Yadin Notes Important Developments
Archaeology a t Hebrew U.—`Jewish Science'
By PROF. MOSHE KOHN
There is no longer any question
that Holy Land archaeology is be-
coming a "Jewish science," with;
the Hebrew University's Institute!
of Archaeology as a main center
of both teaching and research.
The newly elected director of the
institute. Prot. Yigael Yadin, men-
tions the excavations being car-
ried out at the southwestern cor-
ner of the wall of Jerusalem's
Temple Mount as "perhaps the
most significant and dramatic
development of the past year in
Jewish arebn-ologv."
Prof. Yadin notes that this is
the first time that a Jewish arch-
aeological institute is digging so
close to the Temple site. Before
the liberation of the Old City in
June 1967 from Jordanian rule,
Prof. Yadin recalls, "this privi-
lege was denied to Jewish arch-
aeologists because of religious
and political factors" that oper-
ated under the Jordanians and
under the British Mandatory
authorities and the Turkish
authorities before them.
All this while, "We had to con-
tent ourselves with looking on at
their doctorates from the univer-
sity will this year join the faculty
as research or teaching fellows.
Next year. the institute will start
moving back to Mount Scopus, to
the former Museum of Jewish
Antiquities building which housed
the department of archaeology be-
fore 1948. In the first stage, the
Scopus facilities will be used only
for research and processing field
work, while teaching remains at
the Givat Ram campus. Eventual-
ly, the entire department will be
moved to Scopus.
In the second phase of the
reorganization and expansion
program, the institute wants to
launch a number of planned five-
and 10-year research projects—
preparing a number of corpuses,
"the systematic assembly of. for
example, all the known pottery
and metal objects and Hebrew
seals, etc.. including catalogues,
analyses of the finds, diagrams,
and photographs, in such a man-
ner that scholars will be able to
Every member of the institute's
staff must not only be a teacher
but also be free to conduct exca-
vations. Heretofore, teaching mem-
bers were free to go out into the
field only during their so-called
spare time, when there were no
classes to teach.
Prof. Yadin points to "one great
turning point" in Israeli archae-
ology: "For the first time we are
absorbing a young new generation
of archaeologists who are the prod-
ucts of the Hebrew University."
Half-dozen young persons who have
just received or will shortly receive
56—Friday, May 16, 1969
Israeli scholars would like to
work on the role of the Phoenicians
in the Mediterranean world, espe-
cially in view of what is known of
the close ties between the Jews
and the Phoenicians from the time
of David and Solomon onwards.
and between ancient Israel and the
Aegean world.
Archaeological authorities of
some of those countries have asked
the Hebrew University to send ex-
peditions, but, Prof. Yadin says
the university has been unable to
do so because of lack of staff and
means, "So we won't start until
we have all the means. But we
will send survey teams to select
suitable sites, work out a series
of well-defined projects, then look
for the means to carry them out
properly — and thus justify the
name 'Institute of Archaeology.' "!
SETTLEMENTS IN THE BET 5NEAN
VALLEY FOUND THAT ENEMY BOM-
BARDMENTS ARE CAUSING MARKED
PSYCHOLOGICAL DAMAGE TO CHILDREN
WHO MUST SLEEP IN UNDERGROUND
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WOULD PROVIDE A HOT SCHOOL
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A FULL YEAR
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A Great Book Out of Crucible of a Poetic Soul
the activities of British and French
By WOLF SNYDER
expeditions excavating in areas
Poems From the Sea of Death by
most holy to our religion and our
Abraham Sutzkever, Tel Aviv: Ber-
gen-Belsen Memorial Press. 1969. 480
people's history."
pages.
Speaking of the "different aims
One of the very few survivors of
and objectives" of non-Jewish the Vilna Ghetto. the great Yiddish
archaeologists working here, Prof.!
poet, Abraham Sutzkever, hails
Yadin declares: "It is typical of ,
from the once younger group of
a Jewish expedition that the main Yiddish poets generally known as
sensation so far has not been the;
the "Yo"ng Vilna." Several years
discovery of masonry as such or before the Holocaust, Sutzkever,
even of objects, but rather a most then a rising young poet, already
dramatic find which might have
attracted the attention of a great
meant nothing to. perhaps would number of literary men.
not even have been noticed by,
The dark days in the ghetto fol-
others. This was the fallen ashlars
lowed by his experience as a fight-
found lying in a layer of ashes at ! ing partisan in the forests of White
the very bottom of the wall—the
first and so far the only archaeo-
logical testimony of the greatest
tragedy in our history: the de-
struction of the Temple by Titus
in the year '70."
