THE JEWISH NEWS

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Friday,- DettitZeFT7, T

11

A Great Ili-Lingual Literary Project

The Story of the Louis LaMed Literary Foundation and a Review

of Its Latest Book, "A chisefer"

By BERNARD ISAACS, Superintendent, United Hebrew Schools of Detroit

He was determined to pursue his
plans. He delved deeply into the prob-
lem and he discovered that while
there were many points of differences,
there were, • on the other hand, large
unexplored areas of mutual interest,.

Bridge Gap of Estrangement

LOUIS LaMED

ACHISEFER: Studies in the Litera-

ture and Language of the Jews. Short
stories and Translations from Yiddish
oetry. Edited by Samuel Niger and
enachem Ribalow. Published by
ouis LaMed Foundation for the Ad-
Vancement of Hebrew and Yiddish
o iterature, Detroit, Mich.

fi

L

OUIS LaMED had an
idea. Apparently it was a very simple
idea. to bring two members of one
family closer together, or in the words
of the publishers, "to create greater
and more frequent points of contact
and, interaction between Hebrew and
Yiddish literature." On the surface it
looks quite simple, reasonable and
logical. But the fact is that there is no
feud more bitter than the feud of
brothers.

The average Hebrew reader looks
With disdain and contempt upon what
he calls the "shund" literature of
Yiddish. To this Hebrew reader Yid-
dish writing is the epitome of am-
harazuth, ignorance, and is generally
written with an appeal to the illiter-
- ates. The. Hebrew reader did not know,
for example, that the Yiddish liter-
ature has been enriched, by dramatists
like Hirshbein. and Pinsky; historians
and essayists like Zinberg and Sirkin;
novelists like Rabo and Singer.

The Yiddish readers, on the other
hand, classed all Hebrew literature as
"batlanuth." To them the Hebrew
writers were merely people who toyed
with words and lived in the realm of
old and • discarded ideas. They, the
Yiddish readers, did not know of such
thinkers as Joseph Klausner and Ye-
huda Kaufman; or poets of the type
Of ,Shimonovitz. Tchernichovsky, and
novelists like Burla and Barash.

- Louis LaMed apparently did sense
the magnitude of the enterpriSe, but
this did not deter him from his path.

Group to Honor
Publication of
`Achisefer' Here

S.

He also found that while the average
reader and writer of the two liter-
attires strove to broaden the chasm,
there were, however, many who
showed a great desire to bridge the
gap of estrangement and misunder-
standing. Bialik, the foremost Hebrew
writer of this age, wrote with great
skill and talent in Yiddish as well as
in Hebrew. He knows that one lang-
uage does not necessarily impoverish
the other. On the contrary, one feeds
and enriches the other.

The Yiddish idiom adds color, zest
and subtlety to the Hebrew, while the
dignified, classic expressions of He-
brew elevate and ennoble the rather
prosaic Yiddish.

This, according to. S. Niger, was the
two-fold aim of Yehoash in translating
the Bible into Yiddish, to bring the
Bible down to the: level of the people,
thus making their life fuller and rich-
er, and to raise the status of Yiddish
to the height of the classic Biblical
style.

LaMed sought to emphasize the
points of mutuality and reciprocation
_ by revealing for the Hebrew reader
the beauty and flexibility of the Yid-
dish language, and to bring within the
sphere of the Yiddish reader the crea-
tive genius of the Hebrew literature.
For that purpose he established the
LaMed Foundation, to encourage, sup-
port and even finance the best efforts
of both literatures, since both are
streams of the same creative and cul-
tural tradition.

Stimulates Study and Research

The "Bi-Lingualism of Our Liter-
ature" by S. Niger, published in 1941,
was the first product of this attempted
project. The distribution of prizes to
both Hebrew and Yiddish writers was
another form of stimulating the study
and research of both literatures. The
publication of the history of the
Hebrew and Yiddish literatures which
is soon to appear in both languages is
still another one of LaMed's enter-
prises.

