54 Friday, January 5, 1919

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Israel Agricultural Exports Keep Israel Economy Afloat

By JUDY CARR

World Zionist
Press Service

From Israel's Ben-Gurion
Airport, mighty Boeing jets
roar out to destinations in
America, Britain, Western
Europe and Scandinavia —
and even Teheran carrying
fruit, vegetables and flow-
ers, newly picked from the
fields of Israel, not 24 hours
old and carefully and at-
tractively packaged.
-Agrexco is Israel's ag-
ricultural export company,
with a near monopoly of ex-
port of fresh agricultural
produce, except citrus
which is handled by the Cit-
rus Marketing Board.
Agrexco is a giant opera-
tion, controlling every step
from the field to the packing
house, from the packing
house to the airport, and
from there to. Agrexco's 12
branches in various coun-
tries. Agrexco then com-
pletes the circle with distri-
bution of the produce to
wholesalers.
New Yorkers are buy-
ing Israeli roses and
gladioli. Avocado, pep-
pers, mangoes, grapes,
persimmons and many

other types of produce
from Israel are eaten all
over Britain and Europe,
and even in Scandinavia.
This - year flights will
carry fruit, vegetables
and flowers to Malmo in
Sweden to be sold in
Sweden, Norway and
Finland.
The whole Agrexco_ net-
work is controlled by a giant
computer in every one of the
12 branches, hooked up by
telephone to the huge com-
puter in Tel Aviv. This is so
that orders can be sent out
accurately: a wholesaler in
Germany ordering 10 tons
of avocadoes expects just
Pictured are cartons with fresh flowers for export
that — not a• different
_ moving on a conveyor belt into the hold of an El Al
amount.
Some of Agrexco's pro- airliner at Ben-Gurion Airport.
* *
duce is sent by refrigerated
ship to Marseilles and from cauliflowers, new crops in export around 750 million
Israel, are to be tried out. this season. The main flow-,
there to European markets.
ers are roses, carnations
Three refrigerated ships The now accepted export
sail weekly at the peak of crops like mangoes and per- and gladioli, but new flow-
ers from Israel are coming
the season from November simmons were once trial
into fashion, notably the
runs.
Even
the
avocado
was
to March.
once only an experimental Statice, a blue flower that is
Agrexco specialists are
export crop. Now, after in- very popular in Europe. Is-
continually experimenting
tensive sales promotion, it _ raeli flowers are even open-
with exports of new crops.
is Agrexco's best-seller with ing-up a promiSing market
Last year the big hit was the
in America and are handled
Chinese lettuce, a salad leaf sales of nearly 20,000 tons
at a special Agrexco termi-
this season.
that remains fresh in the re-
nal at Kennedy airport.
One.
reason
for
the
suc-
frigerator after cutting.
Other agricultural pro-
cess of Israel's agricul-
This year radishes and
tural exports is that they . duce is exported by Agrexco
are winter crops, when in lesser amounts, includ-
there is less produce in ing goose liver, which goes
to be processed into pate de
European markets.
Agrexco also handles foie gras in France, and
honey. .
flowers of which Israel will
proceeded to immerse her
audience with the spirit of
Raquela, an individual who
symbolically embodies
"everywoman" in Israel.

HIAS Audience Spellbound
by Ruth Gruber's `Raquela'

NEW YORK — Author
Ruth Gruber recently ad-
dressed the 11th Annual
Conference of HIAS'
Women's Division in New
York.

She spoke of the plight of
t Jewish refugees with in-
sight and measured pain,-
for she has primarily fo-
cused her journalistic writ-
ings on the problem of refu-
gee absorption since her
early days as a foreign
correspondent.

'40 JA

RUTH GRUBER

Ruth Gruber's most re-
cent book, "Raquela: A
Woman of Israel," recounts
the story of Israel's quest for
survival through the eyes of
Raquela Prywes, a nurse-
midwife at Hadassah He-
brew University Hospital.
Describing the protagonist
to the audience, Mrs.
Gruber graphically traced
Raquela's life from the time
she hid as a five-year-old
from Arab rioters in 1929,
through her caring for
Holocaust survivors in
British detention camps, to
her setting up satellite hos-
pitals in the Six-Day War.

Recounting one anecdote
after another, Mrs. Gruber

Pull-Back Problems
for Negev Discussed

Singer Expounds
on Writing for
Young Audience

Nobel Prize-winning
Yiddish author Isaac
Bashevis Singer had some
lighthearted banter to
share with his audience
upon accepting the honor.
Herewith an excerpt:
"Ladies and gentlemen,
there are 500 reasons why I
began to write for children,
but to save time I will men-
tion only 10 of them. -
"Children read books, not
reviews. They dO not give a
hoot about, the critics.
"Children don't read to
find their identity.
"They don't read to free
themselves of guilt, quench
* the thirst for rebellion or get
rid of alienation.
"They have no use for
psychology.
"They detest sociology.
"They don't-try to under-
stand Ka _ fka or Finnegan
Wake.
"They still believe in God,
the family, angels, devils,
witches; goblins, logic, clar-
ity, punctuation and other
such obsolete stuff.
"They love interesting
stories, not commentary,
guides or footnotes.
"When a book is boring,
they yawn openly, without
any shame or fear of
authority.
"They don't expect their
beloved writer to redeem
humanity. Young as they
are, they know it is not in
his power. Only the adults
have such childish illu-
sions."

