DETROIT
thing if the Arabs ever
decided to attack on Yom
Kippur. The country, she
remembers saying, was shut
down. It would be almost too
perfect a time.
It was a thought that for
several hours was too easy to
forget. The week before, the
Goldsteins were walking
carefree through the streets
of Tel Aviv. They took in a
Charlie Chaplin movie,
The Goldsteins in Israel in 1973.
Modern Times, and they
were enjoying their lives in
Israel. Mr. Goldstein was
working towards his
master's degree in
rehabilitative counseling at
Bar-Ilan University. Mrs.
Goldstein was working for
the local department of so-
cial services.
The chill that went up
Mrs. Goldstein's spine from
the accuracy of her premoni-
tion was matched only by
the eerie sound of the air.
raid siren, a noise that she
and her husband have never
forgotten.
"We were very scared,"
Mrs. Goldstein said. "It was
the first time we had ever
heard such an alarni."
Radio reports said 25,000
Egyptian soldiers had cross-
ed the Suez. But what the
Goldsteins expected was
a quick few days of battle
and a relatively easy Israeli
victory. The nation, they
said, was overconfident from
the six days in 1967. Ezer
Weizman, the former com-
mander of the Israeli Air
Force, had said in a speech
during the 25th anniversary
of the State of Israel in May
of 1973, that if the Arabs at-
tacked Israel, the Six-Day
War would be a "pleasant
memory for them."
"There was a tremendous
sense of invincibility," Mr.
Goldstein said. "But we kept
waiting for and never heard
the knockout punch. We
didn't know until later how
precarious a situation we ac-
tually were in. There was no
sense of panic, but that
might have been because no
one knew what was going
on."
Mrs. Goldstein learned
about the seriousness of the
war when she learned of the
death of a cousin. Her hus-
band said that because the
war was not over quickly,
and because Israeli soldiers
were dying, the country
struggled under a "heavy
atmosphere."
Now when Yom Kippur
comes, especially on a
Sabbath, the Goldsteins say
they don't go out of their
way to remember what
happened 17 years ago. But
still, according to Mr. Golds-
tein, their experiences were
very real and give them
something to ponder during
the holiday.
"This was such a bloody
war," Mr. Goldstein said.
"We thought we had fought
our last war."
High Schoolers
Susan Codish was a 16-
year-old high school senior
who was visiting a friend at
a yeshiva in Rehovot when
the war broke out. She re-
members walking towards
her friend's home when she
saw a male teacher running
towards a bus with a rifle in
his hands. She remembers
the numbers of Israeli air-
craft overhead.
That afternoon she listen-
ed to an emotional rabbi talk
through his tears about the
loss of life and the conse-
Gila Natan was
14 when war broke out.
quences of war. It was dur-
ing that speech that the air
raid sirens started.
Neilah services were held
in the air raid shelters. Mrs.
Codish, now an Oak Park
resident, said there were no
lights on in the shelters. The
only light came from small
holes in the structure. That
evening, following the break
fast, the father of Mrs.
Codish's friend received a
call to active duty.
"Because I was only 16 at
the time, I guess I didn't ap-
preciate the seriousness of
what was happening," Mrs.
Codish said. "I couldn't
imagine myself being hit in
any way. But for a while
there I lost communications
with my friend and her fami-
ly. I didn't know where they
were. And that's when it
became real to me. Every
few minutes I can remember
hearing a plane overhead,
but I didn't really assimilate
it. It was like a distraction
from the davening (praying),
nothing more. I didn't stop to
think, 'Why are these planes
flying on Yom Kippur?' "
Mrs. Codish, who lived in
Petah Tikvah, some 25
minutes from Rehovot,
visited her friends again two
years later. She said that the
memory of 1973 was then
still fresh in her mind. Now,
some 17 years after the war,
the memories aren't as
fresh.
"I am much more ap-
prehensive (about Israel)
when I am in Detroit than I
was when I was in Israel,"
she said. "When you are
there you just can't stop and
think about being an-
nihilated every second. You
force these things out of your
mind. Here, I am far enough
removed and that allows me
to concentrate on what is
happening there. I can't say
that I don't think about the
'73 war during Yom Kippur
now."
