OA

Purely Commentary

By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

C.;

The Great Debate Over Israel's Security

A great debate is now going on in Jewish ranks. It is over
our status as a free people living in free countries where we
are
welcomed
by our neighbors who would gladly see us
•
dissolve as an entity. The discussion doesn't affect those of our
kinsmen who live in lands of oppression, who still depend
▪
upon us for their security, for their rehabilitation in Israel which
remains the only libertarian community that is prepared to
welcome the oppressed and the disinherited.
Thus, it is not the Jew under Moslem rule who is involved.
For him there is only one hope left: haven in Israel. The
position of the Jews in Eastern Europe similarly is uncertain.
7 • Their fate depends upon the results of the East-West struggle,
1.•
as well as upon the future internal developments behind the
Iron Curtain and the heart conditions of the Soviet and pro-
ti
Soviet leaders. If the hearts of the Communists are softened,
c.
Jews may have a chance to go across the Iron Curtain into
0
Israel or whatever other free countries may welcome them.
Should there be a revolt against the present Soviet rulers, the
Ey
position of Jews under their domination will be very precarious.
While Jewry suffers under Communism, our kinsmen still are
accused of being among the leaders in the USSR. Therefore, any
Ga
uprising may be accompanied by massacres of Jews.
Ey
The amazing Gevelopment In our time, therefore. is that
the chief concern is not over the position of Jews who are
persecuted but rather about the future of liberated Jews.
The debate that has developed in the past few years has
reached new dimensions in the past few months—blossoming
into the differing views of Dr. Nahum Goldmann and Philip M.
Klutznick at the Bnai Brith convention in Jerusalem.
Klutznick is the optimist. but Dr. Goldmann holds to the
view that the threat to Jewish survival is greater now than
ever before. They were referring, of course, to the Jews of
America and those living in free Western European countries.
It is the Goldmann viewpoint that must be considered
with the greatest seriousness because the threat is so real;
because assimilation is growing by leaps and bounds; because,
as the distinguished world Zionist leader said, the two great
psychological factors which had bound world Jewries together,
the Nazi holocaust and Israel's emergence, are no longer the
effective instruments for increasing loyalties.
Dr. Goldmann is overly pessimistic in his assuming that the
danger is greater today than it was ever before. The fact is that
many Jewries have been decimated, some through assimilation
and others as a result of persecutions.
The large Egyptian and Spanish Jewries were almost com-
pletely annihilated in the third and fifteenth centuries of the
present era. Polish Jewry has been destroyed by the Nazis. Ger-
man Jewry has been reduced to a fraction of its pre-Hitler status.
It is a fact that hitherto persecutions and waves of anti-
Semitism in the main reduced the ranks of our people. Now
freedom threatens our existence.
But if anyone imagines for even a single moment that the
path is clear for the Jew's total assimilation, he will soon be
disillusioned. It is true that the avenues are open for absorp-
tion of Jews into the Christian majority. But the social barriers
still exist. A certain amount of prejudice exists even in the most
liberal ranks of our neighbors, and the deterring elements of
human prejudices continue to obstruct the assimilationists in
their quest for total acceptance by non-Jews.
There are occasional upsurges of spiritual revivals in our
ranks. More children are attending Jewish schools. The num-
ber of new synagogue structures is growing, and there is a
certain amount of interest in adult education programs as well
as improved Jewish programming. Fund-raising campaigns
continue to point to unhampered Jewish generosity to worthy
causes. These and many other developments appear to argue
in support of Klutznick's position. But they do not wipe out
the justified pessimism of Dr. Goldmann who envisions drastic
declines in Jewish efforts in behalf of major Jewish needs.
Assuming that a contributing factor has been the _ghetto
wall — which was created by anti-Semitism — and that the
crumbling ghetto, which already has been destroyed in most
countries, except those that are ruled by the crescent, menaces
Jewish existence, then an important question must be posed
bluntly and realistically:
Must Jewry depend on pressures from without in order
that a Jewish existence should be carried on?
Since the answer must be in the negative—because no one
would want to be responsible for saying that he would welcome
persecution in order to have a surviving instrument—then we
must strive for the advancement of the most positive elements
in Jewish life for creative incentives for Jewish existence.
There are enough positive factors to assure a dignified
Jewish life. Our heritage is replete with great ethical teachings,
with wealth of spiritual values which have enriched not only
Judaism but which also have been acquired by our sister religions
for whom the Hebraic traditions are the very foundations of
their sustaining faiths. That being the case, we must hope that
there will be a sufficiently strong Jewish leadership to guarantee
the continuation and perpetuation of our great cultural treas-
ure; a leadership that will be able so to interpret our Jewish
values as to make them once again imperishable. Under such
conditions, we will have less to fear from assimilating and
corroding influences upon our youth or their elders.
Yet, threats to Jewry's survival are more real than the
optimists would admit. There may not be as much cause for
despair as Dr. Goldmann indicates, because "Israel's Guardian
neither sleeps nor slumbers" and "the Eternity of Israel" is
never completely destroyed. There are always the remnants of
Israel who hold the banners high. If we are concerned, however,
with numbers, we dare not be complacent. We can survive only
if we have faith in survival — and on that score we accept
Klutznick's optimism. But neither can we survive if we are blind
to realities, if we fail to be conscious of the threats that face
us, if we overlook the dangers to our existence. On that score,
our path towards serious action to thwart obstructions and as-
similationist trends, merges with Dr. Goldmann's. By being con-
cerned with the difficulties, we may find solutions needed to
stem the tide of Jewish indifference to Jewish needs. - If we be-
come complacent because faith is so valuable in life, we may
perish for lack of means to retain faith.

