Friday, November 1, 1957—THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS-46
26
Report from the Holy Land
Con
tinued from Page 28
lective fashion. Their chief hope is to acquire
training in group leadership in behalf of Habo-
nim, the Labor Zionist youth movement that spon-
sored their training course here.
In the exchange program, 35 Israeli students now
are at Michigan colleges and universities, and in
studies in various specialized fields. There are 15
Israel students at the University of Michigan, 12 at
Wayne State University, five at Michigan State Uni-
versity in East Lansing, two nurses at Blodget and
Ford Hospitals and one at the Chrysler Corporation.
The Israeli students are specializing in the fol-
lowing fields: engineering, 18; economics and admin-
istration, five; medicine and psychology, three each;
science, education and agriculture, two each.
At Weizmann Institute
REHOVOT — Dr. Chaim Weizmann, in his day,
and those who carry on his work in Israel today
had a vision of peace, of a scientific future for the
small state, of great cultural attainments that should
serve as elements in a powerful renaissance in the
entire Middle East.
The center which began with the Sieff Institute
at Rehovot more than 12 years ago and has since
expanded into the impressive Weizmann Institute of
Science is justifying the hopes of the eminent
founder of this great scientific research institution.
A vast variety of activities is in evidence here. There
is the valuable work in the field of cancer research
conducted by one of the world's great scientists,
Dr. Isaac Berenblum. Important mineralogical sur-
veys of the department of isotope research headed
by Dr. Israel Dostrovsky, are proving of great
value to Israel's industrialists.
The Weizmann Institute's research in behalf of
the oil prospecting of the past two years is believed
to have provided Israel with major assistance in
striking wells and in drilling for new ones. '
An electrolytic process has enabled Israel to
produce "heavy water" inexpensively. This, too, is
the work of the isotope research enpartment.
Another department that has att..acted the atten-
tion of scientists in many countries is that of the
nuclear physics staff which is headed by a very
distinguished young scientist, Dr. Amos de Shalit.
Wide interest is being shown in the electronic
computer at the Weizmann Institute. In the charge
of a strict religious observer, Dr. P. Rabinowitz,
a man with a full beard, payoth and always wear-
ing a yarmulke, this computer evaluates many
trigonometric functions and is one of the marvels
of the institute.
So significant is the collective achievement of
the noted scientists at the Weizmann Institute that
it would be impossible fully to evaluate its merits in
less than a full-sized volume. But it is easy to recog-
nize the source of the achievements—the directive
genius of Meyer W. Weisgal, who serves as chairman
of the institute's executive council. It is thanks to
his devotion, which began with his friendship for
and cooperation with Dr. Weizmann, that the insti-
tute has grown to its present great proportions.
Weisgal has helped bring some of the very great
world scientists to Israel. He has labored to raise
funds to cover the research center's budget which
now exceeds $2,500,000 a year. He also was respon-
sible for the establishment of Yad Weizmann which
he explained as follows:
"There has been a good deal of speculation
among our friends regarding the future of Yad
Weizmann, which is at present the 'umbrella,' as
it were, for the entire area comprised by the
Weizmann Institute and its adjuncts.
"Yad Weizmann was set up by the Government
of Israel and the Jewish Agency a week after the
first President's passing in November, 1952, to
become a center of scientific and cultural insti-
tutions in the spirit of Chaim Weizmann's life-
long ideals. The Government and Agency endowed
it with a separate budget, and there has been
created what may be regarded as the final form
of the outer physical framework. Certain ideas
originally envisaged as part of the general plan
have had to be postponed—among them those re-
lating to an art center and to a museum of Jewish
contributions to world science."
The Weizmann grave is at the Yad Weizmann,
and it is a great tribute to the wisdom of the first
President of Israel that, in deference to his wishes,
the tombstone over his grave carries merely the
great leader's name—without title.
It is to Weisgal that chief credit goes for a great
accomplishment. But he does not shirk other respon-
sibilities. He accepts whatever duties Israel may im-
pose upon him. When Prime Minister David Ben-
Gurion asked him to become the chairman of the
committee to plan the 10th Israel anniversary cele-
bration, he accepted. He is not too well, but he
labors for Israel as dynamically today as he has done
in many Zionist endeavors for more than 40 years.
He is Israel's most advanced personality.
Industry in Abundance
BEERSHEBA — This report could have been
written either from S'dom or from the new cities of
Dimona or Ashkelon. It is from these areas that
there emanate new industrial developments that are
so impressive that one emerges aghast from witness-
ing the results of the sweat of a nation that was
only a short time ago called "a people of peddlers"
but which now is competing with the world's most
civilized nations in striving for scientific, mechanical
and electrical perfections.
There is a shoe factory here, nearby are the
Lapidot oil drilling operations and there is great
fascination in a visit to Charsa, which is the Hebrew
name for the Israel Ceramical Works. It manufac-
tures sanitary wares, wall tiles' and art works. A
Solel Boneh project, it has benefited from Israel
Bond investments which have enabled it to expand
its facilities.
Girls with skill are at work here painting cups
and saucers and vases and flower pots and a score
of other items. They have absolute freedom to
use their imagination, and the results have justi-
fied the liberty granted them to resort to their
moods.
A Yemenite who has worked here since the plaiit
was established less than five years ago, David
Suliman, showed us how models and molds are made
out of plaster of Paris, how the ovens bake the works,
how material for which a - large market is available
now is produced in what was only a short while back
a desolute desert. At Charsa, Sarah Partush, one of
the skilled workers, displayed for us the art objects.
Having made Beersheba our headquarters for a
short while during our stay in Israel, we were able
to visit other plants, and to get an idea of what
is happening at Ashdot Yam, the area where Bnai
Brith president Philip Klutznick, together with
Nathanyah's Mayor Oved Ben-Ami, are planning the
building of a great harbor town, on an area of 10,000
acres.
It is at Ashdot Yarn that Israel Rogosin is be-
ginning, this month, the construction of his $10,00,000
rayon plant.
The major development here is the Palestine
Electrical Company, whose administrative manager,
Eliahu Levitan, is one of the ablest industrial man-
agers we have met. The plant he manages is right on
the Mediterranean. It utilizes the Mediterranean's
salt water for its power needs, and its future should
be watched: it will probably become one of Israel's
most important power-giving sources
This is the area where the new city of Ashkelon