of some Jews to emigrate now lo rlrr: tense Nliddle East situation and to : r , l r , ' l ' s er e p o r t s c o m i n g b a c k t o I s r a e l f r o m ,.rnigrants who are finding it difficult to . r , l i r r s lt o I s r a e l i c o n d i t i o n s .

M.U.S.

47

VHETHER YOA DID OR DIDIU'T,PLEASE READ ON_ Dear Reader: Did or clidn't what? Did or didn't giue in reply to my very frank appeal that you received in March. Some did-261 of you. Fine! 'fhat Nlost of you didn't. worries us.

Some cannot give, and we understand.

Sorne meant to give but did not quite carry out their intention.

Some have not decided whether they should give, whether we have enough of a clairn on their hard-earned dollars to help sustain the rrragazine.To these-and to all of you still reading thus fs1-\/s want to explain a couple of things that perhaps we take for granted you know.

Are you surprised to learn that the magazine you get for $6 a year costs about $15 to produce? Were we a commercial organization, we'd make up the $9 loss by advertising revenue and show a profit-or go out of business. But we are not a commercial operation, we have no aclvertising income to speak of, we don't show a profit-but we simply cannot cannot cannot o'go out of business." Because our o'business" is a cause-a cause of trying to clarify issues of major importance to the Jewish cornmunity, to progressive Jews and to the progressive nlovemerrt as a whole. What are the issues? As a sample, consider our views on the best way for Israel to survive, on how:to deal with the Soviet Jewish situation, on how to improve Black/Jewish relations, orr building progressive Jewish culture in our country.

At our May 19 Dinner we had a wonderful dernonstration of what rre lnean to people who understand, appreciate and really value us. The theme, you remember, was Black/Jewish relations, in connection with the 20th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision on school desegregation and the l0th o{ the martyrdom of James Chaney, Andrew Goodnran ancl Nlichael Schwerner. In responseto Dr. Annetfe T. Rubinstein's fund appeal for Life Subscribers at $200, a young Black wornan stood up, who has been reading the magazine for only a short time, and announced her l-ife Subscription ! What a symbol that was of what rve are trying to achieve, not only in terms of money but in terrns of our- goal of- stepping up Black-Jewish cooperation ! Can we "go out oI business" and let such work die? Is anyone else doing it better, or even doing it at all?

So rve rttust go oI1 an.d must continue to ask you to sustain us-to give if you have not, even to give again if you have. At our end, there is absolutely no lvay we can ecor)omize. Our tiny staff r,vorksat minimal wages (we cannot even provide a cost-of-living increase in this inflationarv period). _But t!r. pri'ter, the landlord, the post office are ruthless in their demands.

Nu, a,srve userl to sa)', that's where it's at, as the saying is now. 'fhe sumnrer is upon us and financially it looks like a dry season.

W'ill you rain'roney upon us and relieve our drought? Rain a little, rain hard, but rain sornething! Then we'll see rainbows.

Gratefully yours, Morris U. Schappes, Editor