The Phoenix Jewish news., 1952-09-19

alton of Judaism through "Little
Sam," stressed the theme that
"Jews were no different from any
body else."
The theme was elaborated re-
peatedly in "Little Sans" answer
to "Big Sans" question, "Well,
what did you find out about Jews,
Little Sam ?"
"Little Sam" answered that he
had learned that being Jewish was
nothing in the blood, or anything
like that" but simply worshipping
God in ga Jewish way" However" !"
he added, "I found out three impor-
tant things that Jews do in wor-
shipping God"
The first of these was to love and
respect learning, Capp said, drop
ping the role of his two fictional
characters to add that "Jews were
the first to make it compulsory"
and that the Talmud, which he re-
ferred to as "the sources of Jew
ish teachings" stresses the i'm
portance of learning.
"That's why you sometimes hear
the expression, a smart jew" said
the cartoonist, adding that Jewish
kids aren't really any smarter
than other kids. It's just that Jew
ish kids are taught it's a shame to
be dumb or ignorant"
THE SECOND basic principle of
Judaism, as Capp explained it
through "Little Sam," was to love
God, not to fear him."
The third was the learning of
the mitzva." At this point, Capp
sketched out the word "mitzva,"
and laughingly remarked that ''it
sounds like something good to eat,
doesn't it? Well, it's little hard
to explain but a mitzva is the
greatest thing a Jew can earn"
Defining mitzva a little more
precisely, Capp called it ga feel
ing that comes from doing
good deed solely for the sake Of do
ing a good deed, and without any
thought that you'll get something
for it. When you do a good deed
like that, you get feeling"
"Why shucks, Little SAM" said
"Big SAM" "there really aren't any
differences between Jews and other
people. Why, I guess from what
you said, to be a Jew means to be
decent guy"
AT THIS POINT, Capp raised
and answered some questions about
Jews by having "Big Sam" say to
"Little SAM: "Seems to me ]
heard about some things about
Jews that are different. Haven't
l heard that Jews don't eat certain
foods ?"
"Well," replied "Little Sam,"
"before l found out that my name
was Brounstein, ate lot of pork
chops and ham sandwiches and /
don't think they ever did me any
harm. But figured I'd find out
about that too."
"Little Sam" continued, 81 found
out something pretty interesting.
You know, 5000 years ago, they
didn't have any refrigeration and
certain foods got spoiled. So they
decided they shouldn't eat those
foods. Kosher means kind of un-
SAFE"
Queried about the situation to-
day, "Little Sam," replied: ooh,
some of the older Jews still eat
only kosher foods = it's kind of
sacrifice or something like that.
But nowadays, you don't have to
worry about foods spelling. I guess
it's kinda silly not to eat a juicy
pork-chop or ham sandwich"
LITTLE SAM" disposed of
"Big Sans" question about Jews
rejecting Jesus Christ as "the son
of God," by asserting that "Jews
don't reject Jesus as the son of
God. They go a step further and
say that all men are sons of God.
Jews believe that God is our Father
and that all of us are brothers"
The issue of "Jewish types" was
disposed of with "Little Sam" ex-
planning that the way a man wor-
shipped had nothing to do with the
way he looked. The children were
then shown a photo of typical
Englishman" and a typical
Frenchman," the late Leslie How
ard, British film star, and the late
Leon Blum, one-time French Pre-
mier.
Stressing the striking contrast
between the smoothshaven, Anglo
Saxon appearance of Howard, and
the lined, mustached face of Blum,
Capp told the children: "You see,
the way a man worships has moth
ing to do with his looks. Both of
these men worshipped God in the
Jewish way but they certainly don't
look alike" He concluded there was
"no such thing as a Jewish look"
The dialogue was concluded with
"Big Sam" commenting that "why,
all you found out is that Jews are
no different from anybody else in
the sense of being something diff
ferent or special. They're just
Americans, like all other Ameri.
cans, Americans of Jewish faith"