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DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle

Friday, September 15, 1944

OUTSTANDING JEWISH BOOKS

By MARVIN LOWENTHAL
an altogether different stamp. of the participation of Palestine
EDITOR'S NOTE:—The following address by Marvin Lowenthal, American life has changed its Jewry in the United Nations' war
Jews, as it itself has changed, in for freedom—a story sadly neg-

noted author, was delivered over Radio Station WHN under
the auspices of the Jewish Book Council of America, Sponsor-
Coordinator: National Jewish Welfare Board, 145 East 32nd
St., New York 16, N. Y. Jewish Book Month will be observed
from Nov. 10 to Dec. 10, 1944.

the three centuries the Jews have
lived here. While a number of
good novels and a few auto-
biographies concern themselves
with Jewish life in the United
States, no one great master has
put this life imperishably on
paper. But a book appeared last
year which does give us an ac-
curate account of at least the
externals, the outer skin , of
American Jewry. It is called
"The American Jew: A Compos-
ite Picture"; and it is edited by
Oscar Janowsky. From it you
can learn the varieties of Jew-
ish religious and social life in
America; how the American
Jews are organized—and disor-
ganized; you can learn , the num-
bers and occupations of our Jew-
ish citizens, their different views
on life, religion and politics; and
you can read, in brief, the story
of the participation of the Jews
in American history and culture
throughout its entire course. In-
cidentally, the first Jewish set-
tlement in the United States was
here in New York City, when a
boatload of Jews landed in our
harbor in 1654; next to the
Dutch they were the first Euro-
pean group to settle in the city.
No one—it seems to me—who is
interested in the Jews of America
can get along intelligently with-
out this book.
The last work I shall mention
deals with one of the burning
questions of our war-torn world.
It is entitled "The Forgotten
Ally," and it is written by
Pierre Van Paassen. It presents,
for the first time, the full story

From the many excellent books life he immortalized in his short
on Jewish themes that have ap- stories, that of the East Euro-
peared in the past year or so, pean Jew, had its own particular
I have selected four for a rapid- salt and flavor and tang—a sad,
fire discussion. I have chosen delicious, homely, witty tang
these four not merely because th. t I add ,
of their merits but because, be- of the richest strains in the end-
tween them, they cover a wide less riches of human nature.
range of interest and informa- That flavor and that gay and
tion.
sorrowful and fantastic life has
To begin with—I should rec- now been destroyed by the Nazis
ommend to anyone who wishes —forever. It will survive only
to know the Jewish people from in such books as those of Sholem
the inside, the 600 pages of fas- Aleichem.
cination and human appeal to
For the English reader—who
be found in an anthology called cannot enjoy this world in the
"Memoirs of My People Through original Yiddish, Maurice Samuel
a Thousand Years," arranged has written a descriptive account,
and translated by Leo Schwartz. often using Sholem Aleichem's
This is a compilation taken own words—that will enable any
from autobiographies written by one of us to get the feel, the
Jews during the last 10 centuries. joy, the sorrow, the very essence
Biography—and above all, auto- of this murdered and vanished
biography — is glorified gossip. Jewish folk life. Samuel's book
We can overhear men and wom- is called "The World of Sholem
en who made that thing we call Aleichem"•, it is written with
history talking about themselves humor and love, that is, in the
and their friends — and their very spirit of Sholem Aleichem
enemies. In the book of Leo himself. In its 350 pages you
Schwartz we can step right in- can learn and appreciate more
side the skin of Ahimaaz, a Jew about the traditional folk life
who lived in south Italy a thou- of the Jews than in scores of
sand years ago—and hear what learned histories and sociological
he has to say, in his own words, studies—and you will chuckle
about himself and his world. over or sigh over—but in any
Thus—from century to century case—enjoy every moment you
and from many corners of the give to this hook.
world-60 men and women open
Most Jews in America are the
their minds and hearts to us. children of the men and women
The book is a vast human ,,om- who lived in Sholem Aleichem's
edy—or human drama—written world. But the American world
by the actors themselves.
and our American Jews are of
Another way of entering the
inner life of a people is to read
the novelists who truly express
their spirit and character. Every-
one agrees that the best exponent
of Jewish folk life as it existed
in Eastern Europe almost up to
the first World War was Sholom
Aleichem—a combination, to use
a rough and inaccurate compari-
son—of Dickens and Mark Twain.
He wasn't Dickens, he wasn't
Mark Twain—he was himself,
Sholem Aleichem; and the folk

305

I

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Happy New Year To All!

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Photographers

with
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GROSSMAN-
KNOWLING

KEEP FAITH

lected or brushed aside by our
press and radio.
The book will give you the
complete background of Eng-
land's and America's promise to
help create a Jewish national *****41!,******
home in Palestine. It tells of
the heroic and valuable contribu-
tion made by the 600,000 Jews
of Palestine on behalf of :t
United Nations' Victory. Final-
ly, it will bring home to you the
injustice, the heartbreak, and the
MEAN MORE THAN A
tragedy that will ensue if, in ac-
cordance with the decree of the
White Paper issued by the Brit-
GOOD INVESTMENT
ish government in 1939, the gates
of Palestine are closed to Jew-
ish immigration after the war.
Europe will be burdened with
hundreds of thousands of home-
less misery-stricken Jews. Few
or no western nations are will-
ing to change their immigration
laws and open their doors to
them. Palestine alone, according
,0 exeprt opinion, can accommo-
date a minimum of at least two
million newcomers. That last
and sole hope of the surviving
Jews of Europe must not be
shattered. The White Paper—
Van Paassen convinces us —
must be abolished. Indeed, if
New Year
wishes were horses, beggars
would ride—and Van Paassen's
Greetings
book would and should become
a best-seller.

Rosh Hashonah
Greeting

New Year's
Greetings

***********

DETROIT

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