28 Friday, June 29, 1979 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS BAD CHECKS!! DELINQUENT ACCOUNTS!! LET US COLLECT FOR YOU FOX & ASSOCIATES 23777 Greenfield, Suite 277 Southfield, Mich. 48075 1-313-559-9600 Mr. Elias Let the professionals save you time and money on your next new car purchase! BIG DISCOUNTS ON 1980 X Cars NEw CA R fou,0 " ) CHAsEs BROKER PROFEW° (Up to 23°0 discount on new cars.) 968-2360 25900 Greenfield Road. Suite i 39 • Oak Park. Michigan 48237 WORKMEN'S CIRCLE CENTER 26341 COOLIDGE, OAK PARK NOW AVAILABLE FOR RENTALS MEETINGS - PARTIES WILL ACCOMMODATE UP TO 120 PEOPLE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CALL 545-0985 tion;Fri. 9 A.M. to 3 P.M. 559-5206 Evenings & week-ends RICHAR SMITH JUNE 1 st-30th PRINTMAKER- CONSTRUCTIVIST 4 IRVING FELDMAN GALLERIES 24175 Northwestern Hwy, Southfield 10-5 Tues.-Sat. 358-5444 s. • 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.