THE JEWISH NEWS
Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951
Member American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers. Michigan Press Association. National Editorial
Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit 35, Mich.,
VE. 8-9364. Subscription $5 a year. Foreign $6.
Entered as second class matter Aug. 6, 1952 at Post Office, Detroit. Mich., under Act of March 3, 1879.
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
SIDNEY SHMARAK
Advertising Manager
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Circulation Manager
FRANK SIMONS
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, Shabbat Hazon, the sixth day of Ab, 5717, the following Scriptural
selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Devarirn, Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22. Prophetical portion, Isaiah
1:1-27.
Scriptural Selections for Tisha b'Ab, Tuesday
Pentateuchal portions: Morning, Deut. 4:25-40; afternoon, Ex. 32:11-14; 34:1-10.
Jer. 8:13-9:23; afternoon, Is. 55:6-56:8.
Prophetical portions: Morning,
Licht Benshen, Friday, Aug. 2, 7:32 p.m.
VOL. XXXI. No. 22
Page Four
August 2, 195'7
Tisha b' Ab Marks Israel's Endless Hope
craving for freedom and justice for Israel.
Many Jews have debated, since Israel's
Still chanting the Eicha, the Lamenta-
rebirth, whether the observance of Tisha
tion
b'Ab, the anniversary day of the destruc-
"How doth the city sit solitary,
tion of both the First and Second Temples,
That
was full of people,"
should continue.
Jews in Israel and throughout the world
Many hold to the view that the fast
continue a tradition of remembering a
day should be abandoned, that it • should,
very
sad day while rejoicing that the day
instead, be turned into a day of rejoicing
of complete realization of the qualities of
over the fulfillment of the prophecy of
hope and faith is at hand.
Zion's redemption with justice. There
Having been the symbol of the unceas-
were, indeed, predictions centuries ago
ing hope of Israel, Tisha b'Ab remains a
that Tisha b'Ab would become a festival
vital day of our calendar. It remains a
of joy.
day of prayer and of remembering the
Historically, the day retains its signi-
ficance. Many events had transpired on . sad years during which Jews were sub-
jected to sufferings and persecutions. It
the ninth day of Ab, besides the destruc-
is now primarily a day on which to
tions of the Temples in 586 B. C. E. and
acclaim the indestructibility of Israel
70 C. E. This day also marked the fall of
Betar and the collapse of the Bar Kochba whose source is in the undying faith
revolution. The expulsion of the Jews in the ultimate rule of justice for all
from England was ordered on Tisha b'Ab. mankind.
Therefore there are practical ap-
The decree of expulsion from Spain was
proaches to the new forms of Tisha b'Ab
carried out on Tisha b'Ab. Many other
observances—by means of reafforesting
tragic events occurred on the sad day of
and reclaiming the land of Israel through
the ninth of Ab.
the Jewish National Fund; by providing
Indeed, the ninth day of Ab has been
means for the settlement of persecuted
labeled by our sages as "a day set for
Jews and by building homes for them;
misfortunes." The day has been referred
by re-creating Israel's cultural values in
to as "the Black Fast." But its very
the new State and by giving new hopes
observance has served to keep alive in the
to the homeless and stateless that Israel
hearts of our people a love of Zion and has
is ready to receive them.
perennially rekindled the people's deter-
Such is the new message of Tisha b'Ab,
mined will to see Judea redeemed.
which has ceased to be a day of mourning
Thus, out of the days of sadness had
and has become an occaion on which to
developed a great quality in Jewry:
acclaim the righteousness of a Greater
the sentiment of hoping endlessly for the
Power that has willed it that human
arrival of the day of redemption, the
Values shall not be trampled in the dust.
refusal to abandon hope, the unceasing
PICA and Rothschild: Tribute to a Great Family
A posthumous letter written by the
late Lord James Armand de Rothschild
and made public in Jerusalem last week
by Israel's Prime Minister David Ben-
Gurion may well be rated one of the most
important, and certainly one of the most
interesting, stories of the current year. It
made known the liquidation of PICA—the
Palestine Jewish Colonization Association
which Baron Edmond de Rothschild,
James' father, established 75 years ago.
The action decided upon by Lord
James before his death serves to call at-
tention to one of the most romantic
chapters in the history of Palestine's re-
demption. Lord Edmond was the first
initiator of private enterprises in Pales-
tine. While his projects were primarily
philanthropic, the funds he had invested
in Eretz Israel did encourage the estab-
lishment of private farms, industries, the
wineries of Rishon LeZion and other im-
portant undertakings.
The son followed in his father's foot-
steps, as has become apparent now in the
action of Lord. James , who not only 'allo-
cated PICA funds to national Israeli in-
stitutions, but who also assigned the cash
PICA fund of $3,333,000 for the construc-
tion of a Knesset building.
In the biography of Edmond de Roths-
child by Isaac Naiditch, the great Euro-
pean Zionist leader, published in 1945 by
the Zionist Organization of America,
there is a reference to Edmond's son
James. Naiditch described the devotion
to the Palestine ventures of "Der Baron"
—"The Baron"—as Edmond de Rothschild
became known affectionately to Jewry
throughout the world. The biographer
quotes The Baron as saying, in 1934: "I
am tired . . . It is not for me to complete
the work. I have begun it. My children
will have to go on with it. I am sure of
my son James. Our ideal is dear to his
heart." Then Naiditch explained:
"The reference was to Baron James de
Rothschild of London, a member of the
British Parliament, worthy successor to
his father as a man, a Jew and a Zionist.
