THE'DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Tay-Sachs Screening Sunday
A Tay-Sachs Screening
Program will be held from
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at
United Hebrew Schools
main building.
Tay-Sachs is the dreaded
genetic disease which con-
centrates its attack on chil-
dren born to Jewish parents
of central or eastern Eu-
ropean heritage.
If both parents are car-
riers of the Tay-Sachs gene,
there is a 25 percent chance
that any pregnancy will re-
sult in a child • with Tay-
Sachs disease.
Tay-Sachs is a fatal inher-
ited disorder which de-
Alhoys the nervous system.
Awe affected child appears
normal until about six
months of _age. Once the
symptoms of the disease ap-
pear, there begins a gener-
al deterioration a-nd the
child slowly loses all phys-
ical and mental skills. Spe-
cial care is required to feed
and sustain the child. Death
occurs between age 3 and 6.
A. simple blood test can
alert couples if they are car-
riers who could transmit
the disease to their off-
spring.
A donation is requested,
however, no one will be
turned away.
The Tay-Sachs Screening
Program is under the joint
auspices of Sinai Hospital
of Detroit and the Genetic
Counseling Clinic of Henry
Ford Hospital and is sup-
ported by the Jewish Com-
munity Foundation of the
Jewish Welfare Federation
of Detroit.
Eye-Witness Accounts Form Basis of DesPres"Survivor'
By ALLEN A. WARSEN
"Life in extremity re-
veals in its movement a def-
inite rhythm of decline and
renewal. This state of wake-
fulness is essen-
tial...Survivors not only
wake, but reawake, fall low
and begin to die, and then
turn back to life."
The above is the engross-
ing theme of Terrence De
Pres' - "The Survivor," Sub-
titled "An Anatomy of Life
in the Death Camps" (Pock-
et Books).
"The Survivor" is based
on a_ past body of eye-wit-
ness accounts and books
written by former death
camps inmates.
"Death camps" is the
term the author employs
when he refers to Nazi ex-
termination camps and the
Bolshevik slave camps.
The author, however, is
not concerned with the
camps per se, "but with the
people who suffered in
those places, who endured
that evil and returned to
bear witness."
Jews Recite
100 Benedictions
BY RABBI SAMUEL J. FOX
(Copyright 1977, JTA, Inc.)
Jewish tradition re-
Volunteers from Bnai Brith Women, Junior Division of quires a Jew to recite 100
the Jewish Welfare Federation and Women's American benedictions every day. A
ORT who took part in a telethon to promote the Tay-Sachs variety of texts in rab-
screening program slated for Sunday, were, from left:
binic literature indicate
Mrs. Stephen N. Ross, and Mrs. Leslie M. Green, both of that this requirement
Women's American ORT; Mrs. Alfred E. Lakin, chairman was ordained by various
of program volunteers; Mrs. Norma Silver, associate ad- leaders of the Jewish
ministrator of Sinai Hospital and Tay-Sachs program coor- people. •
dinator; and Mrs. Bruce Hillman, Junior Division represen-
Some claim that this
was one of the measures
tative.
of quantity traceable to
Moses' experience at
Sinai like all regulations
regarding numbers and
Chaim Bermant's latest mant constantly reaffirms measures. Others trace it
literary effort, an autobiog- his faith throughout the back to David while still
raphy entitled, "Coming book, and the repetition others attribute it to the
Home," proves to be dis- makes for boredom.
rabbis in the taanaitic era
appointing, especially to
(e.g. Rabbi Meir).
The
reedeming
factor
in
one who has read his histori- Bermant's
Some sources find
-
Coming
Home"
cal volume on London's
traces
of it in biblical ver.
East End, "Point of Arriv- is the author's honesty. He ses. One example is the
never
lived
behind
facades.
al."
verse in the 10th chapter
. In his newest book, pub- When school became a bore of the Book of
lished in London by George to him, he left it. When pre- Deuteronomy which
Allen and Unwin LticU, one state Israel beckoned he states, "What does the
finds the same meticulous- went with high spirits. Lord Almighty require of,
ness for detail as in "Arriv- After his marriage and sub- the ..."
In this case it is claimed
al," but the presentation is sequent return with his fam-
ily to Israel, he criticized that the word translated
dry.
Briefly, the author de- what he calls the country's as "what" represents the
number 100. In this
scribes his childhood years failings. its inconsistencies.
In this day of "what do analysis, the inference is
in Latvia, Poland and final-
man's basic respon-
ly in Glasgow where the the others think" Bermant that
sibility-is to acknowledge
family was taken in by is to be admired for speak- the presence and in-
well-to-do relatiVes, and his ing his mind.
It is unfortunate that Ber- volvement of the Al-
adult life in England and Is-
mant's
"Coming Home" mighty in the universe,
rael. The book is a chronolo-
including every experi-
gy with the author's should be so disappointing ence in which man is in-
since
it
comes
from
the
pen
thoughts on various politi-
a sincere and talented volved. The number 100 is
cal and social matters of
a complete unit of num-
writer.
sprinkled throughout.. The
bers and thus indicates
---H.P.
_
ading, therefore. is
the universality and om-
ous, and one who se-
nipresence of the Al-
mighty.
cts the volume may find Israel Chemical
it difficult to finish.
