THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Authors of Anti-Semitic Volume
Lose Libel Suit Against Maariv
JERUSALEM — Former by Maariv's London corre-
British Member of Parlia- spondent, Joe Finkelstein,
ment Christopher Mayhew published in August 1975.
and British journalist
Both men, leading
Michael Adams have lost an
IL500,000 ($20,000). libel members of the Council
suit that they brought for the Advancement of
against the Maariv news- Arab-British Under-
standing (CAABU),
paper in IsraeL
claimed that the article
Maariv had described had severely damaged
their book, "Publish It Not their reputations in
— The Middle East Cover- England.
up," as anti-Semitic and
In a detailed 28-page
i-type propaganda.
judgment in the Jerusalem
The two British writers District court, Judge Yit-
brought their suit following zhak Bazak quoted at
the extremely critical arti- length from the testimony
cle about their book written of historian Dina Goren of
Tel Aviv University, who
said the book expressed
anti-Semitic ideas found in
the classic documents of
anti-Semitism.
The judgment itself con-
tains tabulated compari-
sons of statements taken
from the book itself, with
Hitler's "Mein Kampf' and
from "The Protocols of the
Elders of Zion."
The judge found that the
newspaper was justified in
publishing the article. He
rejected the plaintiffs' as-
sertion that the book was
anti-Zionist without being
anti-Semitic.
Friday, August 24, 1919 13
Annual Dinner of
DETROIT FRIENDS OF
BAR-ILAN UNIVERSITY
Tuesday, September 18 - 6 p.m.
at Congregation Shaarey Zedek
Israeli Architects Look to Mud
As Alternative Building Method
BEERSHEBA — Ar-
chitects at Ben-Gurion
University's Desert Re-
search Institute (Sde Boker
campus) are posing an al-
ternative building tech-
nique for the country which
is as durable, natural and
basic as the earth beneath
one's feet. In fact, the pri-
mary construction material
used is the earth beneath
one's feet; in other words,
mud.
In recent years, the con-
cept of mudbuilding has
bobbed to the surface
periodically, but it never
really became widespread
among the architectural es-
tablishment. Nonetheless,
mud structures have been
designed and built in such
diverse places as the Soviet
Union, Mexico, Great Brit-
ain and the United States.
According to Sde Boker
architect Michael Kaplan,
the project's head, one of the
reasons for mudbuilding's
lack of acceptance among
designers is that it is ver-
nacular architecture. Kap-
lan, a Harvard-trained ar-
chitect who came to the
Negev six years ago and has
beren working at Sde Boker
for the last year, describes
this type of architecture as
"what people build when
left to their own devices."
In ancient Egypt, most
of the official buildings,
such as the Pyramids and
the temples at Karnak,
were made from stone,
which Kaplan readily
admits will last forever.
Ordinary dwellings,
however, were usually
ted from just the
bination of mud
bricks with protective
mud mortar covering
which Kaplan and his
two assistants, Brian
Sa
Auto Teller OKd
JERUSALEM — Finance
Minister Simha Ehrlich has
turned down the proposal by
Agudat Yisrael MK Shlomo
Lorincz, chairman of the
Knesset Finance Commit-
tee, that automatic bank
tellers be closed on the Sab-
bath.
Ehrlich said the auto-
matic tellers are entirely
automatic and do not viol-
ate the law.
Meyerson and Peter
Kiczles, are proposing for
modern-day Israel.
It may not stand as long
and requires more mainte-
nance, but adobe structures
built in Egypt hundreds of
years ago can still be lo-
cated. Also, in our era of in-
creasingly limited re-
sources, mud buildings
have distinct advantages
over reinforced concrete and
are far from being unattrac-
tive.
"Adobe is not energy in-
tensive, like concrete,
which requires sophisti-
cated and expensive
technology for manufac-
ture, transportation and
construction," explains
Kaplan. "And, from the
aesthetic standpoint, there
are some limitations. One
can't, for example, build
high-rise structures from
mud. But, by using the
earth surrounding the
building itself as a vernacu-
lar material, the designer
frees himself from the dic-
tates of modern architec-
ture. Some call is post-
modernism."
By no coincidence, a lead-
ing authority on mudbuild-
ing happens to be Egyptian
architect Hassan Fathi. In
the 1930s, he saw that the
traditional, "correct" hous-
ing theories did not take
into account the functional
and spiritual needs of
Egypt's fellahin. During
that decade, he built his
first adobe villas; by the
1940s, he was designing
entire communities from
mud which are inhabited to
this day. Pictures of them
show sturdy, handsome
buildings which blend or-
ganically into the desert
environment, yet still re-
tain the typical Middle
Eastern flair for archways,
domes and intricate design.
