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 To:_ The Jewish News 1 75 1 5 W. 9 Mile Rd. Suite 865 Southfield, Mich. 48075 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.