Encyclopedia Judaica Defines
Lag ha- Omer's Historic Factors
Lag ba-Omer, to he observed on
May 2. is the 33rd day of the count-
ing of the timer, which is reckoned
from the second day of Passover
until Shavuot. It occurs on the 18th
day of lyar (occurmg this year on
May 21 and has been celebrated as
a semiholiday since the time of the
georum (in Lag ha Omer the tradi-
tional mourning customs of absten-
tion kept during the Omer period
are lifted haircutting and shaving
are permitted, marriages are cele-
brated, and other sorts of entertain-
ment. e g music, enjoyed. The Sep-
hatch ritual permits haircuts and
shaving only on the day following
Lag ha Omer, i:e: the 34th of
Omer.
hinical students in the Middle Ages
(The "Scholar's festival - I. It was
customary to rejoice on that day
through various kinds of merry-
making.
The new Encyclopedia Judaica
article explains:
Called Hillula de-Rabbi Shimon
bar Yohai, it is celebrated in Israel
in the silage of Meron (near Safed)
where Simeon b. Yohai is tradition-
ally buried. The celebrations are
carried out with songs and dances
by the thousands who gather there.
A special hymn, Bar Yohai . . .
Ashrekha, consisting of 10 stanzas
corresponding to the ten Sefirot in
the Kabala, is sung on this occa-
sion. Three-year-old boys are given
their first haircut (halaka) while
their parents distribute wine and
sweets. The same rites are observed
at the grave of Simon the Just, in
Jerusalem.
According to talmudic and mid-
rashic sources. 24.000 disciples of
R. AkRa died of a plague during
the period between Passover and
Shavuot because they did not suffi-
ciently honor one another. Some
emended texts read that the stu-
dents died ad peros ha-azeret
("until close to Shavuot"). The
plague ceased on the day of Lag
ba-Omer which, consequently . , be-
came a holiday, especially for rah-
1D7
n'1y1 rm.; N'77 1D:
"nrn rip
.a`Fiir?
771vo1rr rn- r r17122
r-r - Tory n5n 5711 -ry ,1D'
7;1 '7, N71." - ynx=
2-1t. nr.1D:7
■
"7 -1117 1
17 -IF
trre7D7t
a-1Mo
7711 lin
'R Ix-nn
nip ri.4tc1
14"n;1 1 . 7771
174`, 1.735rr
717'.77::
l'IN
Isi"221 ry•
'7??4
.7, - 71'787:1"2DD1V: 17177
rr-I?
,Ern -In
in: "n;
1.:": 7 • IV?111 0'117
- lt)n
- (7-1nx)
P ,1'' Lrp;rr
1171 1171
1rr4im
rrnrn
n - nrrrr
.71Yr1 1
ro"7.
.177 1" - .).77 071017
?"
,/r7711Ir ,1
1rt: atilxcri
.in:
50 ':D'? 1x17^ 1D7i
,—(
ninytnri
.n^nrt - '7n -r;:r
17 -12 , -11 -)r- jri 1-17prt7p /7
n"." -1177
r2.;7tinn
iterp
r1-;rz .rrn rr? 1Hr?1 ,71?.11
niv^3n nIt3
M - 1-17 . L77171
Intr,r
r■ '1=1: rr-!? rinTtt?)
52—Friday, April 21, 1972
The custom of children playing
with a bow (Heb. keshet) and
arrows on Lag ba-Omer is traced
by certain scholars to the legend
that the ratnbow (Het.. Keshet), a
symbol of peace (Gen. 9:11-17).
dui not appear during the life-
time of Simeon b. Yohai, because
he was such a saintly man. Others
associate this custom with the
above-mentioned story about the
students of R. Akiva who, it is
suggested, actually fell fighting
against the Romans in the revolt
led by Bar Kokhba.
Lag Ea-Omer in modern Israel is
a school holiday. Youngsters light
bonfires in open spaces in towns
and villages and Students' Day is
celebrated on the campuses of the
different universities. The scores
of weddings held on Lag ba-Omer
add to the festive character of this
semi holiday.
Hebrew Corner
Jaffa
Jaffa is one of the oldest cities
in Israel and also of the world.
- rn
T71 ,
According
to the homiletic
exegesis of Exodus 16, the manna
began to fall on Lay ba Omer,
giving another reason for the
holiday. The l'turgy for this day
is the regular prayer service for
weekdays. except that the Taha-
nun prayer is omitted. The kaba-
lists attached particular signifi-
cance to Lag ba-Omer. They hold
this date to be the anniversary
of the death of Simeon b. Yohai,
regarded by them as the author
of the Zohar.
