Friday, December 6, 1963—THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS-48
Memory of Jewish Past
Portrayed in Museum at
Hebrew Union College
HOLY ARK — 18th CENTURY POLAND
Dr. Yechiel Tchlenow
(On the Hundredth Anniversary
By BENJAMIN WEST
(Tel Aviv)
Yechiel Tchlenow was one
of the founders and leaders of
the Zionist movement in Russia
but did not accept the invitation
to the First Zionist Congress.
He joined the World Zionist
Organization, founded by Dr.
Theodor Herzl, at a later period
and only after weighty consider-
ation. Like Dr. Leon Pinsker,
whose "Auto-Emanicipation" so
brilliantly expressed the ideo-
logical motivation and back-
ground of the Hibbat Zion
Movement, Dr. Tchlenow was,
to begin with, a "guardian of
foreign vineyards" rather than
of his own, having been attract-
ed to the general Russian
"Populist" Movement. However,
the pogroms of 1881 opened his
eyes to the stark realities of the
Jewish position and he joined
the Hovevei Zion in Moscow.
Undaunted by the compla-
cency and the indifference of
the Jewish masses, Tchlenow
diligently sowed the seeds of
faith in the justice and feasi-
bility of the Zionist aims. His
speeches and writings carried
conviction. Ahad Haam said of
him that he exerted great in-
fluence by his "balanced judg- ,
ment and earnest self-criticism.'
Despite the obstacles put in
the way of Jewish students by
the Czarist regime, Tchlenow
succeeded in studying medicine
at the University of Moscow
and became a medical practi-
tioner of great repute, popular
with the Jews and greatly re-
spected by non Jewish circles
as a highly qualified doctor, and
a truly humane man.
Among his variegated Zion-
ist activities his devoted and
Hasidic lore, recalls the Cura- of Filehne, Poland. It tells of
tor of Cincinnati's Jewish Mu- the pious Jewish hands that lov-
abounds with accounts of ingly carved its ornate wooden
incidents that took place before frame from the richly wooded
the Holy Ark on the High Holy- area of the neighborhood. Vis-
days. There is, for instance, the ualizing the awe-inspiring cere-
tale of an illiterate farmer boy mony of Yom Kippur, the crowd-
who had inherited a large, heavy', ed synagogue filled with a de-
prayer book from his parents.1 voted assemblage of penitent
On the day of Atonement he men and women, we see each
brought it to the synagogue and, i man robed in his white linen
laying it on the stand before "kittel" or "sargenes," the self-
the Ark, cried out in tears:
same garment in which he is to
"Father in Heaven, I don't be buried. His kittel is white,
know how to pray, but I offer for the penitent worshipper is
you the entire Prayer Book." traditionally likened to the
Other stories tell us of ignor- ministering angels whose sinless
ant men who, unable to recite record is as white as snow. His
prayers before God's Holy Ark white garment is tied with a
on the Holydays, offered up rope symbolically dividing the
songs instead, or simply whist-1 "purer" from the "baser" parts
led. Still others recount the stir-1 of the body. Some of the richer
ring moments when tormented, congregants in our little Polish
grief-stricken men interrupted synagogue wear a belt with a
the prayers to fling themselves silver buckle—like the one in
before the open ark to plead the Jewish Museum, which, corn-
with God Almighty or even to i ing from early 19th-century
accuse Him.
Eastern Europe, has a cartouche
These tales still live for those flanked by two lions and bearing
attuned to hear them. A visit to the Day of Atonement prayer:
the Jewish Museum on the Cin- "For on this day shall atone-
cinnati campus of the Hebrew ment be made for you to cleanse
Union College-Jewish Institute you of all your sins; you shall
of Religion can make these be clean before the Lord" (Levi-
memories come alive. The newly ticus 16:30).
remodelled Museum's rich col- There are many such objects
lection of Jewish ceremonial art in Cincinnati's Jewish Museum,
graphically illustrates the experi- and they testify to a past inter-
ence of American. Jewry's fore- woven with the present.
fathers. There is a Holy Ark
Recently remodelled and ex-
made in 18th-century Poland; in
panded,
the Jewish Museum is
front of it many such touching
events occurred year after year,, under the curatorship of Dr.
in the little Jewish community , Joseph Gutmann.
His Birth)
the temporary Zionist office
which had been set up in
Copenhagen, to the USA
which until 1917 was` neutral.
After prolonged deliberations
it was finally decided that
the World Zionist Organiza-
tion should remain neutral in
the world conflict. It was felt
that since Jews were fighting
in both hostile camps, the
Zionist claims should be
formulated and submitted in-
dependently of the outcome
of the war, that the Movement
was in duty bound to assist
the Yishuv in its dire straits.
Dr. Yechiel Tchlenow, who
had headed Russian Zionism in
the period of clandestine work
and oppression, now became its
officially acknowledged leader.
