By HARRY GOLDEN -AMERICAN SCENE TH E POWER OF LAUGHTER The most underrated force, in our daily life is laughter. I am not talking about humor, I am talking about the t)hysical act of laughing. There.is no doubt that it is the most infectious of all our physical attributes. A friend of mine who is a college professor told me some, years back he and his wife were coming home in^ a snowstonn after a late party and the car broke down. They were worried about the baby and the baby sitter and it was one o'clock in the ^ morning and the road -was deserted. By a bit of luck anqt^gt car came a^ong • and stopped and the~driver-promised to put in a telephone, call to the local police who would probably help out in this emergency. So the husband and wife sat back in the car and now on top of all their worries they had the worry of whether the other driver would do as promised. For .some reason they started laughing and everything they said to each other only provoked more laughter. The cop did come and brought chains and hauled them to a garage and now the cop was laughing and by the time they got there and the . garageman. started laughing and refused to take any money and everybody was laughing fit to be tied for no apparent reason at all, but the memory of the experience remains pleasant. • • • JACK, ARE YOU HERE? How many wives have burned up at the other end of the telephone when they hear the bartender yelling to their husband, "Jack are you here?" Yet the bartender should not be blamed for his gaucherie. He Is terribly busy and he doesn't have time to cover up the phone when he's tr^'ing to locate the jovial husband with, "Jack, are you hereT" ^ wife should not be outraged. A man has to hav? an escape hatch, a place he feels will allow him to relax, like the Silver Slipper Saloon. It is a big help for it gives a husband the illusion of freedom and this is little enough. With taxes, job requirements, quotas to be met, and deadlines of one kind or another, all the husband gets out of a day's work, at the Silver Slipper is a few moments of deception that he can put the world back on the shelves with a few fast beers. So let him alone in the Silver Slipper or the 922 Club and don't bother him and don't annoy the bartender either. He is one Of mankind's true noblemen and he has troubles of his own. WHO ARE THE INTELLECTUALS? The reason it is hard to define an intellectual In America is that we cannot define him along strictly Intellectual lines. Intellectuals are both for and against religion, they are both Repiihll-cans and EJemocrats, and "&iey, :own completely different tastes in art. . . In Prance, and indeed in Europe,, the Intellectual has a more clearly defined Identity., While it is true that Andre Malreaux and Jean Paul Sartre are on opposite sides of the political fence—one is a Gaulllst arid the other at fellow-traveler—there are whole areis of human Activities on which both of them will agree. For Instance, botB'of them, will applaud the novels of Albert _Camus, both of them have read the Bible and boUi want-to help the French economy. As the French w6aid say, both-are engaged, they have committed themselves to the world in which they live; mind, heart and body. And both of them are proud that' they are Intellectuals. The role and qualifications of an American intellectual are confused because such a large proportion of our citizens are products of the higher educational systems. This does bespeak a democratic urge in America, but it also Indlcar tes a lowering of standards. There are intellectuals who study, poetry, but only a certain kind of poetry. They are not interested, for instance, in the poetiy of Carl Sandburg or of Lord Byron. By their defini Won, people who like Carl Sandburg and Lord Byron are not intellectuals. It Is a- parochial world, and a parochial world Is not an intellectual one, they say. .. Because of this division, intellectuals ar« tinable to offer leadership. Intellectuals have not been In the vanguard of tntegratlori; they were not aware of the dangers Senator Joe McCarthy posed; they let themselves be taken in by Communism in the Thirties and by liberal Republicanism in the Fifties, all the time disapproving of both. Instead of dealing with people in the here and now, they were contending with either history or the future. The American intellectual rejepts any attempt to fit him into a sociological status, a political alignment, or a religious bias. He dges not hold open communication with other Intellectuals. He makes the same complaint the other hitellec-tuals make; advertising Is. bad and too many people live in the conforming suburbs. But the intellectual we left integration to the social workers, clergymen and newspapermen (and to a few of the very wealthy families through