The Great Fair'

Sholom Aleichem Autobiography

Sholom Aleichem will remain
one of the great classicists in
world literature, thanks, in great
measure, to his granddaughter,
Tamara Kahana, whose transla-
tions of the world famous humor-
ist's works from Yiddish into
English are captivating those who
have been deprived of the earlier
privileges of reading his works
in the original.
_ Miss Kahana is the daughter
of Sholom Aleichem's son-in-law,
I. D. Berkowitz, the translator of
the Sholom Aleichem works into
Hebrew. Her latest effort to bring
her grandfather's writings to
English readers is "The Great
Fair: Scenes From My Child-
hood," which has been published
by Noonday Press, 17 Union Sq.,
N.Y. 3.
This is a magnificent work
and it once again brings to light,
among those unacquainted with
Yiddish literary masterpieces, the
wonderful creations of Sholom
Aleichem. "The Great Fair"
serves the additional purpose of
presenting, in very easily un-
derstandable fashion, the life in
the shtetel of old, in the town-
let in Russia where Jewish spir-
itual life flourished and produced
many great men, in spite of the
hardships and poverty that domi-
nated their scene.

These hardships and sufferings,
the odds against which they
labored, but the devotion with
which they clung to their faith,
are admirably described in the
Sholom Aleichem autobiography.
The story is all the greater be-
cause it captures the values of
the life under scrutiny humor-
ously, with puns, with narrations
of folk tales.
It is the story of the Rabino-
witz family — not of Sholom
alone. Urged by his friends to
write an autobiography—so he
explains in the first chapter—he
finally said to himself, at 50, after
a serious illness: "You may die
suddenly. People who think they
knew and understood you will
turn up with cock-and-bull stor-
ies about you. What will you
gain by it? Better do the jab
yourself, for nobody knows you
as well as yourself. Tell the
world what you are like, what
you have done, what you have
seen—write your biography!"
Then he explains his own ap-
proach to such an autobiographi-
cal effort:
"It is easy enough to say write
your autobiography, a truthful
unembellished story of your life.
But it would be like giving an
account of my entire life, or hold-
ing a confessional before the
world! In fact, writing an auto-
biography and making a spiritual
will are practically the same. Be-
sides, it is difficult-for a huinan
being to rise to such a height
that he can resist the temptation
to show himself in the most flat-
tering light, to paint himself as
a 'good fellow' who deserves a
pat on the back. I have therefore
chosen a special form of auto-

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0

WASHINGTON, (JTA) — Eric
Johnston, President Eisenhow-
er's personal envoy to the Middle
East, is scheduled to arrive in the
Middle East Wednesday to press
for acceptance of the American
plan for the regional develop-
ment of the Jordan River. The
Ambassador is expected to visit
the Arab countries first and then
Israel.

biography — that of a biogra-
phical novel. And so I shall speak
of myself in the third person;
that is, I Sholom Aleichem, the
Writer, shall relate to you the
true life-history of Sholom Alei-
chem, the Man, as unceremoni-
ously as I can, without embel-
lishment or affectation, as an
impartial observer might tell it, Honorary Degree Given
an absolute stranger -.- but still
To Charles E. Feinberg
as one who had been with the
In recognition of his efforts in
sponsoring Whitman exhibits in
American universities, on the oc-
casion of the 100th anniversary
of the publication of Walt Whit-
man's "Leaves of Grass," Charles
E. Feinberg, local businessman
and noted Whitman authority,
was awarded the honorary degree
of doctor of humane,. letters, by
the University of Southern Illi-
nois, Carbondale, Ill., last Friday.

Rabbi Friedman in Israel

Direct JTA Teletype Wire -
to The Jewish News

SHOLOM ALEICHEM

hero continuously and had passed
with him through all the seven
circles of hell. And I shall tell it
to you, little by little, dividing
it into separate stories or epi-
sodes. And may He, who grants
man the gift of Memory, grant
me this gift, that I may not omit
a single occurrence of interest
that I have experienced, nor one
person whom I have met at the
Great Fair where I have passed
almost fifty years of my life."
He lived to write ,only two
sections of his life story. Al-
ways a sick man—one wonders
how people could emerge in
good health out of the experi-
ences of "seven circles of hell"
in the poverty of the shtetel!—
he died before he could relate
all the stories about all the peo-
ple he had met and all he had
experienced in life. We are the
poorer for it!
He did, however, fulfill his
promise: he managed to complete
his childhood story by relating
separate stories and episodes, and
each is a classic in its own
right.
Sholom Aleichem has fond
recollections of his boyhood
friends — Shmulik the Orphan,
.who told stories about a hidden
treasure, goblins, and wildcats;
Meyer Medvedefker, later the
world famous opera singer Med-
vedeff who became a convert to
Christianity; the dog Silver, and
others.
The pathos that marks each
story, linking it with the
humor of the narrative, turns
the entire book into a marvel-
ous literary masterpiece,
whether the author — Sholom
Rabinowitz — Sholom Nahum
Vevik's — who adopted the
pen name Sholom Aleichem-
writes about the boys and girls
of his childhood or about the
grownups. His parents, his
uncles, his aunts and his grand-
mother are important char-
acters in the book. His Uncle
Nissel is an outstanding figure
—from the time of his mischief
with the Russian authorities,
which resulted in his arrest,
unto his "making a 'living"
career in America. And so also
No special skill needed!
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Sholom's mother died during a
you exclusive advantages
cholera epidemic and later his
that outbake any other
father remarried. The stepmoth-
er episodes are among the most
method
any other mix'
illuminating in the entire book.
"The hero of this biography," we
are told, "must confess that a
major part of tl invective which
he has incorporated in his works
has been appiopriated from the
vocabulary of, his stepmother."
He lists a number of the more
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offensive invectives and includes
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• DEVIL'S FOOD CAKE M1X
in his autobiography a lexicon
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of his stepmother's abuse which
he has sweated out from memory.
Kosher ... yet cost NO more! Under A we find apple-thief, ass,
apostate; undel. B, Bare-bottom,

