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Despite His Accomplishments, Kook Harbor Ed a Deep Sense of Failure

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Despite His Accomplishments, Kook Harbor Ed a Deep Sense of Failure lishment of the War Refugee Board, the attempts to get Kook deported; of Jewish nation] will never take place…. The only single American government agency aimed leaders convincing the few Jews in the chance for an Israeli national renewal lies in Books at rescuing Europe’s Jews. administration to obstruct the passage of this reckoning. Otherwise, Israel will contin- Kook was not the only individual who rescue resolutions; of letters sent to Kook’s ue to be a haven for Jews who see themselves fought for rescue. Stories of magnificent backers, urging them to withdraw their as potential candidates for a new Shoah, and courage and outstanding character support; and of Jews standing on street instead of a national renewal, there will be a abound; both within Europe and beyond, corners, handing out fliers maligning ghetto with an army; a ghetto which will numerous individuals battled the indiffer- Kook’s activities. The few organizations become increasingly “ghettoish” and increas- ence and worked ceaselessly for rescue. that did cooperate with Kook were the ingly brutal.5 Nonetheless, what is unique in Kook’s Orthodox ones; Vaad ha-Hatzala played an There are phrases in the letter that A Race Against Death: courage of those who spoke out. The pub- framework of Aliyah Bet, the illegal immi- story is the focus of his energy and activity. important role in Kook’s famous 1943 reverberated throughout my childhood. Peter Bergson, America, licizing of this story leads to the inevitable, gration campaign organized by Ze’ev Early on, he realized that taking on a gov- march of Orthodox rabbis on The response of the Jewish and non-Jewish and the Holocaust and necessary, reckoning of the free world. Jabotinsky. In August 1939, on the eve of ernment-sponsored campaign of murder Washington.2 leadership to the extermination of Jews By David S. Wyman and Rafael Medoff A number of books published in recent the German occupation of Poland, Kook would require the resources and power of was not a chapter in the history books I years have stirred a debate on this emo- left Poland for London, and then, at the an opposing government, and that charita- learned in school. It was a piece of history tionally charged and politically controver- request of Jabotinsky, went to New York in ble organizations could only do so much. The story of Hillel Kook that I learned at home from my father. For sial issue.1 A Race Against Death is an 1940. At the time, he was twenty-five Only a country, with a focused political is a tale of others’ silence Kook, who passed away in August 2001, important, if not an essential and long- years old, and barely knew English. and military strategy, could combat a mili- the importance of honestly recording the overdue, contribution to this debate. It is When news of the extent of the exter- tary policy of extermination. Kook did not and the timidity of the politics of rescue was not to point a finger both a fascinating read, and an invaluable mination of Europe’s Jews finally reached buy into the American government’s mainstream Jewish and at non-Jewish indifference amid the historical document. the American press in August 1942, Kook mantra that winning the war was the best Zionist leadership in the slaughter, but to learn from the conspiracy A Race Against Death is constructed and his colleagues abandoned their other way to save the Jews; he insisted that sav- of Jewish silence and its implications for around an edited transcript of a twelve- political activities (such as campaigning for ing Jews would enhance, not obstruct, the United States during national Jewish renewal. For Kook, the hour interview conducted by Wyman, pursuit of victory. Kook dismissed the the Holocaust. future of the Jews—both within Israel and back in 1973, with Kook—better known Despite his accomplishments, claim that putting pressure on the Allies without—had to be based on a serious in the United States under his nom de would alienate the British and bias them The Zionists’ efforts against Kook did examination of the response of Jewish guerre, Peter Bergson. Wyman, a historian, Kook harbor ed a deep sense even further against the Zionists when the not end with the war. The activities of the communal leaders to the tragedy that first came across Kook’s name while of failure—a sense that mor e scramble for Palestine began. Emergency Committee to Save the Jews of befell European Jewry. Uncovering the The New Press researching what would become his semi- could, and should, To acheive his goal, Kook walked the Europe—the organization that Kook unhappy reality that belied the slogan of New York, 2002 nal book, The Abandonment of the Jews. At corridors of the Congress, knocked on established upon his arrival in New York— “Jewish unity” was, and remains until this 269 pages that time, little had been written about