JEWISH $3.00 Frontier

Ehud Barak's ,e4a!&ead

CONTENTS JEWISH Vol. LXVI, No. 3 & 4 (635-6) M SUMMER 1999 Front er 3 SINCE 1934 A SWEET AND SOUR VICTORY Susan Hattis Rolef

A LABOR ZIONIST JOURNAL INAUGURAL ADDRESS : TOWARD 6 PEACE AND SOCIAL PROGRESS Founders Hayim Greenberg Marie Syrkin JEWISH DUALISM 13 Chaim Nachman Editorial Board Bialik Henry Feingold, Chairman Saul B . Cohen History 18 I Hyman Faine THE KEHILAH IN WARSAW David Rosenthal Jonathan J. Goldberg Emanuel S . Goldsmith Jerry Goodman COPYRIGHTS : ANCIENT 20 Rabbi Mark W. Kiel AND MODERN Harold Ticktin Chava Lapin Judy Loebl Jeffry V. Mallow Books 23 Daniel Mann THE HOLOCAUST IN Mordecai Newman Samuel Norich AMERICAN LIFE Michael S . Perry By Peter Novick Henry L. Feingold Mark Raider Eduardo Rauch Ezra Spicehandler AN AFTERNOON WITH 25 Phyllis Sutker MEYER LEVIN Si Wakesberg David Twersky Mazal Tov 26 MISHA LOUVISH Nahum Guttman Editor In Memoriam 27 HYMAN R. FAINE Daniel Mann NOTE TO SUBSCRIBERS Saadia Gelb If you plan to move, please notify us six weeks in advance . A LABOR ZIONIST 30 PEACE MISSION Stephane Acel

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32 2 JEWISH FRONTIER ISRAEL

Sweet and Sour Victory A Sweet an Sour Government

By Susan Hattis Rolef

or the Israel Labor Party, or rather with Netanyahu, would "return home" in the "One Israel" - the list comprising of Labor, second round, and that while the ultra-reli- David Levy's Gesher and the moderate reli- gious voters would dutifully come out in large gious party Meimad - the results of the May numbers to vote for Netanyahu, few Arabs 17 elections, were an extremely pleasant sur- would come out just to vote for Barak . prise in so far as the election of the Prime min- ister was concerened. Less so when it came to ow can one explain Barak's victory? It is, the elections . perhaps, too early to give a definitive Though as the date of the elections answerH to this question, but there is no doubt approached, opinion polls clearly showed that victory should be read, first and foremost, Labor leader Ehud Barak coming in ahead of as a defeat for Netanyahu . Though we shall outgoing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu probably never know the numbers, it is known in a second round, not even the most starry- that there were quite a few right-wing voters eyed optimists believed that the victory would who voted for the Likud, for National Religious occur in the first round, that it would be so Party, for Yisrael Beitenu (Avigdor Lieber- massive and that Barak would actually man- man's party) and even for National Union (the age to muster a small Jewish majority in addi- list made up by Herut, Moledet and Tekuma, tion to his impressive general majority. While headed by Benny Begin) and voted for Ehud back in the 1996 elections Netanyahu beat Barak as Prime Minister, or put a blank ballot by less than 30,000 votes, paper in the envelope for Prime Minister . Barak's majority over Netanyahu was close to From the little that has been said on the sub- 390,000 - 1,791,020 votes versus 1,402,474 to ject one may gather that these right-wingers be exact - or 11.7% of the valid votes . decided not to vote for Netanyahu because One reason why Barak's impressive victory they stopped believing him, started viewing came to most people as such a surprise, was him as a destructive element both in the State that after several bad experiences, in which and within the Likud, or because they hold the opinion polls predicted a clear Labor vic- Ehud Barak in high esteem - especially due tory, but the Likud emerged the victor (espe- to his brilliant military career . cially in the 1981 and 1996 elections), even those who saw the optimistic polls remained arak owed the massiveness of his victory wary. Another reason was that few people Bto the voters from the former Soviet Union. believed, until the very last moment, that the In contrast to the 1996 elections, this time a three additional candidates for Prime minister majority of new immigrants did not vote for - Itzik Mordechai, Benny Begin and Azmi Netanyahu . What appears to have influenced Bishara - would all step down one or two days the new immigrants, in addition to the distrib- before the elections, and thus enable a decision ution of Barak's biography, which emphasized in the first round. Conventional wisdom had it his military career (the biography was trans- that many former Likudniks, who were angry lated into Russian, and left a deep impression

SUMMER 1999 3 despite the fact that there was also a forged is innocent" (Shas's spiritual leader, Rabbi version of the book in Russian on the market), Ovadia Yosef, said so openly), and a video pre- was the fact that Barak, unlike Netanyahu, pared by Der'i, in which the police and legal was able to respond to the demand of Yisrael establishment were accused of hypocracy and Be'aliya (Nathan Sharansky's party) that the prejudice against an ethnic backround . Ministry of Interior be taken out of the hands The failure of the Center Party may be of Shas and given to the Russians (The by now attributed to the fact that its only clear mes- famous, oft quoted election propaganda in sage was the need to bring down Netanyahu, Russian : "Pod Shas kontrol - Nash kon- while its call for basic change in the way trol. . . "). Netanyahu found himself with his Israeli politics are conducted, lost much of its hands tied, because unlike Yisrael Be'aliya, efectiveness as the party had difficulty putting Shas had come out openly in his support . its list together and drafting a platform. The fact that its four leaders (Mordechai, Amnon he less pleasant surprise was in the make Lipkin Shahak, and Ronnie Milo) up of the 15th Knesset . Though it was didn't appear to be working together in har- clearlyT foreseen that both Labor (or rather One mony, didn't help much either . In the final Israel) and the Likud would emerge greatly analysis placing Mordechai at the head of the weakened because of the split voting enabled list might have been a mistake, though no one by the system of the direct election of the knows whether another candidate (Lipkin Prime Minister, nobody predicted just how Shahak) might have done better . As it were, weak they would become. Whereas in the 1992 the Center Party is another "promise without elections Labor received 44 Knesset seats and fulfilment" story - a rather pathetic repeti- the Likud 32, and in 1996 Labor received 34 tion of the story of the Democratic Movement seats and Likud together with Gesher and for Change (DASH) back in 1977, only in fast Tsomet 32, in the 1999 elections Labor, motion. together with Gesher and Meimad, received The relative success of Shinui, which com- only 26 seats, and the Likud 19 . peted with Meretz and the Center party for In the current elections 15 lists managed to votes, can be fully attributed to the fact that pass the 1.5% qualifying threshold, compared Lapid's main message - leave out the haredim to 11 in 1996 and 10 in 1992 . The greatest sur- (ultra religious) - appeals to many. Large prise here were that Shas managed to increase parts of the secular population got rather dis- it representation from 10 seats to 17, that the gusted with the way the haredim increased new Center Party, headed by Itzik Mordechai their influence and appetite for public funding, and with numerous "stars", got only 6 (origi- and had become more daring in their virulent nally it was predicted that it might get as criticism of the Supreme Court in the three many as 15), and that the old/new Shinui years of Netanyahu's government . The sudden party, originally founded by Prof. Amnon emergence of Lapid as a political figure, and Rubinstein in 1976 and now headed by the big- his habit of not mincing words, certainly mouthed, anti-clerical journalist Tommy helped Shinui draw potential voters away Lapid, would also receive 6 . from the Center Party. Shas's success was largely at the expense of the Likud, and can apparently be attributed to ®n the surface, Barak's victory should have the fact that its political leader, Arie Der'i, was been translated easily into a simple and found guilty of taking bribes and interfering comfortable government . If one looks at the with the course of justice not long before the 15th Knesset one can find in it a clear majority elections, and sentenced to four years impris- for each of the issues on which Barak fought onment (he is now preparing to appeal to the his election: a majority for continuing the Supreme Court, both against the sentence and peace process ; a majority for mobilizing against the punishment) . Though some pre- students for military service ; a major- dicted that these developments would weaken ity for instituting a constitution; a majority to Shas (in any "normal" country they would divert funds from the settlements in the terri- have done so), in fact they strengthened the tories and religious institutions, to the health ultra-religious Sephardi party. Shas's cam- and education services, and development paign was run largely around the motif of "he towns . But this picture is misleading . Barak

3 : 4 JEWISH FRONTII

really does have a majority for each of these ow Barak will do as Prime Minister, issues, but it is not the same majority, and in whether he will manage to fulfill all the order to get the Knesset to approve some of the majorH expectations of him both in Israel and policy moves he is planning, he will need the abroad, is yet to be seen . Certainly, the way he support of opposition parliamentary groups, ran the rather extended coalition negotiations because not all the members of his Coalition with the help of lawyers (headed by former will support them . Minister of Justice, Professor David Libai) The Coalition that Barak presented to the rather than of politicians, was quite unusual . Knesset on July 6 is supported by 75 Members The way he managed to keep members of the of Knesset - a more than comfortable major- Labor party silent throughout the election ity, but not necessarily a stable one . It is made campaign and coalition negotiations, without up of One Israel (26 seats), the Sephardi ultra- informing any of them until the very last religious party Shas (17), the left-wing Meretz moment what job he had assigned to them, (10), the Center Party (6), the new immigrant was even bizarre, and led many commentators Yisrael Be'aliya (6) the right-wing National to claim that the Labor leadership was put Religious Party (5) and the Ashkenazi ultra- through a rather tortuous course in basic religious Torah Judaism (5) . Shinui (6) training (some used less gentle terms) . How- remains outside the coalition because it ever, Barak also learned a lesson regarding the refuses to sit together in one government with limits of his own power, one day before pre- Shas, and Amir Peretz's trade unions party, senting his government to the Knesset, when Am Ehad (2), remains outside (at least for the the Labor Party Central Committee decided to time being) because Barak would not accept its nominate MK Avraham Burg, and not Barak's conditions - especially concerning the mini- candidate Shalom Simhon, for Knesset mum wage. The Likud (19) seemed for a while Speaker. Burg will be Speaker during the term to be a serious candidate to enter the coalition, of the 15th Knesset . The relationships that but either its positions regarding the peace will develop between Barak and Burg, as process were too rigid, or Barak merely used it between Barak and Ramon will be extremely to reduce Shas's price for joining . interesting to follow. Though Torah Judaism entered the coali- One final comment on the new political tion without actually demanding representa- map: Three political leaders resigned as lead- tion in the government, or even chairmanships ers of their respective parties and from the in Knesset committees (the payoffs will be Knesset as a result of the election : Binyamin made in only moderate changes in the formal Netanyahu announced his resignation even "religious status quo"), Barak's task in forming before the final results of the elections became his government was not simple . According to known on the morning of May 18, though he the current Basic Law: the Government, the was to remain Prime Minister and a Member government cannot include more than 18 min- of Knesset until Ehud Barak presented his isters . Before the Knesset goes out to its sum- government to the Knesset . Ze'ev Binyamin mer recess in the beginning of August, Barak Begin resigned, both from the leadership of the hopes to change the law and increase the num- National Union and the Knesset, after it ber of ministers to 24, but for the time being he became known that the representation of "the could only appoint 18 . Of these he made sure Greater Israel Front" in the Knesset had that 9 would be from One Israel, with the shrunk from eight to four Members. Arie Der'i option of adding another 2 or 3 when the num- resigned from heading the Shas Knesset list ber of ministers increases to 24 . Some of these even before the election results were regis- appointments are a little peculiar, such as that tered, and from the political leadership of Shas of to the Ministry of Justice, that after Ehud Barak refused to open formal nego- of Shlomo Ben Ami to the Ministry of Internal tiations with Shas on its joining the coalition, Security and that of Binyamin (Fuad) Ben as long as Der'i remained leader. Eliezer to the Ministry of Communications . In more than one sense, a new era in Israeli These peculiarities can be explained as result- politics has opened . L] ing from coalition constraints, but can also be seen as a means to try to neutralize future con- testants to the party leadership .

