Philip Slomovitz, editor of the
Detroit Jewish News, and Mrs.
Slomovitz have been visiting in
Israel. This is another of his spe-
cial reports for the Free Press.
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor, The Jewish News
i
HERZLIAH, Israel — From this
model city, located 12 miles from
Tel Aviv, has emanted a contro-
versy that has created one of the
most exciting economic disputes in
Israel.
In the section known as "Shikun
Olei America" — the residential
section of settlers
from America —
there are three
families of De-
troiters—those of
Herbert Hordes,
Alan Feinberg
and David Crohn.
Crohn is man-
'ager of the Tel
Aviv Mortgage
Bank. A Univer- SLOMOVITZ
sity of Michigan
graduate, who has earned decora-
tions as a first lieutenant in the
United States Army in World War
II, he is deeply interested in Israel
and is assisting the country eco-
nomically in his present capacity.
* * *
HORDES AND Feinberg were
in Detroit several months ago and
conceived the idea of establishing
supermarkets, patterned after
•
The Tide Has Turned
.
those in their native city, for the ' is controlled by the Histadrut, the
Israelis. They felt that through Israel Federation of Labor.
such an effort they could help
The hornet's nest has been
solve Israel's food problems and stirred, and the controversy goes
assist in reducing the cost of on. Predictions as to the results
living.
of this dispute vary in accordance
They enlisted the support of with one's political views, but, in
men well known in the super- the main, Israelis appear to be
market industry in Detroit — John sympathetic to the idea.
Lurie, Nathan Lurie and Sam
A chief objection to the plan
Frankel, of the Wrigley chain;
Tom Borman and Abe Borman, of comes from the small grocerymen,
of whom there are untold numbers
Food Fair and Irwin Cohn, all of
Detroit, and Bertram Loeb of wherever one turns in Israel.
Wherever a new settlement arises,
Montreal.
there immediately spring up these
Israelis, in the main, were en- small groceries, and some fear that
thusiastic about their scheme, and supermarkets will drive too many
they were heartened by the en- of them out of business.
couragement they received from
* * *
the Minister of Trade and Indus-
.
MEANWHILE,
Hordes and Fine-
try, Pinchas Sapir. The indepen-
berg have come to an agreement
dent newspaper Haaretz is mildly with
Rassco — the Rural & Subur-
favorable to their scheme.
The middlemen's newspaper Ha- ban Settlement Co. — for the con-
boker and the rightists' Herut struction of the first supermarket.
Rassco has undertaken to build a
give the plan strong bracing.
nine-story structure on Beth Ye-
*
hudah St., one of Tel Aviv's main
BUT THE LABOR daily Davar thoroughfares.
is critical of the idea. It follows
A 10,000 square foot super-
the line of the Tnuva, the Israeli market will be provided the De-
food-distributing co-operative orga- troiters on the ground floor.
nization, which desires to share in
The rest of the building will
the plan by having control of the be used for office space to be
distribution.
rented to space-hungry Israeli in-
Hordes and Feinberg seek inde- dustrialists.
pendence from, Tnuva. They have
The two Detroiters plan to pat-
made arrangements with indepen- tern their business after that of
dent co-operative settlements to Detroit's supermarkets, and they
supply them with food, and they also plan to use the differing
hope to be able to retain inde
methods of Switzerland and Eng-
pendence from the Tnuva, which land that are applicable to Israel.
Friday, November 1, 1957—THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS-6
Lansmanshaften and Israel
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
TEL AVIV — There was a time,
not so long ago, when "landsleite"
and "laridsmanshaften" played ma-
jor roles in the lives of American
Jews. It was in the time of large-
scale immigration from Europe to
the United States, when relatives
welcomed .kinsmen who escaped
from persecution.
The tide has turned. Now, the
kinship is more closely linked with
Israel. There is scarcely an Amer-
ican . Jew who does not have a
relative or a very close friend in
Israel. The "landsmanshaft" link,
albeit in slightly different- form,
has been transferred to Israel.
In this land of many contrasts,
these links are not limited to the
70 lands in Asia, Africa and
Europe. There also is the "lands-
manshaft" link with America.
There must be at least a dozen
settlements — kibutzim and mo-
shavim — where former Detroiters
are settled. There are many Mich-
igan people in the cities.
Especially exciting are not only
the reunions of relatives and
friends when Detroiters arrive in
Israeli settlements for brief visits
—in most instances the visits are
all-too-brief but also when tour-
ist meets tourist.
The fabulous Dan Hotel was the
scene of excitement last week
—in most instances the visits are
when a contingent of Michigan
furniture dealers arrived here for
a 10-day stay. They were part of a
tour of Europe, scheduled to start
from, Rome, for 80 people, ar-
ranged by the Sealy Mattress Co.,
of Detroit, of which Peter Brown
is the president. The vice-president
of the firm, Peter's brother, King
Brown, led a group of eight cou-
ples;--in addition to himself, for the
visit in Israel.
There was excitement when
these Detroiters met other Detroit-
ers. Included in the funviture deal-
ers' contingent were: Mr. and Mrs.
Charles Solovich and Mr. and Mrs.
Herman Frumin, of the Frumin
Furniture Co.; Mr. and Mrs. Jack
Kahn and Mr. and Mrs. Nate Reisin,
of the Crown Furniture Co.; Mr.
and Mrs. Max Brose, United Fur-
niture Co,; Mr. and Mrs. Nathan
Goldman, Sofa's Furniture Co.; Mr.
and Mrs. Irving Tyner, Smith Fur-
niture Co., Ypsilanti; Mr. and Mrs.
Aaron Burg, Senate Furniture Co.
Thus, the link between the two
lands grows—through tourism, by
means of kinship, through- historic
bonds perpetuated by prayers as
well as the uninterrupted develop-
ments of the longest history record
for any people in the world.
Saturday, October 28, 195'7—THE DETROIT FREE PRESS-8
Detroiters Stir Up Israel
With Supermarket Scheme