THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 26 Friday, May 22, 1981 . Leonard Simons' Machers and Mavericks' Reconstruct the Past in Communal History MAGICIAN Exciting entertainment for your organization, club or private party. Leonard N. Simons may himself be a maverick, else he could not have recon- structed recent Greater De- troit Jewish history as well as he did in his lecture at Temple Beth El Tuesday evening. Perhaps he is a 'coacher" Stage Shows Close up magic Audience Participation Mel Eisenberg 547-2464 MENTALIST PRIVATE NURSES Continuous professional nurses in your home, hospital or nursing home. Lowest cost in metropolitan area. Care provided by same group of nurses when possible. OAKLAND DISTRICT NURSES ASSOC. Since 1942 Phone 559-8077 (24 hour service) THE FINEST AND LARGEST POOL BUILDER IN THE MIDWEST Almost a quarter of a century of supplying discriminating buyers has earned an unequaled reputation for Miami Pools. 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And with the "perhaps" attached any chance of a libel suit is av- erted — just as Leonard himself averted it by,speak- ing mainly about those long gone in his reminiscences. Here is how Simons de- fined Machers and Mavericks: "Mavericks are people with ideas and strong minds of their own. They carry no- body's brand. And, unlike -- cattle, they do not always do what they should do or are expected to do. Usually, they are exceptionally smart, determined people. Because they are usually successful • also — the Mavericks end up , as Machers. "Machers are people who are 'doers.' They are not all wealthy but they are people of influence in organiza- tions, politics, business, civic affairs, religion, charities, etc. — people who make things happen and get things done." Skilled as he is in public relations, Simons added fascination to his lecture by illustrating it with photos he had taken of the per- sonalities he depicted. No wonder, therefore, that the evening was one of hilarity, and it was one of great delight thanks to Simons' skill as a storyteller, attributable also to his "memory like an elephant's." Of course, he mentioned also the living — himself and his darling wife Har- riette. The rest were the other giants — of the past. Resorting to another per- haps — perhaps Leonard re- scued himself from criticism by the ERA advocates by mentioning Harriette. In addition to Harriette, Simons lent importance to his oratory by including Eleanor Roosevelt in the list of notables scrutinized in his reminiscences. When Only The Best is Enough Th-t Welcome to the Alexander Home. A warm, personal home set in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Serving those who need private care. For 26 years, we have been caring. Meeting the needs of families and individuals, at every level of care, for short or long-term stays. For the best through caring, contact .. . .xar de Convareseeni)gioniel 718 W. Fourth 7.,.. Street, Royal Oak, Michigan 48067 (313) 545-0571 ) LEONARD N. SIMONS The personalities he de- picted — and there was a story, tinged with humor, about each — were two rab- bis, Morris Adler and Be- nedict Glazer; the two dis- tinguished brothers, Henry and Fred Butzel; Nate Shapero, Maurice Aronsson, Sidney Allen, Meyer Prentis; and he went far afield by speaking also about Eleanor Roosevelt, David Ben-Gurion and Kim Novak. Two years ago, Simons commenced his storytel- ling with an address at Temple Beth El entitled "Confessions of a Schnorrer." It, - too, was replete with humor. The retelling of the humorous in his speech last_ Tues- day will have to wait for the reprinting of his cur- rent address, as was the fate of his first speech. But last Tuesday's had another aspect. He mentioned another person among the living, Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion Prof. of Bible Harry M. Or- linsky. It relate to Simons' insistent way M. pursuing an idea which becomes an ideal with him. In this case it was his conviction that the words with which Holy Scriptures always com- menced in English transla- tion should not be changed in the revised translations. Here is the story as he re- lated it to his audience at Temple Beth El Tuesday evening: "About-10 years ago I was on the JPS board. The society needed money to fi- nance the new translation. I was asked to prepare a cam- paign to raise Detroit's fair share. My plan worked and was duplicated around the country. The chairman of the translation committee of seven biblical scholars was my friend, Dr. Harry Orlinsky of the Hebrew Union College, one of the greatest Bible scholars alive. "Orlinsky and I kept in contact with each other be- cause we both knew there was going to be more fund- raising after the Torah por- tion was completed. Harry sent me typewritten copies of the new translation as it went along. The first page he sent me showed that the scholars had changed the very first line of the Bible — universally known as 'In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.' "I was shocked. To change this best known sentence in our Bible was sacrilegious to me. I im- mediately wrote Orlinsky and pleaded with them not to change it. We corresponded all year. I coaxed — I argued — I tried my best powers of persuasion . . . all to no avail. I was very sad and unhappy. ".Imagine my surprise when I received my copy of the new Torah book. They did change the first line. It now reads — 'In the begin- ning when God began to create the heaven and the earth.' But they put a small notation after the word `Create' and at the bottom of the page they put — 'Or, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.' "I'm sure Dr. Orlinsky would never admit that he retained the postscript wording because of my year-long pleading with them to save the original time-immemorial transla- tion of the first line of the Bible. But, I like to think that I personally did help influence this change of heart by the scholars and that I helped save this first line of the Bible for post- erity. So — sue me — I'm proud of the time and effort I spent working on these 10 little words." Clothing Needed for Falashas LOS ANGELES — Good, used clothing is needed ini Israel for use by new Jewish immigrants from Ethiopia. The clothing drive for the Falashas is being sponsored by the Women's Interna- tional Zionist Organization and the American Associa- tion for Ethiopian Jews. For information on how to send the clothing to Israel, write AAEJ, Clothing Dept., 1539 Priscilla Lane, Newport Beach, Calif. 92660. 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