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JOHN L LUDWIG, Mgr. IVY 8380
Two Historic Gatherings
Zurich Sketches
By A. WALDMAN
There are so many international
conferences in these days, that visitors
to the XVth Zionist Congress are but
little impressed by the fact that on
the platform a gentleman from Lon
don should be sitting next to one from
America, a delegate from South Afri
ca next to an orthodox Rabbi Jerusal
em. It is doubtful if at any interna
tional conference, there can have pre
vailed among its members, a fraction
of the cordiality which reigned among
st the members of the Zionist Congress
who had assembled from the most di
verse countries and linquistic realms.
Ever again one is overwhelmed by the
fact of being under one roof with Jews
from all over the world, in the service
of one cause, buoyed up by the same
hope. And that sentiment is so domi
nating and all-powerful, that often
for hours T have not the slightest in
terest in listening and in learning
what Jahotinsky has said, what Mere-
minsky has roared, or what some
American or other has yapped. To me
it is enough that they should all be
there, and I understand full well Weiz-
mann’s dictum, that he only felt free
on a very few days in the year, en
tirely free ns a man and as a Jew—
the days when he participated in Zion
ist Congresses.
( HONE COMES FROM AMERICA
No Congress is really complete un
less it have its “originals.” Past Zion
ist Congresses have been distinguished
by the fact that Robert Gutmann, the
painter-professor, from Prague, used
always to arrive punctually at the
stroke of the clock, after a long journ
ey on foot. People then invariably
said: “Robert Gutmann is here, the
Congress may begin.” This year, Rob
ert Gutmann is not there. Times have
changed, romantic pilgrims are no
longer in demand, the police in Aus
tria and Switzerland look askance at
vagabonds, even though they pad it
to Zionist Congresses the protectors of
the Arts have become scarce. Robert
Gutmann was arrested in a Swiss
frontier town, and the Congress had
to run its course without him. It is
true Providence saw to it that the
Congress should not be without a sub
stitute for the absent Robert Gutmann.
Chone arrived from across the her
ring pond. I call him Chone because
I am ignorant of his family name,
and only know this about him, that he
is “hail fellow well met” with every
one, and wears boots of such enormous
size that the diminutive Italian dele
gate could safely canoe in one of them
on the Lake of Zurich.
In that migration from Prague to
New ^ ork, from Europe to America,
there lies a deep symbolism. The cen
tre of gravity of the Jewish people
has shifted to America; thence comes
the stream of money, thence come the
ever-growing members of delegates;
America has acquired the right to
furnish the “originals” for the Zion
ist Congresses. And, may Chone for
give me—Robert Gutmann was in his
way more engaging. Chone, you see,
is an “original” of the American type,
and perhaps some historian long after
my time will be able to decide whether
the exchange of Chone for Robert
Gutmann was beneficial to the J e *
ish people.
RABBI UZIEL DOYENS MlNc HA
There was a delegate who used the
trite,the commonplace expression “y ou
will settle that only across my dead
body.” That was only a phrase, but
the fact of its being uttered in the
highest ecstasy, spoken and meant
with the utmost seriousness, prove*
that even in our days, grown-up
thoroughly sophisticated and political
ly disillusioned beings are capable of
raising themselves to the highest emo-
tional pitch, where matters that touch
the roots of their being arc concerned.
And that is the great thing about the
Zionist Congress—the great thing f„ r
Zionists. The most fundamental thing*
are there brought to the surface, and
there stands forth the primal Jew as
he is, with the popularity of his na
ture, with the immense sweep of his
emotional life. A pity that so few
great poets and plastic artists attend
the Congresses. They would find there
more motifs than anywhere else in
the world.
In the Agency Commission the fight
is raging round words, in the Stand
ing Committee round lists of Candi
dates. The delegates not serving on
committees, the journalists and the
countless visitors are sitting in the
brightly lit hall of the theatre; there
is a swarming of functionaires, secre
taries, journalists and shorthand typ
ists on the stage; running, bustling,
whispering, gossiping; important air-.
. all kinds of wiseacres—in short
the wonted Congress life. Behind the
scenes—we happen to be in a theatre
which is preparing its dramatic seas
on for the autumn—workmen are saw
ing laths, women are stitching cur
tains, scenes are being got ready; and
since the session has not yet begun,
these theatrical labourers feel no con
straint and make as much noise a«
their temperament and their work de
mand. In front of the blue curtain,
however, which separates this part of
the stage from the platform on which
the Congress Presidium, the Execu
tive, the Actions Committee and the
prominent journalists are accommo
dated, there was standing Rabbi Ihel
of Tel Aviv, in his long-flowing blacK
robe, with the big oriental turban on
his head, and fervently praying his
Minchah prayer. He was standing
there, unnoticed by any amid the noise
and hubbub, with closed eyes. On J
his lips were moving softly. and t *•
picture reminded me of an inciden
during the War. When the Russians
were on the point of marching int° 3
small Galician town, the entire popu
lation were fleeing in wild haste *
fore the Cossacks, I witnessed a see
of tragic beauty. A Melamed -■ ■ j
ting in a little basement-room
and
ung in a nine - . l
teaching little children to read, in .
traditional singsong. What did e -
aged pupil-teacher, care abou
fight between Wilhelm and Nic °
What need for him to trouble beca -
the Austrian troops were in f J ^ ^
and Cossacks entering the t0 " n ‘ ,
his heart the conviction "a> r , or
that things would remain so
the next 2000 years, despite
and Nicholas.