great Biography
Sholem Asch Produces
Magnificent Portrait ;
Samuel the Translator
The Torch Bearers
As the Editor.
Views the. News ...
Hadassah's Objectives
Detroit Hadassah, already having at-
tained a membership of 'nearly 7,000, is in
the process of enrolling more women to
share in the responsibilities of the organiza-
tion in behalf of Israelland the .hlindreds of
thousands of people who are Waiting for an
opportunity to settle in the 'Jewish state.
Hadassah is one of the most:-important
instruments for Israel"S - rn. pbuilding as well
as for the enhancement of the cultural and
philanthropic interests of. th,e Jewish women
of America. The significanee of Hadassah's
program gives its supporters oreat status in
our community and keepS.tli6eir. interest in
support of the movementsS -that strive for
highest values in Jewish life.
Hadassah continues to build hospital sys-
tems in Israel, having expanded its facilities
to Beersheba and to the , •Thi
s move-
ment conducts an important child welfare
program which facilitates the training of
children in trades, o-uiding them -at the same
time through a carefully prepared vocational
program. Hadassah also co-sponsors Youth
Aliyah, the settlement on the land Of -thou-
sands of children. The organization's mem-
bers support the Jewish National Fund. and
other major projects in behalf of Israel.
On the eve of Hadassah's 40th anniver-
sary, we greet the great women's movement
and wish it success. Its achievements con-
tinue to invite the cooperation and affilia-
tion of all Jewish women and call for com-
plete success of all its fund-raising and mem-
bership enrollment plans.
Where Books Still Are in Demand
Book publishers in this country are in a daze. Sales
have fallen off. Television is blamed for the inroads made
upon the reading public. Besides, the high cost of printing,
the prohibitive price of newsprint, compel the imposition
of high fees on books as well as on other printed matter.
Thus, we, in this land, are 'experiencing a crisis in the pub-
lishing field.
It is more interesting in Israel, where people continue to
crave for books and periodicals, where the printed word
remains valuable. There is no , TV to ,. interfere with the Is-
raelis' natural inclinations. The desire for information is
strong.
An Associated Press report from Tel Aviv throws light
on the manner in which books are enjoyed in the Jewish
state. The AP correspondent describes his findings, after a
brief tour of Tel Aviv, as follows:
Newspaper Week
For the 1951 observance of National
Newspaper Week, its sponsors have chosen
the slogan :
"Your newspaper lights the way to free-
dom."
It was a proper choice.
Throughout the world we see the press
stifled or controlled.
Only in this country is the press per-
mitted to retain its freedom—because its
reporters, correspondents, editors and pub-
lishers insist on keeping the newspapers free
and on retaining the right to express their
opinions as they see them.
But the press would be helpless without
the encouragement and support of the men
and women of America who help keep it
free: The public letter boxes, the free access
to newspapers, the American right to public
assembly, combine to exert an influence for
a free press which - reads towards assuring
the existence of a free community.
National Newspaper Week, to be observed
Oct. 1 to 8, lights the way for a free press
through the determination of newspapermen
who speak up for freedom and readers who
help them keep our society free from op-
pression and suppression.
--
Bpy Defense Bonds
"Peace is only for the strong," the world
has come to believe as a result of the tragic
experiences of two world wars.
It has therefore become imperative for
our country to arm, for this land to retain
the force that is needed for self-preservation.
The U. S. Defense Bond Drive which has
just started in full force is an important
means of educating the American people to
the vital need of providing means for our
country to produce the necessities for
defense.
Our sons, who should be building their.
personal futures who should be playing ball,•
or studying, or preparing for careers, are in
uniform—because there are threats from
the outside. To make their lot easier, to
make every effort to avert a war, we • must
make this country strong. The Defense
Bonds are a means to that end. Therefore,
Buy Bonds for Defense!
