Jewish Survival--in Furth: Passover
in a Synagogue Spared by the N r az i s
caped destruction during the
Nazis' Krtstelnacht in 1938. It
survived because the Nazi arson.
ists feared to put it to the torch
lest the fire spread to adjoining
Ten days before Passover, the
buildings. During World War li
two Jewish Army chaplains — the
the synagogue was used as a
writer and Chaplain Seymour
storehouse by the Nazis but it
Rockoff—who arc on duty with the
has since been restored.
U.S. Armed Forces at Furth and
Jewish
history in Furth has been
Munich, came to the Furth syna-
gogue at Julienstrasse 2 to assist traced to the 8th Century of the
Christian
era. Once famous for its
its rabbi, David Spero, a survivor
of the Warsaw Ghetto,-in baking of Hebrew print shop. Furth was the
birthplace
of Dr. Kaufman Kohler.
matzot. The matzi- 411 be used
not only by the 200 Jeivs of Furth one of the first rabbis of Temple
Beth
El
in
Detroit.
among the first
but also by Jewish Military per-
sonnel and their depi.ndents sta- presidents of Hebrew Union Col-
lege: and of the father of Adolph
tioned in the area.
Ochs of New York Times fame.
For the first seder. leaders of
Before the war Furth had 1.500
the Furth Jewish community will
Jews but today there are barely
be the guests of the Jewish chap-
200 in the city—out of a total of
lain at the military base.
30.000 in all of West Germany. The
This cooperation between the Furth Jewish community main-
tiny Jewish community of Furth tains its religious and cultural ac-
and of the GI congregation of the tivities through a grant from the
North Bavarian District is part of , Union of Jewish Communities of
the year-round effort by the chap- BaVaria, which returns to the local
lain to help reanimate Jewish communities three-fourths of the
life. tax paid to the Union by the Jews
The synagogue, located in the of Bavaria. David Warshawski, a
courtyard of what was once a travelling Hebrew teacher employ-
Jewish orphanage (it was found-' ed by the Union. who serves the
ed in 1763 and was the first of its Jews of Furth and several nearby
kind in Germany). is the only towns, is one of five natives of
one of seven in Furth that es-, Furth still living in the area.
Passover Comes to Romania Via JDC
By Chaplain ALLAN M. BLUSTEIN
Chaplain (Major) Milstein is the
Jewish chaplain on duty with the U.S.
Army in the Furth-Nuremberg area of
West Germany.
Passover supplies are distributed in Bucharest by the Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania,
which accepted more than 430,000 pounds of such supplies through the Joint Distribution Committee,
a beneficiary of the Allied Jewish Campaign. JDC has shipped 643,000 pounds of matzot and other Pass-
over supplies, most of it for distribution to European Jewish communities. The largest amount goes to
Romania. About 6.400 pounds more than last year was sent to Italy, reflecting the increase in the number
of transmigrants being cared for by the JDC in Rome. Close to 11,200 pounds of matzo were shipped to
Melilla in Spanish Morocco, and almost 73,000 pounds were sent to Tunisia. The balance of the Passover
supplies was shipped to Belgium, France. Greece, Portugal. Spain and Yugoslavia. Cash grants will be
Passover supplies produced locally.
issued to needy Jews in Morocco and Iran to enable them to purchase
Four Vietnam Chaplains Send Pas sover Greetings; Paralyzed Israeli Veteran Drives
JWB Arranges Sedorim for Jews in the Armed Forces His Own Car From a Wheelchair
"May the observance of the Panama. Iceland. Greenland and
Festival of Freedom strike a Alaska.
To make the sedorim more fes-
responsive chord in our hearts
and may all of us in Vietnam he five, the JWB Women's Organiza-
enabled to celebrate next year's lions' Services sent the chaplains
Passover safely at home with our thousands of cans of macaroons. I
loved ones. -
With these thoughts which arc
part of a prayer for the early end
of hostilities in Vietnam and an
expression of deepest apprecia-
tion to American Jewry for its
continued support of the religious
and morale needs of Jewish serv-
icemen, the four Jewish chaplains
in Vietnam sounded the keynote
of Passover observances which :
will be conducted all over the
world for Jewish men in uniform
through arrangementS made by
the Natioinl JewiSh Welfare
- Board.
