THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS—Friday, March 13, 1959-32
Sholem Aleichem
Continued from Page 1
and down. And papa, gathering his "commonwealth" or his
"gang" (as he calls us) around him, reads his latest work
to us, to his children — his first audience and his ,first
critics. He is a marvellous reader. His face glows as if
touched with divine grace. And there is such a wealth of
stories! He writes them with such ease. "Come on, children!"
On father's desk, in his study, there are many curious
things. A quaint cigarette container, shaped like a casket,
with an intricate lock. Only father knows how to open it,
no one else. It is a fascinating secret. Then there is the
famous miniature bicycle — famous because everyone who
comes to see Papa seems driven by a compulsion to pick it
up. And papa, his eyes laughing, quietly takes it out of the
visitor's hands and puts it back on the desk.
People come in all the time. A variety of types. Father
enjoys listening to them; he prefers listening to talking.
"Yes, and then what? Nu-nu?"
His eyes sometimes seem to make fun of the caller.
Probably he is pulling his leg. How naturally he does it!
He is an excellent actor. If he hadn't been a writer he might
have become an actor.
When the caller has left, Father makes us laugh mimick-
ing him. We all delight in making fun of people: Father
likes us to be gay, he wants laughter in the house.Yet once,
fumbling with the secret lock of the quaint cigarette box,
he said to a caller, unaware of my presence in the room:
"Couldn't one borrow twenty-five roubles from you?"
Father's clothes are always neat. trim, indiVidual. Dap-
per, that's what he is. Those wonderful cuff links! The
velvet waist-coat with the special little buttons! He likes
bartering things. Exchanging an exquisite locket for a rare
golden _chain. But most of all he enjoys giving. Whenever we
need money we turn to Father. Throughout his life he re-
mained a perfect gentleman in money .matters. Once upon
a time Father had been wealthy but he had been too prodigal
of his money, giving it away right and left, with an open
hand. We have no memory of that time; to us it is one of
those fairy tales of early childhood.
*
*
*
Every summer we move to Boyarka (Boibrik) to a sum-
mer cottage in the midst of pine woods. We swing idly in
our hammocks, we take long walks with Father. Every -
summer an elderly Jew turns up in his cart drawn by a
small horse. His name is Tevye. "Tevye the Milkman". He
supplies us with butter and cheese. Father enjoys so much
chatting with him. They talk and talk and talk and seem
unable to stop. We are waiting for Father to join us for a
walk in the woods, yet still they are standing there and
talking. What do they have to talk so much about?
"Come along, papulia!" we drag him away. "Come on!"
*
Father is passionately fond of nature. Every summer,
with the same fresh wonder and fervor, he delights in the
country air, the pine woods, the song of birds.
It is early morning at Boyarka. Father is standing in
the garden. His small, thin figure seems lost midst the pine
trees. His long, light-chestnut colored • hair is ruffled by a
gentle breeze. His blue eyes have a faraway look and gaze
into space. In his hands he holds a slice of bread. Birds
come flying down from everywhere and pick the crumbs
out of- his hand.
This picture is imprinted on my memory forever.
*
*
*
We leave our native Kiev and emigrate in 1905, after a
pogrom against the Jews. We leave Russiaand become emi-
grants. With a large family, with six children, without money,
we emigrate abroad.
Childhood is over.
*
*
*
The 13th of May, 1916.
In Odessa it is spring. The acacias are in bloom. The
air is sweet and fragrant. I step out on the porch. The white
acacia blossoms hang down so low I can touch them with my
hand.
A telegram from New York. Papa, with family, is in
New York. Three words in a foreign tongue:
"Papa very sick."
The great Hebrew poet, Malik ; receives a telegram at
the same time:
"Sholem Aleichem is dead."
The thirteenth of May, 1916.
*
*
*
Eight days after Father's death. There is a rather run-
down summer colony in the neighborhood of Odessa. Small
cottages, covered with straw, a bit like Ukrainian peasants'
huts. A garden.
One cottage is occupied by the Bialiks. We live in the
one next door. I am alone. My husband, Dr. Kaufman, is
not yet back from the city. My little daughter is playing by
my side. I am sitting on the porch grieving for Father. I
think of my mother, who had given him her entire life and
love — how is she taking it? I think of my sisters. Of my
little brothers. I weep.
Bialik appears in the distance. He has just returned
from the city. He waves a newspaper from afar.
"Lala! The testament! Sholem Aleichem's testament!"
