PURELY COMMENTARY
The Siddur
Continued from Page 2
well established, though there
was as yet no written prayer
book recording in one place all
the prayers then already in use,
nor any single written record of
the order of the various
services.
As we approach the Middle
Ages, about the year 800, we
find that differences in the ser-
vice from place to place have in-
creased — quite naturally, in the
circumstances. For Jewish com-
munities were scattered over
most of the then known world
from Babylon to the far western
reaches of the Roman
Empire .. .
It is true that these various
communities of Jews were not
entirely dependent upon their
shared oral tradition. They had,
of course, the Scrolls of the
Torah, some manuscript copies
of parts of the Talmud, and
some midrashim as well, but
their existence as one great
religious community was en-
dangered; sectarianism was
sure to develop unless they
could share a common prayer
book. Because they were aware
of this danger, the Jewish
scholars in Spain appealed to
Rav Amram, the Gaon of the
Sura Academy in Babylon, to
supply them with a guide to the
correct order of the prayers.
They turned to him because, as
president of the academy in
Sura, the Gaon (literally, the
great or illustrious one) was in
effect the spiritual head of the
Jews of the world. It was in
response to the request for a
definitive text of the prayer ser-
vices that Rav Amram produc-
ed the first complete written
prayer book.
There are few texts to match Gar-
fiel's as a history of the Siddur. Hers is
a volume vitally needed in its textual
significance and spiritual inspiration.
For scholars, this is a work of great
immensity. For the youth it becomes a
necessity for an understanding of the
prayers that always retain their in-
fluence in Jewish life.
The Evelyn Garfiel studies incor-
porated in this volume assure for it
greatest significance on all bookshelves,
all libraries and in every Jewish
home.
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The Hurban
Continued from Page 2
will somehow be gathered into
the strange work of the Ruler of
the Universe. May it be that the
Holy One is answering, in im-
ponderable ways, our wretched
petitions for freedom, our case
against the divine indifference,
against the demonic powers,
against, most of all, ourselves?
Should the Lord fail to give
heed — if there is no response, no
revolution in God as in us, no
new bell tower, no temple of the
future — then the final message
38
FRIDAY, APRIL 7, 1989
of the Endlosung will remain a
bleakness that rolls on and on
and on.
With Yom Hashoah — the Day of
Remembrance — again to be observed
immediately after Passover, the
Righteous Gentiles, the ranking like the
Eckardts, will never be forgotten. There
will be others to be remembered and
commemorated at the perennial
ceremonies at the Holocaust Center,
under the direction of the functioning
movement supervised by Dr. John
Mames. The Warsaw Ghetto heroism of
the defenders of just rights in the
resistance to Hitlerism will be on the
agenda.
That's when the tragedy of the mass
murder of children will be especially
remembered. It will be another occasion
to give emphasis to that element in the
tale of horror that has put mankind's
conscience to shame.
In her forward to Never Too Young to
Remember, Alice Eckardt associates
herself with the survivors who trace
The Holocaust destroyed
the usual parent-child
relationship — not just at
the time, but
permanently. These
children were made
graphically aware of the
powerlessness of
children.
their experiences and recollections from
earliest childhood. She joins in sending
forth the message of "never forgetting,"
of warnings against the repetition of the
horrors and bestialities.
The Eckardt essay is an evaluation
of the impressions related by six sur-
vivors. Each of the six memories
emerges as a novella, and even in brevi-
ty each is a volume of reactions and a
signal inciting understanding how youth
was and continues to be affected by the
crucial events. As Alice Eckardt asserts
in her prepatory comments:
The truly remarkable aspect
of these accounts is the strength
that is demonstrated by the girls
(and the women they became).
They could not depend on their
parents for help because of the
parents' own difficulties; roles
were often reversed and mothers
and fathers leaned on the
youths. Without any professional
help, these young women deter-
mined to create lives for
themselves.
Despite their handicaps, the
six women in this book have
fought to surmount the exigen-
cies of childhoods distorted by
the Nazis' determination to an-
nihilate all European Jews, have
fought to prevail over the
despair that threatened to
become overwhelming, and have
fought to establish homes for
themselves and their families in
which human dignity and
perhaps even hope could be
sustained.
