Zionists

A growing number of Dartmouth students visit Israel on leave terms, and upon returning to Hanover they have sought to maintain a link with the nation by organizing the Dartmouth Zionist Association. Doron Ezickson '81, who spent six months on a kibbutz in Israel, and whose mother is Israeli, founded the group. "We're not trying to defend the government of Israel, but the concept of Israel," he explained. The association is committed "to the education of the general Dartmouth community on issues concerning Zionism, Israel, and the world Jewish community."

Pointing to recent misunderstandings precipitated by the Andrew Young affair, Ezickson observed that "superficial knowledge will stick with people. We need to keep on talking and to probe stereotypes." Last month, the AfroAmerican Society and the Dartmouth Zionist Association presented a public program to explore black-Jewish relations.

Affiliated with Dartmouth Hillel, a center for Jewish religious, cultural, and educational activities here, the association acts in a complementary but autonomous fashion. "We deal with secular issues," Ezickson noted. The group will print a biweekly perspective on the Middle East, watch Presidential candidates, and hopes to sponsor a Vietnamese family in the Upper Valley. "We're also interested in getting people to Israel," said Ezickson, "and helping to place them on kibbutzim or at universities."