THE DETROIT BOSH NEYIS
Handler's Erudite Account of Hungarian Jewish Writing
By ALLEN A. WARSEN resolved to fight. He told
"Ararat," published by his father, "I'd be
Fairleigh Dickinson Uni- ashamed for the rest of
versity Press, is a colleciton my life if I succeeded at
of Jewish-Hungarian short that price."
stories, translated with an
"The Story of a Nose" by
introduction and notes by Erno Ballagi and Jeno
Andrew Handler.
Nador is a satiric narrative
In the introduction Dr. about a controversial nose.
Handler presents an erudite Compared to classical
account of the Jewish con- statues, Rostand's descrip-
tributions to Hungarian lit- tion of Cyrano and the
erature, and provides in- painting of Prince Babor
teresting insights into the Bethlen, Lajos Kelemen's
relations between Christian nose did not resemble
and Jewish literati. Jewish noses.
The introduction sets the
Nonetheless, one of the
stage for the carefully reasons Lajos was given a
selected stories that follow. medal for bravery was to
Tamas Kabor's story prove "that religion makes
"When They First Called no difference in the 895th
Me a Jew" is about Regiment."
Jewish and gentile
The controversy was
playmates.
finally and decidedly sol-
Curiously, some of the ved by the nose of his first
Jewish boys, like their el- born child — it was typi-
ders, concealed their Jewish tally Jewish.
identities in order to be ac-
Peter Ujvari's "Heaven's
cepted by their Christian Wagon Driver" is a Hasidic
playmates.
story about Srulche, the
"The Tartli Partners" by wicked wagon driver, who
Erno Lob is a story about a never prayed and swore
priest and a rabbi who were endlessly. Yet, after his
intimate friends despite death, he was warmly ad-
their religious affiliations. mitted to Heaven for per-
"Moishe" by Mihaly Ker- forming during his lifetime
tesz depicts a poor Jewish one meritorious deed — he
young man who endured saved a human life.
hardships in order to
"Legends About a
achieve his professional Teacher" by Irme Berkes
goal. In contrast, his son portrays a teacher who was
who grew up in comfort and not appreciated during his
ease when confronting his lifetime, but became a
first obstacle, numerus legend after his death.
clausus, decided to convert
"My Grandfather" by Ar-
as an easy way out.
nold Kiss is a thumbnail
However, on learning sketch of the epic story of
of his father's struggles, the Jewish people.
he changed his mind and Andor Raab's "Three
Barrels of Petroleum" is
a description of im-
poverished Jews trying
to eke out a living in a
hostile environment.
"Incident on a Trip" by
Akos Molnar is a portrayal
of an anti-Semitic Arme-
nian, a victim of Turkish
persecution, who believed
that the Turks extermi-
nated Armenians because of
Jewish perfidy — "so they
could make better business
deals."
"Zaddik of Ujhely" by
Joseph Patai is a tale about
a Hasidic rebbe whose soul
'refused to enter Heaven so
long as the Messiah did not
appear on earth."
Ferenc Mezy's "The Pro-
digy from Minsk" portrays a
talmudic scholar who knew
the entire Talmud and the
talmudic commentaries by
heart.
Jeno Hollo's "Old
Story" is a description of
a Christian who pre-
tended to be a Jew, but
whose identity was dis-
covered after his death.
Lajos Szabolcsi's "The
K-Lettered Ring" is a un-
ique diary of a Jewish land-
owner who recorded his
friendly relations with
Crown Prince Charles of
Austria, the later Emperor
Charles.
"Blood" by Karoly Pap is
a dramatic account of re-
ligious tolerance and
bigotry.
"The Paying Patient" by
Bela Mezey is a stirring
story about a doctor whose
kindness was reciprocated
years later by a former pa-,
tient in Israel.
"The Sad Story of
David Kellerman" by
Istvan Sarandy is a mov-
ing document of a Jewish
young man who mas-
tered the art of bootmak-
ing, but was not admitted
to the bootmakers' guild
because he was not
Christian and of noble
birth.
