Cambridge University Is Seeking Funds in U.S.
to Preserve Taylor-Schechter Geniza Collection

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Friends of Cambridge University will seek funds in the U.S. this year to help preserve
and restore one of the world's most precious collections of early Hebrew manuscript material and Judaica, the famous Taylor-
Schechter Geniza Collection at Cambridge, England.
The collection was recovered in 1896-97 from the "geniza" (a storehouse for worn-out copies of sacred Jewish writings) of the
1,000-year-old Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo by the noted rabbinic scholar, Dr. Solomon Schechter, former president of the Jewish
Theological Seminary. It consists of 140,000 fragments, documents and texts, mainly in manuscript, many of them on vellum.
Together, the fragments make up a literature of the sacred, the heretical and the every-day which covers 1,500 years — from
biblical times to the 19th Century. The collection is rich in items of Bible, Talmud, Midrash and liturgy, reflecting many periods of
Jewish thought and custom. It includes a wide variety of secular material as well. Several languages are represented among the
fragments, including Aramaic, Greek, Syriac, Judeo-Arabic (Arabic written in-Hebrew characters) and Yiddish, as well as
Hebrew.
The collection wasgiven to England's Cambridge University in 1898 by Schechter and his friend and associate, Dr.
Charles Taylor, master of St. John's College, Cambridge. Since that time the collection has served three generations of
scholars, many of them from the U.S. and Israel, whose researches among its centuries-old fragments have revolu-
tionized whole areas of Hebrew and Jewish studies.
Gordon Williams, president of the American Friends, said the group will seek a minimum of $50,000 in 1979 from foundations
and individuals to aid particularly in preservation and restoration of the Geniza Collection manuscripts.
(Continued on Page 7)

ORT's 100th
Anniversary
an Occasion for
Recognition of
and Acclaim for
Great Human
Service Movement

DR. SOLOMON SCHECHTER

THE JEWISH NEWS

Commentary, Page 2*

f

A Weekly Review

•

Jewish Events

VOL. LXXIV, No. 20 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075 424-8833 $12.00 Per Year: This Issue 30.

Oppression in
Argentina Calls
for Protests
and Demands
for Justice

Editorial, Page 4

Jan. 19, 1979

Departure of the Shah of Iran
Threatens Isolation for Israel

IA Points of Distortion in
ABC-TV's PLO Program

NEW YORK — Charging ABC-TV News with bias and distortion in
its recent documentary about the PLO, "Terror in the Promised Land,"
Rabbi Joseph B. Glaser, executive vice president of the Central Confer-
ence of American Rabbis, called for a "review of the program and "ad-
monishment" of ABC-TV by National News Council. The NNC is a volun-
tary study group, made up of news and media officials, that investigates
questions of ethics and morality in Americanjournalism.
"We are asking the council," said Rabbi Glaser, "to determine
whether the ABC production offered viewers a legitimate and objective
news presentation and analysis, or, as we believe, constituted a propagan-
distic apologia for the terrorist activities of the PLO."
Citing ABC spokesmen who admitted that the documentary
was not intended to be balanced or to be fair to the opposition,
Rabbi Glaser set forth 14 specific instances of bias and distortion in
the program, including:
• The falsification of film that actually showed Arabs chasing Jews
from Jerusalem, purporting it to be the precise opposite, i.e., Jews chasing
Arabs from the Holy City.
• The calculated use of music and "color words" to create sympathy
for the Arab terrorists but indifference to the plight of their Jewish
victims.
• The faulty translation of Arabic into English in order to buttress
ABC's effort to convey the impression that the PLO is a genuine liberation
organization.
• The misidentification of a person as a Jewish official representing the
Jewish National Fund and the use of his statements deliberately to convey
an inaccurate impression of that organization's principled positions.
Rabbi Glaser questioned the credibility of ABC producers and
(Continued on Page 5)

By EDWIN EYTAN

• PARIS (JTA) — The Shah's departure and the rise to power in Iran of new political forces
will have far reaching consequences for Israel, according to West European experts. Practi-
cally the entire world, including the super-powers, will feel the political and economic impact
of the change but nowhere will the shock be as powerful and probably as lasting as in Israel.
The Shah's departure spells the end of a secret Israeli dream: to break through the wall of
hate which surrounds it by establishing close, "even though informal," ties with three
countries situated on the periphery of the Arab world: Turkey, Ethiopia and Iran. This
ambitious plan to "hop over the besiegers" was set in motion by Israel's late Premier David
Ben-Gurion in the late 1950s. Within a couple of years Israel seemed to have succeeded in its
attempt. Israeli experts and advisers were stationed in all three states, economic ties, often
secret, were established and a certain degree of political cooperation became daily practice.
Turkey, after its internal political upheavals in the 1960s, slipped out of this
partnership but Israel continued to maintain close and confident ties with the two
emperors: Haile Selassie in Ethiopia and Reza Mohammed Pahlevi in Iran. The 1975
Ethiopian army putsch, which toppled the king and brought a pro-Communist re-
gime to power, was a serious blow which suddenly deprived Israel of its main African
base.
The Shah's departure and the rise to power of a Moslem nationalistic regime will deprive
Israel of its last regional partner.
Economically, Israel will be seriously hurt. It will be deprived of Iranian oil which at one
time provided over 75 percent of Israel's yearly consumption. The current government in Iran
headed by moderate Shahpur Bakhtiar has already announced that it will stop all oil
hipments to Israel and has called for full support of the Palestinian people "in the goal of
achieving their legitimate rights."
Iran's next government, probably hand-picked by the,Shah's main opponent, Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini, will probably adopt even stricter measures to prevent Israel from
obtaining even a drop of Iranian oil.
The closing of the Iranian oil taps comes at a most inconvenient time. In 1975,

s

(Continued on Page 5)

Israel Has Own Super-Hero .. . Sabraman!

By ROBERT D. KAPLAN

World Zionist Press Service

JERUSALEM — More powerful than Superman, more courage than a sabra, and commanding the faith of Abraham
— he is Sabraman, Israel's first super-hero, created by a 15-year-old Tel Aviv schoolboy. Uri Kink, Israel's and one of the
world's youngest authors, has created this country's first comic book series. Up until now, Israel's comics have been
Hebrew translations of the well-known American ones.
Sabraman hit the stands in November, a 24-page comic book with 200 black-and-white drawings, which youngsters
can color. The publisher is Good Times Ltd. and two sequel issues have been written and are in the process of being
published. The teenage author is himself a sabra, but not like the hero of his series. "I'm very absent-minded," he says. "I
dislike sports and fighting in real life." Though the son of German-born Jews who fled Europe and settled in Israel in the
1930's, Uri writes in English, a language learned from reading American comic books.
Uri began reading comic books at the age of six. He has 3,000 -omits, the largest collection in Israel. His
favorites are Superman, the Hulk, Batman, Spiderman, and above all — Mad Magazine. "Uri can go on talking
(Continued on Page 7)

..

"Sabraman" creator Uri Fink.

