Epic Story Recreated by 2 Researchers
Dr. Jacob Marcus' Study Spotlights
Postal and Levy Write Historically Factual, Founder of World Reform Judaism
D r. Jacob
R. Marcus, pri- And in the Jewish commun - sincerity of purpose that is
Impressive Volume, 'The Day Israel Was Born ' marily
known as the Ame ri- ity he introduced the Reform acknowledged by Dr. Marcus.
can Jewish historian, has to service, and he gained influ
The importance of Dr. Mar-
his credit an important b io- ence among many Jews. His
graphy, the reprinting of activities with Christians won cus' review of the Reform
which, at this time, by Kt av for him the position of being Jewish pioneer's efforts lies
Publishing Co., merits s pe- "the first Jew in the king not only in the story of Israel
Jacobson but also in the fact
cial attention.
dom" in Westphalia. He was that the distinguished scholar
In "Israel Jacobson—Th e not even a citizen when he
provides a resume of the rise
There is special interest in
Founder of the Reform Mov e- came to Berlin, yet he was
of the great Reform Jewish
the internal struggles that arc
ment in Judaism," Dr. Ma r- looked to for leadership, he
scholars,
of Leopold Zunz
inevitable in a struggle for
cus not only reconstructs t he commenced to take an inter-
and others. The philosophic
freedom.
Is it true that
life and accomplishments of est in the education of Jew-
and historical analyses of Re-
Moshe Sharett (Shcrtok) op-
the hero of the biograph y, ish children, he helped pre-
posed the declaration of
but he also makes importa at vent the staging of an anti- form Judaism, its background
They prove their mastery
and
the subsequent progres-
Israel's independence at the
comments on the Refor m Jewish satire.
of reportorial skill in th e
sive efforts , lend special sig-
ar
Jewish movement and ad ds
book they produced jointly • time it was promulgated in
the firm action that was tak-
It was in 1815, for the Bar nificance of Dr. Marcus' his-
to the knowledge about i is
"And the Hills Shouted for
en by David Ben-Gurion on
Mitzva of his son, that Jacob- torical record of a pioneer
development in this descri
Joy: The Day Israel Was
that historic day of .May 14,
P- son introduced his Reform and the movement that has
tive work.
Born," just published by
1948? Sharett is exonerated.
service, Hebrew prayers in- now grown to immense pro-
David McKay.
Prof.
Marcus
wrote
t
In fact, it is indicated how
Here is a sample of how Jacobson story on the 1001 "' termingled with German, portions in Jewish ranks.
Dr. Marcus' book was pub-
For background material Dr. Chaim Weizmann urged one well-known newsman's anniversary of the death h held as a private home ser-
on Israel, the history of him to be firm, unyielding, name got into this book. The the pioneer in Reform Jud of vice. It met with success, but lished by Hebrew Union Col-
a"
lege
Press and is being dis-
pursue
the
now
-
or
-
never
because
it was not a Syria-
Zionism, the evolutionary
authors tell about notices of ism, in 1928. The 200th anal
factors in the struggle for stand for statehood.
Israel's Declaration of rode. versary of the birth of Isra : gogue service it was banned tributed by Ktay.
ei by the king. They resumed on
statehood, this volume earns
pendence went out to the na-
Then there is the role of tions of the world. The Isra- Jacobson was in 1968, an d Rosh Hashana of 1816 whe...?
% "1"2:'77 ".1V7
top 'honors.
• •
Dr. Nahum Goldman. He ha d eli secretaries did not know that's when Dr. Marcus a r- authorities recognized , e
ranged
the
reprinting
of
the
17: trj -. N3
A NATION REBORN
reservations. He advocate d how to spell
new temple as an interim-
"Reykjavik." biography nd th
caution. He was willing t o
synagogue.
At
the
outset
it
So,
the
book
states:
"With
no
Even the keenest Zionist wait, and he believed that
the birth of Reform Judaism • was a
1 7.? alP
traditional, mostly He-
historian will be glued to this there had been a delay ther i f atlas or encyclopedia avail.
Traced in this book is th
in1n5 vnt--arn - 4r1
book until it has been read might have developed strong e able, a minor crisis was Orthodox Jewish backgroun e brew, service, except that the
- from cover to cover because er Arab-Jewish relations. I - averted only by the appear. of Jacobson, but he was in d piyutim were reduced and
n.xlip ins?? ,341 nirx
the authors have not emitted fact, Postal and Levy Inter ▪ ance of Francis Offner, cor- fluenced by the Enlighten - instead of "the days of the
- Messiah" they read "the
- respondent of the London Ob.
a fact of importance in
•
-nart n -rn- rthix
viewed him for a statemen I server and the Christian Set- ment and his attitude on Jew - days of the redemption."
gathering the data for what they utilized in their book
ish matters was apologetic
emerges as a history of a Goldman believed that wa • ence Monitor who knew the Enlightenment, classicism
1pan
Jinn
ni171nn 1519
These
were
the
efforts
of
nation reborn and the move- could have been averted by ✓ correct spelling." So, Offner deism were the movement ; a man who "had no sound
n:cr
1
ment that brought it to life. "deferment" of the state got into the book.
