THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
22 *Friday, February 6, 1981
Labor Party Takes Liberal Line in Preparing for Israel Election
(Continued from Page 1)
plenary session of the
World Jewish Congress
in Jerusalem two weeks
ago which upheld the
right of Diaspora Jews to
criticize policies of the Is-
raeli government, ques-
tioned the probability of
large scale aliya from
Western nations and
challenged a fundamen-
tal Zionist tenet that
Diaspora Jews live in
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"exile."
Speakers at the closing
session focussed on Yerida
which, they warned
threatened the very exist-
ence of the state because it
was draining away some of
the finest young people, in
cluding many native-born
Israelis.
MK Uzi Baram said there
were three "basic issues of
national existence": yerida,
the attenuation of the
Zionist movement and the
shrinkage of Jewry. There
are six million Jews in the
U.S. but not six million who
identify themselves as
Jewish, he said.
Labor also pledged to
"ensure recognition of all
the (religious) streams in
Judaism, by means of legis-
lation•if need be," should it
Toe.
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win the elections. That for-
mulation, worked out in
11th hour behind-the-
scenes consultations, was
the central plank in a
State-and-Religion plat-
form adopted by the party's
national convention.
It represented a com-
promise between the
"Young Guard" and
other liberal elements in
the party who sought a
firmer commitment to
religious pluralism and
more conservative trends
led by Baram, a Cabinet
minister in the former
Labor government, and
MK Rabbi Menahem
Hacohen.
A committee headed by
former Foreign Minister
Abba Eban drafted the orig-
inal proposals calling for -
"equality" between the var-
ious "streams" (Orthodox,
Conservative and Reform)
and pledging legislation to
enable non-Orthodox rabbis
to officiate at weddings. But
a last-minute protest move
led by Baram, former UN
Ambassador Chaim Herzog
and Hacohen produced a re-
consideration.
The reference to officiat-
ing at marriages was omit-
ted from the convention
resolution. It was decided
that this would be taken up
by the new Central Com-
mittee. The convention
pledged itself to "ensure
recognition" of all the
streams, a vague formula
that all sections of the party
could live with.
In addition, the -conven-
tion passed resolutions cal-
ling on the party, when in
office to ensure religious
facilities and state budgets
for the non-Orthodox
"streams" and calling on the
party to ensure as well that
representatives of the
non-Orthodox streams are
elected to the regional reli-
gious councils around the
country.
These bodies, which
alongside
exist
and
municipalities
regional councils, dis-
burse state budgets for
religious services and
have traditionally been
dominated by the Na-
tional Religious Party
and Aguda Israel, al-
though the other parties
are also represented.
Also promised to honor all
international agreements
and obligations entered into
by the present Likud-led re-
gime but would not be
bound by Likud actions or
promises with respect to
settlements on the West
Bank and economic policy.
Othei resolutions on
state-and-religion declared
that: Labor will revoke re-
cent legislation barring
abortions for "social" rea-
sons and limiting autopsies;
Labor will act, by legisla-
tion if necessary, to ease the
plight of those individuals
and families affected by
special halakhic restric-
tions (bastardy) and
would-be immigrants simi-
larly affected; and Labor
will oppose restrictive "Who
is a Jew" legislation as pro-
posed by the Orthodox par-
ties and supported by
Herut.
Knesset Setting
Election Date
JERUSALEM (JTA) —
The Knesset Law Commit-
tee on Tuesday set the na-
tional election date for jur
30, as expected. The Kne,
set Plenary was expected to
approve the date this week.
The committee thereby
shifted the government's
original July 7 proposal one
week forward. All but one of
the coalition members sup-
ported the June 30 date
while the opposition mem-
bers abstained since they
wanted a May election.
New Consignment for Egypt
Part of the third consignment of Israeli agricul-
tural products for Egypt was recently loaded on an El
Al jet. The consignment included 80 tons of bananas,
13 tons of chicken and five tons of eggs.
12-Year-Old Russian Jew
Is a Sophomore at UCLA
•s.
LOS ANGELES — A
young Russian Jew who
immigrated to the U.S. at
the age of 7 is now a sopho-
more at the University of
California at Los Angeles at
age 12.
Eugene Volokh, who
scored 206 on his last IQ test
(140 and above is genius
level), now works 20 hours
per week as a computer spe-
cialist for a real estate firm
while majoring in math-
ematics and computer sci-
ence at UCLA.
He finished high school in
two years, while taking
UCLA extension classes at
the same time.
Eugene's parents say
he had a vocabulary of
almost 700 words before
he was 2, had begun
working with maps and
geography at 4, algebra
at 51/2 and calculus by age
7.
The Volokhs say they
immigrated from the Soviet
Union because of discrimi-
nation against them as
Jews and because of
Eugene's abilities.
Arab Expulsion
Claim Dismissed
JERUSALEM (ZINS) -
Deputy Minister of Defense
Mordecai Zippori has de-
nounced charges made by
Communist MK Toufek
Toubi that Israel would
expel 800,000 Arabs from
Israel, Gaza and the West
Bank if there was a new
Arab-Israeli war.
"There are some Jewish
psychopaths who cherish
that dream," Zippori said,
"but there is no reflection of
that sickness in the gov-
ernment or any of its in-
stitutions."