As the Editor
Views the News .

With Justifiable Pride

School's Merger

Hebrew Congress

Within a month, educators representing
Jewish communities throughout the world
will gather in Jerusalem to attend sessions
of the first World Congress for Hebrew
Language and Culture.
Sponsored by Histadruth Ivrith of
America and a number of leading American
Jewish organizations, this Congress, which is
to be non-partisan, has for its aims the mo-
bilization of creative forces among Jews
throughout the world for the promotion of
the Hebrew language and culture, the crea-
tion of instrumentalities to facilitate the im-
plementation of such a program and the
strengthening of spiritual bonds between
Israel and Jews everywhere through the
medium of Hebrew creativity.
This is an ambitious objective, but it
can be attained if the leading Jewish educa-
tors and laymen interested in the advance-
ment of Jewish cultural values work togeth-
er. The World Hebrew Congress therefore
assumes an important role at this time,. when
the strengthening of bonds between Israel
and world Jewry is so vitally needed and
when it is so necessary to spread- knowledge
about Israel among our people.
If the largest number of Jewish com-
munities can be induced to send representa-
tives to the Hebrew Congress, there will be
advance assurance that its objectives will
find ;strong support and that, through an
exchange of experiences, Jewish leaders will
be in position to take back with them the
inspiration needed for the advancement of
the highest Jewish cultural values.

THE JEWISH NEWS

Member: American Association of English-Jewish News-
"miners. Michigan Press Association.
Published every Friday by The J ewish News Publishing
Co. 708-10 David Stott Bldg., Detroit 26, Mich., WO. 6-1156.
Subscription $3 a year; foreign $4.
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6, 1942 at Post Office,
Detroit. Mich., under Act of March 3. 1879.

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ. Editor

SIDNEY SFIMARAK Advertising Manager

RUTH L. CASSEL. City Editor

Vol. XVII—No. 15

Page 4

June 23, 1950

Sabbath Scriptural Selections

This Sabbath, the ninth day of Tammuz,
5710, the following Scriptural selections will be
read in our synagogues:
I) entateuchal portion—Num. 19:1-22:1. -
Prophetical portion — Judges 11:1-33.

Words

Romantic Tales Fill Two
New Books on Subject

0

Merger of two of our related school sys-
tems, sponsored by the Labor Zionist Move-
ment and the Sholem. Aleichem Institute,
into the United Jewish Folk Schools, repre-
sents one of the most significant steps in
the direction of advancing our community's
efforts in the educational field through the
elimination of unnecessary waste in admin-
istration, personnel and school buildings.
The two organizations which have amal-
gamated their prOgrams are so closely allied
that it would be sheer waste of the com-
munity's resources to carry on their sep-
arate programs. Both schools teach Hebrew
as well as Yiddish. Both emphasize studies
in Jewish history, community life, the holi-
days and social problems. Both are located
in approximately the same neighborhoods.
To add to the dilemmas of both or-
ganizations, the movement of our popula-
tion northward would have necessitated
the construction of new buildings for each
group. By merging the two systems and
by forming a single administration, the
need for an enlarged building program has
been eliminated, the leadership and the
community are spared the unnecessary
troubles involved in the convening of two
sets of meetings every time the two
groups need to discuss their educational
problems and our children are to meet
under the auspices of a unified system,
in a single set of buildings.
The economy effected by the merger
ought to be considered of minor importance
in relation to the major issue involved: that
of joining all our schools under single super-
vision, in one unified community education-
al system. Perhaps the merger of the Labor
Zionist and Sholem Aleichem schools is the
first step in the direction of merging, in the
years to come, the United Hebrew Schools,
the Workmen's Circle Schools and the new-
ly-unified United Jewish Folk Schools. This,
at any rate, should be the aim of a communi-
ty concerned not with splintering our efforts
but in uniting them in the best interests of
the educational needs of our children.

Origin and Meaning of

Few literary subjects carry with them the
fascination that is inherent in the study of the
origin and meaning of words.
Two noted authors have produced two good
books on the origin of words:
"Thereby Hangs a Tale: Stories of Curious
Word Origins" by Dr. Charles Funk noted .Amer-
ican lexicographer, was published recently by
Harper & Bros., 49 E. 33rd St., New York.
Dr. Wilfred Funk, for 16 years president of
the Funk & Wagnalls publishing house founded
by his father, is the author of "Word Origins and
Their Romantic Stories," published by Wilfred
Funk, Inc., 227 E. 44th St., New York 17.

*

Vengeance-Seeking Anti-Zionist

Dr Virginia C. Gildersleeve, former Dean of Barnard
College, traces her hatred for Zionism to the days at San
Francisco when she was a member of the U. S. delegation ,
which helped formulate the world charter that culminated
in the formation of the United Nations. She has been unable
to forgive the Jewish people the triumphs that resulted
from their determination to end the homelessness of their
persecuted brethren and continues to campaign against the
Zionist spirit under the auspices of the American Council for
Judaism whose platform, so negative in its approaches, has
been referred to as neither American nor Jewish.
Dr. Gildersleeve has been especially bitter and unfor-
giving
ivinc,
6 to Jews for Israel's successes in two recent addresses
—in New York and in Baltimore—and she has drawn re-
sponses which indicate that some Jewish leaders are losing
their temper in dealing with her outbursts. Thus, in his
discussion of her recent address before the New York chap-
ter of the Council for Judaism, Rabbi Abraham J. Feldman,
writes editorially in the Hartford (Conn.) Jewish Ledger,
under the heading "Miss Gildersleeve's Audience":

Miss Gildersleeve charged that Zionists in the United States
are making an effort "to segregate Jews from the current of
American culture." In the course of her address, she also com-
plained "that the greatest poets in our literature have been
attacked as 'anti-Semitic' because they have sometimes treated
legends common at their time." She particularly singled out
for objection the opposition that Jews have exerted for more
than half a century to the teaching of the "Merchant of Venice"
in public schools. She also objected to the fact that Jews did
not like the showing of the screen's version of Dickens' "Oliver
Twist."
We have no report on the reaction of her audience to her
complaints. But, we do wonder. Does the American Council for
Judaism want the "Merchant of Venice" taught in our high
schools? Do they want the unedifying anti-Jewishness found
in Chaucer's "The Prioress Tale" to be further disseminated
amongst impressionable American youth? Do they want more
of the ugly medieval legends about Jews circularized in modern
life because Miss Gildersleeve and her like enjoy them for
literary and other reasons? And, is such protest against having
these included in public high school teaching a sign that Zion-
ists in the United States are segregating Jews from the current
of American culture?
We wonder whether Miss Gildersleeve's Jewish audience en-
joys having Dickens' "Oliver Twist" splashed across the screens
in the United States. And, if this is to be included, why not
include also, the Passion Plays and like literature and drama?
It seems to us that Miss Gildersleeve is giving Zionists a bit
more credit than they would claim in this regard.
We remember some of the bold and courageous actions in
this regard taken by quite a number of non-Zionists, in days
gone by. Has there been a reversal of opinion on this subject
amongst the decendants of those early workers in the field of
better relations within the American Jewish community?

In Baltimore, Dr. Israel M. Goldman, newly-elected
president of that community's Zionist organization, found it
necessary to assert that those who are trying to stifle the
Zionist cause—referring, of course, to the Council for Juda-
ism—are a "reckless" group. Speaking of the meeting ad-
dressed in that city by Miss Gildersleeve, he declared: "Every
success of Israel is a thorn in the side of this fanatical and
reckless crowd, and the more their cause weakens, the more
vicious do their accusations become."
Dr. Goldman was right in stating that the group which
sought to harm the Zionist cause is "frightened and self-
negating;" that "Dean Gildersleeve and her sponsors are
setting:, up false contradictions between American Jewish
helpfulness to the new state of Israel and loyalty to Ameri-
can life as a whole. We reject every statement emanating
from these quarters which parades its own patriotism and
impugns the patriotism of other Jews."
The fact is that _both Dean Gildersleeve and her Jewish.
sponsors are rendering a disservice to the basic principles
of America which traditionally support every cause that
seeks to promote democratic ideals and to insure the safety
of human beings everywhere. Americans who would harm
the little state whose brave pioneers are struggling to de-
fend their freedom have yet to learn the elementary tenets
of our own land. Fortunately, our government and the vast
majority of both Houses of Congress know better and re-
fuse. to heed the wild outbursts of fanatics who can't forgive
Israel her strong will to live. The only answer due
the reckless group seeking to undermine the Zionist ideal is
increased support to the builders of the Jewish state. -

