1958—THE DETROIT JEWIS H NEWS-1 6

Friday, April

Howard Fast's 'Moses' Falls
Short in Historical Values,
Is Excellent As a Novel

In spite of the excellent ad-
vance comments on "Moses,
Prince of Egypt," by Howard
Fast, published by Crown (419
4th, N.Y. 16), this reviewer
was a bit disillusioned by the
able and eminent author's ap-
proach to his subject.
Dr. Israel Goldstein, Louis
Untermeyer, Dr. Reinhold Nie-
buhr and others sent gl3wing
messages on the appearance of
Fast's new book. We agree that
it is a good novel, but we
doubt its historical merits. To
Untermeyer, at least, we can
say that we still prefer his
novel on "Moses" which we
reviewed in 1928; and to the
theologians who are so thrilled
with the Fast interpretation we
say that we are puzzled by
their theological enthusiasm.
Fast, in spite of his having
been held in disfavor because
of his blunders when he asso-
ciated with the Communists,
always was one of our favorite
authors. He is so powerful a
proponent of the ideal of free-
dom—especially as represented
in '?is "My Glorious Brothers,"
"Spartacus," "C i t i z en Tom
Paine" and a number of his
other books—that we had ex-
pected something unique in his
portrayal of Moses as the
prince of Egypt. He has fallen
short of the historical mark.
Don't mistake it: Fast's new
book is a very good novel. It
is excellent writing and is
worth reading. But it is so
lacking of the concepts of the
Moses saga, as presented in
legend and in history, that it
is subject to more-than-usual
scrutiny.
The Fast approach can be
defended from one point of
view: it deals only with the
Moses of childhood and very
early manhood. Therefore it is
possible to deviate a great
deal. When Fast writes the
story of Moses the Liberator
and the Law-Giver, he no doubt
will deal with the Biblical
facts and with the better
known legendary stories about
the great prophet.
The current book is more
the story of Egypt, its internal
situations and squabbles, its
court intrigues, its immorality,
the manner in which the
people were held in subjec-
tion, the domination of the
priests and the royalty.
In his interpretation, Fast,
as in his earlier works, has
occasion to introduce Moses as
the rebel against tyranny and
slavery.
MOS2S' relations to Pharaoh's
sister — it is Enekhas-Amon,
Ramses II's sister who is pre-
sented as the woman who
claimed Moses as her son, and
it is contended that Ramses
was the royal father; the
rumors about Moses' birth
which inspire feuds between
him and his royal "brothers,"
the parts played by the witch
doctors and the priests—these
and many more incidents create
a stirring plot for an interest-
ing novel.
Moses, in the course of his

PASSOVER
GREETINGS

service In the desert where he
was sent as a disciplinary
measure by Ramses, before he
learned his identity as a He-
brew Levite, takes as his slave
Nun (we are to assume that
he is the father of Joshua) and
meets Miriam. There is no
reference, of course, to Joshua,
Nun having come to Moses as
a bachelor slave. Aaron, the
brother of Miriam and Moses,
is not mentioned in the story.
Moses, upon his return to
the court of Ramses, speaks to
the Pharaoh rebelliously. He is
jailed, escapes, and with Nun
he goes into "the Wilderness
of Sinai, where there are no
cities and no roads, where
there is nothing to call the
armies of Ramses, nothing to
conquer, nothing to take." And
the story concludes:
"Then they turned their
faces south.
"'It is good to live, to
breathe the air of morning, and
to think about tomorrow,'
Moses said.
"Nun looked at his com-
panion, and saw that for the
first time since they had
known each other, Moses was
at peade With himself. For the
Prince of Egypt no longer tore
at his heart.
"Side by side, the two
Levites set forth into the Wil-
derness of Sinai."
In the introductory note,
Fast makes this comment re-
garding the name Moses, who,
throughout the book, is re-
ferred to as "the prince with
the half-name":
"Most scholars in the field
seem to agree that Moses is an
Egyptian word, meaning a
child is given. It should be
remembered that Moses is an
Anglicization; in Hebrew the
name is pronounced Mosheh;
in ancient Egyptian the pro-
nunciation of Mose was prob-
ably identical. Just as Mosheh
is Anglicized to Moses, so is
' , e Eqvpt;^n 'has given a
child' most often rendered
Mose, as in Ka-Mose and Thut-
Mose. In order to avoid con-
fusion and to strike a specific
chord in my readers, have
spelled the word Moses in all
cases."
As we have said, Howard
Fast's "Moses, P r i n c e of
Egypt" is a well-written novel,
well-worth reading. We only
take exception to a lack of
historicity in it. But we cer-
tainly recommend it highly as
a very good novel. —P.S.

Anne Frank Haven in Israel
Dedicated by Ben-Zvi

JERUSALEM, (JTA)—Israel
President Itzhak Ben-Zvi placed
a Torah in the Ark at the syna-
gogue dedication and corner-
stone laying ceremonies for the
Anne Frank Haven at Ramat
Hadassah, the Youth Aliyah
reception center.
Later, the President and Mrs.
Ben-Zvi lunched with the 300
boys and girls at the haven.
The synagogue at the center
was built at a cost of $60,000.
The center is one of a score
of Youth Aliyah projects. The
funds for the synagogue were
raised in the United States by
Hadassah.

Choose Local Delegates
to Habonim Seminar

Meir Hurwitz and David Fein-
berg, both students at Wayne
State University, will represent
Detroit Habonim at an ideologi-
cal seminar, to be held during
spring vacation at Weiss' Farm,
New Jersey. Representatives
from all major cities in the U.S.
and Canada will attend.
In celebration of Israel's 10th
anniversary this year, local Ha-
bonim members will present a
cantata on May 3, at the Hayim
Greenberg Center. Rehearsals
are being held weekly, under
the direction of Gloria Mathis.

Win -

Camp Israel Offers Free
Week to Essay Winner

BY HENRY LEONARD

A jingle or essay written by
any youngster 7 to 14 may win
him a free week at Camp Israel,
at Toronto, Canada, it is an-
nounced this week by Rabbi
and Mrs. Kurt Weinberg, direc-
tors and head counselors.
Rabbi Weinberg, who is prin-
cipal of the Northwest. branch
of Beth Yehudah Schools, states
that all entries must be re-
ceived by May 28. The subject
is "Why I Want to Go to Camp
Israel," and entries must be
written in 25 words or less.
The camp season begins June
28. For additional information,
call Frances Gluckowsky, camp
registrar, TO. 6-4474.

Geo. Simons
of

"Father, wherefore is this night different from all
other nights . . . and you may have 20 seconds in
which to answer."
Copr. 1957, Leonard Pritikiri

4

Dr. T. Pullman to Speak at Shaarey Zedek YPL

Shaarey Zedek Young People's
League will have Dr. Tracey
Pullman as guest speaker at its
next meeting, 8:30 p.m., Mon-
day, at the congregation social
hall.
Dr. Pullman Is a Unitarian

minister and the Young People's
League of the Unitarian Church
will be the synagogue's guests
for the meeting.
Chairman Carol Lewis invites
all interested persons to attend.

CARPETS
BY
DR OME

Wishes You A
Very Happy
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