14 Friday, May 29, 1981
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
The Yiddish Stage Loses Two
By MOSHE RON
The Jewish News Special
Israel Correspondent
TEL AVIV — In 1947,
Szymon Dzygan and Israel
Szumacher stood on the
stage in their hometown of
Lodz and cried out, "It is so
good to meet again!" No-
body in the audience
laughed. There were tears
in their eyes. The audience
consisted of Jews who had
returned from the camps,
the woods and deportations.
Dzygan and Szumacher
had made an oath that as
long as they lived they
would bring their humor to
their Jewish brethren.
Dzygan and Szumacher
kept their oath. They estab-
lished their home in Tel
Aviv. After the death of
Szumacher, Dzygan under-
stood that only here was his
real place and home. He
travelled throughout Israel
with his Yiddish jokes and
Jews from all over —
Morocco, Algeria and, of
course, from Eastern
Europe knew him well.
When it became known
that Dzygan would ap-
pear on Israel TV with a
Yiddish program, the
Moroccan merchants in
the Tel Aviv Carmel mar-
ket closed their stalls and
went home to listen to
Dzygan's performance.
Dzygan was angry be-
cause the government
ministries did not help him
and he reacted with jokes
about members of the gov-
ernment, which were
quoted widely in the public.
His visit to the Knesset was
quite an event. His jokes
were even quoted in gov-
ernment meetings.
His humor was connected
with his love for the country
and its people. He talked to
all the big shots in Yiddish.
The national leaders liked
him, his jokes, his qualities
and had a great fondness for
the artist.
Dzygan's ambition was to
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WASHINGTON (JTA) —
A Nazi group in Alexandria,
Va. is selling "victory
bonds" for $880 to be re-
deemed for $8,800 this year
after it comes into power in
the United States.
This "gimmick" was re-
vealed in a speech on the
House floor last week by
Rep. Tom Lantos (D.-Calif.),
who urged that the Reagan
Administration investigate
what he said could be a "luc-
rative" scheme.
"Just a couple of weeks
ago I stood a few feet from
the President of the United
States as he denounced —
with feeling and passion —
the Nazis of another era,"
Lantos said, recalling the
Holocaust Remembrance
Day ceremony at the White
House.
The Seccrurities and Ex-
change Commission repor-
tedly began an investiga-
tion of the bonds sale after a
member who quit the Na-
tional Socialist White
People's Party demanded
his money back.
perform in a great program
of Yiddish humorist Shalom
Aleichem's work. It was not
easy. One needed financing
and good artists.
Dzygan staged a
Shalom Aleichem per-
formance under the title
"Doctors Prescribe
Laughter." In this per-
formance Dzygan re-
vealed his great artistic
qualities. He sparkled
with humor and quick
movement, with Yiddish
charisma and the
colorful quotations of
Shalom Aleichem's eter-
nal creations. But he gave
too much of himself in
this performance and col-
lapsed.
The Yiddish stage has
lost a great artist who has
no successor. He laughed
his last laughter in his be-
loved land, Israel, and his
last joke on his death-bed
was: "Why are you sur-
rounding me with such sad
faces? Don't you know that
doctors prescribe laughter?"
On the anniversary of his
death a memorial evening
was held in the Shalom
Aleichem House with the
participation of the chair-
man of the Jewish Agency
Arye Dulzin, Tel Aviv
Mayor Shlomo Lahat, Yid-
dish writers and artists. A
sculpture, which Dzygan
had once given as a present
to his wife, was placed in the
house.
Dzygan and comedian
Henry Gero brought joy to
the Jewish public with their
humor and acting. I had the
honor to take part in some of
their performances in
Argentina, Venezuela and
Brazil. Jews closed their
shops and hastened to their
performances. They tried to
show the positive side of the
state of Israel, clad in
humor and juicy satire.
With their deaths deep
mourning was felt in Israel,
especially among the
Yiddish groups, who
mired the great artists.
Henry Gero had an
apartment in Ramat-Gan
and came each year for a
few months to Israel. He
had developed his own
style on the stage, was an
artist, singer and per-
former. He derived his
language, jokes and
popular style from the
roots of the Yiddish lan-
guage and Yiddish life.
Gero died when he was
just over 60 years old. He
was born to a rich and
well-known Jewish family.
He received a traditional
Jewish education. He
studied medicine, but when
World War II broke out he
had to interrupt his studies.
He liked music, played
the fiddle and was even a
composer. His widow,
Rosita Londner, took part in
many Zionist missions with
her late husband.
,
Low-Alcohol Wine Drink
Developed by Israel Scientist
NEW YORK — Follow-
ing a dozen years of re-
search, Israeli biochemist
Gershon Margalith has
developed a low-calorie, vir-
tually non-alcoholic substi-
tute for wine. Margalith's
exploits were documented
in a recent issue of People
Magazine.
Made from grape juice
and the residue of distilled
wine, Margalith's beverage
(he hasn't named it) aver-
ages two percent alcohol,
compared to the eight or
nine percent minimum re-
quired for wine in most
countries. Nobody would
mistake the new drink for a
1970 Lafite-Rothschild, but
the taste and bouquet are
close enough to a respecta-
ble "vin ordinaire" to win
praise from wine expert
Pierre Escorsac of Toulouse.
Although it lacks the
"bouquet" and "personal-
ity" of a true wine, he says,
it is "quite pleasant and
would be extremely suc-
cessful with a little added
virtue."
Margalith, who emi-
grated to Israel in 1977 to
marry his second wife,
began his experiments in
Toulouse. He was teach-
ing oenology, the study of
wine, at Paul Sabatier
University and was well
aware of the alcoholism
problem in France. Its
citizens consume a
saturating 25 quarts per
capita annually.
"There are two million
alcoholics in French hospi-
tals," Margalith notes, "and
40,000 deaths last year
were related to alcoholism.
What is needed is a wine
without alcohol that can
leave Frenchmen their illu-
sions. If you've ever tried
Coca-Cola with cassoulet,
you'll see the merits of a de-
cent non-alcoholic wine."
Thus far Margalith has
produced only 2,000 sample
bottles in four varieties:
aperitif, dry white, semidry
white and red. He believes
his drink would be popular
in Muslim countries, where
liquor is forbidden by reli-
gious tenet, as well as with
alcoholics and weight
watchers.
Margalith doesn't want to
mass-produce the stuff him-
self. Instead he has given all
commercial rights to his
product to Tel Aviv Univer-
sity.
Orthodox Grow
Want Addition
in Law of Return
NEW YORK (JTA) —
Five Orthodox Jewish
organizations recently held
an international day of
prayer and assembly to call
upon the Knesset to include
the words "according to
halakha" in Israel's Law of
Return.
The statement was signed
by the Rabbinical Alliance
of America, Union of Or-
thodox Jewish Congrega-
tions, Rabbinical Council of
America, National Council
of Young Israel and the
Council of Young Israel
Rabbis.