16 'Friday, November 4, 1977 - :THE- DETR O IT JEWISH -: NEWS
HIAS Aids Soviet Emigres With Professional Baggage'
Louisville Jewish
Aged in Funds
NEW
YORK—Com-
menting on the "profes-
sional baggage" many
Soviet Jewish emigres
carry w'L.h them to the
.`Jnited States. Dr. Viktor
Ka,z cautioned against
expecting too much too soon
in the way of employment
opportunities in a new
homeland. Dr. Katz, a
LOUISVILLE (JTA)—A
$4 million federal grant has
been received by the Jewish
Community Federation to
build a 150-unit apartment
building for the well elderly,
according to Stuart Hand-
maker, federation
president.
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The new GGG fall and
winter collection
mathematician, arrived in
the U.S. this year with the
help of HIAS. the world-
wide Jewish migration
agency.
In addition to the obvious
difficulties encountered by
refugees during resettle-
ment, college-educated and
highly professional Soviet
Jews must often shoulder
the added burden of unreal-
istic expectations as to what
awaits them in the Ameri-
can job market, according
to Dr. Katz. _
At 34 the recipient of a
PhD in mathematics from
the University of Moscow,
Dr. Katz, the author of 26
publications, including two
textbooks, was an associate
professor at the Moscow
Institute of Electronic Engi-
neering before following his
family to this country.
While still in Rome, the
principal processing center
for HIAS-assisted refugees
from Eastern Europe, he
was offered a research posi-
tion at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. He
began teaching there in Sep-
- tember. Dr. Katz was
assisted in his resettlement
by the Jewish Family Serv-
ice of Boston.
Dr. Katz was fortunate to„
get a job in his field. This
year, more than 1,100 highly
trained and/or university-
educated emigres assisted
to the U.S. by HIAS during
the first half of 1977 will
share a singularly dis-
orienting experience: the
competition for jobs.
The 4,164 Russian Jews
who have arrived here dur-
ing this six-month period
face the disadvantage of
coming from 'a society
where the government is
the decision-maker, educa-
tor and only employer.
Never having had a* job
interview and never having
negotiated a salary, refugee
professionals, a distinct
group comprising 45 per-
cent of the HIAS-assisted
Soviet Jewish labor force,
as well as the other new
arrivals, have assistance
available to them. The New
York Association for New
Americans (NYANA) in the
New York area, and Jewish
family service agencies in
communities outside of New
York City work to facilitate
the adjustment process.
In addition to providing
counseling and other serv-
ice, NYANA works closely
with a number of commu-
nity groups and cooperating
organizations. One of these
groups, which specializes in
assisting professionals, is
the New York-based Ameri-
can Council for Emigres in
the Professions (ACEP).
In March, 1974, the Ford
Foundation funded ACEP's
Program for Soviet Emigre
Scholars. The program's
goal is to assist Soviet schol-
ars to enter the American
academic world, to help
them through the transi-
tional period via counseling
and the establishment of
academic contacts, as well
as to help locate teaching
and research positions. In
some instances, scholars in
the program are provided
small grants to supplement
salaried research or teach-
ing positions at higher aca-
demic institutions.
Hundreds
of
HIAS-
assisted Soviet Jews have
benefited from the. scholars
program and other ACEP
services.
ACEP also maintains sev-
eral career training pro-
grams to prepare refugees
who are unable to re-enter
,their professions (e.g., la:
yers, dentists, pharmacis
in some states) for other
careers where manpower
shortages exist.
HIAS helped 5,512 Soviet
Jewish refugees reach
American shores in 1976.
Some 4,164 arrived during
the first half of 1977. Addi-
tional Soviet Jewish fami-
lies were resettled in Can-
ada, Autralia, New
Zealand, Latin America and
Western Europe.
Day School Head
Elected to Council
NEW YORK—Rabbi Ber-
nard Goldenberg, director,
department of school organ-
ization for Torah Umesorah,
the National Society for
Hebrew Day Schools, was
elected national president of
the • Council for American
Private Education (CAPE),
at the organization's annual
board meeting recently in
Washington, D.C.
