Purely Commentary

By Philip Slomovitz

All Jewry Bereaved by Sharett's Death

Ben-Gurion Turns Down Invitation to Attend
Mapai Conciliation Talks; Own List a Fact'

`

(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News)

It is not Israel alone that is in mourning over the death of Moshe
TEL AVIV — Former Prime
Sharett. All Jewry is bereaved. He was one of the very great men Minister David Ben-Gurion Tues-
in Israel. He was the backbone of Zionism. He was the venerable day rejected an invitation by rep-
educator, the eminent linguist, the leader, the lecturer, the orator.
of the secretariat of
Only a year ago, shortly before he had taken ill, Mr. Sharett was resentatives
the Mapai Party to attend the next
a guest of the Hillel Day School here. With warmth and affection, meeting of that body to conciliate
with the deepest interest in every child he had met, he conversed
differences with Premier Levi
with the youngsters in Hebrew, discussed the Bible with them, showed his
Eshkol and the party majority.
them the pictures of his grandchildren. It was a great experience to
In turning dawn the invitation
watch him deal with the children with a love that revealed the great
brought to him by the secretariat
humanity of the great Jewish leader.
First in Zionism, then in the battle for Jewish statehood, then delegation at his Tel Aviv home,
as the head of his State—Moshe Sharett always showed skill in his Ben-Gurion said that -his efforts
to get his views across to the sec-
leadership qualities.
Blessed be the memory of this very great man in Jewry and retariat had been fruitless and he
saw no point in further confronta-
in Israel.
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tion. He said that an independent
list was now a fact.
A Sad Recollection
The death of William Dudley Pelley brings to mind the sad
The delegation, which empha-
period during which this anti-Semite had been in the public eye.
sized to the former premier that
He was vile enough to be charged with and imprisoned for the fate of not only the party but
sedition. He became an object of contempt for having advocated the nation was in the balance, in-
hatred. But he was successful in creating a movement of deluded and cluded Police Minister Bechor
ignorant people who followed him into a pro-Hitler atmosphere. He Shitreet, Mapai Secretary General
was punished for it. He found it necessary to deny that he was an Reuven Baratt, Histadrut Secre-
anti-Semite, claiming, as so many haters do, that some of their best tary General Aharon Becker and
friends are Jews. But the record is clear: he was an anti-Semite, he Mrs. Senta Josephthal, secretary
was not a patriotic American, he preached hatred. His death compels of the Thud Hakibbutzim.
recollections of a very sad period in American history, when Pelley
The Mapai Secretariat earlier
and others like him preached bigotry. Let us hope that his ideas had
issued an appeal to Ben-Gurion
gone to the grave with him.
to drop his plans to head an in-

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Israel's Chief Architect and His Blunder

David Ben-Gurion's name will go down in history in recognition
of his role as one of Israel's chief architects. He will be remembered
as the man who directed Israel's defense against a combination of
warring neighbors. He has helped establish the foundations for many
of Israel's basic institutions and has developed a great diplomatic
service.
What a pity, therefore, that the good deeds should be marred by
acts leading to a split in his own party!
There can't be much joy for anyone in Israel, let alone the Mapai,
in the statement in the editorial in Yedioth Achronot that: "Even
Ben-Gurion himself does not believe he will win in the elections, since
he declared he did not care what number of votes he receives. All
he wants is to harm Eshkol."
In the experience of never-ending crises for Israel in relation to
its neighbors, the world at large and the internal struggles in the two-
nation nation composed of Sephardim and Ashkenazim, this is not a
very flattering judgment of past leadership in a struggling nation.
Another editorial, in the important daily newspaper, Maariv,
questioned "the realism" of the former premier. So do we all.

dependent list of candidates to
the elections. At a weekend
meeting, the secretariat reiter-

ated a warning to Ben-Gurion
and his followers that they could
not remain in the party while
running an independent slate, but
to implement earlier warnings
that the minority faction might
be expelled from the party.

None of the minority members
attended the secretariat meeting.
The secretariat named a delega-
tion to make the "last minute" ap-
peal to the former Premier, des-
pite mounting indications that the
split was beyond healing.
Prime Minister Levi Eshkol de-
clared Monday that "in order to
save the integrity of the Mapai, I
am ready to compromise on any
issue, except on the reopening of
the inquiry into the Lavon Affair."
(The "affair" involves Pinhas Lay-
on. In 1955, he was dismissed
from his post as defense minister,
presumably due to a "security
mishap." A ministerial committee
absolved him of the security
charges, but Ben-Gurion has insist-
ed on a new inquiry.)
Commenting on Eshkol's state-
ment, a spokesman of Ben-Gurion's
minority group said that Ben-Gur-
ion's decision to form a separate
election list is "final" to the point
that campaign headquarters will
be established in Tel Aviv, where