SUMMER 1999 5 Ehud Barak's

ith Ehud Barak elected as the over- and half century of independence . whelmingW choice of the citizens of Israel to Barak lost no time in mending relations head the country as its Prime Minister, a new with Israel's Arab neighbors . His trip to Egypt era has dawned for the Jewish State, and seems to have started things rolling again, hopefully for the entire Middle East . Prime with a friendly Barak/Mubarak meeting ; a cor- Minister Barak, in his opening address to the dial reception in Jordan by King Abdullah II, new 15th Knesset on July 6th was clear in and even a relaxed encounter with Chairman defining his mandate - to pursue the goal of Yasir Arafat at the Erez checkpoint at the peace while assuring its vital security require- Gaza Strip . As we go to press, Israel's Prime ments, and promoting a social welfare pro- Minister has reached the , and gram that would benefit all segments of the met with President Bill Clinton . While wel- population, especially the new immigrants, comed with a note of caution, all these outings and others left behind in the upward social- of Barak bode well for his term as Israel's economic surge of the nation entering its sec- leader.

We present here the gist of Prime Minister Barak's Knesset address . Toward Peace and Social Progress By Prime Minister Ehud Barak

Your Excellency President and Mrs . Weiz- have left the House, and particularly to Knes- man, Mr. Speaker, our friend Avraham set Speaker Dan Tichon, who guided the Knes- Burg, please accept my heartfelt congratula- set in a manner which added honor to the tions on your deserved election as Speaker of House and to Israeli democracy. the Knesset. Let me begin with a personal comment . I Today, the legislature acquires a new, young have been a soldier for practically all my adult and energetic leadership, the product of a life. I have known the pride of victory, but also Torah and Avodah philosophy, which will the pain of failure, and as one whose only undoubtedly put its stamp on this House. All clothes, for decades, were olive-drab uniforms, of us send you our very best wishes for success I tell you today that, in the words of the poet - and with you, to your parents Dr . Yosef and Hillel, "We - the gray soldiers, whose hands Rivka Burg. are blackened with war, whose nostrils reek I would also like to thank the outgoing tem- with death, whose throats are hoarse - we cry porary Speaker, MK Shimon Peres, who has love into your souls." led the Knesset in the last few weeks with a practiced, experienced and steady hand, and am not alone here today on this podium . with him, to all the Knesset members who TTogether with me are generations of IDF sol-

3: 6 JEWISH FRONTIER diers who withstood the most severe trials of often on matters of style, on the personal level fire in order to secure our liberty. Together our relationships were hardly ever affected . with me are those who returned at dawn from And as one who has accompanied the the nighttime inferno, carrying on their shoul- Netanyahu family, including Benjamin ders the silent stretchers bearing their lifeless Netanyahu, for decades, I hope and believe comrades . that we will be able to be friends in the future I am not alone here today on this podium . as well. Together with me are the white-coated hi-tech- I already said on the evening of the election people in Herzilya and the struggling unem- that, from the moment I was elected, I view ployed, without a livelihood from Dimona, myself as an emissary of all Israeli citizens . I Ofakim and Hazor, rabbis and secular Jews, shall act with all my strength on their behalf, fieldworkers, gardeners and construction and for their sake, together with my col- workers. I am not alone . leagues, out of a profound recognition of I am not alone today. Together with me are responsibility and mission, in order to guide the mothers who do not sleep at night and the and lead the country forward to its great objec- fathers tormented by anguish . Together with tives and a promising future . There is an me are all the dreamers and the fighters . ancient prayer in my heart, the prayer of And speaking for myself and the entire Solomon : "Give your servant a discerning Israeli government which is setting forth heart. . .to distinguish between good and evil, today, I assure you that we have not closed our for who is able to judge your great people?" eyes in the last month, and we will not close our eyes as long as is needed in the future so Mr. Speaker, distinguished Knesset, that mothers in Israel sleep peacefully in the coming years. am proud to submit to the people and the J House a new, broad-based, good, representa- Mr. Speaker, Members of the Knesset: tive government, supported by the large majority of Knesset members and the citizens n the annals of the Knesset there are turn- of the state . It was not in vain that I took Iing points, ends of eras and beginnings of advantage of the full time allotted by law to new ones . Today a new government in Israel form the government. I did not take the easy starts out, resting on the broad-based confi- way. The lessons of Jewish history and the dence of the House and most of the people . depth of the social and political chasm in Israel I believe that this day will be chronicled as a today required me to choose the long and milestone and turning point - a time of recon- patient way in order to achieve the goal which ciliation, unity and peace . I had set for myself: to form a government Eight weeks have passed since the people which will act during a time of difficult had their say at the polls . national decisions, through consent and bal- As I begin my address, I would like to again ance between most sections of the people . I did express my profound appreciation to the not accept any disqualification of any side . masses of who placed their confidence During the negotiations I seriously exam- in me, and my appreciation of all citizens, ined the possibility of expanding the basis of regardless of outlook, who participated in the the coalition even further. This was not possi- democratic process and expressed their choice ble and in retrospect, this may have been best . and free will . In a democratic system, there is great impor- I am duty-bound to express my full apprecia- tance to the role of a parliamentary opposition, tion for the outgoing government for the efforts and it is my intention to express my recogni- it invested and also for the achievements during tion of this by maintaining ongoing contacts its tenure. I express my appreciation to all the with, providing information to and holding ministers, and in particular to Prime Minister consultations with the heads of those factions , who since receiving the which are not members of the coalition . I decision of the electorate, has behaved in an expect substantive and constructive criticism exemplary and statesmanlike fashion. from the opposition which will also enable con- And I wish to add a personal comment . sideration of its opinion in managing affairs of Even if, on a political level, we disagreed, very state.

SUMMER 1999 7 Mr. Speaker, Members of the Knesset, the victory of will not be complete The basic guidelines of the Government and until the achievement of genuine peace, full coalition agreements are before you. Every- security, and relations of friendship, trust and thing is open and fully disclosed . Nothing is cooperation with all our neighbors . And there- concealed, there are no secret agreements, no fore, the Government's supreme goal will be to "under-the-table" understandings, and as you bring peace and security to Israel, while safe- have seen, there are neither financial commit- guarding the vital interests of the State of ments nor favors to specific sectors or groups . Israel. The great historic breakthrough to I will not go into the details of all the Gov- peace took place 20 years ago, through the ernment guidelines . The guidelines constitute vision and courage of two outstanding leaders : the identity card of the government, the prin- the late Menahem Begin and the late Anwar ciples of its policy and its declaration of intent . Sadat, may they rest in peace. All previous governments had good intentions . A further milestone was the Madrid Confer- Not all were equally successful in putting ence during the tenure of Prime Minister them into practice . I know that the Govern- . ment will be judged by its actions, not its Renewed and far-reaching impetus was intentions . I will try with all my might to imparted by , the courageous ensure that the gap between its good inten- and unswerving leader, from whom I learned tions and its actions is as narrow as possible . so much, and who was assassinated during the struggle for his path, the path of peace, and Mr. Speaker, Members of the Knesset, with him, by our friend Shimon Peres . The government of Benjamin Netanyahu he Zionist idea which was proclaimed in indeed opened with the Hebron Agreement, Basel over 100 years ago has brought but it was unable to implement the Wye aboutT a revolution in the life of the Jewish peo- accords which it had signed . ple and restored it to the stage of history as a sovereign, independent, strong and prosperous ow it is our duty to complete the mission, people. Nand establish a comprehensive peace in The Ingathering of the Exiles, the settle- the Middle East which has known so much ment of the land, the revival of the language, war. It is our duty to ourselves and our chil- culture, and scientific and intellectual life, the dren to take decisive measures to strengthen creation of a splendid educational system and Israel by ending the Arab-Israeli conflict . This Torah institutions, the establishment of a government is determined to make every strong national economy, an exemplary effort, pursue every path and do everything defense force and security services, sophisti- necessary for Israel's security, the achieve- cated infrastructure systems and advanced ment of peace and the prevention of war . health and welfare services, the creation of a We have an historic obligation to take democratic, free and diverse society based on advantage of the "window of opportunity" the supremacy of the rule of law- all of these which has opened before us in order to bring are achievements which are utterly unpara- long-term security and peace to Israel. We lelled in the history of nations . They were know that comprehensive and stable peace can achieved despite the Holocaust, which wiped be established only if it rests, simultaneously out a third of our people, and during an unre- on four pillars : Egypt, Jordan, and Syria and lenting struggle and a bloody war in which the Lebanon, in some sense as a single bloc, and of best of our children and comrades gave their course the . As long as peace is not lives . It is because of them that we are here - grounded on all these four pillars, it will determined and confident and aspiring to his- remain incomplete and unstable . The Arab toric acceptance and an end to wars and countries must know that only a strong and enmity. self-confident Israel can bring peace . We embrace the bereaved families and the Here, today, I call upon all the leaders of the families of the MIAs and POWs, the disabled region to extend their hands to meet our out- and wounded of the security establishment . stretched hand, and toward a "peace of the May peace ease their suffering. We know that brave," in a region which has known so much war, blood and suffering . To our neighbors the

JEWISH FRONT 3 S Palestinians, I wish to say : the bitter conflict ur objective will be to act, at the same between us has brought great suffering to both time, to bring peace closer on all fronts, our peoples. Now, there is no reason to settle but0 without compromising on Israel's security accounts over historical mistakes . Perhaps needs and most vital interests - first and fore- things could have been otherwise, but we can- most among them, a united Jerusalem, the not change the past ; we can only make the eternal capital of Israel, under our sovereignty. future better. I am not only cognizant of the We will not be deterred by the difficulties. sufferings of my people, but I also recognize I know very well that difficult negotiations, the sufferings of the Palestinian people . My replete with crises and ups-and-downs, await ambition and desire is to bring an end to vio- us before we reach our desired goal . lence and suffering, and to work with the I can only promise that, if the other side dis- elected Palestinian leadership, under Chair- plays the same degree of determination and man Yasser Arafat, in partnership and respect, good will to reach an agreement as on our side, in order to jointly arrive at a fair and agreed no force in the world will prevent us from settlement for co-existence in freedom, pros- achieving peace here . perity and good neighborliness in this beloved In this context, I attach the greatest impor- land where the two peoples will always live. tance to the support of our partners to peace To Syrian President Hafez Assad, I say that treaties: Egypt and Jordan. I believe that Pres- the new Israeli government is determined, as ident Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah can soon as possible, to advance the negotiations play a vital role in creating the dynamics and an for the achievement of a full, bilateral treaty of atmosphere of trust so needed for progress peace and security, on the basis of Security toward peace. They can also advance education Council Resolutions 242 and 338. for peace among the children of Egypt and Jor- We have been tough and bitter adversaries dan, the Palestinians and, in the future, also of on the battlefield . The time has come to estab- Syria and Lebanon - education for peace, lish a secure and courageous peace which will which is a condition for any long-term, stable ensure the futures of our peoples, our children peace . I am convinced that King Hassan* of and our grandchildren . Morocco can also contribute to this, as can other It is my intention to bring an end to IDF countries who already, in the past, opened chan- presence in Lebanon within one year, to deploy nels of communication with Israel, cooperating the IDF, through agreement, along the border, with the peace process in various spheres . My and to bring our boys home while also taking aspiration will be to firmly resume these con- the necessary measures to guarantee the wel- tacts in order to create a favorable regional fare and security of residents along the north- atmosphere that can assist the negotiations. ern border, as well as the future of the It goes without saying that the assistance of Lebanese security and civilian assistance per- the United States is a fundamental condition sonnel who have worked alongside us, over all for any progress toward resolving the conflict these years, for the sake of the residents of the in the region . The friendship of America, under region. the leadership of President Clinton, its gen- I wish to take advantage of this opportunity erosity and the intensity of its support for the to praise the residents of Kiryat Shmona and peace proccess in the Middle East constitute a communities along the confrontation line for vital component in the chance to achieve our their firm stand in the face of the Katyushas . goal. I will soon leave for the United States, at From here, on behalf of us all, I offer my sup- the invitation of President Clinton, a loyal port to them . Their determination and the friend of Israel, in order to discuss the gamut of strength of the IDF are what will enable us to issues facing us, first and foremost, the renewal create the new situation . of the peace process on all tracks, and the forti- fication of the strength and security of Israel . Mr. Speaker, distinguished Knesset, These two missions - arriving at a perma- Mr. Speaker, Members of the Knesset, nent settlement with the Palestinians, and The guarantee of the peace agreements and achieving peace with Syria and Lebanon - are, their implementation lies in the strength of in my eyes, equally vital and urgent . One nei- ther outranks the other, nor has priority over it. * King Hassan has since died .

