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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

40—BUSINESS CARDS 40—BUSINESS CARDS

ALEX STRIM

Prof., University of Toronto

Call anytime
968-5354

STEVE

DISTINCTIVE WALLPAPERING
Will hang ANY paper ---
$10. per roll.

Free Estimates
Fully Insured.

559-2644 — AL

STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP
MANAGEMENT AND
CIRCULATION

(Required by 39 U.S.C. 3685)

1. TITLE OF PUBLICATION: The
Jewish News Publishing Company.
2. DATE OF FILING: Sept. 24, 1982
3. FREQUENCY OF ISSUE: Weekly.
A. NO OF ISSUES PUBLISHED
ANNUAL: 52.
B. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION
PRICE: $15.00
4. LOCATION OF KNOWN OFFICE
OF PUET.ICATION: 17515 W. 9
Mile Rd., Suite 865, Southfield,
Oakland County, Michigan 48075.
5. LOCATION OF THE HEAD-
QUARTERS OR GENERAL
BUSINESS OFFICES OF THE
PUBLISHERS. Same as above.
6. NAME AND ADDRESS OF PUB-
LISHER, EDITOR AND MANAG-
ING EDITOR: Philip Slomovitz,
22300 Lucerne Dr. Apt. 101,
Southfield, Mich. 48075.
7. OWNER: The Jewish News Publ.
Co., 17515 W. 9 Mile, Suite 865,
Southfield, Michigan 48075.
Philip SlomoVritz, 22300 Lucerne,
Apt. 101, Southfield, Michigan
48075.
Carmi M. Slomovitz, 16400 N. Park
Dr., Apt. 706, Southfield, Michigan
48075.
8. KNOWN BONDHOLDERS,
MORTGAGES, AND OTHER SE-
CURITY HOLDERS OWNING OR
HOLDING 1 PERCENT OR MORE
OF TOTAL AMOUNT OF BONDS,
MORTGAGES OR OTHER
SECURITIES: None.
(In the following tabulation first
column of figures is "Average No.
Copies Each Issue During Preced-
ing 12-Months," second column is
"Actual Number of copies of Single
Issue Published Nearest to Filing
Date.")
10. EXTENT AND NATURE OF CIR-
CULATION:
A. TOTAL NO. COPIES PRINTED
(Net Press Run):
16,550
16,248
B. PAID CIRCULATION:
1.
SALES THROUGH
DEALERS AND CARRIERS,
STREET VENDORS AND
COUNTER SALES:
2
2,200
2,003
2. MALL SUBSCRIPTIONS:
13,966
13,776
C. TOTAL PAID CIRCULATION:
16,166
15,779
D. FREE DISTRIBUTION BY
MAIL, CARRIERS OR OTHER
MEANS, SAMPLES, COM-
PLIMENTARY, AND OTHER
FREE COPIES:
312
330
E. TOTAL DISTRIBUTION (Sum
of C and D):
16,478
16,109
F. COPIES NOT DISTRIBUTED

1. OFFICE USE, LEFT OVER,
UNACCOUNTED, SPOILED
A8IER PRINTING:
62
125
2. RETURNS FROM NEWS
AGENTS:
10
14
G. TOTAL: Sum of E&F 1 and 2 —
should equal net press run shown in
A):
16,550
16,248

I certify that the statements made by
me above are correct and complete.
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ,
Bus. MgrJVice Pres.

FOR COMPLETION_ BY
PUBLISHERS MAILING AT
THE REGULAR RATES (Section
132,121, Postal Service Manual) 39
U.S.C. 3626 provides in pertinent
part: "No person who would have
been entitled to mail matter under
former section 4359 of this title
shall mail such matter at the rates
provided under this subsection un-
less he files annually with the
Postal Service a written request for
permission to mail matter at such
rates."
In accordance with the provisions of
this statute, I hereby request per-
mission to mail the publication
named in Item 1 at the reduced
postage rated presently authorized
by 39 U.S.C. 3626.
CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ,
Bus. MgrJVice Pres.

A New Hasidic Masterpiece from Elie Wiesel

By ARNOLD AGES

Painting & Decorating
Reasonable Price.
Free Estimate. References.

Meir & Sons Bldrs.

Remodeling, additions, etc.

477-1582

53—ENTERTAINMENT

4 PIECE ORCHESTRA — $100.
All ages. 542-3359.

VERSATILE sophisticated party
music. Call 893-9667.

Our Business Is
Helping you have FUN
Clowns, music, magic,
puppets, juggling and bal-
loon sculpture.
273-6716

_ CARICATURES BY
JUUUS
For Parties
or Business

293-1723

54—CEMETERY LOTS

TWO CEMETERY plots.
Machpelah. Reasonable. 355-
1708.

SINGLE GRAVESITE. Cloverhill
Park Cemetery. Call 851-2418
eves.

