Friday, March 2 1, 1958—THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS-38
Memory of Kastner
When Joshua \ Wagman Returned New Holy Day Discs
By BERNARD G. RICHARDS
We go back to the balmy days not yet dead.) It was all a
of 1908 when Joshua Wagman, joke which Tashrak perpetrated
a pioneer of the Yiddish press. at my expense. You should all
returned to New York after an know better than to believe
absence of several years and him. You see, I am quite alive
found everything in the Jewish and I will yet survive that
quarter completely change d. heartless and cruel jester. No,
(What would he say, if by Chicago is not the place for me.
chance or miracle, he were to I struggled there for seven
return today?) The event, which years. Perhaps it was really
took place in the Fall of 1908, eight years; possibly nine."
was described by the genial hu-
The old man lit a cigarette
morist or columnist of the Jew- and looked out towards Seward
ish Daily News (Tageblatt), Park. "What a change," he re-
(Israel J. Zevin).
marked, "it is a different city,
"We were all frightened out different people, everything has
of our wits," said Tashrak, "and assumed a different appearance.
it was really terrible because we To think that they would put
all make our living by our wits." up a park where I used to pub-
Tashrak was thus describing the lish my paper. You have a new
strange apparition which the bridge to Brooklyn and another
day before had appeared before one is already being built. How
him and his fellow scribes. the Yiddish papers have grown
Joshua Wagman, whom they all in the past twenty years and
thought dead, had suddenly ap- what a lot of new faces I see
peared in their office before here. Do you know, I am begin-
them. Who was this Joshua ning to feel the lure of the pen.
Wagman? He was reputed to be I would like to publish some-
the father of Yiddish journalism thing again, something lively,
in America. But the age of his fancy. You remember my Tele-
activities was long ago and far graph, don't you. Ah, that was
away. It had been reported in a paper!
one of the Yiddish papers that
"You would like to know how
Wagman was dead, and Tashrak old I am?" said Wagman, con-
wrote a short tribute in his col- tinuing his conversation with
umn. Then Wagman, after many the Yiddish scribes who, by this
years of absence, walked into time, had already conceded that
the Tageblatt offices and stated the man was still alive. "You
that the announcement of his want to know how old I am?
death was another one of Tash- 62. No, 64. You don't want to
rak's good natured jokes.
believe me? Well, then you can
Wagman's return to life was add a few years more. You can
like the Awakening of a new write that I am 70. But no more
Rip Van Winkle. He saw before than that, no, not a single year
him a changed world and could more." He directed a threaten-
hardly recognize his former sur- ing motion toward Tashrak, or
roundings. Where, o where. Mr. Zevin.
were the people and the scenes
"Ya, kinder," he , continued,
of 20 years before when Wag- "when I noticed in Chicago that
man's little weekly Telegraph you here in New York are issu-
was the most popular Yiddish ing so many papers and are
paper of the time and was read bringing out new and humorousg
by everybody in the Jewish journals such as 'Der Kibbetzer,'
quarter? Even the site where `Der Beitch,' and others, I was
his little paper was published overcome with a desire to come
on East BrOadway had disap- here and do something myself.
peared. And in its place stood Ah, my Telegraph . . . How I
Seward Park. Everything had would love to revive my Tele-
changed. A dozen or more Yid- graph. I must get to work again
dish publications had since and recover my lost laurels," he
sprung up, a number of these said fervently. "I must get to
most powerful and prosperous. work again." .
Wagman had disappeared,
But the excitement of seeing
whereto, no one knew. When the scenes which reminded him
it was reported in the Yid- of long ago almost exhausted
dish press that Wagman had the old man. Feeling that he
passed away, only a few words
taxing his feeble body, he sat
were offered in memory of
down and his ardour subsided.
"the father of Yiddish Yellow Even the incorrigible humorist
Journalism." Then, one day, of the Yiddish daily turned
he suddenly appeared on the away with a sigh.
scene. Those who recognized
him could not believe their
eyes.
"I am here, I am still alive,"
said the little man, as he en-
tered the offices of the Tage-
blatt. "Shreckt sich nit, kinder,
Ich been noch nit geshtorben.
(Don't be afraid, children, I am
A First for Religion
Three unique record albums
of religious history have just
been released by Candle Re-
cords. The albums called "Ten
Holy Days", cover in narration
and song the story of ten holy
days in the Jewish, Protestant
and Catholic faiths.
