THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
62 Friday, July 31, 1981
Israel Energy Research at Full Speed
to Meet the Country's Increasing Demand
By ILAN SEIDNER
JERUSALEM — As all
signs point to the energy
crisis worsening in the next
decade, the search for new
energy sources and alterna-
tive forms of power becomes
a global matter.
Today, Israel receives 98
percent of its primary
energy from petroleum. The
bulk of that, about 35 per-
cent, goes to powering the
gigantic turbines that gen-
erate Israel's electricity.
Gasoline for vehicles ac-
counts for 10 percent of the
country's oil use, while the
remainder is consumed by
the petro-chemical indus-
tries, the military, and for
home and industrial heat-
ing.
'Israel's vulnerability to
oil embargoes and higher-
than-average world prices
for the black gold has been
accentuated by the Iranian
revolution. About 1/3 of Is-
rael's current petroleum
supply is furnished by
Mexico at premium prices.
Now that the Sinai
fields have been re-
turned, the rest of the
country's seven million
ton annual demand is
made up through long
term contracts with
suppliers around the
world and purchases
r
-
made on the Rotterdam
spot market, where
prices have been known
to reach $40 a barrel for
the best grade crude.
In order to cut back on the
almost total dependency of
imported oil, Israel's De-
partment of Energy and In-
frastructure (DOE&I) has
been actively seeking out
alternate sources of power.
"The most readily avail-
able and safest source for
the near future is coal,"
exclaimed Shaul Galai,
press officer for the DOE&I.
"The nearly completed
Hadera power plant is to be
operated in 1981 by burning
coal. This will provide up to
70 percent of the primary
energy sources for electric-
ity production by the end of
the 1980s. There will be
subsequent reduction of Is-
rael's oil needs by 20-40 per-
cent."
Though ecologists are
doubtful, coal is considered
a 'safer and more reliable
source of raw energy and its
replacement value for oil is
great; but it is only one of
the alternative forms being
investigated.
An exciting new possi-
bility is the extraction
and use of shale oil. Dr.
Arthur Shavit, DOE&I's
director of research and
development, explained
that-there are "a few bil-
--
.
World Zionist
Press Service
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1 75 1 5 W. 9 Mile Rd.
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WE'VE Jar
From
lion tons of raw shale oil
which have been dis-
covered so far and by the
1990s it could provide
nearly 30 percent of Is-
rael's energy require-
ments."
Pulling out a map of Is-
rael he pointed to two areas
near the Negev city of Di-
mona where large deposits
are known to exist, while
the Hartuv hills between
Jerusalem and Beit
Shemesh and the Sharon
coastal plain contain sig-
nificant deposits.
Part of the problem in
utilizing these discoveries
has been the relatively high
cost of retrieval, the
environmental damage that
results, and the amount of
water required, "about a
barrel of water for a barrel
of oil," said Shavit.- Haifa
Technion scientists have
been working on ways to cut
down on expenses and to de-
velop procegses that leave
the environment relatively
unscathed.
Solar energy is also being
touted as a serious substi-
tute for fossil fuels. The
DOE&I is proud of the fact
that Israel leads the world
in the immediate applica-
tion of sophisticated solar
power systems. Thirty per-
cent of the country's domes-
tic water heating, plainly
evidenced by the ubiquitous .
tanks and sun heaters that
dominate its urban skyline,
comes from this energy. By
the 1990s this figure is ex-
pected to climb to 80 per-
cent.
Another plan is the
construction of solar
ponds, for the generation
of heat that can be used to
power electricity-
producing turbines as
well as temperature con-
trol systems. Solar ponds
operate on the principal
of carefully designed
shallow pools that con-
sist of a layer of saline
water on the bottom and
fresh water on the top.
The sun heats the heavier
bottom layer to the boil-
ing point and because of
the chemical arrange-
ment of_ the ponds, the
heat is not diffused to the
surface. It can then be
siphoned off.
Until recently the high
costs entailed in building
solar ponds and extracting
that energy, mainly the
price of land needed to
create large pools, has pre-
vented its utilization on a
wide scale. Now, a 200-room
hotel in the Dead Sea region
has been constructed
alongside a solar pond de-
signed to provide it with its
air conditioning as well as
electrical needs. Dr. Shavit
believes that by the 1990s
combined solar energy
'sources will contribute from
5-10 percent of Israel's total
primary energy require-
ments.
There are other, more
exotic blueprints on the
energy department's draw-
ing board. One such scheme
concerns "biomass," the
conversion of garbage into a
combustible fuel, as in
Kibutz Kfar Giladi.
The plant is capable of di-
gesting most refuse, par-
ticularly animal wast mate-
rial, and" - has a capacity of
turning out 80 cubic meters
of gas, equivalent to 1/2 ton of
oil a day. If all of the by-
products produced by the
process are re-used,
whether as animal feed or
fertilizer, then the 'biomass'
operation can pay for itself,
at current oil prices, in
three years.
Reasons for Saying 'Amen'
fulfill the hoped for bless-
ing.
Rabbinic leaders have
Responding to a blessing
by saying amen seems to be also defined the response of
quite ancient..The Bible re- " amen" as a proclamatio, of
fers to this practice when the listener's belief in the
blessings were pronounced Lord. This is based upon the
(e.g. Deuteronomy 27:16ff.). Biblical verse which states,
Some claim that it is a "When I bless the name of
way of saying "so may it be" the Almighty give glory to
after hearing the blessing our Lord" (Deuteronomy
pronounced. Others claim 32.3).
This practice is most use-
that it is an expression of
belief on the part of the lis- ful for a person who is him-
tener indicating his agree- self unable to pronounce the
benediction because of his
ment with the blessing.
