Ugly, May 11, 1919

Israeli Scientists Making Strides in Alternative Energy Research

By PAUL HIRSCHHORN
HAIFA
Primitive man
worshipped with awe that
flaming globe in the sky, the
sun,
Today, however, modern
Jewish scientists in Israel
are taking a second look at
the sun. National policy dic-
tates that alternatives to
fossil fuel must be foUnd,
and found fast.
Ina way, it may be said,
they are attempting to
bring the sun down to
earth. Working in har-
mony with nature, scien-
tists are also seeking new
ways to harness energy
from ever-present sea
waves and wind. The
poisibilities for man-
kind? Clean energy from
unlimited sources.
In Israel, great strides
have already been made in
the use of solar energy, of
which Israel is the largest
per capita user in the world
(20 percent of Israel's homes
are outfitted with solar
heating or refrigerating
systems). Dr. Nathan Arad,
director-general of the
country's Energy
Authority, is optimistic that
this use can be increased
from the current two per-
cent of the country's energy
consumption to between
eight and 15 percent in the
1990s.
"About 20-25 percent of
all household energy needs
— predominatly for space
heating and hot water —
could be saved by passive

—

systems and solar energy
applications," Dr. Arad
said. With this goal in mind,
scientists throughout the
country are involved in re-
search to expand the prod-
uction of power from the
sun. Recent Israeli de-
velopments have included:
a high-temperature solar
energy system, capable of
powering solar air-
conditioning in summer,
heating in winter and ob-
taining mechanical energy
for home use; and a new
solar cell with its own
internal storage system
that can produce electricity
after sundown.

Solar Ponds

One of the most promis=
ing developments in Israel's
solar energy research has
been that of "solar ponds."
The ponds are based on the
natural phenomenon that
all bodies of water trap the
heat at the bottom. There it
can be collected for use as a
source of energy.
Research into solar
ponds, originally suggested
by Dr. Rudolph Bloch of the
Dead Sea Works, is under-
way on a national level. A
group of scientists headed
by Dr. Zvi Tabor, now at
Hebrew University, began
solar pond investigations
some 20 years ago. They
have succeeded in develop-
ing a pond which produces
heat at temperatures be-
tween 90 degrees and 100
degrees centigrade. Heat

drawn from the pond's bot-
tom has successfully pow-
ered turbines developed
specially to operate in con-
junction with the ponds.
Using similar princi-
ples, Technion — Israel
Institute of Technology
engineers have de-
veloped a shallow solar
pond — a 50 x 3 meter
plastic bag consisting of a
transparent upper layer
and at black bottom layer
with water held between
them. The "shallow
pond" is installed next to
a greenhouse: heat col-
lected and stored during
the daytime can be trans-
ferred to the greenhouse
at night.
Future solar pond uses
are promising. The Weiz-
man Institute's Dr. Gad
Assaf has made a math-
ematical study of using the
Dead Sea itself as a "solar
lake." According to his cal-
culations, 50 square miles of
the sea would provide
enough energy to double Is-
rael's resources, through
desalination of seawater.

Methane Gas

Water also figures prom-
inently in another project
underway in Israel, the
production of methane gas
from agricultural wastes,
including animal manure
and vegetable waste.
At Kibutz Yagur, near
Haifa, Technion experts
have built the world's
largest pilot plant for the
production of methane gas.

As a side benefit, the
methane reactor is also an
excellent medium for algae
growth. The algae can be fed
to many farm animals,
which then create manure.
The project head, Prof.
Gedaliahu Shelef, believes
this could ultimately lead to
farm units self-sufficient in
stationary energy require-
ments, through a cyclical
re-use of their own solid or-
ganic wastes.
Bio-chemists at the
Weizmann Institute have
begun a basic investiga-
tion of an unusual algae
that grows in ponds
along the Dead Sea. They
believe this algae may
some day serve as an in-
expensive source of
glycerol, a combustible
alcohol that can be used
as a fuel itself and may
possibly also serve as a
raw material in the prod-
uction of natural gas or
gasoline.
Other Israeli scientists
have made headway in
modernizing a more tradi-
tional form of energy, the
windmill. Technion Prof.
Anthony Peranio has de-
veloped a new "rotary visc-
ous friction" device. Con-
sisting of a paddle-wheel
enclosed in a tank of water
or oil, the device, rotated
mechanically by the wind,
heats the liquid, providing
power.
Ben-Gurion University
scientists have discovered
that the energy output of a

