62' friday, *March*
THE DETROIT JEWISH: NEWS
BIO Plans Programs to Further Hebrew Language
By DAVID LANDAU
JERUSALEM (JTA)'-
The Brit Ivrit Olamit
(World Hebrew Union) is a
venerable body in Zionist
public life, with 50 years of
propagating Hebrew cul-
ture to its credit since it was
founded by Chaim Nahman
Bialik, the national board,
in Berlin in 1931.
In the last decade or more,
...i.-)wever, says its recently-
:ppointed chairman, Av-
:larn Shenker, "this dis-
#ii nguished organization
d fallen upon sad days."
creation of the state of
meant that the He-
w. language was sud-
y transformed from a
• ,71.y reawakening con-
ce
culture to
Workaday medium of a
ing sovereign state.
,
Emissary
.\.,SHINGTON
—
s week magazine re-
- that former Senegal
:dent Leopold Sedar
hopes to meet with
)r.:,, sident Ronald Re-
soon as an emissary
:le Palestine Liberation
e,ization.
_der Senghor, Senegal
he first African state to
lly recognize the PLO
Senghor says the PLO
ld be included in Mid-
_:ast peace talks.
The focus in the Diaspora,
moreover, steadily shifted
towards school education
where "Ivrit" was taught as
part of the classroom cur-
riculum. The Hebrew-
speaking circles and other
adult-culture activities of
the union seemed to hark
back to the pre-state period
of Zionism. Now, though,
says Shenker, the Brit Ivrit
Olamit (BIO) is taking a
new lease on life.
In part, the rejuvena-
tion effort is linked to
that inescapable aspect
of Jewish public life;
fund-raising. No longer
will iedepend for its re-
sources solely on the
largess of the Israel
Ministry of Education
and the World Zionist
Organization's Educa-
tion and Culture De-
partment.
Shenker has launched a
"Friends of the BIO" organ-
ization with Israeli indus-
trialist Haim Pollack of
Polgat Industries as its
president.
.
Shenker says his "basic
criticism" of the WZO's
Education and Culture De-
partment is "that it focuses
almost entirely on educa-
tion and hardly at all on cul-
ture." The "Friends of BIO,"
he explains, will enable it to
broaden and deepen its ac-
DID YOU
REMEMBER
AVRAHAM SHENKER
tivities in the fields of He-
brew language and culture
throughout the Diaspora.
The projects which
Shenker proudly outlines
include a prize for "Hebrew
creativity in the Diaspora"
which will serve as a mean-
ingful encouragement to
Hebrew-language authors
and poets living outside of
Israel. It dovetails into the
Suicide Problem
for Jewish Aged
in Miami Area
MIAMI — Elderly Jews
are helping Miami to be-
come the suicide capital of
the U.S.
According to research by
Dr. Janice Goldstein of the
American Jewish Commit-
tee, reported by the Miami
Herald, the national suicide
rate is 11.5 per 100,000. The
Miami rate is 50 per
100,000.
Suicides in predomin-
antly Jewish South Miami
Beach make up 53 percent
of the .Miami total. Some
25.7 percent of the elderly in
South Miami Beach live
alone, and experts believe
the suicide rate is reflective
of the residents' loneliness,
fears of redevelopment tak-
ing their homes, economic
problems, fear of crime and
lack of family and commu-
nity support.
MDA Opens
Metulla Clinic
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ROI MID MR
TEL AVIV — The flags of
Israel, Great Britain and
Lebanon flew together re-
'cently over the border town
of Metulla, to celebrate the
opening there of the new
Magen David Adorn (MDA)
Emergency Medical Clinic.
This northernmost MDA
outpost, which will serve as
an auxiliary station to the
MDA Kiryat Shmona
branch, will concentrate all
medical services to the
population of the entire
area, including residents of
the South Lebanese salient
north of Metulla.
ISO
RAMAT GAN — A chair
for the study of historic
Eretz Yisrael was inaugu-
rated at a recent ceremony
at Bar-Ilan University in
honor of Dr. and Mrs. Irving
Moskowitz. The chair will
undertake research on
Eretz Yisrael within its his-
toric borders, including
Judea, Samaria, the Golan,
and previous Hebrew set-
tlements in Transjordan,
Lebanon and Syria.
effort to increase the
number of contributions by
non-American Hebrew
writers in the BIO's
prestigious quarterly, Bit-
zaron, published in New
York City.
Another project is the
establishment of more
BIO clubs around the
world, particularly in
smaller communities,
where Hebrew is the
focus of study and corn-
munication and adults of
all ages can come reg-
ularly to deepen their
knowledge and interest
in Hebrew culture.
Shenker notes that 18
such clubs already exist in
18 countries.
In Jerusalem, the BIO is
working on new adult edu-
cational material for pro-
grams in these clubs.
The BIO is also active in
supplying Hebrew cultural
material to Jewish com-
munities in Soviet bloc
countries. In addition —
and this is perhaps the most
Organization
Aimed at Yordim
NEW YORK (JNI) —
AYALA, the Hebrew ac-
ronym for "Israeli Citizens
for Returning Home;"
boasts a membership of over
100 families and singles in
the U.S. and 150 Israeli vol-
unteers working to aid the
absorption of returning
emigrants.
The organization gives
advice about jobs and hous-
ing and wants to establish
nucleus settlements in
towns or moshavim to ab-
sorb returnees.
The AYALA contact in
the U.S. is Eitan Rosenberg,
516 W. Cherry Hill Apts.,
Cherry Hill, N.J. 08002.
