2 Friday, April 4, 1986
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
TUIE. LY-t:,'COMMENTARY
PtIlLIPISLOPPVITZ:
NCI' Z-11
1: I
- The Predomin
.
Diaspora Plus,Israel:
and the Contemporary Jewish Condition
Almost to,the very day of. the rebirth
(Steimatzky Shapolsky).
of the State of Israel, an ideological dis-
Edited by Prof. Etan Levine of Haifa
pute developed over the Zionist obliga-
University, this volume is replete with
tions to aliyah, the settlement of Jews in
sentiments evolving out of the debate af-
the emerging autonomous state.
fecting the immigration of Jews from
The hundreds of thousands who sur-
free countries in the Diaspora. •
vived the Nazi terror understandably
Some of the expressed views may
formed the basis for the commencing
sound apologetic. Actually, they are de-
large-scale migration to Israel. Zionist,
finitive in relation to the current Jewish
the advocates of statehood who battled
experiences. Perhaps the most emphatic
for the fulfillment of the ideal, were few
assertion "choosing" the Diaspora ap-
among the settlers.
pears under the most positive of asser-
Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion
tions: "Here I Am: Here I Remain." It is
inaugurated the criticism of the Zionists
the essay by Abram Kanof, clinical pro-
who remained in the Diaspora. He con-
fessor of medicine at University of North
sistently argued that to be a true, consis-
Carolina at Chapel Hill. A former
tent Zionist meant settling in the state
president of the American Jewish Histor-
for whose creation they were the
ical Society, Prof. Kanof declares:
pioneers. He never deviated from this
In some ways the State of Is-
criticism.
rael has made being Jewish more
Israel Zangwill, in his highly-
difficult both for Jews in the
acclaimed speech to the American
Diaspora and in Israel itself. One
Jewish Congress assembly in New York
basic problem is the splits which
in 1921 — so many years before the
are developing within Jewry. In
emergence of Israel's statehood! — spoke
Israel the widening gap between
of his aspiration to fulfill the Jewish
the religious and the secular is
dreams and prayers by settling in Pales-
becoming more and more ac-
tine. He said his wife was equally adam-
rimonious, making it almost un-
ant on the subject.
comfortable to be a Jew in the
ideology
Galut
The debate over the
Jewish state.
and the limitations in the Zionist re-
The politicization of religion
sponse to the appeals for aliyah echo the
affects the relative harmony
continuing challenge in Diaspora: Exile
Elie Wiesel
Yarmulke and Supreme Court
A member of the U.S. military forces risks being courtmartialed if he
- wears a yarmulke.
This is the five to four U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
The authoritative definition of a yarmulke and the traditional rul-
outlined by
ings on head covering are thus defined in Jewish Concepts
Rabbi Philip Birnbaum under the "Head Covering — Kissui Rosh" expla-
nation:
HEAD COVERING
tradition regards bareheadedness as a form of nakedness,
and nudity as one of pagan indecencies and an infraction of propriety
in worship. The word nny (nakedness) connotes shameful exposure,
indecency, as well as improper behavior in general. In Deuteronomy
signifies "anything indecent." The Mish-
23:15, the phrase In nriy
nah relates that a man once uncovered a woman's head in the street,
and Rabbi Akiva told him to pay four hundred silver pieces as com-
pensation for the embarrassment he had caused her . (Bava Kamma
8:6). According to a statement in the Talmud (Yevamoth 63b), there
is nothing more abominable in the sight of God than the man who
appears naked in public man inn' ovpnn nyinnl rrnni `1 5 1'
miy. rum 15rint2).
From talmudic statements it appears that the sages did not walk
four steps with uncovered head (Shabbath 118h; Kiddushin 31a1.
This was looked upon as a mark of reverence for God (Shabbath 156b).
In Temple times, the priests wore a headdress in the form of a kind of
turban while officiating (Exodus 28:37-30).
In view of the religious significance attached to meals by the Jews
ever since the period of the Bible. it is conceivable why it is custom-
ary to coven the head during meals as well as during prayer.
