Rabbi States Formula for Conversion Story of Rachel: Street Singer to Toast of Paris
By BOB BREWER
indeed she was transformed into
of Non-Jews Marrying Born Jews
• A Standard Feature
the victim of guilty passion, she

By MILTON GREEN
(A SAFS Feature)
Judaism in America is being
weakened rather thin strength-
ened by the "so-called" tradi-
tional approach of most Or-
thodox and many Conservative
and Reform rabbis toward pros-
pective converts to Judaism,
particularly in connection with
mixed marriages.
This is the opinion of a Re-
form Rabbi who strongly favors
such conversions, Rabbi David
Max Eichhorn of New York,
who is chairman of the Commit-
tee on the Unaffiliated of the
Central Conference of American
Rabbis, the first official rabbi-
nical effort to convert American
non-Jews. •
Rabbis who adhere to "me-
chanical, legalistic formulas" in
handling prospective converts
in matters of marriage, says Dr.
Eichhorn, have produced "and
will continue to produce noth-
ing but a miserable harvest of
unending unhappiness for all
concerned."
Practicing what he preaches,
Rabbi Eichhorn has used a
unique procedure in officiating
at mixed marriages, a procedure
which he believes conforms to
the "classical Jewish attitude"
toward such marriages.
This attitude, Rabbi Eichhorn
argues in an article in the cur-
rent issue of the CCAR Journal,
is based on the Talmudic posi-
tion that "if a candidate wants
to become a Jew for unworthy
reasons, he is rejected. If he
seeks to strenghten the Jewish
religious fellowship and the in-
fluence of Judaism, he is ac-
cepted."
The obligation of the rabbi
in dealing with a couple is to
make certain there is "no ele-
ment of hypocrisy or coercion
connected with a particular con-
version."
As matters now stand, the
rabbi usually does one of three
things, none of them without
grave shortcomings, wholly
aside. from the issue of whether
he approves of mixed mar-
riages. The couple seeking him
out intends to be married, re-
gardless of his attitude.
If the rabbi insists on con-
version . of the non-Jew before
he will marry him or her to a
born-Jew, he is placing before
the non-Jew "the choice of con-
version or personal misery,"
Rabbi Eichhorn believes. In re-
buttal to the popular view that
any non-Jew seeking conversion
for marriage is automatically
insincere and hypocrtical, Rabbi
Eichhorn argues that in forcing
conversion as a condition of
marriage, the rabbi is using "a
clearly coercive tactic and is
giving the non-Jew o justifiable
opportunity to play the liar and
the hypocrite."
If the rabbi refuses to marry
the couple, he will probably
drive a Jew away from Judaism
and destroy whatever possibil-
ity "there may have been for
the conversion of the non-Jew
to Judaism and-for the creation,
by this couple, of an acceptable
Jewish family life." -
If he marries the couple un-
conditionally, Says Dr. Eich-
horn, the rabbi will have helped
to bring into existence "a family
which will have no spiritual
roots, a family whose children
will either be torn asunder emo-
tionally by the conflicting re-
ligious idealogies of their par-
ents or who will be cast adrift
spiritually because of their par-
ents' indifference to religion."
After discussing with the
couple the problems and pos-
sibilities of their decision and
assuring himself that if he re-
fuses to marry them, they will
get married a n y w a y, Rabbi
Eichhorn agrees to perform the
ceremony "if the non-Jew gives
me his or her word that he or
she accepts the following mari-
tal stipulations:"
1. All children are to be
reared as Jews in the manner
",that most nearly conforms to
the family background of the
Jewish partner."
2 All children are to receive

"an intensive Jewish educa-
tion."
3. The non-Jewish partner
is to try, to the best of his or
her ability "To make the home
atmosphere conform to the pat-
tern of the teachings of the
children's religious school."
4. "There are to be no non-
Jewish religious symbols or
celebrations of any kind in the
home. Christmas trees, Easter
eggs and non-Jewish adorn-
ments are specifically prohib-
ited,"
5. The non-Jewish partner
"is to try. to become familiar
with the principles and prac-
tices of Judaism and is to attend
synagogue services, for a time
at least, in an effort to deter-
mine whether he or she could
accept Judaism without doing
violence to conscience."
.Rabbi Eichhorn contends this
method is not coersive. In each
case, he asks the non 7Jew if
he or she "feels this is a coer•
cive" procedure. Not a single
response has been that it is.
Rabbi Eichhorn points out
that in almost every case, the
couple has assured him they
had agreed to raise their child-
ren as Jews before coming to
him to marry them;
How have these marriages
turned out? Rabbi Eichhorn
says he has married an esti-
mated 75 such couples over the
past 25 years, of which one-
third involved conversions at
the request of the non-Jewish
partner. -
Where he has been able to
maintain contact * with these
couples, his report is that, with
one exception, they are "hap-
pily and successfully married."
In the Le exception, the Jewish
divorced partner w ro t e Dr.
Eichhorn that the marriage
failed because of differences
likely to wreck any marriage,
including entirely Jewish ones
—differences of personality,
background, intellectuality,.

