Editors Shifra Bron~ ick Mitchell Co en Steven co, h ,Publ isher TABLE OF CON Anita Nori Zev Shanken ARTICLES Contributing Editors A Bureaucrat's Revolution? The Network Convention Leonard Levin Bob Salz ...... Alan Mintz ' .. William Novak Death of Jewish Student Movement? Joel Rosenberg Neil Reisner ...... Lucy Y. Steinitz This Is A Defeat for Jewis~ Students Ed Freedman ...... Death of North American Jewish Students' Network Shifra Bronznick ...... RESPONSE: A Contemporary Jewish Review, is an independent journal AZYF Replies of Jewish' expression. Michael Rosenberg RESPONSE is an affiliate of the Jewish Student Press Service, and is a Soviet Dissidents and Soviet Jews member of the No~th American Jewish Student Appeal. Listed in the Terry Magady ...... ;' Index of Jewish Periodicals. Paul Jacobs, 1918-1978 RESPONSE is published four times a year: September, January, March and Steve Zipperstein June. Subscriptions are $8 per year in the United States; $9 per year in Is Curly Jewish? Canada; $10 per vear ,outside of North America; $6 for U.S. students. Single copies $2. © Copyright 1978 by RESPONSE: A Contemporary Paul Jacobs ...... Jewish Review, 523 W. 1.13th St., New York, N.Y. 10025. All rights A Vision Alive: The Thought of Yosef Haim Brenner reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Matti Meged ......
RESPONSE welcomes articles, fiction, poetry, artwork and letters. Anna Ornstein's Haggadah: The Tattoo Contributors should keep a copy of everything sent, as we cannot be Anna Ornstein ...... responsible for lost or misplaced material. Manuscripts, triple-spaced, with Bruriah self-addressed stamped envelopes, should be sent to RESPONSE, Editorial Office, 523 W. 11,3 St., New York, New York 10025. Writers should Roberta Kalechofsky include their phone numbers. Our phone number is (212) 850-4902 or Yitzhal< Katznelson's The Song of the Murdered Jewish Pe.ople (212) 866-4196. Back issues are available from University Microfilms, Ann Robert Kirschner ...... ' Arbor,' Michigan. "Maybe Not Perfect, But It Works": International Standard Serial Number: ISSN: 0034-5709. Reflections from the Second City
Lucy Y. Steinitz ...... '~.. .'. .. , Second ,class, postage paid at New York City and additional mailing points. REVIEWS J'ypesetting by Ras, Brancato. Negating the Diaspora Alan Mintz .... The Arab-Israeli Conflict: Could It Have Been Different? Barry Rubin ......
FICTION The Chauffeur Martin Tucker
Vol. XI, No.,'3 .'
~" ..... HarryC~~~~po~d~n.c~ ...... "'J .. "...... 18 Fishermen ,. : Gavri'el Preil(trans. fromthe Hebrew y Bernhard Frank) ...... 80 ONOUR · On the Harmfulness of Smoking Leah Goldberg (trans. from the Hebrew by Bernhard Frank) 86 · aslender.reed 'PattifRenner-Tana .107 Welcome Davka Pillar of Salt, Pillar of Stone ': Patt} Renner-Tana .108 '. 'Montage for Aviva We note with deep dismay and regret the demise 6f our s.is1terJ)uplica:1:i.orj';:;; . Mi riam Sagan ...... 109 Davka magazine. The fine student-run quarterly based in Los ~r'i~:~""!·'}'::··'·r.;:X,'.;i':i:1{!·1 Book Review for Yehuda Amichai readers admirably for nearly a decade until funding difficulties ~~I~·;~'~~i~n~rf~jf8·1,:,{:,'i":j::'~"i.;;:~.,:ii/:~i(::; Myra Sklarew .' ...... 110 RESPONSE has agreed, in effect, to assume Qavka's' o' blilgatiorls,.tdi',its. Transplant subscribers. All Davka subscribers are receiving this issue Myra SklareiN .111 However, since our own funds are quite limited and Davka as of this \A/rifirin'i.:.,.(·; Neruda's Birthday Near Petah Ti kva flat broke, the publishers of RESPONSE and Davka thOlight the
David Shevin ...... 112 arrangement to be reasonable .. RESPONSE would fulfill the .r"rn::l'nnl'r· ..•,;),.T, .••!.i.'.':':.,·· .. :!.·,... ·i/:::~·::'\'.1':',:'.:', . The Buddhist from New Jersey Davka subscriptions if the subscriber agrees to subscribe for 'an additionar J. David Shulman .114 RESPONSE. In other words, if you're owedfive.issues 01 Davka, The Convention issue of RESPONSE reduces that obligation to four. Ther, should J. David Shulman .115 to RESPONSE for another year - see last page- we'll be able to Davka obligation (four issues) and the additional RESfONSE . ,hc·,,· .. i.r,+i,h.r>'· ,.. ·.: ... ·.:,':.':'.:1.·.. :,·::, •• :.. Effigy to Elana (another four issues). Again, we apologize for linking your Dav.ka c,,~'.c~lrin·ti'r.ln::IT,n:·"'·'·i··: David M. Levine .116 one for RESPONSE but there is simply no way we can. assume the pU~H~!rI/,:':;i;:.:~,.i'i.. ;;{ Diaspora to Nikki Stiller without the addttional funds this procedure will produce. ,. · David. M. Levine .. .117 Meanwhile, we hope you will enjoy this issue and the otherS !,hat (\II.!I~,H#~;~t~;0"\/:,,/}:-::::·';J;'.~"1;!~' Standing Up In The Subway will be coming your way in the future . . $; Levy ...... 118 To Db 'No Harm . Abby R<;>sen,thal .119 Interruption Roberta Goul.d . .121 Marriage:, It Rustles the Curtains, Making a Noise Like the Sea JackF-eldman' ...... 122
COMMENTARY AND DEBATE .' . Letter from Arden E. Shenker .113
. ' A Bureaucrat's , The Network
UMBRELLA ORGANIZATION FOR JEWISH STUDENT GROUPS THROUGHOUT NORTH AMERICA
JewiJh J~uden~ SERVING ALL JEWISH STUDENT AND YOUNG What had promised to be a' relaxed Prell Jervice '. ADULT PUBLICATIONS IN NORTH AMERICA Students Network Convention just a few months before -:-'------,----'-1------'------.. -- - -_._-_._------in Toronto, on December 26, evolved .into ~ bitter.ly fought -STUDENlSTRUGGlE . EDUCATES THE JEWISH COMMUNITY ABOUT AND struggle with implications for the future independence'of FOR SOVIET JEWRY PUBLICIZES THE PLIGHT OF SOVIET JEWS student movement. At the heart of the controversy was r------J---.----.. --- attempt by an outside lIestabl ishment organization," the Service Department of the American Zionist Youth' QUARTERLY JOURNAL DEALING WITH JEWISH RESPONSE (AZYF-USD), to take control of Network. To the reader COMMITMENT LIFESTYLES AND RELATIONSHIPS with the organized Jewish student community, this seem like an internal student squabble but i~ is. really .. part: broader question within the American Jewish conim,unity;' NATIONAL RELIGIOUS JEWISH STUDENT ASSOCIATION independent Jewi?h student umbrella organization
~~~--,----I----~-.- . ----.. --.- . interference a-nd encroachment by other national on~arlttc~liIDPl~;.~n~tl·;';·:;.·ii':;:S"!,/::, their own narrow interests? The answer to this DEDICATED TO PRESENTATION AND DEVELOPMENT ,¥:UGNTRUF great deal about democracy and professional' ethiCs, .\/lfl-th:ln'·:..c:foh"".' .... , •...... , ...... ,' .. : . VoothlorYoddish OF YIDDISH LANGUAGE. LITERATURE &CULTURE Amer'ican Jewish community. The way in which an outside organization .' OTHER NAJSA awards small grants to local and regional take control of Network is by a) getting its paid student projects throughout N.America BENEFICIARIES supporters to attend the Convention as delegates; b) by so, then control enough votes to get its paid staff or elected to a majority of the .six Network steeri'ng ~cc~milli1ttele':;';/lii:,:<: positions or as chairperson; and c) byusing·its,control bloc of voting delegates to "railroad'" resolutions plenum.
Pre-Convention' Events In order to determine whether an 'attempt by take over Network in this fashion really tOQ~' Dlclce./j1:·:;:\j.~ill;i!!!bE , to look to the .events 0if the two months preceding the with an attached letter from :ari' organization . . for background informa ion as well as to the proceedings delegate. . . . ". . . Conventionhself. "You should not worry about pre-emptlng. 9tti~yp~~ml§~:s: . '. 'Atthe ·endof October Jonat an Medved, the director of the attenda'n'ce at the Convention, because the problem is AZYF-USD,telephoned Carole Ste ,Secretary General of Network, ~elegate positions, but,the lack of travel subsidies:" and told her that he wanted to send all seventy of the USD campus · repres~~tatives tathe Network Convention and that his office would provide travel subsidies for them. Carole explained that Network · .policy did not allow the paid staff of national organizations to attend the Convention as local voting delegates of that organization. If some of .these people were also students, they could be selected to represent local student groups and would acquire official delegate status by submitfing a letter indicating their selection, on the official . letterhead stationery of that group. Since the number of delegates per group was limited and since AZYF was planning to subsidize the transportation costs of its field representatives, Carole recommended that the AZYF field representatives attend the Convention as observers. Other people in their local student groups would then come as. the delegates so that they could take advantage of the Apparently Medved's letter was supplemet:lted by Network travel subsidies which were awarded to delegates only. On one occasion a Zionist youth leader told me that · After this telephone ,conversation, Carole sent a letter (dated Nov. approached him and asked him to run for the. "'lai'\I\I,,,rl<' ~O), to Jon Medved, repeating the points which she had made on the committee. Jon had indicated to him that the · telephone. getting a certain number of its supportersele~ted committee. When contacted about this, Jon denied !Vl'~·.~~~;d··'i6;~~·~·~\:.;:;)i!:,!,'J:i';i)::';\i:r;, Incriminating Letter . USD had a goal of getting any number of pe?ple el .' . On November 28, some time after he had spoken to Carole on steering committee. He confirmed, however, that,at the.' but before he had received her letter, Jon sent a letter t~lephone, Zionist youth movement leaders (American, Zionist Youth vUU.LI'l;ll.IJ',:'.i:'i,',:">:;··':·".::";-' . to all' of the AZYF-USD field representatives telling them that they he quite openly suggested that s()me of 'these leaders 'were required to attend th.e Network Convention and that they running for steering committee.' Lat~r, that .. ,:.:...... ;,.I,.,..",+a.rI:.::.:::~·, should attempt to obtain delegate status. resolution (without Jon's knowledge) to.endor?eanY,of 'Its "It has been decided on the basis of the questionnaires you have returned to bring the entire USD field staff to the Network who ran for steering committee. Jon, while asking:" ~~~~;~~~[~~t~~~~i~f~ Co"nvention and hold our Mid-Year Seminar immediately individuals if they were running, insisted th~t he put·~ thereafter. ... them. . : .. "One of our purposes in bringing you to Network, is to On another occasion, R itchieSiegal~ Hillel . ~ttempt to influence the direction Network will take in the coming Stony Brook campus, claimed that one student, months. Frankly, we would like tosee it devote more of its time and Services Action Committee (a locqlcampus Zionist ···~~~i~~ii~~~~i~~~?t1'~l energy to Zionist activity. Therefore, it is crucial that you all have told him that Aviva. Mardinfield, a staff h official delegate status, otherwise you will not be able to usn vot~ .. ~ . You should immediately complete the Network and other students from his organization to r~~~u;~~:~~~li~~:1t~~t~i~11~'~1l! Convention application (which is enclosed) and return it to them them as del.egate~ to the Network ConventioQ. Aviva about this she .repliedthat she had cOln:talctE~O.;'rhE~Q;l:I?~tS.·:· ,:::,:-
a) Network asked. AZYF 'to ;~f~~~~l~l~fI(j'~~li~r({~;i;J't garinim, (groups planning to settle~in Israel), members of campus Convention several months ear~ier;. .:~ . .' Zionist groups and her own fri nds on several campuses and b) AZYF field representatives· aren'trealfy·· p;"~; i~;;:-~~;~~f.~:!:~.~:,I~lt · .encouraged them to find campus organizations which would, 'be students who receive sm.all stipends from AZYF fbrvVork'()tf~!p~tTClJjf.C·S";;:'i.;·.·'· .••. ·.·;:ii'L '. willing to select' them .as delegates to the Network Convention. · Zionists cquld go to Toronto, therefore, as a strong contingent which of Isr'ael on their local campuses;' .•. '. ....J """::§':'~;';idd'i:ti'b:"'r},,:,)!;::,{",',::i}::1;;; c) Professional staff of other nation~1 organizations,]1 could push Network to adopt more Israel programming. She insisted, the Network staff, attempted to influence the ,d~legate~s,,~~Je(~~i()hr';CiI~,i·:(,'~\: .. ,\;!:\)'::'/( however, that she did this as a member of a garin and as an individual . wh'o was dissatisfied with Network's neglect of Zionism and Israel weli and therefore AZYF should not be singled out; ,;' . ..,'i(~f;:i:ri'h:~i~::?:';jl"~:;}";,,ir"<::,{: d) He saw nothing wrong in AZYF asking a'meniber: ' · programming and not in her capacity as a USD staff person. She student Zionist community to run for th~ Network ';'$1:~¢ir;ih'~~\\',,;?,!;::i.'::>',ti·.,:\" denied sending people to the Stony Brook Hillel because at the time committee because this was no different from a' Hilleldi'r:,i~r.trir!r:loi,ncl.,>';:'''';;,:,i;l'':!i!:;}::' that she spoke to them, Hillel had already selected its delegate. She the same thing with Hillel members;. further denied that any of her employers at USD had directed her to ,db this. Mike Rosenberg, the shaliach (Jewish Agency emissary) to e) He didn't even know who the candidatesfor~he ' ...... •,'.~. ~"~;\:):"':'~.i;:',.,'f;!'\;::l'(: steering committee were until he arrived at the Conv~nti9n 09tt USD,.confirmed this but admitted that there may have been a breach second day; '. · of professional ethics on Aviva's part. f) He and Jon Medved played no political role vvha the Network' Convention." . " .. ' Meeting to "Clear the Air" Prior to this interview I had heard no other allegations that "'."'J,';:1,',,·,;,i,'.·.1!,'·;:,;,,;.' While all of this was going on, Carole Stern telephoned the Network staff and other national organizationsintervenedi;n,; · AZYF-USD office and asked for an explanation of Jon Medved's delegate selection so I posed the question to Carole:Sternand .. letter. A meeting between Carole, accompanied by three Network directors of two organizations which helped stude9ts'go to.: .•.. ;.:L, ,.", ;·,i·"'·'''.·';·''''''·;':''''·'''· , . supporters familiar with past AZYF-Network relations, and the USD Convention. Carole maintained that she had I only'contacted .. staff vvasarranged to "clear the air." At that meeting Mike student organizations in order to clarify misconceptions about' :'tl ~av.le.l,i.·;:/;'\'::':~i;'!;! Rosenberg and Morris Zilka, Deputy Director of AZYF, denied any subsidies and' the delegate formula which had arisen 'as-at reS;Ul1;"Olf;:.,;··iT';': .• ,.;6:::;'.', knowledge of Medved's letter prior to its mailing. Rosenberg later Medved's first letter. The Executive Director of the Jewish "'''''''.'~"~ ..'',,. toldrne that he could have prevented its mailing but chose not to. Activities Board in Philadelphia called any suggestion of 'I I1t!=!rvF!fni orl,·.· They' ~cknowledged that Jon's letter was improper, agreed that a new on hi's part "totally erroneous!" He claimed th'at hi~ ()rgani ..· .... ~·;~·~;;:··".""".,:i .. ,.: .. ";.::,:,:.,',.,;,.,"':i;., letter should be written, explaining the first one and assured Carole only helped students who approached it. Marty Salow!tz,Pi that AZYF had no intention of taking over Network. the Jewish Association for College Youth,. labeled th~~aUleQatl'or:l . On.December 13, Jon Medved and Carole Stern sent out a joint "totally absurd." :: ' letter with the purpose of clearing up any misconceptions which may . If the USD had been guilty of tampering w!th ··the:prQfesso.r have ari,sen asa result of Jon's initial letter. The letter stressed that selecting delegates, the situation had escalated far beyondits,?9'II;~'p1 . all delegates had to be elected democratically by local student by the time Jon Medved's and Carole Stern's joint le~1!er;",,,;'~'1\ ji:J'!~·":";j!i'3Xjl:jI;i groups, that USD field representatives wou Id be subsidized by USD received . . whether they were delegates or not, that USD and Network were ·working on the Convention together, and that USD had no position ·,····.. ' .. ,·,··.,:.,.'vlsj"a-·vls Network other than working to further Jewish and Zionist At a conference of Hillel Directors which tOOk\~P:~li~.(·~()1~.~;i~;~;~~~/0frI;:~~;fi1?!~;:;ljf;J:~, before the NetworkConvention, several of thedirec1
. As far as Mike Rosenberg is concerned, this second letter should to a Network staff person who was" present,' '~.~k)~/~dflI8~~:~~~ •• representatives and/or members of certain'- "ISf " ended all talk of an AZYF takeover attempt. In an interview he organizations, with dose ties to the AZYF-USQ; c,''''oriifinlueCj·'t' ,','i"""·:'·";~'nn':lr1t:1 the following additional points:' . ;' ":.\/: ..... them as late as one weekjefore the Network Convention chairperson. Both of the c:andidates for·; for. Hillel.. to se.lect them. as i.t . delegates. They' felt that these Jacobovici, and Chani Cooper, sought the enldolrsemE~nt 6f:;fh(e.~~~i'onis1 ·;."IJIJ.\..I.'Av"L" were suspiciously sudden nd came from students whose Caucus. Simcha, a campus representative of •· ..... ''''I'''nrnnr... ,. Hillel had been very I mited. - Youth and HeChalutz O~partment in Toronto to AZY F), received the su pport of the.ad hoc grouR aITE~aeldl\l;b~ibk.ied/::;,:'X>:,,:.:.·',.:";.:'.,:,? Tension at the Convention by the USO. , , . '. . . I n~} the meantime, resistance to th is perceived threat to In the campaign for chairperson and~t~~ring Netw()~k's'independence had begun to form. Initially it was led by variety of "dirty tricks" were used and on one bC'1 casiori.sHnlchc~is·::.·:.:··.'llk·,: NetV\lork "veterans" but it was soon joined by younger students who supporters accused the Convention staff of share'd their fears. infiltrators to the Zionist caucus in .0rder to. sabptage th.EfV()~J,I].~::.:,1~5~,<>,j":':!:i:W';·.:,·::::\};;: . Although it was clear that a confrontation was about to take vote was taken to endorse a candidate but 'an ' ... place from the moment the Convention opened, the two sides were was a Zionist?" ensued. Some of the people who had beE~n,iCallle(r:,;>':.r:";r'.:i}2,fi;::!!!!:,, not clearly distinguishable for the first day or two. By late in the infiltrators resented. being called non-Zionists just because second day, however, much of the conflict came to a head within the not agree with everything said by the dominant"cligue.:' Zionist caucus. these people, Ed Freedman, made aliyafour days 'after . One of the issues of contention was the domination of the Convention. . .' " . .Zionist caucus by a group which had obviously been organized -At the plenum Simcha obviously received the support ,beforehand. There was no. official Zionist meeting on the first day of than the 42 USO people who werevoting delegates, as he was ~lec~E~d':\;f::·:X,d
g stU.d..•. en.. ts .. from .?ue.ens coue. e.l· ai~ed that they had been given of paper ,with slates of c ndldates, rankea in order of r\rri+".. "o,"\r.n on them. ' An analysis of the voting reve led that among 285 ballots ca"st, 99 were exactly identical to the slates mentioned above and more DEATH'OF,JEW than 4(ladditional ballots ranked four of the five candidates in the STU 0 ENT MOVEM sam~"'()rder as the slates. (The voting procedure required each ,delegate to vote for exactly six candidates in order of preference.) Five of the candidates listed\,on the slates were elected.
