I rael Meets Challen (Continued from Page 1) in applications filed for admission but whose servant, in error, took to the Hebrew University and to the invitation to the family's the Technion. More than 2,200 enemy, Bar Kamtza. The latter, young men and women already believing there might be reconcili- have applied for admission to the ation, in good spirit accepted the Technion and only half of them invitation. He was humiliated, and can be accepted. Technion offi- even though he asked to be per- cials have just announced: "First in order of preference for mitted to remain, offering to pay for the dinner, was ousted. Venge- admission is electrical engineering fully, he betrayed the family to with 603 applicants for 150 vacan- the Romans, and the denounce- cies; second is mechanical engi- ment is traditionally said to have neering with 309 applicants for 150 led to the destruction of the vacancies: third is architecture with 215 applicants and 72 vacan- Temple. cies; then comes civil engineering, So earnest is the desire for unity down to fourth place for the first that one wonders why there is so time this year, with 185 applicants much division in Zionist ranks. for 150 vacancies. There is no doubt that Zionists still "There are 132 applicants for are in the forefront of pro-Israel chemical engineering. 107 for aero- activities, and Zionism remains a nautical engineering, 40 for agri- guiding factor in the Jewish State's cultural engineering and 10 for upbuilding. Yet. there are two Gen- mining engineering. Evening eral Zionist confederations. Even classes attracted another 98 ap- during the sessions of the World plicants. Jewish Congress in Brussels, the "Applications for enrollment in two confederations held separate chemistry, physics and mathema- meetings. The World Union of Gen- tics have more than doubled this eral Zionists had a strong repre- year. Those who wish to study sentation from the Zionist Organi- these subjects and who have ob- zation of America, under the lead- tained an average of more than edship of the ZOA president, 70 per cent for their matriculation Jacques Torczyner. The Confeder- are, for the first time, exempt ation of General Zionists again from writing entrance examina- conferred under the leadership of tions. There are 61 applications Haciass-ah women and of a former for the department of mathema- ZOA president. Why the division? tics, 114 for the department of What has been accomplished in physics; 120 for the department of this fashion? Why can't Hadas- chemistry and 53 for the depart- sah and ZOA representatives, in- ment of teacher training." cluding former ZOA presidents, * * work together? Must we have an- Then there is the growth of other Kamtza-Bar Kamtza experi- hotels. There are many outstanding ence? This question inevitably hotels in Israel. Notable among crops up when divisiveness be- them is the new Tel Aviv Hilton, comes apparent. possibly the most impressive in * * * the entire Middle East; the posi- The progress in evidence in Is- tively fascinating Caesarea; the rael overshadows whatever nega- Dan HaCarmel with its impressive tive elements may arise on the view of the harbor, the city, the horizon, There are, for example, environs; the Tel Aviv Sheraton the universities. There is no doubt and several other ones that are that the Hebrew University is one competing for the growing tourist of the supreme objects of pride trade. for Israel and the Jewish people. The newest hotel, the Tel Aviv Then there is the great technical Hilton, built at a cost of $17,000,- school—Technion in Technion City 000, with its 446 guest rooms, 22 on Mount Carmel, at Haifa. other suites and three Presidential Meanwhile, another great school suites, its 550 employes, its night , is emerging—Tel Aviv University. club, heated-for-the-winter swim- which already has made enormous ming pool, children's pool and progress. In the course of time, numerous other facilities, matches there also will be universities in the best hotels in the finest Ameri- Beersheba and Haifa. These are in can resorts. addition to Bar-Ilan University, Israel's tourist industry is grow- whose progressive efforts are the ing, Many of the visitors are result of the deep interest and de- Christians. They are beginning to votion of its American suporters, come not only at Christmas and headed by the Stollman family in Easter seasons but throughout the Detroit, year. The country, the people, the The present—the fifth—visit to history—all attract, all remain the Bar-Ilan was an opportunity to see magnetic forces that link Israel so much