80 Friday, December 22, 1918
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Monumental 'Wanderings'
Dr. Potok's Superb History of the Jews
Dr. Chaim Potok is
primarily an historian, al-
though his fame is rooted in
his having attained best
seller status for four impor-
tant novels, "The Promise,"
'"The Chosen," "My Name Is
Asher Lev" and "In the Be-
ginning." Without an his-
torical perspective the emi-
nent author could not have
DR. CHAIM POTOK
reached the pinnacle of suc-
cess.
Now comes his magnum
opus, an encyclopedic work
so impressive that it will
surely gain the dominant
shelf in the library of his
creative works.
"Wanderings," Chaim
Potok's history of the Jews
(Knopf), is the work of a
narrator who knows, under-
stands, Values the need to
relate the drama imbedded
in a 4,000-year-old history.
Many notable works
have been written, por-
traying Jewish history
up to and including mod-
ern times. Solomon
Grayzel, Abram Sachar
and a number- of others Potok's
"Wanderings" had studied history with
have supplemented the covers the periods of ancient great teachers in the Jewish
works of Heinrich Graetz paganism, classic Theological Seminary of
and Simon Dubnow. paganism, Islam and Chris- America and elsewhere, I
Potok's history gains tianity and the modernity of hesitated to move from the
special attention from the an era dealt with as "inside world of the imagination to
directness and intimacy modern paganism." From the hard country of fact. But
of the narrator's skill. these the approach becomes the challenge became ir-
Potok is the great apparent. It is as if Asher resistible when I realized
teacher. He is the novelist Lev's philosophy is injected -that such a work might help
who makes history read in the search for history. It me construct boldly the
like fiction, yet it retains
is done with dignity and scaffolding that supports
its realism and its factual- _ skill and a great narrative the novels and all my years
ity.
emerges, whether writing of commitment to my
He deals with the facts,
the ancient, medieval, mod-
ern; the religious and the
secularist, the Zionist and
the assimilationist.
Making- the book espe-
cially unique are the hun-
dreds of photographs,,
hardly a page without one.
The 400-page book has 173
illustrations, and 88 are in
full color.
- A good history needs the
proper maps and Potok's be-
comes fully informative
thanks to the maps that de-
pict the various eras under
review.
Scholarship dominates
the entire theme as Potok
tackles the multiple fac-
tors and facets called his-
tory. He draws upon phi-
losophy, analyzes philos-
ophy, analyzes the great
personalities who form
the cast of characters in
Jewish history, draws
upon archeological find-
ings, makes history hum
as a vibrating force af-
fecting not only the
people who are his im-
mediate subject but all of
mankind.
Divided into four parts,
about a Hasidic dispute or
the facts of history.
Potok's preface is in great
measure autobiographical,
pointing to the influence of
his father, the roots that
gave him concern to write a
factual history book. It is
also an explanatory note on
his approach, with a sense of
obligation to historians he
had learned or drawn fibm.
In the process he wrote:
"It was Robert Gottlieb of
Knopf who suggested that I
consider doing a nonfiction
book on the Jews. Though I
people.
"I began to read and
study with discipline —
and rediscovered the
truth of an old axiom I
had learned during my
years as a doctoral stu-
dent in philosophy:
whatever "history" is, it
is not simple. For each
sentence in this book, 10
more might be added to
do justice to the conflict-
ing views of hardworking
scholars laboring over
their own visions of the
human past. But I am
The photograph above depicts Isadore Kaufman's
"In a Polish Synagogue," now housed in the Israel
Museum in Jerusalem.
writing mostly in narra- mation? It is the addendum
tive form and have had to as Potok sees it that is great,
make choices and deci- making "Wanderings"
sions which I will not monumental and superb.
(and could not) justify.
Only when my story
stumbles into a factual
morass will I turn aside
briefly to discuss the dif-
fering views of scholars.
"Jewish history has been
involved with the histories
of many nations. Out of the
rich, quite incredible com-
plexity that is the story of
the Jews, I have chosen a
number of fundamental
themes. These I follow
through the sunlight and
darkness of my people's past
— to locate my own sense of
self, to determine what of all
Focusing on archeol-
that past has deepest reso-
ogy, Potok includes this
nance for me.
photo of Jewish glass
"There is a vast library of from the Roman Period,
material on each of the
in his illustrated volume.
periods I am writing about,
and each library is a
lifetime or more of reading.
I have borrowed freely from
these libraries and concede
all claims of priority by
others -for ideas expressed in
this book. Among my very
close friends are those
whose life's work is history,
all kinds of history. They
have helped me give focus to
my reading and to enter into
the frontiers of contempor-
ary scholarship where the
areas I have been writing
about are continually being
probed."
"Wanderi-ngs" may be
used- as supplementary
Rembrandt's "The
reading: isn't that true of all
Sacrifice of Isaac" is
new histories, the student among the photographs
depending upon earlier contained in the Potok
matter for totality of infor- work.
,
Controversial Hazleton Volume Quashes Israeli Women Myths
By HEIDI PRESS
Ranking high on the list
of myths about Israeli
women is that which de-
scribes them as the gun-
toting battlefront warriors,
when, in fact, those women
were exceptions to the ac-
tual situation which found
them in roles as wireless
operators, nurses and in
clerical posts.
This myth and other mis-
conceptions about Israeli
women are dealt with in an
enlightening new book by
Lesley Hazleton, entitled
"Israeli Women: The
Reality Behind the Myths."
Although many may
argue with what Ms. Hazle-
ton presents in her Simon
and Schuster-published
volume, they will agree that
the evidence to support her
conclusions has been well-
researched.
Regarding
the
aforementioned myth of
the Israeli woman
soldier, Ms. Hazleton
states in part:
Ms. Hazleton
states:
"The theopolital estab-
lishment administers
both secular and reli-
gious laws, making min-
cemeat of Israel's much-
vaunted legislation on
the equality of women."
"The Hagana women
knew how to use a gun. But
it was generally the men
who did the guard duty and
the women who welcomed
them home and, if neces-
sary, nursed them. When
Among the examples Of
things got too- hot, the the real situation in Israel,
women would clean and re- the author lists:
load the rifles for the men,
so that they could increase
"By giving secular legal
their rate of fire .. .
status to religious law, Is-
"There were women who rael has raised an insupera-
actually fought, and died, in ble barrier to equality for
battle, but it was solely on women. To call the laws of
these exceptions that the Orthodox Judaism (the only
rule of the myth was to be Judaism accepted in Israel)
based."
sexist is an understate-
A second myth the author ment: they do not recognize
tries to dispel is that of the woman's existence as a full
liberated Israeli woman. human being. To say that
Her greatest case against they promote a double
the myth is the accepted fact standard avoids the issue:
that the daily operation of they promote only one
the state of Israel is based standard, the male one."
on Halakha — Jewish law.
"Women are not allowed
to give evidence in Rabbini-
cal courts, the courts that
control marriage and di-
vorce, since they are consid-
ered emotionally unreliable
tain. It emphasizes sexual
differences in an attempt to
make a virtue out of femi-
ninity, to create a positive
self image that would only
be demeaned by any sugges-
"Orthodox Jewish law tion of being put on a level
on marriage and divorce, with men. An elusive and
as it applies to all Jewish closed world of femininity is
Israeli citizens regard-
less of whether they are
religious, is based on two
fundamental principles:
first, that the woman is
the property of her hus-
band, and second, stem-
ming from the first, that
polygamy is permissible
• • • t
f
The author concludes:
"Orthodox Judaism is
therefore far more than a
religion in Israel today. It is
a code of law that is particu-
larly restrictive for women;
it is a civilly binding force;
and it constitutes a political
power bloc that can effec-
tively quash any legislation
for real sexual equality."
The third of the three
major myths surrounding
Israeli women is that of the
"real woman." Ms. Hazleton
describes the myth as fol-
lows:
"The 'real woman' myth
places them (women) on a
quasi-mystic pedestal to
which men can never at-
created."
Discussing the role of
the feminist movement,
Ms. Hazleton asserts that
the real woman image
has yet to be achieved by
Israeli women. She says:
"For the flight of Israeli
women into femininity is
still in progress. And as long
as the feminine mystique is
an aim rather than an
achieved fact, feminism
challenges aspiration as
well as achievement . . . Is-
raeli women are still climb-
ing the slopes and gullies to
that plateau, and have
placed all their hopes on
reaching it."
In an epilogue, in which
she analyzes the project she
has undertaken, the author
offers her countrywomen-
the following:
"It took many years be-
fore I was able to grapple
with the triad that governs
the lives of Israeli women,
the triad of liberation., secu-
rity and religion. I had to
pass through stages of
amazement, incomprehen-
sion and accusation before I
could see the force and
dynamics of these influ-
ences and achieve even a
small degree of dis-
passionate analysis.
"It was a hard-won
understanding, and one
that convinced me that
until we women in Israel
confront the myth of our
liberation, the power of
religious tradition, and
the effects of our national
security/insecurity, we
resign ourselves to the
roles assigned us by a
male-oriented society."
Unfortunately, space
does not allow for the re.
production here of the
arguments and examples
presented in Ms. Hazleton's
"Israeli Women" to coun-
teract the prevailing myths
about the feminine coun-
terpart of Israel's popula-
tion. The book is guaran-
teed to generate con-
troversy from all sides, but
if it does it has achieved its
purpose of bringing to the
fore the situation of Israeli
women as it actually exists.
The Hazleton volume is
informative and it gives im-
portance to a subject often
neglected.