The Genius and Wit of Chaim Weizmann
phrase. Yet it was not this
Editor's Note: Dr. Nahum of the Jews as a people, skep- cisive. He never acquiesced told us that his greatest to use his own methods and mastery, it was not his argu-
refusing
to
be
forced
into
the
in
the
cursed
theory
of
mod-
work
was
achieved
not
by
ticism
with
regard
'to
decep-
Goldmann, president of the
strait-jacket of party politics ments, his logic, the form in
World Jewish Congress, for- tive powers that pass with the ern politics, that the noble logical deduction, but by in- or become involved in party which he cast his speech, but
mer president of the World day, and unshakeable faith aim justifies the i g n o b 1 e tuition. This was also true of
the human being behind the
means. He knew that immoral his political feats. He was an programs.
Zionist Organization, pays in the eternal values.
He
was
not
a man always speech that made this lasting
As
he
moved
among
the
so-
methods
destroy
the
most
artist,
dominated
by
moods
tribute in this special article
impression:- Public speaking
to the memory of Dr. Chaim called great and celebrated moral "aims. Zionism was to and highly sensitive to atmos- easy to get along with. One was for him a means of im-
had
to
adapt
oneself
to
his
of
the
world,
and
pleaded
the
him,
above
all,
a
manifesta-
phere.
He
needed
friends,
Weizmann, the centenary of
pressing his personality upon
whose birth will be observed cause of Zionism, he bore tion of the creativeness of warmth, sympathy. He was moods. The artist in Weiz- the audience. Even long after
mann
explains
his
unique
by Israel and world Jewry himself proudly, unawed by the Jewish people, tremendously temperamental,
- their titles and ranks, for was He hated the Galut, be- he could hate and love, rage charm to which so many suc- one had forgotten his speech,
this month.
he not the spokesman of a cause it precluded the Jews and forgive. He was never cumbed. He had an uncanny the impression of the man
people
that had outlived pow- from fully realizing their po- calculating, sly or scheming. understanding of others. This who 'had made it lingered on.
NAHUM
GOLDMAN
-
By
Therefore, it was such a
He was spontaneous, and sovereign talent of his for
He was perhaps the perfect erful nations, had seen em- tentialities. He, therefore,
synthesis of our time of the Aires crumble and witnessed never regarded Zionism as a sometimes said and did things dealing with people explains delight to be with Weizmann.
Once you were admitted into
two great cultural spheres emperors rise in glory and mere continuation of Galut that ran counter to all polit- the profound impression he his
-t-
circle, you became
that have shaped contempo- crumble in dust? life within the framework of a ical calculations and brought made on many of the great
leaders of our time—Balfour, " ed with the life and w,
Jewish
state.
This
explains
.
him
trouble.
He
exposed
him-
He never for a moment
rary Jewry; Eastern and
his attachment to Jewish la- self to attacks, was incau- Lloyd George, Churchill, radiating from the m-
Western Europe. No other doubted the final victory of
bor, to Zionist pioneerdom. In tious in his utterances and Roosevelt and many others. charging his environn
great Jew of our time has Zionism. The verse "The
He was not an orator in the meet him, to talk to him, wa y
these he saw a new form had nothing but supreme
Glory
of
Israel
will
not
lie"
all
combined to such an extra-
hackneyed
sense- of the term. always a fresh experience.
of
'Jewish
life,
a
transforma-
contempt
for
the
scheming
ordinary degree East Euro- (I Samuel, 15, 29) embodied
Yet
the
speeches
of few lead- For those who worked with
he
of
the
run-of-the-mill
poli-
tion
of
the
ghetto
life
m
pean Jewishness and West to him an elementary truth,
ers
of
our
time
have
made so hirh, every day saw a new
ticians.
His
was
the
self-
frame
of
a
new
society.
He
European culture. He was as certain as a mathematical
assurance of genius. He re- lasting an impression. He was drama, and every dialogue a
envisioned
a
state
made
great
formula.
Herzl,
his
predeces-
deeply rooted in the life and
fused to do things that were an , artist as a speaker. He revelation. He had little un-
tradition of Eastern Europe. sor, was also a proud and by the fullest realization of incompatible to his nature. could demolish an opponent derstanding and patience for
the
God-given
creative
poten-
Motel, where he was born, dignified leader, but his pride
He was, like all artists, an with a .bon mot. He could organizational work or for the
and Pinsk, where he was was personal. Weizmann's tialities of the Jewish people aristocrat—claiming the right capture an audience with a rules and routine of a great
and
guided
by
the
moral
pre:
pride
was
rooted
in
Jewish-
educated, were integral ele-
* *
organization in operation.
ments of his personality. JeW- ness. It gave him the extra- cepts of the Jewish prophets.
