2 Friday, February
2S 1982 — THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Purely Commentary
Stollman Trio Duly Honored:
Their. Inspired Role as
Supporters of Day Schools
Merited Recognition of Devoted Services of Vie Stollman
Trio Expressed by Akiva School ... Their Servic)s Emphasize
Vital Importance of Expanding Hebrew Day School Movement
movement the support and encouragement needed for
existence.
The three Stollmans have been the staunchest backers
of the Akiva school, and in the process they have been
instrumental in securing community-wide support for all
Renaming a major He-
brew day school in this
community as Yeshivat
Akiva-Akiva Hebrew Day
School-Stollman Education
Center merits acclaim for
the recognition it gives to a
family whose services to the
cause of Jewish education,
locally, nationally and in Is-
rael, has been and remains
on the highest level.
Three names are included
in the Stollman reference to
the new name to be given to
the Akiva School at its an-
nual dinner on Mar. 7. They
PHILLIP STOLLMAN
are: Phillip Stollman, Max
and Frieda Stollman. Jointly they have a record of devotion
and identification that has given the Hebrew day school
MAX STOLLMAN
FRIEDA STOLLMAN
the day schools in this area. When the education committee
of the Jewish Welfare Federation debated the needs for day
schools when they were struggleing financially, it was the
,
•
Elementary Schools
High Schools
Total New York
Elementary Schools
High Schools
Total Outside of New York C ity
_
'E lementary Schools
high Schools
.
1944
1980
1981
39
30
9
477
322
155
489
328
161
30
23
7
211
136
75
216
139
77
9
7
2 '
266
186
80
273
189
84
The Urgent Striving for
Peace and the Unending
Struggle to Hurdle Obstacles
An "International Economic Survey" section in the
Feb. 14 New York Times carried many advertisements for
banks in many lands. On one page appeared, side-by-side,
ads of Bank Leumi in Israel and the Saudi Cairo Bank of
Saudi Arabia.
The question that could and should be posed is: if bank
advertisements can rub shoulders, why not the people
managing them and the ,nations they represent?
It need not have been a deliberate linking of two banks
from two countries which are so near to each other that they
can look into each other's back and front yards. But at-
tempting to create such a good neighborliness has much
merit.
Nevertheless, they are at war. The Saudi sentiment, at
least is for war. Otherwise, why was U.S. Secretary of
Defense Caspar Weinberger told repeatedly that the
Saudis view Israel as their chief enemy. The U.S. hawks
speak of giving Saudi Arabia the most sophisticated
weapons under the guise of serving as a preventative for
USSR intrusions into the Middle East. But the Saudis keep
emphasizing that Israel is the chief enemy.
Such are the inconsistencies that effect relations in the
Middle East.
It would be grossly unfair to charge that the Israelis
failed to make overtures for good relations with the Arabs.
In a Jerusalem Post article exposing the "20/20" TV
program's distorting of actual conditions in the Judea-
Samaria area administered by Israel,Wim Van Leer had an
interesting introductory comment. He presented the basic
facts to indicate how Israel makes every effort to create the
best conditions for the administered population, and in his
prefatory comments he stated:
The shock of the 1967 war left Israel in a state of
euphoria.
The Arab territories had been captured with
their populations, as the speed of the operation
had precluded any organized flight. And for the
first few days this climate of elation affected also
the shocked peoples of the occupied territories.
Confrontation turned to fraternization.
In this climate, contact was eagerly sought and,
with rare exceptions, accepted. Rubbernecking
in the Old City, Bethlehem, Jericho or Ramallah,
combined Stollman plea that secured the required support
which aided all of the schools that emphasize the day school
ideal.
While the Stollmans were in the front ranks in behalf
of the local schools, their dedicated labors for the movement
aided the day schools nationally.
Marked progress in the day school meovment is in
evidence at the present i :me. The day schools now number
489. The movement begs a in 1944 with 39 schools. This is a
growth incomparable in the trends of Jewish educational
efforts. While the afterri3on Hebrew school movement is
declining, the day schoc Is are growing and their impor-
tance for world Jewry Ix comes increasingly evident.
The American HebrE w day school ideal is promoted by
the Torah Umesorah N itional Society for Hebrew D
Schools. Its successes ha' e inspired similar movements ),
other countries.
