Jewish Life Jan-Feb 1966

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Vol. XXXIII, No. 3 /

Jan.-Feb. 1966

/

Shevat-Adar 5726 .Y'3

THE EDITOR’S VIEW REPEL THE WEAPON OF FEAR .......................

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S aul B ernstein , Editor

ARTICLES R abbi S. J. S harfman L ibby K laperman F aul H. B aris

Editorial Associates D vora M inder

... Editorial Assistant JEWISH LIFE is published bi-monthly. Subscription two years $4.50, three years $6.00, four years $7.50. Foreign: Add 25 cents per year.

THE SHULCHON ORUCH— 400 YEARS LATER / Ralph Pelcovitz........................................

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A DIALOGUE ON DAVENING / Bernard Merllng ....................................... 12 RABBI JACOB REINES — TORAH STATESMAN AND EDUCATIONAL TRAILBLAZER / Aryeh Newman .. 20 EAST SIDE CHRONICLE / David S t e in .............. 26

Editorial and Publication Office: 84 Fifth Avenue New York 10011, N. Y. ALgonquin 5-4100

THE SASSOON TREASURES / Harry Rabinowicz ... 42 JEWS IN MOROCCO PAST AND PRESENT Z A * Jacob Beller ...........................................

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Published by U nion of Orthodox Jewish C ongregations of A merica M oses I. F euerstein

President B e n ja m in K o e n ig s b e r g , Nathan K. Gross, Harold M. Jacobs, Joseph Karasick, Harold H. Boxer, Vice Pres­ idents', J o e l S c h n e ie r s o n , Treasurer; HerZl Rosenson, Secretary; David Politi, Fi­ nancial ¡Secretary.

BOOK REVIEWS D0VID HAMELECH IN SPIRITUAL CONTEXT / Sherman D. S i f t ........................................

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WHERE DOES THE GUILT LIE? / Hillal Seidman .... 65

DEPARTMENTS AMONG OUR CONTRIBUTORS .........................

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Dr. Samson R. Weiss Executive Vice President Saul Bernstein, Administrator

Cover and Inside Drawings by Alan Zwiebel

Second Class Postage paid at Mew York, N. Y.

Photos on page 55, 59 courtesy of the Joint Distribution Committee.

©Copyright 1965 by UNION OF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA

January-February 1966

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DR. HARRY RABINOWICZ, a prolific writer residing in England, has recently completed his fifth book------“The Legacy of Polish Jewry.” Aside from his literary activities, Dr. Rabinowicz serves as rabbi of the Dollis Hills Syna­ gogue in London and is a member of the Central Examin­ ing Board of Jews’ College and Examiner for the London Board of Jewish Religious Education. DAVID STEIN was born, reared, and still makes his home on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Intimately familiar with the life and lore of this famed locale, he was educated at the Rabbi Jacob Joseph School and Mesivta Torah Vodaath. A former president of the Young Israel of Manhat­ tan, Mr. Stein has contributed articles to several Yiddish, Hebrew, and English-language periodicals. JACOB BELLER counts four continents among his jour­ nalistic travels and retells his visits to various Jewish com­ munities in the Yiddish and English press. His past con­ tributions in our pages have revealed the life of Jews in Ecuador, Italy, Spain, Argentina, and many other lands. In this issue Mr. Beller takes our readers with him to ex­ amine the situation of the Jews in Morocco.

among our ARYEH NEWMAN, a graduate of the Gateshead Yeshivah in England, holds an M.A. degree in English literature contributors from Cambridge University. Currently residing in Jeru­ salem, Mr. Newman lectures at the Hebrew University while also serving as Director of the English program of the Torah Education Department of the Jewish Agency.

RABBI RALPH PELCOVITZ is spiritual leader of the “White School,” Congregation Knesseth Israel, in Far Rockaway. He will be remembered by our readers for his “The Challenge of College,” “Who Is the Orthodox Jew,” and “Wanted: An American Orthodox Image” in previous issues of J e w i s h L i f e . Rabbi Pelcovitz now treats of the historical and intellectual bases for the Shulchon Oruch, upon this year’s 400th anniversary since the appearance of that everlasting code of Jewish life. BERNARD MERLING received semichah from Mesivta Torah Vodaath and was graduated (summa cum laude) from the City College of New York, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Now a partner in his own Fifth Avenue advertising agency, Mr. Merling is a former editor of Olomeinu, published by Torah Umesorah and was director of publications for that organization.

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JEW ISH LIFE

THE EDITOR'S VIEW Repel the Weapon of Fear JjlE A R . That one word tells why a community of over two-and-ahalf million Jews is being extirpated in the Soviet Union, while the whole world looks on. Now and again a cry of protest rises from the environs of a surviving Moscow synagogue, rais­ ing agitated echoes afar. Beyond Soviet borders consciences stir uneasily, but give vent to little more than sputters of indigna­ tion, heard now here, now there. Meanwhile the evil task, ar­ mored in its weapon of fear, goes remorselessly on. A centuriesold community, an entire folk, a faith that withstood Czarist op­ pression, under sentence of doom—according to plan, pursuant to dialectically determined purpose and schedule. And this while the world shrinks in shame from the inescapable nightmare memory of the Holocaust. But this time no Auschwitz, no Treblinka or “deportation” trains or, as yet, Warsaw Ghetto, no oceans of blood, no gas chambers. Here death is bloodless, si­ lent, enshrouded in utter fear. Delegations and missions of enquiry follow each other to the Soviet Union in rapid succession, each returning with the same stunned, stupefying report: Soviet Jewry is being ruthMuted lessly destroyed. And the miasma of frozen fear clings to Voices the returned investigators, reducing open voices to comer-ofthe-mouth whispers. Chancelleries of the several nations and forces of the left and forces of the right alike insist, in un­ wonted unison: let voices be muted, let there be no sensational action; the sensitive complexities of international affairs, after all, are not to be aggravated on mere Jewish account. The African situation, the Asian situation, the USSR-China situa­ tion, the Viet Nam situation, the Negro situation—surely we are to understand that in the face of these priority considerations, the Soviet Jewish situation is expendable. And with habituated docility Jewish voices join in the chorus on all the issues that press so undeniably hard on the tormented nuclear-age world— ringing loud as any other voices, but not nearly so loud or so ringing about the death sentence of Soviet Jewry. Not, to be just to ourselves, that we have failed of a measure of . . . ex­ postulation. We do indeed protest, we demonstrate, we hold Spare-Time vigils and issue pronouncements, we make and we hear speeches, Protest all with starched collar restraint and in such fractions of our time as can decently be spared from “ongoing affairs.” E are iii fact crippled by fear, and hiding from it. Every vista of militant action is circumscribed by fear—fear that the wrath of Soviet rulers would bring yet more dire con­ sequences upon their victims; fear that the displeasure of Free

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World and Iron Curtain policy-makers alike would have adverse effect on policy toward Israel; fear, even, that ,the disapproval of liberal and pro-Soviet elements would be incurred if this issue were pressed as no less a charge upon public duty than is the cause of civil rights for victims of racial discrimination, to be addressed with like effort. Fear, to whatever extent justified, is not policy. It will not serve to aid Soviet Jewry—or ourselves, for Jewish life is in­ divisible. F Free World Jews are so beset with fear, how much the more must those in the Soviet grip be locked in terror. We Iscarcely need to be told further, through yet another “fact-find­ ing” group consisting of a rabbi and several Christian clergy­ men recently returned from a visit to Moscow and Leningrad, that while “the Greek Orthodox Church in the USSR, the Bap­ tists, and the Roman Catholic Church continually press for privileges granted them under Government ‘guidelines’ . . . the Jewish leaders are afraid of reprisals,” However dubious may Under be the reality of the “privileges” purportedly granted all reli­ Threat gions under the USSR Constitution, there remains scarcely even of " Reprisal" a pretense that Jews may claim, not to speak of demand, such privileges. With all the vast following that the Christian churches still count within the Soviet realm, and with the tremendous strength and influence of the Christian world beyond to be reck­ oned with by the Soviet rulers, the position of the Christian communities in the Soviet Union is nevertheless one of grave difficulty. That of the Russian Jewish community, for obvious reasons, is incomparably more difficult. Under the grim circum­ stances, there can be no illusion as to why Jewish leadership in the Soviet Union avoids action which could provide excuse for the “reprisals” which Soviet leaders may be disposed to un­ leash. The calamity, then, cannot be facilely put in terms of “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” There is all too real basis for fear. But fear, if unmastered, will be the weapon of destruction. The Passive restraint, in given circumstances, can be highest cour­ Ultimate age and best course. In a different context, it can be tacit sub­ Issue mission to criminal purpose— and this, in effect, is complicity. We are bidden to preserve life, yet we may not yield it un­ challenged to the destroyer’s will. We must face up to the ques­ tion: Does the unfolding tragedy now call for the courage of restraint or the courage of action? For the Jews of the Free World at least, events dictate that we may not rest on moral gesture. There come times when moral duty and sheer necessity leave no alternative but to bat­ tle, even against terrible odds, for very life; and in such alter­ native the battle is to be waged with single purpose and with every resource. This is such a time. ------- S. B.

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JEW ISH LIFE

The Shulchon Orach 400 Years Later By R A L P H P E L C O V IT Z

HE ‘‘Shulchon Oruch” today rep­ hamper the development of Talmudic resents the code of law accepted scholarship. In spite of these reserva­ by world Jewry regulating normative tions, the Shulchon Oruch became Judaism. Though there are still those rooted in K’lal Yisroel and overcame who fulminate against this “set table” all opposition with the force of an of law by Rabbi Yoseph Karo, and idea whose time had come. the “cloth” spread over it by Rabbi UCH of the initial opposition Mosheh Isserles, there are none who and criticism, which came from can ignore it. The general acceptance and ratification by the Jewish people authentic Torah authorities, was due of the Shulchon Oruch does not mean to a misunderstanding of Karo’s meth­ that it was unanimously hailed at its ods, style, and intent. Opposition inception. When first published 400 which came, however, from other years ago, there were many who cas­ sources, and which appears to this tigated and criticized the Shulchon very day in some history books, was Oruch while others feared its effect. not motivated by the same sincere A man of the stature of Mordechai misgivings. These detractors, who Yophah, better known as the “L’vush,” seem determined to downgrade the called it “a sealed book, a dream Shulchon Oruch, are perhaps best rep­ without interpretation” because the resented by the attitude manifested in author did not give reasons or Abram L. Sachar’s “History of the sources for his decisions. It is inter­ Jews” (4th edition, 1953) where the esting to note that the same criticism historic work of Karo is relegated to a had been levelled against the Ram- few derogatory paragraphs. In a chap­ bam (Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, Mai- ter headed “Degeneration” (sic!), the monides) in his time, upon publica­ author characterizes the publication tion of the “Mishneh Torah,” his his­ of the Code of Laws as a reflection toric compendium of the entire Halo- of the “intellectual and spiritual deg­ radation” of the 16th century! Karo’s chah. Others feared that the comparative­ work, according to this writer, circum­ ly easy accessibility to the halochah scribed Jewish life, put Judaism in a pesukah, the definitive law, would strait-jacket and checked the healthy discourage study of the Talmud and growth of religious thought helping

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in the general demoralization of Juda­ ism . . . The audacity and arrogance reflected in this evaluation of the Shulchon Oruch is surpassed only by the ignorance and intellectual dishon­ esty it reveals. Such critics of the Shulchon Oruch seem akin to the book reviewer who admitted in the later years of his career that he never read a book he was assigned to re­ view so as to remain objective in his judgment. N spite of early and late stricture the Shulchon Oruch has taken its rightful place in Israel and this year the 400th anniversary of its publica­ tion in Venice (5725-1965) is being observed throughout the Jewish world. The four centuries that have passed since this great event have been marked by massive change and con­ tinual challenge. Amidst universal up­ heaval, our people has been subjected to destruction, disruption, and radi­ cal geographic dislocation. Coupled with momentous historic events have been revolutionary technological de­ velopments, intellectual ferment, and social and political upheaval which profoundly affect all mankind, includ­ ing world Jewry. It is therefore im­ perative that we examine the origin, significance, and relevance of this 400-year-old work and interpret it to a generation that, enamored with the new, equates the old with the anti­ quated. We must attempt not only to celebrate an anniversary but explain a code of law to a generation seem­ ingly committed to a spirit of revolt against any “establishment”—impa­ tient with restraints and restrictions and unhappy with disciplines and de­ mands. Our age is marked by laxity in ob­

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servance of Jewish law, harassment of Halochah and defiance of Halachic authority. The attention given to the Shulchon Oruch after the passage of four centyries should serve as a means to strengthen Torah authority and above all to reveal the continuity of Halochah and its relevance to our age.

ORDER AMIDST CHANGE NUMBER of years ago, A. N. Whitehead perceptively stated: A “The art of progress is to preserve order midst change and to preserve change midst order.” This is applica­ ble to Torah law as well and must be appreciated in any discussion of the Shulchon Oruch. The codification of law was motivated by the need for or­ der in halochah Vmaaseh (practical de­ cisions) in a world beset by continu­ ing crises of change. At the same time the instruments of change, in the sense of application of Torah princi­ ples to new developments within the ordered framework of the Shulchon Oruch, is ever available and opera­ tive. These constant, continuing appli­ cations are found in the vast litera­ ture of Sh’eloth and T’shuvoth—the replies by rabbinic authorities to the Halachic questions submitted by in­ quiring individuals and communities. This responsa represents a never-end­ ing process of Halochah, in keeping with the very meaning of this word— which is to “walk? or “go.” This compelling need for order in the midst of change is reflected by Karo himself. He reveals his motiva­ tion for devoting his life to Halochah early in the scholarly efforts which resulted in his first monumental work —the “Beth Yoseph.” He states in his JEW ISH LIFE

preface to that work: “ . . . and with ing. This decision gains added signifi­ the passing days, as we are cast from cance when we consider the great re­ vessel to vessel, and in our dispersion spect, admiration, and concern for the are subjected to constant harassment Mishneh Torah of Maimonides ex­ and suffering . . . our Torah becomes pressed by Karo in his “Kesef Mish­ not only two Torahs [a Talmudic ex­ neh” where he defends the Rambam pression denoting a lack of unity and against his critics and laboriously unanimity among the Jews] but To- traces the Talmudic sources of the roth without number!”,The fear was Rambam’s decisions. Maimonides not only that the Torah would be for­ himself had not set forth these sources gotten and the practical law become in the text of the Mishneh Torah. clouded and confused, but that as a result of exile the unity of Jewish pur­ N his introduction to the Beth Yo­ pose and conduct would deteriorate seph, Karo states: “It was my and the very existence of the Jews be original intention to append this com­ threatened. Whereas others who were mentary to the Rambam, however I as concerned as Karo chose each his determined not to do so since he states own solution—Yaakov Berav by re­ but one opinion. I, therefore, felt it introducing the traditional “s’michah,” would be proper to write this com­ the mystics of Safed by attempting to mentary to the Tur, who incorporates hasten the advent of Moshiach—Karo a number of opinions and varied de­ perceived that only by unifying the cisions of authorities.” This statement law could the people be unified; only of Karo indicates his concern for a by preserving the law could the peo­ broad base upon which to establish ple of Israel be preserved. the p’sak halochah. It also marks the importance of establishing a clearly OSEPH KARO was born in the defined link and connection from the year 5248 (1488 C.E.) and after law back to the source. That which living in Spain, Portugal, and Turkey moved Karo to compose the Kesef settled in the Holy Land in the city Mishneh—namely to demonstrate that of Safed. There he completed the the Rambam does derive all his de­ magnum opus he had begun in Golah cisions from the Talmud, that there —the Beth Yoseph. This exhaustive is a source for every law and that codification of Jewish law and prac­ halachic decision is not rootless—is tice established Yoseph Karo as the precisely what causes him not to ap­ outstanding Torah scholar and Jewish pend his major work—the Beth Yolegalist of his time. It is written in sephjfto the Rambam but rather to the form of a commentary on the the Tur! For though Maimonides does •A rbaah Turim” (“Four Rows”) of have ample proof in the Talmud and Rabbi Yaakov Ben Asher (1280- from the accepted classical decisors 1343). The reason Karo chose to of Jewish law for his decisions, these write his commentary on the Tur derivations however are not explicit­ rather than the Rambam—who was ly set forth by him as they are in the better known and had preceded the Tur. Jewish law, to be authoritative, Tur with his Mishneh Torah by two authentic, and acceptable as Torah centuries—is important and reveal- law, must emphatically establish con-

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tinuity with the written and oral To­ rah if it is to be valid and valued. The Shulchon Oruch, which is the abbreviated, shorter version of the Beth Yoseph, is the distillation and quintessence of Torah law—but never divorced or severed from the source. Hence an intelligent understanding, and certainly any interpretation and application of the Shulchon Oruch, is impossible without a thorough knowl­ edge of the Talmud and its commen­ tators. The intention of Karo, unlike that of the Rambam who states that his Mishneh Torah will preclude the need for any other study save that of the written Torah, was never to sup­ plant the study of the Talmud and the great m ’forshim. Its purpose was to present, in clear and concise lan­ guage, those selections from the Beth Yoseph that would permit all to reach a decision in law with dispatch and confidence. As delicious food is set on a table, accessible to all, so was this spiritual and intellectual handbook of refer­ ence, to be studied and savored by each according to his understanding and capabilities—novice and seasoned scholar alike. Toward this aim and to this purpose the Shulchon Oruch was composed and met with great success for indeed “the teachings of Rabbi Yoseph are kav v’noki, “sifted and clear.” OLLOWING the lead of the Tur, Karo divided his Shulchon Oruch into four sections, using the same de­ scriptive titles. Orach Chayim, the “Way of Life,” discusses the laws of the synagogue service, prayers, and blessings; the Sabbath; the festivals; and the fasts. The second section is Yoreh Deah, “Teacher of Knowl­

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edge,” comprising the dietary laws, ritual purity, charity, honor of par­ ents, respect for teachers, and laws of mourning. Even Haezer, “The Stone of Help,” contains the laws of marriage and divorce. The conclud­ ing volume, Choshen Mishpot, “The Breastplate of Judgment,” sets forth legal procedure and all civil and criminal law.

