Weizmann Commemorative
Volume Enhances His Role,
Reveals Zionist Episodes
20th Century Jewish Thinkers, Excerpts
from Their Works in 2 Bnai Brith Books
Under the direction of Dr. Nidre service—the reader bene-
There are many aspects to such immense importance that Simon Noveck, who now holds fits from deep knowledge and selections from Chief Rabbi
Kuk's writings are highly
biographies. They reveal a the details as recorded here
the pulpit of Temple Emanuel hem the authors dedication to
spiritual. Those who seek
man's character. They tell the add greatly to the available in Hartford, Conn., the Bnai the subjects they tackle.
spiritual guidance, students
story of a lifetime. They also factual information.
Brith Great Books Series was
There is deep understanding of theology, adherents of
have relevance to history it-
In scores of instances, the started by the Bnai Brith De- of the Subjects hi the editor's
Zionism, will find great spiri-
self.
value of the essays is multi- p a r t m e n t of Adult Jewish introduction on to each of the
tual worth in this group of
Much has been written about
plied, whether it is in de- Education and two volumes sections dealing with the three
articles.
Chaim Weizmann, the first
which appear-
scribing Dr. Weizmann's fer-
groupings, and Dr. Noveck's
Philosophy, education, the
President of mentation process, whic 11 ed under the
thinking enriches the great cultural aspirations of Jewry,
Israel, and
helped Britain in World War
titles "G r e a t
Bnai Brith task enshrined in Zionism, evaluations of Reform
a number of
I, which helped Britain in Jewish Per-
the two new additions to the Judaism, the teachin gs of
compilations
World War I, described in sonalities
Great Books Series.
Hasidism—these and a score of
of his speech-
Israel M. Sieff's article, or in Acient
Aimed to enhance the adult other subjects are under review
es, as well as the tribute to Weizmann as and Medieval
education p r o g r a m of Bnai in the 69 essays in the Reader.
bacteriologist by Nobel Times" and
biographical
Brith, the new volumes mark And, as stated, the editor's com-
data, has ap- Laureate Selman A. Waks- "Great Jewish
a distinct contribution to Jew- ments, serve as supplementary
peared in mag- man.
Personalities in
ish scholarship. This becomes guides for acquisition of a
azine articles,
Scientists,
historians
and Modern Times"
evident not only from the first genuine Jewish knowledge from
articles, bro- Zionist leaders join in honor- wide acclaim.
book in the new series —the
.'.
the new Bnai Brith books,
a n d ing the memory of the great
chures
Now the
biographical sketches and their
books on the leader.
• Weizmann
series is fur-
A distinct contribution has
elaborative., evaluations by the
ocasion of the 10th anniver-
them enriched
editor, Dr. Noveck, but more been made to Jewish . cultural
sary of the' death of the great
by the appear-
especially by the Reader, by aspirations with these two. note-
Of major importance in this ance o f t W o
Zionist leader.
the complementary . work that worthy books. Dr. Noveck has
volume is the biographical es- Complimentary
Adding immensely to the say by Sir Isaiah Berlin, one
contains noteworthy selections earned acclaim for his efforts
facts about Weizmann, his life's of Britain's most distinguished books, "Great
from the writings of the ten and Bnai Brith deserves com-
Jewish Think-
- work, his statesmanship and Jewish scholars.
scholars who are the biographi- mendation for undertaking so
e r s of the
noteworthy a task.
his scientific attainments is the
cal Subjects..
Then there are the remi- Twentieth Cen-
newest work — "Chaim Weiz-
In the latter Dr. Noveck's
mann: A Biography by Several niscences and the evaluations t u r y" and
editorial skill becomes truly Hebrew Corner
Hands," edited by his closest Of Weizmann's contributions to " Contempor -
apparent. It is in the editorial
Zionism
and
to
the
Jewish
peo-
ary Jewish
associate during the last 15
notes preceding each group
years of his life, Meyer W. ple by Weizgal, Louis Lipsky, Thought — A
of essays by nine of the
Robert
Weltsch
and
others.
Reader," both published by Bnai scholars that he evinces an
Weisgal, and Joel Carmichael.
To the east of the Judean Hills,
close to the Jordan River crossing,
It fell to the lot of a non- Brith, 17th and Rhode Island, appreciation of their works,
A number of the essays in
is
a mound that has been fixed as
Washington
6,
D.
C.
Jew, R. H. S. Crossman, to
passing them on to the read-
this volume, which was pub
the site of the ancient city of
Jericho, mentioned in many stories
In the first of the new vol-
lished by Atheneum Books write about Weizman's final
ers of these books and arous-
of the Bible. Until now Jericho is
unhappy years, in the con-
umes, the thinkers who are
(162 E. 38th, NY 16), reveal
ing the interest that is needed
known as the oldest city in the
cluding essay, "The Prisoner
world.
Jericho is also known as the
dealt with biographically and
vital information about hap-
for a revived love in Jewish
"City of Dates," for the date palms
of Rehovoth." Crossman as-
whose works are valuated are:
penings behind the scenes,-
thinking and Jewish cultural
around the city. In the time of the
serts that after Weizmann
discussions at the UN, the
Ahad Ha-Am, Aaron David
Bible, there was a well organized
values.
life in the walled city of Jericho,
became President "he had
anxieties that marked the
Gordon, Abraham Isaac Kuk,
Some
of
the
most
noteworthy
and
its inhabitants were highly cul-
emergence of Israel. The essay neither the political oppor-
Hermann Cohen, Leo Baeck, selections from the works of the tured.
tunity nor the physical
by Abba Eban, now the pres-
Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Bu- scholars dealt with are included
The inhabitants drew their water
the well of Elisha, named
strength to develop a con-
ident of the Weizmann Insti-
ber, Kaufmann Kohler, Mor- in the Reader, "Contemporary - from
after the prophet Elisha. Jericho
structive foreign policy." He
tute at Rehovoth and Israel's
decai M. Kaplan and Joseph Jewish Thought." It was inevi- was surrounded by a fortified wall
maintains that Weizmann,
Minister of Education, is in it-
Soloveitchik. In the comple- table that Dr. Noveck should which included a tower. However,
the wars and invasions that the
self of sufficient importance with good health and a meas-
mentary reader, the second have selected for inclusion Ahad city encountered, weakened its
ure of presidential power,
to have justified the publication
volume in the new series, Ha-Am's "Slavery in Freedom." fortifications, and, as investigators
found, its walls were built and
of this volume—not to speak of would have evolved an al-
there are excerpts from the Because of the debates on Ahad destroyed 17 times.
ternative that would have
the other most valuable anal-
The people of Jericho were ac-
works of this entire group Ha-Amism in the Zionist move-
brought him into conflict
customed to bury their dead in
yses of Weizmann's activities in
with the exception of Rabbi ment, it is appropriate that one caves,
while at their side were
with
Ben-Gurion."
relation to Israel, Zionism, sci-
Soloveitchik.
various earthenware vessels,
of the essays in this group placed
such as plates, bowls, etc.
etc., because
ence and Great Britain.
Crossman continues on this
It is evident at once that the should be "A Spiritual Center." they believed that the
con-
score: "The constitutional deci- personalities under discussion "Are Jews a Chosen People?" tinue their life in the next world.
Readers of this important
Therefore,
they
would
bury
eating
sion to make the' President are from three spheres — East- and "Imitation and Assimila-
Atheneum book will, at the
and other utensils for the
powerless was not taken on its ern European, German and tion" are other essays in the utensils
use of the dead in the next world.
very outset, learn of interest-
Yes, the acliaeologists found in
merits but as a precaution American Jewish scholars. .
ing incidents which transpired
group of seven Ahad Ha-Am Jericho a large burial cave contain-
at stormy World Zionist Con- against an otherwise inevitable
ing a great number of human bones
The noteworthy element in creations.
clash
between
two
great
and
and pottery alongside.
. gresses, and especially the
the first of the volumes is that
However, the walls that fell in
The Aaron David Gordon
completely
incompatible
perso-
one in 1937, at which David
authorities who are highly group of nine essays are re- the hands of Joshua the archaeol-
Ben-Gurion wrote to Weiz- nalitieS, the first President and qualified to write about these vealing. The noted labor Zion- ogists did not find during their
excavations. The remains of this
mann, reaffirming his affec- teh first Prime Minister of personalities were selected to ist who turned in his later years period are few because of acts of
Israel."
Crossman
believes
that
destruction
nature during the
tion for him. That letter is
review their lives and works. to work on the soil wrote on thousands of by
years.
reproduced in Ben-Gurion's it was because Ben-Gurion fore-
Translation
of
Hebrew
column pub-
Thus, a man who had previ- Yom Kippur, on "The Im- lished by Brith Ivrith Olamith,
saw this peril and that he had
Jeru-
preface to his baak.
"coolly taken steps to prevent ously analyzed the works of mortality of the Soul," on salem.
*
it that Weizmann could never the late Chief Rabbi Abraham religion's meaning and other
The Eban essay contains acquiesce in his role of consti- Isaac Kuk, Dr. Jacob B. Agus, subjects that indicated the deep-
T
• I, •••
many excerpts from the diary tutional monarch." Otherwise is the author of the essay about rooted spiritual strength of a
great and a very creative man.
of the former Israeli Ambassa- Weizman would have enjoyed this eminent thinker.
It stands to reason that the ir1 4 1 4
dor to the United States. Eban happiness in his declining years
Dr. Noveck authored the
•:
refers to Weizmann as "the and would have exerted an in- Ahad Ha-Am article and co-
Chief." Under date of May 13, fluence on public affairs, "but authored with Rabbi Jack J.