Accompanying char s appearing on this page, showing
the number of schools and the increasing enrollment, speak
volumes in support of the day school. On this home front
these facts add immeasurably to the Stollman role in
Jewish educational aspirations. Therefore the commenda-
tions for the Akiva Hebrew Day School for having chosen
an admirable way in which to pay deserved honors to the
three Stollmans.
Day School Enrollment
Hebrew Day Schools, 1944-1981
Total United States
By Philip
Slomovitz
Year
Schools
E nrollment
1945
1955
1965
1975
1981
69
180
323
427
489
10,000
35,000
63,500
82,200
85,000
Year
High School Growth
N.Y.C.
Schools
E nrollment
1964
1974
1981
one was warmly invited to visit; and, although one
was often stuck for meaningful conversation, the
'eme was "peace, There should only be peace.'
And we all drank to that.
Merchants visited other merchants, travel
agents made new contacts, garage people went to
see their Arab colleagues in Wadi Joz, farmers
went far afield to discuss crops, yields and prices.
In our exuberance we may well have heaped a
little too much goodwill on our somwhat more
reticent new friends.
In the coffee shops and bars, soldiers drank
toasts with the foes of yesterday, vowed that there
should be only peace, with the miluimniks fondl-
ing the kids and buying them sweets. At the other
end of the social spectrum, doctors from Israeli
hospitals made contact with their Arab col-
leagues and mutual visits and inspections were
arranged.
It was well known that Israeli medical
standards were significantly higher than those
prevailing in West Bank hospitals and this gave
our people the incentive to demonstrate that the
new Israeli presence would bring substantial
benefits to the population in general and the pro-
fessionals in particular.
One of the pioneers of medical cooperation was
the late Prof. Gabi Izak, the head of the hematol-
ogy department at Hadassah, and as dedicated a
physician, organizer and researcher as ever trod
the wards.
Through the years we had become close friends
and I very much admired his total dedication, in-
fectious enthusiasm and uncommon imaginative-
ness. Together with Prof. Russell, head of the
pediatric department at Hadassah, he selected
Ramallah General Hospital for "adoption," se-
eing to it that the hopelessly depleted stocks of
medicines and appliances were replenished from
the Hadassah stores. He found that the level of
treatment at Rantallah left much to be desired and
arranged for parties of West Bank doctors to visit
Hadassah for day-long symposia.
In the meantime, word had come from Amman
that fraternization with the Jews was viewed as
treason. in the absence of strong local leadership,
the population
submitted. Soon a sad and latent
'
hostility displaced goodwill and cooperation.
83
140
160
40
72
77
10,200
16,200
17,900
But Profs. Izak and Russell persisted and the
Hadassah symposia, consultations and referrals,
interrupted by fraternal meals, continued.
Hadassah issued the West Bank cars with
window-stickers to facilitate access to the faculty
car-park. But back home some of these cars were
vandalized. Gradually, attendance dropped off
and the meetings ceased. Still, Professors Izak
and Russell soldiered on, if not encouraged at
least not obstructed by Dr. Salti, the director of
the Ramallah General Hospital.
During one of the weekly visits, Dr. Salti con-
fronted Prof. Izak. "My dear Professor Izak," he
said, "Don't think that I don't appreciate what
you are trying to do, or fail to admire your skill
and experience. But you are wasting your time. In
your eagerness gnd dedication you have failed to
notice that we Arabs don't want your Jewish
know-how. In fact, we reject your 20th Century
medicine."
He went on to say something like this: "We are
Arabs, and want to do things our way, learn and
adapt ourselves at our own speed. We have done
so for centuries and have fared well by it. You
always wave those figures of child mortality in
our face. But such is our way of life — birth and
death, it is all the same.
"You may well represent the 20th Century, but
you have been too busy to notice that we don't
want any of it. Maybe one day, insh`Allah, we
shall catch up. But only at our own pace and in
our own time."
I saw my friend Gabi that evening when he
came home, depressed to the gills. "Where do you
go from here?" I asked.
"Where can you go?" he said.
Indeed, what is to be done? How much effort must be
exerted?
Of course, there is no limit to exerting appeals, to
evidencing good will. The friendly spirit is essential,
whether it is in Israel and also as an effect on the problem in
the U.S. What was done on "20/20" was harmful.
The American-Israel friendship is vital to the issue. In
that regard, the American-Israel-Arab partnership is
equally urgent. It must not be U.S.-Israel-Egypt alone.
The craved-for peace is difficult to attain. But the striv-
ing for it is in the process and unending.