Arthur Cohen's Messianic Simon Stern: Arthur A. Cohen Thematic NovelLeaves Puzzling Effect Supernaturalism An imaginative messianic plot, a resume of Jewish his- t o r i c experiences, N e w York's East Side under scru- tiny, a vision of Spain to por- tray the role of a Last Jew in order to defy anti-Semitic hopes and to indicate the timelessness of Jewish ideal- ism and the undying Jewish spirit — these and scores of chronicled events about Jews, Jewry's sufferings, the Holo- caust and many more items are packed into a novel, "In the Days of Simon Stern" by Arthur A. Cohen. It is al- ready a near-best seller pub- lished by Random House and it has excited reviewers and readers, gaining a high-rated position. The causes for such a suc- cess by a former rabbinical student may be summarized as: its numerous intriguing approaches to the dramatic involving the human element of guilt and rescue; its com- plexity when the theological is involved; its motivations in the formulation of a plot that is immersed in the entire *- aura of Jewish history. Simon Stern, the mystique in the Cohen dramatic novel, is an East Side New York product. H i s parents h a d come from Poland. Their marriage is a uniquely novel form of narrative in its own right. Simon's mother was a cook in the home of his father's parents. They met at a betrothal party for his father, when a valuable dia- mond of his mother-to-be fell into the cake she had baked and the bridegroom found it. He broke his engagement which was then being cele- brated, located the girl of his choice, after she had fled from his parents home, re- turned the valuable stone to her, they were married, came to this country — and the elder Stern — his name was really Sternguecker — star- gazer — the immigration of- ficial ordered it shortened— settled down as a pietist and a tailor. He had come to this coun- try with his bride under the s p e 11 of a prophecy by a stranger that he would sire a messiah. Later, it passed on to the son. Simon's parents had hidden their prize possessions, some gold coins and a diamond, in an old shoe, and when a beg- gar came to their door in their absence Simon gave him the shoe. There was wailing over the loss and Si- mon felt need for atonement. He set out to earn money and a greater part of the first portions of this novel de- scribe how he had gained wealth, how he kept hoard- ing, until he possessed mil- lions — later the sum rose to $100,000,000. That's a major part of the narrative. We deal here with a very rich man who soon began to suffer from guilt. His parents, a Polish man and his daughter lived in a t building that 'was acquired by Simon. But there was not sufficient protection in the structure and in the proper electrical connections and the parents and the elder Pole died in the fumes of a fire the building and the girl was crippled for life. There- in is the guilt that plagued the multimillionaire who kept 48 Friday, July 13, 1973 — accumulating and hoarding money. The Nazi terror soon at- tracted his attention. Simon went to a Madison Square Garden mass meeting to hear Chaim Weizmann. He was moved to action — to do some rescue work. Then be- gan his initial task of organ- izing the work of saving lives, of settling the rescued from Nazism in a large complex in the Williamsburg area, under direction of the Society for the Rescue and the Res- urrection of the Jews. The drama develops here as the narrative is recited by the second hero in the Cohen story, Nathan Gaza, a blind survivor from the Nazi death camps who was brought to this country by Simon Stern. Gaza is the narrator of the entire story as Simon's confidant. Other survivors are involved. One is a .man of guilt who had himself terrorized the Nazi victims in the German camp as a tool of the SS and who was getting vengence, when Simon rejected him, by put- ting the rehabilitation com- plex on fire. Scores of incidents are in- terspersed in the story. The confrontation with the man who was a tool of the Nazis occupies a great deal of the tale. Simon's insistence upon remaining in the Lower East Side, refusing while the res- cue work was in progress to go Uptown, is another factor in the story. The guilt is . vital. During one of his dreaming spells Simon is visited by a strang- er who relates to him the story of the Last Jew. The dream — accepted by Simon Stern as a reality — is about the last survivor among the Spanish Marranos who keeps observing the Sabbath and all Jewish traditions. And be- cause it is no longer pro- hibited he no longer hides it. That's when the Inquisition gets after him — to make certain that the glory of hav- ing ended Jewish existence is not disrupted. Don Rafael Arturo Moyse Acosta of Ger- ona is tortured. He finally dies. But the classic portion of the Cohen novel is the speech — the final message of the Last Jew delivered to his fellow creatures, to the mob witnessing his 'martyr- dom. It is an expose of re- ligious tyranny. It is an his- toric indictment. It is the portion in Cohen's "In the Days of Simon Stern" that may survive the entire novel. Here it is: "I am an ordinary man. But I am an ardinary man with an unordinary quality. I am