The skull-cap worn for prayer and meals is called yarmulke, a word
cappelo for hat), or
of Slavic derivation, or kappel, (from the Italian
Hebrew. It:is looked upon as a distinguishing -char-
kippah (MD) in
acteristic of the traditional Jew.
JEWISH
among American Jews. American
Jews live in reasonable relation-
ship with each other. Between
different movements there is in-
termarriage: we visit each other's
synagogues, and we unite for
charitable purposes. Religious
organization in Israel tends to
alienate Jews within Israel and
abroad, and to give religion a
somber face. We see plays for
political power and financial
gain, unwillingness to assume the
responsibilities of citizenship, al 1
in the name of piety. In the ex-
treme cases, differences in reli-
gious beliefs become matters to
be settled in street fights and on
the Sabbath. The two major
groups in Israel seem to be the
religious minority and the major-
ity, defined by its nonreligious
common denominator. Deviation
from halachah, traditionally ad-
justable to people's needs, is
viewed with decreasing
tolerance, the effects being felt in
the United States as well.
The Diaspora seems more
hospitable to me as a Jew, more
in tune with my Judaism. After
all, Hillel and Shammai were re-
spected in the same Talmud
which records their disagree-
ments. The courteous rabbis of
old said kindly that while the
School of Hillel determines the
Law here and now, Shammai will
rule in the time of the Messiah. I
do not perceive that spirit in Is-
rael today.
There are also psychological
and political factors which have
disturbed the harmony of k'lal
Yisrael. No one loves a rich uncle
on whom one is dependent even
to a small degree. Diaspord Jews
must now separate themselves
psychologically as well as politi-
cally, and measure with some
dispassion their obligations as
Jews and as Americans. Some
find it difficult to accept Israel's
speaking on behalf of all Jews
wherever they live. Whereas in
the past we had the right to
criticize only individual Jews, we
now find ourselves able to dis-
agree with a Jewish political
party and a Jewish government.
We may fight the accusation of
split loyalties from without, but
how many of us have felt the
problem in our bones?
And so I remain a Jew in
A.B. Yehoshua
exile. I hope my faith in Ameri-
can tolerance is not displaced. I
hope that "it can't happen here."
The many difficulties in the
Diaspora are balanced by many
advantages. My emotional at-
tachment to Israel in no way
creates the desire or necessity of
being a Jew there.
Perhaps this is an extremism, yet it
must be taken into consideration in the
process of judging the collective view-
points on what must be viewed as a very
serious challenge to the Jews in the
world. There are the many ideological
approaches and the one entitled "Exile
as a Neurotic Solution" by A.B.
Yehoshua is a thoroughly philosophical
approach by one of the most eminent of
Israel's novelists and essayists.
Yehoshua merits a most serious con-
sideration of his approach to the issue.
There are such as are not repre-
sented in the Diaspora volume et, like
Ben-Gurion, have definite approaches to
the challenge. The attitude of Elie
Wiesel must be taken into consideration.
Writing in The Jewish News,' Dec. 27,
1985, under the title "Why Don't I Live
in Israel?", Wiesel presented a most in-
teresting viewpoint. He spoke of an ex-
perience with the Shohet in his native
city in Hungary. The Chassid in Sighet
said he must remain where he was be-
cause there was no one to replace him as
the ritual slaughterer and he must pro-
tect the kashrut observers. Yet he said
he prayed for and dreamed of Jerusalem
and believed he would eventually go
there to complete his life in the Land of
Israel. .
Wiesel likens himself to this Chas-
sid. He is needed in the Diaspora. His
personal response to the aliyah outcry —
it belongs in the Diaspora volume as
thus expressed in The Jewish News arti-
cle:
FLiw many centuries can
Jews await the Deliverance?
Maimonides answers: "Although
he is late, I will wait each day for
the coming of the Messiah." Yes,
each day, for years and genera-
tions.
But what about secular
Jews? Zionists, and intellectuals,
industrialists, and community
leaders all must sooner or later
wonder why they still live in the
Diaspora. Because of material
conditions? If it were a question ,
of only economic or social advan-
tages many Jews would make the
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