Jewish Life May-June 1952

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Van Camp’s Beans in Tomato Sauce bear the official seal of approv­ al (y ) of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Con* gregations of America

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• EDITORIALS S aul B ernstein , Editor M. Morton R ubenstein D r. E ric Offenbacher R abbi I srael Miller

Editorial Associates P aul H ausdorff

Art Director

N echam a L evin

Editorial Assistant

JEWISH LIFE is published bi-monthly. Subscription one year $1.75, two years $3.00, three years $4.00. .

All rights reserved

Editorial and Publication Office: .305 Broadway New York 7, N . Y. BEekman 3-2220

AFTER 3,443 YEARS .....3 ORGANIZED PHILANTHROPY AT THE CROSSROADS

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• ARTICLES

A THREAT AND ITS CURE 5 Asher Siev THE POSITION OF THE WOMAN IN JUDAISM L:............ .................... .......... .. 13 Israel Abrahams CHALLENGE TO WOMEN 19 Rose Berenson THE ESSENTIAL DIFFERENCE ..... 27 Justin Hofmann TWO YEARS AFTER ...... ............................ 31 Israel Kaminsky THE POPULATION OF ISRAEL ... . 41 Touvia Ashkenazi EDUCATION BEGINS AT HOME..............’ 54 Irma Horwitz • FEATURES

AMONG OUR CONTRIBUTORS % ................ 2 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ................ 1 67 • SHORT STORIES

MAMA'S HAPPIEST SHABBOS /..i.....:.,___ 49 Lillian Bernarde THE LAWSUIT '60 M. Dluznowsky Published by U nion of Orthodox J ew ish Congregations of A merica Max J .

E tra

President

Rabbi H. S. Goldstein, Wil­ liam B. Herlands, Samuel Nirenstein, William Weiss, Honorary Presidents ; Benja­ min Koenigsberg, Benjamin Mandelker, M. Morton Rubenstein, Vice - Presidents; Joseph Schlang, Secretary ; N. Kenneth Gross, Treasurer; Saul Bernstein, Administrator

• POEMS

LAMENTATION ..... I .....____________ ....... 40 Leo Levi SONG FOR SHOVUOTH IN ERETZ..... . 53 Shoshana Wenger • SERVICES

KASHRUTH DIRECTORY *

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EXCERPTS selected and translated by Gershon Romanoff. PHOTOS courtesy of United Israel Appeal.

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Among Our Contributors ROSE BERENSON, a founder of the Union of Orthodox Sisterhoods of New England, is the recently elected national President of the Women's Branch of the Union of Orthodox. Jewish Congregations. Mother of two children, she has been a practicing lawyer and has served as a member» of the Massachusetts delegation to the Democratic' National Convention.

* * * DR. TOUVIA ASHKENAZI served in the Trans-Jordan Frontier Force 1926-27,

worked on the Pinchas Rutenberg Hydro-electric plan, and lived for some years with nomad and semi-settled Bedouin tribes in Palestine, Trans-Jordan, Syria, and the Syrian desert. In 1932 he left for France and studied at the Sorbonne, receiving his Ph.D. in 1938. During World War II he served with the British Army as an officer in Egypt, Arabia and Palestine. He is a member of several learned societies. *

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RABBI JUSTIN HOFMANN was ordained by the Hebrew Theological College of Chicago and received his M.A. degree from the University of Buffalo. At present he is Director of the Bnai B'rith Hillel Foundation at the University of Buffalo and Buffalo State Teachers College.

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IRMA HORWITZ, Radcliff College graduate, is second vice president of

Coop Council of Jewish Welfare Organizations and is also active with the Women's Branch of UOJCA. She is the mother of a seven-year-old son and nine-year-old daughter both of whom attend a Jewish Day School

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PROF. ISRAEL ABRAHAMS is Chief Rabbi of Capetown, South Africa, and

Professor of Hebrew at the University of Capetown.

* * * MOSHE DLUZNOWSKY, born in Poland, lived in France for fifteen years, and

escaped to North Africa at the outbreak of World War II. The two years spent there serve as the background for “The Lawsuit." *

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ISRAEL KAMINSKY, graduate of Mesiftah Rabbi Chaim Berlin, teaches at a

Young Israel Talmud Torah and attends Brooklyn College. He was editor of the Inter-Yeshivah Student Council Story of Yeshivah High Schools and is now active in the Peilim.

* * * RABBI ASHER SIEV is Rav of Cong. Kehilath Israel, Bronx, N.Y. and is

presently Director of the Yeshivah Soloveitzik. A Yeshiva University graduate, he received a D.H.L. degree from that institution's Bernard Revel Graduate School. Formerly national leader of Hashomer Hadati, he is now prominently .identified with Hapoel Hamizrachi. . \ . >?V 2

Jewish LIFE

EDITORIALS AFTER 3,443 YEARS , . . ■JHIS Shovuoth marks 3,443 years since mankind was granted, through Israel, its spiritual constitution, the Torah. In the intervening period, the world has taken wide cognizance of the Hebrew Bible but has nevertheless not succeeded in applying it as we Jews understand that it is to be applied, as Torath Chayim, the Torah of life. Accordingly, all the wealth of material and intellectual resources upon which society draws today is incapable of giving man basic security. Indeed, the disintegration of society which the world scene reveals is of such scope as to add a new “total” to the modern vocabulary — total insecurity. Accustomed as we are to assuming the insecurity of Jewish life, we can yet realize with profound thankfulness that as citizens, so to speak, of the Torah domain, we can surmount the greater insecurity about us. The Torah and its mitzvoth were given us for this very purpose. Many centuries of triumph over adversity have shown us that “And you shall live by them” means everything which it implies. The testimony of our own lives is the means whereby we Jews must prove to the world that mankind can find basic security. Man-made law has failed; Divine Law alone will serve.

ORGANIZED PHILANTHROPY AT THE CROSSROADS

ANADDRESS given last November by Samuel S. Schneierson is now, like a delayed-action bomb, awakening the ruling circles of American Jewish philanthropy. Speaking at the national conference of the Council of Federa­ tions and Welfare Funds, Schneierson voiced some queries and conclusions which are in a fair way to demolish the smug security of the magnates of social service. In effect, Samuel S. Schneierson reiterated questions asked with in­ creasing frequency and heightened insistence during recent years. Is organized Jewish philanthropy serving the best interest of American Jewry? To what degree is it representative of the community? Is it in fact Jewish

May - June, 1952

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in character and purpose? The explosive effect of these questions lay not in their being asked, nor even in tile cogency with which they were analyzed, but in their source. For in American Jewish philanthropy and social service, Schneierson ranks within the circle of the elect. The criticism of an “out­ sider” may be dismissed as “partisan bias” or “sectarian interest”, but not so with one who has been long and prominently identified with communal endeavor. jf NY AGENCY, said Schneierson, which identifies itself primarily as Jewish must, “in addition to the broad-gauged community Needed: wide social or medical service it renders, have specific Jewish Jewish purpose and content.” Viewing the community’s Purpose hospitals and social service agencies he questioned: “What is the Jewish criterion for those agencies? In a period when the philanthropic burdens of the community as a whole are diminishing, when so many services have become the province of government agencies, one may well ask what do these agencies contribute to the growth of Jewish life?” The time has come, he pointed out, “when our social service agencies must develop a closer identification with Judaism, with a positive, a spiritual Jewish life . . . or run the risk, in my opinion, of a diminishing usefulness to the American Jewish community . . . those institutions which will resist Jewish spirituality and Jewish tradition will in time disappear as Jewish institutions per se.” (our italics) It would be naive to expect that Samuel S. Schneierson’s address would revolutionize forthwith deeply engrained attitudes and policies. Yet, the issue, vital to the American future, has now been brought to the forefront and can no longer be suppressed. T ESS serenely than before, the rulers of our organized philanthropies go " their accustomed way. Their pattern is marked by the Towards elimination of Jewish religious practices in the insti­ ll New stations which they dominate; by diversion of support Era from religious institutions; by deliberate exclusion of the Jewish Day Schools from communal allocations; by the by-passing of cultural agencies; and by siphoning from funds subscribed for Israel and overseas causes generous amounts towards the maintenance of pet institutions of dubious value and inflated budget. But Schneierson's words herald the close of this era and the onset of a better day. 4

Jewish LIFE

An account of the invasion of the Bronx by disguised missionaries, its exposure and defeat. B y ASHER SIEV T IKE MANY others concerned with Jewish life, it had been my feeling that recent alarming “ads” and radio “warnings” concerning concentrated efforts on the part of missionary groups to invade Jew­ ish neighborhoods were grossly ex­ aggerated. About a year and a half ago I was rudely awakened to discover well planned and extreme­ ly well financed missionary move­ ments in my own community. I have reason to believe that their efforts were not localized, and what we have experienced in the Tremont section of the East Bronx in New York City is but a manifesta­ tion of larger movements which may be operating today in many Jewish communities. This article should serve to awaken responsible Jewish leaders of the American Jewish comniunity to recognize the threat and to take appropriate steps to combat it. TN THE summer of 1950 the J. A Witnesses held a convention at the Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. Several weeks before the convoca­ tion was to take place, their repreMay - June, 1952

sentatives canvassed Jewish homes in the East and West Bronx and presented a very innocent request. Inasmuch as thousands of their members were expected to attend the convention, they could not possibly prepare hotel accommoda­ tions for them all. They asked, therefore, that rooms be rented out for the duration of the pro­ ceedings. Thousands of Jewish fa­ milies felt that they ought to help religious people who gather for an important convocation. Little did they suspect that behind the “inno­ cent” request there was a sinister plan of establishing contact with Jews who are not learned in Jewish doctrine, especially young boys and girls, and win them over to Chris­ tianity. Yet this is exactly what happened. These delegates took ad­ vantage of Jewish hospitality to es­ tablish relations with members of the families in whose midst they found themselves for about ten days. Succeeding in some cases in leaving a favorable impression, they exploited the relationship further in later months. 5

T KNOW of at least two cases ip which J. Witnesses were success­ ful in persuading Jews to apostasize and join their ranks. The first case involves a seventeen-yearold girl, whose parents gave her lit­ tle Jewish instruction. Their home, too, was devoid of Jewish observ­ ances. The girl longed for some kind of religious values and ob­ servances. As a result she proved an easy prey for the missionaries. Today she is a member of the J. Witnesses and is endeavoring to convert her broken-hearted parents. In the second case about four young Jewish couples were in­ volved. Until very recently they had regular sessions with missiona­ ries of the J. Witnesses who were not hampered in their work. Learn­ ing of these meetings accidentally, we established contact with these families at once, and arranged for them a Bible session with a rabbi. At the very outset they demanded

to be enlightened on several Bib­ lical passages, and proceeded to quote well known supposedly Chris tological ref erences. F ortunately, the rabbi succeeded even in the first session, which lasted for eight hours, in exploding the ar­ guments of the two missionaries, who were also present at the insis­ tence of the group. (Parenthetical­ ly, the English translation of the book Chizuk Emunah by Isaac ben Abraham of Truki is of great value to anyone dealing with the sub­ ject.) We were successful in this case because of having discovered the “cell” in time. Had we been only a few weeks later, the re­ sults would have been entirely dif­ ferent, for the group was begin­ ning to prepare for official apostacy. Who knows how many similar groups have been created in our large and busy metropolis, in which these missionaries carry on their work unnoticed and unopposed!

Missionaries in Jewish Guise ■pHE SECOND group doing mis­ sionary work in our midst is a far more dangerous one since it seems to be well financed and also possesses a cunning scheme and a “line of argument” that is not easy to refute, at least as far as the naive Jew is concerned. I shall relate the story as it unfolded in our neighborhood. In the summer of 1950 a shabby and dilapidated building, which had been a Lutheran Church, was pur­ chased by a group of people who were not residents of the commu6

nity. *For several weeks announce­ ments on the building indicated that the purchasers intended it for use as a Seventh Day Adventist Church. However, these were quickp ly replaced by other signs announc­ ing the formation of a Center for the purpose of performing welfare and charitable work, and also “ready to serve the spiritual needs” of the community. Shortly thereafter even larger signs announced to the public that “an Israeli Cantor” would conduct services during the approaching Jewish LIFE

High Holy Days at the very nomi­ nal fee of $3.00 per ticket. | With accommodations for about 250 peo­ ple, all seats were .-disposed of in a short time. The Cantor, who may have been ignorant of the fact that he was used as a front for a group of missionaries, must have been en­ gaged until after Succoth. He con­ ducted the services in orthodox fa­ shion and even had a Succah built • in the yard. These practices esK tablished the place as a synagogue in the eyes of the unsuspecting public. Intelligent Jews looked upon the new Center with great suspicion, even at its very inception. They asked themselves: Who are its or­ ganizers ? Where did they get tens of thousands of dollars for the pur­ chase, renovation and refurnish­ ing of the property? The obvious conclusion was that this was a shady group to be watched very carefully. Simultaneously w i t h t h e an­ nouncement about services to be held at the new Community Tem­ ple, well prepared multi-colored leaflets flooded the neighborhood informing the public that the new institution planned to organize a Talmud Torah and that its leaders would run it as an orthodox, Con­ servative or Reformed institution, depending on the desire of the community. It stressed, however, that in any event Kashruth would be observed in its newly renovated hall and kitchen, which it was ready to rent out for public and religious functions. May - June, 1952

A F T E R SUCCOTH the leaders of the organization began to emerge from hiding. Apparently they felt the place had already es­ tablished for itself a fine reputa­ tion as a synagogue and it was safe for them to continue from there. A gentleman appeared on the scene as president of the organiza­ tion. With him came his associate and treasurer. The president was also the preacher of the group and described himself in leaf­ lets which were pushed weekly un­ der every door in the community, as a “teacher and author” and an “outstanding Jewish Biblical au­ thority.” He promised everyone inspira­ tional services and unusual lec­ tures on health and religion. Ac­ tivities at the Temple centered around “health lectures” on Wed­ nesday evenings and services on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings at which the Bimbaum Siddur was used for the chanting of Adon Olam, Yigdal and Eyn Kelokeynu. A piano accompanied the congregational singing. The service was thus quite brief and its main feature was the preacher's sermon in which he usually stressed that he was a Jew and that people would become better Jews as a re­ sult of attending his services. One Saturday morning a Choson and his relatives walked into the Tem­ ple and asked to be called up to the Torah. The preacher, undaun­ ted, took out the Torah and, un­ able to read it, placed a Chumosh 7

on it and read, in broken Hebrew, several verses for each of three people who were called up. As­ tounding as it may- seem, few Jews in the community saw the real meaning and intention behind such actions. When rabbis in the community began to speak from the pulpit against him, pointing to his in­ consistent and deceitful actions, the preacher announced that he was neither orthodox nor Conserva­ tive nor Reform but rather “an independent Biblical Jew” who be­ lieves in the validity of the Bible only and does not recognize Jewish

tradition. When asked why he used taleythim, yarmulkes and the Birnbaum Siddur at his services, he replied that the use of these is based on Biblical references and that the Birnbaum Siddur contains a lot of Biblical passages. He himself appeared at services with a large yarmulke and a talith. Thus, upon entering the Temple on a Saturday evening or morning, the average person was deluded into believing that he attended a synagogue service when he was actually in a Seventh Day Advent­ ist Church.

Hoodwinking the Gullible TOURING THIS time the new or­ ganization literally flooded the neighborhood with literature which endeavored to prove from Biblical passages purely Christian doc­ trines. They tried to prove, for example, the. existence of an an­ thropomorphic deity by quoting an abundance of corporeal expressions, stressing their literal meaning. Their conclusion was that (Kaveyochol) G-d too has a body like man, only His body is immortal. Readers of J ew ish L ife will readily recognize the purpose of such articles. Yet it was astound­ ing to behold how many Jews in our community, young and old alike, were deceived by the general outward appearance of the Tremont Temple and, as a result, de­ fended its leader as a good Jew, though perhaps a little less re­ ligious than they were. We learned 8

later that many of his followers were brought from other parts of the city in order to “pack” his meetings and services. Good attendance, and occasional voices of approval from worshippers impressed the curious visitor who went home and repeated the story of success of the new Temple. This in turn brought more people to meetings and services* and the institution seemed to be thriving for quite a few months. Sound movies on Israel and gene­ ral Jewish subjects also attracted many children. In a short time a Talmud Torah was opened with a registration of about twenty-five children. Unable to secure among his followers a suitable teacher for the Talmud Torah, the preacher hired a former yeshivah student and at the same time sent three of his followers to the Teachers InJewish LIFE

stitute of the Jewish Theological Seminary to take up courses in Hebrew. From men who gained their confidence we learned that these were to take over the Talmud Torah at a later date. For his own son the preacher also .maintained a private Hebrew teacher. During Sabbath gatherings of the Talmud Torah pupils, kosher chocolates were distributed, which impressed the parents of the children. j^JEANWHILE, we decided to in­ vestigate the places of residence of the leaders of the Temple. In the Bronx telephone directory we found the name of the acting as­ sociate and treasurer listed as a Reverend and residing in the Bronx at a distance of several miles from our community. Upon check­ ing his telephone application, we discovered that he stated, over his signature, that he was a minister of the Seventh Day Adventists and that his former address was in Forest Hills, Long Island. The 1948 Yearbook of the Seventh Day Adventists listed his address as the office of its Greater New York Conference. In the same Yearbook there is a lengthy list of ministers and work­ ers for the movement. The preach­ er himself is listed as one of their workers, stationed at Colum­ bia, S. C. This discovery explained to us why he drove a car with a Georgia license plate and also why he had a Southern accent. We published these facts in a leaf­ let addressed to the Jewish public. There^ was never an attempt to May - June, 1952

deny them. At the same time a correspon­ dence course in Bible was offered by the “Torah Institute” of the Temple. This course “which was free to our Jewish people,” con­ sisted of 24 lessons, which were sent individually to registrants. Each lesson had numbered para­ graphs and was accompanied by a question sheet referring back to the number of the paragraph in which the answer was found. Upon receipt of the answered question­ naire another lesson was forward­ ed. “On the completion of this course you will receive a beautiful diploma showing that you have graduated from the Bible course” was the promise made by the Torah Institute. These lessons, too, Were filled with pictures of old Jews with talith and tefillin reading the Torah. The lesson stressed sup­ posed Christological references in the Bible. This Torah Institute gave two addresses ^ 7 ; the Tremont Temple and the Forest Hills address mentioned before. About two months later the Temple leader sent letters to pri­ vate Jewish Nursing Homes, offer­ ing to buy them. He gave his private telephone number in these letters. By tracing it we discovered that he lived at the time with his brother in New York City. Some weeks later he moved to a new ad­ dress in the proximity of a large Seventh Day Adventist Church. T H E LETTER sent to the Nursing Homes convinced us that this man h||d large sums of money 9

at his disposal, since the pur­ chase of an established Home involves an expenditure of about $70,000.00. Thus we, saw that these missionaries were ready to spend very large sums of money in order to gain control over sick and feeble Jews in the declining years of their life. This Temple leader owns today, together with his wife who is a physician, a Nursing Home in the City of New York. One may guess the kind of influence he exerts on his Jewish patients! The clinching evidence against the group was secured from a Seventh Day Adventist Church, where we picked up propaganda lit­ erature which was disseminated among Jews. Some of these pamph­ lets were identical in form, content and pictorial illustrations, with

those sent out in our community. There was no longer any doubt as to the source of the material as well as its purpose. To counteract attacks of rabbis, which became more pronounced and more vehement as a result of the new revelations, the missionary ar­ gued that the synagogues of the neighborhood were afraid of com­ petition and that their rabbis were intolerant. Nevertheless, he must have felt that the true facts, as revealed by the rabbis, were gradu­ ally cutting the ground from under his feet, so that he was finally driven to the desperate measure of putting his case before the people who were attending his services, in as vague terms as possible, and with as many embellishments as he could muster.

