Very Special Rates On

HOLLAND AMERICA LINE SHIPS
CELEBRATE NEW YEAR'S ABOARD THE MAGNIFICENT NEW

41-Vs.

4

k•T-A.rs

ktm ,

CURES page 61

RYNDAM

December 27, 1995 - January 3, 1996
Western Caribbean to/from Ft. Lauderdale

OR

TAKE A WINTER BREAK THROUGH THE

PANAMA CANAL

Aboard The Fabulous

MAASDAM

February 28, 1996

10 DAYS Acapulco to Ft. Lauderdale

EARLY DEPOSIT has FIRST CHOICE at SPECIAL RATES on BOTH Cruises
(Plus, PAY FOR 15 ADULTS, GET 1 FREE berth)

(offer good only through)

THE CRUISE *HOPPE

(division of Summit Travel)

(S10) 98241SS

of the naturally-heated waters
springs are among the best in the
world, especially for rheumatic
ailments and locomotor disorders.
These powers have been rec-
ognized for thousands of years.
In the first century of the Com-
mon Era, at the time of Rabbi
Akiva, Orthodox Jews were per-
mitted to bathe here, even on the
Sabbath.
The original baths they used,
built by Herod, no longer exist;
the surviving pool, known as the
Lion's Pool, was constructed in
the 18th century by the Turkish
sultan, Ibrahim Pasha. Parallel
to it is the Tiberias Care and
Health Center, built in the 1950s
and providing the hundreds of
daily visitors thermal dips,
masages and mud-pack treat-
ments. The water temperature
here is a steady 140 degrees, and
the water contains 12 different
mineral salts.
A newer center, built in 1978,
is directly on Lake Kinneret. It is
state-of-the-art, with indoor and
outdoor mineral pools, hy-
drothermal treatments, elec-
trotherapy and, particularly for
rheumatism patients, a variety
of physiotherapeutic treatments.
Both the old and the new centers
are a short walk or bus ride from
downtown Tiberias.
Worthy of note, also, is the
Young Tiberias Hot Springs, a so-
phisticated recreational and ther-
apeutic center for the
30-somethings. It features indoor

and outdoor swimming pools, a
physiotherapy wing and a good
fish restaurant overlooking Kin-
neret.
A splendid hotel-with-a-view
is the deluxe Galei Kinnereth, an
establishment in the grand and
stately style of Jerusalem's King
David. Visitors to Tiberias who
are on a budget and who may
spend their nights at a less cost-
ly hotel, kibbutz, bungalow or

This city rests on the
banks of Galilee.

campsite, can still splurge for an
afternoon of high tea on the
beachfront deck of the Galei, nib-
bling a cake and contemplating
the tranquil waters.
One such accommodation,
somewhat less elegant than the
Galei and not quite so expensive,
is Kibbutz Nof Ginosar, also on
the lake. It is unofficially rated
four-star, grows and serves its
own bananas, grapefruit, man-
gos and avocados, and provides
its guests virtually all the ameni-
ties of a first-class resort in the
Catskills.
Meals in the kosher dining
room are more-than-ample, with
a serve-yourself dairy buffet and
sit-down meat and fish sections.
Breakfasts are Brobdingnagian,
as you might expect — so what
else is new in Israel? ❑

Antwerp, Belgium:
A Jewel Of A City

GABRIEL LEVENSON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

iamonds are still a girl's
best friend and the pre-
cious stones continue to
play a major role in the
lives of the Jews of Antwerp, Bel-
gium's great port city on the
banks of the River Scheldt.
Indeed, the port and di-
amond industry are the
very core of Antwerp's
economy. Most of the
city's adult Jews are in-
volved in the cutting and
polishing of diamonds, or in their
purchase and sale; and the in-
dustry as a whole is largely in
Jewish hands.
History and geography have
combined to give Jews pre-emi-
nence in the field ever since the
Middle Ages, when the diamonds
of India first made their appear-
ance in Europe. The trade route
from East to West passed
through the Indian Ocean, Asia
Minor and the Mediterranean,
by way of the ports and urban
centers in which Jews had
reestablished themselves after
the destruction of the First and

D

Shorts, Back Packs, Hiking Boots, Rain Gear, Tents and Much, Much More

555 E. Grand River,

East Lansing

Next time you feed your face, think about your heart.

01

Go easy on your heart and start cutting back on foods that are high in saturated
Lfat
and cho lesterol. The change'll do you good.
,..,
.

VW American Heart Association

WERE FIGHTING FOR YOUR LIFE

Second Temples and their dis-
persion from ancient Israel.
Diamonds were still such a
new and rare commodity in Eu-
rope that the medieval guilds had
not yet gotten around to barring
Jews from dealing in them. Set-
tled in the key shipping
points, from Madras, In-
dia, to Marseilles, France,
and linked by the bonds of
a common religion, histo-
ry and language, Jewish
merchants became entrenched
in diamond commerce and dia-
mond processing — about which
the estabished world then knew
little of and cared less.
When the Sephardim were ex-
pelled from Spain and Portugal
and found refuge in the Lowlands
(modern Holland and Belgium),
they brought with them to Ams-
terdam and to Antwerp the skill
of generations of the traders, cut-
ters and polishers of diamonds.
When the Sephardim were ad-
mitted to England a century
later, they organized the dia-
mond exchange in London as the