64 Friday, February 20, 1981

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Art, Scriptures, Combined in Impressive 'Images From the Bible'

Art and Scriptures, paint-
ings that have gained
widest acceptance and
literary. classics merged in
interpretive studies, com-
bine to lend marked signifi-
cance to a volume devoted to
the fields of creative
achievements.
"Images From the Bible"
(Overlook Press, a Viking
Press subsidiary) merges
the two skills — the words of
Elie Wiesel and the paint:.
ings of Shalom of Safed.
Elie Wiesel's eminence is-
a matter of record. His
many books related his ex-
periences with fellow vic-
tims of Nazism, his reli-
: gious tracts and his Hasidic
tales have made his works
in great demand on a world
scale.
Equally prominent but in
a differing way is the artist
whose devotion is to Bible
themes.
"Images From the Bible"
is a posthumous work as far
as Shalom is involved. The
artist died in January of
1980 at the age of 85.
He was known to his
neighbors in the Galilee
hills as Shalom the Watch-
maker. Then he turned to
art. For 20 years before his
death he attained a reputa-
tion internationally and his-
works were on display in
leading galleries and
museums and are now part
of many collections.

SHALOM of SAFED

ELIE WIESEL

Shalom's portrayals are
of the topics from the Crea-
tion of the World to Adam
and Eve, the stories of Ab-
raham, Isaac and Jacob,
Moses and the Israelites.
These are the paintings
that will fascinate the
readers of all faiths and will
be especially inspirational
for Jews who will thus have
an exotic renewal of devo-
tion to the Bible texts.
The Wiesel essay is like a
Bible commentary, a dedi-
cation to the faith inspired
by the Bible.
Entitled "Images and
Legends From the Bible,"
the Wiesel test is deeply-
rooted in Scriptural devo-
tion. Excerpts from the 46-
page Wiesel text will pro-
vide the linkage to the
Shalom' art. Taken at ran-
dom are these excerpts:

"In the beginning God
created heaven and earth.
But even before that, He
had created seven things —
including the name of the
Messiah, the celestial voice
calling for the repentance
and the Torah, written with
black fire on white fire.
"At first God was uncer-
tain whether a world inha-
bited and ruled by man
should exist at all. He
turned to the Torah for ad-
vice and the Torah urged
him to go ahead with His
project; for a king alone is
hardly that: he needs
others, so that he may stress
his powers over them.
"Still the Torah had some
reservations. What if man
should sin and ,-disobey
God's commandments? You
need not worry, said God.
Both repentance and rede-

mption will have preceded
creation.
"So would justice and
mercy. For a while God's
first impulse had been to let
the world be ruled by justice
alone, he later understood
that this would not be possi-
ble; man would be doomed
by his first mistake. So God
paired justice with compas-
sion. The combination of the
two made creation possible.
And worthwhile."
Then there is a conclud-
ing spirituality, a legend
turned into realism, a typi-
cally Wiesel theme which
affirms a faith that relates
to Moses, Wiesel declaring:
"Then came the turn for
Moses himself to leave this
world. He knew it but op-
posed it. Wearing sackcloth
and covered with ashes, he

wish: To remember His Law
and transmit it, and sing it
from generation to genera-
tion as a message of life and
beauty and a call for hope.
"And God told Moses to
climb the mountain. To iso-
late himself. To lie down. To
stretch out his legs, his
arms. To close his eyes. And
listen.
"Moses left this world, cl-
inging to the voice of God.
"Down below the people
cried, as did all creatio
"Nevertheless, he asked And sometimes at night or
God not to let him die at the can hear them still."
hands of the Angel of Death.
Thus, Shalom and Wiesel
Thus it was God himself are linked, spiritually, ar-
who took the soul of Moses tistically, with paintings
with a kiss.
and literature on the high-
"Earlier Moses had est level, making "Images
blessed the tribes of Israel From the Bible" a magnifi-
and told them of his last cent literary creation.

traced a circle around him-
self and implored God to let
him live. Even if he was not
to enter the Promised Land,
even if he was to live like a
beast or a bird. To convince
him otherwise, God permit-
ted him to live one day as
disciple of his disciple and
successor, Joshua. And
when Moses felt jealousy
distorting and dominating
him, he cried out: 'Rather a
thousand deaths than a
single moment of jealousy.'

