"NO HASSLE SUMMER SALE"

NOTEBOOK

30 70% Off

SAT. JULY 12, 104 P.M. KINGSLEY INN

1475 N. WOODWARD
BLOOMFIELD HILLS

SAT. JULY 19, 10-4 P.M. LYNN PORTNOY

532 BRUSH
DETROIT

LYNN PORTNOY

964-0339

532 BRUSH DETROIT, MI 48226

Master & Visa

Come feel the Scandia difference:

The comforter of your dreams
goes on sale
only once a year
The Ascensia. On sale now.

Our magnificent Ascensia comforter is on sale. But only for a little
while. And for the only time this year.
We expect them to go quickly. Because Ascensia is our best selling
comforter. Even at regular prices.
The reason: meticulous workmanship, voluminous and extravagan white goose
down fill, a choice of weights, and exquisite styling.
You won't find this kind of quality or value in any department store.
So come in soon and buy the comforter of your dreams. At a price you'll love.

30% OFF

Regular Weight

Twin
Full
Queen
King

Reg.
$385
$420
$560
$640

Limited to stock on hand • 300 units. Phone & UPS orders welcome
American Express. Visa & MaterCard.

Mon.-Sat. 10-6
1- 1:
1 Thurs. & Fri. til 9

42

Friday, July 11, 1986

258-6670

Reg.
$355
$380
$510
$580

Sale
'269
$294
'392
'448

candia
Shops-

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Sale
'248
*266
'357
'406
BIRMINGHAM PARK PLAZA

255 S. Woodward (& Brown)
Birmingham, MI 49011

Reservation Na Place
For This Sephardi Jew

CARL ALPERT

Special to The Jewish News

HAIFA — The town is Kiryat
Malachi, a development area in
the northern Negev. The office
is on the office on the second
floor, over a bank. The business
card reads: "Computer services,
tax returns, consultations,
bookkeeping; speedy and polite
service."
The "firm" is Israel Oren, who
turns out to be a tall handsome
man, with high cheekbones and
a full black beard, a Chasid of
the Chabad movement, a fol-
lower of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
His Hebrew flows smoothly, and
his speech is punctuated from
time to time by appropriate
references from the Talmud, the
Bible or Jewish sages.
At first it seemed strange that
Ofer knew almost no Yiddish at
all, but when the full story
emerged, it was not so strange
after all. Israel Oren is the
name he assumed soon after he
came to Israel.
James Ray Faddis is the son
of a full-blooded American In-
dian of the Cherokee tribe, with
some Choctaw blood as well.
The family had no desire to live
on a reservation (a "ghetto"
Oren called it), and together
with a number of other Indian
families which had fled from the
dust bowl of Arkansas, made
their home in the small town of
Plymouth, in northern Califor-
nia.
His People were lumbermen,
and young James used to spend
the greater part of each year in
the woods with this father. He
knew nothing of religion and
there was no sense of identifica-
tion with any Indian customs or
tribal traditions. They felt
themselves to be simply Ameri-
cans.
The impressionable lad was
awed by the majesty of the tall
trees and the marvels of nature,
and even at a tender age began
to search for the meaning of na-
ture and of life. The minister at
the local Sunday school, to
which he was sent, tried to con-
vince him of the virtues of
Christianity, but the young In-
dian found the presentation full
of flaws. However, the school did
introduce him to the Bible, and
the subject of the Jews fasci-
nated him. Not until he heard
on television that there was a
war between the Arabs and a
Jewish state did he even realize
that there were still Jews in the
world.
At 17, he joined the U.S.
Navy, learned computer opera-
tions and met his first Jew. He
began to visit a Conservative
temple in Stockton, as if he
were investigating a cult, but
found much to attract him,
much that seemed to answer his
questions.
The Yom Kippur War shocked
him into doing something, and
he sailed off for Israel as a vol-

unteer, under the impression
that the quickie conversion he
had undergone had made him a
Jew. He spent' a year at Kibbutz
Maagan Michael, and another
year at Kibbutz Ein Zivan on
the Golan Heights, always ask-
ing questions and learning He-
brew. He was interested in
music, played the guitar, wrote
songs and tentatively considered
music as a career.
One night, Oren had a dream,
but when he awoke the only
thing he could remember was
"Amos 23". He was perplexed
when he turned to his Bible and
found that Amos had only eight
chapters. A further search, how-
ever, revealed verse 23 in chap-
ter 5: "Take thou away from me
the noise of thy songs, and let
me not hear the melody of thy
psalteries."
He took this to be a revela-
tion, gave up music, and went to

There was no
identification with
any Indian customs
or tribal traditions.

Jerusalem, where he met Rabbi
Israel Segal, a follower of the
Lubavitch movement, and after
a period of intensive study, a
full Halachic conversion fol-
lowed. The Chereokee lumber-
man became Israel Ofer, a
Lubavitcher Chasid.
He married Mazal, whose
family had come from Libya,
and they today have four chil-
dren, with a fifth on the way.
Most of his friends and
neighbors know that he is a ger,
a convert, but not all are aware
of his true antecedents.
We asked. if he was familiar
with the theory that the Ameri-
can Indians may be descended
from the Ten Lost Tribes. He
was, and added that the likeliest
candidates would • be the
Cherokees, for they had the
palest skin of all the Indian
tribes.
In the office, he operates his
computer and handles compli-
cated financial matters for his
satisfied clients. At home, he
helps Mazal by doing all the
laundry, and by cleaning up the
house erev Shabbat.
He served in the army (con-
tinuing with annual reserve
duty as well) and had experi-
ences in Lebanon where his In-
dian lore acquired in the forests
of California stood him in good
stead.
For rabbinical inspiration he
draws on the tradition of Rabbi
Yosef-Chaim of Bagdad, a noted
Sepharadi scholar. In Hebrew
accent and in traditional obser-
vance this Chereokee Indian is a
pure Sepharadi.