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Editor: Jan)h Sonnta~ Edilorial Advhory Board: Alexander Baron Hanoch Banov Chaim Bermant Frank Ca" Jo•el Herman Barnet Lilvinoll Hyam Maccob~ Louis Mark~ J, 8. Se!(al Alfred Werner Renee Wine~ancn Dbtribution & tradt.' United Kingdom: Vallenl ine Mitchell h7 Great Ru~~ell Street London WCIB JBT Israel: Weidenfeld & Nicobon 19 Herzo~ Street Jeru•akrn, P.O.B. 7>4:; USA & Canada: Media J ud;o ica ll6H Fairfield Avenue Brid!(eporl, Conn. 06606 Annual ~ub~cription £1·50, SS·OO 1£15·00 Single copy 40p, Sl·25, 1£4·00 (plu• postage) Published four 1 irnes a year by Jewish Literary Publications Ltd. 68 Worcester Crescent, London, NW7 4NA. () The Jewish Quarterly 1974 Editorial DISSENT AND CHANGE DISSENT fROM GENERALLY ACCEPTED ATTITUDES IS AN essential part of the democratic process. The strength of a democracy can be measured by the degree to which it allows dissenting views to be expressed freely. To say "no" is not necessarily to be right but is to assert the right to doubt, to question. It is a first step towards change. Since the Yom Kippur War of last October many Israelis began to question certain assumptions pronounced and promoted by the established leadership. A process of re-thinking has begun, the outcome of which cannot be foreseen. Such a diligent observer of the Israeli scene as Eric Silver, who writes regularly for the Guardian and the Observer, in his "Letter from Jerusalem" in this issue, describes the mood of the country. The picture he presents is one of gloom. Occasional visitors to Israel will confirm this impression. In place of self-assurance there is uncertainty. Clarity of aim has been replaced by confusion. What lies behind this uncertainty and confusion? In public discussions and private conversations people speak openly of a "political earthquake" which would leave its mark for a long time to come. Yet it would be wrong to think that this sudden awareness of Israel's position as a small country exposed to the rivalries of the two super-powers in their struggle to maintain and strengthen their own position in the area, has come as an unexpected revelation. Long before the outbreak of the October war there was no lack of warning voices, and long before the discovery of what the Israelis now call ".\1achdal" -- a newly coined word which roughly translated means: "that which should have been done and was not done" - there were not a few people who pointed to the dangers of complacency in disregarding the reality and relying on superior force as a precondition of a final settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Such voices of dissent were, at best, dismi~sed as the rumblings of "professors" and woolly-headed intellectuals, and, at worst, rejected as treacherous subversion. By now it is generally accepted that the situation 1
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CONTENTS 3 Eric Silver Letter from jerusalem 5 Nahum Goldmann The End of an Era 9 Alexander Baron People in Pinterland 10 Harold Pinter ... my fellow Jew.\" II Hyam Maccoby Jesus in his time 15 Albert Rothschild Frcm Rashi to Luther 16 Meir Wiener Diogo Pires 18 Alter Kacyzne "The few's Opera" 23 Isaac Celnikier Art and the Holocaust 23 Alfred Werner Ludwig Meidner 26 Supplement "Yll:5DISH-A WAY OF LIFE" 27 Golda Meir Our Common Treasure 29 Dov Sadan Yiddish and Hebrew 31 Leonard Prager Yiddish in the UniL•ersity 41 Josef Herman "Peret:ism" and Yiddish 4 3 Baruch Hager Chassidism and Yiddish 45 Elie Schechtman "A roof over our lit•es" 47 S. Levenberg The impact of Yiddish 51 Yizhak Korn Don't say '"Kuddislt" yet 53 Joseph Leftwich On Translations 56 Laeander Belousov Poem 57 Ruth Whitman The Translator as juggler 59 Sol Liptzin Yiddish in Israel 61 NEW BOOKS (reviewed by Jacob Sonntag, Josef Herman, Margot Lester, Peter Cantor, Mark Cohen) 66 TWENTY YEARS ON ... Letter from the Editor 2 ART REPRODUCTIONS: Drawin~s by Marc Chagall, Isaac Celnikier, Josef Herman, Tankhum Kaplan, El Lissitzky, Ben Shahn, Josef Tchaikov. which led to the October war and its aftermath was the outcome of past policies based on wrong premises. It was the resistance to change that has caused it. In the past the policy of "no alternative" IEin breira) dominated the thinking of the politicians and of the ordinary people. Undoubtedly there was a time when it appeared to be the only "alternative" to defeat and surrender. But that time has passed long ago. Immediately after the Six-Day War of June, 1967, it is now generally admitted, there existed a good chance of coming to terms with the Arabs, which was missed. During the intervening years a settlement not much different from the one reached in the present armistice negotiations could have been achieved without the direct intervention of the two super-powers. It was the resistance to change, to the changing of the status quo of "no peace no war" which prevented it. And even now the dividing line is between those who resist change and those who are agreed on the need for it, even though opinions still vary among the latter. As long as there is dissent there is hope. It is probably no accident that those who reject change are mostly to be found among the political right. The change that is called for is, paradoxically, a call to return to the pioneering spirit, the vision and the ideals of the founders and fathers of Zionism and of the State of Israel. It is not real.ly the paradox it appears to be. Zionism was born out of the urge for change, for a new way of life, a new social order. As Dr. Goldmann, in his address to the Zionist General Council last February, pointed out, BenGurion, in his later years, expressed the fear that Israel might become "a state like any other state". This was not the concept which inspired the early pioneers and enabled them to overcome hardships and dangers. Given the vision and the will, the dangers that lie ahead will be overcome, too. WHEN ISRAEL CELEBRATED HER FIRST QUARTER CENTCRY OF independence last year, no one anticipated the outbreak of the October war a few months later. The circumstances in which that war had to be fought, the internal crisis which followed its outcome -- a crisis that has still to be resolved - and the searchin~ questions which are persistently being asked since then, have undoubtedly influenced the mood in which this year's Independence Day has been marked. Although a shift in the composition of the Israeli government became certain with the resignation of Mrs. Golda Meir from the premiership, it is as yet early to say what the changes will be the new government is 'to make. One thing, however, is certain: the demand for change is no longer confined to a minority, although the nature of the changes required may still be a matter of stark controversy.

