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. R YER S 0 R. swABIftrit, RO$14-1-1ASHANAlf, AN-o Rippup„, The sARBATIT, ttic =GINNING Alb, or the 11Al24 The. DAYof ATONEMENTS ) WITH .,unit MI anti MUSArfl bf dm MOIDIX 0 k 'OLEMN SEASON* Actot4in to the Ostler of tht 'Spvilett rind Portogoch Tit:M/41.A tr st is44c ?1N7. gy t, Wirt printed ty At lofrbt 14 LT; its 3' m .Y. 55% 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.