Americo Jewish Periodical eeitti

Page 4

DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE

Thursday, July 13, 195

Israel to Shape
An
Irishman
Chooses
Detroit Jewish Chronicle
New Society
to Be Known as Levey in Middle East

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the way together of me and
By ALFRED SEGAL
By GERIIARDT NEUMANN
Levey Abe which was his first name.
T CAME UPON Mr.
"THE REPUBLIC OF ISRAEL
(Richard Michael Levey, that He was Abe Levey.'
ITS HISTORY AND ITS
It was on a Passover occasion
GERHARDT NEUMANN
is) in the International Cyclo-
SEYMOUR TILCHIN
PROMISE
Editor
pedia of Music and Musicians. when Abe Levey and this Rich-
_Publisher
By Joseph Dunner, (Whittlesey
I have known Levis, Levys and and Michael O'Shaughnessy
Tammuz 28, 5710
Leveys who turned themselves (which was his name then) were House, New York, 269 pp., $4.75).
Thursday, July 13, 1950
drinking to the memory of
Among the many recent books
into Llewellyn
Moses, the Liberator, that Abe on Israel, Dunner's well docu-
or maybe 0'-
Levey
first
brought
up
the
idea
The Failure of American Zionism
rnented and stimulating work is
Shaughnessys
of changing his venerated name. one of high value to those who
but Richard
Mr. O'Shaughnessy had given a
The Zionist convention which met in Chicago over the
Michael, born
"And may the holy want to study the development
Fourth of July week end, heard not only a number of the usual
toast . . .
O'S
ha
u
ghnessy,
few
frank
and
un-
soul
of
Moses
descend to free „if the Zionist idea methodically.
flowery speeches which mean so little, but a
Dunner gives a critical survey
chose to be a
Ireland, too" . . . Mr. O'Shaugh-
reserved remarks about the situation of the ZOA and its rela-
Levey instead.
of the events which finally led to
nessy
said
he
had
often
won-
tionship with Israel.
His brief biog -
the establishment of the Jewish
raphy in the dered why Irish children weren't
We refer in particular to the speech of Rabbi Abba Hillel
state.
He analyzes the attitude of
christened Moses out of respect
!laver who made it clear that the ZOA has been reduced to
cyclopedia read:
for the Irish yearning for lib- the family of nations as well as
second-rate organization since it has no voice in the fund:raising
"Levy, Rich-
the hopes and fears of the var-
erty.
and other activities undertaken to strengthen the Jewish state.
Segal
ard Michael
:ous Jewries, especially American
*
*
In fact, the convention understood this situation very well
(real name O'Shaughnessy) born
Jewry.
THEN IT WAS that Abe sub
and concluded its business with the adoption of a resolution
in Dublin, 1811, died June 28,
He describes in detail the pangs
which calls for autonomy and the restoration to the ZOA of such
1899 in Dublin. Irish conductor Bested he was getting fed up on of birth and the Arab-Israeli war,
functions as immigration and absorption, the pioneering program
and composer of light opera. carrying the name of Levey in d'scusses the problem of a con-
Conductor, Theater Royal Or- Dublin. His wife and children stitution for Israel, gives a pic-
in Israel :is well as public, relations and education in the Jewish
chestra. Composer of 50 over- were complaining. His wife said ture of the political parties in the
communities outside Israel.
In addition to these functions,the ZOA resolution seeks a "full
tures. Arranged music for 44 that in their state of life, big Jewish state and also gives a
and unequivocal chalutziut program which shall provide Israel
pantomimes. Founder, 1950, of in the shamrock business as they summary of the social and eco-
With some of the additional strength and skills which American
Royal Irish Academy of Music." were, Levey didn't seem to fit nomic outlook as well as educa-
a
Jewish youth possesses in abundance." To this end, the ZOA will
Yes, he had deliberately them anymore. They desired
tion and art in Israel.
institute training both here and in Israel.
abandoned being an O'Shaugh- name that would sound accur-
ISRAEL'S FUTURE ROLE
Silver's statement points to a sore spot in Jewish life. The
nessy in Dublin to live and to ately Irish in Ireland.
But more important than the
"And,
do
you
know,
Richard,"
question is whether one single agency shall be in charge for all
die as Levey.
past is the future. What will be
h
fund-raising in this country, or whether the Zionists shall raise
Israel's role in the Middle East
"How come?" I asked him. Abe said' to Mr. O'Shaughnessy,
funds for Israel separately.
You may wonder about a feat "we've about decided on a new and what will be its impact on
of journalism that interviews a name. In your honor we are American Jewry?
SEPARATE ZIONIST DRIVE?
man who has been dead 51 years thinking o calling ourselves
"The UJA funds," Silver said, "are following a course of
• . While the big democracies are
Its
h i ghly interested in a social re-
and resting in a grave in Dublin. O'Shaughnessy hereafter.
diminishing returns. This process is destined to reach catastro-
good old Irish and with such a
pipe.
a
wake
of
the
continuing
immigration
countries, Dun-
It's
easy
if
you
smoke
in
the
phic proportions
the Arab
You draw a couple of deep name we can be going places, fornilin
needs of Israel unless the Zionist of America are mobilized to
nei i em. ii rks that none of, them
