'False Start'—Interesting Story of a Jewish Lad,
A lesson in rahamanut—Hebrew
for compassion or mercifulness--
is offered in a children's book,
- False Start," by Gil Rabin, pub-
lished by Harper & Row.
The story is a study in poverty,
ih the miseries suffered under dire
conditions by, an immigrant fam-
ily.
The hero of the story, Richard,
suffers from a home environment
created by the want and the poor
-,housing. 'His immigrant parents
struggled, his father turned to
drinking, unable to secure the kind
of employment' he wanted. He
vanished and his mother was as-
•sisted by his uncle.
But it turned out that the uncle
was a gambler and didn't really
Sourcebooks
in
A recent Schocken Books paper-
back, "The Last Year of Malcolm
X," describes "The Evolution of a
Revolutionary."
Reviewing an important chapter
in the history of race relations, this
volume isa .valuable source book
not only in Negro but in the entire
current American history.
In this volume, George Breitman
covered fully the major aspects of
a struggle, the battle for power, the
attitude of a man who created a
movement and exerted strong in-
fluence upon the black community.
Many aspects in the struggle
against prejudice and•race hatred
are covered in another Schocken
paperback, "Radicals and Conserv-
atives and Other Essays on the
Negro in .America" by Kelly Miller,
with a valuable introduction by
Philip Rieff.
Many bigotries are exposed and
refuted here. There is even refer-
ence to the blood libel as it was
spread in RusSia against Jews.
• There is historical merit in the
analyses that refer to the attitudes
of noted Americans (Thomas Jef-
ferson, Franklin D. Roosevelt and
others) toward the Negro.
The artistic gifts of the Negro
are studied and there are coin-
have the funds he boasted.
Meanwhile Richard turned to
racing and was able to outrun
any boy, and when he learned
that a race fie entered was rig-
ged so that unscrupulous spon-
sors could make some money at
his expense, he began to learn
his lesson as a member of so-
ciety.
Meanwhile his father was locat-
ed in a hospital. Richard learned
compassion. His mother did not
want to abandon her man.
Richard had been told about
Rahamanut (spelled rachmones in
Rabin's book).
While, at the outset, the story
appears like a description of a
boy's hatred for any shame at be-
Negro History
ments on the early struggle-for edu-
cation.
This is truly a source book and a
most informative work on the ma-
jor issue affecting all Americans.
Schocken's series "Sourcebook in
Negro History" emerges as an im-
portant collection for the library's
help on the Negro question with an-
other noteworthy paperback, "A
Modern Slavery," by Henry W.
Nevinson, ■ with an introduction by
Basil Davidson.
Richly illustrated, this volume
exposed the slave trade on the is-
lands-, the trade routes, the centers
of slave trading. It reveals the
African tragedy in all its bluntness.
Golden Age of Chess
Revived in Paperbacks
Two exciting highlights of the
golden age of chess come to life in
Dover's latest paperbacks: "The
Book of the Hastings International
Masters' Tournaments 1922" and
"The Book of the London Inter::
national Chess Congress 1922." The
books are edited by. W. H. Watts,
and the Hastings Tournament vol-
ume has been fully annotated by
the winner, Alexander Alekhine.
The London International Chess
Congress of July 21, 1922-Aug.
19, 1922, brought together over 150
of the world's best chess players.
The feature of the congress was
the Masters' Tournatient in which
16 chess immortals competed:
Capablanca,
Rubinstein, Alekhine,
In "The Crime of Christendom,"
published by Beacon Press, Fred Marotti, Morrison, Bogoljubow,
Gladstone Bratton has produced Reti, Yates, Vidmaw, Znosko-
an attentive and comprehensive Borovky, Euwe, Wahltuch, Atkins,
study of the doctrinal bases of Tartakower, Maroczy and Wat-
Christian anti-Semitism as they son. The Dover, reprint of the fa-
live arisen, expanded, and func- mous Book of this Congress in-
tioned over the centuries. He eludes all 120 games played in the
traces the accepted traditions of Masters' Section (won by Capa-
hatred and persecution of Jews blanca) and a small selection from
through the major events of Chris-' the minor tournaments. The anno-
tian history, and demonstrates tations are by Grand Master Geza
how formal religious belief, foster- Maroczy. A table of games and
ed and amplified by theologians players and a table of openings
(either deliberately or in compara- make the book a fascinating look
tive innocence) develops into a at one of the finest international
conscious attitude, which, absorb- tournaments ever played. Portraits
ed into society, is translated in of the masters who took part are
included.
turn into active hostility.
In the Hastings Tournament of
Consideration of two of the most
shocking modern incidents of anti- 1922, Alekhine, Rubinstein, Bogol-
Semitism—the Dreyfus case and jubow, Thomas, Tarrasch and
the Nazi holocaust—leads Bratton Yates met head-on in a series of
to conclude that the present be- some 30 brilliant games from
ing air of self-congratulation in which Alekhine emerged the win-
the traditional churches (ecumen- ner. The tournament book of this
ism,' proclamations relieving Jews event is an important one, not only
of the guilt- for Jesus' death, inter- because the games were played by
faith councils) is not enough. He some of the greatest names inc.
warns that no significant improve- chess, but also because of
ment in breaking down anti-Semit- hine's exhaustive notes. They are
ism can be expected until the written in great detail, and. with ,
churches relinquish the old "tri- great intensity, never flagging
bal" religious attitudes, and make even through the 14 hours and 114'1
basic changes in their orthodox moves of the famous last-round '
battle between Rubinstein and
Christology.
