TAR DELI STAR IS PROUD TO BE ONE OF AMERICA'S BEST CARRY-OUT ONLY DELIS! YOU'LL ENJOY OUR GREAT HOMEMADE GOODNESS! EVERYBODY KNOWS WE HAVE THE FINEST HOMEMADE TUNA IN TOWN! REGULAR OR FAT-FREE! OUR POTATO SALAD AND COLE SLAW ARE THE BEST! r WE CUT OUR LOX BY HAND! OUR TRAYS CAN'T BE BEAT FOR QUALITY & PRICE! $5 0 ° OFF ON OUR BEAUTIFUL. ALREADY LOW-PRICED MEAT OR DAIRY TRAYS WITH THIS COUPON • Expires 12-31-99 • One Per Customer • Not Good Holidays • 10 Person Minimum DELIVERY AVAILABLE STAR DELI 24555 W. 12 MILE, Isaac Stern joins Meryl Streep and Itzhak Perlman in 'Music of the Heart,' a film which addresses the importance of arts education. approaching home, so the conversation is briefly interrupted. A short while later, Stern bounces in. He's wearing jeans, a checkered sports shirt and a seersucker jacket, the last of which he dumps on a chair with his briefcase and a pair of hip-looking shades. He looks and acts as spry as some- one two decades younger. He takes a few moments for "absolutions" upstairs and returns to discuss his first 79 years. He was born in July 1920 in Kreminiecz, a small town on the bor- der between Russia and Poland. Shortly after his birth, the family immigrated to the United States, set- tling in San Francisco where they had relatives. He started piano lessons when he was 6 but switched to the violin when he saw a neighbor child playing . one. He was good but no virtuoso until sometime between the ages of 10 and 11 when, over a period of months, he suddenly recognized the magic in his hands and fingers. Although his parents were agnostic, they enrolled him in Hebrew school, hoping he'd attract a wealthy Jewish patron there. It worked. The cantor heard him play and brought him to the atten- tion of a music lover who helped subsidize his education. She paid for his lessons locally, sent Isaac and his mother to New York to pursue his studies further and even bought him an expensive violin to play. It is one of the ironies of Stern's life that while he has always railed against religion, his daughter is a Reform rabbi (with a congregation in New Jersey) and both his sons cele- brated their bar mitzvah. "I do not believe that if I am not an observant Jew the year round, I have to go [to synagogue] on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur to show that I am a Jew," he says. Still, he never works on those holidays, refuses to perform in Germany and Austria and began his successful campaign to save Carnegie Hall from the wreckers at a Passover seder when he was seated next to then- New York City Mayor Robert Wagner. Stern also is a major supporter of Israel, and founded the American- Israel Cultural Foundation. He cur- rently is the organization's chairman emeritus. And who can forget news footage of Stern performing in Jerusalem during the Gulf war, alone on stage, his audience in gas masks? He visits Israel regularly, notably during and after every one of its conflicts. One of the most moving sections of the book is his descrip- tion of playing for four burn vic- tims, pilots who crashed, just after the Six-Day War. "I was put on earth to bring com- fort, relief and beauty," he says. "There's only one thing an artist can get that's greater than any other recognition, and that's suddenly, in one unexplainable moment, to feel necessary and useful. "What moment could have been more than that? What am I [here] for? I'm [here] to bring comfort, relief [through the] beauty of human creativity." 17 Isaac Stern, out with his newly published memoir, My First 79 Years, joins Meryl Streep and Itzhak Perlman in the film Music of the Heart, opening today. WiSi ala kAN. W .Mit a:za .W ..60 20::;& ■ :; .,, x , w4 4;:x:m 0 .1 F ,m.oz:M M OM M KO : Just West of Telegraph, Southfield 352-7377 I. a PRIVATE BANQUET FACILITIES FOR ALL OCCASIONS -r '2 OFF FOR 2 WITH OR WITHOUT SKIN SPECIALLY-TRIMMED RIBS ALL DINNERS INCLUDE: SALAD OR COLE SLAW, POTATOES AND GARLIC BREAD BBQ CHICKEN I ALL DINNERS INCLUDE: SALAD OR COLE I SLAW, POTATOES AND GARLIC BREAD GOOD 7 DAYS! ■ Exp. 1 1-1 1-99 J J GOOD 7 DAYS! ■ Exp. 11-11-99 JN L Brass Pointe r& • 24234 Orchard Lake Rd., N.E. corner of 10 Mile • 476-1377 LKULS ROM FAMILY RESTAURANT ORCHARD LAKE RD. S UARE LAKE RD. cc co tj_ Breakfast & Dinner Specials West Bloomfield (248) 334-3900 LONG LAKE RD. "The Simone Vitale Band is an assurance of a great evening... One of the hottest bands in town." Danny Raskin, Jewish News "Royal Oak band leader extraordinaire Simone Vitale..." Bob Talbert, Detroit Free Press • Weddings • Anniversaries • Private/Corporate Parties • Bar/Bat Mitzvahs Call Simone for the best personal service in town, with an exciting night of dancing and fun at your party. ill/ fu l t f,-'/I4fif JNArts & Entertainment Advertise in our Arts & Entertainment Section! Call The Sales Department (248) 354-7123 Ext. 209 Dv•aorr JEWISH NEWS iTN Detroit Jewish News 10/29 1999 97