64 Friday, January 22, 1982
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Tuchman's Analysis of Assimilation in 'Practicing History'
Barbara Tuchman, twice.
Pulitzer Prize winner for
her historical essays and
full-length works, provides
evidence for having merited
such recognition in her
newest work, "Practicing
History" (Knopf).
It is a collection of essays,
and of speeches later used as
essays in national
magazines, including
Commentary. In a sense it is
also autobiographical, in
the recollections about her
distinguished family whose
roots were in American
JevAsh ranks.
In this collection of essays
Mrs. Tuchman touches
upon Japan, Spain, China,
Vietnam, and on political
affairs, including Water-
gate and the Presidency. Is-
rael has many roles in the
articles in which she
emerges as an advocate of
justice for Israel, Jewry,
Zionism.
Included in the Israel-
oriented is a review of
Gideon Hausner's "Jus-
tice in Jerusalem," re-
printed from the New
York Times Book Re-
view. She titled her arti-
cle "The Final Solution."
From the NYTimes Book
Review also is reprinted her
review of Dr. Henry Kis-
singer's "Kissinger's Self-
Portrait."
Of major interest is the
essay "The As-
similationist's Dilemma:
Ambassador Morgenthau's
Story." It is reprinted from
Commentary and originally
was an address she deli-
vered before the American
Historical Association, in
December 1976.
The 10-page article is
voluminous in recollections.
It is the story of her grand-
father, Henry Morgenthau
Sr. It relates to her father,
Maurice Wertheim,
Morgenthau's son-in-law.
There are many as-
pects to this story. Of in-
terest, of course, is
Morgenthau Senior's
deep interest in social
causes, his role in sup-
port of Woodrow Wilson
for the Presidency, his
early pro-Zionism which
he later abandoned.
He was a supporter of
Stephen S. Wise in the
founding of the Free
Synagogue, but he resigned
from its presidency as a pro-
test against Wise's Zionism.
He wrote an article expres-
sing his anti-Zionism and
included it in 1921, in his
autobiography.
He called the movement
"an Eastern European
proposal which, if it were to
succeed, would cost the
Jews of America most of
what they have gained in
liberty, equality and frater-
nity." Mrs. Tuchman states
that "in his eighties, in the
shadow of the Holocaist, he
privately acknowledged
that he had read history
wrong. He died at 91 a year
before the re-creation of the
state of Israel."
Therefore, the notewor-
thiness of her speech and es-
say. Mrs. Tuchman began
her recollections about her
grandfather and father by
recording how Morgenthau
dispatched aid to Palestine
during World War I. Mrs.
Tuchman maintains that
the aid he sent to Palestine
saved the Jewish commun-
ity from extinction. As she
stated it:
"The incident that
suggested Henry
Morgenthau, Sr., as a
focus of the modern
Jewish dilemma is one of
history's classic ironies:
that by his alert dispatch
of assistance to the
Jewish colony of Pales-
tine in August 1914 —
when serving as U.S.
Ambassador to Turkey —
he saved it from starva-
tion and probable extin-
cition, thus preserving it
for the ultimate state-
hood which he came to
believe was a "stupend-
ous fallacy' and 'blackest
error.' Measured in
material terms, the aid
was minuscule, and the
incident remains virtu-
ally unknown except to a
few investigators; but it
was of decisive and im-
mense historical impor-
tance."
worked, as well as a house to
live in and schooling for his
daughters, were arranged
for by my father (who had
visited Ben-Yehuda in
Jerusalem) and were
supplied largely by his
father, Jacob Wertheim,
and a committee consisting
of Jacob Schiff, Felix War-
burg, Julius Rosenwald,
and Herbert Lehman, the
magnates of the so-called
gilded ghetto.
"Why did they care about
the revival of Hebrew? Or,
in the earlier case, about the
survival of the colony in
Palestine? The answer to
that — the unbreakable tie
to the group — is the answer
as well to the unique survi-
val of the Jews for over
1,900 years without state-
hood or territory. It is also
part of the assimilationist's
dilemma.
