About a Detroit Accountant Tickton Recalls Sokolow's Work, Hope for Zionism By DANIEL L. TICKTON Much has happened since 1900, the year of my zichro- nos, my memories of men and events. There is an old saying that the worst of the past is the best of the future. Perhaps these recollections will prove it. The writer, being totally blind for nearly 14 years, could not get raw material and was unable" to look up old manu- scripts and references for his reminiscences. He had to de- pend entirely on memory. The trouble is that unpleasant things in life make so much noise that we forget the silent operations of the good. , In 1900 I was employed as an assistant to Mr. Berman, the circulation and office manager of the Warsaw (Poland) Hebrew daily paper Hazefirah, with of- fices on the corner of Panska Ulica. Berman was a very tall, stern-looking person who al- ways looked for extra duties for his employees and for Eliyahu, the bochur hazetzer or chief NAHAUM SOKOLOW compositor. Our day's work be- gan at 6 p.m. and finished at 7 the next morning when the papers were delivered to the post office. Friday night was the exception, as there were no edi- tions on Saturdays. But behind closed doors we had to report for duty at noon on the Sab- bath day, to organize for the Sunday edition and to clean up accumulated work. RELIGION VS. BUSINESS Most of the subscribers to Hazefirah were orthodox. They lOved their religion, kept the Sabbath day holy and were ready to die for it if called upon as a matter of strong faith. Berman attended Sabbath morning services, but immedi- ately thereafter hurried to the editorial office, lit his big black cigar and. got down to business. He had one law for the Sab- bath at the synagogue and an- other for his office; one law for the sanctuary—he was a hassid -=-and another for his work. He was a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. His co-workers — there were no female employees,-included Michel E. Webber, a Mr. Bres- nitzky, three typesetters and Eliyahu the bochur hazetzer. Nahum Sokolow, the eminent Zionist leader who later became president of the World Zionist Organization, was editor and sole proprietor of the paper. He purchased the Hazefirah from Chaim Zelig Slonimsky who was forced to quit due to old age and partial blindness. Slonim- sky disagreed with Sokolow's Zionist views brought back from Basle after his meeting with Dr. Theodor Herzl at the World Zionist Congress. Sokolow was, indeed, a mental genius. Mrs. Sokolow, truly a woman of valor, was his con- stant attendant who watched over him and his needs. I made my home with them for 15 months and occupied a room between the printing office and their hallway. VERSATILE LINGUIST Versatile in a dozen lan- guages in which he wrote and spoke without accent, Sokolow wrote on a.variety of subjects— fiction, humor, politics, science. He had imagination • and fore- sight. Upon his return from Basle, in an article, "Hopes," he stated: "It is a shock to awake, to find out that the distant fu- ture suddenly became the im- mediate present . . . The day has actually arrived! . . . I may not be around to enjoy it, but a 24 and His Memories — THE JEWISH NEWS Friday, February 10, 1950 Ex-Newsboy Caps Career With CPA Degree at 68 By RUTH L. CASSEL Few of the • hundreds of Detroit firms and. individuals whose books and/or insurance have been in the safe hands of Daniel L. Tickton for as long as 20 years realize that Dan Tickton's story reads like an old-fashioned Horatio Alger thriller—from newsboy to CPA—without benefit of formal secular education. Born on Nov. 2, 1881, in Bialy- stok, Tickton received the tradi- tional education for Jewish boys —a thorough grounding in He- brew and Judaica in Cheder and the Lomzer Yeshivah. That him into hundreds of homes and businesses throughout the city. He sold his insurance interests in 1948 on his doctor's advice. Tickton became a public ac- countant in 1927, and last Octo- ber, shortly before celebrating his 68th birthday, he passed a series of examinations which entitled him to the title of Cer- tified Public Accountant. Oh, yes—as may be noted in his article, Daniel Tickton has been totally blind for 14 years. If this comes as something of an afterthought, it is because Dan Tickton has let it have little more than an after- thought's influence in his life. `HER HUSBAND'S EYES' Until her death in 1947, Anne T i c k t on was her husband's "eyes," spending many evenings reading aloud the facts and figures necessary in his profes- sion. He does all computations —everything from trial balances to complex income tax returns —in his head, dictating his