SUMMER 1999 9 the . As such, we will young generation toward creative channels . attend to bolstering the IDF, the quality of its And to the same extent, the Government will commanders and soldiers, its equipment - work to educate toward values, personal with the best educational and technological morality, work ethics, social responsibility, vol- systems - training and fitness, its ability to unteerism, assistance to fellow human beings, always be prepared to deter and provide a justice, respect for the law and a loathing for response to distant and near dangers, and to injustice and violence. all kinds of threats, whether conventional or The Government will place a special empha- otherwise. But security is not only provided sis on an uncompromising struggle against the with tanks, planes or missile boats. Security growing violence among youth . We will not is, first and formost provided by individuals. It accept a situation in which parents are afraid is they who shape the integrity of the society to send their children to schools and play- and of the national strength of Israel . There- grounds. fore, together with the promotion of security I wish to say something to those citizens and peace, and foreign policy, and with no less who are members of minority communities in urgency and importance, the Government is the State of Israel : I wholeheartedly believe in obliged to contend with the challenges of soci- the equal value of all humankind, in equality ety, the economy and the needs of the citizen . between people and between citizens, without Israeli society is a unique society: a fasci- distinction. The State of Israel has not always nating mosaic of hues and opinions, cultures been sufficiently wise to grant all its citizens a and creeds - veteran residents and new immi- sense of equality and partnership. The dispar- grants, people from different Diasporas, reli- ities are great, and the sentiment of bitterness gious and ultra-Orthodox, traditional and sec- is not unjustified . I know that you have heard ular, Jews and Arabs, Druze and Circassians . innumerable slogans and promises, and I Together, equally, they are Israel . A society pledge today that the Government, under my where none are better or less good, but where, leadership, will make every effort to gradually as in every human society, there are fringes of bridge the gaps, dissipate the alienation and poverty and backwardness . There are weak provide equality for all sectors of the popula- sectors of hundreds of thousands of agonizing tion in Israel . The Rabin and Peres govern- citizens who are unable to maintain the rapid ments began a focussed effort to bring about pace of progress . We must not rush forward this change . We will continue along this path and leave them behind by the roadside . with renewed vigor. The Government, under my leadership, is committed to waging war on the unemploy- Mr. Speaker, Members of the Knesset, ment and poverty threatening to undermine Emphasizing the social aspect of Govern- and unravel our social fabric, and to strength- ment policy is not in contradiction with a pol- ening the health system and the improvement icy of free and productive economics, free from of the welfare services in the State of Israel . unnecessary government interference . An We will introduce a new national order of pri- economy which will act as a magnet for foreign orities. investment, and be increasingly based on hi- The most important mission which the Gov- tech industries and domestic research and ernment will take upon itself in the social development which will put Israel at the fore- sphere is the positioning of education as its top front of scientific and technological progress - priority. I always viewed education as the most because there can be no healthy society with- correct and worthwhile long-term investment . out a healthy economy, and vice versa . The cre- Therefore, we will aspire to provide the best ation of 300,000 new jobs in the next four years possible education to every single child and - as I pledged in my election campaign - is a adolescent in Israel, from kindergarten concrete and possible objective for reducing through university. The government will allo- the shame of unemployment and strengthen- cate resources and efforts in order to bring ing the entire economy. At the same time, this about a change and breathe a new spirit into goal is contingent upon imparting a new impe- the entire education system - by expanding tus to the economy, as a result of restored con- the knowledge base, fostering curiosity and fidence in a future of peace for the region and directing the potential of the talents of the the country.

10 JEWISH FROP 3! Mr. Speaker, Members of the Knesset, Israel and the Diaspora, directed toward the We are living in an era of the global econ- fortification of democracy and the supremacy omy and immediate world-wide communica- of law. This is a government in which people tions, being exposed to the cultures of all will go hand-in-hand, combining their nations through television screens, the inter- strengths. net and computers. In this open world, there is no possibility of enclosing oneself in an impen- he primary consideration which guided me etrable armored shell or being sequestered Tin composing this government was the from the outside world, even if its influences need to find the broadest possible common are not always positive. denominator in order to responsibly bring The world is changing so rapidly that those together representatives of parties and sectors who cannot cope or adjust to the new reality from various, even opposing, sides of Israeli will find themselves dragged back, like Alice in society. This is not simple, and it comes at a Wonderland . cost . We will first have to make the painful It is our mission to prepare the new genera- compromises among ourselves, via a policy tion in Israel for the new, open and global era which is the fruit of a broad-based, sober and of the 21st Century, while also reinforcing and realistic consensus - an honest policy, confi- strengthening the components of its national dent in our strength, which is not conceived of and Jewish identity, its sense of attachment wishful thinking and vacuous arrogance, of and its bonds to Israel . The way to this is haste, hesitation and missed opportunity, of through deepening historical awareness, vacillation and the intoxication of power, but acknowledging our heritage and faith, build- which is marked by great love for all parts of ing a society based on solidarity, internal cohe- our homeland and the painful acknowledg- sion and what is called - with no cause for ment of the ties of others as well . embarrassment - "national pride ." Not arro- This government will not turn its back on gant pride, condescending to others, but pride any group, portion, sector or ideological stream which recognizes values, and identification in Israeli society. This will be a government of with the historical collective memory of all constant dialogue, openness and attentive- Jewish ethnic groups, with the heritage of the ness, a government that will aspire to a "new generations and with the awesome contribu- national consensus," but not shirk from deci- tion that our nation has made to human civi- sions or resign itself to paralysis and be stale- lization. mated. I know and understand exactly where Identification with the struggle for rebirth the government must head and the destina- and with those who have fallen in Israel's tion it must reach, and I intend to lead this wars, identification with the goals of the State march to the finish line . anchored in the vision of the Prophets and the Ultimately, as I have pledged, if and when Declaration of Independence . With the very cardinal historic decisions are required, the name "Israel," which expresses courage, deter- entire public will be called to take a decision, mination and victory. As the angel's blessing in accordance with its sovereign will, in a ref- to Jacob in Genesis : "Your name shall no erendum. longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have I believe that bearing responsibility striven with God and with man - and have together will bring the extremes closer, blunt prevailed." the contrasts in society and will require con- sideration, attentiveness and mutual balances Mr. Speaker, Members of the Knesset, - since it has already been said in the Torah, This government for which I seek your con- and about our Torah: "Its paths are paths of fidence is a government directed toward peace pleasantness, and all its ways are ways of and security, education, health and welfare, peace ." In this way, we will be able, together, to directed toward full civil equality and social face the tests and decisions which await us . In justice, directed toward a free and prosperous this way, we will be stronger and more united, economy, growth and the eradication of unem- despite the disputes and the diversity of opin- ployment and poverty, directed toward immi- ion among us . Perhaps we will become wiser, gration and strengthening the ties between because we will be guided by shared wisdom .

SUMMER 1.999 11 he sun is about to set on this millennium . under the purview of the Prime Minister : the In the entire world, there is great anticipa- Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry, tionT of the coming millennium . The Hebrew the Absorption Ministry, the Tourism Ministry calendar does not recognize this, and for most and the Science Ministry . of us the change of date between 31 December and 1 January is not a day of celebration . But his, for now, is the current composition of we are part of the world, and this new govern- the Government. In the coming days, I will ment will cross the line into the next millen- bringT before the Knesset a proposal to change nium. It is my hope that the sense of a new the Basic Law : The Government, for an beginning will not be neglected over the Mid- increase in the number of ministers, as dle East, and that the start of the third millen- required by the size of the coalition and the nium will also bring an atmosphere of reconcil- composition of the Knesset. In any form, this is iation and momentum for peace to our area . the best government for the State of Israel at The Government of Israel will be there, pre- this time . We are the bearers of the torch pared for the challenge, attentive to expecta- which our predecessors have transferred to us, tions and aspiring to bequeath a better future and we assume full responsibility for moving to our children . forward. Mr. Speaker, I would now like to present the Today, the Government requests the confi- composition of the new government to the dence of the 15th Knesset in the knowledge Knesset: that the eyes of all Israelis are focused thereon, Ehud Barak - Prime Minister and Defense in prayer and with great hope. Minister, (One Israel) Today, millions of eyes in Israel, millions of Dalia Itzik - Environment Minister, (One eyes of Jews around the world, and millions of Israel) eyes around the whole world are focused on us, Yossi Beilin - Justice Minister, (One Israel) praying that we will know to lead the country, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer - Communications Min- with determination and a sure hand toward a ister, (One Israel) new path, momentum and a new page in the Shlomo Benizri - Health Minister, (Shas) chronicles of the State of Israel. A new page of Shlomo Ben-Ami - Public Security Minister, peace in an arena which, in recent genera- (One Israel) tions, has known mostly pain, bereavement - Labor and Social Affairs Minister, and suffering. (Shas) Accompanied by the blessings and concern of Avraham Shohat - Finance Minister, (One everyone, we embark today on the long and ardu- Israel) ous path. I would be most appreciative if you Yitzhak Cohen - Religious Affairs Minister, would express your confidence in the Govern- (Shas) ment today and wish it well and God speed . E] Ran Cohen - Industry and Trade Minister, (Meretz) Hon. Ehud Barak David Levy - Foreign Minister, (One Israel) Prime Minister of Israel Yitzhak Mordechai - Transportation Minister, Jerusalem, Israel (Center) Dear Mr. Prime Minister Eli Suissa - Infrastructure Minister, (Shas) The Labor Zionist Alliance congratulates you on Shimon Peres - Regional Cooperation Minis- your success in forming a broad-based ter, (One Israel) government led by Labor/One Israel and upon your confirmation as Prime Minister of Israel . - Minister in the Prime Minis- ter's Office, responsible for Jerusalem, We reaffirm our expressions of hope and solidarity, as stated in our earlier congratulatory letter of (One Israel) May 18 following your election, and again pledge Yossi Sarid - Education Minister, (Meretz) our partnership and our support in the - Interior Minister, (Yisrael challenging but promising period that lies ahead . Ba'aliyah) With every wish for your unprecedented success, Yitzhak Levy - Housing and Construction Min- Sincerely, ister. (NRP) Daniel Mann, The following ministries, for now, will be President

1 2 JEWISH FRON' 3 Jewish Dualism By Chaim Nachman Bialik

any students of our national Gestalt tigate ancient Jewish times and perhaps even haveM dealt with the phenomenon of dualism in its earliest history we shall discover these two our psyche as a fundamental characteristic of tendencies - on the one hand the desire to the Jewish people. By dualism we mean the expand from the center and, on the other, to rule of two traits in the nation's soul, one con- contract towards it and cleave to it . No nation tradicting the other . In this dualism we can strives to be swallowed up in other groups as discern the source of our misfortunes and much as the Jews and, at the same time, to greatest afflictions but it is the source of our remain an entity - an entity whose least par- strength and happiness as well. ticle is still recognizably Jewish : a nation This dualism turns the soul of the nation which builds a ghetto for itself in its place of into a battlefield where an incessant war dispersion and adjusts its life to an alien envi- rages . It is an impoverishing war . The two ronment and, in a time of national emergency, forces maul each other, thereby weakening permits itself to be killed over a minuscule the nation; but, on the other hand, they enrich change in its religion; a group which adapts our national content by not permitting us to itself to the ways of life of a whole world but drop off to sleep . Paradoxically enough, these nevertheless remains "a people dwelling apart, opposing forces couple and are fruitful, so that not reckoned among nations ." These things are the nation becomes many-sided and diversi- well known. . . . fied. This dualism reveals itself also in the most In what is this Hebrew dualism revealed? important of possessions : in religion. There is One does not have to look for it long or in far- no nation which immerses itself more in the away places. It is to be found in all the primary abstract, general, universal aspect of religion ; and secondary views of Jewish history. It will contrariwise, no nation so treasures and shows be enough to recall the two aims serving the such solicitude for its practical side - the miz- nation side by side as well as alternately, one wot. The Messiah idea is one of the spiritual declining for a time and the other in the ascen- centers of Judaism. On one hand, the Messiah dancy again for a time. I mean the tendency to is depicted as the redeemer of all mankind who expand and its opposite, to contract . These two will enthrone God in the entire world and, on tendencies have left their stamp on our whole the other, he is represented as the national history from beginning to end, on all the redeemer who will restore the people to its nation's modes of life and thought, and, wit- land and bring back the kingdom of the House tingly or unwittingly, on its chief actions . And of David. This is, of course, the tendency to this was true not only during exile . If we inves- contraction and isolation . The mission idea was born in those Jewish circles which tended, From a lecture delivered in Berlin in March 1922 . Trans- at the first flowering of the Reform movement, lated from the Hebrew by Maurice M . Shudofsky, then on to expansion : that is, to lose themselves among the faculty of Long Island University. Originally published in Jewish Frontier in July 1961 . the nations of the world . Deriding the atta

