Eringration, Hopes

THE JEWISH NEWS

iscorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with issue of July 20, 1951

Member American Association of English—Jewish Newspapers, Michigan Press Association, National Editorial
Association.
Published every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17100 West Seven Mile Road, Detroit, Mich. 48235.
VE 8-9364. Subscription $6 a year. Foreign el.
Second Class Postage Paid at Detroit, Michigan
-----
CHARLOTTE HYAMS
SIDNEY SHMARAK
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
City Editor
Advertising Manager
Business Manager
Editor and Publisher

Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath. the eighteenth day of Tevet, 5727, the following Scriptural selections
be read in our .synagogues
Pentateuchal portion': Ea. 1:1-6:1. Prophetical portion, Is. 27:6-28:13, 29:22-23.

Candle lighting. Friday. Dec. 30, 4:52 p.m.

Vol.. I.. No. 19

Page Four

December 30, 1966

A New Year Filled With Challenges

There are political issues on an immense
scale.
• The year 1967 will need statesmanship
had accumulated would vanish.
more than ever. It will require guidance on
we
are
aware
of
many
On the eve of 1967
many fronts. Above all, it will need national
additional pressures, of scores of problems
may.
that have been .inherited from the past and
Chief among the needs in the coming
which have festered into mountainous ob- months is to attain peace, to end the conflict
stacles to human amities and to the peace in Vietnam. UN Ambassador Arthur Gold-
of the world.
berg has moved on behalf of our govern ,
In spite of all the talk about an end to ment to seek means for a lasting cease-fire.
wars. about a cessation of the East-West If the people of this land will demand it, we
coldness and conflict, the accumulated sus- shall have it. No one is certain of the enemy's
picions and differences continue. attitude or of the intentions of this country's
antagonists, but we must be certain of our -
Now. as we commence another year, we own aims—and these must be to reach accord
are more deeply embroiled in the Far East- as quickly as possible so that there should
ern boiling pots. we are in a war that has be an end to the unpopular war.
not gained popularity, we are unhappily
This and many other issues can and must
Mixed up in a civil war so far away from be solved. It does not mean that 1967 will
our home shores that the American position be a commencement of panaceas. But we
is tragic.
must hope for the introduction in the months
We haven't completely solved the internal ahead of aims consonant with American ideal-
problems. The civil rights issue is not fully ism. May they be attained so that 1967
resolved. There are economic problems. should indeed be a Happy Year!

Every year brings with it challenges and

commences with hopes that the tensions that

Kiesinger's Responsibility to Check Neo-Nazism

West Germany's new chancellor, Kurt numbers will grow, that Germans in increas-
Kiesinger, made a good case in his own ing numbers are accepting the view that the
defense, in his interview with the Jewish Tele- past must not even be spoken of since the

(;eorg

graphic Agency and in his statement to Dr. vast majority of Germans is a young genera-
Nahum Goldmann in which he gave assurance tion that knew not Hitler.
that he would assist in combating the neo-
But there is need for a measure of real-

Nazis. the "enemies of democracy in Ger- ism. It always takes a handful to start a move

m any.'• Nevertheless the mounting evidences ment, as Hitler did, and causes that are rooted
of gains by extremist groups, especially the in hate unfortunately gain adherents rapidly.
NPD, the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party Therefore vigilance is an urgency. and one

which scored triumphs in recent German wonders whether Dr. Goldmann is right in
elections. serve as warning of the need not placing his major hope on the education of

only for extra caution against the spread of the youth in Germany.
this movement but also against the re-emer-
The fact that in the 20 years since the de-
gence of other movements akin to the NPD feat of Nazism the educational processes
that could re-create the Nazi spirit
which should have guided the German youth
Having attended an NPD meeting, the toward a realization of the guilt of their par-

Now in a Large Paperback

'The Modern Hebrew Poem Itself'

When it was first issued as a hard cover book by Holt. Rinehart
and Winston in 1965, "The Modern Hebrew Poem Itself," which was
then reviewed in these columns, was hailed as a classic. It is now

being made available in a large paperback as a Schocken Folio Edi-
tion, by Schocken Books (67 Park, NY16) and it draws attention
once again to the bilingual work — the publication of the Hebrew
poems by 24 distinguished authors, the transliterations and the trans-

lations

in popular

English texts.

This immense work was edited by Stanley Burnshaw, T. Carmi
and Ezra Spicehandler. Each of the 24 poets' works was translated
and commented upon, section by section, by a group of language
experts, in addition to Spicehandler and Carmi. Included in this group
of commentators are Dan Pagis, who edited the works of four of
the poets; Arieh Sachs, who also dealt with four poets' works: Tuvya
Buchner, Robert Alter, David Mirsky, Benjamin Hrushovsky, Abraham
Huss, David Seraph, Arnold Band, Lea Goldberg, Robert Friend,
Harold Schimmel and Dalia Ravikovitch.
The poets whose works are under such serious consideration
in "The Modern Hebrew Poem Itself" are: Chaim Nahman
Bialik, Saul Tchernihovsky, Jacob Fichman, Abraham Ben Yit-
shak, Jacob Steinberg, Uri Zvi Greenberg, Simon Halkin. Abra-
ham Shlonsky, Yoheved Bat - Miriam, Avot Yeshurun, Yonatan
Ratosh, Nathan Alterman, Lea Goldberg, Gabriel Preil, ArctIr
Gilboa, Abba Kovner, Tuvya Ruebner, Haim Gury, Yehuda Ami-
hai, T. Carmi, Ayin Hillel, Dan Pagis, Nathan Sach and Dalia
Ravikovitch.
In his introductory essay, Burnshaw informs the reader that:
This book is addressed to people completely ignorant of Hebrew
who wish to experience some modern poems of this language . . .
Rather than in a translation which gives the reader an experience
in English verse, the Hebrew poem is presented both in Hebrew and
in English transcription and it is accompanied with an extensive

