PURELY COMMENTARY
Jewish Prejudice In Israel
Continued from Page 2
this majority who are not Or-
thodox. But they prefer that this
majority remain secularist rather
than Conservative, Reform or Re-
constructionist. This appears to be
the position of the chief rabbis,
those presently in office and some
predecessors.
Unlike Israel's first minister of
religions, Rabbi Judah Maimon,
they are making proclamations
whose wisdom and morality I must
question. Rabbi Maimon wel-
comed non-Orthodox rabbis if they
would but deal with the secularists
and convince them that there is a
God. His successors prefer that
Jews be either Orthodox or non-
believers. For me, this position is
neither wise nor authentically
Jewish.
True, Jews bound by a Cove-
nant with God may not choose how
much of Torah they will obey and
how much they will disobey. The
Covenant and Torah are indivisi-
ble. But who ever said that it is bet-
ter to obey nothing than only a
part? And it cannot be said of any
Jew — Orthodox, Conservative,
Reform or Reconstructionist —
that he obeys nothing. I am sure
that Rabbi Shlomo Goren was
misquoted when it was reported in
the press that Reform Jews obey
not one of the 613 commandments.
Many of them obey more of that
number than many an Orthodox
Jew.
The important thing to re-
member is that as long as one'
clings to any part of the whole,
there is a possibility that one will
yet grasp more. But those com-
pletely detached are harder to re-
trieve.
Jews became a people in bon-
dage in Egypt and at Sinai. Jewish
theology holds that these two
events resulted in two covenants.
The first was the bond of suffering
in common — a so-called sharing of
the national fate. The second in-
volved obedience to the law. In the
modern world, the least one can
say of almost all Jews who identify
with their people is that they are
committed to the first covenant.
That is why they are so emotionally
involved with Israel, the threat of
anti-Semitism and the liberation of
Jews enslaved anywhere.
And as never before in modern
times, the second covenant involv-
ing the law and tradition is gaining
ground in the hearts and minds of
Jews. Consequently, this is the
time for us to get closer to each
other and not permit Israel to be-
come the site of only Orthodox and
non-believers. Jerusalem is espe-
cially the place where this close-
ness should happen.
Hopefully, this defuses any attempt to
isolate an important element from the
Jewish people. Any move to outlaw Jews of
whatever beliefs from our ranks deserves
disrespect. Surely, Rabbi Rackman and the
late Rabbi Maimon, who in his lifetime was
among Jewry's most respected spiritual
leaders, shared views that put to shame
those of Yitzhak Peretz.
In the quoted Jewish Week article, Dr.
Rackman discussed secularism, Jerusalem
and its courageous Mayor Teddy Kollek.
There is a continuing abuse of Mayor Kol-
lek by Orthodox extremists because of his
tolerance toward all groups in the Holy
City, Arabs as well as Jews, Reform as well
as Orthodox. It had become a shameful ex-
Teddy Kollek
perience in Israel and Dr. Rackman is
among those who would not tolerate it.
Taking into account the attempts by
the extremists to make Israel a place only
for Orthodox and non-believers, Dr.
Rackman pays honor to Kollek for his uni-
fying tasks. In his article, "Secularist
Teddy Kollek Makes a Religious Point," he
emphasizes the Jerusalem mayor's consis-
tent opposition to the destructive disunity,
and declares:
What Teddy Kollek sees, how-
ever, is the very opposite happen-
ing. The ultra-Orthodox would like
to have the city for themselves, and
they even try to embarrass the
more reasonable Orthodox into
moving. One area after another
seems to fall into the hands of the
intolerant. The less-bigoted, on the
other hand, want to stay in
Jerusalem, but they would like to
make the city safe only for Or-
thodox Jews and find it difficult to
extend the hand of friendship of
the non-Orthodox and engage
them in dialogue.
The non-Orthodox reciprocate
the indifference, and the non-
believers take delight in the inabil-
ity of those who do worship God to
be civil and brotherly. As if Teddy
does not have enough of a problem
to keep Christians, Arabs and
Jews living together in peace, he
must also worry about the rela-
tionship of Jews with each other.
Yet if any man can accomplish
what he seeks to accomplish, it is
he. But a little appreciation and a
warm word from those who fathom
how much sense he makes would
be very much in order.
Dr. Rackman made his point. Disunity
is intolerable. Mayor Kollek serves well to
unify and make Jerusalem a place of
honor. That's how it should be. A notable
purpose was achieved by Dr. Rackman.
