Purely Commentary

By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Here's Diaries: Holy Places and the Prague Legend

There is such a vast fund of information in "The Diaries of
Theodor Herzl" edited by Marvin Lowenthal, published by
Dial Press (461 4th, N. Y. 16) that we are impelled to return to
it again, in spite of two earlier reviews of this excellent volume.
The position of Nordau, the Rothschilds and Colonel Gold-
smid in early Zionist planning; Herzl's meetings with King Victor
Emmanuel of Italy, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, Sultan Abdul
Hamid and other notables are, in themselves, special pages in
our history.
References to the Holy Places deserve attention. Reporting,
in his Diary, on his meeting with Count Witte, Russia's Minister
of Finance, Herzl wrote:
On the subject of the Holy Places Witte remarked:
"How far from the Holy Places do you contemplate
setting up your settlement? I think it Would create alarm,
if people knew there were Jews close by."
"What about now, with Turkish soldiers guarding the
Holy Sepulchre itself?"
"nits is less intolerable than if the guards were Jews,"
said the friend of our people. "If a few hundred thousand
Jews- were to go there, we would at once have Jewish hotels,
Jewish businesses—and that might wound Christian sensi-
bilities."
It is the standby argument of the Jewish bankers.
I replied: "We want to settle farther to the north. Away
from Jerusalem. Some place after all must finally be found
for the Jews, for, as Your Excellency rightly observed, 'it
is impossible to drown them in the Black Sea."
I felt all along that at bottonl Witte brought forward
this argument because he couldn't think of anything better.
Yet Herzl thought Witte was a friend! And in the matter of
Jerusalem Herzl, of course, was wrong. How can' one think of a
Jewish Homeland without Jerusalem?
Setting down his thoughts after the First Zionist Congress,
in Vienna, on Sept. 3, 1897, Herzl wrote: "If I were to sum up
the Congress in a word—which I shall take care not to publish—
it would be this: At Basel I founded the Jewish State." History
took care of publicizing this great accomplishment in Herzl's
name.
Study groups should follow through and pursue the study
of the subject by using the Herzl Diaries as a textbook. Your
reviewer is tempted, however, to mention one other matter; an
old Prague legend that was told to Herzl by E. Bacher, pub-
lisher of the Neue Freie Presse. The legend:
A Jewish woman was once sitting in her room and
looking out of the window. She saw on the opposite roof a
black cat struggling in the throes of giving birth. She went
over and took the cat and helped in the delivery. Then she
made a bed -of straw in the coal box for the cat and her
kittens. After a few days the cat, now herself again, dis-
appeared. But the coals on which she had lain were turned
into pure gold. The woman showed it to her husband and he
thought that the cat must have been sent by the Almighty.
So he used the gold to build a synagogue—the Altneuschul.
That is_how this famous Prague synagogue came into being.
But the man still had one wish: a pious Jew, he wanted
to be able to die in Jerusalem. He also wished he could see
the cat again, in order to thank her for their prosperity.
Then a day came when the woman, looking from the
window, noticed the cat in its old place. She quickly called
to her husband, "Look, there sits our cat again!" The man
ran out to fetch it, but it dashed off and disappeared into
the Altneuschul. He ran inside the synagogue just in time
to see the cat vanish suddenly through the floor. There he
found an opening as though to a cellar. He plunged down the
hole and reached a passage. The cat enticed him on and on,
until at last he saw daylight ahead. When he emerged he
found himself in a strange city, and the people told him it
was Jerusalem. On hearing this, he died of joy.
The story, said Bather, shows how the national con-
sciousness dwells within the Jewish soul always and every-
where. Actually it lies beneath the threshold of conscious-
ness and merely glimmers through—in his own case as well.
For he had told me the story because he too was being stirred
with a wish to go to Palestine.
It is on the basis of such a legend that Herzl .so eloquently
admonished the Jewish people: if you will it, it is no dream. But
Zionism, as Herzl visualized it, was not a dream; it was realizable
to him, as it became realizable to his people. The Herzlian record
is enriched by the Diaries, and we are indebted to an able
scholar, Marvin Lowenthal, for the excellent editing of them.
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The Nasser Scheme—Trom Morocco to Baghdad'
In his speech, that lasted for several hours, during the
Egyptian celebration of the evacuation of British troops from
the Suez Canal Zone, Colonel Nasser devoted less than 100
Words to an - attack on Israel. Egypt's new president said that
"a cherished part of the homeland is lost and occupied: Palestine
has been occupied . . . We must became strong so that we can
become free and liberate all Arabism's land—from Morocco to
Baghdad—so that the land of Arabism will be for the Arabs and
not for the occupiers or the exploiters, and in order that what
has taken place in Palestine may not be repeated, and so that
we may retrieve for the people of Palestine their right to
freedom and their right to life."
The world press then devoted more space, and more comments
were made in reference to this statement than to anything else
he had said. He threatened a "Morocco to Baghdad" aspiration,
yet only the -attack on Israel seemed to matter.
But the Aswan Dam fiasco and Nasser's arrogant attacks
on the United States may have opened the eyes of misled people
to the menace on the Nile. In his anger at the withdrawal of the
American offer of aid for the Egyptian Dam project, Nasser
said, in a speech in Cairo: "I look at Americans and say: May
you, choke to death on your fury!" It is only when Americans
provide the hard dollars that the Egyptian dictator is happy.
Will we continue to call his bluff?

