lishment of the War Refugee Board, the attempts to get Kook deported; of Jewish single American government agency aimed leaders convincing the few Jews in the Books at rescuing Europe’s Jews. administration to obstruct the passage of nation] will never take place…. The only Kook was not the only individual who rescue resolutions; of letters sent to Kook’s chance for an Israeli national renewal lies in fought for rescue. Stories of magnificent backers, urging them to withdraw their this reckoning. Otherwise, Israel will contin- courage and outstanding character support; and of Jews standing on street ue to be a haven for Jews who see themselves abound; both within Europe and beyond, corners, handing out fliers maligning as potential candidates for a new Shoah, and numerous individuals battled the indiffer- Kook’s activities. The few organizations instead of a national renewal, there will be a ence and worked ceaselessly for rescue. that did cooperate with Kook were the ghetto with5 an army; a ghetto which will Nonetheless, what is unique in Kook’s Orthodox ones; Vaad ha-Hatzala played an becomeThere increasinglyare phrases “ghettoish”in the letter and that increas- story is the focus of his energy and activity. important role in Kook’s famous 1943 A Race Against Death: reverberatedingly brutal. throughout my childhood. courage of those who spoke out. The pub- framework of Aliyah Bet, the illegal immi- Early on, he realized that taking on a gov- march of Orthodox rabbis on Peter Bergson, America, The response of the Jewish and non-Jewish licizing of this story leads to the inevitable,gration campaign organized by Ze’ev ernment-sponsored campaign of murder Washington. and the Holocaust 2 leadership to the extermination of Jews and necessary, reckoning of the free world.Jabotinsky. In August 1939, on the eve of would require the resources and power of was not a chapter in the history books I By David S. Wyman and Rafael Medoff A number of books published in recent the German occupation of Poland, Kook an opposing government, and that charita- learned in school. It was a piece of history years have stirred a debate on this emo- left Poland for London, and then, at the ble organizations could only do so much. that I learned at home from my father. For tionally charged and politically controver- request of Jabotinsky, went to New York in Only a country, with a focused political The story of Hillel Kook 1 Kook, who passed away in August 2001, sial issue.A Race Against Death is an 1940. At the time, he was twenty-five and military strategy, could combat a mili- is a tale of others’ silence the importance of honestly recording the important, if not an essential and long- years old, and barely knew English. tary policy of extermination. Kook did not politics of rescue was not to point a finger overdue, contribution to this debate. It is When news of the extent of the exter- buy into the American government’s and the timidity of the at non-Jewish indifference amid the both a fascinating read, and an invaluable mination of Europe’s Jews finally reached mantra that winning the war was the best mainstream Jewish and slaughter, but to learn from the conspiracy historical document. the American press in August 1942, Kook way to save the Jews; he insisted that sav- Zionist leadership in the of Jewish silence and its implications for A Race Against Death is constructed and his colleagues abandoned their other ing Jews would enhance, not obstruct, the national Jewish renewal. For Kook, the around an edited transcript of a twelve- political activities (such as campaigning for pursuit of victory. Kook dismissed the United States during future of the Jews—both within Israel and hour interview conducted by Wyman, claim that putting pressure on the Allies the Holocaust. without—had to be based on a serious back in 1973, with Kook—better known would alienate the British and bias them examination of the response of Jewish in the United States under his nom de Despite his accomplishments, even further against the Zionists when the communal leaders to the tragedy that guerre, Peter Bergson. Wyman, a historian, scramble for Palestine began. The Zionists’ efforts against Kook did Kook harbor ed a deep sense befell European Jewry. Uncovering the first came across Kook’s name while To acheive his goal, Kook walked the not end with the war. The activities of the of failure—a sense that mor e unhappy reality that belied the slogan of The New Press researching what would become his semi- corridors of the Congress, knocked on Emergency Committee to Save the Jews of “Jewish unity” was, and remains until this New York, 2002 nal book, The Abandonment of the Jews. At could, and should, doors and organized fundraisers, among Europe—the organization that Kook day, an essential step towards normalizing 269 pages that time, little had been written about other activities. His strategy: the passage of established upon his arrival in New York— have been done. Jewish and Israeli existence Reviewed by Rebecca Kook Kook and his activities in the United a rescue resolution, his objective: the estab-were written out of the official history States during World War