"It's Like `Seinfeld' Set To Music!"

- The Star Ledger

YOU,
you I LOVE
'RE pERFEpT

NOW CHANGE

The Hit Musical Comedy!

On The Bookshelf

Everything you've secretly thought
about DATING, MATING, MARRIAGE,
HUSBANDS, WIVES, KIDS & IN-LAWS

...but were afraid to admit!

Arthur Hertzberg and Aron Hirt-Manheimer
try to answer an age-old question:
"What makes a Jew a Jew?"

result is a profound text, Jews: The
Essence and Character of a People
(HarperSanFrancisco; $25), which
seeks to answer the question: "What
lmost 35 years ago, an Ital-
makes a Jew a Jew?"
ian journalist set out to tell
"Aron came to me and said,
the world exactly what it
`Nobody
has tried to explain the Jews
was that set Italians apart.
to
themselves,'"
recalled Hertzberg in
The result was Luigi Barzini's seminal
a
recent
interview.
"No one has asked
The
Italians:
A
Full
Length
Por-
work,
the questions: What really makes the
trait Featuring Their Manners and
Jews what they are? Why are they so
Morals.
recognizably themselves?"
Now, in 1998, two men have taken
Jews explores the Jewish character
inspiration from that work and set
via
three prime concepts: the Jew as
themselves to a similar task. This time
the
chosen, the factious and the out-
around, the writers are Arthur
sider.
Hertzberg, a Conservative rabbi and
"Some Jews will not recognize
author of several books on Judaism,
themselves in the portrait that emerges
and his collaborator, Aron Hirt-Man-
from the interplay
heimer, editor of Reform Judaism mag-
of these elements,"
azine. The
write the authors.
"It is not the image
they want the
world to see. It is
`too Jewish.'
"Throughout
their history," the
authors continue,
"the Jews have
divided into two
camps: those for
whom the sur-
vival of their
Jewishness is
central to their
lives, and those
for whom the
ideal is fitting
into the major-
ity culture.
Readers who
fall into the
second cate-
gory will like-
ly feel
estranged
from our
HE ESSENCE AND CHARACTER OF A PEOPLE
depiction of
the essential
Jew. They
may, howev-
ARTHUR HERTZBERG
er, recog-
nize a par-
ent or
ARON 1418-i-MANHEIMER
grandpar-

GEM THEATRE

333 Madison Ave. • Detroit, MI 48226

(313) 963-9800

Call Nicole for groups of 15 or more (313) 962.2913

JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR
Special to The Jewish News

`-;

(248) 645-6666

THE GALLERY RESTAURANT

Enjoy gracious dining amid a beautiful
atmosphere of casual elegance

I

BREAKFAST LUNCH DINNER

OPEN 7 DAYS:

MON.- SAT. 7 a.m.- 9:30 p.m. SUN. 8 a.m.- 9 p.m.

6638 Telegraph Road and Maple • Bloomfield Plaza • 248-851-0313

Private Garden Room or Fireside Setting for
parties, receptions, wedding rehearsals,
showers, bar mitzvahs, business meetings
• Seating up to 200 people •

30715 W. TEN MILE RD.

(Just East of Orchard Lake Rd.)

248.474.3033

Distinto Italian()

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Shivas - Parties

LET US TAKE
CARE OF THE
FOOD!
HOME OR
OFFICE,
ANY
OCCASION

WE'LL DO
SOMETHING
SPECIAL
FOR THAT
SPECIAL
EVENT

A Little Bit Of New York
Right Here In Bloomfield Hills

/B
\

6646 Telegraph at Maple • Bloomfield Plaza • 248-932-0800

Detroit Jewish News

9/11
1998

95