Boris Smolar's
'Between You
... and Me'
Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, JTA
(Copyright 1971, JTA Inc.)
I
THE HASIDIC IMAGE: The Hasidic movement is attracting more
interest on the part of American Jews and non-Jews, as seen from the
constantly growing literature on Hasidism. Testifying to it is a beauti-
fully issued book, "A People Apart," published by Dutton publishers.
It is different from other books on Hasidic life that appeared during
the last few years because it portrays with dignity the life of Hasidic
groups in New York in 150 selected large photographs. It shows them
at home and at work, at worship and in business, in communal and in
family life.
The project was a labor of love to Philip Garvin, the photographer,
who is the holder of a fine arts degree awarded to him by Yale School
of Arts and Architecture. It took him three years to achieve his faith-
ful portrayal of Hasidic life. He gained the trust of the Hasidim—who
usually distrust photographers—by his respect and admiration for them.
The 150 photographs in the book are only a small part of the hundreds
of pictures he has taken during the three years.
The text, written by Arthur A. Cohen, is a remarkable essay on
Hasidim displaying deep understanding of the movement. A former
vice-president and editor-in-chief of Holt, Rinehart and Winston and a
founder of other American publishing houses, Cohen is an able writer.
He has among his other works also published a book on Dr. Martin
Buber.
Cohen does not limit himself to modern Hasidism which originated
in the 18th century or to the Baal Shim Tov. Me goes back to Hasidic
mysticism of the 12th Century in Germany, and to Hasidism of biblical
times.
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JEWISH KNOWLEDGE: The Leningrad State Library, to which
foreigners are rarely admitted, is known to have in its possession the
most important collection in the world of ancient Hebrew manuscripts
dating back to the 9th and 10th Centuries. The only American scholar
ever permitted by Soviet authorities to microfilm these manuscripts—
known as Geniza—is Dr. Abraham I. Katsh, president of Dropsie Uni-
versity in Philadelphia. It took him 14 years and five visits to the
Soviet Union to gather and microfilm the rare Geniza fragments stored
away In the Leningrad Library which carries the name of the Russian
author Saltykov-Schedrin.
- Dr. Katsh is now seeing the fruit of his work. His complete study
of 159 Geniis fragments—hitherto unavailable to Western scholars—
has now been published under the title "Geniza Mishna". It is an im-
pressive volume of photostats of the fragments appearing for the first
time. The volume is of inestimable value to scholars throughout the
world.
The Geniza fragments come from an important collection of ancient
Hebrew manuscripts discovered in the mid-19th Century in Cairo,
Egypt. They were acquired by the Russian Archimandrite Antonin
Kapustin who resided in Jerusalem for about 30 years until his death in
1804. The fragments, microfilmed by Dr. Katsh, are all part of the
Mahn& which codifies the orally transmitted legal rules derived from
the Bible.
Dr. Katsh emphasizes that the material in the Geniza fragments
appears to have been written at a very early period, when the Talmud
was studied by oral tranamiaaion and not from a written book. Many
of the fragments differ completely from the generally available printed
texts of the Misbna, including the Babylonian and the Palestinian Tal-
muds.
The entire Geniza • collection at the Leningrad Library consists
of 1189 numbers. About 600 items deal with biblical material, some on
parchment and others on paper. The rest of the material covers a
variety of subjects, Including philosophy, history and medicine. Every
Talmudic tract is represented there. There are much larger Geniza
collections in the United States and in Britain, but the Leningrad col-
lection is considered the best in quality.
JEWS IN TRANSITION: A newsletter by S. J. Goldsmith, London
editor of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, has been published by the
Herzl Press. His "Jews In Transition" gives one the feeling that the
author is not 3,000 miles away from the United States, but is sitting
in front of you and "shmussing" with you. There is warmth and in-
timacy in his style of writing. And, needless to say, his writing is sat-
urated with Jewish knowledge.
The author deals with a wide variety of subjects—political, cultur-
al, social and literary—and his observations on each of them are in-
teresting. Especially valuable are his essays on Ben-Gurion, Sholom
Aleichem, the poet Itzik Marger, the Noel Prize winner S. J. Agnon
and others.
JNF Official Says Govt. Plan to Sell
Its Land Will Encourage Speculation
JERUSALEM (JTA)—The Jew-
ish National Fund is embroiled in
a controversy with the Israel gov-
ernment over the latter's plan to
make state-owned and JNF lands
available for sale.
Herman L. Weisman, president
of the JNF of America, claimed
at a news conference here that
the government's proposal amount-
ed to a "breach of trust" and was
vigorously opposed by the JNF.
The JNF, the land acquisition
and reclamation agency of the
world Zionist movement, was
founded 70 years ago and ranks
second only to the government as
the largest landholder in Israel.
