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CHAPTER2 The Rebellion of the Dissident Reform Rabbis The Growth of Zionist Militancy in the United States The extraordinary intensification of Zionist activities in the United States after the outbreak of the war in Europe in 1939 provoked an American Jewish anti-Zionist reaction. Its most serious manifestation was the emergence in 1942 ofa Reform rabbinical resistance movement against Zionism, in reaction to passage by the CCAR of a resolution favoring creation of a Jewish army in Palestine. The rebellious rabbis were not wild-eyed radicals, but respectable defenders ofAmerican classical Reform Judaism. Although, at its peak, no more than thirty-six rabbis participated actively in the dissident movement, these few formed two main schools of thought: One wanted to uphold Reform Judaism by concentrating on revitalizing it; the other, by openly fighting Zionism. Moreover, all these men were plagued by fears ofsplitting the CCAR, polarizing their congregations, and appearing insensitive to the great peril confronting European Jewry. Indecisive, they argued endlessly among themselves. Only Rabbi Louis Wolsey's strong leadership prevented the early demise of the rebellion. After more than eight months ofendless wavering and delays, the dissidents finally decided to form an organization to promote their views. The growthofZionist militancy in the UnitedStateswas closely related to events in Europe. As Nazism cast its shadow across Europe in the late 1930s, the condition of European Jewry steadily deteriorated. Between 1933 and 1938 the Nazis concentrated on evicting the Jews from Germany. From 1938 to 1941 they were interested in ridding themselves ofJews in the areas that had come under their control, but apparently they had no plans for mass murder. Theirdecision to commit mass killings, culminating in the death of about a million people by December 1941, was made sometime in March of that year. 1 By the late 1930s most areas of refuge for Jews were closed. In the United States, despite expressions of sympathy for the victims of Nazi Copyrighte~raterial RebeUion of Dissident Refarm Rabbis persecution, most people opposed liberalizing immigration. The policy of setting up bureaucratic "paper walls" against the entry of immigrants reflected the prevalent mood in America. Unemployment, nativistic nationalism, and anti-Semitism contributed to widespread support for policies restricting immigration. Even American Jews, apparently fearing antiSemitism , did little to question the existing immigration policy between 1938 and 1942. Indeed, most of them seemed to consider immigration to Palestine the best solution for the Jewish refugee problem. An international conference on refugees, held at hvian-les-Bains, France, in July 1938, did nothing to alleviate the plight of European Jews. A year later, the British White Paper closed Palestine to Jewish immigration. Thus, although the Nazis were willing to expel their Jews, nobody wanted to receive them. 2 After the disappointing hvian conference and the implementation of the British White Paper policy, Jewish refugees without special skills or close relatives abroad could move only to one area-the International Settlement in Shanghai. But even there the Japanese had imposed severe restrictions by August 1939. The fate of European Jews was finally sealed when World War II erupted in September 1939. By the end of 1941, after the German invasion of Russia, the vast majority were trapped under Nazi rule, confronting the most horrible catastrophe in Jewish history. 3 In August 1939, on the eve ofthe war, the twenty-first Zionist congress authorized the creation in the United States of an Emergency Committee for Zionist Affairs (ECZA), consisting of the leaders ofthe ZOA and representatives of Hadassah, Labor Zionists, and Mizrachi. The ECZA was formed for two purposes: to provide the Zionist movement with a governing mechanism in a neutral country that could assume command ofthe WZO if the Zionist leadership in London and Jerusalem were to be incapacitated by war, and to become an instrument for generating sympathy for Zionism. The WZO wanted to assure continuity for its work during the war. Moreover , since the Zionists expected the United States to assume an important role in the peace settlement at the end of the war, they began to prepare for the impending campaign to secure American support for their cause. For almost a year and a half the ECZA lay dormant. Only when Emanuel Neumann took command of its Department of Public Relations and Political Action, in January 1941, did the ECZA begin to function effectively. 1 The impact of the Jewish catastrophe in Europe shifted the center of gravity of the Zionist movement to the United States. Suddenly, with the destruction ofEuropean...

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