64 Friday, July 18, 1980
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
`Artapanos Comes Home,' Novel:Translated
from Yiddish, Describes the Jews' Dispersal
intriguers was Antipater,
By ALLEN WARSEN •
Tsanin, son of Antipas, whom
Mordechai
editor-in-chief of "Letste Alexander Yannai ap-
Nyes," the only Yiddish pointed governor of
daily in Israel, authored the Edom. Like his father,
historical novel "Artapanos Antipater strove to be-
Comes Home." Published by come the real wielder of
A.S. Barnes and Herzl power in Judea."
Press, it was translated
Thus, during the inter-
from the Yiddish by I.M. necine war for kingdom be-
Lask and consists of two tween Alexander Yannai's
parts.
sons Hyrcanos and Aris-
Artapanos, the novel's tobulos, following Alexand-
protagonist, was born into a ra's death, Antipater sided
Hasmonean family and with the former urging him
brought up as a Helenist in to seek assistance from the
the gymnasia of Grecized king of the Nabataean
Jericho. Inwardly, however, Arabs.
he felt an aversion for Greek
In contrast, Artapanos
culture and its multiplicity
who
was not only wise, but
of deities.
Upon his return from was also gifted with
-
-Jericho to Jerusalem, Ar- foresight," saw danger in
tapanos became a trusted foreign intervention and
Queen helped Aristobulos repel the
of
counselor
Alexandra, the widow of foreign invaders.
Even afterwards, Ar-
King Alexander Yannai,
and the country's regent. He tapanos "was full of dread
saw in her the embodiment for the morrow." His pre-
of Judea's true spirit, and monition proved to be jus-
"honored her wisdom, and tified.
The Romans, who had
was prepared to be her ser-
conquered neighboring
vitor in her loneliness."
". . . Immediately behind
This pledge concludes
the white togas the proces-
part one of the novel.
Part two commences in sion closed by three rows of
71 CE' in Rome. Ar- horsemen. Behind them
tapanos, a respected came six soldiers bearing a
Roman citizen and a massive golden table . . . A
wealthy ship-owner, is few paces beyond came an
the gerusiarch (head) of officer bearing a golden ark.
the Jerusalem It contained a Torah scroll
Synagogue. He is mar- from the Holy Temple.
"A little further along
ried to Flavia Antonina, a
proselyte, and is the came four soldiers bear-
ing on their shoulders a
ee children.
father of thr
gigantic golden seven-
They are observant Jews, branched candlestick. A
participate in the affairs of few paces further came
the Roman Jewish commu- soldiers carrying on their
nity, and are concerned for shoulders an open coffer
Judea's problems.
containing various gol-
It is well to remember den objects ... between
that in 71 CE, 130 years fol- two files of cavalry came
lowing Pompey's conquest the Jewish prisoners
of Judea, the Romans cele- weary, torn, tattered ...
brated another victory over with the bodi
es longing to
that country: Titus' defeat lie down and rest ..."
of the Judean rebellion and
Significantly, the Jewish
the destruction of the Holy delegation, ordered by the
Instead, he pledged "to
Temple in Jerusalem.
Roman authorities to par-
live as long as the captivity
ticipate in the procession,
The
main
feature
of
the
of his homeland; so that
celebration was the was assigned a place "beside
when he returned he should
triumphal procession, the the representatives of the
be able to rest his head in
greatest in Roman history, city of Rome." The dele-
peace on the free earth and
described masterfully by gates, headed by Artapanos,
restore his soul to the God of
marched with their heads
the author:
Israel."
Judea's unstable politi-
cal situation, sent an
army under the com-
mand of Pompey, and
occupied the country
with hardly any resis-
tance.
Those who resisted were
either killed, sold into slav-
ery or deported to Rome. Ar-
tapanos was among the de-
portees. Pompey spared his
life in order to have him as
an ornament in his triump-
hal march through the
streets of Rome. He was led
with Aristobulos as though
they were slaves. On the
steps of the Senate House he
saw the two Roman wolves
Julius Caesar and Gnaius
Pompeius Magnus standing
together. Then Artapanos
took an oath not to despair
and fling his life away."
