LETTER BOX A Differing View and a Scholar Takes Hard Look at the Bagel Derivative Editor, The Jewish News: I regret that it becomes neces- sary to enter the arena of scholar- ly controversy. Gross errors have been perpetrated in the article, "The Beloved Bagel Shines on the American Scene," Ben Gallob (JTA), The Jewish News, Detroit, Sept. 17, 1965, p. 13. Specific ref- erence is made to Mr. Gallob's bor- rowing, without citation, the hypo- thesis of philologist Dr. Frederick F. Fletcher. (Compare: "El Al Looks into the Bagel," New York: Bagel Research Center, El Al Is- rael Airline, no date). The work of Gallob, following the earlier research of Fletcher, is obviously half - baked and de- mands more heated scholarly de- bate. Their conjectures ignore the original hypothesis advanced by Moss in a report to the Bagel Re- search Center, Feb. 12, 1965, (per- sonal communication). Upon re- ceipt of a National Science Foun- g3irth2 Announcements Last Week's Winner of the "RASKIN BIG BABY BONUS" MRS. DAVID WEXLER (9 lbs., 15 1/2 oz.) Congratulations on the birth of your daughter and we hope the RASKIN PRODUCTS you received helped make your first week at home easier. RASKIN FOOD CO. Sept. 25 — To Mr. and Mrs. Melvyn Sternfeld (Donna Levine), 3254 Greenfield, Royal Oak, a son, Michael Paul. * * * Sept. 19. — To Mr. and Mrs. Harold W. Peritz (Marilyn Ket- chel of Pontiac), 24449 Rensselaer, Oak Park, a daughter, Julie Sue. * * * To Dr. and Mrs. Martin L. Rosen- baum (Eileen Rose), 8601 W. 10 Mile, Oak Park, an adopted son, Andrew David., Recommended by Physicians RABBI LEO GOLDMAN Expert Mohel Serving Hospitals and Homes LI 1-9769 LI 2-4444 CERTIFIELD EXPERT MOHEL dation grant, which will arrive with the Messiah, I shall assign two doctoral students the task of carrying forth the needed research to demonstrate the validity of my hypothesis. Obviously, these w ill be upper-crust students who will be paid plenty of dough. Fletcher contends that the bagel is related . to the croissant. As any gastronome knows: a croissant is a croissant and a bagel is a bagel. However, in Vienna, the kipfel was reputedly re-named Buegel in honor of the stirrups of the con- quering Jan Sobiesky. Perhaps peo- ple did cling to the stirrups of his horse and, perhaps, some baker renamed the half moon bread as Steigbuegel; however, this reputed etymology falls flat as dough made from infertile yeast. It is easier to pass the camel through the pro- verbial needle's eye than it is to close the circle of the kipfel. If Al commits the grievous er- ror of almost equating the bagel with the Bialistocker pletzel, worse yet, in their illiterate handling of this important area of scholarly in- quiry, they do equate the pletzel with pitah. No Bialy could ever pass the humus b tahini test. Again: pitah is pitah and c. Allow me to offer the Moss hypothesis. My preliminary re- search avoids the pitfalls of pre- vious efforts to track the origin of the bagel. Such blind alleys in- clude: a) the medical hypothesis— the bagel is a doughnut with ar- teriosclerosis; b) the construction trade hypothesis — a cement en- crusted doughnut; c) weapons tech- nology hypothesis—the bagel as a lethal weapon when hurled by an irate wife; and, a host of other fruitless channels of research. In- stead, I offer out of my illiterate command of Hebrew: aigel—circle, circular, round. Hence, b'aigel- in the circle! What is more natural than the linguistic shift which oc- curs in the Galitzianer pronuncia- tion—a good old fashioned baygel. Now that the problem is solved, will someone please pass the gerauchter lachs. Now, that brings up another problem: lachs out of the Indo-European Sanskritic lahk- sha. Sincerely, LEONARD W. MOSS Chairman Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Wayne State University. 12 HERE ARE 101111011r RABBI Israel Goodman FE 4-4149 FE 4-8266 Serving In Hospitals and Homes REV. GOLDMAN L. MARSHALL MOHEL Serving at Homes and. Hospitals DI 1-9909 Rabbi Shaiall Zachariash Mohel Phone: 863-0256 Detroit RABBI CHASKEL GRUBNER SPECIALIZED MOHEL Recommended by Physicians Serving in Hospitals and Homes TU 3-1441 3298 Sturtevant THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 30—Friday, October 1, 1965 1F REASONS WHY MAIL FOR JAMESTOWN, ALA. CAN BE MISSENT. . • * Jamestown, Ark. * Jamestown, Calif. * Jamestown, Colo. * Jamestown, Ind. * Jamestown, Kans. * Jamestown, Ky. * Jamestown, La. * Jamestown, Mich. * Jamestown, Mo. * Jamestown, N. Y. * Jamestown, N. C. * Jamestown, N. Dak. * Jamestown, Ohio * Jamestown, Pa. * Jamestown, R. I. * Jamestown, 5. C. * Jamestown, Tenn. * Jamestovni, Va. When you use- ZIP Code in your address, your corre- spondence is more likely to wind up in the right James- town. ZIP Code adds ac- curacy to your mail. Wiesenfeld Story of Clevelanders' Battles Galore Many exciting things happened in Cleveland in the 1920s and 1930s. There were rabbinic squab- bles, synagogues made changes in their . services, the charitable groups faced many problems and there were controversies over kashruth. Leon Wiesenfeld was the editor of the Jewish Voice Pictorial for a few years during which the bat- tles occurred. Gathering the arti- cles he wrote, collecting them into a brochure of 144 pages, he details them under the title "Jewish Life in Cleveland in the 1920s and 1930s." The booklet was published by Jewish Voice Pictorial, 2821 Mayfield Rd., Cleveland 18. Among the details recorded are numerous