Purely Commentary
Accent: Soul and Agony
Accent is seldom dialectically denigrated. On the con-
trary, there is a fascination in hearing English spoken
with a British or Scottish or Irish or American-Southern
intonation. That's when it becomes musical.
In Hebrew, accent is defined as "ta'am," "negina,"
"ne'ima" and these mean pleasant taste, musical, melodi-
ous, pleasant. It might even be possible to assign to the
collected definitions the word "signon" which implies that
accent denotes a style of distinction.
Robert Charles Benchley (1889-1945), in "The Old
Sea Rover Speaks," had an interesting comment: "I haven't
been abroad in so long that I almost speak English without
an accent."
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), in "Emile," gave
this added emphasis to accent in speech: "Accent is the
soul of a language; it gives the feeling and truth to it."
One always turns to Shakespeare, and we quote him
from "King Lear:" "My dialect, which you discommend
so much."
Is accent always applicable to general acceptance,
and is it always musical and pleasant?
Duc de Francois L Rochefoucauld, (1613-1680) in his
"Maximes," gave a definition that provides a clue for
the puzzle that was created for us at the Stratford Shake-
spearean Festival. He stated: "The accent of one's country
dwells in the mind and the heart, as well as on the tongue."
"In one's country" implies the naturalness of a musical
accent. It can differ area-wise. Those in northern France
have a different intonation from the French-speaking
southerners in that land. The same applies to England—
and to the differing accentuations in the use of English in
various parts of this country.
It was calamitous in "Othello" at the Stratford (On-
tario) Shakespearean Festival. "Othello" was 'a powerful
man, but his accent when he spoke English didn't fare
well. It wasn't sufficiently the Israeli Nahum Buchman's
English. Not that accent is melodious only in one's country:
but, like Benchley, he may not have 'been abroad long
enough.
Judging by reviewers' reactions to his dialectical skills,
we may have to go to the Habima in Israel to enjoy
Nahum Buchman's "Othello" interpretation in Hebrew.
*
Variety of Experiences in Politics, Prejudices,
Language, Art, Russian Apologetics, Middle East
country last week. Leonid Brezhnev was accompanied by
hundreds of secretaries and newsmen. Security was the
strictest on record in Washington, at Camp David and in
San Clemente.
How different the situation was when Vyacheslav
Molotov represented the USSR at the session held in San
Francisco in 1945 for the founding of the United Nations!
Molotov never had more than a couple of secretaries with
him. Police were hardly in sight. We were two or three
feet apart at press conferences. After sessions, Molotov
would get into his automobile and be driven to the Rus-
sian boat that brought him to San Francisco and which
he served as his hotel during the UNO it was the re-
ferred to as United Nations Organization) sessions.
It was on that occasion that your commentator, as a
member of the Jewish Agency delegation to the San Fran-
cisco sessions, met with Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg to
plead with him again in behalf of a Jewish Palestine.
That's when the Michigan Senator, who was among this
country's top leaders at the UN organizational sessions,
had his dealings with Molotov. On one such meeting,
close to midnight, in his hotel room, Vandenberg, flushed,
tired, still in his tux after a state dinner, said to me: "I
just met with Molotov. He didn't get away with a thing,
and he never will !"
It was at a time when we struggled for recognition of
the principles of the Zionist ideal. Not many were hopeful.
Had there been hope, Vandenberg would have been more
responsive. We won in spite of pessimism and obstacles.
The Art of Speech-Writing
Dy rnsrip
Slomovitz
moment Jews, as Jews, seek to adhere to their ancient
tongue—Hebrew—and to Yiddish. Other ethnic groups
are not deterred. from learning a mother tongue other
than Russian and of teaching it to their children. Jews
are prohibited from adhering to Hebrew, and Yiddish
has been restricted to a single Communist-oriented month-
ly that sells more outside than inside Russia. Jews are
condemned as traitors when they endorse the Zionist
program and seek support for Israel. That's a direct act
of prejudice.
Prof. Braginsky is right: Jews get equal pay with
others. He is right when he says Jews are rising high in
academic fields and have gained fame as scientists. What
does that prove? He says, "Russian Jews live in peace and
security . . . have no worries about the future of children
and grandchildren." Then why are Jews rebelling? Most
are as loyal as he is to Russia, but they prefer a Jewish
existence and they say so. And they want the right to
emigrate. He can stay on, and so will hundreds of thou-
sands of his Jewish fellow-countrymen: not all Jews desire
to leave Russia for Israel. The tens of thousands—perhaps
they'll run into the hundreds of thousands—have that right.
That's what the fight is about—in addition to the struggle
to prevent Soviet Jewry from being deprived of cu .'
freedom.
If Prof. Braginsky were to be talked to privately, he
would surely admit that it is totally unncessary for anyone
of us, outside Russia, to refute his facts, figures and argu-
ments. His fellow Jews in Russia are doing it daily. They
are the natural protesters. They have courage—much more
than the. apologists for the Kremlin. That's the stuff of
men and women who will thereby make great contribu-
tions to the life of freedom they are seeking in Israel.
Jerome J. Shestack, president of the Jewish Publica-
*
tion Society of America, displayed excellence in speech.
making at meetings of the society. In a special article on
Senator Jackson's Political Aura
the New York Times Op-Ed page, Tuesday, Shestack,
Senator Henry M. (Scoop) Jackson's courageous
who is a prominent 'Philadelphia lawyer, revealed that he
was the speech-writer for Sargent Shriver in the last stand in defense of Russian Jews has inevitably assumed
a political aura. It's true that politicians are often sus-
presidential election. "Writer Responsibility" was She-
pected of ulterior motives and at least one correspondent
stack's theme. It enabled us to connect his abilities as
speech-maker and speech-writer: both are dependent upon
of a Detroit newspaper in Washington even suggested that
"Scoop" may be seeking the Jewish 'vote when he is
research ability which Shestack has displayed on several
occasions.
candidate again for the presidency in 1976.
