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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1952
THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Page 7
PANAROMA by David Schwartz
-5L f]cu> BiUe fJranJation
Southern JWB Convention
In New Orleans Nov. 8-10
One of the favorite indoor
sports of the generation of Jews
whose parents were Yiddish
speaking was the translation of
common Yiddish expressions.
Sometimes we got some very odd
effects.
Take the Yiddish expression,
Ich fiel leichter, meaning I rest
easier or I feel better. Leichter,
besides meaning easier also
means candlesticks. So when ma
ma would ask one of us how we
felt, we would say, “I feel can
dlesticks.”
I got to thinking about this
after reading about the new re
vised translation of the Bible be
ing published by the federation
of Christian churches. There is
a well known sentence in the Bi
ble which the King James ver
sion translates as follows: “Be
hold, the virgin shall conceive
and bear a chill and they call his
name Emanuel.”
The sentence occurs in the Old
Testament, in Isaiah. For cen
turies, it has been maintained
Potpourri
LYONS’ DATA ON
IRWIN STEINGUT,
HANK GREENBERG
An Anrrican Jewish Pvt$ F»afor#
Leonard Lyons’ column, “The
Lyons Den,” in the New York
Post, has made interesting com
ments on the career of Irwin
Steingut, who died recently. Ly
ons wrote:
“Irwin Steingut, the late mi
nority leader of the New York
State Assembly, was a successful
business man. He had a flour
ishing business, in partnership
with Republican Sen. Ives. This
partnership never affected his
voting as a Democrat. When the
Legislature was reconvened it
was Steingut’s assignment to
notify Gov. Dewey that the Leg
islature was officially in session
and ready to hear his opening
speech. Dewey asked him about
this formality. ‘Governor, I
have in my pocket not only a
copy of the speech you’ll deliver,’
he replied, “but also my speech
attacking it.’
"He liked to gamble, and was
a frequent visitor at the race
tracks. One year, during the ad
ministration of Gov. Lehman,
there was a $25,000,000 deficit in
the budget. Steingut showed Leh
man a copy of the Racing Form,
and suggested a way of balanc
ing the budget without burden
ing the taxpayer. A horse named
"Balanced Budget’ was running,
and he suggested that the state
bet $5,000,000 on it. Lehman, of
course, said no: ‘Balanced Bud
get’ won, 6 to 1.
“In the 1940 election he met a
Rothschild who wanted to bet on
Wilkie. ‘I’ll bet you 12Vi to 5,’
Steingut offered, and the man
took the bet. The day after elec
tion Rothschild sent him a check
for $5. ‘I don’t say there’s been
a misunderstanding,' Steingut
told the loser, ‘but if I had lost
I would have sent you a check
for $1,250’.”
*****
Prior to the World Series, on
the question of the “pennant,”
Lyons told this interesting siory:
“Hank Greenberg, of the
Cleveland Indians, saw Casey
Stengel at Toot Shor’s, sur
rounded by the customary group
of admirers of a pennant winner.
Greenberg waved his first at
Jimmy Dykes, the Athletics’
manager, who sat nearby, and
said: ‘If you’d have won the la-t
three games against the Yan
kees, they’d be hanging around
me.’ . . . Greenberg’s own v’pws
in the matter were expressed, he
said, by George Si’sce, tbe Red
Sox coach. ‘It’s just P G.’ were
Susce’s words. *Yeah, P. G.
stands for Professional Jealou
sy*.”
that in this sentence the Old Tes
tament confirms the doctrine of
the virgin birth of the Messiah.
Jews have always maintained
that the sentence in question re
lates to something else entirely
and besides that it is a mistrans
lation, that Isaiah used the word
almah which does not mean vir
gin, but young woman. The He
brew word for virgin is bethu-
lah.
The new Protestant transla
tion of the Bible is in accord with
the Jewish point of view. Of
course, Christian scholars who
knew their Hebrew always knew
that the word almab does not
mean virgin, but it remained in
the text nevertheless.
A wrong translation or wrong
interpretation can cause a pow
erful lot of trouble. Remember
the story of the man who was
sent to collect a bill. He returned
saying the man promised to pay
the bill in December. The man
actually had said that he would
pay the bill when the well known
hot place froze over. The col
lector decided this would most
likely happen in December.
Well, mistranslations of He
brew are less likely to occur now
that Hebrew has become a living
language again. I was very in
terested to read of experiments
being made in Israel today to
teach Hebrew by a method de
veloped by the U. S. army during
the last war for fast language
instruction. There are some 65
different languages spoken by
the refugees and immigrants who
have come recently to Israel and
obviously some speedy method of
instruction is necessary.
