THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
28—Friday, January 6, 1967
Alas, What of the Milhiks?
Sholom Aleichem didn't reserve Week of Washington, D. C., in a
his humor for stories alone, the translation by Saul Horwatt.
* * *
Jewish Day and Journal proved by
publishing a letter he wrote in My honored friend Ferfel:
A remarkable conicidence ! Si-
1910 to a Dr. Ferfel, editor of The
multaneously with your lovely let-
Vegetarian Observer of Kiev.
The letter appeared in English ter, I also received a letter from
for the first time in The Jewish Dr. Zamenhof, the creator of Espe-
ranto. He asked permission to
translate some of my stories into
Historical Society to Start Esperanto. Vegetarinanism, Espe-
ranto, spring from virtually the
Building This Month
WALTHAM, Mass. — Construc- same ideological base. I am deeply
convinced that in the very near
tion is scheduled to begin this
month on the new headquarters future, let us say within a thousand
or two thousand years, the whole
and library building of the Ameri-
can Jewish Historical Society on of mankind will become Vegeta-
rian; everyone will speak ene lan-
the campus of Brandeis Univer-
guage—Esperanto—and everyone
sity. It is expected to be completed will adopt one religion obviously
next December, and the Society
the Jewish faith.
plans to occupy it in January,
I am astonished at your saying
1968.
that in my works you detect a sym-
The building will have two floors
pathy for Vegetarianism. How
of closed book stacks with a capa-
right you are ! You have guessed
city of 80,00 volumes and 3.000,000 the truth ! I have many times want-
manuscripts. The society, • founded ed to become a Vegetarian, but first
in 1892, collects and publishes my sinful soul didn't let me, and
materials relating to Jewish his-
presently my illness.
tory on the North American con-
I am indeed grateful for the
tinent and maintains these ma-
terials in a library of more than pamphlets you sent to me. I have
read your magazine with great af-
25,000 volumes.
fection, and I ask you not to leave
The society also possesses ori- me without it in the future. I re-
ginal letters, scrap books and gret that I, personally, cannot par-
relics, as well as an art collection. ticipate in your publication because
Its library is primarily a research I am not a specialist in that genre.
facility, and the new building is You may, if you wish, publish the
designed to cater to the needs of last two chapters of my story, "The
such an institution.
Couple." Somewhere I also have a
piece, entitled "Tsar Baleh-Chayim"
Photographer's Wife
(Have Pity On the Animals). If I
find it, I shall gladly send it to
Gives Portraits to Brandeis you.
Perhaps it will be useful to
WALTHAM, Mass.—A collection you.
of more than 1,600 photographs
There is only one question that
taken by the late portrait pho-
tographer Carl Van Vechten has bothers me: If all Jews were to
been given to Brandeis University stop eating meat, what would hap-
by his wife. A selection of them pen to all "Shohetim" and "Rabo-
will be placed on exhibit in the nim"? What would happen to all
the Dietary Laws? What would
coming months.
happen to "Milhiks" and "Flei-
Before he died at 84 in Decem- shiks"? God of the Universe, what
ber 7964, Van Vechten, who also a revolution ! Nothing to laugh at.
ha dusccessful careers as a music Yours,
critic and novelist, had taken pho-
Sholem Aleichem
tographs of the most famous
writers, artists and actors of the
last 40 years. His portraits also
recorded the emergence of the
lrth
Negro artist and intellectual in
America.
Lakers, Tred 40 Years, Writer Equates
Take 2nd Honeymoon `Alice' Stories
With Baal Shem
. .
SARAH AND HARRY LAKER
In honor of their parents' 40th
wedding anniversary, the children
of ara and ar Laker held a
surprise buffet dinner recently at
Cong. Shaarey Zedek.
Irving, Dr. Gerald and Martin
Laker and their families welcomed
the guests to the dinner, after
which the senior Lakers departed
for a second honeymoon in Miami
Beach, Puerto Rico and New York.
AnnOlincements
REV. GOLDMAN L.
MARSHALL
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RABBI CHASKEL
GRUBNER
SPECIALIZED MOHEL
Recommended by Physicians
Serving in Hospitals and Homes
398-1017
14100 Sherwood
Jan. 2 — To Dr. and Mrs. Barry
Schifrin (Nancy Falk of Detroit),
of Riverdale, N.Y., a daughter,
Laura Jay.
* * *
Dec. 28—To Mr. and Mrs. Mark
Bokolor, 20970 Glenmorra, South-
field, a son, Mitchel H.
* * *
Dec. 27—To Mr. and Mrs. Mark
Gutman (Sharon Surowitz), 14431
Northfield, Oak Park, a son, Ken-
neth Blair.
* * *
Dec. 26—To Mr. and Mrs. Gary
Abramovitz (Sue Ann Racklin),
21713 Stratford, Oak Park, a son,
Michael Shawn.
• * *
Dec. 23—To Mr. and Mrs. Leon-
ard Abrams (Julia Schiffman),
19940 Hey den, a daughter, Diane
Michelle.
* * *
Dec. 22 — To Mr. and Mrs.
Samuel M. Davis (Lynda Racklin),
24372 Rensselaer, Oak Park, a
daughter, Alycia Julie.
* * *
Dec. 17—To Dr. and Mrs. Nat
H. Sandler (J udith Henriott),
30152 W. Warren, Westland, a
daughter, Elissa Ann.