James had been inducted by his father
into the Zionist ideal since his early youth
and had been given a good Hebrew edu-
cation. The old Baron always consulted
him pertaining to Palestine."
Naiditch also describes how, shortly
before the Baron's death, on the Balfour
Anniversary Day, Nov. 2 , 1934, the Great
Benefactor—as he also was referred to—
called in his grandson and asked him to
repeat in the presence of the eminent
Zionist leader:
"Now repeat before Monsieur Naiditch
the words I say. Promise faithfully to
Monsieur Naiditch: 'When I grow up to be
a man I will work with all my strength
fcr the ideal for which my grandfather
worked.'
There is no doubt that the Rothschilds
had fulfilled these pledges and that they
continue to labor for the reborn Israel.
The latest Rothschildian act proved it. It
helps to add glory to the record of "Der
Baron's" generosities and assures the in-
delibility of the inscription of the Roths-
child name in Israeli history.
School for Retarded
Many of our communal organizations
are devoting their resources towards aiding
the mentally retarded.
The problem of retarded children has
become especially acute, and the in-
creased interest in efforts to solve it
are heartening.
Especially encouraging is the newly-
approved plan for the establishment of
the first mentally retarded children's day
school in the land to be publicly supported
at the Wayne County Training School.
Dr. Pasquale Buoniconto, the medical
director of Wayne County Training
School, deserves high commendations for
having instituted this day school, and the
Board of Supervisors should be encour-
aged to continue to approve such efforts.
*le AR bane P4 Sa eeataye
ra A WHILE
Tragedy of Mixed Marriage
Shock of Intermarriage to Jewish
Mother Related in Maete G. Shick's
Autobiography, 'Barden and Trophy'
When an immigrant who had turned dairy farmer writes
an autobiography that can hold the reader's interest from be-
ginning to end, it may be said to have acquired noteworthy
literary status.
"The Burden and the Trophy," published by Pageant Press
(101 Fifth Ave., N.Y. 3), is the book that has earned such rating.
Its author, 72-year-old Maete Gordon Shick, wrote the account
of her life in Yiddish. Pageant Press has issued it in an English
translation by Mary J. Reuben.
Mrs. Shick's story begins in a Lithuanian-village. From the
very beginning, the account of her life is told in fine style. Her
family's life on the farm in the Old World, the ceremonies and -
customs of a former generation, the experiences of a brave
-people—and of our stimulating autobiographer—are incorporated
in the book's first section, "Europe 1885-1908."
•
*
This portion of the book contains interesting accounts of
Maete's work as a salesgirl in Vilna, her infatuation with a young
student, her marriage against her will to Isaiah Shick. Maete
learned on the eve of her marriage that her betrothed was an
illiterate, and she wanted to break the tenayim, but her family
induced her to go through with the marriage. Then came the
Russian-Japanese war, Isaiah's flight to America, the birth of
their daughter after his leaving Russia, her final departure to
join him in this country, their struggles in the new land.
The second part of the story, "America 1908 . " is of major
interest. Here Maete relates the struggle of the first years in
this country, her determination to 'go into business to ease the
family's plight, her purchase of two cows and solicitation of
customers for "Jewish milk." Out of this small venture devel-
oped her project that still is functioning as one of the largest
Massachusetts dairies, the Watertown Dairy in Wayland, Mass.
*
*
*
The story is a tribute to the initiative of a bright woman
who defied all obstacles, who carried the brunt of responsibility
alone for many years—her husband Isaiah, whom she learned to
love, was not as businesslike as she was—and who succeeded
gradually in expanding her business. She had labor troubles,
there were difficulties when it became necessary to introduce
modern refrigeration, but she carried on and, even at 72, appears
still, to be the brains of her dairy business, even though she
speaks of having retired.
The two concluding chapters, "My Son, My Son, What Of
the Morrow?" and "Retirement," make note of a family tragedy.
The Shicks' son Avrum fell in love with an Italian Catholic girl.
The family objected strenuously. But he left home and was
married by a Catholic priest. It broke his parents' hearts.
His father was ill, and before his death he pleaded with Avrum
Shmuel to circumcize his expected baby if it was to be a son.
Avrum continued to visit his parents on the Sabbath. Soon the
father died. Avrum struggled and barely earned a livelihood.
But although he had hurt his father with his intermarriage, he
was left $3,000 in his will.
Avrum could not carry on, and one day he, his wife and
their two children settled in his mother's home. His mother's
instincts were stronger than the objections to the intermarriage
and she finally said to them, "here is your home." Nevertheless,
the tragedy of intermarriage for the families affected by it ss
strongly in evidence in Mrs. Shick's story.
In their struggle to make good as dairy farmers, the Shicks
had summer boarders. One of the incidents in the book tells about
the happiness they derived from the summer visits with them
of Mrs. Mary Yanovsky, a sister of the Labor Zionist leader
Isaac Hamlin, and her family. They brought a Zionist spirit and
Jewish songs into the environment and it provided joy for the
dairy farmers.
Upon her "retirement," Mrs. Shick writes, she became active
in charities, in Hadassah, Mizrachi, Bnai Brith, congregations and
other groups. It was part of a Jewish interest that appeared
to be in evidence throughout her interesting life.
Miss Reuben's translation from the Yiddish into English has
faulty transliterations from the Yiddish, Hebrew and Russian,
but it is otherwise a well done job.