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COMPILED BY STEVE STEIN

Up, Up and Away To Israel

W

flying
I Al Air-
lines to Is-
rael these days? The
list includes peace ac-
tivist Camelia Sadat,
daughter of the late
Egyptian president
Anwar Sadat, and
former two-time
heavyweight boxing
champion Evander
Holyfield.
Ms. Sadat, the
president and
founder of the Sadat

Peace Institute, went to Is-
rael with a group of 20
New York business lead-
ers and members of the
American Board of Gover-
nors of Givat Haviva,
Israel's oldest and largest
institution for promot-
ing peace in the Middle
East.
Camelia
The group
Sadat:
met with Is-
Promoting raeli and pales_
peace.
tinian officials
and visited tourist
sites.
Mr. Holyfield
was among more
than 900 pilgrims
from the United
States who partici-
pated in a 10-day
Benny Hinn Media
Ministries Partners
Conference Tour.
It was the third
consecutive year
that Pastor Hinn
took a group of this
Evander Holyfield: A pilgrim. size on a pilgrimage
to Israel.

A Vacation First: Kosher Club Med

F

or the first time, a Club
Med vacation village is of-
fering on-site kosher meals
and daily synagogue services.
Vacationers at the oceanside
Club Med village of Huatulco, lo-
cated in southwest Mexico, also
can take part in the usual
Club Med activities such as
instruction in sports like
sailing

and archery, windsurfing and
tennis.
Children's activities are sched-
uled from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. dai-
ly.
The "kosher Club Med" will be
available for five weeks this win-
ter beginning in January. For
further information, call R&R
Kosher Vacations in New York
City, (212) 807-1171.

A Gift For the
Governor

I

en rabbis from the Lubav-
itch Foundation of Michi-
gan presented a silver
menorah this week to Gov. John
Engler in ceremonies in Gov.
Engler's Detroit office.
Making the presentation
along with the rabbis were fa-
ther and son Martin and Bruce
Abel. They are the CEOs of Per-
mawyck Corp., and prominent
supporters of the Lubavitch or-
ganization.
In past years; Lubavitch rep-
resentatives have presented
menorahs to Presidents Carter,
Reagan, Bush and Clinton.

Convicted
Rabbi Won't
Have To Shave

abbi Shlomo Helbrans is
going to jail, but it looks
like he won't have to
shave his beard.
According to a story in the
New York Times, New York Fed-
eral District Court Judge Robert
Sweet has granted a temporary
restraining order allowing Rab-
bi Helbrans to keep his beard
when he's transferred from New
York City to state custody.
Shaving the beard "would
substantially burden the free ex-
ercise of (the rabbi's) religion,"
Judge Sweet ruled.
Rabbi Helbrans was sen-
tenced to up to 12 years in prison
for kidnapping a teen-age boy
who was a bar mitzvah student.
Prosecutors said the rabbi ab-
ducted the boy in the spring of
1992. The boy asserted he ran
away from home in search of a
more religious household.

R

What Does Being Jewish Mean To You?

U

ndergraduates at
accredited institutions
of higher learn-
ing are invited to submit
entries in the American
Jewish Committee's
(AJC) second annual
essay contest on the
topic: "What Being
Jewish Means To
Me."
Entries may make
use of other formats
like video,
A
photography, fic-
'VV tion, poetry, dra-
ma, etc. A brief

biographical sketch
must be included with
each entry and written
entries need to be typed
and double-spaced.
The entry deadline is
Feb. 15. The winner
will receive $2,500 and
be featured at the
AJC's annual meeting
in Washington,
D.C. in May.
The contest is
being held in
cooperation with
campus
Hillel
foundations and

funding is being
provided by the
Susan and Jack
Lapin Fund for
Jewish Conti-
nuity.
Entries should
be sent to the
American Jewish Committee,
Department JCAD, 165 East
56th Street, New York, NY
10022. For information by
phone, call the AJC, (212)
751-4000, ext. 270.

This Is OT Weird Science

F

or the first time, Jewish
teen-agers in the United
States are competing in a
popular science competition for
Israeli teens called "Olympiye-
da: Olympics of the Mind."
The top 10 American scorers
will receive an all-expense-paid,

from among the American and
Israeli contestants to compete in
the contest finals, which will be
televised in Israel.
Some 40 Jewish schools in
New Jersey, New York, Con-
necticut and the Boston area
agreed to take part in the pilot
program for Ameri-
can teens. Ninth- and
10th-grade students
were eligible.
"If this works well,
we will expand the
contest to schools in
other parts of the
United States and
hopefully, to addi-
tional countries," said
Dr. Zvi Dori, founder
and director of the
contest and the Israel
National Museum of
Science.
Dr. Dori also is a
professor of chem-
Dr. Zvi Dori congratulates Asahel Greenfield, 15,
istry at Technion.
winner of the 1994 "Olympiyeda: Olympics of the
For further infor-
Mind."
mation on the con-
month-long stay at a summer sci- test, write to Judith Golub,
ence camp at Technion - the Is- executive director, American
rael Institute of Technology. The Friends of the Israel National
trips and contest are sponsored Museum of Science, 511 Fifth
by the Israel National Museum Avenue, 12th Floor, New York,
of Science.
NY 10017.
Six students will be selected

from lirkan6a6 To jRru6a1Rm

B.J. Tanenbaum presents a Torah to Rabbi Maya Leibovich.

ongregation
Kehilat House of Israel member B.J.
Mevasseret Zion in Tanenbaum flew to Jerusalem
Jerusalem is so new and so recently to present the Torah to
small that it can't afford a Torah, Rabbi Leibovich.
but it has one anyway thanks to
A ranking national and inter-
a Reform temple in Arkansas.
national lay leader of Reform Ju-
Arkansas? Yes, the Congrega- daism, Mr. Tanenbaum played a
tion House of Israel in Hot key role in making the arrange-
Springs has provided a Torah on ments for the Torah loan.
a permanent loan basis to the
The scroll is one of several ex-
fledgling Jerusalem synagogue tra Torahs that the Congregation
which is led by Rabbi Maya Lei- House of Israel "inherited" from
bovich, the first Israeli-born Congregation Beth Jacob, an Or-
woman ordained as a rabbi.
thodox synagogue in Hot Springs
Arkansas native, state busi- that was absorbed by the Reform
ness leader and Congregation synagogue.

C