Israel's Women Who Helped in the Underground and in Pioneering HE JEWISH NEWS Special Feature on Page 2 of Jewish Events A Weekly Review VOL. LXXVII, No. 13 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suit; 865 Southfield, Mich. 48075 424-8833 50th Anniversary of Jewish Braille Institute: Notable Services for Handicapped Commentary, page 2 $15 Per Year: This Issue 35c May 30, 1980 Menahem Begin Unhindered; Continues Control of Cabinet By DAVID LANDAU, GIL SEDAN and YITZHAK SHARGIL JERUSALEM (JTA) — Premier Menahem Begin announced a major cabinet reshuffle Tuesday which would shift Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir to the post of defense minister, replacing Ezer Weizman who resigned Monday. Energy Minister Yitzhak Modai, the newly-emerged strong man of Likud's Liberal Party wing, would become foreign minister, and Minister-Without- Portfolio Moshe Nissim, also of the Liberal Party, would take the Energy Ministry post. But Begin's decisions, viewed as deft political footwork aimed at restoring unity to his increasingly restive coalitam, promptly ran into trouble when the Democratic-Movement, headed by Deputy Premier Yigael Yadin, informed him that Modai was unacceptable. Their position infuri tted circles close to Begin inasmuch as the DM, the smallest faction in the coaly; on, had previously vetoed the naming of Agriculture Minister Ariel Sharon as the new defense minister. A meeting between Begin and the DM leaders Tuesday evening reached no conclusions and was adjourned for consultations. The National Religious Party and Likud's La'am faction also expressed anger that Begin had announced his reshuffle without prior consultation with them. La'am is also opposed to Modai, - but not for the same reasons as the DM. The NRP, which first appeared to be happy with Begin's choices, is apparently troubled because it had expected Moshe Arens, chairman of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, to be elevated to the Cabinet in which case their own man, Yehuda Ben-Kony, would have taken the powerful Knesset post. Begin, however, was careful to re-arrange the portfolios within the ranks of the present Cabinet. Sharon, a hard-line militant, had threatened to resign if an outsider was brought in-as defense minister. He, in fact, had presented himself as the most suitable candidate and may, indeed, have been Begin's first choice. But the Liberal Party, as well as the DM, was adamantly opposed. Begin's first concern apparently was to satisfy the Liberals who have been chafing since Simha Ehrlich was forced to resign as finance minister last year. They will now have their own man in the most senior and prestigious Cabinet post, if Begin's plan is implemented, as well as the important Energy Ministry. But, although Modai is a hardliner who has consistently taken tougher positions on key issues than most of his Liberal colleagues, the weighting of the Cabinet on the Liberal Party side is bound to anger members of Begin's own Herut faction. The Cabinet reshuffle will give the government a further tilt to the right. According to observers, this means an even tougher stand on such matters as the autonomy talks with Egypt, which have been in suspension for the past two weeks, Jewish settlements on the West Bank and quelling Palestinian unrest in (Continued on Page 5) Israel Invites Saudi Prince M.E. Events Cancel. Speech Israel Ambassador to - Egypt Eliahu Ben-Elissar was scheduled to address an - Israel Bond reception in honor of Graham and Joseph Orley on Wednesday evening. Yitzhak Rager, executive vice president of the Israel Bond Organiza- tion, substituted for him at the gathering at the home of Mr. and Mrs. David Herme- lin. Ben-Elissar was recalled to Jerusalem for consulta- tions this week on the stalled Palestinian au- tonomy talks. EZER WEIZMAN MENAHEM BEGIN YITZHAK SHAMIR 1-m-5 Russian Jews Still Speak Jewish Olympics Boycott Joined by Israel TEL AVIV (JTA) — The Israel Olympic Committee voted 17-8 May 22 to boycott the 1980 Olympic Games in coscow. The decision, after hours of intense debate be- closed doors, endorsed appeals for a boycott by t'remier Menahem Begin, the Knesset Sports Commit- ? and Soviet Jewish emigre groups in Israel. It means gat Israel's Olympic team will be disbanded. Israel has thus followed the lead of the United States and other Western countries to boycott the Games- be- cause of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. It was reported that U.S. Ambassador Samuel Lewis informed the Olympic Committee that Wash- ington would back Israel should attempts be made to bar it from future international sports contests as a consequence of its boycott of the Moscow Gaines. The decision came two days before the deadline for the committee to act. The committee stated that if there are any changes in the international situation with respect to the Olympics, it would reconvene to reconsider its decision. Of the eight members who voted for participa- tion in the Games, seven were from the Hapoel sports organization and one was from the Maccabis. The mem- . (Continued on Page 7) YITZHAK. MODAI WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Washington Post re- ported Wednesday that Is- raeli Premier Menahem Begin "invited Saudi Ara- bian Crown Prince Fand to Jerusalem to address the parliament about his willingness, under certain conditions, to bring the Palestinians and other Arabs into a peace agree- ment with Israel." Begin made the offer in the course of a wide-ranging interview in Jerusalem on Tuesday with Katherine (Continued on Page 7) LONDON — An analysis of the linguistic composition of Soviet Jewry, which forms part of a research report published by the Institute of Jewish Affairs in London, - reveals that nearly 400,000 Jews — more than one in five — still speak a Jewish language (mostly Yiddish). This fact emerges from the IJA's detailed analysis of the results of the 1979 Soviet Census, some of which have been published recently in a Soviet statistical journal. The data on Jewish languages constitutes important informa- tion on the cultural state of Soviet Jewry. The report suggests that while all assimilatidn processes are progress- ing virtually one way — to the Russians — the survival of Jewish languages is evidence of the continued strong adherence of Soviet Jews to their natural culture. The report also analyzes the considerable fall in the total number of Jews in the USSR — from 2,151,000 in 1970 to 1,811,000 in 1979 — and shows how the place of the Jews in the numerical order of the Soviet nationalities has fallen from census to census. It ex- plains that the fall in Jewish population is due in about equal proportion to the emigration of 174,000 Jews in 1970-1978 and natural decline. In a resolution adopted at its recent annual meeting (Continued on Page 7)