CurTein Succeeds Touster Orthodox Leader's Scrolls Challenge
As United Hias President
NEW YORK (JTA)—Murray
I. Gurfein, prominent New York
attorney and civic leader, has
been elected
president of
United Hias
Service. He
succeeds Ben
Touster, w h
became the
first president
of United Hias
Service in Au-
gust 1954, when
the unified
Jewish migra-
tion agency .. .
was .f orme dk,
through the Gurfein
consolidation of the 70-year-old
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
(HIAS), 20-year-old United
Service for New Americans
(USNA), and the migration
services of the Joint Distribu-
tion Committee (JDC).
Abner Bergman, who has been
a leader for many years in the
work of the United Jewish Ap-
peal, the Joint Distribution
Committee and °tiler philan-
thropic organizations, was elect-
ed to succeed CarloS L. Israels
as chairman of the executive
Committee. Herbert C. Kranzer,
who has served as a vice-presi-
dent of the- organization, was
elected treasurer. He succeeds
Samuel Goldstein who is taking
up residence in Israel.
Heine's Works Rescued From
Nazis, Bought By Native City
NEW YORK, (JTA) — The
largest known collection of
Heinrich Heine's original man-
uscripts, numbering 3,702 pieces
in German and French, have
been sold to the city of Dus-
seldorf for a reported price of
$50,000.
The manuscripts were secret-
ly shipped out of Germany in
I939 because the owners fear-
ed that the Hitler regime would
destroy them as the poet had
been a Jew.
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Dr. Hoenig Lists Errors
Prof. Sidney B. Hoenig, of
the faculty of Yeshiva Universi-
ty, New York, has added his
voice to those who currently are
discussing the antiquity of the
Dead Sea Scrolls.
In the first of a series of
articles in the
n e w Yeshiva
University per-
iodical, Rabbi-
nic Alumni
Chavrusa, Dr.
Hoenig de-
clares that in
reading the
text of the
Scrolls, in
which it is
of ten "most Dr. Hoenig
difficult to decipher the letters,"
scholars are perplexed with the
historic allusions.
, "The 'Commentary to Habak-
kuk' for instance," he writes,
"refers to Kittim. Are they the
Seleucids or the Romans? Is. the
wicked person depicted therein,
Menelaus, Alexander Jannai or
Joezer ben Boethus? Is the
teacher of righteousness, men-
tioned as an opponent, Omias
III, Simon ben Shetah, or Jesus?
There are many clever guesses
and multiple identifications
given throughout the scholarly
papers."
He continues: "Not only are
the identifications of personali-
ties, matters of research and
conjecture, but the - ideas pre-
sented in the Scrolls too. There
is a high regard for instance for
the Sabbath in the Manual of
Discipline similar to that ex-
pressed in the Damascus Docu-
ment (or Fragment) found by
(Prof Solomon) Schechter in
the Cairo Genizah. Because
fragments of the Damascus
Document are also among these
finds, proof of the antiquity of
the Scrolls, setting them in the
immediate pre-Christian era,
seems to be conclusive. But, one
may ask, has the date of the
Damascus Document definitely
been settled? Can it not also be
of late orgin?
"The battle involves, among
many, such questions as: Were
commentaries to the Bible writ-
ten in the pre-Christian era?
How was the name of God
written or pronounced_ then?
Are the Dead Sea Scrolls of a
completely different group and
literary type from the rabbinic
sources, and hence, one cannot
deduce any relationship in ideas
or beliefs? Is the community
pictured in the Manual of Dis-
cipline surely -. that of the
Essenes, the same as portrayed
by Josephus and Philo? Are
there affinities to Gnosticism,
Zoroastrianism, a n d Karaitic
thought? Did the Scrolls influ-
ence early Christianity? Do we
get any notions of the early
thinking on the hereafter, fu-
ture life, the Messiah (or teacher
of righteousness), the suffering
of the righteous and many other
8noy
gassover
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theological, eschatological and
apocalyptic notions?
"The eccentric writing in the
Scrolls is also a puzzle. Is it that
of an educated person, or does
it show an important develop-
ment in orthography? Why is
the archaic script used some-
times and why are most of the
manuscripts in Hebrew when
Aramaic was supposed to be the
spoken tongue? Moreover in this
Qumran Library, as the Dead
Sea Scrolls are also called, 'Why
should an obscure ungramma-
tical deed (or contract of sale)
be included among the priceless
Holy Scrolls of the Pentateuch
and the Prophets?'
"In the matter of similarity
of thought, scholars have
sought to show the relation-
ship in the text of the Scrolls
to the teaching of Jesus. But
this is questionable. There are
few parallels between 'The
Convenanters' (as the 'resur-
rected' sect is now called) and
Christianity. The imagination
of the scholar has run wild,
and comparison is made with
every form of ancient litera-
ture. Perhaps all that can be
gained from the Dead Sea
Scrolls is, as Burrows put it,
`Perhaps the best thing the
Dead Sea Scrolls can do for
us is to make us appreciate
our Bible all the more by
contrast.'
"One cannot agree 'that the
Dead Sea Scrolls enrich our
knowledge of - Judaism at the
time just before and during the
origin and early growth of
Christianity,' nor do they have
any importance for textual cri-
ticism, 'since much obviously
remains to be done in the in-
vestigation of these works.' One
cannot be convinced despite the
multiplicity of arguments, texts
and scholarly disquisitions."
Prof. Hoenig points to sway-
ing of the man in the street "by
the vast propaganda involving
scholarship" in the discussions
about the Scrolls, and to the
scholars having turned "from
their painstaking and objective
research to issue popular works
on the subject." The popular-
ity of the subject, he writes in
his analysis, "may be due to
the melodramatic events cen-
tered about the Scrolls" and the
personalities involved—Edmund
Wilson, Prof. Millar Burrows of
Yale University and Hebrew
University professors.
. Prof. Hoenig, like Prof. Solo-
mon Zeitlin of Dropsie College
who challenges the antiquity of
the Scrolls, says that if the
Scrolls belong to the Second
Commonwealth period, "as held
by the majority of scholars,"
they would be priceless, for: "It
would, demonstrate to us the
exact text used not long after
the Bible was composed or can-
onized." But, he adds, the "St.
Mark's (Convent) Scroll has
textural differences from the
Masoretic text. Would such be
the original Biblical reading, if
the Scrolls are indeed old? .. .
Another copy of Isaiah, now
purchased by the Hebrew Uni-
versity, however, essentially is
the same as the Massorah.
Scholars studying both texts
have found, however, that our
ideas of the Masoretic text have
not been changed by these finds.
In fact, they believe, the Scrolls
support the 'fidelity of the Ma-
soretic Tradition'; all that these
are supposed to give us is a
knowledge of early writing and
grammar."
Dr. Hoenig will continue his
study of the Scrolls in the next
issue of Rabbinic Alumni Chav-
rusa.
Deny Accommodations
Eisenhower Message
In Nassau to Gottesman Acclaims Brotherhood
LONDON (JTA)—D. S. Got-
tesman, American Jewish phil-
anthropist who was instrumen-
tal in securing the Dead Sea
Scrolls for Israel, has been re-
fused accommodation at the se-
lect Balmoral Club in Nassau,
capital of the Bahamas.
The incident was made known
in a letter to a London news-
paper from a Nassau Jewish
woman, Josephine Rosenberg.
In her letter, she said: "Re-
cently, I telephoned the Bal-
moral Club in Nassau to obtain
overnight accommodation on
behalf of a friend who was ar-
riving from the United States.
The reservation was accepted
and the terms agreed. Then,
just before putting down the
telephone, the representative of
the club asked if the prospec-
tive guest was a Gentile."
Mrs. Rosenberg replied that
the gentleman in question is
D. S. Gottesman ; a distin-
guished Jew of high standing,
who presented the Dead Sea
Scrolls to the State of Israel. He
has also made generous dona-
tions to causes which benefit
both Jew and. Gentile." Upon
learning of his "racial deriva-
tions," the club immediately
withdrew the offer of accom-
modation, Mrs. Rosenberg re-
ported.
President Eisenhower, honor-
ary chairman of the national
observance, affirmed his belief
in this work as "essential" for
the nation's unity and strength.
Religious services -h e 1 d in
churches and synagogues em-
phasize the Judaeo - Christian
concept of the brotherhood of
man.
20—Detroit Jewish News
Friday, February 24, 1956
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