S2 ^ Friday; December 24, 1976 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS „Hebrew U. Scientists Unearth New Phase of Hormone Action 9 4ERUSALEM — Two scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Prof. Michael Schramm and Yosef Orly of the De- partment of Biological Chemistry, have recently found that the hormonal activation system in the cells of the body consists of two components which can be separated and re- combined. One component, called the "receptor," has the job of binding the hor- mone to the cell, while the second component is the enzyme adenylate cyc- lase. The two components interact as a single sys- tem located in the cell membrane. The receptor, after bind- ing the hormone is able to activate the enzyme and thereby induces in the liv- ing cell the characteristic response to that particular hormone. Hormones are chemical substances secreted by various glands which regulate the body's main processes, such as brain function, blood pressure digestion, sex and repro- duction. Enzymes are the catalysts of the body's chemical processes. It has long been known that different cells react to different hormones and that for each hor- mone there exists in the cell membrane a receptor that binds only that hor- mone and no other. 'Eliminate the Opiate' Found to Be an Insulting Publication BY ALLEN A. WARSEN "To Eliminate the Opiate" (a 166-page paperback, pocket size) by Rabbi S. Antelman is a scathing attack on Com- munism, Marxism and the Reform and Conser- vative Jewish religious movements. The title of the publica- tion is derived from Karl Marx's phrase "religion is the opiate of the people." Rabbi Antelman traces Communism and Mar- xism to the German "Bund der Gerechten (League for the Just) and to the Illuminati, follow- ers of Plato's "political radicalism." - The author links the Il- luminati with the Schiffs, Warburgs, Rothchilds, Rockefellers and Mor- gans. He accuses the "powerful wealthy men" of secretly manipulating and controlling "most Com- munist governments and Marxist-Leninist ac- tivities throughout the world." He claims that already at the beginning of this century the Schiffs, War- burgs and Rothchilds were "planning a revolu- tion in Russia." He even suggests that the Czar "may have published the `Protocols' because he had a personal axe to grind" with the Jewish bankers. (The Czar con- tributed 13 million rubles to the publication of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion.") According to Rabbi Antelman, "Jacob Schiff is credited with giving $20 million to the Bolshevik revolution. A year after his death the Bolsheviks deposited over 600 million , rubles to Schiffs banking firm, Kuhn and Loeb." The author, moreover, credits Schiff and his fam- ily with being instrumen- tal "in developing the Re- form and Conservative apostate Jewish move- ments." He places these movements outside the pale of Judaism as "both hold that God did not write the Torah, but rather that men created it." He calls Moses Mendel- sohn a "con artist of the first order" and Solomon Schechter "a tool of Com- munist conspiracy." In a similar manner he attacks Geiger, one of the founders of "Das Wis- senschaft des Juden- turns" ("Science of Judaism") and the advo- cates of "Biblical Criti- cism." "To Eliminate the Opiate" is a fanatic and fantastic publication. It is insulting and does not advance the cause of Or- thodoxy. Prof. Schramm and Orly succeeded in trans- ferring the receptor which specifically binds the adrenal hormone into a cell lacking this recep- tor successfully activated the adenylate cyclase of the receiving cell, and thereby made this cell re- sponsive to adrenalin al- though normally that cell would not respond to ad- renalin. Similarly, the Hebrew University scien- tists transferred the re- ceptor for the hormone prostaglandin to a cell not possessing this receptor. Even more significant is the conclusion that adeny- late cyclase, an enzyme A further experimental conclusion is that the mechanism enabling the receptor to activate the enzyme is identical for all receptors capable of ac- tivating this enzyme in any cell. The Hebrew University research team developed special, sophisticated methods for their receptor-transfer exper- They fused a cell Jewish Camping iments. containing an adrenalin Parley Planned receptOr but lacking adenylate cyclase en- NEW YORK — The zyme with a different changing life-styles, val- type of cell, containing ues and relationships in the enzyme but