THE DETROIT JEWISH NEW S -- Friday, August 7, 19 5 9 — 2
Purely Commentary
Jews in Vienna : A Depressing Experience
VIENNA—"Ich kuesse die hand," a leader in the Vienna
Jewish community, said in parting to this correspondent's wife_
The charming gentleman didn't kiss the hand, but at least he
was on record that he was not breaking social protocol.
So, the Jews of Austria, like their Christian compatriots,
hold on to social traditions. But there isn't much more that
lends joy to Viennese Jewish life; nor is there anything to pro-
vide glamor to the existence of our kinsmen in this historic city.
As a matter of fact, this is a depressing community. Nowhere
else in our travels did we see Jews look about them as they
spoke of Jewish conditions, or as they reminisced about their
experiences during the Nazi holocaust, to make certain that
someone unfriendly was not listening in. Many Jews here-
of the 8,000 . remaining out of a community that once numbered
180.000—said they still -felt an undercurrent of anti-Semitism,
although officially they have freedom of citizenship.
There was little enthusiasm about the selection of Dr. Bruno
Kreisky as the new Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs. Some
said he was baptized; all agreed that he was thoroughly assimi-
lated, that he has no Jewish affiliations, that, in fact, he has
no interest in Jews or Judaism.
It was shocking and depressing to see the synagogue in a
cellar on Weihburgstrasse. We can't imagine a more repelling
site for a house of worship, or a more uninviting one. Next to
a kosher restaurant in a basement, it is difficult to imagine
anything less attractive. It is the equally uninviting restaurant
that has the Hebrew sign "Bruchim Habayim"—"blessed be those
who enter"—and we wonder who ever enters it.
The main synagogue, at 4 Seitenstettengasse, is clean, tradi-
tional, and has the appearance of a house of prayer. It is located
in a building that has the offices of the JNF, WIZO, Keren
. Hayesod and the Jewish loan office. There also is a library. But
this building also fails to provide joy for visitors from free lands.
It is part of the unglamorous conditions that mark Jewish life
in Vienna.
Jews here are in the paper and textile industries. About a
quarter of the Jewish population is self-sustaining, the rest being
part of a struggling mass that often depends upon the Kultus-
gemeinde, the Jewish community, for support.
The JDC does wonderful work-here and often comes to the
assistance of Vienna Jewry. German reparations have helped
some of the people.
Zionists are in a slight minority, having three out of the
seven votes on the Kultusgemeinde's „executive committee. WIZO,
the Women's International Zionist Organization, is the strongest
single Zionist element here. But WIZO is the strongest of all
Zionist elements throughout Europe, and like Hadassah and the
Pioneer Women in the United States, WIZO is the backbone of
organized Zionist activities.
The 'leading Zionist in Vienna is Dr. David Genes: But
he speaks for a minority, and the Viennese delegates to the
World Jewish Congress are his opponents, Dr. E. Maurer and
Wilhelm Krell.
*
* -
Copenhagen Jewry—Too Free to Survive?
COPENHAGEN—Is Danish Jewry too free to survive as a
people? There are many who believe total assimilation to be
inevitable. The reason: Copenhagen Jewry is one of the freest
in the world. There is no anti-Semitism here. There is hardly
a home without a mixed marriage with Christians.
One of Copenhagen's most interesting personalities, the
president of the Jewish Federation, one of the outstanding
Zionists in Europe, Benjamin Slor, described the existing con-
ditions with blunt frankness and with a sense of realism.
"Assimilation here is natural and sympathetic, and therefore
most dangerous," Slor explained. "We have 7,000 Jews in Den-
mark, and intermarriage is approaching the 70% mark. We
believe that at least 120,000 Christians out of the country's
population of 4,000,000 stem from Jews. There is no obvious
reason for it: we do not have the evening division between
Jews and non-Jews that exists in America, where Christians
freely mingle with Jews during the day and do business with
them, but end all contacts with Jews in the evening. Here we
mingle as freely evenings as we do during business hours.
Therefore, our children also mingle freely. Therefore, inter-
marriage comes - so easily."
(In his book "Christians Only," the late Heywood Broun
wrote about "Five O'Clock Anti-Semitism"—a phrase he coined
to indicate that Christians did business with Jews up to 5 p.m.,
then drew the line on social contacts with them.)
For 37 years president of the General Zionist Organization
in Copenhagen, Slor, who was born in Israel—he is a fourth
generation Sabra—said, nevertheless, that Copenhagen Jewry
is proud of the appellation given its Jewish community of being
"Yerushalayim o'Scandinavia"—the Jerusalem of Scandinavia.
He said that the overwhelming majority of Danish Jewry are
positive Jews, that 67 young people settled in Israel and many
more are preparing to go there.
