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64 Friday, February 12, 1982

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Dr. Croll Chronicles a Lifetime in His Poetry

Maurice Croll is an
ophthalmologist with a long
and creditable record of
nearly four decades in this
country, in Brazil, in the --
armed forces and as a lec-
turer in Israel.
While retired, Dr. Croll,
who earned his medical de-
gree at Wayne State Uni-
versity School of Medicine,
is presently clinical profes-
sor of ophthalmology at the
Kresge Eye Institute here
and is director of an inten-
sive five-course, five-day
class in basic and clinical
subjects attended by eye
doctors from many lands.
He has rendered impor-
tant services in Brazil
where he established the
Croll Eye Clinic in
Anapolis. Brazil honored
him, and he has been
awarded recognition by his
alma mater.

His professional suc-
cesses merit lengthy
mention at a time when
he gains new honors — as
a poet. He turned to
poetry four years ago,

DR. MAURICE CROLL

and has produced suffi-
ciently for the publica-
tion of his collected
works, which have just
been published by Harlo
Press under the title
"Adventures in Poetic
Prose: Poems for
Grandparents, Lovers
and Others."

He could have subtitled it
"my labor of love." His
comments on the many

poems, those which already
appeared in The Detroit
Jewish News, together with
explanatory notes that em-
phasize his devotion to what
is surely a new career by an
eminent Detroiter.
He traveled widely, and
his ophthalmological serv-
ices in many lands are de-
picted in the scores of
photographs which illus-
trate his first volume of
poetry. He already has an-
other collection certain to be
Volume Two of the works of
Dr. Maurice Croll, Poet and
Ophthalmologist, both de-
signations now gaining
equal ground.
His links with Israel gain
attention with a poem
"Golda, Our Golda," withan
attributed tribute to the
great lady. This is how he
introduces this poem:

Golda, our Golda, "Shain
vee Gold."
A face that said so much
Across the screen I saw her
there.
She spoke so soft and so sin-

cere,
I drank in every word.
I saw the anguish in her
eyes,
Her hands reached out to
plead for life,
To plead for peace,
To plead for Is-ra-el.

She spoke so soft, _so gen-
teel,.
Right from her heart it
came.
I did not breathe, I did not
move,
Wrapped in her heavenly
spell.

A dedicated Jew, with a
lifetime of Zionist devo-
tions, the subjects of his
works, in which are ex-
pressed his strong family
links, also have the reli-
giously Jewish connota-
tions.
Therefore his poem "Why
Do the Sleeping Willows
Weep?" marks his emotions
over the Holocaust.
Then there is his poetic
expressions resulting from
his visit at the Western

Author Defines Reform Torah Commentary

By RABBI
W. GUNTHER PLAUT

(Editor's note: since its
publication three months
ago by the Union of
American Hebrew Con-
gregations, "The Torah:
A Reform Commentary"
has generated an over-
whelming response, and
a second printing is now
under way. In this article,
reprinted from "Reform
Judaism," Rabbi Plaut —
author of four of the vol-
ume's five sections — ex-
plains how the new com-
mentary differs from the
commentaries available
until now.)

In contemplating the cre-
ation of a Reform Torah
commentary I was con-
vinced that here was an-
other of our great frontiers.
In the 300 years of Jewish
residence in North
America, no commentary on
the Torah was ever pro-
duced here under Jewish
authorship.
The English-speaking
world read the Hertz com-
mentary on the Pentateuch,
produced under the editor-
ship of England's Chief
Rabbi Joseph Hertz. Also
available was the one-
volume commentary, also
produced in England, by
Soncino Press, which con-
tained the briefest excerpts
from major medieval com-
mentators.
The Hertz commentary
was a creation of the 1920s
and 1930s and to a large de-
gree a response to anti-
Semitism. Hertz wanted to
show that the Torah was the

greatest gift ever given
mankind. His approach was
strongly Orthodox, how-
ever, and only made refer-
ence to critical and literary
assessments of the Torah,
archeology and linguistics
to oppose them or to make
an Orthodox point.

His commentary in-
sisted that the Torah was
handed by God to Moses
on Sinai and took for
granted that the Halakha
(religious law) was al-
ready embedded in the
original meaning of the
Torah. Many modern
Jews, including the Jews
of the Reform movement,
cannot accept that. Yet,
by default, the Hertz
commentary is in the
pews of many Reform
congregations.

We have long needed a
thoroughly modern corn-
mentary on the Torah that
not only- encompassed mod-
ern scholarship but also
contained the insights of
science. I approached it with
a combination of the rever-
ence that is due the Torah —
believing that somewhere,
somehow, the Divine has
touched it — and with the
realization that it is shot
through with human
creativity.
All these elements to-
gether make for a Torah
that a modern person can
read and appreciate on
three levels: firstly, the an-
tiquarian level — what the
book said to its people in its
day; . secondly, what 3,000
years of Jewish love for this
book made out of the text in

terms of legends, Halakha
and theology; and thirdly,
what the text says today.

