THE STORY OF THE JEWISH DEFENSE LEAGUE Page 42
Chapter 1: Soviet Jewry: I Am My Brother’s Keeper
 
 
Prev Page   Page Guide   Next Page
42 The Story of the Jewish Defense League

bthe Bolshoi cancellation was the first public Soviet surrender bto Jewish pressure.

bEven minor parts of the American Jewish Establishment bwere not happy. The editors of The Detroit Jewish News, The bJewish Week, and the Los Angeles Messenger expressed their breservations at the actions of the Jewish leaders. But above ball, it was amcha, that affectionate Jewish term for “the bpeople,” who supported the League in letters to the editors, bin checks, and in words of an East Meadow Jew who wrote to ba local paper: “If we could read the Syrian journals of the btime of Judah Maccabee, they probably also reported that bmany Jews believe this ‘tough’ was ‘dumb and petty’ and bincreased anti-Semitism. Thank G-d there are ‘dumb’ men band women willing to endure the scorn of the ‘polite people’ bin order to call attention to injustice.”

bBut surely imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and it bwas the sudden awakening of the dead that was JDL’s major bachievement. Suddenly from all about us, we found them bawakening. The dead Jewish leaders, the dead congrega- btions, the dead Jews. On January 25th seven affluent Long bIsland suburban synagogues announced that each would bhold a prayer service in front of the Soviet estate, Kennil- bworth, “to accent our oneness with Soviet Jewry.” The most binteresting part of the announcement was the statement by bone Herbert Hyman, a past president of comfortable Tem- bple Sinai, in no way related to the Mount of the same name. bMr. Hyman was at great pains to emphasize that the Long bIsland Jews would not “wave any banners or call any names” bbut rather would “accent the dignity of prayer.” He then badded:

b“This is a counterbalance to some of the wild things that bhave been going on at JDL. We feel it is not necessary to have bthat kind of thing. We don’t want to do anything militant blike Kahane but we want to make our weight felt and we bwould like the opinion of world Jewry to be felt by the Soviet bUnion.”

bGood, pure, dignified Mr. Hyman. How nice it would bhave been had his weight and opinion been felt ten years bearlier or ten months or ten weeks earlier. How nice it would b 

Prev Page   Page Guide   Next Page
 
 
THE STORY OF THE JEWISH DEFENSE LEAGUE Page 42
Chapter 1: Soviet Jewry: I Am My Brother’s Keeper