PURELY COMMENTARY
Re-Discovering The Writing Of Sholom Aleichem
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor Emeritus
I
s it proper to say about note-
worthy recollections of Sholom
Aleichem that he is being
rediscovered? Is it imaginary that there
is always something new to be said
about the literary genius? Irving Howe
and Ruth R. Wisse prove in The Best of
Sholom Aleichem (Aronson) that it is
not imaginary, that it is realitic, that we
have something new to thrill us, to
enrich our knowledge and enthusiasm,
in what is to be judged as one of the
most relevant books about the author,
his works, his time in our history.
The new Howe-Wisse volume has
special merit in the translators who in-
clude a number of the ablest writers in
the field, masters of Yiddish who are
among Sholom Aleichem's most en-
thusiastic admirers. One of the impor-
tant stories selected for this volume,
"The Eternal Light," was translated by
Saul Bellow, the Nobel laureate.
The supreme duty for translators
becomes evident with the first story in
the book, "The Haunted Tailor." A
prefixed note by the translator, Leonard
Wolfe, adds significance to the com-
pilers' tasks. The Wolfe preface about
this story asserts:
"Untranslatable" is the
translator's constant complaint,
after which he goes back to
work. What I have not been able
to retain in this English version
of "The Haunted Tailor" is the
especially corrosive quality
which Shimon-Eli's frequent —
and frequently mistaken —
quotations in Hebrew give to the
story. It pleases me to believe
that Sholom Aleichem's genius
has overleaped my limitations.
Two words, gilgul and
aguna, are left untranslated in
the text. A gilgul is a possessed
creature. An aguna is a woman
whose husband has disap-
peared. Her situation is poig-
nant; in Orthodox tradition, she
might not remarry for ten years,
and even then only with the per-
mission of ninety-nine rabbis.
The excellence of the translations
elevates The Best of Sholom Aleichem
to a high rank among the classics in
Yiddish literature. So noteworthy is the
devotion to a sincere task in the
translators' accomplishments that they
suggest, collectively, the publication of
their names in a "Who's Who Among
Yiddish Translators."
Perhaps the brief prefatory com-
ment with which the new volume com-
mences at once defines the newness in
Sholom Aleichemism introduced in this
most welcome compilation of Sholom
Aleichem narratives. Irving Howe
stated:
The world of Sholom
Aleichem, the world he came
from and wrote about, is gone.
With each passing day there are
fewer survivors, fewer living
memories. The two monsters of
our century, Hitler and Stalin,
succeeded — together and apart
— in destroying the vibrant
culture of Yiddish in eastern
Europe. And here in America
only a thinning remnant of Yid-
dish readers can still be found.
Yet I feel that the voice of
Sholom Aleichem continues to
sound in our lives, his lovely
smile still enchants, his funny
stories — so wise and bitter-
sweet — still delight. His
presence as storyteller, moral
guide, virtuoso of language
grows steadily stronger.
Like all true writers, the
writers that matter, Sholom
Aleichem speaks to us at the
most surprising and unexpected
moments, as we walk the streets,
as we remember the past of our
lives, as we dream a little.
For me, he is a silent sharer.
He warns me against the very
foolishness I will proceed to
commit; he amuses me when I
grow depressed; he tells me how
hard and yet how good it is to be
a Jew; and above all, he dazzles
me with his mastery of
language; all those jokes and
puns of his, those shrewdly
twisted proverbs and heart-
breaking ironies.
As Ruth Wisse beautifully
says at the end of the introduc-
tion to this book, Sholom
Aleichem lives through his
"quizzical smile . . . compulsive-
ly skeptical about everything
but the story?' Yes — the story
which charts our beginnings
and our ends, the story which
mocks but consoles us, the story
which is the mirror of our being
is the lamp to our thought.
The editorial on the newly resear-
ched aspects of the Sholom Aleichem
approaches to life the Jewish way is
tackled by the compilers of the stories
presented in the new volume with an ef-
fort truly to interpret the literary
genius. It is an incomparable gift for the
reader. Together with Howe and Wisse,
the reader becomes a student and a par-
ticipant in an excitingly studious pro-
gram. The introductory Howe-Wisse
essay in this book is like a seminar. It
is an exchange of letters between the
two compilers of Sholom Aleichem
stories. To every question thus raised
there is a new answer. To every problem
appended to the Sholom Aleichem
theme there is either a new or an addi-
tionally studied element in the subject
under scrutiny.
Continued on Page 40
Adolph Rosenberg, Pioneer In Jewish Journalism
A
new chapter has just been
added to the progressive history
of American Jewish
Journalism.
Acquisition of the Atlanta Jewish
Times, the newest link in our journal-
istic triarchy as a partner with
Baltimore Jewish Times and Detroit
Jewish News, provides a veritable
course of study and research in Jewish
newspaper publishing in this country.
The Atlanta Jewish Times was
preceded nomenclaturally by the
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
(US PS 275-520) is published every Friday
with additional supplements the fourth
week of March, the fourth week of August
and the second week of November at
20300 Civic Center Drive, Southfield,
Michigan.
Second class postage paid at Southfield,
Michigan and additional mailing offices.
Postmaster: Send changes to:
DETROIT JEWISH NEWS, 20300 Civic
Center Drive, Suite 240, Southfield,
Michigan 48076
$26 per year
$33 per year out of state
60' single copy
Vol. XCV No. 20
2
FRIDAY, JULY 14, 1989
July 14, 1989
Southern Israelite. This, in itself, is part
of a rich chapter of southern American
Jewish journalism.
An impressive "Who's Who in
southern Jewish Journalsm" attests to
pioneering in newspaper building in a
number of communities. Proper ac-
creditation is due and will be accorded
them. The highlight of that exciting
record is linked to the name of Adolph
Rosenberg, who created a monumental
periodical in the Southern Israelite, the
name that preceded Atlanta Jewish
Times.
Adolph Rosenberg was a highly
merited personality in our profession,
in the Jewish community, with the
fellow citizens of all faiths in the state
of Georgia. He was a reporter and editor
and a devoted journalist who sought
and researched facts and truths.
Rosenberg provided his readers
with news coverage on a local and na-
tional as well as world basis. He also
treated his subscribers to a frequently
published monthly magazine supple-
ment replete with important articles on
major Jewish issues.
Serving two terms as president of
the American Association of English-
Jewish Newspapers, which now func-
tions as the American Jewish Press
Association, he also was an official in
the Georgia Press Association, which
frequently honored him in recognition
of his professional achievements. He
was therefore a factor in journalism in
multiple ways in the non-Jewish as well
as the Jewish communities.
The southern Jewish journalistic
community included a number of pro-
minent pioneers in the profession, all
active in the American Jewish Press
Association.
Fred Shochet has a record of more
than half a century of active journalism
as editor-publisher of the Jewish Flori-
dian. His newspaper was established by
his father and he carried on the pater-
nal obligation of providing a proper
news medium for the large Florida com-
munity of Jewish residents as well as
the vacationers who for many years
have reached the half million mark.
Shochet was among the early
presidents of the American Association
of English Jewish Newspapers —
AAEJN — and continues actively in the
American jewish Press Association —
AJPA.
Jacques Back, who publishes the
Observer in Nashville, Tenn., was an im-
Adolph Rosenberg
portant factor in journalism. His
editorials were widely quoted as a mark
of acclaim for the author's scholarship.
He gained wide recognition as a leader
in the Reform Jewish ranks and as an
officer in the Union of American
Continued on Page 40