Moscow's Chief Rabbi Follows Soviet Line on Judais (Continued from Page 1) Are there any Yiddish books? "No." Is there a state Yiddish or Hebrew publishing house? "No." Why not? "There is no need for one." Why was there a need in the 1930s and none now? Rabbi: "I do not know." The visitor recalled the gold- en period of three decades ago. Yiddish books were published in editions of 100,000 copies. In 1930 there were 178 titles total- ing 750,000 copies. A year later, the Yiddish State Publishing House in Kharkov published 746 titles totaling 5,000,000 copies. Yiddish book publishing increased five-fold from 1913 to 1939. Yet today, with the number of Jews in the Soviet Union ap- proximately what it was then, the amount has fallen to zero. Arab Nations Criticized for Refugees' Non-Cooperation UNITED NATIONS, N. Y., (JTA)--After nearly ten years of operation the United Nations 'Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees in the Mid- dle East is still unable to obtain the full cooperation of the Arab "host" governments in whose countries the refugees are main- tained. the UN General Assem- bly was officially informed. The charge was made in the report to the Assembly of the agency's activities during the year ending June 30. It was filed by Dr. John H. Davis, UNWRA director. The Davis report, plus one by UN Secre- tary General Dag Hammarskjold recommending the integration of the Arab refugees into the economies of Arab countries, will be debated by the Assem- Gen. Sarnoff Gets Bnai Brith Medal bly's special Political Commit- tee. Dr. Davis reminded the As- sembly that the mandate of UNWRA expires next June 30. He also stated that thus far UNWRA has received only $23,- 000,000 of the funds pledged to it by member states for 1959. He said that even if the pledged total of $37,300,000 was paid in full, the agency would still have a 1959 deficit of $1,600,000. On the assumption that oper- ations would not be forced to halt next June 30, he submitted a budget for 1960 calling for expenditures of $38,700,000. Engel Among U.S. Leaders to Attend German Parley NEW YORK, (JTA)—Irving M. Engel, honorary president of the American Jewish Com- mittee, left this week for West Germany to participate in a conference in Bad Godesberg, near Bonn, which . will take up —among other issues =- the question of education of. Ger- man youth. The question • was discussed several months ago by Dr. John Slawson. AJC executive . yice president, with a number of _West. German- -government: ed u- .Cationat and:714:01itient:4-4.-elders during a visit to Germany. . Engel _ . is a member of a delegation of 24 leading .Amer- icans who will take part in the fourday—conference with ..West .German leaders on• the future of American-German relations. Included in the delegation are John J. MCCloy, former U. S. -High Commissioner of Germany; _Gov. Robert D. Mey- ner of New - -Jersey; former :U. S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson; Dr. James, Conant, former -U. S. Ambassador to Great Britain: a number of rifenibers. of - both houses and •of the U. S. CongresS, and other prominent: Americans. • Gen. DAVID SARNOFF will receive - the Bnai Brith. Presi- dent's Medal , for "creative genius in higher .commtinica- tions—that of advancing_ knewl- edge _ and understanding tween men and nations." Label A. Katz, Bnai Brith president, will make the 'presentation Nov: 10 at a - $100-a-pers'on diii 'nor in New - York for support of. Bnai -Brith's: varied . national yoUth programs. Classified ads bring fast results! 1 • "Not exactly zero," the rap corrected. "The works of Sh lem Aleichem and a siddur wer recently published." Nothing else? "There is no need." The State. Publishing Corn - pany, however, has announce plans to publish a book of Yid dish folk songs written by Zino . vi Kompanieyetz, a Jewish corn poser. A Russiari-Hebrew dic • tionary is also believed to be i L preparation by a Moscow scien tific institution. - Why is there no Yiddish theater? Before the war there were 10 Yiddish state theaters and two theatrical_ schools. Rabbi: "There is no need. Besides, many today do not speak Yiddish. They would not understand any plays in Yiddish, There is no audience and therefore no demand." Then virtually nothing Yid- dish • is left? No Yiddish i taught, none being published, none being performed? "Perhaps." During the past four years the jubilee issue of Sholem Alei chem's works, 200 pages Ion g and printed in 30,000 copies, was the only book published in Yiddish. During the same period the SoViet Union published 1,700 titles totaling 70,000,000 copies in many languages. In 1948, just before Stalin banned Yiddish and began his intensive drive against the Jews, an official Soviet publication listed 70 Yiddish-language nov- elists and ranked the volume of Yiddish literature third be- hind that of Russia and the Ukraine. Rabbi: "Today our people read Russian. There is little in- terest in Yiddish. There is enough to read. Yiddish is not so important any more." But there are believed to be at least 100 Yiddish writers, poets and dramatists remaining. They have had no opportunity to be published or produced in recent years. Rabbi: "There is no interest." The visitor recalled the third All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers in June. Not once were Yiddish writers or Yiddish lit- erature mentioned. Rabbi Levine remained -silent for a moment. Then the re- turned to his favorite theme. How many books, he asked, were being published in Yiddish in America? i IF YOU TURN THE Dock Workers Put Aside Strike to Unload Esrogim for Sukkot - Direct JTA Teletype Wire to The Jewish News_ NEW YORK—Longshoremen of Local. 1814 in Brook lyn, , - in the midst of an East Coast dock strike; • gave special consideration Tuesday morning to a - cargo of eight cases of Israel esrogim Tuesday aboard the SS Zion of the , Zim lines and unloaded them in time for distribution among American Jews who will use them during the forthcoming •ukkot holiday. _ - : - - • The longshoremen!s action came -in response to -a plea by Gregory Bardacke, executive - director of the - American • Trade Union Council for Histadrut. - . When Bardacke brought to-the attention of the: leader of the striking longshoremen the fact that the perishable goods are for religious use and • their delayed .unloading would cause great financial losses to the Israel farm workers, he responded readily and the esrogim were quickly unloaded and sped to the retailers of Jewish religious articles throughout the country. Ike's New Year Message in Bnai Brith Archives WASHINGTON — President hibil hall of the Bnai Brith Eisenhower this week for- here, which has among its his- warded to Bnai Brith the orig- torical display the originals inal, signed copy of his mes- of other messages and .corres- sage of greeting to American pondence that relate to Jewish Jews on the High Holy Days. affairs and were signed by It will be placed in the ex- American presidents. People Are Saying .. . ,,,-5----,, - ..: