Kippur Topics: Mahzor, Shofar
`Ben Gurion-The Armed Prophet'-Turbulence, Yom
of the blast of the shofar that
By RABBI SAMUEL J. FOX
be blown after Yom Kippur
Genius Intermingle in Biography by Bar-Zohar Mahzor as the name for the would
on the Jubilee year in the days of
(Copyright 1968 JTA Inc.)
the Temple. (Tur, Orah Hayyim
prayer book is of late origin espe- 424) Still others claim that t h e
cially as far as its usage by Jews reason for the shofar blast at the
is concerned. The Syrian Church end of Yom Kippur was to signal
appears to have used a similar the community to prepare for the
term to refer to its prayer book mood of festivity which took over
(i.e., Khadar). In the talmudic lit- in the Jewish community at the
erature we do not see this term conclusion of the Day of Atone.
employed for this purpose, espe- ment. Some others claim that the
cially because there evidently were blast of the shofar signifies the
no such things as prayer books departure of the Divine presence
during the Talmudic period since which has been close to us all day
it was originally forbidden to write during Yom Kippur. They trace
out the prayers. In the Gaonic pe- this to the Psalms which write
riod the name "Mahzor" is used "The Almighty ascends with t h e
to refer to a collection of Haftorot sound of the Shofar" (Psalms 47:6).
(prophetic readings) for the vari- One opinion claims that it is blown
ous Sabbaths and holidays of the to drive off Satan who begins his
year. Generally speaking, the word task of persecuting humans a 1 I
"Mahzor" was used to refer to an over again.
astronomical cycle. Later on, it
became a custom to refer to the
prayer books of either the daily Hebrew Corner.
and Sabbath ritual or the holidays
by either the name Sidur or
Mahzor. Eventually, though much
Every day the press publicises new
later the name Mahzor was reserv- inventions;
most of the inventions are
ed for the holiday prayer book connected' with the science of war.
Hardly
anything is written of other
while the name Sidur was reserved inventions
which help man to live bet-
for the daily and/or Sabbath pray- ter. But there exist nevertheless im-
DAVID BEN•GURION
portant inventions and discoveries. One
er book. The reason for the selection of
them
is
hydroponics
where plants
story of Israel's great statesman
of the name "Mahzor" for the grow in water instead of soil: -
has been published by Prentice-
holiday prayer book is almost self-
How is it done?
Hall, Englewood, N J. It is a dra-
We visited the, religious kibutz of
evident. Since the term "Mahzor"
Hayyim known aS the pioneer
matic story of a turbulent life and
was originally used to denote a Hafetz
of hydroponics. At the entrance•of the
a determined will and it gives an
cycle of time, it became a fitting kibbutz there is a shed, containing
account of Zionist and Israeli his-
small ponds. Inside the ponds are
term to use in denoting the holiday small
gravel stones and water and in
toric events in which the hero of
prayer books since the holidays of between them red radishes, buShes of
this work had figural during more
blossoming
roses. A member of the
the Jewish year, their appearance
there' is a shed, - containing
than half a century of world in-
and order, represent a cycle If kibutz
plains: In the shed we try to. grow
volvements.
time. It is interesting to note that many plants without soil only on water
Primarily, this biography is an
and graveL There are plan& which
the Sephardic Jews continued to grow
very well by this method: 'Toma-
expression of hero worship. Ben-
use the terms "Sidur" and "Mah- toes, for instance reached a 'height of
Gurion's life is traced here from
2
meters and more."
zor" interchangeably, while t h e
"What is the benefit of - this new
communities of Southern France method?"
As a rule,. Plants. receive
continued to use only the term from the soil both food and a base of
support.
In the hydroponic method,
"Sidur" with which to refer to too, the gravel
provides the base and
their prayer books both for week- support. The food reaches the plants
via the water. All the small ponds are
day as well as holiday prayers.
joined to one central pond, into which
The shofar is blown at the end are introduced fertilizers and food ma-
terials which the plant requires.- From
of the Day of Yom Kippur In there the water is distributed to all the
ponds.
the synagogue.
A dramatic review of "The fession of hating, ridiculing and tion" which deals with the anti-
Hydroponics saves a great deal of
French Existentialists in Politics," organizing pogroms against the Semitic element in the struggle
A number of reasons are given labor. No ploughing, no hoeing, it
among
the
Leftists
states:
Jews.'
