Ben-Gurion Clarifies Stand on Religious Education
Reply to Mizrachi Rejects
Party's Political Demands
By PHILIP SLOMOV'ITZ
Israel's Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, who now is
nearing the shores of his country on his return, with Mrs.
Ben-Gurion, from a triumphal tour of the United States in
behalf of the Israel bond drive, spoke plain words in his
comments on all issues which he found sufficiently pertinerit
to deal with as a guest in a foreign land.
He was frank—even blunt—'t>
in tackling the Zionist problem Rabbi Rosenblatt has no cause
at the Jewish Agency dinner, on
the eve of his departure. He did
not hesitate to challenge the di-
visiveness in American labor
ranks when he met with CIO
and AFL leaders in Detroit and
told them that he believed that
in the United States, as in Is-
rael, a central labor movement
could function with success.
Premier Ben-Gurion also
was faced with the religious
issue which caused the crisis
in his government, necessitat-
ing the holding of new elec-
tions on July 30. In protest
against his alleged refusal to
encourage religious education
in Israel, the meeting he ad-
dressed at Madison Square
Garden, New York, on May 10,
was picketed and a group of
young people showered the
audience with leaflets upon
the conclusion of the impres
sive rally. Mizrachi leaders de-
nied that they were in any
way involved in that "demon-
stration" by religious extrem-
ists.
for concern if his anxiety is "to
assure a religious education and
not compulsorily a Mizrachi ed-
ucation." (The emphasis is Mr.
Ben-Gurion's.) He con c 1 u des
with the assertion that his gov-
ernment concerns itself dutiful-
ly with the responsibility of
providing religious training for
children of religious citizens.
Gen - Gurion's Letter
Premier Ben-Gurion's reply to
Rabbi Ros e n b 1 at t, translated
from the Hebrew, follows in full:
"I am acknowledging with
many thanks the receipt of your
letter of the Fifth of Iyar, 5711,
and I wish you would convey to
all the members of Mizrachi in
your city my sincere apprecia-
tion for the feelings they ex-
pressed to me through you.
"I welcome your touching upon
one of our controversial ques-
i'tions. In general, I am not de-
voting myself in this country to
any of the internal problems of
our Yishuv, but I welcome this
opportunity to present to you
and to your associates the true
facts.
"I do not know the nature of
the rumors that have reached
you regarding the status of ed-
ucation in the Maabaroth—but
the true condition is as follows:
The Government of Israel is de-
termined to assure a religious
education for all religious im-
migrants residing in the Maaba-
roth. The Government assumes
in advance that all Yemenites
living in Maabaroth are a re-
ligious element, and in their
Maabaroth the Govenment is
establishing religious schools. In
other Maabaroth whose residents
come from other lands, the Gov-
ernment conducts a referendum
among the parents and for all
those who express a desire to
provide a religious education for
their children we establish re-
ligious schools. The argument,
between • us and a portion of
Mizrachi, which resulted in the
Government crisis, is on the fol-
lowing issue: A portion of Miz-
rachi demanded that in the re-
ligious schools the inspectors
should be from the ranks of
Mizrachi and Agudath Israel,
and the Government has de-
cided that the rules per-
taining to these schools should
correspond to the regulations
governing schools outside the
Maabaroth, and that the ele-
ments responsible for the re-
ligious schools outside the Maa-
baroth also should be respons-
ible for the religious schools in
Maabaroth, under the general
supervision of the Department
of Education. In other words,
the controversy is whether a re-
ligious school must be linked
with Mizrachi or whether other
religious Jews should be per-
mitted to establish religious
schools. The Government adopt-
ed a position that every religious
Jew is validly so (term used by
Mr. Ben-Gurion—"hu kasher"),
and is not obligated to be as-
sociated only with Mizrachi.
"Therefore there is no founda-
tion for your anxiety—if your
concern, as I understand it, is to
assure a religious education and
not compulsorily a Mizrachi ed-
ucation, implying an education
by a party. There are many re-
ligious Jews in the country who
do not wish to identify them-
selves with the Mizrachi party,
for political and social reasons,
and you can not demand that
the Government should compel
religious Jews to affiliate them-
selves with Mizrachi.
"But the Government con-
cerns itself—and that is her
duty— that every religious Jew
should be able to give his chil-
dren a religious education."
Truman Salutes Israel
Warships Entering Bay
WASHINGTON, (JTA) —
President Truman last week
stood on the bridge of his
yacht, the USS Williamsberg,
and saluted the Israeli war-
ships Haganah and Misgav as
they passed in the Potomic
River at the entrance to
Washington harbor. The Pres-
idential yacht was headed for
Chesapeake Bay for the Me-
morial Day week-end when
the Israel ships were soon
making their entrance into
the harbor. The Israel crew
returned the President's sa-
lute.
The keys to Washington
were presented to the flotil-
la's commander, Shlomo Erel.
District Commissioner Dono-
hue said that "as an Irish-
man who belongs to a race
which fought a long time, I
wish to congratulate Israel.
Having fought for freedom, I
know Israel will fight to keep
it."
Capacity crowds turned out
on Memorial Day to visit the
two Israeli warships while
Commander Erel, accompa-
nied by the captains of the
two ships, laid a wreath on
the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier at Arlington National
Cemetary.
-
Mizrachists, however, under-
took to present to Mr. Ben-
Gurion petitions on the question
of religious education. One such
memorandum was given him in
Baltimore, in behalf of Mizrachi,
by Dr. Samuel Rosenblatt (Rab-
bi Shinuel Aryeh Roesenblatt, a
son of the late and famous Can-
tor Yosele Rosenblatt). The Is-
rael Premier, under date of the
12th of Iyar, 5711, (May 19,
1951), sent to Rabbi Rosenblatt
a reply which must be inter-
preted as one of the frankest
statements he has made on the
subject of religious education.
This writer has secured a
copy of Mr. Ben-Gurion's reply,
which was written in Hebrew
over the Premier's signature in
Chicago, on his first visit in
that city in the course of his
American tour. We are privi-
leged to present it here, with
official permission to quote 'it.
Mr. Ben-Gurion asserts that
his government is determined
to assure a religious education
for all religious immigrants in
the Maabaroth — the transit
camps for newcomers to Israel.
He maintains that new immi-
grants are polled for preferences
and that the wishes of those de-
siring a religious education for
their children are honored. He
contends that the request of a
portion of Mizrachi and Agudath
Israel for use of inspectors in
religious schools from their
ranks has been met with the
government's decision that the
same rules applying to the re-
ligious schools in the entire
country should be enforced also
in the Maabaroth.
A basic argument offered
by Mr. Ben-Gurion is that re-
ligious schools need not be
linked with Mizrachi, which is
the political party of the re-
ligious elements, and that
other religious Jews, although
unaffiliated with a political
party, have a right to estab-
lish religious schools. Among
the more significant state-
ments in his letter, challeng-
ing Mizrachi's position, are
these:
He uses the word "kasher"
in this sentence in which we
have translated his term "hu
kasher" as "validly so": "The
Government has adopted a
position that every religious
Jew is validly so, and is not
obligated to be associated only
with Mizrachi."
Then there is his declaration
that Mizrachi can not demand
of the government to compel re-
ligions Jews to affiliate them-
selves with Mizrachi and that
6--THE JEWISH NEWS
Friday June 8, 1951
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