Page 4 The Jewish Floridian of Tampa/Friday, December 12, 1986
Israel High tech: In Fashion A 'Shocking' Legal Ruling
HAIFA, Israel Israel's
fashion and textile industry is
alive and thriving, with 1985
exports reaching $350 million,
and total sales in excess of $1
billion.
Employing 55,000 workers
since 1977. Prof. Alon is
recognized in both academic
and research circles as a
motivating force in the ongo-
ing marriage of technology
and textile production.
Shenkar College is now the on-
ly fashion institute in the
(17percentofthecountry'sen- or\TC"""%u '" .tne
zzSsa?eind^try's 3todS^^oi55'
over 100 local enterpnses pro-
duce everything from
swimwear to upholstery
fabrics. The sector encom-
passes large, vertically in-
tegrated conglomerates such
as Polgat (whose exports in
1985 were just under $100
million), medium-sized con-
cerns, and smaller, family-
owned and operated firms. All
aspects of the trade are
Advanced technology is of
primary importance, especially
in the selection and manipula-
tion of shade and color. Today,
one can introduce a color sam-
ple into a computer fabric,
thread, or even a piece of
paper will do and the system
will immediately deliver the
formula for an exact duplica-
tion of the color. It also sup-
represented, from the growing plies the variations in formula
and harvesting of cotton and
the processing of raw fibers to
the spinning of threads and
yarns, dying and weaving, and
the final stages of producing
textiles and apparel.
Among the first industries to
be established in Israel, the
textile enterprises were con-
ceived to absorb the flood of
new immigrants into the work
force. The principles of cut-
ting, sewing and assembling
were easily communicated via
demonstration, thus allowing
thousands of immigrants from
diverse backgrounds to be
smoothly integrated into ex-
isting factories with little need
for in-depth language and
technical training.
In the 1950's and 1960's,
textiles remained a small in-
dustry totally dependent on
local cotton for spinning and
weaving. Its primary functions
were to provide jobs and
secondarily, supply the modest
demands of a not very fashion-
conscious market.
By the end of the 1960's,
however, the reality of com-
petition and the potential for
developing a genuine local in-
dustry became clear.
Economically, Israel could not
compete with the textile in-
dustries of the Far East, with
their large pool of cheap labor
and mass-production techni-
ques. Instead, Israel's textile
sector underwent a dramatic
change, concentrating on the
design and implementation of
technologically advanced
equipment, and emphasizing
quality rather than quantity.
After the 1967 war, the in-
dustry became modern and
sophisticated, using high
technology, high-level design
and quality to compete on the
world market.
Among those Technion-
trained scientists who have
had an enormous impact on
Israel's textile and fashion in-
dustries is Professor Gad
Alon, President of the Shenkar
College of Textile Technology
and Fashion in Ramat Gan
needed for different illumina-
tions or materials. It can even
interface with a computer
thousands of miles away. A
color sample from across the
world may be fed into the com-
puter for analysis and a for-
mula obtained without the
sample leaving the laboratory.
Technology is evident in all
three branches of the textile
industry: home textiles, in-
dustrial textiles, and the
fashion industry itself. In addi-
must often be flame-retardant.
durable, waterproof, heat-
cold-, and fade-resistant, and
easy to care for. In the ongoing
search for the perfect fabric,
professional textile chemists
are pivotal.
Concomitantly, there is a
growing market in Israel for
industrial textiles like those
used in transportation, the
military, and civil engineering.
Finally, the geotextiles field
addresses the increasing con-
cern for preserving land and
water, and the frequent need
for strength and durability
without added weight, such as
reinforcing runways and
roads. Medical textiles have
been critical to such successful
medical innovations as ar-
tificial blood vessels, heart
valves, and artificial tissue for
cosmetic reconstruction. And
disposable textiles have reduc-
ed infection rates in hospitals.
In the rapidly changing
world of fashion and textiles,
quixotic art blends with
pragmatic technology with
surprising ease. The industry's
mercurial nature has helped it
gain a foothold in Israel
tion to design and color con- where high tech is always in
siderations, today's textiles fashion.
K
Austria Parliamentary
Election Winners
By REINHARD ENGEL
VIENNA (JTA) The
Freedom Party, a coalition of
rightwingers and liberals,
emerged the clear winner in
last month's Parliamentary
elections, under the. leadership
of a charismatic young na-
tionalist, Joerg Haider.
