70 Friday, December 10, 1976
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
JWB Services Teach Youth
About Traditions of Hanuka
Kissinger Offered
Bank Directorship
NEW YORK (ZINS) —
The Lazard Freres bank
which is on the Arab
boycott list, has asked Dr.
Henry Kissinger to be-
come a member of its
Board of Directors. Kis-
singer has promised to
give his answer after the
inauguration of
President-elect Carter.
Meanwhile, Philip Ben,
American correspondent
of the Paris newspaper
Le Monde reports that
the 48-year-old Felix
Rohaytin, a partner in
the bank, is a serious can-
didate for the ;job of
treasury secretary under
Carter's administration.
Learning about Judaism starts early at Jewish
Rohaytin, who was
Community Centers and YM and YWHAs affiliated with born in Austria and is a
the national Jewish Welfare Board. These Center pre-. scion of a well known
schoolers are learning all about menorahs for Hanuka. Jewish family, came to
JWB publishes a Hanuka manual, plays, pamphlets, America where he re-
scripts for candlelighting ceremonies for local Jewish ceived his education.
communities in the U.S. and Canada.
A Proselyte's Ties to His People
By MOSHE RON
solve the Jewish problem like taking part in a
when I became a prayer. He found in
TEL AVIV — In the Catholic," Elias Friedman Bialik's poems an expres-
Carmelite monastery in said. He said his connec- sion of his deepest feel-
Haifa lives a monk of tions with the Jewish faith ings.
Elias Friedman says
Jewish origin. His family were always weak.
His father was not reli- Bialik was imbued with a
name is Friedman, of gious.
But at the age of 15 spirit of the prophets. He
Capetown, South Africa. he joined
the Zionist
During the Second youth organization and translates Bialik's works
World War he had served started to learn Hebrew. into English and is sure
that the English reader
as a physician in the
the course of time he will find keen interest in
South African army. The In
sufferings of the perse- came to the conlcusion this literary creation. His
a Jewish state could translation will be printed
cuted Jews in Europe that
not
solve
the problem of in a luxury edition.
made a terrible impres- anti-Semitism.
It is hard
Friedman tried to write
sion on the young physi- to
debate with a man like poems of his own, but
cian. He was troubled Elias
Friedman, who gave it up. He was not
that humanitarian prin-
chose
way to a born in a monastery and
ciples did not save Jews Catholic the
monastery.
came into a strange at-
from extermination.
At last he decided to mosphere and surround-
Elias Friedman decided leave
his home, family ing. His feelings and reac-
to leave the Jewish faith, and surroundings
and tion he expresses in the
because of, as he says it,
conflict with God about went to a strange place, to translation of Bialik's
the sufferings of the a monastery near Haifa. works.
As he is unable to take
He studied the works of
Jewish people.
part actively in Israeli the greatest poets. He re-
He came to the conclu- life;
he makes contact ceived several literary
sion that the Jews made a
terrible error when they with it through literary prizes for activity, one of
them an important prize
did not choose Jesus works.
He is busy with transla- awarded by the South Af-
Christ as their Messiah.
of Bialik's works. He rican Academy. This en-
"I think that I have tions
says that reading the
found the right way to works of Bialik is for him couraged him to write
poems and prose about
life in the monastery on
the Carmel Mountain,
and the monks he lives
BY HENRY W. LONGFELLOW
with. He is interested in a
Be strong, my heart!
lot of things: animals,
Break not till they are dead,
flowers, music. He writes
All, all my seven sons ; then burst asunder
about people, their suffer-
And let this tortured and tormented soul
ings, life and death, reli-
Leap and rush out like water through the shards
gious beliefs, but not on
Of earthen vessels broken at a well.
politics.
0 my dear children, mine in life and death,
"I hope that people will
I neither gave you breath, nor gave you life.
understand what I did
when I left the religion of
And neither was it I that formed the members
my people," he says.
