MARGUERITE'S "PRIMA DONNA" Fashions For The Fuller Figure Woman AT "PRIMA DONNA" 29555 Northwestern Hwy. Southfield, MI 355-0139 MALL Custom closets Kathie Park (313) 473 - 6800 CHIROPRACTIC HEALTH HINTS Health News .. . 9 of 10 Back Surgeries Not "Necessary Nor Effective" A group of Ethiopian youngsters at a day care facility. Some studies found that the immigrants were made overly dependent on the authorities. tion is the continuation in Israel of the Sigd, a pilgrimage and covenant renewal festival that is unique to Ethiopian Jews:' Ben-Dor stresses that it may be possible for Ethiopians to develop some sort of syn- thesis between their traditions and nor- mative Judaism that will facilitate their adjustment in Israel, but this is a very dif- ficult undertaking. A controversial attempt to ease the religious transition of Ethiopian Jews is the program of mainstream Orthodox religious studies organized for about two dozen kesim, to train them as religious functionaries, but not rabbis. The idea behind this program, which is carried out at Machon Meir in Jerusalem and funded by Amishav, is to create a group of leaders for the Ethiopian community who can draw on their prestige as kesim and their recognition by the Israeli religious estab- lishment, in order to serve as cultural mediators between old and new. Some see this program as the key to solving many of the thorny problems of religious integration for the Ethiopians, while others see it as wasted effort that will end up creating a group of figures with lit- tle influence either among the immigrants or the Orthodox establishment. Meanwhile, religious life for the Ethio- pians is moving in several different direc- tions. The young people in public schools or Youth Aliya institutions are receiving intensive doses of mainstream Orthodoxy. Their parents, however, are for the most part unfamiliar with the new, and are unable to practice the old. The university students, many of them secular, are in a religious limbo.. A large group of kesim is being trained by the Orthodox establishment, while a smaller group is rebelling against it. Moreover, at least a dozen Ethiopian im- migrant associations have sprouted up, all claiming to speak for the entire communi- ty and each with its own attitude to religion. The strongest of these, the Beta Israel, led the protest against the symbolic conversion. The fact that some of those who work in the field of immigrant absorption today suffered themselves 30 years ago was a bonus for the Ethiopians. These dedicated workers were determined that. the Ethio- pians should not have to undergo a similar fate. Some of the problems in handling the Ethiopian immigration stemmed from the secrecy that had to be imposed. This prevented public exposure and debate of certain issues — such as the way the ab- sorption centers were operated — that could have benefitted from a public airing. It also prevented the Ethiopians themselves from using the mass media to draw attention to their problems. But once the news blackout was lifted, they proved quite adept at organizing protest activities and at using the media to convey their message. It took the immigrants of the 1950s about two decades before they were able to convey to the broader public some of the pain and frustration that they had ex- perienced at that time. The fact that we heard from the Ethiopians far sooner may indicate that they will not have to wait as long as the Middle Eastern immigrants of the 1950s did to find their rightful place in their new home. 1:1 BY DR. STANLEY B. LEVINE Doctor of Chiropractic The above headline is a quote from Dr. C. N. Shealy, a medical doctor who is neurosurgeon at the Pain Rehabilitation Center of the University of Minnesota. In studying a number of patients at the Center, Dr. Shealy found that nearly 70% were "repeaters" on lumbar disc surgery. Accor- ding to the good doctor, if the patients failed to obtain relief from the first operation, the second and subsequent ones would also prove ineffective. Of the 50,000 spinal operations performed in the United States each year, Dr. Shealy believes that only one in ten can be justified. He contends that back surgery should only be used as a last resort after all other methods have failed. Doctors of Chiropractic agree. They are not opposed to all back surgery, just those cases where surgery is performed before all other methods have been tried and failed. Since statistics indicate that a very large percentage of back problems are due to struc- tural or mechanical defects of the spine, these cases may respond favorably to Chiropractic. The Doctor of Chiropractic is a specialist in problems of the spine, nerves and muscles. DR. STANLEY Why are there so many problems with the B. LEVINE low back? The lower spine is constructed in such a way as to allow freedom of movement in twisting, bending, etc. Yet this very structure ac- counts for many of the problems. As an example, note that the spine in the low back is supported and protected only by muscles, ligaments and discs while the areas above and below the lower spine are supported and protected by the rib cage and pelvis. Back surgery is a very significant attempt to solve a back pro- blem. No matter whether it succeeds or fails, scar tissue will -re- main and the muscle structure will have been weakened. If the spine is fused in one area its movement is restricted and the remaining vertebrae must work even harder than before. While there are cases where back surgery may be necessary, it should be employed only as a last resort. Chiropractic has achieved success with structural and mechanical defects of the spine that would indicate that it should be a first resort for such problems. You Can Feel Better LEVINE CHIROPRACTIC CLINIC 31390 Northwestern Hwy. Farmington Hills 48018 855-2666 Dr. Steven M. Tepper Dr. Robert W. Levine THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 31