— 21 —

Purely Commentary:

By Philip Slomovitz

lions as a First Lieutenant in the U. S. Army in
World War II, he is deeply interested in Israel and
is assisting the country economically in his present
capacity.
Hordes and Feinberg were in Detroit several
months ago and conceived the idea of establishing
supermarkets, patterned after thoSe in their native
city, for the Israelis. They felt that through such an
effort they could help solve Israel's food problems
and assist in reducing the cost of living.
They enlisted the support of men well known
in the supermarket industry in Detroit—John . Lu-
rie, Nathan Lurie and Sam Frankel, of the Wrigley
chain; Tom Borman and Abe Borman, of Food
Fair; and Irwin Cohn, all of Detroit, and Bertram
Loeb of Montreal.
Israelis in the main were enthusiastic about their
scheme, and they were heartened by the encourage-
ment they received from -the Minister of Trade and
Industry, Pinchas Sapir.
The middlemen's newspaper Haboker and the
rightists' Herut gives the plan strong backing. But
the labor daily Davar is critical of the idea. It follows
the line of the Tnuva, the Israeli food distributing
cooperative organization, which desires to share in
the plan by having control of the food distribution.
Hordes and Feinberg seek independence from
Tnuva. They have made arrangements with inde-

Israel — a Land of Miracles and 1
Firsts: Even the initial rainfall of the
year provides a sense of accom-
plishment.

pendent cooperative settlements to supply them with
food, and they hope to be able to retain independence
from the Tnuva, which is controlled by the Histadrut,
the Israel Federation of Labor.
The hornet's nest has been stirred, and the con-
troversy goes on. Predictions as to the results of this
dispute vary in accordance with one's political views,
but in the main Israelis appear to be sympathetic
to the idea.
A chief objection to the plan comes from the
small grocerymen, of whom there are untold num-
bers wherever one turns in Israel. Wherever a new
settlement arises, there immediately spring up
these small groceries, and some fear that super-
markets will drive too many of them out of busi-
ness.
Meanwhile, Hordes and Feinberg have come to
an agreement with Rassco—the Rural and Suburban
Settlement Co.—for the construction of the first
supermarket. Rassco has undertaken to build a nine-
story structure on Beth Yehudah Street, one of Tel
Aviv's main thoroughfares. A 10,000 square foot su-
permarket will be provided the Detroiters on the
ground floor and the balance of the building will be
used for office space to be rented to space-hungry
Israeli industrialists.
The two Detroiters plan to pattern their business
after that of Detroit's supermarkets, and they also
plan to use the differing methods of Switzerland and
England that are applicable to Israel.

Detroit-Backed Company
Aids Israel's Rebuilding

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,

HAIFA, Israel — In the Evan
Vashid Building in this Israel port
city there are offices of the Rock
Products Corp., one of the largest
private invest-
ments made by
Americans in be-
half of Israel's
reconstruction.
It is strictly a
Detroit project in
Israel, and a
number of the'
leading Jews in
Detroit are par-
ticipants in it.
S lo m o v itz
While the ma-
jor contribution toward the de-
velopment of Israel's economy is
being made in the United States
through the sale of Israel Bonds,
numerous private investment ef-
forts have been made, and the
Rock Products is proving one of
the most productive.
* * *
THE PLANT, located In the
Wilhelm district between Lydda

Thursday, Oct. 31, 1957
Detroit Free Press-1S

in this project exceeded $600,000,
and there was added to it a sim-
ilar investment by its Israel coun-
terpart.
It was a struggling enterprise
for the first three years. This year,
however, the corporation hopes to
net a profit of 400,000 Israel
pounds—the American dollar now
being valued at 1.8 pounds.
Within a short time, at this rate,
the Detroit group hopes to wipe
out the losses sustained at the
beginning of the enterprise and
eventually to benefit from a profit-
able concern.
There are other private invest-
ments in Israel by Detroiters.
Leon Kay has planted more than
100 dunams (25 acres) of orange
plantations with the Mehadrin,
Ltd., in honor of his son Barry S.
Kay, and he speaks with pride of
the sign at the Mehadrin planta-:
tions with his son's name.
Similar investments have been
made by Morris Schaver, for his
son, Isaac, and- by a number of
other Detroiters who desire to as-
sist newcomers to Israel by help-
ing them become self-supporting—
through industrial enterprises.
Israel's major industries are fi-
nanced by Israel Bonds, in whose
campaigns more than 6,000 Detroit
THE DETROITERS' investment Jews are counted as participants.

and Tel Aviv, produces large rocks
for water-retaining at beaches and
breakwaters and smaller rocks for
road-building. It also produces
sand for finer concrete and aggre-
gate mixes for concrete.
The Detroit group's investment
is part of the Israel America Ag-
gregates Corp., a combination of
two equal stockholders — Evan
Vashid and Rock Products.
They own, together, five quarries
and crushing plants, and operate a
large trucking service.
This project had its foundation
in a study made of Israel's needs
by Leon Kay, Detroit engineer,
who was one of the owners of the
Keystone Oil Refining - CO.
Upon his recommendations, he
was joined in initiating The Rock
Products effort by Israel Davidson,
of the Federal Department Stores;
Abe Kasle. of Kasle Steel Corp.;
David and Hyman Safran, printers;
William Roth, of Frigid Food
Corp., who now is president • of the
corporation; Irwin I. Cohn, Louis
Berry, Edward C. Levy; Joseph
Holtzman, Alfred A. May, Tom
Borman, Philip Lipson, 111orris
Schaver, Benjamin Wilk, Richard'
Sloan and a number of other prom-
inent Detroit industrialists.

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