PURELY COMMENTARY
111•11
■ 1111111 ■ 1111.1111
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor Emeritus
Dartmouth And Hitler
U reification of the two
Germanies does not
erase anxieties over
memories that remain in
mankind's records. The de-
mand pledges that anything
approaching the accumulated
guilt will never be repeated
and that the very image of it
will be accompanied by con-
demnation of even the
minutest approach to Nazism.
The very thought of the
possibility of endorsement of
Nazis raises mental horror.
Nevertheless, it keeps happen-
ing and has just occurred in a
periodical published at one of
our most respected univer-
sities. During Yom Kippur
week, Dartmouth Review, a
weekly periodical published
for students of Dartmouth
College, Hanover, New Hamp-
shire, had an article the text
of which included one of the
vilest anti-Semitic statements
The very thought
of the possibility of
endorsement of
Nazis raises
mental horror.
by Adolf Hitler, excerpted from
his Mein Kampf
The scandal this aroused
compelled apologies and con-
demnations on a large scale.
Eschatology
S
oothsaying and pro-
phesying are never un-
usual in human socie-
ty. There are frequent predic-
tions of events to come, of
destinies to be endured.
From the present agonizing
situation of the Persian Gulf
crisis and the dangers
emanating from the brutal
Iraqi dictatorship there
emerged new predictions. The
prophesiers often resort to
scriptural quotations. Many
prophetic assertions are trac-
ed to holy texts.
Jewish lore is always
challenging and never
necessarily destructive. We
have our aharit hayamim, in-
terpreted as the End of Days
even in our own time caused
by the Iraqi horrors. There
are those who speak of the
messianic to suggest the
inevitable.
In the Jewish commitments
the aharit hayamim is not
treated as catastrophic. The
vision is of benefit to
mankind. In his treatment of
the subject, as eschatology in
his Jewish Concepts, Philip
Birnbaum presents it under
these ideal aspirations:
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
(US PS 275-520) is published every
Friday with additional supplements
in February, March, May, August,
October and November at 27676
Franklin Road, Southfield,
Michigan.
Second class postage paid at
Southfield, Michigan and addi-
tional mailing offices.
Postmaster: Send changes to:
DETROIT JEWISH NEWS, 27676
Franklin Road, Southfield,
Michigan 48034
$29 per year
$37 per year out of state
75' single copy
Vol. XCV1I1 No. 8 October 19, 1990
2
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1990
Agonies Universalized
The saddening concern is over
a continuing of hate-
mongering on university cam-
puses and in many other
public spheres. The Nazi
memories are still not yet ful-
ly utilized for absolute con-
demnation demanding non-
repetition, and when the
Hitler-mania finds recurrence
in educational areas, the con-
cern has added horrification.
It is admittedly unrealistic
to expect prejudices to be sum-
marily erased and racism and
anti-Semitism to be aban-
doned. The best to be hoped
for is that the venomous will
never be too numerous. When
the hatreds find roots on
university campuses, they
become the concerns of total
communities and the very na-
tion. For Jewish students, the
challenge is especially im-
mense and the university
campus becomes an area of de-
mand for added vigilance.
The constant duty here is for
youth to be prepared for all
eventualities by being
knowledgeable and aware of
what Jewish experience
teaches us. Being prepared
knowledgeably is the most ef-
fective way of treating events
realistically and of defying at-
tacks fearlessly. It can be a
good way of enrolling support
against bigotries by citizens of
all faiths.
There was a special appeal
in the discussion on this page
in the commentary of August
31. There is a request for
repetition. It stated:
Israel Zangwill, in Voice
of Jerusalem, written in
1921, stated:
Nothing gratifies the mob
more than to get a simple
name to account for a com-
plex phenomenon, and the
word "Jew" is always at
hand to explain the never-
absent maladies of the
body politic.
Exposure of scapegoat-
ism is never-ending. The
burden is to assure
predominance of facts and
truths. Know your history
is your appeal to your
youth as the best way to
erase the lies and confront
the anti-Semites. ❑
Mankind's Endurance
Eschatology, the branch
of theology treating of the
last things and final
destinies of humanity, is
known in Hebrew as the
end of days, a phrase bor-
rowed from Isaiah 2:1. The
same expression is used in
Genesis 49:1, by Jacob,
who called his sons and
said: "Gather yourselves
together, that I may tell you
what shall befall you in
after clays." It occurs again
in Micah's prophecy con-
cerning the time when "na-
tion shall not raise the
sword against nation . ."
Jewish eschatology is
linked with the messianic
hopes and the belief in the
ultimate regeneration of
humanity. The final goal of
world history is the transi-
tion of man to a higher life
and the annihilation of the
forces that opppose the
messianic reign.
Many elements of later
Jewish eschatology are
already found in prophetic
books. Throughout the
biblical prophecies the
blessings of the future are
on the earth. "It shall come
to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the
Lord's house shall be
established as the highest
mountain, towering over
every hill. All nations shall
stream toward it; many
peoples shall come and
say: Come, let us climb the
mountain of the Lord, to
the house of the God of
Jacob, that he may instruct
us in his ways, and we will
walk, in his paths . . . They
shall beat their swords in-
to plowshares, and their
spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up
sword against nation,
neither shall they learn
war any more. (Isaiah 2:2-4;
Micah 4:2-4).
event
great
The
preparatory to the mes-
sianic reign is kibbut
galuyyoth (the ingathering
of the exiles) and the return
of the scattered homeless
people of Israel to Zion.
The eschatological concep-
tions are variously referred
to in talmudic literature as,
for example, the world to
come, in the future, the
messianic days. Describing
the messianic era accor-
ding to Jewish tradition,
Maimonides writes: "At
that time there will be
neither famine or war,
neither envy nor strife.
Prosperity will be abun-
dant, comforts within the
reach of all. The one preoc-
cupation of the entire
world will be to know the
Lord . . . as it is written:
The earth shall be filled
with the knowledge of the
Lord as the water covers
the sea."
Eschatology in an in-
dividual and personal
sense deals with the
destiny of the soul after
death, the nature of future
reward and punishment,
the resurrection of the
body. It has never assumed
in Judaism the character
of a dogmatic belief. The
scene of heavenly judg-
ment has been transferred
from the hereafter to the
annual day of judgment at
the beginning of the year.
The Birnbaum essay is a
notable study of the tradi-
tional Jewish treatment of
confidence in a future un-
polluted by evil, a commit-
ment to the highest ideal of a
future filled with the faith in
a life marked by a reduction
of suffering and increase of
peace.
The idealism is inherent in
the Jewish aspect toward the
ideal guidance in these scrip-
tural and prophetic analyses.
With the Maimonides
precepts as basic guides,
With the
Maimonides
precepts as basic
guides, anything
approaching doom
is rejected.
anything approaching doom
is rejected.
A basic text for the
eschatalogical studies is pro-
vided in an extensive and
scholarly essay in the Univer-
sal Jewish Encyclopedia in
which eschatalogy is treated
as follows:
The doctrine of last
things; in particular,
teachings about the end of
the world and of the state
of the soul after death. It is
composed of doctrines
about such subjects as the
coming of the Messiah, the
tribulations that will befall
humanity as the result of
wickedness, the final
redemption, the last judg-
ment, immortality, resur-
rection, heaven and hell.
While a number of the
religious of ancient times,
such as the Egyptian,
Teutonic and in particular
the Persian beliefs, had
more or less developed
eschatologies, the escha-
tology of Judaism is of par-
ticular interest because it
became the basis for the
doctrine of both Christiani-
ty and Islam.
Although it was not until
the period of the Second
Temple that Judaism can
be said to have had a
systematic eschatology,
most of the elements of
which the system was com-
posed were derived from
earlier teachings, especial-
ly those of the literary pro-
phets. An old popular con-
ception, that of the Day of
the Lord, the day when He
would arise in triumph to
defeat the enemies of
Israel, was turned by
Amos into a Day of Judg-
ment, when God would
destroy Israel for its
wickedness (Amos 5:18).
Hosea accepted the idea
of a day of judgment, but
added a future restoration
of Israel that was to follow
it (Hosea 2 and 14). Isaiah
introduced the idea of a
righteous king, and pic-
tured the peace and plenty
that would come as the
result of his reign (Isa. 9:1-6;
11:1-8; 32:1-8).
Jeremiah and Ezekiel
stressed the idea that each
individual would be judg-
ed for his own conduct,
and not in connection with
the group (Jer. 31:29-30;
Ezek. 18).
had
too,
Ezekiel,
predicted a great war con-
ducted by Gog, prince of
Magog (perhaps a cipher
for Babylonia), with the
Continued on Page 76