PAGE NINE HE DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE persecutions of his people operated, as It so often dues with many gifted ones who naturlly drift to more ample literary milieus, to bring him The recent beginning of a inf-volume back to the humble told and make its dennitive edition of the complete cantle his own. lie was, !Ike many an- works of Isaac Leibunh Perez, perhaps other consitioua of the sacrifice he the greatest name in Yiddish Meru--; thus made. but he was none the less tuN, is an event worthy of notice out • proud. aide of Jewish literary circles. The among his masterpieces stand out editor Intrusted with thief difficult and Stitt a poem as "The Sewing of the honorable task is the noted Yiddish Wedding Gown" and such a snort dramatist. David Maki. Phiski was allegory as "Pontsche the Silent." Of early associated with Perez in Russia: tile first It has been said that "if in the young man's work, at that time. !limas Flood's 'Song of the Shirt' is Perez illacerned those talents that to be compared to a tine instrament, have since produced such masterly. then this poem is a whole orchitutra, playa as "Isaac Shafted,' "The Lam from the sounds of which the walla Jew," "The Treasure," not to apeak of I of Jericho would fall.' The poem, a large number of short tales in which largely an allegorical treatment of the humble class of Jews stands re. the theme of man's inhumanity to vtialed with its peculiar mental traits. man, represents the shop of a anise- ha grubbing and its lofty aspirations. , maker, where a wedding gown is be- Perez has been recognized both in ing sewed for a fortunate woman. The America and Europe as being one of • contrast between the humble sewers the moat Important figures in any litH and the !tangelo" for whom the gown eraturek toward the end of the nine-I Is being made gives rise to a chock teenth century. "If he had written. discussion, depicting the nnhappiness nothing else but The Sewing of the ! of the seamstress and her assistants. Wedding Gown,'" said Wiener, over Notable in the poem is the tale told 2.0 years ago, in his pioneer work on by the first dressmaker, of mankind "Yiddish Literature in the Nineteenth and Labor The poet shows the rise Century," "his name would live as long! of inhuman exploitation of man by 33 there could be found people to ' man, picturing the contending forces terpret the language in which he as being in reality brothers, and sings." That noble composition. how- brings the story tip to the point ever. Is but a small part of the man's where, Influenced by evil, They fall labors. to blows. For artistic reasons, per- haps, and not wishing to pose ad a Largely Self-Educated. Ho was a native of a city whose prophet, he allows the tale to be cut name Is intimately associated with short at this point. more than one famous figure in the Prose Attainments Highest. annals of Yiddish and Hebrew litera- It is as a prime artist that Perez ture—Zamiizez, He was largely !self attained to his highest worth. To be educated, having av an early age had truthful, he is perhaps far out of the access to the library of a surgeon's reach of his people; only the most assistant. The library. by the way, cultured among the Jewish readers had been collected as the result of can follow him in his more character- the assistant's growing wealthy, and I istic 'abort. Yet it is easy to discover numbered nearly 3000 books. Meeting his tine humanism, his exemplary, all- with reverses the man stored his embracing tolerance, his vast social books away In a loft, and Perez got affection and deep sympathies. No hold of the key to the storeroom. preacher of this letter that killeth is That key literally proved his key to he; rather is he always ready to feel literature. It is said that the young the power that elvish vitality. He fellow read through the entire collec- knows his people as few writers have tion, In haphazard fashion. wading in- known theirs; he is steeped in their differently through art, poetry. and sadness. their tenderness. the tine sub- what not. A profound effect was stance of a tribe that has difficulty work upon him by the reading of )(ten in understanding itself. let alone Heine and Shelley; the first be being understood by others. He is the learned by heart. This history of his avowed enemy of all that is false in education." says Wiener. "is also the the social structure, in religious con- history of his genius. There is re- , vention, and no doubt his great use of flected In it all the subtelnesa of the the allegorical form was conditioned Talmud, the wisdom of the ancients, by the same fact that accounts for the the vparkle of Heine, the transcend- Peculiar development of the Russian ency of Shelley, the mysticism of novel; the restrictions upon free Ilauptmann. He has treated master- speech In the Russia of his day. fully the Talmudic legend. has com- His "Bontsche the Silent." to which posed in the style of the Romancero. and has carried allegory to the hIgheat reference has been made, is a simple Jew who, on reaching heaven, can degree of perfection. Perez, Indeed, might have achieved a and no greater boon to ask than the great reputation In Russian or one of certainty of receiving his hot roll and several other languages, had not the fresh butter every day. What an un- A DEFINITIVE EDITION OF PEREZ suspected depth lies beneath this min future masterpiece of allegory, social satire and human foibles: And it Is but one out of a numerous, famous company_ With Perez, Yiddish literature really acquired a position of dignity and im- portance in world-Ilterature. As it writer and thinker and human In- dividual he Is superior to many an author whose volumes have long been known in English, and trumpeted forth with all the orchestral preludes known to contemporary pUbliabing. The few pieces of his at present available in this language, by no ^Roane ,i0 him Justice, and surely give no adequate conception of the man be- hind the words. In the near future it is expected that a version of his - The Song of the Weeding Gown" will appear in English, as well as a spe- cially selected collection of prose works with adequate interpretation and illustrative comment. 'This may, perhaps, help to secure for Isaac Lei- butm Perez an appreciation on the part of the Englialtropeuking public, it recognition which, through no fault or this public. has up to date been sadly lacking. There is, in his hest work. that note of lasting human im- port which perpetuates a man's labors beyond the horizon of his own day. —The Christian Science Monitor. rr Large Discounts are rare at this store, but actual values are prominent POGROM IN ZLOTZOW Zlotzow, Galicia—Friday evening when the Jews were all congregated in the synagogue for the Sabbath service, soldiers suddenly appeared and surrounded the whole building. While the rest stood guard on the outside to catch all who might try to escape, a part of the soldiers entered the synagogue and brutally beat all the worshipers, men, women and children. The long flowing beards of the old men were torn out with the If you are in need of any davenports or living room furniture, it will pay you to see us. roots, and the aged hurled to the ground to be trampled under foot. After the carnage in the Jewish house of God, the soldiery marched to the prison, which held several peasants and soldiers, found guilty of taking part in the pogrom of two weeks ago and freed the prisoners. The police observed the whole ghastly spectacle without a single word of protest against the outrage of the law. During the savage repast, the leader of the community, Dr. Hirsh- born, attempted to pacify the loosed brutes, and to induce them to cease from their inhuman conduct. He, also, was murderously beaten mid wounded by the uniformed hoodlums. - 913 - 17 Hastings Street 77V77-777-77 OSEDENBERe l I. FURNITURE HOUSE M S iC A Store With a Conscience Convenient Credit Terms std 110 mold Smolry ■ ft Goods News For Those Furnishing The Home Food ward at Grati ot. 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