THE JEWISH NEWS

Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20. 7951

Member: American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 708-10 David Slott 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 and Publisher

Vol. XXIII, No. 5

SIDNEY SI-IMARAK
Advertising Manager

FRANK SIMONS
City Editor

April 10, 1953

Page 4

Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the twenty-sixth day of Nisan, 5713, the following Scriptural selections will
be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion. Lev. 9:1-11:47; Prophetical portion, II Sam. 6:1-7:17.
On Wednesday and Thursday, Rosh Hodesh lyar, Num. 28:1-15 will be read during morning
services.

Licht Benshen, Friday, April 10, 6:10 p.m.

'So That Heaven Shall Shake to Their Foundations'

The tenth anniversary of the Warsaw
Ghetto Uprising, which occurs on Sunday,
when Jewish communities everywhere—in-
cluding our own—will mark the event with
gatherings reminding the world of the hero-
ism of a helpless community that defied the
Nazi tyrants, symbolizes our responsibility
to future generations as well as the tragedy
that struck our kinsmen.

It is impossible to view the anniversary
hi any light other than the horrible fate that
was meted out to six millions of our fellow
Jews who lost their lives at the hands of the
Nazis. The heroes who revolted against the
Hitler regime in Poland were the minority
who rose to sublime heights in their defiance
of those who sought to impose upon them
their claim of superiority. While the revolt
lasted, the handful of Warsaw Ghetto rebels
shattered this claim. While it lasted, the
Dignity of Man superseded the arrogance
of those who believed they were the master
race.
The Nazis had taken Jews who they had
marked for eventual death out of Holland,
Belgium, France, Hungary, Italy, Yugo-
slavia, Austria, Norway, Greece and other
lands, and sent them to Poland. Warsaw be-
came the focal point in the struggle for ex-
istence. While Poland was turned into one
vast cemetery, with unmarked graves and
with fields and forests covered with the
ashes of the cremated millons of Jews, War-
saw's name will go down in history as the
spot chosen for revolt against mass murders
and oppression by those selected for oppres-
sion and extermination.

There were a few who lacked courage.
But in the main, the rebels were loyal and
heroic. They called the bluff of tyrants and
their goal survived that of the murderers.

In an evaluation of the meaning and
message of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Dr.
Isaac I. Schwartzbart, in a pamphlet publish-
ed by the World Jewish Congress, interprets
the miracle of the revolt and its place in
Jewish history as follows:
"There were a number of cowards and

opportunists, but they were a. small minority
compared with those who Were courageous
and self-sacrificing. There were those who lost
faith under the pressure of the unspeakable,
unparalleled torments, but the number of
those for whom the "tallit" turned into a coat
of mail, for whom the "Shema Israel," the
"Hatikvah," the "Techezakna," the "Shevuah"
turned into songs of unbroken trust in God
and hope for final victory for our people while
they were marching into the gas chambers or

to the fighting front of the uprising —t h e
number of all those was a thousandfold
greater!

"The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the
supreme expression of our people's eternal
belief in justice and humanity.

"Will this uprising become an eternal
source of national pride in our history? I
think it will. But the eternal meaning and
purpose of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising will
be realized only if the Jewish people, and par-
ticularly the coining generations, feel and un-
derstand that the spirit which animated the
fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is an
integral, inseparable part of the eternal spirit
which keeps our -people alive and active, crea-
tive and optimistic despite all disillusionment
and ever recurring suffering.

