LIFE IN ISRAEL

SINCE 1892

We've made
our move...

AND 805 EAST MAPLE IN BIRMINGHAM
WILL NEVER BE THE SAME

Preview Opening
Sale Event!

* Save 20
to 50% now

* SEE OUR EXCITING NEW STORE
* SEE OUR EXCITING NEW FUR FASHIONS
* STORE YOUR FUR IN OUR TEMPERATURE CONTROLLED VAULT

4 P R

I—

STORAGE & CLEANING...)

SINCE 1892

805 E. Maple

(2 Blocks East of Woodward)

Birmingham
647-9090

I

$

I
I

800 OFF

li

When we clean and store your Fur.
Bring in this coupon and save $8.00 per
1 Fur when you store them in Furs by
Robert temperature controlled vault.

Cr., Cards
F
•,..mbi*

Offer Good With Prepayment Only

Offer Expires 7/1/89

50% OFF

A Select Group of
Spring and Summer Designs

30% OFF

All Jewelry and Handbags

SALE GOOD THROUGH JUNE 23

—final Sale

—
ALL PREVIOUS SALES AND LAYAWAYS EXCLUDED

(313) 353-2383

26571 W. TWELVE MILE

KNIGHT PLAZA BLDG. - LOWER LEVEL
SOUTHFIELD, Mil

The Bright Idea:

Give a Gift Subscription

38

FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 1989

I

I
j

TRESSA'S

TUESDAY-SATURDAY
10:00 AM-5:00 PM

1

THE JEWISH NEWS

Children playing in a lot slated for development near Mitzpeh-Yam, Herzilia, brought construction to a halt
when they found a Byzantine mosaic. Neighbors' cars blockaded the area until authorities decided a course
of action.

C. Nutkiewitcz/Media

Young Jews Seeking Identity
Find Program In Safed Helpful

DAVID HOLZEL

Israel Correspondent

N

ancy Lehmann grew
up knowing nothing
about Judaism. When
she went to synagogue, it was
only to please her grand-
parents. In college, most of
her friends were Jews. "But
they all had Jewish back-
grounds," says the 22-year-old
New York native. "They used
to laugh at me."
After graduation, Lehmann
took off for Europe with her
friend Marsha Leibowitz.
They met some people who
had just come from a kibbutz.
An interest in Israel was
kindled in Lehmann's mind.
Vacation ended and the two
returned to the United States.
"I was home for 24 hours
and then I phoned El Al,"
Lehmann says.
Three months later, she and
Leibowitz were in Israel, stu-
dying Hebrew at a kibbutz
ulpan. Her first visit to Israel
was a revelation. "You realize
that everyone around you is
Jewish. At home they say,
`Oh, you're Jewish?' with a
negative connotation,"
Lehmann says.
But the pair realized that

something was lacking. "One
thing that was never discuss-
ed was religion," Lehmann
says. "I wanted a chance to
learn more about Judaism.
My object wasn't to find
religion, but to learn about
it."
Kibbutzim and yeshivot
have been the primary
destinations of young Jews
who come to Israel in search
of their roots, but many find
limitations in these very op-
posite institutions. Like
Lehmann and Leibowitz, they
find kibbutzim spiritually un-
fulfilling and the yeshivot
often become ghettoes, closed
off from Israel's vibrant
society.
Lehmann and Leibowitz
found an alternative that
combines the communal and
Zionist kibbutz with the
religious yeshivah. They
found it in the ancient city of
Safed on a program called
"Livnot U'Lehibanot — To
Build and to be Rebuilt." The
old socialist-Zionist idea of
building a new Jew through
reclaiming the Jewish land
has been reworked for the
1980s to bring young
Diaspora Jews closer to both
Judaism and Israel.

"We're learning about
Jewish history and Zionism,"
says Leibowitz, 23, from
Pennsylvania. "We're seeing
what an Orthodox lifestyle is
like. Not every religious per-
son in Safed wears black hats
and coats. We didn't know
that. Judaism is more flexible
than most of us believed."
"It's not a religious pro-
gram, but it is," says Aaron
Botzer, the 39-year-old, pipe-
smoking former Clevelander
who founded Livnot nine
years ago. He had two aims:
to help rebuild Israel and,
through work and study, to
develop, during three-month
sessions, a sense of communi-
ty and affinity with the
Jewish people among those
who pass through Livnot's
courtyard and restored
medieval buildings.
"Almost all the work we do
is physical work," Botzer says.
"The point of the work is to
get satisfaction from doing
someting. To see your ac-
complishment."
All of Livnot's buildings
were restored by the par-
ticipants themselves. The
work includes clearing rub-
ble, rebuilding roofs and
plastering walls. The latter