THE JEWISH NEWS

Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951

Member American Association--of English—Jewisb Newspapers, Michigan Press Associations, National
Editorial Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit 35,
VE 8-9364. Subscription $6 a year. Foreign $7.
Second Class Postage Paid At Detroit, Michigan
—

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

SIDNEY SHMARAK CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ HARVEY ZUCKERBERG

Editor and Publisher

Advertising Manager

Business Manager

City Editor

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BUT I CAN NOT SEE
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MLR.

SAUDI A.

IRAQ

Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the twenty-sixth day of Tammuz, 5722, the following Scriptural selections will
Le read in our synagogues:
P•ntat•t•ital portion, Slattot. ?umbers 30:2-36.13. Prophetical portion, Jeremiah 2:4-28; 3-4_

Licht

Vol. XIII — No. 22

Beechen, Friday, July

Page Four

SYRIA
tammicar

27, 7:38 p,m.

July 27, 1962

World Congress and Foundation for Hebrew

When Jewish educators from many
countries in the free world, including a
large delegation from the United States
and a representative group from Detroit.
convene in Jerusalem, Aug. 6-10, at the
third annual World Hebrew Congress,
added emphasis will be placed upon the
importance of advancing Hebrew studies
and of creating a deeper interest in the
study of the language by Jews and non-
Jews throughout the world.
Convened by the Brith Ivrith Olamith
--the World Hebrew Union of which
Ilistadruth Ivrith. the Hebrew movement
in this country, is the American arm—
the conference to be held in Israel will
give due consideration to the cooperative
tasks that are vital as steps for encourag-
ing Hebrew studies.
Brith Ivrith Olamith already has
rendered valuable services in that direc-
tion. The material it prepares for use in
this country—including the fictionalized
Hebrew features, with English transla-
tions. that are used by some English-
Jewish newspapers in English-speaking
countries, this newspaper being among
them—assists those interested in know-
ing the language to learn the idioms that
are used in Israel and to become more
fully acquainted with the tongue's mod-
ernized terms.
The establishment of cultural ex-
change agreements between Israel and
numerous other countries necessitates a
knowledge of Hebrew by those who are
assigned to assure the fulfillment of the
objectives of such exchanges. Non-Jews as
well as Jews therefore are often called
upon to learn Israel's official language.
Several Ambassadors have boasted of
their knowledge of the Hebrew tongue,
and members of their staffs certainly are
under obligation to know Hebrew.
Steps toward the advancement of

Hebrew studies are being taken in other
areas. The formulation of plans for Tar-
buth Foundation projects in this country,
for the advancement of Hebrew culture
and education, embraces projects that
could reach all elements in our popula-

JO'

tion. By undertaking the publication of
Hebrew classics, the initiation of summer
camp programs, the introduction of
Hebrew language courses in high schools
and colleges and the training of teachers,
with the aid of funds now available from
the million-dollar gift to the Tarbuth
Foundation made by Abraham and Jacob
Goodman, the envisioned plans for ex-
tended Hebrew studies have an excellent Posthumous Literary Tribute
chance of attainment.
The manner in which Hebrew has
gained "added significance for the Jews
Isaac Rosenfeld, who died in 1956 at the age of 38, was
of the world" was described by Dr.
Emanuel Neumann, who has been named acknowledged as one of the great literary figures of our times.
numerous essays and reviews, his literary criticisms. were
president of the Tarbuth Foundation. His
awaited as the works of a man of great vision and of deep
He pointed out that "today Hebrew is understanding.
not only the sacred tongue, the language
He has not been forgotten by his co-workers and friends, as
of the Bible and the Prayerbook, but also
is evidenced by the tribute to him contained in "An Age of
the language of a contemporary Hebraic Enormity—Life
and Writing in the Forties and Fifties by Isaac
civilization flowering once more in its Rosenfeld," just issued by World Publishing Co. (2231 W. 110th,

Rosenfeld's Life and Writing

historic setting." Dr. Neumann properly Cleveland 2).
described Hebrew as "the key to the
Containing 50 of Rosenfeld's best essays, "An Age of
religious literature and spiritual treasures Enormity"
was edited, with an interesting introduction, by
of the Jewish people, as well as a vital 1Theodore Solotaroff, and a foreword paying honor to his deceased
cultural link between modern Israel and friend by Saul Bellow.

the Diaspora. In both its aspects,
spiritual and cultural, it- is irreplaceable

and indispensable for creative Jewish
survival."
Those who aspire for higher Hebraic
cultural values will concur with Dr.
Neumann's evaluation of the needs for
the advancement of Hebrew language and
literary studies. All who strive for higher

Jewish educational standards will watch

with keenest interest the deliberations
at the World Hebrew Congress and the
progress of the Tarbuth Foundation.

