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PAGE 4 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE May 2, 1986
Vida Goldgar
The Southern Israelite
The Weekly Newspaper For Southern Jev v ' v
Srnce 1925
Vida Goldgar Luna Levy
Editor and Publisher Associate Editor
Leonard Goldstein
Advertising Director
Eschol A. Harrell
Production Manager
Lutz Baum
Business Manager
Published every Friday by The Southern Israelite, Inc
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A dream comes true
This Jewish community has so much to be proud of that we
run the risk of sounding like a Jewish Chamber of Commerce
spokesman each time we laud an institutional or individual
achievement.
Well, so be it.
Our attention this week goes to the opening of the Zachor
Holocaust Center, a unique resource facility which will serve the
entire Atlanta community. The Center, which opens to the public
Monday, began as the dream of a handful of survivors of the
Holocaust to ensure that this city had a permanent public record
of the Holocaust experience.
The result not only fulfills that purpose, but is a tribute as well
to what can be achieved through cooperation. Joining hands to
make the Center a reality are members of Hemshech/Organiza
tion of Survivors from Nazism. Children of Holocaust Survivors,
the Atlanta Jewish Federation and many individuals.
They have done well in creating a moving chronological dis
play that will defy anyone to negate or downplay the Holocaust.
We foresee busloads of school children solemnly trooping through
the Center, getting a fuller understanding of that period of horror
than any textbook provides. Adults of all creeds cannot help but
gain a more thoughtful view of history.
Nuclear warning
At press time, very little more is known about the tragic-
nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union than was known when the
first announcement was made Monday.
Experts all over the world are speculating and in some cases
trying their best to allay fears but, with the Kremlin unwilling to
share whatever information it has, nothing said has much of an
authoritative ring.
If any good can come of this tragedy, it will be that all coun
tries in the nuclear circle will rethink their arms policies. If a
“peaceful use” accident can have such consequences, it doesn’t
take much imagination to consider what would happen with
nuclear weapons, accidental or intentional.
VOTE WALDHEIM
O.K.-20HELED-I
TQfcV&A MZi' -
20 ffe WiT DDW®
SOME i)EW5-ITS
stil aor my m.'
Mm mm, good!
There are interviews—and then there are inter
views.
I’m not sure w hat I expected a few weeks ago when
it came time to interview David
Mint/, but what 1 got was a mid-
afternoon (you should excuse the
expression) pig-out.
David Mint/ is the Brooklyn
kosher caterer who spent years
searching for a good milk substi
tute to use in desserts and sauces
for his clientele. He finally found
the answer in totu, the soy bean
product so popular in Oriental dishes. But it’s a long
way from “spicy vegetables with bean curd to kosher
“ice cream’’ and it took Mint/ almost 10 years of
off-hours experimenting before he hit upon the now
familiar Tofutti. What made Tofutti take off was
more than just being kosher. It’s also cholesterol free,
contains no butterfat and. important to those who
suffer from lactose intolerance, it provides a rich,
creamy, delicious dessert that is milk-free.
Mint/ didn’t stop with his initial conquest and
w hen he came to my office, he brought samples of his
latest concoctions. Now, it would have been rude not
to try everything, wouldn't it? So, with my desk turned
into a cafeteria serving section, I went to town. Every
time 1 thought I couldn’t manage another bite, he sent
his aides to the car for more. I started with his newest
pride and joy w hich—it was easy to understand after I
tried it—he calls Love Drops. That's a dessert, too,
but it’s a special blend of creamy Tofutti, filled with
tiny morsels of what he said was a special graham
cookie coated with chocolate. If I say they seemed to
sparkle on the palate, it may sound nuts, but they did.
But there's more! On the sweet side, there was
rugelach. Imagine rugelach without butter, eggs or
cream. There were crunchy oatmeal and chocolate
chip cookies and an “ice cream” sandwich called
Tofutti C'utie.
And that’s not all! There was tofu lasagna and
several dips. David even brought the fresh vegies to
dip. There was a burger that was a far cry from the
soyburgers I'd sampled before.
He and his wife Rachel beamed proudly as I
nibbled. With my mouth full, I couldn’t ask questions
but David just went on with his story, including the
fact that in a “coals to Newcastle” situation Tofutti is
very big in Japan. There are plans afoot to package the
rugelach unbaked so the consumer can take it home,
bake it and pretend.
