16 Friday, March 8, 1985 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS your advertising dollars do better in THEJEWISH NEWS Call Us Today! 354 6060 LOCAL NEWS Precious Legacy - Continued from preceding page Did Your Bank Pay You This Much Interest This Week? FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS MONEY MARKET RATES 8.10 Franklin Savings Bloomfield Savings Comerica Detroit & Northern Empire of America First Federal of Michigan First of America Manufacturers Michigan National of Detroit National Bank of Detroit Standard Federal 7.50 7.50 7.75 8.05 7.50 7.40 7.65 7.50 7.50 7.50 INTEREST RATE UPDATE AS OF 3/6/85 MEMBER - FSLIC ________ Your ...„.... Based on $2,500 deposit. Some minimum deposit requirements may be lower. Higher rates may be available for larger deposits. Insured up to $100,000. ANNOUNCING OUR NEW $50,000 MONEY MARKET II* ACCOUNT! 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CALL 354-8080 THIS IS A LIMITED OFFER EXECUTIVE ATHLETIC CLUB 103 TRAVELERS TOWER • 26555 EVERGREEN • SOUTHFIELD, MI 48076 • (313) 354-8080 robbed the people of human existence," she said. One cannot fathom the enormity of the Judaica collec- tion in the State Jewish Museum in Prague, which is protected by the Czech gov- ernment, unless one can go to Prague or failing that, looking at the catalogue published by Summit Books and edited by David Altshuler. Pictures show drawers of mezzuzot; shelves lined with Sifrei To- rah; drawers of wedding rings; rooms of paintings, dishes and all manner of household items; cabinets of Torah crowns; rooms filled with books, grand pianos and violins: It is the largest collection of Judaica in the world. In addition to the catalogue, about a half-dozen films have been made about The Precious Legacy. In honor of the ex- hibit, Talisman and his wife commissioned a cantata, The Beadle of Prague, created by Herman Berlinsky and Arnost Lustig. The oldest piece in the entire collection is among the textiles. It comes from a Prague synagogue and dates from about 1592. Because it is so fragile, it wasn't chosen for the traveling display. A piece dating from the mid-17th Cen- tury is the oldest on display in the touring exhibit. From Detroit, the collection goes to the Atheneum museum in Hartford, Conn. It has already been seen in Washington, Miami, New York and Houston. Requests to host the exhibit have come from Canada, Argentina, Brazil and Scandinavia. Be- cause there are no diplomatic relations between Israel and Czechoslovakia, there are no plans to take it to Israel. Talisman, however, hopes that situation will change soon. Talisman became interested in the collection when he first viewed it in 1968 while on a trip to Czechoslovakia with Congressman Charles Vanik of Ohio, who traces his ances- try to Bohemia. Smitten by what he saw in the state col- lections, Talisman, a private individual with ties to Capitol Hill, began a 15-year crusade to bring to the U.S. what has become The Precious Legacy. He said he achieved his goal only through persistence and his deep commitment. In seek- ing negotiations with the Czech government he enlisted aid from the State Depart- ment, the White House and Senators, chief among them Michigan Democratic Sen. Carl Levin. "No one refused me help," Talisman said. He said there were many problems in the negotiating process. There were no "posit- ive" relations between the U.S. and Czechoslovakia and the U.S. government had "walked away" with about half the Czech treasury (in gold) after World War II. It was held at Ft. Knox until 1981 when it was "negotiated out" by the Czechs to be paid as reparations. There was also what Talis- man called a matter of trust. He was not a U.S. official, and what he was asking for were state treasures. A saving grace, he said, is that the Czech government was good to Cleveland rejected the exhibit, calling it "folklore." the Jews in that it opened up the State Jewish Museum in 1950 and took the responsibil- ity to maintain it. "They treat their museums very seriously, as a national treasure and as a fundamental part of history." In 1979, Talisman began negotiations with the Czechs for permission to select a major exhibition for display in the U.S. Final permission was granted in 1982, and Talisman and his wife Jill rounded up a team of historians, Judaica experts, curators and Smith- sonian officials to put the ex- hibit together. It opened at the Smithsonian in November 1983 to be shown in the U.S. for two years. Talisman said the cities were chosen in a two-way process: He wanted complete geographic coverage and the Smithsonian wanted to make it available to everyone. "We had to balance these two needs," he said. Detroit was among the first to accept, and did so readily. His hometown, Cleveland, Ohio, rejected it out of hand, calling the ex- hibit, "folkloric." "That hurt me deeply," Talisman said. But, his devotion has paid off in some rewarding experi- ences. He told of a woman from Prague who survived the Terezin (Theresienstadt) con- centration camp, who visited the exhibit apprehensively. After seeing it she told Talis- man, "Thank you for allowing me to go home again." "People come out much