It will soon be 100 years since
all that was mortal of Rachel,
France's great tragedienne, was
laid to rest in the Jewish sec-
tion of Pere Lachaise. There are
none living who saw her in the
days of her great triumph.
What a strange story is hers!
Years of childhood and girlhood
spent in drab poVerty, squalor
and cruel privations; and sud-
denly, not yet 20, a blaze of
international fame with wealth
and glory poured in profusion
into her lap.
For about 12 short years, she
was the undisputed idol of two
continents; then stark tragedy
struck. Her great art suddenly
declined—a fatal illness—death
at the age of 37—closing a tri-
umphant career sadly and pre-
maturely.
Elisa Felix was born of poor,
uneducated parents in Soleil
d'Or, a small town in Switzer-
land, on March 24, 1821. Her
rather , earned a living as a
peddler, and to help their par-
ents, Elisa and her elder sister
sang in the streets of Paris.
One day, she was overheard by
Etienne Charon, who, moved by
her grace, gave her free instruc-
tions and afterwards brought
her to the great dramatic
teacher Pagnon Saint Aulaire.
Adolphe Cremieux, later presi-
dent of the Alliance Israelitique,
and Albert Cohen, confidential
agent of the Bank of Rothschild,
took a personal interest in her.
At the tender age of 16, she
made her first appearance on
the stage.
It was the director of the The-
atre Gymnase who made her

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RACHEL

change her commonplace name
of Elisa to "Rachel." The choice
of this name was probably
.prompted by the heroine of
Halevy's successful opera "The
Jewess" (1835).
Her debut took place in 1837
at the Gymnas e, but she
achieved only moderate success.
Undaunted, she returned to her
studies at the Conservatoire and
at the end of a year, she joined
the "Comedie Francaise" where
she created a sensation as
"Camille" in Corneille's drama
"Les Horaces."
Racine's "Phedre" was con-
sidered h e r masterpiece—"an
apocalypse of human agony not
to be forgotten by one who wit-
nessed it" said a reviewer. And

lived the fever that' burnt up
her heroine and the fatal dreams
that haunted her. She played
the part of many years in Paris
and on her tours over two con-
tinents—wildly acclaimed
everywhere.
She was received with great
enthusiasm in _London, Berlin,
St. Petersburg, Russia, and in
1855, in New York's Metropoli-
tan Theater.
Her last triumph was the
tragic part of Adrienne in "Ad-
rienne Lecouvreur," a drama .
written especially for her by
Scribe . and L e g o u v e. She .
achieved a triumphal success on
the very first evening and this
held the play on the stage of
the world for many years to
come.
Death reached her in Cannes.
On Jan. 11, 1858 she was buried
in Pere Lachaise cemetery in
Paris. An enormous crowd was
present including ministers, all
the members of the French the-
ater and outstanding personali-
ties of the world of art. The
Chief Rabbi of Paris officiated
while rain fell. Her_ parent s,
whom she supported during all
the years, outlived her for a
long time.
In death and in life, young
Rachel showed herself as a great
representative of Jewry, who
restored vigor, truth and na-
turalness to the classic French
drama. She was first and fore-
most a Jewess, loyal. to her
faith and reflecting the spirit
of her time in which Jewry,
then at the peak of emancipa-
tion, had reached the climax
of its brilliance.

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Jordan Project May
Harm Potash Works

JERUSALEM, (JTA) — The
Jordan government is studying
a project for exploitation of the
waters of the Dead Sea which
could adversely affect Israel's
potash works on the southern
end of the sea, it was learned
here today.
An Am e r i c-a n engineering
company has designed a proj-
ect whereby Jordan would pipe
water from the Dead Sea to
the town of Aqaba, opposite
Elath, and there extract valu-
able minerals from them. The
$5,600,000 pipeline would elimi-
nate overland shipment of chem-
icals from the northern end of
the sea where the Israel Potash
Company formerly had a plant.
It is feared that removal of the
water will lower the level . of
the sea and hurt Israeli produc-

tion.

It was announced that Israel's
chemical fertilizer industry hag
increased its exports to Mediter-
ranean countries on the basis
of a 10 percent rise in produc-
tion. The Haifa Chemical Ferti-
lizer Company, which is seeking
additional capital to erect other
chemical processing plants, re-
ported that Italy is buying some
5,000 tons of potassium phos-
phates. Two unnamed M‘aditer-
ranean countries are nege,,tiating
for the purchase of 15,!400 tons
of ammonium phosphate is worth
about $750,000, it was stated.
•

Too Few Inmates to Employ
Jewish Chaplains In Prisons

WASHINGTON, (JTA)—The
director of the Federal Bureau
of Prisons reported there were
no Jewish chaplains on duty in
Federal prisons because there
are too few Jewish prisoners
to require full-time chaplains.
The report said 31 Christian
chaplains ministers to the, needs
of Christian prisoners. Rabbis
and Jewish organizations in
communities near the prisons
provide for theJewi,sh inmates.

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