Dec. 31, 1982
A year-end poem from the “Editor’s View” column by Executive Editor Geoffrey Fisher
Here’s a hope that Lebanese fighting soon will cease
That Jordan’s Hussein will join in Mideast peace
That the U.N.’s anti-Israel resolutions will halt
And the massacre probers will find who’s at fault.
Here’s hoping that Soviet Jews seeking to be free
Will be permitted to emigrate in 1983
That U.J.A. coffers will provide the care
For Jewish agencies here, there and everywhere.
Here’s hoping Nazi groups in the U.S. and overseas
Will be prosecuted, sentenced and put in deep freeze
That Ku Klux Klanners will eventually learn
Crosses are for religion and not intended to burn.
A hope that Barney B. Clark’s hospital chart
Will prove the success of his artificial heart.
That health and happiness will bless all of you
And there will be payment of Federation pledges
that are due.
Here’s a wish that the 49ers reach their goal
And another trip in 1983 to the Super Bowl.
And that under the Giants’ Christmas tree
There was a neat little box with a World Series key.
And a wish that El Al, Israel’s grounded big bird
Will once again soon be winging skyward.
That Philip Habib, Reagan’s Middle East rep
Will manage to get all enemies in step.
A wish for a good year for Israel and Mr. Begin
And hope that strong support continues from Reagan.
And finally, sincere wishes to all of you
From the person who writes this “Editor’s View.”
Dec. 26, 1952
Israel’s Woman Judge Plays Six Important Roles: Mrs. Mozes, Visiting Here, Explains How She Does It
If every Israeli is as energetic and efficient as Mrs. Hemda Mozes, that country’s problems should be solved in jig time.
For this tiny, dark-haired woman — who visited San Francisco last week as part of a U.S. State Department sponsored tour of this country — is 1) a judge in one of Tel Aviv’s busiest courts; 2) a practicing attorney; 3) a member of the Israel Commission on Prison Reform; 4) a leading member and legal adviser to the Israel Association of Women for Equal Rights; 5) the editor and leading columnist for a weekly women’s magazine; and 6) the homemaker for her husband and two small children.
How does she do it all? asked this amazed writer.
“It’s simple,” replied Mrs. Mozes briskly. “I don’t have any social life.”
As a judge in the profiteering court of Tel Aviv, she is severe and heavy-handed.
In a recent case a poultryman was fined 20,000 pounds and given a six months sentence, Mrs. Mozes recalls, for handing some of his chickens over to the black market, and in addition his shop was closed for three months.
One of Mrs. Mozes’ chief interests is in obtaining equal rights for women in Israel, who have the same political and economic rights as the men, but are still at a disadvantage in property rights, custody or children, alimony and divorce matters, which are still under religious law in Israel.
Two years ago this dynamic woman went to the Administrator of Justice and, on the basis of her impassioned plea, brought about a mass divorce of all child brides without offspring, cancelling out thousands of child marriages among the newcomers from Moslem countries, and child marriage and polygamy are now illegal in Israel.
Mrs. Mozes was very much impressed in this country by the informality of the domestic relations courts, where there is no bench and the judge sits down with both parties and tries to iron out the differences.
“That will be the first thing I will tell them when I go back,” she declares.
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