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DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE

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Detroit Jewish Chronicle:

In the Service of Their Country

Published Weekly by the Jewish Chronicle Publishing Co., Inc.
WOodward 1-1040
2827 Cadillac Tower, Detroit 26, Michigan
SUBSCRIPTION:
$3.00 Per Year, Single Copies, 10c; Foreign, $5.00 Per Year
Entered as Second-class matter March 3, 1916, at the Post Office at
of March 3, 1879.
Detroit, Mich., under he r

Thursday, September 21, 1950

GalutQuestion
Will Confront
Israel Authors

By HARRY MARGOLIS
MODERN HEBREW LITERA-
TURE, by Simon Malkin, (Scho-
cken Books, New York, 238 pp.,
SEYMOUR TILCHIN
$3).
Publisher
This work is a historical re-
GERHARDT NEUMANN
NORMAN KOLIN
cord of Hebrew literature front
Editor
Advertising Manager
-- -
the period of the Haskala (en-
Tishri 10, 5711
lightenment) to the present day.
Thursday, September 21, 1950
Written by a leading authority
on the subject, it fills a great
need for the non-Hebrew read-
ing public which wishes to under-
stand the roots of modern Heb-
It is difficult to ascertain, in the absence of more detailed s
rew literature now flourishing in
news, how much truth is in Jordan's charges that Israel
The six Jewish young women pictured here, members of the first
which has
i
occupied by force that part of the Rutenberg plant
class of women selected for the first reserve officer candidate Israel.
The Haskala period, roughly
situated on the eastern side of the Jordan river.
training program in the Navy ever opened to women, learn from from 1750 to 1880, was to the
Possibly, here is another of the misunderstandings which
Chaplain Samuel Sobel at Great Lakes Naval Training Station Jews what the Renaissance was
arose from the ambiguities of the armistice pact.
about the religious and cultural services available to them through to the non-Jews. It formed part
The incident, however, points clearly to Israel's need runs
for
JWB's Division of Religious Activities and Armed Services Di- of the general humanistic strug-
more electric power. The rapid expansion of the countryy w
vision.
gle.
far ahead of the electric power that can be suppli no.
Of necessity there early auth-
The Rutenberg plant was the fulfillment of a dream of the
ors, such as Moses Mendelssohn,
Russian engineer, Pinchas Rutenberg, who fought for his idea
Moses Chaim Luzzatto and Naph-
for decades and was able to realize his project against unbeliev-
tali Merz Wessley, had to adopt
able difficulties.
a largely negative attitude since
While the Rutenberg, plant had been sufficient during the
they realized that they must
period of the British mandate, it is now too small to serve all
first tear down the old compla-
of Israel. The alternative to this power plant, the Jordan Valley
cency before they could hope to
Authority as proposed by Dr. Walter Clay Lowdermilk, has been
workers
were
keeping
at
their
By ALFRED SEGAL
much discussed but never tackled practically because of the
WAS STANDING reverently devoted tasks all around Sister build a new order.
T
Halkin points out however,
Alfonse. The old people had to
lack of funds.
that
these writers were not ig-
at
the
feet
of
Sister
Alfonse
Lowdermilk's project foresees a diversion of the waters of
I
be fed; the sick among them had
in her plain, black coffin. She to be served; the grocers' trucks norant of traditional Jewish
the Jordan and its tributaries in such a way that they would
irrigate the surrounding land. Water would be brought from the
was laid out in
were bringing in gifts of food and values, but wished to preserve
Mediterranean into the original Jordan bed for the purpose of
religious state
that had to be taken care of. Do- them while drawing Jewry out
just outside the
ing the work was as sacred as of the ghetto into the stream of
developing cheap electric power.
be forgotten that an abundance of electric
chapel
of
the
dying,
all of one sanctity. Now modern life.
not
It must
From about 1880 to 1900 the
power would net only benefit Israel but also the Arab states,
convent of the
the continuing work of their
Little Sisters of
especially Jordan. Transjordan, which was separated from Pales-
hands was speaking to God for force of western thought, often
the Poor, wait-
socialistic in orientation, drew
tine in 1922, is semi-arid or completely desert. But it also has
her.
ing for her fu-
Jewry into the world and set
large stretches of fertile land and, in some places, plenty of
stood
before
Sister
Al-
So I
neral day.
water. In ancient times it supported about 1,000,000 people.
fonse. Groups of the old women up a secular longing for an im-
She looked
Now it can hardly support 300,000, most of whom are wander-
sat on either side of her reciting provement in its material state.
like a small.
The poets and writers of this
the Rosary. Sister Mary Alexis
