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Golda Meir's Role Portrayed on Eve of Her 75th Birthday

Oral Autobiography of Israel's, World Jewry's First Lady

So much has been and is being written about Golda
Meir that her popularity, already having assumed inter-
national proportions, keeps mounting. That "an oral auto-
biography" should now be made available makes her life
story additionally significant because the facts are now
so much more authoritative.
This "oral autobiography," published by G. P. Put-
nam's Sons, is appropriately entitled "A Land of Our Own"
since it deals with the Israel prime minister's roles in Zion-
ism, the labor movement and Israel's rebirth.
Edited by Mrs. Meir's intimate friend, Marie Syrkin,
this autobiography gains added value in factuality.
This is a very timely work because Israel's prime
minister, born Golda Mabovitch, in Kiev, May 3, 1898,
will mark her 75th birthday just four days before Is-
rael's 25th anniversary on the civic calendar.
The new volume, replete with Mrs. Meir's statements
about herself, the movement to which she gave her life,
Israel's position in the world, mirrors events and the per-
sonality of the woman whose views combine to form a
chapter in Jewish history.
As Miss Syrkin explains in her foreword as editor,
"Mrs. Meir's most moving statements are not the formal
addresses at the Knesset or the United Nations but those
delivered extemporaneously during some crisis in Israel's
struggle for survival. Many of the pitces in this collection
fall' into, this category and, whether delivered in Hebrew.
English or Yiddish, have been rescued from the steno-
graphic records of the meeting at which they were given."
Prime Minister Meir is the ultra-realist. In the
opening chanter of her oral autobiography, entitled
"My Beginnings," she is frank about everything that
had happened to her, her family background, the
Socialist devotions, her Zionist yearnings, her activ-
ities in defiance of obstacles. It is a remarkable story
about the Mabovich family, her sister whose early
Zionist-Socialist affiliations had an influence upon her,
the devotions of parents, her marriage which was con-
ditional upon their settling in Palestine.
It was not an easy life. There were struggles while
settling down in a kibutz. It was not easy getting into one.
Nowhere, however, does one find complaint: Golda was
the genuine halutza who could not be deterred from her
Zionist goals.
Therefore, the story of struggle and determination at-
tests to the genius of the woman who rose to greatest
heights in the world of diplomacy. What she did for Hista-

drut, for the labor movement, and in the process for Zion- and her dedication to the needs of the working people.
ism as a whole, becomes apparent in the documents that She has not ignored the social problems posed by poverty
in Israel. Education is discussed, and there are her views
serve as part of an imposing autobiography.
on Zionism, "On Being a Woman," on peace and on the
There is not a subject of merit that is not tackled in relations with Arabs.
this story of an exciting life. Mrs. Meir touches upon labor
On "Women's Lib" she commented as early as 1930:
"All my adult life I have worked among men, and
they have treated me on my merits. I never knew a
man who gave in to an argument of mine because I
was a woman—except one, my husband—and they had
the open-mindedness and the manliness to accept my
idea if they thought it was right. I always tried to
reciprocate—I didn't expect privileges because I was
a woman, and if the majority was against me, I ac-
cepted it, even if I knew it was a man's idea ... and
wrong.

Bayit v'Gan: Israel of the Torah Jen,

By RABBI JAMES GORDON

(Rabbi James I. Gordon and
Mrs. Gordonare spending the
year in Israel while he Is on
sabbatical from Young Israel
Center of Oak•Woods.)

Since the Six-Day War, a
number of outlying districts
away from the immediate
center of Jerusalem have
been enjoying a tremendous
building boom. One of these
neighborhoods is Bayit
v'Gan, where we have taken
up residence during our sab-
batical year in Israel. Liter-
ally, these words mean
"House and Garden." The
picture, however, does not
resemble Detroit suburbia of
private homes and green
lawns. Apartment dwellings
made of the beautiful stone so
characteristic of Jerusalem
line the streets. Each build-
ing, by rules of the neighbor-
hood, must have a garden
area.
The main street is called
Hapisga which means the
"summit" and refers to the
fact that this is the highest
point within the city limits.
The view from any place in
this area is simply breath-
taking as the entire city of
Jerusalem is presented in a
panoramic picture.
Since the neighborhood
has been settled by a vast
majority of observant Jews,
the municipality itself has
set up signs at the entrance
of the two main streets re-
questing all traffic not to
enter on the Sabbath out of
deference to the inhabitants.
What distinguishes Bayit
v'Gan is the fact that it has
become the center of the
city's finest educational re-