According to CAPE this
will be the first time that a
Hebrew Day School gradu-
ate and a representative of
the Hebrew Day School sys-
tem will represent all of
America's non-public
schools.
Strange Tale of Bedouin Girl's Life
By MOSHE RON
The Jewish News
Special Israel Correspondent
The cut of the new GGG suits
is definitely European ... with
its characteristic suppressed
waist and refined shoulder
treatment. The fabrics are also
richly continental. The feel,
however, is unmistakably
American . . . easy, casual,
comfortable. Please come in
and see our entire fall and
winter_ GGG collection. It's
your kind of clothing.
10 C
t CLOTHES
of West Bloomfield
in the new enclosed Orchard Mall
on Orchard Lake Road 1/2 mile north
of Maple Road Phone: 851-9080
-
11
OPEN SUNDAY.
12 to 5PM
MON. TUE. WED. SAT. till 6 p.m. THURS. FRI. 10 to 9p.m.
TEL AVIV -- Twenty-one
years ago, as an Israeli
army patrol passed through
the Sinai Desert, it observed
a Bedouin tent camp with
some suspicion. As the sol-
diers approached the camp,
they were fired upon, but
they returned the fire and
the attackers ran away.
When the soldiers searched
the camp, the only living
person they found was a
crying Bedouin baby.
The child .,was immedi-
ately taken to Hadassah ,
Hospital in Jerusalem, and-
there Dr. Albert Bocher
found that the two-year-old,
whom the soldiers had
named Sinaria, was suffer-
mg from a bullet wound to
the lung. The child was
treated and its life was
saved.
However, Dr. Bocher got
so attached to the Bedouin
baby that he decided to
adopt it. When the story was
published, some Arab
notables appealed to the
Muslim authorities to find
some way to force Bocher
to return the child. Faris
Hamda.n, an Arab Knesset
member, offered to take the
child in and raise her in his
home.
For two years, Bocher
and the Arabs fought in the
courts for custody of
Sinaria, while she in the
meantime remained with
the. Bochers. In the end the
court awarded custody to
Hamdan, but then other
Arabs challenged that rul-
ing, arguing that Hamdan
only sought the child in
order to enhance his public
image. Again, the case went
to the courts, and the
Supreme Court confirmed
the lowers courts' decision
in granting the child to
Faris Hamdan.
During the prolonged.
period of litigation, Sinaria
learned to speak Hebrew
and became accustomed to
the Bocher house. The move
to a strange Arab village
came as a traumatic shock
to her and she begged to be
returned to the Bochers.
When Dr. and Mrs. Bocher
visited Sinaria, they were
treated very cooly by Faris
Hamdan and his two wives,
as they watched how their
newly adopted daughter
clung to her former foster
parents.
The Hamdans changed
Sinaria's name to Zena and
sent her to a Christian
school in Nazareth, and then
later to school in Haifa. As
she grew older, she forgot
the events of her infancy
and early childhood, but the
story was common knowl-
edge among the girls of the
street and the schools. When
she was told by them what
happened to her, Sinaria
refused to believe the
account, but later she
resigned herself to the facts
of the past.
A week before his death,
Hamdan turned to a lawyer
in Tel Aviv to prepare a 1.0 .
which would have bestows
one third of his fortune upon
Sinaria. However, Hamdan
did not live to sign the docu-
ment, and the matter was
taken to court. Hamdan's
family contested the will,
refusing to recognize
Sinaria as a rightful heir,
but the court eventually
ruled in her favor.
Today Sinaria is an adult,
and is having a difficult
time finding a job in spite of
her linguistic abilities and
education. Although Faris
Hamdan was quite fond of
her, after his death, Sinaria
left the wealthy Hamdan
house with only one dress.
Sinaria now only wishes to
settle down and marry a
man from a good family.