Melech Epstein's 'Profiles of Eleven'
Biographies Enhance U.S. Jewish History
Zangtvill's 'King of the Schnorrers'
Skilfully Recreated in 'Comic Spirit'
Grobstock thereby abandons the
In Giovanni Boccaccio and in
on only one occasion, Epstein
The devotions to labor and to Israel Zangwill, in Thomas Mann, right to his own clothes: once
records, did he refer to his Jewish- unionism of several of the per- Charles Dickens and Henry Field- having parted with the first batch,
Menasseh begins to claim all his
ing, there are
ness.
sonalities described in the Epstein
attire when Grobstock is to dis-
Morris Hillquit (Hillkowitch) book seemed to have led them comic elements
pose of it, and from that point
that
provide
was another of the great socialist
on Grobstock must not soil the
far
from
Jewish
interests,
and
in
bases
f
o
r
gen-
leaders, a distinguished lawyer,
clothes that of right now belong to
a candidate for office - unsuccess- some instances in an animosity uine humor in
Menasseh.
fully — on the socialist ticket. He, and antagonism to Jews, Judaism literature.
Then there is Yankele, who
Bernard
L.
too, had little of Jewishness in and Jewish values.
bids for the hand of Menasseh's
Schilling, in
him. "But while he did not identify
Meyer London was among the "The Comic
daughter and must prove that
himself as a Jew, he was a Jew
he
can support her. And hence-
characters
who
consistently
op-
Spirit,"
pub-
to the Gentiles," Epstein writes,
forth Yankele must prove him-
posed appeals in behalf of Jewish lished by Wayne
and he states in a footnote:
self, Menasseh must turn over
In 1917, when the Balfour State University
"A story went around in socialist rights.
to him a portion of his "terri-
Declaration was issued, it was ap- Press, has made
circles that *at the Socialist Inter- proved by the conventions of a deep study of
tory," the schnorrer must get
national Congress in Stuttgart in Amalgamated Clothing Workers of basic comic fac-
his due rights.
1907 — Hillquit's first congress — America, International Ladies Gar- tors, from Boc-
It is Menasseh the scholar, the
Karl Kautsky, in a private ques- ment Workers and the American caccio to Mann,
possessor of bibkcal and talmudic
tionnaire, asked him about his na- Federation of Labor, and Congress-
and has pro-
knowledge, who quotes Scripture
tionality. Hillquit replied, 'Born in man Landon was asked to sponsor duced
volume Zangwill
for his purpose, who has the up-
* * *
Latvia, now an American citizen.' " a Congressional resolution en- that will a provide
genuine delight per hand over Grobstock.
These are distinguished names,
Vladeck's is another signifi- dorsing the historic declaration. for lovers of good literature and
"Menasseh is a brilliantly re-
some very well known, some less cant chapter in biographical London not only refused but, ac- will serve as an excellent guide
solved paradox," Dr. Schilling
known, many of them forgotten literature. His early life, his cording to Epstein, "he added for students of the comic art.
shows and the skillfull schnorrer
today, but in their totality they
services- in this country, his socalist misgivings over 'forcible.
Zangwill's Menasseh, Boccac- is thus evaluated:
represent a group that played a leadership in the New York City annexation."' London infuriated
"The whole becomes an ironic
great role in the labor movement, Council, his activities on the For- Zionists. Prominent men, among cio's far abbot, Micawber, Slip-
some in Zionism, nearly all in ward, are part of a rich life. them Stephen S. Wise, Jacob H. slop, Lady Booby and other commentary on the absurdity of
shaping the destiny of the im-
He began as a Zionist, joined Schiff, Abram I. Elkus, Nathan characters who have become all human arrangements; one be-
migrant society in the first decades
the Bund, in later years sup- Straus, Louis Marshall and Samuel part of literary history are de- comes almost persuaded that Me-
of this century.
ported labor Zionist causes. Untermyer, invaded the East Side lineated by Dr. Schilling (pro- nasseh is right, that his parasitical
fessor of history at the Univer- impudence and refusal to work
Moses (Moshe Rabeinu) was his urging London's
There was Joseph Barondess.
defeat.
3.
sity of Rochester) with great for what he extorts from the sober,
hero. Epstein describes him as
He was a personality to be rec-
* *
reasonable and industrious pedes-
skill.