ing Bedouins.
frail girl sleep-
said Sister Alfonse was a noble period, unlike the Yiddish writers,
ing there in the
worker who had come at last to rejected a purely political or
Segal
white hood of
her reward. She had lived in economic solution to the problem.
her Order. The folded old hands poverty all her days; for her work Halkin shows that the stream of
grasped a parchment copy of the
The Jewish community of Detroit has done a marvelous job
traditional values still turned
It deserves high praise for
vow she had taken when she was there had been no pay and she them to search for a Jewish
the
primary
election
of
last
week.
was
thankful
to
be
one
of
the
in
very young. The words on the privileged who work that way. solution.
its civic spirit as well as the cooperation it has shown in a mat-
parchment said she would for- Now she had come to the heav-
But the answer was difficult
ter which demanded an expression of solidarity.
ever be faithful in the doing of enly rest which was the reward for a homeless people, who had
More than 10,000 Jews applied for absentee ballots. If De-
loving-kindness for the poor.
troit's Jewish population totals approximately 90,000, the num-
little control over their own des-
Now she was going away and for the good.
ber of Jews entitled to cast their vote probably does not exceed
tinies and were at the mercy of
Old
Sister
Alfonse!
She
had
she was taking along the docu-
45,000. This means that more than 25 per cent of the city's Jewish
despotic rulers.
been
working
there
longer
than
ment as testimony that her hands
voters have heeded the appeals of the Jewish Community Coun-
But this period of doubt was
anybody.
A
little
woman
who
had always been faithful as she
cil, the .Jewish press, and the many organizations which took
wasn't strong but rejoiced in ev- the period of the rise of the
had
promised
they
would.
She
part in the campaign for an absentee ballot vote on Rosh
modern Zionist ideal. Strangely
might show it to the angels: "This ery task. She shared the pride enough the Hebrew authors em-
beg-
Hashana,
of
the
Little
Sisters
in
being
is what I swore to when I was
We can be very proud of this percentage. As a rule, the
braced the new faith very slowly
very young and I was faithful gars for the poor. She had made and mainly in the cultural form
general participation in primary elections, is much lower.
a
sacrament
of
begging
for
them
in all my years, even to the 78th
A regrettable factor is that not all of the ballots were re-
preached by Achad Haam.
of my life. This is the testimony at the doors of grocers and bak-
turned to City Hall, or at least not in time. Only 8,500 ballots
The Chalutz movement solved
ers and had been glad when she
that
my
hands
and
my
vow
have
reached City Hall in time so they could be forwarded to the
came home laden with loaves and the question by presenting a con-
been
like
one
in
all
the
days."
voting booths when the polls closed. It seems that a number
crete solution, namely the neces-
Sister Alfonse had been in the carried meat to be fed to her sity of physically and politically
of voters did not read the instruction sheet carefully enough.
poor.
convent 35 years.
We are sure that Michigan's example will not go unnoticed
She thanked God there was al- building Zion in Israel.
I had come upon her quite
in other states. Although it happens only once every eight
With this the scene of activity
ways enough for all the old peo-
casually
on
a
journey
through
the
years that Rosh Hashana coincides with primaries, it is impor-
in
Hebrew literature turns to
getting
ple
in
the
house.
She
was
convent. The Sister Superior had
tant to give Jews the right to fulfill their civic duties without
Israel.
There, the period of the
old
herself,
had
passed
beyond
been leading me around the con-
illuminating since the
1930s
is
violating their religious laws.
vent that I might witness the the Scriptural span but she
Detroit's Jewish Community Council has rendered Ameri-
work of charity that was being couldn't think of herself being writing of that time has now as-
can Jewry a service which will open new paths and not be
done there. It had to do with old. Her hands had to keep work- sumed a prophetic nature. The
forgotten.
old people whom the Sisters of ing as she had vowed they would cries of warning of an impending
the Poor sheltered in their house, when she became a nun in her doom fill the works of most of
girlhood, more than 50 years be- the authors of this period.
in accordance with their vows.
By the 1940s and 50s, Hebrew
We went up and down stairs. fore.
phase—
Nuns were doing the cooking;
The old women were counting writing entered a new
The death of General Jan Christian Smuts of South Africa
that of a prosaic and healthy re-
they
were
keeping
the
place
their
beads
as
they
sat
beside
will be mourned by Jews in Israel and Zionists all over the
