THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

111—Friday, Jemeery 1, 1971

SERVICES

SYNAGOGUE

TEMPLE BETH JACOB: Services 8:30 p.m. today. Rabbi Berkowitz
will speak on "What's New About the New Year?"
CONG. BNAI ISRAEL OF PONTIAC: Services 8:30 p.m. today and
7:30 a.m. Saturday. Rabbi Berman will discuss "The Jewish Fea-
tures: Modesty, Mercy and Kindness."
TEMPLE EMANU-EL: Services 8:15 p.m. today. Rabbi Rosenbaum
will speak on "Resolutions."
CONG. BETH ABRAHAM: Services 5 p.m. today and 9 a.m. Saturday.
Rabbi Halpern's sermon will be "What We Need Most in 1971."
Jack Nida and Craig Pomish, Bnai Mitzva.
CONG. BNAI JACOB: Services 4:53 p.m. today and 9 a.m. Saturday:
Rabbi Isaac will speak on "Vayigash."
TEMPLE KOL AMI: Services 8:30 p.m. today. Rabbi Conrad will
speak on "Turning a Leaf of the Calendar."
CONG. BNAI MOSHE: Services 4:45 p.m. today and 8:45 a.m. Satur-
day. Rabbi Lehrman will speak on "Prayer, for Whom?" David
Schwartz, Bar Mitzva.
TEMPLE BETH EL: Services 8:30 p.m. today and 11:15 a.m. Saturday.
Rabbi Kanter, Samuel Petok of Chrysler Corp. and Richard
Strichartz of Wayne State University will discuss "Prospectus for
1971" today. Rabbi Kanter will preach on 'Remedy for a Spiritual
Hangover" Saturday.
CONG. BETH HILLEL: Services 5 p.m. today and 9 a.m. Saturday.
Mathew Levin, Bar Mitzva.
YOUNG ISRAEL OF OAK-WOODS: Services 4:50 p.m. today and 9
a.m. Saturday. Eric Wilson, Bar Mitzva.
CONG. SHAAREY ZEDEK: Services 5 p.m. today and 8:45 a.m. Sat-
, urday. Jonathan Podolsky add Richard Korn, Bnai Mitzva.
CONG. BETH SHALOM: Services 6 p.m. today and 9 a.m. Saturday.
Barry Liner, Bar Mitzva.
CONG. BETH MOSES: Services 4:55 p.m. today and 8:45 a.m. Satur-
day. Eric Schulman and Glenn Gutman, Bnai Mitzva.
CONG. BETH ACHIM: Services 4:50 p.m. today and 8:45 a.m. Satur-
day. Dana Kramer and Corey Escott, Bnai Mitzva.
TEMPLE ISRAEL: Services 5:45 p.m. today and 11 a.m. Saturday.
Irving Girshman, Bar Mitzva.
Regular services will be held at Cong. Bnai David, Ades Shalom
Synagogue, Livonia Jewish Congregation, Young Israel of Greenfield,
Cong. Mishkan Israel, Birmingham Temple, Cong. Beth Isaac, Cong.
Shaarey Shomayim and Downtown Synagogue.

•
Weekly
Q
ui,z

(Copyright 1.471. JrA, lac.)

The third program in the break-
fast forum series of Cong. Beth
Abraham will take place 10 a.m.
Jan. 10 at the synagogue.
A nanel on "Jewish Education
for Jewish Survival" will feature
Albert Elazer, superintendent of
the United Hebrew Schools, and
Rabbi Gerald Werner, principal of
Akiva Hebrew Day School.
Rabbi Israel I. Halpern and Jef-
frey Garton will participate in the
program. The public is invited.
For information, call the syna-
gogue office, UN 1.6696.

Lithe Heads Region
of Rabbinical Council

Center for Religious
Students to Open in '71

Education Panel
at Beth Abraham

kl

By RABBI SAMUEL J. FOX

a tremendous emotional experience
that it involves the whole being
of the worshiper—his whole body
and soul. Prayer is thus not
merely lip service but a total in-
volvement of man with his Maker.
The mystics even claim that
man becomes unified with the
Creator in the course of prayer
and thus is involved with "the
moving force of the Universe" and
is not a static inanimate being.
Others refer to the verse of the
Psalms which speaks of the trees
singing the praises of the Almighty
as they sway with the wind. This
indicates that all of nature is
caught up in the divine movement
of the Almighty, and certainly
man himself becomes an active
participant instead of an inert
onlooker. Man, in prayer, ceases
to be a mere spectator. He be-
comes "a part of the act" on the
stage of life.
• • •
Why do some cantors cover-
the sides of their faces when
they stand in prayer-before the
congregation?
The discipline of prayer de-
mands intense concentration and
undivided attention, especially from
the cantor who leads the con-
gregation in prayer and_who offers
prayers on their behalf. Blocking
off his vision from the side leaves
him no alternative but to look
straight ahead toward the Ark
or in the prayer book, aiming his
vision directly toward the Al-
mighty.

Why is It customary for the
traditional worshiper to sway
back and forth while praying?
Some commentaries (Bet Joseph,
125) explain that this is based on
a verse in the Bible (Isaiah 6:4)
which says "and the door posts
were moved by the voice of those
who called." This is taken to
mean that even the inanimate
pillars of the house moved from
awe when they beheld the coun-
tenance of the Almighty.
Likewise, man in prayer stands
before the Almighty Himself and
thus should be swaying and trem-
bling in awe. There are some
who claim the expression of David
who said "All my bones will eS-
press (my feelings) . . " is
responsible for this custom. This
means that real prayer is such

Rabbi Joel I.itke of Cong. Beth
Hillel was elected president, and
Rabbi Aaron Brander, educational
director of Bnai David was chosen
secretary at a recent meeting of
the Michigan Region of the Rab-
binical Council of America.
The region includes rabbis from
Windsor, Toledo, Ann Arbor and
Port Huron, as well as Detroit. The
group seeks to strengthen its bonds
with the national organization
(RCA) and to foster the 'ideals of
traditional Judaism in the area.

scirs4 trys■

Abraham Hoptman
Honored at Age 80

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Ramot
Shapira, a center for religious stu-
dents from abroad near Jerusa-
lem, will open its doors March 1,
it was announced by Rabbi Jacob
Vainstein, chairman of the Jerusa-
lem Religious Council, who is
sponsoring the project.
He said the project, to cost $1, -
400,000, is about half complete.
Construction so far has cost $700,
000, most of it contributed by
Orthodox Jews in the United States
and Canada.

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•• r

■

ABRAHAM HOPTMAN

Abraham Hoptman, a dedicated
member of Adas Shalon Synagogue
and a daily attendant at services
for 23 years, was_recently honored
on his 80th birthday at a Sunday
morning breakfast.
At the celebration, which fol-
lowed the regular minyan service,
the congregation acknowledged Mr.
Hoptman's devotion to the syna-
gogue and the weekly Sholoth
Seudoth and daily minyan.
He instituted the Hevra Mikro,
the Sabbath afternoon study class,
well over 20 years ago, together
with the Sabbath gathering of the
Sholoth Seudoth. Mr. Hoptman was
the guiding spirit and inspiration
of this project all these years.
Mr. Hoptman and his late wife
Dvora arrived in America in 1913
from a shtetl in Poland, where he
had been a baker. They settled in
Detroit, operating a bakery shop
on Montcalm and Hastings. Later,
he operated his bakery for many
years on 12th St. in accordance
with Orthodox observance.
A ehampios of Torah and Jew-
ish values, yet known to be
humble and kind in heart, Mr.
Hoptman has participated in
many communal projects. He
was an original member of
Chesed shel Ernes (Hebrew
Benevolent Society) and Home
for the Aged and was a founder
of the Tayler Shill. He is asso-
ciated with Mizrachi.
Mr. Hoptman has a large family
of adopted children living in Haifa
on Mt. Carmel, where they are
studying in Yeshivat Tifereth Is-
rael—Their needs are fully pro-
vided.
He is the father of three mar-
ried sons. Charles, William and
David, and has nine grandchildren.
One of his grandsons, Jonathan,
whom he reared from infancy,
settled in Israel two years ago
and is working on a kibutz.
Mr. Hoptman visited Israel twice
in the past few years and is an-
ticipating a visit again next year.

WSU Credit Course
Is Being Offered at
Cong. Shaarey Zedek

By special arrangement with
Wayne State University, Cong.
Shaarey Zedek is offering a course
"Biblical Proto-History and Its
Near Eastern Background, which
will allow members to receive four
hours of credit from the university.
The course is a survey of Israel-
ite conceptions of the proto-history
of the world and a comparison of
those conceptions with those of the
Ancient Near East at Large.
This intensive study program,
sponsored by Shaarey Zedek's cul-
tural commission, will meet 7:45
p.m. Tuesdays at the synagogue for
11 weeks, starting Jan. 12. The in-
structor will be Dr. Daniel Reis-
man of the department of Near
Eastern languages and literatures
at Wayne State.
Students who wish to formally
register for credit will have to
meet the requirements set by the
instructor.. Others may simply
register and audit the course with-
out credit Fee for the course is at
a substantial reduction from the
regular fee for a four-hour course
at Wayne.
For information, call Ellis B.
356-2344, chairman of the
Havurat limud, intensive study

Program.

I, iiiirT.WPAI•

v

ir4P;APii

Neurologist Finds Israel Ideal Lab
for the Study of Multiple Sclerosis

The state of Israel is a virtually
ideal location for epidemiological
studies of multiple sclerosis, re-
ports a Minneapolis neurologist
who has been awarded a three-
year grant of $97,100 from the Na-
tional Multiple Sclerosis Society to
continue and expand his ongoing
studies of the development of MS
in Israel.
Dr. Milton Alter, associate pro-
fessor of neurology at the Univer-
sity of Minnesota's school of medi-
cine, said one factor that makes
Israel a good locale for study is
the fact that the entire population
is covered by medical insurance
and served by numerous high
quality clinics and hospitals.
As a result, he said, the varia-
tions in case detection that exist
in other countries between rich
and poor or town dweller and
rural settler have been almost
entirely eliminated there. Addi-
tionally, there are accurate- up-to-
date medical records for all.
This is the third MS society grant
to Dr. Alter, the first dating back
to 1964.
He contends that the hetero-
generous nature of Israel's
population. is another asset in
his study. The wide backgrounds
provide a worldwide sampling
and if, as many scientists sus-
pect, MS has an environmental
cause, it becomes important to
learn whether any environmental
changes lead, eventually, to
changes in the MS rate.
Dr. Alter has shown already that
native-born Israelis, who continue
to live there, run a relatively low
risk of developing multiple sclero-
sis. A similar low risk of develop-
ing MS is found among immigrants
to Israel who come from warm
climates.
This is not the case, however,
for persons coming from northern
countries such as England, Ger-
many and the Scandinavian com-
munities unless such persons mi-
grate to Israel before age 15.
MS is one of the major causes
of invalidism among young adults
in most of the temperate climates
of the world, Dr. Alter said.
Some investigators believe that
the peculiar geographic distribu-
tion of MS indicates the existence
of an infectious process associated
with poor sanitation.
In such areas, they feel, all
infants and children are infected
with the alleged infectious agent
at a time when maternal anti-
bodies or some developmental fac-
tor prevents the virus from infect-
ing the central nervous system.
Instead of developing MS, the
inhabitants of these areas with
poor sanitation become immune
to the suspected infectious agent
and are thus protected from MS.
For countries with good sanita-
tion, however, advocates of this
theory believe that contact with
the suspected infectious agent may
be delayed until an age when

Anywhere

either maternal antibodies or same
unknown developmental factor
may be nonexistent, with the result
that many residents of such coun- -
tries are susceptible to the disease.
If this is true-, Dr. Alter believes
that the advancing levels of sanita-
tion in Israel should make multiple
sclerosis a more common disease
there.
In discussing his forthcoming in-
vestigation of the infection theory
of multiple sclerosis, Dr. Alter
says:
"In 1967, a series of studies was
initiated to obtain additional data
which might help to resolve the
question regarding the importance
of geoclimatic variables (such as
sunlight and temperature) versus
socio-cultural variables (such, as
levels of sanitation and industrial
development) in the etiology (caus-
ation) of MS.
"Toward this end, determination
of the frequency of MS in the first-
generation offspring of immigrants
to Israel is of considerable impor-
tance.
"Israel is like the neighboring
Levantine countries with respect
to many geo-climatie variables.
But with respect to technological
development, Israel is rapidly
advancing and is becoming more
and more like European coun-
tries in which there is a high
prevalence of MS.
"Consequently, if geo-climatic
variables are important determi-
nants in the causation of multiple
sclerosis, the first and second gen-
eration offspring of European im-
migrants should show a low fre-
quency of MS like that found in
Afro-Asian countries.
"If on the other hand, socio-
economic variables (such as indus-
trialization and improved sanita-
tion) are important, then the
Israeli-born offspring of Afro-
Asian immigrants might be ex-
pected to have a higher rate of
MS than their immigrant parents.
"Very preliminary data collect-
ed already suggest that the rate
of MS in the offspring of Afro-
Asian immigrants to Israel may
have increased and that their risk
of- acquiring MS may be beginning
to approach the high rate charac-
teristic of Northern, Europeans. If
more data confirm this prelimi -
nary impression, it would suggest
that socio-economic variables may
be more important than geo-cli-
matic variables in the causation
of MS."

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