62 Friday, December 21, 1919
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Judge Gurfein Dies, Ruled
Lansky Claims He Stopped Hotel Owner Ben Silberstein, Favoring Pentagon Papers
Arms Bound for Egypt in '48 Funded Clinic, Gave Art Gift NEW YORK — Judge
LONDON — The author
of a book about alleged
crime figure Meyer Lansky
told the London Jewish
Chronicle last week that
Lansky used his influence
on the New York docks dur-
ing Israel's 1948 War for In-
dependence to block a ship-
ment of arms to Egypt.
Lansky was refused im-
migrant status by Israel in
1972.
According to Uri Dan, an
Israeli journalist who co-
authored "Meyer Lansky:
MEYER LANSKY
Mogul of the Mob," Lansky,
The success of Zionist set- now 77, also claims to have
tlement "will involve in- organized the breaking up
evitably the raising of the of meetings of the pro-Nazi
present Arab population to German-American Bund in
their own material level, the 1930s.
Dan says Lansky was
only a little after them-
selves in point of time, and embittered when Israel re-
the consequences might be fused to accept him as an
of the highest ,jmportance immigrant.
for the future of the Arab
Live with wolves, and you
world."
—T.E. Lawrence will learn to howl.
Ben Silberstein, a
California hotel and motel
owner, who, while living in
Detroit, was known for his
gifts to city institutions,
died Dec. 19 in Los Angeles,
Calif. He was 76.
A former Detroiter, Mr.
Silberstein made a gift to
the Detroit Institute of Arts
in 1976 of the Artistide
Maillol sculpture, "Flora."
Recently he gave $250,000
to the Wayne State Univer-
sity Medical School for the
establishment of the Ger-
trude Levin Silberstein
Pain Clinic, named in mem-
ory of his wife.
Mr. Silberstein was
graduated from Central
High School and earned a
law degree from the Uni-
versity of Michigan Law
School.
he
In California,
bought the posh Beverly
Hills Hotel, operated by a
son-in-law, who is
president of the hotel. Mr.
Silberstein owned a
chain of hotels and
motels under the Vag-
abond name.
He is survived by two
daughters, Mrs. Ivan
(Seema) Boesky of New
York City and Mrs. Muriel
Slatkin of Beverly Hills,
Calif. Interment West Palm
Beabh, Fla.
Joseph Wohl,
Aided Seminary
NEW YORK (JTA) —
Joseph Wohl, founder and
president of the Jewish
Theological Seminary of
America's Universal
Brotherhood Movement,
died Dec. 8 at age 69.
For 27 years he had been
a member of the seminary's
board of directors and in
that capacity had chaired
major committees in the
areas of finance, develop-
ment, real estate and build-
ing.
A major donor to the in-
stitution, he endowed
scholarships in memory of
his father, Abraham, and
his mother, Yetta, in
addition to major capital
gifts to the seminary's
building funds.
A resident of Old
Westbury, Long Island,
Mr. Wohl was active in
many philanthropic ac-
tivities.
He was a founder and offi-
cer of the Long Island
Jewish-Hillside Medical
Center, a member of the
wi
board of the United Jesh
Appeal, and of his
synagogue, the Old
Westbury Hebrew Congre-
gation.
•
Moshe Koenig,
Led Dutch Jews
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Nuremberg Trial
Physician Dies
BALTIMORE, Md. — Dr.
Nolan D. C. Lewis, the
psychoanalyst who ruled
that 22 top Nazis were "sane
and fit for trial" during the
Nuremberg trials, died Dec.
18 at age 90.
Southfield, Mich. 48075
CITY
AMSTERDAM (JTA) —
Dr. Moshe Koenig, a lead-
ing figure in Orthodox
Jewish circles here and for
several years chairman of
the Amsterdam Ashkenazi
Congregation Council, died
Dec. 10 at age 75.
He was born in Austria,
studied at the Orthodox
rabbinical seminary in Be-
rlin, where he was ordained
and later obtained a law de-
gree in Frankfurt. He set-
tled in Holland in the mid-
1930s. He never practiced
as a rabbi but was active in
Jewish communal affairs.