their Foundations); he's left the future of American art to the Women's Clubs; and he's left our religious issues and politics to the taxi drivers, (Copyright by Harry Goldtn •ml th« Conodian Jtwiih Newt Our Religious The Conodian Jewish New«, Friday, Feb. 17,1961-3 By Dr. David W. Silverman F«iiow of th« DAVID ■ Graduat. Schoo, 5,Lyj^^^^ of Arts and Sciences Qt Harvard and a graduate of Brondels University. H« is r»-s*orch assistant to -Max Lemei ond has contributed ^to many journals on pol-Itical—ottairs. American Jewish religious life resembles nothing so much as William James' apt description of the world of the newborn Infant — a buzzing, blooming confusion." The growth of congregational membership among American Jews during the last decade has been phenomenal. It is reliably estimated that over 60% of the five million Jews (nimierlcally the largest concentration of Jews in the world) now resident in the United States are affiliated In one manner or another with a synagogue or temple. TTiis spurt In membership has been shared equally by all three branches of American Judaism. Consen-atlve, Reform and Orthodox Judaism all report decisive gains in adherents and Increased congregational activities as a direct result. GREAT GROWTH OF SYNAGOGUES What accounts for this return to the Synagogue? Undoubtedly pride and a reawakened sense of historical tradition, both some, how connected with the new state of Israel, have combined In complex ways to re-establish the value of the synagogue in the eyes of American Jewiy, The accelerating acculturation of Jews to the mainstream of ^American life has also given them a new sense of security and belonging. The desperate efforts to become'an American which was both the burden and task of the ghetto generation twenty to fifty years . ago are now fading memories. While the basic ethos of American' civilisation remains Christian, it being an unwritten law-that public officials are members of some religious denomination, Jews have becoriieTnore normal Americans by affiliation with a synagogue. A national rampaign sponsored by the leading advertising agencies of the coimtry. periodically urges me through the media of television and radio to vLsit .the church or synagogue of your chojce this week." Although Jews may have a greater degree of Immunity to such appeals, they do nevertheless have some effect upon them. The holocaust of the Hitler period and the ma.ss migration of Jews to suburban communities are two other extra-religious factors which must be taken into account when reckoniiig with the growth and present status of the sjTiagogue. Undoubtedly many Jews, whose knowledge of Judaism was gastronomic or vaguely sentimental or totally non-exis^ erit were brutally jarred out of their complacency by the geno-dde worked on their blood relatives in Europe fifteen years ago. A pugnacious will to Jewish affirmation was awakened within them. The synagogue proved to be the most ob\'ious institution for domesticating and displaying this assertion of Jewish individuality, MOVING TO THE SUBURBS Since 69° 0 of American Jews in the general affluence and increased social and geographic mobility of this sector. As • millions of Americans deserted the central areas of the cities for the pleasant uplands of suburbia, Jevvs too were caught in the stampede to the suburbs. Their Jewish individuality soon became a problem in the new surroundings. Where the old city neighbourhoods have- provided a protective cloak of anonymity for their lack of rehgious concern and affiliation, in the suburbs lt~was impossible to' hide.. In many ca.ses, social pressures propelled sometimes unwilling Jews into the stream of congregational life. But beneath the crudities of these niore overt means of conversion there lay the strong if inarticulate feeling that the measure of one's Americanism was somehow bound up with synagogue affiliation. One's Americanism card was stamped "approved" if one could produce BIBLE LEAST - READ BEST SELLER What it do^ not state is that in every process of recall the grandchildren use techniques and methods of which the grandparents would have disapproved. Phylacteries are, for many, objects of esthetic appreciation viewed in'a museum case; they are not bouhd upon the hand and head to betoken consecration of human, energies to the service of God.