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

Potok's "Wanderings"
covers the periods of ancient
paganism, classic
paganism, Islam and Chris-
tianity and the modernity of
an era dealt with as "inside
modern paganism." From
these the approach becomes
apparent. It is as if Asher
Lev's philosophy is injected
in the search for history. It
is done with dignity and
skill and a great narrative
emerges, whether writing
about a Hasidic dispute or
He deals with the facts,
the facts of history.
the ancient, medieval, mod-
Potok's preface is in great
ern; the religious and the
secularist, the Zionist and - measure autobiographical,
pointing to the influence of
the assimilationist.
his father, the roots that
Making. the book espe-
gave him concern to write a
cially unique are the hun-
factual history book. It is
dreds of photographs,
also an explanatory note on
hardly a page without one.
his approach, with a sense of
The 400-page book has 173
illustrations, and 88 are in !obligation to historians he
had learned or drawn from.
full color.
In the process he wrote:
A good history needs the
"It was Robert Gottlieb of
proper maps and Potok's be-
Knopf who suggested that I
comes fully informative
consider
doing a nonfiction
thanks to the maps that de-
book on the Jews. Though I
pict the various eras under
review.

and a number of others
have supplemented the
works of Heirnich- Graetz
and Simon Dubnow.
Potok's history gains
special attention from the
directness and intimacy
of the narrator's skill.
Potok is the great
teacher. He is the novelist
who makes history read
like fiction, yet it retains
its realism and its factual-
ity.

DR. CHAIM POTOK
reached the pinnacle of suc-
cess.
Now comes his magnum
Scholarship dominates
opus, an encyclopedic work
so impressive that it will the entire theme as Potok
tackles
the multiple fac-
surely gain the dominant
shelf in the library of his tors and facets called his-
tory.
He
draws upon phi-
creative works.
"Wanderings," Chaim losophy, analyzes philos-
Potok's history of the Jews ophy, analyzes the great
(Knopf), is the work of a personalities who form
narrator who knows, under- the cast of characters in
stands, values the need to Jewish history, draws
relate the drama imbedded upon archeological find-
in a 4,000-year-old history. ings, makes history hum
Many notable works as a vibrating force af-

Wave been written, por-
traying Jewish history
up to and including mod-
ern times. Solomon
Grayzel, Abram Sachar

fecting not only the
people who are his im-
mediate subject but all of
mankind.

Divided into four parts,

had studied history with
great teachers in the Jewish
Theological Seminary of
America and elsewhere, I
hesitated to move from the
world of the imagination to
the hard country of fact. But
the challenge became ir-
resistible when I realized
that such a work might help
me construct boldly the
scaffolding that supports
the novels and all my years
of commitment to my
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-
tive form and have had to
make choices and deci-
sions which .I will not
(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
that past has deepest reso-
nance for me.
"There is a vast library of
material on each of the
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."
"Wanderings" may be
used as supplementary
reading: isn't that true of all
new histories, the student
depending upon earlier
matter for totality of infor-

mation? It is the addendum
as Potok sees it that is great,
making "Wanderings"
monumental and superb.

Focusing on archeol-
ogy, Potok includes this
photo of Jewish glass
from the Roman Period,
in his illustrated volume.

Rembrandt's "The
Sacrifice of Isaac" is
among the photographs
contained in the Potok
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:

"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
things got too hot, the
women would clean and re-
load the rifles for the men,
so that they could increase
their rate of fire ...
"There were women who
actually fought, and died, in
battle, but it was solely on
these exceptions that the
rule of the myth was to be
based."
A second myth the author
tries to dispel is that of the
liberated Israeli woman.
Her greatest case against
the myth is the accepted fact
that the daily operation of
the state of Israel is based
on Halakha — Jewish law.

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."

Among the examples of
the real situation in Israel,
the author lists:

to give evidence in Rabbini- tain. It emphasizes sexual
cal courts, the courts that differences in an attempt to
control marriage and di- make a virtue out of femi-
vorce, since they are consid- ninity, to create a positive
ered emotionally unreliable self image that would only
be demeaned by any sugges-
"Orthodox Jewish law tion of being put on a level
with men. An elusive and
on marriage and divorce,
closed world of femininity is
as it applies to all Jewish
Israeli citizens regard- created."

less of whether they are
religious, is based on two
fundamental principles:
"By giving secular legal
first, that the woman is
status to religious law, Is-
the property of her hus-
rael has raised an insupera-
band, and second, stem-
ble barrier to equality for --ming from the first, that
women. To call the laws of
polygamy is permissible

Orthodox Judaism (the only
Judaism accepted in Israel)
sexist is an understate-
ment: they do not recognize
woman's existence as a full
human being. To say that
they promote a double
standard avoids the issue:
they promote only one
standard, the male one."
"Women are not allowed

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
- The author concludes: an aim rather than an
"Orthodox Judaism is achieved fact, feminism
therefore far more than a challenges aspiration as
religion in Israel today. It is well as achievement ... Is-
a code of law that is particu- raeli women are still climb-
larly restrictive for women; ing the slopes and gullies to
it is a civilly binding force; that plateau, and have
and it constitutes a political placed all their hopes on
power bloc that can effec- reaching_ it."
tively quash any legislation
In an epilogue, in which
for real sexual equality."
she analyzes the project she
The third of the three has undertaken, the author
major myths surrounding offers her countrywomen
Israeli women is that of the the following:
"real woman." Ms. Hazleton
"It took many years be-
describes the myth as fol- fore I was able to grapple
lows:
with the triad that governs
"The 'real woman' myth the lives of Israeli women,
places them (women) on a the triad of liberation, secu-
quasi-mystic pedestal to rity and religion. I had to
.which men can never 'at- 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 achie-ved 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.