THE JEWISH NEWS
45th Anniversary of a Letter
Incorporating the Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951
Member American Association of English—Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Associations, National
Editorial Association
Published every Friday by The JeWish News Publishing Co., 17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit 35,
Mich., VE 8-9364. Subscription $6 a year. Foreign $7.
Second Class Postage Paid At Detroit, Michigan
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
SIDNEY SHMARAK CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ HARVEY ZUCKERBERG
Advertising Manager
Business Manager
City Editor
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the sixth day of Heshvan, 5723, the following Scriptural selections will be
read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Noah. Gen. 6:9-11:32. Prophetical portion, Isaiah 54:1-55:5.
. Licht Benshen. Fri., Nov. 2, 5:07 p.m.
VOL. XLII. No. 10
Page
November 2, 1962
Four
Book Month Dedicated to the Bible
Our great claim to the gratitude of mankind is that we gave to the world the word of
God, the Bible. We have stormed heaven to snatch down this heavenly gift, as the Paitan
(Synagogue Liturgical Poet) puts it. We threw ourselves into the breach, and covered it
with our bodies against every attack. We allowed ourselves to be slain in hundreds
and thousands rather than become unfaithful to it, and we bore witness to its truth, and
watched over its purity in the face of a hostile world. The Bible is our soul, raison
d'etre; and it is just this which the Higher Anti-Semitism, both within and without our
ranks, is seeking to destroy, denying all our claims for the past, and leaving us without
hope for the future. • This intellectual persecution can only be fought with intellectual
weapon, and unless we make an effort to recover our Bible we are irrevocably lost from
both worlds.
Israel, to the Rabbis at least, is not a nation by virtue of race or of certain peculiar
combinations. The brutal Torah-less nationalism promulgated in certain quarters would
have been to them just as hateful as the suicidal Torah-less universalism preached in
other quarters. And if we could imagine for a moment Israel giving up its allegiame to
God, its Torah, and its divine institution, the Rabbis would be the first to sign its death
warrant as a nation.
SOLOMON SCHECHTER
—
The approaching Book Month celebra-
tion takes on a new aspect. Taking into
account the great task undertaken by the
Jewish Publication Society for the revi-
sion of the English translation of the
Holy Scriptures, the annual observance
of Book Month is being dedicated to the
Bible.
It is a significant dedication. The
Bible, as stated so eloquently in the quo-
tation from Dr. Solomon Schechter, is
our great Book; yet it is not known by
our people, many homes do not possess
it, and those who have inherited it from
us often are better acquainted with it
than we are.
Book Month celebrations, which, as in
our community, have begun to draw large
gatherings at public functions, too fre-
quently are devoted to consideration of
best-selling novels, of books that permeate
with sex, of stories that cater to sensation-
seekers. Too little attention is given to
the classics, to noteworthy literary crea-
tions, and practically no interest is shown
in the Bible.
Will there be a change this year, with
the dedication of Book Month to the
Bible?
Perhaps this is a year to mark not
only the beginning of an effort to .steer
Book Month celebrants in the direction
of higher learning, but also to direct all
towards a path of more genuine cultural
aims that we have been able to inspire
until now.
*
*
*
In a poetic assessment of the Spiritual
influences upon mankind, the Hebrew
poet Zalman Shneor sang:
"Where is there a chapel or a shrine
Wherein you do not catch the echo
Of the son of Amram's voice
or Psalms of David's praises?
Where is there the canvas, marble,
or the bronze
Which does not speak the language
of the ancients .. .
And the dreams and visions
of their light . . . ?"
The influence of the Bible upon all
peoples, all faiths, is an acknowledged
factor and Israel Zangwill aptly pointed
out that in comparison with the Bible
"all other literatures seem 'trifles light as
air.' "
If the dedication of a Book Fair to
the Bible will assist in renewing an in-
terest in this scope of Biblical influence,
the purpose of Book Month will have been
doubly justified.
* * *
It may well be that - the next 20 or 30
years will determine our future and our
fate as a people. It is not anti-Semitism
alone that is our enemy. We • must not
make the anti-Semites the scapegoats for
our sins and for the weakening of our
heritage. The real enemy is the lack of
knowledge, the ignorance that has per-
meated Jewish ranks, the abandonment
of the heritage we now seek to strengthen
through such efforts as a revival of in-
terest in books.
•
That is why a traditional Jewish in-
junction—"it is a man's duty to have an
eye to the honor of his books"—must al-
ways carry with it so much weight on
our conscience. That is why there have
always been libraries in Jewish homes
and hardly a household, no matter how
poor, without a book.
A typical admonition on the value of
books is to be found in Musar Ha-Sekhel,
wherein a medieval scholar wrote: "If a
man is in reduced circumstances, and
forced to sell his property, he should
dispose first of his gold and jewelry and
houses and estates, and only at the very
end, when no alternative is left, denude
himself of his library."
*
*
Now we are engaged in another great
effort to revive interest in books, and we
display our cultural wares with an em-
phasis on the Bible. In the process of
observing the Book Fair, we are thereby
emphasizing the value of a great legacy.
During many holocausts our books were
burned, they went through many autos-
da-fe, and as a martyr-rabbi, who went
to his death wrapped in a Scroll of the
Law, said: "The parchment is consumed
by fire, but the characters on it form
themselves together anew in the heavens.
In our time we have no fear of autos-
da-fe, unless they are of our own making.
That is why book events are of such great
value as emphasis on our sacred legacies.
Detroit's Book Fair celebrations have
drawn upon all elements—the novelists
and the classicists, traditionalists as well
as modern authors. Especially during the
Hebrew and Yiddish nights observed dur-
ing our Book Fairs, men of great learn-
ing have helped in the mobilization of
sentiments in support of higher cultural
standards. Other programs have similarly
been of a distinguishing nature in raising
the values of our cultural aspirations.
Another Book Fair opens here tomor-
row, and this year it will continue for
three weeks. The Jewish Community Cen-
ter has the wholehearted cooperation of
the entire community in the sponsorship
of the. Book Fair. It is to be. hoped that
all our communal organizations will give
the. Center • the support it deserves again
to make the Book Month celebration. a
memorable event for Detroit Jewry.
Ephraim Kishon's Hilarious Work:
'Noah's Ark—Tourist Class
Ephraim Kishon is Israel's chief humorist. His feuilletons,
short stories and anecdotes have made him one of the Israelis'
most favorite writers, and readers of his works in translation —
in English and other languages — admire his approach to Israel's
problems.
His first book, "Look Back, Mrs. Lot!", published two years
ago, proved his skill in satire and in poking fun at Israel and
Israelis and incidentally at himself.
In the tradition of "Mrs. Lot," Kishon has written another
book of satirical observations under the title "Noah's Ark —
Tourist Class," published by Atheneum (162 E. 38th, N.Y. 16).
Like the "Lot' story, it is original, full of mirth, at the same time
setting the reader to thinking about the problems of the charac-
ters who are so superbly portrayed by Kishon.
The prefatory explanatory notes are worth quoting. With a
biblical reference and a dialogue, the humorist commences thus:
"Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens,
the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by
two, the male and his female."
"Purser," said the elephant, "why on earth are we crowded
seven to this filthy cabin while you put just two skunks into
No. 11?"
"Sir," answered Japhet, "THEY are not clean."
That's the spirit of Kishonite humor. What makes his writings
outstanding also is his realism. His preface is about a man who,
under his watchful eye, turns to a Kishon article in the newspaper
that publishes Kishon's works. The thoughts that go through
Kison's mind depict the normal man's suspicions. Until that reader
begins to laugh heartily to indicate how much he enjoyed the story,
Kishon was full of suspicion. The man became, in the author's
mind, filthy, ignorant, mean, a money-seeker. Every available
mean terms was applied to him. But when he emerged as a
friend, the attitude suddenly changed. He became a person to be
loved, a great personality. Momentarily, he was transformed from
revulsion to affection.
"And Moses Spake to Goldstein" is a piece that shows how
Kishon is able to draw upon Scriptural themes and apply them to
modern times, drawing upon Ciro and Goshen, and the aspersions
on Zionism, for a good plot.
"For Whom the Dishes Ring" is based on Job's moaning, treats
ironically a Seder invitation, concludes satirically in suspicion.
There is no limit to the variety of themes upon which
Kishon writes, as is indicated also by his "Art Is a Man y-Splend-
ored Thing," which also leans upon Scriptures: "Ye shall make
you no graven image." And in "Jamming the Seligs" he turns'
to modernity by satirizing TV.
He is equally skilfull in dialogue, as is shown in his "What's
in a Melon," and "Catch-as-Cat-Can."
Arab and Druze characters play their roles in his stories. The
Dead Sea Scrolls are not ignored.
Birth and death, pregnancy and love, youth and the - aged
all play their parts in the collection entited. "Noah's Ark
Tourist Class."
• Ephraim Kishon was born in Hungary and has lived in Israel
since 1940. His column "Had Gadia" appears 'in the Israel daily
newspaper Maariv and is syndicated in foreign newspapers. He is
the winner of the 1955 Nordau Prize for Literature and the 1958
Sokolov Prize for Journalism. The founder of the Israel Green
Union Theater, his plays have been perfornied in theaters in
Israel and Other countries. The Kishons live in Tel Aviv. They
have one son.
'
Urich P. Levy s Story
.•
By BORIS SMOLAR
The 10th anniversary of the death of the colorful Commodore
Uriah Phillips Levy has now been marked by the publication of
a book about the 'U.S. Naval Station's Comthodore Levy Chapel
. . . The book, written by Rabbi Samtiel Sobel, wild .served as
Jewish chaplain at the Naval Station since 1959; contains bio-
graphical information on Commodore Levy and historical in-
formation on the chapel .•. - Entitled Love Thy House," the
book points out that Commodore Levy, who . rari away to sea at
the age of 10 to be a cabin boy, and rose to the highest ranks
then possible in the Navy, was responsible for the abolishment
of flogging in the U.S. Navy.