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1990 Menorah Review (No. 19, Summer, 1990)

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This Full Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the VCU University Archives at VCU Scholars Compass. It has been accepted for inclusion in Menorah Review by an authorized administrator of VCU Scholars Compass. For more information, please contact [email protected]. NUMBER 19 • THE JUDAIC STUDIES PROGRAM OFVIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY • SUMMER 1990 For the Enrichment of Jewish Thought

cal writers interpreted history as the record that the Rabbis "possessed no conception of of God's special relationship with Israel, the development of ideas or institutions," which he rewards for its obedience and Meyer offers in evidence the fact that the punishes forits sins. Uninterested in histori­ latter insisted that the Oral Law as well as the cal events as important in themselves, the written Torah had its origin at Sinai. One biblical writers were more concerned with wonders if this is a fair indictment of the interpretingthe record of history as evidence Rabbis. Can it not be said that having been of God's presence in world affairs. History traumatized by the loss of the Temple and thereby became a witness pointing to the the J udean state, they were more concerned truth of God's actions and therefore became with preserving the integrity of the halakha, a requirement in the life of Israel, God's "the Jew's City of God" (in Meyer's words) people. than in historical studies, which, like astron­ Michael Meyer has edited a first-rate With the writing of I Maccabees, the omy and geometry,they would have consid­ textbook for a course in Jewish historiogra­ first post-biblical work of Jewish history, ered peripheral to wisdom, (cf. the Ethics of phy. After pointing out that contemporary the influence of Greek secular historiogra­ the Fathers, 3.23). More to the point is forms of Jewish identity are rooted in some phy is seen. God is distant fromthe political Meyer's observation that "for the most part, view of Jewish history. Meyer shares with and military events connected with the historical considerations remained inessen­ us the problems of the historian, both the Maccabbean uprising and is never men­ tial to the rabbinic view of the world." philosophical ("How can the past be known tioned by name. Rather than focus on faith In the Talmudic periodthe author Seder when it is not present to our senses?") and and miracles, the writer of I Maccabbees 0/am sought to establish for the first time a the historiographical (or methodological) gives a matter-of-fact summary of events, chronology according to the creation of the relating to causality and judgments upon the which spurred the revolt of Mattathias fol­ world; and in the Middle Ages, Moses past. Another problem for the historian is lowed by a description of the resistance Maimonides, following the model of the periodization. However, the need to locate carried on by his sons. II Maccabbees ap­ Ethics of the Fathers, traced the unbroken natural divisions in the Jewish past is com­ peals both to secular Greek and traditional chain of halakha from Moses to his own day. plicated by the fact that Jews lived simulta­ Jewishreaderships. Thewriterthererecords In this effort he was probably motivated by neously under a variety of political, ceo­ God's direct and miraculous intervention on a desire to stem the tide ofKaraite polemics nomic and social conditions. behalf of Israel, His people in the manner of and not by a concern with historical studies Equally difficult is the attempt to find the biblical historian, even as he strives to which he, like Aristotle, considered a waste a cm�mon bond unitingJews in their several educate and entertain his readers after the of time. Even Judah ha-Levi, who valued differing cultural and historical experiences model of Greek historiography. God's presence in history at Sinai as the leading to variations in Jewish self-defini­ In Josephus Flavius, the first century most compelling evidence of Israel's faith, tion -an unresolved problem to this very C.E. Jewish historian, several influences are merely followed the model of the biblical day. Meyer observes that the attempt to find at work. Like the Mesopotamianand Egyp­ historians. Although differing from his "the spatial connection" (his term) led some tian scribes of the Bronze and Iron Ages, he contemporaries who sought a philosophical historians to search behind the events of the strove to flatter his patrons, the Flavian basis for religious truth, Halevi valued his­ Jewish past and discover certain religious or emperors, by espousing their victorious cause tory not for its own sake but as the preem­ moral or national ideals consistently present over hisJudean countrymen. And following inent foundation of that truth. and unfailingly preserved. the Graeco-Roman models, he seeks to The ninth and tenth centuries pro­ Meyer then proceeds to list the major establish historical truth for its own sake, duced two works of historical interest de- contributors to Jewish historiography and even though he is at times self-serving in his does a critical evaluation of their attempts to attempt to vindicate himself and justify the deal with the special problems of their craft. wars of Rome against its enemies. Never­ Beginning with the writers of the historical theless, Josephus fails to rise to the highest sections of the Bible, Meyer observes that in standards ofGraeco-Roman historiography. their efforts to develop a philosophy of his­ Following the destruction of the sec­ tory they broke with the historiographers of ond Temple and the end of the Judean the ancient Middle East even as they influ­ commonwealth, Jewish interest in history enced the later historians of the West. Un­ was confined to the biblical period, which like rhe scribes of ancient Mesopotamia and became an idealized and ritually repeated Egypt who were employed by emperors to heilsgeschichte through which the commu­ write about their military exploits, the bibli- nity renewed itself. In suppon of his view 2

