Israelis Set Off Explosion at Qualgilyah Police Station
Zan,awill Returns to Ghetto
Thirty years after his death,
Israel Zangwill, the foremost
English-Jewish writer of mod-
ern times, will at last be hon-
Ored with a formal biography,
to be' published in his native
England. • -
The book, originally suggested
by your humble columnist, was
written by Joseph Leftwich of
London, compiler of the first
great Jewish anthology "Yis-
roel."
Leftwich, an alumnus of the
HEADQUARTERS
FOR
MEXICAN
TRAVEL
HOTEL and AIR
RESERVATIONS
SIGHT SEEING
TRIPS
BULL FIGHT
TICKETS
TRAVEL
DOCUMENTS
SECURED
.
TOURS LEAVING EVERY
FRIDAY STARTING
DECEMBER 21
JTA in England, was a friend
of Zangwill and close to the
whole family for many years.
He had accumulated so much
material, personal recollections,
correspondence, anecdotes, etc.,
that the book became top-heavy
and discoursive and the Jewish
Publication Society, for which
it was originally intended, felt
embarrassed by this richness of
data, imagination and the flu-
ency of language. So there was
a long correspondence between.
the JPS and the author, with
requests for revision and
changes, and this correspond;
ence, too, would, circumstances
permitting, make a book. This.
exchange of fascinating letters
may still be going on, but mean-
while the book will be issued
in London, and the JPS, which
originally discovered Zangwill,
has so far found no way of
either perpetuating the memory
of the great interpreter and de-
fender of world Jewry nor of
stimulating the circulation of
his books, many of which it
first brought out.
Perhaps the reported differ-
ences which have arisen could
now be composed by the JPS
importing an American edi-
tion of the books as issued in
England and thus re-animate
Zangwill's fame and at the
same time cement better rela-
tions between the countries.
Zangwill visited this country
and lectured here on a number
of occasions. He wrote a play
"The Melting Pot" about the
fusion of the immigrant groups
in the United States which was
a sensation in its day, both as
a subject of controversy and as
an artistic achievement in the
theatrical world.
I was in Washington when
the play was produced in that
city in 1907 and when„ Presi-
dent Theodore Roosevelt sat
in a box with Mr. Zangwill
—International SO -andphoto
This official Israeli photo shows Israel's soldiers in a Jordan police station at Qual-
qilyah as they prepared to set off an explosion. It was part of the recent reprisal raid.
Hebrew Alphabet Traced to Script of Phoenicians
Keith Gordon Irwin, a col-
lege instructor, has devoted
many years to the study of the
alphabet and the background of
the written word. The result is
his interesting "The Romance
of Writing," published by Vik-
ing Press (625 Madison, N.Y.
22). He deals with the subject
"from Egyptian hieroglyphics to
modern letters, numbers and
signs."
Illustrated extensively by
himself, Mr. Irwin traces the
beginning of writing to the
Egyptians and the Chaldeans
and states that the Phoenicians
produced their "alphabet" 25
centuries later.
While the Hebrew Alphabet
is dealt with much later as part
of the series "Non-Roman Al-
phabets," it is interesting to
note that he refers to the Phoe-
nician story as "The 'Aleph-
DELPHINE
ELKI
TRAVEL SERVICE
THE 40th JUBILEE DINNER
used today for Yiddish, "a lan-
guage with a mixture of Ger-
man and Hebrew words as the
main vocabulary," he adds, and
indicates that four of the 22
letters are used in Yiddish for
vowels.
This book has interesting
chapters dealing with the mak-
ing of ancient parchment and
modern paper.
NO MORE
BREAKDOWN
WORRIES ..
WITH
r t
AUSTIN'S
Beth." But the letters referred
and loudly applauded the to all are the same as the He-
performance.
brew—Aleph, Beth, Gamel, etc.
There was another notable
Making reference to the "cita-
event in American Jewish his- del-and-harbor" Tyre and the
tory with which Zangwill was location of spices, metals, ivory,
associated, a dramatic incident etc., in various Mediterranean
by itself, and that was the ad- cities, Mr. Irwin states: "Some
UNTIL- MAY 3
dress which he delivered before of these places (Tarshish, Aram,
the American Jewish Congress Togarmath, Kedar, Haran and
in the Fall of 1922. "Watchman, others) cannot be found in a
Consult:
What of the Night?" was a modern atlas: But the old He-
In Detroit
powerful historic oration, but it brew prophet Ezekiel must
was insufficiently understood at have known where they were;
the time, in fact greatly misun- it was he who wrote these
derstood.
things down."