a Jew. Now that fact— being a Jew—could be ordin- ary, like being a man, but it would require that you permit it to be so. It cannot be treated by you as some- thing exceptional, ..bizarre, suspicious, uncanny, or else by regarding it as such you oblige us ordinary men to behave as though we were very special. You make us extraordinary . by ..deciding that you cannot cope with us. So much for you, but what about God? Why does He not rescue me? Why did He not rescue all of my brothers who, like me, have said no to you? Why? "I shall now tell you. Be- cause He accepts your verdict. No. More than that. He de- cided upon it long before you did. He decided we were extraordinary from the very start, as . witness . all our prophets and teachers and visionaries. Why rescue us? Rescue poor people. Rescue ordinary people. They need rescue. Save them, Lord, be- fore us. To rescue us is to deny who we are, to make us ordinary. "And now, do you know why Jesus died on the cross and was rejected by the Jews? It was because He asked God, `Lord why have you forsaken me?' Had He not spoken these words He might well have died—no less died—but I will tell you something, all the Jews would have believed in Him. 'He is surely a Mes- siah,' they would have said, because He says nothing, calls for nothing, asks for nothing. He knows that God is with Him. I know that God is with me, now and forever. You are not yet saved, but I am ready to die.' "Don Rafael Acosta closed his mouth and died. died and was buried, and in the after- math of his death, there came those who believed he was their ransom and re- deemer, and those people, like our beloved Don Rafael, were again called Jews" The many factors of inter- est in the Cohen novel are not necessarily all as exciting as this one. As a matter of fact, there is much more that is puzzling. Why the glorification of a rich miser into the role of a messiah? How does the author justify a minor incident of a speech by Chaim Weizmann—which is not so impressively related in the novel — serve as an inspiration, when a Weiz- mann episode could indeed have been transformed into an exciting encouragement to action? Wherein does the farcical messiah justify all the theological complexity? Arthur A. Cohen, once hav- ing studied under Dr. Morde- cai M. Kaplan at the Jewish Theological Seminary, e n - tered into a dispute with his revered teacher. Differing with him in many theological matters, especially with re- lation to the Reconstructionist movement that was founded by Rabbi Kaplan, Cohen pro- posed to discuss the differ- ences. The emerging texts in "If Not Now, When? Toward a Reconstruction of the Jew- ish People: Conversations Between .Mordecai M. Kap- lan and Arthur A. Cohen," published (by Schocken, will prove especially challenging to theologians. Rabbinic stu- dents will 'be enchanted by the scholarly theses. Lay readers, too, will find a meas- ure of inspiration in these talks. The conversations were conducted in 1971. They were held Sept. 10, Sept. 14, Sept. 17, Sept. 24, Sept. 25, Sept. 30, Oct. 1, Oct. 5 and were concluded Oct. 7. The extent of the talks, the issues involving Jewry and mankind, the problems that influence Jewish existence, the religious aspects and the forms of worship — many are the themes covered in the conversations by t w o mental giants. In the preface by Cohen and the epilogue by Prof. Kaplan are incorporated in- teresting observations on the themes covered. Cohen indi- cates that the conversations had not "effected any great change of mind, for mind is a dimension of character and mind changes as slowly as character." And he adds: ":Mordecai Kaplan still mis- understands my so-called supernaturalism and I sus- pect his social-psychological naturalism. The fact that we continue to have reservations about each other's essential docta does not obscure our coming together in recogni- tion of the severe crisis of the Jewish people. J do not think our conversations settle • In the film version of the matter, but they do raise solid questions and give voice "Jesus Christ Superstar," to the primary issues." which has been branded as shockingly anti-Semitic, Pon- Teacher pays honor to his tius Pilate, portrayed as p u p i l in the epilogue, in viewing the shouting multi- which Dr. Kaplan, quoting tude that is clamoring for Prov. 27:17, "As iron sharp- Jesus' death, says: "You ens iron, so does one man Jews produce messiahs by sharpen the wits of another," the sackful." states: "My intuition has been af- In the Simon Stern story, Arthur Cohen introduced an- firmed. That came about as other messiah. Simon is a result of our having man- hardly a messiah. He is a aged to build a bridge be- mockery. He is a money- tween our contrasting atti- lover who is hardly a credit tudes toward Judaism — the to anyone. That's what supernaturalist vs. the na- puzzles us. What's the build- turalist — the bridge being up? What causes reviewers transnaturalist. So that when to get so excited about the it came to formulating the title of our conversations, I story? suggested 'And If Not Now Arthur Cohen is a brilliant When?' and he added: 'To- writer. He is a superb story- teller and