_ ZIP
Major Benjamin Nones
came to this country from
France in 1777 and im-
mediately enlisted. He was
cited for gallant action be-
cause ". . his behavior
under fire . . . has been
marked by bravery and
courage." Nones became a
major and commanded a
company of 400 men, many
of whom were Jews.
Murray I. Gurfein of the
United States Court of Ap-
peals for the Second Circuit,
who rejected the Nixon Ad-
ministration's attempt to
bar the New York Times
from publishing the Penta-
gon Papers in 1971, died
Dec. 16 at age 72.
A War crimes prosecutor
at Nuremberg, Judge Gur-
fein was, during a nearly
50-year career, a federal
and state rackets fighter, a
civil and criminal trial
lawyer and for the past
eight years, a federal jurist
on district and appeals
count benches in Manhat-
tan.
During World War II he
served as an intelligence
officer at the headquar-
ters of the Supreme Al-
lied Command in Europe
and won the Legion of
Merit and the Croix de
Guerre and was named
an Honorary Officer of
the British Empire. After
the war he was an assis-
tant to Robert H.
Jackson, the U.S. chief
counsel at the Nurem-
JUDGE GURFEIN
berg war crimes trials.
He was a leader of
numerous Jewish organiza
tions, including 10 years as
president of United HIAS
Service. In 1970, the Ameri-
can Jewish Committee con-
ferred upon him the
Learned Hand Human Re-
lations Award. He was a
trustee of the Beth Israel
Medical Center and a
member of the Council on
Foreign Relations.
Dead Sea Scroll Authority
Sidney Hoenig Dead at 72
NEW YORK (JTA) — Dr.
Sidney Hoenig, noted
educator, rabbi and
authority on the Dead Sea
Scrolls and the Sanhedrin,
died Dec. 7 at age 72.
At the time of his death he
was president of the Jewish
Welfare Board Jewish Book
Council, a member of the
JWB board of directors and
a member of the JWB
Commission on Jewish
Chaplaincy.
A-former dean of the Ber-
nard Revel Graduate School
of Jewish Studies of
Yeshiva University, he
served on the university's
faculty for more than 40
years. He was also adjunct
professor of Talmud at
Dropsie University.
For the JWB's Com-
mission on Jewish Chap-
laincy, Hoenig edited a
prayer book for Jewish
personnel in the Armed
Forces of the U.S., a High
Holiday prayer book and
a Passover Haggada.
Earlier this year he re-
presented the JWB
Jewish Book Council at
the Second International
Book Fair in Moscow.
In 1975, Dr. Hoenig was
named a Congressional fel-
low of the National
Endowment for the
Humanities. The New York
Board of Rabbis named him
Chaplain of the Year in
1973.
He had been a member of
the Joint Distribution
Committee's Cultural
Committee, the Rabbinical
Council of America, the Na-
tional Council of Jewish
Prison Chaplains and the
Society for Old Testament
Study.
Born in the New York
City, Hoenig received the
- -
Bachelor of Science degree
at City College in 1927 and
the PhD degree from Drop-
sie University, Philadel-
phia in 1934. He was or-
dained at Rabbi Isaac El-
chanan Theological Semi-
nary, an affiliate of Yeshiva
University, in 1931.
Widely known for his
writings and lectures, he
was the author of numer-
ous books. His articles
appeared in major
Jewish and other schol-
arly publications, includ-
ing the Encyclopedia
Britannica and the
Jewish Quarterly Re-
view.
In his long association
with Yeshiva University,
Dr. Hoenig was also director
of the Department of Adult
Education of the Division of
Communal Services of
Rabbi Isaac Elchanan
Theological Seminary. He
authored several of the De-
partment's "Guide Series"
of books.
Gloria Davidson
Gloria Davidson, a fifth-
grade teacher at the Simms
Elementary School in
Southfield, died Dec. 16 at
age 49.
A native Detroiter, Mrs.
Davidson taught at the
school for the past five
years. She was a member of
Temple Israel and was a
teacher in its Sunday
school. She resided at 10004
Lincoln, Huntington
Woods.
She leaves her husband,
Kenneth; a son, Alan; two
daughters, Karen and Lori;
her mother, Mrs. Monica
Monheit of Phoenix, Ariz.;
and a sister, Mrs. Tom (Re-
veena) Ferguson of
Phoenix.