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BY HADASSAH BAT HAIM
Special to The Jewish News
WE HAVE HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS —
NURSES & THERAPISTS — ON
STAFF TO AID YOU IN THE SELECTION
OF THE PROPER EQUIPMENT & USE.
HEALTH
.1•■■
Annual Arab Book Fair
Draws Hundreds To Haifa
WE WILL DELIVER TO YOUR
HOME THE FINEST IN HOME
HEALTH SUPPLIES. SET-UP
AND INSTRUCTIONS ARE INCLUDED.
MNIMI
WE CARE FOR OUR PATIENTS
AND — MOST IMPORTANTLY —
WE CARE ABOUT OUR PATIENTS
CARE
OSTOMY
OXYGEN
WHEELCHAIRS
HOSPITAL BEDS
WALKERS/CANES
BEDSIDE COMMODES
AND MANY OTHER ITEMS
VISIT OUR SHOWROOM
21120 GREENFIELD
OAK PARK 48237
OR CALL
968-5000
WE BILL INSURANCE DIRECTLY ON COVERED GOODS & SERVICES
YOUNG ISRAEL OF OAK-WOODS
Testimonial Dinner
in honor of
Rabbi and Mrs. James I. Gordon
upon the occasion of their aliyah
Sunday, May 5, 1985
6:00 p.m.
Reservations: 398-1177
Young Israel of Oak-Woods
24061 Coolidge
Oak Park, Michigan
Guest speaker: Rabbi Israel Miller Vice President, Yeshiva University
Chairpersons: Alex Roberg, Fayga Dombey
Dinner. Chairman: Salek Lessman
Marvin Berlin
Mandell Berman
Max Biber
Paul Borman
Tillie Brondwine
*in formation
*Honorary Chairpersons
Rabbi Leizer Levin
Hyman Brown
Max M. Fisher
David Hermelin
Manuel Levitsky
Robert Naftaly
Alex Saltsman
Mark Schlussel
Frieda Stollman
Max Stollman
Phillip Stollman
.
Israeli President Chaim Herzog, in the dark suit, is shown through the
annual Arab book fair in Haifa.
The children streaming into the
large halls in chattering groups
are as excited and lively as if they
were coming to a carnival instead
of a fair whose only attraction is
books. It is the annual Arabic
Book Week in Haifa at the Arab-
Jewish Community Ceuter, Beth
Hagefen. Visitors of all ages have
exceeded 100,000 — an astound-
ing figure. The younger element
make a beeline for the tables
loaded with nursery stories, ad-
venture yarns, and those most
modern of all fairy stories, space
extravaganzas. Literary taste, it
is obvious, knows no ethnic boun-
daries.
A large crowd of teenage girls
clusters round a display of books
about films, film stars, stories
from films and films scripts, all
lavishly illustrated. In a little-
frequented room at the back,
scholars from the universities of
Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Bir
Zeit, Bethlehem and Hebron sigh
reverently over large, com-
prehensive histories and
philosophies and try to outmoan
each other aboUt the meagerness
of . their respective budgets. The
most well-known visitor at the
fair was Chaim Herzog, Israel's
President, who is himself an
author and stresses the need for
more Israelis to learn Arabic.
Most of the 150,000 publica-
tions, both hard and soft cover,
have come from Egypt. In Cairo
alone, the five universities turn
out textbooks for hundreds of
thousands of students each year.
Cairo presses are busy with ro-
mances, detective stories, science
fiction and religious homilies all
of which are represented at the
Haifa exhibition.
Salah Abbassi, who has been
the main organizer of the book
weeks, owns an Arab bookstore in
downtown Haifa and imports
books. His knowledge is
encyclopedic and he is always on
hand to advise and recommend no
matter if the enquirer is a young
mother looking for bedtime read-
ing to be told to her three year old
or an erudite professor seeking to
clarify an obscure point in Islamic
law.
Printers' ink is familiar to the
Abbassi family. Ahmud Abbassi,
brother of Salah, is a well-known
publisher and writer. Besides
translations from English and
Hebrew into Arabic, he has more
than 40 works of his own on the
shelves — novels, short stories
and plays, one of which, in He-
brew and Arabic, was playing in
Haifa just before the opening of
the exhibition.
Apart from Egypt, there are
books from Iraq, Lebanon and
Yemen brought through compli-
cated channels. Dealers in Heb-
ron and East Jerusalem still have
their contacts in Amman.
Catalogues may be requested and
orders put through. It is a round-
about and expensive procedure
but the Israeli government allo-
cates the necessary permits and
currency. ,
Tzvi Israel, - who has directed
Beth Hagefen for 20 years, main-
tains that no effort is too great to
raise the standards of Arab liter-
acy and access to books. Books
published in Israel are hard to
find as most of them are published
privately. Some are on display
and it is hoped that more authors
will participate in future collec-
tions. By demonstrating the
variety ofbooks that can be made
available, the Arabic reading
public is assured that their cul-
ture is not being neglected.
Everyone of the 15,000 titles
has been read by Arabists within
the Israel DefenSe Forces for secu-
rity reasons. Subversion is forbid-
den, but controversial essays and
impartial evaluation of present
and past situations are there in
the dozens.
Not every book is reviewed
every year. There are some titles
and subjects that are established
favorites and are on repeat orders
from whatever source is avail-
able. Biographies of charismatic
figures: Nasser, Sadat, Nukeri,
Muhammed Ali (the Egyptian
leader, not the boxer), classic
poetry, legends and folklore ap-
pear year after year with undi-
minished appeal.
There are not many cookbooks
to be seen, nor "iCO it yourself'