All of which reminds us of a personal role. On several
There is, however, a more authoritative word from a
occasions, it was this commentator's task to 'prepare
distinguished columnist and Washington correspondent.
advanced texts of articles for publication under the Chaim
The well-known Joseph C. Harsch, writing in the column
A Very, VERY Personal Note: About Barcus
Weizmann signature. Of course, the great leader's touch "State of the Nation" on the subject "The politics of it
A temptation to reminisce arose with the sad news
made the essays his own. A major essay in that category all," had this to say:
of the passing of Harvey H. Barcus.
was featured in the now defunct New York Jewish Tribune.
"Among the Democrats who presumably are
He was one of Detroit's ablest sports writers. He
The most interesting experience was the preparation
seeking
that nomination the biggest gainer would
loved his profession. He knew the games. He made a dis-
a sermon Dr. Stephen S. Wise delivered in Carnegie
seem to be Sen. Henry (Scoop) Jackson of Washing-
tinct contribution towards the advancement of the athletic of
Hall in 1926. It was an answer to an anti-Zionist attack
ton who has solid labor support, a conservative record
spirit in the public schools
by a Prof. •Pritchett of Columbia University. The United
on
military and foreign policy matters, and is un-
and he has a great enthu-
Palestine Appeal public information staff readied the text
tainted by the slightest breath of scandal or impro-
siasm for high s c h o o I
and those of us who worked on it surrounded Dr. Wise
priety. If the voters of 1976 are looking for someone
sports.
as he judged it for himself. In addition to this writer,
untouchable in the ethical department Senator Jackson
The very personal recol-
in our group were the late Israel Goldberg (Rufus Learsi),
would make an ideal candidate. Senator Kennedy
lection is our days together
Nathan Ausubel, the eminent anthologist, David Schwartz,
would not. His chances at a 1976 nomination are
on the staff of the Detroit
JTA
columnist.
probably at an all-time low. Probably he should be
News. We played tennis
scratched now from any list of serious prospects."
Stephen Wise went to work, with his fountain pen
often on the roof of the De-
For Senator Jackson, this must have been a most
filled with the green ink that was his preference because
troit News, and since neith-
encouraging word from an authoritative political analyst.
he was born on St. PatriCk's Day. When he got through
er one of us was such a
For his friends, especially those who admire his stand in
with our text, it became his. He was the master. Every
master of the game we
defense of USSR Jewry, this is like a signal for action in
phrase was retouched, strong words were inserted, new
often shot the balls over the
ideas were interlinked with the old and established cliches.
another election in which the American electorate may
roof and had to run down
No one wrote for S. S. Wise after he had rewritten what-
three flights of stairs into
negate the landslide of 1972.
Lafayette Boulevard to re-
ever was proposed for him.
Certainly, there are important Republican names• that
trieve them.
There is a skill in speech-writing: there is greater are being bandied around as eminent presidential candi-
On several Passovers,
skill in rewriting it for personal use. That's how our
dates. But Jackson is so much in our bailiwick now that
Late Harvey H. Barcus
Harvey and your commen-
statesmen operated: what they said, in the long run, was
we make special note of him in the Harsch predictions.
tator located restaurants where we could be served the
their own words.
holiday meals.
He was a wonderful and lovable guy and there really
was also a family friendship. His brother, the late Frank
Apologists for Kremlin: The Distortions
Barcus, was a fine artist. He was .he maker of this
Russian apologetics are falling flat on all scores. The
writer's' Book Plate and some 20,000 of them are in books
attempt to build up a case on the score of Soviet Jews'
that had gone to the 'Hebrew University and the University
dissatisfaction with Israel couldn't carry weight on the
of Michigan.
basis of fewer than 400 emigres having indicated a desire
*
to return to Russia. Out of a total integration of some
Reminiscing: Brezhnev and Molotov
60,000 Jews in Israel, the numbers desiring to leave
Israel and return to the USSR is so infinitesimal that the
amazement is over the minuteness of the disgruntled.
After all, there is a revolutionary change for anyone
settling in Israel from any other climate and environment.
Yet, the dissatisfactions of Russian settlers in their re-
deemed homeland vanish as quickly among them as those
coming from other lands.
Even more interesting in the official Russian attempt
to create the impression that USSR Jewry is fully en-
thused with its Kremlin rulers is the pressure frequently
exerted upon some Jews of prominence to sing the praises
of the Communist masters. One such bear's dance to the
tune of the trainers was the article in Soviet News—the
English language Moscow-published magazine—by Prof.
Joseph Braginsky.
True: this Jewish professor is an Hebraic scholar,
and he may, indeed, be an authority on the Near East.
But his article could have been dated at the time of the
Prof. Ephraim Katzir, president of Israel, addresses
Menshevik regime of Alexander Kerensky. That's when,
the Jewish Agency board of governors, at the recent meet-
for the brief period of the defeat of Czarism, Jews were ing in Jerusalem as Detroiters Paul Zuckerman, left, gen-
Arthur H. Vandenberg
Vyacheslav Molotov
the equals of equals. That's how Prof. Braginsky entitles
eral chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, and Max M.
While reminiscing, this is a good time to speak of an
his article: "Jews in the USSR—Equals of Equals."
Fisher, chairman of the board of governors and UJA hon-
experience relating to the visit of the Russians to this
Now the equality is on the same score as oppres-
orary general chairman, look on.
sion of all religions, but that "equality" vanishes the
Detroit Look at Israel Meeting
2—Friday, June 29, 1973
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS