2 friday, February 5, 1982 —._
THE DETROff JEWISH NEWS
Purely Commentary
By Philip
Slomovitz
Dr..Joshua Fishman Makes Eloquent Appeal for Perpetuation
of Yiddish as a Living Tongue . . . 'Never Say Die!' Draws Upon
the Psalmist's Declaration to Omut . . — Shall Not Perish'
`Never Say Die!' Proclaimed Battlecry for Yiddish
"Never Say Die! — A Thousand Years in Jewish Life
and Letters" is the title of an immense 800-page documen-
tary edited by Dr. Joshua A. Fishman, professor of social
sciences at Yeshiva University, New York. The
encyclopedic work was published in The Hague, the
Netherlands, by the Mouton Publishing Co.
The volume is overpowering. It is a merited supple-
ment to "History of the Yiddish Language" by Dr. Max
Weinreich (University of Chicago Press).
While the volume is both
history and philology, im-
pressively sociological in its
approach, "Never Say Die!"
sums up as a battlecry, as a
call to lend to Yiddish the
glory of its thousand-year-
old history and its wealth of
literary contributions.
Prof. Fishman draws ex-
tensively upon Weinreich,
whose valuable study re-
tains leadership in the
study of the history of the
Yiddish language: The
additional material
enriches the study.
Dr. Fishman, a leading
sociologist of language, evi-
DR. JOSHUA FISHMAN
dences his skill in that field
as editor of "Never Say Die."
He has been a Fellow at the Center forAdvanced Study
in the Behavioral Sciences (Stanford, Calif.), the East-West
Center (Honolulu, Hawaii), and the Institute for Advanced
Study (Princeton, N.J.) His research has been supported by
71t8 t■
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torin
int.3tr,
f
NSF, the Ford Foundation, NIE, and NEH and has been
conducted in India, Israel, and Indonesia, in addition to the
U.S.A.
Founding editor of the "International Journal of the
Sociology of Language" and of the book series "Contribu-
tions to the Sociology of Language," he is author of some 50
books and monographs, some of which have appeared in
France, Spanish, German, Japanese, Italian, Serbo-
Croatian, Yiddish, Hebrew and Dutch.
"He is the author or co-author of "Language and
Nationalism," "The Spread of English," "Studies on Polish
Jewry," "The Sociology of Jewish Languages" and some 300
articles on sociolinguistics, ethnicity, and bilingual educa-
tion.
The devotion displayed by Dr. Fishman in the compila-
tion for this effort in behalf of Yiddish adds special fascina-
tion to the studied tasks. In his preface he makes this
important declaration: •
It is my hope that this volume will add perspec-
tive to most popular reactions to Yiddish —
whether pro or con — by providing a dimension of
realistic depth and an appreciation for the inter-
nal struggles and external pressures that this
world continually experienced. Far from being
either superhuman or subhuman the world of
.
n:t2z.:"5:.
Yiddish was — and still is, for it is far from over
and done with — brimful of very human ambiva-
lences; extremism and compromise, idealism and
materialism, shortsightedness and eternal ver-
ities, tenderness and cruelty. It was and is a com-
plete world: a full-woven tapestry; a varied world;
a multicolored tapestry; a creative world; a still
unrolling tapestry. The sociology of language —
and, I am convinced, mankind in general — will be
richer for becoming more familiar with it.
Of the many who have encouraged and enabled
me to undertake and complete this volume, I want
to single out for public thanks the Yivo, particu-
larly its library, and most particularly Dina Ab-
ramovitsh, head librarian of the Yivo, for locating
many dozens of items that I needed to examine, as
well as Mordkhe Shekhter, Columbia University,
for his friendly criticism and assistance in con-
nection with dozens of queries, Robert Cooper,
Hebrew University (Jerusalem), for his very hep-
ful comments on an early draft of the Foreword to
this volume, Leyzer Ran for permitting me to
make use of so many of the splendid illustrations
in his exemplary publications "Fun eliyohu
(Continued on Page 64)
Tu b'Shevat: The New Year of Trees Promises Abundance
By DR. DAVID GEFFEN
World Zionist Press Service
JERUSALEM — "The
colony is exceedingly
enterprising and shows
much evidence of develop-
ing real Jewish peasant life.
The people we visited re-
ceived us in a modest little
cottage, in which every-
thing was crude, but they
prided themselves on hav-
ing made everything them-
selves. They offered us food,
every bit of which was the
fruit of their own labor." ,
Writing from Palestine in
1902, Martin Meyer de-
scribed the small colony of
Motza just outside of
Jerusalem, which he visited
80 years ago on Tu b'Shevat.
A native of California,
Meyer was born in San
Francisco in 1879, where
his grandfather Harry Sil-
berstein was one of the
pioneer Orthodox rabbis in
the city.
Choosing to study for the
reform rabbinate, Martin
graduated from the Hebrew
Union College in Cincin-
natti in 1901. Later he was
to serve as rabbi of Temple
Emanuel in San Francisco.
