22
Friday, March 15, 1985
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
4
Precious
Legacy.
CLOSE-UP
Ms. Rabbi
Continued from the preceding page
hibition; others stick to it.
Roth, meanwhile, underplays
its importance, noting - that
finding suitable witnesses —
basically adult males of up-
standing character — would
present little problem in
ceremonies like marriage and
divorce.
Nonetheless, the future
women rabbis face the di-
lemma of knowing that if they
opt to act as witnesses, others
of their faith — including
some within the Conservative
movement — may consider the
marriage or divorce docu-
ments they sign invalid.
Cantor said she has decided
she would not serve as a wit-
ness. Likewise, Cardin has
thought hard about the issue
and concluded: "I'm more con-
servative at heart than revo-
lutionary. I might withhold
my signature."
Apart from novel religious
issues, the female rabbinical
candidates have encountered
some unexpected personal
problems this year. Several of
the women began meeting
periodically to discuss them
when the first semester began,
although the meetings ceased
as the year progressed.
Cantor explained the "rap
sessions" this way: "In He-
brew, you say 'All beginnings
are difficult.' We were-dealing
with a lot of emotional stuff
here."
Among other things, the
women talked about "the per-
ception of ourselves as rabbis,
The house is going
to ruin and you are
studying for your
Talmud exam!"
without having any models
except portly middle-aged
gentlemen in three-piece
suits," Cantor recalled.
How to handle relationships
with men consumed much of
the group's discussion. The
single women expressed fears
they might never find hus-
bands, wondering aloud who
would want to be "a male re-
bbetzin," Cantor said. Older
than many of their male
classmates, the single women
found few "prospects" in the
rabbinical school, she added.
These are some of the treasures of the Jewish families of Central Europe.
As Hitler was methodically exterminating their Jewish owners—and millions of
other Europeans of all faiths—he was just as methodically collecting in Prague
all the Jewish art and sacred objects he could gather from Bohemia and
Moravia, today's Czechoslovakia. He wanted to show the collection in a
proposed "museum of an extinct people." Rescued from the Nazis at the end
of the war, this collection can now be seen for the first time in the United States,
in an exhibition titled "The Precious Legacy: Judaic Treasures from the
Czechoslovak State Collections."
It dramatizes art and history, tragedy and transcendence. And the
treasures have become what their owners wanted them to be: links in a
chain of continuity, beauty and faith. So long as we treasure these things,
the people who loved them can never be extinct.
The Detroit Institute of Arts
5200 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, Michigan 48202-9959
Tuesday to Sunday 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Special evening hours on Wednesday and Thursday until
9 p.m. from Wednesday, March 13 to Thursday, May 2
For tickets call: (313) 832-2730
B, $135"
Philip Morris Incorporated
Tappers
It takes art to make a company great.
Makers of Marlboro, Benson & Hedges 100's,
Merit, Parliament Lights, Virginia Slims
and Players; Miller High Life Beer, Lite Beer,
Lowenbrau Special and Dark Special Beers,
Meister Brau and Milwaukee's Best; 7UP,
Diet 7UP, LIKE Cola and Sugar Free LIKE Cola.
(top left) PORCELAIN PASSOVER PLATE, Joseph Voter. ca. 1900; (top right) TORAH CROWN. Repousse, 1840; (bottom) AFTER THE
BURIAL, (Artist Unknown), ca. 1780. "The Precious Legacy . ' is organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service
(SITES), in cooperation with Project Judaica, Mark E. Talisman, Chairman, and the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Socialist Republic, the
Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the National Committee of the Capital of Prague, and the State
Jewish Museum in Prague. Photographs by Quicksilver Photographers, Washington. D.C. The Precious Legacy" is published by Summit
Books and is available in book form. © Philip Morris Inc. 1983.
Tapper's has the right gift for you...
26400 West Twelve Mk Road
in Southfield's Rocquetime Mall
Northeast corner of 12 Mae Et Northwestern Hwy.
MTN
ORDER
6165 BY PHONE
3
55 8
7
1- - .J.'s..
FREE GIFT WRAP
NION.-SAT. THURSDAYS
10:00-5:45 10:00-8:45
CASH REFUNDS