THE JEWISH NEWS
Friday. Sepleatior 20. 11411
Reflections
Moshe Luzzatto Fathered
Modern Hebrew Literature
200th Anniversary of Death of Author of "The Path of the
Upright" Is Being Commemorated This Year
Lehman Candidate
For Senate Seat
New York's former governor,
Herbert H. Lehman, has been
nominated as Democratic candi-
interests of his youth, now with
a more mature mind and a soul
`rendered more understanding by
suffering. During the eight or
nine years he spent in the Dutch
capital, Luzzatto, who supported
his family by polishing diamonds,
wrote the drama, Layesharim
Tehillah (Praise to the Righteous),
an introduction to the Talmud.
and his best-known and best
loved work, the ethical treatise,
Mesillat Yesharim (The Path - of
the Upright).
Our grandparents were in many
respects better men and women
-International Photo
and better Jews than we. If they
HERBERT H. LEHMAN
respected higher standards of in-
tegrity, honesty. loyalty and devo- date for the U. S. Senate from
tion to ideals than we do, it was
due at least in part to the fact the State of New Work to suc-
that their leisure hours were spent ceed Sen. James M. Mead who
not in meaningless recreation, but is the New York gubernatorial
in devotion to the reading of such
candidate.
books as "The Path of the Up-
Pledges to fight racial and
right". an absorbing volume with-
discrimination in the
al. It has been translated into religious
English by Professor Mordecai M. U. S. are included in the political
Kaplan and is published by the platforms adopted by the N. Y.
Jewish Publication Society.
state conventions of the Demo-
' Dream of Redemption
cratic Party, the Republican Party
Luzzatto never abandoned the
and the American Labor Party
study of the Zohar (the so-called
which are now taking place. The
Bible of Jewish mysticism) and
the dream of redemption_ As a Democratic platform urges the
outlawing of such discrimination
youth he had entertained vague
By Dr. Trade Weis-Wassausrin
Copyright 1946 by Independent
Jewish Press Service, Inc_
Moshe Chaim Luasatto, who
died 200 years ago. is acclaimed
as the founding father of modern
Hebrew literature and as the au-
thor of The Path of the. Upright,"
the ethical tract loved and rever-
ed by Jews.
Moshe Luzzatto was born in
1707 in Padua, Italy. In accord-
ance with the enlightenment of
Renaissance Italian Jewry, young
Moshe Chaim was given a com-
prehensive secular education, in
addition to the traditional Jew-
ish training. His Hebrew dramas
attest to his thorough knowledge
Italian literature. Luzzatto
of
was a brilliant student, a creative
writer and scholar with strong
literary ambitions. Before he was
twenty he wrote a Hebrew drama;
a textbook on rhetoric and style,
with a drama appended for pur-
poses of illustration; a volume of
One Hundred and Fifty Psalms,"
avowedly an imitation of the
Biblical model; and a Cabalistic
book, "The Second Zohar," whose
title indicated that its- author
meant it to be. In addition, the
youthful genius wrote occasional
poems and minor Cabalistic
treatises.
Fascinated Luzzatta
-
Cabalistic studies had fascin-
ated Luzzatto almost since child- ideas of being the one destined
hood. In about his twentieth to usher in the promised redem-
year, however, he deserted vir- ption for his people: in his man-
tually all other interests for the hood he became resigned that he
study of Cabala, with a group of must seek this redemption on the
like-minded friends. Strange ru- soil of Eretz Israel only for him-
mors spread through the Jewish self and his nearest.
world about the young Cabalist
In 1742 or 1743. Luzzatto set out
and his disciples. and the rabbin- for the Holy Land. From a let-
ical authorities accused Luzzatto ter to a pupil, we know that in
of grooming himself for the part 1743 he was in Acco. near Tiber-
of another false Messiah. ias. His poem. "By the Hot
This opposition was caused Springs of Tiberias". in which he
tury, Jewry still had not wholly
recovered from the profound de-
moralization resulting from the
failure of Shabbotai Zebi's pseudo-
Messianic movement.
The rabbis succeeded in neu-
tralizing Luzzatto's Cabalistic, in-
fluence by confiscating his Cab-
balistic writings, proclaiming the
Herem against them. and making
that is extent.
Luzzatto is buried near Rabbi
Akiba's grave--Rabbi Akiba. not
only a fine teacher of the Mish-
nah. tint one who yearned for re-
demption so ardently that he was
misled into endorsing as the re
deemer Bar Kochba. the first
pseudo-Messiah.
Rabbi Akiba's bones have turn-
ed to dust: the messengers of the
year.
i Messiah are not yet in sight. But
Family Fortune Lost
the yearning for redemption which
About this time. the family for- fired Akiba ben Joseph and Moshe
tune was lost and the Luazatto Chaim Luzzatto still burns in their
clan decided to emigrate. Moshe descendants. And so Redemption
Chaim arrived in Amsterdam must come at the appointed time
a bou t 1735. The Sephardic Jew
ish community there received him
with great honor and affection.
Greetings & Best It
He taught at the Rabbinical Col-
for the
and
dispensed
his
knowledge
lege
to all who sought him out. But
Neu. ) - ear
he gave no instruction in Cabala.
