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possess them?") Jewish laws,
court cases, substance abuse, pol-
itics, culture, art, fiction, poetry,
cinema, folklore, mysticism, su-
perstition, family relationships
("Are the issues similar to those
in the Bintel Briefs?") and such
persistent issues as intermarriage,
assimilation, anti-Semitism and
Holocaust denial.
While all these choices abound
in the United States, of the near-
ly 50 countries listed in the 112
page 1997 International Elder-
hostel catalog, only one offers
Jewish-oriented courses. The
country, of course, is Israel.
No cutesy come-ons there.
Instead, programs cited are on
strictly solid subjects like "3,000
Years of History," "Ben Gurion:
Vision and Achievement," "Faces
of a People" and "Jerusalem,
Holy City to Three Faiths." But
Israel also offers the unique ex-
perience of participation in kib-
butz life near the Sea of Galilee
and in the Hulah Valley.
Elderhostel is the brainchild
of self-styled "hippie" and Uni-
versity of New Hampshire
(UNH) administrator Martin P.
Knowlton. At age 50, toting only
a rucksack, the long-haired,
white bearded Knowlton began
a four-year walking tour of Eu-
rope. As he traveled through
France, Germany and Scandi-
navia, he was impressed by the
hostels, which provided simple,
safe, inexpensive lodging and a
chance to hobnob with fellow
travelers. Also admirable, he felt,
were Scandinavian "folk schools,"
providing intergenerational
transmission of traditional folk
arts, music and dance.
Upon his return to the United
States, Knowlton served as the di-
rector of UNH's American Youth
Hostel program. His longtime
friend, ex-Brandeis dean David
Bianco, was then UNH's director
of residential life and interested
in putting empty dorm rooms to
profitable warm-weather use. Ac-
cording to Knowlton, the idea was
born when he was reminiscing
about aged but vigorous Euro-
peans he'd met. Bianco exclaimed,
"That's it! This campus doesn't
need a youth hostel; it ought to
have an elderhostel."
A proposal submitted soon af-
terward to prospective funders
stated, "Hostels have historically
been places of temporary shelter
for people on the move. Elderhos-
tel is for older people who are on
the move, not necessarily in terms
of physical movement and travel,
but in the sense of reaching out to
new experiences."
In the summer of 1975, with
$22,000 in federal funding, the
project was launched on five New
England campuses. Only six peo-
ple took courses during week
number one; but by the fourth
week, the program had 220 par-
ticipants.
Offering three college-level lib-
eral arts courses without acade-
mic prerequisites, homework,
tests, grades or credits, Elderhos-
tel was an instant success. Real-
izing the amount of work it would
inevitably entail, Knowlton and
Bianco soon withdrew as man-
agers. "I rode that horse a couple
of years," Knowlton recalled, "then
jumped to save my life."
By the end of 1977, Elderhos-
tel had been reorganized as an
independent nonprofit organiza-
tion. William Berkeley, a veter-
an fund-raiser with degrees from
both Yale and Harvard, became
— and still is — the organiza-
tion's president.
From 1977 to 1984, Elderhos-
tel received $2,090,000 from 26
corporations and foundations, but
hustling for grants ceased when
Philadelphia lawyer Ragan A.
Henry became ElderhOSthl's trea-
surer. Now the organization re-
lies on the tuition fees it shares