B-G Tells Zionist Actions Committee

Moscow's Desire to Woo Arabs, Discredit
Israel Stifles USSR-Jewish Relations

Direct JTA Teletype Wires
To The Jewish News

JERUSALEM—Analyzing the
Soviet Union's unfriendly atti-
tude toward Israel, Prime Min-
ister David Ben-Gurion said
Sunday nikht that there are
two factors in this attitude:
1. The Kremlin's desire to
win the friendship of Arab
states; 2. the USSR's desire to
make Israel detestable to Jew-
ry in Soviet Bloc countries.
Ben-Gurion made this state-
ment during a long address de-
livered here before the meet-
ing of the Zionist Actions Corn-
mittee, ruling body of the
World Zionist Organization be-
tween Zionist Congresses.
Reviewing Arab-Israel rela-
tions, the Premier related again
the facts about peace efforts
made several years ago by an
emissary of the "greatest world
authority." The emissary, said
Ben-Gurion, went to Jerusalem
and to Cairo in an effort to
achieve peace. While Israel
gave the emissary full cooper-
ation, said the Premier, the
peace envoy left Cairo empty-
handed.
Ben-Gurion reviewed again
Israel's growing friendship with
Afro-Asian countries, declaring
that Israel - can play an im- .
portant role in the battle for
the soul of Africa and Asia.
which is a true issue of the
cold war."
Stressing the needs of the
country to build and develop
further and the usefulness of
mass immigration, including
immigrants from free countries.
Ben-Gurion concluded: "Give
us two million more Jews and
we will complete the job."
In a report on immigration
submitted to the Actions Com-
mittee, it was disclosed that in
the 15 months ending March
1959, Israel received a total of
38,690 immigrants. Of the total
nearly 600 had come from the
United States, 1,000 from Latin
America, about 300 from
France and 220 from Britain.
Dr. Nahum Goldmann, presi-
dent of the World Zionist Or-
ganization, opened the session
of the Actions Committee with
a repeated warning of the
threat of Jewish assimilation
in countries outside of Israel. ;
The situation of the Jew-
ish people is "better than it
has ever been before," he
said, and although there are
still places where discrimina-
tion exists, today's great
problem in regard to the de-
fense of Jewish rights has
assumed a different char-
acter. "If the price that a
Jew or a Jewish community
must pay for equality is to ;
lose Jewish identity, then no
real equality has been
achieved," he stressed.
The problem of greatest im-
portance "on the external:
front," said the Zionist leader.
is the position of the Jewish '
community in Easterri Europe,
where the future and fate of
3,000,000 Jews is at stake.
Without becoming involved in
the general struggle between '
blocs, or in the cold war, we
must insist on the rights of
,Jews to live as Jews under -a
Communist regime, just as we
demand this right from other
regimes."
Dwelling on the right of
Jews to emigrate, as recog-
nized in the Human Rights
Charter, Dr. Goldmann said
that this serious problem pre-
vails in East European coun-
tries and in North Africa.
He regretted the fact that
emigration from Romania has
been discontinued for the time
being and hoped that this is
only an interruption, not a
stoppage.

