Son Defends Eliezer Ben Yehuda's Traditions

By HAIM MASS

(Copyright 1973 JTA, Inc.)

Every Israeli and many a
tourist to Israel are familiar
with the name Eliezer Ben
Yehuda, if only because it
adorns a street in each of
Israel's major cities. This is
a modest tribute paid to the
man who, eight decades ago,
converted a tongue of prayer
into a modern language.
The unique story of the
odd tubercular who in de-
fiance of the Jerusalem
Orthodox Jewish Old City
population embarked upon
the Herculean task of mod-
ernizing the ancient tongue of
- prophets literally word
lord, terrorizing his own
family into speaking Hebrew
only, is today one of the most
fascinating chapters of Israeli
school curricula.
Ehud Ben Yehuda, only
surviving son of the legend-
ary scholar, occupies a pano-
- ramie apartment atop a cen-
trally located building over-
looking the Old City where he
was born more than 75 years
ago. He has been devoting
his life to making his late
father's triumph complete.
After his father's death, he
saw to it that Eliezer Ben
Yehuda's 17-volume "Thesau-
rus of Ancient and Modern
Hebrew," on which the schol-
ar had worked for 40 years,
was published and distributed
to every cultured Israeli
home. Subsequently, Ehud
himself composed today's
most popular English-He-
brew-English pocket diction-
ary.
One might think that the
fame of Eliezer Ben Yehuda,
whose life work has been de-
picted in numerous essays,
biographies and even novels,
including one by Robert St.
John, should be a source of
great satisfaction to his sur-
viving offspring: Ehud and
his two sisters, Dola and
Ada, all living in Jerusalem.
This, however, is only part-
ly true. As it happened, the
fanatic's children have in-
herited much of their father's
stubbornness. They refuse
to take cognizance of the fact
that any living language, He-
brew not excepted, is prone
to changes in the course of
time. New words are created
as the need arises; others
bec6me obsolete; still others,
coined as Biblical or Arabic
derivations by Eliezer Ben
Yehuda, have never struck
roots in practical usage.
This lack of compromise is
vividly reflected in the style
of language employed by
Ehud Ben Yehuda, his wife
Dora and their teen-age
daughter Hemda (named for
her famous grandmother).
Ehud's son Eliezer—a Con-
servative rabbi in Butler,
Pa. — and his daughter,
Eliezra — a teacher of He-
brew and Talmud Torah in
Brooklyn — share this con-
sistency. To them and all
other living Ben Yehudas,
"Good night" is not "Layla
Tov," as one says in every
Israeli milieu, but "Be-tuv
ta-linu," literally meaning
"May you enjoy a good
night's rest." Their Hebrew
for such words as spinach,
tomato, sandwich, jacket and
picnic would be incompre-
hensible to any graduate of
the Hebrew University, even
though it is included in
Ehud's mass-produced dic-
tionary.
Then there was Ehud's dis-
appointment over the Ben
Yehuda museum, about to
open its gates in a new
building under construction
on the university campus in
Jerusalem, which will house
the Hebrew Language Acad-

emy (also founded by Ben
Yehuda).
Ehud, following his return
to Jerusalem from a lengthy
stay in New York, opened
his own, private Ben Yehuda
museum in a two-story build-
ing inherited from his par-
ents, which had once been
presented to his father as a
gift from American Jewry.
Unable to run the museum
at his own expense, Ehud
sold it to the Jerusalem
municipality on the under-
standing that it would be
turned into a folklore and
tourist attraction. Mayor
Teddy Kollek revised the
museum idea, on the grounds
that Ben Yehuda, who had
died shortly before the com-
pletion of the building, had
never personally lived there.
If the place was not authen-
tic, he reasoned, the museum

might as well be transplant-
ed into the future new
academy building.
Another grievance voiced
by Ehud is that although due
tribute has been paid to his
father as the reviver of He-
brew, his dominant role as
the first originator of practi-
cal Zionism has been over-
looked. Eliezer Ben Yehuda
called for a Jewish settle-
ment in Eretz Israel long
before Herzl conceived his
idea of a Jewish state there,
considering the Hebrew
renaissance merely as an
auxiliary tool toward this
goal. Nor is it generally
known that Eliezer Ben Ye-
huda wrote a voluminous,
quite revolutionary commen-
tary on the Bible. Though
the manuscript is available,
not even excerpts of it have
so far been published.

