THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Brazil Boasts Vibrant, Diverse Jewish Community

By BEN FRANK

RIO DE JANIERO (JTA)
— The Jewish community
in Brazil, which is the fifth
largest nation in the world,
is a vibrant and diverse one.
There are nearly 160,000
Jews in an overall popula-
tion of some 120 million.
The community is not
without its problems of as-
similation and intermar-
riage and is hardly known
by North Americans living
an overnight flight away.
There are about a half-
i zen Jewish day schools in
o attended by a substan-
. 1 proportion of this city's
children. Frequently,
Jewish boys and girls can be
seen walking proudly to
school with emblems in He-
brew announcing their "col-
egio."
, The city of Sao Paulo,
with a population equiv-
alent of that of New York,
has about 75,000 Jews,
several kosher restau-
rants, the huge Hebraica
community center and
club; more than a dozen
synagogues and 60
Jewish organizations.

ii

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There is even a Beit
Chabad located on a
street in which the
municipality changed the
name to read "Rua
Chabad." And Sao Paulo,
too, has its Lubavitch
"Mitzva Tank," similar to
the one in New York.
Jews have reached high
positions in the life of this
nation. The present mayor
of Rio, Israel Klabin, is
Jewish. Born in Brazil, he is
well-liked, a businessman
who is an intellectual,
proud of his heritage, and
who with dignity stood up to
foreign Arab officials who
had refused to "meet with
him.
One of the most oustand-
ing Jews of Brazil is Adol-
pho Bloch, president of
Bloch Editores, the largest
publishing and printing
company in Brazil. Bloch
likes to relate how his fam-
ily — on their *ay to the
U.S. — intended to stay
here for only a year, and
remained for nearly 60.
Another distinguished
Brazilian Jew is Hans
Stern, president of H. Stern

Jewelers, who came to
Brazil with a penniless fam-
ily fleeing from Nazi Ger-
many, but built an interna-
tional jewelry concern.
As Stern noted in an
interview, there are Jews
everywhere in this coun-
try. Jews move freely in
all walks of life, in all pro-
fessions, in culture as
well as commerce, indus-
try and government, in
real estate and construc-
tion, tourism and the
military.
They are middle class,
educated and professional,
and many of their families
have been here for centuries
(the first Jew to land in the
U.S. came from Brazil).
They are fourth and fifth
generation Jews of Sephar-
dic descent who manage fac-
tories and hydro-electric
dams to power industry in
Manaus, capital of the state
of Amazonas and located
1,500 miles up the Amazon
in the heart of the jungle.
In Salvador, one of the
continent's oldest cities,
there is a synagogue and
community center.

Back to Normal' for Israeli Athletic Teams

By HASKELL COHEN
(Copyright 1980, JTA, Inc.)

_Cr

TEL AVIV — Now that
the decision has been ren-
dered concerning Israel's
non-participation in the
Moscow Olympics, the
sports authorities are pre-
paring for the fall season of
league play both in soccer
and basketball.
Several basketball team
leaders have sent emis-
saries to the United States
to seek Jewish players who
would be willing to make
aliya to the Holy Land.
There is a representative of
Maccabi Haifa in the States
and several other teams
have established scouting
systems whereby they em-
ploy, just like the NBA and
other professional leagues,
scouts to ferret out Jewish
players who might be in-
terested in settling here as
dual citizens.
Jerusalem's Betar soccer
team, a strong contender
every winter and fall for na-
tional and international
honors, has been forced, by
virtue of a poor record, into
the second division. It will
appear strange, next sea-
son, not to see such famous
players as Malmillion and
Neuman, two men who have
played for the National
Team time and time again,
displaying their wares on
the soccer pitch on a second
division club.
of Israel's top soc-
players, Moshe
Gariano, of the Maccabi
Natanya club has been
sold for 40,000 English
Pounds to the Brighton
and Dover team of the
English first division
league. The understand-
ing is that Gariano will be
made available to the Is-
rael National Team every
time they compete in
World Cup competition.
Meanwhile, Avi Cohen,
who was rated the number
one player last year in the
Israel National League, has

t, er

.

returned from Liverpool
where he played all year, to
join up with the National
Team which will start its
World Cup elimination
trials in the game against
Sweden slated for June 19
in Stockholm.
One of the smaller teams
in the top division here,
Yehud Hapoel, playing in a
suburb of Tel Aviv is
scheduled to come to the
United States the latter

part of June and will play a
total of six games with pro-
fessional teams from the
American Soccer League
and possibly with one team
in the North American Soc-
cer League. The Mayor of
Yehud is a red hot fan and
overcame a lot of opposition
in order to get permission
for his club to come to the
States.

Let The

It is spectacular Rio de
Janeiro, however, with
60,000 Jews, where one
really finds a Jewish
presence — in the
synagogues, the clubs, the
streets named after Herzl
and Ben-Gurion, and a
school called "Es,pola
Municipal Ana Frank."
The Jews of Brazil are
playing an important part
in this ebullient nation.

Jordan Raider
Manager

Friday, June 20, 1980 11

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Water Shortfall

JERUSALEM (ZINS) —
Water resources expert
Meir Ben-Meir sayg Israel is
facing a deficit of five billion
cubic meters of water each
year and all sources have
been tapped beyond their
capacity.
He said that more water
could be recovered from
natural rainfall and new
underground sources de-
veloped, but a shortfall of a
minimum of 200 million
cubic meters will continue
to exist.
He said development of
water resources must be
given the highest priority.

Nixon Assesses

IDF Capability

NEW YORK (ZINS) —
According to former
President Richard Nixon,
writing in his book, "The
Real War," Israel is capable
of defending herself in the
event that all of the Arab
states, including Egypt, at-
tacked her.
He wrote, however, that
Israel is not capable of car-
rying out large-scale mili-
tary operatiOns in the Per-
sian Gulf area, away from
her own borders.

The Druze population in
Israel numbers about
47,300 and has the status of
a self-governing religious
community with its own
spiritual leadership and
religious courts of law.

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