signed to counter the Karaite efforts to dele­ Hebrew in 1558 and Samuel Usque his Immanuel Wolf this idea was the unity of gitimize the Rabbanites and the Oral Torah. Consolation for the Tribulations of Israel in God; for Abraham Geiger it was ethical These include the Seder Tannaim ve-Amo­ Portugese in 1553. Both authors follow the monotheism. There were polemical consid­ raim from the year 885 or 887 and the traditional biblical model and attribute erations in the position taken by the histori­ Iggeret [not Igeret as in Meyer's text] Rav Israel's suffering to her sins. A departure cally grounded metaphysical idealists, who Sherira Gaon written in 987. In his intro­ from this religious causality is Solomon Ibn could argue that Judaism was not of limited duction Meyer lumps Abraham Ibn Daud's Verga's Shevet Yehudawritten in the 1520s. importance, having passed its prime with the Sefer ha-Qabbalah of 1160-1161 with the Probing the causes for Jewish sufferingIbn advent of Christianity, but a force that con­ other two and dismisses it with one sentence, Verga advances-for the first time inJewis h tinues to be "an important and influencial (p. 16). In the body of the book he does historiography - secular considerations factor in the development of the human include a short extract fromIbn Daud's work ("their pretentious, envy-inspiring behav­ spirit." (I. Wolf, "On the Concept of a under the headings ''The Reliability of the iors") that may have acccounted for their Science of Judaism," quoted in Meyer, p. Rabbinic Transmission" and "The Unbro­ plight. Meyer correctly observes that this 150.) One wonders to what degree, if any, ken Chain." This bit of literary gerryman­ political concernsplayed a role in the efforts dering is probably designed to support Michael Meyer has filled a major of these historians. Certainly they were of Meyer's thesis that basic to Ibn Daud's work void in the study of Jewish prime importance to Leopold Zunz, who is "the underlying polemic against the was persuaded that a familiarity with the historiography by presenting us with Karaites," (p. 79). religious heritage ofJewry will lead enlight­ a volume that should become the Meyer's thesis here is debatable given ened statesmen to grant the Jews the same Ibn Daud's expanded treatment of the his­ standard introduction to this subject.. civil rights as the rest of the German nation tory of Spanish Jewry (which Meyer ac­ enjoys. knowledges on p. 79) and his attempt to new component in Jewish historiography Other historians like I.M. Jost, who promote the authority of the Spanish rabbis may have come from the influence of the sensed the polemical nature of the idealists, as the legitimate successors of the Babylo­ Italian Renaissance with its emphasis on the began his History of the Israelites: "It is nian academies. It is much more likely that human factors at work in historic events. In time to close the fileson the value or lack of the latter was Ibn Daud's main concern line with the new humanism coming out of value of the Jews and Judaism and to begin given the lavish attention he devotes to the Italy, Jewish writers showed an increased with an analysis of the phenomenon itself, Andalusian courtier-rabbis. The Karaite interest in the histories of the lands in which its origin and development." Meyer pays polemics notwithstanding, there is a new they lived, resulting in the histories of Ven­ tribute to Jost's "objectivity and good his­ polemical tone in the closing chapters of Ibn ice and the Ottoman Empire by the Cretan torical sense," which exceeded those of the Daud's work. It is, inthe words of G. Cohen, Elijah Capsali, the histories of the rulers of historianswho followed him, such as Graetz the effort to proclaim "the almost exclusive France and Turkey by Joseph ha-Kohen and and Dubnow, although his work did not gain dominion of the Andalusian rabbinate over DavidGans' world history. Commenting on the popularity of theirs. In assessing the all the other various branches of Jewish these developments, Meyer notes that "be­ east-European philosopher Nachman Kro­ knowledge." cause the histories of other nations could be chmal, Meyer acknowledges his pioneering Tenth century Italy produced three viewed with less theological presupposition efforts in developing the first systematic works of historical interest. Josippon, a than that of Israel, increased awareness of philosophy of Jewish history, although in book written in Hebrew by an anonymous them must have played a role in the eventual subordinating the history of individuals and author presents an account of the second secularization of Jewish history as well." institutions to the history of ideas he tends to Temple from "collected stories from the The secular temper of the Italian ignore the material components in the his­ book of Joseph b. Gorion [Josephus Renaissance is most notable in the work of tory of the Jews. Flavius]." Its great popularity attests to a Azariah dei Rossi who applies critical and As expected, Meyer devotes more greater interest in post-biblical Jewish his­ analytical methods in evaluating rabbinic space to Heinrich Graetz and Simon Dub­ tory, as Meyer observes. The Chronicle of legends, although he does not produce a now than to the historians preceding and Ahimaaz by Ahimaaz ben Paltiel gives an connected historical narrative. It is only in following them. In his attempt to answer the account of the author's family and their the 19th centurythat integrated and compre­ question, "What is Judaism?" by focusing achievements in southern Italy. Rounding hensive histories of theJ ews begin to appear on its historical development, Graetz advo­ out the trio is the Chronicle of Nathan ha­ in the wake of the European Romantic cates the role of the historian over the phi­ Bavli, preserved only in fragments, giving movement, which sanctioned the search for losopher for whom the history of an idea an account of institutional life among tenth­ historic roots of people and cultures. In precedes its historical effects. Although century Babylonian Jews. Franco-German addition to the Wissenschaft with its insis­ Graetz did not presume that the philosophi­ Jewry in the I Oth-12th centuries was not tence on non-judgmental textual studies, this cal idea - the Jewish "folk-soul" - could given to historical writings and only gene­ century produced the seminal historical exist in a vacuum separate from Israel's alogies of scholars and martyrologies fol­ writings of Leopold Zunz, Immanuel Wolf, historic life, he was equally certain that lowing the First and Second Crusades have Abraham Geiger, Nachman Krochmal and Jewish history was more than its national been preserved. Not mentioned by Meyer Heinrich Graetz. existence. In Meyer's words, "Graetz's among the historical writings from this pe­ Meyer observes that the third element conception of Jewish history represents an riod is the Sefer ha-Yashar, probably written in the mix that produced a synthetic concep­ intermediate stage between the earlier view, in Spain in the 12th century. tion of Jewish history was the "system of which paid little regard to the people that From the sixteenth century several historically grounded metaphysical ideal­ brought forth and developedthe Jewish idea, notable works inJewish historiography