Dr. Baeck's `This People Israel'
Brandeis U. Given 25-Room Mansion
Great Work Emerges Out of His
Theresienstadt Camp Martyrdom
Dr. Leo Baeck was one of the istic vision of the teachings of
century's most distinguished rab- Judaism merged with the existen-
his. He was a great theologian, tial reality of the Jewish people.
and he also was an inspired and And a new book emerged, the re-
inspiring leader
capitulation of all his days and
who set great ex
nights: This People Israel: The
amples for Jewry
Meaning of Jewish Existence.' It
during the trying
was written in the concentration
period of the
camp, a bundle of pages that had
Nazi and post
to be concealed again and again.
Nazi eras.
It was a very personal expression,
He was sent by
but it had to testify before men
the Germans to
and bear witness. Now it is here
t h e Theresien
to speak to us."
stadt concentra
I
The second portion of this
tion camp. He
book was written after There-
could have es-
sienstadt. Together, the contents
caped imprison
of both parts stand out as mon-
meat. He h a d
invents to the great teacher.
taken a group of
Israel's story is reviewed here
German children
through
its entire history, the Ro-
to England and
Dr. Baeck
he could have remained there. But man and Greek periods, Christian-
he returned to be with his flock, ity and the modern eras with their
with his congregation that needed tragedies. Questions are posed and
:
inspiration in a time of dire need. answers are given, and
throughout
It was while he was in There- the search there is a quest for the
sienstadt that he .saved every scrap spiritual.
Writing about Jewish existence,
of available paper and wrote the
first portion of "This People Is- the great scholar declared: "The
rael: The Meaning of Jewish Ex- people Israel developed and grew
istence," which has just been ill one millenium and formed the
published by the Jewish Publica- question that rests within it. It has
tion Society. It has been co-pub- kept arising ever again, through
lished by Holt, Rinehart & Win- rebirths, in new epochs, for more
than two milennia now. Through
ston.
It is a revealing work that its prophets, its poets, its teach-
points to the genius of the man ers, its righteous ones, Israel was
who was a martyr and a survi- able to learn how to listen to the
vor from Nazism, who miracu- question which God addressed to
lously survived the Hitler terror. it. Its question proved, in Israel's
The new JPS book was trans- experience, to be the deepest of all
lated by Albert H. Friedlander, questions which live within and
who wrote a most interesting ex- form humanity. This people's hope
planatory introduction to the vol- is, therefore, the greatest of all
ume. The translator explains how hopes; it is the great expectation
the saintly man managed to sur- to which the way of all ways
vive. Another Rabbi Baeck, " a leads. The iniquity of this people
saintly aged teacher, died in is, therefore, deeper inquity than
Theresienstadt, and "word went any other. And offenses against
out that the Rabbi Baeck had died this people signify more than
. . . Now he was only one number other offenses. Both need 'God's
among many: 187-894; by a mir- reconciliation.' This people is 'a
acle, it was one of the few not covenant for the nations,' a law for
drawn in the grim lottery of the peoples."
death."
Reviewing the tasks, he also
Friedlander states in his intro- sees hope. Describing the "diffi-
duction:
cult task assigned this people in
"Baeck survived the concentra- its history," Dr. Baeck writes:
tion camp; more than the biblical
"Every people can be chosen
span of 80 years was granted to for a history, for a share in the
him so that he might teach his history of humanity. Each is a
people. But as the author of 'The
question which God has asked,
Essence of Judaism' walk e d and each people must answer.
through the dark valley, the ideal- But more history has been as-
AVENU
••■■••■••■■
BY HENRY LEONARD
it is :aft*
1)0' [.. 0.2, 11 . t.11111.1
a'',.);.slal .5).
Educators Set Institute
on Study of Hebrew
NEW YORK — Religious educa-
tors from all branches of Judaism
will .participate in a two-day Na-
tional Institute on Hanhalat Hala-
shon (the Fostering and Sponsor-
ing of the Study of Hebrew) here
Wednesday and Thursday under
the joint sponsorship of the de-
partment of education and culture
of the Jewish Agency for Israel
and the Jewish Education Com-
mittee of New York.
Among the principal speakers
at the Institute will be Dr. Eph-
raim Shmueli of Haifa, visiting
professor at the Cleveland Insti-
tute of Hebrew Studies; Dr. Judah
Pilch, director, National Curricu-
lum Institute, American Associa-
tion of Jewish Education; and Dr.
Samuel M. Blumenfield, director
of the department of education
and culture of the Jewish Agency
for Israel.
The spacious living room in Brandeis University's newly ac-
quired Themis House in Weston, Mass., contains a desk (left back-
ground) once belonging to the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis
D. Brandeis, for whom the university was named. The room is one of
25 in the English Tudor mansion given to Brandeis by Mrs. Boice
Gross of San Francisco. The University will use the mansion for
important academic institutes, conferences and training programs.
signed to this people than to any
other people . . . This people
can only exist in the full seri-
ousness of its task. It can only
exist in this freedom which
reaches beyond all other free-
doms . . Confidence then ap-
proaches the soul of man, so
that the best within him will
enter there, where the nearness
to God, the encounter with God,
will become new truth. Only the
reverence, in which alone is be-
lief, can hear such a thing . . ."
It is in his avowal of faith in
"this people," in his evaluation of
Israel's great potentialities, that
Dr. Baeck's work emerges as a
great credo, as a revealing explan-
ation of the godliness of Israel's
spirit.
Anchor Bible Presents
Fresh Analysis of 'Job'
Readers who expect to see in
"Job" the proverbial patient and
pious figure are in for a surprise
and even shock — for the ve-
hemence of his protests, despite
attempts of ancient scribes and
translators to soften the impact of
his near blasphemous tirades, can-
not be mistaken. Job bluntly called
into question divine justice and
providence.
These are the views held by
Marvin H. Pope, whose new trans-
lation of "Job," the fourth book to
appear in Doubleday's projected
38-volume Anchor Bible, will be I
published March 19.
Dr. Pope derives much of what
is new in his translation from the
Ugaritic texts—recently discovered
documents which have shed so
much light on the Old Testament
that they must be considered one
of the most significant archaeo-
logical discoveries of our time.
Marvin H. Pope is professor of
Semitic languages at Yale Univer-
sity and a specialist in the field of
Ugaritic language and mythology.
Pack Up Imagination
"The body travels more easily
than the mind, and until we have
limbered up our imagination we
continue to think as though we had
stayed home. We have not really
budged a step until we take resi-
dence in someone else's point of
view."—John Erskine in "The Com-
plete Life."
"Travelers . . . have liberty to
utter what lies they list."—Thomas
Deloney in "Gentle Craft."
NEW YORK HOTEL
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A well known Rabbi will conduct
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Momma
By HARRY MAXMAN
Your creativity is smothered
When you're over-mothered.
Yet, oh pity the doting mother
Who is dreadfully frustrated
When she doesn't smother.
The doting mother
Is like perfume in excess.
Apply it over-zealously,
And pool goes
EVen the lure of sex.
"Now Sam, that's what 1 call RELIGION!"
Copr.
Dayenu Productions •
More than $2,500,000 worth of
garments manufactured in Israel
was sold during the past year in
various countries throughout the
world.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, March 19, 1965-13
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