Moshe Arens' World, Challenging Questions, A Cantor And The KKK ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSOCIATE EDITOR g . . -ecision L arry Trapp was the grand dragon of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Ne- braska. Michael Weisser was a cantor at B'nai Jeshurun in Lincoln. The two became best friends. In Not By the Sword (Simon & Schuster), journalist Kathryn Watterston tells the story of how a Nebraska cantor refused to be intimidated by the KKK's threats, and in fact extended his friendship to its leader. movements 1 8 it Gold ard stainless St eel W N Water b„ RAYMOND WEIL GENEVE Crosswinds Mall 4301 Orchard Lake Road West Bloomfield Dion,'s Worki of Watches 539-1181 Mon.-Wed. 10-6 Thurs. & Fri. 10-9 Sat. 10-6 OSCAR BRAUN'S PEN LINCOLN TOWERS SUITE 111 968 5858 SALE MILE) 15075 W. Lincoln - One Block East of Greenfield PARKER K-45 KITCHEN-AID MIXERS WATERMAN • CROSS • LAMY MONT BLANC NOW ONLY $166.88 FOUNTAIN PENS CLOSED SATURDAY PANASONIC 50% OFF BREAD MAKERS #10 $149 88 PLAQUE REMOVER BRAUN TOOTHBRUSH ON SALE NORELCO $3588 TRIPLE HEAD SHAVERS SONY-RCA TV'S $225.00 #144 NOW $112.00 $155 ROLLER BALL 'RED' $95 Cuisinart FOOD PROCESSORS 5 69.00 3 - SPEED INTERPLAK $ TOOTHBRUSH 3 ity n°13Ping ... 92 Getting ready for the big day. Mon. thru Fri. 10-4 (10'12 in your NeOborhood The Boardwalk Sugar Tree Orchard Lake Road • West Bloomfield It started with an anonymous threat. "You will be sorry you ever moved into 5810 Randolph Street, Jew boy!" was Mr. Trapp's first message to Cantor Weisser. He was the kind of man who liked violence and loved "to scare people he thought needed to be brought down a notch or two." He hated blacks. He hated Asians, Mexicans and Indians. And, of course, he hated Jews. Michael Weisser was a grad- uate of Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. He had worked in Cal- ifornia, Ohio and Florida before moving to Nebraska. He was look- ing for a challenge, and Congre- gation B'nai Jeshurun would be just that. In Not By the Sword, Ms. Wat- terston writes what happens af- ter Cantor Weisser and Mr. Trapp became acquainted, and then friends, and finally the for- mer KKK head moved into the cantor's home. This includes a trip to Cantor Weisser's temple, In Bar Mitzvah: A Jewish Boy's Coming of Age (Viking), author Eric Kimmel (himself a native of Portland, Ore.), consid- ers everything from fact (why does a boy become bar mitzvah at age 13?) to how to prepare for the big day (typical worries: "What if I forget the Haftarah right in the middle? ... Has any- one ever died from becoming bar mitzvah?") There are chapters on the structure of the prayer service, the use of a tallit and tefillin, and ideas to con- sider as a boy approaches adulthood. Also new for parents "who don't have all the answers" is Rabbi Harold Kushner's When Children Ask About God (Schocken). Rabbi Kushner, also the author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People, gives par- ents guidance on how to answer such sticky questions as "Why did God let this terrible thing happen?" and "What happens when I die?" The first step, he ad- vises, is "we must come to a clear understanding of matter whether were white peo- what we ourselves are ready to ple or Oriental people or black believe about God." The second people. Once we get that under issue is translating this idea into our belt and realize we are one "words of one syllable" that a race and one race only, then and child can understand. "Above all, never let us be only then will we progress as a afraid to say to our children: That society. or Seth Rubinstein, a bar is a very difficult question,' " he mitzvah had nothing to do writes. " 'People have been trying with parties and every- to answer it for a long time, and thing to do with becoming they are not sure they know all the answers there are for it. Let a man. "I loved my bar mitzvah," he me try to answer it as best as I said. "It was the most important can, but you probably won't un- thing I'd ever done. For the first derstand it all until you're older."' time, I really felt proud to be @4-Line Drop:Did the Bush ad- Jewish. You see, where I live ministration have Israel's well- in Eugene, Ore., Jews are a being or its downfall in mind definite minority. And when when it intervened in Israeli pol- you're a minority, you have to itics? Former Israeli Foreign and De- put up with a lot of slurs, stereo- types and basic ignorance. There fense Minister Moshe Arens has were plenty of times when I no doubt. In Broken Covenant: wanted to be like everybody else. But when I celebrated my bar American Foreign Policy mitzvah, I felt as if I really and the Crisis Between the accomplished something impor- U.S. and Israel (Simon & tant, and everybody in my life Schuster), Mr. Arens provides a who mattered knew it was firsthand look at American gov- important and came to celebrate ernment officials in action in Is- rael during the time of the Gulf with me." where Mr. Trapp told the con- gregation: I had wasted the first 40 years of my life and caused harm to other people until I believe God stepped in to give me Cantor Weisser as a messenger to show me that I could receive love and to show me the love that I could give to others. I've learned we're all the same, we're all in the world, we all have to face the same situations and people, and we have the same purpose — no F