Friday, December 14, 1945

5

So They Tell Me.--

Personal Problems

By LOUIS W. ENFIELD

By W. A. GOLDBERG, Ph.D., Director, Counselling Service

Can I Still Marry?

Copyt Ighted. 19

Vag. Five

DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle

■

I.) 1% A. l olillwrv,

1).--All rights resell ed.

Probably I will never marry. &fore the war, I was as popular as

the average girl. At that time, I was in no hurry to get married. But
life became serious when the war started. Things that used to be fun
seem silly now. This business of going to a show, then for a bite and
some necking in a car is kid stuff, for the youngsters. All of us girls
who are a bit older and who delayed getting engaged or married dur-
ing the war are wondering. Has the war passed us by and left us wait-
ing alone — for good? Is there something I still can do? Miss D.R.
The first reaction I get from your letter is that you are frightened.
You fear you may be left behind. This makes you panicky. You seem
to have given up rather easily and without a struggle. No, I don't
believe that you or any other girl in your group is lost. You do, how-
ever, have a serious job ahead of you.
Why haven't you married these past four years? Partly because
the boys weren't here, the boys from whom you would normally choose
a husband. But they are back now. You face the not-so-simple task of
getting to know them.
During war and during peace, each year brings a new class of
boys and girls into the marriage market. Every year there is a younger
group joining the general class. A man usually marries a girl several
years younger than himself. There are only a few marriages between
old men and young girls or between people who are more than fia.!
years apart.
Normally you would have married during the past four or five
years. You would have married one of the boys who went to war. It
is no fault of yours that the boys were away. You believe correctly
that each year of delayed marriage lessens the chances of marriage
normally. But these years were different from ordinary times. The
marriageable boys were also out of circulation.

.

Strangers In Our Midst

Of course, there were many boys in this city. But perhaps you
forgot that the war changed ordinary habits. You waited for a date
but the telephone call was from a girl. Waiting became monotonous
and so you went to a serviceman's club to entertain the visiting boys.
These boys were from everywhere except this area. The arani
services had a peculiar way of sending northern boys south, southern
boys west and so on. The boys you met had a few days' furlough.
They wanted fun, entertainment, a little love, but nothing serious. You
helped provide that fun. At the same time you hoped and tried to steer
matters into some sort of permanent arrangement. These boys were
at war. They wanted to forget that they might come back wounded
or not at all.
The serious, decent young serviceman considered marriage as
something to be entered with deliberation and thought. He wanted to
know the girl he married. He wanted to know her parents. More than
that, he wanted to know his own plans, but he couldn't. The only plan
he had was war, for as long as required. As a gentleman he resisted
every attempt to rush him into marriage. He couldn't give himself any
assurance of his return, of a job, or a home. How could he give it to
anyone else? So these boys stayed clear of all entanglements.

(Continued on Page 13)

Book Review

By LEON SAUNDERS

He was one of those newly rich
wao decided that being in the
money meant, forgetting he was a
Jew. In fact,. he was so ashamed
of it that he tried in every way
to hide the fact that he had been
born in the seed of Abraham.
His friends all went to summer
resorts for the hot months, but
not this fellow. None of the sum-
mer resorts were satisfactory be-
cause they all had too many
Jews staying there to satisfy him.
Finally he located a place wheee
there were no Jews. He went
about everywhere explaining to
one and all that at last he had
found a summer resort where
'.here were no Jews. Since his
name was not Semitic, he would
be able to pass for a hundred
nercenter and nobody would even
dream that he was of the tribe of
Israel.
His continual crowing finally
got on the nerves of his acquain-
tances and they set to work to
plot his undoing. They arranged
all the details and bided their
time.
Came the time and Mr. Money-
bags packed un and went off to
his resort. Arrived there, he asked
loudly, "Do you have any Jews
here?" When the answer was in
the negative, he registered, paid
three months rent in advance ant
went up to unpack.
The following day, the blow
descended. His friends back home
had planned well and the timing
was just about perfect.
Each morning the mail was
handed out from the desk. Prac-
tically all the guests assembled
at the desk to get their letters.
The mail was brought out and
the manager called out the names.
On top of all the mail was a
naper printed in Yiddish. It was
the Tagehlatt and was addressed
to Mr. Moneybags.
His friends had gotten him a
subse•iption which was mailed
to the resort. Every day there-
after, for as long as he stayed,
this man's name was called aloud
in front of all the guests and he
wes COMnelled to accept a paper
nrinted in Yiddish. The manager
enjoying his discomfiture, refused
to give him any rebate on his ad
vance rent. Instead. he asked
every day whether Mr. Money-
bags knew how to read Yiddish.

Mother Goose Rhymes

By Sara G. Levy
Bloch Publishing Co.

