JEWISH $3.00 Frontier ZIONISM : a CENTURY of MIRACLES

JEWISH $3.00 Frontier ZIONISM : A CENTURY OF MIRACLES

MYSTERY: MISSING YEMENITE CHILDREN

1948 : I SHOT DOWN AN ARAB WARPLANE

THEOCRACY vs DEMOCRACY

ZIONIST CONGRESS ELECTIONS : Program and Slate

MODERN YIDDISH CULTURE (Review)

BIOGRAPHY: DAVID PINSKI

S I N C E 19 3 4 A LABOR ZIONIST JOURNAL

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2 JEWISH FRONTIER

The Banner of Labor Zionism

J we approach the opening of the 33rd World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem in December, the AmericanNs Labor Zionist movement and its broad circle of friends has mobilized to vote for a large Labor Zionist contingent (Slate #6) . See pages 8 and 9 for a statement of policies and a list of candi- dates. Eligible voters must see to it that the ballots are received by the Election Committee before September 30 . Cast your vote for #6 and mail promptly. Above poster - in Yiddish, then the prevalent language in Poale Zion ranks - celebrated the organization's 10th convention in Boston in 1916 . Photo courtesy of Sham (Gootman) Eden of Cincin- nati, who is compiling a history of the movement in that city . 0

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1997 3

JEWISH CONTENTSVol. LXIV, No.,,~(628) Frontier SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1997 SINCE 1934 The Banner of Labor Zionism 3

A LABOR ZIONIST JOURNAL Zionism 5 A CENTURY OF MIRACLES Misha Louvish Founders Hayim Greenberg Zionist Congress Elections 8 Marie Syrkin Israel 10 TAKING STOCK Susan Hattis Rolef Editorial Board THEOCRACY vs DEMOCRACY 13 Henry Feingold, Chairman Saadia Gelb Saul B . Cohen Hyman Faine Memoir 17 Jonathan J. Goldberg Emanuel S. Goldsmith STATE OF ISRAEL IS BORN! Max Alper Jerry Goodman Rabbi Mark W. Kiel Musings 19 Jeffry V. Mallow DROUGHT William Finn Daniel Mann Mordecai Newman Samuel Norich History 21 Michael S . Perry THE JEWISH BUND AND Mark Raider THE BOLSHEVIKS Harold Ticktin Eduardo Rauch Chava Reich Biography 25 Mordecai Shtrigler Ezra Spicehandler DAVID PINSKI David Rosenthal Phyllis Sutker David Twersky Books 28 MODERN YIDDISH CULTURE by EMANUEL S. GOLDSMITH Chava Reich Nahum Guttman Editor Poetry 29 TASHLIH Sanford Pinsker

In the Movement 31 NOTE TO SUBSCRIBERS If you plan to move, please notify Contributors 16 us six weeks in advance .

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JEWISH FRONTIER ZIONISM

A Century of Miracles By Misha Louvish

he history of Zionism is marked by a long the creation of a State for the Jewish people Tstring of processes and events which seem to and defined the methods for achieving the aim, be outside the normal development of human but his success in establishing an instrument affairs, and which we may, by a slight stretch for realizing it : the Zionist Organization, with of the meaning, call miracles . its Congress, president and executive, its "citi- The soil in which the Zionist idea took root zenship" - the shekel - and its parties : a was the miraculous survival of the Jewish peo- framework for a state in exile before there was ple as a distinct national entity over nearly two a territory. thousand years of dispersion and statelessness . Its identity was dominated by religious beliefs he next outstanding stage in the progress and observances, but no other religious commu- of Zionism was the success of one man, nity has displayed anything like the solidarity TChaim Weizmann, in negotiating with a great and sense of common destiny displayed by the power as the leader of a nation which did not Jews - characteristics which usually bind the yet exist and securing its support for the estab- citizens of a nation-state . lishment of the Jewish National Home. The In the nineteenth century there was the Balfour Declaration was the basis for the miracle of the Jewish cultural renaissance League of Nations' recognition of "the histori- known as the Haskalah . The scattered commu- cal connection of the Jewish people with Pales- nities produced two literatures : one in Yiddish tine and. . . the grounds for reconstituting their and one in Hebrew, with their novels and national home in that country," which was the short-stories, their essays and critical reviews. foundation for Britain's rule as the Mandatory This they did in one language which had been Power. a medium of conversation and folktales and in Side by side with the successful political another which had been used mainly for reli- efforts of the Diaspora-based Zionist Organiza- gious commentary and the interpretation of tion, there were the efforts of the pioneers in religious sources . That, too, is little short of a the homeland, who built the Yishuv, the Jew- miracle. ish community which was a state within the Influenced by the rise of European national- state, with its own national institutions, and ism, a number of Jewish writers began to advo- created a Jewish working class, with its power- cate the creation of a Jewish national home, ful labor federation, the Histadrut. which some of them coupled with the return to Not the least of the "miracles" that punctu- the ancestral homeland. Various groups began ated the history of the movement was the to promote this aim by settling in Palestine emergence of a charismatic leader, David Ben- and establishing settlements which would Gurion, whose far-sighted vision played a deci- form the nucleus of the future state . An orga- sive part in the development of the dominant nization, Hibbat Tziyon ("Love of Zion") was role of the labor movement in the Yishuv and set up to help them . the Zionist movement, the transition to state- The miracle of Herzl was not only the strik- hood, and the consolidation of the Jewish ing form in which he expressed the need for State.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1997 Perhaps the most important of the policy welfare state without powers of taxation and decisions for which Ben-Gurion, in cooperation coercion. with Weizmann, obtained the support of a Nor was it easy to arm and train the majority in the Yishuv and the Zionist move- Haganah, the nucleus of the Israel Defense ment was the recognition of the need to take Forces, under the eye of the British Mandatory into account the power and aspirations of the Government, so that when the trial came the Arab population of Palestine . small Yishuv could defend itself against the In the early years the strategy was to settle onslaught of the Palestinian Arabs and the the land, build up the Jewish economy, and surrounding Arab states . increase the Jewish population by aliyah until All these efforts were part of the implemen- the Jews were a majority and democratic insti- tation of Zionist aims . tutions could be established . In view of the vio- When independent Israel was established lent resistance of the Arabs and the British in 1948, the Jewish State itself became the refusal to realize the aims of the Mandate by major instrument for the realization of Zion- force, it turned out that this policy was not ism - it was the Israelis who had to build the practical. economy, develop social services and man the The proposal of the Peel Commission, in armed forces . Ben-Gurion went so far as to say 1937, for the creation of a Jewish State in part that only those who settled in Israel were enti- of Palestine led to a heated controversy, in tled to call themselves "Zionists" - Diaspora which Jabotinsky's Revisionist Movement Jews could be no more than "Friends of Israel ." denounced the idea as a surrender of the basic I don't believe there is any need, however, for principles of Zionism . It was the historic deci- such semantic exercises . sion of the Twentieth Zionist Congress, sup- American Jewry, it is true, is not entitled to ported by Weizmann and Ben-Gurion, to be proud of its record of aliyah: if one percent of accept the principle of partition, that made it the five million Jews in the United States set- possible, when the idea was ratified a decade tled in Israel every year, with a proportionate later by the United Nations, to establish the share of their assets, they could revolutionize State of Israel . the life of Israel in almost every field : economic, scientific, educational, social - and religious . his list of highlights may be misleading . But aliyah from a free, prosperous commu- Each outstanding achievement was made nity cannot be forced . We would like to see possible,T not only by the insight and vision of much more aliyah from America, but we the leaders but also by the patient labors of should draw such advantage as possible from thousands of "Palestinians" (the term was used American Jewry, with its wealth and political in those days to designate Jews who lived and power, and we should make whatever contri- worked in Palestine) and Zionists the world bution possible to its ties with the Jewish peo- over - as many readers of Frontier will recall ple and its traditions. from personal experience . I would make this proposal, however, to every American Jewish parent . Enable your eizmann, Ben-Gurion and their col- children, when they reach maturity, to take leagues had to sweat blood to get support advantage of one of the various schemes and forW their efforts (remember Weizmann's des- come to taste the life of Israel . Tell them that if perate cry: "Jewish people, where are you?"). they decide on aliyah you will back them to the Thousands of halutzim broke their backs in hilt, and if you have the means contribute to the effort to realize the watchword of "the con- the cost of aliyah for those who haven't - quest of labor" - which meant the self-con- there must be some poor Jews even in "die quest of students and shopkeepers in order to goldene medineh ." turn themselves into manual laborers . In a recent book, Professor Ze'ev Sternhel here is much talk about a "post-Zionist" era has criticized the labor leaders for giving pri- in Israel. The simplest refutation of the ority to the building of the nation over the real- ideaT is the ingathering of the Ethiopians, who ization of Socialism, but the Histadrut had no had been cut off from the main body of the easy task to establish health, education and Jewish people for centuries, and the influx of social services and lay the foundations for a 700,000 Jews from the former Soviet Union,

6 JEWISH FRONTIEF Perhaps the most important of the policy welfare state without powers of taxation and decisions for which Ben-Gurion, in cooperation coercion. with Weizmann, obtained the support of a Nor was it easy to arm and train the majority in the Yishuv and the Zionist move- Haganah, the nucleus of the Israel Defense ment was the recognition of the need to take Forces, under the eye of the British Mandatory into account the power and aspirations of the Government, so that when the trial came the Arab population of Palestine . small Yishuv could defend itself against the In the early years the strategy was to settle onslaught of the Palestinian Arabs and the the land, build up the Jewish economy, and surrounding Arab states . increase the Jewish population by aliyah until All these efforts were part of the implemen- the Jews were a majority and democratic insti- tation of Zionist aims . tutions could be established . In view of the vio- When independent Israel was established lent resistance of the Arabs and the British in 1948, the Jewish State itself became the refusal to realize the aims of the Mandate by major instrument for the realization of Zion- force, it turned out that this policy was not ism - it was the Israelis who had to build the practical. economy, develop social services and man the The proposal of the Peel Commission, in armed forces. Ben-Gurion went so far as to say 1937, for the creation of a Jewish State in part that only those who settled in Israel were enti- of Palestine led to a heated controversy, in tled to call themselves "Zionists" - Diaspora which Jabotinsky's Revisionist Movement Jews could be no more than "Friends of Israel ." denounced the idea as a surrender of the basic I don't believe there is any need, however, for principles of Zionism. It was the historic deci- such semantic exercises . sion of the Twentieth Zionist Congress, sup- American Jewry, it is true, is not entitled to ported by Weizmann and Ben-Gurion, to be proud of its record of aliyah: if one percent of accept the principle of partition, that made it the five million Jews in the United States set- possible, when the idea was ratified a decade tled in Israel every year, with a proportionate later by the United Nations, to establish the share of their assets, they could revolutionize State of Israel . the life of Israel in almost every field: economic, scientific, educational, social - and religious . his list of highlights may be misleading . But aliyah from a free, prosperous commu- Each outstanding achievement was made nity cannot be forced . We would like to see possible,T not only by the insight and vision of much more aliyah from America, but we the leaders but also by the patient labors of should draw such advantage as possible from thousands of "Palestinians" (the term was used American Jewry, with its wealth and political in those days to designate Jews who lived and power, and we should make whatever contri- worked in Palestine) and Zionists the world bution possible to its ties with the Jewish peo- over - as many readers of Frontier will recall ple and its traditions. from personal experience . I would make this proposal, however, to every American Jewish parent . Enable your eizmann, Ben-Gurion and their col- children, when they reach maturity, to take leagues had to sweat blood to get support advantage of one of the various schemes and Wfor their efforts (remember Weizmann's des- come to taste the life of Israel . Tell them that if perate cry: "Jewish people, where are you?"). they decide on aliyah you will back them to the Thousands of halutzim broke their backs in hilt, and if you have the means contribute to the effort to realize the watchword of "the con- the cost of aliyah for those who haven't - quest of labor" - which meant the self-con- there must be some poor Jews even in "die quest of students and shopkeepers in order to goldene medineh ." turn themselves into manual laborers . In a recent book, Professor Ze'ev Sternhel here is much talk about a "post-Zionist" era has criticized the labor leaders for giving pri- in Israel. The simplest refutation of the ority to the building of the nation over the real- ideaT is the ingathering of the Ethiopians, who ization of Socialism, but the Histadrut had no had been cut off from the main body of the easy task to establish health, education and Jewish people for centuries, and the influx of social services and lay the foundations for a 700,000 Jews from the former Soviet Union,

