Shavuot . . . 'and Honey and Milk Shall Be Under Your Tongue'
By DVORA WAYSMAN
World Zionist Organization
'.--Kibutzniks celebrate Shavuot in Gan Shmuel, near
Hadera.
John Anderson's
Noteworthy
Frankness on
`Christ Crusade'
JERUSALEM — Like so many Jewish festi-
vals, Shavuot (which is the Hebrew word for
"weeks" from the root word for "seven") has
both religious and seasonal significance. It is
celebrated on the sixth day of Sivan, seven
weeks after the second day of Passover, and it
marks the beginning of the Israeli spring har-
vest (hence it is also called Hag HaBikurim —
Festival of the First Fruits), and the time of the
giving of the Law. These two themes are eter-
nally woven together in this festival.
In ancient times, pilgrims traveled from all
over the country to bring offerings of the first
fruits and to witness the ceremonies of the fes
tival at the Temple in Jerusalem. Processions
were accompanied by the music of harp and
(Continued on Page 6)
t`tvi ,
Att
THE JEWISH NEWS
Should Religious
Preachers Delve
in Politics?
5w,f
Shavuot — Hag HaBikurim (Festival of
PreparinliZt"*
First Fruits).
SHAVUOT
Greetings
to Jewish
Communities
Everywhere
of Jewish Events
A Weekly Review
Commentary, Page 2
VOL. LXXVII, No. 11
17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075
424-8833
$15 Per Year: This Issue 35c
May 16, 1980
National Council of Churches
Renews Pro-Palestine Stand
NEW YORK (JTA) — The goverriing board of the National Council of
Churches (NCC) has completed the "first reading" of a proposed new policy
statement on the Middle East which calls on the Arabs to recognize Israel as a
Jewish state" and on Israel to recognize the right of Palestinians to "national
self-determination" including "a sovereign state."
The 26-page draft discussed at the board's semi-annual meeting iii In-
dianapolis, Ind., last week, calls on all parties to end violence; urges Palesti-
nians and Arab states to recognize Israel as a Jewish state with secure, defined
and recognized borders; and urges Israel to withdraw from occupied territories
and recognize Palestinian rights to "national self-determination" and "a Pales-
tinian entity, including a sovereign state."
It also calls for international guarantees of security for Israel and any
Palestinian entity created by negotiations as well as solutions to the problems of
displaced refugees.
An NCC spokesman told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the
committee which drafted the resolution will now consider changes pro-
posed by board members during the Indianapolis meeting and by any of
the 32 Protestant and Eastern Orthodox church groups which are mem-
bers of the NCC. The committee will then present the statement for a
second and final reading at the board's meeting in November.
Meanwhile, the Anti-Defamation League of Bnai Brith has criticized as
", naive" a report on the Middle East also presented to the NCC's governing board
at the Indianapolis meeting.
While saying that the document contains "certain positive elements,"
A Challenge to the Pope:
Since Rep. Drinan Must Go,
by Capucci Performance'?
Near East Report, in a front page editorial in its cur-
issue, poses a question to Pope John Paul II: If the
al Congressman Robert F. Drinan must leave his polit-
ical position in Congress, why is Ar-
chbishop Hilarion Capucci, the man
who carried munitions from the PLO
to harm Israel, permitted to remain in
a political role on the world scene? The
editorial, "An Order From the Pope,"
follows:
"Pope John Paul II 1 !. ordered
Catholic priests to cease secular politi-
cal activities. As a result, Representa-
tive Robert Drinan (D-Mass.), a
Catholic priest and a staunch suppor-
ter of Israel, will not seek reelection
from his congressional district in sub-
urban Boston. Considering the loss of
(Continued on Page 10)
FR. DRINAN
Nathan Perlmutter, ADL national director, declared that "it strains credulity
for a panel of the National Council of Churches, itself a religious body, to call for
U.S. dialogue with the PLO terrorists and murderers who are allied with the
America-hating, fanatical Ayatollah Khomeini and with the Soviet Union,
religion's sworn enemy." •
Perlmutter said that instead of charging that the Camp David agreement is
"fundamentally flawed," the report would have been far more constructive had
it urged the rejectionist Arabs to join the Camp David peace process.
The report was made by the NCC's Middle East Panel which earlier
this year made a two-week fact-finding visit to Israel, Syria, Lebanon,
Egypt and Jordan. The NCC spokesman told the JTA that the report was
not policy but given to the governing board for "guidance" in consider-
ing the proposed policy statement. He noted that the policy statement
does not mention the PLO but speaks in more "general" terms only of
Palestinians.
Perlmutter said that we appreciate that the panelists call upon the PLO to
renounce violence, change the PLO covenant and accept the legitimacy of
Israel." But, he added, In spite of this, illogically, the report encourages the
PLO in its intransigence because it calls for open dialogue whether or not these
changes are made: We also reject its call for Palestinian self-determination, a
code phrase for a PLO state, and changes in UN (Security Council) Resolution
242 which scuttle the sense of the resolution."
He said that in urging Palestinian self-determination, the NCC panel "is
(Continued on Page 10)
ADL Assails Mobil Oil's Anti-Israel Ads
NEW YORK — Mobil Corp. has misled the American public by claiming that settlement of the Palestinian issue is
the key to solving the oil crisis and to counteracting Soviet expansionism, according to the Anti-Defamation League of
Bnai Brith.
The ADL charge came in response- to recent Mobil advertisements which substituted "illusion for reality" by
implying that oil will flow if Israel would "capitulate" and accept an independent Palestinian state.
"Not only would this fail to solve the energy problem," declared Abraham H. Foxman, ADL's associate national
director, "but it would have precisely the opposite effect: it would increase danger to the U.S. because a Palestinian
state would inevitably thrust a Soviet surrogate like a dagger into the heart of the Middle East."
Foxman added that "Mobil should be telling its readers that the area's endemic instability makes our
first order of business greater energy independence. Instead, it feeds the public the opiate of a Palestinian
solution as the key to energy stability and peace."
Citing Mobil's contention that the Arab world, fearful of the Soviets, "remains uncertain about U.S. reliability and
intentions" as a result of the Mideast impasse, he said: "Indeed the Arabs wonder about U.S. reliability, as do many
other nations on the globe. But not for the stated reasons."
The real reasons, according to ADL, stern from the perception that America allowed the Shah of Iran "to go under
without lifting a hand" and because many nations "see the Soviet Union growing stronger — while they see the U.S.
retreating and seemingly confused."
ADL also took issue with Mobil's statement that Saudi Arabia used the oil weapon against the U.S. because of U.S.
support for Israel. On the contrary, Foxman said, "radical elements in the Arab world have repeatedly sought to
pressure the Saudis to use oil for political purposes only to have the Saudis rebuff them time and again."
Oil prices went up drastically, Foxman added, due to "control by a few states of a product much in demand by the
industrialized world. If there were no Arab-Israeli conflict, if there were no Israel, these realities would still remain."