THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, August 18, 1967-13
Greek
may
not
be
spoken,
but
superficial
and
the
irrelevancies
learning. In fact, people who
in Jewish life. Few have question-
could engage in pilpul, whether
he who speaks of them in terms
ed the authenticity of his stories,
over religion or atheism, were
of fossilized tongues just hasn't
probably because, as the Yiddish
held in high esteem in the Jew-
done his literary homework. If
idiom has it, ''af meises fregt men
ish communities of old.
it is true, as Golden says, that
not kein kashes" (one doesn't ask
The least Golden could have Greek and Latin still wield a
questions about tales). But when
done was to look up the word in profound influence on English
a dictionary. Had he picked up and on the Romance languages,
he strives to play the role of a
the unabridged edition of the how can it at the same time be . prophet. he must produce more
Random House Dictionary of the true that those languages are
authentic credentials.
English Language — among the dead?
best on the market — he would
Moreover, how can one say of
have learned the true meaning of Yiddish now that it may "soon be
the word instead of distorting it as dead" as those languages when
into a monstrosity. Even though Yiddish is still being spoken by
SORRY
Golden may think he holds the hundreds of thousands if not mil-
NO
American readers in his hand. he lions of Jews throughout the
is mistaken if he believes them to world? Surely, an educator such
ANSWER!
be so gullible or ignorant as to as Golden must know that Yiddish
take his words on their face value. creativity today is at its peak,
In fact this column would not - comparable if not superior to any-
have been written if readers had thing that is being published in
When lunch time, errand time, coffee-breaks or closing
not called my attention to the other languages in the western
after hours put the brakes on your profit climb—you need
Golden travesty.
world today, and that possibly the
the full time professional skills of a live telephone answer-
Moreover, Golden has seeming. finest literary journal in the world
ly joined the prophets of doom for today is being published in Yid-
ing service secretary. She's trained, responsible, reliable—
Yiddish who gloat over its pre- dish in Israel—Die Goldene Keit
always there when profit dials your number.
dicted demise as if that obdurate (Golden Chain).
tongue were the sole impediment
Golden pontificates that "Yid-
Give her a call now, at
to the coming of redemption, for- dish can exercise no singular in-
getting that the extinction of a fluence." But what are his cre-
TELEPHONE
tongue is the most tragic moment dentials for authority to make that
in the history of a people.
pronouncement? Is it perhaps be-
ANSWERING SERVICE
One would expect to find a tre- cause he doesn't read Yiddish?
mor in the pens of those who pre-
Golden over the years has been
18055 JAMES COUZENS
dict perdition for a tongue. But enjoying remarkable receptivity in
OWNED & OPERATED BY DOROTHY SIPHER & ALLEN SIPI-tER
the detractors of Yiddish, it seems, the Jewish community though
do not even try to conceal their most of what he wrote was of the
glee as they ready for its burial.

About Golden — Hutzpa to Nth Degree — Comment on a Column

By NATHAN ZIPRIN

Seven Arts Feature)

Harry Golden in one of his re-
cent columns undertook to fami-
liarize his readers with what he
called "some Yiddish words and
phrases." As an example. he cited
the word "pilpul." which he de-
fined as an "argument about noth-
ing."

As a columnist Mr. Golden ap-
parently cannot resist the tempta-
tion to act out the role as an edu-
cator. But as an educator he must
surely know that ignorance of a
subject is no license for teaching
it. Surely there was no other ex-
cuse for him to pervert the his-
tonic meaning of the word pilpul
and to compound the folly by as-
cribing the word to Yiddish ori-
gin.
For a man who admits he
doesn't read Yiddish—as Golden
did in that column—it is hutzpa
to the Nth degree to write about it
with such a tone of finality and
authority. If he had read Yiddish
or if he were familiar with Tal-
mudic pages he would know that
the word pilpul is not of Yiddish
but of Aramaic roots, meaning a
subtle or keen disputation general.
ly among rabbinical scholars.

Pilpul in Aramaic means pep-
per, hence its application to
sharp or peppery disputations.
The word has been absorbed into
Yiddish but lost none of its ori-
ginal connotations. Pilpul in
Yiddish has never meant an
"argument about nothing." In
the Yiddish idiom when one said

of people that they were engag-
ed in pilpul, no derogation was
ever intended,. except possibly
that they were arguing for the
sake of arguing. And that is no
malaise for a people that subli-
mates learning for the sake of

Nothing eats into profits

more than an
unanswered telephone

Diamond 1-1000

AL-MAR

In the style of certain column-
ists, Harry Golden undertakes
to predict the unpredictable —
the extinction of Yiddish—with
a certainty that smacks of in-
fallibility. Yiddish is a dying
language, he tells his readers,
and "it may soon be just as dead
as Greek or Latin." What

An Open Letter
To The
Jewish Community

troubles this columnist is what
Golden exactly means by "just

as dead." Latin and ancient

Israel's Shazar Gets History- Pamphlet
r,

Dear Friends of J.N.F.
WHAT PRICE VICTORY!

