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January 23, 1981 - Image 4

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1981-01-23

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

THE JEWISH NEWS

IUSPS 275-5201

QUO VAC' IS ? I

Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle commencing with the issue of July 20, 1951

Copyright

(

The Jewish News Publishing Co.

Member of American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers and National Editorial Association and
Affiliate Member of National Newspaper Association and Capital Club.
PubliShed every Friday by The Jewish News Publishing Co., 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075
Postmaster: Send address changes to The Jewish News, 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075
Second-Class Postage Paid at Southfield, Michigan and Additional Mailing Offices. Subscription $15 a year.

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor and Publisher

ALAN HITSKY
News Editor

CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ
Business Manager -

HEIDI PRESS
Associate News Editor

,

DREW LIEBERWITZ
Advertising Manager

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Sabbath Scriptural Selections

This Sabbath, the 19th day of Shevat, 5741, the following scriptural selections will be read in our synagogues:
Pentateuchal portion, Exodus 18:1-20:23. Prophetical portion, Isaiah 6:1-7:6; 9:5-6.

'0•Aipt It*iiee

Candle lighting, Friday, January 23, 5:17 p.m.

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VOL. LXXVIII, No. 21

Page Four

Friday, January 23, 1981

BOOKS AS. BAROMETERS

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1,Tewspaper, • periodical and book publishing is
approaching the prohibitive stage. It is costly
and is seriously affected by the inflationary
trends. Yet, a rich library is growing and the
Jewish topics are multiple.
Book publishing may therefore be considered
the barometer of the time, of the spirit of iden-
tification and responsiveness. If the new library
that is being compiled on Jewish topics is posit-
ive in nature, authoritatively produced, con-
tributing towards the enhancement of Jewish
values, the trend may be considered enriching
for the Jewish community.
A number of the current books lend them-
selves as examples of the type of literature that
serves as a test for literary accomplishments
and their appeals to the general public.
Emphasis given by Schocken Books to the
publication of the series of volumes dealing with
the Holocaust, in all their historic details,
merits appreciation. "Lest- we forget," the slo-
gan adopted by the historian-sociologist Dr.
Franklin H. Littell for his weekly articles ex-
posing horrors, on condemning anti-Semitism,
striving for just rights for Israel and the Jewish
people, can be applied to the Schocken series. It
is not the only specialty of Schockent It recog-
nizes the value of publishing scholarly works by
Jews on Jewish topics and it adds to its prod-
uctivity the availability of the paperback. For
its Holocaust series it earns special apprecia-
tion.
To the Jewish Publication Society goes the
appreciation of English-speaking Jewries for
the major Jewish classics, for recent books on
the history of Jewish communities in this coun-
try and abroad, for publishing the works of Is-
raeli historians, novelists and poets. It adds
glory to the fact that it now gives consideration
to the juvenile field. The several books for chil-
dren, the emphasis given to the reproduced
"Ktonton" stories by Sadie Rose Weilerstein,
and more of its kind, are of value to the corn-
munities that give emphasis to the need to in-
spire children with Jewish themes.
Wayne State University Press, under the
chairmanship of Dr: Bernard Goldman and the
guidance of an academic community and a
selected public committee, has made enriching
contributions to Jewish scholarly research in a
series of important books. Its recent publica-
tion, jointly with the Jewish Museum of the
Jewish Theological Seminary of the Catalog of
Rescued Ceremonial Valuables from Danzig,
Germany, .marking a remarkably valuable re-
scue of historic objects before they could be ac-
quired or destroyed by the Nazis, is a memora-
ble contribution to world Jewry. The list of im-
portant Jewish books from the WSU Press is
very lengthy.
Holt, Rinehart and Winston has added to the
production of children's books, besides the
interest the firm has created with a number of
its volumes of general Jewish interest.
To the Union of American Hebrew Congrega-
tions goes the credit of having produced a
number of informative books that serve well as
textbooks for congregational schools. Behrman
House, Bloch Publishing Co. and the Hebrew

Publishing Co. all continue services that give
them high status as publishers in the Jewish
field.
To Sir Isaiah Berlin is accredited an extension
of his impressive series of biographical sketches
of the world's notables, in the Viking-published
"Personal Impressions." For those concerned
with the progress made by the Zionist move-
ment there are the sketches of Chaim Weiz-
mann, Albert Einstein, Felix Frankfurter,
Lewis Namier, among others, who have added
immensely to an understanding and involve-
ment with the great libertarian ideals which led
to the creation of Israel. In an earlier volume,
Sir Isaiah, the brilliant author, historian and
critic, evaluated the contributions towards the
rise of the Zionist ideal by Moses Hess, the au-
thor of the pre-Herzlian "Rome and Jerusalem."
Such works as "Know Jewish Living and
Enjoy It" and his earlier - book, "Know the
Jewish Festivals and Enjoy Them," by Rabbi
Morris Golomb, issued by Shengold, provide
knowledgeability with Jewish customs and
ceremonials, with the background of Jewish ob-
servances, and help make Jewish living a verit-
able pleasure.
Paperbacking has made possible the re-
issuing of many of the most scholarly works
treating Jewish subjects and of general Jewish
interest. Exemplary currently is the re-
appearance of "Treasury of Jewish Folklore" by
Nathan Ausubel, published by Bantam Books,
whose specialty is the paperback. Ausubel has -
produced indelible marks for scholarship and
research in his numerous anthologies ofJewish
humor, legends and poetry and the current re-
printing of his valuable work makes available
his important collection of Jewish stories.