One of the first students at
the new American School
for Oriental Studies in
Jerusalem, Meyer lived at
the Kaminitz Hotel outside
the walls of the Old City
from the fall of 1901 until
June 1902.
Yellin,
David
Jerusalem educator,
came to know Meyer and
invited him to speak on
"Recent Developments in
Archeology in
Jerusalem," a lecture
which Meyer gave before struggle that the early col-
an enthusiastic onists had with the soil was
Jerusalem audience in terrific. It had to be cleared
May 1902. The event was of stones," Meyer em-
covered by Eliezer Ben- phasized, `.`and the earth
Yehuda in his Hebrew had to be scrapped together
from every rock and cranny,
newspaper Ha'Zvi.
During Meyer's stay in but industry and patience
Jerusalem, he took a were rewarded."
He concluded with a
number of trips outside the
city visiting both historical poignant tribute not only
sites and various Jewish to the colonists but to the
colonies throughout the spirit of the Jewish
country. On Tu b'Shevat in people as well: "Little
190 2 he had an especially though the colony is, and
touching experience at hard though the path
Motza, which was then might have been, it is suf-
ficient to demonstrate
known as Koloniyeh.
Riding by carriage from what possibilities there
Jerusalem, he and two are in the Jew."
Personally moved by
friends descended the eight
kilometers (five miles) from what he had seen and realiz-
the hills of Jerusalem down ing the uniqueness of the
to the site of the settlement day of Tu b'Shevat in this
where 10 families were liv- ancient-new land, Meyer
ing. "The colony," he wrote, asked if he could plant
"is situated in a delightful something himself in the
bowl in the hills, which are soil of the revitalized Holy
steep and stony, and amid a Land. One of the colonists
profusion of olives, vines, took two small saplings and
and orchards these Jews are pointed out a spot where
living a happy useful life." trees would be most bene-
For most native-born ficial to block the wind and
American Jews at the turn to provide shade in the fu-
of the century, Tu b'Shevat ture.
With tears in his eyes, as
was not a holiday of major
significance. Before the Meyer wrote to his parents,
days of the Jewish National he dug into the soil, prepar-
Fund, which in 1902 was ing it for his two trees.
only a few months old, the "Here I stood looking out
afforestation of Palestine into the Judean hills, where
was not a major concern. my ancestors centuries ago
The day was a throwback to had first inhabited this
the ancient system of ti- land. Now; after years of
thing when the Jews actu- desolation, a trickle of my
ally lived in the country. people had begun to revive
Therefore, it was appropri- the valleys and the hillsides
ate that Meyer would have which had lain dormant and
chosen Tu b'Shevat to visit sorely missed Jewish care
and concern. In this very
the settlement.
When he and his friends soil I placed two trees which
arrived, they were greeted I hoped would not only just
warmly and they marveled live but thrive."
Fourscore years ago Mar-
at the strenuous efforts, of
these pioneers to make the tin Meyer placed his own
barren soil productive. "The sign of rebirth into the soil
.
of Eretz Yisrael. On this Tu
b'Shevat, on the 80th an-
niversary of the Jewish Na-
tional Fund, the Land of Is-
rael with its. 160 million
trees planted by the fund, is
a moving testimony to, as
Meyer put it, "What pos-
sibilities there are in the
Jew."
* * *
By DVORA WAYSMAN
World Zionist Press Service
JERUSALEM — Tu
b'Shevat — the New Year
for Trees, falls on teh 15th
Shevat. It is mentioned in
the Mishna as one of the
four "natural" New Years,
the others being "for kings
and seasonal feasts"
(Nisan 1); "for tithing cattle"
(Elul 1); "for husbandry, ar-
borculture and for reckon-
ing jubilees' (Rosh
Hashana). Originally it also
fell on the 1st of the month,
but it was moved by Rabbi
Hillel (30 BCE-10 CE) to the
15th of Shavat when, so it is
said, the sap begins to rise
with the full moon in Is-
rael's fruit trees.
From this springs the
custom on Tu b'Shevat of
eating the fruits that
grow in Eretz Yisrael —
each one of which has its
own symbolism. In tradi-
tional Jewish folklore,
the apple stands for
God's splendor: "As an
apple tree among the
trees of the wood, so is my
Beloved" (Song of Songs
2:3). The nut represents
Israel, because there are
three kinds of nuts —
hard, medium and soft —
just as there are three
kinds of Jews!
The almond signifies the
swiftness of God's punish-
ment to the sinner, both be-
cause the almond is the first
tree to blossom and also
cause Aaron's rod sprou
almonds (Numbers 17:8) a,
a warning to those who tried
to usurp the office of High
Priest. The carob, also
known as "Poor man's
bread" is a symbol of humil-
ity; and the fig represents
peace and prosperity: "They
shall sit every man under
his vine and under his fig
tree and none shall make
him afraid (Micah 4:4).
There are other customs
to mark Tu b'Shevat in Is-
rael. Many people sit up late
on the eve of the holiday re-
citing passages of the Bible.