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`Israel Lives Forelier' Is Conclusion Declared by Sages
Angry Man': Very Good Novel * By SAUL. KLEIMAN,
the indomitable spirit of th e "corpse." Prophet Ezekiel pic-

on----

"The Last Angry Man," the best-selling novel by Gerald
Greene, an able writer who at one time produced the Dave
Garaway "Today" television show, will be read with mixed
emotions by Jewish readers_ &Sine will object to the course-
language used throughout the book and to the vulgar Yiddish
terms constantly resorted to by the hero of the story, Dr. Samuel
Abelman. But there is so much additional merit to the book
when the element of vulgarity is overlooked, aftd the book is
so excellently written, that it must be credited as justifiably
deserving the best seller standard.
Greene's "The Last Angry Man," published by Charles Scrib-
ner's Sons (597 5th Ave., N.Y. 17), is an exciting narrative about
a man who spoke in angry tones about some of his fellOw-
practitioners, his neighbors, the delinquents who harrassed
But invariably the goodness of his heart emerges from all his
angers: he is ready to sacrifice himself in order to save the life
of a Negro boy, a gangster who committed rape and instigated
his little gangster followers to molest him, because life was
sacred to him. The fees—he climbed stairs for $2 a visit, and
often without pay—mattered little to him. His professional duties
one first.
Was Dr. Abelman "the last angry man?" Surely, there are
always outraged people who are angered by injustice. The
"angry" connotation in this instance is complimentary. This
Jewish doctor is a . hero in many respects because his aim was
to render service and to be of service to the needy. Even when a
friend, a successful surgeon, whom he helps gather up a good
staff for his own hospital, betrays him and fails to give him
a promised spot on the hospital staff, he does not stop admiring
him for his ability; -
Dr. Abelman is constantly fighting the "galoots," and he
defines a galoot as ua guy who thinks the world owes him a
living, and if he doesn't have it handed to him on a silver platter,
he goes after it at someone else's expense." But when the galoots
need his help, as in the case of the Negro criminal youngster,
his professional' duty causes him to forget everything but the
immediate needs of the sick one.
In this fine novel, the story of Dr. Abelman comes to the
attention of a television executive who induces important sponsors
to introduce a new TV -show, "Americans, -U.S.A.," with Abeln-ian
as the first hero. There are numerous complications, the show
is about to go to pot, the. TV director, Woodrow Wilson Thrasher,
warns the drug company sponsors that there are many Jewish
druggists who may be offended by their dropping a much-
advertisedperformance in which a Jewish doctor was to be the
hero, and the show was to go on. But Dr. Abelman, in the
process of aiding the Negro boy, suffers a heart attack, dies, the
show is cancelled,' but the sponsors' nevertheless proceed in
other ways to pay tribute to their would-be hero.
The story cannot be disposed of so briefly. It must be read
for a full understanding of the characters of Woody Thrasher,
who is as much a hero in "The:Last Angry Man" as Dr. Abelman;
the doctor's nephew, who aspires to give up journalism and to
enter the TV field; Dr. Abelman's fellow-practitioners, each of
whom could make a subject for a novel, and Dr. Abelman's
Jewish neighbors who plotted against him to draw away his
patients to their son, who became a "specialist." It - is the anger
against specialists that will especially interest the medical pro-
fession in this novel.'
But there are many Jewish angles in this book that will
surely be the subjects for much discussion. At the very outset
there is proof. of Dr. Abelman's rebellious nature. He is taken to
a heder whose Hebrew teacher resorts to corporal punishment.
Sammy's first day in the heder, at the age of 5, is his last: he
would not let the melamed beat him, he throws a book at him
and runs away. One should not interpret this negatively. It
is the author's indictment of the undesirable heder which is
now a relic of a forgotten past.
Especially thought-provoking is Dr. Abelman's indictment
of Nazism and anti-Semitism. He condemns the European bigots
and predicts that they'll be "screaming neurotics in 10 years
because they got no Jews left!" Woody doesn't understand it, and
Dr. Abelman explains: •
"It's simple, simple. What'i been keeping Europe going all
these years? Culture? Religion? Business? Nah! I'll tell you what
—kicking Jews in the ass! But they got no Jews left. The Nazis
burned six million and the rest beat it. Oh, there's a couple
thousand maybe, but they won't last. Then what? You know,
when you're used to spitting in a guy's eye every day, it does
something for your morale, your character. It kept those Euro-
peans happy for centuries! But what happens when the guy ain't
there? Those poor Romanians! Those poor Polacks! Nobody left
to spit on! I give them maybe 10 years, and they'll all go crazy.
Meshugah, we call it."
One could go on, ad infinitum, quoting humorous episodes
from "The Last Angry Man," describing Dr. Abelman's love for
flowers and the fine garden he planted back of his home where
he had practised for more than 40 years and whence he -had
hoped, before his death, at last to escape from the galoots into
a finer residential section. There is the story of his warm-
hearted wife, of the men and women in the TV station.
This needs to be said: there is warmth in the doctor's affec-
tions for his struggling iMmigrant parents who had brought. him
to this country as a child. There is devotion to his brothers—
he took into his home his nephew Myron when he was orphaned.
The story ends also on a religious note, at the traditional funeral
service.
Gerald Greene has performed a commendable job in portray-
ing 'Sammy Abelman, prior to his medical student • days, as
mastering shorthand stenography—in whatever Sammy under-
took he wanted, o reach perfection—and as a physical education
instructor, in the course of which.he attained a strong arm grip.
Greene's characterizations of doctors, his description of Dr.
Abelman's devotion to his patients during the influenza epidemic
in 1918, are masterful portions of his novel. Those of his readers
who remember the ravages of the influenza epidemic during
World War I will be greatly interested in his review of those
tragic events.
"The Last Angry Man" is a good story. The vulgar terms
one finds in it are not peculiar to Greene's books: they are found
in most novels today. They were in Meyer Levin'S and Ben Hecht's
and in "Haunch, Paunch and Jowl" by Samuel Ornitz who died
March 10—and in a great many other books. What is More, you
hear the Yiddish vulgarities in everyday life: after all, many
who-have abandoned Jewish practices- seem to remember "onlythe
coarse terms. This, too, is true of all faiths and nationality
groups. But the story itself is about a very fine man—a true hero

