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The you look just a little closer.

Rootless For example, I’m reading Gershom Scholem’s On


the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism. Scholem describes
Cosmopolitan the creation of certain kabbalistic rituals in 16th-century
Sfat (Safed), Israel, many of which influence Jewish
religious practice today. He describes Isaac Luria’s
Rokhl Kafrissen Friday night kabbalat shabbat, part of which involves
a solemn march around the dining room table while
Routes to Rootlessness singing “a greeting to the angels of the Sabbath, that
is, two angels who according to the Talmud accom-

T
he other night I dashed into the Jewish Di- pany each man to his home at the onset of Sabbath.
vision of the New York Public Library about The four stanzas of the hymn to the angels, ‘Peace be
twenty minutes before closing. I needed to get with you [shalom aleikhem], you angels of peace’ are
some biographical information about Mark Warshavsky followed by recitation of the 31st chapter of Proverbs
(1845-1907), best known as the author of the “folksong” [eyshes khayil], which seems to sing the praises of the
“Oyfn Pripetshik” (“By the Fireplace”). I happen to be noble housewife and her activities, but which the kab-
working on an edgy little piece about the kabbalistic balists interpreted . . . as a hymn to the Shekhina [the
imagery of that song, and you should all write encourag- feminine aspect of God]. Strange to say, it was through
ing letters to Larry Bush if you’d like to see it published the mystical reinterpretation of the Kabbalists that this
some day in Jewish Currents. Within Warshavsky’s praise of the Jewish housewife found its way into the
bio I was hoping to find some hint, a trace, a whiff, of Sabbath ritual.”
the mystical. I rushed over to the six-volume leksikon Scholem also mentions that the consumption of fish
fun yidishn teater and went straight to the entry on on Friday night is connected with the custom of having
Warshavsky. Boy, was I disappointed. marital sex on Friday night. (You knew it would take
Although his entry isn’t that long, it makes pretty a mystic to make gefilte fish sexy.)
clear that Warshavsky, far from being holed up in some
mystical bohemia, had a happily bourgeois existence I happened to read these passages one Friday night,
as a successful lawyer, in addition to writing songs and not too long ago, right before going to sleep. I was full
hanging out with Sholem Aleichem. from a shabbes dinner with an amazing Upper West
I go looking for a mystic and I find another goddamn Side family. I had been seated next to the nephew of
professional! Let’s face it: Parnosse
(livelihood) is important to Jews. In
fact, I don’t regret the fact that War-
shavsky had a job and could feed his
family rather than living in a cave
and contemplating the 613 hairs on
the godhead’s chin. I don’t regret it
because I made the same choice: law-
yer by day, writer by night, exhausted
person on the weekend. And that’s my
kind of continuity, a parnosse continu-
ity between me, Mark Warshavsky, and
Sholem Aleichem!
The distances between us and our
past, and between me and Warshavsky
— they aren’t always what they seem.
The continuities of our Jewish lives
take on some surprising contours when The Great Hall at Ellis Island, c. 1900

92 Jewish Currents
one Israel Goldfarb. You may not know his name, but sad, stateless chapter of Jewish history as well as a total
you certainly know his music: Israel Goldfarb was re- rejection of the rootlessness that had characterized the
sponsible for a considerable portion of what many of us life of Eastern European Jews.
would consider timeless Jewish tunes. The version of The rejection of rootlessness, however, would come
“Shalom Aleikhem” we sang that night, the mid-tempo at a great price. Our rootlessness, in many senses, was
one where the first phrase ends on that abrupt high note? what made Jewish culture great. Indeed, many of the
Yep, that’s his, as is pretty much every other Jewish tune best and brightest citizens of Yiddishland were exem-
I learned growing up. plars of rootlessness, moving from Eastern Europe to
If you had asked me a couple of years ago, I would Western Europe to America and taking the very best of
have said the tune of “Shalom Aleikhem” had been
composed in the Temple, while the marching around
the table singing it before digging into gefilte fish was I made no sense to my Israeli neighbors because I had
definitely a Fiddler on the Roof moment. But the tune chosen the trajectory of shtetl to Western Europe to
was composed not long ago in Brooklyn, and the ritual Eastern Europe. My shtetl was an American one, and my
comes from very long ago in Sfat. Having Brooklyn and Eastern European sojourn is still a metaphysical one, for
Sfat at the same shabbes table on the Upper West Side the moment. But the path has always been clear to me.
— a somewhat surprising but not unusual pattern of
Jewish continuities. The surprise is in learning enough
to spot the ones now hidden. these worlds for themselves, creating a modern Jew-
As I drifted off, I thought of these hidden continuities ishness that was enriched by its access to tradition and
and an experience I had during my time living in the lofts modernity, Yiddish and Hebrew.
of East Williamsburg. My neighbors in the lofts were
two Israeli DJs, Ran and Sagi. We didn’t have much The trajectory of rootlessness often looked something
in common. They were Israeli, I was golus (diaspora). like that of Maurice Samuel. Best known for his trans-
They set upon a local car thief with a baseball bat; I ran lations of Sholem Aleichem and Y.L. Peretz, Samuel
away from violence. They dropped Ecstasy; I preferred (1895-1972) was born in Romania. His family moved
being grumpy. One day I ran into them on the L train and to Manchester, England when he was five. At 19, he left
mentioned that I was going to Klezkamp. Jewish music home for Paris to be a poet. Unfortunately, 1914 wasn’t
camp, I explained. Ah, like hava nagila, they replied, such a good year for poets in Paris. Samuel eventually
with much smirking and laughing. made his way to New York, discovered Yiddish litera-
Yes, like hava na fricking gila. In one instant, Ran and ture, and served in the U.S. Army during World War I.
Sagi had flattened the entire history of Jewish music into While he spent significant portions of the later part of
those five irresistibly chantable syllables. It was fitting his life living in, and working on behalf of, the State of
that they would do this, as the song perfectly expresses Israel, he never made it his permanent home.
the messianic fervor that drove modern Zionism and its Of the same generation as Maurice Samuel was an-
apocalyptic attitude toward Jewish history and culture. other rootless cosmopolitan, historian and philosopher
As Sheldon Feinberg writes in his book, Hava Nagila: Simon Rawidowicz (1896-1957). His route took him
The World’s Most Famous Song of Joy, Moshe Nathan- from Bialystok to Berlin (where he wrote his dissertation
son, the boy who wrote these words in Palestine, “took on Ludwig Feuerbach) to England to the U.S., where he
the ancient [psalm], deleted . . . the Hebrew name for was the first chair of the Near Eastern and Judaic Stud-
God . . . added additional lyrics in the modern Zionist ies department at Brandeis. Rawidowicz was an ardent
idiom, shaped the combined effort to the . . . beat [of a Hebraist — a Hebraist who chose to live in golus and
hasidic nign] and behold — the total song was born!” spent many years fighting what he called the “negation
Behold, Israeli culture was born! All roads from then of the diaspora.” He is perhaps remembered most for
on would lead to Palestine and, eventually, Israel. “Hava his campaign to distinguish the people Israel from the
Nagila” expressed a new kind of secular ecstasy, a joie modern state of Israel: that is, if the modern state were to
de vivre that perhaps could only be expressed in Modern be known simply as “Israel” rather than as “the State of
Hebrew. The song would symbolize the closure of the Israel,” Rawidowicz asked, what would become of the

