THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS - • 18 Friday, February-5, 1982 PROFESSIONAL VI DEO PHOTOGRAPHY LIVING MEMORIES I VHS OR BETA I • Bar Mitzvas • Weddings • Anniversaries • Bat Mitzvas • Special Occasions • Commercial or Industrial QUALIFIED CAMERA CREWS CALL FULLY EDITED 352-7030 Leo Knit Pbotograpby 26511 W. 12 MILE RD. at Northwestern Hwy. Record Cucumber in a Jerusalem Backyard By FERN ALLEN World Zionist Press Service JERUSALEM — The roots of Walter Frankl's two meter high cucumber, which may get into the Gui- ness Book of Records, can be traced to his trip three years ago to a seed market in Germany. As he scanned the rows of seeds, a sales- woman approached and asked the horticulturist if she could assist him. Noting his accent, she inquired where he was from. When he replied "Israel" she began to tremble and spoke of the Holocaust. "We will never forget," replied Frankl, who was born and raised in Austria. "I lost my only brother and his pregnant wife in the Holocaust. Bilt we do not hate the young people like you." Extremely touched, the woman filled his hat with seed packages. "This seed," END OF SEASON CLEMANCE. up to 50; the Following Item: That was last April. By August his gigantic cucumber, weighing al- most 20 pounds, was making headlines around the country. The 75-year-old horticul- turist is now drying the - cucumber for its seeds. "This cucumber could bring a revolution in Israeli ag- riculture," said the white haired Frankl during an interview in his Jerusalem apartment. However, cucumbers, or agriculture for that matter, are not his only interest. In fact, before he came to Israel in 1931, Frankl was known throughout Austria as that country's leading long- distance runner. He even represented his country in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. Born into a cosmopolitan, non-religious yet tradi- tional family, Frankl's father was a director of a Viennese bank-credit firm owned by the Rothschild family. During the Nazi persecutions the elder Frankl was arrested and forced to clean streets. Frankl, then settled in Eretz Yisrael, was finally able to send for his parents in 1938. Frankl always main- tained his two loves: sports and agriculture. He originally came to Is- rael in 1931, at the invita- tion of the World Madca- bia Union, to help build the first running track in Tel Aviv. Friends and family -thought he was crazy when he decided to remain, he recalled. "I didn't know the language and I had no profession. I ended up loading camel caravans, filling boxes and paving city streets," he said. eSportroat8 Outerwear Qa_inwcar 6portkirtA Topcoats 6wcatcr8 Nominal charge for alterations. Cash, Visa and Master Charge only. Orchard Mall • Orchard Lake Rd. at Maple Rd. „ 851-9444 Mon.. Tues.. Wed., Sat. 10 a.m. - 6 p.m . Thur., Fri. 10 a.m. - 9 p.m. Sun. 12 - 5 she pointed out, "is the Her- cules Club which has been cultivated in Italy. I hope it will give you wonderful cucumbers in your coun- try." It was three years be- fore Frankl finally planted the Hercules Club seed, since he was busy complet- ing his recently published book "Israel Gardening Encyclopedia, Month by Month." Eventually he began teaching sports and agricul- ture in a school in Jerusalem, a job that lasted 30 years, even though he and his wife had originally intended to join a kibutz. Teaching at the Jerusalem school held many ironies for Frankl throughout the many years. "When I was a scout leader in Vienna for a Jewish youth movement, one of my scouts was little Teddy Kol- lek (Jerusalem's mayor), who was no more than 10 years old at the time. Later, when I was teaching in Jerusalem, I had his son as a student," he said. Frankl continued run- ning until four years ago when he fell and hurt his leg. He now keeps himself occupied by writing a gar- dening column for the Jerusalem Post and by working on his next book, a book for children about a garden in the kindergarten. But Frank! is also engrossed in his own wonderful garden, nes- tled into his sloping Jerusalem backyard. There he lovingly attends not only to his record cucumber, but also to the hundreds of flowers and vegetables sprouting in everything from plastic containers to old leather shoes. Walter Frankl's record- breaking cucumber is only the latest and most remark- able achievement of this unusual man. The results of his advice to Israel's gar- deners are to be seen in flourishing flowers and lawns and plants from Dan to Eilat. There can surely be no greater tribute to his special contribution to - beautifying Israel. PLO Infighting Kills Two BEIRUT — Two persons were killed and several were injured Monday as rival factions of the Pales- tine Liberation Organiza- tion clashed in Chatilla, a town on the outskirts of West Beirut. An argument between two terrorists resulted in an exchange of rocket and ar- tillery fire between Yasir Arafat's Fatah faction and Saiqa, a Syrian-backed PLO faction, killing one of the terrorists and a bystander, according to police. Israel Approves Europe MFO Aid JERUSALEM (JTA) --- The Cabinet formally ap- proved the participation of Britain, France, Italy and Holland in the Sinai peacekeeping force. It acted apparently on as- surances from Secretary of State Alexander Haig that the four European power- would contribute to thc, Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) within the framework of the Camp David accords and no other political formula. Bi-National State TEL AVIV (ZINS) — The newspaper Haaretz re- cently editorialized that annexation of Judea and Samaria would eventually lead to a bi-national state for Israel and end up as a tragedy similar to Northern Ireland and Lebanon.