THE JEWISH NEWS

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Entered as second-class matter Aug 6. 1942. at Post Of-
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Yiddish Proverbs

The Writing on the Wall
•

In his very fine book,."A Treasury of Jewish
Folklore: The Stories, Legends, Traditions, Humor
and Wisdom of the Jewish People" (published by
Crown Publishers, 419 4th Ave. New York 16,
and reviewed in this column on ' July 9), Nathan
Ausubel has included several hundred proverbs.
The following are some selections from the
proverbs in his book:

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ. Editor

VOL. XIII—No. 20

Page 4

July 30, 1948

Sabbath Scriptural Selections
. This Sabbath, the twenty-fourth day of Tam-
muz, 5708, the following Scriptural selections will
be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion—Num. 25:10-30:1.
Prophetical portion—Jer. 1:1-2:3.
On Friday, Rosh Hodesh Ab, Num. 28:1-15 will
be read during morning services.

For a Fair DP Bill

While prospects for complete revision of
the bill adopted by the last session of Con-
gress for the admission of displaced persons
to the United States are not too bright, it is
good to know that there are enough men in
both Houses of Congress who are determined
to undo the evils of the last bill.
President Truman has consistently fought
for a fair DP bill and has indicated, both in
his speech of acceptance of the Democratic
nomination for the Presidency and in his
message to Congress, his dissatisfaction with
the measure which he was compelled to sign.
Senator Homer Ferguson of Michigan re-
mains among the staunchest supporters of
fair and just DP legislation.
Senator Smith of New Jersey was among
the first to ask for immediate action for the
revision of the discriminatory bill.
Detroit Congressmen are joining forces
with the sponsors of revised legislation.
These are encouraging factors in a situa-
tion which was exposed by Drew_ Pearson
as stemming from an antagonism against
Jews among Congressional leaders, includ-
ing Senator Chapman Revercomb of West
Virginia, author of the horrible DP bill.
It remains to be seen whether the DP prob-
lem will be converted into another political
football. The matter can very easily be taken
out of the realm of debate and made into a
bi-partisan effort to do justice to Jewish and
Catholic DPs. The special session of Congress
is put to the test. Liberty-loving Americans
anxiously await action which will prove that
Congress aims to retain fair play as a major
American ideal.

New Era in Education

An important step forward was taken
last week by the United Hebrew Schools for
the advancement of Detroit's educational
system. Several decisions, adopted by the
schools' administration, point to a new era in
our community's cultural efforts.
By adopting a new code of practice for
teachers and principals, by deciding on a
higher scale of salaries, and by providing for
certification of teachers, the board of our
schools has placed the Hebrew teachers on
a par with the best teaching staffs in any
educational system in the land, elevating
them to a high professional position.
The latest decisions of the Hebrew Schools
call for the establishment of a Midrasha-
a school for advanced Jewish Studies for the
training of young men and women for the
Hebrew teaching profession. The plan to
establish 10 annual fellowships, to be award-
ed to the ablest graduates of the schools as
means of encouraging them to pursue their
studies in the Midrasha, is part of practical
planning for the betterment of the schools
and for assuring for them staffs of qualified
instructors.
For a number of years a crisis was in evi-
dence in our educational set-up. The chief
deterrent to progress was the shortage of good
teachers. While we already have witnessed
marked improvements, the new program
should guarantee an era of real progress in
education, for the good of the community and
as an assurance of training of suitable and
well-informed leadership.
The newly-projected program, by placing
added responsibilities upon the teaching staff
for extra-curricular activities in the fields of
adult education and youth club work, actu-
ally knits the staff and administration closer
together for greater cooperation.
Under the guidance of Bernard Isaacs and
Albert Elazar, the teaching staff now assumes
new responsibilities based on greater recogni-
tion of the importance of their services. The
establishment of the State of Israel is increas-
ing the urge for a knowledge of Hebrew by
Jews, and teachers of Hebrew become emis-
saries of a great ideal for the linking of the
cultural interests of the Jews of the Diaspora
and of Israel. Abe Kasle, president of the
schools, and his associates have earned com-
mendations for the courageous steps they
have taken to give the Hebrew schools their
deserved place in the new era of a recon-
structed Jewish life.

r4-

4441 4.11‘14.1„,17-e 14411*.

