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UP FRONT

Early Detroit Jewish Emigres
Proud Of America And Freedom

KIMBERLY LIFTON

Staff Writer

B

enjamin Halpern was
30-years-old and a
successful bookkeeper
when he fled Lithuania to
come to America in 1928.
His was a life of relative
freedom. Yet it wasn't
enough. Across the borders
in Russia, "people were
starving and dying as
slaves."
"We would hear stories,
terrible stories, about condi-
tions there and how the
revolution had gone wrong,"
Mr. Halpern said. "There
were even tales about how
people were forced to prac-
tice cannibalism in order to
survive. I could only con-
clude that our society had
fallen apart."
With a visa and some
money, Mr. Halpern left for
America, where his brother,
Max, was living in Detroit.
Shortly before the boat
docked in New York Harbor,
he noticed the Statue of Lib-
erty.
"I smiled. I felt great,"
said Mr. Halpern, 93, who
lives with his. wife, Esther,
in the Fleischman Residence
in West Bloomfield. "Even

to this day, I almost get tears
when I see the Statue of Lib-
erty. It stands for what I
came here for: Freedom."
This week, as America
celebrates its 215th birthday
with its newest wave of im-
migrants — Soviet Jews,
many of its earliest Jewish
settlers recall memories of
their journeys. They came
here for freedom, something
they never take for granted.
"I remember asking my
brother when we had to go to
the police station to
register," Mr. Halpern said.

"There is no place
like America."

Yetta Weiner

"He just laughed at me and
explained that here in
America there was no need
to register, no need to carry
a passport at all times.
"I'm a great patriot," he
said. "You couldn't sell me
on anyplace else."
With his three brothers
and their mother, Dr. Milton
Joseph, 84, escaped from
Communist-run Austria-
Hungary in 1920 through
Czechoslovakia. It was seven
years after his father, Mano
Yosepovich (who later

changed his name to
Joseph), came to the United
States. He had relatives who
sent for him.
The Josephs — Milton,
Leslie and Arthur, Chuck
and their mother — met
their uncle, Joseph Lorber,
already an American citizen,
at a town about three miles
past the Austro-Hungarian
border. At the border, they
told the guard they were go-
ing to visit some relatives.
"From there, we went to
Prague, and we had tickets
to take the boat to America,
but an internal revolution
made it hard to get through.
So my uncle made ar-
rangements for us to go to
Antwerp, Belgium," Dr.
Joseph said. "We waited
about a week, in filth and
dirt. There was no place to
get any accommodations. We
had to sleep on benches . in
the ship's waiting area. After
about a week, we boarded
the ship. It took two weeks to
get to America."
Since nobody ever told him
about the Statue of Liberty,
his reaction was lukewarm
when the ship docked. All he
wanted to do was see his
father.
"They didn't test us when
we got to Ellis Island be-

cause we were with my
uncle, an American citizen,"
Dr. Joseph recalled. "New
York just looked like a city.
The buildings were tall, the
streets were so narrow. My
mother kept praying. She
had a siddur in front of her
the whole time."
They took a train to
Detroit, where the family
reunited with Mano in the
Hungarian area of Delray.
Later, after he married
Evelyn Gantz, they traveled
throughout the world.
"Every time I returned to
America, I got off the plane,
bent down and kissed the
ground," Dr. Joseph said. "I
love this country."
May Shapiro, 84, came to
Detroit from Russia just

after World War I. Her
father, Harry Aston, was a
salesman; her mother,
Paula, was a dressmaker.
They traveled together —
five girls and one boy.
When their boat landed at
Ellis Island, Mrs. Shapiro
saw a large building, which
turned out to be the Empire
State Building. "I remember
feeling happy. We were run-
ning away. My dad just told
us we were going to a new
country."
It was rare for an entire
family to travel together,
and such a journey landed
the Aston family on the
pages of the New York
Times.
"I feel good here," she
Continued on Page 17

Jesus and other martyred
Christian figures. The Jews
were included among other
"undesirables," including
blacks, dwarfs and redheads,
depicted in medieval art.
In addition to distorted
facial characteristics, artists
of the medieval period
painted Jewish figures
dressed in the special
clothing they were forced to
wear at the time, so the
viewer could make no
mistake. This is especially
evident in the distinctive
Jewish hats, often conical or
pointed, seen in the pain-
tings.

among American Jewish ar-
tists and serve as a resource
center for both the art com-
munity and the general
public. Plans include exhibi-
tions, advocating the inter-
ests of its members in
various organizations,
publishing a quarterly
newsletter, establishing a
guild speakers' bureau, and
conducting seminars and
lectures.
For information, contact
the American Guild. of Jew-
ish Art, Kaufman Culture
Center, 129 W. 67th St.,
New York City, N.Y., 10023,
(212) 362-8060.

Jewish Art Guild
Is Established
New York — The Ameri-
can Guild of Jewish Art, an
affiliate of the Elaine Kauf-
man Cultural Center, open-
ed this summer to promote
awareness of Jewish fine art
and craft objects.
The non-profit organiza-
tion hopes to provide a forum
for the exchange of ideas

Biblical Exegesis
Focus Of Program
Jerusalem — The
Jerusalem-based Pardes In-
stitute of Jewish Studies will
offer a special August pro-
gram, open to men and wo-
men, in the study of biblical
exegesis (analysis).
The program will be
geared toward the advanced
student, and a working

knowledge of Hebrew is
necessary for the exegesis
program. Faculty will in-
clude Torah scholar and
educator Nehama Liebowitz.
The biblical exegesis pro-
gram will run Aug. 4
through Aug. 29, with
course work including
discussion, supervised prep-
aration of texts and lectures.
Pardes, an independent
yeshiva, offers one-year and
summer programs in Israel.
Maintaining a Zionist com-
mitment and community
service component, Pardes is
not affiliated with any one
political or religious move-
ment. While faculty and
administration are obser-
vant of Jewish law, Pardes
students are diverse and
represent the entire range of
degrees of observance.
For information, contact
Beth Newmark, U.S. Coor-
dinator, American Pardes
Foundation, 111 Ocean St.,
Lynn, Mass., 01902, (617)
592-4542.
Compiled by
Elizabeth Applebaum

ROUND UP

Professor Traces
Anti-Semitic Art
Jerusalem — The same
facial and bodily distortions
used to vilify Jews in anti-
Semitic illustrations today
can be traced back directly
to the art of the medieval
period in northern Europe.
Speaking on "The Image of
the Jew in Art" at the recent
Third International Seminar
on Jewish Art, sponsored by
the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem's Center for Jew-
ish Art, Dr. Ruth Mellinkoff
said that geography plays a
bigger part in shaping at-
titudes than people might
realize.
Dr. Mellinkoff, art
historian at the University
of California-Los Angeles,
said negative Jewish stereo-
types began to appear in
northern European art from
the 13th century — some-
thing that did not occur in
southern Europe. These
negative stereotypes,
predecessors of the Nazi an-
ti-Semitic images, might ex-

plain why German soldiers
were capable of cruelty
toward Jews not seen in the
behavior of Italian soldiers
during World War II, she
said.
The stereotypes Dr.
Mellinkoff described por-

Jewish headgear as depicted in
medieval art.

trayed Jews as having bulg-
ing eyes, hooked noses and
enlarged mouths with
bulbous lips. They also often
were painted as obese and
with warts on their faces.
They were shown as ac-
cusers and tormentors of

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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