There on the porch we bend together over the paper and
read for the first time my father's testament.
"When I am dead, let me be buried not among the rich,
but among the working people and common folk .. ."
Again I am alone. I sit crying. No, I am not alone.
On the porch opposite mine Bialik is sobbing, bending his
bald head down to the wooden parapet.
The sun is setting. Our garden grows dark. I sit crying
and think: Dead? Can it be that I shall never see him again?
And suddenly I see him. He is standing there in the
garden. His long, light-chestnut hair ruffled by the breeze,
his blue eyes gazing far into the distance, he is holding a
slice of bread in his hand, throwing the crumbs to the birds.
"Papulia!" I cried and rushed towards him "Papulia!"
4.4.
World Jewish Affairs Feature)
Lania to Address!
Allied Campaign
Building Division
The real estate and building
division of the 1959 Allied Jew-
ish Campaign will hold its ninth
annual fund-raising dinner at
7 p.m., Wednesday at the Hen-
rose Hot e 1.
Irving Rose:
and Richard
Sloan are din-
ner chairmen.
A. Alfred
Taubman and ,
Arthur How-
ard are divi-:
sion chairmen.
Leo Lania
veteran for-
eign corre-
spondent, who;;;
recently re
turned f r om
an extended
visit to Eu-
rope and the Leo Lania
Middle East, will be guest
speaker.
Lania, a survivor of two
wars; three revolutions and four
concentration camps, completed
a six-month roving assignment
covering the cold war, west and
east of the Iron Curtain. His
assignment took him into the
Soviet orbit, the turmoil-ridden
Moslem countries and Israel.
He was the last known news-
paper man to interview Czech
President Benes. His newest
book, "The Foreign Minister,"
describing the Communist coup
in Czechoslovakia, has received
wide - critical acclaim and stage
rights to the work have been
acquired by the Theater Guild.
Lariia was one of the first
newspapermen ever to inter-
view, and for 10 days actually
live with Adolf Hitler, in 1923,
as related in his book "Hitler:
"The Grave Digger of Ger-
many." The Nazi dictator later
described Lania as "the most
dangerous enemy 'of the Ger-
man state."
Among his best know works
are "Land of Promise," "The
Darkest Hour," "Today We Are
Brothers" and "Nine Lives of
Europe."
;
Alarming Increase in
Delinquency in Israel
Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News
JERUSALEM — An "alarm-
ing" 38 per cent increase in
juvenile delinquency in Israel
in 1958 was reported Wednes-
day by Behor Shitreet, the
Minister of Police, in submit-
tting his Ministry's budget to
the Knesset.
He said most of the juvenile
crimes involved property and
that offenders under 16 years
of age were responsible for
65 per cent of all house-break-
ing and 40 per cent of all
thefts.
Reporting on the Shatta Jail-
break aftermath, he said that
most of the recommendations
made by an investigations com-
mittee had been implemented.
He said the exception was cre-
ation of a special prison for
infiltrators. Lack -of funds, he
reported, made it impossible
to deVelop such a . prison.
He disclosed a steady propor-
tional decrease of the Israel
Police Force. In 1953 there
were 3.6 policemen for every
1,000 inhabitants. By 1958 the
figure had dipped to 2.8, he
said.
Progressive Party -
Re-Elects Rosen
Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News
TEL AVIV—Pinhas Rosen,
Israel's Minister of Justice, was
unanimously re-elected presi-
dent of the Progressive Party
Wednesday at the closing ses-
sion of the third national con-
vention. Moshe Kol, world di-
rector of Youth Aliyah, was
re-named chairman of the exec-
utive-
Boris Smolar's
'Between You
... and Me'
(Copyright, 1959
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
Mission to Vienna:
Every morning, at dawn, the train from Romania pulls in
at the railway station in Vienna bringing hundreds of Jewish
immigrants en route to Israel. . . . They get off the train in
gloomy silence, bewildered, forlorn, exhausted after long sleep-
less hours, with their faces telling the tragic story of the eternal
wanderer. . . . Some of them carry their meager bundles with
them, others carry infants while the -other children are clinging
to the skirts of their mothers. . . .' Some of them were quite
well-to-do prior to their departure from Romania, others were
less fortunate. . . . Here, at the Vienna railway station, in the
gray hours of the ending night, they all look like a mass of
people who lost their way and who try to keep themselves to-
gether. . . . When they left Romania they had no idea what
would happen to them when their train reached Vienna; no-
body was permitted by the Romanian authorities to brief them.
