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A fresh look at some recent stories in the headlines.

Israelis
Play Big
In Europe

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
ASSISTANT EDITOR

Tefillin
Campaign
Ends

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Pollard
Moved To
Carolina

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Campers
Want Just
The Fax

JENNIFER FINER

JEWISH NEWS INTERN

all them the new Big
Three.
Israel was represent-
ed by three teams during
the European Little League
playoffs, held last week in
Germany.
Israel's Big League divi-
sion team (16-18 year olds)
beat Hungary and England
to finish in fourth place. The
KMC (Kaiserslauten
Military Community), com-

C

prising American children
of U.S. military stationed
around Kaiserslauth,
Germany, won the division,
which included seven
teams.
The Senior division team
(14-16 years olds) also came
in fourth place, defeating
Spain, Slovenia and
Lithuania and losing to
Italy and Belgium. Saudi
Arabia came in first of the

12 teams.
Israel's Little League
division team (9-12 year
olds) drew Jordan as its
first opponent. For political
reasons, Jordan opted to for-
feit the game, allowing
Israel to post a 6-0 win. The
Israeli team went on to
defeat Norway and
Slovenia, but lost to KMC in
the finals to finish fifth in a
15-team division.

here were no long-wind-
ed political speeches
and no flashy fund-rais-
ing dinners, but it was a
campaign that brought in
tremendous results.
The Merkaz, the laymen's
association of Detroit's
Council of Orthodox Rabbis,
recently held a campaign to
check tefillin throughout
the city. Forty-six pairs
were brought in during the
three-week campaign, while
another 30 came in soon

T

after.
Rabbi Yosef Lange of Oak
Park examined the tefillin,
more than half of which
were found to be posul,
invalid.
Like scrolls inside mezu-
zot, for example, the
parchment for tefillin must
be in perfect condition.
Letters may not be faded
or cracked. In addition,
the boxes containing the
scrolls, as well as the
attached straps, must be in

good shape. Both are made
of leather, which can wear
down and break.
Seventeen of the original
46 tefillin Rabbi Lange
examined were posul
because of the scrolls.
Another 20 required new
leather straps, while 22
needed new leather casings.
For information about
having tefillin checked,
contact the Merkaz, 424-
8880.

onathan Jay Pollard has
been transferred from a
maximum security
prison in Illinois to a medi-
um security prison in North
Carolina, where he is no
longer in solitary confine-
ment.
Mr. Pollard in 1987 was
found guilty of spying for
Israel and was given a life
sentence. A former Navy
analyst, he received the
harshest sentence ever in
U.S. history for espionage
for a friendly nation.
Since his interment,

J

which included time in a
federal penitentiary in
Missouri, Mr. Pollard
endured constant harass-
ment and unwarranted pun-
ishment, his family has
said. At one point, he was
forced to spend time in a
mental institution, despite
the fact that both psychia-
trists and the prison direc-
tor agreed Mr. Pollard was
not mentally ill.
He was later transferred
to a penitentiary in Marion,
Ill., where he spent 23 hours
a day in solitary confine-

ment (he was allowed one
hour of exercise).
Hundreds of Jewish orga-
nizations nationwide have
appealed for a review of Mr.
Pollard's sentence.
President Bill Clinton has
said he will consider the
matter in the near future.
Among the most recent
local events on behalf of Mr.
Pollard was a June rally,
organized by members of
the Young Israel Council of
Metro Detroit. More than
500 persons attended.

A

The fax machine runs non-
stop," said Fresh Air Exe-
cutive Director Harvey
Finkelberg, whose colleagues
laughed three years ago
when he introduced the idea
of providing faxes at camp.
"Now all these other camps
are faxing letters, too."
Parents can send unlimit-
ed faxes to their children
but children who want to
fax letters home are
required to pay an $18 fee
to cover the entire camp ses-
sion.
This session, approxi-
mately 100 Ortonville
campers and close to 40
Brighton campers are send-
ing faxes.

Both camp directors agree
faxes at camp are great,
especially for the parent.
"If a child sends a really
homesick letter home, most
likely by the time the par-
ent gets the letter three or
four days later the child is
no longer homesick," Mrs.
Zaks said. "With faxes, the
parents can get a letter from
their child on the same day
it was written.
"For the kids, getting a
fax is just like getting a let-
ter."
As long as the fax comes
in before the mail is distrib-
uted, a child will get the fax
the same day, according to
Mrs. Zaks.

summer at camp usual-
ly means campfires,
bug-juice, overnights
and faxes.
That's right, faxes.
This summer, campers at
Fresh Air Society's Camp
Tamarack and Camp Maas
are sitting down to eat their
milk and cookies and read
their faxes.
"We get a zillion faxes a
day. It does not stop," said
Susie Zaks, director at
Brighton's Camp Tamarack.
"The fax machine rings all
day and all night."
The scenario is the same
at Camp Maas in Orton-
ville.
"We get faxes all the time.

An observant Jew wears tefillin during
morning prayers.

Jonathan Pollard