There is an old Israeli political 'cliche which goes~ . Grass-Roots Revolution or USD Tampering? would only leave us alone we could destroy-each other.'" All of this lTlay not necessarily point to an AZYF-USD takeover Unfortu nately, the Jewish ,propensity for' political, '. but it seems evident that the USD staff initiated a process, beginning just limited to Israel. For four days in lare 'with Jon Medved's letter (or perhaps earlier), which gathered Edward Hotel in Toronto, Canada, Jewish momentum on its own and succeeded beyond the wildest hopes (or reached new heights as the staff of the American perhaps even wishes), of its originators. Mike" Rosenberg views this Foundation's University Services Department conducted "success" as evidence of a "grass roots" revol ution in support of financed and orchestrated putsch first against the ,r"" I"\n"/o ...,+.I"\ .... · ideas that theUSD has been voicing for years. Others interpret it as North American Jewish Students' Network, and, ultimateiy,am;urlst. proof of USD tampering. Network itself. . Whether one or the other interpretation is closer to the truth The North American Jewish Students' Network is the 'rmlhrp"II::I':,.:,'.:.: what seemsundeniabl'e is that the Network Convention has created ~ organization for all Jewish student and young ad"ul.tgro·ups rift. within the Jewish student movement, has raised important Un ited States and Canada. Network was founded in 1970 questions about its future and has left the new steering committee
lIunder a cloud." In order to gain the confidence of the entire Jewish North American affiliate of the World Union of Jewish, ~;~~':r8,~~'''''~~+f~~f8:;~ii:;'&l'!::.:,:,;,(;;'·\"!X~~i,:i ? Network per se takes no ideological stand . .lt is d f student community the new steering committee will have to "bend run; its positions and direction are determined by the m:cll 01" I n,vl:ne·· '. ".",,"'''''.:''>:.;.;-:', over packwards" to show its independence. of delegates sent by Network's constituent . . Aftera consensus among the staff that Network would no conventions held approximately every 18 months.' , . longer •. be an lIindependent umbrella" organization, the entire Convention delegates have, however, voted tbma.n~ate l\le!twOrl<.::>/'~;:;:",;":::~i!!;~:" , Network staff resigned. The six staff members felt that the influence to take specific action concerning Israel, ,Soviet :ex(~rted by AZYF-USD on the election process severely violated the Women's Issues" Leadership and' " principles on which Network was based. They also believed that an Developme~t, The Network constituency has also directed ''''''..... ,,~~I. , action ,by the chairperson to postpone the printing of an issue of the political stands, often to the left of the 'Network newspaper,. containing critical evaluations of the community,., Convention, .illustrated the change in attitude and direction for Recently, Network, as many' organ'izations, has Network. . leadershif) crisis to the immigration of ml,lch of Will' the 'new steering committee be given the opportunity to du~ Israel. Also, the problem of New York its independence, or will the election results be regarded as an issue. In an attempt to better reach its r"'·I"\ • .,. ..+iitlJerlcy'~ . I AZYF University Services Department, secretary-'general of Network,,: to say' that he wiishleai'hf;5'ehtT~e(~igla,i::'j:i "T.,'h. e,,'r.e, h.", av,',e,' a,IW,aYs, b,een, ," pr,~,",Iems, not surprising for an whose operating budge has never exceeded $100,000. staff to attend the Network oonvention; that IAz:Yf:~i8~ii~ff~:ffi1i~'~~~\~ for conferences have always b en raised separately.) this by holding its mid-year seminar B'ut the most important thin about Network is this: it was convention; and that ,A.ZYFwould provide a "indepehdent.lt operated without the interference of any subsidy and half. the convention 'fee t6itsstaff.,H~ str,essed,hlsi:ct.E~St.n establishment organization and provided the only forum where for the AZYF staff to participate as voting.delegates~ students,and youngadults could interact with no constraints. Stern explained that the AZYF staff cou The' American Zionist Youth Foundation (AZYF) is a service they were involved in and appointed by student 'and educational organization which coordinates study and volunteer per Network policy. Stern urged the. AZYF pr:ogramsto ,Israel and, through its campus representatives, facilitates observers particularly in view of the fact that:their lOcal' pro-Israel groups throughout North America, using such names paid. Since other students from the same campuses as, Israel Action Committee or Student Zionist Organization. The delegates and be eligible for a two-thirds travel . AZYF ,University' Services Department, responsible for college Network, (a subsidy for whichobservers,owere not' campuses, has a budget of approximately $250,000 which supports a students would be able to attend. netwbrk of over 70 full-time staff members, field workers, and According to Stern, Medved agreed tq th is plari. Sterr! fI"\JII'n'A,;arl' 'JI'I·:,,"',"',','''''''','''· part~time campus representatives. The campus representatives are up on November 30th with a letter to Medved wh ich ... ai+h .. ""-fc.rI usually students and are paid a stipend of $100 per month. same points: Copies of the letter were sent to IVIE!C1VeC1" Az'YF claims to be working at the behest of a "grass roots and field staff. Neverthe less, on November 18th, Jonathan 1\I1~!dve8:'<:"!';F',jr,'?:!."; . Zionist movement"; the fact is that it organizes this movement sent a letter to his field staff regarding the, Network th rough. its fieldworkers. Mid-year seminar. The letter stated in part, "One of our u· UIU''''''>'J'> bringing you to Network, is to attempt to influence, the. ~,,:·,;:..;:0;:.::;;.t',~::,:~.j,~;':fi1;.:."{' . Network Funding Network will take in the coming months. Frankly, we . Network and AZYF both receive funds from the same source: see it devote more of its time and energy to Zionist aclt(VltV:.,/".·····':i:.; ..lii,;:.:~:; . Network receives $15,000 of its operating budget from the Youth Therefore, it' is crucial that you all have official delegate ·~~~']~.~;/:}~;"';,,}'\;"(:2t;t;i and Hechalutz department of the Jewish Agency, from which AZY F otherwise you will not be able to vote." . recei,ves its total operating budget. The Network grant is & , , adnii~istered by AlYF which, however, has no right to influence its This letter was not sent to Network,·.t orily ailocation .. Of course, Network receives funds from other sources. attention accidentally when it was sent to th.e ,Jhe North American Jewish Stude'nt Appeal, the American Jewish AZYF representative as proof of her involvement Committee~nd the American Jewish Congress, among them. group and eligibility for delegate status. ,Moreover, AZYF allocated special grants of $1000 to a National After protests by Network and several meetin,gs' Leadersnip Development Seminar sponsored by Network last June second letter was sent out over both Medved's and, indeed, allocated $1500 to the Toronto convention among This letter reiterated the original agreements and, very Sl:llbtl,'y:;~n;gle!1.;!:'i.;I grants. While this indicates considerable cooperation between AZYF reps to defer delegate status tbother active two groups, there has been tension between Network and AZY F that of th.e 43 AZYF reps originally registered' as ,?~!,I,~:~I:l~~;S;;i:(:;~~:~i~i;ri~j!i:J:;i.j h",""".·", to the extent that AZYFin New York has at times threatened changed his status to observer. The damage was done. Network's $15,000. Other documented reports have AZYF staff ng (p1':l()lr!.;;t~);~t)§"J What, then, happened in Toronto? The f.ollowing has been convention) that "we~re going to set Netvyork candidate for. steering committee ,stated that he ' \";l"\rna+lrY'ia in late NO\fember, Jonathan Medved, director of the and education. The morality bf had AZYF behind him. It is also known that Medved and questionable. How dare one o~ganization irit:er1fe(le:iivv.i,,~lt~tIQ~;p~l~q¢l;f,gJ ..' supervisorconsLJJted ~ithother community activists existence of another and then try t~ cover . thebes! strategies to use in influe cing the convention . claims that completely subsidizing the fares . ,de!I~~I:~t~i~,;~~?~?;:~i~~~~:{r;:j':,rlfii;!::::'T; .. J"."'.' .. 'J.:,:"',:,::;, .. . ' .. This convention itself was dam ged beyond repair. By the time in effect paid lobbyists for the AZYFagen?a delegates arrived in Toronto, the ba I had been set rolling, and it was "grass roots movement?" . '. ~nly necessary to sit back and watch. A vicious circle existed such 'I reiterate: AZYF is'an important organization w~l;el1 itbolel"ate .. that the actions of one side were perceived with maximum suspicion within its function. I have worked .with it andwi'H by' th~,:/othercausing ever growing escalation of rumors and Bl:J t when overzealous staff members exceed that mc:t~c"ri::;j~B~,:~);~~:.g;~~'::[~'::\!f,"::;:';}.<.)'l:' accu~att6ns. be called to task. Thi,s becomes. clear: AZYF personnel manipulated the At this point the damage is done. The slate prE~~eI1t~'d:~:lt.'ithE!.··U'i:;:'.·"·(>.··)'+:i,·.·· convention's' Ziorlist caucus both in terms of the resolutions to be Network Convention in Toronto' won elect.ion to presente'd to the voting body and in terms of a slate of delegates for steering committee. The entire Network staff has resIQr:Jledin ... ;ptc)test\t.:;,!;:,j":;(!;:"jy the. Network st,eering committee. (The delegate slated for over the events in Toronto. ~he North American Chairperson had not heard of Network three weeks prior to the Network no longer exists as an independent convention but was active in AZYF in Toronto.) A list of five uninfluenced by establishment organizations.. approved steering committee members was circulated. A copy of this The damage can only be undone when the. list was handed toone delegate by Natan Nestel, president of the Department personnel admit to their manipulation and ;"U.lI.'~a.L.lIV' .• ;:,;';<;., .....• ,:., ...... , Israel Student Organization and a Network steering committee arrangements are made to mitigate their effect on the member. Of 285 valid ballots (there were 303 cast), 99 contained all Network. five names p.lus the candidate for chairperson. At this writing the lay leadership of AZYF has Through it all names were called, people not sympathetic to the with a committee of participants at the AZYF view were cal'led "infiltrators" and worse, and a rousing protesting the alleged takeover. Further, AZYFt"las pf()mls~lj:(.c~t)'.:(.;,:J;~:.::.i;I:!,i}i'<;. cheerleading section was set up making intelligent discussion investigation of the charges made against. it. The .impossible. determine the future of the Jewish Student Movement America. As is to be expected, all charges of manipulation were and are . denied by Jonathan Medved, Michael Rosenberg - his supervisor - a'nd'othersintimately involved. Instead they speak of a "grass roots Zionist takeover." Unless grass now grows from the tip down to the roots, this assertion must '. be' questioned,if only on the basis of Medved's first letter. And in persuading "their non-New York staff that this is the case, the University Services Department is guilty of further manipulations. the need for an organization like AZYF is clear; it is vital to the existence of'lsrael that support be present among college youth. What is less clear is the reason why one Jewish organization want to buy the participation of as many delegates as possible convention of another. Clearly, AZYF and Network are ·:·,:·,.::.:.·'A·,.,... ..·v·lr~n toward the same. goals. AZYFin its role as a sponsor and )i\:,i ) THISISA OEF Love By Correspondence FOR JEWISH·STUO'e (for N. R.) Having .attended the first Network "Love by correspondence," you said it's sure Convention since, it is with a sad irony that I. am Not easy.'Don't tell me! It's crazy, God! first "Network Letter to the Editor." Ce~Jainly, when. we I spend most every evening writing words Asbury Park, New Jersey in 1970, to create a structure'for a N<;lr~t)':;{'0.:{dCf;i:,:t:;,:::ii'!;;: So hackneyed they would make an ad man proud. American Jewish Student Movement,the most prominent ques1:i{)tl::':}:\?~(:.T':;E:' If I' were a poet, I'd send along in everyone's mind was: Would the thing work? We didn't organization-. Rather, we created a mechanism whereby A sonnet. I'd chart out all the metrics, who were committed to an ideal could wo~k together. Rhyming like a pro, singing my Iovesong very basically, was to develop the character an~ In Shakespearean decasyllabics. of the Jewish Commun ity in a creative fashion. We t I~,~t:~\!,::;<:;:r;;;":;j~~~:(rl~'i~ B~t letters are my poems, in prose though students and young adults we had certain interests which, \A They may be. I'm stuck with tired phrases, our political and/or religious differences, could ·and With words I've used before. You're sick, I know, expressed and we knew that at that time there 'was no for'urn tor~trlat··"·"·,:",,,,:··):·::··:·,,, expression. Of scanning my fears, my hopes, my praises. There is a pamphlet called "What Is Network?" which. Skip what's trite - please, plumb my deeper purpose, 'compile but which I still feel doesn't describe Network, ;rn."".Trl'~' .. · Ignor--e form, love, look beneath the surface. uninitiated. That is because Network has n.o platform, nq position, no particular cause which is. pushed other than broad commitment to building a creati\leand strong Community. Network has tried valiatltly;though successfully, to give all views within the widespectrurn: a chance to be heard. As such, Network has often been unjustly. ~ccused has simply' been misunderstood. Yet, there was always .~ .~~ ..: ... ,.,nlr,":,:,y.;'··::(:,? satisfaction when, after a conference~ Network walsC:ltt(~c~:ecl,l?)r,p,ggt;':.:;'::.:(;:X!:!:jl:0* the right wing and the left, the r,eligiousand Zionist-oriented and the Diaspora.:oriEmted. It was at th(j$e.tjrne~~:,t~lat;·;:.·.:( we knew Network had proven itself· to be. a nowhere else. Above all, Network always n~rln~~:p-ntp-ri of two things that were, unique in the " of any adult paref, organization ard it was run for which Network was founded: to offer a broa"'jdAtJla~e!Or'fdr~i'rrl~':':; by students in a democratic fas ion. expression of Jewishstudentinterests.Although1;;ih~:;si;~rg;~I~ay:~:~ At the recen~ Network Convent on in Toronto I witnessed th!=! letter explained this delegate forrnula, the da!llage' ladl{a]recidv:··t).~e.er demise of that vehicle and the total, ainfully effective subversion of done and this letter di,d not lead to a change in' '~i~t~~~Jr~~~~.• ~~r~r;~itj:i{l~'l}~~ii;I~';&i:i , the ideals and structure of Network. I saw an affiliate of the Jewish Department (USD) intentions. Students were,still,cor Agency. carefully orchestrate a take-over of what was once an they should attend as delegates in order, to "'setNetwo y independent Jewish student group. The American Zionist Youth HiJlel directors were still being contacted by st.udents,'!"fflo,sa,dltt::',ev (:· F6undation(AZYF) set the stage for this take-over, months in were told by AZYF to find a group to represent. '. ',.i .. :,.:'."~':';.;:>:':,:::\t, .:.:; advance, and, exerted considerable effort and expense to ensure its Once this stage had been set, the work atth~Canven.. ·tI· on",w,as:/ success. Not only did AZYF plan to hold its mid-year Seminar easy. AZY F staff had no need to pull all t~e strings i~T', J():.q?~n<;>,:@i"!/•. 'r'i\;< •. ':( j',mmediately following and i.n the same hotel as the Network because enough strings had been pulled beforeweever:··g.iO,.... :t:..,:t .. lh... :I~.".r',e ~ Net\l\{ork was the forum - has been very important in leading to my unde~irable. What was needed by those who or~hestrated th'. " ·UI.\I\.,/,.;·."".·: •. :·:",(:).,,: ', •. decision togo on Aliyah. was not only a Zionist slate, but also one which was·.svrnpat~l€'!tic~:'.tOi'y:/,;:;;::·;:ii:~E. AZYF and one that could be furt~er molded and led ,by Much that went on at the convention's Zionist caucus angered isn't even necessary to believe that AZYF,originalh), S'I )orl~9(~.ql.: •.. i;··;:.>'k{.;i:l;:;ii me. There was something approaching a mindless hysteria among Simcha Jacobovici or the other five people. Orie AZYF:' ff,:~f~~f~:;~;)i;~i;'!:",:i~i~jlfi)' many there, almost a fear that discussion would challenge these we,nt so far as to suggest to me that he was notp'leas~qV\ people's' commitment to Zionism and perhaps show that Zionist caucus choice for Chairperson becaLJse he, was "."~l()te.}~I*re\J.;;;,;I:;~;:,tl(;II';:;!j: cornmitment to be shallow, hollow, unsound. At one very crowded Jacobovici wou Id be easy to work with. The' point he. "was;,r~a'IY;';/;\D"i?' Zionist caucus someone asked all the non-Zionists in the room to making was that he believed AZYF could have done even p~'tt~:lr'~!9gE~:'!!~·;;!Jj;;i.;:; " a~other person then asked for a definition of Zionist a it had so much pull. At any rate, he .was not tdtaUy disaPI)oitlt~id :·.·.·,·<.·;:·,ti',;"i'·~A.:;.;.fv..''''i ..... replied, "If you don't know by now you don't belong in with the outcome. nods of approval were as unbelievable as the statement People long affiliated with Network have lost ele~dfif'dH:~':::~'~f~ji~~~ I am leaving on Aliyah tonight and I still think the definition In Cleveland, in 1975, Fredda Smith, backe,(j bytht:::'J.:)'.dt:lt;j?Y~I .. YII ":::;:!:!~!if'~;l:~:'~)~"~~~~:O~~~~'~ is worthy of and open to discussion,1 still want to know Committee of Berkeley with the helpof N'8tan·~e~1·:~I;·;!'f!9~q!.0:c~!~~I~.~!~ r:: woman and all those nodders meant. What isa Zionist to of many Network .peO~le. No one resigned or walked C;,).; ;"(',i",.:':awav.or hn<'i+~'+nn' to work with her. his time the situation isvery '. H t.here h. ad be. en a grass roo s movement in supp~r: of th.e oeloplle who were finally elected the I would not be writing this If. we had lost in a democratic forum then I would continue to Death of the North A support Network and assume that the will of the majority should be r(3specte(:tand that we should work to further the aims of that Jewish Studen ts"N~~n·.1rlE,i>:::':'\i;,;!';'i'\\:i,:;,?,i:"i'!::::,i,:,:';;':!':.'; :rilajoritY,.)I'Sut themovemen't was neither grass roots nor truly :d~rlJocratic; it wa~ imposed from above and was effective because people' organi:zed by a powerful adult organization designed and led ;it. Th(3k~otivesin doing so are not unclear nor particularly sinister There is no ritual for mourning the.,death of an ~r~J~~iz~i'H9:~:-:,;::,i';'ii-:;:::;,:;!'1;;i!i. putthey are mostu[lpalatable. That employees of AZYF would want Shiva calls are not made. Condolence cards are notsent;:·'.A,'f1 te.!.r:,' d,e;a'ttlli .• ,i,;·... ,;: '. to show its ability to influence Jewish student activities isn't or accident, people gather to discuss symptoms"foresh~ddVi!ih\.4~"(;l""""""", :surprising and that they should be particularly anxious to do so just last moments in painful detail. But in discussing the ,'d~~.'~i·:·~:;;',:';'#'i';'.:,··,:,:'.·;i,',;·:~'!:: before the World Zionist Congress (to be held in February) is even Network resulting from a take-over by the University s.;j:ln./ln~lC:"""!":':'''':'' '. less so. It is quite a coup to be able to go to the Congress and show Department of the American Zionist Youth Foundation~ II~ay~ .Tnl~·'·'::'.:,·:,:'":,.:<.":,·:,,,,,,:·:,,,:: how effective AZYF's record has been in North America. recording o-f the brutal details of the crime to the other t!' .III.I.t,h1'(1 ...t,i"! ~><)i1<:';::'i,,;: Unfortunately for all of us its effectiveness is at the expense of whose articles appear in this section. My mourning andprotes1:I,',..,' .... '..... :,',',' ... , Network. elsewhere. At this moment there is no longer an independent North Network was created in 1969 in an era in American Jewish student organization in which all views can be seemed to bear the promise of revolution andstudent~bel,"'v,,,,,u"""'i"""""":""""""'" expressed. I think students and young adults should work together to they had the power to end a war and change/the world. The. ',In ••,;; ... '".··, ..-:'.'·';·". .' create ,one. Student Mov~ment was an outgrowth of the generalpoljtiCizaii;6iJ!,bf,.!,nY",~,!;':),?:':r';~ the student community, the rise of ethnic .conscioul:'h~r"I:':;·:""HI"'i'd,:<:,:.:t''';::':'?:::::::·:·':'.:': ,discomforting anti-Zionist strain within the New • Left,. "CIf]DI:{[lne) ':::.:, impaC?t of the Six Day War. . Jewish life is often perceived as the adaptation oJ the trends;:b'ft!'/<'!,~!,j;/:mi,i? the mainstream culture. When wr: IObk at the . Jewi~h :St:dd~r-;1H'j:;)h<:;:'i',\i;}(~;; Movement we find that the demonstrations of the "New' out of the demonstrations of the New' Leftis'ts. It wa~ah~n:":".;'~f', .. ';;,::"'<):WA student demonstrations and Jewish students took tal the;,s.1 treE~ts:"fd.r;:':' Jewish and universal causes. Later when student radicals ""n·:ini::l.n:/'~ri,,·::"i':::'.' farms in Vermont and communes across the country, j vv..... ",.": .., ... U.