In her preface, the author assures the reader that these verses
were written primarily "for the JOY and DELIGHT of young Jewish
children."
After reading the verses, it is our considered opinion that Miss
Levy is flattering herself, a little. We doubt whether the little tots win
he so full of "joy and delight." There are too many foreign Hebrew
words they will have to memorize. Not only are they unnecessary to
what she is driving at but they take away from the interest of the
book.
For instance, it is hard to imagine the outcries of joy and the
ringing of childish laughter at the thought of buying fish, even gefulte
fish. They probably won't eat the fish even after they buy it. We think
they would shout for joy a little more if the author had promised them
cookies.
These are no ordinary children the author had in mind. For she
expects nimble Jack to jump with joy at the thought of polishing the
candlestick for Friday night. If the reader is a little skeptical of the
zest of a child for this, the author has another bait, Zemiros and the
Havdalah.
We fully understand the author's purpose. We realize that the book
was intended to instill in Jewish children a feeling for Hebrew tradi-
tion and Jewish holidays. But slay me with a Lulov, it is hard to ac-
cept a jingle like the one called "Sheleg" as one which will bring joy
and delight to a child.
"The Sheleg is falling on eretz and tree
There is some on my Kovah, and some on my knees.
There is some on my chotem just for a tease."
It is not our opinion that the few words of Hebrew the children
are forced to swallow will compensate for the hardship they encounter
In learning them.
Take for instance the one called "Palestine." It positively smacks
of sedition in the cause of Zion. The author tells of going to Palestine
and "what saw you there?" she asks. "Camels and donkeys," she re-
plies. Nothing else.
After all, this is not a book on zoology or a thesis on the fauna of
the Holy Land. Surely there must be a few more things to be seea
there than camels and donkeys.
Not satisfied with relying on her own talents, the author drags in
a friend of hers, a Mr. Feinberg, and gives him credit for some at
work.
This is not a book on child psychology, it is true, but there must
be some sense in it. We believe the book would have been better with-
out the assistance of Mr. Feinberg and his art work. Perhaps he is a
jobless relative and she must therefore include his masterpieces.
So "Little Jack Horner has to sit in his corner." The book doe.i
not say so but it seems to be Purim and Jack is a clever little Jewish
boy, so
"He took out some Mohn from his Haman Tash
And said what a good boy I am, by gosh."
Another part where the art moves in to take over is the section
where Jack and Jill go up the hill to borrow some Charoses. Whet
Charoses would be doing up a hill is hard to say. The gist of the poem
is that Jill is a lucky young lady. You see, Jack fell down and broke
his crown. Whereupon. Jill, young souse that she is, at once drank on
his four koses of wine. We hope the author is not advising young chil-
dren to help others break their necks just so they themselves can be-
come drunkards.
On the whole, the book is commendable and we recommend it for
young children. The appearance is very attractive and the underlying
thoughts worthwhile. It would have been better, however, to forego
the few Hebrew words in order to make the jingles portray a litt:e
more vividly some of the ideals of Judaism.

In the days when laundries re-
fused to take everybody's work
and deliver the wash if and when
they felt like it, little Danny
aed eight, was taken along by
his mother to a hand laundry
where she was attempting to
nersuade the man to accept her
husband's shirts.
The little lad kept staring at
the boss and finally he burst oot
with his comnlaint.
"A re you the guy." he yelled
at the ton of his squeaky voice .
'who tears all my uncle's shirts
when they get washed?"
The owner grew Finny
"Out!" he said laconically to
the lady. "Out. No shirts for
you."
The lady took her little boy by
the hand and led him away. But
he felt triumphant.
"Did I etabarrass the any!" he
crowed. "Next time he'll know
better."

Helen was ' taoublemaker all
thanuah school. She was in one
• iffieulty after another. All her
teachers shook their heads mourn-
fully and nredicted she would
ern, " to a bad end. Sore enough.
at th" sae of fifteen she mut
sehnol Prd ran ewe , . from home.
A Year later. one of her ten-year
old friends came around to tell
her teacher that Helen was in the
hoenitel havina a baby.
inst fin." sa:d
"Well thrit .
the teacher. "What was the name
cf the e'en she married?
mil- youngster's eyes grew
round.
"oh" on laid. "it isn't like
that At all. Helen's jaat in the
hospital havina a baby. She's much
too young to get married."

MAN CIF TI -IE %TEE

Jolly, rubicund, hard-working Leonard N. Simons is saluted by the
CHRONICLE as The Man of the Week. Although he was born in
Youngstown, Ohio, Simons is a product of the City of Detroit. While
a student at Central High School, from which he was graduated in
1921, he became interested in art and journalism.

He joined the stall of the Central Student, the school paper, which
came out twice a month. On this paper he became the advertising
manager. Then he was appointed
to the staff of the Centralite, the
• school year book, as its student
art director. The combination of
art work, writing, and business
managership was irresistablc.
From school, Simons went directly
into the advertising field. He has
remained there to this day.
Capable of tremendous energy,
he was successful from the very
start. Now, at the age of forty-
one, his firm does a million and a
half dollars worth of business a
year, carries about forty-five em-
ployees on its payroll, and occupies
two-thirds of an entire floor of the
Lafayette building.

