-1

48 Friday, August 13, 1976

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

The Famous Western Approach to Jerusalem

By JOSEF GOLDSCHMIDT
beputy Mayor of Jerusalem

Approaching Jerusa-
lem from the west let us
start from the shores of
the Mediterranean, at
the Port of Jaffa. How old
is Jaffa'? It looks as if
Jaffa existed as a point of
entry into the lands of the
Philistines, the Canaan-
ites and then the Israel-
ites ever since the days of
creation.
Certainly Jaffa was an
established fact when
.-* King Solomon placed his
order for cedars from
Lebanon, which King
Huram of Tyre then
transported in rafts
along the coast — to the
Port of Jaffa. At Jaffa,
Solomon's workmen took
over. They carried the
heavy beams some 2;500
feet uphill to Jerusalem.
"Then Huram the king
of Tyre answered in writ-
ing, which he sent to Sol-
omon: . . . Now, therefore,
the wheat and the barley,
the oil and the wine,
which my lord hath spo-
ken of, let him send unto
his servants; and we will
cut wood out of Lebanon,
as much as thou shalt
need; and we will bring it
to thee in floats by sea to
Joppa; and ,thou shalt
carry it up to Jerusalem."
(II Chronicles 2:14 15).
To this day that contract
between the two kings is
an amazing political and
economic document; but
the transaction was not un-
ique. Indeed, when Ezra

-

the Scribe built the Sec-
ond Temple he followed
Solomon's example as
builder of the First Tem-
ple 500 years earlier:
"They gave money also
unto the hewers, and to
the carpenters
and food, and drink, and
oil, unto them of Zidon,
and to them of Tyre, to
bring cedar-trees from
Lebanon to the sea, unto
Joppa, according to the
grant that they had of
Cyrus king of Persia."
(Ezra 3:7).
So much for Jaffa.
Now, for King Solomon,
who held court in
Jerusalem, to send great
detachments of workmen
to Jaffa was quite a dar-
ing operation. For all the
coastal plain was then
not in Jewish hands.
There roamed the Philis-
tines.
Jewish settlement and
control began only in the
western foothills of the
Judean Mountains, some
20 miles inland from the
sea. For the western ap-
proaches to Jerusalem
must be divided thus: the
seashore with the coastal
plain, the foothills, and
the high Judean Moun-
tains, on which
Jerusalem is situated.
There is no more drama-
tic illustration of this
geographical fact than the
story of the wanderings of
the Holy Ark from the
sanctuary at Shiloh, on the
mountains north of

American Jewish Athletes
Do Well in Pan-Am Games

NEW YORK (JTA) —
The 24 Jewish athletes
who comprised the
American delegation to
the Third Pan-American
Maccabiah Games in
Lima, Peru, returned
home last week laden
with gold, silver and
bronze medals. The
games were held July
23-29.
In tennis, Larry David-
son of New Rochelle,
N.Y., .a student at Swar-
thmore College, was a
finalist in the senior com-
petition and gained a
silver medal.
Nancy Block of Lake
Success, N.Y., a member
of the American Univer-
sity team, -also was a
finalist and took down a
silver medal. Joy
Rabinowitz of Des Moin-
es, Iowa, who just
graduated from high
school, reached the finals,
losing to an Argentinian.
Rabinowitz teamed with
Block to finish second to
Argentina in the tennis
doubles, while in the men's
doubles, Davidson, to-
gether with Richard Abe-
don of Tiverton, R.I., took
a third. place bronze
medal.
In swimming, Susan
Grodsky of Timonium,
Md., a member of the last
U.S. Maccabiah team,
swam in three events.
She took second in the
back stroke and butterfly
and won the gold medal in
the breast stroke.
In track and field the
U.S. athletes took second

in the 4x100 relay, while
Arnold Minkoff of Buffalo
University took a first in
the 200-meter race and
was second in both the
100-meter and the 400-
meter races. Dr. Ivan
Black, a surgeon at
Jewish Memorial Hospi-
tal in N.Y., walked off
with the gold medal in the
Penthalon, and also came
in first in the 100-meter
hurdles and tied for sec-
ond in the high jump. -

,

Among the women par-
ticipants, Carla Himel-
man, a high school stu-
dent from Lincroft, N.J.,
the youngest member of
the team, won the silver
medal in the 200-meter
event and then teamed
with three Mexican girls,
who were short one per-
former, to take a gold
medal in the 4x100 relay.

