64
Friday, June 15, 1919
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Boris Smolar's
`Between You
.. and Me'
Editor-in-Chief
Emeritus, JTA
(Copyright 1979, JTA, Inc.)
WEILER AT 75: Don't look for the age of Jack D. Weiler
—the noted Jewish communal leader and philanthropist—
in the Jewish "Who's Who." You will not find it there.
Unlike others, his biographical data is modestly limited to
six lines. It is very far from giving a full picture of the wide
range of his impressive philanthropic activities and his
deep interest in Jewish causes.
His age has now been "discovered" by the Joint Distri-
bution Committee, of which he is chairman of the board,
after completing his term as president.
He reached 75 on May 30.
With his birthday no longer a secret, the JDC leader-
ship decided to surprise him with a birthday gift, an elegant
collection box of brass, embossed with the word "Tzedaka"
in modern Hebrew letters. "Tzedaka" is the best char-
acterization of Weiler.
A TALE OF NOSTALGIA: In one of his relaxed
moods, Weiler confided to me years ago the "secret" of what
inspired him to dedicate himself to philanthropic activities.
spoke of his childhood and his mother. "I inherited the
tradition of giving from my, mother," he said emotionally.
He then told me of the
atmosphere of poverty in
which he was raised as a
child. "There were many
times when we had no
money for the gaslight," he
related," "but the house was
nevertheless full of 'push-
kes.' There was the Jewish
National Fund, the tradi-
tional Reb and Meir-Ball-
Haness pushke, those of
various yeshivot and in-
stitutions for the aged, the
WEILER
blind and the sick. "Every Friday, before blessing the Sab-
bath candles, my mother used to move from (pushke' and
deposit a coin or two in each of them. We were short in
money on other necessities but my mother always managed
to find coins for her Friday deposits in the charity pushkes."
Today it is not a question with him of putting small
change in charity pushkes but of donating hundreds of
thousands of dollars year after year, reaching into millions.
He enjoys a worldwide reputation among Jews as one of the
greatest philanthropists of our times. He is also active in
stimulating others to give generously.
AN ENVIABLE RECORD: For more than a quarter
of a century Weiler has been one of the top leaders of the
JDC and a national chairman of the UJA. He is a top leader
of the Israel Bond Organization and treasurer of the United
Israel Appeal. Long active in the New York Federation of
Jewish Philanthropies, he served as its vice chairman
He is one of the founders of the Albert Einstein College
of Medicine and served as chairman of its board of over-
seers. He takes an active interest in Yeshiva University
which bestowed an honorary doctorate upon him. He is a
member of the boards of trustees and directors of the
Jewish Theological Seminary. He serves on the boards of
the American Committee of the Weizmann Institute, of the
American Friends of the Hebrew University, of the Israel
Education Fund, Montefiore Hospital and Medical Center,
and honorary president of the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital. He
is chairman of the New York Board of Rabbis' Lay Advisory
Council, and a leading member of five Conservative
synagogues in New York, New Rochelle and White Plains.
His interest in Israel expresses itself not only in being
active in various groups in this country for Israel, but also
in being a board member of the Jewish Agency in Israel. He
is chairman of the Jewish Agency's Housing Committee
which built more than 12,000 housing units for over 50,000
new immigrants at a cost of $60 million. He is also chair-
man of the Jewish Agency's committee in New York which
is in control of campaigns for the state of Israel. He is
honorary chairman of the Jewish National Fund.
JTA News Agency Elects New Officers
NEW YORK (JTA) —
Robert H. Arnow, chairman
of the executive committee
of the Jewish Telegraphic
Agency, announced that
Martin S. Fox of Newark,
N.J., has been elected
president of the JTA and
will take office today. Fox
succeeds William M.
Landau who has been
president since 1973.
The announcement by
Arnow came last week at
- the annual meeting of the
board of directors of the
worldwide agency that
gathers and distributes
news and information con-
cerning the Jewish people
world over.
Fox, a graduate of
Amherst College and Har-
vard Law School, has prac-
ticed law in Newark as a
partner in Fox and Fox
since his graduation from
Harvard in 1949. A native
of Newark, Fox was
president of the Jewish
Community Federation of
Metropolitan New Jersey
and a United Jewish Appeal
campaign chairman. He
was also on the board of the
Council of Jewish Federa-
tions.
Presently, Fox is on the
board of HIAS and the
Jewish News of Metropoli-
tan New Jersey. He served
for 10 years as a member of
the New Jersey State Board
of Education and is a
member of the board of di-
rectors of the Northern
Energy Corp. by appoint-
ment of the governor of New
Jersey.
Other officers elected
were: William M. Landau
of New York, JTA board
chairman; Robert H.
Arnow of New York,
chairman of the execu-
tive committee; Raymond
Epstein of Chicago,
Philip Slomovitz of De-
MARTIN FOX
ROBERT ARNOW
troit, Melvin M. Swig of
San Francisco and Mar-
shall Weinberg of New
York, vice presidents;
Julius Berman of New
York, secretary; and Ab-
raham Goodman of
Kearny, N.J., treasurer.
Foundation for Jewish Cul-
ture and a member of the
Large City Budgeting Con-
ference of the Council of
Jewish Federations.
Levinson, a senior
partner of the law firm of
Levinson & Lieberman
Inc., is the national
chairman of the Commu-
nity Service Division of
the Anti-Defamation
League and previously
served- as the national
chairman of the ADL's
Latin American Affairs
Division. He is now na-
tional chairman of the
National Conference on
Soviet Jewry and a
member of the board of
directors of the Jewish
Federation Council of
Greater Los Angeles.
