Germanic Heroes Idolized in Film

BY HERBERT G. LUFT

(Copyright, 1965, JTA, Inc.)

HOLLYWOOD — "Morituri,"
produced by Aaron Rosenberg,
with a screen play Daniel Tara-
dash from the German best seller
by Werner Joerg Luedecke, deals
with the exploits of two German
officers aboard a blockade runner
in World War II; one of them,
portrayed by Marlon Brando
claiming to be an anti-Nazi who
is forced by the British to sabo-
tage the mission; the other one
the captain of the boat, a Prus-
sian type (depicted by Yul Bryn-
ner) who fulfills his duty to the
bitter end, though he is not in
accord with the policy of the Hit-
ler regime.
The 20th Century-Fox picture,
now ready for release, recounts
events of the Second World War
in the spirit of the 19th Century,
when high-ranking officers of
European monarchies still were
noble knights in shining armor,
aristocrats who fought a gentle-
man's war and respected the
enemy in defeat—and not con-
centration camp commanders who
destroyed their prey bodily and
polluted the human spirit.
Author Luedecke, whose novel,
"11/Iorituri," will be published in
English coincident with the release
of the film, claims to be partly
Jewish, shipped back to Germany
from his assignments as naval at-
tache in Tokyo, a prisoner on a
blockade runner, to end up in a
punishment battalion on the Rus-
sian front. Not a very likely story!
Bernhard Wicki, born in Aus-
tria to Swiss parents, bows as di-
rector in Hollywood with this pic-
ture.
Producer Aaron Rosenberg, an
All-American football player while
at the University of California,
spent the four war years as an
officer of the U.S. Navy, and has
since produced 41 motion pictures.
Janet Margolin, the only woman
in "Morituri" portrays Esther
Levy, a refugee from Germany re-
captured by the navy of the Third

-

Report Encouragement
of Polish-Jewish Culture

JERUSALEM (JTA)—The Polish
government is encouraging Jewish
culture in Poland because the Jews
in that country are responding to
the facilities available to them,
Dr. M. Bronstein of Wroclaw re-
ported in an address to one of the
sections of the fourth Congress of
Jewish Studies. The Congress,
held on the campus of the Hebrew
University, was being attended by
hundreds of Jewish scholars from
17 countries.
Dr. Bronstein reported that Jew-
ish books and periodicals enjoy
large circulation in Poland, and
that large audiences attend the
Jewiss theater and participate in
other educational and artistic ac-
tivities. On the negative side, how-
ever, he said, is the fact that in-
termarriage plagues the Polish
Jewish community.
In another address, Dr. S. Si-
mon of the Hebrew University
warned of what he called "the
growing dissimilarity" between
Jewish youth in Israel and the
younger Jews in countries outside
Israel.

Posh Department Store
Under Way in Tel Aviv

TEL AVIV—The tallest building
in the Middle East, Shalom Tower,
will house an $8,000,000 depart-
ment store, scheduled to open here
Sept. 9.
The new skyscraper, which cost
$14,000,000, rises 400 feet and will
contain on three of its floors a
40 - department store, Shalom Kol-
Bo. It is air conditioned and has
parking space for 1,500 cars.
British financiers Sir Isaac Wolf-
son and Charles Clore are backing
the store. A director, Mordecai
Mayer, said displays would be
changed weekly and would include
imported goods, chiefly as an in-
centive to local industry to im-
prove standards.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
14—Friday, August 6, 1965

Reich. Miss Margolin had one pic-
ture to her credit when she was
signed for the epic sea yarn. Her
first feature, "David and Lisa,"
had won her the "Best Actress"
award at the San Francisco Film
Festival. The 22-year-old New
Yorker, who starred on Broadway
with Emlyn Williams and Rip Torn
in 'Daughter of Science," has
since appeared in "Bus Riley is
Back in Town" opposite Ann-
Margret and Michael Parks; "The
Eavesdropper," directed by the
Argentinian Torres-Nillson; and
George Stevens' "The Greatest
Story Ever Told," in which she
portrayed Mary of Bethany.
While "Morituri" idolizes the
Germanic heroes of World War
II, 20th Century-Fox's forthcoming
"The Blue Max" goes back to the
time of Emperor Wilhelm II, and
moves up from the testing ground
of the ocean toward the exploits
of the sky.

What Is Yahrzeit?

BY RABBI SAMUEL J. FOX

(Copyright, 1965, JTA, Inc.)