This, too, was characteristic
Zionism absorbed him com- Weizmann Year Proclaimed
ish tradition and Jewish civi- ordinary dignity which im-
of his great artistic person-
He
was
practically
pressed
itself
upon
the
world's
pletely.
lization were amply stored in
ality. I once said to him: "For
to
most
other
prob-
statesmen
with
whom
he
indifferent
his mind and in his heart.
NEW YORK — Thirteen figures'` - in modern Jewish you, each day is Genesis; for
He loved Yiddish deeply, and came in contact. lems of Jewish life in the national Jewish educational history.
you the world is being created
This•agnificent heritage of Diaspora. With the single- institutions and associations
anew every day."
"Let this be a year in
centuries of Jewish history mindedness which is charac- have set forth a program of
Therefore, it is such a deep
our-
which
we
rededicate
our-
and tradition was combined in teristic of genius, he invested assemblies, publications and
hiS person with the generous every ounce of his energy and other projects "in tribute to selves to the ideal of a free loss not to have him with us.
heritage of Western civiliza- gifts in this supreme mission. Chaim Weizmann — scientist Jewish people in its own Life _is duller and grimmer
tion. He was a great scien- All else in his life—his sci- and statesman, diplomat and homeland, the ideal which without him. Everyone of us
tist. He could certainly have entific work, his social con- Spokesman, servant of his Chaim Weizmann so ably feels that his own life has
∎ the great tads, his innumerable and people and the first Presi- championed and helped bring become poorer since Weiz-- -
become one of
chemists of our time, had he varied interests — was cen- dent of the State of Israel— to fulfillment, in solidarity mann is no more. From a his-
not lavished most of his en- tered around Zionism. And on the centenary of his With the people of Israel in torical perspective, our move-
ment has lost not only its
the Land of Israel:2-
ergy upon Zionism. He ab- for this reason, the world birth."
greatest leader in the past
sorbed and assimilated the also identified him complete-
The groups issued a procla-
proclamation is sponsored thirty years, but his death
rich treasures of Russian, ly with Zionism. When he was mation proclaiming "Chaim hy American
A
. ssocairadtionnf J
ew- rings down the curtain on a -
German, French and English opposed as a Zionist leader Weizmann Year:" "In trib- i Jewish Education;
w- dream-charged per i o d_ in
of New York; Coem
n
cation
ish
m
shF
ic
o
lu
culture. This explains his fa- and was forced, at a certain ute to Chaim Weiimann — mission
cat of
Jewish Education
Jewish history. Herzl was the
cility in moving among divers stage in his career, to resign scientist and statesman, dip- Can
the m U.A.7 1 1.0 jew d the C A
- ; creator of the Zionist vision,
Educ. ilto n
n o 4nissi on on
people in so many countries. as the president of the World lomat and spokesman of his of
University;
the De-
n
nlii
tr of
He was a Frenchman with Zionist Organization, he -was people and first President of par t mees
Edu cation na ndinCrul. Weizmann the symbol and
an d Departm
creator of the Zionism of ful-
the French, an Englishman confounded and baffled. It the State of Israel — on the tEure,
fVV
ZO-
duca t isont.and Cul ture,
fillment, of halutzic Zionism
of
section;
American
with the English, but always was not that he grieved over centenary of his birth: We
Education of the of united in the fullest 'sense of the
and forever, more profound- his political defeat or that he urge students_ of all ages to Jewish
Department
ly thin anything else, Dr. felt that an injustice had been participate in this Chaim a Synagogue;
nd Education, Jewish National term.
- Ed
The deepest meaning of a
DR. NAHUM GOLDMANN Weizmann was the Jew. He committed against him.
' Na-
Weizmann Year by relearn- Fund;
cators Counil of Ameria•
It
was
that
for
all
his
wisdom
represented this synthesis
tional Assoiation of Temple t Edu- great personality lies in its
ing
the
life-story
and
accom-
his best bon mots were in more completely than any and perceptiveness, he could
ators;
r
dors National Counil for Jewish symbolic value. The great
that la n g u a g e. Whenever other leader in the history of not understand how the move- plishments, the words and Eduction and National Yediat Is- significance of- a man is not_
deeds
of
one
of
the
greatest
ael
ommitt ee.
deeply moved w eizmann Zionism, more fully than ment
ment could even temporarily
* * *
in what he has done, not
would revert to the Yiddish
•
•
separate itself from him. He
even in what he has been, but
Herzl
and
Nordau,
Pinsker
idiom to express what he felt.
was much more than the
in what his personality im-
and
Ahad
Haam,
Brandeis
He was not a traditional
elected president of the World
plies. It is in this sense that
Jew in the religious sense, and Stephen Wise.
