PURELY COMMENTARY
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Shavuot's Principled Social Mindedness
Shavuot is popularized in the
enthusiastically-rooted ideal as the
Festival of the Giving of the Torah.
At the reading of the Torah portions
on Shavuot, we rise during the recitation
of the Dacalogue.
At the outset Shavuot, also referred to
as the Pentecost — the fiftieth day after
Passover — was the Feast of Weeks,
observed as a wheat harvest. That's why
the 'Ibrah reference to Shavuot as the Hag
Ha-katzir, the Harvest Festival.
This original purpose for the Shavuot
identification was overshadowed by the
emphasis given the festival in pursuant
generations as the Zman Matan Torah at
Sinai.
Thus, the priority attained by the
festival as marking the Giving of the Law.
Interestingly, seldom taken into ac-
count, Shavuot has a meaning for
humankind with a social emphasis.
Maimonides had a message on that
aspect.
In his Jewish Concepts, Rabbi Philip
Birnbaum thus quotes Maimonides:
"Women should have clothes and pretty
trinkets bought for them, according to
one's means . . . and while one eats and
drinks it is his duty to feed the stranger,
the orphan, the widow, and other unfor-
tunate people, for he who locks the door
to his courtyard and eats and drinks with
his wife and family, without giving to the
poor — his meal is not counted as a rejoic-
ing in a divine command but a rejoicing
in his own stomach . . . a disgrace to those
who indulge in it."
There could not possibly be a more
powerful message in relation to any tradi-
tional event. This is a linking of holiday
observance with the human respon-
sibilities to fellow beings. As a Maimoni-
dean lesson, Shavuot emerges as a con-
tributory factor to philanthropic idealism.
What a remarkable combination
Shavuot provides the joys of nature, hi the
flowers and sentiments associated with
the harvest festival in the synagogue and
the home. It rejoices in the Giving of the
Law as the Zman Matan Torah. It exhorts
people to be human, without calling it
charitable. Yet it makes Shavuot a
philanthropically-idealistic event on the
Jewish calendar. It is a great occasion for
rejoicing.
Evidence Unsuppressed: Anne Frank's Legacy
Every bit of evidence that indicts the
Nazi barbarians must be retained and
perpetuated in the record.
The archives are kept bulging, while
a few sick minds attempt to deny the hor-
rors, to deny that the brutalities had even
been enacted by the Nazi beasts.
Often a letter to the editor of a
newspaper by one who had experienced
the horrors reminds us of the horrors,
points to the guilty, expresses the agonies
of those who had gone through the
miseries of the era.
One such comment, published in the
New York Times May 8, speaks for itself
in recalling the Anne Frank tragedy, by
an associate of the martyred girl. It needs
no other explaining than the text itself
which follows:
Perhaps it is not surprising to
some that Austria's neo-Nazis
stubbornly persist in attempts at
rewriting the horrors of history
during the Hitler regime by label-
ing the diary of Anne Frank a
hoax (news story, April 21) and de-
nying the Holocaust altgether.
Why is there even a shadow of
a doubt that these recent
atrocities happened? Like Anne
Frank, I also was hidden in
Amsterdam, only a few blocks
from the place where she wrote
about her ordeals. My experiences
were similar to hers, with one ex-
ception: I was not caught.
Is it not enough for us sur-
vivors to testify about the truth?
If there is anyone who doubts us,
let them ask any of the Dutch non-
Jews who risked their lives to save
me and others. My question to
these neo-Nazis is this: Where did
my parents and the rest of my
family — members of the working
class in Vienna — suddenly disap-
pear to in 1941, never to be seen
again, and where had they gone if
not to be exterminated?
We survivors are getting older
and will not be able to tell our
stories much longer. The next
generation will have to make sure
that no one will doubt the authen-
ticity of the Holocaust. Only then
will Anne Frank's words remain
meaningful that, in spite of
everything, people are still good at
heart.
Use Loeb,
Chestnut Ridge, N.Y.
This needs no additional comment. It
is powerful in itself as part of the massive
2
Friday, May 29, 1987
Anne Frank
indictment of the indifference towards the
most inhuman crimes.
Gilbert's 'Holocaust'
Meanwhile the evidence is piling up.
One of the massive accumulations of facts
that keeps the German Nazis on trial is
The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of
Europe During the Second World War by
Martin Gilbert (Henry Holt Publishers).
It is, as indicated, a history of the
many years of tragedies.
Martin Gilbert, one of the most
brilliant historians of this century, the
eminent authorized biographer of
Winston Churchill, incorporates in this
nearly 1,000-page volume the ac-
cumulating evidence of the horrors
perpetuated by the Nazis and their col-
laborators. There were collaborators, as
there are even now some who condone the
crimes.
Gilbert's encyclopedic work, issued
last year, already serves as an ir-
replaceable documentary on the Holo-
caust. Its appearance this month as a
massive paperback invites renewed and
increasing interest in a great historical ac-
complishment. His Holocaust record must
always be available as a record to be
retained.
in associations with the Zwerdling family.
The death in Washington, on May 17,
of Abraham Zwerdling marks recollec-
tions about his entire family.
Abraham Zwerdling, a product of the
University of Michigan, served on the
Detroit Board of Education and was a stor-
my petrel in his advocacy of reforms and
improvements. As a labor lawyer in
Washington, he was always motivated by
urgencies for social services and civil
rights for all.
In more than one sense, he followed in
the footsteps of his father, Osias Zwerdl-
ing. The elder Zwerdling devoted his en-
tire life in Ann Arbor, in addition to his
business career as a furrier, to encourage
U of M students. He labored to attract
Jewish students to Jewish causes and to
Zionism.
Osias Zwerdling was a pioneer on
campus, providing encouragement first to
the Intercollegiate Menorah Association
and then to the Hillel Foundation.
In the Michigan community, Osias
Zwerdling also was a pioneer in Israel
Bonds activities, Hebrew University,
Jewish National Fund and many other
causes.
It is well to remember the Zwerdling
name in appreciation for their labors.
A Real Treat
For Baseball Fans
In 'Jewish Who's Who'
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
(US PS 275-520) is published every
Friday with additional supplements
the fourth week of March, the fourth
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Zwerdlings: A Michigan
Family Recorded
Hank Greenberg
Nearly an entire century during
which men and women in Michigan were
associated with Ann Arbor was marked
A real reading treat is in store for
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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
For many years, Erwin Lynn authoriz-
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Adding valuably to the text of the very
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Tiger fans will be intrigued by the
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The stardoms are not limited to the
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In the list of Tiger pitchers, Lynn's
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Who remembers, or in the present
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Vol. XCI No. 14
May 29, 1987