Friday, July 19, 1946
DETROIT SWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle
Pap Two
Personal Problems
Plain Talk
By ALFRED SEGAL
By DR. W. A. GOLDBERG
Your questions on personal problems will be answered by mail ON for
as possible. Send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Dr. W. A.
Goldberg, 1314 Eaton Tower, Detroit 2G, Michigan, or to the Editor
of this paper.
"A Handicapped Child is
a Misfortune"
In more than one case, but fortunately
not in many, parents of normal faculties
have a child who is abnormal. This may
be deficient intelligence, absence of hear-
ing, speech or both, deforming birthmarks,
epilepsy, glandular deficiencies etc. This
happens to parents whose other children,
born both before and since the handi-
capped child, are normal in all respects.
Parents of children so handicapped have
a burden to bear. The physical care of
the child is more than doubled. Its re-
sponses are delayed. They have an ad.
ditlonal burden because emotional involve-
ments are commonly attached to these
cases.' The outside world is medieval in
its thinking. It assumes without any ques-
tion that a handicapped child inevitably
means a defective heredity. This may be
true in some cases but it does not neces-
sarily go along. Parents too feel guilty
and become either ashamed or frustrated.
One very bright youngster had a hairy
growth on the side of his face, neck and
shoulders. He had to wear a cap, even in
school. With the biting aim of children,
his school mates viciously nick-named him
The Hairy Ape." So he became an ag-
gressive youngster in self-defense and was
ready to fight without provocation, pick-
ing arguments all the time. Fortunately, a
series of skin grafts removed the growth
from his face and made him more pre-
sentable. C
Another couple spent their last dollar
for treatments of a child of very low in-
telligence. Special care, special treatments
and the mother tied to Its care most of
the twenty-four hours. To their relief, the
child died in his second year. These parents
knew . . . from their professional ex-
perience . . . the deficiency of their child.
They knew too that it was hopeless to ex-
pect any Improvement. But neither of these
two exceptional parents could bring them-
selves to the necessary decision regarding
the child. Their subsequent children are
normal, healthy and quite usual young-
sters.
HEART BREAKING DECISIONS
It is easy for me to advise such parents.
It is easy because I do not have to live
with the decision twenty-four hours a day.
But decisions are called for, in fairness
to the parents and the other members of
the family. There are other life situation.3
in which we must confess ignorance of
how to proceed. In these cases, we simply
cut ourselves off from the burden. In
cases of handicaps such as have been
mentioned, sending the child to an insti-
tution is often the only answer. The insti-
tutions for the feebleminded, epileptic,
deaf, mute, and deaf-mutes have the staff,
the equipment and the experience required.'
The staff knows its problems and can
readily find the child's level of ability.
They too can do this much more easily
than the parents because they are not
emotionally tied to the child.
If competent examination finds that a
child is of low intelligence, and preferably
where confirmed by observation during the
first several years, a load is lifted when
parents send the child away. They may
use a public or a private institution. They
may visit or not. They may shed tears
when they do visit. But they and the rest
of the family are better off with the child
out of the home.
I have had some parents and brothers
and sisters tell me they were relieved to
know where a son or brother was. They
were at ease, for instance, in knowing that
this child would remain in prison for a
specified number of years. When he was
in the community, they had only grief .. .
calls from the police, thefts to pay off,
lawyers to hire, unfavorable publicity.
They had done everything expected and
then some more, But to no avail. Nct ono
they knew or could hire was able to change
the conduct pattern of this son. So they
cut themselves off from this canker in
their midst. They said: "We have had
enough."
In all cases of handicaps, the family
has a heart-rendering decision to make.
Some handicaps can be relieved, some
ameliorated. The more serious situations
call for drastic action . . . sending the
child away. There is relief also because
the handicap is not eternally staring the
family in the face, to remind them of their
burden. Following competent professional
examination, a decision is indicated. There
are limits to human endurance. There are
limits to parental care and love. There
comes a time when human knowledge is
unavailing. Peace of mind is acquired by
removing the burden from a family's care,
from its physical sight.
Strictly Confidential
Thanks, Mrs. Epstein!
they would have been to the invidious
eyes of congregations.
One day recently, your Mr. Segal for
once wasn't being obsessed by the idea
that he hadn't a friend in the world. Yes,
here was a friend! Here was a letter about
him in one of the Jewish press and It was
friendly and would have been flattering if
Mr. Segal weren't a person without any
vanity at all. (Though it may be argued
that the way he protests modesty shows
that he is vain enough.)
The way rabbis, and other ministers,
endure congregations to the end of their
days is a prodigy of long-suffering.
It was a letter from Mrs. Evelyn Ep-
stein of 828 Washington Street, S.W., At.
lanta, Ga. Mrs. Epstein was completely
agreeing with Mr. Segal on a piece he
had written entitled "If I Were a Rabbi."
He had said that if he were a rall bl ho
wouldn't aspire to be a statesmari74vice
ii
of a lot of the rabbis) but would concern
himself much more with the lives in his
congregation and in his neighborhood. He
would preach a Judaism that had to do
with what this existance was all about
and how a Jew, as heir of Torah and
Prophets, can make the best of it.
