Newspaper Page Text
e Southern Israelite
The Weekly Newspaper For Southern Jewry • Since 1925
Vol. LXI
Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, September 27, 1985
No. 39
‘An issue of principle’
AJCongress officials ‘regret’ criticism
NEW YORK (JTA)—Theodore
Mann and Henry Siegman, presi
dent and executive director, respec
tively, of the American Jewish Con
gress, expressed “regret” over the
sharp criticism voiced by Israel’s
Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime
Minister Yitzhak Shamir of a recent
AJCongress mission to Cairo and
Amman, and of the visit to Mos
cow by Edgar Bronfman, president
of the World Jewish Congress. The
AJCongress and WJC are separate
organizations.
Mann and Siegman said, in a
statement released here, that they
“doubt very much that this criti
cism serves the interests of Israel or
the Jewish people.” They stressed,
however, that they were not respond
ing to Shamir’s critical remarks per
se but to “an issue of principle that
he raised, namely his assertion that
‘Jewish organizations ought not to
undertake political work—except
when Israel asks them to.”
“This position we find astound
ing,” their statement said, “for it
assumes a complete lack of inde
Yosef Burg
pendence on the part of Jewish
communities and Jewish life every
where. We understand the need to
consult with Israeli leaders on issues
that affect them. In fact we con
sulted with them with respect to
this mission... However, there is an
important distinction between con
sultation and instruction. As Amer
ican citizens, we do not take instruc
tion, even from respected friends in
Israel.”
The statement added: “The com
mitment of the American Jewish
Congress to the well-being and
security of Israel is unqualified.
We do not believe that this com
mitment requires Jewish organiza
tions to compromise their inde
pendence. There will always be
differences in a democratic society
about the wisdom and efficacy of
specific actions and policies.”
In related developments, Sha
mir’s remarks drew fire from two
other respected Jewish leaders. Yo
sef Burg, minister of religious af
fairs, veteran leader of the National
Religious Party and the most senior
minister in the unity coalition cabi
net, said he was “astounded by Sha
mir’s criticism and even more as
tounded that he chose to make it
public.”
Burg declared, “If Shamir was
against the missions, he could have
aired his criticism in the cabinet."
Shamir peppered his remarks
with denigration of the AJCon
gress as a “peanut-size organiza
Theodore Mann
tion,” and personal disparagement
of former AJCongress president
Howard Squadron. He rapped Bronf
man for undertaking negotiations
“on behalf of Israel and the Jewish
people” for which he was “not
authorized.”
“Why denigrate them in public?”
Burg said. “At least he (Shamir)
should have remembered that some
times we need them (AJCongress
and World Jewish Congress).
In a statement issued in New
York, Squadron said, “I am shocked
that Mr. Shamir should single me
out in attacking a mission of the
American Jewish Congress to Cairo
and Amman...I was not a member
of the mission, I did not visit Cairo
and Amman, and I am not respon
sible for any statements issued by
any member of the mission.”
Squadron added: “After a pre
vious visit to Cairo, I did report to
the foreign minister and told him
of the way I had been received. But
that was another time and had
nothing to do with this mission in
which 1 did not participate. I really
think the deputy prime minster
owes me am apology.” Squadron’s
reference was to Shamir’s scornful
allusion to Squadron’s description
of the “lavish welcome” he had
received on a visit to Cairo.
“So what?” Shamir said. “Big
deal...”
For Henry Siegman’s full state
ment on the AJCongress mission
to Cairo and Amman, see page 3.
The ‘Drawing of the Waters’ at Sukkot
by Dvora Waysman
World Zionist Press Service
The plaza outside the Aish Ha-
Torah Yeshiva in the Jewish Quar
ter of Jerusalem’s Old City is begin
ning to fill with young people. It is
10 o’clock on a Tuesday night dur
ing Hoi HaMoed Sukkot—an inter
mediate day of the Festival of
Booths. A band has started to play,
and suddenly everyone is dancing...
the men forming a joyful proces
sion; the women holding hands
and dancing in a circle, long hair or
kerchiefs flying in the breeze. Music
and singing fill the air above the
noise of friends greeting each other,
while a yellow moon looks down
on the beautiful restored Jewish
Quarter, burnishing the gray stones
to pale gold.
This joy and merrymaking is
today all that remains of the “Draw
ing of the Waters” ceremony which,
in Temple times, attracted the most
enthusiastic response from the popu
lace. “He that hath not beheld the
joy of the drawing of water hath
never seen joy in his life,” we are
told in the Mishnah (Suk. V: 1).
The origin of the ceremony is
unknown, but it was already men
tioned in Isaiah. It began on the
second evening of Sukkot, lasting
for six nights, except for the Sab
bath. Jerusalemites and pilgrims
flocked to the outer court of the
Temple, which was called the Court
of Women, while a barrier was
erected to separate the sexes. An
enormous golden candelabra was
set up, and young priests fed it
from vessels of oil. Flames leapt to
the sky and every street in Jerusa
lem is said to have shone with their
light.
The most pious men were selected
to execute a torch dance while the
people, led by the Levites, sang
psalms and hymns to the accom
paniment of flutes, harps and cym
bals. Then a procession of priests
would descend the 15 steps to
where the multitude was assembled,
pausing on each step to sing one of
the Psalms of Degrees. How the
congregation must have thrilled to
the words of the 125th Psalm.
"As the mountains are round
about Jerusalem
So the Lord is round about his
people
From henceforth even forever..."
They heard it under the open
sky, surrounded by the same dim
shape of the hills of which they
sang. At the upper gate, two priests
with trumpets marked the advance
of the procession and, when they
reached the lowest step they turned
west, facing the Temple, and recited:
“Our fathers who were in this place
turned their backs upon the Tem
ple and their faces they turned
eastward toward the sun. But as
for us, our eyes are unto God.”
By this time it was dawn, the
stars fading and the clouds flushed
with pink. The long procession left
the Temple, wending its way to the
pool of Shiloah (Siloam) in a tri
umphal march. The pool was
formed by the overflow of water in
Hezekiah’s tunnel, which led from
the Gihon spring into the city. At
the pool, a golden ewer was filled
with water and brought back to the
Temple. There the High Priest
poured it over the altar simultane
ously with a libation of wine.
There is an amusing story about
the Sadducees, who opposed this
ceremony. A Sadducean prince,
Alexander Jannaeus, once officiated
as High Priest and contemptuously
poured out the water at his feet
instead of on the altar. The popu
lace were so incensed that they
pelted him with their citrons (etro-
gim) and from then on the priest
was bidden to raise his hands as he
poured the water on the altar.
Today there is no Temple, no
altar and no water in the Pool of
Shiloah. The spring dried up in 70
C.E., but we still have Jerusalem,
our eternal capital; and the joy of
“the Drawing of the Waters” is
symbolically recaptured every year
during Hoi HaMoed Sukkot as we
sing, dance and rejoice in the same
city under the same moon, as in
structed in Isaiah 12:3:
“Therefore with joy shall ye draw
water out of the wells of salvation."
The pool of Shloah (Siloam), in Jerusalem, from which, in Temple-
times, water was drawn for the “Drawing of the Waters” ceremony on
Succot. Engraving from S. Munk, 1845.