Thomas. The book includes, in
By lowering high blood pressure, addition to the annotated games, a
you can lower the risk 'of heart , general account of the tournament,
attack, says the Michigan Heart a score table, portraits of the six
Association, a Michigan United masters, and tables of openings,
Fund Ageiscy.
games and players.
Abandon
Views, Bratton
Warns Christians
ing with his parents, it is not real-
ly so. His mother emerges as a
woman df _great compassion and
willingness to strive for the hest
for her family. She posed when
asked to read, although she was
an illiterate. But that was part of
the tragedy of an immigrant's life.
One must read the entire story
to realize that conditions of the
time, of the outside world, the im-
position of struggle, created the
sad situation. By recognizing the
values of rahamanut, R i c h a rid
emerges out of the despair and
• bitterness.
I Indeed, as the title of the book
indicated, it was a "false start"
for a Jewish boy. It ends with a
sense of compassion and adherence
to basic principles of honor.
`So Young' Rabbi
Authors Essitys
on Many Subjects
Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins of Phil-
adelphia's Har Zion Temple was
ordained at the Jewish Theological
Seminary in 1964 at the age of 26,
1 and the question often is posed to
him how one so young can be a
rabbi. Perhaps that explains the
title of his book, "So Young to Be a
Rabbi," published by Thomas Yo-
setoff. He explains at the outset
that the volume is not authobiogra-
phical, yet there are aspects of self-
revealing motivations in some of
the essays.
• It is a book of interesting essays
on a vast variety of subjects, such
as comparing Moshe Sharet with
Adlai Stevenson, or drawing a .pa-
rallel between Presidents Ben-Zvi
of Israel and Kennedy of the
United States.
Having studied at the Hebrew
'University in Jerusalem, there is
the personal touch in the section,
which he describes life as a stu-';
dent in Israel and deals with the
Hebrew University, Israel's reli-
gious expressions, the Yemenites,
a scholar's seder. And he pur-
sues the personal experiences in,
his descriptions of archaeological,
processes, Yigal Yadin's role,
the biblical commentaries of Ye-
heskel Kaufman, taking occasion
while dealing with the Bible to
commend "The Anchor Bible," ,
the Doubleday product.
Rabbi Elkins was an army chap-
18—Friday, September 19. 1969
`Tan urant '
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
VolumeIssued by Dover
At the beginning of the 19th
century, American adventurers in
China brought back to the states
the Chinese game of "seven clever
pieces" or tangram, which in-
volves the fitting together of seven
simple pieces (a square, a paral-
lelogram, 'and five triangles) in
different ways, so as to make an
astonishing variety of fdrms and
figures, shapes and patterns.
The prototype of all that's tricky
and perplexing, the tangram was
something of a popular craze in
the 1840s and a favorite game of
Edgar Allen Poe, Lewis Carroll,
John Quincy Adams, H. E. Dude-
ney, and Napoleon himself. But its
most addicted devotee was the
great American puzzlist Sam Loyd.
In 1903, Loyd collected hundreds
of tangrams he remembered from
his childhood, added a few of his
own, and published the whole as
"The Eighth Book of Tan." This
intriguing work has just been re-
printed by Dover in paperback,
with a new introduction and a new
set of solutions by Peter Van Note.
The book includes a long, amus-
ing "treatise" on the tangfam's
history, its esoteric connotations-
symbolism in religion, and sup-
posed origin in ancient China. This
"precise" account is now known to
be
a spoof, but curiously enough,
Aged Home Thinks of Tots
it
was once. taken very seriously.
NEW YORK (JTA) — Menora
Home and Hospital for the Aged
and Infirm, in Brooklyn, formally
opened its new Charles Goldman
Park, a facility that will serve
1,000 residents and day center
members. The park, covering 10,-
000 square feet, contains new out-
door furniture, a play area for
children who come to visit grand-
parents a n d great-grandparents
who reside in the home, and an
elaborate, fully-equipped stage that
will be used for plays produced by
Menora's dramatics group.
Menora, a pioneer in the geria•
trics field, has 500 residents, 300
day center members and 200 aged
who are served in the Out-Patien°
Geriatrics Clinic.
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l ain and his group of essays Rab-
bi in Uniform" have additional
merit.
Then there are his articles "Rah-'
bi Means Teacher" and in addition
to the comments on "Americanism
and Judaism" in which he deals .
with important personalities he has
a group entitled "Some Holiday
Thoughts" explaining the Jewish
calendar and the festivals.
Thus, the Elkins work is a vital
collection of explanatory essays on
a vast variety of Jewish subjects,
and a rabbi "so young" presents
his view with great vigor.
Ex-Israelis Offered
Immigrant Privileges
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israeli ex-
patriates who left the country
before Jan. 1, 1964 will be entitled
to all the privileges granted to new
immigrants provided that they re-
turn home by Sept. 1, 1970.
One of the privileges is the al-
most duty-free importation of a
car. Israelis pay a 250 per cent
duty on imported cars plus a sales
tax.
The dispensation to returnees
was begun last year in order to
attract home large numbers of- so-
called "yordim," Israelis who
settled abroad but did not give up
their Israeli citizenship.
Still pending is a decision on
whether to extend the privileges
beyond the Sept. 1, 1970 deadline.
FOR SALADS. BAKING, FRYING
it lets the true taste
of Food come throughj
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TODAY'S GREATEST BATTLE AGAINST CATAS-