Proper recognition is given Mayor Kollek.
There will surely be widest recognition of
the proper interpretation of all Jewish —
including Orthodox — principles by Rabbi
Rackman.
tine, on December 12, 1941, with
769 Jewish refugees aboard. Prior
to the departure of the vessel, the
master, a Bulgarian, complained to
the Rumanian authorities that his
vessel was unseaworthy. In spite of
his protests, the master was or-
dered to sail. However, after pro-
ceeding for approximately 3 hours
along the Rumanian coast, the ves-
sel developed severe engine trou-
ble and soon thereafter the engines
stopped. The master then wireles-
sed Constanza for help. Work on
the engines proceeded in the
meantime and the Rumanian offi-
cials on the tugboat coming to the
assistance of the Struma, instead of
having the vessel towed to Con-
stanza, ordered the master to leave
immediately, and, in fact, escorted
the vessel to a point outside Ruma-
nian territorial waters. The vessel
dropped anchor at Istanbul on De-
cember 16, 1941. Following unsuc-
cessful attempts to obtain permis-
sion to proceed to its destination,
the Struma was forced to leave Is-
tanbul on February 23 last. At 2
a.m., February 24, 1942, Turkish
shore guards at Reba, a point
about 6 miles from the entrance to
the Bosporus on the Asiatic side,
reportedly saw a flash, followed
instanteously by the complete dis-
integration of the Struma. When
lifeboats reached the vicinity, only
4 persons were picked up, 3 of
whom subsequently died of expo-
sure.
The exact cause of the Struma
sinking has not been definitely es-
tablished. The vessel may have
struck a mine or it may have been
deliberately blown up by the
wretched passengers in a moment
of despair. Moreover, the possibil-
ity of its having been torpedoed by
an Axis submarine must not be
overlooked.
The intolerable conditions to
which the greater portion of Euro-
pean Jewry has been subjected as
a result of German policy and ac-
tions prompted these unfortunate
persons to seek refuge elsewhere,
regardless of the means available.
Therefore the basic cause of this
tragedy rests squarely on the Nazi
and Rumanian persecutors.
I may also say that the German
radio has been seeking
The Struma
Continued from Page 2
formation which the Department
has obtained from its own sources
confirms the extent of this disaster.
It appears that the steamship
Struma, a small vessel with a nor-
mal carrying capacity of only 100
passengers, left Constanza,
Rumania, bound for Haifa, Pales-
Cordell Hull and Sumner Welles.
energetically to utilize this disaster
as a means of sowing the seeds of
discord between the American and
British peoples.
Nevertheless, the tragic cir-
cumstances under which these un-
fortunate refugees lost their lives
cannot go unnoticed. Accordingly
this Government has requested the
Honorable Myron Taylor, Ameri-
can representative on the , Inter-
governmental Committee for Polit-
ical Refugees, to bring the Struma
disaster to the official attention of
the member governments on the
steering committee of the Inter-
governmental Committee with a
view to devising some method
which would serve to preclude
such tragic happenings in the fu-
ture.
From the time Adolf Hitler attained
power through the Holocaust barbarities
he engineered, every hour created an an-
niversary of horror. Every hour provided
the heartbreaks. The Struma, now
memorialized on its 45th anniversary,
there is an added flow of tears at the very
mention of the horrified name of the coffin
boat and its 762 victim. The heartache will
never be healed.
Remembering
Sumner Welles
In all fairness, the Sumner Welles
name should be credited with fairness in
treating the rescue efforts. There is a con-
tinuing indictment of the guilty in our gov-
ernment who treated the Hitler victims
cruelly and failed to aid in rescue attempts.
Secretary Welles was in exception. From
the time he met with World Jewish Con-
gress leaders at sessions in Baltimore in
1944 — the late Saul R. Levin and I were
the Detroit delegates — Welles was sym-
pathetic and helped whenever he could.
His name remains highly respected.
Sumner Welles earned great admira-
tion in the American Jewish community.
He was invited to the most important na-
tional Jewish assemblies and his views
were welcomed with appreciation.
He accepted the chairmanship of the
Maryland Chapter of the American Chris-
tian Palestine Committee "because of my
belief that every effort should be made im-
partially and objectively to lay before the
people of the United States the basic issues
involved in the great problem of Palestine.