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.