have ism." From Herder and Hegel,J ewish histo­ and the national historiography of Simon been preserved. The need to record for rians proposed that a single unique idea was Dubnow who follows him." Like most 19th posterity the fate of Spanish Jewry expelled at the center of the Jewish experience giving century historians, Graetz was not without from their homes in 1492 led Joseph ha­ it purpose and continuity in its disparate his biases. Among these was his limited Kohen to compose his Vale of Tears in historical and geographic settings. For interest in east European Jewry, the Ostju- den with their bizarre Hasidism and their out their historical career held a unified "mongrel tongue," Yiddish. perception of the universe, whether reli­ Dubnow, a native of eastern Europe, gious, as in the past, or secular, as at present, devotes much of his historical writings to and that this "trans- historical principle" Jewish life in Russia and Poland, including enabled them to blend creatively into their a history of Hasidism, even as he rejects several environments while preserving their Graetz's thesis that the historical continuity unique identity. However, Meyer rightly ofJewish life over four millenia is related to argues that a metaphysical "trans-historical their self-image as the bearers of ethical principle" is not provable and he questions monotheism to the world. For Dubnow, the the accuracy of the "unity principle" given agnostic, Israel's survival and creative life the diversity of views among modem Jews over the centuries is an expression of its regarding the world in which they live. In national awareness as a special people. Baeck's essay we hear a voice reflecting the Dubnow had little sympathy for the post­ Holocaust experience and his efforts to come Mendelssohn Germanizers whom he viewed to terms with it. The Holocaust and the In thinking about this comprehensive as traitors "to the national cause." establishment of the state of Israel pose new book on the Dreyfus Affair,I wondered why However, Dubnow's avowed "socio­ problems for the studentofJewish historiog­ the hundreds of artists whose work is in­ logical" approach to Jewish history is pitted raphy which, added to the already existing cluded in the volume found it so easy to with flaws not unlike Graetz's Leidens und ones, make for an exciting and challenging portray Dreyfus, his supporters and the Jews Gelehrtengeschichte. Committed to the discipline. in such repulsive ways- as devils, locusts, indivisible unity of the Jewish people, he Regrettably, Meyer does not mention rats, serpents, monsters, vampires, J udases. fails to expose the conflicts of social and Levi Herzfeld, the first Jewish economic Why was it so difficult for pro-Dreyfus art­ economic interests and regional tensions in historian, considered by no less a figure than ists to find a convincing, positive image of Jewish life, even as he neglects to pay due Theodor Mommsen to be "the foremost and Jews? Why was there no alternative lan­ attention to the external influences of the most reliable of all Jewish historians," (cf. guage, no meaningful vocabularyof good­ creativity of the Jews. Although not a Zion­ G. Karpeles, Handelsgeschichte der Juden ness concerning Jews that could naturally ist, Dubnow's influence is seen in the works des Altentums [Brunswick, 1894), p. xx), be affirmed within French culture? This of theZionist historians Ben Zion Dinur and and he completely ignores the seminal con­ essay is an attempt to answer these ques­ Raphael Mahler, both of whom found the tributions of Moritz Steinschneider to Jew­ tions. desire for national redemption and a return ish historiography (cf. S. Baron,Historyand The predominant Christian theology to the Land the catalyst for Jewish survival. Jewish Historians [Philadelphia, 1964], pp. on theJ ews holds that they enable Christians Even a cursory perusal of the synagogue 276ff.). However, these are matters of judg­ to know themselves as Christians and to liturgy recited by Jews daily as well as on ment about which one can argue. In the final incarnate good by contrast with Jewish evil. Sabbaths and Festivals reveals the ever­ analysis, Michael Meyer has filled a major Anti-Jewish theological defamations, com­ present plea for national restoration in the void in the study of Jewish historiography municated and empowered by the Church, Land. by presenting us with a volume that should have for millennia provided the Christian Meyer correctly assesses Yehezkel become the standard introduction to this populace with inspiration and justification Kaufmann as a unique Zionist historian who subject. We are in his debt. for their contemptuous moral attitudes to­ perceives the love of the Land as part of a ward Jews. Anti-modernist, racist and na­ larger self-awareness that made for Jewish Leon J. Weinberger is University tionalist ideas and movements would not survival. According to Kaufmann, "religion Research Professor in the Religious Studies necessarily have become anti-Jewish in the was the sole source of the [Jewish] ... na­ Department of the University of Alabama first instance nor would they have packed tional will." Meyer concludes his survey of and author of Early Synagogue Poetsin the the punch they seem to have, especially Jewish historiography with selections from Balkans. during crisis periods, had theological antis­ the work of the American historians Salo emitism not been inculcated into so many Baron and Ellis Rivkin and from LeoBaeck' s Christians. essay This People Israel written, in part, in a The history of theJews in France from concentration camp. Meyer finds that al­ patristic times through the 17th century has though Baron's sociological approach to been one of periods of peace superseded by Jewish history, described as the continuing expropriations, massacres and expulsions. relationship between Judaism as religion Expounded in every theological text, cate­ and culture and theJewish people, has added chism, and Christian author who wroteabout much to our knowledge of the themes he has the Jews- indeed, in most childhood expe­ chosen, his methodology does not help re­ rience - up to and during the Enlighten­ veal "the dynamics of Jewish history and the ment was the idea that Jews were paradig­ connections among its diverse elements." In matically evil. During the debate over the this Meyer echoesthe observations made by emancipation of the French Jews in 1789, other critics ofBaron who find that his work the predominant attitude expressed by the lacks a conceptual framework that would revolutionnaires, including friends of the help explain the continuity of Jewish his­ Jews like Mirabeau and Gregoire, was to tory. grant nothing to Jews unless they totally In line with this effort to discover a assimilated. Even after the 13 November conceptual framework is the "unity con­ 1791 law gave French Jews citizenship, cept" of Jewish history proposed by Ellis Judaism was not given equal status with the Rivkin. Rivkin's thesis is that Jews through- Christian religions until 1846. 4

