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September 24, 1982 - Image 26

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1982-09-24

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

26 Friday, September 24, 1982

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Religious, Non-Religious Israel Youth Bridge Gap

By RABBI DAVID GEFFEN

World Zionist Press Service

JERUSALEM — Many
observers believe that the
chasm between religious
and non-religious Israelis

has been widening rather
than narrowing. This is not
the place to analyze this re-
grettable trend. Various
factors have contributed to
the climate of hostility, but

Yom Kippur 5743

This belt buckle for the kitel, and the shofar be-
low, are exhibited at the Wolfson Museum in
Jerusalem. The kitel is a white garment worn during
High Holy Day services by some Ashkenzi worship-
pers. The buckle shows Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac
being halted by an angel.






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the degree of separation and
segmentation in Israel
society is both a harsh ex-
pression and a major cause
of the problem.
A young Israeli, non-
religious or religious, can
join a youth group of his
ideological preference in the
fourth or fifth grade and
remain in that same group
framework until graduat-
ing from high school. Par-
ents choose to which public
schools, religious or non-
religious, to send their chil-
dren — a choice with
momentous implications for
the future.
Students from different
school systems ("streams")
have little organized or sys-
tematic contact with each
other except perhaps in the
street or in the local super-
market. They literally
study, play, eat and sleep in
their own frameworks and
groupings.

Therefore, what the
members of each group
know about the other
they tend to an extent to
derive from stereotypes
found on television and
radio in drama and
movies, in literature and
•newspapers. Because
stereotypes are always
black and white, the reli-
gious are presented as
members of outlandish
sects who throw stones
on Shabat and the non-
religious as people lack-
ing morals and given to
taking drugs.

One of the organizations
dealing with this issue is
Gesher, meaning bridge,
founded 13 years ago to
"bridge the gap." Israeli
youth of all persuasions
have participated in this

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unusual program in Safed
which brings together equal
numbers of 11th and 12th
grade religious and non-
religious students for a
four-day seminar, under the
general heading "How Am I
a Jew?".
"Some of the recent par-
ticipants in our seminars
have stressed that all this
new technology is making,
communication between
individuals even more dif-
ficult." Speaking is Rabbi
Benjie Levene, director of
the Gesher seminars.
"People are turning in-
wards. The new gadgets, the
students are telling us,
make people feel that they
are complete. With their
Walkman and their hand-
held computer games they
don't need anyone else. Fu-
ture shock has already ar-
rived."
Rabbi Levene is the
grandson of Rabbi, Arye
Levene of Jerusalem, who
was recently memorialized
on a new Israeli postage
stamp. He tours the high
schools in Israel trying to
sense what is the Jewish
pulse of Israeli youth today.
In addition to conducting
the seminars in Safed and a
weekly Beit Midrash study
evening in Ramat Gan, he
visits close to 100 high
schools, both religious and
non-religious, annually so
he is in contact with the
daily problems, lifestyles
and outlook of the two
groups.

Jewish Culture
Grants Awarded

NEW YORK — The
Memorial Foundation for
Jewish Culture has
awarded grants totalling
$1,772,500 for 1982-1983 to
institutions and individuals
in 27 countries on five con-
tinents:
Foundation grants were
made to 71 Jewish cultural,
educational and religious
institutions and to 418 indi-
viduals. A majority of the
grants went to countries in
Europe.
The foundation's institu-
tional grants were provided
to universities, research in-
stitutions and specialized
agencies for projects in
Jewish research, publica-
tions, Jewish education,
and Jewish culture.
Of the 418 scholarships
granted to individuals, 117
were awarded to young men
and women preparing to
serve as rabbis, educators,
social workers, Community
workers and religious func-
tionaries in communities
outside Israel which have a
strong cultural need and
where such professional
personnel are urgently re-
quired.
The remaining 301 indi-
vidual grants went for 106
doctoral scholarships, 99
post-rabbinic scholarships
and 96 fellowships in
Jewish culture.

In Charles Dickens' "Our
Mutual Friend," the Jewish
character, Riah, was shown
to be an ideal type of person.
In "Oliver Twist," Faigin
the Jew is a scoundrel.

Distorting the News

A Norwegian photographer is shown positioning
Lebanese children atop a destoyed tank near Sidon.
This photograph was taken by Time magazine photo-
grapher Richard Nowitz.

A Young Hungarian Rabbi
Studies Talmud at Seminary

NEW YORK — Istvan
Kertesz, a 26-year-old rabbi
from Budapest, Hungary,
has accepted a full-year
scholarship at the Jewish
Theological Seminary of
America.
The Jewish Theological
Seminary of Hungary,
where he was ordained in
March, will be in need of a
Talmud instructor
sometime in the future,
and the administration de-
cided that Rabbi Kertesz
should be that man. Hon-
ored, he agreed to train for
the position.
"Our Talmud teacher is
about 60," said the thin,
soft-spoken rabbi. "I hope he
can teach for at least an-
other 20 or 30 years. But, in
case of an emergency, we
need another one. So they
sought me to be another."

Dr. Alexander
Scheiber, president of the
Hungarian seminary and
an honorary alumnus of
the New York seminary,
wrote to Chancellor Ger-
son D. Cohen and asked if
Rabbi Kertesz could
study in New York .for a
year.

"Our seminary (in Hun-
gary) is not too big. We have
only one teacher for each
department," explained
Rabbi Kertesz. "Here, I can
learn more ways than in
Budapest. In Hungary, I
learned. from (two in-
structors) and here I have at
least five. Here, I can also
see how they teach begin-
ners."
This is important, he ex-

plained, because after he
earns his Master of Arts de-
gree from the New York
seminary, he will return to
Hungary to possibly start
instructing beginning stu-
dents in the Talmud. The
New York seminary has
given him permission, in
addition to his regular
course load, to sit in on other
classes so that he can ob-
serve teaching techniques.
"I want to learn how they
are teaching talmudic He-
brew and how they teach
beginners," he said. "I want
to see which books they use
and see which part of the
Talmud they teach."

Rabbi Kertesz added
that he is looking for-
ward to learning from the
seminary's renowned fa-
culty, which includes
famed Talmud scholar
Dr. DaVid Halivni. The
rabbi said will not have
any problems as long as
his English holds up.

Rabbi Kertesz also speaks
German, French, Russian
and Hebrew. He has been
able to use his languages
since the government of his
country has allowed him to
travel to England, Italy,
Spain, West Germany and
France on vacation. This is
his first trip to the U.S.
While it appears that
Rabbi Kertesz enjoys a good
deal of freedom while living
in Hungary, which has a
population of 80,000 Jews,
he admitted he is not per-
mitted to visit Israel. But,
he said, he accepts this.

Terrorists Destroy Church

This Christian church in Damour, Lebanon was
overrun by the Palestine Liberation Organization
during the 1975-1976 civil war. The PLO later used it
as a firing range and garage. The Christian soldier at
left was overwhelmed by the destruction and desecra-
tion.

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