~.. '''' .. ~:,... '',::,' (not all students anymore) formed chavurot, and began 'to:.COI1C€!t.r:i, :' themselves with the quest for Jewish spiritual values. ': I n the days when students believed in. their :,;:':~,~~~~~,2i:;1!j)a;,;~),i:"Y' establishment also believed. Or. said that they did.'Jn thiOSE!0d~~v:s;,)ttl~ University Services Department wasstaffed by people. VI·mC)SlJPt:)o.f:te,O the notion of student independence and 1: he plurafisi1l~.,:.1'9l:?~~,~::'~t9;q'r.. n~ community. After all, students. were needed to ,,,,: laae'.l:ne:rel.enltlefS~ ',' . • C!. services and resources, to be ah,,'open foru'rTl for· 9 g a.... a.. in. st. A.. ·r..ab pro. pa . and.a on t~h Gampu~. In th?se days, the within the student community, and to be a c~.a.~:,ryt~~~~f~:~:~~;~~lr~ii~~~ ",: .. ~'·",·.. r"" and Hechalutz Department 0 the Jewish Agency gave the developments within the com'munity. Netvvork,ilJ:~ . American' Jewish Students Ne work $15,000 a year for its its independence. And ina community in w~ich. Arii~:.~i9~9,;A.~yVij~.~ programs. '. . . leade;rs .star as the dum'my in the Israeligovernhient~s ·.l!.,U.'.. "I."."V''''I,I.A', .. L . '. Now it has become commonplace to presume that political and act, in a community whose leaders fear the·slighte$tleak;6t,:di~5Seir:lt;;t{ cultural students movements began in 1967 and ended in 1972: We the New York Times more than ,they fear their own . Jews, whb are a bit slow in adapting to the latest fashion~, didn't ineffectuality, Network's presumption of indepenaence' r.c l'rlkl"ecj';:{"'·':\':!:.:/' discover this for a few years, so in. student circles we continued to Not much of course. Network and Jewish ~tLident PIfIDlec,ts WE~re: discuss the democratization of the Jewish community, the need to kept too poor, and therefore ineff~ctual, tobemore' tl,;::I.r j'c~··"~int~t::"':;;<.;XD:/:': car~for the poor and elderly, the quality of Jewish life and Israeli irritation, and yet even a blister can persistently remi~d "' ... ,J.•. ,""'.".,.,..... life the assault on traditional sex roles in the Jewish community, presence. Despite its financial problems, Network had $U(~CE!Ie..d~~Ct.!I.I1<: in Jewish education, and our visions for the future of the alt~rnatives impressive programs such as Conferences on. JewishWorpen; J.\.lat .. II.a."nali···.:?:,':.::' .• :,: . Jewish comml:lnity. Israel Awareness Week, National Leadership Development Sern' But finally the news reached us. Student movements were dead and the Conference on Alternatives in Jewish Education.": . except f9r the movement toward law school and medicin~. Visions ~f Which is not to deny that Network had many prob'l~ni:s", W ...., •..•.. : .... ,,':.... , ...... :,:.:: ..,", ..... :, .. : the prophets' should be left frozen in the pages ?f history, the.lr through by. years of struggle, fatigued by its battle t?raise.:>"ii words of use only to politici.ans in search of rhetoric. In a world In minimum yearly budget, suffering from the difficulty of findi9@staff:', which our views are shaped by journalists rather than artists, people to dedicate themselves to the day-to-day runl1ing iof;;tbe' psychologists rather than visionaries, and sociologists rather than organization, and affected by the inexperience of its .Ie~~~: revolutionaries, the J~wish Student Movement had become an Network was weak. Yet, Network certainly could.havesqrv anachronism. at the convention delegates could have elected new I,eaders,.gran,rlll'p.rf:i:;":·":' with problems,- and determined the future of the organization: . The U~iversity Services Department started to grumble. Hadn't Network heard? In an age of conformity, there was no need for an But USD had decid~d to take Network over. 'Because rl~!~r\)i1fAi<:"·:.; .. :i·,:,·~;::i::>:~ open' forum in which differences would be respected and Network's problems, it could .be convenient to lec;ld :th~i.r p,': ",,'.':., "., .. ,..: ...... ,.. appreC'iated, for tqere were no more differences. In an age of and articulate their ideology .in the name of the Jewish '.' ,': Realpoiitik students shou Id not explore the variety of perspectives groups of North America. By 'use of its paid field represe~ta·tiv~s,i, .on peace in' the Middle East, and the differences in Zionist ideologies. by its cynical exploitation of Network's problems, the vsb na'im':u.I'iI'; 'In an age of pragni'atism, the USD's message changed to fit the shape in touch with the trends of the times, orGhestrated thetake,-n.upr"'I":"\T . " . '~ .' ,. . 'of the times. "Sell Israel!" Aliyah figures were low, and the world Network. ..; seemed increasingly disenchanted with Israel's policies. There was no . Since the convention, the Committee for AZYF Accdun.~a"'·"·+······" time for' the luxury of political debate or spiritual quest. We were a coalition of people involved in. Jewish stude~t life, an needed to' sell our souls for· phantom jets while new Zionist converts Jewish community, have protested this take-over arid rI.a',.... ·"'nrl~:.. rI,:·I:."':n •. '<·.':.'.·:.: ... : Were herded onto EI AI planes. investi'gation of USD's actions. USD' responded to 'the :'ch~rgl~:Jj::!;§)~(:;,:i~,:(:,.. ~;;\'({;i\::;t . I,n the post-Watergate age we learned that what we thought had claiming that the protesters were really angered by the,'j ir:~::I[Qs:~J:::cft .,"h6r\lnor,or! was minor in comparison with what had really happened. control over Network. Yet, at whom were these charges ·Ieve.lea.{:r,v~o': \. >":'/::>::,,:',.:,··,,'\,,,\'.7.·... had not actually been rendered impotent by the trends of examples are, Ed Freedman, former secretary-general,.:\jIVhl::rVlilaS.JJblim~} decade, but rather had never had power even from the start. So on aliyah 5 days after the converition,. and myself(w~. V.·\'Cl;:,.,;:,\)"t:Cl~~t:I:"::; ,.,., .. ", .... ",'., . Network lay down and die? to maintain control tha1 I had resigned from th~.s:·teerInl(J!C::onnni Network continued to provide distinctive programming " • :1\ " JTlonths prior to the convention. ~ ,Network staff resigned in pr test, and ,the soh~ member and ,alternates who were not on th, "Zionist" slate resigned. Call .' Justice,anewspa~er was publi hed to publicize the charges. -,Despite community support (over 800 dollars was raised merely in responseto the newspaper) and the passion of the people involved in AZY FRepJies tbe pr<:>~~~t, we came up against the stone wall of AZYF's cynicism, and complete lack of accountability. Dear Sh ifra, Shalom: -In a meeting of coalition members, AZYF board members and Thank you for your letter of March staV, ' D~vid Sidorsky, AZYF board chairperson responded to the 16. You will find below an explanation of charges by asking, "What redress can we make for your pain?" Not wishing to "respond" to Ed Freedman and Neil pain, ,butinjusti~e, required redressing, and we called for an on the Network convention. investigation. What we wanted was accountabi I ity, what we When you originally spoke to me on the phone demanded was for the truth to be aired. we ul:)l,;UI:):)"t:Y;i~:i::,}i<".i€i::.;\n': series of articles that were going to be included as well. -We t,al,ke.'Pi:';',i,L,}.;.':.(:i:'i'i,:";. The articles which appear in this section are not objective about a variety of articles expressing, different points', ' reportage .of this controversy. This section of RESPONSE is in part including the comments of student leaders. Since these , ,our vision, in part our protest, and in part ~ur ritual for evidently been abandoned, I do not see howl can be, a commemorating the death of the North American Jewish Students project. Network. ' I do not feel that it is my role to answer' for or, to SPE~aK::':lOlr. Network was born in 1969 and died in 1978. But values and North American Jewish Students. They are perfectly Cal)atlle\ot visions don't die. Sometims they just get wounded in a take-over. speaking for themselves, anditseems to me thatanv. to cover an issue such as th is one wou Id have ,to include an ..,++'on-, ... +: to solicit student opinions rather than simply asking for or t'or'''it':ttrlQ'''::',!i''",., ':'":'.::'.,1,,,:, the commentary of former students and professionals. ' Furthermore, it seems to me that the whole, issue' '.', -- than ,"sour grapes" at this stage. To ten you the current problems facing us today being as serio~s and,;as they are, I simply do not have the time to devote toaseriQus ~~,~," ...., ... of the "generation gap" that exists between today~s ' and those that were on campus during the ferrt,ent <;>f and early 70's. It is this basic change, inmy'opini~n>thclt.j'sithe:'",·,:,iii:::;::'.,:;/I,I:,!Iii:!; major factor that influenced the recent Network COI1VE!ntibnliarldl!~ts: aftermath. , Since RESPONSE itself is a product of the . . \ ' surprising that your whole approach to the controversy e~hibits a certain lack of objectivity. articles from Freedman and Reisner who Claim that +h~,· I",:"",'.'".:""::,·,',:,": ,'.'You see,Shifrai there is probably orne right on both sides of this , conflict. I would maintain, howey ,that this way of posing the , i'quest~on is in itself a distortion whic raises a false issue. There never SOV I ETDISSIDENT-"":,,,, ,",." ..".: really was an independent Jewish Student movement in North Ameri~a;:': The "establishment" has always intervened and the AND SOV,IET JEWS r, " American Zionist Youth Foundation can be proud that it was always ',in the vanguard of such intervention. If you check the record you W(II find that both Network and the Jewish Student Press Service are in' no sm'all. part results. of this type of intervention. It was a summer evening at the home o'f Moscow r. But that intervention was always based upon cuorrent moods on Alexandr Lerner. Seven Jewish activists and I relaxed ,hi :th,' e,il'ivi:'I~di':i:(!jt:i campus and current student ,attitudes - certainly not upon nostalgic room and enjoyed the soporifiC' after-effects of Mrs.' Le'rner's p(],ta:ito." •• 'Y~~;{r's;,3!ii::!?: ideological positions of another age that had no relevance to the lotkes and cabbage borscht. The atmosphere was' un"dou h tl=lcU'i/".:'i'''''\:(''':':''',ir.:fi1. , current, campus scene., An establishment that doesn't adjust its Soviet anomaly: small reproductions of Jerusalem's ',"Ch'alqall,','ii':':;'i::>}::i'S " approachan,d change with the times and that is not in touch with its windows" partially blocking the titles of ,Jewish texts,fn Gonstituency is doomed to fai lure. This, it seems to me, is the key bookcase, a proudly disp layed oi I painting, of Jewish activist ;:"~;~::':",I; '::,'i':'.".:::,>:,;':':;"':i;: '" issue underlying the recent history of Network and its old guard Shcharansky, a small. Israel i flag hanging on the wall and tileVoi:<:;e, 0t"'.;,):;(8:',,;,(;/;:;; "establishment." America playing in the background. " If. you are still looking for balance, I suggest that you print the The meeting was arranged to discuss a particularissuewhi~h I'"i,.,:",i'.. ')i:i.i:,',·',:if::.::,\i:, , attached material along vvith this letter. I think that Eric's analysis is had been asking refusen iks about since I arrived in, M0scowt'~,"t"·,::,; !.i,'i':';:fA::.'j,i';' 'shared. by rmmy students that were present at the convention or that weeks earl ier. As I brought up the topic, the relaxed faces tux J.t":u; ...• ···".,;.:i:.'i:.i'.;~•. rk ,were familiar with Network from previous contact. I certainly agree intense and concerned. lilt's as if the KGB had planted'this··,.,r,l,:I:r:lC'.· with his basic analysis of the situation. movement," one activist said bitterly. The subjectshe: vvas, sPlea~~i'hlj:: .,>:.S;5;'i~r{ Thank you for asking me to write for RESPONSE. I hope that I of was not a bugging device or an agent provocateut,butth ,7:;,':T?o;;-;i.(,;:.\;i, will b~able to respond positively to such requests in the future. ~ver the involvement of Jewish activists with other 'dissiden ',', .. '.:.,.",., .... ". , , B'vracha, d comm'ents during the next two hours reflecte.d their disappoin+ma ..... ' ..... Mike over some Western Jewish leaders' advocacy of a doctdne Whli.~fii;X't~C,:,·.:i·.:::::;1.;:;,~; impossible to adopt in the world of Soviet dissent, that(is, a.''f''t;:' ....,'.~~';):;:;.:::,,/:.: .. ,;:; between the Jewish movement and other dissenters.' " '" Zev Shank en, at the time in question, was an employee of AZYF and did not participate in ,the' editorial process on articles dealing with Network and AZYF. . At the discussion's end, the same refusenik eagerly: -Editors me.' "Now do you understand?" she said. After four m6re',We!$~~)i{i·Ej'.,::.:<::"::'!::;':;:;:Eir't:. the Soviet Union, I - with my Western mentality,- still co . fully grasp the subtleties of the refusenik-dissident relaiiOnshi'r:: r:~;:!lj,:uJj.·'>},:! my understanding of it had indeed grown. Although the· particular aim ot emigration move~ent unique, there is still collaboration betwee '. and other dissidents, especially .the Soviet DemocrMs. 'It:.eilr,(·rrlUtIU:§t activities inc,lude legal G and scientific seminars,:aicJ :1'cJ;0"R:9q"tiE;~~J; prisoners and legal assistance to dissenters on '~ri'~'1 ,...... '"' ....,,; .. ,,~ the Democrats - do have in,terests which In times of crisis, some Jews dissenters even write appeals lr'ld refuseniks,. There are other. groups of Soviet . sign petitions in support of each ther. . as the Russian nationalists;" whose opposition to the Jewish activists. Shipwre ked . These "Russites" advocate the return to 'a naltJcmallJs'Uc HILl5 This r~ciprocal support has increased in the past two yearS. This ideology is usually linked ~.~ the concept of ~Jc:'trnqgr.tJ~o\irerrlrnet'i·t'~ Since the signing of the Helsinki Accord, various dissidents have had - anything from a monarchy to a proletarian . their. ,c.:aClses fall together with .those of others under the umbrella Samolvin's "Open Letter to Solzhenitsyn" is typical of m:~)st:'~!(J,ssii:1atl;,::;,;;i'·\I::t·,d';;·;:i';' . :issu,e of tlhuman rights" and therefore, have been able to work National ists' attitudes toward the Soviet Zionists' ~alllol\tllnr.dl~c;llaFE~$(: together in the monitoring of these rights. The Jewish activists have 1 that II Jews made the mess ( 1917 Revolution) a~d are n0W,'tf"V'inb:',tc separate aims from the other dissenters, yet cooperation between the get ou t. "4 ,.,:':',,'::, :,,':·, ..• ·,i!: ,+<,,;:~!/,/.>::i:i:":i:',!;,' Jews and other groups is inevitable. On the other hand, various elements' of, Before examining this complicated question of refusenik movement, from the true Marxist-Lenihists' to' the , Wc~stlerrl~t~('pe!',:,,:!;,~;i';:'t; involvement with other Soviet dissidents, we need to understand the democrats or Christian Sociali~ts, have been histori~aljy intertwj;jl'9cl'·'::'(i,,' to , , purpose of Soviet Jewish activism. The refuseniks are the antithesis with the Jewish movement. Because of the great number UI.J,t::'Wli:m;:'(ii···':;.· , of the Western concept of a movement. They have no common intellectuals and the Russian antagonism to Jewish political beliefs. Some are religious; some are completely assimilated Jews fell into oppositional ideologies such as that of the , into Russian society; and most are somewhere in between. Their " I n fact, some of the fi rst Soviet Zion ists;'suchas Edward ,'occupations can range from an office clerk to a microbiologist. And Roman Rutman and Alexandr Voronel,were originally their ages and geographical locations are just as diverse as their Voronel explains: vocations. Misha Nosovsky, a Leningrad Hebrew teacher who has While Jews make up only a tiny percentage of the general Soviet been waiting two ye'ars to leave the Soviet Union, compares the population, they account for well over half of the'diss.idehts 'i'i,.,·".,·',,··-,;:.'i"':';:'.hU.,j};!·,' , movement ~o a group of people who sail together on a boat and then Democrats) in the U.S,S.R. Non-Jews, in fact, are aniin'ority in get shipwrecked on an island; the only thing which they have in Democratic movement there. Most of the members are either common is their insularity.l The refuseniks' only uniform belief is or partly Jewish, and the majority, of the aliya' emigration to Israel) activists were at one their desire to leave the Soviet Union. Even their destination - Israel Democrats}.5 Or ~he United States - is a point of controversy. Sbme Jewish activists believe the promotion of Jewish culture Reciprocity between Jews and Dis~iderits i r1 ,theSoViet Union is just as important as emigration. In an attempt The first Zionists learned dissidenttechniqJes tbcounteract the government encouraged scarcity of Jewish Democratic friends. "They helped us' with ' " literature and religious material, Hebrew teachers in the larger cities (unofficial publications) and establishing c~ntacts conduct ulpanim despite constant police harassment. Other journalists," said Vladmir Slepak who' has been', iri , refuseriiksleadseminars on Biblical and Jewish history. However, the movement for over seven years. "Eventually,we eSl'anllsr1erIOlllrilhw'n';,i ; ;participants. in these culturally oriented studies are, with rare contacts and made our own samizdat."6 exceptions, Jews who have applied to leave the country. I ndeed, all Since the Democrats advocate civil ,of the teachers with whom I. spoke said that their pupils studied the 2 philosophy has obviously enc~mpassed the language and history to prepare for anticipated emigration. religion and emigration, Conseque'ntly, Soviet' Ilberc~ls;·h~lve.:;-oft€ini This particular purpose makes the individuals in the Jewish , aided the cause of the Jewish activists. The <,,:rnovernerlt ,distinct~rom most other Soviet dissidents. Only the has be.en Andrei Sakharov, who, h~s time and Turkish lYIeskhetians actively appeal to leave the well-known' name in support of the. Jews.' Most rec;eriiIY·,ij::i'e;;'s,efj't::t() fortheir hom,eland.But certain movements - most notably Voronel, originator of the first Moscow 's~~::I~:!,iC::I,~rJ~t:~~S,:,~~~~l;~;l . weste.r.'.n. ". d.ele~.ates .... a.t .. the B.e~rade. confe.r~nc,e. a telegram. the massrve house arrests f JewIsh actIvIsts In Moscow. 7 those who frequently took "part, ·for I'll ·,,·"·· .. 1· ... ," .. ,.,. been many others, such . Valery Chalidze and Vladimi.r arrested chairman of the Moscow Helsinki who have provided similar elp. Yuri Orlov. WhenelevE?n Western scientists trclvelecl:tl@:,iGIVIOiS.e()W:?:i The Democratic samizdat Chronicle of Current Events has also April, 1977 to participate in a special u~::~::~~;~~:2~:~~~1f"1:'~'~J,~:~I,~ given cc:>~siderableattention to the Jewish cause. Beginning with its Democrats including Andrei Sakharov wer,ein a1 . Any dissident can also gain from the refu~E:niks~ Je~al<.!;~rrl.ll\lc~r::S: sixth ·issue i~ 1968, The Chronicle described the arrest and trial of General surveys of international and Soviet ' ~ewish activist Boris Kochubeyevsky. 8 It subsequently reported various other cases of Soviet anti-Semitism and the harassment of germane to all forms and purposes ofdisserlt. Zi,onists, . Issue seventeen .(December 30, 1970) contained a special mostly Jews (at his law seminars), non-Jews alsQ attend; chapter called IIPersecution of Jews Wishing to Emigrate to Israel" Seigal, a Jewish attorney who. has been granted .. and fully reported the first Leningrad "hijack trial."9 The next issue but bravely continues to lead his Leningrad law· 'C"ar'nir'\·~I"'·,6,nt.ii:I':d:~.~~;ji: inc.luded a section titled "The Jewish Movement for Emigration to expiration of his exit visa's maximum timeAimit.l 6 Israel."lo The Chronicle became the first Soviet-based medium Since Democrats and refuseniks encounter where Jewish problems could be given extensive documentation. legal problems, both of their dealings with the law mutual assistance. F or example, contacts with attorneys ~!li~'~~'f:!)Jii)~(Ci~;i;i:~'!~j\:' But Democrats are not the only dissidents who have raised their wi II ing to take the risk of defending a political or religious d voices for the Jews. No expression of concern has been more moving are often made through Democrats. Dina Beilina, than the address by Ukrainian Nationalist Ivan Dzuba at the Babi Yar refusenik who aids Jews during their trials, found a commemoration on September 29, 1966 where he appealed to the Anatoly Shcharansky through her communiques with the Moscow Democratic movement.! '7 The lawyer Soviet authorities to: 'II Let the Jews know Jewish history, Jewish ,'I culture and language, and be proud of them."!! In 1968 a statement who was eventually disbarred because of her , by fifty Crimean Tatars, demanding that they be allowed to go to previously defended such well-known dissenters as 1 Marchenko, Vladimir Bukovsky, Pavel Litvinov, "ya Ga'bai,o,.,.'u,."",I.,' .. I:.HI."";,::.\.".",::,,,,:,."i·"I'h Israel, was a sign of sympathy and support of the Jewish cause. 