Purely Commentary

By Philip

Slomovitz

Boris Pasternak: A Case of Jewish Anti-Semitism

A good, impartial student of American lit-
erature is needed to make a survey of so-called
best-selling novels. Such a theme would well
deserve a doctorate—provided the surveyor is
' prepared to psychoanalyze our reading public.
For instance: why are so many novels with
Jewish themes on the list of .best sellers? Is it
the Jewish public that buys such books, in
spite of the insults that some of them heap
upon Jewry? Do Jews invite such insults and
assist in elevating writers who drag Jews and
Judaism through the gutter?
Did it require a rejected Nobel Prize to
draw attention to Boris Pasternak and his
"Doctor Zhivago," boosting the book far above
any similar best seller?
Our subject at this time is Pasternak and
the Jewish angle he has dragged into his novel.

First, a word about the publishers. This re-
viewer has had occasion to comment on prod-
ucts of Pantheon Books. He has made a study
of the monumental Pantheon volumes, "Jew-
ish Symbols in the Greco-Roman Period," by
Prof. Erwin R. Goodenough, the seventh and
eighth volumes of which we reviewed only two
weeks ago. Under review by this columnist also
was Pantheon's "The Bridge," edited by the
Rev. Dr. John M. Oestrreicher, which, although
thoroughly Christological, is revealing in many
of its approaches. Other important Pantheon
publications have drawn our attention. But
none of these could possibly be classed in the
"Doctor Zhivago" category. The books we have
just mentioned could not possibly reach a
circulation of 10.000. They are not novels. They
are specialized religious studies. But "Doctor
Zhivago" is a novel, which at this writing, is
approaching the half million mark in the num-
ber of copies printed and ordered. Pantheon's
printers are unable to produce additional copies
fast enough to fill the demand. Among the reas-
ons for such a demand, in addition to those
enumerated, is that the book is being compared
to Count Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace."

*

*

A communication from London by Hugh
Massingham, appearing in the current issue of
the New Republic, under the heading "The
Award to Pasternak Was 'Irresponsible' ", de-
bunks this idea. "Nothing could be more mis-
leading," Massingham writes. He explains his
viewpoint: "Tolstoy is careful to establish his
characters as soon as they appear: within a few
pages we not only know where they stand in
society: we remember their tricks of speech,
their spiritual attitude, the color of their eye-
lashes. We never stumble over the queer Rus-
sian names or turn back to find out who some-
body is. Pasternak's characters are so vaguely
sketched that as soon as they are out of sight
they are out of mind."
Massingham's explanation of his opinion
that the award of the Nobel Prize to Pasternak
was "utterly irresponsible" is explained in an
interesting analysis in which he states:

"Before the controversy there were clearly forces
in the USSR who were struggling to get a more
liberal policy. What is more they were, so far as I
can judge, having some success. Take for instance,
the official letter turning down 'Doctor Zhivago.'
Pasternak was not called a 'hyena.' He was not
accused of treachery. The reasons given, though we
may disagree with them. are moderately put. When
we remember the vitriolic terms of the past, this is
one of the most hopeful signs that has ever come
out of Russia. Or let me put the point in another
way. If this controversy had occurred when Stalin
was alive, does anybody doubt what would have
been the consequences. By this time Pasternak
would have disappeared as Babel did during the
purges of the Thirties. Pasternak would never have
been heard of again. Today he is still alive. He still
has his house. And he has even been interviewed
by foreign journalists."

Now, this opinion may in itself be a bit
prejudiced. But this London writer is not the
only one who has implied that the awarders
of the Nobel Prize to Pasternak were inspired
in their selection, by political anti-Communist
motives. This may be a matter to be left for
future historians to judge.

What concerns us is the anti-Semitism of
the novel. Boris Pasternak, as is well known
by now, is the son of the late Leonid Pasternak,
the eminent artist who was a friend of Chaim
Weizmann, Nahum Sokolow, Chaim Nachman
Bialik and other Jewish leaders of whom he
made paintings. Leonid Pasternak visited Pal-
estine and he may have been imbued to a de-
gree with the Zionist ideal. He died in exile
in England. But it is assumed that Boris was
baptized and became a Greek Orthodox fol-
lower, and his novel extraneously condemns
Jews and Judaism, advocates the disappearance
of the Jews as a people, bitterly assails the
desire of Jews to survive as a people and sees
their solution only in Christianity, while mock-
ing Jewry's "voluntary martyrdom."
We must keep in view the fact that Pas-
ternak lived most of his life in a Communist
environment. Although his novel protests Com-
munist tactics, he has been influenced by Sov-
iet idealism, and his attitude towards the peo-
ple he has sprung from, the Jews, no doubt
is based on a deep-rooted assimilationist ten-
dency, on a lack of knowledge, on a great deal
of misinformation.

