Graenum Berger, 1908-1999

Graenum Berger (1908-1999)

Graenum Berger was born on April 21, 1908 in Gloversville, NY, a small town in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains. His parents had arrived in the United States from Russian-controlled Poland several years earlier with their three eldest children; 3 more would be born in the United States. The Bergers joined a large extended family already in the United States, and relationships with aunts, uncles and cousins played a notable role in Graenum's early life. Berger's father earned his livelihood first as a peddler, and then in the leather business, which was the major industry in the Gloversville area. The family prospered sufficiently during Berger's early years to afford a telephone, a car and a summer cottage, all of which reflected the active, sociable character of the household.

Berger's parents kept a traditional Jewish home, and his father was a strict Sabbath observer who hired a private tutor to provide for his son's religious education before the local Hebrew School existed. Gloversville had a small but identifying Jewish community during Berger's childhood that included a local Orthodox synagogue, the Hebrew school, a Jewish Community Center and a kosher meat market. Berger's father was an active member of the synagogue and of the Hebrew School committee, and his mother was involved in the synagogue's relief society. Berger's childhood years, then, were spent in an environment that emerges as lively, outgoing and Jewishly-involved, features, which were prominent throughout his life as a Jewish communal worker and later as an activist on behalf of Ethiopian Jewry.

Unsure of how he felt about attending college and after a less-than-successful first year at New York University, Berger spent the next year working for a local newspaper. It was during this period that he met Emma Finestein, who would soon become his wife and life partner for more than 70 years. The following year he enrolled in the University of Missouri, but the long distance relationship blossomed. During his second year at the university, Graenum and Emma eloped in Missouri to avoid their families' disapproval of their marriage at such young ages. The first of their two sons was born the following year.

Berger was greatly involved in the Jewish student organization at the University of Missouri, and forged a strong relationship with its Director of Jewish Studies. It was this mentor who encouraged him to change his intended profession from public education to Jewish communal work. Upon Berger's graduation from college in 1930, he received a scholarship to and attended the recently formed Graduate School of Jewish Social Work in New York, after which he began his career as Executive Director of the Jewish Community Center of Staten Island. The embryonic field of professional Jewish organizational administration was well suited to someone with Berger's natural tendency toward leadership and advocacy, and his outgoing, hands-on, energetic and creative style. He spent six productive years there, and then a subsequent eleven at the Bronx Settlement House, a period during which the establishment notably expanded its services, assumed a role as a key neighborhood organization, and developed into a professional organization with a well-trained staff. In 1989, Bronx Settlement House was renamed Graenum Berger Bronx Jewish Federation Service Center in honor of Graenum Berger's years of service.

In 1949, Berger joined the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York as a consultant to its Executive Director for Federation-sponsored community centers and summer camps. During the 24 years he spent at Federation until his retirement in 1973, Berger assumed many additional responsibilities including directing an institute dedicated to training middle and upper level future Federation executives, conducting studies, and delivering papers and lecturing on a variety of Jewish social work topics. Additionally, as a high level executive in the organization, he was involved in discussions regarding Federation's overall goals and policies. While Berger's energy, dedication and competence earned him wide respect among his colleagues, his direct, intemperate style often interfered with others' ability to open-mindedly consider his ideas, despite the considerable merit these ideas had. Furthermore, his opinions were occasionally at odds with those of many in the executive group. Most notably, Berger always believed strongly in the value of Jewish education, and at a time when Federation was becoming increasingly secular and even contemplated adopting a non-sectarian policy, Berger strongly advocated for preserving, and even expanding, the Jewish character of Federation and its member institutions.

While the Bergers lived a fairly modest lifestyle, they enjoyed a rich social and cultural life. They were active in many Jewish organizations and sustained numerous friendships, many of which were first established in the early years of their marriage. They maintained a lifelong association with the Gloversville Jewish community, where Graenum was born, and helped found the Pelham Jewish Center in the town in which they lived for many years. Berger was a voracious reader, given his curiosity about a broad range of topics, and, over time, amassed a substantial library that included many valuable books, particularly relating to Ethiopian Jewry and Black Jews, subjects about which Berger researched and wrote extensively. Over the course of their lives, the Bergers also accumulated a considerable amount of artwork from many different countries, for they were avid travelers, perhaps the one luxury which they extensively pursued as a means of satisfying their enthusiasm for exploring the various cultures and places throughout the world.