Many of the sections in both books read like
fairy tales rather than compilations of facts.
Dr. Wilfred Funk's book is interestingly sub-
divided into chapters describing the origins of
words from proper names, behind business
terms, the dining table, science and professions,
women, music, art, drama, etc.
An important chapter is devoted to "Terms
of Religion ana Their Beginnings." "Babel:
Named for a City" refers to the Biblical story of
the confusion of languages.
"Shibboleth" deals with the Biblical tale
(Judges XII.6) of the battle of the Ephraimites,
Gileadites and Jephtha's forces and the test that
was used in the pronunciation of the word.
Use of the term "Bible" is traced to "its
earliest source in the Greek word "biblia."
Other explanations: "Sabbath, our one holi-
day in seven, was spelled shabbath in Hebrew,
and meant rest." "The Hebrew amen merely
meant 'truly' or 'certainly,' and it was used as a
sign of belief or affirmation. Early Greek and
Latin scholars simply inserted the Hebrew ex-
pression amen into the New Testament at the
end of passages that they felt were particularly
moving."
Thus, stories without end are told about
words and their origins in this enchanting book.

From Dr. Charles Earle Funk's equally fas-
cinating stories, this reviewer has culled the
following excerpts:
Under "babel" the author explains that when
the descendants of Noah started to erect the
high tower to "reach unto heaven," in the city
which was Babel, the Lord did not approve and
caused the builders to speak tongues unknown
to each other, each thereupon shouting the
louder. "Hence, and such confusion of voices
we refer to as "babeh"

"Cabal," we are bold, "actually comes from
Cabbala, sometimes written cabala. This was the

name used by the Jews for their traditional and
occult interpretation of the Old Testament. Thus
the word came to apply to anything that was
hidden or secret. In English use, it became con-
tracted to cabal and came to mean a secret or
conspiratorial intrigue."
Bible: Though our word traces back to the
Greek biblia, little books, the Greek word was
itself derived from byblos, which was the name
for the particular kind of papyrus from which
ancient books were made. Such books, of course,
were not bound into pages, but were long rolls
or scrolls of paper, each scroll containing an
entire book, closely written. Probably during
the third century of the Christian Era it became-
customary among the Church Fathers to speak
reverently of the Holy Books as to biblia, the
books. In such fashion, biblia came to refer es-
pecially to the collection of books sacred to
Christians. The term was early anglicized to
"Bible."
Indicating that there is no certainty about
the word "fudge," Dr. Funk quotes the following
story, which went the rounds in the British navy
in 1700, from "Curiosities of Literature" by Isaac
D'Israeli, father of Benjamin Disraeli, published
in 1791: "There was, sir, in our time one Captain
Funde, commander of a merchantman, who up-
on his return from a voyage, how ill-fraught
soever his ship was, always brought home his
owners a good cargo of lies, so much that now
aboard ship the sailors, when they hear a great
lie told, cry out, 'You fudge it'."
"Mandrake," the plant once known as man-
dragora, is traced to Josephus' "History of the
Jewish War." "Thus in the Bible (Genesis 30)
we find that the plant was anciently thought to
be able to cure barrenness in women; neverthe-
less, as Josephus records, it was exceedingly
dangerous to dig up the root . . . Josephus
called the plant baaras, but probably referred to
the mandrake."
An interesting paragrah is devoted to the
Septuagint—the translation of Jewish law into
the Greek in Alexandria. "This earliest Greek
version of the Old Testament, traditionally as-
cribed to 72 (or, in round numbers, 70) JeWish
scholars, has become known as the Septuagint,
often expressed by the Roman numeral, `LX.X'?"
Shibboleth," the Hebrew word meaning "ear
of grain" which has taken on a different mean-
ing, is traced to the time when the men ad
Ephraim rose up against. Jephtha. Jephtha used
shibboleth as a catch word, knowing that the
Ephraimites could not pronounce it correctly,
and would say sibboleth. As a result, 42,000
Ephraimites were slain. Hence. Shibboleth ha.1
taken on the meaning of a catchword of a poli-
tical -party;

