HUNGRY GERALD

Yiddish is a language that is always on the verge of death but manages to stay alive. Now that it is being taught in some American colleges, it may have increased longevity. In the New York of the 20th Century, there were four competitive Yiddish daily newspapers: The Forward (Furvertz); Jewish Morning Journal; Der. Tag; Freiheit. Most important was The Forward, resolutely Socialist (its radio station, WEVD, had call letters derived from the Socialist leader Eugene Victor Debs). It was the favorite newspaper of HG’s father, a Socialist, early labor union member (joined the Jewish Bund when still a youngster in Belorussia). Founded in 1897, The Forward had a circulation of 275,000 in the 1920’s (diminished to 170,000 in 1939 as immigrant Jews learned English). The Morning Journal was politically conservative and an advocate of Orthodox Judaism (it had a peak circulation of 80,000). Der Tag was directed at intellectual Jews and had a modest circulation. Freiheit was the Yiddish newspaper of the American Communist Party. It promoted the interests of the International Fur and Leather Workers Union headed by fiery Ben Gold. The union had a bloody history battling gangsters and New York police. Gold often landed in jail. Abraham Cahan was the editor of anti-Communist Forward. He was the target of much Ben Gold vitriol. After relentless US government harassment, Gold retired at age 56 to –where else?–Miami Beach. Lived a long life, wrote novels and short stories. Looked like the average Miami Beach “alteh cocker.”