66 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, March 30, 1984 Strong pulp novel with Jewish theme is written by author Aviva Heilman Wedding, Rehearsal and Ceremony Assistance . Sharon Padzensky 559-4757 BY SHARON HOCHMAN Special to The Jewish News Gary R Miller & Associates Photography with a Personal Touch 398-6894 Specializing in Candids and Video Diamonds Cost Less Here Period! REMEMBER, THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A NEW DIAMOND AND A USED DIAMOND IS THE PRICE. tik ■ NI 1 P-NA Nfiki 'Ni N1 I ∎ ;"•.k I 1.4 1 3 FEDERAL COLLATERAL so( IF - r) INC tik (1 ,it 961 4 3h1 VI( Mon F n It in \\ 10 4 For those who want the finest custom furniture at... AFFORDABLE PRICES The simplest cube to the most intricate wall unit built to your specifications by meticulous craftsmen. Selections for every room in your home or office in fine woods, laminates, marble, glass and specializing in... _OUTSTANDING LUCITE DESIGNS 7t-#14\ttig alebiftaffi 354-4126 :11 the amazing NEW STOP THAT THIEF! 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Only their publishers know . for sure, but with a quick perusal of past Best Seller lists, the answer is obvious. Somebody Please Love Me, (Doubleday) by Aviva Hellman, appears at first to be a novel destined for quick dismissal by a discerning reader (The title portends hysteria.) All the ingre- dients are there. The heroine is a high fashion model; she hides her past; her marriage is flounder- ing; her daughter dabbles in drugs and her best friend is gay. This hype is all too bad because Ms. Hellman has something serious to say, and she says it well. These are interesting-and multifaceted people whose dynamics richly interplay like a melody in counter- point. It is the depth of character that raises this novel above the usual example of the genre that has come to be known as "women's fiction." Somebody Please Love Me is the story of one women who, at 37, is forced to con- front her system of values and redefine her life. Her name is Cat Willingham (nee Catherine Wallens- tein) and she is a top fashion model. Her successful career spirits her through the glamorous world of the couturier houses in Paris and New York.On the sur- face, Cat appears to possess everything little girls dream about: beauty, fame and intelligence. Cat's dreams come true because she works at them. Hers is a tireless dedication to excel- lence, of hours of gruelling effort behind the scenes, that belie the magic of the finished product. Cat is a master of the art of illusion. Whether she floats down a runway or graces the cover of a maga- zine, she transforms the garment she wears into a dream of eternal youth. At 37, however, age is one reality that cannot be sus- pended, even by one so talented. In Cat's world, "forever young" is the ideal and she is too smart to ig- nore the press of time. Un- like Pamela Grayson, her mentor, who self-destructs on her onw cancerous hostil- ity and envy of the younger generation, Cat looks for a creative solution to the question, "what next?" She finds answers when she probes deep into herself and rediscovers needs long defended against and de- nied. She remembers "Catherine Wallenstein," child of Orthodox Jewish parents who were able to es- cape the fires that con- sumed their relatives in Europe. She remembers Brooklyn and her own es- cape from her Jewishness as she fed the fires of her ambi- tion, substituting a career for her religion: "Disjointed memories raced through her mind. Her father sitting at the Sabbath table wrapped in his prayer shawl; the gleaming candles over which her mother had said her Friday night prayers. The peace and tranquillity which her childhood had forced on her at holiday time and which she re- sented then but which she sudden_ly realized she mis- sed . . . "The battles with her father over not wanting to be different from her classmates, she now realized, had riven her an identity that had sustained her." This is a novel of choices and Cat is the woman who must choose, but true choice connotes wisdom. She does not discover truth by des- perately groping in the dark but through the gradual at- tainment of a clear and fo- cused vision. A new mar- riage, with the rich and powerful Clay Whitefield, promises Cat love and fi- nancial security but the price is the eradication of her past. When Clay asks her to convert, the question he poses, "What makes you Jewish?" creates an inner turmoil Cat does not under- stand. Learning is painful. Through an understanding of the failure of her rela- tionship with her protege, the elusive and fragile Me- gan, Cat rediscovers her own daughter. Out of the emotional chaos, she cleaves truth from fantasy. Her truth is her identity as a Jew and her need to love. "She had wanted to be loved by her mother and love her daughter and was too blind to see that they were hers . . . She was un- certain about many things and one of them was her struggle with when she was a mother or a daughter. She was both. She could be both." Cat substitutes "growing old" for simply growing. She