by Israel Kipen
The reason for this elaboration on purely internal Israeli politics is that it has a strong bearing on the fortunes of General Zionism the world over. While the creation of the Likud coalition in Israel made good political sense, subsequently confirmed by events, such union was not emulated by the parties’ respective supporters abroad. First, the General Zionists and Herut outside Israel were neither emotionally nor philosophically disposed towards any union. Second, the proportions of each in the wider Zionist movement were the opposite of what they were in Israel, the majority outside being liberal in orientation and ideologically distant from the Herut position. Were a true amalgamation to come about in Israel, I would predict that the two parties in the Diaspora would nonetheless continue to remain apart. All that can be predicted with any assurance is that in the event of a merger coming into effect in Israel, then the faction opposing such a merger would split off from the unified party and bring about a new re-alignment of political forces in the nation. Such an eventuality would, in turn, create a new orientation within the General Zionist movement, particularly in the United States, where the two distinct wings currently in existence could conceivably unite. The number of scenarios possible are multifold.
My personal view has, from the outset, been against a merger of Liberals and Herut. When the idea was first mooted, I drafted a comprehensive statement enumerating the arguments against it and submitted it for discussion before the Victorian Zionist Organization. After the committee endorsed the statement, I forwarded it to Mordechai Dayan who was then Chairman of the Liberal Party in Israel. He acknowledged the document and assured me that its contents would be considered in any future debate on the issue. To be sure, my arguments were framed from a Diaspora viewpoint which could well carry little weight in the balance of Israeli realpolitik. Nonetheless, I felt that my arguments were worth presenting so that the people coming to a final decision should clearly and unambiguously know the feelings of their friends around the world. These views having been made known, no-one in Israel could then argue that they had acted without knowledge of Australian feelings.
15
Bialik College
The history of Jewish education in Melbourne dates back to the beginning of organised life in the community. To provide religious education for the young has always been a basic tenet and function of such a community. Religious classes were usually an active component of every congregation’s activities. About one hundred years ago, a Jewish day-school was established in Melbourne, but it did not last. Up to the eve of World War II, the afternoon and Sunday religious schools were the only form of Jewish education in operation.
With the arrival of Joseph Solvey from Kovno in 1941, a new conceptualisation of Jewish education crystallised, modelled on the Hebrew day-schools that had flourished in Lithuania, Poland, Rumania, Austria and elsewhere. These were Hebrew-language oriented with an emphasis on secular Jewish culture alongside basic traditional values and religious practices. An enthusiastic band of people gathered together in Melbourne to create a school on similar lines. Among them were Yehuda Honig, D. Ryzman, Israel Sacks, Yosef and Ania Ginzburg, J. Yaffe, Philip Bloch, J. Rymer, Rachel Laube, and others. In 1942, under the chairmanship of Joseph Solvey, they opened a Hebrew kindergarten and afternoon school in Carlton, named after the Hebrew poet, Haim Nachman Bialik. Subsequently, a house was purchased in Drummond Street for the school and a modern two-storey building was built there for the kindergarten. At the time of my arrival in Melbourne, Sholem Marantz was the headmaster, Yehuda Honig was its president and D. Ryzman its treasurer. Marantz was succeeded as headmaster by A. Klag who was later to become senior Hebrew master at Mount Scopus College, who was in turn followed by Y. Taub, later editor of the weekly newspaper, the Yiddishe Neies. Concurrent with the establishment of the Bialik School, Joseph Giligich founded the I.L. Peretz Yiddish afternoon and Sunday School, also in Carlton.
