72 Friday, May 22, 1981

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

'Javits' Autobiographically Describes a Notable Public Career

Jacob K. Javits is a name
with an inerasable record in
American history. He was
one of the nation's most dis-
tinguished members of the
United States Senate, hav-
ing served from 1956
through 1980, and his de-
feat in the latter year was
the result of what many
termed misjudgment in his
having failed to gracefully
retire after an enviable
career.
His story is told in the
first person, in his autobiog-
raphy. "Javits" (Houghton
Mifflin Co.). It is appropri-
ately subtitled "The Auto-
biography of a Public Man."
He was and remains just
that — "a public man."
Raphael Steinberg, who
aided in the writing of the
story, added journalistic
ability to this task, having
authored seven books and
was a Time and Newsweek
correspondent.
Javits' story could
without boasting have
stated that he was also "a
public Jewish activist."
He played a leading role
in all pro-Israel efforts
and was a leader in the
Senate in defense of the
Jewish state and in
enrolling U.S. support for
Israel.
There are many passages
in this autobiographical
volume to attest to it, nota-
bly the "following:
"Early in 1979 (after the
Camp David accord), when
negotiations between Israel
and Egypt were stalled at a
very delicate stage, I dipped
into the reservoir of good

will that I had accumulated
within the U.S. Jewish
community and made an ef-
fort to nudge the talks for-
ward. Prime Minister
Menahem Begin was in
Washington, and the U.S.
had just made a proposal de-
signed to eliminate a last-
minute snag in the talks.
"On a snowy Sunday
night President Carter
called to the White House a
few congressional lead-
ers,' including Senators
Jackson, Ribicoff, Stone,
and myself, and Represen-
tative Sidney Yates of Il-
linois. The President ex-
plained the situation to us
and asked us to see if the
U.S. Jewish leaders might
be able to persuade Israel to
agree to this final step.
"It was clear to me that
we were on the verge of
an historic peace settle-
ment. From the White\
House I rushed back to
my apartment in Wash-
ington and started tele-
phoning all the top
Jewish leaders of the
United States. I ex-
plained that I was not try-
ing to make a judgment of
what would or would not
jeopardize Israel's secu-
rity; I was putting up a
standard against which
to test how serious that
jeopardy would have to
be to warrant forfeiting
the treaty.
"I told the U.S. Jewish
leaders that Israel and
Egypt were very close to
signing an agreement, that
Israel had to make the final
decision, and that I thought

that would be it — there
would not be another
chance. Whatever may be
the -deficiencies of this
agreement, I said, if Israel
could sign it without believ-
ing that she was absolutely
undermining her own secu-
rity, then every argument of
policy respecting Israel's
standing with the Congress
and the American people
dictated acceptance and
signing.
" 'This is the moment of
truth,' I said. call you be-
cause I hope you will, in
every way that your organ-
ization has open to it, ask
your members and those
affiliated with you to urge
the approval by Israel of
this agreement and to urge
those you work with and
help in Israel to urge their
government to do that.'
"Every one of the leaders I
called, even those I did not
know very well, promised to
help. They all understood
the immediacy of it. And I
believe that as soon as we
hung up they picked their
phones up again and started
calling their people. I am
sure they did everything
they could and that the
message reached the Israeli
government loud and clear.
A few days later, Israel's
cabinet agreed to the final
point"and the historic peace
treaty between Israel and
Egypt was signed."
Senator Javits also met
and conferred with
Egyptian President
Anwar Sadat, and the
negotiations were always
positive. He helped

JACOB JAVITS

President Jimmy Carter
bring the parties to the
Camp David negotiations
and he was a factor in giv-
ing credence to the liber-
tarian values of Zionism.
Interestingly, the index
to the Javits volume does
not contain the Israel and •
Zionism topics. It was un-
necessary because so much
of the book is devoted to the
U.S. Senator's Jewish
interests and pro-Zionist
participations.
Of course, Javits the Re-
publican is a major factor in
this volume, and his con-
cerns with domestic as well
as foreign policies emerge in
great evidence in these re-
collections by the noted
statesman and legislator.
Javits makes an interest-
ing reference to Max M.
Fisher. It is a tribute worth
quoting. He pays tribute to
Fisher, stating:
"Two people of out-
standing important in
regard to U.S.-Israel rela-
tions are Max Fisher of

