News Digest

School Offers
Free Tuition

San Francisco/JTA — A new Jewish
day high school of San Francisco is
offering two years' free tuition to its
first three entering classes, according
to the Jewish Bulletin of Northern

California.

The tuition offer made by the
Jewish Community High school of
the Bay is funded through a challenge
grant from Keren Keshet, a New York
foundation that says it will offer simi-
lar gifts to other new Jewish schools if
the California school meets certain
enrollment and fund-raising goals.
One other new Jewish high school,
the American Hebrew Academy
boarding school in Greensboro, N.C.,
also offers free tuition, funded
through the anonymous donor that
has paid for most of that school's
costs.

Learning Thrives
In Noisy Setting

Jerusalem/JTA — Contrary to the
assumption that a quiet classroom
provides the best learning environ-
ment, a Hebrew University study has
found that successful learning takes
place in classrooms where noise
reflects enthusiasm and curiosity.
The study consisted of analyses of
483 learning experiences adults had
during their school days.

Israelis Not Big
On Fried Foods

Tel Aviv/JTA — Native-born Israelis
are partial to baguettes, French fries
and hummus, but eat less fried chick-
en cutlets than their immigrant coun-
terparts.
The Israeli daily Maariv cited a
study on eating habits conducted by
Ben Gurion University researchers,
who were trying to find ways to pre-
vent disease through good nutrition.

Palestinians
Back Bombing

Jerusalem/JTA — Some 81 percent of
Palestinians surveyed support suicide
bombing attacks against Israelis as long
as Israel's measures against Palestinians
continue, according to a poll cited
Tuesday by the Jerusalem Post.

The survey, conducted by the West
Bank-based Palestinian Center for
Public Opinion, also found that 54.8
percent said they still would favor
suicide bombings even if Israeli meas-
ures cease.

are in bulletproof vehicles.
The recommendation followed
Monday's slaying of Meir Linksberg,
a 38-year-old father of five, in a
Palestinian shooting attack in the
West Bank.

Gang Beats Rabbi
Inside Synagogue

Israeli High-Tech
Firm Goes Bust

Rio de Janeiro/JTA — A rabbi in Rio
de Janeiro was beaten by gang mem-
bers inside a synagogue, where the
rabbi's family also resides.
Rabbi Jacob Israel Blumenfeld said
the three men who invaded his home
in Rio's Copacabana section Sunday
morning likely followed him after he
withdrew $100 from an automated
bank-teller machine. After tying
Blumenfeld up and beating him, gang
members forced his mother to open a
safe on the second floor of the resi-
dence. The trio got away with $1,000
and antique jewelry.

Jerusalem/JTA — Chromatis, the
Israeli high-tech company purchased
for a record 54.5 billion in a stock
swap with Lucent just over a year
i doors.
ago, is closing its
The latest casualty of the high-tech
bust, Chromatis informed workers
Monday that the company is closing
its Petach Tikva office and laying off
its 130 employees, including the
company's two founders.

Hiker Dies
In Mountains

Jerusalem/JTA — New York City
Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik
is traveling to Israel for a series of
talks with his Israeli counterparts,
according to the New York Post.
Kerik will discuss combating terror,
crowd control, and coping with the
use and sale of Ecstasy in Israel and
the United States, the newspaper
reported Sunday.

Concord/JTA — The body of an
Orthodox Jewish businessman from
Brooklyn was found dead in New
Hampshire's White Mountains, where
he had been hiking.
Abraham Hauer is believed to have
died of a heart attack. Hundreds of
Orthodox Jews from Brooklyn to
Montreal had joined in the search for
Hauer, who disappeared earlier this
week.

Israel Astronaut
Blasts Off In Spring

Tel Aviv/JTA — Israel's first astro-
naut, Ilan Ramon, will blast into
orbit on May 23, 2002, the Prime
Minister's Office announced.
The announcement followed a
meeting between Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon and NASA administra-
tor Daniel Goldin. The two also
agreed to continue cooperation
between Israel and NASA.

Settlers Get
Travel Advisory

Jerusalem/JTA — The Israel Defense
Force advised Jewish residents of the
West Bank and Gaza Strip not to
travel from their homes unless they

Top NYC Cop
Visiting Israel

IDF: We'll Reduce
Call-Ups

Jerusalem/JTA — The Israel Defense
Force is taking steps to reduce the
number of combat reservists it calls
up, according to the Jerusalem Post,
which cited a senior IDF officer.
The officer said the IDF wants to
restrict call-ups to a maximum of
about three weeks a year. He also said
the IDF plans to carry through with
its decision to release all reservists
from military service at age 45.

Hungarian Jewish
Fest Opens

A weeklong
Budapest/JTA
Hungarian Jewish festival opened
Sunday in Budapest and eight
Hungarian towns.
Now in its fourth year, the festival
features concerts, ballet, movies and
exhibits. "The aim of the Jewish festi-
val is to provide an opportunity when

the word 'Jew' can be mentioned
proudly," Gustav Zoltai, director of
the Hungarian Federation of Jewish
Communities, said on state-run tele-
vision following the opening.

Turkish School
Rededicated

Ankara/JTA — Two years after a dev-
astating earthquake claimed more
than 25,000 lives in Turkey, the
American Jewish Joint Distribution
Committee, along with the Turkish
Jewish community, Israel's Foreign
Ministry and the Turkey-Israel
Friendship Association, dedicated a
new school in the earthquake zone.
The Garih Friendship Elementary
School has 16 classrooms, a computer
laboratory, auditorium and a science
laboratory. Some 480 students are
enrolled and will begin studies with
the new school year.

Reform Delegation
Visits FSU

Moscow/JTA — Officials from the
Reform movement are traveling to
the former Soviet Union, where they
will donate two Torah scrolls to
Reform congregations and help train
congregational leaders for the upcom-
ing High Holidays.
During the ARZA/World Union
mission, which lasts through Sept. 2,
the 30 officials plan to visit Kiev, St.
Petersburg and Moscow.
One of the Torahs, a 180-year-old
scroll, is being given by Temple Beth
Sholom of Topeka, Karr., to the
Siberian Congregation Madregot of
Tumin, Russia. The second scroll is
being donated by New York's Temple
Shaaray Tefila to Congregation
Simcha of Minsk, Belarus.

Wallenberg
Memorial Defaced

Stockholm/JTA — A monument to
Raoul Wallenberg in Stockholm was
defaced by spray paint Saturday
morning.
The incident took place less than
24 hours after the memorial was
inaugurated by Sweden's king and
foreign dignitaries.
A Swedish diplomat during World
War II, Wallenberg helped save tens
of thousands of Hungarian Jews from
the Nazis.

8/31
2001

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