BBYO/JCC
TEEN CONNECTION
GRADES 7 & 8

AppleTree@.cOm

PRESENTS

Chanukah filaccabia

2:30 - 7:30 P.M. AT THE WEST BLOOMFIELD JCC

Sunday, December 1 14

A mini-team competition that features:

Volleyball, Walleyball, Floor Hockey, Puzzles and Quiz
Bowl, followed by a Pizza/Latke Dinner and Dance.

PRICE : MEMBERS $1 8 FIRST-TIME GUESTS:$23

THIS PROGRAM IS OPEN TO THE ENTIRE 7TH AND 8TH GRADE JEWISH
COMMUNITY. PLEASE ENCOURAGE YOUR FRIENDS TO REGISTER!

DEADLINE FOR REGISTRATION: MONDAY, DECEMBER 8

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT CLARA GABA AT

(248) 661-5329 OR THE BBYO CSC AT (248) 788-0700

Toys For Tots

Please help Centwy 21 MJL Corporate
Transferee Service, atuf the U.S. Marine Carps to
provide gifts far needy chifdrentais Ito Ciday season.
Donate NEW gifts to the drop offsite by
December 12, which is located at

Century 21 MJL Corporate Trans. Service

30110 Orchard Lake Road

Famtitujton Hills, MI

Please call (248) 851-6700

ifyott have any questions.

For The Ultimate
in Quality Bands...

LORIO-ROSS
STERLING ENTERTAINMENT

248-398-9711
505 S. Lafayette • Royal Oak

NOW OPEN

itee/ftki

g

from

...

All Waterman & Parker Pens and Accessories
20% OFF thru December 24th

12/5

1997

56

•Stationery
• Imprintables

• Calligraphy
• Invitations

• Greeting Cards

• Frames
The Boardwalk, West Bloomfield • (248) 855 2240

-

Paper Chase

Mark Lichterman
AppleTree Staff Writer

I

am and always have been a
news junky.
I am particularly interested in
news about Israel and the Middle
East. My Uncle Irving and my
mother still talk about the fact that,
at age 11, I engaged them in spir-
ited debates about Middle East
politics.
My Hebrew was and remains
only passable. So when I lived in
Israel for a year or so in the early
'80s, I was constantly frustrated
that there was only one English lan-
guage publication, The Jerusalem
Post.
What I wanied most of all was to
be able to read Ha'ciretz, The
New York Times of Israel, the
creme de la creme. More often
than I care to admit, I purchased a
copy and sat for hours with my dic-
tionary, trying to make sense of a
particular story. Although that's still
a good exercise, it% much easier to
set my Web browser to
http:///www3.
haaretz.il/eng/htmls/1_1.htm.
Yes, it's unbelievable, Ha'aretz is
now on the Web — in English —
in cooperation with the company
that publishes the International
Herald Tribune land so is the trusty
old Jerusalem Post at
http:///www.ipost.com ).
As much as I hate to admit it, The
Jerusalem Post's Web site is a bet-
ter source of late-breaking news. It
appears to be updated more often
than the relatively static Ha'aretz
site. That said, the Ha'aretz site
recently changed locations and has
improved significantly both in terms
of ease of use and timeliness.

Mark Lichterman lives with his
wife and two children in Huntington
Woods

Click on the "About Ha'aretz"
button on the paper's home page
and you will learn that it employs
some 225 reporters, writers and
editors. Whether you agree or not
with the editorial positions, its op-
ed page and senior columnists are
widely read in government circles,
and therefore play a large role in
shaping Israeli public opinion.
The paper was founded in 1919
by Zionist immigrants mainly from
Russia. Revisionist leader Ze'ev
Jabotinsky was a staffer, while
Ahad Haam was a frequent con-
tributor.
Unfortunately, the entire newspa-
per is not reproduced daily in
English. I have found, however,
whenever I come to the site in
search of information regarding a
major Middle East-related story
there is always extensive coverage.
The home page of the site is well
laid out, with large and logically
labeled buttons. The "Staff" area,
for example, outlines the leadership
of the paper, section by section,
and provides e-mail addresses for
each of the named individuals.
Obviously, the "News" button will
take you to all of the many interna-
tional and domestic stories provid-
ed in English.
As is true with other, well-man-
aged newspaper Web sites, this
one provides the ability to find arti-
cles in previous editions of the
newspaper. The search engine is in
a logical place and seems to purr
along rather nicely.
A full list of economics stories are
available by clicking, you guessed
it, the "Economics" button, while
the op-ed section provides a nice
selection of relevant stories by
staffers who reflect the paper's left-
of-center political perspective.
Next month we will explore The
Jerusalem Post's Web site. ❑