Referring to proposals for
the enlargement of the Jew-
ish Agency, Dr. Goldmann
stated: "If the Zionist move-
ments pretends to represent
the Jewish people in its re-
lationship toward Israel, it
must try to become truly
representative, it cannot re-
mian a closed corporation. I
am convinced that there are
millions of Jews whose con-
victions are no less firm than
the convictions of the Zion-
ists. and it is our task to
bring in these groups and
enable them to share our
rights and duties."
Dr. Goldmann said he was
convinced that there are many
important organizations in the
United States and elsewhere
that could be brought in as
full members of- the Zionist
movement, but held that "for
this. it is necessary to change
the present stru_ture."
Mrs. Rose Ilalprin, American
member of the Jewish Agency
Executive. Tuesday challenged
the clamor in Israel for immi-
gration of American Jews, as-
serting that "if 5.000 Ameri-
cans Jews landed at Haifa to-
clay you would not be able to
deal with them." She said she
supported the proposal of Dr.
Goldmann to broaden the base
of the Jewish Agency "even
if this would lead to a watered-
down version of Zionism." This,
she said, she suggested not out
of enthusiasm but because
there is no alternative plan
before the meeting. She said
that "at any rate" Dr. Gold-
mann's plan may have strength-
ened the movement or have
led in the direction of a
broad pro-Israel movement.
Dr. J. B. Schechtman,
American Revisionist Zion-
ist leader, said it was the
duty of Zionism to see to it
that every Jew provided
Jewish education for his chil-
dren. He cited "first steps"
in this, direction made by the
British Zionist Federation,
and said similar effort was
being attempted in the
United States.
Rabbi Mordecai Kirshblum,
American member of the

Agency Executive, criticized
those who took a pessimistic
view of the Zionist future and
added that a "dark outlook"
could be changed by intensive
religious education "inspired
by profound Jewish conscious-
ness." Rabbi Kirshblum said
,that the movement "must not
turn its back on parties and
organizations which have done
Zionist work for decades."

Judge Louis Levinthal of
Philadelphia, representing the
World Federation of General
Zionists, asked for "a radical
change" in the Shekel sys-
tem of elections in world
Zionism. He termed the pres-
sent system "a mockery of
democracy."

Judge Levinthal also rejected
hopes of some delegates "who
expect a hundred thousand
Jews" from the United States.
However, he cited recent re-
search showing that 90 per
cent of American Jews un-
reservedly support maximum
aid for Israel. Judge Lev-
enthal said he advocated efforts
to transform the love for Is-
rael of American Jews into a
sense of responsibility toward
the Zionist movement.
Mrs. Chaya Surchin of the
American Pioneer Women
proposed that the ' -President's
Club" in the U. S.. in which 17
national Jewish organizations
cooperate, should become the
permanent advisory council for
the Agency.

American Jewry could
"substantially increase" its
contributions to the various
projects carried on by the
Jewish Agency, "and still
not suffer injury," Dr. Do,
Joseph, treasurer of the
Jewish Agency, declared in
a financial report.
The report showed that.

since the creation of the Jew-
ish State in 1948, contributions
have totalled $1.117.000,000.
Long - term loant. including
advances to the Jewish Agency
from the Israel government,
totalled $234.000,000.
Dr. Joseph presented a
budget for the fiscal year 1959-
60, totalling 235.430.000 Israeli
pounds.

Boris Smolar's

'Between You
. . . and Me'

ii

(Copyright. 1954
Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Inc.)

Jewish Affairs:
C ooperation between the Council of Jewish Federations and

Welfare Funds and the Israel government is constantly growing
ever since a CJFWF delegation visited Israel last year. . . .
Close cooperation also is developing between CJFWF and the
Je ,.visn Agency. . . . At present leaders of the CJFWF are con-
lucting discussions with Israel government officials on the
question of stimulating private American investments in Israel.
.
- At the same time they are discussing with the Jewish
Agency the question of keeping fund-raising costs down by or-
ganizations permitted to raise funds for Israel institutions in
the U.S. outside of the United Jewish Appeal. . . . They are
exploring the possibility of federating the independent fund-
raising campaigns conducted in the United States by a number
of Israeli traditional institutions. . . . CJFWF is anxious that
a system of priorities be established to guide American Jewish
support of Israeli needs. . . . CJFWF and the Jewish Agency
have discussed the advisability of transferring the Agency's
educational and cultural programs in America to American
auspices. . . The CJFWF has now completed a study of the
activities and unmet needs of 24 national cultural agencies in
this country. . . . The recommendations will be presented for
action to the CJFWF General Assembly.

Jewish Orientation:

The Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York is
toying with a novel idea which may attract the attention of
itssh eoaadredr so throughout
f tru stees t h ae t country... . It has been suggested
j toewi
ze
rgan
m eim
the F derat in should organize
Jewish Orien ation and Trainin g Semi nars for its board
t
hers and members of the board of any institution affiliated with
the Federation.... This suggestion aims to give board members
a a better understanding of .Iewishness and a better Jewish edu-
cational background -