Hebrew has had a hard uphill
fight, but it seems tao be win
ning out. Dr. Weizmann couuld
tell some interesting stories
about his efforts to introduce
Hebrew at the Haifa Technion
many years ago. All the direc
tors of the school, with the ex
ception of Dr. Weizmann, were
that German be the language of
German patriots and insisted
German patriots and insisted
that German be the language
of instruction. Dr. Weizmann
were German made an impas
sioned plea that at least in this
one school, entirely Jewish con
trolled, the language of instruc
tion should be Hebrew. The di
rectors of the school were moved
by Dr. Weizman’s plea and re
considered their decision. They
finally agreed that Hebrew
should be the language of in
struction in one department of
the school—in the athletic de
partment. After that, the pupils
always played soccer in Hebrew.
Come to think of it, the di
rectors probably did not realize
it, but this wasprobably the best
way to really insure the success
of the language. If the kids spoke
Hebrew playing their games,
there need be no fears about the
future of the language.
The same thought muso have
been in the head of Bialik, the
Hebrew poet, when a yongster
in Palestine, hearing him talk
Russian, into which he had lap
sed from force of habit, called
out to the Hebrew poet, Daber
Ivrit (speak Hebrew).
Bialik pulled the ear of the
oy.
“Chamor!” (donkey) yelled the
indignant youth.
Bialik felt reassured. Ilf the
kids cursed in Hebrew, he knew
Hebrew was there to stay.
Helen Waren Writes
Novel About Israel
About eight years ago, Helen
Waren, theatrical star, returned
from the DP camps with a stir
ring message and with appeals
for the rescue activities of JI)C
and for the rehabilitation of the
Nazi victims in Israel. Since then
she has vsi'ted several times and
has become so thoroughly im
bued with the Jewish state’s
needs and accomplishments that
she has emerged as one of the
chief pleaders for Israel’s cause.
Out of her experiences has
sprouted also an interesting nov
el, “Out of the Dust,” just issued
by Crown Publishers (419 4th,
NY 16). It is an exciting story
about the builders of a kibbutz
in the Negev, their struggles,
their determination to win
against great odds.
Miss Waren begins her story
in the days of the British Man
date. A group of youngsters trav
el to the Negev to create a set
tlement. They are opposed by the
elements, by the powers in con
trol, by dissention. But they car
ry on.
The manner in which the Brit
ish are defied, the underground
activities, the struggle for jus
tice, the human elemtns that en
ter to create internal discord—
these and numerous other char
acteristics distinguish Miss War-
en’s novel as a social study.
There is, of course, a love
story. This too, is handled well
by Miss Waren in her novel in
which she recreates an interest
ing chapter in Israel’s rebirth.
Strengthening of the Jewish
Community Center and commun
al armed services programs will
be among the subjects to be
treated by delegates to the sev
enth annual convention of the
Southern Section, Jewish Wel
fare Board, in New Orleans No
vember 8-10.
Principal speakers will include
Philip M. Klutzniek of Chicago;
Sam Pascoe of New York, JWB
Armed Services Division, and
Sanford Solender of New York,
director of the JWB Jewish Cen
ter Division.
Delegates will also seek ways
of increasing Center activities
in behalf of the expanded JWB
Armed Services program, how to
help to shape national JWB pol
icy and plan the celebration of
the forthcoming centennial of
the Jewish Community Center
movement, according to Moise
Steeg, New Orleans, convention
chairman.
Following (the convention, the
professional staff of the various
Jewish Community Centers will
hold a training institute, spon
sored by PWB and sponsored
jointly by JWB and the Southern
Chapter of the National Associa
tion of Jewish Center Workers.
Man of the Year Award in January
New plans are underway for selecting Atlanta’s Man of
the Year, according to Dr. Nathan 1. Gershon, president of
Gate City Lodge of B’nai B’rith.
. This group initiated its award for distinguished service sev
eral years ago and honors have in turn come to Julian Boehm,
Frank Gar son, Abe Goldstein, Ben Massed, Meyer Balser and
Barney Medintz.
Herbert Ring el is chairman of the Award Committee,
which will select an individual on the analysis of services ren
dered to the Jewish community at large “in accordance with
the spirit and tradition of B’nai B’rith." Also on the commit
tee, besides past winners, are the officers of the Lodge.
Every Jewish citizen of Greater Atlanta is now eligible
for the award. The following ballot can be used for nomination
if mailed to Mr. Ringel at 509 Grand Building:
Use This Nomination Ballot
I nominate for the B’nai B’rith
Distinguished Service Award
Because
(Signed):
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