PURELY ■
COMMENTARY
■
INII
1111.
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
When `Guilt-Mentality' Complex Compels Self-Scrutiny, Realism
Long before Israel attained sover-
eignty, our wise leaders prepared us for
realism in the era of redeemed Jewish
statehood. Zionist leaders foresaw a
time when our morality will predomi-
nate, our ethical codes will be the
guidelines for a constitution. They also
knew that there cannot be totality in
such a high idealism. There must al-
ways be people who have to be taught
the high principles inherent in state-
hood.
It was either Shmaryahu Levin,
who was among the handful of Jews
who were elected to the first Russian
Duma, which was soon to be dissolved
by Czar Nicholas II, or Chaim
Nachman Bialik, the great Jewish Poet
Laureate, who said there will be the
criminals in our midst as well as the
saints.
I believe it was Bialik, who, per-
haps three decades before the fulfill-
ment of Prophecy and the realization of
the Zionist ideal, asked us to be pre-
pared to have in the midst of the
Jewish people, criminals, cheats, prosti-
tutes, law-breakers. One thing he did
not predict: Jewish spies. That was too
remote an anticipation.
One of the most prominent Jewish
leaders in the first half of this century
accepted the realism of such undesira-
bles in normal Jewish spheres. Fred M.
Butzel was a devoted Zionist, perhaps
the most devoted in Reform ranks. He
was the honorary president of the De-
troit Zionist District and was a suppor-
ter of Hebrew studies, although himself
a descendant of semi-assimilated. He
believed in a Jewish peoplehood and
identified with it. He knew there was a
Jewish entity and he often told us: we
are a distinct group; what's the sur-
prise about having our ganovim, our
thieves and cheats, our prostitutes. And
then he would take pride: "our
moralists predominate."
Butzel couldn't possibly have in-
cluded spies and spying in the sins he
enumerated as means of consoling us in
an era when there was a measure of
Jewish gangsterism in New York,
Chicago, Detroit ...
Now we are treated to the new sin
Marcus' Fellow Citizens
Recognize His Values
Dr. Jacob Marcus
Americans in widespread academia
have benefited from, and therefore de-
eply appreciate, the contributions to re-
Fred M. Butzel
Chaim Nachman Bialik
and there aren't many Bialiks and But-
zels to indicate to us that in peoplehood
there are many facets and a variety of
sinning criminals.
But in the current development,
there is a new angle. The spies are
American Jews with a love for Israel.
They spied on Israel's best friend, the
United States. Their guilt created
anger. A representative American
Jewish delegation went to Israel to reg-
ister protests. There is widespread con-
cern and anger and Israel is warned by
her best friends, her partners in state-
building and protecting, to punish
those who assisted the spies and to
make certain such guilt never recurs.
This is all well and good in the in-
stance of the partnerships of Israel and
American Jewries and the United
States. The trouble with the sub-
sequent developments is that they fan-
ned fears, they registered panic in
American Jewish ranks, as if their pro-
tests were not enough and they shared
a familial guilt. In the process of such
self-judging, they permitted themselves
to think in terms of an obnoxious
charge of "double allegiance" and their
best friends in non-Jewish ranks also
resorted to this term in the form of a
taunting of Israel's supporters.
Any wonder that this aggravated
some Israelis and one chided us that we
are sinking into a "Galut mentality?"
In other words, there is a threat to our
confidence in our security as American
Jews.
This is where self-scrutiny becomes
an obligation. This is where we remind
our friends and critics that our loyalty
is unmatched, that it measures up to
White House, Congress and Supreme
Court in patriotism.
This is where it becomes necessary
to admonish those who keep resorting
to means of criticizing Jewry and Israel
that while we do not like it or approve
of it, as a normal people we also have
the criminals and recognize that we are
not all saints. Therefore another un-
usual and negative disease has crept
into our midst: spying.
There is the need to ask for a defi-
nition of the term, so that its place
from time immemorial in international
relations should be fully understood.
There is a general concession that
spying has no limitations, that friendly
nations spy on each other. In the in-
searched historical records by Jacob
Rader Marcus. Because his scholarship
continues primarily in Judaica, Ameri-
can Jews are especially indebted to
him. When neighbors, fellow citizens in
the community where he performs his
scholarly labors, choose to honor him,
this reaches the height of recognition.
