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. BIBI'S ZIONISM'S WHAT AILS N TROUBLES ENTU R ZIONISM?

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Books 29 Nahum Guttman REUVEN SHILOAH: The Man Behind Editor I the Mossad, by HAGGAI ESHED Eric Silver "TO MY MEMORY SING" 31 by ROSALIND BYRON CHAIKIN Nahum Guttman NOTE TO SUBSCRIBERS If you plan to move, please notify Letters 25 us six weeks in advance . Contributors 16

JEWISH FRONTIER (ISSN-0021-6453) is published bi-monthly by Labor Zionist JEWISH FRONTIER Letters, Inc . Editorial and advertising offices at 275 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001 . Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY . POSTMASTER : Send address changes to Circulation, Jewish Frontier, 275 Seventh Avenue, 17th Floor, New York, 275 Seventh Avenue NY 10001 . Subscription rates for U.S . and possessions, $15 .00 per year for 6 issues, $25 .00 for 17th Floor two years for 12 issues . Add $2 .50 for Canada . All other countries - $20 .00 per year; New York, NY 10001 All foreign subscribers - remit in U .S. dollars drawn on a U .S. bank . Back issues- payable in advance at $5.00 each . Telephone : (212) 229-2280 Editorial / article contributions should be sent to the editorial office and be accom- panied by return postage . Editorial and advertising rates available on request. (212) 366-1194 All material (unless otherwise noted) ©1997 Jewish Frontier . Signed articles do not necessarily reflect the official position of JEWISH FRONTIER . Fax: (212) 675-7685 JEWISH FRONTIER is available on microfilm from : University Microfilm, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 . Distributed by Bernhard De Boer, Inc ., 113 East Centre St ., Nutley, NJ 07110.

3 ISRAEL

BIBI'S TROUBLES By Misha Louvish

1 1s the first Prime Minister of Israel direct- This "smelly maneuver," as it was widely ly elected by the entire adult population, "Bibi" dubbed, was unsuccessful, but it convinced Binyamin Netanyahu has unprecedented pow- many of the need for a fundamental change, ers, but he also faces unprecedented problems . and an association headed by Professor Uriel The old method had obvious faults, but many Reichman persuaded a narrow majority in the people feel that the disadvantages of the new Knesset to pass a law providing for the holding method outweigh its merits. of two votes : one for prime minister, on an indi- In Israeli elections the voters have to choose vidual basis, and the other for the Knesset between lists of candidates submitted by the according to the old system . various parties, and the 120 members of the This change in Israel's constitution has had a single-chamber Knesset are slotted in propor- marked effect on the party political map . It has tion to the votes obtained by each list. enabled the electors to split their votes, sup- Until last year, after the results were an- porting one of the candidates for prime minister nounced, the President (who is himself elected without necessarily backing his party . by the Knesset, but has very limited execu- As a result, there are no less than eight par- tive powers) consulted the representatives ties represented in the government coalition of the parties and called upon the Knesset today, and any one of these parties could de- member regarded as most likely to succeed to prive it of its majority by defecting. form a coalition which would obtain a vote of The largest party, the Likud, won only 22 confidence. seats at last year's general election, and it is At this point a most unedifying series of actually outnumbered by the alliance of reli- intrigues usually ensued, with parties de- gious parties, which has a total of 23 . The manding the most prestigious and potentially Likud, however, had formed a single list with profitable posts as the price of their support . two smaller parties: Gesher ("Bridge"), headed Until 1977 the Labor Party dominated the by Foreign Minister David Levy, which stresses scene and was always able to form a coalition social problems, and Tsomet ("Crossroads"), led government, but since the late Menahem by Raphael Eitan, the hawkish Minister of Begin's victory in that year there has been a Agriculture, a former army chief of staff. constant struggle between Labor and the anti- This gives the alliance a total of 32 seats, socialist Likud, with the two parties some- almost equal to Labor's 34, and the coalition times in alliance in "national unity" govern- has a total of 66 . There have been ominous ments, and always in competition. rumblings from Levy in connection with the The intrigues involved in forming and main- peace process and from his supporters in re- taining coalition governments brought the sys- gard to budgetary problems . tem into disrepute, and the climax came in I leave it to Frontier readers to compare the 1990, when Shimon Peres tried to bribe Avra- new Israeli system with that of the United ham Sharir, a prominent member of the Likud, States . The directly elected Israeli prime to join his coalition by offering him ministerial minister is not in the same position as an office not only in the present Knesset but also American president, but it is very difficult - in the next one if Labor would again be able to almost impossible - to get rid of him. Accord- form a coalition. ing to the new law, he can be deposed by a vote

JEWISH FRONTIER

of eighty members of the Knesset . media that if he had known in advance about He could also have to face the electorate the operation in Amman, he would have op- again if the Knesset decided on new elections, posed it. but then the MKs too would have to risk their Security, too, is relevant to the latest Netan- seats - a prospect that must give them pause . yahu scandal: about a statement whispered to (One Gesher member, however, has called for the noted Kabbalist Rabbi Kedouri and caught new elections in which his faction would be by the microphone . "The Left," the Prime Min- independent .) ister said, "have forgotten what it is to be A third possibility which would unseat the Jews. They give the Arabs a piece of land, and prime minister would be his failure to pass the rely on them to protect us!" annual budget in time, but this, too, would In spite of the official spokesman's effort to compel the Knesset members to stand for re- explain away this statement, there has been election. Although such an eventuality is not wide-spread indignation at the slur against very likely, it must be taken into account half the nation contained in the first sentence . in view of the complaints from Gesher, Equally if not more objectionable, however, is the National Religious Party and Yisrael Ba- the demagogic smear against the Oslo agree- aliyah, the new-immigrant party headed ments contained in the second . by Natan Sharansky, that the draft budget What we are talking about is the Rabin- does not provide the promised benefits for Peres government's historic efforts to open the their constituents . way to a resolution of a century of conflict be- tween the Jewish national movement and the he peace process presents Netanyahu with Palestinian Arabs. These are the Oslo accords, problems which, on the face of it, appear to which the Likud and the rest of the right wing beT insoluble. He never tires of proclaiming fiercely denounced when they were concluded, that, unlike the weak-kneed Labor leaders, he but which Prime Minister Netanyahu has un- will achieve not only peace with the Palestini- dertaken to honor because they were signed by ans and the Syrians but peace with security. a legitimate Israeli government. Without these Security, however, is easier to talk about accords, Netanyahu could not even begin to than to ensure, as the nation has learned . think about peace with Arafat, and his state- Hamas, the intransigent Palestinian move- ment casts a lurid light on the sincerity of his ment, has succeeded in perpetrating three ter- promises of peace. rorist outrages, with many casualties . That is Levy has been digging in his heels in order not Netanyahu's fault; security depends not to get government authority for the con- on government declarations of principle but cessions that he believes necessary in order to on constant vigilance by the secret services, promote agreement with the Palestinians . It is which continue no matter which politician is in very doubtful, however, if this prime minister charge. and this coalition can agree to terms that any Bibi's claims sound particularly hollow in Palestinian leadership will accept. If Netan- the light of the disastrous results of an opera- yahu were inclined to offer real self-govern- tion for which he cannot avoid personal respon- ment - let alone statehood - he would be in sibility as the minister in charge of the secret deep trouble with his right wing, as well as service. This was the failed attempt to assassi- with the National Religious Party, which nate a Hamas leader living in Amman, which opposes any compromise, especially on the not only had a ruinous effect on relations with question of the Jewish settlements in the occu- Jordan but compelled Netanyahu to release pied territories . Arab prisoners, notably the Hamas leader, The Likud also has internal problems . Two Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, to obtain the release of of its most prominent members, former the two Israeli agents arrested during the Finance Minister Dan Meridor and Binyamin operation. Begin (son of the former Likud leader) re- The release of the Sheikh, who returned in signed from their posts during the last year, triumph to Gaza, gave a fillip to Hamas and and Begin is not the only Likud member thus had a negative influence on security who would try to torpedo any effort that Ne- prospects. Foreign Minister David Levy, the tanyahu might make to carry out the Oslo Gesher leader, took the trouble to tell the obligations . F1

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1997 5 THE KNESSET WINTER SESSION By Susan Hattis Rolef

he Knesset's winter session opened - as The Netanyahu, who whispered words of Tevery year - right after Sukkoth, with some incitement into the ear of Kadourie, is the pretty heavy business : a political announce- same Netanyahu, who upon being elected ment by the Prime Minister, a vote on a motion Prime Minister some 17 months ago made the of no-confidence in the Prime Minister and the following statement in his victory speech : "The first reading of the state budget for 1998 . All Israeli society is blessed by many shades and this took place against a background of grow- various streams . The unity among us must ing mistrust in Binyamin Netanyahu from all manifest itself in the nurturing of tolerance, possible political quarters, on a growing num- and mutual respect for that which is different, ber of counts . to the other . . . I am talking about fair cooper- Though the Meshal affair - the bungled ation among all parts of the public in Israel, attempt by the Mossad to liquidate a top while preserving the balance among the differ- Hamas man in Amman - was the Prime Min- ent weltanschauungs . . . That is our way, that ister's worst faux pas in the course of October is our approach and we shall act accordingly. (the affair won him the title of "Israel's serial These principles are rooted in the Jewish tra- bungler" from the London Economist), the at- dition, and it is the basis for unity of the peo- tacks on the Prime Minister as the Knesset ple." Fine words indeed, but like many fine winter session opened, concentrated on what words uttered by Netanyahu, totally meaning- he had whispered in the ear of the old mystic less when confronted with the test of reality . Rabbi Kadourie - writer of charms and be- stower of blessings - several days before the A s it were, as soon as the Prime Minister session opened, as both celebrated their birth- ounted the rostrum in the Knesset to be- days: the old mystic his hundredth, Netanyahu gin his speech on October 27, Knesset Mem- his 48th. bers from the Labor Opposition got up waving "The people of the Left have forgotten what banners with the words : "I am a proud Jew", it is to be a Jew," an ITV microphone caught and after the Knesset ushers tore the banners Netanyahu whispering, which in conjunction away upon the Speaker's instructions, Netan- with the issue of the Conversion Law seemed yahu had the following message for the people : to add another totally unwelcome and super- "There is no other democratic country in which fluous element of divisiveness into the Jewish the Opposition attacks the elected government existence . Efforts by Netanyahu to convince so viciously as the opposition does in Israel . . . the public that his words had been taken out of You incite, deny, join every attack by any person context (they always are, according to him, in the world against the elected government in though it is not so easy to discover what the Israel, because your lust for power is without context is!) and should have been understood any barriers and with no inhibitions . . ." in conjunction with the next sentence about the Left having handed Israel's security over abor leader Ehud Barak, who since his to the Arabs(!?), didn't make much of an im- election as party chairman last June has pression on anyone . One was left wondering triedL to maintain a reserved and guarded de- why our Prime Minister couldn't have simply meanor (much to the chagrin of most party done what President Weizman did several members), finally took off his gloves, attacked days later, when he got into trouble with the the Prime Minister head on for his words to haredim for criticizing Moses (biblical Moses) Kadourie, and, against the background of the and simply said : "I am sorry if anyone was approaching second anniversary of Yitzhak hurt by what I said." But that would have been Rabin's assassination, said the following about too simple. Netanyahu: "Let us remember who stood on

