Late Ben Hecht's Posthumous 'Letters
From Bohonia' Includes Messages
Written by a Number of Notables

Posthumously, we are treated
hitherto unknown, comments on
to an interesting account about
the noted personalities' attitudes
many of the late Ben Hecht's as-
on men and events, make the
sociates as they are revealed in •
brief references to them most
brief sketches by the eminent nov-
interesting.
Some of the incidents are very
clist and play-
exciting—like the one relating to
wright.
the rescue of Fowler from being
fn "Letters
executed as a traitor, or Fowler's
from Bohemia."
reason for becoming a Catholic.
published by
Then there are the stories about
Doubleday, Ben
Bodenheim and MacArthur and
Hecht incorpora-
Mencken.
ted messages'
Each of the men emerges as a
from Sherwood
character in new garb, and the
' Anderson. Gene
letters
add interest to their stories.
, Fowler, Charles
Hecht was known to have feuded
MacArthur, Hen-
with Bodeheim. In the Bodeheim
ry L. Mencken,
sketch as in the others, Hecht tells
George Antheil,
facts brutally, frankly.
George Grosz.
Accompanying the Bodenheim
Maxwell Boden-
section is a poem, "To Israeli Jews
heim. '
and to Gentiles," in which the poet
It was by mere
'rote:
chance that
Hecht had found;
The scapegoats of the centuries
Ben Hecht
have shaped
some of the let-
A slow enduring miracle from
tors.` They could have been book-
marks, or were used for notations
that just happened to be retained. Their spirits, tortured, villified and
And so they were resurrected—
raped,
Note climb, embattled, fused in
and because they are now made
growing gain.
available they are accompanied by
sketches of the correspondents The claim no glory, exaltation,
might.
that add meritoriously to an un•
Plain hearts and brains with
derstanding of their works. their
ordinary faults,
characteristics, their views on life.
Thus, each of the sets of the They move with common Gentiles
seeking light
reproduced, letters is preceded
Against dark ignorances and as-
by a sketch by Hecht. Anecdotes
saults.
And yet, this spread of under-
standing still
Confronts sly hypocrites and
hate-filled groups.
Too often, words of tolerance and

A. 1111

Al no ncetii en ts

Lost Week's Winner of the

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Sept. 2—To Mr. and Mrs. Ray-
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formerly of Oak Park), of Chicago,
a daughter. Margo.

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good will

Hide slinking Gentile poisoners
and their dupes.
Intelligence can never yawn or
flinch.
It must fight hard for progress
'inch by inch.
•
"Letters from Bohemia" keep
the Ben Hecht. name alive. He was
a controversial figure, and admit-
tedly a brilliant writer. The new,
posthumously published, book re-
veals also his sense of humor, his
knowledge of people, his devotion
to many of his friends.

State Fair Honors Go
to Several Area Women

State Fair awards were present-
ed to a number of women in the
community for their handiwork in
the domestic arts.
Mrs. Alma Mark, 2731 Glynn, re-
ceived third place for a cake; and
Ella Gladney, 2925 Calvert. second
place for a patchwork quilt.
Several Oak Park women were
among the winners in the home
arts contest. Mrs. M. M. Gittleman,
21931 Beverly, placed second and
fourth for a sweater set and knit-
ted afghan.
Mrs. Abraham Minowitz, 24060
Roanoke, received second prize for
an oil painting; Mrs. Irving Simons,
21900 Parklawn, placed second for
• a •
a coffee cake; and Mrs. Pat Pan-
Aug. 3—To- Mr. and Mrs. Ben kin, 13390 Woodvale, was second
Kresch, 23550 Church, Oak Park, with a knitted bedspread.
a son, Isaac S. H.

*

Aug. 25—To Mr. and Mrs. Jerold
Hoskow - (Marilyn Frankel), 19351
Evergreen.f a daughter. Laura Gayle.
:k ''*
Aug. 20—To Dr. and Mrs. Mich-
ael Rosenfeld (Sheila Olen). 20125
Snowden, a daughter, Adrea Lynn,.
* a a
Aug. 15—To Mr. and Mrs. Frank
Gold (Loretta Schneider), 13750
Elgin, Oak Park, twin daughters,
Stacey Lynn and Mindy Beth.
a * *
Aug. 13—To Mr. and Mrs. Saul
Leff (Barbara Eisenberg), 21700
Gardner, Oak Park, a son, Ronald
Frank.