6 JEWISH FRONTIEF

who rediscovered their Jewishness and Israel is not only the place where Jewish returned to the ancestral homeland over forty potential can be most fully realized ; it is also years after the Proclamation of Independence the place where Jewish problems are most con- despite more than two generations of Commu- centrated and challenging. nist brainwashing. The ideals of Zionism will not be completely But that is not all. There is an inevitable dif- realized until Israel's right to exist and its per- ference between a movement striving to realize manent borders are recognized by the entire its aims and a nation that has basically imple- family of nations, including its Arab neighbors mented them. The 4% million Jews of Israel are and the Palestinians who are now under its realizing the aims of Zionism by being produc- rule . There are peaceful relations today with tive citizens, paying their taxes and playing Egypt and Jordan ; peace with Syria and the their part in the defense of their country, but Palestinians is an essential part of the aims of they are bound to want a better life for them- Zionism. selves and their families. They still have seri- Diaspora Jewry still has an important role ous responsibilities because the future of the to play in promoting the progress of Israel and country depends entirely on their efforts . defending its international interests through the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish ave all the ideals been realized? Far from Agency and such bodies as the American- it. The absorption of thousands of Jews Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and fromH the Muslim countries in moshavim and the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish "development towns" was a painful process . Organizations in the United States, but the They had to face drastic cultural and social responsibility for the completion of Zionist changes, the effects of which still exist . There aims by the achievement of peace rests on the is still a clash between the orthodox religious shoulders of the people of Israel through their establishment and the majority, who may be elected democratic institutions . El sympathetic with tradition but want to be free from the shackles of religious law.

fzorii M Wfl&?d~ W&2

lite. !9rjlm"ioft 01 Sandra Feldman, President • Tom Pappas, Secretary • Randi Weingarten, Treasurer • Mona Remain, Assistant Secretary • Phyllis Wallach, Assistant Treasurei11 VICE PREWENTs: Carmen Alvarez • Frank Carucci • Ronald C. Jones • Richard Miller • David Sherman • John Soldini

United Federation of Teachers* 260 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010

SEY1hMBER/OCTOBER 1997 7

Slate #6 Peace • Progress • Pluralism Slate #6 LABOR ZIONIST MOVEMENT Continuing the Tradition of David Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir

VOTE LABOR: NA'AMAT USA, LABOR ZIONIST ALLIANCE, HABONIM DROR

YOUR PROGRESSIVE LINK TO ISRAEL'S PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

merica's Labor Zionists are your living merica's Labor Zionist Movement urges linkA with Israel . youA to Vote Labor - to join our ongoing pro- Your Link gressive Jewish struggle . With Israel's Labor Party Labor Zionism is not a one-issue movement . With Na'amat, Israel's largest women's We're busy: organization *Advancing the Oslo Peace Process With the United Kibbutz Movement *Assuring Jewish Continuity With the Histradut, Israel's Labor Move- *Advocating Jewish Pluralism ment Fighting for social justice *With Israel's largest youth movement . . . In Israel and around the World

MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT # LABOR ZIONISTS HAVE CLOUT IN ISRAEL

"For you, for our children, and their children, we are moving toward peace ." "The Jewish heritage and Zionist dream were sus- tained through our people's unity and commitment Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin z'l to education. Our continuity into the next century will also depend on our commitment to education ." "When you vote for Labor, you will be empowering us to ensure a future based on the values which you Avraham Burg, Chair and I share." World Zionist Organization & Jewish Agency for Israel Former Prime Minister Shimon Peres "In Zionist politics, I am a Labor man ." "Ours is a vision of a society which upholds the principles of religious pluralism, social justice and Martin Peretz, Editor-in-Chief, The New democracy." Republic

Ehud Barak, Chair, Israel Labor Party

ONLY LABOR CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN

• Peace • Religious Pluralism • Jewish Continuity • Social Justice Vote for the Labor Zionist slate to the100th anniversary World Zionist Congress Na'amat USA Labor Zionist Alliance Friends of Labor Israel Habonim Dror

Vote Labor - Slate #6 Vote Labor-Slate #6 Vote Labor -Slate #6

8 JEWISH FRONTIER

Slate #6 Peace • Progress • Pluralism Slate #6 LABOR ZIONIST MOVEMENT Continuing the Tradition of David Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir

VOTE LABOR : NA'AMAT USA, LABOR ZIONIST ALLIANCE, HABONIM DROR

Harriet Green Morton Bahr Joyce D . Miller Prof. Allen Pollack Coral Gables, Fla. Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. New York, NY Dina Spector Frieda Leemon Phyllis Kaplan Jerry Goodman Philadelphia, Pa. Boca Raton, Fla. Woodsburgh, NY New York, NY _ Daniel Mann Anne Goldman Bernard Weisberg Avram B. Lyon Bethesda, Md. New York, NY LosAngeles, Ca. New York, NY Sylvia Lewis Judy Loebl Elliot Goldstein Marcella Kanfer Akron, Ohio Huntington Woods, Mich. Silver Spring, Md. New York, NY Prof. Henry Feingold Dr. Stanley Chyet Irene Hack Ellen Ginsburg New York, NY Van Nuys, Ca. Bronx, NY Woodland Hills, Ca. Bobi Klotz Mark Seal Marilyn Golden Elihu Davison New York, NY. New York, NY. Northbrook, Ill. Morristown, N.J. Martin Peretz Esther Zackler Prof. Mark Raider Bennett Lovett-Graff Cambridge, Mass. Chicago, Ill. Albany, NY Brooklyn, NY. Esther Lederman Louis Senensieb Harriett Bauman Muriel Morris New York, NY. North Hills, Ca. Chicago, Ill. Newton Highlds, Mass. Rosalie Grad Rabbi Reena Spicehandler Dena Greenberg Gerald Schwartz Evanston, Ill. Philadelphia, Pa. Southfield, Mich. Miami Beach, Fla. Ben Cohen Barnett Zumoff Hank Albert Irving Heller New York, NY. Brooklyn, NY Elkins Park, Pa. Bayside, NY Jay Mazur Joanna Weiss Bruce Temkin Honey Yellin New York, NY Rockville, Md. New York, NY Phoenix, Arizona Prof. Gerald Bubis Lynn Wax Thalia Faye Baruch Zaremsky Los Angeles, Ca. Morton Grove, Ill. Granada Hills, Ca. Cleveland Hghts, Ohio Gloria Elbling Adele Grubart Isaac Pulvermacher Tal Ourian Pittsburgh, Pa. New York, NY Brooklyn, NY Jericho, NY Jechil Dobekirer Debra Berger Jan Gurvitch Debbi Rosenberg New York, N Y. Chevy Chase, Md. Brooklyn, N Y. Highland Park, Ill. Ross Berkowitz Phyllis Sandground Steven Weinberg Ron Orenstein New York, N Y. West Hills, Ca. East Brunswick, NJ West Hills, Ca. Bruce Arbit Leon Goldwater Sandra Cohen Joanne Goldstein Milwaukee, Wis. Chicago, Ill . Defray Beach, Fla. Silver Spring, Md. Yona Goldberg Samuel Norich Sivan Hamburger Emma Raymont Bethesda, Md. Teaneck, N.J. Los Angeles, Ca. Brooklyn, NY Phyllis Sutker Kenneth Bob Michelle Levin Irving Wishnia Skokie, Ill. Plainview, NY Akron, Ohio Brooklyn, N.Y. Norman Naimark Irene Robinson Ruby Vogelfanger Morris Fisher Farmington Hills, Mich. Trumbull, Conn. New York, NY New York, NY Sidney Troy Seymour Saslow Estelle G. Balfour Dr. Sol Stein Lakewood, N.J. Brooklyn, NY. Rockville, Md. Miami Beach, Fla . Harriet M . Weiss Rabbi Daniel Polish Elyse Frymer Irving Kessler New York, NY Poughkeepsie, NY New York, NY Stamford, Conn. Carole Kessner Leon Wieseltier Anne Foss Nahum Guttman Upper Brookville, NY Washington, D.C. Bethesda, Md. New York, NY Rabbi Barry Tabachnikoff Sol Brandzel Rabbi Jack Riemer Dr. Ira Eisenstein Miami, Fla Chicago, Ill. Boca Raton, Fla. Silver Spring, Md. Vote Slate #6 Vote Slate #6 Vote Slate #6 Vote Slate #6

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1997 9 ISRAEL

TAKING STOCK By Susan Hattis Rolef

650 immigrant infants who are supposed to have disappeared between the years 1949 and very so often the fate of several hundred 1954. According to official records and reports YemeniteE and other new immigrant children, (where records do not exist), these children who allegedly disappeared in Israel in the suffered from malnutrition and various dis- i . It did years 1949-54, returns to haunt Israel eases, and were taken from transit camps so once again on August 13, when Israel TV (ma'abarot) for treatment in hospitals, where aired an amateur video tape showing several they died . However - so it was claimed - marked graves of Yemenite children, who had since their parents could not be located due to reportedly died in those years, being opened the prevalent bureaucratic chaos and the igno- and found to be empty. Two weeks later, the rance of the parents, and since in many cases story of a Yemenite family, which found its long the children's names were unknown, they were lost daughter who had been declared dead in buried anonymously. the early 50s, but had actually been adopted by In the late 1950s people started wondering a family in a kibbutz - once again brought the aloud whether all the children had actually issue to the forefront of the public's conscious- died. These doubts were based on the fact that ness. there were known cases of children who had The video tape of the empty graves was pre- recovered in hospital and were then handed pared by the followers of Uzi Meshulam - the over for adoption, after their parents could not controversial leader of a fanatical sect, who is be located, as apparently happened in the case currently doing time on charges of breach of of the family whose story recently hit the head- the peace and violence. Meshulam is one of lines. The issue became public in 1966, when those who have tried to make political hay of parents who had been informed that their chil- the affair, accusing the predominantly Ashke- dren had died, started receiving mobilization nazi establishment of being "Ashke-Nazis" and orders for them from the IDF as their 18th "Erev Rav" (riffraff, or "mixed multitude" in birthdays approached . the language of the Bible), and of having sold to rich American Jews or made medical exper- private investigation was opened by some iments on as many as 4,500 Yemenite children, of the parents, and in 1967 an administra- who he claims were kidnapped from their par- tiveA examination committee - the Hahalut- ents . Meshulam's claims should, of course, be Minkovsky Committee - was officially ap- taken with a grain of salt . However, there is pointed to investigate the issue. This commit- nevertheless a rather unpleasant mystery in- tee examined the cases of 342 missing chil- volved, which ought to be uncovered and cleared dren, of whom 307 were Yemenites . The com- up once and for all - first and foremost for the mittee managed to find records (some of which sake of the parents of the lost children, but might have been bogus) concerning 320 of also for Israel's sake, as a democratic society, them, of whom it was determined that 316 had willing and able to contend with the truth, died. The fate of 22 remained a mystery. A sec- unpleasant as it may be . ond administrative committee - the Shalgi The Yemenite children affair relates to about Committee - was appointed by then-Prime