6 JEWISH FRONTIER the balcony at Kikar Zion when pictures of the the vote finally took place, many implied Prime Minister of Israel in SS uniform were promises were made, and there is sure to be a being burnt. Let us remember who `danced on lot of blackmailing within the Coalition before the blood' (took cynical advantage of the blood the budget finally gets through on December - SHR) near bus number 5 (the Palestinian ter- 31, 1997, or soon thereafter. rorist attack on bus number 5 in Tel Aviv in 1995 - SHR). Let us remember who marched at is one to make of the events of the (in a demonstration before Rabin's assassina- last several weeks? There are really tion - SHR) with a coffin behind him bearing three basic conclusions . The first is that Prime the name of an Israeli Prime Minister. I advise Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who is without you to shut up." "500 days after the elections of doubt an intelligent and capable man (how 1996," Barak concluded his first real opposi- otherwise would he have finished a degree in tion speech, "we are standing before a broken architecture and a degree in business adminis- basin. Failures in all sphere, from the (Has- tration at M .I.T., and been offered the opportu- monean) tunnel and the Bar-On affair, through nity to do a doctorate in political science at the Ras al-Amud and to the last fiasco in Amman . same university?), ought to count to ten before Mounting unemployment, a retreat in edu- he opens his mouth. This would save both him cation, and new immigrants that are being and his loyal assistants the need to explain neglected. Netanyahu has failed . . ." things that cannot be explained . "A clever man Two days later the Knesset was embroiled manages to get out of situations that a wise in another drama, passing the state budget in man would never get into," is a popular saying, first reading. It is usually the Opposition that which seems well suited to Netanyahu . attacks the budget, and when Labor was in The second conclusion is that there is some- power the Likud Opposition used to put on a thing very faulty with the decision-making pretty good show, bringing hundreds if not process in the government, and all of Netan- thousands of reservations, and doing the term yahu's promises since the beginning of the "filibuster" proud . But this year the Opposition year that he would mend his ways have re- seemed to be superfluous . "Bibi, stand behind mained little more than words . The third is me," Minister of Finance Ya'acov Ne'eman was that Netanyahu's government is probably one heard pleading with Prime Minister Binya- of the most incoherent and undisciplined gov- min Netanyahu in a telephone conversation ernments that Israel has ever had (and Israel from a phone booth outside the MKs' restau- has certainly had some incoherent and undis- rant in the Knesset on the day of the debate ciplined governments in its day), but that it and vote on the budget . "If you will stand will probably survive until the next elections behind me, they will come to vote," he contin- are held in the year 2000, unless Netanyahu ued. "They are mad . How much have you given decides that he would like early elections . them?" - "they" and "them" being the Coali- The reason why despite everything early tion members . elections seem improbable, is that it is quite No one in the Coalition seemed to be pleased unlikely that enough Knesset members will be with Ne'eman's rather tight, 207.4 billion willing to bring Netanyahu down by a vote of shekel budget, of which 32 .3% is earmarked no-confidence and thus also bring about early for debt service (compared to 44 .1% in 1988), elections for the 15th Knesset . In the mean- 17.6% for security (compared to 19 .7), 28.5% time, Netanyahu's people are busy trying to for transfer and support payments (compared get the institution of primaries for the Likud to 19.4%) and 15 .2% for civilian expenditure Knesset list abolished, in order to ensure that (compared to 10 .2%). However, only Gesher the Likud list towards the next elections will (David Levy's party) ended up not voting for be more congenial to Netanyahu . The fact that the budget in first reading . Of the five mem- he is antagonizing some central figures in the bers of Gesher, two voted against the bud- Likud - including his former colleague Minis- get and three (including Levy himself) were ter of Communications Limor Livnat, Minister absent . Gesher's complaint was that the of Defense Yitzhak Mordechai (who has just proposed budget is anti-social . Though on married a young woman half his age), Minister Ne'eman's insistence no fast promises were of Infrastructures Ariel Sharon, and the may- made to any of the coalition members before (continued on page 17)

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1997 7 ZIONISM

TOWARD THE SECOND CENTURY By Daniel Mann

fter the celebration, what comes next? and a recognition of Israel's crucial place in AThat question has been at the center of the Jewish consciousness that had been latent deliberations and activities of the Labor Zion- until then. In 1968 the 27th World Zionist Con- ist Alliance throughout 1997, and now merits gress adopted a revised "Jerusalem Program" the attention of our entire membership and that stated as the first aim of Zionism "the other readers of the Jewish Frontier. unity of the Jewish people and the centrality of "Celebration" refers to the centennial of or- Israel in Jewish life ." In my opinion, it is still a ganized Zionism, marking 100 years since the valid formulation . first World Zionist Congress convened by Two years later, the late Louis Pincus, Theodor Herzl in Basle, Switzerland in August Labor Zionist head of the WZO in Israel, and 1897. By extension it also refers to the jubilee Max Fisher of Detroit, universally respected to anniversary of the 1947 United Nations deci- this day as a central figure in Israel-Diaspora sion on the partition of Mandatory Palestine relations, took the initiative to conclude an and the establishment of the State of Israel agreement calling for the "reconstitution" of in 1948 . Indeed, Herzl anticipated that con- the Jewish Agency for Israel . That body, until nection in his private prediction that no then essentially identical with the WZO, more than 50 years following that first Zion- emerged as a 50 :50 partnership between the ist Congress the Jews will have established WZO, representing Zionist membership orga- their state . One cannot imagine any more nizations worldwide and the Israeli political powerful reasons for celebration than those system, on one side, and the central commu- anniversaries . nity funding instrumentalities for Israel in the But their significance is enhanced to the Diaspora, on the other - in the United States, extent that they motivate us to build on them the United Israel Appeal (de facto, the federa- as we plan the future . And in fact much of the tions); elsewhere, including our neighboring Zionist world as we have known it for at least Canada, Keren Hayesod . a quarter century is already undergoing major A division of labor between the two compo- transformation this year, under the impact of nents, reflecting complex legal, fiscal, ideologi- two developments: the restructuring of the cal, and socio-psychological considerations, World Zionist Organization (WZO) and the continued to evolve in the ensuing years . Most Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), which was ap- notably, earlier in the present decade a range proved by the pertinent governing bodies in of educational and youth programs were June and will take effect this coming Janu- brought together in a semi-autonomous insti- ary 1 ; and the recently concluded election of tution called the Joint Authority for Jewish- the American delegates to the 33rd World Zionist Education . (The very name reveals its Zionist Congress, which will convene in Jeru- hybrid nature .) Meanwhile, in the past two salem at the end of December. decades the WZO and its counterparts in key Diaspora countries, particularly the American o understand the latest reorganization of Zionist Movement, have welcomed the entry of JAFI, one has to go back some three significant sectors of organized Jewish life pre- decades,T to the Six-Day War of 1967 and its viously not part of the Zionist structure - new aftermath, during which Israel and the Dias- Zionist membership frameworks like ARZA pora demonstrated an awareness of each other and MERCAZ of the Reform and Conservative

8 JEWISH FRONTIER movements, respectively, and, through affilia- admittedly not all) of us see it as another Zion- tion on an institutional level, major organiza- ist achievement in that all of World Jewry is tions such as B'nai B'rith . At the same time, now ready to implement what heretofore had "nonpartisan" personalities from the totality of been limited to the Zionist movement . A major Israeli socio-economic life joined the represen- example of that progress is the readiness of the tatives of the all-important political parties in entire Jewish Agency, including the commu- the government of the Jewish Agency. nity federations, to accept responsibility not only for the aliyah of Jews from so-called wo years ago, when Avraham Burg of the "countries of distress" (FSU, Ethiopia, etc .) but Israel Labor Party emerged as the new also for "free aliyah" from the West, although chairmanT of the WZO and JAFI, he pushed for for the time being the immigration and absorp- a full integration of the diffuse pieces of the tion operations will continue to be handled by structure into one Israel-Diaspora 50 :50 part- the WZO. nership and even gave it a name, "Bayit," Nevertheless, we reserved some cautions which is both the Hebrew word for `home" and that apparently resonated through not only an acronym for a Hebrew phrase meaning "the the entire Labor Zionist Movement but also house of Israel and the Diaspora ." (For a de- other Zionist groupings, and in Israel and the tailed discussion of the early stages of the reor- Diaspora alike. Two in particular merit further ganization process led by Burg, see my article, discussion: the future of the WZO itself and "New Voices and Old Verities," Jewish Fron- the fate of the Zionist youth movements . The tier, September-October 1995 .) Two years of issues are interconnected . In the case of the complex negotiations ensued, involving all WZO, what will be left for it to do as of Janu- three partners in JAFI - the WZO, the United ary, when most of its current activity, includ- Israel Appeal, and Keren Hayesod, each ing its connections with the youth movements, replete with its own complex of moving pieces . will be taken over by the Jewish Agency and This past June, all three bodies and then the handled by the latter's professional staff? Jewish Agency itself approved the final text of The simple part of the response is that the the reorganization plan. WZO will have to serve its own organizational What will begin to function as of January 1, and informational needs as it continues to 1998, is a structure whose governance will con- comprise one-half of the Jewish Agency's gov- tinue as heretofore - 50% WZO (including ernance, including the complex process of Israel) and 50% Diaspora community cam- electing its own leadership, appointing its rep- paigns (30% for the USA through the United resentatives to other bodies, and communicat- Israel Appeal and the other 20% for the rest of ing with the Zionist federations and ideological the world through Keren Hayesod) . But most groupings worldwide. But under the restruc- of the action will be conducted under the aus- turing plan the very existence of the WZO is pices of the Jewish Agency, primarily through guaranteed for only two years, so before the four integrated departments : Immigration and new century arrives, basic decisions will have Absorption, still the priority concern of the to be made about the fiscal, organizational, Agency; Activities in Israel, including Partner- and programmatic operations of the WZO . And ship 2000 ; Activities in the Former Soviet that invites the even more basic question of Union, building on a remarkable record wor- mission, which ultimately can provide the only thy of a separate article ; and Jewish-Zionist viable argument for maintaining the WZO in Education, a JAFI department replacing the some form beyond simply serving as a channel aforementioned Joint Authority. All of these for representation in JAFI . departments will be run by professional staff At the LZA National Executive Committee with more accountability than heretofore to in September, Yehiel Leket presented his con- executive administration and thus relatively cept of the mission . Leket, a prominent Israeli less to the nominal co-chairs of the depart- leader of the World Labor Zionist Movement, ments chosen through the various political has held major positions in the Jewish Agency processes of WZO, UIA, and Keren Hayesod . and played a key role in shaping the final ver- sion of the restructuring agreement. While he leadership of the Labor Zionist Alliance emphasizing the pragmatic aspects of that Thas supported this plan. Many (though plan, Leket also stressed that it would require,

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1997 9 more than ever before, the input and impact of time in the last three decades there were elec- the autonomously organized and ideologically tions for delegates from the United States, attuned Zionist movement active in both Israel who together comprise 25% of the Congress . and the Diaspora . (Israel holds 38% of the seats, based on Knes- At the heart of both Burg's and Leket's set elections, while the remaining 33% is visions - and of most other Israeli leaders as reserved for the rest of the world, again includ- well - is their hope for a new department to ing our neighboring Canada .) be established within the WZO beginning next In contrast to the three previous elections, year and dedicated to Hagshamah - the clas- this time one did not automatically receive a sic concept of the realization of Zionist ideology ballot by virtue of belonging to an American through the personal example of aliyah and Zionist membership organization . Instead, one service to Israel . Many of us in the Diaspora had to actively sign up individually and even believe in that concept too . Indeed, some of us pay a modest $2 registration fee . Another feel that even though we may not (yet) have change from previous years was that Hadas- moved to Israel, our Zionist and communal sah - by far the largest organization - did endeavors in the United States owe much to not participate in the election process alto- the inspiration of the concept of Hagshamah gether, opting for a "special status" in the WZO particularly as it informed our earlier experi- and concomitant representation in the Con- ences in Zionist youth and student move- gress. (Space does not permit discussion of the ments . Nevertheless, we don't fully grasp what pros and cons of that arrangement .) And even a functional WZO Department for Hagshamah among the groups that did participate in the will do more effectively than such elements elections there was much ambivalence about of the new JAFI structure as Education and the entire project . Yet some 150,000 American Aliyah. Jews did register last spring and three-quar- It was against that background that so ters of that number returned their ballots this much concern was expressed across the board summer. about the second question above, the fate of As readers of this magazine know,, the the Zionist youth movements, at the time that American Labor Zionist Movement - the the WZO endorsed the overall restructuring Labor Zionist Alliance, NA'AMAT USA, and plan in June. Will the youth movements gain our shared youth movement Habonim Dror or lose from access to the big-league setting of North America - advocated a multi-issue the JAFI Education Department? On the other platform of peace, progress, and pluralism, not hand, if they rely for protection on the WZO, only in Israel but in America as well, and will the movements find themselves in jeop- stressed that only Labor had the standing and ardy two years hence, when the very existence strength to lead the WZO and JAFI toward of the WZO will be under review? As passed in those goals . Our slate comprised many promi- June the plan calls for the JAFI Education De- nent communal, academic, rabbinical, labor, partment to serve the needs of those move- and intellectual figures in American Jewish ments, but a resolution introduced by repre- life together with the official elected leader- sentatives of the United Kibbutz Movement ship of the movement, most of us also well- was also adopted (over establishment objec- known in the community at large; and one- tions) calling on the WZO to monitor the situa- quarter of the slate was drawn from younger tion actively. That decision has become all the age cohorts. more necessary in view of well-founded reports Everyone knew that the central issue of the that the historic system of shlichim (Israeli 1997 elections would be religious pluralism in educational emissaries) to youth movements Israel, advocated most single-mindedly by such as Habonim Dror is already threatened ARZA and MERCAZ, at a time that the Knes- with severe cutbacks over the next two years . set was threatening to enact legislation recog- nizing only Orthodox conversions within Israel ne week prior to (secular) New Year's Day, and otherwise discriminating against non- when restructuring goes into effect, the Orthodox elements - an issue that has not WorldO Zionist Congress will convene in Jeru- gone away as of this writing . Thus in a sense salem - the 33rd in number but marking the Labor's main challenge came not from parties centennial of that institution. For the fourth to the right, such as Likud or Mizrachi, but