YOU CAN BAKE A CAKE!

Johnston to Resume
Water Plan Talks

JERUSALEM — Rabbi Her-
bert Friedman, executive vice-
chairman of the United Jewish
Appeal, arrived here Tuesday
for a two-week tour of Israel,
during which he will inspect in-
stallations and programs sup-
ported by UJA beneficiary or-
ganizations and will meet with
government and Jewish Agency
leaders.
Rabbi Friedman disclosed that
a major UJA delegation will
arive in Israel on Oct. 19 to
make a thorough study of local
conditions and needs in order
to plan the 1956 UJA drive. Be-
fore coming to Israel, the UJA
executive head visited North
Africa and various countries of
'Western Europe to study the
situation of Jews in those coun-
tries.

UJA Officials Confer
PARIS (JTA) — The situation

of Jews in North Africa and
the work of the -Joint Distribu-
tion Committee and allied Jew-
ish groups in North Africa were
outlined to a special meeting
here attended by 17 executive
directors of United Jewish Ap-
peal campaigns in large cities
of the United States.

belly-button and many more;
under T, thick-head, thunder,
trousers-owner, and so on—
unique -appelations under each
letter. The lexicon is followed
by this revealing statement:
"It is • possible to consider
this Sholom Aleicheufs first
work. He entitled it 'Step-
mother's Vocabulary."
It caused an incident: his fath-
er discovered the document, read
it from A to Z, was especially
amused by the terms "belly-
button" — applied to the hero—
and "trousers-owner" — applied
to his brother. His stepmother as
well as his father burst into
laughter — and the incident
ended well for our author.
We have mentioned that Sho-
lom was known as Nahum Ve-
vik's — the son of Nahum and
the grandson of Vevik. His father
was swindled by a partner when
they lived in Voronka — the
shtetel that plays an important
part in "The Geat Fair"—and
moved to Pereyaslov, where he
opened an inn. The children were
left in Voronka to end the sea-
son's studies in their cheder and
when they finally rejoined their
family they learned that their
father now was called Reb Na-
hum Rabinowitz: "—no longer
Nahum Vevik's. Grandfather Ve-
vik had evidently been mustered
out, now they were -in the big
city ."
This typically Sholom Alei-
chem humor throws light on the
attitudes of the people about
whom he wrote so feelingly, al-
beit humorously. Out of such
delineations developed the genius
of the great Jewish humorist
who has been compared to Mark
Twain and whom Mark Twain
considered greater than himself.
It is the world's loss that Sho-
lom Aleichem did not live long
enough to write about his later
life — that his autobiography,
"The Great Fair," is limited to
his childhood. But what we have
in the excellent English version
by his granddadughter, Tamara
Kahana, is a great gift to his
people and to the world,

Jewish Military Personnel Calendar Issued by JWB

The 1955-56 edition of the of- this week, it was announced by
ficial Jewish Calendar - for Mem- Col. Harry D. Henshel, chair-
bers of the Armed Forces used man of the National Jewish Wel-
by American Jewish servicemen fare Board's Armed Services Di-
in three wars and in the periods vision.
in between came off the press
Since 1917, when the first cal-
endar was issued by JWB, more
than three and a half millioi
copies have been distributed.
More a handbook than a calen•
dar, the publication contains valu.
JERUSALEM, (JTA) — Israel able information of religious,
authorities turned over to the recreational and educational in-
United Nations 38 cases of medi- terest to the Jewish GI.
The 19-0-page pocket-size calen-
cal supplies and other articles
dar — which describes JWB's
destined for the UN relief and religious and morale program for
rehabilitation program among the the military — lists the dates of
Arab refugees in the Gaza strip. the Jewish Holy Days and Fes-
The cargo of UN drugs was tivals of the Hebrew year, 5716,
aboard a Syrian schooner appre- contains selected prayers in He-
brew and English, and includes
hended last week inside Israel
territorial waters. The Israelis all the publications of religious
Jewish cultural interest pub-
immediately offered to deliver and
lished by JWB.
the cargo by a land route.

Israel Delivers Drugs
From Impounded Ship

The crew remains under de-
tention and the vessel is im-
pounded. An Israel Foreign Min-
istry spokes-man indicated that
they will be used in a new at-
tempt to exchange Arab prison-
ers for four Israel soldiers cap-
tured and imprisoned by the
Syrians since last December.

DETROIT JEWISH NEWS-7

Friday, August 19, 1955

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