Y
A
1
R
Arab heart
transplant
recipient
Hana Chadar
recuperating at
Hadassah
Hospital in
Jerusalem.
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V
1
THE YEAR in DETROIT
C,
With A Heavy Heart,
An Affirmation Of Life
0
ne medical procedure at the
Hadassah Medical Center
last November seemed to
symbolize the human drama
of the Arab-Israeli conflict
and captured the imagination of the
world.
When a 40-year-old Israeli soldier
was ambushed and killed on the road
near Gaza by Arab terrorists, his
wife allowed his heart to be
transplanted into the body of a
Palestinian.
The 54-year-old recipient, a resi-
dent of east Jerusalem who had suf-
fered two heart attacks, had been
waiting for four months for a donor.
The heart was transplanted during a
four-hour operation by Jewish doc-
tors in a Jewish hospital in
Jerusalem.
Brenda Krasner Traum, a Balti-
more native and wife of the slain
Israeli, said that saving a life —
anyone's life — was a mitzvah. The
wife of the Palestinian recipient said
"there is no difference between a
Palestinian and an Israeli in such
cases."
Both women spoke the truth,
though a few weeks earlier, in a
similar circumstance, the family of a
young Palestinian killed in the ill-
tifada refused to donate his heart to
a 46-year-old Jewish Israeli, who
subsequently died.
The tragic drama underscored the
compassion of a young Jewish widow
in transcending nationalistic
bitterness and recognizing the
sacredness of each human life. ❑
Obituaries
Among the notables who died in
the last 12 months:
Salo Baron, 94, one of the preeminent
historians of the 20th century and
author of an 18-volume history of
the Jews.
Arthur Goldberg, 81, former Supreme
Court justice, cabinet member in the
Kennedy administration and United
States Ambassador to the United
Nations.
Roman Vishniac, 92, biologist best
known for his photographs chron-
icling the Eastern European Jewish
experience on the eve of the
Holocaust.
Bruno Bettelheim, 86, psychoanalyst
who transmuted his painful in-
carceration in Nazi death camps into
pioneering work with children.
Sammy Davis Jr., black entertainer ex-
traordinaire who converted to
Judaism and remained devoted to
Israel and Jewish causes.
Rabbi Solomon Freehof, 97, leading
Halachic expert of the Reform
movement.
Rabbi Wolfe Kelman, 66, longtime
executive vice president of the
Rabbinical Assembly, the rabbinical
arm of Conservative Judaism.
❑
A Chanukah party for Soviet Jews.
Soviet Immigration
N
early 1,000 Soviet Jews
immigrated to Detroit
during the fiscal year
which ended June 30 and
the community is gearing
up for a new influx of emigres. The
flood of New Americans is straining
community agency budgets and
resources, but also brought about an
increased "sense of mission" for the
community in terms of agency and
volunteer programs to make the
newcomers feel at home in the
community.
Despite a record $28 million
Allied Jewish Campaign, local
agencies were asked to hold the line
as more funds were sent to Israel. In
addition, a separate Operation
Exodus campaign has raised more
than $18 million for Soviet Jewish
resettlement in Israel, leaving fewer
resources for needs in the Detroit
community.
❑
Population Study
A
$275,000 study of Detroit's
Jewish population, the first
in nearly 30 years, found
the metropolitan area with
96,000 Jews. The figure
astounded many observers of the
Jewish community, who had
assumed that the population had
dwindled over the last two decades
to 60,000-70,000.
The study found 72,000 Jews in
the Jewish "core" area — the
northwest suburbs bounded by
Woodward Avenue, Eight Mile, the
cities of Novi and Pontiac. It also
found 24,000 Jews in the periphery.
As the data continues to be
analyzed, Jewish leaders are facing a
difficult reassessment. Have Detroit's
Jewish communal agencies been
ignoring major segments of the
population. Do these "hidden Jews"
want or need community services?
How can the Jewish community
become better connected with
populations within and outside the
core?
❑
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
53