PURELY COMMENTARY
The Book Fair: Peoplehood And Ideology
of the "peace ideas" which have ag-
gravated the many who are distressed
Editor Emeritus
when Jews supply arguments that are
considered strengthening the Arab
n a period of less than 10 days, an position.
opportunity will be provided by the
Therefore the desire for serious con-
annual Jewish Book Fair for all to sideration and treatment of the
become more knowledgeable. From the possibility of an emergence of anger
lectures provided for them by leaders in rather than sound debate over the
the literary and publishing fields, they issues that have become vital in Jewish
will be offered knowledge in many con- life. Ideas to be advocated by the great
ceivable topics — history, religion, the lecturers must be given a thorough air-
synagogue, Zionism and Israel, ing aimed at realism and strengthening
theology and family life. The tragedies rather than weakening the Jewish posi-
emanating from the Holocaust are not tion vis-a-vis Israel.
ignored. Anti-Semitism is always here
The approach to the Book Fair sug-
to plague us. .
gests- both a program for Jewish studies
The current Book Fair, judging by and an agerida for a public forum.
topics and authors, may be much more Discussion is never barred in a com-
challenging. It includes all of the sub- munity as freedom loving as ours.
jects alluded to. It has one aspect to be Therefore the urgency that ideas
taken much more seriously. It includes brought here be given factual considera-
the frankness of several bitter critics of tion, devoid of prejudice and anger. We
present-day Israeli situations, national- must always hope that the protective
ly acclaimed Jewish leaders and former elements for Jewry and Israel will
Israeli officials. They will bring with always emerge from dignified disputes.
them views that have aroused deep con-
A Book Fair must, in our view, be
cern. They are certain to advocate some judged as both commitment to our
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
I
Leadership Uninterrupted
0
ur communities are blessed
with a continuation of leader-
ship, children following in the
footsteps of parents.
Detroit Jewry has a marked bless-
ing in that development. Continuing
from generation to generation, the
family-wise commitments lend strength
to socially-minded involvements that
engage the local and national scene
with the overseas needs.
This is especially evident in the
assumption of Jewish Welfare Federa-
tion presidency by Mark Schlussel. In
this case their is a powerful continuity.
His father, also a practicing at-
torney, had a remarkable role in leader-
ship, communally with organizational
skill and a multiplicity of cultural
achievements. Irving Schlussel began
as a youth leader, a task that became
vital in his son Mark's devotions. He
was among the early presidents of the
Jewish National Fund Council of
Detroit. His son Mark similarly rose to
that position in later years.
Irving Schlussel was a devout
member of the Orthodox faction, a Sab-
bath observer and had a home Jewishly
inspired by him and his wife Marilyn.
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Vol. XCVI No. 11
2
November 10, 1989
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1989
peoplehood and respect for the
ideological. In both categories there are
duties for all concerned with our needs.
In all instances they must lead to the
most important of all commitments:
strengthening Jewish aspirations and
striving for elimination of the
venomous, assuring the continuity and
erasing the misleading and the motiva-
tions stemming from ignorance.
Encouragement must be given to
the knowledgeable and firmly commit-
ted to be prepared to confront the issues
and to help arrive at truth and reality
that wil assure the militantly-defensive
in Jewish ranks globally and in Israel.
Much of what has been published
and continues to be major in media em-
phases about Israel's morality demands
scrutiny and a large measure of
refuting. This is where the committed
in Israel's defense must be assertive.
They must be prepared to be masters of
the facts. They are obligatd to admit
faults and blunders — and they are
numerous. But under no circumstance
must there be encouragement to the in-
creasing tide of Jews who have been
more destructive than the non-Jewish
venom-spreaders about Israel. The
defensive elements must relate to the
facts, never yielding to the methods
that are harmful to Israel, that an
educational process for positive action
is obligatory.
Ideology compels both caution and
an educational tendency in the em-
phasis on the fact that will surely
emerge in the oncoming forum called
"Book Fair."
