Page Four
THE     JEWISH      WESTERN BULLETIN
Friday, August 25, 1961
'/ am American
rw
Editor's Note: Robert Frost, new Poet Laureate of the United State and in his 87th year, recently visited Israel as the Hebrew University's first Samuel Paley lecturer in American Culture and Civilization. This profile of his visit provides stimulating reading. if
By Mendel Kohansky
When Robert Frost was introduced in the Hebrew University auditorium as the first guest to deliver the Samuel Paley Lecture on American Civilization, he stood up and said,  "I am
face, the snow-white hair, the sturdy body conveyed that image of his country which got lost to the world.
Israel has become quite sophisticated  about distinguished
American Civilization." In that yigjtors,  and  their appearance
no longer generates the interest
lecture,  in subsequent appearances and in private encounters,        , . <• • the aged poet bore out that state-i it did in t^e firstjear^ of^inde-
ment by presenting to Israel an       "        ' ^
aspect of America which was hitherto little known here, as it it- little known in the rest of the world, a civilization removed from movies and television, from popular magazines and best-selling novels.
It was an America of hard work and self reliance, of simple living close to nature that Robert Frost spoke of, and his very physical appearance, the rugged
UNVEILING OF TOMBSTONE
in memory of the late
SAMUEL WALL
wiHfcuke place SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 11:00 a.m.
at the
Schara Tzedeck Cemetery
Rabbi B'. Goldenburg wiH officiate
assisted by Cantor
J. Rosenberg
Relatives and friends are
asked to attend.
pendence, but Robert Frost's arrival caused excitement. The press devoted much space to the details of his visit, and published long appreciations of his work, as well as samples of his poetry in translation; each public appearance was reported at length, and his quips became common currency in the country.
Weeks before his arrival, aa soon as the Hebrew University announced the forthcoming visit, the University offices in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv were swamped with requests for invitations. At the two public lectures hd delivered, the halls were filled to the rafters, and special pre-^ cautions had to be taken to keep
out gate-crashers. There were also requests for interviews from such individuals as an American who has been living for years in a remote village in the Negev desert and an elderly physician in Tel Aviv whose hobby is translating Frost into German. There was also a man who showed up in the university office with a gift for the poet, a ineztnia he specially made for him.
Mr. Frost delighted in the large audiences and in the various people who came to see him. He enjoyed meeting students and exchanging with them jokes at the expense of their teachers.
Glass of
IS a Israel's future
BAXTER
In loving memory of my dear husband
Dovid Milior Boxfer
who passed away on August 31st, ^/960 lAs I loved you, so I miss you. Un my memory you ore near. Loved, remembered, longed
for always, [Bringing many a silent tear. Ever remembered by his loving wife, MILLIE
CONDOLENCi
Our heartfelt sympathy to
Rebbefsin Ginsberg
in deep sorrow at the passing of
Robbi Ginsberg
^'Zochrdni Tzadik Livrocho" Mr. & Mrs. M. GEHRMAN, SONS and MOTHER
UNVEILING OF TOMBSTONE
in memory of the late
MR. NORMAN ZIMMERMAN
will take place SEPTEMBER 3 AT 12:00 NOON
at the
Schora Tzedeck Cemetery
Rabbi B. Woythaler and Cantor A. Deutsch will officiate
Relatives and friends ore asked to attend.
Condolence
OUR DEEPEST SYMPATHY TO
REBBETSIN GINSBERG
AT THE PASSING OF
RABBI GINSBERG
"ZOCHRANU TZADIK LIVROCHO"
Our beloved rabbi and spiritual leader who served the entire Jewish Communit' , we   ail   mourn    in   deepest sorrow.
The EXECUTIVE and CONGREGATION of BETH HAMIDROSH RABBI GINSBERG
il
When a student asked him why he nevtr ilnished college, he answered that it was because the colleges weren't good enough for him, and during the same "talking session" he gave the young people a detailed analysis of his writing technique, from the conception of the idea around which the poem is to be built till the last comma. And when asked what was his ultimate purpose in writing, he replied: "I've tried to lift trouble to a higher plane." He had never used the phrase before, he said, and he liked it so that he repeated it several times on later occasions.
