'A World of Twilight' Describes Vanished
European Communities as Drawn by Reiss,
With Definitive Essays by Singer and Hindus
American Jewry today is over-
whelmingly native born. AL very
small percentage represents those
who were born abroad. Many in
our ranks now are counted in the
second and third generation.
While recollections of the Old
World arouse deep emotions among
the generation that stemmed from
the European environment, many
of the younger elements and the
newer generations are equally
loft aroused by the tales that come
from there, the photos they often
sec in their parents' albums, the
incidents recorded in literature.
That is why "A World at Twilight
— A Portrait of the Jewish
Communities of Eastern Europe
Before the Holocaust" is such an
impressive and most valuable
work to keep us aware of what
had been in the lives of the par-
ents who escaped the terror and
gained American freedom.
There are 110 paintings—some
in color—and drawings and etch-
ings in this book, and the noted
artist, Lionel S. Reiss, provided
the art for this book. The text is
by the distinguished author, Mil-
ton Hindus. Isaac Bashevis Singer
wrote the preface.
There are 167 line drawings
and watercolors by Lionel S.
Reiss in this volume. He had
been to Europe in the 1920s and
his works depict the impressions
he had gathered. His works have
won international recognition
and many of them are on dis-
play in the Jewish Museum in
New York, the Bezalel Museum
In Jerusalem and many other
museums. He has won honors
from the Whitney Museum and
the Museum of-Modern Art:The
reproductions accompanying this
review give some idea of the
nostalgic spirit depicted by the
eminent artist.. The reader of
"A World-at Twilight" -Will feel
amply rewarded for this invest-
ment in this book by Reiss'
works as well as the text, and
this volume will be a source of
pride to its possessors.
of the world that has been de-
stroyed. The reader learns about
the poverty the- people suffered.
He also learns about their piety,
their love of Torah, their desire
to worship and to debate condi-
tions as they are depicted in an-
cient lore and as they apply to
Singer's preface is lengthy. It them.
This is a social study. It also
is a commentary on life in Old
World communities and the man- is an observance of religious
ner in which their status position phenomena.
has been depicted by artists. In
Hindus devotes himself also to
relation to Reiss' works he as- a study of the Hasidic factors
serts:
among the people who are the
"We need many artists like heroes in this volume.
But there also are the nega-
Lionel S. Reiss who are conscious
tive features, the superstitions
of the flimsiness and frailty of
he calls attention to , the suffer-
human existence generally and of
ings people undergo.
our present civilization especially.
Nowadays there is no guarantee
Furthermore, there is great in-
that New York, Moscow and Lon- terest in the chapter he devotes
don will not share the lot of War- to the consideration of the place
saw or Kovno. There are moments of women in that society.
when one fears that this is almost
There also is the necessary ad-
unavoidable. In a way, the whole dendum—the chapter on "Trans-
world can be compared to Poland plantation" that tells about those
in the twenties, when Mr. Reiss who survived, who came to the
traveled with his sketchbook and New World. There were the heart-
the few belongings that could be breaking experiences in the trans-
carried on a bicycle."
formation, and these, too, are not
Singer gives an account of ignored as Hindus recalls the im-
Reiss' aims and accomplishments, migrants' struggles.
and his review of the man's work
Indeed, the entire volume is a
is a marked contribution to the lot study of a world in poverty and
of an idealistic artist whose the subsequent Holocaust results.
sketches describe so vividly the But the world that was had its
communities that have vanished.
fascinations, and an artist, with
Warsaw, Kovno, Tarnopol, Bialy- a genius for descriptive talent, has
stok, Vilna—many of the old cities resurrected an interesting era;
that were centers of Jewish life and noted authors have given their
are the subjects of Reiss' devo- views of events among a genera-
tionals in his descriptions of peo- tion that vanished and some of the
ple, marketplaces, synagogues, survivors.
historic shrines.
Out of these efforts_ has emerged
Implementing the artistic endea- a very great book. "A World at
vors is the text—the many essays Twilight.'!_published_by ,Macmillan,
by Milton Hindus. The eminent earns that rating.
author deals with the primitiveness
— P. S.
Theology, Middle East, American Minorities,
Political Issues in Hard Covers, Paperbacks
Prof. Jacob M. Landau of the
faculty of political science at the
Hebrew University, who was a
visiting professor at Wayne State
University several years ago, is
known as one of the noted scholars
Ka. in Arabic and the history of the
Middle East. His 'The Hejaz Rail-
way and the Muslim Pilgrimage
—A Case of Ottoman Political
Propaganda," published by Wayne
State University Press, contains
the important Muhammad Arif
document he had discovered.
The document propagates the
Hejaz railway project connecting
Damascus with Medina and Mecca.
It is judged as an example of
growing Arab nationalism in the
early part of this century.
Dr. Landau's book contains the
Arabic text of the manuscript and
the English translation. The Arif
text shows how a struggle de-
® veloped for reform in Turkey when
Arab nationalism served as an
important factor in the establish-
ment of the railway.
This is a highly scholarly work
that will be of immense value for
historians and serves as a signi-
ficant background in studying the
Arab nationalist tendencies as
they may relate also to the present
struggle in the Middle East.
