Announcing

his summer a group of outstand-
ing Jewish teenagers in the
U.S. and Canada, coming from a
variety of secular and synagogue
backgrounds and entering their senior
year of high school, will be recipients
of the Bronfman Youth Fellowships*.
They will spend five fulfilling weeks of
study, dialogue and travel in Israel.
The Bronfman Fellows will be selected on the basis of character,
intellectual interests, special talents and leadership qualities. Merit, not
financial need, is the standard of selection for the program. Program
activities begin on July 12, with a return from Israel on August 19. All
meals will be kosher, and Sabbath activities will be in the spirit of the
day.
Based in Jerusalem, the Fellows will engage in an intense interac-
tion with a diverse rabbinic faculty and counselors, representing a wide
range of Jewish perspectives. They will explore Jewish text against the
background of Israel's land, culture and customs ... take part in seminars
with some of the country's most penetrating political and cultural figures
... debate ideas and search for insights, on the different ways to define
oneself as a Jew today, all in an atmosphere of mutual respect and open
dialogue.
The purpose: to return
For a descriptive brochure and application
home with a new understanding of
form, please call or write at once to:
the myriad issues facing the Jewish
THE BRONFMAN YOUTH FELLOWSHIPS IN ISRAEL
people and the Jewish state, and a
17 Wilbur Street Albany, NY 12202
Telephone: (518) 465-6575
new appreciation of the importance
of Jewish unity.

THE BRONFMAN
YOUTH FELLOWSHIPS
IN ISRAEL
1992

*Fellowships cover all expenses including roundtrip transportation between New York -
and Israel, room and board, travel in Israel and incidentals. Completed applications must

be postmarked by January 31, 1992.

A PROGRAM OF THE SAMUEL BRONFMAN FOUNDATION, INC.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SPEND A SEMESTER
OF HIGH SCHOOL IN ISRAEL?

WOULD YOU LIKE TO TOUR THE LAND AND REALLY
EXPERIENCE WHAT YOU'VE BEEN STUDYING?

If you're in the 10th or 1 lth grade, learn about
this exciting opportunity at our next

PROJECT DISCOVERY*
information meeting.

We'll be looking for YOU

Wednesday, Nov. 6
6 p.m.

PROJECT DISCOVERY Director Shlomo Tucker (Israel) and
Hanna Hirschberg (New York) will be available
to discuss details.

The Project Discovery-American High School in Israel Program is fully
accredited by American high schools and universities.

AE

e-
111 1rr

ISRAEL DESK

Co-sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, Agency for Jewish Education and the Israel Desk

For more information and to respond, call the Israel Desk: 661-5440

64

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1991

ADL Levels Charges
At Computer Service

New York (JTA) — The
Anti-Defamation League
has accused Prodigy, the on-
line computer services giant,
of allowing subscribers to
post virulently anti-Semitic
messages on its electronic
bulletin boards while at the
same time refusing to allow
other subscribers to post re-
sponses.
But Prodigy attests that
ADL is basing its claims on
"small snippets of a legiti-
mate political debate taken
out of context."
"Because they were taken
out of context, their import
was grossly exaggerated,"
said Steven Hein, com-
munications program man-
ager at Prodigy, which is
owned jointly by IBM and
Sears, Roebuck and Co.
"We absolutely reject any
implication that Prodigy
supports or condones anti-
Semitism," he added.
Examples of what Jeffrey
Sinensky, director of the
civil rights division of ADL,
called "real gutter-level an-
ti-Semitism" include the
following messages:
"Most of the extermina-
tionist survivors' tales have
long been demolished as fan-
tasy and exaggeration."
"The Holocaust itself is
really an edifice, a monu-
ment so to speak, to the
naive gullibility of the world
in which even the most
outrageous survivors' tales
and the falsest testimonies
are totally believed without
the slightest doubt."
ADL initially believed
that one particularly offen-
sive message was publicly
posted on a Prodigy bulletin
board. It called for "a REAL,
and this time, worldwide
Holocaust," and said that "it
is a fact that wherever Jews
exercise influence and
power, misery and warfare
and economic exploitation of
the host people follow." It
also spoke of how "Jewish
power is acquired and ap-
plied behind the scenes."
After making its asser-
tions public, ADL officials
learned that particular mes-
sage had been transmitted
privately through the Prod-
i gy system from one
subscriber to another, and
not posted publicly on a
bulletin board.
Mr. Hein of Prodigy said
the recipient of that mes-
sage, who ironically was
"pro-Israeli and pro-
Jewish," tried to post it to
the system's bulletin board
so that "there could be

public discussion of it.
"He tried to post it 15
times," Mr. Hein said. "And
15 times we rejected it be-
cause we felt it went beyond
the bounds of society's stan-
dards of decency."
But ADL stands behind its
contentions and asserts that
the Holocaust revisionist
messages substantiate its
position that Prodigy's rules
allow bigotry to be
disseminated through the
bulletin boards.
Moreover, on "several in-
stances several individuals"
have had their responses to
anti-Semitic messages
blocked by Prodigy, Mr.
Sinensky said.
After an exchange of
letters and a 90-minute
meeting with ADL officials

Bigotry is
disseminated
through the
bulletin boards.

on Oct. 21, Prodigy officials
asked to review copies of the
notes that ADL says were
disallowed by the bulletin
board overseers.
Mr. Sinensky is in the pro-
cess of obtaining permission
from the writers of those
notes to show Prodigy the
material.
Prodigy's 1.1 million users
send 100,000 messages each
week to be posted on its
bulletin boards, which are
devoted to topics ranging
from news headlines to poli-
tics to the arts.
While individual notes are
not edited or altered, they
are scanned "for language"
by a "handful" of Prodigy
employees, and are then
"randomly sampled" for a
closer look, according to
Henry Heilbrunn, a Prodigy
senior vice president.
If they do not meet Prodigy
standards, they are returned
to the sender unposted. •
In a letter to Mr. Sinensky,
Prodigy's president and
chief executive officer,
Theodore Papes Jr., wrote
that the exchange of ideas
that takes place through the
bulletin boards is "limited
only by the standards of
communication appropriate
to a family service."
The messages are not
posted if, among other
things, they breach those
"family standards" by in-
volving personal insults,
abusive language or in-
sulting behavior, according
to Prodigy's rules.
"We will not post notices