Entertainment
0,0 to Tom
On The Bookshelf
* '7 "e.ft
D BRIGADE-
`A Jew In America'
Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg's new autobiography tells of his life
of public activism as well as his more private experiences.
No melting pot theory here. Rather,
Rabbi
Hertzberg, past president of the
Special to the Jewish News
American Jewish Congress and vice
-president of the World Jewish Congress,
was born with payer," Rabbi
sees himself as still very much the son of
Arthur Hertzberg says.
his religious immigrant parents, sharing
"Underneath my shaven face is
their values, even their worldview.
a beard and underneath these
"My most serious act as a Jew is that I
scholarly clothes" — pointing to his
continue to study the literature that our
tweed jacket — "is a kapote," he adds,
kind has been producing for 30 cen-
referring to the belted coat worn by
turies and I measure my conduct, day by
Chasidim. "I'm an Eastern-European
day, by the standards that these books
Yiddish-speaking Chasidic Jew."
teach," he writes. "This is the compass
But that description doesn't quite
by which I steer."
take in all of his iden-
Meeting over
tity. He's a rabbi with
Nly Life and a Pe vi Struggit for Identity
lunch, he's opinionat-
Orthodox and
ed, outspoken, a man
Conservative ordina-
of robust confidence.
tion who had lifetime
He's witty, engaging,
tenure at a large New
passionate about
Jersey Conservative
ideas, humane, some-
congregation, a schol-
times wickedly funny.
ar, author, university
Most of his answers
professor, public intel-
to questions begin,
lectual, self-described
"Let me tell you a
ultra-dove, player on
story," and wrap up
•
the world stage.
some minutes later,
Not a compromiser,
point delivered. It all
he says, and he's not a
adds up to an unmis-
party or denomina-
takable charm and
tional man. He does-
energy that's also evi-
n't hide his contempt
dent on the pages of
for those now consid-
his
well-written
book.
ered Jewish leaders.
His new book, A Jew in America: My
SANDEE BRAWARSKY
I
V Regular or
One-Time Service
,Equipment and
Supplies Provided
IF Locally Owned
and Operated
V Consistent,
Superior Service
ew
erica
• !VIAL D BRIGADE-
Arthur Hertzberg-
0
$30.00 Off
1st Cleaning
$20.00 Off
3rd Cleaning
1 st Time Customers Only
Not Valid With Other Offers
Expires 2/15/03
684830
248.626.2233
OR
11 1
1/17
2003
76
www.maidbrigade.com
for online scheduling
Life and a People's Struggle for Identity
(HarperSanFrancisco; $29.95), is more
public autobiography than memoir,
detailing his early life and then his
high-profile involvement in issues
ranging from civil rights to Israel's
peace movement to Christian-Jewish
relations. The title echoes an earlier
book he published in the 1980s, The
Jews in America, which decried that
American Jews' success in this country
was being accompanied by a serious
dilution of Judaism.
Consummate Storyteller
The new book also is an exploration
of his journey toward becoming an
American. He was 5 years old when he
came to America from a small
Galician village in Poland.
Seventy-eight years later, there's no
disputing his embrace of his American
identity, but his path has not been one
of assimilation.
Encounters With History
He tells of encounters with Golda
Meir, Henry Kissinger, Menachem
Begin, civil rights activist Bayard
Rustin and others as well as his studies
with Rabbis Louis Ginsberg and
Mordecai Kaplan and historian Salo
Baron and his years as a pulpit rabbi.
From 1956 to 1983, he was rabbi of
Temple Emanu-El of Englewood, N.J.
The book covers his life until the mid-
'80s, when he stepped down from
most of his public posts and dedicated
himself to academics.
For the past 12 years, he has been a
professor of humanities at New York
University.
The author of the influential The
Zionist Idea, published in 1959, Rabbi
Hertzberg relates many arguments he's
been engaged in, and discusses his
support, soon after the Six-Day War,
for a Palestinian state as the only way
to make peace. "These views were
essentially anathema to the Jewish
establishment, both in Israel and
abroad, but I could not suppress the
truth that I saw," he explains.
He writes about some backdoor
diplomacy he engaged in during the
Carter administration, carrying mes-
sages between national security adviser
Zbigniew Brzezinski and Menachem
Begin. He and Begin usually con-
versed in Yiddish,- the language in
which they had both been raised, cre-
ating a level of intimacy.
On one occasion, in delivering a
message from Brzezinski and Carter, he
shifted to English, the language in
which he heard the message expressing
the Americans' hope that on the Israeli
prime minister's first trip to meet with
Carter, he discuss matters of Israel's
security rather than his views about the
whole of "the undivided land of Israel."
Begin didn't like the message —
which he knew of before his guest
arrived — so he became colder, address-
ing the rabbi as "Professor Hertzberg"
instead of the usual "Reb Avraham."
There are also layers of this story
and others that Rabbi Hertzberg says
he couldn't tell in print, although he
tells some at lunch, as long as the
reporter stops taking notes.
Citizen Of The World
Often, the conversation returns to his
parents. He smiles as he describes this as a
book of ancestor worship. His father was
a rabbi and their home in Baltimore was
open to all, and he says that his parents
repeatedly offered food and help to others
when they had little for themselves.
-
On his father's side, he's a descen-
dent of Elimelech of Lizhansk and Zvi
Elimelech of Dinov, who were among
the founders of Chasidism. He's proud
that he's never lost his ties to the
Chasidic community. About neo-
Chasidic movements in Jewish life, he's
dismissive, describing them as noise.
When asked about God and
whether he shares the faith of his
ancestors, he notes that in their view
((not a blade of grass does fall that God
does not control. I'm not a simple
enough believer to assert that flat out."
His own relationship with God is
based in anger. "It's the only way for me
to believe in God after the Holocaust.