It is also claimed that this lack of knowledge of the
response indicates that the Hebrew text or perhaps his
listener participates in the momentary lack of atten-
recital of the blessing. tion. Answering "amen" de-
There is a general principle clares him as having full
which states that led the requirement of offe.
whosoever, listens and af- ing the benediction himself.
firms the pronounced bless-
Boldness is ever blind, for
ing is recorded as if he too
pronounced that same' it sees not dangers and in-
conveniences; whence it is
benediction.
Some claim that the bad in council though good
word "amen" has three in execution. The right use
letters (aleph, mem, nun) of the bold, therefore, is,
which spell the . first letter that they never command in
of three words, i.e. El, chief, but serve as seconds
Melech Ne'eman (The under the direction of
Lord, the trustworthy others. For in council it is
and reliable king). This good to see dangers, and in
acknowledges one's be- execution not to see them
lief in the Almighty as the unless they be very great.
—Bacon
Divine power who can
Prices Are Drawing Israelis
Into Discount Supermarkets
TEL AVIV — Israelis are
learning to shop in
American-style discount
supermarkets. The new
markets are taking busi-
ness away from ordinary
supermarkets, open-air
produce markets and the
corner grocery.
Israelis call the new mar-
kets supershuks or hyper-
shuks — "shuk" is Hebrew
for market. They didn't
exist until a few years ago
when the national Tnuva
marketing cooperative
opened its first Hypershuk
and started a rush into cin-
derblock, warehouse-style
stores planned for low over-
head and high turnover.
"They're one of the bet-
ter solutions to the
shrinking national
paycheck," said Maya
Tavori, director of the
Consumer Authority.
She cited surveys that
show the new markets are
drawing 30 percent of all
I
Paste in old label
TO:
NAME
Effective Date
f,
consumers with prices
10-20 percent cheaper than
corner groceries and ordi-
nary supermarkets.
Circumcision
Rules Defined
By RABBI SAMUEL FOX
(Copyright 1981, JTA, Inc.)
Jewish law forbids a child
to be circumcized until the
eighth day of his life.
This requirement is
explicitly stated in the
Bible where it is directed
that on the eighth day the
flesh of his foreskin shall be
severed." (Leviticus 12:3).
A number of reasons have
been attributed to this re-
quirement. Some claim that
it is required so that at least
one Sabbath may be re-
garded as a source of grace
to safeguard the child.
Others claim that the cir-
cumcision operation makes
the child appear to be like a
sacrifice. An animal makes
the child appear to be like a
sacrifice. An animal which
He that walketh up- was designed to be sac-
rightly walketh securely; rificed could not be taken
but he that perverteth his from its mother before the
eighth day of its life.
ways shall be found out.
By RABBI SAMUEL FOX
(Copyright 1981, JTA, Inc.)
Y. Goldschmidt
Martin Panzer
NEW YORK — Martin
JERUSALEM (JYA) —
Yosef Goldschmidt, a Panzer, who was active in
former National Religious the United Jewish appeal
Party Knesset member and and the Israel Bond Organ-
deputy mayor of Jerusalem, ization, died here July 17.
died July 25 from a brain He was 76 years old.
Panzer was assistant to
tumor. He was 74.
the vice president of UJA
In the early years of the from 1942 to 1954 and later
state, he headed the reli- held the same position in
gious education department the Israel Bond Organiza-
of the Ministry of Education tion. He was also director of
and in that capacity laid the European operations for Is-
foundation for state reli- rael Bonds.
gious education in Israel.
He edited Psychology and
Today nearly 40 percent of Psychology Digest in 1937-
Israeli school children 1938. At the time of his
attend state religious death Panzer wrote a
schools.
weekly book review column
In the Knesset during the for the Jewish Post and
early 1970s Goldschmidt Opinion.
served as chairman of the
Law and Constitution Dvora M. Levin
Committee and later was
-JERUSALEM (JTA) —
Mayor Teddy Kollek's de- Dvora Maatel Levin, widow
puty! He wrote a number of of the late leader of Agudat
articles on Jerusalem that Yisrael, Yitzhak Meir Le-
have appeared in The ' yin, died July 21 at the age
Jewish News.
of 90.
She was the sister of the
Hasidic Rabbi of Gur (Ger-
Dr. M. Weiner
Dr. Maurice B. Weiner, rer Rebbe) and her funeral
77, a retired pediatrician, was attended by thousands
of Gerrer Hasidim. Her late
died July 24.
husband was leader of the
A native of Brooklyn,
Aguda in pre-war Poland
N.Y., Dr. Weiner was a 1928
graduate of the University and later in Israel and he
served as a minister in
of Michigan Medical School.
Premier David Ben-
He earned a master's degree
in pediatrics in 1932 from Gurion's first government.
the University of Pennsyl-
Rabbi A. Fatal
vania.
JERUSALEM (JTA) —
He was a member of the
Rabbi Avraham Fatal, a
Detroit Pediatric Society,
leading Sephardi Tov-h
the American Medical
scholar and mystic,
Association, and was on
here last week.
staff at Childrens Hospital
Fatal was the father-in-
of Michigan, Mt. Carmel
law of the Sephardi Chief
Mercy Hospital and Sinai
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who,
Hospital of Detroit. He had
together with his
been retired five years.
Ashkenazic colleague,
Dr. Weiner leaves his
Shlomo Goren, led the fun-
wife, Dorothy; two sons, Dr.
Richard and Stephen; a , eral cortege through the ci-
ty's streets. Yosef traced
daughter, Anne of Morgan-
Fatal's career from his serv-
town, W. Va.; a sister, Mrs.
Mark (Bea) Sampliner of ice as a young rabbi in Al-
lepo, Syria, some 60 s years
Cleveland, Ohio; and four
ago.
grandchildren.