Zionist Organization. Both to .
man can achieve immortal-
but he had the most profound His Zionism emanated di- Zionists and non-Zionists, he
ity. It is a symbol that he
reverence for Jewish tradi- rectly from his Jewishness. was the personification of
can continue to be as mean-
tion in all its forms. The He was _born a-Zionist. He Zionism_ That he also hap-
ingful to future generations-
_ story is often told how in the often, -told the story how, at pened to be the president of
as he had been to his own
12,
he
11
or
days of the English blitz he the age of
the World Zionist Organiza-
generation. Long after the
would take the Bible with wrote to his _teacher in tion was as natural as the
contemporary image of this
him to the shelter and read it Motol expressing his faith in seasons of the year. It could
warm human being, Chaim
for hours. This behavior was a Jewish state. His Zionism not be otherwise. Even many
Weizmann, will have passed
a characteristic expression of was 'never political. Zionism, of his opponents' took it for
away and been forgotten, be-
his deep spiritual attachment for him, was the supreme granted that the presidency
cause those who experienced
to Jewish tradition. fusion and realization of the would always be his.
him will have faded away, he
The quality and habits of greatest ideas and traditions
will continue to exercise in-
his intellect were typically of Jewish history. It imposed Weizmann attained a level of
fluence as a symbol.
leadership
which
is
rare
in
Jewish. His was primarily an on 'him an obligation to im-
bolizes Zionism at its
analytical mind, accustomed plement the values of Jewish history, certainly for so long
a great moral idea which re-
a
period.
This
was
his
well-
to anti-thetical thinking. He • civilization by casting them
generated a people and lib-
deserved
reward
for
so
com-
was a "charif," to use the in the pattern of a modern
erated it politically. But even
pletely identifying himself
term of Jewish scholarship. state.
more important, he is a sym-
with
the
movement
he
led.
The
teaching
of
the
pro-
agile
mind.
Bril-
His was, an-
bol of Jewry's regeneration
But even greater than-
liancy in dispute and argu- phets, the imperatives of
as a creative fact( srael,
Weizmann
the
Jew,
and
Weiz-
ment were his in an inordi- the Bible, were for him no
for many years 1.. come,
less an integral part of Zion- mann the Zionist, was Chaim
nately high measure.
through difficulties, tribula-
He could devastate politi- ism than its political aspira- Weizmann the man. All who
tions and convulsions, will re-.
were
granted
the
privilege
of
cal opponents by the sheer tions. What he strove for and
quire nothing more urgently
force of his logic. His humor believed in was not a state working with him and being
than
the symbol of Weizman'•
and wit were also typically of Jews but a Jewish state, in his proximity, were deep-
as a representative of crea-
Jewish. He had that propen- telescoping into the future the ly aware of his human great-
tive Zionism, of the moral in-
sity for irony which is char- great moral riches of the ness.
tuitions of the Zionist ideal.
What lends greatness to a
acteristic of so many great past. He had a deep faith in
There is nothing we can wish
United
Jewish
Appeal
General
Chairman
Paul
Zucker.
Jewish minds, a reflection of the power of moral ideas. He man is not his deeds or
more deeply for him and for
man,
left,
and
Allied
Jewish
Campaign-Israel
Emergency
is
achievements,
but
what
he
admitted
that
political
and
the garnered heritage of an
ourselves than to capitalize,
Fund
Associate
Chairman
Dr.
Leon
Fill,
right,
made
a
and
what
he
represents.
ancient people too wise to be physical power may be indis-
historically
speaking, on his
cash
payment
for
Detroit's
AJC-IEF
at
a
recent
national
impressed by transitory glory. pensable concomitants to the Chaim Weizmann was, in
symbolic implications and to
He possessed that unique implementation of an ideal, essence, an artist, even in cash meeting of the United Jewish Appeal, Accepting the use the Weizmann symbol as
combination of skepticism but he never conceded that his science, and most defi- payment, which will be used for humanitarian programs, a pattern and example in
and profound faith so typical these instruments were de- nitely in his political work. was Israel's newly appointed Finance Minister Yehoshua shaping the generations to
Greater than his intellect was Rabinowitz.• The meeting was, held in the world's highest
come.
64—Friday, November 1,1974 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS his intuition. Scientists. have sukka atop New .York's 50-story Grace Building.
•
Donation Made in Tallest Sukka