Golden's 'Abee Gezundt' Continues Author's Stresses on Experience
There is no doubt about it: Harry
Golden is very clever. By mere
selection of a good title he man-
ages to gather up lots and lots
of little squibs and thereby pro-
duces a book.
He proved it with "Ess Ess
Mein Kind" and now we have his
collection of nearly 250 bits of
writings, some of ,
three or four
lines and others
of an equal num-
ber of pages, in
a book entitled
"As L o 1n g As
You're Healthy,"
published by Put-
nam. And the
cleverness is in
the original
meaning of the
Golden
title: abee gezundt!
All he needed, of course, to
link his book with his title, is an
explanatory note about the title.
The first two pages do the trick.
In them he explains the back-
ground of the phrase, including
the well known comment about a
relative's state of health, "Cancer,
schmancer—abee gezundt!" And
with a definition of attitudes on
the New York East Side—wherever
Jews expressed Joy over good
health—he reiterates to his friends,
"no matter what befalls you, abee
gezundt."
From that point on Golden
evaluates the state of the nation,
the experiences during this cen-
tury, the men and women who
figured in the world news, the
creative as well as the destruc-
tive factors.
As in his earlier works, Golden
is the democratically-minded fel-
low, the defender of civil rights,
the splendid depictor of the role
of the black man. At the same
time he shares Jewish experiences
with his readers.
Especially remarkable about
Harry Golden is his memory. He
recalls in this volume events that
took place during the past 60 or
more years and he gives accounts
of unusual occurences in American
history.
In fact, his memory relates to
world history. He has anecdotes
and historical data about all the
Presidents in this century and he
traces events of the earlier, the
19th century.
He gives the reader accounts in
the lives of Ghandi, Einstein and
Freud—he considers these three
the greatest men of our time.
Philodophy mingles with humor
in the Golden "So Long As
You're Healthy" speculations,
and he takes advantage of every
possible opportunity to tell a Yid-
dish story.
True: many of his tales are
corny. At times he gives emphasis
to the exaggerated ideas about
Jewish materialism. For instance,
he, too, Portnoy-like, has a two-
line item about two Jewish
mothers. One says her son is a
homosexual, and the other com-
ments: "That's nice, where's his
office?" So—we have to accept
the complimentary with the un-
ripe chestnut. But on the same
page he has a "Roll Call" item
about a progressive school in which
students express the thoughts that
come to their minds and the one
uttered by Donald Cohen is: "I
pledge a thousand dollars." Is this
real? No, it's a chance to resort to
Inflammatory Rhetoric
Could Harm Initiatives
in 11.E., U.S. Aide Says
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A high
administration official warned that
inflammatory rhetoric on the Mid-
dle East could harm the delicate
Ame r i c an diplomatic initiativ?s
now under way. The official spoke
at a special State Department
briefing for 475 visiting state and
locally elected office holders.
He made his remarks when
pressed by some of his visitors as
to why the administration was not
more forthright in aiding Israel
and warning Moscow against mili-
tary intervention.
Under rules of the briefing, the
official could not be identified or
quoted directly. He said that be-
cause of the sensitive nature of
Mid East diplomacy, the U.S. was
being very careful in its public
comments. He quoted President
Nixon's July 1 television statement
that the U.S. would do everything
necessary to maintain Israel's
deterrent military power.
According to the official, the
President's words were about as
firm as could be made publicly at
this time. He said the administra-
tion believes that any rhetoric
about the Mid East situation tends
to be inflammatory.
Mail Backlog Received
From 2 Israelis in Syria
TEL AVIV (JTA)—The families
of two Israeli pilots held captive
in Syria received a backlog of mail
from them July 14 through the
International Red Cross.
Five letters were written by Pin-
has Nahmani and four by Gideon
Magen, apparently over a long
period of time. The Syrians col-
lected them and handed them over
to the Red Cross.
No letters were received how-
ever, from the third captive pilot,
Boaz Eitan, giving rise to concern
for his welfare. The Red Cross
say he is all right, but they have
not been permitted by Syrian
authorities to visit any of the pilots.
The three were shot down last
month in fighting over the Golan
Heights. Israel has offered to ex-
change more than 30 Syrian prison-
ers of war for them, but Syrian
authorities have not responded to
the offer.
Israel's Red Cross Aids Peru Victims
bad luck."
self-ridicule. And since the estab-
This is the fashion in which
lished truth is that Jews can laugh
at themselves, let's ask: "Is this Golden delightfully links a good
wish for the health of all—abee
the way?"
But Golden also knows how to gezundt—with the dangers as well
defend. He exposes the lie about as the ordinary ways of life.
Jews dominating in Communist
Abee gezundt will be liked in the
ranks. He exposes anti-Semitism. translation as well as the original
He loves Israel and shows it on text that perpetuates a most en-
many occasions.
tertaining—and often informative—
In his battle against anti-Semi- book by a splendid observer with
tism Golden has some very firm a good sense of humor.
statements, whether it is about
haters in Germany or in Montana.
Thus, in an item "Wishing Gen-
tiles prosperity," he makes this
comment:
"I have had no illusions about
the end of anti-Semitism. There
is no real cure. If all the Jews
disappeared tomorrow, the anti-
Semites would still have the
gravestones. After they had de-
stroyed all the gravestones, they
would still have the bodies to
dig up. It is endless.
"Our only hope is to maintain
vigilance, particularly in the
democracies, to resist with all
our might the attempt to de-
stroy or subvert the democratic
institutions which protect us,
and to pray daily for the good
health and the prosperity of the
Gentiles. We are in danger only-
when the Gentile suffers some
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, July 24, 1970-11
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Magen David Adom, Israel's official red cross agency, has dis-
patched a series of relief shipments to the victim of the Peruvian
earthquakes. Included in the shipments were medicines, bandages,
blood plasma, blankets and children's clothing. Roger Rosengarten
(right), administrative director of American Red Mogen Dovid for
Israel, supply wing for Magen Divid Adom, supervises the first
series of dispatches as New York Assemblyman Arthur J. Cooper-
man, a member of the American Red Mogen Dovid advisory panel,
looks on.
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