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