Home at Last
Comparison and Contrast
Yiddish, Hebrew Intellect uals
spiritual de-Ghettoization of the
Jewish people. An Israeli writer
recently gave e::pression to this
In Yiddish circles the follow- militant spirit of de-Ghettoiza-
ing incident; though it occurred tion in a literary letter from Is-
over a decade ago, is still related rael. He boasted of this libera-
with relish and proper emphasis. tion from the shackled Jewish
When the first annual La Med past and declared it to be the
prizes (the Jewish equivalent of essential quality of young Is-
the Pulitzer prize) for Hebrew raeli literature.
The Yiddishist intellectual
and Yiddish letters were award-
ed, the two Yiddish prize poets is hard pressed to prove his
right to continue a spiritual
received distinction, respective-
ly, for a volume of verse and a existence in the Diaspora. He
After long months of waiting,
novel dealing exclusively with digs deeper` for the roots of
Hebraic values in the Yiddish the .past. He tries to adjust this aged woman has finally
language. As a matter of fact, himself to the miracle of a reached Israel. She's one of 110,-
the title of the Yiddish volume Jewish state which demands 000 Jews evacuated from Iraq
of verse which was singled out of him an ever clearer view of in 14 months, through the
for merit was "Clear Is the Old the Jewish future, in the light United Jewish Appeal. Now she
Spring." This title was an alleg- of everyday. Jewish life in waits again, for the next step
oric allusion to the ancient He- Israel.. The Yiddish intellect- on her way to a pgrmanent
braic lore which was still .hailed ual, therefore, has a harder home. To speed emergency im-
by the poet as the proper guid-
task, but more often than not, migration from Iran, Romania
ance for the perplexed Yiddish his task is rewarding, he is and Libya, and to continue
intellectual. The two Hebrew compelled to enrich his lan- other vital programs of the
prize winners, on the other guage and to imbue it with a United Palestine Appeal, Joint
Distribution Committee and
hand, came forth with a volume Messianic fervor.
United Service for New Ameri-
of poetry about the California
It is difficult within the limits cans, the UJA must have $35,-
Gold Rush and a volume of of a small article to dwell at
essays about Shakespeare, Tol- length upon the broader aspects 000,000 in cash before Dec. 31,
stoy and other worldly celebri- of these trends in Jewish life, 1951. A nation-wide drive is now
ties who, if they ever did take both in Israel and in the Disper- going on to raise this sum in
a sip from the old Hebraic sion. It is well to bear in mind time.
spring, failed to bless the re- the optimistic approach of the
New Villages in Israel
freshing drink in true orthodox Israeli intellectual to the future
TEL AVIV, (JTA) — Corner-
Jewish fashion.
of Jewish life and the tragic ap- stones of two new villages of
This paradox employing He- proach of the Yiddish intellect-
brew for secular themes, and ual to his own role in the midst private farmers affiliated to the
Yiddish to extoll Judaism, was of this hitherto undreamed of Farmers' Cooperative Movement
then interpreted in various ways. burst of Jewish optimism. Both (not connected with the Hista-
The Hebraists reasoned thus: the tragic and the optimistic drut) were laid on a 12,000 dun-
Hebrew required no apology for views are creating new chapters am tract of land allocated by
its existence and, therefore, in Jewish history which future the Jewish National Fund near
could be used freely to exploit generations will read with ab- Yavneh, in southern Israel. The
farmer's cooperative plans the
wordly themes, whereas the Yid- sorbing interest.
establishment of five villages in
dishists, in order to cling to and
this area and the future resi-
justify the use of a "moribund"
dents of these villages are al-
language, had to keep dredging Psychology Used at Children's
ready building their two-room
up old values to give it the sem- Home in Curing Asthma
wooden houses. Each farmtr is
blance of tradition and herit-
DENVER (AJP) — Psychiatric providing private capital of 1,500
age. Yiddishists, on the other
hand, looked with askance at treatment, in addition to medi- pounds ($4,200).
the spectacle of Hebraists cal care is the new method of
rhapsodizing over the Califor- treating asthma at the National
nia Gold Rush, regarding this as Home for Jewish Children, here,
a quasi-apostatic attempt on the announced Benjamin M. Win-
part of the Hebraists to become nitt, national director. Approxi-
like "unto the Gentiles" in or- mately 82 per cent return home
der to gain fame and recogni- within two years, free of the
tion. The Hebraists, too, regard- affliction, he added.
ed the national Jewish themes
of the Yiddishists as a hopeless
expression of . provincialism,
while the Yiddishists detected
the provincial in the Hebrew
poet who wanted to draw atten-
tion to himself by his un-He-
braic chants.
This rather lengthy intro-
duction serves to illUstrate the
conflicting points of view Of
the Hebrew_ and Yiddish intel-
lectuals as well as their oppos-
ing and irreconcilable attitude
to Jewish life. To the Hebrew
writer, his un-Jewish theme
did not constitute a cleavage
or a break with the past. His
secularism was rather an
emancipation from a tradition
which burdened the Hebrew
language with a Messianic role
GROSSINGER'S
in an attempt to redeem the
Jewish soul. The Yiddish writ-
GROSSINGER, N.Y.
er felt the need of Hebraizing
his Yiddish, making of it a
THE
holy language and infusing it
with the sanctity of a people
GROSSINGER-PANCOAn
who went to their deaths with
MIAMI BEACH, FLA.
a Yiddish version of "Shma
Israel" on their lips.
Hebrew gained soil and roots,
while Yiddish was compelled to
seek those invisible roots in the
past and to attach itself more
than ever to the historic past of
the Jewish people. The Hebrew
writer is in a sense a liberated
artist. He does not have to
flaunt his Jewishness via the
medium of the Hebrew lan-
guage, while Yiddish, in a des-
perate struggle for existence, is
compelled . to wrap itself in a
talis in order to perpetuate its
hold on the Yiddish reading
public.
This essential difference be-
tween the Yiddish and the Israeli
intellectual is not confined
merely to the linguistic field but
is more discernible in their dis-
similar views of Jewish life. The
Israeli has more than his share
of difficulty trying to minister
to the primitive cultural needs
of many thousands of Oriental
Jews who literally had to start
from "Aleph." And while trying
to Hebraize a Jewish babel of
tongues, he has to be on guard
600 Griswold
lest true cultural values be sub-
WO. 5-6800
merged. Young Israeli intellec-
tuals rather feel superior about
this genesis and primitivism and
THE JEWISH NEWS-41
Friday, September 28, 1951
Holiday Greetings
By• JACOB GLATSTEIN
Noted Yiddish Critic and Poet
To All Our Friends
Sisters and Brothers
Mr. and Mrs. Hy Freedman and Sons
Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the
precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for
the deep that coucheth beneath. And for the
precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for
the precious things put forth by the moon.
Deuteronomy 33:13-14
May the New Year 5712 be blessed with the
bounties of Creation and may we see the fulfill-
ment of mankind's hopes for justice and peace
everywhere.
MR. and MRS. ABE KASLE
GREETINGS
ON THE
A HAPPY
NEW YEAR
NEW YEAR
Blumberg Bros. Co.
—gniurance
1310 Lafayette Building
WRIGLEY
SUPER
MARKETS
New Year's Greetings
MALCOLM MacDOWELL
and ASSOCIATES, Inc.
FHA LOANS
Sincere Best Wishes
To The Jewish Community
For a Year of
Health and Happiness
THE
HIGHLAND PARKER
Printers of the Jewish News
AVAILABLE
IN VOLUME
30 Bartlett
.
Highland Park, Mich.
TO. 8-5072