* * *
Dec. 13—To Mr. and Mrs. Ken-
neth Eisenberg (Frances Aftel),
19911 Roslyn, a son, Stephen Af-
Yiddish Anecdote:
`Fools' of Helena
The luckless schlemiel is merely
one of many stock characters in
Yiddish humor. Even more, fabled
is the schnorrer, the professional
rer once came to a community late
mendicant. He is as importunate
as the other is easygoing, and as
cunning as the other is slow-
witted. For instance:
The tale is told of how a schnor-
on a Friday afternoon and found
that the only house where there
was not a poor man already bil-
leted for the Sabbath was the one
owned by the town miser. Un-
daunted, the beggar knocked on
the door of that house and insisted
on speaking with the host in
private. "I have not come for
charity," he cried. "This is a matter
of business."
Admitted to the miser's office,
the schnorrer closed the door care-
fully and whispered, "How much
will you give me for a diamond as
big as an egg?"
The other's cupidity was at once
aroused, but he knew better than
to betray any eagerness.
"You look weary," he said to
the stranger. "Stay with me over
the Sabbath, and when you are
rested we can talk business."
All the next day he showered
his guest with favors, and not until
nightfall did he finally ask to see
the diamond. Whereupon the beg-
gar shrugged his shoulders and
declared: "Did I ever say I had a
diamond? I merely wanted to know
what you would offer me for one
as large as an egg if I should
happen to find one!"
Dr. Abraham Ettle so n, who
claims to be a direct descendant of
the Baal Shem Tov and is a devoted
student of his inherited movement,
Hasidism, believes that Lewis Car-
roll's "Alice in Wonderland" and
"Through a Looking Glass" are re-
lated to the Hasidic ideology.
In "Lewis Carroll's 'Through the
Looking Glass' Decoded," publish-
ed by Philosophical Library (15 E.
40th, NY 16), he states:
"It will no doubt come as a sur-
prise to the reader to learn that
`Jabberwocky' is the code name
for the Baal Shem Toy of Medzh-
ish, in the province of Kamenetz
Podolsk in the Ukraine, on the Bug
River! He was also known as the
Rov of Podolia. It may also come
as a surprise to discover that the
first stanza of the poem beginning
`Twas brillig, etc., etc.,' is not
nonsense writing at all, but con-
tains within it one-half of the He-
brew script alphabet!"
The physician-author of this hook
goes into great length in his text
to "decode" portions of the Alice
tales to indicate that Hasidic
thought is contained there, that the
Yong Kippur theme is in text. For
example:
"When the miserable day came,
I should go without dinner," is in-
terpreted as meaning the day of
fasting and prayer.
He similarly attributes most of
the entire text to this theme and
the Jabberwocky legend is present-
ed as in part a re-enactment of two
legends about the Baal Shem. In a
foreword Rabbi Adam Neuberger
of Phoenix states: "Dr. Ettleson,
himself a direct descendant of the
Baal Shev TONT, is a practicing
physician in Phoenix, Ariz., and is
well versed in the Bible. Because
of his background he was able to
accomplish this work."
Eban Condemns Book
by Ex-UN Chief of Staff
JERUSALEM (JTA) —Foreign
Minister Abba Eban denounced in
parliament a recent book by a
former chief of staff of the United
Nations Truce Supervision Organi-
zation as "beneath elementary
manners and good taste."
The book, "S oldiering for
Peace," by Swedish General Carl
Von Horn, was published recently
in Stockholm and touched off a
barrage of critical comment in
Israel for its assertion, among
other comments on the UN peace-
keeping role in the Middle East,
that Israel officials had released
girls from military service to en-
tice UN observers to give informa-
tion to them about the Arab
countries.
Replying to questions in the
Knesset, the foreign minister said
the style and content of the book
were "unworthy of comment." He
teL
added that the book was "a sorry
* * *
example of how a high UN offi-
To Mr. and Mrs. Ben Katz cial can run afoul of the truth
(Charlotte Lifton), 23460 Church, with a public display of extreme
Oak Park, a son, Ronald S.
and unbalanced feelings."
OSS REALTY CO.
Ex-Nazi VIP in Holland •
to Be Tried in Munich
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News)
MUNICH — Wilhelm Harster, a
one-time head of the Nazi Security
Service in Holland, will go on trial
here Jan. 23 on charges of organ-
izing the wartime roundup of
Dutch Jews.
Harster, a former SS general,
admitted his responsibility for the
deportation of 100,000 Jews from
Holland in an interview two years
ago with the Berlin Morgenpost.
He had been a high civil servant
in the Bavarian Interior Ministry.c
He told the Berlin newspaper hey;,
had been tried in Holland and had
served a sentence and that Bavar-
ian officials has complete know-
ledge of his wartime past. He had
been in a charge of a department
of the Nazi security office June
1940 to Sept. 1943.
Anne Frank, whose diary be-
came a permanent testament to
the Nazi holocaust, was one of the
victims of the deportations.
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FRANK PAUL
and his ORCHESTRA
"Music at Its Best
Rain
for Your Guests"
EL 7-1799
How beautiful is the rain!
After the dust and heat,
In the broad and fiery street,
In the narrow lane;
How beautiful is the rain!
How it clatters along the roofs,
Like the tramp of hoofs;
How it gushes and struggles out
From the throat of the
overflowing spout.
—Longfellow
JOCELYN
AND HER GYPSIES
Authentic Gypsy Orchestra
Strolling Violins or Concert Group
Floor Show and Dance
GR 4-7638
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