10 JEWISH FRONTI: Minister Yitzhak Shamir in 1988 to continue a modern, democratic pluralistic state . Fanat- the investigation . This committee, which re- ics of one sort or another exist today in most ported its findings in 1994, examined the cases Western societies today, and are a problem of 609 children (including the 342 examined by which the law and order authorities are the previous committee), 90 of whom it was un- equipped to deal with . What is much more wor- able to trace. The Shalgi Committee concluded rying is that the same bitterness and resent- that it could find no evidence of criminal acts ment, which gave rise to the phenomenon of around the disappearance of these children, or Uzi Meshulam, have also enabled the emer- of illegal adoptions, though it did find that the gence of Shas, which is anything but a fringe authorities had frequently acted condescend- movement. While Meshulam's movement may ingly toward certain groups of immigrants, be defined as a violent and fanatical sect, Shas particularly those who had arrived from Mos- is a perfectly respectable Sephardi haredi lem countries. movement and political party, whose rhetoric Neither the parents nor other representa- is relatively mild and whose ways are those of tives of the Yemenite community (including pleasantness. the current Internal Security Minister Avigdor What adds to Shas's moderate and unthreat- Kahalani) were satisfied with the findings of ening demeanor is the fact that its spiritual this committee, and in January 1995 a Na- leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yossef, who might be an tional Commission of Inquiry, headed by re- extremist in some of his halachic rulings re- tired Supreme Court Justice Yehuda Cohen, garding personal conduct, is a political dove, was appointed to deal with the issue . Two and who believes that human lives are more impor- a half years later, after gathering new evidence tant than land and stones . His reputation as - which inter alia revealed that some of the an advocate of a peaceful solution to the Mid- children whose names appeared on the lists dle East conflict is so wide-spread, that Arab had died in Yemen and had never reached emissaries seek interviews with him. With the Israel, and that there had apparently been help of funds it has received from the State, cases of parents who took home the wrong chil- Shas has developed strong education and so- dren from hospital, the Commission is still no- cial welfare systems, by means of which it is where near concluding its work, and it is still managing to reach ever-growing sections of the difficult to tell whether the truth will finally be weaker parts of the Sephardi community in fully uncovered . Israel, frequently saving children from delin- In the meantime the police must cope with quency and life on the fringe of society. Uzi Meshulam's followers, who are becoming And yet, as an ultra-religious movement and increasingly involved in grievous acts of incite- party, which emerged and developed against ment, sabotage and violence, and an insolent the background of the failure of both the Ash- refusal to accept the authority of the state kenazi secular establishment and the Ashke- institutions. nazi Haredi establishment to successfully ab- sorb the Sephardi Jews, which rejects as deca- he phenomenon of Uzi Meshulam (who dent and objectionable most of what today's claims to be a Rabbi but was never offi- Western society and culture stand for, and does ciallyT ordained as one) and his likes, is part of not discourage the swarming of the masses to the sour fruit of mistakes made by the pre- the graves of "holy-men", and to living "holy- dominantly Labor establishment back in the men" who offer amulets and parchments as early years of the state in absorbing immi- remedies for troubles and as good luck charms grants from Moslem countries . There were too - Shas poses a problem. many cases of such immigrants being treated Since it first appeared on the Israeli politi- as primitive beings, who do not know what is cal map in the 1984 elections and gained 4 best for themselves, and of overt attempts to Knesset seats, it has grown in size and power . force them to become "modern" Israelis at the Today it has 10 MKs, and is represented in expense of their religious beliefs, cultural tra- Binyamin Netanyahu's government by two ditions and sense of dignity. ministers: Minister of Labor and Welfare, Eli However, it is not the Uzi Meshulams and Yishai, and Minister of the Interior, Eli Suissa their followers, who should worry those who (who isn't a Knesset member) . Nothing seems wish Israel to continue to exist and develop as to stop Shas from gaining strength among Is-

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1997 11

rael's still disgruntled "Orientals" - neither they were provided with after their arrival, the fact that its first political leader, Rabbi Yit- just as the sons of the founders of the kib- zhak Peretz, left the movement on ideological butzim inherited their parents' rights over the grounds in 1992, nor the fact that its second land on which the kibbutzim were built . How- political leader, Rabbi Arye Der'i, has been on ever, the members of the DOS are much too trial on charges of financial disorders since secular and much too European in their way of 1990, and spends most of his time these days thinking to gain any real influence . studying at a "Kollel" while attending the Shlomo Ben-Ami - the only non-Ashkenazi Knesset infrequently. to have contended for the Labor Party leader- Shas is today at the forefront of the battles ship, and the only one among the contenders against the Reform and Conservative Move- with clear thoughts on what went wrong in the ments and shops and places of entertainment Israeli society in the last 50 years and what being open on Saturday, and of increasingly should be done to rectify the situation - is aggressive campaigns to convince Sephardi also much too much of a European-style intel- youngsters to return to a highly unenlightened lectual, to appeal to the public to which Shas form of religion and join the non-Zionist camp appeals, and he himself seems more attracted in the country. Most recently, the "sinful" city of to foreign affairs and security issues . Amir Eilat was targetted by Shas for such activities, Peretz - another Laborite, with significant much to the chagrin of the city's mayor and popular appeal, who is today the leader of the secular inhabitants. "New Histadrut" - is a Moroccan who "made After the last general elections one of the it" politically, but his appeal is not ethnic, even Shas elected representatives expressed the though most of the public that at least theoret- hope that before long Shas would gain an abso- ically requires Histadrut's protection today, is lute majority in the Knesset, which would then non-Ashkenazi. turn into a Beth-Knesset - a synagogue . It is thus very difficult to see how one can Though experts agree that Shas has not stop Shas at this juncture, unless a way will be reached its full potential, there is, of course, no found to stop the flow of vast sums of public chance that it will ever gain a majority in the funds to cover the cost of its institutions and Knesset, if for no other reason than that demo- activities . Without money a movement like graphic realities exclude such a possibility . Shas cannot thrive, and like its Ashkenazi However, for the time being nothing seems to counterparts, it is incapable of earning this be standing in its way. money by the sweat of its members' brow. It is simply not an economically viable movement . or those Sephardim who feel sufficiently However, something must also be done to rec- F disgruntled to vote ethnically (it should be tify the very real basis for the disgruntlement noted, however, that despite everything, the and feelings of discrimination harbored by the majority of Sephardim in Israel still vote population to which Shas so successfully ap- either for the Likud or the Labor Party) there peals. If the State of Israel can come up with seems to be no real alternative to Shas today . some real answers on the issue of the Yemenite David Levy's predominantly Moroccan "Gesher" children, this could constitute a start, at least party, seems much more concerned with get- on the moral level . 0 ting prestigious jobs for its more prominent members than with social issues . The fact that Levy himself insisted on being given the Min- ister for Foreign Affairs rather than the Min- istry for Labor and Welfare or the Ministry of Nave an urgent document or package to/from ISRAEL? the Interior (which Shas was more than happy Send it with us for guaranteed delivery within 36 hours . to take), speaks for itself. A new political group - the Democratic Ori- couriers inc. ental Spectrum - which is made up of intel- 147-40 184th Street, Jamaica . NY 11413 lectuals of Moslem country origin, has been Gail 718 .244 .7356 or 800 .695 . 1213 . 244 .7870 fighting for worthy causes, such as enabling In Israel call Avi at 03 .512.6649 Fax 718 the sons of new immigrants to inherit their The fastest courier service for all your shipments to/from Israel parents' rights over the subsidized housing

E 12 JEWISH FRONTI: ESSAY

THEOCRACY vs DEMOCRACY By Saadia Gelb

establishment, an organization for enforcement. Theoretically, religion should be devoid Festival of Judaic Studies took place this of a power structure and should deal only with AJune in Upper Galilee at the Kfar Blum Kib- spiritual values. When religion enters politics, butz Guest House. The festival was sponsored it is potentially a lethal mix . Jewish history by Roots (Shorashim), an association headed provides ample examples of the dangers and by Elazar Shturm, and included 28 events, consequences . When the priests and lawmak- ranging from lectures, songs, and prayers to ers confronted each other, an accommodation seminars led by well-known personalities . ensued. When the prophets, however, who had This event generated two surprises . Except no organizational structure, vied with kings for the ultra-Orthodox haredim, the partici- and rulers they became "voices who cried in pants represented every religious and secular the wilderness" . When harmony reigned be- segment of the population . Instead of the ex- tween rulers and the wise elders (the Tanaim) pected 800 attendees, over 4,000 showed up. differences were resolved by patience and wis- Again and again the small halls proved inade- dom as well as the universal acquiescence of quate and the entire audience had to be trans- the population. After the dispersion, the read- ferred to the large auditorium . justment to the absence of governmental offi- The second surprise was the tolerant and cialdom unfolded new forms - some of which up-beat mood, despite the differences in phi- have persisted to the present . losophy prevailing among the participants . udaism as a culture, as a religion, as a civi- ad the millennium arrived? Can the in- lization, as a legal entity, as a philosophy, as Htense friction between religion and free- Ja history was from its inception pluralistic . dom be eradicated? A sobering placard signed Human differences are inherent in our biologi- by the Haredi Community glared in bold let- cal makeup but we vary widely in our atti- ters: "Whosoever hears, both his ears will ring, tudes to those differences . The best example of a mix of rabbis, artists, epicurean professors, Jewish open-mindedness is the reaction to the consumers of corpses and non-kosher food have momentous clash between the strict, pedantic arrived to make a festival out of Judaism - all Shamai and the liberal, human Hillel . Despite this in the guise of Judaic Studies." That plac- the official Halachic ruling in favor of Hillel ard did not subdue either the interest or enthu- both views are fully recorded in both Mishna siasm of the crowd nor the glimmer of hope but and Gemara and declared legitimate argumen- it emphasized the problem . tations. The same response prevailed in the To begin with there is the semantic issue of endless disputations over the validity of inter- definition . The conflict is not between religious pretations . The ruling "to lean toward the and but a political confrontation be- secular majority" did not besmirch the minority . All tween two conceptions of the source of author- along, there were extremists and zealots, but ity: living humanity or the Deity. The contro- they were clearly not in the spirit or the com- versy is not diversity of conceptions but a mon consent of desirable Judaism. power struggle. Politics expresses itself by an After the Dispersion there was no temporal

