THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, June 20, 1975 19 • • Zionist Leader Remembers Dr. Weizmann: MOVING? By ROSE HALPRIN (Copyright 1975, JTA, Inc.) (Editor's note: Rose Halprin, the veteran Zion- ist leader, delivered an address at the Herzl Insti- tute in New York in which she discussed her personal encounters with Dr. Chaim Weizmann. The all- day session, at which oth- ers discussed various as- pects of Weizmann's activ- ities and career, was part of the Weizmann Centen- nial.) I first saw and heard Dr. Chaim Weizmann when my father took me to a Zionist meeting on the Lower East Side. I had never seen him before or heard him before. He spoke mamaloshen — he spoke Yiddish at that time. He spoke as a Jew to Jews. After a while, when I be- came a so-called Zionist leader, I met Dr. Weizmann under different circumst- ances. I think I'm going to go back to the Congress of '46. Europe was cold and hun- gry. There was nothing. But for us who met there, there was something much sad- der, much deeper. For those with whom we used to sit at Congresses were not there; and those who were there were really only the rem- nants of great Jewish com- munities. So we sat and mourned and planned. But the Congress re- fused to elect Weizmann, for a very interesting rea- son. We knew by that time that the British govern- ment would not honor the pledge of the Balfour Dec- laration. We knew that we were on a collision course with Great Britain, and there were those who said that for that kind of strug- gle with Great Britain, Weizmann was not the man. Perhaps he wasn't. The strange thing was that those who led the fight against Weizmann were the Labor people. Weizmann loved Labor; Weizmann understood agri- culture and the farms and the kibutzim and the kibutz- nik. This was part of his life and part of the thing that he was, that he was so at ease with Labor. And yet it was Labor that had to lead the fight against him because they thought — I think now that they were right and perhaps we were wrong — he could not really have been a bitter enemy of the British people or the British government. He was not the president of the Zionist movement in the next year and a half, but he was the president of the Zionist movement. People didn't know that he hadn't gotten the presidency. Weiz- mann was the president. Li v Judaism Prohibits Practice of Sterlization Judaism does not permit sterilization. The rabbis trace this to a Biblical source (Leviticus 22:24) where practices like this are forbidden in the Bible. Some commentaries (Abrabanel, Chinuch and Ibn Ezra) consider such a practice as interfering with matters which are only the prerogative of the Al- mighty, they claim. Fur- thermore, one who has him- self castrated or sterilized in some way indicates his dis- satisfaction with the world because he evidently would like to see less people enjoy it. Judaism always had a positive outlook on life and the world as a whole. Sterilization in males is a more severe crime than `Ousting of Israel From the UN Would Be Drastic' COPENHAGEN (JTA) — Danish Foreign Minister K.B. Andersen, returning from Moscow, told journal- ists last week that the exclu- sion of Israel from the United Nations would be drastic. He added that the Soviets consider the UN a universal organization. Asked about the possible installation of a Palestine Liberation Organization in- formation bureau in Copen- hagen, Andersen said: "An information office does not need government permis- sion to open in Denmark." sterilization in females. Furthermore, if it is a ma- ter of saving an individu- al's life by sterilizing him, this is of course permitted. There are Jewish law au- thorities who claim that under certain conditions fe- males may sterilize them- selves by taking certain medication to drink, be- cause the command to re- produce was generally charged to the male. Egypt Is Digging Under Suez Canal NEW YORK (ZINS) — A Reuters dispatch reports the ceremonial ground- breaking attended by Presi- dent Anwar Sadat in con- nection with Egypt's dig- ging of five separate tunnels under the waters of the Suez Canal to link the west- ern and eastern banks of the Sinai. The avowed purpose of these tunnels is to channel water from the Nile to the Sinai Desert. The under- ground passageways will accommodate railroad tracks, water pipes and even trucks. The Egyptians believe that as many as a million young people will want to settle in the Sinai where the government expects to es- tablish fishing villages and tourist facilities. The tunnels will also have a vital military application as conduits for the move- ment of heavy artillery and tanks to the eastern shore of the canal. Nevertheless, I saw him in that period as a scientist. I was in Rehovot and I re- member him in a white linen jacket — the research man. He said, "Science will help build the state of Israel when it comes as we want it to be built." He was not the scientist first and the Labor leader second . . . the Zion- ist second. No, he was scien- tist and Zionist at the same time. So he talked about science. He was very