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COMPILED BY ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
Assignment: Rescue
arian Fry was an
unlikely hero.
An editor on le ave
from the Foreign Pol icy
Association, he was priv ate
and intellectual, hardl y a
man of daring and brava do.
In 1940, he was sent on a
three-week assignment to
Marseilles as a represen ta-
tive of the Emergen cy
Rescue Committee. The v ol-
unteer group
was dedicat-
ed to helping
Europe's
oppressed in
Vichy France
escape Nazi
terror. Mr.
Fry was the
only one who
would take
the assign-
ment.
Three
weeks quick-
ly
turned
into
13
months and ended only after
Mr. Fry was expelled from
France. Meanwhile, he saved
the lives of more than 2,500
Jews and opponents of the
Nazis, including many of the
most important intellectuals
and artists of central
Europe.
"I stayed because the
refugees needed me," Mr.
Fry wrote. "But it took
courage, and courage is a
quality I hadn't previously
been sure I possessed."
Mr. Fry's life is the subject
1
B
of a new exhibit, "Assign-
ment: Rescue," which opened
late last month at the U.S.
Holocaust
Memorial
Museum in Washington,
D.C.
While in Marseilles, Mr.
Fry served as head of an
underground escape organi-
zation operating under the
benign cover of an American
relief agency, the Centre
Americain de
Secours. He
planned
covert
Maya Leibovic with Alfred Gottschalk.
escapes and
arranged for
forged docu-
mentation,
saving the
lives of
authors and
aya Leibovic of
artists like
Jerusalem recently
Marc
became the first
Chagall,
native-born Israeli woman
Andre Breton to be ordained a rabbi.
and Franz
Hebrew Union College-
Werfel.
Jewish Institute of Religion
After being expelled in
President Dr. Alfred
1941 — by orders of the
Gottschalk ordained Ms.
French minister of the interi- Leibovic, the daughter of
or and with approval of the Czech Jews who escaped the
American embassy — Mr.
Holocaust.
Fry returned to the United
"People often think that if
States. As a contributing edi- you live in Israel, you inter-
tor to the New Republic, he nalize being Jewish," Ms.
warned of the massacre of Leibovic said. "That's not
European Jewry. He pub- true. To lead a Jewish life,
lished a book of his you have to consciously
Marseilles experiences,
make your life Jewish
Surrender on Demand, in through study, through
1945.
mitzvot.
Mr. Fry died of a heart
"But first and foremost,
attack in September 1967.
all Jewish children need a
Fund To Benefit Northern Israel
'nai B'rith Inter- will help repair Kibbutz
national has estab- Kfar Blum, where B'nai
lished te a nrseloi fefth
fuonud B'rith sponsors its kibbutz
high school program. The
sands of men, women and kibbutz, which is close to
children
t h e
affected
Lebanon
by the
border,
recent
w a s
attacks
heavily
0 n
damaged
northern
by rock-
Israel.
ets.
II H e z -
Make
J1 b o llah
checks
I' forces showered more than
payable to B'nai B'rith
130 Katyusha rockets into International, earmarked
] Israel, which suffered for Northern Israel Relief
1 $150 million in damage.
Fund, and send to 1640
Some of the money col- Rhode Island Ave. NW,
lected for the relief fund Washington, D.C. 20036.
First Israeli
Woman Ordained
Learning Hebrew Is For Dummies
ou've taken the class-
"Fun with the Alefbet!" is
es. You've read the 40 minutes long and intro-
books. You've sung the duces all letters of the
songs. And still you've yet to Hebrew alphabet, with
master the fine art of the usage examples for each.
alephbet.
Mr. Gefflier recommends the
Maybe it's time to turn to tape for adults and children
some dummies for help.
as well as for teachers wish-
Ventriloquist Jonathan ing a supplementary text for
Geffner, who has made sev- Hebrew classes.
eral appearances in Detroit
"Fun with the Alefbeti"
in recent months, has a new costs $19.95 plus $3.95
video in which he uses his postage and handling. It is
puppet partners Shinendrik, available from Geffner
Ezra, Yosi, Chippy and Aunt Productions, P.O. Box 784,
Sarah to help teach the ale- Little Neck, N.Y. 11362, or
phbet.
call (718) 224-0055.
M
good Jewish education. You
can't expect an 18-year-old
to feel a natural love of
country and religion if no
one has prepared him to do
so."
Geneaology
Center Formed
B
ar-Ilan University
recently established a
center for the study of
Jewish genealogy and
anthroponomy (personal
and family names).
The center hopes to cre-
ate Jewish genealogical and
anthroponomic computer
data bases, compile a
research bibliography, pub-
lish a journal and provide
research assistance to schol-
ars and Jewish genealogical
'societies.
What's In A Name?
M
ilwaukee (JTA) —
"Zyklon" is German
for cyclone, but for
many Jews the word means
genocide.
Zyklon-B was the poison
the Nazis used to kill mil-
lions of Jews in death camp
gas chambers and in killing
trucks during World War II.
It also was part of the
name of the Super Zyklon
roller coaster at the
Wisconsin State Fair —
until recently.
A local man complained to
the Milwaukee Jewish
Council about the name —
apparently the first such
complaint in the ride's 25 or
30 years of existence,
according to Mordecai Lee,
the council's executive direc-
tor.
Murphy
Brothers
Exposition, operator of the
rides at the State Fair in
the Milwaukee suburb of
West Allis, immediately
called Italy to ask the roller
coaster's manufacturer
about copyright infringe-
ment if the ride were
renamed.
A crane removed the
ride's 700-lb. sign and the
name was covered on the
ride's cars. The operators'
Super Zyklon jackets were
replaced.
Columnist Offers Free Advice
uthor and McCall's
magazine parenting
olumnist Dr. Ron
Taffel is offering free advice
to parents as part of a
McCall's campaign in sup-
port of children's education.
Dr. Taffel speaks on "At-
Home Tips To Make
Learning Fun," in a toll-free
hotline, 1-800-239-4732
(access code #5), which runs
through Sept. 17. Calls are
limited to one for each
household, and a touch-tone
phone is required. ,
11