THE JEWISH NEWS
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Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue of July 20, 1951
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PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher
ALAN HITSKY
News Editor
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Business Manager
HEIDI PRESS
Associate News Editor
DREW LIEBERWITZ
Advertising Manager
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath, the 17th day of Iyar, 5743, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Leviticus 21:1-24:23.
Prophetical portion, Ezekiel 44:15-31.
Sunday, Lag b'Omer
Candlelighting, Friday, April 29, 8:11 p.m.
VOL. LXXXIII, No. 9
Page Four
Friday, April 29, 1983
A DAY SCHOOL'S INSPIRATION
Jewish schooling may have become a prob-
lem for American Jewry in changing times
when length of studies was reduced, enrollment
declined and the difficulty in securing the most
qualified teachers caused pressures on the
communities. Such problems have been and are
both inevitable and undeniable.
Nevertheless, there is an accompanying
spark of encouragement, of the newly-
developed dedication to learning and to teach-
ing that relieves the anguish from the Ameri-
can community's educational problems. It is the
ray of light that emerged from the Day Schools
and is now serving as a guide in a re-dedication
to the cultural legacies of our people.
The Day School movement shows great
progress in this country. It fulfills an impressive
need. It enrolls many children in a maximum
task of assuring knowledgeability on all fronts,
contributing to the historic achievement of
making Hebrew and living language of Jewry,
assuring a knowledge of histroy and a desire to
be a part of the generation that builds a stronger
foundation of the Jewish people. In the process,
the parent also becomes a re-dedicated Jewish
constituent.
These facts become vital in the considera-
tion of the educational programs for Jewry, on a
local leVel, in marking an important anniver-
sary of a Day School that has gained high ranks
in its field. It is the communally-magnetic
interest in the 25th anniversary of the Hillel
Day School that commands attention here
toward the Day School movement.
Here is a school that commenced a mere
quarter-of-a-century ago with a few dozen
pupils, and has now expanded into a school
population of 435. Much more important is the
fact that it is breaking through the seams in
available space and that it recognizes the obli-
gation of providing additional facilities for
many scores more whose parents are clamoring
for their admission into this school.
The record of Day School achievements
need not be limited to the Hillel facility. Two
other Day Schools are functioning here —
Yeshivath Beth Yehuda as the oldest, Akiva
Hebrew Day School as the youngest. In their
totality, the Detroit Day School programming
fulfills a very great need, and Greater ,Detroit
Jewry can take pride in what has been accom-
plished. There is cause for appreciation for the
support that comes from the Jewish Welfare
Federation, in its financial provisions for the
Day Schools supplementary to the support pro-
vided for the United Hebrew Schools.
Now Hillel Day School is in the limelight,
occasioned much more than by the festive spirit
of a 25th anniversary. It is the recognition of
increasing needs and the dedication to their ful-
fillment that matters at this time. The call for
action, to expand the facilities. To provide for
the large number of children whose parents de-
sire to enroll them in this school, is a cause for
community duties to be fulfilled.
Under existing economic conditions, and
because of heavy operating costs, the Hillel
leadership will hopefully do the expansion
planning with great caution and with a cer-
tainty that the community will not be led into
unwise construction planning.
A major obligation, however, is the enroll-
ment of the most qualified teachers. Without
them schools cannot prosper. This demands the
widest concerns for programs intended to assure
the highest standards in teacher training. This
is a duty applicable to all schools, everywhere,
when emphasis on the Jewish teaching staffs
which are never numerically overwhelming.
If the total Day School program is . to be
fulfilled, the call for action must receive wide
support and the funds necessary for enlarged
school facilities will hopefully be provided.
Such are the needs of an anniversary which
merits acclaim for the Day School movement
and currently, specifically, for Detroit's Hillel
Day School.
DECENCY IN THE GUTTER
Acting against their better judgment,
representatives of major Jewish movements in
the world went to Poland to participate in the
tragic reminders of one of the most ignoble
periods in history. The resistance to barbarism
by the handful of heroic Jewish men and
women, together with their children, in the
Warsaw Ghetto that had been transformed into
a slaughterhouse by the Nazis, inspired the
need to honor the memory of the noble genera-
tion.
