THE DETROIT JEW ISH NEWS -- Friday, July 4, 195 8-2

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Purely Commentary:

Dr. Max Nordau—/The Grand Master of Zionism'
There could not be a timelier book than "Max Nordau-
Philosopher of Human Solidarity," by Meir Ben-Horin, published
by the Conference on Jewish Social Studies, 1841 Broadway,
New York 23. •
No other work so sue-
cinctly interprets the Zion- t- , -
ist ideal. Few literary ef-",,.
forts of recent years have
succeeded so well in pre-1-
senting the Herzlian idea
of Jewish national rebirth.
Dr. Ben -Horin, who g'
now is associated with the
Hebrew Teachers College
in Brookline, Mass., gives
a thorough review in this
volume of Nordau's Zion-
ism. His analyses of the
Nordauist viewpoints, his
evaluations of the eminent t
philosopher's historic ad- t'
dresses at the early Zion-
ist Congresses, present the r
best arguments for Zion-
ism to this very day.
At the very outset, Dr.
Ben-Horin shows that Nor-
dau was the great tribune,
that this friend and co-
worker of Dr. Theodor
Herzl from the very begin-
nings of the formation of
the world political Zionist
movement was "the Grand
Master of Zionism." DR. MAX NORDAU
Great emphasis is laid on the importance of the proposal
made by Dr. Nordau in 1919 that half a million Jews be
DUMPED into Palestine as means of creating a majority of
Jews there and thereby solving at the very outset the im-
pending Arab problem. Mad he been listened to, had this
daring step been taken, many of the present issues might
have been obviated.
Furthermore, Dr. Nordau may have provided the strongest
argument for- the current position of David Ben-Gurion with the
statement he made on April 25, 1920, after Great Britain was
entrusted with the Mandate over Palestine by the Supreme
Allied Council, at San Remo. Dr. Nordau then stated:
"We must no longer speak of Zionism. What we are now
,
called upon to realize is not Zionism but Judaism. Zionism
was a party issue, but now it is the destiny of the whole of
Israel which is trembling in the balance. We have a national
task before us, in the fulfilling of which every Jew who has a
sense of responsibility and dignity, must cooperate."
Yet it was Zionism as the idea of Jewish national rebirth
that found in Dr. Nordau the ablest exponent. In the earliest
days of his in terpreteation of Zionist aims, he had already
answered the arguments which stem today from Jews who raise
the horribly damaging and falsely misleading issue of "double
allegiance." Sixty years ago, the "protest rabbiner"—a term
coined by Theodor Herzl—charged that Zionists are only tem-
porary residents in their homelands. Nordat• countered "by
pointing to the hundreds of thousands of Englishmen, Italians,
FrenchMen, Germans, Scandinavians, who annually cross the
ocean in search of a new country. No one doubts their
patriotism. As long as they lived in their country of birth they
were exercising all rights and fulfilling all duties of citizenship
without anyone questioning them about their plans for the
future and telling them at the moment of departure: 'Now you
show that you have never been real patriots!' Except under a
regime of state deification, the individual may freely decide
about his future although he is not free to neglect his present
duties. If he advances his country's present, he adequately
discharges his obligations towards its future. If this applies to
all citizens, it must equally apply to Zionists."
To this day, there is confusion in many ranks relative to
the position of Zionism as either a national or a philanthropic
effort. Nordau had the answer 60 years ago:
"It was an error to see in Zionism a great movement of
charity. . . . Zionism is an act of release, not of relief. You
do not give alms to a people. A country is not a matter of
charity. Zionism cannot offer any gifts to the Jewish people
and will not offer any gifts to individuals. It endeavors to
awaken, to develop, to educate, to unify, the power with which
the Jewish people may rise from two thousand years of leth-
argy and resignation, in order to create for itself natural
conditions of existence on its own soil.. .. In Zionism a people
torn apart strives for the reunion of its scattered limbs and
for its rebirth."
Is Zionism reactionary? Nordau replied that it is a move-
ment aiming at "the elevation of the calumniated, persecuted,
derided, hated, at best misinterpreted and misunderstood Jewish
people to the glory and honor of pioneers of civilization and
creators or new spiritual values." Is Zionism a relapse into
religious fanaticism? His reply was that it unites in its ranks
Judaism's most conservative and most secular trends. Is Zionism
a shift towards Asia and ghettoization? His answer was that we
will become Asians as little as the Anglo-Saxons- in America
became Indians, in South Africa Hottentots, in Australia Papuans.
We want to return to Palestine, he said, "not in order to sub-
merge in Asiatic barbarisrta but in order to free ourselves from
the barbarism of the ghetto."
Nordau's proposal that at least 500,000 Jews should be
dumped into Palestine was made as a pre-condition of friendly
relations with the Arabs, of peace, of the country's preparation
to become the Jewish National Home. Just as 22,000,000 soldiers
were fed by their governments in the World War I era, he pro-
posed that the Jewish people would have to feed the half-million
"dumpees" until they became economically independent.
Dr. Nordau, who has been called "the echo of the Jewish
people," made it clear, in his address at the Second Zionist
Congress in 1898, that "the Zionists are not a party, they are
Judaism itself."
Dr. Ben-Horin discusses Dr. Nordau's important role as a