The first decade of post-war Jewish Melbourne witnessed a major population shift from its previous centre in Carlton to St. Kilda, Elwood, Caulfield and Kew. Accordingly, the established communal facilities, also predominantly located around Carlton, became progressively less frequented and therefore increasingly redundant. This applied to synagogues, schools, the Yiddish cultural centre Kadimah, the Chevra Kadisha burial society and other local services. Schools were the first to be affected for they catered for the needs of young families, who were the first to move out from Carlton. As a consequence of this demographic shift, it became obvious to the management of Bialik School that its continued existence north of the Yarra begged further justification and that its future was due for renewed assessment. The establishment in 1948 of Mount Scopus College as a day-school proved to be a catalyst for Bialik, for it pointed a new direction in Jewish education, away from a marginal role to one where Jewish education could be comprehensive and viable on a full-time basis. While the very idea was radical and revolutionary at the time – as indicated in the earlier chapter on Mount Scopus College – those connected with Bialik did not have to be persuaded about the inevitability of full-time Jewish education. They were in fact the ones who urged and supported the creation of Mount Scopus College as a day-school. Yet it took Bialik another decade for its thinking to crystallise. Its administrators wished first to determine the economic viability, educational success and communal acceptance of Mount Scopus College, as also its ideological and intellectual orientation which had, at the outset, been so nebulous and unpredictable. By the time Mount Scopus College celebrated its first decade of existence, it had proved itself a successful experiment and testing ground, and Bialik administrators could draw pertinent conclusions.
Bialik School was created by Zionist members of the community. Its first legal owners were the Victorian Zionist Organization. Its purpose was to instil into the pupils a love of Hebrew, a respect for Jewish traditions and a spiritual affinity with the revived Jewish creativity in the then Mandatory Palestine. To the extent to which, in the early years, the spirit of Mount Scopus College had an orthodox religious orientation and little, if any, Zionist content, the Zionist movement, which had been so instrumental in supporting the establishment of the school against a strong factional opposition, had good reason to be disappointed with the tone and direction chosen by the College. This dissatisfaction grew as time went on and found an echo in the discussions of the State Zionist Council, at both its annual assemblies and its regular council meetings. In turn, the concerns of the Zionist movement regarding the direction of Mount Scopus College was often voiced at meetings of the Victorian Jewish Board of Deputies who were the nominal owners of the College. Although some changes did come about there, these were limited and likely to remain so into the foreseeable future. Consequently, the establishment of alternative schools were considered, which offered a wider range of choice in Jewish education. The religious section of the Zionist movement, which was spiritually closest to Mount Scopus College, came to a similar conclusion.
In July 1958, Julian Mercer took over the presidency of Bialik from Yehuda Honig. The change of leadership in no way reflected any alteration in the school’s ideological orientation. What it did represent was an active involvement and concern for the future of the school by younger men. When I assumed the Presidency of the State Zionist Council eight months later, I pledged to help in the conversion of Bialik from an afternoon and Sunday school to a day-school, and one of my earliest acts as President was, in fact, to authorise the Bialik management to investigate the feasibility of such a step. By that time, the State Zionist Council was the school’s legal owner, having myself facilitated the transfer of ownership to the Council during my term as President of the Victorian Zionist Organisation.
The problem of finding suitable land or premises for the purpose was fraught with political as well as financial and other difficulties. Because the property in Carlton where the school stood belonged to the State Zionist Council, its sale had to be ratified by the General Assembly. The declared intention to move the school
to Caulfield raised objections from some quarters who had an interest in not having the school established there. The school’s relocation thus became a hot political issue. Anti-Bialik votes were traded and high office bought in the train of the whole unsavoury business. In the end, a site was found by Lily Solvey at 6 Shakespeare Grove, Hawthorn, which, being resisted by none, was acquired for the school. There was a considerable measure of irony inherent in the purchase of this particular property. It had initially been built to house the German Consulate. The neighbouring property, which housed a girls’ finishing school at the time, had earlier been home to Victoria’s first parliament. Two houses removed, in Chopin Street, stood the house where Sir John Monash had lived. The two-storey mansion bought for the school was built from bluestone and stood well back from the street. It had extensive front lawns and much space behind the house itself which was suitable as a playground. In terms of location, it stood midway between Kew and Toorak.