2 On . March 20,1977, fifty Soviet Pentacostals issued an appeal to , Galanskov . , I n Moscow mutual contacts with foreign' . Chri,sti'ans around the world to aid the struggle of Soviet Jewry.1 :1 • sometimes present a situation for interaction~' In ,. Such diver~ebacking for the Jews is essen~ial because it places their years dissidents have not needed to work together . ,concerns in the broader context of civil liberties, and therefore, helps . to attract Western support from Jews and non-Jews alike. the refuseniks eventually developed their own However, some dissidents and Jewish activis'ts :still recio['ocatE!.,fai.vorsi.h{./':;iill' ,Jewish activists reciprocate this support in a broad gamut of such as translating interviews. Because of mutualqctivities, Educational sem inars, pol itical trials contacts with Shcharansky interpreted for many Democrats such as ·Western Journalists, social isolation and political prisoners are all Less tangible but no less significant is. the fr'i, e'n(js~li·Po.t)E~t'JI:,een,:;;C;t;i concerns which necessitate interaction between different dissident some JeWish activists and Democrats. "-If I were to use one.··\JI.vor:d and areas where refuseniks are able to give assistance to their express the essence of the relations between Zionist,S friends. At critical moments, Jewish activists even sign in the U.S.S.R.," saysAlexandr ,Voronel,"!,J 1;"';\','\ '.·.:i'~.".,·.. · .. ,pE~tiltiolns in defense of other dissenters; 'friendship'."! 8 Since Sovie,t dissenters are socially os1:ra(~tzE!d<':"'U'i.a,.: refuseniks,' scientific and mathematical seminars are support from any other individuals is very valuable td·)t!;lE~rQ;;:i;{:i': i:,;',i'.. >ttnF>nIIIPlnTI=Ir! by Democrats who also suffer the feelings of stagnation that accompany a blacklisted intellectual. "After all, such thing as a pure Jewish science," says Alexandr Lyudmila Sleksev.26 Eighteen refl,Js'~niks were , . Defending pri~ners Perhaps the most vital and exten ive interaction between Jews statement -:- submitted to the Moscow Helsinki of the Czechoslovakian Charter 77.27 Former Soviet Je\lVish::;j3a;ti.VU,t: . . other dissenters is t.he.ir ,activities ~volvin.g ~risoners. The prison IS one place where all dissidents - Je Ish activists and refuseni ks - Sylvia Zalmanson explains that when the rights of an'volne,1'fc,rni:iiriv· at~ thrown into the same conditions. "We would never be able to of the r:novements are .infr-inged upon, there is . . s'muggle materials to our Jewish prisoners without the help of the When Democrats are threatened, Jews appeal on +h'..... ·'h,....h Ukrainia~/Nationalists," says Moscow refusenik Ida Nudel, who is in charge- 6l\taking material to the (Jewish) Prisoners of Conscience. "I Emigration and Internal Change'· ~m a practical person," she continues, "and working together (with Refuseniks disagree over the extent of dangers. oth~rdissidents) is inevitable in this area."] 9 the Democrats. The Jews who are apprehensive about Political work within the prison camps takes th is same tone. For argue that the involvement may co~fusethe Jewish example,inrnid-1975, sixty-six prisoners signed an appeal call ing for restate their main goal as emigration, not internal . more humane cond(tions for "persons sentenced because of political, believe the viability and inoffensiveness of this purpose · :national and religious motives."2 0 The names of thirteen Prisoners of . comparison with that of the Democrats ~are salient Conscience -,- most notably Edward Kuznetsov and Mark Dymshitz, underlying the Jewish movement's relative success.2 9 the defendants in the 1970 Leningrad trials - are included in that Although most Jewish activists wou(d agree that emigr~tio!l Jong Iistof signatories. far easier for the Soviet authorities to allow than internal.,.;.·.. ·,...I.+;~·.';'I change, many do not agree that the Soviet government vie:ws Outside of the camps, most Jewish petitions deal with the Jewish movement as less of a threat than other dissident grbups~ emigration issue, Soviet anti-Semitism or persecuted Soviet latter activists point out that the word '~Zionist" i's said in the Zionists.2] Jewish appeals for non-Jewish causes do occur however breath as "anti-Soviet conspiracy" in the nevVsp.ppers, .on especially when the Soviet government victimizes a frie'nd of th~ television and in the courtroom.3 °In fact, it can be argued that,...... "··;···,··· .. · Jews .. In .1968, many members of the Jewish movement, among them sizable and geographically diverse base of therefuseniks and Julius Telesin, Michael Zand and Vitaly Svechnisky, signed various strong swpport in the West make them more threatening ...:..: petitions protesting the infamous "trial of the four" (Aleksandr Soviets' eyes - than other dissenters. Former DemocratiC and Ginsby~g, . Yuri Galanskov, Alexsey Dobrovolsky and Vera activist Aleksei Tumerman elaborated on this shortly U:lshkovp).2, 2 In January, 1972 during the trial of Vladimir in Israel: Bukovsky,eight Jewish activists stood outside the courtroom and In the West, they do not understand that the regime in Russia'is not ". signed a letter on his behalf.23 In the summer of the same year will ing to enter into an ideological discussion with. opposition groups. This regime simply liquidates 'anyone who "rebels." The · Professor Venya Levich and other Jewish scientists signed a protest Russians react to criticism not according to the of ,'the'. 24 s~verity letter on the anniversary of the invasion of Czechoslovakia. In criticisms but to the actual damage that· it is liable tooa'Usethe 1973, Jewish activists, among them Alexandr Voronel, Mark Azbel re·gime. • ,p. and' Soris. Einhinder, wrote an open. letter in protest of the Those who think that since the Zionist movement in 'j,ntensified. harassment of Andrei Sakharov and Alexandr no proposals against the Soviet regime itself - in the ~e~sethat the Democratic movement threatens it - that the' Russians will treat . ~)'SOlzhenitsyn and asserted that ". '. there are times when a man's . Zionist activists more lightly to bring about a siiuatioh . li'Cfi!:?HXf;)!;'1;i/1::1:;:'::'tS)'::,;~rai'::0,I?(;: ..... ; silenc~ makes him an accomplice in the crime."2 5 anyone will be allowed to leave the prison called the .Soviet This trend has continued in more recent years. In January, 1977 But this is in contradiction to the Russian purpose of rwcl\,n,n +i ,,,,.,·:·ttle' ...... ,',.'!:,:j.. :,'", .... ;:., n refuseniks signed a special appeal to world Jewry and the opening of the prison . gates .... ·In- their·opinibn, :•• ·:~;:i;:;!.'f,P)imJh·it.p.d))tates'Congress asking therT) to protest the arrests of Helsin ki movement in the U.S.S.R. is capable of preventing the cin... in,n"r-,;f>i+;:o';::::';;··.:... ';: 'Group members Yuri Orlov, Aleksandr Ginsburg and trade agreements between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.31 f To .~a'y . that Soviet authorities PJrceive the Democrats as a more Democrat.") 6 Refuseniks, such asSlepak and ·ipvidious menace than the J wish movement is apparently who come to the aid of Democrats still r:naintpin .tb·,ati.thE!it(,gQ~ . unfounded. emigration, not internal political change . But one must l.ook at the.q alific.ations. which underscore· the The most emphatic statement on this is.sue· arguments of those who fear, interaction with other movements. writte.f"J' to Western Jewish .. Ieaders which. describeq . Although they themselves might not work with other dissidents, they importance of Shcharansk y'simminenttria,1. Siilce Shch.3ra:nSI In the meantime the Jewish Labor Committee is arranging a whole series of week-end institutes for members of the bartenders' union., At these institutes speakers will discuss the history of the A.f L'~CIO~ pointing'out that Samuel Gompers, its founder and first 'president,'was Jewish ,and that Arthur Goldberg, United States , Representative ,to the United Nations, began his notable career as a CIOattorney. In the weeks that follow, every state AF L-CIO convention will pass a resolution, sponsored by the J LC, calling on union members riot topee in anti-Semitic urinals. , . The American Council for Judaism calls a press conference in a New, York hotel where its spokesman, flanked by two Arabs r'ot'"\rc,ccYl'1"iYl" ,the American Friends of the Middle East, makes a statement which has already been delivered to the t("";<:'lliIlnlited States Secretary of State. 1n the statement the Counci I den ies 'J'i\(:l:;'B:;:("Li2Q;.anyone could have written "Screw the Jews" on the toilet wall :'"::J::i;'il:;::i"":::i,':,JJ~,,,:a'I.J"c; ,in America there' is no such thing as a Jew, but only '!:;:;';!;:{!:!':,]:'Arrtelricc3ns of Jewish descent, and a pretty vague descent at that. The "Amuslfor students and POlicy_mj' ers ... " David M. Abshire. Ch. airm.an, The.... Center for. Strateg:. i . and I ntcrnationa} Studies. Georgetown University·· . .' MIDDLE EAST A VISION-AlIV'E': ;:fONTEMPORARY SURVEY The Thought of' . Yosef Haim Brenner f, . Edited by Colin Legum The name of Yosef Haim Brenner is' amnO~i],i"":;;'::><;::.i".i.,i"j These essays."are imprcssive for thcir wealth of information and all unknown to American readers, even thoseinterestedin~nd farnil.i.ar;··.';yi;;it·;,:'i;:,:.,.,~';{j around utility as academic resourccs." Malcolm H. Kerr, Director. with modern Hebrew literature. For some,.obscure Center for Near Eastern Studies. lICLA his books, save one 1 have been translated into English. two of his short stories and essays are included. in, "This unique annual placcs concerned laymcn as well as scholars. anthologies presenting Hebrew literature and th()ught. journal'ists. diplomats and statcsmen in deep ohligation." J. C Hurewitz. Director. Middle East Institute. Columhia l 'ni\ersit~ non-Hebrew reader. And yet, although he was killed (by Arabs during the "An indispensable tool for all serious students of the contemporan near Jaffa) at an age considered to be only the peginning Middle East." Bernard Lewis. Princeton l J ni\ersit~ for a novelist, he already had gained the appreciation of' l-I';hr~:i~~l··.:;·?;J>;;,i:;t.... ·.::~<;!. "An authoritativc. comprchcnsive and up-to-date collection of L'S readers as a novelist and thinker. Both before and after P~~~I~~~~11~~;\;~{·{!f~'tt~~:i:;i;·iii~;';. death he was considered by many as one ·of the most. ir says." Khosrow Mostofi. Dircctor. Middle Fast CL'nter,l'ni\ersit~ of Utah spiritual leaders of the Zionist - or more accurately movement . ....1 am. impressed by the scriousncss of thc documentation and the Time has truly diminished his influence, aU the ...:comprehensiveness of the coverage a nd feci it wi II hccomc a sta nda rd the birth of the State of Israel. Much of his thought . ,Xeference work.. for anyone interested in the Middle East." Da\'id viewed as outdated., HO\IVever, even today, w.l:1en '.One Lan<~es. Department of History. Harvard lJ niversity and essays, his deep insights into the complex . "I look forward to .. its coming out regularly every year." Nada\ people remain striking. His criticism' and . VISion Safran. Middle East Institutc. Harvard II nivcrsity pertinent today than sixty or seventy years a'gO'; of his nationalist thought remain consistent 7}5 {If'. ('(1 SMU)() and deserve reevaluation in our own times. II'flll' lor lin(fI/'ln't' />r"cllllrt' A "'Post-Despair" Zionist. After several years of wandering through vari'ous :'centE~r:"s;\6t;C ..-vI Jewish life in Europe, Brenner settled in' Palestirie' in' HOLMES & MEIER Pl:BLlSHERS. INC \.H~C)5h;:'.as';;.~ 30 Irving Place. N~w York. N.Y. 10003 self~named "post-despair Zionist." He was born tw'entv~eiqihf:VEian earlier, on September 11, 188.1 ,in the White ~ntll~('·~~I'~~u•.rl~····::)~9¥YDM'.~?!· Novuye-Melini. Although he showed signs of years, he followed the traditional path of, Jewi~;fi0:-;'~d·~'¢~j.tt6 ambiguous reactions by thellestablished" cri:tics .. l\lolnethE~le~;s'f;lhE rapidly became a leading figure in the "young' writers and readers . . I n November 1901 Brenner was recruit'edi'hto the ~za,(cist)(~JD1Y;:.:,;T (two of his novels, One Year and From A 'to"M .... 6+IOr;'+·.;... +hi:"·':i~. experience) only to desert and emigrate frorn Russia Apri I of that year the exi Ie arrived i'n Londonf'()rwh~t was.·i:t.~Qi':t)e,c3:> .• ;,\i!.;:'t'":;:+'i:"; four-year stay. This was one of his mast prOlific nar'I:.('101S ,~,'.'l:.l,;,:,r':~:,i·(:';:;,;< •. :·.·:i;i";'\1 produced five novels, two plays and several short important, however, was his rol.e as fourfder arid years) of one of the most important Hebrew language . Awakener" (Ha'Meorir). In 1908 Brenner left for avearof work in Gal~cia. A year later he made aliyah to he became the central I iterary figure in the small Jewish There he wrote many short stories and three of his most ;ml"';-;. ... 1..'1."1·+.., ,:.1.:.'.",." novels - Bein Mayim I'Mayim (tlBetweenWatei-'and u'Mikan ("From Here and From Here") and his last Schechol Vekishalon (" Breakdown and Bereavemtfn('}.At 'thl~~(~~:;@2j>:"Ui';i;~i:!!\;:;!,t; time he was one of the editors of several politically,I"\ ... ·Io.o:>ritacl .. · periodicals including HaPoel Hatzair (liThe Ahdut ("Unity" - among his coeditors were Yitzchak Ben Zvi). At the close of World War I Havodah ("Work Legions") as a teacher but returned: to activities as a writer, editor and publicist in 'Jaffa, where,he death shortly thereafter. Both before and after his aliyah, Brenner was PH!OCCUIJieid:VVittl"','.. ,'::·>:,:.':H,:::JI':;C,;; the same questions which concerned other' Jewish' generation. He immersed himself in the turbulent ! •• disturbing the Jewish intelligentsia of the tim'e'and philosophical trends reflected in the literature and He pursued these conflicts relentlessly, with an insatiabl.e:.cJe.sire;I(j(:ll spiritual sustenance. Yet he was careful to ...... ,." literary and intellectual phenomenon in As an active participant in the national Brenner nev'er abando!')ed his personal .... ,-,.n\II..... 1':I.,-,...... "cm.,~j/n~y,E~rXlrE!I,I.~1 ,conventional views, biases-~or prejudices. While he slways of their nation and generation. Their failure . his/membership in the J wish people, he' never regarded product of external factor's cornpellingthen:) ,to ac:kn6V\ih~(~ge!iiCtf!)~ fact a.. s.' .a. mat.ter.. .of inheritanc.e only. H.' e felt that his belonging interdependence between their fate and that ,of thE~ir;:.na1tidti):::TF.nE a conscious affirmation ofa oral principle which had to be own character made,. it impossible for them, 'to, 'U·,I;:)I;;)\J\.I O:I,{;;':"':,' , . re-examined repeatedly and become a choice. More than any other personal life and ideals from their socio-national' . .,. writer· or thinkerbf his generation, Brenner dared to peep into the This was, of course, the>fate of Brenner himselfJ:'i~'h:l~nlte:nsi;oiij"';i:;!;;,i,i?"":";: deep well of human and national existence. He knew that he d.~rk between asserting personal freedb,m of thought and' a'i\)'ri,chJcilitvt:d'lnfii wasli,able to tumble in " Yet he refused to shut his eyes to whatever the one hand, and recognition of an' inevitable •••'·:. he might find there. .~ohn.et~~i·!~,R;:;f91:,,'n:i'~:H':;}i),;c;(;' nation's fate, on the other, is reflected in Brenner's .-wc)rkDfll0lJafltE'.:',,;j,j:;":,i,:i.: •. ,· and way of life. The samedualityleftitsmar:konhis:pl.h,ilps,0~m~'.>Q1t.::',: ••.. \';,;,,'·'·'): Liberation and Alienation nationalism and in his writings about the history~,' .' From his early years on we can find in his writing one clear and revitalization of the Jewish people. distinctive image' which expresses the sources and unfolding of Brenner's own world; an imageof the young Jew - a son of his times An End to Self-Delusion - who was caught between opposite poles, yet retained an innet? Brenner shared with many of his contemporaries the. conVi unity which, can only be grasped as a result of this inner tension. This that the Jewish people had lost its ability to lead even. arne~ young' Jew- like Brenner himself - regarded himself as a unique national life of its own. The Jewish peQple,inhisview,wasincao'ab1I,e,';',:,·,",'i:,:::}/ individual, free to view life (including that of the Jewish people) of providing for its own existence. As strangers in thela ~;I~'f;l~¢~~:;\;:i:tJ;';:j;i;,,;!',~ from a unified and unique point of view. But, on the other hand, he dispersion, the Jews were condemned to be: parasites" di viewed himself also as an archetype and representative of his entire upon the good wi II of their host nations. Because of this , generation, speaking in its name, sharing its experiences and world Jewish nation was not free, even minimally ,"to deter,mihe"Jt~>,.·.:vvqY/i ...."}i,i::>,:,'.;:/,;:;i. outlook. life and pattern of culture. Because the J,ews could~~t' d~!te.lnd;;':·.";':'::::: Brenner explained this polarity as anslng out of the cnsls ef1dured by Jewish youth in recent generations. He knew this crisis, themselves physically against the pogroms, it was not:s.u~·lr~~p:~r~i::~" :~l.t:;g~;~i;/":".'~l:'i".':;~:::, these should be visited upon them regularly .~ut; in of course, from his own experience: as a youth, he was uprooted Zionist contemporaries, h~ didnof bel,ieve in panac::eas, frorTl,the land of his birth, cut off from the life of his community his poisoned arrows at tho'se who misled their peopletobehc'.ve,'.III,.",,··, and 'forced to create anew life for himself. His alien status forced such panaceas might exist. Panaceas, said Brenner,notonly .. \;!t;,u\,I,{;;U'i.',., .... ,j!':"::' him to make his own individual choice, but he also perceived in it an the patient, but also diverted him ,from the essentialtCl,~:k: historical imperative concerning all the Jewish masses of his time. remedy for his illness by himself. ." . ',' . Although there is a superficial similarity between the crisis Of all the evils harassing the Jewish pebple, Brerlner:""~,,.:.,., ... ;':''-11;':::,:::1 •.• ,/./·':,:, experienced by Brenner and the characters in his fiction, and those self-deception as the greatest and most harmful. ,In'bot!:! ~"1"niiip~·'~rij~;;:<:;!/i, depicted,by other Hebrew writers of his time, or in the personal essays, Brenner directed his most bitter critici~maIQaiin.s:tf,'L1the!::: <:/) ,accounts 'of his contemporaries, there are profound differences 'inclination among .Jews to flight fromreality and deri·'H:H><6f·,:Ytfle them. Unlike most of his contemporaries, Brenner refused tragedy of general-human and specific-Jewish existence. " regardpersonalalienation from the community or tradition, solely basis of his repeated attack against·the concept A?!, le·i?(;t;l::C)Sel~:;:;:,!;. 'a,tragedy. He also saw it as. an opportunity for moral and People." "All the'nationalist phrases"-:-hewrote ino (;,(i.(,"'i,lioe!OICJQlcal liberation from the past. Such alienation was a necessary. -llabout 'long martyrdom' or 'exalted prayer', andmE~:>llls:,e".cm'~;'l]t~r ·.\;\!)\iFi:;c()h(jitiion in the search for a new, free and i,ndependent spiritual life. me nothing but a tragic error; manifestations bf:,bl.oalt$(jc.~J~.ri(je both Brenner and his, "heroes" were forced to admit their' falsebood and delusion. A people in exile, th?t 1~;;':~.kiP~~~Hll~,··t~,~ to liberate themselves, from the consciousness characteristic master of its own setfand life •.. is ho 'longe, , . return to it, but because 'the ,pa'st compels If it were sincere; Breriner Claime~d that such talk '~has not led Brenner's thought on the traditions of :, ... ::,,::;"T.~the creation ofa new life."2 present had two major dimensions: " :I~ another essay, dedicated to M' dele Mocher Sefarim - the. everything in the light of the spiritual i'grandfather" of both modern Hebre and Yiddish literature - he the. attach ment to the past. as a foundation says:il'Mendele ... ignoresthe distinction between beauty and without which the new culture could notbe treated. morality. ~edoes not set aesthetic evaluation as ... opposed to He did not ·so much fear the traditions of ethical ,evaluation, but sees them as identical." Whether or not this is mistrusted their negative, restraining influence'·'on ' a' correct eValuation of Mendele's attitude, there can be no doubt in the present. It was immaterial to him 'whethOer ,that 'this formulation .is in the spirit of Brenner's own statement, sanctified tradition to the extent ~f subjugation' to it oht g.f·.,I'~iihE!~~:i·;'-:l'ii1'!'·;:!)'::·i~ ., ~iOU(owri ,weakness makes us ugly and unaesthetic." This essay on or out of an unwillingness to engage in the:spiritual: str.ticil~Je(}i!li'(:V' :{:;':!,'.,';':,;:i'; :! Memdele is particularly important, since here Brenner explains that self-commitment needed to create a new national 'his' harsh' criticism of Jewish life is meant mainly as a way of the nation which lacks renewed acts of~creation, ,discOvering the means to correct the defects he found in his people. existing only on the inertia carried forw'ard from ~nl'lor.. + The first· step, he· claimed, is to acknowledge who we are, to movement seeking to liberate such a nation muste~hibitcolural.qe'.:and;',;(:, .. ;:;: understand our true character, to admit the tragedy of our way of complete devotion. We want first to be living men . ;. ohras;esi:[i·ke;,.:;,'i:::ir•. :", .• ·.• existence. The logical conclusion is the necessity of changing 'the great Gontent' (of Ju:daism - MM). and 'the mE~taIDh'IISllcal.r:tE!e.d :ourselves. But how can we still be ourselves, while acknowledging wi II not regenerate ou r people. What we need is 'that we must cease to be what we are? The answer, said Brenner, human enlightenment ... Ifo . transcends logic: IIOur yearning for life tells us that everything is possibl,e ... ','3 As for the future, Brenner writes: In this manner, Bre'nner combined and wove together various people, true to ourselves,living among our peop.le:and lines of thought: a demand for IIself-evaluation," as a task of primary i magi ne a I ife for ou rselves outside the bounds of our IJV\JIJI'~::j~,.~:~r~~:::![~!;jr:;~:.iJJJ 'importance of Jewish literature and thought, a polemic against those must gather 'our strength to reform and improveour,Yl who engage in "national apOlogetics" and an enth usiastic create our own culture, maintain our own .language am:f: national life... ; All the' foundations' have bet9:rj,",:unlder( ,: ',' 'AMan Clingirig~" Life ' are sti II alive. Our I ife contai~s many worlds ;,~"lhiJ;dlff;~f:&'~t:;tWUI~!~:~\:~ , ic:jentity as such was ot a subject of. debate for and countless cambinations0ffbrces.... "8 ·"R.Ir"Qrln·c.r· Nor was it something given 0 logical proof. Both he and The truth ,of one's existence~ without ,,~:iri' ,n, ~'~, e.1 ij:sefs~:,iiW'(l~:~:;t"P . heroes 'of his stories, recognized their' natio~al id~ntity as an Brenner the primary lesson he never tired of·emphasi2,:'i.,r"~l/J~¢'l "',;i+'';O-:>,c,'j",,"oc ofthe past which ,do deserve 0 be preserved,for posterity? , ,,'Brenner himself gave some answers to these questions, but most Anna Ornstein's ofthese were given in the content of an individual protagonist struggling for the "truth, and could be shared only by those who accepted his view of the meaning of national belonging, i.e., of a TH E TATTOO '" pattnershipiri the great enterprise of national regeneration, without ;:ill~si6ns arid false hopes. This particular point of view is, of course, open to argument, My friends Anna and Paul Ornstein, natives irideed~to sharp and bitter debate. We might ask, though, whether it psychoanalysts in Cincinnati and on the faculty of the .' is an appropriate topic for debate, nowadays. Should not this point Cincinnati's Medical School. Both 'are survivors of the Holo,caust, 'of'view serve as the point of departure for pondering and planning for them, memories of the Holocaust are not to be , 'a'ppropriate courses of action in all areas of Israeli and Jewish society held onto - even as (it is strange to sayiO a source ofJife. 'In and culture? survival they have been able to find strength for themselves I believe that anyone who reads Brenner's views on this subject, their children, . and a deepening 'Of the quality of their lives. a.summary of which has been presented here, will have to concede no respect is this more pronounced than in that dimensiondf that, in many of their essentials, they are sti II val id today. As we have lives they call Jewish. The experience of the Jews' is a river/n. . noted; they do not constitute a systematic theory or "ideology," nor they are willing to swim. , did' Brenner intend them to comprise such a system. They may, Anna began some years ago to call on the past,. qn her ,O~lflJ~::"::::';-":;;;:I';{§:.Y:':i however, serve as stimulating and significant guideposts for our recollections, to render the Passover story, 'tqe Haggadah, 'generation. and future ones. From this point of view, we can personal, and th~ cycle of these four vivid narrations , . justiJiably speak Of the "I iving herita@" of Brenner's thought on the of the Ornstein's Passover observance - of thelr saying ~I/;::jrl)rii¥: );: :"';,i\!i;i':zfh nationaL question. hayyinu. FOOTNOTES '1.Y. H:Bren~er, Breakdown and Bereavement. Hillel Halkin, trans. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1971. 2. "Ih Life and in Literature," HaPoel Hatzair, Vol. II, 1911, pp. 60-61. Th is was our second stay in the de~th camp. The first time, [H.'i.IV""i'''.':':'i' 3. "Evaluating78. Ourselves in ThreeVolumes,"' Revivim, Vol. III, 1914, p. 64. two or three months earlier, we were in a differ~nt part of Letter/' Ha'Meorir, Vol. II, 1907, p. 25. in a more primitive unit. (A unit consisted of several arid Literature," Reshafim, Vol. II, 1910, pp. 54-55. separated from the next unit by electrified barbedwiresJ Literary Notebook:' Ha'Achdut, Vol. 11,1912, pp. 304-5. time around our barracks seemed freshly built; they ')Q()k~~~~ill;;1$!1;!t;;;;.,j/};;;.' ·"Biblio!:!raphlic Notes," Revivim, Vol. 11,1908, pp. 377-8. barns , with dirt floors and no cots." We sat on the dirt floor '~111 ,L,ife and Literature," HaPoel Hatzair, Vol. II, 1911, p. 65. leaning against each other, trying to find a comfortable heads and backs so we could fall asleep. During t~e outdoors, again sitting in the dirt. How was .i~when it' remember. The food, on this .first stay in cooked grass. We used the open latrines constantly. But now, on this second stay in Auschwitz~we more established ,unit of the camp. We slept in Th~ barracks wer.e . huge; there were probably more than a single lines in front of each girL Discipline. '. women in each. The fOOd~as much better this time. Every minimum. How else could I have' roamed about .to S~~tY,1~'8~[::W$:~~i~!fi'l;,:;{j:~{'~;,'}:}!/~.: ..... ' ...; •. i.;,:.-...... :r-'Jt-t-"' ..··n·..., ,I'\r"\ we got our bread which ad to last through the next day, girls did the neatest job of tattooing? B,utldid justt , . every morning, a warm, thin so. p. We also got some marmalade "my" girl. She was short, had dark 'hair and' with the bread once or twice a wee ,and on Sundays there was stew wanted my numbers to b~ small, well shaped and put made but of horse meat, which tasted kind of sweet but not at all my ar'm. I was seventeen and that day I prepared m'v.s~·tt:tor;'·2:[i;:te bad. It was under. these much improved circumstances that we were Most of the girls put the tattoos on sloppily: big . '. told.apQut being tattooed. distance from each other, not in a straight line and not . ··.It:was a brisk fall morning, chilly because it was still very early, but carelessly on the outside of the forearm. Wh'en.J , but we could tell it ~ould be a "good day"; dry and not too cold. girl, I told her that I had observed that she of a.1I the girls Early in the' morning - I believe during appel * - we were told th~t job of tattooing. This obviously pleased her and s:he revvarde,d;,nn~;t6r;·:.":;:;·i,/;;\1c of 1944. i particularly recall the days when the sun kept us warm as been pricked -on our arms (I don't recall the procedure <;IS '~ ... ';:~.j:' •. ''''''\:.''': we leaned against the outside wall of the barracks; we recalled were not correct and that they would have to be done mischief in our classrooms, how we had teased our good-natured disappointed. My original tattoo was B-71, "B"· .being a German professor; and we tried to remember the French songs we which was started with our unit. However, this was ",h~n"crl had learned just a year before. How come I don't remember the rainy were attached to the A unit and so my numberwasc!lariged or windy days?·This must have been September or early October and 8-71 to A-20071. To my great rei ief, the new rumbers which v ...... '-','.,.· .... I we had no coats (I believe we were permitted to take our blankets added were als9 small and neat. The tattoos gave us some. with us outside, but am not sure about this); we had no underwear, identity. I n camp, we had no names. We wen~ not '1~~~;:~i~W;~~i~!;:~'::i0:(ci'\',;!ij;,(,?l;~,.! no socks iri our ill-fitting shoes. anywhere with our names, birthplaces and ages. The 11 "': The day we 'received the tattoo 'was, I know, a particularly arms ~as our only distinction and we gave it add~d ,brllliahtcJay. It was some time mid-morning when we were taken to thinking that it would save us from extermination.' ano:ther part of the camp. We could see from th~ distance three or four tables standing in the middle of the road, with two uniformed On the whole, I am no longer c~nscious' 9fmV tatt06; girls sitting at each of the tables. They looked very pretty to me: apologetic when I realize that .it evokes unpleasant . they had hair, were not skinny. and dirty like us. Their navy blue frien~s. The tattoo reminds them of something they uniforms gave' them status and importance. I believe they had some forget. Wherever I perceive their glances on my arm, kind of emblem on the pockets of their uniforms. What could it indicate their discomfort, I would like to. "explain" my tatfo(j-:.to,·:;,,";: .. possibly have signified? As we learned later, the girls were not them. I would like to tell them that the day we received Gerr:nan, but Jewish girls, fellow inmates from Czechoslovakia. They was a good day for us; that we had received them as . a privileged class; well fed and well clothed. We formed long "passports" to life. People oftan ask me about my children's Te;act'idilS: y m',"""'O"',",t,h",e,was ,r,S" born a,r",e,',n""U,.m,',b, with, e,they ,re, d?,:",B, knewV"the,' thetim, elhest ry. knew,But I thisdo wasrepall not a anyth.in,gquestion , asked vvhen he was about six ears old: "Mother, are you sure you didn't do anything wrong whe they did this to you?" For a six . year old, the world has to be just; odness should be rewarded and BRURIAH Only bad people should be punished ... 0:, After the defeat of Bar Kochba .and the massacre of: +hi"'Y~lh,".i'C;",,:':i and the decrees of Rome that took Jerusalem trbm its oe()olle/i(,ltt€l,/':,i;: the death of Akiva in the public square or~ and beca.us~, thE~'IT;\ll'H'g'~/':i:)::\J{t\;!:;;ii; legendia of that ancient people was steeped in blessing of sexuality, in the holiness of seed, and the erotica of man and woman, Jerusalem was taken, like a setting, like a waiting bride whose thoughts are on the rr",'c"T£~"":>£, ·'n.:t,C:,"'·"":'~!:'i":::"::" consummation, was taken from the groom whovvas left with"'Ki(i"::":/,,,,,::)!,:t~,!S?:':« claim to the veiled vision, after all these things, after a confusion and blood, there lived in Sepphori~ a woman Bruriah, famous throughout the land for her wisdom. She' wife of Rabbi Meir, himself a man of stature and decisions were entered into the Talmud, and she wasth~ Rabbi Hanina ben Teradjon whom' Rome had' massacred wrtn'Ul',l9;!<:'::;ii':'.,;:;:!}y,;~i' others after Bar Kochba's defeat. Imposing in height and in manner and in lineage, +~n""I"\I'I"''' kol, a voice of the, daughter, goes forth fromMt. Sinai," :"[lleIPe()pI 1e:!'j,!,:;(':,' I i ked to quote, and whether they mentioned' Sruriah"s connection with this saying or not, everyone knew they rnl'l';:!n',,',.ntar:",',:,,",'''''', ",',' Of course, Bruriah was plainly human, a wife and mc)th~ti;wi1thi:i:,\;:i.\;>; bad and happy memories. Two memories in particular the sight of her father's burnt body and the as babies. Always she carried with hera ferocious aplpe1:it~!if~)r\Jtheji:hi ••· ••• ';'.":C:; safety, for the. sight of them, their hands, their legs; thE~i(lW~1t!fii5:cti.~~ from Torah. "The prophet ha~ said it shall' com;e to:paiss,;;tb~lt;'I',>w th.··~'. f .. a..i.n, .. car.r.ied a.n.' u. n.a.. ppeasab},.. appetite fO. r th,eir welfare and pour out my spirit upon all fl.~sh, and your sons presence, no matter where he was. Her passion for their shall prophecy." . . . .. ··· ...·,"""·.seemed to be fed by her 10 e and passion for the world, and "But," asked Yitzahq, a brilliant young sC,holar, . fears for the world fed her passi n for her children. in woman, love of learning is as strong as loveof r6v'e?~' She lived by co-extensions, not only with them but with They disputed the issue in various dimen'sions: aU .Ii,"ii''''':;''.:. ..v.::'''+~; :e\ieryt~ingelse that lived. It seemed as if the ocean had infused her was infused with the erotic impulse, for how e.lse veins with sa!'t and spray and dark formed fishes, so that her nerves generations, but all living matter was not iikewise i~+,".,.;,..,.;.J vv'i~hl?'t~~~:'::\i,W:',i}.•••• ;,,/,!"? ,ahd intuitions were over-stimulated: She could watch an ant intellectual impulse, for clearly ants did not its intelligence and piqued by its failures and "entranced~y he~ pronounce laws. Therefore, the erqtic impulse; • respons,iveness was razor sharp, giving back to the world a continuous original, was primitive. The intellectual impulse di$appointment or lament. The truth was that study quieted her and could not depend upon communal or racial revolving world. H vilas the I ine drawn between order and disorder. It only its lonely self. It was concluded that the erotic ~as, 'along with children also a spiritual fecundity and a way of everywhere stronger than the intellectual 'impu Ise,for' it victory for a defeated people. Love of country with her was one with whole force of the world to draw upon, but as' to,"AI""""+~'"'' love of her own children and love of study, so that if she wa'iked stronger or weaker in woman than in man was difficult tosav. i, along the road and looked at the harassed landscape she could think Rabbi ben Ezra said that the two impulses were . Jn~;'i:! t,n·~'II'~;':,",):i::t:'.:',:,::::[I' liAs long as God gives children," and think it with the resoluteness of yoked in battle, for such a battle could only be an 'a modern woman. The thought for her was personal and social since it could not be said that the cosmos had an .. political and pious., for only those who have experienced death ca~ and, said Rabbi ben Ezra, "the Most High, biessed be know how all encompassing is the idea of birth. "Flowers" she would not choose the frail breast of manasa battlefield .w()uldsay if she saw her children standing on a hillside. "Pearl~," she unnatural struggle." Therefore, he concluded, there, was smne:fhii nCJ::'i;',f:t;'i1::):i,if" would think when they learned their letters. "The Lord bless thee wrong in the presentation of the argument. and keep thee,"', and, in fact, after that there was nothing more that c~uld be.said or wrung from the world and its future for their safety. . "But where else could the struggle take With BarKochba's defeat had come the qu ietus that follows shock. Yitzahq said. HW,e'arebetween ...the ages," Bruriah had said. "Time will start again Rabbi Eliezer said that since woman was made when'we are healed." she was inferior. He pointed out that itwas'"Adam . On~' day while her husband, Rabbi Meir, was in the synagogue, the animals, and not Eve. I ntellect originated with rT>",rn ..,,.,nr< V\",ltll~·'·!::'.'(·;:";' the subject of hi.s wife came up for conversation. Since it was woman could achieve some learning, she .was' , difficult tosay anything against her, the conversation was in praise of said, "Learning without discipline is an unguardeq . Rabbi,Meir was flattered. Bruriah alone, of all the women of ,~her an~ doubtful if woman born of a rib can be as disciplined as' her g'enerati,on, knew Torah. Rabbi Meir argued it this way: ,iBorn as she is . of man, she is of one spirit with him. Thus did the Lord 'bl'E!ssEd:lje·!'IHis;:,'·!<, IIWho taught her?" one asked. name forever and ever, show us that wo~i:m, taken f~om tnE~.:sl~clei "Sing! Take your harp in hand, hollow, strip~ed, With heavy fingers strike each chord upon the heavens Each finger Iike a mournful heart ... raise another last sbng . of the last European Jews." . " How shall I sing? How shall I endure? I am all alone, alone in the ruins - My wife and my two young ones - Oh!Horrorand anguish!l.~ So begins The Song of the Murqered, Jewish People by the poet Yitzhak Katznelson (1885-1944). "How How does one draw up this bill of reckon.ing, the. aCC:dUllt millions of murdered souls? How does one testify fora ,,..,hr'\I£~"':;';~+i~~··'::'··.·· :"'::i··'r1i..'·:i.i.,i,:;i!;·i,i'i•. ::: that was dragged to the slaughter? Katznelson, .who· n',", .. ",han' Auschwitz in 1944, took the task of testimony upon himself., The Song of the Murdered Jewish People is an epi'c fifteen chapters, yet it defies the categories' of both epic aop~!qetP)l';'.'.:::~i:;;;;~i';ij{:i The verse is frequently arrhythmic and disjointed; the dead from the beginning; the Yiddish is idiomatic and ,..h ...... r,,',..,.· .. , ••• :.I-1... .' emotion; and the entire poem strives for sO.mething aesthetic experience. It demands a reckoning. There arE(e(:holes .. df;thE~:;i,i .. :':.··.:·;:·i>;.~\i;y);;, book of Lamentations, for instancetlie repetition of-the word Cl\II"n.'p.·,,·, ...... "."., .. wh ich begins three of Lamentations' five.:ch~pters~.Yet .'. "'+.'"...... + ... ·,...· •.. i· poem itself Katznelson explicitly rejects Biblical.predecessQrs: Ezekiel? Not him; Jeremiah ... No, he is also I cried out to them: Help me, give me a hand!· But no more will I want for them in my song~' 1:helastto Because they are one with their prophecy, but I am one with my great grief. (Song, 11-15) . The Song of the Murdered Jewish People is filled as as with grief. It is both eulogy and accusation. "'"-L_L1a1k:ZllJdfetfbi:ih0L' the famous II Antek" of the Warsaw Ghetto Katznelson: I.lHis voice was another, ·be said of Katznelson's~pem. It is an anomaly, an For a moment my heart trembles .. work of art. Moshe Shelshtein desc~ibed it as the (The star) appears s,tUI smaller to me out ofa vessel of accumula ed tears.3 It is the record of a Andit issmothered in the dark. sea poet whowitnessed the. Holocaust, . ho endured it in his own fle~h This my little star ... 7 ·,~and blood, and who shared the su ering of his people to the final The foreboding was all too prophetic. '. extremity. It is an act of desperation, a final cry of agony and found he could no 'Iongerwrite simple and charming ppe~rY;::,':!:I.?~. · outrag~~Katznelson seems to have written not for the attention of allusion to the midrash where G-d upbraids his people for'·:.rE~i'oiichi~ · th~ rest6ftheworld, but to placate the voices of murdered Jews: wh ile the Egyptians perished, Katznelson fears G-'d'~s re[lritnall.d:f;:;:'·:.\'·'L'r:: Millions of Jews stood around me and listened to the poet The Holy One, blessed be He, will enquire of.me: Millions of murdered ones - a great camp - they stood and Why this exaltation? My sons are drovvningat sea, . 'inclined their ears. (Song, 11-1) And you presume to sing! Why this song?\ . For Katznelson, as well as for such contemporary writers as Wiesel Adumbrating The Song of the Murdered Jewish People, · andKa-tzetnik, the dead demand a mouthpiece. continues: ... Because my people love to sing. /.they sing, Yitzhak Katznelson was a school teacher from his early youth Even as they die .. , We sing ... 9 • . in Russia. He was also a poet and playwright, although of a lesser Here began Katznelson's self-assumed mission. It took hinrfrom magnitude than the literary giants of h is day - Perets, Frishman, Warsaw Ghetto, where he fought in the uprising; to the Bialik and Brenner. His contemporaries included Shazar, Shimoni, detention cJmp in F rance, where he kept ajournaF and r.OITlnOSf~a;, . and Yaakov Cohen. Katznelson wrote his poems, plays and stories in The Song of the Murdered Jewish People; and finally Hebrew; only after his experience in the Warsaw Ghetto did he take where he died with his last remaining son. to writing in Yiddish.4 He was an ardent Zionist and visited Palestine The poet who brought to the little children oflsraelsomethir;g from twice, in 1924 and 1934. By all accounts he was a radiant man who the blue of the sky, from the perfume of flowers, whobrOl:Jght a. little happiness to the heart ... this is the poet who' in the delighted his friends·- especially the children he taught - with accompanied-his people in the bloody days of annihilation; the . spontaneous poems and songs. He wrote a series of school textbooks who destiny summoned to be sh'liakhtzibbur to this generation, on Hebrew language and I iterature as well as many lyrical poems a people carried off to slaughter.! 0 . . '00 .. published in two collections: Dimdumim (Twilight) in 1909, and a That a joyous man such as Yitzhak Katznelson shOUld hP/"nrne rrlle'·:"·:···::" . thre.e-Volurrie anthology. published in Lodz in 1938. Aaron Zeitl in poet of 6,000,000 murders is one of the cr~el .·.:··i' .. i'.":""::i:::,\i.'.::.'· ..• de~cribed Katznelson's early poetry as II original, though Holocaust. The irony was not lost on Katznelson s unintegrated" and fond of "playful rhymes." Many of Katznelson's his last poem, his final accusation of earth and heaven .::.- poemssee\m childl ike; inf~c~ S. Evan-Shoshan sta~e~ that the great~st It is one thing to limn the life of the,~po.et a.ndthe part of Katznelsol1's creativity was devoted to wntlng poems, stones work. It is more difficult, even arduous, to ente( t~e 6 and· plays for, children. Katznelson often set his poems to Each word demands an accounting from,· the: s:(::'()r1scl~\~g~E·:(/<)::).;·~;,!