Sandor Gervai's "Reb
Zorech the Goatherd" re-
lates the sad experiences of
an innkeeper whose license
was revoked and could not
find work to support his
family. As a last resort, he
became a goatherd.
Some Galosi's "Vendel
Szigeti" is a story about a
Jewish villager who lost
track of the Jewish holidays
because he forgot to buy a
luakh (Jewish calendar).
Dr. Handler, a graduate
of the Budapest National
Rabbinical Institute, has
taught in the Department of
History at the University of
Miami. He has translated,
popularized and
memorialized the works of
Jewish-Hungarian authors.
Cam
Friday, March 31, 1978 23
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Atea'Y
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UNIFIL Casualties in Mine Blast
TEL AVIV (JTA) — The
United Nations Interim
Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)
suffered its first casualties
Wednesday - when one
Swedish soldier was killed
and another injured by a
mine explosion in the vicin-
ity of the Khardala Bridge
which Swedish forces oc-
cupied Tuesday. The bridge
is the easternmost span
over the Litani River.
It was learned, mean-
while, that Gen. Ensio
Siilasvuo, supreme com-
mander of UN forces in the
Middle East, has assigned
Jewish Leaders
Meet Begin in NY
NEW YORK (JTA) — In
response to a call from the
National Jewish Commun-
ity Relations Advisory
Council (NJCRAC), 318
Jewish community leaders
representing 57 com-
munities from one end of the
country to the other were in
New York last week to meet
•enahem Begin at the
Waldorf Astoria.
The meeting was con-
vened by the Conference of
Presidents of Major Ameri-
can Jewish Organizations.
Detroiters who attended
the meeting with Begin
were Jewish Community
Council Vice President Ida
Rosenblum, and her hus-
band, Albert; treasurer
Hubert Sidlow, and Mrs.
Clarice Sidlow; and Diane
Shekter.
another officer to replace
Col. Jonas Lindgren as
commander of the Swedish
unit in south Lebanon.
Lindgren was removed from
command reportedly be-
cause he ordered his troops
to retreat when they.came
under fire in their initial at-
tempt to take- over the
Khardala Bridge. The two
remaining Litani Bridges
are also under UNIFIL con-
trol.
Terrorist artillery north
of the Litani continued to
shell Israeli towns in Upper
Galilee Wednesday. There
were no casualties but some
damage was done to electric
lines and water pipes. Is-
raeli Defense Minister Ezer
Weizman on Tuesday gave
the terrorists 48 hours to
end their shelling or Israeli
forces would take action.
possible because of the
Lebanese government's de-
sire for full sovereignty over
south Lebanon, the UN pre-
sence and the understand-
ing shown by the Arab de-
terrent force, an apparent
reference to Syria whose
troops remained north of
the Litani River throughout
the Israeli operation.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces
are aiding Lebanese villa-
gers in clean-up and repair
of their homes and supply-
ing Christian forces with
vehicles and weapons.
Three terrorists who
were trying to re-enter
south Lebanon with re-
turning refugees were
captured after Israeli
soldiers discovered
Kalachnikoff rifles under
their clothes.
Foreign correspondents
reported in Beirut that
south Lebanon refugees
have taken over Beirut's
traditional Jewish quarter,
Wadi Abu Jamil.
The synagogue has been
taken over by refugees and
the Alliance Israelite
School, Ecole Tarrab, has
become a first aid and in-
formation center.
Israeli observers were
concerned that the UN-
IFIL troops were not
equipped, nor had strong
orders, to resist terrorist
infiltration south of the
Litani River, Israeli Chief
of Staff Gen. Mordechai
Gur charged that the
hasty United States ac-
tion in pressing a United
Nations Security Council World's Growth
resolution on south
Lebanon torpedoes a UNITED NATIONS
possible agreement by (ZINS)— The world's popu-
Israel with Lebanon and lation reached 4.04 billion
Syria over this area. in 1976, and is growing at a
But Gur, in television and rate which would make the
radio interviews, said that figure double by the year
such an agreement was still 2013.
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