54 Friday, February 19, 1982
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Female Pilot May Take Controls of Haifa
By CARL ALPERT
HAIFA — Women in
political life should be no
novelty in a country where
Golda Meir served as Prime
Minister. Every Knesset '
has a handful of women
among its 120 members, but
having said that we have
rendered practically a com-
plete account of female par-
ticipation in politics.
On the local and munici-
pal front, oddly enough,
there have been only two
women who have headed
town councils: Mrs. Violet
Khoury, mayor of the Arab
town of Kfar Yasif, and Re-
bbetzin Harlap who for a
short while headed the
council in the country vil-
lage of Yokneam.
Now for the first time
comes a serious, fighting
contender for the post of
mayor of Haifa. She is Yael
Rom, a dashing, charisma-
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tered the public sale of over
one million ordinary shares
with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission.
tic personality whose back-
ground is filled with the
kind of material which
makes ideal political assets.
Her mother's family is
fifth generation Israeli,
from Safed. Yael has al-
ready attained fame as
Israel's first woman pilot
of a fighter plane. During
the Suez War of 1956 she
was at the controls of one
of the planes which made
many sorties and drop-
ped the paratroopers into
the Mitla Pass.
After her military service
she flew for two years as a
commercial pilot with
Arkia airlines. She earned a
degree in political science
and history at Hebrew Uni-
versity, married a professor
of aeronautics at the Techn-
ion and raised a family of
three children: Dalit, the
oldest girl, a sergeant who
instructed soldiers in the
army; Avraham Yair, a
member of a Nahal kibutz;
and the youngest, Vered,
who at the age of 17 has al-
ready completed four
semesters at the Technion
as a whiz kid in applied
mathematics.
Yael has always chal-
lenged the concept of some
that this is a man's world,
and not only in the cockpit
of her plane. While still at
high school, in Gadna, pre-
military activity, she was
The Jewish News is .
YAEL ROM
company commander of a
group of boys, aged 16. She
was all of 17. Once in uni-
form herself, she volun-
teered for the air force, and
against all precedents
earned her wings.
Politics have not been
strange to her, since her
husband, Prof. Yosef Rom,
is one of the rising stars of
the Likud in the Knesset.
Professionally she heads
the Unit of Advancement of
Students at the Technion,
cutting red tape and easing
the path of new immigrants,
disadvantaged and disabled
students.
In a city where the
political machine has al-
ways been in control of
City Hall, Yael's chal-
lenge for the chief post in
the municipality has gal-
vanized local politics.
The elections are due to
be held in November, but
she has her first hurdle in
March: she must win the
nomination of her own
party, and that may not
be easy.
The concept of a woman
mayor is difficult for some
Israelis to swallow, even for
those who know that
Chicago and San Francisco,
among other cities, have
had no such prejudices.
Many Detroiters will re-
call Yael when she spent
some time in that city in
1976 as a scholar-in-
residence. Perhaps mayors
Charlotte Rothstein of Oak
Park, and Ida Eisenfeld of
Mt. Clemens served as in-
spirations.
Yael has blue eyes, short
sandy hair, and speaks with
energy. She 'is fluent in
English. She has firm ideas
about the kind of adminis-
tration the city of Haifa
needs.
Despite the fact that
Haifa is the country's
center of heavy industry,
has the biggest port, and
the most beautiful loca-
tion of all, it has drifted
into a passive acceptance
of a role as a provincial
town, she says. The city
needs an aggressive,
spirited-leadership —
one with vision and im-
agination, one which will
imbue its own citizens
with an esprit de corps
and a pride in their town.
Technically there is ta-
lent and ability in the
municipal ranks, she adds, -
but direction and inspira-
tion have been lacking.
"Will she be a feminine
mayor, with the soft and
tender touch, or an aggres-
sive fighting adminis-
trator?" we asked her. "Sex
characteristics have noth-
ing to do with it," she re-
plied. "Ability to function is
what counts, and both
policies and methods should
be determined. on the basis
of principles of administra-
tion."
She still faces opposition
from within the ranks of her
own political bloc, but if the
Likud has any sense at all it
will give the nomination to
Yael Rom, and she will sail
into City Hall breaking
Labor's monopoly there for
the first time in history.
ZOA'S Jacob Goodman Dies
NEW YORK (JTA) —
Jacob Goodman, a'veteran
leader of the Zionist Organ=
ization of America and the
Zionist movement, and a
member of the Jewish
Legion in World War I, died
Feb. 11 at age 87.
vice
honorary
An
president of the ZOA and
member of its national
executive committee and
administrative board, he
and his wife, Libby, made
possible the acquisition of
the ZOA House, the na-
tional headquarters in mid-
town Manhattan, which
bears their name. Mr.
Goodman was a philan-
thropist and benefactor of
other ZOA projects in Israel,
notably ZOA House in Tel
Aviv and the Kfar Silver
educational complex.
Mr. Goodman, together
with his father, Henry,
and brother, Abraham,
founded the firm of
Goody Products, Inc. of
Kearny, N.J., manufac-
turers of hair care acces-
sories, formerly known
as H. Goodman and Sons.