1 0 from our natural allies in the Conservative, events that transpired last June at the Jewish Reform, and Reconstructionist movements . In Agency Assembly - the same body that gave 1987 we faced a similar situation, when ARZA final approval to the restructuring plan dis- and MERCAZ were invoking public opposition cussed in detail above . There is an important to the "Who is a Jew" threat, yet that year the line in the budget of the Jewish Agency, estab- American Labor Zionist Movement more than lished some ten years ago to "provide support held its own . This time, by contrast, while for special projects in two areas : projects which ARZA and MERCAZ together garnered three- promote religious pluralism in Israel among fourths of the total vote, Labor fell from almost the various religious streams ; and innovative, nine percent to less than three-and-a-half. creative projects for children and youth up to There are many plausible explanations for age 18." Because of the widespread unease in this setback, beyond its cyclical nature : Labor American Jewry over the projected conversion did well in 1971 and 1987, not so well in 1978 bill that threatened the level of contributions and 1997. The aforementioned ambivalence, to the annual federation campaigns - already extending to leadership at the highest levels systematically decreasing their allocations to worldwide, was one factor. Another may have the Jewish Agency while overall American been our inability to focus the attention of Jewish support for projects in Israel under the electorate on the fact that we were not various other sponsorships continues to grow voting on the government of Israel but rather - the United Israel Appeal proposed an in- the leadership of the WZO - not Ehud Barak crease in that line in the JAFI budget. How- (though of course we hope that he will be ever, the precise wording of the resolution Israel's next prime minister, and soon), but called for doubling (from $2 .5 to $5 million) Avraham Burg, who has been both outspoken funding "for programs in Israel that support and effective in support of peace, progress, and religious freedom and freedom of conscience pluralism . through programs specifically proposed by the This retrospective analysis applies in par- religious streams . . ." (In order to achieve una- ticular to many younger voters who appar- nimity JAFI has learned of late to avoid the ently supported MERETZ, the group to the left phrase "religious pluralism," apparently a red of Labor that surprised most observers by flag to even the modern Orthodox .) Every at- receiving well over four percent of the vote, on tempt by representatives of LZA, B'nai B'rith, the theory that Labor could not be trusted on Hadassah and other groups that are them- such issues as religious pluralism. The irony selves pluralistic by definition to amend the here is that the Israel Labor Party lost the proposed language, e.g., with wording like "all 1995 elections in Israel partly (among many streams of Judaism," proved unavailing . reasons) because the electorate perceived it as There is something bizarre about the resul- being too closely identified with the alleged tant situation . Do worthwhile Israel experi- secularism and pacifism of MERETZ, so now, ence programs sponsored by Habonim Dror or as the main opposition party, Labor cannot Young Judaea at kibbutzim such as Grofit or enjoy the luxury MERETZ has of ideological Keturah in the Negev, or the Kibbutz High purity. In any event, we congratulate all the School program originally at Kfar Blum and parties that participated in the election (and now at Beit Heshita, have to go to nearby kib- the American Zionist Movement for conduct- butzim affiliated with the same United Kib- ing it), and particularly ARZA, MERCAZ, and butz Movement but identified with the Reform MERETZ, and we look forward to joining with or Conservative movements to secure addi- them and perhaps some centrist factions as tional funding for their truly pluralistic and well in a broad progressive coalition at the innovative projects? How does the kibbutz- Congress, to be led by Labor and its dynamic sponsored college at Oranim, which made a candidate for reelection as chairman, Avraham presentation at that same JAFI Assembly on Burg. its programs for inculcating Judaic values in non-Orthodox education, secure additional he overwhelming success of the Reform funds for that endeavor? And where do the Tand Conservative movements in the elec- communal day schools, the Hillel foundations, tion, while welcome from several standpoints, the Jewish community centers and camps, the may also be a source of concern because of (continued on page 17)

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1997 11 ESSAY

WHAT AILS ZIONISM? By Henry L. Feingold

riginally this essay was titled "Who Killed If one means by Zionism simply support of Zionism?"O But when I realized that such a title Israel, then that preponderance continues to left no room for hope, I changed it . When some- this day. thing is ailing at least there is a chance that a But American Zionism, like the Zionism of cure will be found. I want to believe that about other western democratic states, never accep- Zionism, especially the American movement . ted the imperatives of the ideology. Scholars If one listens to the statements of Zionist tell us that American Zionism was philan- spokesmen, one would hardly surmise that thropic and lacked the passion of the Zionist there is a malaise. Again and again we are in- movement in eastern Europe . Chaim Weiz- formed that while all the other "isms" that mann later regretted that American Zionism plagued the twentieth century are dead, only was cast in the role of a "cash cow" for the Zionism has endured. That is usually followed world movement . It never lived down its by some triumphant statement that sometime "schnorrer" persona . Indeed in the early twen- during the next twenty years the Zionist dream ties his conflict with Brandeis had a great deal of making Israel the demographic center of the to do with the control of the Keren Hayesod Jewish world will come to pass . Israel will con- funds which were streaming from America tain the largest Jewish population aggregation . into WZO coffers without proper accounting Other triumphs like the ongoing Russian aliya procedures or even normal budget accounting . are mentioned . But while I am the first to acknowledge that, considering the difficult en-Gurion felt that once Zionism had given road traversed since World War II the triumph birth to the Jewish state its historic role of Zionism is indeed impressive, I am still wasB over and it ought to go out of business . But tempted to question the present condition of instead the movement reshaped itself to be- the movement . If everything is so good, then come an effective international network to why is everything so bad? support Israel economically and diplomati- I will not catalogue the symptoms of weak- cally. It was partly the need to support Israel ness except to note that virtually every Zionist that forced American Jewry to master the in- organization not linked to congregational struments of direct projection of influence . membership knows about it . It is reflected in That marked a total change in the political cul- the low number who voted in the recent WZO ture of American Jewry which heretofore pre- election. It can be noted in the absence of ferred a low political profile . It also became young people in our gatherings and in the tried more philanthropic than ever before . Indeed, programmatics of our organizations . It is true as early as 1957 Abba Eban, then the foreign that in America the Zionist movement never minister of Israel, wanted American Jewry to attracted a majority of Jews . But the number channel more of its resources into Jewish edu- of Jews who considered themselves Zionists cation lest it lose an entire generation . No without belonging to a Zionist organization or heed was given to this sage advice because buying the shekel, certainly formed the over- Israel's needs were considered more urgent whelming preponderance of American Jewry. than our own . We are paying the price for

12 JEWISH FRONTIE those priorities today . American Zionism home, the idea of a sovereign state came later, remains what it always was, totally devoted to and was envisaged as a buttress for the wan- the security and development of Israel . But at ing sense of belonging to a certain people . In the same time it remains what eastern Euro- the west it was considered a suitable haven pean Zionists used to complain about, vicari- for those eastern Jews who could only be re- ous . American Jews did not and do not seri- stored by removing them from the source of ously consider leaving their American Zion. their humiliation . So American Zionism was Neither did the Jews of prewar Germany or always a Zionism for "yenem ." At the turn of the Jews of Britain and France today. the century the Jewish immigrants who had In the end if I were asked to state as briefly voted with their feet for a Zion in America as possible what ails Zionism, I would have to defined Zionism in their familiar biting humor. give a paradoxical response . It is and has al- A Zionist, they said, was someone who col- ways been Zion that ails American Zionism . lected money from another Jew to send yet a I do not mean to be facetious or contrary . No third Jew to Palestine . one is more aware than I that the very mean- ing of Zionism is to bring the dispersed Jew- ultural Zionists sought in Zionism an ide- ish people back to their ancient homeland ology that could strengthen American Jew- where they could develop their specialness to ryC in place. It was difficult for the world Zion- their heart's content without anyone resent- ist movement to fill such a role since it was ing them for their otherness . But it develops Israelocentric by its very nature . By virtue of that not all the Jewish people want to be being a sovereign state, Israel is compelled to ingathered in Zion. Millions have found their do with Zionism what it has to do with every Zion in America . Despite expenditures of huge asset at hand: to enhance its security and well- sums of capital and generations of exhortation being. Any government would follow the same and "Zionist education" the Jews of the demo- path. First it sees to the welfare of its own cit- cratic west did not return to Zion and do not izens. The well-being of American Jewry, when plan to. It is not even predictable that the it is considered at all, is secondary . If American Jews now settled in Israel will forever remain Jews want to live Jewishly, they reason, let there . Today yerida is rarely mentioned but it them resettle in Israel . The Zionism, whose could become a torrent should the situation in progenitor was Achad Ha'Am, that once sought the Middle East remain so unsettled that a to generate a world Jewish renaissance, be- normal middle-class life, which is what Jews came instead an instrument limited to the everywhere seem most to aspire to, is not in needs and concerns of Jews in the Diaspora . If, the offing. What we need to keep in mind is for example, Israel's needs required a close that post-Holocaust Jewry, no less than its working relationship with an oppressive re- predecessors, is extraordinarily dynamic and gime in South Africa, so be it. If it required fast-changing . I am often astounded at how the recruitment of a walk-in Jewish agent in itinerant the Jewish people have remained . It America, so be it. What the impact on South is partially reflected in the proportion of the African or American Jewry might be did not tourist stream that is Jewish and incidentally, matter. The needs of the sovereign state came the proportion of the Jewish that is Israeli . It first. It could not be otherwise . may be that a people that has wandered for The problems with a Zionism controlled and millennia finds it difficult to suddenly stay in managed from Jerusalem is not only that it one place . A modern people does not lightly tends to become an outlet for small-time pro- accept an ideological fiat to go settle in a cer- vincial politics spawned by every democracy in tain place and live a certain kind of life . The unseemly quantities . That is what the politics acceptance of such a fiat was never part of surrounding the Jewish Agency and the World American Zionism . Zionist Organization is all about . It is that it For American Jewish thinkers, cultural generates a Zionism that is provincial and con- Zionists like Mordecai Kaplan, Horace Kallen stricted and unable to inspire those who will and even Solomon Schechter, never viewed the never settle in Zion with a broader, nobler reestablishment of Zion as a goal in its own vision of the Jewish enterprise . It is such a right. Zionism was not a substitute for Juda- vision that is requisite for a restoration of ism. It was to be its enabler. A Jewish national confidence.

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1997 13

To claim that Zionism has been more suc- Mazzinian nationalism which shaped the Ital- cessful and survived other 20th century "isms" ian people during its Risorgimento period. But is only partly true and based on a misreading it was different, too, because the Jewish people of history. A highly variegated ideology that did not yet live in their land . I know of no other came in many different packages, Zionism nationalism in history that sought its nation- never sought to explain society, much less dic- hood from outside the land . tate how it should be managed . It was limited The most direct answer to the query "What to the welfare of the dispersed Jewish people ails Zionism?" is to note that it is the same which it sought to renew and to secure . During malaise that ails Judaism itself, a lack of cohe- the Holocaust the establishment of a Jewish siveness and a weakening sense of peoplehood . state became a part of that plan. That is what That should not surprise us . Zionism, after all, the Biltmore program of May 1942 was about. has been a crucial part of and a prime shaper But the state was not an end in itself but the of modern Judaism. In the last half century heart of a strategy to restore world Jewry after Jewish resources and energy were necessarily the radical losses it had suffered . Israel was expended to strengthen Israel which became the instrument to help achieve that broadly the anchor of Jewish survival, and a kind of conceived goal. It allows anything that streng- substitute for the European Jewry that was thens Judaism and Jewishness, including the lost. But the dream that Israel would act as a strengthening of American Jewry, to be legiti- new center can only be partially realized under mately Zionistic. Such a focus does not neglect conditions of sovereignty. The state solved the Israel. It strengthens it by strengthening the problem of haven, of having a place to go in Jewish people no matter where they live . It is case of need . It also returned Jews to history . true that there can be no Zionism without For those who desired it, one could even see Zion, but there is a corollary. A Jewish enter- normality in the Israeli sabra . But like all prise that limits its concept of Zion to a single states, the Jewish state has interests of its place and thereby separates itself from the own that stem directly from its sovereignty . Jewish people who reside outside Israel is Those needs cannot always be shared by Amer- bound to become ailing . ican Jewry just as Israel cannot fully recognize that American Jewry has needs of its own . We ionism was not a self-contained ideology each view the world through our own rose-col- Zthat sought the furtherance of a single ored glasses. The hope is that the commitment class or nation like Communism or Fascism . to Judaism, the faith as well as the civiliza- Rather it sought to strengthen the Jewish peo- tion, will permit us to transcend the limitation ple and its civilization which was dispersed all of circumstances and address those needs in over the known world . It resembled a kind of their own terms . 0

As Jews everywhere kindle the lights Correction: Our September/October issue of freedom, was erroneously numbered #6 ; it should let us rededicate ourselves have been #5 . This November/December to work for peace and issue is #6. Librarians who maintain files, ensure the future of please note. a democratic and progressive Israel .

