64 November 2L 1975
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Dr. Goldman's Research Traces Education Ideal to Biblical Times
A Review by
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
(Copyright, 1975, JTA Inc.)
Jewish devotion to learn-
ing, study and scholarship
as the chief motivating ideal
of the people from time im-
memorial, these basic ideals
inspired by the Torah are
outlined in a most extensive
work by Dr. Israel M. Gold-
man of Baltimore.
In "Life-Long Learning
Among Jews" (Ktav), Rabbi
Goldman impressively
traces the complete history
of Jewish devotions to
study. The sub-title of this
most informative work,
"Adult Education in Juda-
ism From Biblical Times to
the Twentieth Century," is
an all-inclusive historical
presentation by an eminent
authority on the subject.
Dr. Goldman directed the
adult education activities of
the Jewish Theological Sem-
inary of America and his pi-
oneering work in that field
inspired the cultural pro-
gramming of the Conserva-
tive movement. .
- The keynote with which
his thorough study of the
subject commences lends
credence to the emphasis on
the beginnings of Jewish
study being rooted in the Bi-
ble. Dr. Goldman emphas-
izes the earliest source by
turning to Deuteronomy
7:6-7:
"And these words, which
I command thee this day,
shall be upon thy heart; and
thou shalt teach them dili-
gently unto thy children,
and shalt talk of them when
thou sittest in thy house,
and when thou walkest by
the way, and when thou
liest down, and when thou
risest up" •
It is from this point for-
ward, on to the experiences
of the 20th Century that the
scholarly author proceeds to
develop a theme now popu-
larly referred to as adult ed-
ucation in Jewish ranks.
In his step by step resume
of scholarly Jewish achieve-
ments, Rabbi Goldman de-
scribes the emergence of
Miihnaic and Talmudic lit-
erary guidelines to adult
education, making these
important historical refer-
ences:
"The literature of the
Talmud, ranging over a
period of nearly seven
hundred years, is replete
with ideas concerning the
philosophy, function, and
methodology of adult
learning. The Talmud,
which comprises the Mish-
nah and the Gemara, con-
stitutes, after the Bible,
the second greatest source
for our knowledge of Juda-
ism. It represents the best
thought of the greatest
teachers in two of the most
creative centers of Jewish
life in all of Jewish his-
tory, Palestine and Baby-
lonia. The tannaim, the
great teachers who
taught, from the middle of
the first century B.C.E. to
the middle of the third cen-
.tury C.E., in the Palesti-
nian academies of Jerusa-
lem, Yavneh, Lydda,
Pekiin, Benei Berak,
Sikhnin, Usha, and Sep-
phoris, produced the Mish-
nah. The amoraim and
saboraim, the masters of
Jewish learning in the
Babylonian academies of
Sura, Pumbedita, and
Nehardea over a period of
nearly four hundred years,
reaching down to the sixth
century of the common
era, created the Gemara.
Thus the scholastic activi-
ties of many centuries, and
of more than a thousand
scholars, was turned into
one book — the Talmud."
Jewish Theological Semi-
nary, in an introduction to
"Life-Long Learning
Among Jews," pays high
tribute to Dr. Goldman and
states inter alia:
,
Appropriately, the author
finds a source to be consid-
ered the tradition for adult
Jewish studies. He refers to
the kallah and defines it as
follows:
"In Babylonia, during
the amoraic and geonic
periods, there flourished
for about eight hundred
years — in various stages
of development, from the
third to the eleventh cen-
turies — an unprecedented
institution for the wide-
spread dissemination of
Jewish learning among
adults. This institution
was known as the kallah.
While the precise meaning
of the term is still a subject
of speculation, a modern
scholar, Professor Jacob
Z. Lauterbach, has bril-
liantly suggested that it is
an acronym made up of the
initials of the three He-
brew words kenesset lome-
dei ha-Torah, meaning
"assembly of students of
the Torah." Possessed of a
truly remarkable purpose,
program, organizational
structure, and range of
activity, the kallah might
well be designated the first
"National Association for
Adult Jewish Studies."
Rabbi Goldman defines
the Beth Tefila, the house of
worship, as well as the Bet
Ha-Midrash, describing the
traditional priority given to
the latter.
On this score it is impor-
tant to quote the following
from Rabbi Goldman's defi-
nition:
"The very building in
which the bet ha-midrash
was housed acquired a
sanctity all its own and was
ranked higher than the syn-
agogue. Thus, a synagogue
structure may be trans-
formed to a house of study,
but not the other way ar-
ound, since it would be a
dissent to holiness."