. . . All they knew was that they were leaving for Israel and
that their first stop would be in Vienna. . . . Will anyone meet
them upon arriving in Vienna? . • Will anyone arrange for
their further transportation? . • . Will aynone buy them a meal
in Vienna, since they must not take anything of value and are
leaving Romania literally penniless? . . . Their worries are
dissipated after they emerge from the train and find themselves
in the hands of the competent workers of the Jewish Agency
who get up in the early hours of the morning to meet each
train arriving from Romania. . . . A few warm words of care
and sympathy from these Jewish officials, coupled with infor-
mation conveyed to them at the station about their immediate
itinerary, brings tears into the eyes of the arrivals. . . . Tears
for the friends and relatives whom they have left behind, and
tears of joy and gratitude for the hearty welcome with which
they are met. . . . They feel they are now out of the dark and
the unknown and that they are really wanted. . .. Their mood
changes . . . They now know that they are among friends . . .
that care will be taken of them until they reach their destina-
tion—the Land of Israel.
Emigrants' Moods:
They are taken from the train on special busses to
hotels in the city, where heated rooms with fresh beds are all
prepared for them. . . . The warmth of the hotel room spells
rest for their nerves after the cold and long night of sitting up
in the train. . . . They are badly in need of such rest, but they
are also in need of a good hot meal. . .. The meal comes first
—they are brought into the restaurant of the hotel and served a
sumptuous hot breakfast, while their bundles — all sorted and
labeled—are being delivered to their rooms. . . . Relaxed by
the warmth and the food, they proceed from the restaurant into
their rooms ready for many hours of rest and much needed
sleep. . . . Now they are beginning to feel more at home. . . .
The gloom disappears from their faces and here and there a
smile can be seen. . . . A smile of hope for a better future. . . .
They are eager to talk now, eager to tell things about them-
selves. . . . They are also eager to ask questions about Israel.
. .. Gently supervised by the Jewish Agency officials, they are
however not 'encouraged to get into long conversations. . . .
They need a rest to be able to continue their journey from
Vienna the next day, or the day after, to Israel, and they are
advised to spend their time resting rather than on emotional
talking. . . . They take this advice like children; they are now
mellow and satisfied and in a mood far different than the one
in which they were only one hour previously when they emerged
from the train into the unknown. . . . Practically all of them
have never been abroad before, and many of them have never
even left the town in Romania in which they were born. . . .
Now Romania is for them a matter of the past; their eyes are
now turned toward Israel.
Taste of Freedom :
They are at the Vienna railway station again after 48 hours
of rest—this time in a mood of happy expectation. . . . Well
supplied by the Jewish Agency with food and a little cash, they
are embarking now on a special train for Naples to sail from
there for Israel. . . . The Jewish Agency director, Shlomo Shamit
—an extremely able but self-effacing man—is at the station to
see them off as he was at the station when they arrived. . . .
This time they are on the train not without supervision. . . .
Jewish Agency officials are escorting them to take care of their
needs all the way till they embark on the ship in Naples. . . .
_e ustrian officials are similarly on the train, escorting them to
the Italian frontier, to be of assistance to them whenever
needed . . . Their brief stay' in Vienna has done a lot of good
for their morale. . . . They now feel like one happy . family,
despite the fact that not all of them come from the same towns
or are of the same intellectual level. . . . They all have now
something in common, and this link will become even stronger
as they continue their voyage. . . . Their trip on the train from
Bucharest to Vienna was a dismal affair, their trip on the train
from Vienna to Naples is a bright affair, and their four days on
the ship on the Mediterranean will be a happy family affair.
. . . . There will 'be on ship Israel government officials and
Jewish Agency officials' registering them for clearance and for
assignment to different settlements in Israel. . . • On the ship,
they will be practically with• one foot already in Israel. . . .
What a difference the week of their travel between Bucharest
and Haifa will make in their lives! . . . For the first time in
many years they' tasted freedom of speech after they reached
Vienna . • They have not known the taste of such free-
dom for many years; some of them never knew what it meant
to express thoughts and feelings freely ... In the pre-war years,
they suffered through a dictatorial anti-Semitic regime under a
king, later under the Nazis and until only a few days ago under
the Communist dictatorship . . . What a relief to be free and to
think as free human beings! . . . What a relief to be en route
to a country where the government is Jewish, the atmosphere
is Jewish, the population is Jewish and where the past life dom-
inated by anti-Semitism can be forgotten as a bad dream.