V
f ' r
By HARRY GOLDEN
THE PROBLEMS OF THE WRITER
Sinclair Lewis, the first American to win the Nobel Prize for literature, said the trouble with bis first marriage was that his wife could never xmderstand that he was working when he was sitting staring out of the window. This is the Bge-old affliction of the writer. He has got to think, and thinking often involves a lack of motion and actlvity~which convinces his |wlje, his neighbors and'his relatives that he is nojjw^rking.
The truth-of the matter is that In this world a lotr of habits have never been lost. Primitive " man rose in the morning and went put to tm the fields and„hunt while his woman tended the fire. This Is the pattern followed throughout history and this is the pattern people expect to folfdw everj- day. What interrupted this pattern, of course, was the invention of the alphabet. But writers' wives never take this into account. No matter how far we extend equal rights for the woman, and no matter how high she herself goes in the career world, she cannot shake ofl the habit of centuries, that her husljand is working only when he goei; out hunting every morning.
A man must have a place to go to in the morning and he must come home at night and once a week he is expected to bring the paycheck with him. Women tend to understand that just as they tend to understand that getting tht children off to school, bakmg a pie, and cleaning the house is a routine they will follow ever>' day of their lives.
So the writer who retires to his room every morning faces insurmountable interruptions. If the typewriter is not clack-clacklng he will undoubtedly be asked to put on junior's overshoes or to keep his eye on the oven imtil the leg of Iamb is done and sometimes he will be handed a pail and a chamois and be told that the windows are terribly dirty and she says with a snicker, "You can think just as well washing them as staring out of them".
Some writers have tried to beat this by hiring office space downtown and furnishing it with a tjTJing table, a chair, pencils, and a typewriter. This works well enough for the fellow who leaves every momli.g and returns every night and h able to discuss the day's work. Jimior's overshoe* get on and he gets off to school, the leg of lamb is done to perfection, and the windows are clean without him.
But downtown he runs into. trouble, too. He hires a secretary to take care of the telephone calls and to do the retyping, but one day when he's in the middle of a big thought she'll ask. him would he mind taking care of the calls while she takes an extra two hours this lunch to get her shopping done. She, too, thinks he's not working. ,
AGAIN THE "ILLEGITIMATE" CHILDREN
During its last session, the Nort;h Carolina Stat* Legislature toyed with a bill to punish unwed mothers. After two illegitimate children, the bill would urge compulsory sterilization. The bill was defeated. It had been brought to the floor because some Legislators really think that women have illegitimate babies .in order to collect the $22 welfare aid every month.
The North Carolina Legislature, however, was well-informed that this is not the reason for Illegitimacy. Illegitimate children have been bom in all times and in all climates. They are bom, really, because unwed girls go to bed with boys.
In the South, the large mass of illegitimate babies are bom to Negro mothers. They are "illegitimate" because their mothers live in economic privation and because they live forever on the margin of society. The higher you go In self-esteem, the less illegitimate babies you have.
If the girl knows that she can some day become a nurse, a stenographer, a newspaper woman, a department store buyer, or anything her talent can achieve, she will think twice before she exposes herself to an "illegitimate" baby which in most cases is the result of a sense of resignation—hopelessness.
The Louisiana Legislature is -about to drop tonie 6iOOO unwed mothers with 22,000 illegitimate children from its relief rolls. Louisiana's new
law excludes illegitimate babies from welfare aid.
Almost as soon as Louisiana puts this law Into effect, however, they will lose the full 60 cents of the Federal contribution to dependent children programs which comes through Social Security. Social Security officials can see no avoidance.of an early call upon the State to show cause in public hearing why all Federal payments should not be suspended, since the Louisiana iaw discriminates "against citizens.
The law _ob\-iously contravenes the persons to equal protection of laws guiiranteed by the 14th Amendment. When Gov. Frank CT Clement vetoed a similar bill in the Tennessee Legislature in 1957, he said: "The bill represents a factual and realistic nightmare in which little children would be the unintended victims".
