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Memoriam

Edmund Wilson's Glowing Report About New Jew Emerging in Israel

Edmund Wilson, one of the
exalted and somewhat mys-
most brilliant of American lit- terious: the square letters
• In cherished memory of our erary critics, has become world holding their course, with no
dearly beloved husband and famous with his New Yorker Capitals for proper names and
father, Louis Raskin, who article "The Scrolls From the no punctuation save the firm
passed away on Sept. 5, 1919 Dead Sea," which, in book form,
double diamond that marks
(10 days in Elul).
became a best seller. He had the end of a verse, compact
Sadly missed by his wife, visited Israel, in the course of
in form as in meaning, stamp-
Minnie; sons, Danny and Mar- his studies of the Scrolls, • and ed on the page like a wood-
vin; and daughters, Mrs. Lillian continued to explore the sub- cut, solid verse linked to solid
Rosen and Mrs. Belle Wein- ject. As a result we have a verse with. the ever recurrent
•
garden.
very' moving account of his at- "and," the sound of which is
* * *
titude on Israel, in his new modulated by changes of
In loving memory of our be- book,. "Red, Black, Blond and vowel, while above and be-
loved father, Joseph Velick, who Olive," published by Oxford low them a dance of accents
passed away Feb. 17, 1943 (13 University Press (114 5th, NY shows the pattern of the met-
days in Adar I); our loving 11).
rical structure and the rise
mother, Zivia Velick, who
There are four reports here— and- fall of the chanting, and,
passed away Nov. 27, 1943 (29 the last on Israel and the other above and below, inside and
out, the vowel pointings hang
days in Heshvan); and our dear three on the Pueblo Indians'
like notes, as if they were the
sister, Eleanor Velick Epstien, Zuni festival in New Mexico,
molecules t h e consonants
who passed away March 16, on Haiti and on Soviet Russia.
1945 (two days in Nisan).
There are some passing refer; breathed. Difficult for the
Sadly missed by Al and Ida. ences to Jews and Judaism in foreigner to penetrate and
completely indifferent to this,
* * *
the Russian study. The one on
In cherished memory of our Israel is, of course, of special they have withstood-even the
drive toward assimilation—to
beloved brothers, Casper C. interest to us.
Strikingly enough, he begins their Spanish and Germanic
(Chap) Velick, who left us
March 18, 1947 (17 days in his essay on Israel with a re- neighbors—of the Jews of the
Adar); and Samuel (Pink). port on his reactions to first Middle Ages; and in the dia-
Velick, who departed on Yam reading Genesis. He proceeds lect of German that is Yid-
from there to a study of ancient dish, in newspapers spread in
Kippur Night in 1945.
the subway, they still march
Gone, but never forgotten by Jewish history, of the Bible and
the Hebrew language. In re- in the direction opposite to
Al and Ida.
* * *
lation to the Hebrew alphabet that of all the other subway
newspapers, English or Span-
In memory of our loving wife there is this striking viewpoint:
ish or Italian, Hungarian or
and mother, Gertrude M. Vied-
"These twenty-two signs
Russian or Greek, with only a
rah, who passed away one year
that Moses was believed to
light sprinkling of points to
have brought back from
ago, on July 21, 1955.
indicate Germanic vowels.
• Deep in our hearts lies a Egypt graven on the Tablets
And we have seen them re-
of the Law, and froni which,
picture
assembled in Israel, reconsti-
More precious than silver and in their early Phoenician
tuting their proper language—
form, all our European alpha-
_gold
,not embarrassed in the least
bets
have
been
derived,
have,
It's • a picture of you, dearest
by the fear that the newspa-
austere in their vowelless
mother
per reader of our century,
Whose memory will never terseness, been steadily pro-
even knowing Hebrew per-
ceeding from right to left,
grow old
fectly, may have difficulty in
over
a
period
of
two
thousand
Our hearts still ache with
distinguishing, in the British
years, among people that read
sadness
reports, a vowelless Bevan
from
left
to
right;
and
in
the
Our eyes shed many tears
from a vowelless Bevin. They
God only knows how we miss- Bible they take on an aspect
you
At the end of one sad year.

First Novel by
Young Writer, 21

ftr.

Sam Astrachan is only 21. He
writes well, as he proves in his
first novel, "An End to Dying;"
just published by Farrar, Straus
and Cudahy.
He writes about. the Kagans
of Russia who become Cohens
in this country. In flawless nar-
rations, he tells the story of a
family, its struggles and aspira-
tions, its migration and its in-
tegration into the American
environment.
Sam Star is the narrator. He
learns to understand his family
better when he goes to Europe.
In Paris he records in his diary:
". • . here and now I claim
my heritage. My progenitors
were the warriors and prophets
of Israel, and my God is the
God of Israel. When I speak
or sing to God, my head is un-
bowed and uncovered. I look
Him in the eye and, with love
and anger, I'll say my piece.
That's the way I am."
He ends with a "Shalom," in
an exchange with an old man
selling newspapers.
That's the wholesome conclu-
sion to a story that, in part,
may hold the reader as bewil-
dered as the narrator.
Astrachan tells that Kagan,
in this country, becanie Cohen.
He had been told by a Jew
who had already established
himself in New York that Ka-
gan was "un-American." Cohen
was settled as the American
name. What Astrachan does not
know or fails to tell is that
Kagan is Cohen in Russian,
since there is no "h" in Rus-
sian.

