Purely Commentary
Myopic Israeli Views of American Jewry
On Jan. 9, your Commentator quoted at length from an
article by the widely-acclaimed Israeli humorist, Ephraim Kishon,
who purportedly exposed the lack of knowledge of Israel on the
part of a young American Jew, but in actuality seemed to be
ridiculing American Jewry.
An unfortunate complement to Kishon's characterization
was published in the Hebrew daily Ha-Aretz of Tel Aviv, whose
correspondent, Amos Aylon, described "Yom Kippur in Wash-
ington" and presented his views of a Reform service ultra-
critically. His article has been reprinted in American Judaism,
official publication of the Union of American Hebrew Congre-
gations, together with an open letter to the editor of Ha-Arettz
by Millard Cass, U.S. Deputy Under-Secretary of Labor and a
member of the Washington Hebrew Congregation where the
service detailed by Aylon took place.
The editor of American Judaism described Aylon's article
as "rather caustic." To us it is myopic. Like Kishon, Aylon dis-
played a lack of understanding of American Jews and he short-
sightedly ascribed implied faults to American Jewry instead of
seeing, in the outpouring of wealthy Yom Kippur congregants,
a measure of Jewish loyalty without which all of Jewish life,
including American Jewry's interest in Israel, would be greatly
imperiled.
Aylon saw the Cadillacs and the chauffeurs. He saw fit to
describe the rabbi of the Washington Hebrew Congregation,
Dr. Norman Gerstenfeld, as "the Jewish Billy Graham." He
took note of "his rich and musical voice" that "flows into one's
ears through a series of fluid characterizations," and, expressing
the view that "the rabbi's prayers are varied," he said of them
"sometimes they have a soft musical background as in a radio
broadcast, sometimes dramatic quotations from Amos and Isaiah
are punctuated with shofar blasts."
-
He then turned to Rabbi Gerstenfeld's sermon which he
described as reviewing for over a half-hour "some 3,000 years
of history," touching "upon every question of our day, almost
without exception, from Tito to Little Rock, the intercon-
tinental ballisic missile, the standards of Amos, the geophysical
year, the Communist danger, and the Israel-Arab situation."
The Israeli writer then turned his attention to "the gigantic
ark, constructed in the form of the Ten Commandments." He
wondered "how the rabbi would open the huge doors and take
the Torah out of the Ark." And then comes his fantastic por-
trayal of a fanciful "worry" and an implied revelation: "The
moment came at the end of the sermon. The mystery was cleared
and the worry set at ease. An invisible hand (the rabbi's?
the director's?) pressed an electric button. The Ten Command-
ments moved aside. The ark was opened as though there were
a stone at the mouth of .a cave and in. the midst of a stream of
light there were the Torah 'scrolls in covers. The organ peals
rolled out in waves through the great hall. Rabbi Gerstenfeld
stands, his hands raised upward, and the festive evening ends.
The congregation is blessed. The black Cadillacs, the Buicks,
the Chryslers, and the Lincolns gather their owners with a
soft hum at the side of the synagogue and disappear into the
cool night."
Cass, in his reply, expresses the hope that Aylon's article
is not "the result of prejudice" but rather "the usual style of
cartoon exaggeration not to be taken seriously." He then pro-
ceeds to describe the people who stepped out of the cars into
the Washington temple: leaders in the Israel Bond drives and in
the United Jewish Appeal; people who are active in the charit-
able, cultural and intellectual life of the capital of the United
States; top government officials, judges, legislators, leaders in
business and labor and advisers to the President of the United
States.
He proceeds to show that the congregation also conducts
Sabbath services and that people come there to worship and
to "find inspiration to live good and useful lives." He pleads
his cause as "a regular participant in these services," and he
asserts: "The test of any religious service is what kind of lives
Israeli Observers'
Myopic Blunders
About U.S. Jewry
By Philip
Slomovitz
no single path to Heaven nor does any religion or sect of any
faith have a monopoly on virtue."
The space we give to this debate as we had given to what
we considered blunders by Kishon is not inspired by partisanship.
Your Commentator is not a Reform Jew. But he is convinced
that the time for ridicule of any branch of Judaism had passed
long ago. There Was a time when Reform Judaism was the target
for periodic attacks in Conservative and Orthodox synagogue
sermons. We hear' much less acrimony today than we have in
years gone by because all elements in our community work
together in major causes in behalf of the entire people of Israel,
and it would be ill-becoming for one group to snipe at another
at a time when unity is vitally needed in time of crisis.
This, of course, is hardly the issue in this debate. The point
is that Aylon, hailing from Israel, must have come to a Reform
service for the first time at a Kol Nidre service. He did not
draw the line. He might have gone into a Conservative synagogue
and found as many minks there as he did among the Reform
brethren. He would have heard equally thundering oratory, and
an Orthodox or Conservative rabbi might have emulated the
Reform spiritual leader in packing in 3,000 years of history into
a sermon. Hasn't Leon Uris attempted it in his novel "Exodus"
which is being so widely acclaimed in Israel as well as here?
