Purely Commentary

Military Attache's Refutation
of Refugee Distortions . .
Yiddish and Its Many Charms

By Philip
Slomovitz

(a wise one) he is not. He's a 'mavin' (a really knowledgeable
'They That Deal Truly Are His Delight'
person)."
There are encouraging words in Holy Scriptures that serve to
The Shenker interview concluded with the following:
hearten and to encourage seekers of justice. A typical example is to be
"He pursued: Let Howe write 10 jokes and let me write 10
found in Proverbs (12:22): "They that deal truly are His delight."
jokes, and you'll see the difference. When Freud wrote Wit and
We are told in Psalms (85:12) that "Truth springs out of the
the Unconscious,' nobody said, 'What a dull book.' People said,
earth." When truth comes forth, spontaneously, unsolicited, from an
'What insight to see such wit in the old stories.'
informed and unprejudiced source, it serves both truth and justice.
"But Mr. Howe will `krechtz' (grunt-groan-croak-moan or
A typical example was provided Sunday, in the New York Times,
wheeze) even louder when he hears the latest. Since Mr. Rosten's
by R. W. van de Ve1de, colonel, USA (ret.), who was first U.S. Mili-
book has been a best-seller now for many weeks, he is consider-
tary attache to Israel, 1948-49. Col. van de Velde wrote in reply to a
ing a sequel, to be called 'The Added Joys of Yiddish.' It would in-
letter by Kenneth Love, who called the Palestine refugees a major
clude even more expressions dear to his mother the Mameleh and
factor in the continuing Middle East tensions.
old enough for his critic the mavin."
"Perhaps he is right, or mostly right," Col. van de Velde stated.
This is only part of the story about the groaning over Yiddish.
But he does a disservice to both clear thinking and fairness when he
implies a parallel between German treatment of Jews and Israeli Perhaps, as long as the debate will go on, Yiddish will retain a cer-
tain amount of power. There are many Yiddishists who will never
treatment of Palestinian Arabs."
abandon the battle for the language: never before in history has a
Then he declared:
"There was no systematic oppression and uprooting and im- language that has been branded as dialect, jargon and what not, pur-
prisoning of Arabs by Jews. It was the Arabs who refused to accept sued such a valiant fight for survival.
And Yiddishists are militant and active. In Albuquerque, N.M., for
the 1947 UN partition of Palestine, and Arabs who first urged the
flight of Arabs from Palestine. It was the Arabs who waged war example, a Yiddish Club has been formed, classes are conducted in the
language and even some Gentiles have taken an interest in the lan-
on the new state of Israel.
"Further, it was Arab states which refused to resettle the Pal- guage there and elsewhere.
One major facts must be recognized, however. Many of the users
estinians who sought refuge in their nations at the same time that
to Israelis were accepting and resettling masses of refugee Jews of Yiddish know only its transliterated form. Yunin, in his Tog-Morgen
not only from Europe, but from all the Arab states as well.
Journal article, calls attention to an article in Women's Day under the
Yid-
"There are not and never were gas ovens in Israel; never was title "A Bit of Meshugaas - by a woman who admits not knowing
do not
any systematic torture or extermination of Arabs by Jews. Indeed, dish. Therein lies an unusual phenomenon — that people who
its
words!
use
more
and
more
of
Jewish treatment of the Arabs who chose to remain in Israel is know a language are beginning to
is
far more civilized than Arab treatment of Jews still in Arab And not to be denied is the additional fact that much of the usage
banal, even if Maurice Samuel and others liked the Rosten book. As
countries.
we
have
indicated,
greater
resort
to
Weinreich's
magnificently
re-
"Whatever Israeli mistakes may have been, they can hardly
dictionary will accomplish much more than exchange of
be posed as similar to Nazi barbarity or the Arab propensity for searched
believing in, and acting as though they believed in, their own make- Rosten's jokes. But to be able to use Weinreich's one must know
Yiddish. Therefore the more serious question is not whether Yiddish
believe world."
will survive, but whether the Yiddish classes and courses of study
So much is misunderstood about the entire issue involving the
refugees, there are so many distortions, that CoL van de Velde has will survive.

Jewish-Islamic
Confrontation s
on YIVO Program

NEW YORK — The opening ses-
sion of the 43rd annual conference
of the YIVO Institute for Jewish
Research will feature an analysis
of 'Historical Judeo-Islamic Con-
frontations by Dr. Abraham S.
Halkin, noted scholar on the Middle
East and professor of Hebrew at
City College in New York. The
conference will be held from May
4 through May 7 in the 92nd Street
YM-YWHA, New York City.
Another subject of topical signif-
icance, the relations between Neg-
roes and Jews in the United States,
will be discussed from a sociologi-
cal viewpoint by Professor Benja-
min Ringer of Hunter College.
Two important dates will be
marked by the conference: Dr.
Yudl Mark, editor in chief of the
"Great Dictionary of the Yiddish
Language,' will speak on the 500th
anniversary of the birth of Eliohu
Bokher, the first secular Yiddish
writer and author of the "Boy°.
Bukh" — the source of the popular
phrase "Hobe mayse," at the open-
ing session.
This year marks the 100th anni-
versary of the first organized im-
migration to America of East Eur0-
peen Jews. The story of this pion-
eering effort in 1869 will be told
by Zosa Szajkowski, YIVO re-
search associate.