Chaplains Ira Bader, Sanford L.
Dresin, Howard Shapiro and Glenn
M. Stengel conveyed their greet-
ings through JWB's commission
on Jewish chaplaincy. In addition
to mass sedorim which they will
conduct for men in their sectors,
smaller seder services will be con-
ducted under their guidance at
scattered installations for Jewish
men who are unable to leave their
posts.
This year, Passover begins at
sundown, April 20 and ends at
sundown, April 28.
In its worldwide Passover ar-
rangements, JWB began shipping
holiday supplies last December to
enable Jewish men in Vietnam
and at more than 600 other over-
seas and domestic military instal-
lations, their dependents and pa-
tients in Veterans Administration
hospitals and other federal facili-
ties to observe the eight-day Fes-
tival of Freedom.
JWB's global Passover arrange
ments entailed the coordinated
efforts of the 300 full and part-time
Jewish chaplains served by JWB's
commission on Jewish chaplaincy,
local JWB armed forces and vet-
erans services committees, Jewish
centers affiliated with JWB, re-
gional JWB consultants, synagogues
and other Jewish community or-
ganizations, as well as USO clubs
• in Vietnam and Thailand.
J. S. Minkin's da Costa Novel Revives
Interest in Marranos, Role of Heretics
Uriel da Costa was a name
dra matically popular in Jewish
ranks. The theme is about a Mar-
rano who returned to Judaism but
became a heretic and was excom-
municated. It was a popular play
on the Yiddish stage, the means
for dramatic declamations in Jew-
ish programs, a theme for wide
discussions.
The late Rabbi Jacob S. Minkin,
who had written on Hasidism,
Maimonides, Abarbanel and the
Jews in Spain, authored a novel
about this Marrano. His book just
appeared, posthumously, from the
press of Thomas Yoseloff, under
the title "Gabriel da Costa—Rebel
and Dreamer."
The hero of this story is intro-
duced as Gabriel da Costa and
upon adopting Judaism as his
faith. he and his family adopted
ilebreW names. .His wife Mary
became Miriam.
But he began to doubt. Heresy
set in. Uriel became a problem
to his family, to the community.
There was a bitter feud with his
brother-in-law, Pinto Pasquales,
who was among the most bitter
in exposing him.
Uriel began to write in condemn-
ation of Judaism when he became
disenchanted with leadership. To
him the leaders were fanatics and
he began to doubt the wisdom of
his having abandoned Christianity
for Judaism.
A major character in the story
is his wife Miriam's uncle, Dr.
Samuel da Silva. He had been
Uriel's mentor. He had escaped
to Holland before Uriel and when
he learned of Uriel's defections
and the stir it caused in their new
home in Amsterdam among the
synagogue leaders, he came to
plead With the younger man. When
Installations outside the contin- told of Uriel's heresies he cried
out:
"What, has this man left
ental United States at which Pass-
over observances will be conduct- Christianity and become a Jew
that
in
the end he might be neither
ed by Jewish cnaplains and train-
ed Jewish military lay leaders Jew nor Christian and affront both
alike?"
include those in Turkey, Greece,
Because. of the era in which
Italy, Germany, the United King-
this story was enacted, Rabbi
dom, Spain, Hawaii, Japan, Korea,
Minkin intrAduced into it noted
the Philippines, the Azores, Ber-
Jewish personalities and other
Goose Bay •(Labrador),
muda,
56—Friday, April 10, 1970
cookies, candy and other delica-
cies for distribution to the men.
Passover tablecloths, n a p k i n s,
matzot covers, kidush cups and
seder plates were sent to every in-
stallation planning a Seder.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
world leaders. When Uriel's fam-
ily, especially Miriam, induced
hint to take a year's leave to
travel for his business, in the
hope of his changing his views,
he goes to Venice, meets Leon
de Modena. In Amsterdam he
was befriended by Menasseh
ben Israel who supposedly assist-
ed him in his ideological strug-
gle, until the situation became
hopeless.
