Delightful Stories in FL Golden's 'The Israelis'
Harry Golden is very clever. He
knows how to select the more pop-
ular and unique stories and thereby
has been able to sell his literary
wares.
Some stories may irritate, others
may be exaggerations, but a story
is a story, and Harry Golden does
not hesitate to narrate and to col.
lect every possible yarn and to
capitalize on his experiences.
He does that again in "The Israe-
lis", which has been published by
Putnam's. There are items here
that will irk, the devout won't like
his assertion that "partial holidays
come as thick and fast as saints'
days in Italy," and perhaps the
ultra-realism about Golda Meir and
similar accounts about the leading
Israeli personalities may not suit
everybody's taste. But they are
Harry Golden's taste and they sell
books.
Therefore, his newest "portrait
of a people" will be read with
interest even by those who have
been to Israel oftener than he
has and have a more intimate
knowledge about land, people,
customs, holidays. A new twist
like his need not be rejected and
the humor is there to entertain
the reader who, as in his pre-
vious books, can select a story
or two, call it sufficient, put the
book down for a day or days,
Jew Missed Out on Moon Trip
By DAVID SCHWARTZ
(Copyright 1971. JTA, Inc.)
On the moon trip, there was
nary a Jew, but it appears we
missed it very narrowly. If Prof.
Atzmon had been born a day later,
it is possible he would have been
among the astronauts.
Atzmon is head of the geology
department of the University of
the Negev. He was born in Jerusa-
lem but spent 18 years -in America.
He is a graduate of American uni-
versities, married in America to an
Israeli girl and his three children
were born in America. From 1958
to 1968, Atzmon worked with the
space organization.
Prof. Atzmon was one of those
who for a decade helped prepare
a moon trip. He was the busines
of trying to ancitipate the condi-
tions necessary for existence on
the moon. He had to make the
initial experiments in weightless-
ness in which he suffered, it
appears, some injury. Atzmon lived
in the same house with Armstrong
and Mitchell and when the condi-
tions were ripe for a trip to the
moon, Prof. Atzmon was hopeful
of being one of the astronauts
chosen.
We are not positive on this point,
but according to an account in one
of the Hebrew papers of Israel, the
reason he was not chosen was that
he was born a day too early. It
was ruled that no one born prior
to Jan. 1, 1930, could be eligible.
Atzmon was born on the last day
of December 1929. At any rate,
age appears to have been a factor.
As a Jew, we naturally would
have liked Prof. Atzmon to have
been one of the astronauts.
After he felt his work finished,
Prof. Atzmon returned to the land
of his birth. He is still interested
in the moon. He is in regular con-
tact with NASA. They send him
rocks from the moon .. .
These rocks are being studied.
They are trying to find out, among
other things, the age of the uni-
verse. Probably they will find it is
over 30 years old.
Beersheba where Prof. Atzmon
lives and works is the place where
Abraham lived. It must be a good
place for a geologist who is astro-
nomically-minded. The people in
Abraham's day worshiped idols,
the things which they made with
their bands. It was Abraham who
bade them lift their eyes to the
Heavens.
then return for another good
story or two.
Golden's new stories are about
religion, love affairs, refugees, ter-
rorists, farmers, Israeli soldiers
and their commanders who are
just pals. He does not overlook
Nasser, Thant, the Pope, Nixon.
Of course, Ben-Gurion is one of
his heroes. In the personalities of
his sketches are reflected the
moods of the People Israel.
Golden's are personal impres-
sions and therefore, could not
always be thoroughly factual. But
his aim is both to entertain and to
enlighten. The many elements that
make up Israel emerge interest-
ingly here and he provides many
laughs. His stories are not as brief
here as those he narrated in his
other volumes, but they read well
and the reader will not put the
book down until he has finished at
least a few completely. By return-
ing to them frequently he will come
across some like this one, which
instructs about the determined
and practical people who make up
Israel:
Offspring of Soviet
Mixed Marriages Opt
for Designation as Jews
TEL AVIV (ZINS) — Behinot,
published by the Israel office of
the World Jewish Congress, re-
ports that children of mixed mar-
riages are automatically regist-
ered as having the nationality of
the mother, according to Soviet
law. However, when the youngster
reaches age 16, he is entitled to
choose for himself. More and
more youngsters, Behinot claims,
are opting for the designation of
"Jewish" nationality. This is seen
as reflection of the growing Zionist
Jewry.
Gaiii- e,-1
in 3 ehildren
Before JDC
in Iran Died During First Year
Israeli High Fashion
Gets ,Once-Over From
U.S., European Buyers
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Israel is
making a bid to expand its share
of the high fashion market.
Fashion Week opened here Mon-
day night, and Israel's fashion
houses are playing host to several
hundred buyers from the United
States and Europe, as well as
writers from some 50 fashion mag-
azines here to cover the event.
Israel will display its latest de-
signs, the products of '70 fashion
houses, eight of which are new-
comers to the export market.
According the Benzion Shapira,
director of the Export Industry
Institute's Fashion Center, Israel's
textile and ready-to-wear indus-
tries will have an infusion of $51,-
000,000 in investments this year,
about 20 per cent of the total in-
vestment in Israel's industry. He
said that textile and fashion ex-
ports are expected to reach the
$26,000,000 mark in 1971.
EARL WARREN
SAID IT STRAIGHT
To say Israel is the country of
limitless possibility is untrue. It is
a poor country and it is hard to
become rich in it. But the people
make a decent living, and there is,
at the moment, absolutely no Un-
employment. By American stand-
ards, however, they don't earn
much. Taxes are high. So are inter-
est rates.
But there are infinite possibil-
ities for a career. A large part of
the framework of this quickly de
veloping state is filled by new-
comers, immigrants who become in
no time directors of the banks and
managers of the corporations or
high government officials or •uni-
versify presidents or influential
journalists. They have to master
Hebrew and prove their talent, but
after that, the sky_ is the limit. In
this sense, Israel is an open soci-
ety, highly mobile, more so than
America.
Retired Chief Supreme Court
Justice Earl Warren said of it, in
an interview on his last visit. "This
country is very much like Califor-
nia in the time of my father."
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, February 19, 1971-33
That's Israel, and its people are
depicted with admiration in Harry
Golden's "The Israelis." It's a
book filled with very delightful
stories.
—P.S.
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Before JDC brought health, welfare and child care services to
Iran in 1949, one out of every three children born did not live to the
age of 1. Half the boy babies circumcised did not live to be Bar
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