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.