personality battles and one wonders what is ac- complished by these "memoirs of a Jewish journalist" since many of the people involved are no longer among the living and the struggles hardly have rele- vance to our time. Nevertheless, as history perhaps some of the details are of value and some interest. For instance, detailing "The Incessant Silver- Goldman-Brockmer Zionist Strug- gle," Wiesenfeld recalls the fight for the Zionist presidency at the convention held in Detroit in 1929. Wiesenfeld tells of having stood always with Dr. Abba Hillel Silver and he praises the late Zionist leader for having founded the Cleveland Zionist Society. The personality issues described in this booklet are, indeed, in- triguing. Wiesenfeld describes also the battles that centered in the Cleveland Bureau of Jewish Edu- cation, and many prominent names are involved. For Clevelanders this booklet will be a source for recalling conditions that probably could not be repeated today. Recalling the anti-Nazi activities, Wiesenfeld tells how Mayor Bur- ton was exploited by the Nazis and inveigled him into recognizing the Nazis, giving them status in the community. Wiesenfeld's role in the battle is given much space, and the book is in this and in many other respects a personal docu- ment of a former active leader's role in his community. A Goldman-Benjamin fight be- tween two rabbis is described and Dr. Solomon Gokdnan is quoted as having found it diffi- cult to remain in Cleveland be- cause of Sliver. Wiesenfeld de- nies it. Rabbi Brockner's name also is dragged into the controversies. There are charges of prejudices, and in the descriptions of the wel- fare fund, the community council and other activities there are de- tails of fights galore. The author also - tells of the "hard life" he had while he was a member of the now defunct Jewish World staff. Wiesenfeld also tells about "per- petual meat scandals" and there are other accounts of fights on many fronts. In a sense, this book is a defense of the author's role in his commun- ity, and Wiesenfeld documents his statements to prove the validity of his role in Cleveland. In his introduction Wiesenfeld explains that he felt the need to give an account of Cleveland's past history because they were years of development. There is a tribute to Wiesenfeld in an introductory essay by M. Z. Frank entitled "The Man and His Town." Business Briefs By Sid Shmarak THE CANDY CONE, newly opened ice cream emporium at 23111 Coolidge in Oak Park, which features ice cream in 48 delicious flavors, is now selling the world famous Barricini Chocolates, in- cluding a fine selection of holiday- packaged chocolates. Catholic Dignitaries Dedicate Hall in Rome in Memory of American Jew grated to the United States at the age of 16. Together with his bro- thers he founded the department stare in Pittsburgh _ , bearing the Kaufmann name. He died in 1955. During his lifetime he do- nated cmil.sleiso.ns of dollars to chari- table au ROME (JTA) — Top-ranking Catholic church dignitaries headed by the Vatican's Secretary of State Cardinal Amleto Ciognani, honored an American Jewish philanthro- pist, the late Henry Kaufmann of Pittsburgh, at ceremonies dedi- cating a hall in his memory at Pro Deo University here, April 29. A bust of Mr. Kaufmann was un- veiled at the ceremonies. Pope Paul VI, in an apostolic brief, warmly praised efforts to- ward "links of brotherhood" by men of study and action from dif- ferent nations and different so- cial and religious backgrounds, and has established an Interna- tional Pro Deo Union to work for these aims. Judge Joseph Proskauer, honor- ary president of the American Jewish Committee, dedicating the Kaufmann Hall, termed as "Anni Mirabili" the year in which the United Nations Charter promoting respect for fundamental human rights was adopted, and last year, when the Ecumenical Council ap- proved in principle the declaration on Jews. The ideals and accom- plishments of Pro Deo, he de- clared, were in these very same directions. Fr. Felix Morlion, president and rector of Pro Deo University, singled out Judge Proskauer as one who — through his contribu- tions to the Declaration of the United Nations on Human Rights and his defense of the first Catho- lic candidate for President of the United States, Al Smith, against bigotry and intolerance—"had prac- ticed equality and justice and certainly can teach equality and justice." Henry Kaufmann, a major figure in American retailing history, was born in Germany in 1860 and emi- German Firms JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israeli of- ficials reported that three major West German firms, AEG, Tele- funken and Siemens, had resumed trade relations with Israel after they renounced the Arab boycott of Israel. Pioneer Education Mor Karman, a 19th Century Hungarian-Jewish e d u c at o r, is credited with pioneering the estab- lishment of that country's first modern secondary school system. FRANK PAUL and his ORCHESTRA "Music at Its Best for Your Guests" EL 7-1799 DriveCarefully A BEAUTIFUL CARPET and FURNITURE CLEANING • All Work Guaranteed • Moth Proofing FREE • 35 Yards — $15 42 Years Experience SAM. SMALTZ 542-4735 EXPECTING OUT OF TOWN GUESTS FOR A WEDDING OR A BAR MITZVAH? Cranbrook House Motel is Conveniently Located at 20500 JAMES COUZENS (8 Mile & Greenfield--Across from Northland) Call 342-3000 For the Finest Accommodations! 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