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PAGE FOUR
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Published Weekly by The Jewish Clir Wen FAlithigg
he.
Joseph J. Cummins, President and Editor
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The Detroit Jewish Chronicle Invitee correspondence on 'objects of inter”t
to the Jewish people, but diacialme reeponelbUity for no Indorsement of the
views eon...seed by the writer,.
June 20, 1924
Sivan 18, 5684
The Vilna Troupe.
The inexorable Ghetto hangs over American Jewry
with an insidious harmfulness that often makes one
despair of ever shaking this sinister, implacable influ-
ence.
Lest the impression gain currency that the whole
of Ghetto life was baleful, we wish to enter an em-
phatic disclaimer. We object only to those aspects of
the Ghetto which prevented the Jew from free expres-
sion, which restricted his legitimate occupation and
which made him a person set apart, an object of ridi-
cule and malice. Our objection goes to those phases of
Ghetto life which robbed our co-religionist of the feel-
ing of equality, of pride, of manhood and made of him
so frequently a groveler, a sychophant, a stultifier of
himself.
One feature of Ghetto life which has commendable
vigor and abounding health was revealed by the su-
perb, scintillating realism of the Vilna Troupe in the
two plays, "The Green Fields" and "Yankele, the
Blacksmith," shown at Orchestra Hall Sunday, June 15.
While we sat fascinated by the intimate pictures of
Jewish life portrayed by a cast without stars, each one
a finished, earnest artist, we could not help but com-
pare the play and the actors with the alleged American
Jewish drama, with its insistence upon molasses-drip-
ping apology and the constant fear that the Gentile
might find that the Jew has violent emotions and is
guilty of excesses or weakness. The Jew is course-
grained, lecherous and brutal as often as he is sweet,
- virtuous and refined. The Yiddish dramatist and the
Yiddish actor, when depicting the Yiddish life in his
own way, with his own language, gives every nuance,
every reality, shocking to some tender souls, but strong
meat and drink for those robust souls who are not
afraid of the truth.
As one who sat there transfixed during the perfor-
mance told us, "I closed my eyes and imagined I heard
the speech and incidents of much of my childhood."
Just as that other group of realists, the Moscow Art
Theater, conveyed reality so strikingly by their sheer
ability and artistry so did this troupe from Vilna charm
and capture one's whole attention so that the theater
was forgotten and one became a spectator in an all-
absorbing happening which was taking place.
When will American Jewry live with such intensity,
sincerity and belief in itself that will enable it to pro-
duce such plays and such actors? How can we be other
than reluctant to give up such delights as we experien-
ced from the Vilna Troupe and the plays of Perez
IIirshbein and David Pinsky? No one would ask the
Germans, French or Italians to give up their master
works in their own tongue. Not even the most fanatic
and iconclast world language advocate would ask that
a people relinquish those artistic forms which enable us
to fully envisage their inmost life.
When shall we create an American Jewish Drama
worthy of the name? When shall we develop a group
of interpreters of American Jewish life who shall stir
us as did the Vilna Troupe? When that day comes we
shall have attained our majority, we shall have learned
how to stand erect and no longer seek to please our
Christian neighbors at the expense of truth. Who can
say that it is not excruciatingly painful to be always
posing as angelic?,
Before ending this appreciation we want to make
mention of the fact that Detroit Jewry is indebted to
Messrs. Pearl and Cogut for bringing the Vilna Troupe
to our city. They planted their feet stubbornly and
insisted that Detroit Jewry attend the showing of Yid-
dish drama here throughout the winter. which has
afforded much pleasure to those who understand best
the inimitable idiom of their own childhood.
Not So Good.
1-1%1
Nt- r
in either country. how many Jewish congressmen
have been elected from our Jewish constituencies?
Most of our congressmen come from the centers of Jew-
ish majorities, with a rare exception here and there.
Furthermore, the charge cannot be brought against
our co-religionists, especially in England, that they are
less Jewish. If anything, they are more decidedly Jew-
ish and stress the fact much more than we do here.
