Wherever There Is Jewish Pain

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breport of 1,300 turning out in Montreal and 500 in atten- bdance at a Philadelphia meeting, both addressed by Meir bKahane, obviously quote figures emanating from the Jewish bDefense League public relations office . . .”

bImber’s complaint was answered on the spot by an editor’s bnote: “Figures of attendance of JDL meetings addressed by bRabbi Kahane are not exaggerated and figures published in blast week’s paper come from Lilian Levy, our Washington bcorrespondent. Those quoted by Mr. Imber came from the bToronto Star daily paper and from the Philadelphia Jewish bTimes.”

bWe could understand Imber’s frustration because it, and bangry fear, gripped the major Jewish groups that, rightly, bsaw in the Jewish acceptance of JDL a threat to themselves. bAnd so, while the masses of Jews cheered, American Jewish bCongress actor and singer Theodore Bikel fumed: “Where bMeir Kahane and his paramilitarists play upon the fears, bfrustrations, and prejudices of our people, we must address bourselves to their hopes, their needs, their aspirations, and btheir reason.” All this to the matrons of the AJC’s Women’s bDivision in April 1973. The same week David Berger, bChairman of the ADL’s Philadelphia Advisory Board, at- btacked JDL “hooligans,” “amateur barbarism,” and “ex- btremist paramilitary vigilante activities,” and stated that JDL bprotection was something “the Jewish community here or babroad does not need or want.” In almost frantic totalitarian bstyle, the Establishment raged and attacked us. The applica- btion of our youth movement to join the North American bJewish Youth Council (NAJYC) was vetoed. NAJYC rep- bresented almost every major youth group with every shade bof opinion. To the credit of the youngsters, twenty-three of bthe twenty-five groups voted for the democratic right of bJDL’s voice to be heard. But two of the most “liberal” ones, bthe National Federation of Temple Youth (NFTY—Reform bJudaism) and the B’nai B’rith Youth voted against, and bunanimous consent was required. That summer I spoke at a bNFTY leadership convention in an upstate New York camp. bOn the wall was a huge anti-Vietnam-War banner reading: b“Dear Mother and Father, we are ashamed at your silence.” b