THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS'
Friday, May 27, 1977 21
Eilat Flourishes as Israel's Tourist Center of the South
BY YITZHAK SHARGIL
(Copyright, 1977, JTA, Inc.)
O
TEL AVIV — Since its
founding 28 years ago,
Eilat, Israel's south-
ernmost town, has ex-
perienced rise and decline
in two areas of develop-
ment — as a seaport and
as an industrial center. It
is now well into its third
phase — as an interna-
tional tourist resort and
it is there that Eilat's fu-
ture seems to lie.
On March 1, 1949, a .
-makeshift flag was
hoisted on a pole between
two mud huts on a strip of
empty beach known as
LJrnm Rashrash. The
beach is washed by the
waters of the Gulf of
Eilat, formerly called the
Gulf of Aqaba, which
is the easternmost of
the two "rabbit-ear"
branches of the Red Sea
divided by the Sinai
Peninsula. The state of
Israel was less than a
year old at the time and
the new township was to
be its ocean gateway to
Africa and the Far East.
The day of the founding
happened to be the an-
niversary of the defense
of Tel Hai by Joseph
Trumpeldor and his fol-
lowers. But the new
settlers had no flag with
them so they improvised
one from a white bed-
sheet on which they in-
scribed blue stripes and a
Star of David in ink taken
which led to a decline in
cargoes discharged,at the
port. The most severe
blow, however, was the
reopening of the Suez
Canal two years ago and
the permission granted
by Egypt to allow Israel-
bound cargoes (though
not Israel-flag ships) to
use the waterway.
Until then, Eilat had
been the sotith6rn ter= -
minus of the "land-bridge"
over which cargoes from
the east were transported
by truck for distribution
elsewhere in Israel or to
Haifa or Ashdod for trans-
shipment abroad. It is still
the terminus of the Eilat-
Ashkelon oil pipeline
through which oil from the
Persian Gulf is sent to tan-
kers on the Mediterra-
nean. But its development
as a major harbor is not
foreseen.
When the port began to
decline, Eilat placed its
hopes in industrial de-
velopment centered
around the Timna copper
mines in the Negev to the
north. But when world
copper prices plunged
last year, the mines were
shut down and many of
the diggers and engineers
departed.
On the day when Eilat
Was marking its 28th an-
niversary, the tempera-
ture was in the 90s, corn-
pared to 68 in Tel Aviv.
The warmth has a special
attraction for tourists
from the Scandinavian
countries and Western
Europe. They occupy
many of Eilat's 1877 hotel
world. This is considered rooms. Six charter flights
abominable especially since a week land at Eilat from
man comes closest to his Scandinavia, West Ger-
Creator in intelligence and many and England and
freedom.
scores of tourists who
Whatever man does di- land 'at Ben-Gurion Air-
rectly reflects on the Crea- port near Tel Aviv come
tor. Man's misbehavior, es- to Eilat each week.
pecially in that phase of his
life which some consider
his greatest reflection of
the Creator (i.e. his ability
to create other people),
would serve, as indeed pre-
senting a false and cor-
rupted image of the Creator
whose purpose was to. cre-
ate everything according to
"its kind" (see Genesis). In
the case of homosexuality,
man is doing something
which is not in accordance
with "his kind".
It therefore constitutes a
confusion of human identity
which eventually brings
about a confusion of the
identity of the Creator Him-
self.
from the pens of all the
soldiers present.
The famous "Ink Flag"
which has been preserved
along with the mud huts,
was raised again last week
as it has been on this date
every year since 1949. But
the flag mast is now
dwarfed by a skyline of
modern hotels fronting the
sea and a town of 15,000
whose permanent popula-
tion is swollen by
thousands of tourists from
other parts of Israel and
abroad.
Mayor Gad Katz, who
officially dedicated an art
institute and Eilat's sec-
ond high school early in ,
March, predicted a great
rise in tourism. He called
on Jordan to open its bor-
ders so that both Eilat
and the neighboring Jor-
danian town of Aqaba,
could benefit from a
two-way flow of tourists.
Eilat, which enjoys a
subtropical climate and
sunshine virtually every
day of the year, was al-
ways a tourist attraction.
But the emphasis on
tourism has increased
since hopes for further
growth of its seaport had
to be abandoned.
The harbor is still busy,
but not to the extent that
it was in the 1950s and
1960s. Many Asian and
African countries broke
diplomatic and trade re-
lations with Israel after
the Yom Kippur War
Hornosexuali ty Prohibition
BY RABBI SAMUEL FOX
(Copyright 1977, JTA, Inc.)
Jewish law prohibits ho-
mosexuality. Basically, this
is a law which is mentioned
in the Bible where it is de-
scribed as an abomination
(Leviticus 18:22). The Bible
goes so far as to prescribe
capital punishment for such
people.
A variety of reasons are
mentioned for this prohibi-
- tion in rabbinic literature.
Almost all are based on a
statement of Bar Kappara
who states that a person is
misled because of such
practices (Nedarim 51a). A
midrash points out that
such an act destroys the
purpose of sexual activity
which is initially done for
protection or at least by
people who were once able
to procreate through such
an act (Pesikta Zutarta ).
Others say that such ab-
normal sexual tendencies
will lead to the possibility
of a man abandoning his
wife in order to carry on
such relations with another
male. Thus the family rela-
tionship that heretofore ex-
isted would be destroyed.
Still others claim that ho-
mosexuality consists of an
unnatural act and thus man
is acting contrary to nature
and the purpose for which
he was created. This is tan-
atamount to frustrating the
will of the Almighty and
His purpose in creating the
world and the creature man
as the "image of the Al-
mighty."
It is also to be noted that
homosexuality in the Bible
is mentioned in sequence of
other unnatural sex acts all
of which have one thing in
common, i.e. the perversion
of .man's purpose in this
What they find, among
other things, is a flourish-
ing skin-diving center. In
fact, an international div-
ing symposium on human
and animal behavior in
water was held in Eilat in
February, attended by
some 200 participants
headed by Joe McInnes of
Canada who holds the
title "Diver of the Year."
The Moriah Hotel chain
maintains an under-water
observatory where
tourists can view hun-
dreds of species of tropical
fish and other marine life
in its natural settings. In
addition to beaches and
night clubs, Eilat offers
camel rides and tours of
the nearby desert canyons.
Eilat has been desig-
nated the official tourist
capital of.the Negev. The
Government Tourist O'f-
fide has shifted its Negev Beersheba to Eilat in rec-
from ognition of that position.
headquarters
NOTICE OF ANNUAL MEETING
Jewish Family Service
Resettlement Service
Monday June 13, 1977-8 p.m.
Program:
"Protecting Your
Family and Community"
with special guest
Oakland County Sheriff
Johannes Spreen
Election Annual Report
La Med Auditorium
United Hebrew Schools
21550 W. Twelve Mile Road, Southfield
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