947
Ntcfn crntinn
that clashed or aroused dif knowledge of the ideals of
Much that might otherwise hood declaration. Apparently
Homer Bigart gave status fering views, and in Jacob Judaism or of its history and Irry 1960 1137i3 152i1 ,4000
be forgotten is incorporated b e continued to believe that to the New York Times in the son's case there were the ra development." But it was a
in this good book. There is no course of events. would have years of Israel's struggles tionalistic prejudices again st
-
- rvn
"non
doubt that the British won't been changed by waiting for with his important cabled "authority and the ceremon - Hebrew Corner
-
like it. It is an expose of urther negotiations with the stories and the Bigart name ial of normative Jewish tra
'Ctin .1VC1 50,000
dition."
antagonisms, o f obstacles Arabs.
gets added significance with
rnx5 I5111:7 1D'711.1 ❑ rnt
The views of the hero of
placed in the path of state-
Ben-Gurion's attitude was the author's quotation from this tale present an interest-
builders by the nation that d ifferent. His view was that a poem Clifton Daniel wrote
With
the
establishment
of
1"13
071 .713',C77 a p 'fin
ing study of a man with deep
was privileged to have the srael's new existence
in Bigart's honor.
• 7
be-
convictions who "was a loyal the State of Israel the city of
assignment to help rebuild g an in 1918, that in 1948 it
3
a "1]31
trpntn
Jew who wished at all times Beersheba became the center I il aa
TRUMAN'S ROLE
Jewish nationhood. At the w
as "just a question of fill-
to preserve severely the re- of the Negev area, and is
Mr:pe time, there is cause for in g in the corners."
- nn ,mantz
An item of special inter- ligious distinctiveness of the therefore called "The Negev • •
pride on the part of all Jews
est is the space devoted to Jew." But in his early stages Capital." The city Brew very 10
in the knowledge that the
tinz
-)73
WEIZMANN SHUNNED
President Truman's role in he wanted Jews to recognize quickly. The number of in- "-man
• •
• 1'I13
"
• 7 :
people of Israel did not
the Middle East crises. The t he French liberalism and to habitants in 1947 was 4,000, 01
falter in redeeming the land
Among the depressing in-
-mann
,C1'71'73
n-n,trni
while in 1960 it reached
to rnal developments was the authors deal at length with be drawn closer to the citi- 50,000.
of Israel.
The inhabitants of /3 i 1x
,7,
70 le of Chaim Weizmann. He the activities of Truman's zenry among which they Beersheba
31bin5
n71:471)
are
immigrants
Thus, the vast amount of h ad not been invited to be friend Eddie Jacobson. They lived.
who came to the country jj •
factual material in the Zion- a mong the signers of the De- reveal, however, that another
r-rr
1'3
ninnpnr.i
The various stages in Ja- after the establishment o f
of Truman's war buddies
ist history, the roles of the cl aration of Independ
cobson's life, as the son of a the state. They live in build-
non-Jews who became in- H e never forgot it, Ver a Herman Rosenberg, who also wealthy father, self-taught
•
-
7111P .mrtlyr1
volved in the historic task of W eizmann never forgave it, had access to the White but with a Jewish elementary ing projects, of modern con-
struction, surrounded by gar- II
Israel's redemption, the Am- th e views of Meyer W. Weis- House, may have done more education, a
111
1; 3711 3:3 i 1173
native of the
ericans share in the great ga I, Weizmann's closes t for Israel by interceding with Prussian city of Halberstadt dens. Large business and in- ,,,
3333
Yr17
struggle for Zionist support fri end, are constantly drawn Truman than even Jacobson. who later established many dustrial centers were set up
'29n r";71:-1
which supply a livelihood for 11
and the eventual emergence u pon to indicate the occur- In this connection, the dif- important relationships in
nr:
the
inhabitants.
ni-ra5
5?-)ri
However
the
of the state and the U.S. sup- re nces as they affected ficulties that were encoun- Brunswick, Westphalia and
development of the city did
port—all are so thoroughly Is rael, her leaders, the tered in getting Truman to finally in Berlin.
rry ,n1
not come to an end. The
researched and so well re- fri endships and certain ani- see Weizmann, the interces-
It
was
in
1806
that
he
for-
ported that the Postal-Levy m osities that are inevitable sion of Jacobson and Rosen- mulated a program for the development of Eilat, the 1; 714
714" - TC7 C17 '3C5
gateway
to
the
south,
the
volume may well earn su- in a pc,titical era that was berg, the amicability that de- "modern" Jew—as Dr. Mar-
expansion of the work in the ‘-isr7
premacy in the search for --m arked by certain differing veloped—the details related cus defines It, "the Jew who mines in the
naan
n ,xi-rzn
Negev, and the
here provide background for
knowledge about the historic vie WS.
