'ewish Identity': Views of World Jewish Scholars
(Continued From Page 1)
Baruch Litvin became nation-
ally prominent as the author of a
volume on the "Mehitza" — the
- Orthodox-required dividing line in
seating men and women in syna-
gogues. That volume was the re-
sult of a famous Mount Clemens
court case in which Litvin fought
and won in the Michigan State
Supreme Court the case for sepa-
ration of men and women in his
congregation.
Responsa in his new compila-
tion, expressing their views on
Jewish identity, were written by
Israel's leading rabbis, by noted
rabbinic leaders in Switzerland,
England, France, Holland and
Italy as well as the United States.
Among the world scholars who
authored responsa were Hebfew
University professors, Israeli jur-
ists, learned men in this country
(Profs. Abraham Heschel, Mor-
decai Kaplan, Saul Lieberman,
Harry A. Wolfson and Alexander
Altmann) and men of great cul-
ture in France, Italy, England and
Belgium. •
Then there are statements by
noted authors, and there is an in-
teresting exchange of letters be-
tween B e n-G u r i o n and Rabbi
Simon A. Dolgin of Beverly Hills,
Calif.
Study groups will find this
volume of immense value in dis-
cussing Jewish identification and
in reviewing the status of Jewry
in the world today. It would
take many months — perhaps
years — to cover the entire sub-
ject dealt with in these 400
pages, but it is a certainty that
the manner in which the subject
is covered marks a serious chal-
lenge to Jewish thinking and
should encourage continuing
study of the issues touched
upon.
the respondents attests to t h e
seriousness of the subject.
Typical of many of the responses
is this statement by Rabbi Yechiel
Yaakov Weinberg of Montreaux,
Switzerland, who declared:
"Generations of our people with-
stood great pressures of various
government authorities in the many
lands of our dispersion. Suffering and
martyrdom has been the banner of
our people throughout. All these had
been our lot because of our devo-
tion and adherence to our Mono-
theistic religion, its order of worship
and observance of its commandments
and traditions.
"Can the Government of Israel
afford to minimize those historic out-
looks, evaluations and characteriza-
tion, and bring upon our Jewish hori-
zon an almost profane and secular
idea of Judaism? Can this political
and imitative ideology be the, aim
and goal of Judaism hereafter? Are
we to abandon Torah and Prophetic
objectives for political recognition?
Do we want a diluted yielding Juda-
ism or an invigorated one of religious
conviction and State sovereignty?
"The character of our future Jewish
generation is in process of formation
and stabilization now. We must be
influential in helping it form along
historic and traditional loyalties. Rev-
erence for the old and planning for
the new, will give us a strong and
true type of a Jew. Secular Judaism
will not enthuse nor inspire long even
in our own ranks, how much less
if our gates open widely to those
not of our origin?"
And there is this telling decla-
ration by the famous Israeli author,
Shin Shalom:
"As long as an individual does not
profess to be Jewish, he benefits
from the privilege of equal rights
accorded to those affiliated - with
other religious groups in the State.
When he professes his Jewishness
and wishes to enjoy the privilege of
'being either religious or irreligious,'
specifically in his capacity as a Jew,
he must first assume the obligation
of 'being a Jew.' For the assumption
of this obligation, the acceptance of
the traditional ritual is essential, that
traditional ritual endowed with the
sanctity of the ages.
"The fact that this ritual is under
the jurisdiction of religious function-
aries does not detract from its value
for the totality of the Jewish
people . . . "
t'rof. Alexander Altmann of
, - Th- anr.leis University similarly ap-
proached the subject in a positive
In essence, this is much more vein, declaring:
"Franz Rosenzweig correctly noted
than an anthology: it is an encyclo-
the schism in the souls of the
pedic work, and the eminence of that
Christian nations between the national
LA Reform Congregation
Seeks $750,000 Building
LOS ANGELES (JTA)—The Ste-
phen H. Wise congregation, which
has been holding services in local
churches since its formation a year
ago, opened a campaign for $750,-
4 100 for a synagogue building.
mythos and the victorious religion was
not healed, and that one of the causes
of anti-Semitism was perhaps the re-
bellious feeling of a pagan nation to-
wards a nation whose origin is in Juda-
ism. In the soul of the pople of Israel,
however, religion and nationality never
conflicted with one another, and, on the
contrary, the more a Jew tries to un-
derstand his Torah and God, the more
he will understand his nationhood. The
entire national strength of the people
of Israel stems from the unity of re-
ligious faith and will for the national
survival. Whoever tampers with this
were, with the pu-
unity tampers, as it were.
clear, there-
pil of the nation's eye. It
fore, that there is no recognizing a Jew-
ish nationality severed from religion;
that the answer to the question posed
above is definitely that a mere utter-
ance by the parents of a child, even if
expressed in sincerity, has no author-
ity to make the child Jewish; and that
besides the parents' declaration and
the expression of their will the child
is required to undergo the act of ac-
ceptance as a proselyte, according to
tradition and Halacha."
Prof. H. Baruch of the Estab-
lishment Nationale de Bienfaisance
de Saint Maurice, Paris, France,
dealt with the subject of the Ger
Tzedek — the saintly convert to
Judaism, — and stated:
"The `ger,' the non-Jewish stranger
who becomes Jewish by conviction had
always been admitted. One may declare
that these spontaneous, but not looked
for, conversions have played an import-
ant role in the history of the Jewish
people. As this history has always been
tragic and marked by persecutions, this
situation has played the role of selec-
tion and has eliminated weak and self-
seeking personalities.
