This Week Day Sale 20-60% We Specialize in all custom doors: •Wood *Fiberglass • Steel *Interior 33084 Northwestern Hwy. between 14 Mile & Orchard Lake Road (between Home Appliance & In Style Furniture) gi Come visit... EC) Int ata a unique combination o Antiques pee& Veeher proprietor (248) —Gifts —Collectibles 541.3069 HOURS: Wednesday-Saturday 12 noon to 5:00 p.m. with off-street park ing 5/16 2003 18 Gt rede .4-medeot44a9e tocetted ett 803 N. Main (between 11 6? 12 Mile) • Ro al Oak Detroit-area philanthropists memorialize their parents at the National Yiddish Book Center. DIANA LIEBERMAN StaffWriter/Copy Editor OFF —A Baby Boutique Generations CAP/Plilig ig40 709250 Ukranian town of Zhitomir. Both Joseph Applebaum and Charles Driker, the fathers of the two Detroit philanthro- pists, were born in this town, whose pos- session passed from Poland to Russia and back again before Ukraine became inde- pendent in 1991. "Yiddish was the universal language," Driker said. "Jews spoke the language of whatever country they lived in — Polish, Russian, German, Hungarian — and they prayed in Hebrew, but the lan- guage they spoke at home, and the lan- guage they wrote in, was Yiddish." Since its founding in 1980 by MacArthur Fellow Aaron Lansky, who continues to lead the organization as its president, the National Yiddish Book Center has rescued 1.5 million Yiddish works, Driker said — "works that would have otherwise been thrown in the garbage can." "Now they are digitized, so you can order any book online," he said. "And they have a joint agreement with Yale University Press to translate all Yiddish books into English." In Yiddish, the word "Driker" means "printer." "Applebaum" means "apple tree" — and the Yiddish Book Center is located in the middle of an apple orchard. "Cosmic forces must have been at work here," Driker quipped. arly in the 20th century, a generation of writers mined the traditions of the Eastern European Jewish folk tradi- tion to create stories and poems in the language that united the world's Jews Yiddish. They were called Di lunge (the young) and took as their symbol —di goldene pave — the golden peacock On May 4, the National Yiddish Book Center dedicated its new theater, the focal point of its 37,000-square-foot building on the cam- pus of Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass. And the cen- terpiece of the $400,000 theater is an ornate handmade. chandelier depicting Applebaum a golden peacock. The theater is a gift from two Detroit-area philanthropists who grew up in Yiddish-speaking house- holds: Eugene Applebaum of Bloomfield Hills and Eugene Driker of Detroit. It's named after their two sets of parents, Joseph and Minnie Applebaum and Charles and Frances Driker. "Most American Jews are descen- dents of Eastern European Jews, Jews who had spoken Yiddish for 1,000 years," said Driker, a board member of the Yiddish Book Center and chair of its develop- ment committee. "They captured in Yiddish the language of the shtetl (village), the language of the home. If we don't unlock the keys to Yiddish, we won't have the keys to our ances- tors, to our heritage." ..‘ Photo courtesy of the National Yiddish Book Center. The first event after the theater's May 4 dedication took place At the dedication: Elaine Driker, Eugene immediately after the 1:30 ribbon- Driker, daughter Elissa Driker-Ohren and 3- cutting. In commemoration of the year-old granddaughter, Rebecca Driker-Ohren. 60th anniversary of the Warsaw The Applebaum-Driker Theater will Ghetto Uprising, Dr. Saul Kassow, pro- be the Center's main meeting place for fessor of Judaic Studies at Connecticut's lectures, readings, film screenings, per- Trinity College, spoke about the Oyneg formances and weeklong conferences, Shabbos archives, one of the most com- said Nancy Sherman, the organization's prehensive chronicles of life in Poland vice president. "It's really a major gift," under Nazi occupation. she said. "They were extremely gener- For hundreds of years, one of the cen- ous." ❑ ters of Yiddish publishing was the