Purely Commentary
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Mrs. Harman Seeks YMHA in Israel
•
•
to Cope With Integration Problem
Zena Harman advocates the Israel is in the hands of the pivotal problem which will re-
establishment of a new Young western community. The west- quire great statesmanship and
Herbert H. Lehman lived a good life. He served his country Men's and Young Women's Heb- ern approach with its cultures, sensitivity for its solution."
and his faith well. In the final actions of his life, as evidenced rew Association in Jerusalem intellectual standards and philo-
A YM-YWHA network, says
by the bequests totalling $815,000, recorded in his will, he con- and describes the key role of sophical concepts is the domi- Mrs. Harman, is needed to help
tinued the generosity that marked his lifetime activities.
achieve that integration. The
such a YM and YWHA in coping nant pattern.
What a great lesson is left by this prince among men to the with a major Israeli problem.
"Are these other communi- World Federation of YMHAs
generations that follow him! He had never forgotten the less
Her views were given in a ties to be given to understand and Jewish Community Centres,
affluent, and his bequests are an admonition to all his con- statement released by the Na- that with their cultures and their through its Jerusalem YM-YWHA
temporaries not to permit a day to pass, even by those in the tional Jewish Welfare Board.
traditions and skills they are an Building Fund, headed by Mrs.
best of health and much younger than he was when he was
She is the wife of Avraham inferior group? Will a synthesis Hugo Dalsheimer of Baltimore,
called to the great beyond, until they have prepared their final Harman, Israel's ambassador to be found? Will there be some is now raising funds for a new
testaments and in them made certain that worthy causes are pro-
77 ,the United kind of merging between the Y building on a site made avail-
two? There must be, and its able by the municipality of
' States.
vided for.
Too many among us think of these things when it is too late.
Mrs. Harman successful attainment poses a Jerusalem.
Herbert H. Lehman was never forgetful. Of him it may well be
says that Is
said that he lived well and therefore he died with glory attested
rael is faced
with the grow- Ancient Parchment Reveals Story
to his name.
ing needs and
A great biography was written of him by this country's most
despair in cer- of Talmud Academy Fund-Raising
eminent historian, Allan Nevins. It was published early this year
to n ne i g hb or-
by Charles Scribner's Sons (597 5th, NY17) and was a best seller
Recently-identified fragments Pumbedita Academy, one Moses
hoods where
for many months.
of
an ancient 850-year-old parch- ben Barhum Taherti, head of a
conditions are
Mr. Lehman liked our review of that biography (Jewish
ment
letter reveal the practice prominent family of Kairouan,
beginning to
News, May 3, 1963) and he commented on it in three unsolicited
the capital of the sultanate that
resemble of highly - advanced publicity later became Tunisia.
letters to this reviewer. Because that review contained several
techniques by ancient fund rais-
slums.
A
num-
references to unique aspects in the career of the great American-
The Babylonian Academies
The letter, which contains
ber of com- a ers.
Jewish personality, some portions of it are offered here anew:
were a major influence in the
report
of
a
successful
fund-
munity cen-
raising campaign waged on be- political and legal development
In "Herbert Lehman and His€
ter develop- half
of the famous Babylonian of Jewish life. Under the guid-
Era," Allan Nevins, Pulitzer grew up. It was in the era of
Mrs. Harman ments already
Prize winner for biographical the Strauses and the Seligmans have been been established in Talmudical Academy at Pum- ance of distinguished Principals,
bedita, has been deciphered from
writing, relates the interesting and the Schiffs and the Guggen- a number of these areas.
fragments now in the archives
story of this noted leader's life. heims—in an era when Jews
"A
YM-YWHA
will
be
able
to
Mr. Lehman, former Governor emerged as the greatest philan- give important assistance to of the Jewish Theological Sem-
of New York and later the thropists in the land.
some of these centers which are inary of America in New York.
Empire State's U.S. Senator, is
This is part of the vast litera-
Lehman rose to leadership very much in need of profes-
equally the fearless spokesman in Jewish ranks as well as in sional know-how and direction," ture of the Cairo Genizah which
scholars have been studying for
for Jewry, and as such also he American politics. He became a Mrs. Harman says.
is portrayed in this impressive leader of JDC in the 1920s. He
Getting at the root of the 50 years in the Library of the
biography.
came in contact with the refu- problem, she declares that no Seminary. The constant flow of
Nevins traced the back- gee and displaced persons prob- one foresaw that the population information emerging from this
ground of the Lehmans to the lem as head of the United Na- would be quite as diverse as it massive research project is re-
arrival in Montgomery, Ala., tions Relief and Rehabilitation is; 60 per cent of the children vealing many fascinating and
who go to kindergarten are of hitherto unknown aspects of a
from Bavaria, of Herbert's Administration.
period of Jewish history that has
father, Mayer. The biographer
He was not without his ex- the Oriental communities. Only
correctly points out that "no periences with anti-Semites. He about 10 per cent of them com- been shrouded in darkness. The
student of Southern history had an early experience, in plete secondary school and only process of identifying items in
needs to be told that from Wurzburg in 1867, when he and five per cent go on to universi- this literary treasure house is
a long, meticulous and painstak-
early colonial days Jewish one of his sisters encountered ties.
GENIZAH FRAGMENT
Within the next decade, ac- ing one, but to historians it is
families of intellect, culture, Prussian officers who marched
and character enriched the straight forward and crowded cording to Mrs. Harman, the a story of continuous excitement the Academies had become the
life of the section." He then the young girl into the gutter. Orientals will be the dominant and discovery, as these parch- great centers of Jewish scholar-
mentions noted Jews who be- "I was mad enough to fight the sector, or 60 per cent of the ment scraps yield their secrets.
This private letter is sig- ship. Amongst their legacies to
came prominent in the South. whole German army," he said population.
nificant
as one of the earliest us is the great Babylonian Tal-
"They (the Orientals) are not
The story of the elder Leh- later, and his biorapher writes: yet sufficiently advanced to as- evidences of an organized school mud. The influence of the Acade-
man and his brothers, which "It is significant that although sume the leadership and man- fund-raising campaign on record. mies extended far beyond their
commenced with the mercan- he learned to speak German agerial responsibility which their
The letter has a curiously con- own country.
Taherti's own account of the
tile business in Montgomery, fairly well, he quickly forgot it. numbers would warrant," she temporary ring — it might well
continues in New York, where German had been the language says. "We have the Israelis of have been written in our own negotiations and "persuasions"
the brothers opened an office of Temple Emanu-El until the the Oriental communities and day. Its tone reflects the real that were involved in bringing
in 1858. They retained their early 1880s, but with few ex- the Israelis of the .Ashkenaz and sense of triumph of the man this campaign to a successful
southern interests, and Mayer ception, the Jews of central western communities. The lead- who, it appears, had engineered conclusion is a lesson in ex-
was one of the ardent support- Manhattan had no love for ership in most areas of life in the successful campaign for the pertise.
ers of the Confederate cause.
Germany."
of this creation seemed more
Nevins relates here the ex- assisted in Israel's upbuilding. bodies to Protestant, Jewish,
Herbert, Mayer's eighth and
immediate than all the
last child, was born March 28, perience of Joseph Seligman
and
Catholic
philanthropies;
Nevins described the Leh- and the number hardly
achievements of city affairs,
1878. He grew up in an en- who, as a Jew, was denied stay
of UNRRA, and of the Sena-
vironment of pride in the Jew- in a Saratoga Springs Hotel. mans' visit in -Israel at the in- shrunk in the ensuing years.
ish heritage and faith, of a deep The episode, he relates, brought vitation of David Ben-Gurion,
torial years.
"His sentiment for Israel
"A quietly touching expres-
interest in Temple Emmanu-El, a strong eulogy for Jews from their special interest in Hadas- has the depth that has become
Henry Ward Beecher. The of- sah activities and in the Weiz- characteristic of him ... Some
sion of general gratitude, in-
and other Jewish institutions.
deed, was visible to the ob-
With his brother Irving, Her- fenders soon went bankrupt and mann Institute. Recalling this of his fellow Jews thought
servant in the years. Through-
bert shared many interests, in- Saratoga hotels were opened to visit to Israel in 1949, Nevins that it was uncritical, al-
out the city no figure was
cluding the Jewish, and the Jews. Nevins relates that Selig- writes:
though he emphatically repro-
better
known than Lehman's
family's traditional observances, man was a friend of President
bated
Irgun
and
Stern
Gang
"He and Mrs. Lehman had
or evoked a more spontaneous
especially at the Passover Grant who offered to make him taken a refugee steamer from
crimes and told Ben-Gurion
manifestation of popular re-
Seder, are noted. Here is an Secretary of the Treasury.