This natural inquisitiveness, coupled with Berger's persistent manner, gradually propelled a coincidental encounter in 1955 with Ethiopian Jewish children studying in Israel into a mission which would dominate the latter half of his life. While this first exposure was merely noted as an interesting event at the time, during the ensuing years, Berger attempted to learn all he could about this ancient tribe, disparagingly referred to by their gentile neighbors as Falashas but who called themselves Beta Israel. In 1965, the Bergers traveled to Ethiopia to see firsthand the conditions under which the Ethiopian Jews were living. During this visit, the first of many which would follow, Berger was, at the same time, captivated by the dignity of the people and their unwavering loyalty to their faith, yet appalled by their dire poverty and lack of medical care, education and other basic necessities. It was then and there that he fully realized that, while immediate relief was critically needed, the only lasting solution for this long-isolated tribe which, as his research indicated, had once numbered hundreds of thousands but which harsh circumstances had already reduced to less than 50,000, was for them to be absorbed en masse in Israel. At that moment, he also determined, with characteristic resolve, to work toward fulfillment of this objective.

From that initial visit to Ethiopia until his retirement from Federation in 1973, Berger became increasingly more involved in the cause of Ethiopian Jewry. He and Emma began to raise money for educational and medical programs, and Berger reached out to leaders in the Jewish world who might be helpful to the issue of large scale rescue, and made contacts with the few, assorted groups and individuals involved in the plight of Ethiopian Jews. As the benefit of consolidating the various activist efforts became evident, following his retirement from Federation, Berger formed the American Association for Ethiopian Jews (AAEJ) in 1974 by merging two grassroots organizations that had become active on behalf of Ethiopian Jewry. Berger was elected President of the newly formed organization.

Thus, at a time when many at his stage of life would be content to reflect on what had been a long and successful career, including having been granted an Honorary Doctorate by Yeshiva University in 1973 for his services to the Jewish community, Berger assumed the leadership role of an ambitious undertaking to which he immediately devoted much, and subsequently, close to all, of his considerable energies. The primary objective of the AAEJ was to make saving Ethiopian Jewry a number one priority of the Government of Israel and of world Jewish leadership. To this end, Berger spent much time speaking with Israeli and Jewish organizational officials about the plight of the Beta Israel, believing that, once told, rescue would not be long in coming. However, at that time, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel had not yet unequivocally ruled on the Jewishness of the Beta Israel, therefore they were not eligible for citizenship under the Law of Return. This ambiguity regarding their status as Jews, combined with, except in the case of a few individuals, what Berger believed was an overall disinclination to bring them to Israel on the part of officials of the dominant Labor government in Israel, frustrated his early expectations for prompt improvement of the circumstances of the Ethiopian Jews.

While continuing their efforts with Israeli government officials, the AAEJ also embarked on a campaign to educate the general North American public regarding the predicament of the Beta Israel as a means of both raising money on their behalf and increasing grassroots pressure on the organized Jewish establishment and Israeli policy. Berger lectured frequently, wrote numerous articles, and was interviewed on radio and television and in print. His organization also continued to work with various Jewish relief agencies, although many of these preferred to focus on long-term improvement of conditions for the Jews in Ethiopia instead of emigration to Israel, which AAEJ policy regarded as the only viable solution to rescue the dwindling remnant of this ancient people.

By the late 1970's, the Israeli Rabbinate had recognized the Beta Israel as Jews, and the Likud party had replaced the incumbent Labor Party in Israel, with Menachem Begin as Prime Minister. While Berger had stepped down as president of AAEJ in order to allow it to broaden its leadership, he was still fully devoted to and engaged with the cause, and remained a most influential member of its Board of Directors. In light of the recent changes in Israel, Berger anxiously hoped an imminent breakthrough would be at hand, for his mounting frustration had progressed into alarm as the political and economic conditions in Ethiopia deteriorated due to the civil unrest that erupted following the Marxist takeover of the government in 1974 and the severe famine that was currently devastating much of the country. The Israeli government, however, maintained that, despite its present desire to rescue the Beta Israel, they no longer had any diplomatic influence in Ethiopia, which had, along with all of Israel's allies in Africa, succumbed to Arab pressure to sever ties with Israel following the Yom Kippur War and had become increasingly influenced by the Soviet Union, which maintained a strict policy of anti-Jewish immigration. Israel further cautioned that calling attention to the issue would imperil any clandestine agreements that were being negotiated in the highly sensitive political environment.

As time progressed and no rescue appeared imminent or even planned for, Berger's growing skepticism of Israel's intent, and his genuine distress over the plight of the Ethiopian Jews, drove him to employ increasingly more aggressive tactics to embarrass the Israeli government into taking action. Berger threatened to publicize Israel's apparent indifference in lectures and advertisements, a very unpopular approach that exacerbated what had already become strained relations between AAEJ on one side, and most other Jewish organizations and the Israeli government on the other. AAEJ also attempted its own rescues of individuals and small groups from Ethiopia and Sudan, where many had fled, with varying degrees of success and some notable failures, in order to prove that it could be done despite the lack of official diplomatic avenues. This practice was criticized for interfering with Israel's covert efforts and contributed to AAEJ's further alienation from the Israeli government and the Jewish organizational establishment.

