Letters
LETTERS The Brandeis/Frankfurter Connection [Editor's Note: In our July-August letters column, we promised a reply, by one of the principals, to the allegations raised by Melvin Urofsky in...
...I feel especially indignant that my own scholarship and integrity have been bandied around by this article in this manner...
...Finally, Professor Urofsky claims that Oxford and the New York Times "spent several weeks negotiating what parts of the book the Times would excerpt for its front page story...
...However, I find it interesting that I am accused of changing footnotes to make it appear that the Bran-deis/Frankfurter financial relationship had never before appeared in print, when in fact the next footnote after the ones apparently referred to (#80, page 373) reads, "This is not the first mention of the 'joint endeavors' fund in print," and appropriately cites those cases in which Brandeis letters were found by Urofsky and David Levy as well as various other scholars...
...I certainly agree with most of what John Jacob says...
...cit., p.47...
...The American Joint Distribution Committee, barred from entering Germany during the crucial months following the "liberation" of the camps, finally, upon its arrival, joined up with UNNRA to effect my removal from Germany and the weakening of the Central Committee of Liberated Jews of Germany, which had already been established and was beginning to work in the interest of the DPs...
...Close black-Jewish relations arise naturally out of our oppressive pasts, have flourished historically and need some nurturing at present...
...To the Editor: As a civil rights attorney who has long spoken out for affirmative action, I am pleased to see that moment is addressing this topic and other aspects of black-Jewish relations (John Jacob's "Revitalizing the Black-Jewish Alliance," July...
...An editor at Oxford University Press does not "direct" an author...
...Professor Urofsky's article, however, is different and compels me to break that silence, because he purports to speak for me and to represent my views accurately...
...Strange as it may seem, even feminists like to be "courted...
...The footnotes were not changed by Oxford nor did Oxford insist on their being changed...
...In reading the correspondence file, it is obvious that the author and editor had an enthusiastic, friendly working relationship, that there was no coercion of any sort and that the author had full control over the content and prose of the book...
...But American blacks do not support other underdogs as vocally—not the Basque separatists, nor the Armenians, nor the millions of oppressed in Southeast Asia...
...Having searched my own memory of various events, I want to state emphatically that Professor Urofsky's account of my statements to him is completely inaccurate...
...that she never consulted him, nor gave him an opportunity to tone this purple prose down...
...Adler to Ephraim E. Urbach's The Sages: Their Concepts and Beliefs, translated from the Hebrew by Israel Abrahams, chapter 3—"The Shechina...
...So, I shall not go into all the details that Ms...
...As a trial lawyer, I am quite familiar with the expectations of litigants before judicial tribunals...
...Prior to Harrison's arrival, a full report was prepared and sent from Dachau to the American Jewish leadership...
...There is enough legal discrimination against Jewish women—and so there is no need to resort to fiction to make a case for the legal unfreedom of women under halachah...
...Urofsky clearly states a relevant issue here...
...Then, Urofsky, citing favorably the memorandum of one William Goldsmith, charges Oxford with questionable ethics (apparently the author was merely an automaton in this instance) for beginning the work with aemnparison of Justices Brandeis and Frankfurter to Justice Abe Fortas...
...To the contrary, no editorial changes were made without my knowledge, and all were made with the idea of improving the manuscript...
...If moment and Professor Urofsky had really wanted to set the record straight, perhaps they should have considered contacting the author, the editor or the publisher of The Bran-deis/Frankfurter Connection...
...Allen I. Saeks Minneapolis, Minnesota The Great American Man Shortage To the Editor: Here's a tough one: My publisher has been kind enough to take an ad for The Great American Man Shortage and Other Roadblocks to Romance in the July-August issue of moment...
...Is it necessarily bad that Supreme Court justices engage in political activities, while on the bench...
...Following standard academic practice, the author cited those sources where he found the letters...
...Another sentiment was that blacks are flexing their muscles against Jews in rebellion against "the old dominant-subservient roles that were typical of traditional liberal philanthropy...
...Professor Urofsky states that the editor "directed that Murphy begin his study not with a lengthy overview of previous justices' out-of-court activities but with the story of Abe Fortas...
...They expect, and are entitled to get, a fair ruling on the merits of their controversy...
...Trade Weiss-Rosmarin Santa Monica, California The Black-Jewish Alliance...
...When I attended the Breslau Theological Seminary as an "extraneous student," part-time, while studying Assyriology at the University of Breslau, Professor Isaac Heinemann would motion to myself and Hannah Emmerich, the other woman in his Talmud class: "Bitte, meine Damen...