SEPTEMBERIOCTOBER 1997 power with authority and only spiritual lead- Messiah surfaced and for all the damage, they ers remained for guidance and readjustment were the precursors of Zionism . to life without a homeland. A remarkable ad- By the mid-19th century and after, the fer- justment took place to living in the Galut with ment jelled into active modern movements : unity and diversity prevailing. Pluralism ex- Lovers of Zion, Hasidic dynasties, associations, pressed itself in the protective coloration in rabbinic trends, cultural organizations, politi- each country and each area with two main var- cal parties . In more than a full century of trau- iations, the Ashkenazic and the Sephardic mas, confrontations, political actions and the (Yiddish and Ladino) . Biblical Hebrew was the Holocaust, 1997 presents a dilemma of theoc- unifying link. Each country had its own lead- racy versus democracy in both the State of Is- ership consisting of scholars, learned elders, rael and the Jewish World in East and West. professionals, ecclesiastical functionaries, com- Zionism was conceived in the new world based mentators, rabbis, philosophers, scribes. The on ancient memories . The renewed State was emphasis was on study, intellectual prowess, announced as the State of the Jews whereas for wisdom and knowledge even among the wealthy . many it is the Jewish State and there is the Disputes and differences were settled by a new rub. The definition of "Jewish" involves the class of moderators (Poskim, arbiters) . A vast plethora of concepts, emotional commitments, literature of questions and answers ensued, philosophical approaches, religious devotion, the Responsa . Local attitudes were respected and lifelong practices . and no uniformity was imposed . If there were Since a decision could not be delayed at the conflicts, so be it . There being no governmental founding of Israel in 1948, a practical modus authority to Jews as a minority, the only avail- vivendi was accepted by the active leadership. able measure of enforcement was public pres- The word "God" in the Declaration of Inde- sure plus two extreme actions : excommunica- pendence was substituted by the word "Rock" . tion and withdrawal of burial rights. Appeal to The political lifestyle was defined as democra- non-Jewish authorities was anathema . In the tic but retained the status quo of the religious universal religious atmosphere of the times practices extant in 1948 . From then on there there was no problem with Jewish theocracy. was not a day without confrontation ; a tug of No one questioned the fact that Jews were a war between forces. religious minority. All these facts have been amply described and fully documented . hree major errors were committed by the political founding fathers, including Ben- he entire story changed in the wake of the GurionT : continuing the institution of the Chief American and French Revolutions . Those Rabbinate; allowing the newly established revolutionsT not only affected politics but trans- parliament, the Knesset, to deal with religious formed thinking about mankind . It was im- issues; exempting Yeshiva students from mili- possible not to apply the new idea to Jews . In- tary or national service without any numerical dividual human rights as legal factors were restrictions . mind-boggling concepts . The immediate ex- The Chief Rabbinate was a relic from the pression of East European Jewry was the rise British Colonial administration who followed of Hasidism . The minutiae of religious obser- the Turkish sympathy for Muslim practice . vance were less important than the soul and There was no precedent in Jewish history for a intentions . There was no need for mediators chief Rabbi . Ben-Gurion, however, thought between man and God . Each Jew could appeal that by having the head of the religious estab- directly and communicate with the Master of lishment as a function of government and un- the Universe (a privilege allowed by Halacha der its budgetary control it would be a wise but considered second-rate) . move. The same reasoning applied to the ex- Another effect was the proliferation of false emption granted to Yeshiva students . That gov- Messiahs . If every human being possessed the ernmental exemption was an assist to training right to act on his own behalf, why should one of future ecclesiastic functionaries to supplant wait for redemption and the return to the the thousands murdered by Hitler. As to reli- homeland until God in his wisdom and in his gious laws, that was the result of the condi- own time would send the Messiah? The process tional structure of the new government . Ben- can be hastened by human initiative . The false Gurion wanted all Zionist factions represented

14 JEWISH FRONTIEI (except the Communists and Revisionists) and here is much at stake. A monopoly provides the Religious Zionist leaders were liberal, un- perks, status, power, honors, self-esteem derstanding, cultured personalities . When andT dynasties . There is no doubt that in the they wanted the Sabbath declared as the day high command there are also honest believers of rest, there was no objection . The mistake in the cause alongside the sophisticated ma- was to add to that traditional desire the para- nipulators. How many is unknown . There are graph of State enforcement . Subsequently, no research data statistics although there is a when the precedent of religious laws had been plethora of gossip and pashkevills (a favorite established, the religious non-Zionist parties anonymous public leaflet in the fundamen- were able to add ever-increasing restrictive talist community). An example of a genuine laws. devoted servant to the Jewish people is Rabbi There was another factor to the error of reli- Adin Steinsaltz who is distant from the clique . gious legislation . The Labor Zionist political A reverse example is Rabbi Avraham Shapiro parties who had major influences at the found- who while an MK served as official representa- ing included in its ranks an atheist component . tive of his party. He brilliantly manipulated in Marx, who defined religion as an opiate, had the parliamentary corridors to receive vast many adherents . Ben-Gurion and other labor sums from the public treasury while amassing leaders wanted to avoid a religious battle . In a respectable personal fortune. I heard no dis- any case, they were tolerant . They had over- claimer or dissociation from any of his col- whelming power which allowed for a generous leauges for his despicable behavior . I will not concession. Unfortunately, the religious scene proceed with naming names for I'm neither changed during the years and the understand- qualified nor authorized to pass character ing Zionists were gradually supplanted by judgement. Let the acts speak for themselves. . hard-line conservatives. Fundamentalist sects A political power struggle has its own rules . influenced the liberals. Orthodoxy turned into Initially one must establish that there can be ultra-orthodoxy. Anti-Zionist religious parties no middle ground or weasel words. "You are won representation in the Knesset . A clever either on my side or my adversary". You are ei- brainwashing campaign achieved the defini- ther "religious" which means obedient to au- tion of "religious" as "strict orthodox" . Every- thorities or you are "secular" which means one else was dubbed "secular" without recogni- devoid of true content. "Empty vessel" is the tion of fine variations. The hard-line Lithuan- usual designation. We are the sole interpreters ian Rabbis set the tone and took on the Hasidic of God's will and our deciphering of the sects, the North African Olim, the Yeshivot, the Halacha is the exclusive truth . We further- old Mizrachi advocates, the archeologists, aca- more know God's intentions and we know who demia and all other opponents . Naturally, they will be punished and who will be rewarded were far from achieving supremacy, but they (that argument is particularly impressive with set the rules for the clash. The political children) . It is our duty to correct errant be- encounter, under the guise of ideological differ- havior. That cannot be falsely construed as ences, is in full force . missionary for every Jew is responsible for another. Thus a return to the fold (Hozer b't- shuva) is a valid activity. George Orwell language is legitimate when "Jewish unity" WThe simplestY? answer is that all monopolies means blind obedience lest the differences lead fight for survival and expansion . The funda- to cleavage . mentalist band has no police power and must Competitors are to be unabashedly ma- resort to the governmental Zionist apparatus, ligned. Reform Jews are active assimilation- as much as Zionism is disliked . If politics is the ists. Conservative Jews are deficient in their required tool and serving as the balance of understanding. Modern orthodox are only half- power in the society's makeup, there must be way on the road to the true path . Secular Is- no barriers for achieving the goal by the demo- rael consists of half a million drug addicts and cratic rule. Thus far that technique, astutely numerous idolators . So-called "intellectuals" implemented, has been successful. are time-wasters lost in the modern chaotic confusion. Archeologists are upsetting ancient groves and disturbing the heritage of the ages .

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1997

Kibbutzim are "rabbit fressers" and should be understand that we are a democracy which plowed under (a statement by Asher Zuker- has means to protect itself. Politics must be man, editor of Kol Hashavua, one of the Haredi totally devoid of laws about religious thought publications, on July 7, 1997, entitled "To Dis- and practice . Traditional Judaism is pluralis- mantle the Kibbutzim"). tic and should remain so . There is no need for Haredi misbehavior is recorded in the Is- the artificial creation of a chief religious offi- raeli press almost daily and is noticed seri- cer. Let every kehilla elect its own spiritual ously only when something outrageous sur- leader. Let the Sabbath be a day of rest, recre- faces. When a rabbi seriously declared that a ation and joy - not a pale copy of the East Eu- tragic collision of a busload of children with a ropean enclosure . train was the result of the imperfect lettering The conflicts should be resolved by non-stop on the mezzuzas, the country was in shock . discussion without threats or force . When during the festival of Shavuot in June Unity does not mean uniformity. Life in 1997 feces were thrown at female prayers at Israel can and will be beautiful . LI the Western Wall, there was an outcry. Other- wise overturned and burned garbage contain- ers, stones thrown at vehicles on Shabbat and particularly on Yom Kippur (even at ambu- lances), physical punishment by modesty CONTRIBUTORS patrols, linking Kashrut certificates to Shabat business behavior, boycotts against construc- tion at previous cemetery locations without Misha Louvish is a veteran Israeli jour- special provisions for the escape channels of nalist and historian living in Jerusalem . the departed souls, prohibition of female singers (even in choirs) at public appearances Susan Hattis Rolef is a political scientist and so on and on - all this is barely noticed and journalist, our regular Israeli correspon- albeit distasteful and annoying . The official dent. excuse that those are manifestations of a tiny Dr. William Finn is a chiropractor and minority is no longer acceptable. technical writer living in Kibbutz Gezer ; raised in Phoenix, Arizona, he lived 17 years in he turning point arrived when the ortho- the San Francisco area . He has a psychology Tdox community sponsored the law whose degree from Yale University. implication is the disenfranchizing the legiti- Harold Ticktin is an attorney in Cleveland macy of Judaic trends (streams). Now there is where he is an active Labor Zionist . He writes no retreat from deciding whether Jewry is plu- frequently for various publications including ralistic or there is only one valid variety - the Jewish Frontier . ultra-orthodox course . The Jews in Israel have managed to bypass the issue. Some are sen- Saadia Gelb, a veteran member of Kibbutz timental and tolerant . Some are angry but Kfar Blum is a founder of American Habonim docile. Some are frustrated . Some are indiffer- and an ordained Reform rabbi . ent. Many are unaware of the implications for Chava Reich, a member of our editorial the future. Some bravely present an opposition board, is educational director of Workmen's factor. A small minority is preparing for active Circle/Arbeter Ring. resistance under the slogan : "Stop the Hare- David Rosenthal, a frequent Frontier con- dim". Politicians are frightened. Theocracy tributor, specializes in Jewish cultural affairs. versus Democracy is a problem on the scale of He lives in Philadelphia . security, economics, development . Sanford Pinsker, author of "Memory he solution? Breaks Off", teaches English at Franklin and T Marshall College . Since the real and legitimate fear of the Max Alper is a Labor Zionist chaver in Los Haredim is the threat of modernism, Israel Angeles. should permit them ample space for life according to their lights. Simultaneously, they must

16 JEWISH FRONTIER MEMOIR

STATE OF ISRAEL IS BORN. Arab Planes Bond) Tel Aviv ; One Shot Down. P,dIc-t no post . $undal MI IY 16. 1918) I As seen by Max Alper