his knowledge of Jewish history and of the distinction. Which amazes events of our time is un- this reviewer who knows the matched. But his novel is terms resorted to, who has filled with incidents, Hebrew enjoyed reading most of his terms, references to occur- story and regretted being rences 'of bygone times that bored by a portion of it: be- need explaining. He doesn't cause it is stretched merci- attain it for the average lessly. This reviewer is 'annoyed reader, and certainly not for the non-Jewish reader. Yet, by the messiah theme. He non-Jewish reviewers have recommends the Last Jew given him top billing. Some portion as a classic. He is an advance readers rate his admirer of Arthur Cohen, yet novel above the most valued wishes he had toned down works on the Holocaust that an exaggerated tale. — P. S. THE DETROIT JEWISH NUNS have already gained great VS. VS. Mordecai Kaplan: Naturalism Debate approach to religion, which accounts for Cohen's origin- ally supernaturalist approach and my own originally hu- manist a p p r o a c h. He re- garded the belief in God as a result of individual con- templation, whereas to me the belief in 'God is the result of collective action; hence, his philosophical approach to religion is in contrast with mine, which is sociological. To him, the goal is know- ledge and self-understanding, to me the goal is action." DR. MORDECAI M. KAPLAN ward the Reconstruction of the Jewish People.' "To such an extent have my own wits been sharpened as a result of our conversa- tions that even their mo- mentum has impelled me to further sharpening. I believe I have at last arrived at a full understanding of the dif- ference between philosophical Additionally definitive is Dr. Kaplan's assertion: "I asked myself, 'At what point does the Jewish collective consciousness become t h e Jewish collective conscience with which the tetragram ton YHWH is to be Pied?' The answer, as de- veloped in the course of the dialogue is 'at the point at which the Jewish collective consciousness becomes aware of the unchanging character of the relationship between God and Israel.' " •■•■■ •••••• ■ •=1". ■ 041111110". ■■•■ •=1.10.1••• ■■■•■■ 1.1•11.1 111M1411 ■ 10i0 ■ 00 Boris Smolar's 'Between You ... and Me' Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, JTA (Copyright 1973, JTA Inc.) MEET YOUR LEADER: Elmer L. Winter, the new president of the American Jewish Committee, resides in Milwaukee but his Jewish and civic activities are nation- wide. He is the president of Manpower, Inc.—the world's larg- est temporary help and business-service firm—which has 630 offices in 34 countries. Through his "Youthpower" pro- gram he has placed 70,000 young people in this country in summer jobs with no charge for the service and has helped many returning servicemen solve their job problems. His firm has sponsored a national competition which offers $10,000 in cash awards to those young people who use their spare summer time to develop and conduct community improvement programs. His concern with improving employment of minorities brought him awards from numerous quarters. He is a member of the board of directors of the National Com- mittee on Employment of Youth; also of the White House Task Force on Employment and Economy of Youth. An author of nine books, as well as a prize-winning painter and sculptor, he is known for his wide intellectual curiosity. He is always au-courant on developments in in- ternational, national and Jewish affairs. He is proud of Israel's accomplishments and contributions to Jewish life. He is an honorary alumnus of the Hebrew University, and a Fellow of Brandeis University. He is one of the top leaders of the Milwaukee Jewish Welfare Fund. * * * HIS CREDO: Winter takes over leadership of the American Jewish Committee in the belief that our coun- try needs a replenishment of soul and conscience. It is his opinion that the American Jewish Committee can serve as a catalyst to help establish a new charter for America —a charter, he says, that "will insure decency, fair play, equality of opportunity and social justice to all." He stress ," that the AJCommittee owes no allegiance to any polity, party or corporate interest. The new AJCommittee president considers Jewish edu- cation in this country as a matter of primary importance. He urges AJCommittee members to become interested in the "University Without Walls" which the Committee is now forming and which will allow adults to pursue college- level Jewish studies without attending classes. The Haifa University is co-sponsoring this effort. The program will start in the spring of 19'74. STAND ON RUSSIA: Winter favors detente and ex- pansion of trade relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. However, he decries the loss of jobs, trials and severe punishment which often follOws the filing of an application by a Jew for an exit visa. Ile supports Congressional action against granting Russia the "favored nation status" in trade with the United States as long as such harassment is practiced by Moscow. He foresees an expanded role for the American Jew- ish Committee in interpreting Israel's needs and policies in the United States.