Katsh Manuscript Collection of Rare Hebraica Opens Treasury for Jewish Scholars at Dropsie The material which corn- he became the third presi- the destruction of Jewish li- PHILADELPHIA—The ex- citement among scholars of prises the Katsh collections dent of Dropsie, the only non- braries and archives through- the Bible when the Dead Sea is written in Hebrew, Ara- theological, non - sectarian out Europe during World War Scrolls were first discovered maic, Arabic, Italian, Ger- graduate institution of its II, the USSR holdings have in 1947 is now matched by man, Polish, Tartar, Persian, kind in the United States ded- taken on an even • greater the Abraham I. Katsh Micro- Russian, Hungarian and Yid- icated exclusively to the stu- value. The Katsh collection is ac- film Collections of rare I-1e- dish. Much of the material' dy of Hebrew, biblical and braica. Manuscripts from the covers the period when the Middle East languages and tually made up of a number USSR, Poland and Hungary center of Jewish culture shift- cultures. He is the only per- of major collections. The have been permanently hous- ed from the East to Western son ever given offical permis- most important and of partic- ed in the new Manuscript civilization. There are Bibles, sion in writing by the USSR ular value to scholars now Center in Philadelphia. the Talmud, prayer books, government's ministry of ed- engaged in restoring the Tal- mud as it was originally ed- Since the acquisition of liturgies, commentaries by ucation to microfilm this ited, is the Antonin Geniza illustrious scholars, responsa priceless Hebraica collection, these microfilm collections, in Collection. Known as the addition to other Hebraica by leading authorities, docu- making five different visits "Oral Law," the Talmud is ments relating to talmudic since 1956 to the Soviet Un- rare manuscripts acquired the authoritative source of from the Vatican Library in science and religious laws— ion to collect the material Judaism, second only to the material dating back to the under a grant by the Ameri- Rome, it's a veritable "field "Written Law" of the Bible day" for scholars and re- llth, 10th and 9th centuries; can Council of Learned So- itself. manuscripts on gran mar, cieties and the Rockefeller searchers who come to Drop- The Antonin Geniza is sie to find a wealth of manu- lexicography, philosophy, the- Foundation. Dr. Katsh estimates that named for Archmandrite An- ology, poetry, astronomy, scripts that have never been mathematics, medicine and Russia's holdings of rare He- tonin Kapustin, a Russian published, or otherwise ever historical items—translations braica manuscripts, books, monk residing in Jerusalem, accessible to them. Since the who went through the Geni- 1917 Russian Revolution, of Plato, Aristotle and Euclid letters, fragments and docu- zah, or storage place, of He- made in the 10th and 11th ments which were preserved scholars outside the non- centuries which illustrate over the centuries total about brew documents that had Communist countries have how Jews helped to keep 50,000. They are now stored been preserved through the had little access to these col- centuries by the Jewish com- lections. or little knowledge alive the light of learning in museums and libraries, munity of Fostat (old Cairo) during the Dark Ages and mostly in Leningrad and of their extent. in Egypt. Jewish custom dic- The scope of these trea- provided the real spiritual Moscow, and even Russian tates that documents bearing link between East and West. scholars must get special sures on film—coiled around permission to see them. With the name of God cannot be With the microfilm now 1,000 and more film spools—defies any catalogued providing Hebraica scholars description. There's the fam- a new tool for research, a ous Bible Codex which was new drama in learning is tak- copied in old Cairo by Sam- ing place at Dropsie. In this uel b. Jacob in 1008 — the new microfilm library, where only complete illuminated mechanical readers — film Bible Codex in the world. viewing machines — are the There is another Hebrew Bi- major pieces of equipment, ble that was sold in Egypt in one will find Dr. Katsh him- the year 847, although it was self, instructing a chosen probably written much earl- few in the art of reading He- ier; and a Hebrew letter writ- brew manuscripts. They will ten by a certain Isaac Beza- compare microfilmed manu- lel b. Hayyim to David Ha- scripts with printed texts, dis- Nagid, the 13th Century rab- covering that the author in binical leader from Egypt the published text has deleted who was a grandson of Mai- or incorrectly translated a phrase, of ten completely monides. Much of this Hebraica had changing the meaning of the been lost over the centuries, sentence. Many of these sig- like an unknown poem by nificant variants in the print- Yehuda Halevi found in the ed text were noted by Dr. microfilm of a 13th Century Katsh in his recently pub- Seated in front of the screen of a mechanical