Had Aylon hailed from American Jewish Conservative or
Reform ranks, and had he wandered into a Hassidic service,
he might have had a topic for ridicule there. Perhaps the
unceasing conversations in Orthodox congregations would repel
him equally as much as the "electronics" of the Washington
Hebrew Congregation. Your Commentator has been deafened
by noises in very Orthodox synagogues in Israel. But one does
not set . out to find faults among his brethren without giving
himself an account of the many hundreds of variations in
worship that one finds in Jewish ranks throughout the world,
of the hundreds of changes that have taken and are taking
place, of "reforms" that date back even to Maimonides, of
adaptations of the "minhagim"—the customs—of our neighbors
in many lands.
Jewish Youth
Leads 59ers
Special to The Jewish News
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Plagued
by setbacks, but yet undaunted
in spirit, a group of Detroiters
now known as the "59'ers,"
were on the first leg of a jour-
ney this. week that will take
them to Alaska.
The group is headed by Ron-
ald Jacobowitz, a 23-year-old
Jewish youth, who plotted the
arduous trip to the Kenai Penin-
sula, some 200 miles south of
Anchorage, Alaska.
Jacobowitz, who refuses to
commercialize on the trip,
which is the first made by a
group of homesteaders to Alas-
ka in over 100 years, recently
turned down an offer to appear
on a nationally televised pro-
gram from New York.
His father. Jacob Jacobowitz,
of 3175 Ewald Circle, while not
joining the initial pioneers, is
still interested in the Alaska
ventures, and is planning a trip
to the new state in July.
Meanwhile, back in Detroit, a
Northwest area druggist has be-
come interested in the pioneer-
ing effort. He is Ben Baskin, of
Baskin Drug, who contributed
a medical kit to Jacobowitz'
When an Israeli makes it a cause celebre to criticize
minhagifil and directly or by innuendo to ridicule his Jewish group.
Ironically, the kit was used
kinsmen, he renders a measure of disservice to his own readers
and countrymen. The Kishons and the Aylons are myopic. They the very first day by Mrs. Jaco-
are too shortsighted not to recognize that there is a great deal bowitz when she scalded her-
of idealism in American Jewry within whose ranks changes in self with hot water.
Baskin has organized the
worship take place constantly.
Naturally, we are convinced that what an Aylon writes does 59'ers Expediting Committee, a
not affect the warm partnership that exists between Israeli and non-profit organization to aid
American Jewries, a kinship that must be strengthened and not only the Jacobowitz group
perpetuated. But when one goes to Israel and, lacking in under- but others who are interested
standing of their ways of life, returns with a message of gall, in settlement in Alaska.
we resent it. Just as much do we resent the gall that pours out
Other members of the organi-
of the pens of Israeli writers who pose as cute humorists when zation are Albert Schonwetter,
describing American Jewry, and fail thereby to emerge as keen Detroit businessman, as vice-
observers of the vast panorama of life among American Jews. president; Henry Baskin, an at-
torney, as treasurer; and Mrs.
Irving I. Katz's Keen Sense of Historical Values
Helen Webb, secretary.
On March 27, Temple Beth El will honor Irving I. Katz
in making
Persons t
on the 20th anniversary of his services as executive secretary the trek . to o Alaska (a capital
of the congregation.
investment of $1,500 is neces-
His activities in the past 20 years were not limited to Temple sary), should call Mrs. Webb,
Beth El; nor were they devoted entirely to our own community.
The keen sense he possesses for the values of historical research,
his ability to gather facts in matters he has become so vitally
interested in, especially those relating to Detroit and Michigan
history, have made him an outstanding figure in the cultural
life of American Jewry.
Katz has won national recognition for his ability to gather
data on important issues. The American Jewish Archives have
long ago taken note of his numerous contributions toward the
accumulation of facts about Arherican Jewry.
Likewise, historically-minded citizens of Michigan recognize
in him a man of great culture who has enriched the history of
this state with his search for hidden facts.
it leads people to live. By that test, our worship is of real
value." He describes the musical themes of his temple's service,
- composed "by Dr. Eric Werner, one of the world's greatest
- musicologists, who has lectured both in Israel and at the
Vatican. Dr. Werner composed a Tizkor' service in memory
of his parents who were killed by the Nazis. He was commis- -
LONDON, (JTA)—Countries Union, carried an article de-
sioned by our rabbi to expand this into a full holy day service,
behind
the Iron Curtain, includ- voted to Sholem Aleichem and
based on the old traditional themes." Explaining the use of
ing the Soviet Union itself, are to the "classic Yiddish litera-
orchestral accompaniment, Cass states that "Leonard Bern-
participating actively in the ture." - -
stein is now at work on a Sablystl, service we hope to have
In Poland and Romania other
world-wide celebration of the
ready in the not too distant f -
KE. 5-4253.