`Stephania,' Ilona Karmel's First Novel

Powerful Work by Victim of Nazis

"Stephania," first novel by Ilona Karma published by Hough-
ton Mifflin, named as the April selection of the Literary Guild,
proves an established point that the Literary Guild has helped
bring forth some of our best young writers by sponsoring first
novels.
"Stephania" is a distinctly individual case. Its author, who
was born in Cracow, Poland, 27 years ago, was 14 when the war
"Whether this is going to happen, whether began. She was taken to a concentration camp in 1943 and was
the memories of this uprising will really be there for three years. After the war she recovered from injuries
engraved in our hearts forever, is a question inflicted by the Nazis in a hospital in Sweden: In that hospital
that can only be answered by posterity.
she acquired inspiration for her novel, the story of which is en-
"But to make sure that it will be a positive acted in a hospital.
Miss Karmel came to the United States as a student in 1948.
reply, we of the present generation must not She studied at Hunter College, wrote a number of prize stories,
only not forget but teach our children in the was graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors from Radcliffe Col-
home and in the school the deeper meaning lege in June 1952 and her "Stephania" was written in Archibald
of this revolt. It is part and parcel of the MacLeish's creative writing course.
spirit of the- Maccabees, of the fighters of
"Stephania" is a powerful personal story whose heroines-
Massada, of the generations who died in the Stephania, Maria and Thura—share a hospital room. All the
Middle Ages for the sake of our faith and re- pathos that goes with pain is described with an expertness that
ligion, as well as centuries later for true hu- will amaze veteran writers. The story is not lacking in humor.
manity and morality in the relations between Out of the experiences of the three sick girls emerge also their
men and nations.
life stories, and the one that dominates is Stephania's.
Here is a story of trials and tribulations. Weighted down by
"'Justice for all they've suffered through-
out generations So that my Heaven an d the hump on her back, her otherwise good looks, her wit, her
good mind nevertheless are troubled by the deformity. But her
Throne shall shake to their foundations,"
!story also is solemnized by the experiences under the Nazis. She
"Chaim Nachman Malik, our great Hebrew I is the Jewess in the story who carries with her the memory of
poet, exclaimed in anger and despair in his a father who was left behind, of Jews who were gathered for
immortal At Hasheohitah ("The MasSacre") extermination.
Stephania wanted the joys of others—Christmas instead et
after the slaughter of our brethren in Kish-
Hanukah. She recalls a childhood experience, when a mother told
inev in 1903.
a playmate that she could not play with Jewish children. In
"In Kishinev, forty-five Jews - were slain the case of her father, she felt guilt in not having taken hint
and eighty-six severely wounded.
along when she fled from the Nazis. "I was only sixteen . . . He
"In the Warsaw Gretto Uprising thousands looked so Jewish," was her confession to her room-mates.
Thus—the mixture of guilt, of a search for escape from Jew-
fell in a desperate battle, with our national
ishness, of a feeling of despair over the hump. But the young
banner proudly borne aloft.
doctor gives her courage. He teaches a lesson: that one must not
"And in Europe six million of our brethren run away from those who need help. There is a better feeling
were murdered—more than a million children in the closing paragraphs. Stephania leaves the hospital in a
among them!"
different mood: she may come back, perhaps even to work with
Bialik's stirring words—"Justice for all they've the handicapped children.
There is great power in this story. The name of Ilona Karmel
suffered, so that my Heaven shall shake to their
foundations," reverberates anew. It will be heard will be watched from this point on. Her first novel, inspired by
in Jewish communities throughout the world trying experiences, by suffering under the Nazis, is the result the
this Sunday. It will be heard in Detroit at the the development of a keen mind. Her "Stephania" deserves
Jewish Community Council-sponsored observance large circulation already assured for it.
of the Warsaw Uprising's anniversary. And the
message that will go forth from these meetings Distinct Gift to Jewish Educators
to all tyrants will be that the Shema and the
Hatikvah and the Shevuah—and they will con-
Modern
tinue to bind Jews together against bigots and
tyrants and murderers—for the sake of the peace
Prof. Eliezer Rieger, Dean of the School of Education of the
of the world and the security of all mankind. Hebrew University in Jerusalem and president of the World
Union of Jewish Education, has made a distinct contribution to
the field of Hebrew teaching with his new book, "Modern Hebrew"
(Philosophical Library, 15 E. 40th St., NY 16).
Offering a program for teaching Hebrew as a modern spoken
language, Dr. Rieger has written a valuable guide for teachers
Superior Council for Arab Refugees, Alex- of Hebrew. In his book he has incorporated his findings on the
andria, Egypt, attention Dr. M. M a f o o s, shortcomings in present teaching methods.
Describing realistically the failures and frustrations that
60,000 Therapeutic Vitamin capsules, t h e
market value of which was $7,200, for the result from present-day teaching, Dr. Rieger outlines a curri-
culum to solve the present challenges to the Hebrew teacher.
sick and undernourished Arab refugees.
He offers new goals in this field, shows how the rise of Israel
"Therefore it would be well to know that has created new demands for the Hebrew language which he
we Jews have not forgotten these people as views as the second language for Jews in the Diaspora.
well as our own unfortunate people in trying
The chapters on essential Hebrew vocabulary and on ways
to alleviate the suffering in the Middle East." and means of a unified Hebrew pronunciation will be found es-
This letter requires no further comment. pecially valuable by educators. Of major concern, however, is
evaluation of the existing problems which face Hebrew am
It is ample proof of aid extended by Jews to the spoken
language, the imperative need of advancing the lan-
a
Arab refugees.
guage and the means of solving obstacles in the educators' road,.
Thus, Dr. Rieger has made a real contribution to this very
The truth, we repeat, is on the record:
important
Jewish educational field.
Israel is ready to aid the Arabs who left the

a

/ '
Prof. Rieger s

Hebrew'

Assistance from Jews for Arab Refugees

Contrary to charges leveled at Israel and
world Jewry that we have been indifferent
to the plight of Arab refugees, the truth is
on record that the state of Israel and re-
sponsible Jewish organizations have offered
and on occasions extended aid to those who
fled from Israel at the instigation of their
leaders.

We wish to share with readers important
information incorporated in the following
letter we have received from Earl Fresh-
man of the Detroit Freshman Vitamin Co.

"During the year 1952 Earl Freshman and
Leona K. Freshman personally donated and
contributed to the under-nourished indigent
and sick refugees in the Jewish communities
of Israel, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, med-
ical supplies and Therapeutic Vitamin cap-
sules with a marked value of $33,000.
"We were also solicited by the Medical

and Surgical Relief Committee Inc, headed
by Fleet Admiral W. H. Halsey, USN (retired)
asking that we contribute and donate and
not forget the Arab refugees.
"In October 1952 we complied with Ad-
miral Halsey's request and shipped to the

young state because they were misled by
their leaders who promised them the prop-
erty of the Jews whom they had hoped to
defeat and "to drive into the sea" upon the
formation of the Jewish state. They lost
the battle, but they continue to fight Israel
with lies and misrepresentations. This is es-
pecially deplorable in view of the urgent
need for peace in the best interests of Israel
and her neighbors. We continue to plead and
pray for such a peace, which also will be in
the interest of world peace.

The Great Mutinies of All Times

Edmund Fuller has shown excellent judgment in his selection
and editing of the "most dramatic accounts of the great mutinies
—on land and sea—of all times," in his "Mutiny," published b'
Crown, 410 4th Ave., NY16.
Naval; Piratical, Army and Slave insurrections are depicted
in this exciting book. Each historical incident is well edited, ably
told by the best writers and the background is explained kg
Fuller.
"Mutiny on the Bounty" and the mutiny on the Russian war
ship Potemkin are among the outstanding stories in the book
which, in its entirety, makes excellent and informative reading.