THE JEWISH NEWS
Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle
commencing with issue of July 20, 1951
Member: American Association of English-Jewish News-
papers,- -Michigan Press Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing
Co. 't08-10 David Stott Bldg., Detroit 26, Mich., W0.5-1155.
Subscription $4 a year; foreign $5.
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6, 1942 at Post Office,
Detroit, Mich., under Act of March 3, 1879.
The taxi driver, waiting for a fare, was reading a German
translation of the popular American novel, "The Naked and the
Dead." He is an immigrant from Austria. He learned English
in the British Army and started reading the novel in English,
but when he. got hold of a German edition he found it easier
going.
The chambermaid in the Armor' Hotel was in tears over the
French edition of John Hersey's "The Wall"—the tragic story
of the Warsaw ghetto. She had a good reason to weep. She is a
survivor of the Nazi annihilation camp at Mauthausen.
She was brought up in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. Why read
in French?
"I used to travel a lot with my husband in France and Italy,"
was the laconic reply.
Two girls who work in the cable office are usually bent over
books in Polish.
. At a second-hand store, a man employed as military censor,
was highly indignant over the price he was offered for a valuable
.Lermontov edition in Russian.
"After all," he argued, "I was a lawyer once in Kiev, I can't
give away my own books for nothing."
The young generation, naturally; read almost everything in
Hebrew, although they learn some English and Arabic at school
as well. And they read an enormous amount. One thousand
books in Hebrew appeared within the last year - on the Israel
publishing market. The 3,000-year-old Biblical language, re-
vitalized more than half a century ago, is now fully alive and
ever growing.
A new and flourishing branch on the Hebrew language tree
is the children's newspaper. There are already four of them—
all weekly supplements to local dailies. All are well written,
profusely illustrated and topical.
Thus, the explanation of the miracles. But,
also, "thus Moses had thoroughly prepared the
Bnai Israel for the task of conquering the land
by its own efforts. To this end he had organized
it in its religious, civic, and military functions!!
The Bnai Israel were near the Promised Land.
But they were taken back
to the desert to learn anew
the lesson of freedom
when they rebelled. Then:
"Eight and thirty years
went by, eight and 'thirty
On Sept. 28, Irving G. Rhodes' Wisconsin Jewish Chron- years of God's punishment.
icle will be published. in a 116-page 30th anniversary issue, An entire generation—the •
marking three decades' of successful Jewish newspaper pub- generation of the exodus—
passed away. Their bones
lishing in Milwaukee.
under the hot .?:
This issue—the equivalent in size of 200 of our pages— whitened
sun till they crumbled into
is. a tribute to the ingenuity of its publisher, former Detroiter dust amid the desert sands
Iry Rhodes. Milwaukee has given him the encouragement . . ." The new generation
he has earned because he has proven his mettle. He is pro- of Bnai Israel now were
ducing one of the best Jewish weeklies in America. He is `ir-eisae,
d. y, for the great enter-
Congratulations , Irving Rhodes
among the first to buy .,new features, and he does not permit
expense for improvement to stand in his way. He has made
his paper an instrument for good in American Jewry.
Iry Rhodes always stood in the forefront of exploratory
September 21, 1951 pioneering in behalf of Jewish journalism. He was among
Vol. XX—No. 2
Page 4
the organizers of the American Association of English-Jewish
This Sabbath, the twenty-first day of Elul, Newspapers and its American Jewish Press, whose features
5711, the following Scriptural selections will be now are used in all English-speaking countries. In a word,
read in our synagogues: •
he is a true pioneer, and for it he has earned the honors that
Pentateuchal portion—Deut. 26:1-29:8.
are being heaped upon him by an appreciative Milwaukee
Prophetical portion—Is. 60.
Jewish community and by his fellow-publishers throughout
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
the land, -
•
•
"One thing Moses knew: it was not God's:
intention to make the; Bnai Isrgel a folk .oP'
angels, living in an unworldly _order utter1V- -
different from the rest of His creation. It was
God's intention to make of them a chosen
people, distinguished for its conduct and bear-.
ing: a. new order. It was God's will that .
the Jewish people should be His partners
in the process of their own liberation; -
they were to acquire their rights by theit ...•
own acts. It was one thing to intervene -
in the natural order when no other pos-;.
sibility remained, as in the exodus from Egypt,
in the splitting of the sea, in the providing of
water in the desert; but where other possibi-
lities were offered, where the people could
help itself, the matter was quite different."
-There is double Significance in this interesting report—
the fact that Israelis . crave for books and the revelation of
the spread of . I--lebreW knowledge among newcomers to the
revived Jewish homeland. The amazing parallelism is that
the. miraculous progress made in the transformation of the
Biblical language ,into a living tongue has not captured the
imagination of Jews throughout the world. Instead of an
increase in Hebrew studies . there is a lessening of it. At best,
in communities like Ours, it is at a standstill. It would be
well for Diasporsa Jews to 'learn from Israelis the signifi-
cance of a revived Hebrew language and the importance of
the Book to the People of the Book (Am HaSefer). Israel
yet may exert the desired influence upon all of us.
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ, Editor
SIDNEY SHMARAK, Advertising Manager
FRANK SIMONS, City Editor
- • ' ,
Many biographies of Moses have been pub-
lished in r e c e n t years... Louis Untermyer's
human narrative, Edmond. Fleg's poetic descrip-
tion, Zora Neale Hurston's evaluation of the
Lawgiver as the "Voodoo Man" of the Bible :at-
tracted wide interest. Prof. Sigmund:. Freud
claimed that Moses was an Egyptian.
Sholem Asch's "Moses," off the press today
(published by G. P. Putnam's Sons, 210 Madison,
N.Y.), matches the best of them. Contrary . to
the Freudian idea, .Mr. • Asch portrays a great
man who valued his, heritage, who persisted in
sharing the fate. of the people he sprung from.
It is a magnificent work, and the brilliant
translator, Maurice Sam-
uel, has undoubtedly
helped create a work that
will occupy a place of
major importance on
American bookshelves.
Mr. Asch's "Moses" has
special importance in our
own day. It follows, the
Biblical line closely, carries
the reader through all the
experiences of the Law-
giver, traces the Hebrews'
wanderings in the desert,
evaluates the revolts
against the Man who
sought to keep the liber- • Michaelangelo
ated people a free folk, and "The Moses" of
describes the punishments which kept them in
the wilderness for 40 years. The significanCe
of the story for Jewry of our time is the lesson
it contains about grumblers, about those who
cowered when they saw Jehovah's hand in
punishment and complained when they were
faced with challenges and suffering. The gen-
eration of the desert had to die in order that
a new generation might
fully appreciate the value
of liberation. Perhaps this
also is the lesson awaiting
the generation of grum-
blers in Israel, who will
be succeeded by a. new
folk, tried by fire, who now
are building a new nation.
There is much more
than that to teach our
present generation. 0 n e
of Israel's serious problems
today also was the prob-
lem of the ; wanderers in
the desert: the need for
water. Thirst was a
Sholem Asch . turbing factor which moti-
vated most of the Israelites' sorrow. Food
shortage was an issue. The craving for ..the
leeks and the quails and the "fleshpots of
Egypt" were dominant. factOrs in -the moulding
of former slaves into free. men.
But there is this - impressive lesson in Mr.
Asch's evaluation . of Moses' ideal:
;3
It is a magnificent tale Maurice Samuel .
—of the rebellious leaders, Korah, Dathan- and
Abiram; of Moses' effort to "put an end to •the
spirit of slavery" since "the Israelites must ac-
quire the inner spirit of freedom."
Egyptologists will find much to entrance them
in the description of Egypt's power in the dayS
of the exodus. Libertarians will find even greater
value in this work whose evaluations of the
struggle for freedom place Mr. Asch's ''doses"'
among the great huMan documents of our time
.1
,•
%am
-•••■
.•.