SUMMER 1999 13 behartanu,' they proclaimed our equality with as yet no Hebrew nation. There is textual sup- others. In order to gain equal rights, the first port for this, because in relating the story of "enlightened" Jews tried to negate essentially Joseph, the ancient sources quote him as fol- the idea of a Jewish nation, maintaining that lows : "For I was stolen from the land of the we are entrusted with the mission of spreading Hebrews." There are also other hints from a monotheism throughout the world. Naturally, very early period . In commenting on the verse, in the end they arrived at an awesome atta "And the Canaanites were then in the land," behartanu, a conclusion grounded ostensibly the Aggada says that it points definitely to a on the opposite assumption : namely, that the time when the Canaanites had not yet been Jewish people is no different from others . Here there. The Aggada tells us further that the is the marvel: the national idea striving for Canaanites kept on wresting the land from the contraction emerges from that of expansion . So children of Shem. Investigators demonstrate we see that this dualism is present in "the mis- from archaeology that numerous ancient sion idea" as well . And, in other ways, we find tribes, scattered in Assyria and in Babylonia, progressiveness on the one hand and on the came back to Canaan in the days of Abraham other - with respect to its ancient possessions bringing with them of the culture of the chil- - an unparalleled conservatism . Vladimir dren of Eber. Soloviev2 defines Judaism as a realistic-ideal- This was the first return . The second istic religion - on the one hand, ardor for occurred in the time of Moses, and this time achieving great things characterized by uncer- they brought an even heavier cultural bag- emonious pushing ahead and, on the other, a gage, acquired to an appreciable extent in the self-abnegating humility which produced a cir- land of their exile. After hundreds of years cumscribed culture plus a belief in an afterlife . they once more made their exit from the land These antitheses are characteristic of our of their forefathers ; they influenced the cul- time, but their roots are in ancient times, rev- tures of Babylon and Persia and were in turn elaing themselves in all period . This dualism influenced by them . Then they again made is indeed the natural rhythm of Judaism ; it their way back to Canaan. Hundreds of years constitutes the two stones of the scale which later they went out once again with greater provide balance . cultural wealth and with a religion which had grown on their soil and it conquered the here is a vision sui generis among the Jews ancient world . Was all this mere chance? unmatched in the history of other peoples, Hardly. If the Hebrews had not possessed two Ta vision of a double - some even say triple - equal antithetical foundations, there would revival. You know the story with an admixture have been no repetition of the vision of ingath- of legend about the return of the Hebrews to ering and scattering several times one after Eretz Israel from Egypt, and afterwards the the other. It is impossible to get at such phe- "historical" return from Babylon . The coming nomena by objective explanations alone . back of a people to its country after having "When a people does not wish to be exiled, it been exiled has no parallel . One may wonder does not suffer exile." There are peoples which at such a phenomenon but not deny it . As choose not to be expelled, and they come to an stated above, some say that the return was end in their land; and there are nations which threefold. Many scholars see the first return in are exiled and lost in the land of their disper- the coming of Abraham to Eretz Israel ; that is, sion. But when a people leaves and re-enters, ancient tribes of Eber had already conquered leaves and re-enters - this reveals its inner the land once, and they came back in the days strength . Leaving means that the hour of of Abraham . At that time, of course, there was expansion has come, while return shows the trait of contraction . But why do these tendencies exist side by ' Literally, "Thou didst choose us ...", opening words of side, each doing its work in its appointed time? the Sabbath and festival prayer setting forth Israel's divine election . Translator's note I think that their roots are to be found in the . earliest period of our history 2 Russian philosopher (1853-1900) . The definition ; they are a prod- referred to is from Soloviev's Judaism and Christianity. uct of the Hebrew racial composition and of the Translator's note . special structure of the nation's body.

32 14 JEWISH FRONT. rom its earliest time the nation regarded Exodus. . .", of the covenant between a people itself as composed of two elements - shep- exiled from land to land and its god . herdsF and farmers . Historically, there are This applies equally to "minor" command- nations who skip a number of steps in their ments like fringes and phylacteries . In the Tat- development, and there are some whose ter's frontlets and straps there is definitely a national consciousness dates from one period : hint of an ancient pastoral culture with its either that of the shepherd or the tiller of the ideas of Ornamental beauty. We even find that soil. The national consciousness of Israel had women used to bedeck themselves with its beginning at the time when the shepherds frontlets made from skins and sewn together and farmers lived side by side and exerted an with tendons. One should not neglect folk cus- equal influence on the life of the whole group . toms; it is precisely those customs whose ori- Hence the increasing prominence of the two gins are lost which afford us insights into very tendencies whose fundamental characteristics important things, as, for example, in language are generally known to us . In the main, the from words no longer used in life or in litera- farmer is slow of movement, conservative, ture. enslaved to possessions; in contrast to him, the Such secrets, for instance, are preserved in shepherd is quick of movement and not "the law of mixed materials ." It has already enslaved to immovable property. The ancient been shown that in this law there is a memory legends tell us of the imprinting of these two of the great hatred between shepherds who tendencies on the people's imagination . Are wore woolen garments and farmers who not Cain and Abel the farmer and the shep- dressed in clothes of flax. The mixing of the herd? The murderer must of necessity be a two materials was bound to put the wearer of wanderer. Here we have an echo of the pro- such a garment into danger, because his fellow tracted warfare between the tribes of shep- tribesmen could mistakenly take him for a herds and farmers ; and we learn something member of a hostile tribe and pounce upon him about the vengeance of blood by a kinsman and - something that happens daily even in our the powerful curse : "A wanderer on earth shalt time among warring tribes . The thou be ." Then we have the stories about fringes with their blue edge originated later, Cain's children, tent-dwelling shepherds, the and it is specifically stated that it be made of exploits of Jonadab ben Rakhab, the Kenites mixed materials to symbolize the peace (depicted as a tribe which preserved the desert between the tribes who had in the meantime tradition), and the Nazarites who abstained united to form one people. In due course both from wine and whom the prophet Jeremiah the fringes and the phylacteries became reli- singled out as models of pious living . Do not gious garments and "religious laws" whose rai- Abraham and Isaac represent two periods, the son d'etre is not clear. former that of the shepherd in search of pas- In a later period we find an image of the tures for his sheep and the latter that of the ancient antitheses in the customs of libation . tiller of the soil ("And Isaac sowed.. .")? And in Samuel, Elijah, and the other prophets engage later periods after the tribes had united and in pouring out water ; that is, they uphold the were living side by side there began the war desert tradition of nomadic shepherds as between Yahweh, god of the desert shepherds, against the wine libations which the Israelites and Baal, deity of the Canaanite farmers . took over from Baal-worshiping agricultural The clash of these antithetical tendencies is tribes. Since there was neither wine nor vine- discernible in laws, ordinances, and customs . yard in the desert, wine libations were foreign Hence the dualism in the festivals which had to the shepherd tribes . In the desert wine is originated with the farmers (spring and har- considered the devil's brew. vest festivals, etc .) ; but later, on becoming the property of the whole nation, they retained his dualism, revealed in laws, customs, also the memories of wandering and the jour- and practical religion and resting on two ney to the Promised Land ("A remembrance of differentT foundations, showed its strength also the exodus from Egypt .") Even the Sabbath in morality, in art, in economics, and in every- which is basically a product of the farmers' cul- thing created by the spirit of Israel. Because ture ("so that thy servant may rest, thine ox the people did not tie its fate to one of these and thine ass") becomes "a remembrance of the and because they remained equal in power, the

SUMMER 1999 15 rule of this dualism in our group character has woman, raising them to her level. This is the survived to this day. A people whose fate is relationship of primitive man and of children determined by only one tendency and which to the object they love. When a child breaks an puts all its weight on one foundation must object, it is as if the soul of one had departed depart from the world stage when this power is from that of the other . Hence the Hebrew no longer strong and its rule has evaporated . A expressions : "my soul abhors thee," "my soul people, however, which is in equal measure has become estranged from thee," "lest my soul under the rule of two forces lives forever . become estranged" - like the alienated limb The origin of these two tendencies is truly which has departed from the body. very old . The sense of possession was first This is the animistic attitude of primitive developed among tillers of the soil ; that is, man; it is also the attitude of the farmer to his among most of the Israelites when they were soil, his sowed land, his plants - he is still in their land . This feeling has a variety of "enslaved" to them all . In Hebrew baal means psychological foundations . There is in it also owner of an object and husband of a woman . something of the sense of power as well as But the concept of possession in our sense of something of present pleasure and future the term was not born among farmers, because security. Actually, one can raise objections to the soul of objects is not marketable . It origi- these explanations . The sense of possession nated among shepherds, cattlemen.' Posses- has in it more of the feeling of jealousy, compa- sion is the first abstraction but tillers of the rabvle to a husband's jealousy of his wife . In soil were not given to barter ; how could they the Hebrew language the roots "to possess" barter away that which had taken root among and "to be jealous" are related . If you reduce them and from which their livelihood was the feeling of possession to a realization of the derived? The cattlemen who dealt only with power inherent in wealth, then you are con- movables were the first merchants . Those fronted with the fact that possession may come wandering possessions, the first coins, were about through inheritance, a gift, or a chance sheep ornaments . During the nomadic period finding. And if you reduce it to enjoyment, does bartering and the first "possessions" brought not a passion for possession occur even among them to the realization that importance lay not people whose wealth is so great that they will in things themselves but in their value and be able to enjoy only a portion of it? These peo- worth. Land can neither be stolen nor sold . ple know that they have not seen nor will they But the shepherds, fashioners of an expanding ever see all their possessions ; yet they shudder barter, went from the first abstraction - pos- at the thought of being robbed of some of their session based on barter and worth - to the wealth. You might say there is a mystic, erotic second: namely, symbols - skin ornaments relationship between the possessor and the followed by metal in the form of coins and on to thing possessed, between the object and its a higher abstraction, the note . The quantity of owner, a relationship that does not differ from the concrete possession grows smaller and that obtaining between the savage and his smaller, while its quality, embodied in a small woman. A man used to purchase a wife in the piece of marked metal, can even be reduced to same way he purchased an object . In the pur- a piece of paper . In this manner we finally chase of either or both there was a feeling of arrive at the highest abstraction - the word. making a covenant. "One buys merely by look- By means of idle chatter on the exchange you ing" - when a man sees something and desires can conceal millions and you can abstract it in his heart, his desiring "buys" it. The soul material possessions to the point of denying of the object cleaves to the purchaser ; they their quantitative form, thus reducing them to make a covenant . It seems to him that the their qualitative value . object has a soul inasmuch as they made a covenant out of mutual agreement and desire . his is how humanity has proceded from the It is as if their souls had coalesced . And if the concrete to the abstract. You may call it ancient Scriptures say : "Thou shalt not covet progressT which means proceeding from the thy neighbor's wife.. .thy neighbor's house or large concrete containing little to the small ox... and anything which belongs to him," it is abstract containing much . The Jewish people not because the Bible compares a woman to have walked and are still walking on both objects but rather because it likens objects to a roads. When we lived on our soil we founded

32 1 6 JEWISH FRONT .

our life on the concrete, on the quantitative, on Prophets and basic Judaism. When the Baby- the material possessions in which we invested lonian exile was drawing to its close, the our very being and which in turn penetrated nation appeared to have become depleted . In into our soul. During the Dispersion the sec- reality, Israel had been considerably influ- ond trait, that of expansion - which basis enced by the Babylonians and Persians, so everything on the abstract, on the qualitative, that by the time the exiles began their home- on value and worth - gained ascendancy ward journey, their spirit was enriched; they within us. We then proceeded from abstraction had adapted the foreign material, absorbed it, to abstraction. Torn from the soil, we reduced and then created a revised basic Hebrew cul- all our wealth to religion, and then we further ture. reduced this religious wealth to one book, the After wandering for thousands of years and Bible. We rolled all our wealth into one docu- after endless changes and re-evaluations . . . ment, into a piece of parchment which became after influencing the whole world and being the embodiment of everything we possessed - influenced by it, we are now, for the third or a hidden store of thousands upon thousands of fourth time, once again returning to our land . worlds . From this lofty abstraction we climbed And here we are destined to fashion a culture to the highest of all - to one Biblical verse, sevenfold greater and richer than any we have "Hear, 0 Israel," on whose final word we heretofore created or absorbed . And who agreed to take on the yoke of the Kingdom of knows? Perhaps after hundreds of years we Heaven and the sanctification of the Divine will be emboldened to make another exodus Name in the world. Even this abstraction, the which will lead to the spreading of our spirit highest, was expressed with the greatest econ- over the world and an assiduous striving omy, and after it there is nothing except the toward glory. U idea of the denial of idolatry ("He who denies idolatry is equal to him who affirms the whole No time to read all the books you want? Torah.") . This negative form is the extreme Make time - with recorded hooks from condensation of that highest abstraction whose positive form, the Shema, is qualita- Jewish Contemporary Classics, Inc . tively the most powerful of all utterances . At the end of the Second Commonwealth GREAT Call Toll Free JEWISH BOOKS the Hebrews took much spiritual wealth along 1-877-JCC-TAPE ON AUDIO TAPE with them to Babylonia - the teaching of the

National Committee for Labor Israel salutes Prime Minister Ehud Barak's Momentum for Peace and his commitment to build a just society for all of Israel's citizens .