APPLYING LAW TO LIFE As mentioned previously, in the Beth Yoseph, Karo traces in a thor­ ough manner the Talmudic sources for all the laws in the Tur. This is done to indicate that behind the code of law stands the Talmud. The line of tradition establishes the source of authority, going back to Sinai and the Revelation of the Torah by G-d to Moses. Any codification must have its roots in Torah, if it is to be ac­ cepted by the people. In the Shul­ chon Oruch, however, since it is a condensation of the laws discussed in the Beth Yoseph, the presentation is succinct and brief, apparently with the implied assumption that every scholar will study the source—if it be only the Beth Yoseph. Karo was not completely success­ ful in his goal of writing an authori­ tative code reflecting the uniform practice of K’lal Yisroel. Since he used as his major sources the Alfasi (Rabbi Yitzchok Alfasi, 1013-1103), the Rambam (1134-1204), and the Rosh ( Rabbi Asher ben Yechiel, 1250-1327) who were giants of the Sephardic school, it was felt that he had ignored, or rarely included, the laws, customs, and practices of the Franco-German school. Hence the Ashkenazic community found it diffiJEW ISH LIFE

cult to accept his code as final and definitive. Fortunately, a younger con­ temporary of his, Rabbi Moses Isserles (Ramah), of Poland, undertook the task of writing glosses which were subsequently included in all editions of the Shulohon Oruch. These glosses presented the customs which were fol­ lowed by the Ashkenazim, the Jews living in western, central, and eastern Europe, as distinguished from those followed by the Sephardim, the Jews of Spain and Portugal and the com­ munities of North Africa and the East. Thanks to those additions of the Ramah the Shulchon Oruch be­ came the accepted standard, authori­ tative code of laws of world Jewry. HE Shulchon Oruch has proven T to be the greatest single cohesive force in Judaism: It has provided a uniformity of purpose and action help­ ing to preserve us amid diversive loy­ alties and ever-changing time. Historically, the Shulchon Oruch came to the fore when it was most needed. It came at a time of great disruption and despair in Jewish life. The expulsion of Jews from Spain and other countries, followed by po­ groms in eastern Europe, which in turn were followed by the period of the false Messiahs—all these threat­ ened to confuse the Jewish mind, to corrode Jewish consciousness, and to undermine Jewish loyalty. The Shul­ chon Oruch as it became sufficiently crystalized and rooted in the main­ stream of Jewish life served to stem this climate of destruction and de­ cline. In a period of fragmentation, and in some cases of disintegration, the Shulchon Oruch gave to the Jews that desperately-needed common de­ nominator keeping them steadfast to January-February 1966

a common code of practice and con­ duct. Of course, this could never have been unless the constituency of To­ rah, the Jewish people itself, were to accept this codification of Jewish law. Their ratification in the form of ac­ ceptance, approval, and adherence was necessary and forthcoming as well. However, although the role of the people is basic, the power to ex­ plicate, interpret, and apply was al­ ways accorded to the Torah author­ ities of each generation who were rec­ ognized and accepted by the people. These Torah authorities in turn were men not only of great intelligence and wisdom but also of profound piety and reverence. To this very day the interpretation of the law must be within the framework of the law, which in itself is sufficiently flexible so that it can be applied to every exi­ gency and the most radical changes. HE development of Halochah T through the ages has followed a course of applying law to life—not “adapting” law to the vagaries of cir­ cumstances but rather moulding life’s conditions to the constants of Torah. Change need not confuse, though it may challenge. The basic principles of law can come to grips with the problems of each age. We do not con­ form the Halochah to the needs or demands of the age; rather we inter­ pret the law, so as to apply it to the needs and requirements of each era and thus elevate life to the Torah standard. It is a delicate and complex area, hence the masters of Halochah are prudent and wisely cautious, which should not be confused with procras­ tination or cowardice. 9

MITZVAH AND KAVONAH The discipline of law is personified in the author of the Shulchon Oruch himself. Karo was not only the great Talmudist and legalist, he was also a mystic who was attracted to the Kabbolah and was greatly influenced by the mystics of Safed. Legend claims that a mystical spirit called “the Magid,” the Mishnah personi­ fied, spoke to him very often and urged him on in his sacred labors. One is moved to accept this claim, for what Karo did for his time is comparable with what Rabbi Yehudah the Prince, the editor of the Mishnah, had done for his. Yet there are many, including traditionalists, who question the authenticity of this tradition. Let it be noted, however, that just as, in the case of Rambam, the dis­ cipline of the Torah mind overrode and transcended the rational and rea­ soned tendency of his nature, so did the discipline of law transcend and override the mystical nature of Karo. In neither instance did disposition or inclination interfere with clarity of thought or deep faith in the truth of G-d’s revealed Torah as elucidated by the Sages. The authority of revealed and reasoned law is supreme to these great men in whom we find a strange but wonderful blending. Submission to G-d’s word and will, complete selfeffacement and humility when con­ fronted by the revelation of law, cou­ pled with the courage and strength to be a posek—to determine firmly and unequivocally the verdict of Halochah! Torah life, so completely guided and controlled by the Shulchon Oruch, may superficially seem to

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many a life devoted to external d£eds, where man is judged by the number and frequency of his ritual acts, the mitzvoth he performs, with little re­ gard to his character as a human be­ ing or to his role as a person living in the society of man. Nothing could be further from the truth! Mitzvoth serve to refine us, to temper our souls, discipline our bodies, and train our minds. The law is the way; halochah y as noted above, comes from the root word holoch, to go or walk. Torah means “teaching.” The Torah and Halochah teach man how to walk in the ways of G-d in the midst of men. The law itself is the greatest teacher of ethics and morality. When prop­ erly understood and performed, the mitzvoth are the great refiner, grant­ ing grace, sensitivity, and decency. HE intent, Kavonah, the quality T of inwardness and devotion in performance of religious acts is also of decisive importance. Every act of man must be saturated with the spir­ it, replete with religiosity, since it is the soul of the Mitzvah which in turn is like the body, and without Kavo­ nah the Mitzvah becomes like a body without a soul. The law, however, must speak of practical performance and rarely of inner devotion. This is because the latter cannot be com­ manded, it cannot be ordered, hence it must be developed by man himself. The action can be regulated, man’s thoughts or emotions cannot: but it is precisely the regularity of action, the discipline of duties, which work upon the inner resources of the Jew’s neshomah and awaken the Kavonah. George F. Moore showed much in­ sight when he said that Judaism rep­ resents “a community of observance, JEW ISH LIFE

to compose the Shulchon Oruch are still pertinent in our time and indeed have increased considerably. The need for one Torah, for a degree of uniformity of purpose and action, for a code that unifies, is real and rele­ vant. Indeed the passage of time has served to underscore the great im­ portance of this code which has not, as some feared, discouraged the study of Torah and Talmud but rather in­ creased and enlarged the interest in the sources of the code. The Shulchon Oruch has fulfilled the dream and hope of Karo that this table be set in every Jewish home so that those who so desire shall partake of its delicacies—set as it is on the cloth of the Ramah and amplified and clarified by those who followed. Each succeeding generation, through Responsa, certainly expands the boun­ daries and enlarges the horizons of Karo whom we honor on his 400th anniversary. Whether this anniversary will be a meaningful one depends upon us. A wise saying of Judge Learned Hand can be adapted so well to the Jewish scene: -Freedom will not survive in the constitution if it already has died in the hearts of the people.” To par­ aphrase this, simply substitute “Halochah-’ for “freedom” and “Torah” for * * * “constitution.” It is our never-ending task to keep the Law alive—not only HE problems besetting the House in the Torah but in the hearts of our of Israel which motivated Karo people.

not of belief.” As is often true of pithy remarks, aphorisms, and epi­ grams, this contains much truth and wisdom but not all. For we are a peo­ ple of faith, of emunah, but this vital virtue, this ephemeral emotion, this imperative premise, must be mani­ fested and given concrete form— hence observance, fulfillment of com­ mandments; hence, the paramount role of law, so that the Jew may know what to do, not only what to believe—how to observe, not only why. Observance is training, it forms and fashions man through action, act­ ing on his character, his heart, his emotions, and his mind. It is the Halochah which shapes him into a rec­ ognizable Jew. This is the true mean­ ing of functional Judaism as opposed to what may be called national or sentimental Judaism. It is told that Rabbi Israel of Rozhin was once asked why, while the Chumosh consists of five books, the Shulchon Oruch has but four vol­ umes. Where is the missing part? He answered: Without man—his heart and soul—the law is meaningless and hollow. The missing part is man him­ self. With man’s contribution of self the Shulchon Oruch becomes as com­ plete as the Pentateuch.

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January-February 1966

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From the early days of large-scale American Jewish immigration, the uncontrolled, unguided proliferation of orthodox synagogues and shtibelach has been a familiar characteristic of the Kehillah-less American Jewish scene. In blithe disregard of traditional community cohesion, new congregations would again and again be instituted side by side with established synagogues. For all the virtues of diverse individuality, the pattern of shool-next-to-a-shool frag­ mentation has spelt weakness and incoherence, tragically impairing the capacity to meet the challenge of time and environment and to serve vital common interests. The situation played into the eager hands of secularism, Reform and Conservatism. Only after many years of heavy loss, only after one splintered synagogue after another had disintegrated or had been seduced by heterodox forces, did the imperative need for consolidation find practical response. There then ensued a turning to the concept of the community orthodox synagogue, merging in a single unit the resources of several struggling congregations, with a program and equipment which only consolidation could permit. In recent years, this changed pattern has largely prevailed-f^-to the extent, some feel, that an un­ healthy extreme has been reached in this case too. And simultaneously the Shtibel has re-emerged, rising from new roots. The immigration which immediately preceded and followed World War 11 brought the final gift from a martyred European Jewry— Jews whose heart and soul fealty to Torah, tried in the burning cauldron, is a force of great strength. Most, whether finding their place in existing congregations or remain­ ing grouped in their own distinctive communities, have secured a role in eco­ nomic and social life. Particular difficulty, however, has been experienced by some who had served in their lands of origin as rabbis, scholars, or rebbeim and who cannot adopt any other mode of life. It is to the discredit of Amer­ ican Jewry that it has established all too limited means for utilizing the inval­ uable resource of spirit and learning which these men represent. So— in many instances they are pressed to the alternative of creating a role for themselves, through the establishment of their own shtibelach. Thus there has latterly arisen on the skirts of the synagogues in the larger American Jewish communities shtibel after shtibel, each with its own rebbe, each drawing upon the nearby synagogue for supporters and worshippers to supple­ ment the following drawn from his previous locale. The development has been viewed with dismay by orthodox Jews alert to the painful lessons of history. By and large, they see in it a repetition of the pattern which wreaked havoc in the past and from which orthodox American Jewry is still, painfully, emerging. But there is another side to the story, an altogether different vantage point from which to gauge the shtib el development. All too rarely is the situation as viewed by the rebbe himself presented in articulate form to the community at large. We are all the more pleased, therefore, to present to our readers the chal­ lenging “Dialogue” offered in the following pages.—Editor 12

JEW ISH LIFE

A Dialogue on Davening By B E R N A R D M E R L IN G

NOTE: The dialogue here recorded never took place— except in the author's imagination. It is merely a device to present some arguments, pro and con, relating to the subject. Hence, any seeming similarity to specific people, places, and things is unintentional and immaterial. B. M.

HE REBBE: I’ve taken a calcu­ the saying goes, some of my best T lated risk in asking you to come friends daven in shtibelach . . . includ­ here tonight. You may have guessed ing myself, occasionally. It’s just that that I want to talk to you about davening in my Bes Hamedrash . . . and it is entirely possible, if not prob­ able, that you will leave here tonight convinced of only one thing—namely, that I am nothing but a self-seeking “businessman,” whose business just happens to be a shool, and that I am interested only in bolstering my in­ come. Of course, you are entitled to any conclusions you wish to make, but I hope that you could perhaps suspend judgment on my motives un­ til you have evaluated the merits of my arguments. Aren’t these the rules of the game among the “intelligent” and the “enlightened”? Or are “openmindedness” and “fair-mindedness” permitted only when used against the “old order”? I: With all due respect, there is no need for the heavy sarcasm. After all, I am not one of the “opposition.” As January-February 1966

I think . . . I feel . . . right now, con­ sidering the community and all that . . . that my place is in a large com­ munity shool. . . . At any rate, you can rely on me to give your arguments a fair hearing. It may be immodest of me, but I do pride myself on my intellectual objectivity. Certainly I’m not prejudiced against you. T h e r e b b e : Well, thank G-d for that. It seems there just isn’t enough prejudice to go around these days. Well, then, let me get on with it. . . . Let me ask you this: Can you give me any reason why you should daven in a shtibel such as mine? I: Well, I guess so. . . . It’s really an obvious one. It’s the air . . . the atmosphere. There’s a certain warmth, a certain warm-blooded liveliness about davening in a shtibel. That mod­ ern malady of squelching one’s emo­ tions has not yet invaded the shtibel. 13

Here one sings out when one is happy and cries out when one is sad, sighs aloud when one is weary and is not ashamed to beseech and implore in a way that sounds like he means it! You are among people who live, who breathe, who feel—and are not afraid to show it! And no uppity usher, sanctimoniously defending dignity and decorum, gives you an admonishing, self-righteous stare if you dare to shout out a passage that may have some special meaning for you, or if you are moved (when it is permissible according to the Shulchon Oruch) to tell your neighbor a gut vort on the Sedrah. Somehow, I have, the feeling that I’m not doing something real, not just acting out a role in a cere­ mony. If a song is sung, it’s more likely to resemble a lively peasant dance than the choral trilling of an operetta. In a shtibel I never get the feeling that I am watching a perform­ ance—composed of equal parts of si­ lent devotion, musical interlude and polished monologue. Why, in some of the more modern shool structures, even the architecture says that one is here to attend a performance! The jutting stage is the center of attrac­ tion and all the seats are arranged with an eye to an unobstructed view. Since when is it the function of a house of prayer to afford the congregant an un­ obstructed view? I always thought that in a shool “one’s eye should be di­ rected downward and one’s heart up­ ward”—not the other way around. T h e r e b b e : You’re a writer by profession, aren’t you? I: Yes, sort of. T h e r e b b e : I see now why you are successful in your work. You express yourself quite well. So well, in fact, that I can’t understand you. 14

I: Well, that’s a paradox—or do you mean it to be? T h e r e b b e : What I mean is that you speak so eloquently and so mean­ ingfully about the good points of davening in a shtibel, and yet you yourself don’t do so. Can you unrid­ dle that one for me? I: Not too easily, I’m afraid, but I’ll try. You see, I’m really conflicted about the whole matter. On the one hand, I can truly see the advantages of davening in a shtibel, but I can also see the arguments of those who say one should belong to and daven in a large community synagogue. For example, there’s the matter of com­ munity spirit, of al tifrosh min hatzibur, of not keeping aloof from the community as a whole. And you must admit that, in this community at least, the shtibel is an “offshoot,” sort of a separatist “sect,” if I may use that much-maligned word. T h e r e b b e : Now, now—let’s just stop right here. You said something before about your being logical and fair-minded. Well, let’s examine this for a moment. Since when does the majority of a community assume the role of the entire community? You above all, as an American steeped in the traditions of democracy, should realize that all segments of a commu­ nity have an equal right to exist and be considered part of the community as a whole. You are just as commu­ nity-minded when you belong to our shtibel as you would be as a member of the big shool! Am I being logical thus far? I: Yes, I suppose so, but what about al tifrosh min hatzibur, withdrawing from the group, setting up your own “stand” down the block? And is it not true that by doing so you siphon off JEW ISH LIFE

N some of the very forces that might tend to improve the general religious “tone” of the community shool? T h e r e b b e : T o answer your first question first^-may I respectfully sug­ gest that you are not learning the cor­ rect p’shat in Hillers famous dictum. A l tifrosh min hatzibur means that one should not cut oneself off from the Jewish community, to abandon the Jewish w y of life, to refuse to share his Jewish brethren’s lot, to save one’s own skhi by deserting them in times of tribulation. It does not mean, as you would imply, that one may not seek one's own path to religious serv­ ice—as long as he remains within the realm of Torah and Halochah. Spe­ cifically, it does not mean that one may not establish another House of Prayer if one already exists in a com­ munity. Learn through the laws per­ taining to the synagogue (Orach Chaim, sections 150-155) and you will not find a single prohibition against opening a synagogue, no mat­ ter how many others there are. Sure­ ly our poskim did not overlook this principle you cherish so much. And if you reflect that when ten people get together for a holy purpose they themselves constitute a tzibur, can’t we say that al tifrosh works the other way around? A group of 100 is not more “tzibur” than a group of 10. I: And what about “B ’rov om hadras melecW>:iLAhai the glory of the King is enhanced by a multitude of people? Wouldn’t it be more glorious to have one congregation with a greater multitude than many congre­ gations with fewer congregants? T h e r e b b e : A s a lamdan you real­ ize, of course, that the principle of B ’rov om hadras melech has limited application in the Halochah. Surely it January-February 1966

was not an oversight on the part of those same poskim I just mentioned that they did not establish such a guidepost for us in the constitution of our synagogues. Besides, when you speak of hidur (glory), it is a moot point whether it can be expressed only by an aggregation of numbers. Do I not have the right to the belief that there is more hidur in our particular form of devotion and service and learning? But let me get back to the question of “siphoning off” certain people from the big shool, of creating a separatist, ghetto-like, apartheidoriented atmosphere in the Jewish community, fragmenting our forces instead of uniting them. I find this rather strange, coming from you. As a loyal, patriotic American, can’t you see the values of your country’s basic principles—of “cultural plurality,” of complete freedom of conscience, of the enrichment to be derived from al­ lowing all forms of expression to blossom, so long as no one breaks the law? Would you impose a monolithic uniformity on everyone for the sake of a united, neatly organized system? Would you urge a Yemenite Jew to give up his traditions and customs, just so that he can go along with yours? Would you like me to foist upon you the wearing of a gartel or long peyos, in the name of unity? Must we Jews also fall victim to the synthetic, already-discarded “cult of togetherness” that has so weakened individuality in contemporary society? Many paths lead to the Lord, and so long as no one breaks the Law—our Law of Torah—let them all flourish. I: Perhaps . . . T h e r e b b e : Wait, I am not yet through. I’ve also heard it said that we shtibel people do not have a sense 15

of community responsibility^ That that you hesitate to bring up for fear makes me most angry! Do you realize of hurting my feelings. that there is no aspect of Jewish com­ I: Well, not really . . . munal need that we do not support T h e r e b b e : G o on, go on, out with more than our fair share. Speak of a it. I am quite capable of defending community mikyah—and in spite of myself, when it comes to that. What’s the fact that we have a small one of on your mind? our own—our people have contrib­ I: Frankly, you alluded to it your­ uted, per capita, per income, more self when I first came in here. Some­ than any of the larger “communitything to the effect that this is a sort minded” shools! Speak of yeshivos of private business . . . you know. . . . and girls’ schools—not only do more T h e r e b b e : Yes, I know. To be of our children, percentage-wise, at­ tend such schools, but also financially, very honest with you, it is, as you say, again per capita, per income, we sup­ sort of a private business. I found a port them more lavishly than any need in this community, a need for other shool in the community. Of such a shtibel, and I decided to fill course, I will be the first to admit that it to supply the demand—now isn’t there are certain “communal” func­ that in the true American spirit, I ask tions that we cannot and will not par­ you? I do not consider myself more or ticipate in, for religious reasons. A less in business than the rabbi of the Vaad Hakashrus, for example, that big shool who is constantly running does not meet with what I consider after members, who is constantly rais­ minimal standards of supervision, I ing money for his shool to guarantee cannot be a part of. And I think I am payment of his salary: who is more entitled to maintain my standards of often than I engaged in weddings, kashruth, not those considered ade­ funerals, and other such ceremonious quate by others. An organization that occasions, and in some cases, unfor­ embraces non-orthodox or not-so-or- tunately, with motives less disinter­ think of as Jewish, I cannot be a part ested than he himself might care of. A celebration of Jewish Music to admit. Yes, by background and Month, for example, with the program training I am qualified to be a rebbe that is far from what we—even you— in a shtibel, and I have chosen to think of as Jewish, I cannot be a part support my wife and children in this of. In short, there is not one worthy manner. Is this dishonorable? And as Jewish communal cause that we do for getting rich, I think anyone can not support at least as much as any see how ludicrous that is. Where is my Cadillac, and where are my wife’s other shool in town! satins and furs? Where is our fancy I: I must concede that I see your furniture and our luxurious silver and point. It does make a lot of sense the crystal? No, I’m not getting rich from way you put it. the shtibel, just trying to make an T h e r e b b e : Thank you. And now honest living. Would you prefer that that we are airing our dirty linen, tell I go around begging? me what else disturbs you about I: I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that davening in a shtibel. I have a feeling way. . . . I didn’t think anyone does. that there is more, perhaps something T h e r e b b e : N o, I guess you don’t. 16 JEW ISH LIFE