Happy Hanukkah! Hare an urgent document or package to/from ISRAEL? Send it with us for guaranteed delivery within 36 hours . National Committee for Labor Israel 275 Seventh Avenue New York, New York 10001 shigur Cosall (212) 647-0300 couriers inc . L aborlsrael@jon .cjfny .org 147-40 184th Street, Jamaica, NY 11413 Call 718 . 244 .7356 or 800 .695 . 1213 Fax 718 Jay Mazur Jerry Goodman In Israel call Avi at 03-512-6649 President Executive Director The fastest courier service for all your shipments to/from Israel

14 JEWISH FRONTIE HISTADRUT

Collision Course 101 By Jerry Goodman

ccording to Leah Ahdut, head of the His- Histadrut not only accused the government of Atadrut's Institute for Social and Economic Re- "demagoguery", but it also criticized the mass search, the present difference between the media for not informing the public about the Histadrut and the government centers around issues in contention. the basic issue of how you view society. Speak- The issues of contention with the govern- ing on behalf of Israel's General Federation of ment focused on the pension arrangements, Labor, or the New Histadrut as it wants to be including workers in future privatization called ("HaHistadrut HaHadasha"), Ahdut programs, including government companies defined the problem as whether any govern- in the general agreements which were soon ment in Israel must see to it that people who to be negotiated, and proposed changes in the have worked and saved during their careers terms of the sabbatical fund . The critical can live out retirement with dignity . According issue, however, was the battle over pension to the Histadrut official, the Histadrut and agreements . previous Labor governments shared that social vision . The present government, how- istadrut Chairman Amir Peretz argued ever, is striving to place the burden on the that the dispute with the government workers by placing pension funds at the whims reflectedH a conflict over social values and pri- of the free market. orities . In negotiations prior to the general At present anyone joining the new pension strike he blamed the Treasury for trying to fund created in 1995 in a reform agreement "rob the poor man's sheep", meaning the pen- between the Histadrut and the Labor-led gov- sion funds. The Histadrut had wanted Minis- ernment can set aside a monthly pension pay- ter of Finance Yaakov Neeman to promise that ment, based on salary and on an employer's the government would honor existing wage contribution . That payment is based on income and pension agreements, and not tax study limited to twice the average wage . In a com- funds, child allowances, or grants to the plex formula which had been agreed upon, elderly and the handicapped . 70% of the accrued savings would be invested The Finance Minister, reflecting the views in government bonds at a preferred 5% inter- of the government on social issues, est rate . The balance is protected by the gov- announced an intent to change the terms of ernment, if it is invested at market rates, a the new pension funds by limiting the income much riskier undertaking. for which money can be set aside for pensions It was this dispute over pensions, and other to the average salary, rather than twice the matters, which led to an eight-hour general average salary as had been agreed upon with strike or work stoppage, called by the His- the previous government. Furthermore, the tadrut in September. It was the third such ac- Finance Ministry sought to eliminate the tion in the last year and a half. In addition, the safety net altogether and promote an Histadrut was attempting to block privatiza- increase in direct investment in the capital tion moves which would, in its view, weaken market, which would increase the risks for collective labor and pension agreements . The the pension funds .

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1997 15

Peretz confronted Neeman when he urged seem to have given Histadrut members, espe- the Ministry to cancel large pay hikes set for cially the younger generation more concerned senior officials, cabinet ministers and Mem- with economic security, the sense that labor bers of the Knesset . His argument was that has a clear strategy and is using its tactics these officials would receive increases in their judiciously. cost of living allowances which would outstrip While it may increase the collision potential those given to other workers . The labor federa- with the government in the future, this has tion chief accused the government of "arro- strengthened the view that Amir Peretz is gance" as it sought to deny demands for a ten demonstrating effective leadership. As the percent pension increase for wage earners up campaign begins to mount early next year, this to NIS 2,500 per month, and have worked 30 assessment bodes well for his re-election as years or longer, while senior officials who Histadrut chairman. LI made more than 10 times those salaries would be slated to get raises . Treasury official explained that priorities CONTRIBUTORS can change, and that this government wantedA "to improve the capital market" and Susan Hattis Rolef, a political scientist, is direct more cash for investments . The His- our regular Israeli correspondent. tadrut's contention was that the agreement signed in 1996 had never been implemented . Misha Louvish, veteran Israeli journalist, According to the Treasury official, the influx contributes background and analytical articles of new capital would lead to an increase in regularly. investments in enterprises where such capital Daniel Mann, national president of the had not been available . Among other things, Labor Zionist Alliance, serves on the Presid- he argued, this would lead to lower mortgages ium of the World Zionist General Council and and cheaper electricity, thus benefiting the on several committees of the Jewish Agency for poorer sections of the population . Israel. Union members disregarded the govern- ment's views and members of the Histadrut's Joseph Adler's most recent book is Restor- 13 major unions heeded the strike call, which ing the Jews to Their Homeland . reflected a decision taken by the Histadrut Henry L. Feingold, immediate past presi- leadership that there were disagreements dent of LZA, is history professor at Baruch with the government which had not been College, CUNY. bridged. Some observers saw the Histadrut action as Dr. William Finn is a chiropractor and part of its continuing efforts to redefine itself technical writer living in Kibbutz Gezer . in light of the profound changes which have Raised in Phoenix, Arizona, he lived 17 years in taken place in the labor federation. This pro- the San Francisco area . He has a psychology cess was set in motion by Haim Ramon, Per- degree from Yale . etz's predecessor, when he launched a series of Edmund Pennant's poetry has appeared radical measures to change the Histadrut . The frequently in the Jewish Frontier . His latest result is, indeed, a "New Histadrut", one which Askance and Strangely has moved away from its role as a nation- collection of poems is builder to that of a more traditional trade (Orchises Press). union movement fighting for its members' David Rosenthal, a Holocaust survivor, rights. As a confederation of unions, more akin writes for Jewish Frontier on Jewish historical to the AFL-CIO in this country, with some topics . overtones of the social activism advocated by Jerry Goodman is executive director, Na- German trade unions, the Histadrut may have also lost much of the political power it enjoyed tional Committee for Labor Israel. for the last seventy years . Nahum Guttman is editor of Jewish Some analysts in Israel suggest that the Frontier . initiatives taken by the present leadership

Is JEWISH FRONTIER

Thanksgiving Story By William Finn

wo years ago, my wife and I spent Thanks- "She acts like Rabin's the only one who's givingT in Bet Shlomo, a house of prayer found- died! Lots of people have died . People have ed by friends of the late Rebbe Shlomo Carle- died in bus bombings, and terrorists' attacks!" bach. Nestled in a warren of narrow alleys, it I did not like hearing this. As part of the na- is typical of the cramped dwellings in the old tional soul searching that followed the assassi- quarter in Jerusalem. Packed in tightly, wear- nation, one of the ways of doing teshuva (re- ing our winter coats to fight off the cold radiat- pentance) was not to be silent when someone ing from the Jerusalem stones, we ate stuffing defames Rabin. In this case it was his widow and cranberry sauce, while two guys played who was being pointlessly criticized. Bob Dylan songs . Ten thousand miles from the I didn't want to say anything . I didn't want land of our birth, Bob Dylan music at Thanks- to fight. I wanted to sit back in the House of giving seemed appropriate . Shlomo, feel his love, and enjoy my turkey. I was sitting next to strangers . The guy But, I was obliged to say something . across from me was a New Yorker in the ladies' "Cut her some slack," I said . "She just lost garment industry. He looked very East Coast her husband." in his dark raincoat and blue-suit business He muttered something I didn't under- uniform. On my right was some tough old bird . stand, but it was obvious he wasn't listening to No, not the turkey, but some grizzled person me, and why should he? Compared to him I with a thick accent . He didn't take nonsense was just some punk American . from any one, and he made sure all knew it . "People have died!" he continued . "There "Leah Rabin," he said disgustedly. "She is was a soldier last year that was kidnapped! not strong. The strong are silent!" Remember that girl who was knifed?" Being new in Israel, I am not very familiar "Do you remember the father of the soldier with Leah Rabin . However, describing her as that was kidnapped?" I asked . "not strong" is not something that would have "Yes," he replied . occurred to me . Nor do I understand why being "He met with the father of the terrorist who "not strong" merited such derision . murdered his son. Together, they formed a The New Yorker wore a knitted kipah. If he peace group." was typical of religious Americans in Israel, This news clearly stunned my dinner com- his politics would be extremely right-wing . In panion. He paused, his eyes wide opened. these post-assassination days, a few have "Now," he said, "that's a strong man ." 0 learned to choose their words carefully . In a highly deliberate manner, the New Yorker asked, "What do you mean the `strong TOWARD THE SECOND CENTURY are silent'? I don't understand ." (continued from pagell) Hebrew high schools, and the federations KNESSET WINTER SESSION themselves apply for increased support for (continued from page 7) their innovative educational activities in Israel? In sum, can the Jewish world antici- ors of Tel Aviv (Ronnie Milo) and Jerusalem pate more funds for a truly inclusive range (Ehud Olmert) - doesn't seem to be bothering of programs and projects in Israel, or will our Prime Minister. What he said about the the Conservative and Reform movements, Opposition in his speech on October 27 - now further emboldened by the Congress elec- "your lust for power is without any barriers tions, succeed in simply replacing Orthodox and with no inhibitions" - apparently applies, hegemony with a new three-denominational first and foremost, to himself. 0 parochialism? 0

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1997 17

7/X P" AMtm By Edmund Pennant

Because I am their guest from America to dry my fingers before turning the last page, I do not complain about the chamsin heat a photo of both sons, one lost in'67, one in'73 . and busy myself taking note of The husband returns from the kitchen and the kibbutz landscaping . the talk The old couple and I sit together turns to Ben-Gurion, their late good friend . I not in the shade of a terebinth try to show off, quoting the old man : but of the kibbutz plastics plant He who does not believe in miracles is not a which in late afternoon casts realist. a long shadow, less hot rather than cool, (Obviously known to every Israeli and his pet to the door of their apartment. goat .) An old contention having nothing to do The husband, an amateur mathematician with politics builds between them specializing like electricity in a warm wire, in topologies, shakes his head and grins . when she interrupts him and he gets up, "Tell me," he sighs, "about reality. Can you piqued, and goes for a seltzer lift it? Twist it? Weigh it? Rely on it?" in the kitchen . She takes possession then The hollyhocks beside their apartment door of the photo album and commentary. are drooping from the day's heat, but the sun has gone down by now, and it's almost cool Whether the kibbutz would be a beam enough of clear light in the eye of history for a glass of tea. They take it hot . or a brooding like the light inside an opal, rich with ambivalence, ,~/Id 1 fl63OFrr .~ DNITEDSTATES Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation PDSTN she could not tell . Picture: the kibbutz .SERVICE m (fl"W hymusc E95) ~mme Nm •e. - b 200008 08080880 dining hall ("We don't eat there any more ."); 0 0 1 m 4 5 3 71,/6/97 . <6.mP.p, ...7 Imxe 4p.v.y e.7unelswmpemFib the eucalyptus grove, planted to suck up 91-MONTHLY $ 15 .00 .Pmpiul.Mq • ,Nppnk.fsmmyy.m.W. .NL220, •7 y ~p ~ em, swamp 275 9eventh Avenue 17th Floor New York,New York 10001-6776 7.IrObme 212) 229-2280 (`All gone . . ."); the peach orchard ("Cut in e .Cmp.bMeNryM1NM2oeeapwlsnmOmeNeuel .,.l0 dwueex.,7k6 ,,, half, 275 Seventh Avenue 17th Floor New York, New York 10001-6776

