4
THE JEWISH WESTERN BULLETIN
Thursday, Augxist 16, 1934
I WANT SPEED
(Continued from Page 1)
Masaryk
of a girlish, thoroughly "tempted", "sinful" soul?
Speed? Where are they hurrying to? It is impossible to catsli Tip with eternity. And' besides, eternity does not nm away. It always is whole, imcfaangeable. Fly? Why? No plane can reach the banks pf infinity. Orchestra dances? No one can dance away the absolute, the pulse of the world can be felt only when one is quiet, motionless, lost in tho All. What is it that is lacking in the monastery for this restless, nervous, cinematographic
Western Soul?
What is it you need—Miss Nila Oramm Cook? Shall I attempt to make peace between you and your great teacher? Oan you two speak one language so that you may at least understand each other? Or are you, in root and origin, two separated, distant worlds?
This is no mere question of East and West, of Detroit and Bombay. I know it is no question of sanctity versus profanation, no contrast between piety and looseness of morals. It is more likely two ways of sanctity, two modes of prayer.
Reb Baer of Mezerieh fought against self denial and self torture. As the greatest pupil of the Ba'al Shiem he sought and found sanctity not in asceticism but in joy of life. Himself a cripple, he loved to watch others dance, others live and move, "All my bones will sing unto thee." His son grows up and people call him the Angel because he is an aseetej not of this worldi, be-cause he finds no pleasure from — pleasures. Reb Baer fights with his son, wants to "convert" him, asks him to repent, to repress within himself the appetite for fasts.
Yes, the appetite for fasts.
Who was it who first thought that the ascete is impotent, that he knows no pleasures, that (in the language of Nila Cramm Cook) he does not know the meaning of "thrill"? The true ascetes are great epicures, refined men of tast€. But their pleasures are of a different kind, and their appetites not of the usual kind. The people about them simply did not understand them as in the case oTRabbi Akivah and his pupils:
This Rabbi always taught them t!hat the enjoyment of the Sabbath is one ,of the holiest things in Jewish life; so they could not understand why he sa't 1Sa,bbaths and wept. This is my enjoyment of the Sabbath," was the reply of the paradoxical Kiabbi. ———
Abraham the Angel enjoyed fasting, found his worlu:, the only and true world of religious wonder and enthusiasm, in separating himself from what we oall the world and in boycotting its (for him) unreal and fictitious pleasures. Which of the two is right— the father Reb Baer or the Son, Reb Abraham?
Both are right, each in his way, each one for himself—^and in God's eyes.
Or pei'haps the one who is right is a smaller man than either of them, Reb Israel of Ruzhin who wanteds a man to be **an angel for one day and a priest for another day."
Perhaps life, true life, sincere, vital, ?s a rhythm of asceticism and' orgiasm, of Christ and Dionysos, of Buddha and (may the Dalai Lama pardon the profanation) Isadora Duncan?
The mystic has appetite, and the flyer has sanctity; the monk is an epicure, and the erotic man can live mystically, go to the root through eroticism, become one with the Lord, as the Ba'al Shem thought of it once, throug'h a woman.
:rr' The only sin, perhaps, is the wearing of chains; the only commandment to use our wings. And wings can be of various forms; at times meditation, at others a plane; sometimes a psahn, others an orchestra dance; sometimes isolation, at others society; sometimes the sway of mystical rigidity, ^d others the sway of a stormy da{ace.
Who was it who first thought of the road to day as one? Asceticism and eroticism are means, not ends, not purposes in themselves—ways, not destinations. Why do we convert them
into heresies, fetishes? Why do we take the profile for the face?
Nietzsche understood the problem. He saw it 0,t the moment when "he lost his balance" in Ita^y. In that moment of insanity the eternal truths hiazed up, in ;that moment he wrote a short note and signed it "Crucified Dionysos"—^both Christ and Uie Greek God, both in one, both one, merely artificially separated from each other, ba^cally of one root. The branches aspire to reach the sun. The trank is but one.
