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Chapter XXVIII
The Social Structure

With little distinction in home life, in religious practice and training, and hardly any difference in educational emphasis between Jew and Gentile, it is not astonishing to discover that the incidence of intermarriage has increased at an alarming rate, especially amongst the Jewish section whose social ties with their people have also weakened. It is estimated that between 25 to 50 per cent of Jews in New Zealand are marrying out of their faith. Even the lower estimate must be considered a sizable defection from the fold. This may be the reason in Auckland for the growing custom of calling the Sunday before a marriage, "sitting for joy", when all relatives and friends visit the bride's home to give and view the gifts. So concerned did the London ecclesiastical authorities become about intermarriage, that they sent a pronouncement to New Zealand expressing concern at its frequency. They would have been more disturbed if they had known the frequency with which members of boards of management of synagogues found it compatible with their conscience to attend mixed marriages celebrated in church. Nevertheless, in spite of the big percentage of intermarriage, a large proportion of the Jewish community is strongly opposed to it. Jewish roots are deep. Some parents, afraid for their children, have moved to the larger Australian cities where the risks of intermarriage are less. In one synagogue, a resolution to ban any person who married out of the Jewish faith from joining the synagogue as a member was not passed. Nor was a resolution to prevent them from voting. It was felt that a person who had married a Gentile was still a Jew. A special rule in the constitution would have had to be introduced in order to prevent their receiving a vote. They did, however, lose the privilege of being called to the reading of the Law.

A number of Jews who married out of their faith but did not desire to sever their association with their religion or their people, sought relief from the situation by converting the Gentile partner to Judaism. In a number of instances, intermarriage received encouragement from the ease with which conversions were effected. Synagogue committees with little knowledge would assume the right to examine and recommend candidates for prose-lytization. Few candidates were rejected. Ministers were expected to comply with the committees' wishes. They generally did. One notable exception page 200 was Rabbi Goldstein of Auckland, who would have nothing at all to do with conversions, even when his committee received the concurrence of the Chief Rabbi. His committee respected his views. Like many in his community, Goldstein opposed conversions on account of their farcical nature and their contravention of the spirit of Judaism and the law which states that proselytization may not be carried out for the sake of marriage. Judaism requires a proselyte to believe in the Jewish faith. Those who convert for the sake of marriage change their religion for other motives.

Relying upon the recommendations sent to him from committees thousands of miles away, Chief Rabbi Hertz in England would immediately consent even when the recommendations were sent out to him by cable. Complaints from New Zealand led him to seek details of each case, but when congregations began to participate in conversions without seeking his consent, his signature became a mere formality. Desiring to save time, one congregation sought the assistance of the Sydney Beth Din, which consented to act as long as it received a recommendation from a synagogue committee. Occasionally, candidates for conversion were charged exorbitant fees, and in one instance the Chief Rabbi made the congregation return portion of the charges.

The actual act of conversion requires the presence of an authorized Beth Din of three learned rabbis to stand by whilst immersion takes place in a regulation Mikvah. Laxity in the appointment of the members of the ecclesiastical court led to laymen acting with the minister. So emboldened did one congregation become, that it allowed its minister with the assistance of two laymen, to write a Get. Modern orthodox practice demands three learned rabbis to be present at the writing of a Jewish divorce, with the Ab Beth Din a recognized expert on such matters. It is doubtful if in New Zealand there was ever appointed a man with such qualifications.

Since no community in New Zealand had built a regulation ritual bath, laxity in the form of compulsory immersion took place in cases of conversion. The candidates would be immersed at the seaside. It is very doubtful if such immersion is valid. Because liberal congregations do not demand immersion, orthodox congregations cannot recognize conversions carried out by liberals or by unauthorized persons. Nevertheless, marriages were celebrated in some cases where conversions had not been conducted by orthodox authority.

When an influx of orthodox migrants arrived in Wellington during the Second World War, they demanded the building of a Mikvah, but the congregation would not permit the Mikvah to be built on synagogue premises. Although money has been collected by the sponsors, the congregation rejected a motion to erect the Mikvah as late as September, 1954, mainly page 201 on account of the fear that the Rabbi might compel brides to go to the Mikvah against their will prior to marriage.

At the suggestion of Chief Rabbi Israel Brodie, the ministers in New Zealand formed a Board of Ministers which, according to one synagogue committee, "since its inception has not clearly clarified its own procedures". It did make it clear, however, that it intended making proselytes. This seemed to be intended as one of its major functions. But the Chief Rabbi put a stop to it all. He has laid it down as an instruction that no further proselytes are to be made until a Mikvah is built.

