um_ Competant, , Qualified Hebrew Teachers Wanted CALL 681-5353 LIKE MAMA MADE From Cookies to Krepluch 33 of Mama's best recipes. Send $3.95 to Phyllis J. Cohn #73 30131 Greenfield, Southfield Mi. 48076 DONNA'S COMPLETE MAID SERVICE Janitorial Service Home Cleaning Weekly or Bi-Weekly Call us to serve at your parties Parties, Reception & Bar Mitzvas, Etc. Call 341-9100 Bonded & Insured friday, July 31, 1E1 11 Mayer Levin's 'Obsession' Anne Frank, Assimilation By DAVID FRIEDMAN Copy right 1981, JT.A, Inc. Meyer Levin, the Ameri- can Jewish writer who died recently at the age of 75. was a man with an obses- sion. "The Obsession, - the title of a 197:3 hook he wrote, was not only about his struggle to have his play on "The Diary of Anne Frank" pro- duced, but was a lifelong - fight against assimilation and to have Judaism and the Jewish people portrayed positively in literature. Levin's 30-year legal battle over Anne Frank is well known. He has charged that the producers elimi- nated sections of the "Di- ary" to give it a more corn- munistic or at least extreme leftist stand in which Jewish values were sup- pressed to give Anne Frank Trojan "Son of C. Trojan" CUSTOM 'FURNITURE & CARPET CLEANING ON LOCATION FREE ESTIMATES Phone 576-1140 CONGREGATION B'NAI ISRAEL W. Bloomfield announces The Opening of its HEBREW AND SUNDAY SCHOOL Pre-Registration Period CALL 681-5353 Interested In A More Participatory Form Of JUDAISM? CONG. T'CHIYAH 647-7900 JEWELRY APPRAISALS At Very Reasonable Rates call for an appointment 642-5575 est. Int DEINUll JEWISH NtVIS 1919 30400 Telegraph Road Suites 104, 134 " Birmingham. Mi. 48010 (313) 642-5575 LAWRENCE M. ALLAN President GEMOLOGIST <41 DIAMONTOLOGIS r a more so called universal approach — that she was speaking for mankind rather than the Jewish people. Whatever one's feel- ings on this view, one can't help wondering why the producers and their suppor- ters have gone to such great leng-hts to prevent Levin's drama from being staged. However, Levin was correct when he stressed that it was Anne Frank's particularism that gave her universality, that a person does not repre- sent humanity when he or she is made to be everyman or woman. Here is what Levin said was dropped from the "Diary": "Who had made us Jews different from all other people? Who has allowed us to suffer so terribly up till now? It is God who has made us as we are, but it will be God, too, who will raise us up again. j.f,we bear all this suffering.-Ancl .if. there are still -Jew.g-Nft i. when it is over, then Jews, instead of being doomed, will be held up as an example. ,",Who knows, it might even be our religion from which the world and all people learn good, and for that reason and that reason only do we have to suffer now. We can never become just Netherlanders, or just English, or just ... repre- sentatives of any other country for that matter, we will always remain Jews, but we want to, too." Levin said this was re- placed in the play with Anne saying: "We're not the only people that have had to suffer. There have always been people that have had to ... Sometimes one race ... sometimes another." While the fight over Anne Frank dominated Levin's last three de- cades, it was part of his long struggle against the literary establishment, much of it Jewish and as- similationist, who Levin believed were opposed to writers who wrote about Jews. Levin was a writer who always sought literary recognition but he believes he has denied this by the literary establishment. True, he was paranoid but as Freud pointed out, even those suffering from paranoia have enemies. Levin also tried to educate - Man Arrested in Synagogue Theft A Jackson Prison parolee who lived in an apartment. behind Cong. Bnai Israel Beth Yehudah has been charged by police with stealing $25,000 worth of silver ornaments from the synagogue. Richard Campbell, 31, was arraigned in Oak Park District Court yesterday. He was arrested after he pawned some of the stolen items to a gold and silver _dealer who contacted police. Police have recovered only a small portion of the stolen items. in hishdoks. He wrote about the Holocaust. he wrote about Israel both about the p•e-state days and the JeWish state, he brought the plight of the Falashas -to world attention. . - Levin is best known for his best seller, - Compul- sion - and his early work The Old Bunch" is consid- ered a classic of American Jewish literature. Yet he always believed- that once the prejudice against Jewish subjects disap- peared he would win true recognition. Levin began his writing life during a period when it was difficult for works about Jewish subjects to get published. • This prejudice seems to be disappearing and now novels about JeWs are pouring off the presses. Perhaps in death Levin, who pioneered the way for American Jewish writers, will get the literary •ecogni tion he deserves. FUND RAISER, ADMINISTRATOR WANTED - FUND RAISING AGENCY SEEKS YOUNG MAN WITH GOOD JEWISH BACKGROUND, AND WITH SOME EXPERIENCE IN FUND RAISING AND PUBLIC RELATIONS, AS ASSISTANT TO DIRECTOR. ALSO TRAVELING THE STATE REQUIRED. EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR ADVANCEMENT. SEND COMPLETE RE- SUME (to be kept in strict confidence) TO THE JEWISH NEWS, BOX 2262, 17515 W. 9 MILE RD., SUITE 865, SOUTHFIELD, MI 48075 The Workmen's Circle, J. T. Zukerman Culture Fund Sholem Aleichem Institute & Jewish Community Council PRESENT THE 3rd ANNUAL in cooperation with the City of Oak Park * * FEATURING SHIRLEY BENYAS °ALEX NEMOFF SAM BARNETT &HIS ORCHESTRA Sunday, August 2,198102:30 Oak Park Major Park pm Please bring chairs or blankets for your comfort The Instrumental Music for this occasion is made possible by funds supplied by the recording companies of America through the Music Performance Trust Fund. The grant for this performance was obtained with the co-operation of Local 5. Detroit Federation of musicians. No charge AN ALTERNATIVE JEWISH EDUCATION . A Non-Religious Approach for Children and Adults Affiliate of the Jewish Community Center Jewish Parents Institute MAKE YOUR FAMILY PART OF A SECULAR JEWISH EXPERIENCE ADULT PROGRAMMING PLANNED THROUGHOUT YEAR SUNDAY SCHOOL PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN From Biblical times to contemporary issues Music and Dance incorporated into program . ENROLLMENT NOW OPEN FOR FALL PROGRAM For information call JPl office: 661-1000, Ext. 159 or. 557-5486