U.S. Jewish Youth Is Criticized
at American-Israel Dialogue

TEL AVIV (JTA)—An American

lawyer who is also an ordained
Orthodox rabbi criticized Amer-
ican Jewish youth sharply on the
grounds that most of the Jewish
college men in the United States
are "ignorant" of Jewish life.

a recent survey among 400 Jew-
ish freshmen in American colleges
showed that only 17 per cent could
name the festival Hanukah con-
nected with the name of the Mac-
cabees.
"It is folly," he said, "to expect
Judaism to appear meaningful to
the highly educated community of
young Jews forced to compare the
intellectual world of the campus
with their Jewish ideas and edu-
cation, arrested at the age of 13.
Working out of a common destiny
between American and Israeli
Jewry must include a religious
concord. I do not believe that sec-
ular Jewishness, detached from
religious, ritual a n d spiritual
search, will continue to prove via-
ble."

The speaker, Paul Vishny, of
Chicago, chairman of the commis-
sion on Jewish affairs of the Amer-
ican Jewish Congress, addressed
the four-day "American - Israeli
Dialogue," which opened here
Retaining the Glory of the B G Name
Only the Israeli registered voter has the final say in the Israeli Monday night under the auspices
political controversy. Yet, while it is none of our business, we do of the Congress.
have a deep interest in the matter. There have been such strong links
Sharing the platform with
between us, we have admired Ben-Gurion's courage and his contribu- Vishny was Aharon Yadlin, Is-
tions towards Israel's upbuilding for so many years, that we would rael's deputy minister of educa-
not like to see a diminution in the glory attached to the B-G name in tion. Both discussed the comments
Jewish history. A petty squabble can contribute towards such a be- made at the opening session of
littling of prestige. Perhaps B-G- himself and his closest friends will the "Dialogue" Monday night,
decide to abandon strife. They'll thereby contribute towards Israel's when a half-dozen Americans,
internal pacification and will remove whatever puzzlement has been matched by an equal number of
created by the strife outside Israel.
Israelis, all averaging the age of I
25, discussed mutual relations t
Advice From the Outside
from differing points of view.
Let it be said again: No one dares interfere in the political
Both Vishny and Yadlin char-
activities of another nation. Yet, friendly advice is always in order.
There is no offense, therefore, in this editorial, entitled "Ben- acterized the present genera-
Gurion's Leap," which appeared in the Christian Science Monitor: tion as "non-rebellious." The

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the minority group is renting 35
rooms in a new building. He also
revealed that beginning next week,
Ben-Gurion will publish a weekly
magazine under the title "Tmurot"
(Substitution.)

-MN

Meanwhile, a leading member
of the minority faction, former
Agriculture Minister Moshe Day-
an, said he would not run for
the next Knesset, presumably on
either the majority or minority
list. However, he stressed that he
would not refrain from express-
ing his views on Israel's prob-
lems.

Despite Dayan's statement, in-
formed observers said they be-
lieved he would eventually join

the Ben-Gurion list. It was al,—

reported that Gen. Yaacov 17 2
former Technion president
Israel's first chief of staff, would
join the Ben-Gurion list. The mi-
nority reportedly planned to place
Teddy Kollek, former director-
general of the premier's office, on
the head of the independent list for
the Jersusalem municipality elec-
tions.
The possibility that the two
Mapai lists might come together
after the forthcoming Israel gen-
eral elections in November was
suggested here Monday by Shimon
Peres, the former deputy minister
of Defense, in an interview broad-
cast by Kol Yisrael, the Israel
radio.
Peres, an outspoken supporter
of Ben-Gurion, said that he did not
consider the present situations a
real split in Mapai but rather "a
referendum, in the form of general
elections, asking people what kind
of Mapai they want." He also con-
firmed reports that he had made
every effort until the last minute
to avoid the formation of separate
election lists. "But," he explained,
"all our proposals were turned
down flat by the majority."
An abortive attempt to patch up
the rift in Mapai ended in a fist
fight Sunday night as the Ben-
Gurion and the dominant Eshkol
faction met in the port of Ashdod,
near Tel-Aviv. The fighting occur-
eded after the two faction exchang-
ed sharp insults. Police were call-
ed in to restore order.

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"When at war, avoid fighting on two fronts. This has long
been one of the soundest of strategic maxims. And it applies to
much more than armed warfare alone.
"Yet Israel, a nation still at war on a number of fronts —
military, economic and diplomatic — is apparently forgetting this
sound advice and now seems headed for serious political division
within as well as bitter Arab hostility without.
"In a move which can hardly fail to cleave a deep rift within
the nation, former Premier David Ben-Gurion has broken away
from the dominant Mapai Party which he founded 35 years ago,
bitterly denounced its present leadership, formed his own political
slate and announced that he will oppose his old comrades in next
November's national election.
"No one, least of all these same old comrades, would deny
that Mr. Ben-Gurion is the most colorful, powerful and appealing
political figure 'from Dan to Beersheba.' No man alive was more
instrumental in founding the state of Israel, or more effective in
protecting it, or fought more doughtily for its place in the world.
"Inevitably, Mr. Ben-Gurion is well aware of these facts, and
that is where much of the trouble lies. He seems to believe that
no one can do for Israel what he can do and, like so many leaders
of vigor and ideas, he finds retirement unbearable.
"The manner of his return, however, has caused deep concern
—not only to many Israelis but also to many who believe that
any indication of serious internal division in Israel would have a
bad effect upon peace throughout the Middle East. It is thus to
be hoped that some means will be found to limit and contain the
disruptive effects of Mr. Ben-Gurion's lionlike leap back into the
political arena."

Israeli educator said that today's
Israelis are "somewhere be-
tween the espresso generation
and the pioneers."

"Today's American Jewish
youth," and Vishny, "is a post-
rebellion generation. Institutions
of adult society frankly do not
seem to move them. Ignorance of
Jewish life is marked." He said

program is no different from
Mizrachi in relation to the reli-
gious party, Labor Zionism in its
support of Histadrut and Mapai
and other similar associations.
Now comes the Christian Science
Monitor off e r to Israel advice.
And there can't be any objections
to it. Everybody's doing it when
there is an interest in foreign af-
fairs, and newspapers often ad-
monish foreign governments on
certain actions.
Dr. Emanuel Neumann, at whom
criticism was primarily leveled in
the internal ZOA controversy of a
few years ago, now can say "I told
This is pretty good advice, and it is to be hoped that B-G and you so." Now there should be a
his associates as well as their opponents will take it to heart.
speedy realignment of General
There is an interesting sideline to this editorial. Several years Zionist forces: an abandonment of
ago, a group of prominent Zionists, objecting to political affiliations the League for • Israel which exists
of the Zionist Organization of America with a political element in only on paper and the return of
Israel, withdrew from the ZOA and formed an abortive party of its its supporters to ZOA ranks and
own. The latter does not even have an address left in its efforts to resumption of a co-operative spirit
build up a new movement, although we are told its officers who are between ZOA and Hadassah.
listed on a letterhead have a telephone answering service in New York.
The ZOA leaders have proven that there is nothing so terribly THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
criminal in showing an interest in a specific group in Israel. Such a 2—Friday, July 9, 1965

Boris Smolar's

'Between You
. . and Me'

(Copyright, 1965, Jewish
Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)

IMPORTANT PROJECT: The plan of the Council of Jewish Feder.
ations and Welfare Funds to initiate a comprehensive study of the
Jewish population in this country is beginning to take on a definite
form . . . It will seek not only to establish the "face" of American
Jewry today, but also look into Jewish life in America in years to
come . . . Inasmuch as intermarriage is becoming one of the major
problems of American Jewry, the study will seek to establish with
considerable accuracy the frequency of intermarriage throughout the
United States .. . It will also attempt to establish the variations in
the pattern of intermarriage from one part of the country to another
. . . Dr. Max W. Bay of Los Angeles, chairman of the CJFWF com-
mittee on this project, considers the study the first major effort to
probe broadly and deeply the attitude, the needs and the character
of the American Jew ... Its findings will not only establish facts(
such topics as family structure, age patterns, occupation, synagog,__---'
affiliation and participation in Jewish fund-raising efforts . .. It will
explore the view held by the Amerian Jew of himself as a Jew and
what Jewishness means to him . . . The cost of the study is expected
to be about $700,000 over a three-year period . . The results will
be of tremendous service to individual Jewish communities as well
as to central Jewish organizations and local agencies . . . They will
give answers to many questions of importance to Jewish welfare
funds, synagogues, and organizations engaged in Jewish education and
in welfare programs . . . Among other things, they will make ft
possible to establish what kind of Jewish families are generous givers
to Jewish community fund-raising campaigns . . Also the trends
prevailing in congregational membership . . . On the basis of tire
study, it will be safe to predict what the needs will be of the aged
Jewish population ten or even 20 years from now . . The design
for the study has been developed with the aid of a highly qualified
technical committee of which Dr. Fred Massarik, director of the
Research Bureau of the Los Angeles Federation, is chairman .
Jewish communities throughout the country display profound interest
in the planned CJFWF population study . . . They are certain that
the results will give definite answers to many of the questions in
which they are directly interested ... More than 20 communities have
expressed interest in the possibility of linking local studies with the
CJFWF study.