- %?~= PITV President Executive570~~ Director

275 Seventh Avenue • New York, New York 10001 ncli@laborisrael .org • www.laborlsrael .org

SUMMER 1999 17 HISTORY

The Kehilah in Warsaw By David Rosenthal

arsaw" stands for many Jewish tion of the youth ; preparation of kosher meat ; worlds, each one with its own particular administering the Kehilah properties and the atmosphere, its own rhythm of life and its own foundations which were assigned to the com- melody. From Warsaw the creative stream munity; management of the various Kehilah flowed through all the other cities and towns, institutions, educational and philanthropic . touching young and old alike and filling their As can be seen, the competency of the Kehi- lives with inspiring content . lah was a purely religious one, not a The address in Jewish Warsaw which national-cultural one . Dr. Raphael Lemkin, expressed the vitality of these different worlds who became known in the United States as the - as well as reflecting all their hopes and author of the genocide laws, believed that even struggles and their social-political convictions in the Kehilah form in Poland at the end of the -was Grzybowska 26, the Jewish Community 1920s, which was designed by the Polish gov- building (kehilah) . ernment, much constructive national-cultural Concerning the history of the legally recog- work could be done, but only on condition that nized Jewish self-government in Poland, I the Kehilah would be led by responsible, capa- wish to mention (in a very limited way), the ble people and not by individuals who were essential facts of that period, which lasted concerned only with their own personal and about 20 years, from 1919 - when the govern- political agendas . Dr. Lemkin also called for a ment issued the Kehilah decree - to 1939, broadening of the Kehilah legislation. when Warsaw was engulfed by the Nazi dark- This postulate was advanced by the Zionist ness . and labor movements. Thus, for example, the Bund, in its 1920 election platform, demanded The Kehilahs and the Situation of the the democratization of the Kehilah, voting Jewish Population rights for women; lowering voting age to 20 ; The Kehilahs were organized on the basis of creating a uniform secular democratic school a government decree dated February 7, 1919 system based on compulsory attendance. and signed by Marshal Pilsudski and Prime Some of the demands of the political move- Minister Jan Paderewski . The decree stipu- ments were met, despite all the limitations . lated: "All Jews who reside in Poland, except The vital needs of the Jewish masses were those who live in the state of Silesia, constitute stronger than all the governmental regula- a religious federation of an openly legal char- tions . They created their own dynamic and acter. The federation consists of the various moved the center of gravity of the Kehilah communities headed by a religious council ." activity onto the plane of urgent cultural and The competency of the Kehilahs included educational activities . the following functions : the organization and upkeep of the rabbinate; the construction and oshe Feldstein, who played a leading role upkeep of synagogues, study centers, in the Warsaw Kehilah on behalf of the bath-houses and cemeteries ; religious educa- ZionistM bloc, tells about this development in

32 18 JEWISH FRO] his memoirs. "The expenses of the rabbinate make up five percent of the entire Kehilah A characteristic feature of these elections budget. On the other hand, the expenses for campaigns is the steady growth of the election the school and culture department amounted lists among a smaller number of participating to one million gulden or approximately 25% of voters. In 1924 there were 15 lists . In 1936, 40 the entire budget ." The increase in the funds lists . These lists were put forth by all the polit- for these purposes was a result of the difficult ical movements ; by philanthropic and eco- economic situation of the Jewish population . nomic associations and institutions, by the In Feldstein's words : "Thousands of Jewish various Hasidic movements, etc . In 1924, 49% children are completely without schooling. of those eligible to vote participated . In 1931, Tens of thousands of children who attend the only 28%. In 1936, 45%. public schools graduate as assimilated ignora- muses; thousands of children off impoverished he weak turnout in 1931 was a result of the Jewish families, who look for work in the boycott by the Bund, which had left the streets, or become `peddlers,' remain at the KehilahsT in July 1929 . The declaration of with- mercy of fate, without any prospects and with- drawal was announced at the Kehilah council out education. As a result, certain new educa- by the Bund leader Henrik Ehrlich . The rea- tional institutions were founded, such as the sons for this drastic step, he explained, had to Teachers' Seminary for graduates of high do with the heartless treatment of the schools (the only one of its kind in Poland) ; poverty-stricken Jewish population by the evening courses for adults ; continuation Kehilah bureaucracy. The offices of the Kehi- courses for apprentices to artisans, etc . Thus, lah employees, he said, are a veritable hell today (1928) the Warsaw Kehilah has 28 cul- where one hears cries for help by those seeking tural institutions with 88 classes, 135 teachers assistance . During a period of severe cold and 3587 students ." weather the Kehilah paid out barely seven percent of its budget for heating impoverished The Kehilah Elections and the homes. Discriminatory Paragraph #20 In addition to these complaints there were At the end of the 1920s the number of elec- deep differences of opinion between the Bund tions to public institutions in the Jewish com- and all the other Jewish movements on the munity was growing like mushrooms after a question of the events in Eretz Israel in rain. Elections to the Sejm, elections to city August 1929, (The Bund had expressed soli- councils, elections to Zionist congresses, to the darity with the Arabs there . D.R.) All these Kehilahs. The latter were "general, equal, factors led to the Bund's withdrawal from the secret, direct and proportional" in accordance Kehilah . In July 1931 the Bund revised its with the official election regulations - except position. that only males over the age of 25 were allowed Concerning the protests against the Kehi- to vote. In 1930 the government regulations lah engendered by deep dissatisfaction with its stated: "In preparing the election lists, the social-relief activities, there is a moving pas- election commission may delete the names of sage in Sholom Asch's "Warsaw," volume II, individuals who publicly agitate against the Chapter 23, "A Storm against the Community." Jewish religion ." (Parag. 20) In practice this "No one knows who spread the rumor in the paragraph served as an excuse to eliminate unheated homes that there would be a march from the Kehilah. leadership representatives of to the Kehilah office to demand coal . People the labor parties. came to this conclusion simply because this Up until 1924 there existed in Warsaw a was the only address the poor people had to Kehilah administration which had been cho- turn to in time of need. . . There is no one to sen on the basis of an anti-democratic, elitist appeal to, all the doors are closed and locked .. . election code . But when Poland won its The entire mass of people cried out in one des- national independence, a sharp struggle flared perate voice : `Coal! Give us coal! We are freez- up for control of Grzybowska 26 . The first elec- ing to death!" (pp 238-248, in "Warsaw," Kultur tions took place in 1924, then there were elec- League edition) tions in 1931 and 1936 . The Bund, however, participated only in 1924 and 1936 . (Continued on _P. 22)

SUMMER 1999 19 Copyrights: Ancient (Dead Sea Scrolls) and Modern: (Rosenberg Trial Transcript)

By Harold Tick tin

n Bleak House, Charles Dickens, once a Scrolls which had been kept under wraps for courtI reporter, details the drawn-out case of many years . He published MMT and appar- Jarndyce v. Jarndyce, a probate matter in ently did not attribute the work to Qimron . which the case persists long after the wit- Qimron sued in Jerusalem District Court nesses have died and both the litigants and before Judge Dalia Dorner, who ruled in Qim- judges now have snowy white coiffures . That ron's favor . The amount in question was less was child's play compared to the appeal than $15,000, but the principle is of the high- presently pending in Israel, entitled Qimron v. est importance . The case is now before the Shanks in which the document in dispute is Israeli Supreme Court and it was there that something over two thousand years old . It is Judge Aharon Barak, presented with a one of the most famous Dead Sea Scrolls, Mik- Solomonic kind of decision, urged the parties tzat Ma'aseh ha Torah (MMT) . Curiously to settle the case, which is most unlikely. another instance of a dispute over a "public" record also has Jewish implications - The o my knowledge there is only one instance Rosenberg case, specifically its transcript . in the twentieth century of a similar dis- Qimron v. Shanks began around 150 BCE puteT over a "public" record and I was the when the presumed head of the Dead Sea sect, lawyer in that matter. It was the Rosenberg the Teacher of Righteousness, wrote an angry case, specifically its transcript, a kind of mod- letter, most likely to the Hasmonean rulers in ern equivalent to MMT's scroll from Qumran . Jerusalem who had usurped the High Priest A critical link between the two cases is the role to their royal dynasty, something hitherto difference between translating and rendering unthinkable. There were six copies of the let- or interpreting . A translation is simply that, ter found among the original Dead Sea Scrolls, substituting words from one language to highly fragmented and almost impossible to another. Rendering on the other hand is a understand because of the many gaps. Profes- more creative act which contextually captures sor Elisha Qimron of Ben Gurion University the rhythm and cadences of one tongue "ren- undertook the job of arranging the known frag- dered" into another . Italian movie titles in ments, by trying to fill in the gaps logically. English are superb examples . My favorite is This meant that some forty percent of his work one of Lena Wertmuller's best known efforts . was "rendering" into the original on a probable Its Italian title is Tutto a Posto, Niente in but still hypothetical basis. Ordine. A literal translation would say Every- The task,, which took some eleven years of thing in Place, Nothing in Order . As marketed hard work, saw daylight in the early 90's . One in English the creative interpreter called it All copy, presumably photographed without Qim- Screwed Up. The differences in style are clear. ron's knowledge, found its way to Hershel In Qimron's case the rendering of MMT was Shanks, the eminent editor of Biblical Archeo- from Hebrew to Hebrew because he had to fill logical Review, and a major force in forcing the in the gaps on the likeliest basis ; some creativ- scholarly world to bring to light the Dead Sea ity was obviously required. Much the same

20 JEWISH FRO

32 happened with the Rosenberg transcript, as built on their work and if the Schneirs were we shall see . Since the law and theater are entitled to a piece of the cake, so were they! such close-knot kin it should not be a surprise that the latter "rendering" involved a play. t was the first and only copyright case I ever In 1969 Donald Freed, later the author of a had. The research was something like a satire on Nixon made up entirely of Nixon's nurseI practitioner trying to do brain surgery . I own words, brought to the Cleveland Play- knew a bit about intellectual rights, but not house what he called the Theater of Fact, a much more than a reader of Variety might. The play based directly on the manuscript of the issue was tantalizingly simple . How could Rosenberg trial, obviously a matter of public there be a copyright in a public record? record. Every word in the play replicated the As it happened the Rosenberg parallel was a words in the trial . The 60's ferment had tossed lot easier than what is facing the Israeli up many new kinds of theater - of the poor, the Supreme Court . I spent some time in New York street, cruelty, absurdity, ridiculous, etc . with the author, my excitement considerably Freed's was yet a new variation . enhanced by the appearance at rehearsals of Morton Sobell recently released from his 30 In Cleveland the title was The U.S. v. Julius year sentence (quite unjustified by any present and Ethel Rosenberg . Like the Sacco- legal standard) for his "part" in the espionage Vanzetti case of the 20's the case spawned a lit- charge . The proof against him consisted erature which entitles it to be called A Case mainly of his flight to Mexico shortly after That Will Never Die, the title of one of the Julius Rosenberg's arrest . Sacco-Vanzetti anthologies . Freed's work I was working pro bono for the moment, implicitly (never explicitly) owed an organiz- enjoying my 15 minutes of cultural fame, ing debt to the critique of the trial by Walter mostly by reflection back from the others. and Miriam Schneir in their book Invitation to When the play opened I expected a lawsuit an Inquest. The Schneir book had many prede- based on perhaps a year's run, but as someone cessors and many successors . Particularly has surely said, Broadway is a fickle mistress . there was "The Atom Spy Hoax" by William A . New York, in spite of a first rate cast and the Ruben and "The Judgement of Julius and temper of the time, simply wasn't interested . Ethel Rosenberg" by John Wexley, both writ- Inquest closed after very few performances . I ten before the Schneir work . slouched back to Cleveland and Donald Freed The play was my introduction to the Rosen- kept marketing his Theater of Fact, presum- berg case and to Donald Freed personally. It ably free of lawsuits. Hopefully he followed my was a smash hit in Cleveland . The run was advice not to sign contracts on restaurant nap- extended and at one point the Schneirs came kins. to town . I appeared with them in a public forum about the Rosenbergs . The next stop in his is precisely the issue which Israeli the spring of 1971 was Broadway where the Judge Aharon Barak has dubbed so "fasci- title was changed simply to Inquest with a nating"T that he would much prefer to see the sterling cast including James Whitmore, case settled than to decide it . The Jerusalem Shirley Jackson, Fritz Weaver and Abe Vigoda . Post put the issue quite succinctly : "whether No sooner did the play go into rehearsal Qimron can claim that the reconstruction of a than I got a frantic call from Freed who text originally written by someone else is an informed me that he and the Schneirs had act of creativity that entitles him to a copy- casually signed an agreement on a restaurant right," exactly the issue handed me by Freed . napkin for the Schneirs to receive a percentage For Barak, the issue is doubly convoluted of the proceeds from what looked like a long because Jewish law weighs the amount of Broadway run. After all if the play did so well labor going into the product for its inviolabil- in Cleveland with its 80,000 Jews, what was to ity. Qimron worked eleven years patching in be expected in New York with 2,000,000 in the the gaps in MMT. Anglo-American law relies metropolitan area? But if Freed and the on creativity as the standard for author pro- Schneirs had a deal why was Freed frantically tection. Shanks published in America and calling me? Very simple. Both Ruben and Wex- Barak has the esoteric job of determining ley were now claiming that the Schneirs had which law applies, which is at best only a