Pollack is a member of the
World Zionist Organization
Executive, the Jewish
Agency board of governors,
and a director of the United
Israel Appeal. He has
taught at Brooklyn College,
the University of
Pittsburgh and Yeshiva
University. Long active in
Jewish communal affairs,
he is a member of the execu-
tive committee of the
United Jewish Appeal and
was recently elected
president of the Labor
Arnow also announced
the election of six new board
members. They are: Jack
Geldbart of Atlanta, Ga.;
Joseph D. Hurwitz of
Hartford, Conn.; Burton S.
Levinson of Los Angeles,
Calif.; Prof. Allen Pollack of
New York; Fred K. Shochet
of Miami, Fla.; and Dr. Gene
Sosin of New York.
Geldbart is former editor
and publisher of the South-
ern Jsraelite and a board
member of the Jewish Wel-
fare Federation of Atlanta,
the Jewish Community
Center of Atlanta and the
Anti-Defamation League of
Bnai Brith.
Hurwitz is president of
the Hartford Jewish Com-
munity Center and a direc-
tor of the Greater Hartford
Jewish Federation. Born in
Hartford, he graduated
Trinity College and Har-
vard Law School and is a
partner in a Hartford law
firm. He is also a director of
the National Jewish Wel-
fare Board, the National
.
WILLIAM LANDAU
Zionists.
Shochet is editor and
publisher of the Jewish
Floridian Newspapers. He
is a member of Bnai Brith,
ADL, World Federation of
Jewish Journalists, a past
president of the American
Association of English-
Jewish Newspapers, and a
founder of Mt. Sinai Hospi-
tal in Miami. He is also a
director of the Greater
Miami Jewish Federation,
Jewish Community Centers
and the Zionist Organiza-
tion of America.
Sosin is director of pro-
gram planning of Radio
Free Europe. A graduate of
Columbia College, he has
devoted the last 25 years to
work in the field ofinterna-
tional radio communica-
tions and is also a vice
president of the New York
Association for New Ameri-
cans (NYANA).
As president of the JTA,
Martin Fox will be the top
lay officer of a news service
operating in more than 30
countries and transmitting
more than 10,000 words of
news each day. The JTA
serves 85 newspapers in the
U.S. and Canada and scores
more around the world with
a total readership of more
than one million.
Arabs and Jews Do Business in Jerusalem
By JOEL WEINER
watermelon vendors
JERUSALEM — It is from East and West
summertime. Opposite the Jerusalem started to set
Damascus Gate leading into up kiosks on the empty
the walled Old City, a patch land," recalls Aaron
of former no-man's land is Sang, Mayor Teddy Kol-
alive with the sounds of lek's special adviser on
Arab affairs.
healthy commerce.
"Pretty soon, there were
Business is lively in what
some city residents call fistfights and, on one occa-
"Watermelon Square" — sion, a fire as both sides vied
the location of several de- for control of the strategic
pots which sell the popular site. But they managed to
Middle Eastern fruit. sort things out themselves
Today, several years after and now some of the stalls
becoming a Jerusalem are even operated on a
landmark, this somewhat partnership basis. Coopera-
unimpressive plot stands as tion, they found, was in
a symbol of Jewish-Arab their mutual interest."
Actually, joint ventures
understanding. For it is
here that, left to their own between Jerusalem's Arabs
devices, both people reached and Jews are more common
accommodation and do than one would imagine.
Several of Israel's capital's
business together.
"After the reunifica- finest restaurants — includ-
tion of the city in 1967, ing the two leading fish
houses — are owned by
partners from both sides of
the city. Many auto repair
shops are also shared
enterprises of this sort, and
other business fields feature
partnerships, too.
In fact, ever since the
barbed wire and barricades
that divided Jerusalem
were pulled down in the
Six-Day War 12 years ago,
Arab and Jewish residents
of the united city have ac-
commodated themselves to
each other quite well.
It would be an exaggera-
tion, of course, to suggest
that close, personal friend-
ships between families of
both cultures is a way of life
in Israel's capital. Never-
theless, the number of indi-
vidual cases has been in-
creasing to such an extent_
that a definite trend is evi-
dent.
More clearcut at this
stage is the widespread in-
teraction that exists in the
field of commerce and in-
dustry. More than 6,000
Arab workers from East
Jerusalem are now em-
ployed in a variety of sectors
in Jewish West Jerusalem,
and all of them are full
members of the Histadrut
Labor Federation, Israel's
largest trade union.
"That means they get the
same wages, benefits and
working conditions as their
Jewish colleagues," ex-
plains Shlomo Shoshani, di-
rector of the Jerusalem
Labor Council's Arab de-
partment. "We've also
managed to get one major
collective agreement for 170
of our Arab members em-
ployed at a leading East
Jerusalem hotel, and we
actively represent about
400 other individuals in
different places of work in
the Old City."
Sub-contracting is an-
other cooperative field. Any
visitor to East Jerusalem is
astounded, for example,
the extent of the shoe
dustry.
Trade works in the
other direction, too. A
vast number of Arab
merchants are agents for
Jewish-made products
including clothing, food,
household items and
even kibutz-grown flow-
ers. Virtually all the milk
and cheese sold in the
Arab market, for exam-
ple, comes from dairies in
West Jerusalem.
Thus, non-observant
Jews who want to shop on
Saturday, the Jewish Sab-
bath, head for the city's
eastern section where they
find familiar merchandise.
During the week, many
Jewish grocers buy their
fruit and vegetable supplies
from Arab wholesalers.
.