Jewish Post, Indianapolis, Marion County, 3 August 1979 — Page 14

August 3, 1979 The Jewish Post and Opin

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INVESTING By LOUIS EHRENKRANTZ

Mr Bhrenkrant/ is d Senior Vice President of RosenkranU. Ehrenkrtintz Lyon 8t Ross at 6 East 43 Street. New York NY 10017 He welcomes alt written questions

One of the key factors in successful investing is the ability to recognize that major problems invariably offer profitable opportunities. Often, what seems to be a depressing situation can be turned into an extremely profitable one. For instance: At the end of the Second World War, America’s supposed inability to convert to a peace-time economy was going to presage a 1930’s type depression. BUT THOSE investors that focused on the solution to the problem of a peace-time economy made hay — to say nothing of dough. Ehrenkrantz They invested in companies that were able to satisfy the pent-up demand of a frustrated consumer bedevilled by four years of controls and black market manipulation. Companies providing items in heretofore short supply made fortunes for their backers. (Items that we take for granted — radios and phonographs, for instance, were included in this category.) Haloid Xerox solved the problem of proliferating bureaucracy, and IBM solved the problem of proliferating factual data just as companies like Thiokol appeared to solve the military problem of Soviet expansion. If one looks upon social problems as investment opportunities, the first step toward intelligent investment has been made, in my opinion. I believe this strongly enough to make it the central point of a book on investing I am currently writing for my favorite business publisher. ENOUGH HINDSIGHT. How do we apply my thesis to contemporary life, right here in America, circa 1979? Quick now, what’s the major problem in the modern American city? Is it not crime? Has not the word “mugging” entered our lives, our consciousness and our dictionary? Don’t major retail companies like Sears Roebuck report on “shrinkage levels” to their stockholders? (“Shrinkage” is a euphemism for shoplifting.) Don’t most retailers allocate a certain portion of their funds to this cost? The answer to all these questions is unfortunately yes. To quantify the extent which our lives are permeated by the crime problem, ask yourself if the 11 o’clock news on your television would have much to report without gruesome murders, rapes, and muggings. SO IT’S a problem, right? How does an investor approach this problem? I think that he does this by investing in a company that is so prominent in fighting crime, that it is almost alone in the field by virtue of its technological expertise. A unique company that fits the bill is Sensormatic (22V4). Sensorrrtatic trades over-the-counter. Next week I’ll report on why I am so high on this company as a major investment, describing how its unique position qualifies it as a problem-solver.

California Moshav Disturbs Israelis

JERUSALEM — News that ex-Israelis were organizing a moshav near Santa Barbara, Ca. has upset at least one Member of the Knesset. Uzi Baram, who formerly served as an aliyah emmissary in the United States before being elected to the

Vandals Destroy Windows At Shul DETROIT — On the same night that Tank Wardia, 17, was arraigned in Southfield District Court on charges of breaking into the United Hebrew School branch of Cong. Beth Achim, three stained glass window valued at between $2,50(1 and $3,000 were broken bjf Jrock-throw-ing vandals. Th&break-in on June 30 netted &40 in cash, $500 in checks and a radio, calculator and o^r pieces of equipment.

Knesset, told Prime Minister Menachem Begin that “this development should be regarded in the gravest light.” He urged that the government lode into the matter. In his letter he inclosed a leaflet describing the prospects at the moshav, which differs from a kibbutz in that it is a collective community in which the produce is sold jointly but the members farm individually and own their own plots of ground. The leaflet says, in part: “We want to invite YOU to join energies with us in helping create this new age multigenerational community. Together we will live on the land, sharing and exploring Jewish spirituality; growing our own food; learning to live simply and ecologically; teaching our children and having our own school. We will create our own centers for art, Jewish theatre, music, crafts, holistic living right on the land.”

