PURELY COMMENTARY

Testimonials As Chroniclers Of Communal Vitality

Testimonials which are always
numerous in a perennial recording may
become matters of commonplace prac-
ticing. They can be uplifted into the
status of accounting for achievements
as the creators of our stature in
peoplehood.
The Detroit,-Jewish community
gives evidence of such conditioning.
When the Hebrew University's
local sponsors choose to honor the two
legislators, the brothers Senator Carl
Levin and Congressman Sander Levin,
there is a continuity of respect for two
men who are vital in our political
interests.
When a group of friends chooses to
testimonialize David Hermelin and
Jane Sherman upon their selection as
heads of the next Allied Jewish Cam-
paign, they add to the significance of
saluting community leadership.
The spirit of hospitality that
emerges leads to an appreciation of the
manner in which one such hospitable

Fame Of Chazan

Continued from Page 2

lime, that of the David Hermelins, has
become a temple of glory philanthropi-
cally, educationally, religiously.
Now there are other testimonials
that are enriching our calendar.
The Jewish National Fund, in its
selection of Tillie (Mrs. Morris)
Brandwine as its 1987 honoree pays
due respect to a lady who has much to
her credit in leadership. There is
hardly a cause of merit that had not
her and her husband's backing. To her
credit, the increased support given to
the Hebrew day school movement
might have had greater difficulty in
being achieved without her. Together
with Frieda (Mrs. Max) Stollman and a
few loyal associates, she attained that
goal. It is something to be treated as
unforgetable.
The annual JNF dinner this month
will serve to add to the appreciation of
Tillie Brandwine's consistent labors for
Jewish educational tasks, when she
headed the Jewish Welfare Federation's
education division and whenever her
services were needed.
Another testimonial that will
surely invite commendation is the
honor to be accorded to Max Sosin as
September honoree of the Michigan
Region of the American Red Magen
David for Israel, the Israeli equivalent
of the Red Cross. Who does not know
and appreciate Max Sosin? Who has
not laughed when he Yiddishized his
jokes?
This is insufficient as a tribute to
his name. It is his identification with
major causes, his labors in their ranks,
his generosity that make his name val-
uable here.
This is how testimonials assume
communal importance, invite salutes

Max Sosin

for those honored as well as support for
the causes that honor them.
Among the testimonials planned
here, special notice will surely be given
to an event to be held in September
when recognition is given for his
numerous services to Jewry by Jack
Robinson, who will receive a high
honor from the Detroit Friends of the
Weizmann Institute.
Meriting extraordinary attention is
an honor being given by a wife in
memory of her late husband, who left
unforgettable marks of communal
achievements. Rose Lehrman is provid-
ing generously for memorable
Jerusalem-based afforestation gifts to
the Jewish National Fund as tributes
to her revered late husband Rabbi

Tillie Brandwine

Moses Lehrman. She does it out of con-
fidence that her fellow citizens share
the affections for a distinguished life
partner who was deeply devoted to Is-
rael in his lifetime of scores of services
to his people. He was a champion of the
aims of the JNF. As president of the
Zionist Organization of Detroit he
served nobly in elevating the aspira-
tions for successful redemption. He
rendered these many services while
elevating the needs of his pulpit at
Cong. B'nai Moshe and while teaching
and guiding the community spiritually
and culturally. Mrs. Lehrman's tribute
to her husband will surely be apprecia-
tively applauded when it is announced
at the approaching annual dinner of
the JNF.

Dr. Charles Kremer: Courageous Nazi Hunter
Brought Archbishop Valerian llsila To Justice

Cantor Jacob Sonenklar

in the city, expressing the pro-
per meaning of each word he
sang. Hence, our tradition is
opposed to the changing of .
melodies which fit the words of
the prayers. In the course of
time, however, the chazan has
ceased to pray at all, stressing •
only the melody..."
This was written in the lat-
ter part of the eighteenth cen-
tury, when the impact of musi-
cal progress made itself felt
among chazanim who, in an ear-
lier period, used to carry
melodies and customs from one
community to another, thus
contributing to the unification
of the musical tradition of the
synagogue.
Even if it were only to call at-
tention to the importance of the chazan
in Jewish tradition, to serve as means
of emphasizing his face in Jewish his-
tory, the Cantors' Assembly serves us
well. It earns hearty congratulations on
its 40th anniversary.

34

Friday, June 12, 1987

Dr. Charles Kremer devoted more
than 40 of his 89 years to hunting a
Romanian Nazi collaborator, demand-
ing punishment for his crimes in behalf
of his Nazi lords and the murder of
Jews. He was a determined searcher for
justice in his pursuance of what was
generally considered an impossible
task. He succeeded because in his re-•
peated accusation, which he turned
over to the U.S. Justice Department, he
had assembled the facts that proved
Archbishop Valerian Trifa's guilt.
It took much courage to go on and
on demanding action. He had Trifa's
church against him, and just a few
Romanians were in his camp. Some
viewed him as a crackpot because of his
unyielding stubborness. He would not
abandon his efforts because he was
fully aware of the guilt of the Nazi
criminal he was pursuing.
Pursuing a single Nazi and bring-
ing him to justice, as Charles Kremer
did with Trifa, is like hounding and at-
taining penance from all in Nazidom.
That's how Charles Kremer must be
judged in the Holocaust history.
He was motivated by a duty that
was dictated to him as "Justice shall
you pursue" and he attained much of
the aim when Trifa's deportation was

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

ordered after the Justice Department's
probe of Trifa's guilt.
Dr. Kremer struggled to earn a
livelihood in his practice of dentistry
when he would take time out from his
demands for action to assure exposure
and punishment of Trifa.
He was a constant visitor in this
area, lining up support for his trying
efforts. That's how he enrolled support
in this community.
Non-Jews as well as Jews began to
admire his search for justice.
Among those who expressed appre-
ciation for Dr. Kremer's efforts were
William French Smith III, when he was
U.S. -Attorney General. Smith wrote to
Dr. Kremer in 1984: "Your interest and
resolve never diminished. Trifa's depar-
ture (when he was ousted from this
country) should be a great source of
satisfaction for you."
Dr. Kremer was not fully satisfied.
He would have preferred if Trifa were
tried and the American people could
hear the accusations and have the
crimes exposed. The victory neverthe-
less was great and it proved the cour-
age of a man who refused to tolerate
the injustice of an arch-criminal parad-
ing as a saintly person with his guilt
hidden.

Dr. Charles Kremer

Charles Kremer's name should be
retained and honored among the most
courageous Nazi hunters.