...Adler is aware of the fact that most women, even feminists, prefer the male to make sexual advances, rather than they taking the initiative themselves...
...Oxford had no influence over the placement or content of the story...
...There is no question but that 300 of the letters were never published before...
...The years when I entrusted his care to a nursemaid, who in turn was served by a part-time maid, were 1944-1948—not 1938, as you stated...
...Once again, however, Urofsky fails to note the paragraph at the top of the next page which states the true nature of my comparison—that of the advisory relationship between Justice Fortas and President Lyndon Baines Johnson and those of the subjects of my study...
...J To the Editor: Despite what I hope were the best intentions of moment and Professor Melvin Urofsky, the article in your July-August issue entitled "Mountains and Molehills: Setting The Brandeis/Frankfurter Connection Straight" followed a rather circuitous path to some wrong conclusions...
...Moreover, Urofsky's rendition of his own importance to the undertaking and completion of the project is sadly exaggerated and does a grave disservice to those who actually did play a formative role in my work (as indicated in the book's acknowledgments...
...Similarly, in my judgment, a "fair ruling" should not contemplate that the decision-maker publicly address, outside the courtroom, political issues that may relate in any way to legal issues that can reasonably be expected to come before the court...
...However, we do not hear an outcry by black Americans on behalf of the millions of Africans (outside South Africa) who are living under oppresssive regimes...
...I also agree with him that Jews ought to be more sympathetic towards the need for affirmative action, even numerical goals where necessary, and that they should be more willing to distinguish between restrictive quotas of the past, which fostered discrimination, and the numerical goals of today, whose purpose is to remedy systemic discrimination...
...LETTERS The Brandeis/Frankfurter Connection [Editor's Note: In our July-August letters column, we promised a reply, by one of the principals, to the allegations raised by Melvin Urofsky in "Mountains and Molehills: Setting The Brandeis/ frankfurter Connection Straight" (June...
...The Mishna and Gemara on this matter of impaired virginity also refer to "a grown woman who has intercourse with a little boy...
...To readers who found it offensive (as I did), my apologies...
...I would not even go so far as to justify such activities by a Brandeis or a Frankfurter...
...1 was born on June 7, 1908 (not 1904) and my son, Moshe, was born on February 7, 1944...
...Unfortunately, I didn't see the ad before it appeared in moment, or I could have asked that it be withdrawn...
...And we certainly do not hear any support for the persecuted Falashas, black Jews of Ethiopia...
...In the book, I did my best to treat the subject with some dignity and delicacy...
...Nor do we hear any sympathy for Arabs living in Arab lands, most of whom do not enjoy as many civil rights and material benefits as those living in Israeli-occupied territory...
...Second, the reference to my meeting with Harrison as being "spontaneous" is likewise incorrect...
...20:8, et al...
...More tragic than the army's treatment of the Jewish DPs was their betrayal by the organized American Jewish Community...
...It has already been proven...
...With the aid of a ranking army officer who was responsible for Harrison's sanitized itinerary, I met him in Dachau and suggested (as elsewhere he was also made aware) that it would be in the interest of his investigation to meet with me...
...Rather, she suggested that this be taken out of the text and relegated to a footnote...
...I would like to dispel the impression that Oxford took editorial liberties in altering the meaning of my work...
...Jacob's defense of black sympathy for Palestinians...
...But the tone of this ad bears little resemblance to the book I wrote...
...I have spoken with participants in a black-Jewish dialogue group about this...
...The cause of Jewish feminism, which I began espousing years before it became fashionable, is not served by emotional effusions and by ignoring, as Ms...
...In his article Urofsky tries very hard to give the impression that anything that is good about the book I wrote should be attributed to him, and anything that is bad should be attributed either to his view of the editorial contrivance of Oxford University Press or to a lack of my own scholarly integrity...
...Rachel Adler is unfair in citing Ketubot (1 Ia,b) as proof that Raba considered as nothing what would be rape by a grown man of a little girl...
...I would also like to respond to Rachel Adler's article ("I've Had Nothing Yet, So I Can't Take More"), in that same issue...
...In the article Professor Urofsky makes four incorrect statements about Oxford University Press and its role in publishing The Brandeis/Frankfurter Connection, authored by Bruce Murphy...
...He does neither...
...In balancing such highly speculative benefits with the real costs of an undermining of our judicial system, let us unhesitatingly opt for the "hard and fast rules...