Although in Israel today the guns may not be rattling, the cannons may

not be roaring, the tanks may not be rolling and the fighter planes may not be
flying, nevertheless the people of Israel are not resting, for there is much to

be done.

You, who have in the past been contributors to J.N.F., can justly be proud.

YES, it was the very trees you planted which have been credited by the

military experts as having given cover and the screening behind which the

Israeli troops could mass and prepare without bing observed or attacked.

Israel President Zalman Shazar accepts the first copy of the
inaugural series of lectures delivered at the Study Circle on Diaspora
Jewry held each month at his home in Jerusalem. The presentation
was made by Prof. Moshe Davis (left), head of the Institute of Con.
temporary Jewry of the Hebrew University, and chairman of the
Study Circle, and Prof. Nathan Rotenstreich, rector of the Hebrew
University (right). Dr. Hain) Yahil, chairman of the Israel Founda.
tion for Cultural Relations with World Jewry, and members of the
editorial board were present at the ceremony. The lectures, pub-
lished in booklet form, will serve as study material for courses under
auspices of the Institute of Contemporary Jewry and the Israel
Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

Prague Communists Oust Writer
as Punishment for Pro-Israel Stand

PRAGUE—Ladislav Mnacko, one ernment.controlled press in his
of Czechoslovakia's leading writers, country which he termed "cons.
pletely one-sided" in its pro.
was expelled by the Czech Commu-
mist Party Wednesday for defiance Arab and anti-Israel stand. Ile
of his country's pro-Arab stand. came to Israel in defiance of
The government also stripped him Czechoslovakia's anti-Israel stand
of his citizenship.. to voice his support of the Israeli
Mnacko, 48, a non-Jew with a cause.

Jewish wife, has been twice de-

Answering charges against him
dared in his home country as the by the Union of Slovak Writers,
nation's outstanding writer. and is Mnacko said "I would rather be a
a winner of the state' s. highest political adventurer and anarchist
award, the Klement Gottwald Prize. than a publicist who takes his or-
Currently on a visit to Israel, ders from above. - He added that
Mnacko said that the revocation of the majority of the Czech people
his citizenship was illegal and that favored the Israeli cause "and not
he would fight it. He said his ouster just intellectuals."
from the party "was not expected"
Mnacko said that he would not
and added: "However, I will not
return to his homeland until that
stop being a Communist."
country
renewed diplomatic rela-
Mhacko caused an internation-
al furor when his book "The lions with Israel. "However," he
Taste of Power," was submitted said. "if this should take years—
to Viennese publishers. The book and I hope it will not—I will return
was critical of the Communist to my homeland. A writer cannot
ruling class. He said he is writ- live indefinitely cut off from his
roots."
ing a book to counter the gov-

YES, it was the very roads your dollars built which permitted the Israeli

troops to quickly and effectively move along the almost endless borders.

YES, it was the very border settlements which were established on the

reclaimed land of the J.N.F. which were first attacked and which held the

enemy until the army could push them back over the hills of Syria, to the

Jordan River, across Sinai to the Suez Canal and from the Gulf of Aqaba.

These were the very settlements you read about as being totally demolished,

leveled to the ground. They must be rebuilt. Roads must be reconstructed.

More land must be reclaimed for farms and settlements. More trees must be

planted.

In addition to all of this, which we of the Jewish National Fund expected
to be called upon to do, the Israeli government has called upon the J.N.F. to
do a far more vital and sensitive job —to aid in the reconstruction and reset-

tlement of the old city of Jerusalem.

J.N.F. played a vital part in the establishment of the State of Israel.

J.N.F.
J.N.F.

played a vital part in the building of the State of Israel.

played a vital part in the protection of the State of Israel. And now,
J.N.F. must play a vital part in the winning of the peace for the State of Israel.

We know we can count upon your continued generosity and co-operation.

Shalom,

Sincerely yours,

PERCY KAPLAN
Executive Director

JUDGE BURTON R. SHIFMAN
President

JEWISH NATIONAL FUND

18414 WYOMING AVE., DETROIT, MICH. 48221

Phone: UN 4-2767