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Friday, June 29, 1979

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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• V11,11••

.11, • P. .0,7

Ben-Yehuda: Founder
of Modern Hebrew

By DULCY LEIBLER
Have you ever had the
urge to learn Hebrew? Do
you identify the language
with Zionism and the state
of Israel? Does the modern
revival of this ancient
tongue mean anything to
you?
Most of us would answer
in the affirmative, without
much hesitation. But 100
years ago, when Eliezer
Ben-Yehuda (1857-1922)
began publishing his
theories, they were consid-
ered quite revolutionary.
Even his fellow Zionists
found them difficult to ac-
cept at first.
Ben-Yehuda, impressed
by the struggles of the Bal-
kan peoplee for freedom
from the Turks (1877-1878),
took up the Jewish cause,
maintaining that the
Jewish people, like all other
peoples, had a historic land
and a historic language.
Ben-Yehuda studied
medicine in Paris, hoping
to work as a doctor in
Eretz Israel. However,
when he -contracted
tuberculosis, he was
forced to abandon this
plan.
While hospitalized in
Paris, he met A.M. Lunti, a
scholar from Jerusalem,
who told him about the
many and varied ethnic
groups which made up the
Jewish community in the
Holy City.
When he heard that many
members of this community
were able to converse with
one another only in Hebrew,
Ben-Yehuda became more
and more convinced that if
the Jews were to become a
united people in their own
land, they had to revive He-
brew and make it their spo-
ken tongue.

And that is just what he
did, when he finally made
his way to Eretz Israel in
1881. His household became
the first Hebrew-speaking
home. His son was the first
child who spoke Hebrew as
a native tongue.
While he had a small
group of followers, Ben-
Yehuda also met with
much resistance. Ini-
tially, he was attracted to
the religious community,
since its members could
read and write Hebrew
with ease. However, he
soon turned against them
when their belief in the
sanctity of the language
prevented them from

Tax Commission
Cracks Down
on Israeli Arabs

JERUSALEM (JTA) —
Israel's Income Tax Cony
mission has begun 'a
crackdown on Israeli Arabs
whose rate of tax evasion, it
claims, is much higher than
in the Jewish population.
Dozens of tax collectors,
escorted by teams of police,
moved from village to vil-
lage questioning Arabs sus-
pected of non-payment of
taxes. A number of private
vehicles were confiscated.

v. .

IC 11

*.11 . • • • 2. ANS

ELIEZER BEN-YEHUDA
agreeing to speak it.
By the end of 1884 Ben-
Yehuda founded a weekly
Hebrew paper, "HaTzvi,"
which later became a bi-
weekly, called "Ha'Or." He
used his periodicals to
champion agricultural
labor, settlement of the
land, and above all, the re-
vival of spoken Hebrew.
The Hebrew Language
Academy founded by the
government of Israel in
1953 had its origins in the
Hebrew Language Council,
which Ben-Yehuda helped
form in 1889.
While some of the great
Zionist leaders, including
Herzl, envisaged a Jewish
homeland without an ac-
companying Hebrew lan-
guage, Ben-Yehuda never
let up in his fight for its re-
vival.

Aliyah Officer
Aids Immigrants

NEW YORK — In a cur-
rent revision of the Aliyah
Department's organiza-
tional structure a new om-
budsman has been ap-
pointed head of the special
section handling individual
problems of adjusting to life
in Israel.
David Ariav, a 10-year
veteran of service with the
Jewish Agency has been
placed in charge of the
15-man unit handling per-
sonal queries by new im-
migrants.
Among the problems
enumerated by Ariav is the
difficulty in obtaining suit-
able housing, the need to ob-
tain local recognition of
foreign professional certifi-
cates, lack of adequate in-
formation on opportunities
and rights in Israel, confu-
sion over Israel's bureauc-
ratic structure and family
tensions due to adjustment
to a new cultural environ-
ment.

Forster in Firm

NEW YORK Arnold
Forster, who retired re-
cently as associate director
of the Anti-Defamation
League of Bnai Brith, has
joined the New York law
firm of Shea Gould
Climenko & Casey.

