The Phoenix Jewish news., 1951-01-12

DIR. Koussevitzky will be there,
and 81 shall see to it," he says,
"that the greatest composers of
our time compose the music for
the King David play"
God give him strength, and the
Israelis too, for their faith in the
future and their zest for life and
creativeness! ! They are an uplift to
the spirit and a reinsurance to the
troubled heart, this January of the
atomic year 1851. May their hope
prevail, and their promise be full
filled!
ALAS, FOR THE WASTED
YEARS s. When Foreign Sec
retary Ernest Bevin of England
and Israel Minister Eliahu Elath
recently signed an Israel-British
civil aeronautical agreement, the
big news was not the fact that
this was the first time Mr.. Bevin
had ever signed document writ
ten in Hebrew.
1t came a few minutes later,
when Secretary Bevin stated that
this had been Every happy day"
for him.
No doubt all the Jews in the
world = that is to say, those who
were left alive - spent moment
of silence in bitter memory of all
the years he had wasted not being
happy.
But on second thought, so few
of history's "son'ay Yisroel" have
ever lived long enough to find out
how happy they could be getting
along with the Jews, that we feel
we should rejoice in his rejoicing.
Before God, all things are pos
sible!
TODAY A FOUNTAIN PEN. +.
1t has been said that the fountain
pen has replaced the volume of
Israel Zangwill which used to be
the favorite gift for Bar Mitzvah
boy.
What has happened to our idea
of books as gifts? They are less
prosaic, surely, than the socks and
handkerchiefs a boy must accept
gracefully and a lot more per-
manent, too.
The Jewish Publication Society
of America adds the suggestion
that a set of Graetz' History of
the Jews" would be an appropriate
gift for the start of Mr.. and Mrs.
Newlywed's library.
What an inspired idea! Suppos-
ing a volume of Jewish lore were
to replace every other table-cloth
bride receives; supposing novel
or autobiography took the place
of every other silver-plated gravy
boat. What a well-nourished gen.
Grafton we would be!
NEW WAYS IN AN OLD
LAND On the outskirts of
Gedera, Israel, an unusual expert
ment is taking place.
One hundred four Jewish fam
lilies from Europe and Asia have
joined together to form the Viii
lage of the Blind. Here the or
ganization known as Malben (set
up by the Joint Distribution Com
mittee, the Jewish Agency and the
Israel government) hopes to make
it possible for these sightless new
immigrants to become useful, self
sufficient citizens of Israel.
Upon their arrival in the new
land, the European immigrants be-
gin their training in new trades,
while the Yemenites must learn
for the first time to work and
assume responsibilities.
AS they come to the new vii
lage, each family is provided with
a two-room house and a one
dunam lot of land, along with
equipment for starting a vegetable
garden under the direction of a
competent farming instructor.
A social worker who lives in
the village advises the women on
household matters and tends the
sick, while a doctor pays a daily
visit to the settlement.
DR.. Max Hagel is the village
doctor. Having lost his eyesight
during the war in a Russian pris-
oner-of-war camp, DR.. Hagel un-
derstands the villagers problems.
His lawyers training has helped
him in bringing together people
from East and West, difficult
though this synthesis is known to
be.
A keen psychological percep-
tion and abundance of tact and
common-sense, help to overcome
the handicap of his sightless eyes.
Anyone seeing picture of the
blind villagers leading each other
as they go off to work in the