THE JEWISH CHRONICLE 11 JUNE 2021 THEJC.COM OBITS 55

Obituaries PHOTO: AMHERST varnishkes, matzoh brie – The Phantom Tollbooth’s Secret Jewishness

UBLISHED 60 years Norton ago, in 1961, The Phan- tom Tollbooth was a favourite book for many children of my Juster generation. It follows www.thejc.com the adventures of a 020 7415 1500 boy named Milo. Per- [email protected] manently bored, he ignores the world Editor Paround him. One day, out of nowhere, Stephen Pollard a mysterious package arrives. In it is a Deputy editor toy car and the tollbooth of the title. As Jake Wallis Simons he drives through it, the car magically Assistant editor transports Milo to a fantasy land full of Orlando Radice numbers, words, puns, characters and Associate editor other lessons. (community & news features) What I didn’t know then was that the Barry Toberman book has an underlying Jewish history. Associate editor (features) This is because its author, who has died Keren David aged 91, was Jewish and the book drew Assistant editor (education) upon his heritage and upbringing. Simon Rocker Juster was born and grew up in the Literary editor Jewish milieu of Brooklyn during the Gerald Jacobs Great Depression, the son of Samuel, an Food editor architect, and Minnie (née Silberman), Victoria Prever immigrants from Romania and Poland. Obituaries editor I probably did not think Juster was Jew- Gloria Tessler ish because his name is the Old English Supplements editor term for ‘north settlement’. Angela Kiverstein Such a name was typically given by Special correspondent immigrant to their sons to rein- Anshel Pfeffer force the sense they were all-American Travel editor and that it would give them a step up. Cathy Winston They soon learned, however, that such Reporters names were uncommon among native Mathilde Frot whites, not least because once they Noa Hoffman became common among Jews, other Social affairs correspondent groups avoided them as ‘Jewish.’ Rosa Doherty Juster described himself as “differ- Marketing manager ent – sort of a nebbish kid” – and was Carol Rashti raised in a house surrounded by books, Media production manager the shelves groaning under the weight Ben Grossman of thousand-page Yiddish and Russian Production assistant novels in translation. “Every day was an Ben Castiel adventure in semantic mayhem,” he Creative director Gus Condeixa said. “I just loved the language and the way the words sounded.” Senior designers Lisiane Dressler One of the defining books of his Sheree Fadil childhood was I.J. Singer’s (brother Contributing photographers of Isaac Bashevis Singer) The Brothers Marc Morris 07973 139540 Ashkenazi when he was 11 or 12. “I didn’t Expressive Lawrence Purcell 0161 795 1115 understand a word of what I read, but I moment: John Rifkin 020 89581370 read it all the way through. I had never Norton Juster EDITORIAL heard language used like this.” No reads from [email protected] doubt some of this found its way into his landmark Letters for publication should be The Phantom Tollbooth. childrens’book, sent to [email protected] He also savoured the taste of his “The Phantom Obituaries for publication should be mother’s kasha varnishkes, and this Tollbooth” sent to [email protected] penchant for stayed Local news and photos for with him. Later in life, he said, “I define Community should go to [email protected] myself as a culinary Jew. I am a great Dictionopolis, Mathemagician, the the seemingly bland name of Milo published it. The movie adaptation in cook. One of my favourite breakfasts Doldrums, Dodecahedron. It was like matches that of Heller’s First Lieuten- 1970, was full of Jewish creative voices, CEO Katharine Pottinger is matzoh brei. I take great pleasure in reading Mad magazine or listening to ant Milo Minderbinder. including director Abe Levitow, writer making .” one’s mother: one never knew until Its imagining of an alternative par- Sam Rosen, and the voice of Mel Blanc. MARKETING & CIRCULATION [email protected] After studying architecture at the one got older if the Yiddish words allel universe might well have been Juster continued to work as an archi- University of Pennsylvania, obtaining were real or made up. inspired by an acid trip. On that note, tect despite his book’s massive success. SUBSCRIPTIONS [email protected] a bachelor’s degree in 1952, he served Several of the events in the book did it influence Stanley Kubrick’s movie He went on to write others, includ- Finance director in the Navy. While stationed at the draw upon Juster’s life experiences, as 2001: A Space Odyssey? The titular toll- ing, The Dot and the Line: A Romance Anna Nemchinova Brooklyn Navy Yard, he met Jules Feiffer, well as those of Jule Feiffer. The Whether booth suddenly appears in Milo’s life In Lower Mathematics, Otter Nonsense ACCOUNTS the Jewish cartoonist for the Village Man’s maxim: “Expect everything, I much as monolith did in that other (1982), Alberic the Wise (1965), As Silly As [email protected] Voice and brilliant social anatomist always say, and the unexpected never masterpiece. Their job is the same: to Knees, As Busy As Bees (1989), its sequel, Commercial director who would later illustrate The Phantom happens”, for example, was a favourite educate and to enlighten. Sourpuss and Sweetiepie (2008) and The Debbie Rose Tollbooth. He went on to study city plan- saying of the cartoonist’s mother. In inventing a fantastical world to Odious Ogre, ( with Jules Feiffer). None ADVERTISING ning at the University of Liverpool as a The Phantom Tollbooth was clearly a escape from boredom, Juster may well achieved the Tollbooth fame. [email protected] Fulbright Scholar and was working for product of its time, of that atmosphere have absorbed some Yiddishkeit into Its 50th anniversary edition 2011), SOCIAL & PERSONAL a firm of architects when he wrote the of New York City in the early ‘60s that his book. Milo has a name that sounds included an appreciation by Mau- AND CLASSIFIED book. In 1964 Juster married graphic nurtured Lenny Bruce, the Beats, Mad suspiciously like the Hebrew term for rice Sendak and a celebration from [email protected] designer Jeanne Ray. Magazine, Maurice Sendak, and other word: Milah. The character of King Azaz Michael Chabon. No doubt it has influ- AD PRODUCTION The book is generously peppered staples of the counterculture. sounds like he has come straight out enced another generation of Jewish [email protected] with wit and wordplay inspired by The names in the book suggest the of the Bible, as does the “Sea of Knowl- writers and let’s hope it continues to Jewish Chronicle Privacy Policy his father Samuel’s love of puns and mordant humour of Mad: Short Shrift, edge”, which echoes Isaiah’s descrip- do so. Norton Juster is survived by his www.thejc.com/privacy-policy the Marx Brothers, whose films were Faintly Macabre, The Humbug. They tion: “the earth shall be full of the daughter Emily and a granddaughter. SUBSCRIPTIONS a childhood staple. His father would also echo those of Vladimir Nabok- knowledge of the Lord, as the waters Jeanne predeceased him in 2018. Direct Debit: £11 per month excluding delivery. quote lengthy passages from them. ov’s Lolita (published in English in cover the sea.” After all, what is the Tal- NATHAN ABRAMS £13 per month including delivery. Rest of World including delivery £199. As a child, I learned many new big 1958) and a cause celébre by the early mud but a “sea of knowledge”? Jewish Chronicle Media Limited, words and idioms from Juster. Some ‘60s, as well as Jewish author Joseph A Jewish editor at Random House, Norton Juster: born June 2, 1929. Died (issn-0021-633x) real, some invented: Digitopolis, Heller’s 1961 novel, Catch-22. Certainly, Jason Epstein, discovered the book and March 8, 2021