For the most part, 19th-century Eu­ spokesman of the papacy. According to against] ews. Drumont' s life was filledwith rope was repelled by ideas of equality and Civilta, the Jews were at the root of the evils things Catholic, and he attacked the Jews humane treatmentfor Jews, who were iden­ of the French Revolution and democratic almost always in traditionalChristian terms. tified as opponents of traditional, Christian society; they "were at the head of the viru­ Ironically, the forces that would deny society. Typical of strict Conservatives was lent campaigns against Christianity"; they the importance of religion in the Affair, Johann Fichte, who stirred a hate campaign were enemies and foreigners within every would also have us believe that Dreyfus was based in great part on religious differences. country in which they lived, yet they domi­ so assimilated that he had totally lost his The political Left associated Jews with nated and ruled these nations, planning ulti­ sense of Jewishness. It is true that the whole " exploitative capitalism. Even liberal Chris­ mately to take over control of the entire Dreyfus family and Alfred in particularwere tians essentially told Jews, as H. D. Schmidt world." fiercely loyal to France. Dreyfus had writ­ has noted, "to reform, conform or todepart." ten, for instance: "Far above men, far above By the end of the century, the Catho­ The Dreyfus Affair, 1894-1906, is their passions, far above their errors stands lic Church persisted in actively supporting mutatis mutandis another important France." Yet the fact remains that although every antisemitic movement that emerged. manifestation of religious he was never extroverted about his Jewish­ Louis Veuillot, one of the leaders of the antisemitism. ness, he seemed simply to assume it. Proud French Church, went so far as to advocate of his Jewish name, he was married in a that Jewish children could be baptised with­ La Croix was France's major Catholic Jewish ceremony toa Jewish woman. When out parental consent in order to "snatch a newspaper. It was published in nearly 100 depressed and desperate for comfort in Sante soul from Satan." Between 1882 and 1886 regional editions. In title, staffand faithful­ Prison in December 1894, he wrote to the alone, 20 antisemitic books were written by ness to the Pope's orders, La Croix seemed Chief Rabbi of France, Zadoc Kahn, who French priests. They blamed all of France's to be the authoritative journal of French had married him and Lucie, to come to ills on "the deicidal people." Catholicism. And the Church itself did not comfort him. Rabbi Kahn asked the authori­ The Dreyfus Affair, 1894-1906, is dissuade people from this belief. In 1890,La zation of General Felix Saussier to visit mutatis mutandis another important mani­ Croix named itself "the most anti-Jewish Dreyfus in his cell to "bring him the succor festation ofreligious antisemitism. Although newspaper in France, the one that supports of religion." He was refused. A few days the fallout fromeconomic, politicaland social Christ, the sign of horror for all Jews." It later, when he was returned to his cell after problems lurked in the background, it was regarded the Jews as representatives of the hearing the guilty verdict of the court mar­ Dreyfus' Jewishness that ran like a fierytrail Devil, totally evil; and Dreyfus meant the tial, he shouted: "My only crime is being throughout the Affair. During his degrada­ Jews. The editors hysterically published born a Jew." There is no doubt that Dreyfus tion ceremony in January 1895 and through­ lists of Jews in the Army, in the press, in was QQlh a Jewish Jew and an assimilated out the period, the Judas theme and the education and in administration. Jew. These two modes were merged in a notion of Christian revenge on the Jews not La Croix du Nord, a popular regional letter toLucie Dreyfus of? December 1894. only for this "betrayal" but also for their version of La Croix, leavened its Christian Alfred wrote as if of the Shema: "Oh dear "hateful assassination of Christ" were promi­ disdain with economic, political and racist France, you whom I Jove with all my soul, nent. antisemitism. The Jews were "perfidious," with all my heart, you to whom I have Zola's J' accuse, attacking the perpe­ "deicides," "monsters fo Golgotha," who de�oted all my energy, all my intelligence trators of the crime against Dreyfus, served "perpetuate their deicide by attempting to as an indictment of the values of traditional destroyChristian morality and ruin the Catho­ The Affair that had ended with France, its Christian spirit and its national lic Church and Catholics themselves." In a Dreyfus' vindication, a strengtheningof the identification with the army. Typically, combination of racist and religious antis­ Republic and a weakening of Catholic con­ traditional France reacted with violence emitism, La Croixdu Nord noted that Jews servatism seemed to lose its importance against the Jews. In the six weeks following participated in a "war to the death that, since during the crisis of world war. In the 20th publication of J' accuse, there were 69 antis­ the originalfall, separated the divine race of century, religious antisemitism has remained emitic riots in France. the Liberator of the human kind from that of a dominant force in French society and poli­ Although there was no direct inter­ the hellish serpent .... They are a race, a tics. As late as the Second World War, vention in the Affair by the upper levels of foreign race, encamped among us; a race "faced with the 'Jewish problem,' Catholic the Catholic hierarchy, they did little or without our blood, without our instincts, France was almostentirely dazed," as Catho­ nothing to rein in the antisemitic hysteria without our morality, without our ideals; an lic historian Pierre Pierrard put it. A large during this period. It is patent that those essentially cosmopolitan race, a race with­ proportion of the Catholic faithful and the most predisposed to this antisemitism and, out country; a stubborn race, usurious, with­ clergy were still bitter toward Jews. Despite therefore, most hostile to Dreyfus were the out any moral sense .... " This kind of propa­ important help for Jews from some elements faithful. Most priests, religious congrega­ ganda went a considerable way in condition­ of the Catholic population, the French Church tions and practicing Catholics were