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Baruch, Adam
the rubber shortage and to plan a solution. In 1943 he became
adviser to War Mobilization Director James Byrnes, and in
1946 he was named the U.S. representative to the United Nations
Atomic Energy Commission. In 1939 Bernard advocated
a “United States of Africa” in Uganda, as a refuge for Jews and
all victims of persecution. The founding of Israel he saw as
only a part-way solution. No Zionist, he opposed the establishment
of any state on the basis of religion, and looked upon
himself always as first an American and then a Jew. Bernard
was the formal author of the first official U.S. policy on the
control of atomic energy, which he proposed before the United
Nations on June 14, 1946. His plan called for the creation of an
International Atomic Development Authority, empowered to
universally control all dangerous uses of atomic energy and
to inspect all atomic installations. It did not prohibit atomic
weapons outright, which the Russians demanded, although
they rejected inspection. It was vetoed by the U.S.S.R. in 1948
and it was never adopted. Bernard wrote American Industry
in the War (1941), My Own Story (1957), and a sequel, Public
Years (1960).
Bibliography: SIMON: DAB; J.R. Marcus (ed.), Memoirs of
American Jews, 1775–1865, 3 (1956), 269–81; H. Simonhoff, Saga of
American Jewry, 1865–1914 (1959), 125–9; BERNARD: C. Field, Bernard
Baruch (1944); M.L. Coit, Mr. Baruch (1957), incl. bibl. Add.
Bibliography: J.A. Schwarz, The Speculator: Bernard M. Baruch
in Washington, 1917–1965 (1981); J.L. Grant, Bernard M. Baruch: The
Adventures of a Wall Street Legend (1983).
[Margaret L. Coit]
BARUCH, ADAM (1945– ), Israeli columnist, writer, and
editor. Born Baruch Rosenblum in Jerusalem to a rabbinical
family of the old Yishuv, Baruch was brought up in Ramat Gan
and educated at Midrashiyat Noam Yeshivah High School. He
studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and later
traveled extensively in the U.S. He began his journalistic career
in the art section of *Haaretz and in 1971 began writing
a personal column in *Yedioth Ahronoth. He edited Mussag,
a periodical dealing with art and culture (1974–75) and the
monthly magazine Monitin (1978–82). During the 1980s and
early 1990s Baruch served as a senior editor at Yedioth Ahronoth
and then at *Maariv and was the editor of the business
daily *Globes (1992–96). From 1997 he wrote a weekly column
in Maariv dealing with a wide range of issues but most
notably with modern interpretations of rabbinical law. The
column had a wide following in Israel and won him the Avi
Hai Prize and the Yeshayahu Leibowitz Prize. The column’s
popularity also built his image as a spiritual mentor to many
Israelis, and he became known as the admor (ḥasidic leader)
of the ḥilonim (secular Israelis).
In addition to journalism, Baruch was active in Israeli
art and photography. He was the curator of the Israeli exhibition
at the international bianale for art in Venice (1988, 1990)
and served as president of the Camera Obscura art school in
Tel Aviv (1996–2002). Among his books are “Lustig” (1984),
a political novel; an appreciation of the sculptor Yeḥi’el Shemi
(1988); “He Was a Hero” (1998), a collection of short stories;
a series of three books on contemporary Judaism and Jewish
law; and “How Are Things at Home” (2004) on Israeli
society.
[Anshel Pfeffer (2nd ed.)]
BARUCH, APOCALYPSE OF (Syriac) (abbr. II Bar.), an
apocalyptic work ascribed to Jeremiah’s scribe Baruch and
purportedly containing the visions of Baruch on the eve of
and subsequent to the destruction of Jerusalem. The work has
been preserved partly in Greek and all of it in Syriac.
Contents
Chapters 1–4: In the 25th year of Jeconiah, king of Judah, Baruch
is commanded to leave Jerusalem as its hour of destruction
has come, and as long as he and his righteous companions
are in the city, God is unable to destroy it. Baruch is
informed in a vision that the destruction will be temporary,
affecting only the earthly Jerusalem, the reflection of the heavenly
and eternal Jerusalem. Chapters 5–8: The following day
Baruch sees four angels with torches setting fire to the city at
its four corners, while a fifth angel descends and stores away
the sacred vessels of the Temple until the end of days. Chapters
9–12: After seven days Baruch is commanded to beg Jeremiah
to accompany the exiles to Babylonia, but he himself is
to remain with the ruined Temple. Baruch laments that Zion
is destroyed whereas Babylonia is preserved. Chapters 13–20:
Seven days later a mysterious voice informs Baruch that he
will survive until the end of days. Chapters 21–30: After Baruch
has fasted for seven days, the voice answers his question:
“When will the messianic age come?” He is told that it will
come in due time, but not before all the souls destined to be
born will have been created. Chapters 31–34: Baruch prophesies
to the people that the Temple will be rebuilt, destroyed
again, and once more rebuilt for all eternity. Chapters 35–41:
While Baruch sits on the ruins of the Temple, a vision is revealed
to him. He sees a forest planted in a valley and surrounded
by mountains. Opposite the forest is a vine, below
which flows a spring. Rising to a mighty stream, the spring
overturns the forest, leaving only a cedar standing, but it,
too, is soon swept away by the waters of the spring. The interpretation
of the vision is: The mountains and the forest
are four future kingdoms, the forest being the fourth one; the
spring represents the messianic age; the vine is the Messiah;
and the cedar is the last ruler of the wicked kingdom (Rome).
Chapters 42–52: Baruch goes to Hebron and after he fasts
there for seven days, he is informed by the voice that the righteous
will be resurrected at the end of days and exalted above
the angels. Chapters 53–74: In a final vision, which the angel
Ramiel explains to him, Baruch sees a cloud rising from
the sea and shedding 12 times alternately dark and bright
waters. Lightning, flashing above the black cloud, restores
the places destroyed by the dark waters. Twelve rivers arise,
but submit to the lightning. The interpretation of the vision is
as follows: The six dark waters refer to the sins of man (those
of Adam, the Egyptians, the Canaanites, Jeroboam, Manasseh,
184 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3