Born in Kiev, Russia, Mr.
Goodman arrived in the U.S.
as a young boy together
with his family in 1906. He
was an ardent Zionist since
his early youth. He be-
longed to a youth club at the
time, known as the Macca-
bean Zion Club.
He volunteered for serv-
ice with the Jewish Legion
in World War I, fighting for
the liberation of Palestine
from Turkish rule. He spent
two years in Egypt and
Palestine where he served
in the Legion's 39th and
40th Battalions. He re-
turned to New York in Oc-
tober 1919.
Mr. Goodman was a
member of the board of trus-
tees of the United Israel
Appeal; national board of
the American Zionist Fed-
eration; a founder of the
Tarbuth Foundation for
Hebrew Culture; and
president of the- Olam
Hadash, a Hebrew publica-
tion for children.
He was active in Alyn
Crippled Children's Hospi-
tal in Israel, the Jewish Na-
tional Fund, American
Friends of the Hebrew Uni-
versity and many other -
organizations.
Lee Strasberg Dies at 80,
Trained Actors, Actresses
NEW YORK — Lee Wallach, Geraldine Page,
Strasberg, leading teacher Rip Torn, Marilyn Monroe
and proponent of "method and Al Pacino.
In 1974, Mr. Strasberg
acting," died Tuesday at age
won an Academy Award
80.
A native of Budanov, nomination for "The
Austria-Hungary, Mr. Godfather, Part II."
Strasberg founded the Other films in which he
Group Theater in 1931, pro- had starring roles in-
ducing such stars as John cluded "Boardwalk,"
Garfield, Lee J. Cobb, Elia "And Justice for All" and
Kazan and Stella Adler. "Going in Style."
He directed "Men in
The theater floundered and
White," "Clash by Night,"
closed in 1937.
Later, Mr. Strasberg be- "Fifth Column," "The Big
came the artistic director of Knife" and "The Three Sis-
the Actors Studio, made ters." He also co-produced
famous by method acting, the original hit version of
based on the work of Rus- , "The Country Girl."
Among his survivors is a
sian Konstantin Stanis-
laysky, founder of the Mos- daughter, actress Susan
cow Art Theater. Produces Strasberg.
of the Actors Studio include
troit; Inge C. Kramer, im- Marlon Brando, Julie Har- Nancy Golden
mediate past president of ris, Rod Steiger, James
Nancy Ellen Golden,
the Greater Detroit Chap- Dean, Paul Newman, Eli
chairman
of the Picture
ter, Hadassah; and Ezekiel
Leikin, former ZOA director Renee Goldstuck Lady Program at Meadow-
lake School in Bloomfield
in Philadelphia, Pa. Mod-
BRUSSELS (JTA) — Hills, died Feb. 13 at age 36.
erator will be Dr. Leon H.
A native Detroiter, Mrs.
Warshay, head of the Renee Goldstuck, who was
Golden
was a member of
the
Jewish
Telegraphic
Roundtable Series commit-
Agency's correspondent Hadassah.
tee.
She leaves her husband,
The public is invited free here for close to 30 years,
Dr.
Theodore A.; a son, Ste-
died
last
week
at
age
63.
of charge. For details, call
During that period she ven Loren; a daughter, Amy
the Detroit District office,
reported on developments Laura; her parents, Dr. and
569-1515.
within the Brussels Jewish Mrs. Ben (Maybelle) Katz;
community and on the work and two brothers, Gary
of the European Economic Katz of Eugene, Ore., and
Allan Katz of Napa, Calif.
Community.
Ms. Goldstuck joined the Handicap Lift
Jewish Agency before the
JERUSALEM — Dis-
Jewish state was estab-
lished and afterwards abled visitors will have
served for 20 years as the easier access to and from
private secretary to Israel's aircraft following El Al's in-
Ambassador to Belgium itiation of its own designed
and at the same time as a hydraulic platform which is
available to all planes using
reporter for the JTA.
Ben-Gurion international
airport.
American Jewry and Israel
Topic of ZOD Program
Detroit District, Zionist
Organization of America,
will present a program in its
Roundtable Series, "Ameri-
can Jewry and Israel —
Dialogue or Intervention," 8
p.m. Thursday at the
Zionist Cultural Center,
announces Irving Laker,
president.
Panelists include: Henry
Faigin, vice president of the
Labor Zionist Alliance
Council of Metropolitan De-
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••
Detroiter David Holtzman, left, is shown discuss-
ing Israel's economy with Labor Party leader Shimon
Peres during the recent Israel Bonds Prime Minister's
Club/Canal Founders Conference, in Israel.
PRINCETON, N.J. —
Helen Dukas, personal sec-
retary to Albert Einstein for
28 years and archivist and
co-trustee of his papers after
his death in 1955, died at
age 85.
Ban- on Apples
LONDON — The United
Arab Emirates has banned
the importation of Egyptian
apples because they claim
the apples actually come
from Israel.