"Isaac never went very long without laughing," Bellow
writes. "He was a playful man. He loved hoaxes, mimicry,
parody, and surrealist poems. He was a marvelous- clown .
He invented Yiddish proletarian poems, he did a translation
of Eliot's `Prufrock,' a startling X-ray of those hallowed bones
which bring Anglo-Saxons and Jews together in surrealistic
Yiddish unity, a masterpiece of irreverence. With Isaac, the
gravest, the most characteristic, the most perfect strokes took
a comic slant. In his story 'King Solomon,' the magnificence
of Jerusalem mingles raggedly with the dinginess of the Lower
East Side. The great king, also mortal and slovenly, sits in his
undershirt. He fondles children in the park. They sit en his
knees and smudge his glasses with their thumbprints."

Evaluating Rosenfeld's life, and works, Solotaroff, in the
illuminating introduction, in which he reviews Rosenfeld writings,
declares: "What 'Isaac' did for his friends, these pieces will
continue to do for his readers: their humanity touches the spirit,
restores us to our better selves, and makes us happy."
Nasser's new ally, all point to dangers
Rosenfeld's pieces in this book are about many books, world
that are not Israel's alone, but those events,
authors and statesmen; about the concentration camps
of the.entire free world.
and the Nazi scourge, about certain Jewish values that touched
In his interview with American edi- him deeply.

Dangers Grave--Washingtonians Slumber

State Department assurances that
there are no changes in U.S. policies
toward Israel, aimed at pacifying those
who fear an attempt on the part of Nasser
to destroy the young Jewish State with tors, Khrushchev branded the United
One of Rosenfeld's best known comments, on the Jewish
weapons that are being purchased by
Nations as a tool of the U.S. State Depart. writer, reproduced in this book, made much of "alienation." He
Egypt from Russia, financed by our for- ment, and he hinted at the same time wrote in 1944:
eign aid program, are so unrealistic that
that small nations will be banding
"It is one thing to consider the Jewish writer's social
one is compelled to wonder whether of-
together to put an end to such domination. equipment, and quite another to regard his actual position in
ficials in Washington are aware of the
What hope can one see in the United society. As a member of an internationally insecure group he
grave dangers that face the entire Middle
Nations, under such circumstances, even has grown personally acquainted with some of the fundamental
East.
with the appeasing attitude of the U.S. themes of insecurity that run through modern literature. He
delegates to the world organization, when is a specialist in alienation (the one international banking
Egypt's President Nasser has not
a group of Nasser cohorts bands together system the Jews actually control). Alienation puts him in touch
tempered his angry outbursts aimed at
with the aim of destroying one of the with his own past traditions, the history of the Diaspora; with
Israel. Upon welcoming the Algerians
the present predicament of almost all intellectuals and, for all ,
members of that international movement? one
to the Arab fold, Nasser spoke of the
knows, with the future conditions of civilized humanity.
are
Whatever
menacing
elements
impending "downfall of another base for
Today nearly all sensibility—thought, creation, perception—
be
arising on the horizon could easily
imperialism—and I mean Israel." In an
is in exile, alienated from the society in which it barely managed
interview he gave to the Sunday Times of .dispelled—providing the d e m o.c r a tic to stay alive.
London, Nasser again spoke of "the unac- nations were to act pragmatically, firmly,
"But alienation from society . . . is not a condition for
ceptable position of Israel" and declared: with the aim of preventing genocide,; But the Jews' re-entrance into the world that has rejected. him.
"One day the account will have to be as long as eyes and ears are shut to the But persecutiois may lead him, as it has in the past, to a further
threats of one member nation to destroy effort to envisage the good society. No man suffers ininstice
settled, and in full."
another, the situation grows more seri- without learning, vaguely but surely, what justice is. The desire
Under such circumstances, with all ously grave.
for justice, once it passes beyond revenge, becomes the deepest
guns aimed at Israel, it is puzzling to hear
motive for social change. Out of their recent sufferings one
Israel may be well prepared to meet may expect Jewish writers to snake certain inevitable moral
our spokesmen in Washington acting
so tranquilly as if the entire Middle East a minor attack. It is doubtful whether discoveries. These discoveries, enough to indict the world, may
problem were not one of a boiling caul- this small nation, with all its intelligence also be crucial to its salvation."
Rosenfeld's "Adam and Eve on Delancey Street" is a gem.
dron but of an amateurish high school
and skill, can withstand an attack that
The Jewish food idiosyncracies and kashruth come under humor-
debate.
might be condoned by the USSR and to ous scrutiny here. Propagators of the interfaith brotherhood idea
The frightful developments in Algeria,- which the U.S.A. directs a slumbering will find much food for thought in the article--`Terror Beyond
the manner in which Israel's good will eye. Not only Israel, but the UN, the Evil," a commentary on the Polish-Jewish tragedy. But there is
for thought in many of the 50 essays in this book. That's
and friendship have been shelved and the free nations of the world and the demo- food
what makes "An Age of Enormity" superb as a tribute to Isaac
Israelis' medical aid rejected, the arro- cratic ideals are in danger. But Washing- Rosenfeld and as a presentation of great writing by a brilliant
author.
gantly anti-Israel _position taken by tonians are slumbering!

