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A fresh look at some of the stories we reported on in the past weeks.
Saving
A Roman
At Masada
rgitilAcus
Adat
1 1 Shalom
Honors
The
Vieders
Moynihan
Bill Set To
Go Before
Senate
A E 'sIszlisTAENTTHE'D'PTTBAum
Czar's Plot
Pulled
From The
Library
ALLAN HITSKY
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
r. Arthur Klass
was making his
way along the
snake trail to the
top of Masada when he
heard a commotion near
the cable-car landing
below him.
There, Italian tourists
were calling for a doctor.
It seemed one of their
party, a man in his 40s,
was having a grand mal
epileptic seizure. Dr.
Klass, who was partici-
pating in the Michigan
Miracle Mission along
with his wife, Judy, ran
to the man's aid. The
Southfield physician
cleared the man's airway
and helped stabilize him
until he could be evacu-
ated.
Dr. Klass did not know
the man's identity.
However, the doctor
will never forget the
moment or the signifi-
cance of the moment.
Yes, he and his wife had
visited areas of extreme
historical meaning dur-
ing their 10 days in
Israel. They had seen the
Western Wall; they had
planted trees; they heard
Israeli leaders speak.
But what Dr. Klass will
always remember was
the day he made history.
All of us know the
KIMBERLY LIFTON
Judy Leider and Celia
Lubetsky were among a
small choir that rewrote
Shabbat songs, replacing
the words to "Adon
Olam" and "L'Dor 'V Dor"
with lyrics about Cantor
Vieder's life at the syna-
gogue.
"I'm so busy, I can't go
away until July," Cantor
Vieder says. "I'll be can-
tor emeritus, which
means I will just be slow-
ing down a bit." Cantor
Vieder plans to stay in
Detroit and at Adat
Shalom, helping bar and
bat mitzvah students,
directing the High Holy
Day choirs and leading
services. He and his wife
will divide time among
their Farmington Hills
and Fort Lauderdale
homes.
Howard Glantz, previ-
ously assistant to Cantor
Vieder, has been promot-
ed to cantor.
fter passing in the
House as part of
President Bill
Clinton's economic
package, an amendment
that could seriously
affect the status of chari-
table giving is set to go
later this summer before
the Senate.
Introduced by Sen.
Daniel Patrick Moyni-
han, D-N.Y., the Chari-
table Contributions Tax
Act includes an amend-
ment requiring taxpay-
ers to provide written
proof for all donations of
$750 or more and report
any donation for which
they receive a service.
Such exchanges —
including High Holy Day
tickets and rabbinic
counseling — are labeled
quid pro quo and could,
if the Moynihan amend-
ment passes, be consid-
ered taxable.
The amendment also
obligates religious insti-
tutions to make a clear
distinction between
donations and quid pro
quo services. If, for
example, someone writes
a $100 check to his syna-
gogue, $50 of which is a
donation and $50 of
which is for High Holy
Day tickets, the syna-
gogue must make note of
the difference, resulting
in what one Capitol Hill
observer labeled a "red-
E
In the famous case,
Mr. Leikin points out
that government prose-
cutors used perjured,
condradictory testimony
of well-known under-
world figures to falsely
convict Jews and discred-
it Judaism.
Dr. George Leikin, Mr.
Leikin's father, was
rabbi of the town of
Kazan and a staunch
anti-communist. Because
of that fact, the family
fled to the United States
just before the Russian
Revolution. Ezekiel
Leikin moved to Pales-
tine in 1936. He enlisted
in the U.S. Army in
1943, serving in military
intelligence in North
Africa and Europe.
He joined the Zionist
Organization of America
staff after World War II,
retiring in 1981. He con-
tinues to serve the
Detroit ZOA as executive
director. 111
STAFF WRITER
C
antor Larry and
Gita Vieder were
special guests on
Monday at a lun-
cheon in honor of Cantor
' Vieder's retirement after
34 years at Adat Shalom
Synagogue.
About 100 members,
friends and family joined
the Adat Shalom Sis-
terhood at the luncheon.
zekiel Leikin's new
book was acclaimed
at a reception last
week sponsored by
the Zionist Organization
of America - Detroit
District. Mr. Leikin, a
native of Kazan, Russia,
translated his father's
copies of pre-World War
I court documents to cre-
ate The Beilis Tran-
scripts: The Anti-Semitic
Trial That Shook The
World (Jason Aronson,
Inc.)
story of how the biblical
Jews killed themselves
on the top of Masada
rather than be captured
by the fast-approaching
Romans. But after Dr.
Klass' rescue of the
Italian tourist, it became
apparent this was proba-
bly the first time that a
Jew had saved a Roman's
life on those same path-
ways to Masada.
.
Cantor Vieder
tape nightmare."
Religious groups
across the country are
working to see that
changes in the Moynihan
amendment are made
before the Clinton eco-
nomic package goes
before the Senate. They
fear altering the status
of quid pro quo dona-
tions could affect reli-
gious donations by mil-
lions of dollars.
Ezekiel Leikin