THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
24 Friday, August 10, 1919
'Jerusalem Diamond' Informative Reading
By DAVID FRIEDMAN
(Copyright 1979, JTA, Inc.)
, Just a few blocks from
Times Square and at the
edge of Rockefeller Center
lies New York's diamond
center. It is just one block
long — West 47th St. be-
tween Fifth Ave. and the
Avenue of the Americas,
with some spillover onto ad-
jacent streets — but it is a
fascinating place.
A casual stroller would
MAGICIAN
Available For All Occasions
25 years experience
MAGICAL MEL
547-2464
"Your
Office
Boy"
soon notice the large num-
bers of Orthodox Jews, par-
ticularly the many
Hasidim. Yiddish and He-
brew are heard as much as
English. But you can also
hear French, Persian and
countless other languages.
But no casual stroller or
even a frequent visitor can
easily penetrate the
closely-knit community of
diamond dealers whether it
is located in the numerous
offices on 47th St., or in
London, Rotterdam or Tel
Aviv. It is a community
where no matter the per-
son's religion, deals are
sealed with a handshake
and the Yiddish words
Metropolitan Detroit's
Most Complete Stationer
.80
. • Office Supplies
• Office Machines
• Office & Home Furniture
• Complete Gift Selections
• Printing • Rubber Stamps
• Data & Word Processing Supplies
"Your
•
( Office
Girl"
modem Office, INC
31535 Southfield Rd. between 13 & 14 Mile
HOURS: Mon.-Fri: 8-5 Closed Sat.
642-5600
"Mazel un Brocha" Cluck
and a Blessing").
However, Noah Gor-
don, the author of the
bestseller The Rabbi,"
has managed to do so in
his new work of fiction,
"The Jerusalem
Diamond" (Random
House). The novel is
superficially a thriller
about the search for a
diamond that comes from
the First Temple and has
been over the centuries
the property of a mosque
in Accra and the Vatican.
This makes it sacred to
Jews, Moslems and
Christians and of course
an important symbol in
today's Middle East poli-
tics.
The diamond is being
tracked down for Israel by
Harry Hopeman, a New
York diamond dealer and
the scion of a diamond fam-
ily that goes back to
Lodewyk van Berken who
in 1467 in Holland first per-
fected the modern tech-
nique of diamond cutting.
Hopeman's ties to the
diamond itself are strong;
one ancestor cut the
diamond in Spain during
the Inquisition; another set
it in the Miter of Gregory for
the Pope, and his father had
polished it in Germany.
Hopeman, who rejects the
Vatican's request for him to
seek the diamond, goes to
Israel where he is to
negotiate the purchase for
Israel from an Egyptian.
Helping him is the oblig-
atory beautiful Israeli
woman, a Yemenite this
time.
The book does not succeed
as a thriller. But it is still a
book that is exciting and in-
teresting to read. Gordon
excels in description of
places and people. The book
is exciting reading, not for
the story but for what Gor-
don reveals about the
diamond industry, not only
today but its development.
He also provides interesting
vignettes about Jewish life
during the Middle Ages; in
Berlin before and im-
mediately after the Nazis
took over and in the United
States today.
In the sections of the book
in which Hopeman travels
around Israel, Gordon gives
the best description of the
various areas and of Israelis
that have appeared in a
book by a non-Israeli.
Whether he is writing about
Jerusalem, Mea Shearim,
the Galilee or the Negev,
Gordon knows his Israel
and Israelis well.
Don't get this book if you
are looking for another ad-
venture story. But don't
miss it if you want an in-
teresting and rewarding
few hours reading about
Jews and the places in
which they live.
A Minor Jewish Festival
GOLD IS SKY HIGH
BUT WE ARE STILL -
DOWN TO EARTH
One of the largest chain selections anywhere ...
from $14.40 on up
Charms, bangles and beads ... $4.80 on up
Earrings ... $11.20 on up
Rings and mountings ... $29 on up
Name brand watches at 20% off
Bracelets from $7.81 on up
GOLD BUY THE GRAM . . . A NEW WAY OF BUYING JEWELRY
Certifited Gemologist
On Premises
All Shapes & Sizes
of
Appraisal Work
Expert Jewelry Repair
Cubic Zirconiums
Gems Cleaned Free
I GOLD GALLLQY ,
32802 FRANKLIN RD.
10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday t hru Friday
10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday
IIF •
FRANKLIN VILLAGE
851-7111
By RABBI SAMUEL FOX
(Copyright 1979, JTA, Inc.)
The 15th of the Hebrew
month of Av is considered a
minor festival on the Jewish
calendar.
The Mishna (Ta'anit, 26a)
considers it one of the best of
its kind. The Talmud, in
asking what the nature of
the festival is, comes up
with a variety of historical
occurrences that happened
on this date.
One is that the tribes of
Israel were permitted to in-
termarry with each other —
apparently something that
was forbidden before this. A
second occurrence is that
this was the day when the
tribe of Benjamin, whose
people were not allowed to
marry people from other
tribes, was finally allowed
to do so from this day on.
Third, those Israelites
that were destined to die
in the wilderness for their
sins, died only up to this
date, meaning that none
died in the wilderness.
Fourth, those barriers
that Jereboam had
erected to prevent the
people from going to
Robert Motherwell • Frank Stella •
• Sam Francis • Kenneth Noland •
• Helen Frankenthaler • Ronald Davis •
AUGUST SHOWING
L IRVING FELDMAN GALLERIES
24175 Northwestern Hwy., Southfield, Mich., 48075
KEY INTERNATIONAL BLDG., S'BOUND SERVICE DR.
