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20 Friday, January 17, 1986

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

PURELY COMMENTARY

Sholem Aleichem As Dramatist Affirmed

Continued frqm Page 2
how it was viewed in the shtetl when
you reach 20 and are unmarried — led
to the shadhanut, the matchmaking with
a despicable moneylender, Alter.
Yosele's emotional state did not di-
minish Esther's deep regard for Yosele.
For the reader it is evident that in this
story there is double tragedy — Yosele's
and Esther's. In the case of Yosele, his
dementia is so tragic that he becomes an
object for derision. But there is this to be
said about the shtetl: the elders had
compassion, the youth were typical in
their lack of understanding and there-
fore the derision.
To Yosele, the woman he was in-
veigled into marrying was a cat and his
emotional decline was expressed into a
cry of "kukuriku." He becomes represer-
tative of the "Dybbuk," horrification of-
the ghetto shtetl. The children's reac-
tions have another connotation. The up-
shot of that tragedy elicits this deeply
moving §holem Aleichem description:

In the Jewish town of
Makarevka, some years back,
one could come across in shul or
on the street a tall, slender young
man with long, sparse hair, a
large, yellowed tallis-kotn cover-
ing his chattered heart, wearing a
strange cap on his head. His
throat was always wrapped in a
warm scarf, his eyes were hidden
behind a pair of blue spectacles,
and on his feet he wore one'shoe
and one boot. His habit was to
come into a house without speak-
ing a word, quietly wash up
while mouthing the prayer, seat
himself at the table, and wait to
be served something to eat. After
grace he would rise and leave
wordlessly.
He rarely spoke a word to
anyone. Even more rarely, he
would stand facing a wall and
suddenly begin singing, but so
sweetly, with so much feeling
that those passing by would
delay their errands, stop and lis-
ten to how the madman was car-
' rying on like a cantor, chanting
the rat ha'mdinos bo yomer so
beautifully and also. the other
prayer from the High Holidays,
Yalos, in the most pleasurable
way. But it seldom happened that
he would sing anything through
to the end, right in the middle of
producing coloratura trills and
ornamentations he would sud-
denly < burst out laughing, meow
like a cat, bark like a dog, or flap
,, his arms like a rooster, crying
out in a strange, crazed voice,
"kukuriku!" frightening the on-
- lookers. Women would look at
him, shake their heads, wipe
their tears away, and groan pi-
ously, "That a pity. This too is a
. poor creature . of God, a sinful
" . human being, merciful Father!
Learn a lesson Jewish children!
Such a beautifUl voice — and in
it a dybbuk, heaven protect us.
May it not happen to anyone.
God pity his mother or father.
Let me die, dear God, rather than
suffer such a punishment!" •
People took great pity on
him, would always give him some
food and drink, occasionally an
old shirt, a used garment, or a
groschen. Only from the young
boys, the pranksters, did the
poor madman suffer torments
and indignities. The • rascals
would run after him, pointing
their fingers at him, taunting

,

Aliza Shevrin,

him, jabbing and pinching him,
tugging at him, flicking his nose,
and shouting, "Nighfingale! What
are you — a nightingale or a
rooster or maybe even a crow?
Sing something for us, crow!" But
he tolerated all this stoically,
without so much as flinching, an-
swering no one, always walking
with his head held high, looking
at everyone through his blue
spectacles arrogantly, as if the
whole world were his ...
• Do I need to tell you that this
was Yosele Solovey?

,

Why
depict
Sholem
Aleichem as much, if not more, as
dramatist, perhaps tragedian, rather
than humorist? There is proof in The
Nightingale. It is a deep social study. It
describes the shtetl in deeply-moving
fashion. It is a study of shadhanum,
matchmaking, and hazanut, the canto-
rial art.
It is a remarkable stuay, well
translated by Aliza Shevriii. The Night-
ingale is another. classic with emphasis
on the literary genius of Sholem
Aleichem, who also emerges here as a
social scientist.

