Friday, September 12, 1947 DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE American Student Depicts life at the Haifa fechnion Institute Head Yanks Make New FrionthiltipsiFsast, Learn to Speak Langtmge iFinontly (Editor's Note: Fifty American veterans are studying .at the Hebrew' Institute of Technology in ,Baifa wider (the,provisiens of the GI Bill of Rights. The Technion, as the.146tjtute is. popu- larly known, has an enrollment .pf close to 1000. students—It comprises an engineering college, a nautical aeliovl, teehnioal high school, and a graduate schopl..la the following KO*, one of the students gives his impression of the Institute and of Pal- estine for the benefit of an American friend.) Dear Penyna: As you may know, there are liar to the position of • foreign now 50 of us American students students in any country. Firs\ here at the Technion in Haifa. and f.pretnost, they must become We've been here for various accustomed to a new country, R. SHLOMO ,APLANSKY K periods of time, some as long as new surroundings, new ways of eight months, others, still "green- life, and all the details which '14 ead .of the Idebgew :Institute of .Technology ip li•ita. horns", having arrived only six these imply. Second, they must master a party, movie, concert. or play. or seven weeks ago. During the holidays and From a language point of view new, and to some, a strange, everyone, with few exceptions, language, to read and speak it breaks in the semester people struggled along in the first days fluently, which is in itself a usually travel, some to relatives, of his "aliya". Some knew more job of no mean proportion. Pfinally, they must accustom some to friends in various ,parts Hebrew when they came, some themselves to a different educa- of the country, mostly to the less, some ,picked up the lan- tional system—and different it is. "kibbutzim." * • * guage quickly, while the pace of .• • .• ;Alters was *Wen MUCH STUDYING REQUIREMENTS HIGH Most of the time at home is From the beginning of the THE ACADEMIC LEVEL Of "American Project" .there have the school is higher than the of course spent in studying. Our been speeial ,Hebrew classes at level of an engineering college participation in political groups the Technion. The chief factor, in America. More courses are is also limited, although there in learning the language is us- given, they proceed at a faster are reasons for this in addi- age, and in this respect it is up pace than that to which we are tion to lack of time. to the individual to "practice" accustomed, the examinations The political situation in the the language. are more difficult, and entrarice. country is a complicated and Qf course, all the courses are' requirements are higher. confused one, not as clear-cut in Hebrew, and on this score Al this together, has made and elementary as the two-party we've had our difficulties, though school no easy matter. However, American system; not knowing gradually everyone overcomes since "time solves all problems", the language, not •being closely- them. In the beginning, it real; everyone is plugging away, acquainted with the various ly sounded strange to hear phys- . little more than the average stu- groups and ideologies, there is ics, chemistry, and mathematics dent, and it is expected that in a problem. lectures in Hebrew, but now, I the near future we will be "in Naturally, all of us have made think it would probably sound order". friends here, and as was to be strange to us to hear these lec- In general we are quite well expected, Jews were—and are-- tpres ip arranged And life is pleasant for happy to receive new "olim"— • e • us here. We could hope for a especially from America—ipto FINE BUILDING little more free time in which the country. The luckiest ones, THE TECHNIQN•itself is on to visit the country and partic- though, have been those among of the finest quildings in Haifa. , ipate je the general cultural us who have relatives here in; It is located on "Hadar Hacar- and social life of the "Yishuv", the country. Today, large Jewish familiee mel", a little taller than most of but that too will come in time. Most of us are living in one are an exception, and wben ∎ the buildings on its own level, people here meet relatives