The Texas Jewish Herald (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 26, No. 40, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 12, 1933 Page: 2 of 4
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TEXAS JEWISH HERAL0
Published Weekly b
THE HERALD PRINTING CO.
Edgar Goldberg
Editor and Publisher
Contributors
Rabbi Henry Barniton, Rabbi Chat. BIu-
athal. Rabbi Henry Cohen, Rabbi Darid
__ arg. Rabbi David Lafkowitz, Rabbi
Waif Macht, Rabbi Harry Merfeld, Rabbi
tabhi Martin Zieionlca.
A. I. Schechter,
Subscription
Foreign ... .
#2.00 per Year
#2.50 per Year
409-1154 Fannin St. - Capitol 6258
Entered at second-class matter at the Post-
office af Houston, Texas, under
the act of March 8. 1879. _
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A WHALE OF A GOOD IDEA
By Rose Strauss
The- Cohen brothers, Sarrr, Moe,
Henry and Louis, agreed to the last
_ man that their sistjr Yetta must Qse
the wrong kind of fishing tackle. Cer-
■ tainly her catch thus far was not even
worth the hauling. Looking at this
fishing business from a practical
standpoint, it was somewhat a liabil-
ity having a single sister like that.
Here they were, four eligible Jewish
benedicts all unmarried for the sole
and not so simple reason of Yetta.
Mamma had made them promise her
so faithfully—when she was panting
out her last breaths' of mortality, that
they would all wait to marry until her
first-born, her girl, was settled in li-
too. Under the stress of emotion, they
had pledged their word. During. all
the intervening years of calm reflec-
tion, they had regretted their pledge
* bitterly.
It was easy enough for fine, pros-
perous men like the Cohen brothers,
to get any kind of wife their hearts’
desired. Fishing hooks were always be-
ing cast into matrimonial channels,
for husbands. Jewish fathers, mothers
and daughters always held a line out
for a gullible mate—whether by way
6f toothsome repasts prepared espec-
ially for the palate of the all unwill-
ing' victim; alluring hints of munific-
ient dowries or out-and-out invitations
to enter into business partnerships.
Funny that thb aggressive fisher folk
never became discouraged either. You
could, plead previous engagements, you
could hint at pressing responsibilities,
you could even express an entire dis-
inclination to embark on the danger-
ous chores of matrimony, but there
was always plenty of sates resistance
to counter' any situation. The nice,
juicy worms employed as bait, con-
tinued to be held at a moft tempting
angle and if the fish refused. to bite
at that sitting, it simply meant that
the rod would be put away, ready to
use again when the wind and water
were more favorably disposed.
Of late years, the fishing business
had slowly, but surely, falling off. A
younger more desirable catch was com-
ing into the matrimonial waters and
there was mourning among the clan
of Cohan. Something must be done
Yl
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about Yfctta soon^or all of them were
doome^d. Sam, the eldest of the boys,
admitted to forty; Moe and Henry,
the twins, three years his junior, and
Louis, the youngest, had already at-
tained jhe ripe majority of 35. Yetta,
according to the record* in the Old
Testament, would be 42 on her next
birthday. It was .almbst a stigma that
any daughter of Israel should remain
so long undesired and unattached. And
really Yetta was not such a bad sort
•* at that- She simply had never fished
in the right brooks or if she had, had
only caught such Plebian minnows as
the proud Cohens would not have sanc-
ft tioned.
' A great day for the railroads, when
* Yetta first arrived at a marriageable
/age. First they sent her to visit T^nte
Margolis, who had been extremely
1 fond of Yetta as a little girl and who
* was quite frank as to why she desired
her young niece to. spend the coming
holidays with her. Yetta went up a
week previous and by New Years Day
debated her family ‘ with the news
that Max Schimmel, a young physic-
ian, was quite attentive, had practical-
ly popped the question and she had
not discouraged him. By Yom Kip*pur,
Yetta’s family were immersed in
gloom again. Max it seemed, had with-
drawn his court, had thought the mat-
over carefully and decided a young
had no business with a wife
, Yetta’s Aunt Sadie in Cali-
■ wrote she knew a fine young
in pn equally fine business, who
| a helpmate and was anxious
married and settled. Yetta’s pic-
* 1 lived with her own highly]
ltd description had interested
mo* d»*l end she could almost
fAftsuks. Once again Yetta
^^^^™Ved and seat her
time she came
back unattached and unscatched. The
young man did not think she cams
up to her aunt’s specifications, she
was too bashful and he would none
of her. Her numerous visits in the
years succeeding to Cousin Leah in
Winnipeg, Uncle Mosher in Portland
and Aunt Bella in Texas, were only
a repitition of what had gone before.
It was a family secret,. but kept in-
violate "Y^tta might bf ever so gift
ed in the gentle £rt of concocting
Gefilte but her fishing ability did
not extend itself to landing a man
boctors, lawyers, merchants, thieves,
rich men, poor men, beggarmen,
thiefs, were all assailed, with the same
results. Yetta was hopeless—lacking in
that indefinable something better
known to the jjyry^male as "It.” Yet
ta would have made»an admirable
mothxrFi'a splendicT*home-maker, a ge-
filte foil maker without a peer, but
for all thatv it. seemed inevitable she
was born, to die an old maid—to put
a Jewish blot on the Cohen escutcheon
—the oldest sister and the only old
maid.'
The brothers held counsel. Suppose
the whole family moved to New York.
Maybe opportunities were greater
there for all of them. There age was
no disqualification. There men were
men and women were worjien—r-plenty
of buxom widows eager to make de-
sirable alliances—plenty of well-to-do
widowers with scant opportunity for
meeting settled, domesticated women
like Yetta—men who would Welcome
such a golden opportunity, to have her
grace their Sabbath board, load it with
toothsome viands,- such as no hands
less deft or willing than Yetta’s jrould
ptepare. And then again, the same
old regret. "If only Yetta could land
a fish as expertly as she could fill one.
If only her charms were of the flesh
and not of fhe bone, long ago would,
she have been married. Long ago, a
plump, complacent Jewish matron and
mother.
But fish is fish and fajtc is fate.
On Friday morning, the 13th, Hiram
Sales & Co., Real Estate Brokers,
phoned they had a likely prospect fop
the house and were sending him right
over—a gentleman with ample cash,
whose interests had -caused him Jto
remove from New York and such a
home as was described to them -should
suit him perfectly. He 'was quite anx-
ious to get located and was -already
on the way *o look the situation over.
The brothers, Yetta also, were trium-
phant. At Hist, it seemed that New
York, the land of opportunity, lay
only a, step ahead. - k
As the last ball of fish was tempt-
ingly arranged on the platter, Yetta
answered the loud peal of the front
door bell, first giving her apron a
hurried, pat before fully opening the
door. "Why, that must be the pros-
pect now,” she thought and so it was.
Miss Cohen?” inquired her visitor,
"my name is Simon Levinson. Your
brother told' me ^ might look at your
house. Do you mind showing it to
me', please?” "I’m tired of hotel life,
tired of knocking around ever since
my wife selig has left me. And -1
think* you haVe just the place I want
here. His approving glances traveled
over the rooms. "Why what a com-
fortable living room you have. So
clean and cheerful. Such a cozy Jining
room, too. And my, what a nice big
kitchen. Gracious doesn't*, that fish
smell wonderful? (as his eye caught
the tempting platter'and ^fastened it-
self there). "It’s been many a Friday,
Miss Cohen, sinte I smelled such
wonderful perfume.” *
Strange that just at that psychdlofi-
cal moment, an adage worn thread-
bare cropped through Yetta’s mind—
a chart as it were, pointing to an old,
much-traveled road to a man’s heart.
Immediately, she proffered her pnos*
pect a generous serving of the steam-
ing fish, best relish colored, to a nicety,
strudle done to a turn—beheld such
evident relish as was sheer joy to con-
template. Soon the visit, the^primary
object of wmch was business, now be-
came purely ah object of unmitigated
pleasure. "My, my, my Miss Cohen,
this fish is fine. And your house, too,
is just what I want, I think. Could
you, would you, let m» call tomorrow
evening again and let you know what
I decide?”
True to promise, the next evening at
the appointed hour, Simon Levinson
kept his engagement, chatted amiably
with the family until 10 o’clock, but
never a word emitted about business,
until on rising to take his departure
he mentioned casually that he was still
.1 little undecided about his purchase,
but would return the following Fri-
day if agreeable and give them a def-
inite answer. Ostensibly it was agree-
able and in order to make certain his
a cordial invitation was ex-
to partake of die Shabbes meal
—aft invitation which was accepted
with alacrity.
By 3:45 p.m. on Friday, Simon
Vi _
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fi.h, i„ JEon, ud d^ppeareV Officers of the Union of American Hebrew
But still there was no committal about •
1 ‘ ■ Congregations
the hoped-for transaction. By 7:43,
the four brothers Cohen had given
their cause up as lost, made apologies
for leaving and departed in disgust
for Shule, leaving their well regaled
guest to* the tender mercies of their
sister.
Funny' how a man thawed out un-
der the stimulus of good food. By
8:45 he was telling v Yetta all about
his good wife, who had died four
years previous in the flu epidemic,
about his two young daughters, Rosie
and Hannah, who so needed a home
and a mother’s care and whose irreg-
ular existence had really influenced
his decision to move * to a smaller
town. About how lonesome it was for
him, too, to knock around in treafe
hotels and boarding houses, when he
was always used to a home. Now he
had really been on the point of plac-
ing his girls in boarding school, when
the real estate agent had told him
about Cojien’s fine house being for
sale. "But what had really finally de-
cided him” he sheepishly admitted,
was that excellent Gefilte Fish which
Yetta had so hospitaiably given him
that first morning when he had come
there so tired and discouraged. That
was his first taste of a real home, in
all those years. He realized then that
he was only cut out to be a home
man and she a home woman,- He’d be
willing, even glad to take the house* |
if he could hope that she, Yetta,
would be willing, some day-* glad to
keep it for him. "pact of the matter
is, she somehow remjnded him of his
wife.” >
Simon Ijevinson’s conversation did
not fall upon deaf ears. Yetta, who~all
along 'would have been more than ’sat-
isfied with any good perch, had 'land-
ed a whale at last.
Yes, f($h is fish, and fate is fate.
Gov. Lehman
Urges Beer Tax,
Labor Legislation
• * »
The officers of the JJnion are: Honorary President Charles Shohl,^ Cincin-
nati; Chairman of the Executive Board, Cudwig Vogelsicin, New York; Vice
Presidents, Jacob W. Mack, Cincinnati, Marcus Rauh, Pittsburgh, and Mau-
rice D. Roschbcrg, Washington; Treasurer, N. Henry Beckman, Cincinnati,
and Secretary, Rabbi George Zepin, Cincinnati. *
Albany (JTA)—Governor Herbert
H. Lehman delivered. His first trtessage
the New Yprk State Legislature as
the Chief Executive of the £tate be-
fore a joint meeting of the Senate and
the Assembly.
The message, devoid of partianship,
was favorably received and stressed the
need,, for. co-operation in meeting the
crisis in the State; urged'making utili-
ties bear the major share of State reg-
ulation cost; more rigid control of
holding companies; and ’a halt in
State aid. •»
Expressing the view that the United
States Congress would before the end
of the ^ar enact some measures -to
modify the present prohibition laws,
Governor Lehman urged the State to
be prepared for such legislation and
prepare for setting up* machinery for
the sale of beer and. for the collection
of incidental levenue on the sale of
beer.
Governor Lehman pleaded for slow
and orderly process in rebuilding the
economic structure.
The State must apply to the Federal
Government for aid in relief, as the
State is no longer' able to carry the
burden even though aided by benevo-
lent private effort.
He warned against placing on the
shoulders of any one class heavy bur-
dens for the benefit of tire other class,
declaring that "benefits cannot be con-
ferred on one to the detriment of
others.” * *■
As a means of meeting tlje unem-
ployment situation, Governor Lehman
recommended a shorter Working week
and preparatory work by the Legisla-
ture to establish unemployment insur-
ance.
Jew Heads Mich.
