Contents
EbltORAL .... .. this page ELIEZER STEINMAN The Miracle of the Baal Shem
. . . 3
RUTH RUBIN The Tale of the
Two Tunes .... .... . .. II YITZHOK KATZENELSON Re-
memba
JOSEF KIRMAN I'll Speak To
You Frankly . . .
T. KARMI Marcel's Song
!4
17
18
ANONYMOUS Concert in the
Old School Garret . . . . . . . . 19 JOSEF HERMAN Boris Pasternak 20 NINI ETTLINGER Sharp< ville 21 DENNIS SILK God's Eyt·-Vi< w .... 21 BERNARD SINGER Glimpses into the Past
ART AND ARTISTS . . . . . . . . 25 LoTTE BULLOCK Black on Black 28 BLANCHE BROOKES Zaida .... 31 CHARLES SPENCER Two Writers
22
on a Jewish Theme
. 34
HARRY ZOHN Herz/'s Diaries 37 HYMAN LEWIS Yonder Look 39 ISSAC DEUTSCHER Memoirs of a
Jewish Revolutionary .. . 40 ALEXANDER BARON A "New
Wave"
ARNOLD WESKER Point of View 43 BooK REVIEWS 45-52
42
ART REPRODUCTIONS : Marc Chagal/ Josef Herman. Camille Pissaro. COVER: Drawing by NAFATALI BEZEM Blessing of Candles and Flowers. (From "Flowers of the Sun," an Album published by Sifriat Poalim, 1959).
Editor: J. SoNNTAG
Editorial:· 68 Worcester Crescent, London, N.W.7 Tel. MIT.. 2268 Circulation and Advertisement Depts: Educational Pub I i c i t y (Partners) Ltd.. Fumival House, 14-18 High Holborn, London,
W.C.l. Tel. HOLborn 1964 Single Copy 2s. 6d. (50 cents)
Annual Subscription lOs. 6d. U.S.A. and Canada $2 (post free)
Editorial
THE discussion on "Who (or what) is a Jew?", started some time ago, developed from a purely administrative and legal question affecting the Jews of Israel, to one of basic outlook and attitude, as far as the Jews of the rest of the world were concerned. It should not be assumed that the problem is a new one. It posed itself to every new generation of Jews and formed the basis of changing concepts of the so-called Jewish Question.
It was reflected, too, in the many discussions, carried on in the columns of this magazine in the past, on what is "Jewish" in the works of our Anglo-Jewish writers; whether, for instance, a specific Jewish approach can be discerned in the case of a Jewish writer, writing in English, where his subject has ostensibly nothing to do with Jews or Jewishnes:, An echo of these reflections can be found in the contributions in this issue by Alexander Baron and Arnold W esker.
Undoubtedly this is a serious matter which cannot be shrugged off by complacency or expediency. Nor can it be resolved by authoritarian pronouncements. In the end it must be left to the individual to decide it for himself.
However, the discussion, once started, will go on-and it is as well that it does. Even if its final outcome should be negative in the sense that it eliminates misconceptions, it will be of value.
One such misconception has been revealed in an article by David Krivine writing in a recent issue of f ewish Frontier, the monthly organ of the American Poale Zion. In it the writer, at one time editor of the old Zionist Review before its conversion to the present Jewish Obsert,er and Middle East Review, presents a brand new thesis on the relationship between Israel and the Jews outside Israel. According to him the "unitary view of the Jewish people," held by Ben-Gurion and by what he calls the "classical Zionist thinkers," does not take into account the changes in the position of the Jews in a number of countries, which does no longer correspond to the Zionist analysis and, consequently, the Zionist analysis does not apply to the Jews in these countries. The article contains a number of very interesting observations; coming as it does "from Israel as seen from within" it mtrits close ~•ttentic1n.
