How many bites
will Uncle Sam
take this year?

Tell Me Why

Planet Of
The Apes

What religious text labels Jews (apes?

PHILLIP AND ELIZABETH
APPLEBAUM

Q: For years, Islamic extremists
have referred to the Jews as "the
descendants of pigs and monkeys."
Is this something they came up
with on their own, or does it have a
source somewhere in the Muslim
religion?
A: The source is the Quran (or
Koran), the sacred scripture of Islam.
In Sura (chapter) 5, verse 59, the
"People of the Book" are rebuked for
their hatred of the followers of Allah
(the Muslim name for God), while
they themselves are sinners. Verse 60
states, "Say: Shall I inform you of
those worse than this in retribution
from Allah? They are those whom
Allah has cursed and upon whom
He brought His wrath and of whom
He made apes and swine, and who
serve the devil ..."
By most interpretations, those who
were turned into apes and swine are
the Jews. In fact, most of the verses
following verse 59 refer specifically
to the Jews. The Quran in 2:65
speaks of Jews who violated the laws
of Shabbat as "apes."

Don't let December 31
roll around without
taking steps to reduce
your tax bite.

You can turn your appreciated stocks
into a guaranteed high-yield return for
your (and your spouse's) lifetime by
establishing a charitable gift annuity:

•

• Enjoy a reduction in your 2001
income-tax bill for a portion of your gift.

• Avoid immediate payment of
long-term capital gains taxes.

• Save federal estate taxes on the
entire amount of transferred assets.

Unlock your long-term capital gains,
reinvest in a guaranteed high-yielding
charitable gift annuity, and provide
a permanent endowment fund
in your name to benefit your
Jewish community in perpetuity.

Want to learn more?

Please contact the endowment professionals
at the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit
for a free, no-obligation consultation
at (248) 203-1460

The Jewish Community
Endowment Fund

12/14

T his is Federation

2001

Visit us online: www.thisisfederation.org

96

Jewish
Federation

12, 11

•11:410.1

Q:I am a Trekkie and proud of it.
Recently, I heard what I consider a
truly amazing fact. William
Shatner, whom we are all proud to
call a fellow Jew, apparently
appeared in many films before he
hit the TV screen as Capt. Kirk. Is
that true?
A:Surely you don't think talent like
that could be contained merely to
television, do you?
In fact, the Canadian-born
Shatner made his first big-screen
appearance in 1958, when he starred
in The Brothers Karamazov, appear-
ing as a monk (that's right, a monk),
with Lee J. Cobb as his father and
Yul Brenner as his brother. This
adaptation of the classic Dostoyevsky
novel didn't sit well with critics,

many of whom were particularly dis-
heartened (if they weren't falling off
their chairs, unable to control their
laughter) by the fact that all of the
brothers had different accents.
Still, an actor like Shatner could
not be stopped, and in 1961 he went
on to star in The Explosive
Generation, as well as Judgement at
Nuremberg. Other early Shatner clas-
sics include The Intruder (1962),

The Outrage (1964), Incubus (1965),
Big Bad Mama (1974), The Devil's
Rain and Impulse (1975), A Whale of
a Tale (1976) and Kingdom of the
Spiders (1977). No doubt you, like
all of us, fondly remember seeing
each and every one of these greats.

Q: Is it true that the Israeli govern-
ment keeps a secret collection of
war-crimes photographs from the
1948 War of Independence?
A: There is a collection of atrocity
photographs in the archives of the
Israel Defense Forces (IDF), but it is
not secret; it's just that the pictures
have never been published. The pho-
tographs owned by the IDF are only
some of the hundreds from late
1947 to mid-1948 of about 600
Jews — fighters, noncombatants and
women — taken prisoner by the
Palestinian Arabs.
For years, Arabs carried the pic-
tures and showed them off. The IDF
captured many of the photographs
and deposited them in the archives.
In 1968, military researcher Aryeh
Yitzhaki gained access to the photo-
graphs and used them to accompany
a detailed, documentary report on
Arab atrocities against Jews. The
paper was submitted to the Israeli
government. The Foreign Ministry
was encouraged to make use of the
report but refused, arguing that the
text and photographs were too hor-
rific.

❑