'

Dedicated Jewish Authors Define Identifications

Nine Jewish authors, who
have gained recognition for
their positive Jewish ap-
proaches, defined their
dedicated attitudes in in-
terviews with Harold
Ribalow. The result is a ver-
itable anthology of views by
writers of note. The collec-
tive title is Ribalow's "The
Tie That Binds" (A.S.
Barnes).
Ribalow pursues an envi-
able career as author, trans-
ANGOFF
lator and book reviewer in
this informative collection stance, the authors com-
of essays. Like his father, ment on their back-
the late Menahem Ribalow ground, the legacies
who was editor of the He- which inspired their
brew periodical Hadoar andei, turning to Jewish topics
an outstanding Hebraist,.
Ribalow has devoted him-„pad experiences for their
novels and essays.
self to Jewish literary tasks:
The introductory essay by
Through the years he has 4it?alow, evaluating Jewish
befriended the most promi: authors and their writings
nent writers and "The Tie is especially significant in
That Binds” evidences a' . view of the authoritative
thorough knowledge of the-
, :i;role in this field by the
authors
he interviewed:
Included
in this vole: -author of this book.
•
are conversations walk The
Angoff interview is
Charles Angoff, Chafiri an epic in Jewish experi-
Grade, Meyer Levin, Susan ence. The late author told of
Fromberg Schaeffer, Robert his background, his early
Kollowitz, Chaim Potok, association with H.L.
Hugh Nissenson, Isaac Mencken who rubbed him
Bashevis Singer and Jack the wrong way and who was
Ansell. considered anti-Jewish.
In nearly every in- Angoffs manner of glorify-

,

ing the Jewish heritage, his
love for Zion, his thorough
dedication to Jewish learn-
ing, are distinguishing
marks in this essay about a
greatly admired Jewish
loyalist.
The Meyer Levin story is
similarly inspiring.
Ribalow asked Levin how
he sees his rule as a Jewish
writer, as "a maggid,"
entertainer or educator. His
answer is interesting. Levin
replied:
"Well, I'm something of
all of those. As you know,
I've tried even formally to
be an educator with some
books that I collaborated
on, some I wrote, for
younger people. They're
used in ninth, tenth,
eleventh, and twelfth
grades."
Levin took pride in hav-
ing produced a Passover
Haggada and textbooks for
children, believing that it is
necessary to educate young
and old. He also pointed to
the films he made depicting
rescue from Nazism and Is-
rael upbuilding as vital to
his work as a teacher as well
as author.
Dr. Potok generalized
with criticism of Jewish
writers, stating:

t

MEYER LEVIN

"They are murky. They
don't really understand
what it is they are writing
about. And if you are murky
and don't understand what
you are writing about, a
Christian won't understand
what you are writing about.
"It has absolutely nothing
to do with the fact that the
English language is Chris-
tian. It is not Christian.
There are Christian ele-
ments in it, there are Greek
elements, there are German
elements, there are Jewish
elements, Middle English.
. . . How can anyone say the
English language is Chris-
tian? It is not!'
"Its beauty lies pre-
cisely in the fact that it
has absorbed the lan-
guage systems of so many
cultures. That is its rich-
ness. And I rather sus-
pect that somebody who
says- that the English lan-
guage is Christian is
really saying that what
he is writing is murky
and cannot be under-
400d."

just for my own sake.
In every instance,
Jewish idealism is tested.
The Chaim Grade piece is
among the shortest, yet
among the most impor-
tant because of the
idealism of the man many
consider the greatest of
all living Jewish writers.
Therefore, in its totality,
"The Tie That Binds" is a
work of great fascination.

The Nissenson account is
especially interesting as a
commentary .of life in the
kibutz. This author's ex-
periences in Israel provide
fascination in the study of
evolutionary occurrences
when writers devote them-
selves to the Zionist ideal.
I.B. Singer responded to
questions about Yiddish,
and while his works now are
sensationalized in English
he loves Yiddish and he ex-
plained:
"I once said that if I would
be the only person who
would speak Yiddish, I
would still write in it. I'm
not writing ineYiddish be-
cause I want to do Yiddish a
favor. I'm writing Yiddish
because I want to do myself
a favor. I know that in Yid-
dish I will write better than
in English or in Polish or in
Hebrew. So because of this, I
don't worry about the situa-
tion of Yiddish. If they all
stopped speaking Yiddish
and I still speak it, I write in
it and I'm happy. But since
I'm not an idealist, I do it

Copper Cement Shipped to Spain

TEL AVIV (JTA) — The
first consignment of 700
tons of copper cement from
the re-opened Timna copper
mine in the southern Negev
was shipped from Eilat to
Bilbao, Spain last week.

The mine, near the site of
the historic King Solomon's
mine north of Eilat, was
closed five years ago when
copper production became
uneconomic. It was re-
opened last September fol-

'

lowing the world-wide in-
crease in copper prices. The
first shipment was valued
at about $700,000.
Despite a recent increase
in Suez Canal fees, ship-
ment from Timna via
nearby Eilat is still about
$15 a ton cheaper than
shipping the goods by road
to Ashdod and then by the
shorter sea route direct
through the Mediterranean
without Suez Canal pas-
sage.