The present volume, "Achisefer,"
is an outgrowth of this idea. The very
name Achisefer, a combination of two
Hebrew words, "Ach," brother, and

•

Scouting Activities
Extended in • Detroit

George Rubin of Jewish
Community Center Staff
Has Charge

Niger, Yiddish Essayist,
to Be Guest Speaker
Under t h e supervision of
at Shaarey Zedek
George Rubin, staff member of

The appearance of "Achisefer,"
published by the Louis LaMed
Foundation for the Advancement
Of Hebrew and Yiddish literature,
Will be celebrated Saturday night,
Dec. 18, at the Shaarey Zedek.
The guest speaker will be Sam-
Uel Niger, Yiddish essayist and
Critic, one of the editors of
"Achisefer." His associate in
editing this volume is Menachen
Ribalow, editor of the Hebrew
weekly, "Hadoar."
Rabbi Morris Adler will pre-
side at this event. A talk in He-
brew will be delivered by Ber-
nard Isaacs. M. Atzinoni, local
gebre* poet, whose translations
from some of the Yiddish poets
are published in "AChisefer," will
read several • of his own poems.
There alai will be a reading in

The arrangements committee
for this prorgam consists of Isaac
Franck, Rabbi Morris Adler, Ber-
nard Isaacs, I. Zemel, editor of
the local edition of the Tag, and
4. Rosenshine.
The public is invited to attend
this reception. There is no ad-
4nission charge.
"Achisefer" is reviewed on
this page by Mr. Isaacs.

the Jewish Community Center,
scouting activities in the com-
munity have increased. At present
there -are two Girl Scout troops
and one Boy Scout troop meeting
at the Center, with another Boy
Scout troop meeting at MacCul-
loch school. An active Cub. Pack,
with over 60 youngsters enrolled,
and many adult volunteers; now
meets in areas throughout the
Jewish community. A new
Brownie troop, which is the Jun-
ior Girl 'Scout organization, has
been started by Mrs. Ben Purnell.
Girl Scout troop meets every
Monday evening at the Center.
It is planning a Hanukah tea for
Monday. Miss Frances Wrubel is
Scout leader.
Girl Scout troop 239 meets on
Wednesday evening at the Center
under the leadership of Miss Ger-
aldine Goodstein. Girls in this
troop are making afghans for the
Red Cross and are embarking on
a Community Service Project, to
supervise children in the neigh-
borhood to release parents for a
few hours in the evening. The
girls are planning hikes, parties
and a Hanukah party for Dec. 25.
Boy Scout • troop . 265, with
Aaron Hyman as Scout Master,
meets at the Center on Wednes-

"Serer," book, is quite significant.
Rendered freely it means "Fraternity
of Literatures."

The "Achisefer" contains 585 pages
and is divided into four sections:

The first section is devoted to
essays on such subjects as the early
translations of the Bible; the language
of the Mishna; Hebrew, Aramaic and
Yiddish; the place of the Aramaic
language in Hebrew and some of its
usages in the Yiddish language of to-
day; the interaction between the
Hebrew and the Arabic languages; the
effect of Yiddish upon • the classic
Hebrew of Mendele and vice versa;
Yiddish idioms in the works of Bialik.
All theSe scientific but popularly
written essays comprise the first part
of the book.

The second section is entitled: "Our
Literatures in America for a Period of
Twenty-five Years — 1918-1943." M.
Ribalow, editor of Hadoar, writes very
lucidly about the Hebrew literature
of ,that period. His essay is very ex-
haustive. It occupies 90 pages of this
volume, and is supplemented by a
treatise on Hebrew poetry in America
written by Yitzhok Zilbershlag. Zilber-
shlag reviews the poetical works of
Silkiner, Bavli, Halkin, .Regelson,
Efros, Ginzberg, • Feinstein, .Lisitzky,
Schwartz, Friedland, Grossman and
Prail.
An Elaborate Essay
Mr. Niger writes about the Yiddish
literature of the same period. In his
masterly essay, he confines himself to
main streams and principal currents.
He allows himself, however; to de-
viate from his main thesis only for the
purpose of clarity and elucidation.
This elaborate essay is supplemented
by a treatise written by Yochnon
Twersky who reviews the following
Yiddish authors: David Pnisky, L.
Shapiro, Abram Raizin, Sholem Ash,
Peretz. Hirshbein,: Yona Rosenfeld, A.
Rabau, David Ingnatov and Joseph
Apatashu.

The third section is devoted to short
stories. Two are translated from the
Yiddish of Sholem Ash and Apatashu,
and the other two were written orig-
inally in Hebrew by Jacob Churgin
and Harry Sackler. This entire section
occupies altogether about 60 pages.
Why the editors chose to give such
limited space to the most popular part
of literature, the short story, is not
clear, and why a story like Sackler's,
which is really the first chapter of a
book, is included is also not fully

understood. The editors intended to'
give three stories, one depicting the
life of the Jews in Poland, the other;
in America, and the third in Palestine,!
and they apologize for publishingi
Churgin's story which was intended to
depict life in Palestine, and instead
gives a picture of Jewish shim life in
Damascus. This story, by the way
happens to be the best of all the four.'