The Deceiver Unmasked ■DEFORE a capacity audience, the ^m issionary denounced the Jewish organizations and leaders who ex­ posed him as being narrow-minded and intolerant, and then proceeded fo expound his theory of religion, insisting throughout that he “is a good and loyal Jew.” We took a stenographic report of everything he said that evening. Here is the essence of his statement: This is a Jewish Congregation and so are the members that meet in this Temple — we are not bas­ ing our doctrines on anything ex­ cept the Holy Torah, the Bible. Our doctrines are not based on tra­ dition. That is where we differ

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from the orthodox Jews, that is where we differ from the Conserva­ tive Jews and from the Reform Jews . . . our doctrines are 100% Jewish . . . just because a man is born a Jew does not make him a Jew in the eyes of G-d . . G-d says that if one breaks a law and breaks His commandments He will see to it that his soul is cut off and his sin shall be upon him. . . . If G-d in Heaven cuts your name from the Book of Life, you are no more consideréd an Israelite, you are no more a real Jew . . . I don’t have to tell you that there are no members in our congregation who eat tref . . . The Adventists be-

Jewish LIFE

lieve that the Bible is the religion of Israel and that none can get into Heaven unless he becomes a Jew. And so there are thirty to forty thousand Gentiles who become Jews by faith. These Gentiles cannot be Jews in flesh. These _Adventists have their own congregations all over the city. We in this congrega­ tion are a Jewish Congregation . . . We are Jews who are affiliated with the Seventh Day Adventists . . . We Jews who are affiliated with the Adventists conduct our services just like Jewish people do because we are Jews. We would not feel at home if our services were like the Adventists who have come from the. Gentile faith, and they would not feel at home in our services . . .”

T H U S SPOKE a missionary who * coined the new term, “Hebrew Adventists,” and who has been de­ dicating his efforts to create a new sect of converts from J udaism with­ in the Seventh Day Adventist movement. When our committee met with two of the top leaders of the movement in New York, they readily conceded that the mission­ ary in our community was one of their active workers. They also stated that he uses a unique method of approach to the Jew­ ish people, 1 and strives to create a synthesis between Judaism and Christianity. They assured us, how­ ever, that they personally objected to his tactics of concealing his true identity, but could do nothing to stop him because theirs is a demo­ cratic movement and, besides, he was well subsidized and a May - June, 1952

powerful figure in the movement. These gentlemen agreed with us that it was not right on the part of the new congregation to fail to designate its affiliation, and what is even worse, to hire a young Jew­ ish man to operate a Talmud Torah. They promised to do their utmost to try to rectify these wrongs. It seems that these methods of attack by our community leaders did the trick. As a result of internal pressure from apparently sincere Adventists and the external ex­ pose, a small sign was put up on the Tremont Temple, read­ ing : “Congregation Hebrew Ad­ ventists.” This small sign was sufficient to convince Jews of the community as to the true na­ ture and purpose of the Temple. Even curious residents stopped at­ tending its services and lectures. Simultaneously, the flood of pro­ paganda in the community, which had been prepared and printed in the Temple, ceased. At the present time, the sign des­ ignating the affiliation of the con­ gregation has once again disap­ peared, although its leader is carrying on his activities under cover. We maintain a constant vigil and, thank G-d, have been successful in keeping him down. J N ANOTHER section of the * Bronx a group of missionaries have opened a social center for Jewish boys and girls. Jewish children are invited to attend social hours. Refreshments are served, and seemingly innocent programs are used as bait. ■

Here, the good time seems to be identity, are gradually establishing a great attraction for the Jewish themselves in the community for children. The missionaries, who in their real task which is yet to this case don’t seem to hide their follow. * * * CONCLUSION: It is quite ap­ basic Judaism could serve as a parent from our presentation of the lever with which to lift our people experiences of the East Bronx Jew­ out of the depth of ignorance of ish community, that there exists a Judaism. In addition, we must de­ void in the lives of many of our vise a comprehensive program of people in America, and anyone cultural and social activities for all offering to fill it finds an open age-levels within the community, to field for activity. Moreover, igno­ be put in operation under the rance of Judaism is so widespread guidance of qualified, professional in our midst that ideas which are personnel. contrary to the very basis of ac­ Contrary to the belief of some cepted Jewish doctrine, such as of our leaders, this problem is not the belief in the corporeality of a local one, nor is it too unimpor­ G-d, can pass in the eyes of an tant to merit the attention of na­ astounding number of Jews as tional Jewish leaders. At this very valid Jewish teachings. moment a similar problem may be The inescapable, logical conclu­ brewing in your own neighborhood. sion is that responsible Jewish Only a concentrated, well-planned leaders must devote serious thought effort will succeed in putting a stop to the problem of filling the void in to indecent activity on the part of Jewish life through a popular edu­ Jewish renegades on the one hand, cational program for young and old. and secure our youth for our people Perhaps correspondence courses in on the other. NECESSITY OF FAITH Said Resh-Lakish: It is written "And the Faith of your times shall be the strength of your salvation, knowledge and wisdom" (Isaiah, 33:8). This contains reference to the orders of the Mishnah. "Faith" points to Seder Zeraim, "Times" to Moed, "Strength" to Nashim, "Salvation" to Nezikim, "Knowledge" to Kedoshim, "Wisdom" to Tahoroth. The Yerushalmi explains why Emunah, faith, refers to the Seder Zeraim, the order of seeds. The farmer when planting his field must entertain perfect trust in a beneficent provi­ dence, that sun and rain will come in due season and all the elements will provide for a plentiful harvest. If pessi­ mistic thoughts would disturb him, he would hesitate, never venturing to plant. Tosphoth Yerushalmi, Rashi, Shabbos 31

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Jewish LIFE

‘Women’s rights” in the light of Jewish history, law and teaching. By ISRAEL ABRAHAMS T H E POSITION of the woman in Judaism is not inferior to that of the man; it is different. My first witness shall be history. The testimony of history is more valid than citations of learned dicta or references to legal ordinances. The former may be no more than per­ sonal expressions of opinion; the latter are proverbially made to be broken and circumvented. But his­ tory is life. The status of the Hebrew woman was established at the very dawn of Israel’s story. The Biblical bi­ ographies of the Patriarchs, the Founding Fathers of our race and faith, provide us with a parallel picture of the Matriarchs that por­ trays them not as downtrodden domestic adjuncts of their lords and masters, but as true life-com­ panions, devoted lovers who are the peers in every respect of their spouses, and sometimes, it must be admitted, the final arbiters of the family’s destiny. In all that Sarah saith unto thee, hearken unto her voice is the Divine injunction to Abraham in a moment of heartMay - June, 1952

searching spiritual perplexity. This revealing exhortation continues to echo through the pages of Jewish literature, bidding every Abraham in every age seek guidance in “the higher wisdom of women,” when life’s road forks and decision seems harder than despair. There is no greater reproach to historic Israel than that tragic lapse when our fathers in wild orgies of corybantic folly wor­ shipped the golden calf — our fathers, assert the Sages, not our mothers. The women refused their adornments for the making of the idol, but they gave with overflow­ ing generosity to the construction of the Tabernacle. Let none deride these stories as mere Agadic fa­ bles. Within this Midrashic folk­ lore lies enshrined the inner psyche of our people, the holy of holies of the Jewish soul. The pallid facts of recorded actuality are in­ significant by comparison. In na­ tional legends we find the creative force that moulds a people’s des­ tiny, that makes history. 13

R E TURNING to the Bible, *we meet Miriam, a woman of titanic spiritual stature, dwarfed only by the greatest of men — her brother Moses. Deborah**on the other hand, stands out as the unchallenged leader of her troubled epoch, the mother of her people, the inspiration of her children’s victories. In a later epoch, the more nebulous figure of Huldah emerges, shrouded in prophetic mystery. But one thing is clear: the nation, from the king down to the humblest commoner, does not doubt her nearness to G-d, her Divine knowledge, the infallible wisdom of her oracle. It is noteworthy that though Huldah was the contemporary of male prophets, in­ cluding the immortal Jeremiah, it is she, and not her brother seers, who is consulted by Josiah. Could her status in the national polity have been higher if she had been ^ gg___ —«! ■

Looking down the vista of the post-exilic era, we mourn the martyrdom of Hannah and her seven sons; we glory in the golden age of Queen Salome. In Talmudic times, the luminous figure of Beruriah, Rabbi Meir’s wife, sheds significant light on the Jewish woman in the Tannaitic period. In a world in which intellectual attainment was apparently regarded as the unquestioned prerogative of men, we behold in her a scholar of rare erudition, who, despite Mishnaic teaching to the contrary (see Sotah 3:4) , received a Jewish edu-cation which gave her an enduring place of honor amongst the greatest sages of her time. It were a tedious work of super­ erogation to continue listing the notable Jewish women who have arisen in every generation to bring glory and strength to Jewish life. The point is already proven beyond doubt or peradventure: the living witness of history testifies to the equal partnership of the Jewish woman in the achievements and the suffering, in the heroism and the martyrdom of our people. No wonder the Shulhan Aruch asserts unhesitantly that the Jewish wom­ en of today are worthy (Chashuvoth) . The tribute of our Code is rooted in the facts of our annals. J^JONETHELESS, it must be coiiceded that the notion persists among many of our illuminati, no less than among our Jewish illiter­ ates, that the woman suffers from inferiority of status in Judaism.

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Jewish LIFE

The arguments advanced by the protagonists of this view may be briefly summarized under two heads: (a) a number of Biblical, and especially Rabbinic, dicta de­ pict the woman in an unfavorable light; (b) Jewish law allows wo­ men less rights than men. The first line of reasoning is more amusing than compelling. Undoubtedly there are a number of Hebrew sayings unflattering to women. Here is a small selection of these, offered gratis to those who find pleasure in quoting such statements out of context — and, perhaps, out of malice. One man among a thousand have I found;, but a woman among all those have I not found. *Women have frivolous minds. A woman’s intelligence is confined to the distaff. If a man teaches his daugh­ ter Torah it is as though h e; taught her obscenity. Women have four attributes: they are gluttonous, noisy, jeal­ ous and indolent.

Certainly a sombre picture; but

as evidence of the real esteem in which women are held in Jewish life and teaching, it is completely valueless. These sayings are unauthoritative individual remarks, expressing a jaundiced view that obviously derives from unhappy personal experiences. They can be countered by other utterances that pay the most glowing tributes to womanhood in general and to Jew­ ish women in particular. Here is a bouquet of praise: Women have greater insight than men. A man’s home is his wife. The scholar’s wife is even as the scholar. When Rabbi Joseph heard his mother’s footsteps, he declared: I shall rise before the Divine Presence that approacheth.

Such aphoristic dicta, pro and con the Jewish woman, cannot be regarded as decisive; but the bal­ ance, it seems, distinctly favors the woman. The people that gave the world Proverbs Ch. 31 is too in­ herently chivalrous to do woman­ kind a literary injustice.

Position In Civil Law p"AR MORE serious are the prob­ lems connected with the Halachic position of the woman. In this sphere she is definitely sub­ jected to a number of disabilities. Let me cite a few examples. The pattern of our worship ap­ pears to be primarily designed for men. The male -; even recites a benediction, seemingly prompted by May - June, 1952

over-weening confidence in his masculine superiority, wherein he thanks the Almighty for not hav­ ing made him a woman! In Jewish civil law' the woman is further disadvantaged. She may not be appointed a judge, nor is she an acceptable witness, except in certain restricted cases. She does not enjoy equal rights of in15

heritanee with her male counter­ part. It is the man who not only marries but also divorces; should he refuse to give his wife a Get, even after the non-Jewish courts have dissolved the conjugal union, she remains bound to her cruel spouse. Similarly, if her brother-in-law declines to grant her Chalitzah, the Rabbinic courts, at least in the Diaspora, cannot assist her to regain her freedom. The unhappy plight of the Agunah (a woman whose husband is missing with no proof of death) is one of the thorniest problems confronting the Rabbinate in modern times. Until the husband is proven dead, she is prevented from remarrying, though she grow grey in the process of waiting. Do not these legal handi­ caps clearly establish the inherent inferiority of the Jewish woman vis-a-vis the man? The answer is decisively in the negative — for two reasons. First­ ly it is entirely fallacious to meas­ ure status in terms of legal rights. Take the constitutional position of the British king as a case in point. The monarch stands at the head of the realm; he is the apex of its social and political pyramid. Yet law and usage have combined to give him less liberty in many re­ spects than that enjoyed by his humblest subjects. Or consider the legal implications of wedlock: mar­ ried people are not regarded, in any social order, as inferior to celibates; but their freedom of ac­ tion, under any legal system, must 16

obviously be more curtailed. Fur­ ther examples of this genre can be enumerated almost endlessly, and spiritual status is not necessarily related to legal rights. CjECONDLY, the picture of the Halachic position of the Jewish woman drawn above requires con­ siderable qualification, if a true perspective is to be preserved. In regard to Synagogal worship and other ritual obligations, the duties of women are governed by the principle that they are exempted, in most instances, from the ob­ servance of precepts that have to be performed at a specific time (M itzvotk A ssey Shehazzeman Gra­ m a). Allied to this guiding rule is the further ideal of religious de­ corum and purity, necessitating the separation of the sexes. Thus it was loving considerateness for our womenfolk that prompted our Sages to shield them from respon­ sibilities that physical incapacity and propriety might prevent them from discharging. The intention was never to reduce their spiritual privileges or to derogate the honor of their position. In truth, the whole course of Halachic development in respect of the laws relating to women has been unfailingly directed towards the protection of the Jewish woman. The Kethubah and the jointure it assures the divorced wife or the widow is one instance. The mak­ ing of Chalitzah compulsory, at least among Ashkenazi communi­ ties, because Yibbym, Levirate Jewish LIFE

marriage, might often prove re­ pugnant to the widow, is another example. Where divorce appears desirable, our Codes empower the Jewish courts to force the recal­ citrant husband, if need be by a thrashing, to free his wife. On the other hand a Get, writ of di­ vorcement, cannot be given to a wife against her will. This enact­ ment goes back to the famous Synod convened by Rabbenu Gershom, the Light of the Exile, in

1000 C. E. At that same Rabbinic convention, polygamy was pro­ hibited by law, although monogamy had been practiced by the vast majority of Jews for centuries. As for the Agunah, a veritable litera­ ture has grown up on the subject, which has one avowed purpose : to exhaust every Halachic possibility, every nuance of legal interpreta­ tion, every benefit suggested by doubt, for the amelioration -of the woman's plight.

The Present Challenge CjUMMING UP the Halachic posi­ tion of the Jewish woman, it may be stated categorically that in the past the Jewess has, by and large, enjoyed a favored legal status in comparison with her Gentile sister. In the present age of democratic equalitarianism and militant feminism, the Jewish woman may not derive under Jew­ ish law all the advantages afforded her by other codes ; but her disa­ bilities are reduced considerably when the Rabbinate is allowed full scope for the enforcement of the provisions of the Shulchon Oruch. This is amply demonstrated in Is­ rael, where the legal position of the woman is much stronger than in the Diaspora, because the Battey Din are empowered to imple­ ment their decisions. Nevertheless a challenge still re­ mains for Orthodoxy to meet. Is­ rael's Knesseth has given a lead in its recent “Bill Assuring Equal Rights to Women.” It is, in a sense, May - June, 1952

the spiritual and legal descendant of Rabbenu Gershom's famous en­ actments. It accords the Israeli woman the right to hold property in her own name both before and after marriage. It enables her to obtain inheritance and the guard­ ianship of her children. It permits her to fill all offices of government and state. The Rabbinic Courts retain ju­ risdiction in matters appertaining to marriage and divorce. This is all to the good. But, as an ortho­ dox Jew, I feel it is not enough. I should like to see the provisions of the bill referred to above re­ ceive j in due course, the full im­ primatur of the Rabbinate. The Rabbinic authorities in Israel must bend all their efforts towards find­ ing Halachic means for removing the disabilities from which the Jewish woman suffers llkespecially the Agunah — in Eretz a s’well as in Chutz La'aretz, but particularly in Chutz La'aretz. 17

There is, fortunately, no lack of good will among our leading schol­ ars. What is needed is courageous action in the spirit of Hillel, of Rabbenu Gershom, of Rabbi Isaac Elchonon Spektor. The remedy that comes most readily to mind is to grant the Rabbinic Courts the right to grant divorce and Chalitzah, wherever necessary, in the husband's stead. Today the sug­ gestion may appear unduly daring and beset with seemingly insoluble difficulties. Yet, I am convinced that our great Talmudic experts, pursuing the course just proposed or exploiting some other legal de­ vice, will eventually succeed in con­ structing the' requisite Rabbinic machinery for the solution of the problem. TN THE final analysis we must conclude that the status of the Jewish woman is intrinsically not

inferior to that of the man. Rather should it be described as parallel— equal but different. The woman's sphere of influence is primari­ ly, though not solely, the Home. In that domain she is the Queen. The mother's opportunities for moulding the souls of her children is far greater than the father's. It is no cheap aphorism to assert that the hand that rocks the cradle is able to shape the destiny of the race. Having regard to the unique importance of the role of the woman in our life and faith, we cannot but wish her standing in Jewish law to be likewise unsur­ passed. The love we bear our womenfolk — wife and mother, sister and daughter ^#% inherent in the Jewish ethic makes the ameli­ oration of their legal position mandatory.

