DETROIT

Detroit Ceremony Remembers
Purim Massacre In Minsk

AMY J. MEHLER

Staff Writer

L

ubov Kirnarskaya was
18 when her parents
were forced from their
home in the Minsk ghetto,
taken to a large pit and shot
to death.
Mrs. Kirnaskaya and her
brother; Yaakov, survived.
They were hidden in a
village outside Minsk, in a
narrow basement at the
home of one of Mrs. Kir-
naskaya's girlfriends. When
they couldn't hide any
longer, they ran off and hid
in a neighboring forest.
The rest of the Minsk

ghetto wasn't as lucky. On
March 2, 1942, between
5,000 and 9,000 Jews were
murdered — many buried
alive — by the Nazis. Among
the victims were large
numbers of children, in-
cluding those from the
Shpalerna Street Or-
phanage.
To commemorate the Min-
sk massacre, Detroit's sister
city, survivors and children
of survivors gathered Sun-.
day at the Holocaust
Memorial Center in West
Bloomfield for a memorial
service.
A proclamation was pre-
sented by Detroit City Coun-
cil President Maryann

Children prepare to light the candles.

Mahaffey, declaring Feb. 28
- March 1. as Days of Re-
membrance.
"Thousands of Jews were
murdered." Mrs. Mahaffey
said. "Thousands of others
will always remember these
atrocities."
The 1942 Minsk massacre
was intentionally planned
for Purim, said Jeannie
Weiner, president of the
Jewish Community Council,
which sponsored the memo-
rial along with the HMC and
the Jewish community of
Minsk.
"By staging the pogrom on
Purim, a day of hope, and by
killing thousands of inno-
cent children, the Nazis in-
tended to drive home the
point to the Jews: that there
was nothing left to hope for."
According to Leonid Kir-
narskaya, who came to the
service with his mother, and
other former residents of
Minsk, a modern-day
miracle has transformed the
city that witnessed such
tragedy. The Minsk Jewish
community, practically non-
15 existent two years ago, has
t begun a spiritual and
E cultural rebirth.
ci Today, Minsk has a thriv-
ing Jewish cultural center
and Sunday school. Jews at-
0_ tend synagogue and
celebrate Jewish holidays
free from fear.

Jenny Karasik wipes away a tear during the ceremony.

For the first time in 50
years, the Jews of Minsk
publicly commemorated the
Purim massacre without city
interference. Charles Silow,
president of the Children of
Holocaust Survivors Associ-
ation In Michigan, went to
Minsk last week to organize
a simultaneous memorial
service.
"That they have come so
far as to plan together days
of programs about the
massacre is almost a miracle
in itself," said Detroit Soviet
Jewry Committee chair-
woman Ellen Labes.
Ms. Labes said Detroit's
Jewish community can help
the Jewish community of
Minsk by donating $2 in a
new "Buy a Brick" cam-

paign. The money will go to
rebuilding the Minsk syn-
agogue and will aid other
Jewish community needs.
Each donor will receive a
certificate and the people of
Minsk will know that the
Detroit Jewish community
stands with them.
But for the Kirnarskayas,
who left Minsk a few months
ago, the feeling of solidarity
was everywhere. Mrs. Kir-
narskaya looked on teary-
eyed as her grandchildren
Nata, 20, and Svetlana, 5,
helped light yahrtzeit
candles.
"My youngest doesn't
understand yet why she's
here," Mr. Kirnarskaya
said. "But it's part of her
history too." ❑

Kosher Stalemate Continues At Cohen's Meat Market

NOAM M.M. NEUSNER

Staff Writer

T

wo years ago, Michael
Cohen was told by a
state Department of
Agriculture investigator
that the law prohibited him
from advertising as a kosher
butcher shop. Mr. Cohen
threatened the state with
legal action if they enforced
the law. The state backed
off.
Two weeks ago, The Jew-
ish News reported that
Cohen's Kosher Meats has
been engaged in a two-year
dispute with the Council of
Orthodox Rabbis (Vaad
Harabonim) over kosher
supervision. The Vaad says
it will not certify any but-
cher who is not a Sabbath
observant Jew.

In November 1990, Mich-
igan's Department of
Agriculture received a com-
plaint that Michael Cohen's

14

FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 1992

store might not be kosher by
state standards.
A department investiga-
tion concluded that Mr.
Cohen, who did not — and
still does not — have rab-
binical supervision, "could
not sell (or) advertise meats
as 'kosher' until he received
rabbinical supervision."
The report was written by
field investigator Karen
Butler.
State law requires that
any kosher butcher must
process meat "in accordance
with Orthodox Hebrew re-
ligious requirements sanc-
tioned by a recognized Or-
thodox rabbinical council."
When confronted, Mr.
Cohen threatened to sue the
Department of Agriculture.
Department officials said
the threat of legal action did
not ward them off the case.
But Compliance Officer
Charles Shelly said the
department was too under-
funded and understaffed to
pursue the matter. Plus, it

did not want to get involved
in a religious dispute.
The Department of
Agriculture has asked the
Attorney General's office for
advice on handling Mr.
Cohen's store, said Food
Division Director Dr. Ed-
ward Heffron.

The Vaad refuses
to comment
publicly on Mr.
Cohen's request
because of the
threat of litigation,
and will not say
his store is
unkosher.

In a spiritual Catch-22, Mr.
Cohen must have rabbinical
supervision to repackage
and process kosher meat and
still sell the meat as kosher.
But the Vaad, which is one
of two recognized rabbinical
councils in Michigan,

refuses to provide the needed
supervision.
The Vaad required, as of
1974, all new butchers in the
Detroit area to keep the
Sabbath in order to be con-
sidered kosher. Mr. Cohen
refuses to meet this and
other Vaad requirements,
saying the rules violate his
religious freedom.
The Vaad refuses to corn-
me nt publicly on Mr.
Cohen's request because of
the threat of litigation. For
the same reason, the Vaad
can not say that Mr. Cohen's
store is unkosher.
Rabbi Elimelech Goldberg,
a member of the Vaad, said
the Vaad's ability to in-
fluence Mr. Cohen is limited
by the store's customers.
"We can only certify places
where we have leverage,"
said Rabbi Goldberg. He said
if customers are willing to
buy meat without the Vaad's
certification, then the Vaad
has no control over the but-
cher.

As the current stalemate
continues, Mr. Cohen joins
another Detroit area but-
cher, Bernard & Son Kosher
Meats, that operates without
any rabbinical supervision.
Bernard Rayber, owner of
the Farmington Hills store,
said he has not spoken to the
Vaad for seven years. The
Vaad removed its certifica-
tion from Bernard & Son
when a private investigator
said the butcher was selling
non-kosher meat.
On Nov. 14, 1986, three
men — Solomon Frankel,
Jeffrey Perlstein and
Chayim Silverstein — filed a
test case against the state's
Department of Agriculture,
asking them to investigate
Bernard & Sons. The state
settled the suit by agreeing,
upon request, to enforce all
kosher regulations
throughout Michigan.
Mr. Rayber said the lack of
Vaad supervision has hurt
his business, but he has no
plans to close. ❑

