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time with automotive engineers who
were convening at Detroit's Cobo
Center and who need more enlighten-
ment about what Israel's high tech
resources can contribute to better cars.
Along the way, she got to pitch the
idea that Israel's current crop of writ-
ers deserve more shelf space at the
Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit's annual Jewish
Book Fair. Most of the books are writ-
ten in Hebrew, she said, but Israeli
translators work fast to get them into
the hands of English readers.
Israeli law couldn't quiet a six-year-
long fight over who is recognized as a
Jew, but a more practical approach has
prevailed for the families of 14 chil-
The Year 2000 problem is looking
dren who were at the core of the latest
more and more like the Year
religious-legal set-to. The last of the
4,000,000 challenge for Israel, accord-
14 kids adopted by Conservative fam-
ing to its Chicago-based Consul
ilies was converted by an Orthodox
General, Tzipora Rimon.
/-
rabbi last week.
Rimon, in Detroit for a few days as
The court still has a number of
part of a regular tour of her 11-state
pending cases regarding the conver-
Midwestern bailiwick, said Israel's boom-
sion issue, including an appeal of a
ing tourism business normally handles 2
recent district court ruling ordering
million visitors a year. But the flood of
the Interior Ministry to recognize
millennial interest will double that total,
30 individuals rho underwent
posing problems for security and creat-
Reform and Conservative conver-
ing possibilities for hotels, restaurants,
sions as Jewish. But the wind has
airlines and other businesses, she noted.
gone out of the legal sails for the
A career diplomat, Rimon was post-
adoptive parents.
ed to Chicago 18 months ago after a
The families originally turned to
three-year stint in Jerusalem handling
the Conservative Movement after
economic issues between Israel and
refusing what they considered to be
neighboring Mideast countries. Her
unreasonable conditions for conver-
Detroit visit, arranged by the Jewish
sions set forth by the Orthodox
Community Council of Metropolitan
establishment, including one calling
Detroit, took her to a men's club break-
an
on the families to live a religiously
fast at Congregation Shaarey Zedek,
observant life. Since then, however,
Jewish
AIPAC meeting and a
the families obtained conversions
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit
from Orthodox rabbis who adopted a
executive committee meeting to answer
more flexible stance.
questions. She also got valuable face-

Remember
When • •

From the pages of The Jewish
News for this week 10, 20, 30,

40 and 50 years ago.

1989

Visiting Detroit,
> diplomatically; mooting
the conversion issue.

Americans may think of Mexico
when they focus on problems of sneak-
ing across a border. But the West
Bank, with its intermixture of areas
controlled by Israel and those con-
trolled by the Palestinian Authority, .
has its own set of porous boundaries,
marked often by nothing more sub-
stantial than a low stone wag
Preparingfor Purim last week,
Israel closed the Palestinian-controlled
territories of the West Bank and Gaza
Strip because, it said, it had been
warned of terrorist attacks. Purim has
been marred by attacks since 1994
when a Jewish settler gunned down
29 Palestinian worshippers in
Hebron.
Happily, the attacks didn't hap-
pen. And the closing wasn't always
airtight. In the picture, above, a
Palestinian youth sneaks over a
wall a short distance from an
Israeli checkpoint at the outskirts
of Palestinian-controlled
Bethlehem last Sunday.

Marking 100 Years
[Detroit Jewry

U.S. Rep. Sander Levin (D-
Southfield) said he is pleased
with the election of Ron Brown,
former aide to Jesse Jackson, as
Democratic Party chairman.
State Republicans expressed con-
cern regarding Brown's support
of Jackson's pro-Palestinian plank
at the Democrats' 1988 conven-
tion.
Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek
was reelected but lost control of
the city council due to a low
Arab voter turnout.

1979

A 38-year-old Syrian Jew, hiding
behind a mask, told Detroit
reporters of official cruelty against
the 4,500 Jews remaining in
Syria. Fearing reprisals from Jews
who leave for Israel, Syria has
increased harassment of the fami-
ly and friends of escapees.

1969

With the death of Prime Minister
Levi Eshkol of a heart attack on
Feb. 26, Golda Meir, 70 and out
of active political life for several
years, is likely to serve in the
interim until October's national
election. Mr. Eshkol was buried
on Mount Herzl.

1969

At the 21st annual banquet of
Vaad Harobonim and Merkaz of
Detroit, guest speaker Rabbi
Pinchas M. Teitz said that tradi-
tional Orthodox Judaism is the
movement of tomorrow." He
stressed that Judaism should
begin at home, with kashrut, and
not be focused primarily in the
synagogue.

"

Students and teachers take a break from
instruction in this circa 1930 photo of the
Sholem Aleichem Institute's Jewish secular school.

Photo courtesy of Leonard N. Simons Jewish Community
Archives/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. If you have infor-
mation about this photograph, please call Sharon Alterman, Jewish
community archivist. (248) 203-1491.

Reflecting on Detroit Jewish histo-
ry, Irving I. Katz, executive secre-
tary of Temple Beth El, noted that
in 1850, Detroit's first hospital, the
non-sectarian St. Vincent's, solicit-
ed and received funds from Jews in
New York City after treating a New
Yorker who died in that hospital.

3/5
199

Detroit Jewish News 21