Jewry's Role in
Human Advancement

lor Openers...

Dealing With Teens
For Summer Vacation

RABBI BOB ALPER
Special to The Jewish News

W

ell, it's that time of year
again. Time to check
the ads, consult with
friends and relatives.
Maybe even query the guidance
--Dunselors at the schools. Actually,
"that time of year" can extend from
late summer through whenever the
goal is accomplished; but winter is
the average starting point for trying
to decide WHAT TO DO WITH
MY TEEN-AGER NEXT SUM-
MER.
Emerging teen-agers in particular.
The older ones can usually land jobs
-,r enroll themselves in advanced or
remedial courses designed to get
them into colleges their parents can
brag about. It's the younger teen that
presents the problem: too late to be
campers and too early to be coun-
selors; no longer very cuddly and,
alas, not yet civil.
This is why one of the world's
most inspired geniuses created teen
\_,,,ours. The concept may be of recent

vintage; or, then again, it may have
developed as a way to assuage the
angst of ancient mommies and
daddies ("Flavius, sweetheart, this
summer, how'd you like to go on
a rowing trip to Carthage with a
nice group of children your
age?")
In any event, teen tours are big
>-T-'mousiness these days. It's a fact:
Parents of 14-year-olds will pay
any amount of money to get their
darlings out of the house for a few
weeks in the summertime. Israel
is the most frequent choice within
the Jewish community, but I've
also heard of bus tours to the west-
ern United States (for Eastern
kids); the eastern U.S. (for Western
%---kids), and to the "land of our

Rabbi Bob Alper is a stand-up comic
and author.

ancestors, Miami" for kids living
anywhere in the non-Florida diaspo-
ra.
Somebody once seriously claimed
there's a teen tour that spends weeks
exposing fertile minds to "major
American malls with three or more
anchor stores."
In general, teen tours work out
well for all parties, erecting a safety
buffer of distance between genera-
tions during a genetically explosive
time. It's an era of bewildered
parents and changing, confused kids,
many of whom have successfully
reached the pinnacle of self-
centeredness that marks their stage
in life.
Like my friend's son, age 14.
The following conversation took
place in late July. The participants
were located in a suburban kitchen
and a Denny's phone booth, some-

where in Arizona.
Mom: Sweetie, it's so good to hear
from you. We thought you were
going to call last Monday.
Son: Unghrrup (unintelligible
mumble).
Mom: That bus looked incredible.
Mr. Decker told us it has a kitch-
enette, toilet and even TV sets with
lots of videos.
Son: Yeah.
Mom: So, what have you been
doing?
Son: Well, we went to Universal
Studios and then Rodeo Drive and
spent the next day in Disneyland.
Mom: Oh, that sounds so excit-
ing. How was it?
Son: Fine.
Mom: Where are you now?
Son: Arizona. Umm. I gotta get
off the phone. The bus is leaving for
Grand Canyon. Can I ask Dad a
question?
Mom: He's not here, honey, he
took Stevie to a Tigers game.
Son: (long pause followed by
indignation) What? They went with-
out me? ❑

Howz By You

CAN I HELP 900?

YES, IT'S MY SON'S BIRTHDAY
AND WE'D LIKE To BUY HIM
A FANCY NEW KIPPA

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SOLVING MYSTERIES OF MAN AND MATTER
From the human sciences to the hard sciences of space and cosmology,
Jewish contributors have made their presence known. A rich heritage of
intellect, imagination and curiosity motivates the many who probe our world
(and beyond) for an understanding of ourselves as sentient beings and of our
place in creation. Some who are not as well known as they should be
deserve their seats of honor. Namely:

FRANZ BOAS
(1858-1942) b. Minden, Germany
Anthropologist Affectionately called "Papa Boas"
by his students, the gentle and kindly scientist was
in equal measure the father of American
•••••••
•••••••••–•
.........
anthropology. During his forty years of pioneering
•–••••••••••••
.••••••–••••
field work, his findings and teaching established
.......
anthropology as an academic discipline in our
nation's colleges. He further had a major impact
on the core principles of anthropology the world over.
The former professor of cultural geography at the University of
Berlin emigrated to the U.S. in 1887. Soon after, Boas began studying
coastal Eskimos and Kwakiutl Indians in Canadian British Columbia. Other
expeditions took him to Mexico and Puerto Rico. Applying strict statistical
analysis and scientific methods in researching language, race, folklore and
art, he charted the influences of environment,on human cultural life.
In his view, neither geography - nor- face- was primary -in forming
human beings. On the other hand, thoughts and behavior were dominant in
shaping culture. He served as Columbia University's first professor of
anthropology for 37 years, and was associated with New York's American
Museum of Natural History as its curator of ethnology (1901-5).
The prolific author was also instrumental in rescuing many Jewish
intellectuals from Nazi oppression. In his achievement and prestige as a
scientist, the teacher and humanist resoundingly rebuffs the notion of racial
superiority and the practice of racism in any form.

••••
•••••••••••
••••••••—•
.......

ARNO PENZIAS
(1933- ) b. Munich, Germany
Astrophysicist The young man fled Hitler's
Germany with his parents, settled in New York
City and earned his doctorate from Columbia
University in 1962. Penzias then joined Bell
Telephone Laboratories at Holmdel, New Jersey.
Within ten years he was appointed director of their
Radio Research Laboratory, and by 1981 he rose ir
to the post of Bell Laboratory's vice president of research.
The years between were filled with accomplishments, one of which
won a 1978 Nobel Prize for Physics, shared with two others. He holds
several important patents in the field of communications technology. But
his most notable discovery, in hand with an associate, confirmed the most
widely accepted theory (but only a theory) of how the universe began--with
the Big Bang. He and his colleague puzzled over radio wave noise
seemingly coming from within an instrument being used: a makeshift
antenna for satellite communication. Unexpectedly, as it later appeared, the
sound was issuing from deep space: uniform, low-level static from all
directions. They had stumbled on "residual background radiation" whose
source was left-over energy from the primordial explosion which created our
universe billions of years ago.
Penzias continued to investigate the substances permeating the
cosmos, including galactic radiation and intergalactic hydrogen--revealing
the presence of many interstellar molecules and rare isotopes.
- Saul Stadtmauer

Thomas Huxley (1825-95), the non-Jewish, English-born biologist was an
internationally respected author and lecturer. From his writings in theology
and philosophy comes this acknowledgement of Judaism's gift to the
concept of national responsibility:
"Down to modern times, no State has had a constitution in which the
interests of the people are so largely taken into account, in which the duties,
so much more than privileges of rulers, are insistent upon, as that drawn up
. for Israel in Deuteronomy and in Leviticus. Nowhere is the fundamental
truth that the welfare of the State, in the long run, depends on the
uprightness of
citizen so strongly laid down."

COMMISSION FOR THE DISSEMINATION OF JEWISH HISTORY
Walter & Lea Field, Founciers, Sponsors
Harold Berry & Irvin S. Field, Co-chairmen
Harriet F. SidenCecretary

1/9
1998

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