inter- ested, as you know, in ap- plied science and what it might do to help a poor country, poor in natural resources, reach that level that he wanted so desper- ately for it. In 1947, when the Palestine question was on the agenda of the United Nations, it was Weizmann who appeared before the United Nations Special Committee on Pa- lestine (UNSCOP), and Weizmann who pleaded his people's cause as no other man, no other Zion- ist leader could. I did not see him in Jeru- salem, but I saw him here in New York when he ap- peared before the United Nations. You remember that at that time the Jewish Agency was given a sort of observer status. We sat within the United Nations, but not as delegates. We had people who spoke on behalf of the Zionist cause. Weiz- mann was one of them. I shall never forget him as he was then. He was old; he was sick; he was half blind. He had cards where the words were written an inch high, and he read them badly because he could only see badly. But there was not a man or woman in that hall, not Jew nor gentile, who did not know that here was a spokesman of an an- cient people and an ancient culture; here was the man whose ancestors were the prophets; here was the man who was full of anguish for his people but full of hope for his people and plans for his people. There was never a speech like that nor a speaker like that — ill-equipped physi- cally in every way, and yet somehow or other reaching out to every man and woman who heard him. I saw him quite often in Re- hovot when he was the pres- ident. First of all, I must tell you that Vera Weizmann liked a game of bridge. My husband and I played bridge very well, and so we would be invited for dinner. Chaim would talk, and then Vera at the end would say, "Chaim, now it's my turn," and we would go to the bridge ta- ble. He could have talked all night. That's the way it was — talk, and then some bridge for her. I think it was Weizmann who said that those were the happiest days of his life or the most exciting. I don't think so. I know that it wasn't so. Weizmann once said to me, "You know," he said, "they come — (Moshe) Sharret." He mentioned Sharett particularly. "Sharett and others, and they talk to me, but," he said, "they don't ask me to give them guidance. They don't see in me the man who is leading the Jewish people in statehood." He wanted desperately to be a presi- dent like an American presi- dent. He would have loved that, for he was a political man. This reminded me of an episode. The sitting room of the Rehovot house was a beautiful room, long, well lived in. They had a fan- cier, more formal sitting room. But this was where everybody lived. The room, as I say, was long and narrow. In the back were glass doors leading to the garden. Vera and I were sitting there one eve- ning. Weizmann was al- ready ill and confined to bed. As we talked she said, "Look!" Through the win- dow had streamed the light of the setting sun, and hit the head and face of Dr. Weizmann; it was bathed in the golden colors of the setting sun. In a few weeks, Weiz- • • mann was gone. But some- • • HOUSEHOLD SALES • .. A GIFT FOR EVERY OCCASION Complete Selection including the Finest 14 Kt.-..Gold Jewelry See Morris or Joel Watnick MIN.& GIFTS Thurs. to 9 P.M. FINE JEWELRY 283 Hamilton 644-7626 Birmingham (Near Crowley's) ALL LAMPS (IN STOCK) 25% OFF SY DRAFT Office Art and Drafting Supply Office Furniture 23067 Coolidge at 9 Mile Rd., Oak Park 544-2430 Ars Foreign Car Service IN VOLKSWAGEN AND PORSCHE CARS CALL. 548.3926 548-4160 541-9704 1018 W. 9 Mile Rd. Alfons G. Rehme fr* FERNDALE MICH. Between Livernois 8 Pinehurst olere the 44111 diamond al die , sighl puce. 444,16 dar ‘ wir A - o., ' Norman Allan & To. 17540 WYOMING • TEL. 341-1330 • Mon. & Thurs. 9:30-7:00 Tues.. Wed. 8. 10 %r: 3 . 0 9:30-6:00 NEXT SESSION BEGINS JUNE 23 SEMI-CONCENTRATED CLASSES MEET TWICE A WEEK FOR 3 WEEKS NON-MEMBERS WELCOME SMALL STUDENT/TEACHER RATIO REASONABLE RATES LOVE'S TENNIS CAMP FOR KIDS SPECIAL EVENING PROGRAM FOR MEN CALL: 352-5633 (CLASSES ARE FILLING) the RACQUET CLUBS . 1 autialeace FRANKLIN RACQUET CLUB HAS SOUTHARD'S RNEST TEACHING PROGRAM! 11 ...id SPECIALIST 8 AIR CONDITIONED MUMS • • • • • • how, as I saw the room • IN YOUR HOME again, and often when I ESTATES LIQUIDATED think of him, I think of that • MARION GASPAS • episode: the setting sun ba- t• 626-8402 626-6795 • • thing in glory the head of IRENE EAGLE • • 626-4769 626-8907 Weizmann as his day too • ended. 1 02_111,•=4110 011, 04190•4110•411 *le Author Eliot Backed Zionism Prior to Herzl George Eliot was one of the great precursors of Theodor Herzl and among the most eminent Christian Zionists in history. Her "Daniel Deronda" remains a classic in advanc- ing the Zionist cause, and her views preceded official Zionist pronouncements by more than two decades. Alfred A. Knopf an- nounces the publication of a new biography, "George Eliot: The Emergent Self," by Ruby V. Redinger. It is hailed as "a monumental study of a monumental hu- man being." • • • Franklin Racquet Club 29633 Franklin Road Southfield, 352-5633 8 air-cond. courts