Zangwill was closely associ-
In his two-page description of
ated with some of the foremost the Hebrew Alphabet, the au-
American Jewish leaders, in- thor states:
cluding the late Oscar S. Straus,
"The earliest Hebrew letters
Daniel Guggenheini, and Cyrus were exactly like those of the
19437 LIVERNOIS
L. Sulzberger, who, among other Phoenicians. And the letters
notables, became members of had like names, though the gam-
UN. 4-4464
the American branch of the JTO al of the Phoenicians was pro-
(Jewish Territorial Organiza- nounced g-imel by the Hebrews.
Birmingham
tion).
A national calamity in the year
Humorous anecdotes hovering 586 B.C. set the stage for a
around Zangwill's sojourns in new- eila that affected writing
the United States would be a styles as it did other, more po-
subject by itself, but it may not litical, things. In that year Ne-
296 N. HUNTER
be amiss to mention here Mr. buchadnezzar of Babylon cap-
6-3115
Zang will's first visit to the tured Jerusalem and carried off
home of Jacob H. Schiff on up- to the Euphrates Valley a major
per Fifth Ave. It grew cold that portion of those who survived
evening and Schiff lent Zang- the fall of the city. About 50
will a topcoat in which to go years later Babylon itself was
to his hotel, "and go, said I. Z. sacked by the Medes and Per-
afterwards, "I went out of the sians, under Cyrus. A patriotic
house with my hands deep in remnant of the Hebrews was,
Mr. Schiff's pockets."
in time, permitted to return to
—Bernard G. Richards- Jerusalem and rebuild its walls.
"While in exile the Hebrews
had found it convenient to use
the Aramaic (Syrian) style of
writing and Aramaic speech.
The speech was much like their
own; the letters of the writing
had been exactly like theirs in
HEBREW BENEVOLENT SOCIETY
the beginning. But by the time
of Nebuchadnezzar a century
(Chesed Shel Emes)
or so of hasty writing by Ara-
Will Be Held
maic shop clerks had distorted
the shapes of the letters. After
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1956
the Hebrew return to Jerusalem
at the
the people did not revert to the
letter shapes used before the
ADAS SHALOM CONG., Curtis and Santa Rose
exile. They kept on with the
An interesting program is being arranged
Aramaic f or m s, elaborating
Call Our Office—Ty 6-1686—for Your Reservations
them into a temple-school script
made with a reed pen having a
, DAVID RICHMAN
broad nib. This, the 'square He-
NATHAN WOLOK
brew,' as it is now called, was
Vice-President and ,
President
General Chairman
used for all religious writing.
"Hebrew letter forms of to-
ELLIOTT or
BILL ELKIN
or HELEN JACKMAN
day follow the square-Hebrew
patterns of 2,000 years ago.
There are 22 letters, all for con-
sonants. The writing runs from
right to left. And, strangely
enough, not a single one of to-
day's symbols has any resem-
blance to the original letter
forms of Phoenician days."
Mr. Irwin points out that the
Hebrew square-letter script is
OIL FURNACE
REPAIR
SERVICE
You needn't fear going
without heat on a cold
winter day. An Austin ex-
pert repair man is as close
as your phone! Austin has
its own oil furnace service
department to answer your
call immediately, 24 hours
a day, 7 days a week! Aus-
tin repairs and cleans your
furnace at cost!
44?
AUTOMATIC KEEP FULL POLICY
-
Austin assures you a full tank by an automatic keep
full service by a huge truck fleet from many loading
points.
VENT ALARMS INSTALLED FREE
Austin installs vent alarms free for all its customers,
eliminating fuel waste and tanks stained by overflow.
"NU CLEAN" The DETERGENT FURNACE OIL
-
Austin's Nu-Clean Furnace Oil is the best you can buy
. . . at any cost! It cleans as it burns. It's dustless,
smokeless, anti-rust, anti-clogging, warmer and goes
farther too!
Call VE. 8-5800 Today
ASK ABOUT
OUR
Budget PLAN
•-
ORPOititTiOtt
12950 EVERGREEN ROAD
DETROIT 23, MICHIGAN .
7—THE DET ROIT JEWISH NEWS -- Friday, October 26, 1956
B. C. R. Says: