Hameiri's Hebrew Novel
In English Translation
As the Editor
Views the News...
BIG Day
BIG stands for Bonds of the Israel Gov
ernment. It is a big word with a big order—
calling for cooperation in a tremendous
effort to enroll American Jews in the great
. investment undertaking which makes it pos-
sible for a person who can purchase only a
$50 bond to be a partner in Israel's indus-
trial ventures, but which also calls upon
those with means to become big investors in
the history-making project.
Sunday, March 9, has been designated as
BIG Day. Many hundreds of- volunteer
: workers will visit the homes of Detroit Jews
with requests that they purchase Israel
bonds. It is a great day on our calendar, and
all of us, by lendins, our cooperation, can
make it a truly BIG b Day in history.
The value of the Israel bond effort al-
ready has been indicated on numerous oc-
casions. It is imperative that we speed the
day when Israel will become self-supporting
through investments by increasing the funds
available through bond purchases.
We urge all Detroit Jews to give a
hearty welcome to the unselfish volunteer
workers when they approach them with
Israel bond applications.
Sunday happens to precede Purim by two
days. It will present the additional sugges-
tion for the use of Israel bonds as shalach
nionos, as gifts on this joyous festival.
Let us help make BIG Day a great day
on our calendar.
The Lesson of Purim
Purim's lesson is as valid today as it was
in the days of Mordecai and Esther. When
Haman 4, sought a reason for persecuting
Jews, be gave this argument, recorded m
the Book of Esther:
"There is a certain people scattered abroad
and dispersed among the peoples in all the
provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are
diverse from those of every people; neither
keep they king's laws; therefore it profiteth
not the king to suffer them. If it please the
king, let it be written that they be destroyed;
and I will pay ten-thousand talents of silver
into the hands of those that have charge of
the king's business, to bring it into the king's
treasures."
Modern anti-Semites have advanced the
same arguments: that Jews are different,
that their laws vary from those of the state,
and that they must therefore be destroyed.
While arguing that "it profiteth not the king
to suffer them," he at the same time ar-
gued for expropriations of their posses-
sions for personal profit.
Anti-Semites who profess to read the
Bible continue to propagate these ideas.
They know full well that when Jews differ
they are in no sense more variable than oth-
ers in their midst who are acceptable to the
majority—Catholics and Protestants, Greek
Orthodox and Spiritualists, Poles and Aus-
trians, Hungarians and Venezuelans. But
Jews just are good targets for bigots.
Thus, as recorded in one of our prayers,
"Not one tyrant alone has risen up against
us to destroy us, but in every generation
tyrants have sought to destroy us." And in
all generations tyrants have failed. Some
have been more successful. Haman would
have envied Hitler for the latter's success in
exterminating 6,000,000 Jews. But in the
long run, the Midrashic admonition—"King-
doms arise and kingdoms pass away, but Is-
rael endureth forever"—prevails. This lends
reality and added joy to our Happy Purim
greeting to Jews everywhere.
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. 708-10 David Stott Bldg.. Detroit 26, Mich., WO. 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.
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ, Editor
SIDNEY SHMARAK, 'Advertising Manager
FRANK SIMONS, City Editor
Vol. XX—No. 26
Page 4
March 7, 1952
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the eleventh day of Adar, 5712,
the following Scriptural selections will be read
in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portions—Ex. 27 :20-30:10; Deut.
25.17-19.
Prophetical portion—I Sam. 15:2-34.
Avigdor Hameiri's novel of World War I, "The
Great Madness," translated from the Hebrew
("Hashigaon Hagadol") by Rabbi Jacob Freeman,
has just been published by Vantage Press (230 W..
41st, N.Y. 18).
Hameiri, whose name originally was Feuer-.
stein, served as an officer in the Hungarian
army. His novel is a first person account of his
experiences during which he encountered a .great
deal of anti-Semitism.
Of special interest in this novel is Hanieirl's
account of many of his comrades who posed as
Christians to escape degradation and who;. 1*
developed, were Jews,'
Then there is the account of the Zionist de-
velopments, of the issuance of the Balfour
Declaration, of opposition to Zionism and the
author's adamant effort in behalf of the cause.