The community's rabbi—Dr. Marcus Melchior—is upset by it.
He believes that the positive Jewish young people should remain
in Denmark to help strengthen the community. But Slor says
that "if a ship is sinking, as many as possible should be saved."
He approves of "aliyah" to Israel and differs with his rabbi.
Yet, he states, with conditions here as good as they are, it is
nigh impossible to oppose the trend of assimilation. "We
fraternize with our neighbors. How is it possible, therefore, to
say to them that our children can not marry their children?"
he explained, and he added that the only way to assure Jewish
survival is by emigration to Israel of those who wish to retain
their identity.
Zionism, he- said, was not "salon-fehig"—not fashionable—
before the establishment of Israel. Then it gained strength, but
now only the WIZO, the women's Zionist organization, is strong.
But all Jews, he said, are pro-Israel.
As elsewhere, including the United States, the basic problem
is that of education. "A strong Jewish educational movement
can save us," he said. There is a Jewish day school in Copenhagen,
with an attendance of 220. An additional 150 Jewish children
attend afternoon Hebrew classes. Many Jewish children are
without a Jewish education.
This year, a yeshivah was organized here by Agudath Israel.
Visiting the Jewish
Communities in Austria,
Denmark and Norway
By Philip
Slomovitz
Having the name Ohel Yitzhak Yaacov—in honor of the Luba-
vitcher Rebbe—the yeshivah has about 25 students, one of them
from England and one from Norway. About six of the students
attend daily classes, and 15 to 20 are in the evening classes.
There are three kosher butcher shops in Copenhagen. Of the
2,000 Jewish homes, Slor believes, about a third are kosher.
Slor's successor to the presidency of the Copenhagen Zion-
ists, Richard Gelvan, who also is president of the Copenhagen
Bnai Brith, in the main agrees with him in his analysis of the
Jewish situation in Denmark.
*
Oslo — A Small But Confident Norwegian Community
OSLO—There are less than 1,000 Jews in Norway-600 of
them in Oslow and 120 in Trondheim.
Oslo Jewish leaders seem confident that their position is
secure. Unlike Copenhagen, where nearly all of the 7,000 Jews
of Denmark make their homes, there is no intermarriage.
That's the story told by Harry Koritzinsky, local leader who
is representing Norway at the World Jewish Congress Plenary
in Stockholm.
The Oslo synagogue, at Bergstien 13, has a Jewish school
that is attended by 40 children.
Koritzinsky was especially happy to indicate that the youth
are Jewishly loyal, that young Scandinavian -Jewry has a strong
movement which is now celebrating its 40th anniversary.
But Norwegian Jewry's freedom dates back only about
100 years. Prior to that time, Jews were not permitted to live
here. Nevertheless, the freedom they attained is proudly spoken
of by their leaders. The less enthusiastic say: "There are few
Jews in Norway. No Jews, no anti-Semitism."
Fight Plan for One Chief Rabbi
to Replace Present Dual System
JERUSALEM, ( JT A) —A
plan to revamp the Chief Rab-
binate of Israel and have one
Chief Rabbi instead of two,
Ashkenazic and Sephardic, drew
fire for its Mapai and General
Zionist advocates.
The proposal was aired short-
ly after the death, July 25, of
Dr. Isaac Halevi Herzog, the
Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi. Sup-
porters of the plan contended
that the institution of a dual
Chief Rabbinate in effect gave
legal recognition to the divi-
sion within the Israel com-
munity.
Mapai and General Zionist ad-
vocates of the plan suggested
that Rabbi Yitzhak Nissim, the
Sephardic Chief Rabbi, become
the sole Chief Rabbi under
their new plan.
The National Religious and
Herut Parties immediately chal-
lenged the-sincerity of the pro-
posals and charged they were
aimed at "wooing the Sephardi
vote" in the November general
_elections.
Haaretz, independent daily,
editorially supported the pres-
ent system, declaring that its
abolition would not "bridge the
gulf" between the two commun-
ities and would create new
problems.
An informal campaign for
Rabbi S. Y. Zevvin, editor of the
Talmudic Encyclopedia, as suc-
cessor to the late Chief Rabbi
led Rabbi Zevvin to repudiate
the unauthorized effort on his
behalf.
The move enhanced the pros-
pects of Chief Chaplain Shlomo
Goren and Tel Aviv's Chief
Rabbi, Isar Yehudi Unterman.
Though Israel is now in
mourning for Rabbi Herzog,
partisans of Rabbis Goren and
Unterman are discussing their
qualifications for the post.
Rabbi Goren's "liberalism" on
interpretation of Jewish relig-
ious law was considered offset
by- his youth—he is 44—and
Rabbi Unterman's scholarship
by his age; he is 74.