espe­ ing the minds of the faithful and destroying with "near unanimity" had up to 1942 sup­ cially inimical to Dreyfus and the Jews and their Christian conscience in regard to the ported the Vichy regime's policy of dis­ engaged in anti-Dreyfus activities through­ Jews. crimination against Jews, so long as it was out the Affair. Edouard-Adolphe Drumont, called carried out with "justice and charity," the More important than the intellectual "the pope of antisemitism" and author of the phrase used by the Vatican in supporting anti-Dreyfus journals was the Catholic press best-sellingFrench book of the 19th century, Vichy's antisemitic legislation. Following in cultivating and catalyzing the pre-exist­ La Francejuive devant I' opinion, he was the traditional policy, most French Churchmen ing religious antisemitism of French Catho­ first French antisemite who also expressed had no objections to the principle of the anti­ lic culture (in fact, the Catholic press all himself in racist terms. Drumont serves as Jewish laws. Although several prelates had across Europe and the United States were an example of the elemental nature of reli­ spoken out in favor of the Jews during the uniformly, sometimes violently, anti­ gious antisemitism and how it took priority first years of the war (and millions of French Dreyfus). The Jesuit Civilta Cattolica, over racism, nationalism and anti-modem­ lay Catholics and clergy acted with courage published in Rome, was regarded as the ism as a motive and expression of hostility and conviction to help Jews throughout the Holocaust), in the roundups of Jews for dan." The two sections that have less rele­ II of Morocco identifying the conspirators shipment to Auschwitz in February 1943, it vance to the book'srna jor theme are"Ameri­ and the locations of their weapons hidden in was not surprising that the Church stood can Dreams," which discusses covert U.S. Egypt. Sadat's security forces quickly ar­ silent. contacts with thePLO, and"The Mysterious rested the conspirators, thereby prolonging Middle East," which poses some concluding their president's life. A few days later, on Robert Michael is professor of Euro­ dilemmas. July 21, 1977, Egyptian forces invaded Libya. pean historyat Southeastern Massachusetts "Inside Beirut" focuses on the intelli­ Two months later it was King Hassan of University. gence gathering activities of a Circassian­ Morocco who contacted the Israelis with the Jordanian woman, Dina al-Asan, who was news that President Sadat was willing to established in medical practice among the open secret negotiations with Begin. Subse­ Palestinian refugees in Lebanon by the quently, Sadat flew to Israel to address the Mossad in 1973. Dina assisted the Mossad Knesset. That flight would eventually lead in the conduct of its anti-terrorist work and to the Camp David Accords and to another had significant impact on the Israeli-Egyp­ plot, this time successfully, against Sadat's tian peace process that culminated at Camp life. David. Posner does not claim that the intelli­ Dina's photographing of PLO "fish­ gence turned over to Sadat triggered the ing boats" (used for launching guerilla as­ resulting peace process, but he obviously sault craft against Israeli beaches) allowed thinks that it was an event of real signifi­ teams of Israeli frogmen to destroy 30 such cance to the course of Egyptian-Israeli rela­ craftinLebaneseportson thenight ofJuly 9, tions. The secret intelligence war and the 1974. More importantly, however, Dina workings of hidden diplomacy may have befriended the family of an assistant to the gained the victory that conventional warfare Israel Undercover: Secret Warfare PLO's chief of military planning. She then had failed to achieve. andHiddenDiplomacyin the Middle East is offered her services as the family's babysit­ The"Across the RiverJordan" section a history of Arab-Israeli confrontations since ter and used the opportunity to photograph of Israel Undercover focuses on Israeli ef­ 1948. Steve Posner argues that only through military directives. Among her discoveries forts to influence King Hussein of Jordan an understanding of the intelligence gather­ were two false passports. The passports through secret diplomacy. Posner tracesthe ing and counter-terroristactivities oflsrael's were destined to be carried by two Palestin­ origins of modem Jordan and Israel from the Mossad, the"secret warfare"of the title, and ian commandos on a journey to Tel Aviv by McMahon correspondence, the Sykes-Picot the workings of behind-the-scenes negotia­ way of London. Mossad agents in England Agreement and the Balfour Declaration to tions, the "hidden diplomacy" of the title, were alerted. They identified the two Pales­ the 1947 U.N. partition. He emphasizes that can a realistic view be gained of what has tinians on arrival, placed them under sur­ the Hashemite rulers of the British-created essentially been 40 years of continual war­ veillance and witnessed the PLO operatives political entity of Transjordan are outsiders fare. Posner is a realist. He intends for receive a briefcase from a former British­ whose rule has been sustained more by force others to see the stark realities he sees. In Army-officer-turned-arms-merchant. When of arms than by the actual loyalty of their some ways a more appropriate title for this the PLO commandos subsequently arrived subjects. King Hussein understands very work might have been "Israel Under Seige: in Tel Aviv, they were quickly and quietly well the greatest threat to his throne arises 1948-1988." arrested. Concealed in their briefcase were not from Israel but from Arab nationalism. The book's actual title may imply too two machine guns and five hand-grenades. much. Readers expecting the disclosure of Because of Dina al-Asan's work, the Israeli Undercover is .. _ a state secrets will be disappointed; the "se­ Mossad was alerted to the activities of the sympathetic study of Israel's attempts cret" and "hidden" elements of the work English arms merchant. He led them to to develop a series of approaches for have long been matters of public record or another former officer, a Frenchman in the fending off, under intense and speculation. Posner's extensive interview­ employofLibya'sMuammarQaddafi. When ing of private informants and his use of a threatened with exposure by the Mossad, the prolonged pressure, its Arab enemies. wide range of sources allow him, nonethe­ English arms merchant agreed to become a less, to assess the significance of the work of mole (double agent) within the Libyan-fi­ It was the April 1963 proclamation of several Israeli undercover agents. He also nanced arms acquisition network. Through a union between Egypt, Iraq and Syria that throws some light on