Purely Commentary:

Passover's Message: 'And I Will Take You to Me for a People'

In the sixth chapter of Exodus is incorporated the basic idea
of our Passover, thus:
"And I will bring you out from under the burdens of the
Egyptians,
And I will deliver you from their bondage.
And I will redeem you with an outstretched hand
And I will take you to me for a people."
—Exodus VI:6-7.
These few words speak volumes as explanations and evalua-
tions of the idea of freedom as we know it in the occurrence of
our Passover.
Our ancestors were freed from the burdens of the Egyptians.
They were delivered from bondage. They were redeemed with a
mighty hand—many have been forced into freedom out of their
voluntary bondage. And the people that had been accustomed
to slavery was mold..d into a people.
This is not intended as a sermon. We leave that to the rabbis
and to Biblical commentators. It is meant for the purposes of
comparison with conditions in our own time. -
In our own experiences, we have known people who were
voluntary slaves. There were some who had to be compelled to
accept freedom even when Hitler was at their doorstep. There
are voluntary slaves even now.
People who fear to speak up for freedom are slaves. People
who deny the right of their fellow men to the privilege of pro-.
testing - against indignities are in bondage. We do not limit
our attention on this score merely to the handful of Judaism
Council members who suffer so much from fright, who are so
worried lest their loyalties should be questioned, that they go to
the extreme of attacking great causes of mercy; who stand in
the path of their kinsmen who are building bridges over stormy
seas away from humiliation to roads of dignity and self-respect.
Passover stands for freedom, and it must be observed with
a determination to make it withstand all attacks, even when
they come from frightened and voluntary slaves in our midst.
Perhapt another Biblical quotation will help to strengthen our
determined will never to yield to bigotry, persecution, humiliation:
"I am the Lord your God: Who brought you out of the
Land of Egypt; that ye shall not be their bondsmen, I have
broken the bars of your yoke, and made you go upright."
—Lev. 26:13
• To go upright, we must retain the strength of freemen. As
free men, we • can not permit even kinsmen_ to yield to voluntary
slavery. We dare not permit our own Government, the Government
that rules the country we love and for which we stand ready to
sacrifice all we have, including our lives, to be wrong in its judg-
ment when it deals_ with human problems,involving our kinsmen.
We can not permit injustice to go unchallenged, even when it
emanates from an old adversary
from the Egyptians who in-
vade Israel's territory; resorting to, murders and to pillage. In the
interest of justice Nand freedom, in order to protect the lives of
our kinsmen so that our, own conscience should remain free that
we did not forsake the persecuted, we dare not remain silent when
injustice rides high. This, too, is an element in the struggle for
freedom.
When we join in the battle for freedom for others, we also
protect our own liberties. This is a basic lesson of Passover. To
all who join in freedom's defense: A HAPPY PASSOVER!
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Mendele Mother Seforim's ;The Nag', Famous as 'Die Kliatche'

Mendele Mocher Seforim—Mendele the Book Peddler or the
Book Seller—the pen-name of Sholem Jacob Abramovitch, will
live indelibly in Jewish history. Mendele has become one of Jewry's
immortals. He has been accepted as the Grandfather of Yiddish
literature, although many of his works also were written in He-
brew. Even if his stories will be read only by a handful, in spite
of the decline in the ranks of the Yiddish readers, his name will
remain imperishable among the great in Jewish history.
In truth, only a handful read his stories today, and even in
translation it will be difficult to popularize his writings: because
he wrote in a different age, because the new generation of Jews—
those who knew not the shtetel, the village in the ghetto—will
find it difficult to understand his characters.
It is painful to say these things after having read Mendele's
"The Nag" in a splendid translation from the Yiddish by Moshe
Spiegel. A Beechhurst Press publication, distributed by Green-
berg (201 E. 57th, NY22), ably illustrated to describe "The Nag" by
Kurt Werth, the reviewer must adopt a realistic attitude and pose
the question: does this translation of a book that had become so
famous in Jewish literature fulfill a need in our time-82 years
after the book appeared in its original?
Its name in Yiddish was "Die Kliatche Oder Tzaar Baale

By Philip
Shovevitz

He Who Fights for His
Fellow Man's .Freedorri
Al so Defends His Own

Kliatche" is taken from the Song of Songs, 1.9: "Lesusosi

be'rikhbe Par'oh dmisikh rayoti"—"To a steed in Pharaoh's
chariots do I compare thee, my beloved." Which adds to the °
bewilderment caused by the translation of "die kliatche" as
"the nag."

Moshe Spiegel translated well. "The Nag" remains a good
story. But it is not strong enough—judged by the power it gath-
ered in the original from the pen of the "Zedie"—the Grandfather
of Yiddish Literature. This reviewer must view it as the tale of a
linguistic tragedy.