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Editor: Jan)h Sonnta~

Edilorial Advhory Board: Alexander Baron Hanoch Banov Chaim Bermant Frank Ca" Jo•el Herman Barnet Lilvinoll Hyam Maccob~ Louis Mark~ J, 8. Se!(al Alfred Werner Renee Wine~ancn

Dbtribution & tradt.' United Kingdom: Vallenl ine Mitchell h7 Great Ru~~ell Street London WCIB JBT Israel: Weidenfeld & Nicobon 19 Herzo~ Street Jeru•akrn, P.O.B. 7>4:; USA & Canada: Media J ud;o ica ll6H Fairfield Avenue Brid!(eporl, Conn. 06606

Annual ~ub~cription £1·50, SS·OO 1£15·00 Single copy 40p, Sl·25, 1£4·00 (plu• postage)

Published four 1 irnes a year by Jewish Literary Publications Ltd. 68 Worcester Crescent, London, NW7 4NA. () The Jewish Quarterly 1974

Editorial DISSENT AND CHANGE DISSENT fROM GENERALLY ACCEPTED ATTITUDES IS AN essential part of the democratic process. The strength of a democracy can be measured by the degree to which it allows dissenting views to be expressed freely. To say "no" is not necessarily to be right but is to assert the right to doubt, to question. It is a first step towards change.

Since the Yom Kippur War of last October many Israelis began to question certain assumptions pronounced and promoted by the established leadership. A process of re-thinking has begun, the outcome of which cannot be foreseen. Such a diligent observer of the Israeli scene as Eric Silver, who writes regularly for the Guardian and the Observer, in his "Letter from Jerusalem" in this issue, describes the mood of the country. The picture he presents is one of gloom. Occasional visitors to Israel will confirm this impression. In place of self-assurance there is uncertainty. Clarity of aim has been replaced by confusion.

What lies behind this uncertainty and confusion? In public discussions and private conversations people speak openly of a "political earthquake" which would leave its mark for a long time to come. Yet it would be wrong to think that this sudden awareness of Israel's position as a small country exposed to the rivalries of the two super-powers in their struggle to maintain and strengthen their own position in the area, has come as an unexpected revelation. Long before the outbreak of the October war there was no lack of warning voices, and long before the discovery of what the Israelis now call ".\1achdal" -- a newly coined word which roughly translated means: "that which should have been done and was not done" - there were not a few people who pointed to the dangers of complacency in disregarding the reality and relying on superior force as a precondition of a final settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Such voices of dissent were, at best, dismi~sed as the rumblings of "professors" and woolly-headed intellectuals, and, at worst, rejected as treacherous subversion. By now it is generally accepted that the situation

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