SUMMER 1999 21

threshold issue . No wonder he'd like to see it (Continued from P. 19) settled. The resolution of Qimron vs . Shanks is cer- Kehilah in Warsaw tain to be more complex than the Rosenberg The Kehilah, however, despite its good transcript. Shanks' lawyer claims that Qimron intentions, could not satisfy the demands of created nothing . "There is no authorship here . He discovered facts . You can't copyright facts ." the ever-increasing number of poverty stricken Jews . We should remember that those respon- Qimron's lawyer responds by invoking pre- sible for the intolerable conditions were the cisely the translation vs . rendering paradigm Polish governments who conducted a system- discussed above. He argues if MMT were in Latin, with missing parts and Qimron filled in atic destructive war-policy against Polish the gaps and translated back to Hebrew, Qim- Jewry. In order to ease the oppressive condi- tions somewhat, Jews in Warsaw (as in hun- ron would be entitled to copyright under the dreds of other cities) created a broad network rubric of translator. of relief institutions . I would amend Qirnron's lawyer "translat- Most of the Warsaw charitable institutions, ing" with "rendering," because translation is wrote Meir Balaban, do not belong to the Kehi- too pedestrian for what transpired here . In lah, but were created by individuals or organi- any event, Barak, with his colleagues, will zations and are governed by them . Thus, in have to choose between the two ; neither party Warsaw, they supported four orphans' homes, is inclined to settle and the Dead Sea Scrolls three childbirth clinics for needy women, three are destined to be on the boards for a long time. old-age homes, several summer camps and 11 sanatoriums, a school for deaf mutes with a dormitory, institutions for the mentally ill, and various charitable organizations which dis- tributed food for Sabbath and holidays to the needy, as well as kosher meals to Jewish sol- diers and prisoners. Susan Hattis Rolef is our regular chief This was the answer of a beleaguered Jewry Israeli correspondent . to hostile acts which they could not possibly Ehud Barak is the newly elected Prime overcome. The response to the policy of reac- Minister of Israel . tionary Polish governments was a dual one : Chaim Nachman Bialik was the most struggle against them on the political front (in influential Hebrew poet of modern times . His Parliament, in the city councils), and self-help City of Slaughter, after the Kishinev pogroms organizations on the social and economic fronts . of 1903 inspired young Jews to develop self- In this struggle the Jews of Warsaw wrote defense organizations. notable chapters which were fashioned in both the traditional and the modern spirit. David Rosenthal, a frequent contributor El to the Frontier, now resides in . Harold Ticktin, an Attorney in Cleveland, With bowed heads, we mourn the passing is active in the Labor Zionist movement . of our dear friend and Chaver Henry L. Feingold, a past president of LZA, is professor of History at Baruch College . HYMAN R . FAINE Si Wakesberg, a longtime Labor Zionist in New York, writes frequently on Jewish topics . May Ruth and entire family Daniel Mann is president of the Labor find solace in great memories Zionist Alliance. of a life fully lived as a gifted person and loyal son of the Jewish People . Saadia Gelb is a veteran member of Kib- butz Kfar Blum . Stephane Acel is administrator of the LZA ELAINE & DANNY MANN national office . Bethesda, Maryland

32 22 JEWISH FRON s Novick onto something? There is BOOKS probably not an engaged Jew alive whoI hasn't sometimes felt like saying "genug shoin," especially during April, The End Of Shoah Business? which has become the month when most communities and congregations The Holocaust in American Life, by Peter Novick . Houghton commemorate the Holocaust . Jews Mifflin, 1999. 373 pp. are after all commanded to bury their dead quickly and are forbidden overly intense signs of grief lest they seem to Reviewed by Henry L . Feingold be blaming God for not caring enough about his people . But that is a far cry from believing that Jewish communal eople who came of age in the six- But now it appears that some leadership conspired to instrumental- ties and seventies are so accus- relief from Holocaust spin is in the ize the Holocaust, to use it to gain tomedP to having the Holocaust at the offing and the nation's interest, espe- some kind of income the world center of their attention that they cially that of its Jewish constituency, rewards for those it has victimized . rarely give it a second thought. Holo- may slowly revert to the almost silent Could American Jewry with its high caust "geschrei" has always been part period of the fifties . The survivors level of formal education and political of their lives, and they sense nothing who were most committed to assur- engagement really allow itself to be so peculiar about reading a daily holo- ing that their time in history was manipulated by its community lead- caust story in the print media, or see- remembered are departing the his- ers? More important is there a gover- ing movies like "Schindler's List" or torical stage, and the latent distaste nance among coherent "Life is Beautiful ." But those who at the misuse of the Holocaust is and cohesive enough that could con- reached consciousness during World coming to the fore . It is signaled by ceive and implement such a strategy? War II and recall that little was said the publication by Peter Novick, a Of course, most of us have become about the Holocaust until the mid-six- Professor of History at the University aware that the moment a disaster ties, this belated focus on the Shoah in of , that deals with America's befalls some Jewish community, there high and popular culture may come as preoccupation with the Holocaust . is in the mail a letter from the Simon something of a surprise . Some serious He approaches the interest with con- Wiesenthal Center or the ADL and students of Jewish history find the siderable skepticism, maintaining even the respectable American Jewish continuous hooplah distasteful and that much of the preoccupation stems Committee requesting money to fight have taken to referring to the media from the influence of American Jewry the new scourge . But do such letters spin as "shoah business ." It expresses that has abandoned an integrative actually convince Jews that the world their reservations about things like universalistic political culture in conspires against them? tours to the death camps, the "march favor of a tribal inward-looking one . There is much more to the Jewish of the living," large and small muse- Sometime in the mid- and early six- preoccupation with the Holocaust than ums that purport to teach tolerance ties, Novick argues, Jewish commu- hype, though hype there is . One out of and now the development of a special nal leadership in America and the three Jews alive during World War II psychotherapy for the children of leadership of Israel made a conscious did not survive the war. Such radical Holocaust survivors. There is a suspi- decision to instrumentalize the mem- losses were suffered by no other people . cion that some communal leaders use ory of the Holocaust, to hand the In absolute terms, Russia and Ger- the event to earn the income a suppos- world a "bill for suffering rendered ." many absorbed greater loss of life, but edly now-caring world reserves for The strategy was adopted to address proportionately it was far smaller than those it has allowed to be victimized. a two-fold problem, a declining one out of three . Nor did they suffer the Targeted for special animus are Swiss enthusiasm for Israel and the inter- loss of the motor force of their culture, bankers, German industrialists, national community, and a strong as did the Jews with the devastation of together with a few aging concentra- current of assimilation among Amer- Jewish communities of eastern Europe . tion camp guards and beaureaucrats ican Jews . In both cases the Holo- There was a Holocaust trauma which involved with the "final solution" . caust, which emphasized the victim- was so severe that Jews rarely spoke Over the years, the last has grown to ization of European Jewry, seemed about it until after the Eichmann trial include F .D. Roosevelt, with whom able to arouse the empathy required in 1962. It took time to digest. It was American Jewish voters once had a to reenergize Judaism at home and not the scale of slaughter nor the use of "love affair", Pope Pius XII, George reinforce support of Israel abroad . a recognizable mundane industrial Marshall, even David Ben-Gurion . So According to Novick, that was what process to achieve it. It was not inten- disparate is the list, that there is good led to the extraordinary preoccupa- tionality, though the liquidation of the reason to suspect that something tion, some call it obsession, with the Jews was part of Hitler Germany's pub- more than a search for justice is Holocaust after two decades of almost lic policy. Its historical weight rests on involved . complete silence . how it affected subsequent events . It is

SUMMER 1999 23 true that Europe seems to do quite well passions that can destroy everything given to that bloody event in Jewish without its Jews and certainly does not that has been built . Jews have not history is about to decline . Most com- miss them . Except for some periodic allowed themselves to be silent as the mitted Jews will not resist the nor- fear like Kosovo or the persecution of nations of the world were silent dur- malization of the Holocaust trauma . Turks in Germany when the Holocaust ing those bitter years . By speaking There is no paucity of other urgent metaphor comes into play, there is little out, they affirm their willingness, problems on the Jewish communal evidence that Europe is haunted by the despite everything that has hap- agenda that need attention and Holocaust in its closet as George Steiner pened, to be again part of the universe resources. It should become an impor- once maintained. The patterns of Euro- of obligation that serves as the under- tant page in the millennial history of pean civil behavior has improved, per- pinning of all civilization . the Jews which, rather than over- haps as a result of what it allowed to So there is also a positive side to shadowing all else, lives side by side happen to European Jewry. Europeans Jewish preoccupation with the Holo- with other such events . There is, are concerned about "ethnic cleansing" caust that goes beyond hype . Yet one unfortunately, no paucity of catastro- in Africa or the Balkans and some thing is fairly certain. Public interest phes in Jewish history. Let us hope states now have laws prohibiting the in the Holocaust will not remain at that Jews do not go to the other denial of the Holocaust or incitement of the present level of intensity if for no extreme and totally avoid confronting antisemitism . But there has been no other reason than there is already a this trauma . opportunity to observe what its behav- fresh number of victims of new terri- Our Holocaust obsession leaves in ior would be like in extremis . ble man-made catastrophes waiting its wake the problem about what to do in the wings for a hearing . The prin- with the historical debris, especially he real change has occurred on the ciple advocates of Holocaust memori- the expensive memorial museums that Jewish historical canvas . There alization are the survivors and their now dot the Jewish organizational hasT been a change in Jewry's cultural kin. They are now mostly in their landscape. Fortunately, the two major configuration and almost overnight a seventies and eighties and their museums in Washington and New new Jewish center has developed in voices will soon be still . At the same York have had the foresight to provide Israel as if to replace the lost Jewish time, the circumstances in the Jew- life belts for just such a contingency . Jews of eastern Europe. With a Jew- ish community that set the stage of The Museum of Jewish Heritage in ish State, Jews have reentered his- the Holocaust "geschrei" have New York embeds the Holocaust firmly tory, this time armed again with sov- changed. Few still believe that the in Jewish history and culture . The ereignty and military power. It is not Holocaust itself can be an underpin- Holocaust focus will remain, but the that the destruction of European ning for a stronger attachment to historical context can always use more Jewry was a requisite for the estab- Judaism . More acceptable to Ameri- emphasis. Its place in Jewish life as a lishment of the state. There might can Jews is the Zionist aphorism museum of contemporary Jewish his- have eventually been a Jewish state "better to be the master of history tory should be secure. The U.S. Holo- without a Holocaust. Some like the than its victim ." Today Israel knows caust Memorial Museum in the noted historian Yehuda Bauer, have that in the end it can only rely on nation's capital presents a more diffi- argued that by destroying its would- itself, and not the sympathy of the cult problem precisely because it has so be citizens, the Holocaust almost pre- world given for past injustices suf- exclusively focused on the gritty details vented the state from coming into fered . Israel, in fact, had great diffi- of the liquidation process . But it seems being. But few will take issue with the culty in imbibing the Holocaust already to have hit upon a strategy fact that, measured by the change in image of the martyrdom of European which came to the fore during the crisis the Jewish condition linked to the cre- Jewry. The "sheep to slaughter" in Bosnia and again in Kosovo. It acts ation of the Jewish state, the Holo- image was particularly repulsive to as a watchdog monitoring such human caust was a momentous event, at least Israelis whose usable past required trespasses as ethnic cleansing and in Jewish history. the image of the fighting Jew . All the reminding the administration in power If that is so, then one needs to tem- motives for the Holocaust "hype," if of what a moral response entails . We per our distaste for the sometimes they ever existed at all, have been need such an agency, and if the past is vulgar misuses of our collective Jew- dissipated. any example, it will have plenty of ish memories. If one listens closely, Finally, we have Professor Novick's business to occupy it . Whatever the coupled with the "geschrei" is also a disturbing book which is, incidentally, case, the memorialization of the Holo- need to warn the world how thin is the not the first to openly question the pri- caust and the sundry, sometimes dis- veneer of civilization. Jews have rea- ority given to the Holocaust, as well as tasteful uses to which Jewish collective son to know that through their millen- the authenticity of the memorializa- memory has been put, has reached its nial historic experience . It is also an tion process . But Novick takes it apogee and will probably now slowly act of affirmation . What Jews are beyond merely an impression . He has decline. Some of us will welcome that, doing, after all, is warning the same done considerable research especially if only because it will allow a more world that bore mute witness to their in the Anglo Jewish press . Whatever authentic and meaningful memorial- crucible, that not far beneath the sur- else his book may be, it is probably the ization to emerge, one with no other face of civilization there are lethal opening signal that the high priority purpose but remembrance . El

