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fasts, which the rabbis demanded brew language enrichment and
in the face of late rains which were support for Jewish culture. For his
regarded a punishment from God. book, he spent months research-
But, as this translation notes, ing archives both in the United
determining that a fast should oc- States and Europe. He asked: Was
cur was a highly detailed respon- the American Jewish community
sibility, beginning with the powerless to help their brethren
definition of exactly when the in 1930s and '40s Nazi Germany?
Did they know what was really
rainy season should begin.
Rabbi Steinsaltz, who lives in happening? What did they do
Jerusalem, has served as resident with the information they did
scholar at Yale University and the have? And what are the names of
Institute for Advanced Study at those who did their utmost to help
the Jews in eastern Europe?
Princeton.
Among those Dr. Morrison pro-
t was called "the English mad-
files is Peter Bergson, an immi-
ness."
From around 1790 to 1870 grant from Latvia who would play
Christians throughout England an unusual and unforgettable role
became determined to convert the in the struggle to aid Jews under
Jews. Why, how and the result of Hitler.
New in paperback is Hidden
this drive is the focus of Figures
of Conversion: The Jewish Children: Forgotten Survivors
Question' and English Na- of the Holocaust (Penguin
tional Identity (Duke Universi- Books) by Andre Stein. Ten sto-
ries tell of children who lived
ty Press) by Michael Ragussis.
`The proselytization of the Jews through Holocaust, including
took primacy over the missions to the ADL's Abraham Foxman and
the heathen and even gained a scholar Yaffa Eliach.
he way in which biblical sit-
kind of urgency, so that both strict
uations thousands of years
millenarians and the larger Evan-
ago continue to influence
gelical public began to see them-
our lives today is the focus
selves as the benevolent guardians
of the Jews," Mr. Ragussis writes. of the new Our Fathers' Wells:
"The Jews were to be preserved, A Personal Encounter with
`as God's ancient people,' until the Myths of Genesis (Harper
their national conversion at the San Francisco) by Peter Pitzele.
The author, director of psy-
advent of the Second Coming."
Mr. Ragussis' book considers chodrama services at Four Winds
such topics as British nationalism Hospital in Katonah, N.Y., uses
and the Jew in literature. In his literary and therapeutic back-
Daniel Deronda, for example, grounds to consider the emotion-
George Eliot tries to "expose Eng- al and mythic meanings behind
lish anti-Semitism and to cele- stories in the Bible. He wonders,
brate Judaic culture" — inspired "What if you were Abraham and
by her reading of Harriet Beech- God commanded you to leave your
native land?" How could one know
er Stowe's works on slavery.
Michael Ragussis is professor to trust the voice of God? "And if
of English at Georgetown Uni- you were Sarah, what reaction
versity and author of Acts ofNam- would you have to the command
to leave?"
ing: The Family Plot in Fiction.
He raises such issues to con-
avid Morrison wanted to
know who knew, when they sider one's role as a Jew in the
knew it and how much they modem world, showing that the
past can provide both guidelines
knew.
In Heroes, Antiheroes and and serve as a pathway for con-
the Holocaust (Milah Press) he temporary spiritual journeys.
Dr. Pitzele also serves as an
asks those questions, providing
answers that will both trouble and adjunct faculty member at the
Jewish Theological Seminary, the
astonish readers.
Dr. Morrison is founding direc- Hebrew Union College and the
tor of the Jerusalem Institute of Union Theological Seminary.
Haskala, which is dedicated to He-

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How much did Diaspora Jews know about Nazi Germany?

97