The alarming rate of intermarriage in New Zealand would have been even higher if not for strong counteracting influences. Besides the powerful hereditary and historical ties which are not easily broken, the social structure was built up to such an extent as to make the community partly self-sufficient for its social needs and amenities. Club organization developed in New Zealand to a far greater extent than in similar-sized Anglo-Jewish communities in other parts of the world. The ever-increasing propaganda against the Jews emanating from Germany before the Second World War and the subsequent news of the horrors of the concentration camps and the European mass murders, contributed towards the consolidation of New Zealand Jewry. More remarkable still, as a factor for Jews in New Zealand retaining their Jewish associations, was the amazing growth in strength of the Zionist cause and the self-sacrifice they made in alleviating the lot of their persecuted brethren in other parts of the world. Whilst in other countries influential sections of Jews averted their eyes from the Zionist movement, Zionism in New Zealand received almost unanimous support from every section of the community. The wealthy and influential Jews were amongst its most ardent supporters. Living in a country free from material and political anxiety, the justice of Israel's struggle moved New Zealand Jewry deeply. A sense of equity has always been keenly developed amongst Jews. In New Zealand it aroused Jewish and religious sentiments. New Zealand Jewry received an unlooked-for and an unexpected reward from its views. Its attitude helped it partially to preserve itself.

From 1923 onwards, the constant stream of emissaries from Europe, Israel and the United States who came to Australia to seek help for various Jewish causes, made it almost an invariable rule to visit New Zealand as well. Not one went away empty-handed. New Zealand Jewry gave generously. It offered substantial sums which were often made with great personal sacrifice by individual members of the community. Each emissary came with a message, substantially the same, yet each adding some of his or her personality to it, giving it a character of its own. The message was a Jewish message. It told of Jewish suffering and of Jewish hopes. It may not have been intended as a religious message. Nevertheless, its very content and aim page 202 touched it with an emotional religious colouring. The saving of souls, feeding the hungry, clothing the needy, the messianic realization of Israel reborn, and the gathering in of the exiles, were all themes with a Jewish religious imprint. It could not but affect the hearers. It aroused a Jewish consciousness. Unconsciously, it maintained Jews within the fold.

The first social organization in Wellington started as a Zionist Society with David J. Nathan as President and the Rev. Herman Van Staveren as Treasurer. Founded in June 1903, the Wellington Zionist Social Club catered for men only in a room at Empire Chambers, Willis Street. But after a few changes it finally settled in permanent premises in Brunner Buildings, Lower Cuba Street, where it remained until 1921. In the meantime it had changed its name to the Wellington Jewish Social Club. Besides ordinary club activities, the members enjoyed debating, an annual smoking concert and an annual picnic. The first picnic nearly ended in disaster. Three hundred members and friends aboard the Duco, bound for Lowry Bay, had to be helped ashore in rowing-boats when the Duco sank in the harbour. The Club also formed a library. Extremely active in entertainment, the Club became a popular meeting-place.

In 1921, the Club moved into premises which it had bought in Ghuznee Street. It widened its activities by the formation of a cricket team and the establishment of a separate club for the ladies—the Wellington Jewish Women's Social Club. The affairs of the organization proceeded pleasantly until the Second World War when, of necessity, activities were restricted. The dilapidated condition of the building impelled the Club to purchase and build new premises in the same street. These were opened in June, 1954, and the community now enjoys a social centre worthy of its name. Unpretentious, yet comfortable and utilitarian, the centre is now the focal point of the community, where it meets for all kinds of functions in pleasant conditions and in a happy atmosphere. The community showed wisdom in its moderation by not being over-ambitious in its building programme and in the manner in which it conducts its Social Clubs.

A Boy Scouts' Association, a Girl Guides' Association, a Boys' Club, a Jewish Young People's League, a Maccabean Club for athletics, a Wellington Jewish Women's Guild and a Hutt Jewish Women's Guild were all Wellington societies which flourished for brief periods. A more permanent organization, the Union of Jewish Women of New Zealand, was founded in 1929. It unites the Jewish women of the country in all their activities, and has branches in Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin.

In Auckland, "The Maccabeans", a social and athletic group with headquarters in Upper Queen Street, were very active from about 1900 until 1909, but did not achieve permanence. Following Wellington's example, the community formed the Auckland Jewish Social Club in 1923 in Wyndham page 203 Street, but during the depression the Club waned. It re-formed in 1931 in Queen Street, primarily as a businessman's lunch club, and for the last twenty-five years it has fulfilled an important social function in the community.