rendered a great service with his evaluation of facts with which he
became acquainted during the first months of Israel's existence .
Indeed, to this retired U.S. army colonel it can well be said:
"They that deal truly are His delight."
•
•
Yiddish ... the Serious Aims and the Jocular . . . Authors'
Judaism and that was the source
Rabbi Morris Adler's tragic
Debates . . . Labor Periodical's Struggle for Its Existence
of his preaching and teaching.
Yiddish has become a subject for serious discussion and for diag- death remains as an indelible
Dr. Adler, in the sermons util-
memory. 6.9mmtmal
nearly,
dead
In
spite
of
the
decline
of
the
Yiddish
press,
the
nosis.
ized for this noteworthy collection
Yiddish stage, the abandonment of Yiddish radio programs and the services are not been forgotten.
dealt with the issues of the day,
drastically reduced number of Yiddish speaking people, the language His words arc frequently recalled.
with the challenges and problems
is far from forgotten or among the dead tongues. Many Yiddish words Many of his wise brief essays that
of America, of Jewry, Israel, the
appeared
in
the
Shaarey
Zedek
Re-
have become a part of the English dictionary and a Yiddish joke still
Jewish communities of the world,
corder have been retained for the
retains its flavor.
labor's
needs and the race issue.
Perhaps that's the trouble: that Yiddish has entered the lexicon but present and future generations in a
volume
edited
by
Mrs.
Goldie
Ad-
Readers of this volume will be
not conversation, that the joke predominates but only the select still
ler and Mrs. Lily Edelman under
indebted to Rabbi Chinitz for
enjoy the vast richness of the Yiddish literature.
having inserted, as a concluding
Advocates of efforts for the revival of Yiddish and its retention as the title "May I Have a Word With
You?"
chapter, "The Last Sermon,"
the spoken tongue of the Jewish masses are not inactive. But neither
the one Rabbi Adler delivered on
Now we are blessed with an-
are they successful. There is a Bnai Yiddish Society in New York that
Feb. 12, 1966, when he suffered
publishes a bi-monthly periodical, Bnai Yiddish. The society and its other immense work — a compila-
the gunshot that resulted is his
organ tirelessly strive for the advancement of Yiddish. But society tion of 90 of the late spiritual lead-
er's sermons that have just been
death.
adherents and its periodical's readers are very few in number.
In that sermon Rabbi Adler, de-
Then there is the Freie Arbeiter Stimme which, after 80 years of published by Bloch under the title
existence, until last month as a semi-monthly, now limits its appear- "The Voice Still Speaks."
voting himself to a review of the
ance to once a month because it has failed to secure a sufficient fund
life, aims, policies and vision of
Edited by the late Rabbi Ad-
to enable it to overcome its financial difficulties. Apparently even the ler's cousin, Rabbi Jacob Chin-
Abraham Lincoln, had drawn upon
monthly appearance may be jeopardized, and the publishers have just itz of Philadelphia, whose mem-
the lessons taught by the Prophets
stated that even a once-a-month appearance requires an additional
to describe Lincoln's greatness.
oir of his kinsman contains in-
$8,000 which it was found impossible to secure after two months of teresting recollections about the
Rabbi Adler stated in that last
DR. MORRIS ADLER
pleading for help.
distinguished leader, with a fore-
sermon that "the recognition of
Freie Arbeiter Stimme is the oldest surviving Yiddish language word by Dr. Lords Finkelstein,
faith"
by a nation is "ultimately
periodical in the world, and its difficulties merely prove the realism of the selected sermons cover a vast all stations in life, the services he an idea, an attitude — that it is
the influence he exerted.
a decline in Yiddish vigor. Its potency definitely is vanishing.
field, emphasizing the subtitle to rendered,
not
an
army, not exports and in-
He recalls the friendship also ports, not
The debate over the role pf Yiddish emerged anew recently with
the book, "Message of the Tora
vast budgets, not great
between his own father, Rabbi armaments
the appearance of Leo Rosten's "The Joys of Yiddish" (McGraw Hill
for Contemporary Man." Indeed,
and highways, but it
Abraham Chinitz, and Rabbi Ad- is an idea, and when that idea
Book Co.) which was hailed by the general public because of the num- the many issues of our time, the
ler's father, Rabbi Joseph Adler, dies, all of its material assets will
erous stories that were appended to the approximately 500 Yiddish guidance provided for America
and the family links that cemen- not be powerful enough to keep
terms that were utilized for glorification by the author. Because
and Jewry in the evaluative skills
ted a strong friendship. Rabbi it alive."
Rosten's book appeared so soon after the publication of the very great
of the departed leader, contains a
Chinitz's tribute to his cousin
