News From
The Frankel Center

Leftist-Led Boycott Mars
Israeli Team's Australian Trip
Sydney, Australia (JTA)
A joint
Israeli-Palestinian Australian Rules
football team due to visit Sydney is
embroiled in a row over a local govern-
ment council's boycott of Israel.
Marrickville Council, in inner Sydney,
voted last December to support a
Green Party-led ban on all commercial,
academic, governmental, cultural and
sporting exchanges with Israel. But
the same council voted unanimously
last week to allow the Peace Team —
co-sponsored by the Peres Center for
Peace and the Al-Quds Association
for Democracy and Dialogue — to
appear at a welcome function at the
Marrickville Town Hall on Aug. 18.
Peter Wertheim, the chief exective
of the Executive Council of Australian
Jewry, slammed the hypocrisy of the
council.

—

British Authority Rejects
Travel Palestine Ad
London (JTA) — Complaints against
an advertisement for travel to Palestine
were upheld by the British Advertising
Standards Authority.
The authority said that the ad should
not be published again as it is currently
constituted.
The advertisement, which was
published in the National Geographic
Traveler magazine, read, "Palestine is a
land rich in history with a tradition of
hospitality. From the famous cities of
Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron, Jericho,
Nablus, and Gaza, the Palestinian people
welcome you to this Holy Land."
It also says, "Palestine lies between
the Mediterranean Coast and the Jordan
River ... It takes a visit to this wonderful
country to appreciate the most palpable
facet of its culture: the warmth and
humor of the Palestinian people. Join
a long list of visitors over the centuries
who have seen the beauty of this land."
Some 149 complaints were filed with
the Advertising Standards Authority
saying that Palestine is not a recognized
country, that the advertisement suggest-
ed that all of the land mentioned was
Palestinian, and that Jerusalem and the
other cities mentioned are Palestinian.

Greek Jewish Leader
Awarded French Honor
Athens (JTA) — David Saltiel, the head
of Greece's Jewish community, was
honored by France with its highest civil
decoration.
Saltiel, president of the Central Board
of Jewish Communities in Greece and

head of the Thessaloniki Jewish corn-
munity, was awarded the title of the
Chevalier of the Order of the Legion of
Honor during a ceremony last week at
the French Embassy in Athens.
France's ambassador to Greece,
Christophe Farnaud, bestowed the
medal on Saltiel and praised his long-
time work and achievements for the
benefit of the Greek Jewish community.

Clinton: Egypt Will
Keep Israel Peace
Washington (JTA) — Egypt's foreign
policy will change, but it has an inter-
est in sustaining its peace accords with
Israel, Hillary Rodham Clinton said.
"I think there will
be different decisions"
on foreign policy,
the U.S. secretary of
state told NPR last
week after she toured
Egypt. It was Clinton's
first visit there since
Hillary Clinton the revolution that
ousted longtime dicta-
tor Hosni Mubarak,
who had maintained the Camp David
accords with Israel. "But I think that
there is such an interest in keeping the
peace in the region': she continued.
"Egypt has got a lot on its plate. It's
going to have to politically reform, eco-
nomically reform. It's got a big agenda
ahead of it. I think the last thing it
wants is to see any kind of problem
between itself and its neighbors!'
Clinton said she expected Egypt to
maintain controls, keeping terrorists
and guns from entering the Gaza Strip.

NBA's Casspi Could Rejoin
Maccabi Tel Aviv Cagers
Los Angeles (JTA) — Sacramento Kings
forward Omri Casspi said he might
rejoin his former Israeli basketball team
if the National Basketball Association
imposes a player lockout next season.
Casspi, the first
Israeli to play in the
NBA, told Israel's
Army Radio that that
he would consider
rejoining Maccabi Tel
Aviv if the league and
the players' union do
Omri Casspi
not come to a new
agreement by the June
30 expiration of the collective bargain-
ing agreement, which could lead to the
cancellation of the 2011-12 season.
Casspi has been sitting on the bench
lately for the Kings. He's averaged 9.2
points and 4.7 rebounds this season.

Women's Rights Groups
Mark 'Agunot Day' In Israel
Jerusalem (JTA) — An international
coalition of Jewish women's groups
marked the Fast of Esther by calling on
Israel's Knesset to enact legislation that
would force recalcitrant husbands to
grant their wives a religious divorce.
The proposal would assist "agunot," or
chained women, in forcing husbands to
grant a divorce under halachic precepts.

Egypt Resumes Gas
Shipments To Israel
Jerusalem (JTA) — Egypt has resumed
supplying Israel with natural gas.
The break in supply came after a gas
line was sabotaged on Feb. 5 during the
uprising in Egypt. Egypt supplies more
than 40 percent of the gas Israel uses to
produce electricity.

Motor City Moishe House
Seeking 6 Young Tennants
Applications are open through April 1
to join Motor City Moishe House, a new
downtown community hub that will
provide subsidized housing to six young
adults who will live together in Detroit's
Midtown art district.
Moishe House is an international
organization that has formulated a
unique engagement model for young
Jewish adults. Presently, there are 33
Moishe Houses across 13 countries.
Tenant occupancy is planned for the
beginning of May.
Motor City Moishe House is part
of CommunityNext's (CNXT) effort
to energize Detroit by connecting
with young adults to help rebuild the
city. CNXT is a program of the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.
In its first year, CNXT built its brand
through grassroots programming across
suburban Detroit.
"The next phase in the strategy is
to bring the movement to downtown
Detroit': said Jordan Wolfe, CNXT direc-
tor."A dense and dynamic urban envi-
ronment is key in attracting and retain-
ing young talent in Michigan long term."
Rachel Lachover, CNXT program
director, said, "One of the primary goals
of creating this space and bringing
Moishe House to Detroit is to provide
a centralized hub that young Jewish
adults can come to, hang out and enjoy
— right now we don't have that." The
plan is for Moishe House to be a hub
for programming, Shabbat dinners and
community events.
Young adults interested in living in
Motor City Moishe House can apply
through April 1 at www.moishehouse.org .

Deborah Dash Moore, Frederick
G.L. Huetwell Professor of History
and Director; The Jean & Samuel
Frankel Center for Judaic Studies,
University of Michigan

People
of
The Books

Jews became known as "the
People of the Book," but a
more apt description might
be "People of the Books."
Jews have been writing books
for centuries. As publishing
increased, Jewish literature
expanded to include secular
writing alongside religious
texts in many languages. At
the Frankel Center, students
can savor Jewish books—not
just Hebrew, Yiddish and
Ladino, but also in English,
French, Russian, Polish,
German, Hungarian, Arabic
and Spanish. Jewish writ-
ers used these languages to
express their ideas, passions,
imaginations. Today, we can
enter their distinctive Jewish
worlds through reading their
books and come to under-
stand Jews, people of the
books.
Deborah Dash Moore

Jean & Samuel

Franke
Center for Judaic Studie

www.lsa.iunich. edu/judaic/

judaicstudies@umich.edu
734/763-9047

© 2011 Regents of the
University of Michigan

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