We're Glad To Know Why Are You Proud To Be Jewish? ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM EDITOR ybe you like lighting the menorah best, or erhaps preparing shalach manot on Purim is your favorite part of being Jewish, or maybe it's the State of Israel that makes you most proud. The AppleTree wants to know why you celebrate your heritage. Please make your response no more than one page (try to type, if possible, though we will accept handwritten submissions if they are clear). All essays will run in The AppleTree. In addi- tion, The Jewish News staff will select one to win a prize of $15. Please include a photo of your- self to run with your essay. The deadline is Sept. 15. Send to Celebrate, The AppleTree, 27676 Franklin Road, South- field, MI 48034, fax (248) 354- 6069. Meanwhile, here are some in- teresting facts about Jews which may inspire you. • •• • ........ • ...... ......... .......... And Best Of All They're From Michigan: Samuel Baiter (Detroit): basketball star. • Herman Cohen (Detroit): produced numerous horror films, cluding I Was a Teen-gge Werewolf. Edna Ferber (Kalamazoo): author. Gisela Gresser (Detroit): chess champion. Edward Israel (Kalamazoo): explorer. Byron Krieger (Detroit): fencing champion. Philip Levine (Detroit): poet. Harvey Mandel (Detroit): jazz musician. Morton Mintz (Ann Arbor): journalist Harry Newman (Detroit): football star. Melvin Pregulman (Lansing): football great David Pressman (Detroit): cancer researcher. Edward Reulbach (Detroit): basketball star. William Seidman (Grand Rapids): economic adviser to President Gerald Ford. Herbert Stein (Detroit): chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers to President Richard Nixon. Allan Tolmich (Detroit): volleyball champion. Jerome Wiesner (Detroit): adviser to President John Kennedy and president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Barry Zweig (Detroit): jazz guitarist • One of the most important maps used by Christopher Columbus was designed by Abraham ben Samuel Zacu- to (1450-1525). An astronomy professor, he wrote a book filled with navigational maps used not only by Columbus but by explorers Vasco da Gama and Alfonso de Albuquerque. Horovitz of The Beastie Boys, there was his father, playwright Israel Horovitz. • If you've ever watched an infomercial for an oldies collec- tion, no doubt you've heard that fabulous "Teen Ager In Love." It was written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman. • Jewish celebrities who hold a law degree include: sports commentator Howard Cosell, Jewish Defense League founder Rabbi Meir Kahane, playwright Murray Schis- Where did the gal and TV host Geraldo Cabbage Patch Rivera. • The Reuter's News Agency was founded by Paul Julius Reuter (1816-1899), a Ger- man-Jewish immigrant who started his career by using homing pigeons. • Among the Jews who fought and died at the Alamo was Abraham Wolf. • If your par- ents or grand- parents ever liked Ike, then you should know about Henry D. Spalding. The editor of Holly- wood Talent News, he was the man behind the famous phrase, "I Like Ike," which helped catapult Dwight D. Eisenhower to victory Kids come from? • So Elvis' films were a little, well, awful. Mike Stoller was the man who wrote the music for many of them. • The first professor of pedi- atrics in the United States was Dr. Abraham Jacobi (1830- 1919). • The first person to win the Pulitzer Prize was journalist Herbert Bayard Swope (1882-1958). • Actor Zero Mostel and author Erich Segal both are the sons of a rabbi. • If you love Haagen-Dazs ice cream, you have Reuben Mattus to thank. The Polish- born immigrant is the man be- hind this rich, delicious treat • The first woman to be named a recorder (judge in a criminal court) in England was Rose Heilbron. • Before there was Adam • The first woman to teach law at Harvard University was Soia Mentschikoff. • The youngest man to re- ceive an Academy Award was Richard Dreyfuss, who was 29 when he won for The Goodbye Girl in 1977, and the oldest man to receive an Acad- emy for best-supporting actor was George Bums, who was 80 when he won for The Sun- shine Boys in 1975. • The 1954 and 1955 Euro- pean Champion in auto racing was Sheila van Damm of England (thank goodness, no relation to he-man Claude van Damme). • The first woman to win the Iron Cross was Louise Manuel Grafemus. Born in 1785, she enlisted not as a woman but as a man, disguis- ing herself as she went in search of her missing husband. While serving with the Pruss- ian Army, she was promoted to sergeant major. • Eleanor Roosevelt and John D. Rockefeller might have been complete klutzes on the dance floor if not for Arthur Murray, whose classes they both attended. • The Cabbage Patch Dolls were born thanks to the genius of the Greenberg brothers, founders of the international toy company COLECO. • In addition to being a car- toonist, Jules Feiffer is a play- wright whose works include Carnal Knowledge and Little Murders. • Aarao Steinbruch, born in 1915, was president of the Labor Party of Brazil. • For many years, Victor Barna -(1911-1972) was the leading table tennis player in the world. He won 22 world championships. • In addition to having Jewish manager Brian Epstein, The Beatles found fame with Richard Lester, who directed their film A Hard g; Day's Night • The 1963 U.S. Trampoline c Champion, and the 1964 World Trampoline Champion K4 was Daniel J. Millman.