The basketball team
comprised of juniors was
thrown in with senior
competitor 'S and played
for the first time under in-
ternational rules, which is
radically different from
the U.S. type of play. De-
spite the tough opposition
the boys, mostly from
Jewish Welfare Board
Centers throughout the
country, lost in overtime
51-50 to a strong Chilean
team and were defeated
soundly by the number one
team in the tournament,
Argentina, and then de-
feated Venezuela 69-52.

Eleven nations partici-
pated in the games.

.

Jerusalem, down to the
coastal plain for the battle
with the Philistines, and
back to Jerusalem, as the
books of Samuel and
Chronicles tell us.
The epic begins with
the defeat of the Israel-
ites at the hands of the
Philistines, two decades
before the time of Saul
and David. That battle
took place north of where
Tel Aviv is today. In their
despair, the Israeli elders
decided to bring the Holy
Ark from the sanctuary
of Shiloh, believing in the
supernatural powers of
the shrine. But as if to
teach them a lesson as to--
the true nature of the Ark
— a second defeat fol-
lowed. Thirty thousand
Israelites were killed,
and the Philistines cap-
tured. the Holy Ark. They
brought it in triumph to
their town of Ashdod,
where they placed it next
to the idol of their fish-
deity, Dagon.
But now the Ark, as it
were, revolted. The
Philistines of Ashdod
were plagued by mysteri-
ous ills and woes. Sothey
sent the dangerous
trophy to the town of Ek-
ron, but the Ekronites
fared no better.
When seven months
had thus gone by the
Philistines decided to
make an experiment. Two
young cows were yoked to
a new carriage. Thereon
the Ark was placed to-
gether with sundry gol-
den peace offerings. If the

cows would go unguided
to Israeli land, it would be
clear who had caused the
suffering of the Philis-
tines.
And, to and behold, the
cows went straight to the
nearest Israeli settlement
of Bet Shemcsh in the
foothills of the Judean
Mountains. Legend has it
that the cows chanted
Psalms as they were pul-
ling their sacred load. The
reapers in the fields saw
this amazing procession,
and their joy knew no
bounds.
But at Bet Shemesh
the Ark did not find rest
either. After three
months it was moved
nearer to Jerusalem,
probably passing the
`Gate of the Valley' — the
`Sha'ar ha'Gay' of today
— and up the steep hills to
Kiryat Yearim, near the
Kibutz Kiryat Anavim of
our day.
The Ark was thus
within sight of
Jerusalem, but the time
was not yet ripe for it to
enter. Only 21 years later,
when King David was
firmly established, did
the time come. After
wandering with the chil-
dren of Israel in the de-
sert for 40 years, after
moving from one place to
another in the land of Is-
rael for another 400 and
40 years the Ark finally
entered the Holy City in
royal procession, never to
leave Jerusalem again.
Now the Temple could be
erected.

And we travellers of
today take the same
route from the west as did
the Holy Ark: from the
coastal plain, through the

foothills, entering `Sha'ar
ha'Gay', by-passing
Kiryat Yearim, up to the
Holy Mountain, the heart
of eternal Jerusalem.

The Port of Jaffa, top photo, is historically famous
since King Solomon received his order for cedars from
Lebanon at that point. At Jaffa, Solomon's workmen
unloaded the rafts and carried the cedars up 2,500 feet to
Jerusalem. The bottom photo depicts the first public
carriage used for transportation between Jerusalem
and Jaffa. The carriage was first used in 1875.

