62

Friday, June 14, 1985

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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COMMENT

A Jew Alone

Continued from Page 88

a spasm in history? A tear in
the ocean? An experiment of
eternity? Wh
ere do we stand
in our itinerary? Are we head-
ing toward new perils or to old
ones? Are we moving toward
reconciliation with surround-
ing ideas, ideals and groups —
or towards tensions and
clashes?
Judaism, for Kant, was a
political community, whereas
Voltaire saw in it a religion
alone. What is it for us? For us
it is much more: a way of life, a
mode of existence,a common
faith and, above all, a common
memory. We all stood at Sinai
when Moses gave us the Law.
All our names are inscribed in
the Torah. Separated by artifi-
cial frontiers, we are united by
what is essential in life.
Rooted in history, we were
forever threatened by geog-
raphy. Geography was our ob-
stacle, history our ally. What
transcends us is our commit-
ment to Ahavat-Israel, or:
Jewish solidarity.
Ahavat-Israel is as old as
our people itself. When Jews
are in danger, they must be
helped by their fellow-Jews
. . . And no questions asked.
Expelled from Spain, Jews
came to Holland. From and to
Germany, from and to France,
from and to Poland and Russia
and the Ukraine: We were
moving always moving —
from one country to another,
and everywhere we found
Jews ready to receive us and
offer us shelter. I could never
imagine Jews other than sur-
rounded by Jews. In joy as in
sorrow, a Jew is never alone.
Just as man needs other
men to be human, a Jew needs
other Jews to be Jewish. He
chooses to define himself not
in relation to the hate he
elicits from strangers, but
rather by the faith he inspires
in his people.
A Jew alone is a Jew in
danger; his security lies
within the community which
helps him survive and attain
fulfillment.
What would the Jew be
without his community? A
withered branch, a nameless
wanderer buffeted by alien,
hostile destinies. Together,
they must cope with their own
weakness. Together, they are
each other's affirmation;
alone, they must disappear.
In spite of their courage and
tenacity, the Marranos found-
ered in the end, whereas cen-
turies later their distant disci-
ples in the Soviet Union suc-
ceeded in maintaining a footh-
old in our history. The dif-
ference? The Marranos acted
alone; they fought their

battles as isolated individuals.
The Russian Jews chose to
fight as a group, as a commu-
nity. The Marranos hid when
praying to the God of Israel;
the Russians swarmed
through the streets singing,
shouting their loyalty to the
people of Israel.

Jewish history is full
of suffering and of
responses to suffering
. . . Even when we
give up on man, we
proclaim faith in our
people. That is our
secret.

By linking his own memory
to that of his people, a Jew
lives not outside time, de-
tached from reality, but more
deeply and at a level where all
threads are woven together.
He thus finds himself at home
in every century, in every
ordeal; he thus takes part in
every experience, being one
with the community that
never ceases to surprise him.
The more that community re-
news itself, the closer it comes
to its roots.
As a child, I saw Rabbi
Akiba: I watched him laugh-
ing through his tears as he
surveyed the ruins of the
Temple. I saw Rabbi Shimon
Bar Yohai: I watched him as
he left his cave and his sol-
itude and vented his wrath on
all those who had continued to
live as though nothing had
happened. I saw the Jews of
Spain: I watched Don Isaac
Abrabanel taking the road
into exile, a man proud of this
strength and of his very pride.
The Jewish child in us is an
eternal voyager; his imagina-
tion knows no boundaries, his
curiosity is endless.
In one of Andre Malraux's
novels, a young man asks his
father — dynamic revolution-
ary.— why he has spent his life
to provide changes in a world
which prefers routine and
boredom to new ideas and
ideals.
"My ambition," said his
father, "is to leave a scar on
the surface of the earth."
Not mine. Mine has been to
redeem memory.
What have I learned in the

last forty years?

That Jewish history is full of
suffering and of responses to
suffering.
I have learned that Jews
ought to be involved in all
human and social endeavors.

