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Friday, September 6, 1968-33
Center Curtain Up THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
on Teen Drama
American Student in Tel Aviv
Led by Mrs. Malin Becomes Bar Mitzva atAge20

p

Youth News

Israeli Coed Teaches Hebrew to Arabs,
Learns Lesson in Peaceful Coexistence

By PAM SHRIMAN
Israel attempts in many ways to
improve her image in the eyes of
Arabs in her newly reclaimed ter-
ritories. One successful ambassa-
dor is Shiphra Epstein, a 24-year-
old blonde Sabra, who taught He-
brew to the Arabs of Hebron for
four months.
A recent graduate of the Hebrew
University in Jerusalem, Shiphra
is visiting with her mother's sister
and family, Mr. and Mrs. Leon
Kiff of Southwood Rd., Southfield,
before leaving
for Ohio State
University where
she will teach
Hebrew.
Shiphra, born
in Ramat Gan
taught in Hebron
three months
after the city was
'reclaimed in the :.
Six-Day War. She: -
said few Israelis Miss Epstein
are wining to teach in Hebron, and
even her students expressed sur-
prise at her apparent lack of
anxiety. They continually asked
her if she was afraid of traveling
alone, back and forth between
Hebrew U. and Hebron, twice a
week.
Most of Shiphra's students were
adults; many were teachers desir-
ous of learning Hebrew, but not
in an Israeli military, government-
sponsored school. The school was
run by Hebron Arabs.
She said that at first her stu-
dents thought she was an Israeli
spy from Palestine. They refused
to recognize Israel as a nation and
would ask her how many Arabs
she had killed.
One of her students was a judge
from Hebron who had refused to
abide by an Arab lawyers' strike
and continued to work "for the
good of his people," Shiphra said.
Later, she said, he passed a ver-
dict prohibiting Israeli lawyers
from working on the West Bank.
Through Shiphra, however, the
judge consented to an interview
with the Israeli daily, Haaretz.
Such an interview previously was
unattainable.
Shiphra became friends with
many of her Arab students and
was taken on a tour to observe
other schools in the city. She, in
turn, took her students on a trip
to Haifa and Tel Aviv to see the
cities, the schools and kibutzim.
Shiphra said she knew they were
impressed by the sights, but would
not express it openly. They com-
mented, "The beaches in Tel Aviv
are very nice." Shiphra said she
was somewhat dismayed because
they -felt compelled to say things
like, "the mountains of Palestine
are lower than the mountains of
Lebanon," and "The train in Leba-
non is much faster than the train
in Palestine."
When Shiphra goes to Ohio
State Sept. 15 to work on her
masters degree in education as
well as to teach, she will bring
with her much teaching ex-
perience. The 24-year-old coed
taught Hebrew to Americans and
newcomers at Hebrew University
while working toward her BA.
She said she became good
friends with many Arab students
at the university. After the war,
still as a student, she rented an
apartment in East Jerusalem and
taught Arabs in an Israeli military
government school.
Shiphra, who served in the mili-
tary from 1961 to 1963, was in the
reserve during the June 1967 war.
Since girls don't participate in the
fighting, she was in charge of a
shelter near the Jerusalem border.
What particularly disturbed her,
she said was the children's reac-
tion to the war: many would wake
screaming and crying at night.
Asked about chances for peace,
she said the Israeli military gov-

ernment is doing all it can. Shiphra
observed that a week after the
war, the people of Jerusalem were
living and trading together peace-
fully. She said this was in sharp
contrast to the relationship of
Negroes and suburban residents
she has seen in our country.
Shiphra has a very high regard
for Gen, Moshe Dayan and said
she agrees wholeheartedly with his
plans for peace, gradually giving
Arabs a larger share of civic re-
sponsibility. But, she said, it is
hard to ask one who loses a friend,
father, or brother in the war to be
friends with the Arabs.
She added Israeli students are a
bit more fanatical than the average
Israeli when it comes to the war
and the Arabs. They stand behind
the conviction that no territory
goes back until the Arabs recog-
nize Israel as a nation.
Shiphra plans to return to Jeru-
salem after she receives her mas-
ters degree in two years, because
it is, "my place, my country, my
language, my people . . ."

Full-Time Staff Man
Named to Lead
Center Youth Council

The Jewish Center announces
the appointment of Martin Rabino-
witz as a full-time staff member.
A major part of
h i s assignment
will be to work
with Jewish youth
groups interested
in the develop-
ment and forma-
tion of a Jewish
Youth Council.
Any youth
group or indi-
vidual interested
in information, or
affiliation with Rabinowitz
the Council may call Rabinowitz,
DI 1-4200.
- The Jewish Youth Council co-
ordinated Project Outcry, a pro-
gram to protest the treatment of
Jews in the Soviet Union. Among
the projects was the preparation
of petitions containing over 4,000
names, which was delivered to the
Soviet Embassy.