During the subsequent years prior to the first wave of large-scale Israeli airlifts of Ethiopian Jews in 1984, and until the final one in 1991, Berger and AAEJ continued to labor for the rescue of Ethiopian Jewry. Berger was largely undeterred by the near pariah status of his organization, except that it impeded access to influential people who could assist in the goals of AAEJ. The motivations and politics behind the rescue continue to be widely debated. The AAEJ role has been, at the same time, condemned for its public criticism of Israel and its interference with Israeli rescue efforts, dismissed as the attempts of mere amateurs with a simplistic understanding of the task at hand, and praised for propelling an issue in which there was little interest into a major priority of world Jewry and the Israeli government. Berger himself remained fully convinced it was chiefly the unrelenting, forceful pressure of AAEJ that put the issue on the agenda of the Jewish establishment, and which, ultimately, compelled the Israeli government to rescue the Beta Israel.

Despite the range of opinions regarding AAEJ's methods and influence, even Berger's staunchest critics have acknowledged his devotion to the welfare of Ethiopian Jewry. Of the many examples of this in Berger's personal records, most revealing, perhaps, are the numerous correspondence from Ethiopian Jews, whom Berger had both met and not met, on a variety of issues and concerns, and which were promptly answered with lengthy, individualized responses in which he, depending on the case, humbly acknowledged their gratitude for his assistance on their behalf, encouraged them in the challenges they faced in adopting to a new land and culture, and shared their distress over relatives left behind and pledged to continue his efforts until all of the Beta Israel had been rescued. Berger rejoiced in the rescue of Ethiopian Jewry, and within months following the airlifts of the virtual remainder of them in 1991, again demonstrated his integrity of purpose by recommending that AAEJ consider closing its doors, since its original goal of advocating for the rescue of Ethiopian Jewry had been achieved, and to become involved with absorption issues would only duplicate the work of what he believed were adequate public and voluntary organizations already providing these services. By mid-1993, AAEJ had officially shut down.

Berger had numerous interests to occupy him following the disbandment of AAEJ, many of which had been postponed somewhat during the height of his activism on behalf of Ethiopian Jewry. Berger had always been a voracious reader and a prolific writer, who, in addition to having written many articles and papers during his professional career, had also produced several full length works, including an autobiography entitled Graenum, (1987), and a biography of his brother who was a foreign diplomat entitled A Not So Silent Envoy (1992). An earlier work, Black Jews in America (1978), was a subject about which Berger collected much material and researched in depth. A memoir of Berger's involvement in the plight of Ethiopian Jewry entitled Rescue the Ethiopian Jews! was published in 1996. The Bergers maintained their contacts with many individual Ethiopian Jews, and traveled to the extent that their health permitted. They suffered the painful loss of their eldest son, Ramon, in 1993, but were actively involved in the lives of their remaining son, Michael and their five grandchildren, and celebrated the birth of four great-grandchildren. Berger died on March 31, 1999 at the age of 90.

References

Compiled based on archival documents in the Graenum Berger Papers, as well as information from two of Berger's published works, Graenum, (Hoboken:KTAV Publishing House, Inc., 1987), and Rescue the Ethiopian Jews!, (New Rochelle, NY: John Washburn Bleeker Hampton, 1996).

• April 21, 1908: Born in Gloversville, New York
• 1925: Enters New York University. Later transfers to University of Missouri
• 1928: Elopes with Emma Finestein in Missouri
• 1929: Berger's first son, Ramon, is born
• 1930 - 1932 : Attends the Graduate School of Jewish Social Work in New York
• 1932 - 1938 : Appointed Executive Director of Jewish Community Center of Staten Island
• 1938: Son, Michael Berger, is born
• 1938 - 1949 : Appointed Headworker, Bronx Settlement House
• 1949: Joins Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York as consultant for Jewish Community Centers and Camps
• 1955: Meets Ethiopian Jewish children in Kfar Batya, Israel
• 1965: Visits Jewish villages in Ethiopia. Becomes involved with Ethiopian Jewry
• 1973: Retires from Federation
• 1973: Awarded Doctor in Humane Letters from Yeshiva University
• 1974: American Association for Ethiopian Jewry formed; Berger is first President
• 1975: Revisits Ethiopia to observe conditions of Jews under the Marxist revolution
• 1978: Black Jews in America published
• 1978: Turns over AAEJ Presidency to Howard Lenhoff
• 1984: Operation Moses airlifts Ethiopian Jews from Sudan to Israel
• 1987: Autobiography Graenum published
• 1991: Operation Solomon airlifts Ethiopian Jews from Ethiopia to Israel
• 1993: AAEJ closes down upon completion of its mission
• 1996: Rescue the Ethiopian Jews! published
• March 31, 1999: Dies in New Rochelle, New York

From the guide to the Graenum Berger Papers, undated, [1825]-2002 (bulk 1923-2001), (American Jewish Historical Society)