2 Friday, September 28, 1919
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Purely Commentary
Paperbacks Gain Significance:
Many Classics Retain Their
Value in Popular Formats
Paperbacks are not new to the reading public. To avoid
the printing costs of hard cover books, resort to the soft
covers was a publishing practice for many years.
As a matter of fact, the paperback has its origin in
political campaigns and during protesting eras against op-
pression, religious, social, economic, political.
Therefore, the origin of the paperback must be traced
to pamphleteering. The brochure was always a weapon for
the champion of causes.
As a genuine literary
product the paperback
gained importance in Euro-
pean countries nearly a half
century ago. The best books
were at the outset available
for as little as a quarter in
the early years. The soft
cover book gained popular-
ity in this country three de-
cades ago. The price was
minimal then. It rose
through the years. Now
there are paperbacks that
sell for as much as $5.
LUDWIG LEWISOHN
There still is the saving,
and there is the ease with
which a paperback can be
handled, its usefulness
when traveling — the sav-
ing in cost.
Jewish publishers are
recognizing the -value of a
paperback and have turned
to popularizing the classics
in the lower priced media.
Therefore, an especially
encouraging development is
now in evidence.
Example: Paragon Books
have just issued three vol-
SHOLOM ALEICHEM
umes of the works of Sholom
Aleichem in excellent
translations from the Yid-
dish. With Prof. Curt Levi-
ant and the Yiddish
humorist's granddaughter
Tamara Kahana providing
excellent English texts, the
three paperbacks will be
valued as gems by lovers of
the Sholom Aleichem
works, by Yiddishists who
thrill when the literature
they admire appears in
other languages.
Behrman
Example:
House performed equally
MEYER LEVIN
remarkably with a new
series of paperbacks which include the following:
Meyer Levin, "Eva, A Novel of the Holocaust"; Ludwig
Lewisohn, "The Island Within"; Chaim Raphael,
"Encounters With the Jewish People"; and Shalom Spiegel
"The Last Trial."
Special attention must be given here to two of the
titles.
"Eva" by Meyer Levin, published more than 20 years
ago, was among the first of the novels dealing with the
Holocaust and the survivors of Hitlerism.
Levin has earned the gratitude of world Jewry for his
notable literary contributions on a variety of Jewish sub-
jects, primarily Israel and the Holocaust. He has produced
films relating to the latter and to rescue efforts and the
rehabilitatiot of survivors of Nazism. The republication of
"Eva" revives a deep interest in the earliest impressions by
a distinguished writer of the events that resulted from the
barbarism of Hitlerism.
Especially noteworthy also in the collection of
Behrman Books' paperbacks is Ludwig Lewisohn's "The
Island Within." It was first published in 1928 and was a
sensation because of the eminence of the author and the
appeal it uttered for the Zionist ideal.
"The Island Within" was as much an acceptance of
Zionism as it was an excoriation of assimilation.
What this novel does now is revive an interest in
Jewish devotion to basic ideals and an - interest in the
author who had already exposed assimilation, as he had
experienced it; a definitive evaluation of the prejudices
which drive a man suffering from bias to embrace the
values of the people and the faith of his heritage.
Thus, paperbacks provide a way of reproducing the
classics and of assuring greater knowledgeability for Jews
and others who are eager to learn and who love to read the
best there is in Jewish literature.
Welcoming 5740 With Knowledge of the Danger to Be
Confronted and the Spirit of Defiance of All Threats
By Philip
Slomovitz
There Will Always Be the Just!
There will always be the just, else life would become worthless.
Regardless of the terror that often embraces -continents and the injustice that occasionally gains a foothold, there
is always the protester, the person who rebels against unfairness, the people with vision who crave for a better future
and an end to or reduction of inhumanities.
By the same token, there probably will always be the unjust to make life challenging, to create concerns, to arouse
bitterness, to inject fears.
There will never be the last either of the just or the unjust, therefore, mankind always girds hopefully for the
peoples coming to their senses when they have erred.
Viewing the past, anticipating the future, such approaches, in the conflict between the just and unjust, is
inevitable. The past year was not that bad. It was glorified by the miracle of Camp David, the first anniversary of its
decisions having been marked on Sept. 17. But it was followed by months of miserable terror.The would-be destroyersoll\ -‘
Israel, who sought to undermine the Camp David decisions, gained supporters. Even in areas which were considered
basically fair to Israel's needs for survival and for a good life eventually with all her neighbors, there was an injection of
hostility. The spirit of good will was endangered.
This is how 5739 concluded last week. The new year 5740 commenced with a revival of the age-old sense of defiance
of terror in Jewish ranks everywhere. The enemy who seeks destruction must be met head-on. Perhaps the descendants
of the enemies of Israel, who always sought Jewry's annihilation, will yet learn the lesson of history — that Israel and
Jewry are not easily destructible.
The mere compulsion to issue this warning to those seeking to annihilate a nation is entertained with sadness. It
had already been hoped that it would not again be necessary to keep inviting the peoples of the world into a
confederation for peace and justice for all. Wasn't the United Nations created for that purpose? Yet it is from that
forum, now so tragically desecrated, that the worst of hatreds is being spouted!
This is what has cheapened human values. An overwhelming majority of the nations sharing membership in the
UN have allied with the bestial teachings of those who would destroy an entire nation. It is a small nation, minute
among the 22 neighboring peoples who begrudge the smallest of peoples the right to live. It is more than oil: it is a
hatred the haters cannot even explain properly.
If this is to be viewed as a tragedy, how much more tragic is the role of those not aligned with the Third
World-Arab-Communist bloc who all-too-often concur in the genocidal threats of the anti-Israel bloc with their silence!
Tf the 5740 auguries are to be based on the events of the last hours of 5739, the prospects for human decency are
grim. That black spokesmen should have gone to Beirut for an embrace with a mass murderer is one of the worst blows
that could have been given to the American principle of fair play. When newspapers like the NYTimes make the right
of individuals to purchase land, anywhere, a national crime in an accusatory aimed at Israel is something to deplore,
especially in view of Moshe Dayan's contention that the U.S. had given official endorsement of such a policy. That a
Detroit newspaper should have acted glowingly, in this matter, treating it as a burlesque, is nothing less than
disgraceful. How much land can individuals buy up in Samaria and Judaea? And when will there be an agreement
granting autonomy to the Arabs on the Jordanian border, how much will such purchases amount to? Such are the
developments that make the last days of 5739 so bitter that they call for the most serious planning to assure the
restoration of honorable treatment of the Israel-Jewish issue by Americans who should know better than they have
acted and written in the past few days.
And there is the tragic fact of indifference in Jewish ranks to the emerging dangers to Israel and to Jewry to be
considered. When a handful of Jewish youth lead in the threats to Israel on the campuses they add to the people's
sorrows. What is to be done about the enemy within, the self-hating, the misled and the misinformed?
It is a sad beginning for 5740, when enemies surround the People Israel. That people must confront what is
happening with the knowledge that the danger exists, and in the process must turn again to learning the lesson of
history. There have been worse times and Jewry survived. There is certain to be renewed threat comparable to those
which history has relegated to the dunghills of tyranny defied. The unity of a people refusing to submit to indignity and
bestiality and terror is an assurance of triumph for the just. Anything other than such a spirit would mean submission
to suicide, and this hasn't, never will, happen in Jewish history. Therefore, 5740 mustbe welcomed with a knowledge of
what is to be expected, a determination to hold head high and never to falter in time of crisis. This is what spells
survival in Jewish experience.
The trouble is that vested interests are more influen-
A Logical Note on the
tual than the viewpoint of an important official in an Israeli
Israel-Lebanon Situation
city bordering on Lebanon. It ,would be well to listen to
Often, a letter to a periodical tells more about a serious people like Avraham Aloni.
international situation than the rhetoric of statesmen-
politicians.
Must There Really Be
The Israel involvement in the bombing of terrorists in
Compulsion
for Hatred?
Lebanon has caused many a stir, at the UN, in Washington,
among Arabs, in other capitals of the world.
The new president of the United Nations General As-
A letter to Newsweek written by Mayor Avraham sembly started off as the majority undoubtedly wanted to:
Aloni of Kiryat Shmona defines the issue more clearly than
with a blast at Israel and an endorsement of the PLO
its having been tackled by others.
antagonism.
Mayor Aloni stated:
Which raises the question whether it is so imperative
I am the mayor of Kiryat Shmona, an Israeli
that so may people should hate.
town of 18,000 in Galilee. We in eastern Galilee,
Remember the lines in one of the songs in "South
together with Nahariya in western Galilee, are the
Pacific":
two confrontation towns that have borne the
You've got to be taught to hate and fear.
brunt of murderous PLO attacks on our civilian
You've got to be taught from year to year.
population during the past 10 years and more.
It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear.
I now read that the U.S. and other countries
You've got to be carefully taught.
have expressed their opposition to Israeli Air
Force attacks on PLO bases in Lebanon in retalia-
You've got to be taught to be afraid
tion for PLO attacks and in the hope of deterring,
Of people whose eyJs are oddly made.
the terrorists. The truth is that I am not too happy
And people whose skin is a different shade.
myself over the use of the air force for such pur-
You've got to be carefully taught.
poses. Air attacks are simply not that effective
and they cannot be expected to be exact enough to
You've got to be taught before it's too late.
always differentiate between terrorist positions
Before you are six or seven or eight.
and the surrounding civilian population which is
To hate all the people your relatives hate
compelled by the PLO to provide shelter for its
You've got to be carefully taught.
bases.
I regret the death of Lebanese and Palestinian
Unfortunately, this is the rule rather than the excep-
civilians as much as I do that of my own people.
tion in the UN.
But it would be intolerable for Israel to sit back
Yet, at the UN, there is a reproduction of the message
and do nothing in the face of PLO attacks. The
from Isaiah, "They shall beat their swords into plow-
best solution would be for Lebanon to accept
shares." True, it took a generation to compel UN to indicate
Prime Minister Begin's sincere offer of a peace
the
source of this historic Jewish contribution to civiliza-
treaty along the established international bor-
tion. Until only about three years ago it was displayed
ders between our two countries. But if Lebanon
anonymously. Would it be in order now for the UN to add an
cannot free itself sufficiently from Syrian-PLO
inscription from Leviticus 19:17:
pressures to conclude such a peace, then to my
"Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart."
mind, the only alternative to the need for contin-
Unfortunately, as the eminent Swedish author Hugo
ued Israeli air attacks on PLO bases is for our
Valentin, wrote in his book "Anti-Semitism" (1936), "The
army to reoccupy a 22-kilometer-deep strip of
terrible thing about hatred is that he who is seized with it
southern Lebanon to force the Katyusha rocket
as a rule does not wish to be rid of it."
launchers out of range.
•
.