HASIDIC WISDOM
And if not now, when?
When will the "now" be?
•
The now that is now, the mo-
ment in which we are speak-
0 ing, has never existed from
the time when the world was
created, and will never again
exist. Formerly there was
another now, and later there
will be another now, and
every now has its own par-
ticular service. . . .

Auschwitz Gets Tourist Look

OSWIECIM, Poland—Near-
ly 30 years after Auschwitz
Concentration c amp
was closed, the underlying
horror of the place seems
diminished by the souvenir
stands and Pepsi-Cola signs.
Thousands of Poles and
some foreigners visit Ausch-
witz every day. Most are
modishly dressed and obvi-
ously too young to remem-
ber World War II.
They troop through the
former prison barracks, gas
chambers and crematoria,
looking at displays in an
enormous showcase filled
with some of the human hair
the S.S. used to make into
cloth.
Then the visitors often stop
for a knack in the noisy,
cheerful cafeteria or a snack
bar in the building that once
housed Nazi guards, a few

hundred feet from the near-
est crematory.
The indirect lighting, mod-
ern facilities and movie audi-
torium in the building, plus
the cr6wds -of young people,
create an impression vague-
ly reminiscent of weekends
at museums.
At the souvenir stands, vis-
itors can buy a selection of
Auschwitz lapel- pins in Polish
and German, or picture post-
cards showing gas chambers
and crematoria, or even sou-
venir Auschwitz ballpoint
pens which, when held up to
the light, reveal similar pic-
tures.
For visitors wishing to stay
longer, there is a hotel in the
building.
"All that seems to be lack-
ing," one disenchanted visi-
tor remarked, "is a stand
s elling souvenir bones and
ashes."
Fresh flowers, mostly pro-
vided by the museum admin-
istration, are left on certain
displays, notably a case con-
taining toys taken from chil-
dren . who . died in the gas
chamber.
But there are few flowers
and very few tourists at the
huge, neighboring Birkenau
camp, an extension of Ausch-
witz built specifically for
the extermination of Jews
and other victims of the Na-
zis Of the - four million peo-
ple who died in the Ausch-
witz complex before Soviet
troops arrived on Jan. 20,
1945, most met their deaths
in the Birkenau extension.
Birkenau's vast area and
the ruined condition of its
barracks, barbed-wire aprons
and gas chambers evidently
make it less • attractive to
tourists. There are no mu-
seum displays there and no
snack bar.
According to the New York
Times, the visitors encoun-
tered at Birkenau seem most-
ly middle-aged or old, and
often look as though they
may have special interest in
the camp. A few seemed to
have been crying. .

Weizmann: The Big Man from the Little Town

By DAVID SCHWARTZ

(Copyright 1974, JTA, Inc.)

being allied and long before
there was a Jewish State he
was responsible for t h e
building of a science re-
search institution in Rehovat
and the building of the He-
brew University in Jeru-
salem. Israel is the only
country where the scientific
institutions were erected be-
fore the country.
The Christian friend of
Zionism, Ordt Wingate, him-
self a relative of Churchill,
didn't approve of Weizmann's
moderation. "Go into Chur-
chill's office," advised Win-
gate, "end say, 'I want this
and that and then go out and
bank the door.' " But Weizi
mann was not a door banger.
Britain, after authorizing
the development of a Jewish
homeland, put obstacles in
the path, limiting Jewish
immigration to "absorptive
capacity," whatever that is,
but . no . restrictions were
placed on the inflow of
'Arabs. Weizmann and his
fellow scientists at Rehovot
worked away at harnessing

science to the task of de-
veloping "absorptive capac-
ity." Weizmann preferred
the peaceful way. Perhaps
he was too peaceable.
He was not spared criti-
cism. His humor saved him.
When at one Congress; a
Jewish settler noted for his
contribution to egg produc-
tion in Palestine bitterly at-
tacked him, Weizmann re-
sponded, "Oh hello, Mr. So
and So. How are your eggs?"