~,,0:;:11::!: improvised melodies, never singing the same tune twice. Yet even in Katznelson's lament for the dead. Jews includes the 1~09 there was foreboding in his poetry, for instance these lines their murderers and the indictment of everybody' and eVE~rvthinq,thi;tt::ij:{2:: from Dimdumim: was silent. Even inanimate objects share complicity Between two great clouds Nothing is passive or neutral. , Between two black giants. The earth is deaf and dumb like a dosed eye One star. dances But you, heavens, your eyes are not clqsed A ray ofl ight dances ... You saw, you watched from.abbve,and you were ~01tPierSIe,9;~?::>{;:'iji:5; you were not angered .. , Your cheap blue was not darkeneq; itglowed, always. ; . (Song, IX-l,2) Oh, not only us ... the walls! The}allS of every house the remnant of his life as a kind: of disgrace: and outside every silent stone ' And I ... how will I lamen1;.my misery" ,'," Like us they knew. Who, oh who u ered and moaned to them? The misfortune that I am still alive ... (Song, 11-11 ), (Song, VII-4) The survivor's gu ilt persists throughout the poem: 'If you knew, horses and wheels why am I yet alive? Repeatedly the reader is struckby 'Tr:iI::>,.;:!I::-fl"I· J , :,1o,~here you are travelling and where you are carrying the poet's pain and despair. 'These lines are typiCal: , '~ou would neigh wildly and rear up backward on your feet Hanhele, tonight I will be with you '''ACrid extend your front hooves like human hands And never again will I leave the house at night,~ :'.~(Song,' And clasp them in desperation before the alien world ... Inevitably we are compelled to ask ourselves:"Why" (Song; 111-13,14) alive? Why did we not suffer?", Furthermore The poet insists on seeing a soul, a conscience in every object that Katznelson himself did not survive either. witnessed, the calamity. Nothing was neutral because the neutrality becomes doubly uncomfortable for us .. , 'of the onl()oker perm itted the murderer to do his work. In his Katznelson knew that his poem\Nas dQomed to fail "powerful Vittel Diary, broken off in order to complete The Song of task, that he could never transmit an experience that the' Murdered Jewish People, Katznelson sees behind the guise of defied expression. Excerpts from h is diary reflect th~ difficu.lty:, neutrality: ! have not the strength for this task and Sure enough, the nations did not interfere, nor did they protest, nor it ... Whenever I begin to approach the subject, shake their heads, nor did they warn the murderers, never a murmur. lose my reason ... It was as if the leaders of the nations were afraid the killings might stop. I I I cannot write. It is impossible to describe these horrors that exceed In his poem Katznelson forces the reader to abandon neutrality anything in the history of mankind. There do not exist the wordst~" I4 and distance. He attempts to locate the reader at the angle of vision, describe them; they have not yet been crt'ated. . , in ,d,irect sight of the suffering. Zuckerman called The Song of the The Holocaust, even one generation . after, 'recedes' Murdered 'Jewish People a poetic witness to documentary truth. For understanding, let alone the ability of art to imjtate it. , his generation, "There wi" be no expression more trustworthy than truer was th is for Katznelson, who stood inside the this."12 ' When he wrote The Song of the Murdered Jewish People in \', ·;+'+:nFr;;,..;:;:':: ;'A primary characteristic of the poem is that it is deeply and 1943-44, he bel ieved he was writing about all the'" Jews, ,th:at '"',','" "".":".,:,,,":',,' , lovingly rooted in' a world that is irretrievably lost. The Germans time Hitler was fin ished every single Jew woul.d be 'annihilate,d. murdered hot only the Jews; they murdered a world, a way of life. Jews will no longer die! There are no Jews left to die! Andn~ IS Katznelson's anguish is heightened by this realization: will be born, for there are no Jews left to give them birth. Don't ask what happened to Kasrilevka, to Yehupetz, Katznelson was more alone than we can e~er know; so Don't look for Tevye, for Menachem Mendl, for Shlomo Naggid wrote his poem not for Jews who would read it later.~ -and Mottke Thief. be none left - but for those who were already gone . . ~. They arein Bialik's songs and in the pages of The Song of the Murdered Jewish People is hardly an cv~::>m'lnro,,":i':':,,:::,:;;! Sholern Aleichem and a SholemAsch book. , of poetic genius, and we would be wrong t()'judge The voice of Torah will no longer be heard from the Yeshivah ... The rabbis and the teachers, the gaonim and the scholars, standards. Greater poets, such as Bialik, and , They are all murdered, they are no more!I 3 more eloquent in their premonitions" ()f disaster ~ Much, of the poem is addressed to Katznelson's wife and two idea of its enormity. They did not see the Warsaw IC"::,':")"i';'i",i<::\:',:;'\f:pUn!le:;il sons who were carried off to Treblinka while he was at their families carried off to the ovens, the anlnilhiLa!iI9P'<9·r~;:)Ji.~~'~;;·:':f,!!!t{ 1,,\:::ii./:,/"?)<:iL;M!ork,;:in a ghetto, factory., Katznelson is tortured by his own survival, Eu ropean Jewry. All of th is was endured by normal circu'mstances a poet can refine· n",,"TreJIP fate that has forced himto outlive his beloved family. He sees pleasing, but KatznelSO~had no such luxury. He could out. In each ()f the fifteen chapters of The Song of the Jewish People there are lin s that nearly run off the page. ~rr'~T"ll"\n'points punctuate virt Ilyevery stanza. Katznelson knew there was notime to writecare ully, but even he did not know 'how little was left to him. Zeitlin wrote that the poem was "not 4. Katznelson preferred to write in Hebrew. According to, his f'nnnn",n'j",n' Inh::tne,N1.ars,a, : written <;lccordingto any rules," but that is the point: lithe technical Ghetto, Yitzhak Zuckerman, Katznelson de,liberately chos~ 'hel plessness is part of its strength." 16 Katznelson's curses, h is bitter of cultural solidarity, a symbolic gesture of affection for the witnessing. He returned to Hebrew in his Vittel Diary because '.. sarcasm- "Happyare you Jews! Happy are you!" - these are alien language of hope, of the future. Palestine, he felt~ could be'the 'to' his previous poetry, his personality, and his almost childlike refuge. optimism. They reveal the extent of his desperation. 5. Aaron Zeitlin, "Isaac Katznelson," in Joseph Leftwich, ed.~ An Anthd'log.Y!?fi,.~~~:~:~t.ij.,'(;:,;,)i::,:::;:i:;i,>,';'.', Yiddish Literature (The Hague: Mouton,1974), p. 127. It is interesting to compare Yitzhak Katznelson to his 6. Shlomo Evan-Shoshan, YitzhakKatznelson: m'konen hashoah contemporary Emmanuel Ringelblum, the historian of the Warsaw Hahinuch v/hatarbut, 1973), p_ 14. ' " ' 7. Yitzhak katznelson, Dimdumim (Wars~w, Hotzet Tushfa, Bibliot~kah G'do'l~h, Ghetto. Both men appointed themselves to make a record. Both 58. ' wrote under the most dire circumstances of deprivation and tragedy. 8. Yitzhak Katznelson, Vittel Diary, second ed., trans. from Neither was, in a position to concern himself with perfectly lucid intro. (israel: Beit Lohamei Hagetaot, 1972)/ p. 15. 9. Ibid. expression. Both wrote believing that the Jews were to be completely 10. Zuckerman, op. cit. annihilated. Both perished when their lives might easily have been 11, Katznelson, Vitte! Diarv, p. 204. 12. Zuckerman, op. cit., p. 5. saved. Both left their testimonies in the desperate hope that at least a 13. Cited in Joseph Leftwich, ed., The Golden Peacock fragment of the story would be told. Finally, both of their 1961)/ p. 515. 14. KJtznelson, Vitte! Diarv, pp. 29, 35 resp. manuscripts were bur.ied during the war, and against all odds, 15. Cited in Joseph Leftwich, Golden Peacock, op. cit. unearthed afterward. The similarities are in fact not so uncanny, 16. Zeitlin, op. cit., p. 131. I, since there were other writers like them; but few were so fortunate to have ,their manuscripts preserved. As Israel Knox suggested, perhaps a modern book of Lamentations will evolve hallowing and cOll1rJl.~morating the catastrophe that destroyed East European 'Jewry~.SureIY Ringelblum and Katznelson will be two of its authors. , , We may recall the story of one of the ten Jewish martyrs put to d~athbythe, Romans. The Jew was wrapped in a Torah scroll and set ,aflame. The burning letters' of the Torah flew up to heaven. I n the same way, perhaps the words of The Song of the Murdered Jewish People !:lave also ascended, as have the smoke and ashes they , ',·sanctify. Come"out all of you from inside Treblinka, frcrn Auschwitz, fromSobibor, all From Belzec come, from Ponary, and from all the others ... Open eyed, with a frozen cry, wailing without a voice .. . Come out all the congregation in a circle around me .. . I ,will see my people, my people that was murdered .. . And then I will sing .. '. (Song, I~ 13, 14, 15) .the Hebrew by BemharjFrankl THE. CHAUFF:E FISHERMEN I knock on the door tentatively. It immediately he shakes my hand. My father alvvays it's his way of holding onto m~. ' ,', All day long the rain would not desist "Hello, Richard." He looks ,at my fac~. "You look good.'; from repeating its gray fables. "Thanks." I walk into the apartment. Sunlight naS''f.lool7]ec:l:tnle;: AU day long the wind would not desist kitchen and living room. The plants on the windowsill an<~ on.~.tn.e'>;" kitchen table and on the living room floor are blooming: from leafing through them. and crowded. My mother takes .care of the plants. Now Yet in the Central Library kitchen stove, wiping the top nonchalantly. Like my f~th~r'Clhb:'ih'!:Ic' a southern climate prevails, been waiting for me, though I know she's pretending an "Aren't you dressed yet?" and to 'i ts fishermen sitting "I just have to put my dress on," she informsini'e. at the river's edge take a minute. You don't have to rush back, do you? a poem speaks: had the whole afternoon," "Yes, of course. I just thought you wanted to . can't say the word. We are going to look at .a cemetery,,~ l(jv'ehr,Q:r:eell"i{'.<";,,?):!:! In their hands glitters their catch - rolling place where the ,dead are buried wh~n they die. while over head, My father wants to say something, In a pream:ble he I l,nlt1t<:>;::,:!",:,;,';'C:',i'i;;"""'\''-:''': cloud after cloud is devoured. cigarette, although the doctors have. warned him "Not another one!" my mother exclcHms.lsee·· ~ . " ~ resentment at all the wrong~ done her surface and sink her down. "You know the doctor told you t6 "I know. I've cut down. I can't have everything "You have lots of things to enjoy." " "I know, Rose. Lots of things." I wait, as I think I have always waited, for the aUiatn3,1::itha1 ends because the beginning has been lost. Whenever ICQr:Tle'td{:Yts,tt them, they woo me, each withre,cord$ of revolving if) a cranky dream machine. II All right. I'll ge~ dressed." She moves into the bedroom. They havej four~room apartment '- one tell him heedlessly, ",it doesn't"mean you're ao'inaltcl'di,e~bVE~:rN'bQi(]V;; f()reach;. in my room are dolls, magazines, ;.·:./':tlearo~·Dm mother~ has a place to be buried .in i1 they. die.' rric.rr;4:lnT()PC:: clothing. she h. as b. eeni.n.t ndin. g to sew for years, and an ahead. If something happens, then it so har·d·:()ni;!'Iij]:()I;thE~t+i!~.:; of furniture she has n er.known how to reduce. My "Maybe you're right, Richard. All right,.but mother is ari attractive woman but heavy. The fat hangs from her minutes. We'll go in a little whlle.'~ He stands up . u·nhaturally. He is always asking me to tell himl support him. Is . Whehl was younger I wanted to talk with my father. i always str~mgel y si lent 7 "I '.11 j ustl ie down for 'a little wt:llle,,;.;::1-~ll'::i/rHm ended" Up talking with my mother. My father was off somewhere or Rosie 7" . . ..,. he was neniousand excited and often would sit in his room alone for "All right, all right! But don't sleep all. afterlioo~,. ··~~:8U8.~"·~:~!l:A!:;;:i;:i;I;,;:~;>j:i;?;/i,::;&,r: days. Sometimes he ran off. Even now his room is a cell - a bed with Richard came down special for this.' We mightn;ot be abl,et~ atinhea'dboard, a wooden chair, a paper bag for his spittle and an for weeks." ugly brass closet a~e all he possesses there. He says he doesn't want "Don't start something, Rosie. Why do more; he has always said he does not want more, if only people will someth i ng between R ichard a~d .. me 7" : st'optryirig to grab things from him. Perhaps that is why when we are together now we have very We are in the car now. My father is beside me,rTiV little to say. He says to me now in the living room as we wait - for sitting alone but contentedly in the backseat. It isa what each of us does not know - "Why don't you come visit more Volkswage~, it rides the highway gunning its motor +r-. .... "'h,oo".,·,·,tc'·,··.\I\{.p ·.often, Richard? You never stay very long." are a few minutes away' when my mother says, . man '. "I'm busy, Dad. You know how busy I am, at schoo!." temple will get your father a plot for onlv two hundred '.' "I know. But I'd like to talk with you. I don't feel wei!." just a few dollars for the land. Any other place would be "1 know." much." "Maybe I won't go today." "Let's not talk about it," my father says., "Butlcame down special to take you." "There's nothing wrong in talking about it. Is there, HI don't feel like going." doesn't mean that your father is going to die, \·(]rb'NirIQ up has been like being an arbiter of their union. "Dad," I "All. ri.ght, Dad. If you want to." ·'~That'sw~at I want, Richard." "Cremation." . . Intheoffice, one of th.ose deani efficient places,' a secretary "Th at's what want. Crematiori~ . ·nFP~lrs. me and checks through the fll for my father's name. It Isn't un d e rsta n d . " . .• . .. :ii~! J.:;.:/:;;:t,;. :c)~,,; ~:~s~:~:;~e Hebrew by Bernhar,Frankl II MaybeN otPe', ._ .. -, ...... , .. ,~ .•• :, 'J But It Works" Refl~cti,ons· On the Harmfulness From the Secclrtd cr·· ...... m",·'''''·:·''.'' of Smoking Contemporary stereotype has it that Chicago:is trn!~,:,·~;'Selcdt)i¢ City." Aithough natives here don't like to talk :,'a b9!Yt\.it><,(:l1tJer:',:{J;~·;~j:)}!;$;;: fourteen months of living ofle block west ·of windy. ~a ..ke:MiGHiigal~;.(·l?'~,j;::!U:;,:·';}'·: can attest to hav~ found some truth -cfnd much falsehood··.:.::.:.:;.f,c\':'tlh::l1';:'.::':'''.: • Rainy morning. Don't get up. Don't even smoke. phrase. Don't read too much; Isn't it a queer spring! Take the so-called Jewish counter-cultureforexa~p,,,,,,;,,,,,,,,,,, ...... , Isn't it i.queer spring. Darkness in the morning as though ... New York after two years' involvement with RESPONSE, thef:N\Ies1[,i;',:: Don't read too much. Isn't it a cloudy spring! Side Minyan, and various havurah social actionprojectsiti,.or(jer:tb'~;;;;";:·i'i:.:.:;:~:'tN a) follow a man; and b) begin my doctoral studies ,in the University of Ch icago. With "a" and lib" accompli Once you were a complainer. Did it help? did it bring back to meet what I consider the third qualification forJewistl your dead? active commitment to a creative and rneaningfu'l )udaisrni'r'l:",~,r~~ni'¢~'.:?~!hi:i\GJ?,:i'·;if What pain in the flesh, in ·the poem, in the papers, in the (The fourth qualification involves. frequenting good Song of Songs. restau rants - somethi ng that is extremely hard to'acc(~me!!~?,;;,i;:m~'ft]~t'\5,'i';::'~,::i cattle country, U.S.A.) . , Limits to wisdom? :Maybe. Just as well we learned meanwhile Let me share some of my initial observat!.ons. :.;i!~ ~lthotiglh'(:591"'{~/3 ~otto wake th: neighbors, not to trouble friends. progressive activism does exist among. the approximate Jews in Chicagoland,it appears that very few activists: Rainy morning. Don't get up. The night passed peacefully. heard of the alternative Jewish ventures thathaveheen att:e"B':lpteq:qri\( 'Thenight passed. And now - isn't it a cloudy spring. the East Coast. RESPONSE, I'm sorry. t.osay.,has .ba, subscribers in the Chicago area. (O~e recJnt re,ader told' ...... ,: ,,,~'··"Th<>T. l\;lorning like night. All right. Only the stillness strangles. RESPONSE conveys the kind of snobbish' disdairitn.at ....·.,,:: .•. '.. L ... "",V,L'.... L.. , . Isn't'it an oppressive spring! I told you: Don't smoke. elites have for the working proletariat. Guess Who's wh()l· ll)J;!tE)~rsei magazines like Moment,. Midstream, andCommenr:ilTV: ;.al.SO;::i"'li3Je badly. Yugentruf, Davka, and Networkarevirtual'~n';l Good 'point. These Jewish activists are a far cry from stupid ',' country bumpkins. Just look at their record so far. They're tired of always being considered the underdogs. Living in the only city " between'thetwo, coasts w,ith more than 100,000 Jewish population, ',Chicagoans understand that their role in progressive Jewish leadership is not an insignificant one. To whom else should the Jews ,:' ()fOshkosh, Wisconsin; Peoria, Illinois; Mineapolis, Minnesota; or St. •• \~ouis, Missouri look for their regional "Yerushalayim?" Chicago is , '''' the,.packbone ofmiddle~America.What happens here (and how) may ;:ii,,!;,:,,:"-':-:',>":;LJt::' ':,:'cl',moreaccurate measure of our society than the distorted ',' pressio~ uphel,d by residents of the larger coastal cities. New York :'/"':i:>'::':":i::y"""I::;;v',v.;;:",:.have as much, to learn about American Jewish life as do ':':':<':::"":':"""'i':"":.,,:~ goans. As more and more Jews,leave the Northeast to swell the BOOK REVIEW NEGATING TH·ED·IA· On being a Jewish poet: . 'The __ ..•.• _.'''''. our !;test friends·report truest Jewish poetry will be written ;"::i'for ... ·.·..general press~ But When out of the inward preoccupations of Letters to an American Jewish Friend, by ",·,tIt~.write· th~critical ques· on people who happen to be Jews." M. 'i,tiQns"QfJewishsurvivaland the Publication Society of America. 246. pages~ $7.5J), ::~utu~shape ~ of Judaism they' L. Rosenthal . ." ~ . ;~tefor Present Tense, pub· On the Persian Gulf arms race: lishedby ,the American Jewish . 'The ramifications of what is hap· The assertiveness with which the claims of the D,'"e; ISP'O(cl:JtlClVE ¢6m!Di~tee. . . pening ... extend from the Caspian been brought forward recently. should be, undp.r~tn()ii.,,",~~:·i>;~"i Ineyery i.ssue there is news Sea to the Suez Canal and from the about JeWish life-written from African Coast to Pakistan." Tad phenomenon of reaction. The doctrine of . IINegat. ~be he':n:t~nd the spirit~found Szulc . Diaspora" (Sh'l ilat ha-Golah), as it wasformulatedby ".,,la:rZ;KIn;:.·cWOI':"'.i'.":,::;!i,'. . ~owhere else in the world. Here i~ a 'sample of the knowledge $10 On Israel's Arab intellectuals: "1 disseminated by Ben Gu rion, he.ld that because of assfniHat.: .... ",.,.. :.. ,.., .. ,... ,... ,..... ' am an Israeli but I cannot be.a Jew." ,'iI year buys: Naomi Shepherd. anti-semitism the existence of the Jewish People in thebia~p,pri!i y,y ..., ... , .... , .. ).,.,.,,',!"., On.American.J.ews: "For the first untenable and that when a Jewish state wou Id be' create'd', ti'fnein American history. American On American foreign policy: Jews feel secure enough in their "American companies. which for existence would no longer be either necessary ordesirabl~: './\ I··+I-','~"~'.e" ... """""""", Jewishness and it! their Americanism to challenge so long we have cons'ldered 'our companies. have in persistence of substantial settlement outside of Israel in the poststai.ite major aspects of this country's foreign policy." Stephen fact become the policing agents of the Arabs' boycott Isaacs: against the U.S." Paul Dickson period, the Diaspora ca.me to be viewed chiefly as a resou:I, .... t;·, .• "u, •.. 'On Soviet Jews: "The historic turning·point was the On South Africa: 'To live witn such a system of laws. Israel's survival: a source of financial support, political lev tr,ial in 1970 of eleven foolish. naive young people who with certificates of racial purity, with leaders who potential immigration, but not as a source of anything nonrTl .. h~ped to steal a small airplane and fly to freedom in admired Hitler. to live in South Africa as a Jew and to be Scandinavia." Murray SeegeL silent and happy takes some special skills." Rose Moss. It is hardly surprising, then, that in the case of.· America, . On searching for roots in Eastern Europe: . 'Where Diaspora that prospered in a liberal society and managedtopr'(\t:~J'i/"';P""::"";"::'><; was my mother's home? Where was the path she must Present Tense: 1 Year: S 10 some spiritual and intellectual fruits of its own, thelsra~I'polI". ~",'r,.,-:.. """:"·"·":'.' hd.V.L: w.dlked to the'Narew River she had told me about) ------1 PRlSlNT H_NSl I Wh~re was the SVr1i'100nliP negation shou'ld provoke a spirited and at timesdefiant'de'rf~:rI.sei:",Q;f~":',-· .. ,;··,;:"i,; 165 la,t 56th Street "cVo 'rorh "') 10022 I I I the integrity and independence of the Diaspora 'and the rerlai~;~~I?;;~~:'.::-(I'i}"ii,ii.;it;i Name ______.___ _ of Jewish life which is supposedly taking place within it. This rlo·F6k.6o,· Addre,,> ______has been made virtually with impunity. In the' confusion' (,t\ ______post-Ben Gurion era there has not been sufficient ':id' interest' in .Judaica among young Stdtt: ______z,p· ____ .eblo~uCcIIJ.::;i;;.)i:i;::-'.X;;'· An'ieriicalns: "The young people perceived themselves certainty in Israel for a counter-challenge; in presentihg hefselft..c~.:'., ..tIlE~::::·:,) .. ;'!;r of the fciiluresof Jewish education and the :'l Payment enclosed (Ibm tnlltJed 10 an v;tra '~Suot FREE!) values ·of .America.:· Sylvia Rothchild. ::':2 years (8 issues) $18 01 year (4 issues) $10 world Jewish community, Israel has . repeatedly st~~ssed" [J Bill me later Charge my 0 American Express 0 Master Charge attractiveness of Jewish life in Israel rather th~m .the unteA~bHity ... ,.::.. :,:":::.;.:;.,.,,,,.! .... ,.: IImedcanup.... I I I I I I I I I I I Nature Reserves: ,"It may be that General elsewhere. .. . .p"': ...... '.:':·;':'-[cI!,':Ac,··,:!,';·.