PURELY COMMENTARY

Assuring Dignity

Continued from Page 2

missible but obligatory
that it express its reserva-
tion by turning to the
heads of the State, the
political bodies, or the
media in Israel. What I
cannot accept, and
disgustedly reject, is the
phenomenon of Jewish
leaders turning to non-
Israeli media in order to
voice criticism of Israel's
policies.
It sometimes seems that
we are quickly forgetting
the history of the rise of
Israel, the seven Arab ar-
mies that assailed us, and
the War of Liberation that
was forced upon us. Even
then we extended the hand
of peace, and then, too, it
was rejected.
We forget, as well, that in
1967 we did not initiate the
conquest of the terrorists
as we now administer,
since then, too, our Arab
neighbors gave us a
negative answer.
Have we forgotten that it
was the Arabs who
brought large concentra-
tions of troops up to our
border, while Nasser pro-
claimed that those troops
were intended to throw us
into the sea?
Has the simple fact been
forgotten that between
1948 and 1967 the ter-
ritories were under Jorda-
nian and Egyptian rule,
and that neither Jordan
nor Egypt recognized
Palestinian rights nor set
up a Palestinian state? Ac-
tually, then as now, the last
thing they wished to see
was a Palestinian state.
What state in the world
would agree to yield its
sovereign rights to impose
law and order? That is
both its right and its duty.
Nor is the duty confined to
the area of Israel itself; ac-
cording to international
law, it extends to territories
administered by the State
•• •
Israel has never aimed to
rule another people, nor
has a policy of that sort
ever been included in the
political program of any
Israeli government.
As you know, the ques-
tion of whether or not to
negotiate with the PLO is
extensively debated in
Israel, as is the question of
whether the PLO has
undergone fundamental
change.
Many Israelis are most
doubtful that Arafat and
his colleagues seriously in-
tend to do what they say
. . . Many who have ex-
amined Arafat's statements
have concluded that after
every apparently moderate

38

FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 1990

statement he finds an op-
portunity to issue to
another audience a state-
ment which is the precise
opposite of the first .. .
Part of the Israeli people
remain ready to talk with
Arafat and the PLO, and to
give them an opportunity
to prove that they are ge-
niunely transformed.
Others among us are not
prepared to endanger
what they see as their
future and the future of
their children by relying
on words — and on Arafat's
declarations. — which have
indeed proved tht the PLO
remains faithful to its Cove-
nant calling for the
destruction of the State of
Israel .. .
If Arafat is sincere in his
what
protestations,

As long as there
was a faithful
resistance to the
accumulated
hatreds, there was
the strength to
survive.

prevents him from conven-
ing the Palestine National
Council and urging its
members to introduce
changes in the Palestinian
Covenant, as the Socialist
International, for example,
recently suggested, so that
the three clauses calling
for the destruction of the
State of Israel be annuled?
I know of three occasions
in the past when the coun-
cil was convened to amend
the Covenant. Why should
it not be possible to do so
again? . ..
Ours is a free society: fac-
ing it is a society torn by
violent strife in which no
one will risk his life by
speaking or arguing freely
or making a statement in-
consistent with the ex-
tremist line of the terrorist
organization which hap-
pens to dominate at any
given period. That, in my
opinion, is the source of
the problem today.
The basic facts thus outlin-
ed must not be ignored. Let
them be added to the necessi-
ty of assuring respect and
dignity to Jewish com-
mitments and loyalties.

U.S. Jewry

Continued from Page 2

there is another illuminating
example that will fascinate
the reader. When an eminent
early American theater critic
treats us well, we must
remember him. Dr. Marcus

draws attention to this
reproduced advertisement:

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An ad for 'The Jew'

Here is the explanatory
note under the
advertisement:
The Jew by Richard
Cumberland (d.1811) is one
of the few English plays in
which the Jew is not pic-
tured as a scoundrel.
The collected historical
facts are related by Marcus in
the following Jewish historio-
graphy dealing with the
theater:
The first Jew seen on the
American stage in
legitimate drama was the
"villain" Shylock, in The
Merchant of Venice. That
was in 1752 at Williams-
burg in Virginia. The pe-
jorative indoctrination was
interrupted in the latter
part of the century when
three editions of
Cumberland's The Jew
were published in 1795 in
Boston, New York, and Bal-
timore; that same year this
comedy about a "benevo-
lent Hebrew" moneylender
was produced in Boston,
New York and Philadel-
phia. Jews were among the
many liberal-minded
citizens throughout the
country who were eager to
encourage theatrical pro-
ductions. Moses M. Hays,
of Boston, appears to have
been one of the leaders of
the group which sought to
license a theatre in Boston
in the 1790s. The Bostonian
argued that plays polished
manners and promoted
morality.