has found her own immor- tality through the infinite and boundless possibilities of possessing a loving soul. She is timeless. As a Jew, she belongs to generations past and yet to be. Aviva Hellman, author of Somebody Please Love Me, is the wife of Yehuda Hellman, executive vice chairman of the -Conference of Presidents' of Major American Jewish Organ- izations, She was born in the United States but was educated in New York, Jerusalem- and London. Currently, she resides in New York but maintains a home in Tel Aviv as well. Ms. Hellman is the author of three previous novels, each narratives of "strong but vulnerable" women set against interna- tional backgrounds. In what way the author weaves her own life into her books is pure speculation, but Aviva Hellman is as talented, suc- cessful and beautiful as the women she creates with words. The parallels remain a tantalizing mystery for fu- ture analysis. Religious, secular conflicts are continuing in Israel BY MOSHE RON Special to The Jewish News Tel Aviv — A group of rabbi's and heads of yeshivot in Israel have started a campaign to establish a religious radio station. The Rabbi of Gur, Rabbi Simha Bunim; the Rabbi -of Bels, Rabbi Jossahar Dov Rokach; the Sefardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Mor- dehai Eliahu; Rabbi Shlomo Averbuch, head of Yeshiva Kol Torah; Rabbi J. S. Eliashiv and other religious functionaries have already contributed a lot of money for this purpose. Now, the signatures of thousands of religious Jews are being collected for an appeal to set up the radio station, which will broad- cast religious programs and events in the rabbinical courts in Israel and the countries of the Diaspora. * * * In the Ramat Hachayal quarter in northern Tel Aviv preparations are made to enlarge Yeshiva Hidushe Harim. In this quarter is the big "Beit Israel" school and now the cornerstone will be laid for a special religious Home for Old People, the first of its kind in Israel. The Rabbi of Gur will take part in the cornerstone laying. The director of Hidushe Harim, Rabbi Nahum Kornweisser, announced that the school will bear the name of the fourth rabbi of the Gur dynasty, "Beit Is- rael." Nearby will be built a de- partment for women and a special memorial room for all the Holocaust victims, and especially for the anni- hilated Jewish com- munities in Poland. It will be -a modern build- ing and will include a 180 room hotel, a meeting hall, synagogue and a mikva. Previously, relations were poor between the long-time residents and the Hasidim of Kiryat Hayeshiva. The residents opposed the building of a Home for the Aged. They were afraid that more Hasidim would arrive and cause conflicts with the non-religious people in this area. But lately, good rela- tions have developed. * * * There was a stormy con- troversy between Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek and the inhabitants of the religious quarter of Ramot about the' intention of the municipality to build a big public swimming pool in the area. Kolle, argued that the pool would be built so that nobody outside would be able to see men and women in bathing suits. The turning point came after the municipal elec- tions when the Sefardi Aguda faction, "Shass," joined the coalition in the Municipal Council. This faction agreed to build the pool on condition that it would be covered by a round roof. The agreement stipulated that the swimming pool would be closed on Shab- bath and that twice a week there would be separate ba- thing times for men and women. There are certain circles in Israel who criticize President Chaim Herzog for intervening in the conflict between the Haifa -Theater and religious circles. The Orthodox have demanded that a curse against God be removed from the play Mes- sias. Herzog had appealed to the management of the the- ater to eliminate these words in order to put an end to the conflict. Non-religous circles in Is- rael argue that the President should not have used his prestige in such a delicate matter, which con- cerns freedom of art. Kibutz Hazor in the south of Israel sent a protest letter to the President. * * * Rabbi Dov Paworski, the son of Rabbi David Paworski, one of the chief gabbaim of the Ponivesh Yeshivath in Bnei Brek, has been invited to lecture in the yeshiva of the new town of Emanuel in Samaria. Emanuel is being boycot- ted by the head' of the Ponivesh Yeshivah, Rabbi Eliezer Menahem Shach, who resigned recently as one of the two chairmen of the Council of Torah sages of Agudat Israel. Rabbi Shach resigned be- cause of his conflicts with the Rabbi of Gur and the Hasidic Knesset members of Agudat Israel. He and his yeshiva are the spiritual force of opposition against the Lithuanian Hasidic movement. Rabbi Shach maintains that the settle- ments of Jews in Judea and Samaria are damaging the image of Jewry all over the world. The yeshiva scholars of Bnei Brek published a statement against Rabbi Dov Paworski lecturing in Emanuel. They support Rabbi Shach in opposition to Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria.