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 Holiday Greetings JERSEY ROSEBUD CREAMERY CO. WA. 3-8000 6431 E. Palmer Sincerest Holiday Greetings KLETT CADILLAC CO. Northwest Detroit's Cadillac Dealer 20455 Grand River, Cor. of, Fielding KEnwood 1-2600 MR. O'TOOLE, Sales Mgr. ARNOLD KLETT, President Sincere Holiday Greetings HOTEL WOLVERINE 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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L-6632 Cement & Building Materials "Personalized Service" SINCEREST HOLIDAY WISHES JONES IRON & METAL CO. DEARBORN 414.1. WYOMING T1. 6-000 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. 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