And These Are Against

(Brooklyn, N. Y.)

The tone of Rabbi Israel’s letter of February 6 will not surprise any one who is familiar with the tactics of the Marxists.

Rabbi Israel is trying to make us believe that he is more informed about Palestine than the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. What a certain rabbi said is more reliable than the Jewish Daily Bulletin.

The Jewish Daily Bulletin is spoiling all the fun for Rabbi Israel. Just when Rabbi Israel sees in his vision the so-called “social justice of the Histadruth,” the Jewish Daily Bulletin tells him that the Histadruth is trying to murder three innocent young Jews for the sake of “social justice.”

“It’s a lie,” says Rabbi Isarel, “the Histadruth does not preach atheism, it only opposes an official association of Church and State.” Rabbi Israel has something in mind that no Jew in Palestine even dreams of.

Where does the Bible state that 1,500 social justice seekers are to attack a group of ninety fellow Jews at a peaceful meeting and to injure many of them? What about the conflict between the Histadruth and the Mizrachi?

Don’t the Mizrachi want a Palestine according to Jewish traditions. And with whose money is Palestine being built up if not with that of the traditional Jew?

I wish to bring to his attention the content of a pamphlet which the Histadruth distributed secretly. A copy of this pamphlet is in the possession of the Frankfurter Israelite, a paper which for the last seventy-six years has enjoyed the reputation of being a serious-minded and reliable publication.

In the pamphlet the Histadruth requests that the “Chinuch” should be taken away from the Mizrachi, because of the positive religious attitude of this group. Furthermore it says, that the immigration of capitalists to Palestine must be prevented for the benefit of the working class. But above all, the Histadruth in this pamphlet demands to provoke a fight against the influence and against the constitutional rights, now in the hands of the chief rabbi of Palestine.

TO DEPRIVE RABBI OF RIGHTS

The government must be persuaded to take away the rights of the chief rabbi regarding the performance of marriage ceremonies as well as the right to decide questions about inheritance, etc. Because the Jewish Agency and the Vaad Leumi are not willing to lead such a fight against the chief rabbinate, the Histadruth plans a special organization for this purpose. With the help of the press and all other sources of propaganda, a mass movement should be organized and a mass petition prepared, which according to this pamphlet will ultimately lead to “throw the crown from the head of the rabbinate.”

How can Rabbi Israel explain this pamphlet? How can Rabbi Israel explain the disturbance before the great synagogue of Tel Aviv a few Sabbaths ago in which prominent members of the Histadruth participated?

DID ISRAEL INVESTIGATE?

I ask Rabbi Israel—did he closely investigate the religious attitude of the Histadruth? Did he ask, not a tourist, but the appointed leaders of the Histadruth, for a written assurance that they will not do anything against the interest of the Jewishing to help to protect the Jewish religion if such a necessity would arise? If he neglected to do so before he sent out his statement and asked his colleagues for their signatures, he religion and more so, would be will-not only did a very poor service to the cause of the Jewish religion but has also misled those 241 rabbis who signed their names in good faith.

As I view the situation, the Reform rabbinate (if the resolution represents the majority view, and Rabbi Israel contends it does) has simply followed the old Yiddish saying—oder gar oder garnicht. How long ago was it that the overwhelming majority of this rabbinate was either non- or even anti-Zionist? The transition was not gradual, but lo and behold we have a sudden complete double somersault. Undoubtedly the German situation has brought this about. But why take such a large dose in limine? It should be rather gradual, and after being apprenticed in the Zionist ideal they might hope eventually to become familiar with its history and then as masters speak with more authority.

The learned rabbi says that the Histadruth is not anti-religious. The fact is commonly known that in the