- 34 - Ffiday Aprif 5:19E — ;1).1 - THE- DETROIT JEW1SHUNEW S LINDEN NEWS HOME HEALTH CARE HOME 0 - 0 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'