new activity, such a thriv- with the world, with international ing atmosphere, so much move- history. This is an unending exper- ment by students, that the success ience. of the university whose formation * * * was inspired by the Mizrachi Or- There is no doubt about the mul- thodox Zionist movement was ap- parent at once. Bar-Ilan boasts tiplicity of problems affecting Is- that in its curriculum there is no rael. One is linked closely with a conflict between science and reli- major American JeWish need: It gion. In addition, having been is the problem of a teacher short- Formed by American Jews — age, of a supply and demand that Phillip S'tollman is the chair- has developed into a controversy. man of the American Friends of It was discussed at the World Jew- Bar-Ilan University—there is the ish Congress plenary in Brussels, added expression of pride that this and it was a subject for dispute university, located in Ramat Gan, at the convention of the National near Tel Aviv, combines American Council for Jewish Education of and Israeli principles, that it this country, which this year was blends Jewish traditions with mod- taken to Jerusalem and Kfar Mac- ernity patterned on American uni- cabiah in Israel. The hornet's nest was stirred by Israel's Education ersity policies. Bar-Han, now in its 11th year, Minister Zalman Aranne who has a faculty of 170, more than charged that American Jews were 1,600 students, 550 courses, includ- "coming to Israel hat in hand to ing Jewish lore, the sciences, lan- beg for teachers." Soon there were defenders who guages. It is no wonder that Am- erican-made Bar-Ilan has won so said he was quoted out of context, that he did not mean to be that much admiration. tt is reported that 1,400 new critical. But actually he may have applicants have indicated a desire been right: Why should American bo enroll in Bar-Ilan this com- Jews come to Israel, where there ing semester and that the student also is a shortage of teachers, body may be increased by 400. when they should be training their That's how the school's importance own? It has been and it remains \ to Israel becomes increasingly em- OUR contention that Israelis in ghasized. * * * the main may not even be quali- Records similarly are- being set fied to teach in the United States /10—Fri as ,, August 19, 1966 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS where Jewish children must be trained by men and women from their own environment. We have spent and are spending too much money and energy to bring a handful of Israelis to the United States. These means and energ- ies should be expended in find- ing a way of attracting Ameri- can youth to the Jewish teach- ing profession. The chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive, A. L. Pincus, speaking recently at the laying of the cornerstone for the Rabbi Gold Institute, an institution for the training of teachers from the Dias- pora, had an answer to the prob- lem when he said: "Israel cannot possibly dream of supplying all the Diaspora's needs for teachers. The solution to the critical shortage of teach- ers in Jewish schools in the Dias- pora lies in bringing young people from countries abroad for training in Israel." The dispute is far from ended. The debate goes on. There may have been misleading information when the American teachers, at their meeting in Kfar Maccabiah, were told there is an excess of 400 teachers in Tel Aviv. This has been denied authoritatively to this re- porter, who was informed that there are 400 uncertified applicants for teachers' jobs in Tel Aviv. Per- haps we have thousands of this type in the U.S.! The Aranne statement drew sharp retorts, and the most noticed was this one, addressed to the Jer- usalem Post by Dr. Sol Colodner of New York: In your issue of today you re- ported that Mr. Zalman Aranne had taken the American Jewish Community to task for "coming hat in hand to Israel to beg for • teachers." I wish the Minister could have read the paper I pres- ented on Monday morning on which I made a number of re- marks on the subject. I, for one, cannot accept such strong and strange language on the part of the Minister. I won- der where the Minister got the notion that we come "hat in hand to beg for teachers." I believe that the complete opposite is is true. I have never "begged" for a single Israeli teacher. I personally believe that most Is- raeli teachers have no "common language" with American-Jew. children—and this must be a pre-requisite for successful teaching in American Jewish schools. Fully qualified teachers from Israel, from Europe or