There is much to be learned
from these accounts. They pro-
vide details about the Holocaust
itself and the post-war struggle
of these Jewish families and in-
dividuals to rebuild their lives in
the shadow of that catastrophe.
They show how fearful events
and the emotional turmoil such
events cause can disorient and
shatter people and families in
ways that do not end when
threatening situations finally
cease. Surviving may actually
compound the problems with
which such people have to live.
Many survivors have a sense of
guilt for being one of the few to
escape death when multitudes,
including family members, did
not. Moreover, they feel they are
carrying a heavy burden of
responsibility to live on behalf of
all those who perished.
The Holocaust destroyed the
usual parent-child relationship
— not just at the time, but per-
manently. These children were
made graphically aware of the
powerlessness of children who
are at the mercy of others' deci-
sions and without the right even
to question them. Ambivalence
toward their parents carried
over into the post-war years.
Parents' efforts to reestablish
a home and some security are
recognized as herculean strug-
gles, yet this does not eradicate
resentment at the changes the
Holocaust had caused in a
mother or a father or both, and
at the demands still made of the
child.
Most brutalizing in the Nazi terror
is the manner in which the children
were tortured and massacred. The
psychological approach to it is describ-
ed by the Julie Heifetz-edited volume.
Julie Heifetz, as editor of Never Too
Young to Remember, not only comments
on the experiences of youth, as evidenc-
ed by the six she interviewed. She pro-
vides powerful commentary on the en-
tire area covered by the Holocaust. Her
introductory essay is an historical
chapter covering the vast field of suffer-
ing, resistance, the indifferences as well
as the acts of courage. The following
quotation from her resume resulting
from years of study of the events gives
credence to the endless attention to and
discussion of the terrors imbedded in
Holocaust:
Child survivors have been
disregarded as reliable sources
of information. Researchers have
not sought out child survivors,
instead interviewing important
people, leaders whose percep-
tions and memories they trust
more than those of children.
Perhaps they, along with the rest
of the world, have been guilty of
wanting to deny that such hor-
rors could have been forced on-
to the young and innocent.
Difficult as it has been for the
world to listen to adult survivors'
stories and enter their pain, it
has been even more terrible to
think of the sufferings of
children during the Holocaust.
Children were routinely
among the first to be murdered
in Nazi Germany. Hoess, the
Auschwitz commandant, ex-
plained that children were kiled
by the Nazis because they could
not work and would therefore be
a drain on the economy. Him-
filer stated that children had to
be killed or they would eventual-
ly avenge the killing of their
parents.
In all types of societies and
families, children are often
treated with disregard — as if
they are mindless, second-class
citizens, mere extensions of their
parents' needs and wishes.
As a result of this treatment,
many child survivors are reluc-
tant to identify themselves and
tell their stories, thinking they
will not be believed .. .
This is introductory to a study of the
tragedies of this century which could be
defined as "the hurban, the destruction"
of our time. The entire volume should be
treated as compulsory reading for a full
conception of what is always referred to
as Holocaust.
❑
Pulitzer For Ellmann:
Biographically Prized
F
or his monumental biography of
Oscar Wilde, Richard Ellmann
has been awarded the 1989
Pulitzer Prize.
The posthumous award for Prof.
Ellmann's Oscar Wilde, which was
published shortly after his death last
May, is another of the long list of
recognitions accorded him for
biographical writings. His works on
Richard Ellmann
Joyce and Yeats raised his standards to
being among the leading authorities on
these and other major authors of the
century.
Ellmann's writings include another
score of books and hundreds of impor-
tant published essays. His academic
career was in the world's leading univer-
sities, concluding at Oxford.
Ellmann's Pulitzer prize is another
mark of esteem he has attianed in the
world of literature.
A native of Highland Park, Mich.,
son of Judge James I. and Jean
Ellmann, the Richard Ellmann name
will always be held in high esteem.
❑