Friday, April 13, 1919 19
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
ORT: Humble Start to Powerful Present
By SIDNEY E. LEIWANT
(President,
American ORT Federation
(Copyright 1979, JTA, Inc.)
Was there ever really a
time when the pen was
mightier than the sword, or
was that merely a poet's
exaggeration?
In 1880 five Russian. Jews
drafted a letter and a
hundred years. later the
lives of more than 100,000
men, women and young
people are being changed by
it. As have the lives of al-
most two • million others in
the intervening years.
The letter was a blunt ap-
peal for funds. The response
could not have bedn more
extraordinary. In two
months, nearly 12,500
donors in 40 Russian towns
and villages had sent in
more than 20&,000 rubles.
Eventually, there were
some 30,000 contributors,
and the fund totalled half a
million rubles.
What was there about
the letter which struck so
'responsive a chord? It
was the need — and an
idea. In an era and in 'a
country where the great
majority of Jews were
still living inside the pale
of settlement, most eking
out the barest living as
peddlers and small trad-
ers. The five "under-
signed" declared that,
"Nothing in fact could
better ameliorate the
position of the mass of
our co-religionists than a
thorough and systematic
development among that
mass of artisanal and ag-
ricultural occupations."
To administer the funds
which had cofne in, the five
were equally no-nonsense
about a name. They wanted
to be sure they covered all
the bases, so they dubbed
their new group the
"Society for the Provision of
Handicrafts, Industry and
Agriculture Among Jews."
In the original Russian it •
was a mouthful too:
"Obschestvo Remeslenovo i
zemledelcheskovo Trouda."
The new society came to
be known by its initials
O.R.T. Those initials have
done yeoman service for 100
years, in scores of countries,
and in many languages --
but with that same single
purpose. The English name
which was fitted to the ini-
tials, Organization for Re-
habilitation through Train-
Israel Travelers
JERUSALEM (ZINS) —
Some 430,000 Israelis
traveled abroad last year,
including 43,500 residents
of East Jerusalem. This re-
presented an increase of 29
percent over 1977.
The Central Statistical
Bureau said there were
1,070,000 tourists in Israel
in 1978, an increase of 8
percent over 1977. This
number does not include
137,000 Arabs who visited
the administered areas.
Israel's industrial exports
amounted to $3.2 billion
compared with $2.6 billion
in 1977, a rise of 26 percent.
PARTY PLANNING
CENTERPIECES Originally Designed
(fresh or artificial)
FAVORS — PAPER GOODS — RENTALS
INVITATIONS — STATIONERY 20% OFF
21540 W. 11 Mile Rd., Sfld.
355-1590, 353-9199, appt. only
BEV KURTIS
DORSEY MENKEN
DORIS CORNFIELD
CONGREGATION B'NAI MOSHE
presents a CANTORIAL CONCERT
Featuring Cantor Jacob Ben-Zion Mendelson
Sunday, May 6, 1979 — 8 P.M.
_
OLDSMOBILE
Telephone 354-3300
28000 Telegraph
Road
OLDSMOBILE
SOUTHFIELD, MICH. 48034
BARIL'S BULL — SHEET
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1
No Arab Threat?
LONDON (ZINS) —
British intelligence officials
believe that Syria and Iraq
together do not pose a major
military threat to Israel.
They say it will take
Syria five more years to
modernize her military and
she has 30,000 troops tied
down in Lebanon.
They also cite Israel's
growing superiority in the
quality of arms and say that
U.S. shipments will con-
tinue to widen the qualita-
tive gap.
9011014
„,
Only Slight Boost
for Jimmy Carter
NEW YORK (ZINS) —
The latest New York
Times-CBS Sews poll
showed that President Car-
ter's popularity rose
slightly after the signing of
the Israeli-Egyptian peace
agreement, but the increase
was diminished by disap-
proval of the' President's
handling of the U.S.
economy.
His popularity rose from
37 percent to 42 percent, but
only 38 percent perceived
him as a strong leader. Only
20 percent approved of Car-
ter's economic policies.
'favorite
ing, — is no less expressive
of the founders' intent than
the original.
Why are those initials so
powerful, so important, al-
most one hundred years
after they were first pen-
ned? Because its purpose,
has been constant and un-
changing, while its methods
and programs have sharply
mirrored a changing world.
;Oft f41.11AS
00.01,40.
I have always felt that the purchase of a new car should be a
festive occasion, therefore I will give to each one of my
customers, on delivery, a delicious bottle of imported French
Rose' Wine bearing my name.
A
From the desk of
Norman Baril
Come in and use me!
G
and that ain't no bull