Jewry's Role in
Human Affairs

DIFFERENCE from page 6

LUMINARIES OF LITERATURE

We previously profiled German lyric poet Heinrich Heine and Russian
poet/novelist Boris Pasternak, elite members of Jewish European literary
circles which flourished before and well into this century. Other writers
from abroad, some of whom left their homelands, also produced classic
works which endure in many translations. From Hungary came the virtuoso
dramatist/author Ferenc Molnar, and Arthur Koestler, originator of
shattering political testaments. France spawned novelist Marcel Proust,
among the reigning literary figures of modern times, and Andre Maurois,
a world-famed novelist and critic.
Austrian writer Franz Werfel became a major force in the German
expressionist movement, and the biographies of his countryman, Stefan
Zweig, were international best sellers. A worldwide following attended the
novels of Alberto Moravia, one of Italy's three or four most important
postwar period writers. Also wielding the powers of the pen were:

FRANZ KAFKA
1
(1883-1924) b. Prague, Czechoslovakia
4
Kafkaesque, a word now in our vocabulary, arises
from the symbolic and often grotesque tales told
by one of the most significant writers of this
century. The word refers to the state of being of
powerless innocents trapped by nameless forces
they cannot fathom or reconcile. Kafka's surreal
vision has been connected to his victimization by
a tyrannical father, and to a global comment on the alienation and
impotence of western man adrift in harsh, impersonal societies.
Born into a middle class family, he studied the law which he
brought to positions in the insurance industry. His was a double life: a
successful hard-working executive during daytimes and nights given to
crafting short stories and novels about characters desperately searching for
their identities. Little of his lucid and poetic writings saw print during a
lifetime cut short after a lengthy battle with tuberculosis. Kafka doubted
the quality of his efforts and ordered that drafts of such masterpieces as The
Trial (1925), The Castle (1926) and America (1927) be burned upon his
death--a request ignored by Max Brod, his close friend and literary
executor. Brod succeeded in having the manuscripts published and
promoted.
The master stylist's influence on western artistic expression has
been widespread, culminating in plays, motion pictures and operas based
on his stories.
NELLY SACHS
(1891-1970) b. Berlin, Germany The daughter of
a German industrialist became, in 1966, the first
Jewish woman to win a Nobel Prize. Born to
wealth and position, Sachs was drawn to the arts
and began composing necromantic poetry in her
seventeenth year. Her early lyrics, written
principally for her personal pleasure, began
appearing in newspapers. But the rise of Hitler
spelled destruction for her family, all of whom, with the exception of her
mother, died in the Holocaust.
She and her aged parent were saved by a plea in their behalf from
her Swedish literary friend, Selma Lagerlof (a 1909 Nobel Prize winning
novelist), to Sweden's royal Prince Eugene. His intervention brought
mother and daughter to Stockholm days before she too would have been
shipped to the camps. Translating German poetry into Swedish for a
meager income, Sachs soon evolved in her sensibilities and voice--to
capture in free verse the inexpressible evil Nazism visited on the Jewish
people who would nonetheless survive.
The impressive poetry of her later years, exquisitely cast in the
romantic German tradition, has been described as ecstatic, mystical and
visionary. In an ironic turn of events, in addition to her Nobel Prize for
Literature--shared with Israeli author S.Y. Agnon--Sachs also won the 1965
peace prize of the German Book Publishers Association.
-Saul Stadtmauer

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Social Work, where he got a master's
degree in social work.
With both parents, his sister and
his wife of four months, Beth, all
trained teachers, they occasionally
twit Isaacs for having come late to
the field of education. "My mother is
laughing now that I'm here," he said.
But Isaacs' social work background
and experience in working with peo-
ple have proved assets that a more
formal training in education might
not have developed.
"He's been more involved first-
hand, coming up with his own ideas
and being hands-on, not giving out a
task for others to do. In the past,
there's been less first-hand involve-
ment," said Shoshana Ben-Ozer, the
religious school director at
Congregation Beth Shalom, while
praising Isaacs' predecessor, Howard
Gelbard, for being good at the
"administrative end."
With administrators, she said,
sometimes the paperwork and public
relations and office shuffling take over
what they are really there to do." Isaacs,
she said, "wasn't hired to shuffle papers
but make a difference in education.
He's keeping a very good balance."
Helping Isaacs in his first year was
the creation of a Federation initiative
to help centralize the planning of
community education.
Called the Alliance for Jewish
Education, its members have split
into work groups studying education
at five different levels: preschool,
middle school, bar mitzvah/teens,
young adult and adult.

((

"They'll discuss the accessibility
.
and affordability issues," Isaacs said. _\
"We won't copy what they do, but
we'll decide what needs to be done

and who needs to do it."
Isaacs, whose 6-year-old daughter,
Yona, is a student at Akiva Hebrew
Day School, is active in his syna-
gogue, Young Israel of Oak Park,
where he served as gabbai for two

years.
Susan Williams, education direc- --\
tor at the Humanistic movement's

Birmingham Temple, praised Isaacs,
who is an Orthodox Jew, for having
an open mind. "He was very wel-
coming, responsive and respectful,"
she said.
She recalled one meeting at which
she lamented the lack of participation

by the secular Jewish community in \--\
education. "I wanted to change the
atmosphere and knew I was dealing
with someone from another stream.
It was a test.
"I felt he was truly dedicated to
the purpose of serving the communi-
ty and education," Williams said.
Isaacs jokes about his first Detroit
encounter, 32 years ago, and the car
racing down 1-75 away from the riot-
torn city. And he confessed that when
he came back six years ago, he wasn't
sure how long he would stick around.
But the challenge of running an
agency that once seemed to have little
future has quelled any urge to leave.
"I don't know what kind of impact
I can have," he said, "but there's
always a new challenge and I'm really
happy where I am now." II

Inside The ME

The AJE cites six key programming
areas that receive part of its budget,
projected to be $1.5 million for the
1999-2000 fiscal year.
The largest recipient, 33 percent in
1998-99, is school services.
Conversations with congregational
school teachers found a need for more
intensive courses for the annual
NIRIM workshops.
Wendy Sadler, AJE's school services
director, said-that 40 workshop courses
are already planned, with the possibility
of addina b eight to 10 more. There are
four citywide conferences for educators
to take part in as well.

Jewish Experiences For Families
(JEFF) helped congregations and com-
munity agencies on formal and informal

Jewish educational opportunities in the
just-concluded school year.
JEFF, which received 21 percent of '

last year's budget, had storytelling pro-
grams at the Jewish Community

Center's Jewish Book Fair, and orga-
nized family camps at Camp Maas in
Ortonville for five local congregations
and also the institute for single Jewish
parents, a program to keep them and
their kids involved in Judaism.
Adult education, which 2,000 adultc

participated in last year, arguably made
the biggest strides this year. -
The Seminars in Adult Jewish
Enrichment (SAJE) program, held last
February at the West Bloomfield and
Oak Park JCC buildings, brought in
more than 500 people for rwo, three-