COMPILED BY ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
Israeli Teacher
Visits Viet Nam
U
A Fair Beauty
0 ne hundred years
ago, a May beauty
from Detroit took
first place in an unusual
contest.
Among the featured
events at the 1893 World's
Fair -- billed as the biggest
ever --- was the world's
first Ferris wheel, an
appearance by Annie
Oakley and an ethnic beau-
ty contest.
Little is known about the
beauty pageant (Were
women asked insipid ques-
tions about how they would
bring world peace or what
of the United States they
would show a visitor from
another planet? Was there
an evening gown competi-
tion?). But we do know the
winner: May Lenhoff.
In a page 1 story in the
Jan. 3, 1905, Detroit
Evening News, the former
May Stubensky, described
as "an exceptional beauty,"
was recalled as the 1893
first-place winner in the
Chicago World's Fair beau-
ty contest for Jewish
women. She won a year
after her marriage to Sol
Lenhoff.
The Chicago World's Fair
was the first to feature par-
ticipation. from countries
throughout the world. It
covered two miles along the
Lake Michigan shore.
The biggest hit of the
fair, without a doubt, was
the Ferris wheel, dubbed
the "Queen of the Midway."
Designed by George
Washington Gale Ferris, it
was four stories higher
than the world's tallest
building and weighed 70
tons.
About 92 percent of all
those who attended the fair
rode the Ferris wheel. It
was no cheap thrill, costing
50 cents a ride (the merry-
go-round cost 5 cents).
Other exciting events at
the fair: an ostrich farm,
some of the first phono-
graph records, the anchor
from Columbus' ship (now
housed at the Chicago
Historical Society), the
debut of the zipper and the
first public performance by
a muscleman.
Survey Finds Female Rabbis
Face Sexual Harassment
S
eventy-three percent of
respondents to a survey
of female rabbis report
that they had been sexually
harassed at least once or
twice in the course of their
work, while 24 percent
reported being harassed
once a month or more.
The survey, conducted by
the Commission for Women's
Equality of the American
Jewish Congress, asked
about the women's experi-
ences in rabbinical school,
during interviews for jobs
and while working as rabbis.
The analysis found that
while the levels of discrimi-
nation and harassment ap-
pear to be high, the women
are happy with their career
decisions and many have
found benefits in being a
female rabbi.
The survey found that 40
percent of the respondents
heard derogatory comments
about women during classes
or lectures at rabbinical
school; 48 percent said they
were asked inappropriate
questions about being a
woman during job inter-
views; and 59 percent be-
lieve that their rabbinical
organizations do not ade-
quately address issues of
particular concern to
women.
niversity of Haifa
Professor Jonathan
Golan recently re-
turned from Hanoi, having
been the first Israeli
scientist to receive
an official invita-
tion
from
Vietnam.
The American-born pro-
fessor delivered two lec-
tures at a math conference
sponsored by Hanoi's
Institute
of.
Mathematics. In
one lecture, he pre-
sented a talk on
the Noncommunitive Ring
Theory, an abstract form
of algebra that also can be
applied to computers.
A number of Vietnamese
physicians are now in
Israel, studying
public-health tech-
niques, while
Vietnam has
proven to be a good
market for brain-scan
machines produced in
Israel, Professor Golan
said.
Meanwhile, Cairo Uni-
versity Professor Muham-
med Zeima recent-
ly made a visit to
the University of
Haifa, where he
was part of
the first official
Egytian academic
delegation that
came to Israel to meet
Israeli counterparts.
Speaking in Hebrew,
Professor Zeima said he
and his fellow scholars are
eager to see more
books in Hebrew
literature and lin-
guistics and estab-
lish relations with Israeli
universities.
"Our reading of Hebrew
literature is restricted"
because of a lack of books
said Mr. Zeima, a profes-
sor of Hebrew. "We
want to expand it
so as to deepen
our understand-
ing of the Israeli
people."
Other visitors on the
trip were Dr. Muhammed
Hawari of Ein Shams
University, who first visit-
ed Israel 10 years ago, and
Dr. Abdallah Ramzi of
Cairo University.
Get Out Those Birthday Cards
e
tting yet another year
lder (or another year
dead) this month:
* Jimmy Carter, born Oct.
1, 1924
* Rutherford B. Hayes,
born Oct. 4, 1822
* Chester A. Arthur, born
Oct. 5, 1829
*Dwight D. Eisenhower,
born Oct. 14, 1890
* Theodore Roosevelt, born
Oct. 27, 1858
.4\
1
1
* John Adams, born Oct.
30, 1735
As a presidential candidate
in 1976, Jimmy Carter stated
that, "The preservation of a
strong and viable State of
Israel is not only in Israel's
interest and in the interest of
world Jewry, it is in the na-
tional interest
of the United
States, as
well."
Yet during
and after his
presidency,
Mr. Carter
often raised
the hackles of
American
Jewry by his
criticism of
Israel's poli-
cies and seem-
ing slant
toward the
Arabs.
Rutherford
B. Hayes was
the first presi-
dent to guar-
antee civil servants the right
to observe the Sabbath. He
intervened to allow an appli-
cant, who refused to work on
Saturday, a job in the De-
partment of the Interior.
In an effort to monitor the
severe restrictions the Rus-
sian government imposed on
Jewish citizens (including
Americans) doing business in
Russia, in 1877 President
Hayes named Benjamin
Peixotto as American diplo-
matic representative to the
court of St. Petersburg. But
the czar refused to accept Mr.
Peixotto, who instead served
as U.S. consul to Lyon,
France.
As commander-in-chief of
the Allied Forces in Europe
during World War II,
President Eisenhower was
instrumental in
defeating Hitler
and liberating the
remnants of
European Jewry.
During Presi-
dent Eisenhower's
presidential ad-
ministration, the
United States ex-
tended to Israel
hundreds of mil-
lions of dollars in
grants-in-aid, sent
military equipment
and helped develop
Israel's atomic-
energy program.
Until 1899, when he
became governor of New
York, Teddy Roosevelt — like
others of his class — opposed
the mass immigration of
Jews to America. His opinion
changed as he came to under-
stand the hardships Jews
suffered in the
Old World. He
also noted the
valor of 17
Jewish Rough
Riders under
his command
in the Span-
ish-American
War.
In his 1904
message to
Congress,
Roosevelt
noted with
"personal sym-
pathy and per-
sonal horror"
the 1903 Kish-
inev pogroms.
John Adams
was a strong
supporter of the Jewish com-
munity, advocating the rights
of Jews in America, the
reestablishment of a Jewish
state and the study of Jewish
civilization.
In correspondence with
Thomas Jefferson, he wrote,
"I will insist that the
Hebrews have done more to
civilize men than any other
nation."