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