Prime Minister Levi Eshkol pledged at the annual meeting of the Israeli Writers Association last night that the Government would be ready to give financial aid to “a reasonable and concrete” plan to foster public interest in Hebrew books.
He urged the writers to provide a greater influence on the new generation of Israeli Jews. S. Shalom, the poet, expressed regret that “a spirit of nihilism” had “cast its shadows” on the young writers.
Captions translated from the anti-Semitic book, “Judaism Without Embellishment.” Numbers refer to cartoon numbers as arranged by JTA on reverse side.
No. 1 — “Opium for Some–Pocket Money for Others.” (The elder religious Jew is holding a Hebrew calendar; the other stereotyped Jew lugs a bag of money.)
No. 2 — “God Destroyed the Eldest Sons of Egypt.” (The Jewish God is depicted as a bloodthirsty murderer–contrasted with the humane leaders of Communism.)
No. 3 — “Profiteering Near the Ark of the Law.” (This chapter links the synagogue with “economic crimes, ” laying the groundwork for sentencing Soviet Jews to death for alleged participation in such crimes, centered at the synagogue.)
No. 4 — “The Ensnaring Nets of Judaism Are Being Torn Up.” (Showing a stereotyped Jew, wearing skullcap and prayer shawl, cowering before the Soviet rocket.)
No. 5 — “The swindlers in religious articles brawl among themselves over the division of the spoils in the Synagogue. ” (The Star of David is, of course, considered the symbol of Judaism.)
No. 6 — “Life Denies the Zionist Lies.” (The stereotyped, religious Jew, holding the Holy Scroll emblazoned with the Star of David, is directed in his attack by the man in the high hat, symbol of capitalist imperialism.)
No. 7 — “All sorts of swindlers and cheats find refuge in the Synagogue.” (Note the phylacteries on the head of the hook-nosed man with his hand in the collection plate.)
No. 8 — “The Jewish Child Buyers–Enemies of Youth;” (The religious Jew is shown ensnaring a Soviet boy–whose physiognomy is also unmistakably Jewish.)
No. 9 — “No, Not from the Rib is Woman. ” (Appealing to the Soviet woman, whose glorification is a staple in Soviet propaganda. The stereotyped Jew is shown exercising the contrary principle of the debasement of woman.)
No. 10 — “The myth of the “God-Chosen People’s and Their Heavenly Father, Jehovah.” (A distortion of Jewish history; the Star of David links Jewish religion with Israel, a country consistently denounced in the text of the book.)
No. 11 — “During the years of the Hitlerite occupation, the Zionist leaders served the Fascists.” (This is the only caricature in the entire book conceded by the Ukrainian representative in the United Nations Human Rights Commission to have been included in “Judaism Without Embellishment.”)
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