The reasons obtrude themselves in America which
to us are rather persuasive. These account in a great
measure for our poor showing in a field where we
should be recognized and wanted. The first fact, un-
palatable though it may be to many, is that we do not
actually possess the confidence in ourselves. Our con-
stant shouting from the housetops of our pride in our
Jewishness is more in the nature of shouting in the
clark to allay our fears. We have not won the regard
and respect of the non-Jewish elements because we do
not have the necessary regard and respect for our-
selves. That robust pride and feeling of equality which
characterizes the Jew in English public life is here con-
spicuously absent. We have carried into our lives much
of the inferiority attitude, the sufferance complex of
the Ghetto. Surely it is not a stigma which nothing can
wash out. But for the good of our political souls we
must recognize facts before we can proceed to correct
the weaknesses from which we suffer.
On the 'other hand the trouble lies also in the atti-
tude of those who participate in political life in Amer-
ica. The political system based upon trade, compro-
mise and favoritism, an arrangement purely practical,
from which condition has grown the term political
politics, has been in a large measure responsible for
the unfavorable public position of our brothers. A
Jew is selected in New York City or Chicago because
he can be elected, The Jewish candidate can carry the
non-Jew on the same ticket, but if the racial favorite
cannot do this he is not chosen as a candidate.
Not long ago a howl went up when Israel Zangwill
suggested that we vote racially while all the while we
and all other groups in America were voting on racial
and religious lines to an extent unkaown in Europe. If
anything, we were suffering from racial religious vot-
ing, but in our fear of facts we jumped with all our feet
upon one who suggested that we do that which we were
doing overmuch.
In the recent immigration legislation in Congress
we really played a pathetically weak part, and who
with an honest mind is not aware of it. We want more
congressmen and we should have some senators. The
appeal to the citizenry must be made not upon race
lines but upon the basis of distinguished public service
as citizens of the country. It is not our intent to wait
until the whole fabric of American political practice is
changed. In the now and here we must rid ourselves
of the Ghetto ghosts of servility. We must shed the
clothes of favoritism and compromise and offer our-
selves to the electorate with a high regard for ourselves
and an equally high regard for the service we are to
perform.
European Jewry must often laugh up its sleeve
when it hears of our loud trumpetings. It is almost
time that we stopped tooting our own horns and ad-
dressed ourselves to the task of making our achieve-
ments compare with our claims.
"Isms" or Judaism?
Louis Marshall speaking at a dinner given on the
occasion of the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Jewish
Publication Society of America, said, "The Jews of Am-
erica have tried all kinds of 'isms' except one—and that
is Judaism." We take it that this was a rhetorical ges-
ture and not to be taken literally, but it yet contains an
accusation against American Jewry which we hope
were true, at least in part. Have the Jews of America
tried all kinds of "isms"? Have they even been interes-
ted in all kinds of "isms"? We would like to say yes
to both these queries but with the facts as we know
them we are compelled to answer in the negative.
It would be a splendid Jewry indeed if it tried, or
were interested in, all kinds of "isms". One must have
a definite, cultivated and intellectual outlook to be in-
terested in an "ism"; it means an awareness to the ex-
istence of social, economic, political and cultural prob-
lems if one is really captured by an "ism."
The facts prove rather conclusively that the vast
majority of our people have had no interest in the
problems above numerated. They have been interests
ed to an alarming extent in purely material things, in
pleasures, ostentation and to a rather depressing de-
gree in aping many of the worst features of American
life.
One fact which has particularly impressed us since
the close of the war and the Balfour Declaration is the
large number of our brothers who had played with
"isms" and who came back to Judaism by the way of
Zionism or the cultural attractions of Judaism. A sur-
prisingly large number who had participated in the
Russian Revolution of 1905 can today be found in the
vanguard of Judaism. These people were interested
in an "ism," but in the clash of rivalries and hatreds
and in the competition of cultures they re-discovered,
or discovered in many cases for the first time, that
Judaism had as much to commend it as had the "isms"
which had captured their fancy and intellect.
Our complaint against American. Jewry is that it
has not tried enough "isms," not to mention enough Ju-
daism, If they will try these "isms" often enough and
many, we will then know that they have become intel•
lectually awakened.
It is a moral certainty that once intellectually
aroused through the instrumentality of some "ism"
many of them will go through the identical process of
disillusionment which has brought so many of our ab-
lest leaders and thinkers back to Judaism.
Frankly we would much rather have a Jewry para.
mountly interested in "isms" rather than one whose
main interests and diversions were mah jongg, bridge
and drinking parties. If we have suffered from an
overdose of anything, it is an overindulgence in the
flesh and a starvation of the spirit.
The recent elections in France returned 14 Jews to
the House of Deputies. The House of Comr•ons has 12
Jews among its members. Our own 'loos , . of Repre-
sentatives has but a bare 11 of our co-religionists. On
the face of it there is nothing startling in this apparent-
ly innocuous information but when one realizes that
France and England combined do not have one-quarter
of the Jewish population of the United Stilt ;(1 have
returned to the highest legislative bodies m ire than
twice the number of representatives, it does 1.1.1icate a
rather unsatisfactory and unhealthy conditioo both in
American Jewry and in American political
Even on the basis of proportional repre. ;dation in
the Unted States we should have more representatives
and three senators in the Senate. In the per body
we have none today. If we were satisfied ; accept
things and seek no casual connections we would pass by
this as an uncomplimentary state of affairs We how-
ever cannot do so, for the integration of Jewry in Amer-
ican life becomes a more insistent matter with each
passing day.
The three countries, England, France and the Uni-
ted States, are selected for the comparison because of
the absence of official anti-Semitism, which fact elimi-
nates at the outset a difficulty which of itself may be
able to explain the disparity.
We have indulged in S3 much self-gratulation upon
our achievements when we are given equal opportuni- When the late lamented Barnum said "a sucker
ties that we fail to examine the facts. This fact may was born every minute" he did not contemplate the
really have a sobering' effect after the spree of self- America of the K. K. K. in 1924. In the Senate, argu-
satisfaction is ended. ing of frauds connected with the election of Senator
Why have our co-religionists in Greater Britain, with Mayfield of Texas, testimony was given that the In-
a Jewish population of less than 300,000, returned 12 pedal Household at Atlanta has a weekly payroll of
members and in France, with even a smaller number, $75,000 to $80,000. Think of it, $4,000,000 a year for
returned 14? Surely the Jews themselves did not elect lynching, tar and feathers and Nordic superiority. A
them by their own votes. If they had relied upon their really outrageous price even in a country used to ab-
own votes they could not have elected a single member (bormal expenditures.
4:SattrZT<Z,
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-46
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Concerning the Selection of a Cantor
AS WE GO
ALONG
Five Years.
N half a decade Detroit Jews have
won a position of prominence in
the sphere of American Jewish edu-
cation. In these five years they suc-
ceeded in developing a system of re-
ligious ()titivation that is marked by
efficiency of management, acceptable
pedagogic methods and a point of
view that considers the problem of ed-
ucation from every angle. The report
of the president of the United He-
brew Schools and of the superinten-
dent, which was outlined in last
week's issue of The Detroit Jewish
Chronicle, testifies to surprisingly
significant achievements.
In o city in which the doctrine of
communal integration is only begin-
ning to assert itself, it is interesting
to a degree to learn that there has
been built up a system of Jewish
training which is headed by a discern-
ing educator, manned by a devoted
board of directors and embracing 1700
girls and boys who are taught by corn-
petent teachers. These) 1700 pupils
are given a well-rounded Hebrew and
Jewish education. The words Hebrew
and Jewish are used to indicate that
emphasis is properly placed both on
the philological and the religious and
cultural aspect of the curriculum.
Consisting of four schools in vari-
ous parts of the city, the system boasts
of two large, modernly equipped
school buildings that would do credit
to any forward-looking system of ed-
ucation. And the program of the
United Hebrew Schools is far from
completed.
If there is one man who may be said
to reflect the desire of this commun-
ity to possess a thorough Jewish edu-
cational system, that man is F. Ra-
binowitz, the president of the United
Hebrew Schools. A man of culture
and of scholarly interests, always at
the service of the cause to which he
has dedicated his life, directing the
energies of his organization to the
point where every Jewish boy and girl
in the city eventually, and more speed-
ily than most people suspect, will re-
ceive an education that will prepare
him and her for the Jewish life—such
a man is Mr. Rabinowitz.
Were a list drawn up of the small
group of significant men who consti-
tute the mainspring of inspiration
and action in Detroit Jewry, the name
of this man would be found on that
list.
I
Charity.
7E find it necessary to impress
VY young people with the fact that
no one can lay claim to culture—no
matter how that term may be defined
—unless he is able to deal with his
neighbor in a spirit of fairness. The
sweet reasonableness which we asso-
ciate with the manner of the cultured
man and woman is easily attained by
most persons. Only those in whom
nature has instilled a chronic harsh-
ness lack the means of cultivating the
art of dealing charitably with their
associates, particularly in activities
of a social and cultural nature, in
which the personal element has no ex-
cuse for raising its head. Even-tem-
pered deference and genuine give-and-
take are the props upon which cultur-
ed persons may securely build the edi-
fice of character.
It is a source of sorrow for us to
insist that to bring mental discomfort
to a person out of sheer maliciousness
to put it mildly, reprehensible. One
of the offenses which the Jewish sages
have ranked with the major moral
sins is the offense which consists of
bringing one's neighbor into ridicule.
The fine sensitiveness of our rabbis
well might be patterned by young men
and women of this day and age whom
conceit has soured and who have been
marred by an exaggerated sense of
their cleverness,
Vladimir.
V
r LADIMIR JABOTINSKY looks
V like a poet from the Bohemian
quarter in Paris or an artist who
paints freakish cubist pictures in a
rear-garret in Greenwich Village. But
he talks like a D'Annunzio or a de
Valera primed for action. When he
opens his mouth (and it is an elo-
quent organ, we are told) ardent
speech issues forth. The author of
the Jewish Legion idea wants a num-
ber of things and wants them urgent-
ly and forthwith. First, he asks that
a Jewish legion be organized to po-
lice the Palestine situation; and, W-
end, he calls upon the World Zionist
Organization to return to the political
state theory of Theodor Herzl. Ile is
quite dissatisfied with the prosy man-
ner in which Jewish work in Palestine
is being carried on. He is the mar-
tial, belligerent spirit. To win success
slowly, through the numerous details
of education, upbuilding and adjust-
ment, is despicable.
A Jewish state, a Jewish army, a
Jewish regent. ihese are terms that
gladden the heart of Jabotinsky. Sug-
gestions are in order as to the panop-
ly in which Vladimir should appear
when he assumes charge of the mar.
tial hosts of Israel. Who is better
PaIest
anhie to direct
wab e
Palestine Jewry?
the war ry machine in than
Wasn't he a lieutenant in the Legion,
r was it the office of top-sergeant
d
distinguished
with such
t that
suacct he , held
By AAV HAMON GOYIM
No greater calamity can befall a
congregation than the passing from
the scene, in one another of the ways
n which circumstance shapes the fate
of human beings, of a cantor. This is
especially true of a congregation
whose religious lift) is not deemed
complete without the edifying influ-
ence of cautorial art. The task of
choosing candidates for the American
Presidency assumes nn itSpell of juve.
site simplicity compared to the ordeal
which precedes the election of a new
"messenger of the congregation." A
congregation which knows what it
wants needs must undergo the throes
as of the founding of a new social or-
der before it fully satisfies itself that
it has chosen properly and wisely both
from the strictly musical and the es-
sentially human or social point of
view. factors contributing, to the ag-
onizing process are not a few. First
of all, of course, is the fact that toda y
no enlightened
' congregation (and
what congregation having a solid and
affluent membership does not consider
itself enlightened?) desires anything
but the best which the cantorial situa-
tion offers. Secondly, there is the fact
which can have escaped none but the
most unobservant, and that is that in
a congregation of, let us say, a mem-
bership of 200 there are at least 175
who esteem themselves consummate
judges of the art of music. There are
other elements in the situation which
we might undertake to discuss, but
compared to those mentioned, particu-
larly the second, they are of secondary
importance, such as, for example, the
physical attractiveness of the candi-
date, his social status, his ability or
lack of ability to make himself liked
by the community he is to serve or
those who, as it were, reflect or repre-
sent the community.