And Indeed, can this Louisiana Law be the product of a mighty state? A state which has sent men overseas in National Guard detach-
THl NORTH - AMERICAN SCENE
th* Conodlon Jewiih Newt, Fnddy, Feb. 10, TM1 - J
By Dr. Oscar Handlin
THE NEW CHARACTER OF AMERICAN^^^
The American Jewish community in now being transformed by a process over which it has relatively little control. Many of its eccentricities and much of its unpredictability are diie to the fact that it finds itself in a transitio-naJ<Situation. For better worse, it has entered upon a course that will soon give it a character altogether different from that of its earlier history.
Among the forces most actively-involved in this change is a shift in orientation away from Europe. For three hundred years the predominant influen-
ments to safeguard its citizenrj'? Is thi.s the state
that built a mighty city out of the swamps? Can ! (;es in Jewish life in the this state really begrudge its few pennies to 11- tt-HoH Qfot-oc wpr^i pvpr-legitimate children? Is It really so puritanical H^^L H^.T-l^fLri^^^ now that It cannot abide the thought of illegitimacy? I CISed by immigrants. noW, Because, make no mistake, cutting off welfare TQUlte suddenly, the flOW payments, and punishing innocent children, is of new arrivals haS Ceased not going to abate illegitimacy one whit. First ' and the Jews have become you have to get hold of the boy and the girt and a community Of native
convince .them not to go to bed together. And no political state' in all of history has ever bellev-•d itself that arrogant.
READING AND RIVINGTON STREETS
Beading Street is about to disappear. Reading Street is one of the oldest streets In Liverpool.
Americans. Consequences of the most fundamental nature are only slowly beginning to unfold.
In the past, a succession of movements across the Atlantic brought the Jews
movement shifted to central Europe and the result was the creation of a German-Jewish community in the United States. Not all, or even most, of the newcomers of the period came from Germany, but the strongest social and cultural influences emanated there and exerted a powerful impact upon religious, social and philanthropic organization.
From 1880 to 1924 Jewish immigration to America was primarily East European in character. The arrival of millions of Polish, Russian and Ru-munian Jews led to the
handful, however; and even that trickle was soon decisively shut off.
The results are only now becoming evident. Year by year, since 193U, the proportion of the foreign-bom among American Jews has declined and that of the native-bom has increased. Of course statistics are uh-realiable, since the American government is inhibited from making ^ any inquiry about the religion ef-its population,"But a safe estimate would set the percentage of immigrants among Jews in 1930 above '75 per cent;
establishment of a second in 1960 it was well under ;jewish community of Rus-! 20 per cent,. A majority sians, side by .side v.-'i'Tiof the native-born Jews .the Germans. The Jewish are still the children of
labor movement, Yiddish culture, and a revived Or-Jfejbodoxy were among the products of this migrar tion.
The 1920's were a tum-ing point. The first world war and the subsequent reorganization of the European states coincided with restrictive legisla-
England, but it is eamiarked for demolition under | [? New World and ^ a new slum clearance program. Eventually, new Shaped the d O m 1 n a n t; tion m the United States two story houses will take the place of the bal- forms Of their existence. | tO shut off the flOW of conied-tenements that string along this famous In the seventeenth and immigrants. There were
thoroughfare. While living accommodations In . eighteenth centuries, the small additions frf""! _____^ _____
the new EngUsh corporation dwellings will be migration was predomi-' a^Reng^the refugee* from Tu- rnJ«"^oHio"v.a^m"ei,K^ better and more sanitarj-, many of the peopic ^ nantly Anglo-Sephardic in' Hitlerism in the 19;jus ^ who have lived their lives along'Reading Street | origins. ^ and from among the dis-
leave it with regret. , j,^j.ly in the nineteenth placed persons after 1945.