INFLUENCE OF TORAH R. Yehudah, R. Yose, R. Nechemyah and R. Elazar son of R. Yose the Galilean would begin their learned dis­ courses by paying tribute to the townspeople of Yavneh for their nobility and hospitality in cherishing the famous Yeshivah and its scholars and thus assuring Israel's future even under the barbaric Roman rule. Unlike them, how­ ever, R. Yehudah, the chief speaker at every occasion, would open his discourse by giving praise to the Torah, the Torah being the source of our people's character. Thus, the charit­ ableness, love of truth and justice, hospitality and kindness which were so meritoriously expressed by the residents of Yavneh were a direct result of the inspiring influence of the Torah. — Talmud, Berochoth, 63.

18

Jewish LIFE

• A woman leader speaks her mind on the task of the woman today .

XXTHAT IS the woman’s scope in v the religious life of our people? Since the time when Sarah, our first mother in Israel, was divinely confirmed in her role as the edu­ cator of her son Isaac by the in­ junction of the Creator Himself to Abraham: “Sh’ma B’kolah — Pay heed to her voice!”, the rearing of the future generation has been the Jewish woman’s supreme election. And in the scheme of our people it outranks all other appointments in lasting potency, v The intimate role of the mother in the rearing and education of the child, has had a further conse^ quence. Character-building and de­ velopment through Torah knowl­ edge and discipline became the sine qua non of her life, and her influence extended to the general milieu of her generation. Women wield influence on the course of human society not only through the goals which they set for their chil­ dren, which they carry all through their lives, but in the standards of achievement which they set for their men-folk as well. Men aim to May - June, 1952

please those they love. When I was younger, I felt Adam’s accusation of Eve as a partner was unjust; today I would say his was an ac­ curate analysis of fact. The whole structure of Jewish life is based on the knowledge of divine law and the continual search lor that knowledge. To the de­ gree that women have upheld that standard, not only in the rearing of their children, but as a measure of human worth, to that degree has Judaism endured and flourished. ^ y iT H I N our own time and mem­ ory, in the European genera­ tion or two past, the woman for the greater part was willing to ac­ cept, and gladly, hardship and pri­ vation, in order to have a share in creating a Talmid Chochom, a scholar. She was not only the moth­ er who reared the children, but oftentimes became the laborious breadwinner, eking out a meager living for the whole family, in order to give her husband as many hours as possible to spend in the Beth Hamidrash. 19

The children of that day were ped hot-dish with which to sustain sung to sleep with cradle songs the studying lads. On such high about scholars—an anomaly among setting of goals, heroism and sacri­ peoples— songs like , “Rojinkes un fice has our people survived and flourished! __ Mandlen” or “Auf'n Pripechok.” The story of Rachel, wealthy If we were to inquire into the daughter of Kalba Sebua, who un­ formal education of the girls and dertook a life of poverty and dis­ women of that day, we would find tress, and inspired her husband it meager. But if we were to Akiva to study to become one of probe further, we would find that the greatest scholars and saints of Mitzvah practice so dominated the all time, was repeated with less household that the Rabbi of the spectacularity, but with equally city was constantly presented by life-giving Jewish fervor, in every the women with problems involving generation. his “paskenen sh'ailoth” which I was very much impressed a few were all embracing in their scope, years ago with the overpowering that Shabboth and Yom Tov pre­ feeling with which a gentleman paration were such commanding who today heads an organization and absorbing activities, casting for the maintenance of yeshivoth their charm over the ordinary reminisced on the following occur­ week-day routine, that a great deal rence: One very cold and stormy of knowledge and practical appli­ night when the snow was piled cation were absorbed. high in some Russian village where The heroes of the Chumosh more as a young man he was spending the night in the Beth Hamedrash than filled the place of our Angloin Talmud study, he was alarmed Saxon nursery rhymes and were by the creaking of the door. Going daily companions; and the Prayer up to it, he discovered his mother, Book and Techinah in the homely wrapped in a shawl, her ears glued Yiddish, including parables and to the crack in the door, absorbing wisdom digested from the sages, with love every syllable and intona­ set the climate and added beauty tion of the G’mora sing-song dis­ and force to everyday living. cussion. In her hand was a wrap­ The Educational Void THE other hand, when many ^ ^ o f those mothers came to Amer­ ica, the impact of a society geared to economic values overpowered them, and without the intensive, formal knowledge of Torah, they succumbed to economic drives, maintaining their own habits, for 20

the most part, but letting their chil­ dren set their own pattern. For the goodly number of sons and daugh­ ters who remained faithful to their Torah traditions, we have to thank those parents who were able to maintain their balance in the midst of a civilization which underscored Jewish LIFE

the material at the expense of spir­ itual attainments. Today we are faced, by and large, with the tremendous lack of educa­ tion of our sons and daughters. This is our -greatest void. It is most essential that our daughters, at least as much as our sons, re­ ceive an intensive formal Jewish education, as well as the practical education and incentives provided by a home which is warm and geared to Torah-living. I have said “at least as much as our sons” because the mother wields by far the greater influence in the de­ velopment of the child as well as in the setting of social standards. The father has little time during the day to spend with the child. Nor can he very long battle against a w ife who feels that Jewish edu­ cation is a worthless cost of time and money. And it is usually the mother who determines the family friends and circle, who makes the social engagements and elects the group in which the family moves. Witness how many devoted sons become entirely immersed after marriage in the activities and fami­ ly friendships of their lifetime partners. TyfANY ARE those who say the 1 * Jewish Day School is the an­ swer. True, we are all agreed that they are fulfilling a superior func­ tion in providing not only inten­ sive knowledge but an opportunity for daily Torah life and practice (which is the more important o f the two) to their students. But the Hebrew Day Schools and May - June, 1952

the good intensive Hebrew Schools, oriented in religion rather than secularism, must depend upon an adult society which finances these schools, gives value to the teach­ ings of these students, approves and gives a worthy place to them in their society, maintains syna­ gogues where these children may worship with their elders in har­ mony with their teachings, and more than anything else, sends its children to such schools. How can larger and larger num­ bers of children be secured for these schools, and a larger number of good schools be opened and main­ tained throughout the country ? Only through the parents and their evaluation of intensive Jewish edu­ cation. How can these parents come to realize that a child cannot be fit for adult Jewish living on less than a high-school Jewish educa­ tion, that a civilization rich in the philosophy of thousands of years cannot be mastered in a few hours a week in a pitiful number of years — even by quick comparison with the Anglo-Saxon civilization in which we live, which is only a few centuries old, and for which a college education is considered only the norm today? What are the focal points where these parents, and most especially, the mothers can be reached?, T H E FOCAL points are the syna■** gogues and Sisterhoods through­ out the nation, where men and wo­ men have banded together to create the Beth ha-mikdash ha-m’at — the Holy Temple in miniature —

21

recognizing the order of Jewish life and feeling. The Sisterhood is the best in­ strument for awakening our moth­ ers to the need of Jewish educa­ tion and imbuing them with the de­ sire that their children excel in their Jewish knowledge. Here the mother’s incentive for providing a Jewish home for her children,

Jewish goals, is the realm of the good Sisterhood. The Sisterhood, too, is the means through which can best be remedied — by educa­ tional programs and adult classes —* the deficient Jewish training of many mothers. Here the lack of knowledge and understanding of our principles and practices, of our Siddur and sacred Scriptures,

where the beauty and richness of can most directly and effectively our Shabboth and Holidays are viv­ be redressed. idly and warmly portrayed, should Every possible woman should be be awakened to the full and enlisted in the Sisterhood. We strengthened. The good Sisterhood have failed to secure active parti­ offers the nurture for bringing cipation in the Synagogue of many to fruition the all-too-dormant love capable, outstanding and Jewishlyof things Jewish, and the reminder orientated women. Several such ex­ of our sanctity as a people. Even, ceptional women have become fa­ if in a dormant state, these are mous in Zionist movements but ever present. have given little to the spiritual To harness and develop the un­ life of our people in this country. derstanding of Kedushah, to create -This is, perhaps, partly due to the the milieu for Torah values, to give fùct that the overwhelming inters strength, approval and a valued est today is in things and move­ place to the practicing Jewish wo­ ments physical. However, it is also man, to give a medium of expres­ due, in some measure, to the fact sion and realization to common that the Congregation has failed 22

Jewish LIFE

to give full scope to capable, Jewishly-educated women. ■JTHESE WOMEN should be given places on important, adminis­ trative committees in the Congre­ gation. Even the committee which is to recommend the rabbi to the Congregation for consideration, should have capable female repre­ sentatives, as well as well-chosen male members. If the rabbi, to­ day, were being chosen on his Jew­ ish scholarship alone, this might not be practicable. However, the number oi learned “Mevinim” is, and it is sad to relate, few in the average congregation. The rabbi’s duties demand his enlistment of the support of the Sisterhood, and the mothers’ cooperation and un­ derstanding in carrying out youth activities. Women usually excel as judges of character —- building it is their life work — and they are apt to look for good qualities for leadership of their children. This general sharing in the plan­ ning of the Congregation’s admin­ istration by the women will pay good dividends in interest and in­ centive. To come to the Sisterhood to raise'funds for the Congregation without giving it a voice in its administration is poor technique. The Sisterhoods and women’s groups with an orthodox purpose throughout the country have com­ mon goals and aims. These aims and purposes are being challenged and attacked by the lesser ideol­ ogies of Jewish groups, who have consolidated nationally, in each case, to destroy Torah Judaism. May - June, 1952

This they would perhaps deny as their purpose. However, what else can one call it, when they make it a “religious” rule to break Jewish law? Few of our best-intentioned, and even learned, Jewish women realize the interdependency of Jews the country and world over for main­ taining standards of Jewish con­ duct everywhere. It is amazing how few feel personally responsible for the general Jewish achievement in Torah living. Most women, even in synagogue and education work, are so engrossed with their one con­ gregation or school that they lose sight of the common goal of Juda­ ism. No one institution is safe when “strange fires” rage round about -— wherever they burn un­ checked, they are consuming the vitality of our people. A little ef­ fort toward purifying the common air in eliminating the elements of destruction by pointing them out on the scene goes very far toward maintaining the safety of the whole. TN THE FACE of the unity of our A enemies and the onslaught of the opponents of Orthodoxy upon Jew­ ish life, we who know that Judaism is co-extensive with the life of full Torah must band together to pro­ tect our inheritance, to join hands together in a living “fence around the Torah,” and protect its hal­ lowed ground from the trampling feet of those who know not where they tread. We work very hard to educate our children in the best homes and 23

tradition and schools; they marry and go into Jewishly “desert'' com­ munities where their training is valueless without a cultivated me­ dium for expression. This we must avoid in maintaining a broad perspective of far-reaching responsibility. Every responsible Jewess must be concerned with the woman who tends to forsake the Torah of her fathers; nor can she ever cease to devise ways and means of restoring her to a positive place in her faith and life. And likewise, the under­ standing orthodox Jewess needs to be fortified with a social milieu in

which the values of Orthodoxy are the measure of behavior, where they are understood and enhanced. So, too, does K'lal Yisroel require a medium through which the knowl­ edge of this positive Jewess, her confidence and her influence may strengthen her weaker sisters. This medium is the Women's Branch of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Con­ gregations of America. In its memf: bership is eligible every women's organization which has an orthodox character or is consonant with Or­ thodoxy. Every individual Jewish woman is eligible for individual membership.

The Women's Branch YEO M EN'S BRANCH has estab¥ lished several chapters. These are invaluable focal points where cooperation between groups and joint activity are fostered. These chapters recruit membership for the national organization, thus spreading the influence of Torah Judaism and enhancing its value. To be fully effective in our na­ tional scope, several hundred chap­ ters must be established through­ out the length and breadth of this land. Here lies our greatest possibility. Again, we are inspired by our Mother Sarah. We are told, “Avrohom m'gayeyr eth ha-anoshim, v'Sorah m'gayareth eth hanoshim" — Abraham was converting the men, and Sarah was converting the women. Women's Branch needs to under­ take, in a substantial manner, 24

the sending of spiritual envoys throughout America to organize and aid Jewish womanhood to ful­ fill its great spiritual design. We have a powerhouse of fuel which, properly distributed and pumped to every community, could make for a kindling and energizing of the greatest of all human gifts, the divine essence in man. Communi­ ties where one or two people are trying to hold the fortress against spiritual destruction are appealing for help to Women's Branch. They remind us that representatives of other ideologies which strike at our existence are ready to come in and take over. While we have able personnel for this mission, and I have per­ sonally witnessed their success where they attempted the task, we lack the substantial funds ne­ cessary for the expense of answerJewish LIFE

ing every call. I look to the woman­ hood of America to remedy this. Let us be in a position to answer these calls before it is too late! But in addition to the best mobi­ lization and direction of Jewish womanhood, to be truly effective in Orthodoxy on the American scene, we must have better co­ ordination and planning between the major yeshivoth, the rabbinic bodies, the Union of Orthodox Jew­ ish Congregations and the Women’s Branch. National enterprises and campaigns to fulfill our objectives, one at a time, must be charted by a combined planning group on the national level. They must be exe­ cuted on regional and individual unit levels in the same combina­ tion of forces, reaching the public by every possible means in unified direction. Everything possible should be done to secure the Cooperation of each national rabbinic group to­ ward national effort. The dictum “Al* tifrosh min hatzibur” is as valuable a yardstick today for sur­ vival as in its day of utterance. And to quote Benjamin Franklin, “If we don’t hang together, we will all hang separately.” J HAVE been amazed at the in­ difference of some rabbis to the Women’s Branch. Many do not strive to educate their Sister­ hoods to its principles. Seldom do rabbis seek out the Women’s Branch to make contact with their Sisterhoods for affiliation. And yet, there is no better tool for stim­ ulating the Sisterhood and aiding May - June, 1952

the rabbi to accomplish their pri­ mary objectives. How difficult it is, sometimes, to even interest the rabbi to set the stage for affiliation with Women’s Branch. In many cases the orthodox rabbi is content to have his Sisterhood remain affi­ liated with another national Sis­ terhood group where its members are fed an ideology which is inimi­ cal to the rabbi’s position and pur­ pose, just as it is contrary to the character of his synagogue! Yeshivoth that are educating rabbis must include in their pre­ paration a knowledge of community tools and aids, and prominent among them, the over-all unifying instruments of Orthodoxy, the Or­ thodox Union and the Women’s Branch. Once out in a post they should be required by their yeshivah to initiate affiliation. Another factor which would make for better cooperation and coordi­ nation in Torah Judaism is the caliber of the rabbi. Candidates for Semichah study should be selected with care for their stamina, gener­ al character, and scholastic ability. If there were a greater selection, and less resultant kow-towing to the dictates of the populace, the prestige of the Rabbinate would be greatly raised. The rabbi who ex­ changes Jewish law for direction by his congregation writes his own exit. One fearful pulpit-holder in a community lowers the prestige of the Rabbinate generally as well as the prestige of his yeshivah. American yeshivoth should work out together such standards of gen­ eral requirements. And that is not 25

all. The rabbi at his post needs the help of his yeshivah. The yeshivah should have on its per­ sonnel a full-time experienced and able rabbi who will be in contact with the new appointee. He should counsel him in the methods of stim­ ulating the people who will lead the congregation to orthodox under­ standing and endeavor. And dur­

ing this “honeymoon” period, affi­ liation with orthodox media should be consummated. If we channel our activities to­ ward mobilizing our full strength, we will have the z’chuth to see, im yirtzeh hashem, an invigorated Orthodoxy, in which we shall have gained an everlasting, rewarding share.

JEWISH UNITY

"And he encamped before »the mountain."

This en­ campment at Mt. Sinai is referred to in the singular form while all other encampments are referred to in the plural. We may learn, therefore, that although there existed strife and divisiveness among the people as a result of the many problems they had >to solve in their wanderings through the desert, when they came before Mt. Sinai to receive the Torah, unity and harmony prevailed. All Israel became . “like one man with one heart."* After Rashi from Mechiltah on Shemos, 19:12.

*.

"And all the. people answered together ■ — All that G-d has spoken we shall do." The miracle was that they all answered together. Had they replied individually such unanimity would never have occurred among the people; If Shimon would have heard that Reuben voiced his opinion in the affirmative, he would, in accordance with the estab­ lished custom among us, certainly have contradicted and said "Lo Naaseh" — "Not in Agreement." Amiel, Droshos El Ami on Shemos, 19:8

26

Jewish LIFE

JT IS by no means a rare occur­ rence today to hear a speaker dwell on the essential unity of Or­ thodoxy, Conservatism, and Re­ form. “Fundamentally,” non-or­ thodox theologians frequently ex­ pound, “all Jews believe the same. There are hardly any points of dif­ ference between the most orthodox and the most reformed on matter of doctrine. The difference is one of more or less observance.” And just the other #day a spiritual lead­ er noted that it is the essential unity of our faith which brings “all of us” together. Equally as­ tonishing is the pronouncement of a prominent American Jew,*who in evaluating a recent publication found a word of praise for its attempt to present the “total Jew­ ish point of view” rather than one particular current of Judaism. If there exists a fundamental bond which unites all Jews ^ and of this there can hardly be any doubt — it is surely not to be sought in the realm of theology. And I do not think that one can May - June, 1952

be accused of sowing disunity for calling attention to this fact. An appeal to Jewish unity based on a theological illusion is hardly of any value. If an appeal to unity is to be made, it should be made on the basis of a real rather than an imaginary bond. In the eyes of many Jewish lay­ men, a person is considered or­ thodox, Conservative, or Reformed, depending on the name which his house of worship bears. If it is a “shool,” then he is orthodox; if it is a “temple,” he is classified as Conservative or Reform. The some­ what more discriminating Jew may deepen his classificatory principle by stepping inside the - Various houses of worship and base his conclusions on what he hears and sees there. If the service is con­ ducted largely in Hebrew and there are no family pews, the inode of worship is considered orthodox and so is the worshipper; if there is a considerable amount of English readings as well as mixed pews, it is considered a manifestation of 27

Conservatism; and if the service is conducted almost exclusively in English, with organ accompani-

ment and uncovered heads, it falls into the category qI Reform and the worshipper is classified as such.