·:,:.',c.i: ar:limals will "somehow lead the people of the /'I\asterChar~: I I I I I I I II I I F·.":'·f'I\id(jlet:a~st to peace one day. But the tanks were in the The ca~ ital importance of Hillel Hal kin's recent bbok'.Let.l'{diFtbt,:i:jEl r:!~.\friOl;lnt(lins waiting. The real beast. in the desert was still Signature· C'redit Card Expiration Date lies in its restoring to the scene a.·'Jv.Or::~tP'Y.;::;'i Spero. . an American Jewish Friend polemical adversary. Halkin's book warrants our PRESENT TENSE because he contributes new substance to the_ thea The Magazine of World Jewish Affairs ha-Golah. He stays close to classical Zionist argumenf .·Ir' 1<'Cl~)sel~tlnIQ/:. that for objective historical reasons Jewish lifeinthe>qi!~s,,82)~~JJ,I~:~ doomed and is possible in the fut~re only' inlsr~l(:H"and:i·.~::T~:!9i~~~~ir2'E~~''';; - ,'."'., " fbr a Jew who is cornmitted t1.hiS Jewishness to desire to live future. The linchpin is North; Anieiica's 6 mif.ITon;>,Je~~f.sS::~!;),C>W:;.,\jth: '. in. ·ls.r.. a.e.L H.alkin. 'S.bOO.kiS im.·. po~t.,nt, ,rather,' bec~use he ~uts the number, about a third are',. fringe' Jews who ,.. , 'Y'U,","":L "U', in a new way . As an Amen an (he settled In Israel In 1970 participation ,in Jewish community or identity;,of't.h.',e:4,·h)iJiilorl: , " . .' it.·The 'works OfMarX~FreUd'Einstein, Levi-Strauss, The crux in this formulation are:Halkin'sspeGJaJ li'dtJpfl!i:/6:frcluJ*It:(te' .' and others are indeed great ntributions by Jews but ones and secularization. Secularization doeS nof c.o. ni.r.ibute no. thin.g Je.wish.~ Hal in .admits that intellectual. life normalization in which the cultural treasures , Israel leaves much to be desired ut he sees no advantage In a jettisoned like so much excess baggage.A.uthentic'.Sl ~F~::!~';ni~~1tip:;~ ·.sltuation where Jews pour their creative energies into a stream which means,that traditional. values, in 'Order tosutll;ve, . is. nottheirown . allowed to be dependent on supernatural"God-centeredl:lT'le~II:lIn,lg~ .' Halkin hits hardest at the religious life of American Jews. The Nations like France and England :have manag~qaUthl~nttcC1~IlV'·::!t( dlsmis~albfCbnservatism and Reform for being tepid imitations of securarize rich traditional religious cultures. But' wh~reas ,t·h.~,j:;;~:HI~~E~:.:)ii.,:,.·\!ci;i:U'.·'/':>:.·.'{: 'Western manners isfami.liar to us from other quarters. More had centuries in which to accomplish a gradual transf6rmati,d'ri·}';JE~W!~3":~')f':i.}"\;ij\;;:I;i;!!t;~ interesting is the attack on Havurah and Jewish Catalog Judaism have had to grab hold of reins of modernity almost . (though the terms are not used), which constitutes what might be consequently stand in jeopardy of losing the pastaltogeth~L caHeda purist . critique from .an apostate position. Raised as an The only conserving, reconciling agencies that have:' ...· I ,;..~ ..·.~,;.;.,;,:~.;.::",;;;·.i ...• ·.•. ,.·.· :",':C::'):: Orthodox Jew, Hal'kin avers that he knows what real religion is; it to give birth to new life while preserving the resonance': of th . ~'means.believingin the personal God of Jewish history, who gave the are, according to Halkin, a shared historicar language. anda sn;:!I-P-C1i,t,.:·':"'.:::: ,'':,,,.J':: "•. :; Torah at Sinai, who requires performance of daily commandments, historical homeland: lashon ha-kodesh anderez ha-kodesh.: ·I..... ~;; .. ".!':"t'.,.·.:., .. " . and who is tbe object of our praise and petition in prayer. Once real continuous four-thousand-year history of Hebrew means th"ath b~lief is nblonger possible (which became the case for him and he the resources- to coin the most outrageous neologisms "vvhile;',:cISi.cl;:;:;"; ':;;;",1': claims is the case for modern society in general), it is tempting but conserving. medium, preventing accumulated associations "corrupt to use the authentic forms of Judaism as receptacles for alien disappearing. The Land of Israel, beyond its obvious role as a, ~',r ...... -~ .• , "religious experiences" that celebrate self and group rather than of historical rootedness, restores the real dimension of space, God. The chief inspirati·on for this new kind of religious practice is - is essential to the development of any, full, integral·national.cultur~:::!>,+i:'?:'i)i~:i2:;: directly and indirectly - the counterculture, in which Halkin sees a Although Halkin readily admits that little authentically~ec~ :.' .' .. Classic embodiment of the kind of paganism which periodically Jewish culture ,has been produced in Israel as yet, it i.sonly therii·::·!('·:'!i":~.><\:.:,:,!.;«/;,: 'i, , . ,impinges upon Judaism. claims, that it can be developed at at!. The great structural fault of the Diaspora, according to Halkin, Halkin's conception of culture is much broade~th~1n the,\J\,;:!v.\,rI1P:}:')-: is,its~utter dependence on religion in an age when the bedrock of use the term, especially in speaking of DiaspotaJewish c~lture.,!/; '. ·beliefhCls long since crumbled. Without religion, Diaspora Judaism it comes to high culture - universities, journals, poetry~',pai~:tir.,:,,'aI'l~!:i:,:i!!:);{.:i .has no institutions or' resources of its own. It becomes ethnic theater, symphonies, etc. - Israel has' almost too much fo:r;her .. ' ,·' •.. ii.:.",.",.. ,;..,.", .'. America with the ethnic dimension fast becoming a caricature of good. (Israel is not New York or Paris, certainly; bu~ judgedin,f·13f.'nis:i}C.·· .. ···,", itself.· The. passing. curiosities of the Zeitgeist may prop up the of Jewish- Hebrew content, I.srael must be said vastly to, o·.'V.·,E,~,r. ShC1ldo\N"/ii',;,::.·· structure' temporarily ~ ethnic particularism, Eastern religions, arts the jewish cultural products of Boston,Los Angel~s, New"Y, or\(:':;:";":!"!"i,' arid craft~ ~ but they only push DiasporaJudaism into increasingly not to mention Paris.) But the cultural possibilities Halkindi ... over-extended postures of compromise and syncretism. do not reside in high culture alone; they are infinitely ·rr'lriil+iP~!;":Y:'.;ii The only' way out, according to Halkin, is the direction polymorphous: nothing less than the totality of behavjot$;"S vimbblls: by' classical Zionism: I'through the secularization of and attitudes that defines the life of a society as a'",. Ihe,lEt' >'~ ..ttiis,:the Jewish .... culture in' such a way that it will remain ambience of each ordinary day: it is how apeop-Jerises t.·ic>.go't:.O;)N(j,t~ ':ri.... n·.. i.fi,":>hh, Jewish in all its aspects while at the same time serving as in the morning; it is the clothing that it wears andtheJ'.0: ciq iJ;ldQcU<$i,:i.: 1;'::;:\ North'~ ,. America" ,.it is clear that assimilation and persecution will seriously reduce Jewish population in the next fifty years and It is very difficult to judge Halkin's presentation of the ~v.;;n"""""""':"""' •.:>,:·::,'i •. !\: i.mpoverishJewish communities to the point that it would be farcical throes of religion in the American Jewish comunity plaYe~f'v:I,.I'.L::"'Y"'!··:i.":i"~": to speak of them as sources of "Diaspora creativity." (The very against the authentic secu lari.zation possible in Israel, the TI"\ ... n"lC...... • ~,.r· •. I,.,.,.,.:.,.,. .'.' .... ,;" ..... ,'" theoretical concept of Diaspora creativity has to be rethought if it yet fully dead and the latter not yet fully born.. ~alkin's p applies - and then not undisputedly - to the one exceptional may be trenchant or they may. be the fulminations ofaposi .' .. _.,. .. ".. ' ...... ".::".'.," Diaspora, America.) , mind which can't imagine some of the more sub.tle nee.ds·()f."LI'I!V"":':·:"':'·""i~"" That there are onlV 4 million "real" Jews in America and that human spirit. At present American Judaism. has so many! ada'i ptaiti~~·~.·.~~)h·'~?,),.I':;!!j~'\:::}.,;" of these on.ly a small number belong to a hard core is not news but is arrangements, revivals and conversions that through the '.\r.'le,!1,1 :er .. ·it'·r:is:',.·.. i:,·;"~·:;::, a fact "sometimes forgotten in overenthusiastic discussions of the impossible to see in wh ich directionthe wholeenterpri,se . .' ' , ' ~ : ,space at the top of a large pyramid whose base is constantly being is not run. , washed into the sand. The critique of religion is one of the m()stsubv~rsiv~el.e.h'erits::\:'::' .. i' Th~ elite is also unstable. Anyone who has ever been involved in of Halkin's attack because religion is so intertwined ·inpArner·icald>:,"'}:;'T one of these phenomena has only to look back at a bunk at camp or Jewish institutions and in our self-conceptionasC;Jn Arne 1{;i:lrl,,~IJu,'l.!IJ;i.~.\:;;,r< a school class or the staff of a student project to see years later how With the partial and complex exception of N1ew Yor.k, rrany of these people can be said to still hold Judaism or Jewishness essentially a synagogue cu Iture. Even that other SUPoo~ied·:~x:d~I)~l.t~·M":,',,:;;,/;: the center of their lives. Halkin may be way off base in his dire to the rule, the cadres of Federation le~dership, seemsio:ut:::st::~~~"",~,CI':.>':, of "the failure of institutional life - for better or for deeper relationship to religious symbols. Because' I~',:j"):,j:i.. ,.:\.;'x\~""'orse institutions are the last togo - but his strictures cannot help ingrainedness of religion we might do 'well to' ,listen :\;'~'i\'?:r!~\;~joblering·usas to the true quantitative proportions of our enterprise. warnings. The hospitality of thesevel1ties to. religion, maIV:hlbedn:: The charge that a preoccupation with universal social justice as vocation of ·the Diaspora is a graft onto judaism is pro~ecting us from the larger momentum of unbelief and BOOK REVIEW Being as heavily invested~ we are in one stock" we might , great trouble when the crash co es. ' .', 'Structurally, Judaism may' at the center of Jewish The Arab-I'sraeli .institutions"but it is very difficult see how Jewishness permeates Could It Have Been' 11+'+~"""lPftl~'+,>~,> the lives of individual American Jews, even the Orthodox, in any c6mpre~ensive way. We may perform religious observances, go to The Arabs and Zionism Before World War , ,meetings~of Jewish organizations, and read Jewish books, but the real Uniyersity of California Press, 1977~ fabric of our lives is spun by the culture that surrounds us. If we are Germany, Turkey and Zionism; by ,really, permeated by anything, it is by television and movies, which Un iversity Press, 1977. sh~pl:! our subliminal life of myth and fantasy; by newspapers and magazines, which structure our cognitive universe; by the records and In searching the past for lessons, one often 'finds. th::l,t:,thj':\Ct:>i;,":,:.1,::C::,;C':~;,:':,n:', tOnes thatrepeat in our minds; by the lite of the cities we live in and events which, at first glance, seem most remote often: prove ,the countryside we escape to; by the food and restaurants we talk most usefu I. It is not surprising, then, that so many hI5:tolrJalns,ha 1Ile::·':":,:'i,.':;;':), ',about; and by the sports and games we play. returned to the earliest period of Zionism and ofth'e , The fact, is we love it, we love America. Far from feeling conflict, seekinq to discover whether things could have compromised, we delight at living at the vortex of Western culture - differently. " ' , ,high and low- and it would take ideological incentives of the most The answers provided by a number of recent studies powerful kind to make us give it up. Halkin beckons us to Israel to to detai I far beyond the interest of the general reader, respin, the wide fabric of culture within a Jewish society, to implications go much deeper than merely academic ones. proliferate the media and mores of life in a way which holds on to instance, Jewish' emigration from Europe to' Palestine the Jewish past. And most of us decline. Not, I would submit, been sped up before the rise of Hitler, many Holocaust .. :;.., ... : .... ~,;..','i,~,..;..;,:;,I.;.J"':"(::,:,;::,i,::,,>,,:::,,, ii::. because we ate committed to the emerging creative forms of have been saved. If the Arab-Israeli conflict was rlV(1Ulr1nle' .. lVTIOIZlle:::i. AmeriCan Judaism, but simply because despite our kicking and East - and wor.ld - history would have been drastically .... ,+,,. .. ,.,,,.,', ... :,',,,"''', ""',, complaining, we are in love with America. Moreover, contemporary propaganda clashes. often ,NOW this is 1)0 mean or worthless love, but unacknowledged as these questions. Arab writers repeatedly argue that Lijnni~rnl.INa~l;:ati the .force that kee(>s us in America, it can easily draw us into a web exploitative movement, forcing Arab peasalJts off the soH~ ~:n,-i""\I"'-:>C' ,of bad' fa.ith in our dealings with Israel and in our knowledge of sponsored by "imperialism." Jewish polemics often :.fhJ~~;fY.';::lt:,,:fr;:i;;j: ourselves. Alongside love there is also fear: we are afraid of having to were never any real or necessary conflicts, but that pnmi:hi:: \1I1~~C::·;I:.i:!,·:. '. Jive, onle~s, of being stuck in a small country and losing our mobility, stirred up by the British and by self-seekin:g Arab demalqOlqUE~S, , of s~rving in the army or of living with men or giving birth to Neville Mandel, in a meticulously children. who rl)ight fight in wars. The opening argument of Letters resear<~hed , to an A"merican Jew;sh Friend; I have said, reasons that, because a study, The Arabs and Zionism Before VVorldWar widely accepted myths. First, Theodor Herzl, Jewish future is possible only in Israel, it is natural for a Jew ~he p;dPullan~e.I:\,aliid.!:;::/;!i?::', remarkable first diplomat of. Zionism, thought he was is committed to his Jewishness to desire to live in Israel. Halkin se.l~eral:,trrJi'es '.~:;>'i! on the verge of obtaining Palestine -oratleast na .. rY'IiC'C'inn',+r' .. ,',:.;.... :"'· .... :;·,"':::"::,,' in passing that the jurisdiction of h is syllogism falls only on settlement there - from the Ottoma,n Empire~whicn th,:lnr:iilpn:,it'::I:'}·;!: whose commitment to attaining a full Jewish life is .':.:i.,":.~:,.'('.'<. ,': •. j'in,;,,,,,r,rli,t-i,.....,,,,I Who among us can stand up and be so counted.? Between 1896 .and1904, Herzl made carrying out his "shuttle diplomacy" 'on the paying enormous bribes. to venal Turkish ofnciars, ';.+l-,::'.:'".... ,' .. Perhaps, Herzl believed,he would- be willing to trade . in. exchange .for Jewish jinanCial support to payoff created by the relative ignora"nce 0J;it~rp~1~~:~~';~.:~~~; .:.... :.\,':.;.:c.:'.,.:.'''''.....",..';•.• nT.n·''Ottoman debts. Of course lacking support'from wealthy settlers, the idea that greater 'sensitivity .--,or at '..... , the Zionist movement never h d the kind of money require,d Arab situation - by the Zionist leadership Vvou:ld ha"e,:;:avib.iOI:~d:, this deal. conflict is most questionable.2 Arabs did hot.op·'po:se,:,4:IPf1;1:sJ: , lVIa'ndel ·finds from a. study of Turkish archives that, as early as techniques or behavior, but Zionist aims. Arab leaders cL.a.. '~;'~K~i[NPft'):~~t:'ri;t:I~.'~~n(;iii',;:·::,;:I: ::;:i;':);;:::,~ 1882,t~e Ottoman rulers had decided to oppose Zionism. Barriers compatriots to emulate what the J~ws wefedoing~mdo wereJ9iddown against prospective Jewish immigrants (though these the dediCation and competence of Zionist leaders;3, 'could often be circumvented by bribery), becaus,e the Turks feared The Arab rationale for opposing Zionismwas:to'pro\le'iFl:fjio;i1t~'I,) the creation of another national problem. Already, the subject flexible but behind this lay a determination. that Pal.les1:jriE~I.,Miot peoples in the BalkanS had gained ind~pEmdence or were beginning become' a Jewish, or even bi-national, state. At thesame.t::i.i:rl.\'E.. ~.:::,:'I,t be:,:' .. :);;:ii:+j\:;:'/;'?i:i.;i'} active agitation for it; basic Arab arguments were laid down early in. the .1900s .• ah? "" To the Turks" Jews making aliya were enemy aliens, particularly changed relatively little since thl;m. Wheiherothe noii~Jewi:sh ·r.{'·~.s·.lde!nt~;':\i those from Russia, Turkey's main enemy. That the Czar was the of Palestine defined themselves as Moslems, Christians; Ott()rrlrln~·',·:,·\':'·.>:, .. :\ greatest oppressor of·Jews was irrelevant to them. Yet even this irony Syrians, Arabs or Palestinians they tended to beantl~Zionist~.· had its counterpart: even the most anti-Semitic governments had ;, some stake in protectin~ Jewish subjects in the Middle East - if not QuicklY7 though, Zionism became a rlleresymbol,apolitlca\.,.'·; :"'ii,';.:;,:c:;'·:-'ii at home....,. in order to maintain their own imperial privileges within football to be used against any opponent: Much as M~Ca .... , the Empire. America made politicians quake with the fear of being thoug :"':1'~':::':;;:;'<~.:>:":··.·:·"!:."' .. '.:·:::'.:;:,::: . Herzl's hopes of an early success were based, then, on a cruel on communism," Arab notables and parties had'to prove that::,:th'... €iv\'y:<:;:,;':,.:\! deception. Herzl wrote that if he had known of the earlier work of were not "soft on Zionism." A spiral of militancy b~gan w~ose 1l1~1 Russian Zionists, he would never have written The Jewish State. If he only began to desert it with President Sadat'striptoJ,eru·sal~m~.. ·? ',1,.':':.':;'.: .. ·.,'; ... ,. had known of the hopelessness of much of his efforts, one might As friction grew between the Arab elite, or rathersome s.: equally conclude, he would have become discouraged. In this sense, of it and the' "Young Turks," who overthrew the Sultan in1 ~~.In·'····'.· the false hopes were beneficial, helping to maintain and build the Zionism was injected into the fray. Thus, Arab nationafists,······ fragile nationalist movement until, in the crisis of World War I, its myth that the Young Tu rks, who moved toward ,a rriilit~nt nrlkTslh,,::': ·":.i::':>r~, r~al·ppportunity.ca~e. nationalist (and Turkifying) policy, were reaJly ,controlled n\/:.:.·,Ip\'rllc..·.,.",.,:." .. ,.... ,y.:, .. : and Freemasons.4 One of the ruling Young Turktriu[:nvinite, ,.. ·~ll1lf.::):::i;;".i;")::.;;":: The' main point of Mandel's book, though, was the early Bey, admitted in 1912, IIFor us Zionism is a question . . was more serious and jnte~se. Both sides sawZi""':':,rco':, ,.~IT1I."'r'rt"~,n"i':"""""""" re.:a.d.ab.. I .. e... , y.et. a.s. t. i9h.t as. any .Iai"y. er'sb. rief. Duri~g most of the community as possessing tremendousfinancial:a. '~r:'~~rir)rl under consideration, the pow rs each saw Zionism as a front resources. For the British, Jewish support wasirnpdH:.arii:jlqi~~'rl!l'Tdg!~; which theirenemiesskulke . Equally, none of them were America's entry into the war. For theGermans,its'eem.E!i:J::ljb~'$i~)J~.;:tp::r ...... , ... + .." .....·nrt· to offend Turkey, hence couraging it to align with their mobilize Jewish hatred .of their mutual enemy; . Ru ..·~.>~~".;.,;:",,:<::~~<~ ... ~ Zionism, hitherto reiatively·sco'rned, now had many,;s.lu' .·iitdr-~:::;';!:;;!:·:~'::}i·j:;:'Y· . Herzl was unintentionally the father of political non-alignment. The Zionist leadership had already learned the value .. oIta;cettaJl . I He> had,:desperately sought the sponsorship of one or more powers !...... •...... amount of coyness. In 1911, after the election of a' 1.II:i'tV'·",,'~I.U'IU~'L'·· i,for the movement and his successors continued his efforts. Up until Executive, their platform stressed that the aim, of ~he,mc)~~Irl1¢g~':@~!!~:i: 'the eve of: ,the First World War, they all failed. True, there had not to serve this or that power, but solely Jewish in+·o .. ,o.,-tco'A:ltli,ouan.', sometimes been sympathizers and sympathy. Even Kaiser Wilhelm individual Zionists took sides, the movement maneuvered ,..... ,.,' .. ,.,,,.', .... : .wrotein 1898,'~ln view of the gigantic power (very dangerous in a and Germans into bidding against each other. ';" .... ,." .. :.. :.':': .. :.::: ... ":".>",.;'::··.;{i':,.,',::::: . way) of .international Jewish capital, would jt not be an immense The British side of the story is better known~The'.''(.)tt~[)m'arl"::ii·'::';'::i::"{:1~:ii;:m, . achievement for Germany , if the world of the Hebrews looked to her Empire was, after all, a German' ally. Any actions by Arabs, J·t eVV!s.Qlr:::'b"I'!.: •...· •. (j::::Ui; with gratitude?"6 Turkish opposition was not, however, considered Armenians which wea.kened it would help the Alliedwar .. eff()r1:.:~):, ..··':\.',\:';,:';;(i:::': worth breaching, Further, the British were looking ahead to the post-war situat; London coul9 create an Arab empire -and a Jewish homeland';~."hi:rq:::t·;'j,,:.·/./:',""::~':.':C·! Before his death, discouraged at his failure to win more were friendly to Britain, French ambitions in the Middle East't;u'U,lcl.):\,\;!:.:" ••.... :.; universal Jewish. support, Herzl had written, JlWe shall have to sink be foiled. still lower ... to be even more insulted, spat upon, mocked, These factors, pl·us a pro-Zionist tradition in: . whipped, plundered and slain before we are ripe for this idea."