Friday, September 7, 1945

In Lighter Vein

The Week's Best Stories

Silent Leader

Those who, - conceive of the
Talmudie students of old as
musty explorerS of .dry texts who
never thought of current affairs
are not familiar with their wry
sense, of humor, their mastery
at Puns. The- seemingly stilted
Biblical Verses which were their
fodder were related direct-
ly to, the foibles of the day.
– There - is one fatnOus story
centered on Rabbi jacOb . Mazeh,
who used to be Chief Rabbi of
Moscow. He was reading the
text which said of. Moses:. "He
was slow of speech and of a slow
tongue." This was Rabbi MaZeh's
commentary:
"It was essential that Israel be
•led by a man slow of speech.
Had he the gifts of an orator,
lie would never have been fin-
ished with his speaking; and Is
rael would • still be in Egyptian
bondage." And Rabbi Mazeh
added: "Today the orators seize
the leadership and that is a mis-
fortune for the people."

*

* *

Discovering Poverty
Since poverty was always the
lot of most European Jews, the
stories of beggars and of their
prowess took up predominant
space. Always the poor man
was consoled. A typical "rich
and poor" tale goes as -follows:
A very- wealthy Chassid came
to his rabbi, and the latter spent
several hours with him. In the
meantime, a poor Chassid had
arrived and was kept waiting.
Finally he got in to see the rab-
bi, who spent only a little while
with him.
As he went out, . the poor
Chassid looked hurt. He asked
why the rabbi seemed to prefer
to spend his time with rich peo-
ple.
Smilingly, the rabbi said: "You
know, it takes me only a short
time to discover that you are a
poor man. But that fellow must
talk to me about many things
until I realize • that—he . is even
poorer than you."

*

* *

Learn Something New
An author approached a De-
troit Rabbi with a request that
he give a recommendation for
his work. The Rabbi . glanced
through the book, and eventual-
ly said: "Well, _I've learned
something froth it, but I'm sorry
I cannot give it a recommenda-
tion."
The writer was disconcerted.-
"I don't understand, Rabbi," he
said. "If even you have learned
something from my book, surely
you can give it a recommenda-
tion."
"I regret I cannot recommend
it," persisted the Rabbi.
"At least you can tell me what.
you have learned from it."
"I never knew before that
there was a printing- plant in
Ecorse."

*

*

Greek and Jew
Sometimes the swivel-chair
sociologists (more correctly re-
ferred to in modern terms as
Nazis) accuse the Jews of un-
due pride of race or achieve-
ment. But the following story
throws no more discredit on the
Jew than on - the Greek. In fact,
it shows that both have a good
sense of humor.
Originally the tale had anoth-
er setting, but it might well be
applied to modern Palestine;
where thousands of Greeks have
found refuge. One of these wel7
come Greek refugees struck up
an acquaintance with a Jewish
fellow guest in a Jerusalem ho-
tel. Eventually they began to

Altman's
Jewish
Radio Hour

Extends Holiday
greetings

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THE JEWISH NEWS

discuss Hellenic and Hebraic or-
igins of culture.
The Greek bragged about his
land and said that excavations
made near Athens disclosed deep
underground a long -telegraph'
line. "That just shows you that
as long ago ' as -our early ances-
tors the • Greeks .: had installed
telegraphy." -
To 'which the Jew replied:
"But that's nothing. An expedi-
tion recently. digging in an out-
er. part. ,of Jerusalem, went way
down—and disCovered not . a
sight. of .a , line. . That . proves,-
- of course, that as long ,agb. as
two thousand years the .Jews al-
ready had wireless telegraphy."
An, old -arid tufty - story, to be
Sure, but ' actually the original
of scores of tales that haVe
sprung up. in its image.
* * *
Brisk. Conirersation!.
•
It was.. in his noble perform-
ances at the piano that the great
heart of Anton Rubinstein found
its most eloquent . expression. In
speech the celebrated musician
was often almost inarticulate.
Once during a tour of Scotland,
RubinStein received Sir Herbert
Oakley in his hotel room in Glas-
gow. After • Waiting - vainly' for
half an hour for the .celebrated
pianist to direct the conversation,
Sir Herbert said,: "Do you like
Wagner?" .
"He is not. goot," replied Rub-
instein.
Abashed, the Scot waited an-
other half hour before again
breaking the silence: "How about
Beethoven?" he finally ventured.
"He is gobt," said the pianist.
Nearly an hour dragged on
without further conversation, un-
til Sir Herbert, no longer able
to endure the silence, said des-
perately, "I must go to bed now!"
"Ton't go," exclaimed Rubin-
stein with the Most obvidifs sin-
cerity. "I have so much enjoy-
ed your conversation."