A r tanos
continued Syria took advantage of
ap
to engage in his favorite
sports: swords- _
manship and • foot-
racin g. Vivid and sus-
Jews, regardless of their
By MOSHE RON
penseful is the author's
political views.
The Jewish News Special
description of a horse
One of the main princi-
Israel Correspondent
race in which Artapanos
ples
of the Hagana was re-
TEL
AVIV
—
The
took part: •
He took his place to the paramilitary secret organ- spect for weapons, using
left of the previous winner. ization Hagana was estab- them only for defense pur-
The two other riders took up lished to guard life and poses against Arab attacks
outer positions . . . He tight- property of the Jews in on Jewish settlements. Be-
ened the rein just. as a bow- Eretz Yisrael in 1920 in fore the Hagana, there was
string is drawn taut before Kibutz Kineret. It existed a secret group called
the arrow is released, and until the formation of the Hashomer, which served
awaited the signal . . . And Israel army (Zahal) in 1948. the same purpose.
In the beginning, the
Writer Efraim Talmi,
that very . moment the offi-
cer signaled the start. He who distinguished himself Hagana had only a local
was behind the others by a with his books about Israel character in the settle-
head, but loosened his rein and received many literary ments, which it defended.
in good time, rose in the prizes, was an old member Afterwards, it became
saddle, lowered his head of the Hagana and recently regional. With the outbreak
parallel with the horse's published in the weekly of the Arab "revolt" in 1936
neck and soon drew up level "Davar Lejeladim" a his- which lasted until the be-
toric review about the ac- ginning of the Second World
with "them.
- War in 1939, the Hagana
His horse seemed to be tivity of the Hagana.
became a country-wide
The
Hagana
was
under
swimming. He could feel the
was the
animal's hooves drumming the control of the Histadrut, organization. It
military
force
of
the
Jewish
which
represented
the
the earth at an even
rhythm. He did not need to pioneer Labor Movement state before its establish-
urge it on. From time to with its many agricultural ment. .
In 1930 there was a split
time he slapped its flanks so settlements. It took its
that it should know he was character from the spiritual in the Hagana. Members
in charge . . . 'Fly! Fly!' he values of this movement, who were ideologically con-
shouted to himself and went the colonization, legal and nected with the Revisionists
on swaying in the selfsame illegal aliya, and was based founded their own defense
completely on volunteers. It organization, which was
rhythm."
Alexandra, on becoming dedicated itself to guard called "Second Organiza-
the country's ruler, re- Jewish culture, the renais- tion" and later became the
moved the Saducees from sance of the Jewish people, IZL (Irgun Zvai Leumi).
the high political and ad- the ideal of pioneering and
A high command was es-
ministrative positions and upbuilding of the Jewish tablished, in which repre-
replaced them with land.
The Hagana was also sentatives of the Histadrut,
Pharisees. This shift in pol-
controlled
by the na- the Zionist Executive and
icy gave rise to intrigues
tional
institutions
of the leaders of the population
and caused discontent in the
were active. The activity of
armed forces, especially Yishuv, but the Histadrut the Hagana was widened,
determined
the
princi-
among the Saducee com-
ples of its activity. Soon it girls and women were
manders.
mobilized and arms and Lae-
Foremost among the drew to its ranks all
up, but with saddened
hearts. "Artapanos him-
self," it is well to recall, "had
once followed the same road
as a captive in a similar
triumphal procession; and
he had never forgotten the
aense of degradation."
-Comes
"Artapanos
Home" ("Artapanos kumt
tsurik aheym") is one of the
great works in Yiddish lit-
erature. Artapanos'
life symbolizes the mi
of Jewish history and ins
experiences mirror those of
the Jewish people. The
novel's title is a metaphor
for the return of the Jews to
their homeland.
Mordechai Tsanin, an
original and creative
novelist, was born 65 years
ago in Sokolow, Poland.
During World War II he fled
to Japan and from there to
India. He came to Palestine
"when Rommel's hordes
pressed upon Egypt."
He is the author of five
volumes of fiction and six
volumes of non-fiction. "The
Insurrection of Mezhibozh"
is his most recent novel.
Traced Through 28 Years of Hagana
tics courses were intro-
duced.
Arms were bought
secretly and the basis for
self-produced arms was
laid.
Special units were formed
for collecting information,
health service, judicial aid
and culture. A secret
Hagana newspaper was
published under the name
"Bamachaneh" ("In the
camp"). Hagana began to
organize transports of il-
legal immigrants. The ship
"Velus" brought in July
1934 the first group of il-
legal immigrants to Pales-
tine. This activity was later
enlarged and achieved ut-
most importance for realiz-
ing the Zionist idea.
The Hagana changed its
defense system. At the end
of 1936 it organized— as an
answer to the brutal Arab
attacks on Jewish settle-
ments — a mobile unit,
which attacked the villages
and positions of the Arab
gangs during the night.
Field units and Jewish Aux-
iliary Police were estab-
lished.
The mobile units were
headed by a British officer,
Ord Wingate, who was a
friend of the Jews and did
not move without keeping a
Bible in his pocket. Hagana
units in the settlements
safeguarded the defense of
new settlements,–which
were established at night,
in order to make them a
legal fact.
The Second World War
broke out. The Yishuv
decided to aid the British
war effort against the
Nazi enemy. Many
Hagana members volun-
teered for the British
army. A special civil
guard was established to
organize the population
in case of air-raids by the ture of Palestine. The
enemy. A basis was laid Hagana strengthened its
for a Jewish air force and forces in case a fateful con-
frontation with the Arabs
-
navy. _
should take place. It bought
In May 1941, the former arms in the country and
"Palmach" was founded, abroad. Hagana instructors
which had to carry out spe- prepared Jews in camps in
cial dangerous missions. Europe and Cyprus for a
Thirty-two members of the fatal fight in Palestine on
Hagana and Palmach were the eve of the establishment
landed secretly in the occu- of the state of Israel.
pied countries in Europe to
In 1947, the United Na-
make contact with Jews and tions decided to divide
save them. Seven of the 32 Palestine into a Jewish and
were found by the Nazis and Arab state. The Arabs re-
executed.
jected this decision and at-
In September 1944, the tacked Jewish buses and
British government con- cars on the roads. These at-
firmed the establishment of tacks soon turned into a
the Jewish Brigade within war.
the British Army. This
The British soldiers
brigade fought in Italy supported the Arabs and
against the Nazis and was confiscated weapons of
later active in Europe. The the Hagana. The Hagana,
brigade organized mass which had to fight on two
transports from the freed fronts, organized a wide-
death camps to Palestine.
spread self-defense, de-
The British mandatory fended Jewish settle-
power adopted several stern ments against the Arab
measures in order to inter- attacks and guarded the
fere with these transports. Jewish convoys on the
British ships attacked the roads.
small boats of illegal im-
In the meantime, Arab
migrants approaching the
armies invaded Palestine in
coast of Palestine.
The Yishuv revolted order to strangle the Je- -'11.
and the Hagana reacted state in its beginnings
to these brutal actions Arab attacks were stopped ,
with attacks on British but no ultimate military de-
military bases in Pales- cision reached.
Hagana forces foul .he
tine.
The British authorities enemy until May 30, 1948 _
made mass-arrests, among Afterwards the new Israeli
them members of the army, called Zahal, was ,
Zionist leadership like It- formed, joined by the un-
zhak Greenbaum, Moshe derground forces of IZL and
Sharett, David Remez, Lehi.
The Jewish self-defense
Rabbi Jehuda Leib
Fishman (Maimon), David which started during the
Hacohen. Searches for arms first days of return to Zior.
were carried out in Jewish with Hashomer before
settlements and arms World War I, continued
with the Hagana and Zahal.
caches were confiscated.
International public opin- It was a continuous chain of
ion exerted pressure on the defense for the historic 1
U.S. and England to take achievement of the Jewish`
political decisions on the fu- people in Eretz Yisrael.