Rhode Island Jewish 1 Historical Assoc. 136 Sessions st. Inside: Prov. R.I. 02906 Israel Travel Supplement THE ONLY ENGLISH-JEWISH WEEKLY IN R.J. AND SOUTHEAST MASS. VOLUME LXXIII, NUMBER 8 FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 1986 35e PER COPY Leonard Bernstein At 67 Seeing Ourselves In The by Benjamin Ivry proven wrong by the young conductor's Eyes Of The Homeless (.JSPS) As surely as Leonard sensational debut. conducting the New Bernstein ·s birthday rolls around, the York Philharmonic just over forty years diatribes aga inst him appear. Bernstein ago. has not "fulfilled his promise." complain Bernstein has always been in love with the music cri tics drily. His gifts. they feel. the Hebrew language, dating back to his are displayed too sloppily. .. Kaddish Symphony" No. :l. with it In fact. Leonard Bernstein has avoided setting of the Hebrew words. Another ~ the neat pigeonholes of mediocrity. He has notable example is his "Chicheter Psalms" maintained over the years separate careers ( 1966). This choral wo rk was written fo r a~ composer of pop and classical music, the Chichester Cathedral Music Festiva l. \ \ conductor. teacher. author, and amateur The English clergymen must have been A ~ political spokesman. su rprised t.o find that the Psalms would be ~ , : Bernstein ·s devotion to Israel and to sung . in Hebrew, at the composer's ~ American .Judaism is beyond question. He insistence, rather than in the more -~ t:;'i, has conducted the Israel Philharmonic. familiar Latin. since the days when they we re the However, Leonard Bernstein refuses to -. Palestine Philharmonic. He was back on be the ".Jewish conductor" some demand. Mount Scopus in .Jerusalem right after the He wrote a controversial "Mass" in 1970. Six-Day wa r in 1967, to conduct the usin1; the Catholic liturgy along with some Mahler ''Resurrection" Symphony. unusual additions of his own. His search One of the composer's mos t. recent for . wider understanding involv es tributes to Israel was a wo rk for solo flute broad-minded trave l. He visits Vienna entitled " Hali! " (Hebrew for flute). This frequently, a city where he is idolized. and piece has an unusual ge nesis. One night, records with the Vienna Philharmonic on after a concert in Tel Aviv, two bereaved Deutsche Gramophon, the German Israeli parents expla ined to Bernstein that Hecord Company. Obviously. he feels no their son had been killed in the 197:l war. tensions about associating professionally The boy had been a gifted fl utist. and the with Austrians or Germans. even though couple asked Bernstein to write a piece in the Holocaust is still fresh in his memory. hi!-. memory. Bernstein does not accept Furthermore, Bernstein recently private commissio n~, and he had ne,·er ren)rded Wagner's opera Tris tan urd met the Israeli boy. But, as he said later. " I /sr,/de in Germany. to hosannas of critical Two homeless faces stare out at the world from Matthew Rothman's did not know this young man. but I knew praise. Fifteen years ago he conducted photography exhibit on view at the List Art Gallery, Brown University. It will his soul." The work. "Hali!." was Hirhard Strauss's opera Der open again at the State House on February 24 while the legislators are debating premiered some months later by the //r,sc nhavalier in Vienna. Both Wagner the state budget. a nd Strauss are anathema to many famous flutist. .Jean-Pierre Rampa!. It has by Susan Bostian show is due to be hung in the legislators since been recorded. Israelis. Yet there are places where Bernstein There's a disturbing recognition in their lounge at the State House while they are Rernstein's awareness of his own debating the budget from February 24 .Judaism dates back to his early youth. draws the line. There is a noticeable eyes as you realize these are not romantic coolness between Bernstein and the hobos; these are homeless, abandoned through March 10. Sponsored by the when his father gave him Hebrew lessons. Emergency Food and Shelter Board of E\'en as a young man in the conductor Herbert von Karajan. head of human beings, who but for chance are you the Berlin Philharmonic. an ex-Nazi. and I. Matthew Rothman has slept in the Rhode Island, Rothman's oversized unsympathetic 1980s, he refused to yield photos will serve as a reminder of the less Ka raja n began his ca ree r by makeshift shelters, eaten in soup his ,Jewish identity. Bernstein's mentor. fortunate to those comfortahly the conductor Serge Koussevitsky. opportunistically jumping in to conduct kitchens, and sat on park benches as he during