LETTERS

Continued from Page 7

most immediate one that
comes to mind is German
Chancellor Otto von
Bismarck. Frederic Morton,
in his book The Rothschilds,
notes that, by day, the Reich-
skanzeller condemned Jews
and Rothschilds to damna-
tion, but visited them for din-
ing and partying.
In Germany Without Jews,
author Bernt Engelmann
states that the Nazis found
out that Johann Strauss I
(1801-1848) had a Jewish
great-grandfather, and so

noted in his baptismal cer-
tificate, and, much embar=
rassed, tried to alter it
because Hitler preferred the
lighter Strauss over Wagner.
How long before Israelis
and Jews everywhere face the
truth and stop condemning
Wagnerian art on the one
hand, while condemning the
politicizing of art on the other,
as Stalin did to Shostakovich
and Prokofiev?

Sherman J. Schooler
Oak Park

I DETROIT

A Visitor From Israel
Explains Ethiopian Ohim

North Oakland Medical
Center, Pontiac General
Hospital Division
a leader in laser surgery

Ask your doctor's advice. If you do not have a physician,
contact PGH's Referral Service for the name of a laser
specialist. Telephone: [313] 857-7DOC or [313] 857-7362

North Oakland Medical Center
Pontiac General Hospital
Division

Seminole at West Huron, Pontiac, Michigan

Skilled PGH physicians and staff are
certified and thoroughly experienced
in laser medicine and methodology
Our specialists complete training required
for surgical laser certification, and have a
commitment to ongoing laser research.

Surgical laser equipment and medical
facilities are state-of-the-art at PGH
We use the latest in high-tech, computer
linked, [co, and YAG) laser instrumentation
and are one of the leading community
hospitals specializing in vascular disease,
gall bladder and other general surgeries.

Shorter hospital stay, reduced chance
of infection and fewer complications
Laser surgery patients usually heal faster
and the chances of infection are reduced.
There is less blood loss...so transfusions
may not be required. Hospital stays are
significantly shorter. In fact, many laser
procedures can be performed outpatient.

For a free laser surgery brochure call [313)857-7522

PGH Laser Sites I Pontiac General Hospital I Seminole Ambulatory Care Center / Waterford Ambulatory Care Center

BROKEN WINDSHIELD

$50 OFF
WHEN YOU PAY
WITH CASH OR $50 OFF
YOUR DEDUCTIBLE
WITH CASH

Domestic cars only

Call for your appointment

Offer Expires 2/15/92

SIMONS

56PAriffligoriiiiint
r" itta:
mwmonitrinia - a - sucsr..-*c .;rn-
PURITAN AUTO GLASS SERVICE CENTER

21545 Telegraph (Between 8 and 9 Mile)
355-1200

10 FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 1992

TTIIMTIMTTM711111

AMY J. MEHLER

Staff Writer

T

amar Teje Elsa, 27,
never felt like she
belonged in Maichow,
Ethiopia.
She attended a non-Jewish
school, but her classmates
called her falasha, which
means outsider in Ethiopi-
an. Her father, who died in
1979, taught her all about
Judaism and about the State
of Israel.
In 1984, Ms. Elsa made
aliyah. She left behind a
brother and sister, uncles, a
grandmother and a step-
mother. Her mother died
when she was 5.
In Israel, she was adopted
by an uncle and aunt in
Beersheva. She became a
part of the Youth Aliyah
network. When she finished
high school at Givat Wash-
ington, a residential school
in Jerusalem, she enrolled at
Bar-Ilan University in
Ramat Gan. She is now a
chemistry major.
Ms. Elsa, in Detroit last
week, spoke to community
leaders and to students at
Hillel Day School. She came
with Rabbi Pinchas
Hayman, dean of students at
Bar-Ilan.
Rabbi Hayman, who made
aliyah in 1987 from the
United States, talked about
the challenges and rewards
of Israel's Ethiopian absorp-
tion Jan. 22 at the Jewish
Community Center in West
Bloomfield.
"Bar-Ilan, which is a
community of 5,000
students, is leading the way
in absorbing Ethiopian olim
into Israeli society," Rabbi
Hayman said. "We pay their
tuition all three years of col-
lege and give them a living
stipend."
In return, Ms. Elsa vol-

Tamar Elsa:
Ethiopian olah.

unteers four hours a week at
the social integration unit at
Bar-Ilan, serving as a reader
and assistant to a visually
handicapped person. Ms.
Elsa has also adopted an Eth-
iopian family of her own
from the Ethiopian center in
Netanya. They arrived last
summer in Operation
Shlomo.
Rabbi Hayman, also a pro-
fessor of Talmud, said rab-
binic sources are split as to
the exact origins of Ethiop-
ian Jews. Some say they con-
verted during the time of
King Solomon. Others say
they became Jewish in 700
B.C.E. Still others maintain
they later came into contact
with the Yemenite Jewish
community.
"There is no exact scien-
tific information available,"
Rabbi Hayman said.
Ms. Elsa doesn't waste a
lot of time wondering. Her
father taught her, whose
father taught him, whose
father taught him. "It is my
mesorah, (oral tradition),"
she said. El