Such recognition is the glory attained
by Dr. Marcus, the admired executive
head of the American Jewish Archives.
The Council of the City of Cincin-
nati has given the name Jacob Rader
Marcus to "the intersection of McAlpin
and Middleton Avenues."
Such a distinct honor, accorded to
an admired citizen, is not only an ex-
pression by Cincinnatians. It echoes
sentiments endlessly expressed to
nonagenarian Marcus by fellow Jews
and fellow Americans. It takes into ac-
count many accomplishments by the
dean of Jewish historians of World
Jewry. It is a distinct privilege for us to
join in honoring him with appreciation
for much we have benefited from his
impressive contributions to American
Jewish historical studies.
Art Dominates
Holiday Themes,
Especially Hagadah
Art has become a dominant
stimulant in book publishing, espe-
cially for Jewish holiday themes. The
Haggadah is especially in evidence as
an inspiration for illustrators. The
Purim Megillah is similarly the means
to encourage artists' interest in the fes-
tival, especially in its hilarity. Chil-
dren's books have become the means of
providing subjects for their art.
The effectiveness and charm of
many illustrations make the texts they
are applied to impressive for possession
and study for all time, additional to the
festival portrayed. This applies espe-
cially to the Passover Haggadah.
Therefore even in the midst of the Fes-
tival of Freedom, as it will serve there-
after, the Haggadah just issued by
Mesorah Publication creates
enthusiasm. Its Art-Scroll Youth Hag-
gadah has the charm illustratively
provided in a newly translated Hap-
gadeh.
stance of Israel's involvement, this is
admittedly inexcusable. The Israel-U.S.
friendship is certain to continue —
there are too many positives that erase
the negatives in the cooperative
partnership. Israel has shown regret in
the currently agonized case and there
may never be a repetition of the guilt
that has created the uproar.
In the Israeli instance, the resort
to dual allegiance suggestions and the
labeling of the case as "Galut mental-
ity" raises the question whether the
Jewish attitude is dominated by fear.
This is the sentiment that causes shock
and demands courage in recognition of
the realities of Peoplehood. An entity
like ours is the predominantly ordinary
people who must be guided not to
panic.
The founder of the Chassidic
movement, the Baal Shem, had a warn-
ing against submission to fear when he
said: "Fear builds walls to bar the
light."
While not applicable especially to
the spying matter, one of our great
sages of this century, Prof. Mordecai
Kaplan, whose life ended in Jerusalem
at the age of 101 three years ago, ex-
pressed this concern in Future of the
American Jews: "In the democratic
countries, fear of arson, massacre and
expulsion has been eliminated from
Jewish life. But Jews have developed a
new fear, the fear of living and acting
openly and collectively as Jews."
It is the admonition to adhere to
the traditional Jewish warning, al
tirah, "fear not," that is vital in the
current hours of many tensions. There
is less to fear than is suggested by the
testing of American Jews with the
suggested "Galuit mentality." It is as
loyal Americans and as loyal Jews that
we carry on highly-respected traditions.
Only unnecessary and unjustified fears
can stand in the way of such loyalties.
Perhaps there is an additional
guideline for Jewish thinking and
reacting to public issues into which
they are dragged. The eminent Russian
philosopher Nicholas Berdyaev (1874-
Continued on Page 26
Comments and illustrations by
Rabbis Nosson and Yitzhok Zev Scher-
man, Meir Zlotowitz and Avu Avie
Gold are accompanied by their com-
mentaries. It is the illustrations by
Yosef Dershowitz and Dovid Sears that
lend significance to the artistic tradi-
tional seder text. Rabbi Sheah Brander
designed the work and it adheres
strictly to the traditional commitments
of the publishers. Midrashic and Tal-
mudic texts have already given it lead-
ership in the Orthodox designations.
Every aspect of the Passover ob-
servance is taken into consideration in
the treatment of the haggadic text, and
the entire seder observance is artisti-
cally treated in all aspects. It is the
strictness of the Orthodox sense that is
apparent in commentary and art.
Another emphasis is apparent: the
role of the child as an instigator of
interest is a great event on the Jewish
calendar.
While the Orthodox will especially
be enthused, the Art-Scroll Haggadah
is certain to draw attention on a more
extensive basis.