U.S. Ambassador Lawson Acclaims Shevers'
$100,000 Beersheba Community Center Gift

Special Cable to
The Jewish News

BEERSHEBA, Israel. — Ed-
ward A. Lawson, United States
Ambassador to Israel, paid tri-
bute to the high degree of in-
ternational cooperation exempli-
fied by the ceremony, on July
26, in Beersheba, for the ground-
breaking of the Nathan and
David Shever Jewish commu-
nity center being erected in co-
operation with the municipality
of Beersheba and the American
Fund for Israel Institutions.
Dr. Thomas McGrail, cultural
attache of the American Em-
bassy delivering the Ambassa-
dor's message, stated:
"This valuable g i f t, so
largely due to the generosity
of Nathan and David Shever
of St. Louis, is to be incor-
porated into one of the world's

Golda Myerson,
Changes Name
to 'Mayer' (Light)

most ancient settlements to
enable it more successfully
to cope with problems im-
posed on it by the march of
events in modern times. As
the official representative of
my country in Israel I take
deep satisfaction in the knowl-
edge that under the sponsor-
ship of the American Fund
for Israel Institutions the pub-
lic-spirited philanthropy o f
my country is to find eipres-
sion here in the Middle East
in a city hallowed by the
Patriarchs whose history is
part of the story of our civili-
zation."
Nathan and David Shever,
former Detroiters, prominent
St. Louis citizens who have con-
tributed $100,000 towards the
establishment of this center, ar-
rived in Israel last week to be
present at the ground-breaking
ceremony. They announced:
"We firmly believe in the
paramount importance of pro-
viding through this community
center modern facilities for rec-
reational, cultural, sports and
social programs, thereby to in-
tegrate new arrivals and well-
established citizens into the rich
national life of the country."
The Shever brothers paid tri-
bute t o their elder brother,
Morris L. Schaver of Detroit,
who "like Moses of the Bible led
the way towards constructive
deeds at home and in Israel, not
only for the family of worthy
causes in Israel."

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Eliezer Eri, chairman of the
Israel board of the. American
Fund for Israel Institutions,
stated that the Shever Cornmu-,
nity Center, patterned on the
community center movement in
the United States, will be a
modern two-story building de-
signed by Messrs. Rechter and
Carmi. Situated in the new civic
center of the town, it will have
facilities for child and youth
recreation, adult education and
recreation, meetings, lectures
and- seminars; creative expres-
sion in music, dance, theater,
with special emphasis on the de-
velopment of a folk arts and
crafts and physical education
p r o g r a m, including a much-
needed large swimming pool.
Mayor David Tuvyahu of
Beersheba opened- the ceremony.
There were talks by Arie Simon,
representing the Israel Ministry
of Education and Culture; Isaac
Hamlin, representing the Gen-
eral Federation of Labor, and
the Shever Brothers. Greetings
were read from President•Itzhak
Ben-Zvi and Foreign • Secretary
,Golda Mayer, whose telegram
stated: "Regret unable to parti-
cipate in ceremony for Shever
'Community C e n t e r. Warmest
personal • greetings to the
pioneering project and t h e
Shever family in its work in
behalf of Israel. I am indeed
happy that this center is being
built in the City of the Negev
and will be added to a chain
of projects established in Israel."

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Boris Smolar's

GOLDA MAYER
JERUSALEM, (JTA) — For=
eign Minister Crolda Myerson
changed her last name to Mayer,
in keeping with the established
practice that foreign service
personnel Hebraize their names.
The meaning of the new name
in Hebrew is. "light up." The
Foreign Minister* has not yet
decided on the official rendition
of -the name into Roman letters
but it is believed she favors
the above spelling.

