54
Friday, April 20, 1984
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
LOOKING IN
A DATING SERVICE FOR JEWISH SINGLES
ROBERT ST. JOHN
4;.
LO-LA
Constructive diplomacy
r117-117
FOR HIM FOR HER
• Meet Congenial People
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---
This is a heart-warming
story of three small school
children whose lives were
saved by a young Israeli
doctor. More than that, it is
an illustration of what I like
to call "constructive diplo-
macy" at its best.
Early last month, on a
working tour of Southeast
Asia, we found ourselves in
an area in which Jews are as
sparse as grass in the
Negev. For example s in all
•
SINGLES
% Off
ROSE SHERER SO-
CIALITES will have a
mystery trip on April 29,
meeting at the Lincoln Cen-
ter parking lot at noon.
There is a charge. For
reservations, call President
Dorothy Goldberg, 548-
6850. Friends and prospec-
tive members are invited.
This club is open to single
men and women age 55 and
up.
On ALL Drycleaning
6.
28641 Southfield Rd.
22185 Coolidge
South of 12 Mile, Southfield
at 9 Mile, Oak Park
31555 W. 10 Mile
23043 Beech
at Orchard Lake, Farmington
at 9 Mile, Southfield
JN
This Coupon Must Be Presented With Incoming Order — Expires 5-444
* * *
WO •
RANDIE DESIGNS
SPRING SALE
COMMUNITY NET-
WORK FOR JEWISH
SINGLES will have a pro-
gram, "It's Time to Play
Ball with the Detroit Ti-
gers," at 8 p.m. Thursday in
the main Jewish Commu-
nity Center. Sports colum-
nist Irwin Cohen will be the
guest speaker. Admission is
free.
* * *
JEWISH SINGLES/
PARENTS NETWORK
OF ANN ARBOR will hear
investment counselor Diane
Farber speak on "How to
Spend Your Investment
Dollars to Get the Most Out
of Them" at a potluck
brunch at 11 a.m. April 29
in the home of Andy Bailis,
3580 Packard, Apt. 1, Ann
Arbor. For reservations,
call Ellie Krantz, 662-9814
or 261-3760.
DRASTIC REDUCTIONS
ON:
Hand Made
Designer Sweaters
* * *
All sizes, colors, styles
Saturday, April 21 thru,
Saturday, April 28
10-4
.
2980 W. 12 Mile Rd., Berkley
(Between Coolidge & Greenfield)
Next to the Berkley Theater
Phone: 543-2697
No Credit Cards Accepted
TEMPLE ISRAEL
SINGLE PARENTS will
hold a brunch at 10 a.m.
April 29 in the temple social
hall. The speaker will be
George Handley, director of
the Midwest Men's Re-
source Center, who will
speak on "Single Parenting
from the Man's Viewpoint."
A discussion will follow.
Guests are welcome. There
is a fee. For information,
call the temple, 661-5700.
BUSINESS
Tapper's Jewelry has
appointed Jere Keyes as
certified gemologist/G.I.A.,
appraiser and insurance re-
placement specialist. He
will assist indivuals in set-
tling claims with insurance
companies.
of Thailand, Burma and
Nepal there are only 101
Jews out of a population of
100 million.
Also, Moslems, who have
a religious interest in Mid-
dle Eastern affairs, form 'a
sizeable percentage of the
population in many coun-
tries of Southeast Asia. Also
the Arab oil-producing
countries exert an influ-
ence, and Japanese ter-
rorists, who have a close
connection with the PLO,
are sporadically active.
This combination of nega-
tives makes the task of the
few Israeli diplomats
stationed in Southeast Asia
very difficult, to say the
least. They must keep a low
profile, for fear of bringing
down criticism on the Asian
government to which they
are assigned.
Against that background
I give you the story of Dr.
Simon Slavin, age 42, head
of the Bone Marrow Trans-
plantation Unit of
Hadassah-Hebrew Univer-
sity Medical Center.
Last year, under what is
called the Exchange of Sci-
entists Scheme, Moshe
Ben-Yaacov, Israeli Am-
bassador to the Republic of
Singapore, arranged for Dr.
Slavin to spend four weeks
at Singapore General Hos-
pital, working with a team
of local doctors who aspired
to open a bone marrow
transplantation center of
their own. (There are only
half a dozen such centers in
the world.)
During those four weeks,
Dr. Slavin and the Singa-
pore doctors saved the lives
of two 12-year-old Singa-
pore boys who, except for
the operations, would soon
have been dead from
leukemia. There were, of
course, other leukemia vic-
tims who would have to
await their turn. If the Sin-
gapore unit could be set up
in time, their lives also
might be saved; if not .. .
One such victim was
7-year-old Jonathan Tan.
Like three-quarters of all
Singaporeans, he is
Chinese, but his family had
become Christian and were
regular worshippers at a
local Methodist church.
Jonathan's father works for
the Singapore Broadcasting
Co. and his mother, when
not at home caring for her
critically ill son, worked in
the Singapore Hospital.
That is how it happened
that she heard about Dr.
Slavin. She explained to
him that her son had such
an advanced case of
leukemia that except for a
miracle he would soon be
dead. "You can perform the
miracle!" she told Dr. Sla-
vin, as he was about to leave
for Israel. Moved by her
plea, Dr. Slavin agreed to
operate on the boy if some
way could be found to send
him to Jerusalem.
Now the Embassy of Is.-
rael in Singapore and one of
Southeast Asia's principal
English-language news-
papers, the Straits Times
came into the act.
The newspaper's editor
saw both a good story and a
chance to perform V
mitzvah, so he inaugurated
a drive to raise 85,000 Sin-
gapore dollars (about
$40,000) to pay the cost of
the trip not only for
Jonathan and his parents,
but also for the 'other twQ
Tan children. (The paper
had never before conducted
such a drive.) Before the
week was out so much,
money had rolled in that the
paper had to plead for "no
more contributions, please!"
At the same time, Am-
bassador Ben-Yaacov or-
ganized a drive among the
few Israelis living in Singa-
pore and they raised $500 t
give Jonathan as a goodwill
gift on his departure from
Jerusalem.
Before the Tan family
left, Jonathan went to his
school to say goodbye to his
classmates and in a littl
speech to them said:
"I am very sick. I go to
Israel. I hope soon to be re-
covered." The Tan family
left on Jan. 27 for Israel by
way of Athens. Ambassador
Ben-Yaacov, by cable and
telephone, arranged to have
a delegation of Israelis, in-
cluding some governmen
officials, give the Tan fam-
ily a royal welcome at
Ben-Gurion Airptrt.
They were housed in a
Jerusalem hotel, but an Is-
raeli family with children of
their own was appointed tc
see that the Tans were
happy in their new sur-
roundings and lacked noth
ing. Every week the Israeli
Embassy in Singapore sent
a batch of Singapore news-
papers and magazines by,
diplomatic pouch to the
Tans, as Ambassador Ben-
Yaacov put it "so they will
feel at home even when in
Jerusalem."
The operation finally took
place in February.
It is no professional secre
that despite the technical
advances and knowledge
that doctors have gained in
making bone marrow
transplants, the procedure
is still so risky that it is not
done unless the patient ha
little hope of living other-
wise. Yet it does offer some
hope, where little or none
existed before.
Last week, the Israeli
Embassy called with a mes
sage from Singapore: "He'
left the hospital. He's stay
ing in Jerusalem for two
more months. He's going ti
be all right."
Mrs. Tan's- joyous corn
ment was: "God sent us Dr
Slavin!"
Copyright 1984, JTA, Inc.