PURELY COMMENTARY
Protocols
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.30 FRIDAY; AUG 21;1987 -
Many of them are evident in the ultra-
Orthodox communities in Israel. Some
are identified with the religious youth
movement like Young Israel and with
the Chasidic enthusiasts.
It is no wonder, therefore, that a tex-
tbook should have been written for the
Ba'aley Teshuvah or those desiring a
way of becoming identified with the
"Newly Observant Jews." A volume
with such a purpose has just been
published by Free Press (MacMillan) in
New York and Domino Press,
Jerusalem, under the title Teshuvah: A
Guide for the Newly Observant Jew.
Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, the author of
this guide book, heads the Israel In-
stitute for Talmudic Publications and
has attained an important role as
teacher of teshuvah and its interpreter.
A resident of Jerusalem, his travels to
this country and other lands have
brought him in contact with the newly
observant. He therefore writes
authoritatively on the subject.
Students of religious dedications
generally will find this text of special
interest. It directs the rededicated Jews
towards attaining a knowledge not on-
ly of religious observances but also of
the laws traditionally inscribed in
Medieval Seals
Jewish lore, the Bible, and when possi-
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ble the Talmud.
It is the mastering of religious
historical data. It is encyclopedic in con- observance that is primarily aimed at
tent and impressive illustratively.
by Rabbi Steinsaltz. Kashrut is defin-
History covering many centuries is ed and its observance emphasized.
recapitulated in this immense study of
The author teaches the newly obser-
fascinating subjects relating to seals.
Symbols and legends marking
Jewish experiences in the Middle Ages
are retold here. Numerous countries
and many areas_ in the world share in
the fascinating stories.
Personalities historically recorded
represent an impressive account of
business acumen and of financial skill
in the many activities of the producers
of the noteworthy seals.
, "Official Seals of the Jewish Exche-
quer," a medieval Jewish creation of the
13th Century, attests to a remarkable -
creativity.
Personal seals of numerous
eminents in France add to the interest
assured for this immense volume.
In the French experience, "official
Seals to Confirm Jewish Contracts"
contribute to the fascination inspired
• for an extensively-researched subject.
In Medieval Jewish Seals From
Europe a student of the historical
records will also be informed about the
financial skills, the relationships of
Jews with their Christian fellow mer-
chants and the sociological aspects in-
volved. It is a most interesting and
valuable book.
distribution. The "Protocols'
have been on sale in Brazil since
February of this year after
several years' absence in the
country. Several publications in
Sao Paulo asked interested per-
sons to send 94 Cruzados (about
$2) per copy to a post office box
in Sao Paulo.
In 1984, the Iranian Embassy
in London marked the fifth an-
niversary of the overthrow of
the Shah by printing a summary
of the "Protocols" in an English
magazine, Iman, in which the
Iranians describd Zionism as
"an enemy of humanity" and
said that the "Protocols" were
"being adhered to word by word
by the Jewish-influenced
Western governments!'
Once again, the -facts are on the
record. They must be kept available in
the process of keeping them exposed.
There must never be a submission to
silence in any affront to truth and
whatever resort is attempted to spread
anti-Semitism.
vant how to renounce the sinful past
while adopting a strict path leading to
faithful observance.
It is the teaching of Kabbalah as a
religious concentration that lends
weight to the objectives in this text
book.
Special Experience
An example of a personal ex-
perience in the Ba'aley Thshuvah trends
is provided in a book published by
Mesorah Publications.
"Anatomy of a Search: Personal
Drama in(the Teshuvah Revolution" by
Akiva 'Patz, whose work is described as
a revolution in a dramatic account of a
noteworthy experience. The author
abandoned a medical practice in Johan-
nesburg, South Africa, to pursue studies
and devotions in Jerusalem.
The challenges of a medical
operating room and the pains occasion-
ed by the race tragedies in his native
land provide the important path. From
there he went to Yeshivat Ohr
Somayach and the new life commend-
ed for him.
From personal devotion to becoming
a teacher in the yeshivah in Jerusalem
emerges as a lesson of the power attain-
ed and the influence spread by the
Ba'aley Teshuvah as an expanding
Jewish experience. The "Newly Obser-
vant Jews" thus attract well-deserved
consideration in the study of dedicated
religious trends in Jewish life.
Ba'aley Teshuvah
Inspire Manual
For Observance
Although the exact number of
Ba'aley Teshuvah, "Newly Observant—
Jews" who abandon irreligiosity and
non-observance for a rededication to
faith, may never be known, it is fre-
quently established fact that they repre-
sent an element of deep interest in
Jewish life.
Religio us News Se
around 1905, and that versions
of them circulated widely in
Europe, Britain and the United
States. But they were not initial-
ly the product of a "conspiracy
theory that was invented in
France almost a century ago" or
"concocted „around the turn of
the century by anti-Semitic Rus-
sians in Paris."
The original text of the "Pro-
tocols" appeared in 1868 in the
first volume of a German novel,
Biarritz, by Hermann Goedsche,
who wrote under the pen name
Sir John Retcliffe. Goedsche,
who had close connections in
the Berlin royal court, was the
author of very popular and
long-enduring sensationalist
novels of current events, written
in the interest of reactionary
politics.
In a clandestinely witnessed
scene in the novel, the represen-
tatives of the 12 Tribes of Israel
along with the Wandering Jew
meet secretly in the Jewish
cemetery of Prague in 1960, as
they do once every century, to
plot the subversion of the domi-
nant order by taking over inter-
national finance and supporting
all liberal and progressive
causes.
It would be helpful and im-
portant, if every time a version
of the "Protocols of the Elders of
Zion" resurfaced, it were recall-
ed that their origin was in a
novel. For at the outset they
were not a hoax but a fiction,
the product of a perverse and
meretricious imagination. In the
Goedsche version, there was not
even any serious pretense to
realistic representation, as
anyone who reads it could
verify.
We have in its totality a combina-
tion of venom revealed to be rooted in
fiction. But the bias keeps growing.
While the accusatory is ridiculed and
portrayed in all its ugliness, the bigots
keep waving the "Protocols" flag. Once
again a Middle East guilt is attached
to the bias. An Iranian hate-spreader
has been rebuked for spreading the lie,
as this story by David Markus, writing
from Rio de Janeiro and cabled from
there by the Jewish Telegraphic Agen-
cy, states:
Brazil has protested to Iran
for publishing and distributing
a Portuguese translation of the
"Protocols of the Elders of
Zion:' The Iranian charge d'af-
faires in Brasilia, Mouhmud En-
tiaz, was called to the Brazilian
Foreign Ministry, where he was
harshly admonished. He was
told that the "Protocols" are a
racist and anti-Semitic falsifica-
tion forbidden by law in Brazil
and that distribution of the
book must be stopped.
The Iranian diplomat said
that the "Protocols" were ge-
nuine because they were
"adopted by the First Zionist
Congress in Basel" but promis-
ed, however, to stop their
Swedish envoy Ulf Jertonsson, California Congressman Tom Lantos and his wife Annette
participated in Capitol Hill ceremonies Aug. 4 marking the 75th birthday of Holocaust hero
Raoul Wallenberg. Wallenberg was arrested by the Russians in Budapest at the end of World
War II and disappeared.