Dissatisfied with the lack of cultural and social activities, Rabbi Alexander Astor, on his appointment to the Auckland community, formed the Auckland Judean Association, which met mainly in the communal hall of the synagogue. It achieved a variable success. After the Second World War, a number of English Jews, accustomed to a more vigorous Jewish life in Britain, established the Auckland Jewish Colonial Club to provide some of their social needs. The community still felt it needed a social centre, and, in 1955, four hundred members of the three main societies met and resolved to amalgamate into the Auckland Jewish Association with the principal object of establishing a communal centre at an early date. If it builds on the same lines as Wellington, the project should be successful.

Auckland also had its Judean Boy Scouts' Association, Judean Girl Guides' Association and Auckland Jewish Girls' Society, which all started with enthusiasm and lapsed when the initial zeal was dissipated.

The Canterbury Jewish Social Club, founded in 1907, faded and revived on three occasions. When, in 1953, the community found itself the proud possessor of over sixty young people, an unprecedented figure, it decided a communal centre was necessary, and at considerable expense it has built, at the back of the synagogue, suitable social rooms which should prove a communal asset.

When Leon Cohen, a prominent member of the Wellington Social Club, moved to Dunedin, in 1924, he persuaded his new community to form the Dunedin Jewish Social Club which, because of dwindling numbers, now endeavours, under the guidance of E. Hirsh, to provide social amenities for the Jewish students who attend the University of Otago.

Apart from the Union of Jewish Women of New Zealand, the four major communities in the country co-operated with each other on all matters of mutual interest. Whenever a new governor came to the country, they would combine in the presentation of an address of loyalty. They united in protesting against Calendar Reform. From 1922 until the Second World War, a cricket club from the Wellington Jewish Social Club would annually meet a team from the Canterbury Jewish Social Club in competition for the Ernest Boulton Cup and, later, for the Isaac Gotlieb Cup. This led, in 1934, to a Quadrangular Tournament held in Wellington. Its success resolved the four organizations to form a New Zealand Maccabean Association with the intention of holding a combined sports meeting in Auckland in 1935, but a polio epidemic prevented the meeting taking place. The project was not pursued further. For some years, all the societies in Wellington formed themselves page 204 into the Council of Wellington Jewry and the societies in Christchurch into the Council of Canterbury Jewry. Both unions dissolved. However, a United Jewish Synagogue for New Zealand has been mooted and a draft constitution has been tabled. The formation of a Council for New Zealand Jewry has also been suggested.

The energy and vitality of the Wellington Jewish Social Club, when it entered its new premises in 1921, led to the establishment of a New Zealand Jewish Press. Leon Cohen edited a four-page humorous broadsheet as the organ of the Club with the curious name of Ish Kabibel. At the end of the year, Ben Green took over the editorship, changed the newspaper's name to the Jewish Times, made its tone a more serious one, and later called it the organ of New Zealand Jewry. It developed into an excellent monthly journal of about twenty pages and added a Zionist Supplement as the organ of the Wellington Palestine League. In January, 1932, the Jewish Times ceased publication. M. Pitt and A. Katranski combined, in March, 1935, as editors of the Jewish Review, a social monthly journal issued from Wellington. At the beginning of the war, the paper ceased to be published. A humble effort to provide local news for the Auckland community, commenced by Mrs Alexander Astor in July, 1940, as a small eight-page publication, the Auckland Judean, developed into a splendid monthly newspaper. Sponsored by the Auckland Judean Association and the Auckland Congregation, the journal changed its name, first to the Judean Bulletin and then to the New Zealand Jewish Bulletin, and was sent to every Jewish home in New Zealand. Although complete as far as Auckland news was concerned, it gave good coverage for the rest of New Zealand as well.

When the Zionist movement expanded, the Zionist Council of New Zealand decided to publish its own journal. It produced a most attractive monthly magazine with an illustrated, stiff paper cover. Although the New Zealand Jewish Chronicle, which issued its first number in September, 1944, was essentially a Zionist monthly, it also presented general Jewish news. Unfortunately its editor, Simon Hochberger, a young poet and writer of promise and a victim of Nazi terror, died at the end of 1947. In the emergency, M. Pitt took over. In April, 1949, the Chronicle and Bulletin merged, retaining the name of the New Zealand Jewish Chronicle, under the supervision of Mrs Alexander Astor, the managing editress. It still continues to flourish, having added a Youth Supplement, Hagesher, issued by the Education and Youth Department of the Zionist Movement. The Wellington Jewish Social Club, once again desiring to publish its own periodical, has, from March, 1955, issued a fine, four-page broadsheet, the Monthly Review.