Jewish Community Relations Council, Boston, Massachusetts |
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BARBER'S GRANDSTAND By GARBER A Note: We were privileged to make arrangements for the recent BMC Mission to Israel, which has just returned. The 126 participants left happy and came back happier. One of ihe members of the mission was good enough to write me the', following letter which you can read over my shoulder: "Dear Bcrnie: "Ever wonder what a first-time-traveler-to-Israel aches to jset down on paper before the vivid and electrifying impressions I become fading recollections? With a proper bow to the Com- . bincd Jewish Philanthropies and Garber's for picking 120 or so people up out of busy existences and providing them with • a magnificent journey to Israel, the reactions of one such traveler run something like this: "Ancient and modern co-existing in a burgeoning nation, peopled by energetic folks from perhaps 115 lands, living in the Middle East danger zone—but living! Only a few minutes from Balfour Forest where .many of the voyagers planted cypresses lo help make the future secure, we came to storied Nazareth, understandably enamored of its past. (A special ecumenical pleasure awaited me there: In that important reli- j gious nexus, I ran into Reverend Howard Kcllett of Boston's ' Old North Church. "The legendary old, the pulsating new. When we emerged from the Weizmann Institute, we came upon a gentle Talmudic scholar sitting on a nearby bench absorbed in loving perusal of wise words of Jewish sages long departed and oblivious lo the scientific achievements of the basic research laboratories. (Mentioning this to friends when I returned, I was told that one of the Weizmann Institute's most valuable pieces of equipment—an electron microscope—was fetched there by donkey cart.) "Why was it that all of the documentary viewing and long nights of study and reading, even the listening to and giving of lectures, could not have begun to convey the drama of coming upon wreath-crowned Israeli military trucks of the 1948 War of Liberation, rusting in glory along the majestic road up to Jerusalem? Who can measure the valor or estimate the debt owed not only by Israel, but by all of the civilized world, to these modern defenders of the Bible land? "Beersheba's Bedouins. Tel Aviv's merchants, Jerusalem's'! pious men, Haifa's energetic builders, Ashdod's seaway planners—the eye beholds, the mind stores up,, the soul itself remembers. But the kaleidoscopic recall is fragmentary at best: Ibe meaning beneath the colorful texture of the land and the aspiring cities upon the land will certainly abide with all travelers. "We have learned that Israel is no longer underdeveloped. I Not at all. She is exporting science. And even more. She is exporting anew the marvels of Biblical precept and the determination to be of generous service to all mankind. We know now that however much we who live in America in freedom contribute to the upbuilding of this exciting, teeming, vigorous state, the men and women of that unique community of the rescued and spiritually-refreshed top such gifts twice over— in taxes, in sacrifice, in sweat and in the very act of beleaguered living The wealth of that ringed-by-hostilc-arms outpost is in the vibrant spirit of its pioneers, the eagerness for learning, the resolution to link a civilized past with a fruitful future. "Some travelers on this mission found the wonders of the new Museum in Jerusalem most impressive; all marveled at the Dead Sea scrolls so handsomely and proudly displayed there; some will cherish the proof beheld of the wonders of conservation and productivity in the land of our fathers. But for this one traveler, the overarching impression, the most treasured memory, the vignette no trick of time can ever erase is this: Shortly after our. group departed in hushed silence from the Yad Vasheiri, shoutVy after we were privileged to enter the memorial to the martyrs of Buchenwald and Auschwitz and the other enclaves of Nazi savagery, we came again to the broad streets and friendly hills of Jerusalem. There we saw an Israeli girl of about 11 skipping down the street happily, a fine, long loaf of bread under her arm. She was flying along on joyful feel to her home in Israel, secure, loved and loving. The majesty of noble deaths memorialized in dignity had been the agonizing prelude to this enchanting portrait of a new life In dignity, in freedom and—if God and men so will it—in enduring peace. "Sincerely. "R. S." /V*L>- /t^/f^C
Object Description
Collection Name | Jewish Community Relations Council, Boston, Massachusetts |
Collection Number | I-123 |
Dates | 1966 |
Box Number | 167 |
Folder Number | 05 |
Subjects |
Antisemitism Civil Rights Social Justice World War II |
Access | Request access |
Rights | User has an obligation to determine copyright or other use restrictions prior to publication or distribution. Please contact the archives at reference@ajhsboston.org or 617-226-1245 for more information. |
Source | American Jewish Historical Society-New England Archives, New England Historic Genealogical Society |