As to the "American Story," which
is 'translated from the Yiddish of
Apatashu, it looks more like an an..
drogenos, an hermaphrodite. It is both
American" and Polish at the same time.
It seems that the author fitted the-
"coat" for his European herpes and
remade it, by request, _for America,
_forgetting to pull out the basting
stitches.

•

Largest Part of 'Volume

The last and the largest part oil
the volume is the selection of poetry--- - 4
translations from Yiddish into Hebrew,
covering 216 pages. Thirty-two Yid-
dish poets are represented here. Each
group of poems is carefully introduced
with a picture of the poet, with a brief
biography, and with a bibliography.
Among the translators of this Yiddish
poetry are Greenspan, Shtuk, Lisitzky
Zeitlin, Meltzer, Prail and Atzmoni (a
Detroit Hebrew poet). In the - transla-
tions of these poets .we can • see the
beneficial influence of the two lan
uages. Comparing the translation: with
the original one finds that the original
YiddiSh poem gained in :color and
vigor of expression, while the Hebrew
idiom was enriched with some of the
folk expressions prevalent in the Yid-
dish language.

LaMed, who is a lover of both liter-
atures, has rendered a great service,
and Detroit, where this work has been
cradled, planned, sponsored and fin-
anced, is proud of the achievement oft,
one of her sons.

The Detroit advisory committee of
the LaMed Foundation includes Louis
LaMed, Rabbi . Morris: Adler, S. Bev.
covitch, Miriam Dombey and L
Rosenshine.

.

day nights. This troop has a num-
ber of • vacancies for b o y s
interested in scouting. It is active-
ly engaged in the scrap-paper
drive.
Troop 369 of Boy Scouts meets
at MacCullooli school on Tuesday
evenings, under the supervision
of William Katz, Scout master.
The troop recently elected Simon
Morris, chairman, Arthur Ab-
rams, treasurer . and Samuel
Guttentag, secretary.. This troop
begins its annual paper drive this
week. There are openings for a
few boys who live in the vicinity
of the MacCulloch school. Albert
Cohen, of the Jewish Vocational
Service, will discuss "Planning
Your Career" at the meeting on
Tuesday.
Cub Scout Pack 369 will have
a Hanukah party this Sunday at
2:30 p. m. at the Center: The
party is limited to Cubs and their
immediate families.
According to :Ben Purnell,
Pack chairman; each Den has four
adult leaders and one Boy Scout
to supervise the Cub's. activities.
Miss Helen Kaplan, art teacher
at the MacCulloch school, is art
advisor to the Den Mothers' club.
More Den mothers are needed
and those interested should con-
tact Mr..Rubin at Madison 8400.
Through the generosity of Mrs.
Rose Kaplan, the Cubs have or-
ganized a woodcraft club, which
meets in the basement of her
home at 2490 LaBelle every Sun-
day afternoon. Ernest Penslar
is the woodcraft instructor and
has the assistance of several
fathers.
The newest scouting group to
be • organized is the Brownie

Mr. LaMed was honored on Dec. 15
at a surprise party at the Arbeiter
Ring Workmen's Educational Center.
His name was inscribed in the Golden
Book of the Jewish National Fund on
the occasion of the appearance of
"Achisefer."

Kindles the Lights of Freedom

Rabbi Maurice Eisendrath, director of the Union of American
Hebrew Congregations, kindles the Lights of Freedom in the fes-
tival currently being celebrated in the Synagogues. The Menorah
Candelabrum designed by Reuben Leaf, a distinguished Jewish
artist of New York, embodies the Palestinian grapevine motif, sur-
mounted by "the little cruse of oil that burned for seven days."
The Shield of the Maccabees bears the inscription "Who is like
unto Thee, Lord, among the mighty."

troop, meeting at Mrs. Ben Pur-
nells home, 2470 Oakman Court,
Friday afternoons. Girls in this
troop are all seven years old and
attend the MacCulloch school.
There are openings for four more
seven year old girls who attend
the same school. The first event

this troop is planning is a Harm,
kah party, at which the girls will
exchange Hanukah gifts and have
a program of traditional games
and songs. Parents of this troop
met and elected Irving Feldman,
chairman and Jack Portney as
secretary-treasurer,