History of the Buttons of the Jewish Defense League

[kahaneloyalist]

http://www.hakolhayehudi.com/wherever-there-is-jewish-pain-buttons-of-the-jewish-defense-league/

For the Jews of Eastern Europe, America was the Golden Land. Offering unparalleled personal and professional opportunity, America was the antithesis to the relentless persecution and discrimination in the Europe they fled.

Jews embraced America and were welcomed by it. They took full advantage of the sense of fair-play and merit-based opportunity and thrived both in financial and social arenas.

However, increased acceptance also meant abundant opportunity for assimilation and intermarriage. Many Jews became American and at the same time lost their unique Jewish identity and sense of kinship with other Jews. This phenomenon became so prevalent that in 1964, Look Magazine featured an article entitled “The Vanishing American Jew”. (1)

Also in the 1960’s American society in general was undergoing great upheaval as ethnic and racial groups began to militantly agitate for a greater share of prosperity. One response of all levels of government to this was to institute quota systems. The goal was to guarantee proportional representation in such middle class jobs as civil service and teaching regardless of merit. Jews accounted for a large proportion in these professions and their numbers were significantly reduced by quotas.

Additionally, changing city demographics led younger and more affluent Jews to move to the suburbs. Left behind to fend for themselves were many poor and elderly Jews and Jewish shopkeepers; all were constant and easy prey for criminals.

These were some of the reasons Rabbi Meir Kahane founded the Jewish Defense League (JDL) in Brooklyn, New York in 1968. Rabbi Kahane was born in Brooklyn in 1932 to an Orthodox rabbinical family. He received rabbinical ordination in 1957 from the prestigious Brooklyn-based Mirrer Yeshiva. By his own admission, Rabbi Kahane was indelibly influenced by the Holocaust and the lack of any significant outcry on the part of American Jewry while it was taking place. (2)

The philosophical underpinning of the JDL was traditional Judaism. Thus each initiative was an expression of Jewish values and concepts. This button succinctly illustrates several of these concepts.

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Transliterated from Hebrew (above): Bitachon Yisroel- faith in the indestructibility of the Jewish People; Ahavat Yisroel- love of one’s fellow Jew; Hadar Yisroel- pride in one’s Jewish identity; Barzel Yisroel – the strength to be strong and to stand alone if necessary; Mishmaat Yisroel- discipline and Jewish unity, the pain of one Jew should be felt by all Jews. (3)

This button and the examples that follow features the JDL’s iconic slogan, “Never Again”. This did not mean a Holocaust would not be repeated, rather that there would never again be a lack of a militant response to any threats to Jewish survival. (4)
Screen Shot 2015-11-29 at 6.56.33 PMMost of the buttons also feature the well-known square clenched fist within a Star of David. This logo was introduced in 1969. The initial emblem was a Star of David within a shield with the letters JEDEL on it. (5) These buttons have not been seen.

Because it is difficult to pin down (pun intended) the exact date of many JDL buttons all featured in this article are circa 1970’s.

As the JDL became more nationally known and gained more supporters, it turned its’ growing resources to the problem of Soviet Jewry.

From the time of the Bolshevik Revolution it was State policy that Jews in the USSR were not allowed to practice their faith, learn Hebrew or even openly identify as Jews without fear of reprisal including exile to a gulag. Emigration was almost non-existent and those who dared to apply for visas to Israel were labeled enemies of the State.