wind turbine can be tripled
if it is surrounded by a spe-
cial shroud. Dr. Ozer Igra,
who developed the circular
shroud, has taken advan-
tage of the principle of
airplane wing design, in
which differences in air
pressure create a suction ef-
fect drawing more air into
the turbine.
The shroud, which Igra
claims produces three times
the output of a regular tur-
bine, can pick up wind with
as little as 20 percent of the
turbine facing in the direc-
tion of the wind.

Using the Sea

Prof. Peranio, of the
Technion, also sees the sea
as an alternative source of
energy. In his laboratory he
has built a small working
model of a sea wave conver-
sion device consisting of a
long, inclined ramp leading
up to a water tank, some -
what above sea level The
kinetic energy of waves
rushing up the ramp is con-
verted into potential
energy. This energy is then
extracted from the con-
troled flow of this water
thrrough a conventional
turbine.
Increasingly in their var- .
ied researches, Israeli sci-
entists are linking the de-
velopment of energy sources
with the preservation of de-
velopment of other re-
sources, especially water.
Technion's Dr. Gershon
Grossman, head of the team
that developed the high

temperature solar collector,
has turned his attention to
the development of a solar
desalination system. It
could provide the water
needs of a family in an iso-
lated area. "Use of alterna-
tive forms of energy could
have wide-ranging effects
for Israel and other develop-
ing countries as well,"
Grossman says.
"For example, n 1.01
villages the basi. ,co-
nomic support comes
from raising cattle and
sheep," Grossman ex-
plains. "These animals
need vegetation, But the
residents need to burn
the vegetation for cook-
ing and heat. So more and
more places become bar-
ren desert. This con-
tinues until there is no
more land and people are
forced to move into the
cities. Solar and wind
energy can save vegeta-
tion, and, in doing so,
preserve a way of life.
While no major fossil fuel
deposits have been found in
Israel, giant strides have
been taken there in develop-
ing alternative sources of
energy. Today, the coun-
try's sunny climate, full
blowing breezes and long
seashore make it possible to
say that Israel, too, is
blessed: with solar, wind
and wave energy. And the
research being done in Is-
rael today can help solve
problems of energy shortage
in other countries as well.

Conservative M'sorati Movement in Israel Has Grown in 9 Years

By BARBIE ZELIZER
JERUSALEM (JTA) —
"Conservative Judaism is
what Israelis have been
waiting for all along. We
didn't have .to give .it to
them. All we had to do was
be here." This remark, ex-
pressed during the recent
12th International Conven-
tion of the World Council of
Synagogues (Conservative)
in Jerusalem, aptly sums up
the sentiments of the lead-
ers of the newly-formed
Conservative movement in
Israel.
Unlike the decades-old
movement of the U.S. or
Canada, Israeli Conser-
vative Jewry — as a na-
tional organized movement
— is a mere eight years old.
Calling itself the "Move-
ment for M'sorati (tradi-
tional) Judaism in Israel," it
has sf cured steadily-
growing public. support
since its founding in 1970.
Twenty.five congregations
have been established, two
of them by second-
generation members, and
three more are presently
being set up. Together they
boaaa: membership of 2,000

: 1 P

families, two-thirds of them
Israeli-born.
In the laSt few years, the
movement has established
a center for Conservative
Judaism. in Jerusalem, 19
local youth chapters and
three day camps, and in at
least one city, it is repsonsi-
ble for third-grade Jewish
content programming in the
public school system.
Future plans include
opening an overnight
camp and two additional
day camps, establishing a
M'sorati high school, de-
veloping a national youth
movement, publishing
Hebrew editions of
M'sorati liturgical mate-
rials and, in general,
enhancing the movement
in the eyes of the Israeli
public.
These accomplishments,
however, were realized
against a background of
numerous obstacles. A min-
imal budget — until last
year, $30,000 annually —
and shortage of both rabbin-
ical and lay leadership
characterize the movement
even today. However, the
most overriding barrier to