? It Protestantism and the personal charm of Chaitn Weizr)lann,m . was a chilling - and' accurate - foretaste of the Holocaust which possible the Balfour Declaration. 8 Even as British" policy' QrGld'Ua.II,,,.'.:,i·i.;i!i·T,i,c: would,for a brief moment, force the world to accede to Jewish retreated from support for Zionism in the1920sand·1930~,." nationa1 yearnings and necessities. Balfour Declaration had proven to be the vital foundation that ---""·'~II.·,...... '..... ",.:"...... ,:., The events of 1948, however, must be seen as the second phase lead to a Jewish state . . of the developments of 30 years earlier. The problem of the Jewish caus~:(or causes) is that it could never offer much material benefit to Weizmann, of course, had neither b.illions of901larsrlor mill·.. ',,:,.!v'."' .. ,...... aFlyothergroup~r nation supporting it. This naturally excludes of men behind him. If, as Howard Morley Sachar has writteri,~B~\t;;;;~.t:,.:,.,;;,;,:;;;;'i;:'D:.c;;.ii\,;i . purely'FTloralrecompense, a stimulus to which diplomats are usually Prime Minister "Lloyd George and his associatescrediteq~hi immune~ Twice in modern history, nevertheless, such moments have more power than he had, it was not for 'him tod.isillusiOn .. 1«;;""·1·.··.·., .... : come. During World War I, Jewish/Zionist support gained great Nevertheless, Friedman brings out fully for "the ~irst' time ·.Tnt:>·· ....•. i'mportanc'e in t~e eyes of a" powers. The myth of Jewish influence willingness of the Germans t() come out with a' Bal,fouro'Dec I an:rtl ()n·· ,';)i' "'.o:>,.... , ...,ri with it a great fascination. After World War II, the claims of of their own. By the end of the war, bothGerm·ansan.dTur~(S:~l\ler:ei>:,·ii;/:!:::' Jews exercised such moral power as to help win the creation of frantically nego,tiating massive concessions to the Zion England had lost the war, then, the Jewi'shnationaiists VV.VUI...... ".'.:I' ... i v "'''.: .... ·, the e~rlier period, Friedman writes, lilt was the competition been in a good position. Part of this bargain was GertnCl11inten,reh.tl€lIr1!;:f belligerent powers to w.in the goodwill of world Jewry that to help save the Yishuv from total destruction at th~han(:Js./~Qt'.th€i;;> on the map." . Turks, a deed whose irony - in li.ght ofensuingh~ls:t'( ::>rV')~;;:ls<:,m()st Even, befon;~ the war began, the Young Turks and their impressive. . . {;'1\:!:,<';:';;C)Dt)Qsiticm instituted a period. of courting the Zionists, as Mandel liThe Arab:-Jewish conflict," concludes \I\Ialter t\c::lhn,ilVc:: The. competition between the. British and Germans, however, history of Zionism, "was inevitable, given the fact that wanted to· build m6r~ than a cultural center in .,",<::i;IO~·T""'O :; • Zionism is guilty 0 doubt of many sins of ,..ro..",,'''nI·C~Clr,n and omission in its po 'cy on the Arab question. But : .whichevervvayone looks. at it, t· conflict on immigration a~d settlement .. could not have been evaded since the basis for a a slenderree.d' co~prorn.ise did notexist;,'9 ~Wf{at was not at all inevitable, though, was that Zionism - " . which' had neither money, nor military power, nor even much I awaken political nu!sance value could triumph in the end. While to find myself swolleI1 acknowl'edging the tragedy of the Holocaust, which with it was so like a pod . Closely intertwined, the creation of Israel comes as close to a political invaded . miracle as the twentieth century has to offer. Suddenly the· hands of God' FOOTNOTES 1. Herzl's record of his efforts still makes for dramatic reading, The Diaries of Theodor sweep me up .Herzl (N.V.: Grosset & Dunlop) 1962. Amos Elon's recent biography, Herzl (N.V.: Holt Rinehart & Winston) 1975, though flawed, provides much insight into his character. The definitive introduction to Zionism remains Arthur Hertzberg's The Zionist Idea (N.Y.: one holds me surely Atheneum) 1973. the other 2. Aharon Cohen, Israel and the Arab World (N.Y.: Funk & Wagnalls) 1970. Ironically, the left-Wing Zionist argument - that Jews and Arabs should unite against the "real enemy" squeezes down '(defined as the British or upper-class Arab exploiters) - has long held hegemony in the the sheath of my body Jewish community. Only the Revisionists saw the conflict clearly as being between two nations, and they usually ,interpreted this to mean that no quarter should be given and that no compromise was possible. till a tiny green speck < 3. For example, the great Islamic reformer Rashid Rida in 1897. Neville Mandel, The Arabs pops out and Zionism Before World War I, (Berkeley: University of California Press) 1976, p. 45. The main Arab book to come out of the 1948 war drew similar conclusions. See and rolls away . Constantine Zurayk; The Meaning of the Disaster (Beirut: Khayat's) 1956. 4. Berr:Jard Lewis, The Making of Modern Turkey (N.Y.: Oxford) 1969, PP. 207-8; Elie K,e(:j0urie,Arabic Political Memoirs (London: Cass) 1974, pp. 243-262. as easy as a bead 5. Mandel,·op. cit., p. 145. slips ,6. Isaiah Friedman, Ger'fnany, Turkey and Zionism (N.Y.: Oxford) 1977, p. 66. from a broken string . 7./bid., p.1.16-17. ' 8; For the impact of British' Protestantism see Barbara Tuchman, Bible and Sword (N.Y.: . Minerva) 1956~ The best analysis of the Balfour Declaration's origins is Isaiah Friedman, a rmg The Question of Palestine 1914-1918 (N.Y.: Schocken) 1973. '9.\I\Ialter. Laqueur,A History of Zionism (N.Y.: Holt Rinehart & Winston) 1972, pp. from a sweaty finger' 594-96 .. Then the hand sets me down once more a slender reed swaying in the'breeze Copyright Patti Renner-Tana 1978 MONTAGE for AViv·a Pi,llar of. Salt, Pillar of Stone The dancers swing· you into the sky . Stripped. of taffeta, a sweet vanilla brid~: . In that first small apartment Threading the steps, we I appeared . Shower you with coins and almonds. in my nakedness I want to break the circle, Embrace your crystal waist, whirl He turned You away in vermilion petticoats, a pillar of salt But the groom dances wild and low, Crimson boots pounding the earth. /shame covered me Your body breaks into stillness, ., ,;',:, A slender girl, centering the whirlwi~d. Later 1 realized my awesome glory turned him to stone \';."".':]ICnrlVriinht Patti Rentler-Tana 1978 BOOK REVIEW TRANSPLANT '. ' forYehuda Amichai They used to bring' a bit of soil It's come. from the old country Amen. Blessed to the-new and amen. Beginning and .benediction. You talking, Or at burial telling the world a handful of sand in little psalms and sighs. from the desert of the Holy Land Map ~f the history to accompany the dead of mankind drawn out on the long journey like a thread between two loves. from diaspora to resurrection P..rophecy - Or now your arms without soil in the shape or sand ofa divining rod sperm from the inner courtyard making the blessing. . of Jerusalem This wine. . dispersed between the legs This good bread. of the exiled '.:0;. than'hello this holds. true for myse~J the cat rubsmy leg and i lo'ok at the window as though it was ,!'I ER UDA'S· 81 RTH DAY something as familiar as what "NEAR PET AH TI KV A i breathe, deep and hard, and every time' the backlit window from farther away diagrams a hex and across the sand to the next house where the insect light on ground flashes with small shadows COMMENTARY AND DEBATE the sands pick up in stately dance LETTERS TO THE ED curses sulk about the night with hammer blows and moths black To the Editor: cats hunch and hiss Marc Raphael's article, "Jewish· Philanthropy and on the roof Democracy," in your No. 34, concludes with both:.a Jd~liCCJlH{fIQnl';i~\'::i::\';:;i;;::::!i and twisty sequitur and a shocking I.ast sentence. . .. ' termites It is one matter to argue that AmeriCan Jewry , fall to toads better job of choosing the. beneficiaries. of beneath the boards self-taxation. It is quite another matter to conclude, in the city as Raphael does in the last sentence of his artJ,cle., thQt arab boys with radiant smiles money raised by American Jewry are not for just and chase each other and not for just and good causes chosen by Ip.Vlilrviii','i.··.· •• ::,;J?;i;:,;,,·;i.;t, into the coming day To attack the process of choice_ is fair game~' To at1tacl<"I~~heithienF\i', more people a choice has been made is arrant nonsense. .Can say mickey mouse or coca-cola J THE BUDDHIST FROM TH ECONVEl\llJO~ NEW JERSEY The poets and professors, with three reporters Resolved at a convention, Your Buddha-mind That art's aim is itself, and morals, Turned from Auschwitz Purpose, propaganda, are secondary. One artist, yearning for the pagan gods, To watch the moon. Dedared that he would read the Greek delights Christ! you said, In Greek, for they were near-divine. Can't you get over the Holocaust? Another leading poet said American Indians possessed the word, And he would use its magic meaning To elucidate the high experiential And all agreed, on top of this, That as the art of poetry is The essence of aesthetic height, The traits of certain poets would Be overlooked - the Muse's quirk~ - (the Pound of flesh it takes) - But no one said that he would learn The ancient Hebrew tongue To delve into its granite power, ' Though someone opted for Phoeniciari., J DIASPORA., EFFIGY toN ikki Stiller' to Elana 1. just rehearsing for your absence reaching for the heavy and familiar coin around my thickened neck : strange not having it I came g,ranting weight strange as having you to your examples of mysticism 'having to live our ourex'Ve . when I saw you jerusalem is written on the face burning the lake's surface I never chose (graceful effigy but choose to keep of someone strong and savaue) since you became its eyes ~ b informing all the seen or when I saw you 2. bending to the earth I taste the wind between my teeth though not in whi te embalmed in that same coat and more revealing than dream that shielded you the few days of our winter' I 'came drawing maps . .. ,')''', now lS conJunng of our dry gasp back's freckled taste to expose its brittle borders dark aromatic hair engulfing width small bones of wri~:ts 'I came sending you and then that gaze. down an inheritance which renders me so blessedly transparen!, . of waters . ., now IS conJunng everything I wished to say: I wished to say everything " . before this wind WaS w(::lgjht~up'on,;mlM,JtQrI~ taste bitter as brass . '" TO DO NO HAR~M STANDING 'UP IN THE SUBWAY Once I dreamed I owned a box, ", which a large dog tried to takcawayfrom ~:', snapping and pran<;:ing at it in~heaiL ,,' I,glanced into hIs blond, scraggly, high-school-tough face before In my dream I led the dog towards a fon~st '" and broke its jaws around a sapling tree~ . bending dow,n to take the book on Judaism out of my white canvas tote bag. To do no harm! Can this be possible for even one of us? 'The .book open in my hand, I watched him reading its cover, then I To do no harm! The breath blows out of us like bucks~ot watched him reading fo'r a moment the cover of my face, and then and re-enters like Charybdis, lwatched him look away. o blotting the world with our need; yet who asks forgiveness ',Arid even though the train must have been making its usual racket, all for being here? Who desires not to remain? t,~6uld.he~r was my own silence, a kind of pounding. How is it the generous contin:ents,'i and open-handed air give us . so little space? Why do we abuse at night the image of our fellow and assign to him tasks impossible, tasks our own, , as in fairy tales, with a t~011'sdamp ''''A.~~.~~,. Why do we trip the rapid rider's horse, drawing the skeins of our hope' ,over his once dean road? See howl solicit on these roads e.. aC... h... 0. f... YO.U to. .. a pur .·.n. tention, . somethIng glowmg~ind on you hands and .skulls which no one Gin take away. But I am l·mming the, light around me as surely as, at dusk, sea swallows sun " ',., and night stains up from the east. INTERRUPTION Oil my hands, taint is a friend to the wind; dogs follow me. Interruption of beads A knot in the necklace Gap between halves They can't slide across It defies them They can't slide at all No flow , ,.,1'," and the circl~ broken He said they were immensely rich and po.wc~r,tut:<:·.·•. ·;.;,"!': •. i\ "0 I already knew you were old, '. but I'~e come to und~rstan,~ you're a lot old~r. 3. MARRIAGE: The night of the grand concert c:ame arrd the . artistes had arrived. ", f:lt Rustles the Curtains, Everyone laughed. Making a Noise Like the Sea. She, witness, tried to reason: she wanted to be on good terms with them all, active and practical in the sac;.:red college,< and yet .• -: . l. . So she mused on the pitiful vision of her' mother's life: He remembered well, blushed, and smiled. He had sustained severe attempts to be reformed at some She began to pull the big bell's rope time or another. She gave bags of cakes away She listened to them all There's no use trying to think of others: She would have urged him to \he's held that out to him as her ideal - "open his nature to the ftill", "You must not think'I am an ordinary dancing-girl. 4. Henceforward, relegated to seclusions in a bottomless gorge, ", perhaps we could be happy together." He's not unsuspecting. "They pass through the mother to become again .. ~, She has grown thin again and, . . ·.win.c;ingand in.a forced tone, trusts him with anythmg. , That dull pain she complains of - . ,He, watching his servants heat up his soup: I don't like it. . "Life in the world is a big dream - If only that damned radio was working." I'm not going to spoil it by any labor or care." She approached and he heard her, his e*r cioo,keci. He hurriedly straightened up the table and grabbed 2.. ' '. f She was exasperated by his mugs of coffee at lve a book at random, in the morning, iaying it open face down as if he had been read,ing which he referred to as his reading, his looking out at and stopped, . . .' tHe sky and on the remote morning. having come to understand how she must have S~1[t~!~~2' ,~o to dieinher arms 'Of old age not one day or night of uncertainty." o· PATTI RENNER-TANA'has been publishediri The Nassau Review. MICHAEL ROSENBERG formerly an activist with thE~>E:al1:i.iT'Ilote:'!'i,/\"clsflTr:l! Union of Jewish Students made aliya to a kibbutz. 'He . ago to serve as the Director of the 'AmericanZionist Department, and plans to return to. Israel in anotheryear " ABBY ROSENTHAL's poems have appeared in The Chica'Qo· Rellie.I!1I;d'#c..itlcff~'ijtJ,~:,·§~ l Moon, : Stink tree, Gravida, Mo on dance,. Southern 'NOTESON CO'NTRIBUTORS Carolina Quarterly. . . . BARRY RUBIN, a Middle East historian, wrote American Media and co-edited A Documentary History of MI R lAM SAGAN's poems have appeared in MacJemoisiJlle, Ploughshares, and several l.ittle magazines. She is a teachihg · SHIFRA BRONZNICK has served Network as its Chairperson and Secretary Un iversity. . General. 'She now works for the Jewish Association for College Youth as an BOB SAlZ isa graduate stude'nt in Histo~y and'S06ial outreach profe'ssional at Columbia. University. Columbia University and the Assistant to the Editor of the . JACK FELDMAN won the "All Nation's Poetry Contest" for 1977. His work will attended the Network Convention as the delegate from soon appear in. Poetry Now and other small press periodicals. His collection of Youth. ' .• poems is entitled HlnWind and Bone." DAVID SHERVIN is working on a doctorate in English at ;the .UrJlvlers.itY···:Q"t.;:/i·, · ED FREEDMAN, a former Network Secretary General, has made aliyah and is Cincinnati. His new book, Camptown Spaces, is with Anti-Ocean Press, OI'l.\:J\'·'II'.I,;'.,.,':.:,. working as an!attorney in Tel Aviv. chapbook, The Stop Book, is due soon from Kongl.omerati. . . BARRY HOLTZ, a frequent RESPONSE contributor, spent 1977-8 in Israel and DAVID SHULMAN is finishing his B.A. at Empire State College·. He . has . returned to do research" for the Melton Institute at the Jewish Theological poetry writing at the Martin Steinberg Center and has. won a prize · Seminary of America. He has taught Hebrew school. Chinmoy Spiritual Poetry Contest. ROBE RT A GOULD's poems have appeared in Poetry Now, The New York Times, lUCY Y. STE IN ITZ is beginning her dissertat.ion. in geriatric s()cial' Wind, SunburY, and other publications. She edits Light, a poetry review featuring University of Chicago. She is a social worker for the Council for poetry in translation. This'fall Four Zoas Press will issue her first book. MARTIN TUCKER edits Confrontation and chairs the English nO'n"' ..... mon·1' ROBERTA KAlECHOFSKY received a Ph.D. in English from NYU in 1970. She Island University. has taught at the University of Connecticut, the School of General Studies at STEVE ZIPPER~TEIN, a graduate student in Russian Brooklyn College and at Salem State College. She helped establish Branching Out, a at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research iNhere heis Canadian magazine for women, and Micah Press. She is a contributing editor of Odessa Jewish community. He has served as editor of the lVIargins, A Review of Little Mags and Small Press Books, the treasurer of Service and chairperson of its governing board. · COSMEP/East (Committee of Small Magazines and Publishers), and chairs the ReadingCornmittee df the New England Small Press Association. Her publications include a (Ylonograph on George Orwell (Ungar, 1973); a novel, Justice, My Brothers; a novell.a, Stephen's Passion; and a number of short stories and articles. ROBERT KI RSCHNER lives in Cincinnati. · TERRY MAGADY chairs the Southern California Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, the Los .Argeles based affiliate of the national SSSJ. His article results from a S'Ummer research grant provided by Occidental College's political science departmerit. ,MATTI MEGED, noted Israeli writer, teaches literature at the University of Haifa. MINTZ. founded RESPONSE as a Columbia College undergraduate in 1966. teaches Hebrew literature at his alma mater . ... '," ...... ,..... ".... "...: .... ",' .... ' LHE ISNER, former editor of Davka, chairs the governing board of the Jewish Press Service. He is a freelance journalist living in los Angeles. ·BAGK;ISSUES RESPONSE 23 Moroccans in Israel; To Be A Jew in the Oiaspora; JeINIS;'l',uanCle:il[:Z Prayer; more. RESPONSE 26 R ESPONSE,;13 ISSUE OF THE ARTS. Kafka the Dreamer by William Our thjrg,:;rissue of ',the cuts., American Hebrew poetry; also fiction, poetry, on Literary Approaches to Torah; fiction by "Gerald Siegel, Photography and essays on Jewish arts,and literature; the first published section and Yossi Gamzu;, poetry by Barry Holtz, Zev Shanken, ,>.pf t~e Jewish Catalogue; more. Schaeffer, and others. ' ~ R'E5PONSE 14, RESPONSE 27 f!\, ~pecial,issue: In the Beginning, a" new English rendition of Genesis by Everett Ethel and Julius Rosenberg Revisited by Joel Rosenberg With an Aftl'>rwn:rrl,k\1:,:::i:,: , ,Fox, ,based, on the,' ;Buber- Rosenzweig translation of the Bible; with an Michael Meeropol; Jewish Learning by Jacob Neusner; 'poetr'f' 'introduction by Nahum Glatzer and an afterword by the translator. Fromberg Schaeffer, Mark Kaminsky; Sandra Brall')an; Bill Aron's.. phbtol'>Cc:~·v";:::i'::;':/:::;::'i;<,: more. , . RESPONSE 15 ',Symposium on Living in Two Cultures; with Alan Mintz, Leonard Fein, Cynthia RESPONSE 28 Ozick, David Roskies, Jacob Neusner and others. Also, an exchange on the Articles on Israel by Art Waskow and David Twersky; int-,"'r .. ;;~ ... Jewish student movement; Novak and Narva on Jewish priorities for the 1970's; Harrington; artiCles on the Jewish woman; more. more. RESPONSE 29 Have You Sold Out? A Symposium with Veterans of the ,RESPONSE ,16 Movement; An Interview with Shlomo Riskin· Teaching A tribute to Heschel; al,so ~obert Alter, Leonard Levin, Eugene Weiner, Norma Communal Democracy; poetry; fiction; more.' , , Rosen, Arthur Cohen, Commentary satire and more. RESPONSE 30-31 RESPONSE ,17 10th Anniversary Issue; Why I Don't Give to the UJA; , Our fourth issue of the arts. Education; The Havurah; Hebrew Calligraphy;, Project. Ezra; Kol RESPONSE 18 Moscow; Changing Federations; Yoga and Judaism; Kibbutz Gez:er;rilon~~ :,:>(ii.';;!;:i,:li:,\,,: >:i The Jewish Woman - ~nAnthology RESPONSE 32 'i RESPONSE 19 A Demurral on Breira by Alan Mintz; Irving Greenberg's , Willia"ro Novak and Ernst Pawel on Commentary; Alan Mintz and Nora Levin on Sex and the Tradition: Two Views; Art' Waskow's Shalom "Jewish Radicalism; Agnon's The Sign; more. Friedman, M.K. On Women and War; Buber and R Studies Aft~ College; The Jewish Press in RESPONSE 34 Mitchell Cohen on Ber Borochov; A. D. Gordon on the Arab UU~;:'.I:H"~II:,.I~.V\m Philanthropy and Communal Democracy; Class Struggle in of the Jews by Daniel Shevitz; Poetry by Joel ~f Jonah, A N,ew Translation by Everett Fox; Grief Takes A Holiday Neusner on why he givesto the Jewish federation; Sex and lorna Riskin; The Jewish Catalog - A Review; On Leaving the Havurah. Alan Mintz and his criti,cs on Breira; more. . . ~ IBETO RESPONSE ThankYou'F'or . .. 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