Came May 14,'48 . My shift was from 4PM till 4PM the next day. I heard much of the procla- ho shot it down? You may ask . mation of Israel's birth on the way to Sdeh-Dov, W"I shot it down," says Max Alper, a Labor through open windows along the way, as I rode Zionist veteran in Los Angeles . north through the city, and it seemed I wasn't Alper, a GI Technion student in 1947, was in riding a bike but flying . Hagana in that December and January, '48 . Eretz Israel had exploded with Arab violence came down to Earth on reaching the air field . after the UN voted partition ; all hands were There was work to be done : we maintained needed to defend the vulnerable towns and vil- andI repaired till well after midnight, did needed lages, keep roads open, and prepare for an paper work, and as was customary, had our slab onslaught of Arab armies . of black bread, jam and tea, and snatched a cou- In February, 1948, Alper volunteered his air- ple of hours sleep, till before dawn, when we craft mechanic skills (U.S. Air Force, WWII) and would retrieve the dispersed planes from the was posted to Sdeh-Dov, a small airfield north of ends of the field and prepare them for the day's Tel Aviv, the only air facility under Hagana con- flights. trol. The British had vacated the Tel Aviv area That morning, Shabbat, May 15, we were at but kept the big military bases, with formidable the margin of the field, dawn showing in the forces of men and planes . east, when we heard powerful engines . There, Sdeh-Dov, with its handful of small aircraft, flying low out of the rising sun came two Spit- served many vital functions: reconnaissance, fires with Egyptian markings . Each released a communication, and supply of medicine, ammo, bomb, as if in slow motion. There were two and intelligence to places that were otherwise tremendous detonations . One blew a huge hole cut off. Sometimes, we'd taxi a special doctor, a in the concrete wall of the only hangar at the commander, or Ben-Gurion himself, to field. We later found it had caused a great deal Jerusalem, when it was unreachable. of dust and rubble but did remarkably little real Most dramatic, most dangerous to men and damage. The other bomb was a different story. machines, was combat using these unsuitable It was a direct hit on a tzrif (cabin) in which airplanes in daring and ingenious ways for several of the field "garrison" were asleep . They actual fighting . must have been killed instantly, and the tzrif was at once an inferno of flame and exploding y job in all this, was to "keep 'em flying" . bullets from within, the sole cache of arms at We were a few experienced mechanics, the field. plusM a number of young Hagana trainees who We saw all this from afar, but had no time to were "learning-by-doing" under our supervision . react. The planes banked steeply and returned The hours were long, facilities primitive, the to strafe the airfield. At my order, and example, work hard and demanding, but morale and res- my crew dove for cover in the dunes along the olution were high, bolstered by our responsibil- airstrip, while the enemy made several passes, ity to the pilots, and to the yishuv in that time machine gunning our planes on the ground . of bitter and uncertain struggle . They damaged about half of our aircraft, but

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1997 17

fortunately not beyond repair, and none were that evening to a fighting front where it was set afire. badly needed. The next day, crews came to Their ammo spent, the "Spits" flew off, leav- Sdeh-Dov and built authentic sand-bagged gun ing us to assess the damage and to take action . emplacements, armed with very convincing The tzrif could not be approached and its occu- looking anti-aircraft guns. Made of wood. pants were beyond help. Pilots were arriving at The Egyptians never attacked Sdeh-Dov the field, and as we determined which planes again. 1:1 were flyable and which could be patched, they A BIT OF HUMOR were flown away to other locations . Fire crews had come to quell the flaming tzrif and an The following incident is typical of the exas- . perating, confusing and often humorous expe- ambulance to take the charred bodies riences I have had since immigrating to Israel Suddenly a truck drove up, loaded with two and a half years ago . crates. The driver called out, "Heiveinu neshek!" "I don't understand Israel!" I exclaimed . (We have brought arms .) "Everything is more expensive. Wages are low. We quickly opened the crates, finding pistols, Yet, the standard of living is high. How is it rifles, one machine gun and appropriate ammu- possible?" nition. As the ranking person I apportioned the "Patience," said my Israeli friend . "You're arms, taking charge of the machine gun myself. new here. Wait 5 years." A rapid inquiry showed that only I had ever had "Then, I'll understand?" I asked. any training at all to use one (one day in the "No, you'll stop asking questions," she U.S. Air Force). I chose a trainee to assist me, replied. and we cleaned off the shipping grease . The Much is written about Israel . However, weapons had just been unloaded at Tel Aviv headlines about bombings and the pictures of port. riots do not communicate the everyday absur- We carried the gun, two crates and belts of dity of Israeli life. For example: ammunition out to the dunes beyond the air- "Why do you use M-16s?" I asked the soldier. strip, set the gun on its tripod up on the crates "America gave them to us," he answered . so that we could fire upward . I showed my "They're great weapons ." helper how to feed the ammo-belt, I fired a few "They're lousy weapons," I contradicted . test rounds and we waited, but not long . "They jam up all the time ." There were sirens and the sound of bombs "That's why they're great weapons," he ex- from Tel Aviv, and here came two Spitfires at plained. "We have orders not to fire ." about five hundred feet, one about a half mile to Submitted by Dr. William Finn the east, and one coming straight at us . Reflections on "Bibi" started firing, in accord with my barely re- membered lessons of so long ago. "Lead the Netanyahu reminds me of what the science target"I (fire ahead of it), "fire bursts" (not con- fiction author Ray Bradbury once related in an tinuously) . As the plane sped by overhead I academic lecture, about how he himself was turned to follow it, still firing, and saw it trailing spooked by one of his stories in which an auto- smoke as it disappeared over the dunes to the matic communication center suddenly gains north. We soon learned that the pilot had crash- self-generated autonomy and launches the landed in Herzliya, been captured, and been world into a Kafkaesque apocalypse . Bibi is a brought to Tel Aviv within an hour. I, Max Alper, self-inflated product of a very sophisticated a ground crew mechanic, had shot down the communitocracy. He is a buffoon who started first Arab warplane to be knocked out of the sky rather successfully as a mixture of Julius Cae- in Israel's War of Independence . sar and Antonius . But this stage is hurriedly But I gave it little thought at that time . The playing itself out, and soon he'll enter the next momentous events of those days, grief and phase - Prime Hamlet, to end up, at last, as shock at the sudden deaths of our fellows in the King Lear. He will probably enjoy himself to the tzrif, and the trials of the weeks ahead, crowded last; but what about the price to pay - us all!? out all thoughts of personal achievement or tri- Froike Shapiro z"l umph, let alone recognition . Tel Aviv April 1997 The machine gun was taken from Sdeh-Dov (Several months before his death)

18 JEWISH F MUSINGS

Drought The Curse and the Blessing

By William Finn

"In Israel, in order to be a real- I had tried not to think too much about the predicted war. I had talked with my wife about ist, you must believe in miracles." what we would do . We checked our kibbutz's DAVID BEN-GURION emergency plans . We renewed our gas masks . I had a difficult time taking the war fears seriously. After all, Israel still has a kick-ass am an agnostic . The belief in the existence army. Syria would get stomped badly. orI nonexistence of God strikes me as absurd . "I can't believe Syria would be stupid Yet, there is something about living in Israel enough to start a war," I said to Dov. that instills a mystical view . "Nothing stupid about it," he replied. Dov Israel's birth, and her continued existence outlined the scenario that was circulating in are so improbable that I habitually find myself Israeli military and intelligence circles . The speculating about Divine intervention . Many Syrians believed that they would never get the Israelis have told me how they have seen Golan back through negotiations . A short "lit- Israel saved from disaster - through amaz- tle" war would change the political situation . ing, almost supernatural incidents . Attack the Golan in overwhelming force . Nip Now I, too, have a miracle story to tell about off about 10 to 20 kilometers . Declare peace, Israel. and count on America to pressure Israel to agree to the truce, which would in effect cede n the autumn of 1996, I sat down to talk pol- the land. itics with Dov. Dov knew a lot about the IsraeliI government . He had held civil service ceording to Israeli intelligence, the Syri- positions in the Foreign Ministry and in the ans believed that a "six-hour" war would Prime Minister's offices . He had just returned breakA the political stalemate . The Syrians from a briefing by Israel's Defense Minister, called it the "1973" option, in the belief that Yitzhak Mordechai . There, Dov had conferred Arab victories in that conflict eventually led to with his old government buddies . Camp David agreements . "War with Syria this winter," announced "The Syrians might remember that they lost Dov, "that's what they're saying." the 1973 war," I said . Dov laughed and so did I . Inwardly, I groaned . Not him too! For "From what I hear from my contacts, as months, Israel has been nursing a bad case of soon as it rains for two weeks, they'll attack," war jitters. Native Israelis, in particular, were Dov asserted . "The Syrians figure that the convinced that war was imminent . It wasn't Israeli military's greatest assets are its mobil- just a cold rational analysis of the situation ity and its airforce . Both would be hampered that made them fear war. It was more like a by rain ." feeling, an intuition . Israelis knew war was "But that's ridiculous!" I objected . coming the same way a farmer knows it's going "So?" replied Dov. to rain or a cop can tell a witness is lying. It's "Oh, that's right, I forgot . This is the Middle an instinct born of experience. East."

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1997 19 looked about me . It was a bright winter's ould it rain now? day, full of light and clear azure skies . Days, W dry and beautiful, had been the rule this The accord wasn't completed yet, at least season. The Kibbutz's crops were in danger of not in my eyes. No question that the Knesset failing. The agricultural minister had been would approve it . With a lot of snickering, threatening water rationing. In a rare show of smirking, and overtly hostile "I-told-you-sos", national unity, everyone had been praying or Labor would approve a peace agreement craft- hoping for rain . ed by their archenemy Netanyahu . But Bibi's "Well," I speculated, "maybe that's why we Cabinet was a different story. Already 7 of 18 have a drought . God is protecting us against members of the Cabinet had come out against Syrian attack." the agreement . Sharansky and the Minister Dov and I smiled at my stupid little joke, of Internal Security were expressing doubts . and went our separate ways . In the weeks that A defeat in the Cabinet was not out of the followed I took walks in the fields, and tried to question. spend as much time in the dry outdoors as pos- So it didn't rain, at least not that day. But sible . I stopped feeling guilty about enjoying the heavens were glorious! Our crystal clear the sunny winter. After all, drought is prefer- skies were invaded by what an old-timer from able to war. my native Arizona called "miracle weather". Floating mountains of clouds, colored neon n my walks, I thought about Dov's predic- pinks and iridescent blues, framed rays of tion. I speculated about how the prolonged golden sunlight streaming down to the dazzled 0negotiations on Hebron would affect the possi- earth. In one small patch of the sky, I counted bility of war. 6 different hues of pink. Mubarak of Egypt and Hussein of Jordan If you're lucky, in Arizona, "miracle weather" were very much involved in the Hebron deal . A will last an hour or two . On the day of the Hebron accord, supported by Egypt and Jor- Hebron announcement, it lasted from morning dan, would derail Syrian war plans . Syria has to evening. never attacked Israel unless it was part of a The next day, the Cabinet approved the coalition . Hebron deal. That day it rained . And rained . I had a revelation . The drought would end And rained some more . The office where I the day the accord was reached . God would no worked suffered a minor flood . My newly longer need to protect us from Syrian attack by cleaned car had its own indoor mud puddle . withholding rain. I don't want to imply God The deputy director of Israel's most important would reward Israel for the Hebron deal . I've source of water, Lake Kinneret, announced always despised that sort of "God is with us" that there was enough water in the lake for the politics . Nor am I prone to mystical thinking . coming year. Some might dismiss this sequence What I did was form a scientific hypothesis . of events as synchronicity. But for me, my Along with the rest of the world, I waited for experiment was a success . As predicted, rain word of a Hebon agreement, but I had the came the day of the Hebron deal. motivation of a scientific observer . The negotiations seemed as endless as the ar, like drought, is still a possibility. How- drought. Water wasn't the only thing in short ever, I find the results of my experiment supply. Good intentions, good will, and patience Wreassuring. It reminded me that the universe were also drying up . The mirage of the Hebron is bigger than we are . What may seem disas- agreement hung tantalizingly out of reach for trous - like a drought or a foolish political 7 months. leader - may actually be part of a bigger Finally Israeli television broadcast the sight process whose results are unknowable . No of an unctuous Arafat standing next to a matter what we do, and maybe even in spite of bleary-eyed Netanyahu . They announced that ourselves, peace may fall upon us like rain. IL they had initialed the accord in the wee hours of that morning .