World Agudath Israel Votes
to Accept Moscow Invitation

LONDON, (JTA) — The ex-
ecutive of Agudath Israel voted
to accept an invitation from
Moscow's Chief Rabbi Solomon
Schlieffer to visit the Soviet
Union. It expressed the hope
that a delegation of prominent
"rabbinical personalities" may
participate in the visit and said
that New York Agudath will be
asked to join.

march on through our modern
events as if they were invul-
nerable, eternal."
Mr. Wilson links Jews with
the Bible: "His Bible and the
language in which it was writ-
ten seem never to be quite ab-
sent_from the background of his
mind."
But there also is an interest-
ing linking of Jews with four
religions. He ascribes disad-
vantages to the "Biblical 'as-
pect of eternity' " and states:
"It is the Jews who have given
to the Western world all four
of its great religions—Judaism,
Christianity, Mohammedanism
and the half-religion Marxism
—and they all of them have in
common a compelling and de-
lusive utopianism ." He proceeds
to say that "escape from his-
torical time may bring with it
something obsessive, as all four
of these religions have shown,
that easily produces intoler-
ance."
In the chapter "Eretz Israel,"
curiously enough, he deals—
unlike other historians and
travelers—with these subjects:
Samaritan Passover, Neturei
Karta (the fanatically orthodox
"Guardians of the City who re-
fuse to recognize Israel's exist-
,ence because they must await
the coming of the Messiah), the
Fiction of S. Y. Agnon, Theoc-
racy, Tanach, Jerusalem the
Golden, Deganiya. And his con-
cluding words reflect the gen-
eral impression that men of
vision gather in Israel:
"The return of the Jews to
their country of origin, the
revision to their ancient lan-
guage and, with these, a cer-
tain relaxation—in the sense
that a steel spring may be
said to relax from bending—

into their habits of self-suf-
ficiency, has made it possible
for them to stand alone and
not to worry about pleasing
some dominant `race'; digging
themselves in has set them
free, with the result—but su-
perficially a paradox — that
the Jews seem in Israel less
different instead of more dif-
ferent from other people. This
has had its moral effect on
Jews all over the world, and
it is the great thing to grasp
about Israel."
This "great thing to ,grasp"
is told in an excellent style by
a very able writer, whose new
work should have as good a
sale as the one about the
Scrolls. •

.

Education, Not Advertising
Urged. for Jewish Culture

STARLIGHT, Pa., (JTA) —
"Public - relations" in the cause
of Jewish culture should use
the methods of education, rather
than of advertising, Judah J.
Shapiro, national director of the
Bnai Brith Hillel Foundations,
declared here. He also- defined
the needs of Hillel Foundation
work in this period before the
annual meeting here of the
Hillel Directors Conference.
"We should turn to methods
that can only mean an inter-
pretation of an uncompromising
commitment to Jewish life,"
Shapiro declared, "not a pro-
gram that attempts to satisfy
standards on the basis of the
lowest common denominator in
the community. - In our work,
we must aspire to make certain
that, whatever the Jewish con-
viction of the individual, it is
supported by Jewish knowledge
and understanding.

AT THESE

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E AT llitES

EDITORIAL OPINIONS and SPECIAL FEATURES by world renowned
columnists and authors.

•

DIRECT TELETYPE COVERAGE from all the capitals of the world by
the Jewish Telegraphic Agency's leading correspondents.

•-•-les'• •

COMPLETE WHITE HOUSE AND U. S. CAPITAL coverage by our special
Washington correspondent, Milton Friedman.

WORLD COVERAGE — Top reporters of the
leading Jewish wire agencies and syndicates
bring you first hand accounts of happenings in
all capitals of the world.

NATIONAL NEWS — Straight from Washington
and leading Jewish communities throughout
the country, the events that influence your life
and that-of your family are reported and inter-
preted.

LOCAL NEWS — Reports and pictures on what's
going on in your own community are recorded
to keep you in touch with vital local affairs.

WOMEN'S FEATURES = Complete coverage of
all local societies and their activities—social and
cultural events, fashion shows, club news of
all kinds—things nearest a woman's heart.
SYNAGOGUE ACTIVITIES — Developments in
religious life, personalities in Rabbinical news,
the Congregational Calendar — events that are
important to know in and out of your com-
munity.
SUBURBAN PAGE — An account of the growth
of the fast-rising suburbs around Detroit and
how these communities are meeting their oppor-
tunities and problems.

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