They came to proclaim to the world the
appreciation of this generation for the assis-
tance, in the form of meager arms, that was
provided by the Polish underground to the
courageous Warsaw Ghetto fighters 40 years
ago. The Communist-dominated government of
Poland chose to mistreat these guests. It fol-
lowed the Kremlin orders and abused Israel and
the Zionist movement — that very movement
out of whose inspiration and the loyalty to
Which the banners of the resistance were
heralded in dignity.
By giving a platform to the PLO at the
Warsaw Ghetto memorial, the Polish govern-
ment again followed the Soviet Communist-
dominated anti-Israel policies.
Nothing more diabolical could have oc-
curred to match the very barbarism of the Nazis
which was recalled in paying tribute to the
heroic acts of resistance. It was the Communist
alliance with the PLO that intruded during a
sacred occasion and marred it.
Jews went to that memorial with respect
for the Polish people and with hopes for the
continuation of that cooperative spirit which
united the Polish and Jewish underground
anti-Nazi ranks. The treatment accorded them
gave proof of the uncivilized elements that are
dragging common decencies into the gutter.
World public opinion will surely know how
to judge and treat such misconduct.
Yiddish Melodies as Tools
in Language Preservation
Yiddish is admittedly declining as a published language, indica-
tive in the reduction of what had been a massive readership.
There are fewer Yiddish writers and the daily Yiddish press has
virtually disappeared, limiting it to the weeklies, monthlies and
annuals.
There are exceptions — in Israel, where there is a Yiddish daily,
and in France.
Nevertheless, there is the sustaining nostalgia. There is a power
in it that is inextinguishable.
Two factors lend it virility — the humor that is distinctly Yiddish
and the melodies that have captivated the generations.
The Yiddish song has been, remains, a powerfully stimulating
instrument that serves as a link between the generations.
Very few public functions are without the sounds of the Yiddish
song.
"The Yiddish Song Book" (Stein and Day) generates much
enthusiasm for this exciting theme. The compiler, Jerry Silverman, a
professional guitarist and folksinger, derived his inspiration from
family traditions. While the 113 Yiddish songs in this volume cross-
sectionally provide the most popular in all spheres of Jewish interest,
it is the Silverman explanation of the family influence that adds great
merit to this volume.
Thus, in his preface — his "Forshpays" — he explains it with this
background: "My mother, Helen, who came to America from the
shtetl of Dubrovno in Byelorussia as a teenager in 1913, and my son
David, who was born in New York City 56 years later, both contrib-
uted directly to the writing of this book.
"My mother's contribution consisted of her familiarity with much
of the material itself and her knowledge of Yiddish as well as her
willingness, her eagerness to find just the right word or shade of
interpretation in the translations. My son's contribution was unique
and, in a way, touching, for he, at the age of 11, in his fourth year of
studies at the Westchester Children's Shul in New York, was able to
look up Yiddish words in the Yiddish-English dictionary — some-
thing that his father, who learned Yiddish by ear, was not able to do
until recently."
The songs themselves are, of course, the vital factor in this theme.
There are six categories: Love, Children, Le Chaim!, It's Hard to Be a
Jew, Amerike Amerike!, and the Holocaust.
Inclusion of the latter gives the collection totality.
Quoting examples, it is necessary to make reference to the follow-
ing:
In the section devoted to "Children" there is the well known
"Shlof Mayn Feygele — Sleep, My Little Bird"; "Rozhinkes Mit Man-
dlen — Raisins and Almonds"; and several others with related
themes.
In "Love," the singer is always elated by such songs as "Tuna
Balalaika"; "Her Nor Du Shayn Maydele — Listen, My Sweet Pretty
Girl"; "Lomir Zich Iberbetn — Let's Make Up."
"Le Chaim" features such songs as "A Chazzandl Oyf Shabes — A
Cantor for the Sabbath" and "Vi Azoy Trinkt a Keyzer Tey — How
Does a Czar Drink Tea."
"Amerike Amerike" contains such songs as "Lidl Fun Goldenem
Land — Song of the Golden Land"; "Shik a Tiket — Send a Ticket";
"Leben Zoll Kolombus — Long Life to Columbus"; and "Kolumbus,
Ich Hob Tsu Dir Gornit — Columbus, I Give You the First Prize."
The totality explains, the aim is inspiring. "The Yiddish Song
Book" will be cherished by all lovers of Yiddish and that places
emphasis on the folksingers.