THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
70 Friday, December 11, 1981
UM-IC Launches Converts Outreach Plan
B.OSTON (JTA) — The
Union of American Hebrew
Congregations (UAHC),
representing 750 Reform
synagogues in the United
States and Canada, has
launched a campaign of
"outreach" aimed at
"spreading the message of
Judaism" to non-Jewish
partners in mixed mar-
riages, to the children of
such marriages and "to per-
sons of no religious prefer-
ence." The action was taken
at the UAHC 56th biennial
convention attended by
some 4,000 delegates. The
five-day conclave ended
Tuesday.
Rabbi Alexander Schin-
dler, UAHC president,
hailed the action of the con-
vention, which adopted a
series of recommendations
offered by a joint task force
of the UAHC and the Cent-
ral Conference of American
Rabbis, the association of
Reform rabbis.
The task force was
formed following an ad-
dress by Schindler to the
UAHC board of trustees
in December 1978, calling
on Reform congregations
to become "champions of
Judaism" by taking "af-
firmative action to make
Judaism available to
those within our midst
and to the unchurched
across America."
Following the vote,
Schindler said that the
UAHC would move
promptly in three main
areas to implement the task
force recommendations to:
• Welcome recent con-
verts — so-called "Jews by
Choice" — into Jewish
communal life;
• Encourage non-Jewish
spouses in mixed-marriages
to become involved in
synagogue activities, and
raise their children as Jews;
and
• Organize reading rooms
and to provide educational
materials, including books,
send
THE
JEWISH NEWS
as a gift this
pamphlets, video tapes and
films, to make information
about Judaism available to
"all those who have a
spiritual hunger."
In a Sabbath sermon,
Schindler said American
Jews should "reject the
counsel of timidity and
never hesitate to state
views and vote our con-
sciences," even if it
means stirring "the de-
mons of anti-Semitism"
raised during the recent
debate over the sale of
AWACS planes and other
weaponry to Saudi
Arabia.
"The strategy of subtly
threatening Jews with a
backlash if they don't keep
their mouths shut is part of
a larger pattern of rising
anti-Semitism in the Un-
ited States and the world.
Yet, to knuckle under the
the hate-mongers out of fear
of what they might do is to
give them the victory they
seek — and they will come
back for more, like any
blackmailers," he said.
Ashraf Ghorbal, Egypt's
Ambassador to the United
States, told the UAHC that
Israel should "change its at-
titude, doing away with its
image as an unhappy oc-
cupier and create a relaxed
atmosphere that would in-
duce Palestinians to join the
autonohiy talks."
Ghorbal said that "de-
spite three decades of fears,
doubts and misconceptions,
Egypt can fill the role to
bridge between Israel and
the Palestinians." He also
urged that the cease-fire ac-
ross the Israel-Lebanon
border be expanded into a
peace treaty "as the first
step toward mutual recog-
nition by Israelis and Pales-
tinians."
Sen. Edward Kennedy
(D-Mass.) called on the
Reagan Administration
to end "months of inac-
tion" by appointing a
new Middle East
negotiator to succeed Sol
Linowitz in the Israel-
Egypt peace talks.
"In pursuing these
negotiations, the United
States must reaffirm that
the Palestine Liberation
Organization must never
play a part in the peace
talks until it has abandoned
terrorism and renounced
absolutely and forever the
path to destroy Israel,"
Kennedy said.
He accepted a Torah
scroll for the Kennedy Lib-
rary here. The Torah had
originally been presented
by the UAHC to the
Senator's brother, Presi-
dent John Kennedy, in
1962.- After Kennedy's as-
sassination, the scroll was
placed in the UAHC's re-
ligious action center in
Washington.
Meanwhile, a leading
Brazilian rabbi disputed
Jacobo Timerman's
claim that anti-Semitism
in Argentina is compara-
ble to that in pre-war
Germany, calling it "an
exaggeration that has al-
ready destroyed his cre-
dibility."
Rabbi Henry Sobel of
r
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Israelita
Congregacao
Paulista in Sao Paulo told a
meeting of the World Union
for Progressive Judaism
(WUPJ) Sunday that while
there were "serious anti-
Semitic trends in Argen-
tina, the Jews are free to
leave the country whenever
they wish and to take all
their property with them.
The fact that relatively few
have done so speaks for it-
self."
The WUPJ is the interna-
tional branch of Reform
Judaism.
Calling Timerman "a
self-proclaimed Zionist who
never participated in
Argentinian Jewish life,"
Sobel accused Timerman of
"applying his rediscovered
ardor for Jewishness re-
troactively for the purpose
of self-promotion." He said
Timerman was "an embar-
rassment to Argentinian
Jews in particular and to
Latin American Jewry in
general."
* * *
Detroiter Seeks
Intensive Action
BOSTON (JTA) — The
leader of the National Fed-
eration of Temple Sister-
hoods (NFTX) urged the
1,000 delegates attending
the organization's 33rd
biennial convention to in-
tensify their efforts on be- -
half of Israel's security,
Soviet Jewry, rights for
women, church-state sep-
aration and freedom of
choice in abortion: -
Lillian Maltzer of Detroit
described a' meeting two
weeks ago with President
Reagan and his advisors in
the White House, where she
was a member of a delega-
tion of the Conference of
Presidents of Major Ameri-
can Jewish Organizations:
"We raised with the Presi-
dent our strong misgivings
about public acts and
statements of anti-
Semitism" that emerged
during the debate in Con-
gress on the sale of AWACS
planes and other sophisti-
cated weaponry to Saudi
Arabia.
Israeli-Palestinian= Dialogue
Support Increasing, Two Say
VIENNA (JTA) — An Is-
raeli editor and a Palesti-
nian author both main-
tained here that there is a
rising tide of opinion in Is-
rael and among diaspora
Jewry favoring a dialogue
between Israelis and Pales-
tinians, including the
Palestine Liberation Or-
ganiiation.
That view and the belief
that a just solution of the
Palestinian problem is cru-
cial to Middle East peace,
was expressed by Simha
Flapan, editor of New Out-
look magazine, published in
Israel, and Raymonda
Tawil, a Palestinian
feminist and journalist, in
separate interviews with
the Jewish Telegraphic
Agency.
Both were awarded prizes
for human rights activities
by the Bruno Kreisky
Foundation.
Flapan said that de-
spite the failure of Israeli
doves in the last Knesset
elections, there is a grow-
ing number of Israelis
and Jews overseas who
recognize the importance
of the Palestinian issue to
peace.
According to Flapan,
there are more Israelis
today who would welcome
exploratory talks with the
PLO than there were a short
time ago. Public opinion in
Jewish communities out-
side of Israel, especially in
the U.S., is also in the pro-
cess of change, he said.
Flapan cited a recent poll
that showed 54 percent of
American Jews are not op-
posed to talks with the PLO.
He said this change of mood
could exert pressure on Is-
rael to change its policy.
But Flapan is sharply
critical of the PLO. He
said the Palestinians
would have to speak out
more unequivocally and
remove all the am-
biguities in their position.
Many Israelis have fears,
and if some of them are
irrational, they are
nevertheless real and
have to be dealt with,
Flapan said.
Tawil urged American
Jewish leaders to speak out
for a solution to the Palesti-
nian problem. She said that
in personal talks with
American Jewish leaders
she received the impression
that there was a growing
sentiment to encourage
talks with the PLO. But
they do not come out pub-
licly with this opinion, she -
added.
Jewish Museum
Exhibit Focuses
on Ancient Israel
NEW YORK — A collec-
tion of antiquities dating
from the Neolithic period
through Byzantine times
(about 7000 BCE-614 CE)
has formed the nucleus of a
new permanent installation
of biblical archeology at the
Jewish Museum.
The gift, from the private
collection of Mr. and Mrs.
Max and Betty Ratner of
Cleveland, includes 180 ob-
jects and focuses on every-
day life in ancient Israel.
Included are gold earrings
and chains, carnelian
beads, silver bracelets, and
other jewelry; ancient glass
and pottery; metal weapons
and tools; and coins.
The Ratner collection is
part of a new installation of
biblical archeology, set to
open at the museum in June
1982. The exhibition will
focus on the home, the state,
and religion during the Iron
Age and the Second Temple
Period: roughly 1000 BCE -
70 CE.
Fisher to Serve
on Task Force
WASHINGTON — De-
troiter Max Fisher has been
named to the President's
Task Force on Private Sec-
tor Initiative. The group
will seek ways to help take
up the slack left by cuts in
federal spending.
Tribute Paid to Wallenberg
Man of the Year
JERUSALEM (ZINS) —
A poll by the Public Opinion
Research Institute has
named Israeli President
Yitzhak Navon "Israeli
Man of the Year."
Navon polled 30.5 percent
of the vote, compared to 17.1
percent the previous year.
Others receiving votes were
Menahem Begin, 21.6
percent (10.1 last year); Yit-
zhak Rabin, three percent;
Zevulun Hammer, 2.6;
Ariel Sharon, 2.3; and the
late Moshe Dayan, 1.2.
Receiving less than one
percent were Ezef Weiz-
man, Abba Eban, Yitzhak
Shamir, Yoram Aridor,
David Levy, Haim Bar-Lev,
Yuval Ne'eman, Teddy Kol-
lek and Israel's two Chief
Rabbis, Shlomo Goren and
Ovadia Yossef.
Some 25 percent of those
polled said no one deserved
the title "Man of the Year."
Raoul Wallenberg, a Swede who is credited with
saving the lives of nearly 100,000 Jews during World
War II, was honored in absentia by the Simon Wie-
senthal Center in Los Angeles. Attending the tribute
to Wallenberg, were, from left: Wiesenthal; Rabbi
Marvin Hier, dean of the Wiesenthal Center; Mrs.
Nina Lagergren, Wallenberg's sister; and actor Jon
Voight, who will portray Wallenberg in a forthcoming
film. The center will have the premiere of its multi-
image Holocaust documentary, "Genocide," Jan. 17
at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.