The building was prepared during 1962 and opened its doors for the beginning of the 1963 school year as Bialik College. Pinchas Ernest who was then readying himself for aliyah served as headmaster for the first nine months. The popular Chava Wertkin, who was a kindergarten teacher at Bialik, continued in her role, and the school was off to a fine start. The College already enjoyed a good reputation, and its kindergarten, in particular, was eagerly sought by parents. With its conversion into a day-school, its reputation was further enhanced as increasing numbers of children came to be enrolled.
One of the earliest decisions that had to be made revolved around the kind of headmaster who would best suit the school. In line with its intended Zionist spirit and orientation, there was only one obvious source for such a person, namely Israel. While all involved with the school’s administration agreed on the matter, we were also mindful of the fact that such an arrangement locked the school into a situation of impermanence of leadership at the head, for teachers released by Israel were permitted only three to four years’ absence abroad. This had inbuilt shortcomings, but it was felt, nonetheless, that these were outweighed by the advantages of having an Israeli headmaster. Accordingly, Abraham Chovers and his family were brought out in 1964 to take charge of the school, and a house at 7 Shakespeare Grove across from the school was rented for them. Abraham Chovers was a very amiable man. Softly-spoken and with much personal charm, he enhanced Bialik’s reputation by attracting ever-growing numbers of parents. In the course of his work, he established an authentic Zionist spirit in the school, he devised its Hebrew program, introduced modern Hebrew songs and instilled into his young charges a sense of Jewish pride. His working relations with the committee were excellent, and he was uniformly liked and respected by all. The school attracted a particular type of parent, some of whom travelled long distances twice daily in order to have their children taught at Bialik. They were discerning parents who had closely studied the differences between available educational alternatives and had chosen Bialik precisely for what it represented and taught. They welcomed the spirit that pervaded the school and the way Jewish subjects were taught that made them constantly actual and relevant.
1965 “Speech Day” at Bialik College. On the stage; the author, A. Chovers and M. Cohen (first chairman of Bialik Appeal).
The school grew fast. In 1965, a new kindergarten wing, named the Dora Cukiert Memorial Kindergarten, was added to the main building. While the addition of these kindergarten classes was a very timely and major one in terms of space, it automatically provided a two-stream primary division. By 1966, the financial burden of running the school weighed heavily on Julian Mercer. He had by then given the school eight years of continuous leadership and seen it through the difficult period of transformation into a day-school. He approached me with the suggestion that I take over the school’s presidency from him. I was heavily involved in business at the time, but, recognising the reasons for his request, I acceded to his suggestion. The school’s financial situation was certainly not rosy; but within a year the school emerged from a backlog of debts.
In 1967, I learned from the headmaster that the landlord of his house was also the owner of the property at 4 Shakespeare Grove adjoining the school and that he wished to sell it. The house which stood there was old and dilapidated, and built from hand-made Hawthorn bricks which are today a rare and expensive commodity. We inspected the property and considered it to be of marginal use. In my mind, however, it represented an opportunity that the school could not afford to miss. In the end, we bought it through direct negotiation without the property ever appearing on the market.
The committee and executive of the school’s management consisted mainly of young parents who had a direct interest in the development and improvement of its programs and facilities. These parents’ enthusiasm was growing and a Parents’ Association was formed with David Black as its first chairman. The school’s well-being became a factor in cementing the parent body into a cohesive and creative social entity. A separate Mothers’ Committee under Chana Levick undertook the publication of a Jewish cook-book which was a major success in terms of its popularity and financial reward to the school. This cookbook has since gone through a number of editions and is still sought today, being used as a basic manual in many Jewish homes. Neville Ashkenazy who lived in Shakespeare Grove also became a parent and enthusiast for the school, and in time its Vice-President. Other early participants were Esther Gross who showed outstanding organisational ability and dedication and became Honorary Secretary; Charles Cukiert and his wife Ena, Charles becoming the second Vice-President; and Yitzhak Spiegel, for a number of years the Honorary Treasurer.
