SOCIAL ANIMALS WARM UP YOUR 'OEN' CIO [MA SEATING AND HEARTH SUPPLIES FROM JIMMIES house a temple for the Ark of the Covenant. (Today, that area en- compasses what is known as the Temple Mount.) And here's where another mystery begins. "Of David's building activities in Jerusalem, virtually nothing has been recovered," Mr. Shanks writes. "Only a few potsherds sur- vive from the time of his reign — and even these are not certain. Why? What happened to the Da- vidic buildings? Why, although we have so much archaeological evidence from before and after David's time, do we have so very little we can attribute to his time?" There's the archaeologists' standard answer (you'll have to read the book), but Mr. Shanks doesn't find it convincing. The Jerusalem Calendar: 1996 (Viking) features paintings, illuminated manuscripts, maps, textile designs and contemporary photographs. The weekly calen- dar notes Jewish, Christian, Moslem and Eastern Orthodox holy days. Also new on Jerusalem is Jerusalem Recovered (Praeger), by Michael Polowetzky, charting the relationship between intellectuals in Victorian England and the birth of modern Zionism. Don't let the textbook-sound- ing title or subject of this work scare you away. And despite its British connection (as we should all know from the latest interview with Princess Di, those Royals aren't as stuffy as they seem), Jerusalem Recovered is by no means pretentious. Take this sto- ry of a certain writer named George. She was born Mary Anne Evans, then changed her named to Mary Ann (without the "e"), then Marian, and finally took the pen of a man (this so her books could be published — what self- respecting woman would be writ- ing a book?). Always someone of indepen- dent thought, Marian was pro- foundly affected by the book An Inquiry into the Origins of Chris- tianity, which suggested that characters in the New Testament were based on real persons, but - constituted mostly legend. After completing the work, Marian announced to her family that she was leaving the Church of England. Her parents were du- tifully shocked, but Marian in- formed them that "while she admired Jesus as a great teacher, she deplored the way in which the issue of his godliness had been used over the centuries as a means of fostering religious dogmatism and bigotry." Marian, also known as George Eliot, went on to have a scan- dalous affair with a mat ied man (which is why the Church of Eng- land continues to refuse her re- " burial at the famed Westminster Abbey) and become a champion of the Jews and Judaism. "With an ever-increasing in- terest in Jewish history and cul- ture, Marian insisted on attending services in synagogues in all the European cities she traveled through," Mr. Polowet- zky writes. Among her dearest friends was the Jewish scholar Emanuel Menachem Deutsch. She also was the author of one of the most compassionate portraits of Jews written by a gentile, Daniel Deronda. Predictably, British society wasn't exactly enamored with the work, an outspoken endorsement of Zionism. But Marian didn't care in the least. ichael Berger fondly re- calls his family's Shab- bat meals, and how much he liked ice skat- ing and cross-country skiing as a child. His brother, Shlomo, has no such memories. Poland, he says, was like hell. "I remember when we rode our bicycles out into the countryside, the Polish kids would run up to us to 'smell the Jews,' as they said, and to throw rocks at us...I have no desire to ever go back to visit Poland. I dis like the Poles. It's unfortunate that I think that way, but I have to be truthful. In Poland at that time there were many Nazi sym- pathizers. I am convinced that without the Polish people's coop- eration, Germany could not have accomplished what it did." Constructing a Collective Memory of the Holocaust (University Press of Colorado) by Ronald Berger is the story of two brothers, Michael and Shlomo, who lived through the war. The work is based on recollections of both brothers — Michael (the au- thor's father), who spent the war in concentration camps, and his brother Shlomo, who posed as a Catholic to survive. Unlike numerous other books on the Holocaust, Mr. Berger's work is a sociological, not psy- chological, study. In telling his family's story, he not only speaks of how they survived but of how their personalities and fortune were shaped by the social struc- ture in which they were raised. He considers, for example, the men's understanding of their own responsibility for survival — and discovers neither believed God would intervene on his behalf. The author also finds that chance experiences very much ac- counted for the two brothers' sur- vival. They both had learned a little German, both knew tailor- ing from their father, and Shlo- mo's encounter with Polish political prisoners served what may have been the single most important factor in helping him live through the war. For while in jail, the prisoners were visited three times daily by a priest. Shlomo watched and learned, lat- er using what he saw to pass as a Catholic. El N . atu re's smartest creatures hibernate in groups. You can, too, with extra seating and g, as logs from Jimmies. We have great-looking wood folding Stackmore chairs, as well as a wide variety ofunique barstools. And add instant coziness to your room with our clean, efficient gas logs — now 20% OFF. M Enhance your - winter dwelling with extra seating and CASUAL & OLMVOR FURNTURE hearth furnishings 11-1 RI/S77CZ' Casual Outdoor Furniture at Completely from Jimmies. Relaxed Prices. BIRMINGHAM 810-644-1919 • 690 S. Woodward - LIVONIA 313-522-9200 • 29500 W. 6 Mile Rd. 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