In spite of it, we are not inclined to speak
of him as a "meshumad" in the vile term that
it is used towards Jewish converts to other
faiths who participated in anti-Semitic at-
tacks on their former coreligionists. Boris Pas-
ternak did not assume the role of a crusader
against Judaism. He is said to have been con-
verted to Greek Orthodoxy as a child, and
therefore he was not deliberately assuming the
role of a "meshumad" in the sense that "meshu-
madim" make capital of their conversion and
ruthlessly join in movements to harm Jews.

*

*

His views in "Doctor Zhivago" are un-
doubtedly harmful to Jewry. When Dr. Yuri
Andreyevich Zhivago expresses revulsion at
the acts of Cossack pogromists who were taunt-
ing and humiliating aged Jews, Misha Gordon,
the Jewish character in the story, who was
with Zhivago, "did not answer." That in itself
may be interpreted as a tacit admission of
self-hate that arose out of a Jew's fright. That
is how such self-hate develops. But when, on
the very next page, this Jewish character ad-
vises JeW's: "Don't hold on to your identity,
don't all get together in a crowd. Disperse.
Be with all the rest. You are the first and
best Christians in the world . . . .", there
emerges the missionary element for which
Pasternak is being condemned in Jewish ranks.
Pasternak is being criticized justifiably
How can a person who has shown so much
courage in exposing Communist shortcomings
and cruelties, who has uttered appeals for so-
cial justice with so much passion in "Doctor
Zhivago," ask Jews to disappear? Yet this able
writer, who has been chosen for the world's
highest literary award, commits so grave an
error as to say, about the Jews, through the
Jewish member of his cast: "It's so strange that
these people who once liberated -mankind from
the yoke of idolatry, and so many of them who
now devoted themselves to liberation from in-
justice, should be incapable of liberating them-
selves from their loyalty to an obsolete, ante-
diluvian identity that has lost all meaning, that
they should not rise above themselves- and dis-
solve among all the rest whose religion they
have founded and who would be so close to
them, if they knew them better . . ."
This, indeed, is cheap missionary talk, and
it is ill-becoming in a novel that otherwise
rises to certain great heights. It is puzzling,
and it also reveals the Communist influence
on a man whose novel is supposedly so strongly
anti-Communist.
* *
Why does Pasternak ask for the disappear-
ance of the Jewish people? It is, in its sim-
plest analysis, part of Communist ideology.
When a recent publication, issued in Moscow,
listed the books published in the USSR "in
124 languages of the peoples of the Soviet
Union as well as of foreign countries," Yiddish,
which for many years was hailed as a great
cultural instrument of Russian Jewry, was omit-
ted, while languages of insignificant and com-
paratively unknown groups were mentioned.
This is part of a Communist pattern. Pasternak
followed it in "Doctor Zhivago." (See Editorial
in this issue.)
It is true that in a later portion of his book,
Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago states that he had not
yet sufficiently formulated his opinion of the
Jews and their problem. But the earlier state-
ment, from which we have just quoted, quite
bluntly advised Jews, in atheistic Russia, to
adopt another religion, to give up its people-
hood, to disperse. The first thought was anti-
Semitic. It certainly did not contribute towards
good will among non-Jews for Jews.

We hesitate to call Pasternak an anti-
Semite. We have already rejected the appella-
tion "meshumad" that has been applied to him.
But we do. reject his missionary approach and
we believe that he has become a self-hating
Jew, due to a panic that has gripped Russian
Jewry in its present insecure position, and
because of the ignorance that usually generates
self-hatred.
"Doctor Zhivago" first appeared in an Ital-
ian translation. Its Italian publisher, Giangia-
como Feltrinelli, had been asked by Commu-
nists not to issue the work. He has since re-
jected the Communists and Communists with
whom he had been linked before the book's ap-
pearance. Then came the English translation
published in this country by Pantheon Books.
Three weeks ago, the book was published in a
Hebrew translation in Tel Aviv, Israel, by "Am
Oved," the publishing house of Histadrut, the
Israeli Federation of Labor. It soon will ap-
pear in the original Russian, from the Univer-
sity of Michigan Press. Perhaps the anti-Jewish
element in the book—which was thoroughly un-
necessary—it occupies three of the nearly 600
pages in "Doctor Zhivago"—will be generally
overlooked. It was inevitable, however, that it
should have been taken note of by Jewish read-
ers. We join in resentment against an extran-
eous anti-Semitic reference in an otherwise
good book.