Principal, Wehilath Israel Schools

commemorates the
birthday and independence day
of the Jewish people,. for their
liberation from Egyptian slav-
ery marked the fulfillment of
the first of the four prerequi-
sites for nationhood that may
be termed the "Four L's"; Lib-
erty, Language, Land and Law.
When our ancestors groaned
under the yoke of the Pharaohs
they were merely a hoard of
slaves, commonly suffering
from the _same tyranny. But
common suffering is - only a neg-
ative bond. Not until they broke
thee fetters of bondage were
they marked. with the first im-
print of nationhood.
According to the Midrash, the
Hebrew language was the ver-
nacular of the Israelites
throughout their prolonged en-
slaverrient. This linked them
with their forefathers and saved
them from disintegration and
ultimate extinction as a people,
and aided in their liberation. -
As for the third prerequisite,
the land of Canaan had been
given to their forefathers and
"their seed forever."
The giving of the ,L a w
(Torah) which occurred seven
Weeks after the -exodus marked
the cliinax of the latter. For
freedom has two phases, physi-
cal and psychological. The exo-
dus set Israel free physically;
the Torah would achieve for
them spiritual and psychologi --
oal ‘freedom — when they had
learned. its contents and prac-
ticed its tenets.
This required an education, to
which there' is no" short road.
Accordingly, Moses, the im-
mortal emancipator, law-giver,
leader, prophet and teacher,
taught the children of Israel
the Torah and admonished them
to observe its commandments.
For nearly four decades he en-
deavored to make them free
spiritually and psychologically
until he finally succeeded—not
with the generation of the exo-
dus, the ex-slaves, but with
their Children. Only then did
he say: "This day thou art be-
come a nation."
Our long history is replete
with stories of martyrdom, but
also with records of victori,es
and triumphs that harbor the
miraculous. Our annals abound
in Pharaohs, Hamans, Ap-
ions, Antiochuses, Torquernadas,
Chmielnickis, CzarS and Hitlers
who "in - every generation rise
to destroy us, but the Eternal
saves us from their Powers."
As a people, we have not
only survived all 'kinds of ad-
versity and oppression, laiit we
have also established- the poten-
tially most powerful center of-
Jewish gravity in- the United
States of Atherica. And, not-
withstanding impediments, dis-
appointments -and heartaches,
our "Halutzim" and "Halutzot"
(pioneers) have succeeded in
founding a throbbing Jewish
life in Eretz Yisrael.
Judah Leib Gordon, eminent
Hebrew poet of the "Haskalah
Period," compared the Jewish
nation to the corpse of a giant
whose limbs stretch forth to all
parts of the globe. The whole
earth is his grave and the
Torah—the epitaph on his tomb-
stonein another poem he ex-
pressed anxiety that he might
be "the last bard singing in the
Hebrew tongue."
The American poet, H. W.
Longfellow, eulogizing tenderly

.

Passover

who deServes to be popularized
in a book that will no doubt
remain in the best-seller class
for a_ long time. •
We' are now informed by our
Hollywood correspondent that
Vera Caspary, the novelist-scen-
arist, wife of the movie pioneer
Isidore Goldsmith, has been
signed by Columbia Pictures to
write the screen Play for "The
Last Angry Man." It is to be
produced by Fred Kohlmar. We
are confident that it will also
make an excelelnt movie.
P.S.

Jews, took a similar pessimistic
view: -
"What once has been shall be
no more.
The groaning earth., in travail
and in pain,
Brings forth its races, but
does not restore,
And the dead 'nations never
rise again!
But Gordon and Longfellow
were better poets than prophets.
Could they but behold the re-
markable Jewish rebirth in the
State. of Israel, they would have
conceived different poetical
visions. - - Israel never was a

tured the' nation as "scattered
dry bones" only to prove that
even in such a hopeless state
these would be metamorphOsed
into a gigantic, resurrected and
reborn host.
The coins father Abraham
minted, says the MidraSh, had
the likeness of an old couple
on one side and 'of a lad and
lass on the other, symbolizirig
the perpetuation of his race.
With keen observation of his-
tory and with prophetic fore-
sight, Our sages declared:
"Nations come and nations go,
But Israel lives forever!"

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