COMMUNITY VIEWS
•
A Spiritual Find
In Northwest Italy
which was named for the former
hen I was growing up in
priest, Don Raimondo. This priest
New Mexico, in a Jewish
had been honored at Yad Vashem in
community of fewer
Israel for saving many Jews during the
than 50 Jewish families,
Holocaust as they fled through the
it was not unusual to arrive home to
mountains of the Piedmont.
find "guests" — other Jews from vari-
After several unsuccessful attempts
ous parts of the world. The practice of
to find the piazza, I entered a tiny,
welcoming Jews in various states of
smoke-filled cafe. A young woman
need did not seem the least bit strange
there took me two doors down to the
to me.
barbershop, where a man lay
I understood the prac-
on his back, face wrapped in a
tice to be not only a mitz-
white towel. She told him in
vah but also a function of
Italian what I was looking for
living in a remote area.
and, in perfect English, he
How strange and magical it
asked, "Are you Jewish?" I
was then to be the Jew who
said yes and explained we
was being "passed along!"
were there to pay our respects
My husband and I
to the priest and had come
recently drove from France
because of an article in a mag-
to Italy. We has a loose
azine. When we showed him
schedule, no reservations
the magazine, he pointed to
JEAN NIE
and a copy of Hadassah
the line naming the mayor of
WEIN ER
magazine with an article by
the town, Marco Borgono.
Special t o The
Elin Schoen Brockman
"That's me, " he said.
Jewish News
about the Jews of Pied-
We then followed the mayor
mont. We planned to
by car to the site of the piaz-
spend a few hours looking
za. It had been a detention camp run
for one or two of the small synagogues
by the Nazis; now, it was a school
described in the article. Instead, we
with a plaque explaining what "used
had an unexpected adventure.
to be." The children of the school had
We arrived in Borgo San Dalmazzo
painted a mural with a dove of peace;
late one afternoon. Brockman's article
flowers lay beneath the marker.
has described a piazza in this town,
Mayor Borgono then took us to the
train station, which has a large wood-
Jeannie Weiner is past president of the
en marker with 343 names of Jews
Jewish Community Council of Metro
who had been taken from the spot to
Detroit.
W
Auschwitz. Only nine
of the 343 survived. As
I looked at the beauti-
ful mountains, I
thought of this as the
last view of those 343
people. Mayor Bor-
gono, not a Jew him-
self, was responsible for
the wooden marker.
After taking us to a
hotel, the mayor asked
if we would like to
meet Enzo and Pia
Cavaglion, who lived
Dr. Marco Levi,
in Cuneo a few kilo-
meters away. Enzo is
the president of the Jewish communi-
ty in Cueno and was to be involved in
a memorial ceremony the next morn-
ing.
The park in Cueno where the cere-
mony was scheduled was marked with
a statue of a starved, wasted human
being. After Mr. Cavaglion spoke of
the loss of the Jews in the war and the
senseless deaths that took place, a local
priest spoke of the pope's instructions
to remember to do what the people of
the mountains have always done —
help and protect each other and honor
each other as brethren.
Mr. Cavaglion's Italian words were
translated for me by a neighbor,
Umberto, when he suddenly stopped;
familiar words were heard. Mr.
Cavaglion was reciting the "El
87, the last Jew of Mondavi.
Rahamim" in Hebrew; it was a special
moment.
After the ceremony, Mr. Cavaglion
took us to Cueno's synagogue, which
is being restored. It is used on the
High Holy Days.
The Cavaglions then asked if we
would like to visit Mondavi — a town
a few kilometers away which had
another small synagogue. A few hours
later, we were sitting with Dr. Marco
Levi, age 87, the last Jew of Mondavi.
We had found his building and
climbed the stairs to his apartment,
which was filled with Judaica, includ-
ing a special Torah, the only one of 14
to survive the war. Dr. Levi then
directed us to the medieval area of
Mondavi and the cobblestone street
where we parked under a sign that
SPIRITUAL FIND on page 33
LETTERS
Third, the calculation of per-pupil
ratio for the individual day schools
was incorrect. I want to point out that
these allocations are based on many
factors, including needs of population
served, amount of tuition charged and
fiscal responsibility. The per-capita
number is not the main factor in allo-
cations to day schools, as was reflected
in our allocations.
Additionally, Federation is working
hard to allocate scholarships in a time-
ly manner. In the past, scholarship
money has been given to congrega-
tional schools as soon as all of the
schools reported the number of stu-
dents qualifying for scholarship. The
delay has been directly attributable to
all of the congregations not reporting
in a timely fashion. We are working
with them to simplify the reporting
process. We are hopeful that the
schools will do their part and report
their numbers on time.
7/10
1998
30
The purpose of the scholarships is to
insure that every child in the greater
metropolitan area can receive a Jewish
education. Affordability should not be
the reason that children do not attend
religious school. Each scholarship is
based on need and is distributed to the
congregations and afternoon schools
after a confidential process to verify need
has been determined.
Barbara Cook
Chair, Education Budget Division
Jewish. Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit
Wagner Ban
Is Justified
In the July 3 issue, you endorsed
the lifting of the 50-year ban on the
playing of music by Richard Wagner
at concerts and on the air ("Israel
Should Lift Wagner Ban").
You give all of the reasons that the
ban was created, including Wagner's
violent anti-Semitism both in thought
and through his music. You relate how
he so inspired Hitler and how closely
connected were the death camps and
Wagner's music.
You justify the lifting of the ban
with the opportunity of Israelis to
purchase a Mercedes-Benz. While I
make no apologies for Daimler-Benz,
a company with much to regret, I
think this is not a fair comparison.
The Mercedes employees today did
nothing to harm the Jews. Mercedes
has made some minimal effort to
repent; Israel needed the Mercedes taxi
to get their transportation system on
the move; and Israel needed Germany
as trading partner.
Wagner never repented. Who
knows how much worse the Holocaust
was due to his inspiration.
Israel should not lift the ban. To say
that listening to Wagner is a symbol of
Jewish survival is writing off the
incredible damage done by this type of
anti-Semitism represented by people
like Wagner.
Harvey S. Bronstein
Southfield
Rabbi's Attack
Inappropriate
Regarding "Professor Bashes
Chabad Again" (July 3), Rabbi Kagan's
attack on Professor Gitelman is
beneath him — or should be.
Historiography is a demanding art
and science. Professor Gitelman's rig-
orous academic standards have long
spoken very well for themselves —
and for the University of Michigan —
even considering his impeccable cre-
dentials as a misnaged.
On the other hand, one must be