But do you see what is happening here? People are disposed to accuse me of, or at least believe about me, things that they would consider nor­ mal or acceptable in anyone else. Why is that? I: Offhand I wouldn’t know. T h e r e b b e : Well, I think I do know. You see, I am the stranger in your midst, the exotic one, the differ­ ent one. I am not one of you. And therefore, as commonly happens, you are prone to ascribe all sorts of strange and unusual motives to the stranger. How do they call it in this country—xenophobia? I: You amaze me with your nonrebbishe knowledge. You’re quite right, you know. There is something to what you’ve just said. T h e r è b b e : We seem to be ex­ changing compliments. Let’s stop that now. There’s more than just “some­ thing” to what I’ve just said. There’s everything. I: What do you mean? T h e r e b b e : Tell me, what do you consider to be my greatest strength, my greatest contribution to Jewish life in this American community? I: Why, you provide a place and a leadership for those who seek this par­ ticular type of religious devotion. T h e r e b b e : Y o u are partly right, but that is not what I was driving at. What is my contribution to the Jew­ ish community as a whole, not only to those who come to the shtibel? I believe that my very strength lies in my being different! Look at it this way: You and your friends are at­ tempting to discover the outer limits of coexistence, the coexistence of orthodox Judaism with American sec­ ularism. You seem to be intrigued and challenged by the desire to find January-February 1966

out how far you can go in being a part of American society and still re­ main loyal to our religious heritage, to what extent you can blend into American business, political, and so­ cial life while adhering to our Torah way of life. Depending on the degree of your Torah learning and religious convictions, each of you determines his own limit, his own stopping point. Some go only so far, while others, un­ fortunately, step over the boundaries. I, on the other hand, represent the opposite, the antithesis, of this drive to conformity. I, by the extremity of my difference—with my shtreimel and my beard and my zhibitzeh and my white socks, and with the manner of my devotion and my learning and my insistence on holding fast to the past —serve as a constant reminder of the need to be different, of the lengths to which I am willing and able to go, even here in America, in maintaining an ancient, traditional way of life. I am a symbol of intransigence, of the proverbial stiff-neckedness of our people. But more than that—I prove, to you and to all who see me, that one can persist in preserving a cultural difference in this American melting pot, that one need not go along all the way with contemporary society in order to get by. Do you see any value in such a symbolic reminder? I: Yes, I guess I do. But surely you don’t expect us to follow your ex­ ample? T h e r e b b e : Of course not. If any­ thing, I would be an impractical dreamer if I thought I could persuade anyone that far. But if I remain the way I am, and you—I don’t mean you personally, but all of you^see me thus day after day or week after week, you will not rush into conformity as 17

much as you would otherwise. Fur­ thermore, look at it historically. How many children do you have?" I: Three. A girl and two boys. Why do you ask? T h e r e b b e : D o you realize that in me you have a living history lesson for your children? How much easier it is for you to illustrate two or three hundred years of Jewish history to your children just by pointing at me? I: I hope you’re not saying that you are an anachronism, a relic of the past out of place in our time. T h e r e b b e : Give me more credit than that. I say that I, and my way of life, represent a historic and valuable characteristic of the Jewish people as well as a basic principle of Judaism: something that even Bilaam recog­ nized as being a cornerstone of Jew­ ish life— hen am Vvodod yishkon— “this is a nation that dwells alone.” We have drawn immeasurable strength and endurance from our willingness to be one alone, to be different from all the others. And this lesson must be taught to our children—and even to our adults—today more than ever before. I’m sure that all the rabbis in all the orthodox shools you’ve at­ tended have preached this sermon more than once, and surely more elo­ quently than I have. But they preach it, I practice it! I: Very tellingly put. This is be­ coming a one-sided argument. . . . I cannot dispute you. T h e r e b b e : Thank you for conced­ ing the point. Let me go on to another, which really follows from what I just said. The Chassidic mode which I rep­ resent, which had its origins with the great Baal Shem Tov, teaches us an­ other lesson: an open-heartedness, an 18

acceptance, of every Jew, no matter how simple, how untutored, even how estranged! I believe in the sanctity of every Jewish soul, and seek—with love and understanding and occasion­ ally an irrepressible sigh—to bring back to Yiddishkeit every Jew who but turns his face toward me. My doors are always open, my ears are always ready to listen, my heart is al­ ways ready to embrace anyone who wishes to come. All who are hungry —for a little Yiddishe warmth and compassion—let him come in and feast until he is sated, until he is pre­ pared to bring the ultimate sacrifice: his submission to the Will of G-d. I: Do you mean to imply that others do not do this? T h e r e b b e : I imply nothing. I will let you decide as to who devotes more of his time and effort and sincere compassion to this particular problem. But even if I am mistaken, even if, as you say, others do as much as I— you may grant me an imperfection once in a while. It wouldn’t do to vanquish you with every argument. I: We’re not here to see who wins more points in the argument. We want to clarify something—and both of us should be fair in our statements. T h e r e b b e : Quite right. Now, I’d like to bring up one other matter. And please, do not think that I am in­ voking reverse snobbery. But do you feel there is anything uniquely desir­ able about the people who daven in my Bes Hamedrash? I mean, can you see any value, for yourself, for your children, in davening together or at­ tending sh’urim, with people who are more positively—more aggressively, if you prefer that term—Jewish? Can you see the advantage of associating —at least, while in shool—with those JEW ISH LIFE

who are more demonstrative, more pose his will upon his congregation? The spirit of democracy is in the air outgoing, in their Yiddishkeit? I: More outgoing, more demonstra­ —and who can defy the vox populil I: Well, then, what do you expect tive? Perhaps more vociferous would be a more correct term! Now that you of me? You may have no choice, but remind me, I never saw a noisier I do. Why should I daven where* I feel group of people in any shool! Why, if uncomfortable? T h e r e b b e : Yes, indeed, you do you want to know the truth, one of the main reasons that I do not daven have a choice—and that is precisely in the shtibel is the absolutely dis­ my answer to you. There are reasons graceful noise, the walking and the —good reasons—that should draw talking . . . why, it’s almost like the you to daven here; there are also, you feel, other reasons for not davening floor of the stock exchange! here. Which set of reasons is more T h e r e b b e : I would like to respond to your argument of noise with silence important to you? Which count more . .. for what can I say? I could an­ in your scale of values? Warmth and swer, following your analogy of the intensity or decorum? Commitment stock exchange floor, that at least here and emotion or decorum? Uncom­ the congregants feel very strongly promising loyalty to our traditions or about their shares in Yiddishkeit, both decorum? Which do you really prefer? here and in the world to come. But Very few things in this world are fully such an answer would only be a joke perfect . . . some have this imperfec­ — and a poor one at that. The truth tion, some another. It is up to us, to is that this is one of my more serious you as well as to me, to choose that problems. I agree with you that this which has the lesser imperfection and talking is disgraceful. I have spoken the greater good. I think we have dis­ against it publicly innumerable times, cussed the matter quite thoroughly. I have pleaded privately with some of The rest is up to you, and those of the more serious offenders—but as your friends who think like you. I: Yes, I believe so. I’ll have to yet, the results have not been encour­ aging. What can I tell you? I wish I think over what was said here . . . and could abolish it just by saying so— discuss it with my friends. In any but, then, where have you ever seen event, I’ll probably be coming here a rabbi in America who could im­ a little more frequently anyway.

January-February 1966

19

Rabbi Jacob Reines—Torah Statesman and Educational Trailblazer By A R Y E H N E W M A N

r IS fifty years since there passed away one of the most outstanding religious Zionist leaders and educa­ tionalists of the century. He was Rabbi Isaac Jacob Reines, famous as ardent supporter of Herzl and founder of the Mizrachi movement. But his lit­ erary work and pioneer educational enterprises deserve to be wider known because of their extraordinary rel­ evance today. Reines, who was born in 1840 in the Russian village of Karlin, spent the first thirty years of his life imbib­ ing the traditional Talmudical scholar­ ship of his milieu, becoming one of the elite of the renowned Volozhin yeshivah. But unlike many of his scholarly colleagues he developed an interest in logic and mathematics and mastered Russian and German. Above all, he turned the searchlight of his logical training on the political, social, and economic plight of his brethren. In 1882 Reines was the only out­ standing rabbi of the old school to ac­ cept the demands of the Russian Min­ ister of Culture to introduce secular studies within the sacred precincts of the yeshivah. But the resolute opposi­ tion of such formidable luminaries as the rabbis of Volozhin and Brisk, who had been summoned to the conference

1

at which this was discussed, left him as a voice in the wilderness. Their opposition must be seen in the light of the persistent attempts of the Russian authorities to undermine the Jewish community, both spiritual­ ly and economically, and in which in­ sidious conspiracy they used the serv­ ices of “emancipated” Jews who had become partially or wholly estranged from traditional Judaism. To this must be added the characteristic spiritual outlook of the East European rab­ binate and yeshivah tradition that still prevails today, in which a sharp dichotomy is made between secular and sacred. Such a dichotomy did not exist in Talmudic times and did not figure so acutely in the succeeding periods of Jewish history in the Arabic lands and in Spain. In the intellectual climate of the Russo-Polish Torah world the arts and sciences were a sphere in which only non-be­ lieving Jews or Gentiles moved and lived. The Rosh Yeshivah of Volozhin closed his great academy down as soon as the Russian authorities de­ manded the introduction of such sub­ jects as Russian and Hebrew language. Whilst the Russian authorities and the Jewish secularists were inspired by unholy motives—to break down

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JEW ISH LIFE

the barriers of Jewish tradition, Rabbi Reines firmly believed in the necessity of reforming Jewish education in order to save religious Jewry. His first attempt to realize his ideas on his own failed but towards the end of his life he established the famous yeshivahuniversity of Lida which lasted for nine years. Tanach studies and He­ brew language courses were given, and Russian too was taught. Had it not been for the First World War and Rabbi Reines’ own decease it would have contained faculties for general studies and pedagogics. UT let us hear Rabbi Reines’ own presentation of his views. Though written some sixty years ago they are still relevant today. The penetrating and revolutionary approach of their author becomes the more evident when we remember they were penned not in Germany, where western cul­ ture had already gained a foothold in traditional Jewish ranks due to the efforts of Hirsch and Hildesheimer, but in Russia. Their author was a rabbi of the old Lithuanian school reared in the yeshivoth of Volozhin and Eishishok, whose Talmudic erudi­ tion and piety would have placed him amongst the accepted leaders of Torah Jewry had he not deviated from their norms in advocating secular knowl­ edge and joining the Zionist move­ ment. Reines writes: *

B

From my youth till today I have not diverted my gaze for a moment from the camp of Israel and from every development on the Jewish scene, however small, and I have in­ vestigated the root of everything and its latter end. For many years my daily experience has confirmed the bit* Mishk’noth Yaacov, “Apropos the Lida Yeshiva,” 1910, p. 6.

January-February 1966

ter and terrible truth that the Torah is becoming a dead letter and that our youth are becoming estranged. I visualized this dreadful picture as early as forty years ago and foresaw the danger in store which has now fully materialized. Even then I saw our houses of study destined to be­ come empty and our children stray­ ing onto other worlds; our Torah in a corner and our youthful common­ wealth devoid of a knowledge of Ju­ daism and the slightest modicum of warm and pure Hebrew feeling. With what are we confronted today? Have not these prognostications been ful­ filled in the most dreadful manner? Where is the Torah mastery which distinguished the previous generation? Where are our children, our hope for the future and where are they pastur­ ing? Where the great love for the people and its sacred traditions, the selfless dedication to them that per­ vaded our fathers’ beings? Our children have foresaken us and there is no one to inherit that wonderful legacy bequeathed to us from our fathers from the days of yore. . . . Why has this catastrophe overtaken us, the likes of which has has never been in Israel? What is the source of this calamity? I answered this terrible question thirty years ago. We are to blame . . . I then asserted that so long as we have no colleges which provide a combination of Jewish and general knowledge, introducing some of the beauty of Japhet into the tents of Shem, equipping Torah scholars with general culture, till then there is no hope of preventing our children seek­ ing a refuge in other fields. The forces of our environment are too strong and only a few will be able to resist them and succeed. Life has changed in recent times so radically, causing a revolution in the world of the Jew. The old must adjust itself a little to the new needs. Our houses of study must take on somewhat of a new appearance so as not to lose out on their historic role and continue to 2!

attract our youth. Only such colleges which, besides providing their students with a thorough* and comprehensive mastery of the Torah, will equip them in other subjects too, can ensure rear­ ing a generation loyal to their God and their people. I gave utterance to such sentiments then in the presence of all the spiritual leaders of our peo­ ple and called on them to rise up whilst there was yet time and anticip­ ate the evil. But my voice was as one crying in the wilderness. The danger was still not apparent . . . and no one listened to me. Then I took the initiative and went alone info the fray and built my first yeshivah at Swencian. But the internal and external obstacles were too great and my first venture fizzled out for want of sup­ port. Thirty years passed by . . . bringing with them the troubles I had foreseen and drawing us nearer to the abyss which threatened to swallow up our sons and daughters. . . . But at the same time those thirty years (the beginnings of Zionist settlement, pogroms* Herzl, etc.), wrought a rad­ ical change in men’s minds. That which had appeared strange and weird thirty years ago became obvi­ ous and essential now. Others came to my conclusions . . . and then I founded the great yeshivah in Lida. UT for Jacob Reines this was only B a beginning. He foresaw an insti­ tution which would not only produce men of religious learning, not only rabbis and religious functionaries but also: . . . teachers and accountants . . . the student would first graduate from a four-year course in Talmudic and Jew­ ish studies and then proceed to a course in general studies and pedagogy qualifying him as a teacher in Israel. Such a graduate would be of enormous benefit since he could teach not only Talmud but also Hebrew and general subjects. His pupils would not need to

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find themselves subject to the influ­ ence of three different teachers of varied opinions and viewpoints. We would produce orthodox teachers for our people who largely wish to en­ trust their children to persons loyal to their faith. . . . The same applies to religious functionaries, rabbis, and shochetim who would immeasurably gain jn prestige and influence if, in addition to their traditional scholar­ ship, they would be masters of cur­ rent knowledge. Professionals in all fields, armed with their yeshivah back­ ground, would be able to manage the business and other enterprises of reli­ gious Jews. The youth would be at­ tracted to Judaism. For not all can be­ come rabbis. They require some aim in life. This plan will open up new vistas before yeshivah students and give them opportunities of establish­ ing themselves, which itself will serve to attract them to our banner. Reines’ diagnosis and treatment came too late to save the bulk of East European Jewry. He himself realized that educational reform was a long­ term policy. Had the majority of Torah loaders and giants of Talmudic scholarship shared his views, the course pf Jewish history might have bepn changed and the power of the observant could have been immeasur­ ably strengthened. The wave of es­ trangement and secularization might well have been stopped. As it is, his policy was ultimately adopted by an important segment of orthodox Jewry, mainly under the impact of Hirsch, Breuer, and Hildesheimer and their followers, and has succeeded in forti­ fying that element. EINES however saw salvation for the Jewish people as a whole coming from another source and he welcomed if after carefully studying and diagnosing its causes and its ef-

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JEW ISH LIFE

fects. That new saving force, he con­ cluded, was modern Zionism led by Theodore Herzl. Again he found himself in the mi­ nority, joining that small band of rab­ binic scholars who gave their bless­ ing to a national movement headed by Jews who no longer observed the traditional tenets of Judaism. But this was to him no disqualification. On the contrary, it constituted the jusitfication for supporting Zionism. The lat­ ter had brought back to their people large elements of youth who had been in danger of complete assimilation. He was a political Zionist committed to a world movement intent on re­ storing the Holy Land to the Jewish people where they could live free from persecution and develop their national and religious identity in a sovereign Jewish setting. Its justifica­ tion lay in the world Jewish impact it had made under "Herd’s charismatic leadership, its success in bringing so many different kinds of Jews under one umbrella, united by that overrid­ ing aim. Let us again listen to Reines’ own words: Where there are people of different origins, outlook, and temperament there is almost bound to be dissension and opposing party groupings. But no tribute is too high to pay to that ideal which succeeds in overcoming all these fissiparous tendencies and forges all these divergent elements into a unified body. The foregoing sentiments came to my mind when I attended my first Zionist Congress and when I saw that magnificent and awe-inspiring sight, that vast hall and lofty galleries full of people from different countries of divergent opinions, outlooks, and tem­ peraments, all enthused by the com­ mon ideal of advancing the cause of the nation and its sacred homeland, January-February 1966

to rebuild its ruins and plant its deserts. When I saw this I said to my­ self: How powerful is the attraction of our Holy Land! How penetrating the comments of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi in the Talmud (Chagigah) on the verse (Ps. 121): “Jerusalem that art built as a city that is compact together.” A city that makes all Israel comrades together, the impact of whose holiness unites Jews of such divergent outlooks and opinion!* HE Zionist movement had been T born and bred in persecution and pogrom which prompted the “eman­ cipated” Jews who had strayed into foreign vineyards to return to himself, to repent. As such it was a positive phenomenon with which every Jew was obliged to associate himself. To the attacks of the religious extremists who denounced the Zionist movement because of the prominence of non-ob­ servant and even anti-religious Jews in its midst, he had the following an­ swer: Lack of religious practice and atheism had been rife in the Jewish community long before the advent of Zionism, which, if anything, brought the erring assimilationist back to the fold. There was no more inspiring and heartwarming sight than the spec­ tacle of so many varieties of Jews as­ sembled under one roof at a Zionist congress. Would one, asked Reines, condemn the institution of Yom Kippur because it, in the words of our sages, brought together once a year the righteous and the wicked? “We do not inquire into the religious practice of anyone who wishes to work on behalf of our people. Brethren in suf­ fering, we shall be brethren in the cause of rebirth. But the basis of our * Or Chadash al Tzion, “New Light on Zion.” Homiletic essays devoted to an analysis of the Zionist Movement and a justification.

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tion and save what he could without endangering the over-all unity of the movement. His answer was the found­ ing of the religious Zionist faction, subsequently known as Mizrachi, which would be charged with the role of promoting the interests of a reli­ gious national education. Reines chose to work within an all-embracing movement rather than take the path of secession followed by the Frankfurt wing of the religious Zionists which eventually led to the formation of Agudath Israel. This nat­ urally further weakened the religious forces working within the Zionist movement but it did not prevent them from creating a religious school sys­ tem, agricultural settlements, and modus vivendi for the protection of re­ ligious interests which has redounded to the benefit of all Jews in the state of Israel and resulted in the latter becom­ ing today the greatest Torah center of this century. But the battles he fought are still relevant today. Those engaged in the struggle to intensify and extend OWARD the end of his life Rabbi the impact of Torah today would do Reines became involved in the well to study Reines’ message as re­ culture controversy at the Zionist Con­ flected in his life and works. gress. He firmly believed with Herzl and the political Zionists in steering the UT we should not exaggerate Zionist movement clear of ideological Reines’ difference from his con­ controversy. Accordingly, he opposed temporaries. His religious outlook was all efforts to include Jewish education essentially that of the Roshey Yeshiwithin its terms of reference. But the voth and rabbinic leaders from whom Democratic faction, mainly of former he parted company. But his realpoL assimilated Russian Jewish intel­ itik considerations led him to take ligentsia at Swiss universities led by the other road. The beauty of Japhet Weizmann, Motzkin, and Feiwel, even­ had to be introduced into the tents of tually carried the day at the fifth Con­ Shem in order to stop the youth going gress when a resolution obliging the astray still further. The secular studies Zionist movement to engage in Jewish national education was passed. Reines’ were the bait. There was no valuation answer was typical. Once he saw that of them as being holy in themselves. it was impossible to change matters This philosophy, which was shared he tried to make the best of the posi­ by very few of his contemporaries,

labors must be our Holy Torah.” Rabbi Reines’ practical humanity is reflected in his support of the proposal for a Jewish settlement in Uganda, pending the way being cleared for re­ establishment of the Jewish common­ wealth in Eretz Israel. This was also prompted by his loyalty to Herzl. He never doubted the latter’s good faith in favoring this expedient. Herzl’s leadership of the Jewish people was itself, he felt, the “finger of G-d.” His attitude is best expressed in his con­ sidered reply to Zangwill on the ques­ tion of Territorialism: “Neither the law of our Torah nor common sense can disqualify efforts to find a refuge for the tens of thousands of our home­ less and persecuted brethren and it is our sacred duty to seek a country of refuge for these unfortunates so long as we are unable to show them the way to Zion.” There was no substitute for Zion, but one could not, on that account ignore immediate alternatives to relieve distress.