Another significant find of the
past year pertaining to the Second
Temple period is Prof. Yadin's
purchase on behalf of the Israel
authorities of a complete head
tefillin (phylactery) which was
found at Qumran. "Now," Prof.
Yadin says, "we can for the first
time understand and visualize the
shape and composition of the tefil-
lin in this early period."
He notes that from the literature
ABRAHAM SUTZKEVER
we know that in those early days
the pious wore the tefillin, espec- Russia and Lithuania (his survival
ially that of the head, all day. is itself a miracle!) left an in-
"Now we see that the size and delible impression on the young
shape of the box were perfectly poet.
suited for this purpose." Futher-
In 1944, the crucial year of the
more, we can now for the first
war, the poet-partisan Sutzkever
time study such technical prob-
reached Russia where he was
lems of the leather used in making
received with great acclaim by
the box: the narchment strips con-
the Moscow literati headed by
taining the biblical passages insert-
t he f
ya
ed into the box, threads of tendon
Ehrenburg. After wandering
and hair used to hold it together.
from land to land, he finally
These are only two of the latest
settled in Israel where his pres-
examples of the achievements of
"Jewish archaeology" in the
less than half-century since the
beginning of the pioneering work
of the late Elazar Lippe Sukenik,
Prof. Yadin's father. Now, just
a little over 40 years after Suk-
enik became director of the Heb-
rew University's department of
archaeology, his 52-year-old son
has assumed the responsibility of
leading the Institute of Archae-
ology into a new period of re-
organization and growth.
concentrate on new aspects of
Holy Land archaeology instead
of continuing to seek in new sites
parallels to what we already
have."
ent literary activity is closely
tied with the world's best Yid-
dish literary magazine, "The
Golden Chain," of which he is
the editor.
His present hook is a collection
of some of his poems written dur-
ing the years 1936-1966, and repre-
sents as he puts it "an ingathering
of his darkest days and torment-
ing nights transmuted into poetry."
Some of the poems in this collec-
tion were written while in Israel
and are like the rest creations out
of the crucible of his poetic soul.
Like many other Yiddish poets,
Sutzkever was influenced by the
Jewish folklore, by the great Yid-
dish poets, his predecessors, and
by European poetry in general.
There is no doubt that Russian
poets like Pushkin, Blok, and Yese-
nin must have contributed their
share of influence. In a great many
of his poems Sutzkever transcends
the other poets by his excellent
ability to harmonize the structure
of the poems with his creative
poetic breadth.
His poems are written from with-
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
in the deepest inner experience, sense an attempt to find one. The
"eez nutra" as the Russians would poet Sutzkever makes use of the
say. With his masterly use of legendary hope for the coming of
words and verse he succeed.; in the messiah, when at the resound-
his various esthetic excursions, be ing call of the Shofar (horn) the
they in symbolism, impressionism dead will come to life again. In
or expressionism. Such series of vain does the poet look for the
poems as "Kol Nidre" or "The shofar of the messiah in the burned
Cherry of Recollection" cut into out ghettoes. Not there is it to be
the very soul of the reader leav- found. He hears a voice that com-
ing him with a mood never to be mands him to search for it deep in
forgotten. The poem ''If the fate his inner self. In great anger he
of my people . . ." is as forceful tears his heart wide open and out
and as moving as one of the classic of its emerges his spirit loud as the
poems by the late great Hebrew sharpest of the shofars. With a
poet H. Bialik written after the resounding call (Tekiah!) he com-
massacre in Kishinev. In the midst mands the dead to come to life
of the satanic deeds of de-human- again and rise from their graves:
ized beings the world as a whole "It is a new world and one that is
stood indifferent. To the sufferings free," the poet exclaims. But a
and prayers of the millions coun- multitude of scornful voices answer
tries turned a deaf ear. Why? Is in return: "Away! Defiled is your
there an answer? And if no living earth! We have already been freed
being could come forth with one, of the punishment of having been
perhaps the dead might. The poem born once. We have no use for the
"Resurrection of the Dead" is in a blindness of your days nor the
twinkles of your stars." Only one
yearning voice with the softness of
the softest grass is heard implor-
ing the poet to come to save him.
It was God's voice—one that once
lived in the poet's verses.
Too deep is the sorrow and too
painful are the recollections of
the Holocaust. Words are too
weak to give expression to the
trials and sufferings, indignation
and condemnation. They fail at
the very gates to the sea of
death. And it is only the poetic
genius of Sutzkever that enables
the reader to submerge into the
depth of the "Sea of Death" and
emerge from it with a De-Pro-
fundis prayer on the lips.
