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May 14, 1965 - Image 16

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1965-05-14

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

DO t ■ I'T - FORGET 'T 0 TRY
T+IEM, BAR EL .e MAKE
SUIze -r-HgY

_BEREL, GO BUY some
MATC-HES -1-0 1_164-1 .-1-

$1,600,000 Jewish Center

I TRIED EVE.12.Y ONE 11.17 -4-1E
STORE . -T-1-4EY WERE

LYNN Mass., (JTA) —Plans

were announced here for the con-
struction of a $1,600,000 ultra-
modern North Shore Jewish Com-
munity Center.

ALL GOOD:

I WILL, PAPA!'

HANUICKAIN CANDLES.

Plans $300,000 Synagogue

JACKSON, Miss., (JTA)—Plans
were announced here by Temple
Beth Israel for the construction

of a new building at an estimated
cost of $300,000.

Now

A4

And Thus He Spoke

By NATHAN ZIPRIN

(A Seven Arts Feature)

When Bernard G. Richards and I
meet, we rarely if ever, talk of
personal matters. Our last conver-
sation, however, was centered al-
most entirely on the intimate. Mrs.
Richards had died some weeks be-
fore, and my visit to Mr. Richards
was in the nature of a condolence
call. However, mindful of the Jew-
ish admonition against consoling
a mourner when the pain is still
fresh, I eschewed the theme until
Mr. Richards himself opened it up.
"You know Ziprin," he said, "in
all the years we have known each
other I never talked about per-
sonal matters. Today let us talk
about my wife." Burdened by the
loss, Richards spoke on and I
listened, taking notes on the out-
pouring of a husband in his mo-
ment of greatest grief.
Recalling a recent historical
novel in which the guthor relates
that he was contemplating an an-
cient sculpture in Rome when he
heard a patrician woman say to
him, "Write about me, write about
me," Mr. Richards told this writer
that his wife, Gertrude Gruzinkie
Richards, "was a noted patrician
in all her tastes, her dress, her
home furnishings, her love of art
and nature, books and flowers,
but she never asked anyone to
write about her." Would he per-
mit me to record and publish this
conversation? I asked, and surpris-
ingly the answer was -yes.
Born in Augustian, near Kovno,
Lithuania, Mrs. Richards would
often recount her early exper-
iences in her home town. In mo-
ments of introspection she would
also recall her early life in Amer-
ica, her school days in Newberg-
port, Mass., and her warm rela-
tions with her non-Jewish neigh-
bors. She would often tell that
hers was a rare, painless and joy-
like Americanization.
At times she spoke of writing
her recollections, but other ab-
sorptions and unfortunate spells

* • •

of illness prevented her from mak-
ing- much progress beyond trans-
lating a number of stories from
Yiddish into English.
Deprived of an early and basic
Jewish education, she later —
when fate willed it so
flung

herself with her intense ardor
into the Jewish cause, and made

up for lost time by intense read-
ings of Jewish literature. Her
Zionism sprang not only from
a family association but from an
early friendship with Henrietta
Szold when she was first or-
ganizing Hadassah. Among wom-
en of note, she was favored with
the friendship of Mrs. Solomon

Schechter and Mrs. Israel David-
son. Professor Davidson himself

was a member of an early family
circle that included Dr. Judah
L. Magnes and others.
Despite the obligations of family
life and the task of rearing chil-
dren, Mrs. Richards from the be-
ginning t6ok a vital interest in
the public activities of her hus-
band, following his work as writer
for the general and Jewish press,
and pursuing his duties as sec-
retary of the Jewish Community
(Kehilla) of New York City, as
executive secretary of the Amer-
ican Jewish Congress and still
later as director of the Jewish
Information Bureau.
Mr. Richards spoke with pride
of the courteous attention his wife
received from some of the out-
standing leaders of the Zionist
movement and of the American
Jewish Congress. A woman of wit
and a- brilliant talker, she counted
among her intimate friends such
men as Dr. J. L. Magnes, Louis
Lipsky, Dr. Harry Friedenwald,
E. W. Lewin-Epstein, Mr. and Mrs.
Israel Zangwill, Dr. Issac Green-
berg of Warsaw, Dr. Ben-Zion
Moseson, Dr. Shmaryahu Lewin,
Dr. Nahum Sokolow, Vladimir
Jabotinsky and others.
"In our long life together," Mr.
Richards went on, "we were

Try and Stop Me

By BENNETT CERF

A

BARBER-SHOP customer was squeezing the hand of

his pretty manicurist, who tried to laugh off his per-
sistent request that they dine together that evening. "Okay,"

she conceded finally, "I'll
go with you if my hus-
band consents — but I
warn you, he's a very
jealous man." "Where is
he?" demanded the cus-
tomer. "Can't you sneak
off without his know-
ing?" "Ask him," she an-
swered softly. "He's shav-
ing you."

* * •

On a TV discussion pro-
gram, a professor from Co-
lumbia University's Eng-

lish Department declared
smugly, "Up at Columbia
we see no harm whatever in using the split infinitive."

"Yeah,"
jeered the irreverent Abe Burrows, "and you haven't won a game

all season!"

