56 Friday, August 19, 1977 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
The Bible as A Guide for U.S. Democracy
Defined in Dr. Katsh's Factual Compilation
Dr. Abraham I. Katsh.
the recently retired presi-_
dent of Dropsie University,
Philadelphia. enriches the
classical bookshelf contain-
ing his numerous scholarly
works with the newest, just
published by Ktay. which
properly belongs to the era
of the American Bicenten-
nial,
While it deals with the his-
torical aspects of American
Jewish history and there-
fore especially fits into the
Bicentennial theme, it is a
title, "The Biblical Heri-
tage of American Democ-
racy," that belongs to more
than one age. It is rooted in
experienc8 that enhance
the American and Jewish
relationships.
The impact\of Hebraic in-
fluences on Western Civ-
ilization and on the Puri-
tans in the New World are
reliably developed by Dr.
Katsh, whose authoritative
DR. ABRAHAM KNISH
role both as Bible scholar
and a master of Hebraic
lore fortify him with qual-
ifications to define this in-
teresting subject.
Dr. Katsh's new book is
not only informative: it will
delight the readers with the
numerous historical in- _
cidents outlined in it.
There are the chapters on
U.S. place names derived.
from Scripture and words
and phrases in English that
stem from Hebraic sources.
Both these chapters are ap-
pendices to a volume of
great merit which also is en-
hanced by a series of illus-
trations which have historic
significance.
Among the Bible place
names listed for a Michigan
grouping are:
Beulah, East Jordan,
Eben Junction, Eden, Naza-
reth, Olivet. Omer, Ruth,
Salem and Samaria.
There is genuine fascina-
tion in Appendix A with a
listing of "Hebrew Words
and Phrases in English."
Their compilation will elicit
gratitude from readers of
the notable Katsh book.
Here are some of them:
"As a drop in the bucket"
(Isa. 40:15); "a land flow-
ing with milk and honey"
(Exod. 3:8); "a still, small
voice" (I Kings 19:12);
"the way of all the earth"
(Josh. 23:14). "the peoples
arose as one man" (.Judg.
20:8):"there is nothing new
under the sun" (Eccles.
1:9); "a tale that is told"
(Ps. 9 0:9 ); "darkness
which may be felt" (Exod.
4:21); "vanity of vanities"
(Eccles. 1:2); "the apple of
his eye" (Deut. 32:10): "a
man after his own heart" (I
Sam. 13:14); "how are the
mighty fallen" (II Sam.
1:25).
The illustrations, ap-
pended as a 20-page supple-
ment, are a fascination in
an instructive book. They in-
clude reproductions of no-
table historic documents
and the explanatory notes
for them provide inter-
esting studies of cultural in-
terests in Hebrew lore.
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0 4817
prayer), and he would pull
them into paradise.
I will relate briefly two
typical Hasidic tales:
The holy Mayerl of Prze-
mysl always prayed for sin-
ners and begged God that
he forgive their trans-
gressions. God, of course,
at all times fulfilled May-
erl's wishes. Once the holy
Rebbe pleaded for a hard-
ened sinner, but "God this
time simply would not for-
give. The Mayerl — just
think of it — actually
stamped his foot at God.
And the man was immedi-
ately pardoned."
The holy Reb Naftali of
Ropshitz had a low opinion
of the Russian, Hungarian
and German languages. He
considered Russian as the
embodiment of "retsikhe"
(violence), Hungarian of
"niyef" (debauchery) and
German of "apikorses" (un-
belief ).
He mused, "German re-
sembles our Yiddish, but
only in the same way as a
monkey resembles a man."
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Old Tales of Hasidim Published in 'Nine Gates'
of the "Nine Gates" is a Ha-
By ALLEN A. WARSEN
Jiri Langer's "Nine Gates sidic rebbe. In the "First
to the Chassidic Mys- Gate" Reb Sholem, the
teries," translated by Step- founder of the Belzer dy-
hen Jolly (Behrman House) nasty, is the principal char-
is a collection of well-nar- acter.
Belz, it is worth noting,
rated Hasidic tales.
Langer was born in was a small Galician town
Prague in 1894 and died in regarded as "the Jewish
Tel Aviv in 1943. He was Rome, captial of a state-
the younger brother of within a state." There Reb
Frantisek Langer, the noted Sholem and his descendents
Czech writer who is ranked ruled until the Second
with Karel Capec.
World War.
In his "Foreword" Franti-
According to a legend the
sek describes with great in- office of Reb Sholem, be-
sight the gradual process of fore he became Belzer
Jiri's becoming a Belzer Rebbe, was managed by a
Hasid. He notes that Jiri "messiah." Hasidim and
was brought up in a cultur- Cabalists generally believe
ally assimilated and reli- that there is a "messiah"
giously indifferent family, in every generation who
although they observed leads a solitary life and no
kashrut. "This was mainly one knows of his existence.
due to Julia, a devout Chris-
According to another leg-
tian, who during her youth end, the prophet Elijah in-
had worked for our aunt, a - itiated Reb Sholem "into
strict Jewess, and who saw the inscrutable mysteries of
to it that we observed not the Cabala and gave him
only the proper regulations the keys of the celestial
regarding food but also gates."
