6 June 11, 1976
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
A Bicentennial Feature
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Bicentennial Recalls Arrival of 'Goddess of Liberty'
BY DAVID SCHWARTZ
(Copyright 1976, JTA, Inc.)
In this Bicentennial year
it is fitting to recall the
story of a lady — perhaps
the most popular lady in the
country. She wasn't born
here but she came here
shortly after birth and none
is more American — not
even Washington or Jeffer-
son or even the Star Span-
gled Banner.
She isn't young but she
shows no sign of age. Maybe
it is because she is always
out in the fresh air. Tourists
by the thousands usually
visit her on first arriving.
Her hand is always outs-
tretched to greet all corners.
Yes. I mean that tall lady,
standing 151 feet high —
with the torch of liberty in
her hand in the harbor of
New York.
The goddess of liberty, we
call her. She is truly a god-
dess.
It is fitting to recall her
story because although she
really didn't arrive in
America until 1886, it was
planned that she make her
debut for the first centen-
nial of American inde-
pendence in 1876.
The French conceived the
idea of presenting the god-
dess of liberty to America as
their contribution for the
first centennial of American
independence and raised
$250,000 for it. The French
sculptor, Bartholdi fash-
ioned it, but there was a
problem.
You can't just take a nice
lady and stand her in the
middle of the water. She
would catch a cold or some-
thing. A proper base must
be erected on which she
could stand. That was to
cost even more than the
statue and so the lady all
finished lay around in
France and the first centen-
nial went by. For 10 years
Many Jews Leaving USSR
Favor the West Over Israel
JERUSALEM — The
Jews currently fleeing Rus-
sia are more likely to dream
of "the land of the free and
the home of the brave" than
of the land of milk and
honey.
According to Jewish
Agency Executive chairman
Yosef Almogi, six out of ev-
ery 10 Soviet Jewish emi-
grants arriving in April at
the stopover in Vienna chose
to live in the West.
A senior Jewish Agency
official outlines the problem
and concludes: "We've run
out of solutions. If anyone
has any ideas, we'd be glad
to hear them."
The Jerusalem Post re-
ports that today's Russian
emigration differs from
the earlier phase not only
in quantity, but in the
quality of Jewish feelings
and attachment to Israel.
With the exodus of more
than 115,000 Russian Jews
since the gates were first
opened, whole packets of
traditional Jewry have
nearly emptied out, and the
others remaining are either
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unaware or afraid of aliya.
It is the lack of Jewish feel-
ing among the secular Jews
now being granted visas
which has helped swell the
number of drop-outs to
Vienna.
The "over-eagerness" of
HIAS and other American
Jewish aid organizations in
"snatching" Soviet Jews
away from Israel has been
raised as an issue on the
Knesset floor.
Originally established to
help Eastern European Jew-
ish "greenhorns" become
Americanized in New
York's Lower East Side,
HIAS today processes the
visa applications for nosh-
rim (drop-outs) who want to
settle in the West.
The Joint Distribution
Committee pays for
maintenance of the nosh-
rim waiting in Rome for
their applications to go
through. Both organiza-
tions are funded by the
United Jewish Appeal and
by a special U.S. State De-
partment grant devoted to
the settling of refugees.
While not advocating the
removal of HIAS from
Vienna, David Yafit, deputy
chairman of the Russian
Immigrants' Association,
urges that direct flights be
instituted between Russia
and Israel, so that fewer
emigrants would find it eas-
ier to "drop-out."
Honest Work
Great is the importance
of honest work, for the gen-
eration of the flood was de-
stroyed only because of its
ignominious dealings.
—Talmud
she lay in France wondering
about her fate. Then the
publisher of the New York
World, Joseph Pulitzer, de-
cided it was time to bring
her to America.
Maybe Pulitzer was so
keen about it because as an
immigrant he could appre-
ciate liberty more. It's like
anything else. If you always
have had it, you don't appre-
ciate it as much as those
who haven't had it. Pulitzer
was of Hungarian Jewish
extraction. His father was
Jewish, his mother Catholic.
He was so eager to get to
America that when his ship
arrived in New York harbor,
he couldn't wait until the
boat docked. He jumped ov-
erboard and swam to shore.
There was no sense waiting
until the gang plank was
laid. By swimming, he could
be in America 15 minutes
earlier.
America, of course, had
its problems, but all kinds
of wonderful things were
happening. Whitman was
singing of democracy and
everybody seemed to be
saying hello. A man
named Bell had made an
invention of a machine.
You said "Hello" to the
machine and you could
talk to anyone no matter
how far away.
Why shouldn't the god-
dess of liberty with her
hand outstretched stand in
the harbor of New York and
everybody on arriving could
say hello to her? Pulitzer
started a movement to raise
the money to build the base.
Day after day, Pulitzer's
paper, the New York World,
would list the contributions.
One skinny fellow who had
always wanted to fatten up
a bit sent in 25 cents for the
25 pounds he had gained
after stopping smoking cig-
arettes.
An auction of manu-
scripts by famous authors
— Hawthorne, Poe —
brought in more money. A
young New York poetess,
Emma Lazarus, was asked
to write a poem to be auc-
tioned off and she wrote a
poem about the lady with
the torch which was sold for
$1,500. But the poem was
more important for another
reason — it made the public
grasp better the real signifi-
cance of the liberty lady.
The woman on the statue,
she wrote, did not stand like
one of those giants of Greek
fame "with conquering
limbs astride." No, she was
a woman who saw liberty in
another sense. She saw her
like a mother calling
.
I lift my lamp besides the golden
door."
The poem was later in-
scribed on the statue itself.
James Russell Lowell
wrote that he liked the
poem better than the sta-
tue.
Of the "huddled masses
yearning to be free," there
was no better example than
the Russian Jews. It was a
day of pogroms against the
Jews in Russia. Miss Laza-
rus intially showed little
Jewish interest. Indeed, the
American writer, John Bur-
roughs chided her on that
score. He pointed out that
Walt Whitman showed defi-
nitely the influence of the
Hebraic writings but she, a
Jew, didn't seem to find in
them anything of value.
But one day an article
appeared in a leading Amer-
ican publication, written by
a woman of the Russian ar-
istocracy, justifying the
Russian pogroms.
That did it. Emma Laza-
rus was on fire. She wrote
an article answering the
charges. More than that, she
became a .prophetess of
Zionism:
"0 deem not dead the martial
fire
Say not the mystic flame is spent
Let but an Ezra rise anew
To lift the banner of the Jew."
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So the Lady of Liberty
stood beside the soon to be
reborn Jewish Jerusalem.
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y 11 \wtil
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