Nor
could
he
accept
the
contained in "Choice of Action" by
trouble too. There are no weeds,
for this practice. Some claim that saves
no root diseases. One more important
Michel-Antoine Burnier, published journal's preference for Claude
"Even the anti-Semitic mani- this was done to be a signal for thing; since there- is no soil in the
by Random House, reveals a Roy—'who learned everything he
ponds it is possible to grow by this
the
housewife
that
the
fast
was
struggle between Rightists and knows about dialectical Marxism festations that marked the end of over and that she can at once feed method plants in saline soils. In the
Negev where the soils are saline
Leftists in France in which Jean- from Maurras .. _ a Stalinist-Nazi the Stalinist era in Russia and the children who have have fasted far
this method is now being tried.
Paul Sartre and other notables be- who plays at being a Bolshevik'— some of the popular democracies that day. (Tosofoth Shabbos 114b)
Tianslation of Hebrew column
Published by Brith Ivrith
over himself. Etiemble, who still caused no serious breach between Others claim that it is reminiscent
came seriously involved.
Olarruth Jesalem
ru
the existentialists and the French
One of the important references agreed with the pre-1950 positions Communist Party, But Ce. Soir
is to Rene Etiemble, who protested of Les Temps Modernes, did not published a fairly violent series
against the policies of Les Temps want to be associated with what of articles' to which L'Observateur
Modernes. That journal lost the he considered a betrayal of these took exception. In Le Figaro, on
services of Etiemble, and the ex- positions and refused to join "the March 17, 1953, Francois Mauriac
watchdogs of t h e Communist
planation offered is:
called on Sartre to take a position,
"Etiemble found it intolerable Party.' He and Sartre parted com- and Sartre accepted. He was dis-
that Sartre, in the interests of pany."
turbed by Mauriac, who started
511
There was a defense by Sartre; the polemic and called attention
peace, 'could cooperate closely
with men who were making a pro- and a portion of "Choice of Ac- to Sartre's pronouncements in or-
der to 'declare war.' . . . Sartre
recalled that 'even silence was a
form of commitment.' I have no
intention of trying to justify dialec-
tically anti-Semitism,' he added
. . . `I do not write and Mr. Maur-
NEW YORK—An American pub-
ily health service as "an inte- iac knows this, to be praised
grated program which aims to for editing a journal which did
lic health expert who recently re-
turned from an inspection tour of
improve the health of the whole not protest the plight of the Jews.
"t7rq
family as well as offering its The problem and condition of
the Joint Distribution Committee
health program in Iran, credited members coordinated medical the Jews in the popular de-
the family-oriented Jewish com-
care." Serving the 1,200 Jewish mocracies should not be a pretext
munity program with drastically families living nearby, the Telt- for propaganda or a polemical
~
reducing the hazards of ghetto- ran program operates out of the joust. When I speak of this prob-
bred illness and of cutting sharply Kanoun Kheir Khan Hospital and lem, obviously without attempting
i2,1 .17
the infant mortality rate.
Health Center, located on t h e an impossible "dialectical justifi-
edge of the "mahalleh," or the cation," I will address myself to
Using doctor-nurse teams to
ghetto.
link health center and home, t h e
my friends on the Left, Communist
family-oriented program is de-
Miss Cohn said that the heart or not, Jews or not, for the prob-
scribed as "unique in the Middle of the program is the socio-medi- lem concerns them and for them
lt,17,4 2'7m
East" by Helen Cohn, the public cal team. Made up of a "family only it is dramatic. Only they, and
health and nursing expert w h o doctor," two "behyars" (nurse's not Mr. Mauriac, have the right
helped organize it for JDC. Now aides), a social worker and a sani- to interrogate me about what I
on the faculty of the Harvard tarian, each team is assigned to think, and they are the only ones
School of Public Health, Miss Cohn an area which includes about 500 I should wish to interrogate about
returned to Iran this summer at families.
their thinking.' "
JDC's request to review the pro-
Under the doctor's direction, the
These sentiments are interesting
gram and make recommendations
"behyars" go into the courtyards as commentaries on the position
for its future development.
and get to know the families who of Leftists and the Communist
914r3
The community health program live in the rooms around them. Party and on the attitude of
was initiated in 1957 with the guid- They teach the mothers food prep- Sartre, who later was such an
ance and financial assistance of aration and hygiene, treat minor ardent spokesman against anti-
the Joint Distribution Committee. illnesses, call in the social work& Semitism.