Gila Natan was a 14-year-
old in Ramat Eshkol during
the war. She said that she
can remember one of her
neighbors "going crazy" and
crying non-stop when she
heard the news over the
radio.
"It was a scary time," she
said. "We ran to get cans of
tuna fish and other foods to
take to the shelter. And be-
cause we were religious, we
didn't turn the radio on. So
we really at first didn't know
what was happening."
Mrs. Natan, now a
Southfield resident, said
that since the war, there
have been ongoing memorial
services and educational
programs for children to re-
mind them what happened
in Israel during Yom
Kippur. She also said that
since coming back to the
United States this past
summer, she feels safer.
"Even now I feel diff-
erently," she said. "I can
remember my mother saying
`this would never happen in
America.' Well, when Yom
Kippur comes around in
Israel, you always think to
yourself, is this going to
happen again?"
❑
U-M Hillel's Berman Center.
U-11/1 Hillel
Continued from Page 1
While U-M Hillel has
depended on significant sup-
port from alumni and others
to sustain its programming, it
was only in 1989 that the
Friends was established to
coordinate solicitation of in-
dividual contributions.
"(We're looking for) a grass
roots core of contributors,"
said Joe Jacobson, a resident
of Birmingham and chairman
of the Friends. Mr. Jacobson
said the Friends are relying
on alumni, parents of current
U-M students and other sup-
porters to give annual dona-
tions ranging from $50 to
$1,000. In its first year, the
Friends raised $70,000 from
870 contributors.
The Friends' overall goal is
the maintenance and expan-
sion of Hillel programming,
but an immediate concern is
covering rising operating
costs. In preparation for
Hillel's Mandell Berman
Center, which opened in
1989, $3.1 million was raised
in a building campaign. But
the campaign failed to gather
an additional $1.4 million to
provide an endowment for
programming expenses.
The building itself has con-
tributed to a budgetary
crunch. While the Berman
Center is more energy effi-
cient, Mr. Brooks said, it costs
considerably more to operate
because it is used more heavi-
ly. In the past three years, he
said, annual building
operating costs have increas-
ed $39,000. Overall,
operating expenses, not in-
cluding personnel, have gone
up $80,000 since 1987, Mr.
Brooks said.
The financial pinch was evi-
dent last spring when Hillel
had to make cuts to help deal
with a budget shortfall. An of-
fice staff person was let go,
the April issue of Prospect,
the Jewish student journal,
was not published and the
theatrical troupe, Hill Street
Players, stopped performing.
Hillel also did not take care
of some repairs to the
building and cut down on
janitorial services.
Mr. Brooks said that Hillel
does not anticipate making
such cuts for the 1990-91
school year.
"The cuts were a tactical
mistake," said Mr. Brooks.
"We should have gotten going
on the Friend's campaign
earlier but we were busy with
the building campaign and
the transition (to the new
building)."
This fiscal year, Hillel is ex-
pecting $289,300 from major
institutional supporters:
$139,000 from the Detroit
Jewish Welfare Federation,
$85,000 from the National
B'nai B'rith Hillel; $44,300
from the Michigan B'nai
B'rith Hillel Fund, $13,000
from the Irving and Sarah
Pitt Scholarship Foundation
and $8,000 from Washtenaw
County's Jewish Community
Association.
Ticket sales and advertising
revenues from Hillel's af-
filiated student programs are
also expected to bring in an
additional $100,000.
But, Mr. Brooks said, in-
dividual support through the
Friends campaign is what
will make it possible for
Hillel to cover its expenses.
Janet Levine, a resident of
Huntington Woods and chair
of the membership committee
for the Friends, said the cam-
paign will also make people
aware of the role U-M Hillel
plays in the lives of students.
"Hillel builds future com-
munity leaders," said Ms.
Levine. "(Jewish students at
Hillel) learn about being part
of the Jewish community and
what it means to be a Jew in
the greater community."
❑
THE DFTRUIT JEWISH NEWS 15