THE-DdRiii
March1,1991 . 19
Neusner Blames Non-Practicing
Jews for U.S. Jewry's Decline
By ALAN HITSKY
NO VOICES OF OUTRAGE
L
ast August the Rev. Bailey
Smith, president of the South-
ern Baptist Convention, created a
furor when he declared that "God
does not hear the prayer of a Jew."
He deserved every °Ace of outrage
that resulted from that primitive and
bigoted remark.
Smith was speaking at the time at a
rally in Dallas, an arch-conservative
political convention in actual fact,
convened by evangelist James
Robison. Commenting on the
American tradition of having a
priest, .a minister, and a rabbi offer
invocations at civic functions, Smith
suggested that the rabbi was
superfluous since Smith considered
Judaism invalid.
This blatant anti-Semitism was
justifiably condemned by numerous
American leaders, both religious and
lay. The message of response was
clear: This kind of defamation is
simply not acceptable in pluralistic
America.
Six months later, Dr. Curtis Hud-
son, edifor of the , fundamentalist
weekly journal Sword of the Lord,
has notified Robion that he is
withdrawing as a speaker at another
Dallas conference because a Roman
Catholic is scheaul6d.,to speak at the
same meeting.
"The
. . Catholic
.
_ . Church does not
accept
cept the Bible as the inspired, iner-
rant word of God," he says. "The
.
(Catholic) religion is a growing ac-
cumulation of error through the
years," he claims. adding "1 cannot
speak at a Bible conference with a
Roman-Catholic."
Vklat he is saying is very clear.
The Catholic faith is invalid. God
does not hear the prayers of a Roman
Catholic. He is libeling Catholics in
the very same way that Bailey Smith
defamed Jews.
I am waiting for the voices of pro-
test and outrage. So far, I've heard
none. and that bothers me.
The fact that Phyllis Schlafly, arch
for of the Equal Rights Amendment,
is the Roman Catholic with whom he
refuses to share .a platform is im-
material. It is not her opinions on
women's rights that are at issue.
Hudson's opposition is not to Mrs.
Schlafly as a person, but to the
authenticity of the Catholic faith.
Anti-Semitic expressions need to
be condemned, but so do anti-
Catholic diatribes. Prejudice against
any group is equally as bad as pre-
judice against any other. Who is go-
ing to stand up this time and say:
This kind of defamation is simply not
acceptable in pluralistic America?
Here's one Protestant who says so
In a wide-ranging speech
Tuesday sponsored by the
Shaarey Zedek Cultural
Commission and the Rabbi
Morris Adler Foundation,
Prof. Jacob Neusner of
Brown University lashed
out at American Jewish
leadership which is stifling
and alienating the Ameri-
can Jewish community.
Neusner's speech to ap-
proximately 150 persons,
however, differed somewhat
from advance reports of his
remarks in last week's
Jewish News in that Prof.
Neusner placed much of the
blame for the decline in the
In-Service Study
at Bar-Ilan U.
RAMAT-GAN — An in-
stitute for in-service study
of Israel for y-oung men and
women from the Diaspora
has been established at
Bar-Ilan University at the
Joseph H. Lookstein Center
for Jewish Education in the
Diaspora.
The institute's program
includes three basic study
areas: Israel — past and
present; Israel — religion,
ideology, philosophy; and
methodology of teaching of
the study of Eretz Israel.
Jewish community on all
Jews.
"There is a disinterest in
all things Jewish," he said.
"The capacity to feel and
understand as a Jew is not
born to us. It must be nur-
tured in us...
"We American Jews
have made a happy com-
promise. We are Jewish,
but we are not so Jewish
that it can't be hidden"
when it is convenient for
us.
Prof. Neusner said he "re-
jects the complacent
atheism" of the Jewish
people in our time.
He warned that secular
Judaism will not perpetuate
the Jewish people and only
the study' of Torah and
enjoyment of Judaism will
turn the general trend
within the American
Jewish population from
soaring intermarriage, de-
clining donations and "dis-
interest in all things
Jewish."
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uwn.)
Israeli Cabinet Splits Over F-15s,
U.S. Congressmen Voice Concern
JERUSALEM (JTA) —
The Israeli Cabinet was
split Sunday on how Israel
should respond to the ap-
parent decision by the Re-
agan Administration to sell
sophisticated equipment to
Saudi Arabia for its F-15
fighter planes.
Premier Menahem Begin
described the impending
sale as "painful and re-
grettable" but suggested
that the Cabinet postpone
any action.
Agriculture Minister
Ariel Sharon, Education
Minister Zevulun Hammer
and Energy Minister Yit-
zhak Modai urged Israel to
mobilize its friends in the
U.S. Senate and House to
block the sale, especially if
it included extra equipment
to improve the combat
capabilities of the Saudi
F-15s.
Sharon claimed that
the failure of the Reagan
Administration to invite
Begin to Washington to
meet with the Reagan be-
fore Israel's elections
June 30 constituted "in-
terference in Israel's -
internal affairs." Accord-
ing to Sharon, the lack of
an invitation could be
used by the opposition
Labor Party in their elec-
tion campaign to dis-
credit the Likud govern-
ment.
Begin replied that the
U.S. had other priorities
and Israel was not its first
concern at the moment. He
added that he had not been
led to expect that he would
be invited to Washington
before the Knesset elec-
tions. -
Meanwhile, Sen. John
Tower (R-Tex.), chairman of
the Senate Armed Services
Committee, is in favor of the
Reagan Administration's
recommendations to
strengthen Saudi Arabia's
fleet of 62 American F-15s.
He made his views known
after meeting with
President Reagan at the
White House last Friday
where he reported on his
10-nation Middle East trip.
However, other key
members of the Senate and
the House, mostly Demo-
crats but also some Republi-
cans. have expressed reser-
vations over the Adminis-
tration's plan.
James Buckley, under-
secretary of state for in-
ternational security af-
fairs, was reported to
have told the Senate
Foreign Relations and
House Foreign Affairs
Committees last Thurs-
day behind closed doors
that the Saudis would get
refueling equipment and
advanced air-to-air mis-
siles but the bomb racks
would not be inclu-ded
immediately.
However, the United
States would provide 10
additional F-15a to Israel
with a loan of $600 million.
The loan would be at 12 1/2
percent interest over 30
years, with a 10-year grace
period before repayment
would begin.
"I don't like the package
at all," said Rep. Benjamin
Rosenthal, (D-N.Y.). "What
we are doing is increasing
the , scale and balance of
military terror in the area.
It is a very bad arrange-
ment. Almost every
member (of the House
Foreign Affairs Committee)„
expressed deep reservations
-- if not outright opposition
— towards this."
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