The JDC receives funds for its to advise on family problems and
The volume by Michel-Antoine
health, welfare and rehabilitation accompany mothers and children
programs in more than 25 coun- to the health center if they need Burnier, which was translated from
tries around the world from the to see the doctor. He, too, knows the French by Bernard March- 1
campaigns of the United Jewish the family as a unit and has at land, contains an additional chap-
ter by the translator on "Sartre
Appeal.
his finger tips a complete medical and Camus — The Anatomy of
a
Miss Cohn described the fam- and social history.
Quarrel," which provides addi-
tional light on Sartre and his an-
Michael Bar-Zohar,
studied
at the Hebrew University, became
a French correspondent for Israeli
newspapers and lived at Sde Bo-
ker, David Ben-Gurion's kibutz,
for a year and a half, made a deep
study of the hero he depicts in
his biography, "Ben-Gurion—The
Armed 'Prophet." In an English
translation from the French, this
about President Eisenhower's role
during the Sinai Campaign, Ben-
Gurion's friendship with Charles
de Gaulle and scores of other inci-
dents that marked Israel's history
as it was linked with the life of
Ben-Gurion.
There are some inconsistencies.
For instance, early in his book, the
biographer speaks of Ben-Gurion
having "had only four real friends
in his long life — Berl Katznelson,
Shmuel Yavnieli, Itzhak Ben-Zvi
and Nehemia Argov." But later on
he writes:
"In April 1963 Ben-Gurion suf-
fered another blow when his old
friend Ben-Zvi died. 'I have had
three friends in my life,' he wrote
later. `Yavnieli, Berl Katznelson
and Itzhak Ben-Zvi. Now they are
all dead, and I feel very lonely.' "
This is a very sad admission.
These indications of abandon-
ment of friendship among his life-
long associates in the labor move-
ment point to a way of life that
was marked by stubbornness and
bitterness. The biographer does
not hide facts. He is true to his
theme. But it does leave a note of
sadness with Ben-Gurion's admir-
ers.
To Bar-Zohar, Ben-Gurion's life
is "the finest adventure of all
time." This is emphasized through-
Bar-Zohar's biography deals out this book which will rate high
with the Ben-Gurion theme in rela- among the biographies of the arch-
tion to his being both warrior and itect of the Jewish state thus far
prophet, state-builder and the de- published. The more extensive bi-
termined defender of Jewish ography, with fullest details of
rights.
some of the happenings is yet to
There is much in this book come.
his earliest youth, as the son of a
dedicated Zionist who carried on a
great and historic work.
Every conflict is touched upon,
Ben-Guricin's pioneering efforts in
Palestine are described in their
minutest details, and the biogra-
pher describes his struggles, first
in Zionist ranks, then at Zionist
Congresses, in Jewry's struggles
with the British mandatory power,
and during Ben-Gurion's leader-
ship as the chief of state in Israel.
*
All the personal struggles are de-
lineated—those with Chaim Weiz-
mann, with Moshe Sharett, Golda
Meir, Levi Eshkol; and the author
goes to great length to show how
Ben-Gurion resisted pressures to
vindicate Pinhas Lavon.
There is no lack of vindictive-
ness. The bitterness in the Lavon
case, the break in friendly rela-
tions with Sharett and the matter
that involved the Altalena and the
Irgun's transport of arms to be
used by Menahem Begin and his
group—these mark rather sad as-
pects of a rich life. Begin emerges
a bit better than the Revisionist-
Irgun-Jabotinsky element had been
pictured. But in the Bar-Zohar
story Ben-Gurion is the great hero.
*
No Fish in Ponds
Sartre's Role Among Leftists,
Debate Over Anti-Semitic Issue
'
,
tr∎ mn nin1;4
JDC Health Program in Iran Credited
With Cutting Down Poverty-Bred Ills
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40—Friday, September' 27. 1968
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS tagonists.
('ems lam 1311 Ing.19)