Before we proceed further into our
inquiry we may indicate briefly what
the "ideal chazan" ought to be, as we
gather from those who from time to
time let fall their views in the matter.
The "ideal chazan" must be a young
man, on the sunnier side of 45, mar-
ried and personally pleasing, heroical-
ly molded, faultless from a tonsorial
standpoint, able to wear a high silk
hat with the composure of the born
aristocrat and, in the winter time, to
appear in an expensive fur-lined coat,
in the manner of a Russian (speaking
in terms of the remote past) nobleman
accustomed to Parisian life and know-
ing all the requirements of Chester-
field ian dress.
Added to the purely personal attrac-
tiveness must come a decorous Jewish-
ness, a discriminating dignity, per-
haps a suggestion of the man of schol-
arly equipment. We understand, how-
ever, that no undue insistence is wast-
ed upon these qualifications, provided
the aspirant shows that, in addition to
being a likeable man personally, he
possesses all the attributes which war-
rant a cantor to be regarded with re-
spect. In other words, a cantor must
be an exceptional artist if he is to
please a congregation such as we have
pictured to ourselves, a congregation
and one-half percent of the mem-
bership of which might, if commission-
ed to do so, give a critical review of
a cantor's art with an assurance
which a James Iluneker, an II. E.
Krehbiel or an IL T. Finek would as-
sert when reporting a symphony con-
cert, a performance at the Metropoli-
tan Opera House or a recital by a
Carus() or a Sembrich.
A singing people, we have found, is
a brutally frank people. The Jew be-
ing a musical individual, assuredly
musical when at prayer, and demon-
strably musical if he uses Hebrew as
his vehicle for supplication, as the vast
majority of Jews who pray continue to
do, he is not slow in making known
whether the cantor, who aspires for
the precentorial vacancy, pleases him
or not. If it is a ease of thumbs
down, the fact is communicated to the
alert listener's neighbor. And since
every alert listener's neighbor is just
as much an alert listener, hanging
on every outburst of melodious beauty
or shrugging his shoulder should the
cantor's efforts fail to please, no one
in the entire congregation need be in
doubt as to what the rest of the wor-
shippers think.
The points of departure in the opin-
ions of the congregants sitting in
judgment are many. One resents the
cantor's high notes, if he resorts to
them frequently, as a lugty tenor will.
Another will wince at the singer's
repetitious style or his inordinate use
of the falsetto, which in this era of Jo-
sef Rosenblatt seems quite the vogue.
Still another will declare that, while
the cantor possesses a good voice, he
lacks control over it and can lay no
claim to a mastery of the fine art of
Jewish liturgical bet canto, the diffi-
cult art of chazanuth. These stric-
tures, let us hasten to say, by no
,
THE JEWISH WOMAN
By Dr. Maurice H. Harris.
The woman of the past played a
passive part in life; her fate was
made for her. Yet often she was "the
power behind the throne" and exercis-
ed unseen influence through her per-
sonality. The Bible presents a Debor-
ah, who inspired the general to face
his country's enemies, like the later
Joan of Arc; it depicts "the wise worn-
an of Telco*" who counselled a king;
and a Mullah, who decided the author-
ity of the Law.
Contrasts between ancient and mod-
ern women reveal suggestive compari-
sons. The Shunemite woman set aside
a chamber for the use of the Prophet
Elisha. High rents today have emas-
culated the home and robbed life of
the opportunity of hospitality. The
kitchenette, servantless home compels
resort to the restaurant. This has tak-
en away those delightful sentiments
that cluster around the family table;
this also may have its moral reaction.
Woman has had a long struggle for
rights against cruel inequalities of
the law and harsh social conventions.
The suffrage finally attained is the
symbol of woman's emancipation. Is
she making the most of that finally
attained opportunity? I do not par-
ticularly note it in the women I see
with painted faces, so that one can 110
longer tell "where nature leaves off
and art begins." Are the young wom-
en in college, or out, using the new
freedom wisely—among whom mod-
esty is one of the lost arts—whose
break from parental control in spite
of fine names given to it about self-
expression, affinities, and what not—
is at times carried to the degree of
heartlessness.
Turning to the higher classes, I find
that girls of 14 in the afternoons are
playing bridge and mah jong for mon-
ey, while their mothers are idly loll-
ing in material indulgence. Turning
to the lower classes, in my recent visit
to the Women's Division of the Work
House on Welfare Island, I saw a
group of drug addicts, courtesans and
thieves, with faces hardened, dissipat-
ed and debased.
The freedom of equality for which
we have so long struggled, is ours at
last, There is no fear of the Inquisi-
tion to prevent fulfillment of the obli-
gations of Judaism, nor are we forced
to live in a Ghetto, or to wear a badge
upon our gabardine. Yet there are
still many Maranos among those who
should be the witnesses of God.
The Wandering Jew
I am the son of the ages,
Defier of rack and stake;
The storm that uproots and that rages
Can only bend me, not break.
I am the wordless struggler
With man for man's re-birth;
I am Prometheus—the smuggler
Of heaven's fire on earth.
Government.
E same government which was
1. about to hand over to one man
the saliently vital wealth represented
by Muscle Shoals, and almost permit-
ted itself to be robbed of its oil re-
serves, is the government which,
though presidential fiat, refuses a liv-
ing wage to the postal force and, as
a result of incompetence, allows in-
valided veterans to live amid condi-
tions requiring thorough cleaning up.
Only recently Major General Hines
was called upon to investigate charges
that in one of the training schools
food was prepared in dirty utensils
and that the barracks are never scrub-
bed. Government seems to concern
itself with big things only (we shall
not say how successfully), leaving
such trifles as a decently treated pos-
tal service and efficient treatment of
incapacitated soldiers go by the board.
The ways of government are puzzling,
are they not?
.26,, N.
I
means exhaust the points of view ex-
pressed concerning the candidate--
cantor's method of singing.
The critics conic from all parts of
the community. Just let it be announ-
ced that a cantor will officiate and the
authorities on the art of chazanuth
will appear in numbers legion, their
critical ears brandished for summary
judgment, be it hyperbolic praise or
sniffling ridicule. No Jew need deem
the lack of a musical education or
training in harmony and appreciation
an occasion for withholding definite
judgment as to the art of the aspiring
cantor.
A Yiddish song which has all the
ear-marks of a folk song, because of
its sagacious reflection of the peculiar
spirit of the eastern European Jew,
is the song which tells how a number
of Jews react to the singing of an
itinerant cantor. The tailor interprets
the chazan's efforts in terms of the
needle and the pressing-iron, and the
blacksmith evaluates them as a black-
smith would, hearing in mind the in-
struments of his own art (and why
should a blacksmith feel ashamed of
his craft, if he he a competent work-
man)—the hammer and the anvil.
That song, which possesses the incis-
ive qualities of a ballad, signifies the
quite universal penchant of the Jew-
ish mind, the tendency towards merci-
less criticism, be the basis for the crit-
icism what it may. The cantor who
conies to a modern synagogue in a
modern American city must subject
himself to the pitiless judgment of the
tailor, the blacksmith and the hundred
and one masters of other arts and
crafts.
Literary history tells us that in the
days of the great English poet, Keats,
something over 100 years ago, Black-
wood's Magazine and the Edinburgh
Review found particular pleasure in
ridiculing the efforts of Keats and
others of the younger school of his
day. Reference is not infrequently
made that the short life of Keats was
"snuffed out by a review." If a mag-
azine somehow could be established to
concern itself exclusively with the art
and practice of chazanuth, there would
be no difficulty at all to secure for it a
perfect editor.
I am the Peddler who barters
And pays with life for faith ;
I am the son of martyrs
Who conquered life through death.
I am the Nations' riddle—
Homeless in thousand homes;
When Homes are burning—my fiddle
Is playing the tune of new Romeo.
I am a book whose pages
Are written in blood and in flame,
I am the son of the Ages—
The Wandering Jew is my name!
P. bf. RASKIN
re.
A, • ,bra, Vear,..10, • Ma
Telh'
• •