•
60 Friday, March 21, 1975
• Passover Greetings
Happy Passover
By DENA BARZILAI
(Copyright 1975, JTA, Inc.)
7601 Central, Detroit, Michigan 48210
Phone: 313-834-4000
When Theodor Herzl,
father of the Jewish state,
was desperately searching
Best Wishes for a Happy and Healthy Passover
for a land to house the
Mr. and Mrs. Asa : Shapiro and Family
"huddled,. Jewish masses
yearning to breathe free,"
his eyes more than once
turned to Africa, that vast,
Walled bake, Mich.
624-7400 I largely uncharted zone
which the European powers
were busily carving up for
Best wishes and greetings to all our
themselves in the closing
friends and customers for a very
years of the 19th Century.
Happy and Healthy Passover-
Among Herzl's better
known ideas for a Jewish
settlement in Africa was the
Middlebelt & 7 Mile Rd., Livonia
so-called "Uganda Plan"
Your Host: Sammy Lerman
477-0123
GR 4-9829-
that envisioned a coldny in
the British East Africa
Protectorate. But Herzl,
Passover Greetings
anxious over the worsening
plight of Eastern European
Jewry and frustrated by his
lack of progress in obtaining
consent from Turkey for a
Jewish state in Palestine,
also toyed with other Afri-
Wishing. All Our Friends
can locations, among them
the Congo Free State, then
and Customers a joyous
under the personal control
and happy Passover
of King Leopold II of the
Belgians.
In 1903, Herzl put out
22060 W. 10 Mile Rd., nr. Lahser
feelers to Franz-Philippson
of Brussels who was active
- : A Happy Holiday to All Our Relatives
in the Jewish Colonization
Friends and Patrons
Association, asking him to
find out if the king would be
amenable to organized Jew-
ish settlement in the terri-
-
Our Specialty Truck Painting and Lettering
tory. Philippson, however,
3569 Superior
923-2210 did nothing to encourage the
Zionist leader on
s mat-
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MI NMI •••••••••• ■■ •••••••••• ■ mom Ili
AI ter, refusing to present the
Holiday G reetings
I project before the Belgian
I sovereign, and informing
I
Herzl that the Congo was
I
not suited for Jewish immi-
PAINTERS = DECO RA TORS S INCE 1907
I gration.
I 13900 Blackstone
AlthoUgh that was the
•
537-4466 I
11 '
IM
MI. IMI M1-11111 NM MIN
11.0 MO /1 beginning and the end of
Herzl's Congo scheme,
Happy Passover to Our Friends and Patrons
Jews did find their way
into the region which ex-;
plorer Henry M. Stanley
had Opened up for his royal
Kosher Meat & Poultry Market
Belgian sponsor. AS early
LI 7-4121
26035 Coolidge
as 1905,. -a Jewish mining
engineer, Cecil Morris
Cohen, arrived in the
.eason's Greetings
Congo via Johannesburg
to work in the copper
i
mines
whose abundant
Flowers - Gifts
mineral wealth was soon
Shops in Sheraton-Cadillac IlOtel. Statler Iiotel
to bring about an economic
WO 1 - 1992
boom in the area.
During the second decade
4"411kVIIKANKMMAISOZWACKX.;*::::•10.MIVAWM of the century, Sephardim
Passover Greetings
from the Greek island of
Rhodes began settling in the
Congo, which by that time
had been transformed from
Silk Screen Colors — Supplies — Equipment
King Leopold's personal
6340 Fenkell
kingdom into a colony of the
862-1115
Belgian state. These Jews,
e XastigagATMAIMAIIMAIMOSSWIXAMWOC
like the earlier Ashkerrazi
-1 I en -
and llnl,liti Passorer
newcomers often traveled to
Elisabethville from South
to the ,lelersli
Africa, where today's large
Jewish community was then
beirig organized.
TR 3-7770
From Elisabeth.ville., Jews
started branching out
northward-, and extended
Passover Greetings
their commercial activities
into the interior of the coun-
try. By 1940, they began to
settle in the Congo's capital,
Leopoldville — establishing
32890 Capitol Ave.
stores, factories, and im-
425-8100
port-export firms. Still, the
center of Jewish life in the
Happy Holiday Greetings
Belgian Congo reinained.
GREENE'S HAMBURGERS
Elisabethville, which at its
Specializing in Carry-Out Service - Open 24 Hours
peak in the late 1950s was
13545 W. 7 Mile cor. Schaefer
341-4717
home to half of the colony's
10001 W. McNichols
861-0188
2,500 Jews.
24155 Orchard Lake
GR 4-7980
These Jews created a
• Harry Laker, Irving Laker, Martin Laker and Louis Parr
1
ASA BUILDERS SUPPLY C
- O.
BEN & GEORGE'S DELICATESSEN
BLUE FLASH
CHEMICAL CO.
BOESKY'S
BRADY TRUCK PAINTING'
& LETTERING CO.
The Walter Carroll Com an
COHEN & SON
KAY DANZER
DESMOND PROCESS SUPPLY CO.
FIELD'S EMPLOYMENT
FREEDLAND
STRUCTURAL STEEL CO.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
The Jews in Africa
ACE WIPING CLOTH CO.
