26 Friday, January 15, 1982
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Rabbi Polish LZA, Guage Changing Mood of American Jewry
NEW YORK (JTA) —
Zionist and Reform leader
Rabbi David Polish of
Chicago hds warned that
"there is a changing mood in
the American Jewish com-
munity" and that "Israeli
leaders must pay attention
to it."
Addressing the opening
session last week of the 25th
national convention of the
Labor Zionist Alliance at
the Waldorf Astoria Hotel,
Polish declared that "Jews
are not yet openly critical,
but in contrast to their
former undeviating assent,
they are strongly dissenting
in private."
Polish, a past president of
the Central Conference of
American rabbis, the rab-
binic organization of Re-
form Judaism, told the sev-
Several times during his
address Polish said that the
argument that Diaspora
Jews have no right to be
critical of Israel's internal
affairs no longer holds, "if it
ever did."
RABBI POLISH
eral hundred delegates from
throughout the country that
"there is no proper forum for
the discussion of controver-
sial issues in our com-
munities and on a national
level."
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are already painfully evi-
dent," Polish declared. "The
emergence to their fullest
dimensions of two Israels
has assumed threatening
proportions. The confronta-
tion of Sephardi versus
He added that "this is Ashkenazi became
an inverted way of stat- frighteningly apparent dur-
ing that Dispora Jews ing the last (Israeli) na-
must always approve of tional election."
Israel's policies, even - According to Polish, "One
when they are being bit- of the changes of a renewed
terly fought in Israel. The Zionism in the U.S. will
case for this position has have to affect is to bring the
become threadbare and Diaspora and Israel more
discredited. It can be closely together. To the un-
argued persuasively that perceptive, Israel and the
this course can, and has Diaspora have never been
in fact resulted in grow- closer. But that has been
ing divisions within more apparent than real.
American Jewish life.
Those divisions can lead
to growing alienation.
The alienation is due, not
so much to honest dif-
ferences of opinion, but
rather to the silencing
and discrediting of those
who entertain different
judgments."
Polish pointed to a swing
to the right not only in
American politics, but in Is-
raeli affairs as well as in the
Jewish _community. The
currents in Jewish life, he
said, "are running with a
tide of Jewish nationalism
that reflects the growing re-
trogression in the world, a
retrogression which in the
U.S. takes the form of a
frenzied effort to tear up by
the roots a half-century of
social achievements."
The consequences of "this
crusade to reverse the clock
TEMPLE EMANU-EL'S
SCHOLAR-IN-RESIDENCE
THIRTIET J URNYIV 2 1R2S 4 A111182WEEKEND
"GREAT JEWISH DEBATES AND DILEMMAS"
ALBERT
VORSPAN
Albert Vorspan is vice-president of the Union of American Hebrew Con-
gregations and director of the Commission on Social Action of Reform
Judaism.
-
Mr. Vorspan is the author of many books and articles. He has been a
leading participant in the civil rights struggle, the peace movement and inter-
faith activities.
The Community is invited to worship with us
and hear Mr. Vorspan speak at
Shabbat Services, Friday, January 22nd at 8 P.M.
TEMPLE EMANU-EL
14450 WEST TEN MILE ROAD
OAK PARK
967-4020
.11111=111•1•0,
"A relationship based
on unquestioned support
is not a healthy relation-
ship. A relationship
based on consultation
and authentic discourse,
even when punctuated
by disagreement, is ulti-
mately stronger and
more enduring than a
contrived unity which
collapses in time of
stress."
During the convention,
Yehiel Leket, Secretary
General of the World Labor
Zionist Movement, said that
in 1982 "politics in Israel
will be dominated by the fu-
ture of the West Bank and
the solution of the Palesti-
nian problem, both of which
will come to a head with the
planned Igraeli withdrawal
from Sinai in April."
Simha Dinitz, former Is-
raeli Ambassador to the
U.S., declared that Israel
should give top priority to
repairing its relations with
Washington.
Dinitz said the present
state ofU.S.-Israel relations
is his "greatest concern."
Rep. Stephen Solarz
Abu-Hatzeira
Takes Stand
in Court Case
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Aha-
ron Abu-Hatzeira took the
witness stand this week to
defend himself against
charges that he misappro-
priated public funds while
administering a charitable
institution -when he was
mayor of Ramle five years
ago.
Abu-Hatzeira, who is
Minister of Labor and Social
Welfare in Premier
Menahem Begin's govern-
ment, temporarily relin-
quished, his Cabinet post
when hs trial opened two
months ago.