Our peoplehood must be treated
with a striving for unified action in sup-
port of the legacies that have become
the Jewish cultural treasures.
A revered Chasidic leader, Naham
of Bratzlav (1770-1811), provided a
definition published posthumously in
1942:
Nine tzaddikim do not make
a minyan, but one common man,
joining them, completes the mi-
nyan. Truly, "in the multitude of
people is the king's glory."
The message defined by the
Chasidic sage was one of unity in the
highest spiritual sense with a welcome
to the ideological in Jewish experience.
The idea commences with a minyan,
and while the tenth person is necessary,
it is the peoplehood that grows into an
indestructible unity.
A people's forum encourages differ-
ing views and respect for the controver-
sial. That's the essence of the Book Fair
about to commence. Out of traditional
disputes must grow the commitment to
the unity that rejects the venomous and
destructive. In the main it will surely
be the unity that is geniune
peoplehood.
❑
Survivors And Scholars
Keep The Memories Alive
W
Mark Schlussel
Mark, like his parents, is equally com-
mitted in strictest Jewish idealism.
There are undoubtedly many who
remember Irving and Marilyn
Schlussel as the enthusiasts who helped
enroll supporters for JNF and
adherents to Zionism. It was because
their home was such a deep Jewish in-
spiration that their leadership was
honored and admired.
Irving Schlussel was a great scholar
who had a knowledge of Bible and
Talmud. He was an important factor in
the United Hebrew Schools. He was
equally fluent in Yiddish and its
literature.
Such is the background of the more
current leadership. It is the enrichment
of an inspired paternal legacy that
assures good leadership, as in the
cultural inheritance of Mark Schlussel.
This is where genealogy benefits us im-
mensely. ❑
ith the passing of time and
the danger of an emerging
indifference, the concern is oc-
casionally expressed: "Lest we forget."
Then there is the awareness that more
than one Holocaust center has been
built, that others are in the planning,
that the impressive like Detroit's are
being modeled on smaller scales in
many communities.
There is a measure of relief from the
Lest We Forget anguish in the
publishing evidence. Books historical in
nature, reminiscences and perpetuation
of the memories of sufferings, nar-
ratives with literary skillfulness keep
inviting interest in the tragedies.
Thereby memories will not, can not be
erased.
In the process, the recollections
about the great spiritual centers keep
alive historic records about the great
Jewish centers that have fallen victims
to the Holocaust.
Vilna, the historic center of Jewish
life and activities in Lithuania, is in
these memories.
A noted authority on the history of
that kelillah will be here, as one of the
Book Fair guests, to tell about her home
city. Lucy Dawidowicz was there before
the Holocaust. She returned to Vilna to
write its epic story and she will be
among the eminent at the Book Fair to
trace the genius of its historic records
and its scholars. She is best qualified to
perpetuate the memories about the
community that had retained the ap-
pellation of "Yerushalyim d'Lita," the
Jerusalem of Lithuania. Thanks to the
Shaarey Zedek Library and its archivist
Judy Cantor, this will be one of the
means of keeping memory alive.
Meanwhile, memorialists are keep-
ing alive the records. History-minded
survivors, skillful narrators are telling
and retelling the tales of horrors and
the "never forget" theme stays alive.
The record becomes fruitful in the
writings of Nobelist Elie Wiesel, the
brilliant Cynthia Ozick, in a novel by
Franz Werfel and the scores of works
that enrich the Holocaust library.
The newest in this accumulating
contemporary products from publishers
indicating an interest in keeping the
Holocaust records alive include:
The Island on Bird Street by Uri
Orley, (Houghton Mifflin), is a novel
translated from the Hebrew by Hillel
Halkin.
Among the newest works of the
Jewish Publication Society is another
novel translated from the Hebrew: The
Court Jesters by Avigdor Dagan was
translated by Barbara Harshay.
Everything by Elie Wiesel increases
interest in Holocaust literature. The
eminent Nobel Prize winner has
authored another novel, Twilight issued
by Warner Books. It was translated
from the French by his wife, Marion
Wiesel.
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