Aanw~-Nm, .- 275 5 k6•., - to make room for the factory and packing _ .ti . . . ._:-75 Seventh Avenue 17th Floor Near York, New York 10001-6776 LAHOA ZIONIST LETTERS, INC . -

plant ."); Fumwmmorp amum.n.. .0 kids on new basketball court ("Empty now, 62600 GUTTMAN 275 Seventh Avenue 17th Floor New York, New York 10001-6776 kids ' ;`I081 FRONTIER a September/oceo= 1997 A gone to the city."); bomb shelter ("Those we .mw muwwa H .6 msa .wm. a ;.m~. ; ~ .

still use.") simlpmro.raraplmFU.eemmn.V 3,200 7,200

fU eam 7nouunoewne,e CeOe,, sees, vwmm n WYe0S l0 fwrnaxw, At the penultimate page, a group photo 100 100 Rl 40 *e,OlMONT MO mfMnwb 0 7,585 2,629 of the founding kibbutz membership ; ~(sr..w,se(, prtw ~ , 2,685 2,729 I study hard, trying to locate the two. 65 A jswma., rrarfoer •wl 75 ..rr ..0webwa mmfrsmmwwvirm .m7 She doesn't smile at my ineptitude . 50 50 r. rowrv. .nlsemurm(s..wsewnse, About half of the pioneers are gone now, , 115 125 o ew0i.eeuemfsmdrso .,wa4 she comments, while I go up and down, 2,910 2,854 scrutinizing faces of the young people . (OOnu,ne,fsm~.spa.a 290 246 Iz~n o.mr ,eY,ma•„ m Embarrassed, I give up, afraid to choose 110 100 i.7owfs.,ie,rs•. fm(0. .H,MN70 , 3,200 3,200

the wrong couple . She points at the extreme ~r4a~a NYp,e,M.Smru^m ue7 95e 95s .4 r left E1 ews.W,.4.wa6 .pYmdkee8nv/Oar 1997 IwSe4.peroem. wbm of the topmost rank, stiffly standing on GOTT800, Editor 11/6/1997 17 80800 raw ~ Nmaeempm .,,mar.une .,ewpm. .oeM ,eoworMI..m80ee,. e,6Mle, benches. wn.ammemImne.,e. .o neekM,smmnm,rd.&,u6m .,e .,plo.~m0m,2,a,.0ev~. "Of course," I murmur, dissembling, careful

18 JEWISH FRONTIF BIOGRAPHY

FERDINAND LAS SALLE Life and Times of a Practical Idealist By Joseph Adler

uring the revolutionary wave of 1848 in atives representing the aristocracy favored the Germany,D liberals and nationalists believing status quo. The National Liberals, the party that the auspicious moment had arrived to of the upper middle class - the businessmen, realize their hopes for political unification bankers, lawyers, doctors, professors etc . - called an Assembly at Frankfort to prepare a advocated free trade and parliamentary re- constitution for a federated commonwealth . sponsibility. It refused to admit workers as The Austrian government, hostile to any feder- members and wanted Austria excluded from ation it could not aspire to dominate, withdrew any federation of German states . In 1861 a from the Assembly. Still hopeful of forming a third party, the Progressives, was formed to smaller German Empire under Prussian lead- provide a more liberal program than that put ership the Assembly offered the imperial forth by the National-Liberals . The Progres- crown to Frederick William IV of Prussia . His sive Party would eventually gain control of curt refusal, with the intimation that he might most of the large cities of Germany. accept it from his fellow princes, but could not At about this time (1862) the Workingmen's take a crown from the hands of a revolutionary Association of Leipzig appointed a committee assembly, extinguished the last hopes of the to examine the possibility of establishing labor Frankfort delegates . Most of them dispersed in organizations in all parts of Germany. The disillusionment, and the handful of extremists first meeting which was held in Berlin revealed who attempted to resort to radical measures a great confusion of aim amongst the commit- were driven out by force. tee delegates . Some favored to make their The failure of the revolutionary movement association an appendage of the Progressive of 1849-50, however, was not a complete disas- Party, while others preferred a non-political ter for it had given impetus to democratic ele- platform. In the midst of these deliberations ments throughout the German lands . As a came Ferdinand Lassalle, one of the most bril- result of the general agitation, millions of liant and picturesque figures of the nascent workers and peasants felt for the first time socialist movement . that they deserved a rightful place in the con- stitutional system of the state . Throughout the assalle was born in Breslau (1825) the only German states worker organizations arose to son of Heyman Lassa, who had been assert their claims. In the reaction which fol- trainedL for a rabbinical career, but became a lowed a concerted effort was made by the rul- prosperous silk merchant, a member of the ing establishments to suppress these worker town council, and subsequently a militant associations; to restrict the press ; and to expel adherent of the Jewish Reform Movement . political agitators . Precocious beyond his years, young Ferdinand Nevertheless by 1860 a number of political took an early interest in Jewish affairs . He parties had come into being representing the was acutely conscious of the status of the Jews various classes in Germany society . The most in Eastern Europe, and at age fifteen had con- important of these parties were the Conserva- fided to his diary his dream to lead Jews in tives and the National-Liberals . The Conserv- avenging the infamous Damascus Affair . He

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1997 19 also showed some interest in the Reform Juda- propaganda. In order to avoid expulsion, and ism movement . However, by his late teens lit- to widen his horizons, he went to Berlin where erature and Hegelian philosophy awakened in he attended the city's university . Here he him new ambitions, and led him to gradually joined a group of Young Hegelians, and soon adopt a negative attitude to the Jewish reli- attracted about him a circle of followers . gion and people . Thus, he recognized Judaism At both the Universities of Breslau and Ber- as a necessary phase in the human develop- lin, Lassalle specialized in philology and phi- ment of the past, but negated it as a useful losophy. His scholastic career was exception- force or element in the present state of man- ally brilliant . The savant Alexander Humboldt kind. While his attitude did not in itself con- (1769-1859), one of the great men of the age, tain any hostility toward Jews, Lassalle with dubbed him Das Wunderkind ("The Miracu- the passage of years would become more inim- lous Child") and other prominent individuals ical to Jews . In 1860, four years before his also recognized the young man's remarkable death, he would write "I can well affirm that talents. I am no longer a Jew" and added ". . . I even de- At the end of his university career, Lassalle test them in general . I see in them nothing but decided to go to Paris to collect material for a the very much degenerated sons of a great but work which he was planning on the Greek vanished past . During past centuries of slav- philosopher Heraclitus . In the French capital ery these men have acquired characteristics of he became acquainted with the poet Heinrich slaves, and that is why I am most unfavorably Heine (1797-1856), who was suffering from disposed toward them. Besides I have no con- sickness, want, and the worries of litigation . tact with them . Among my friends, and in soci- They became good friends and Lassalle inter- ety which surrounds me here there is scarcely ested himselfin the question of an inheritance a single Jew." Characteristically, Lassalle that was troubling the poet, but Heine desiring never discussed the Jews from a socialistic to avoid a public scandal eventually withdrew point of view, but always spoke of them as a his legal action. For Heine, the youthful Las- separate entity. In this respect he resembled salle was a ray of sunshine . In a letter of intro- Karl Marx (1818-1883), though unlike the lat- duction written by the poet he expressed his ter he did not indulge in public anti-Semitic admiration for Lassalle . "My friend", he noted, utterances. Indeed, Lassalle was often the ob- "is a young man of the most distinguished in- ject of anti-Semitic attacks, particularly from tellectual powers . To the most thorough schol- his socialist rivals . arship, the widest knowledge and the greatest Lassalle's father desired that he pursue a penetration that I have ever known, he adds similar career as his own, and was strongly op- the fullest endowment of imaginative powers, posed to his son's idealism . After some prelim- an energy of will and a dexterity of action inary schooling in his native city, Lassalle was which simply astonish me." enrolled in a commercial school in Leipzig . The studies there were not to his taste as he had rom Paris, Lassalle returned to Berlin already acquired a fondness for literature, phi- where he consorted familiarly with such losophy, and the classics. The year and a half eminentF scholars as Humboldt, and Friedrich that he spent at the commercial school was Karl von Savigny, professor of Roman law and irksome, but it offered him an opportunity to a founder of the historical school of jurispru- pursue at leisure the intellectual interests dence. Here too, Lassalle was introduced to the that attracted him . Countess Sophie von Hatzfeld whose marital problems would dominate his life for almost a assalle finally persuaded his father that decade . the school was not suitable for him, and he The Countess had married at the age of fif- leftL the institution before matriculating to pre- teen, her cousin Count Edmund von Hatzfeld, pare himself for admission to the University of the richest member of a powerful aristocratic Breslau. During this period Lassalle's inter- family, who possessed all the privileges of the ests switched from literature to history, and high Prussian nobility. He ill-treated his wife finally to a study of the philosophy of George from the outset, confined her in his castles on Wilhelm Hegel (1770-1831) . Admitted to the the Rhine, secretly abducted her children, University of Breslau, he engaged in radical and deprived her of the means of existence,

20 JEWISH FRONTI while he squandered his patrimony in de- case, Lassalle became involved in the uprising. bauchery. The Countess had no parents to de- When the Prussian Government dispersed the fend her, and her relatives who held high offi- National Assembly, Lassalle used his consider- cial posts were anxious to avoid a scandal. Only able oratorical powers in an effort to arouse one course appeared to be open to the Count- the populace to armed resistance . He was ess, namely an appeal to the law. The hand- arrested, thrown into prison, and on the fol- some bearing of Lassalle, and his unusually lowing day tried. In an eloquent speech which dark eyes made a favorable impression on the he delivered in his defense the young revolu- Countess . Angered at the story of her ill treat- tionist, then but twenty-four years old, ment, Lassalle was soon enrolled among those emphatically proclaimed himself an adherent who were seeking to secure for the Countess of the social-democratic movement . The speech a measure of justice . At first he challenged circulated in pamphlet form under the title Count Edmund von Hatzfeld to a duel, but the "Heine Assisen Rede" (1849) proved to be one high born Junker laughed in the face of "the of the most remarkable documents of the abor- silly Jewish boy". Furious at the rejection of his tive revolution . Acquitted of the main offense, challenge, Lassalle seriously resolved to un- but found guilty on a minor charge Lassalle dertake the cause of the Countess in the courts . was sentenced to six months' imprisonment . He knew nothing of law, but nothing could After his release from jail, Lassalle found restrain him . Accordingly, he applied himself to time to once again pursue his literary interests . the study of jurisprudence, and being admitted In 1852 he completed his book Die Philosophie to practice took up the Countess Hatzfeld's Herakleitos des Diinklen ("The Philosophy of affairs in earnest. For eight years (1845 to Heraclitus the Obscure"). During this period, 1854) he confined himself almost exclusively to Lassalle also conducted a lengthy correspon- her interests, not only giving of his time, but dence with Karl Marx . He contributed to a also providing for her support out of his small newspaper edited by Marx, and kept him allowance from his parents . All other pursuits informed on German affairs. In addition, Las- were practically suspended by Lassalle, includ- salle aided Marx financially, and helped him ing his work on Heraclitus, as the Hatzfeld later publish some of his writings . Marx pro- Affair absorbed all his intellectual powers . posed that Lassalle be invited to join the "Com- Some indication of the effort involved in the munist League", but the central committee prosecution of the case may be gleaned from rejected the proposal because of Lassalle's rep- the fact that from first to last, Lassalle was utation as a roue and dandy. Later, however, obliged to pursue justice in thirty-six separate relations between Marx and Lassalle cooled . and distinct courts . Before the Revolution of 1848, decisions in his favor were, on the whole, visit to the Balkan countries after the Cri- favorable. When, however, the counter-revolu- ean War, and the national stirrings in tion was triumphant hardly a week passed in Italy convinced Lassalle of the potentialities of which some of the large number of cases he set national uprisings. His readiness to tolerate forth were lost . Nevertheless, Lassalle per- Napoleon III, his encouragement of national- sisted and in 1854, his opponent, the Count ism, and his refusal to regard pan-Slavism as was exhausted, his strength was broken, and the arch-enemy of revolution estranged him Lassalle was able to dictate terms of peace from Marx. The split widened with the publi- under conditions most humiliating to the cation of Lassalle's Franz von Sickingen Prussian aristocrat . He secured for Sophie von (1858), a plan for German unification in drama Hatzfeld a divorce and a princely settlement . form; and in 1859 Der italienische Krieg and She, in turn, kept her agreement with Lassalle die Aufgabe Preussens ("The Italian War and made at the beginning of the litigation that he Prussia's Passion"), a battle cry against the would receive 400 thalers a year if successful in Hapsburgs demanding the dissolution of their winning the case . This award relieved Lassalle Empire. Both books were subjects of heated lit- from anxiety concerning his daily wants and erary controversies with Marx, and at the ensured him economic independence . same time enhanced Lassalle's reputation among the intellectual elite. uring the Revolution of 1848 while in Di s- It has been usual to belittle Lassalle's role Dseldorf in connection with the Hatzfeld in German history and his contributions to

