PURELY COMMENTARY
Cultural Blessing
Continued from Page 2
of the groatelet
of the Yiddish
10
*Titers.
was born
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in the city of Ioiden
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Mate of Utast
in the year 1876
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reality they are mastering some
of the most complicated gram-
matical forms of the language.
Noteworthy too is the
original system he has
developed for the teaching of
Hebrew to beginners. It is an in-
genious method which in-
troduces Hebrew words into the
context of an English story. The
frequency of the Hebrew words
introduced is carefully controll-
ed and the number of Hebrew
elements in the stories gradual-
ly increases until by impercep-
tible gradation the stories
become all Hebrew with the
children hardly becoming
aware of the fact.
This text is offered anew as a possi-
ble aid to Hebrew teaching and the
books available for that purpose.
Primarily, it is recalled here as a
welcome to the new spiritual leader of
one of the leading Reform congrega-
tions. His background is one of the
blessings that accompany him to our
community.
Beware Of Dice
t
5 .r5rt7Po
Continued from Page 2
law), was considered closely
akin to it; gambling debts could
not be legally claimed.
Although the general
tendency of rabbinic law is to
forbid all manner of gambling,
careful distinction is made bet-
ween those who indulge in it as
a pastime and those for whom it
is a profession (Sanh. 24b). Thus
gambling pastimes were allow-
ed even on the Sabbath, but pro-
fessional gamblers were con-
sidered untrustworthy and in-
valid as witnesses, for "they
waste their time in idleness and
are not interested in the welfare
of humanity" (loc. cit.).
The numerous communal
enactments against gambling
which are found in the medieval
records of European Jewry
show that gambling was fairly
widely indulged in and several
instances of addiction are
recorded. The custom of playing
cards on Christmas Eve and
Chanukah was fairly wide-
spread among Orthodox Jews in
Eastern Europe!'
While we are intrigued by the sub-
ject, Mayor Coleman Young of Detroit
may find added value in the opinions
quoted; while "Casino" and the "Dice"
related to the ongoing debate may find
special value in the views provided. For
all of us it is, in its entirety, collected
wisdom whereby to judge a disputed
proposal.
:+172P DIFJ rvt rq,) vvrt op T3? 5 1
Hebrew who desires to enrich
his vocabulary at last has at his
disposal the ideal type of
teacher in these "Bi-Lingual"
books.
The works of Chaim
Nachman Bialik, David
Shimonowitz, Abraham Raisin,
Achad Ha'am, H.D. Numberg,
Yehudah Steinberg, Micha
Joseph Bardichevsky, David
Frishman, G. Shufman, and
other important classics are
already in circulation. Each of
these volumes opens with an in-
troduction in which the life and
work of the author is outlined —
also in bi-lingual fashion. Each
of these small volumes is a com-
bination of text-book and plea-
sant reading. It is without doubt
among the most valuable con-
tributions to modern Hebrew.
In a sense A. H. Friedland
has filled the greatest need in
Jewish life: he has given his peo-
ple a series of charming text-
books in Hebrew for young and
old, has injected his own genius
into the stories he has written
for the children in "Sipurim
40
FRIDAY, JUNE 10, 1988
Yofim" and has revived interest
in the works of some of the best
known Yiddish and Hebrew
writers whose works are incor-
porated in the bi-lingual library.
He has already captured the
imagination of tens of
thousands of boys and girls
through his "Sipurim Yofim,"
and once his creation of the
"Du-Leshonith" library becomes
known among the elders, he is
destined to be the idol of all
lovers of Hebrew. No less than
300 of his poems for children
and adults have been set to
music by various composers
and are sung by young and old
in and out of school.
Friedland has published a
unique collection of 125 songs
written expressly for the pur-
pose of facilitating the instruc-
tion of Hebrew grammar for
children. The various inflections
of the language harmonize
melodiously with the cadences
of the poems and the lilt of the
melodies, so that waxing en-
thusiastic about the song, the
children forget the fact that in
Re lig ious News Service
act;.i Sit mph no, (a.ddsd)
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Holocaust survivor David Friedman, shown before his death in 1980, will have many of his
works displayed in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington when the museum is
completed.