Factory Opens
Bermant's story has the
Researcher Seeks
potential for being an inter-
esting account. After all,
TEL AVIV—With basic in- Historic Material
how many Jews can say frastructure completed at
A search is being con-
they heard of the Glasgow the Ramat Hovey chemical
ducted for literature and
complex,
a
staff
of
90,
in-
(Scotland) Yeshiva? Did
other materials relating to
anyone ever stop to think cluding engineers and tech-
the movement for the crea-
there were any Jews in nicians, is now on-site, in-
tion of a Jewish state, from
stalling
equipment
for
the
Scotland at all? He de- manufacture of pesticides
the period 1930 to 1948, so
scribes the active Jewish at the Makhteshim Darom
that an exhibit can be pre-
community of the Scotland plant, south of Beersheba.
pared.
of his youth. but the events
Simultaneously, a produc-
To donate or loan mate-
there are about as exciting tion team is undergoing ad-
rials, write Herbert Wilf,
as a shopping list.
vanced training, prepara-
4911 Wyndale Ave., Phila-
The son of a shohet. Ber- tory to the plant's start-up.
delphia, Pa. 19131.
Bermant Story Disappointing
Friday, June 10; 1977 69
In the chapter "The Survi-
vor in Fiction," the survi-
vor who returned to bear
witness was Yakov Bok, the
protagonist in Bernard
Malamud's "The Fixer."
Accused by the Czarist
government of killing a
Christian child for ritual
purposes, he was kept in
jail for two years. There
"every pressure against life
and mind, short of outright
murder is inflicted on
him." But Bok endured. He
reasoned: "To die in prison
would be to accept his role
as victim and confirm his
appointed guilt." To this
Des Pres adds: "To hold on
and wait are imperatives
which define the survivor's
struggle."
Other books of fiction Des
Pres interprets are Albert
Camus' "The Plagus," Alex-
ander Solzhenitsyn's "The
First Circle," "The Cancer
Ward," and "One Day in
the Life of Ivan Denisov-
ich."
Regarding Shukhov, the
hero of "One Day...," Des
Pres comments : "Like all
survivors, he has squarely
faced the basic problems of
existence in extremity. The
first is how not to despair.
The second, how to keep
moral sense and dignity in-
tact."
A survivor who kept her
dignity intact in an extermi-
nation camp was Reska
Weiss. In her book
"Journey Through Hell"
she notes: "I rejoice that I
am alive and can bear wit-
ness to the miracle of sur-
vival."
"The Will to Bear Wit-
ness" is the title of another
chapter in "The Survivor."
A survivor who bears wit-
ness of Nazi braggadocio re-
members: "The SS took
pleasure in telling' us that
we had no chance of com-
ing out alive, a point they
emphasized with particular
relish by insisting that after
the war the rest of the
world would not believe
what happened; there
would be rumors, specula-
tions, but no clear evi-
dence, and people would
conclude that evil on such a
scale was just not pos-
sible."
Incredible are the eye-
witness accounts recorded
in the chapter "Excremen-
tal Assaults." A survivor
testifies: "Imagine what it
would be like to be forbid-
den to go to the toilet; imag-
ine also that you were suf-
fering from increasing dy-
sentery, caused and aggra-
vated by a diet of cabbage
soup as well as by the con-
stant cold. Naturally, you
would try to go anyway.
Sometimes you might suc-
ceed. But your absences
would be noticed and you
would be beaten, knocked
down and , trampled on."
A final note. Terrence
Des Pres rejects as sim-
plistic Bruno Bettelheim's
theory that regressive child-
like behavoir was the norm
among the camp inmates.
He similarly rejects his
"sheep" theory. Des Pres
proves the absurdity of
these theories by the survi-
vors' eye-witness accounts
that fill the 247 pages , of
"The Survivor."
Jewish Attitudes to Contraception
By RABBI SAMUEL FOX
_(Copyright 1977, JTA, Inc.)
Judaism regards the prac-
tice of contraception as con-
tradictory to the biblical
commandment "Be fruitful
and multiply" (Genesis
1:28). Therefore, the prac-
tice of contraception for
convenience or economic
reasons would generally be
prohibited.
The Talmud goes so far
as to state that one who
does not fulfill the com-
mandment of being "fruit-
ful" is considered to be
shedding blood and dimin-
ishing the Divine Image
(Y'Bamot 63b).
The authorities in the tal-
mudic literature seemed to
have been quite familiar
with the practice of con-
traception. At least four
methods of contraception
are described in the 'liter-
ature, i.e., the safe , period
(Niddah 31b), abortive
movement following cohabi-
tation (K'Tubot 37a), oral
contraception (Y'bamot
65b) and the use of some ab-
sorptive material ('Bamot
12b).
The Talmud permits
three types of women to
use some absorptive mate-
rial as a method of con-
traception, i.e., a minor, a
pregnant woman and a
woman who is nursing.
Whether this is an allow-
ance or a requirement is a
matter of debate among the
talmudic scholars.
Among the later legal au-
thorities a woman is permit-
ted to use a diaphragm
where the pregnancy that
would result without con-
traception would be hazard-
ous to the woman's health.
Some authorities prefer this
method to intrauterine de-
vices. Initially, the pill was
generally permitted be-
cause it did not fully con-
stitute an overt act of con-
traception._- However, be-
cause of the discovery of
health hazards inherent in
the use of the pill, many
JewiSh authorities have
since prohibited its use.
One thing remains clear,
certain forms of con-
traception are allowed for
women when a definite-haz-
ard is present and each
case is judged on an individ-
ual basis. However, under
most circumstances, a
male is prohibited from
using contraceptive meth-
ods since the command-
rrient to be "fruitful and
multiply" applies directly
to the male.