The National JWB Convention

WHERE IN THE WORLD
DO YOU WANT TO GO!

'64 CHEVROLETS

M. LARRY STERN

`Our Baby'-Very Special Volume
and Record Book for the Infant

Is Pleased To Announce

•

•

&rim set

TH E DETROIT JEWI SH NEW S Friday, M arch 27 , 1964

tivation of a meaningful Ameri-
By NATHAN ZIPRIN
CINCINNATI — A three-tiered
can Jewish life by infusing
Editor, Seven Arts Feature
silver seder plate from early
Jewish values with relevance to
Syndicate
19th Century Vienna is one of .•
Reconciliation between the the contemporary needs and
many Passover treasures at the
urge for full integration into problems of Jews as Jews and
Jewish Museum of the Hebrew
Union College-Jewish Institute
American society and the need as Americans.
of Religion.
for positive Jewish identifica-
KOUFAX AT BAT
Prof. Joseph Gutmann, mu-
tion is the basic problem con-
It's a good thing that Sandy
seum director, describes the
fronting every form of Jewish
plate as a fine example of Pass-
community activity in the Koufax of the Dodgers isn't
over ceremonial objects made
United States today. This has getting paid for his hitting. The
in the Austro-Hungarian Em-
given rise to a remarkable final National League batting
averages show that he compiled
pire in the late 18th and early
quest for self-appraisal and self-
—if
that's what you call it—a
19th centuries (Fig. 1).
understanding by individuals,
.064 mark! However, one of
Very few of the surviving
groups and organizations.
his few hits was a home run.
ceremonial objects used at the
There is a growing search for Some consolation!
seder table, or for other Jewish
new forms of Jewish expres-
purposes, go back further than
sion, an urge to adapt tradi-
the 17th century, Prof. Gut-
tional Jewish concepts to new
mann explains, due to the con-
needs and changes in the socio-
stant ravages and expulsions
cultural economic life of the
suffered by the Jewish people
American Jewish community.
during the Middle Ages.
Everywhere established pro-
In any case, most seder items
grams, services and institutions
adillac
could not antedate the early
are being challenged to pay
Middle Ages as it was not until
more than lip service to Jewish
41w
then that the seder ceremony,
ideals. Concurrently, the need
ravel
as we know it today, was fixed.
for more Jewishly - committed
p
The earliest illuminated Pass-
leadership has become widely
enter Inc.
over haggadot which gives us
recognized.
a glimpse of the lost ceremonial
It is most appropriate that at
objects are no older than the
IS HERE TO SERVE YOU!
this crucial juncture in the
13th century.
American Jewish experience
The seder, as it developed
• TOUR ARRANGEMENTS
the National Jewish Welfare
during the Middle Ages, pro-
• AIRLINE TICKETS
Board should devote its 1964
Vided many opportunities for
biennial national convention to
• CRUISES - HOTELS
Figure
1:
Silver
Seder
Plate
Made
in
Vienna,
1815
the fashioning of ceremonial
these pressing concerns. The
objects.
700 delegates from all parts of
NO ADDITIONAL FEE
Most important for the cele-
the country who will gather in
bration of the seder was the
FOR OUR SERVICES!
Boston from April 15 to 19 will
seder tray placed in the cen-
be grappling with these vital
ter of the table. In most
issues in a way that should
Authorized Agency for
households, plain pewter
make for considerable progress
ALL MIAMI HOTELS
plates were used for this pur-
along the road toward achieving
and MOTELS
pose. These carried charming
the Jewish objective fundamen-
FOR INFORMATION &
but .naive engravings of epi-
tal to the health and welfare
RESERVATIONS
sodes from the Passover hag-
of American Jewry.
gadah, such as the story of
LI 8-3944
Apart from its organizational
the four sons or an actual
concerns, which have broad in-
Conveniently Located in the
depiction of the Seder cele-
terests, JWB has wisely devel-
DEXTER-DAVISON PLAZA
bration.
oped its convention program
Most typical were plates hav-
10 MILE at COOLIDGE
with an eye to making a maxi-
ing a pointed star with the
mum contribution toward the
Oven Thursday and Saturday
Passover lamb in the center and
solution of the great contempo-
Eves. 'til 9; Sundays 10-3
Hebrew inscriptions and illus-
rary Jewish dilemma—the cul-
tratiOns of the final song at the
seder ceremony, "Chad Gadyo,"
"An Only Kid," around the rim
—as in a plate made by the