The 0 xf o r d professor, •
Isaiah Berlin, writing of
Chaim Weizmann, the cen-
tennial of whose birth is now
being marked, calls him a
charmer and compares him
in that respect with Disraeli.
Charm- has its role in his-
tory. It has been said if
Cleopatra's nose had been a
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
trifle longer, the history of
Friday, Nov. 8, 1974-21
the world would be different.
While Britain had many
Afraid of the High Cost
motives in issuing the Bal-
Of TV Repairs??
four Declaration, the major
Rated No. I in the U.S.A.
ones because it served its
Come in and see why
own interests, the charm of
before you buy !
Weizmann did in some de-
From $49.50
gree doubtless contribute to
facilitate it. Prime Minister
TYPEWRITER
or___experienced relia blet4
Lloyd George turned to Sir
— •
CO. INC.
service at reasonable. prices.
Herbert Samuel after listen-
1717 STEPHENSON HWY.
(North of Maple)
ing to Weizmann and said,
No charge for in home esti-
TROY • 689-8000
."After you and I -are forgot-
mates.
ten he will be remembered:24
Weizmann also -charmed the
aristocratic Balfour w h o
couldn't understand why so
advanced a type as Weiz-
mann shciuld want an old
HELP US TO UNLOAD
retrogade city like Jerusa-
Four West Bank
lem.
and TAKE ADVANTAGE of
"Why . do you treasure Residents Expelled
London so?" asked Weiz-
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Is-
mann.
rael expelled four West Bank
"We have had London for residents to Lebanon in its
hundreds of years," returned first tough response to anti :
Balfour. "When London was Israel 'sentiments and Pales-
a marsh, Jews had Jerusa- tinian nationalist polemics
• -SUITS • SLACKS
lem," replied Weizmann.
that have emerged since the
• SPORT COATS
Chaim Weizmann was one Rabat summit meeting.
of 15 children of a tim-
• ALL WEATHER COATS
One of the deportees was
ber merchant born in Motel, Ali Mahmud al-Hatib, editor
We Specialize in
-a town not much larger than of -the East Jerusalem news-
the–Weizmann family. Weiz- paper, A-Sha'ab, who wrote
mann was to meet the big- an inflammatory editorial
gest people of the world, but calling for the dismantling_of
Large Selection of
the big man never forgot Israel and its replacement by
• LEISURE SUITS
little Motel. He liked to dwell a Palestinian state.
• TOP COATS
on "little old Motel." He
The others were known by
• SPORT SHIRTS
said he learned all he knew the authorities to belong to
• SWEATERS
of diplomacy from Motel.
the Na ti on al Palestinian
AND ACCESSORIES
Probably being one of Front.
15 children played a part
6160 CASS AVE.
in the building up of his char-
All are judged on Rosh
acter. With such a _large Hashana.—Talmud
TR 5-0300
family it would seem, it is
[J
J
inevitable that the social
sense is developed. He was
NEW LIVONIA s STORS
22141 COOLIDGE
the third oldest and in a
37205 SIX MILE ROAD
at Newburgh Road
large family it would -seem,
OAK PARK
NEWBURGH PLAZA
it is inevitable that the so-
PHONE 427-8970 or 72,
398-9188
Laugh and everybody' sees cial sense is developed. He
you, cry and you cry unseen. was the third oldest and in
a large family the older chil-
dren assume greater respon-
sibility, become a kind of _
secondary parents. • -
c1
When Chaim was four
years old, his grandmother
died and it was thought he
knew nothing about what had
happened, but he was found
crying. "Why are you cry-
ing?" he was asked. "Does
something hurt you?"
"My grandmother hurts;"
he replied, the tears rolling
from his eyes. Weizmann felt
Of
the hurt of his people. In.
1896, there was the Dreyfus
case. In that year, Theodor
Herzl awakened the Jewish
consciousness with his appeal
for the restoration of the
Jewish State as the only so-
lution for the Jewish prob-
lem. It is interesting that in
the same year of 1896, the
relatively unknown William
4272ORCHARD LAKE ROAD
J., Bryan electrified the Dem-
ocratic convention protesting
S. OF PONTIAC TRAIL
the exploitation of the com-
IN
HONER'S
BLOOMFIELD, WEST
mon man and was lifted to El
Well Known In The Area
the shoulders of the dele-
gates and . nominated for
Just One More Advantage of Being A Member at the President
of the United
States. Weizmann's Zionism
had also something of this
argument. As a scientist,
For Information Call
Weizmann concentrated in
Daily 10-6. FRI. 'til 9. SUN. 12-4
the fields of producing more
food and energy. Weizmann
spoke of Zionism and science

on Schultz
543-0314

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