Purely Commentary
The Questionable Mission of Irrational
Leadership . . . Kahane's Credo Rejected .. .
Interesting Facts About Herzl and Nordau
By Philip
Slomovitz
Addenda to the Theodor Herzl and Max Nordau Stories
Facing Realities—El Fatah Abroad and Here
Our very able and well-informed London correspondent, Josef
Fraenkel, sends us some interesting facts about Theodor Herzl. They
serve as an addendum to the story about the hotel in Paris where the
father of political Zionism wrote "The Jewish State." Fraenkel writes:
There was a fluttering of white flag in the hands of fleeing El Fatah adherents who
were seeking asylum in Israel. They were running away from the death-threats that came
from fellow-Jordanians who were operating on orders from King Hussein to round up his
opponents. But while El Fatah was in flight from Jordanians, a misguided editor on the
Wayne State University campus was renewing an anti-Israel pro-Fatah campaign. It was an
echo of the brief period during which an anti-Israel campaign in the WSU paper assumed
a vile anti-Semitic attitude.
But as in the earlier experience, the current endorsement of the El Fatah terrorists
cannot be long-lived. WSU authorities have undoubtedly learned from the earlier shocks
to decency that were given by misguided editors. And the student body at WSU as well as
its administrators have earned better credit for good sense than Fatah propagators would
give them credit for. We have confidence in the sense of justice of WSU administrators.
"When Herzl first arrived in Paris he stayed at Hotel Ras-
tatt, in the rue Douon quarter, Paris.
"When his family arrived in Paris he moved to 8 rue de
Monceau. At the beginning of 1895, when he wrote "The Jewish
State," he lived in Hotel Castille, 37 rue Cambon, Paris. In 1961,
a plaque was affixed to the building commemorating that historic
prophecy of Jewish statehood.
—
The White Flag of Asylum-Seekers
"In Vienna, Herzl lived at 29 Haizingergasse, Vienna XVIII.
The headquarters of the Zionist Organization and of the official
Zionist organ, Die Welt, were at 9 Tuerkenstrasse, Vienna IX.
tions, like Russia, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Germany? That's
Here, too, a plaque has been affixed stating that the Zionist head- questionable. But his plan was logical, in view of what had happened
quarters were once here.
only 15 years later: the Nordau demand could have saved many of the
"Later a Zionist student group, 'Die Juedische Rede and Six Million!
Lesehalle,' held meetings there, and it also served as a center
Max Nordau was among those who believed Jews should learn
where the students could have access to Jewish papers. I myself
to defend themselves. He was the advocate of muscular Judaism!
frequently made use of it.
"Herzl was buried at the Doeblinger Friedhof, Vienna XIX,
and on 20 Tamuz—date of his death—thousands of Jews would
visit his grave. Earth from the Holy Land was placed under
Here's head.
"After the state of Israel was established, Herzl's remains
were re-interred in Jerusalem, Aug. 17, 1949.
"When Herzl was in London he stayed at the Cecil Hotel in
the Strand or at the Langham Hotel (now part of the BBC).
"on November 21, 1895, Herzl visited London for the first
time on Zionist matters. His first call was on Israel Zangwill in
Oxford Road, Kilburn, and here, a few years ago, a plaque was
affixed on the suggestion of the Israel Zangwill Centenary Com-
mittee."
As we had indicated after meeting with Nordau's daughter, Maxa
Nordau, in Paris, the prominent lady pursues many of her father's
ideals. She is a dedicated Zionist who is presently pursuing her
painting career in Israel. She writes well in both English and her
native tongue—French. She joins every effort to overcome anti-Semi-
tism.
Josef Fraenkel informs us that Maxa Nordau's portrait of her
father was hung in the Weizmann Room in Zionist headquarters on
Great Russell Street in London and is still to be seen at Rex House
in London's Lower Regent Street. Fraenkel also tells us:
"'Vladimir Jabotinsky once asked her to illustrate a Hebrew
textbook for children, a book on good and bad manners. One of
her drawings illustrated how not to eat fish—with one's fingers.
To Evans and Novak
and Detroit News:
Is This the Way
to Seek the Truth ?
People have a right to be
pro-Arab.
They have the right to be
anti-Israel.
We reject anyone's assump
tion to be anti-Arab.
Would that all our fellow
men were pro-Israel! •
When we differ it should
be ideologically.
Therefore, when truth is
The Herzl story retains many fascinations for Jews everywhere,
Maxa Nordau designed the book jacket for Prof. Mair Ben-Horin's distorted, ideological and hu-
and, especially, of course, for Zionists and for Israelis. He was the
biography of Max Nordau. It showed him against a background with
modern prophet who had confidence in a redeemed Eretz Israel.
man approaches are abused.
a Magen David.
"Nordau was more conscious of his Jewish background than
Herzl. He had a smattering of Hebrew and could speak Yiddish
and possessed an intimate knowledge of the Jewish way of life.
His father was a Hebrew teacher who was highly respected as a
Hebrew grammarian and a poet, and who had a marked influence
upon his son's character. The incentive to write came from his
father. When he entered the university and began the study of
medicine, he freed himself from the authority of religion and
tradition. He was an emancipated Jew. His intellectual life had
passed out of the Jewish environment. He rid himself of pro-
vincial conceptions and became a man of the world. He was an
analyst, a critic, a moralist. He diagnosed all social ills and
challenged all standards. Society was strapped to his operating
table and he reported, without fear or favor, on whatever disease
his scalpel revealed. He was essentially a physician and scientist.
He was proud of his calling and paid homage to no authority but
his own conscience.
Herzl's closest associate in the Zionist movement was Dr. Max
Nordau.- How did the two get together? The late Louis Lipsky had
written a tribute to Nordau on the 100th anniversary of his birth, in
1959, and in it he related their "encounter," revealing the following
facts:
"Nordau's friendly reception of Herzl was, therefore, most
unusual and indeed surprising. The keen analyst should have seen
through him. He should have paid attention to Herzl's excitement,
his exaltations and depressions, his self-depreciation and doubt.
In other words, he should have appraised him as a patient, and
everything said and how it was said should have been taken as
material by the psychiatrist. But nothing of the sort happened.
The two men talked for three days in succession! Nordau gave
Herzl, as Herzl reported, a lightning-like understanding. The older
man had a strange paternal feeling toward the younger man who
was struggling with an inner revolution. When the talks were
over Nordau said: 'You may be mad, but if you are, I am as mad
as you.'
"It may be this encounter, coming at a time of public excite-
ment over the Dreyfus Case, made Nordau more sensitive to Herzl's
psychic disturbances; released impulses of his own youth for-
gotten on his way to 'emancipation.' The critic may have seen in
Herzl the burning zeal of the martyred prophet and was dazzled by
its incandescence. From that day on, Nordau became Herzl's most
loyal and serviceable friend. He had received a gift of a new faith.
As Nordau said later, Zionism gave his life 'its aim and content.'
He was no longer the emancipated man of letters. He was no longer
alien to the hopes and aspirations of his own people. He was the
captive of Herzl's mission. No matter what difference arose between
him and Herzl—and there were many—Nordau was always tolerant
and forebearing, often aiding in spite of disagreement, always
loyal and affectionate. He was never part of the organizational
structure of Zionism, preferring to maintain his personal inde-
pendence. He was the ablest and most pugnacious interpreter of
Herzlian Zionism, fighting off the influence of the 'practical
Zionists' many years after Herzl passed away."
The Nordau story is incomplete without accounting for the great
leader's demand,. in 1920, that there should be a mass migration of
Jews into Palestine to assure the security of the Jewish community
in Eretz Israel and the assurance of a speedy creation of a Jewish
majority there. At one point he demanded that 30,000 a month be
settled in the Jewish homeland that was to be established in accord-
ance with the British pledge of cooperation embodied in the Balfour
Declaration; and there were some reports that he demanded the mass-
ing of 500,000 Jews for Palestinian settlement. Could he have secured
Jewish support from prospective settlers in Palestine in spite of the
anti-Semitic trends of that time in countries with large Jewish popula-
2—Friday, July 30, 1971
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Later, Jabotinsky told her that her illustrations had been so ef-
fective that her children learned—the wrong manners . . ."
Maxa's works often appear in magazines as well as on paintings
in the world's major museums.
These addenda supplement the stories that help define the lives of
Herzl and Nordau. These stories are never complete. There is a vast
literature relating to Herzl and Nordau, and their names, imperishable
in Jewish history, will crop up again from time to time as a revival of
interest in great personalities and the great Zionist idea they helped
mold so effectively.