Nila Cramm Cook, there is no contradiction between you and Ghandi. Only a misunderstanding, only one-sidedness on your part and on his. Perhaps neither of you has conceived of the true "One". Wh«ii you dio, you will become friends again. We will all become friends then.
Professor Thomas Masaryk has been President of Czechoslovakia from the first day of its independent existence, a noted liberal and peace worker, and one of the great defenders of Jews and Zionism in the world.
He has just published his memoirs and from them we learn very interesting information on his attitude to Jews.
Strangely enough he has been raised in an antisemitic environment, and he tells how as a child he hated Jews and feared them awfully. The children with whom he played were all afraid of going near a Jewish house because they believed that Jews used the blood of Christian children for ritual purposes. In church and in school the children were warned to be careful of Jews, and when he was I child he used to look for biood on he fingers of Jews. There was one Jew who was excepted from this horrible suspicion, and this was the peddler Fuksel who used to come with all sorts of wonderful things to sell, su'oh as pins, buttons, cloth, ribbons, etc. He used to have very interesting stories to tell to the children, and rumors and gossip for the womenfolk. Before he would go away he would leave small gifts of peanuts or ribbons, and the children loved him and could hardly believe he was really a Jew.
There were separate schools for Jewish children, and it was not until Masaryk came to high school that he had a Jewish fellow pupil. But everyone avoided him carefully, and they still retained their childish prejudice" ag'ainst Jews,
One day a school picnic was arranged and they went visiting neighboring hamlets. The teachers accompanied them and the rare holiday was spent in drinking and carousing in the inns. The butt of the most of the jokes was, of course, the Jewish pupil. Suddenly it was observed that he had disappeared. Masaryk and some others went out to look for hiiti. They found him, in a nook in a courtyard—saying his evening prayers. Masaryk's friends mocked him, but the future preisdent saw the moral
§yt F EWA Y StO R I S
PRICES EFFECTIVE FRIDAY AND SATURDAY, AUGUST 17 and 18
Fraser Valley Strawberry Jsm with Pectin,
4-Ib. tin,........................................................each -33c.
Orange Marmalade, Aylmer, 32-oz. gl. jar:...ea. 23c.
Red Arrow Cream Crackers........................pkg. 15n-
Coffee, Nabob .......................................................lb. 35c.
Tea, Max-i-mum ..................................................lb. 42c.
Peas, Aylmer, Sieve 5, No. 2 tin..................3 for 25c.
Tomato or Vegetable Soup, Aylmer............2 for 13c.
Sardines, King Oscar....................................„..ea. 10c.
Kippered Snacks, OOC.......................................ea. 4c.
Catsup, Aylmer, 12-oz. bottle........................2 for 25c.
Dates, Golden Sair ........................................2 lbs. 15c.
Junket Powder or Ta,blets ..........................pkg. 9c.
SOAP, P. & G......................................................ea. 3c.
Toilet Tissue, Sable ..................................3 rolls 25c.
DISTRIBUTION
WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO LIMIT QUANTITIES
WITHOUT WASTE
SAFEWAY STORES LIMITED
ISSIIIIIIIIBIIIIBIIBIIIIBI
heatre Boiuedo
is more of a fetish than a formula. The cost of power Is such a small Item In manu-facturing that It Is practically never a deciding factor, such as taxes, labor, materials, transportation. Yet, we have cheap power, NOW .. . B. C. Electric rates are among the lowest on the continent.
BRITISH COLUIVIBIA ELECTRIC RAILWAY COIVIPANY LIMITED
^IIIIIIIIIBIIIBIIIBIIBBIIf
CAPITOL
A brand-new, popular, starring
I
We Are Authorized TORGSIN Agents
SdyMia^Aiiierica Line
446 Howe SL
TRIN. 2707
Vancouver, B. C.
Of the situation, the lone pupil praying while his teachers and associates were drinking!
As time went on, as his experiencee broadened out, and as he met more Jews his antisemiiism turned iuto a passionate and true frjendehin for Jews.
