Thursday, February 23, 1950

DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE

Pag•

Battle of Warsaw Comes Alive in Hersey Novel

W

By NATHAN ZIPRIN

ITI-IIN

A FEW DAYS Alfred A. Knopf will
announce publication of John Hersey's new novel
"The Wall." Ordinarily the publication of a novel is
nut singled out as a special event except by the
chroniclers of literature. But Mersey's novel is of such
magnitude and concept that it challenges the imagi-
nation.

The novel deals with the organization, operation
and piece-meal destruction of the Warsaw ghetto, a
subject so painfully close to us Jews.

410

Though written in the form of a chronicle it is
more than a chronicle. It is more than a mere story
of the struggle for survival within the wall. It is the
story of the survival of a spirit without which there
might have been no six million Jews for Hitler to kill.
It is a profound penetration into the symbolic walls
which separate man from man and of the striving of
the encircled to reach above the enclosure.
•
•
•

HERSEY'S NOVEL is a monument and tribute to
the heights man can attain in the face of catastrophe.
We who were spared cannot possibly imagine the
horror and degradation of the ghetto. Hersey's keen
eye has gone beyond and behind the physical wall. Of
course he describes the heroic resistance of the
dwellers within the wall. But he does more than that.

UN Speaker

the United Nations, Israel and
the general present world situa-
tion.
Following luncheon, which will
be served in the main auditor-
ium, Mrs. Moise' S. Cahn, first
vice-president of the national or-
Mrs. William Isenberg is pro- ganization, will speak at a gen-
gram chairman for the day. She eral meeting.
She will be presented by Mrs.
is assisted by Mesdames Oscar
Schwartz, A. Joseph Seltzer and Dan Krouse, vice-president in
charge of program.
Alexander Sanders.
Mrs. Lewis B. Daniels, presi-
"Peppy — World Citizen," a
dent of the Section, will preside
puppet show, will be shown at
at the meeting.
10:30 a.m.

Donor Banquet Set
by Beth Yehmlah

S

Yeshivath Beth Yehudah's an-
nual donor banquet, March 19, at
Bnai Moshe, will feature a dra-
matic presentation by the stu-
dents, "The Living Hagadah,"
David Goldberg. chairman of the
administrative committee, an-
nounces.
Student choral groups will pro-
vide musical background.
Beth Yehudah's annual year-
book, dedicated to Daniel Tern-
chin, former president of the
Yeshivah and leader in Mizrachi
work in Detroit, will be distri-
buted at the dinner, the Yeshi-
vah's major fund-raising event of
the year.

Israeli Rabbis
Shelve Idea
of Sanhedrin

.

JERUSALEM—(YIVNA)—The
conference of Israeli rabbis closed
without reaching a decision on
the revival of the Sanhedrin, the
highest religious authority of an-
cient Israel which has not been
functioning for the last 2,000
years.
The idea came from Rabbi
Maimon, minister of religion, who
insists on the re-establishment of
the Sanhedrin with the power of
changing certain religious laws
to make them acceptable as basic
law in a modern Israel
Rabbi Maimon encountered the
opposition of a number of Israeli
Rabbis, including Chief Rabbi I.
Herzog, who think that the time
is not yet ripe for the revival of
that institution.
The opposition comes mostly
from the more conservative
rabbis who fear that introduc-
tion of the Sandhedrin will lead
to many reforms and revisions
in orthodxy which have been
delayed for many centuries be-
cause there was no central re-
ligious authority to introduce
such changes.

The deadline of the Jewish
Chronicle is noon on Mondays.

Emanuel Celler to Address
Histadrut Meeti no . Sunday

Emanuel Celler, chairman of
the Judiciary Committee of the
House of Representatives will ad-
dress a city-wide Histadrut meet-
ing at 8:30 ph. Sunday in the
Northwest Hebrew Congregation.
Rep. Celler, a member of Con-
gress for 26 years, headed the
forces seeking to remedy the
plight of the Jews in Europe and
as early as 1937 drew attention
to the conditions of the Jews in
Europe and elsewhere.
He urged the setting up of
UNRRA after the war and op-
posed the Revercomb bill which
prevented Jewish refugees from
entering the United States.
The workers' rally to be held
Thursday, March 2 at the Labor

Zionist Institute will welcome

back Morris L. Schaver, who was

away because of illness.

The organizations division asks
all affiliated organizations to
complete their work before
March 19.

sTurrni?

Chapter One to Hold
Purim Dance, March 4

As part of its new policy of of-
fering a complete social calendar,
Chapter One, Zionist Organiza-
tion of Detroit, will hold a Purim
dance at 9 p.m. Saturday, March
4, at the Jewish Center.

