24—Friday, March 1, 1974

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Jews and Irish: Story-Telling
Among Their. Common Traits

By DAVID SCHWARTZ

(Copyright 1974, JTA, Inc.)

, Perhaps we only begin to
know a person fully when he
is goiie away. Many reminis-
cences of David Ben-Gurion's
past are now coming forth.
One story concerns the visit
of Ben-Gurion to the White'
House when John F. Kennedy
was President. At the time,
B-G said little about the con-
versation between the two,
but now the Israeli press re-
ports that Kennedy took the
occasion to tell B-G that he
wanted him to know that he
was aware that if it had not
been the Jews, he would not
have been elected.
In 1928, Al Smith, an Irish
Catholic, was nominated by
the Democrats for the Presi-
dency. Jews took a leading
part in the Smith campaign,
but he lost. The Ku Klux-
ers were strong and they
said if Al Smith was elected
the Pope would move to
Washington, Jews didn't take
stock in the story. The Vati-
can has all the comforts of
the White House. Why should
the Pope move? Maybe if
they raised his rent he would,
but he gets it rent free.
There is an old Irish wise-
crack about an Irishman who
asked that he be buried in a
Jewish cemetery because
that would be the last place
where the Devil would look
for an Irishman.
The Irish, like the Jews,
like to tell jokes. Both peo-
ples are remarkable for the
number of comedians they
have produced, but as to the
Devil, they have different
points of view.
To the Jew, the Devil is
anti-Semitism, and from this
Devil, both the Irish and
Jews have suffered. To be
sure we call it anti-Semitism
only when the prejudice or
hostility is directed against
the Jews, but hate and bigot-
ry and prejudice are the
same anywhere.
Today we call any segre-
gated community a ghetto, a
term formerly restricted to
Jewish -settlements. By the
same token, why should we
not call prejudice against any
group by the same term?
The term anti-Semitism
was invented by the Germans
in the 19th Century. It re-
quires no Freud to explain
the reason. It enabled one to
cover up more revealing
words like bigotry.
The Irish were more suc-
cessful in fighting the preju-
dice politically. The Know
Nothing movement arose in
the last century to oppres
the Iris-h but the Irish suc-
ceeded in gaining political
power in all the major cities,
New York, Boston, Chicago.
Mark Twain once wrote a
story how all the parties in
Austria had united against
the Jews. A Jew wrote him
asking what Jews should do.
He advised them to emu-
late the Irish and organize
politically.
"You huddle to yourselves
already in your charities.
There you are omnipotent.
You compel recognition. It
shows what you can do when
you band together for a
definite purpose.
"In America as early - as
1854 the Irish hod carrier

made it apparent to all that
he must politically recokoned
with. Numerically he had al-
ways been down but he gov-
erned the _country just. the
same. Jews should band to-
gether and deliver the cast-
ing vote where you can and
where you can't, compel as
good terms as possible."
Zero Mostel is now starring
in James Joyce's "Ulysses in
Nighttown." It is noteworthy
that in this work, one of the
classics of the century, the
great Irish writer made a
Jew, Leopold Blum, the cen-
tral character.
Joyce constantly spoke of
an affinity between the Irish
and Jews and his personal
life showed some evidence of
it. He loved a Jewish girl,
was once denied admission
to a country on the alleged
ground he was a Jew and we
are told of his once sitting
down at a piano and playing
Hatikva.
The Irish were able to rea-
lize their "Hatikva" before
the Jews, gaining their inde-
pendence about ten years be-
fore Israel won her indepen-
dence. The Israeli "Irgun"
(underground organization)
is known to have profited
from the Irish experience.
Jabotinsky and other leaders
of the Israeli underground
visited Ireland to study their
tactics.
Robert Briscoe, later
mayor of Dublin, participated
in the fights of both -under-
ground organizations. (In
later years Briscoe, speaking
before an organization, was
introduced by the chairman
with: "HaNie you ever heard
the story of the Irishman
and the Jew? Here he is.")
Briscoe's Jewishness help-
ed him when he was captured
by the British. They had long
sought him for his work for
the Irish underground. Final-
ly, they nabbed him. They
looked at him. "Are you a
Jewman?" they asked. "Yes,"
replied Briscoe.
They let him go. They
couldn't believe that a leader
of the Irish fight for inde-
pendence should be a Jew.
The Irish, like the Jews,
are a spirited people, but
perhaps the Irish imbibe a
little more of the bottled
spirits, than Jews, but this
is • not always the case.
According to Robert Bris-
coe, his father, an Orthodox
Jew, could match the Irish--
in this pursuit, but there
were times when his Jewish-
ness asserted itself and, to
keep his reputation for drink-
ing untarnished, he had a
little receptacle at _his side
and when he was given more
drinks than he wanted, he
would empty them in the re-
ceptacle when he wasn't ob-
served.

HIAS Honors Beame

NEW YORK—Mayor Abra-
hain D. Beame will deliver
the keynote address and re-
ceive the 1974 Liberty Award
at the 90th anniversary cele
bration of nUited HIAS Serv-
ice, 1:30 p.m. *rch 10 at
Hotel Roosevelt here.

."The air of the Land of
Israel makes one wise."—
The Talmud, Baba Batra.

Israeli Medal Commemorates Wildlife

NEW YORK—The first of-
ficial medal associated with
conservation has been issued
by the state of Israel, it was
announced by former U. S.
ambassador to Israel, Wa:-
worth Barbour.
Barbour is chairman of the
board of the Holy Land Con-
servation Fund, the exclu-
sive sales agent for the
medal. Proceeds will benefit
the fund's programs in sup-
port of conservation in Is-
rael, particularly the cam-
paign to acquire rare and en-
dangered Biblical animals
and to create breeding herds
for them in nature reserves
in the Holy Land.
The silver medal com-
memorates the 10th anniver-
sary of the Nature Reserves
Authority, Israel's conserva-
tion agency. The Authority

was founded in 1963. The re-
lease of the medal, however,
was delayed several months
because the ,Yom Kippur
war interrupted manufactur-
ing and distribution.
The medal, limited to an
edition of 6,500, is numbered
in series on the rim. It was
designed by Shamir Brothers
of Israel, engraved by Moshe
Nov of Jerusalem and mint-
ed by Moshe Hecht of Jeru-
salem by Israel Government
Coins and Medals Corpora-
tion. It weighs 47 grams and
contains 935 silver.
The medal's obverse fea-
tures a scultpure of the ex-
tremely rare Arabian onyx—
an endangered species—and
the words "Wild Life" in
English and Hebrew. The
reverse carries a stylized
rendition of the Nubian ibex,

a rare wild goat, the symbol
of the Nature Reserves Au-
thority, and the legend "Hai
Bar (Wild Life)—for reintro-
duction of biblical animals
into the Holy Land." On the
lower half of the rim is the
legend "The 10th Anniver-
sary of the Nature Reserves
Authority, Israel."
Cost of the medal is $30,
including shipping, of which
$15 is a tax deductible gift
to the Holy Land Conserva-
tion Fund.
Orders for the medals
must be sent in writing to the
Holy Land Conservation
Fund, 150 E. 58th St., New
York, N. Y. 10022.

We do not count a man's
years until he has nothing
else to count.—Ralph Waldo
Emerson.

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