Belief and Practice ■PEW PEOPLE will dispute that * the foregoing manifestations are, generally speaking, symptoma­ tic of orthodox, Conservative and Reform houses of worship. The presence of an ezrath nosT^im is characteristic of an orthodox syna­ gogue just as the organ has long been associated with the Reform temple. But whether or not these symptoms are the essential points of difference may surely be ques­ tioned. There is need for emphasizing that the decisive question for de­ termining a Jew's adherence to one of the prevailing currents of American Judaism is not: “where do you worship?" It is father: “What is your attitude toward the Written and the Oral Law, toward Torah She’bikthav and Torah Sheb’al PehVy It is, in other words, a matter of ascertaining a person's feeling about Torah Mi-Sinai. “Do you accept Judaism as the divinely revealed tradition and hence as ab­ solutely binding, or do you reject the authority of the Torah?" is the basic question to which an answer should be sought. I«t almost goes without saying that this attitude toward Torah ]&i-Sinai which should be ascer­ tained need not be an explicit one. It need not be expressed in so many words, or in any words,* for 28

that matter. It may be, and usu­ ally is, implicit in a person's con­ duct. The ready assumption of economic hardships and inconven­ iences which often accompany Sab* bath and Holiday observance is sometimes more expressive of a person's position on this question than many a verbal pronouncement could be. On the other hand, pious statements must frequently be dis­ counted, for the speaker's actions may convey a contradictory mes­ sage. p O R ORTHODOX Judaism, the Torah is the divinely revealed law. “Orthodox Judaism," writes Dr. -Leo Jung, “holds to one prin­ cipal doctrine, the doctrine of Rev­ elation, which mSans that the Torah contains absolute truth, that it is not the work of Moses but the word of G-d. Judaism, accord­ ing to Orthodoxy, cannot be under­ stood except on the premise that it is a revealed religion." And when the orthodox Jew speaks of the Torah, he means the written tradition as well as the oral one. Both are the “law of the living G-d." Thus, Rashi, in commenting on Vayikra (Leviticus) 25:1 cites a midrashic statement to this ef­ fect: “What is the specific relation of the laws of Shemittah and Mount Sinai? Were not all the Jewish LIFE

laws given on Sinai ?” And the reply is: “Just as with respect to Shemittah the general rules as well as the details were given on Sinai, so with regard to all other laws, details were given on Sinai.” The two traditions, as a matter of fact, form an essential unity, the Torah Sheb’al Peh constitut­

ing the indispensable commentary on the Torah Sheb’kthav. Torah to the orthodox Jew is the Torah as illuminated by the Oral Law. There can, therefore, be no ques­ tion of accepting .one tradition without the other. The two con­ stitute a single Revelation and have an absolute claim on every Jew.

The Reform and Conservative View T H E MATTER is quite different with the Reform movement. Here the Torah (Pentateuch) is held to be the work of a noble but human legislator. It is' a book written in a certain period of his­ tory and under certain environ­ mental conditions. This temporal and spatial circumstances clearly limits its scope of application. While certain portions of the Mosaic doc­ ument are considered relevant for our time, certain other portions are judged irrelevant. The rele­ vant portions, by and large, are the ethical principles contained in the written law. The irrelevant parts generally coincide with the more ritualistic matters. “We rec­ ognize in the Mosaic legislation,” the American Reform leaders stat­ ed in the Pittsburgh platform of 1885, “a system of training the Jewish people for its mission dur­ ing its national life in Palestine, and today we accept as binding only its moral laws, and maintain only such ceremonies, as elevate and sanctify our lives, but reject all such as are not adapted to the views and habits of modern civil­ ization. We hold that all Mosaic May - June, 1952

and rabbinical laws as regulate diet, priestly purity, and dress originated in ages and under the influence of ideas entirely foreign to our present mental and spiritual state. They fail to impress the modern Jew with a spirit of priest­ ly holiness; their observance in our days is apt rather to obstruct than to further modern spiritual ele­ vation.” The basic principle upon which the Reform movement is founded is, therefore, one diametrically op­ posed to the basic principle of or­ thodox Judaism — Torah Mi-Sinai. Moreover, the oral tradition hardly has any claim to being authorita­ tive, according to Reform. It em­ bodies many a noble statement, to be sure, but it is neither the re­ vealed will of the Creator nor the indispensable commentary on the written tradition. TT IS more difficult to ascertain A the position of Conservatism on the question of Torah Mi-Sinai. Conservatism is ostensibly an at­ tempt -to conserve as much of Jew­ ish tradition as is deemed possible or advisable in our time. The valid29

ity of the written and oral tradi­ tions in the present generation are ultimately determined by social, aesthetic, psychological, and simi­ lar considerations. Thus, one of the foremost spokesmen of the Conser­ vative movement speaks of “four positive norms by which ritual is to be judged. Any Jewish practice eo ipso has a claim upon us, unless it can be proven that it does not perform any of these functions, nor can it be' reinterpreted to do so.” And these four norms a re: The cosmic or spiritual; the ethical or social; the aesthetic or play-func­ tion; and national or group-associational values, While it may thus appear that Conservatism is definitely “pre-

judiced” in favor of tradition, it is equally apparent that, according to this movement, the claim of the Written and the Oral Law on us is not based on its divine character nor is its claim an absolute one. Another leader notes that the sanc­ tity of the Sabbath reposes not upon the fact that it was proclaimed on Sinai, but on the fact, that the Sabbath idea found for thousands of years its expression in Jewish souls . . . ” If, in addition, we take account of the rather popular term, in Conservative circles, of “pro­ gressive revelation,” we may be justified in concluding that Conser­ vatism rejects Torah Mi-Sinai, at least in its literal and traditional sense.

Affirmation or Negation N ° T SO very long ago there was considerable talk about a pos­ sible merger of the Reform and Conservative movements. This pro­ posal seemed incomprehensible to many people. How could these two currents be fused into one? Were they not distant from each other? And some found no less astonishing the pronouncement of a Reform leader to the effect that Conserva­ tism is a Reform movement that came about half a'century after the original Reform. ¡H But those who had considered the essential principles of these move­ ments were neither surprised nor shocked. As a matter of fact, they may have wondered why no one had ever proposed a merger before. For 30

in examining basic principles one is surely led to conclude that, fun­ damentally, Conservatism and Re­ form are one, for they hold very similar views toward the concept of Torah Mi-Sinai. One should hardly wish to ven­ ture a prediction as to the future course of Judaism in America. No doubt, a great many factors play a role in determining that course. So many things may happen, which could reverse or accelerate it. But, if fundamental principles were the decisive ones, two movements would eventually have to emerge — an orthodox movement, based on an affirmation of Torah Mi-Sinai, and a non-orthodox movement, founded on the negation of this principle. Jewish LIFE

# A first-hand survey of educational problems in Israel’s Ma’abaroth.

B y ISRAEL KAM IN SKY T HAVE recently returned from a six-month visit to Israel during which I have had the opportunity of first-hand investigation of edu­ cation, in the ma’abaroth, the tran­ sient installations. I have been in more than fifteen ma’abaroth lo­ cated in various sections in Israel and have spoken with hundreds of Iraqi, Yemenite, Roumanian, North African and other immigrants, as well as with government officials of various parties and posts. At eleven of these ma’abaroth I was present during the registration of children at school. On the basis of these experiences, I have come to the painful but unavoidablè con­ clusion that there is today serious and widespread violation of free­ dom of religion in the ma’abaroth of Israel. Before I amplify these charges, let me say that I am not attempting to liken the violations of today to the outrages of two'years ago. It will be remembered that in Jan­ uary, 1950 a scandal over the eduMay - June, 1952

cation of children in the immi­ grant camps of Israel shocked the entire Jewish world. This furore had been started in consequence of a momentous speech made in the name of Israel’s Religious Bloc by Member of Knesseth Mr. D. Pinkas of Mizrachi. There he accused the Ministry of Education and Culture of an “inquisition against the Jewish religion,” of forcing parents to “abandon their children to an education which is against their religion and in violation of their will.” He had given an ulti­ matum to the Government to clean up the situation or face immediate dissolution of the Mapai-Religious Bloc coalition. T> OWING to pressure from the Religious Bloc and from or­ thodox* Jewry outside Israel, the Israeli Government launched a Committee of Inquiry, headed by a respected Mapai member, Judge Gad Frumkin, to tour the immi­ grant camps and investigate the 31

situation. The consequent findings of the Committee revealed a state of affairs which indeed justified the strong words which Mr. Pinkas had used. The Committee found that many thousands of strongly religious Yemenite and other Oriental im­ migrants were being kept in al­ most completely isolated immigrant camps administered by men who were forcing upon them a leftist, G-dless indoctrination by coercion ,and intimidationf^l and sometimes by naked force. While barbedwire fences and close scrutiny at the gates kept out persons sus­ pected of being “datum” (religious persons), the children of the re­ ligious Yemenite immigrants were being given an education designed to tear them away from their Jew­ ish heritage. “Peyoth” were for­ cibly shorn off; children were taken on fruit-gathering picnics on the Sabbath; non-cooperative parents were threatened with loss- of jobs, food cards, and rights to future apartments; the private teaching of Torah to children in the tents was forbidden. Yeshivah students who persistently infiltrated the “machanoth” to organize Torah classes had met with violence upon discovery of their activities by camp officials. The Committee of Inquiry, through interrogations of more than a hundred witnesses, unveiled a pattern of intimidation, beatings, and other outrages which friends of Israel could not possibly have believed to exist had it come from a less official source. 32

School for immigrant children at Machaneh Yisrael

More than two years have since passed. The relatively small num­ ber of big machanoth has given way to a large number of ma’abaroth spread over the length and breadth of Israel. What is the educational situation in these im­ migrant camps today? Has the^ Government taken firm measures to insure the religious rights of every immigrant in Israel? Have there been any recurrences of the shameful outrages of two years ago? ^■O SOME degree, I found, the brutal violations previously oc­ curring have been eliminated fol­ lowing the revelations of the pre­ viously-mentioned Committee of Inquiry. Today there is no open “inquisition against the Jewish Re­ lig io n .C h ild r e n are not torn away from parents to have their Jewish LIFE

Outdoor kindergarten at Maoz Tzurim, Yemenite agricultural settlement

peyoth shorn off. Nor are the camps isolated by barbed wire or scrutiny at the gates. The ma’abaroth are for the most part open places where anyone may en­ ter without fear of molestation. The education of immigrant chil­ dren is, on the face of it, a matter of free choice for the parent. Nevertheless, “legal” illegality has replaced the stark brutality of two years ago; and if the situation is not as frankly shocking as i t was then, it is still one which should by no means be expected or toler­ ated in the Jewish State of Israel M p r anywhere in the democratic world. To understand what is happen­ ing in the hundred-odd immigrant camps of Israel which dot the country from the Syrian border to the deep Negev, a glimpse into the nature of Israel’s educational system is necessary. A parent in May - June, 1952

Israel has the legal right to choose for his child a school of any of the four “z’romim” (trends) : Histadruth, General, Mizrachi, or Agudath Yisrael. When a regis­ tration for school (usually lasting three or four days) takes place in any particular locality, each zerem has, as in an election, the right to campaign among the parents in its behalf. At the registration itself, two registrars must be present — one a “dati” (religious person) to protect the rights of parents who wish to register their children for Mizrachi or Agudath Yisrael, and the other a “non-dati.” One more important provision must be noted: no government-supported school can be established for any particu­ lar zerem unless the results show that at least fifty children have been registered for that zerem. Q BV IO U SLY , there seem to be enough safeguards here to in­ sure a democratic procedure in education. Indeed, in the cities and towns' of Israel, this procedure works out peacefully enough. But in the ma’abaroth, the story is quite different. There, the laws laid down on paper too often re­ main on paper, and the law of in­ timidation and threat takes over. This is due to the fact that perhaps 90% of the ma’abaroth are run by irreligious (meaning anti-re­ ligious) directors who have ob­ tained their positions through the Histadruth. The immigrant is us­ ually dependent upon the direc­ tor’s favor or upon the Histadruth, 33

of which the director is a repre­ sentative, for a number of funda­ mental necessities, not the least among them the immigrant's job. Thus, it can be seen that the ma'abarah director is in a position of great prestige and power. That he takes advantage of this power and prestige to trample on the religious rights of Israel's newcomers is the tragedy of Israel today. He and his assistants often make use of their position to ter­ rify religious Oriental immigrant parents into registering their chil­ dren for the Histadruth school. If he is a more determined type of fellow, he attempts to keep reli­ gious campaign workers from en­ tering the ma'abarah before and during the school registration. And often he manipulates the procedure in the registration room itself. I have gone along with cam­ paigners of the religious parties to school registrations in the ma'abaroth and have personally ex­ perienced the reception they are given. At the ma'abarah “SaaciahBeth," for instance, we were met at the entrance by a crowd of de­ termined-looking men who told us we had better go back and stay away from the ma'abarah. A po­ liceman who chanced to come along 34

during my argument with them told me I was perfectly right but that they were a^wild bunch of men and there was nothing he could do about i t ! “Saaciah Aleph,” a neighboring ma'abarah where a registration was also tak­ ing place, was under the jurisdic­ tion of the army and the officers in charge had banned campaigners from the entire camp. (This worked against the religious cam­ paigners only, as the Histadruth through its control of the camp had already assured itself of vic­ tory, barring a campaign of re­ ligious workers.) When I complained to the com­ manding officer that the law per­ mits campaigning, he blandly ans­ wered that the laws were made by civilian officials in Jerusalem, and that he was not bound by them. The result was that religious-party campaigners and members of the Chever Peiley Hamachaneh Hatorati (an organization of yeshivah students for establishment of re­ ligious schools among the immi­ grants) were forced to slip covertly into both of these ma'abaroth and to campaign secretly among the parents. At another registration, this one at K'far Anah, a registrar tore up a batch of sheets of the children who had been registered for a religious school. A compan­ ion of mine, an American yeshivah student, scooped up the torn sheets from the ground and put them into his pocket to hold as evidence. He was manhandled and threatened with arrest. Such are the obstacles Jewish LIFE

put out by the Histadruth men in control of the ma’abaroth. They realize only too well that strongly religious Oriental immigrants wel­ come with eagerness these cam­ paigners who come to bring Torah education to their children. g U T FIGHTING religious cam­ paigners is only a part of the story. The other and more in­ famous part is the practice of in­ timidating parents or misinform­ ing them. Time and time again I have seen parents registering their children “Histadruth” under the impression that they were enter­ ing them into a religious school H l so they were told by ma’abarah officials. When persuasion does not work, the more sinister aspect of camp, school registration raises its ugly head. The poor, insecure im­ migrant is threatened or given strongly to understand that his job or the rights. to future dwellings will be taken away if he doesn’t register his children “Histadruth.” This is a serious charge to make, but I make it after having re­ peatedly come across instances of such threats and having confirmed to my satisfaction that they are a typical aspect of school registra­ tions. An example of this flagrant vio­ lation of parents’ rights occurred at Ma’abarah Beth of K’far Cha­ sidim (near Haifa;) last August. The director’s wife had vowed she would never permit the establish­ ment of a religious school in “my” ma’abarah. And she certainly May - June, 1952

worked hard to carry out her threat. As the parents, queued up to register, she placed herself at the door of the registration room (though campaigning is not per­ mitted within twenty meters of the registration room) and quite openly told each parent to register “Histadruth.” It also developed that she had placed men along the route to the office to threaten par­ ents with loss of employment. Inside the registration room, none other than the ma’abarah secretary was sitting as “interpreter.” One immigrant father, with a fearful glance at the secretary-interpre­ ter” asked me quietly if it were true that his job could be taken away from him. So thorough was the intimidation of parents at K’far Chasidim ma’abarah that only sixty children out of perhaps three hundred children of religious parents were registered in a re­ ligious school. This in spite of an unusually intense month-long cam­ paign carried on by an action team of Chever Peiley Hamachaneh Hatorati brought in from Jerusalem and Bney Brak, with the help of four Sephardic Chachamim and of the inhabitants of the ma’abarah itself. 35

Q T H E R ABUSES include . the placing of “doormen” at regis­ tration rooms whose most impor­ tant function is to, whisper threats to parents and to look over parents’ shoulders as they register; and the refusal of registrars to enter chil­ dren for a religious school on the registration sheets. I have repeat­ edly seen parents go into the office with the avowed intention of regis­ tering their children for a religious school and come out with baffled faces and “Histadruth” written on their sheets. Protests by the re­ ligious campaigners present in such cases usually result in their being ejected from the office. You may ask how such things can happen if the law provides for a religious registrar to be present at every registration. The answer is quite simple. The “religious” registrars are only in rare instan­ ces picked from the ranks of Mizrachi or Agudath Yisrael. The Ministry of Education usually uses its own “judgment” as to the piety of the candidate. At some registra­ tions I could not tell which was the “religious” registrar, as he did not even go to the trouble of putting on a “yarmulke” or hat during the registration. At others, I noticed that the “religious” registrars tucked their skull caps into their pockets and walked away bare­ headed as soon as the registration was over. The important fact is that such incidents are the rule and not the exception. Beside the cases per­ sonally witnessed, I have carefully 36

checked the stories of a score of school registrations and they re­ veal the same pattern of intimida­ tion which I have had the dis­ pleasure of observing myself. Of the eleven registrations at which I myself was present, only three |||jg those at Ramatayim, Beer Yaakov, and Beth Lid — were con­ ducted with a tolerable semblance of democratic procedure as far as I could observe. The other eight were featured by outrages such as I have described. TN EACH interview I had with Dr. Pearlman, Director of the Division for Compulsory Education and School Services of the Ministry of Education, he did not attempt to deny that disorders take place at ma’abarah school registrations. He claimed, however, that it is the job of the police and not the Min­ istry of Education to keep law and order in camps during school reg­ istration. The Ministry, he said, can only supervise the procedure inside the registration room itself. What about the irregularities which take place inside the office? Unfortunately, he answered, the Ministry does not have a budget sufficient to permit sending super­ visors to be within the offices con­ stantly during the registration time. It was obvious to me that the only other way of guaranteeing a fair procedure was to insure the presence of a genuine “dati” reg­ istrar as provided by law. And so, keeping in mind the many dubious Jewish LIFE

“religious” registras I had come across, I asked Dr. Pearlman how the Ministry of Education selects a “dati” registrar. He answered that the rabbi in the locality is asked to choose a man, except where the rabbi is connected w ith either of the two religious z’romim — Mizrachi or Agudath Yisrael. Upon further probing, based on the contention that it would be a rather rare occurrence to find a rabbi who is not connected with either Mizrachi or Agudath Yis­ rael, he admitted that sometimes the Ministry of Education officials in charge use their own judgment as to the piety of the candidate. A paradox of Israel: The super­ vision of a procedure which was created for the sole purpose of protecting certain interests is put into the hands of those people against whom this protection is sought! I am not intimating that Ministry Education officials work against the Mizrachi or Agudath Yisrael. (I have certainly come across sincere and conscientious officials of the Ministry.) But, after all, it is obvious that the entire purpose of providing for a “dati” registrar was to insure the rights of the parent who wishes to give his child a religious education. Dropping the task of selecting this registrar into the hands of one who is not vitally concerned with giving children such an education is, in effect, setting us all back to where we started — the problem of how to insure fairness at the registra­ tion desk. May - June, 1952

TF DEFINITE hostility toward the religious parties cannot be charged against the Ministry of Education, one thing seems cer­ tain — the problem of seeing to it that every parent who wants a religious education for his child is assured of it does not cause the Ministry any sleepless nights. No appeal has been made by the Min­ istry to the police to see to it that registration laws are enforced. In my talks with some Ministry offi­ cials I detected a certain under­ current of attitude. And this is: After all, we don’t believe in hav­ ing four separate school systems — you must have such trouble under the present set-up. Could it be perhaps that some officials of the M inistry of Education, being strongly opposed to the present structure of the educational sys­ tem, are consciously or uncon­ sciously keeping their hands off so that the entire system could fall into chaos and they could say, “We told you s o ” ? There is no doubt that ma’abarah school registration, like elections, can be run smoothly and properly. But — like elections — lack of proper law enforcement guarantees

that there will be violations. By applying firmly a few basic' in­ expensive measures the problem can be solved once and for all. If, for instance, a permanent team of four or five policemen selected by and responsible to a committee repre­ senting all four z’romim were crea­ ted and sent to each registration, the violence perpetrated against religious-zerem campaigners could be stamped out without any diffi­ culty. I know of no vainer task than to try to find a policeman at a ma’abarah registration, a situa­ tion known to be one of potential lawlessness. I am certain that here in the United States such a trouble-spot would be teeming with police long before the proceedings were scheduled to begin. I once asked a Ministry of Education man at a registration why police were not present. He answered with tongue in cheek no doubt — that it wouldn’t be nice for the police to mix into education. ^■HE PROBLEM of religious reg­ istrars can be solved with even greater ease. All that need be done is to permit the religious parties to select the religious regis­ trar at each registration. Thus with two simple strokes 7—t pro­ vided that they are taken with proper safeguards, such as the ones I have outlined — the air can be cleared and democracy in edu­ cation assured. And yet, Israel’s education officials insist on con­ sidering the ma’abarah school problem one which is so deep38

rooted that the Government can­ not even begin to solve it. This reluctance-on the part of government officials to take firm determined steps can be understood once the prize at stake is realized. Thousands of immigrants are con­ tinually pouring into Israel from the Oriental countries. These peopie are normally strongly Torahinclined. Permitting religious cam­ paigners to work at ease among them will mean that a tremendous­ ly large percentage of them will give their children a Torah edu­ cation, thus insuring the tradi­ tional Jewishness of "their future generations — and diminishing the strength of the non-religious par­ ties. This, Mapai seems determined by hook or by crook to avoid — even at the cost of smearing Is­ rael’s democratic name. How are any religious schools set up at all in the face of such obstacles? The following two fac­ tors provide the answer: 1) Many parents, though newly arrived im­ migrants, bravely maintain their right to free selection of a school in the face of Histadruth hostility. 2 ) Action teams of religious cam­ paigners persistently conduct cam­ paigns in the ma’abaroth under conditions almost approximating those of a military campaign. Jew­ ry the world over owes a debt of gratitude to those unnamed Jewish parents, and to the selfless yeshivah - student campaigners of Israel who for the past three years have been sanctifying the name of G-d in our Holy Land. Jewish LIFE

i

'\t j

T AST YEAR, 47,610 children at­ tended the primary schools of the Histadruth school system. How many of the parents of these chil­ dren were threatened with loss of employment if they did not enter their children into a Histadruth school? How many of these parents were cynically assured that their children would grow up as Torahtrue Jews in the Histadruth school? How many asked for Mizrachi or Agudath Yisrael schools and were registered for Histadruth? How many of these children are growing up without a knowledge of their Torah heritage because religious campaigners were driven out of their ma’abarah? These questions are a challenge not only to the citizen of Israel

(who, to a surprising extent, is unaware of what is happening in the immigrant camps in their very midst) ; they are a challenge to all Jews with a Jewish heart the world over who have given so much to bring these people to the land of Israel, and who are even now sending millions of dollars more to gather our scattered ones from the “four corners of the earth.” What is the Government of Israel going to do to insure the rights of par­ ents who wish to give their chil­ dren a religious education? What is it going to do to prevent chil­ dren from being torn away by force and intimidation from the religion of their fathers in the land of Israel? With anxiety in our hearts we await the answer.

PREREQUISITE OF WISDOM Said R. Zera: The measure of G-d is different from that of man. Man can fill an empty vessel and when it is full can make it contain no more. But the Holy One, blessed be He, fills his vessels, the hearts and minds of men, only when they already have content: The more wisdom and Torah a man acquires, the more will G-d grant him in pro­ portion to his ardent desire and enthusiasm. However, if a man be an empty vessel with no regard for the sacred and sublime, he will remain devoid of the higher qualities and characteristics of life. — Berochoth, 40.

May - June, 1952

39-

By LEO LEVI Her temple lay in ruin — all desolate her land, Her children walked in exile, and' heavy lay the hand Of Essau’s sons upon the second-born. How can you live — survive the centuries of scorn? When you have left but one last source of strength — This Torah? And century after century the Tyrants bloody hand Did unabated rage among this tiny band. But always they outlived both sword and whip. And, when they faltered — were about to slip — , They looked upon their only source of strength — The Torah. And often foreign cultures friendly beckoned Inviting the exhausted, tired: “Rest a second!” Thus seducers offered peace, but Israel chose rather Her mother’s teaching ||- the admonition of her father; She found survival* through her only source of strength —; This Torah. Then — after generations of torment — temptation, After millenia of yearning and struggle, this destined nation Returned to its land fi- its home of yore. What happy prospect for the hapless: evermore To tend in free development her only source of strength This Torah. But no! Oh horror to behold! Selfish, dissolute and bold On their own flesh her sons do turn, Blindly their senseless rage does burn Against the very fount of their existence. Against their mother, yea, it rages; The mother who, throughout the ages Had been sustained in hope to live through them. What heart can such in silence bear When blinded children wildly tear At their own Tree of Life — Destroy their only source of strength — This Torah. Jewish LIFE

By T O W I A ASHKENAZI For thus hath said the Lord# Sing lor Jacob with joy# and shout at the head of the nationse publish ye# praise ye, and say# the Lord hath helped the people# the remnant of Israel. Behold# I will bring them from the north country# and I will gather them from the farthest corners of the earth# among them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and she that travaileth with child together: a great assembly shall they return hither. —Jeremiah 31:6-8

JN THE early days of the state, Israel was overwhelmed by the enormous possibilities opened up by the unprecedented flux of im­ migrants. For years we had prayed, planned and hoped for mass im­ migration. But when the stream of immigrants began to pour in —- . in a somewhat different form and composition from what had been expected, with many Olim in bad health, and many unequipped both in means and work experience for Israel’s hard conditions — Israel, quite understandably, was left somewhat confused. It is widely accepted that the chief obstacles in the way of in­ tegrating the newcomers are their lack of knowledge of Hebrew, eco­ nomic difficulties, and the low cul­ tural level amongst certain groups. May - June, 1952

These factors undoubtedly play an important part, but the emphasis on them has caused another factor to be neglected. It is equally im­ portant to foster the cooperation of the newcomer in the upbuilding of the state and encourage him to identify himself with its aims. It is only a relatively short time ago that about 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 immigrants were living in the reception camps, and large areas of the country were empty, desolate, uncultivated. Following the Liberation, Israel was confronted by vast empty spaces. Conquest of the land can only be achieved through settle­ ment. Now Israel has filled the empty „ spaces to a great extent. Hundreds of new villages have been spread throughout the coun­ try within the framework of the 41

Keren Hayesod settlement. It is( thrilling to see the tens of thouf sands of white houses scattered in neat villages throughout the length and breadth of the land, in the hills and valleys. When an atti-; tude such as is expressed by these villages is successfully created, the immigrant is encouraged to master the language and the customs of the country. The physical rehabi­ litation of the newcomer is not enough. More attention must be paid to the ways and means of awakening in the immigrant the will to work for the welfare of the state, so that he may feel himself a partner in a great enterprize. Q INCE the establishment of the state, the percentage of the population living in the three main cities, Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jeru­ salem, has dropped from 70 to 57 percent, while the population of villages and small towns has risen from 17 to 27 percent, according to figures released recently by Dr. G. Josephtal of the Jewish Execu­ tive Agency at a conference of di­ rectors of Ma’abaroth (immigrant villages). In communal settlements and small villages the percentage has increased from 12 to 17 per­ cent. To create a new job for a work­ man, a capital investment of be­ tween IL. 2,500 and IL. 3,000 was required. As only from 60 to 70 percent of this amount was avail­ able, a tendency existed for some of the newcomers to leave the place of work planned for them and to drift into the towns. 42

During 1951, 11,000 permanent housing units were built for new­ comers in towns and ^villages and 7,000 in agricultural areas. While last year to build such a housing unit cost about IL. 700, including IL. 400 in foreign currency, the price has now risen to about IL. T,000, of which between IL. 500 and IL. 600 is in foreign currency. So far 65,000 families have been settled in abandoned Arab houses and 50,000 in new buildings, while some 50,000 other families have found housing by their own efforts or with the help of relatives. The following table reflects the distribution of the new immi­ grants, according to their first places of settlement and employ­ ment, duringthe years 5710 and 5711. These years are presented here because they are the only recent census periods for which full information on the immigrant population is available for the time being. The table gives evidence of the increasing importance of the Ma’abaroth in the current absorp­ tion process, showing that the per­ centage of immigrants absorbed in the Ma’abaroth during 5711 was more than four times,that of 5710. The number of immigrants listed in the table as absorbed into agri­ culture does not take into account the immigrants in the agricultural Ma’abaroth. Of the 124 Ma’aba­ roth which are in operation at present, more than one half are temporary agricultural settlements, and the majority of the settlers are engaged in farming. Jewish LIFE

4

r

Settlement and Employment of New Immigrants Urban Areas 5710 5711 Oct. 1949-Sept. 1950 Oct. 1950-Sept. 1951 Towns and 0.9% 2,039 24.8%: ~ Suburbs .... 1..... 48,894 18.2 41,251 15.9 With Relatives ....... 31,384 ..................... 80,278

40.7%

43,290

19.1%

Rural Areas New Immigrant Villages ................ 18,260 Existing Communal Settlements .. 8,781 Existing Smallholders' Settlementsi 2,188 Workers' Villages .......... .................. 8,229 Plantation Villages ....................... . . 30,096 Abandoned Arab Villages .... ......... , 2,530

9.2% 4.5 1.1 4.2 15.3 1.3

7,036 5,757 635 553 1,035 —

3.1% 2.5 0.3 0.2 0.5 —

.......................... .......... .............. 70,084

35.6%

15,016

6.6%

Ma'abaroth ........................................., 38,868 Youth Immigration .......................... 5,065 Miscellaneous ..................................... . 2,463

19.9% 2.6 1.2

161,564 4,991 1,340

71.4% 2.2 0.7

226,201

100.0%

Total

Total

Grand Total .............. ................. ...... .196,758

Earlier Waves of Immigration Number of Immigrants 1st Aliyah, 1882-1903 .............. .............. 25,000 1904-1914 .............. .............. 40,000 2 nd 1919-1923 .............. .............. 36,000 3rd " 1924-1931 .............. .............. 84,000 4th " 5th " 1932-1938 ............ ..............215,000 2nd World War “illegal" immigration 1939 - 1948 ............................. ..............154,000 Total .......

..............554,000

The above figures are those of the various waves of immigra­ tion to Israel over a period of 6 6 years, from the first Aliyah in 1882 to the founding of the state in May 1948. May - June, 1952

43

few years. The mortality rate reached its peak in 1949, when, be­ cause of the sudden mass immigra­ tion, it rose to 58 per thousand babies. In 1950, however, the rate dropped to 46; and although no final figure is yet available for the year 1951, the decrease is continuing. In the past 30 years, Israel's Jewish community has grown from 84,000 in 1922 to 1,382,000 by the beginning of October 1951. It in­ creased in the various period as follows: Rise of Jewish Population Since 1922

The population of Israel at the end of March 1951 was estimated at 1,429,000 persons, of whom 1,260,000 were Jews, the remain­ ing being mainly Christians and Moslem Arabs. The rapid growth of the Jewish population, from roughly 650,000 at the inception of the state in May 1948 to 1,260,000 at the end of March 1951, is due mainly to the large influx of immi­ grants in the last three years but partly also to natural increase. A high birth rate (1949: 30 per 1,000; 1950: 32.6 per 1,000) and a low death rate (1949: 6.9 per 1,000; 1950: 6.48 per 1,000) within the Jewish population make for a large natural increase, the relevant figures being 23 and 26 per 1,000 persons for the years 1949 and 1950, respectively. The infant mortality rate in Israel has dropped during the past 44

1922 — 83,790; 1927 — 150,000; 1931 — 174,610; 1935 — 355,160; 1939 — 445,460; 1945 — 579,230; 1946 — 608,230; end of 1948 713.000 end of 1950 — 1,203,000 October 1 , 1951 — 1,382,000 The estimated population of the main cities and towns of Israel in 1951 was as follows: Tel Aviv-Jaffa Haifa Jerusalem Petah-Tikvah Ramat Gan Nathanya Holon Rishon-le-Zion Rechovoth Ramie Tiberias Lydda

360,000 122,000 120,000 47,000 40,000 27,000 26,000 22,500 21,000 16,000 15,570 12,990

JJ^BOUT 345,000 Jews have en­ tered Israel since November 1949. Of these, 235,000 were from Jewish LIFE

Arab and Moslem lands, making a total figure of 575,000 Oriental and Sephardic Jews, and 110,000 were Ashkenazi, making a total figure of 740,000 Ashkenazic Jews. This situation can be quite clearly illus­ trated by the following figures: in November 1949, the population of Israel included 630,000 Ashkenaz­ im, including European, American, South African and English Jews.

The Sephardic and Oriental group counted at that time 340,000. Only those who have closely watched the development of immigration ab­ sorption in Israel can venture to draw any conclusion from the above figures. It is apparent that this situation presents Israel with a problem of cultural absorption that is much more complicated than the economic side of the question.

From Many Lands ■PHE JEWISH immigrants hail from nearly all countries of the world, and there are, of course, marked differences amongst them. Immigration to Israel is as unique in character as is the fate of a people which has survived two millenia of exile and suffering. The Biblical prophecy of the na­ tion’s return from the four corners of the globe is being fulfilled be­ fore our very eyes. The seemingly fantastic predictions of the found­ ers of modern Zionism are assum­ ing the tangible shape of an ac­ complished fact. The doubling of Israel’s population within three

Eastern Europe Western Europe Asia Africa America Australia Details Unknown Total

years is a fact unparalleled in the history of any other country and it can be expected that this unique achievement will be repeated with­ in the following three years. The total immigration for 1951 numbers 174,000 as against 169,405 in 1950. Amongst the immi­ grants were 8 8 ,0 0 0 from Iraq. From the founding of the state until the end of. December 1951, 684,000 Jews entered Israel. Upto-date details of the country of migration are only available for the period ending November 1951 for 680,441 immigrants. This data is presented in the following table:

Absolute Figures 302,864 24,719 236,946 90,825 4,526 169 20,392 680,441

Percenta; 44.5 3.6 34.8 13.4 0.7 — 3.0 1 0 0 .0

45

Representative of just three of Israel's many immigrant type are these Olim from (left) Iran, (center) Yemen and (right) Roumania

JT IS not surprising that such growth, crowded within so short a time, has created the most per­ plexing problems of economic in­ tegration and of the social and psychological consolidation of the new nation. For the sociologists, Israel is today a happy hunting ground. At his doorstep is a com­ plete and ready-made laboratory. For there is probably no country in the world which presents as many opportunities as does Israel for studying the processes by which whole communities, trans­ planted from their native environ­ ments, adjust themselves to an en­ tirely new set of conditions, or for examining the problems both in regard to the individual and society which inevitably arise from this transplantation. 46

The sociologists have been quick to seize upon the opportunities thus afforded. À thorough investi­ gation has been carried out during the past year into the problems arising from the absorption of immigrants in Israel and of stages of that absorption. Since the es­ tablishment of the state on the 15th of May 1948, up to the 15th of May 1951, 606,000 Jewish immi­ grants arrived in Israel. During this period entire Jewish commu­ nities have been transplanted in Israel. In view of the special con­ ditions of urgency and danger, the transfer of the Jews from Yemen and Iraq has been carried by air in one of the most extensive civil­ ian airlift operations in modern history. Altogether, immigrants Jewish LIFE

from over sixty countries have arrived in Israel. But so far the main source of immigration was provided by the countries of Eastern and Central Europe. Of the total mass of im­ migrants who have come to Israel since the establishment of the state and up to the end of 1950, over a half (nearly 55%) arrived from Eastern and Central Europe. Pol­ and was the leading country of origin, accounting for nearly 2 0 %, followed by Rumania (15% ). Asi­ atic countries accounted for an­

other quarter of the immigration (mainly from Yemen, Iraq, and Turkey). African countries con­ tributed 14.3%, mainly Morocco, Algeria, Tunis and Libya. If, in­ stead of the total figures for the three-year period, we consider sep­ arate annual returns, important changes will become apparent in the makeup of immigration. The main trend is the decline in the proportion supplied by European countries and the increase in the share of Oriental communities.