Of every one of you. But the Creator,
There are severe motives
Who made the world, and made the heavens above us,
for a man to do what
Who formed the generations of mankind,
thousands of others do
And found out the beginning of all things,
not.
He gave you breath and life, and will again
We can hardly argue
Of his own mercy, as ye now regard
with Elias Friedman. It is
Not your own selves, but his eternal law.
his life and he has the right
do not murmur, nay, I thank Thee, God,
to live it as he wishes. His
soul seems to be a
That I and mine have not been deemed unworthy
labyrinth. But we could
To suffer for Thy sake, and for Thy law,
feel that he was incapable
And for the many sins of Israel.
of separating himself from
Hark! I can hear within the sound of scourges!
his people.
I feel them more than ye do, 0 my sons.
The translations of
But cannot come to you. I, who was wont
Bialik's works prove this.
To wake at night at the least cry ye made,
He is still looking for a
To whom ye ran at every slightest hurt, –
way and connection to his
I cannot take you now into my lap
past and people. He says
that he still believes in
And soothe your pain, but God will take you all
the Jewish people, its de-
Into his pitying arms, and comfort you,
stiny and its great role
And give you rest.
which it plays among the
(Selected from the play, "Judas Maccabaeus") nations of the world.
Jewish News Special
Israel Correspondent
Hannah in the Dungeon
Swiss to Double Egyptian Trade
GENEVA (JTA) —
Swiss Minister for Eco-
nomic Affairs Ernst
Brugger has said that
Switzerland's trade with
Egypt will practically
double within two years.
Brugger told the Swiss
Federal Council, the gov-
ernment, that economic
exchanges between the
two countries will top 200
million Swiss francs (ab-
out $80 million) by 1977.
Brugger, who has just
returned from an official
visit to Egypt, called on
Swiss banks to grant
long-term, low-interest
credits to Egypt as a con-
dition for a trade expan-
sion between the two
countries.
He also said Switzer-
land and Jordan will sign
next month an agree-
Isadore Feinberg
Isadore Feinberg, re-
ment providing for eco-
nomic and technical tired photographer and
cooperation. The minister owner of the now defunct
told the Council that Jor- Century Studios, died
dan is interested in Swiss Dec. 3.
aid in the area of elec-
A former Detroiter who
tronics, telecommunica- retired to Hallandale,
tions, tourism and con- Fla., Mr. Feinberg and his
struction.
wife operated their pho-
tography studio on W.
Quick Reply
Seven Mile for many
On the day before years. Mr. Feinberg had
Hanuka, a solicitous been the official photo-
mother said to her son:
grapher for Cooley High
"You should do your School.
housework now. Tomor-
He is survived by h
row is Hanuka and you'll
want to play with the wife, Anna; two brother-
dreidel. Never postpone George and Ralph, both of
for tomorrow that which Florida; and two sisters,
you can do today."
Mrs. David (Helen)
"If that's so," the child Schrage and Mrs. Joseph
coyly responded, "give me (Betty) Nuch, both of
the Hanuka latkes that Florida. Interment
you prepared for tomor- Florida.
row."
Boris Smolar's
'Between You
...and Me'
Editor-in-Chief
Emeritus, JTA
(Copyright 1976, JTA, Inc.)
PEOPLE OF THE BOOK: Jews in this country are
considered in the American book market as good
book-buyers. It is estimated that more than 100,000 of
them buy books, especially when they are of Jewish
interest.
This year, more than 300 books on Judaica, about
60 in fiction and more than 60 in Jewish children's
literature were published in the U.S.
Books by Arneioican Yiddish writers are now being
published mostly in Israel, because printing them in
the United, States is very costly. Yiddish books are
being published also in Argentina, but Israel takes
first place. There are several Yiddish publishing
houses in Tel Aviv.