He was entranced by the Israeli landscape and by the Biblical associations it'evoked. He walked along the beach of. Ash-keli?n. still deserted though the March sun shone brightly/ enjoyed that wairmth and' spoke of Samson and the Philistines. He was profoundly impressed by the stony majesty of Jerusalem. When^ he visited President Ben<-Zvi, the two nieh stood at the windbw looking but on the city, and Mr; Frost said, "You Jews must hold on to Jerusalem so that you can go on oFigin^ting in.it foreyei"/*
What imyressed him even more than the historicity o^ Israel \yas its role as, the ingather-er of exiles. When meeting peo pie here he asked where they came from and how they made their way here. He had a wonderful time chatting, through an interpreter, with vendors at the Jerusalem f r u i t-and-vegetable market, most of them from Moslem countries; and delighted one of them by selecting and eating the biggest banana from his stall.
The highlights of the ten-day visit were, of course, the public lectures in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, which were actually readings of his poetry interspersed with comments on the widest variety of subjects, and a sort of one-sided dialogue with the audience. He would interrupt the recitation of a poem to recall what he said two days ago to the wife of the President of the State (she is a farmer, too"), or to compare the little orchids he saw growing between rocks in the vicinity of Jerusalem with the giant orchids worn by American women. And in the midst of such banter suddenly there would come a brilliant flash, like the definition of a poem as "a momentary stay against confusion."
He aroused interest wherever he went, his face familiar to everyone from photographs in the press, everywhere there were outstretched hands with autograph books, some held by middle-aged men who shamefacedly explained that the autographs were meant for their young daughters. This moved Mr. Frost to comment that whenever he finds a man reading a book of his, the man usually says "Mr. Frost, my wife is a great admirer of yours."
How great was the impact of a visit to this country, so different in many ways from his New England, on the aged poet? Someone asked him at a press conference whether he intended to write on Israel, and he said he didn't know, he never knew whether he would write on a certain experience until much later, when experience turned into recollection.
Editor's Note: An ariicle that is both interesting and informative follows on a subject little known to the majority of us— one aspect of the craft of glass-bio wing 9s it exists in Israel today. We recommend Hugh Orgel's story about how this ancient art enables students of Israel's Technion to carry out modern engineering experiments.
By HUGH OHGEL
HAIFA, Israel (Special) — Stuck away in a small labjora-tory on the old campus of Israel Tech is one of the smallest service departments of the Tech-nioii. Israel Institute of Technology, but one Which saves the ^rils or benches^'YtYs here'that
But when he begins graduate or research work he finds that he must design his own pieces of equipment, welded together and linked into most complicated arrays of glass tubes, condensers, flasks and vacuum bottles, some times wandering ,over complete
Institute thousands of dollars a year. It is a hot, noisy place which uses glass as its raw material and cooking gas, oxygen and mouth-blown air as its working tools. The department is the Technion's glass-blowing shop.
Glass is a fragile substance without which a student or research workei* in chemistry ot physics could not work. In his chemfetry classes at school the young student heats a test-tube over a bunsen burner. As he progresses through his early years in any institute of technology the first, second or third year student uses ever more complicated pieces of apparatus, most of them of a standard type.
the Technion's master glass-blower and his two assistants come into their own.
A FA^^LY TRADITION Yaacov Rosenbaum, the young man who heads the glass shop, was born in France 6f Polish parents. His father learned glass-biowing in Germany and came to Israel where he was employed by the Hebrew University. There, young Yaacov used to spend many hours after sijhopl watching his father manipulate the soit glowing,glass. During vacations he would even lend a helping hand with ^sy. jobs. But (Continued dnPaC^e 9) See- GLASS3I,6WIN0
Heoffier Of T4tJi
will hold traditional High Holy Day services on September 11 and 12 (Rosh Hoshonq) and September 20 (Yom Kippur.)
Seois now ovotiable
($10 eoch)
Seat Sales: Sunday, 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Eves. 7r30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.. Saturday, Sept* 2: 9:0p p.m. to ^midnight.
For further information, pledge call Leo Tisthier at TR 4-0157 or Mr. Gehrman dt TR 4-1518.
High Holy Days Services
1961
will be conducted once more in the beautiful and comfortable chapel Auditorium of the
JEWISH HOME FOR THE AGED
976 West 54th Ave.
CANTOR H. TOFT
Serving as Cantors for the Services will be HARRY TOFT v/ho will chant the Musof Services.
J. H. NAROD and B. VICTOR will chant the Shochoris.
SEAT ORDERS:
Sunday, August 27 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Tuesday, August 29 from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Thursday, August 31'from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
PLEASE! NO TELEPHONE ORDERS
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