Israel's Brigade in Desert Maneuvers

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Members of the Golani Infantry Brigade lie on the ground during
maneuvers in the Judean Desert as Israeli forces go through an
intensified training program.

Maryland's Governor and Some Songs

By DAVID SCHWARTZ

(Copyright 1969, JTA, Inc.)

Maryland has a Jewish governor,
Marvin Mandel, succeeding Spiro
Agnew, the new Vice President.
Maryland is one of the smaller
states, but there is something spe-
cial about it. It is near Washington,
where they make the laws of the
country, but Maryland is not en-
vious of Washington. It remembers
the old saying, "I care not who
writes the laws of the country, if I
can write the songs." And Mary-
land was responsible for the writ-
ing of the "Star Spangled Banner."
From a Jewish standpoint, Mary-
land may boast of the creation of
Hadassa. Henrietta Szold, who
founded Hadassa, was a Balti-
morean.
There were a good many Jewish
soldiers at Fort McHenry, the
scene of the fighting which gave
birth to the "Star Spangled Ban-
ner."
Francis Scott Key was the author
of the national anthem. He was a
lawyer. Key had his breakfast in
the morning and left for his office.
A friend saw him walking in a dif-
ferent direction than the usual one.
"Hi, Scott," he said, "where are
you going?"
"Oh," said Key, "I thought I
would go down to Fort McHenry
where the British and the Ameri-
cans are fighting and write the
`Star Spangled Banner.' "
"The Star Spangled What?" said
his friend.
"You know," said Key, "Oh, say
can you see by the dawn's early
light."
"Do you feel all right?" asked
his friend.
"Oh, you wouldn't understand,"
said Key, and he went on.
* * *
I have never seen this story
about Key and his friend anywhere
else, and I doubt that it is true.
Actually, Key had been engaged as
a lawyer to try to get the British
military to release an American
physician, Dr. Beans, whom they
had taken in custody.
Arriving at the British headquar-
ters, Key watched the British
bombardment of the fort and in-
spired by the courageous American
resistance, he took out an old en-
velope and wrote the song. His
sister-in-law thought it should be
printed and the Baltimore Ameri-
can published it. It was adapted to
the tune of an old drinking song,
"Anacreon in Heaven," and be-
came popular all over the nation.
Accident seems to always play
a prominent part in such things.
"Yankee Doodle" first became pop-

ular during the Revolutionary War.
The British played it following the
battle of Lexington. It kidded the
Americans about their simple
ways, but the Americans liked it
and adopted it as their own. It had
been written more than 20 years
before and probably if the Ameri-
can Revolution had not occurred,
it would not have been heard from.
The author was said to be a phy-
sician, a Dr. Shuckleberg, attached
to the British force, who was said
to have been something of a musi-
cian. An early Anglo-Jewish editor
maintained that Dr. Shuckleberg
was a Jew. It is possible. Even in
those early days, medicine was a
favorite pursuit of Jews. In Mary-
land itself, in its very earliest
colonial days, there was a Jewish
physician, Jacob Lombroso, who,
by the way, seemed to have his
troubles on account of his Jewish-
ness.
* *
Naphtali Herz Imber had no con-
scious intention of writing the Zion-
ist anthem. It was first published
in a collection of Imber's poems in
1886. Perhaps in his case as may
be in Key's case, the unconscious
was working. The unconscious said
to Imber, "In 10 years or so, Theo-
dor Herzl will appear and found
the Zionist movement, so I had
better get busy and write the "Ha-
tikva." It won't do for Zionists to
get together without being able to
sing "Hatikva."
A young woman wrote "Jerusa-
lem, the Golden" for a contest.
Then it was forgotten until the out-
break of the Six-Day War made it
popular among the soldiers.
* * *
A war also came to the rescue of
a young Milwaukee Jewish song-
writer named Harris. He had
written popular songs on many
themes, including one even on
matzo balls. Then he wrote a sen-
timental ballad:
"Just break the news to mother

And tell her how I love her."

But the song was a flop until the
Spanish-American War broke out
and the young recruits for the bat-
tle zones took it up and soon every-
one was breaking the news to
mother.
In the First World War, someone
nudged Irving Berlin. "That's re-
veille, Irving, you got to get up."
Berlin grabbed an old envelope.
"I already have the chorus. I
might as well complete the song."
So Irving Berlin wrote "Oh, How I
Hate to Get Up in the Morning."
The moral, if there is any, seems
to be: Keep an old envelope handy.

Assimilated Jews Suffer Most in Poland

PARIS (JTA) — A distinguished
Jewish refugee from Poland re-
ported at a symposium here this
week that the Warsaw regime's
anti-Semitic campaign was having
its most serious effects on assimi-
lated Jews, mostly staunch Com-
munists, who never expected it
and were bewildered to find them-
selves ostracized.
Michael Sylberberg, a writer,
said the anti-Jewish drive in Po-
land was "nursed as much by
crude anti-Semitism as by the pro-
Arab policies of the government,
which a number of its members
apply reluctantly, though some
Polish intellectuals are disgusted."
The speaker was one of several
well-known Polish Jews who stop-
ped off in Paris on their way to
permanent settlement in other
countries. The symposium was
conducted by the World Jewish
Congress.
Sylberberg said the goal of the
Polish government was to make
Polish life "Judenrein" but with
a few exceptions, notably some
popular Jewish actors whose exile
would be noted abroad.

