ThUrsday, September 22, 1949
Moir Shefeyah
a Happy Sight
DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE
lass in Kibbutz
By HEIDY MAYER
S
HOW ME SOMETHING ex-
citing, says the American
lady in Meir Shefeyah, her pen-
cil poised, diary open at the pro-
per date. We're on our way to
Haifa, and we only have a few
minutes to spare.
The American-born director of
the children's village smiles, a
trifle confused. Perhaps the din-
ing room? The children are
eating just now . . . sitting on
wooden benches which they have
built themselves.
They made the tables, too • .
in the workshops of Shefeyah.
But they're really just children,
eating very plain food from very
plain plates . . though it must
be nourishing . .. they look so
healthy.
• •
Youngsters in Israel are shown attending an outdoor class in a
Histadrut Kibbutz. Histadrut also sends instructors throughout
the world to organize and train young pioneers to help develop
the resources which re untouched in Israel.
their needs since the former grace and beauty. They dance to
orphans' home was converted Israeli folk songs, to Yemenite
into a village of children from melodies, east-European polkas
broken homes in Israel . . , for and Viennese waltzes,
small refugees from Europe, Mo-
Their faces glow and their
rocco, Yemen, and a dozen other steps are sure. They have come
places.
a long way .. • but it seems they
But the boys and girls don't feel at home in the hills of Meir
know that in hundreds of cities Shefeyah.
and towns in America, girls give
dances and organize picnics and
raffles and such, so that "their"
children, who they have never
seen, can eat and sleep and study
in a village named Shefeyah
near Sichron Yaakov, and grow
into sturdy young men and
(In 'The New Palestine')
THE EXCITEMENT-HUNGRY women.
JERUSALEM — All kinds of
•
*
lady is in luck. There is a fire
housing is being introduced in
in the brush at the far end of
TELL JUNIOR HADASSAH Israel. An enterprising British
the village. A worker laying to come here, says the dark-
firm is advertising a house on
cables found a bush in his way haired boy with the flashing eyes.
wheels—a two compartment trail-
and put a match to the obstacle. And the girls and boys nod en-
er with the resounding name of
Now he stands, helplessly, by his thusiastically: All of them should
"Berkely Ambassador."
burnt bush, watching the fire come!
Pre-fabs are springing up, as
.
•
•
•
climb up the dry, yellow grass
well as wooden huts. All immi-
of the hill to Shefeyah.
THEY WORK FOUR HOURS grants now in camps are prom-
• • •
each day, and study four, explains ised a roof of some kind of their
THE BOYS AND GIRLS are the director. Each child spends own soon. Meanwhile, the aban-
already in full action. There is about three months in each doned quarters of the Arabs are
no superfluous talk. Those who branch of work: the garden, the undergoing a metamorphosis
happen to wear shoes at the mo- kitchen, laundry, bakery, sewing which will render them unrecog-
ment trample on the low grass room, workshop, or with the cows nizable by their former inmates.
and chickens. Most of the gradu-
to put out the fire.
Mud walls which have stood
An unorganized but somehow ating classes form their own set- for generations are yielding place
effective bucket brigade is formed tlements. We train the children to silicate bricks; water pipes are
from the end of a garden hose primarily for agricultural life.. . irrigating former waste mounds,
to the top of the hill, A small, that's what the country needs and curtained windows incongru-
serious-faced girl from Yemen most.
ously appear in place of boarded
• •
is trying to climb over the barbed
holes.
SHRIEKING AND shouting
wire fence, a bucket of water
SIGNS ARE QUAINT
in each hand. She has almost comes from one of the rocky hills.
Most quaint are the Slav signs
made it, without spilling a drop, This is the swimming pool we (with Hebrew equivalents) for
built
with
our
own
hands,
ex-
when an older boy relieves her
barber and cobbler.
plain the children. We dug the
of her load.
There is the inevitable grocery,
hole
and
poured
the
cement.
It
The children work quite calmly
and now clinics and Histadrut of-
and with concentration. The fire took many years. The ones who fices are opening. Centuries are
is put out, and the amateur fire started it never swam in it.
being overcome in a few months.
• • •
fighters go to their rooms for
Israel is being wooed, cajoled,
THE ORCHESTRA is made up
what's left of their rest hour.
of mandolins and flutes. It has
• • •
THE SECOND SHIFTERS have been invited to many Kibbutzim
finished eating. From the kitchen and is much in demand by the
comes the sound of clattering Voice of Israel. There is a wait-
dishes. A 10-year old boy from ing list of children who want to
Poland is washing a huge ket- join the orchestra.
We have a play for every holi-
tle .. . a 12-year-old girl from
day, says the cultural director.
Jerusalem mops the floor.
Eight-year-olds are washing Last year, we performed a Mo-
FINER FOODS
the plates and the "silver." It liere comedy, • in • Hebrew.
•
KOSHER MEATS
all comes out spotlessly clean,
FRIDAY NIGHT, after supper,
and somehow the children man-
8540 W. McNichbls Rd.
age to remain dry themselves. the your.g dance teacher plays
on
his
harmonica
in
the
village
The children from Yemen are
UN 1-7237 - 1-7491
the cleanest, says the Romanian "square." The boys and girls
about
with
unbelievable
move
woman who's in charge of the
kitchen . . . and yet, when they
first came here, they didn't know
MIZRACHI WOMEN'S COUNCIL of DETROIT
how to use a fork or a spoon.
