Jewry's Role in
Human Advancement

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Above: Rabbi Arnold Samlan, JNF direc-
tor of education and synagogue relations.

Opposite page: Russell Robinson, JNF
executive vice-president.

organization, not just a major-gift
organization."
Rabbi Arnold D. Samlan, national
JNF director of education and syna-
gogue relations, says JNF is distribut-
ing
ng Information "about the role that
JNF has played, first in the birth of
the State of Israel and currently in the
management of its many natural
resources."
JNF distributes Tu B'Shevat materi-
als to 1,600 schools. The pamphlets
talk about the history of Israel and the
JNF, which, Samlan says, "are really
one and the same."
The material also "talks about

Tu B'Shevat; the Mishnah first
refers to the holiday as Rosh
Hashanah La'ilanot, the new year of
the trees.
In Temple times, parents to
whom children had been born in
the preceding year planted seedlings
on this day for the baby, cedars for
boys and cypress trees for girls.
When the child later married, the
trees were cut down and used as
part of the chuppah (wedding
canopy). Some Israelis still continue
this custom.
Tu B'Shevat marks the turn from
winter to spring, according to Anita
Batt, religious school assistant princi-
pal at Adat Shalom Synagogue in
Farmington Hills, which will host a
Tu B'Shevat seder at 11 a.m. Feb. 11.
In the synagogue's monthly

environmental issues, so a Jewish
kid who may already have an
interest in environmentalism can
see JNF as a vehicle through
which they can express their con-
cern for the earth as a Jewish
concept."
Monetary donors include 8-
year-old religious school students,
80-year-olds and young adults
under 40 who attend National
Future Leadership events. Nation-
ally, JNF claims 250,000 donors.
Robinson says it is part of the
organization's "raison d'etre to
connect as many people as possi-
ble to the land and the people of
Israel."
JNF has planted more than 205
million trees in Israel, developed more
than 300,000 acres of woodlands, cre-
ated 440 parks and picnic areas and
reclaimed 875,000 acres of difficult
terrain. The sites exist from Safed to
the Negev.
Its goal is fund raising with an edu-
cational mission.
"We're trying to teach kids how to
connect with Jewish causes, environ-
mental causes related to Israel," Sam-
lan says.
"Trying to teach them to give of
their time, give of their money, make
connections in very active, hands-on
kinds of ways. If we can train a kid to
understand that putting money in a
tzedakah box, in a JNF blue box, is a
part of living as a Jew, not the only
thing but a part of it, then we've
achieved an educational goal." O

newsletter, Batt wrote about the
holiday: "The awakening of a tree's
life is to be observed, for trees repre-
sent hope for the future. Rabbi
Yochanan ben Zakkai taught his
students: 'If you are planting a tree
and you see the Messiah coming ...
finish planting the tree and then go
greet the Messiah.'"
The focus of Tu B'Shevat is typi-
cally directed toward the state of
Israel. Synagogues encourage buying
certificates to pay for planting trees
in Israel, through the Jewish
National Fund.
Batt wrote, "For those of us liv-
ing in the Diaspora, Tu B'Shevat
gives us a direct link to Eretz Yisrael
Tu B'Shevat is a conscious
reminder that Jews always have a
homeland."

THEY HELPED DEFINE PHOTOGRAPHY
Milestones in the art and technology of photography were achieved by many
of Jewish descent for whom the craft and science held special appeal. These
include the 0111y physicists to ever win Nobel Prizes for related
breakthroughs: French inventor, Gabriel Lippmann, on the early frontiers
of color photography, and Dennis Gabor, the Englishman who discovered
holography.
With their affinity for the camera, Jewish cinematographers were
drawn from Hollywood (which they dominated) to largely staff the newly
published Lift which became the foremost picture magazine of its day.
Alfred Stieglitz, husband of famed artist, Georgia OReeffe, established
photography as an art form worthy of museum display--as did Richard
Avadon who almost alone raised commercial photography to aesthetic
heights and now produces awesome gallery portraiture without peer.
Alfred Eisenstaedt powerfully modeled the style and content of
photo journalism. Robert Capa earned worldwide fame for his prize-
winning coverage of the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War.
And who has not thrilled to a classic by Joe Rosenthal, the photo of the
U.S. Marine flag raising over Iwo Jima which is emblematic of our victories
in battle? Others share their genius.
As legend has it Jennifer,
the young daughter of Edwin Land
(1909-91), asked her father why it
took so long to produce pictures after
,the camera shutter was clicked. The
Connecticut born inventor, physicist
and entrepreneur had earlier devised
a clear plastic sheet of polarized
material for camera filters and sun-
glasses. He called the product "Polaroid" a tradename which was attached
years later to the camera that revolutionized photography.
Long intrigued by his daughter's question, the mostly self-taught
scientist spearheaded the research and development of a new photographic
process utilizing a novel chemistry and film. And in 1947 he introduced the
Polaroid Land Camera that delivered finished black and white prints a
-minute after exposure. Years later, his company offered instant color film
for snapshots and motion pictures. Success was such, that a survey in the
1960s found half of the nation's camera owning households possessing one
or more of his products.
Among other of his accomplishments, Land helped launch 3-D
motion pictures, produced numerous military' optical devices and collected
544 patents before retiring in 1982. The year before, he donated millions
to form the Rowland Institute of Science.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, to a composer and
world-class pianist from Poland, Leopold Godowsky
Jr. (1901-83), also seemed destined for a musical
career. He studied the violin and in later life performed
recitals with his father before the Rochester Symphony
Orchestra. But Godowsky had since made another kind
of connection with Leopold Mannes (1899-1964), a
distinguished pianist in his own right whose father
founded the renowned Mannes School of Music in New
York City.
In a radical shift of interest, the teen-age friends with a common
passion for photography, had decided to seek ways to simplify color
photography. A hobby became a research project. In the 1920s, while still
in school, they experimented with color filters, lenses and a double-layered
plate that reproduced a portion of the spectrum. Eastman Kodak Company
purchased the process in 1930 and invited them to head the photography
giant's R&D staff.
Within six years, Godowsky and Mannes perfected the world's first
practical color system--Kodachrome--and went on to create three-color
motion picture and still film. Before retirement, they also helped launch
research on Kodacolor, Ektacolor and Ektachrome films. And retaining his
long alliance to the world of music, Godowsky had married the sister of
George and Ira Gershwin.
- Saul Siadanauer

COMMISSION FOR THE DISSEMINATION OF' JEWISH HISTORY
Walter • Lea Field. MinciersSporzsors
Harold Berry & Irwin S. Field, Co-chairmen
Harriet F. Siden, Secretwy

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1998

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