Ernest Bevin: Not Always the Bitter Anti Semite

-

Barnet Litvinoff's "Ben-Gurion of Israel" (published by Fred-
erick A. Praeger, 105 W. 40th, N.Y.18) reveals that Ernest Bevin,
who later emerged as a violent anti-Semite, was not always the
anti-Zionist who was responsible for the death of hundreds of
thousands of Jews.
In the days of the Passfield White Paper, Dov Hos, the able
Labor Zionist leader who died in an automobile accident in 1940,
was in London "where he had some good friends in the trade
union movement." Litvinoff's biography of Ben-Gurion relates,
about Dov Hos' experience at that time that he went to one of
these trade union friends, "a West Countryman controlling a
powerful group of workers within the Labor Party":
"Hos talked to him of events in Palestine. 'Your government is
impeding our work,' he said. 'It has not been seriously restraining
Arab extremism and now it wants to prevent us Jews from bring-
ing people in and buying more land.' The subject was new to the
trade union leader and he wanted to learn more. Dov Hos told
him.
" 'Well,' he said, when the Palestinian had finished, 'my union
has a dozen members in the House. If McDonald doesn't do some-
thing about it I'll tell the boys tea vote against him on this.' The
union was the Transport and General Workers, the man Ernest
Bevin. It all helped to produce, in 1931, in a celebrated letter to
Weizmann, a partial retraction by McDonald of the Passfield policy.
Labor had spoken to labor, and for once they had understood each
other."
But later on labor spoke to labor and the appeals for justice
fell on deaf and poisoned ears.
It is interesting to know the earlier story of Bevin, one-time
liberal who turned barbarian.

Illinois Colleges Reported Hampered
By Bias in Student Job Placement

of the colleges have difficulty in

CHIGAGO, (JTA)—More than finding jobs for members of

half of Illinois colleges and uni-
versities have difficulty in find-
ing jobs for their students be-
cause of race, religion or na-
tional origin, it is revealed in a
statewide survey made public by
the Illinois Committee on Dis-
criminations in Higher Educa-
tion, and the Anti-Defamation
League of Bnai Birth.
Questionnaires sent to college
placement offices throughout
Illinois sought the answers to
these questions: How often do
employers, in the market for col-
lege students to hire, specify
that he must be white, Protest-
ant, or perhaps a third-genera-
tion American? And what do the
college placement offices do
about such requests?
The results—based on answers
from 47 Illinois colleges and uni-
versities—were that 58 percent

minority groups. Racial preju-
dice, the study indicated, causes
the greatest difficulty in finding
jobs for students. Religious bias
was second, and discrimination
on the basis of national origin
was third. Approximately 70 per-
cent of the college placement
offices reported they received
job orders with discriminatory
"strings" attached.
In addition to specific discrim-
inatory requests, the study show-
ed a marked tendency for em-
ployers' application forms to ask
information about race, creed oK
national origin, or to request
a photograph of the applicant.
Discriminatory requests for pros-
pective employees come most fre-
quently from the field of busi-
ness, rather from teaching. re-
search, or other fields, the sur-
vey showed.

Mrs. FDR in Home at Nathanya

Interestingly enough, to emphasize the author's deep feeling

of compassion for the downtrodden, ,Mendele's theme for "Die

Friday, April 1, 1955

Sharett Discusses
Attack With U S
B ritish nvoys

JERUSALEM, (JTA)—Premier
Moshe Sharett summoned the
Ambassadors of the United
States and Britain to his offices
and protested the killing of one
young woman and the wounding
of 23 men, women and children
at the Israel settlement of Pat-
ish, 12 miles inland from the
Gaza strip frontier, last Thurs-
day night, by a band of Egyp-
tian marauders.
The Premier expressed the Is-
rael government's views on a
statement by the Egyptian
Minister for National Guidance,
Major Salah Salem, to the effect
that Egypt would be willing to
line up with the Western Powers
in a regional defense arrange-
ment in return for control of
the Negev, which constitutes
half of Israel's territory. Mr.
Sharett was understood to have
told the two Ambassadors that
the U. S. and Britain had some
responsibility in the matter of
Maj. Salem's statement because
they are pressing the regional
defense arrangements.
Egypt was censured on Sun-

day by the UN Israel-Egypt
Mixed Armistice Commission
for the Arab band's "brutal
and murderous attack" on the
Israel wedding party.