II. Kook, a Jewish army) and dedicated themselves lishment of a government agency for res- books of the period, and the few brief ref- . JA What is the capacity of single individu-Wyman discovered, was a key player in the exclusively to the cause of rescue. For the cue. erences to them that did appear were derogatory and belittling. Notes als to influence the course of history? A tragedy of America’s halting response to next three years, this was their job, twenty- Sadly, however, the story of Hillel 3 Moreover, Kook 1. Most notably, David Wyman, The Race Against Death: Peter Bergson, America,the Holocaust. The book is organized into four hours a day, seven days a week. Kook, Kook is also a tale of others’ silence. It is never wrote his own memoirs. Although and the Holocaust, by David S. Wyman Abandonment of the Jews (New York, 1984). See six segments, each of which focuses on a together with his young colleagues from the story of the timidity of the mainstreamnumerous attempts were made to tell David Kranzler, “Orthodoxy’s Finest Hour: Rescue and Rafael Medoff, tells the story of Hillel different aspect of Kook’s activities. Europe and Palestine—Samuel Merlin, Jewish and Zionist leadership in the Kook’s story, 4 and he was an articulate and Efforts During the Holocaust,” Jewish Action (fall Kook and his efforts to pressure the Interspersed throughout the book are Alex Rafaeli, Aryeh Ben-Eliezer, Mike United States during the Holocaust—the charismatic speaker, Kook was ambivalent 2002):30-39; Efraim Zuroff and David Kranzler, Roosevelt administration to rescue “Orthodox Rescue Revisited,” Jewish Action interviews with other main actors in the Ben-Ami and Jabotinsky’s son Eri—as well American Jewish Committee, the about his past. His past was important to European Jewry. The story of Kook is that (spring 2003): 32-39 and Tom Segev, The Seventh historical drama, such as former congress- as his American supporters, created the American Zionist Emergency Council, thehim only to the extent that it could shed of a group of individuals who took on his- Million: The Israelis and the Holocaust (New York, man Will Rogers, Jr., journalist Max first political lobby in the United States. World Jewish Congress and the American light on the present and chart a more tory. It is the story of the deafening 2000). Lerner and Kook’s principal colleague, They mobilized the support of scores of Jewish Congress. The major Jewish leadershopeful future. Despite his accomplish- 2. A Race Against Death, 115. silences that made the extermination of Samuel Merlin. congressmen, cabinet secretaries, of the time, such as Rabbi Stephen Wise, ments, he harbored a deep sense of fail- 3. See, for example, Arthur D. Morse, While the Jews and the abomination called Hillel Kook—my father—was born in Hollywood celebrities, journalists and Judge Joseph Proskauer, Nahum Goldmanure—a sense that more could, and should, Six Million Died: A Chronicle of American Apathy Auschwitz possible—a story of the moral (New York, 1968) and Yehuda Bauer, American 1915, in Lithuania. In 1924, he traveled writers; placed full-page advertisements in and, from afar, Chaim Weizmann, bought have been done. In a letter to Merlin in bankruptcy of the free world, and of the with his family to Palestine. (His father, major American newspapers and staged into the American mantra lock, stock and Jewry and the Holocaust: The American Jewish Joint the late 1960s, Kook wrote: Distribution Committee, 1939-1945 (Detroit, Rabbi Dov Kook, was the brother of Rav major pageants across the United States, barrel. Unwilling to question the American … the history you have been writing is 1981). Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook.) In such as We Will Never Die. Theirs was the non-strategy for rescue, they spent most ofnot merely the most important thing for you 4. See in particular Louis Rapoport, Shake 1933, Kook, along with his childhood sole voice in the wilderness of shock and their energy obstructing the efforts of and me—I think it is of national impor- Heaven & Earth: Peter Bergson and the Struggle to companion, David Raziel, became part of bewilderment that consumed the those few individuals who did. Thus the Rescue the Jews of Europe (Jerusalem, 1999) and Rebecca Kook is associate professor of politics at tance. Without the history of our activities Joseph Agassi, Liberal Nationalism for Israel: the founding group of the Irgun Zvai American Jewish community, and they story of Kook is also the story of Wise’s concerning the rescue of European Jewry, the Ben-Gurion University in the Negev. She has Towards an Israeli National Identity written on issues of national identity and Leumi. In 1937, Kook left for Europe to almost single-handedly generated the pub- internal reckoning concerning the response of help bring Jews to Palestine within the lic pressure that ultimately led to the estab- (Jerusalem, 1999). democracy, and is currently working on a book the Jewish/Zionist leadership [to the extermi- 5. Letter in possession of the author. on the Hebrew Committee for National Liberation and the emergence of Israeli identity.

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