"It seems he (Segal) would make a
good one, if he were a rabbi," Mrs. Ep-
stein had written. "His idea Is excellent,
I firmly believe, as to sound preaching in
the synagogue."
Thanks, Mrs. Epstein, in Segal's behalf,
but he is satisfied enough to have grown
up to be a columnist instead of a rabbi.
Sometimes his wife sighs, "Now if you
were a rabbi . . ." She has in mind a vital
statistic that had to do with the fact that
in his remote youth he was on he way to-
ward being a rabbi. He had been in the
Hebrew Union College two years and had
six more years to go when he fell and
could go no farther, as often happens to
a weak youth on a steep, difficult road.
Rabbi Segal himself would have tried
to take it all in the spirit of a prophet
who knew how it always had gone with
prophets. There was that time at Podunk
when a _committee of the congregation
called on him about the sermon he had
given the Friday evening before.
"Rabbi," the spokesman said, "you
should be more careful what you say. Last
Friday's sermon, . for example."
"What did I say that you didn't like?"
Well, the committee thought It was in-
discreet for him to say anything at all
about the strike in the coffin factory. (The
Podunk Casket Corporation.)
"Oh, all I said was that the manage-
ment goes to a great deal of effort to
make the dead comfortable in their cas-
kets. Soft white silk to lie on, all that!
Impervious steel to give the dead security
against the intrusion of worms. I asked
why doesn't the management care as much
about the welfare of its living workers.
The hard life they have! The dead are
beyond all knowing but these living work-
ers suffer when the worms of poverty
devour security. That's all true, Isn't it?"
"Sure, it's true, rabbi, but you don't
have to say it. Jews can't afford to say
that sort of thing. Jews should keep quiet."
"Gentlemen, as your rabbi I intend to
keep on speaking the truth as I see it.
As Jews we are guilty of cowardly be.
trayal of our self-respect when, for the
sake of being safe, we fall to speak up
courageously against any injustice in the
community. It's easy enough for a rabbi
His wife, woman-like, regretfully con- to pontificate against some far-off evil.
templates the last pleasure of seeing her But, gentlemen, our lives are being lived in
husband in a high pulpit, thundering down. this community."
He replies: "But think of all the congre.
This was the end of Rabbi Segal in Po.
gations we would have had to suffer!
dunk. He had tried to be a prophet in
"The congregation at Podunk, for ex- his home-town, to assert his Judaism fo'r
ample. The women of that congregation the good of life in the neighborhood, in
would have felt quite inadequate in the accordance with Torah and Prophets, to
presence of your own slender beauty and express his real rabbinical function as
couldn't have tolerated that. They would guide and critic in the community. Tho
have felt a rabbi's wife should be plain committee said: "Well, in that case, rabbi,
and what did Rabbi Segal mean by flaunt. you'd better resign."
ing such a dazzling figure as yours in the
That would have been the sorry life of
faces of people who forever were trying
Rabbi Segal. As he lay on his death-bed
to reduce. A rabbi shouldn't put on any
he would have praised God for bringing
show."
him at last to the happy time when he
Yes, Mrs. Epstein, it would have been could be translated to the Congregation
practically impossible for the Segals to on High, as it is called. In the Congrega-
be a happy rabbinical couple, exposed as tion on High there should be peace.
N
Capital Letter
By PHINEAS K. BIRON
By CHARLES BENSON
9
What of Tomorrow
FLASH . . .
The White House is seriously consider-
ing sending an American Expeditionary
Force to Palestine as a move to force
Britain to open the gates of Palestine to
the 100,000 refugees . . . There is a possi.
bility that the U. S. War Dept. may permit
the recruiting of a Jewish military con-
tingent instead of detailing men from the
regular forces . .. The impending visit of
Premier Attlee to America is directly con-
nected with Palestine problems . . .
IT PAYS TO FIGHT . . .
In the editions of February 7th and May
7th, ''Germany Today"—a weekly publish-
ed newsletter reported that A. Frowein
had been made a member of the Rheinish
Provincial Assembly and later Minister of
Economics of the British Zone by the
British occupation authorities . . .
"Germany Today" revealed that Frowein,
one of the officials of the Bemberg rayon
concern and vice-president of the Inter-
national Chamber of Commerce, had used
government ordinances against the Jews in
1938 to take possession of those depart.
ment stores of the Tietz concern that were
in Jewish hands . . . The disclosure by
"Germany Today" was reprinted in the
American and European press . . . a few
weeks ago the British authorities an-
nounced that the German Economic Coun-
cil is to be reorganized and that Frow-
ein is to be eliminated . . . ''Germany
Today" kept up the fight against Frowein
and finally won . . If our big press
would fight on the right side, fascism
could be swept out from the British and
•, American Zones of occupation.
MAN SUNNING HIMSELF . . .