"Assimilation was a solu-
tion born of an Enlighten-
ment — a dream of adapta-
tion within a dominant
Gentile society while sup-
_ posedly maintaining some-
thing not quite definable
called Judaism. Whether
this was to be equivalent to
or more than the Jewish re-
ligion depended on the indi-
vidual interpreter, but in
any case it tended to shrivel
in partnership with assimi-
lation.
"In degree and nature
the whole concept of as-
similation was a disturb-
ing problem of belief tor-
tured by doubt, and so
troubling that it was not
discussed in front of the
children. It is likely, I
, suspect, to remain
forever unsolved, never
wholly achieved or
, wholly abandoned.
"Meanwhile the record
suffers from a certain dis-
tortion — in that the do-
minant voice, as in every
historical record, belongs to
the victors, who in this case
are the Zionists. Events
proved them right with re-
gard to the revival of Israel,
and the assimilationists
wrong. Consequently the
,
BARBARA TUCHMAN
father, who was then visit-
ing him.
"When' it came to dis-
tribution, the gold precipi-
tated an attack of inter-
necine quarreling among
the various local organiza-
tions, until my father, who
was then 28, picked up the
suitcase, locked himself in
an adjoining room, and told
his clients he would not
come out until they had
reached an agreement.
Under that ultimatum, they
did."
It is on the question of
assimilation and the
urgency of the Zionist
ideology that Mrs.
Tuchman's essay is espe-
cially impressive. Here is
a portion worth studying
as a significant historical
analysis of Jewish inner
conflicts and the even-
tual triumph of the liber-
tarian Zionism:
"Another contribution to
Her father,
the
future of Israel, as im-
Maurice
portant in a different way,
Wertheim,
who . was was the support that made
noted as an possible the revival of Heb-
art collector rew as a living language.
and author=- Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, the
ity and was compiler — one might say,
WERTHEIM president of the creator — of the modern
the American Jewish Hebrew dictionary, was
Committee, supervised the brought to this country in
distribution of food and 1914 under Zionist auspices
medicaments which were to continue his work in
provided with Morgen- safety during the war years.
thau's- aid, and that role is But the funds to support
thus recounted by Mrs. him and his family while he
Tuchman:
"Morgenthau's cable
stated that 'immediate as-
His way was not an easy
sistance' to Palestine
By MOSHE RON
one. The way of building a
The Jewish News Special
Jewry was required and
Israel Correspondent
bridge of peace with Israel
suggested the sum of
TEL AVIV The widow has to be continued in order
$50,000. Jacob Schiff of the
of the late Egyptian to strengthen and per-
AJC and Louis Marshall, its
president, convened a meet- President Anwar Sadat re- petuate this peace not only
ing and raised the cently gave an interview to with words but with ac-
suggested sum within two Israeli journalist Smadar tions."
Jehan Sadat, clad in
days. Half was contributed Peri who visits Egypt often
by the AJC, $12,500 by and has established close re- black, said "We are people
Schiff personally, and lations with leading Egyp- with hot feelings. If we shall
accompany our labor for
$12,500 by the American tian personalities.
Jehan told the journalist peace with our love feelings,
Federation of Zionists.
"The funds were wired that she wished to appeal to we shall reach the desired
to Constantinople, con- the Israeli people: "I know aim for both sides, the
verted to gold, and carried quite well that you have re- Egyptian and Israeli people.
spected the late President I know how the Israeli
in a suitcase to Jerusalem
Sadat and that you have people liked my late hus-
by Morgenthau's son-in-
law, Maurice Wertheim, my held him in high esteem. band and this gave me much
satisfaction. I heard about
the deep mourning in Israel
after the death of President
Sadat and about the eve-
ning on which tens of
thousands took part in an
open-air mourning cere-
mony.
"Sadat wished that not
only Egypt but also other
Arab states would make
peace with Israel," Mrs.
