PiliR161A/Miel
ARTISANS OF ISRAEL
SPONSORED BY THE
GOVERNMENT OF ISRAEL
Bracha Levee "Jerusa lem of Gold" Fe lt on Can vas
Rabbi Aims
At Revitalization
A CELEBRATION OF
ISRAELI ARTS AND CRAFTS
Exhibition and Sale (With The Artists on Hand)
Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit
6600 West Maple
West Bloomfield, Michigan • 661-1000
Opening: Tuesday, December 1, 1992
7:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M.
Wednesday, December 2, 1992 10:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M.
Thursday, December 3, 1992 10:00 A.M. to 9:00 P.M.
• CERAMICS: Gaia Smith, Yonah Dar, Hannah Miller • GLASS: Domar, Uri Elite
• WOOD: Luvaton, Esther Armon • JEWELRY: Caspi Silver, Shraga Arad, Didya Antiques
• SILVER: Rafi Landau, Michael Ende, Ayelet & Shira, Shimon Ben Dor
• PAINTINGS: Miriam Magi, Miriam Lamdan • TEXTILES: Gabrieli Weaving, Bracha Lavee, Kuzari
CROSSWINDS MALL
NEWEST ARRIVAL!
Fine Israeli Art
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7-14 & PRE-TEENS
855-4460
(/)
ORCHARD LAKE RD. AT LONE PINE RD.
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"KADDISH"
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On 60-Minute
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Danielle Peleg Gallery
4301 Orchard Lake Rd., Suite 103
West Bloomfield • (313) 626-5810
Enclose $10 & mail along
with name/address to:
RABBI MOSHE POLTER
Majestic Hebrew Co.
23200 Gardner
Oak Park, MI 48237
Kosice, Czechoslovakia
(JTA) — Rabbi Lazar
Kleinman took up his post in
Kosice as the only rabbi in
Slovakia just before Rosh
Hashanah and, despite what
may seem overwhelming
odds, he has ambitious plans
to rebuild the local Jewish
community into a viable and
vibrant congregation.
Kosice, in the far east of
Slovakia, has a Jewish
population estimated at
about 350 families —
perhaps 1,000 people.
The 53-year-old Rabbi
Kleinman, born in Tran-
sylvania, educated in Israel
and an Australian citizen
whose last rabbinical post
was in Helsinki, Finland,
took up the post of rabbi here
in August.
As of October, in all of
Czechoslovakia there were
only two rabbis — himself in
Kosice and Karol Sidon in
Prague.
"I plan to stay here as
rabbi indefinitely," Rabbi
Kleinman said in an inter-
view with the Jewish Tele-
graphic Agency at the
Kosice Jewish community
office.
"Without fantasizing or
dreaming, if, say, in 20
years, I will have put the
Jewish community here into
continuance of Jewish life,
Jewish education, Jewish
community life, then I will
have accomplished some-
thing."
Rabbi Kleinman said he
was looking forward to the
challenge and stressed that
his emphasis will be on edu-
cation. He said he pinned all
hopes on the younger ge-
neration.
"The situation here is very
bad," he said. "What can
you expect after World War-
II and then 45 years of com-
munism? You actually have
nothing. Even what exists
has to be rebuilt."
He described the situation
of Jewish life in Kosice as
"bankrupt.
"There needs to be edu-
cation," he said. "Not just
for children, but also for
those who were educated
under communism."
He said, "There's been no
possibility to practice or to
have Jewish education. No
Judaism. No Jewish feeling.
Nothing (Jewish) at all ex-
cept among old people."
Nonetheless, Rabbi
Kleinman freely admitted
that he had alienated a
number of older members of
the congregation by essen-
tially cutting them out of his
plans to revitalize the com-
munity.
"Thanks to God, the
leadership of the Jewish
community here is not in the
hands of old people," he said.
"The board of the commun-
ity is made up of young peo-
ple.
"I am not listening to the
old generation here," he
said. "The old people think
that they know Judaism, but
they are backwards by 50
years."
Rabbi Kleinman said that
one of the areas of conflict
with the older generation
was in the handling and
supply of kosher meat.
"As soon as I arrived, I
changed the situation," he
said.
He said that before his ar-
rival, there had been a
shochet who slaughtered the
There needs to be
education for
children and adults.
meat, but who did not make
it kosher. Individuals
kashered the meat on their
own.
Now, he said, he himself
supervises the slaughtering
and the kashering of all
meat. He wants to establish
a modern, hygienic kosher
meat supply system, he said,
in which meat will be sold to
community members
slaughtered, kashered,
wrapped in plastic and
frozen.
"This has provoked prob-
lems with some of the older
people," he said.
He outlined his plans for
the community.
"We are going to open a
kindergarten soon. A cheder
for nursery-school children
will also be opened," he said.
Also, he said, the organiza-
tion of the youth club would
be changed. Until now it was
controlled, he said, by a non-
religious Israeli political
party.
"Now it will be controlled
by the Jewish community,"
he said.
Already, he said, he had
organized two-hour educa-
tional sessions twice a mon-
th on Saturday evenings for
people between the ages of
15 and 30.