*
*
A Rabbi . . . Muscular Judaism . . . Irresponsibility
Two terms need defining: rabbi and muscular Judaism. Because
one person has assumed to link the two and to set out on a warpath,
it is necessary that we understand the meanings of both terms.
Rabbi has a simple translation: teacher. In our traditions it has
a stronger aspect. We have been taught that if we learn from a person
he becomes our rabbi.
The late Dr. Max Nordau was an advocate of muscular Judaism.
In some areas it became necessary for Jews to resist attacks from
enemies in their midst. The samo-okhrana in Czarist Russia became
a vital self-defensive factor for the protection of life and limb, for
preventing destruction of Jewish property. There have been other areas
in which Jews found it necessary to protect themselves . . . The
examples of such experiences are legion.
Now we come to the man who is referred to as a rabbi, who
preaches violence, who now advocates a 22-caliber gun for every Jew.
We question the right of such a man to the title rabbi because
he advocates destruction. He has boasted of having brought to the
fore the Jewish issue. One would imagine that without him the world
would have been unaware of what was happening to Jews in the Soviet
Union. This is a falsehood. Meir Kahane used violent methods to pro-
test the Russian oppressions, but he had just a bit to do with the
notoriety of the case. As a matter of fact, it is now becoming evident
that in many respects the Jewish protests against Russian prejudices
toward our kinsmen in the USSR may have been reduced in their
efect upon public opinion because more attention was given to Kahane
than to Kahane's cause.
Is he deserving of the title rabbi—teacher ? We have begun to
doubt it because he teaches destruction rather than orderly approach
to our needs. He loses the right to the title because he preaches
destruction.
Is muscular Judaism necessary ? Yes, it is; Jews who are attacked
should be able and know how to defend themsel.s. But if, in our
free society, we condone advocacy of a gun for eery man, we are-
doomed ! This would be applicable to the dangers that face all citizens
in an unruly age and once every man begins to carry a gun we shall
surely see the guns put to use. Then we will surely be doomed !
Rational citizens keep pleading for gun control, but "Rabbi"
Kahane wants a gun for every Jew ! He has rendered us many dis-
services, yet we have pleaded for his right to speak and to express
his views. By his advocacy of violence he has begun to lose that right.
He becomes a menace to society and especially to the Jewish community.
He asks us to lose faith in our country's protective forces, and he
undermines good will. It should cause him and his ranks to become
gradually reducing minorities in our midst.
It will be a sad day for our people if we ever condone terrorism
in our midst and anything akin to advocacy of ruthlessness!
The protests against Russian persecutions will continue, but not
in the fashion to give the USSR's spokesmen the right to view us as
a wild people that is irrational in its planning. Heaven knows, we
need good leadership ! But we can't afford deluded, irrational, unprin-
ciples, self-appointed controllers of our fate ! Kahane abuses the
cipled, self-appointed controller of our fate! Kahane abuses the
right to be called "rabbi."
It is the distortion of truth
that causes us to ask Evans
and Novak and their publish-
er, the Detroit News: Why the
outrageous misrepresentation
of facts in the interview with
Hussein that was published on
Tuesday?
Our editorial (page 4, this
issue) was written before the
Rowland Evans-Robert Novak
outrageously misrepresenta-
tive essay was in print here.
The established facts, based
on available figures, presented
in this week's editorial, refute
all the statements quoted from
Hussein.
Did Evans and Novak go
far enough to get the facts
when they wrote about Hus-
sein's charge that 30,000
Christians were "pushed out,
driven out of" Jerusalem? If
it was necessary for them to
state: "The accuracy of that
claim could not be confirmed
here," why didn't they ask sta-
tisticians a mere 50 miles
away before maligning the
people of Israel?
It was an outrageous arti-
cle. It had been refuted
other cities where it was
lished before receiving the
play that was given it by the
Detroit News, and the authors
and their Detroit publisher
stand condemned for having
given credence to untruth,
for having harmed Israel and
thereby have insulted its
Jewish readers.
* * *
About Jerusalem: Noted
Christian's Testimony
The Rev. Dr. G. Douglas Young,
president of the American Insti-
tute of Holy. Land Studies,. Jeru-
salem:
"Those of us who visited these
`holy places' both before and
after 1967 can readily hear
testimony to the greater "pro-
tection' of the places and peo-
ples currently!'
,