20 JEWISH FROI HISTORY

THE JEWISH BUND AND THE BOLSHEVIKS By Harold Tick tin

he total collapse of Communism in 1991, population, unwittingly played midwife to Texactly 143 years after the Communist Mani- birthing Lenin's Bolsheviks [Russian for ma- festo asserted its inevitable victory, has left in- jority] into power though they never repre- tellectuals and historians bewildered about sented an actual majority either as a Party or how the monster was able to rear its head at a government . all, given the sorry history it belched at every critical juncture. In retrospect, we wonder, he first organized labor group in Russia how could something that bad have ever been was, in fact, the Bund, founded in precisely viewed so favorably? How did the evil genie of theT same year the first Zionist Congress was Bolshevism escape from the socialist bottle to convened by Herzl in Basel, Switzerland - produce the radical evil represented by the 1897. The Bund, unquestionably the best orga- Soviet Communist Party from 1917 to 1991? nized labor union in Russia prior to the Bol- There is a glib response to these questions shevik revolution, was the creation of one of which falls easily from the lips of Eastern the most overlooked proletarian groups of the Europeans and Russians so recently manacled 19th century - the Jews of Russia and Poland . to the Bolshevik tyranny : The Jews did it . When overtures to Russian peasants and For many Eastern Europeans under the So- workers were repulsed, Jewish workers looked viet heel after 1944 the image of the Jewish inward and formed the Bund, one year before Commissar will never die . And for restive Russian Marxists founded what would ulti- Russians, it is often enough to say "Kaganovich mately become the Russian Social Democratic did it" - the one Jew who remained in Stalin's Labor Party, though the latter did not really entourage . become a viable organization until 1903 when Obviously, that form of anti-semitism is still the Jewish Bund role would prove so decisive . the Socialism of Fools. It is the Protocol of the Just like their counterpart, the Zionists, Elders of Zion painted red . Yet were these Bundists sought auto-emancipation, to free benighted Jew haters to look dispassionately Jews from the crushing burden of Czarist at the record, they would indeed find that tyranny and the grinding wage poverty in there was a definite connection between the which well over 50% of Eastern Jewry found organized Jewish labor movement in Czarist itself. The struggle resembled the embryonic Russia and the birth of the Bolshevik faction of A .F. of L. in America - unvarnished trade the Russian Social Democratic Party. In fact, unionism. The Bund was far more authenti- had it not been for the Jewish General Worker's cally working class than any of the left wing Union of Poland and Lithuania (Bund), it is movements of the time, most of which were clear that the Bolsheviks would never have composed of intellectuals [many of them as- taken that first step toward power. It might similated, Russified Jews] and few real work- well have been smothered at birth had the ers. Had matters gone differently, the Bund Bund not acted out of Jewish self-interest and could have served as a role model for Russian in accord with the kind of democratic principle workers. That possibility evaporated when the which is only now emerging in Russia. It is an Bund refused to abandon its specific Jewish interesting and instructive story, to relate how proletarian character and unwittingly pro- the Bund, the organ of the Jewish laboring duced the Bolsheviks .

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1997 21 Interestingly the tangled history that led to represented thousands of Jewish workers in the climactic Congress of Russian Marxists in critically important cities [outside of Moscow July 1903 revolved around that most modern and St. Petersburg, which were forbidden to of disputes - control of a means of communi- Jews] throughout Southern Russia and Po- cation - in this case, an underground newspa- land; cities now marked by the Jewish absence . per, Iskra [the spark] . Because of the efficiency In a country which was then largely rural, the of Czarist repression, Russian radicals were, in Bund, as an organ of the tiny but crucial urban effect, political moles obliged to work under- proletariat in largely Jewish cities, was an ground with little hope of participatory politics integral building block in an emerging revolu- as in the West . The popular press of the era tionary movement. characterized the stereotypical underground Iskra was conceived as the ideal vehicle by Russian radical as a cloaked bomb thrower which to reach out from Geneva to all the scat- who issued illegal pamphlets . In large part the tered factions yearning for change in Russia . It stereotype was correct. was equally clear to the ideologically driven From 1898 on, there were embryonic at- Lenin that control of Iskra meant control of tempts to unite the various Russian factions the entire movement . Lenin's drive for power which ranged from pure Marxists to economi- over the nascent movement meant, from its cally oriented groups akin to the Bund. A first inception, the enforcement of a single infallible attempt in 1898 in Minsk was aborted by Party line. Directly in the path of that goal was police spies . The Bund, along with representa- the Jewish Bund, intent on its autonomy, will- tives from the major cities, did succeed in issu- ing to enter coalitions but unwilling to forgo its ing a manifesto for a nationwide Party, but role as representative of the peculiar situation when eight of the nine delegates not already of the Jewish "nation" within the larger Russ- dispersed by the all knowing Ochrana [the ian state. It was unthinkable to Lenin that Czarist secret police] were picked up by the there could be anything but a single national end of the conference, the whole idea was origin or Party representative of the true socked. It was in response to this setback that Marxist faith which only he could define prop- Lenin and two of his closest allies left Russia erly. Eighty-eight years ago, the Bund hewed for Europe to found, as they duly stated to the to the line of autonomy, a line only now recog- authorities, a newspaper in Europe . Glad to nized as correct in the USR (Union of Sover- have three of the stickiest revolutionaries out eign Republics) as it is known today. of their hair, the authorities did what bureau- Lenin, under the ostensible tutelage of his crats often do: shifted the problem elsewhere, mentor, Plekhanov, organized the paper de- sending them on their way. signed to achieve unity. History knows of few Iskra was to be the vehicle for unity under instances where a newspaper's board became the guidance of the very weighty Georgi the key instrument for revolutionary change . Plekhanov, long out of his country, but a sym- Not even William Randolph Hearst could bol for all Revolutionaries by virtue of his aspire to such a goal . It was with this specific hallowed status as Russia's first Marxist . goal in mind that Iskra issued the call for a Plekhanov, like his protege Lenin, with whom unity Congress, scheduled for Brussels in the he would ultimately split, was at war on more summer of 1903 . fronts with his erstwhile allies than he was with the Czarist enemy. Splits were the very n her monumental study of the failed Jewish stuff of radical life . Abe Lincoln may have attempt to rationalize a presence within split rails, but Lenin and Plekhanov split hairs RussianI society by socialist means, While Mes- as Solzhenitsin shows in his novel Lenin in siah Tarried, the late Nora Levin presented a Zurich . Both were quarreling with a host of master portrait of what amounted to Russian alternate theories to Orthodox Marxism : Lib- Jewish somnambulism . Like sleepwalkers erals, Economists, Revisionists, Populists, and headed for a cliff, all those attempts, whether more. assimilation, territorialism, unity with the peasants, or Bundism itself, failed to solve the he Bund loomed large in this spectrum of problem of Jewish exceptionalism. From a 100 ideological struggle . As the only truly func- year vantage point, our hearts go out to each tioningT organization of the Russian Left, it failed Congress as if watching an old movie

22 JEWISH FRO: whose end is inevitable; whose ultimate desti- which would one day create a Jewish state nation will be Auschwitz, Babi Yar, and the toward which three million Russian Jews now Warsaw Ghetto . The Bund looked to the Brus- gravitate. sels Congress as a forum where Jews and Rus- Ludwig Borne once noted that Gentiles sians might begin a great turn toward radical often seem caught up in a "magic circle of Jew- change and a sunny socialist future in Russia . ishness." So it was with the "Jewish" question We, the viewers, now know that the bright which opened the Congress as its first and ulti- baby of socialism was to be stillborn and that mately most important agenda item . The the Jewish "place" in the contemplated society Bund's claim as the representative of the of the future was exactly as the Zionists con- Jewish proletariat was specifically rejected, tended - nonexistent . with at least three Russified Jews joining in, For Lenin and his unitary cabal, the very not least of all that pivot for so many subse- first order of business in Brussels was to force quent Jew haters, Trotsky . In effect Trotsky's the Bund to give up its autonomy in favor of a vote was anti-Jewish, but that never preven- centralized Party. "It is necessary to prepare ted critics from blaming him as a Jew for the everyone's mind for this" wrote Lenin to a Bolsheviks. Jewish cohort in Kharkov [another resonant Shortly after repulsing the Bundist claim, name] . He insisted that if the Bund failed to a further vote was taken which again had at yield, it must be expelled. Though the Bund stake centralism vs . autonomy for the Birthing eventually marched on its own feet out of the Party. Once more there was a Jewish element . Congress, the result was precisely as desired The man who opposed Lenin's centralism was by Lenin . In one fateful stroke the Bund Martov, a Jew who was no friend of Bundism, handed the prize of Russia to the arch splitter . who nevertheless refused Lenin's conception of Fourteen years later he would take the helm of a Party which, as he put it, "required its mem- . state on the basis of exactly the program he bers to surrender their minds ." The vote was espoused on July 30, 1903 when the unity Con- 28 to 22 against Lenin's narrow conception of gress met in the shabbiest of working-class the Party. While Lenin was tirelessly rounding quarters in a district of Brussels, warily eyed up delegates, buttonholing, wearing others by Belgian police and Ochrana agents. out, and sleeplessly pleading for his concep- Ultimately the Congress was booted out of tion, one of those strokes of history that more Brussels and completed its work in the more resemble lightning occurred ; the Bund, smart- tolerant environs of London, just as Marx coming from its failure to square the circle of class pleted Das Kapital atop his carbuncles in the versus national interest in the Party, marched British Museum. What was at stake in Brus- out of the hall . The Bund represented five sels was the choice which still lies before the votes, all pledged for a federated, decentralized "Russian" nation : autonomous federation ver- Party [one wonders if Boris Yeltsin knows this sus a centralized autocracy. The issue of Bund history]. The vote against Lenin now stood at autonomy was the very first order of business. only 23 over 22 against his centralized vision, as a result of the Bund bolting the Congress on t is not useful to do all the convoluted politi- a highly specific Jewish issue. In a quick suc- Ical algebra that rocked the hall during cession of moves, Lenin made Iskra his jour- those interminable days and nights of dispute, nal, the only recognized Party organ, driving revolving about a shadowy entity with aspira- out two more votes belonging to a rival paper tions to becoming a state, a jest compared with and thus handing his faction a "majority" (Bol- the power and majesty of "All the Russias" shevik in Russian) of one vote. ruled by the tyrannical hand of Nicholas II . Suffice to say that control of Iskra meant con- t was that "majority" which became the lead- trol of the Party because Iskra was real and Iing edge of the Party even when the "major- virtually everything else was fantasy. The ex- ity" later became a minority. The retention of ception was the Bund, intent on continuing the name itself became one of the weapons the class struggle as good Marxists, but equal- enabling it to take power in 1917 when it was ly intent on retaining control of the "national still a miniscule part of the political scene . consciousness" of the Jewish laborers whom Before the Unity Congress ended, Lenin subor- it represented, that same consciousness dinated the entire Party to Iskra and there-