immigrants; but the proportion of those in the third and fourth generations increases steadily. As it does, the connection with the traditional sources of European Jewish life grows ever weaker. The results are grave and are reflected in every aspect of Jewish life in America. Public secular education and the middle-class ideals diffused by
Reading Street is where the immigrants to Liverpool moved as soon as they landed in England. Thus, the street used to resemble Eiving-ton Street on the Lower Ea.st Side of New York. Perhaps it looked grimy and dirty, but Immigrant sections always hold within them a sense of life and purpose that seems often strangely absent from the greenlawned suburl>s. Places like Read- | mg Street in Liverpool and Rivington Street in | New York exist in anticipation. They offer hope | and promise and these two qualities make them more than a place to live; they make them an idea.
TTie, Immigrants who lived along Rirington . Street in New York werfe for the most part Eastern-European Jews. The inunigrants who lived along Reading Street were the Irish who fled famine and dejiresslon in their homeland and came to Liverpool to make a new life. There the diffefences ended. Pushcarts and peddlers and signs advertising.
tly altered the standards of tast€ and behaviour.
beliefs and practices of the Jews.
Communallife has sul> tly been reorganized " as European influences have faded. The divisions that formerly divided Germans from, Poles, Gali-cians from Russians* have lost their importance. The landsmann-schaften and other associations based on Old World local origins no longer hold IKe allegiance ^f their mem-~ bers.^Increasingly American Jews.grqj^ alike-and place ever-greater emphasis on the centralization and uniformity of their communities. That trend lies behind the continuing demand for development of a coherent stmc-ture into which all Jewish elements can fit.
Most significant of all is the transformation in culture. For years traditional Jewish culture was nurtured from abroad. A majority of the rabbinate, of the distinctively Jewish writers and artists, and even of the communal leaders were foreign-bom. That source of direction
by that circumstance. .
American Jews have thus been thrown, unexpectedly and without preparation, back upon their own resources. Only slowly have they begun to perceive, and they are not yet fully convinced, that in the future they will have to depend "upon themselves rather than upon outside stimuli. All too ofjten they turn to nostalgic reminiscences of the Ghetto past, to a sentimental quest for Orthodoxy and to Israel in the hope that these may fill the gap. But such reactions are not likely to take the place of internal crear tivity and vitality.
American Jews are now often obsessed with the problem of survival, itself a reflection of their insecurity. That is a sign of the extent to which they miss the old? sustaining connections with Europe. But the more important question is whether, in survival, they will be able to strike indigenous roots that will permit them to live whole lives in the
century, the sources of the: These amounted to but a j the family life, and the I say Is, of course, modified
has now all but disappear- ... ed along with the Yiddish United States or whether press and theatre." The they will remain depend-most forceful personali- ent on memories of the ties now address a gener- past, al American audience in English and what they
(Copyriflht' by The 'tanod'an Je*nh Newi and JCFNS) ,
Veteran Zionist Proposes Snhi*-nn
Can We Save-Should World Zionist
A Five - Point Program
We Save Organization?
By MEIR GROSSMAN
The proceedings Of the 25th Zionist Movement and the Zionist
Zionist. Congress, but, more
"Lecture tonight" decorated Rlvlhgton Street. ■>speclally, its compo,sition and
They were proof of a great vitality. Along Read-
the manner in which it has dealt
Ing Street there were handcart gi.ris who sold | with fundamental organisational
fruit on street comers. Street singers, that venerable British institution, strolled along it and the children tossed them pennies from the balconies. Rag and bone men made their weekly collections and. from the Brownlow Hill, the Jewish section of Liverpool, came the eyeglass
and Ideological problems, have proved without doubt that unless the Zionist Movement can squarely face up to the realities created by the establishment of the State of Israel, It will con-
Movement for its part would have to readjust I itself to new conditions.
Offers plan
.K'Jme tinje ago I aq-ived at ,ConclusionsVhich I offer now as a fiveppint programme of reform.