Havura Parley
Slated for July
NEW YORK = The sec-
ond National Havura
Summer Conference and
Summer Institute will take
place in July under the au-
spices of the National Hav-
ura Coordinating Commit-
tee, whose activities are co-
sponsored by the American
Jewish Committee in coop-
eration with the Radius In-
stitute.
The conference will bring
together members of
Havurot, synagogue-based
communities of JewiSh
learning, fellowship and
prayer, from across the
United States.
Bank Sponsors
NY-Tel Aviv
Art Competition
TEL AVIV — An art
competition for students in
New York and Tel Aviv was
launched recently by Bank
Leumi le-Israel's Hatzav
Youth Club. When the
competition comes to an end
in June, some 200 paintings
by New York school chil-
dren will be exhibited at the
Tel Aviv city hall and a
similar number of works by
Tel Aviv students will ap-
pear on display at Bank
Leuini branches throughout
New York.
publicized aspect of BIO ac-
tivities in recent years — its
Hebrew language aca-
demic seminar at Warsaw
University last year proved
a notable success. Just one
upshot of that unique
gathering of Jewish and
gentile Hebrew scholars
was the plan by Prof. Tilech
of Warsaw University to
bring 10 of his doctoral (He-
brew) students to Israel
next summer for courses at
Hebrew University.
Another outcome is a He-
brew department opening
at the University of
Sarajevo in Yugoslavia, at
the initiative of Prof. Moshe
Werber, a Sarajevo scholar,
who attended the Warsaw
conference. • The conference
was one in a series of bi-
ennial Hebrew study sym-
posia held by the BIO in con-
junction with European
university Hebrew facul-
ties. The next is planned at
the Sorbonne in Paris.
According to Shenker,
"These scientific con-
gresses, bringing to-
gether scholars from
West and East Europe,
have meant among other
things a legitimization of
the Hebrew language in
many Eastern European
countries." He noted that
at the Warsaw meeting
the Polish and Czech
delegations were solidly
gentile.
BIO is now planning to
form an international asso-
ciation of Hebrew language
professors to maintain ties
between Hebrew scholars
around the world on an on-
going basis. •
In the realm of publica:
tion, the BIO's most recent
contribution has been a
one-volume anthology of
Hebrew literature produced
in Moslem countries over
the past century or so. This
work comes as a companion
to the earlier and highly re-
garded BIO anthologies of
Hebrew writing in the
Soviet Union (two volumes)
and Hebrew writing in
America (three volumes.)
Election Polls
TEL AVIV (ZINS) — Ac-
cording to a Jan. 23 poll
conducted by the Hebrew
daily Yediot Ahronot, 41
percent of the public favors
the Labor Alignment, 15
percent favor Likud and 44
percent were undecided.
According to a Dachaf In-
stitute poll, former Defense
Minister Ezer Weizman
could win 15 seats if he
headed a party in the June
30 elections. If he ran with
Moshe Dayan, they could
win 25 seats.
With Weizman running
alone, Labor would win 54
seats, Likud 23 and the Na-
tional Religious Party 8.
Against a Weizman-Dayan
list, Labor would win on'
47 seats, Likud 20 and NIN,
8.
Ancient Homes
Found in Gaza
JERUSALEM — Digging
deep into the dunes in Deir
el-Balah in the Gaza Strip,
Hebrew University ar-
cheologist Prof. Trude
Dothan and her team have
discovered two superim-
posed mud-brick structures
which appear to be the re-
mains of an Egyptian ad-
ministrative center or gar-
rison from the Late Bronze
Age (13th-14th Century
BCE) — the time of the
exodus of the Israelites from
Egypt.
Bnai Mitzva
Parents Class
HOUSTON (JTA) — The
staff of Cong. Beth
Yeshurun, a large Conser-
vative synagogue here, has
decided to hold orientation
courses for parents of Bat
Mitzva and Bar Mitzva can-
didates twice each year, ac-
cording to Rabbi Jack Segal.
The decision was in re-
sponse to a subStantial
attendance by such parents
at an experimental program
in January to meet the prob-
lem that such parents fre-
quently lack sufficient
skills at prayer to partici-
pate in those ceremonies.
Violinist, Composer Benavie
Held Leading Music Posts
Samuel J. Benavie,
former violinist with the
Detroit Symphony Or
chestra and former music
director and composer for
the Jam Handy Organiza-
tion, died March 1. He was
85.
Born in Russia, Mr. Be-
navie was affiliated with
the DSO from 1936 to 1941.
He worked at the Handy
offices from 1938 to 1970.
Mr. Benavie composed
music for General Motors
commercials and for films
used for conventions. He
also composed and arranged
music for Coca Cola filmed
commercials.
He was the conductor
of the Ford Sunday Eve-
ning Hour heard nation-
ally on WJR from 1937 to
1950. He was the music
director of the radio sta-
tion during that time.
He was the musical direc-
tor of the Detroit Philhar-
monic Symphony Orchestra
from 1930 to 1932. Mr. Be-
navie also is the former con-
ductor of the Fisher Thea-
ter, Madison Theater,
Michigan Theater and Cap-
ital Theater. He had headed
the ritual committee at
Cong. Shaarey Zedek.
Mr. Benavie had a long
association with Shaarey
Zedek. He became a
member of the congregation
shortly after his arrival in
Detroit in 1916. Active
congregational affairs,
Benavie was the chairman
of the public relations com-
mittee and as such was re-
sponsible for the production
of the "Sabbath at Home"
recording.
He leaves his wife, Golda;
two sons. Jerold J. of Harri-
son, N.Y., and Arthur of
Chapel Hill, N.C.; three
brothers and one sister in
Israel.