Despite his success. David Mint/ is humble when
it comes to credit. He said, “The Lubavitcher Rebbe
gave me the inspiration” to continue; “gave me the
spiritual strength.” Every time he became discour
aged, he thought of the rebbe’s words: “The Lord will
help you. When you think you have come to the
bottom - that’s w hen you go over the hurdles and will
accomplish.” In an uncharacteristically quiet voice
Mint/, said, “1 have experienced that personally."
In his own way, David opened the door to others.
As his catering, restaurant and take-home shops busi
ness grew, he “wanted something special.” So he put
an ad in the paper that said, “Bubbes Wanted.” J'here
was, he said, “a whole busload of answers.” It was a
happy shidduch. “There’s a whole world of talent out
there that has been discarded.” There were calls like:
“I make a very good stuffed cabbage; I don’t care
about the money, I just want to cook.” A tip he
learned from that lady was to freeze the cabbage
leaves to make them pliable instead of boiling them.
He attributes much of the success of his operation to
these w omen: “I don’t care how many cookbooks you
read; you can't substitute for experience.”
And despite his busy schedule—both in New York
and traveling to promote his product, David Mint/ is
always willing to talk to groups of budding entrepre
neurs. He says, “When I was a young man, I would
have given my right arm for someone I could talk to. I
remember that.”
And when he does, you can bet he takes samples.
Now. excuse me but 1 still have a Tofutti Cutie in the
freezer gotta go.
May Day in Israel
by Carl Alperl
Haifa
1 here was a time w hen Mav Day
was one of the great holidays of
Israel, enthusiastically observed bv
hundreds of thousands of people.
They used to pack the sidewalks of
Tel Aviv and other cities to watch
the passing parade of laborers,
proudly marching behind massed
banks of bright red flags, in dem
onstration of their solidarity with
the workers of the world.
Things have changed considera
bly in Israel. This is being written
before May I. but if recent years
are any indication, the 1986 May
Day will be only a pale shadow of
w hat it used to be. To be sure, most
private industries w hose employees
are organized in the Histadrut, and
of course all the major industrial
and commercial enterprises ow ned
and operated by the Histadrut it
self. will observe the holiday with
full shutdow n. But almost all stores
will be open. Banks will be open.
Government schools arc supposed
to be open, since this is not a
national holiday, but where large
numbers of teachers make it know n
that they will not be reporting for
work, the pupils know enough to
stay at home.
In many public institutions and
government offices a happy com
promise has been found. All wor
kers for whom cessation of work
on May Day is a matter of personal
conscience, may absent themselves.
And in order not to penalize the
others, it is now common routine
to afford the same matter of “con
science" for all w ho choose not to
work on Tisha b’Av and every
body is satisfied.
None of the newspapers,
(except the religious daily, Hat-
zofeh) publish on this day. The
press has pointed out that non-
appearance of the papers on May I
means, in effect, that the journal
ists and printers don’t have to be at
work on April 31 —but in order to
produce a paper for May 2, they
have to work on May Day. There is
obviously something illogical in
this, but the Histadrut has insisted.
Last year one independent daily,
Hadashot, whose workers are not
organized, served notice that it
would publish as usual. This was
on the eve of the 1985 Histadrut
elections, when the labor federa
tion was spending large sums on
political advertising. It has never
been confirmed, but stories were
told that Hadashot was threatened
it would not benefit from the lavish
advertising budgets. The upshot
was that Hadashot did not appear
on May 1, and in the days there
after its pages were filled with
good, profitable Labor adverti
sing.
With the decline of May Day,
there has been a corresponding
reduction in the display of the red
flags. They will be seen on Labor-
owned buildings, and here and
there hung out of the windows of
the home of some doughty Social
ist of the old school.
J he parades, which used to be
the major attraction, have all but
disappeared, since the celebrating
workmen prefer to go to the beach,
especially if it is a warm day. Here
and there the Communists still keep
the red flag flying, mostly in Arab
towns. It is difficult for the Israelis
of any party or class to display
enthusiasm for the same holiday
which the Soviet Union makes so
much of, with its massed phalanxes
of workmen and military men in
Red Square.
The public is not permitted to
forget. The day before the holiday
the Histadrut inserts large display
ads in the newspapers, proclaiming
the solidarity of the working classes
of the world, and calling for dem
onstrations in support of a just
society, peace, security, full em
ployment and fraternity among all
peoples. These are usually accom
panied by other, smaller ads, in
serted by non-Socialist bodies, de
claring in large black type: “May
Day is not our holiday—and the
red flag is not our flag.”
No, despite annual attempts to
w hip up some old fashioned labor
enthusiasm. May Day and the red
Hag ain't what they used to be in
Israel.