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1997 21 Socialism and Social-Democracy . Indeed, con- Rights").. It was considered by the jurist Savi- siderable efforts have been made to depreciate gny the ablest legal treatise written since the his mind and character. It is also evident that sixteenth century. About the same time as the Karl Marx who could not bear his rivalry appearance of the latter work Lassalle grap- started the fashion . He was abetted in this pled with the literary critic Heinrich Julian campaign of villainy by his collaborator Schmidt who sought to pose as the interpreter Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) who hated Las- of German intellectual life . In a work of fasci- salle . Both men often attacked Lassalle in nating brilliancy he exposed Schmidt's errors anti-Semitic terms . Indeed, Marx always after of fact and of judgment . his break with Lassalle referred to him oppro- Now came the period which witnessed the briously as "the Jewish nigger" . activity that rendered Lassalle's career most Seven years younger than Marx, Lassalle remarkable. The seed sown in 1848 blossomed had been brought up in the same Hegelian forth in the last three years of his life (1861- school of thought, and had independently of all 1864) . For a time he continued to occupy him- Marxian influences, taken a somewhat similar self with such diverse activities as trying to path. However, Lassalle was everything that exploit a constitutional crisis in Prussia by Marx was not - a judicious scholar, a spell intensive agitation among the workers ; binding orator, and a man in whom despite ap- strengthening ties with the left wing of the pearances, logic and enthusiasm combined German National Verein ; and supporting the with a rare degree of balance . He was above all efforts to unify Italy by the Italian patriot a born leader of men and a natural master of Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882) . politics . Within the courtroom, or on the plat- form, Lassalle's studies in law, history, govern- n 1862, Lassalle was asked to address the ment and philosophy made him formidable, I Berlin Liberal Club, an organization with but they appeared in their fullest in his writ- ties to the Progressive Party. He accepted the ten works. He published during his short life- invitation and chose as his topic "The nature of time twenty volumes on political and social the Constitution" . In his talk he stressed that questions, and carried on an enormous corre- all constitutions were based on power, and that spondence. In strong contrast to Marx's crabbed if the Progressive Party wished to defeat the polemics and torturous erudition, everything reactionary Prussian Government with its in Lassalle's writing is lucid, generous, and medieval constitution they must not rely orderly. There is little oversimplification, yet merely on arguments setting forth the injustice simplicity is the result . of the present situation . They must instead act . The printed versions of the speech were confis- oth men drew from the same fund of social- cated by the police, but no action was taken B ist ideas that were current in the first half against the author. The address, however, led of the nineteenth century. They owed much to to an invitation to speak before an artisan asso- the writings of the French Utopian Socialists ciation in the Prussian capital on April 12, - Charles Fourier (1772-1837), Count Henri 1862, a date sometimes referred to as the birth- de Saint-Simon (1760-1825), Pierre Joseph day of German Social-Democracy. The talk Proudhon (1809-1865), Louis Blanc (1811- before the association, later published as the 1882) - as well as to such thinkers as Moses "Workers Program" had in it a number of ele- Hess (1812-1875), Jean Charles de Sismondi ments found in the "Communist Manifesto" . (1773-1842), and the anarchist Bakunin . However, Lassalle differed from Marxian doc- Lassalle, in particular, accepted the classi- trine in his insistence that the true function of cal labor theory of David Ricardo (1772-1823) the state was to help the development of the as reinterpreted by Karl Johann Rodbertus human race towards freedom . Such a state (1805-1875) . When he did borrow from Marx could be attained, he asserted only through the doctrine of surplus value to explain the for- rule by the majority based on universal and mation of capital, he was careful to make full equal suffrage . The growth of the factory sys- acknowledgment . tem Lassalle pointed out had made the work- In 1860 appeared the fruits of Lassalle's re- ers' potential the most powerful force in the searches on jurisprudence, the System der state . The next logical step, therefore, was to Erworbenen Rechte ("The System of Acquired make them legally the most powerful by insti-

22 JEWISH FRONTIF tuting complete democracy. The next revolu- statement was embedded the germ of "state tion, Lassalle believed, would place the work- socialism". To state it negatively, it does not ers in power. This would mean a victory for all contemplate any confiscation of property, as by mankind. The publication of the "Workers Pro- communism, nor ultimate abrogation of all gram" led to Lassalle's arrest. Once again he legal obligations, restraints, and liabilities, as was charged with inciting the masses to revolt . advocated in the program of the anarchists. Released from jail, Lassalle continued to agitate for workers' rights . In the summer of he economic phase of Lassalle's program 1863 he was contacted by the central commit- was not, however, its sole feature . Equal in tee of the Leipzig Workmen's Association to importanceT with it was his political plan, address a pan-German labor congress which which had for its objective the introduction of they had convoked, and that had become universal suffrage as the method by which bogged down as to what goals to pursue . Some social reform could be more expeditiously and of the committee members were particularly efficaciously realized . To invest the laboring anxious to counteract, among the delegates to class with political power, Lassalle called for the labor congress, the influence of the liberal the working class to constitute themselves Schulze von Delitzsch. In his talk, Lassalle into a political party. A popular elected legisla- bluntly declared that the credit unions and co- ture which would result from an independent operatives advocated by Schulze von Delitzsch workers' party would then vote state credit for were mere palliatives and did not get to the producers' associations thereby freeing the heart of the matter. At the base of the social working class from the grip of the "iron law of problem, he recognized was the pitiable plight wages". of the laborer in Germany where the French The address of Lassalle was warmly Revolution probably exerted less influence greeted, but the delegates to the workers' con- than in any other country in Western Europe . gress remained sharply divided between two The real villain, Lassalle believed, was the rival camps - one supporting Lassalle, and "iron law of wages" as enunciated by David the other Schulze von Delitzsch . In May of Ricardo, according to which the tendency of a 1853 both men were invited to state their laborer's wages is to keep on level with the cost respective views before a workers' congress in of bare existence for himself and his family. Frankfort-on-Main . Lassalle immediately Lassalle contended that the real value of accepted the invitation, but parliamentary things is the amount of labor expended in their duties prevented Schulze von Delitzsch from production; that labor is therefore the sole cre- attending . Lassalle with his usual eloquence ator of value . Therefore, it followed that labor held his audience spellbound . He concluded should consequently receive all the value of its his speech by noting that if his views were production, instead of the greater portion rejected in favor of those advanced by Schultze- being given to capital as profit on the invest- Delitzsch, he would stretch himself out in the ment . The problem to be solved, Lassalle Gulf of Naples, and spare himself a life full of stressed was how to dispense with the interpo- torment, exertion, vexation and worry. How- sition of capital, so that labor might secure the ever, the delegates would lose one of the best profit of its industry instead of a bare subsis- friends of their class. In the vote that followed tence wage . 400 to 1 favored Lassalle's views, and the fiery Thus, the proposals of Schulze von Delitzsch orator now found himself the head of the work- would hardly be of much benefit to workers ers' democratic movement in Germany. who were barely able to eke out an existence . On May 23, 1853, Lassalle founded the All- Credit and raw material were of value to small gemeiner deutscher Arbeiterverein ("General merchants who possessed some capital, but German Workers Association") the nucleus of were a mockery to others. Similarly, coopera- the future German Social Democratic Party. All tive societies were of little use to workers who workingmen were eligible to join the associa- were suffering as producers and not consu- tion on the payment of a nominal fee, and mers. Only one solution to the problem was agents were appointed throughout Germany to possible: The state by its credit should aid the recruit members . In justifying the association's promotion of productive associations for car- aim to achieve universal suffrage, Lassalle de- rying on various industries . In this brief clared over and over again that it was the

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1997 23 only practical way of realizing labor's claims, ed him enthusiastically at every stop . In Rons- for without it ". . . we may be a philosophical dorf, the celebration reached a climax when school, or a religious sect but never a political Lassalle was hailed as a great prophet of the party. Thus it appears that universal suffrage workingman. He was deluged with flowers belongs to our social demands as the handle to thrown in his pathway by working girls, and the axe." escorted by a joyful group of laborers under a He did not, however, regard his idea of pro- triumphal arch to the speaker's platform . A ductive associations as final . Lassalle felt that thunderous ovation followed the delivery of mere abstract principles of economics would his speech. Lassalle, later recalling the event fail to touch the masses and that some simple, would write that he had a feeling ". . . that such yet fundamental proposition must be placed scenes must have been witnessed at the found- before them if their imagination was to be cap- ing of a new religion ." tured. A final solution he suggested in a letter to Karl Johann Rodbertus (an exponent of pro- t was shortly after his triumphant tour that fessional socialism, also known as socialism of Lassalle, while in Riga, met again Helene the chair) might require five hundred years for vonI Doenniges, the daughter of a Bavarian accomplishment, but his proposals, he felt, diplomat. They had first become acquainted in were a step in the right direction . one of the fashionable salons of Berlin . The two fell in love, and it was not long before they rom the formation of the General German decided to marry. Although Lassalle had Workers Association (acronym ADAV) until drifted away from Judaism in his youth he had hisF death Lassalle worked ceaselessly and not been baptized as claimed by some writers . with great effectiveness to build a powerful Indeed, Helene von Doenniges in her memoirs political party. At first the press ignored his stated that during their courtship, Lassalle efforts, but eventually a number of newspa- asked her whether he being a Jew would be an pers came to Lassalle's support, as did many obstacle to their union, and whether she would distinguished publicists, and intellectuals . require him to become a Christian, and that he Within a year of the association's founding expressed his gratification that such a sacri- Lassalle suddenly found himself one of the fice on his part would not be necessary. most talked about public figures in Germany. Helene's father, however, was not so toler- The ADAV was strictly disciplined, the ant and was violently opposed to the marriage members accepting a centralized leadership. of his daughter to an individual of Jewish ori- Its shock tactics forced the other parties to gin and dubious past . He forced his daughter reform their organizations in order to better to write a formal renunciation of the proposed counteract its activities . Equally effective in union. She then under her father's prompting challenging the views of other factions, accepted as a suitor a Wallachian, the Prince notably the Progressive Party was Lassalle's von Racowitza who had long paid her assidu- pamphlet Herr Bastiat Schulze von Delitzsch, ous attention. Lassalle was enraged by these a primer on labor economics . Its concept of developments and challenged both Helene's state aid as opposed to individual self-help father and suitor to a duel. The prince accepted also influenced many socialist party pro- the challenge and the duel was fought at Ca- grams outside of the membership of the rouge, near Geneva, Switzerland on the morn- ADAV. In all of this work of agitation Lassalle ing of Sunday, August 28, 1864 . At the first displayed marvelous assiduity, and though he shot, Lassalle fell mortally wounded, and was hated and denounced by his opponents as three days afterward died. "the terrible Jew" astonishment was The body of the socialist leader was brought expressed at his remarkable oratorical and home through Germany amid much pomp and organizational power, his dialectical skills in ceremony, and was greeted in the various controversy with some of the ablest publicists cities it passed through with many manifesta- of his time . tions of popular grief. The Countess of Hatzfeld In the spring of 1864, Lassalle traveled to and some of Lassalle's followers wanted to various parts of Germany to review and assess turn the burial into a demonstration, but the the accomplishments of the workers' party he family objected and he was buried hurriedly in had created . Mass gatherings of workers greet- the Jewish cemetery of Breslau .