Seeking to publicize Soviet Jewry’s misery, the JDL undertook provocative actions meant to garner maximum media attention as well as terrorize the Russians. One of these actions, planting bombs at the Soviet trade agency Amtorg in New York in April 1971, resulted in the indictment and trial of seven JDL members. (6)

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This button was produced as the case went to trial in February 1972 to gain support for the accused.
On June 15, 1970, a group of 11 Soviet citizens, among them a Jewish woman named Sylva Zalmanson, tried to escape the USSR by hijacking a plane leaving Leningrad Airport. The group was caught with several sentenced to death. Sylva was sentenced to 10 years in the Potma Gulag labor camp. She contracted Tuberculosis there, was refused medical care, and was dying. In desperation her uncle Avraham, who lived in Israel, contacted Rabbi Kahane. From that point, the JDL made Sylva Zalmanson the embodiment of the 3 million anonymous Jews still trapped in Russia. (7)

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This button (above) was issued by the JDL to publicize a large rally held for her on November 7, 1971. The image was adapted from a 1968 drawing of her by Russian-Jewish artist Yosef Kuzkovsky. The campaign was so successful that Rabbi Kahane received a letter from one of the members of the Attica Liberation Faction offering to be transferred to the Soviet Union in exchange for the Jewish prisoner! ( Today Sylva Zalmanson is an artist and lives in Israel.

Ideologically Communism and Nazism are deadly enemies. On the Jewish Question however, they become bosom friends. As the one worldview threatened Jews in Russia, so did the other in America. A resurgence of neo-Nazism in the late 1970’s prompted the JDL to begin a campaign against it. Of course this campaign included buttons.

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The first (above) is in stark black and white, reflecting its’ somber subject matter. It features the devastating photograph of the Nazi liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto. The text is adapted from the admonition in Deuteronomy 25:17-19. The verses concern the Jews’ eternal enemy which manifests in every generation. (9) According to Marshall Levin, this button was released in March 1978.

The graphic on the next button has an interesting origin. button9aThe image is an adaptation of this cartoon (right) which appeared in “Judaism Without Embellishment” published by the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (sic) in Kiev, 1963. (10)

The JDL artist who turned this graphic on its’ head bluntly illustrated the groups’ approach toward Nazis (below).

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In 1971, Rabbi Kahane and his family moved to Israel where he promptly opened the Israeli branch of the JDL. This button (below) was produced to publicize this event. The text at the top translates to “Jewish Defense League”, the bottom text means, “Never Again”.

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In 1973 the Rabbi ran for the eighth Knesset under the auspices of the JDL. These two buttons (below) were some of the many produced for that effort.

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The text on the button with the contemporary photo of Rabbi Kahane (top left) reads from top to bottom “Kahane to the Knesset” “Vote League”. The second text-only button reiterates the statement on the first button, “Vote League Kahane to the Knesset”. All subsequent election attempts by Rabbi Kahane took place under the auspices of his Kach Movement. Thus these two buttons represent his earliest attempt to enter the Knesset.

Because of the continued failures on the battlefield, Israel’s enemies used different tactics to defeat her. One of these was the promotion of the “Palestine” concept. To counter this propaganda the JDL started the “There Is No Palestine” initiative in January 1975. (11) It consisted of rallies, demonstrations, and of course, buttons.

Screen Shot 2015-11-29 at 7.05.18 PMThe curl notes a JDL issue (above). Even so the address alone is indicative of a JDL button. 1133 Broadway was used by the JDL from 1974 on and I have several buttons issued by JDL front-groups which carry this address.

Also in 1975, the United Nations approved a resolution equating Zionism with racism. In response the JDL produced this button (below):

button14JDL member, Gene Singer, designed the button and photos exist which show Rabbi Kahane wearing it. (12) This button is part of a subgroup which I call the “hidden” buttons of the JDL. In other words, I have found many which have no obvious JDL connection, but which are, in fact, JDL issue. Included with these “hidden” buttons are ones produced for JDL front-groups. But that is another article for another time.

Throughout his life, Rabbi Kahane used many methods in trying to reach his fellow Jews. Buttons were one very important medium he used. If it can be said that “the medium is the message” then buttons served as a vital link in the transmission of that message.

I would like to acknowledge and thank Ted Hake for providing me with the majority of the buttons found in this article. Without him, this project would not have been possible.

Sarah E. Kaden