S IM
71.
HIGHLAND BOLT & NUT CO.
communal structure that
provided them with the
64 Victor Ave., Highland Park
TO 9-5588
basic ingredients common
to organized Jewish life; re-
ligious services (occasionally Ir
Sincerest Passover Greetings
led by hazzanim from South
Africa), shohet, mikva, ce-
Chinese and American Restaurant
metery, youth groups, Zion-
Specializing in Cantonese Foods
ist organizations and even
13715 West 9 Mile,
ordained spiritual leaders.
But the pressure of outside L West of Coolidge, Oak Park
LI 7-4663 j
events beyond the control of 1..
• • •.• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
•
the Congo's Jews was soon :
A Happy Passover
•
to play havoc with the once- •
•
vigorous community.
•
On June 30, 1960, the
•
Jewelry and Watch Repairs
•
Belgian Congo became in- • •
•
Prompt
Service
on
All
Repairs
:
dependent and several •
•
years of internecine war- • • 30100 Telegraph, Suite 102, Birmingham
647-6881 ;
fare. — involving African • • • • • • • • • • • • O OOOO • • • • • • • • • • • • 111.• • • • • • •• • • • • 0 .• • 0,"
rebels, Congolese regu-
Passover Greetings
lars, UN troops, and for-
eign mercenaries — en-
sued with the Katango
Province seceded from the
Coils, Strips, Sheets — Galvanized, Electrolytic
recently-born Democratic
Republic of the Congo.
10621 Capital
Oak Park
LI 8 8111
Most of the whites, includ-
ing the Jews, left, their
Holiday Greetings
homes and shops -remain-
ing behind to be sacked in
to My Friends and Customers
the confusion. When it was
all over and Katanga was
reintegrated into the na-
Manufacturer of Fine Furs
tion, two-thirds of the
271 W. MAPLE, Birmingham, "Mich. 642-4440
Jewish population did not
return, although those
Our Friends and Patrons
Happy Passover to
who did managed to pros-
per in the relative calm of
KOW KONA/
the following years.
Specializing in Americrn Food
In 1973, a new threat
Famous for All Chinese Native Foods
African nationalism — sig-
• Real Cantonese Family Dinners
CARRY-OUT SERVICE •
nalled the virtual end of
Jewish life in the Congo. 322 W. McNichols-
TO a-7550
General, Joseph-Desire Mo- I
, 00000000000400012600406000012000040000004
butu, ruler of the country
Best Wishes for a Happy Passover
e
since 1965 after he took
power in a military coup,
embarked on an increas-
C
ingly aggressive "African-
e
Best in Italian and American Foods
0
ization" campaign advocat-
W. McNichols
UN 2-6455
ing a return to 0 7525
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"authenticity!: Aside from
Happy Passover
effecting a series of name
changes — the country had
been called Zaire since 1971
from a_ corruption of "zadi,"
great water, a native name
CORRUGATED C A RTONS
for the Congo River —
through which he himself 23823 Dequindre, Hazel Park
566-8640.
became Mobutu Ses Seko
the president called for a'
taking over. by Zairians of I
most private businesses, a I
move which while not par- I
titularly directed against I
Jews, nonetheless deprived
9130 JOS. CAMPAU
HAMTRAMCK, MICH.
them of their economic
TR 1-1500
base, and brought about I '—
another exodus-.
Another factor in the
worsening picture was
Zaire's breaking of relations
with Israel (established at
independence in 1960) after
8170 LIVERNOIS
897-9514
the Yom Kippur War. A few
hundred Zairian Jews re-
main behind, those whose
•
Best Wishes For A
businesses have not yet been • •
•
• •
Happy, Healthy Passover
"transferred" or who act as • •
"managers" in the firms or
stores they previously
•
•• •
owned.
•
•
Students Vie
Imeeme••••••••••IIII••••••••••••
HOA KOW INN
•
IDEAL JEWELRY
CO. • • •
,
INTERNATIONAL METAL PRODUCTS CORP.
-
JOHN KEYSTONE
- LARCO'S INN . '
MANHATTAN CONTAINER
CORP:
Passover Greetings
MARGOLIS FURNITURE
MIMI
MEI
Best Wishes on Passover
PARQUET FLOOR CO.
••••••••1/•••••••••••••••••••••••••••
• •
in Brahot Bee
r
REPUBLIC
DEVELOPMENT CORP.
a
Happy Holiday
NEW YORK _— More
than 200 Hebrew day school
students from throughout
Manufacturers of Mercury Paints
the U.S. participated here in
national brahot and Shabat
491-5650
14300 Schaefer
bees, contests similar to a
spelling bee, sponsored by
Torah Umesorah, the Na-
II ishing -III Our Friends and Cu.stomers
tional Society for Hebrew
l'as.souer Greelins4 .,s.
Day Schools.
The contests dealt with
blessings and the laws and
Quality Printing Since 1919
customs on the celebration x I 11 826 Dexter
TO 8 2909
and observance of Shabat.
SOBERMAN & MILGROM
U
•
SUSSMAN'S PRINT SHOP
-