24 JEWISH FRONTII fter the demise of Ferdinand Lassalle the organization which he had founded devel- opedA factional differences growing out of vari- ous conceptions of the scope and methods of the workers' party. During the classical period COMMENTARY ON THE of Socialism that preceded World War I, Las- salle was honored as one of its principal fig- BUND AND BOLSHEVIKS ures. While Marx and Engels worked mainly - A Response abroad, Lassalle had laid the foundations of the Social-Democratic movement in Germany. His meteoric career showed him to be a man of arold Ticktin's article on the Jewish extraordinary ability, magnetism, ingenuity, BundH and the Communists is fascinating . and oratorical power . He managed to create Its attempt to bring back the past and even what had never existed before - a party of the to assign blame to the terrible results is workingman growing almost simultaneously intriguing . with the industrialization of Germany. It was a Unfortunately it does not hold water . There party which a decade after Lassalle's death is no question that opposition groups at times joined the Marx-controlled International to played into the hands of the Communists . form the German Social-Democratic Party Even the Bund's leaving the London 1903 Con- (1875). ference of the All-Russian Social Democratic The two who might have been Lassalle's Party played into Lenin's hands and gave him allies - Marx and Engels - kept an aloof the use of the Bolshevik label (majority) in silence while he spent his strength and re- spite of the fact this brief flash of time his sources upon the task of organizing a work- group was always a minority. ers' political party. Lassalle dead, they col- But to have played a role in the Communist lected the fruits of his labors and expressed victory you have had to do more than have their relief at his removal by insulting his misjudged or blundered a point in history. You memory. The Social-Democratic Party, then, have to had consciously supported the Com- which forced Prince Otto Eduard Leopold von munist terror. Bismarck (1815-1898), Chancellor of the Ger- A mother who insists that her child go down man Empire, and his successors to steal so the street to Macy's rather than his choice a much of its program worked presumably in block sooner to Toys Are Us is not responsible the name of Marx, but actually on Lassalle's for the tragedy when a DUI type plunges his principles . The party's goals were national, car into the youngster, seriously injuring him . for as Lassalle had perceived, a German No, the Bund and the other Democratic national state was the first demand of all forces were the hope for a better society . It was Germans after the failure to unify in 1848, the Erlichs and Alters and their predecessors nor could economic problems be handled oth- along with Martov and Dan of the Menshe- erwise than nationally in the European sys- vicks and the Chernovs of the Social Revolu- tem of sovereign states . It was political and tionaries who were the forces for a free society. not revolutionary for the German working It is true Lenin had the tight organization class wanted tangible benefits together with and understood the overwhelming need to security of life and limb - another lesson end the war that made his case . The result from 1848 . Lastly the workers tended to pre- was thirty years of Stalinist terror . It was fer Lassalle's practical idealism to Marx's the- Lenin's crowd - Trotsky, Bukharin, Zinoviev, oretical materialism . etc. - who did not appreciate the horror they In retrospect, as one writer put it ". . . un- unleashed. til Lassalle entered public life the working The Bund did not see the desperate need of classes had been without organization, and Eastern European Jewry for a Jewish home- had wandered about like sheep without a land but they are not responsible for Stalin . shepherd . He it was who drew the masses Milton Zatinsky together and formed for the first time a true Miami, Florida workingman's party."

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1997 25 HOLOCAUST STUDIES

JEWISH RESISTANCE IN WWII By David Rosenthal

arold Werner was a member of the Jew- "celebrities." Hish underground force that operated in Poland Thus, large segments of the population are during the Nazi occupation. As a participant kept ignorant of a chapter of history which and witness to that struggle for Jewish sur- would deepen national Jewish consciousness . vival, Werner was well qualified to compose an What they get is a surrogate, a cluster of sto- account of that singular effort . He did so in a ries suited to the popular - and uncritical - book entitled Fighting Back : A Memoir of Jew- taste. ish Resistance in World War Two, published by Columbia University Press in 1992 . The intro- he broad Jewish partisan front extended duction is by Sir Martin Gilbert, the distin- from the woods near Warsaw, through the guished British historian who is himself an forestT around Lublin, where remnants of authority on the Holocaust . ghetto Jews who had escaped from Parchew, Harold Werner writes in detail about the Pulow, Krashnik and other places found refuge sabotage exploits of the Jewish resistance in the woods and swamps between Vilna and group against the German army. Members of Minsk. These geographical details do not span his unit blew up trains, attacked local military the complete scope of that front . The Jews posts, and even shot down a German plane . there suffered from a double-barreled hatred : They also managed to lead a group of Jews out from the Germans, on the one hand, and the of the ghetto into the forest near Parchew . In Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian-White Russian, addition to fighting the Nazis directly, the on the other. During the war years the forests Jews had to fend off the hostility of the Poles became the domain of Jewish bravery, Jewish who were supposed to join forces with them struggle and Jewish martyrdom . against the common foe. The changed situation in the forest during This book reopens the wounds of those the war years becomes painfully clear against years, but it also reminds us that there is a the background of Joseph Opatoshu's novel, In great deal of important data about Jewish re- Polish Woods . What follows is his characteriza- sistance, written in Yiddish and in Hebrew, tion of the forest Jews of former times : that has not been made available to the gen- Mordecai, his father, his grandfather and his eral public. The reason for this state of affairs great-grandfathers back to the sixth genera- lies in the fact that these two languages (in tion, had all been born in the Lipovetz Forest . which so many of the original materials were They intermarried, lived as a clan . . . When- ever one of them celebrated a wedding (as written) are foreign to most American Holo- happened often), more than 300 guests came caust scholars . Added to this ignorance is the - and that was only the immediate family . . . dubious role of "publicity" in American-Jewish Every branch of the family brought along its life. Instead of truthful accounts describing the own rabbi and its own klezmer-band, who memorable deeds of that period, we often get played out in the open air . And the guests nothing more than ballyhoo about the "excep- danced in every room of the house, in the barns, in the woods . . . tionally heroic accomplishments" of current

26 JEWISH FRONT] Wherever a new Jewish community took root, enough of those kinds of reports . . ." Mordecai's family sent them hewn lumber, Dr. Shlomo Wolkowitski, a partisan from providing another portion of Poland with syn- Slonim and a doctor who served a number of agogues and study-houses where Jews could gather to pray. Wherever a Talmud Torah or a partisan detachments, summed up the situa- bes-medresh needed wood for the winter, Mor- tion in this way : "If the Jews had not been so decai's family sent it - furnishing kindling harassed and victimized by the partisans ; if for half a province. they had not been so deceived and if so many of them had not been shot for so-called crimes ; if he Jewish lumber-workers placed at the the Soviet partisans, who grew up during the service of the World War II partisans their Stalin years, had not fanned the flames of Jew- familiarityT with the local roads and the little- hatred in the forest - then thousands more known paths and rivers . The loggers, the saw- Jews would have come out of the forest yers, the men who tied up the lumber and alive . . ." (From One Forest to the Next, shipped it - they were the ones who guided Silonim Chronicle, p. 124) many of the partisans through the mud and swamps and helped them link up with other he family camps in the woods were the last fighting units . T bastion of Jewish family connectedness How large was the partisan movement? against which the destructive lust of anti- Moshe Kaganovitch, author of "The War of the Semitic partisans was directed . Their rescue is Jewish Partisans in Eastern Europe," (Buenos associated with the brothers Tovye and Eshol Aires, 1956) estimates that the number of par- Bielski, who were descended from an old fam- tisans in Volhynia and Western Byelorussia ily of Jewish villagers in the area of Novo- was 12 to 14 thousand . Some Israeli scholars grudek, and with Shimon Zarom from Minsk . arrive at the same figure . If the partisans of Yehoshua Yaffe, in Sefer Milkhamot HaGe- the Lublin district and of all other parts of taot (edited by Yitzhak Zuckerman and Moshe Poland are added to this, the total number of Basak, Tel Aviv, 1954) tells us about a family partisans on the territory of the former Polish camp of the Bielski brothers : state totals 20 to 25 thousand . . . . .The number of people in the camp The general partisan movement was not reached 1,230, including women, children and elderly people . The commandant, Eshol (Biel- free of anti-Semitism . According to chroniclers ski), used to go out with his people in the area and accounts by Jews at the front, there was a and conduct successful raids against the Ger- fanatical Jew-hating element in almost every mans . . . The work in the camp was well orga- unit and every detachment - "just like in the nized. Almost everyone had a function . Even good old days ." Often these anti-Semites were the children were busy with their lessons in the camp school . Tovya Bielski, who was head criminals and former Nazi collaborators . of the camp guard, had sole responsibility for There were instances when Jews were shot for the security of the camp . . . "spying ." Their accusers charged : "How could anyone have escaped from the ghetto without Elsewhere in the book, Yaffe asserts : "The spying?" Jewish partisans were accepted into commandant (Tovya Bielski) came to us with a detachments on the condition of cutting all ties few of his closest people . . . We felt safer and to other family members. Another condition : stronger . . . We trusted him . We believed he that they obtain their own weapons . would protect, that he would save us . . . He In Sh. Kacierginski's Between Hammer and used to say very firmly : `The main thing is to Sickle (Paris, 1949), in which the destruction save as many Jews as possible.' He always of Jewish culture in the Soviet Union is de- found time to talk with each one of us and to scribed, the author, a partisan, asks: "Shall I ask about our personal situation . . ." recount here the experience of those Jews who Some partisan groups were organized by managed to get to the partisans in the forest? Jewish veterans of the Polish army. For exam- Shall I now tell about the anti-Semitism of ple, liberated Jewish prisoners of war in the those Soviet commanders who were sent in army stationed in Lublin created a partisan unit from the other side of the forest? About the in the name of Emilia Plater (a well-known Pol- large number of Jews who became victims of ish freedom-fighter), with Moshe Yeager and their `own' partisans? No . We have already had Shmuel Gruber in command. This group later distinguished itself in a number of battles and

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1997 27

joined up with other partisan groups . After a transports. In a word, the government helped number of engagements, it concentrated its create a second front in the rear of the enemy . efforts around Ostrow, near Lubartow, the par- The development of radio transmission, of air tisan "capital ." Its units were credited with power and of new troop movement techniques safely transporting to the Russian side the lead- raised the importance of that front and led to ers of post-war Poland - Osubka-Moravski, its integration into general battle strategy . Marian Spicholski and Wladislaw Gomulka . Utterly different was the fate of the Jewish partisans. They were not strengthened by any ompared to their gentile "comrades-in- government, nor by a centrally organized arms," the situation of the Jewish parti- body; nor did they have any previously worked sansC was extremely difficult . In all occupied out strategy. Without instructions, without countries the non-Jewish partisans had the money, without weapons, they still dared to full support of their governments . This was follow the path of active resistance. especially true in the Russian areas . The gov- Fighting Back illuminates the role of Jew- ernment gave the partisans the wherewithal ish partisans. It is an important contribution to carry out sabotage operations against im- to the documentary literature, showing that portant enemy positions . It entrusted them not all Jews went to their slaughter like sheep with such tasks as cutting enemy communica- - that the theory of Jewish "passivity" during tions lines and wrecking food and weapons World War II was totally false. El

MIRIAM MANN, a veteran of the Labor Zion- Labor Zionist circles in Minneapolis, and was ist movement in Cincinnati, passed away on in the nucleus that planned the establishment October 12th, leaving a great void in the ranks of what became Beth Herut, a moshav on the of the movement there . In eulogies by her close Sharon plain near Kfar Vitkin . Her mother haverim, Miriam was likened to "A meteor's Yona (Yentl) was active in Pioneer Women fleeting appearance and abrupt disappearance (now Na'amat USA) . Marsha and family sailed - her influence and charismatic leadership for Israel on July 14, 1951, aboard the ZIM spanned over six decades ." Miriam possessed freighter, S .S. Tel Aviv, a voyage lasting three charm, determination, vision and action . She weeks. Established in 1933, the moshav flour- was instrumental in initiating many projects, ished over the decades, expanding from just notably the Lunch and Learn monthly lecture growing oranges to producing turkeys that series which continued for a decade. Following were exported worldwide;' later, the commu- the death of her husband, Albert Mann, nity started a silkscreen printing plant, and together with the local branch of LZA, she eventually a supermarket on the side of the brought prominent local and national person- main highway linking Tel Aviv and Haifa . The I alities to lecture at the Albert Mann Memorial Widetzkys were an integral part of the life and Lectures . Miriam was also highly regarded as development of Beth Herut . a reviewer of books, no matter how lengthy or Besides her husband, Marsha leaves behind complex. Her practical wisdom and dedicated two daughters - Judi Widetzky, co-chair of idealism inspired generations of colleagues not the World Labor Zionist Federation, who will only in Cincinnati but also nationally . become director of the Aliya Department of the World Zionist Organization and its representa- MARSHA RAPPAPORT WIDETZKY, for- tive in Washington, D .C . in January; and Elie merly of Minneapolis and long-time member of Aloni, who is chairperson of the Department of Moshav Beth Herut, passed away in October Economy, Employment & Vocational Training after a brief illness . Coming from a highly of Na'amat in Israel . motivated Labor Zionist family, it was natural The American Labor Zionist Alliance for Marsha and her husband, Hy Widetzky, to mourns the loss of two chaverot, here and in go on Aliya with their young family. Her father, Israel, whose lives exemplified the finest char- Eliyahu Nisan Rappaport, was a leader in acteristics of our movement. 0