24 JEWISH FRONTIER mainly because he was a commit- ted Zionist . When one reads An Afternoon With Rubin's thoughtful study, or Levin's own "Obsession", one may Meyer Levin be inclined to agree that he got the short end of the stick . A jury By Si Wakesberg verdict found in his favor and awarded him part of the proceeds of the Hackett play. But he was unhappy that his own version was not being produced, was in fact hindered from being pro- ometime in the mid-1960's I eyer Levin was then about duced and that frustrated and had the good fortune to inter- sixty years old, a man with viewS Meyer Levin, author of "The aM large face and piercing eyes angered him. Old Bunch" and "Compulsion" for that looked right through you. He "They don't want a `Jewish' a small newsletter I was then could hardly sit still but spent play," he told me . "They've editing. It was my first and only most of the afternoon walking watered it down and taken all the contact with the man who was about the room with exciting ges- Jewishness out of it ." reputed to have "discovered" the tures of his hands and face and at tried to derail him by talking Anne Frank diary for American some point a deep flush spread audiences, who subsequently over his features . Iabout "The Old Bunch" and wrote a play about it, then spent Levin was then deep into the "Compulsion", two novels I many bitter years fruitlessly try- so-called Anne Frank affair . His thought had integrated them- ing to have it produced. play, which he had been assured selves into the American litera- All this comes back to me would be produced was eventu- ture of the thirties and forties but because television has recently ally rejected on the advice of Lil- he was impatient to get the con- been spotlighting the life of Lil- lian Hellman (so he said) and the versation back to the Anne Frank lian Hellman . Several TV spe- producer instead called in Albert affair. Only when I touched on cials have presented a rather and Frances Hackett to do their Israel did his mood change . He unglamorized version of Ms . Hell- version which found its way to foresaw a somewhat utopian man, particularly in her relations Broadway and commercial suc- future for Israel (what he would with the writer of popular mys- cess . It was this subject, which have made of present day Israel teries, Dashiell Hammett . But at had become an all-consuming is certainly interesting specula- that time, Lillian Hellman was a obsession with Levin, that he tion) . Levin had profound empa- notably famous playwright with turned into a monologue that thy for Israel's kibbutz movement a coterie of followers whose pres- afternoon. and spoke about it movingly . ence was reported to be intimi- In 1963, Levin had written a He told me a little of his own dating. novel called "The Fanatic" . history but not much . He also When I arrived at the West According to biographer and critic was somewhat irritated with the Side apartment in Manhattan Steven J. Rubin ("Meyer Levin"), `Jewish' writers of his time . After where Levin was temporarily " . . .the novel is a retelling, only all, Levin was one of the pioneers of the Jewish theme in American staying - he was then residing thinly disguised with fictional in Israel - I was planning to dis- names of Levin's own experiences literature . What he did for Jew- cuss the body of his work, specifi- with `Diary of A Young Girl"'. It ish boys and girls growing up in cally his novels which I had wasn't until 1973 that Levin Chicago in "The Old Bunch" par- eagerly absorbed as a youngster wrote "The Obsession", an auto- alleled what James T. Farrell had growing up in New York. It had biographical account of the Anne done for the Irish in Chicago in seemed to me that Levin had a Frank affair. "Studs Lonigan" . Still to come real grasp of what it meant to be The air became filled with were Philip Roth, Saul Bellow, second-generation Jewish Ameri- recriminations, particularly Bruce Friedman, even Isaac cans trying to come to terms with against Lillian Hellman who, Bashevis Singer. For a while, fol- the Anglo-Saxon culture of the Levin implied was a ringleader in lowing some early immigrant country. a communist cabal against him, writing, Meyer Levin, as a writer of second generation Jewish

SUMMER 1999 25

Americans, occupied a rather action that has transcended time . world of literature, bears evi- lonely and bleak outpost . My battered copy of "The Old dence of Meyer Levin's presence It was weird to hear Levin dis- Bunch", purchased when I was a by his signature and kind inscrip- cuss Lillian Hellman and her teenager just discovering the tion. 0 "gang" because to some extent he himself had been characterized as a leftist and radical, noticeably MAZAL TOV when he wrote "New Bridge" in 1933 and "Citizens" in 1940 . These were, as Rubin says, "prole- tarian" novels. "The Old Bunch", Misha Louvish though broader in scope, also has an irreverent tone whenever it Celebrates 90th alludes to the capitalist system . Yet by the time Levin was isha Louvish, longtime con- n 1949 Louvish made his sec- enmeshed in the Anne Frank tributor to the Jewish Fron- ond aliyah, this time with case he saw himself as the object tierM was feted on his 90th birth- three sons. He has been living in of a radical conspiracy in which day at Moadon Haoleh in Jerusalem ever since . Hellman and her friends played a Jerusalem on June 28th . His son, Among the posts he has held are : leading part . David, has sent us a brief bio of Editor, Israel Youth Horizon, his distinguished father : published by the Youth and Heha- think of him now, many years lutz Department of the Jewish later, as he talked to me, walk- isha Louvish was born in Agency; ingI up and down in that West Kimpolung, then Romania, Labor Correspondent, The Side apartment, his hands mov- inM 1909, his parents brought him Jerusalem Post ; Managing Editor, Here and Now ing, his body twitching, his face to Glasgow, Scotland, in 1912. He (a political weekly); contorted with anger and I am was active in the Jewish Socialist Editor of English Publications dismayed that I never taped that Labour Party Poalei Zion and in in the Government Press Office important meeting . the University Zionist Federa- (interalia, in charge of press ser- Looking back on it all, I feel tion . In 1929 he had his first vices at the trial of Adolf Eich- that the literary critics short- experience in journalism when he mann); changed Meyer Levin . They edited a local weekly, The Jewish Deputy Divisional Editor of talked about the crudeness of his Leader. Modern Israel, Encyclopedia language - but was Dreiser a Louvish married Eva, nee Judaica. smooth writer? - without credit- Berzinski, in 1935 . As the young ing him with the substance of his couple were both ardent Zionists, In addition, Louvish regularly endeavor. He became the chroni- they were determined to immi- translated David Ben-Gurion's cler of a generation of Jewish- grate to what was then Palestine, speeches and essays for several Americans growing up in the despite the difficulties of life years, and translated works by giddy twenties, living in depres- there, coming to Haifa with their S.Y. Agnon (including the novel, sion-laden thirties, fighting for infant son in 1937. Louvish spent A Guest for the Night), S . Yizhar, social justice and peoples' rights . a year in Haifa and later , Aharon Megged and others . He Like Dos Passos and Farrell he teaching English . As the British edited festival handbooks for was a social historian as well as a authorities would not renew his youth movements and, for many reporter. temporary labor permit, he years, the annual Facts about But because he was indeed a returned to Glasgow just before Israel. He has contributed many Jewish writer (Yiddish had not the outbreak of World War II and, articles on Israeli life and poli- taken on the exotic flavor it later after a few years as principal of a tics, as well as Zionist problems, did) the critics found him too lim- boarding-school and hostel for to Jerusalem Post, the Jewish ited . His novels linger on the Jewish children evacuated to the Vanguard (the organ of Labor bookshelves and only one or two countryside, served with the Zionism in London), the Jewish critical and biographical books British Army in Europe . After the Frontier (New York) and other about him exist . war he returned to teaching in journals . He will soon publish an That afternoon resulted in one Glasgow. autobiography. 11

26 JEWISH FRONTIER IN MEMORIAM

A Mentor Who Made A Difference In Memory ofHyman R. Faine

he pessimist who wrote the words "Sing a was embarking on almost four decades of newT song" was clearly speaking to the entire remarkable leadership in the Labor Zionist nation of Israel, calling on it to reaffirm its movement that would end only in his passing relationship with God. But sometimes parts of in Los Angeles in April of this year. a people, such as an extended family, a com- It did not take long for to find out munity, or an organization, also find the need that Hy Faine (as he was known to one and all) to sing a new song about old values. Such was was not so new after all . He had spent his the case in the early 1960s with the Labor early childhood in the Ukraine, then grown up Zionist Organization of America - Poale Zion in a Labor Zionist home in Connecticut, and (now part of the Labor Zionist Alliance) . A gone to a yeshiva high school in New York (as cadre of fully acculturated American Jews had did several other future leaders of the move- become active in the movement that had ear- ment). On the other hand, he was already well lier been built by their Yiddish-speaking along in an innovative academic and profes- elders, and it was now their turn to assume sional career: He had made the then unheard full responsibility for the organization that of transition from City College to Harvard had already functioned on this continent for Law, and by the time he came to the Poale Zion over a half-century. The times were not ripe for Central Committee he had already served renewal: Neither the United States nor Israel almost 15 years as executive secretary of the was yet caught up in the dramatic transforma- American Guild of Musical Artists, AFL-CIO, tions that were to come later in the 1960s and representing opera singers and ballet dancers extend into the 1970s, but as a result of a par- in New York and elsewhere - one of the so- ticular combination of personalities, priorities, called white-collar unions that constituted a and politics, the time had come within Poale basis for the renewal of the American labor Zion for a new generation to sing a new song . movement in general and a likely target for After the dust had settled from the process our own membership recruitment in particu- of constituting the new leadership, it turned lar. Most significantly, in the 1950s Hy had out to be more renewed than totally new. The taken leave from his post at AGMA to spend a faces were familiar : alumni and now parents of year in Israel, then still a struggling young Habonim; rabbis, educators, and communal country, to work with as an advisor workers long identified with ; on labor relations at the Ministry of Labor - liberals in the business and professional in sum, an individual who was a mix of the old worlds already active in support of Labor and the new and thus a long-overdue addition Israel. Yes, there had been a long overdue shift to the ranks of the movement and its leader- but there was also much needed continuity. Yet ship there was one seemingly new person seated among the other better-known chaueri,n ut what made Hy Faine truly stand out around the table of the Central Committee - was his personality: sophisticated yet a labor lawyer named Hyman R . Faine, who direct,B cultured yet down-to-earth, able not

