UP FRONT

Former Christian 'Prophetess'
- Finally Returns To Her Judaism

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM

Features Editor

T

r

ova Mordechai was
raised in a home
where television and
radio were forbidden, where
little girls wore floor-length
skirts to church and where
Jesus was lord.
When she was eight,
Mordechai came across pic-
tures of her dark-haired
cousins in Israel.
"I remember feeling sad
that I didn't look like them,"
she says. "So I prayed to God
for hair that would turn
black in the night.
"That was my first
awakening to Judaism."
More than 15 years would
pass before Mordechai, who
was in Detroit last week as
part of the Lubavitch Foun-
dation's "Evening with
Chabad" program, would
identify herself as Jewish. In
the meantime, she traveled
a curious path that included
working as a prophetess and
speaking in tongues.
Mordechai's story begins
in Alexandria, Egypt, where
her Jewish grandparents
lived. Her grandfather
worked for a newspaper; his
wife dreamed of having
many children. Their first

JCCouncil
To Have News
On Earthquake

I

Following the earthquake
which hit the Bay area of
California late Tuesday,
the Jewish Community
Council of Metropolitan
Detroit will operate as a
clearing house for informa-
tion concerning the
quake's effect on the
Jewish communities of the
area. At press time, it was
unknown whether any
Jewish communal facili-
ties had sustained damage.
The Council's telephone
number is 962-1880.
The -American Red Cross
announced that the
hotline which was im-
plemented for the Hur-
ricane Hugo relief effort
will also be used for the
earthquake effort.
Anyone wishing to make
donations may call
1-800-453-9000, or write to
the American Red Cross,
P.O. Box 3743, Wash-
ington, D.C. 20013.

child, Tova's mother, was
followed by eight others who
died at early ages.
Hearing his wife was
pregnant for the 10th time,
Mordechai's grandfather
promised God he would fast
every Monday and Thursday
if the child would live and be
healthy. He kept his vow
when his son Sammy, who
was to play a major role in
Tova Mordechai's life, grew
into a thriving young man.
To help the family's
strained financial situation,
Mordechai's grandmother
took her daughter to

Tova Mordechai

England, where she found a
job at a boarding school run
by the Salvation Army.
She became friendly with
the school's headmaster. He
listened sympathetically to
her story of the children she
had lost. He told her she
would find solace in Jesus.
She became convinced; she
and Tova's mother converted
to Christianity.
Tova's grandfather, hear-
ing of the conversion, sat
Shiva for his wife and
daughter. They continued to
live in the same house, but
rarely spoke.
During World War II, the
two opened their home to
young soldiers stationed in
the area. Many of the men
fell in love with the couple's
lovely daughter. She fancied
a certain young British
soldier.
He had enlisted in the
British army when he was
just a boy.
But war was torment for
the young man. He watched
as many of his friends
perished at the hands of the
enemy. His only joy was the
woman he met in Egypt. He
asked her to marry him,
then sent her a ticket to
London.

The couple settled down to
a happy life in Britain. Con-
vinced God was responsible
for his surviving the war,
the former soldier became a
preacher. Eventually, he
founded a strict Christian
sect.
His wife bore him five
children. His youngest, Toni,
— • today known as Tova —
was the apple of his eye.

oni loved her father
very much. When he
went to church or to
visit the sick, she proudly
walked beside him.
She also loved God, whom
as a little girl she promised,
"I want to work as hard for
you as I can. I promise I will
give you all my money."
Yet mingled with that love
was fear. Mordechai recalls
being terrified that she had
not fully repented to Jesus of
her sins, that she did not de-
serve eternal life and that
she would be sent to hell.
At 16, Mordechai was ac-
cepted for studies at the
Christian Theological Col-
lege. Two years later, her
sister joined her there.
One afternoon Mordechai's
sister asked, "Do you know
what day it is? It's Yom
Kippur. So I went to
synagogue."
Mordechai was curious.
She knew her mother was
born Jewish, but she had
never met any Jews in her
town. She asked her sister if
she was afraid at the
synagogue. Hadn't the peo-
ple stared at her? Wasn't she
the only person without dark
hair?
"Of course not," her sister
replied. "Many people there
look just like us."
Mordechai returned to her
room. "I thought to myself:
`All the Jews were in
synagogue and you weren't
there.' It took me three days
to shake that, even though I
knew I shouldn't be concern-
ed. After all, what did
Judaism have to do with
me?"
She tried to persuade her
roommate to visit the
synagogue, but the woman
wasn't interested. So on
Shabbat, Mordechai went by
herself.
She expected to go un-
noticed. But unlike the large
crowd of Yom Kippur
observers, the weekly
Shabbat service attracted
just a few worshippers.
Mordechai smiled at the

Continued on Page 12

Recipients of the third annual Agency Leadership Awards are shown
at a Jewish Welfare Federation reception last week. From left,
standing: Neil Satovsky, Jewish Federation Apartments; Jack Schon,
Jewish Home for Aged; Jeroriie Soble, Jewish Community Center;
Federation President Mark Schlussel; Edward Lumberg, Fresh Air
Society; John Jacobs, Jewish Family Service. Seated: Benjamin
Rosenthal, Agency for Jewish Education; Dennis Bernard, Jewish
Vocational Service; Leah Snider, Sinai Hospital; Henry Lee, Hebrew
Free Loan Association; and Andrew Zack, Jewish Community
Council.

I ROUND UP

A Two-By-Four
Minyan Site

A religious Detroiter, con-
structing sukkahs for
homeowners in Oak Park
and Huntington Woods last
week, knew just what to do
when he missed davening
the afternoon and evening
service.
Jason Goldsmith borrowed
a homeowner's car to return
to Durst Lumber Co. for
more parts for the siikkah.
The worried homeowner was
beginning to think
Goldsmith had stolen her
vehicle when he didn't
return after an hour. But
Goldsmith, still concerned
about missing evening
prayers, had gathered a mi-
nyan of observant sukkah-
builders inside the store and
davened on the premises.

An Un-comma-nly
New Book

Jerusalem (JTA) — A
Chinese scholar recently
completed a Hebrew
grammar book for Chinese-
speaking students.
Cho Chiang, who heads
the Institute for African and
West Asian Studies at the
Chinese Academy of Science,
wrote to the head of the
World Zionist Organiza-
tion's Hebrew language sec-
tion, saying he is at the point
of completing the grammar
book.
In his letter, Chiang said
that while Hebrew is taught

at two Chinese universities
— Peking and Nanking —
his book is intended to help
Chinese-speaking students
of Hebrew in such countries
as Taiwan, Singapore, Hong
Kong and the United States.

African States
Snub Waldheim

The Ivory Coast and
Senegal cancelled planned
state visits by Austrian
President Kurt Waldheim,
following receipt of docu-
ments about Waldheim's
Nazis past from the World
Jewish Congress.
Waldheim had planned to
visit the two countries this
week.

Some Nuns
Quit Auschwitz

New York (JTA) — About
half the nuns at- the
Auschwitz convent already
have left the convent, accor-
ding to Kalman Sultanik,
vice president of the World
Jewish Congress.
Sultanik, who was in
Poland last week, said
several members of the
Polish government and
Polish Catholic Church offi-
cials told him that seven or
eight of an estimated 15
nuns at the Carmelite con-
vent have left and that the
others will leave soon.

Compiled by
Elizabeth Applebaum

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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