Jewish folk engraver, Joel ben
Sale or Lease
Jehudah, in Germany in 1779
"Service
Is Important"
(Fig. 2).
Best Location in Area .. .
The striking Viennese Seder
plate at the Jewish Museum in
Best Deal All-Ways
Cincinnati dates back to 1815.
SEE
It has three compartments to
separate the three required
UN 4-2300 j
matzoth.
Figure 2: Pewter Seder Plate Made in Germany, 1779
AT
BR 2-2470
On the top tray are six smalc
figures. The two figures with
Hanley Dawson Chevrolet, Inc.
the boat-like containers on their
14501 W. 7 Mile Rd., 1 /2 block W. of James Couzens
heads were designed to hold the
roasted egg — the traditional
symbol of the burnt offering
brought on festivals into the
Sadie Rose Weilerstein, whose first haircut, first visit to a den-
Temple at Jerusalem—and the name as author of children's tist; bright sayings, favorite
roasted bone (symbolic of the books is among the best-known songs, first day in religious
Passover lamb sacrificed in the —especially for her "Adven- school, first visit to the syna-
Temple by our ancestors).
tures of K'tonton," and her gogue, days of gladness, holi-
The two women are hold- later work, "Ten and a Kid"— day observances, etc.
That Passover Candies Are Again
The Scriptural reference on
ing vessels above their heads has made another valuable con-
Available From
for the maror (horseradish tribution to the children's book each page makes this a very
symbolic of the bitterness of shelf with "Our Baby," just good Jewish book.
ASTOR CHOCOLATES OF NEW YORK
The lullaby, in Hebrew and in
slavery in Egypt) and karpas issued by the National Women's
(greens, such as parsley or League of the United Syna- English, with the musical score,
celery) which were usually gogue of America (3080 B'way, on the endpapers, add value to
a very fine book for baby.
dipped into the salt water N.Y.).
cauldron held by the hatted
Splendidly illustrated by
male figure in the foreground. Kelly Oechsli, "Our Baby" is a UN Rights Declaration
Another hatted figure is push- record book for the Jewish
ing a wheelbarrow, which was child. It starts with the baby's `Has the Force of Law'
Dr. Egon Schwelb of Yale
intended to hold the charoset footprints, provides insertions
(a mixture of apple, cinnamon, for the child's birth date, the Law School declared that the
nuts and wine, likened to the Hebrew and the civic, includes United Nations' failure to
clay mixed with straw out of the "Shehecheyanu", makes pro- adopt binding covenants on
which the Israelites made visions for the first photo- human rights has resulted in
bricks).
graphs and for the listing of the the UN Universal Declaration
Finally, in the center of the names of the closest relatives, of Human Rights itself "acquir-
ing the force of law" beyond
seder container stands the ma- parents, and grandparents.
jestic figure of Moses, staff in
In each instance there is the intentions of its authors.
Schwelb, in a 96-page ana-
hand, carrying on his head a a Biblical quotation applic-
receptacle intended for the able to the record,. such as: lysis of the Declaration on the
wine glass, known as the cup of "Let thy father and mother occasion of its 15th anniversary,
rejoice and let her that bore asserted it has become a "living
Elijah.
document of great potency"
The custom of setting aside thee be glad" (Prov. 23:25)
a wine glass especially dedi- and "Look to the rock whence even though it started as a
"nonbinding pronouncement"
cated to Elijah is of recent you were hewn" (Is. 51:1).
Then there are pages for the which would be followed by
origin and cannot be traced
back earlier than the 17th recording of gifts to the baby, binding covenants and mea-
MAIN STORE and CANDY KITCHEN
provisions for listing circum- sures of implementation.
century in extant literature.
15430 W. 7 MILE at GREENFIELD
cision or blessing for a girl,
"He (Macaulay) has occasion-
The world's smallest republic, Pidyon HaBen, keeping track
DIME BLDG. STORE
San Marino, is in the heart of of baby's weights and food pref- al flashes of silence that makes
his
conversation
perfectly
de-
erences,
names
of
friends
and
NORTHLAND
MEDICAL CENTER
Italy and covers only 38 square
playmates as well as pets, baby's lightful."—Sydney Smith.
miles.

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Passover Treasures at Cincinnati Museum