The term "Yahrzeit" is the name
given to the practice of observing
the anniversary of the death of
one's kin every year on the
Hebrew date. This name is said
to have been given by Rabbi
Moshe Mintz, the Rabbinic scholar
in the 15th century. Naturally,
the word being a Yiddish one of
Germanic origin, it would not be
the one used by the Oriental and
Sephardic Jews. They call this
annual date "Annos" or "Nachalah
Meldado."
The Bible (Judges 11:40) tells
us that "the daughters of Israel
went yearly to lament the daugh-
ter of Jepthah the Gileadite four
days in a year." This has been
assumed by some to be the scrip-
tural basis for observing the
anniversary of the death of one's
loved one. In Talmudic times the
practice was to fast every year
on the anniversary of the death
of one's parent. (Nedarim 12a;
Yebamot 122a; Shavuoth 20a).
From one source in the Talmud
(Nedarim 12a) it seems that this
practice was carried out in the
form of a vow which the child
took upon himself. The 13th
century scholar and Martyr, Rabbi
Meir of Rothenberg is quoted as
proclaiming it to be a religious
duty for one to fast annually on
the day that one's father or mother
passed away (Kol Bo).
The Kabbalists maintain that the
soul moves from one plateau in
heaven to a higher plateau in heav-
en on the anniversary of the death.
The Hassidic leader Rabbi Israel
Baal Shem Tov in the 18th
century explained that the Al-
mighty judges the soul of the
deceased on the Yahrzeit. Thus,
like on the Day of Atonement
when all souls are judged to-
gether, the son fasts to bring
honor and express atonement and
repentance for his departed par-
ent.
Rabbi Dov Ber, the 18th Cen-
tury Preacher of Mezritz, ad-
vised his Hassidic followers not
to fast but to make a religious
feast (such as is made when fin-
ishing the study of a tractate of
the Talmud) and to distribute
charity on the day of Yahrzeit,
charity being a source of grace
for the departed soul when it is
offered by the living in his be-
half. From this followed the prac-
tice of having the people who ob-
serve Yahrzeit bring some liquor
and cake to the synagogue on the
day (morning) of the Yahrzeit. It
is there that Torah is generally
studied and eating it there be-
comes a mitzvah in which the son,
who is obligated to fast other-
wise, may partake. The quantity
and nature of the feast was
reduced to just liquor and cake
so that both poor as well as rich
can afford to observe this prac-
tice, which would otherwise be
limited to the affluent if it had
to be a regular feast. The day of
Yahrzeit was considered as plac-
ing the child in a state of mourn-
ing. Therefore Kaddish is recited
and certain pleasures are ab-
stained from, just as they were
in the year of mourning.

Well-Motivated Story Relates to Israel's Rise as State

Thelma Nurenberg, a New York
writer, has traveled extensively
abroad. She has not been in
Israel. Yet, in her story for teen-
agers, "My Cousin, the Arab," pub-
lished by Abelard Schuman, (6
W. 57th, NY), she indicates that
she has read and studied enough
to know many situations in Israel
and therefore to offer an interest-
ing set of incidents that motivate
her narrative.
The tale is based on the activi-
ties and experiences of many ele-
ments—newcomers from Germany,
Americans. a British constable, an
Arab with whom a Jewish girl has
a love affair.

It starts before Israel's state-
hood and therefore is able to
develop a theme which challeng-
es those who first come to a
kibbutz, later materializing in-
to loyalties required by a war

for independence.

erly evaluated in the actions of the
Britisher, and there is, of course,
the Zionist question.
It is a tale well written and de-
serving of readership. One wishes
that the author had already been
in Israel. It would have helped
her a great deal to make her story
even more perfect.

There is valuable dialogue re-
lated to the Arab-Jewish enmities,
and there are the internal prob-
lems which affect both the lives
of those who chose to settle in the
new state as well as statehood it-
self.
Non-Jewish reactions are prop-

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4 Frisco Youths Queried
in Vandalism Rampage

(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News)

SAN FRANCISCO—Four youths
ranging in age from 14 to 19 were
under surveillance Tuesday, sus-
pected of having been the mis-
creants who launched a campaign
of swastika smearings and anti-
Semitic slogan daubing in San
Francisco last weekend, police an-
nounced Tuesday.
The swastikas, accompanied by
the slogan "Kill All Jews" and by
the initials KKK, were found en
the wall of a public school, an
apartment house and on several
mail boxes early Saturday morn-
ing. Police said they found the
youths in possession of the kind of
black paint used in the actions. The
youths are not under arrest but
are being questioned further, ac-
cording to Police Captain John
Hanrahan, head of the Juvenile
Bureau.
Capt. Hanrahan said he was cer-
tain that neither anti-Semitism nor
racial hatred were involved. He ex-
pressed the belief that the youths
had simply gone on a rampage mo-
tivated by an "uncontrolled urge
for mischief." He did not reveal
the names of the suspects.

"All ought to refrain from mar-
riage who cannot avoid abject
poverty for their children; for
poverty is not only a great evil,
but tends to its own increase by
leading to recklessness in mar-
riage•"—Charles Darwin.

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NOTE: THE HEBREW SCHOOL AT BIRNEY PUBLIC SCHOOL IS THE
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