Notes and translation by Israel Shahak
Several weeks ago the rabbi of "Adath Yisrael" synagogue in
Cleveland Park, Washington, dedicated his Sabbath sermon to the
Jewish cultural and political center which is being formed in
America. "For the first time in American history", the rabbi said,
"we no longer feel that we live in diaspora. The U.S. has no longer a
government of Goyim [Gentiles], but an administration in which the
Jews are full partners in the decision making at all levels. Perhaps
the aspects of the Jewish religious law connected with the term
'government of goyim' should be re-examined, since it is an outdated
term in the U.S.". 1
Indeed, as far as the Jews are concerned, President Bill
Clinton contributed towards a real change in the Administration's
outlook, having concluded a series of changes in enhancing Jewish
power beginning during under President Reagan and his
Secretary of State, Schultz. True, the Jewish political
influence was also evident in America of the previous decades. We
have already seen a Jewish Secretary of State, Kissinger,
enjoying the confidence of President Richard Nixon and there
were Jewish Cabinet members under Carter. However, they were
usually the exceptions testifying to the rule. Especially. pious Jews
were hardly ever appointed to participate in political work
concerning the Middle East.
The picture has now totally changed and not only about the Middle
East For example, every morning at about 6:00 o'clock, several staff
cars travel from the CIA center to the White House with senior
officers of the American intelligence community, who are about to
present to the president and to the four top staffers a PDB -
President's Daily Briefing - the term for the most exclusive report
in Washington. The document, consisting of 5-7 pages, is often
accompanied by top secret satellite photographs transferred by the
Pentagon. It is composed in the course of the night by the best
American intelligence experts who analyze the telegrams and reports
arriving from the CIA's world-wide network of agents. It contains the
most sensitive information regarding developments around the world.
Its uniqueness, compared to other American intelligence documents,
lays in the fact that it almost always indicates the source of the
information, whether it is a document stolen by a spy, or an agent or
'mole' infiltrating a foreign government, or whether the source is
tapping by means of satellite. If Clinton is in Washington, he holds
a short discussion on the contents of the document with the five
other addressees: Vice-President Al Gore, National Security
Adviser Anthony Lake, White House Chief of Staff Leon
Penta, Deputy National Security Adviser Samuel ("Sandy")
Berger, and National Security Adviser to the Vice-President,
Leon Perth. Two of the addressees, Berger and Perth, are
warm Jews. They have reached posts that are extremely sensitive for
the U.S. policies. They are by no means exceptions.
In the National Securitv Council, 7 out of 11 top staffers are
Jews. Clinton had especially placed them in the most sensitive
junctions in the U.S. security and foreign administrations:
Sandy Berger is the deputy chairman of the council; Martin
Indyk, the intended ambassador to Israel, is a senior director in
charge of the Middle East and South Asia; Dan Schifter, the
senior director and adviser to the president, is in charge of Western
Europe; Don Steinberg, the senior director and adviser to the
president, is in charge of Africa; Richard Feinberg, the
senior director and adviser to the president, in charge of Latin
America; Stanley Ross, the senior director and adviser to the
president, is in charge of Asia.
The situation is not much different in the president's office
which is full of warm Jews: the new Attorney General, Abner
Mikve: the president's schedule and programs manager, Ricky
Seidman; deputy chief of staff, Phil Leida; economic
adviser, Robert Rubin; media director, David Heiser;
staff director, Alice Rubin; Ely Segall, in charge of
volunteers; Ira Mezina, in charge of the health program. Two
Cabinet members, Labor Secretary Robert Reich and Micky
Cantor in charge of international trade agreements, are Jewish.
They are joined by a long list of senior Jewish officials in the
State Department, headed by the head of the Middle East Peace Team,
Dennis Ross, and followed by many deputy secretaries and even
more senior secretaries' chiefs of staff.
