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.