ANN ARBOR
825
Woo wardAve.
Motors Ltd. Pontiac, MI 48053
il441--
(313) 332-8000
"----liii(411Y1grf
.
.
Lotus
VOLVO
The Long Road To Michigan
Detroit Gallery of Contemporary Crafts
301 Fisher Bldg.
VERY SPECIAL GIFTS
For All Occasions
Detroit, Ml
48202
Visit the Garden Cafe, serving from 11 to 3.
Ei
i Ae ance
Designs
TAILORING
ALTERATIONS
Specializing in all types of
• FABRIC • FUR • LEATHER
• Special Line of
LEATHER CLOTHING
CROSSWINDS MALL
4301 Orchard Lake • West Bloomfield • 851-2780
&; _ .
fi '''
-
e
,‘-'
,
The HIGHEST Money Market Rate
s.̀Zr , Among Major Financial Institutions
..-. k
in the Detroit Metropolitan Area for
' ■ .,
*%
...
.
221
ed
•Ac)
A
C,
Consecutive Weeks
INSTANT LIQUIDITY
INTEREST RATES AS OF: 6-15-88
FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
MONEY MARKET RATES*
Franklin Savings
6.05
Comerica
5.75
First Federal Savings Bank & Trust
5.30
First Federal of Michigan
5.40
First of America
5.65
Manufacturers
5.75
Michigan National of Detroit
5.45
National Bank of Detroit
5.80
Standard Federal
5.45
*Based on $10,000 deposit. Some minimum deposit requirements may be lower.
Higher rates may be available for larger deposits.
Franklin
Savings
, FSLIC
i
101 ■■•.
,
Ask About Our Other Full Service Products
26336 Twelve Mile Rd. • Southfield
(At Northwestern Highway)
. V.., Lynn.* ft MOO.
If.)1 Mtn,
(313) 358-5170
20247 Mack Avenue • Grosse Pointe Woods
Lender
74
FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 1988
(313) 881-5200
.
LINDA BENSON
Special to The Jewish News
M
ario Vasquez, of
Yoro Province,
Honduras, was
involved in land-reform ac-
tivities that he says placed
his life in jeopardy with
the Honduran govern-
ment. In the autumn of
1986, after threats from
the police, he decided to
take his chances and
become one of the hordes of
illegal aliens who make
their way to the United
States.
Just about that time,
Rabbi Robert Levy's com-
mittee on Central America
was getting organized. It
sent two observers, Ann
Arborites Eve Mukotoff
and Janet Landman, to
visit a detention center for
illegal Central American
aliens located in
Brownsville, Texas. Here,
thousands of illegals who
get caught by border
guards spend time that
might range from a few
weeks to a few months.
Frequently, they are sent
back home when they can-
not provide the $3,000
bond required for a hear-
ing, or when they cannot
adequately build a case to
justify a well-founded fear
of persecution.
And here the two Ann
Arborites crossed paths
with Mario Vasquez.
Through bribes and
other machinations Vas-
quez had made his way in-
to Texas, where he was
picked up by suspicious
INS officials while boar-
ding a bus. He was dispat-
ched to the detention
center in Brownsville.
Vasquez, who had no
money for bond and had
been in detention for one
month when the Ann Ar-
bor committee contacted
him, was willing to submit
to the legal process to
avoid the alternative of
voluntary deportation.
The committee sent him
the necessary bond money,
Vasquez was released, and
arrangements were made
for him to fly to Ann Arbor
for his asylum hearing.
University of Michigan
law professor and Temple
Beth Emeth member T.
Alexander Aleinikoff and a
group of his students were
enlisted for legal support.
Shortly before the hear-
ing, on Feb. 2, 1988,
another complication
developed. Vasquez' wife
and family back in Yoro
Province, were threatened
and harassed by the local
police. Again, the Beth
Emeth committee stepped
in, advising her on how to
get a Mexican tourist visa,
sending air fare, and put-
ting her in contact with
the United Nations High
Commission on Refugees
once she arrived in Mexico
City.
The asylum hearing was
conducted in Spanish in a
Chicago federal court. Vas-
quez was granted legal
alien status and his wife
and children were allowed
to join him in Ann Arbor
the following month.
❑
Ghost At The Feast
Judith Laikin Elkin explores the invisible history of
Latin American Jews
SUSAN LUDMER-GLIEBE
Special to The Jewish News
T
hus after having
driven all the Jews
out of your realms and
dominions, Your Highness in
this same month of January
commanded me to set out
with a sufficient armada to
the said countries to India."
That sentence was written
by Christopher Columbus in
1492. In a way, an extremely
simplified way, it symbolizes
much of the subsequent
history of the Jews in Latin
America.
At the very moment when
Jews were being destroyed by
the Inquisition in Iberia, a
New World thousands of
miles away was being born.
And Jews though repudiated
and spurned were also
rendered necessary. Even Col-
umbus — who set sail with "a
certain Luis de Thrres, a con-
verted Jew who, it is said
knew Hebrew, Aramaic and
also some Arabic" — needed
a Jew on the Santa Maria to
mediate the tongues of the
known and unknown.
Luis de Torres wasn't forgot-
ten by history. But many,
many other Jews who came to
the New World over the cen-
turies — the merchants and
sea captains, the pirates and
peddlers, the agriculturalists
and engineers — whose
names have been lost to
history weren't so lucky. Of
the thousands who settled on
the islands of the Caribbean,
on the coasts of Suriname and
Brazil, in the high sierras of
Peru and Mexico, of all these,
who can recall them?
That was one question that
disturbed Judith Laikin
Elkin. She wondered why this
incredibly rich history was, if
not forgotten and lost, cer-
tainly not well known. "I had
been teaching Latin
American history for a long
time," she says. "There was
never any mention of Jews. I
was interested in knowing
why Latin American history
could be written without
writing about the Jewish in-
fluence."
Laikin Elkin also wondered
why Jewish historians
neglected the Diaspora ex-
perience in Latin America.
"In Jewish history books
Latin American communities
were always listed under
"Other" along with China
and Japan, which have only
tiny Jewish populations."
Laikin Elkin did more than
wonder about this neglected
history. "I became convinced
that there was a lot to be
learned from the Jewish
Latin American experience,
so I founded an association
which is now in it's eighth
year?' The organization is
called the Latin American
Jewish Studies Association
and Laikin Elkin is its presi-
dent. Though its 400
members are primarily
scholars and academics
there's a sprinkling of
businessmen, rabbis, jour-
nalists, filmmakers, and even
a Catholic priest or two. In
August, the association will
hold its 5th international con-
ference in Buenos Aires.
Several themes distinguish
the history of Jews in Latin
America from that of their
northern neighbors. One
predominant difference,
Laikin Elkin points out, is
that the U.S. and Canada are
5.y