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Challenge to _Jewish Identity, Mendelssohn Era's Aostas
Applied to Serious Defections in Current Conditions

A

7

Wayne State University Press preacher and as member of the
has issued a new volume by Prof. I Verein," that Zunz "decided to
Michael A. Meyer of the California make Jewish resea^ch the focus
School of Hebrew Union College- of his life. Here he found refuge
Jewish Institute of Religion that from the tumult and confusion of
throws light on the period of the a Jewish life uncertain of its
salons in Germany, the era of Men- course."
After thorough analyses of the
delssohn and the eminent per-
sonalities of that time, the apos- roles of the women of the famous
cultural
salons, Dr. Meyer com-
tasies and the challenges to Jews
from Christian ranks. It may have ments:
"Dorothea, Henrietta, Rahel —
a bearing on modern aspects of
Jewish assimilitationist tendencies different as were their personali-
and it provides many lessons in ties and the course of their lives—;
German-Jewish 17th-18th Centuries were at one in giving up Judaism
for Christianity. In its traditional
of contacts with non-Jews.
Under the title "The Origins of form they found their ancestral
the Modern Jew," this valuable faith an inhibiting, meaningless
study of an important period in law, its modernized variety dry,
history treats factually, with im- sterile rationality. For none of the
portant commentaries, "J e w i s h three could religion be merely the
identity and European culture in
Germany, 1749-1824."

Jewish consciousness and loyal-
ties, the identity of Jews as it
manifested itself in Germany the
reactions of Jews "to the circum-
stance of their Jewishness," are re-
viewed in a volume marked by
noteworthy scholarship and the
author's analytical skill.
Dr. Meyer's is, as he states in
his preface. " a study in the in-
tellectual dimension of Jewish
history.. Gotthold Ephraim Les-
sing's play "The Jews," the
aims and the fai:ures of the
Verein fuer Cultur and Wissen-
schaft der Juden (Society for
Science and Culture Among the
Jews), the role of Moses Men-
delssohn, "the Jew who became
a ranking philosopher of the En-
lightenment," the teachings of
Leopold Zunz, the ideologies of
the age of Romanticism — these
are among the elements touched
upon in this impressive study.
Of immense interest in this work

,

is Dr. Meyer's treatment of the
Mendelssohn saga, the challenge

to Moses Mendelssohn, "the virtu-

ous Jew." by the Swiss theologian
Johann Caspar Lavater, "either to
refute Christianity publicly or to
join its ranks," the escape from
Judaism by Mendelssohn's descen-
dants. the women who ruled over
the famous salons and other ex-
periences of that time are defined
in the historical analyses.
Lavater's challenge, Dr. Meyer
writes. "forced the Enlightenment
Jew, living in two worlds, to re-
concile one with the other, to de-
fine for himself and his Christian
contemporaries the basis for his
continuing identification with Juda-
ism . . . Lavater's open challenge
. . ; opened a new phase in Men-
delssohn's life: he was constrain-
ed to explain his persistent adher-
ence to the faith of his fathers.
While the intellectual world look-
ed on. Mendelssohn the philoso-
pher confronted Mendelssohn the
Jew."
This is part of the dramatic
events resulted in part from Les-
sing's portrayal of the Jew — a
portrayal that did not, as Dr.
Meyer points out, result from Les-
sing's friendship with Mendelssohn.
since that came after the play had
been published. The reply by Men-
delssohn to Lavater emphasized
that he was replying to the con-
temptuous view of the Jew
"through %irtue and not through
polemics."
Especially interesting in Dr.

form of a universal moralism. Pos-
sessing the need for personal re-
ligious experience, they found it
in romanticized Christianity. Born
Jews in a romantic age, they could
draw spiritual sustenance only
from foreign wells."
Christian reactions, the search
for identity through Reform Juda-
ism. the new Jewish interests and
ideological approaches cause the
author to state that "a new concep-
tualization of Judaism, more in
keeping with the age, had become
a • • "
The events of the era under dis-
cussion cause Dr. Meyer to ask
some vital questions and to apply
them to his research to the present
time.
He poses a question: "Over the

Asks Record Budget
unwA
N
A-
of $45.8 Million for War Relief,
Draws Fire From Israel Govt.