10-5 Tues.-Sat., (313) 358-5444
worship in Jerusalem
were finally removed.
The heroes who fought in
the revolution of Betar were
finally allowed to be buried
on this day, whereas the
Romans had up to that date
forbidden the people to bury
them. Finally, this was
the last day on which offer-
ings of wood could be
brought to the Temple of
Jerusalem because of the
moisture which increases so
that it could be adequately
used on the altar.
Like other festivals, pen-
titential prayers are omit-
ted on this day. The Talmud
(Ta'anit 26a) indicates that
the "daughters of
Jerusalem" would go forth
and meet their destined
mates on this day, remind-
ing themselves of the high
ethical standards required
for choosing a mate.
Congregation
Names Woman
Rabb]. in Penn.
NEW YORK — Rabbi
Linda Joy Holtzman, a 1979
graduate of the Reconstruc-
tionist Rabbinical College
in Philadelphia, has been
elected as spiritual leader of
Beth Israel Congregation,
Coatesville, Pa. She is be-
lieved to be the first full-
time woman rabbi in North
America.
Rabbi Holtzman will
also serve as the educa-
tional director of the
synagogue. She is a native
of Philadelphia who, during
her student days at the
RRC, served as student
rabbi at the Bristol Jewish
Center in Bristol, Pa.
Fisher Re-Elected Agency
Chairman, Calls for Unity
JERUSALEM — During
the closing hours of the
Jewish Agency Assembly,
held in Jerusalem a few
weeks ago, Detroiter Max
Fisher called upon repre-
sentatives of over 40 coun-
tries represented in the As-
sembly to learn to "act and
think . . . together."
In his address which
closed the working sessions
of the assembly, Fisher
challenged representatives
of Jewish federations, fund
raising organizations and
the World Zionist Organiza-
tion to put aside their dif-
ferences and focus on the
problems before them: the
security of Jews in lands of
distress, immigration to Is-
rael and Project Renewal.
Fisher, in a meeting of the
newly elected board of gov-
ernors of the Jewish
Agency, was re-elected
MAX FISHER
chairman of that body. The
assembly, in its last busi-
ness session, elected 28
Americans to four-year
terms on the board, includ-
ing Detroiters Martin Cit-
rin and Paul Zuckerman,
and former Detroiter Irwin
Field.
Simon Wiesenthal Disputes
Paraguay Mengele Report
VIENNA (JTA) — Nazi-
hunter Simon Wiesenthal
said last Friday he believes
that Josef Mengele, the
"Angel of Death" at Au-
schwitz, is still living in
Paraguay. Paraguayan
authorities told United Na-
tions Secretary General
Kurt Waldheim last week
that the Nazi doctor has not
been in that country since
1962.
"This is a lie," Wiesenthal
said. "We have trustworthy
information about
Mengele's whereabouts and
I gave Waldheim further
details."
Waldheim informed
Wiesenthal in a letter that
Paraguay's officials
maintain that Mengele
was stripped of his
Paraguayan citizenship.
Wiesenthal said that this
was confirmed by
Paraguay's ambassador
in Washington, Mario
Lopez Escobar. But in
Paraguay a leading offi-
cial of the Ministry of
Interior and also the
President of the Supreme
Court denied this report.
"It is clear that one of the
two sides didn't speak the
truth," Wiesenthal said.
He said he understands
that Mengele's case will be
brought before a U.S. Con-
gressional hearing designed
to review Washington's
economic aid for Paraguay.
The hearing will be before a
Senate Foreign Relations
subcommittee in Sep-
tember.
(The New York Times re-
ported that the Paraguay
Supreme Court annulled
Menegele's citizenship this
Wednesday, claiming he
has lived outside Paraguay
for more than two years.)
Arab Axe Slayers Confess
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Two
Arabs from Kalkilya on the
West Bank surrendered to
police last week and confes-
sed the axe murder of an Is-
raeli reserves soldier whose
mutilated body was found
the day before in a stolen
bus at a road junction near
Kalkilya.
The victim, Joseph
Trumpeldor Itzhak, 30, the
father of two children, was
buried with full military
honors. He and his family
lived in Kadimah, a moshav
near Natanya.
The killers surrendered
as police closed in. They
surrendered a revolver sto-
len from the victim. The
murder was discovered
when soldiers spotted a bus
normally employed in
Petah Tikva abandoned on
the road near the West
Bank and saw two youths
running toward a dense
orange grove. The bus had
been stolen from a parking --
lot in Petah Tikva.
German Jewish University
Slated for Winter Opening
HAMBURG, Germany —
A Jewish university in
Heidelberg, Germany is
scheduled to open this
winter with an initial
enrollment of 60 students.
Heidelberg Jewish Uni-
versity, which is fully inde-
pendent of the existing
Heidelberg University, will
offer courses in Jewish
knowledge and science and
will be staffed with spe-
cialists from all over the
world.
.
Prof. Leo A. Feldman
of Rutgers University will
serve as vice chancellor of
the new institution. Prof.
Feldman, born in Berlin,
taught Hebrew at Rutgers,
specializing in medieval
langauge and literature. He
is the only non-Israeli ever
to have been awarded the
Jerusalem Prize.
The university will also
serve as one of the few train-
ing centers for rabbis and
cantors in Germany.