Volunteers

LEONARD N. SIMONS

For War

The first world war found him
too young to enter. When the
United States entered world war
two, Simons was among the first
to go down and volunteer. When
he set forth his background and
experience, he was told he could
be of more service in the advertise
ing field than as a soldier,

He volunteered for this work under Frank N. Isbey, Chairman of
the Michigan War Finance Committee, and is thus the second oldest
worker in the state in this division, being one of the few who has
stuck to his post all through every campaign.

Simons' war work was not restricted to bond drives. He did work
on the drive to secure enlistments in the Cadet Nurses Corps and tin
Merchant Marine. He worked on the campaigns for recruits for WACs
in the Army and also for navy recruiting and WAVE enlistments.
From the Navy Department, he received citations for this work. The
Navy also gave him a citation for his work with the Coast Guard and
Marine Corps.
Gets Gold Medal

From the army, he received not only a citation for his work or
advertising and publicity in connection with WAC recruiting, but also
had made specially for him a
medal inscribed in his name and ,,
testifying, "In Appreciation For
His Efforts In Our Behalf." On
the other side is his name and '
the insignia of the 6th Service
Command. Simons is very prouJ
of this medal, which is made of
hammered gold, for there are
only two of these in existence.
Simons, however, does not
restrict his activities to the mil-
itary. He is interested in every
sort of Jewish charity and in all '
Jewish problems. He contributes
•
both time and money to any pub-
lic charity and he will work on any public campaign regardless of race,
color or creed involved, He Is on the community relations committee of
the Detroit Jewish Community Council, he is on the executive com-
mittee of the board of directors for the Jewish Home For the Aged,
and he is a member of the "Commission On Information About Juda-
ism" of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.

He is treasurer of the Detroit Historical Society and on the board
of directors of the Standard Club. He is a member of both Temple Beth
El and Temple Israel. He is directing the publicity for the current
campaign in the local papers for the Detroit Round Table of Catholica,
Jews and Protestants. He handles the publicity for the Michigan So-
ciety For Epileptic Children, and has recently worked on the United
Negro College Fund, Seeing Eye Incorporated, and the Goodfellows
Fund. He has just been asked to serve on the American Cancer Socie.ty
campaign for this year. He directed, as chairman, of the Advertising
Committee, the National Foundation For Infantile Paralysis 1945 cam-
paign. He is now doing advertising work for enrollment of the Mich-
igan Council of Nurses. All of the work listed hitherto is done for no
other compensation than the good he can do for the public and the
pleasure he gets in doing that good.

In Jeffries Campaign

In politics, Simons holds to no party. He votes for the man he
considers the best. But business is business and advertising plays a
large part in political campaigns. Accordingly, he helped in prepara-
tion of the Jeffries political campaign in the last election and in the
one previous. In both elections, Jeffries, badly beaten in the primaries,
came through and won in the regular election.
Last Yom Kippur, under the auspices of the Jewish Community
Council, Simons prepared a beautiful ad which ran in the three local
papers memorializing all the heroes, Jewish and Christian, who made
the supreme sacrifice for their country. Among his friends, he raised
the fifteen hundred dollars to pay for these ads.

His own experience with anti-Semitism is rather limited. In fact,
there has been very little evidence of this in his own personal life,
probably because his cherubic smile and frank countenance arc at.
open sesame to the places he goes.

However, he has seen a great deal of anti-Semitism manifested
toward others and he is well aware of the dangers that Jews face in
this country in this regard. That is one of the reasons he has so
marked an interest in the standing of Jews in this city and the im-
provement of their relations with the other elements that go to make
up a large community.

Has Happy Home

Somewhere along the line, Simons paused from his work low;
Walkina down the street I woe
two little boys fiahting. They were enough to woo and win as his bride the former Harriette Lieberman.
b•na on the grooms and the one Their home now rings with the happy laughter of two daughters. He
on ton gyn.; nomrnelin" the oth , r is very fond of Jewish cooking of which he never seems to get enough.
oameaciftilly. The bottom one. whe He loves to play golf and boasts that he shoots in the low eighti"s -
hart been wailing like a banshee once in a while. His main hobbies, however, are his public charities
suddenly stunned while the top and his interest in the Jewish problems.
ore ^nosed in his effort^.
On the walls of his beautiful office, he has autographed pictures of
I listened closely and. to my the late President Roosevelt and of Frank Murphy. Both these pi•-
rurnrise. the ten one was rnat‘ina tures are personally addressed to him and he is very proud of them.
a nronosition. It was Pl. kind of He also has the various citations given him by the army and navy
a nronwition great nations ought hanging there.
to make.
Asked his opinion of the CHRONICLE. Simons stated that, under
"If I let •ou op." he said very
simnlv "will you promise not to its new policy and with its new staff, there is no reason why it should
not become one of the outstanding Anglo-Jewish papers in the country.
hit me?"