all
in
station.
It's
inhalations and there's the ghost befitting our
'has the human resources and the
halt it."
of old Mr. Levey in your living your honor, Richard."
necessary patience to bridge the
We will have to wait and see if the new leadership of the
"Faith," Mr. O'Shaughnessy gap between oriental and western
room, sitting in the spacious
ZOA intends to open a fight on the United Jewish Appeal and to
replied, "I feel no kind of honor. civilization. They must content
chair.
make Zionist fund-raising independent of other drives. The dis-
That's how it came to pass And what's the matter with themselves with sending out
advantages of a return to separate campaigns are obvious.
me missionaries of their mate-
The question of Chalutziut also is one that has to be settled
that I was interviewing Mr. Levey? 'Tis anolder family s.
rial and ideological strength; and
Levey the other evening . . . name than the a O'Shaughnessy
one way or the other. The willingness to translate Zionist ide-
"How come, Mr. Levey?" . . . When the 0 Shaughnessys still their struggle for supremacy re-
ology into practice is an essential part of the movement. The
4
f had pointed out that many a were barbarians in the hills the , tarns
rather than accelerates the
Zionist Organization cannot be satisfied with fund-raising activ-
were speaking to God 1 forward march of the Middle
ities. Its primary task is that of reawakening and revitalizing
Levy and Cohen aspire to other Levites
the Jerusalem temple. When , Eastern people."
Jewish life and the interest in Jewish statehood.
names. I had heard of a Cohen in
the
O'Shaughnessys had wooden
Jewish industry and political
who
became
Mr.
Priest
by
It was therefore a logical step that the convention decided on
images
and made gods of cor-
ideas on the other hand, are
translating
himself
into
English
a positive Chalutziut program. This will work out the same way
•
as it did in Europe before circumstances compelled Jews to seek
and there was born Levy who, ruption the Levites were bowing bound to reshape the social make.
according to the legend, died their heads before the God of I up of the Arab states, and Israel
small
elite
of
Zionist
youth—as
a
rule,
the
A
refuge in Israel.
the Universe, blessed be His recognizes that this is its politi-
intelligentsia—felt impelled to take the step from debating to
Lively.
Name. Please, Abe, stay cal role in the Middle East.
«
Holy
action. Long, intensive study of Zionism led these pioneers to
THIRD FLOOR
MR. LEVEY'S IRISH counten- Levey."
Israel at a time when most people considered it madness to
But Abe said his wife had
In the words of Dunner, Israel
ance twinkled in the classic Irish
leave the well protected bounds of a bourgeois life.
way . . . "It was a joke on a made up her mind to be an will assume the "intermediate
YOUTH AND ZIONISM
Jewish
friend of mine in Dublin O'Shaughnessy hereafter. As an position of a third force." He
very
small
fraction
of
Like Jewish youth in Europe, only a
whose
name was Levey. I was O'Shaughnessy she might get even goes a step further and says:
American youths will allow themselves to be persuaded to break
"The rise of Israel, the exist-
a
fellow
given to practical jok- somewhere in Dublin society
off their tics with the American way of life and start a life of
ing and for a good joke I would but what was there for a Levey? ence of a Christian Lebanon and
hardships and uncertainties in Israel. Chalutziut never can or
even give up the grand old Then Mr. O'Shaughnessy spoke of non-Arab states like Turkey
will be a compulsory matter. It is the individual decision of each
name of O'Shaughnessy which up firmly but with the mis- and Iran in the Middle East point
Jew whether he thinks that he can contribute materially to the
chieveous twinkle of a practical in the directior of a regional or-
surely I did."
reconstruction of Israel.
joker . • . "Abe, if you become ganization based on economic co-
It
was
all
in
line
with
the
The Zionist movement in America is without vitality and
O'Shaughnessy she might get operation rather than racial and
prankish
way
he
did
with
the
moral authority. It has failed to enlist Jewish youth in its ranks
other Levey's name long ago sell into Levey, so help me! The religious ties.'
(at least not in appreciable numbers), and it has failed to make
The second question of vital
. . - "Och," he told me, "that sacred name of the Levites must
American Jews understand the pivotal role of Israel for Jews
a fine broth be preserved in Dublin. If one interest to us is that of the re-
other
Levey
was
all over the world. Those who first of all belong into the Zionist
of a fellow, and me and him Levey goes, another must take lationship of American Jewry and
movement, the intellectuals, are not there, because the organiza-
were as thick as shamrocks at his place. I shall be Levey in Israel. The "bogey of dual alle-
tion has degenerated into a number of social clubs which attract
giance," as Mordecai Kaplan put
St. Patrick's day, blessed be that your place."
all types of people, except the serious minded.
"And that's how I, Richard it, does not have to be taken ser-
holy
name.
This lack of intellectual vigor is ,to our mind, the greatest
"He always drank with me to Michael O'Shaughnessy, came to iously. Dunner points out that the
