10 Riday, August 6, 1982
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Russian Shulhan Arukh Sent to Jerusalem
By MOSHE RON
AT CAMP SEA-GULL
Slim and trim down in beautiful Northern Michigan this summer (Aug 21-Aug.
27 or Aug. 27-Sept. 2, 1982). For $175 per session, you lose I ,s. and inches
while enjoying .. .
• 6 nights lodging
• 3 delicious low-cal meals daily
• supervised activities, lectures and classes — including
horseback riding, tennis, golf, sailing, dance aerobics,
slimnastics and other exercise classes, as well as stress
management and weight control lectures.
All this and more —at our spectacular location on Lake Charlevoix. Don't miss
the chance to be a part of the "original" Northern Michigan Spa!! For adult
women only . . . call- or write .. .
CAMP SEA-GULL
Charlevoix, Mi. 49720
(616) 547-8556
HUNTERS SQUARE TRAVEL
Offers:
• Complete Travel Services
(Domestic and International)
• The Lowest Air Fares Available
• Fast, Efficient Service
• Individual, Group and
Commercial Travel
For Your Convenience:
Open Monday thru Friday, 9-5:30
SATURDAY 10-4 p.m.
.
Major Credit Cards
HUNTERS SQUARE TRAVEL
Loehman's/Tally Hall
31225 Orchard Lake at 14 Mile
Farmington Hills, Mich.
Phone (313)855-3200
•
omeday, you said, you would
give yourself the lifestyle you've
earned. That someday is . now, at
La Costa Greens where Southern
California lifestyle is combined with a
prestigious community, scenic
surroundings and exquisitely designed
luxury homes.
Spacious single-floor two-
bedroom units overlook the
world famous "Tournament
of Champions" golf course.
And nearby are miles of Pacific
Ocean beaches. La Jolla, and
San Diego, while Los Angeles
is just an hour and a half north.
Don't let the life you promised yourself slip
away. For details, write
La Costa Greens,
2558 A Navarra
Drive, Carlsbad,
California 92008
or phone
(714) 942-1005.
The Jewish News Special
Israel Correspondent
TEL AVIV — The only
Shulhan Arukh written in
the Soviet Union has fallen
into the hands of the KGB.
Its secret police have
scrutinized its pages care-
fully, looking for counter-
revolutionary ideas.
.(The Shulhan Arukh —
"Prepared table" — is a
simplified synopsis of the
Jewish laws, including the
daily commandments, Sab-
bath, festivals and Jewish
dietary, domestic, civil and
criminal law.)
One of the two composers
of the Russian Shulhan
Arukh, Michael Schneider,
a former officer in the Red
Army, is living today in
Jerusalem and studying the
Holy Books. In his office,
bearing the name "Shamir"
— the Hebrew initials of the
"Academic Organization of
Russian Immigrants who
observe the Jewish laws" —
we can see a 300-page man-
uscript called "I Believe."
The second composer
is Gershon Rosenstein, a
former professor of bio-
chemistry in the Soviet
Union. The text of the
book was transferred
over many years from
Moscow to Jerusalem by
phone. The KGB agents
listened to the talks, in
which the text was
transmitted to Prof.
Yeremiahu Baranover.
The Shulhan Arukh in
Russian enabled every
Russian reader to learn
the chief principles of
Jewry and Jewish laws.
Schneider said, "I was
born in Moscow in 1957. My
father was a historian and
specialist for Pushkin, my
mother was an Army doctor
who had served in Stalin-
grad. I was seven years old
when I first heard Russian
children calling after me
`Yid.' I asked my grand-
mother why they were
doing this. She told me that
I was a 'Yid' and should be
proud about it. It turned out
that my grandfather was a
Hasid but in our home
there was no sign of
Jewishness.
"In High School I met
some Jews, including
teachers and pupils. Some of
them spoke about the big Is-
raeli victory in the Six-Day
War."
Schneider looked for
books about Jewry. He be-
came involved in a conflict
with anti-Semitic teachers
and was removed-from high
school. He joined the Com-
munist youth, but con-
tinued to seek his Jewish
identity. He started to learn
Hebrew with the aid of a
Russian encyclopedia. Af-
terwards, he succeeded in
obtaining the Hebrew book,
"A Thousand Words."
the
visited
He
synagogue in Moscow,
asked to be circumcized
and learned all about
Jewry. Rabbi Fishman
refused to carry out the
circumcision. He sent
him to a teacher, who
taught him the Bible and
Talmud.
Schneider found a smal-
ler synagogue in Moscow,
where Hasidim prayed. He
met Abraham, a secret
Chabad Hasid, who taught
him how to pray. A few
weeks later he was circum-
sized.
Schneider grew a beard
and sidelocks. People
thought that he was a
tourist or a crazy man.
Schneider continued CO
study mathematics, Heb-
rew books and Kabala. He
took part in military exer-
cises. Once he succeeded in
listening to Israel Radio in
Russian. Russian officers
asked him about Israel and
its army, but then he did not
know much about it.
At the Mathematics In-
stitute he met his future
wife, Lea. They got mar-
ried in 1977, after Lea had
promised to keep a re-
ligious Jewish home. In
1980, Michael and Lea re-
ceived permits to go to Is-
rael. Now they are living
in Jerusalem and have
two children.
Before coming to Israel,
they worked in Moscow in a
computer planning insti-
tute. Once, during a break,
Michael studied a Jewish
book. It was a collection of
talks of the Lubavitcher
Rebbe in Hebrew. His fore-
man confiscated the book,
arguing that it includes re-
ligious propaganda forbid-
den in the Soviet Union.