...While Urofsky suggests that there is no evidence that either justice's (Frankfurter's or Brandeis's) judicial integrity was impaired by his political activities, he concedes that weaker men and women might not be able so well to separate their judicial from non-judicial activities...
...The Jewish organizations were primarily interested in maintaining a bureaucratic integrity, and placating the army at the expense of the displaced persons...
...He says that that sympathy is nothing more than "a natural proclivity for the underdog...
...As to the statements regarding my scholarship, it would be fruitless to get buried in the mire of Urofsky's charges...
...Edward W. Barry, President, Oxford University Press New York, New York To the Editor: During the past week I have had the first opportunity to read the June issue of moment magazine containing Mel-vin Urofsky's article on my book, The BrandeislFrankfurter Connection...
...If a Brandeis or a Frankfurter is permitted to participate in "politics," whether in secret or in the open, why not then so permit the circuit court and district court judges to do the same thing^s it sufficient to allow all these judges to dabble in politics if in their own minds they believe they can separate their political activities from their judicial decisions...
...Because the integrity and effectiveness of the judicial system depends not just on how it operates in fact, but also on how the litigants and the public generally perceive the system as working...
...Without confidence in the integrity of the judicial system by litigants and potential litigants, it surely will not be long before they seek to utilize bribes, graft and political influence to obtain favorable judicial decisions...
...Why such a strict view...
...After examining the rest of Urofsky's article, I have to treat this sort of selective reading of my book and of history as a sad caricature in the guise of learned scholarship...
...In fact, according to the Midrash, all future souls to-come-to-life were present at Sinai, so Ms...
...There can be no finer example of the verity of Urofsky's own words here, "If we cannot trust an author on such easily verifiable details, it shakes our confidence in his larger assertions...
...Name withheld upon request Historical Note To the Editor: The article by Peter Grose on Truman's recognition of Israel (June) invites two immediate observations...
...The U.S...
...William Novak Newton Centre, Massachusetts Dr...
...One forwarded the theory that there is resentment by blacks because "Jews were assuming too large a role in the civil rights movement, which is really a black movement...
...Weiss-Rosmarin on Feminism To the Editor: Permit me to correct a few mistakes of fact in the interview with Marie Syrkin and myself (moment, September...
...In an historical sense, Fortas's advisory relationship with his old friend, President Johnson, represented a far less extensive political role than that played by either Louis D. Brandeis or Felix Frankfurter while those two men sat on the Court...
...However, with the recently publicized disclosures pertaining to the political activities of Brandeis, my earlier conclusion is subject to serious question...
...The third incorrect statement or implication is that Oxford insisted on changing footnote citations "in order to bolster publicity claims...
...I went to this extravagance because I hold that a small child needs to be cared for at home by a qualified person, in a one-to-one relationship...
...Oxford attempted to sell an excerpt from the book to The New York Times Magazine...
...Rabbi Abraham J. Klausner Yonkers, New York...
...When I met with Harrison (as Grose notes, I was a Jewish chaplain in the American army at the time), his opening remark to me was, "I am not a representative of the President...
...This is why the text addresses the prohibition to the male...
...Adler and many Jewish feminists ignore, that the Jewish tradition is exceedingly chivalrous and extraordinarily concerned with honoring the human (not the legal) dignity of women...
...A black leader once told me the reason for black sympathy for Palestinians may be because Arabs have dark skins or because they are part of the African continent...
...page 3)] It would also be worthwhile to mention here that Urofsky's account of Justice Fortas's resignation from the Supreme Court is completely lacking in understanding, for, in fact, it had much more to do with protecting the Court as an institution than with any allegations of his misconduct by the press and members of the Nixon Administration...
...So, there is a "unisex" situation here...
...the Dershowitzes' "Assessing Affirmative Action," June...
...The eminent jurist, Simon Rifkin, who served as Advisor for Jewish Affairs to the American General, upon his departure from Germany, praised the army for its care and concern for the DPs, a statement that stands in shocking contrast to that of the Harrison Report...
...Please ignore it...
...In order to be "ready for the third day," sexual continence is commanded...
...Adler, allegorically speaking, need not imagine herself being "a man standing at Mount Sinai...
...A "fair ruling" does not contemplate the decision-maker having contacts with outside parties (be they political figures or not) to discuss either the facts of the particular case or political policies impacting, directly or indirectly, on that case...
...My answer to that question is a resounding, "Yes, it is bad...
...First, the reference to Earl Harrison as a "presidential emissary" is incorrect...
