I ntermarriage, Human Relations
`The Rabbi'-Novel's Pragmatism,
Its Many Aspects of Forcefulness
Noah Gordon. in his novel, "The
Rabbi," published by McGraw-Hill,
evidences a knowledge of Jewish
observances and traditions and re-
veals a thorough acquaintance
with certain medical themes.
His novel, which has become
I best seller, describes very skil-
fully the approach to treating men-
tal illnesses, the method of pro-
viding shock treatments, the reac-
tions of the mentally ill, the spirit
that pervades the homes of those
who had been afflicted.
Gordon shows that he also has
mastered a knowledge of other
medical terms, and there is no
doubt that in writing his novel he
had made sure that he gained
proper information about Jewish
laws.
Thus, his description of the
conversion of the heroine, who
adopts the Jewish faith in order
to marry the rabbi, Michael
Kind (nee Rivkind), approaches
perfection. He explains the
minutiae of the conversion in
the mikveh in such details that
the text of his novel even con-
tains the prayers—the "tvilah"
and "sheheheyanu"—in Hebrew,
in a parallel column with the
English translation.
Yet, there are occasional incon-
sistencies. For example, Rabbi
Kind, who is Reform, is described
as constantly wearing a yarmulka,
as forming minyanim — practices
not akin to Reform Judaism.
In fact, there isn't much to prove
that Michael is such a dedicated
rabbi—until he delivers the excit-
ing address with the powerful re-
proach to his congregants for anti-
Negro discrimination. It was the
Brotherhood Week address that re-
sulted in his loss of his Georgian
pulpit. But it was a speech filled
with compassion, marked by cour-
age.
Otherwise, he was just an ordi-
nary fellow who had pre-marital
love affairs—and that, too, in de-
lineating a rabbi, might bring re-
sentment, except that in the Gor-
don story it proves that Michael
Kind, who on one occasion found
his father in an act with one of
his employed girls, is a human fel-
low.
Gordon's "The Rabbi" is a
story of an intermarriage. Les-
lie Rawlins, who also had had an
affair before her marriage, falls
in love with him. She turns to
Jewish studies to be able to
adopt her new faith, and to gain
a Jewish husband.
It is clearly indicated in the
story that if he had not been a
rabbi Michael would have felt free
to make overtures to Leslie at the
very outset. It was his rabbinic
role that required her conversion.
The story does not pr o v e that
there was conviction in the change
of faiths.
But her father's reactions point
to the resentment that comes when
there is intermarriage. Apparently
Reverend Rawlins never forgave
her, Michael always having found
himself ill at ease in his presence.
Leslie had left the mental hos-
pital without p e r m i s s ion, had
drawn $600 from her bank account,
and went in search of truth—re-
visiting some of the places in which
she had lived with her husband,
the firms where she worked in
New York, the homes in which she
had been a roomer. She returns
with a desire to have the home of
her preference, with her Jewish
husband and with her children,
and she returns to the hospital to
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
16—Friday, October 29, 1965
complete the required brief addi-
tional stay.
It was during this brief flight
that her father died, that Michael
attended the non-Jewish funeral
service, that he had a depress.
ing experience in the course of
it. It was upon her return that
Leslie learned of the passing of
her father.
In the course of the years that
transpired, Michael had several pul-
pits, and it is in these experiences
that the novelist also describes a
rabbi's life—the manner in which
he is scrutinized, the reactions to
a shikseh wife, the building of
synagogues, the advantages and
disadvantages.
In San Francisco, for example,
he had much freedom and a good
salary, but only a three-day-a-year
congregation. It is against this that
Michael rebelled, accepting a post
in Massachusetts for less money.
And it is in the last post that
he has the experience of building
a sanctuary—with all its material-
ism, with a trained force of profes-
sional campaigners gathering the
funds. The manner of fund-raising,
too, is interesting and realistic.
These are the many pragmatic
factors that give "The Rabbi"
reality and which must have led it
to the best-seller list.
P. S.
SS Shalom Will Make
48-Day Mediterranean
Cruise in Fall of 1966
A 48-day High Holidays Festival
Cruise to the Mediterranean fea-
turing 12 ports of call and a nine-
day stay in Israel will be made in
1966 by the Zim Lines' flagship,
SS Shalom, it was announced by
Alfred Z. Kis, vice president for
passenger traffic of Zim Lines.
The 25,300-gross-ton luxury liner
will sail from New York Aug. 30,
1966, and will return Oct. 17. She
will steam more than 12,000 miles
and visit ports in Spain, Portugal,
Italy, France, Israel, Greece, Tur-
key and Yugoslavia. During the
nine days at Haifa, which include
Rosh Hashana, the ship will serve
as a hotel for her passengers, Kis
said. All inclusive fares begin at
$1365. A program of optional shore
excursions will be available at
moderate prices in Israel and all
other countries visited.
Kis noted that the High Holi-
days Festival Cruise is the second
long cruise to the Mediterranean
announced for the Shalom in 1966.
The first, a 42-day Passover-East-
er cruise sailing next March 18,
was sold out within a few weeks
of the first announcement, he said.
While cruising, the Shalom will
be operated on a one-class—first
class — basis, will carry a full
cruise staff and will offer a varied
program of entertainment and oth-
er cruise activities. Cruise mem-
bership will be limited to a maxi-
mum of 700 passengers, a little
over half of the liner's normal ca-
pacity.
Hobsbawm's Impressive Research Into Labor's History
An authoritative work, "Labor-
ing Men—Studies in the History
of Labor," by E. J. Hobsbawm,
published by Basic Books (404
Park, S., NY 16) deserves acclaim
for its numerous revealing ac-
counts.
