I UP FRONT

Speaking Out
•- For Israel's Poor

Eli Ben-Menachem is the only member of
Knesset who lives in a slum.

0. LARRY DERFNER

Special to The Jewish News

E

•

li Ben-Menachem
stood at the podium of
the Knesset throwing
money down at his col-
leagues. He had about 120
shekels (almost $50) in bills
and coins he'd collected from
slum dwellers in south Tel
Aviv.
"It's not much," he
shouted, "but maybe it will
satisfy you, and then you can
keep your hands out of the
poor people's pockets." He
came down from the podium
and flung his remaining
cash onto the desks of
Knesset members from the
religious and ultra-right-
wing parties who had just
soaked the government for
hundreds of millions of
shekels, much of which had
been intended for people
without decent housing,
hapless Ethiopian immi-
grants, slum renovation and
other poverty cases.

Mr. Ben-Menachem was
too late. It was the beginn-
ing of 1992, and Israel's an-
nual budget had just passed.
The Likud's coalition part-
ners had extracted the huge
sums for West Bank and
Gaza settlements, yeshivot
and other religious institu-
tions in return for their
votes. The losers were the
poor.
In the following two
weeks, the memory of the
government's performance
would grow even more gall-
ing, as it became clear that
Israel's poor are losing out
like never before.
The National Insurance
Institute (Israel's Social
Security) found that 17 per-
cent of Israelis — 537,700 —
are living under the poverty
line, set at $720 a month for
a family of four. This is the
second highest proportion —
after the United States, with
20 percent — of any country
in the industrialized world.
Actually, the number of
poor here is much higher be-

Children play outside their home in Tel Aviv.

cause the study didn't count
recent immigrants, about 40
percent of whom are
unemployed, and because it
was current only to March
1991. Since then unemploy-

ment has risen to its present
level of 10.9 percent —
Israel's highest in years.
And while Israel ranks se-
cond in the Western world
for percentage of poor, it is

alone at the top when it
comes to the gap between
the "haves" and the "have-
nots": the NII found that the
richest tenth of the popula-
tion makes 55 times more

Mr. Graham had been
discussing the possibility of
doing a benefit concert for
ORT at San Francisco's Cow
Palace. He had been
honorary chairman of the
annual San Francisco ORT
Gala since 1986.
Born Wolfgang Grajonca
to Russian-Jewish parents in
Berlin, he was a Holocaust
survivor who learned Eng-
lish after he arrived in the
United States. This
background prompted his in-
terest in English as a second
language classes offered by
ORT.
Persons interested in the
Graham Wall can contact
Michigan Region Women's
American ORT, 855-9820.

urgence in a united Ger-
many.
The U.S. Holocaust
Memorial Museum in Wash-
ington, D.C., is sponsoring
its annual contest, with the
theme this year: "What Are
the Lessons of the Holocaust
for Americans?"
There are two divisions:
students in grades 7-8 and
grades 9-12. Essays must be
under 2,000 words, be
typewritten, double-spaced
and include a title page with
the student's name, address,
telephone number, school
name, address, phone
number, teacher's name and
student's grade.
Winners and their parents
will be flown to Washington
for the April 30 Days of Re-
membrance ceremony at the
U.S. Capitol.
Entries must be mailed to
Writing Contest, U.S. Holo-
caust Memorial Council,
2000 L Street NW, suite 588,
Washington, D.C. 20036.

ROUND UP

O. And The Baby
Makes Three
The Jewish News weekly
Round Up section has taken
a definite turn for the worse
since the Jan. 15 post-snow-
storm birth of Adina
Elisheva Applebaum. Adina
waited ten days beyond
doctor's prognosis (and the
office pool) to make her spec-
tacular entrance into the
world, but baby, Mom, and
even Dad, are doing just
fine.
Adina's arrival will neces-
sitate some poorly written
Round Ups for several weeks
until Mother Elizabeth is
ready to split her time bet-
ween dimples, diapers and
newsroom duties. Please
bear with us.

Hebrew Studies
With A Flair
One of the classiest syllabi
to cross our desks arrived
this week from the Oxford
Centre for Postgraduate
Hebrew Studies.
The full-color, glossy

students from five con-
tinents . . ."
Of course, besides the
beautiful pictures are
descriptions of classes
offered in the One-Year Pro-
gramme In Jewish Studies,
as well as listings of the
academic staff.
The cost for a year (three
nine-week semesters) in-
cludes "tuition, accommoda-
tion, all library facilities and
student union membership"
—9,000 British pounds
($15,750).

Yarnton Manor, Oxford

booklet extolls the virtues of
one of England's most
famous colleges and its
famous setting:
"Oxford, situated on the
River Thames and sur-
rounded by majestic English
countryside and medieval
villages, is one of the most
historic, beautiful and
stimulating university
towns in the world. Offering
a wide array of social,
cultural and intellectual ac-
tivities, Oxford draws

Psychedelic Wall
At ORT School
The father of San Fran-
cisco psychedelic music hap-
penings in the 1960s and
promoter of the Grateful
Dead rock group is being
honored by Women's Ameri-
can ORT.
Concert promoter Bill
Graham died in a helicopter
accident in November. He
will be memorialized with a
wall in his name at an ORT
school in Israel.
At the time of his death,

Added Meaning
For Writing Contest
A Holocaust writing con-
test may have more impact
during a year when a former
Ku Klux Klan leader (David
Duke) is making a serious
run for president of the
United States and neo-
Nazism has made a res-

Compiled by
Alan Hitsky

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 11