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VON NEUMANN UNVEILED - A SPECIAL REPORT

together in prayer for the victims and
their families.
A community-wide prayer service
was held at Young Israel of Oak Park
Tuesday evening as was a vigil at the
University of Michigan in Ann Arbor,
the latter attended by some 15,000
participants. (See related stories, pages
28 and 42, respectively.)
Rabbis Herbert Yoskowitz and
Daniel Nevins of Adat Shalom
Synagogue attended a Tuesday service
of the Farmington Hills Interfaith
Association. "We went to express sor-
row for loss of life," Rabbi Yoskowitz
said. "Members of the association
offered comfort and music in an
attempt to be soothing."
A group of local rabbis have met to
discuss offering a sermon this Shabbat
focusing on a statement of unity.

Communal Planning

One hundred Jewish communal lead-
ers met at the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit Tuesday.
"We felt the Jewish community, in
every aspect, should come together," said
Penny Blumenstein, Federation president.
"We thought it was important to
show that we stand together as a com-
munity." At the meeting, participants
were offered answers to security issues
and given suggestions on how to help,
with Blumenstein offering any assistance
and resources possible by the Federation.
"We abhor these acts of cowardice
and violence against the American
public, its buildings and facilities,"
Blumenstein said. "There is never jus-
tification for such deeds. We must
rally together as Americans and sup-
port each other as a community."
Aware that the target of Tuesday's ter-
rorism could have been the Jewish com-
munity, all Tuesday classes and commit-
tee meetings at the Jewish Community
Center of Metropolitan Detroit were
cancelled as a security precaution.
"At 9:15 the morning of the inci-
dents, we started emergency proce-
dures in our two buildings," said
David Sorkin, JCC executive director.
"First we secured both buildings,
locking all doors except the front ones.
We then consulted with the West
Bloomfield and Oak Park police forces,
who each sent patrol cars immediately."
Center staff made sure members and
clients of the buildings left safely.
After consulting the Federation and
lay leadership and being informed of the
closing of local agencies as well as Jewish
centers in other American cities, a deci-
sion was made to close both buildings.
Tenants of the buildings also closed their
doors. including the Holocaust

Memorial Center and the Jewish
Academy of Metropolitan Detroit on
the Applebaum Jewish Community
Campus in West Bloomfield.
When the buildings reopened
Wednesday, it was with upgraded
security in both buildings.

Talking To The Kids

Returning to classes, JAMD students
were greeted with words of counsel
and solace from Rabbi Lee Buckman,
head of school. Speaking with the stu-
dents, his first course of action was to
convey perspective, reminding them
that although initial instinct may be
revenge, it should be justice.
He understood the students' need to
recognize the anger and pain of those
whose loved ones were lost and stressed
that they allow themselves to feel the con-
nection with others in the time of tragedy.
He said he hopes the students and
other Americans will develop greater
empathy for Israelis, for whom terror-
ism is not so uncommon.
"All Americans [should] come to see
Israel's enemies for who they are — a
people that rejoices in the streets of
Nablus and east Jerusalem at the
tragedy that has befallen innocent
human beings."
He also stressed to the students the
need to continue studying Torah. "We
will affirm life," he said.
While he admitted to the evil in the
world, he also reminded them of the
goodness of complete strangers who
risked their lives to help those injured
and who were ready to donate blood
and other necessary resources.
In telling them about Israel, he said,
"There is expertise on the part of
Israelis for whom tragedy is not for-
eign and which Israel has now . offered
in order to assist the rescue effort." He
also reminded them of the common
bond held by all Americans that tran-
scends political boundaries and views.
Students were assured that although
Jews were not currently threatened, the
school, the JCC and synagogues nation-
wide are taking every precaution possi-
ble and the administration will be in
contact with the school's parent body.
"Even in light of these terrible events,
almost all airplanes and public spaces
are still completely safe," he told them.
The school lit a memorial candle for
those lost and prayed for comfort for
families of victims and healing for
those who suffer. Students will organ-
ize a school-sponsored relief effort.
"We will pray that the terrorists are
brought to justice and the world will
be one day at peace," Rabbi Buckman
told the students. 11

"Von Neumann was a genius, in the sense that
a genius is a man who has two great ideas."
-- Jacob Bronowski, quoted from
The Ascent of Man (1973)
This salute from a noted historical and
sociological commentator actually understates
the brilliance of John von Neumann--an
immensely gifted Hungarian-born math-
ematician (Budapest, 1903) who brought the
world three great ideas. His first discovery
provided economists and scientists with an
invaluable technique to analyze problems
and bring them rapidly to realistic solutions. A second idea helped shorten and end
World War Two. A third idea led to an essential development that resides in more
than 90% of the world's computers.
Mathematicians are seldom in the public eye, a ieason for the relative
obscurity of von Neumann whose Jewish origins are also rarely mentioned. Yet
his work touches us all, and has proven that mathematics is not just an exercise in
intellectual calisthenics, but a discipline which shapes our very way of life.
Von Neumann has been called "one of the last people able to span the
fields of pure and applied mathematics," with contributions to quantum physics,
meteorology, hydrodynamics, topology, logic, and computer science and
technology. Few if any mathematicians in history have surpassed his prodigious
flow of insights put to practical use.
Graduating from the University of Berlin as a chemical engineer, he
switched focus and earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Budapest
in 1926. Among the more than 150 papers he published were several outlining the
principles of the Game Theory for which he was most highly regarded. In 1944,
he co-authored The Theory of Games and Economic Behavior that opened a new
branch of mathematics presenting an accurate way to evaluate economic
performance. The landmark theory also proposed unique statistical programs later
adopted for planning American military strategies.
Sensing the Nazi threat, von Neumann had earlier settled in the U.S.
(1931) and accepted a professorship at Princeton University. Within two years he
became associated with the newly formed Institute for Advanced Study in
Princeton with which he remained for the rest of his life. While there, he enjoyed
an enduring friendship with Albert Einstein. And in the late Thirties, he evolved
the "Neumann Algebras" whose concepts rank among today's most powerful tools
for studying quantum mechanics.
The war years found von Neumann consulting with J. Robert
Oppenheimer, Hans Bethe and Edward Teller at the Manhattan Project in Los
Alamos. His formulations were of major importance in achieving a sustained
nuclear reaction--speeding the completion of our first atomic devices which
abruptly ended the Pacific conflict.
Soon after, von Neumann became the director of the Institute's Electronic
Computer Project. His group developed computer systems such as the famous
MANIAC involved in building and testing our hydrogen weapon, the future
cornerstone of America's defense system. In the process he designed the digital
storage and retrieval system which allows all of today's ROM-based computers to
function as they do. The "genius" by Bronowski's standards was also a virtually
unrecognized father of our computer age.
During his last several years, von Neumann continued to serve our nation
on the General Advisory Committee of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. To
honor his accomplishments, he was awarded the coveted Enrico Fermi Award
shortly before his untimely death at 54.
- Saul Stadtmauer

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2001

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