The Faith That Builds Israel

Threats will intermingle with rumors during the corn-
ing weeks and months in the war of nerves that has been
launched in an effort to destroy Israel. After consistent re-
jection of attempts by Arabs to secure referral of the issues
affecting Palestine to the international court of justice, several
member states of the United Nations have undertaken to
revive such a proposal, without regard to the record of the
General Assembly of the UN which shows that such proposals
have been ruled inadmissible and impractical.
Many of our people may become frightened by such new
efforts to harm the Jewish State. Fear already is in evidence
as a result of "threats" of the imposition of a "plebiscite"
upon Palestine. Again it therefore becomes a duty to point
out that no amount of intimidation can possibly stop the
wheels of justice which grind slowly but with certainty. Even
if the issue were to be referred to The Hague, it is incon-
ceivable that men of good will and justice ever would
yield to pressure from bigoted sources. Surely, men of vision
and practical thinking know that, by common admission .
and the reality of the situation, the State of Israel is a fact and
therefore can not be destroyed.
It is most unfortunate that the UN Palestine mediator,
Count Folke Bernadotte, should again have placed himself
in a position of being suspected of serving as a tool of the
Arabs and the Israel-hating British through his plebiscite
proposal. Jews are in the vast majority in the portion of
Palestine. that has been acclaimed the State of Israel. There
certainly is no need for a plebiscite in that territory. Insofar
as the remainder of the Holy Land, that has been torn from
the area rightfully belonging to a Jewish State, is concerned,
only the end of Arab aggression will make it possible for
Arabs resident there to decide by popular vote whether they
choose to be an independent state—in accordance with the
UN decision of Nov. 29, 1947
There is one chief need in Israel's ranks: the retention of
faith and the realization that justice, already having triumph-
ed, will continue to dominate the scene. All our people need
to do. is to look at the record of the past few years' exper-
iences to realize that when a people retains its vision and its
faith it can not be destroyed. The best proof is to be found
in the fate of the passengers , who traveled on the refugee
ship Exodus 1947 and were returned to German concentra-
tion camps by the British. All of the passengers of that ship,
whose story will be recorded as one of the most dramatic
episodes in all history, now are in Israel. They came to the
State of Israel in little groups, after escaping from the British-
controlled camps-in Germany. According to Dr. Ruth Gruber,
who again reports their amazing story from Tel Aviv:

"In little groups they escaped from the British camps and'
went clown through Europe to the secret ports in Italy) and
France, climbed on Haganah's tiny fishing boats or large con-
verted ships, and traveled the whole underground journey to.
Palestine.
"Mordecai Rosman, leader of the people on the prison ship
Runnymede Park, named after the site on which Britain's Magna
Carta Ivas signed, is now a high officer in Israel's. army. In Port-
de-Bounc, when the British permitted me to board the Runny-
mede Park, Mr. Rosman was already a legend .. .
"In Agrobank, nicknamed Bernadotte, because it is an in-
ternment center for people of military age who arrived during
the truce, I visited 250 Exodus people who had just come off
the ship ... These were the people I had seen and photographed
last year at Haifa, and talked with at Port-de-Bouc, believing
that maybe in five or ten years they would reach Palestine. Now,
because of political and military victories, they were at home."

Their story, as told by Dr. Gruber in her cable to the
New York Herald Tribune, reads like a fairy tale—about
people whose dream has come true, who aspire to see their
personal ambitions realized to become useful citizens of the
Jewish State. Such devotion can not be destroyed.
Another story cabled to the New York.. Herald Tribune
by its Tel Aviv correspondent, Kenneth Bilby, tells how the
former U. S. Presidential yacht Mayflower now is carrying
Jews to Israel from European ports. Some of the Exodus 1947
passengers were among the 1,200 who were brought to Haifa
on the Mayflower's last trip.
These incidents in the story of Israel's reconstruction
provide evidence of the triumph of faith over despair and
offer new courage to Israel and the Defenders of the Jewish
State. They challenge Jews - everywhere, espcially the Jews
of America, not to lose faith, to be firm in their position, to-
uphold the hands of the builders of Israel. With faith, Israel
has won and will continue to win.