• • •
Extends its greetings to the community
MEIR S}IEFEYAH Children's
for a year of happniess and health awl
Village maintained by Junior
for peace in a traditional Israel.
Harassah of the United States,
MRS. PHILIP FEALK, Council Chairman
proclaims the gold-lettered sign
MRS. ROSE SINGER. Pres. Sisters of Zion Mizrachi
over the white gate.
MRS. OSCAR SMITH, Pies. Young Women's Mizrachl
The children know that Junior
MRS. EDWARD LUTZ, Pres. Northwest Miziachi
Hadassah, young women and
of
girls, have been taking care
THERE'S A LOT of noise in
the dining room . . . but there's
no time for singing . . . The
hall isn't large enough to ac-
commodate all children at one
time. The second shifters stand
outside, curiously eyeing the
visitors who return their stares
with benevolent smiles.
It doesn't bother us, says the
boy from Egypt who looks like
Sabu in his early days,—why,
we sometimes have five taxis-
full of Americans ariving at one
time.
• • •
Trailers Ease
Israel Housing
•
•
Page 45
_
stormed by would-film producers.
They are all convinced that Is-
rael will out-vie Hollywood. Have
we not got a powerful all-the-
year-round sun.
(I recall Herbert Kline desper-
ately searching for a cloud to re-
lieve the photographic landscape.)
DRAMA, ADVENTURE
We have drama, beauty, adven-
ture and also Holy Places. Two
big studio ventures were an-
nounced in one week. Hardly a
week goes by without a new film
being announced. The number
of scenarios written must run
into hundreds. The experts of
Europe as well as the USA jostle
one another in the Kiriah and
national institutions.
The government collects regis-
tered fees from new film com-
panies. But still the Israel picture
tarries, and profits are still un-
tapped.
The latest Israel production was
shot entirely at Hollywood! But
enthusiasm runs high, and we
are promised a "film town" (what-
ever that may mean) in what was
anciently Philistia.
MOVIES IN NEGEV '
Meanwhile the Negev has ob-
tained its first cinema house. In
Beersheba, a hall with 500 seats
was opened. This is no luxury.
There must be some relaxation
for the desert dwellers, cut off
from the busy stream of city
life.
From miles around they come
into the metropolis where once
Abraham tended his flticks, on
jeeps, trucks, and motorcycles.
There are two cafes and a hotel
in Beersheba, where chalk-marks
scrawled by Palmach units can
still be deciphered.
And Jaffa, no longer under
military administration, is to be
the scene of our first Luna Park
—an American enterprise. The
most modern entertainment
equipment, costing nearly $100,-
000, is to be brought here.
The project will be run by a
HAPPY NEW YEAR
1)),
ROSH HASHONAH GREETINGS and BEST WISHES
TO ALL OUR MANY FRIENDS AND PATRONS
For All Occasions
Phone Orders Welcomed—Delivery Service
Baskets Made to Order
19174 Livernois
McINERNEIVS
UN. 2-6108
B. A. CHAPLOW
LUMBER CO.
8675 E, 7 Mile Road
TW. 3-3700
ROSH HASHONAH
GREETINGS
ROSENGARD & (0.
Wholesale Fruits
7201 W. FORT ST.
VI 1-7982
HAPPY NEW YEAR
TO ALL
RUBY
HORN FUEL
& SUPPLY CO.
Cleaners-Tailors
All Types of
Alterations - Remodeling
All Work Guaranteed
We Call For and Deliver
9133 Hubbell - VE. 8-2200
11841 KERCHEVAL
2167 EWALD CIRCLE
TO 8-0458
VA. 2-4450
.11=411
■••■•■
HOLIDAY GREETINGS
the Linen Closet
19106 Livernois at Seven Mile Road
UNiversity 4-7773
•■•■■••■•■■•••■••■•■■■■■■■■•■■■•■■■•■•■ •••• ■ •• ■ •••
Best Wishes for a Happy New Year
•
SHORR & SHORR MOTOR SALES
12115 LIVERNOIS
WE 5-9205
••••• ■■•■■••■■■•■■ ••=1.
•••••••• ■ •••• ■ ••••••• ■ •NM11.
WALTER'S
Washington Blvd.
at
Clifford
JOIN IN EXTENDING
FRUIT and GIFT BASKETS
6/15101/ Smortweor
Greetings .. .
GREETINGS
Happy Holiday
Finegold's
group of invalid ex-soldiers, and
its scope may be gauged from
Their expectation to employ be-
tween 50 and.100 people.
ANTI-NOISE DRIVE
•
It had to come. Tel Aviv has
its first anti-noise campaign. The
tooting of horns, the blare of
radio sets, the screeching of
brakes and grinding of gears, and
the rattle of wheels, with cafe
orchestras, accumulate a volume
of disturbance that has exceeded
what is tolerable.
The campaign is not going too
well. Tel Avivians don't take it
seriously—they just joke about it.
One cartoon depicts an out-
raged housewife discovering her
wardrobe burgled, and shouting
through an open window—"Thief,
thief!"—the while a placid police-
man adjures her: "Silence, don't
you know about the campaign?"
New Year's Greetings
TO THEIR MANY FRIENDS AND PATRONS
Since 1849
135 E. Elizabeth
WO. 1-2503
•••••••••••••••••
000000
•••••••• ■ ••••••••••• ■ •••• ■■ •• ■ ••••• ■ ••••••• ■•••■•■ •••••••••
110••
.....