Nordauist Philosophy:
Zionism Was to Him
in . Essence Judaism

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By Philip
Slomovitz

critic and social thinker. He evaluates the foundations of soli-
larity and Nordau's basic assumptions on moral values. He
states that "that which maims Nordau's view so peculiarly his
awn, is the emphasis on the unity in the human of mind and
morals, of reason and love, of self-preservation and self-sacrifice."
He explains that "solidarity as the unity of mind and morals
implies the inter-dependence of a free society and a free
science," and he adds:
"It is plausible that the `solidaritarian' position would
have placed Nordau alongside Albert Einstein when he stated
that 'ethical axioms are found and tested not very differently
from the axioms of science. Truth is what stands the test
of experience.' "
An evaluation of the implications of solidarity forms an-
other important chapter in this valuable book. Dr. Ben-Horin
points out that Nordau saw in the works of Richard Wagner
and Friedrich Nietzsche "the germs of political catastrophe."
Nordau's views on the hysteria created by the wars of his day
are analyzed and it is pointed out that Nordau was convinced
that Nietzsche was insane by birth "and that his books carry
the stamp of insanity on every page."
Nordau at first saw the "greatest event in modern history"
in the Russian revolution of 1918, but "in 1920 Nordau anticipated
Western attitudes in the 1950s when he warned that 'Soviet
Russia continues to constitute a dark threat, not alone to Great
Britain but to all countries and groupings in civilized mankind,
and not because of the strength of her army and navy but
because of her propaganda which is not limited to Asia alone."
In an address before English and American journalists
in London, Dr. Ben-Horin recalls, Nordau stated that anti-
Semites had no right to blame Jews for the misdeeds of what
he called Jewish renegades in the Communist ranks, since
Jews had brought forth both Jesus and Trotsky. With respect
to the Jewish problem, Ben-Horin writes, "it was Nordau's
position that the Communist revolution had- not removed the

3,000 Books Given
by Dr. Hershman
to Five Agencies

Nearly 3,000 books from the
Iersonal library of Dr. A. M.
Hershman, rabbi emeritus of
Cong. Shaarey Zedek, have
been distributed to institutions
here, in New York and Israel.
Announcement of the gifts
was made this week by Saul
R. Levin and
_orris M. Ja-
_obs, who were
tamed trus-
tees by Dr.
Hershman and
acted on his
behalf in mak-
ing the distri-
bution accord-
ing to the rab-
bi's specific in-
structions.
Five institu-
tions will ben-
, efit from the
Dr. Hershman gifts. They
are the library of Cong. Shaa-
rey Zedek, United Hebrew
Schools of Detroit, Yeshivath
Beth Yehudah, Jewish Theo-
logical Seminary in New York
and Bar-Ilan University in Is-
rael.
threat of anti-Semitism to Jewish existence and that, from the
standpoint of the Jewish survivalist, emigration remained as
Dr. Hershman retained pos-
vital a need for Jews under the Soviets as it had been for
session of some of the books
their fathers under the Czars."
for his personal use and study.
Nordau hoped for a solidaritarian society in which the These were shipped to him in
media of mass enlightenment will replace the services of the New York, where he now lives
traditional religions." He coined the term Muskeljudentum (a with his daughters, Ruth and
Jewry of muscles) and urged Jewry and world Zionism that Eiga.
"in no nation have athletics such an important educational task
Of the books that were
as among us Jews."
Dr. Nahum Sokolow, eminent author and one-time president distributed, many are known
of the World Zionist Organization, had said about Nordau that to be of considerable scholarly
"no Zionist has exercised a stronger or lOftier influence by value, including rare first edi-
sheer strength of character and sound judgment." Dr. Stephen tions. They represent a period
S. Wise spoke of Nordau as being of even "larger stature than
Herzl." Dr. Shmarya Levin described Nordau as "a pessimist of in excess of 40 years, which it
took Dr. Hershman to accumu-
the Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) type."
Dr. Ben-Horin's book on Nordau is a very valugble study late them. Special bookplates
not only of the great philosopher-orator-physician and his works, printed on each book indicate
but also of his time and of his prophetic view of the future.
His ideas and ideals, as reviewed by Dr. Ben-Horin, are im- that the gift is "From the Li-
mensely important to students of human values even in our day. brary of Dr. A. M. Hershman."