Arabs Buying
at Jewish Stores

GENEVA (JTA) — The
oil rich Arab states .offi-
cially boycott Israel and call
on Western states to follow
suit. But affluent Arabs are
not averse to buying goodies
from Jewish merchants
when the urge seizes them.
Arab sheikhs who
cavorted in Switzerland this
. summer dropped a royal
bundle, a great part of
which wound up in Jewish
or Israeli-owned shops.
Their favorite jeweler was
Golay's. Fur coats were pur-
chased at Tiger Royal,
owned by the Rebbi
brothers, one of whom is
married to an Israeli.
Clothes were bought at
the Anita Smaga Boutique
or at the Bon Genie.
Medicines were gotten at La
Pharmacie Principals.
Cigars came from
Davidoff's. One of their very
favorite stores for antique
jewelry is Aviva's, whose
owner is an Israeli.

Nazi Payments?

MUNICH — Droemer
Knaur publishers in West
Germany say they have ob-
tained a copy of a book by
American banker Sidney
Warburg which says that
U.S. banks helped finance
Hitler.
In the book, Warburg
says he talked to Hitler
three times at the request of
American bankers, oil firms
and the Bank of England to
facilitate payments to the
Nazis.
The book alleges Hitler
received $10 million in
1929, $15 million in 1931
and $7 million in 1933.

Friday, October 1, 1982 69

TORONTO — In the film.
version of Chaim Potok's
"The Chosen," Hollywood
actor Rod Steiger plays the
important role of a hasidic
rebbe but despite Steiger's
considerable talents, he
gets all the accents wrong.
"Somewhere a Master:
Further Hasidic Portraits,"
by Elie Wiesel (Summit
Books) is a marvelous com-
pendium of hasidic lore and
a worthy successor to "Souls
on Fire." Judaism's own
modern maggid, Wiesel,
gets all the accents right.
He has written a touching
memoir about eight major
hasidic teachers who
flourished in the 18th Cen-
tury. Wiesel, however,
* *

ELIE WIESEL

writes not asa mere histo-
rian or critic; he is the zeal-
ous advocate-explicator
breathing new life into the
ancient wisdom.
The author points out
that while the 18th Cen-

Wiesel Literary Enrichment
Assumes Vast Folklore Role

The Elie Wiesel bookshelf
is expanding. Hardly a
month passes without.new
volumes appearing, enrich-
ing Wiesel's creative efforts,
always adding to the under-
standing and appreciation
he provides in the hasidic
field.
In addition to "Some-
where a Master," so notably
acclaimed in the review
above by Prof. Arnold Ages,
Summit Books just issued
an equally fascinating
supplementary Wiesel
classic, "Souls on Fire."
In this volume are por-
trayed the great masters in
Hasidism, whose names are
revered in Jewish ranks,
who are among the founders
of the great movement and
the inspirers of love for
people and faith.
Understandably,
Wiesel commences in this
volume with the founder
of the hasidic movement,
Israel Baal Shem Tov.
This is a classic in itself.
Supplementing the story
of the founder, Wiesel draws
upon the glory of the saintly
Rebbe Nahman of Rossov,
Rebbe David Liebes, Rebbe
Mikhal of Zlotchev and
others.
The Magid of Mezericher
is a famous name in
Hasidism, and his stories
serve as inspiration. He has
an important role in the
Wiesel anthology.
Levi Yitzhak of Ber-
dichev has become a symbol
of challenge to the Al-
mighty, combined with the
piety that distinguishes this
name. He is among the
leaders in Hasidism and
Wiesel provides the glory
due that name.
Others who are rein-
troduced in "Souls on
Fire" include Elimelech
of Lizensky, Israel of
Rizhin, Nahman of
Bratslav, Menachel
Mendel of Kotzk.
Such an inspiring collec-
tion of famous names, their
tales, their glorious roles,
provide an immense wealth
of Hasidism.
* *

Stories of Survivors
Mark 2 Other Wiesels

As a survivor from

Nazism who has depicted
the tragedy of the
Holocaust, Wiesel is well
recognized.
Bantam Books has pub-
lished two short paperbacks
by Wiesel, each depicting
the aftereffects of that
dramatic era.
The Bantam stories, "The
Accident" and "Dawn"
serve as an added enrich-
ment to the Wiesel literary
gems.
Eliezer, a successful
journalist, and his
girlfriend, Kathleen, are
strolling in Times Square
when the writer is struck
by a car and nearly kil-
led.
"The Accident" tells of
Eliezer's long physical re-
covery and spiritual odys-
sey through the memories
that people his past as a de-
eply religious man who has
witnessed the death of his
family in Auschwitz.
"Through it, we meet Dr.
Paul Russell, who suspects
that Eliezer's near death
was not an accident, and
watches as Eliezer battles a
past that even the deepest
love of the present cannot—
and must not — erase.
In "Dawn," in British
occupied Palestine, in the
days just before the creation
of Israel, two men await
daybreak and the death it
will bring.
"Dawn" is the story of
Elisha, 18-years old and
the sole survivor of his
family whose deaths he
witnessed at Auschwitz,
and a member of an un-
derground resistance
group. Elisha waits with
John Dawson, a British
officer who has been
marked for execution at
dawn by the British,
whose martial law is pre-
venting the birth of the
Jewish nation.
Elisha has been ap-
pointed Dawson's
executioner, and during the
dark hours before dawn he
must grapple with the act of
murder he abhors but must
commit out of necessity.
Through it all, "Dawn" mir-
rors the faith and fear of the
Jewish people fighting and
hoping to survive the af-
termath of the Holocaust.

tury is known primarily_
as the Age of Enlighten-
ment in European cul-
ture (the epoch where
reason triumphed), in
Eastern European
Jewish circles the same
century saw an impor-
tant segment of Jewry
withdrawiiig into a co-
coon of mysticism, fervor
and intense religious pi-
ety.
The reason: the Age of
Enlightment was most un-
enlightened when it came to
Jews. Savage pogroms,
ghetto sequestration, indis-
criminate massacres, eco-
nomic privation — these
were the lot of Jews in that
"enlightened" age. It is no
wonder that our forebears
sought respite in flights of
imigination and fervid reli-
gious preoccupations.
One of the responses to
the callousness of the exter-
nal world was the rise of
Hasidism, an expression of
Judaism which stressed the
emotional component of life
over the intellectual, the
mysterious over the ra-
tional.
Hasidism emerged as a
major movement in the 18th
Century partly as a result of
the Jewish people's dis-
enchantment with the arid-
ity of pilpulistic Judaism
and partly as a result of the
sudden- appearance of a
school of saintly rabbis and
scholars who left their inde-
lible imprint on the soul of
Judaism.
The lives and teachings
of these prominent sages
form the focus of Wiesel's
explorations of the es-
sence of Hasidism. They
surfaced in small Ukrai-
nian or Transylvanian
towns with unpronounc-
able names like Med-
zibozh, Ropshitz,
Zbarazh and Primishlan
and they achieved repu-
tations for exemplary
piety and sagaciousness.
The hasidic rebbes were
complex men: many suf-
fered anxieties stemming
from intellectural doubts
about their roles in life.
Some were quite well off;
-most were poor. Others
were embarrassed about the
adulation which their fol-
lowers showered on them.
Their central preoccupa-
tion seems to have been an
exposition of Judaism in
which the self is to be ef-
faced in the interest of serv-
ing the divine. So many of
their parables and stories —
their meisela — stress the
need for man to strip him-
self of his selfishness and
clothe himself rather in the
garments of humility, com-
passion and understanding.
Pinhas of Koretz told his
Hasidim that when they felt
the urge to praise, they
should praise God. If they
felt the urge to blame, they
should blame themselves.
Reb Wolfe of Zbarazh
heard his wife arguing
with a domestic servant.
The two women decided
to go to a rabbinic court
to settle the matter. The
rebbe said he was going
too.
"You? Why are you com-

,

ing? I don't need you there,"
said his wife. Said the rebbe:
"She does: you are the wife
of a rebbe; she is only a poor
maid. She needs me to de-
fend her."
The same pious hasidic
teacher was praying one
Shabat afternow when a
peasant, unable to stay his
hunger until the third Sab-
bath meal, began to munch
away on radishes and halla.
The disciples were angered
by the man's disrespectful
action, until the rebbe said
that the things he wanted
most in life at that moment
was to eat radishes.
Stories such as these,
illustrative of the hasidic
world, have been available
in Yiddish and Hebrew for
many years. We are in
Wiesel's debt, however, for
having not merely trans-
lated these wonderful tales
but reproducing them in an
idiom that conveys their
pithiness.
This is no easy exercise;
it has been accomplished
because Wiesel, a hasid at
heart, has removed him-
self from the narrative,
choosing to pour the fire
of the rebbes into a deli-
cate literary vessel.
That fire sometimes ex-
pressed itself in humor.
There are some notable
examples in the Wiesel col-
lection. Barukh of Med-
zibozh was wont to thank
God in his prayers for "not
being dependent on other
peoples' gifts." His daughter
diplomatically pointed out
that the prayer was some-
what inappropriate in as
much as the rebbe's family
lived off such gifts. "Only
God gives," said the rebbe,
"but sometimes he uses
messengers."
Hasidic teaching was
often wrapped in paradox.
The same rebbe referred to
above, once confronted a
wily Litvak with the need
to understand the role of
forgetfulness in life. If one
remembered everything,
including the imminence of
death, nothing would ever
get done — hence the heal-
ing balm of memory lapses.
The Holy Seer of Lublin
spent much of his time in
the forest. His father asked
him what he was doing
wasting his time among the
trees. "I am looking for
God," he replied; where-
upon his father said, "Isn't
God everywhere and isn't
He everywhere the same?"
"He is but I am not," re-
plied the child seer.
The world of the hasidic
rebbe lives today only in its
vestigial remains; the
Holocaust snuffed out most
of the holy voices. Elie
Wiesel has recaptured some
of their resonant echoes and
they reverberate across the
centuries with their inspir-
ing and comforting mes-
sages.

A becoming decency of ex-
terior may not be necessary
for ourselves, but is agree-
able to others; and while it
may render a fool more con-
temptible, it serves to em-
bellish inherent worth.
—David Paul Brown

