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 VIDEO TAPE -- /4 A MEMORY YOU WILL HAVE FOREVER LET US CREATE A WALKING TALKING PHOTO ALBUM OF YOUR NEXT PARTY Weddings Social Events Bar Mitzvas CREATE CALL 559-6022 INC. 585-7223 "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. OVER 40 YEARS DEPENDABLE SERVICE OFFICE SUPPLIES OFFICE FURNITURE OFFICE DESIGN & PLANNING PRINTING • RUBBER STAMPS LARGE SELFSERVED DISPLAY AREA AMPLE PARKING J a-- Il l(' OPEN: MON.-FRI. 8-5 SAT 9-12 01 m 14 MILE RD 13 MILE RD 31535 SOUTHFIELD ROAD BETWEEN 13 & 14 MILE ROADS 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."