THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Readers Forum Materials submitted to the Readers Forum must be brief. The writer's r acne will be withheld from publication upon request. No unsigned letters will be published. Materials will not be returned unless a stamped, self-addressed envelope is enclosed. F j CASH FOR YOUR ommonas PRELIOUS JEWELS * * Sc:cegesapteeatge optL ..Se 755 W. Big Beaver Rd. Its mile at I-75) - Troy, Michigan Phone: 313-362-4500 There is no justification to place Richard Wagner alongside of mass-murderer Adolf Hitler. Wagner was a schizoid personality, and it is indeed a fact of history that his scurrilous defama- tions of Jews and particu- larly Jewish-descent "com- petitors" in music, like the immortal Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, remain as a perpetual tar- nish on Richard Wagner's own inspired and immortal musical creations. However, to ignore some of the Jewishly-relevant positive facets of the Wagnerian personality and especially of his music is truly indefensible. American Red Magen The award will be given David for Israel (ARMDI) to Shostak at the ARMDI International Humanita- annual luncheon April 29 in rian Award. New York ANNOUNCING Thus, 4ccording to the then president of the Jewish Historical Society of England, Richard Wagner counted a great WHEN PLANNING YOUR HAPPY OCCASION • • • • Wedding Bar Mitzva Shower Anniversary • • • • Banquet Bat Mitzva Reunion Birthday Or. Any Elegant Party Call SUBURBAN KOSHER CATERERS 1626-0242 Ask for VIRGINIA KOZIN Congregation Beth Abraham Hillel Moses 5075 W. Maple, West Bloomfield Under Supervision of Council of Orthodox Rabbis UNCLE BUZZY'S ANNUAL CHILDREN'S many close friends among Jews and persons of Jewish descent. Among these was Her- mann Levi, who was per- sonally selected by Wagner to conduct the premiere of "Parsifal" in Bayreuth in 1882. Hermann Levi, be it noted, was the son of Rabbi Benedict Levi of the city of Giessen in the then Grand Duchy of Hesse and a par- ticipant in the Napoleonic Sanhedrin of Jewish Nota- bles in 1806. Hermann Levi's fidelity to Judaism_ was expressed in a composi- tion of the "Veshomru" for the Sabbath Eve service of worship. Richard Wagner's im- print is not only on the majestically dramatic music of his immortal com- positions, among which "Tannhaeuser" served as the inspiration for Dr. Theodor Herzl's writing of his "Der Judenstaat" (i.e. "The Jews' State," not the "Jewish" State in proper translation). As Dr. Herzl reported, whenever his in- spiration flagged, he attended the Paris opera in order to be elevated and edified by Wagner's music, upon which he returned home to continue writing. Moreover, Richard Wagner enriched the liturgy of the synagogue. To wit, the Jewish composer Max Spicker incorporated parts of Wagner's "Rienzi" into the kedusha of the Emanuel Synagogual Serv- ice (New York, 1901). Friday, February 19, 1982 19 Shostack to Receive ARMDI Humanitarian Award NEW YORK .— Israel's Minister of Health, Eliezer Shostak, has been selected as the 1982 recipient of the More Facts on Composer Wagner Editor, The Jewish News: Entirely contrary to your perceptions (Jan. 15 Purely Commentary) on (Wilhelm) Richard Wagner, Maestro Zubin Mehta's courageous initiation of Wagner's music in the state of Israel represented a fight for free- om, as Chaim Bermant of the London Jewish Chronicle wrote. • PORTRAIT CONTEST NOW THROUGH MARCH 20 ENTRY FEE $15.95 - 8 X 10 PORTRAIT WINNERS RECEIVE—$50.00 BOND 10% OFF ON REPRINTS - EVERGREEN PLAZA • 19919 W. 12 Mile Rd. • Southfield, MI 48076 • 557 4848 - IT'S THE COFFEE THAT'LL MAKE EVERYONE THINK YOU DID WHEN YOU DIDN'T! 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(313)353-1300 Wagner's paternity is entirely a matter of irrele- vancy (Ludwig Geyer, claimed by some eminent writers to have been Wagner's natural father,. not only his stepfather) be- cause Ludwig Geyer was not`of Jewish descent, even though Nietzsche could not resist the bon mot, that it is not far from a Geyer to an Adler. (Geyer=vulture, Ad- ler=eagle, the latter an ob- viously Jewishly-favored name). Richard Wagner died six years before Adolf Hitler was born. That Hitler idolized Wagner and his music and sponsored the Bayreuth music festivals cannot eradicate the intrin- sic greatness of Wagner's music as well as the great support which that music consistently enjoyed in Jewish circles of Germany. Klaus J. Herrmann Mt. Royal, Quebec c 1 ,111. K GENERALFOOOS 1 98c, GenPt:, , Foods C0f00 , Rtidn CERTIFIED KOSHER