THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Friday, August 1, 1975 23

Cantor Fenakel of Adat Shalom Recalls His Communal Role

Cantor Nicholas Fenakel
may be leaving the Detroit
Jewish community for good,
but a part of him will re-
main due to his many active
roles in Jewish communal
concerns.
Cantor Fehakel, who with
his family is moving to West
Palm Beach, Fla., came to
Detroit in 1949 to the then
Adas Shalom Synagogue on
Curtis Ave., at the request
of its founding and current
rabbi, Jacob E. Segal. He
was instrumental in organ-

izing activities for Jewish
senior citizens, and organ-
ized a senior citizens group
at the Jewish Community
Center and a senior citizens
choir, the Golden Age Choir,
which concertized in and out
of the city and especially in
nursing homes.
During his 26 years here,
the cantor has served on the
Hillel Day School board,
was active in the Allied Jew-
ish Campaign-Israel Emer-
gency Fund and frequently
offered his services gratis to.

Rabbi Lookstein, Other Clergy
Present Collection to Ford

WASHINGTON — Rabbi
Joseph H. Lookstein, presi-
dent of the Synagogue
Council Of America, and six
other religious leaders vis-
ited the White House last
Monday and presented to
President Ford a historical
collection of National Day
of Prayer Proclamations
issued by Congress and U.S.
presidents since June 12,
1775.
Prior to the presentation
ceremony, Rabbi Lookstein,
of Cong. Kehilath Jeshurun
in New York, told the Presi-
dent: "According to Jewish
tradition, when one meets a
personality of such high of-
fice, we have a special bless-
ing of thanksgiving." The
rabbi then recited the bless-
ing.
Then the delegation pre-
sented the memorabilia to
President Ford, who showed
much interest in the collec-
tion and asked for details of
its background.
Participating in the cere-
mony with Rabbi Lookstein,
were: The Rt. Rev. John M.
Allen, presiding bishop,
Epis 6 . opal Church; The Rev.
Dr. Lawrence W. Bottomy,
Atlanta; Dr. Mhumad Ab-
dul Raul, Washington;
Father Michael J. Sheehan,
Washington; Dr. Kenneth
L. Tegandan, Indianapolis;
The Rev. Robert Nelson
West, president, Unitarian
Universalist Association.
Peter Stewart, president,
Thanksgiving Square Foun-
dation, Dallas. Mrs. Crespin

organizations such as Israel
Bonds, Bnai Brith and Had-
assah. He said he had more
than a dozen plaques of
honor from these groups cit-
ing his services to them. In
1959, then Mayor Louis Mir-
iani proclaimed Nicholas
Fenakel Day on the cantor's
10th anniversary with the
synagogue.
A native of Hungary,
Cantor Fenakel didn't have
an easy time reaching his
position of cantor emeritus,
a title which the congrega-
tion bestowed on him at a
special Shabat service Sat-
urday.
While in his teens, Fen-
akel became a cantor, and

he and his three brothers
sang in a quartet in the syn-
agogue where their father,
Vilmos Fenakel, was cantor.
Years later young Fenakel's
voice was to save him from
the Nazis. About 320 mem-
bers of the Fenakel family
were murdered at Ausch-
witz, but Nicholas escaped.
As he neared the Russian
front lines with hopes of
being rescued, he was in-
stead jailed by Ukrainian
soldiers who noticed his yel-
low "Jew" badge.

However, an officer
heard him sing in the
camp band and promised
to help Fenakel continue
his studies. He did, and at

end of World War II
akel was a guest vocal-
ist for the military heads
of Hungary, Great Brit-
ain, Russia and America.
He became a cantor in a
leading Budapest syn-
agogue and later accepted
a position at the Dukes

Place Great Synagogue in
London.

While in London, Fenakel
met his wife, Molly, who has
played an active role in the
synagogue's youth commis-
sion and in other synagogue
functions. The Fenakels
have one daughter, Judy.

Odessa Jewish Cemetery Ruined

LONDON (JTA) — Jew-
ish sources in the Soviet
Union reported that un-_
known vandals desecrated
the Jewish cemetery in the
Slohodka quarter of Odessa,
a Soviet city on the Black -
Sea.

According to the report,
scores of tombstones were
shattered and many graves
were destroyed. The police
claimed they were unable to
trace the miscreants. One of
the famous Jews buried in
the Odessa cemetery is Men-
dele Mokher Sephorim.

NOW

IS THE TIME TO

Place Your New Year Greetings in

RABBI LOOKSTEIN

THE JEWISH NEWS

Torres, volunteer worker;
and John Warner, adminis-
trator of the American Re-
volutionary Bicentennial
Administration, also partic-
ipated.
In accepting the collec-
tion, President Ford said:
"Our forefathers for almost
200 years have prayed re-
gardless of their beliefs or
their faith, and this has
helped them, and they are
doing it today as they have
in the past.
"I am convinced, as we
move ahead, individual
prayer will help not only the
persons but the country,
and prayer today means as
much to Americans as it did
on June 12, 1775 . . ."
President Ford pro-
claimed last Thursday a
National Day of Prayer.

Holiday Issue Sept. 5

There's no better way to say

ive _jot

to all your relatives and friends

Interest is Prohibited
in Loans Between Jews

Almighty. The lender is
thus taking a gift from the
Lord and using it for ex-
ploiting the poor who are
also the children of the
Almighty.

Jewish law prohibits one
Jew from taking interest on
a loan he made to a fellow
Jew. This prohibition is a
Biblical one (Exodus 22:24)
(Leviticus 25:37) (Deuter-
onomy 23:20).
Some commentaries ex-
plain this prohibition as a
means of preventing the loss
of the borrowers' total hold-
ings. Another opinion states
that one who loans money
on usury displays his lack of
faith both in God and in his
fellow man.
By insisting upon interest
he shows that he loans
money, not because he has
any faith in his fellow man
but because he wants the
interest.

The borrower is also
guilty if he pays interest be-
cause he shows himself to
he perpetuating and prom-
oting a system of business
which would eventually ex-
ploit others, and eventually
even himself.
- Loans between fellow
Jews are supposed to be
based on mutual confidence
and not on selfish interest.
Even third parties, like wit-
nesses, scribes and brokers
are condemned in the prac-
tice of usury.

Others claim that usury
is prohibited because
wealth is a gift from the

To jest is tolerable, but to
do harm by jest is insuffera-
ble.

1

The Jewish News
17515 W. 9 Mile Rd., Suite 865
Southfield, Michigan 48075

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