prose commentary."
Nevertheless, even for those who have mastered Hebrew, this

collection, its translations, the commentaries, are of great value in
adding interest to the works of Hebrew poets. The presentation of
noteworthy Hebrew poems with the nekudot, the punctuations; the
biographical sketches, the explanatory commentaries — all add up
London Morning Star's correspondent, Ivor ents were weak and the efforts to present the to texts that emphasize the significance of the poetic creations of
Alontagu. reports that the neo-Nazis vehe- historic truth were minimal. Perhaps an NPD Hebrew writers.
mently oppose continued compensation to victory would have been unthinkable if the
Burnshaw further states: "As to how much the reader will hear
victims of Nazism. that they ridicule the Six proper teaching methods had been introduced of the sound of the poem, we have assumed his total inability to read
Hebrew characters; hence we have given each Hebrew word a
figure when the martyrdom of Jews to assure acceptance of guilt.
Now we have a mockery of the Jewish phonetic transcription into English." These transcriptions are hard,
under Ilitlerism is mentioned and that while
it is denied that the NPD is anti-Semitic, the sufferings at neo-Nazi rallies, an attempt to they will be difficult to accept and perhaps there could have been
halls where their meetings are held ring with prevent continued compensations and a mili- some improvement in transliterating. But this again points to a short-
in Jewish ranks which have failed to benefit from cooperative
prolonged applause whenever charges against tant arrogance that should, indeed, frighten coming
efforts among all Jewish factions to agree on an accepted method of
Nazism are rejected and Jews are derided the Germans into serious action against the re- transliterating from Hebrew into English. But this does not affect
and mocked.
emergence of a strongly bigoted movement. the great merits of "The Hebrew Poem Itself," its method of intro-
While there are expressions of confi- Kiesinger and his associates have a great re- clueing the Hebrew poets and their works, the translations in popular
deuce that the neo-Nazis can never again be- sponsibility and it is primarily their duly to form and the commentaries.
Especially interesting and valid are Burnshaw's explanations
come. a power in Germany, the NPD leaders build up strong moral defenses against a

are certain they can gain control, that their threatened renewed Nazism.

Expanded Studies of Civil Rights Issues

A growing trend among Jewish intellec-
tuals who are studying racial issues in the
hope of arriving at policies for the elimina-
tion of strife between Negroes and Jews
should be viewed as heartening and as tend-
ing to lead towards the elimination of sus-
picions.

Dr. Judd 'feller is one of the most critical
of the students of current events on the civil
rights arena. Ile views seriously, in an article
in Conservative Judaism, the black power
movement, and he urges "bold and imagina-
tive action - by Jewish communities with the
intention of establishing a Negro-Jewish un-
derstanding that should be based on realities
and not on "transfigured verbalization."
In Midstream, 27 leading Jewish personal-
ities are participating in a symposium on
Ncgro-Jewish relations. Their views take into

of the appreciation of the need of new interpretations of the
Hebrew poem which needed defining, the difficulties that were
encountered and he states: "We have relied on our abilities to
identify with the position of non-Hebrew-speaking readers—and
since the writer of these prefatory pages also belongs to this
group, we may not have gone too far off the ideal course . . ."

account the spread of anti-Jewish feelings
Thus, two Hebrew scholars had the benefit of guidance from a
among Negroes and the resultant emotional noted authority who has no knowledge of Hebrew but whose ap-
Jewish backlash. In all instances, the hope is proach has helped create this great work.

for an understanding among fellow citizens

that will lead away from doubts, that will
demolish suspicion, that will cement good
feelings based on the urgent need for coop-
erative and just relations among all Amer-
icans.
There is no doubt that evidences of anti-
Semitism have driven some Jews to the back-
lash sphere. It is a deplorable condition, but
its existence must be admitted. At the same
time, the prevalence of Jews in civil rights
movements can not be denied. The former
is inexcusable. The latter are not necessarily
candidates for testimonials. There is a basic
principle involved. There must be an end to
discrimination and all of us must contribute
toward the realization of the civil rights goals.

"As for the poems themselves," Burnshaw states, "the number
included is no gauge whatever of the relative 'importance' of their
respective authors. We have had to think of the range of the entire
period in terms of three overlapping sub-periods — modern Hebrew
verse written in Europe, in Palestine and in Israel — and to repre-
sent the poets of each proportionately — and in every case by poems
of manageable length. Here again our decisions will set off disagree-
ment. Let it be noted, however, that the commentators also partici-
pated in choosing specific poems and that in some instances conflicting
individual preferences were resolved by compromise."
It is evident that the selections were made to present a total
account of the modern Hebrew poem starting with Bialik, continuing
with the noted poets who followed him, into the current era and the
newest of the Israeli creations. "The Modern Hebrew Poem Itself'
is a commendable work.
Adding to the value of this collective effort is a supplemented
chapter dealing with Hebrew prosody. The book emerges therefore
as a welcome evaluative text on Hebrew poetry which could also
serve as a textbook for advanced classes in poetry in general.