He is the ''right sort of pepper.
When the cat wears gloves she can't catch
any mice.
The whiskey weeps out of the drunkard.
la hvitre. r-in-law is always a bit of a mother-
A daughter-in-law
.
.If grandma had wheels she'd be a wagon.
He's got to learn how to shave another's beard.
Because he is angry at the cantor he doesn't
say "Amen!"
If you look for chaJell you lose the black bread.
He's such a thief he'll steal the crack of your
whip if yoti don't look out!
If you deal in honey you have a chance for a lick.
You must never show half-completed work to a
fool.
The worst informer is .the face.
Charge nothing and you'll get a lot of customers.
Jews are eery charitable; when you say "good
morning," they answer: "good year.
A boil is no trouble—under the other fellow's
armpit.
Weep before God—laugh before peopl e .
You can never fill a sack full of holes.
Silence is the fence around wisdom.
Attend no auctions if you have no money.
The stin will set without your assistance.
Your friend has a friend. and your friend's friend
has a friend; be discreet.
A dream which has not been interpreted is like
a letter unread.
In a field where there are mounds, talk no secrets.
If one person tells you that you have ass's ears,
take no notice; should two tell you so, pro-
cure a saddle for yourself.
You can't chew with somebody else's teeth.
One fool makes many fools.
The whole world is one town.
What is the use of good wine in a rotten barrel?
If you spit upwards you're bound to get it hack
in the face.
If you can't afford chicken, herring will do.
An insincere peace is better than a sincere war.
Do not swallow poison because you know an
antidote.
On someone else's beard it's good to practice
barbering.
For borscht you don't need any teeth.
Better a Jew without a beard, than a beard
without a Jew.
If God wills it, a broom shoots (you can shoot
with a broom).
If there's a fire at your neighbor's you, too,
are in danger.

Mr. Ausubel soon will leave on a lecture tour
which is expected to bring him to Detroit and
other Michigan communities.

BOOK
OF BOOKS
A Bible Quiz With Answers

By Dr. Solomon Goldman

about the
Bible, its history, its people,
and its influence on the world?
Test your knowledge in this
quiz by Rabbi Solomon Gold-
man, author of the new thir-
teen volume commentary, "The
Book of Books." The answers,
from Dr. Goldman's monumen-
tal project in Biblical scholar-
ship, ore printed with speciol
permission of the publishers,
Harper & Brothers.

What do you know

(The seventh of a series)
What is the oldest division of the Bible?

It is generally agreed that the Torah was the
first division to be cannonized. Some scholars dis-
covered the story of its cannonization in -- Nehe-
miah, where it is related that, after assembling
"the men and women and those who could under-
stand*" Ezra, mounting a raised wooden platform
especially improvised for the purpose, read the
law in their presence for •several days, from day-
light to midday. Others believed to have found it
in the Deuteronomic law, enjoining the reading of
the, Torah once every seven years. Still others,
taking cognizance of the numerous references to
Torah in the Torah itself. are convinced that its
cannonization preceded the Babylonian exile by
centuries. But, whenever it happened, this mtich
is certain: that as far back as we can trace the
history of the Pentateuch, it appears as an aggre-
gate,• of one piece, as it were. The Torah is com-
prised of the five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

What did the Puritans think of the Bible and
its veracity?
Whosoever doubted that any book of the Bible
was the infallible word of God was guilty of
blasphemy according to the `,`Body of Liberticki"
adopted in 1641. Those guilty of such blasphemy
were to be whipped 40 lashes and fined 50 pounds
for first offenders; for second offense the guilty
person was to be put to.death or banished.
C
What is the religious symbolism of the story
of Noah and the flood?
Noah's survival symbolizes the fact that one
righteous man suffices to justify the existence of
the human race.
Uncontaminated by the evil of his generation,
Noah is chosen to continue the thread of creation.
He survived the Deluge, and the waters receding
from the ark have come to symbolize the bound-
less graciousness of God, the triumph of righteous-
ness, and the justification of faith, strengthening
man's resolution not to falter even in the extremest
adversity.

Facts You

Should Know

What is a "Melave Malice?"
"Melave Malice" is the name given to the spe-
cial meal that is eaten on Saturday evening by
pious Jews. The term is made up of two words:
"Melave," which means "an escort," and "Malice,"
which is the Hebrew word for "Queen:" The meal
is thus an "escort. for the Queen." This is quite
reasonable when we understand that the Sabbath
is always likened to a Queen in Jewish life, who
visits her people on every week-end. The Queen's
coming and presence is heralded by special Sab-
bath meals. It is therefore fitting that her. de-
parture be heralded by a sort of "farewell dinner"
in the form of the "Melave Malice," an "Escort
for the Queen."