Perhaps it is the author's license
that made Rabbi Minkin introduce
Rembrandt and Spinoza as friends
and defenders of Uriel da Costa.
But it helped make the story more
solid.
Uriel refused to yield. He wrote
and battled against his resumed
faith. He was excommunicated.
But the sufferings that ensued
caused him to recz.nt and it is here
that the terrible method of causing
a man to be accepted again in tha
Jewish fold under torture added
bitterness to hurt, and Uriel began
to plot to kill his brother-in-law
Pinto Pasquales and to commit
suicide. He failed in the former,
succeeded in the latter.
"It was a bleak and dismal
late April day, in the year 1647,"
the author indicated to point to
the reality of a theme that was
transformed into fiction. And
while there was no one to pay
honor to the heretic who com-
mitted suicide "it was Baruch
Despinoza who, pale, shivering
and shaken with emotion, stood
at the grave, holding in his hand
a bud . . ." True historically or
not, this certainly serves to give
added status to an interesting
story.
Rabbi Minkin does much discuss-
ing, in dialogues in his novel.
about the contrasting Jewish and
Christian views, about Uriel da
Costa's defective heresies.
There is no doubt that the novel
by the late Rabbi Minkin revives
a most interest tale about Mar-
ranos, Dutch Jewry, an era dur-
ing which religious scruples were
both under debate and protected
against heretics.
The da Costa story stirs renewed
interest in the Marranos and in a
significant era in history.
— P. S.
Emanuel Gabi, a paralyzed veteran of the Six-Day War, for whom
Israeli inventors designed a specially equipped car, is shown at a
soldiers' reunion at the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center,
where he was a patient for many months. He is surrounded by
nurses, doctors and other staff members.
a a a
I Daniel Tolnai ,of the Eidan
An automobile equipped so that a Safety Engineering Co. of Ashdod,
person sitting in a wheelchair can 'spent five months working on the
move himself into position behind project.
the driving wheel has been in-
The car provided by the ministry ,
vented in Israel.
of defense is a Checker Marathon
The driver is Emanuel Gabi, a such as is used by many taxi corn-
student of economics at the Hc- panics. The right rear door is very
brew University and an officer in I wide. Tolnai removed the front
the Israel Reserves who sustained seat completely and raised the
a bullet wound in the head during level of the floor so that the wheel
the Six-Day War and remains chair could be brought in through
paralyzed in both legs and left the wide rear door of the Checker
arm. ; and run into position behind the
Gabi was operated on in Had: s- idriving wheel. There Emanuel
sah-Hebrew University Medical , locks it securely into position.
Center in Jerusalem and, after Tolnai then built a ramp in the
months in Prof. Emil Adler's re- car, which is partly like that of a
naval landing craft and partly
habilitation department, proved to
be a model of what a wounded like the front lift used by steve-
veteran can achieve by his own dores to raise heavy crates.
As the back door of the car is
persistence and the support of a
opened, the veteran presses a but-
rehabilitation team.
Gabi was determined to get ton on the inside of it, and the
back behind a driving wheel. ramp is lowered. He then wheels
With the support and encourage- himself on to it, and presses an-
ment of the Israel Ministry of other button, which hydraulically
Defense, he got Israeli inventors lifts the ramp to the height of the
car floor. Once on the level of the
to work on his problem.
Arie Bruchsaler, of the Arie car floor, the veteran wheels him-
Works of Tel Aviv, has produced a self forward into the car. He pushes
device which enables him to ope•- another button, which folds the
ate the accelerator and brake ramp back into the car. Using a
pedals by movements of his left long handle, he closes the door
shoulder, while he steers with his behind him, and then gets his chair
into position behind the wheel,
good right hand.
But this solved only one part of where he clamps it firmly.
Gabi's problems. It was clear that, The total cost of the installation
in order to be independent, he is just over $4,000, which was
would have to get into his car in borne by the defense ministry. Al-
his wheel chair and to drive from though the ramp takes up part of
the chair. For to get out of the the space in the back of the car,
wheel chair and put it away, would there is room for three or four
need some other person or other passengers, and Gabi is able to
persons to help him. Gabi did not give a hitch to soldiers going home
on leave.
want this.