2ft, Friday, January 9, 1981

Caricatures

for your party

By

SAM FIELD

cou

399-1320

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Ex-Detroiter Named Rabbi
of Kansas City Synagogue

Former Detroiter Rabbi
Marc Boone Fitzerman was
formally installed as
spiritual leader of Cong.
Ohev Sholom in Kansas
City.
Following the installa-
tion, an oneg Shabat, spon-
sored by the sisterhood,
honored Rabbi Fitzerman;
his parents, Mr. and Mrs.
William (Ethel) Fitzerman
of Oak Park; his brother,
Todd; and Rabbi Stanley

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By HEIDI PRESS

RABBI FITZERMAN

Schachter, vice chancellor
of the Jewish Theological
Seminary, who installed
Rabbi Fitzerman.

The installation weekend
included Shabat services,
kidush and luncheon. A
community Havdala service
and reception culminated
the installation weekend.

The Cultural Commission
of
Congregation Shaarey Zedek

Presents

DR. CYRUS GORDON

Speaking at the Tillie Martin Memorial Lecture

Noted Scholar, occupies the chair of
Hebraic Studies, New York University

Tuesday Evening, Jan. 13 — 8 P.M.

Speaking on:

"JEWISH WOMEN IN HISTORY"

Sponored by:

The Tillie Martin Memorial Lecture

at

Congregation
Shaarey Zedek

27375 Bell Road, Southfield

No Charge

`Passion in the Desert,'
Modern Study in Fantasy

The Community Is Invited

"Passion in the Desert."
Sounds like the title of a
trash novel one takes to the
pool. Hardly. Instead, it is
the title of a new Avon Bard
paperback by Curt Leviant,
author of the best-selling
"The Yemenite Girl," and
winner in 1978 of the Ed-
ward Lewis Wallant Prize.
The book focuses on
Brooklyn-born Joseph, who
is spending a year in Israel
to gain inspiration and col-
lect research for a book. The
desert of the title is the
Sinai and the passion is the
effect of the yellow hamsin
— a mysterious desert wind
— on Joseph.
To follow this strange
tale, one must first under-
stand the yellow hamsin,
which Leviant describes as
"the slow hot desert wind, a
rare combination of the
sirocco, high temperature,
and air currents that hold
the fine sand dust in the air,
and drift it over large por-
tions of the Sinai. All agree
that the yellow air seduced
one to follow it, gave a vie-
wer an odd sensation of
lightheadedness." Perhaps
it is this mystical phenom-
enon which (legend says,
according to Leviant's tale,
occurs every 120 years)
created the lustful
memories and fantasies
that Joesph experienced
during a bus tour through
the Sinai.
In essence, "Passion in
the Desert" is a story
about 632-year-old man's
actual and fantasized
sexual conquests as he
recalls and dreams of
them while seeking ideas
for his masterpiece.
If it sounds pornographic,
it is not in the least. Instead,
it is heady stuff in which
Leviant proves he is a skil-
led craftsman with the use
of terse, quick sentences
and simple language. He
chooses words which evoke
the heat of the desert, the
perspiration, the tension
and anxiety, and poor
Joseph is trapped by it all on
an Egged bus in the Israeli
desert.
Joseph's predicament can
best be described in the fol-
lowing passage: "He said no,
but thought it over anyway.
`Not now,' he added. He did
want to tell a story. One
that would sum up every-
thing he knew. Why he was
traveling. What he had
learned. The odd emotions
that battled in him. A story
that would tell about the
angel for lust that had been
riding him so hard, teasing
the good angel that pro-

Yadin Recovers

TEL AVIV (JTA) — De-
puty Prime Minister Yigael
Yadin left Hadassah Hospi-
tal in Jerusalem after three
days last week.
Yadin was admitted to
the hospital Wednesday
when he complained of
chest pains while dining in
a Jerusalem restaurant.
Doctors ruled out any
suspicion of a heart attack,
describing his ailment as a
passing indisposition.

tected him and Lily and
held the ring that bound
them."
He tried to keep his cool,
but the presence of
Shoshana Green, a tourist
on the bus who had served
with the Israeli army, dis-
tracted him, reminded him
of his past loves — those he
won and those he lost. Yet,
he is not overwhelmed by
the memories and visions,
for he remarks: ." 'I'm not a
miracle man, okay? The
best I can do is change a
mouse into a stone.' And
lust into memory."
Bewitched as he is by
the shifting sands,
orange blossoms and
magical qualities of the
yellow hamsin, Joseph
still is of this world, as
Leviant writes: "At home,
dusty, exhausted, he
knocked on the door, his
soul split in two; lips dry
as sand, he knocked, saw
through the wood, his
heart burning but not
consumed."
Concentration is needed
to read "Passion in the Des-
ert," but that shouldn't be a
bar to reading it. Instead, it
should be an incentive to
experience a modern fairy
tale, albeit more sophisti-
cated than the handsome -
prince - beautiful - princess -
wicked - witch - and - they -
all - lived - happily - ever -
after genre. It is an intellec-
tual fantasy and the chal-
lenge to the mind is wel-
come.
Leviant's previous work
was a best-selling
hardcover and paperback
volume. He is an authority
on Yiddish literature and
translator of the most im-
portant Yiddish classics,
especially Sholem
Aleichem.

Reagan Nixes
Special Liaisons

WASHINGTON (JTA) —
President-elect Reagan will
not have "a Jewish liaison
officer" or such personnel
for "blacks or other ethnics"
after he takes office,
Reagan's transition direc-
tor, Edwin Meese III, has
indicated publicly.
Meek was asked, during
an appearance on the
CBS-TV program "Face the
Nation" if the absence of a
black and "ethnics" in
Reagan's Cabinet "is a sig-
nal that this Administra-
tion is not as interested in
their particular problems as,
with other minorities`
Meese replied, "There -
be people representing
these groups in the White
House, yes. But there will
not be a single conduit that
all blacks have to go to this
door and all Italians have to
go to this door or any other
feeling like that."

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