Jews from Hitler's final sol-
ution.
"Needless to say, the
German program of annihi-
lation was the experience
that turned assimilationists
into supporters of state-
"The malice and falsity of
hood, anti-Zionists into re-
Felix Frankfurter's recol- luctant pro-Zionists. Nor
lections of Morgenthau, was it Hitler alone who ac-
published after the subject complished the change but
was safely dead, are a the reaction of the Western
mean-spirited example.
democracies — the lack of-„
"Yet while the Zionists protest, the elaborate d
supplied the impulse, the nothing international con=-
ideal, and the driving force, ferences, the pious evasions,
not to mention the settlers, the passive connivance in
the fact remains that the which Hitler read his cue,
German-Jewish leaders in the avoidance of rescue, the
America, whether from mo- American refusal to loosen
tives of guilt or reinsurance immigration quotas when
or a sense of responsibility, death camps were the alter-
or a mixture of these, gave native, the refusal even of
the support without which -- temporary shelter, the turn-
there would have been no ing back of refugee ships fil-
living settlement to incor- led with those rescued by
Jewish efforts.
porate statehood.
former appear in the record
as the disciples of truth and
the latter as obstructionists,
blind and selfish bitter-
enders, objects of scorn and
sometimes of malice.
"The work of Louis
Marshall, for one, was es-
sential. As chief spokes-
man of the 'establish-
ment,' he cooperated
with Chaim Weizmann to
create the Jewish
Agency, through which
non-Zionists could sup-
port the settlement in
Palestine. Nathan Straus
was another. His support
of public-health and
other projects in Pales-
tine, estimated to have
absorbed two-thirds of
his fortune, is commemo-
rated in the town named
Natanya on Israel's sea-
coast.
"Ultimately it was
Morgenthau's son, Henry
Jr., who, on leaving
Roosevelt's Cabinet, as-
sumed the chairmanship of
the United Jewish Appeal
in 1947-1950 and raised the
funds critical for the survi-
val of Israel in the en-
dangered first years of
statehood. He was gal-
vanized, I have no doubt, by
the failure of his ceaseless
effort, as Secretary of the
Treasury under Roosevelt,
to make the President take
some effective action to save
HENRY MORGENTHAU
.
"More than 900 on board
the St. Louis were turned
back to Europe within sight
of the lights of Miami, more
than 700 on board the leak-
ing Struma were turned
back from Palestine to sink
with all on board in the
Black Sea. Was their fate so
very different from that of
Auschwitz?"
Barbara Tuchman the
prize-winning historian
emerges in her collected es-
says as a remarkable in-
terpreter of the Zionist idea,
of Israel's status. Her family
recollections about her
peers add immensely to
American Jewish data. She
"practices" history with
great skill.
—P.S.
Mrs. Sadat Asks Israelis to Preserve Peace
day. Present were members
of the Egyptian Cabinet and
governors of several parts of
the country.
Jehan Sadat will con-
tinue her studies. She
will earn a doctorate in
English literature. She is
also preparing an auto-
biography dedicated to
her late husband.
Mrs. Sadat invited in
her home a 17 -year-o]
pupil from , the "Peace Cir-
JEHAN SADAT
cle" in Haifa, Merav
Sadat gai& "We must Gelfman from the Reali
continue and strengthen High School. Mrs. Sadat ex-
this way, in order to pressed her wish to visit
avoid further wars in the Haifa for a second time. She
future. We must pave a was pleased to hear that the
better way and build a fu- youth in Israel were
ture for our children, enthusiastic about peace.
grandchildren and corn-
Sadat's youngest daugh-
ing generations. Let us ter also wishes to visit Israel
open a new epoch after again and believes in a last-
his tragic death."
ing peace between Israel
The family of President and Egypt. Merav Gelfman
Sadat assembled in the vil- presented a present to
lage of his birth, Abu El- Jehan Sadat, a plate with
kum, to celebrate his birth- quotations from the Koran.