...To be sure, there is aggadic-midrashic support for thinking of the Shechinah as the exiled-indwelling presence of God in our unredeemed world...
...Having read the five-volume Urofsky-David Levy work, The Louis D. Brandeis Letters, I came to the conclusion that Brandeis may have been the greatest jurist of all time...
...The conclusion is inescapable that some anti-Jewish feeling is involved...
...and that when he objected, he was told that his contract gave the, Press final say over content...
...Let me also point out that when, in preparation for the Sinaitic revelation, the text warns, "Do not go near a woman" (Exodus 19:15), the intent is to concentrate on matters of the spirit and not to be diverted by sexual activity...
...While Urofsky suggests the possibility that "hard and fast rules" could isolate judges "so far as to cripple justice," and that there would be a benefit to elected leaders to obtain the wisdom of sitting judges, I would quickly reject those arguments...
...Professor Urbach quotes chapters and verses, proving that Shechinah was an "epithet" of God and that the Shechinah "is none other than God" (op...
...More than two years before signing a contract for the book, the editor suggested that the author contrast Justice Fortas's extrajudicial political activities to those of Brandeis and Frankfurter...
...As a result, the news desk of the New York Times learned of the book and within a week decided to write a story...
...Supreme Court sets the example for the many inferior courts in the federal system...
...As for the Shechinah, I would refer Ms...
...We are grateful to both writers for their thoughtful replies, and now encourage others to follow reader Allen Saeks's lead and to focus on the substantive questions of policy and propriety raised by both the book and the review...
...I am sure that as a therapist, Ms...
...So why do I feel so bad...
...Because the text of the ad—especially the small print at the bottom— completely goes against the spirit and tone of my book...
...I consider "day care centers" detrimental...
...That aside, I must say I have some nagging doubts as to Mr...
...He then drew a letter from his pocket and had me read it...
...I do not dispute their right to do so, but do question why it is their policy to do so, in view of the following: (1) their energies could be better spent dealing with their own considerable problems in this country, (2) they are silent on the internal policies of more horrendous regimes, from the Central African Republic to Chile, and (3) they know it will further antagonize black relations with Jews...
...The first is that Murphy claims "that nearly all changes made to sustain the sensationalist tone of the book were made by his editor at Oxford University Press...
...This support is as serious an obstacle to a complete black-Jewish reconciliation as is Jewish opposition to affirmative action...
...I hope a future moment article will examine the complex causes behind black support of Palestinians...
...This is an important detail in that it suggests that Harrison's coming to Germany was not prompted by the President's concern for the treatment of DPs, but the result of someone other than the President...
...George Cureton's "My Ghetto, Then and Now," June...
...Herewith, responses from the book's publisher and from the author of the book itself...
...The ranking Jewish chaplain, together with the Jewish Welfare Board, intercepted that report and advised the leaders to pay no attention to the report, in that it was "based upon nothing...
...Adler's experience as a Jewish legal nonentity—those experiences are also mine—neither she nor I have the right (or should have the chutzpah) to say that the experiences of the Shechinah are ours...
...Untrue...
...Bruce Allen Murphy University Park, Pennsylvania To the Editor: Melvin Urofsky's analysis of The BrandeislFrankfurter Connection (June 1983) is a major contribution to a public debate on the appropriate role of judges in the administration of justice...
...Over the past year, in the face of applause and criticism of my work, I have steadfastly remained silent, feeling that the book speaks for itself and the reader can judge the merits of each review on his or her own...
...This includes, of course, women (Exodus 19:8...
...This, of course, is what every author wants...
...Another nagging problem, related to the Palestinian matter, is blacks' (and Jacob's) need to vocally criticize Begin's policies...
...But whatever Ms...
...Adler ignored in her mistaken reading of Ketubot 1 la.b...
...She did not suggest that emphasis be placed on Justice Fortas's problems growing out of his relationship with Wolfson...
...At any rate, in connection with the Sinaitic revelation, the Hebrew text refers to kol ha-am (the entire people...
...That is, he wanted us to leave the classroom whenever a matter of sexuality came up in the Gemara...
...Certainly the Jews in the Soviet Union qualify for "underdog" status, but there is no black outcry in support of them...
...No, black support of Palestinians and opposition to the Israeli government are not totally attributable to black unity with the underdog or with the dark-skinned...
...It was a letter from Truman, in which he wrote that he had heard of Harrison's impending trip and would be interested in his report...
Vol. 8 • October 1983 • No. 9