have been done. doors and organized fundraisers, among were written out of the official history day, an essential step towards normalizing Reviewed by Rebecca Kook Kook and his activities in the United other activities. His strategy: the passage of books of the period, and the few brief ref- Jewish and Israeli existence. JA States during World War II. Kook, a Jewish army) and dedicated themselves a rescue resolution, his objective: the estab- erences to them that did appear were Notes What is the capacity of single individu- Wyman discovered, was a key player in the exclusively to the cause of rescue. For the lishment of a government agency for res- derogatory and belittling.3 Moreover, Kook 1. Most notably, David Wyman, The als to influence the course of history? A tragedy of America’s halting response to next three years, this was their job, twenty- cue. never wrote his own memoirs. Although Abandonment of the Jews (New York, 1984). See Race Against Death: Peter Bergson, America, the Holocaust. The book is organized into four hours a day, seven days a week. Kook, Sadly, however, the story of Hillel numerous attempts were made to tell David Kranzler, “Orthodoxy’s Finest Hour: Rescue and the Holocaust, by David S. Wyman six segments, each of which focuses on a together with his young colleagues from Kook is also a tale of others’ silence. It is Kook’s story,4 and he was an articulate and Efforts During the Holocaust,” Jewish Action (fall and Rafael Medoff, tells the story of Hillel different aspect of Kook’s activities. Europe and Palestine—Samuel Merlin, the story of the timidity of the mainstream charismatic speaker, Kook was ambivalent 2002):30-39; Efraim Zuroff and David Kranzler, Kook and his efforts to pressure the Interspersed throughout the book are Alex Rafaeli, Aryeh Ben-Eliezer, Mike Jewish and Zionist leadership in the about his past. His past was important to “Orthodox Rescue Revisited,” Jewish Action (spring 2003): 32-39 and Tom Segev, The Seventh Roosevelt administration to rescue interviews with other main actors in the Ben-Ami and Jabotinsky’s son Eri—as well United States during the Holocaust—the him only to the extent that it could shed Million: The Israelis and the Holocaust (New York, European Jewry. The story of Kook is that historical drama, such as former congress- as his American supporters, created the American Jewish Committee, the light on the present and chart a more 2000). of a group of individuals who took on his- man Will Rogers, Jr., journalist Max first political lobby in the United States. American Zionist Emergency Council, the hopeful future. Despite his accomplish- 2. A Race Against Death, 115. tory. It is the story of the deafening Lerner and Kook’s principal colleague, They mobilized the support of scores of World Jewish Congress and the American ments, he harbored a deep sense of fail- 3. See, for example, Arthur D. Morse, While silences that made the extermination of Samuel Merlin. congressmen, cabinet secretaries, Jewish Congress. The major Jewish leaders ure—a sense that more could, and should, Six Million Died: A Chronicle of American Apathy (New York, 1968) and Yehuda Bauer, American the Jews and the abomination called Hillel Kook—my father—was born in Hollywood celebrities, journalists and of the time, such as Rabbi Stephen Wise, have been done. In a letter to Merlin in Jewry and the Holocaust: The American Jewish Joint Auschwitz possible—a story of the moral 1915, in Lithuania. In 1924, he traveled writers; placed full-page advertisements in Judge Joseph Proskauer, Nahum Goldman the late 1960s, Kook wrote: Distribution Committee, 1939-1945 (Detroit, bankruptcy of the free world, and of the with his family to Palestine. (His father, major American newspapers and staged and, from afar, Chaim Weizmann, bought … the history you have been writing is 1981). Rabbi Dov Kook, was the brother of Rav major pageants across the United States, into the American mantra lock, stock and not merely the most important thing for you 4. See in particular Louis Rapoport, Shake Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook.) In such as We Will Never Die. Theirs was the Heaven & Earth: Peter Bergson and the Struggle to Rebecca Kook is associate professor of politics at barrel. Unwilling to question the American and me—I think it is of national impor- 1933, Kook, along with his childhood sole voice in the wilderness of shock and non-strategy for rescue, they spent most of tance. Without the history of our activities Rescue the Jews of Europe (Jerusalem, 1999) and Ben-Gurion University in the Negev. She has Joseph Agassi, Liberal Nationalism for Israel: companion, David Raziel, became part of bewilderment that consumed the their energy obstructing the efforts of concerning the rescue of European Jewry, the written on issues of national identity and Towards an Israeli National Identity democracy, and is currently working on a book the founding group of the Irgun Zvai American Jewish community, and they those few individuals who did.
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