In Reading, Pa. Linking Up People Program Working

By RABBI ALAN WEITZMAN A num l> er of months ago we initiated a program in our Congregation called. Connections. My column on it prompted a number of requests from all over the country for our manual. In Weitzman fact, the Commission on Social Action on Reform Judaism felt the program was so worthy that in their June 15 publication they devoted over half a page to elaborating upon the concept. In one of the inquiries, someone facetiously said it looks very good on paper but how well is it functioning? THIS PROGRAM has exceeded my wildest expectations and our chairlady, Nancy Knoblauch, and our coordinators are elated with the service which is being performed and with the receptivity on the part of the people who are being assisted. We have managed, via our

professional advisory group, made up of psychologists and social workers who belong to the congregation, to train 25 volunteers who have committed themselves to a year of relationship with their client. We have linked up people in our synagogue, primarily the elderly, and in some cases the connection has been so subtle that the person being helped doesn't realize why this individual is taking a new interest in them. RECENTLY a tragedy occured and a widow in her late 40’s died, leaving behind a family of five children ranging in age from 20 years old to twins, age 15. Since we do not have a Jewish Family Service in our community, we were able to plug in a volunteer immediately and have subsequently plugged in several other assistants who have helped to navigate this family through its difficult straits. Employment was found for the children who were old enough to work. Three of them are now in camp on full scholarship for the summer,

and our Federation has given financial assistance. Through the efforts of our volunteers, the family has remained intact and are functioning as well as can be expected. Another interesting development that has been taking place is that a number of the volunteers have been reaching out to the convalescent homes in our community to the Jewish residents. They are now beginning to conduct services on a regular basis and their enthusiasm is at a very high peak. THIS PROGRAM continues to evolve and meet new needs and crises which are constantly emerging. Our initial printing of the Connections Manual was 100 copies, and we are at the point now where the requests have been so demanding that we are ready to go into a second pnmting. If you would like to have a manual which maps out very carefully the steps to be taken in developing this type of volunteer program, please contact us.

Flashbacks In Jewish History

Touro Temple Appeals For Funds in 1762

By RABBI A. P. BLOCH

July 25, 1762-Moses Lopez, president of Cong. Yeshuat Israel of Newport, R.I., (Touro Synagogue), appealed to friends in New York for donations of furand ornaments for the new house of worship. The letter did not go unanswered. Samuel Judah responded with a gift of a Tamid, the perpetual light which shines upon the ark. Samuel Hart donated candlesticks and a lectern. Haym sent 100 pounds of wax. Bloch

MOSES LOPEZ was no novice as a solicitor of funds. Back in 1759 Lopez appealed to New York’s Congregation Shearit Israel for financial assistance for the construction of a new synagogue in Newport. It was shortly after the congregation had acquired a plot of land. The construction costs were beyond the means of a small community of about 50 families. Lopez had skillfully appealed to the sense of piety of his coreligionists. He emphasized the traditional “duty to instruct children in the path of virtuous religion”. He followed up with an emotional pitch, invoking the “unhappy fate of those (marrano) children and their parents, who are, through necessity, educated in a place where they must remain totally uninstructed...and

from which place they may never have it in their power to depart” No former Marranos could ever turn a deaf ear to such a plea. That letter brought a response of L. 149. DUE TO an inflationary spiral, the Newport Jews had to appeal once again two years later for additional help. “The cost of building rising to much more than it was conceived it would, they now find themselves unable to complete the building”. The synagogue was finally completed on December 2,1763, four years and four months after groundbreaking. The Touro Synagogue is the pride of the American Jewish community. It is a heartwarm-

ing reminder of the oases of vibrant Jewish life in colonial America. It was designated a national historical site in 1946 as an outstanding model of distinctive American colonial architecture. NO ONE who visits the Touro Synagogue leaves untouched by its exquisite elegance and the historical memories which it evokes. Longfellow regarded the synagogue as an epitaph to a glorious era and lamented the futility of Jewish struggle for survival, “dead nations never rise again”. To Emma Lazarus it was “a wonderous light upon a sky-kissed mount”.

Education Programs For Russians Poor

NEW YORK - Add to the problem of integrating the Russian Jewish newcomers into American life, the Jewish education not only of the parents but also of the children. Arthur Brody, president of the American Association for Jewish Education, warned after his organization had made a survey of education situation in 45 Jewish communites that the “vast majority” of children of the Russian immigrants “may be lost to the next generation of Jewish life in the United States. ’ ’ He urged a coordinated effort to replace what he termed the “scattergun approach.” He criticized present inadequacies in communal subsidization of tuition costs and the dearth of classes

to educate parents. The retention situation was a problem too, he said. Of the schools surveyed, only four reported some students continuing through high school, with the remainder staying for considerably shorter periods, some as little as one year or only as they received scholarships.

Day School Growth Noted NEW YORK - The number of Jewish day schools in the United States grew from 39 in 1944 to 463 this year. Biggest growth was in high schools from 9 to 150 in the 35-year period.

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