•
weig and Eugen Rosenstock-
Huessy.
Under the title "Judaism De-
spite Christianity," Schocken Books
has reissued this volume as a
paperback.
Rosenstock-Huessy states in his
acknowledgements that Franz
Rosenzweig's widow, who is now
Mrs. Edith Scheinman of Berlin,
consented to the publication of
these letters.
It is -interesting to note in these
letters that Rosenzweig, the widely
acclaimed returnee to Judaism
after he had nearly abandoned the
faith, viewed Zionism as an un-
reality.
• • .
Minorities in America
A brief chapter on American
Jews and numerous references to
Jewish roles in this country are
included in "The Other Americans
—Minorities in American History,"
by Kathleen Wright, issued as a
paperback by Fawcett Books.
As a study ,of American ethnic
groups and their relationship to
the total historical aspects of the
country, this volume offers much
aid to historians and is a guide to-
ward an understanding of the
minorities in our midst by students
of world affairs.
Knife Grind,
Krakow
Shop.,
which resumes 500 years later in a
science dominated sphere.
The heroes, frozen alive at their
own request, are reborn and are
the
evidence of a scientific ex-
in "Growing Up Clean in America,"
by Joseph S. Lobenthal Jr., pub- periment that emerges in an excit-
lished as a paperback by Pocket ing novel.
Books. It was originally published
by World Books.
Poe's 'Seven Tales'
Ramsey Clark, in an introduc-
Schocken Books, whose specialty
tion, commends the book and de-
clares that "The Bill of Rights is Jewish classics, has issued
a
volume entirely different in
must be extended to fully protect
nature. It is a most fascinating
the young."
work containing "Seven Tales"
The generation gap, the law- by Edgar Allen Poe.
yers' role, "draft-craft," frisk-
It's not the tales—included are
ing. searches and other related
issues are thoroughly covered in "The Black Cat," "Mesmeric
Revelation," "Ligeia," "The Man
excellent analyses.
of the Crowd," "The Oval Por-
* * *
trait," "The Fall of the House of
Usher" and "The P u r lo ined
Barry Goldwater's Views
Letter." Rather, it is because the
Senator Barry Goldwater sees tales appear, for the first time,
the failure of liberalism and envi- with their French translation and
sions "isolationism again" in his a prefatory essay by Charles Bau-
"The Conscience of a Majority." delaire.
Published as a paperback by
Pocket Books, this volume con-
tains the Republican leader's views
on the communications media, on
party differences, on labor and a
look into the future. He sees the
nature of man as unchanging and
warns against "power-mad men"
who could be "the instruments of
a worldwide nightmare."
* *
Franz Rosenzweig's Views
Science Thriller
Among the classics in theologi-
cal discussions are the "Letters on Bill of Rights and Youth
David Levy wrote an exciting
Christianity and Judaism" that
Many issues involving legal cont. science thriller. His "The Gods of
Foxcroft,"
were exchanged by Franz Rosenz- plexities in America are covered
a Pocket Books paper-
back, deals with the space world.
411 Friday, January 7, 1972
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS It is a love story on Planet Earth,
—
Lionel S. Reiss' Drawings
W. T. Bandy edited this unusual
work and wrote the introduCtion
to it. Baudelaire wrote the essay
"Edgar Allen Poe, His Life and
Works."
*
Defining Depression
Notable current paperbacks in-
clude "Up From Depression" in
which the psychiatrist Dr. Leon-
ard Cammer defines depression,
suggests how to recognize it and
what to do about it when it strikes
home. He tackles the question in
view of a generation's moving from
anxiety to depression, he describes
the developments, and quotes fig-
ures that 20,000 commit suicide
yearly, 90 per cent of them caused
by depression. The paperback was
published by Pocket Books.
• •
Terror Strikes Youth
One of the toughest novels writ-
ten about juvenile toughs is a
Pocket Books paperback "The
Amboy Dukes" by Irving Shuhnan.
Shulman's is a revealing story of
the terror that strikes youth to-
day and the gang life that involves
many in sex diversions, drugs,
etc.
* * *
Noam Cholnsky's Philosophy
Prof. Noam -Chomsky of MIT is
one of the-entinent scholars whose
controversial views on American
affairs, the challenges of the war
in Asia, the Middle-- East have
placed him in the foreground in
the disputes on . major , issues.
He was invited to give the first
lectures in honor of Bertrand Rus-
sell at Trinity College,..Cambridge,
and the texts are included in a
volume issued by Pantheon Books
under the title "Problems of
Knowledge and Freedom"
The titles of the two lectures in
this book are "On Interpreting the
World" and "On Changing the
World."
*
Alcoholism and AleohoUcs
Alcoholism, and Alcoholics are
thoroughly analyzed by an expert
who made a deep study of the
subject.
Dr.- Claude Steiner, in "Games
Alcoholics Play: The- Analysis of
Life Scripts," reviews the problem
and offers solutions that -will be
of great value in sociological aP-
proacbes. -
Dr. Eric Berne wrote the intro-
duction to this interesting-.boon.