liewisohn's 'Jewish. Heritage',
litazari", Splendid Story of Man's Progress
Hamberger's 'Judaism', Ruth Itubin's 'Treasury Through Automation Told by Hirsch
Mark Twain once listened ner in which poverty is being de-
of Jewish. Folksong' New Schocken Paperbacks
while a sea captain complained feated by experiments leading to
A veritable treasure of Jewish
classics is included in the new
series of paperbacks issued by
Schocken Books, Inc. (67 Park,
NY 16).
Four numbers are especially
noteworthy — one in large for-
mat and the others in the usual
paperback sizes.
\Th
"A Treasury of Jewish Folk-
song" is the large-sized impressive
work. Selected and edited by
Ruth Rubin, with piano settings
by Ruth Post, and drawings by
T. Herzl Rome, this Schocken folio
contains many of the best known
Yiddish songs.
Included are cradle songs,
children's and love tunes, pop-
ular Sabbath and holiday songs;
partisan, labor and Israeli songs
large number in Hebrew as
well as in Yiddish,
"In these songs," Ruth Rubin
explains in her introduction, "we
catch the manner of wit and
humor, dreams and aspirations,
nonsense. jollity and pathos of a
people. In them ring out fresh
and clear the accents of a life
which met with tragic destruction
and is never to be recovered....
The Yiddish love song is a many-
sided thing. It is the naive love
song of a Jewish domestic in Ro-
mania, and the lament of a seam-
stress in Lithuania; the plaintive
chant of a lonely talmudic student
of Galicia, and the cocky song of
a thief of the Warsaw underworld.
It is the gay wedding tune of
White Russia and the Ukraine, and
the lifting song of a Jewish jour-
neyman of Odessa. It embraces
ballads of revolutionaries ... zemi-
rot and niggunim sung at Sabbath
meals . . . songs of Hassidim, Mit-
nagdim, Maskilim, freethinking
Apikorsim; songs of merry-making
badchonim, street singers and the
Yiddish theater."
There is a pronunciation guide
to assist in catching the tunes and
the texts, and explanatory notes
precede each section to make the
selections fully understandable.
A mere reference to some of
the scores of titles in these se-
lections will give the knowledge-
able reader an understanding of
the wealth of songs in this book.
Among them are: "Unter dem
kind's vigele," "Shlof mein kind,"
"Die mame iz gegangen," "Zuntig
—bulbe," "Biztu mit mis broy-
gez?", "Kum Aher, du filozof!",
"Shabes licht un Shabes lompen,"
"Mi y'm.alel?", `Chanuke, 0 Chan-
uke," "Haynt iz Purim," "Yis'm'-
chu adirim,' "Al naharot Bavel,"
The Bimah
\,
—
\-,
Jewish tradition requires that
the "Bimah" (the table on
which the Torah is placed for
reading and from which some of
the prayers are offered) be in
the center of the synagogue.
Basically, this table, which
we call the "Bimah" is repre-
sentative of the altar in the
Temple. The altar and the Aron
Kodesh (the ark of the tablets)
were in two different sections
of the temple. Thus, in the syna-
gogue of today, which is a rep-
lica of the temple, the Altar and
the ark are in two different sec-
tions of the synagogue, i.e. the
ark in the front and the altar
in the center. Furthermore,
there were certain ceremonies
in which the altar used as a
central point around which peo-
ple marched (as on Simchath
Torah with the Torah, and on
Succoth with the Lulav). It thus
had to be centrally located. Also
some claim that the synagogue
service is supposed to come
from within the people and thus
the center of activity should be
in their midst.
TILE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, July 3, 1964
9
"Partizaner lud'," "Shir eres,"
"Gilu haGilim," "Yafim haleylot
biCanaan," etc., etc.
* *
A ready welcome will be given
the reprinting as a paperback of
the late Ludwig Lewisohn's "What
Is This Jewish Heritage?" Orig-
inally published as a Hillel. Book,
this thought-pro-
voking book con-
t a i n s an intro-
duction by Mil-
ton Hindus.
C o mmeneing
with the posed
questions "What
Is a Jew?" and
"Who Is a Jew?",
Lewis ohn dis-
cussed the status
of the Jew in
Lewisohn
America, nation-
alism, Jewish literary concepts.
Discussing the need for a Jew-
ish university, he declared in this
book, which first appeared in 1954:
"The peoples of the sword have
perished'. The people of the spirit
remains ..."
* * *
"The Story of Judaism," by Dr.
Bernard J. Bamberger, originally
published by the Union of Amer-
ican Hebrew Congregations, ap-
pears in its full text in the 470-
page paperback. This comprehen-
sive history of the religion of
Israel focuses attention on the
faith of our people, on religious
institutions and observance.
Prepared by the eminent rab-
binic scholar for the lay reader,
this volume is replete with infor-
mation and guidance, about basic
Jewish religious ideals, the pe-
riod of the Second Temple and
the struggle for religious democ-
racy, the Torah and Rabbinic
Judaism, the period of Golden
Age in medieval Europe, the era
of hope that pre-
ceded the period
of abyss — the
time of Reform,
of the pogroms,
of promised
e mancipation
and the years of
the holoca
and their effects
on Jewry's status ,gzil:
in this country
in Europe and in
Israel today.
Rabbi Bamber-
ger, the distill-
Bamberger
guished Bible scholar, presents a
story of Judaism that is an evalu-
ation of faith and of history. It
is to be rated' among the classics.
* * *
An acknowledged classic is "The
Kuzari," by Judah Halevi, and its
appearance in a paperback issued
by Schocken, as "An Argument
for the Faith of Israel," as the
subtitle reads, is a welcome lit-
erary occurrence.
With an introduction by Henry
Slonimsky, "The Kuzari" ("Kitab
al Khazari") is a study of religion
and of Jewish history, an analysis
of the philosopher's creed, with
references to other faiths (Chris-
tianity and Islam) and expressions
of hopes for Zion redeemed.
Recognized, as Dr. Slonimsky
states in his introductory essay,
as "the greatest poet and one of
the profoundest thinkers Judaism
has had since the closing of the
canon," the works of Judah
Halevy, who was born in 1080,
remain classic today, as they have
been for more than nine centuries.
that sailing ships might one great new attainments are among
day be replaced by steam pow- the many aspects of his fascinat-
er. The captain stubbornly de- ing story.
clared that, regardless of the
Hirsch asserts: "Automation
new machinery, his intention
in itself is neither the cause
was to sail.
nor the cure for our problems.
"Maybe so," replied Mark.
It is merely a tool." He main-
"but when its steamboat time,
tains: "We have a fighting
you steam ."
chance for a fully shared abun-
S. Carl Hirsch uses the above
dance. Poverty could really go
out of style . . . "
as an introduction to one of his
chapters in his illuminating and
His book describes how we are
most descriptive "This is Automa- striving towards a more creative
tion," published by Viking Press life and how automation can serve
625 Madison, NY 22).
that purpose even if it reduces
Splendidly illustrated by Anthony labor. His "This Is Automation" is
Ravielli, the Hirsch hook explains a well written account of man's
the evolution of automation. .It progress in the direction of aiding
goes into every detail — describing rather than hindering it.
the development of computers,
starting with the use of the abacus
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velopments, the wheels of change,
chairman of the Israel Bond Or-
the aim to attain speed, the man-
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