refuses to live the life of the building of the railway to .0 , rinp
1717i
istorical records of the past
11CV
- 1x=3
day of Israel's rebirth, the
cut off from the world Sodom and Eilat. will give
even's that preceded and
Perhaps the most impres- ense times for Zionism.
about him." Jacobson sought another push to the develop-
n7 pit'?
those that followed it. Be- sive factor about the Postal-
support from Napoleon to ment of the city.
cause the book gives thorough , Levy history is the manner t By going thoroughly into grant freedom to Jews in
Tr71:nryi4in
he Truman aspect of the Is-
Before the establishment of
r aeli story, the authors ren- Germanic territories and he the state, the Bedouins of the 0
presented his appeal in a Negev would hold special
tZt:=D
ered a good service.
book "The First Steps of the market days in Beersheba.
•
,n5n
mn
Not only have Postal and .7 ewish Nation Toward Hap-
.
7
=
To this market they would
Levy taken into account the Pi ness Under Auspices of the bring their produce: seeds,
Zivl 73 ,nip-'
roles of politicians and jour- G reat Monarch Napoleon."
sheep, camels, and trade
nalists, and of the Zionist
While he constantly sought them for coffee, salt, tea, lg nn
n2-Tnn
nip taxi?
leadership of the world, but el ose relationships with non- vegetables, textiles and other
in their "Epilogue" they list Je ws. Jacobson is described merchandise.
1CDR ,1113t77 C'):17C 711111
the communities that had by Dr. Marcus as "always
After the setting up of the ?: tin ,n ,xi
celebrated Israel's independ- Je wish." He dealt with, had
-r37 nx nix15
ence with great pomp. De- co mmunications with, nobil- state, the market was re-
opened.
Twice weekly, Bed- /-)') sinn
troit's historic celebration on ity , the rulers and men high
C"3411"typ
,naFf
the playfield of Central High in Christian ranks, and while ouins living in the Negev
School also is recorded. ap pearing as assimilating he can be seen roaming the
vnt
-
ixn
w as the proud pleader for streets of Beersheba and buy-
•••-.)
Postal and Levy have ful- eq uality and rights for the ing goods.
• ninny nnnnn 'D
filled an important mission Je w.
According to the develop- to , 17771
2 07=
with their interesting book.
nr -rnn
'The Israel Jacobson whom ment plan for the cities of
It is full of facts, fig- we knew as a Jewish eman• the state, Beersheba will, in
t-
nxn
u r e s, personality delinea- ci pator, educator and Ten-
,nininpr_r
the next 20 years be an -
tions, revelations of rumors gi ons reformer had
during important industrial city. Its
.nnivn 11"trtn7r1 1 437
and realities. It's a good book W estphallan days another main industry will be based
-
and it will serve researchers sid e to his being." Dr.
on the chemical and building
Mar-
t7171:1 7 171 1 0 ;g 7 71 nr1"7Fri
into Israel and Middle East ea s explains. He played an material connected with the
HENRY W. LEVY
BERNARD POSTAL
history as well as any book im portant part in the piddle mines in the Negev.
nweirni
already available on the sub- life of the state apart from Translation of Hebrew column
4$ — Friday, JCL 19, 1973
THE DETROIT HYMN NEWS ject. —P. S. his Jewish work ..."
parti4
jentated
h..inc the Brit Ivrit Olarnit,
=3371 'nsnnn
Bernard Postal, one of the
ablest research men in the
Jewish public relations and
journalistic field, and Henry
W. Levy, the top pr man
in the world Zionist move-
ment, are known as good re-
porters with a keen sense for
the most newsworthy de-
velopments on the Jewish
scene.
coverage to the War of Inde-
pendence as much as it does
to the Arab-Jewish contro-
versies and battles and the
Jewish-British confrontations.
in which the authors describe
news coverage of all aspects
of Israel's wars, the struggles
with the British, the emer-
gence of statehood. Their his-
tory of "The Day Israel Was
Born" also is a history of
journalism in Israel. Nearly
every correspondent of news-
papers in the United States,
and some from Britain, is
given a spot here. The book
is like a bibliography of jour-
nalism anent Israel. In fact,
a title of one of the book's
c h a p ter s is "Telling the
World."
av
rQY;:i 171r1t77 714.
o.ntinn
Beersheba
nirt:; 1
n'a
,15,x51
nx trx,nn
a"
mri
rrn ,371
ni-nzoRti
(f`blAn
, 11•11N ring NM:13)