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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS — Friday, March 9, 1962
Still Waiting
THE JEWISH NEWS
Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951
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Member American Association of English—Jewisb Newspapers, Michigan Press Associations, National
rdltorial
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Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit 35,
VE 84364. Subscription 0 a year. Foreign $6.
Entered as second class matter Aug. G, 1.942 at Post Office, Detroit. Mich., under act of Congress of
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March 8, 1879.
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
SIDNEY SHMARAK CARM1 M. SLOMOVITZ HARVEY ZUCKERBERG
Advertising Manager
Business Manager
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the fourth day of Adar II, 5722, the following Scriptural selections will be
read in our Zynagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Pekude, Exodus 38:21-40:38. Prophetical portion, I Kings 7:51-8:21.
Licht Benchen, Friday, March 9, 6:13 p.m.
Vol. XLI
No. 2
Page Four
March 9, 1962
Action in Behalf of Soviet Jewry
Maintaining that the United States has
the "legitimate right" to intervene in be-
half of Soviet Jewry because recent man-
ifestations of anti-Semitism in the USSR
are in violation of the United Nations
Charter which guarantees human rights
to all regardless of race, sex, language or
religion, Congressman Leonard Farbstein
has introduced a second resolution calling
for action by our Government against
anti-Jewish discrimination in the Soviet
Union. Congressman Charles Buckley
offered a similar resolution earlier.
These resolutions call for action
through the United Nations. They call for
appropriate means of calling the world's
attention to the indignities imposed upon
Jews in Russia.
While Congressional acts serve to
arouse public interest in the unfortunate
conditions that prevail in the USSR, it is
doubtful whether they can possibly bring
immediate results. The Kremlin has be-
come calloused to public sentiment. The
manner in which the USSR has ignored
protests against many other objectionable
Soviet activities arouses skepticism as to
the possibility of the Russian rulers ever
taking a firm stand in defense of Jewish
religious and cultural rights.
Yet, there have been indications that
the Soviet chieftains • are sensitive to con-
demnation on issues involving anti-Semit-
ism. Discrimination against Jews has come
to be considered vulgar and objectionable,
and the USSR would not willingly and
openly align itself with aiiti-Semites.
While the official organ of the Com-
munist youth in Russia has reported that
Russia will ignore the appeals that have
been made in behalf of the four Vilna
Jews who are under death sentences for
alleged currency violations, it will be in-
teresting to watch the results of the in-
tervention in behalf of the accused by the
Jewish Labor Committee. Will the State
Department act on this appeal, and what
will be the answer to it by Soviet Ambas-
sador Anatole Dobrynin, who has received
a copy of it?
While there is skepticism over the
possibility of getting positive responses to
protests, they have to be made neverthe-
less. Without direct action there can be
no hope that indignities will cease and
the situation of Russian Jewry ameliorat-
ed. That is why both the protests of the
Jewish Labor Committee and other Jew-
ish organizations and the Congressional
resolutions are necessities in the present
crisis facing Soviet Jewry.
'Dramatic Touch in Israel's Development
Two noteworthy community gather-
ings — one under Catholic and another
under Jewish auspices — held here last
week on two respeCtive evenings, mir-
rored the events that led to the creation
and development of the State of Israel
and the pride it provides for the builders
of Zion.
The fact that a great Catholic univer-
sity was host to the Ambassador from Is-
rael, at numerous functions, including a
dignified dinner and a public meeting at
which Israel's able representative, Avra-
ham Harman, outlined Israel's status in
the world today, was one of the most
heartening developments. It was the high
point of perfection in our search for good
will and was proof that there is an in-
crease in Catholic friendship for and co-
operation with the Jewish people. It was
not so long ago when it was believed that
Catholic dogma never would permit rec-
ognition of the emergence of an autono-
mous Jewish state. That fear was proven
erroneous on the day on which Catholic
dignitaries met with Jews and Protestants
to greet Israel's envoy to this country and
thereby to accord Israel the respect that
is due a friendly nation.
But while Israel's Ambassador proved
that, for the world at large, Israel has left
behind it "the dramatic period," we would
be betraying history if there were in-
sistence that "the dramatic period" has
vanished completely from Jewish life.
And it is on this score that Dr. Emanuel
Neumann, one of the world's most dis-
tinguished Zionist leaders, who spoke
here at the annual dinner meeting of the
Zionist Organization of Detroit, on the
night after Ambassador Harman's lecture,
gave credence anew to the historic role
of the Zionist movement — a role that
can never be left behind in forgetfulness.
It is true that for Israel "the dramatic
period" has found a substitute in indus-
trial pursuits, in navigation, in developing
chemical industries, in advancing agri-
culturally, in creating high educational
standards, in launching new ships and in
perfecting aeronautical and nautical en-
deavors. Yet, without the drama that pre-
ceded these vital functions, there could
not have been the immense progress of
which the new State boasts justifiably.