- Jewish ^objets d'art grace many Jewish homes nowadays; but—the Bible is still the least-read best-seller, for thousands of American Jews. LITTLE DIFFERENCE " BETWEEN DENOMINATIONS An outsider viewing American Jewish religious life sees amazing vitality. Millions of dollars are pledged towards the erection groupings are viewed in the same way as the political spectrum) Reform congregation where the wearing of hats and prayer shawls is optional, and a left wing Conservative congregation vrith its organ and mixed choir of male and female voices. The "modem orthodox" congregation may include large stretches of congregi tional readin.gs in English read through a microphone, while mixpd seating is toleratedr on an interim basi^. Many con^ gregations, apparently • blind to organizational lines, engage rabbis belonging to~ another denominational grouping. Despite the blurring of denominational lines on the lay level, the nation wide headquarters of each of the three movements in American Judaism are consciously ha^rden-ing the lines of difference. Each ,of the three prepares separate curricula for its particular school system, without being able to take into account the divergence synagogue. The demonstration of religious reasons, motivating the return, of an increased reverence and piety, is more difficult. Religious leaders of all three denominations are ambivalent witli regard to the newly returned masses. The revival of Jewish religion has been qualified to mean a "revival of interest" In Jewish religion. Without a doubt Jews are now more interested in the doctrines, the practice and the histor\' of Judaism. But precise statistics, for instance, on the number of young Jews who are taking courses In religion given on college campuses, are lacking, Marcus Hansen's insight that "what the grandparents knew and what the children tried to forget, the grandchildren seek to recall" is the one most fitting ,. , ^ . generalization for third genera^ hve in the north eastern section I tion native-bom American Jews, 01 the United States, they shared i but it tells only part of the story. a membership card in the Jocal ' of lovely synagogue sanctuaries.; in home background among its The demand for rabbis and teachers has never been .so great. Religious leaders, although puzzled by the quality and character of the return, are detennined to take full advantage of it for the benefit of their own denominational organizations. But students. Many students who attend Orthodox day schools return to homes where the Sabbath and the dietary laws are note worthy by their absence. The three denominations are seriously competing for the attention and affiliation of the same basic here another puzzlement comes group; socially and economically, to the fore. Most American Jews, i middleclass, religiously non socially and economically, are j descript, and affirmatively "Jew-members of the middle class. As ; Ish-" such, their tastes, amusements, , The at)ove anomalies oi social and cultural predilections are i homogenizalion of the communi-predictable. Tlie old line distinc- (ty and the complicated character tion between Orthodox, Reform \ of the return to the synagogue and. Conservative Jews on the j have forced rabbis and Jewish b. sis, not of theology or piety, academicians to reconsider the but of .social class no longer applies. The social homogenizalion perenniel problems of Jewish theology, and to more sharply of the American Jewish com-1 define the nature and scope of munlty have made the organi- their continuing dialogue with zaUonal distinctions ambiguous, Christianity and secularism. We .....shall explore these dimension* to say the least. It is hard to dls- in depth in forthcoming articles. tinguish between a right-winger ! (Copyright by The Canadian Jewisr" three ^ewj and JCFN51 (for some reason the A NATION WITHOUT A HOME" By ABBA EBAN HUMAN lessons mm recent history Elusive Bachelor s DR. ROSE N. FRANZBLAU QUESTION: I am a widow, 45, wilh two sons. I am attractive, worm andly permitting you to keep intact the image of yourself os a female who is always hurt by moles. The three reasons for his rwt wahtir^g to marry you were given by you and ore really your reosons. But they gove him on opportunity to poy you, the compliment of agreeing with you, while ot the some time offording him a good reason for breaking off the relationship. As for your second reoson; thot you could not give him a fomily, you surely realize how; ironic it is. If fie loved children as much as he soys he does, he would have married and started building o family of his own long before this. Political history is made by the interaction of men with opportunities. Twice In our gene ration — first In 1914-17 and then in 1947-48 — the Jewish people has found a chance to transform Ws" pace' ahd dlrectlSh of ' Its' Journey. Both opportunities were difficult, elusive and dependent on narrow margins of probability. TTiey, arose in the special field of international diplomacy; but there effects were to touch the Jewish j)eople in every area of its emotion and who led the struggle moved in a sublime tension. Inspired — and sometimes haimted by the sense of contrast between a- glittering prospect of success and the irretrievable consequences of failure. 