two decades of "se­ their spy the Mossad learnedof the existence propelled a fearful Hussein into the first of cret•· negotiations between Israeli leaders of a seven-man hit squad then training under his secret face-to-face talks with Israeli lead­ and King Hussein of Jordan. the direction of the notorious terrorist Wad­ ers. The talks began with Yaacov Herzog in Israel Undercover is neither an analy­ dieh Haddad. Further work uncovered September 1963, in the London office of sis of Mossad operations nor of diplomatic Haddad's target. The Israelis learned in Hussein's Jewish physician. From the be­ policy-making. It is instead a sympathetic 1977 thatQaddafi was financingthe planned ginning Hussein understood the risks. If the study oflsrael's attempts to develop a series assassination of Egyptian President Anwar fact that he was meeting with Israeli leaders of approaches for fending off, under intense Sadat. were ever known, it would prove an open and prolonged pressure, its Arab enemies. Prime Minister Menachem Begin and invitation for attempts on his life. "For As Posner sees it, Israel is the underdog. A his cabinet surprised the Israeli intelligence Hussein," says Posner, "the secrecy of his nation of 4 million, it has had to use its wits community by ordering that the plot be re­ meetings with Herzog and of subsequent as much as its might to survive in a world of vealed to Sadat even though Sadat was the encounters with Israeli leaders was more 200 million neighboring Arabs. leader of a nation then technically at war than a precaution: it was an obsession." (p. Posner divides his work into four with Israel. Thus, in July 1977, the chief of 158) sections, the most significant of which are the Mossad handed a file to his Egyptian This early round of talks (and most of "Inside Beirut" and "Across the River Jor- counterpart in the presence of King Hassan those that followed periodically over the 6

next twenty years) would fail to make sig­ I973. Thus, when the cease fire took effect both ghettos and concentration camps, fic­ nificant progress toward peace because, as two weeks later, "Hussein found himself tionalizations of varying quality and philo­ Posner bluntly puts it, "Hussein became without a share of the Arab glory." (p. 197) sophical and theological reflections by both convinced that he was in no position to buck Through it all Hussein had maintained his Jews and non-Jews attempting to compre­ the tide" of Arab nationalism. (p. I59) throne, but he had not emerged as a states­ hend the implications of the Holocaust for Nonetheless, Israel's eastern border man and had not materially assisted in achiev­ continuously meaningful existence in our was made more secure as aresult of preserv­ ing a peaceful resolution of the Middle East post-Auschwitz age. As the events of these ing Hussein as an independent player in Conflict. "nightmare years," to use William Shirer's Arab politics. What kept the secretive con­ Posner is not optimistic about the phrase, recede into history, the necessity of tacts going over the years was Jordan's and prospects for peace. Continuously, for more re-assessment and re-evaluation of the lit­ Israel's "mutual interest in clamping down than 40 years, Israel has been engaged in erature in the above topic areas looms ever on Palestinian guerrilla activities." (p. I59) fighting what military strategists call "low larger. Historian Michael Marrus has bril­ In addition, both nations shared a mutual intensity war." After citing a littany of liantly provided one such opportunity, ex­ hostility to the creation of an independent terrorist attacks throughout the book, Posner amining the variety of concerns with which Palestinian state on the West Bank allied to concludes his examination with the stark his fellow historians have chosen to occupy "a powerful Egypt and a radical Iraq." (p. prediction that at best "the Arabs might themselves. I64) choose to abandon their armed struggle, but In "Recent Trends in the History of the Despite Israeli efforts, the face-to-face for the foreseeable future it is unlikely that Holocaust," he reveals quite succinctly his talks failed to neutralize Jordan. In June they will renounce their anti-Zionism." (p. own perspective when he writes: I967, Hussein, under the influence of,and in 303) Thus, at best "a type of coexistence ... we must view the Holocaust concert with, Egypt and Syria, launched his between two intractable foes who could be as part of the historical process forces against Israel. Within six days Hussein deterred from fighting only by the threat of and take into account previous lost the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Three mutual destruction." (p. 303) historical situations and their months later Hussein reopened his secret dynamics. [p. 257] London liaisons, this time with Abba Eban Alan V. Brice/and is associate profes­ and Yigal Allon. sor of history at Virginia Commonwealth In so stating what many will regard as Although Posner appreciates the diffi­ University. the obvious in his position, he moves from culties of Hussein's position (caught as he historian to philosopher-theologian and was between militant Arabs, the PLO and challenges directly the "uniqueness school" the powerful Israelis) Hussein, nonetheless, of Holocaust scholarship, yet softens his comes off as the mistake-prone villian of the assault by reminding us early on in The piece. In the wake of his I967 defeat, Holocaust in History of the primary tasks, Hussein obstinately made unrealistic de­ which confront all who labor in these vine­ mands for the return of the West Bank and yards: Jerusalem in the face of realistic political ... to tell the story, either as wit­ and military logic. He rejected compromise ness or in commemoration. or out of the belief "that unless he gave the as a somber warning to future Palestinians an outlet [meaning Israel] for generations. their anger, they would soon tum on him." ... to integrate the history of the (p. I77) As it happened, by granting sanctu­ Holocaust into the general ary, support and virtual political autonomy stream of historical conscious­ to PLO guerrillas, the King almost lost his ness and to apply to it the country to a I970 PLO insurrection backed modes of discourse, the scholar­ by a Syrian invasion. Only the threat of ly techniques, and the kinds of Israeli and American intervention forced References: analyses used for all other President Hafez Assad to order a Syrian I. ''The History of the Holocaust: A historical issues. [p.xiii] withdrawal. Given vital breathing room by Survey of Recent Literature," Journal of Israel's mobilization, Hussein seized the ModernHistory, 59 (March I987); pp. II4- Amo J. Mayer's recently-published