from any other country who pos- sess the "common language" are welcome to teach in Ameri- can Jewish schools. Israelis (or French Jews) who passed matri- culation exams and want to study engineering, international relations, etc., and are not qualified teachers do not belong in American Jewish schools— merely because they know He- brew! Mr. Aranne must surely know that the American Jewish schools are for the most part re- ligious schools and not schools for teaching the Hebrew lang- uage. To be sure, the Hebrew language captures an important segment of the total curriculum —but it is only one of three or four major subjects. Now, Mr. Aranne suggests that the afflu- ent American Jewish Com- munity pay the college- trained Jewish intellectuals in the U.S. very high salaries to at- tract them to the Jewish teach- ing profession. I want Mr. Ar- anne to know that very high sal- aries are offered but there are few qualified applicants. In my paper I emphasized that the Jewish teaching profession in the U.S. must be considered melechet ha-kodesh — one in which the teacher must be a fully committed Jew to his People, to the Tora and his God. Very few Israelis can meet these ritth Courage requirements. Unfortunately, very few college-trained Jewish intellectuals in the U.S. are in- terested in entering this profes- sion. Money in itself is not a de- termining factor. This profession requires a bit of kana'ut and mesirut nefesh. These so-called intellectuals would rather teach in the university—any subject but Hebrew. These intellectuals would rather enter any other field but not "minister" to the spiritual needs of the American Jewish Community. Your headline, sir, that "Ar- anne berates U.S. Jewish edu- cators" grieves me—as a Jew- ish educator from the U.S. (Translations: Melechet hako- desh, holy task; kana'ut, fanati- f ciicse) m:. mesirut nefesh, self-sacri- Perhaps out of this dispute will emerge a clarification of a major issue that splits Jewish ranks. * * * Equally vital is an issue one hears discussed in Israel relative to "the failure" of Diaspora youth to integrate in Israel, or to settle there, and one would imagine that there is an ideological battle. It is all based upon unfortunate mis- understandings. In the U.S., one hears only praise for Israel and admiration for the Israelis. If anyone were to say that American Jewish youth labor under suspicions of their young kinsmen in Israel he would be viewed with amazement It is only when one gets to Israel that he be- comes aware that there are sus- picions. The controversy is unfortunate. Strife should be avoided. There is no reason for divisiveness. Once again, Kamtza faces Bar Kamtza. It is unnecessary strife. At the Brussels WJCongress plenary, a unanimously adopted resolution, one that was welcomed with acclaim, recorded "with pride" Israel's achievements and expressed the hope that young Jews from all parts of the world "will in increasing numbers wish to settle in Israel, participate per- sonally in its upbuilding and find there the fulfillment of a full Jew- ish life." It is in this spirit that world Jewry addresses itself to Israel. In this spirit there should come the required response. * * • There is concern in Israel over a declining birth rate. Formation of an "Ephrath—Association for the Encouragement of Increase of Birth Rate Among the Jewish People," with headquarters in Tel Aviv, is the result of the organized effort to "check this biological decline" among Jews everywhere. An interesting pamphlet has been printed by this association, and it addressed an appeal in be- half of its aims to the presidium and delegates to the World Jewish Congress in Brussels, in the fol- lowing statement that was dis- tributed in Hebrew, English and Yiddish : In the vital field of demography, the Jewish people is in a state of crisis. The birthrate of our people, both in Israel and elsewhere, is steadily de- clining and according to the findings of one expert in this field, it is one of the lowest in the world. Our manpower shows a frightening decrease in num- bers which sounds the alarm regard- ing the danger of national bankruptcy and constitutes a very real threat to the future of our people and the in- dependence of Medinat Israel. At this important hour in the his- tory of our people when the World Jewish Congress is assembled in Brus- sels, it is only natural that this fate- ful problem (which is a primary con- cern of many enlightened nations) should be brought on to the agenda of the Congress so that special considera- tion may be devoted to devising means to check this