Leaves Wheel Chair to Wed, Teach:Sarah Bernhardt's Genius Depicted by Miss Skinner; 'Story of Actress as Dreyfusard Related in Biography A great actress has produced a great biography of one of the greatest actresses of all time. "Madame Sarah." the biography of Sarah Bernhardt. pub. hed by Houghton Mifflin Co.. is a master- ful work. brilliantly written • and its significance is in the fact that a woman who is a great artist in her own right, Cornelia Otis Skin- ner, has written it. The reader learns from this work who Madame Sarah really was, her genius, her skills. And he becomes acquainted with the important personalities who fig- ured in the life of that great actress. lie learns about the time and Miss Skinner ably collected all the relevant data about a 1 genius and her time. Sarah did not have a religious education. The trend was toward Catholicism, which she professed and in which, Miss Skinner states, she was undoubtedly sincere, but "she never lost sight of the fact that she was of Jewish origin." Miss Skinner states: "She never allowed a word of anti-Semitic talk, and during the hysteria of the Dreyfus case she had the courage to take a stead- fastly pro-Dreyfus stand. Once when a reported asked her if she were a Christian she answered, and the conditions of the era `No. I'm a Roman Catholic, and during which Sarah Bernhardt a member of the great Jewish had labored to make the stage race,' then added with a sweet so vital. smile. 'I'm waiting 'til Christians Sarah's actual name was Rosine become better'." —a name used only during her In her account of Sarah Bern- early childhood. She "was the hardt's role in the case in defense illegitimate daughter of Judith of Dreyfus, Miss Skinner states: Van Hard, a Jewish Dutch woman, "The rift caused over 1'Affaire who lived for a time in Berlin. in her own family brought The Van Hards were of bourgeois Madame Sarah much anguish. middle class although one ro- All her life she hated any form mantic rumor has it that Judith of tyranny or injustice and from was the love-child of a Belgian the start of the famous trial she Marquise, Thieule de Petit-Bois had been convinced of the com- de la Nieville, who ran away from plete innocence of Dreyfus. She a chateau named Saint-i_ubin-de- had followed the r2r.,rts daily Corbier with a German oculist— in the papers and had gone to which sounds suspiciously like a witness the unhappy captain's legend Sarah herself might have public degradation. After the thought up." Frieda S., a social welfare case condemned to a wheel chair through a birth deformity, has fought her way out of the wheel chair to he•ome a teacher, a wife and mother. She now lives with her family at the Ben-Shemen Agricultural and Vocational Train- ing School in Israel. She is shown in the bottom picture in 1957, during ti.•at•,ient at the JDC-Malben's Machne Israel Rehabilitation Center. The insert shows her today with her infant in her home in Ben-Shemen. Sarah's turbulent life, her re- lationships with many famous peopl e, among them Baron Adolphe de Rothschild, Victor Hugo and others; her genius as a modeler of busts as well as an actress (she made a bust also of Baron Rothschild) — these make a fabulous story, Giora Josephthal's Life, Collected Writings, Speeches Included in 'Responsible Attitude' w ho took an interest in brated Jewish holidays, but, as the pre l,raid Palestinian develop- was common in assimilated ments and in the activities of the households, they used to put up Jewish Agency and those who I a Christmas tree." played important roles in the af- Such was Giora's childhood ex- fairs of the United Jewish Appeal perience in the German Jewish will remember home. But at 14 he joined a Jew- t h e impressive ish youth organization. He was 17 messages that when he urged his group's affilia- were brought to tion with the Jewish Agency. He American Jewry joined the Zionist ranks, soon be- by an eminent in- came a leader in the Socialist- terpreter of the Zionist liabonim movement. Zionist idea — He studied law and economics to Giora Josephthal. His life was cut prepare himself for a career but short in 1962 — he continued his Zionist activities. he was only 50. He met his wife a few weeks be- But by that time fore Hitler rose to power and they he had rendered shared their Zionist interests dur- great service to ing the remainder of his life. the Jewish cause. Upon the rise of Nazism, Jos- His life's work ephthal became active in the is excellently de- Youth Aliya activities and in the picted in "The course of time he rose to major Josephthal Responsible Atti- tude: The Life and Opinions of political roles, serving as secre- Giora Josephthal," a well edited tary of Mapai in 1956, becoming Schocken volume which contains minister of labor in the Israel the papers and addresses of the government in 1960. He traveled noted leader. Ben Halpern and widely in behalf of the Zionist Shalom Wurm ably compiled the movement and of the UJA and Josephthal material, and the vol- his messages inspired increased ume contains an impressive bio- interest in philanthropic Jewish graphical sketch of Josephthal by efforts in behalf of the refugees his widow, Senta Josephthal. from Nazism. His wife's account of his life is a deeply moving story. It relates his dedication to the great tasks that emerged from the Hitler era. It reviews his self-education in Zionism, his mastery of Hebrew and of Yiddish, his leadership in Histadrut, his attainment of one of the most recognized roles as a leader in Jewry as well as in Israel. The collection of essays, ad- dresses, papers and the documents related to Josephthal's life supple- ments Zionist history and gives an account of the events covered by the creative life (1912-62) of a brilliant leader. The editors subdivided the col- lected essays into three categories: The German Period 1932-38, the Jewish Agency Period 1951-56 and Party and Government Service 1956-62. In every instance the philosophical ideas relevant to the periods are elevated by brilliant analyses. Each of the sections is preceded by editorial introductions review- ing the periods covered and pro- viding data necessary for an under- standing of the views quoted from Giora Josephthal's speeches and writings. Giora's family background was steeped in Jewish traditions. His grandfather headed the Nurem- berg Jewish community for 35 years. But his immediate exper- iences were assimilationist. As his wife describes it: Bloch Publishing Company an- nounces three of its forthcoming spring summer publications, each authored by a noted rabbi and educator. tion in terms relevant to the mod- ern age, and underscores the three basic areas concerning Judaism and the Jewish people: "The World, Israel, and Man." "Giora's father retained mem- ories of a Jewish childhood in his father's house, but his mother came from a completely assimilated family. She was very intelligent and well educated, but did not know as much as the Hebrew alphabet, and Jewish customs were totally foreign to her. Giora's parents never cele- "Rabbinical Counseling," edited and with an introduction by Earl A. Grollman, contains contribu- tions by six rabbis who give the benefit of their research and ex- perience with relationship to the crucial problems of youth and sexuality, intermarriage, suicide and the mentally' ill. "Leave a Little to God: Essays in Judaism," by Rabbi Robert Gordis, interprets the Jewish tradi- "Faith and Destiny of Man": Traditional Judaism in a New Light" by Rabbi Joseph H. Look- stein, is a volume of selected essays, dealing with the situation of man in the 20th Century, with his emotional problems, his intellectual needs and his moral dilemmas. The author is especially concerned "with the Jew in his re- lation to the society of which he is a part, to his ancestral faith and to the peoplehood of Israel whose destiny he shares." 40 Friday, May 5, 1967 — Three New Bloch Books Announced THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS ghastly sentence to Devil's Island she had campaigned for his vindication. To come out openly as a Dreyfusard took tremendous courage at that time. She went to see Emile Zola, and it is said that it was she who had persuaded him to write his fulminating outcry for justice, `J'Accuse!' Next day a paper came out with the headline `Sarah Bernhardt had joined the Jews against the Army.' Her coterie of friends were divided into warring factions. To her great distress Francois Coppee and Jules Lemaitre were in the other camp, both belonging to an idiotically prejudiced organi- zation called La Ligue de la Patrie Francaise, which, accord- ing to the 'Oxford Companion to French Literature,' typified all that was bigoted, anti-Semitic and reactionary in public life.' But Victorien Sardou protested along with her the innocence of Dreyfus and of course the fiery Octave Mirbeau was vociferous in his demands for justice. She stuck to her stand even when it came to open rupture with her nearest and dearest. Maurice Bernhardt (her son) was an out- spoken anti-Semite and a violent anti-Dreyfusard, as were most members of the Parisian smart set. Mother and son quarreled bitterly, so much so that Maurice moved with his wife and daugh- ter Simone to live in the South of France for well over a year, during which time there was no communication between them." A later incident is recorded, even after Dreyfus was exonerated and reinstated in the army, when Sarah and Maurice battled, Maur- ice charging all Dreyfusards with treachery and Sarah smashing a plate. Sarah Bernhardt emerges from this work like a miracle of the stage, as one of the very great personalities. Miss Skinner treated her subject with such skill that the fairness of her evaluative work, its completeness, its all-embracing elements, make "Madame Sarah" stand out as one of the great life stories of the century. HEBREW SELF-TAUGHT Br AHARON ROSEN ascent ah-lee-yal. fall (m.s.) nolt-fehl bad rah 71' 1711 .286 '7Di3 .287 171 .288 recount, tell (m.s.) -1D07? m'sah-pehr way, road de-rekh is joyful (m.s.) sah-indh-atilt sing (m.s.) a little k'tsaht .289 for beesh-veel .290 ?r1.117-1 ma - ?nitip, win nittn?;-,1 .nisrl re, wp-nri n47 wi;p rri,tnrci non I 7Z nnx -Tn." 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