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C H A P T E R 9 "Not th e Recover y o f a Grave, bu t of a Cradle" : The Zionis t Lif e of Marvin Lowentha l Susanne Klingenstein This difference , amon g others , ma y b e apparent—th e Christian s sought the recovery of a grave; the Jews, of a cradle. —Lowenthal, "Zionism," 1914 To contemporaries , th e year 191 7 had a n almos t messiani c quality . The outbrea k o f th e Russia n Revolutio n promisin g i n it s wak e th e establishment o f a jus t society , th e disintegratio n o f th e multina tional empire s releasin g thei r subjecte d people s int o independence , and th e declaratio n o f th e "Fourtee n Points " b y Presiden t Wilso n aimed a t preservin g th e worl d peac e raise d i n European s extraordi nary expectations . Althoug h Jew s hav e alway s ha d reaso n t o b e cautious whe n th e worl d fel t th e birt h pang s o f th e Messiah , th e events o f tha t remarkabl e yea r suffuse d wit h ne w vigo r thos e wh o concentrated thei r hope s o n a slive r o f lan d o n th e easter n edg e o f the Mediterranean. America' s entry into the First World War on th e side of the allie s made i t more difficult t o supply Jewish settlement s in Palestin e wit h muc h neede d goods ; bu t th e publicatio n o f th e Balfour Declaratio n ( 8 November ) an d th e liberatio n o f Palestin e from Turkis h rul e o n th e da y whe n Genera l Allenb y modestl y se t foot i n Jerusale m ( 6 December) , appeare d t o brin g th e drea m o f a Jewish homeland , i f no t a Jewish state , close r t o realization . Th e 206 THE ZIONIS T LIF E O F MARVI N LOWENTHA L 20 7 languishing Zionis t movemen t i n Europ e an d Americ a gaine d i n prestige through the victory of the principle of self-determination i n Europe an d th e Balfou r Declaration , an d large sections of the Jewish peopl e wer e swep t u p i n a wav e o f idealis m an d a flurry o f political activities. 1 It is characteristic of Marvin Lowenthal that he did not share the easy optimism of his fellow Jews. In 1916 , at the age of twenty-six, he had been appointed b y Louis Brandeis to serve as director of the San Francisc o burea u o f th e Provisiona l Executiv e Committe e fo r General Zionist Affairs (PZEC) . World events had somewhat facili tated Lowenthal' s Zionizin g tas k amon g th e recalcitran t Jew s o f California, an d by the end of 1917, it seemed indeed as if the Zionist vision he was peddling might provide, if not the right answer to the Jewish Question , the n a t leas t a workabl e solutio n t o a pressin g Jewish problem. Bu t the last page in Lowenthal's 191 7 pocket diar y reveals mor e clearl y tha n an y o f hi s chatt y letter s t o parent s an d friends hi s personal assessmen t o f the situation . O n tha t las t pag e he pencile d th e word s o f a Yiddis h song , "Freg t d i vel t a n alt e kashe." The world's answer to the "old question," the plight of the Jews, is a non-committal tral-la-la. 2 Today, th e skeptical , courageou s Lowentha l i s familia r t o u s mainly a s th e translato r o f th e seventeenth-centur y Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln (1932) , an d perhap s a s the compiler o f the Life and Letters of Henrietta Szold (1942 ) an d editor-translato r o f th e Diaries of Theodor Herzl...

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