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JEW ISH LIFE

among them Rabbi Simcha Lissel of the Mussar movement who conducted a short-lived Mussar Yeshivah which taught “secular” subjects, eventually commended itself to wider circles and underlies the creation of the network of yeshivah high schools in Israel and the Diaspora. But the secular bete noire is still, by common consent, kept out of the Yeshivah Gedolah—the post-martriculation higher yeshivah. There is no doubt that the negative evaluation implicit in the epithet of “secular” to artistic and scientific studies constitutes a spiritual danger to the pupils of the yeshivah high school. It impairs the single-minded dedica­ tion to Talmudic studies and derogates from the atmosphere of sanctity that is characteristic of the undiluted yeshivoth. It is this which the Roshey Yeshivoth wish to safeguard and which many have been willing to di­ lute in order to bring many of the younger generation within the com­ pass of Torah. It is here that there is room for controversy—-a legitimate difference of evaluation and attitude. On the one hand, the success of the yeshivah high schools in Israel in channelling so many of their gradu­ ates into the classical yeshivoth jus­ tifies the calculated risk taken by those following in Reines’ footsteps in an effort to save the younger generation. On the other hand, there are those who wish to preserve the ideal of the one who has been reared on Torah and Talmud exclusively, with the emphasis on Talmud, and who has not

January-February 1966

been “contaminated” by contact with “extraneous” studies. This attitude is, of course, far re­ moved from the one which would con­ secrate the secular too. This latter at­ titude, paradoxically, can only emerge from an immersion in those very arts and sciences by individuals saturated with Torah and is no doubt slowly reemerging. Reines was essentially a practical man. It was a very practical valuation of the pull of both Zionism and secular studies that impelled him to advocate a “concordat” with them in an effort to save the generation. Ample halachic justification he was able to find. Courage he did not lack, backed by an overpowering conviction that he was right in his judgment. N September 1915, just over fifty years ago, Rabbi Jacob Reines passed away, amidst the turmoil of war, with the Germans at the gates of Lida, the seat of his rabbinate and yeshivah. The complete disintegration of Jewish life that he had bewailed and foreseen, and which led him to devote all his energies to the Zionist movement, received its coup de grace in a way that even he could hardly have anticipated. But his memory is perpetuated in the achievements of the movement he founded which named the religious Moshav of S’deh Yaacov in the Jezreel valley after him, and the State of Israel, in which Jews of all shades and ideologies have found and still continue to find their home, is his monument.

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East Side Chronicle By D A V ID S T E IN

T WAS Shabboth morning, about the native East Siders who have gain­ 11 o’clock. The scene was East ed world reputations in various fields IBroadway, artery of New York’s after leaving their birthplace. Lower East Side. A tiny girl, less than a year old, was crossing the wide thoroughfare dinging to her mother’s hand. Eagerly waiting for her on the other side was her grandfather—the renowned gaon Harav Moshe Fein­ stein. With outstretched arms they approached each other, Reb Moshe lifted the child above his head and kissed her lovingly. This, I learned, was her first walk on her own power, hence her first Sabbath in the open air. That picture synopsizes the story of the Jewish East Side today. It tells us at least that Reb Moshe’s son, Rabbi Reuven Feinstein, father of the child, is one of many young parents who today are remaining and rearing families in the areafrin the tradition of their fathers. He teaches in his father’s yeshivah as does Reb Moshe’s other son, Rabbi David Fein­ stem. His son-in-law, Rabbi Moshe Shisgal, Rabbi of the Senier Shool on Madison Street, also is an active leader on the East Side. His other son-in-law, Rabbi Dr. Moshe Tendier, a native East Sider, has made a name for himself outside the area. In former years few of the younger generation remained in the neighbor­ hood after marriage. Legendary are 26

Reb Moshe, our most respected citizen, can be seen every Saturday— and on weekdays too—walking to his yeshivah at 145 East Broadway, from his home in Cooperative Village, where East Broadway blends into Grand Street, on the banks of the East River. Along this route he walks past a concentration of Jewish institu­ tions which justify referring to East Broadway not only as the main artery of the Jewish East Side but also as the citadel of American Orthodoxy. "ILT'EARS ago the “Mason-Dixon A line” of Delancey Street along the Williamsburg Bridge separated the Galitzianer from the Litvak, the Aus­ trian and Polish immigrants from the Russian and Lithuanian, : the Ru­ manians from the Hungarians. Today that line is disintegrated and varied hosts of our people are harmoniously integrated on and around East Broad­ way. Let us accompany Rabbi Feinstein along his daily route and see what he sees. Reb Moshe lives in a 21-story co­ operative skyscraper—quite different from the shabby tenements of fifty years ago. He notices mezuzoth on JEW ISH LIFE

practically every door as he walks down the two flights from his apart­ ment. About eighty percent of the 12,000 inhabitants in the many sim­ ilar buildings in the development are our brethren, but the mezuzoth be­ come rarer as the floors become higher. Out the beautiful lobby he walks, past spacious lawns, flowerbeds, and trees as he approaches the foot of East Broadway, across Jackson Street, past Rabbi Seymour Nulman’s Torah Center, past the modern Mikveh building of which he, Reb Moshe, is president. On the same block he passes the newly built Henrietta Szold Public School on the site where formerly stood Yeshivath Rabenu Yitzchak Elchanan, nucleus of Yeshiva Univer­ sity, which, like so many others, has moved uptown. On the next block he passes a grim reminder of the East Side of yesterday. In the old days the tenements on that block were probably very fashionable. The Socialist Congressman Meyer London lived in one of them. Today they are inhabited mainly by poor im­ migrants from Latin American coun­ tries. These old buildings have no in­ cinerators and sometimes a tenant for­ getfully throws an empty bottle from a window. Much frightening publicity was given such an incident recently involving a yeshivah boy who was hurt by broken glass while walking with Reb Moshe on that block. Such rare accidents tend to distort the rep­ utation of the neighborhood unjustly. Rabbi Reuven Feinstein and Rabbi Sherman Siff of Young Israel of Man­ hattan have formed a committee co­ operating with the Police Department to obtain more protection. January-February 1966

A ROUND the corner of that block, at 11 Montgomery St., still stands the original structure of the first American yeshivah, Eitz Chaim-Yitz­ chak Elchanan. Today that building houses the Chassidic Poilishe Shtibel, whose rabbi wears a tall fur spuddik on Shabboth, and where many con­ gregants wear long kapotas. In the same buildings are seven other con­ gregations — nusach S’fard, nusach Ashkenaz, and various integrations— all well attended. Across the street going westward is a long block packed solidly with syn­ agogues and institutions of local, na­ tional, and international importance. A branch of the Kamenitzer Yeshiva is on the first floor of one building and in a basement is a Chassidic shtibel. Above another basement synagogue is the office of the Slobodker Yeshiva. A Lomzer congregation is next to a Horodetzker. Adjoining is the home of a bearded mohel who charges no fee for a circumcision performed on the Sabbath. A bit further is the home of the Bayoner Rebbe and his shtibel, where Chassidim wear 13-pointed fur shtraimels above black bekeshes and gartlech. Hemmed in between is the Mizrachi-Hapoel-Hamizrachi building, where the youngsters wear knitted yarmulkes above American attire and their parents learn Torah and contrib­ ute liberally to religious Israel. The Tzemach Tzedek Nusach Ari Shool, merged with the Chechenowver, is on that block. The office of Ezras Torah, still administered by the great sage Harav Yosef Henkin, is in the next building. Also there are the head­ quarters of Agudath Horabonim, America’s senior orthodox rabbinic body. It is there that world rabbinic 27

leaders foregather on occasion to de­ liberate matters of great consequence. Underneath is the East Side News, a secular weekly newspaper. At 229 of that block is the mother branch of the Young Israel movement in the building once occupied by the haven of immigrants, HI AS. Adjoin­ ing is the building which originally housed the Machzikei Talmud Torah, thereafter the Beth Jacob School for Girls, more recently taken over by the Young Israel of Manhattan.

the way back . . . and quote from that history. Directly opposite this home of young people is the edifice of the Bialystoker Home for the Aged, al­ most dwarfed by the Co-op dwellings surrounding it. Flanking it to the right is the newly built Sidney Freedman Association building, where the under­ privileged may receive free dental service. On the following block, across Clinton Street, are numerous offices of

A view of East Broadway, looking past the Educational Alliance, with the Forward building in the background.

O ME Young Israel Synagogue has special significance, for it is here that I have spent more than 25 years of activity. On its 50th anniver­ sary I compiled a journal depicting its history and the life of its charter mem­ ber, Benjamin Koenigsberg. That his­ tory, I believe is the story of modern Orthodoxy in New York and perhaps even of the United States. We shall therefore return for a better look on

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Israeli institutions, the office of Vaad Horabonim, of which Rabbi Abraham I. Feivelson is director, and the Adas Yisroel Synagogue of which Rabbi Kalman Goldberg is spiritual leader. The kosher pizza shop of “Noah Zark” is where the knitted yarmulkas and the girls who knitted them con­ gregate, and on the corner of Jeffer­ son is the complex structure of the Educational Alliance — the largest JEW ISH LIFE

community center, which tries hard to attract our people, but is non-sec­ tarian in practice. Then, crossing Jef­ ferson Street, past a kosher dairy res­ taurant, we come to the Yiddish news­ paper row, where we find the Jewish Day and the still impressive building of the Daily Forward. Between them are* ironically, a Shomer Shabboth supermarket, a Shomer Shabboth bakery, and a glatt kosher take-homecomplete-meal store. Years ago such luxuries were unknown on the East Side. Shopping had to be done from pushcarts. Kosfier baking, cooking, and eating were home activities then. Today, next door to the Forward is a glatt kosher restaurant. A dairy cafe­ teria is still at the corner, around which is the IND subway station. Across Rutgers Street we pass the print shop of a former president of the Young Israel Movement; a kosher winery, and then the second home of Reb Moshe, the renowned Yeshivah and Mesifta Tifereth Jerusalem, of which he is the dean, the chief Rosh Ha-yeshivah.

T ET US walk just a little further around the corner to Pike Street, and look at the old Kalverier Shool, which today has become primarily a preferred spot for large funerals be­ cause of the spacious boulevard it now faces. Here let us pause for a bit of his­ tory, before we return for a second look at the aforementioned places of interest. Let us first look diagonally across the street to 44 East Broadway, where once stood the Mariaitipoler Shool. That once-sanctified spot is the birthplace of the first Hebrew school in New York — Machzikei Talmud January-Fetruary 1966

Torah, the first elementary yeshivah —Eitz Chayim, and the first rabbin­ ical seminary, Yeshivath Rabenu Yitzchak Elchanan. The Kalverier Synagogue has a his­ tory of its own dating back to 1855. In 1900 the Yitzchak Elchanan Yeshi­ vah classes moved into the Ladies’ Gal­ lery there. In 1903 its original build­ ing was demolished and replaced by a beautiful edifice. In 1913 the first activity of the Young Israel move­ ment, the Friday night lectures, were held there. And if we wait outside a while on a weekday there’s a good likelihood we’d meet the former perennial chair­ man of those lectures as he passes by to and from his law office at 99 Nas­ sau Street. Mr. Benjamin Koenigsberg, now 82 years old, still stands in a class by himself as the symbol of American Orthodoxy on the Lower East Side. Not that his activities are confined to that area; Ben Koenigsberg is a leading figure in many facets of American and world Jewish en­ deavor, among which may be men­ tioned the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, which he has served as a vice-president for many years. But the East Side is where he has concentrated his energies. Let us retrace out footsteps along East Broadway with Mr. Koenigsberg. Rabbi Feinstein, Mr. K. UNLIKE is not likely to lift a child above his head in public. His is a majestic bearing, and a stern exterior. I have always looked upon him as to royalty and still dp. In the Shinaver Shtibel at 122 Ridge Street, where I grew up, he was the president, he was the best 29

baal tefilah, he lifted the Torah higher than anyone else, he brought worldfamous personalities to the shtibel whom he later introduced at the Young Israel lectures. He himself, as a successful Sabbath-observing law-

operative sukkoth in Co-op Village was contemplated it was he who headed the committee which made it possible over the virulent opposition of an anti-religious management. In the sukkah he is still the annual mas­ ter of ceremonies and is referred to as “The Commander.” And that he certainly has been in the past halfcentury on the East Side. As he points to No. 1 Canal Street where now is Seward Park, Benjamin Koenigsberg tells us that there he was one of the first students of the Eitz Chayim Yeshiva. One of his class­ mates there was Hillel Rogoif, recent editor of the Jewish Daily Forward at 175 East Broadway. ^HE Forward Building is where, fifty years ago, were held the an­ nual Yom Kippur Balls—in deliberate defiance of the orthodox community. Those were the days of mass Jewish immigration to the East Side, the days of the sweat-shops and gangsterism. The parents were too busy slaving for their daily bread and had no time for the spiritual needs of their chil­ dren. The Socialists at that time were extremely anti-religious and tried to win over the neglected youth with atheistic propaganda. To counteract their influence, Ben' Koenigsberg helped organize and be­ came president of the Hebrew League (Adas Bnei Yisroel) in 1907. In their headquarters at 305 East Broadway the Yiddish-speaking young men and women were given a library, games, and an opportunity to get together so­ cially with their own kind in an prthqdox atmosphere. Yiddish was the dominant language and only Sabbat^

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The Kalverier Shool on Pike Street

yer, inspired others to follow his ex­ ample and to become professionals. When I was sent to learn at the Rabbi Jacob Joseph School on Henry Street Mr. K. was a vice-president there. My sisters attended Downtown Talmud Torah on Houston Street—he was a director there. I joined Young Israel Synagogue—he had just been presi­ dent there. The girls in our families attended Teachers Institute for Girls at 311 East Broadway—he was its chairman of the board. Of the mod­ ern mikveh in the same building, he was president and founder, together with my father, Reb Shloime Stein, as secretary. When the huge cooperative apartment buildings in which my family lives were built, Mr. K. be­ came a neighbor and later a director. When the first of tbe six massive co­ 30

JEW ISH LIFE

observers were admitted. The Amer­ ican-born, English-speaking young men and women had no place of their

own. Modern Orthodoxy on the East Side began with the birth of Young Israel.

BIRTH OF A MOVEMENT In the year 1911 Stephen S. Wise came to the East Side in Clinton Hall, one block from East Broadway, with the hope of establishing there a branch of his Free Synagogue. His fa­ mous oratory attracted many sons of orthodox parents who had never be­ fore heard religion discussed in Eng­ lish. But he preached a foreign religion —-and he passed a basket through the audience on Friday night for contribu­ tions. Some Jews threw in buttons, others threw in real money. Angry young men like Ben Koenigsberg were moved to meet the challenge. In those days a Kehillah organiza­ tion had been projected and had be­ gun to function. So, that same week Ben and two friends went to the Kehillah office on Second Avenue and spoke to the founder and president, Dr. Judah L. Magnes. They told him of how orthodox Jewish youth of the East Side were being influenced by Reform, gangsterism, and anti-reli­ gious Socialism. Apparently they chose the ideal person. Dr. Magnes had just broken away from Reform. He had resigned a few years before from the pulpit of Temple Emanuel, of which his brother-in-law, Louis Marshall, was president. In his plans for a united Jewish community, Dr. Magnes was anxious to include the Jews of the East Side. Here was his opportunity. He agreed to organize “revival” meetings in the fprm of lec­ tures in English on Friday nights. He

January-February 1966

agreed to get the speakers and to speak himself as often as possible. the first few meetings in A FTER the Kehillah building with Dr. Magnes a group of pioneers met in the night-time office of Ben Koenigs­ berg in the rear of his apartment at 97 Attorney Street, to discuss and plan a revival project. They met in the Beth Midrosh room of the Pike Street Shool, in the IMBA building at 311 East Broadway, and later in the base­ ment of the Jewish Maternity Hospital at 270 East Broadway. They at first assumed the name “Hebrew Circle.” Later, at a meeting in his office on December 28, 1912, Dr. Magnes sug­ gested a name with the word “young” in it—a very popular word then. And so it was that Young Israel was born. At 171 East Broadway lived Reb Leibel Rosenthal, whose Hebrew book shop at 2 Pike Street was the unoffi­ cial meeting place of the intelligentsia of the East Side. His son, Moses, was a student at the Jewish Theological Seminary, which in those days taught Torah-true Judaism. One of his pro­ fessors was Dr. Israel Friedlander, who was also a director of the Edu-J cational Alliance of 195 East Broad­ way. Dr. Friedlander asked his stu­ dent to take charge of a junior con­ gregation in the Alliance. Because of this experience Rosenthal was urged by Dj*. Magnes to serve as president of the revival project. The first presi-

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dent of Young Israel and his brother, Sam, frequently helped their father in the bookshop. Some of the best cus­ tomers there were the trustees of the Kalverier Pike Street Shool on the next block. To them he made the first request to use their synagogue for the Friday evening lectures. At first the officers refused. Who ever heard erf speaking English in a shool? After much bickering they acceded to the request, on the condition that the Fri­ day night lecture be repeated the next morning in Yiddish. Dr. Magnes knew little Yiddish at the time but he agreed to the bargain. L. MAGNES was the D R.firstJUDAH speaker. Friday, January 10, 1913, was the historic date. No pub­ licity was necessary. His popularity was universal. Even the striking truck drivers and the Socialists loved him. More than 5,000 people tried to get into the Kalverier Shool. Police on horseback tried in vain to control the crowds. The iron gates of the syna­ gogue were bent by the impact. But the eloquence of Dr. Judah L. Mag­ nes left a much greater impact on his­ tory. With his words a movement was born. Dr. Magnes’s Yiddish apparently was acceptable to the trustees. But they would lend their synagogue for only one month, and no more. Not one synagogue was willing to donate light and heat for an entire season of lectures. Young Israel had to be con­ stantly on the move. Every four weeks they brought their message of Jewish revival to another section of the East Side. The first year they traveled from Pike Street to the Romenisher Shool

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on Rivington Street; from Rivington Street to the Bialystoker on Willet Street, from Willet to the imposing Eldridge Street Shool. The original list of speakers also consisted of four: Dr. Magnes; Prof. Friedlander, Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz, who later became Chief Rabbi of Great Britain: and Dr. Mordecai Kaplan, before he strayed away to the heterodox Re­ constructionism which he founded. These famous personalities took turns very frequently as guest lecturers. For many years they and other eminent figures in the world of Jewish thought and deed were brought to the Lower East Side to spread the basic idea that orthodox Judaism and modern Amer­ icanism can go hand in hand without conflict. ESPITE the efforts of Stephen D Wise and others, neither Reform nor Conservatism ever achieved a last­ ing success on the East Side. The orthodox community, however, was divided into what the younger element viewed as the cold Jews of the larger synagogues and the old-world Jews of the shtibelech. In the large syna­ gogues, when there was no profession­ al cantor and choir, the services seem­ ed to the East-side reared children of immigrant parents to be without mel­ ody or emotidn, the atmosphere formal, the broad felt hats combined with small taleithim an affectation. As for the shtibelech, the youngsters saw but spittoons, commercialism, and drab poverty. In turn, the fathers looked askance at their English-speak­ ing sons. In the East Side shtibel world it was quite out of the question to permit an unbearded youth to JEW ISH LIFE

daven far'n omud, or be given any their way to the ball park, rushing honor at the services or any role in back in time for Minchah without be­ congregational affairs. The Shinaver ing missed by their fathers. Less dar­ Shtibel on Ridge Street, where the ing spirits would go on long walks to Koenigsbergs were reared, the Sadiger the Battery or Central Park to while Kloiz on Attorney Street where away the day. With lack of communication and Saul Abramson’s father davened, the Nine-un-Ninetziger, of 99 Attorney understanding between immigrant par­ Street, where the Oxenhandler broth­ ent and American-reared child, the in­ ers worshipped—all had the same pol­ articulate religious yearnings of the icy: No one without a beard might new generation were stifled, in many, go to the Omud to lead the davening many cases permanently. In some or be given an aliyah at the Torah cases, however, even these blocks reading, except for the boy becoming could not choke off the spirit seeking Bar Mitzvah or the bridegroom at his expression. They but needed a setting of their own, one attuned to their Oifruf. For the East Side youngster of tastes and strivings, to give it the those days there was little to do on right outlet. With the institution of long summer Sabbath afternoons but the Friday evening Forum, one facet idle in the sweltering streets. Some of of that need was served. There soon the older boys soon learned to make developed a complementary facet.