"Council 'Round the Clock," a
day's presentation of education
and entertainment, will be offered
members of the Detroit section,
National Council of Jewish Wom-
en, Monday, March 6 at the Wood-
ward Center.

Boris M. Joffee, executive di-
rector of the Jewish Community
Council. will speak on duplica-
tion of work among the various
Jewish organizations, nationally
and locally, and the prospect of
a more unified course.
Mrs. William Haber, who, with
her husband, Prof. Haber of the•
University of Michigan econom-
ics department, has made a close
study of world conditions and in-
ternational relations, and will ad-
dress the second meeting.
The discussion will center on

APART FROM ITS significance to us Jews, tha
novel has universal implications. Perhaps only one
who was not immediately involved in the tragedy—.
Hersey is a Christian—could have forged such a
striking indictment as:
"There are two ways of looking at the wall be-
tween the Jews and gentiles: from the inside and
from the outside: there is much to be said on both
sides.
"On the one hand, it can be said that the actual
masonry is done by the Jews; the Jews mix the
mortar and lay the bricks and complain about the
wall, but are sometimes glad to have it.
"On the other hand, it is the Goyim who oblige
the Jews to build the wall who supply most of the
materials for it: and they are very smug about its
existence: without ever going inside it, they assume
it is better to be outside and to keep the Jews inside."
There are books that are measured with a literary
yardstick. That yardstick is too small to measure "The
Wall," It is more than a literary masterpiece. It is a
human document which is destined to hold a rare
niche in the recordings of man's wanderings and of
his striving to rise above walls when they exist and
to smash encirclement even while in fetters,

NO CORNER OF the wall escapes Ilersey's keen
eye. Whether dealing with the heroic and the coward-
ly, the sordid and sublime, the craven and the brave,
Hersey shows a remarkable understanding of the
men and women whose lives were at the mercy of
the converging walls.
Ile who has read the book will never forget the
scene where a young Jewish woman leaves the wall
for the first time on an underground mission. When
she returns to the wall she throbs with the truth
that she prefers the unity within the wall to the
fetiedom without.
The heroes of the Warsaw ghetto were not fighting
for physical survival alone. They struggled for an
idea, for a freedom that stems from understanding
and sharing and from hatred of all walls singling
out men from men and peoples from peoples.
Nor did Hersey fail to observe the accelerated
tempo under which people work and move and live
within walls they know are destined to crush them
any moment. Life is too strong to let walls halt its

Council of Jewish Women
Plans 'Round the Clock' Day

At 11:30 a.m. two special ses-
sions will be given by the United
Nations and the Contemporary
Jewish Affairs Committee.

march. And there is comfort in this thought. And
hope too.
•
•
•

He delineates with sharpness and clarity the
growth of a bond among a group of men and women
in the midst of adversity. These people are facing
physical annihilation daily but they are not dismayed
and they emerge triumphant in their daily chores
over enemy and sword.
•
•
•

I

I
I

YOU CAN
STOP TODAY!

I CALL WO. 2-5523
MMMMMM

Admission is free to members
and $1 to non-members.

Chapter One's next meeting,
March 15, will be at the Rose
Sittig Cohen building.

AT LAST

in

Detroit and Michigan

BENJAMIN A. COHEN

• • •

AJC to Hear
Chilean Envoy

Benjamin A. Cohen, assistant

THE WINE
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secretary-general of the United

Nations in charge of the Depart-

ment of Public Information, will

address a meeting to be held un-

der the auspices of the Michigan

STRICTLY KOSHER ROYAL

SACRAMENTAL

Council of the American Jewish

Congress at 8:30 p.m., March 2
at the Detroit Art Institute.
His subject will be, "The Only
Channel For Peace — The United
Nations."
He has been Chilean Delegate
to numerous Pan-American Con-
ferences and was appointed am-
bassador extraordinary and plen-
ipotentiary to Bolivia (1939-1945)
and ambassador to Venezuela in
1945.
In 1945 he was loaned by the
Chilean Government to the Inter-
national Secretariat of the United
Nations for the Executive Com-
mittee and Preparatory Commis-
sion.

Michlin to Speak
at Parkside PTO

Michael Michlin, principal of
Northwest United Hebrew School,
will give a reading for the Purim
holiday at a meeting of the Park-
side Hebrew School PTO at 8
p.m., Wednesday, March 1.
A radio script by the Elwin
group of the Senior Judeans will
also highlight the program.
The parents will prepare a Pu-
rim table, and community sing-
ing is planned.

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