Vaad May Reconsider Anti-Eruv Vote in the Fall
By HEIDI PRESS
i
At an emotional forum, to which the Vaad Harabonim
Beth Din was invited to hear remarks by the Young Israel
membership in response to the Vaad's decision against
the creation of an eruv in Detroit, Rabbi Leizer Levin,
president of the Vaad, reiterated the rabbis' decision that
now was not the time to create an eruv. He added, how-
ever, that the decision of the Beth Din was good for this
Jewish year and the matter could be revived after Rosh
Hashana.
(An eruv is a Halakhically legal boundary within which
one may carry or perform some functions which would
otherwise be prohibited on -Shabat.)
Rabbi Levin's statement drew shouts and disgruntled
:;marks from the audience, who packed Young Israel of
Greenfield Wednesday night. Many women, who were
seated separate from the men, attended the forum and
were vocal in their response to the decision. Rabbi Leib
Bakst, also a member of the Beth Din, called for peace. "I
E
I
Search of
`Moderate' Arabs
Who Are Ready
to Repudiate
Threats of
Another
Holocaust
Commentary, Page 2
like to have sholem in the community. You must have
confidence in the rabbis. I understand the need, but
Halakha says we can't do it."
Rabbi Chaskel Grubner, the third member of the Beth
Din, also spoke, saying the Vaad will hear the issue again.
He added that the fellowship of the community is impor-
tant.
The audience was evenly divided between young
couples and middle-aged and older men and women.
It was, apparent that there was a strong movement in
favor of an eruv and emotional appeals were made
on behalf of the crippled, who would have to be
pushed in wheelchairs or walk with canes. The rab-
bis were asked to consider the plight of two severely
crippled persons in the audience- who wished to
daven on Shabat, but could not come to the
synagogue since they would have to be pushed, a
Shabat prohibition.
Many of the questioners treated the rabbis with defer-
ence, and when they walked in the room, the men rose.
However, as the issue became more heated, a member of
the audience reminded those present to show respect for
the rabbis.
Abe Selesny was given the task of chairing the forum.
He set forth the ground rules, and when it was learned
that Rabbis Levin, Bakst and Grubner would respond at
the end of the questioning rather than after every ques-
tion there were shouts of disagreement.
The audience also reacted to various questioners. When
Steven Cohen pointed to his disabled father, Arnold, sea-
ted in a wheelchair at the opposite side of the room and
asked the Beth Din, "how will you answer the infirm and
people who can't walk to shul," the audience applauded.
Manny Mittleman, president of Young Israel of
Greenfield, also was applauded when he remarked
that "the people who voted (the Vaad) should have
voted not their conscience, the conscience of the
(Continued from Page 7)
Compatible
Realism':
Dissolution of
Social Clubs and
Priority of
Jewish Centers
and Synagogues
THE JEWISH NEWS
A Weekly Review
of Jewish Events
Editorial, Page 4
Copyright © The Jewish News Publishing Co.
VOL LXXIX, No. 1
17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075 424-8833
$15 Per Year: This Issue 35`
March 6, 1981
.
British-French Roles Emerge
in U.S.-Israel M.E. Relations
Knesset Recommends
'Stiff Action and Firings
to Halt Growing Yerida
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Knesset's Immigration and Ab-
sorption Committee has called on all Israeli and Zionist bodies
abroad to fire yordim and halt any other-action which may
legitimize yerida. The committee defined yordim as Israelis who
have settled overseas permanently or who have lived away from
Israel for more than five years.
The recommendations were addressed to Israeli diplomatic and
other missions abroad, educational institutions of the World Zionist
Organization and other bodies. It called on Foreign Ministry and
Zionist missions overseas to limit the terms of their official emis-
saries to three years because a longer time period "might cause a
break in the contact between the emissary and his family and the
country."
Other specific recommendations were that the United
Jewish Appeal abolish immediately its "Israeli Department"
which is active among Israelis living abroad; that the Israel
Broadcasting Authority remove from the air immediately its
weekly Hebrew television program for Israelis residing in
New York, which is funded by Israel; and that national insur-
ance paymentg to yordim be stopped immediately.
It also demanded that the government revoke the passports of
Israelis who have lived abroad for more than five years.
The harsh recommendations reflected the committee's concern
over the apparent increase in yerida'this year, which is expected to
reach 15,000, and the fact that there are more Israel-born profes-
(Continued on Page 5)
By JOSEPH POLAKOFF
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Top level discussions between the U.S., Britain and France during
.
the past week on Arab-Israeli issues centered on "understandings" by the three governments of
each other's positions and a tacit agreement to avoid any major development by any of them before
Israel's parliamentary elections on June 30.
U.S. sources say that the Europeans have decided not to "send a shot across the American
bows" by pressing the European Economic Community's (EEC) Middle East initiative that would,
among other things, associate the Palestine Liberation Organization with the peace process
without preconditions, and call for Israel's withdrawal to its 1967 borders.
On the other hand, sources indicated that the U.S. is continuing to review its position.
The only development in sight is that Secretary of State Alexander Haig will leave for the
Middle East early in April. Haig's trip, it was said, would be to "get' acquainted" with
Middle East personalities. It does not mean, the source said, that any major developments
in Arab-Israeli affairs will take place before Israel's elections, although Egyptian-Israeli
talks on the technical level may take place with respect to West Bank-Gaza autonomy in
order to maintain the Camp David process. A U.S.-Egyptian-Israeli summit meeting is
considered improbable until after the elections.
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington appar-
ently told President Reagan and Haig during their visit here last week that the European
initiative is "complementary to and not
competitive with" U.S. policy. French
Foreign Minister Jean Francois-Poncet
has taken a more hard-nosed" view,
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel Foreign Minister Yit-
sources said, but is inclined not to rock
zhak Shamir will meet with Pope John Paul II today. It will
the American boat" and to await the
be the first visit to the Vatican by a senior Israeli govern-
results of the Israeli elections.
ment official since the late Premier Golda Meir met with
Pope Paul VI in 1973.
This would indicate that the Arab-
Shamir was in Washington last week where he met
Israeli situation, insofar as the peace
with President Reagan, Secretary of State Alexander Haig
process is concerned, will be frozen by
Shamir, Pope Confer
and other top Administration officials. He also visited Col-
ombia.
U.S. Jewish Population Shift
Is Reflected in 1980 Estimates
46
PiN YORK — Continuing a pattern of recent years, the Jewish population of the
United States is moving in increasing numbers from the Northeast to theSun Belt — the
southern and western part of the country.
The largest increase was reported by Los Angeles, with a gain of 48,000 Jews over
the 1979 figure for a-total of 503,000. Other substantial gains were reported in Atlanta,
Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, San Diego and Tucson. The Jewish population estimate for
Detroit was reduced from 80,000 to 75,000.
This trend is demonstrated in demographic reports that appear in the 1981 edition of
the American Jewish Year Book, published jointly by the American Jewish Committee
and the Jewish Publication Society of America.
Figures on world Jewish population in the Year Book show an increase of
131,150 over the previous year, or a total current world Jewish population of
(Continued on Page 6)
(Continued on Page 5)
Jewish Cousin of the Archbishop
Recalls Their Parallel Childhood
By MOSHE RON
The Jewish News Special Israel Correspondent
TEL AVIV — A cousin of the Archbishop of Paris Jean-Marie Lustiger, chemical
engineer Shmuel Lustiger, has lived in Tel Aviv for many years.
Shmuel Lustiger was a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp and liberated on May
7, 1945. He came to Israel and was successful in his work as an engineer. He married and
became the father of two sons.
Lustiger remembers the time when his grandfather took him to visit the
grandfather's brother in a small town in Poland near Bendin in order to bid him
farewell before the brother left Poland for France. This brother was the
grandfather of Archbishop Jean-Marie Lustiger. Shmuel remembers him well.
His grandfather and two brothers were religious Jews. Shmuel is continuing this
(Continued on Page 6)