MAKING THEIR OWN WAY N 1908 sponsors of the new path­ ways in Jewish education brought Dr. Samson Benderly from Philadel­ phia to reorganize the Hebrew School program. It was he who first intro­ duced the Ivrith B’ivrith system in Talmud Torahs, eliminating instruc­ tion in Yiddish. In the Downtown Talmud Torah (of which Ben Koenigsberg was already a director), Dr. Benderly advised the music teach­ er, Gershon Efros, to teach the pupils synagogue melodies. Itz Koe­ nigsberg, Ben’s brother, was one of these pupils. Even before becoming Bar Mitzvah in 1910, Itz got his friends together for a boys’ minyon in the Talmud Torah. There the young “refugees” from the shtibelech fore-

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January-February 1966

gathered to cater to that ancient “yetzer hara” for the Omud. A few years later this nucleus blos­ somed further when, one Shabboth af­ ternoon in the summer of 1913, a group of teenage boys were recruited for a minyon when passing a store­ front shool at 205 East Broadway. Upon being pleaded with by the elder­ ly congregants to come regularly there­ after, the boys — Saul Abramson, Moish Krumbein, Max and Bernie Oxenhandler, Sam Rosenthal, Louis L. Cohen, and Morris Horowitz— agreed to do so if they would be per­ mitted to lead the services every other Shabboth. The bargain was kept, but by the third week their delighted hosts said: “Veist ir vus, yungeleit—nemt

33

iber in gantzen!” And take over they did. Their number kept increasing, and the girls of their circle too flocked to the services. EEK by week more pielodies were added to the repertoire. Each boy would take his turn at the Omud, trying out the different mel­ odies they had ’heard at the Talmud Torah. After three months, the store­ front shool could no longer contain the throngs of young people who came to participate. Their elderly sponsors wept when they were told that the young people were moving to larger quarters on the second floor of the Educational Alliance, there to be known and flourish as the Model Synagogue. The Model Synagogue development and the Friday Night Forum emerged out of the same elements and closely complemented each other. When, after but a short time, the ideological hostility of the Educational Alliance leadership to the Orthodoxy of the Model Synagogue impelled the latter to obtain their own quarters, the synagogue thus established adopted the name and became an extension of the group sponsoring the Forum— Young Israel.

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URING the first few years of the Friday Night Forum the Young Israel president of the particular year served as chairman. Thereafter Mr. Koenigsberg took over and held on to it for thirty years without interruption until 1948. Throughout Ben Koenigsberg’s reign as chairman in the vari­ ous synagogues there rarely was an empty seat and frequently no stand-

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ing room, regardless of weather, though no one was permitted to enter after the lecture had begun. They be­ gan not on “Jewish time” but exactly at 9 o’clock, as announced—some­ thing unheard of on the East Side. And woe betide the one who dared to interrupt the perfect attention given the lecturer! Even coughing was not tolerated. He who dared to get up to leave or to fall asleep during the lec­ ture suddenly found himself the cen­ ter of attraction as he was sternly reprimanded by the dynamic chair­ man. Many in the audience came more to witness the chairman than to hear the speaker. The Koenigsbergs provided not only food, but also lodging to the visiting world-famous speakers. The hospitality and ritual at the Koenigs­ berg home left a deep impression on the guests. Many of them stated pub­ licly, at the lectures, how anxious they were to come back again to the East Side if only to have Shabboth with the Koenigsbergs and to hear them con­ verse in Hebrew with their children. Should these personalities return today they would not recognize the East Side. Block after block of slum tenements have been eradicated, to be replaced by massive new housing proj­ ects and broad thoroughfares. With the elimination of old buildings and entire neighborhoods went the re­ moval from the East Side of much of its teeming Jewish populace—and the disappearance or emptying of their synagogues. In the government hous­ ing projects which replaced the old tenements only a small percentage of the population is Jewish. Most of our people who could afford it have JEW ISH LIFE

moved “uptown” and “that-a-way,” taking with them that mysterious quality which distinguishes a former East Sider as a greater authority on things Jewish from his new neighbors. S WE continue retracing oui steps along East Broadway we pass the Shomer Shabboth print shop adjoining the Tifereth Yerushalayim Yeshivah. The owner, Mr. Moshe Zitwer, is one of the early members of the afore­ mentioned Adath Bnai Yisrael which still maintains a minyon at the house of synagogues of 11 Montgomery Street. The Yeshivah at No. 145, we learn, now provides meeting space for the Pirchei Agudath Yisrael, led by Rabbi Reuven Feinstein. At the Pirchei Reb Moshe’s son, assisted by dedicated volunteers, directs the youngsters through all Sabbath services, classes, and Onegey Shabboth on Saturday afternoons, and leads their outings on Fridays. As we pass the winery and the other print shop we are told that the own­ ers, Teddy Birnbaum and Elijah Stein, years ago served as ushers at the Young Israel lectures. Later both moved to Williamsburg, then to Crown Heights and now they commute to­ gether to Far Rockaway. If you want the East Side story in a nutshell there it is. As we come to the empty lot on the corner we see the church on the other block, on Henry Street, and are reminded of the pitched battles the neighboring Rabbi Jacob Joseph Yeshivah boys used to have with the church students. In those days the most violent weapon they used was a snow-covered chunk of coal instead

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January-February 1966

of a pure snowball. But we anticipated that and defended ourselves with the garbage can covers we used as shields. In hand-to-hand combat we knew that they respected the unwritten law of not hitting someone when he’s down. And we reciprocated that courtesy. Mud-covered clothing was evidence that both resorted to the protection of terra firma frequently. Today’s in­ cidence of violence is not as frequent nor is it organized or sanctioned. The unpredictability is what scares some of us. again to East Broadway C OMING from Henry Street through Jeffer­ son Street we see Gouverneer Hospi­ tal being rebuilt. We walk past Dr. Frank’s Shomer Shabboth office, along­ side the edifice of Educational Alliance and wonder why throughout the years the sponsors of this institution, the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, never did learn that the Jewish East Side is not fertile soil for any brand of religion other than orthodox Ju­ daism. In the early days of Young Israel, as mentioned above, the Al­ liance housed the original Model Synagogue group. The orthodox young men of fifty years ago put up a silken curtain to separate the boys from the girls. But Dr. Fleischman, executive director of the Alliance, hated that curtain and made a habit of tearing it down every time it was put up again. That motivated the young men to buy their own building. The same situation exists today. The “edgies” have gone to great trouble to attract yeshivah boys for Friday afternoon activities. But the bareheaded leaders they provided

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were of a type tfyat impelled the Pirchei to compete. Currently a large group of B’noth Agudah meets in the Educational Alliance building, provid­ ing their own leadership. But the non­ sectarian members of the opposite sex do not seem to provide the ideal at­ mosphere for Beth Yaakov girls. The Shomer Shabboth photography shop next door to the “edgies” is own­ ed by Morty Rubenstein, son of the man who directed the National He­ brew School on the opposite side of the street to the end of its days. The only building on that side now* other than the Co-op skyscraper, is the Public Library where the chief librarian is a Young Israel member and where yarmulkas may now be worn with im­ punity. Above the photo shop is the Adath Israel of New York, which still calls itself ‘/United Hebrew Community of New York.” In 1901 it was organized with the hope of being just what the name implied. After the death of Chief Rabbi Jacob Joseph, the Rabbi of Adath, Reb Velvel Margolis, was considered his successor. But the Jew­ ish community of the East Side never could unite successfully. r p H E other surviving Chevroth, soJ- cieties, shtibels, synagogues, and Battey Midrosh, however, can be compared to the seven Biblical lean cows which swallowed the fat cows. Attorney Street between Delancey and Rivington is still a synagogue block. The large Dukler Magen Avraham Shool has swallowed quite a number of Chevroth, but has trouble with minyon on weekdays. Bachurai Chemed of Sheriff Street now daven next

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door to the Dukler. But Attorney Street’s glory is much more in the past tharT in the present. “52 Cannon,” which has been rebuilt, with air-con­ ditioning yet, on Rivington near At­ torney, has swallowed up four other shools and still has a paucity of wor­ shippers. So it is too with Shearith Yisrael and “De Nine-un-Ninetziger^ who have merged and are hard-put for a minyon on Second Street. Many, far too many, synagogues, have not even been swallowed up. They just disappeared into nowhere. No one seems to know what has hap­ pened to their treasuries, their rec­ ords, or their properties. And no one seems to care. Unless, that is, they move to East Broadway. Above the kosher pizza basement, at 207 East Broadway, is now the home of Tzeirei Agudath Yisrael, who until recently had been on Avenue C and Fourth Street for thirty-five years. Throughout those years and to this day Reb Yehoshua Gold and Reb Yaakov Gordon have inspired this group with their example of devotion to the fundamentals of traditional Judaism: Torah, worship, and benev­ olence. In addition to sessions on the Sabbath they lead study groups three nights every week. A little farther down the block was, until recently, the local draft board. Today these premises are about to be taken over by the Kapitchinitzer Shtibel now on Henry Street. The Rebbe himself, Rabbi Heschel, now lives in Boro Park. A reversal of the trend took place recently when the Gerer Shtibel moved from East Broadway and merged with the Makover Shool on JEW ISH LIFE

Henry corner Clinton. Of the many dozens of synagogues on that block and the next, the only other survivor is the Marmarisher Shool, home of the Matisdorfer Rebbe, between Clinton and Montgomery Streets. Around the corner again, back to the Kamenitzer Yeshiva branch, we are told that soon those premises will be occupied by the Belzer Shtibel, now

at 10 Ridge Street in a building owned by Young Israel and given by them rent-free to the Chasidim. Yes* we went around the block to avoid over-emphasis on Young Israel. But, like Benjamin Koenigsberg, its past and present are so intertwined with so much of the East Side Story that it is impossible to ignore either of them.

THEN— AND NOW AKE the story of the historic Beth of the remaining synagogues not lo­ T Hamidrash Hagadol for example. cated on East Broadway. As we walk to its location at 54 Nor­ folk Street from East Broadway we can no longer get there through Suf­ folk or Norfolk Streets. The Co-op buildings block those intersections. As we walk around Seward Park,through Essex Street, past Canal Street, we see the many Hebrew signs proclaiming the merits of low prices of gifts to and from Israel, of kosher cheeses, of He­ brew books and religious articles. On Hester Street we see no more push­ carts but those genuine, East Side, sour pickle stands are still there. Stavsky’s Hebrew book store is now on Grand Street. Around the corner, on one side of Norfolk Street, there still are quite a few of the many Hebrew book stores and Sofrim that have made this section America’s chief market place for Jewish religious articles. The great synagogue on Norfolk and Broome Streets is still the focus for Kaddish that it always was. Practically every hour of day or evening a minyon can be found there for Shacharith, Minchah, or Maariv. On the Sabbath, how­ ever, attendance at Beth Hamidrash Hagadol is not much better than that

January-February 1966

But what a proud history that synagogue has! It was Beth Hamid­ rash Hagadol which brought the saint­ ed Rabbi Jacob Joseph from Europe to its pulpit and to become Chief Rabbi of New York at the turn of the century. In 1913 this shool invited the embryonic Young Israel group to its beautiful synagogue. When the Sidrah announcement was made m Eng­ lish the Rabbi, probably Elchanan Yaffe, went downstairs in protest. But soon the trustees learned tfie true iden­ tity of Young Israel and Beth Hamid­ rash Hagadol became one of the four synagogues in which the revival lec­ tures were held. It was there that the great mass meeting of 1913 took place. The young men succeeded in getting the famed philanthropist Jacob Schiff as the guest speaker. That day left an in­ delible impression on the minds of thousands of East Siders. The rally was called for a Sunday evening. Three o’clock in the afternoon Nor­ folk Street was already a solid mass of humanity. Inside the synagogue there were more people than anyone

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imagined could get »into it. They ac­ tually stood on top of each other, on the window sills, on the balcony rail­ ings. When Jacob Schiffs silk tophat appeared on the bimah a total si­ lence fell upon the massive assem­ blage. His speech was short. He said that even though he himself was brought up as a Reform Jew he knew that Judaism cannot survive without Orthodoxy, and was delighted that a group of young American Jews was

$4,000 they pledged came from quar­ ters and dimes. rr iH IS hard-earned fortune, plus Jacob Schiffs grand contribution, was placed for safe-keeping in Jarmulowsky’s Bank on Canal Street. Those were the days before deposit insurance. When the bank vanished, so did the entire treasury of Model Synagogue. Not all the donations were made in

One of 8 identical units and 4 smaller complexes comprising Co-op Village stands next to some of the familiar, old buildings of the Lower East Side.

interested in keeping alive the ageold tradition. To give them encourage­ ment, Schiff announced he would double any amount pledged at this meeting. The applause was thunder­ ous. Hundreds of pledges were made by the poverty-stricken people of the Lower East Side, most of whom labor­ ed from early morning to late at night to eke out a bare subsistence. Many dollar bills were donated and many more half dollars, but the bulk of the 40

cash. The pledges had to be collect­ ed and somehow a large proportion seemed to have come from very old poor people living on the top floors of backyard tenements. The young members of Model Synagogue, which a short time later changed its name to Young Israel Synagogue, went from house to house in pairs. Many times they were tempted to give rather than take a donation. One old lady was found sick in bed. When the comJEW ISH LIFE

mittee hesitated to take the quarter she dug out from the knotted hand­ kerchief under her pillow, she insisted that they accept it. “A neder,” she said, “is heilig!” She said those words to Saul Abramson and his companion, Ida Skwirsky. These two later became groom and bride at the first Young Israel wedding, attended by eight hun­ dred people on Washington’s birthday, 1916. The Abramsons are now cele­ brating their golden anniversary with a trip to Israel. Their business is still at 18 Orchard Street.

Street, as was the Rabbi Shlomo Kluger Yeshiva, its past and present neighbor. Also on Broome and Ridge Streets is now the Beth Jacob School for Girls in a large, one-time public school building. Rabbi Jacob Joseph School, with its over 1,000 students is still at 165 Henry Street and adjacent buildings and Ben Koenigsberg is still chairman of its board of education, now celebrating his fiftieth anniver­ sary in that capacity. But most of his East Side activities today are concentrated in the Bialystoker Synagogue, whose spiritual head is Rabbi Irving Singer. Symbol­ WO personalities who should be ically, perhaps, that synagogue is di­ mentioned in this rambling chron­ rectly opposite Koenigsberg’s apart­ icle are the Hirth brothers, Philip and ment (and mine) on Willet Street. Jack, who continue to play an impor­ It stands proudly between the schools tant role on the Lower East Side. on Broome Street, the institutions on Philip is president of the Beth Jacob East Broadway, the new Co-op Vil­ School for Girls and Jack, ' of the lage on one side and remnants of the newly built Litivisher synagogue on old slums on the other. In its filled beautiful interior Mr. K., as trustee, Delancey Street. And certainly no account of the still tries to maintain perfect decorum. East Side scene can fail to cite the In the Beth Medrosh below he still vibrant East Side Torah Center at 313 teaches Perek and Shulchon Oruch in Henry Street, whose spiritual leader English as he did fifty years ago in the is Rabbi Seymour Nulman. With a Young Israel on East Broadway. * ifc * multifaceted, modern program of synagogue, day school, and afternoon SECOND Koenigsberg has not yet arisen who stands head and Talmud Torah that reaches out to hundreds of young families, the Torah shoulders above his contemporaries Center surely belongs on the positive in public service and accomplishments. side of the East Side picture. But this But a higher percentage of native East started out to be just an article, not Siders are remaining in their birth­ the heavy volume it would have to place, applying that mysterious qual­ be to cover all that can be said of ity of leadership in their own commu­ my hometown—the lofty Lower East nity rather than exporting it. If they Side. are not yet outspokenly boastful of Downtown Talmud Torah, which their environment—so widely and un­ used to be next door to Mr. Koenigs- justly maligned—they certainly have berg’s home at 400 East Houston little of which to be ashamed and Street, has been rebuilt on Broome much to look upon with pride.

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41

The Sassoon Treasures by H A R R Y R A B IN O W IC Z

ben Elisha Crescas (b. 1325) worked

HE Biblical verse “Put off thy T shoes from off thy feet for the for some seventeen years on this place whereon thou standest is holy Biblical masterpiece consisting of ground” comes to one’s mind on visit­ ing the book-laden scholar’s haven that is the home of Rabbi Solomon David Sassoon. Here at No. 15 Sollershott East, in the Garden City of Letchworth, Hertfordshire, thirtyseven miles from London, reposes the world’s greatest private collection of Hebrew manuscripts, priceless Siphrey Torah, many incunabula, and 1,290 Hebrew and Samaritan manuscripts including unpublished writings that cover a period of nearly a thousand years. The oldest manuscript is older than the British Museum codex sup­ posedly written between 820-850 CE.

There is hardly one facet of Jewish thought that is not well represented in the Sassoon collection. The student of art can feast his eyes on exquisitely illuminated manuscripts, Genizah frag­ ments, Machzorim, Haggodoth, Kethuboth, and important documents. Out­ standing is the Farchi Bible with more than 359 illustrations. The illus­ trator Elisa ben Abraham Beneviste 42

1,056 fully vocalized and punctuated pages. He began writing the book at the age of 41 in the year 1366 and finished it in 1383. It is one of the finest extant specimens of illuminated Bibles and of Hebrew calligraphy and the author fully deserves the auto­ dedication: “The Work of my hands that I may be glorified.” In addition to a list of Haphtoroth for festivals and special Sabbaths, he includes plans of the Tabernacle and of Noah’s Ark, lists of Chaldean, Persion, Greek, and Roman rulers, the names of the wives of Biblical characters not men­ tioned in the Holy Writ, but found in Rabbinic writings. For example, he mentions that Amathelai was the mother of Abraham, and Naamah was the wife of Noah. Illustrated in Moorish arabesque style are the Seven Walls of Jericho, Aaron’s Rod, the Jar of Manna. The human figure, how­ ever, is avoided throughout the manu­ script. The Farchi Codex is thus an eloquent testimony to the attainments of Spanish Jewry in the 14th century. JEW ISH LIFE

MONG the vast treasures of this work in order to strive for per­ A Biblical codices is the remark­ sonal greatness among the Jews nor able Shem Tov Bible, one of the in order to be glorified. G-d Almighty manuscripts of the Bible in which the verses are numbered. Each paroshah starts with Verse One and the verses of each book of the Neviim and Kethuvim are numbered sepa­ rately. This 768-page codex, written in the 14th century by Rabbi Shem Tov ben Abraham Gaon, also has the genealogy of the Exilarchs dating from Adam himself to Sar Shalom the Prince. At one time the manuscript was owned by the Eastern descendants of the Exilarchs. Another rarity is Maimonides’ Arabic commentary on the second Order of the Mishnah. It is the Rambam’s first version of this momentous work and bears his own corrections and additions. EH never in my life boasted of never having made a mis­ take, just the reverse,” admitted the illustrious author in a letter to Yehudah ibn Ankin,vrT always changed my views in my works as well as in my nature if I were convinced of my errors.” Manuscript 73 is the third Order of the Mishnah with the Arabic commentary of Mai­ monides in his own handwriting. This has three signed glosses by Rabbi Avrohom Maimuni ben Mosheh (1186-1236), the great commentator’s son, and was probably written during his father’s lifetime. Of the six Orders of the Mishnah there are now only five manuscript copies in existence: Zeroim, Nezikim, and Kodoshim are held by the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and Noshim and Moed (167 leaves) in , Sassoon’s collection. With sim­ plicity and sincerity Rambam explains the motives that prompted this epic task: “Know that I did not complete

January^February 1966

knows that I did not at first occupy myself with it but only for my own purpose in order to find there ready what I want. Now, in my old age, which I have reached, thank G-d, I have made an effort for the Lord since I saw the nation without an acknowledged code free from errors and controversies and therefore I did what I did for the glory of G-d.” HIS 596-page codex had changed hands at least twenty-one times, T for twenty-one men in turn signed up their names on the fly leaf. It jour­ neyed from the Rhineland to a doctor in Prague, Meir ben Nathan ben Shemuel Zanwil. Fleeing the perse­ cution in the year 1542 in the reign of Emperor Ferdinand, the members of the family settled in Cracow together with the much-travelled codex. “If this manuscript,” sighed the late Hacham Moses Gaster, “could tell the vicissitudes through which it has passed, something of the biogra­ phies of the persons who pored over it, studied it, and afterwards parted with it or bequeathed it to others, what an interesting chapter of medi­ eval Jewish history would it be able to tell.” A commentary on Isaac Alfasi’s Code on Chulin by a 12th century Yemenite scholar is generally regarded as the first Rabbinic work to emanate from Yemen. Extremely valuable, too, is the Aramaic manuscript of the Sepher Sh’eltoth (The Book of Ques­ tions) of Gaon Achai (c. 680-c. 762) of Pumbeditha. The manuscript was written in the 12th century and con­ sists of 256 leaves.