The high fidelity records are
said to mark a first in religious
history.
Approval of the album on
Jewish holy days was registered
by the Union of American Heb-
rew Congregations, the Union
of Orthodox Jewish Congrega-
tions and The Synagogue Coun-
cil of America. The other two
publications have been ap-
proved by both Protestant and
Catholic church groups.
Lryics and music of each re-
cord are by Gerald Marks. Music
is under direction of Howard
Bar 1 o w, with narration and
singing by Ray Middleton
against a background of organ
music.
The records are available
from Hammond organ dealers.
TEL AVIV, (JTA) — Hun-
dreds of Hungarian-born Jews
met here to commemorate the
first anniversary of the assas-
sination of Dr. Rudolph Kast-
ner, central figure in a two-
year controversy involving
charges that he had collabo-
rated with the Nazis during
World War II.
Giora Josephthal, general
secretary of the Mapai Party
of which Dr. Kastner was a
member, told the assembly that
Dr. Kastner, who was post-
humously cleared by the Israel
Supreme Court of charges of
collusion with the Nazis when
he arranged for the emigra-
tion of more than 600 Jews
from Nazi-occupied Hungary,
was a "symbol of Jewish mar-
tyrdom." He said that Dr. Kast-
ner, unlike other leaders who
either withdrew seeing no hope
for survival or found refuge
for themselves alone, decided
to remain and struggle to save
Hungarian Jews.
Josephthal stressed that the
Mapai movement supported
Dr. Kastner and that the as-
Labor of Love
The first French-
Hebrew prayerbook
in Braille, consist-
ing of five lar g e
Braille volumes, is
exhibited her e to
Edouard Morot-Sir,
cultural counselor
of the French Em-
bassy, by Mrs. Louis
J. Bieber, president
of the Jewish
Braille Institute of
America. The
Braille prayerbook,
transcribed by Mrs.
Sylvan Rosoff of
Boston, was pro-
duced free of
charge by the Jew-
ish Braille Institute for a blind woman of Paris, France, to en-
able her to take part in religious services with sighted members
of her synagogue.
Honored in Israel
sassins' bullets were actually
directed against the movement.
Dr. Kastner was shot and
killed March 3, 1957, as he was
returning home from his work
as editor of a local Hungarian
language daily. Three suspected
terrorists were convicted last
January 7 of intentional mur-
der in the slaying.
Dr. Nahum Goldmann, world
Jewish leader, stressed in a
message to the meeting the
"important task" of Dr. Kast-
ner during the European holo-
caust. Participants in the com-
memorative meeting decided to
establish a committee in Dr.
Kastner's memory by a me-
morial project and by re-
search into Dr. Kastner's ef-
forts to save European Jews.
"Public Committee Investi-
gating the Genocide of the
Jewish People in Europe" made
up mainly of members of the
right-wing Herut party and
scholars like Prof. Joseph
Klausner, Dr. Joseph Schecht-
man and Itzhak Levinson of
South Africa, started a cam-
paign to establish an indepen-
dent worldwide Jewish com-
mittee to investigate the
actions of Jewish leaders dur-
ing the European tragedy.
JDC Distributes 150,000
Items of New Clothing
To Children in Morocco
More than 150,000 items of
new clothing have been dis-
tributed to needy J e wish
youngsters in Morocco by the
Joint Distribution Committee,
it was announced by Moses
A. Leavitt, JDC executive
vice-chairman. The distribution
reached some 33,000 young-
sters ranging in age from 3 to
16, each of whom also re-
ceived a pair of new shoes.
Leavitt said JDC has made
distributions of new clothing
twice each year since 1949,
when it first began operations
in Morocco.
THIS MAN
Howard Fast 'Moses' Novel
to Be Published March 21
NEW YORK (AJP)--Crown
Publishers announces that
"Moses, Prince of Egypt," a
new novel by Howard Fast, will
be published on March 21.
Egyptian Expellees in Brazil
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FOR HIS FAMILY HE ORDERED A
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Children of Jewish immigrants who were expelled from
Egypt, and who were brought to new homes in Brazil by
United Hias Service, the worldwide Jewish migration agency,
are shown as they gathered for a party in Rio de Janeiro.
The gathering was sponsored by Centro Israelita Brasileiro
Bnei Herzl, the Jewish org:nization in Brazil which helps in
the resettlement of immigrants.
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