Annual appeals were introduced in 1967. Lily Solvey, a competent appeal administrator who knew the community well, conducted the school’s appeals in an honorary capacity for many years from her office at the Victorian Jewish Education Board. The first Appeal President was Morris Cohen. The budgets of the school in those days were relatively small. Nonetheless, school revenue in the form of fees alone could not cover expenditures, especially when capital investments were continuously on the school’s agenda. The kindergartens built in 1965 brought temporary relief, but by 1968 the problem of insufficient space again became very acute. Plans were drawn up for the redevelopment of the acquired property at 4 Shakespeare Grove to accommodate 350 pupils. When the Hawthorn City Council advertised Bialik’s intention to expand, objections from neighbours led the Council to refuse the school’s application. The neighbourhood was a source of constant trouble for the school. We had been fortunate to have obtained a permit to open a school in the neighbourhood in the first place. But no sooner did the school open its doors than parents twice daily created obstruction to the flow of traffic outside the school in delivering and collecting their children, this leading to complaints to the City Council by surrounding neighbours and to organised opposition, led by a city coroner who lived on the corner of Chopin Grove, when we applied for a new building permit. As a consequence, we became desperate for additional space.
Abraham Chovers had by then returned home and Moshe Meretz was brought from Israel to replace him. He was a very energetic man and a disciplinarian and authoritarian who ran the school on strict lines, consolidating the reputation which Chovers had established. He drove his staff hard and obtained excellent results which, in turn, drew more parents seeking admission of their children into the school. The limitations of space were a constant irritant and a source of frustration to Meretz and his staff, as it was also to the school executive.
The City Council’s refusal to grant us a building permit placed the school in a difficult situation. With nothing to lose, the executive chose to appeal against the Council decision in court. It was a risky step, for we neither wished to strain our relations with the Council nor to attract still more complaints by the local ratepayers against us. However, we had little option. Town planners were engaged and special counsel briefed, with the result that the Appeal Board over-ruled the Council refusal, directing that it issue a building
permit to the school with the proviso that the total number of pupils attending the combined premises at Nos. 4 and 6 Shakespeare Grove did not exceed 250. Though the verdict fell short of our needs, we were nonetheless elated. We learnt, further, that the Council harboured no animosities against us for bringing it to court, even though it also had to bear the expenses of the action.
Following this victory, new plans had to be drawn for the development of the site. Having to keep within the constraints imposed by the Appeal Board, they were, of necessity, more modest in scale than the original plans. Joe Alexander, who was a school parent and committee member, and a builder who had created the TRAK complex in Toorak Road, undertook to build the two-storey four-classroom block for a very modest price. Samuel Wynn gave a donation equivalent to ten percent of the cost. Plans were approved and the building, which was to carry the Wynn name, erected in quick succession.
Avraham Schenker of the W.Z.O. Jerusalem on a visit to Bialik College, Shakespeare Grv. Hawthorn. From left; Moshe Meretz, A. Schenker and author.
This addition gave the school some breathing space. But from the first, we recognised that the new building could afford only temporary relief. It was not yet the full solution. The increasing number of children needed more playing grounds that were simply not there. Meanwhile, other facilities too were required which could not be provided for lack of space. Further, much as our most recent land acquisition and erection of the building forced us to increase our borrowing and debt-servicing charges, it was clear that the amounts we were operating with were still paltry in comparison with those which expanding the school would later necessitate. By the time Moshe Meretz returned to Israel, Bialik parents were becoming restive. They loved the school and its spirit, but they also felt that their children were entitled to better facilities than were being provided. There was no question that they had right on their side, and it is fitting here to pay tribute to all those parents who showed patience and restraint in the face of the cramped conditions which their children had to endure. Their forbearance could only be explained by the obvious happiness of their children at school, this having out-weighed other inconveniences in the short-term but which could not be ignored over a longer period.