Long is the history of Jaffa, the
port city in the heart of the an-
cient East.
The Philistines offered in Jaffa
prayers to Dagon. Merchants from
?Arlon brought into the harbor their
light vessels. King Solomon brought
cedar trees from Lebanon, for the
building of the Holy Tempi e.
through this port. Jonah, the proph-
et, fled, by way of Jaffa, from God.
Persians, Greeks and Romans
brought soldiers through Jaffa port,
and filled the whole East—till India
and till Kush (Africa I—and took
out wine, oil and wheat through
the port.
In the days of the Mishna and
Talmud, Jewish scholars lived in
the city of Jaffa. The Arabs, the
Crusaders, the Turks and the En-
glish came and left, they, too,
through the gates of Jaffa.
From Jaffa, 50 years ago, 60
families went out and founded the
city of Tel-Aviv.
During the War of Liberation,
most of the Arab inhabitants fled
from the city, and many immi-
grants, from all countries of the
world, filled the abandoned city
and found a home in it.
Again ships are reaching the
port, and life has returned to Jaffa.
Translation of Hebrew column. pub
fished by the Brit Ivrtt. Otani , Jeru-
aalem.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Meyer Levin's 'The Settlers' Reconstnicts Early
Zionist History, Links Pioneering With Fiction
Historic facts need to he per-
and recalled frequently.
Israel is a typical example of such
a need. So much is happening in
Israel, there are so many new
developments. the miracles of the
resistance to threats from border
nations and the realities of sur-
vival have accumulated so much
current interest that the past is
almost forgotten.
Meyer Levin helps retain a great
interest in the pioneering days.
Ile has written a new novel, "The
Settlers," which Simon and Schus-
ter has published in an impres-
sive 850-page book. It's one of
his very large novels and it will
be read with great interest be-
cause it not only tells a good story
—narrating not only the family
interests. .the love aspects, the
idealism of settlers in a denuded
land — it reconstructs historical
data that relates to the struggles
that were part of establishing roots
for what was to become the state
petuated
MEI ER LEVIN
desire to trace historical everits.
The conception of "The Settlers"
began in 1927 when Levin returned
to Chicago from his first stay at
a kibutz He met a young student
from Palestine who regaled him
with stories of his family Who
were early settlers along the Jor-
dan. Using such a fictional fiarn-
ily, Levin brings to life the fort-na-
tive period from 1901 to 1920
when the foundations of Israel
were laid down. The book encom-
passes a quarter of a century - of
turbulent events: the hardshipf of
the first Jewish pioneers, the
spasmodic tyranny of the Turkish
overlords, the blighted relation-
ship between neighboring Jews
and Arabs, the vast upheaval of
the First World War and the Rus-
of Israel.
Levin takes his readers
through the early years of Zion-
ist activities, tracing the events
that marked the Second Aliya,
reviewing the initial difficulties
encountered with the Arabs and
the agonies of those who, un-
trained in the pursuits of agri-
cultural endeavors, found a way
through their devotion to the
Zionist idea, to Eretz Israel. to
prophetic ambitions, to love the
land with a great passion, to re-
create the devotion to it, to sian Revolution and the creation
labor for its redemption.
of a Jewish fighting force.
Indeed,
"The Settlers" is an
Naturally, the early years of
historical analysis of what had Jewish re-settlement in Palestine
happened in what had been Pales- subjected the colonists to Turkish
tine at the turn of the century. rule, and the role of the Turk is
Levin reminds his readers about described by Levin in considerable
The Baron—the labors of Baron detail. The activities of the Aaron-
Edmond de Rothschild who helped sons, the martyrdom of Sara
establish some of the earliest colo- Aaronson who was a spy forithe
nies. In the process, Levin takes British in World War I, the re-
his readers through the first set- fusal of Jews to collaborate With
tlements, he introduces them to the Turks in exposing the Oro-
Zichron Yaakov, to Tiberias, to British activists—these are part
Jaffa, he takes them to Jerusalem of the historical record linked with
and the Wailing Wall — his book the human factors in the Jewish
partially also is a travelogue but
on a much larger scale.
At the very outset he relates the
great difficulties newcomers to
Fretz Israel encountered when
they first came to the shores of
the Holy Land and were over-
whelmed by the greediness with
which the Arab shoremen in Jaffa
took hold of their possessions and
sought to get the most out of lead-
ing them from ship to shore. Old
settlers know the story, the pres-
ent generation needs to learn the
humiliations Jews first suffered
when they came to Palestine. Levin
relates the story.
redemption efforts,
The World War I experiences
are marked by the actions of the
Zion Mule Corps under the 'di-
rection of Colonel Patterson and
the formation of the Jewish:le-
gion by Vladimir Jabatinsky,
with the aid of Josef Trumpel-
dor, the one-armed, one-time
Russian war hero who became
a strong Zionist adherent and
was one of the great pioneers
among the settlers.