"the last colorful and engaging
koned with. He was an orator
Equally arrogant and antagonis-
figure brought over by the East-
of note. He was a leader in the
Menasseh is of particular inter- trians who have money anti run
tic to Jewish matters was Morris
ern European emigration."
ranks of labor. Hailing from a
est
to the Jewish reader. He is the world — that this is in fact
Hillquit. Epstein describes Hill-
*
*
Hassidic family, he was a Maskil.
the
late 18th Century London justified and is no more absurd
Benjamin Schlesinger is an- quit's participation in anti-reli- schnorrer culled from Zarigwill's than the actual nature of things."
The pogroms in Russia in the
And in his analysis Dr. Schilling
1900s awakened his Jewish con- other of the very colorful labor gious campaigns and he quotes the "King of the Schnorrers." In Dr.
sciousness and he became a leaders depicted here. He played following from Emma Goldman's Schilling's chapter entitled "Ari- has re-created a Menasseh, and
powerful protagonist of Zion- an important role in unionism and "My Life": •
stocracy and the King of the the other characters in "The King
"When I first came to New Schnorrer," followed up by an of the Schnorrers" sufficiently
while he had opposed Zionism, a
ism. He was an organizer of the
Order Bnai Zion and became a labor union erected a children's York, I used to attend the joint added and equally delightful well to revive greatest interest in
strong supporter of the Yiddish home in his name in Tel Aviv two gatherings of anarchists and chapter "Menasseh's Learning," we the brilliant works of Israel
decades after his death.
socialists, among whom there are introduced to the wealthy Zangwill.
theater.
*. *
Unique among those described were also the two brothers Hil- Joseph Grobstock upon whose gen-
Abraham Cahan, the dynamic is Isaac A. Hourwich — Yitzhok kowitch. One occasion of these erosity Menasseh Bueno Barzillai Hebrew Corner
editor of the Forward, led many Isaac — who was a distinguished days had been particularly Azevedo da Costa draws with such
battles in defense of labor, helped writer who learned and mastered memorable. It was a Yom Kip-
cleverness, that the schnorrer's
formulate labor strategy in the Yiddish late in life, an impassioned pur celebration, held as a pro- role emerges as a profession, as
early years of unionism, guided leader, a man unafraid of con- test against Jewish orthodoxy.
an art, as an indisputable right
Sheikh Ouda Abu Mu'amar is the only
Arab Shikh in Israel who wears the
immigrants towards a life of dign- troversy, a supporter of the Zionist Speeches on free thought, dances of the man who had chosen it as Independence
Medal for his part in the
and
plenty
of
eats
took
the
ity. He became a supporter of the ideal.
a life's calling, as a duty to pursue War of Independence.
* *
place. of the traditional fast and with honor and devotion.
labor Zionist cause after a visit
The conscience of the 50-year-old
Sheikh was the only compass which
in Palestine in the 1920s.
Sidney Hillman's role is equally prayers. Religious Jews resented
directed and guided his life. He served
Menasseh
is
da
Costa.
He
insists
our
desecration
of
their
holiest
his
connections with his brethren as
He had many quarrels. Among significant and this series of bio-
upon
receiving
the
recognized
long as twenty years ago, when his
Day
of
Atonement,
and
their
those he battled with was graphies is enriched by the inclu-
consicence
bade him to tie up his fate
honor due a Sephardi. He looks
the Jews.
S h o l e m A s c h, whose works sion of his story, the description sons came down in strong force down upon Grobstock who is the with
He
was
among
the guides of the first
on Christianity he con- of his activities in labor ranks, in to meet our boys in pitched Ashkenazi, a Tedesco.
trek of the PALMACH to Eilat, and
battle
...While
the
affray
was
during
the
War
of
Independence he was
demned endlessly. He was un- the Democratic party, soon — upon
only Beduin in the Negev who
This charming tale is judged the
friendly to one of the most power- his awakening, due to the Hitler going on in the street, anar-
supplied information of great impor-
by Schilling as Zangwill's cre- tance to the security of forces of
ful men in labor ranks and on the outrages — in Jewish and in pro- chist and socialist orators were
(Israel Defense Force).
holding forth inside the hall,
ation of "a series of episodes TZAHAL
staff of the Forward, Baruch Zionist ranks.