Detroit and, of course,
former Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger. Kis-
singer himself was a ref-
ugee from the Holocaust,
and he is deeply
grounded in the history,
the philosophy, the sen-
sitivity, the passion for
justice, and the tradition
of independent thought
of the Jewish people. It is
these qualities, as well as
his intellectual brilliance,
that gained him such
high repute.
"Max Fisher, a Detroit
civic and business leader, is
perhaps the single most im-
portant lay person in the
American Jewish commu-
nity; he is certainly the
most successful fund raiser
for Israel. He has held the
highest offices in key organ-
izations active in U.S.-
Israel relations, including
the chairmanship of the
board of governors of the
Jewish Agency, which dis-
burses most of the private
money raised in the United
States for settlement and
development in Israel.
"Max Fisher is a Republi-
can and during the adminis-
tration of Presidents Nixon
and Ford he had a greater
influence regarding Israel
than any other American
not in public office. His in-
tercessions have always
been made with an eye to
the highest national inter-
est of the United States,
which he, too, feels is so
often parallel to the interest
of Israel. I met him years
ago when I went to speak to
a fund-raising gathering in

Detroit, and we have been
friends ever since."
The Javits-Kissinger
friendship also alluded to
is one of the many impor-
tant Javits associations
which included the great
of all nations and the out-
standing American and
world Jewish leaders.
As a member of the U.S.
House of Representatives,
he was among the first to
urge U.S. recognition of Is-
rael when David Ben-
Gurion declared statehood
on May 14, 1948: He met
with Ben-Gurion, they be-
came friends, and in 1956
Javits delivered a message
m
Ben-Gui-ion
to
President Dwigh ,
Eisenhower about the U tai
Campaign.
Israeli
and
U.S.
Presidents, the leading
world statesmen, the noted
Jewish communal leaders
— many of the most noted
personalities pass in review
in "Javits."
That he should have ac-
knowledged the end of his
political career in Novem-
ber 1980 at a luncheon at
Rattner's on Delancey
Street is noteworthy. Mr.
and Mrs. Isaac Stern were
among those at the lunch-
eon. About that day Javits
wrote, "I saw that one defeat '
meant little on the long road
I have traveled."
This is a truth that attests
to an interesting life, splen-
didly recounted in a volume
that serves as an historic
reminiscence about an im-
portant period in' U.S. and
world history.

The Joys of Jewish Folklore' Embraces the U.S. Experience

In 165 recorded episodes,
most of them undoubtedly
true occurrences, others
purely legendary, "Joys of
Jewish Folklore" (Jonathan
David Publishers) provides
entertaining reading. Since
many of the episodes are
based on facts, they also
offer historical data about
American Jews and their
communities.
Rabbi David Max Eic-
hhorn, the author of this col-
lection of vignettes, had an
interesting career since
being ordained by Hebrew
Union College in 1931. He
now is spiritual leader of
Temple Israel, Merritt Is-
land, Fla., and is Jewish
civilian chaplain at Ken-
nedy Space Center. He is
the author of numerous
other books and he drew
upon many sources for the
stories related in this
humorous anthology, subti-
tled "A Journey from New
Amsterdam to Beverly Hills
and Beyond."
The stories relate to ex-
periences in New England,

the Middle Atlantic states,
the South, the Midwest, the
Southwest and the Far -
West. This is covering the
nation with completeness,
and the credit given to those
whS have supplied back-
grounds for the stories em-
phasizes that the author
drew upon records aimed at
substantiating the factual,
while acknowledging the
legendary.
• The Midwest section
contains a story entitled
"Detroit's Bronx Bomber
Did Not Play on Yom Kip-
pur." It is an interest-
ing mixture of hearsay,
corrected in a quoted
statement by Hank
Greenberg himself. The
rumors recorded here
are about Rabbis Ab-
raham Hershman and
Leo Franklin, who are
quoted advising Hank
not to play on ,Yom Kip-
pur. An Orthodox rabbi
supposedly asked for
time to study the Jewish
legal aspect.
The Eichhorn story