The attack on Patish came
during the celebration of a
wedding of young 'Shmuel. Ka-
lami and Simcha Shemass, both
recent immigrants from Persia.
Several hand grenades were
tossed into a group of 30 danc-
ing persons and then a Sten
gun was emptied into the group.
The bride and groom Were not
near the dancers at the time
and escaped injury.
Varda Freidman, 22-year-

old settler from Kfar Vitkin
who had voluntered to serve
as an agricultural instructor
for the recent immigrants,
was killed instantly by gren-
ade fragments. Twenty-three
others were wounded, two
seriously. At the funeral for
Miss Friedman the following
afternoon at Kfar Vitkin, the
mourners included Defense
Minister David Ben-Gurion
and Chief of Staff of the Is-
rael Army, Maj. Gen. Moshe
Dayan.
An Israel army unit was rush-

ed to the area almost immedi-

ately and set' off in pursuit of
the„marauders. The next morn-
ing, after Israel had complain-
ed to the Israel-Egyptian Mixed
Armistice Commission, a UN
team of observers joined the
search. The tracks of two men
led from the scene of the raid
back toward the Gaza strip
border.

Eban Informs State Dept.
Of Egyptian Incursions
WASHINGTON, (JTA)— Am-

Hayim—A Maase Vos Hot Zich Fervalgert Tzvishen die K'sovim
fun Isrulik dem Meshugenem"—"The Nag or Pity on a Living
Animal, a Story That Was Mislaid Among the Writings of Isrulik
the Demented." The Yiddish title speaks volumes. When you
speak of a kliatche you refer to something very distinct. But when

you translate it into a nag you must read the story in order to
realize that the tale is concerned with a mare that is mere skin
and bones ready to collapse at any moment, a pitiful creature
hardly worth defending.
Let's get to the tale. Isrulik refuses to submit to matrimony
that spells inevitable poverty. He aspires to be a doctor. He
plunges into his studies, but the cramming wears him down. The
fairy tales he has read drive him into seeing visions. In one of
his stupors he meets the nag—a mare that is being hounded by
little boys who throw stones at her and dogs who bite her. He
comes to the nag's defense and learns that she was a prince but
was transformed into this pitiful creature that is being hounded
and persecuted.
Thus the story goes on. Isrulik goes through many convu1.7
'ions, there are a few more dialogues with the nag, a miracle
worker finally rescues him from the evil spirits. Meanwhile, in
Mendele Mocher Seforim's Die Kliatche there unfolds the story of
a mare that was intended to be symbolic of the Jewish people—
an emaciated horse, whom anyone can mount and torment; a nag
who once was a prince.
In its day, Die Kliatche was one of the very famous Yiddish
parables. It complemented Mendele's famous "Die Taxe" which
exposed the injustice of the korobka—the traditional communal
tax in Jewish communities in Russia. The Nag is also a tale with
a plea for social reforms, for justice to the downtrodden.
And so—here we have two great documents, each having
served a great purpose in its day, each having lost its appeal in
our time—both being relegated to a neglected background because
the language in which it first appeared is insufficiently used and
because no translation, no matter how powerful, can possibly con-
vey the genius that rested in the original.

2—DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

bassador Abba Eban called on
Assistant Secretary of State
George N. Allen to inform the

Department of State that in-
cursions by Egyptian Army units

into Israel from the Gaza strip

are continuing with a mount-
ing toll of life and injury.
Mr. Eban also brought the
latest attack by Egyptain in-
filtrators on a wedding party
12 miles inside Israel to the at-
tention of the United Nations
Security Council in a letter to
Council president Selim Sarper
of Turkey.

Blumel Succeeds Jarblum

In French Zionist Group

PARIS, (JTA)—Andre

until now secretary general of

The Joint Distribution Committee old-age home at Nathanya
brought from recent visitor, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, the exclama-
tion, "These people really look as though they have something to
live for!" Here the former first lady is shown with the home's
handicrafts supervisor examining hats, bags, gloves, tablecloths,
sweaters and other items produced by the aged men and women
living in the home. Nathanya is one of some 100 homes, hosPitals,
sanitaria, sheltered workshops and other installations operated in
Israel by Malben, the JDC welfare program on behalf of aged,
ill and handicapped newcomers to the Jewish state. Upon her re-.
turn to the United States, Mrs. Roosevelt will make a number of
speeches on behalf of the United Jewish Appeal, from Nthich,

receives the fonds for its ey4seastfrpekitiOrq. ,

't)

.,•

' • •

t:4.1 ■ i{4

the Zionist Federation of France,
was elected president, succeed-
ing Marc Jarblum, who resigned
to take up permanent residence
in Israel.
M. Jarblum was elected honor-

ary president by

acclamation.

M; Blumel, who ran as a non-
'party candidate, was opposed
only by the General Zionists and
Mizrachi, each of wham named
their own candidates. M: 1

mel,receiYeA anA))K4-9.tf.Vaior-
W%i .`.