1917 REAL TURNING POINT lation of Palestine numbered ' ship — arguing, pleading, advo^ less than 70.000. By no stretch eating, charming, piercing his of argument could this be de i way by sheer attrition through scjibed as "a State' in the ihak- j every barrier of scepticism and ing." International law contained This man tfoesn't lov« you hecavM h* isn't ready to love any woman in marriage. Any pressure from you will turn out to be utterly futile. In telling you this, he hps shown some consideration for you. But in breaking off with you, he was protecting him-sielf more than being considerate of you. One hopes thot you ore letting him hondle your legal work because you' believe^ in, him as a Iqwyer and not as a yiay of getting him for o husband. He will see through any subterfuge. Your case mpy be pending, but you would waste your time waiting and hoping for a change in his attitude. You feel depressed not because you hove lost something you love, but rother because you were turned down before you could do the turning down. It is fortunate that you are popular and hove so many dotes ond mor/iage proposals. While you wait and dote, it would be helpful to get some counseling to clorJfy why you lite men who ore either unavoiloble for marriage, like this man, or ungiving crriotioholly, like you say your husband was. QUESTION: At 18 I married a serious young artist. Within o year, dn accidental pregnancy ter» minonted my studies and his career as a painter —by forcing him into a full-time job. We hove been married four years and have two children. My husband, 27, is on affectionate father and a good provider, : but our emotional life is terribly unstable. He doesn't/want to b« a~ husband and father. ings. What you now see in his behavior Is onfy tfie psychological climax of, frustrotions- and conflicts that have been going on within hjm o(l, his life.- In oil probqbility your marrioge' hps contributed to bis stability and added a measure of reality to his life which has" had a somewhotv stabilizing effect on hinri. ■ , ,■ ' ■ _ _ You ought to be guided mof« fcyjj^ -—Sometimes-he.expresses^tender love forme onS husband does than by what ie-says. Despite oil hopes of benering _the relationship. , This wbufd ^"'5 complaints, Jie is supporting dli;of you-in"good come about with the help of profits from a busi- style. He iis also going regularfy. for treatment. This _ness venture which .would provide him the time shows evidence of waritinig to resolve his embtion- and separate qiiorters for: his painting, as well o» -°'-cc(nflicls_and thus create a fieajthier emotishal some freedom for us to be'togitlier. ' climate for oil of you. Alibis t^lkobout infide- At other timesJiis mood is one of ruthless re- lity fo you, his firet^loye, mw wa'ly~u"ConK jection. He is under treatment by ~«n analyst, relote to his feeling of disloyalty to;his yocotipnal They agree that my husband'is too young to b« first love. : - _ satisfied with one woman, fiowever, he expects ' You ore isimildrly conflicted. Vpur wish on occo- obsolute fidelity from me. sion to leave him and thus to'pUnish" him for his. , I am physicolly and emotionally exhausted Irom inconstoncy is a .retaltt«iorijw^^ and repeoted crises, and my relationship with the W'th the same kmd of behavior as he metes ;:Out children suffers. My family doctor advises o sepa- ° . u J- n' ' j • ration, but I feel that I could not be o good mother ...^1* *^P..^1 ".i^^''^! if my: contoct with iny husband were broken. Perhaps the b .him his freedom desire and hope for a better life tocfetner. aul . , . ; ■ . AKKwrb. D.»— • .. , Although you or* still vciy youni and stsrttd ANSWER: Pregnonc.es ore rarely occ.dentol. o very youthfd dge to build q; fdmily, you. e^^^ Gne or both .partners unconsciously wont the con- dence unusual moturity, ifl yourrfaitfiful .under- c ° o pregrioncy standing of -your hiisboria. He .is chronologically for a better life together. Your children are not f6r bnlv oood I eon < nobler but jlso_more. excellent to grant Jewish Statehood than to; deny it. Subjective impulses of ^sentlin^t, ^'sympathy, con-sclence^ hiunanlty all gave! theirs auxiliary siq>port. But; they did not stand ftlone. Of the- seven representatives in the first United Nations Committee to recommend Jewish: Statehood, the majority reached its conclusion on hard-headed grounds, without i a' twinge: of sentiment, still less of exhilaration. HQ; Instnimeiit in which a politi-oonhfictitih between the Jewish people and Palestine had previously been recognized. It was difficult to prove that those who granted the Zionist claim would benefit from their decision; certainly no armed divisions would have been needed to enforce an anti-Zionist judgment. In these