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Survey Indicates
Enrollment Up
20% in Schools

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A survey conducted this year
by the Directors Council, com-
prised of educational directors
of 12 Detroit area congrega-
tions, indicates that since 1956
alone there has been more than
a 20 per cent increase in the
enrollment of member schools.
The survey, conducted under
the auspices of Max Chomsky,
shows that there are 8,276 chil-
dren enrolled in these 12
schools, an increase of 1,506
since 1956.
The youngsters are taught
by 253 teachers, of whom 218
teach general or homeroom-
type subjects, while 35 teach
specialized courses, such as art,
dramatics and dancing.
Four of the schools, the sur-
vey states, meet for one ses-
sion, while the remaining eight
have two sessions a week, the
average session lasting for two-
hours.
Ten schools admit non-mem-
ber children, the other two en-
rolling only children of mem-
bers. Three schools make no
tuition charge to members,
while the remaining nine
schools make a charge, usually
less for members.
The survey showed that nine
affiliated institutions have jun-
ior and senior departments, all
leading to either confirmation
or consecration.
The 12 schools surveyed are
the religious schools of Adas
Shalom, Ahavas Achim, Beth
Aaron, Beth Shalom, Bnai
David, Bnai Moshe, Evergreen
Jewish Cong., Shaarey Zedek,
Temple Emaun-El, Temple Is-
rael and Young Israel Center
of Oak-Woods.

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Boris Smolar's

'Between You
... and Me'

(Copyright, 1958,
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)

March of Time:
American firms, boycotting Israel under Arab pressure, have
learned two lessons in one week ... One came from Air France
and the other from the American Express Company . . . For
several years the Arab countries did not permit the landing of
Air France planes on their soil because the French airline was
doing business with Israel . . . Was Air France influenced
by the Arab blackmail? .. Not in the least . . . It continued
and recently increased its flights to and from Israel . . . The
result? . . . Apparently convinced by now that the French air-
line is determined not to yield to their blackmail, the Arabs
surrendered . . . They announced that they will permit Air
France planes to resume operations in their countries . . . The
developments with regard to the American Express Company
were somewhat different . . . American Express apparently did
yield to Arab pi essure when it closed its offices in Israel . . .
However, it has realized its mistake now and came to terms with
the Israel government . . . Jewish organizations were upset by
the fact that the American Express Company — a firm which
had received -a good deal of patronage from American Jews —
had closed its office in Israel . . . However, they did not call for
retaliation, nor for any public propaganda against the American
Express .. . It was the march of time that proved to American
Express that yielding to Arab blackmail does not pay . . . The
"peace" agr .ement will result in a variety of promotion activities
for travel. to Israel through American Express.
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Behind the Scenes:
Moscow is now working behind the scenes at the United
Nations, plotting an anti-Israel move for the coming UN General
Assembly which opens at the end of the summer . . . Indian
officials have been approached by Soviet delegates seeking India's
support for the Soviet plot . . . Official Indian circles make no
secret of the fact that Moscow is quietly seeking India's acqui-
escence to a plan apparently suggested by Nasser during his
recent visit to Moscow . . . This plan provides for the Soviet
government to suggest at the forthcoming UN General Assembly
that the Arab-Israel conflict be solved along the lines of a
proposal made in 1948 by the Swedish diplomat Folke Berna-
dott . . . His proposal is said to contain recommendations
detrimental to Israel, such as inter-nationalization of Jerusalem,
changes in Israel's borders and other suggestions unacceptable
to Israel . . . Some Asian diplomats consider the Soviet intention
nothing but a propaganda' move to gain more favor with the
Asian-African lands as "protectors" of the Arabs.

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