UNITED NATIONS, N.Y. (JTA)
. .
I of th e
United Nations Relief and Works
Administration for Palestine Arab
refugees has asked the General
Assembly for a record budget of
$45,850,300 for 1968 to meet "the
ever widening gap between re-
sources and needs" and the dislo-

— The

cations caused by last June's Arab-
Israel war.
Laurence Michelmore, head of
the UN agency, noted in his 100-
page annual report submitted to
the General Assembly, that, as of
May 31, 1967, a total of 1,344,576
refugees were registered with

UNRWA and that their number

had increased since the June hos-
tilities. He said that $5„ 00 out
of the agency's proposed 1968
budget would be needed to meet
the costs of programs arising from
file
Y
"After the fighting UNRWA

had to overcome formidable ob-
stacles including the limitation
of movement by its staff, losses
of property and equipment and
damage to the agency's premises
and other installations," Michel-
more's report stated. Despite this,
as soon as the fighting ended,
he said, "steps were taken in
cooperation with Israeli authori-
ties to restore the distribution of
food and other relief services."

The report noted that while Is-
rael facilitates the work of UNRWA
by exempting it from customs
duties, taxes and other changes
against the import of supplies, food
and equipment, the Arab countries
do not do likewise. The report
made extensive claims against
Jordan. Egypt and Syria which so
far have levied taxes and customs
duties on UNRWA in the amount
of S1,500,000.
UNRWA has also filed a claim
against Israel for $687,713 for
damages incurred during the war.
Israel has filed a counterclaim of
S55.000 for use of telephone and
railroad facilities.
An Israeli spokesman charged
that the UNRWA report "practi-
cally ignored the element of re-
settlement which forms the central
part of United Nations policy as
one of the means for a solution of
the refugee problem." Ile declar-
Meyer's excellent study of the ed that comments in the report
events of that era are his re- that only a small fraction of the
views of the activities of Doro- number of refugees had been al-
lowed to return to the West Bank
thea Mendelssohn, Henrietta
Herz, Rachel Varnhagen, the "does not conform with the facts
other Mendelssohns and their of the situation."
associates in the Enlightenment ' The spokesman drew attention
and Romanticism activities and to the fact that 3,000-4,000 young
the wave of conversions. There men who had been members of
was nothing left of Jewish loyal- the Palestine Liberation Army of
Ahmed Shukairy and who had been
ties. In the review of the activi-
ties of the Verein • for Wissen- permitted to return with other pri-
schaft des Judentums, the author soners of war to Egypt. were now
makes a lengthy study of Leo- : receiving UNRWA aid. He said
that "the fact that UNRWA has
pold Zunz and his philosophic
cared for these soldiers and has
and theologic works and states
that: "Despairing of the Jewish
extended them relief has aroused
present, Zunz took comfort in strong criticism and protest in the
United Nations in recent weeks
the ideal of science, applied to
the Jewish past."
and dissatisfaction in world
It was "after disillusion, both as opinion."

Michelmore summarized the
operations of UNRWA on an emer-
gency basis after last June's fight-
ing. The agency, his report said,
undertook the operation of six out
of nine new tent camps on the east
bank of the Jordan which, by mid-
August, housed 73,200 persons dis-
placed from the west bank. "It was
hoped that this would be a tem-
porary arrangement and that the
bulk of the displaced persons
would return to the west bank in
accordance with the Security Coun-
cil recommendation of June 14,
1967," the report noted, but the
hope was not realized "and only a
small fraction of the total number
of persons who applied for return
under the rules established by the
Israel government have so far been
permitted to do so."
The UNRWA report noted that
in Syria more than 115.000 people
left the area occupied by Israel,
including some 16,000 Palestinian
refugees. UNRWA also extended
aid to between 3,000 and 4.000
young male Palestinian refugees
from the Gaza Strip who are now
in occupied Egyptian territory.

The report observed that des-
pite the General Assembly reso-
lutions adopted in 1948 and re-
affirmed year after year, the re-
fugees still had neither an oppor-
tunity to return to their homes
nor compensation for the pro-
perty they left behind. This was
attributed to the linking of the
two issues of compensation with
repatriation in ff:e resolutions,
the result was that nothing was
done, owing to the continued
deadlock over repatriation.

The UNRWA report stated that
relations between the agency and
Israel have been satisfactory. It
noted that for the first time. Israel
was a host country for refugees.