Referring to his visit with Rabbi Samuel Jor,
dan in the city of Satmar, he comments: "Rabbi
Jordan was an enthusiastic Zionist, which was
unusual for a Hungarian rabbi."
Hameiri tells of the spread of lust and faith-
lessness during World War I, having learned
"that only one class of women remained faithful
to the end—the prostitutes, the cabaret girls, the
*Ricks/ _ J E .V:115
frivolous dancing girls."
44446146"--
ci-fiLDREN
Competition for the favor of Jews became
evident in both the Allied as well as German
offers to re-establish the Jewish state.
Many portions of "The Great Madness" art'
The many months of deliberations and discussions be- powerful. The story will. bring back many mem-
tween committees representing the Jewish Community Coun- ories of the first world conflict and its aftermath,
.
For A More Perfect Union ...
cil and the Jewish Welfare Federation, which preceded
Tuesday's annual meeting of Federation, came to a show-
down which, unfortunately, was marked by a great deal of
bitterness. It is regrettable that ill feelings could not have
been avoided. Now, however, with the decisions definitely ar-
rived at in true democratic fashion by majority vote of con-
tributors to the Allied Jewish Campaign, it is of cr
im-
portance that a basis of understanding should be arrived at
in the best interests of our community and that a modicum
of unity should be attained .at once and that the aims of
both factions—since factions do exist—should be to strive
for harmony.
The Jewish Community Council is charged with im-
portant functions which can not and will not be abandoned.
At the same time, the Jewish Welfare Federation remains
the major body which supervises the functions of all agencies
and conducts the Allied Jewish Campaign in behalf of local
and national causes, Israel and overseas needs. While the
objectives of both groups are of paramount importance, the
efficiency with which they operate is dependent upon the
cooperative spirit with which Federation, on the one hand,
finances the Council's work with community funds and the
Council, on the other hand, fulfills its missions. Since a co-
operative spirit must exist, we revert back to our earlier
proposals that the Detroit Jewish community should be or-
ganized on the same - basis as our sister community functions
today in Cleveland. -
It will be recalled that in Cleveland; until Oct. 31, 1951,
there were two functioning bodies-Federation and Council
—not unlike the situation which continues to exist today in
Detroit. On that date, the two groups merged into one com-
munity organization now known as the Cleveland Jewish
Community Federation. Cleveland's action was not by unani-
mous vote: the decision for a merger barely attained the
required two-thirds majority, the action towards unity haV-
ing been attained by an 82 to 40 vote in the Council Dele-
gate Assembly. It received the unanimous vote of the Feder-
ation board.
There are people in Cleveland today who are dissatisfied,
but the decision for unity stands and a single organization
is functioning there today. In an explanatory article under
the heading "A More Perfect Union . in which he aimed
to show that the Cleveland merger aimed to strengthen the
community's central structure, Henry L. Zucker, the new
Cleveland organization's executive director, advanced the
following argument:
Not everybody in the community is satisfied that the plan
is ideal, and some opposed its acceptance. Some persons wished
to make the Delegate Assembly the final authority in the or-
ganization. Others believed that the community relations and
internal relations functions belong in a functional agency,
separate from the central planning, fund-raising, and coordinat-
ing body. Some would like to see a different distribution on the
Board of Trustees, giving greater weight to the local agencies, or
the congregations, or the non-philanthropic organizations, etc.
A , few persons felt that the fund raising potential and the
budgeting process will be threatened by the new setup. There
was even some skepticism about leadership.
However, we believe that it is the consensus of the com-
munity that the new setup will be an improvement over the old
and that the opportunities for further development of Cleve-
land's Jewish community are far greater under a single or-
ganizational structure.
Many leaders regard the new Jewish Community Federation
as an important milestone in our communal history. They
look upon it as a sign of the growing maturity and cohesive-
ness of our Jewish community.
They believe also that the merger will encourage new lead-
ership, a larger and more representative degree of participa-
tion in community affairs, a broadening of the vistas of con?,
munity obligation, and a welding of the positive social forces
of the community.