reader in manuscript. And many more lished "Ginze Mishna." the Manuscript Center at Dronsie University, Dr. Abraham Dr. Katsh, a world-re- lost liturgical poems for the Jewish holidays—poetry that nowned Hebraica scholar, au- I. Katsh, president of the Philadelphia institution, is shown dates back to the Golden Age thor and educator, brought examining microfilm of biblical fragments that are more of Spain in the 13th Century. his collection with him when than a 1,000 years old. destroyed, but must be buried of the manuscripts in the li- brary of David Kaufmann, or placed in storage. Kapustin traveled to Cairo the distinguished Orientalist. in the early 1860s and was His collection casts new light able to make a choice selec- upon life in the Middle Ages, tion of the Geniza material, and contains the 1,300-page taking off with 1,189 manu- Mishna Torah of Maiinon- scripts now preserved in the ides, a digest of material for Leningrad public library. Jewish theologians and jur- Among other early visitors to ists. Dr. Katsh also acquired the Cairo Geniza — and col- microfilms of important ma- lectors of its treasures—was terial dealing with the Hole- Dr. Cyrus Adler, later to be- caust from the Jewish Hit - - come the first president of torical Museum in Warsaw Dropsie University, where Poland. The Dropsie microfilms, some 450 fragments of the Cairo Geniza are stored in producing manuscripts and documents from library and the Manuscript Center. Another important part of museum collections that the Katsh collection is the li- stretch from Moscow to the brary of Abraham Firko- Vatican, contain enough ma- witsch, who lived in Crimea terial for at least 1,000 PhD until his death in 1874. He dissertations, and enough ma- brought together the largest terial to keep a generation or collection of Hebrew, Samar- more of scholars busy deci- itan and early Karaitic manu- phering, translating, identify- scripts in the world, now ing, authenticating and col- – housed in the Imperial Li- lating. There is hardly a sub- brary at St. Petersburg. ject not included in the col- The Friedland collection in lection. The whole gammat of the Oriental Institute in Len- Jewish learning is represent- ingrad, named for the Jewish ed. "These microfilm treasures philanthropist, Aryeh Lieb Friedland, is rich in Bible show there were no 'dark' commentaries, Kabala and ages in Jewish literary crea- other valuable documents tivity," says Dr. Katsh, who dealing with the history of sums up their value as a new Russian and Oriental Jewish research tool for Hebraica communities. The collection scholars by quoting from an includes over 10,000 printed ethical will composed by the books and some 300 volumes famed Jewish physician and in manuscript form, most of translator, Judah ben Tibbon, them on parchment. Though written to his son in There is also the famous the 12th Century, it illus- collection of Baron David trates the significance of Guensberg, patron of Jewish Dropsie's microfilm treas- art and learning, whose li- ures: "My son! Make thy books brary in Moscow consists of about 6,000 rare manuscripts thy companions, let thy cases and fragments dealing with a and shelves be thy pleasure variety of subjects including grounds and gardens. Bask lexicography, Judeo - Arabic in their paradise, gather their and Aramaic commentaries fruit, pluck their roses, take on the Bible, on the false their spices and their myrrh. messiah Sabbatai Zvi, medi- If thy should be satiate and eval Hebrew literature, Kab- weary, change from garden ala and mysticism. to garden. from furrow to It took three years of ne- furrow, from prospect to gotiations with the Hungarian prospect. Then will desire government before Dr. Katsh renew itself and thy soul be was able to microfilm some filled with delight." as Killed Their Victims Lustig's Novel Reveals How Germans Robbed as Well was asked to undress, to be in his condemnation of the Arnost Lustig, a native of Prague, was 16 when he was sent to Theresienstadt in 1942 with his parents. Then they were sent to Auschwitz where his father died in the gas chambers. From there he and his mother were sent to Buchenwald. They return- ed to Prague after war, he became a radio reporter and screen writer. In 1968, after the Soviet occupation, he left Czechoslovakia. He now lives near Washington with his wife and two children and is teaching at American University. He tells of finding his wife in tears when he came home in 1963. He reports that his wife explained: "Having been asked by a West Ger- man court, 18 years after World War H, to write whether her parents had turned in their wedding rings to the Reichsbank, as had been ordered for all Jews in Germany's territory, she re- plied that yes, her parents had turned those rings in at Prague to a branch of the Reichsbank in 1941. To that, today's German court replied 'hat unfortunately it has not been documented that her 40 Friday, Dec. 28, 1973 — It is the story of 20 Ameri- cans