First, there Is no longer need for a large representative Zionist
should penetrate, all spheres of State; hemmed in on all sides, communal life to recruit Zionists The time has come for the and promote allya. They must Zionist Organisation and the regain the position they abandon- i Jewish Agency to transfer their ed. It must go without saying j headquarters, lock, stock, and
that education and cultural work are Zionist 'sine qua nons'.
Zionist Activity For Diaspora
Thirdly, the principal field of Zionist activity, the .living space.
jewisn section ui uivcjpwi, uajuc mc cjrcuiao;. --- ----- — -----........ ---- I nr—jni^ntinn mininns nf 'nas :-------- ----•"•"•e. -i--^-
salesmen. The Jews also sold needles, thread, ; tinue to lose ground. Even the | holders who Mm °^ Organisation, must
yard goods and panes of glass to repair broken : stream of repetitious resolutions. ■
barrel, with all its principal departments, to the Diaspora. For allya, hachshara — technical and spiritual — education, fund-raising, and 9II the other functions of Zionism demand that the Organisation operate where the objects of its. activities live.
Judenleiter. There is room everywhere both .for the Zionist Movement and the Israeli diplomats. No one wants to impinge on the prerogatives of the Israel Government, but there must be a clear division of functions agreed upon. In advance, by both parties. The Zionist Organisation is to act independently and on its own responsibility.
Fifthly, I oppose identification of the World Zionist Organisation
be in the Diaspora". In Israel we ' short, let us divide functions \ or Jewish communities in various
windows.
long evenings devoted to oratory ^° '^""^^ ^^'^^ distinguish them j^^^^ ^j^^ government, a parlla- ' and spheres of activities. The ' countries with the foreign policy
■n^e immigrants along Reading Street clothed ' *«'• ^y musicales, could i J^^^^^^J^^^^^^^^^ ment, municipalities.' an army, I Govenur^nt ope^^^^^^^ themselves with a clothing cheque. They would , cover up the cracks in the ■ ^« ^^en It was^ecessary -------, .....7A.r.^^. ,n th» r.,...„^
cheque. The immigrants on Rivington Street also bought on the installment watch, a trousseau, and steerage
their relatives to Join them in America. On Read- 1 — —-. -----.......------ . Tempi rathpr than rinnVitfni
ing Street the fellow selling on the installment ; interests m the Movement and: I^^^' rather, than doubtful
plan was called the cheque man, and on Riving-
Dlan a solid eold '"S procedure in tn-ing to form : these shekel-holders or those who , j^^l^^^ ^^^^ relinquish many of' those connected with the absorp- j ever or at teeraKe passa.^e for a new Agency Executive reveal- ^ . ^f""): their present activities in Israel. ^ tion of immigrants and their "self with . America. On^Read-: ed the extent of narrow party should ..Ml. function or .to recei ...... . ir,f/...,»cf€: ir, tvio iiyrr.tTnrv.ont q.ih -israei rauier tHan douoimi lol- _ . .. . . .in T.raci State. Mis
of the State of Israel. There is
and manifold educational Insti- l we, the Zionists, in the Diaspora, danger to both If the world gaina
This is the way to avoids friction,; this Impression. This is a delicate
must be World Zionist
Organisation and the Jewish I ments of the Jewish Agency only j Organisation In under obligation
any time to identify Israel foreign policy
inevitably bad
ton Street he was called the customer peddler.
(Copyright 1961 by Harry Golden ond The Canadian Jewish News)
I HUMAN RELATIONS
Parents
. lowers — inevitahlv had #>r. Organization and for Its work
underlined the grave crisis io oZT^L^^^^^ those lands In which the the Zionist Organisation. The | aniples to others. Today we need ,
crisis which will not be ■ .sur- -^'"^'l disciplined, dj-namic, and
mounted either by the scM:alled co^Pact organisation. whose
"widening Of the base." the members can take upon them-
admission of "Friends of Zion," ^^"^ ^he implementation of,
as proposed by Dr. Goldmann, Zionist precepts, people who are
or by further surrender of one : P^'^Pared 'themselves' to emi-after another inside ^rate to Israel and settle there,,
position Israel.