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THE SASSOON DYNASTY H P H E saga of the Sassoon dynasty A is one instance of East meeting West. The founder, David ben Sas­ soon (1792-1864) moved from Bagh­ dad to Bombay, the “gateway to India,” and laid the foundation of a vast mercantile empire stretching from Canton to Hong Kong, Turkey, Japan, Persia, England, Yokohoma, and Nagasaki. His descendants left their manifold marks on Western Europe. Within a generation the “Indian Rothschilds” produced many colorful personalities. Of the eight sons and six daughters of David Sas­ soon, six settled in England. Albert Sassoon (1818-1896) was knighted by Queen Victoria. Sir Edward Sas­ soon (1856-1912) became Member of Parliament for Hythe Division of Kent in 1899. Reuben and Arthur Sassoon were made members of the Royal Victoria Order. Rachel, daugh­ ter of David and wife of Frederick Arthur Beer of Stratton Street, was editor of the rival newspapers The Observer and The Sunday Times. The Sassoons formed a cultural and social elite and celebrities of the highest repute frequented the Sassoon man­ sions at Lancaster Gate, Belgrave Square, and Kensington Gore and the shooting lodge at Tulchan, Strathspey. Even the Royal Family were on visit­ ing terms, especially Edward, Prince o f Wales, who was a frequent guest. The third generation, too, made a notable contribution to British culture. Siegfried (Lorraine) Sassoon (b. 1886), pacifist and literary editor of the Daily Herald, was a poet of note and the recipient of the Hawthornden Prize for 1929. Philip Albert Sassoon (1888-1939) began his career as military private secretary to Sir Doug­ 44

las Haig, Commander-in-Chief of the British armies in France during the First World War, and eventually be­ came First Commissioner of Works and Trustee of the National Gallery, London. In the First World War fourteen grandsons and great-grand­ sons of David Sassoon held commis­ sions in the British Army. HE family’s bibliophile was David T Solomon Sassoon (1882-1942). His mother Flora (1859-1936), daughter of Ezekiel Gubbay of Bagh­ dad and granddaughter of Sir Albert Sassoon, married her cousin David Solomon Sassoon. For many years she engaged a rabbi with whom she advanced her Hebrew and Rabbinic studies. She was, in the words of the late Chief Rabbi Yitzchok Halevi Herzog, “a living well of Torah, of piety, of wisdom, of goodness and charity, of the staunchest loyalty to tradition and out of her wonderful well Israel could draw in abundance noble incentives and lofty inspiration.” Her fashionable Mayfair home was a meeting place for London’s literati. She was a fine scholar herself. In December, 1904 she presided at a lecture given by Marcus N. Adler on “The Wandering Jews of the Middle Ages.” On April 13, 1924, she presided at the annual Speech Day of Jews’ College, London, and de­ livered a learned discourse. Her essay on Rashi appeared in the Jewish Forum in October, 1930. She also wrote an essay on the number Thir­ teen which was based on forty-one references and appeared in the “Jew­ ish Forum” in March, 1931. Flora’s son, David Solomon, “the Elkan Adler of the Sephardim,” was JEW ISH LIFE

one of the greatest Jewish book col­ lectors and bibliophiles of the 20th century. He learnt “from early age,” in the words of the late Dr. Isidore Epstein, Principal of Jews’ College, “to scorn delight and live laborious days. His life story is a real Kiddush Hashem, a veritable epic of conse­ cration and dedication to G-d and his fellow men.” T"k AVID SOLOMON SASSOON -L r was born in Bombay on Decem­ ber 8, 1880. His father Solomon (1842-1894) died at the age of fiftytwo. The widowed Flora took charge of her husband’s business affairs and supervised her son’s education. In addition to his mother tongue, Arabic, he mastered English, Persian, and Hindustani, and at the age of 18 he knew the Bible by heart. In 1902 Flora moved to London where her home, in the words of the London Chronicle, was “probably unique in the world. She walked like a queen, talked like a sage and entertained like an oriental potentate.” Bibliophile rather than business­ man, David Solomon devoted his life to the accumulation of his great library. He inherited this great love of books from his great-grandfather Farja Hayyeem ben Abdullah Joseph of Baghdad whose large Hebrew library was partly destroyed when the Persians invaded Basra in 1775. David Solomon’s first acquisition, which he obtained in exchange for a kite in a boyish barter, was an Arabic trans­ lation of the Book of Ruth printed in Bombay in 1859 by David Hay­ yeem David. In 1912 he married Sarah Selina, daughter of Moses Meir ben Rabbi Eliezer Lipmann Prins, the owner of a famous library which later found a home in Jerusalem.

January-February 1966

David’s first manuscript was a 19th century scroll of the Book of Ruth which belonged to one of his uncles, Abraham Shalom David Sassoon. This beautifully illuminated scroll contains the benedictions to be recited before and after the reading of the Megillah. HE young collector’s first journey T in 1902 from India to Damascus bore choice fruit. He acquired the so-called RASHBA Bible, a 951-folio codex written by the scribe Vidal ben Shoul Satori, on behalf of Astruc ben Yitzchok ben Shelomo ibn Adret, and finished in 1383. The first word of each book is written in large gold letters on a colored background ex­ quisitely illustrated. The only excep­ tion in this pattern is the Book of Lamentations, where color is omitted as a sign of mourning. Among the noteworthy illustrations are the Ark, the Altar, the Rod of Aaron, the Menorah, and the Mount of Olives. To prove himself a Jew David Sas­ soon was required by the owner of the manuscript to read certain por­ tions and thus to establish that his aims were bibliographic and not mis­ sionary. In 1903 David Sassoon bought for <£90 a Machzor on vellum which contains the liturgy for the whole year according to the Old Roman rite. Beautifully written in 15th century Italian hand, the manuscript is illumi­ nated with elegant borders of flowers, birds, animals, and Biblical scenes. The scribe was Avrohom ben Mattithiah Treves Safrati and this work was utilized by liturgical writers such as Samuel David Luzzatto (18001865) and Leopold Zunz (17941886). In 1908 Sassoon paid a mere £ 3 0 for Maimonides’ Commentary on the

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Mishnah in Arabic and only £ 8 5 for the Shem Tov Bible. Two years later, visiting Baghdad, he purchased a small collection of manuscripts mostly dating from the 17th century. In Yemen, for a trifling <£5.5s., he obtained the Halochoth Pesukoth (“Decided Laws”) probably written in the 9 th century by the Gaon Yehudah. This 9th century manuscript of 310 leaves is complete with superlinear punctuation and was also known as the Sepher Hilchoth Koton. OR more than ten years David patiently negotiated for the Farchi Bible. After a voluminous but nonconclusive correspondence he travelled to Aleppo in 1913 and finally on March 26 he acquired this coveted gem for <£360. The same year he paid £ 1 2 0 for the Arabic original of

F

“The Enclosed Garden” by Rabbi Mosheh ibn Ezra (1055-1135). This manuscript proves the author to be Rabbi Mosheh and not Abraham ibn Ezra (1098-1164) as many scholars had previously assumed. The work is divided into chapters; the first chap­ ter defines reality, the second deals with the Unity of G-d, the third coun­ sels the avoidance of anthropomorph­ ism, and the fourth advises readers to avoid the name of the Deity. Ibn Ezra mentions more than fifty names of Geonim and grammarians, among the latter heretics like the Persian Bible exegete Hivi al Blakhi ibn Shakwiyah who wrote a work con­ taining 200 queries on the Bible. Recorded here also is the saying of the founder of the Karaite sect, Anan ben David, “Search the Torah and do not rely on thy knowledge.”

RARE FINDS Y 1916 the Sassoon collection Crawley, Lieutenant Lord Vernon, B numbered 500 manuscripts. Be­ and the famous orientalist Silvester tween 1914 and 1932, when the Cata­ de Sacy. In 1921 he acquired for logue was published, the total of manuscripts increased to 1,220, of which 1,153 are fully described in the Catalogue. When David and his mother visited the Holy Land in 1925 he acquired the 13th century Deci­ sions of Rabbi Isaiah di Trani the Elder on Chulin. In his North African odyssey, he gathered prayer books with liturgies according to the rites of Algiers, Fez, Tlemenc, and Tunis. Other manuscripts were acquired through private owners and famous booksellers like M. Lipshitz and David Frankel. He frequented public sales and the auction rooms of Sotheby, and bought from the sales of Lord Amherst of Hackney, George A.

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£ 6 0 an 871-leaf manuscript which formed the complete Halachic com­ pendium by Mordecai ben Hillel (d. 1298), the well known German codi­ fier, who was martyred in Nuremberg. The manuscript, written in the 14th century, has 871 pages by Levi ben Aaron. A particularly significant acquisi­ tion, in September 1923, was the Diwan Of Shemuel Hanogid, which the Oxford University Press published with an introduction by Sassoon in 1924. The author, Shemuel ha-Levi ben Joseph ibn Nagdela (993-1055), died ten years before the Norman Conquest. He was born in Cordova and for a time was a spice-seller at JEW ISH LIFE

Malaga. As a youth he emigrated to Granada where he served the vizier of King Habbus of Granada. On his deathbed the vizier told King Habbus that he owed his success to his secre­ tary and in 1020 Shemuel was ap­ pointed vizier. Shemuel ibn Nagdela served King Habbus and his son Badis until he died in 1062. Despite his con­ cern with the weighty affairs of State, the Jewish vizier was a prolific writer who authored twenty books, including grammatical works and an introduc­ tion to the Talmud. Mosheh Ibn Ezra, Shelomo ibn Gabirol, and Yehudah al C h a riz i (c. 1 1 7 0 -1 2 3 5 ) pay tribute to his creative poetic genius. Yet only fragments of ibn Nagdela’s poetic writings are extant, some in the Leningrad Library and others in the Bodleian. The manuscript which Sassoon ac­ quired in Aleppo, written in 1584-85 by an Italian rabbi, Tam ben Gedaliah ibn Yachya, was identified by Sassoon as the work of Shemuel Hanogid. It contained 1,743 poems, of which 1,500 were previously un­ known. They are divided into three parts called respectively Ben Tehilimy Ben Mishley, and Ben Koheleth, con­ sisting of 203, 1126, and 414 poems respectively. These poems not only establish Shemuel Hanagid as an out­ standing poet but also shed new light op many facets of his everyday life. Ben Tehilim was collected by Shemuel’s son Yoseph, and Ben Mishley was assembled by another son, Eliasaph (b. 1049). The compiler of the third part is not, however, mentioned. We find a poem about the earthquake and eclipse of the year 1047 and a eulogy on the death of the Gaon Chai (939-1038), the last gaon of Pumbeditha. His son Eliasaph writes:

January-February 1966

“Say I, Yehoiasaph, son of the Nogid Rabbi Shemuel the Levite, I collected in this book what came into my head [of the] poetical works of my fa­ ther — may the Almighty raise him in honor. I wrote them out with my own hand when I was eight years and six months old, for I was born according to the exact record of my father—may the Lord preserve him for good—three hours and three-fifths of an hour and two-thirds of a fifth of the hour of the third night (Tues­ day) 11 Tishri 4796 in the year of the Creation (1033). This corresponds to the 11th month Dhi Ka Dah in the year 426 according to the era of the Ishmaelites and I started with the com­ pilation after Pesach in the year 4804 (1044).” Another intimate note is a warm human touch that rings true over the centuries and is revealed in poem No. 63: “My father—may G-d raise his honor—commanded me in my youth to copy a book and he promised to give me a holiday for each poem and when he departed for one of the wars I sent him what I had copied and he wrote me these lines ‘thy writing is beautiful like chosen carbuncles and its lines straight like embroidery on a mantle.’ W , In another poem we read about Ishmail ibn Abad of Seville who fought the vizier in a battle which took place on the 13th of Tishri. “I am in distress,” grieves the poet, “and cannot multiply my sayings. Fulfill unto me the desire of my heart and hasten I pray thee to my help. And if I am not worthy before thee, do it for the sake of my son Yoseph and for my Torah.” It is not surprising that this Diwan was hailed as one of the great literary finds of our time.

47

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have been written. For a copy of the Latter Prophets he paid £400. The manuscript, written in a Spanish hand of the thirteenth or early fourteenth century, contains 441 pages. Yet high prices were the exception rather than the rule. Sassoon was a careful buyer who obtained most of his treasures at almost nominal cost. Herbert Loewe was inaccurate when he wrote in The Times Literary Sup­ plement, “Unlimited resources have enabled him to acquire any book that he desired, for no bidder could com­ pete with him.” Perseverance and true bibliographic zeal rather than riches were Sassoon’s great assets.

48

JEW ISH LIFE

ASSOON recorded the prices paid for every item. From 1888 to June 13, 1919 he paid a total of <£2,304.13.3d. for manuscripts 1-507. After the First World War, prices of manuscripts began to soar. In 1929 Sassoon paid £1,200 for the Halachic Code of Maimonides with glosses by Rabbi Meir Hakkohen. The manu­ script consists of 1,080 pages and con­ tains many variants from the printed text. He paid £ 1,500 for a manuscript of the “Guide of the Perplexed.” The manuscript consists of 496 pages and has 229 illuminations. The Lion rep­ resents the coat of arms of the royal family of Leon and Castile, for whom the manuscript must originally

Jews in Morocco Past and Present By J A C O B BELLER

11YHE Moroccan Jewish community JL —one of the oldest settlements in North Africa—is today still one of the largest and most important among the Jewish communities in the Arab coun­ tries. Because for the present the re­ strictions against Jews are not as severe as in the other Arab countries, the information that comes out of Morocco on the state of its Jewry is often ambiguous. Some reports tell about the declaration of equal rights and equal status for Jews and mention the appointment of Jews to senior government posts. Other reports tell the opposite and point to the Moroc­ can king’s participation in the Cairo pan-Arab conference. With these con­ tradictory reports puzzling the Jewish world, I found added incentive in visiting Morocco, to become acquaint­ ed with the true condition on the spot. I chose an indirect routing in my trip to Morocco for two reasons: The political situation was strained, the op­ position groups having had just made an abotive putsch and people were be­ ing arrested every day. In such cir­ cumstances a foreign journalist is not the most welcome guest. Moreover, I was a Jewish journalist and notwith­ standing the statements of the au-

January-February 1966

thorities about the total civil equality of its Jewish citizens, it would not look kindly on a Jewish journalist in­ truding his inquisitive pen in this tender area. Travelling to Tangiers from the Spanish port of Algeciras on a luxury ship which takes passage only in the tourist season, I was confident of be­ ing on a suitable route. However, I was betrayed by my luggage which was plastered over with labels of the Israel Zim Line on which I had come from New York to Gibraltar the week before. This led to the Moroccan se­ curity police keeping an eye on my movements. HILE still aboard, it was possi­ ble to form some idea of the Jewish situation. A Moroccan, dressed in the latest European fashion, fell into conversation with me in Spanish and soon turned the subject towards Jews. He knew, of course, from my luggage labels what I was. He intro­ duced himself as M. Ben-Shokran, one of the leading members of the T&ngiers Chamber of Commerce. In what has become the traditional manner (in Morocco too), he started by saying that he had many Jewish

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friends (Jews in Tangiers later told me he was a bitter foe of the Jews). He referred* to those Jews who were abandoning Morocco for Israel osten­ sibly without reason. “Jews in my country,” he said with some excite­ ment, “occupy an important place in commerce and industry. No one troubles or persecutes them. Their life is a virtual paradise. It is the fault of . . . the propagandists who are sent from Israel” and as he said this he peered sharply at the Hebrew-lettered labels on my bags. His tone grew more arrogant as he talked: “The Arab world will not take this silently. The Jews of Israel are criminals who have robbed Arab property and as an Arab state we must help our brethren regain Pales­ tine.” His speech became more and more violent in his rage. “Every Jew who leaves Morocco is a traitor!”

FEW moments after landing in A the port of Tangiers I slid into a taxi which crawled with difficulty through the dark and hilly streets, filled with scores of pale and ragged children. Emerging on a broad boule­ vard alongside the seashore I saw the sparkle of a “Kosher” sign flashing from a cafe. I called the driver to halt. Inside, people were sitting ami­ ably at the tables talking in Arabic with Hebrew words interspersed. Not being in possession of any Jewish ad­ dresses in Tangiers, this was my first contact with its Jews. The proprietor, who spoke Ladino and a little He­ brew, told me that in a few weeks he would be going to Israel. He pointed to a table where sat a family from Casablanca with all their bags and luggage; they too were going to—he whispered the word “Israel” in my ear.

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE OPINIONS The cafe-owner immediately took pie to the local Beth Din which is located in the Mellah, the ancient Jewish quarter. I was greeted there by vistas of misery: a sea of poverty, neglect and rags, stores whose entire “merchandise” was spread out in a tiny space on the ground. The cries of the hawkers mingled with the harsh grinding of the old-fashioned gramo­ phones in deafening one’s ears. The uniformed Jewish policeman —he wore a Turkish “kitshma” and addressed me in Hebrew—announced me and in a few minutes I was in the office of the Beth Din. The Rabbi of Tangiers, Moses ben Abraham Azancut? with the two dayonim, Mordecai Ancova and Ya’akov Biton, received 50

me and we had a lengthy conversa­ tion. Rabbi Azancut, who now occu­ pies the rabbinical post once held by the late Rabbi Toledano, who was Minister of Religion in the Israel Cabinet, leaves a positive impression with his dignified patriarchal appear­ ance. The aged rabbi assured me that the government practices no discrim­ ination against Jews in Morocco, where Jews are full citizens with equal rights. He mentioned, in fact, that the government covers the expenses of the Beth Din, and that a number of Jews were recently named to governmental posts. Years ago the Beth Din, known officially as the Tribunal, was recog­ nized by the government as the au­ thority for all matters affecting the JEW ISH LIFE

Jews and it enjoyed the same jurisdic­ tion as the state courts. At present, however, it is restricted to cases that have a purely Jewish-religious char­ acter. From the Beth Din I was taken to the president of the Jewish Kehillah, Abraham Isaac Larredo, a successful businessman who is also the author of a history of the Jews of Tangiers. He too assured me that the Jews of Mo­ rocco are equal citizens and that no discrimination exists against them on the part of the government.

do anything. In Tangiers synagogues keep closing down in quick succes­ sion. Tangiers once had more than twenty synagogues; Casablanca as many as forty. Communication with Israel is severely forbidden. Close rel­ atives who are in Israel are totally cut off from their families in Morocco. A Jewish school principal told me that textbooks which were addressed to him from Israel were not delivered and were immediately sent back. I might compare the present situa­ tion in Morocco with that of Poland in 1933. When I visited that country ATER when I chatted with Jews on the eve of Hitler’s rise to power, on the street, speaking to sorne there were still people who did not of them in Spanish, I saw that there believe—or did not want to believe— were those who thought quite differ­ that it would give rise to the dread ently. Some said, with a hidden fear, results that eventually came about. It that the Moslems do not even try to may be that the rabbi of Tangiers and hide their hatred towards the Jew and the head of the Kehillah feel that they indicate they are merely waiting for must deliver a properly patriotic state­ “the day.” Tangiers, which until only ment to a visiting Jewish journalist. recently, was an international port, Perhaps they do believe the assurances served as a haven for hundreds of war of the government, which repeatedly criminals fleeing from justice. These tells the Jews of Morocco that it have helped kindle the fire that is draws a clear distinction between blowing up against the Jews of the them and the Jews of Israel. city. The number of Jews leaving Jews on the street have a different Morocco is in the thousands. Of the opinion. It was not easy for me to 200,000 Jews who had lived in win their confidence. I was told that Morocco it is estimated that over there were secret agents about, even 100,000 have emigrated, mostly to Is­ among the Jews, and even those whose rael. Those communities which were confidence I won who did speak to located in the Berber areas are vir­ me looked over their shoulder quite tually evacuated. There have been fre­ cautiously and spoke often in double quent attacks there, I was told, on entendres and in indirect allusions. Jewish persons and property. It occurs often that young Arabs T N ORDER to get some idea of the seize and abduct Jewish girls against -i- Jewish position in Morocco one their will and the local police shut must become closer acquainted with their eyes and ears to the despairing the present political and economic sit­ cry of the parents until the appeal uation of the country after the state reaches a higher level of administra­ became independent. tion, though by then it is too late to In the year 1912 Morocco was split