Another speaker, a historian,
observed that in leaving Poland,
"the Jews are also leaving be-
hind priceless historical docu-
ments not only of the recent ca-
lamity, but of generations past;
archival material accumulated
over a thousand years."

Meanwhile, two Polish Jews as-
sociated with the Yiddish theater
told the Jewish Telegraphic
Agency that they intended to re-
turn to Poland following their vaca-
tions in Paris.
Jacob Rottbaum, a producer of
the Wroclaw State Theater, said
he was producing a play based on
the works of Sholom Aleichem
with a group of Jewish actors. He
said he had been giving Yiddish
recitals in his city and although
the audience was steadily dimin-
ishing, he had not been bothered
by Polish authorities.
Ruth Taru Kowalska, a well
known Yiddish actress of the Jew-
ish State Theater in Poland, said
she was returning to Warsaw next
week where the theater is playing
a full season. Ida Kaminska, for-
mer director of the Jewish State
Theater, left Poland last year be-
cause of the official anti-Semitic
campaign and is presently in the
United States. She has said she
does not intend to return to Po-
land.

Criterion Club Plans
Midwinter Outing

Upland Hills, near Oxford,
Mich., will be the site of a mid-
winter outing Sunday, arranged by
the Criterion Club for single
adults. Guests will be welcome.
A motorcade will leave 11 a.m.
from the parking lot on Green-
field and W. Seven Mile Rd.
The day's fare will include a
sleigh ride (or hayride), lunch at
the camp lodge, dancing at the
barn-loft, and a buffet dinner at
Alban's, Birmingham.
For information, call Jennie
Marian, UN 4-4932.

Center Single Adults
to 'Lounge Around'

Single adults of the Jewish Cen-
ter (age 25-40) will feature danc-
ing, singing, games and refresh-
ments at its lounge night 8:30 p.m.
Tuesday in the Allen Lounge. Gui-
tar players are asked to bring
their instruments. Admission will
be free for members, and a nom-
inal charge for guests.
For information, call Ralph
Sirotkin at the Center, 341-4200,
Ext. 261.

Slight Increase in Voters
on Rolls for Fall Election

JERUSALEM (ZINS)—Prepara-
tions for the Knesset elections in
November are already in full
swing. There are currently 1,684,-
484 eligible voters in the country,
compared with 1,639,996 in the pre-
vious elections, only four years
ago, an increase of 2.7 .per cent.

Anti-Semitism in East Germany
was discussed by Samuel Fiderer,
who said it was officially inspir-
ed. He disclosed that the famous
author, Arnold Zweig, who died
recently in East Germany, was
interred in the Pantheon of. Com-
munist leaders although his last
request had been for burial in a
Jewish cemetery.
Fiderer said that a minyan of
Jews from West Germany was per-
mitted to recite kaddish. The sym-
posium adopted a resolution ex-
pressing appreciation for the stand
most Frenchmen have taken
against Gen. de Gaulle's pro-Arab
policies and his recent embargo
on military equipment and spare
parts to Israel.
Abraham Bern, a poet, and Mar-
cel Orolitski, a communal worker,
reported that hundreds of former
active French-Jewish Communists
left the party because of its anti-
Israel stand following the June
1967 war and were now working for
Israel.

A group of prominent Ameri-
cans, some of whoin have been
frequently associated with left-
wing causes, has sent an open
letter to the Polish government
condemning the revival of anti-
Semitism in Poland, "inspired
and abetted by some leaders of
the same government that in
the past had combatted it with
the utmost vigor."

novel
"Savage Sleep," Albert Maltz, nov-
elist and screen writer; Morris U.
Schappes, historian and editor of
the magazine "Jewish Currents";
Dr. Annette T. Rubinstein, author
and critic; and Prof. Frederic
Ewen, biographer of playwright
Bertoit Brecht.
The letter said: "We dare not,
through silence, make ourselves
accomplices in this heart-break-
ing incredible catastrophe. We
must urge with the utmost solemn-
ity that the Polish government
stop this self-destructive course
while a remnant of Polish Jewry
and of the government's socialist
honor yet remain to be saved."

of the recently-published

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, January 31, 1969-35

Larry Freedman

Orchestra and Entertainment

647-23E7

CARICATURES at
Bar Mitzvas and Parties

by

IRVING CHADWICK
398-0233

The letter was transmitted to
Warsaw through the Polish Em-
bassy in Washington D.C. and the
Polish Mission to the United Na-
tions.
The signatories included 32 writ-
ers, critics, university teachers,
editors and actors, among them
Ossie Davis, the Negro actor and

For the HY Spot

Of Your Affair

Music by

Hy Herman

And His Orchestra

(Hy

playwright; Paul M. Sweezey, edi-
tor of the Monthly Review; Max-
well Geismar, author and critic;
James Aronson, founder and for-
mer editor of the National Guar-
dian; Yuri Suhl, author of "They

Fought Back," a documentary of
Jewish resistance in Nazi- occupi-
ed Europe; Millen Brand, author

Utchenik)

• Distinctive Ceremonies
a Specialty!

342-9424

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