I PURELY COMMENTARY
The School
Continued from Page 2
ranks noted Zionists and philanthropic
leaders.
The school's management continued
with impressive communal encourage-
ment and the leadership included Rabbi
A.M. Hershman, Judge Harry B.
Keidan, Hyman Goldman, Max Lieber-
man, Joseph and Dora Ehrlich, William
Saulson and others who held important
roles here.
The UHS presidency, which com-
menced with Esser Rabinowitz, includ-
ed notables in the Zionist ranks:
Maurice Zackheim, Robert Marwil and
Harry Cohen.
Zionist youth activities like Young
Judaea were encouraged in the student
body by Bernard Isaacs, his successor
Albert Elazar and their associates.
Included in the list of teachers was
the popular Joseph Haggai, who had
notable acclaims as an orator, Labor
Zionist and pedagogue.
The facts accumulated here are
valuable for the history of developing
educational tasks in this country. This
is a record for an important chapter in
Michigan Jewish history. There is an
enhancement in the saluting of the UHS
on its 70th anniversary.
,
❑
Messiah
Continued from Page 2
Finally, meshiah stood for the
Savior who will make the world
of men acknowledge God's
sovereignty, and will thus usher
in the Day of Judgment.
English translations of the
Bible tend to separate the idea
of "the anointed" from the
"Messiah" — the first being used
for the living, the second for the
expected. But the Jewish con-
cept should be approached
historically. The Old Testament
uses the term meshiah or
anointed king for Saul, David,
Zedekiah, and Cyrus of Persia,
who was no Hebrew.
King David established the
dynastic principle among the
Hebrews. And from this
developed the idea that some
man, blessed by God, would
come from the House of David
to end Israel's tribulations, en-
force justice, and establish
peace. As a spiritual leader, the
Messiah would establish a mes-
sianic age — on earth, be it
noted — which the prophets
Isaiah and Michah foretold. And
in the new Age of Righteous-
ness, all of mankind would be
redeemed.
Jews thus distinguished the
earthly Messiah from a heaven-
ly Messiah: the earthly Messiah,
Deliverer of the Jews, would be
a man born of the line of David;
but the heavenly Messiah lives
in Heaven "under the wiings of
the Lord" (Enoch, 39) and ex-
isted before even the sun and
the stars were created. The idea
of a divine "Son of Man" was not
understood by Jews in the later
Christian sense.
Messianism is not a subject to be ig-
.
.
36
FRIDAY, JUNE 2, 1989
nored and is always sanctified. In his
"Commentary to Mishan Sandhedrin"
and the "Thirteen Principles," Moses
Maimonides declared:
"I believe with perfect faith in the
coming of the Messiah; and though he
tarry, I will wait daily for his coming."
There are many allusions to the
subject and some advise patience. There
is one especially challenging. In Talmud
Sandhedrin:
"Blasted be the bones of those who
calculate the end, for when the
calculated time comes and the Messiah
does not appear, people despair of his
ever coming."
Is it any wonder that in order to
avoid despairing and in the determina-
tion to acquire faith, the Zionist emerg-
ed as the creator of a new destiny for
Jews who suffered much from
oppression.
An especially scholarly explanation
of the Messiah idea is provided by Dr.
Philip Birnbaum in his Jewish Con-
cepts. Rabbi Birnbaum offers a most im-
pressive lesson on the subject. His
definitions are like a compiled textbook,
always inviting study. He indicates:
The prophetic view is that
nature itself will be transform-
ed in the messianic days, when
the power of death will be
limited. In the golden age of
humanity, there will be a return
to longevity, and those who die
at a hundred wil be reckoned as
but children, prematurely cut
off for their sins .. .
The signs heralding the ad-
vent of the Messiah at the end of
the time of captivity are describ-
ed in the Mishnah (Sotah 9:15) in
such terms as these: "With the
footprints of the Messiah, in-
solence will increase . . . the vine
will yield its fruit but the wine
will be costly . . . scholarship
will denegerate, piety will be re-
jected, and truth will nowhere
be found; youth will be impu-
dent . . . and a man's enemies
will be the members of his own
household!'