On the lawn of Chester Zunbarg (Sun
Hill) near Woodbourne, N. Y. . . . Young-
sters—to a man of fifty everything under
forty Is young—browning themselves in the
sun . . . Trying to forget their problems
of tomorrow . . . It's nice to forget to-
morrow but its not easy . . . That young-
ster over there, teasing a girl's neck with
a grass blade does not look much differ-
ent from the Irgunist who walked to his
execution with a song on his lips . . .
They're one—no—a thousand worlds apart
. All this talk and ink about ONE World
is so silly . . . If newspaper headlines
wouldn't haunt one . . . But they do-
Palestine—India — Bilbo—OPA — France —
one endless reel of current events leading
into a tomorrow that insists on ignoring
yesterday . . . It's a hot sun that lulls
you to sleep . . . Why worry . . . Tomorrow
is not tomorrow . . . It may be a few years
away . . . Meanwhile enjoy your freedom
in the sun . . . Did the Jewish expectant
mother sunning herself in a resort near
Warsaw in the summer of 1939 brush
away the thoughts about tomorrow as
we do on Chestcr's lawn today?
VACATION HOTEL . . .
Interesting woman that Ann Chester,
owner of Zunbarg . . . A tiny, wiry littlo
woman . . . Greying hair, but a young,
smiling face . . . Her late husband, Her.
man built Zunbarg as a retreat for hard-
working men and women . Gave it the
atmosphere of a Soviet Cultural Recrea-
tional Center in a set of English country.
estate buildings . . . Now Ann carries on
maintaining the same atmosphere . .
The waiters are college students back
from the war . . . One wears a Mazuzah
around his neck, a good luck piece from
his Mama . . . And that modest dark.
haired youngster with a Mogen David on
his chest is Bernie Kleinman, war hero
six times battle starred, who shrugs off
his exploits with an embarassed smile .
Yesterday after supper, a well-known radio
commentator appealed for help for Span-
ish refugees . . . A bashful girl who the
night before jitterbugged herself to a
frenzy contributed ten dollars . . . "I'll
work two weeks overtime" she whispered
to her surprised escort. . . It was dark
outside and the easy going guests were
aware of tomorrow.
Thread of Broken Lives
Picking up the thread of broken lives
has been UNRRA's task since its incep_
tion. Within the last year UNRRA has
sought to pick up another thread for the
displaced persons of Europe. Two "UNRRA
universities," conceived, crrganized and ad-
ministered by UNRRA, are providing
temporary means for large numbers of
qualified DP's to pick up their education
where they left off when the war forced
them to put aside books and microscopes
for less constructive—.tools.
In addition to the two schools which
have been opened for the DP's, UNRRA
has also placed students in leading Ger-
man universities. UNRRA continues to
care for them while they study. A total
of 964 DP's were enrolled at the universi-
ties of Darmstadt, Heidelberg, Erlangen,
Frankfurt, Harburg, Wurzburg, Karlsruhe,
and Stuttgart for the spring term.
burg has been conducting classes since
March for its 800 students but delayed the
formal opening until June when repairs
on its building, the bombed-out Museum
of Hamburg History, were completed.
Twenty-eight full-sized classrooms are now
open, and chemistry and physics labora-
tories are stocked with equipment requis-
itioned from German laboratories. There
are eight seminar rooms and twelve offices
for the professors and they boast that
"complete university environment has been
attained."
More than 80 professors and 40 associ-
ate professors and instructors were select-
ed for the Hamburg Center from UNRRA's
displaced persons centers in the British
zone. They receive no remuneration and
live on the normal DP ration, about
1,800 calories a day.
Facing shortages of everything from
building materials to pencils and since
precious UNRRA shipping space was al-
ready limited, directors of these schools
proved their ingenuity by equiping their
institutions almost entirely with locally
available materials. Some help has been
given by various American relief organiza-
tions such as the Joint Distribution Com-
mittee which distributed books and aca.
demic supplies to Jewish students.
In Munich, fhe Deutsches Museum, a
war-scarred building without sanitation,
electric light or telephones, has been re.
built to become the comfortable home of
the UNRRA University, "the first and only
all-DP university in Germany." It was
opened to DP's on February 16 with al.
most 3,000 students enrolled for courses
in mechanical and civil engineering, natu-
ral sciences, economics, medicine, law,
husbandry, and philosophy. The school has
nine faculties, employs 179 professors.
Medical students among the DP's whose
Both faculty members and students are studies were halted by the Nazis are go-
carefully screened by an UNRRA board ing back to school at Heidelberg, Mar-
before they can become associated with burg and Erlangen. Under a military gov-
the university.
ernment directive of last winter, 10 per- .
cent of the medical students enrolled at
According to UNRRA, the opening of
these universities were to be DP's. A total
the University was made possible largly
of 284 DP's are now studying medicine
by "the overwhelming desire of the &-
at these universities. UNRRA pays their
students and ex-professors among the
tuition and purchases, textbooks and in-
DP's to equip themselves mentally for the
struments for them. Here again an inten-
f utu re."
sive screening process ensures that only
The UNRRA DP Study Center in Ham- I bonafide DP's are accepted.