spotless with their own hands; her, as at an altar. The nuns cording of the triumphs and
world. With him passes another of the great old liberals who
they were nursing the sick; they were busily at their many tasks, problems of the new state. Fol-
had so much understanding for the needs of the Jewish people.
were carrying trays to the dining carrying on the vow of charity lowing the carpd'ge in Europe,
Several settlements in Israel and many a street are named
halls to feed the old men and that Sister Alfonse's dead hands the Israeli authors turned to their
after Smuts because his name is closely connected with the Bal-
own land and followed the foot-
women. There was menial work held.
four Declaration and the development of a national home for
steps of every national literature.
to do, but they were serving God
She
would
be
taken
to
a
cer-
But, Halkin points out, they
Jews.
with their hands and nothing tain plot in the cemetery where
In his book, "Trial and Error," Dr. Chaim Weizman de-
could be dirty work since it was some 60 of the Sisters sleep. They have been ignoring a vital issue,
scribes a meeting with Smuts in 1917, shortly before the Bal-
dedicated to Him.
had all grown old in the house the relationship of Israel to the
four Declaration was issued:
Others of their church could and their hands had not rested Jews in other lands.
"I had been introduced in the morning to General Smuts,
"As long as the young Pales-
sing to Him, or preach in His until the time they were folded
a letter of introduc-
or, rather, I had gone into his office with
tinian
product could be compact-
name,
or
as
philosophers
expound
to take along the parchment of
tion. Utterly unknown to him, I was received in the friendliest .
the theology but the Sisters of the vow to which 'they had been ed into the messianic vision, the
fashion and given a most sympathetic hearing.
newness of his personality, the
the Poor were serving Him by
"A sort of warmth of understanding radiated from him,
humble toil . . . "We just do faithful.
difference between him and his
Well, it was time for me to grandfather could be overlooked.
and he assured me heartily thai something would be done in
about everything around here,"
connection with Palestine and the Jewish people. He put many
Sister Mary Alexis was saying. go and I said thanks to Sister Now that he has become an Is-
searching questions to me, and tried to find out how sincerely
Of course, they all went to Mass Mary Alexis. I meant thanks for raeli, the forger of a civilization
at six in the morning and after having been introduced to Sister in keeping with his own native
I believed in the actual possibilities. He treated the problem
with eager interest, one might say affection."
that each took up her duty in the Alfonse, thanks for having been propensities, the question of his
In the League of Nations and later in the United Nations,
house, like housemaid for God, admitted to look at saintliness in kinship with his antecedents
fulfillment.
Smuts always proved himself a friend of the Jewish cause,
itself more
doing the work.
You may ask me, How come? must begin to obtrude
and his name will live on in the memory of the Jewish people.
When we had come to the
persistently. The question also of
and
third floor Sister Mary Alexis You write a Jewish column
his kinship to the Jews in the
said, "Would you like to see Sis- what's Jewish about this one? diaspora must become more dis-
All
about
a
lady
of
another
re-
ter Alfonse? She's right down
ligion! A great lady, all right, but turbing."
this hallway."
Israel has no Meyer Levin ask-
temples
built
in
modern
times,
the
dream
where's the Jewishness?
One of the finest
"Sister Alfonse?"
ing "Whither?" But Halkin for-
for which Temple Israel and its spiritual leader, Rabbi Leon
The
answer:
It
is
good
to
know
"Yes, she's the one of us who
Fram, have struggled for many years, has become a reality.
It sees the day when the Israeli
died yesterday. We are burying the merit of another religion.
On Rosh Hashana, the congregation gathered for the first time
is proper to publish it in the must choose his direction and
her tomorrow."
religion. To decide whether he can afford to
in the new building with a justified pride.
Before that there had been no press of one's own
respect
for other count out the rest of Jewry from
We join Temple Israel in its satisfaction with its accom-
intimation that some one was the end that
people's
faith
and
the
sanctity
of his traditional concept of messi-
plishment. It is an inspiring example of religious architecture,
dead in the house. The busy work
anic redemption.
their
works
may
be
enlarged.
and we hope it will serve many generations to come as a symbol
of charity couldn't stop and the
of peace and a monument to Judaism.

Israel Needs Electric Power

Other Religions' Merit
Deserves Jews' Praile

The Absentee Ballot—a Success

We Mourn General Smuts

Congratulations, Temple Israel!