Confessions - Part 1
To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the beginning of the Soviet Jewry movement in 1968, and the 60th birthday of Israel after the war of independence 1948, I have decided to serialize instalments of my memoirs as a Jewish activist in the Washington DC area starting in 1969.
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Confessions of a Jewish Activist
"If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
If not now when?"
Rabbi Hillel
I Beginnings
I became a Jewish activist in the wake of the Six-day war in 1967, in which Israel defeated the armies of its surrounding Arab neighbors, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. Notwithstanding the splendid victory, I could never forget how the world had once again stood by and left the Jews to their fate against seemingly insuperable odds. The event that triggered my activism was the decision in 1969 of the pompous French President M. Pompidou to cancel delivery of fighter planes to Israel that it had paid for and that were scheduled to be delivered according to a legitimate agreement. Israel needed those planes for its defense, and there were no other suppliers immediately on the horizon. In 1969 I moved to the Washington DC area, and I saw my opportunity to make a statement on behalf of Israel a few months later when it was announced that M. Pompidou would be visiting the US.
But, just as WWI did not start with the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the basis of my activism had much deeper and earlier origins. I have written elsewhere about my experiences of anti-Semitism growing up in Britain in the 1950’s. The long-term psychological effects of these experiences, and the prevailing sense that being a Jew was always a factor (and usually a negative one) in all aspects of life lead to a sense of personal frustration. Upon living in Israel and then in the USA I felt a great deal of relief, a freedom from an over-powering sense of limitation, that came to a catharsis after the Six-day War.
Being somewhat naive I called around to several Jewish agencies in the Washington DC area to find out what activities would be planned for the Pompidou visit. I found that nothing was in the works. I was appalled. Here was the most powerful Jewish community outside Israel in the world, and in the Capital of the US the Jewish community was moribund. What I did not know, and was to learn to my regret, was that a deeply smug Jewish community was engaged in that typical of Jewish activities, “not rocking the boat.”
I spoke to several people and began a series of conversations that would eventually lead me into a leadership position for several years. The person who was most receptive was David Amdur, who was the Assistant to the Executive Director of the Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington, Isaac Franck. He arranged a meeting for me with Franck and the President of the Council, Harvey Ammerman. The JCC was the umbrella organization of all Jewish organizations in the Washington DC area, and Isaac Franck had been its Executive Director for some 25 years. Franck was a formidable didact and ran the JCC with an iron hand. Harvey Ammerman was a nice, rather timid man. In effect, the Executive ran the show, while the elected President was side lined. Franck treated me with a customary mixture of condescension and contempt.
They were not sympathetic to my idea that the Jewish community needed to make a strong public statement on behalf of Israel. I wanted a large demonstration and they wanted a letter. The leadership of the Jewish community in Washington, as in most of the US, had not yet come out of the conservative 50’s. But, this was the period of the Vietnam War, society had changed, and demonstrations were de rigeur. The very idea of actually organizing a demonstration was anathema to them. There had been spontaneous demonstrations in 1967 on behalf of Israel when it was in danger, but this was different. Suppose they agreed to organize a rally and nobody came? Somehow or other, with Amdur’s support, we managed to persuade them to at least let him talk to the administrations in DC and the State Department, to find out what their thinking was.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Confessions of a Jewish Activist
"If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
If not now when?"
Rabbi Hillel
I Beginnings
I became a Jewish activist in the wake of the Six-day war in 1967, in which Israel defeated the armies of its surrounding Arab neighbors, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. Notwithstanding the splendid victory, I could never forget how the world had once again stood by and left the Jews to their fate against seemingly insuperable odds. The event that triggered my activism was the decision in 1969 of the pompous French President M. Pompidou to cancel delivery of fighter planes to Israel that it had paid for and that were scheduled to be delivered according to a legitimate agreement. Israel needed those planes for its defense, and there were no other suppliers immediately on the horizon. In 1969 I moved to the Washington DC area, and I saw my opportunity to make a statement on behalf of Israel a few months later when it was announced that M. Pompidou would be visiting the US.
But, just as WWI did not start with the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the basis of my activism had much deeper and earlier origins. I have written elsewhere about my experiences of anti-Semitism growing up in Britain in the 1950’s. The long-term psychological effects of these experiences, and the prevailing sense that being a Jew was always a factor (and usually a negative one) in all aspects of life lead to a sense of personal frustration. Upon living in Israel and then in the USA I felt a great deal of relief, a freedom from an over-powering sense of limitation, that came to a catharsis after the Six-day War.
Being somewhat naive I called around to several Jewish agencies in the Washington DC area to find out what activities would be planned for the Pompidou visit. I found that nothing was in the works. I was appalled. Here was the most powerful Jewish community outside Israel in the world, and in the Capital of the US the Jewish community was moribund. What I did not know, and was to learn to my regret, was that a deeply smug Jewish community was engaged in that typical of Jewish activities, “not rocking the boat.”
I spoke to several people and began a series of conversations that would eventually lead me into a leadership position for several years. The person who was most receptive was David Amdur, who was the Assistant to the Executive Director of the Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington, Isaac Franck. He arranged a meeting for me with Franck and the President of the Council, Harvey Ammerman. The JCC was the umbrella organization of all Jewish organizations in the Washington DC area, and Isaac Franck had been its Executive Director for some 25 years. Franck was a formidable didact and ran the JCC with an iron hand. Harvey Ammerman was a nice, rather timid man. In effect, the Executive ran the show, while the elected President was side lined. Franck treated me with a customary mixture of condescension and contempt.
They were not sympathetic to my idea that the Jewish community needed to make a strong public statement on behalf of Israel. I wanted a large demonstration and they wanted a letter. The leadership of the Jewish community in Washington, as in most of the US, had not yet come out of the conservative 50’s. But, this was the period of the Vietnam War, society had changed, and demonstrations were de rigeur. The very idea of actually organizing a demonstration was anathema to them. There had been spontaneous demonstrations in 1967 on behalf of Israel when it was in danger, but this was different. Suppose they agreed to organize a rally and nobody came? Somehow or other, with Amdur’s support, we managed to persuade them to at least let him talk to the administrations in DC and the State Department, to find out what their thinking was.
posted by Jack Cohen at 5:46 PM
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