By the 1820s, if not
earlier, Jews had begun
making their appearance
in the United States as
theatre managers and as
actors playing stellar roles.
The year 1826 was a pro-
ductive one for them. In
Princeton, New Jersey, Dr.
A. Borrenstein published
the Sacred Dramas of Han-
nah More, while Da Ponte
republished three of his
older musical dramas; one
of these, Don Giovanni,
reproduced the text in both

Italian and English. That
same year, as it has been
pointed out earlier,
Mathias Lopez edited four
plays for publication. In
1830, Gustavus A. Myers,
then a young man of
twenty-nine, wrote a one-
act farce based on a story
from the French and called
Nature and Philosophy, an
interesting love story of a
young man who had never
seen a girl; he had been
reared by his father, a
misogynist.
There is the recollection by
Marcus of an effort that was
made to establish a Jewish
state. The reference to it is
with this photo.

Mordecai Noah

The caption reads:
Mordecai Manuel Noah
(d. 1851) was probably
America's best known
Jewish layman. He was a
lawyer, a judge, a consular
officer, a journalist, a
surveyor of the Port of New
York, a sheriff, a dramatist,
a proto-Zionist. Portrait by
John Wesley Jarvis.
Original in Congregation
Shearith Israel, New York
City.
Here is how Jacob Marcus
deals with the John Adams
and Mordecai Manuel Noah
episode:
Noah in his dream of
Restoration had the sym-
pathy of the evangelicals.
These religionists were
sure that the Jews would
be restored to the land of
their fathers because of the
biblical promises. . . .
Noah's Zionism actually
came to the fore no later
than 1818. As has been sug-
gested above, Jews
throughout history have
had their politico-re
ligious pseudo-Messiahs
who were prepared to
reestablish the Jewish
state. This desire goes back
at least to the first century
of the Christian era. In a
sense, Noah was a link in
that millennial chain. On

April 17, 1818, he made an
address at the consecra-
tion of the rebuilt Mill
Street synagogue. A new
building was needed; the
old one had been erected
in 1730 when at the most
there were 500 Jewish
souls in all of North
America; now there were
at least 3,000.
The editor rehearsed his
hopes. The Christian
clergy must stop attacking
Jews. The Jews here must
improve themselves moral-
ly and culturally. Let them
forsake commerce and go
into crafts and farming.
The prospects for the
Restoration are now ex-
cellent with the Turkish
Empire about to collapse.
One hundred thousand
Jews could march on
Palestine-Syria, conquer it
and establish a state. (This
idea of a Jewish army is
probably Napoleonic.) And
the money to finance this
expedition? The Jews are
wealthy; they hold the
purse strings. As early as
Weekly
1816, Niles's
Register reported that rich
Jews were • ready to buy
Palestine. Noah was going
along with the myth that
Jewish • bankers (the
Rothschilds) were power-
ful; they could and would
supply the necessary
funds. But, he hastened to
add, until all this comes to
pass, America is Jewry's
chosen land.
Noah sent a copy of his
speech to John Adams,
Thomas Jefferson, and
James Madison. In their
answers, all three stressed
the freedom accorded the
Jews in the United States.
Adams in another letter ex-
pressed the hope that
Noah would put himself at
the head of this proposed
army of 100,000. Jews in
the new state would be
able to improve themselves
culturally and become
liberal Unitarian Chris-
tians! In another note to
the editor, Adams wrote
that he was conscious of
the anti-Jewish prejudice
that still persisted; he
knew several Jews per-
sonally; they were fine peo-
ple .
In the 1830s, Noah con-
tinued to concern himself
with Palestine and its
future as a home for Jews.
Somehow or other it was
hoped that the unrest in
that part of the world*, the
growth of state nationalism
in Europe, the July Revolt
of 1830, would all afford an
opportunity for the Jews to
reestablish a state of their