Dear
Friends,
The modern
State of
Israel was
established
on May 14th,
1948.
President
Harry Truman
decided to
immediately
recognize
the new
Jewish State
despite the
strong
opposition
of his
Secretary of
State and
some other
high
officials in
the State
Department.
The
following
brief
excerpts
from an
article by
the noted
diplomat,
the late
Richard
Holbrooke,
discuss the
opposition
that
President
Truman
faced:
.........................................................
Washington’s
Battle Over
Israel’s
Birth
By Richard
Holbrooke
Wednesday,
May 7, 2008,
Washington
Post
In the
celebrations
next week
surrounding
Israel's
60th
anniversary,
it should
not be
forgotten
that there
was an epic
struggle in
Washington
over how to
respond to
Israel’s
declaration
of
independence
on May 14,
1948. It led
to the most
serious
disagreement
President
Harry Truman
ever had
with his
revered
secretary of
state,
George C.
Marshall --
and with
most of the
foreign
policy
establishment.
Twenty years
ago, when I
was helping
Clark
Clifford
write his
memoirs, I
reviewed the
historical
record and
interviewed
all the
living
participants
in that
drama. The
battle lines
drawn then
resonate
still.
...Beneath
the surface
lay unspoken
but real
anti-Semitism
on the part
of some (but
not all)
policymakers.
The position
of those
opposing
recognition
was simple
-- oil,
numbers and
history.
“There are
thirty
million
Arabs on one
side and
about
600,000 Jews
on the
other,”
Defense
Secretary
Forrestal
told
Clifford.
“Why don't
you face up
to the
realities?”
.............................................................................
President
Truman once
had a
conversation
with a noted
member of
Israel’s
Knesset
(legislative
body), and
in this
conversation,
he revealed
the
spiritual
reason why
he decided
to recognize
the Jewish
State. The
noted member
of the
Knesset was
the late
Rabbi Shlomo
Lorincz, a
leading
activist
within the
Chareidi
organization,
Agudath
Israel. He
was a member
of the
Knesset from
1951 until
1984, and
during his
tenure, he
served as
chairman of
the Knesset
Finance
Committee
for more
than a
decade.
Rabbi
Lorincz was
known for
his warmth,
wisdom, and
integrity;
moreover, he
was admired
by people
from across
the
political
spectrum. As
the noted
journalist,
Jonathan
Rosenblum,
wrote:
“His
appointment
as chairman
of the
Advisory
Committee of
the Bank of
Israel after
his
retirement
from the
Knesset –
his
signature
appeared on
all Israeli
currency
until just a
few years
ago –
reflected
the great
respect of
his
colleagues.”
(Remembering
Rabbi Shlomo
Lorincz,
zt”l,
October
16th, 2009)
In the
following
excerpts
from his
book, In
Their Shadow,
Rabbi
Lorincz
tells the
story of his
meeting with
President
Truman:
....................................................................
I would now
like to
record the
fascinating
remarks made
by the
American
President,
Mr. Harry
Truman, who
was the
prime
consideration
in
influencing
the world’s
nations to
accord the
State of
Israel
recognition
in
5708/1848.
On one of my
visits to
the United
States, I
met Mr.
Truman in
the city
where he
lived,
Kansas City,
together
with Rabbi
Solomon, one
of the
city’s
rabbanim
(rabbis).
President
Truman said
to me, “I am
glad of the
opportunity
to explain
to you,
Rabbi, why I
recognized
the State of
Israel. My
decision in
favor of six
hundred and
fifty
thousand
Jews wanting
a state of
their own,
while
surrounded
by tens of
millions of
Arabs firmly
opposed to
the State’s
emergence,
ran counter
to America’s
political
interests.
Opposition
in America
to this
policy was
so fierce
that one of
the
newspapers
in the city
where I live
ran a
headline,
‘Truman the
Traitor.’
“As a
child,” he
continued,
“I grew up
as the
neighbor of
several
Jewish
families
whom I
highly
esteemed. On
their
Sabbath I
would switch
the light on
and off in
the home of
one of the
families, in
return for
which they
gave me a
slice of
Sabbath
challah.