lacking the Jewish family, and the adrenlin receptor. In their effects on camps, this way, they obtained a campers and staff will be complete system respon- a major theme of the 1977 sive to the hormone ad- National Conference on renalin. Jewish Camping for resi- dent and day camps to be The receptor-transfer held Jan. 16-20 at Gros- experiments have impli- singer's. cations of possible future More than 100 directors importance to medical re- of communal camps search. It may be possible under Jewish auspices to increase the number of will participate in the receptors in certain cells conference, sponsored by of the body and thereby the national Jewish Wel- intensify their reaction to fare Board, the American hormones, in cases of dis- Association for Jewish ease or of the receptors Education and the as- being absent from birth. sociation of Jewish It may also be possible to Center Workers. give cells temporarily the ability to react to a hor- mone to which they do not Mizrachi Unit normally respond. to Start a Garin NEW YORK — Fifteen members of the youth movement of Mizrachi Hapoel-Hamizrachi will The announcement of a settle in the West Bank next year in a new garin, new translation of the Bible into modern En- Lev Zion. The garin will be com- glish, brings to mind prised of young couples another Bible — The and families, singles, pro- Aleppo Crown codex, the fessionals, and skilled world's oldest Hebrew tradesmen, all between Bible. the ages of 21 and 35. The For more than 1,000 projected economic base years, Jews have guarded of the moshav will be light the manuscript, ran- industry and agriculture. somed it from gentile For information, write conquerors, hid it from Noam -) Hamishmeret marauders and finally HatZeira, 25 W. 26th St., smuggled it from Syria to New York City, N.Y., Israel. 10010. According to As- sociated Press corre spondent, Joel Epstein, unlike a scroll, which is printed only one side, a codex is a manuscript bound like a book, with topics that are treated writing on both sides of are birth ceremonies, the page. adoption, health care, The Aleppo Crown was Bar and Bat Mitzva tra- the first manuscript ever ditions, confirmation, to include instructions on problems of deafness and all the correct spellings blindness, sex and sexual- and readings, Hebrew ity, medicine, divorce, the University Professor teaching of the Moshe Goshen-Gottstein Holocaust, repentance, said. the geography of the The codex was written synagogue, choosing a at the beginning of the rabbi, crafts and folk art, 10th Century by the mas- dance, drama, philately, ter scribe Aharon Ben cantorial music and more. Asher, working in The emphasis is on how Tiberias by the Sea of to go about making the Galilee. He filled the variety of Jewish experi- margins with notes on ence a part of modern life. spelling and cryptic signs Above all, as the editors to guide future genera- note, there is a stress on tions of scribes and wor- "the same value that shippers. permeated the first book The sacred volume was — the need for a commu- carried to Jerusalem, nity to be Jewish with." center of the Jewish JPS Classic 'Jewish Catalog' An immediate success scored tbree years ago by the "Jwish Catalog" brought so many com- mendations to the Jewish Publication Society and was in such great demand that a second edition was inevitable. "The Second Jewish Catalog," compiled and edited by Sharon and Michael Strassfeld, is now a reality and once again JPS anticipates record-making sales. The new edition is larger and more com- prehensive, and a sup- plement, "The Jewish Yellow Pages," is such a vast guide to all Jewish necessities, to newspap- ers, hotels, book stores, butcher shops and every conceivable Jewish need that the new work be- comes indispensable for all Jewish communities. "The Second Jewish Catalog" reflects the con- cerns of the contempor- ary generation of Jews seeking the "sources and resources" to vitalize their personal and com- munal Jewish experi- ences. A blend of the tra- ditional and modern, the spiritual and the practi- cal, the catalog offers an authentic presentation of Jewish observances in a lively and distinctive format. "The Second Jewish Catalog" is divided into four sections: Life Cycle, Study, Study and Prayer, and the Arts. Among the found in every cell in the living organism, can be ac-' tivated not only by the hormone receptor not- mally found in that cell, but also by receptors for other hormones which have been "planted" arti- ficially in the cell. 