In a letter to his teacher, Rabbi
their author swear to steer clear
of the Cabala until his fortieth
the rabbis. but because "I simply
feel disinclined to teach anyone
even one word of it (the Cabala).
I therefore did not and do not
pronounce even a syllable about
it . . . If the Lord wishes to make
the truth known. he will do so:
and if not., surely he knows it, and
this is enough. And if this thing
will not be known to us in this
world, we shall know it in the
Mr. and Mrs.. Max Chafets
Workers' Suburb Expands
The large workers' suburb near
Haifa. Kiryat Haim. is the site of
and Many More
world to come."
Gradually he groped his way
out of the maze of the Cabalis-
tic speculations which had all but
deadened his vital creative mind_
Again he turned to the literary
to Come
Hyannis. came flowers from the
has not been secured thus far. it
Jewish community on the occa-
was reported by Louis Lipsky. sion of the clergyman's 19th year
head of the American Jewish Con-
in that ministry. Those flowers
ference delegation, following his were symbc,lic
o. the sincere inter-
return from Paris.
' faith friendship in that commun-
Truman Immigration Plan
Meets Stiff Opposition
ity, product of years of cordi
relations and activities design
; to promote Christian - Jewis
understanding.
WASHINGTON. D. C.. (JPS)—
Rep. Mason (R.. Ill.) , ranking min-
1946
ority member of the House Immi-
gration Committee. declared here
that despite President Truman's
proposed requ e st to Congress.
"there will be no opening of our
immigration doors for European
refugees."
Rep. Mason's assertion was in
reference to the President's an-
nouncement that he was contem-
plating asking Congress for special
5707
L'SHONO
TOVO
T1KOSEYU
BERDITCHEVER
legislation authorizing the entry
into the United States a "fixed
number" of displaced persons from ;
Europe "including Jews." Repre-
sentative Mason said he could not ;
"understand why the President •
made such a suggestion."
PROGRESSIVE AID SOC.
H. Kaminer, Pres.
J. Reznick, Fin. Sec'y
To our members and friends
we wish to extend our <best
wishes for a Happy and
Prosperous New Year.
DETROIT SECTION
OF THE
AMERICAN JEWISH CONGRESS
e•o
A
Hapfty
New
Year
The re6u;iciina of Palestine Tn
the „S. o;r:t of the Torah ci u r;ng
the
New Year is one of our
chef oL :oat;ons a-. Jews.
SEASON'S
Sisters of Zion Mizrachi
GREETINGS
Mr. 1 Mrs. Daniel Temchin
Mich.
Detroit
20th Anniversary
of
5707
Mr. and Mrs. A. Kasle
and Family
JEWISH PEOPLES SCHOOLS
(Sholem Aleichem Folk-Institute)
TWENTY YEARS OF PROGRESSIVE MODERN JEWISH
EDUCATION AND CULTURAL ACTIVITIES
SCHOOLS:
1. Main Branch
275 Merton Road
Wish to Extend to
Their Relatives
3754 Monterey
HOgarth 5404
2. Brady Public School
Joy Rd. at Lawton
Room 123
3. McCulloch Public School
Wildemere and Buena Vista
Rocim 210
4. Bagley Public School
8100 Curtis
Room 217
5. Kindegarten
3754 Monterey
Oscar Klausner
SUBJECTS TAUGHT AT ALL SCHOOLS:
Rovner Progressive
1414 , FARMER ST.
A
Yiddish, Hebrew, History, Literature, Traditions,
Ethics, Singing and Dramatics.
Happy
REGISTRATIONS NOW BEING ACCEPTED
New Year
FOR INFORMATION CALL HOGARTH 5404
Farein
RA. 4244
of Detroit
Good Taste Need Not
Be Expensive
operation was clearly borne out i
NEW YORK (JTA)—Sponsor-
ship for the Jewish demands to Hyannis, _lass., recently.
be included in the peace treaties
To Carl Fearing Schultz, Min-
at the Peace Conference in Paris ister of the Federated Church of
Wishes all their friends
A Hopp) and Prosperous
New Year
and Friends
Studio
That friendship and good - wit
are the fruit of inter - religious c
Jericho Lodge
1.0.0.F. No. 490
1946
Best New Year Wishes
At Peace Conference
Britain's policy on Palestine is
Art Furniture Co.
4104 Fenkell
Clergyman Felicitated
By Jews on Anniversary
severely criticized in the plat-
forms of the Democratic Party
and the American Labor Party.
i
Isaiah Hassan, he explained that
this was not on account of the in-
junction leveled against him by
Sponsor Lacking
For Jewish Demands
in the field of employment.
a project for the construction of
new dwellings containing 700
rooms and intended mainly for
ex-soldiers and new immigrants.
describes the desolation of Pales- Streets are being paved and con-
tine. which nevertheless holds struction is to begin at an early
healing powers in its soil, is his date. The work is being carried
only utterance from this period
t by Solel Boneh Ltd.
largely by the fact that in the
first third of the eighteenth cen-
Page Fifty-one
L Silbert
Pres..
J. Siegal
Vorr. Sec'y