opportunity to mount his "Black Septem­ I60. Why Did the Heavens Not Darken? The ber" offensive that drove the PLO out of 2. The Holocaust in History. Ha­ "Final Solution" in History (New York, Jordan and into Lebanon. nover, University Press of New England, Pantheon Books, I988) may, justifiably, be Shortly after September I970, Hussein I987. seen, therefore, as the first such offering of resumed his secret talks,this time with Golda 3. "Recent Trends in the History ofthe positive historical revisionism. Mayer ar­ Meir, Yigal Allon, Moshe Dayan and Abba Holocaust," Holocaustand Genocide Stud­ gues, quite persuasively, that the physical Eban. Now, however, the King and the ies, Vol. 3, No. 3, I988, pp. 257-265. annihilation of European Jewry was !lQl Israeli leaders rendezvoused at night on the initially part of the Nazi agenda but only Israeli-occupiedisland ofFa'run in the Gulf "Of making many books there is no became so when the Russian campaign of of Aqaba. Hussein continued to reject what end, and much study wearies the body" I94I began to falter. What will be the final Posner believes to have been reasonable (Ecclesiastes I2:I2). How much the more outcome of such revisionist thinking is, at Israeli proposals based on the Allon Plan. so when we tum to the study of the Holo­ present, inconclusive. King Hussein's own plan, announced in caust. In the last two decades there have Equally important to Marrus' under­ March I972, is dismissed by Posner as ill­ poured forth a veritable torrent of publica­ standing of the historical cross-currents in conceived. Hussein next compounded his tions: scholarly studies focusing on various scholarly writing about the Holocaust is the problems by largely remaining aloof from aspectsof the historical phenomenon, highly critical distinction he makes between those Sadat's successful Yom Kippur attack of personalized first-hand accounts of life in he would classify as "intentionalists," for 7

example, Lucy Dawidowicz and Gerald nonetheless, one which continually must be aboveits apparent lack of quality or conflict· Fleming, and German historians Eberhard updated by himself and others, and one which ing ritual demands; that health implies a Jackel and Ernst Nolte; and those he would is, at best, only a beginning point for any and respectful concern for body and soul, unhy­ label "functionalists," primarily German all of the concerns, which he covers. phenated; and that these objectives are to be historians Martin Broszat and Uwe Adam. As the events of the Holocaust con­ sought in the individual, social, sexual and For the intentionalists: tinue to recede into history, scholars of this therapeutic dimensions of life. This line of thought accents the discipline will continue to debate the weight role of Hitler in initiating the attached to various factors delineated in The Anthropology of Evil. Edited by murder of European Jewry, describing various specific events and the David Parkin. New York: Basil Blackwell seeing a high degree of persis­ influence of such political, social, economic Inc. This book provides anthropological tence, consistency and order­ and ideological factors in relation to those perspectives on one of the most intriguing ly sequence in Nazi anti­ events. What will more and more be de­ and disturbing problems of the natural and Jewish policy, directed from a manded of Holocaust historians in the fu­ human worlds: the nature of evil. Thineen very early point to the goal of ture, however, for others, including them­ authors discuss the problem in thecontextof mass murder. [p. 35] selves, to begin to "make sense" of the different societiesand religions: Christian, Holocaust, is a crossing-over into the con­ Confucian, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and For the functionalists: joint realms of philosophy and theology: others. The book also provides unusual Few historians of this school how may we best use our historical knowl­ perspectives on questions such as the nature doubt that Hitler was murder­ edge-that 4 million Jews died in the camps of innocence, the root of evil, the notion of ously obsessed with Jews; they and another 2 million in the ghettos, for individual malevolence and whether God is question, however, whether he example - to begin to funher explore the evil. Much has been written on evil by was capable of long-term plan­ implications of such knowledge for our historians, theologians and philosophers. ning on this or any other mat­ contemporary realities and survival. If, as This bookshows how distinctive and reveal­ ter, and they tend to look with­ Marrus himself writes, the primary task of ing the contributions of anthropologists can in the chaotic system itselffor the historians of the Holocaust will be to be. at least some of the explan­ warn future generations of the sins of their ation for the killing of Euro­ predecessors, then they, too, will have en­ Semites and Anti-Semites: An In­ pean Jews. [p. 40] tered what Richard Rubenstein has called quiry into Conflict and Prejudice. By Ber­ the "universe of moral obligation" and have nard Lewis. New York: W. W. Norton & Because both "schools" are open to become the most practical of academic sci­ Company. The Arab-Israeli conflict in the criticism, while, at the same time, accepting entists. Sadly, however, though Marrus Middle East has unsettled the world for over the centrality ofHitler in theGottdammerung points us in the direction we must travel, half a century. What are the roots of this of destruction, Marrus turns elsewhere for nowhere in these writings does he even violence? Does it spring from old-style an understanding of the� of the Holo­ allude to the signpoints,which will guide us conflict between nations and peoples over caust, and, ultimately, sides with Hilberg's on our way. territory? Is it simply the "normal" preju­ view of 'sequential steps,' labelling his dice found through time between neighbor­ Destruction of the EuropeanJews"the most StevenL. Jacobs is the senior rabbi of ing peoples of different cultural traditions or important work that has ever been written on Temple Emanu-El. Birmingham, Alabama ethnic origins? Or is hostility toward Israel the subject." [p. 48] and adjunct professor of religious studies at a unique case of antisemitism that goes On balance, in both The Destruction the Universityof Al(lbama. beyond normal prejudice in ascribing to in History and the two essays cited above, Jews a quality of cosmic evil? Marrus surveys.ll!l the areas of concernwith The thesis of this bookis that, while all which historians have addressed themselves, three kinds of prejudice are involved, the e.g. the role of antisemitism and its central­ third and newest prejudice-virulent