Government Annoyed First one must diagnose the DR.- ROSE N. FRANZBLAU disease.Jhen try to remove its
QUESTION: I havt been divorced tinct my daughter, now 20, was o child, I raised and sup-, ported her with very little help from her father.
My intended son-in-law is coming in from college for the midrscmester period. I am planning • dinner in iny home for his immediate family and my family to meet. '
My daughter feels hurt that I don't wont to invite her father.
A few months ago I invited the boy, his parents arid also my daughter's father to my home in-forrnally for cocktails. At that time I felt it was my duly to my daughter to have his parents meet her father OS well as her mother for the first time. They know we ore divorced. It wos quite embarrassing and tense.
.1 wouldn't want to be_put through thot ordeal again and I don't think it's right for my ex-husband to be there. It would be a stroin upon ine again and oh my family, who haven't seen him alj these years, and, I think, on him, too. _
._ He visits our daughter at my home wiHi my permiisibn and under my supervision at least once ■ w«ekT^ls|»^k with him then ond even offer'soint refreshment, providing llm_not uiider strain. Ten-sion_and strain can moke me ill. for weeks and I cannot'afford that. I work for a living.
^NSWER: In addition to working jjiard for o living to support your doughter end raising her proctically all by"yburse(f, you have done a very good job-^of controlling your feelings bbout your former';^husbpnd. ■
Apparently your daughter has o good relationship with her father, and Her attitude toward him hos. not been Influenced by your feelings obout . him. ■ .. . . : _ ;
Too. many divorced people try to. bring about on imotional separation between their child bnd the. Other parent; The. mbtivotion is usudljy. self-center- . id or rotoiiotory, but Whotever the reason/ and
whether it is conscious or unconscious, the results ore always hormful ond distressing to the child. *, * *
Every child of « divorced couple dreams that
the parent's will some day reunite and live together as the hopplest of couples.
Some parents, bending backwards and never saying a critical word or permitting o critical ex-
._prej.sion to be. spoken about the other porent, play into this fantasy. Those who go to the other extreme ond vilify the former mate also play into the same illusion: • ,
Either extreme is full of contradictions for the child. If the. other parent is so good and sweet thot nothing critical cori ever be said about him, then why didn't the mother stay with him? If, on the other hond, he is the villain dpd ogre the
. mother presents him as, then why did she marry him in the first.place.'
After a lifetime of devotion that has paid off well in her ability to relate to a good and acceptable moh, in morripge, ydur daughter should not require further proof of. your love.. —Anything that creates, tension or stress ot a tirne of rejoicing should be avoided.. Her show .of love, ofid loyalty- to her father should be7Tiade_at
cause. The crisis of the Zionist Movement, paradoxically enough, began on May 14. 1948, when Israel came' into existence. As the State gained strength and its administra'tlye machinery expanded and Its functions widened, the crisis became more acute. The young State replacing the British Administration, found a highly developed, semi-govem-mental "organism" operating at all levels and called the Jewish Agency. True, the Israel fJovem-ment took over certain Agency functions and the men directing them, but the Agency retained responsibility in. many sectors — principally those connected with Immigration, settlement, etc. In time the Government apparatus began to show signs of impatience at_the existence of a parallel entity .— an impatience.which
eleven million Jews of the Diaspora live. It Is they who need guidance and education; it is they who must be reared in a Jewish spirit, conditioned for allya. It is in the Diaspora that we shall find our human and financial
people who will bring up their I '"^^^'^^s- " ^ '"^f'
children in the spirit of Zionist: and dynamic Zionlfet
self-fulfilment. In other words, I ^^^^^^^Ip is needed. In Israel we need an orgartisaUon of Jews I ^1°"^^^ Movement and its able to see themselves as poten-^o'" ^^er tial citizens of Israel, ready to i "^"P^ P'^^^^^ secondary im-do their dutv in time of peace I P^^ance, treated neither with
another time and place, and-not at her rngthery'lfrew as^.financial^resources expense. If he wishes, he con gojjut of his woy shrank, on his own and do something nice and appropriate torcelebi-ote the occqsion of his dauglifer's engagement and mbrriage.' It is nqt_essential for him to coast along OD-your troin. forever.
From! now on, your - daughter's love, and consideration for a hiale should be directed to her husband-to-be. If she is exclusively mindful of him 0$ o man, he will be lovingly: mindful of her as a woman arid wife. Then she .Jwill be more under-stariding of what her mother went through as q woman and a mother,.. whiJis no Jonoer being a wife.
QUESTION: A neighbour told me quite secretively tho^ her adopted son wos under therapy and she re-^eeimmended that I should seek help for my son, 3. She pointed out the simildrity. of the boy's actions.
My son doesn't ploy well with other children. It's all ricrht for the other mothers to sif/.but I must ftop my son because he: usually bites or scratches when he fighij. Lately I hove been staying away —from the ploy area. He is fine when he plays by hi.r<-elf, ,
My lom seems actually annoyed when anyone
acts especially nice to him. He closes hit eyes and acts indifferent.
My husband and I have always felt our son was a difficult child. H« is very fast and quite b<lght. He has possed through many horrible stages. However, I was begining,to. fe«l that biirj|lttle uncivil-iced child was becoming a sweef and very good little boy. Now, any doubts I l^ad hove come alive again.; ' ' .-
Should I continue to avoid i certain children or (Continued on pogi 4)
Senserof frustration
» Even the signing of a Covenant and. the establishinent of a "Co-ordinating Board" failed to lessen friction. Zionist leaders bitterly complained tha;t Government officials,, both in Israel and abroad, exhibited scornful, even contemptuous, attitudes towards the. Zionist . Movement, alleging that it did not properly fulfil its historic task. Some went sb far as to declare that tlie Zionist Organisation! was altogether unnecessary and a hindrance. The Jewish Agency was compared to the-scaffolding of. a-,^finished' building. It^ had served its purpose now'jit should be removed. These Images only .Intensified the sense of frustration and futility among, the Zionist rank and file..The truth was' simple: the
and war.
Rejects Ben-Gurion"s attitude
Tills kind of Zionist organisation has a right to exist; It has a specific and genuine function to perform. It could enrich life in the Diaspora -with idealism and serve as an. example for bid and young alike. It would act as a sort of elite, Justifying the continued existence of the Zionist Movement.
Because this Is so I utterly reject Ben-Gurion's attitude that there, is no. need whatever for a Zionist organisation, that it Is nothing more than a wedge^bet-. ween the State "imd the Diaspofar The ideaJ;hatEofficials of this State or 'stam-Jews'^can carry, out .'the present-fuctioris of'' the Zionist Organisation is an illusion at best, a self-deceptlon_ait-worst^ .The idea that"" the Jewish ^tate can supplant the ^niST Movement is fallacious . principally, because representatives of a. fOr reign State cannot; operate on the territory of another foreign State. \Vill officials of the government organise allya? Will 'they' train chalutzim? ^
Secondly the Zionist Organisation : in the Diaspora must free itself from the jgrip and control of Zionist parties, whose role in the \Iovernent must be curtailed. There is little difference between them in so far as prc^animes or ideplogy are concerned. Stress must be"lald on Increase of Individual membership free of party discipline, To
i honour nor with respect. The i Movement can hardly flourish or ; expMid imder the shadow of the
in Israel.
Must act independently
Fourthly, the Zionist Organisation rnust not limit its actlvir ties to fund-raising alone or even to dealing solely with education or allya. It has always been and must remain a political body pursuing political alms. It should resume Its political character, Iri its own. way, geared to varying conditions and "climates." Naturally it will not interfere with
receive directives from the State. Misinterpretation of the relationship between the Zionist Organisation and State of Israel I might become hazardous both j to Israel and to Jews in the I Dispersion. Close, friendly collaboration — by all means. BHnd acceptance of instructions — certainly not'.