who fell into German hands. One of them sought also to rescue a lady, the charming dancer Katerina Horovitzova whose parents were already in Nazi clutches. They were relegated to a hostages' camp whose com- mander was the softspoken German commander Fried- rich Brenske. Ascertaining that the Americans were wealthy, that they could be milked for large funds before being sent to their death, as the terrorist Brenske and his associates had planned at the outset, they were treated with trickery. Brenske kept assuring them they would be sent to Switzerland and would be released, but it would cost a lot of money. He began by asking them to write vouchers on their banks for large sums that ran into the many millions. Every step taken with the treacherous assurances of an impending release was ac- companied by an added de- mand for more and more money. Hoping to be released, they kept writing letters, checks, vouchers, giving orders THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS abroad for release of mil- parents turned in those rings because there is no mention about it in existing German papers and therefore her re- quest for her parents' wed- ding rings is rejected." That's when Lustig sat down, at 7 p.m., working through the night and all of the next day and wrote "A Prayer for Katerina Horo- vitzova," which was first published in Czechoslovakia in 1964 and won the Clement Gottwald State Prize in 1967; was translated into Croatian, German, Bulgarian, Esto- nian, Hebrew and Japanese; and has just been published by Harper and Row in an English translation from the Czech by Jeanne Nemcova. It is much more than a story of American Jews who fell into the hands of the German army criminals dur- ing American troop disem- barkment in Sicily in 1943. It is another, and most ef- fective, indictment of Ger- man bestialities, and it once again reminds mankind of the manner in which all Jews, regardless of the lands they come from, became the victims of the sick minds that developed under Nazism. lions upon millions of dollars — all as a price for false pledges of release. One of them, Herman Cohen, succeeded in having the beautiful Katerina in- cluded in the group to be rescued. For her, too, more and more funds were re- leased. There was even a bartering for a marriage, for which a large fund was to he paid, so that Cohen could claim her release as his wife. That's how it continued — and in the process Rabbi Dajem of Lodz was used to perform the marriage cere- mony, a German tailor was tricked into making new suits for Cohen and the others. The rabbi and the tailor symbolized the collab- oration of Jews in the mur- derous plot that was to be committed after the millions were to be secured. They were on the doorstep of the Nazi gas chamber. Only one of the group saw through the Nazi extortion scheme and was killed wher he protested. The smoking chimneys already provided evidence of the impending scheme to murder the Amer- ican millionaires and the beautiful Katerina. When she ready for her bath — they had all been given soap bars as ruses that they were merely to be clean for en- trance into the delusion of going to a Swiss haven—the heroic act occurred. As Lus- tig describes it: "She had to lean slightly backward to unfasten her brassiere. She bent her arm sharply at the elbow and suddenly ripped off the deli- cately embroidered piece of white lingerie, striking Horst Schillinger (Brenske's as- sistant) right between the eyes with the hooks at the end of it, just as he was laughing hardest. He was momentarily blinded by sur- prise as well as pain. Hun- dreds of thousands of people had already passed through this dressing room, as docile as sheep, and nothing like this had ever happened be- fore . . ." Katerina then yanked Lt. Schillinger's pistol out of his tipen holster. She shot and killed. She was soon herself murdered. But she exacted vengeance. The eminent psychiatrist and survivor from the Nazi terror, Dr. Bruno Bettelheim, purported lack of' resistance by Jews, gave as an example a similar occurrence of a dancer who before going to her death in the gas cham- ber, was ordered as she un- dressed to perform a dance. She grabbed a gun from a Nazi officer and shot him. Bettelheim's argument was that if Jews had to die they at least should have taken the tormenters with thc There is more to the g story: his description o :he submission of Jewish prison- ers to Nazi orders to clean up the mess after Katerina had shot down Nazi murder- ers, the meekness of the rabbi and the tailor. Yet there was a final prayer by Rabbi Dajem of Lodz who caressed Katerina's hair be- fore it was shorn from her dead body, before she was burned, calling her cour- ageous, beautiful. Lustig's expose is power- ful. It is a rebuke to the sub- missive, a tribute to the courageous, a revealing story of how the Germans not only killed but also robbed. "A Prayer for Ka- terina Horovitzova" emerges as a major indictment of the Nazi criminals.