10 Friday, December 28, 1984 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS NOTEBOOK Twice handsome. Seiko's new dual-display alarm chronographs. Going against the kibbutz grain BY CARL ALPERT Special to The Jewish News Haifa — Each one of the several hundred kibbutzim in Israel has its own story, some better known than others. A few weeks ago I visited Nof Ginnosar, lyina along the western shore of the b Sea of Galilee. Thousands of tourists spend time at its comfortable guest house, enjoy its delicious meals and admire the view, but few are aware of the story behind the place. The most distinguished member of Nof Ginnosar was Yigal Allon who, if not for his un- timely death in 1980 at the age of 61, may have been prime minister of Israel today. His grave, in the kibbutz cemetery very close to the settlement, is marked by a large Galilee boulder. Alongside it is a young, struggling oak tree (allon), intended as nature's symbol of the man. Earlier saplings died. The climate is too warm and the soil too damp for an oak, which prefers higher and drier land. The latest effort seems to have succumbed to the love and devotion of the family and the kibbutz members, and it may yet take root. In a sense, the tree also sym- bolizes the difficult and unusual beginnings of the kibbutz itself. The group of young people who established the settlement in the mid-1930s were moved by a pioneering spirit, and at a time when similar groups were laying the foundations for their kibbut- zim in scattered and remote sec- tions of the Galilee, these people "invaded" the land along the shore of Lake Tiberias, squatted there, and proclaimed it their home, oblivious of the fact that it belonged to PICA, the organiza- tion founded by Baron de Rothschild many years before. Indeed, for a long time Nof Gin- nosar had no legal existence, and even though it grew, it was not mentioned on any of the official maps of the area. It had been set up in defiance of the authorities, and as a result it did not qualify for any of the usual grants given to new settlements. _Recognition came at last, much later. Those early rough and tumble days were marked by other prob- lems as well. In a clash with a neighboring Arab village during the 1939 riots, the Arab chief was killed, and eight of Nof Ginnosar's leading members were sent off to jail, where they spent up to four years. The pairing of elegance and multi- performance in dual personality quartz from the one and only Seiko. Both watches have versatile alarms and hourly time signals, and deliver elapsed time to 1/100ths of a sec- ond. Black strap, gold-tone, with two alarms. Bracelet in gold-tone or stainless steel, water-resistant, with a third time zone. • brace Jewelers m. weiss 26325 Twelve Mile Road In The Mayfair Shops — Southeast corner At Northwestern Hwy. i 353-1424 - SEIKO AUTHORIZED DEALER Holiday Hours: Mon.-Fri. 10 to 9 Sat. 10 to 6 Sun. 12 noon to 5 BODY SERVICE Reliable & Experienced Since 1930 BUMPING + PAINT Your Car Is Our Specialty All Work Guaranteed! La Salle Body Shop Inc. 28829 Orchard Lake Road, Farmington Hills MAX FLEISCHER , BETWEEN 12 & 13 Mile Rd. I 48018 553-7111 The economy of the kibbutz was based on cows and chickens, on cotton and bananas, but there was need to diversify, and proposal was made to open a tourist guest house. Egalitarian-minded mem- bers objected on the grounds that it was unbefitting a kibbutz member to be servile and wait on people. Yigal Allon responded. If they saw no objection to washing down their cows, he said, how The crowning glory ,of Nof Ginnosar is its contribution to the popuarization and advancement of the Galilee. could they object to providing services to human beings? The guest house was set up, beginning with 42 rooms. The level of the service and the quality of the food were so good that it grew and today can accommodate 350 guests, with an average 80 per- cent occupancy rate, which is con- sidered excellent. Not all members work in the guest house or in the fields. Meir Aloni, a veteran member of 30 years standing, said that one member, a physician, serves as di- rector of the Poriah Hospital, in Tiberias. That is his contribution to the economy of Nof Ginnosar. The kibbutz sent Aloni through law school, and he is now serving his apprenticeship with a Tel Aviv firm. Next year he will set up law practice, in the name of the , kibbutz, of course, and the domes- tic economy will be even more di- versified. The crowning glory of Nof Gin- nosar is not a commercial venture but its contribution to the popularization and advancement of the Galilee. This is a major edu- cational instutution, now under construction, designed to stimu- late a knowledge of the history of the area through the ages. The many-faceted museum will in- clude a full-scale reconstruction of the historic old synagogue from adjacent Kfar Nahum. The large auditorium, with its ancillary facilities, will transform this into '- a major convention center. The program of activities will also emphasize co-existence with the Arabs, which had always been one of the central themes in Allon's philosophy of Zionism. Under-. standably, the place will be known as the Yigal Allon Educa- tional Center. NEWS Town gets its synagogue Bonn (JTA) — The city council of Darmstadt has decided to pro- vide funds to build the first synagogue in that Hessian town since Nazi mobs destroyed the two old synagogues there during the* infamous Kristalnacht nearly a half century ago. It will serve the 120 surviving Jews in Darmstadt and several other small Jewish communities in the southern region of the State of Hesse. Ruediger Breuer, a Darmstadt official who initiated the project, explained, "We are fed up with paying lip service to the suffering of the Jewish commu- nity in our town. It is high time to take action and we intend to do just that." The projected opening of the synagogue is Nov. 9, 1988, when Jews in Germany and throughout the world will be marking the 50th anniversary of carnage against German Jews organized by the Nazi regime. On that date in 1938, Darmstadt had fewer than 2,000 Jews. Their two synagogues, one built in 1737 and the other in 1850, were gutted. By April 1939, only 258 Jews remained in Darmstadt. Most of them later were deported to death camps in Germany and Eastern Europe. Breuer, a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), said the project originated at last month's commemoration of Kristalnacht, when he asked the chairman of the local Jewish community why no synagogue has been built since the end of World War II almost 40 years ago. The reply was that thr: town's Jews could not afford one. Since 1946 they have been wor- shipping and giving religious in- structon to their children at var- ious temporary locations, none in good condition or with basic facilities. When this was brought to the attention of the city council, it was decided that Darmstadt would see that a synagogue is built in the city where Jews have lived since at least the early 14th century. No estimate has been made yet of the cost of the project. Town of- ficials said they will try to get the Federal government and the gov- ernment of the State of Hesse to share in the cost. AJC seeks aid against assault New York — The American Jewish Committee last week urged the U.S. government to in- tensify its investigation of in- creasing acts of violence against, women's health and abortion clinics. \ - Stating that "there can be no question that these violent acts are not only illegal but danger- ous," Susie Elson, chairperson of AJC's National Women's Issues Committee, called on Adminis- tration officials to "step up" their investigations.