Page Eighty Five

-

Veteran Pickets Bilbo's Office,
Protesting View on Minorities

.

.

Later Switches His Protests to Bilbo's Home; Edward
Bykowski's March Attracts Nationwide
Attention to Bilbo's Acts

WASHINGTON. — A wounded
veteran,. limping from injuries he
said he suffered in the' PaCific,
picketed the Senate Office
ing
protest against statements
. in .
made by Senator Bilbo, Pg MO-
ex a t, • of. Mississippi; regarding

The veteran, Edward BykOW-
ski, discharged pharmaCists' mate
first class, picketed for more. than
:in • hour—until he was ordered
out of the Capitol area by Capitol
police. He said he received as-
surances from a member' of Sen-
atOr BilbO's staff that an appoint-
ment would be granted as soon
as the Senator returned from
Mississippi.
Later . he directed his attention
to Bilbo's home.
The 'Veteran, whose home is in
New York, carried :a large sign
bearing a picture of a bleeding
purple heart.
"Was this in vain?". the sign
asked. "Tell it - to me, Bilbo? I
fought for democracy."
- Tells of Battle Heroism
A Polish Catholic, 6 feet 4
inches tall, Mr. Bykowski com-
plained that Senator Bilbo "claims
Negroes, Jews, Italians, Poles, in-
fact any one but Bilbo, is unde-
sirable. He has abrogated every-
thing that veterans have died for,
suffered the agonies of hell for."

The,
exhibited a Navy
• veteran
•
presS- release describing how he
stuck to his battle station on the
heavy cruiser .Vincennes when
the Japanese - torpedoed it '. in
the Solomons, even after the
captain ordered the ship aban-
doned., •
'‘‘.A: little colored boy we called
Sunshine kept on passing the am-
Munition with his right ann . after
the Japs blew off his left: That's
a Negro for - you," he declared.
"Then there was Danny- Boy. He
died in my arms, saying, 'Keep
on. fighting, boys.' His hand
opened up. He had been clutching
the six-point Star - of David.
That's a Jew for you." - .
Uses Mustering Out Pay
The veteran's own nickname is
."Bigski." He said he entered the
Navy Auggust 9, 1940, and served
in the task force which took Gen.
Doolittle's flyers within range of
Tokyo in the spring of 1942. He
fought in the battles of the Coral
Sea, MidWay, Guadalcanal and
Savo Bay, he related. In the sink-
ing of the ,Vincennes, he suffered
a compound fracture_ of the left
leg in four places, he said. He was
released from the Naval Hos-
pital at St. Albans, L. I., July 10
with a 60 per cent disability, he
said.
"I am not afraid of anybody,"

said "Bigski," flourishing his
cane. "In the hospital, I- kept
thinking about Bilbo. I'm using
my mustering out pay for this,
and it's worth every penny of it."
"Bigski" sent Senator Bilbo a
wire in Which - he threatened to
picket until the Senator retracted
his statements or was impeached.
Senator Bilbo, he recalled, said
recently in a letter to an Italian
girl in. New York addressing her
as "Dear Dago'? that he was re-
sponsible: only to the people of
Mississippi. _
"That's hot true," he said. "He
is responsible to the people of the
United States."

May the -Year 5706

see lasting peace and
security come to the
peoples of the world

Louis Marshall
Lodge No. 1203_
-
Bnai Brith

Capt. NosanchiA Home

Capt. Joseph I. Nosanchuk, at-
tached to the Medical Corps, U. S.
Army, stationed at Abilene Army
Air Field, Texas, is home on a
two-week leave with his wife,
Betty, - and their two children,
Michael, four years old, and Loy-
etta Sue, two years old.
Capt. Nosanchuk is staying
with his parents, Mr. and Mrs.
Jacob Nosanchuk, 1979- Glynn Ct.

.

hr Mitzvah

Mr. and - Mrs. Nathan H.
Scholnick of 18983 Parkside an:
nounce the Bar Mitzvah of their
son, Ivan M., on Saturday morn-
ing, Sept. 22, at the Shaarey
Zedek. At home that Saturday
evening from 8 p. m. No cards..

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est Wishes

for
A Happy and Prosperous
New Year

My Best

Wishes To The

Jewish People

of Michigan

American principles
will survive if tIle ideals
incorporated in the
Hebrew Decaloque are
strictly adhered to. Let
us all strive to live_up
'to these principles. in
this spirit I qr'eet the
— . Jewish people -on the
New Year.

32 Convenient Offices

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Commercial and Savings Banking

Main Office... Griswold at

Vernon J.

BROWN

Lt. Governor of
The State of Mich.

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Member of Irederal .Depeosit Iresoranee

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