The Denver Jewish news., 1921-09-28


ness man. Fancy sending such long
telegram. Look how many unnecessary
words you have put. First, Fanny
Do you suppose your mother will imag-
inc you have telegraphed to her about
Il strange woman? Second. happily
Could You possibly have telcgraphed
boy has fallen from heaven. And, lin
ally. why put IA boy? The very fact
that one troubles to telegraph shows
that it is boy \ daughter would have
been no rejoicing"
In another too modern story called
THE Clevcrest Man." it is perhaps only
the matter that is new, while the form
of the humor is old and characterist-
ically Jewish. Would you know who
is the clcvercst man alive? Well. l will
tell you. The cleverest people of all
| people are the Jews. That everybody
knows. And the cleverest Jews GER
tainly ARE the Xionists-there is no
doubt of that. And, Furthermore, the
cleverest Zionists are the Russian Zion
ists,-who else? And of the Russian
IionistS, the cleverest are surely those
of the Central Committee for if they
had not been the clevcrest, they would
not have been taken on the Central
| Committee. And, on the same ground.
| it is clear that the cleverest man of the
Central Committee is the President.
| And he. mark you, is so stupid the
| Jn, hi
| The Shadchen, or marriage broker
| stories are particularly amusing. though
l am not certain that at least one does
not come by n roundabout way from a
story of my own. 1t will be righteous
| revenge to annex some. of the others in
future stories. Closely related to the
Shadchen stories are the stories about
bridegrooms, of which an example is
called Philosophy" A shy young man
who was sent to make the acquaintance
of proposed bride was advised by his
| father to speak to her first of love,
second of family affairs, and finally to
throw in little philosophy After the
| dinner, when the other guests had de-
| DuIltu ltil luc lHt
young man proceeded to follow his
| fathers advice. First he said: do
you love lOlischen?" (macaroni). On
her replying, he proceeded: Have you
IA brother?" And when she replied that
| she had not, he felt that love and fam
| lily matters being exhausted, the time
had come for philosophy. So he said
| 'Supposing you had brathcr, would
| he have loved L0kschen?"
Exactly the same dialogue is. how
eyer. with the .snbstitptiap of cheese for
lplSschen, put into the mouth of Lord
Dundreary in the famous English com
| cdy of Our American Cousin" firstpro-
| duced in 1858. and the question arises
whether ii originally came into the play
out OF the Galician Ghetto, or into the
Galician Ghetto out of the play, TO find
| lis way back 10 London by way of Jcru-
silem. BaSlc and Cape Town. In any
case. one touch of humor makes the
whole world kin. But if the philosophy
of this lover is as shallow as his idea
lf love. there is quite profound philos-
ophy i'll the Rabbits reply to the com
plaint of n kindly Christian that the
Jews have II God of Vengeance while
the Christians have God of Love. 1t
is perfectly true, admits the Rabbi.
Jews. having God of Vengeance. leave
the Vengeance to Him. while they oc-
rupy themselves with Love: while
Christendom, having u God of Love,
leaves all the work of love to Him, and
concentrates on Vengeance.
do not know if you have laughed Il It
thiS, but the book begins with ii piece
Of psychology which may be worth re-
pcating. smacking rs it does of the soil
Of the Pale: when yOu tell n story to
a peasant, he laughs three times: the
first time he laughs when you tell him
the story, the second time when You
explain it, and the third time when he |
understands it. \ landed proprietor /,
laughs only twice. Once when you tell |
him the story, and the second time when
you explain it. As for understanding |
ii. that. in any case. he never does. An /
officer laughs only once-whcn one tells I
him n story. because to have anything |
explained to him he will not allow, and /
understand he never does. \ Jew. when |
you tell him n story says. Pooh. old |
story = and can tell it better"
\ similar joyous note runs through
the Folk Songs, despite one long lament
called. "On the Green Field" describing
Il dead soldier. 1T is good TO he
Jew runs the general refrain. Let It's
take as an example. "Schabcss" y few
verses will show the spirit