28 JEWISH FRONT BOOKS Ben-Gurion began in his fertile mind. Most notably, Shiloah lob- bied for Israeli membership in NATO when others still han- kered after non-alignment . He THE FORGOTTEN SPY developed the strategy of the "REUVEN SHILOAH: The Man Behind the Mossad" "periphery," a liaison of conve- rans y David and Leah Zinder) . Frank nience with the non-Arab neigh- by Haggai Eshed (t . b bors Turkey, Iran and Ethiopia, Cass; 384 pages . $57.50/£39 .50 (cloth) $27.50/£19 .50 Why, then, is he the forgotten (paper) . man of Israeli statecraft? Haggai Eshed provides more clues than Reviewed by Eric Silver explanations in this persuasive biography, published in Hebrew fter Reuven Shiloah's pre- clandestine partnership, fluctu- shortly before his death in 1988 mature death in 1959, Tel Aviv ating but fruitful, with British and offered now for the first time University established an insti- counterintelligence during World in English . Readers are left to tute in his name for research into War II and after . The epic para- crack the code. contemporary Middle Eastern af- chute mission of Hannah Szenes fairs. It was soon renamed the and other Jewish agents from hiloah was born into a rabbin- Moshe Dayan Center . Donors Palestine into Nazi-occupied Eu- Sical family in Me'ah She'arim, found it more sexy. rope to foster Jewish resistance but his father took the family out Shiloah, one of the most prickly and escape was his brainchild. of the ghetto and became a cam- and frustrated of men, would Working under Ben-Gurion paigning religious Zionist . Reu- have squirmed at the irony. That and foreign minister Moshe ven joined the Haganah when he was the story of his public life . As Sharett, Shiloah supervised nego- was 15, and abandoned his re- David Ben-Gurion's "Mr . Intelli- tiations, overt and covert, with ligious roots . His background and gence" in the decades before and King Abdullah of Jordan . He temperament made him a loner, after the establishment of the played a key role, supple but al- an ideas man rather than an or- state, his contributions to Israel's ways mindful of security, in the ganization man . He was an obses- security and diplomatic strategy 1949 Rhodes armistice talks and sive worker who hated to dele- were monumental . Yet he died, in other early peace efforts. gate and never took holidays . his 50th year, craving recogni- As Abba Eban's No . 2 in the Like a classic yeshivah student, tion. His contemporaries became Washington embassy during the he had to fill every waking second ministers or ambassadors . '50s, he refined another staple of with his equivalent of Talmud . Shiloah remained a shadowy Israeli diplomacy : quiet cultiva- After Shiloah's death from un- "adviser," whose name now tion of influential American diagnosed heart trouble, his strikes a muffled echo . "friends," with access to the ad- friend and ally, Chaim Herzog, He was not only the first chief ministration . At a time when the calculated that he had gone of the Mossad, Israel's external American connection was far abroad 32 times as a diplomatic security service. He set the pat- from axiomatic, he forged secret trouble-shooter in the last year of tern for intelligence gathering links with the Central Intelli- his life. Although Herzog warned and evaluation - the division of gence Agency. One of his earliest him that he was killing himself, labor between the Mossad, the conquests was James Jesus An- Shiloah had to be involved in internal Shin Bet and Military gleton, the agency's fanatical cold everything . He was secretive to Intelligence - that has proved warrior, whose memory was hon- the point of parody. Colleagues its worth for almost half a cen- ored in Jerusalem long after he joked that when a taxi driver tury. had been discredited in Washing- asked where he wanted to go, he In the'30s and'40s, Shiloah pi- ton. refused to tell . It was classified. oneered Zionist espionage in the Shiloah, a rare Sabra among Industry, discretion, innova- Arab world . He himself posed as a the midwives of the state, was al- tive thinking, private charm - Jewish teacher in Iraq. He ran a ways troubled by Israel's inter- these were the qualities Shiloah network of informers in Palestin- national and regional isolation . brought to the service of the ian towns and villages. He built a Many of the ideas attributed to young state. They proved both his

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1997 29

strength and his weakness . When rivals plotted to unseat him, he ISAIAH BERLIN DIES AT 88 didn't know how to defend him- self. When skeptics challenged his qualifications to be Washing- ne of this century's leading Jewish philosophers and exponent of ton ambassador, a post for which Zionism,O Sir Isaiah Berlin passed away on November 5th in Oxford, he thirsted after Eban returned England, after a long illness . A man of great scholarship, intellect and to Israel, even his admirers had wit, Sir Isaiah advocated pluralism in a century when totalitarians and to admit that he lacked the plat- utopians alike claimed title to the "one, single truth". form charisma. The New York Times devoted more than a full page in its account of This book was designed to give Sir Isaiah's life and achievements . We present herewith a section of that Shiloah his due place in history . eulogy, dealing with his outlook on Zionism : It turned into a memorial to its author. Like his subject, Eshed Sir Isaiah's fervent Zionism derived When it was suggested to him during was a Sabra maverick : a leftist from his experience as much as from his that conversation in 1996 that he was philosophy. "I can tell you why I'm a Zion- surely the exception, that he had been who fought in the Stern Gang ; a ist," he said in a conversation in the year knighted, awarded the Order of Merit, non-conformist journalist with before his death . "Not because the Lord Britain's highest honor for intellectual the Labor daily Davar, who offered us the Holy Land as some people, achievement ; that he was a renowned and backed Ben-Gurion over the religious Jews, believe . My reason for beloved Oxford scholar, a president of the Lavon Affair . His book on that being a Zionist has nothing to do with pre- British Academy ; that he had been serving Jewish culture, Jewish values, saluted, cherished and accepted with notoriously divisive episode was wonderful things done by Jews . But the pride in England, the recipient of innu- so explosive that the paper "ex- price is too high, the martyrdom too long . merable honorary degrees, he had an iled" him to London to keep him And if I were asked, 'Do you want to pre- immediate response : "Nevertheless, I'm out of mischief. El serve this culture at all costs?' I'm not sure not an Englishman, and if I behave (Reprinted with permission of The that I would say yes, because you can't badly. . . ." condemn people to permanent persecu- In his scholarly work, Sir Isaiah had Jerusalem Report - ©The Jerusalem tion. Of course assimilation might be a traced the origins of Zionism in a profile of Report.) quite good thing, but it doesn't work . the 19th-century German-Jewish revolu- Never has worked, never will . There isn't tionary Moses Hess, one of his many por- a Jew in the world known to me who traits of political philosophers . Often, somewhere inside him does not have a though, he was drawn to his opposites, tiny drop of uneasiness vis-a-vis them, the like Karl Marx, the subject of his first ADDENDUM majority among whom they live. They book in 1939, and Joseph de Maistre, a may be very friendly, they may be entirely French philosopher of the Napoleonic age Before Reuven Shiloah happy, but one has to behave particularly whom he regarded as a proto-fascist . well, because if they don't behave well Michael Ignatieff, Sir Isaiah's biographer, Hebraized his name he was they won't like us." said, "He is liberalism's greatest elucida- Reuven Zaslany. He married tor of the antiliberal. He is always drawn Betty Borden, member of a to his opponents . Here is a liberal, bal- i prominent Labor Zionist fam- anced, amusing, witty man drawn to We mourn the passing of ily in New York . Betty contin- lonely, eccentric, crazed characters . It is ues to reside in Jerusalem . said he is a rationalist who visits the irra- FANNY KOENIGSBERG tional by day and comes back to the ratio- Reuven died in 1959 at age 49 . New York City nal stockade at night." 11 Mother of Ruby Vogelfanger Jewish Frontier presents and this review of Shiloah's biogra- The Labor Zionists of phy at a time when Mossad MARSHA WIDETZKY Cincinnati which he founded and led Moshav Beit Herut, Israel Mother of Judi Widetzky through many successful oper- record with deep sorrow the ations, has fumbled recently, passing of our beloved and Two Labor Zionist Pioneers who most notably in the failed respected Chavera assassination attempt against transmitted their legacy to suc- ceeding generations. a major HAMAS leader in MIRIAM MANN Amman, Jordan. Daniel & Elaine Mann who brightened our ranks for so Bethesda Maryland many decades

3 0 .JEWISH FRONTIER 9 BOOKS $3.00 He, wave ox I said goon- . many ways . A LOVE STORY Has a song delig your heart With Love? Has a cool brt- "TO MY MEMORY SING" by Rosalind Byron Chaikin . you? 299 pages. With photos, maps and index . Library Research It is I, kissing you . We are not ap, Associates, 474 Dunderberg Road, Monroe, NY 10959 . $25 These memoirs are an "excursio Hard Cover. into the past", and will be most appreciated by veterans of World War II (and other battles, for that Reviewed by Nahum Guttman matter) who were separated from loved ones for long periods of time. his memoir, based on letters later tribute, President Carter The author, Mrs . Chaikin, adds said: "Whenever I needed help as her own literary touch with Tand poems from Sol Chick Chai- poems dedicated to Chick whose kin to his wife Rosalind, mainly President, Chick was there . He "hair was black" . Their four chil- during World War II when he was embodied the best in American stationed in the China-Burma- values. He was tough but compas- dren and several friends con- India (CBI) theatre brings to life sionate. He set a shining example tribute short statements which the many-sided career of an of a commitment to the brother- reflect the extent of Chick's influ- American trade union leader and hood of all men and women, com- ence on family and friends - for social activist. mitment to human rights, a fer- to him the individual mattered as The story begins with the trials vent dedication to just cause much as the masses he led as a and tribulations of a young Jew- which will long leave an imprint unionist. ish couple who are madly in love on our nation." Chick Chaikin (1918-1991) and strive to rise from a genteel Another leading Democrat, was a devoted Jew. He dedicated low-income background to the Senator Daniel Patrick Moyni- himself and his union cohorts to highest rungs of the American han, likewise ascribed to Chick a support the labor movement in Is- labor movement. After the war, major part in his becoming a sen- rael, which he visited many times, Chick becomes a regional director ator: "The first thing Chick Chai- to survey the projects sponsored of the International Ladies' Gar- kin ever asked of me was that I by the ILGWU and meet with the ment Workers Union, gaining val- run for the United States Senate, country's leaders. He was particu- uable experience that prepared and I would not have done it if larly close to Golda Meir and him for eventual leadership in he hadn't . . . . there were many other Histadrut personalities . that union, topped by his election other requests, but all singular in Chick chaired the American Trade as president, following in the that he never asked anything for Union Council for Histadrut . footsteps of David Dubinsky and himself. It was always for others, As a valiant American trade Louis Stulberg. In that role, he and not those you would neces- union leader, as a staunch sup- also earned a seat as vice-presi- sarily expect ." porter of Histadrut, but above all dent of the AFL-CIO . But the major part of these as a caring human being, Chick A tall, attractive man with an memoirs deals with the strong left a legacy that "sings". O abundance of charm and a gift of bonds between Chick and Ros- oratory, Chick gained wide ac- alind, especially during his mili- claim outside the Labor fold . A tary absence from his wife, and champion of liberal causes and his first child. Rosalind faithfully All royalties will be donated to progressive issues, Chick was kept his letters (and especially the Family and Children's Policy given an honor rarely bestowed the poems) from CBI . Center, Heller School, Brandeis on a trade unionist - he was Soon after his arrival in Syl- tapped to second the nomination het, India with the 4th Combat University. of Jimmy Carter at the 1980 Dem- Cargo Group, he wrote: ocratic Party convention . In a Half a world away in a foreign land,

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