*
*
*
A recent injudicious State Department official sent an emis-
sary to Paris whose entire knowledge of French had been ac-
quired in a one-year course in school years ago. When the emis-

sary returned, he was asked at Kennedy Airport if he had had
any difficulty with his French in the course of his negotiations.
"Not the slightest," maintained the emissary stoutly—but his
wife added, "Except that the French didn't understand a word

he said."

A Tribute to Mrs. Richards

friends with a number of out-
standing editors, writers, painters
and actors." He spoke with espe-
cial warmth of the painter Manne
Katz "who graciously inscribed to
Mrs. Richards a copy of his book
about his work."
In what could be called a
footnote to history, Mr. Rich-
ards recalled the celebrated ad-
dress in 1921 by Israel Zangwill
when he came to deliver a lec-
ture in this country. Zangwill,
it will be recalled, lashed out
vigorously against the World
Zionist Organization for its mild
and docile attitude toward the
British government, which had
failed to implement the Balfour
Declaration. When Dr. Weiz-
mann came here in 1922 for the
Zionist convention, which was
rocked by the storm of the
Brandeis-Weizmann controversy,
he seemed to have imagined that
Mrs. Richards was not as en-
thusiastic as she had been in
earlier days. At one meeting he
sought to come to an under-
. standing. "Mrs. Richards," he
said, "since Zangwill was here
you don't love me anymore."
"Early or late," Mr. Richards
went on, "Mrs. Richards was the
most ardent and enthusiastic of
all Zionists," adding that his wife
was elated when Israel declared
its independence in 1948, that "she

followed with her usual intense
emotion all the important events
in the state of Israel," and that "it
seems natural and appropriate that
quite a number of her friends
planted trees in her honor in Is-
rael through the Jewish National
Funds."
I have known Mr. Richards for
many years, as a writer, as con-
versationalist and as a Jewish
communal figure, but now he
seemed a man alone. As I was
closing my notebook, he remarked:
"If you are going to write up this

conversation, please make sure
you include this — the birth and

growth of Israel may be described
as the passion of her life, yet even
that intense attachment could not
surpass her devotion and love for

2 SER O V FE UY S
O T UO I

HANK
NEWMA

40111111 ■

PAUL NEWMAN

WE'RE THE DODGE BOYS
THAT SAVE YOU CASHI

PAUL NEWMAN'S

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her children, grandchildren and
great grandchildren whose welfare
always occupied her mind."

211 S. SAGINAW, PONTIAC/LI . 9 6161

.

-

INSTANT FUN AND PROFIT!

MAKE A DATE TO ATTEND

'A. NIGHT OF GAMES

PRIZES ... SURPRISES ... PRIZES

Given by

The Detroit Mr. and Mrs. Group No. 282

CITY OF HOPE

AT THE SHOLEM ALEICHEM INSTITUTE

Nun Does Masters Thesis
on Hebrew Day School

CLEVELAND (JTA)—A Catho-
lic nun has made an intensive
study of a Cleveland Hebrew Day
School for a masters degree in
education from St. John College
of Cleveland.

Sister Mary Michella Plerik de-
clared, in the introduction to her
thesis on "American Jewish Edu-
cation and Its Application to a
Cleveland Hebrew Day School,"
that she hoped the Christian
reader would find in her study an
aid to better understanding of the
Jews.

The 151 - page study deals with
the objectives and program of the
Hebrew Academy of Cleveland.-
with special reference to the He-
brew day school movement. Sister
Mary Michella studied the history,
problems and views of the Cleve-
land Jewish community.
She spent many hours in the li-
brary of the Cleveland Bureau of
Jewish Education and interviewed
officials of the bureau and of the
day school.

New PEC Stock Issue

PEC Israel Economic Corpora-
tion, New York, is offering to the
more than 11,000 holders of its
common stock the right to sub-
scribe at $16 per share for 125,404
additional common shares of no
par value at the rate of one new
share for each eight shares held
of record April 2, 1965. Sharehold-
ers have the right to over-sub-
scribe, subject to allotment. The
minimum subscription is five
shares. The subscription offer will
expire May 28. Goldman, Sachs &
Co., as Dealer Manager of this
non-underwritten offering, has or-
ganized a group of dealers to as-
sist PEC in the solicitation of
subscriptions.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
16—Friday, May 14, 1965

19350 GREENFIELD RD. nr . 7 MILE RD.

SUNDAY, MAY 16, FROM 7:30 P.M.
—FABULOUS DOOR PRIZE—

Refreshments . . . Refreshments

All Proceeds go to City of Hope Hospital for Cancer Research

Tickets at the Door . . . Donation $1.00

or Call LI 8-7744

Make Reservations for

Decoration Day Weekend

AT BEAUTIFUL

LEWISTON LODGE

ON EAST TWIN LAKE

NOW !

Call EL. 7-0761

and Carol will give

you full details

for a fun-packed

week-end.

ALSO, WE'RE HAVING A GIANT FIREWORKS

DISPLAY on the FOURTH - Start the Season Right

LEWISTON LODGE

LEWISTON, MICH. — THREE HOURS FROM DETROIT

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