He presided over the Seventh
Conference of Russian Zionists
in May 1917.
The War was still in progress
and although Tchlenow had not
recuperated from an operation,
he went to London for a second
time, in order to take part in
negotiations with the British
Government, which resulted in
the Balfour Declaration on Nov.
2, 1917. Tchlenow would have
preferred the definition "Pales-
tine as a National Home" to the
I actual wording "a National
Home in Palestine." Neverthe-
less, he added the traditional
"Shohecheyanu" in the diary
entry on that day.
He did not live to see the
implementation of the Balfour
Declaration. He died on the 19th
of Shvet 5678 (Jan. 31, 1918)
and was buried in the Jewish
cemetery at Willesden, London.
A generation later, in January
1961, his remains were trans-
ferred to Israel, under the aus-
tireless work for the Keren pices of the World Zionist Or-
Kayemet (J e wish National
Fund) deserves special men-
tion. At the 8th Zionist Con-
gress in the Hague in 1907,
Tchlenow was appointed head
of the KKL in Russia and
elected member of the Cen-
tral Board of Directors of the
Fund. In those days Zionist
work was prohibited in Mos-
cow and so it had to be con-
ducted underground. Under
SILVER BUCKLE FOR BELT, USED ON DAY OF ATONEMENT
19th CENTURY EASTERN EUROPE
of
ganization, and he was laid to
eternal rest in a corner of the
Old Cemetery of Tel Aviv, re-
served for outstanding sons of
the Jewish people.
Hebrew Corner
Etzion Group
Many attempts were made, during
the last scores of years, to build Jew-
ish settlements in the Hebron hills,
but they failed because of the danger
of Arab attacks. In the year 5703, a
settlement by the name of Kfar
Etzion was set up on one of the hills
by a religious group. After them, an-
other 3 settlements were set up in
the Hebron hills. Together they were
called "Etzion Group.' They prepared
the rocky ground for planting, and
built . vacation centers and industrial
enterprises. The four settlements in
the Etzion Group, surrounded by
scores of Arab villages, were the pio-
neers of Jewish settlement in these
desolate hills. When the War of Lib-
eration broke out, the Etzion Group
was besieged and communication be-
tween it and Jerusalem and the rest
of the settlements was cut off. The
people of the Group found themselves
alone in the heart of Arab territory.
All attempts to break . through the
siege were unsuccessful. A platoon
of 35 young men that tried to reach
the Etzion Group through the hills,
was completely killed.
Difficult battles took place between
the defenders of the Gtoup and the
soldiers of the Arab Legion and Arab
gangs. But the defenders were few
and their weapons were few; while
the Arab Legion attacked with heavy
weapons, tanks, artillery and a large
army.
In the last battle, tens of thou-
sands of Arabs attacked, while the
defenders were only a few hundred.
In a terrible battle that lasted for
two days, all the inhabitants of Mar
Etzion were killed. The other three
settlements were forced to surrender
and were taken as prisoners to Trans-
jordan.•
The Etzion Group that was set up
in the hills of Jerusalem and Hebron,
fell a day before the establishment
of the State, and became an example
and model of the entire War of Lib-
eration. It was an example of the
struggle of a lone place of settle-
ment.
With the fall of the Etzion Group,
on the eve of the establishment of
the State, was broken the hope of
establishing contacts between Hebron,
the city of our Fathers, and Jeru-
salem, the Holy City; and the Hebron
hills again remain desolate.
Translation of Hebrew Corner.
Published by Brith Ivrith Olamith,
Jerusalem.
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such difficult conditions
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Tchlenow had to travel to
many places in the far flung
Russian Empire to maintain
contact.
_17.:1 71
Tchlenow was one of the lead-
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ers of the opposition against the
"Uganda Scheme," put forward
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at the 6th Congress. He ex-
ploded the idea of settlement
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ments for his opposition.
After being elected to the
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Zionist Executive by the 11th
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Congress in Vienna (1913),
Tchlenow applied himself to
Zionist political work. Despite nrr
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ill health, he moved to Berlin, vn;75
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then the seat of the headquar-
ters in the World Zionist Or-
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ganization. But his stay there
was not of long duration be- '1;7 7,; n pyrtg
cause when World War I broke
out he had to quit as an "enemy
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alien." Returning to Russia, he
continued to explore all avenues •
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of political work. He wrote "We
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have proved that we represent
a powerful factor in Eretz •
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Israel, that we want to work and
that our national forces are
focused on Eretz Israel. In the
wake of the destruction caused
by the war, Jewish emigration
will increase and part of it can
be directed to Eretz Israel. We
must not forget the Arabs. We
must negotiate and arrive at an
agreement with them. Our de-
mands of the Peace Conference
are: An independent national
life in Eretz Israel, abolition of
all the restrictions hampering
our steps and the creation of
suitable conditions for Jewish
immigration and settlement."
T
Tchlenow was asked to go
to America and to transfer
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