Haider, who took over the
reins of the party from
Norbert Steger only three
months ago, raised concern in
Jewish and liberal circles for
the unabashed chauvinism of
his campaign. While he
carefully avoided overt neo-
Nazi or anti-Semitic
statements, he drew the
loudest cheers when he said he
opposed the "downgrading" of
the wartime generation.
Observers believe it was not by
chance that he chose Braunau,
the birthplace of Adolf Hitler,
stood to gain at least seven
seats, giving it a bloc of 19 in
the 183-member Nationalrat
(Parliament). Its winnings
were at the expense of the
Socialist Party, headed by
Chancellor Franz Vranitzky,
which is expected to have 80
seats in the new legislature,
down from 90; and the conser-
vative People's Party of Presi-
dent Kurt Waldheim which is
headed by Alois Mock, down to
76 seats from 81.
The ecology-oriented Green
Party won eight seats. It will
be the first fourth party in
Parliament since the Com-
munist Party was ousted by
the voters in 1959.
THE FREEDOM PARTY
had been part of the Socialists'
ruling coalition. Three months
ago its standing in opinion
polls was at an all-time low of
for one of his final campaign' fhree ff^ 0n e'e.fn d.ay
rallies before election day. t won 1 i percent of the vote.
HAIDER WAS in fact en-
dorsed by the radical rightw-
ing National Democratic Party
(NPD) which is considered by
many to be anti-Semitic. It
urged its constituents to vote
for the Freedom Party. Haider
did not unequivocally reject
the overture.
With 99 percent of the vote
counted, the Freedom Party
^Jewish Floridian
Of Tampa
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Friday, December 12,1986
Volume 8
10KISLEV5747
Number 26
percent
It was Haider's ascension to
power that caused Vranitzky
to break the coalition and call
for early elections. Normally,
the elections would have been
held next spring. Vranitzky
maintained mat by elevating
Haider to leadership, the
Freedom Party shifted too far
to the right to continue as a
partner of the Socialists.
The People's Party would
have surpassed the Socialists
had it not been for the votes
siphoned off by Haider. It saw
the danger early on and waged
a campaign in which resent-
ment against Israel and
against Jewish organizations
that exposed Waldheim'aNazi
past during last summer's
Presidential campaign were a
strong element.
Austrians are rankled by
Israel's refusal to appoint a
new Ambassador to Vienna to
replace Michael Elizur who
retired several months ago.
By DAVID FRIEDMAN
WASHINGTON (JTA) -
Rabbi David Saperstein, Co-
Director of Reform Judaism's
Religious Action Center here,
has called "shocking" the
justification by a federal judge
of a creche on Chicago's City
Hall grounds on the basis that
the United States is a Chris-
tian country.
"The language of the deci-
sion" on Nov. 5 by U.S.
District Court Judge Frank
McGarr in Chicago "is even
more outrageous than the deci-
sion itself, Saperstein said.
McGarr rejected a challenge
by five national Jewish
organizations and a group of
individuals to the presence of a
creche, and a menorah spon-
sored by the Lubavitch move-
ment on public grounds.
McGarr's decision is expected
to be appealed before a higher
court.
IN HIS DECISION,
McGarr said: "The truth is
that America's origins are
Christian with the result that
some of our fondest traditions
are Christian, and that our
founding fathers intended and
achieved full religious freedom
for all within the context of a
Christian nation in the First
Amendment as it was adopted,
rather than as we have rewrit-
ten it."
Saperstein charged that the
McGarr decision violates 200
years of Constitutional doc-
trine. He said McGarr used his
"rationale not only to justify
the creche, "but to call as well
for the state to participate
freely in religious celebration
of Christmas.'
But, he noted, "in order to
protect himself under the cur-
rent constitutional standard
set out by the Supreme Court
in the Lynch v. Donnelly
(Pawtucket Creche) case, the
judge also determined that the
creche has become a symbol of
secular national holiday devoid
of its religious context."
SAPERSTEIN stressed
that "the uniqueness of the
American vision was that
freedom of religion would be
protected by separating
church and state and that all
religions would be treated
equally. It was in this context
that religious life in America
has flourished with un-
precedented freedom
throughout our history."
Jay Justin Older, m.d., fa.c.s.
Charles B. Slonim, m.d.
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