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A Debt to Israel

By LYMAN ABBOTT
We Gentiles owe our life to
Israel. It is Israel who has brought
us the message that God is one,
and that God is a just and right-
eous God, and demands righteous-
ness of His children, and demands
nothing else. It is Israel that has
brought us the message that God
is our Father. It is Israel who, in
bringing us the divine law, has
laid the foundation of liberty. It
is Israel who had the first free
institutions the world ever saw.
It is Israel .%.'ho has brought us our
Bible, our prophets, our apostles.
When sometimes our own unchrist-
ian prejudices flame out against
the Jewish people, let us remember
that all that we have and all that
we are we owe, under God, to
what Judaism has given us.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
28—Friday, September 11, 1964

Stravinsky Welcomed Back to U.S.

Noted maestro Igor Stravinsky chats with his representative in
the United States, Lillian Libman, and a representative of the Israel
GoVernment Tourist Office, Laurence J. Pett, at Kennedy Interna-
tional Airport after his return from Israel where he introduced his
"Abraham and Isaac" cantata, specially commissioned for the Israel
Festival of 1964. The 82-year-old composer, whose works are world
renowned, said he dedicated his new work to the people of Israel.

Covering Mirror in the House of Mourning

By RABBI SAMUEL J. FOX
(Copyright, 1964, Jewish Telegraphic
Agency, Inc.)

turned. Thus another symbol was
used to demonstrate that the hu-
man personality was effaced by
Mirrors are covered in a house death, i.e., covering the mirrors
of mourning.
— and for that matter any pictures
A number of reasons are offered in the house which show a human
for this practice. Some contend image, so as to show that a human
that this is done because prayer image has been erased.
services are usually held morning
and evening in a house of mourn-
The Home at Peace
ing and since mirrors are forbidden
He who loves his wife as him-
in a house of worship the same self, who honors her more than
restriction applies to a house of himself. who rears his children in
mourning. In a house of worship the right path, and who marries
mirrors are forbidden because dur-
them off at the proper time of
ing worship one should think of their life, concerning him it is writ-
more than himself while the mir-
ten: "And thou wilt know that thy
ror constantly limits one's vision ,
home is at peace."—The Talmud
to his own image.
(Yebamot, 62b).
It is also claimed that mirrors
are forbidden in a house of mourn-
ing because man's soul is the
image of God. When a person is
alive that image seems visible
and apparent. When death takes
place the image disappears
behind a cloud of infinity. The
Corsets-Brassieres
mirror, being the reflector of the
Expertly Fitted
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indicate that God's image has be-
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. Others maintain that the mir-
rors are covered because a mourner
should not see himself in his mis-
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ery but should rather visualize
himself as well as all humanity as
part of the greater cosmic while
of the eternal process of life.
Authoritative sources claim that
our covering of the mirrors is a
substitute of the original practice
of turning the beds upside down in
a house of mourning. One's bed
was always the symbol of one's
mortal being. Since death effaces
the human personality,. turning
over one's bed in mourning sym-
bolizes this disappearance. The
beds of olden times were made in
such a way as to make it feasible
to turn them over, whereas our
beds are made in such a way that
it is impossible and impractical to
to use them when they are over-

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Jews and Gentiles

By SHOLEM ASCII
From "What I Believe," translated
by Maurice Samuel (Putnam)
Who dares maintain that the
Jewish God is against the Gen-
tiles? Did not the Prophets take
all the nations into the Kingdom
of the Messiah? From first to last
they widened the skirts of the tent
for all peoples, making them equal
with the 'Jews. Egypt and Assyria
were given the same ultimate priv-
ileges as Israel: "In that day shall
Israel be the third with Egypt and
.Assyria, even a blessing in the
midst of the land: whom the Lord
of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed
be Egypt my people, and Assyria
to work of my hands. and Israel
mine inheritance" (Isaiah 19:24-
25). The Prophets speak in the
same spirit to the Gentile and the
Jewish nations. Jonah is sent to
Nineveh, other Prophets to Damas-
cus, with tidings of God. It is not
the heathen nations whom God
would destroy, but their heathen-
dom, "not the sinners shall 'be de-
stroyed, but sin." Amalek is the
arch-enemy, because Amalek is the
symbol of the demonic heathen-
dom in its exremest form. For
abomination has its spokesmen in
heaven, not less than purity; Sam-
ael and Asmodeus, the enemies of
all that is sacred and good. The
enemy of man watches him with a
thousand eyes; he lies in ambush
to avail himself of every oppor-
tunity, no matter how trivial, to
exploit every weakness for his un-
doing. The abomination, which is
heathendom, is locked in a death-
struggle with God, or Judaism; but
it is not a struggle between Gen-
tiles and Jews.

Morris Jaffe, a San Antonio
financier, is behind the move to as-
sure that city representation in the
Texas League .. . There had been
talk that San Antonio would drop
out.

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