conditions, when a Zionist leader came to argue his cause in the ears of European statesman he stood a good chance of being regarded as having lost his reason. This in fact, was what Asquith thought of Herbert Sa opposition. SENTIMENT PLAYED NO PART The central figures of the Balfour Declaration are presented in a vivid gallery. Of these, Lloyd George, especially after his accession to the Premiership, was the most constant in the temper of his enthusiasm. His motives were complex. They included a calculation that a British statement on Zionism would prevent Palestine from going to the French, as weir as a streak of Biblical romanticism which he managed to combine muel, and many BriHsh leaders I ^''^h a lack of enthusiasm about of Dr. Weizmann, when they j so"'® of his Jewish adversaries, suggested an international policy i capable of saying of for converting Palestine under Melchett that "like another ment played no part." "JEWS MOST 6IFTED RACE" A similar duality of approach marked Balfpuris contact with Zionism. "There may have been an element of sheer intellectual curiosity, but there was also a tinge of emotion out of keeping with the generally accepted vievf of his character and temperament." He proclaimed that "the Jews are the most gifted race that mankind has seen since the Greeks of the fifth century"; and that their restored homeland would be "a radiant nurse of science arid the arts." er-statesman had understood .th« inner truth of the Jewish malaise which the Anglo-Jewish aristo-crates'were frantically trying to suppress. There is a profound historic justice in,.Balfour's lanr guid and smudged signature on the Declaration. "This, at least, is certain," concludes Dr. Stein, "that of all the British statesmen directly responsible for the Declaration, non had so sensitive a grasp of the problem, had probed into it so deeply or had given it such anxious thought." The narrative shows one statesman after the other falling like ninepins imder Weizman's subtle assault. Now and again it paus- A man who can use such phras- es to focus its light on other PROBLEMS ZIONIST LEADERS FAtED «o such positions of strength lay at the disposal pi the Zionist leaders, who began to seek international support for their cause in the early years of the First World Wajf.AU calculations of realty 'seeiried to argue against their 8UCo«»>vTht Jewish popu- Britlsh responsibility into a Jewish commonwealth. Deep in the Western conscloiis-ness, the conviction , has long been implanted that the central highway of Jewish history would again pass through its original and ancient route. The prospect that the-vision might be realised opened up early in the war. Mr. Leonard Stein's book on "The Balfour Declaration" which now lies before us. (Valleritine, Mitchell. London, Price £3.3.0.) gives Herbert Samuel a more criicial part In the victory than previous historians, have aknowledged. in January, 1915, as President of the Local Government. Board, with a sea:t In the Cabinet, he had engaged Lloyd George arid Edward Grey in earnest conversation and circulated a memorandum to the Prime Minister, Mr. Asquith, arid his principal Cabinet colleagues. Asquith found It Incredible that, such a wild fantasy could emerge from Sariiuel's "well-ordered and methodical brain." Even Lloyd George was sur-priseil to hea:r the vision expounded by a highly intellectual statesman suspected of "atrophy of the heart." The JewTsh leaders notorious member of his race, Alfred Mond has gone to his own place," and yet of avowing, with patent sincerity, that he was constantly moved by his memories of Israel's sacred writings. "The question," . according to Mr Stein, "was'decided on strictly rational grounds, but it does not follow that in Lloyd Georges personal approach to it senti- es as "a radiant nurse of science and the arts" is manifestly open to the invasion of great ideas. Mr. Stein points out that Balfour had a certain ambivalence in his feeling about the Jews. "Because they possessed in ai marked degree distirictive characteristics which commanded his respect he was for that very reason uncertain and uncomfortable about their place in a Gentile general society. BRITISH STATESMEN UNDER WEIZMANN'S ATTACKS Clearly, the British philosoph- Zionist leaders. Of these, only Sokolow is acknowledged as having played a leading role at Weizmann's side. The chief merit in the partnership lay in the readiness of the older man to subordinate his efforts to those of his younger colleague. At the time of the Balfour Declaration Sokolow was approaching 58, Weizman 44, and Sokolow, was more advanced in the official Zionist hierarchy. "Had Sokolow not been in England, and ready to co-operate, it is at least imcertain how far Weizmann would have left entitl-(continned on