antis­ ity, the "uniqueness issue," 'Lebensraum,' emitism - so long a poison in the blood­ ghettos and camps, resistance and refugees, stream of Christiandom, seems to have en­ rescuers and bystanders, among others. tered the body of Islam. To understand how Yehuda Bauer is, however, correct in his this has happened, the author leads us step by critical review of the book that "the trouble step through the history of the Semitic peoples with books such as this (and articles such as ·and languages to the emergence of the Jews these-SLJ) is that they are outdated before and their enemies, linking the Nazis, the the print is dry. Health and Medicine in the Jewish Holocaust and the Palestinian question and Problems, therefore, remain in attempt­ Tradition. By David M. Feldman. New arriving finally at the war against Zionism, ing to understand the phenomenon we have York: The Crossroad Publishing Company. which, for some, has turnedinto a war against identified as the Holocaust, not the least of The author provides a thematic develop­ the Jews. which is the difficulty in surveying a com­ ment of inherited Jewish concerns about plex literature, which continues to grow health, medicine, illness and well-being Judaism. ByNicholasdeLange. New exponentially. After all, Abraham and through all the cycles of life. It sets fonh the York: Oxford University Press. Contempo­ Hershel Edelheit's Bibliography of Holo­ precepts affirmed and the stance taken, the rary Judaism, in all its diversity, is the main caust Literature [1986] briefly addressed principles and the value system reflected. focus of the author's account; but he shows more than 9,000 items in English alone while Elements of the book's fundamental thesis the essential unity of the Jewish tradition by admitting its own incompleteness. Thus, emerge with clarity: that in Jewish law and examining how each of these apparently while Marrus continues to set for himself a practice the pursuit of preventive and cura­ divergent groups has been influenced by a truly herculean task, and succeeds most tive medicine is a religious obligation; that common historical heritage. The vocabu­ admirably, it is a limiting and limited task human life is to be revered for its own sake, lary of Judaism, particularlythe language of 8

worship, is studied in detail, both to present had of the ideal man who would descend goats. Instead, they show that the causes of Judaism on its own terms, and to familiarize from heaven as the ruler of the new age, antisemitism are paradoxically the very the reader with words and thoughts, which when heaven and earth would betransformed, beliefs that have ensured Jewish survival. are at the heart of everyday Jewish religious when the "frrst would be last and the last They reveal how these beliefs and values life. would be first" and the meek would inherit have precipitated universal antisemitism by the earth. renderingthe Jews, and now the Jewish state Jewish Mysticism & Jewish Ethics. as well, outsiders- challengers- to other By Joseph Dan. Seattle and London: Uni­ Jews and Christians: The Contem­ people's Gods,laws or national allegiances. versity ofWashington Press. This is a study poraryMeeting. ByA.RoyEckardt. Bloom­ 1hus, the authors argue, antisemitism is the of 700 years of diverse Jewish theological ington: Indiana University Press. Jews and unavoidable, though of course immoral, creativity, including many extreme, radical Christians possess distinct religious and response to distinctive ethical values. and even seemingly heretical schools of historical identities; yet, in America today, thought, which were integrated into a con­ both identities share a participation in our The American Jewish Experience. structive, traditional Jewish ethics within heterogeneous culture. The author thought­ Edited by Jonathan D. Sarna. New York: & the framework of Hebrew ethical literature. fully probes the implications of this para­ Holmes Meier. The editor presents a The ability of Jewish ethics to absorb and range of the liveliest and most informative doxical modem relationship. He considers sustain conflicting ideas, which originated writings on Jews in America. The collection recent trendsin thought and praxis, identify­ in schools that fought each other fiercely, brings together a substantial body of mate­ ing varying alignments within the Christian presents a fascinating chapter in the history rial that will meet the needs of teacher and and Jewish communities, always exploring of ideas. student. Covering American Jewish history the reasons behind the responses. His work from colonial times to the present, the vol­ is profoundly challenging to Jewish and Who Was Jesus? By Roy A. Rosen­ ume focuses on the impact of the American berg. Lanham. MD: University Press of Christian readers. Revolution on Jews, the influence of Ger­ America Inc. The author tells the story, from man-Jewish immigration to this country, a historical and scientific perspective, of Why the Jews? The Reason for An­ conservative Judaism in America, the Jew­ Jesus the man from Nazareth, and what he tisemitism. By Dennis Prager and Joseph ish labor movement, Zionism in America was trying to accomplish. He traces the Telushkin. New York: Simon and Schuster. and the revival of American Judaism. Each teachings of Jesus to the Jewish sectarians of The authors refute the common beliefs that selection is preceded by a headnote that the frrst century, some of whose writings are antisemitism is on! y another ethnic or racial discusses its historical context and contem­ preserved among the Dead Sea Scrolls from prejudice, or that it is caused by Jewish porary relevance. A brief annotated bibliog­ Qumran. He recaptures the vision that Jesus economic success or by the need for scape- raphy follows each selection.

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NUMBER 19 • THE JUDAIC STUDIES PROGRAM OFVIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY • SUMMER 1990 MCrui&hRCV�ew II putll.. hCd by ibClu&�e StudiesPrOaram ana&: Juctaic CUlture xavlSClr)' olVar ccmm;ttDc &Jill& commonwc.a�th University inc.allabaationwith VCU'sScbool of Man CommW1icati001. Unaolieite d rn.&mlSCI'ipuare welcame. Add:reuall conespondcnccto JudaicStudic1 Pros:ram, Vir&inia Ccmmonwcalth Uni�sity, Richmood, VA 23284-2025.

Editor: JaekD.Spiro MIIIllgin&Editor. KayW.Brill

JUDAIC CULTURE ADVISORY COMMITTEE RobcrtM. Talbert, chairnwl Harry Lyorm, founding member OavidG. Branlcy Jacob Brown EarleJ. Coleman Daryl C. Dana:: HantFalck Helen Horwitz RobertHyman William J. Judd LawrenceP. Laban Marcia Penn NcilN�mber Cathy Plotkin El•incRothenbcr& ArthurJ.Sc:idenberg JciT)'Si:noooff JayWcinbcra MorrisYuowsky Ex Officio: Charles P. Ruch Ellkev.P.Smith