con- DANIEL TICKTON clusions. He lives alone, though he is training was so -thorough that to this day he can conduct Sab- anxious to share his flat with bath and holiday services with- another gentleman, and visits out referring to the prayer book his children and seven young —and often does, at his neigh- grandchildren at frequent inter- borhood synagogue, Cong. Bnai vals. Never idle, resigned or bit- Jacob at Richton and Linwood. ter, he spends many hours at WORKED FOR HATZEFIRAH the radio or with the public li- As a youth in Warsaw, Tick- brary's recorded books for the ton worked for the Hebrew daily blind; keeps up a large and ac- Hazefirah, of which he writes in tive correspondence with family the accompanying article. Em- and friends all over the coun- ployed in the circulation depart- try, typing all letters himself; ment, he also read proofs and has a limitless fund of anecdotes acquired his first experience in and stories reflecting his devo- bookkeeping. He also was a tion to Judaism and his exuber- proofreader for the Hebrew an- ant love of life; and is learning to play the piano by ear. nual, Achiosoff. In 1904, Tickton arrived in the To Ask immigration United States and began his bus- iness career as the legendary im- For Afghanistan Jews migrant peddler in Nashua, New Hampshire. A few years later BOMBAY—(JTA)—Emphasiz- he moved to Waltham, Mass., ing that the situation for Jews where he' hawked newspapers on in Afghanistan is "fraught with trains and later operated a possible danger," the Zionist newsstand. Association here appealed to the His marriage to Anne Shaber World Jewish Congress to seek took place in Nashua, on Nov. intervention through Washing- 30, 1909. Their three children ton and London with the Afghan were all born in Waltham—Sid- Government with a view to ob- ney G., now a statistician for the taining permission for the Jews United States Treasury Depart- in Afganistan to leave the coun- ment and a resident of Arling- try. Zionist leaders here will ap- ton, Va.; Miriam, now Mrs. Vic- tor H. Kramer, also of Arling- proach the diplomatic repre- ton, and Jason H., director of sentatives of Afghanistan in music at Temple Beth El and New Delhi, India, with a memo- assistant professor of music at randum requesting that the Wayne University. They are all Jews be permitted to emigrate from Afghanistan. Wayne graduates. CAME HERE IN 1915 The Ticktons came to Detroit in 1915 and Daniel went to work as a bookkeeper for Sarasohn and Shetzer, dry goods. In 1920 he opened his first bookkeeping office and in 1923 added the in- surance agency which brought state of Israel will surely be some day." But the censor, Sachs, for un- explained orders, deleted many lines referring to Zionism. The Russian government d i d not look with favor upon Zionism and was .especially concerned to watch the movement of 21- year-old Jews who reached the age of priziv — military duty. Censor Sachs initialed every issue which had to be marked dosvolieno cenzuroyou—with the approval of the censor—before it was accepted for distribution by the post office. TROUBLE WITH CENSORS Sokolow was the principal speaker at a Hanukah gather- ing in a hall on Gensha street near Nalevka Ulica 50 years ago-.-in the year 5660. Part of the crowd asked that he speak in Yiddish, the other in Hebrew. Sokolow began his speech in Hebrew, continued in Yiddish and Concluded it with an ap- peal in Polish. The enthused gathering tried to carry him on their shoulders. But when he reached the editorial office the zhendarmes were waiting for him and he was whisked off to prison. He was released on or- ders from the Warsaw General Gubernator. After that incident, Censor Sachs became more strict with Sokolow's articles. Sokolow wrote in very tiny but most legible letters. 'He signed his editorial N. S. which stood in Hebrew for nes—mir- acle. He had an agreement with the Vienna Neue Freue Presse to translate some of their arti- cles over the signature NF'F. He had a similar agreement with the Berliner Tageblatt whose articles he initialed BT'T. There were frequent inquiries from readers who thought that these initials represented independ- ent writers. Sokolow was his own translator and he also translated from French, English and Italian papers. On Fridays he wrote a weekly feuilleton- "M'Shabbos LeShab.bos"—signed Hanetz (meaning the Comic). His writings were full of hu- mor. He was the inventor of the term chalutz—from the letters ches, lamed, vov, zadik, which stood RA' the phrase "Chevra Lechu Venelcha Ziyono." Michel Webber took care of all correspondence and was the go-between in our dealings with the government