2 Friday, December 29, 1918
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Purely Commentary
Yiddish Makes the Front Page:
Is Ghost of the Declining
Language Being Laid to Rest?
Lovers of Yiddish and its literature and all who aspire
to grant new life and strength to the language owe a great
debt to Isaac Bashevis Singer. His having won the 1978
Nobel Prize in literature was a personal gain, with glory
shed on the entire Jewish people. The manner in which he
accepted the award and in the process inspired renewed
interest in the language in which he writes added status to
a spokesman for a tongue once spoken by perhaps 10 or
more millions and now in decline.
Singer had much to say about Yiddish and his confi-
dence that the language would revive and gain strength.
He likened the plight of Yiddish to that of Hebrew before
the language was revived.
For example, at a convocation at the Hebrew Univer-
sity in Jerusalem a few years ago, before there was the
slightest inkling that a Yiddish writer would be awarded
the Nobel Prize in literature, Singer had this to say:
'The answer number one is in the Yiddish style:
I answer a question with a question: Why
shouldn't I write in Yiddish? Would I better write
in Chinese or Turkish?
"Number two: I often write about ghosts and
nothing fits a ghost better than a dead language.
The deader the language the more alive is the
ghost.
"Number three: Like Mark Twain I say: The
rumors about my death are exaggerated. Yiddish
may be sick but in our history between being sick
and dying is a long, long way. Also, we Jews suffer
from many sicknesses but amnesia is not one of
them...
"Let me finish with the most important answer:
A real writer writes in the language he speaks and
dreams and my dreams are all in Yiddish. In liter-
ature, as in dreams, death and oblivion don't
exist. In our dreams immortality is reality."
But it was in Stockholm, Dec. 7, that history was made.
That's when Singer was presented with the Nobel Prize. He
then delivered an address with faith in Yiddish. He re-
sorted to Yiddish, and it is on this score that a first in
journalism was recorded. His speech was quoted in the New
York Times in its totality and one line of the Yiddish
appeared on the front page and the balance was included in
the continuation of the report and again in the complete
text printed in the Dec. 8 New York Times.
It is worth quoting a portion of the speech and to repro-
duce the Yiddish as it appeared in the NYTimes:
tto ;71:: nvovra nrr,
nnlr,
rtrgn TIM
.Ptit At3t2171133 M4*
rivb Arlitt TID • 111.1YPIY.13 R 1'111
bW ,unin1 113 MItt513 1t$ ,r1153. TiP
•, tql:IL7* MT rp rvIortmix
"Strange asthese words may sound I often play
with the idea that when all the social theories
collapse and wars and revolutions leave human-
ity in utter gloom, the poet — whom Plato banned
from his republic — may rise up to save us all. _
"The high honor bestowed upon me by the
Swedish Academy is also a recognition of the
Yiddish language — a language of exile, without a
land, without frontiers, not supported by any
government, a language which possesses no
words for weapons, ammunition, military exer-
cises, war tactics; a language that was despised by
both gentiles and emancipated Jews.
"The truth is that what the great religions
preached, the Yiddish-speaking people of the
ghettos practiced day in and day out. They were
the people of the book in the truest sense of the
word. They knew of no greater joy than the study
of man and human relations, which they called
Torah, Talmud, Mussar, cabala.
"The ghetto was not only a place of refuge for a
persecuted minority but a great experiment in
peace, in self-discipline and in humanism. As such
it still exists and refuses to give up in spite of all
the brutality that surrounds it. I was brought up
among those people. My father's home on
Krochmalna Street in Warsaw was a study house,
a court of justice, a house of prayer, of storytel-
ling, as well as a place for weddings and Hasidic
banquets.
"As a child I had heard from my older brother
and master, I.J. Singer, who later wrote 'The
Brothers Ashk
enazi,' all the arguments that the
rationalists from Spinoza to Max Nordau brought
out against religion.