The JNF operates on the principle
that the land of Israel is the 'prop-
erty of the Jewish people" and
can never be sold.
Occupants of JNF land hold
leases which must be renewed
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
14-4ridey, Miriam 29, 1971
Similar Goals Tie Jewish Students
of l arly 1900 , ith Today's Youth
every 49 years. A 1960 act by
the Knesset applied the same
non-saleable principle to state-
owned land. But the government
is now trying to have the act
rescinded.
The matter has been under dis-
cussion in the Land Administration
Authority, a joint government-JNF
body on which the government -has
seven representatives, including
the chairman, Minister of Agricul-
ture Chaim Gvati, and the JNF,
six.
The authority can alter the land-
holding principle by simple ma-
jority vote. Weisman claimed that
converting the land from lease-
hold to freehold would encourage
land- speculation and profiteering.
He said the sale orthe land would
not bring in the large sums of
money originally anticipated by
the government planners.
WALTH 3
compara-
tive analyst
Jewish student
groups in the early 1900s and the
present by the American Jewish
Historical Society shows that Jew-
ish college youth were seeking
similar goals—a search for Jewish
identity, Jewish studies at univer-
sities, fostering Jewish religious
and cultural ideals, security for
the state of Israel and freedom for
persecuted brethren overseas.
An exhibit on student move-
ments at the headquarters and
library of the 79-year-old Historical
Society shows that today's young
Jew engages in greater social
action concerns, both Jewish and
non-Jewish, and, unlike his pre-
decessor, shows a willingness to
use militant approaches to achieve
his goal.
Most early Jewish student move-
ments languished under voluntary
leadership until the formation of -
the Bnai Brith Hillel Foundation
in 1923 at the University of
Illinois. With professional assist-
ance, organized programming and
financing, the Hillel Foundation
created Jewish cultural programs,
publications and other activities.
Currently, a number of Inde-
pendent Jewish student organi-
zations have developed ea col-
lege campuses. They publish
between 35 and 40 newsapers an
over the country. These groups
are particularly active in the
cause of Soviet Jewry and work-
ing for Israel, but are equally
as involved in campus peace and
civil rights movements.
Bernard Wax, executive director
of the Historical Society, estimated
that there are 50,000 Jewish col-
lege students engaged in thehe in-
dependent campus organizations.
"Some itudents," he said, "who
do not desire any identity with
regularly associated Jewish activi-
ties have become part of the New
Left movement, frequently espous-
ing violent anti-Zionist and anti-
Jewish ideologies."
Wax indicated that no figures are
available on bow many Jewish
students are engaged in New Left
groups . because "not only are their
views negative, but they frequently
hide their. Jewish identity."
The first- Jewish campus body
in the United States was the Zeta
Beta Tau fraternity, founded in
1898, under the name Zion Be-
mishpat Tippadeh, to foster the
study of Jewish history. and cut=
ture. Other Jewish groups formed
during thtat period included Zion-
ist societies at the College of the
City of New York, 1902, and at
Harvard and Columbia in 1905;
The University Jewish Literary
Society at Minnesota, -1903; The
Ivrim ("Hebrews") at the Uni-
verity of Illinois, and the Society
for. the Study of Jewish Literature
at the University of Texas, both ni
1907; the Hebraic Club at Yale,
1909; and. the Caliphs Club to
Examine Jewish Culture and Other
Questlions, at the University of
California in- 1910.
In 1906, a group of Jewish stu-
dents at Harvard University estab-
lished the Menorah Society for the
study and promotion of Hebraic
culture and ideals. A propectus
on display at the Historical So-
ciety shows that these students
sought to maintain the Jewish
identity of their peers through the
study of Hebrew, and the ristory,
science. religion, art, literature
and politics of the Jewish people.
The Menorah Society quickly
spread to other campuses so that
by January 1913 more than 10
groups had formed. A total of 30
groups were organized before the
Menorah Society dissolved in June
1963.
The Menorah Society of the
University of Minnesota_ carried
.,"; FREDERIC PEARSON, son of
Mr. and Mrs. Harry Pearson of
Kingston Ave., Huntinetan Woods,
has received his PhD in political
science from - the Uniiersity of
Michigan- He is teaching interna-
tional relations at the'•UniierSitY
of Missouri In St: Ltilds;
out the Jewish ideal of social
service by teaching new immi-
grants the English language. All
of the Menorah groups actively
worked toward the estblishment
of Menorah Chairs of Jewish
History and Culture on their
campuses.
Another youth organization, The
League of Jewish Youth of Ameri-
caca, held its first mass meeting
on Sunday afternoon, April 22,
1917, at the Century Theatre in
New York City.
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