biological decline and find a cure for this self-wasting dis- ease which has overtaken us; to take us out from this sorry plight into an era of growth and development abso- lutely vital for national existence. Two shattering events—Hurban on one side and the rise of the State of Israel on the other which have oc- curred in our times, have led to a new outlook with regard to corporate re- sponsibility for the affairs of our na- tion. No lunge' is the basic problem "Here are Jews, what can we do for them?" but "Jews are missing, what can be done to encourage an increase?" We appeal to all delegates to the Congress to be concerned about the vital needs of Israel and to ensure by all means at your disposal that the Congress discusses this problem and decides on measures to improve the situation, including a combined effort with Eprath which is expanding its activities with the formation of cen- ters in Paris, London and other places. Our aim and purpose should be to dis- seminate to all Jewish communities by means of national presentation and other acceptable methods, facts about the birth-rate. Let us not forget that, in the holo- caust, one third of our nation was de- stroyed. This destruction came as a result of outside forces that attacked us, and Jewish leadership was unable to prevent the catastrophe. Now an internal holocaust threatens our exist- ence, God forbid, and to prevent it we are not dependent on outside agen- cies. We have the power to prevent it. Can we remain silent and inactive and witness with equanimity the loss of our people and our birthplace? How can we justify ourselves at the bar of history if we remain silent now? Let us not dissipate our energies, let us commence rescue operations immedi- ately and the Rock of Israel will be our helpers. With greetings and blessings from the Eprath Association in Israel. Lawyer Y. Pevzner (Chairman) Lawyer Mordechai Levanon Chemdah Gileadi Y. A. Nebantzal (Secretary) Raphael Olevsky (Treasurer) Menachem Ephrati Dr. Reuben Ben Shem, Zalman Shachar, (Joint Vice-Chairmen) Dr. Samuel Herksher Rabbi J. Ch. Tourtshin Brussels 15th Av., 5726 * * * Israeli leaders got quite a kick out of a noted American leader who, in his enthusiasm for the Jewish State and his acquired great devotion to Jewish causes, spoke of his dedication to "Jewish- keit." Even Prime Minister Levi Eshkol got quite a kick out of the newly-coined slogan! * * * There is something new in Israel all the time. In the past there was fear that Tel Aviv, because it once was a mere sand dune and was developed by Jews into a great metropolis, could not have sky- scrapers. But Tel Aviv now has its Migdal Shalom—a 37-story building with a four-story underground parking facility. * * * One of Israel's oldest landmarks is Mikveh Israel—the agricultural school that came into being nearly a century ago through the efforts of the great French-Jewish leader Karl Netter. Tel Aviv wanted to absorb the Mikveh Israel territory into an expanded city area but the school's authorities, desiring to re- tain its identity, turned down the request. When Israel's history is written, the Mikveh Israel story will form one of its glorious chap- ters. * * Thanks to the energetic direction of Meyer W. Weisgal, the Weiz- mann Institute in Rehovoth retains a leading role as a center of scien- tific research and as one of Israel's unquestioned cultural centers that recognized science institute. Weisgal had the vision to in- vite the American Jewish Con- gress to hold its annual dialogue at the Weizmann Institute. Eve- nings, on the spacious lawn of his home, he "held court" and the dialogue turned into a monologue, with the distinguished scholars, writers, newspapermen listening intently to his wisdom. It did not matter that he swore a bit, used strong language and was unortho- dox: what he had to say drew a listening audience. And he knew —as he always knows—how to be a good host. His home has been turn- ed into a palace as well as an art gallery, just as the Weizmann In- stitute of Science has become the sacred portal for research men and women because nothing is too costly for Weisgal, insofar as ac- quisition of the latest instruments is concerned, as long as the ob- jective can be attained: that of getting the best results in scien- tific experimentation. That's the genius of Meyer W. Weisgall, and the Weizmann Institute and Re- hovoth have become, inseparable from the name of Chaim Weiz- mann, are similarly inseparable from the name of Weisgal who has guided, and at 72 continues to guide, the institute to glorious ac- complishments.