One of the most interesting Jews from the Israeli point of view,
who has rarely been exposed to view till now, is Rehm
Emmanuel, Clinton's senior adviser in charge or coordinating
special projects in the White House. His office is located next to
the famous Oval Office. Rehm won extra points from his boss
last week, when he succeeded to pass the law for combatting crime. He
has become an expert at communicating with Congress and has already
had many successes, the most prominent of which was the ratification
of NAFTA. Now he is immersed in the passing of the Health Bill. Last
Thursday his office was in shambles and he strode around it like a
typical Sabra, simultaneously conducting a lively conversation with
me, studying the protocols of the debate held at the time by the
Senate and watching the report of Wolf Blitzer (also a Jew) on
the CNN and being updated by his secretary and three aides on the
positions of the senators regarding the vote. "Do you prefer to meet
over the weekend or early next week, after this whole nightmare is
over?" I asked him. "That would be a real relief," he replied. The
following day, after the law passed by one vote, I called to
congratulate him: "If you want to come - you have to do it now. The
president decided to take a vacation and told us that whoever wanted
to enjoy the summer should also take a vacation. So I'm packing and
leaving on Sunday morning." Even then he was not calm but nervously
fiddling in his chair. He has a face that is more suitable for an
Israeli tourist than for a senior official in the U.S.
Administration. "You know, Rehm Emmanuel is a name that would
not be out of place in the Tel-Aviv phone directory," I told him. A
large warm smile spread across his face. "Our origina1 name was
Auerbach. We opened the first pharmacies in Tel-Aviv and in
Jerusalem. My father changed his name after my uncle.
Emmanuel, was killed in Israel's War of Independence (I
948-49]. My father was then a member of Etzel [IRGUN) commanded by
Begin, and it was customary to change names in the
underground. Yes, he is still a warm Likud supporter, but he also
admires Yitzhak Rabin since he admires whoever becomes Prime
Minister as a result of the last Israeli elections. After that war he
came to America. studied medicine and met my mother who was then a
social work student. [ was born in Chicago". Rehm and his two
brothers received a warm Jewish education. "You know, we
studied at a Jewish school and had private Hebrew teachers. My first
visit to Israel was three days after the Six Day War. My father said
then that we had to go to Israel. I was eight years old, but I
remember it as if it were this morning. The Arabs were completely
delighted there was such a joy and it was so very exciting. There
were high hopes that as a result the Jews will enjoy freedom and
peace. Since then I continued to visit Israel every summer until
1972. Then I began my studies. When I matured I went into politics
the pastimes of an Amedean youngster."
"What meaning does the connection to Israel and to Judaism have
for you today? "Since 1972 1 did not visit Israel, until 1991. Then
the Gulf War broke out and missiles landed in Tel-Aviv. I immediately
volunteered for one month service in the Israeli army, through the
"Overseas Volunteer Unit".2 What I did then to help the Jews
was not much. Naturally, it was not combat service. But we helped as
much as possible and the main thing was that we were there. Does that
answer your question?"
Perhaps the most intriguing thing that happened to me personally
in the course of the past year. since I have been posted in
Washington, was the meeting with the organized American Jewry. The
best place to see them as they are, the place where I always came
each year to admire them, is the annual convention of the pro-Israeli
lobby, AIPAC. This is the place not only to feel the pulse of
American involvement in the Middle East, but also where I felt that
somehow it helps me to ignore the deep distress inherent in the
feeling of loneliness of living in a state located in the heart of so
many hostile Arabs. I always asked myself what was the value of the
Jewish experience in America as far as Israelis concerned. Did the
identification with Israel derive from a deep sensation of a common
Jewish fate or was it one of the tools of the local community to
garner power for achieving truly equal rights in a mixed society
comprised also of many emigrants and members of various faiths? Was
the Jewish power in the U.S. a phenomenon which will decrease
or to increase? Were the intermarriages of Jews with Gentiles
threatening to weaken the Jewish power in the U.S.? Or, so I was
sometimes afraid, were the American Jews building a new Jewish
cultural center that would compete with Israel?
"Adat Yisrael" synagogue in Washington is not only a place of worship. It is a Jewish community center, with a prestigious Jewish kindergarten, a Jewish school with Judaism, literature, culture and of course, Hebrew classes. On Saturdays there are always two separate prayer sessions. The first is the large one, encompassings hundreds of worshippers. which ends in a food blessing at tables tastefully laid with Jewish delicacies- Its members belong to the creme of Washington society. senior administration officials, successful lawyers, rich businessmen. All are wealthy people. Next week, on the Jewish New Year, the prayers will be joined by many other Jews who usually spend their weekends at the most exclusive clubs, or on the most expensive golf courses, or riding the best horses, or at their expensive houses near the West Virginia lakes, or sailing in their private yachts. Next week, like during all Jewish holiday seasons, the most expensive limousines that can be imagined will stop at the entrance to the synagogue, to let out the elegant women, the men mummified in their expensive suits at their side, followed by the well-dressed children. The entrance fee to synagogue is $1000 for a single holiday In addition to that prayer session another, with younger members and cheaper entrance fees, regularly gathers in one of the other halls, where prayers are held according to the customary Israeli style, except for the fact that men and women sit together. This famous session has several other characteristics. Most of the members visit Israel at least once every year. Most of them speak fluent Hebrew. All of them are familiar with the prayer procedures. Only a few of them come out of deep faith. Others do so out of the wish to meet the best Jewish society or to meet a Jewish girl whom they would marry. But the most important reason for their praying is that they feel a close connection with Israel. Those of them whose love for Israel is most ardent watch the Israeli TV news every night. It might sound strange, but the Washington cable station broadcasts the Israeli TV news program every night at half past midnight.
