The University
of Michigan's
Clements
Library holds
what is
thought to be
the first sub-
stantial book
of American
Judaica.
hand to accept
the award for her
father.
The story is
about a family
from metro
Detroit, forced to
move to mid-
Michigan follow-
ing a job change.
The family is
forced to hide its
Jewish identity, until the 11-year-old
son decides he wants a Bar Mitzvah.
The ending? "You'll have to read
the story," Mathis said. It will be pub-
lished in a book later this year."
This
Prayers for
the Shabbath,
Rosh-Hashanah, and Kippur was pub-
lished in 1766 and translated from
Spanish by Isaac Pinto. The book is
also the first to carry the Jewish calen-
dar year imprinted on it.
Pinto's work was an attempt to
explain Jewish traditions for those
who were unfamiliar with
them, and a way to pro-
vide prayers in Eng-
lish.
It was translat-
ed "According to
the Order of the
Spanish and
Portuguese Jews"
because many of
the earliest known
Jewish immigrants
to the United States
were of that ancestry.
Although details are sketchy, the U.S.
Justice Departnient's Office
of Special Investigations
(OSI) is assisting a
foreign govern-
ment's investiga-
tion of an indi-
vidual who
served at two
Croatian con-
centration
camps during
World War II.
Survivors who were
confined in the Jaseno-
vac concentration camp in
Croatia from January, 1942 until
May, 1945, or in the Stara Gradiska
(or Alt Gradiska) concentration
camp from January to November,
1942, are asked to contact Susan
Adams, OSFs contact, at (202) 616-
2533. OSI will accept collect calls
from potential witnesses.
An old book in Ann
Arbor; a new book in
West Bloomfield; reading
everywhere.
The Jewish Community Council of
Metropolitan Detroit is forming a
local coalition that will support exist-
ing literacy efforts and will generate
new opportunities for volunteers
interested in helping children learn to
read independently. The goal of the
Detroit Jewish Coalition for Literacy
is to recruit Jewish volunteers for
literacy efforts as part of President
Clinton's American Reads Chal-
lenge. To volunteer, call the Jew-
ish Community Council at (248)
642-5393.
Last year, novice writer Harold
Mathis entered a short story con-
test sponsored by the Jewish
Library Association and the Pit-
spopany Press.
This past June, Mathis was
notified that his story, "Breakfast
Without Bagels," was the winner.
"I had some extra time to work
on it and I thought it would be a
challenge," Mathis said.
A psychologist from West
Bloomfield, Mathis' prize was
$1,000 in cash, and a trip to
Philadelphia for the JLA annual
meeting where he would be hon-
ored. His daughter Alysse was on
9/25
1998
8 Detroit Jewish News
Rennet Whom • • •
From the pages of The Jewish News for this week 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50
years ago.
1988
Jewish groups in Washington, D.C., were looking for a replacement for
Arthur Rosenblatt, who resigned as Holocaust Commission director last
month in a dispute over control of the Holocaust Museum, scheduled
for a cornerstone laying ceremony Oct. 5.
Iraq could be the second Arab country to negotiate peace with Israel,
said Egyptian President Hosni Mubarek during a conversation with
new Israeli ambassador to Egypt, Professor Shimon Shamir.
At the Allied Jewish Campaign meeting of Detroit's major donors at
Adat Shalom, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger criticized the
concept of an international peace conference. He reiterated the Reagan
administration's preference that any peace talks between Israel and the
Arabs be sponsored by the United States.
Freida Stollman, 76, founder of Akiva Day School, first woman to be
elected vice president of Detroit's Jewish Welfare Federation, and recipi-
ent of the Federation's Fred M. Butzel award in 1980, died Sept. 22.
1978
Yad Vashem in Jerusalem began the vast task of compiling and record-
ing the names of all the Jews who perished in the Holocaust.
The Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram said that "Egypt will go ahead"
toward implementing the Camp David accords regardless of what the
Arab rejectionist front does.
The United Hebrew School's teachers returned to work following an
agreement that all unresolved matters would be left to non-binding
fact-finding.
The Jewish Community Center added two new programs to its
physical education department: soccer and adult basketball.
1968
The Netherlands introduced a draft bill that outlaws anti-Semitism and
other racial discrimination in general.
Arab terrorists were suspected in connection with an explosion at an
Israeli commercial exhibit held at the municipal fair grounds in Buenos
Aires, Argentina.
Dr. Manuel Feldman was named president of the newly merged Beth
Aaron and Ahavas Achim congregations.
Morris Direnfeld was elected to a three-year term as a member of the
board of crovenors of B'nai B'rith.
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Isaac Pinto's 1766 translation of a prayer book.
1958
Moshe Dayan, Chief of Staff of Israel's army, announced that he would
resign from the army.
A cornerstone was laid for the Albert Einstein Jewish Hospital in Sao
Paulo, Brazil.
Dr. Leo Y. Goldman resigned his post as spiritual leader of Young
Israel of Northwest Detroit to take leadership of the newly-reconstitut-
ed Congregation Shaarey Shomayim.
A variety of creative art for the home was displayed at the third
annual Artists Exhibition of the Democratic Club of Oak Park, Hunt-
ington Woods and Pleasant Ridge.
1948
The United States endorsed the late Count Bernadotte's report to the
United Nations, which proposed that Israel cede the Negev to the Arabs
in exchange for the entire Galilee and that Jerusalem be internationalized.
Texas Christian University broke its rule against conferring honorary
degrees "in abstentia," in order to honor Rabbi Henry Cohen of Tem-
ple B'nai Israel in Galveston, Texas, with the LL. D. degree.