The condition of Rabbi Morris Adler, who was shot during Sabbath services at his Shaare Zedek Temple, in suburban Southfield, by a demented honor student whom he had been counseling, remained “very critical” and “extremely grave” today.
Surgeons and other doctors at Sinai Hospital here performed further surgery on his brain today, in an effort to relieve the pressure caused by a bullet that had entered the back of his head as the youth, Richard Wishnetzky, shot the spiritual leader in front of a packed congregation of 1,500 worshipers.
Messages of prayer and hope for Rabbi Adler’s recovery were issued in the last two days by the Governor of Michigan, the Mayor of Detroit, labor and communal leaders, and many churchmen, Jewish and Christian, including Archbishop John F. Dearden, Roman Catholic prelate of Detroit. Telephone calls and cables came from many American cities, from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, London, Paris and Tokyo. Rabbi Adler had served as the first Jewish chaplain in the U.S. Army in Japan after the defeat of Japan in World War II.
Various functions were planned to have been held here next March, in honor of Rabbi Adler’s 60th birthday, by his congregation, various other organizations and by the Detroit Jewish News.
Meanwhile, Wishnetzky is also fighting for his life, but is not expected to survive. He is at another institution, New Providence Hospital here. Leonard Antel, administrator of the religious school at Rabbi Adler’s temple, said today that, while concern for Dr. Adler’s condition was uppermost in the community, there was also much sympathy for Wishnetzky and for his family because the family is well-thought of here, and the youth had been an outstandingly brilliant student.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
