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.