“It was my
father’s
custom to
read from
the Bible
every
Sunday. When
we read
about Cyrus,
King of
Persia, who
granted the
Jews
permission
to return to
the Land of
Judaea and
rebuild the
Temple, I
thought to
myself. ‘The
day will
come when
I’ll be
President of
the United
States
(“the dream
of every
American
boy,” he
added) and
I, too,
shall do
what Cyrus
did in his
day.’
“My dream
became
reality, and
when your
president,
Chaim
Weizmann,
visited me
bringing a
Torah scroll
as a gift
and asking
me to
instruct the
American
ambassador
to the
United
Nations to
support the
establishment
of the State
of Israel, I
remembered
my childhood
dreams.
“Obviously,
on its own,
a
sentimental
feeling like
this would
not have
outweighed
my
responsibility
to the
interests of
the United
States. Why,
then, did I
nevertheless
decide to
recognize
your state?”
He then
spoke of the
frightful
dangers
facing the
world due to
the atomic
bomb:
“This
terrible
threat of
atomic
warfare will
continue to
threaten the
world with
destruction
and with
worse still:
leaving all
the world’s
inhabitants
in a state
worse than
simple
death…And
if, despite
this, the
will to
continue
living
persists
within me,
it was only
because I
believe that
just as you
Jews saved
humanity – a
barbarous
species –
three
thousand
years ago
with your
Torah, today
too, the
Jewish
People will
manage to
enlighten
and heal the
cruel hearts
of our age
and rescue
the world
from total
destruction!”
When I
returned
home, I
relayed
President
Truman’s
words from
the Knesset
podium, so
that the
country’s
chosen
leaders
might know
what the
world
leaders
expect from
the Jewish
People. This
ought to
teach us
that the
better
elements
among the
gentile
savants are
well aware
that the
Jewish
People’s
role is to
serve as a
“light unto
the nations”
and that
through the
Torah we can
save the
world from
destruction
and make it
a better
place. If we
don’t live
up to these
expectations,
our friends
will also
turn their
backs on us
and act in
accordance
with their
own
interests,
preferring
hundreds of
millions of
Arabs and a
billion
Muslims over
a handful of
Jews.
Our duty is
to ensure
that “the
Great name
should be
magnified
and
sanctified”
(Kaddish).
(Rabbi
Lorincz is
referring to
our
obligation
to sanctify
the Divine
Name through
our words
and deeds.
He concludes
by
mentioning
that through
our
sanctification
of the
Divine Name,
we will
merit the
arrival of
Elijah the
Prophet, the
forerunner
of the
Messiah.)
…………………………………………………..
As we
discussed in
this series,
our mission
is to
establish a
model
society in
Zion that
can serve as
a light to
the nations.
May we all
rededicate
ourselves to
this mission
and thereby
inaugurate
the
messianic
age of
universal
enlightenment
when “Torah
will go
forth from
Zion”
(Isaiah
2:3). This
spiritual
enlightenment
will then
lead to
universal
shalom among
the nations,
and the
following
prophecy
will be
fulfilled:
“They shall
beat their
swords into
plowshares
and their
spears into
pruning
hooks;
nation shall
not up sword
against
nations, and
they will no
longer study
warfare”
(Isaiah
2:4).
Be Well, and
Shalom,
Yosef Ben
Shlomo
Hakohen
(See below)
Related
Comments:
The above
account
appears in
Volume Two
of Rabbi
Shlomo
Lorincz’s
book, In
Their Shadow
(the English
edition). In
this
three-volume
work, Rabbi
Lorinez
describes
the profound
wisdom and
ethical
greatness of
the leading
Torah sages
of his era
that he
personally
knew, and in
Volume One,
he describes
his
relationship
with the
three
leading
sages who
guided him
during the
period he
served in
the Knesset.
The amazing
stories in
this book
are full of
wisdom,
ethical
insights,
and
practical
streetwise
guidance.
This book
also gives
us a deeper
understanding
of the
secular-religious
conflict
within
Israeli
society. I
therefore
highly
recommend
this book.
It is
published by
Feldheim
Publishers,
and the
following is
a direct
link for
information
about the
book and how
to get each
or all of
the three
volumes:
http://www.feldheim.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=In+Their+Shadow