Mudbuilding in Israel,
as well, has something of
a past, albeit on a smaller
scale. In addition to the
Arab constructions dts-
.covered in Gaza, Jericho
and the recently returned
El Arish, the Jewish
Agency and Keren
Kayemet L'Yisrael ap-
proved a few mudbuild-
ing projects in the '50s.
Mostly, they are located
in the Negev where the
drier climate and lack of
adequate building stones
make it a natural site. But
in the coastal plain city of
Rehovot, Kaplan has also
found a large collection
of mud buildings. "It's an
entire neighborhood
made of adobe which has
stood for 80 years," says
Kaplan enthusiastically,
"while nearby concrete
houses are in a state of
collapse."
Ultimately, the Sde
Boker architects hope to
publish information which
will be available to the Is-
raeli laymen, including
both basic technological
know-how on adobe build-
ings and its application to
the local scene.
Kaplan realizes that the
vast majority of Israelis do
not have the time and pa-
tience for such an undertak-
ing. Nonetheless, with its
dramatic savings in con-
struction, heating and cool-
ing costs and its ecological
appeal (and the danger of a
cement shortage such as the
one after the Yom Kippur
War), the idea, he believes,
will catch in the coming
years. He has already re-
ceived mail from Israelis
asking for advice. And all
governmental agencies he
has dealt with regarding
the pioject have also been
encouraging.
"Taking another look at
this old-new technology is a
form of insurance, like
money in the bank," sums
up Kaplan. And that, in-
deed, is exactly what the re-
sults may be for many Is-
raelis, with .a beautiful,
sturdy, ecologically-sound
house thrown into the bar-
gain.
Seek Monument
to Nazi Victims
LOS ANGELES, Calif. —
With the acquisition of the
Pan Pacific property by pub-
lic agencies and its de-
velopment as a 28-acre
regional park, the Ameri-
can Congress of Jews from
Poland and Survivors of
Concentration Camps has
proposed the erection in this
park of a monument to the
six million Jewish victims
of the Holocaust.
ROBERT NAFTALY
EMERY KLEIN
Co-Chairmen Detroit Friends, Bar-Ilan University
Guest Speaker:
DR. EMANUEL RACKMAN
President Bar Ilan University
Ramat Gan, Israel
MISCHA RAITZIN
Guest Artist:
Metropolitan Opera star
BAR-ILAN UNIVERSITY DINNER COMMITTEE
General Dinner Chairmen
Emery I. Klein
Robert H. Naftaly
Max M. Fisher
Irwin I. Cohn
Joseph H. Jackier
Honorary Chairmen
Paul Zuckerman
Honorary Co-Chairmen
Samuel Frankel
Irwin Green
Edward C. Levy
Irving Nusbaum
David B. Hermelin
Max Stollman
Honorary Treasurer - A.J. Cutler
President Women's Division - Mrs. Max Stollman
Detroit Regional Chairman - Dr. Leon Fill
Dinner Committee
Paul Baker
Gustav Berenholz
Allen Charlupski
Susan Citrin
Norman J. Cohen
Avern Cohn
Louis Cooper
Milton Duchan
Alexander Ehrmann
Gary Eisenberg
Leonard R. Farber
Aaron Ginsberg
Gordon Ginsberg
Norman Gordon
Moshe Grossbard
Daniel Honigman
Lawrence Jackier
Robert Kasle
Rabbi Joseph Katz
Judge Ira G. Kaufman
Judge Nathan Kaufman
Bernard Klein
Sol Lessman
Milton J. Miller
David Muskovitz
Mrs. Ben Nosan
Jacob Nosanchuk
Graham Orley
Jerome Pershin
Samuel W. Platt
David Pollack
Harold Provizer
Abraham Ran
Dave Sakwa
Saul Saulson
Mark E. Schlussel
Jane Sherman
Minnie Slobasky
Philip Slomovitz
Harold Soble
0 Jack Solway
Bernard Stollman
Dr. Gerald Stollman
• Dr. Samuel S. Stollman
Harry Zekelman
Scholarship Committee
Dr. Martin Hart
Mrs. Morris Adler
Norman Allan
Morris J. Brandwine
Henry Dorfman
Joseph Fetter
Nathan I. Goldin
Merrill Gordon
Abe Green
Co-Chairmen
Henry P. Lee
Samuel Hechtman
Mrs. Morris Karbal
Thomas Klein
Stephen Lanyi
Max Nosanchuk
I. William Sherr
Peter Weisberg
Phillip Stollman, Chairman
Global Board of Trustees, Bar-Ilan University
Leslie M. Goldstein
Midwest Executive Director, Bar-Ilan University
For Reservations Please Call
Detroit Friends, Bar-Ilan University
23125.Coolidge, Oak Park, Mich. 48237
398-7180