Dr. Neumann's message was a remin-
der that not so long ago there was a
great struggle for statehood and that it
required hurdling over serious obstacles.
Without the Zionist idea, there would
have been only limited goals for those
who were compelled to seek haven from
humiliations in a state of their own.
The new approaches by Zionist lead-
ers like Dr. Neumann are, simultaneously
with their efforts in support of Israel, to
help provide the most effective type of
educational media to assure the best
schooling for our youth and new methods
of reaching their elders through adult
education programs. Dr. Neumann was
primarily responsible for the establish-
ment of the Tarbuth Foundation, which,
with the gift of $1,000,000 made by
Abraham and Jacob Goodman, now • can
look to higher goals for the advancement
of Jewish learning.
Dr. Neumann, himself a noted Heb-
raist and educator, has led in the field
of Jewish learning. In his way, he per-
petuates "the dramatic period" by lending
status to a major goal in Zionism — that
of increasing and enhancing our cultural
values.
Ambassador Harman represents the
creative forces in Israel who are protect-
ing the Israelis' lifebelts by means of
creating a strong economic system for the
Jewish State. Dr. Neumann belongs to the
leadership that seeks high spiritual and
cultural goals for Israel and the Israelis'
kinsmen everywhere. As a combination,'
the Harman-Neumann goal still retains
"the dramatic touch" which should serve
to inspire Jewry everywhere in kinship to
Israel and in loyalty to the great spiritual
heritage 'of our people.
15 Israeli Stories
'A Whole Loaf'
Who are the Israelis? How do they live? What and how do
they think?
Through the short story depicting life in Israel, the Ameri-
can reader can get the best view of the citizen of the new Jewish
State, and the collection of 15 short stories— all but one of
which deal with life in Israel and Israelis — edited by Sholom
J. Kahn, lecturer in the department of English at the Hebrew
University in Jerusalem, published by Vanguard Press (424
Madison, N.Y. 24), under the title "A Whole Loaf," provides
that opportunity.
The book's title is based on the last story in the book,.
Samuel Yosef Agnon's "A Whole Loaf," translated by I. M. Lask.
The editor considered it vital enough to append a special ex-
planatory note on this story, at the end of the book, between
the glossary and the biographical sketches of the story-tellers,
to indicate that Agnon, like Kafka, "seems to think spontane-
ously in symbolic modes," but that "Agnon's debt to rabbinic
legend and commentary often brings him closer to explicit
allegory."
All of the authors of the 15 stories in this collection are
living and active in Israel, except two = the late Moshe
Smilansky and Yisrael Zarchi.
• Other novelists and short story writers whose narratives ap-
pear in this volume are: S. Yizhar, Moshe Shamir, Hayim Hazaz,
Yehuda Yaari, Nathan Shaham, Aharon Meged, Benjamin Tam-
muz, Yaakov Churgin, Yitzhak Shenhar, Yigal Mossinsohn,
Yehoshua Bar-Yosef.
Translators, in addition to Kahn himself, as editor, and Lask,
are: Samuel Katz, S. Ketko, D. Briskman, K. Kaplan, I. Schen,
A. Hodes, D. Saraf, Z. Albert.
The stories are divided into two sections — Wars and In-
dependence and Backgrounds. In the former, the tales deal with
Israel's battles for sovereignty and the struggle for survival.
Included in this group is the charming Yemenite story by Hazaz,
"The Lord Have Mercy!" The second section is composed of
character sketches of Israelis before the war.
Thus, the reader gets an insight into the lives of the
people of Israel, he meets the interesting Yemenites, he learns
about the heroism of those who fought for independence.
One learns about the sabras, the native Israelis, about their
parents and the attitudes of the elders to the youths. And there
is an excellent description of the religious life in the land, of
the spirituality of Jerusalem. -
In addition to his "A Whole Loaf," Agnon is represented
by another tale, "Metamorphosis," a story about a divorce and
the reconciliation of the couple.
The dialect in the Yemenite story by Hazaz is intended to
indicate the difference in the Hebraic speech of the interesting
folk who came from the backward country of Yemen.
"A Whole Loaf" is a collection of tales of delight, which,
while entertaining the reader, also enlighten him about a newly
developed civilization in ancient Land of Israel.
Yeats' Selected Poems
An important essay, "The Poetry of Yeats," evaluating the
Nobel Prize winning poet's works, lends significance to "Selected
Poems of William Butler Yeats," by M. L. Rosenthal, published by
Macmillan.
The discriminating selection of poems included in this paper-
back is in itself the result of an authoritative effort on the part of
a noted scholar. His analysis of the poet's works serves as a guide
for students of Yeats' creative efforts.
Dr. Rosenthal, who is presently associate professor of English
at New York University, formerly taught at Michigan State
University.