72 Friday, October 24, 1980
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Boris Smolar's
`Between You
. . . and• Me'
Editor-in-Chief
Emeritus, JTA
(Copyright 1980, JTA, Inc.)
MEET YOUR LEADER: Keep yOur eyes on Ivan
Novick, who was re-elected president of the Zionist Organ-
ization of America at the 82nd annual convention of the
organization last week. He is a man of qualities which may
bring him to the highest leadership position in organized
Jewish life. His friends predict that with the march of time
he may become .a "Max Fisher" — the top leader of Ameri-
can Jewry.
Novick is young, energetic, dedicated, tactful and
knows what he wants as far as Jewish communal interests
are concerned. He is deeply interested not only in Israel and
in the Zionist movement, but also in all aspects of American
Jewish life. He is a product of the young leadership of
Pittsburgh who "graduated" into national Jewish leader-
ship with an enviable record of activities.
In addition to being president of the ZOA, he is also a
vice president of the American Jewish Committee, vice
president of the American Section of the World Jewish
Congress, a member of the board of directors of the Joint
Distribution Committee, a member of the National Cabinet
of the United Jewish Appeal, a member of the board of
governors of Israel Bonds, and a member of the boards of
directors of the Jewish National Fund, Zionist Actions
Committee, Executive of the- World- Union of General
'Zionists and the American
Zionist Federation.
_
His active interest in Jewish communal affairs goes
back some 20 years, when he was chairman of the executive
of the Young Adult Division of the United Jewish Federa-
tion in Pittsburgh. He later received the Pittsburgh Young
Leadership Award and was elected to the executive com-
mittee of UJA's Young Leadership Cabinet. In his home
town he is now on the board of directors of the United
Jewish Federation, a member of the board of the Jewish
Home and Hospital for the Aged, vice president of the
Pittsburgh chapter of the Technion and is active in other
local Jewish agencies and institutions.
SEES ISRAEL IN DANGER: Novick and his wife
are both American-born of American-born parents. They
are the best examples of Jewish continuity in this country.
During his first two years as ZOA president, he set a
new style and brought young blood into the organization.
He surrounded himself with young and American-born
men, inspiring them to activity.
He talked with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and
conferred with Israeli Premier Menahem Begin at the lat-
ter's personal invitation, and is convinced that the Camp
David accords reached between the two statesmen, under
the leadership of President Carter, will materialize in spite
of obstacles that develop from time to time.
Its major obstacle, he considers, is the failure of sup-
port from Jordan and Saudi Arabia. He attributes this to
the fact that the governments of these two Arab countries
are afraid of terrorist acts by the Palestine Liberation
Organization against them.
In his opinion, the existence of Israel is now in danger,
following the adoption by the United Nations Security
Council of the anti-Israel resolution calling on govern-
ments to remove their embassies from Jerusalem. The fail-
ure by the United States to exercise its veto powers with
regard to this resolution — the U.S. cast a vote of absten-
tion — was the most dangerous development that has taken
place in the United Nations, he says. He considers the U.S.
abstention a "sanction" against Israel. Citing the fact that
acting on this resolution certain nations removed their
embassies from Jerusalem, he argues that if embassies can
be forced out of Jerusalem, they can be forced out of Israel
altogether, thus delegitimizing the state of Israel.
REVIVING ZOA GLORY: In his present leadership
of the ZOA, Novick is ambitious to bring the organization
back to its old glory.
There was a time — in the years of Rabbi Stephen S.
Wise, Louis Lipsky and other ZOA presidents—when the
ZOA played a dominant role in American Jewish life. Its
influence was strongly felt in the American Jewish corn-
munity. Strange as this may sound, it lost its glamor after
the establishment of the state of Israel. The difference
between Zionists and non-Zionists evaporated, since prac-
tically all Jews in this country gave their wholehearted
support to Israel, with the great majority of them not being
Zionists.
Jewish Refugee from Poland Has Reunion
With Former Teammate Living in Rome
By MOSHE RON
The Jewish News Special
Israel Correspondent
TEL AVIV — A month
ago when Dr. Arye Leon
Gorski, a dentist from Ash-
kelon, said goodbye to his
neighbors and said he. was
going to Rome to meet his
old schoolmate, Pope John
Paul II, they looked at him
with a skeptical smile.
A few days after Gorski
and his wife Irene returned
to Ashkelon he showed his
neighbors a few color photo-
graphs of the Pope embrac-
ing his old schoolmate from
State High School in
Wodowice near Crakow.
Dr. Gorski, born in 1917,
studied with his friend
Karol Woytila at the local
high school for six years.
Both played on the same
soccer team as goalies and
organized trips for the
pupils to the surrounding
villages. Both completed
their studies in 1935.
Woytila studied theology
and Gorski medicine and
dentistry.
When World War II
started and the Germans
established ghettos for
the Polish Jews, Leon
Gorski fled to the woods.
His wife Irene, also a
pupil at Wodowice High
School, was sent to Au-
shwitz, where all the
members of her family
were killed. Only she and
her sister (living in
Ramat Gan) were saved.
In 1950, the Gorski fam-
ily left Poland and came to
Israel and they were among
the first settlers in Ashke-
lon.
When Cardinal Karol
Woytila was elected Pope,
Dr. Gorski renewed his con-
tact with him at the Vati-
can. He prepared for a visit
to Rome and informed the
Pope of the date of his arri-
val. A few days later a letter
from the Vatican arrived in-
forming him that the Pope
wished to meet him at St.
Peters Church.
The day Gorski and his
wife arrived, the church was
crowded with thousands of
pilgrims and tens of
thousands of tourists and
visitors. They were received
by Monsignor Modnitashi
who knew about the com-
mon past of the visitors from
Israel and the Pope. They
were seated in the first row
in the church.
A few minutes later the
Pope entered and held a
solemn mass. In his ser-
mon he praised the
Jewish people in Israel.
When the Pope saw
Gorski he came down and
embraced him. "I remember
you well," he said, "You are
like your father. Do you re-
member our days at school
when we played as goal
keepers on the football
team? You were always a
better goal keeper than me.
You were broader than me
and could block the goal bet-
ter."
The Pope and Dr. Gorski
reminisced and the Pope
embraced Gorski several
times. Mrs. Gorski pre-
sented the Pope with a
luxurious edition of the
Bible in English with a
dedication from her hus-
band in Polish: "To my col-
league from the school
bench."
As Mrs. Gorski gave the
Bible to the Pope, he became
serious and sad when he
noticed the Aushwitz
number on her arm. He
said, "It was a great miracle
that you remained alive. I
know what you have suf-
fered and undergone an
what happened there . . .
The Pope told Gorski
that he intends to call a
meeting next year of all
the pupils of the
Wodowice High School at
the Vatican, includin 6,
two Jews — Dr. Gorski
and an engineer who is
living in Rome. "I hope to
see you at this meetin
next year," he sal - s he
bade farewell to ■ -,Jrsici
and his wife.
Dozens of pilgrims looked
astonished as the Pope em
braced his guest several
times and talked to him s!
heartily. When Dr. Gorski
and his wife left, some pil
grims knelt and made the e
sign of the cross, not knows
ing that the couple were
Jews from Israel.
'
Dr. and Mrs. Arye Gorski of Ashkelon are greeted
by Pope John Paul II.
Syrian-Israeli 'Understanding' in Lebanon
Keeps Two Mideast Powers Warily Apart
By YITZHAK SHARGIL
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Is-
rael and Syria have at-
tained a modus vivendi in
Lebanon that could become
a starting point for peace
talks between the two coun-
tries if Israel takes advan-
tage of the opportunity.
This is the opinion of Dr. Zvi
Lanir, of Tel Aviv Univer-
sity's Center for Strategic
Studies, who says that Is-
rael has established the
rules of the game by which
Syria wars able to enter
Lebanon.
Israel, thereby, has
gained at least a de facto
recognition by Syria of its
strategic interests in Leba-
non, Lanir said.
According to Lanir, the
relationship between Israel
and Syria in Lebanon has
been based on a series of
"red lines" where each side
can signal the other what
action will be tolerated and
what will not.
The three most impor-
tant "red lines" are that
the Syrians were not to
enter the area between
the Zeharani and Litani
Rivers, they were not to
Vt v ri rf 1, 74 ,4 74:
destroy the last Christian
strongholds in Beirut and
they were to use their
forces in Lebanon to
patrol, not to threaten Is-
rael.
Specifically, they were
not to introduce anti-
aircraft weapons into Leba-
non.
"The general impression
is that Lebanon is a keg of
dynamite which can
explode into a war where
Syria and Israel will lose
control," Lanir said. "My
findings are that this isn't
so.
"Both sides can control
their clients — the Chris-
tians in our case and the
Palestinians and leftist
groups under Syria's wing.
Both Syria and Israel have
demonstrated a high reac-
tion threshold in Lebanon,"
he observed.
is an arena where pos-
sibilities for talks and com-
promise exist."
He said the recent
Syrian-Soviet friendship
pact only strengthened his
hypothesis. According to
Lanir, Syria wanted the
treaty because, among
other things, it feared that
Israel might take advan-
tage of the Iraqi-Iranian
war and use Lebanon as a
jumping-off point for an at-
tack on Syria.
Gen. (res.) Aharon Yariv,
who heads the Center for
Strategic Studies, said he
did not forsee a threat to
Israel from the Iraqi-
Iranian war for the next two
years. However, should Iraq
win a decisive victory, it
could constitute a danger
Israel because Baghdad
might want to bolster its
new leadership position in
the Arab world by attacking
Israel, Yariv said.
Speaking_ in Ashkelon,
Agriculture Minister Arie l
Sharon contended that the
real danger of the Iraqi-
Iranian war is that it will
strengthen the Soviet posi
tion- in the region.
Speak Up
By CHARLES LUKACS
You cannot sit in peace
under your fig tree
and meditate, on life's wonders
when from stealthy guns, men die
Nor rest by your gate
"For example, when
the Syrians threatened
and serenly contemplate
the last Christian
watch as, the world goes by,
enclaves (in Beirut), there
when latent bombs, blast children's eyes.
was pressure on Israel to
It is time for you to shatter
send in the air force. We
the complicity of silence
did not. Instead, we sig-
and leave the shell
naled the Syrians that
of your indifference.
this was a red line and
Speak
up, with calm passion
gave them a way to re-
to the one, still with reason!
treat without losing
or roar like Heaven's thunder
face," Lanir said.
to shake the walls of ignorance.
With regard to the pos-
Or
wail, with the shrill of siren
sibilities of eventual peace
wake up!, the slumbering conscience.
talks between Israel and
Syria, Lanir acknowledged If there is no ear, to hear your voice:
With. a last rage, like blind Samson, break down the pillars
that "There is a great deal to
of Dagon!
be done before we get a
“ 134 ,, hotre4, ,t7,,,a4itd,.0zepe rpet rotors
-peace-treaty..., But Lebanon , rf