its legitimate acceptance
within Israel is the ideologi-
cal one.
A decade ago, most Is-
raelis had never heard of
Conservative Jewry, or if
they had, they were quick to
denigrate its legitimacy.
"Israeli society is
polarized in terms of reli-
gion," contends Yehuda
Mor, executive member of
the United Synagogue of Is-
rael. "There are two camps
— Orthodox and secular" —
and a dominant all-or-
nothing approach to
Judaism is practiced by
most of the public.
The Orthodox establish-
ment, even today, refuses to
formally permit Conserva-
tive rabbis to officiate at
Jewish functions, and in
only a few cases have the
local rabbis managed to
gain legitimacy in the eyes
of their Orthodox col-
leagues. Yet many of the
movement's leaders see the
rabbinate as ultimately a
product of society, and con-
tend that once public sup-
port for the movement has
grown, the rabbinate will
have to adopt a more

pluralistic approach to reli-
gious observance.
The real challenge,
they contend, is in reach-
ing this public and mak-
ing it aware of the move-
ment's character. Rabbi
Michael Graetz, the Is-
raeli movement's execu-
tive director, likens this
task to changing the
image of the American
black in the 1950s. "We
must launch an assault
on established
stereotypes that claim
there is only one way of
being Jewish," he says.
"Only then will people
open up and listen to
what we have to say."
Rabbi Philip Spector,
spiritual head of the highly
successful model M'sorati
community in Ashkelon,
explains the movement's at-
traction as a question of
timing. "The Israeli today
has a lot of Yiddishkeit. He
just doesn't have a spiritual
hook to hang it on," he con-
tends, adding that the
movement is needed here
because its open-ended ap-
proach to Judaism can
withstand the characteris-
tic tensions of Israeli
society.

"On the other hand, the
Conservative movement, as
a whole, needs the Israeli
desperately," he adds. "We
need his vigor because we
are tired. When an Israeli
sets foot into a synagogue, it
is not because he is running
looking for val-
ues,-and - a spiritual uplift.

The healthiest thing the Is-
raeli can do for us is show us
how to develop without the
need to be a haven for as-
similation."

In that light, movement
heads maintain that
M'sorati Judaism in Israel
must differ from that prac-
ticed in other countries. Of
the 75 member families in
his community of Omer,
near Beersheba, Graetz
notes that 40 "are serious
about their Judaism. I
foresee a more traditional
movement here," he says,
"one in which people really
try to live out the ideology."

For all the energy ex-
hibited by the local lead-
ership, the movement
still faces a series of prob-
lems. Only two congrega-
tions — in Ashkelon and
Natanya — have their
own buildings.

Hopefully, this situation
will soon improve. The
Jewish Theological Semi-
nary of America recently
agreed to donate $50,000 to
the movement annually, in
addition to $36,000 a year
recently promised by the
World Council of
Synagogues. A fund-raising
tour is now being conducted
in the U.S. ministries and
institutions.

Manpower also consti-
tutes a problem. While more
than 80 ordained Conserva-
tive rabbis presently reside
in- Israel, only 10 — all of
them recent immigrants

are employed by the move-
ment, and only five of them
on a full-time basis. "We
must develop a cadre of in-
digenous leaders, of good
consistent rabbinical lead-
ership," observed Rabbi
Moshe Cohen, director of
the United Synagogue of Is-
rael. The movement intends -
to actively attract local
people to the rabbinate and
hopes to eventually open a
local branch of the Jewish
Theological Seminary.

Movement leaders main-
tain that greater under-
standing of the M'sorati
movement must be ex-
hibited by Conservative
Jewry throughout the
world. Pointing to the poor
American resporh: a re-
cent request th _ .;om-
munities abroad adopt
synagogues here, Graetz
notes that more efforts to
educate constituencies
abroad must be made.

David Zucker, interna-
tional president of the
World Council of
Synagogues, has pledged
backing of such an objec-
tive. "We fully support
the M'sorati movement
and its philosophy," he
says.

"And we want this sup-
port to follow the European
conception of kehilla, in
which the Israeli section of
the World Council of
Synagogues will help each
local community to gain
administrative autonomy.