SUMMER 1999 27 only to work with a range of of many advocacy of well-prepared nonprofit managers generations and backgrounds but also to move and his equally strong commitment to the Jew- everyone forward and thus to build an organi- ish community through the establishment of a zation usually longer on promise and potential graduate program in administration at the than on practicality and productivity, no mat- University of Judaism . In the almost three ter how much it did manage to achieve because decades he lived in Los Angeles, Hy continued of the commitment of its members to its great to be active in the local movement, attended ideals. He had the unique ability to step back, national conventions, and through our world look at what an organization was doing ( while movement served on the Supreme Court of the probably mired in a rut or two), and ask, World Zionist Organization . "What's going on here?" - and then to get It was my privilege to be associated with Hy everybody working together to improve the sit- Faine from the beginning of his engagement uation. It was therefore not surprising that with Labor Zionism . As a byproduct of the with those qualities and that background Hy process of renewal in the 1960s I became the very quickly moved up in the leadership to executive of Poale Zion and worked closely become president of Poale Zion from 1964-8 . with Hy during his dynamic presidency and in Others too, learned to appreciate his unique his other roles in Zionism . We were further combination of pragmatic intelligence and pro- connected in the 1970s and 80s because of our gressive idealism, so again it was not surpris- overlapping roles in the development of Jewish ing that from the basis of our movement he communal professionals . emerged as one of the key founders of both the These shared perspectives came together in American Zionist Youth Foundation and what both our organizational and our personal rela- is now the American Zionist Movement . tionships . Despite the disproportionately high After Hy's presidency he continued to be number of Habonim alumni and LZA members active in the movement as well as in Zionism who have gravitated over the years to profes- in general, and worked closely as colleague sional Jewish communal service, the move- and friend with other key personalities here ment itself always had a somewhat inchoate and in Israel, including Judah Shapiro, soon to approach to the respective roles of the layman become the founding president of the merged and the professional, drawing as much from Labor Zionist Alliance, and Louis Pincus, per- the tradition of "the secretary" - be it of the haps the most effective chairman of the World youth movement, the kibbutz, or the party - Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency in as from the normative patterns of American many decades, Jewish communal organizations . As I write these words, I can think of two My job at Poale Zion came relatively early dozen or more chaverim - sadly, most of them in my professional career, and having myself gone, many "before their time" - attracted to experienced Habonim only a few years before, Hy's leadership style and associated with him I faced the possibility of slipping into the old in renewing the movement and reasserting its habits and thus unwittingly impeding the new influence in the broader community . Fortu- hopes. At this crucial juncture Hy became my nately, a number of those colleagues are still mentor. He himself was a modern-style profes- active, and all of them will recall his calm but sional executive in his union (not the usual forceful approach. (The key Israeli personality pattern in the labor movement), so he had a in that group, Saadia Gelb of Kfar Blum, is feel for what the respective roles could and writing separately about Hy in this issue .) should be . We undoubtedly made many mis- takes along the way. Indeed, four decades later n the early 1970s, approaching retirement I can say that Hy Faine was one of the finest age, Hy Faine embarked on a new career in volunteer chairs I ever worked with as a pro- academia,I once again as innovator. At the invi- fessional - and today he remains my role tation of the University of California at Los model as I serve as one of his successors in the Angeles, he integrated two rather disparate volunteer position_ of LZA president . disciplines into a pioneering graduate program The pleasure of working with Hy was for training managers in the arts, and enhanced by getting to know his family and remained active there for many years . As if seeing his devotion to them : his wife, Ruth, to that were not enough, he then combined his whom he was married for almost 60 years at

28 JEWISH FRONTIER

his passing; their two daughters, Robin and Judy, both very active in ; and five grandchildren, several of whom grew up at Kibbutz Hatzerim where Judy lives . Elaine and I always enjoyed our several reunions with Hy and Ruth after all of us had left New York. Even during the recent years of declining health, Hy showed his old spark when we would get together during my annual visits to Los Angeles . In a sense we never stopped singing a new song. Together with his family, his colleagues, and his friends, the Labor Zionist Alliance is blessed with Hy Faine's memory and enriched by his legacy of informed, effective, and innov- LAST CALL! ative leadership. 11 - Daniel Mann "Almost One Hundred Years of Togetherness"

Hy Faine By Saadia Gelb More Than a Ray of Light Provides a sometimes funny, sometimes When Hy Faine appeared on the Poale Zion sad but always honest perspective of life scene, it was more than a ray of light . It was an in the kibbutz for all those who : entire spectrum . He was young, bright, vital, energetic and he personified a bright future . a) always wondered what it's really like to It was at a time when we struggled to insure live in a kibbutz, a continuation of our movement when the b) once lived in a kibbutz issue was how to attract the English speaking c) still live in a kibbutz, generation to our founding fathers whose Yid- d) who have only dish was the milieu . Was it only a language vaguely heard about a kibbutz. problem or will the basic premises of Labor Creative illustrations drawn by fellow Zionism be jeopardized? There was the fear of members of Kibbutz Kfar Blum, by rela- change. tives, and by friends from Israel and Hy projected confidence and assurance . His abroad, add a special dimension to the background in the labor movement and his ancedotes which only a long-time member Jewish roots put the old guard at ease . Most of of a kibbutz could tell. all his smile and his quiet manner eliminated any possible hint of condescension . In no time differences of age, cultural origin and manners disappeared. We worked together harmo- niously for many years . Ruth's charm added no less to the ambiance . Remaining copies are available at : When Hy was in Israel, I had many occa- sions of joint efforts. Here we were somewhat 1) Ilana Goldstein of a minority in our differences from the pre- 11908 Bargate Court vailing majority. Rockville, MD 20852-4117 Hy's passing marks the close of a movement 2) Kfar Blum Guest House chapter. The speed of changes must not oblit- Israel 12-150 erate the significant contribution of Hy and his group to the developments in all phases of our Price: $14.00 plus $5 .00 postage & handling Labor Zionism in both U .S .A. and in Israel. 0 Supply limited •First come • First served. -Saadia Gelb

SUMMER 1999 29 A Labor Zionist Peace Mission

By Stephane Acel

resh after Ehud Barak's election victory, enced from the Palestinians definitely led us to theF Labor Zionist Alliance took its place this conclude that the determination is present to June with the rest of our Labor Zionist move- find solutions to the tough problems that have ment chaverim from around the world by perpetuated the conflict for so long . bringing the message of peace to the Middle- Arriving in Israel soon after the May 17 East. As Prime Minister-elect, Ehud Barak, election victory, we definitely felt a fresh, new, was busy negotiating through the late hours of and positive atmosphere in Israel . The feeling the night with other political parties to form a is best explained by the following joke . A broad-based coalition government, the World woman calls the Knesset and asks for Prime Labor Zionist Movement was one of the first Minister Netanyahu . The secretary at the groups to meet with high ranking members of prime minister's office tells her that Mr. the Palestinian Authority since the election . Netanyahu lost the election, is not taking Participating in this peace mission, which was calls, and will soon be replaced by Ehud partly aimed at cultivating young leadership Barak. The next day, the woman calls again in the movement worldwide, were members of asking for Netanyahu, and is told the same from around the world, includ- thing. On the third day, she calls again, and ing Argentina, Australia, Canada, Germany, the frustrated secretary asks angrily, "Why are Russia, and the United States . Also participat- you still calling here for Netanyahu? You call ing were members of Labor Zionist movements everyday, and we tell you the same thing - he from the previously mentioned countries and lost the election and will soon be replaced!" Belgium, Brazil, England, France, Israel, the The woman on the other end responds, "I Netherlands, and Ukraine . Representing the know, but I just love to hear you keep saying United States were Jeremy Salinger, president it!" Although there was an air of jubilation still of Labor Zionist Alliance of , and clinging to the country, like the Ehud Barak myself. posters and stickers still hanging all over the Although associated with Barak's Labor place, we quickly learned that the issues on party, we were not there to speak on behalf of Barak and Arafat's plates are so daunting and the yet to be formed government . Rather, we difficult to deal with, that we must all think came to demonstrate that Jews around the past the recent election and instead focus on world hope and dream for a peaceful and equi- the difficult issues that remain to be resolved. table solution to the century long Arab-Israeli Here's why. conflict. What we found was that the previous The peace process, as left by Netanyahu, is government under Prime Minister Benjamin on very shaky ground and the post-election (Bibi) Netanyahu had squandered three pre- feelings of hope that we and many Israelis felt, cious years in terms of peace-making, and were not shared by the Palestinians . Rather, that, if the yet to begin final status talks do not there was a very, very cautious optimism . One yield a real agreement within the next two might be able to understand why after listen- years, we will have lost what Barak has ing to various Palestinian politicians relate recently been calling a "window of opportu- how they were dealt with by Netanyahu's nity." On the positive side, we found that if Likud government . Bethlehem mayor Hanna anyone can seize this opportunity to make Nasser explained that under the Rabin-Peres peace, it's Barak, and the goodwill we experi- government, euphoria among Palestinians

30 JEWISH FRONTIER

was once so great that when the Israelis first response. He explained that he envisioned a redeployed out of his city, young Palestinians circle encompassing the holy sites that would put olive branches in the guns of departing sol- be a free space for all. This circle would be diers. Now, after three years of Netanyahu, equidistant from both the new city of hope has turned to disillusionment. Bibi's Jerusalem on the Israeli side, and Abu Dis, the negotiating style, according to Nasser and vir- area that Yossi Beilin and Abu Mazin dis- tually every Palestinian negotiator and leader cussed in 1995 as a potential capital for the we met, was actually dictatorial and dishon- future Palestinian state . Some other issues to est. After concluding the negotiations at Wye be discussed at the yet to begin final status that were always on the verge of breakdown, talks are the right of return of Palestinian the signed agreement was not fully imple- refugees, water agreements, additional land mented by Israel . The above impression of Bibi transfers, borders, and more . Clearly, much and the Likud has been confirmed by Israeli will have to be done soon to make up for lost politicians . Back in October of 1998, Yossi time! Sarid, now Minister of Education, responded There is some reason to have hope, however . to analysis of the then upcoming summit that The good news according to Sayib Arikat, the eventually produced the Wye accords with chief Palestinian peace negotiator, is that skepticism. Sarid was so sure that Bibi would Barak's election represents a clear message of not fulfill his end of the bargain that he stated peace from the Israeli people and a clear man- that if Bibi actually gave the Palestinians any date to make concessions . According to Arikat, land, he Sarid would chew one of Bibi's famous there is a very big difference between Barak, cigars. Other generals on the original Oslo whom he considers a tough negotiator and negotiating team have also confided that the Netanyahu, whom he considers a non-negotia- Likud government destroyed the trust between tor. Our meetings with Labor party members the Palestinians and Israelis that existed of Knesset (parliament) confirmed this by say- under the Rabin and Peres governments . ing that the number one priority for the next Now that Barak is taking control of the two years will be the peace process . Since Mr. peace process, he will have to do something Barak formed his new government, he has met about the mistrust fostered under the Likud with and continually updated Arafat on what government by providing some concrete is going on, he has met with all the important advances and gestures. The attitude of mis- leaders in the region, and he has set a deadline trust on the Palestinian side is still strong . of fifteen months to solve the conflict with the The mayor of Hebron, for instance, told us that Palestinians and the Syrians, showing the his people cannot comprehend the hero wor- world that he means business . ship of Baruch Goldstein and the other con- We must do all we can to ensure that Barak stant provocations his people face from . Israeli has all our support in this difficult time of con- settlers. In Bethlehem, the mayor complained cessions and decision making . This window of that so much land from his municipality was opportunity will not be open forever. The Mid- confiscated by the Israelis to expand dle-East is changing quickly . Arab leaders Jerusalem that the city's very physical exis- such as the late King Hassan II of Morocco are tence was in danger. We also got a taste of how dying of old age and are being replaced by difficult the final status issues are, even leaders who may or may not share the vision of though they are not unsolvable, from reactions peace with Israel . is now wracked by in our peace mission to the Palestinian point of instability, Iraq is still attempting to rearm view. For instance, Faisal Husseini, Palestin- itself, and terrorist groups, such as Hamas, ian Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, explained are taking advantage of the squalor and hope- that in his opinion, Jerusalem is not solely a lessness in Gaza to recruit new members for Jewish city and should therefore be the bi- their destructive missions . With all this uncer- national capital of both Israel and Palestine . tainty, only the successful conclusion of the When one of the people in our mission declared Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which is at that the Palestinians must give up their claim the core of Arab-Israeli conflict, and real peace to Jerusalem in order for the peace process to with the majority of Israel's neighbors, will continue, Mr. Husseini defied expectations by help stabilize the region and ensure Israel's remaining calm and providing a precise defense and security. 0

SUMMER 1999 31

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