"I have heard from my father and mother all the
answers that faith in God could offer to those who
I.B. Singer as Champion of Yiddish and Fate
of 'Ghost' Language . . . A Controversy About
Our President and His Attitude Affecting Israel
doubt and search for the truth. In our home and in
many other homes the eternal questions were
more actual than the latest news in the Yiddish
newspaper. In spite of all the disenchantments
and all my skepticism I believe that the nations
can learn much from those Jews, their way of
thinking, their way of bringing up children, their
finding happiness where others see nothing but
misery and humiliation. To me the Yiddish lan-
guage and the ocnduct of those who spoke it are
identical.
"One can find in the Yiddish tongue and in the
Yiddish spirit expressions of pious joy, lust for
life, longing for. the Messiah, patience and deep
appreciation of human individuality. There is a
quiet humor in Yiddish and a gratitude for every
day of life, every crumb of success, each
encounter of love.
"The Yiddish mentality is not haughty. It does
not take victory for granted. It does not demand
and command but it muddles through, sneaks by,
smuggles itself amidst the powers of destruction,
knowing somewhere that God's plan for Creation
is still at the very beginning.
"There are some who call Yiddish a dead lan-
guage, but so was Hebrew called for 2,000 years. It
has been revived in our time in a most remarka-
ble, • almost miraculous way. Aramaic was cer-
tainly a dead language for centuries but then it
brought to light the Zohar, a work of mysticism of
sublime value. It is a fact that the classics of Yid-
dish literature are also the classics of the modern
Hebrew literature.
"Yiddish has not yet said its last word. It ocn-
tains treasures that have not been revealed to the
eyes of the world. It was the tongue of martyrs and
saints, of dreamers and cabalists — rich in humor
and in memories that mankind may never forget.
In a figurative. way, Yiddish is the wise and hum-
ble language of us all, the idiom of the frightened
and hopeful humanity."
The Yiddish front-paged item is unique and exciting,
bidding hope for Yiddishists, giving courage to those who
are striving for the revival of a language that has been
called a Ghost Tongue.
In a sense, the special attention to the Hebrew letters is
not unusual. Hebrew text of a prayer at the inauguration of
President Kennedy was reproduced in the Congressional
Record. For Yiddish it is especially unusual.
Does it give life to a Ghost Language? Time will tell.
Yiddish literature already is among the most popular. It is,
sadly, read primarily in translations. This helped give
world renown to Nobel Laureate Singer. Time will tell
whether his prophecies and hopes for Yiddish revival will
come true.
Does Jimmy Know Best
About Survival of Israel?
William Safire, writing on the New York Times Op-Ed
Page, Dec. 18, wiestioned whether "Jimmy knows best
about the survival of Israel."
The cause for such a comment was the presidential
action which unquestionably gave favoritism to the Sadat
position and could not be interpreted other than an un-
called for slap at Israel.
Because of the urgency of the situation which demands
rejection and condemnation of the latest Carter attitude, an
attitude that is harming peace efforts, Safire must also be
quoted in a statement which unhesitatingly places guilt on
the President for the current peace stalemate:
"Mr. Carter showed his pro-Arab tilt coolly, deliber-
ately, he betrayed the Israelis ... In a display of arrogance
and petulance wholly alien to any evenhanded mediation,
Mr. Carter in effect publicly endorsed the return of the
Egyptians to the original hard lines even before the pro-
posals had been presented to Israel."
Safire is not alone in his criticism. Some prejudiced
columnists notwithstanding, and in deference to the meas-
ure of arrogance that stems from official U.S. quarters, it is
necessary to resort to an editorial in the Wall Street Jour-
' nal (Dec. 19, 1978) for an indictment of Israel's enemies.
States the Wall Street Journal:
Back in the fall of 1977, you'll remember, the
Administration and the State Department had
brought the Mideast situation to stalemate by
pushing a comprehensive, all-at-once settlement
of the outstanding issues and even letting the
Soviets in as a party to the negotiations. Egypt's
President Sadat broke the logjam by going to
Jerusalem to begin talks on his own. In the
months that followed, our diplomats complicated
things again by throwing other issues and objec-
tions back into the pot. This time President Carter
saved the situation by convening Camp David,
and again putting some distance between the
Israel-Egypt issues and the Middle East's other
vexing problems.
By Philip
Slomovitz
After the Camp David signing on Sept. 17, the
predictable pressures began to mount — on Mr.
Sadat from his Arab allies, on Mr. Begin from his
political comrades. And these pressures centered
on the predictable questions: the extent to which
the Egyptian-Israeli peace would be linked to the
establishment of a Palestinian state. Once again
our diplomatic apparatus swung into action, on
the side of a close linkage and a comprehensive
plan. As Mr. Sadat kept upping the ante on this
issue, U.S. negotiators kept following him along
and providing him with U.S. support.
At the beginning of November, what was on the
table was a U.S.-approved draft treaty that deal
with the West Bank problem in its preamble. The
Israelis, after initial balking, accepted this text.
But in the meantime, Mr. Sadat was presenting
new demands. First he said he wanted a fixed date
for Palestinian elections, to come at the same time
as Israeli withdrawals from the Sinai and before
Egypt would have to live up to its side of the bar-
gain. Then he wanted a change in the treaty so
that Egypt could still go to war with Israel under
the terms of various Egyptian-Arab mutual de-
fense pacts. Then he wanted another change say-
ing that full diplomatic relations r with the actual
exchange of ambassadors, wouldn't have to be
established until Palestinian self-governance was
in place.
Each time the U.S. came up with a "com-
promise" between our original position and the
new one that Mr. Sadat was laying out. We
suggested that Mr. Sadat's timetable be called a
"target date" and moved back by three months.
We suggested that the part about honoring the
Arab mutual defense pacts be put in an annex to
the treaty rather than the text proper. We said
that Mr. Sadat was reasonable in withholding
"only" his ambassador from Israel until his new
conditions were met. And when the Israelis re-
fused to cooperate in this little game, our
President and his Secretary of State publicly de-
nounced them in a striking show of petty vindic-
tiveness. Worst of all, the State Department deni-
zens who've been shoving the linkage issue into
everyone's face all these months are now saying
that they saw this mess coming from the first.
They should know, of course, since they played no
small part in creating it.
Making this particular peace was never going
to be easy. It was always clear that the U.S. was
going to have to put pressure on Israel in the
process, and to give Mr. Sadat enough to show for
his efforts. But it's equally clear that President
Carter and his negotiators have gone too far. In
their search for another public victory they've
begun asking Israel not just for cosmetic conces-
sions but for new substantive ones, and they're
piqued when Israel shows that it knows the dif-
ference.
They're also trying to put Israel in a position
increasingly dependent on American good will
and resolve. But after their behavior in these
negotiations, not to mention the example they've
just given the world in the case of Taiwan, the
Israelis would have to be slightly daft to give up
territory on the basis of the Administration's in-
terpretations and assurances. Unless there's
some sign soon of a change in the U.S. attitude,
maybe Egypt and Israel should pick up the ball
once more and hold a new Camp David without
us.
Tampering with justice is not a very commendab 1 -
American principle. Condemnation of such a policy mea
living up to the hightest goals in Americanism and fair
play. That's the ideal to which President Carter must re-
turn injustice to a crucial world issue and to his own image.
Meanwhile, another Daniel has come to judgment.
Now Gary Wills opinionates about the Nobel Prize win-
ners. He approves of Sadat, nominates Carter and must
have been livid when he wrote about Begin.
That's an easy way of saying that Israel is wrong. It
might have been more difficult for the fuming columnist to
assert that all Israelis are guilty of obstructing peace;
therefore it is convenient to pick on Menahem Begin.
Why blame Wills? Haven't Carter and Sadat also been
discourteous in their unevenhandedness when dealing
with the Isreli spokesmen?
Say what you wish: there is a prejudice that has re-
sulted in failure to act even-handedly and it is not Begin
but Israel's antagonists who are to blame.
Fortunately, Israel's kinsmen recognize that the in-
tention is to force suicidal acts upon Israel and the Israelis
won't submit to self-destruction.