Policy of Selective Immigration ■THE RECENT decision of the A Jewish Agency to revert to the principle of selective immigration from all countries where there is no emergency, reflects the enor­ mous economic problems resulting from recent mass immigration to a small country. Restrictions along similar lines had already been ap­ plied for some time in countries whence Jews are living of their own free will and without outside pressure, and where physical and mental training of prospective im­ migrants is feasible. Quite apart from the practical implications of the Agency’s decision is an im­ portant departure from the “open door” policy previously pursued. The most far-reaching innova­ tion in the “selective immigration” resolution is the provision that, with the exception of certain groups, all immigrants must under­ take to remain in agricultural May - June, 1952

settlements for two years. What Israel needs most in the man­ power line is tillers of the soil. Those who wish to go there to help in the up-building of the country will not object to this clause. A certain curious side-light of the economic difficulties that ac­ company mass immigration is il­ lustrated by the fact that only 25 amongst every 1 0 ,0 0 0 immigrants nowadays bring capital with them, as against 550 out of every 10,000 who came before the establishment of the state. Whilst thus previous­ ly there was one prospective em­ ployer to every 18 prospective workers amongst the new immi­ grants, the numbers of immigrat­ ing workers for every immigrating employer has now risen to 400. The principle of selective immi­ gration, except for emergency im47

migration, was adopted at a meet­ ing of the Jewish Executive Agen­ cy. It was decided: (1) that 80 per cent of immigration in countries where selection is possible should not be over 35 years of age; ( 2 ) they must have medical certi­ ficates from the re­ spective selecting boards under the supervision of an Israeli doctor; (3) immigrants, with the exception of professional skilled workers and capi­ talists, must un­ dertake to remain in agricultural set­ tlements for two years. The remain­ ing 2 0 per cent of the quota may be utilized for persons above the age of 35, if they can prove they are able to wor^,, as well as for persons who can prove that their relatives in Israel are capable of working and are ready to take care of them. The Agency has not yet adopted a numerical quota, since it is not yet known from what place immi­ gration might become an urgent matter. The quota, however, is

not expected to exceed 150,000 during 1952. T H E REGATHERING of the Exiles in the Promised Land is a tremendous task of material and spiritual construc­ tion which requires the utmost exer­ tion of all the ma­ terial and intellect­ ual capacities and m a n p o w e r re­ sources of the Jew­ ish people. Without the Maximum mobilization of material means, mass ) 0 immigration to Is- f rael can h a r d l y i continue at the pre* sent rate, and this small c o u n t r y would not be able to absorb an in­ flux of over 2 0 0 ,0 0 0 newcomers a year. No less important for success­ ful repatriation is the continuity of the inflow of manpower reinforce­ ments.^ The basic problem facing us today is the mobilization of the latent strength of the dispersed Jewish people into a creative force capable of sharing with the state of Israel the exertions and rewards of this historic task.

■IH i

EXPERIENCED BY ALL The Ten Commandments begin with "I am . . . who has taken you out from the land of Egypt/' Why does it not state the greater accomplishment, who created heaven and earth? Because no human eye beheld creation while the Exodus from Egypt w as experienced by all the people. Yehudah Halevi, Hakuzari.

48

Jewish LIFE

© A prize-winner of the recent “W riter’s Digest national fiction contest.

By LILLIAN BERN ARDE TT IS very warm for May — got the dates in English and He­ especially for the first week. brew, and tells the holidays; and But the days are already getting on the back it has the Jewish longer, and summer can almost be history events, and a little bit about the lives of Jewish heroes. felt in the air. I love the idea of the days get­ It also has in one corner the time ting longer. For now I can help for lighting candles at sundown mama bake for Shabbos. During every Friday night. Not that the winter-time she bakes on mama ever pays any attention to Thursday nights, usually after I the time it gives. She looks at the am in bed, for the days are so calendar every week, and then goes short. But when the days get long ahead and lights the candles ten she lets me help her on Friday minutes earlier than it shows. afternoons — like she did today. She’s not taking any chances to be Oh, there’s nothing so wonderful mechalel Shabbos by lighting can­ as the smell of a coffee-kuchen dles late. “It says 6:35, mom,” I shout in. baking! It’s filled with nuts and “All right, put away the plastic spicks and everything delicious! And today there is a potato-kugel tablecloth and put on a clean linen in the oven toogS| and the com­ one for Shabbos. I’ll hurry right bined smell of the two is* heavenly! out and finish up.” Now it is almost time for mama to light candles. She is just finish­ O O I TAKE out a beautiful white cloth from the linen closet. I ing her bath for Shabbos. “Malkie, Malkie,” she calls, love Shabbos. The white cloth every week, and the gleaming brass “What time is it?” candlesticks with the sparkle of “Ten to six, mom.” “Look up in the calendar, darl­ the lighted candles make me think ing. See what time it says for of a queen. Shabbos is a queen, you know. I am too, in a way. lighting candles today.” I go over to the calendar. It’s My name is Malkah, and that May - June, 1952

49

means queen. So every time I pre­ pare the table for Shabbos, and .put the candlesticks on; and the two* challah loaves and papa’s big silver wine becher next to the handembroidered challe cover; and my brother Milty’s smaller wine gob­ let next to his place I feel espe­ cially proud, as if I were a little queen expecting the arrival of a big queen. Soon mama is finished with her bath, and comes out. She always looks nice when she’s .ready to light candles. “You look so nice, mama,” I tell her. “Thank you, Malkele.” She kisses me. “You’re sweet too. For a girl not yet eleven, you’re a big help to me. Thank you.” She works around in the kitchen a little more. She puts the sheet of tin over the gas flames on the stove, so the food can keep warm over the one light we leave burn­ ing for Shabbos. She stirs the compote of applesauce and plums and apricots, and sets it aside to start cooling. She lifts the sixquart iron pot by both big handles and gently shakes the stuffed cab­ bage in it, around and around. Then she lifts off the cover to see it, and my mouth starts watering. “Nobody can make stuffed cab­ bage rolls like a Hungarian,” mama once told me. She said that, be­ cause my Grandma is a Hungarian and she taught mama to make lots of good things, like stuffed cab­ bage, and tgefilte fish, and apple strudel: 50

After she puts the cover back on the iron pot, mama looks at the electric clock on the wall. “A quarter after six — well, I have ten minutes more. I wonder why papa’s not here yet . . . And where’s Milty?” mama asks sud­ denly. “Didn’t I see him here be­ fore 9 went to take my bath?” “He was here, but he said they’re having some basketball practice in the schoolyard, so he went back for a while.” “I hope he’s not late,” mama says. “Papa will be angry if he’s not ready for Shool on time.” TWTAMA IS a very great worrier. Papa says he’s glad I’m not like that. I’m not very good in arithmetic in school, and I can’t read Hebrew as well as mama can, but papa’s glad I’m more carefree and relaxed in my nature than mama is. “A woman should be beautiful, Malkele, like your mama is,” papa qften says to me. “My Esther may not be good-looking, but to me she’s beautiful because I love, her, and she loves me. But a woman should not be a worrier.” They’re married almost twentyfive years, but papa can’t convince mama not to worry. “I was born that way,” mama says, “and your papa didn’t marry me to change me.” She’s worried now. And she keeps looking at the clock. “Eighteen minutes after six — something must have happened, I’m sure,” she sighs. Jewish LIFE

She starts moving restlessly, busying herself around the kitchen. It looks like she's trying not to watch the clock. But finally she does look at it. Just twenty-three minutes after six. She doesn’t seem to know what to do. She looks at me undecidedly, as if I were the mama and she were the child. I want to say the right thing. “There’s still twelve minutes be­ fore Shabbos,” I tell her. “The calendar says 6:85.” “Maybe this week you’re right,” she finally agrees, “I’ll wait a little yet.” / “Shall I take out a clean shirt so papa won’t have to waste time when he comes?” I ask her. I feel I ought to take her mind off worry­ ing if I can. “That’s a good idea,” she says. “But you get out Milty’s things. I’ll get papa’s.”

finishes, she is crying. Usually she cries when she lights candles for Yom Kippur, but this is the first time on Shabbos. I’m begin­ ning to get a little worried myself. After she says “Gut Shabbos” and I say “Gut Shabbos” to her, we go into the living room to look out of the window. Lots of people are in the street, but no papa and no Milty. After a time I pretend I’m thirsty and I go into the kitchen for a drink. I really want to see the time. It is almost ten to seven. Some­ thing is wrong. I’m sure of that now,. But what can we do? ’ > As I think of that — suddenly the . door bell rings, and I dash over to -answer it. None of our friends ever ring the bell on Shab­ bos. They always knock. It is Seymour Katz, from up­ stairs.

T1FHEN we are both finished, it ” is half-past six. “Five minutes only,” mama says. “Six thirty-one now . . . .1 can’t wait. Oh, I don’t know what to do! Twenty-five years almost I’m married to papa, and this never happened before. Never.” “I’ll go put on the bathroom light,” I offer. “And the Shabbos light in the living room.” “All right, Malkie, go.” When I come back, mama starts lighting the candles. It is the . first time in my life that I see mama so upset when she lights candles. By the time she May - June, 1952

51

“Your mother here, Muriel?” he to the school yard for an hour asks. 'or so . . .” Pm really frightened now. “What “You're sure papa's all right?” is it?” I whisper. mama insists. “Of course I'm sure,” Milty an­ “My mother says here are the onions she borrowed this morning. swers. “Say, what goes on here?” Your mother might need them for “But Milty, it's Shabbos al­ Shabbos. And thanks.” ready,” I tell him. “You never Mama is right behind me, and played so late before . . . ” she has heard him. “Who says it's Shabbos al­ “The world is topsy-turvey,” she ready?” Milty asks. “We have al­ says. “A half hour ago was candle most a half hour yet.” lighting, and now Mrs. Katz re­ “I lit candles a half hour ago,” turns onions. On Shabbos she has mama tells him. “Six thirty-five to return onions ! What's happen­ ^ not in advance, but according ing, I wonder.” to the calendar today. It is Shab­ bos already.” ^ ^ E GO back into the living “Let me see the calendar.” We show him. room. But before we can start “See Friday, May 2nd 4^ 6:35 looking out of the window again, the door bangs open and slams shut Eastern Standard Time.” Suddenly Milty starts to laugh. — and we know without looking it And he laughs and laughs. is Milty. “What are you laughing at?” Mama rushes to him. He is dirty, and perspired. And mama asks, all confused. “I was he has torn a hole in his good so terribly frightened before. With school pants, probably on a nail. G-d's mercy you and papa are both But he's all there, and he even back all right . . . but what are you laughing at?” looks happy. “Say mom, you should've seen “Look, mama,” he says, his our team trim the other side,” he dirty hands in his perspired sweat­ starts to say. shirt embracing her, “it says plain­ But mama doesn't want to hear ly — 6:35 Eastern Standard Time. And you say you followed the that now. “Oh Milty, thank G-d — thank calendar.” “But I did,” mama says. G-d ydu're all right! Did you see papa maybe?” she asks hopefully. “You may think so HR but you “And why are you so late? I was forgot. We turned the clocks so wor . . . ” ahead last Saturday night. We're “Papa's right downstairs, talk­ on Daylight Saving Time now! ing to Mr. Katz. He'll be up soon. You «should've lit candles at 7:35. And what were you so worried We're still on time, because it's about? I told Muriel I was going not Shabbos yet !” 52

Jewish LIFE

n ND THEN something very funny happens. Mama starts to cry. And it reminds me of the time she cried when my sister Sarah got married. Mama likes my brother-in-law Dave very much. That’s why she said she cried like that when Sarah got married. Now she is crying the same way. And she is Still crying when papa comes up' from the street a few

minutes later. When he sees her like that, he gets frightened, and he says, “Esterel, what happened? What’s wrong? Why are you cry­ ing?” And mama just keeps on crying, but she says, “Nothing’s wrong, Nahum. Thank G-d, everything’s fine. I’m just crying, I can’t help it — because I’m so happy! I’m so very very happy!”

Sofig fov Shovuoth. iu B y SHOSHANA WENGER Let us go into the fields, you and 1^ And dance to the- breeze that is rippling by. Past the “lul” and beyth yeladim” Even the barn and “gan yerakim”. Up the road, then turn to our right Where the busy honey-bee takes his flight. Soft is the clover for dancing feet — Shovuoth is everyhere! First fruit of the land, first fruit of the soil — How well you repaid us for our toil! Purple hangs the vine in yonder field, Golden the wheat in bounteous yield Luscious red the pomegranate grows, With milk and honey the country flows! Hurrah for the harvest, sing praises to Him Who gave us this Chag of Bikkurim:

!R I |r

And now, let us rest . . . There is time . . . Time to read the Book of Ruth Then time, perhaps, to disclose a truth You are my first love, first of my heart And just as the first fruits Are designed by G-d So are you . . . for me May - June, 1952

58

•

A parent examines the parents’ role in child training.

B y IRMA HOROWITZ J WOULD like to speak as a par­

ent —- one who, like “a great many others, hesitates to get up and speak her mind and show her inadequacies. Yet, we all know that the relationship between school and home is a vital one and that we parents must find the courage to get up and express our personal opinions if we want to achieve a give-and-take which will help us to raise our children as healthy per­ sonalities. It is not necessary, in this con­ text, to show how untenable is the position of the parent who says to the Day School “Here is my child. Go, make a Jew of him.” Jewish education begins long before the child enters school, for every ex­ perience of the child in the home becomes part of his education. It becomes apparent in the child’s infancy that he possesses both good and bad impulses, and the mother, in keeping with her own set of

values, starts to teach the child to sublimate those which are not de­ sirable and to develop those which are good. The young child’s view of re­ ligion and of the Almighty is a reflection of the way he feels about his family relationships. If he feels secure in the love and guid­ ance of his parents, he understands G-d’s guidance and love. If his parents respect him as a decent human individual; he feels that* G-d does likewise. OF the main objectives of, religious education is the iden­ tification of the individual with morality and ethics. This is, to a large extent, determined at home also. People, living together in a family, absorb its characteristic notions, and these values become the yardstick by which they meas­ ure everyone and everything with which they come in contact. If the

EDITOR’S NOTE: Because of the unusual interest of this article, we have .departed from our customary policy of not reprinting material previously published elsewhere: Our appre­ ciation is expressed to Jewish Parents Magazine (published by the Association of Hebrew Day School PTAs, affiliate of Torah Umesorah) in which Mrs. Horwitz’s article originally appeared.