The Hasidim, as already
other precepts of the Jew-
mentioned, followed their
ish religion."
own practices and obser-
Frantisek writes that
after the First World War vances. Reb Sholem's adhe-
Franz Kafka and Jiri be- rents, for instance, never
came close friends. And dur- completely covered their
ing the Second World War,
chests as "the heart Must
always be open." Neither
in Tel Aviv after their flight
from Nazi barbarism, Max did they wind the "retsua"
(leather strap) of the hand
Brod and Jiri became close
phylactery towards them-
companions. In Tel Aviv,
too, Jiri translated into
selves, but always towards
Hebrew his Hasidic tales
their neighbors, as they con-
and published a volume of sidered this observance an
his collected Hebrew verses
act of unselfishness.
titled "Ma'at Tsori" (A
The Belzer Hasidim be-
Little Balsam).
lieved that after death their
rebbe, by an ingenious oper-
"Nine Gates to the Chas-
ation, would lead them into
sidic Mysteries" consists of
the Garden of Eden. They
tales about Hasidism, Hasid-
ic rebbes, their beliefs and were convinced that as
soon as they would arrive
practices.
in the "hereafter," they
The tales are described
would "catch hold of the
vividly and eloquently.
The central figure in each gartel" (belt worn during
1 n)1?
la IR ell"
iwyry
ituw
c• - • ;Iwo) nt
.)8)
tD)py
The above Hebrew letter was written by then Secretary of
State John Hay in response to a rabbi's letter thanking him
for helping the persecuted Jews of Rumania. It reads: "Your
letter I have received Man of God and I was happy that my
.efforts have found favor in your eyes if they are for your
persecuted brethren in the kingdom of Romania. Peace unto
you and your congregation the Sons of Moses. I hereby
request of the Lord God that he bless bless (sic) the people
of your conversant that are in Evansville in all their endea-
vors whether words or deeds. And may -the God of peace be
with you forever. And I am your beloved."
Pure Children: The Horror of the Lebensborn
By DR. MILTON STEINHARLYT
Of Pure Blood" by Clari-
ssa Henry and Mark Hillel
(McGraw-Hill) and "Chil-
dren of the SS." by Mark
Hillel and Clarissa Henry
(Hutchinson), though with
different titles, are identi-
cal, and written by man
and wife—the first was pub-
lished in the U.S. and the
second in England—both
translated from French.
-
If ever one thought that
he is aware of all the in-
dignities, arrogance, hor-
rors, cruelties,_and murder
associated with the "mas-
ter race" then he has not
read the books by Clarissa
Henry and Mark Hillel. The
authors narrate the execu-
tion of a policy pro-
mulgated by Himmler to in-
crease Germanic Nordic
stock—with blue eyes and
blond hair—capable of do-
minating the world for a
thousand years.
The Nazis, with usual me-
thodical zeal, attacked their
objective from __several
points of -view, and the exe-
cution of this sinister and
comprehensive plan is
briefly reviewed.
'The first effort was to in-
crease the birthrate by mak-
ing abortion illegal; encour-
aging early marriage; giv-
ing mothers of five or more
children special awards.
The second, to establish
special Lebensborn
homes—the purpose being
to allow unmarried preg-
nant women to deliver and
nurse their children.
The third, to attract spe-
cially selected young
women to live in these
homes for the purpose of
impregnation so that they
may offer a child to Hitler.
Needless to say, the privi-
leged males with access to
the young women were the
SS and the Wehrmacht.
Many of the young, unmar-
ried women developed a re-
ligious frenzy to offer a
child to Hitler for the sake
of racial supremacy.
While it pleased the
simple, faithful, and those
curious about sanctioned
sex experiences. the towns-
people, becoming aware of
the activities at close
range, regarded the homes
as disguised brothels, baby
factories, and stud farms.
The object of the Nazi hi-
erarchy was to increase the
German population for
more cannon fodder and ul-
timate world domination.
But in order to assure
world superiority, one must
diminish the productivity,
fertility, and survival of the
"undesirables" such as
Jews, Poles, Russians, and
others.
To accomplish the latter,
additional measures were
adopted.
Standards for determin-
ing desirability included cer-
tain measurements and
ratio of the nose and cheek
bones, as well as blue eyes
and blond hair, but the
main factor was - favorable
impression." Physical attri-
butes were the most impor-
tant in the selection of thou-
sands of youngsters ordered
to certain camps under vari-
ous disguises and sub-
terfuges.
The "desirables", only a
small percentage of the
total rounded up, were
taken to special homes or
sent for adoption to various
Nazi families in Germany.
The others, the less fortu-
nate majority, were liquidat-
ed in the most cruel fash-
ion—for example, by plac-
ing the children, thinly
clad, in unheated barracks
in the wintertime.
What could not be accom-
plished by official corn-
mand was done by illegal
kidnapping of Aryan-type
children. Pubescent girls
were given hormones to has-
ten maturity. In one in-
stance the mood of the
mothers was so desperate
that they laid themselves
on the train tracks to pre-
vent the departure of their
kidnapped children. They
were driven away with the
aid of dogs and clubs.
The authors document
their material with full de-
tails from archives, letters,
and reports from witnesses,
nurses, mothers, and some
of the adopted children.
Many of the records were
kept secret by the Nazis for
obvious reasons, and most
documents were burned in
the final days of Hitler.
This explains why. during
the trials in 1947, many of
the perpetrators of the Le-
bensborn and other illicit ac-
tivities could not be con-
victed.
com-
additional
An
plication was the fact
initially the LebensL
posed as a charitable organ-
ization to help pregnant un-
married women, and un-
doubtedly that was the case
at the start.
Clarissa Henry was taken
to America from Britain
during the war years. Mark
Hillel i is a young journalist
who assisted in the clandes-
tine immigration of Jewish
survivors to Palestine after
the war. Both performed a
highly creditable task of
bringing to light all the
data on this difficult proj-
ect.