A midrashic statement says
that three days before the ad-
vent of the Messiah, Elijah will
appear on the mountains of
Israel and exclaim: "0 moun-
tains of Israel, how long will you
remain waste and desolate?!"
Then he will proclaim world
peace, and God will redeem
Israel (Pesikta Rabbathi,
chapter 35).
The messiah idea in Jewish history
is the most extensively elaborated upon
in our literature.
It continues to inspire consideration
and commentary from the most
sanctified.
It is the title of one of the most
scholarly works written by Dr. Abba
Hillel Silver, The History of Messianic
Speculation. The messiah ideal meets
only with repsect and often with
admiration.
When a group of bigots utilizes the
very thought of inviting destruction
upon the prophetic in Jewish statehood,
it arouses contempt.
This is how the New York Times ad
of May 10 is treated in Jewry and it can
arouse only a sense of shame by non-
Jews who read it.
The messiah idea is a nobility. Its
abuse by those who are showing
disrespect to it merits the condemna-
tion it earns.
❑
Emissaries, Tourists
As Messengers
n emissary hebraically re-
spected as shaliach is a factor
of significance linking the
Jewish communities, with emphasis on
Israel. His counterpart is the tourist
who exchanges the messages between
the fellow Jews.
Max Gill
An accomplishing shaliach service
was evidenced by the Technion
representative here for nearly a decade.
He accomplished much more. He
Max Gill, who returns to his native city
of Haifa this week with wife Aviva, who has introduced lecture series which
was an impressively encouraging part- enlighten participants about Israel and
ner in an important assignment here, Jewry He has been a factor in mobiliz-
had the many roles that assure mutual ing local forces in support of aliyah
respect and cooperation between Israel among the select and tourism among
and the Jewries of the world. He has in- the masses. He has helped make par-
creased devotions philanthropically by ticipation in tasks in behalf of Thchnion
encouraging scholarships in the Tech- particularly and Israel generally as a
nion, which has worldwide recognition sense of pride.
It is because he has provided great
among leading universities, as well as
the establishment of new research _ dignity to the term shaliach that he and
facilities in structures financed by Aviva have earned a special good wish
on their return to Israel. ❑
Detroiters.
Auschwitz Convent
Is A Polish Problem
RABBI MARC H. TANENBAUM
Special to The Jewish News
I
t is a positive thing that the meet-
ing of the World Jewish Congress
Executive in Montreal during
early May adopted a resolution aban-
doning an earlier pronouncement of
its American Section calling for a
worldwide Jewish boycott of Pope
John Paul II.
While this latest action may in
time help ease the mounting tensions
in Vatican-Jewish relation — the
worst I have seen during the past 30
years — much damage has been done,
and it will take considerable
knowledge, experience and wisdom to
correct the present troubled situation.
The core of the problem remains
the presence of the Carmelite convent
on the grounds of Auschwitz.
The pious, determined nuns
created the problem by transforming
a Nazi warehouse used for storing
Zyklon-B gas into a convent. But
some Jews, I believe, have
misconstrued the stubborn Carmelite
issue.
The removal of the convent to
other quarters — which has been
.greed upon by all parties — is over-
whelmingly an issue that concerns
the Polish Catholic Church, the Polish
government, the Carmelite Order and
world Jewry.
By church law and discipline, on-
ly the Polish church has the power to
remove the convent, which is under
its jurisdiction. The pope and the
Vatican have much influence, but not
the decision-making power, and there
is a basic difference between power
and influence.
Last week, Cardinal Jan
Willebrands, Vatican head of
Catholic-Jewish relations, at a
meeting with several of us, confirm-
ed that the Polish Catholic church
possesses decisive authority to move
the Carmelite convent to a new
center.
He said the Vatican and he per-
sonally can and will help in the
transfer, but only in the background.
Meanwhile, the issue remains as
it was at the beginning. The convent,
which distorts the meaning of
Auschwitz to the Jewish people, must
be removed to an interim place until
the new center and convent — which
the pope committed himself to sup-
port in Vienna in June 1988 — are
constructed.
That is the issue that must be
negotiated directly.
❑