- rirr 4 1:1 '7 h-rnn
1948, quoting from his own it' was not to be."
nnirl ny'r.14
Cohen the evaluation of the 71r,.41
,: • •
diaries. Eban tells about a call
* * *
life of the Gordon who emerged
.n4p
.;7n
17
t
Cri
T
r
r
ip
71 17 )t riR4' 7P4 , 17.171
from Weizmann to Eban's of-
Yet, Crossman adds, "Weiz- as one of the great spiritual
fice at the UN. Weizmann was
guides for the workers in Pales- r It P L?
man's
ideas
lie
on
in
Israel
40t't
riT4iP niP 74 7 ;1 17..4
concerned about a plan at the and there may well come a day tine in the early years of this
UN for a trusteeship for Israel.
rrptpri ,irrr 7p,',n1/7- T; -1'1.7rj
t111 , L7tP,
Eban assured him: "We had when leaders inspired by them century.
will
once
again
be
needed
to
The
group
of
German
think-
blocked trusteeship. Since the
:T#
011.7
117 .rriip. nn
ripe;
Political Committee meeting on rescue the nation from an iso- crs similarly was assigned to
lation
imposed
by
the
self-
men
who
are
well
acquainted
11',7273
5 May I had seen support for
- 11'1;7 i1 n''7 irr -rt# stn 71 ii i
it dwindling. Gromyko had told centered use of military power. with their sugjects—Prof. Mau-
nirnvi.7
me at a party at Trygve Lie's Meanwhile the home of the rice Friedman writing on Bu- 1 7n 1115 71 1?j7 n lt?Pritg
home, 'You have buried trus- 'prisoner of Re h o v o t h' has ber, Ephraim Fischoff on Her- I
nr! . p"- ei
`1 4 ;"
nt#
teeship.' . . . I pleaded with the achieved the symbolic signifi- mann Cohen, Dr. Nahum M.
Chief to let me' go back
the cance that the government Glatzer on Franz Rosenzweig
.L7
tr-mni
ntj
tried
unsucessfully
to
give
it
and
Henry
W.
Brann
on
Leo
42
ntr'7
UN. We were very thin o on
n the
••
-
ground with Moshe (Shertok- in 1948. As long as he lived, Baeck.
nrpri
nrr
it
rat
Weizmann
refused
to
be
a
con-
I
How appropriate that Dr.
later Sharett) away."
stitutional monarch. An ironic Ira EiSenstin should be the
1'7;
,prp
rir T rr iV
l'7rpnrj
Then follows a description of fate has decreed that, lying in author of the sketch of his
the appeal to President Tru- his grave in Rehovoth, he father-in-law, Mordecai
M.
n'-)77?
1 111.r.3
, ; 17.0r1 PPi?.P
man to recognize Israel, of the Should play in death the role Kaplan! Samuel M. Cohon,
meetings that were called by he refused so stubbornly to play Prof. Samuel M. Cohon of
ns-)
trct
tn .irt7?.
the President. There' were mes- when he was alive."
Hebrew Union College ap-
sages to the President from
.rrr, ti a -N:1 41 ? 1 tilts nin41,
T. R. Fyvel's historical
propriately writes about a
Weizmann and Eliahu Elath,
analysis of the events that
Reform 1 e a d e r, Kaufmann
who at the last moment wrote
nil tri nrr tz'7Irr np4p
urs,17
led to the issuance of the
Kohler, and Prof. Aharon
not as a representative of the
Balfour Declaration, with
Lichtenstein
of
Stern
College
Jewish Agency but "of the
tylrirm rr;'? 17V17!,
.vtr?; 7.4 :4nP
Weizmann in the major role
of Yeshiva University writes
Jewish State." This was on May of tthe great drama that pre-
about
the
noted
Orthodox
w -intgrt nx ,nrrni- rnr!n irr-r .xwi.; 4r1 Irt.rt,"?kr nttf,
14, 1948. "Finally, the decision ceded it, is one of the factual
leader, Rabbi Soloveitchik.
fell. At 5.16 Truman authorized
presentations of great merit
n ., tpvp it 71i7np
Thus, in each instance, it is
nnir14.1 npr. p rIrrrrt
the recognition of Israel by the'
in this book.
an authority who writes about
United States."
The articles by Jon Kimche, a great thinker, and in every 4 P 7 x
17 nPri P1P4 4 115 .LpT,pi ;-17.?in
* *
Julian Louis Meltzer, Ritchie respect—as in evaluating Solo-
ri r/-r. r tg nittim'?pro ninr)' - ?p;3,
These are well known facts, Calder, Maurice Samuel and veitchik, or in viewing the life
' T
but the details that acompany Aharon Katzir-Katchalsky add of Rosenzweig who was nearly
its
that historic event, the nu- meritoriously to a most valua- lost to Jewry but returned to
merous other occurrences that ble collection of data about the the fold with great faith after
(Iihn1 •, 7)y mesa
rr,-Tinri. 17 74
r Tr 'Ts;
involved Dr. Weizmann, are of great leader.
• •
, rmmiria)
" T
a moving experienve at a Kol
Jericho
n•-t
!e
• mrr-,
, •
trN
nx