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R ound
All the news that
Compiled by Elizabeth Applebaum
/
Hebrew University Researchers,
AIDS and Fireflies
It's Never Too Late
To Learn Hebrew
finding it throughout the prayer book
and repeatedly pronouncing its sound.
They next learn reish, which the authors
combine with bet so that both letters
Learn
Hebrew
Today:
Alef-Bet
for
of
become familiar through repetition.
Adults.
By the end of the book, students will
The new book, published by the
be able to read the
Union of American
blessings contained
LEARN
HEBR
EW
TODAY
Hebrew Congrega-
at the end, including
is
Alef-Bet
for
Adul
tions, teaches adults
Pa& Michael Yccineab
those
recited before
how to pronounce with Howard I. fiDgot
•
0401
reading
the Torah,
the Hebrew letters
when
putting
up a
and vowels found in
mezuzah,
and
upon
the basic blessings.
seeing a rainbow.
It was written by
Through use of
Rabbi Paul Yedwab
the
book, students
of Temple Israel, and
will
"discover that
Rabbi Howard Bo-
leshon
Hebrew
got, director of the
is the
hakodesh
UAHC Department
language
for
sacr-
for Religious Educa-
ed
times,
places
tion and the Reform
and ideas," the text
Judaism Commis-
states. "Hebrew ex-
sion on Education.
presses the Jew's
Learn Hebrew
search
for
meaning
and commitment
Today uses familiar blessings to teach
to
community.
Hebrew
is the ve-
The
first
lesson
begins
the aleph-bet.
hicle
through
which
the
Jew
defines
with the blessing over the wine. Read-
the
essence
of
Jewish
identity."
bet
by
ers learn to recognize the letter
I
f aleph, betand gimme) are about
as familiar to you as the Chinese
alphabet, you need a healthy dose
Survivors, Liberators
Return To Dachau
n official delegation of
American officers and sol-
iers who liberated the Nazi
death camps at the end of World War
II, along with several survivors of
those camps, this week returned to
the sites on a "Journey of Remem-
brance."
Coordinated by the U.S. Holocaust
Memorial Museum in Washington,
which will open in April, in coopera-
tion with the U.S. Department of De-
fense's 50th Anniversary of World
War II Commemoration Committee,
the journey has as its primary aim the
gathering of soil from Dachau,
Buchenwald, Mauthausen and oth-
er significant Holocaust sites for in-
Ad
terment in the museum's Hall of Re-
membrance.
The trip will feature a visit to Nor-
mandy, where top Pentagon officials
and veterans of the Allied invasion will
join the delegation in commemorat-
ing the historical landing.
"Forty-seven years ago, I stood in
the morning sun at Dachau and
stared in amazement as American
tanks barreled over a hill, heading to-
ward us," recalled Museum Vice
Chairman William Lowenberg, a sur-
vivor of Auschwitz. "I have always be-
lieved that the debt we survivors owe
to our American liberators is one that
must be remembered, and can nev-
er be repaid."
ith the help of the firefly,
professors at the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem
have developed a simple, quick and in-
expensive new method for identifying
active viruses — including the virus that
causes AIDS — in human blood.
Professor Alexander Honigman of
the Department of Molecular Genetics at
the Hebrew University-Hadassah Med-
ical School, who helped develop the new
method, said it can be especially helpful
in identifying AIDS in infants bom to par-
ents with the virus, according to a report
in the American Friends of the Hebrew
University newsletter.
W
The Pickle Man
Goes Nationwide
he protagonist of the 1989 film
Crossing Delancey was in a
pickle. -
Her well-intentioned but meddle-
some grandmother wanted her to date
the nice Jewish boy down the street,
the guy who davened every day and
liked handball and worked selling pick-
les in the Lower East Side.
But Isabelle "Izzy" had someone else
in mind. Her dreamboat was author An-
ton Maas, the banana-brained woman-
izer who liked to charm his dates by
reading them poems about "ripe plums"
(remember that scene?). Oh, brother.
The film was fiction; the pickle man's
store is not. Scenes from Crossing De-
lancey were filmed at the Essex Street
Pickle Corp. in New York, which for
years now has been producing not only
pickles but sauerkraut, horseradish, cel-
ery, olives and hot peppers.
Now the Essex Street Pickle Corp.
is making its tasty delights available na-
tionwide. To place an order, call 1-800-
252-CUSS (4877).
T
Using a bioengineering process, He-
brew University researchers managed
to create a row of cells in which the "light
gene"—which causes the firefly's glow
— produces light in the presence of
viruses.
In addition to being more cost effec-
tive and quicker
than older tests,
the new method
also will allow fol-
low-up on AIDS
patients, and fur-
ther enhance evaluation of the success
of tissue-culture samples testing drugs
used in the treatment of the disease.
llA
New Service Helps The Blind
he American Red Cross has
initiated a new program to
help visually impaired and
any other handicapped individuals
find information about family who
perished in the Holocaust.
The Holocaust and War Victims
Tracing Service contains new infor-
mation made available with the open-
ing of war archives in the former
Soviet Union.
Those who lost a relative during
the war, are seeking to verify a fam-
ily members death, need certification
T
for reparation or pension, or who are
looking for missing relatives, should
contact the Jewish Heritage for the
Blind, which will provide information
on scheduling appointments with the
Red Cross. Forms are available in
both Braille and regular print.
The service is available at no
charge.
For an application or further in-
formation, contact the Jewish Her-
itage for the Blind Tracing Service,
1655 E. 24th St., Brooklyn, N.Y.
11229.
.
Love And Latkes
f Chanukah is here, can romance
be far behind? That's right, singles.
If you're looking for love and your
mom is talking about latke parties,
maybe you should listen up.
According to American Woman
magazine, religious gatherings are the
best place to meet the man or woman
of your dreams. Coming in at number
two: a friend's home. Other top places
for finding your sweetheart: evening
classes, work and, coming in at num-
ber five, nightclubs.
I
New York's Sephardic Home
or the past 40 years, a New
York home for the aged has
been providing care not just for
elderly Jews, but for Sephardic Jewish
senior citizens.
Located in Brooklyn, the home was
started by Sephardim and continues to
provide Sephardic culture to residents.
In addition to therapeutic recreation and
other rehabilitation programs, it has a
synagogue with daily and Shabbat
F
Sephardic services, while the kitchen
offers kosher Sephardic food.
For information, contact the
Sephardic Home at 2266 Cropsey Ave.,
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11214, (718) 266-6100.