of the thousands sacrificing
for our class ... The Or-
thodox break a glass at a
wedding, so that in the
emidst of joy, the destruction
of the Temple in Jerusalem
be not forgotten. In the same
spirit progressive workers
should remember their
brothers locked in strife and
struggle.
Naturally, if the worker
wants to curry favor with his
boss who is at the wedding,
he is in an uncomfortable
position. The whole incident
points out that even at a pri-
vate affair like a wedding,
sharp class distinction is pre-
sent. Workers can only be
comfortable with themselves,
and be true to their con-
science only in the company
of their comrades. The groom
was, therefore, wrong. How-
ever, this was not the time
and place to mount a protest
demonstration. The friends
should not have left. They
should have postponed the
protest for another occasion.
For everything there is a time
and place. The two who re-
mained did not act wrongly.
They had the right to main-
tain that a celebration should
not be disturbed.
Dr. Karp's Haven and Home
is not a totality in historical
writing. It is an excellent intro-
duction- to a vaster subject. It
surely supplements the exten-
sive historical writings on
American Jewish history by Dr.
Jacob Marcus and his associates.
Therefore, it becomes a most
valuable and an enthusiastic in-
troduction for continuous study-
ing of an approach to knowledge
of the history of Jews in
America. It is a highly com-
mendable work.
Changing
Generational
Backgrounds
The Bintel Brief quotation in
the review of Dr. Abraham
Karp's Haven and Home is a
reminder that when that letter
and response were written there
was a strong Socialist sentiment
in Jewish ranks. Also: the
Jewish Daily Forward was
ideologically antagonistic to the
Conservative and Orthodox
Jewish elements. It was, at that
time, anti- or non-Zionist.
Changes came about. It became
a strong supporter of the Labor
Zionist movement: It flirted
with the traditionalists even in
religious ranks -in more recent
years.
A sample of changing times
was provided >a few days ago in
the New York Times obituary of
Laura Zametkin , Hobson who
died Feb. 28 at the age of-85.
Her Gentlemares Agreement,
• which exposed 'anti-Semitism,
published ins 1947,, was a sensa-
tion. It could ,only have been
written by 'a 'deeply-concerned
Jew. Yet, when asked about her
Jewishness," she told an inter-
vigNyal;: "I grov, np in an agnos-
tic, broadminded family. I think
of myself as a plain human
being who happens to be an
American."
Her father, an immigrant
from Russia, was a Jewish Daily.
Forward editor and labor leader
and organizer. He and his wife
Adella were Socialists. That's
how it was at the turn of the
century. The socialists gave em-
phasis to their humanism and
only when anti-Semitism struck
Jewry was there a change of
attitude.
Perhaps this affects all Jews
in. all climes, that prejudice
drove many back into Jewish
identifications. This must be
understood upon reading the
conflicting sentiments in col-
umns as popular as Bintel Brief.
The internal conflicts are
different now. The Holocaust
caused it. Israel contributed to
it. Whatever there is now akin
to assimilationism is of a differ-
ent nature. It remains some-
thing to be conscious of and to
overcome where possible.
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Soviet Activist,
Essas, Assesses
Soviet Policy
New York (JTA) — The lead-
ers of the Soviet Union now
recognize that there can be no
rapprochement with the United
States unless they restore the
process of emigration for Jews
seeking to join their families in
Israel. This assessment was
made last week at a news con-
ference here by Eliahu Essas,
and of the most prominent Jew-
ish activists in Moscow until he
was permitted to emigrate to
Israel with his family in January
after waiting 13 years.
Essas, 40, a mathematician
and physist, arrived in New
York on a three-week American
tour for the National Conference
on Soviet Jewry.
In evaluating the prospects
for a change in Soviet policy to
permit resumption of emigra-
tion on a ficale similar to that on
1979, when 51,000 Jews were
granted exit visas, Essas said
two conditions had to be met:
"Jews. in the free world must
demonstrate that they have not
forgotten their Jewish brothers
and sisters in the USSR; and
there must be no Cold War, con-
frontationist tactics, which
. poison the air."
Essas noted that Soviet lead-
' ed that all
ers no longer claim
Jews who wished to leave the
USSR had already been given
permission to emigrate. "In my
judgement the Kremlin now un-
derstands that Jews still want
to leave and that they, are sup-
ported n this demand by the free
world," he said. "I am also per-
suaded that they know a genu-
ine rapprochement with,Wash-
ington . cannot take place
without renewed repatriation'of
Soviet Jews to Israel."
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