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January-February 1966

51

into three parts: the French protec­ torate, Spanish Morocco, and the in­ ternationalized port of Tangiers. In March, 1956 the French protectorate was removed and a month later Spain gave up all its claims on its portion. Since then Morocco has been an in­ dependent state. Moroccan Jews were exposed to the personal discretion and mercy of the monarch as far as their civil rights were concerned. Anti-Jewish outbreaks occurred in the French part—this was t the time when fight­ ing was going on between Arabs and Jews in Sinai and Suez. Jewish prop­ erty was plundered and there were numerous Jewish victims. In the year 1955 there had also been attacks on Jews; a number of them were killed and Jewish property was plundered. Under Spanish and French protec­ tion Jews in Morocco had assumed an important place in international com­ merce and in the course of years helped introduce European culture. Morocco then had a market for its goods via Tangiers, which was a free port, and in this way it became the gateway between Africa and Europe. Now, however, her independence has created economic difficulty and at the same time dissatisfaction and discon­ tent, which has exacerbated the polit­ ical situation. The government on its side would very much wish that the Jews re­ mained, knowing that their departure would have adverse effect on the eco­ nomic situation in the country, which is already far from satisfactory. At the same time there are others who look with avid anticipation upon Jewish property. It is true to this day that Morocco has not yet joined the Arab League boycott of Israel, the main reason given being that Arab coun­

52

tries do not wish to recognize the State of Israel and the boycott would involve some recognition! URING my stay in Morocco D municipal elections took place. The opposition Istiklal Party and also the Communist Party boycotted the elections. The result was that the gov­ ernment party succeeded in obtaining a tremendous majority which made up for the defeat it had suffered in the previous parliamentary ballotting. Earlier there had taken place a revolt against the government which was sternly suppressed. This suggests that the government is not quite securely seated in the saddle. Nobody can know what the morrow may bring. The two opposition parties, the right-wing Istiklal and the left-wing nationalist front, do not satisfy them­ selves with the sharp attacks on the local Jews. Lalam, the organ of the Istiklal Party, trumpeted an alarm that the Jews of the mellah in the city of Rabat shut down their shops on the Jewish Sabbath, and demanded that the government order them to keep their shops open on Saturdays. (In all of Morocco, complains this newspaper, there are only fifty-five pharmacies and thirty of these are in Jewish hands.) However, a stranger provocation was the attack on the Jewish schools of the Alliance Israel­ ite Universelle which are, of course, maintained by the funds of the Al­ liance itself and which have also ad­ mitted Moslem children. The attack is based on the charge that Moslem children must now listen to Jewish re­ ligious instruction. It can be said in the main that the Jews of Morocco are still by no means JEW ISH LIFE

in a position comparable to that of the Jews of Iraq or of Egypt. But the uncertain political situation on the one side and the weakness of the economy on the other can give rise at any moment to changes which will place the Jews in a dilemma, one which they may be facing too late. It is the very fact that the government does not take severe measures against the Jews that is exploited by the Op­ position, which accuses the govern­ ment of having sold out to the Jews and of being a traitor to their Arab blood-brothers. The opposition Istiklal party stressed this strongly at the time of the election, in which several Jewish deputies were elected to Par­ liament. They accused the foreign minister of having been bought by the Jews and of having actually made a speech in a synagogue, a speech

which they said was repeated by the rabbis in all the other synagogues. Thus it is that Jews in Morocco stand between two fires. T IS understandable that the shift­ ing political situation has some in­ fluence on the economic situation there. As long as Morocco was under Spanish and French protection, had a close direct traffic and link with those countries and served as a gateway to other European lands with a market for its products, the situation was not bad, particularly when Tangiers was a free international port with connec­ tions with the entire world. But since its independence the country has been undergoing an economic crisis. It is understandable that there is some re­ action to ^this and that the relation­ ship with Jews has worsened.

I

MELLAH EXODUS Morocco, to this writer’s eye, is strikingly similar to the Latin Amer­ ican countries with its beauty of land­ scape, its neglect and poverty, apathy, indolence, and ostentatious wealth. Just as in exotic Ecuador or Bolivia, you will find Arabs there wrapped up in pale, half-torn abayas, old as the hills. You will hear these people say­ ing that the cafes and the hotels and the fine boulevards are only for the foreign tourists. When you come into the native quarter, in the so-called Kasbah, the Arab section of the large cities, you imagine that the clock has been put back four hundred years. An unpleasant smell attacks your nostrils, a mixture of odors of all kinds of fry­ ing meats and a smell of half-dark, close and narrow suffocating streets through which you have to push your-

January-February 1966

self through a mixture of red fezzes and turbans and women in long veils and pale, ragged children playing noisily in the middle of these alleyways. The sanitary conditions are inde­ scribable. Through open doors you can often see women suckling their chil­ dren on filthy straw covered with rags. You can also see, through these open doors, people eating without benefit of forks or any kind of cutlery, serving themselves with their fingers which they lick after a good meal. The Mid­ dle Ages suddenly becomes alive be­ fore your very eyes when you push your way with great effort through the Kasbah and look at the open taverns where there is noisy song and where roast sheep are being sliced with a sharp knife.

53

Passing a few streets farther, you suddenly see a luxurious palace of a Kaid, a wealthy Arab, which dazzles you with Its magnificence. Before you even enter it you are told that inside the luxury and the wealth are even greater; that the furniture is decorated with gold and silver, the viands the most costly to be obtained in the most expensive restaurants in Paris. It is therefore understandable that the jealousy directed towards the Jews who are more capable, vigorous, and educated and assume an important place in commerce and industry, is great on the part of both rich and poor. The rich have the excuse of patriotism: they want to protect Morocco from the Zionist peril; the poor with their well-stimulated appe­ tite look longingly at Jewish property. These are facts that distress the Jews of Morocco. RACES of the period of the Pro­ tectorate remain to this day. While in Casablanca the language of the in­ telligentsia is French and French cul­ ture is tangibly evident there at every step, Tangiers has remained under Spanish influence. In Casablanca there appears a French-language newspaper Petit Marocain, and in Tangiers a Spanish daily called España. In Casa­ blanca you can find the latest edi­ tions of French books, large selections of French newspapers and magazines. In Tangiers the same applies to Span­ ish magazines and publications. In both cities it is noticeable that there seems to be no enmity or hatred to­ ward the former governing powers. Morocco now has friendly relation­ ships with both France and Spain. King Hassan was well received in Madrid when he visited Spain and

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was also received with great pomp in Paris. Both powers left Morocco vol­ untarily and the Moroccan people did not find it necessary to carry on a military conflict as had happened in Algeria. On the contrary many Moroccans will tell you quite openly that they regret that Spain and France have left. The Jews of the country have been influenced by both cultures—in Tan­ giers the Jews speak Spanish and in Casablanca they speak French. This is, of course, as it applies to the busi­ ness world, to the intellectuals and the youth, whereas the older generation speaks Arabic and to some extent He­ brew. In the last few years major changes have taken place in the in­ ternal life of the Moroccan Jew. The Jewish Mellah has gradually begun to assume a different appearance. One is struck by the large number of vacant houses. The exodus from the Mellah is still going on at a restrained pace. Some go to Israel, some to Canada, and some to the U.S.A. HE younger generation leaves the Mellah for the European quarters or even for the Kasbah where a more attractive life and society is found, quite a different world from the Jew­ ish Mellah. An older Jew complained to me: “Things are not what they were, the youth is leaving us, they are not going in the ways of their parents. You meet young people who dress in European clothes, the young girls put their hair up in the latest fashion. Mother and father look on and sigh, what will become of their Jewish­ ness?” The youth is Moroccanizing itself: I was even told that a group of young people founded a circle of Moroccan

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JEW ISH LIFE

patriots which is reminiscent of the lamentable Neumann group in Ger­ many before the rise of Hitler. From remote areas there come stories of mixed marriages and even conversions to Islam. Moroccan young men seek marriage with Jewish girls. The Jew­ ish parents tremble lest a Moroccan youth fall in love with their daughter and compel them to suffer a tragedy. For this reason the girls are put un­ der closest custody whenever they go to public places. “However, the sun cannot be hidden,” I was told by an older, pious Jew, “and this is an­ other reason why we try to get away from here.” ING HASSAN himself has one thing in common with the Moroccan Jewish community—he is

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A Jewish bey and his mother enter a clinic, sponsored by the Joint Distribu­ tion Committee, for treatment in Casablanca.

January-February 1966

also between two fires. The Opposition is constantly accusing him of betray­ ing Arab unity because he does not adopt strong enough measures against the Jews. Morocco, however, being one of the few Arab countries with a pro-Western orientation, the king seeks to satisfy both sides. On one occasion he named a few Jews to high governmental posts to prove that there is no discrimination in Moroc­ co against Jews and immediately afterwards he went to the Arab con­ ference in Cairo to convince the Op­ position parties that he is no traitor to Arab interests. One of the most re­ cent pieces of news in the Jewish press was that Casablanca recently built a new synagogue, Anim Z’miroth, this at a time when of the pre­ viously existing forty synagogues, half were empty or closed. In the mean­ time the Moroccan UN delegate sup­ ported the resolution pressed at the UN General Assembly against con­ demning Syria for its murderous at­ tacks on Israel’s borders. Treading his way gingerly between the two fires, King Hassan II seeks, on the one hand, to show the rest of the Arabs that he maintains his solidarity with them, and on the other to prove to the Jews of Morocco that they ought not to leave the country as they can enjoy full freedom and civil rights. Only a little while ago the rab­ binical courts, which used to enjoy full internal autonomy, were restricted in their scope, having been brought under the jurisdiction of th# general courts of justice. Only purely personal and domestic Jewish matters now fall under their purview. In contrast is the scene of the monarch, together with his suite, attending a Jewish Wedding

55

when a former Jewish minister in two Moroccan cabinets, Ben-Zakan, now an honorary president of the Moroc­ can Jewish community, married off his daughter. He has even received a Jewish delegation including Chief Rabbi Shabl Dagan. On another occa­ sion, however, he has openly stated that he is against Israel’s usage of the Jordan waters. The strange attitude of the govern­ ment is usually explained by saying that a distinction is made between Jews in Israel and Jews in Morocco. We know, however, that Egypt also used this argument and we also know what has happened to the largest part of Egyptian Jews who have left the country and that those who remained are now second- or third-class citizens. It is tru e , of co u rse, th a t th e Moroccan king Hassan cannot in any way be compared to the Egyptian dic­ tator Abdul Nasser. The difference be­

tween the two was illustrated in a speech which King Hassan made at the Mediterranean conference in the city of Florence where among other things he said: “In other Arab coun­ tries the rich will be expropriated on behalf of the poor; we will make the poor rich without such expropriation. We aim to restore the true civilization of peace in Africa in order to avoid bloodshed. We who have fought so hard for our independence are inter­ ested in stability and peace.” But in Morocco the situation has not been stabilized and the opposition of right and left exploit the Jews as a scape­ goat. Every change in the government there can have serious results for the Jewish community. The word Morocco means “blue skies” but for its Jews the skies have not been so blue. For a while they were clear but now they are clouding again.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

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found in various places. A Moroccan Jewish historian named Jacob Larredo, father of the present head of the Tangiers community, Isaac Larredo, himself a historian, brings our atten­ tion to one particular Hebrew inscrip­ tion: “Thus far Joab pursued the Philistines” and a second inscription which reads as follows: “Raise up a lament for the great Prince Amatziahu who fell here. . . . ” These data are, of course, rather vague and have not been clearly estab­ lished or documented. However, there is actual information that in the year 429 when King Genzeric, with the help of the Jews, conquered North Africa, he gave them full freedom.

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HE present-day situation of Mo­ roccan Jewry must be viewed in the light not only of current political and economic factors but also against the setting of Moroccan Jewish his­ tory—a history which goes back be­ fore the time of the Roman regime. There is even a suggestion that as early as the time of King Solomon there were Jews there who carried on trade with the Phoenicians and that King Solomon’s boats travelled there, that King Solomon himself built their first synagogue. That the first Moroc­ can Jews left Eretz Yisroel even be­ fore the destruction of the Second Temple has been confirmed by vari­ ous Hebraic inscriptions which are

They brought a rich culture and de­ veloped international commerce.

The great Maimonides lived in Fez for a while and wrote one of his works there. A whole school of schol­ N THE years between the sixth ars, poets, and great intellects thrived, and seventh centuries there was a such as Yehudah Ibn Kodesh, Ben movement amongst the Berber tribes S’rira, Sh’muel Ibn Gafni, head of the to adopt the Jewish religion. There is Beth Din, the Talmudic scholar Doa legend about a Jewish king and nesh ben Librat, Yitzchok Alfasi, and queen who conducted wars with the Saadia Abudani—-all of Fez where Moslems and conquered them. The there was a renowned yeshivah. But it name of the Jewish king was Yaakov did not last long. Persecutions and and the queen was Kahinah. Both fell slaughters resumed in the eleventh in battle fighting heroically. It is not century. Six thousand Jews were clear to this day whether the ances­ slaughtered in Fez and the women tors of the surviving Jews dwelling were sold into slavery. Then came a among the Berbers in the Atlas moun­ total ban—Jews were given the alter­ tain districts rwere of Jewish origin or native of conversion to Islam or ban­ whether they were Berber converts to ishment. Somehow, Morocco’s Jews Judaism. It is not certain who assim­ survived this grim era and community ilated whom. In any case they were life was slowly re-established under of Jewish faith, they fought the Mos­ harsh conditions, with the Jews re­ lems heroically, and they beat them quired to wear special marks of shame off regularly. It is told that the Berber on their clothing and to live in closed Jews of that time were finally enticed mellahs. into a trap by their Moslem enemies because of their strict observance of A T THE time of the Spanish Inthe Sabbath. The Moslems sent them quisition a large number of compensation money and invited them Spanish Jews escaped to Morocco. to come to a certain place on the Since the Inquisition also persecuted Sabbath in order to establish peace the Moslem religion, Morocco’s Mos­ once and for all. Because it was Shab- lem rulers and populace extended a both they wer^flnot prepared to bear measure of welcome to the refugees. arms and they expected that the Mos­ A second Golden Age then ensued for lems would do likewise. When the the Jews in Morocco. In the city of Jews saw they had been deceived it Meknez a great yeshivah was founded was too late to escape and all were and in a number of Moroccan cities killed in cold blood. there lived and worked important fig­ Among the legends of Moroccan ures and Talmudic scholars who for Jewry there is a story about a cave centuries enriched the rabbinical lit­ where are found the fifty saintly men erature and the Torah life of Israel. who were martyred by the Roman Among them can be mentioned such emperor Justinian. The place is held illustrious figures as Abraham Azusacred by Moslems as well as Jews. lay, the author of Chesed L ’avroIn the tenth eentury the Jews of hom, Chaim Yoseph Azulay, Shem Morocco experienced a Golden Age Tov, various members of the Attar which lasted until the next century. family, Yaakov Ibn Tzur, Yitzchok

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Ben Chanania Arabas, the author of the book “Truth and Faith” and of “Treasure of the Books,” which ap­ peared in Venice in an Italian transla­ tion, Chasdai Almasina, author of Mishmereth Hakodesh, and Yaakov Ben Malka, the author of Sefer Hamaarabi. Beset through the centuries by in­ ternecine strife and harried by fre­ quent wars with European kingdoms which wanted to set foot on Morocco, the country was under chronic strain which bore adverse effect on the life of the Jews there. In recent genera­ tions the Moroccan Jewish commu­ nity lost much of its intellectual, schol­ arly strength and particularly in the last century there occurred a great spiritual decline; great centers of edu­ cation were ruined and the danger threatened Moroccan Jewry of being split off from the Jewish world. Only after the conference of Algeciras in the year 1906, when Morocco was in­ ternationalized, and later when France took over the protectorate over Mo­ rocco, did things begin to look better for the Jews. The Alliance Israelite started its widespread activities and Moroccan Jews no longer felt them­ selves so isolated* now being linked with the Jewish community of France. The cumulative effects of these devel­ opments are quite discernible in the Moroccan Jewish scene of today. F YOU walk through the Mellah in Casablanca, particularly on a Friday afternoon, you see a picture which, despite the poverty, is similar to that of the Jewish districts in the East European communities that were. The language, of course, is quite a different one. But the faces are very much the same, the words and the

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sound of the language has the same Jewish sigh, the same look of nostal­ gia and weltschmerz, the same dark eyes of the Jewish daughter, the same shouts of the hawkers of bargains, the same noise of the Moroccan counter­ parts of the little Moishelach and Shloimelach, who were free of cheder today because it is Erev Shabboth and who play carefree in the sand in the middle of a narrow street. You have to press your way through narrow lanes of white-washed houses, mostly built of lime, without windows or doors. They generally have a large patio (i.e. a court) where there is a well and a common kitchen. If you succeed in stepping inside, you see bits of old, shabby furniture, some­ times not even a bed, often only a mattress. This being the Sabbath eve, you see brass candlesticks readied for use and other appropriate preparations under way by women whose faces, un­ like those of the Moslem women, are not covered by kerchiefs or veils. The men you glimpse are attired in long Turkish trousers, with little round caps like yarniulkas on their heads. On both sides of the street mer­ chandise is spread out, each vendor’s wares taking up but a tiny area. Here there are for sale all kinds of little bargains, even shishlik which is pre­ pared right on the street. The vendor is a woman who from her build does not, it seems, believe in dieting. She recognizes me as a foreigner and shouts out to me “Kosher, Kosher!” A little further on fish is offered for sale and you can clearly hear the word “Shabboth” repeatedly pronounced, accompanied by other words which, you soon deduce, mean “Jews, buy fish for the Sabbath!” On the ground is a cobler wrapped in a discolored piece JEW ISH LIFE

of clothing which looks like a night­ gown. He sit there repairing shoes. Be­ side him is a second Jew with a long, patriarchal beard inscribing Hebrew words on various Chanukah lamps, spice-boxes, and Sabbath menorahs.

the Holy Name. I chose a synagogue on Lusitania Street, Em Habonim. The worshippers, dressed in their Sabbath clothes, wore long, old-fashioned jilabos which because of their age have no recognizable color and, even to the

Some children of the Mellah watch a Jewish craftsman fix a pan in the street.

Catching sight of me he shows me a Chanukah laimp with the inscription of the blessings and a silver plate with the inscription “Simon Tov Umazol Tov ” As if this were not enough he takes out from his hiding place a little mezuzah and he whispers to me “this is from Jerusalem, the Holy City” and quickly looks around to see if anyone has overheard. N almost every one of the warren of streets you can see little synagogues bearing inscriptions of the names of the saints of yesteryear and the mar­ tyrs who died in the sanctification of

I

January-February 1966

patch upon patch, reminded me of the long, silken cappotes worn of old in the little towns in Eastern Europe. Of course, the nusach of their prayers is of quite different style from that to which we Ashkenazi Jews are accus­ tomed. Lechah Dodi, in its unfamiliar tune, was sung by all with great joy­ ousness. The older Jews pray with great fervor, as though they were for­ getting all their sorrows and were un­ iting with the Sabbath. The Oron Hakodesh bore artistic carvings, featur­ ing figures of lions hammered out of metal. There were gold-lined inscrip­ tions on the cloth parocheth covering

59

the Ark, with a list of memorials with various names of the givers. When, on Shabboth morning, a Torah scroll was brought out for the reading, I noticed that the silver case in which—as is customary among the Oriental com­ munities—the Torah was contained was hammered out with artistic deco­ rations and inscriptions of the donors’ framed. Instead of candelabras, the syna­ gogue was illuminated by very large oil lamps suspended from the walls. The lamps, which are kept constantly burning, were inscribed in Hebrew letters of gold with the names of saints of the past, of Rabbi Meir Ba’al Ha’nes and other venerated figures. Each commemorated the soul of a martyr of a given period. In each of the other

<3 #

UT thefe is another side of the coin. I was told, with great satis­ faction, about the phenomenon of the yeshivoth established in Morocco by the Lubavitcher movement, and of the Jewishness which they nurture among the Jews of Casablanca and other Moroccan cities. Unfortunately, this being the summer season, I did not get an opportunity to speak to the two young Lubavitcher emissaries, Rabbis Matusof and Raskin, who at the time were conducting summer camps. Besides conducting yeshivoth for boys and young men, the Luba­ vitcher movement has brought to Morocco Beth Rivka schools for girls. In these institutions young Moroccan Jews imbibe Torah learning and Jew­ ish fervor; they are trained as teachers, as shochtim^f as communal servants and leaders. The students receive their

B

60

synagogues Lvisited in Morocco I saw similar oil lamps. Upon conclusion of the services each worshipper kissed the hand of the rabbi and wished him a good Sabbath—some in Ladino, others in French or Hebrew. On Shabboth afternoon you see a different kind of picture: elderly Jews walking proudly wrapped in their jilabos, in the synagogues, while across the street you see, walking with firm stride, the younger generation dressed in the latest fashion. The shochet com­ plained to me that the younger people seldom come into the synagogue now­ adays. The youth are anxious to get out of the Mellah, but as they flee they fall into other camps, a situation which brings little glory to the Jewish com­ munity.