Israel's Voluntary Defense Fund Growth
A Barometer of Entebbe Raid After-Glow

By YITZHAK SHARGIL

(Copyright 1976, JTA, Inc.)

TEL AVIV — A pile of checks with letters at-
tached were on a table at the office orthe Israel Volun-
tary Defense Fund. There were dozens of them: some
with $10 bills, some with $50, and a number with as
much as $100, $500 or even $1,000. There were checks
made out in German marks, Swiss francs, NorWegian
crowns and even in Hong Kong dollars.
Some of the attached letters noted that the checks
were for those who "carried out the rescue operation
of the free world." Others stated more specifically, "To
the heroes of Entebbe."
The letters and checks were mainly from Jews
from the United States, from Canada, from Finland.
But there were many checks and letters from non-
Jews who wished to express their gratitude to the
Israeli soldiers who participated in the spectacular
rescue mission in Uganda.
It is now a month since that mission took place. But
the elation and enthusiasm over that feat continues to be
expressed by people in all walks of life all over the world,
an elation and enthusiasm matched only once before —
in 1967 with the end of the Six-Day War.
The continuing upward curve of these feelings is
manifested in ever increasing flow of contributions to
the Israel Voluntary Defense Fund, says Moshe Gil-
boa, the Atlanta, Georgia-based Israel Consul General
for the southeast United States, who was assigned to
head the fund at the Defense Ministry. A great be-
liever in the Jewish nation and its ability and integri-
ty, Gilboa gets emotional as he produces letter after
letter received with the checks. The sum, he notes, is
not always important. What is, is the feeling that goes
with it.
As an example, he cites the case of an elderly
woman, Tikva Sofer, who is on old age pension. She
sent a check for IL 1000 ($125) and, in a letter attached
to it, she wrote: "Since I shall not be able to cover the
whole sum this month I am sending a check in advance
for payment next month. I may not live until then,
therefore I was in a hurry to send the check now. With
love to the wonderful boys."
Gilboa offers another example of a youngster who
spent two years in jail and was released on the eve of the

Entebbe operation. The youngster mailed all the pocket
money he received from the prison authorities upon his
release to the fund.
Still another example, Gilboa notes, was that of
Mrs. Dora Auerbach who lost her son in the Six-Day
War. She sent a check for IL 1000.
The admiration and enthusiasm for those who
participated in the Entebbe mission has inundated
the entire country; every sector and every level and
despite the heavy tax load everyone must bear.
Workers who are union militants and frequently -
involved in strikes over higher wages and better living
conditions contributed up to three days of work, usu-
ally matched by a similar sum by management. Work-
ers contributed the money they received as special
allocations for their vacations; children sent their Bar
Mitzva money gifts; electric corporation workers con-
tributed IL 500,000 ($62,000) and the Israeli banks
contributed millions of pounds.
The Israel Voluntary Defense Fund was actually
funded before the Entebbe operation, following the cut
by President Ford in the transitional quarter allocation
to Israel - and the IL 500 million defense budget slash by
Finance Minister Yehoshua Rabinowitz.
As a result, a committee was spontaneotW
formed comprising individuals from all segments of
Israel's society to see to it that the nation's defense
needs would be met and to assure the armed forces of
having the best weaponry available. Industrialist
Shimon Elman and kibutz member Senta Josephthal
headed the committee.
The committee has gradually assumed grey
dimensions and more responsibilities, especially
the unprecedented flow of contributions following
Entebbe. More than IL 30 million ($3.7 million) has
been received to date, over 10 percent coming from
abroad, Gilboa notes. But he estimates that the total
sum may be closer to IL 40 million if the working days
contributed are taken into consideration.
"There is confidence in Israel and confidence in
Israel from people abroad," says Gilboa by way of exp-
laining the flow of contributions. "People give money
to things they believe in and have confidence in."