UPSKY ON PALESTINE
Generally sp«aking, Palestine has come to life in a measure that transcends all previous calculations. The German refugees come at the tail end of a decade of hard experience. The trail of Initial failures has been covered; the day of experimentation seems to be past; city and farm have found their way to normal livelihoods; the zigzag road to success has been straightened out and our settlers in Palestine know how to work, how to build, what to avoid and what tasks to tackle.
Palestine as a whole gives the impression of a bee-hive of industry, and those who have been sent ahead have the will to conquer through their work, not only Western Palestine, but also Transjordania and the neighboring lands. All of them feel that they are at the beginning of their historic mission, and what they lack is largely numbers and the adequate support of those who live in exile, for the preparation of refuge for the victims of oppression who are to come.
They ask for more workers, who are coming fMm Poland, from the Yemen, from Salonica and now, due to the German catistrophe, also from the land of Teutonic rage, v.-ho bring with them qualities indispensable for the gathering of the elements of a completed Jewish personality in Palestine.
In the phase of the work of the United Jewish Appeal that relates to Palestine, therefore, there is much to give a basis for the deepest moral satisfaction. These exiles from a land that has reverted to primitive barbarism come into a land which extends a welcome, without reservation. They
combination comes to the screen in Paramount's "She Loves Me Not," the film version of the smash Broadway success. The picture comes on Friday to the Capitol Theatre, with Bing Crosby and Miriam Hopkins in the principal roles.
Acting the role of a love-sick, chivalrous Princeton student, Crosby sings and woos his way to the great romance with the daughter of the university dean, after Miriam Hopkins, as the madcap, flamboyant little night-club dancer, enters his life, and 1 >aves him a sadder but wiser college lad.
Beginning with an utterly fantastic and ludicrous situation, the film in its rapid progress pokes derisive fun at coiieges, the motion picture industry, the newspapers, communists, gangsters and most of the familiar American institutions. Yet there is not a trace of rancor or bitterness in its sparkling comedy.
A distinguished cast, including Warren Hymer, Lynne Overman, Judith Allen, George Barbier and Vin-ce Bar-nett, support Crosby and Miss Hopkins. "She Loves Me Not" also features several brand new tunes by Rainger and Robin, and Gordon and Revel and a number of duets by Crosby and Miss Carlisle. Elliott Nugent directed.
consequences, "Kiss and Make-up", featuring Cary Grant, Genevieve Tob-in, Helen Mack and Edward Everett Horton.
SERVICE
That Yon Will .fi^ppreciate FREE DELIVERY ANYWHERE
Sally tmm 8 s.ia. ontU 11 p.m.
CAPiTOLA PHARMACY LTD.
_ rSBD a. BEOWK
XHSEE STOBES TO SEBVE TOV
Dong. 158 Eeir. 1281
Bay. 8700 Bay. 3668
ORPHEUM
Happiness, gayety and laughter will reign supreme at the Orpheum all next week with the two specially selected comedy features which start tomorrow. Heading the list is that bright and frivolous romantic comedy about a handsome beauty doctor who fell victim to a synthetic beauty of his own creation with unexpected
"Kiss and Make-up" is a witty satire on women's eternal search for beauty with a decorative background of the most stunning settings ever brought to films. With gorgeous gowns, and the lissome beauty of the thirteen Wampus Baby Stars of 1934, the film tells the story of the romantic misadventures of a handsome French beauty surgeon who marries one of his own creations, but has to go to his plain, little secretary for real love.
Cary Grant, as the beauty doctor and Genevieve Tobin, the synthetic venus, go on a Mediterranean honeymoon. When he encounters the effects of his own stringent beauty regulations. Grant wings back to Paris, determined to give- up the entire business and take up scientific research. But first he must win back the love of his simple, unadorned little secretary, Helen Mack, and the final sequence are devoted to this gay and amusing romantic pursuit.
For positive hllariouSj and riotous laughter the second feature starring W. C. Fields in "The Old-Fashioned Way" is impossible to surpass. The "Old-Fashioned Way" tells a dramatic story of a grand old trouper who leads his poverty stricken vaudeville troop from town to town in their search for fame—and food. With high spirits and low funds, they manage to keep just one jump ahead of the Sheriff and two weeks behind in salary.