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1997 23

after never deviated from his goal of complete Yeshiva. Perhaps simple Tevye said it best, at a power which was completed when, during time very close to the date of that Congress : World War I, the Germans put him on a sealed "Sometimes there is no `on the other hand' ." train to the Finland Station in Petersburg, car- That is precisely how it was for the Bund at rying what has rightly been called the bacillus that historical moment . As everyone aflame of Communism . with national passion in Europe now knows In his notes, Lenin later commented : "It is [just about everyone], there is no choice be- incomprehensible to me why the Bund left the tween national and class consciousness . The Congress under such circumstances . . . [It] latter, as an organized life principle, is a fan- could have put through many things" [quoted tasy. The ultimate irony lies in that first step in Bertram Wolfe's magisterial Three Who when Jews attempted to stem the Bolshevik Made a Revolution] . In retrospect, every Jew tide and instead facilitated it, not at all in the knows why the Bund left that Belgian hall, manner too often alleged . 11 not least of all the grandchild of Trotsky who eventually migrated to Israel to enter a eeee 7&&00d e.dmm a° Ia4on 94tad THE LABOR ZIONIST ALLIANCE widhed as o" - acrd ~sy(~f~onte 4 a ?lean 4 Peaee curd Pwgneu. WELCOMES THE YEAR

5758

WITH CONFIDENCE THAT ISRAEL Shana Tova WILL OVERCOME HER ADVERSARIES N9 President Executive Director AND FULFILL HERZLS DREAM! 275 Seventh Avenue • New York, New York 10001

in solidarity for good wages,

workers' rights & human dignity

UNION OF NEEDLETRADES, INDUSTRIAL & TEXTILE EMPLOYEES

JAY MAZUR ARTHUR LOEVY BRUCE RAYNOR EDGAR ROMNEY President Secretary-Treasurer Executive Vice President Executive Vice President

2 4 JEWISH FR' BIOGRAPHY

DAVID PINSKI: Dramatist, Poet and Builder (on the 125th anniversary of his birth)

By David Rosenthal

uch Poalei Haifa, 1963), David Pinski relates : "One looks for the beginnings of the artist in avid Pinski (1872 - 1959) was one of the his parents to see if there was something he firstD American-Yiddish writers whom the Jew- had inherited . My father, a Moscow Commis- ish youth of Poland came to know . At around sioner of Military Officers' Uniforms and Deco- the same time (early 1930s), H . Leivich's poem, rations, was a lover of good music . . . Often, on "Abelard and Heloise," published by Literar- a Sabbath or holiday, he would lead the ishe Bleter, appeared in Jewish homes along services, but that happened only in his own with Pinski's "The Generation of Noah Edon ." dwelling. In our rooms in Moscow stood our Pinski's work was published serially in the own Sefer Torah, and on Sabbath and holidays popular Zionist daily Heint. the Jewish tenants of the vicinity held their In my home, when my parents were finished own services . Aside from that, my father at the with their newspapers, I began searching lectern sought not only melody but heart, and through them for articles that were of greater the congregation praised his abilities as a interest to me. I still recall vividly the bundle prayer-leader." of newspapers that I collected because I be- "My mother loved flowers and plants and lieved that the material they contained was our apartment in Mohilev on the Dnieper was not becoming out of date. Among other publi- a veritable greenhouse. In the years before my cations were Zew Mlodych (Youth Call) of bar-mitzva I studied a lot of Talmud . I also suc- Hashomer Hatzair, with articles by Richard ceeded in learning Hebrew, Russian and arith- Weintraub and Rivkah Gurfein; WDrodze (On metic." (pp 7-8 in aforementioned book) the Way), with articles by Pinhas Lubianiker In 1888, at the age of 16, Pinski wrote a (Lavon) and Oser Obarzanski (Lodz), Oser story in Russian in which the hero, a young Huldai (one of the founders of Kibbutz Hulda) Jewish lawyer, falls in love weith the daughter and clippings of Pinski's "The Generation of of a Russian general, marries her, and con- Noah Edon ." The latter were characterized verts . After the wedding, however, he begins generally by a reflection on the relationships attending synagogue services and weeps dur- among parents, grandparents and grandchil- ing the prayers . Even in this early story one dren in American Jewish homes . could see Pinski's inclination to drama . Several years later, when David Pinski visited Poland with his wife Hodel, he met not n 1891, at the age of 19, Pinski decided to go only loyal readers but those who held his literary-social path in high esteem to Vienna to study medicine (although he . And as a sign of neverI pursued the idea) this close and warm relationship, the Poale- . The road to Vienna led through Warsaw, where he met I . L. Peretz, Zion named their largest school in Vilna after who was already (in Pinski's words) "the rising him. star in the firmament of Yiddish literature . His Where did the roots of his artistic creativity 'Monish,' his `Venus and Shulamith,' his 'Fa- lie? In his Selected Work (two volumes pub- miliar Pictures' and especially his first volume lished with the help of the Farband Labor of `Yiddishe Bibliotek' made him very popular ." Zionist Order and Machlaka L'Tarbut U'1'khin- Ephraim Auerbach once wrote that gener-

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1997 25 ally the Yiddish reader is in error when he cretly and peforming it in concealed places, thinks that Peretz was a strong influence on hope lives deep -just as the seed lies deep in Pinski. The truth is that the much younger the ground, but the bread grows mightily out Pinski led Peretz onto the path of social the- of the earth . . . matic (Goldene Keyt, 1972) . Pinski influenced Among the new ideological dramas of David Peretz to look at Jewish reality not with "ro- Pinski are "The Story about a Hungry Man," mantic eyes" but with passion and artistic pro- which was published in New York in 1910 by test. This should come as no surprise . The first "International Library." Concerning the re- social story in Yiddish (Auerbach argued) sponse to this play, its tone and the newness of which is rooted in the very soil of Jewishness its idea, Zalman Schneur wrote : 'At that time I is Pinski's "On the Job," about a matzo bakery had already read a great deal about hunger whose workers are young shtetl men and wo- and pain and a deep impression was left upon men who labor under difficult conditions . Pin- me by the sadly famous Knut Hamsun ; by Ben ski does not write about them pityingly but Ami's tearfully glowing `Little Drama ;' by with militant outrage. Avrom Reisin's `Nasherke' about a young girl In the history of Yiddish drama one thinks who is punished for munching away a whole of the publication of Pinski's "The Family Zvi" onion. It was not hunger itself and its pain that as a critical date . Pinski, who wrote this play were new. The newness in Pinski's story of after the pogroms in Russia, told about this hunger was the sharp protest, the resistance of story in the previously cited "Selected Works" the starving individual against the entire soci- (Haifa, 1963) : "In 1904, Arkady Kramer, foun- ety, the demand (accompanied by the clenched der and leader of the Bund, visited the United fist) for its share of life . . ." (Goldene Keyt). States. We were already friends and I read my new play to him, the first act of which had not f a similar nature is Pinski's drama "The been passed by the Russian censor . Kramer Mute Messiah ." The very idea of placing immediately took the story from me to publish 0on the stage a mute person who is a messiah it by the Bund in Geneva . Early in 1905 the and who wishes to bring salvation to the play appeared with a foreword taken from my world, evoked doubt and amazement . Skeptics letter to the publisher." asked : How can a messiah be mute when his Immediately after the play appeared, drama task consists in speaking to people? The idea groups began organizing to produce it . From was that in a redeemer the words are not the Tsarist Russia the movement spread to Galicia main thing; it is the deeds that count (Ephraim and it became a favorite among Jewish stu- Auerbach). dents in various universities in Europe . The The theme and the ideas these works pro- impression made upon the masses must have pounded were in accord with David Pinski's been a very strong one and its influence very view of literature and his faith in mankind and widespread . It called attention to the various in the world of tomorrow. For Pinski, literature leanings among the people and contributed a had a clear and positive role . Its goal was to great deal to the organization of the Jewish awaken and develop in the human being the self-defense movement. (Pinski's evaluation) exaltation that lies deep within him . Predomi- nant in literature must be a healthy, humanis- ionist youth, too, said Pinski, organized tic idea. ("Great Friend of Humanity" was the amateur troupes to perform "The Family title of Pinski's first story.) This idea (he wrote) ZZvi." The slogan "if we can't live like mentshn, demands the liberation of the working-man then we must be able to die like mentshn" was and deliverance for the Jewish people . enunciated by the Zionist Lippman . And did The great value placed on Pinski's dramas this not become the slogan of the Jewish self- is attested to, among other things, by these two defense? The old magid Moshe Zevi para- facts: When Habimah celebrated its 35th year, phrased it this way: "If we cannot live as Jews, it could find no play better suited for this occa- then we must be able to die like Jews!" But in sion than David Pinski's Ha-yehudi ha-nitzchi this version it became a battle-cry, a battle-cry (The Eternal Jew), a play which emphasizes that was shot through with glowing faith in the eternal Jewish legend of Moshiakh, who victory. In his introduction to the drama Pinski was born on the day of the destruction of the says that although people are reading it se- Temple. During the Zionist Congress in Zurich

26 JEWISH FR(

(1929), when the Jewish Agency was founded, during their stay in the United States, or dis- Hanna Rovina appeared in a program honor- cussing development programs for "Young ing the delegates. Her lamentation for Moshi- Poalei Zion," but also at his daily duties and akh's mother at the Wailing Wall (from "The appointments. Following is a report in the Yid- Eternal Jew") shook up the delegates. For disher Kemfer in the 1930s : "Chaver David the first time she had created the concept of a Pinski this week was on a lecture tour for the "national actress" in the Hebrew theater Farband Labor Zionist Order. From Wednes- lexicon. day January 3 to Sunday January 6 he will be in Detroit, where larger meetings have been et us remember, said Aaron Zeitlin when arranged for the clubs and branches of the Far- he was awarded the David Pinski prize by band and a number of lectures on literary and theL City of Haifa, that Pinski wrote no less cultural-social questions. During his present than 60 and probably more than 70 dramatic tour Chaver Pinski will also visit Akron, Wind- works. And according to Pinski's close friends, sor, Toledo, Hamilton, Chicago and a few other in the last year of his life, his dream was to cities." (Cited in Bleter fun Poalei Zion-Hitach- revive the figure of A.D. Gordon. dut, Tel Aviv, August 1947) David Pinski did not seclude himself in the On Peretz's 30th yortseit David Pinski wrote artist's "ivory tower." He himself was part of the following about him in Zukunft : "In his Jewish reality. This novelist, playwright, liter- writings, the longer ones and the shorter ones, ary publicist, political journalist was also a in his stories and dramas as well as in his fighter and builder. When Pinhas Rutenberg essays on public affairs, he gives us the essence arrived in America and proposed the idea of a of our people, its morals and its ethics, its com- Jewish Congress, his weekly newspaper was passion and its feelings for justice, its respect not only printed by the Pinski-Mazel Press for human beings and for humanism ." (Pinski and Jacob Mazel were partners in a These words reflect Pinski's own essence, print-shop in the Bowery) but Pinski also gave his own path as a writer and thinker in Russia, him his full cooperation in the ideological America and the State of Israel . Upon this rich sense. and creative path David Pinski was both the The editorial staff of the Yiddisher Kemfer friend of the written word and its guide (he went through various stages of development . was President of the Farband - Jewish Na- There was a time when it consisted of Ber tional Workers Alliance - for a number of Borochov, Joel Entin and David Pinski, but years beginning in 1933 until his aliyah to with the passage of time Pinski remained the Haifa in 1950 .), and primarily the poet and sole editor (around 1917) . playwright whom the muse did not deter from being also a fighter and a builder. 0 ne could see David Pinski not only at Omeetings with Ben-Gurion and Ben-Zvi

1'?iW 171 t77iX'l The Blacksmith's Folly A musical drama based on the classical book by DAVID PINSKI will open the 1997/98 season of the FOLKSBIENE YIDDISH THEATER in New York City November 1, 1997 Live simultaneous English & Russian translations . For information call : (212) 755-2231

