A Controversy of Zion – IV
“Following an Allied victory,
the Jews of Europe,
we are confident,
will be restored to their political rights and to equality of citizenship.
But they possessed these rights after the last war
and yet the past twenty-five years have witnessed
a rapid and appalling deterioration in their position.”
* * * * * * * * * *
“Nationalism as such,
whether it be English, French, American or Jewish,
is not in itself evil.”
“The prophets of Israel looked forward to the time
not when all national entities would be obliterated,
but when all nations would walk in the light of the Lord,
live by His law and learn war no more.”
______________________________
Paralleling the letter of the Zionist Organization of America’s President concerning anti-Zionism, published in the December 18, 1942 issue of The Jewish Exponent, the newspaper on the same date published a statement drafted by hundreds of Rabbis representing the three primary branches of Judaism in the United States, supporting the restoration of a Jewish national home in what was then called “palestine”. Though the article doesn’t specify the total number of signatories, mention is made that 36 Rabbis specifically from Philadelphia, and, 14 others from the city’s general metropolitan area and nearby suburbs, affixed their signatures to the document.
Though drafted eighty years ago, what’s particularly notable in terms of the year 2023 is the document’s support and unabashed acceptance of the concept of nationalism – for all peoples – with is sensibly, simply, and directly drawn from the Tanach.
36 Local Rabbis Support Jewish Home in Palestine
The Jewish Exponent
December 18, 1942
Thirty-six Philadelphia Rabbis placed their signatures together with hundreds of others of their colleagues throughout America amongst the Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform groups, to a historic statement supporting Palestine as the Jewish national home, to which Jews of the world, particularly of Europe, might wish to go. The Rabbis are as follows:
Solomon Barsel, Samuel Blinder, Elias Charry, Mortimer J. Cohen, Aaron Decter, M. Eckstein, Leon H. Elmaleh, Maxwell M. Farber, Max I. Forman, Jacob Freedman, Samuel Glasner, Marvin J. Goldfine, Morris S. Goodblatt, Solomon Grayzel, Simon Greenberg, Julius A. Greenstone, Jacob Hurwitz, Joseph Klein, Maurice Kliers, Leon S. Lang, Meir Lasker, Oscar Levin, S.L. Levinthal, Abraham J. Levy, C. David Matt, Abraham A. Neuman, N. Olinsky, Abraham L. Poupko, David Pruzansky, Reuben Pupkin, Matthew S. Rosen, Leon W. Rosenberg, Isidor Solomon, David B. Swiren, Philip Tatz, Ralph M. Weisberger.
Fourteen others Rabbis of metropolitan and suburban Philadelphia affixed their names to the statement which reads, in part, as follows:
“Zionism has its origins and roots in the authoritative religious texts of Judaism. Scripture and rabbinical literature alike are replete with the promise of the restoration of Israel to its ancestral home.
“Zionism is consistent with the universalistic teachings of Judaism. Universalism is not a contradiction of nationalism. Nationalism as such, whether it be English, French, American or Jewish, is not in itself evil. It is only militaristic and chauvinistic nationalism which shamelessly flouts all manner of international morality which is evil. The prophets of Israel looked forward to the time not when all national entities would be obliterated, but when all nations would walk in the light of the Lord, live by His law and learn war no more.
“Every fair-minded American knows that American Jews have only one political allegiance – and that is to America. Zionism has been endorsed in our generation by every President from Woodrow Wilson to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and has been approved by the Congress of the United States. The noblest spirits in American life, statesmen, scholars, writers, ministers and leaders of labor and industry, have lent their sympathy and encouragement to the movement.
“Jews and all non-Jews who are sympathetically interested in the plight of Jewry, should bear in mind that the defeat of Hitler will not of itself normalize Jewish life in Europe. An Allied peace which will not frankly face the problem of the national homelessness of the Jewish people will leave the age-old tragic status of European Jewry unchanged. The Jewish people is in danger of emerging from this war not only more torn and broken than any other people, but also without any prospects of a better and more secure future and without the hope that such tragedies will not recur again and again. Following an Allied victory, the Jews of Europe, we are confident, will be restored to their political rights and to equality of citizenship. But they possessed these rights after the last war and yet the past twenty-five years have witnessed a rapid and appalling deterioration in their position. In any case, even after peace is restored Europe will be so ravaged and war-torn that large masses of Jews will elect migration to Palestine as a solution of their personal problems. Indeed, for most of them there may be no other substantial hope of economic, social and spiritual rehabilitation.
“The freedom which, we have faith, will come to all men and nations after this war, must come not only to Jews as individuals wherever they live, permitting them to share freedom on a plane of equality with all other men, but also to the Jewish people, as such, restored in its homeland, where at long last it will be a free people within a world federation of free peoples.”
______________________________
Take another look at the list of Rabbis who signed the statement supporting the Jewish national home in “palestine”. You’ll notice the name of Leon H. Elmaleh of Congregation Mikveh Israel.
Rabbi Elmaleh and his wife Fanny had two sons, one of whom was Jacob David Alflolo Elmaleh.
Less than two months after this article appeared in the Exponent, Jacob David, by then a Second Lieutenant (0-562947) in the Army Air Force, lost his life in the sinking of the USS Dorchester in the North Atlantic on February 3, 1943, the incident best known in popular culture from the story of “The Four Chaplains”, among whom was Rabbi (First Lieutenant) Alexander D. Goode. (Without impugning the bravery of those four men, I’m skeptical that this event occurred as described in official documents and citations, or perhaps even occurred at all. To me, the story has a striking resonance with the tale of Rabbi Abraham Bloch, who was killed on August 29, 1914, while serving as a chaplain in the French Army. But that speculation will be the subject of another post. Well, maybe…)
A member of the University of Pennsylvania’s class of 1940, here’s Jacob David’s portrait from The Record, the University of Pennsylvania yearbook…
…and, his Draft Registration card, reflecting his attendance at the University of Wisconsin, from which he attained a Master’s Degree.
This article about Jacob David’s “Missing in Action” status appeared in the Exponent on February 29, 1943, a little over three weeks after the Dorchester’s sinking…
…while this is the news item that appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer on February 16.
And, an enlargement of his portrait from the article…
Along with his parents Leon H. (1873-4/25/72) and Fanny (Feinberg (Polano)) Elmaleh (9/27/84-7/21/66), Jacob David was survived by a brother, Joseph S. Elmaleh (104/27-6/20/10).
Jacob David’s name appears on page 518 of American Jews in World War II. He’s commemorated on the Tablets of the Missing at the East Coast Memorial, in New York City. Though in the context of military service of American Jews Rabbi Goode’s name is centrally associated with the Dorchester’s sinking, in actuality there were numerous other Jewish servicemen – members of the Army, Army Air Force, and Merchant Marine (among the latter the Dembofsky brothers) aboard the ship on that February Wednesday in the winter of 1943.
So, what’s next? January 8, 1943: “We Reject Zionism”, by Rabbi Hyman J. Schachtel
Some Things to Refer to…
USS Dorchester…
… at Wikipedia
The Four Chaplains…
…at Wikipedia
Fanny and Leon Haim Elmaleh, at FindAGrave…
… Fanny
… Congregation Mikveh Israel (“Notable People”)