Ogden Reid Named
Israel Ambassador
Ogden R. Reid, member of
the board of the New York Her-
ald Tribune. was named Ambas-
sador to Israel. His nomination
was sent to the U. S. Senate by
President Eisenhower on Tues-
day.
100th Anniversary of Sholem Aleichem
Birth Observed Throughout the World
Cass writes in defense of his rabbi: "Your correspondent
refers to our rabbi as another 'Billy Graham', 'an impressive
looking man' who sounds like James Mason. We feel no more
need to apologize for our rabbi's oratorical talents than you
should for Abba Eban's. Both use their gifts to promote the
welfare of their people, and both are widely respected in the
Washington community."
Then Cass proceeds to show how the Washington Hebrew
Congregation, under its rabbi's leadership, promotes adult educa-
tional programs and invites as lecturers the most distinguished
scholars in Jewry. The list of those who already participated in
his temple's programs is a most impressive one. He comments
on this lecture series: "Here is Torah in the modern sense.
It is a Judaism that communicates and does not excommunicate,
that brings to bear the insights of scholarship and appeals to
the conscience of free men."
Of value in the reply to Aylon is this statement by Cass:
"Instead of ridiculing those who came in chauffeured
limousines and furs, he should have noted that their material
comforts did not make them unmindful of their spiritual needs,
and that their social obligations did not blind them to their
religious responsibilities."
There are other points of defense in Cass' letter that em-
phasize that his congregation "includes men and women of all
social and economic strata." He states in conclusion:
"My great-grandfather was an Orthodox rabbi in Germany
and England. His son, my grandfather, was president of the
famous Touro Synagogue in Newport, R. I. He later became a
Reform Jew, and like him I have found spiritual inspiration in
our services. In the tolerant spirit of both my religion and my
country I do not ridicule any man's worshipping God. There is
100th anniversary of the birth
of Sholem Aleichem, noted Jew-
ish author, according to dis-
patches and foreign radio
broadcasts monitored here.
In Moscow, a meeting was
held at which leading Soviet
writers read papers devoted to
the works of the late writer.
Boris Polevoi represented the
USSR Ministry of Culture as
well as the All-Soviet Writers
Union. Prominent actors read
from the works of Sholem Alei-
chem in Yiddish, while Yiddish
songs were sung at the meeting.
Paul Robeson, American basso,
appeared at the meeting and
sang some Negro spirituals as
well as Yiddish songs.
The Moscow radio broadcast
reports of the meeting, adding
that the Jewish Ghetto condi-
tions described in the works of
Sholem Aleichem "are gone for-
ever." The Jewish people in the
USSR, stated the broadcast, "re-
ceived equality in the Soviet
Union, like all underprivileged
people." Pravda, organ of the
Communist Party of the Soviet
special events were held and
scheduled in honor of Sholem
Aleichem's memory. In Jassy,
Romania, the late satirist's fa-
mous story, "The Lottery," was
produced by a theatrical group
which introduced the dramati-
zation with a note stating:
"Sholem Aleichem himself was
the greatest gift won by the
Yiddish mass culture.
Festive Argentinian Event
BUENOS AIRES, (JTA) —
"Sholem Aleichem Year" was
launched here at a festive meet-
ing conducted at headquarters
of the organized Jewish com-
munity. An announcement at
the meeting made public plans
for the year's observance.
At the opening of the meet-
ing, Abraham Mittelberg, chair-
man of the Sholem Aleichem.
Committee, pronounced a eulo-
gy on the late Zalman Shneour,
Hebrew - Yiddish poet - novelist,
who died recently in New York.-
Mexican Celebration
lem Aleichem was observed fes-
tively at the Jewish School
here, largest school of the kind.
in the country. More than 1,200
students of the school rendered
a program of readings, drama-
tizations and songs related to
Sholem Aleichem's works—all
in Yiddish, This was the first
of many special Sholem Abel-
che celebrations scheduled in
Mexico.
Soviet Offers Yiddish
Sholem Aleichem Abroad
JERUSALEM, (JTA—Israeli
bookstores were offered by the
Soviet State Publishing House,
in Moscow, copies of a new
edition of Sholem Aleichem's
writings in Yiddish. This is the
first time in ten years that Mos-
cow has offered the book mar-
ket any works in the Yiddish
language.
(In New York, a bookstore
specializing in Soviet litera-
ture, announced it had received
a cable from the publishing
house "Mezhdunarodnaia Kni-
ga," of Moscow, offering the
same book for sale in the Un-
ited States. The cable described
the book as a volume of 200
MEXICO CITY, (JTA)—The
anniversary of the birth of Sho- pages in length.)