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1997 27 BOOKS

MODERN YIDDISH CULTI The Story of the Yiddish Language Movemer By Emanuel S. Goldsmith

(wisely glossed as ration schaft des Judentums, th( ith the recent publication of a new, up- trialization and geopoli dated edition of his impassioned historical W cations, as well as the cl retrospective and assessment of a century of immediately preceding th, Yiddishism, Emanuel S . Goldsmith has pro- ence in 1908. The biogr~ vided the Jewish scholar and concerned lay- participation in that lands man alike with a developmental perspective the architects (of the ea based on hard data and a vista of the putative : yohu Mieses, Yitzhok Le, benefits of persistence in affirming the future Zhitlovsky and Nathan . of Jewishness through Yiddish sented in sympathetic det First issued in 1976 under the title Archi- lae of their Yiddishist role tects ofYiddishism at the Beginning ofthe 20th three or four decades of Century and now as Modern Yiddish Culture, two chapters alone, The The Story of the Yiddish Language Movement, and Yiddishism and Juu Goldsmith's 1997 enhanced edition arrives on price of the book . the literary scene at a watershed period in The Yiddishists, Golds: Jewish life, when all the certainties and issues that the Yiddish langual that shaped a century of existential expansion the ghetto and become of from parochialism to westernization are threa- of Jewish life, a major fa( tened with destabilization, when conspicuous tion of Jewry and a prom: fundamentalism and galloping attrition are the disintegration and ( ripping apart the weave of Yiddishkeyt (Jew- alty and identity. The re( ishness!) in opposing polarities, away from ment of Yiddish (they bf gravitational centrality, from Peoplehood . In the survival and growth particular, at this fin-de-siecle when most of ing of Yiddish culture w the approximately four to five million Jews, ish renaissance and the even after the Holocaust, whose natural ver- respect over self-abasem nacular was Yiddish have passed into eternity, the entry of the Jewish r when the cause of Yiddish and Yiddish culture the twentieth century a - once valiantly supported by ideologues, ers, with a significant c nationalist seers and publicists - has become could make a contributi' vested in a narrower cadre of scholars, of sin- Professor Goldsmith - cere but unpolished preservationists and, yes, Reconstructionist rabb of nostalgia seekers, this sober, readable, and who teaches at Queen . substantive volume is a more than welcome City and is a member o addition to the Jewish bookshelf Jewish Frontier - is ha nest convictions about 1 fairly brief preamble to Modern Yiddish bilities of Yiddish as a i ACulture guides the reader through the would have thought th early history of the Yiddish language and its the Hebrew-vs-Yiddish. rootedness in Ashkenaz, through the turmoil and the issues had Ion of the European Enlightenment, of Haskalah

2 8 Instead, the bitterness and obduracy of shelilat the Jewish people requires openness and re- hagolah, denigration of the Diaspora, linger to sponsiveness to all Jewish generations and to this day in Israel and elsewhere, among both the totality of our heritage . Once again the stone that the builders rejected must become literati and well-heeled arbiters of culture, the chief cornerstone . . . Even the secularism communal leaders, and most certainly in the or anti-clericalism of Yiddishism, despite its area of Jewish education . misreading of Jewish history, has a role to play in the present . For modern Jews who tend to see authentic Eastern European Jew- f the revolting aspects of Borscht Belt humor ry in one-dimensional religious terms, it can are fading out, this is due in greater mea- serve as a reminder of the complexity of East- sureI to temporal rather than aesthetic causes, ern European Jewish society. Jewish plural- while contemporary "Yiddish entertainment" ism was already in the making in Eastern on the level of the lowest common denominator Europe in the nineteenth century when new forms of Judaism were aborning. or still defies those who invest time, money, and Teshuvah return to Judaism can legitimately take many heartache to raise expectations and standards . forms . . . .Yiddishism must no longer content A random collection of errors in "Yiddish" itself with being a trend . It must become part usage flaunted by singers and entertainers, of the Jewish consciousness of every Jew." writers and journalists, rabbis, lecturers and Perhaps Goldsmith's impelling book ought VIPs "who think they know" is enough to make to be included in the required reading list for one cringe with embarrassment . aspiring students in all aspects of Judaica and Moreover, Yiddish as a national emblem, communal work and to be billed as recom- Yiddish language and culture, and hothouse mended reading for incumbents in education Yiddishism have been appropriated into the and leadership . arsenal of gender politics, fringe-group liberal- At the moment, their unabashed ignorance ism, identity crises and Jewish victimhoods. of the history and momentum of the language Groups and groupies have adopted Mame- which served almost a millennium of Ash- Loshn to do battle with conventional Jewish kenaz, of its more recent era of literary and life, with the synagogue, with rejected parent- national glory, is almost a given . Greater hood and societal abuse and family norms, real awareness of Yiddish significance for our very or imagined - all in the name of our cuddly, future could help eradicate the unwarranted warm, true Jewish Mother who is folksy, em- prejudice and animus we bear one another. [-] bracing, accepting, in whose bosom both the REVIEWED BY CHAVA REICH stumbling and the strident are loved equally. That there is no basis for justification in these claims to possession seems not to matter a whit. This is hardly the rubric for a refutation Tashlih of some of the bloated nonsense, invariably flawed, mired in ignorance and often destruc- An ocean wasn't big enough to hold my sins, tive which hinders the grounding of sound and but still I came to this Jersey beach, proliferative all-Jewish Yiddish . schlepping two stale hoagie rolls and a heavy heart . he fact, for instance, that our grandmoth- After mumbling most of the right words ers chanted Got fun Avrom at the close of I cast my bread into the salty waters . theT Sabbath (and let us not forget that in frum Gulls swooped in on cue, but not redemption . circles even young women do so today, in Yid- Could Ezekiel have been wrong? dish) does not cast Yiddish onto a trajectory of He argued for symbolism long before Freud, feminism . There is good reason to attribute the imagining sins falling from our eyes authorship of this prayer to Rabbi Levi Yit- like scales, purity rising out of the ocean skhok Berditshever and adequate testimony more spectacularly than the birth of Greek that he recited it weekly and urged his Has- gods? sidim (i .e. men) to follow his example. On the edge of the world, I hoped against In a ringing salute to Yiddish, Professor hope Goldsmith appeals to the modern Jew : he was right, and that God will recombine "Today, more than ever, Judaism needs Yid- these crumbs into the prayers I cannot pray . dishism. Now, more than ever, the survival of - Sanford Pinsker

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1997 29

A.F.T. Protests Arrest NA'AMAT USA of Palestinian celebrates Israel's Teachers 50th Birthday by expanding the vital Na'amat institutions pon learning of the Palestinian Author- serving the working women, Uity's detention of striking teachers in April, the Jewish Labor Committee, of which the Labor new immigrants and Zionist Alliance is an affiliate, requested the as- children of Israel . sistance of the American Federation of Teach- ers in this matter . The newly elected AFT President, Sandra Feldman, sent the following letter to Yasir Arafat : Q,p,MAT U S Dear President Arafat : • • -V On behalf of the 940,000 members of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, I ~ JyY, 1 am writing to strongly protest the arrest of 25 teachers by the security forces of the Palestin- ian National Authority on April 21, 1997. These teachers who are leaders of their union Dina Spector, National President were among the 15,000 government school teachers who were on strike to demand im- proved salaries and working conditions . It has been reported that these teachers were wrongfully detained and interrogated for THE LABOR ZIONIST FAMILY OF their role in the strike and that, in conjunction METROPOLITAN DETROIT with the strike, at least 19 teachers were fired Extends Warmest wishes for a from their teaching positions . In addition, we Happy, Healthy & Peaceful 5758 understand that the PNA authorities threat- ened to arrest every teacher taking part in the strike at the Homeland School, and that a teacher-union meeting had to be canceled as a result of PNA authority closing the meeting LABOR ZIONIST ALLIANCE OF place. METROPOLITAN DETROIT These actions clearly violate workers' rights Dena G . Greenberg, President including freedom of association and the right to strike guaranteed under International Labor Organization conventions, numbers 87, 98 and 151 . We strongly urge you to ensure LABOR ZIONIST INSTITUTE that neither PNA police nor security forces in- Helen Naimark, President terfere in legitimate labor actions of teachers to improve their working conditions . We also urge you to use your authority to guarantee NA'AMAT USA the full rights of Palestinian teachers to associ- GREATER DETROIT COUNCIL ate freely with their colleagues and to organize Evelyn Noveck, President trade unions as they choose, without fear of being intimidated, arrested, fired or facing other persecution for exercising their rights as HABONIM/DROR workers. 0

3 0 JEWISH FRON

NATIONAL: LZA salutes Sidney and Shula The students - 3 occupational therapy majors, Troy of Lakewood, New Jersey, for their gener- one travel and tourism major and one account- ous contribution and fund-raising effort to ing major - were placed on job assignments to finance the 1997 Israeli speaker tour featuring reinforce their educational and career aspira- Professor Moshe Kerem of Kibbutz Gesher tions. The Foundation's gift to each student Haziv, Haifa University and the Oranim helps pay for room and board . IHF mobilizes School of Education . support for social and educational programs MIAMI BEACH : Shevie Barland and Sarah in Israel, Israeli health care facilities and Kaufman, co-presidents of the Chaim Weiz- other special projects in Israel and the United mann Branch of LZA, arranged a significant States. grant from their Branch to the National LZA CHICAGO : Phyllis Sutker, past National as a memorial to Moe Levin, Founder and first President of Na'amat USA, will be honored President of the Branch. The grant will be used September 21st by the Chicago Labor Zionist to further Labor Zionist activities and pro- family at a festive public gathering in Skokie . grams to attract new, younger members to the Participating in the program will be Yehiel movement . Leket, member of the World Zionist Executive ISRAEL BONDS : The Labor Zionist Division and head of the Rural and Urban Development of the State of Israel Bonds in New York, in Department of the Jewish Agency for Israel; cooperation with LZA Masada Branch 402, the LZA President Daniel Mann; and Esther Zack- Holocaust Survivors Organization, will usher ler, former National President of Na'amat USA in Israel's 50th anniversary of Independence and past president of Association of Americans at a gala dinner-dance Saturday, October 25th and Canadians in Israel . at Temple Hillel, in Brooklyn . Isaac Pulver- Phyllis Sutker is a life-long Labor Zionist macher, national chairman of the LZA Bonds and a lay leader in world Jewish affairs . She effort, will recognize 13 distinguished leaders has represented the American Labor Zionist for their ongoing support of Israel and the Movement on the Executive of the World Zion- American Jewish community . For further ist Organization, and attended five World information about the event call (212) 644- Zionist Congresses . This year she was elected a 2663x388 . Lifetime "Honorary Fellow" of the World Zion- ISRAEL HISTADRUT FOUNDATION : Five ist Organization . Phyllis holds a master's de- LaGuardia Community College students have gree in social service administration from the participated this summer in a work - intern- University of Chicago where she was named to ship program in Israel under the aegis of IHF . Phi Beta Kappa . El

Congratulations and Best Wishes to DINA SPECTOR SAM RABINOWITZ Z"L on her election as National President of Na'amat USA • Devoted Chaver and to • Dedicated Histadrut worker SAMUEL NORICH • Loyal Labor Zionist on his election as General Manager of the Irving & Dena Greenberg Forward Association Southfield Michigan Daniel & Elaine Mann

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1997 31

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3 2 JEWISH FRONTII