Description
Collection Name | Jewish Community Relations Council, Boston, Massachusetts |
Collection Number | I-123 |
Dates | 1966 |
Box Number | 167 |
Folder Number | 05 |
Subjects |
Antisemitism Civil Rights Social Justice World War II |
Description |
Activities Media Columnists Garner, Bernard |
Access | Request access |
Rights | User has an obligation to determine copyright or other use restrictions prior to publication or distribution. Please contact the archives at reference@ajhsboston.org or 617-226-1245 for more information. |
Transcript | BARBER'S GRANDSTAND By GARBER A Note: We were privileged to make arrangements for the recent BMC Mission to Israel, which has just returned. The 126 participants left happy and came back happier. One of ihe members of the mission was good enough to write me the', following letter which you can read over my shoulder: "Dear Bcrnie: "Ever wonder what a first-time-traveler-to-Israel aches to jset down on paper before the vivid and electrifying impressions I become fading recollections? With a proper bow to the Com- . bincd Jewish Philanthropies and Garber's for picking 120 or so people up out of busy existences and providing them with • a magnificent journey to Israel, the reactions of one such traveler run something like this: "Ancient and modern co-existing in a burgeoning nation, peopled by energetic folks from perhaps 115 lands, living in the Middle East danger zone—but living! Only a few minutes from Balfour Forest where .many of the voyagers planted cypresses lo help make the future secure, we came to storied Nazareth, understandably enamored of its past. (A special ecumenical pleasure awaited me there: In that important reli- j gious nexus, I ran into Reverend Howard Kcllett of Boston's ' Old North Church. "The legendary old, the pulsating new. When we emerged from the Weizmann Institute, we came upon a gentle Talmudic scholar sitting on a nearby bench absorbed in loving perusal of wise words of Jewish sages long departed and oblivious lo the scientific achievements of the basic research laboratories. (Mentioning this to friends when I returned, I was told that one of the Weizmann Institute's most valuable pieces of equipment—an electron microscope—was fetched there by donkey cart.) "Why was it that all of the documentary viewing and long nights of study and reading, even the listening to and giving of lectures, could not have begun to convey the drama of coming upon wreath-crowned Israeli military trucks of the 1948 War of Liberation, rusting in glory along the majestic road up to Jerusalem? Who can measure the valor or estimate the debt owed not only by Israel, but by all of the civilized world, to these modern defenders of the Bible land? "Beersheba's Bedouins. Tel Aviv's merchants, Jerusalem's'! pious men, Haifa's energetic builders, Ashdod's seaway planners—the eye beholds, the mind stores up,, the soul itself remembers. But the kaleidoscopic recall is fragmentary at best: Ibe meaning beneath the colorful texture of the land and the aspiring cities upon the land will certainly abide with all travelers. "We have learned that Israel is no longer underdeveloped. I Not at all. She is exporting science. And even more. She is exporting anew the marvels of Biblical precept and the determination to be of generous service to all mankind. We know now that however much we who live in America in freedom contribute to the upbuilding of this exciting, teeming, vigorous state, the men and women of that unique community of the rescued and spiritually-refreshed top such gifts twice over— in taxes, in sacrifice, in sweat and in the very act of beleaguered living The wealth of that ringed-by-hostilc-arms outpost is in the vibrant spirit of its pioneers, the eagerness for learning, the resolution to link a civilized past with a fruitful future. "Some travelers on this mission found the wonders of the new Museum in Jerusalem most impressive; all marveled at the Dead Sea scrolls so handsomely and proudly displayed there; some will cherish the proof beheld of the wonders of conservation and productivity in the land of our fathers. But for this one traveler, the overarching impression, the most treasured memory, the vignette no trick of time can ever erase is this: Shortly after our. group departed in hushed silence from the Yad Vasheiri, shoutVy after we were privileged to enter the memorial to the martyrs of Buchenwald and Auschwitz and the other enclaves of Nazi savagery, we came again to the broad streets and friendly hills of Jerusalem. There we saw an Israeli girl of about 11 skipping down the street happily, a fine, long loaf of bread under her arm. She was flying along on joyful feel to her home in Israel, secure, loved and loving. The majesty of noble deaths memorialized in dignity had been the agonizing prelude to this enchanting portrait of a new life In dignity, in freedom and—if God and men so will it—in enduring peace. "Sincerely. "R. S." /V*L>- /t^/f^C |
Source | American Jewish Historical Society-New England Archives, New England Historic Genealogical Society |
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