page 7) assumed jdthout askingr' that a Jew of Samuel's eminence was bound to be against them. Wela-mann himself, could hardly be^ lleve hls^gobd Joriwne when he fotmd that -this cause had al--ready been advocated-inslde^the very citadel which he was trying to storm. The, Jewish Interest has beeri promoted by the correct: and effective working of -the Cabinet system. A Mhilster .had transcended his departmental responsibility in order to address his colleagues on a, central international Issue, aptrlils initiative had been serio(usly. and courteously received, f "We look to you," wrote Weizmann to iSamuel in March, 1915,("and to your historical role .which you are playing and .will play in the redemption of Israel." . From this starthig_point Mr. Stein traces Weizman's astonishing, itinerary across the bright consteliation ot Brltisli leader- DATELINE: ISRAEL By Carl Alpert IT I THE EICHMANN PUZZLE HAIFA — The date has been set, although only tentatively, the charges have been drawn, the legal machinery has been set in motion for the trial of Adolf Eichmanri for crimes against the Jewish people and against humanity. It can safely be said, however, that not only Eich-mann will be on trial. Before the television cameras, before the eyes of htmdreds of newis-papermeri and political— com-mMfetxjrs, representing e_pry leading .nation in the world, Israel also will -be on trial. The-worid win be waitlng-and watching to see how Israel conducts Itself. The test-will- be one not only of law and justice, but also of etliics'and good taste. , • The burden upon those entrusted with the prosecution will be enormoits., Prestunably they cannot,be influenced by what others will think; their job is' to make the charges, stick arid to bring about convicMwi. Yet everyone in Israel is aware of the need for tactful, cautibn. The! problems are many. The tri^ must not become a circus or a carnival. It is not, a sham, or. rigged trial; the defense will be able to .and un-' doubtedly will use , every legal trick and device known, in the Interests of the defendant .That will be the job -pf Dr., Robert ServStius, and public bplrflon-in great responsibility in assuring his security. There are many per-sons in ■ Israel who suffered so much at the hands of the Nazis that they might be tempted. In a moment of, fanatical desperation, to, assault the German lawyer. • EJichmanri himself, ot ■ course-is arid will Continue to,be under a guard which,inyolyes unblinking 24-Sourlphysical scrutiny. In the courtroom he will be seated in, a prisoner's dock, enciosed-by bullet-proof glass.: In connection vrith Eichmann there Is another fear:"that he may find a way^of ijonimiting siiicide and thiis cheat jQstice. To tWs very day His lawyer has; been denied any physical contact with him.. A small vial of deadly poison could change hands easily and quickly. The private meetings between lawyer and client have taken place with a sheet of. glass, between them, and conversation conducted by microphone and individual earphones. Israel has leaned over backwards to assure Eichmann competent coimsel. Dr. Servatius is a first-rate lawyer, and he was selected by Eichmaim and the latter's .family. Who would pay the lawyer? Someone'^ without doubt received generous payment fo the memoirs, published in Life , Magazine, but \he family pleads poverty. The Israel gov^ Israel must beware, of- '-trying' the lawyer. Indebd, ther« It a 1 emriient txaa^ decided to pay. On the other hand, there have been defects. Dr. Servatius was given the detailed charge sheet, only at the beginning of Feb.. warranting a clalrii-by him that, this afforded him adequate Ume to prepare.the defense for atrial which had been scheduled .to b^ gin on ftarch 15; He Is further handicapped in prodiicing wit> nesses for the defense. Many of these would of course be former Nazisrand Israel will not aiford -them, immunity; Dr. Seiyatius would be. permitted to submit their sworn" statements. Israel would lose the advantage of beunig able to cross-examine such wit^ riesses. • , - ■ It has already been determined . that the penalty, ij! Eichmann is . 'found guilty, will be hanging. That grim.and maccabre -business, if It is required, will bring problems of its own. There are. already maqy who feel that the holding, of the trial, the airing of the whole.story, the establishment of guilt —will be enough. Hanging will be; an anti-climax, negative,in all its effects, But much can happen,-^nd usually does, in. a- co^tirt drama of this nature. Nothing can 'be taken for granted, ^noteven verdict of g^iilty. , .', — This is a time for patience, for caution, for wisdom, for legal ■, skill — for justice. As one Israel ne\yspaper put it last week: This should be an historical trial, nol an hysterical one. I. 97 81