AZA Elects Californian;
Georgia Miss Heads BBG

WASHINGTON — Art Schaefer
of Sierra Madre, Calif., and Pa-
tricia Ellen Giniger of Decatur,
Ga., were elected international
presidents of Aleph Zadik Aleph
boys' group and Bnai Brith Girls
at the weeklong conventions of the
two teen-age groups at Camp Bnai
Brith, Starlight, Pa.
Joint activities of the organiza-
tions included interracial discus-
sion with teen-age Negro youths
in a human relations program and
a special tribute to Russian Jewry
featuring a silent vigil and a lunch-
less afternoon.
The unexpended food costs were
allocated to the purchase of adver-
tising space for a newspaper ap-
peal in behalf of the Jews of the
Soviet Union.

Livonia Youth to Swing
at Membership Dance

The Livonia Jewish Congrega-
tion youth group will sponsor a
membership drive dance 8:30
p.m. Saturday at the synagogue
Music will be provided by the
Yorkshire Establishment. Young
people age 13-17 are welcome to
attend.

Dramatics c 1 a s s e s, a young
actors guild, drama workshop
demonstrations and plays are en-
visioned in the newly expanded
drama program of the Jewish Cen-
ter, to be directed by Irene Malin.
The drama project starting this
month for tweens, teens and young
adults will cover every area of
dramatics, from
acting to set de-
sign and play se-
lection. Six dra-
matics classes
will start with
grade four, and
finished presen-
tations are sched-
uled for at least
twice a year.
Mrs. Malin
has been con- Mrs. Malin
ducting drama classes for young
people in the past two years, at
both Center branches. Trained
at the London Royal Academy of
Music and Drama and London
Guildhall School of Drama, she
holds many awards and a long
list of appearances on radio and
television.
Registration will take place 9:30
a.m.-5:15 p.m. Sunday for mem-
bers only, 5:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday
and Tuesday. For information, call
the Center, DI 1-4200, Ext. 246.
*
Other classes for young people
are magic, chess, art, dance and
guitar.
For the very young, the Center
offers creative rhythmics and the
kinderspiel program, which allows
mothers of preschoolers to leave
their children in a well-supervised
play situation while they partici-
pate in Center activities.
Tweens and teens will have the
Amateur Radio Shack and a class
in "Contemporary Social Thought
for Youth" led by Paul Winter of
station WTAK and guest speakers.

Bakery Executives Lend
a Hand to Neighborhood
Group to Beautify Area

A concerned citizens' group and
a couple of businessmen have
teamed up to improve a neighbor-
hood. To help out the Leslie-Glen-
dale Neighborhood Improvement
Association, Bonnie Bread Baker-
ies virtually "rose" to the occasion.
For years the Leslie-Glendale
association has been trying to
beautify a piece of property lo-
cated on the southwest corner of
Glendale and Lawton.
Although the association tried to
make the necessary improvements,
cost for sodding,
landscaping and
blacktopping be-
came prohibitive.
Charles Haskins,
president of the
association, con-
tacted Detroit
;;City Councilman
Olicholas Hood to
`? l enlist his help for
!•r*,
the project.
Krinsky Hood sought the
advice of Harry Shallop, president,
and Joseph Krinsky, executive vice
president, of Bonnie Bread Baker-
ies.
Recognizing the important work
the association was trying to do,
the two executives told Hood that
Bonnie Bread Bakeries would as-
sume any and all costs involved in
the project.
When the work is done, the asso-
ciation will enter the project in the
Michigan Chronicle Neighborhood
Improvement Contest.

.

Safe Play —Safe Sight
Pointed objects, falls and hard
blows cause nearly 80 per cent of
eye injuries among children. Teach
youngsters safe play for safe sight,
says the National Society for the
Prevention •,of... Blindness,

JERUSALEM — A 20-year-old
American student at Tel Aviv Uni-
versity went .to the Wailing Wall
here and belatedly performed the
Bar Mitzva rite traditionally car-
ried out at age 13.
Attended by a host of college
friends, an American rabbi and a
throng of onlookers, Stephen Wise
of Van Nuys, Calif., solemnly re-
cited the age-old prayers in the
Hebrew language he had only re-
cently acquired.
"I feel elated and fulfilled," said
the archaeology junior after the
ceremony. "I don't think I will
ever forget this day." •
Stephen, who joined the Tel Aviv
University Overseas Student Pro-
gram this summer from the Uni-
versity of California at Los Ange-
les, created a mild sensation in
the Israeli press when he disclosed
his intention of celebrating his Bar
Mitzva seven years after the ap-
pointed time. The shy youth de-
cried the "fuss' being made about
him and declared that "It's just
something I've got to do."
Stephen explains that when he

saitiv2

was 13, "I wasn't really religious
and I wasn't interested. But in
Israel, I found Judaism is some-
thing real, tangible and relevant.
I now feel like a full-fledged mem-
ber of the Jewish people."

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Bnai Mitzva

Jack Margolis observed his Bar
Mitzva at services last Saturday at
Cong. Bnai David. In addition, Alan
Finkelstein and David Gladstone
were called to the Tora for their
Bnai Mitzva Sept. 24 at Livonia
Jewish Congregation. Their names
were erroneously omitted from the
synagogue

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