HOPE meals on the premises. There are three such yeshivoth in Casablanca and three Beth Rivka schools and a Beth Rivka seminary, besides a number of ele­ mentary chadorim. Elsewhere in Mo­ rocco there are five other Lubavitcher yeshivoth and a number of chadorim in five cities and in various villages in the remote areas. In addition, there is a summer camp for 200 girls. A large part of the budget is covered by the American Joint Distribution Com­ mittee. In various Jewish circles in Morocco I heard nothing but praise and grati­ tude to the Lubavitcher Rebbe for sal­ vaging and rescuing Judaism in Mo­ rocco. However, from a Moroccan community leader I heard some strong complaint that the Lubavitcher Rebbe is bringing in a kind of Judaism and Jewishness “suitable only for Galicia,” JEW ISH LIFE

as he put it, but this was one of the top old-line leaders. n p H E desperate cry of the Moroccan -I- Jewish community for spiritual aid found its principal response, however, on the part of another noble source. In the year 1944 a number of Jewish community leaders of America, some of whom had themselves come from Morocco and other eastern lands some years before, saw the danger threatening the community which to this day has remained the most tradi­ tional one amongst all Arab countries. Under the leadership of Isaac Shalom, these men founded the organization called Ozar Hatorah, which set for itself the task of combatting ignorance and sponsoring effective religious edu­ cation through the application of modern equipment to Torah objec­ tives. Broadening its activity through the succeeding years, Ozar Hatorah has brought its program to other Arab and Moslem countries as far as Iran. Over 20,000 Jewish-ehildren are now receiving an integrated Jewish and general education at the Ozar Hatorah schools in Morocco, Lebanon, Syria, Tunis, and Iran, more than 7,000 of them at schools in twelve Moroccan cities. I visited the center of the schools in Tangiers, an institution founded by Samuel Toledano, a descendant of the Jews who came to Morocco from Spain and named in memory of his uncle Isaac Toledano, for the purpose of strengthening the spiritual life of Moroccan Jewry. The Toledano Foundation is located in one of the finest areas of Tangiers at 45 Avenue Sidy Amar. An impos­ ing edifice, it presents a combination of Spanish and European architecture,

January-February 1966

set amidst a glorious panorama. On one side the outlook is on the snowcovered mountains mirroring them­ selves in the sun, and on the other you see the majestic rock of Gibral­ tar. The central building is surrounded by a five-wing structure and a garden and park. Here are located the head­ quarters of the teaching institutions conducted and maintained by Ozar Hatorah and its yeshivah, Etz Chayim. The inscription Shelo Tishkach To­ rah M 'Y Israel (They shall not forget the Torah of Israel) tells you immedi­ ately what the main goal of this in­ stitution is. The yeshivah suggests the picture of the Poland of not so long ago with its intimate atmosphere of reciting and interpreting the page of the Gemorah. And even more so with its strict piety. Young Moroccan Jewish boys with bronze faces and black eyes, from Rabat, Meknez, Fez, Saafee, Tangiers, and other remote communities, repeated the Talmudic passages in my presence with so much zeal that I felt as though I was back in the Polish yeshivah of my boyhood days. My comparison was further in­ tensified when, davening Minchah, they “fell to say tachnun” with such zeal and enthusiasm that I was im­ mediately reminded of the circle around the Belzer Rebbe. Two yeshivah students, Jacob Lubattur of Meknez and Moshe Sarfati of Fez, were my interviewees, in the absence of the principal, Rabbi Meyer Waltner. The latter, who had been sent from America to head the yeshi­ vah, was at that time back in the States on a visit. The students indicated that their program included a wide range of Jewish learning. All of them spoke Hebrew even before they en­ tered the school so that the matter of

61

language was no obstacle. The Gemorah and commentaries were, of course, studied in Hebrew translation. Together with the Etz Chayim Yeshivah, Ozar Hatorah conducts in the premises a Kollel where some twelve graduates of the yeshivah now pursue higher Torah learning and are prepared for the Rabbinate. At other locations in Tangiers Ozar Hatorah conducts an elementary school for children between the ages of six and twelve, a secondary school for stu­ dents between the ages of twelve and eighteen, a lyceum for girls, and a Beth Jacob teachers’ seminary. the many fruitful aspects A MONG of the work of Ozar Hatorah, not least significant is its policy of helping the Moroccan community help

itself. It was realized that the time has come for Moroccan Jewry to be more self-reliant, to develop through its own resources. The Ozar Hatorah schools have trained a leadership force —informed, committed, purposeful. These are the ones who can be looked to for the future of Moroccan Jewry. The Jewish community of Morocco, one of the most ancient and illustrious of all Diaspora communities, for so long a pulsating center of Jewish life, today faces a clouded present and an uncertain future. Before it is too late, all necessary means must be used to conserve its strength and to restore to it at least some fraction of its former glory. Those in and beyond Morocco who are devoting themselves to this purpose are making a historic contri* bution to the Jewish cause.

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JEW ISH LIFE

B ook B eview s Dovid Hamelech in Spiritual Context By S H E R M A N D. S IF F

DAVID, KING OF ISRAEL. By Henry Biberfeld. The Spero Foundation. New York, 1963* 167 pp. $3.25 (paperback, $1.98) HE usual approach of the Biblical T historian is (or at least should be) that of the investigator attempting to un­ cover the past despite a paucity of his­ torical data. The secular historian is not disposed to accept Biblical accounts as historically authentic; the Bible critic often seeks distortions which would destroy the validity of the Bible. To religious Jews the Bible is the record of G-d’s revelation to man, con­ veying to mortal man the infinite Divine will, nothing more and nothing less. The statement does not rule out historical truth, but historicity is incidental to the essential theme of Divine revelation. As a purely historical document, the Bible does present difficulties. King Saul, on the superficial level, would hardly merit the accolade given him by David, nor would David himself appear as the epitome of Jewish monarchy. Naturally, critics pounce upon the superficial. To expect an appreciation of the Divine ele­ ment in Jewish history from secular hisRABBI SHERMAN D. SIFF lectures in Tal­ mud at Yeshiva University and serves as spir­ itual leader of the Young Israel of Manhattan.

January-February 1966

torians would be unwarranted; to await it from Bible critics would be ludicrous. Henry Biberfeld provides that dimen­ sion which the secular historian over­ looks and the Bible critic rejects. What Mr. Biberfeld does in his book, “David, King of Israel,” is discuss incidents and topics in the life of King David, while placing them in their spiritual frame of reference. He sees King David not as the young warrior, but as the spiritual giant of thS Jewish past, present, and future. From his pages there appears the “Dovid Hamelech” of Jewish tradition. His work is not, strictly speaking, a history of King David, but rather a keen analysis of issues in the Tanach discussed on a mature spiritual level, with respect for and recognition of the essential Divine element in Jewish history. The placing of the Biblical David in his spiritual con­ text is the important contribution of this series of essays. To his credit, Mr. Biberfeld does not attempt to be totally original. Rather he bases his views upon the vast traditional literature found in the Talmud, Midrash, and classical as well as later commen­ taries. The copious notes at the conclu­ sion of the work attest to his familiarity with traditional sources and serve as guides for the serious student. What he has done is demonstrate how traditional

63

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explanations are actually found in the text, and relate particular events to the totality of Tanach. Of course, he adds his own incisive insights. S MIGHT be expected in this type A of work, some of the author’s spe­ cific interpretations are subject to debate. His interpretation of Samuel’s disap­ pointment with the people’s desire for a king, implying that prophetic leadership would have been the ideal, is not sub­ stantiated by the Biblical injunction to appoint a king. The classical interpreta­ tion of Nachmanides, or the more recent view of Samson Raphael Hirsch which

the author quotes, would seem to be more plausible. He raises some questions without fully answering them, such as the problem of David’s action regarding Bathsheba. Mr. Biberfeld’s elucidation seems to only par­ tially explain King David’s incongruous behavior. But at least he places the issue in its proper spiritual context, and hon­ estly grapples with the issue, rather than dismisses it. However, debatable issues do not de­ tract from the entirely laudable approach of the author. We would do well to have a systematic explanation of the entire Tanach in the same vein.

Where Does the Guilt Lie? By H IL L E L S E ID M A N

AND THE CROOKED SHALL BE MADE STRAIGHT. Dr. Jacob Robinson. Macmillan Company, New York, 1965, 406 pp. $6.95. HIS book is a refutation of the ac­ T cusations of Hannah Arendt con­ tained in her book “Eichmann in Jeru­ salem” (Viking Press, New York, 1963) previously serialized in The New Yorker. These accusations were aimed at the prosecution in the Eichmann trial which was the cause of Miss Arendt’s wrath, at the judges in this trial and their ver­ dict, at the Israeli Supreme Court which confirmed the sentence, at the Israeli gov­ ernment, in fact at the State of Israel itDR. HIIXEL SEIDMAN is the author of “A Diary of the Warsaw Ghetto’* and the Amer­ ican correspondent for three Israeli newspapers.

January-February 1966

self. In her adroitly publicized work, Miss Arendt also presented a summary indictment of the leadership of the Jew­ ish communities in Nazi-occupied Eu­ rope. At the same time she mobilized her wide knowledge and undeniable talent, and even a certain brilliancy, in order to defend—Eichmann! In a perverse ef­ fort at posthumous vindication of this figure of evil, Hannah Arendt resorted to every conceivable trick, and freely bent the facts to her, to say the least, strange thesis, whose aim was to demonstrate the “illegality” and “injustice” supposedly perpetrated by Israel on Eichmann. Dr. Jacob Robinson, a scholarly law­ yer of vast erudition, a recognized au­ thority on the subject in question, mar­ shals an array of incontestable, thor-

65

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oughly documented evidence to expose errors in fact as in judgments, untruths and distortions. From Dr. Robinson’s book emerges a perception of Hannah Arendt’s “Eichmann in Jerusalem” as characterized by obvious ill will, inten­ tional twisting of truth, and outright falsification, authored by a malignant prosecutor of her martyred brethren in exposition of the premise that not the murderer but the victim is guilty.

book. The truth is that there was no Jew­ ish leadership in the ghettos. The socalled “office holders,” the members and employees of the “Judenrats,” were no more than powerless prisoners constantly under the whip and gun of unparalleled German cruelty and power coupled with Satanic mastery of trained deception. The “Judenrat” was simply a devic^ to lull the victims, and especially the imprisoned “leaders” themselves, into vain hopes and false confidence. Inevitably, under R. ROBINSON applies himself to the circumstances, the device achieved his task with the approach and its purpose. The Judenrat members “re­ mood of serious scholarship. Nowhere acted? or not as their individual situ­ ean one detect the slightest trace of the ations and characters might permit, but more than justified anger which Miss the cold fact is that little if any room Arendt’s accusation must have evoked. was left for any reaction. Miss Arendt’s. Dr. Robinson certainly deserves our ad­ poisoned arrows, therefore, were aimed miration for his ability to approach the at non-existent targets. There was no real malicious charges objectively. He simply Jewish leadership. confronts them with the truth, with the If there is justification for accusations irrefutable evidence, totally overlooked of Jewish leaders—and there certainly is or intentionally ignored by Miss Arendt. —they should be directed at those be­ In this he demonstrates, with devastating yond the grasp of the Germans, those proofs, her incompetence coupled with in the free countries. Their attitude cer­ ill will—on all counts of the summary tainly merits objective evaluation. Joel indictments in Miss ^repdt’s book. These Brand’s book “Bishlichuth Nidonim Lacharges center around three areas: 1) vometh,” “In a Mission of Condemned The Eichmann trial; 2) The lack of re­ to Death” published (in Hebrew) in Tel sistance; and 3) The failure of Jewish Aviv, in 1961, throws a nightmarish leadership. shadow on the response, or lack of it, Dr. Robinson is best on the first count, to the calls for rescue of the Hungarian which is understandable for a legal au­ Jews. Even Dr. Nahum Goldmann has thority of his caliber. As to the question admitted the dismal failure of the Jewish of the Jewish resistance, this was dealt leadership in the free countries in not with more succinctly and expertly by one achieving, whatever the obstacles, the of the great writers on the subject, K. rescue of at least some of the Jews from Shabatai, himself a former inmate of the German hands. German camps, in his work in Hebrew But Miss Arendt’s wrath is directed at and English, “As Sheep to the Slaugh­ the unfortunate prisoners, endowed by ter?” (Beth Dagan, Israel, 1962). the Germans with ficticious offices, who The third question raised by Miss Arendt—the failure of leadership among were wholly at the mercy of the mur­ the Jews in German hands—is still un­ derers and without the slightest crumb answered, in spite of the many writings of power. Where there is no resource on the subject including Dr. Robinson’s of power, there is no responsibility.

D

January-February 1966

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JEWISH LIFE

S TO the main accusation concern­ Hausner lacked the holy spark of the ing the conduct of the Eichmann great, bitter cry against the people sym­ A trial, maybe I will incur the reproach of bolized, personified, and represented by “succumbing to emotions”—which was clearly condemned in Miss Arendt’s work as a transgression of the estab­ lished rules—the “rules” being that you should approach the Germans like any other people, and their crimes like any other crimes, that is, coldly and objec­ tively, as coldly and objectively as these people committed these crimes. Yet, I, and everyone who “knows what it is all about,” must be at a loss to grasp how one cannot be stirred in his innermost being, how one could be able to indulge in legalistic niceties and juridic subtle­ ties, and discuss what have been done to us by the Germans in terms normally employed in normal happenings. Yet such an approach is Miss Arendt’s, whose book is subtitled (correctly, ac­ cording to her reasoning) “The Banal­ ity of Evil.” But Robinson meets her on her ground—-the wrong ground. Wrong for both, for everyone. Miss Arendt ac­ cuses the accuser of not being sufficient­ ly meticulous as to the procedure of conducting the prosecution of Eichmann. Dr. Robinson, in turn, proves that the prosecutor, Gideon Hausner, was in fact meticulous to the highest degree. Both the reproof and the rejoinder are out of place—the “place” being Auschwitz!. . . In this off-base debate, Dr. Robinson is right and Miss Arendt wrong, as usual. But, even more wrong, in terms of the reality which was Auschwitz, was Gideon Hausner. An average lawyer, undistinguished and uninspiring, upon whom fate thrust an opportunity and an incomparable historic responsibility, he was unequal to his role. He used the usual resources of mediocrity, handling the “case” in such routine way as to for­ tify Miss Arendt’s diagnosis of “the ba­ nality of evil.”

January-February 1966

this defendant. This was the moment to voice the cry, to make tremble every human heart, to stir the very founda­ tions of the self-indulgent society and its sanctimonious leaders who witnessed pas­ sively the terrible murders going on day after day, month after month, year af­ ter year, during mankind’s longest five years, 1940-1954. Great luminaries of the law have nev­ er been ashamed of the fact that besides knowledge of the codices, they possessed also a heart. One need but recall the in­ spiring figures of the bar in France in famous trials, to deplore the failure of this prosecutor to rise to the occasion—i the “occasion” being the murder of mil­ lions of our people by millions of the Eichmann people! All three involved in the dispute, Hausner, his “prosecutor” Miss Arendt, and defender Dr. Robinson, are victims of the same error—of applying ordinary measures to immeasurable horrors; of trying—vainly—to describe and define in ordinary terms indescribable cruelties and indefinable savagery. The term used presently by the Ger­ mans—in their adoit exploitation of se­ mantics for their crimes—is “normali­ zation.” Under this slogan, the slaugh­ ter of the Jews becomes a mere episode of the past, now to be forgotten. This approach of normalization the Germans endeavored to force upon us right after the end of the war, and particularly during the Eichmann trial. Their rea­ soning was: Eichmann, and a few other Nazis, committed crimes—let them pay: but what has this to do with us—“nor­ mal” Germans? . . . The Eichmann pros­ ecution, by using normal “terms,” facili­ tated the ominous “normalization” of the present and eo ipso of the past. This,

69

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J E W IS H LIFE

in the face of the fact that one would look in vain for ordinary formulas, le­ gal or otherwise, applicable to a savage­ ry which defies every human reason. Here we must register our astonish­ ment at the sub-title of Robinson’s book, “The Jewish Catastrophe.” Was it the Jewish catastrophe? Was it not rather the eruption of the German without mask? Dr. Robinson repeats this im­ proper expression countless times, in­ stead of pinpointing the German crimes and criminals, as if he were afraid of offending the murderers by calling a spade a spade. By this he certainly did not “make the crooked straight.” R. ROBINSON’s otherwise compre­ hensive book also fails to deal with one aspect of Miss Arendt’s book and personality which particularly calls for exploration. Some pertinent and very disturbing questions force them­ selves upon us and demand a solution. What compulsions prompted Hannah Arendt to do this to her martyred peo­

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ple? What dark forces moved a noted Jewish woman of letters to devote her time, efforts, energy, ability, and agility in order to desecrate the memory of martyrs, fighters, and heroes of her own people? What caused the former Zionist activist, a contributor to Jewish periodi­ cals, to defend on indefensible grounds the most abominable German criminals, and through them the German people itself? This strange phenomenon is not lim­ ited to Miss Arendt. How many Jews of some standing are constantly “investi­ gating” Germany on yearly vacation trips under the disguise of educating the murderers for democracy or for friend­ ship toward the Jews? These questions were not answered. And you cannot dodge them. If in legal cases, even minor ones, psychological factors are not overlooked, how in this instance can you avoid probing the dark recesses of a human soul turned against itself?

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EUROPEAN-ISRAELI SUMMER SEMINAR For Applications and Additional Information Write

NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF SYNAGOGUE YOUTH of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America Eighty-four Fifth Avenue • New York 11, New York ALgonquin 5-4100

G entlem en: Kindly send me a prelim inary application and full inform a­ tion for the NCSY European-Israeli Summ er Seminar. N A M E ........................................................................ ............................................ • -AGE................. M Or F . ADDRESS....................... ........................ ................... C ITY ..................

AN UNEQUALLED SEVEN-WEEK EXPERIENCE

STATE............ZIP CODE .

Feel

APPRECIATED

People like you are the reason El Al's flying. Israel appreciates what you've contributed to building its great institutions, including El Al, of course). You'll appreciate the way El Al's jets and prop-jets whisk you to other delightful destinations—17 different countries; Tel Aviv, Nico­ sia, Istanbul, Teheran, Nairobi, Jo­ hannesburg, Athens, Rome, Vienna, Zurich, Munich, Frankfurt, Brussels, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Paris, London. Go to any you choose. But first go to your El Al travel agent for help. He'll appreciate the business.

ISRAEL AIRLINES

610 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York, PLaza 1-7500 Boston • Chicago • Cleveland • Detroit • Los Angeles • Miami Philadelphia • San Francisco • Washington, D .C

Heinz makes kosher soups*♦♦

The © endorsement seal is on the labels. You’ll find the official © seal of THE UNION OF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA

on the labels of six Heinz Soups! On Heinz Vegetarian Beans, too! Of course! The Kosher Soups: Vegetarian Vegetable (parve) Tomato (milchig) Tomato with Rice (milchig)

Cream of Mushroom (milchig) Cream of Celery (milchig) Cream of Pea (milchig)

The Kosher Beans (parve) In tomato sauce Individual size: 7o z. Regular size: 16 oz. Family size: 20 oz. In molasses s a u c e ^ Individual size: 7o z.