Introductory to the events that
marked the beginnings of Jewish
statehood, Levin's novel goes
through the era of the Balfour De-
claration and the rejoicing that
emerged over anticipated fulfill-
ment of prophecy and re-establish-
ment of Jewish national independ-
ence.
In all these details, merged with
love stories and struggles for ex-
istence, Meyer Levin has created
an outstanding work.
It would have been well for him
to he a bit more cautious in utiliz-
ing historical and traditional facts.
For instance: Kaiser Wilhelm, who
met in Palestine with Theodor
Herzl, was not a confirmed Zion-
ist and Herzl did not interpret
the Kaiser's actions as friendly
to the movement. The Germans
became pro- Z ionist when fighting
against Britain in World War I;
it was competition for Jewish
favor.
Then, in reference to the Bal-
four Declaration. Levin writes that
it was addressed to the Baron, to
Edmond. That's not so. It was sent
by Balfour to the British Lord
Rothschild.
And to be questioned is such a
phrase as a return by one of the
characters in Levin's novel from
an "early Kaddish at the shut"
What's an early Kaddish?
Nevertheless. "The Settlers" is
an important work. undoubtely the
first in a series of significant his-
torical novels on Zionism, Pale-
stine, Israel and world Jewry.
The new Meyer Levin story is
an old one which emerges as a
very new narrative thanks to the
skill of a writer who has mastered
the knolwedge necessary to deal
with a Middle East and Zionist
theme. His characters are fictiti-
ous in the book, but they are based
on a real family—an entire group
that settled in what was Palestine
and whose pioneering is treated as
legendary but is nevertheless very
real because there are survivors
from the original pattern on which
"The Settlers" is based. That's
what makes "The Settlers" a real-
istic tale of an era that merits the
attention given it by a distinguished
writer.
The entire large work is a well
written love and action story, a
combination of life under duress
in the struggle for national re-
demption. The links with historical
facts are mainly very good. Levin
will have an interested and ad-
miring reading public for his good
novel, "The Settlers." P.S.
Segel, Mrs. Rodman Lauded With Trees
In relation to the Arabs, how-
ever, he also tells the tales that
were spun by eminent Jewish
leaders. He relates, for example.
one of the Arab stories that he
culls from the writings of one
of the earliest Jewish pioneers,
Moshe Smilansky, who was a
leader in conducting land pur-
chase transactions with Arabs.
Levin hardly misses a score in
recapitulating Zionist history. He
describes the labors of Prof.
Boris Schatz who established the
Bezalel Art School and the Bezalel
Museum, and he introduces one
of the most colorful of the early
pioneers, Aaron Aaronson, describ-
ing his discovery of wild wheat
for which he was honored by the
United States and other nations.
Naturally, he does not ignore
Chaim Weizmarns-and scores of
other leaders, and upon introduc-
ing a settler from Motol, in the
province of Pink in Russia, he
hastens to tell about Weizmann
also stemming from there. That's
how history is reconstructed by a
skillful novelist who also has a
Louis Segel (third from right), president of the Metropolitan
Detroit Bnai Brith Council, and Mrs. Joseph Rodman (fourth from
left), president of the Women's Council of Bnai Brith, received
special honors at the sixth annual Baal Brith Presidents Brunch
Sunday at Cong. Beth Abrabam-11111e4, Mrs. Rodman and Segel
received certificates for groves of 1,000 trees each, which will be
planted In their honor in the Bnai Brith Martyrs Forest in Israel.
Shown with them are (from left) Percy Kaplan, executive director of
the JNF Michigan Region; Mrs. Charles Wolin, tribute and tree
chairman of the Women's Council; Mrs. Henry P. Onrich, co-chairman
of the event; Meyer Pesin, president of the JNF of America, guest
speaker; Louis E. Barden, co-chairman and toastmaster of the
brunch; and Max Lieberman, 118 Israel Martyrs Forest chairman of
the men's council. The event also served to honor lodge and chapter
presidents for their efforts on behalf of Bnai Brines Israel program.
Special awards were presented by the Jewish National Fund to
Mesdames Onrich, Rodman and Wolin; to Barden, Lieberman, Charles
Fink of Louis Marshall Lodge; Louis Kay of Albert Einstein Lodge;
Julius Berkowitz, Zager-Stone; and Dennis Rice, executive director of
Metropolitan Detroit Bnai Brith.