Great recognition is due to the
World Federation of Bergen-
Belsen Association for this well-
accomplished task of publishing
this great book of poems (Lider
Fun Yam Hamoves) by the great
Yiddish poet Abraham Sutzkever.
Dr. Marcus' History Invokes Data About
World-Famous Traveler Who Quoted Isaiah
in Predicting Transcontinental Railroads
What did Isaiah, the Hebrew pro-
phet of the eighth pre-Christian
century, have to do with the build-
ing of a transcontinental railroad
across the Rockies and the Sierra
Nevadas? In 1861, Israel Joseph
Benjamin, a Jewish adventurer
who called himself Benjamin II
(Benjamin I had been a 12th Cen-
tury Spanish-Jewish Marco Polo),
crossed the mountains, plains, and
prairies on his way from the Pa-
cific to the Atlantic. Wagon trains
in those days took some five
months alone to travel the 1,100
miles from Salt Lake, Utah, to St.
Joseph, Mo. Benjamin marveled
that he had made that trip by
stagecoach in only 18 days. He
prophesied that a day would yet
come when the continent would be
traversed by railways and the
words of Isaiah (40:4) fulfilled al-
most literally:
Every valley shall be lifted up,
And every mountain shall be
made low;
And the rugged shall be level,
And the rough places a plain.
It was not long before Benjamin's
dream came true. On May 10, 1869,
in the Utah village of Promontory
Point, two locomotives moved for-
ward gingerly until their noses
kissed. The junction of the two
roads was marked by a symbolic
ceremony. A prominent capitalist,
Leland Stanford, dressed in formal
attire—high hat and frock coat—
drove a golden spike into a wooden
railroad tie with a• silver sledge
hammer to signalize the comple-
tion of the first American trans-
continental railroad, The American
Union, forged in a bloody Civil
War, was now reinforced by bands
of steel. From then on, men could
make the entire trip in three or
four days. Today they do it by air-
plane in three or four hours.
Naturally, the hardest part of the
transcontinental enterprise involved
laying tracks across the mountains
in the west. In one span of 60
miles, 15 tunnels had to be
bored. The man most responsible
for initiating this amazing feat was
a brilliant engineer and promoter
by the name of Theodore Dehone
Judah. His great-grandfather, Mi-
chael Judah, had been an Ortho-
dox Jew in pre-Revolutionary Nor-
walk, Conn. Though almost
alone in the village, Michael had
tried to keep kosher. His Christian
wife probably cooperated with him.
Their son David, who was circum-
cised, grew up to serve as a sol-
dier in the Revolutionary War.
Apparently, however, David lived
his life as a Christian; his son be-
came an Episcopal minister and
had two distinguished children.
One of them was Theodore D.
Judah, the engineer. The other
was Henry. Moses Judah, who
achieved the rank of general in the
Civil War after a notable and
heroic career as an officer in the
conflict with Mexico.
in some detail in his two-volume
"Early American Jewry."
On May 10, 1869, with the meet-
ing of the eastbound and westbound
railroads, the Central Pacific and
the Union Pacific, a new era was
ushered in for American Jewry.
Since the country was now held to-
gether by the railroad, Jews could
begin uniting on a nationwide
basis. A union of the country's
Jewish congregations had been
urged by Isaac Leeser, of Phila-
delphia, as early as 1841, but noth-
ing came of the attempt, and later
efforts had no better success. The
distances between Jewish commu-
nities were simply too great. Now
men could travel, meet, learn to
know one another, make decisions,
return home—all in a few days.
Leeser's younger contemporary,
Isaac M. Wise, of Albany and then
of Cincinnati, had been campaign-
ing for a congregational union ever
since 1848. Twenty-one years later,
with the transcontinental railroad
a reality in 1869, his hopes became
more than a gleam in his eye.
Union was in the air. Not long
after, in 1873, Wise succeeded in
creating the Union of American
Hebrew Congregations. He was
overjoyed when representatives
from nearly 30 Midwestern and
Southern congregations met. Today
the union includes some 700 Re-
form congregations, with more than
a million members from all over
the continent. The American Jew-
ish community, may justly claim
to be the largest, if not the great-
est Jewry the world has ever
The Judah family is well doc-
umented in the files of the Amer-
ican Jewish Archives on the
Cincinnati campus of the He-
brew Union College-Jewish In-
stitute of Religion. Dr. Jacob R.
Marcus, the director of the
Archives, describes the Judabs known..