52—Friday, Feb. 16, 1973

ligious institutions. Hapisga three main blocks and many
is a little less than a mile side streets of Bavit v'Gan.
in length, but six interna- One of these is the Young
tionally known institutions Israel—sponsored synagogue
called the Migdol because of
line its thoroughfare.
At the entrance is Emet the tower above its roof. Due
Academy or Yad Horav to the large numbers that
to
Herzog. a memorial to the attend this shut it has
schedule three services on
late chief rabbi, Isaac
Halevy Herzog. It is a re- Sabbath morning in different
search institution with prob- locations of the building at
a.m.
ably the most extensive tal- 6:30, 7:30 and 8:30
Recently, our mailbox con-
mudic and Halakhic library
tained a legal-size mimeo-
in the world.
graphed sheet, single spaced
Immediately following is on both sides listing the
Yeshiva Netiv Meir — the sheurim, lectures and study
Bnai Akiva movement's lead- groups available in the area.
ing high school yeshiva, the
There was a total of 90
most competitive in the coun- groups listed, with choices
try. A short distance further of Hebrew, Yiddish and Eng-
is Yeshiva Kol Torah, an lish language. Included are
exemplary institution of special classes for women.
higher learning, a very high youth groups and home study
caliber post-hight school groups in private homes to
yeshiva "gedola."
accommodate shut-ins and
Bunched toward the end those who may find it diffi-
of the block are Michlala, cult to leave their house.
the undisputed finest girls
No matter what your voca-
seminary on a college level tion or trade, regardless of
in Israel; Boystown, the your working hours, there is
model yeshiva vocational something going on every
high school, one of the true day which will fit your sched-
showplaces of the nation; ule at least once a week.
and the Institute for Torah
One of the most glorious
and Technology, founded by sights I have ever envisioned
Prof. Lev, where Torah and is the scene of groups of
science truly complement people, young and old, gem-
each other.
oras or other texts in hand,
In addition to these six in- walking to and fro down the
of center of the road on Hap-
ternational institutions
world fame, there are three isga.
This is the Israel of the
more girls' schools and boys'
schools of higher education Torah Jew — not just the
and three kollelim (advanced rabbi, the rosh yeshiva, the
Talmud study schools), two teacher—but the citizen who
of which are connected with realizes that some part of
his life, at least one day a
hasidic "shtiblech."
Twelve synagogues with week, must be devoted to
multiple minyanim grace the Torah study for better knowl-
edge and deeper identifica-
THE DETROIT JEWISH HEWS tion of his people.

"I think women often get not so much an unfair
deal as an illogical one. Once in the Cabinet we had
to deal with the fact that there had been an outbreak
of assaults on women at night. One minister (a mem-
ber of an extreme religious party) suggested a curfew.
Women should stay at home after dark. I said: 'But
it's the men who are attacking the women. If there's
to be a curfew, let the men stay at home, not the
women."

Among the very impressive appeals she uttered was
the formal datement in the United Nations General As-
sembly, Oct. 7, 1957, as "A Solemn Appeal to the Arabs"
in which she declared:
"From the rostrum I should like to address a
solemn appeal to the Arab states of the Middle East:
Israel is approaching her 10th anniversary. You did
not want it to be born. You fought against the decision
in the United Nations. You then attacked us by mili-
tary force. We have all been witnesses to sorrow, de-
struction, and the sniffing of blood and tears. Yet
Israel is here, growing, developing, progressing. It
has gained many friends, and their number is steadily
increasing. We are an old tenacious people and, as our
history has proved, not easily destroyed. Like you, the
Arab countries, we have regained our national inde-
pendence, and as with you, so with us, nothing will
cause us to give it up. We are here to stay. History
Arab countries, we have regained our national inde-
pendent Israel and independent Arab states. This ver-
dict will never be reversed.

"In the light of these facts, what is the use or
realism or the justice of policies and attitudes based
Hebrew Column
on the fiction that Israel is not here or will somehow
disappear? Would it not be better for all to build a
future for the Middle East based on cooperation? Israel
will exist and progress even without peace, but surely
Who didn't hear about the
a future of peace would be better both for Israel and
beautiful seashore of Bat-
for the neighbors . . . "
Yam? Many inhabitants of
The collective sentiments that thus combine to empha-
Tel Aviv and Jaffa take
pleasure in coming to the size the "oral autobiography" emerge among the greatest
shore of Bat-Yam, to bathe compliments to the woman whose 75th birthday, on May 3,
will be an occasion for celebration by Jews everywhere.
and swim in the sea
In the year 1925 a com-
pany by the name of "Bayit
v'Gan," bought land at the
distance of about 8 kilo-
meters to the south of Tel
Aviv. The company erected
houses there and built a new
quarter—Bat Yam. The new
n
tr317P2
quarter was built on sand
dunes, and the inhabitants
* 49 CC -n4
would go to look for work. ' 714 7 1 7?
3'21",r.???
iD:p1
in Tel Aviv and other places.
Something prevented the
development of the place:
between Bat-Yam and Tel
103
Aviv was the Arab city of
Jaffa. The Arabs would at-
71113p, 1923 1.1;
tack the Jews in their
settlements and on the roads
and the inhabitants of Bat-
8 - 5C7
Yam suffered very much.
When the state was set up.
there were in Bat-Yam
2,000 inhabitants. However,
during the period of the
great immigration, t h e
a'-n=
place developed quickly.
-
Today about 30,000 in-
habitants live here, while
the old-timers are only a
1 " l
small minority of this num-
her. The growth of Bat-
Yam is a good example of
the development of an immi-
grant city.
When immigrants began to
"ome from Europe, Bat-
Yam was among the first a3 ) 71F1
places that absorbed them
in large numbers, so that the
number of inhabitants as
.in'
well as the number of fac-
tories grew.
ritiTirt)
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Bat-Yam

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