itorials

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Book Your Visit

A

prediction: You'll probably run into
an old friend in the next 10 days.
We can't tell you who it will be, but
we have a good hunch about the
place you'll meet.
From Nov. 6-14, the Jewish Community
Center of Metropolitan Detroit hosts the
country's oldest and largest Jewish Book Fair at
its D. Dan & Betty Kahn Building in West
Bloomfield and Jimmy Prentis Morris Building
in Oak Park. The annual event, the brainchild
of the JCC's Irwin Shaw 48 years ago to help
promote Jewish authors, is sure to draw from
all parts of metro Detroit's diverse readership.
And if diversity is the buzzword of our
times, the Jewish Book Fair is sure not to dis-
appoint. As co-chair Sylvia Gotlib noted in last
week's Jewish News, "We get good speakers
most years, but-this year we really have
appealed to absolutely everybody.
Of course, it's always the headliners who
garner most of the attention, and celebrities
like defense attorney Alan Dershowitz, singer
Eddie Fisher, veteran writer Judith Viorst,
comedian Carl Reiner, memoirist Anne
Roiphe, novelists Howard Fast and Belva Plain
and new literary light Nathan Englander are
sure to draw crowds.
But don't forget about the lesser-known
authors. Want some good Jewish parenting
tips? Rabbi Daniel Gordis will offer advice on
bringing spirituality into your home. Are you a

33

IN FOCUS

shopaholic or interested in business? Author
Joshua Levine will talk about the Barneys
department store empire. Interested in history?
Yaffa Eliach will review the 900-year history of
the shred of Eishyshok. You're a lover of fic-
tion? Then check out Israeli novelist Batya
Gur, budding author Tova Mirvis and
humorist Willard Manus. And don't forget
about Sunday's Local Author Fair, which will
focus on writers from our own community.
While we can't list all the highlights here,
we hope you will utilize last week's and this
week's Jewish News to preview the authors you
are interested in seeing. We commend the
sponsoring organizations that are helping to
bring them here. We also salute the Book Fair's
planners and volunteers for bringing together
the community — male and female, young
and old, observant and secular — as we all
share the opportunity to learn together.
"We can glimpse God in other human
beings, in the marvels of the world and in
the depths of one's own soul, but what
shaped the history of Judaism was a book,"
wrote Rabbi David Wolpe in his own book,
Why Be Jewish. "Judaism is an astonishing
testimony to the magical power of words,
transmitted through generations, to alter
lives and change history.
So visit the 48th annual Jewish Book Fair.
Listen to the words. Hear a speaker. Pick up a
book. And reconnect with old friends. Fl

"

IV

2

LETTERS

Radio Actor
Not On List

Remembering A Lord

hen asked several years ago by a
journalist if, as a man of God, he
winced at being called "Lord,"
Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovitz sup-
pressed a small but dignified laugh. "It's not
my preference, you know. But it's the way
society is over here, so you just have to go
along. Its a great honor."
Honor is the word best used to describe the
life of Lord Jakobovitz and his role on the
20th century's Jewish stage. Britain's former
chief rabbi, 78, died suddenly this past week-
end of a brain hemorrhage. And the world lost
a treasured Jewish leader. He honored the
Torah as he sought to explain its relevance in
modern times. In doing so, he refused to
abandon his value system.
Lord Jakobovitz married medical dilemmas
to Jewish values, defended school prayer and,
in the mid-1980s, the lifelong Zionist declared
that territorial compromise with the Palestini-
ans was in Israel's best interest. More than a
decade ago, his pamphlet urging Britain's black

Exploring Ethnicity

The Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan Detroit
sponsored "Ethnic Detroit in the 21st Century: Who We Are
And Where We're Going," a panel discussion with minority
business leaders Oct. 12 at Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn.
From left are Kathleen Straus, president, JCCouncil; keynote
speaker Kurt Metzger, director, Michigan Metropolitan Infor-
mation Center at Wayne State University; William Beckham,
president, New Detroit Inc.; and Nasser Beydoun, executive
director, Arab American Chamber of Congress.

immigrants to emulate earlier Jewish ones by
working out of poverty and despair created
quite a stir.
Born in Germany in 1921, his family fled
to England with the rise of Hitler. He studied
at London University, becoming a pulpit rabbi
at age 20. Seven years later, he was appointed
Chief Rabbi of Ireland. Later, after a decade as
the founding rabbi of New York City's Fifth
Avenue Synagogue, he returned to Great
Britain, serving as chief rabbi from 1967-
1991. In that period, he became the first chief
rabbi knighted while in office and the first to
be given a peerage, considered a high honor in
English society. Regarded as "father confessor"
to former British Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher, Rabbi Jakobovitz was widely per-
ceived as Thatcherite Britain's spiritual leader.
After a pre-funeral memorial ceremony in
London on Sunday, Rabbi Jakobovitz was laid
to rest on Jerusalem's Mount Of Olives on
Monday. His memory — enwrapped in steep
intellect and awe of Jewish learning — is
already a blessing. Il

Your "On The Air" Arts &
Entertainment cover package
mentioned only casually a
group of performers who were
a vital part of Detroit radio
and television in the '30s, '40s
and '50s — the freelance
actors who worked in dramat-
ic shows, commercials and
industrial films ("Behind The
Mike," Oct. 29).
I know one of these actors,
Harry Goldstein, who worked
as an actor and
announcer/narrator from
1937 until he retired in 1990.
From 1941 until 1954, he
was one of the regulars on

The Lone Ranger, The Green
Hornet and Sergeant Preston of
the Yukon. Harry narrated

many of the radio programs
presented by the Jewish Corn-
munity Council and he was
in the Jewish Community

Center's Readers Theater.
He also directed and acted
in classic theater at the Actors
Company in Detroit and in
summer theater at the
Petoskey Playhouse in north-
ern Michigan.
Some of the other Jewish
actors not mentioned (in the
article) are Elaine Alpert, Paul
Caplan, Elaine Hyman,
Michael Tolan, Liz Weiss and
the late Rube Weiss.
I think the "Wall of Fame"
in the "On the Air" exhibit at
the Detroit Historical Muse-
um would be incomplete
without Harry Goldstein and
other actors.

Edythe Shevitz
Farmington Hills

What Is
Judaism?

Some members of the Detroit
Jewish community were upset

11/5