The informative work by
Rabbi Goldman traces the
importance given in Jewish
learning to the training of
children and to the perpe-
tuation of the legacies of the
Torah and of the obligation
to study. A rich chapter
dealing with Ethical Wills,
with excerpts from some of
the best known in the trea-
sures that have been accu-
mulated to indicate the anx-
iety of fathers to pass on
their dedication to learning
to their children, contain
the significant messages
that are vital to the subject
of this volume.
Himself a nationally
known expert in book re-
viewing as well as editing,
Rabbi Goldman's delinea-
tions of the Book and of
Jewish books as parts of the
Jewish legacies in learning
are additionally valuable.
The high level of scholar-
DR. I. M. GOLDMAN
)
ship that marks Rabbi Gold-
man's creative work result-
ing from much research
received recommendation
and commendation from
one of American Jewry's
most distinguished schol-
ars. Dr. Louis Finkelstein,
.Chancellor Emeritus of the
"Dr. Israel M. Goldman
was one of the great pi-
oneers who made adult.
education one of his main
concerns. Wherever he
served, the synagogue be-
came an adult extension
University of Judaism. It
was therefore to him that I
turned in 1940 with the
request that he organize a
National Academy for
Adult Jewish Studies to
help encourage the growth
of Jewish study groups in
the various communities
across the United States
and Canada . . .
"I believe that it was his
experience as builder and
Director of the National
Academy for Adult Jewish
Studies which led him to
study with such loving
care its antecedents in ear-
lier ages; and that study
led to his writing this mag-
nificent and important vol-
ume, itself a significant
contribution to the field of
adult Jewish studies."
Having lived in Israel for
nearly a year, after numer-
ous previous visits comm-
encing with the late 1920s,
and having visited nearly ev-
ery important Jewish cul-
tural center in Europe, Af-
rica and Asia, Dr.
Goldman's referrals and
analyses of learning in those
communities add value to
the subject to which he has
dedicated this newest of his
published works.
Dr. Goldman, for the past
26 years rabbi of one of the
oldest Conservative congre-
gations in America, Balti-
more's Chuzik Amuno, held
only one other pulpit before
assuming the present one.
He was the organizing
rabbi, a role he commenced
as a student of the Jewist
Theological Seminary o
America, of Temple Emanu-1
El of Providence, R. I. He
held teaching posts at his
alma mater as well as at
Brown University, and he
holds honorary degrees
from both. He was presi-
dent of the Rabbinical As-
seMbly and has played a na-
tional role in the Zionist
movement.
W. Averell Harriman and Elie Abel Recall Stalin
Anti-Zionism and FDR Jerusalem Meeting Hopes
In the process of planning
meetings abroad with the
allies of the United States in
World War II, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt had
in view a session in Jerusa-
lem.
It was rejected, as rec-
orded in "Special Envoy to
Churchill and Stalin,
1941-1946," the W. Averell
Harriman story co-edited
with Elie Abel (Random
House).
This is how the incident is
recorded in this significant
volume of recollections:
"Harriman and Roosev-
elt discussed Stalin's pro-
posal that the next Big
Three conference be held
in the Black Sea area. The
President did not at first
think much of the idea.
The Navy felt it would be
unsafe for a battleship to
go through the Darda-
nelles, he said, because so,
many mines had been
sown in the waters.
"Nor was he willing to fly
to Odessa or the Crimea be-
cause both Churchill's phy-
sician, Lord Moran, and his
own Admiral McIntire
feared that all kinds of di-
seases were rampant in
that part of the world,"
from dysentery to bubonic
plague.
"Harriman assured him
that the Crimea was en-
tirely suitable. The weather
would be mild and the Pres-
ident in any case would be
bringing his own food, as
well as his Filipino mess-
boys.
"Unpersuaded, Roosevelt
then suggested that Stalin
might meet him in Jerusa-
lem. Harriman quickly dis-
counted that notion by
pointing out that since the
Soviet government had
taken an anti-Zionist posi-
tion in order to win support
of the Arab world, it would
hardly welcome a meeting
in Palestine, the center of
that historic controversy.
"The President offered
the alternative of a meeting
in Italy or Sicily."
