THE DIASPORA BIG BIG DISCOUNTS SEIKO WATCHES 40-50% OFF up. RCA-SONY TVs PHONE ANSWERING MACHINES CROSS PENS 40% OFF LIST EPILADY SHAVERS $49.95 MONT BLANC PENS 40% OFF Sugg. List K-45 KITCHEN-AID MIXERS NOW ONLY $15998 OSCAR BRAUN'S LINCOLN TOWERS SUITE 111 15075 W. Lincoln (10 1/2 Mile) 968-5858 One Block East of Greenfield Young Hungarian Jews Discover Their Heritage $119.00 INTERPLAK TOOTHBRUSH $77.88 SUGTG. Mon. thru Sat. 10.4 BRAUN RECHARGEABLE ELECTRIC SHAVERS American Heart fASSOCia tiOn WERE FIGHTING 1--CR YOUR LIFE $4198 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.