Brief Essays About Judaism;
Survival of God's People
By ELI A. ALMI
Almi is a leading Yiddish poet and
essayist and the author of a number of
English works. The following is re-
printed from his book "Our Unfinished
World," published by Arco Co.)
Moses and Israel's Will to Live
The Midrash legend concern-
ing Moses' death is both pathe-
tic in its bearing upon the trag-
edy of this great and elect in-
dividual and symbolic for the
history of Israel, whose liberal
and first leader Moses was.
Moses, the legend tells us, not
wishing to die, drew about him-
self a magic circle which would
not allow the Angel of Death to
approach him. God himself was
therefore obliged to come down
from Heaven. He did so and put
a kiss upon Moses' forehead.
This kiss ended Moses' life.
Not unlike Moses, his people
have refused to die throughout
centuries of persecution and
suffering. Upon the destruction
of the Jewish state, the Romans
proudly proclaimed, "Judea capta
est," and believed that Israel
was annihilated.
But Israel has survived not
only the mighty Romans. It has
survived all its foes throughout
the ages. Moses' stubborn love of
life passed on to his people. It
was to them their leader's last
will and testament. It was di-
rected: "And thou shalt choose
life."
The survival of the Jewish
people, despite the persecutions
and slayings perpetrated by its
mighty neighbors—persecutions
and slayings which have made
the Jews the most tragic people
in all human history—is as
much to be wondered at as the
circumstance that so small a
people, as the Jews, living in so
small a land, as Palestine, has
produced the Eternal Book, the
Bible, which is the fountain-
head of the world's three great-
est religions, the foundation of
all human culture and civiliza-
tion, the source of all hope for
mankind's future.
* * *
,
Darkening file Skin of the Soul?
Millions of men and women of
white skin broil themselves in
the sun during the summer in
order to darken their skin and
very frequently expose them-
selves to the real danger of sun-
stroke. Even in the winter time
they attempt to tan their skin
by going to sub-tropical climes
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DETROIT JEWISH NEWS--73 1191111111111111111111111111111111111 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII11111 1111111111111111111111111111119191991191191111111111111111111111111111111111
Friday, September 11, 1953
or by the use of artificial means. =
Strangely enough, many of the
millions of men and women who
torture themselves into trans-
forming the color of their skin
are chockftl of - prejudices and
hates against other peOple whose 7."
skins have a naturally darker
hue.
Lloyd George once, quite in-
geniously, thus characterized an
anti-Semite: "He comes out of
a church where he has recited .
Hebrew psalms, where he has
listened to a sermon concerning
a verse in the Bible—and he
pounces with both fists upon the
first Jew he meets, crying:
`Jew'!"
• • •
The Philosopher and the
Hunchbacked Girl
Moses Mendelsohn, the great
Jewish - German philosopher,
was hunchbacked, small of sta-
ture and poor in appearance. His
wife, however, was a beautiful
and well-formed woman.
A story is told about Mendel-
sohn which, in truth, is con-
nected with the life of another
man, also a hunchback, who
lived several centuries before
the Jewish-German philosopher.
However, the story runs that
while Mendelsohn was courting
the charming girl who was later
to become his wife, the attrac-
tive damsel would not hear of
a marriage between herself and
the homely Lothario. True, Men-.
delsohn was a philosopher. a
person highly thought of in Ber-
lin, the friend of Frederick the
Great. But this was no induce-
ment to the lady to enter into
matrimony with a crippled
young man.
But Mendelsohfi would not
give up. One day, as he led his
inamorata up to a large mirror,
he said to her: "Look in, my
beautiful one." She did as he had
asked her, and lo, she began to
tremble. In the looking glass
she saw Mendelsohn in the form
of a tall, handsome young man
while, by contrast, she descried
herself in the shape of a person
humped in the front and back.
Mendelsohn explained the
strange apparition.
"You know, my dear," he said,
"that before our souls are sent
down to earth in order to be
embodied in some newly-born
human beings, the names of
those who are ultimately to
marry one another, are read out
aloud in heaven. As I was about
to be born I learned that the
woman destined for me was to
be hunchbacked. I prayed to
God to amend his decree; -that
I instead of you be born hump-
backed and that you come into
this world tall and beautiful.
God listened to my prayer and—
as you see—granted my re-
quest."
Thus one of the most beauti-
ful girls in Berlin married the
hunchbacked Moses Mendelsohn.
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The Philosopher and, the King aminiiiiiimminnimunimminnimillinnliiiimmininuniiiiinniiimilipmiiiinnumunimmiiiiiiwing -,
Concerning Mendelsohn, as
concerning all great men, many
stories and anecdotes are • told,
some based on truth,- some mere
inventions. One other story re-
volving around the life of the
Berlin Jewish philosopher—a
story relating to the problem of
chance of predestination — is
worth recounting.
Mendelsohn was one day, in a
pensive mood, strolling along
the streets of the German capi
tal. Suddenly he was accosted by
no less a personage than Freder-
ick the Great who was dressed
in mufti in order to safeguard
the secrecy of his royal rank.
"Where are you going, Men-
delsohn?" the king queried.
"I don't know," answered the
philosopher.
Frederick considered the reply
an offense to royalty and order-
ed the arrest of his friend, Men-
delsohn.
However, as - a friend and ad
mirer of the Jewish'--German
thinker despite the untoward
circumstance which had impell-
ed him to order his detention,
the King called upon him in
prison.
"Why, Mendelsohn, did you
tell me you did not know where
you were going," Frederick in-
quired.
"Because," answered Mendel-
"in with a'smile. "I -truly did
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