54

Jewish LIFE

child’s parents are constantly con­ in amazement and say “What’s cerned about money — either wrong with you!” The same’thing worrying because they have too goes for a secure Jewish child in little or boasting because they have any such contact with Jewish or too much — the child will feel Gentile antisemitism. By bolstering the Jewish spirit that the possession of yvorldly goods is the most important of the home, parents can do a great achievement. If his parents show deal to supplement the child’s work deep respect for morality and for in the Day School. This can best religious scholarship, the child will be achieved by concentrating on a positive approach rather than on absorb these attitudes. The basis of the child’s self-re­ negative admonitions such as spect in his Jewishness is also “you’re not allowed to go to the laid here in the home. If the par­ movies on Shabbos,” “You can’t ents are not psychologically in­ go to dancing school because the hibited in their attitudes toward classes are on Saturday.” This Judaism, if they have, an under­ .only serves to make the small child standing of what it stands for and -, Embittered or antagonistic because a sense of security in it, they will he feels that what he considers fun transmit to their child this pride is forbidden and he certainly can’t in his heritage. This becomes the understand adult philosophies of foundation upon which the Day Sabbath peace. About 200 years School can build by giving him ago, Rousseau taught that we concrete knowledge to bolster this mustn’t regard children as “adults pride and self-respect. An Ameri­ in miniature,” that is as grownups can schoolboy naturally feels that in everything but size. He said America is the best place in the “the wisest of us are engrossed in world. If someone were to call him a “dirty American,” it would never what the adult needs to know and nccur to him to ask “what’s wrong fail to consider what children are with me?” Instead, he would stare able to apprehend.” Learning By Doing C!INCE WE want Shabbos to be the most special day of the week for our children, we must supply happiness on a level which they can understand and in a way in which they can participate. A sense of anticipation can be built up in the preparation for Shabbos that will help a child to look for­ ward to it. There are innumerable May - June, 1952

practical possibilities here and I will mention just a few. Little girls love to play with dolls. They will usually be quite thrilled- to make a project of splashing the doll’s clothes in soap suds and then dressing them up in their best fin­ ery for Shabbos. Arts and crafts constitute a very helpful technique. Most children love to paint and 55

color, so they can be encouraged to mdke a special Shabbos picture to be displayed during the Sabbath meal. Older girls can help with the coqking and can be charged with making the Shabbos dessert — al­ ways the most glamorous part of cooking. The children can make a Shabbos centerpiece for the table — anything which they think is beautiful — and the food should include the dishes which they think are special. The menu can include Shabbos candy or anything which the children consider a special delicacy. All this is not “sugarcoating.” It is merely making Shabbos a special day. As children grow older and can understand more, they w i l l learn sounder r e a s o n s for the distinctive­ ness of the Sab­ bath. For then, they will be able to understand its spiritual connota­ tions. The same general approach ap­ plies to the Holidays and Festivals as well as to the Sabbath. Family group singing of Zemiroth and related songs is very im­ portant, for it generates warmth and spirit. Children should be en­ couraged to participate in the se­ lection of songs to be sung, in- the singing of solo versfes with the 56

family joining in on the chorus Efnd in teaching the family new. songs which they have learned in «school. Parents who are not ac­ quainted with the commonly sung verses , can readily obtain copies and even transliterations and their children will be delighted to lead them. Children should be taken to syn­ agogue but this can be a meaning­ ful experience for them only if they participate to some extent in the ser­ vices. The service should be explained to them on a level which they can Un­ derstand and they should be taught as m a n y congregat i o n a 1 respons­ es and songs as possible. This is something in which the parent and the school should co­ operate. The Sabbath and Holy Days can be special to the chil­ dren because they have their par­ ents at home, unharried by week­ day tasks, with the time and in­ clination for story telling, discus­ sion, and leisurely walks, all of which can be oriented to the spirit of the day. Discussions between parents and children on various concepts of Judaism can be most fruitful, providing, of course, ( 1 ) that they are conducted in terms the child can understand and ( 2 ) Jewish LIFE

that we parents are careful that the child participates on his own and that he doesn't express opin­ ions because he knows adults want to hear them. It is true that we want to inculcate certain values in the child, but he must be encour­ aged to say what he feels because only then can we know what we are working with. It is important • that we think Torah, speak Torah, more often in the home and that we make every effort to make its concepts mean­ ingful to the child in his world. The Sabbath and the Holidays are the highlights of the Jewish spirit in the home, but during the week,, a loving and unhurried guid­ ance of the children's morning and bedtime prayers intensify the spir­ itual and emotional ties between children, parents, and the Almighty. Then when we parents bolster the Jewish spirit of our homes through the techniques just indi­ cated or through similar ones, we are providing a fertile climate for our children's intellectual and emo­ tional growth in the Hebrew Day School. On the other hand, when the home does not provide a reli­ gious climate consistent with that of the school, a conflict situation is generated which can have seri­ ous repercussions on the child's developing personality and on his ability to learn in school. Some non-religious parents realize this and accept the obligation of cooperating as much as they can. This will often require difficult ad­ justments and such parents should May - June, 1952

receive every assistance and en­ couragement from the school and the PTA which should develop a definite program to meet such needs. TJOWEVER, there is another group of non-religious parents who definitely do not want to be personally involved when they send their child to a Hebrew Day School and they resent and actively resist the teachers' encouraging the child to bring ceremonials into the home. But even in such apparently un­ workable situations, something can be done. For though these parents fight the school, they are subcon­ sciously not opposed to its prin­ ciples or else they would not have enrolled their child in the first place. The school and the PTA should launch a long-range public rela­ tions program to interpret to such parents the basic values and pur­ poses of Judaism. Through its so­ cial activities, the PTA can draw the parent into closer social con­ tact with observant parents and gradually wean them away from contrary influences. A good cul­ tural program will supply impor­ tant background material and ex­ pose them to concepts of which they had little awareness before. An understanding of how Judaism applies to every day life can, over a period of time, make them more receptive to the concepts which the child brings home from school. Parenthetically, an extension of this idea applies even to religious 57

homes, where parents may feel that the degree of observance which they practice is the only proper one and that less is inadequate and more is fanatical. When ,a child comes home and says “Tomorrow is Taanis Esther, are you going to fast?” he should not be received with “No, that’s not important. You don’t have to pay attention to that.” If he cannot be answered

with a “Yes,” it would be a very good time to explain to him that people are not all perfect and that each has his weaknesses and short­ comings, that we must strive for the ideal and that the nearer we come to it, the nearer we come to the Almighty. He is thus given to understand that his parents have respect — not ridicule — for those, who can .do more than they.

The Child's Way of Learning ^^NCE the child has been placed in school, parents cannot shut their eyes and say “That is not my job.” Parents have the added re­ sponsibility now of following very closely not only the child’s social adjustment in school, but also the kind and amount of progress he is making in his studies. Parents should take the time to find out what subject matter is being studied and what it means to the child. Here we come to a very serious problem. May and Lawrence Frank in their invaluable book How to Help Your Child in School point out that the aim of educationa1 method today is to preserve and heighten the natural curiosity and eagerness for knowledge with which most children start school. Educators have found that this is most successfully done through the medium of certain tools such as arts and crafts, music, discussion groups, etc;, for in this way the child participates on his own and the subject matter is drawn nearer 58

to his everyday experience. Play is not just a release for the child’s excessive energies ¿-4 it is his w^y of combining his two worlds — his private world and his school stud­ ies. This is the child’s way of learning and of thinking and, through the guidance of teacher and parent, he is helped to see and express relationships between one thing and another. This philosophy has not found general application in the Hebrew department. Some Hebrew teach­ ers regard them as luxuries which they cannot afford, and they make little attempt to make the subject matter meaningful to the child in terms of his everyday life. When the subject matter is too far re­ moved from the child’s world he loses enthusiasm and interest. But the Torah is not merely a holy book written thousands of years ago to be studied by the young child in a vacuum. The Torah is a living document. It applies now, today, to every phase of the child’s life and experience. Jewish LIFE

TXTE ARE approaching Shovuoth, * * the time of spiritual redemp­ tion. Children are taught how G-d took the Jews through the sea into the desert and gave Moses the Ten Commandments. But the teacher should not stop there. Little chil­ dren can understand those respon­ sibilities and implications of free­ dom which are on their own level of comprehension and experience. What does it mean to be free in their own community? Does it mean that one man may kill an­ other; that a large group may hurt one person? No! we must have laws to protect us. We must have policemen to see that the law is obeyed. We -must have judges and jails, etc. In other words, the Al­ mighty took the Jews from Egypt and made them free, but then they had to have laws, so He gave them the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai. Little children in the first, sec­ ond, and third grades can be made to understand how evil covetous­ ness can be. What can happen when a man covets his .neighbor's cow? What can happen when one child sees another who has some­ thing which he would lijke to have, whether it be toys or better marks? In a properly directed discussion, he will admit that he wants what that other child h as; that it makes him angry at the child when he i>an't have it ; that he wants to hit

May - June, 1952

this other child, to hurt him, to make him suffer. The teacher could introduce into the discussion the doctrine of Someyach b’chelko — of being happy and satisfied with one's lot. He brings out that David is the best swimmer in the group, that little Dorothy is a good dancer, that Debbie sings well, etc., etc., until they all see that it's all right that Izzy has nice toys and Esther gets high marks. They can understand then why the Al­ mighty in his wisdom taught them not to concentrate on what the other children have because that makes them feel unhappy. With this kind of emphasis, the child’s study of Chumosh is not a remote, formal system of words but becomes a tool which even the youngest student can apply to his world. The working out of a practical method which will make the Torah comprehensive to the young child in keeping with his stage of develop­ ment is a most formidable task for any educator. It is up to us par­ ents to think about this problem and join with our educators in trying to solve it. Under an in­ spired and gifted teacher, the his­ tory, philosophy, and ethics of our Torah come alive and, when this happens — as one writer put it — “lives are affected and ulti­ mately, history is changed."

59

Drama of love and honor amidst the setting of a contemporary North African ghetto By M. DLUZNOWSKY »pHE COURTROOM (Beth-Din) in the Moroccan town of Maragaz, a whitewashed room with a cement floor, in the center of which stood a long wooden table and a few broken chairs, was filled with men, women and children. All were talking, shouting, brawling, and heatedly gesticulating. The clerk at the table, a hunched little man with an unruly mop of hair, hold­ ing a goose-feather pen in his hand, shouted even louder in an attempt to quiet the crowd and re­ store order in the courtroom. His two hands in the wide sleeves of a black, robe were fluttering on all sides, like the wings of a wounded bird. But it was of no avail. Nothing helped. The people quieted down only when the three judges (the Chachamim) entered, and seated themselves at the long table. The heads of the three rabbis were draped in thin blue cloth. Their wrinkled faces — long, lined and tired » and their sorrowful eyes were turned toward the as­ 60

semblage. The eldest of the three whispered to the clerk to call out the names of the people that had come from the village of Susbah to unburden their troubles before the court of justice of Maragaz. The clerk pulled out a few crumpled pieces of paper from a skull-cap, stood up and called out: “Zachariah Ben Gabah from Susbah with his daughter Naomi ver­ sus Benjamin the tanner from Susbah. The witness — Aaron the lame one.” AN

OUTCRY arose from the crowd. A fleshy woman, a colorful ker­ chief on her head, two small chil­ dren at her side, pushed forward to the court-table. “I must be heard first. I cannot wait until the others have finished. I have grave complaints to present. My sister-in-law does not let me use the kneading-trough to knead the dough. The children haven’t Jewish LIFE

had a morsel of bread in their mouths for two days already.” “She is lying!” jumped up a second woman, face and eyes flam­ ing mad. “The facts are just the reverse. She had first borrowed the fire-pot from my house, and it's been several days already since there’s been a spoonful of hot soup in the house.” In the midst of this quarrel a man broke through toward the Beth-Din table, and pleaded: “Chlifah has robbed me. He has tricked ire out of a donkey that I had wanted to buy from the Arab Mustafah. Now I must sit in the house with crossed legs and watch my family go hungry. I cannot go to the village to trade. Where is justice?” “He tells falsehoods,” inter­ rupted the bass voice of Chlifah. “Mustafah wanted to sell me a blind donkey and I did not lit him fool me. I wanted a seeing one. It seems I selected the oiie that my neighbor Chaim, the village peddler, had an eye on. So he thinks that I tricked him out of his don­ key. I want this court of justice, that speaks in the voice of G-d to reach a verdict!” A Chacham quickly aroge and angrily cri^d out: “Silence! The Beth-Din was called together today to settle and adjust controversies and arguments of the Jews of Maragaz, and it will hear the pleas of each and every one, rich and poor alike. But to begin with, we must hear this case, one of grave concern and reMay - June, 1952

sponsibility, of a betrayed Jewish daughter. Let there be quiet!” The crowd calmed down. The women nodded their heads sympa­ thetically, and the men, embar­ rassed, moved toward the walls. 7 ACHARIAH, a short man with “ a black beard, walked slowly and sadly up to the Beth-Din table. His thin bony body was enveloped in a wide robe, and on his head rested a small black hat. His hands leaned against the table, his head hung down. A young girl followed him. With an apathetic gaze she glanced at the three rabbis. Her hair was long and fell over her bronzed shoulders. Her lips were tightly locked. A freshly laundered cotton dress covered her full body. A young man approached, Benyamin, a tall youth, with curly black hair, restless eyes, and long hands that he nervously folded and unfolded. Then came Aaron, the lame one. “What are your complaints, Zachariah of Susbah?” asked the eldest of the three rabbis. “And why did the way lead you from Susbah to the Beth-Din of Mara­ gaz? “We have come in search of jus­ tice and sympathy, esteemed judg­ es. Beaten as dogs are we. To dry the tears of my shamed daughter Naomi have we come, to seek com­ pensation for her suffering.” “Speak, Zachariah, and unburden your heart.” Zachariah began his tale. He spoke quickly, heatedly, pleading,

61

with his hands held palms up, raising and lowering them like two weights. From his talk the court learned that his daughter Naomi, now six­ teen years old, had been betrothed to Benyamin the tanner for , the past two years. The children were in love with each other and their respective parents approved of the match and had already agreed on the wedding date. g U T SUDDENLY there fell upon them a horrible misfortune. The Arabs of the village of Susbah once became enraged and stirred up a riot against the Jews. And it was all because of a sheep and a sack of almonds. A hungry sheep, which belonged to a local Arab 62

farmer, was wandering around. It was unknowingly being pre­ p a id for the killing, and would be devoured at the feast th at was to ta^ke place after the fast of the Moslem holiday of Ramadan. The sheep had accidentally found its way to a sack of almonds in Akivah’s, the food merchant's, store, and had eaten away quite a bit before Akivah • nose glued to the pages of a Kabalah-book and his thoughts in another world raised his eyes and saw what had become of his sack of almonds. He awoke shouting and screaming, grabbed a stick and began to beat the hun­ gry sheep. Several Arab boys saw this and ran to tell the owner of the animal to quickly save hip possessions from destruction at Jewish hands. Fighting broke out and spread throughout the streets and lanes like a stormy wind. Naomi was just at that moment washing the family laundry at the river bank, and in the panic she was carried off by an Arab youth, who assaulted her. Sighs, moans, cries spread through the crowded room. Zachariah extended his hand to­ wards the rabbis, pleading: “Why has G-d Almighty so beat­ en his devoted servant? Why does he test me with such torment?" “Then, what is it that you wish, Zachariah?" one of the rabbis rais­ ed his hands to the heavens, “A lawsuit against the Lord of the Universe?" Jewish I 4IFE

“What are you saying ?” Zachariah gave a convulsive shudder. “I want Benyamin to reopen his heart to Naomi and not bring shame upon her and drive her to her grave.” He sighed and con­ tinued : “Since the tragedy Benyamin has completely turned against Naomi. He ignores her. Since that day he has not crossed the threshold of my house and has never made an in­ quiry about her. The girl is wast­ ing away with grief.” —T>ENYAMIN of Susbah, one of ^ t h e three Chachamim, address­ ed the boy, who was standing nerv­ ous and frightened under the gaze of the rabbis,—“Why has your heart turned against your bride Naomi? Why do you cause so much sorrow to the mother and father of a Jewish daughter?” “Righteous court,” Benyamin be­ gan to stammer, and his face be­ came pale. “She . . . she is with child.” The entire assemblage vibrated. Anxiety and fear enveloped every­ one. The women nervously adjusted the kerchiefs on their heads.. The men moaned. The clerk’s goosefeathered pen fell out of his hand. The rabbis were stunned. The eld­ est raised his voice, shouted with burning wrath: “Silence! Do not disgrace a Jew­ ish daughter, your bride. A severe punishment will fall on your head.” “She is not my bridé. Another man has possessed her. She is not fit to be married.” May - June, 1952

The eldest adjusted his blue shawl on his head and in a calmer voice tried to reason with the boy: “You know very well, my son, that Naomi is a virtuous girl, but a horrible accident has befallen her. It is just the opposite from what you say. She is all the more pure and sacred because polluted hands have touched her body. You are young, you love her, do not break the bond between you and Naomi.” She is stained. She carries in her body a ............ ” ’ Benyamin stopped talking. “What have you to say, my daughter?” the eldest of the Beth Din motioned to Naomi. The girl did not answer. She re­ mained standing frigidly, did not open her lips neither to talk, nor to cry, nor to plead. - W

HAT testimony do you bear, Aaron from Susbah?” the eldest judge asked the lame man. Aaron leaned against his cane, and answered: “I was at the river that day, cleaning my sacks, that I load with dates to sell at the market, when suddenly there was a great tumult. Youths were running toward us with sticks in their hands. They hit everyone, they threw my sack into the river and almost stoned me to death. They beat Jewish women and girls, and one of *the youths, a tall one with a black moustache, a stranger, not from our village, caught Naomi. She fought him, beating him over his face with the 63

wet pieces of wash, she screamed for help, but he dragged her off.” The clerk at the table wrote quickly, his goose-pen scratching over the paper. The three judges whispered together. After k few minutes of consultation among themselves, the eldest arose and spoke aloud to the entire court­ room : “We, the Court of Justice in Maragaz, have listened to the testi­ mony of Aaron, the fruit-merchant from the village of Susbah, and from his words we understand that Naomi has fallen a victim. There­ fore, we, the Beth-Din, rule that Benyamin must marry his bride Naomi, and with G-d’s help, when the child will come, it will be brought up as a legitimate Jewish child.” “She is not my bride,” exclaimed Benyamin. “I will not take her un­ der the chuppah!” Everyone was petrified. No one dared to breathe heavily. A man of stately appearance, with silver-grey hair, his corpulent body clothed in a robe of grey cloth bound with silk, arose from the crowd and proclaimed aloud: “If Benyamin from Susbah wants to break the engagement with Naomi, then I will take her under my protection and will wed her according to the laws of Moses and Israel.” J S N UPROAR arose from the crowd. All faces and eyes bulged forward toward the distinguished personage. Only Naomi did not move. 64

Mouths were whispering: Eliyahu, the feed-merchant, the richest and most respected Jew of Maragaz. As strong as a tree, al­ though he is close to sixty. He will be doing a good deed. And will have provided himself with a young wife. He just recently became a widower. “Reb Eliyahu, our ears have heard your outspoken words, that you agreed to take the daughter of Zachariah Bengabar for a wife. We will therefore ask the father of the girl herself. What do you say Za­ chariah?” “I . . . I agree to lead my daugh­ ter under to canopy with Reb Eli­ yahu of Maragaz.” “And you, Naomi, do you wish to become the wife of Eliyahu? He will become your protector and provider.” Naomi sullenly nodded her agree­ ment. Benyafriin's head was bursting, and his heart trembled with the realization that perhaps he had erred and committed a sin. A thought pounded away lie a hammer at his brain: “If the pious, respected Eliyahu, the wealthy wheat merchant,-if he is eager and willing to take Naomi into his house as his wife, if he does not have any qualms about her virtue, then why am I Benyamin so hesitant?” He jumped up with a cry: “I accept the decision of the Beth-Din.” Jewish LIFE

JpOR THE first time since the be­ ginning of the Beth-Din ses­ sion, both Benyamin and Naomi raised their heads, turned to each other and their eyes met. For a few minutes silence reigned in the Beth-Din chamber. Then the eldest Chacham ad­ dressed Eliyahu: “Reb Eliyahu, you have raised

a Jewish soul from a deep abyss. May G-d bless you with long years.” The petitioners silently left the court room. The crowd thrust forward to the Beth-Din table. Hurriedly and heatedly each one began to tell of his troubles, his heartaches, his pleas.

V

May - June, 1952

65

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ON BIRTH CONTROL AND TOLERANCE

New York, N .Y . In the last issue of J e w i s h L i f e you published a letter by Harry Greenberg concerning the article on birth control. This letter was clearly full of distortion and was, in tone, contrary to the philosophy of J e w i s h L i f e . The fact that he employs the Talmud and the Bible as reference material will lead countless readers to assume that he speaks with au­ thority and they may even act on such false conclusions. I certainly know all the fine demo­ cratic talk about tolerance, freedom of expression, and all that goes with it. Indeed, freedom of the-press im­ plies that Mr. Greenberg has the full right to print his opinion and pub­ licize it. But by no stretch of the imagination does freedom of the press imply that you must use J e w i s h L i f e , an Orthodox organ, to spread atheistic thought. Too many believe that tolerance means that I must worship in some­ one else’s church. Please don’t fall into the same error. Tolerance mere­ ly means that the other person has the right to worship, but does not May - June, 1952

imply that I must let him bring his idols into my temple. Rabbi Ephraim H. Sturm, Associate Director, Young Israel Institute for Jewish Studies

HILLEL AND THE LAW

Brooklyn, N. Y. Because J e w i s h L i f e is held in such high regard as a source of Orthodox opinion, I was particularly alarmed by a portion of the article on Hillel by Dr. Meyer Waxman. Dr. Waxman would have us believe that the Jews observed the Written Law without recourse to the Oral Law and only under the pressures of life did they come to apply the Oral Law. So he states “As life went on through the centuries and new needs arose, there was bound to arise a seeming gap between the law as stated in the Bible and the needs of life. The gap was bridged to a large extent by Torah She-b’al Pehf the Oral Tradition, tracing its origin through Moses on Mt. Sinai, which explains and expands Biblical law.” Indeed, the Oral and Written Law were simultaneously given to Moses 67

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Jewish LIFE

on Mt. Sinai, the Oral Law giving were used to erect a large part of the details of the Written Law the great Halachic structure, he fails (Rambam: Preface to Mishnah To­ to note the source of the Midrash. rah). For example, the Written Law This leaves the reader open to be­ commands that we wear tzitzis and lieve that interpretation can be used tefilin. But how were they made? when and as necessary. Within its The details are given in the Oral own framework the Torah is very Law. In this light it is clear that liberal, but the laws of Jewish juris­ there could not have been a time prudence and interpretation were wherein the Written Law was ob­ given to Moses at Sinai. Just as served without the Oral. And it was the Oral Law is the interprétation of the fallacious approach of the Ka­ the Halachah given at Sinai, so is raites of observing the one without the Midrash the interpretation of the the other that made it impossible for moral and ethical concepts of Juda­ them to maintain their identity as ism from Sinai (Rambam: Hilchos Teshuvah; Perek Gimmel, Halachah Jews. Ches). Hillel himself pointed out the in­ I trust that Dr. Waxman may have terdependence of these laws. The been unaware of the implication of Talmud relates (Shabboth: 31A) his words ; however, the false ap­ that a gentile requested Hillel to proach to what is actually a funda­ teach him the Torah but, though he mental Orthodox tenet should be accepted the validity of the Written corrected. Law, would not accept the Oral Law. David Mines Hillel began by teaching him the first letters of the alphabet: Aleph, Beth, Gimmel. The following day, WHICH "PATTERN OF however, Hillel pointed to the same JEWISH LIVING"? letters as Tov, Shin, Resh. The gen­ Kew Gardens, N. Y. tile of course objected, but Hillel Rabbi Samson R. Weiss in his answered “Just as you accejpt my J e w i s h L i f e article (Kislev, 5712) teaching of the Written Law, so must advocates the setting up of Jewish you accept my teaching of the Oral suburbs in which the laws of the Law.” Hillel did not merely ask that Shulchan Aruch will set the standard he accept him as the authoritarian in­ and where the “motivations of our terpreter of the law but wished him actions will be determined by, and to realize that just as oral instruc­ flow from, the Halachah.” He fur­ tion alone can teach the sound of the thermore states that the bringing up printed letter, so only instruction in of children according to Torah con­ the Oral Law can teach the meaning cepts is impossible in a society where of the Written Law. the drive for material prosperity su­ Though Dr. Waxman states that persedes the quest for knowledge of the Midrash, the method of inter­ the Almighty. The establishment of pretation, as well as the Oral Law, such communities, Rabbi Weiss feels, May - June, 1952

69

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Jewish LIFE

would greatly strengthen traditional Judaism in this country. It is a historical fact that the truth of our Torah has made itself reapparent countless times after ex­ tended periods of indulgence in the fashions of the times. The Jew of the early Second Commonwealth must have been convinced that the Hellen­ ism which had captivated his people would ultimately destroy their reli­ gion. History has proved otherwise. We, believing in the truth of our divinely revealed law, need hardly feel that the present preference for success to piety is of permanent dura­ tion. Fear is the trademark of doubt, and Jews, having no need to doubt its truth and ultimate reacceptance, through panicky ideas and actions only feed the conviction of those that have strayed. If it were true that Judaism could survive only behind the high walls of seclusion, it would long ago have be­ come the subject matter of the social archeologist. The genius of our law (except that which deals specifically with Eretz Yisrael) to function everywhere and the fervor of our people to preserve it have not only strengthened us but have permitted us to shine the beam of our light over the lands of our dispersion. It can, of course, be argued that the threat to our survival at this time is greater than any we have overcome in the past and that only measures in proportion to the magni­ tude of this menace would be of use in counteracting it. This is indeed so.

adult education groups, more vol­ umes of learning that can be em­ ployed by the non-scholar. We need to reaffirm the eternal significance of our Torah, to exert greater efforts to display our belief and observance, to recultivate the concept of “simchah shel mitzvah.” We must, in our homes, create an atmosphere stronger than that offered by the street and one that cannot be shaken off in adulthood; we must substitute pride for shame in our dealings with others.

We need more Yeshivoth, more

Michael Rosenak

May - June, 1952

However, it is difficult to see how social pressure, isolation and igno­ rance can serve our purpose. The religious education of youth is hard — but how much harder will it be when the outside influences that disa­ gree with us are taboo, smeared, or unexplored? Will boys and girls in an age of intellectual curiosity sub­ mit to a spiritual “index”? Or will this lack of faith in human nature and Judaism lose us more souls than “the wicked who walk in darkness”? Let us not reduce Judaism in America to mezzuzah inspection and “holiness standards” which would re­ sult from the establishment of com­ munities such as Rabbi Weiss sug­ gests. Let us leave truth to wield its own sword; let us leave the way of Torah a broad and brilliant river, capable of drawing waters to it. If we forget the promise that “in every place where I will cause my name to be mentioned I will come unto thee and bless thee,” it can become a stagnant pond.

71

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U N I O N OF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF A M E R I C A

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(contains milk) (Blair Milling Co., Atchison, Kan.)

Camps (for children I Camp Mohaph

(Glen Spey, N.Y. — N.Y. office 4320 Bedford Avenue Brooklyn, N.Y.)

Candies @P Barricini (Barricini Inc., Long Island City, N.Y.)

Cheese (for ¡bakers) Baked Beans Heinz Oven Baked Beans with mo­ lasses sauce Heinz Oven Baked Beans in tomato sauce (H. J. Heinz Co.) Van Camp’s — with © label only (Stokely Van-Camp)

Butter Ocoma

(Ocoma Foods Co., N.Y.C. and Omaha, Neb.)

Bakers Cottage Cheese

(Pickrodt Cheese Co., B’klyn, N.Y.)

Condiments © P Gold’s Horseradish (Gold Pure Foods, B’klyn, N.Y.) Heinz

(H. J. Heinz Co.) Horse Radish 57 Sauce Chili Sauce Hot Dog Relish Worcestershire-Sauce Ketchup Pride of the Farm Catsup

(Hunt Food Prod., Bridgeton, N.J.)

Convalescent Homes Cakes , Cookies and Crackers Golden Cracknel Egg Biscuits

(Golden Cracknel &Spec. Co. Detroit) Ry-Krisp

(Palston-Purina, St. ’Louis, Mo.)

May - June, 1952

Dayton Nursing Home

(1884 Marmion Ave. Bronx, N.Y.)

Dishwashing Machine Detergents Spic & Span

(Procter & Gamble)

75

UOJC HASH RUTH DIRECTORY All items listed below bear the © seal. Items listed © P are Kosher for Passover when bearing this or other UOJC A Passover Hechsher on label. Items listed • are Kosher for Passover without Passover Hechsher on label. * * indicates new © endorsement

Dressings Cascade Salad Dressing Duchess Salad Dressing Nu Made Mayonnaise Piedmont Mayonnaise

(Table Prod. Co., San Francisco Cal.; distributed through Safeway Stores) Garber’s Misrochi Salad Dressing

(Garber’s Eagle Oil Cory., B’klyn.) *Heinz

(H. J. Heinz Co.)

Egg Preparations Stan-Egg (contains milk)

(Standard Milling Co., Chicago, III.)

Frozen Foods Rapoport’s Blintzes

(Family Frozen Food Prod., B’klyn, N.Y.) Cheese Potato Veg. Steak with Protose Milady Food Products

(B’klyn, N.Y.) Blintzes (blueberry, cherry, cheese, potato) *Waffles

Fruit — ©P

(Dried— bulk onlyl

California Packing Corp.

(San Francisco, Cal.)

Honey @P Garber’s Misrochi (Garber Eagle Oil Cory.)

Fish Products Royal Snack

(S. A. Haram Co., N.Y.C.) Cream Herring Matjes Fillets Spiced Herring Lunch Herring Herring Cocktail Tidbits Salmon (in wine sauce) Mother’s Old Fashioned

(Mother’s Food Prod., Newark, N.J.) ©if Gefilte Fish ¡Sweet & Sour Fish

Household Cleansers (See also Scouring Powders) ©P Brillo Products (Brillo Mfg. Co., B’klyn, N.Y.) Cameo Copper Cleaner

•

(Cameo Cory., Chicago, III.) Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Detergents

(Jersey City, N.J.) • Arctic Syntex M. beads (bulk only) • Fab • Kirkman Detergent

• Vel

Procter and Gamble Detergents

Flavorings Westag Lemon Westag Vanilla

(Table Prod. Co.; Safeway)

Food Packages (20 Broad St., N.Y.C.)

76

(Cincinnati, Ohio) • Cheer • Dreft Joy

Spic & Span Tide

(Cont. next page) Jewish LIFE

UOJC KASHRUTH DIRECTORY 1

All items listed below bear the @ seal. Items listed © P are Kosher for Passover when bearing* this or other UOJCA Passover Hechsher on label. Items listed • are Kosher for Passover without Passover Hechsher on label. 11 indicates new @ endorsement

Household cleaners Icont'd.l Glim ( B . T. Babbit Inc., New York, N.Y.) Golden Pleece Pot Cleaner

(Metal Textile Corp., Roselle, N .J.)

My Pal

(Pal Products Co., Brooklyn, N.Y:)

• Sprite

(Sinclair Mfg., Toledo, Ohio)

m

* Planters

(Planters Nut & Chocolate Co., Wilkes Barre, Pa.) Beal Boast

(Table Prod. Co.; Safeway)

Potato Chips Blue Bibbon

(A. A. Walter Co., Albany, N.Y.)

Swerl

(Allied Chem. & Dye Corp., N.Y.C.)

Poultry — Frozen Ice Cream Costa’s Prendi Ice Cream

(Costa’s Ice Cream Woodbridge N.J.)

Jelly Heinz

(H. J. Heinz Co.)

Meat — Canned Gold Star Brand

*Mahtov Brand *Mahnayim Brand

(Mahtov Products, Inc., B’klyn, N.Y.) Menorah Farms

(Menorah Poultry Co., Boston,Mass.)

Prepared Foods Kosher-Pah Sandwiches (488 Albany Ave., B ’klyn, N.Y.)

(Basartov Food Prod. Havana, Cuba)

Mustard Heinz

(jl. J . Heinz Co.)

Oil — Peanut © P Garber’s Misrochi

(Garber Eagle Oil Corp.)

Oven Cleaner *Easy - Off

(The Wolcott Co., Hartford, Conn.)

[sunfk. Peanut Butter Beech-Nut

(Beech-Nut Packing Co.) Beverly

(Table Prod. Co.; Safeway) Heinz

(H. J. Heinz Co.)

May - June, 1952

Relishes, Pickles, etc . Heinz

(H. J . Heinz Co.) H. W. Madison Co. ( Medina, Ohio) ♦Mother’s ( Mother’s Food Prod.) Sweet Peppers Hungarian Deluxe Pickled Tomatoes Cucumber Salad Kosher New Pickles Spears Kosher New Gherkins Mount Olive Pickle Co.

(Mt. Olive, N.C.) Carolina Beauty Pick of Carolina Way Pack

Mopico

Little Rebel P lay Mates

77

UOJC KASHRUTH DIRECTORY AH items listed below bear the © seal. Items listed © P are Kosher for Pas&over when bearing this or other UOJCA Passover Heehsher on label. Items listed ® are Kosher for Passover without Passover Heehsher on label. * indicates new © endorsement

® Kirkman Cleanser • New Octagon Cleanser ©P Garber’s Misrochi Cleanser (Garber Eagle Oil Co.3 New York)

Resorts Perry House

(Bethlehem, N.H.) @P Pine View Hotel (Fallsburg, N.i .) © P Washington Hotel (Rockaway Park, N.Y.)

Kitchen Klenzer

(Fitzpatrick Bros., Chicago, III.) Old Dutch Cleanser

(Cudahy Packing Co., Omaha Neb.) Pal Products Co. Products

(Brooklyn, N.Y.) • Lustro Polishing Powder My Pal • Palco Polish Powder Pal-Lo

Salt • Mögen David Kosher Salt

(Carey Salt Co., Hutchinson, Kansas) Morton Salt Co. Products

(Chicago, III.) • Morton Coarse Kosher Salt • Morton Fine Table Salt • Morton Iodized Salt International Salt Co. Products

(Scranton, Pa.) • Bed Cross Fine Table Salt • Sterling Fine Table Salt • Sterling Kosher Coarse Salt

Sandwich Spread

Shortening Durkee Vegetable Shortening

(bulk, only) .. (Durkee Famous Foods, N.Y.) @P Garber’s Misrochi Pareve Fat (Garber Eagle Oil Co.) Humko

(The Ilumko Co., Memphis, Tenn.) © P Nut-Ola Vegetable Shortening (Nut-Ola Fat Prod., N.Y.)

Lunch Box

(Table Prod. Co.; Safeway)

Soups Scouring Powder (See also Household Cleansers) B. T. Babbit Co. Products Bab-o Babbitt's Cleanser Cameo Cleanser

(Cameo Corp.) Colgate-Palmolive-Peet Co. Products • Ajax Ben Hur (bulk only)

© P Gold’s

(Gold Pure Fgod Prod., Byklyn, N. Y.)

© P Borscht Bussel - Schav Heinz

. (H. J. Heinz Co.) Cream of Mushroom Condensed Creani of Mushroom Condensed Cream of Green Pea

(Cgnt. neopt page)

UOJC KASHRUTH DIRECTORY

(y)

All items listed below bear the @ seal. Items listed @ P are Kosher for Passover when bearing this or other UOJC A Passover Hechsher on label. Items listed • are Kosher for Passover without Passover Hechsher on label. ■* indicates new © endorsement

Soups leont'd.l Clpndensed Gumbo Creole jCjoil dense d Cream of Tomato 'Condensed Vegetarian Vegetable Tomato Creamed Green Vegetable Mothers

(Mother’s Food Prod.) @P Borscht Cream Style Borscht Cream Style Schav Mushroom and Barley Queen Esther Ready-To-Serve Kosher Soup

(Linda Foods, Inc., Newark, N.J.)

Spices © P Garber’s Misrochi (Oxirber Eagle Oil Co.) *©P Gentry Paprika

(Gentry, Inc., Los Angeles, Cal.)

Sugar @p Refined Syrups & Sugars, Inc.

Tziiith WOOLEN Leon Vogel

(66 Allen St., N.Y.C.) M. Wolozin & Co.

(36 Eldridge St., N.Y.C.) Zion Tallis Co.

(48 Eldridge St, N.Y.C.) RAYO N, FOR RAYO N TA LE YTH IM M. Wolozin & Co.

Vegetables Serto Brand Selected Garlic

(Scaramelli & Co., N.Y.C.)

Vegetables — Dehydrated I bulk only I ©P Basic Vegetable Prod.' (San Francisco, Cal.) ©P Gentry, Inc. {Los Angeles, Calif.)

(Yonkers, N.Y.) ©P Flo-Sweet Liquid Sugar © P Hudson Valley Refined Granulated Sugar

Vinegar © P Garber’s Misrochi

{Garber Eagle Oil Co.)

Syrup Sleepy Hollow

(Table Prod. Co.; Safeway)

Tomato Juice Heinz

{H. J. Heinz Co.)

Heinz

(JET. J. Heinz Co.) Cider Malt Tarragon White Rex Amber Old Mill

{Table Prod. Co.)

0

STRICTLV KOSHER! FELSO washes clothing better, washes dishes better, washes everything better.

<8> a product of Fels & Co., makers of vashing products for over half a century

le Seal of Approval of JEWISH C O N G R E G A T IO N S OF AM ERIC A

G U A RAN TEED

Kosher and “Parve L O O K FOR THE ON EACH P AC KA GE A S THE S Y M B O L OF R A B B I N I C A L S U P E R V I S I O N f t -'01 O f

THE T H O U S A N D

WiNiOW BAKERY

B isfttits

New VEL ends 90% of dishwashing work! Just soak and rinse! Dishes gleam without washing or wiping. The only suds you need for dairy and meat dishes. Vel is a miracle of mildness for fine fabrics—your hands.

AJAX Scouring Cleanser with “Foaming Action” Foams as it cleans all types of tile, porcelain surfaces, pots and pans up to 50% faster, with half the effort!

N EW IMPROVED

FA B — the greatest “No-Rinse” suds of all! Gets clothes whiter without bleaching than any other “no-rinse” suds with bleach in the wash water. ALL OF THESE FINE PRODUCTS BEAR THE SEAL OF APPROVAL OF THE UNION OF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA

COLGAT E - PAL MOL IVE - PE E T COMPANY