Unless Zionism now strains to free itself from the lethal grip of routine and forms itself anew into a living bpdy with adequate living-space, aims, and a mem-
Israel's political or diplomaUc \ bership whosq devotion and self-representations. But on the other sacrifice are not questioned it hand, the Government of Israel
must limit itself to these activi-
has, I am afraid, no chance of survival.
ties and not dispatch abroad Its] (CopvriOht by^The Ca.nadiah Jewish
DATELINE: ISRAEL
By Carl Alpert
I Think As 1 Please
A CURfOUS INITIATIVE
HAIFA — This is Israel's Bar Mltzvah year, a milestpne which markis a tedinical attainment of maturity. It is perhaps only. co-Incidence that this year is also
remember it.
The fiftieth anniversary of the founding of Degania, first of the kibbutzim, sparked n, series of meetings, lectures and personal
marked in Israel's, public ]if6 by j appearances whiclrare still going.
Perhaps the present wave jms set In motion by a popular mu-:sical program which recalled the hit. songs of yesteryear. The songs^whlch the halutzlm"^sang as they drained the swamps of the Emek, the songs of the clandestine immigration, the songs which marked high spots In the growth of the old Yishuv, all these were trotted forth, and helped turn memories backward.; Albums of the old songs conquered the market, and phono-, graphs In thousands of homes piay the" discs over and over a;;aln. ■ ^
TheJ,mood-^was set. Old stars of ^he Hibimah were called out oi .retirement.to reminisce: The pres looked into Its files and . , found anniversaries of Its; own
be. a. Zionist should be a privilege, 'io' observe. A series of advertise-Zlonist orgBtii..ations everywhere ; liients for a large cigarette comr shqud not limit their- acti\'itle.= | pany featured pictures of life in State sjtill needed the World] to work on behalf of Israel; they j Palestine as the old-timers would
a wave of nostalgia — a series of baclcward looks at"the. good old days" "which t)receded the =esta-
blishment of the State.
—ficance in this atmosphere.
on, month after month. The fortieth anniversary of'the: His-tadruth took on' unusual sigrni-
_ Even the great political struggle of the year, the soacalled Lavon"Affair, was unmistakably Influenced by this mood. It was as if the veteran and die-hard leiaders of the old" order; cognizant of new winds sweeping the country, were struggling to maintain the dominance and pre-eminence of a hierarchy which had been challenged. In. the good old days Histadruth was king, and none dared question Its role. Times have changed, ^ and forward-looking Israelis realize that a part cfihnot be greaterthan the whole.
^The atmosphere of retrospection Is clear ^evidence that Israel Is reaching ^ turning of Che comer, and this is.the last, ijook back at the days that are no more. J. ■
VThe form and, shape of the new Israel has, not yet crystallized, and the struggle will doubtless
continue for some years. Considerably more than half of the. population has no personal attachment to the old Yishuv, and while the immigration of the past, tfifrteen years has not yet produced any outstanding political leaders, it Is clear that these ' people, who constitute a:majority of the country's electorate, will . Increasingly influence the course of the nation's program and policy. Israel's se<idhd strongest political party, ..the Herut, draws much of its strength from these . -ranks. Z
Of late there has been a ferment among the country's intellectuals who have hitherto stood aloof from the political arena. Ah attempt to rally them around a body called "The New Regime" appears to have failed, but they too are increasingly making their . voices heard on Issues of the daiy.
Once more the Bar Mltzvah boy plays with his. childhood toys; Retrospectively he fondles all those things which helped . mold him during his formative . years, and now he turns to the , tasks apd duties ot adulthood. The transition does not come quickly nor easily, but it is inevitable. The old order chaiigeth.
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