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From the DJN

Davidson
Digital Archive

‘Melting Pot’
… And Pans

O

ne always wonders if there
has been real progress in the
world. I would argue, yes,
we have made real progress. Think of
the advances in medicine or telecom-
munications or the fact that there has
been a State of Israel for nearly 70
years or that women have been able to
vote since 1920. These are just a few of
the signs of significant and historical
progress.
But, do you want real evidence of
progress? I found undisputable proof in
the April 11, 1952, issue of the Jewish
News, in an advertisement from the
Hadley Finsterwald Department stores.
Hadley Finsterwald was a small
department store chain in Downtown
Detroit, Redford and Wyandotte. In
a great bargain for 1952, it offered a
state-of-the art, large 20-inch screen,
black-and-white Motorola TV for a
mere $249.95!
The TV came in a mahogany cabi-
net with “Good Neighbor” shielding
(to prevent interference with the
television set next door), and the store
would be happy to give you a home
demonstration.
Sounds like a great deal … until
one realizes that $250 in 1952 would
be well over $2,000 in 2016. For $250
today, one can get a 30-inch or better
color, flat-screen television. Now, this
is progress.
Yes, I know. Open-heart surgery or
antibiotics are important innovations,
but cheap TVs are hard to beat!
One other point regarding progress
— according to other articles in the
JN, Hadley Finsterwald Department
Stores were among the first in Detroit
to hire African Americans in all
departments of its operations.

*

Master Chef judges: Yonatan Roshfeld, Haim Cohen, Michal
Ansky and Eyal Shani.

Then there’s Ela Halevi, a native of South Korea who came
to Israel in 2003 on a Christian tour. She fell in love with
the country — and her future husband — and converted to
Judaism, got married and now lives on a kibbutz with their
two kids.
And there’s a token American in the pack, Aydan Turner.
She was born to an African-American father — a former foot-
ball player — and a white mother — a former boxing cham-
pion. In addition to loving cooking and food, Turner loves to
work out and lift heavy weights, prompting an impromptu
arm-wrestling match with one of the judges.
Episodes of Master Chef are available on the Hebrew-
language website www.mako.co.il.

— Amy Spiro, Jerusalem Post

Top Doc

Hands-free phone app opens worlds for paralyzed users.

Miracle App

Sesame Enable, a Caesarea, Israel-based company that allows
disabled people to control their cellphones without using their
hands, has reached more than 1,200 customers globally, includ-
ing in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, in the three years since it was
set up.
Founded by Giora Livne and Oded Ben Dov, the startup
allows people to control their Android smartphones by using
voice and head movements. After Sesame Enable software is
installed, users are able to make calls, send messages and even
play video games like Candy Crush and Angry Birds by using
the phone’s front-facing camera.
Livne is already thinking about new uses for the technology,
saying it could also help nondisabled users with daily routines.
“If you cook in the kitchen and your hands are dirty, you don’t
want to touch the phone, but you can use Sesame,” said Livne.
“And when you play an instrument in the orchestra and you
have to turn the page, you can turn it with Sesame.”

Lt. Col. Dr. Avraham Yitzhak has been named
chief medical officer of the Israel Defense Forces’
Southern Command, putting him on the path to
becoming the first Israeli of Ethiopian heritage to
hold the rank of colonel in the Israel Defense Forces.
Yitzchak moved to Israel from Ethiopia at age 19,
after he had already started medical school in Addis
Ababa, according to a 2010 profile by Israel Hayom
newspaper.
Once in Israel, he studied medicine at Ben-Gurion
University in Beersheva. Upon graduating, he began
his IDF service as an army surgeon, first in the
Paratroopers Brigade and then in the elite Maglan
unit, which operates deep behind enemy lines.
During the Second Lebanon War, he was wounded
by shrapnel. He also served as a surgeon in three
Gaza operations in 2008, 2012 and 2014.

— Times of Israel and Israel Hayom

Israel Hayom

Mike Smith
Detroit Jewish News
Foundation Archivist

Now in its sixth season, the Israeli reality TV show Master
Chef delivers what it promises: a focus on food from the eclec-
tic residents of Israel. It’s is a kitschy, cheesy celebration of
diverse Israeli society.
The ingathering of exiles unique to Israel is on full display,
with amateur cooking contestants born all over the Middle
East and the world.
Take Sgt. Maj. Yonatan Biton, who cooked up an only-in-
Israel creation of ravioli chreime, a mixture of Italian pasta
and Tunisian fish stew.
Other contestants included 75-year-old Noga Yahel, a
grandmother who immigrated to Israel alone at age 9 from
Morocco. And Sophie Porat, originally from Lebanon, who
raised four of her own children and adopted an orphan her
son brought home one day.
Also appearing was Eli Matzri, 72, who spent 25 years in
the Mossad and took part in Operation Moses, which brought
around 8,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in the 1980s. One of the
small children on the plane many years later became Motzri’s
son’s wife, who has provided him with beautiful grandchildren
“the color of cocoa,” he said.
Ayat Dina, an Arab Muslim from Jaffa, originally from
Gaza, wowed the judges with her pasta and eggplant dish.

— Iacopo Luzi, Times of Israel

Want to learn more? Go to the
DJN Foundation archives, available
for free at www.djnfoundation.org.

42 December 1 • 2016

Dr. Avraham Yitzhak