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1PURELY COMMENTARY

Learning And Secularism,
Yiddishists And Community

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Editor Emeritus

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46

FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 1992

adness invaded the
cultural sentiments of
many of us when it
was revealed on the front
page of the Jan. 31 Jewish
News that the elementary
classes of the United Hebrew
Schools • were to be ter-
minated.
The revelation brought
forth an analytical reply by
two community minded
fellow citizens, Julius Har-
wood and Mark H. Cousens,
which The Jewish News
published Feb. 7 under the
heading, "Secular
Humanism Ignored By
Study." Their recollection of
educational aspects in this
community and the
"secularism" definition
should be applauded as a
contribution to sociological
and cultural elements in our
life.
It was not often that the
Yiddish and related schools
were designated as secular.,
but they were just that, even
though the reference was
usually to the school systems
of the Sholem Aleichem In-
stitute, the Labor Zionist Al-
liance and Workmen's
Circle.
In view of the abandon-
ment of the hitherto long-
functioning elementary
classes at UHS, and the ex-
pressions in the published
letters, it is important to in-
dicate that the secularism
recalled by the letter writers
was never — at best seldom
— a matter for dispute. ,
Seriously to be considered
is the reality that the
secularists were always a
vital part of our community.
The emphasis must be that
they were, and are, always
Jewish.
Retention of most elemen-
tary classes in our school
system could well mean
retention of concern about
the education of children
from secular homes. To deny
them that right would be a
grave injustice.
It is possible that, espe-
cially in recent years, we
have been faulty in not
acknowledging the large
percentage of secularly
minded in our population
studies. Can anyone deny
this fact?
It would do well to consider
this aspect of our studies as
vital to an understanding of
populational, religious and
social aspects of Jewish

communality. Secularism is
worth evaluating as an
enrichment of Jewish histo-
ry.
An especially significant
study of the subject is pro-
vided by an accomplished
scholar, Dr. Gershon Winer,
in the current issue of
Judaism,the quarterly
organ of the World Jewish
Congress. Dr. Winer, who
has gained recognition as an
academician in Israel and is
one of the leaders in advanc-
ing Yiddish studies at Bar-
Ilan University, has his
roles in the pulpit and in the
American rabbinate.
In his important essay in
the winter 1992 issue of
Judaism, entitled
"Religious Dimensions of
Religious Secularism," he
reviews the roles of famous
Yiddish writers and proves
that secularism has always
been treated as pro-
traditionally Jewish. Never-
theless, the negatives are
accounted for.
Rabbi Winer admits the
conflicts but leads up to the
bridging of the gap between
secularism and religion. He
states in his definition:

The term "secularism" is
generally applied in two
different though not un-
related contexts. One is the
political-sociological do-
main, in that "the physical
well-being of mankind
should predominate over
religious consideration in
civil life," results in the
separation of Church and
State.
The other is a philo-
sophical concept asserting
the "self-sufficiency of
man's natural powers to
direct his own destiny;'
and is an all-inclusive way
of life rejecting the authori-
ty of religion and the ex-
istence of the divinity.
Yiddish secularism pre-
sents a unique pheno-
menon, combining a secu-
larist weltanschauung
with a religious mood. The
equivalent Yiddish term,
veltlichkeit, became cur-
rent nearly a century ago,
and began as outright op-
position to all religious
beliefs, practices and in-
stitutions, ultimately evolv-
ing into an ideology which
sought to bridge the gap
between secularism and
religion. It found expres-
sion in philosophical
essays, in educational
theory, and in Yiddish
belles lettres.

Gershon Winer

The leadership accounted
for by Rabbi Winer very
often "bridged the gap." He
shows how Jewish tradi-
tional practices often become
commitments in secular
adherences and practices. In
this fashion, his essay in
Judaism becomes must
reading for all communally-
minded Jews.
It is especially intriguing
to read his quotation on
"secularological" by one of
those famous Yiddish
writers, I.L. Peretz. In one of
his Jewish ideological works
Peretz stated:

To begin with — tradition
. . . (is) the echo of the
sounds of Mount Sinai .. .
the reflection of the Divine
Presence over the
cherubim . . . seeing with
Jewish eyes, feeling with a
Jewish heart . . . To leave
the ghetto and see the
world, but with Jewish
eyes . . .
Jewish must be the posi-
tion from which the artistic
problem is viewed, the
ethical-philosophical il-
lustration with which the
phenomenon is seen. If you
have nothing to say you
might speak Yiddish from
the cradle to the grave — at
home, in the street and in
the synagogue during the
services, in the theater or
during the opera. But that
which you will say will be
goyish .. .

It is with respect to the
Peretz comment that Dr.
Winer concludes his impor-
tant essay by stating:
This spirit, normatively
if not descriptively,
permeates
Yiddish veltlichkeit in edu-
cation, literature and
society to the present day.
Perhaps it is worth