'Children of Mixed Marriages Should Be Accepted as Jews' NEW YORK — Chil- dren of intermarriages whose mothers are non- Jews should be accepted as Jews, according to an article in the summer issue of Conservative Judaism, official publica- tion of the 1,000-member Conservative Rabbinical Assembly. Admitting that his suggestion is "daring," the late Rabbi Solomon D. Goldfarb, an American who retired to Israel and died in Jerusalem in Feb- ruary, called for "halakhic courage" to _deal with this contem- porary problem. Pointing to the non- acceptance as Jews of the children of Russian mothers who have settled in Israel with their Jewish husbands, and re- ferring to the classic bi- blical story of Ruth as a precedent, Rabbi Goldfarb said that "these are new times in Jewish life and we are faced with new demands especially in matters concerning-the Jewish family." Asking "why, in the light of the liberation and relaxation of the prohiti- tions against intermar- riage, do we still insist that only the child of a Jewish mother be consid- ered Jewish," Rabbi Goldfarb urged that we "grant the same recogni- tion to the child of a Jewish father, regardless of who the mother may be." Rabbi Goldfarb suggested that such non- Jewish wives of Jews, who had never been converted in Russia, might well be good prospects for con- version after settlement in Israel. In support of his con- tention, Rabbi Goldfarb cited the biblical story of Ruth, who was of Moabite descent, and who made her way into the Jewis community by adopting the faith of Israel and be- came the progenitress of the royal line of David. Rabbi Goldfarb made an "appeal for a hearing, for as objective a judg- ment as is possible in this highly charged area of Jewish law. Our great teachers in the past met the challenges of their day and made the neces- sary changes in the law. "The courage," he con- cluded. "which moved our scholars to abolish the prohibition against the admission of the Ammo- nites and the Moabites into kahal hashem and to create the whole struc- ture of conversion on the foundation of halakhic norms stands as a model and as a challenge to our present-day authorities. It is this kind of halakhic courage that is called for 'if the Jewish people is to- be served well and to be saved from future shock." History of 'Aleppo Crown' Recalled world, where it became famous throughout the Middle East. In the 11th Century, Jerusalem was sacked by the Christian crusaders, then by the Arab' Seljuks. The Jews of the city were massacred and their pos- sessions burned and looted. Ben Asher's Bible was seized and carried off, ap- parently to Cairo. There it was held for ransom to the Jewish community. "There is a basic prin- ciple in the Jewish reli- gion that people and books must be ran- somed," said Goshen- Gottstein. So the Jews raised the money — no one knows how much — and bought the book for the Jewish library of Cairo. In the 14th Century, the volume was taken to the Syrian city of Aleppo. There it received its pre- sent name — the "Aleppo Crown" — and became enshrined in the main synagogue of the large Jewish community. The fame of the codex spread. Scholars came from as far away as Po- land to study it. After the reformation in the 1500s, Christians also began to realize the manuscript's worth. The Bible was stored in a special vault behind the ark, or repository, of the synagogue, with an elabo- rate, multi-keyed lock. Only when all the leading rabbis of Aleppo assem- bled could it be opened. The crown remained in Aleppo for more than 500 years. Then, during the Israeli war of indepen- dence in 1948, a mob of enraged Syrians broke into the synagogue, tore at the manuscript and set it ablaze. Word spread through the world Jewish community — the Aleppo Crown codex has been de- stroyed. But only about a quar- ter of the Bible was burned. The charred parchments were rescued and hidden away. About 20 years ago, it was smuggled out of Syria to its present home in Is- rael. Meanwhile, the n ABS Bible translatio.,_ known as the "Good News Bible," strives for a "meaning-for-meaning" equivalence, which trans- lates the meaning of the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts into English that expresses accurately the same meaning today. The translators have used written expressions that are not likely to be misunderstood when read aloud. Difficult combinations of conson- ants tongue-twisting phrases and long strings of unaccented words have been excluded.