The examples of publishing achievements, of
Jewish authors' contributions to the knowledge
necessary for an appreciation of Jewish
legacies, is uncountable.
An interesting evaluation of the gifts of con-
temporary Jewish writers is offered in the in-
terviews with nine eminent Jewish writers, in
The Tie That Bonds" by Harold U. Ribalow,
who carries on a tradition of family creativity in
literature begun by his father, the late
Menahem Ribalow, the eminent Hebraist and a
Hadoar editor. Barnes Publishers, producers of
this volume, frequently issue works of general
Jewish interest.
Herzl Press, an arm of the World Zionist
Organization, provides important works on
noted Jewish personalities and the Zionist
movement. Especially impressive is the most
recent Zionist anthological work, "Zionism in
Transition," edited by Dr. Moshe Davis.

These references are samples of what has
been issued, the type of literature that should be
encouraged by Jewish readers. They have an
appeal also for the non-Jews who are interested
in the life, activity and aspiration of the Jewish
neighbors.
The book is indeed the barometer of Jewish
life and experience. No wonder that the desig-
nation for Jews is Am HaSefer, the People of
the book.

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i:asErehisv
Aura of Jerusalem Charm
Joins People of All Faiths

People make up a country. People depict the world's humanism.
People when freed from rancor emerge in the human spirit that rises
above religious or racial differences.
The artist can depict such glory for mankind. William Papas
achieves this enormous task in "People of Old Jerusalem" (Holt,
Rinehart and Winston). In his series of drawings of people of all faiths,
in the charm which marks his artistic skills accompanied by an
explanatory text, he offers a veritable treasure in the scores of draw-
ings which make the people of Jerusalem symbolic of history and
prophecy.
Papas was captivated by the Old City of Jerusalem, its shrines,
its appeals to all faiths. For three months he lived and portrayed the
holy sites and the people who live and visited-there, devoting himself
to his work 100 yards from the Jaffa Gate. His home was the Mis-
hkenol- Sha'ananim. It had been the first Jewish suburb outside the
City Wall. Now it is a guest house of the Jerusalem Foundation.
Artists, musicians, writers are guests there selected by the munici-
pality's hosts. He was privileged to be the Jerusalem Foundation's
guest.
Notably, Papas painted and drew in the various areas, and the
contents give an indication of the historic spots from which he gained
his inspiration. Here are the notable ones:
Street of the Cobblers and Tailors, Sheep Market, Diaspora
Yeshiva — Mount Zion, the Wailing Wall, Dome of the Rock, Holy
Sepulchre, Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, David Street, Armenian
Monastery, Casanova Hospice, The White Father's Church of St.
Anne, Ethiopian Monastery, Coptic Monastery, Syrian Monastery.
These are revealing indications of the variety of appeals to which
the artist responded. His commentaries markedly pointed to the reli-
gious conflicts, and he even writes about the religious intolerance
towards secularists.
The concluding note, impressively, is about Jerusalem the City of
Peace, the dedication to it by the Jewish people and by Israel. On this
score he offers a concluding comment of faith:
"Under Israeli law there is complete freedom for everyone to
follow his chosen creed without persecution from others. Pilgrim
come from all countries, Arab as well, to pay homage at their shrin
no one is banned."
But the conflict is there and the artist views it realistically.
Thus, the artist's work is both in his drawings as well as his
comments on an experience that emerges as inerasable.

New Tzedaka Tract

The Jewish Tract Series, the pocket-sized informative brochures
on major Jewish ethical and historic subjects, is being enriched with
the addition of the new title, "Tzedaka."
Authored by Dr. Abraham B. Eckstein, who wrote an earlier
tract, "Mezuza," the newest definitive work explains the origin of the
term and analyzes the importance of Tzedaka — Justice — as being
superior in Jewish tradition of Charity.
Described as an "imperative duty," the adherence to charity, to
justice, is traced through history, in the Bible and in rabbinic litera-
ture.
Emphasis is placed also on the importance in Jewish tradition to
Gemilut Hasidim, acts of human kindness, the obligation of aiding
needy with loans and encouragement to self-sustenance.

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