$250,000 Fund Builds
Weizmann Institute
Ullmann Art Gallery

NEW YORK—The opening of the
Siegfried and Irma Ullmann Gallery
of Art at the Weizmann Institute
of Science in Rehovoth, Israel, was
announced by Dewey D. Stone,
chairman of the board of the
American Committee for the Weiz-
mann Institute of Science.
A S250.000 fund to build the gal-
lery and 96 pictures by distin-
guished French, Italian, American
and other artists, to constitute a
permanent initiating collection,
were given to the American Com-
mittee for the. Weizmann Institute
of Science by the Siegfried and
Irma Ullmann Foundation of New
York.
The Ullmann Art Gallery will
occupy the entire top floor of the
Anne and Dewey D. Stone Adminis-
tration Building, opened a year ago
on the Rehovoth campus.
The Ullmann Art Collection,

Dutch Turn Down Bid
to Free Jailed Nazis

(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News)

A

AMSTERDAM — A second re-
course of half a century Ger- quest to pardon three Nazi war
man Jewry had tried and failed criminals serving life sentences for
to answer the troublesome query the deportation and deaths of
of Lavater: Why should a man 100,000 Dutch Jews during World
of European culture remain a War II has been rejected by the
Jew? Mendelssohn's answer had Netherlands' Minister of Justice,
I been the obligation to observe a Dr. Carel Polak.
divinely ordained ceremonial law
The requests, introduced In the
which God alone could abrogate. Netherlands parliament, were made
... Except for the orthodox Jew, on behalf of Joseph Koyalla, 58,
in 1825 Lavater's question still former head of the Amsfoort con-
stood unanswered."
centration camp and slayer of
Then Dr. Meyer makes the ap- many of its inmates: Franz Fischer,
plication to this period in our his- 64, who took part in the killing of
tory and he, in turn, presents the 12,000 Jews and Heinz aus der
challenge anew:
Fuenten, 67, former SS officer who
"The importance of our period headed the Amsterdam branch of
lies not in its fragile answers Adolph Eichmann's transportation
but in its struggles with the ques- operation. All are presently incar-
tion. From the time that Men- cerated in Breda Prison.
delssohn first openly confronted
Release of the Nazis has been
the problem of being both Jew sought repeatedly in recent years
and European until the disillu- by a number of Dutch citizens but
sion of the young Zunz, the cul- is vehemently opposed by a major-
tural environment changed ra- ity of the Dutch people and by Jew-
dically but the existential prob- ish groups.
lem of Jewish self-definition re-
Nevertheless, one Nazi prisoner,
mamed constant. Again and Willy Lages, 64, former chief of
again a mute Jewish conscious- the German security police in the
ness reached out for self-explora- Netherlands, was released for
tion, but ever fell short of an health reasons and now lives in
adequate justification.
the Hartz Mountains in Germany.
"Two centuries have not pass-
ed since Lavater's query and Hebrew Corner
many variations have been added
to the themes laid down then. Festival of the
But the problem today remains
essentially the same — except Automobile
that America has been substitut-
People love festivals--religious festi-
ed for Europe. The American vals, national and local ones of all
Why should not automobile own-
Jew, desiring to he as much a sorts.
ers meet and celebrate a festival of
part of American culture as their own') The automobile owners
club in the country got together and
Mendelssohn and his successors decided
to hold a "meet" of its mem-
did of European, is engaged in bers every year
This year I decided to see what this
the same quest for Jewish self- "Olympiada
of Automobiles" is. And
definition. At present it remains (behold) I saw a parade of vehicles of
ages and types, beginning with a
to be seen whether he will be all
bus more than thirty years old and up
able to draw significant content to the most modern automobile. And
from the Jewish tradition to added to them motorcycles and motor-
scooters, which are increasing more
shape a uniquely Jewish identi- and
more on the country's roads. All
ty. If not, Jewish consciousness the vehicles in the stadium competed
in interesting and entertaining contests
will gradually dissipate and dis- and
obstacle-races.
The contests and races of the motor-
solve into the free American
ized vehicles gave (caused) me great
milieu - . ."
pleasure, but like the other thousands
The issue as restated by Dr. of spectators in the stadium, I was

Meyer is not new. It becomes
more valid in the light of the ex-
periences of the 17th and 18th
centuries when apostasy was a
comparatively easy way out.
Now "the way out" is in a dif-
ferent direction, but the problem
may be, as the author of the new
study states, essentially the same.
It is worth facing on the basis of
the evaluative study in "The Ori-
gins of the Modern Jew."

glad mainly at another part of the pro-
gram. That was the part in which
Bedouin from the Negev Participated
in a race on their camels and horses
while (carrying on) various sword-
plays. The policemen also brought
their trained dogs, who displayed their
prowess in wonderful leaps over high
obstacles and through rings of fire.
I left the "Olympiada of Automo-
biles" and In my heart (there was) a
little envy of the owners of the beauti-
ful automobiles and a great deal of ad-
miration for the horses and camels of
the Bedouin and for the dogs of the
police.
Translation of Hebrew column.
Published by Brit Ivrit Olamit.

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hovoth, includes 96 oils, pen and
water colors, and gouaches.
40 — Friday, October 27, 1967

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