SDE BOKER, Israel — In
the wake of an expected
Sinai pullback, it is almost
certain that massive troop
re-deployment and the in-
evitable growth of civilian
centers will bring many
thorny problems, as well as
_opportunities, to Israel's
vast desert area, the Negev.
It was in this context that
an international group of
distinguished scientists met
at Ben-Gurion University's
Desert Institute to examine
issues of desert develop-
ment and ecology which af-
fect arid regions throughout
the world.
High-ranking military
planners have indicated
that according to projected
estimates, 600 kilometers of
new roads, 200 kilometers
of electric lines and 400
kilometers of communica-
tions links will be laid in the
Negev during the next three
years, if a peace treaty with
Egypt is signed.
In • immediate social
terms, at least 8,000 jobs
will be generated in the civi-
lian sector as a result of the
new defense infrastructure
in the. Negev.
Desert institute direc-
tor, - Prof. Amos
Richmond, warned that
sudden large-scale de-
velopment carries far
reaching social compli-
cations, as well as
environmental chal-
lenges. "The interaction
between large numbers
of soldiers with residents
of the Negev com-
munities could be very
problematic. The army

'

should take care that its
personnel integrate har-
moniously with the local
inhabitants and insure
that their presence con,
tributes to the long-term
welfare of the develop-
ment towns."
Richmond urged that Is-
raeli Defense Forces consult
with scientists and civic
leaders of the area if poten-
tially disastrous social and
ecological problems are to
be avoided. As Richmond
pointed out, "The Negev
will never be given back; so
whatever the army does
should not be done in haste,
because its impact will be
felt for generations."

Mrs. Benjamin

Carolyn Doris Benjamin,-
vice president of Benjamin
Wholesalers in Redford
Twp., died Jan. 1 at age 56.
, Born in Pittsburgh, Pa.,
Mrs. Benjamin leaves her
husband, Edward H .; two
sons, Henry and Jay; two
daughters, Elise and Mrs.
David (Helene) Lubin; and
her mother, Mrs. Joseph
(Mae) HarriS.

Rabbi Alcalay, Led Sephardim

NEW YORK (JTA) —
Rabbi Isaac Alcalay, the re-
tired chief rabbi of the Cen-
tral Sephardic Jewish
Community of America,
died Dec. 29 He was 97.
Born in Sofia, he studied
at the Vienna Rabbinical
Seminary and earned a PhD
at Vienna University. After
he finished his_ studies in
the early 1900s, he became
chief rabbi of Serbia and
was named a representative
of the Serbian government.
After World War-I, Rabbi
Alcalay started the Rabbin-
ical Federation in Belgrade,
becoming its first president,

E. Klineman,
of AJCommittee

- NEW YORK — Emery
Emanuel Klineman, trea-
surer of • the American
Jewish Committee and a
member of every major gov-
erning board of the organ-
ization, died Dec. 29 at age
76.
Mr. Klineman was a
member of a variety of the
organization's committees
dealing with membership,
management, budgets and
investments.
He was an honorary vice
president and honorary
chairman of its fund-raising
arm, the Appeal for Human
Relations. Mr. Klineman
had been a founder of the
appeal's sportswear di-
vision in 1963, and was
chairman of that division
from 1963 to 1970.

r

and founded the Rabbinical
School in Belgrade. King
Alexander named him. chief
rabbi of Yugoslavia in 1925.
The Yugoslav Parlia-
ment named him a Sena-
tor, the first Jew to get
such a position.' In 1925,
he planned and attended
the first Sephardic Con-
gress in Vienna and was
eleCted vice president of
the World Sephardic
Federation.
He fled Yugoslavia wh •
the Nazis occupied t
,country 'in 1942 and settle
in New York in 1943. About
75 percent of all Sephardic
Jews in the U.S., some
130,000, live in the New
York area, the rest in Los
Angeles, Atlantic City and
Seattle. Rabbi Alcalay
hoped to unify the Ameri-
can Sephardic communities
and was elected chief rabbi
in 1943. He retired in 1968
when he moved to the
Sephardic Home in Brook-
lyn. .-

.

Synagogue Shut

LONDON — The Inter-
national Council of Jews
from Czechoslovakia re-
ported that Prague's Pinkas
Synagogue Will remain
closed until 1982 for resta-
ration.
The synagogue, built in
1352, has been deteriorat-
ingbecause of dampness. Its
site is close to the Vltava
River.

1

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WE'VE AST

From

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:

Morry Schwartz

Morry Schwartz, a real
estate broker, died Dec. 30,
at age 50.
A native Detroiter, Mr.
Schwartz was the co-owner
since 1962 and co-founder of
Realty World Advance in
Garden City. He was a
member of Temple Israel.
Mr. Schwartz leaves his
wife, Rita; a son, Darren; a
daughter, Elissa; and a
brother, William.

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