In view of the fact that Cleveland's communal structure
and conditions are akin to ours, we believe that attempts
should be made to merge the Federation and the Council
locally, without in any way sacrificing any of the functions
of the two movements. It is not only a question of economy
in operations that should dictate such a move: of far greater
Fast of Esther Selections, Monday
importance is the matter of cooperation and good will. Ill
Pentateuchal portion—Ex. 32:11-14; 34:10.
feelings must be avoided at all costs and that can be attained
Prophetical portion—Is. 55:6-56:8.
Scriptural selection read on Purina, (Tuesday), only by unifying the two groups, by creating a single com-
in additiOn to the Book of Esther: Ex. 17:8-16. munal. organization, by getting together for the Common .
Licht Benshen, Friday, March 7, 6:09 p.m.
good.
WC` •
1111.4”
,fir
Howard Fast ' S partacus'
Great Libertarian Novel
r.
Howard Fast continues his brilliant writing.
It is difficult to understand why publishers
should have rejected his "Spartacus," which he
considered his best work and which he published
privately, offering it for sale through his P.O..
Box 171. Planetarium Station, New York 24. His .
first edition was completely sold and considerable
interest is now being shown in this book.
Fast's eariler books still are read and praised,
Reviewers have been almost unanimous in ac-
claiming his "Glorious Brothers," "Haym Salo- .. .
mon," "The Last Frontier," his edited works of
Tom Paine and other outstanding books. Yet,
because of the linking of his name with leftists,.
publishers who liked his latest book have re-
jected it. This, in our day, is the price for
associating with those with whom we are at war.
Yet, we acclaim "SpartacuS." It is the story
of the man who led the revolt against Rome. It
is the story of the slave who led the slaves in
the struggle for freedom. -
Fast's personal ideas apparently are echoed
in his novel when he causes Spartacus to say- .
that. he will make his own law, that: "Whatever
we take, we hold in common, and no man shall
own anything but his weapons and his clothes."
To which a Thracian slave responded: "There is
enough for all to be rich." But in the main -
"Spartacus" contains nothing offensive, nothing
that could possibly be tied to Communism or
subversion. It is strictly a novel about freedom-
loving people, about the enslaved who refuse to
be slaves.
One of the most powerful chapters is the one
that describes the last crucifixion of a slave in
the subduing of the slaves' rebellion, the cruci-
fixion of David the Jew. The novel proves, by
the way, that crucifixion was a Roinan weapon.
Fast's' major idea is expressed by Varinia,
Spartacus' surviving wife, who said, describing
her husband's aspirations: "He wanted a world
where there were no slaves and no masters, only
people living together in peace and brotherhood.
He said that we would take from Rome what was
good and beautiful. We would build cities without •
walls, and all men would live in peace and
brotherhood, and there would be no more war
and no more misery and no more suffering."
For this lesson alone, "Spartacus" should be
hailed for what it really is—a great novel.
Facts You Should Know:
What happened to the "ten lost tribes" of
Israel?
- According to the Bible (II Kings 15:29) one
thing seems to be definite. The King of Assyria
transported them away after the defeat of the
Northern Kingdom of Israel, which they inhab-
ited. The Bible states that he placed them in
places called Halam and Habor. What happened
to them after that seems to be a matter of spec-
ulation. Some Talmudic source queerly states
that they would never return. On the other
hand other Talmudic scholars disagree with this
stand (taken by Rabbi Akiba) and insist that .
they will return. In the ninth century a travel-
ler by the name of Eldad Hadani appears on the
scene with a claim that he came from the tribe
of Dan and knew the exact loCation of other
tribes in parts of Southern Arabia. Many people
have at one time or another claimed or have
been claimed to be a part of the lost ten Tribes.
Thus the Afghans claimed it, the Karaites 0t.
Russia claimed it; the Hindus, in part, have been
claimed to be so and even the Anglo-Saxons
have thus been claimed. Also certain Japanese
sects, the early American Indians and the Mo..
mons have been thought of in this respect. inr.
vestigation and speculation is still going on. l
one could really give an absolute answer to thin
curious problem that has. occupied the minds o
scholars throughout, the centuries.