Historiography
The history of youth at the Kadimah is rarely told in the various recorded histories of the Kadimah. Often, histories of the Kadimah provided by the organization itself are concerned with “oppositional memory”.[1] As the Kadimah was the first cultural and secular Jewish organization in Australia, such Kadimah histories are often concerned with presenting the history of this minority community group within the larger context of a heavily British-influenced Australian society.
According to Graeme Davison, it is quite common for histories of communities to be “written for and by the locals themselves”.[2] This is certainly the case for the Kadimah organization in its early years, in which much of its history was recorded in three books published by the Kadimah in 1937, 1942 and 1967: the Oystralish-Yidisher Almanakh (Australian Jewish Almanac), the Tsveyter Oystralish-Yidisher Almanakh (Second Australian Jewish Almanac) and the Driter Oystralish-Yidisher Almanakh (Third Australian Jewish Almanac).[3] Within each of these texts, one can find a series of essays attempting to chronicle Jewish life and Yiddish literature in Australia in Yiddish during the periods in which they were published. Within each book, there appears at least one chapter on the Kadimah.
However, within these histories, very little is discussed specifically about youth at the Kadimah. It is possible that, by the publication of the third Almanac that such discussion was avoided due to the complication of the situation of youth at the Kadimah in the early 1950s. There had been a Kadimah Youth Organization (KYO) actively running out of the Kadimah, but was accused of becoming too political. The fear of the Kadimah leadership was not only in the KYO’s political nature, as the Kadimah was not a political organization, but fear of how left wing the organization’s activities were. In 1951, the relationship between the Kadimah and its youth wing erupted and the Kadimah Youth Organization was “expelled” from the Kadimah.[4]
The later the history of the Kadimah began to be written, the more it began to appear as a “pioneer history”, “a story of origins”.[5] More is made of the older pioneers of the movement and even less is made of the Jewish youth who involved themselves in the Kadimah. One simple question arises out of this breakdown in relationship. Did the involvement of youth at the Kadimah end in 1951 and, if not, how were young Jews involved at the organization? As Chris Healy writes, “People’s understanding of the present is always bound up with an understanding of their relationship with the past”.[6] In exploring the history of youth at the Kadimah, it becomes clear that young Jews were most actively involved through Yiddish theatre, which extended far beyond 1951.
Because of the Kadimah’s minimal open discussion of the controversy of the Kadimah Youth Organization in its own publications, including the Almanacs and its chronicle the Melburner Bleter (Melbourne Chronicle), this issue has been ignored throughout various well-known documentations of the Kadimah’s history.
More often than not, the history of the Kadimah is told as a generalised narrative of the community. Often these histories are fraught with details of major events, projects and figures in the history of the Kadimah, but do not discuss the inner issues of the movement itself, including its young members. Such books include Suzanne Rutland’s Edge of the Diaspora: Two Centuries of Jewish Settlement in Australia, Jews in the Sixth Continent edited by William Rubinstein, and Hilary Rubinstein’s The Jews in Australia.[7] A short account of the previously mentioned breaking down of relationship between the Kadimah and its youth organization can be found in one of the more recently written histories of the organization. This account is written by Timnah Baker and appears in Yiddish Melbourne: Towards A History.[8] However, even this history is brief and exact details of the argument that ensued are not provided.
When searching for a wider reflection of the involvement of youth in the Kadimah community, it is important to refer to wider sources that provide insight into where the youth was active in the community. One such area included the Dovid Herman Teater (David Herman Theatre), a Yiddish theatre group that was based at the Kadimah. The history of this movement is told both through historical perspective and through anecdotal evidence in English by writer Arnold Zable and in Yiddish by writer Moyshe Ajzenbud in the book Wanderers and Dreamers: Tales of the David Herman Theatre.[9] Again, however, both these authors are members of the Kadimah community. This book includes information on individuals involved in the theatre group, including its younger members, teenagers of Melbourne who joined Yiddish veteran actors on the stage.
The irony in the widely-used recording of oppositional memory of the Kadimah community is that by recording such a pioneering form of history, the young individuals who were building a future for this organization were often ignored. In this way, my proposed area of research has become a form of recording oppositional memory. I aim to fill this gap, which has been left by this previous research.
Research into the history of youth at the Kadimah involves a large amount of wider reading, prior to exploring documents, articles and advertisements from the Kadimah, as well as reflection of previously conducted interviews regarding the Kadimah, such as the documentary Bitter Herbs and Honey. Many of these original documents, articles and histories have been written in Yiddish. Fortunately, as I am a fluent Yiddish-speaker, this has held no limitations over my research. For the purposes of this research, however, I have translated any quotations utilized from such texts into English in my final history.