and very scholarly "Modern English-Yiddish Yiddish-English Diction- philosophy of life that had ele-
Rabbi Adler asserted in his trib-
points to the departed leader as ute to Lincoln that after review-
ary" by Uriel Weinreich (also a McGraw Hill volume), the debate
vated Rabbi Adler to a position of
a master of the English lan- ing his characteristics "we can
waxed hot. Prof. Irving Howe, in his review in the New York Times,
national and world leadership.
guage, as a Jewish scholar, as a begin to understand why this
charged that in Rosten's "Yiddish is torn out of its cultural context, its
For those who had beard the
man with thorough perception. man was not only honored, not
integral world of meaning and reference," that "Mr. Rosten has pro- sermons, for the people who were
vided a perfect lexicon for the habitues of Toots Shor's and Gros- acquainted with Dr. Adler, the tri-
The scriptural readings of every only exalted, but also loved."
singer's."
bute paid to him by Dr. Finkel. week in the year, those for all fes-
After reading these sermons
Prof. Howe, one of the strongest supporters and defenders of stein, the chancellor of the Jewish tivals, were included in the ser- those who acquire this splendid
Yiddish in the ranks of American academicians, further stated that Theological Seminary, Rabbi Ad- mons containing Rabbi Adler's book also will be reminded why
"not everything written about Yiddish need be dry, solemn and schol- ler's alma mater, that "his mem- commentaries.
the deceased rabbi was honored,
arly. There is room for tasteful popularization ... But something about ory was fantastic," that his in-
In the 90 selected sermons are admired — and loved. A deserved
the Broadway-cum-TV tone of Mr. Rosten's book—the tone of elbow- terest was "primarily in instruc- included definitive statements on tribute is incorporated in this ca]'
nudging, backslapping `local color'—Gives me the chills."
tion, in pastoral work, particularly Jewish traditions, holiness, the lection of Rabbi Adler's sermons .
If Howe had been alone in his criticism it would be a dialogue and with youth, and in the defense of Sabbath, faith, humility, the re-
. titled "The Voice Still
an expression of differences of opinion. But others have assailed the disadvantaged," will revive
ligious idealism that is inherent in Swpeaaks"
ptlY
Rosten's treatment of a serious subject. In the Tog-Morgen Journal, memories linked with admiration
Wolf Yunin ridicules the Rostenian way of dealing with Yiddish and the and great respect for the wisdom
manner in which the language has become the "mame-loshen fun links and scholarship of the man who
tzu rekhts"—the "mother tongue from left to right." Yunin tears Rosten had delivered the sermons that now
apart by assailing his work as a collection of a very few popularly used serve anew to inspire their readers.
in
words and a conglomeration of "eebergenitzevete vitzen"—"outmoded
Dr. Finkelstein points to the debt
(7) jokes."
LONDON—A drug discovered at can do once'a virus infection has
Dr.
Adler
owed
to
his
wife
Goldie.
Surely, Rosten does not come out exonerated for his work at the
symp•
"Her fine humor," he states in his the Hadassah Medical School at started except to relieve the
hands of critics. But he cleverly responded to the assailants and in
deal
foreword, "her endless store of Hebrew University was reported toms and wait for the body to
ill-
answer to Howe especially he makes this point: "Mr. Ilowe's
folktales, her combination of gen- here as a possible key to a cure with them naturally.
tempered remark about Grossinger's makes me wonder why a Socialist tleness and efficiency, of compas- for certain virus infections.
One drawback to other promfs-
who so exalts Man should so despise men and women who harm no sion and firmness, were a constant
According to the leading science ing drugs which act against viruses
one by vacationing in the Catskills."
source of strength to him."
in
the laboratory is that they all
journal "Nature," the drug now
This is hardly a convincing argument, but Rosten had a much bet-
Rabbi Chinitz, who formerly used against bacterial infections in destroy the tissue in which the
ter reply: In a feature article about him in the New York Times by served congregations in Pontiac man, has also been found to act virus is growing.
Israel Shenker, under the title "From Nudnik to Peacenik, It's All
The Hebrew U. drug, Rifarnpidn,
Yiddish," Rosten is quoted as having said about,Howe: "A 'Chachem' and Detroit, in his memoir recalls against a virus infection similar
conversations with Rabbi Adler, his to smallpox in the cells of mice.
can stop a certain virus from mul-
readiness
to
meet
with
people
of
THE
DETROIT
JEWISH
NEWS
tiplying
without killing host cells.
Currently,
there
is
little
doctors
2—Friday, April 25, 1969

90 of Rabbi Adler's Sermons Perpetuate
Leader's Memory in Impressive Volume

—

Hebrew U.'s Medical School Finds
Tests
New Virus Drug Working

•