Prison Industries
Detroit (JTA)—Edward N. Frfens-
dorf of Hudson, Mich., was placed in
charge of all state prison industries by
Governor William A. Comstock.
Mr. Frensdorf previously served on
the State Prison Commission under
Governors Albert L. Sleeper, Chase S.
Osborn and Woodbridge N. Ferris.
He was at’one time Warden of Jack-
son Prison and organized that institu-
tion’s industries to make them earn
enough |o meet the demands of the
institution. He hopes to place all of
the sum’s prisons on a stlf-sustaining
basis. and says ha believes ha can ef-
fect economies of #1,000,000.
Another Jswuh appointment was
made when Wayne County Clerk El-
mer B. O’Hara appointed William A.
Sempliner Deputy County Clerk.
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Alfred M. Cohen
Heads the Ohio
Electoral Collegejl,?,"
Columbus (JTA) — Alfred lCl.^av“
Cohen of Cincinnati, president of the
B’nai B’rith,' oldest Jewish fraternal
order in the United States, was yester-
day unanimously elected president of
the Ohio Presidential Electpral Col-
lege, on its organization here.
Mr. Cohen served as president of
the Ohio Electoral College, at the first
election of President Woodrow Wilsoff
and was a ntember of the College at
Wilson’s re-election. * *
DALLAS NEWS
Mrs. Ben Ablon and Mrs.. Meyer
H. Ablon entertained at their home, *
2605 Maple Avenue, on Wednesday
afternoon, January 4th, honoring Miss
* " *a Wyll, bride-elect. In bridge,
avors went to Misses Minnie Wyll,
Anne Cohen and Pauline Harris, Mrs.
Lou Ravkind, Mrs. Morris, Goldman
and Kdrs. Ed Schwartz. In bunco
Mrs. M. Ravkind wpn the prize.
Guest favors Were presented to the
hdnorees, Miss Minnie Wyll and Mrs.
Jake Hayman of Waco. The hostesses
were assisted by Mrs. Morris Ablon.
Denver Man Gives
: , 35 Tons of Meat
Denver (JTA)—Thirty-five tons of
meat were distributed to thousands of
Denver’s needy by Louis K. Sigman,
Denver meat packer and philanthro-
pist. * V
The distribution of assorted meats
in ten pound packages is an annual
benefaction undertaken by Mr. Sfg-
man. • . \'*v * " ,
. DAISETTA, TEXAS
Mr. and Mrs. Harry Carenblith of
Daisetta, Texas, announce the birth
of a boy, Calvin. The Brith Millah
was held Sunday, January 8th, at 1
p.m. at their residence with Rabbi Max
Geller of Houston officiating. Mr. S.
Finger was the "Sondick" *nd Mr
and Mrs'. M; Bernstein were the god-
father and godmother for the baby.
V*
Honoring Miss Sylvia Wyll, brida-
elect, and Mrs, Martin Jerwick
of Kansas City, Mo., Mrs. Max P.
Cohen and Mrs. Jack Jarwick enter-
tained r with a Chinese supper Satur-
day evening, January 7th, at the home
of Mrs. Jerwick.. Places were marked
for 16 guests. Bridge was played after
the dinner wiqh high score awards
going to Miss M^anie Wyll, Mrs. Max
Wyll and Mrs. Martin Jerwick:
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Complimenting Miss Sylvia Wyll,
Mrs. Max Wyll and Mrs. Nathan La-
vine entertained with a handkerchief
and hosiery shower Tuesday after-
noon, Jarnuuy 10th, at the Dallas
Power Ct Lighting Building. Bridge
prizes were won by Misses Jeanette
Kimmell and Sylvia Rubenstein, Mas- -
dames L. Engleberg, Ben Sandler, Sam
Fink, Max P. Cohen and Mr. Katx,
and Bunco prizes were awarded to
Dorothy Wyll end Mrs. I. Wyll. The
hostesses were assisted m entertaining
by Mrs. Lou Ravkind and Mrs. Eli
Levy. . '
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Goldberg, Edgar. The Texas Jewish Herald (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 26, No. 40, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 12, 1933, newspaper, January 12, 1933; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1054842/m1/2/?q=music&rotate=270: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .