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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, November 16, 1;354
LOCAL NEWS
Jewish triumph over Nazis: museum
to 'extinct race outlives Third Reich'
BY HEIDI PRESS
Local News Editor
The musuem to an extinct race
outlived the Nazi Third Reich."
This was the message Dr. David
Altshuler, editor of The Precious
Legacy catalogue, delivered to
more than 700 persons who
attended the opening of the 33rd
annual Jewish Book Fair Satur-
day at the main Jewish Commu-
nity Center.
During his slide presentation,
Dr. Altshuler explained how the
Precious Legacy exhibit of Jewish
artifacts — mezuzot, Torah
crowns, menorot and the like —
currently touring the U.S. dis-
played a "confluence of many
stories" showing the "beauty and
creativity" of Jewish artistry.
"The Precious Legacy is the
story of a rich and varied history.
It tells about the, human spirit.
The Jewish Musuem in Prague is
the window on this spirit."
He spoke of how the Nazis
methodically catalogued the
ritual and other "Jewish" items
stolen from Jews who were sent to
the concentration camps. The
scope of the stolen loot cannot be
understood until one sees slides of
drawers of mezuzot, cabinets fil-
led with Torah crowns, even dried
lulavim and half-used Havdalah
candles were collected and
preserved in the Czechoslovak
warehouses, in what the Nazis de-
scribed as the "musuem to the ex-
tinct race."
So meticulous were the Nazis,
that "so had they numbered Jews"
who came through the camps "so
had they numbered their trea-
sures."
According to Altshuler, tens of
thousands of Jewish treasures
were sent to Prague, where they
filled 50 warehouses. Despite the
numerous items stored in
Czechoslavakia under the protec-
tion of the Czech government,
"the majority of items stolen by
the Nazis were destroyed and
what was not destroyed by the
Nazis was destroyed by Allied
bombings," Altshuler said.
Included in the Precious Legacy
exhibit are artifacts from the
Theresienstadt (Terezin) concen-
tration camp. Most of the items
shown by Altshuler were draw-
ings, including those by children.
According to Altshuler, there
was one theme common to the
items in the overall collection.
"The objects show how the values
of Jews upheld Torah principles."
Even in the concentration camps
under threat of instant death
Jews fashioned menorot and other
ritual items.
Altshuler recalled the Jewish
presence in Prague, dating back
to about the 16th Century. At that
time he said, Prague Jewry was in
the midst of a renaissance, and it
was the home of the first Hebrew
press north of the Alps.
In the 17th Century, he said,
the Jews helped defend the coun-
try against the Swedes, and in
gratitude, the Czech emperor
allowed the Jews to fly a flag
which became the coat of arms for
the Prague Jewish community.
By 1700, 11,000 Jews resided in
Prague, making it the largest
Jewish community in Europe. "It
was a time of new synagogues and
new guilds," Altshuler said.
The 20th Century was a turn-
ing point. There was a movement
afoot to recover Jewish tradition,
and an interest in Zionism was
rampant.
"Prague Jewish Zionism is like
the Zionism practiced by the U.S.
Jews today," Altshuler said. Just
as American Jews support Israel
from afar, they shy away from
making aliyah, he said. The
Prague Jews "wanted roots in
Prague where they were secure,
they believed. They didn't want to
make aliyah."
Altshuler worked with dozens
of American and Czech scholars
who cooperated on compiling the
Precious Legacy catalogue.
He encouraged Jews to go to
Prague to see the collection and
said he hoped that the exhibit will
be allowed to tour in Europe and
Canada.
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NEWS
424-8833
Studying Jewish poverty in NY
New York (JTA) — Most of New
York City's poor Jews are chil-
dren and working-age adults, and
these non-elderly poor account for
about 70 percent of all poor
Jewish individuals and about half
of all poor Jewish households in
the city, according to a new study
by the Metropolitan New York
Coordinating Council on Jewish
Poverty.
Rabbi David Cohen, Coordinat-
ing Council executive director,
said the data came from a draft
summary of a recently completed
report on "The Low Income
Jewish Population of New York
Study." He said the formal report
would be issued shortly.
Cohen said the data showed
that nearly 77,000 Jews, who to-
gether made up 38,000 house-
holds, had family incomes below
the federal poverty guideline. For
a family of three, that meant an
annual cash income of less than
$7,250 in 1981. The data is based
on an estimate by the Federation
of Jewish Philanthropies of a total
of 1.1 million Jews in the city of
1981.
The preliminary report said
that "taking a somewhat higher,
more realistic poverty guideline
equal to 150 percent of the federal
figure, to account for New York
City's higher living costs, there
were about 144,000 Jews or
68,000 Jewish households living
in poverty in 1981."
The summary indicated that
elderly Jews — aged 65 and older
.
Concluding Book Fair activities
SATURDAY
8 p.m. — Klez-Meydlekh: New York Jewish women's band.
SUNDAY
10:30 a.m. — Kenneth Libo, "Jews in the West."
1 p.m. — Frank Stiffel, "Life in Poland Between the Wars."
2 p.m. — Children's program, Mask Puppet Theater, "Joseph and His
Brothers." Admission charge.
— Kevin Klose, "Jews in the Soviet Union Today."
3 p.m. — Allan Rya, "Nazi War Criminals in the '80s."
4 p.m. — Leonard Simons, "More Simons Says."
— account for about 30 percent of
all of New York City's poor Jews
but, because many of them live
alone, they account for about half
of all poor Jewish households.
These data do not include persons
living in such institutions as
nursing homes, many of whom are
elderly.
Compared to the total Jewish
population of New York City, low
income households are more
likely to be headed by a young
person, under 25, or an old one, 65
or older. Low income Jewish
households are also more likely to
be small — two out of five consist
of only one person, but some are
much larger, according to the
summary, containing four or
more children.
Two out of every five poor Jews
live in Brooklyn, the borough
with the city's largest Jewish
population. Another 25 percent
live in Manhattan and Queens. At
present the Bronx has less than 10
percent of the city's poor Jews.
The summary reported that few
of the city's poor Jews admitted
needing help. When asked what
they found it hardest to afford,
they cited, in almost equal per-
centages, food, shelter, clothing,
health care and payment of utility
bills. When they were asked what
services should be made more
readily available, responses fo-
cused most on home care — 14
percent of respondents; senior
citizens services — 12 percent;
and cash help — eight percent.
Cohen said one of the goals of
the Coordinating Council study
was to show that, in some re-
spects, the needs of the city's
Jewish poor are different than
those of other poor in the city. "In
particular, they differ because
more of them are elderly and be-
cause low income Jewish house-
holds tend to live in different
neighborhoods from those in
which the city's poverty (and
anti-poverty) help is concen-
trated."
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