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Sift
Not all Sinai doctors are Jewish. But
they've all got seychel, and they know
how to treat you like a mensch.
It's not easy to join the Sinai Medical
Staff. Applicants have to complete an
accredited residency program in a med-
ical specialty. They're expected to be cer-
tified by the national examining board in
that specialty. Their credentials are scru-
tinized by other physicians in their own
and related fields before they are rec-
ommended for appointment by the Board
of Trustees.
More than 300 members of Sinai's
Medical Staff are on the faculty of the
medical schools at Wayne State Univer-
sity or the University of Michigan or the
dental school at the University of Detroit.
We at Sinai get a lot of naches from
our medical staff. If your doctor is not a
member of the Sinai Hospital medical
staff, ask yourself one question—and ask
your doctor, too: WHY NOT?
If you don't have a doctor, or are look-
ing for a specialist, call our Physician
Referral Service. We'll be happy to make
a shidduch.
1-800-248-DOGS (1-800-248-3627)
THIS IS SINAI
Michigan's Only Jewish Hospital
A9
1' I
• : :
SUSAN BIRNBAUM
Special to The Jewish News
B
udapest — Wherever
the Emanuel Founda-
tion for Hungarian
Culture delegation went in
Budapest, the refrain was the
same: "I didn't know I was
Jewish until . . ."
The ages varied, but the
words were the same. Their
discovery was startling, unex-
pected. Now, these people say,
the recognition that they are
Jewish gives them pride, a
sense of responsibility and
special feeling toward Israel.
In Hungary, Jews are begin-
ning to adjust, not only to a
widely acknowledged ac-
celeration of freedoms that in-
clude religious expression,
but to the mere ability to
openly say the word "Jew."
Laszlo Siklos, 35, a member
of the Goldmark Choir,
Budapest's accomplished
Jewish chorus, said he didn't
know he was Jewish until he
was 13, when his father said
he was needed to say prayers
at a Jewish funeral.
Lajos Diosi, 38, another
choir member, admitted that
until recently his Jewish
background was something
he dodged. "You have to know
that in our press, the word
`Jewish' was avoided." On a
trip where Jewish journalists
and filmmakers seemed to
abound, several admitted
that only as young adults did
they learn of the Jewishness.
Estimates of how many
Jews live in Hungary vary,
with official tallies between
80,000 and 100,000. Most
agree that only between
20,000 and 30,000 fully par-
ticipate in Jewish life.
Professor Geza Komoroczy,
a professor of Near East
Studies at the University of
Budapest,is now director of
the Center for Jewish Studies
at the university.
Komoroczy, who teaches
Assyrian, Arabic and
cuneiform, was allowed to in-
clude the study of classical
Hebrew at the school — the
first such program in all
Eastern Europe, he said.
This year the department
offered a "trial balloon" —
beginners' Hebrew — to
determine the demand for
Hebrew classes.
Usually, 10 students of
Near Eastern studies enroll-
ed in his biblical text-reading
class. But in the beginner's
class, where 20 enrolled,
Komoroczy said, "I looked at
the faces in the first class, and
they were regular Hungarian
Jewish students."
Then he said, the students
started coming to him in his
office, saying, "I am only a
Jew. Can I take this class?"
Komoroczy said they got
permission to add a Hebrew
major.
Komoroczy, sporting a long,
Chasidic-style beard and fad-
ed jeans, brimmed with anec-
dotes about Hungarian Jews
and the success of the Hebrew
program.
His favorite incident took
place in June, when he par-
ticipated in the Scheiber
Memorial Lectures at the
Budapest Rabbinical
Seminary,named for its late
director, Rabbi Sandor
Scheiber.
As he finished speaking, an
old lady approached him,
smiling. He did not recognize
her but noted her fine dress
and the presence of a "chai"
on a chain around around her
neck.
"Do you not remember me,
Dr. Komoroczy?" the woman
asked. "I looked and looked,
but I couldn't place her," he
said.
"Don't you know me, pro-
fessor?" she asked again, and
then he realized that "she
was the woman who had
cleaned my room for 15 years
at the university."
Never in all that time had
it ever occurred to him that
she was Jewish, and never
had she let on that she was
educated.
Suddenly,
Komoroczy
understood this woman's
story, that she must have
been the wife of a man of
some stature, or perhaps she
herself had once held an im-
pressive position, and had lost
it in the strain of the Com-
munist government. "And she
never said a word."
The absolute stunner,
however, came when a
reporter asked Komoroczy
about his personal story. "But
I am not Jewish," he said.
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
AJC Names
Silbiger
New York — Steve Silbiger,
a former associate director of
legislation for the American
Federation of State, County
and Municipal Employees,
has been named the
Washington representative of
the American Jewish Con-
gress. The announcement was
made by Henry Siegman, ex-
ecutive director of the Jewish
organization.