A merkam yewish Periodical CeNter CLIPTON AVENUE - CINCINNATI a% 011110 Detroit Jewish chronicle ey ol- 1r- to er is or p- er Y. ne- cal the rk. at een and the of lilt ns: of em- rish res- of and vish can rd fiber ion- ica; nth, for "is- reek f a men ing Ad- 27, the 0 held rom- oard the at- met nuel orris 0 and The Legal Chronicle SECTION TWO 10e Single Copy: $3.00 Per DETROIT, MICHIGAN, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1943 VOL. 45. NO. 52 Year PEARL HARBOR ANNIVERSARY AND CHANUKAH (Page from the Diary of a Jewish Soldier) By DAVID ZAGIER inclined to reserve further judg- ments. The nature of some of these foreign privates is unfathomable. CHANUKAH LIGHTS . . . . FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM •• K. P. in Camp Chaffee is a vacation with pay. Work begins at six and ends s c aet seven, 13 hours of oul rs normal k 19 of hard labor. And they call you in alphabetical order instead of catching you like a stray dog in company area. The K. P. pusher Anniversary of Pearl Harbor, its variations in caliber, eleva- does not repeat "on the double" but the U. S. Army in wartime tion, range of effectiveness and every four and a half seconds, is a deadly serious institution, power of repercussion. The corn- like a delirious parrot, but pitches neither taking out thousand-year parison may be flogged a touch in, so he could get off early and mortgages on history, nor given to further, in that both in artillery write memorandums to his bride observing occasions. A little touch and in snoring, none of the above in Delancey Street. His name is of grimness in the faces, perhaps, is necessarily dependent on the Winterman, bless him. But it is a suspicion of extra punch in the noise or size of the piece. We still K. P. counting of cadence, maybe, and have big fellows who snore so At four o'clock, I was just sett- a brief reference in the chapel softly, you could hardly hear them ling down to my second sack of sermon, but no more. Altogether, five beds away, and we have little spuds, a messenger called me to the hallmark of the work here, men who keep the noncoms awake the orderly room. Headquarters— even in the Fourteenth Armored nights in their private rooms. I suspect the PRO—wanted to Division up the hill, is not vicious Some loud snorers have less pene- know whether I'd represent the en- hate but a peculiar brand of tration, while some low-pitched listed men at tonight's bond rally American detachedness. They seem whining ones get to the very mar- in Fort Smith and make a radio to be preparing to kill Germans row. In the case of Private Kurt speech. I said yes, but I am on K. P. They said, yest they knew, not in an intense but in an effi- K., he is the owner of a style cient sort of way. The mass pro- that has ravaging effects because but they could get me off. And I duction trait. of its irregular meter, the ele- said, all right. The guy from Albany, New ment of psychological surprise, so The name of the station to which I was transferred directly York, does not like one solitary to say. Number 1945 calls him from K. P. was K.F.P. thing about this army. He griped Big Bertha, meaning that he is * * • before the buck-toothed blonde tremendous and sporadic. My luck Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath, director of the Union of American even at the USO party tonight. He was landed me between Diego, a tiny Hebrew Congregations, kindles the Lights of Freedom in the festival My fear that hat the fellows would being celebrated in the synagogues. The Menorah Candel- visit puhment on me because of sloppy, shifty, with the profile of fat Mexican who snores like a currently a saloon anarchist of forty years prehistoric mammoth, and a • brum designed by Reuben Leaf, a distinguished Jewish artist of this spot of apple-polishing was ago, and his words came in a lazy, Prague refugee who doubles for New York, embodies the Palestinian grapevine motif, surmounted unjustified. They fed me on ice turgid stream. The chow, he said, the ram's horn in his slumbers by "the little cruse of oil that burned for seven days". The Shield cream and wined me on cokes to was rotten; the shoes (lid not fit and whose name is Werther of the Maccabees bears the inscription Who is like unto thee, Lord, celebrate my return from Fort among the mighty". Smith, until I could take no more. and that's why he did not shine Defense measures against Wer- But while I was gorging myself them; and he did not want to live denizen is Tani, the Maltese, but on the fare of P. X., I missed longer. It took a long while the\ were easy to come by, for seat, fully dressed from fatigue any before I realized that that was his he is a good friend of mine and cap to leggings, and snoring freely. he keeps himself enthroned for chapel and the gift packages, peculiar way of courting, like generally meek. Whenever it gets The boys say that he had been the purpose of reading him hym- which Chaplain Seligson distribut- some animal whose name I