THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
I wish my family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
MITZI FIELD
I wish my family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
'New Year
MRS. MAX GLADSTONE
I wish my family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
BRENDA MOSS
I wish my family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
REBECCA ROSSEN
I wish my family and friends a
very healthy, happy and prosperous
New Year
RHODA H. ROSENTHAL
Lauderhill, Fla.
Wishing all our family and
friends a year of
health and happiness
JACK, MILLIE & JENISE DRAYTON
Wishing all our family and
friends a year of
health and happiness
Wishing all our family and
friends a year of
health and happiness
LARRIE & LORETTA GLOBERSON & FAMILY
Puerto Rican Jewry Thriving
By PROF. ARNOLD AGES
(Copyright 1982, JTA, Inc.)
(Editor's note: Prof.
Arnold Ages of Toronto,
a well known journalist
in Canada, recently vis-
ited Puerto Rico where
he did some research and
interviewing on the
Jewish community
there.)
According to Rabbi
Claudio Kaiser, the
spiritual leader of San
Juan's Shaare Tzedec Con-
gregation, the Jewish com-
munity on this island com-
monwealth numbers ap-
proximately 500 families.
The total Jewish popula-
tion, including tiny groups
in Ponce, Asturce and
Mayaguez is about 1,800
souls — a rather minuscule
percentage of Puerto Rico's
three million plus inhabi-
tants. •
In a recent inverview
with this writer, the
Peruvian-born rabbi, who
was trained in Israel and
Argentina, indicated that
the Jewish community Cen-
ter of San Juan (which
houses the Shaare Tzedec
Congregation as well), now
undergoing massive reno-
vations, is affiliated with
the Conservative move-
ment in the United States.
Rabbi Kaiser, who of-
ficiated at a memorial
service recently on the
10th anniversary of the
massacre of Puerto
Rican pilgrims , at Lod
airport, told me that the
recent history of Puerto
Rican Jewry begins only
in the late 1950s when
Cuban Jews arrived on
the island after brief at-
tempts to settle in Miami
and New York.
Strollers on the narrow
streets in Old San Juan
(where classical music is
played on loud speakers
strung out along balconies
festooned with flowers) will
find a number of stores
under Jewish proprietor-
ship. -Rabbi Kaiser indi-
cated that there are a
number of members of the
community involved in tex-
tiles.
San Juan also has an
emerging Jewish
entrepreneurial and profes-
HOWARD, GAIL, JOEY & SCOTT NISKAR
Wish All Their Friends & Relatives
A Very
Healthy & Prosperous
sional cadre; there are
Jewish lawyers and several
Jewish professors at the
University of Puerto Rico.
While maintaining a low
profile, the Jewish commu-
nity on the island maintains
a fiercely positive Jewish
commitment, says Rabbi
Kaiser. Philanthropic sup-
port for the United Jewish
Appeal and Israel oriented
fund raising is of a high or-
der.
The
community's
Jewish loyalties are ex-
pressed in other ways as
well. There is an after-
noon Hebrew school
which meets four times a
week. The Reform con-
gregation (which is cur-
rently without rabbinic
leadership and numbers
some 40 families) main-
tains a Sunday school
program.
As in small Jewish cord-
munities, San Juan's Jews
possess a very strong sense
of peoplehood and solidar-
ity. During the High Holy
Days there are 500 wor-
shipers at Shaare Tzedek
Congregation.
Not all Jewish amenities
are available on the island.
No kosher meat is
slaughtered there but this
appears not to be a problem
for the 35 families who ob-
serve kashrut. They order
their provisions by air ex-
press from New York and it
arrives within two to three
days.
At his synagogue on
Ponce de Leon St., Rabbi
Kaiser officiates at one or
two Bar or Bat Mitzvas a
month.
Ancient Torah
Ark Displayed
Friday, September 11, 1982 93
Best wishes for a
happy, healthy
New Year
MR. & MRS.
MANUEL M. GROSSMAN
Best wishes for a
happy, healthy
New Year
YETTA SALLAN AND FAMILY
•
A Very Happy and Healthy
New Year to All Our Friends
and Family
MR. & MRS. NORMAN ALLAN
MR. & MRS. LAWRENCE M. ALLAN
A Very Happy and Healthy
New Year to All Our Friends
and Family
MICHAEL ARAKELIAN
of the INVISIBLE THREAD
A Very Happy and Healthy
New Year to All Our Friends
and Family
MR. & MRS. MORRIS HATT
A Very Happy and Healthy
New Year to All Our Friends
and Family
MR. & MRS. JACK SONENBERG & FAMILY
A Very Happy and Healthy
New Year to All Our Friends
and Family
This medieval Torah
ark, believed to be the
only one still in existence
from a Western country,
is being displayed by the
Israel Museum in
Jerusalem. It was made
in Modena, Italy in 1472
of carved and inlaid
woods.
This peculiar people
called Israel has, despite all
the vicissitudes which for
2,000 years have daily,
yearly, hourly, attempted to
expel it from its own milieu
and uproot it from its
spiritual climate — this
people, I assert, has ac-
cepted upon its body and
.soul the burdens of eternal
alleigance of the Kingdom
of the Spirit.
—Hayyim Nahman Bialik
BETTY & MORRY S1ARKMAN & FAMILY
1111111111K9W11111111111
May the coming year be
one filled with health,
happiness and
prosperity for all our
friends and,family.
HARRITE, SANFORD, MARK,
ROBERT & LORI WOLOK