March-April, 2006 93
traditional notion of the unity of the people Israel? The it was for the generation of Maurice Samuel and Simon
“total identification of the State with [the people],” he Rawidowicz. But new, different points of vitality are
wrote, “. . . can lead to a distortion of the meaning of the flourishing in Eastern Europe. Moreover, those places
Jewish past and present . . . and only serve to intensify — Vilna, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Krakow and the like
the cynical attitude on the part of Jewish youth of the — still continue to draw and hold Jews in their orbit.
State toward the galut Jew.” Zionism’s unidirectional trajectory, however, makes
If I didn’t know that he had written these words in no room for these realities.
1953, I would swear that Rawidowicz had seen Ran and
Sagi laughing at me on the L train that day. Take a look at the UJC Operation Promise website.
I made no sense to Ran and Sagi because I chose the Their two highlighted missions are transporting the last
old trajectory of shtetl to Western Europe to Eastern Eu- Jews from Ethiopia to Israel and helping the remaining
rope. Of course, my shtetl was an American one and my Jews of the former Soviet Union (FSU), many of whom
Eastern European sojourn is still a metaphysical one, for live in poverty. Let me emphasize that I have no quar-
the moment. But the path has always been clear to me. rel with the UJC’s commendable humanitarian work.
However, much like Prime Minister Sharon’s message
I left my own ghetto, albeit an American one, to be a to the UJC, the UJC’s message to the diaspora couldn’t
French major at Brandeis. I never imagined, as I dreamt be clearer: Israel is to be an enormous magnet, pulling
of all the studying I’d be doing at cafes in France, that it in every last Jew able to make the trip, whether their
might be equally possible for me to study in Yiddishland. new life in Israel will be better or not. And for those
To my knowledge, Jewish Eastern Europe didn’t even unable to make the trip from golus, we’ll help them
exist any more. How could it ever be a point on my own live out their days with dignity.
trajectory, let alone a destination? As for the possibility of actually helping those Jews
The summer before we went off to college, a friend create vibrant Jewish lives where they are? Well, a
went on a Jewish teen trip. The itinerary: a week tour- portion of Operation Promise’s budget is dedicated
ing the death camps of Poland followed by a week in to strengthening the Jewish identity of young Jews in
Israel. The name of the tour? The March of the Living. the FSU to make them less vulnerable to assimilation.
How much clearer could it be to us that our trajectories A large portion of that money, naturally, goes toward
were to flow in one direction and one direction only? I connecting young people with Israel. I would be pretty
quote Ariel Sharon’s message to the 2005 United Jewish surprised if any money actually went to some of the
Communities (UJC) General Assembly in Toronto: young Jews from the FSU whom I met at Klezkanada
this summer. There were about ten of them, leaders
Israel is a homeland not just for our children, but also for in their communities, from Moscow, St. Petersburg,
yours. That is why increasing aliyah is a challenge that we
Kharkov, and elsewhere. They speak, write and teach
share. We must work to encourage aliyah from the United
States, Canada and the rest of the western world. . . . I would in Yiddish, play Jewish music, and are leading a quiet
also like to commend you for Operation Promise and its role revolution in Jewish life right where they are. And
in promoting aliyah from Ethiopia and the former Soviet they’re all pretty sexy to boot. Not that I noticed.
Union. Your support for this program shows that Jews spread
throughout the world truly are one people. As for me, this summer, God willing, I’ll be making
my own March of the Living when I make my first trip
If I may paraphrase: Jewish unity is a unity of tra- to Eastern Europe for the Krakow Jewish Culture Fes-
jectory, from wherever Jews are in the world towards tival. I’ll be marching, dancing, drinking and generally
Israel. You only have to spend a few minutes on the UJC partying my butt off at the largest festival of Jewish
website to see that Prime Minister Sharon’s exhorta- culture in Europe.
tions are taken very, very seriously by the leadership I’m also hoping to see some of the Klezkanada folks
of world Jewry. I met last summer, this time on their home turf (or as
Well, I have a message for them, from the Rootless close as I’ll be getting for a while). We’ll be celebrating
Cosmopolitan: Jewish Eastern Europe ain’t dead. Not how sweet it is to be Jewish, everywhere in the world.
that Jewish life in Eastern Europe is the same today as Now, that’s my kind of continuity.

94 Jewish Currents

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