This sensational revela-
tion about FDR's desire to
meet in Jerusalem, the
comment on Stalin's well-
known anti-Zionism, are
the limited elements of in-
terest about the situation
that developed into a men-
acing cauldron.
Regrettably, the impor-
tant Harriman-Abel histori-
cal record has no other re-
ferences to the Jewish
experiences. Much could
have been said by Harri-
man, the former U. S. am-
bassador to Russia, about
the situation in the USSR.
He might have had some-
thing to say about the infa-
mous FDR-Ibn Saud Meet-
ing which proved harmful to
Zionism at the time of the
meeting of the President
with the potentate.
Harriman's roles as inter-
mediary for FDR, as an ac-
count of American involve-
ments with the foreign
leaders, specifically with
Winston Churchill and with
Stalin.
W. Averell Harriman is
shown with Winston
Churchill, left, and Josef
Stalin, right, in the cover
photo from his new book
about his war-time deal-
ings with the two leaders.
The volume is of extreme
significance as a record of
Few can speak as authori-
tatively — Harriman in his
major role as the American
emissary and diplomat,
Abel as an outstanding
newspaperman. Much com-
bines to make a "Special En-,
voy to Churchill and Stalin":
one of the outstandingly - •
important works regarding
a most dramatic period in
world history.
Karl Marx's Jewish Roots and
Communist Prejudice Traced
Karl Marx was born in bor of his family. But later
the Rhineland town of Trier his relations with other
(then West Prussia), the son members of his wife's aris-
of Jewish parents, Heinrich tocratic family became
and Henrietta Marx. Hen- strained. For them he was
rietta Marx became a suc- a Jew, an athesist, a non-
cessful lawyer and when an conformist, a man lacking
edict prohibited Jews from in good manners.
being advocates, he con-
Marx' first essay in the
verted to Protestantism in
"Deutsch-Franzoesiche
1817.
In 1824, when Karl was Jahrbuecher" was entitled
six years old, his father con- Zur Judenfrage (About the
verted his eight children, Jewish Question), in which
the Encyclopedia Judaic-a he criticized Bruno Bauer's
reports. Heinrich, whose book on the topic. Bauer had
original name was Hirschel insisted that the Jewish
ha-Levi, was the son of a question was essentially a
rabbi and the descendant of religious one, insoluble un-
talmudic scholars for many less the Jews give up their
generations. Hirschel's faith and joined the society
brother was chief rabbi of of the state as atheists or
Trier. Heinrich married non-Jews. Although Marx
Henrietta Pressburg, who favored political emancipa-
originated in Hungary and tion of the Jews, he used vi-
whose father • became a olent anti-Jewish language
rabbi in Nijmegan, Holland. to present his view. Judaism
Karl Marx' attitude to for him was synonymous
Jews and Judaism evolved with the hated bourgeois
into what was later de- capitalism.
scribed as "self-hatred." At
Marx expressed his antag-
age 15 he was solemnly onism to Jews on a number
confirmed and became of occasions: in his "Thesis
deeply attached to Chris- on Feuerbach," in his arti-
tianity and the German cul- cles for the New York Tri-
ture.
bune and in "Das Kapital."
Great influence on him In his private correspond-
was exercised by his fu- ence there are many deroga-
ture father-in-law, Baron tory references to Jews, who
Johann Ludwig von West- were for him the symbol of
phalen, who was a neigh- financial power and capital-
ist mentality, and also to
Ferdinand Lassalle to
whom he referred in his let,
ters to Engles in typical an-
ti-Semitic cliches.
The only sympathetic ac-
count of Jews to emerge
from Marx's pen is that
which 'described their life
and traditions in the city of
Jerusalem (New York Tri-
bune, April 15, 1854).
His daughter, Eleanor,
however, who acted as his
secretary, considered her-
self Jewish, took interest
in her ancestors, and had
warm appreciation for th
Jewish workers in Lon-
don's East End.
Marx's Jewish origin be-
came a catalyst of anti-
Jewish emotions. Already
his rival in the First Inter-
national, the Russian an-
archist Michael Bakunin did
not refrain from anti-Jew-
ish outbursts while attack-
ing Marx. Later it served
right-wing propagandists,
particularyly the fascist and
Nazi regimes of the 1930s
and 1940s as a means to
spice their anti-socialism
with outright violent anti-
SemWsm. They used the
term "Marxism" as denoting
a sinister, worldwide
"Jewish" plot against their
national interests.
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