The Sheikh is one of the best sharp-
young
Morris
Hilkowitch
having
shooters
in
the country. With (shots
which
taken
together
become
a
Vladeck. He helped destroy the
One of the most significant of
from) his revolver, he is able to hit a
the floor at that time ..."
minor classic of absurdity."
career of Jacob Gordin. Yet he had all the life stories is that of
box of matches at a distance of 50
meters. He knows that his connection
a rich life and was, in the words Chaim Zhitlowsky. His life was a
But Ab Cahan — as he was
Menasseh is the schnorrer who with the Security Forces of Israel is
of the author of this immensely
a secret in Jordan and Egypt, and
tragic one. He had an unhappy most frequently referred to — had brings with him a younger col- not
those two countries compete with each
important work, "among the great
marriage. He had many strug- greater respect for some tradi- league, Yankele, who invites him- other in the highest cash prize to be
men p:oduced by American gles, was involved in many con- tions. Epstein's account tells of self to the Sabbath meat at Grob- awarded to anyone who succeeds in
bringing him in, alive or dead. There-
Jewry."
flicts. His advocacy of Diaspora Cahan's article, on the first day stock's; who acquires the latter's fore he does not wander in the vicinity
*
*
of the border without arms and a body-
nationalism left an unforgotten of Passover 1911, entitled "In clothes in order not to make a guard.
As the grandfather of Yiddish
memory. He had been at the Honor of Passover and in Honor bad impression in his own rags Translation of Hebrew column, Pub-
by the Brit Ivrit Olamit (World
radical literature, Morris Win-
First World Zionist Congress of America," in which he said it upon Grobstock's austere butler lished
Hebrew Union), with the assistance
chevsky emerges as one of the
of the Memorial Foundation for Jewish
and opposed the movement but was quite right for a socialist to Wilkinson.
(.> Culture.
most int3re:Aing men delineated
supported the cause when the sit down at a seder table and en-
in this work. Steeped in Hebrew
Balfour Declaration was issued. joy it. Cahan's closest friend, M.
!ultu...e, a master also of Rus-
As a territorialist, as a leading Baranov, and o t h e r s attacked
;an, German and English, this Yiddishist, as an advocate of Jew- Cahan for such an attitude. Ep-
Lbw: leader soon became an im-
rights on a national basis stein writes that "the debate over
portant factor in the Yiddish ish
wherever
Jews may be, he created Passover spread to many homes,
press, on the Forward, later the a school of
all his own. shops and cafes."
1
Warheit staff. In his last' years His name is thought
* *
imperishable
in ter-
he returned 'to the old Hebrew
In truth, this reviewer also
i iv
i7 771:1 1717
well, ,...v7th the Tanakh again on
wonders about Melech Epstein
his table, asserting: "I am a
himself. He had followed an anti-
t#
Jew. Once again a Jew . . . I
Zionist line until he turned anti-
am again reading a verse from
-
Communist. But in his book he
the Psalms of King David, a
still speaks of the Balfour Zion
chapter of the Mishna and, oc-
Declaration as if the Zion inser-
- casiona!ly, even a page of the
tion, seldom used, needed em
Talmud . . ."
phasis.
Jacob Gordin, the great drama-
Ti
Melech Epstein's background is
tist, is described by Epstein with
important for an understanding of
skill, with an appreciation of his
this creative work. He was a Marx-
creative ability. The biographer
ist and a strong supporter of Com-
states that Gordin's posthumous in-
munism. The Stalin-Hitler pact
fluence "transcended the limits of
resulted in his break with the
his original American audience
communist idea and he has, since
. . . The student of Jewish com-
1939, propagated anti-Communism.
munal life. . . . will not fail to
His "Profiles of Eleven" is ob-
include Jacob Gordin among the
jective in his approach to the 11
handful of pioneers whose works
men he knew, whose lives he has
had a strong cultural impact on
described with marked skill. His
the largest segment of their fellow
book is a distinct contribution to
Jews."
* * *
Jewish literature and to American
Hillman
Barondess
11pitjl. 70. te2 t? L21ZFJ.
Jewish history.
Meyer London was an interesting
—P.
S.
ritorialist
and
Yiddishist
ideolo-
figure in socialist ranks, the first
roi? nktr.9)
American to be elected to Congress gies. He was pro-Soviet and one THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
as a socialist. He was strictly the reason given for it was his dread
0177
maul'?
Tilr
40—Friday, January 14, 1966
labor leader, the socialist, and of Hitlerisrn.
A collection of biographical
sketches of noted Jewish personal-
ities who were chief among the
Jewish leaders of New York's East
Side since the turn of the century
describes the history of an era
of great significance in the story
of American Jewry.
"Profiles of Eleven" by Melech
Epstein, published by Wayne State
University Press through the Mor-
ris and Emma Schaver Publication
Fund for Jewish Studies, is a series
of biographies of Abraham Cahari,
Joseph Barondess, Sidney Hillman,
Chaim Zhitlowsky, Meyer London,
Jacob Gordin, Morris Hillquit,
Isaac Hourwich, Benjamin Schle-
singer, Morris Winchevsky and
Baruch Charney Vladeck.
The Loyal Sheikh
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