Central Jewish Body in
Poland Hints Opposition
to Emigration of Jews

VIENNA (JTA)—The official conducted by ORT.
organization representing Polish
Sfard reported that the sale
Jewry—under. Communist Party and circulation of Yiddish
domination—has declared open- newspapers and books in Po-
ly that one of its "standing land has increased in the six-
principles" is opposition to the month period ending Oct: 31
idea that Jewish emigration by 30 per cent. He said there
furnishes a solution to the are in the country now more
Jewish problem in the country. Jewish schools than there had
This policy was pronounced been, as well as more pupils.
at a meeting of the executive There are in Poland now six
committee of the Association of Yiddish theatrical groups, a
Jewish Cultural Organizations puppet theater, six choirs and
in Poland, held in Warsaw. a number of youth groups and
The report of the main policy children's theaters.
When he came to political
speech, delivered before the
executive meeting by David affairs, Sfard told the executive
Sfard, appears in the latest is- committee: "It is our belief
sue of the Warsaw Yiddish- that Poland contains all the
language n e w s p a p e r, Folk- essentials for stabilization of
Jewish life in the country. Our
stimme, received here.
attitude is unalterably opposed
Before laying down the line in principle to emigration as a
opposed to Jewish emigration, solution to the Jewish problem.
Sfard reported about the eco- However, we recognize the fact
nomic and cultural progress that some people wish to emi-
among Polish Jews.- During the grate. We accept the govern-
six-month period ending Oct. ment's democratic and humani-
31; Polish Jews doubled their tarian attitude on this issue.
membership in 11 cooperative But it is a matter that must be
workshops. Nine of the 11 co- viewed clearly from all aspects.
operatives were making a Failure to view this matter
profit. These cooperatives fur- clearly until now has been one
nished work for Jews trained of the negative aspects of our
previously in vocational courses I work."

0.0.11•IMINTit.1•0111.11 ■0■ 11-0 ■ 04•11•411

.47 •=1 ■ M•mmoNsaliNwts•a ■ 011.M..1 ■0■••■ 111

Boris Smolar's

'Between You

... an d Me '

(Copyright, 195S,
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)

Washington Notes:

A report on the U.S. Operations Mission in Israel has been
issued for the first time in Hebrew in Israel, while in Washing-
ton the text was issued in English. . . . The report shows the
significance of the American program of economic and technical
assistance to Israel and relates how the governments of the U.S.
and of Israel cooperate closely. . . . It tells of the "behind-the-
scenes" action which has made possible the Israel-American
achievements under the Marshall Aid Plan . .. Israel started to
receive American aid under this plan in 1952 and has received
it ever since. . .. The plan involves the spending of large sums
of money—both Israeli and American—and the use of technical
skills by both nations, to speed up the development of Israel
and exploitation of Israel's resources to strengthen the country
economically. ... Loans of over 40 million Israeli pounds through
American generated funds have made possible Israel's present-
day network of electricity generation, transmission lines and
transformer stations. . . . Similar grants were made available
under the U.S. Operations Mission program for the extension
of telephone service in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem and other
Israel cities. .. . The American assistance program has contrib-
uted to Israel agriculture, irrigation and transportation-. . . . The
report reveals that while some 200 American experts have been
assigned to Israel since the U.S. aid program was started in 1952,
some 400 Israelis have been studying in many fields in the
United States under this program.

Communal Issues:

American Jewish communities are watching closely the fight
which Dr. Joachim Prinz has started within the American Jewish
Congress to place the accent on "Jewish" in the activities of the
organization. . . . Since Dr. Prinz became president of the Con-
gress, he has been trying to give the AJC a "new look". • . . He
does not want the American Jewish Congress to be "a Jewish
branch of the American Civil Liberties Union". . . . He wants
the organization to have • more Jewish content in its program
and activities. • . . He has encountered strong differences of
opinion on the part of other AJC leaders. . . . However, his point
of view is gathering strength among the AJC membership
throughout the country. . . . It is refreshing to hear him disagree
with those Jewish groups who try to create the feeling that the
recent bombings of synagogues in the South represent a
recrudescence of anti-Semitism in this country. . . . His point
of view is that the bombings are the work of crackpots and
hoodlums who have taken their lead from the lawless attitude
resulting from resistance to desegregation in the South.
*
*
*

A Leader's Self-Portrait:

James N. Rosenberg, the noted Jewish leader, who gave up
his career as one of the most prominent of American lawyers
to devote himself entirely to art, has come out with a beautiful
book entiled "Painter's Self-Portarit". . . . Having enjoyed at
colorful life as a public figure and as an artist whose paintings
can be found in major American art museums, Rosenberg pre-
sents in his book practically only the highpoints of his life . . .
But these highpoints are giving a sufficiently interesting "self-
portrait" of the author whose name will go down in Jewish
history as one of the most active leaders of the Joint Distribution
Committee and one of the founders of the Jewish Agency for
Palestine . . . There are in the book more than 100 reproductions
of Rosenberg's paintings — in color and in black-and-white —
which give a graphic understanding of the work of the recognized
painter.