Board Member

CINCINNATI — Irving
L. Goldman has been named
to the board of overseers of
the Cincinnati School of
Hebrew Union College -
Jewish Institute of Reli-
gion.
t .1

Knesset Urges Continuation
of Prosecution of Nazis

JERUSALEM (JTA) —
The Knesset called on the
West German government
and the Bundestag to
abolish the statute of limi-
tations on prosecuting Nazi
criminals and see that all
are brought to trial.
In Bonn, the Bundestag's
momentous debate over the
extension of the statute of
limitations for the prosecu-
tion of Nazi war criminals is
nearing a climax with sup-
porters demanding an early
decision and opponents
pressing a s'tring of pro-
posals that could, in effect,
allow most Nazis still at
large to go scot-free.
Herbert Wehner, the So-
cial Democratic Party floor
leader, has urged that a vote
be taken before parliament
recesses for the summer in
mid-July. The statute is due
to expire on Dec. 31 unless
extended or abolished.
"This is a burning issue
which must be settled at
the soonest," he said, not-
ing that "the discussions
are now in a critical ph-
ase. We must have a clear
decision and I won't
tolerate any tricks and
maneuvers to postpone it
any longer. And I reject
attempts to reverse the
basic intentions of the
law," Wehner said.
Former Justice Minister
Gerhard Jahn, deputy
chairman of the Social
Democratic Party, sup-
ported Wehner. He noted
that "certain Bonn par-
liamentarians" are trying
to "push through special
regulations for criminals
who committed crimes dur-
ing the Nazi time."
He was referring to a
series of proposals by the
opposition Christian Demo-
cratic Party including one
that "minor Nazi criminals"
should be exempt from
prosecution "if the accused
was in a subordinate posi-
tion and carried out orders."
Another proposal by the
Christian Democrats' legal
adviser, Benno Ehrhard,
would drop cases where the
"moral and social behavior
of the accused permits the
conclusion that he won't
commit any more crimes."
That was not supported by
the opposition party, how-
ever, and is given little
chance of acceptance.
Wehner characterized
the various opposition
proposals as tantamount
to "a sort of amnesty."
Nevertheless, there ap-
pears
- to be a considera-
ble number of Bundestag
deputies who prefer to
allow the statute of limi-
tations — extended twice
in the past 20 years — to
expire, thereby confer-
ring immunity on war
criminals whose where-
abouts are presently un-
known.
Wehner said he was as-
tonished that such senti-
ments should exist "in a
country where a growing
•number of books and re-
cords demand tough
counter-action before a
threat materializes."
Heinz Galiriski, chair-

w

man of West Berlin's Jewish
community, said he sus-
pected the Ehrhard pro-
posal was intended to rele-
gate Nazi war crimes to the
category of "trifles and
petty cases."
He said that gave rise to
fear that the effort to con-
tinue the prosecution of
Nazi criminals may not
command a parliamentary
majority.
In Jerusalem, Justice
Minister Shmuel Tamir
said that Israel would con-
tinue to make every possi-
ble effort to bring Nazi war
criminal Gustav Wagner to
trial despite the Brazilian
Supreme Court's rejection
of extradition requests from
four countries, including Is-
rael.
Wagner, held respon-
sible for the deaths of
more than 250,000 Jews
in the Sobibor and Treb-
linka concentration
camps in Poland, found a
haven in Brazil after
World War II.
He is wanted in West
Germany, Austria, Poland
and Israel. Brazil's highest
court rejected Israel's re-
quest on grounds that it did
not exist at the time the
crimes were committed.
Wagner has been under
arrest in Brazil since he was
detected there last year, but
confined to a hospital for the
mentally ill. Tamir said Is-
rael is consulting with itk
legal counsellor in Brazil to
see what further measures
can be taken to extradite
him.
Meanwhile, Wagner
made it clear that his major -
regret was that Germany
had lost the war.
In Bonn, the public
prosecutor in Baden-
Baden, Bavaria, formally
opened proceedings
against a fugitive Nazi
war criminal whose
whereabouts have been
unknown since he disap-
peared 17 years ago to
avoid arrest.
The defendant, Dr.
Aribert Heim, "is accused of
the murder of an unknown
number of Jewish concen-
tration camp inmates at
Mauthausen," Chief Pro-
secutor Hehling Von Lan-
zenauer said.
He said "their death fol-
lowed injections" allegedly
administered by Heim.
Heim vanished in 1962 and
there has been no trace of
hiin or any "hot lead" Von
Lanzenauer said at a press
conference.
In Rome, Joseph
Oberhauser, a former SS
officer wanted in Italy for
mass murders committed
during World War II,
enjoys full freedom in
West Germany where, at
age 65, he dispenses beer
at the Zuni Franziskaner
restaurant in Munich, it
was reported here in Il
Messagero.
Oberhauser is held re-
sponsible for the slaughter
of about 750,000 persons,
including 5,000 Italian and
Yugoslavian Jews and par-
tisans in Italy's only con-
centration camp, San Saba
in Trieste.