THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
r e a e
Disco Parties by
Spanish Jew's 500-Year-Old Classic of Love
Aristotle and Maimonides,
By MARC D. ANGEL
NEW YORK — Among Plato and Ibn Gabirol. The
the Jews expelled from author brings together
Spain in 1492 was Judah many diverse sources and
Abravanel, son of the fam synthesizes them into a
ous rabbi and statesman harmonious philosophy of
Don Isaac Abravanel. Born love.
The book has a universal
in 1460, Judah became a
prominent physician and appeal and cannot be de-
philosopher. His departure scribed strictly as a work of
from-Spain must have been Jewish philosophy. Yet, the
particularly agonizing since specifically Jewish ele-
e was forced to leave with- ments in the "Dialoghi" are
t his one-year-old son worthy of consideration,
whom he had secretly sent and anyone interested in
to Portugal with a nurse. Jewish philosophy would
The child had been seized enjoy reading it. An English
and baptized through the translation by F. Frieden-
berg — Seeley and Jean
order of King John II.
He fled to Naples, but the Barnes, entitled "The
Jews were expelled from Philosophy of Love," was
there in 1497. He then lived published in London in
in other Italian cities — 1937.
Genoa, Barletta, Venice,
perhaps Florence, before
again returning to Naples
to serve as court physician
By JUDAH RAVIV
to the Spanish viceroy. His
Jewish National Fund
life was characterized by
JERUSALEM — Galilee
wandering and intense suf-
has
become the Jewish Na-
fering.
tional Fund's top priority
In Italy, Judah Ab- area for land development
ravanel was known as and settlement and will un-
Leone Ebreo. He became doubtedly remain so for the
part of the intellectual elite next decade. The fund's land
of Italian life, and was in development work for the
close contact with the present budgetary year is
humanists of the time such primarily geared to doubl-
as Pico della Mirandola. He . ing the 50 Jewish rural set-
wrote a volume of three tlements in this part of the
dialogues on the philosophy country. Of 262 scheduled
of love, "Dialoghi d'Amore," JNF development sites
which was first published throughout Israel, 117 are
posthumously in 1535. The in Galilee and the Golan.
- book went into. numerous
The showcase of JNF land
editions and was translated development work in
into various languages. Galilee is the Segev Moun-
This work was a main tains Project, being carried
source of 16th Century . out in the, highlands mid-
neo-Platonism.
way between the village of
The "Dialoghi" repre- -cShefar'am and the de-
sents a remarkable velopment town of Carmiel.
achievement. To have
Moshav Ya'ad, the first of
been able to write a clas- the project's six planned in-
sic work of Italian Re- dustrial settlements, is
naissance , love rapidly nearing completion.
philosophy is no small A wide, hard-surfaced
feat for an exiled Iberian highway providing access to
Jew who wandered from the hilltop settlement has
city to city in Italy.
been completed.
Judah Abravanel's
The moshav has been
characters of the dialogues planned and built using
are Philo and Sophia, the most advanced con-
Jewish individuals who cepts and facilities — an
state their commitment to ultra-modern adminis-
the Torah openly. They dis- trative and cultural
cuss the subject of love from center;. streets and rows
different perspectives, and of large and comfortable
in the course-of their discus- cottages; an infrastruc-
sions they deal with Greek ture designed to serve the
myths as well as the Bible, ecological needs of the
settlers, blending with
the environmental sur-
roundings of Galilee's
My Mother
beautiful forests.
always taught
Thirty new housing units,
me to . .
a supermarket, clubroom
ID! dress warmly, eat the right
and medical clinic are ready
foods, pick good
for the first settlers, while
company, work hard, be
82 additional units are
fair with my customers,
planned for the near future.
always give them extra
The economy of Moshav
value for their money .'. .
Ya'ad and the other five set-
"1 always follow hei
tlements soon to be built on
advice. That's why I'm the
the surrounding hills will
country's top Cadillac
salesman.
be based on such industries
'Thank von, Af)ther!'
as computer services, elec-
troniCs and electrical en-
AL KLINE
(=ail l ilt' t(Ii1 liC MC al:
gineering.