The story of Cain and
Abel, for example, is about
two brothers who represent
the original two great seg-
ments of mankind — settle
agriculture and nomadic
cattle-breading.

lived in the desert and so the
conflict between these two
civilizations is reflected
throughout the Torah.

On the second level, "Am
I my brother's keeper?" is a
moral question. Even
though the question is not
answered, God by punish-
ing Cain answers him in the
affirmative. That is the tra-
ditional reading of the pas-
sage. But there is another
reading, that of Shimon
Bar Yochai, that dates to
the Second Century but
which was later buried.

When Cain answers God
— "Am I my brother's
keeper?" — he can be un-
derstood to imply thereby:
"Aren't You, God, also his
keeper?" In other words,
"You could have prevented
his death. Why didn't You?"

RABBI PLAUT

Abel, the shepherd,
and Cain, the farmer,
come into conflict. Cain
disregards God's warn-
ing and slays his brother.
Then God asks Cain,
"Where is your brother
Abel?" and Cain says,
"Am I my brother's
keeper?"

On the antiquarian level
we can understand it as a
conflict of cultures. The
Bible is sympathetic to the
nomad or semi-nomad, who
lives at the edge of civiliza-
tion, figures like Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob. The people
that received the Torah

The question can be
started theologically as,
"Are You my brother's
keeper, or am I?" That ques-
tion was raised in the Sec-
ond Century, but it was too
painful. Even Shimon Bar
Yochai said we'd better not
pursue it.

In 1982, however, we
ask that question again.
Transposed in modern
parlance, it could be
stated: "You could have
prevented the death of
six million. Why didn't
You?" The story speaks
to us with a new voice, a
buried voice from the
past, but one with mod-
ern insistence.

I have taught this book
from coast to coast to youths
and adults, and I find that
wherever I go people bring
me new insights, which is
another way of saying this
book is alive. Presented in
the right context, the New
Torah Commentary speaks
to us and we begin to speak
to the text.

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LETTER FROM GOLDA HEIR,
PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL

Wall — the Kotel Maaravi
— in which -he deals with
the Wailing Wall, in his
usage of the now abandoned
terminology for the holy
area in Jerusalem. In this
poem he demonstrates his
love for the land of Israel,
declaring:

Blocks of granite, row on
row,
Built over 3,000 years ago.
Here David played upon the
harp.
Here King Solomon sat in
judgment
In this hallowed sacred land
Of Temple sanctified by the
people's prayers,
Relic now of times gone by.
Glory days of long ago.

Now it stands here worn and
weary,
Heavy laden with the sor-
rows
Piled upon it day by day.
Here they come from all the
corners,
Torn and twisted with pain
and sorrow
Engraved so deep upon
their faces.

Dr. Croll views himself as
a Jewish poetic "mission-

ary." He has special per-
sonal regard for three of his
poems: The just quoted
"Wall of Bitter Tears," "And
I Did Pray" and "Who Will
Say Amen For Me?" The
later was a result of the
agonies that came with the
death of his son-in-law and
grandson, Bruno and
Danny, on July 11, 1980. It
was a tragic occurrence on
his birthday.

The entire volume is fil-
led with emotion. It is the
labor of love in which Dr.
Croll gave his impressions
of how he was moved into
writing poetry, the influ-
ence upon him of one of his
teachers, the late Dr. Clar-
ence Hilberry, the inspira-
tion he derived from the
emotional effects of a new
art which gives him new
life. -

Dr. Croll's "Adventures
in Poetic Prose" is available
at iBrowse Book Store,
33086 Northwestern High-
way, West Bloomfield.
Autographed copies of the
book are available and Dr.
Croll will arrange to reach
prospective readers there.

Islamic, Third World Abuse
of Zionism Reported by IJA

LONDON — A study of
the abuse of Zionism in in-
ternational affairs has been
published by the Institute of
Jewish Affairs.
The report says that
"abusive references to
Zionism are not confined to
Arab states and go far be-
yond direct reference to Is-
rael. The distortion of
Zionism is "deliberate and
calculated and not just a
product of sloppy thinking."
The selected examples
given in the IJA study are
divided into categories and
focus on Arab states and the
Islamic and Third World. In
Iran, Zionism is considered
a criminal offense punisha-
ble by execution.

Governments use the
Word to insult and
criticize opponents. The
Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein spoke of the
"hostile colonialist,
Zionist and racist machi-

nations" of the Iranians,
while the Iranians refer
to the "criminal govern-
ment" of Iraq being
"entirely in the hands of
international Zionism."

The report shows that the
media are said to be con-
trolled by Zionism for the
purpose of confusing "the
oppressed peoples of the
world, especially the Afri-
can brothers" and that this
notion is "a clear example of
a conspiracy phobia at
work."

A New Zionist
in Black Africa

MONROVIA, Liberia
(ZINS) — General Samuel
Doe, commander of the
Liberian army and head of
state, has joined the Zionist
organization in Monrovia
and was elected vice
president.

