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SOUTHFIELD: 24777 Telegraph
353-2500
Other locations: Wayne and Lincoln Park
Located In
THE BAY POINTE PLAZA
Across From
Bay Pqinte
Country Club
4094 HAGGERTY RD.
WALLED LAKE, MI
(Commerce Twp.1
(313) 360-0202
(
HOURS:
MON -SAT. 1 1-6
THURSDAY TR., 8
CLOSED SUNDAY
•
CREATIVE JEWELRY
Specializing In Unique And Original Designs
SWATCH WATCHES.
Reg. $30 NOW $24
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A.
We4,
CREATIVE JEWELRY
29310 ORCHARD LAKE ROAD
FARMINGTON HILLS, MI 48018
(313) 855-8800
'
\tainn Les ■
10
li
1 BLOCK SOUTH OF 13 MILE ROAD
Open Daily 10-5. Thursday till 8, closed Sunday
BUY DIRECT FROM THE MANUFACTURER AND SAVE
Friday, August 15, 1986
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Riding The Last Bus
For Kibbutz Urim
DIANE BERNSTEIN
Special to The Jewish News
am on my way to visit a
friend at Urim, a kibbutz
25 miles from Beersheva. I
have already taken two buses,
one from the ulpan to
Natanya, and than another
from Natanya to the Tel Aviv
Central Bus Station.
Bus station? Hardly. Appar-
ently, there were plans to
build a modern bus station,
but corruption and bureauc-
racy have kept any such sta-
tion from being completed. Ac-
tually, the 'bus- station' is just
an area of several blocks with
various bus stops haphazardly
placed.
I am looking for station 401.
I find 400. How foolish to as-
sume that 401 will be even
remotely near. I ask questions,
receive answers, continue
walking, growing more con-
fused as I continue on and can
find no order in the station
numbers. I am weary now, and
would gladly forget my insis-
tence on speaking Hebrew
only, but the people I question
speak less English than I do
Hebrew, so I persevere, I who
have trouble understanding
directions in English.
I finally find the right bus
stop. I remember Ora had said
every half hour. I distinctly
remember her saying, "1:00,
1:30, 2:00." Yes, so here I am
and it's 3:10. I guess the next
bus will be at 3:30. I look up at
the sign again. Panic sets in.
The last time given for Friday
is 14:00. 14:00 is 2 p.m., right?
What had Ora said?
Panic anew as I remember
her exact words: "1:00, 1:30,
2:00. The last bus for Urim
leaves Tel Aviv at 2:00."
Somehow I had blocked the
-last part of her instructions to
me. Our last Hebrew class on
Friday does not end until 1
p.m., and I had stayed to have
lunch before catching the first
bus.
I walk down the street won-
dering what to do. My aunt is
always available in her Ramat
Gan apartment just 15 min-
utes away. Well, I can always
spend Shabbat there. I see my-
self sitting across from her on
her covered porch. She is cry-
ing, explaining that her chil-
dren do not visit enough and
that she has nothing to do all
day. I quickly decide there
must be some way to Urim.
For the first time I feel per-
sonally affronted by the reli-
gious minority's ability to con-
trol certain aspects of Israeli
life. I think to myself, "Don't
these people realize I have
somewhere to go?" I find a
public telephone on the street,
but do not have any phone to-
kens and all the stores are
closed.
My distress must be obvious
I
Detroiter Diane Bernstein
returned in July from a 24-day
ulpan in Israel.
because a girl in her early 20s
stops and asks if I need help.
Oh, boy, do I! I ask if she has
any tokens, for which I will
willingly pay. She hands me
several, refuses to accept
money, and listens sympathet-
ically to my plight.
I will try to call my friend at
Urim and find an alternative
way to get there. My benefac-
tress stays with me while I
call. Urim has supplied its
members with many creature
comforts, not the least of
which are private telephones.
What luck. My friend is in her
apartment and answers the
phone. She tells me to take a
bus to Beersheva, then a pri-
vate taxi, which may cost as
much as 50 shekels (over $30).
It is worth the money, but I
have only 25 shekels, plus
American travelers checks.
My friend says, "I'll see you." I
reply, "Maybe yes, maybe no"
and hang up.
Again, I see myself at my
aunt's house for Shabbat. No,
somehow I must think of
something. I ask my young
benefaCtress to help me. As if
by magic I reach into the air
and pull down the Hebrew
word for "exchange." (This is
my first concrete proof of the
progress I have made with the
language.) She has just been
paid and is eager to take my
travelers checks for shekels. I
get more from her than I
would from the bank because
she does not add a service
charge. She is happy. I am
happy.
I get on the last bus out of
Tel Aviv for Beersheva. It is
hot and noisy. The bus is
crowded and I stand all the
way. The aisles are filled with
people and packages, so I
barely manage to keep my
footing.
Soldiers on their way home
are carrying their guns; civi-
lians are carefully holding
Shabbat flowers to keep them
from being crushed. I 'am sur-
rounded by Arabs, Ethiopians,
native Israelis. I have a
headache. I am angry about
the country closing down
against my wishes. I feel very
much alive.
Jewish School
Attendance Low
Jerusalem — Between 39
and 43 percent of Jewish chil-
dren in the United States ages
3 to 17 were enrolled in some
kind of Jewish school in the
period 1981 to 1983, according
to a census conducted under
the auspices of the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem and
the Jewish Education Service
of North America.
Percentages of Jewish chil-
dren receiving a Jewish educa-
tion in countries other than the
United States (where the
enrollment was 39-43 percent)
ranged from a high of 69-73
percent in the smaller Latin
American countries to a low of
22-26 percent in France.