Friday, kly 7, 1978 21

THE DETROIT JEWISH NRIS

Jerusalem Yishuv 70 Years Ago

against the walls along
By BETTY SIGLER
with the mattress, snowy
pillows and a quilt her
JERUSALEM — The
husband used pending
Jews of the old yishuv
(community) within the her medical and ritual
recovery.
walls of Jerusalem at the
The museum shows both
turn of the century lived a
busy life in carefully-tended Sephardi and Ashkenazi
homes. Religious but not living rooms. The former
other-worldly, they lived runs more to mirrors, inlaid
from hard work far more tables and cool linen trim-
than from the charity col- med with exquisite hand-
lected for them overseas. made lace. The latter favors
dark, carved furniture, the
In what is now the Old
Yishuv Court Museum, samovar and the red plush
Jewish families lived for elegance of central Europe.
over 400 years, until the Both display their
Jewish Quarter fell to the candlesticks and kidush
goblets and their family pie-
Arab Legion in May 1948.
Re-opened recently as a tures, in fez or yarmulka as
museum near the Western the case may be.
The two synagogues were
Wall, it offers a window into

World Zionist Organization

Jewish life in the quarter reception rooms as well.The

three or four generations upstairs one "Or HaHaim"

ago, before the old ways was built for prayer, as its

were challenged by the first imposing domed roof shows.
modern Zionists. "Ha' An ' downstairs, said
The street entrance into to have been the room in
the three-court, two-story which that sage was born in
compound is narrow, unim- 1534, became a synagogue
pressive— and easily closed later. In both, for genera-
to intruders. Light and air
came from the courtyards
which were also the work
•
area, the garden and the
"club" where residents met.
PARDESS HANNA — In
With whole families in a
room or two, the cour- the countries they came
from,
elderly immigrants to
tyard was where the
Israel were treated as sec-
breadwinner might take
citizens; they were
d
an
his shoemaking or watch
not considered worth receiv-
repairs if he couldn't af-
ing decent medical or
ford better business
psychiatric attention.
premises. In zinc tubs, fil.
In Israel, aged newcomers
led from the cistern and
are given maximum physi-
heated on kerosene bur-
cal and emotional rehabili-
ners, the laundry was
tation and granted a new
done. Vegetables and

tions, the men prayed three
times a day, studied when
they could and entertained
visitors to the holy places
that were part of their
homes.
The women cleaned the
synagogues as they did
their other rooms, and filled
the oil lamps. Their "gal-
lery" was a narrow separate
room at "Or HaHaim", a
courtyard at "Ha' Ari."
These places of worship,
which would have been
packed with a congregation
of 40, do not impress either
with their size or their fur-
nishings. But their thick,
white-washed walls em-
brace and protect, like those
of the bedroom so shock-
ingly overcrowded by to-
day's standards, but where
a child could reach out in
the darkness and touch a
reassuring hand. The old
yishuv was a world where
one's place might be
crowded, even confining,
but it was assured.

Men Visit

ENCORE Men's Clothing

in the Racquetime Center

for

New Clothing and Old Familiar Faces

SUMMER SALE

All Merchandise

20% to 60% OFF

Israel Aids Aged Emigres
at Special Geriatric Center

for a place to spend her last
days in comfort. But the few
homes for the aged were far
beyond the reach of her pen-
sion. She never expected to
be working again, in view of
her failing eyesight. Now,
however, she is passing out
number tags to customers at
the Geriatric Center hair-
dressing salon. Corrective
glasses have restored par-
lease on life. A visit to the tial sight to one eye and
spices were planted near
made a big difference in her
Geriatric
Center
at
Pardess
each doorway. And the
Hanna founded and par- life.
company in the cour-
Once a British army
tially supported by the
tyard made it less tedious
American Jewish Joint Dis- camp, the establishment
to pick over, peel and
tnbution
tribution Committee shows was for years a JDC/Malben
the unprocessed
refugee center accommodat-
how.
food bought in open air
Yussef, an immigrant ing sometimes 7,000 resi-
markets.
Eggs hang from the ceil- from the Soviet Union, was dents at a time. Although it
pp
was transferred in January
p
ing out of harm's way in a hopelessly
handicapped
wire basket in the museum whe n he was admitte d to 1976 to Israeli responsibil-
kitchen. Drinking water is the center two years ago. An ity, it is still known as the
kept cool by evaporation in operation on a hip bone and JDC/Malben Bet Avot. Its
"sweating" unglazed jars. painstaking orthopedic re- sprawling premises have
There are some beautiful habilitation has him walk- self-contained pavilions
bronze pans and charred- ing again and performing each with medical facilities,
looking "ovens" cut out of light tasks in the infirmary. occupational therapy, din-
painted black. Yussef can now leave the in- ing room and residences ac-
large oil cans
Not everyone worked at firm pavilion and live commodating two to four
home. Photographs and ad- among the active, ambulat- persons in a room.
On hand are a nurse
vertisements headed "Im- ory residents at the center,
portant Message" announce while continuing the and social worker. There
"Whitewash, and of therapy that keeps him are now 1,100 beds (dis-
tributed among the five
superior quality" from mobile and limber.
His compatriot from different units) of which
Goldberg, Engineer, near
the Carpathians, Feige at 375 are occupied by the
the Damascus Gate. A fed-
infirm, 275 by patients
ora heads Rivka Flacher's 76 faced a life of darkness
when cataracts blinded requiring full nursing
handbill advertising the
care and the rest are oc-
both
eyes.
Her
condition
latest styles in men's hats
made her bitter and =o- cupied by well, indepen-
"directly from Vienna",
trustful. When she was dent elderly or persons
olong with millinery for the
admitted to the Geriatric being assessed to see
ladies, all this in Mea
Center • after a few which facility they re-
Shearim "at reasonable and
months in a private quired, either at the
popular prices".
apartment, she refused to center or in some other
The Old City didn't at-
turn over the key of her institution. Many of these
tract doctors. But a
home to the social worker have been referring by
diploma-holding mid-wife
so that her personal ef- the Kupat Holim health
posted her handbill in a
fects could be transfer- clinics, the Ministry of
pharmacy that advertised
red. A few weeks later, Health or social welfare
the new wonder drug, aspi-
her cataracts were oper- agencies. Many have no
rin.
The midwife worked in ated on and her sight re- families and have lacked
dwellings.
the family bedroom. The stored.
The average age of resi-
Feige works in the cent-
museum shows the big,
dents is 87. There is a hospi-
er's
crafts
shop,
where
diffe-
canopied bed in which
tal
on the grounds and an
rent items which have been
her patient lay for a
made by men and women orthopedic section which
month,ifshe could afford
her own are and older are has restored the use of their
't . Not that the new
limbs to many of the resi-
put up for sale.
mother neglected her
In Moscow, Miriam, a re- dents who had previously
household, with the era-
tired
engineer,
was
looking
been
crippled.
dle beside her, and cribs

Mon., Thurs. and Fri. 10-9
Tues., Wed. and Sat. 10-6

All Major Credit Cards Honored

ENCORE
MEN'S CLOTHIERS LTD.

Racquetime Center
26400 12 Mile Road
Southfield, Michigan
353-0018

TridT

1"— Th

\

ENCORE

Men's Clothiers ttd.

oft.tiA4,17 2 .ev,r.