to his face that he was fla-
Marseilles, the Negbah, full of
spect. When he alighted from
interesting historical note in
Anti - Semitic occurrences in Jewish immigrants; a little
grantly wrong in suggesting
his car in lower Manhattan
relation to the Lehmans and Russia and Romania and the vessel of 5,000 tons, but well
that American Jews had a
elderly Jewish watchers could
the New York of their time:
later Hitlerite events are re- appointed. Recalling that
duty to join the ingathering
be seen pausing and murmur-
"Everywhere in that part called in evaluating Lehman's when they were in the execu-
of the race. He had refused to
ing cheerfully to each other,
of Manhattan were scattered relief efforts in association tive mansion in Albany they
the last to become a Zionist,
'He looks strong,' or solicitous-
Jewish households, many of after World War I with Herbert had always kept a stock of
but once the new nation was
ly, 'He doesn't look so well
which looked to Temple Hoover and in later decades.
born
he
accepted
the
fait
lollipops for the neighbor-
today. Most New Yorkers had
Emanu-El as their religious
Nevins credits Lehman with
accompli
and
supported
its
hood children who liked to
ceased to wear headgear ex-
an understanding of the val-
citadel. Its rabbi, the learned
growth.
run in, by a sudden inspira-
cept in the bleakest weather,
Gustav Gottheil, was a tow-
ues of the Yiddish theater
tion they carried two large
Nevins caught the spirit of but
he walked slowly along
and the Yiddish press, al-
ering figure in moral and
cannisters of candies aboard. Lehman's Jewish loyalties by the as
street
hats there
spiritual influuence. Born and
though he did not know Yid-
Lehman filled his pockets quoting, at this point, from the were came what
off in a gesture
dish. "The great voting pop-
educated in Prussia, he had
when he went on deck, and principles that were enunciated that had hardly
been seen
ulation of the Lower East
served in the Berlin Reform
by the second day he was by George Eliot in "Impres-
since Peter Cooper's day. At
Side," Nevins writes, pressing
Synagogue before he was
'Uncle Lollipop' to all the sions of Theophrastus Such."
public meetings it was noted
steadily outward (the Yiddish-
called to a 13-year pastorate
youngsters in the vessel.
It is the battle that Lehman that people especially the
speaking element being highly
in Manchester. Exposure to
Since this trip he has main- conducted during his lifetime
the best English liberal
mobile) was soon to form a
tained a close interest in the for social justice, for civil rights, older people—would lean out
thought had helped prepare
special political body; for
Weizmann Institute, the He- for the good causes that beck- as he passed down the aisle
him for an assistantship to
though Jews seldom voted as
brew University, and the oned for champions, that re- and touch his sleeve, as if
Samuel Adler, who had be-
Jews, they did vote with a
Technion in Haifa. He be- ceived special emphasis in the they thought that this gar-
come rabbi of Temple Emanu-
pervasive intelligence, liberal-
came chairman of the board Nevins story. In it is portrayed ment would shed some virtue.
ism, and faith in ethnic
El shortly before the Civil
of overseers of the Jewish one of the truly great men of If he went to the theater the
intermission between acts
War. Gottheil in 1874 was
democracy. This political
Theological Seminary. He has our time.
would bring one or several
body was to prove vital to
chosen head of the congre-
had time to resume his early
The Lehmans created an in- strangers to his seat: 'I just
Herbert Lehman's career."
gation, over which he was
interest in the Henry Street
destined to preside for almost
Lehman's friendship for Al- Settlement, where he and genious attraction for young- wanted to say, Mr. Lehman,
a quarter century. Even the fred A. Smith, his close ties Mrs. Lehman erected a build- sters of New York (the Lehman how much I admire you.' He
orthodox Jews of the city, with the Roosevelts, his work ing, 'Pete's House,' in mem- Zoo for Children in Central ran a daily gamut of such
who at first disliked his het- with many of the liberal polit- ory of the son lost in the war. Park, New York City). Nevins tokens of appreciation and
erodox ideas, were charmed ical elements in New York, A list of the organizations to stated in- the closing paragraphs deference; and in Al Smith's
by his geniality, generosity, comprise some of the most which he belonged and con- of his deeply moving biography: phrase, they were 'from the
heart.' "
"For a long time the Leh-
and in later years his Zionist valuable and descriptive por- tributed, made up by Carolin
They are all well earned
mans, when in town, visited
leanings."
tions of the Nevins biography. Flexner on Oct. 30, 1945, had
encomia. The brilliant Nevins
the
place
daily.
They
had
mo-
from
2'75,
ranging
numbered
environ-
And
there
also
was
strong
af-
It was in such an
ments when the satisfaction biography proves it.
ment that Herbert H. Lehman finity for the movements that historical societies and civic
The Good Life of Herbert H. Lehman