deficiency in American Zionism. Unless we remedy it, we cannot
the hallowed name of St. Patrick be Levey," said the ghost in political separation does not
hope to gain stature in the eyes of world Jewry. Leadership by
on his great day and I drank my living room. "Levey went "imply any severance of the close
reason of financial strength—and this is what our present role
with him to the hallowed name through with it: lie turned into cultural ties existing between
amounts to—will prove, in the long run, a failure and a burden
of Moses who set the people O'Shaughnessy. He was never American Jews and Israel."
upon ourselves.
NO DUAL LOYALTY
free, on Passover., That was my friend again."
It is very important to raise money for Israel, but the Zionist
American Jews, in their ma-
Organization will have to understand some day that the soul and
jority, he says, see no incompati-
the spirit of Zionism lie in a different sphere. American Jews
bility between their American7
will first have to be imbued with the ideals of Zionism before we
ism and their profound interest
can expect them to understand why they should make sacrifices
in
t 1 le fate
a and future of Israel.
; A number of leading American
Ey WILLIAM ZUKERMAN
for Israel.
The bridge between the outside
WHO IS TO BLAME?
Eighteen months ago the Unit- firms which had supported the
world and Israel, Dunner
These are the great issues which face the Zionist movement
ed Nations Secretariat, headed by anti-Semitic National Economic Jewish will be a two-way pas-
remarks,
Council
directed
by
Merwin
Hart,
in this country. Dr. Silver, in his convention speech, tried to
Trygve Lie, issued a report that
sage. "New works on ethical re-
five Jewish employes of the UN— withdrew their contributiorft this
shift most of the blame for the failure of American Zionism on
ligious themes can be expected
the shoulders of the government of Israel. The rift between the
verbatim translators—were week following disclosures by the
emanate from Israel. Ameri-
dismissed under circumstances anti-Defamation League of the to
government and the Jewish Agency became apparent in his
anti-Semitic
activities
of
the
can-Jewish
community life, which
which were described in the re-
remarks.
has so often been devoid of in-
He especially charged the government of. Israel, or ''certain
port as anti-Semitic. The Secre- "'1."
Among the companies are tellectual and cultural substance,
tariat recommended their imme-
forces in it," with trying to take over "all the immediate func-
The
Schlitz
Beer, Gulf Oil, and Rem- will receive new stimulus.
tions, operations and controls which belong to the World Zionist
diate reinstatement.
ington
Rand
and
Royal
Type-
Hebrew
University
will
contrib-
Upon their return, however,
Organization."
the dismissed men found that writer Companies. Most of these ute to a betterment of Jewish
It is only natural that the two "governments" in Israel find
they could not get their old jobs firms wrote to the ADL sayiqg education everywhere.
it difficult to define their respective fields, and only time can tell
folly to assume
before they took another com- that they were misled by Hart's 'It would be
what the future role of the Jewish Agency will be. It seems to
appeal
which
stressed
anti-Com-
that
American
Jewry
can live by
petitive examination which is
us, however, that the attempt to set up a dual control in Israel
a culture imported wholesale
required of all new UN em- munist goals and that they did from
is as futile as it is dangerous. The Israeli government will not
Israel. Its own needs will
not know of his anti-Semitism.
ployes.
relinquish its sovereignity, and it should not be expected to do so.
by necessity continue to create its
•
The
victimized
men
appealed
Dr. Silver believes that the 'diminution of the status of the
Israel will be obliged to limit own patterns of life. But the fra-
from the decision and this week
World Zionist Organization also has diminished the status of the
will
the administration tribunal ruled its immigration this year because ternal interchange with Israel
ZOA, and American Jews are quick to realize and to react
the
Joint
Distribution
Committee
be
of
great
and
new
significance!'
that the dismissed men must be
accordingly."
reinstated without a new exami- lacks funds to finance the jour- Dunner summarizes his belief
We, on the other hand, repeat that the ZOA itself is to
nation. All together, however, it neys, d e c l a r e d Dr. Joseph :n these words: "American Jews'
blame, because it has not succeeded in conveying the message
firm
took more than two years for the Schwartz, JDC director. love of Zion rests on the demo-
of Zionism tc the Jewish masses in this country. The Zionist
time in JDC knowledge that a strong
"This
is
the
first
good
an
Nations
to
make
United
fund-raising
agency
but
an
Organization is not, primarily, a
outright and obvious wrong history that Jews have been un- cratic commonwealth in the Mid-
educational and political movement, a last hope held out for all
which its secretariat admitted to able to emigrate because of lack dle East serves the best interests
who can see the anomalies of Jewish life. This the ZOA has not
of the United States."
of funds," he said.
have committed.
yet understood.

Red Tape Entangles UN Staff