The other synagogue competing for the young generation of wealthy Jews is located in Georgetown. It is a fully Orthodox synagogue, but its prayers are conducted in the Israeli style favored by "Gush Emunim". The Israeli flag is proudly displayed above the Sacred Ark alongside the American flag. On each Sabbath the prayers include the benediction for the Israeli Jewish soldiers and the prayer for the welfare of the Israeli government and its officials. Many Jewish Administration officials pray there. They not only don't try to conceal their religious affiliation but go to a given length to demonstrate their Judaism since it may help their careers greatly.
The enormous Jewish influence in Washington is not limited to
the government. In the Washingtonian media a very significant part of
the most important persons and of the givers of the most popular
programs on the TV are warm Jews. A significant part of senior media
correspondents, newspaper editors and analysts are Jewish and many of
them are warm Jews too. Many of them are influenced in Israel's favor
by attending suitable synagogues. AP's political reporter,
Barry Schweid, and the Washington Post's education reporter,
Amy Schwartz, regularly participate in a prayer session which
is considered to be close to Israel at the Cleveland Park synagogue.
Also there the Israeli flag is posted proudly above the Sacred Ark.
Let us not forget in' this context the Jewish predominance in the
Washingtonian academical institutions. At the National Center of
Medicine the percentage of Jewish researchers is very much higher
than their relative percentage in the population. In the fields of
security and science, in the film industry the art and in literature,
the Jewish influence can only be described as immense, with a
corresponding enhancement of the Jewish power.
Where did they all spring from? In Israel we are already
accustomed to the names of the Jews called Dennis Ross, Dan
Kurtzer and Aharon Miller, since they have taken part in
each of the Secretary of State's visits to the Middle East in the
last six years. But that is a relatively new phenomenon. When Dan
Kurtzer, a pious Jew who observes the Sabbath and all
commandments of Judaism arrived at the American State Department 18
years ago with a doctorate in Middle East studies, he was told: "You
have all the qualifications to serve in the Middle East division, but
don't even think of suggesting it because of your Jewish origin."
Today he is the boss of those who gave him that piece of advice,
so much had the Jewish power increased meantime. When he
arrived it was the time when the Arabists ruled the State Department
and the few Jews who had infiltrated it preferred to conceal their
Judaism. There were precedents, such as the late Arnold Rapel,
who was a senior deputy of the Secretary of State's assistant for the
Middle East, but his co-workers learned of his faith only when he was
buried in a Jewish ceremony. Dan Kurtzer was the first to
announce that he could not work on Jewish holidays since he observed
all the commandments of Judaism and went to synagogue. Today, when
the TV star Roseanne Arnold announced that she intended to
produce a series on Hanuka since the Christmas programs are already
too numerous, and when public schools in the U.S. are closed on
the first day of the Jewish New Year, the story about
Kurtzer seems very distant.
It happened several weeks ago. The Haiti crisis started to
accelerate. I phoned the State Department and requested a briefing
from the person in charge of that area. They referred me to Yehuda
Mirsky. I introduced myself to his secretary. Suddenly someon
picked up the receiver and then t heard a voice saying in perfect
Israeli Hebrew: "Good morning, how can I help you?" For a moment I
thought that I had mistakenly dialed the Israeli Foreign
Ministry. "Where do you know Hebrew from, and are you an
Israeli?" "No, I am American, but I spent three years, mainly
studying the bible and the Talmud, at the military "Har Etzion"
Hesder Yeshiva, with Rabbi Lichtenstein and Rabbi
Amital in Gush Etzion." Mirsky, like Kurtzer,
belongs to the professional of the American foreign service. Another
Jewish official who came to the State Department through a trainees'
(:oitrse is Tom Miller, currently political attache in Athens.
