PURELY COMMENTARY
Books For Children Inspire Learning
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gaining was a way of life for the
grandparent.
Author Jacqueline Dembar Green
has a rich record of writing books for
children. Illustrator Steffi Karen Rubin
enriched the story with excellent illus-
trations. •
UAHC has just issued another chil-
dren's book that will delight young
readers and will encourage parents to
read with them. It is The Narrowest Bar
Mitzvah by Steven Schnur, with illustra-
tions by Victor Lazzaro.
It is a dramatic tail of a threat by a
• broken water main at the synagogue
where the Bar Mitzvah's Torah portion
dealt with Noah's experience. The
grandfather, a builder, provided housing
to assure the Bar Mitzvah celebration
would not be ruined.
There is drama in the related theme
which gives emphasis to faith.
For Young Artists:
Illustrating Holidays
The concerned publishers like the
Union of American Hebrew Congrega-
tions, in their desire to emphasize learn-
ing, are contributing immensely toward
that purpose with an encouragement to
aspiring artists. Emphasis on acquiring
knowledge by means of illustration was
given as early as 1961 by UAJC on a
large-sized paperback, Holiday Work and
Play by Joyce Fischman, with illustra-
tions by Heidi Steinberger. It has been
reissued in a revised edition.
This instructive book, applied to all
festive Jewish occasions, commencing
with Rosh Hashanah, has challenging
Atheist Russia
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along the lines of detente and thus
save our children and generations
still to be born from annihilation
in a nuclear war.
True, the appeal for peace has a uni-
versal tang. The puzzle here, bordering on
the entertaining, is that Russian syna-
gogue parishioners should resort to the
God-idea in the name of Gorbachev.
Signed "on behalf of the parishioners
of the Moscow Choral Synagogue, Rabbi
Adolf Shayevich," the appeal "to our
brethren the world over" continues to lean
on God with an historic reference to
Isaiah, stating:
So, let us recall the prophetic
words of Isaiah: "Nation shall not
lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any
more." (Isaiah 2:4).
So, join our Prayer for Peace,
which ends with the following
words: "Lord give strength to the
defenders of peace throughout the
world. You are peace, your name
is peace. We beseech you, grant
unto us and the entire world life,
blessing and protection of peace.
Amen."
The "brethren the world over" have
leen and continue to be engaged in a cam-
paign to assure exit documents from Jews
desiring to leave the Soviet Union and to
be freed. from Kremlin persecutions. The
Choral Synagogue rabbi was never heard
supporting the refuseniks. But in the
name of God the persecutors appear and
are absolved from blame. Via Novosti, an
"Amen" is invited from the brethren. The
Kremlin always succeeds in securing sup-
port from its cohorts and allies and it
triumphs also in the USSR-protected syn-
agogue. Perhaps the call for this "Amen"
is an introduction to the repeatedly re-
emerging Communist fundamentalism.
pictures with accompanying questions
for the child to mark the correct mean-
ing.
It's a small book but a very good one
for learning.
Mitzvah Morality
With stories by Sol Scharfstein, Let's
Do A Mitzvah, illustrated by Arthur
Friedman, teaches the lessons of conduct
which dominate Jewish ideals.
Mitzvot are adapted here to teach
youth the every-day obligations for
moral conduct. It is a collection of tales
with important lessons emphasizing the
ideals of Jewish teachings.
Mitzvah orientation by children, to
be shared with parents, is the aim of the
13 stories in this book.
Paperbacks Popularize
Many Literary Treasures
Paperbacks- have become a blessing
not only to publishers in a commercial
way but even more valuably to authors.
There are many examples of popular-
ity attained for noteworthy literary works
that gain attention both in the more ob-
tainable price-wise and also because the
paperback is displayed more widely and
becomes more easily obtainable.
Interest grows in several new paper-
backs just off the presses of important
publishing houses, many of them gaining
immediate new attention.
Especially notable is the paperbacked
perpetuation of the impressive televised
week-long programs of Heritage: Civiliza-
tion and the Jews. The texts have now
been issued in a popularly pieced edition
by Summit Books.
This volume is richly illustrated and
documentarily superb. The original •
hard-cover book with the Eban addresses
cover the eight-part series.
The series was the winner of many
acclamations, including the Emmy, the
Peabody Award, the Christopher Award
and the International Film and Interna-
tional Festival Gold Medal.
The series and the resulting book re-
tain great importance in the publishing
spheres. •
Another volume that had attracted
wide attention is A Certain People:
American Jews and Their Lives Today
by Charles E. Silverman, also issued by
Summit Books as a paperback.
This volume created a stir, was
widely discussed, was the subject of ser-
mons and reviews in public addresses.
As an analysis of the current status
of world Jewry, the U.S., Israel and the
rest of Diaspora, the Silverman volume
is superb. Author Silverman gained
popularity and was invited as speaker at
books fairs and public forums. He dis-
plays confidence in a decline in anti-
Semitism. The new outbursts of hatred
in many areas of the world add impor-
tance to the differing views. This re-
viewer also believes Silverman is over-
optimistic.
Silverman's evaluations assert that
a new pride has been attained especially
by American Jewry. He believes that as-
similation, indifference and such factors
as mixed marriages are not weakening
Jewish identifications. He asserts that
commitments to Judaism are stronger
and "a major renewal of Jewish religious
and cultural life is under way."
Silverman's A Certain People retains
its popularity which is certain to gain
readership with its appearance as a
paperback.
Schocken Books, with its emphases
on paperbacks as well as important
hard-cover books, has reissued an inter-
est in The Work of Our Hands: Jewish
Needlecraft for Today by Shacter Rock-
land, first appeared as a Schocken
hardcover book in 1973 and its reissuing
as a paperback attests to the popularity
it has retained in the past few years.
Rockland attained her skills in need-
lework as a child and the title of her
book, The Work of Our Hands, is her
cherished recollection of her achieve-
ments which were labeled by her admir-
ers at home as the efforts by "goldene
hent."
The many skills in embroidering,
needlepoint, appliqueing, quilting and
patchwork are described in this book. It
can serve both as a textbook as well as
an encouragement to those starting in on
these skills.
Jewish projects, including designs
for challah and matzah covers, talit
bags, yarmulkes and many other objects
are outlined by Rockland. That is why
the subtitle for her book is proper in its
annotation that it deals with "Jewish
Needlecraft for Today."
certain to be renewed with the novel's
reappearance as a paperback.
Chaim Zeldis, upon his graduation
from the University of Michigan, where
he won the Avery Hopwood Award in
Poetry, settled in Israel in 1948 and
served in the country's defense forces.
Upon his return to this country he
enrolled in the New School for Social Re-
search where he won the John Day
Novel Award. He is the anthor of five
more novels. Engaging in social work he
was, for a time, the national public rela-
tions director for Women's American
ORT.
Shaarey Zedek
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Agnon Paperbacked
Especially noteworthy in the tasks of
continually retaining interest in the in-
ternational popularized authors is the
credit ascribable to Schocken Books. Its
large-scale paperbacking enriches the ex-
panding S.Y. Agnon bookshelf.
The two newest Agnon paperbacks
just reissued by Schocken are In the
Heart of the Seas and A Simple Story.
History, legend and folklore are re-
vived and combined in In the Heart of
the Seas. There is an expression of com-
passion for the downtrodden in this tale
which depicts Polish travelers in Istan-
bul. The novel concludes: "Some will
read my book as a man reads legend,
while others will read it and derive
benefit for themselves."
This novel was translated by I. M.
Lask. Drawings in the novel are by T.
Herzl Rome.
Agnon's A Simple Story was
acclaimed a masterpiece when it was
written 50 years ago and now regains
acclaim in the translation from the He-
brew by Hillel Halkins.
With Galicia as the scene of family
life, conflict in the home, reconciliation,
the simplicity of the story rises to
magnetic heights in the literary skill of
the man who was awarded the Nobel
Prize in Literature in 1956.
An "Afterword" to the novel by its
translator, Hillel Halkin, points to Ag-
non's awareness of Freud. This provides
a valuable subject for discussion in relat-
ing Agnon's interest in the psychiatric
effects of Jewish ghetto life.
Zeldis' Best Seller
Home front interest attaches to a 500-
page novel by a former Detroiter which,
ten years ago, made the best-seller list.
Brothers: A Novel of Supreme Seduc-
tions by Chaim Zeldis, published as a
paperback by Shapolsky - Steimatzky,
first appeared as a hard cover by Ran-
dom House in 1976.
Zeldis portrayed his chief character
as a brother of Jesus in the era when
Herod was the puppet king of Judea
under the mastery of Rome.
The novel deals with terror and
seduction in ancient times. The author's
fantasy imbedded in this theme created
much critical discussion which appears
Rabbi Irwin Groner
synagogue, and that which will
rebound to the benefit of Shaarey
Zedek will surely benefit our own
community and world Jewry.
The pursuing events in the 25 years
that followed were as vital as the ear-
liest. There is a great enrichment in the
addenda.
There is a record of great achieve-
ments in the years of spiritual leader-
ship by the late Rabbi Adler. There is
the national as well as local leaderships
of the congregation that has national
roles in many spheres.
Rabbi Adler led his congregation
into many fields of activities, religiously
and in the communal responsibilities on
a national and world scale that includes
the State of Israel. Rabbi Groner fol-
lowed his guidelines and Shaarey Zedek
is, indeed, historically attuned.
Would that it were possible to list
the many important families who helped
make history in the image of Shaarey
Zedek. The Keidans, the Saulsons, the
Wetsmans, the Ehrlichs, the Marwils,
the Zackheims, et. al. Currently, the
Bermans, the Blumbergs, the Berrys, the
Hermelins, the Lakers, Weisbergs,
Fields, Greens, Davidons, Satovskys,
Miros and so many more who have built
and are building spirituality for Detroit,
Michigan and world Jewries. Indeed,
`May the hands of Shaarey Zedek leaders
be strengthened. May the new era augur
well for this synagogue, and that which
will resound to the benefit of this
synagogue will surely benefit our own
community and world Jewry."