According to Graeme Davison, it is quite common for histories of communities to be “written for and by the locals themselves”.[2] This is certainly the case for the Kadimah organization in its early years, in which much of its history was recorded in three books published by the Kadimah in 1937, 1942 and 1967: the Oystralish-Yidisher Almanakh (Australian Jewish Almanac), the Tsveyter Oystralish-Yidisher Almanakh (Second Australian Jewish Almanac) and the Driter Oystralish-Yidisher Almanakh (Third Australian Jewish Almanac).[3] Within each of these texts, one can find a series of essays attempting to chronicle Jewish life and Yiddish literature in Australia in Yiddish during the periods in which they were published. Within each book, there appears at least one chapter on the Kadimah.
However, within these histories, very little is discussed specifically about youth at the Kadimah. It is possible that, by the publication of the third Almanac that such discussion was avoided due to the complication of the situation of youth at the Kadimah in the early 1950s. There had been a Kadimah Youth Organization (KYO) actively running out of the Kadimah, but was accused of becoming too political. The fear of the Kadimah leadership was not only in the KYO’s political nature, as the Kadimah was not a political organization, but fear of how left wing the organization’s activities were. In 1951, the relationship between the Kadimah and its youth wing erupted and the Kadimah Youth Organization was “expelled” from the Kadimah.[4]
The later the history of the Kadimah began to be written, the more it began to appear as a “pioneer history”, “a story of origins”.[5] More is made of the older pioneers of the movement and even less is made of the Jewish youth who involved themselves in the Kadimah. One simple question arises out of this breakdown in relationship. Did the involvement of youth at the Kadimah end in 1951 and, if not, how were young Jews involved at the organization? As Chris Healy writes, “People’s understanding of the present is always bound up with an understanding of their relationship with the past”.[6] In exploring the history of youth at the Kadimah, it becomes clear that young Jews were most actively involved through Yiddish theatre, which extended far beyond 1951.
Because of the Kadimah’s minimal open discussion of the controversy of the Kadimah Youth Organization in its own publications, including the Almanacs and its chronicle the Melburner Bleter (Melbourne Chronicle), this issue has been ignored throughout various well-known documentations of the Kadimah’s history.
More often than not, the history of the Kadimah is told as a generalised narrative of the community. Often these histories are fraught with details of major events, projects and figures in the history of the Kadimah, but do not discuss the inner issues of the movement itself, including its young members. Such books include Suzanne Rutland’s Edge of the Diaspora: Two Centuries of Jewish Settlement in Australia, Jews in the Sixth Continent edited by William Rubinstein, and Hilary Rubinstein’s The Jews in Australia.[7] A short account of the previously mentioned breaking down of relationship between the Kadimah and its youth organization can be found in one of the more recently written histories of the organization. This account is written by Timnah Baker and appears in Yiddish Melbourne: Towards A History.[8] However, even this history is brief and exact details of the argument that ensued are not provided.
When searching for a wider reflection of the involvement of youth in the Kadimah community, it is important to refer to wider sources that provide insight into where the youth was active in the community. One such area included the Dovid Herman Teater (David Herman Theatre), a Yiddish theatre group that was based at the Kadimah. The history of this movement is told both through historical perspective and through anecdotal evidence in English by writer Arnold Zable and in Yiddish by writer Moyshe Ajzenbud in the book Wanderers and Dreamers: Tales of the David Herman Theatre.[9] Again, however, both these authors are members of the Kadimah community. This book includes information on individuals involved in the theatre group, including its younger members, teenagers of Melbourne who joined Yiddish veteran actors on the stage.
The irony in the widely-used recording of oppositional memory of the Kadimah community is that by recording such a pioneering form of history, the young individuals who were building a future for this organization were often ignored. In this way, my proposed area of research has become a form of recording oppositional memory. I aim to fill this gap, which has been left by this previous research.
Research into the history of youth at the Kadimah involves a large amount of wider reading, prior to exploring documents, articles and advertisements from the Kadimah, as well as reflection of previously conducted interviews regarding the Kadimah, such as the documentary Bitter Herbs and Honey. Many of these original documents, articles and histories have been written in Yiddish. Fortunately, as I am a fluent Yiddish-speaker, this has held no limitations over my research. For the purposes of this research, however, I have translated any quotations utilized from such texts into English in my final history.