for- really bad, I wake him. While he doing it for three nights now, nal and telling his beads. I used ed the same evening on behalf of get, by smell. When she finally is awake, I fall asleep. With just to give us a chance to get to condemn his misplaced pious- the Chanukah committee of the ness, but in view of the lesson I Kansas City Jewish women of gave him the cold shoulder, the Diego it was more problematic. some sleep. Schopenhauerian trooper turned Diego is showing Latin temper, al- Another semi-permanent latrine learned in the case of Diego, I am the USO. My Jewish buddies fl aunte d . his attack against the USO vie- though he has a rotund, angelic face and smiles most of the day, their "Chanukah money" before tuals. I saw him stuff his pockets and I don't care to cross him. me. Men like Louis Holz, who wins full of chocolate layer cake and or loses ten dollars in blackjack was convinced that he was not Trusting to the angel that must be with equal amusement, or like going to commit suicide, after all. somewhere in him, I reverted to Farbman, the Galacian oil man, We have them of this kind, too, stratagem. I made is a point every morning to report to Diego who still carries on a big busi- but not many. that the snorers are causing the ness through his lawyers in Hous- * • tortures of the soul—not he, Diego, ton, showed off the gifts of tooth- Snoring may have caused more mind you, but the snorers, in plu- paste and candy like excited chil- cases of AWOL than the prospect ral. My cunning bore fruit, but By SOLOMON KERSTEIN dren. Even our athiest went to of an eight-day problem or the instead Of being sweet, it was em- chapel on this occasion. Few of irresistable charms of girl friends. On the threshold of the New E. Bloch, son of the founder, us, foreigners, get anything from barrassing. Had I been assured of a solitary Year, 5704, with our hearts and transferred the business to New Early today, I had occasion to souls filled with hope and prayer York City in 1901. He was known home, because few of us have cell in the guardhouse, I might homes, but we like to receive pack- rise for a four o'clock detail and have gone over the hill myself, for victory and peace through the as "the dean of Jewish publish- ages no less than the boy from for barracks number 1945 has far found Diego's bunk empty. Down- United Nations, it is notable to Kalamazoo or Willow Springs. See CULTURE—Page 4 more than its fair share of snores. stairs, in the latrine, poor Jaime record for American Israel a sig- like field artillery, snoring has Diego was sound asleep on the nificant chapter relative to Jewish cultural life in America. This Rosh H ashonah brought to a close ninety years of the oldest Jew- ish publishing . firm in this coun- try, known the world over as the Bloch Publishing Company. The mere mention of its name reminds one of the days of pioneering in the dissemination of Jewish books. Its name stands for the cham- pionship of Jewish culture in America. In the realm of Anglo- Jewish literature "Bloch" tells the story of a sacred mission under- taken nine decades ago by two men to make Jewish books in all languages available to the "Peo- ple of the Book" as well as to Upon This Occasion We Take This others. In 1854, in the city of Cincin- nati, Edward Bloch and Rabbi Opportunity to Extend Our Best Isaac M. Wise, brothers-in-law, founded the printing and publish- Wishes to the Entire Jewish ing firm called Bloch & Co. It began by publishing the early Community for a Joyous Jewish periodicals in this coun- try, among them the "American Israelite," "Die Deborah," the Holiday I "Chicago Israelite," and the "Re- form Advocate." In the early 60's the Bloch firm undertook the publication of prayer books, Bibles, and Hebrew- English textbooks for religious schools. Notable was the "Min- hag America" prepared by Isaac M. \Vise for Reform congrega- tions and in later years litur- igical works as the "Sabbath, Fes- tival and Holyday Book" for con- servative use and the "Standard 1528 Prayer Book" and "Standard Machzor" for Orthodox use, first American editions based on the CLOTH COATS • DRESSES FURS • translations of Adler and Singer of London. Then came publication SUITS • MILLINERY • ACCESSORIES of the famous Leese' . Bible, first English version in this country. WOODWARD AT GRATIOT • CORSETS These were the early stages of the Bloch Publishing Co. The firm expanded when the late Charles Editor's Note: David Zagier was for many years foreign correspond• ent for British, South African and Australian newspapers. He's now a member of the U. S. Army. This article is a page from a diary which he had kept since his entry into the army. It reflects the life of the various national sirains in the armed forces, all of them fighting for a common cause—the defeat of Hitler and global democracy. Ninety Years of Jewish Culture in America Chanukah Greetings Greetings To our many friends and customers on the occasion of Chanukah che KERN' ROLLINS Co. (Woodward ave.