W. C, Fields with Baby LeRoy in one of those rare, rib-tickling, gorgeous comedies all too seldom seen upon the screen.
OEORGIA HOTEL
NEWS STAND
G. 0. PATTERSON
Cigars - Pipes Sundries
PATRONAGE APPRECIATED
Cteorgia Hotel Lobby
Phone Fraser 614L. Take 6 or 7 ear
MONUIIENTAL WORKS
J. FOBSTEB . Oraaites, laeal ssd Foreisa Hs?t»!«s Old Monnments Oleaaed Oemetaty, Lettering 6628 Fraaer Ave. VaneouTer, B.O.
THE T. EDWARDS CO.
PUNEKAL DIBBOTOBS AND
EMBALMBBS
VaoeonTer, B.O. 812 acain Street" lOth ft aranvUla Trinity 6064 Bayrleir tOI
FOR RENT Large unfurnished suite for Immediate possession. Near Community Centre. Frigidaire,
$2.5.00 per month= Bay= 4210=
JOTTINGS
(Continued from Page 1)
come not as guests—they are returning to a home which has been prepared for them. From the moment they touch the soil they know they are there as a matter of right and not as a matter of sufferance.
They are coming to their own people, who extend a welcome to them not only in the ordinary manner of the older tradition, but with a gusto and vehemence—a sort of family possessiveness—that removes all doubt as to the welcome which is meant for them. They come into a land in which their own traditions, their own culture and their own language dominie the scene.
They are made to feel that they are participating in the building of a home v^hich, as its opportunities are extended, becomes an enlarged haven of permanent refuge for thousands of others who are to -iome after them.
The 40,000 settlers of i933 do not bar the way i'o a new immigration— they help to create the conditions that require the recruiting of new workers, the establishment, of new industries and the acquisition of now tracts of land.
The Berdichever opened his discourse: "A world turned topsy-turvy I see before my eyes. In years agone, the Jews spoke truth on the streets and in the market-places, but in the house of Prayer they told a lie. It is the other way now: on the streets and in the market-places they all speak falsehood, but in the House of Prayer they tell the truth. A riddle? Here then is the explanation: honesty and good faith were the torches lighting their path in the olden days. And so thiey made good the Scripture word' of a righteous Aye and Naye, and all their trading was done in good faith. But when they came to the House of Prlayer, they would beat their breasts and say: we have defrauded, we have robbed—and that was then a lie, for they had been true to God and their fellow-men. Today it is the reverse: in their trading they lie and defraud, and In their confessional prayer they speak the truth."
Once the Rabbi jestingly asked: WJll the Messiah be a Ghassid or a Misnagld?" and then - continued: "I believe, a Misnagld. For if he camie as a Chassid, the Misnagdim would not believe in him. Contrariwise,
ilizing every opportunity to preach^ their theories even to the extent o misusing their own platform, nar| rowing their arguments, insulting their own guests, and driving neutra persons into the camp of thei) enemies.
• • •
We were glad to see so many Jew. attend the rally. The struggle agains Hitlerism at the present moment i| part and parcel of the flght our natio is carrying on for the preservation oj our rights of existence and mor<! specifically that measure of lega emancipation that we have achievecij in the last 150 years.
Aside from the specific Jewish angle, to a certain degree the flghij against fascism is a flght for thosej principles of liberalism and demo-' cracy that all the world has learne.t to consider as one of the asset*! of] our new civilization, and v.-hen our people participate in the protection of these principles we rejoice.
But we cannot abstain from a touch rf bitterness when we ml?, that a rj:-n Jewish organization caa draw so.| large a Jewish audience on a Jewi.sh question whereas Jew.'sh organizations arranging lectures on the samel or similar subjects cannot do as! much.
It is a sign of lack of self respi;< i and dependence that we would iike t believe is superficial brU we dare nc t delude ourselves.
the Chassidim will believe in him whatever his profession."