The industrial center of
Tefen, in the hills between
Ma'alot and Carmiel, has
been the site of herculean
6160 Cass Ave.
efforts in land development
Detroit 48202
since 1975 and represents
(313) 875-0300
one of the greatest chal-
"Michigan's Largest--
lenges ever to confront the
Cadillac Dealer"
Land Development Division
One of the interesting as-
pects of the "Dialoghi" from
the Jewish viewpoint is
Judah Abravanel's glorifi-
cation of love and harmony
in the universe. Knowing
that he suffered so many
personal tragedies and wit-
nessed terrible persecution,
we wonder how he could
still have idealized love.
The author does admit
that humans are capable
of great cruelty and in-
justice.-He cannot escape
this conclusion. Yet, he
tries to view reality with a
neo-Platonic idealism.
The world that we live in
is a world of shadows and
illusions. The real world
of being is transcendent,
a world of the ideas and
ideals. Abravanel's
philosophy of love views
God and the universe in
broad perspective, ignor-
ing as much as possible
the corruptions of the
day-to-day world we live
-
in. __
Seen in this way, the
"Dialoghi d'Amore" is more
than merely -a work of the
Italian Renaissance. It is
the response of a deep
Jewish intellect to the
Spanish expulsion. Ab-
ravanel could overlook the
imperfections of this world
because he did not think re-
ality was confined to this
- world.
On the contrary, love and
harmony, God and the true
Friday, October 6, 1918 13
ideas are more real that
what we see. We can accept
our sufferings if we realize
how insignificant they are
in relationship to the over-
all love which imbues the
universe.
11SUNI -1,4.
11) Dan Sandberg
353-6699
JNF Developing the Galilee
T
DALGLEISH
CADILLAC
of the Jewish National
Fund.
Originally cut by ca-
nyons enclosed by peaks
of solid rock, preparation
of the site has been com-
pleted. Huge rectangular
plots of land — each
comprising many
thousands of square
yards -- have been
gouged out of the hill-
sides and flattened for
the building of factories,
two of which, both huge,
are already standing.
Road networks rune like
grids over filled-in canyons
and hills sliced off at their
tops; and the original primi-
tive road blazed to the site
in 1975 from Ma'alot is now
a first-class highway.
Built to, provide settle-
ments in Galilee with a
major industrial center
within the framework of the
vast project to increase
Jewish settlement in the
area, six additional villages
will be set up around Tefen's
perimeter, following the
pattern established at
Segev. The first of these, to
be called Moshav Lapidot,
will be ready for occupancy
in the next couple of months
and will be settled by young
people of the second genera-
tion of existing Galilee set-
tlements.
Settlements of Nahal
(Army Pioneer Settlers
Corps) are also being plan-
ned and built in Galilee to-
day. -One, completed only
recently, is Zalmon.
JNF has bla z ed a
three-mile approach
road and 42 acres of land
for the settlement's hous-
ing area. Another road
the Fund is completing
will link the settlement to
the A_cco-Safed highway.
Among the many new
forest p-arks and recrea-
tional areas opened in
Galilee recently are the
Goren Park, with picnic
sites and installations over-
looking the Crusader castle
of Montfort; the Jordan
River Park, running from
the B'not Ya'akov bridge in
the north to Lake Kinneret
in the south; and the new
Children's Forest, near Go-
ren, dedicated in February,
1978.
The Hula Reserve in
Upper Galilee has again
been opened to the public in
honor of the 30th anniver-
sary of the state, after hav-
ing been closed for 10 year.
At the reserve, JNF plans to
build a lookout tower, a
parking lot and an informa-
tion center. .
•
Jewish Minority
JERUSALEM (ZINS) —
Only 32 percent of the
220,000 persons living in
the untrial Galilee are
Jewish. The Jewish Agency
plans to establish 20-25
rural settlements' in the
area during the next 10
years.
The biblical basis for fast-
ing on Yom Kippur is "Ye
shall afflict your souls." It is
mentioned five times in the
Pentateuch in connection'
with 'fom Kippur.
Mr. Wald, formerly with Kosins Clothes, has
assembled an impressive collection of suits,
sport coats, outercoats, and slacks which
represent the highest expression of
contemporary elegance. Please visit Block's
in West Bloomfield and see for yourself.
locks
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- CLOTHES
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MON. TUE. WED. SAT. 10 to 6 p.m. THURS. FRI. 10 to 9 p.m. SUN 12 to 5 p.m.