wbol so that when we docked we large building in "Kiryat were able to see it from the about half-hour's ride from .came "all the way from Ameri-' school. The house is only a year ea", they are extremely happy harbor. to receive them. Most of us were taken on a old; pleasant, comfortable (al- Not the least important part though one could ask more of tour through the Various de-. of our education has been our Palestinian architecture). partments and, although much Some of the fellows' wives introduction to Palestine, learn- equipment and facilities are still ing the geographical and histori- required, we were very sur- came with them from America; cal high spots in the country. one or two have married Pales- prised at the amount and scope Already, at various holiday of the equipment available for tinian girls. Social life, because of the lack of free time, is rather periods, there have been a num- students' use. limited, and what there is of it ber of liyulim" (tours through The staff of the Technion is a consists of an occasional house- the country) in which we par- really unusual group of people I'm sure that yokt will find iq-, formation on many of them in a "Who's Who in Engineering". Some of the professors have world-wide reputations for out- standing work in their respective — from — fields, while others are recent graduates of the Technion itself. The position of the American students in the Technion is sim- , , Page Seven ticipated, which were arranged Just solid, barren rock, with kiy the Jewish Agency's youth treacherous cliffs. crevices,opreci- department and the vices, etc. (Aside from ;these conducted On the way, we saw some of tours, of course, each individual the war-limo projects of "Solel- travels •where, .And sees what, he ,Zoneh" (the op-operative build- likes, and there has , been a con- ing company)—;Tank-traps, em- siderable amount of this.) , placements, and the underground Ore - trip was down to the hospitals. which were in- prepa- Dead Sea, Jericho, the'Palestine ration for a German attack at potash Works, and the only the time when they were in Jewish settlement in that neigh- I:Egypt. All, Of course, cut. out of borhood the kibbutz "Beth Ha- solid. rock. and supposed to have arava". Abut this particular ; been a .terrific engineering feat. After an hour and a half of trip I will give you, in brief, a summary, since a detailed report riding, we arrived in Jericho— today, an all-Arab city. Some of would require more time. the historical points of the vicin- • ity were pointed out to us--the JUDEAN DESEP,T old wall, Eliyalm's Well, •Mt. FIRST OF ALL, leaving Jeru- Nebo (where Moses is supposed salem, you pass through some to have died) and the trek of of the most desolate country in our ancestors when they first the world—the Judean Wilder- reached this land "flowing with ness, or Desert Except along a milk and honey".) From -Jericho narrow pass, where there is a we traveled to.Beth lia-arava, a controlled stream of water run- seven year old kibbutz, which ning to Jericho, literally not a settled the land against all warn- blade of grass is to be seen. (Continued on Page M. , Rosh Ilashonah Greetings * UNITED DETROIT THEATRES OPERATING THE Michigan United Artists Palms-State Fisher Broadway Capitol Madison Riviera Cinderella Varsity V ague Ramona Norwest Regent , Annex Alger Rosedale Birmingham Royal Bloomfield Mel TE. 2.8995 Rosh Hashonah Greetings and Best Wishes To My Many Friends Honorable THOMAS F. , MAHER Circuit Judge 6 Passover Greetings and Best Wishes to the Entire Jewish Community Rosh Hashanah Greetings TO OUR MANY FRIENDS AND PATRONS • Wholesale Poultry and Eggs Mello Ripe Bananas TEmple 3-3200 FAMOUS CLEANERS ••••• ■•■■ ev.-- ■■ •*****•^••• ■ •.... ...... MERCURIO BROS. Reptern Market - by — Rosh Hashanah Greetings 1951 E. FERRY PL. 160Q MAIN POULTRY ?707.15 RUSSELL ST. . Dry -Cleaning- *,* *** *** ***pl PREMIER FOOD PRODUCTS Sonic. on All MBAs. of Cars Collision Work Our Spaciallit Dave Wheelock, Prop. 31 W. FERRY Renuvenate Process 4465 lteatibirn ; FRIENDSHIP GARAG E LUSTER - TEX Main Offitt and .Spire: Rosh Hashonah Greetings Season's Greetings Rosh Hashonah Greetings 140 TWELFTH STREET LA(4yette 1525 LAFER BROS. WHOLESALE GROCERS 2416 HUBBARD