THE' 6ETIWIT JEWISH NEWS lieieinbei 26;4971 45 . Israel's Kfir Fighter-Bomber: Home Made Defense The accompanying photographs show the Israeli Kfir jet fighter plane, the first jet fighter made in Israel. The photographs and an article about the plane were reproduced recently in the Technion Quarterly magazine of the Technion — Israel Institute of Tech- nology. The plane was unveiled last spring at Inde- pendence Day ceremonies and is designed as a fighter-bomber. It is a single-seat combat aircraft equipped with delta wing and sim- plified controls and a General Electric en- gine. The Kfir is designed to fly at a maximum speed of more than 1,600 miles per hour and a maximum altitude of more than 50,000 feet. ip cording to the Technion Quarterly, push to develop Israel's own high-per- formance combat aircraft came at the close of the 1967 Six-Day War. The French government's surprise embargo of the de- livery of 50 paid-for Mirage IIIC jets jolted Israelis into the realization that they would have to become their own supplier of sophisticated military hardware. Defense experts in Tel Aviv began wonder- ing whether Israel was capable of building a combat jet that could compete with the American-made F-4 Phantom and the French-produced Mirage IIIC. Development and production of the new plane is under the direction of -Israel Air- craft Industries (IAI). IAI has an international reputation for servicing and refurbishing virtually every type of aircraft and engine. The company built the "Fouga" jet trainer under license, but only recently has it become a true air- craft manufacturer. The first completely indigenous aircraft designed and built by IAI and its Tech- nion-trained engineers was the Arava, a short take-off and landing passenger and cargo transport that has extremely econ- omical operating characteristics and can fly in and out of the most rudimentary landing strips. The second was the Wes- twind business jet. Attention, however, never deviated from the real challenge — building a tough, versa- tile combat jet that could compete in the skies with the products of the aviation indus- tries of the most powerful nations in the world. Israeli engineers concluded that their air- craft would incorporate the best features from what the competitors had to offer. They would begin by using the sleek, trim lines of the French Mirage IIIC body, mate it to the General Electric J79-17 en- gine that powers the Phantom, and install flight control systems of their own design. The Technion's Department of Aeronauti- cal Engineering has traditionally had a close working relationship with IAI. The Depart- ment's basic contribution to the development of the Kfir and other projects were the scores of graduates who make up a large part of the company's engineering staff and account for a substantial percentLge of its project leaders. Many of the department's professors neering team. Whole new sophisticated The net result of the decision to build an serve as consultants to IAI, and several have Like any of today's sophisticated aircraft, electronics, precision tool — and die making, come to the faculty with years of experience it took years to get the Kfir off the drawing exotic metals — had to be created to support advanced Israeli combat plane is a quantum leap in the country's industrial strength and as senior members of the company's engi- boards and into the air. the development and production of the Kfir. maturity. - 1 . elation Is Found Between Signs of Zodiac and Judaism ccording to the Encyclo- paedia Judaica, the twelve- fold division of the zodiac was first developed by the Chaldean astronomers and was almost certainly sug- gested by the occurrence of the 12 full moons in succes- sive parts of the heaven in the course of one year. It spread to the West about the beginning of the Chris- tian Era. There is no mention of the zodiac in the Talmud, prob- ably as a result of Rabbi Johanan's statement, based on the verse, "Thus saith the Cancer, Sartan; Leo; Aryeh; Lord, learn not the way of Virgo, Betulah; Libra, Moz- the nations and be not dis- nayim; Scorpio, Akrav; Sag- mayed at the signs of ittarius, Keshet; Capricorn, heaven, for the (gentile) na- Gedi; Aquarius, Deli ("a tions are dismayed at them" bucket"), and Pisces, Dagin. (Jer. 10:2), to the effect that - According to the Yalkut "Israel is immune from planetary influence" (Shab. Shimoni, however, stand- ards of the 12 tribes corre- 156a). spond to the signs of the It is first mentioned in zodiac. Thus in the east the Sefer Yezirah; and the were stationed Judah, Is- names given to the 12 signs sachar, and Zebulun, cor- are direct translations of responding to Aries, Tau the Latin names. Thus Ar- rus, and Gemini; Reuben, ies is called Taleh; Tarus, Simeon, and Gad in the Shor; Gemini, Te'omim; south correspond to Can- cer, Lea, and Virgo; Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin in the west with Libra, Scorpio, and Sagit- tarius; and Dan, Asher, and Naphtali in the North with Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. A long piyyut based on the 12 signs of the zodiac, Yittah Erez le-Yesha, is in- cluded in old mahzorim ac- companying the prayer for rain on Shemini Azeret, and the signs of the zodiac usually accompany the printed text. This piyyut has, however, been excluded from all modern mahzorim, and the only place where the signs appear today are in some calendars. In the Pesikta Rabbati a passage occurs which ex- plains the names of the signs homiletically in ac- cordance with Jewish his- tory. The Temple could not be destroyed in Niasan, since the ram which it rep- resents in the zodiac is a reminder of the Akedah; the "Binding of Issac". Taurus is connected with the calf which Abraham slaughtered for his angelic guests (Gen. 18:7); the Gem- ini represent Jacob and Esau; while the Temple was destroyed in the month of AV, since its zodiacal sign Aryeh, the lion, corresponds to Ariel, a name given to the Temple (Isa. 29.1). The signs of the zodiac figured prominently in early Jewish art, for exam- ple on the mosaic floors of ancient Palestinian syn- agogues (e.g., Bet Alfa. Hammath) as well as in prayer books and on mar- riage contracts.