the tight pennant race,
the question arose as to
whether or not I was
going to be in the lineup
during the holidays. The
press was concerned
only because it made a
good story. They went to
Rabbi Franklin, who was
reported to have said,
'Rosh Hashana is a joy-
ous holiday and so
Greenberg could play
that day; but he definitely
It is to the credit of the should not play on Yom
anthologist that the record Kippur.' I played on Rosh
is set straight, that the Hashana, hit two home
acclaim for Hank Green- runs, and we won the
berg is indicated and the game two to one._ This is
ball player who gained na- all documented in the De-
tional fame is quoted offer- troit Free Press.
ing this explanation of what
" '3. No one contacted
had actually occurred:
Manager Mickey Cochrane
on this. He would have had
"I wrote to Mr. Greenberg
no jurisdiction over whether
to ask him to tell me ho'
or not I would play on the
this legend got started. lv
holidays.
Greenberg replied as
" '4. The possibility of my
lows:
" let me help you set the playing on Yom Kippur did
come up at the beginning of
record straight:
" '1. I never played on the 1935 World Series. Yom
Kippur that year was on Oc-
Yom Kippur.
" '2. In 1934, because of tober 6. The series began on
October 3. On October 4, in
the second game, I broke my
wrist, which ended the mat-
ter. I never played on Yom
Kippur during my entire
baseball 'career.' "
The story could have been
expanded, with the added
facts that Hank actually
attended Rosh Hasharia
services at Cong. Shaarey
Zedek, where he was given

states: "The Orthodox
rabbi explains the talmudic
background and sets forth
the condition. The Mishna
says that the boys of
Jerusalem played ball on
the streets on Yom Kippur
Day. If the Jewish boys of
Jerusalem could play ball
on Yom Kippur so could
Greenberg, provided that,
in every other way, he prop-
erly observed Yom Kippur

hearty greetings; that
Rabbi Hershman was a
baseball fan; that Hank had
some roots in. Detroit in
friendships with Jewish
leaders and interest in
Jewish causes.
The tales related in
Eichhorn's collection are.
reminiscent of the his-
toric material assembled
as American pioneering
history by Dr. Jacob R.
Marcus, executive head
of American Jewish Arc-
hives.
Resorting to historical
data about the communities
where the incidents oc-
curred, Rabbi Eichhorn in-
cluded a lengthy account of
the emergence of the De-
troit Jewish community and
also wrote about Fort
Wayne.
He relates a story about
the eminent rabbi of Temple
Beth El, entitled "The
Rabbi Business," thus:
"Rabbi B. Benedict
Glazer, known affection-
ately to his friends as 'Babe,'
was the spiritual leader of
Temple Beth El in Detroit.
He was big and burly and
looked more like a profes-
sional football player than a
rabbi.
"While riding in a
Pullman club car one day,
he was seated next to an
equally burly traveling
salesman, a friendly guy
who wanted to ease the
monotony of the train ride

by engaging in some profes-
sional chitchat.
"Turning his chair
toward the rabbi, he
stuck out his hand and
said, 'I'm Schmidt of
Milwaukee — hardware.
What's you line?' An
equally friendly rabbi
grasped the outstretched
hand and replied,
'Pleased to meet you. I'm
Glazer of Detroit — no-
tions.' "
Then there is a reference
to "The Rope Skipping
Jewish Indian" which corn-
,
mences:
"Edward Kantor the
`Jewish Indian' was born in
Germany in 1798. He ran
away from home in 1815,
came to America as a
stowaway on a French ves-
sel, jumped ship in Charles-
ton, took to peddling, and
then clerked in a drugstore.
"Many years later he was
to become the proprietor of a
general store in D t,
Michigan, and a favoNW of
the neighboring Indian
tribes —'so much so that one
of them adopted him and
gave him the name 'Bosh-
bish-gay-bish-gon-sen,' the
Indian word for 'firecracker'
and a name that Edward
Kantor laughingly de-
scribed as sounding more
Jewish than his own."
The delightful stories will
fascinate the reader. They
are, indeed, "The Joys of
Jewish Folklore."