Fictionalizing
Our History

•

homes, schools, synagogues. No one can
recorded facts concerning his
claim after seeing this section that there
achievements in Budapest and
is difficulty in obtaining a Jewish book,
his subsequent disappearance, it
foods necessities, religious object, every
is not — nor is it intended to be
conceivable Jewish item. •
— bibliographical. It is a story
narrated by two characters who
This volume was compiled and
edited by Ivan L. Tillem,
are fictional, and whose version
of events is imaginary. In par-
Acquiring authoritativeness, many
ticular, what they have to say
items in this weighty book are substan-
should in no way be taken as
tiated by eminent writers. They include
evidence that Wallenberg ever
Elie Wiesel, George Will, Charles R.
had 'a mistress in Budapest, or a
Allen 'Jr., Dr. Mark D. Angell, heads of
daughter by her. I do not for one
national movements and many known
moment assert that he had. It is a
leaders in many fields of Jewish
fictionalized Wallenberg, there-
endeavor.
fore, who finally emerges from
The all-inclusiveness of the contents
these pages.
is evidenced in the listings of syna-
Indeed, nothing in this book
gogues. In the Yellow Pages under syna-
should be taken to discredit or
gogues there is a list of congregations in
diminish in any way the real
Michigan.
Raoul Wallenberg. His heroic
public deeds and his private life
will remain, I trust, undisturbed
King Day
and undistorted by anything, I or
In Israel
my characters, have said.
Furthermore, nothing in this
King Day ceased to be limited to
book should be taken to discredit
American observance in tribute to the
or diminish in any way the real
great black leader Martin Luther King
Raoul Wallenberg Committee of
Jr. with the declaration of that day to be
the United States, who have
observed the coming Monday as an offi-
worked unstintingly on his be-
cially proclaimed commemoration by Is-
half. I wish to thank the commit-
rael as well.
tee for their generosity in allow-
The decision for the Israel King Day
ing me access to their files.
is appropriate for many reasons. Thereby
A score of books, hundreds of arti- 'to a leader among the. world's democracies
cles, have been published about the
asserts its dedication, as a nation, to the
heroism of Wallenberg and his friends,
ideals that were promulgated by Dr.
the women included. There was an affec-
King. It recognizes the friendship Dr.
tion for an Ann Arborite when he was a
King, and since his passing Mrs. King,
University of Michigan student. There
has had for Israel and the Zionist ideal.
was a stronger affection for the rebelli-
The Israeli official act also is a sol-
ous wife of the Hungarian Prime Minis-
emn reassertion of the friendship be-
ter and the aid she provided in Wallen-
tween the peoples and the aim to keep
berg's rescue mission. Never a word
strengthening black-Jewish relations.
anywhere about illicit love affairs. That
Thus the memory of a noble leader
does not deny such privileges to an •
is blessed, as expected, on an interna-
author. But the linking Wallenberg's
tional scale, ,
name in such fashion with mass-
murderer Eichmann, the illicit usage,
combine to justify severe criticism.
Paul Zuckerman .. .
Raoul Wallenberg emerges in his-
tory as a. virtual saint. To sully his re-
He Belonged to 'Amha'
cord as Safe Houses does is inexcusable.

History has been and , surely will
continue to be'novelized..Surely, historic
characters will be used to aramatize im-
portant events. The question must
nevertheless be posed as to. how far poe-
tic and/or dramatic "Privileges" can be
tolerated?
A novel that uses the name of Raoul
Wallenberg as well as Adolf Eichmann
as links in an illicit love affair, Safe
Houses by Lynne Alexander (Atheneum)
will surely arouse resentment. This
novel portrays one of the chief char-
acters, Gerda, as having been the mis-
tress of both Wallenberg and Eichmann.
She believes that her daughter Rella is
the "daughter of Wallenberg, yet the pos-
sibility is posed in this novel that
father could have been Eichmann.
How does the novelist explain Kid*
treatment which could be viewed as
"irascibility"? In an "author's note" to
Safe Houses, Lynne Alexander, who
must have anticipated challenge and
criticism, wrote:
This. is a work of fiction. Al-
though Raoul. Wallenberg's name
has been used, as well as certain

.

,

Immense Almanac
In Replete Fashion

The 1986 Jewish Directory and Al-
manac (Pacific Press) is a very big book
in every respect. Its format is very large
and its 750 pages also make it a very
heavy book.
While its size and weight often cum-
pel the searcher for facts and data to
have the book placed firmly on the table
to ease its handling, the factual material
is so impressive that there is an easing
of weight in the appreciation of the in-
formation obtainable. The repleteness of
the gathered data lends .to the 1986 Al-
inanac the value that makes it an abso-
lute necessity in schools, in editorial
sancta, in offices of Jewish organizations
and synagogues.
The specific merit about this large
volume is the content, its aim being to
provide data about every conceivable
current Jewish development. It provides
irection when in search of historical re-
, the location of national organiza-
tions, the figures desired about popula-
tion, religious groups, Zionist factions —
every conceivable Jewish subject.
There is also the uniqueness of an
introduced commercial aspect. The 1986
Jewish Directory and Almanac contains
a special section of Yellow Pages. In it
the possessor of this volume will find
listings of all necessities for Jewish

.

'

Paul ZUckerman –"The Pace of lsrael"
by Nathan Rappaport
r

As tributes keep pouring in
memorializing Paul Zuckerman, many
achievements may remain only cora-,
pletely attributed to him.
■
Of course, he was a trough guy, but
out of every minor banality emerged a
gift to his people and therefore to man--
kind.
Only a few weeks before his death
he confided to this commentator his•chief
ambition to leave a legacy for youth, to

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