About the second com-
poser of the Russian
Shulhan Arukh, Prof. Ger-
shon Rosenstein, Schneider
talks with enthusiasm. He
is now 44 years old. For
years he was a scientist
with international fame in
mathematical psychiatry.
For 10 years he has asked
the Soviet authorities to let
him go to Israel, but they
refuse, arguing that in his
scientific work he had ac-
cess to secret material.
Rosenstein maintains that
this material is now long
obsolete.
Schneider told us in-
teresting stories about how
he and his friend composed
the Russian Shulhan
Arukh. He says that Prof.
Rosenstein wrote the main
part of it and that his own
contribution was limited.
Schneider says that
there is a big shortage in
the Soviet Union of
elementary Jewish
books. He met Prof.
Rosenstein accidentally
in the synagogue in Mos-
cow. In his first talk with
him he learned that Prof.
Rosenstein had already
composed some Jewish
works. Both decided to
write a book about
Jewish history, faith and
law.
After a year they finished
the manuscript, which con-
tained parts of Jewish his-
tory, and a survey of Jewish
religious books like the
Prophets, Talmud, Zohar,
Shulhan Arukh, etc. Part
of the book was dedicated to
Jewish prayers and usage
and to Jewish holidays.
The book was typed on
stencils and distributed in
Moscow. One copy was
transferred secretly to Is-
rael.
Israeli religious experts
have made some alterations
in the book, which were
transmitted in daily talks
by telephone to Moscow.
The KGB listened to the
talks and followed the alt-
erations.
The book was printed
in Israel by Shamir print-
ing house, edited by Prof.
Baranover. Some copies
even arrived in Moscow
secretly and were re-
ceived with enthusiasm
by Jewish circles. Special
groups were organized to
learn its principles of
Jewry.
Today Michael Schneider
studies in a yeshiva in
Jerusalem and his wife is
working for a computer
company. In the meantime,
her parents have arrived
from the Soviet Union, but
his father, a professor, and
his mother, a military doc-
Force Wasn't Israel's Idea
NEW YORK (JTA) — Is-
rael's Consul General in
New York Naphtali Lavie,
said last week that Israel
never requested the forma-
tion of a temporary multi-
national force in Lebanon
nor the dispatch of U.S.
marines to the area.
But he said that once the
suggestion had been put
forward, his country was
willing to consider it as a
means to remove the PLO
from Beirut and to help re-
store authority to the
Lebanese government.
"Israel did not ask for
American troops or for a
multinational force," Lavie
said. "This is something
that should be known." He
referred in this context to a
statement he said an Egyp-
tian source attributed to
Egypt's Foreign Minister
Kamal Hassan Ali, assert-
ing that the PLO had re-
quested the American in-
tervention.
At the same time, how-
ever, the Consul General
stressed that an Ameri-
can presence was "very
important" to Israel, and
accused the PLO of
exploiting his country's
good will by using the
negotiations as a means
of stalling for time.
Asked to comment on re-
cent criticism of Israel's
public relations perform-
ance by Howard Squadron,
former chairman of the Con-
ference of Presidents of
Major American Jewish
Organizations, Lavie chal-
lenged Squadron's assertion
that Israel responded too
slowly to exaggerated re-
ports of civilian casualties.
He maintained that Is-
rael publicized its own fig-
ures as soon as they could be
obtained, first based on hos-
pital registraion and then,
when its forces were able to
clear through the rubble of
Sidon, and other areas in
the south, on their own in-
vestigation.
tor, can only keep up a cor-
respondence with their son
in Jerusalem.
Michael Schneider says
that he believes that his pa-
rents will also come to
Jerusalem. He believes in a
return of a big part of Rus-
sian Jewry to the Jewish
faith. He said that a relative
of his wife left the Com-
munist youth, came to
Jerusalem and joined the
ultra-fanatic Neturei Karta
Orthodox sect.
ATLANTIC CITY
Playboy Club
$135+
TRANS-AM TRAVEL
(London Chop House Bldg.)
961-7590
THE SMART
CHARTER TO
LAS VEGAS
H.M.H ■ & F.
557-5145
FIDELMAN'S
"GREAT ESCAPE" RESORT'S
AUGUST ECONPLAN-VACATION
From $150 per person
per week—dbl. occ.
Includes: 7 nights lodging, 3
meals daily, planned ac-
tivities including nightly
music and entertainment,
hay rides, weiner roasts,
heated swimming pool,
tennis, golf driving range,
et. in a beautiful country set-
ting. (R.V. Sites !,12 nightly)
Write or call for reservations
FIDELMAN'S RESORT
Phoenix Rd.,
S. Haven, Mi 49090
Tel. (616) 637-5118
INSTANT
COLOR
PASSPORTS
ID. & VISA
PHOTOS
PROFESSIONAL
PORTRAIT LIGHTING
352-7030
LEO
KNIGHT
PHOTOGRAPHY
26571 W. 12 Mile Rd.
Corner Northwestern Hwy. .
1TOthenberg's New O GLATT
BARCELONA
Hotel and Beach Club
Miami Beach
SUMMER
29
from $
per night
including meals
OPEN FROM MAY 26—SEPT 6
ROSH HASHANAH
YOM KIPPUR
from
$319
Services conducted by World
Renowned Cantor
Including 3 Meals Daily
• 3 private tennis courts
• Olympic size pool
• 400 ft. private beach
• T.V. in every room
Call Toll Free 800-327-8332
N.Y. Office (212) 684-1170
3arcelona Hotel 43ra St. &
Collins Ave Miami Beach
305) 532-3311