Starting with the early 19th
century, Hobsbawm's research
throws light on the developing
conditions over more than 10 dec-
ades which saw the emergence of
the labor union movements.
The economic conditions of the
periods covered are amply
evaluated.
Historians will learn much from
this special study which throws
light on living conditions and on
changing standards.
Of special interest is a footnote
referring to the Dreyfus Affair.
Dealing with labor traditions, the
author states:
". . . the periods of maximum
unity and power of French labor
1,000 Gay 'Old Soldiers' of Waffen SS
Hold Reunion Despite Wide Protests
RENDSBURG. Germany — A
"nostalgic and enthusiastic reunion
of old soldiers" is how one re-
porter described the annual meet-
ing of the Mutual Assistance So-
ciety of Former Members of the
Waffen SS.
The surviving elite • of the Nazi
Party held their meeting in a
cattle market hall despite earlier
widespread protests from overseas
and in Germany itself.
Philip Shabecoff, in a special re-
port to the New York Times, de-
scribed the ass embly of 1,000
middle-aged veterans, who heard
speeches and reminisced about
"the good-old days."
The alumni of the Waffen SS,
combat branch of the Nazi Elite
Guard, call themselves a chari-
table organization, supposedly de-
voted to helping widows and or-
phans of members who fell during
the war.
Eugene Schlotter, a former
lieutenant colonel in the Waffen
SS, placed a wreath at an un-
marked stone cross in a small
cemetery here. The stone was
inscribed "to our fallen com-
rades of the Waffen SS." In
his speech, he said "We honor
our comrades who fought for
their counrty in its darkest hour
and who died fighting for their
fatherland and for freedom."
The Rendsburg Senate in this
northern province of Schleswig-
Holstein granted permission to
hold the meeting, claiming there
were no judicial grounds on which
to ban it.
However, a West German jour-
nalist said Schleswig-Holstein was
more congenial to former Nazi or-
ganizations than some other areas
of West Germany. He said he
doubted the group would have
been able to rent a hall in Frank-
furt or Berlin.
Protests were widespread. About
1,000 members of the Schleswig-
Holstein Association of Former
Nazi Victims held a torchlight dem-
onstration against the meeting.
Other protests came from former
Dutch resistance fighters, British
organizations, victims' organiza-
tions in West Germany and the
German Trade Union Federation,
which claims 6,000,000 members.
The former Waffen SS mem-
bers denied they were responsi-
ble in any way for the Nazi atroc-
ties in World War II. "We knew
nothing about these crimes," said
Schlotter. "How could we? We
fought on the Russian front."
None questioned believed that
their organization had had any
part in the liquidation in concen-
tration camps toward the end of
the war.
When Sepp Dietrich, a former
division commander and a hero of
the SS, walked into the hall, he
was greeted with thunderous cheers.
have been those when it cou141
stigmatize the ruling classes not
merely as exploiters but also as
traitors: as during the Paris Com-
mune, during the Popular Front
period and especially during the
Resistance (In a sense this is
merely another expression of the
built-in aspiration to power in a
revolutionary tradition: the
cobins and their heirs have alway(
seen themselves as potentially oi.\,
actually a state-carrying or gov-
erning force)."
A footnote commenting on this
asserts: "The most obvious appar-
ent example to the contrary, the
Dreyfus affair, proves the point.
Its effect within the labor move-
ment was to divide and not to
unite; for against the rallying of
the Socialist politicians to the
cause of the threatened Republic
and a replacement between most
of the Socialist groups there must
be set the strengthening of an anti-
political syndicalism, not to men-
tion the split caused by the ac-
ceptance of c a b i n et office loq
Millerand."
TRADITION! TRADITION!
SID and
1 NAOMI SIEGEL
MOVIES, SINCE 1946
WEDDINGS • BAR MITZVAHS
CALL
LI 3-3400
ZAN GILBERT
From LONDON, ENGLAND
and His ORCHESTRA
"Distinctive Styling in Music
to your Individual Taste"
Call UN. 1-3065
36 N.Y. Synagogues Get
New Police Protection
NEW YORK (JTA)—The New
York Police Department deployed
policemen at 36 synagogues and
18 yeshivas on New York's lower
East Side to protect Jews in the
area attending Sabbath services.
The action followed an emer-
gency meeting of 20 rabbis with
police after a series of attacks by
hoodlums on both young and old
Jews en route to and from the
synagogues and Jewish schools.
The only incident reported last
Saturday night was an attack on a
worshiper, Seymour Stein, who
was approached by a youth wield-
Israel Returns 3 Soldiers ing a razor who demanded money.
When Stein refused, the attack-
to Lebanon for Israeli
er punched him in the face and
Who Crossed Border
fled. Later Stein identified Rich-
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Israel and ard Azzolino, 17, as his assailant
Lebanon Monday exchanged pris- and the youth was charged with
oners held briefly by each of the attempted assault and robbery.
countries for crossing the Israeli-
The Moses Hart. Case
Lebanese frontier illegally.
Israel returned to Lebanon three
Moses H a r t, an early Jewish
Lebanese soldiers who had crossed settler in Canada, was the first
into Israel Oct. 21. Lebanon sent Jew to be elected to the Canadian
back to Israel 20-year-old Moshe Assembly but he was not permit-
Mordecai, who had been held in ted to take his seat because of his
Lebanon after crossing its border refusal to take the customary oath
a week ago.
of office "on faith of a Christian."
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