Dubinsky's 'Jewish Unionists'
Roles in Blue-Collar Study

national Ladies Garment
Workers' Union), and what
might 'be said of him might
be — and certainly is — said
of the union. Paul Jacobs, a
journalist of New Left cast,
wrote in Harper's:
"The tragedy of the ILGWU
is that its leaders do not
understand the membership.
. . . A far deeper cultural
empathy and common tradi-
tion exist today between the
Jewish ILGWU leaders and
the Jewish employers. . .
"Dubinsky's Yiddish a c -
cent, Jacobs observed, was a
factor in the empathy be-
tween the Jewish union lead-
er and the Jewish employers.
He stated further that the
union's financial report 're-
flects the tight hold of the
past;' that Jewish and Ital-
ian organizations received
more in ILGWU support than
black, Puerto Rican, or Mex-
ican groups. One donation
was for a Luigi Antonini Sta-
dium in Haifa. (Antonini is
an old-time leader and now
vice president of the ILGWU.)
Gus Tyler, education direc-
tor of the ILGWU, responded
that the union believed that
$130,000 is not too large a
contribution over three years
to help the children of the
six million Jews extermin-
ated by Hitler. Noting that
he was aware when he wrote
it of the article's emphasis
on Dubinsky's Yiddishness
and of his emphasis on the
Greeley, in the same art- Jewish aspect of the union,
icle, states: "Research shows Jacobs reports, nonetheless,
that the ethnics are no more that he was shocked to re-
racist than anyone else, and ceive approving mail from
that the Irish are second only anti-Semites, 'horrible mail,
to the Jews in their score on congratulating me on having
pro-integration scales; b u t exposed the role of Jews in
such evidence is systemat- running unions and even in-
ically ignored by those con- viting me to speak at meet-
vinced it can't possibly be ings of one anti-Semitic group
in South Carolina.' Jacobs
true."
asserted that he did not in-
Thomas R. Brooks, writing tend to stop writing about
on "Breakdown in Newark," Jews—'one must write his
gives statistics relating to the perceptions of the truth' or
decline of the Jewish popula- not be a writer. There is no
tion in that community.
evidence that the shock he
An interesting reference to received when anti-Semites
David Dubinsky, the IGLWU congratulated him has muted
leader, in an article by Dor- his sense of mission.
othy Rabinowitz, quotes him,
"That article was written
in answer to a question how in 1962. Now Louis Stulberg
he stayed young, upon his is presided of the Interna-
retirement, as saying: "I do tional and there is but one
two things. I take care of ILGWU local which has a
myself and I take care of my serious insurgent faction. As
enemies." The article pro- for the surprising lack of any
ceeds to say about him:
more insurgency, or any
"The end of Dubinsky's more vocal expression from
leadership brought no sur- black or Puerto Rican work-
cease from complaints that ers, given all the charges,
the union was a dictatorship. ILGWU critics explain that
The man was the personifi- the workers are afraid of
cation of the IGLWU (Inter- retaliation."

Authoritative writers, com-
bining their impressions in
"The World of the Blue Col-
lar Worker" (Quadrangle
Books), define the scorn and
the neglect felt in the ranks
of the important segment in
our society.
Edited by Irving Howe,
noted authorities on the is-
sues affecting the blue collar
worker are covered. Included
in the series is an interview
by Bernard Rosenberg and
Saul Weinman with Myra
Wolfgang.
Case histories are presented
—of Jews affected and Jew-
ish leaders, of blacks and
their attitudes and the con-
servative trends. In one of
the essays on "Class and
Ethnicity," Andrew M.
Greeley comments:
"If we are to have a ra-
tional politics, we must have
a politics of social class in
which men are divided into
liberal and conservative, de-
pending on whether they take
the position of the rich or the
poor. The black phenomenon
can be fit into this image of
politics by assuming that all
blacks are poor — or identify
with the black poor — and
hence belong on the 'liberal'
side. It's a little more dif-
ficult to figure out why most
Jews are liberal 'because
social-class position should
out a considerable number
of them on the side of the
conservatives."

Jewish Romance Rivals Fiction

greater in number than ever these scenes, and the glory
By WILL DURANT
In "The Story of Philosophy" before, renowned in every and justice of this fulfill-

The story of the Jews since
the Dispersion is one of the
epics of European history.
Driven from their natural
home by the Roman capture
of Jerusalem (70 A.D.), and
scattered by flight and trade
among all the nations and to
all the continents; persecuted
and decimated by the ad-
herents of the great religions
— Christianity and Moham-
medanism — which had been
born of their scriptures and
their memories; barred by
the feudal system from own-
ing land, and by the guilds
from taking part in industry;
shut up within congested
ghettos and narrowing pur-
suits, mobbed by the people
and robbed by the Kings;
building with their finance
and trade the towns and
cities indispensable to civil-
ization; outcast and excom-
municated, insulted and in-
jured; yet wihout any politi-
cal structure, without any
legal compulsion to social
unity, without even a com-
mon language, this wonder-
ful people has maintained
itself in body and soul, has
preserved its racial and cul-
tural integrity, has guarded
with jealous love its oldest
rituals and traditions, has
patiently and resolutely
awaited the day of its de-
liverance, and has emerged

field for the contributions of
its geniuses, and triumphant-
ly restored, after two thou-
sand years of wandering, to
its ancient and unforgotten
home. What drama could
rival the grandeur of these
sufferings, the variety of

ment? What fiction could
match the romance of this
reality?

If a man could have half
his wishes, he would double
his troubles. — Benjamin
Franklin.

Friday, Sept. 28, 1973-35

THE DETROIT JEWISH MEWS

Reading help for
ages 7 to 70

A lot of students having trouble in science, history,
and mathematics are really having trouble with their
reading. For these students, as well as younger chil-
dren and adults who have problems in reading,
spelling, vocabulary, pronunciation, the Reading
Improvement Center offers individualized training
by a Reading Specialist.

For further information, or to arrange for diagnostic
testing, call 399-0333.

Dorothy S. Orent, M.Ed.

READING
IMPROVEMENT
CENTER

23650 Woodward (Y2 Mi. N. of 9 Mi. Rd.)

Pleasant Ridge, Mich.

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