He was previously, among other things, Phillip Habib's
assistant in Lebanon, and the Head of the North African desk at the
time of the dialogue with the PLO and then Head of the Israel and the
Arab-Israeli Conflict desk. I met Tom when he served in de.~k
he.~d in the anti-terronsm branch. His interest in Israel began when
he was sent to Israel by his father during the Six Day war to help a
family friend who had immigrated there some time ago. The friend was
inducted to the army and his farm was in a need of help. Afterwards
Tom Miller spent six months at Orot collective farm, near
Kiryat Malachi. The effect on him was similar to the influence which
his first visit to Israel had on Rehm Emmanuel. "It was for me
a period of euphoria, of great achievements for the entire Jewish
people. It was impossible not to identify with Israel in the hour of
its magnificent victory", he told me. The second event which left a
harsh and life-long impression on him were the stories about the
horrors of the Holocaust. "The Holocaust creates a sense of a destiny
shared by all Jews. The Jews must act to strenghen Israel so
that the Holocaust cannot be repeated", he told me in another
conversation. Indeed, all the Jews at the top of
Clinton Administration, including Dennis
Ross and Martin Indyk firmly believe that the change in
the attitude of American Jewry towards Israel came mainly as the
result of the Six Day War, since that war had first reawekened the
Holocaust memories3 and then filled them with enormous pride.
"It was the Six Day war which brought the U.S. Jews out of the
closet. They had been there, wielding power and influence in
the fields of science and culture but they were rather distant from
Israel", said one of the top Administration officials, who is very
close to Clinton. "The main goal of our parents' generation
was to become part of American society, perhaps even to become
assimilated. It must he remembered that the
Holocaust was also a traumatic event for American Jews.4 They
were unable to do anything for their brothers who were murdered. The
Six Day War created tremendous identification with Israel among the
American Jews. Its main importance was to create a deep link between
the Reform Judaism, the largest Jewish tendency in America, and
Israel."
Today, when there is talk about 51 percent of interfaith
marriages, the danger of assimilation appears to be even greater, yet
when examining the phenomenon from close up one finds that the trend
is opposite. More and more Jewish youngsters seek out the synagogue
and Jewish education which are very good for advancing one's career.
It is important that Israel do its bit in this area. Rehm
Emmanuel is a living proof of that. 3 months ago he was married
in a Jewish religious ceremony to Amy, a young woman from a
Christian family. She converted to Judaism and her Jewish name is now
Yad. If Rehm had wanted to assimilate, he would not
have married in a religious ceremony. Dennis Ross, so familiar
and so friendly to us, has an even more amazing personal story. His
parents were divorced when he was two years old. His contact with his
father, the son of a cantor from Chicago, was almost totally severed.
Two years Iater his mother married a Catholic and moved to
California. However, she posed a condition for her new husband that
her children were to have a Jewish education. Dennis grew up
in a Reform Jewish environment md could have easily assimilated
without remaining true to his roots. Although he attended a Reform
Jewish school on Sundays, it was more of a social than a Jewish
experience. But he did not forget and it was Israel which made a warm
Jew of him. In 1970 he visited Israel for the first time with a group
of American students in that glorious period of victory after the Six
Days War, his connection with Judaism grew stronger ever since. Later
he married Debbie, with a traditional Jewish education in
Jewish history. In her neighborhood she was very active in the
synagogue. At a relatively mature age Ross began to study
Hebrew, opened a prayer book for the first time and turned the prayer
into a regular habit. His Jewish roots, he proclaimed, were most
important to him and influence all his attitudes. His children follow
in his footsteps. Almost every Saturday, if he is in Washington and
is not hopping between Jerusalem, Damascus and Cairo, he goes to
synagogue with his children. His eldest son has already celebrated
his Bar Mitzva, and at the ceremony at the synagogue the ambassdors
of Syria, Israel, Egypt and Jordan sat alongside each other.
Can Israel really sense that at a distance of thousands of miles
away there is a flourishing Jewish center that not only deeply
admires and supports it, but also feels a shared destiny with it?
There is no doubt about it, especially in the matters concerning its
existence. All the Clinton's Administration officials dealing with
Israel, Ross, Kurtzer, Indik and Miller
being just a sample, may have different views concerning the desired
solution for the lsraeli-Arab conflict but they are warm Jews in
whatever they do. They sometimes disagree among themselves and they
sometimes even disagree with the views of the Israeli governments,
first and foremost since they are Americans and their primary loyalty
is towards America. But they also firmly believe that the shared
interests between the two states are fundamental and permanently
enduring. It is because of this deeply held belief that they made a
huge contribution to the fact that Clinton
Administrations has fully adopted their approach on the issue of
relations between the U.S. and Israel. Perhaps because of that
belief they claim that they are upset about the Israeli violations of
human right in the Territories, and are even more upset when one or
another Israeli minister takes an initiative concerning Iraq which
does not accord with the American line. "If Israel wants American
support for all its interests it also must coordinate its steps with
us when this concerns the basic interests of the U.S.," one of the
senior officials told me this week, following the news of the
initiative of ministers Moshe Shachal and Binyamin
Ben-Eliezer to add Iraq to the peace process.
The many Jews in Clinton's Administration have not been
created by a design, but their large number is it not due to chance
either. The American way of life supports the achievers. Despite the
previous Jewish generation wish, perhaps, to assimilate, it gave its
children the best education and not necessarily only in Jewish
religion. It was especially their achievements and ability which,
while also preserving their Jewish roots, brought the present
generation of Jews to their present positions of enormous
influence. Dennis Ross, the founder of the theory of "the
confidence building measures" between Israel and the Arab states, is
a typical product of that Jewish generation in America. Their power
might certainly boost the confidence of the Israeli Jews in the
eternity of the Jewish people and dull their sensation of loneliness
among the Arabs.
Incidently, although the Jewish power in the current Democratic
Administration is so huge, there are also many warm Jews heading for
the top positions in the Republican Party. I met Paul
Wolfowitz, for example, who was the senior deputy of the American
Defense Secretary in the Bush Administration in the course of
a visit to a Patriot missile base during the Gulf War. When he was
received by the commander of the base, whose name was emblazoned over
his chest, Lieutenant-Colonel Crimkowitz, his face glowed:
"You're Crimkowitz, I'm Wolfowitz. We both have
relatives here." That does not mean that they are all like that. Even
in America there are and will be people with Jewish roots who do not
support Israel, to say the least. Such was the former American
Defense Secretary, Caspar Weinberger and such is Richard
Hass, Martin Indik's predecessor on the National Security
Council. But now they are certainly exceptions.
Perhaps the rabbi at Adath Yisrael synagogue intended to compliment Bill Clinton on his warm attitude towards the Jews and to strengthen the loyalty of his Administration Jewish officials to America. Rehm Emmanuel told me that Clinton's proximity to the Jews should be explained by his love for human beings which he exhibits on every conceivable occasion. Others mention the Jewish environment during his studies in university. I would add to that a mixture of various factors, of which certainly the most important is the great admiration for Israel he exhibited following the Six Day War. Clinton was also made conscious by his many Jewish friends about the distressing memory of the Holocaust, which still haunts the leaders of the U.S. Jewish community and about its importance for the continual support of Israel which is obligatory on the U.S..
Notes:
1. According to the Jewish religion the obligation to follow the rules and laws of a Gentile government is limited to some extent. For example, its custom and currency regulations of such government need not be followed by pious Jews in all cases. On the other hand, the regulations of a government in which pious Jews have a predominant influence, even if it contains also some Gentiles, have to be strictly obeyed.
2. By a special permission of the U.S. Administration, which is not often mentioned in the U.S. media for reason clarified in this article, the American Jews can volunteer to serve in the Israeli army and some of them often do so, especially during Israeli wars. The number of the U.S. Jews who rushed to volunteer in the Israeli army during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, and who "helped" it to besiege Beirut was quite big, but since the Israeli censorship banned any mention of them they were "invisible" to the U.S. media. No other army enjoys a similar privilege. The service of the U.S. Jews in the Israeli army is not supposed to include combat duties, but only such things as helping to repair tanks. Some of it certainly takes place in the Territories, including the Golan Heights.
3. Needless to say, these "Holocaust memories" are a fake. The Israelis were not only not afraid but sure of victory before the Six Day War and of course Israel faced no danger during the Gulf War. On the other hand, when the Israelis were really afraid during the 1973 October War, not of "a Holocaust" but of a stalemate affecting their interests, the American Jews swallowed all the stories about the supposed Israeli victory.
4. Actually it was not a trauma at the time when the Holocaust
happened. The trauma developed much later, when the U.S. Jews
acquired power.