Another facet of the discus-
sion on Chief Rabbi Herzog's
successor is consideration of
establishing a minimum and
maximum age for Chief Rabbis
—50 years and 70 years. Friends
of the two rabbis have been
Palestine Landmark to Go
TEL AVIV, (JTA)—The
Herzliah Gymnasium, one of the
educational landmarks of the
pre-state Jewish community of
Palestine, is being torn down
and will be replaced by a 14-
story office building which will
be the tallest in Tel Aviv.
pointing out that neither has
made any move to seek the post.
Chaplain Goren is abroad on
a United Jewish Appeal mis-
sion. Rabbi Unterman is main-
taining a scrupulous policy of
inaction.
Cabinei VOte- 8
Greater Freedom
to Israeli Arabs
JERUSALEM, (JTA)—A spe-
cial meeting of the Cabinet pre-
sided over by Prime Minister
David Ben-Gurion, voted to re-
lax some of the military regula-
tions concerning Arabs in Is-
rael, permitting the Arabs to
move about the country freely
for purposes of engaging in em-
ployment, education, trade or
public service.
However, a five-man commit-
tee of Ministers recommended
unanimously that security re-
quires continuation of military
control in Arab areas along the
frontiers of the Arab states.
The committee declared that
among the Arab population on
the borders are "elements dan-
gerous to the security of the
State."
The Ministers expressed the
hope, however, that periodic
review of the border situation
may lead, gradually, to com-
plete liquidation of the mili-
tary government, and pointed
out that such a development
"depends on the attitudes of -
the neighboring states."
According to the committee,
infiltration must still be guard-
ed against on the borders, as
well as the danger - of seizure
of state lands. Lands in Galilee
must be preserved for addition-
al agricultural settlements for
new immigrants, the committee
pointed out.
Boris Smolar's
Between You
... and Me
I
(Copyright, 1959
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
Views on Jews
The prospects of a dynamic Jewish cultural growth in
America are vastly better today than they were a generation
ago . . . This is the conclusion of a study undertaken by the
Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds . . . The study,
conducted by a committee of 33 outstanding Jewish scholars, was
initiated by the CJFWF with a view to finding out what is being
accomplished in the Jewish cultural field . . . The study also
had the aim of establishing what the major unmet needs are in
this field and how cultural activities can be most effectively
supported . . . The findings bring out a picture showing that
joint action of scholars, laymen and communities can provide
the basis for an American Jewish community that will take its
place with Babylonia, Spain and destroyed Europe as creative
centers of Jewish life . . . Those who directed the study express
the opinion that not even the emergence of Israel can satisfy
the cultural needs of American Jewry .. . American Jews, they
assert, will not docilely accept a role of "second class cultural
citizenship" on the world Jewish scene . . . The survey brings
out the fact that there is now a surge to Jewish identification
among American-born Jews . . . Also, that college-educated
parents are determined that their children should receive a more
vital Jewish education than they themselves experienced. . • .
Also, that more books of Jewish interest are being published
now than ever before in American Jewish history. . . . At the
same time it also points out that American Jews show little
generosity for Jewish cultural activities in contrast with their
generosity for culture in general. . . . The CJFWF study is
being continued under the direction of Sidney Z. Vincent of the
Cleveland Jewish Community Federation. . . .
Self Portrait of a Jew
-
An interesting evaluation of the American Jew of today is
given in a report by Dr. John Slawson, executive vice-president
of the American Jewish Commitee. . . . He finds that American
Jewry possesses a "deeply American quality.". . . He sees the
Jew as being an American not by citizenship alone, but by
upbringing, by outlook, by tastes, and even memories. . . . He
stresses the fact that during this past generation the American
Jew has become a native American. since more than 80 percent
of the Jews are American-born. . . . And he considers the pres-
ent generation of American Jews a blending of the American
and the traditional Jewish traits and values. . . . At the same
time he finds that there is a gap between healthy integration
of the average American-born Jew and his self-acceptance. . . .
In Dr. Slawson's view, there is an uneasy relation between the
American Jew of today with non-Jews. . . . There appears to be
a kind of a siege psychology—a Maginot Line—among too many
American Jews. . . . There is also a fear of risk of open participa-
tion, because of the possibility of intermarriage and Jewish
extinction. . . . Dr. Slawson believes that self-isolation is "corro-
sive.". . . He cites surveys conducted by the American Jewish
Committee as proving that, all things being equal, contact with
non-Jews promotes friendly and wholesome relationships. . . .
He refers to the various studies made by the Committee in
understanding the outside forces that contribute toward preju-
dicial attitudes and discriminatory behavior. . • . And he recom-
mends that this knowledge be paralleled with a "deep and
comprehensive" understanding of Jewish attitudes. . . .