Jewish Post, Indianapolis, Marion County, 18 January 1980 — Page 10

Israel As I See It

El Al Now Hopefully On Profitability Course

-2 By SAMSON KRUPNICK ■ “Brinkmanship” as a tool £ of international diplomacy is ou precarious. It i^HiH raises 8° osc 'I HhP J^Hpimples even * the most $ e a s o n e d P statesmen. It § 'jangles the nerves of the 2 ^^^VTj^Bmost steady negotiators and = Krupniek . shortens the life ^ span of men in authority. Internal brinkmanship is even more risky and ever so much more nervewracking. The recent negotiations between Avraham Shavit on the one hand for the management of El Al Israel Airlines, and the pilots, mechanics, etc., are classic ekamples of such brinkmanship on the local scene. There was an ultimatum. December 31, 1979 — midnight — was the deadline, for a workable and realistic agreement — or the closing of El Al. FINAL AGREEMENT was Obituaries

reached with al) the committees just four hours before the deadline. The last to fall in line were the stewards. Then all joined in an enthusiastic, hearty “I’chaim”. The crisis was averted. El Al will continue to fly. Brinkmanship had worked. Buma Shavit, successful oven manufacturer. President of the Israel Manufacturers Association, and emergency appointee of the new Finance Minister, Yigael Hurvitz, had apparently accomplished the impossible. A completely green business executive with little or no knowledge of the intricate operations of a national airline had been successful where others had failed time after time. Buma had persuaded all of the nine work committees to agree to an austerity program designed to rejuvenate El Al, to cut its running $70 million deficit and to redirect it from its present losing course to one which will restore profit-

Rabbi Isaac Stollman Dies; Headed World Mizrachi

JERUSALEM — Rabbi Isaac Stollman, who was president of American and World Mizrachi, died here at the age of 86. He moved to Israel in 1965 after serving as chief of the Orthodox rabbinate of Detroit

where he was spiritual leader of Congregation Mishkan Israel. He was active in developing Bar Ilan University into a major institution of higher learning. His brother, Philip, of Detroit chairs the board of Bar Ilan.

ZiONIALIS w

able operation. WHY WASN'T Shavit’s predecessor, the experienced respected and highly capable General Manager, Mordecai Ben Ari, able to stop the rapid deterioration in the esprit de corps in El Al, its fading reputation for good service, its unreliable observance of flight schedules, and its resulting decline in profitability after many years of consistently operating in the black? Factually, Ben Ari was an excellent General Manager with practical and progressive ideas. But his Board of Directors would not, or could not, back him in the clinches. The many strikes, the constant bickering and sharp competition between the various work committees, the unreasonable demands, the Ben Benzoff DENVER — Ben Benzoff, who lost his bid for governorship of Colorado in 1952, and was a noted figure in the political and public relations world, died here at the age of 65. He was a past president of the Colorado Municipal League and had served as majority speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives Rabbi Goldstein Falls Td Death VENTNOR, N.J. - 44-year old Rabbi Alexander M. Goldstein, described by his colleagues as a brilliant scholar and a member of a noted rabbinic family, fell to his death on Jan. 8 from the roof of a apartment house here. The spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Judah, (Conservative) for the past four years in this resort community adjoining Atlantic City, he was the son of Rabbi David Goldstein, rabbi emeritus of Har Zion Temple, Philadelphia. Of his three brothers, two are rabbis - Rabbi Jonathan, of Iowa City, Iowa; and Rabbi Nason, of Lebanon, Pa. Rabbi Goldstein had reportedly been under a doctor’s care recently.

LIMITED ENGAGEMENT ISRAEL'S FOREMOST COMEDV STAR °OWN BODO.

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growing, corroding attitude of “the public be damned”, left Ben Ari powerless to deal with the mounting problems. The coup de grace was administered by skyrocketing fuel prices, the aging gasguzzling Boeing 707 fleet, the cut-throat competition of the 17 airlines flying into Ben Gurion Airport, following the relaxing of lATA’s previous

ed to close El Al. In fact, after another of the many wildcat strikes, the management did close the line for a number of weeks. Yet managements credibility remained in doubt because of its vacillation in past relationships with the work committees. El Al’s personnel was certain that in the end the Government would pick up the lab, as it

1 dCITlIllg vll in M rx o pivviwuw. w isuiva up uia. wj, mo it strict policing of air fares, the had done all along, paying exmany charters skimming off cessive salaries to flight

the cream of air traffic by operating cheap, highoccupancy flights in season, and only when full, while El Al (and other top airlines) were required to hold steadfast to schedules, irrespective

of occupancy.

UNDER THESE new critical conditions, the old attitudes of scraping through from crisis to crisis only worsened the situation. In desperation, management threaten-.

crews, assuming their income tax obligations, granting liberal, free and reduced rate flights to the families of El Al

employees, etc.

Thus, the threat of closing El Al. oft repeated, was never taken seriously, even under former Likud Finance Minister Ehrlich, let alone under the previous Labor Alignment Finance Minister Ral inowitz. IT TOOK tough-talking (Continued On Next Page)

Bible Byways

Undesigned Coincidence

Portion of the Week. Va’era, Exodus 6.2-9 end. The verse discussed is 9.31. By L. I. RABINOWITZ The whole world was stunned recently by the revelation of the archSoviet spy Sir (he was later stripped of his knighthood) Anthony Blunt, curator of art to Queen ElizaRabinowitz, beth who, despite the fact that he had confessed his crime, was permitted to continue in office and enjoy all the privileges of his high position. It brought back to my mind, however, another gentleman of that name, a Bishop Blunt, who was to some extent responsible for my first interest in the flora of the Bible. He was the author of a volume entitled, "Undesigned Coincidences of the Bible,” the purpose of which was to prove the intrinsic truth of the Biblical narrative revealed in the fact that coincidences are found which were completely undesigned and which occur because of the truth of the narrative. For some reason or other only one has remained vividly in my mind after some half century. IT IS with regard to the Eighth Plague, that of Hail, of which we read in this week’s portion. We are told that in that plague “the flax and the barley were smitten for the barley was in the ear and the flax in bloom”. On the other hand the wheat and

the spelt were unharmed since they ripen later. What period of the year was it? The Plague of Hail was followed by that of the Locusts and the last and tenth, that of the Death of the Firstborn, rook place on the 15th of Nisan. We are not told the periods which elapsed between the Plagues, but it is reasonable to assume aninterval of say, a month. In other words the Plague of Hail took place about what is now the month of Adar and as is known, barley is the first grain to ripen and the offering of the Omer of Barley took place on the second day of Passover. What of flax? FORTY YEARS pass. Moses dies — the traditional date is the 7th of Adar, and he is succeeded by Joshua and after he crosses the Jordan they celebrate the Passover (Joshua 5.10). Before that, however, Joshua sends two emissaries to spy out the land, and they are saved by Rahab hiding them in the stalks of flax which were laid out on the roof for drying (2.9) They return after three days and following their report Joshua immediately mobilises the people to cross over three days later. Thus the crossing took place in the second week of Nissan. The flax which was in bloom in Egypt 40 years earlier, in Adar, had already been cut and laid out to diy in Nisan. A little early for the harvest in Egypt, but it was in Jericho, the lowest spot on the world’s surface, and there the flax ripened earlier. An I Coincidence!