the Nazi era after other conductors entered their dark, unseen world of encapisdated on the hill. suggested that the young musician change It is difficult not to feel some pangs of we re dismissed for not go ing along with desperation and poverty and returned his name to so mething that sounded less the heart looking at the photo of Peaches, .Jewish. Koussevitsky feared that someone Nazi policies. A recent interviewer quoted with photographs of faces that dare you to Bernstein as saying that he could "never look at them. Hanging in List Art Gallery a black woman drenched in sadness. named Bernstein could never be a success Peaches is a woman with nothing but in the American music world. He was (Continued on page 9) at Brown University and headed for the State House, faces of people who emerge time. She challenges you to meet her eyes from nowhere and disappear back into the as she sits alone on a park bench at night darkness found a friend in Rothman, in New York City. Rothman became good Close Up: Barney Frank someone who would tell their story fo r friends with her as he progressed with his them. project. He learned her life story. Peaches Matthew Rothman, is a had once been a maid in some of New nineteen-year-old student at Brown York's finest hotels. Then her landlord .University, a graduate of a private school had made extensive improvements to her in New York City, and the product of two apartment and raised her rent 300%. She acadamians at Columbia University. He couldn't afford to live there. Her meals are credits his parents with instilling in him a now eaten in soup kitchens and many sense of responsibility and a very clear nights are passed without shelter. Things social conscience at an early age. "They started going wrong for her. But, Peaches made me realize that you have to give was once a woman with hopes and something back to society and to those dreams. who are less well off than you. I am very It was that way with most of the people fortunate to get a Brown University that Rothman met. He managed to win education but I remember those who are their trust by hanging out in the train not so lucky and do something for them." stations, the shelters, and the desolate Rothman came to Brown to study places where they exist, places we might computer science. "After a horribly be afraid to go. Initially he was met with depressing year, I decided to pick up my distrust and disbelief. "I would get to the camera again. As I began to take pictures, soup kitchen at 5:30 in the morning and I saw the power of the camera to show when I sat down with my camera the people what they normally don't see." conversation would stop and people would Realizing that he might be able to have an get up and move away. Slowly after effect, Rothman began to earnestly focus several weeks, people started to get used on the homeless. "Hine was a to me. photographer who was able to bring about "A good photographer does not zoom in social change by photographing children in cloud of dust, take a picture, and swope in the workplace around the early 19th out again. You don't know what you're century. It didn't happen overnight, Hine taking, you don't know the person's life, banged on doors for 15 years before any you don't know tbe moment to capture real change occurred. I expect to be and what is important. So Rothman pounding for at least as long. persisted. " I never took a picture without "No change happens unless there is an permission, Rothman says. "I am proud of attitudinal change. I can only hope my the exhibit not because of the technical pictures will be a catalyst. One of my work, but because I did it the way I dreams is lo see social change through thought it should be done. in an ethical . S . Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.) spoke to the New awareness." Rothman'• dreams may be way." A-,ciation lut week. Robert Israel's report is on page 4 . realiud soonec than be expected. The {Contmued on page 9) L. rn .. ..,·~·~· ·"'.. .r'.,'· .. · 't~,'., ··- t .-r,, ,.. J •· , , , •.r t r ·,· ·f:..:: ·t~ti RHODE 1sciNo·RERi\Ln.' rnmAv:JA.NUARY ·3·;-.· 1:9~s · At E',;;~n~~Ei ··. ·.· · ice ·singies Friday, January 31, at 8:10 p.m. services The Jewish Community Center's Sin· will be held at Temple Emanu·El in the gles' Calendar opens its February plans Bohnen Vestry. Rabbi Daniel H . Liben with a special Happy Hour for Singles :J.5 Local News will speak on "Jewish Mysticism for and over at the center. 401 Elm!(rove Av · Moderns." The service will be followed by enue in Providence on Wednesday.