60 Friday, May 27,1983

r

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

To: The Jewish News

1

An Old Synagogue Waits for a Minyan

17515 W. 9 Mile Rd.
Suite 865

By CARL ALPERT
SHFAR AM — In the Sec-
ond Century, soon after the
destruction of the Temple in
Southfield, Mich. 48075
Jerusalem, this village in
the Galilee foothills served
as the seat of the reconsti-
tuted Sanhedrin, then sup-
reme religious and legal
body of the Jewish people.
Later the Sanhedrin moved
to Bet Shearim, but the
town of Shfar Am remained
a Jewish center.
In the centuries that fol-
lowed, when the country
CARL ALPERT
was alternately under
Byzantine, Persian, Mos- somewhere to "an ancient
lem, Crusader and Turkish synagogue in Shfar Am"
rule, the Jewish community caught our eye. None of the
had its ups and downs. tourist books list it, and we
Medieval travelers fre- decided to go see for our-
quently made reference to selves. The town is less than
the Jews there, and their a 30-minute drive from
synagogue.
Haifa.
At the turn of the 20th
We drove into the center
Century the Jewish popula-
of
the sprawling town and
tion had dwindled consider-
ably. There are records of had no difficulty locating
anguished calls for help to the object of our search,
Paste in old label
maintain the community, marked by a large seven-
but by the end of World War branched menora on the
II the last Jews had de- roof. It was known to almost
parted, and Shfar Am was everyone, not as a ruin, but
as a complete building. We
listed as an all Arab town.
The current situation is knew the usual fate of
as follows: The town has abandoned buildings, and
a population of about approached the structure
14,000, of whom 45 are with some misgivings. With
Christians, 35 percent not a Jew for miles around,
Moslems and 20 percent it was not difficult to im-
Druze. The inhabitants, agine what neglect and
once farmers, now work vandalism and stray ani-
for the most part as arti- mals could do to the place.
We were pleasantly sur-
sans, mechanics and con-
struction workers in
NAME
nearby Haifa. It is just
one of dozens of Arab
NEW YORK — Governor
Effective Date
towns in Israel.
But a fleeting reference Mario Cuomo of New York
rJ
will receive an honorary de-
gree and deliver the princi-
pal address at Yeshiva Uni-
versity's 52nd annual com-
TRAPS
1 1\4r
RADIO • T V • DIRECT MAIL' MOUSE
mencement exercises June
.9.
Honorary degrees will
also be presented to:
• Dr. Yehuda Ben-Meir,
deputy minister of foreign
affairs and a member of the
Knesset of Israel, who re-
ceived his bachelor's degree
from Yeshiva University
and was ordained at the
university's Rabbi Isaac El-
chanan Theological Semi-
nary (RIETS) in 1959;
• Jonathan Bingham,
So you tried a
former Democratic Con-
gressman from New York;
few different ways
• Prof.
Lucy
S.
to spend your advertising
Dawidowicz, noted histo-
rian of the Holocaust;
money and now your sales curve

WEll JUST

from

,

:

:

prised. The padlock on the
courtyard gate could not
keep out willful intruders,
and at the time of our visit
even that was open.
The building was old.
The plaster and
whitewash were peeling
off the interior arched
walls and roof, but it was
obvious that the place
was being taken care of
and was cleaned fre-
quently. There was no
furniture except for a
table in the center
mounted on a slightly-
raised octagonal plat-
form. This was covered
by the threadbare de-
corative cloth.
Recessed into the east
wall was the Ark. We
opened it, and to our sur-
prise found a Torah scroll
encased in a folding wooden
container, in the Eastern
style. The Torah was damp
with mildew, and in two
halves, but showed no signs
of violation:
Bunched upon the floor,
where it had apparently fal-
len from its hooks, was the
Parochet, or curtain. We
picked it up, and read the
embroidered Hebrew in-
scription: "Ancient syna-
gogue of the holy and ven-
erable congregation in
Shfar Am, site of the
Sanhedrin after destruction
of the Temple, and since
then, and until the World
War, a Jewish center."

Yeshiva U. Will Cite Seven

■ siiD

has dropped completely off the chart.

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THE JEWISH NEWS

Jewish Princess

Monaco's first American
princess was not Grace
Kelly, but a woman of
Jewish descent named Alice
Heine, according to Parade
magazine.
Miss Heine was born in
New Orleans in 1858, the
daughter of a prosperous
banker she was converted to
Catholicism by her parents
at an early age. At 16, she
married a wealthy Fren-
chman and inherited $15
million when he died five
years later.
She had barely begun
mourning when she fell in
love with Prince Albert of
Monaco. They wed 10 years
later and returned to the
Mediterranean principality
in 1890.

• Rabbi Alvin M. Mar-
cus, spiritual leader for
the past 15 years of Cong.
Ahawas Bnai Jacob and
David in West Orange,
N.J.;
• Maurice H. Saval, re-
tired insurance executive
from Boston, whose recent
gift resulted in the renam-
ing of the Seminary's educa-
tion component in honor of
Rabbi Joseph B. Sol-
oveitchik;
• Dr. Berta V. Scharrer,
professor emeritus of
anatomy and neuroscience
at the university's Albert
Einstein
College
of
Medicine, who, with her
late husband Dr. Ernst
Scharrer, established the
concept of neurosection as a
fundamental part of
neuroscience.

On another wall a plaque
informs us that the building
had been rehabilitated by
the Ministry of Religions of
the state of Israel. On an-
other wall is an ancient,
battered charity box, lock
and all
Outside, several curi-
ous children had
gathered and we engaged
them in conversation.
The older ones all knew
Hebrew. They spoke re-
spectfully of the "Jewish
church" which is almost
wall to wall with their
own homes in the
crowded back alley. The
visitors are few, we were
told. Caretaker is one
Samih Abuha, but he
made no appearance dur-
ing our stay. The door
had been left open as if
for us.
We walked about the
town, guided by 13-year-old
Gideon Matanes, a Chris-
tian Arab. Everywhere the
inhabitants were polite and
friendly.
Later, back home, we had
recourse to our reference
books and discovered that
this particular building
does not date back more
than about 250 years. This
does not detract from its his-
torical significance in the
long chain of Jewish resi-
dence going back to Temple
days, especially since the
synagogue is said to be on
the original site of the
Sanhedrin, nor from the
attitude toward the build-
ing by the Arabs and Druze
of Shfar Am.

.

There are no road signs,
no arrows and no directions
to the place. Technically, it
is located at 'No. 12 150th
Street, to judge by the street
sign, but we'doubt that any-
one would know it by that
identification.
A dozen years ago a group
of young American Jews
planned to occupy thelmild-
ing, as they had done for a
while at the ancient syna-
gogue of Pekiin, and per-
haps begin restoration of a
Jewish community in Shfar
Am. Nothing happened; the
synagogue remains pathet-
ically, humbly alone, but
bears the menora on its roof
with pride. The old building
is still patiently waiting for
a minyan.

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take bettercare
of your heart,
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Red
Cross.
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