On the other hand, Hebrew books — mostly rab-
binic literature by American Orthodox rabbis — are
being published in substantial numbers in the U.S.,
primarily in Brooklyn. More than 160 rabbinical works
have been published this year in this country.
More important from the point of view of Jewish
continuity is the large number of books of Jewish
knowledge and traditions appearing in English trans-
lation. Judaica books published by the Schocken Pub-
lishing House, by Jewish Publication Society, by Ktav
and other Jewish publishers are serving to enlighten
the American-born Jew of his heritage. The number of
books in this field translated into English and pub-
lished by the Schocken firm alone constitute a fine
library of Jewish knowledge.
THE BOOK MONTH: I am citing these facts in
connection with the Jewish Book Month which con-
cluded this week. It was observed in Jewish com-
munities all - over the country as an annual event
aimed at promoting Jewish interest in Jewish books of
all kinds.
Organized by the Jewish Book Council of the Na-
tional Jewish Welfare Board, the Jewish Book Month
is becoming more and more popular with every year
among younger people.
This year a good deal of attention was paid by the
younger element to books in Yiddish, or translated
from Yiddish, exhibited at the Book Month bazaars.
There are now 42 colleges and universities in the U.S.
teaching Yiddish — the language and literature — and
the number of teachers of Yiddish in the colleges and
universities is constantly growing with every year.
Some 80 such teachers from 27 colleges participated
this year in a three-day conference of YIVO Institute
of Jewish Research held in New York.
Jewish Book Month this year coincided with the
winning of the Nobel Prize for Literature by
American-Jewish novelist Saul Bellow, who is known
as a professor of English but to whom the Yiddish
language is no stranger.
JEWISH LIBRARIES: Parallel with the growing
interest in the U.S. in books of Jewish content there is
also a noticeable increase in the number of special
Jewish collections in the libraries of American colleges
and universities.
Over 40 general university libraries now have siz-
able Jewish collections, not to speak of public libraries,
theological seminaries and other educational institu-
tions. The largest collections in non-theological in-
stitutions are those of the New York Public Library
with 120,000 volumes, Harvard University with
100,000, Dropsie University with 95,000, the Univer-
sity of California and the Library of Congress with
80,000 each.
Esther Waldman
Esther Waldman, an
active member of Hadas-
sah in Detroit and
Florida, died Nov. 24 at
age 65.
Born in Poland, Mrs.
Waldman lived 55 years
in Detroit prior to retir-
ing to Florida four years
ago. She was a resident of
Miami Beach. Mrs.
Waldman was a vice pres-
ident of her Detroit
Hadassah chapter and a
lifetime member of the
organization. While in
Detroit, she also was ac-
tive in Cong. Bnai Moshe
and its sisterhood.
Mrs. Waldman is sur-
vived by her husband,
Alexander; two sons,
Erwin of Oak Park and
Barry of Huntington
Woods; two brothers,
Hyman Moore of Miami
Beach and Max Moore of
Los Angeles, Calif.; two
sisters, Mrs. Fanny
Sherman and Mrs. Anna
Godfrey, both of Oak
Park; and four grandchil-
dren. Interment Florida.
Max Schneider,
NY Businessman
NEW YORK (JTA) —
Max J. Schneider, former
director of Tishman Re-
alty and Construction
Co., a founder of the
Anti-Defamation \League
of Bnai Brith in New
York, and a director of the
Giants baseball team
until he retired this year,
died at his home in Man-
hattan. He was 90 years
old.
Mr. Schneider, who was
brought to the United
States from Vienna when
he was two years old, was
a vice president of the
Chemical Bank from 195 1.:
until his retirement 1:
1961.
He was a founder al
first chairman of the He-
brew Hospital for the
.Chronic Sick in the
Bronx, and a former
member of the board of
directors of St. Vincent's
Hospital in Manhattan.
Mr. Schneider was a life
member of the national
commission of the Anti-
Defamation League and a
member of its national
civil rights and Middle
Eastern affairs commit-
tees.