Rabbi Adler Talks
at Brandeis Camp

Detroiters Irwin T. Holtzman
and Rabbi Morris Adler were
among 100 Jewish leaders par-
ticipating in the national week-
end institute sponsored by the
Brandeis Camp, Santa Susana,
Calif.
They appeared in a play, writ-
ten by Academy Award winner
William Ludwig, and presented
for the first time as part of the
camp's centennial observance of
the birth of the late Supreme
Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis,
who helped found its leadership
training program 15 years ago.
Rabbi Adler, who spoke at
the institute, called on world
Jewry to develop programs
which would provide back-
grounds in Jewish life , from
which decisions and policies re-
flecting Jewish thought and ex-
perience could be nurtured.
He charged that too fre-
quently leaders, who are in evi-
dence only at great functions
and public demonstrations, ab-
dicate much of their responsi-
bility to professional directors.
Rabbi Adler paid tribute to
the Brandeis Camp's policy of
creating and testing cultural
patterns based on Jewish tradi-
tion but adapted to the modern
idiom and American environ-
ment.

BB Lodge in Costa Rica

A Bnai Brith lodge has just
been established in the Central
American republic of Costa Ri-
ca. Located in San Jose, capital
of the country, the new lodge
brings the number of Bnai
Brith b r a n c h es in countries
south of the border to 29.
Three years ago there'were only
12.

'Between You
and Me'

-/

(Copyright 1956,
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)

Jewish Problems:
•
Jewish organizations -which conduct relief activities among
Jews in North Africa, with the financial aid of American Jewry,
are faced with a serious problem . . . The Arab governments
are asking that the aid given by these organizations should not
be limited to Jews alone, but should be extended to the Moslem
population as well ... Requests to this effect have been presented
to ORT, Which is maintaining vocational training schools in
Tunis and Morocco, and to OSE which is doing excellent medical
work for the Jews in these countries .. The authorities argue
that since the Jews in these countries enjoy equal rights with
the Moslems, needy Arabs should receive equal treatment in
Jewish institutions . . . Thus, ORT was asked to include Moslem
students in its training schools, and OSE was requested to treat
Moslems as well as Jews . ... Leaders of the two organizations
expressed willingness to include the Arab population in their
programs, providing the local governments carry the financial
burden involved . . . They stressed that the organizations devote
their activities to Jewish needs, because they receive their funds
from Amrican Jewry for this purpose . . . However, the North
African governments insist that at least a goodwill "token" be
offered by these organizations by including a minimum of Arabs
in their projects . OSE, financed primarily by JDC, has refused
to submit to this demand, but the ORT did take in a small number
of Arab students into its training schools as a "token gesture" .
. JDC has not been approached by the Arab authorities, appar-
ently because these governments do not want to risk any nega-
tive answer from this large American Jewish organization . .
On the contrary, Morocco is now interested to see JDC relief
activities for Jews in the country expanded, since the country
needs dollars and in view of the fact that assisted emigration of
Jews has been banned and the Jews remaining in the country
will need more aid.

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Cultural Plans:
The Joint Distribution Committee is considering ,plans to
grant cultural aid to Jewish communities in Europe which are (
in need of teachers, text-books and school facilities . . . A con-
ference of Jewish educators from various countries in Europe
will be held this summer in Paris under JDC auspices to take
stock.of Jewish educational needs .. A noted American Jewish
educator has been commissioned by the JDC to survey the situ-
ation in Europe and to organize the forthcoming conference .. .
The JDC has also engaged a second American Jewish educator
as a permanent member of its European staff to be in charge
of coordinating and directing technical assistance for Jewish
schools and other cultural institutions in European countries .. .
Leaders of the Jewish communities in practically all countries in
Europe have welcomed the JDC effort and have, in fact, asked
for it ... While some of the Jewish communities in Europe have
regained their economic equilibrium, they still are handicapped
in bringing their cultural life to the pre-war level . . . This is
especially true in the field of child education on which Jewish
leadership is beginning to lay great stress . . The need for
qualified Jewish teachers and proper text-books is especially
great in countries like Germany, Austria, Belgium, Holland,
Scandinavia and even France . . This need is all the more ag-
gravated by the fact that most of these countries have different
languages and require books of Jewish contents in the languages
of their lands . . . The "technical assistance" program in the field
of Jewish education, upon which the JDC is embarking, will
serve to alleviate the difficulties which Jewish communities face
now in trying to implant a Jewish spirit among the Jewish youth.

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