Evening star., 1942-11-13
inquiries About Policy
OF Isolating Jewish Books.

The Petworth Library originally con-
tainsd what appropriately might have
been termed poets corner" Recently
I learned that this alcove Whose walls
have from the first been painted a deep
red was henceforth to be given over to
the librarys "Judaica" l gathered that
any book by a Jewish author. or con-
sidered as relating to the Jews, would
have a place therein. 1t already con-
tains about 140 books in Yiddish-more
than the library can show for any other
foreign language. Among the English
books in this alcove found biography
of the late Samuel Gompers, and one
of the late Justice Cardozo; also a VOL
ume containing some of the judicial pro-
nouncements of the late Justice Bran
deis, wherein, ironically enough, any at
tempt to classify Americans along the
line Of religion is strongly condemned.
But such world-famous books as Solomon
Reinach's "Orpheus" and Henri Berg
sons Creative Evolution" though in
the library, strange to say, were not
among the Judaica. The same also was
true Of Einsteins interesting volume on
relativity, and of Spinoza's philosophical
works. Yet these mer are commonly
regarded as Jews. Certainly they are
men that no Jew need be ashamed Of.
Some of the English books in the alcove
were of such general interest that re-
gretted to see them relegated to a sort
of literary ghetto. Since religious test
oflicially cannot be applied to American
citizens, why should it be applied to
books in public libraries? Biographies OF
outstanding Jews, as we'll as books by
Jewish scholars, obviously belong with
other books of their respective classes
And why should taxpayers be compelled
to pay for SO disproportionate a number
of books in Yiddish?
It Is certain that Yiddish is in no true
sense the Jewish language; 1t is merely
the language of q particular group of
Jews. Like those of other faiths, Jews
normally speak the language Of the
country where they reside. Many OF the
learned Jews of antiquity spoke and
wrote in Greek Indeed. their scholarship
was one of the glories of ancient Alex
andria. In the Middle Ages Spanish
was an outstanding Jewish language.
And as one of the principal Jewish lam
guages, English today cannot be entirely
ignored. Though Frederic j. Haskin re-
Gently was criticized for saying that
Yiddish is dialect Of German, all the
authorities that I have consulted Gn-
cluding Jewish authorities) concede that
it is merely the German of the late
Middle Ages modified by long isolation
and by borrowings from Hebrew and
other languages. It is not Hebrew, which
ceased to be q spoken language more
than 1000 years ago. The Hebrew alpha
bet, which originally contained no
vowels, 1t seems, was adapted to it with
some difaculty. II 1t were printed In
Roman letters, even In the barbaric
Roman letters still commonly used for
German, its basic character at once
would be apparent. And why should 1t
not be printed in Roman letters? This
would make 1t accessible to many who
never will learn the Hebrew alphabet
It may be recalled that Turkey, shortly
after the First World War, abandoned
the Arabic alphabet q Semitic alphabet
related TO the Hebrew and adopted the
Roman alphabet a. . step toward the
westernization Of her culture.
In setting up department for par.
tcular religious group. the Petworth