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: