Oriental Rugs A Gentile King David? It could only happen in the movies. ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSOCIATE EDITOR No ifs, ands, or buts. Now during our MidSummer Sale save on our entire stock of Mme Oriental rugs. SAVE 40% TO 60% ON FRE ORIENTAL RUGS 670 S. WOODWARD DOWNTOWN BIRMINGHAM 644-7311 1-800-622-RUGS ',Ma • ,fita4 a ol tizzi Custom Clothier Custom Made Suits From $495 Custom Made Shirts Detroit's Premiere Custom Clothier Since 1949 • Custom Made Suits • Benchmade Suits • Accessories • Custom Alterations 28 271 MERRILL • BIRMINGHAM • (810) 646-0535 Q: Tell Me Why has been my fa- garded their teachings as vorite column since its inception. the ultimate truth. Thus Now I hope you can help me win a arose the expression "gospel truth." bet. My boyfriend insists that actor Q: Why is a children's nursery or Richard Gere is of Arab descent. kindergarten in Israel called a gan But I know that he's not an Arab. ("garden")? We have researched this to no A: Gan is derived from avail. I know he's not Jewish, but kindergarten ("garden of chil- dren"), the name given by the could he really be Arab? From reader K.I.K. in Oak Park German educational reform- A: The perennially reclusive er Freidrich Froebel (1782- Mr. Gere did not return queries 1852) to the institution he from Tell Me Why (of course, founded. he's famous for hating the press), but another reliable source has provided the answer to your question. In a recent profile in Esquire, author Michael Gross writes that Mr. Gere, a na- tive of Syracuse, N.Y., is of Anglo-Irish her- itage. Mr. Gross fur- ther responded to a letter from Tell Me Why that Mr. Gere has neither any Jew- ish or Arab connec- tions of which he knows. Today, the actor is a practicing Buddhist and active in a num- ber of Buddhist caus- es. Of course, Mr. Gere did star as King David, but most like- ly he, and anyone Outside at a "garden of children" In Israel. who ever saw the Froebel (no Jewish connec- film, would much rather forget tion) believed that well-direct- about that. ed play, accompanied by songs and music, was essential to (Ws there anything wrong with stimulate learning in children Jews using the expression "the 4-6 years old. Since the late 19th century, Froebel's ideas gospel truth"? A: "Gospel" is usually defined have been adopted in much of as the teachings of Jesus and the Western world. Early Israeli educators, for his apostles. The word "gospel" itself is derived from the Old the most part, trained in Eu- English godspell, or "good rope and accepted Froebel's the- news," a translation of the ories of early learning. Thus, Latin evangelium and the the term gan. Greek euagelion. The early Christians pro- Q: I understand that Lucky Lu- moted the idea that their reli- ciano was so close with two Jew- gion brought "glad tidings" of salvation and everlasting life in ish gangsters that he described contrast to Judaism, which their parhiership (along with fellow they regraded as obsolete mobster Frank Costello) as "the and incapable of doing any four horseman of Notre Dame." Is good. Imitative of Judaism's as- that so? A: Indeed it is. sertion that the Torah is the lit- Charles "Lucky" Luciano was eral, direct, incontrovertible word of God, the Christians re- childhood buddies with Meyer ("I'm not a gangster, I'm just a businessman") Lansky and Benjamin ("Don't call me Bugsy' ") Siegel. Their friend- ship, which continued for many years, formed the base of a ma- jor crime syndicate unlike any- thing ever seen in the United States. At one point Luciano said of the four, "We was like da four horseman of Notre Dame," a reference to 1920s football greats James Crowley, Elmer Layden, Donald Miller and Harry Stuhldreher. "But what would two Jewish guys be do- ing at Notre Dame?" Q: I know that former New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia had a Jewish mother and an Italian father. My question is where was the guy buried — in a Jewish or a Catholic cemetery? A: Neither. The much-beloved mayor (who served three con- secutive terms) died in 1947 and was buried in Woodlawn, a nonsectarian cemetery in Brooklyn. Woodlawn also is the final resting place of actor Fat- ty Arbuckle, Duke Ellington, Herman Melville and Mark Twain. Send questions to "Tell Me Why" c/o The Jewish News, 27676 Franklin Rd., Southfield, MI 48034 or send fax to 354-6069.