"One has seen on several occasions
the phenomena of the Ger-Tzedek, the
stranger leaving a happy and peaceful
situation in order to come and partake
of the persecutions of the Jews and to
happened with Queen Helen of Adia-
bene who embraced Judaism. The mass
place himself under a law which is
more difficult than that of other peo-
ples. It is - even told that certain Rom-
ans wanted to be converted at the time
of the siege - of Jerusalem. The same
happened with Queen Helen of Adiabene
who embraced Judaism. The mass
conversions of the Khazars is well
known. In any case there is no distinc-
tion made between the original Jews
and the descendents of these converts
so much has Jewish law molded them
in a profound fashion. These facts
show the extreme importance of the
practical observance deepened by a
civilization with the faith which in-
spires it. One can note, above all, that
quite often he who embraces a faith,
just as difficult and just as menaced
and who gives such proof of his love
and of his will by his deeds, sometimes
becomes a Jew more learned and more
profound than he who is merely Jew by
birth."
What about registration of non-
Jews in Israel and the recognition
of proselytes? Another famous Is-
raeli author, H. Hazaz, stated in
his reply:
"It seems to me that Jewish law can
exercise no authority in the registra-
tion of residents, it is exclusively state
law that is authoritative.
"This is particularly valid today when
there are hundreds of mixed marriages
among the surviving remnants of our
people now in Israel. And in the event
that gates will be opened on the mor-
row and thousands, and even tens of
thousands of inter-married couples
should enter the country, what then?
Should they be coerced to submit to
the dictates of Jewish law? Or should
they, perhaps, be cast aside altogether?
"In consequence, it is my opinion
that in the case where the father and
the non-Jewish mother wish to have
their son circumcized, in order that he
may be registered as a Jew, the govern-
ment should acquiese in their wish. For
there is no more exalted characteristic
than that of the mother who gives her
son, treasured above all else, to a peo-
ple that is not her own.
"I do not know whether the mothers
of all the proselytes of old were actu-
ally converted to Judaism — the grand-
mothers of Shemaya and Avtalyon, of
Rabbi Akiba and Rabbi Meir, and all
the other great national luminaries,
themselves descendents of proselytes,
who were a blessing for the Jewish
people throughout the ages."
Of special interest is the re-
sponse that came from one of the
most distinguished Yiddish writers,
Aaron Zeitlin, who wrote in part:
"I wish to preface my remarks with
the comment that I am not affiliated
with any particular party. My view-
point is that of an individual Jew who
ponders the problems of his people and
reacts to them as a writer; it is by no
means the stand taken by a person
whose opinions are determined by the
trend dominant in his party.
"Let us establish once and for all
that in Israel the national-civic concept
of identity is Israeli. Now the term Jew
not merely in the Diaspora but in the
State of Israel as well, is first and fore-
most a religious term of identity. By
virtue of the fact that the Jewish reli-
gion is a national religion, the term Jew
also has a national connotation. The
Jewish religion is a national religion
for reasons that are simple and ap-
parent to everybody: Only one nation
in the entire world represents this re-
ligion. No intelligent person will deny
this fact, which, to be proven valid, is
in need of no far-fetched theoretical
arguments. This self-evident fact sug-
gests a second fact, namely: Though
Jews may be differentiated as either
religious or irreligious, there is not a
'single Jew who fails to qualify as Jew-
ish according to his religion. By virtue
of the religious act of circumcision,
which brings him into the Covenant of
Abraham, no Jew can nullify the fact
that he is Jewish according to religion,
even in case he considers himself an
atheist. And it is well-known that even
an apostate, whose Jewish privilege
and Jewish status had been forfeited,
not exempt from the fulfillment
some specific duties required by Jud
ism.
"These two interdependent factors
that it is the Jewish nation alone that
represents and personifies the Jewish
religion and that all Jews, including
those who violate Jewish law, are willy-
nilly Jewish according to their religion
(in this case there is no room for free-
dom of choice, for the historic Jewish
community is thus constituted), account
for the preservation of our people.
National independence is not designed
for the purpose of denying them or of
divesting them of their significance.
The concept Jew is not intended to
mean something different in the State
of Israel than it does in the Diaspora;
were this the case, we should constitute
two separate nations. Let me explain:
The universal agreement on the mean-
ing of the concept "Jew" serves as the
bridge between the Diaspora and the
State. The sole difference between them
lies in the fact that in the State a
second concept is added, the concept
"Israeli," which includes citizens of
various religious affiliatons. Since this
is the case, a non-Jew who wishes to be
called a Jew and not merely an Israeli
cannot satisfy his wish without becom-
ing a Jew in a religious sense, that is,
without conversion or, in the termin-
ology used by the letter without a
ritual (in respect to religion there is
no place for this term, for in religion
there are no 'rituals' but rther divine
commandments)."
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Dimona Celebrates Its First Decade
two pats!
Dimona, one of the first planned communities established in
the Negev with Israel Bond assistance, is now ten years old. Here
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ful of pioneers lived in primitive stone dwellings, and (below) the
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21,000. Dimona, which has become highly industrialized with the aid
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expects to have a population of 50,000 citizens.
10—Friday, October 29, 1965
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