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.