8 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, August 24, 1919 First Woman Presiding Rabbi May Spur Similar Appointments Disco Parties by L, L. uitc Dan Sandberg 353 6699 - NEW YORK — The ap- pointment of Rabbi Linda Joy Holtzman, a graduate of the Reconstructionist school, as rabbi of Cong. CRAFTSMANSHIP INTEGRITY QUALITY Creative Jenelers 29173 Northwestern Hwy. r Southfield, MI 48034 : (313) 356-2525 Beth Israel in Coatesville, Pa., may spur other congre- gations to name women as presiding rabbis. Rabbi Wolfe Kelman, executive vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly, called her appointment "an historical breakthrough and simply fantastic. "The real significance," he said, "is that many con- gregations have been lean- ing toward appointing a woman, and have been re- luctant to be the first, will be encouraged to do likewise." Although the congreg- ants in Coatesville, a town of 15,000 people 40 miles west of Philadel- phia, broke new ground by picking a woman rabbi, their appointment of a non-Conservative rabbi was not unusual. Owing in part to a shor- Treasured Gifts Take Time "Give the Gift of Love" Family Portraits photoqraphq inc• There is a Difference Southfield at 13 Mile 646-8484 RABBI HOLTZMAN tage of Conservative rabbis, 20 percent of the pulpits in Conservative synagogues are occupied by non-Conservative rabbis. Another woman rabbi, Sandy Sasso, now serves as co-rabbi with her husband in a Conservative synagogue, Beth El Zedeck, in Indianapolis. But Rabbi Holtzman is the first woman to head a congrega- tion. Reconstructionism, founded earlier in the cen- tury by Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, a professor at Jewish Theological Semi- nary, defines Judaism as a "civilization," composed of language, custom and cul- ture, and not primarily as a religion. Rabbi Holtzman, follow- ing the prevailing thought of the movement, rejects the idea that the Torah was di- vinely revealed and dismis- ses traditional concepts of God. But she says she believes in a "divine force," and that she believes her congreg- ants should have the "op- tion to choose" traditional or nontraditional ideas. This Is For Someone We Love Far Away :Even though each of us has gone a separate way. We wanted to get together here to say M You're the greatest Have a special day! Your 4 children think There's no Mother greater Than our beautiful, dynamic and sweet ROSE RADER HAPPY 60th LYNNE, RONNIE, DONNA & RICKY Tel Aviv Reaches Milestone By MOSHE RON The Jewish News Special Israel Correspondent TEL AVIV — Hebrew writer Jacob Hurgin still remembers the first days of Tel Aviv, which was founded 70 years ago. "I was a small, barefoot boy running on the hot sand," Hurgin told us. "We were living in a suburb on the frontier of Jaffa when the news was spread that 52 `crazy men,' headed by Akiva Weiss, had decided to build a Jewish city on the sands, where today the biggest luxury hotels are standing." It was then an audacious step to leave Jaffa and settle in the "desert." Parents were afraid to send their children because rumors were spread that Arab chil- dren were torn by wild be- asts. Forty years ago, I spoke with the late Mayor Israel Rokach, whose family was among the founders and buil- ders of Tel Aviv. Rokach proposed that I visit the institutions which the Tel Aviv municipality had built for immigrants from Poland, and publish arti- cles in Yiddish newspap- ers in Poland in order to encourage immigration to Tel Aviv." He dreamt about Tel Aviv turning in to a world re- knowned modern sea resort. He intended to build a broad beach, modern hotels, rec- reation centers, swimming pools, etc. Some owners of houses on the beach protested against the plan. The Mandatory Government and the Municipal Council sup- ported the plan. Its execu- tion would create massive employment. Israel Town Gets 2 Buffalo From Sister City WASHINGTON (JTA) — After six months delay due to snow storms, air line strikes and the DC-10 groundings, the Israeli town of Kiryat Gat, a com- munity of 29,000, will be presented with two Ameri- can buffalos this month. The pair are a gift from Kiryat Gat's sister city, Buf- falo, N.Y. They will be air lifted from Colorado to Chicago by United Airlines and then flown via El Al to Israel. The buffalos, the first in the Middle East, will be housed in the National Bi- blical Zoo in Jerusalem where special facilities have been constructed for their display and eventual breed- ing. The animals were supplied by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Buffalo and Kiryat Gat became sister cities in 1974 through the auspices of Sis- ter Cities International, a nonprofit organization with headquarters in Washing- ton, D.C. which currently links 675 U.S. cities with some 900 communities abroad. Forty years after its birth, there were 80,000 Jews in Tel Aviv. Today, there are more than 350,000. The center of Tel Aviv, then, was situated on Nachmani, Rothschild Blvd. and Ahad Haam streets. This was es- tablished by Polish Jews coming with the Fourth Aliya. Ten years later, the Ger- mans built the Ben Yehuda St. and people mo'ced to the north of the city, to Dizen- goff, Keren Kayemet Teines, Gordon, Frishmai. and Arlozorow streets. Later, sections like Pin- tas, Remes, Epstein, Weiz- man, Jabotinsky, Helsinki and Bloch streets were built. Tel Aviv is today the cultural center of Israel. It has the Mann Au- ditorium, the Habima Theater, the Kameri The- ater, municipal museums and libraries, a soldiers house and headquarters for journalists. Israel's major newspapers and political parties are based in Tel Aviv, along with cultural and educa- tional centers. Jewish Detectives Fired for Religion NEWARK, N.J. (JTA) — Former Union County Pro- secutor Edward McGrath and Roy Earlman, the pre- sent chief of detectives, are charged in federal lawsuits filed ehre with illegally fir- ing two investigators be- cause they are Jewish. McGrath currently is a Superior Court judge in Elizabeth. The suits, brought by Robert Goldberg and Richard Yontef, charge that both were fired solely be- cause of their religion. This contention was supported by the U.S. Equal Employ- ment Opportunity Commis- sion and the Anti- Defamation League of Bnai Brith. New Chariman of Moscow Jewry ELIZABETH, N.J. (JTA) — Rabbi Pinchas Teitz said here he has been informed by the Moscow Jewish community leadership that Boris Michaelowitz Gram was appointed to replace Yaakov Mikenberg as chairman of the Moscow Synagogue. Gram, 34, is the younger person ever to serve in that post, Teitz said. He is also the first chairman to have been raised and educated under the Soviet regime. Gram studied for two and one-half years at the Mos-' cow Yeshiva before getting his appointment, Teitz said. Philip Moses Russell, surgeon's mate to the Sec- ond Virginia Regiment, also served the sick and wounded at Valley Forge, 1777-1778. Illness forced him to resign in 1780, but General Washington com- mended his "faithful atten- tion to the sick and wounded."