and the chief of police. He was an atheist, disliked places of worship, called sermons green apples, did not believe in kashrut, failed to ob- serve holidays, but was an ar- dent Zionist. He was a master of the Greek language and in my recollections are from studied astronomy. memory, Being totally blind PROMINENT ASSOCIATES and having no records, .I tried At the Kavyarna of Moshe to describe as vividly as I could der Roiter—the coffe house of only what a blind man is able Moshe the redhead — many to recall. prominent men gathered in When Nahum Sokolow came those days. Among them were to this country nearly 40 years Abraham Raizin, now residing ago, I journeyed to Boston to in New York, David Frishman, meet him at the Copley Plaza A. Kaplan, the managing editor Hotel. We lunched together and of Achiosoff, Hebrew annual, had Mr. Justice Louis D. Bran- Mordecai Spector, a Yiddish deis of the United States Su- writer, and a Dr. Sirkin who preme Court as our guest. When was said to have sought in mar- he was in Detroit with his riage the hand of Sokolow's 19- daughter, Dr. Celina Sokolow, I year-old daughter. At Sokolow's spent many hours with them. I met Sholem Asch, Baron He visited me at my home on Guinzburg of St. Petersburg Navahoe Street and we ex- changed memories. I was a and Sholem Aleichem. The Hameilitz, published by member of the committee which Zederbaum in St. Petersburg, welcomed him to Detroit and began to cut in on the Hazefir- my photograph with him 'ap- ah's circulation, and Zionism peared in the Detrbit Free became an issue of debate be- Press. I was the only Detroiter tWeen them. Sokolow evidently who knew him and his daugh- disliked the two Hebrew peri- ter from the Old Country and, odicals, Hashachar and Habo- as he told me, when he was ker Oir, which also appeared at hoping for 'the New Country, that time. the State of Israel. May he rest All 'the quotations and sayings in peace! Ultra-Orthodox Sect Plans Hague Petition Against Conscription TEL AVIV, (JTA)—The ultra- Orthodox sect, Neturei Karta ("Guardians of the 'City"), which does not recognize the establish- ment of the state of Israel on re- ligious grounds, plans to petition the International Court of Jus, tice in The Hague to exempt its members from conscription in the Israel armed forces on the grounds that Jerusalem is not part of the state of Israel. Prof. Norman Bentwich, auth- ority on international law and former attorney-general in the Palestine mandate government, described the Neturei Karta's in- tention as a "fantastic idea." He pointed out that only sovereign governments can submit their differences to the International Court of 'Justice,. while individ- uals or groups only have the right to petition the UN Eco- nomic and Social Council. An Israel Cabinet committee of inquiry today began hearing witnesses testify on the disputed subject of religious education in the immigrant reception camps in this country. Immigration Minister Moshe Shapira, a lead- er of the Religious Bloc, declared that the issue of religious edu- cation in the camps was a stum- bling bloc to formation of a wider coalition cabinet. Legion Deserters Prefer Israel to Arab Pardon JERUSALEM — (ISI) —Three Arabs who deserted from the Jordan Arab Legion to Israel territory last May chose to re- main in Israel despite an offer of full pardon, release from the Legion and return to civilian life. At the request of the Jordan Government, the Arabs were brought to Mandelbaum Gate in Jerusalem to meet Major Hin- dawi of the Legion. In request- ing the Arabs to return, Hindawl made the offer of pardon in the name of Arab Legion Com- mander Glubb Pasha. Internationalization Opposed by U.S. Papers N E W YORK—(ISI) —Leading American newspapers renewed their attack on the United Nations plan to internationalize Jerusalem after a Christian fact-finding mission to Jeru- salem returned with a report condemning t h e proposal as "dangerous and unnecessary." A survey made by the Israel' Office of Information, prior to the trip, showed that 61 of 85 newspapers throughout the country oppose internationali- zation; 21 are for it; and three are more or less non-commital. Greeting 1,000,000th Israeli UJA general chairman HENRY MORGENTHAU is shown greeting Israel's 1,000,000tb Jewish citizen at the Beth Lid Reception Camp near Haifa, during his recent visit to the Jewish state. Morgenthau, right, is with 36-year-old JACOB CHAMA.IDES and his 17-month-old daughter, SARA GOLD& The UJA general chairman declared on his return to the U. S. that "the prOblem of maintaining the new immigrants is tho key to the economic and social future of Israel."