He said that checks-made
out to him which the pros-
ecution alleges were kick-
backs were, in actuality, re-
payments of loans he had
made to needy people out of
his own pocket.
He said checks made
out to his wife had been
loans to her and that he
had arranged for repay-
ment when he learned
they were overdue.
According to Abu-
Hatzeira, he was too busy to
spend much time adminis-
tering the fund and left the
details to his aide, Moshe
Gabai, who is a co-
defendant. .
(D-N.Y.) told the LZA
convention that "not
since Suez in 1956 have
the relations between the
United States and Israel
been at the breaking
point." He said that
American support for Is-
rael _ "is stretched
dangerously thin."
Hebrew Union College-
Jewish Institute of Religion
in Cincinnati, was elected
president. A scholar, writer
and active Labor Zionist
leader, Spicehandler suc-
ceeds Prof. Allen Pollack,
who has announced that he
is making aliya.
Spicehandler was a vice
At the final session of the president of the World -
LZA convention Rabbi Ezra Union of Progressive
Spicehandler, distin- Judaism and is now a
guished service professor of member of that .group's gov-
Hebrew literature at the erning board.
Falashim Continue Protests -
By MOSHE RON
The Jewish News Special
Israel Correspondent
TEL AVIV — The Israeli
public was stirred recently
by the pleas of the Falashim
in Israel, who accused the
Israeli government and the
Jewish Agency of not adopt-
ing the necessary measures
to save the oppressed and
persecuted Falashim in
Ethiopia.
The black Jews in Israel
maintain that their breth-
ren in Ethiopia are facing
annihilation. Hundreds of
Falashim demonstrated in
front of the Knesset. They
said the Israeli government
and the Jewish Agency's si-
lent diplomacy has not
achieved any results, and
thousands of Jews are fac-
ing physical and spiritual
annihilation.
In Israel there are hun-
dreds of Falashim. Their
aliya was halted in recent
years after a leftist regime
took over in Ethiopia; after
dethroning King Haile
Selasse.
The refugees appeal to
the public in Israel and in
other democratic coun-
tries to save their breth-
ren. Ther president of the
Jewish Ethiopian Com-
munity in the U.S. told
Newsweek magazine that
the Israeli government
has only recently in-
creased the number of
visas for Ethiopian Jews.
The Falashim in Israel
maintain that there is not
much sympathy for black
Jews in Israel.
The Falashim regard
themselves as offsprings of
the 10 tribes of Israel which
were expelled and later van-
ished in Africa and Asia.
They are regarded as offspr-
ing of the tribe of Dan. They
have preserved their Jewish
faith for thousands of years.
Pope Urges Israel to Work
Harder for Peace in M. E.
ROME (JTA) — Pope
John Paul II has called on
Israel to work harder for "a
just and stable peace" in the
Middle East, to adhere "tg
international conventions''
and stressed the need for
"full respect" of the rights of
the Palestinians in the ter-
ritories occupied by Israel.
Those points were made
in a Vatican communique
issued last week, following
a meeting between the Pope
and Israeli Foreign Minis-
ter Yitzhak Shamir, the
first high level contact of its
kind since 1978.
According to the com-
munique; the Pope reaf-
firmed the Vatican's posi-
tion on Jerusalem which
does not recognize Israeli
sovereignty over that city.
Shamir "illustrated the
commitment of the Israeli
government for the
safeguarding and free ac-
cess to the holy places for all
faithful," the communique
said.
The Vatican has never
extended diplomatic recog-
Shooting at PLO
Office in Rome
ROME — Imad Osman, a
22-year-old Palestinian,
was killed in a shooting
Sunday at the Rome office of
the Palestinian Liberation
Organization. A security
man at the office has been
arrested and charged with
homicide and possession of
an unregistered weapon.
nition to Israel. The last Is-
raeli Foreign Minister to
meet with the Pope was the
late Moshe Dayan Who had
an audience with the late
Pope Paul VI four years ago.
Knesset Unit
Approves Tunik
for Comptroller
JERUSALEM (JTA) —
Yitzhak Tunik, a 70-year-
old lawyer from Tel Aviv,
has been approved by the
Knesset's House Committee
to be state comptroller, suc-
ceeding Yitzhak Nebenzahl
who retired last month after
serving four five-year
terms.
The state comptroller is
the principal supervisor of
efficiency and ethics in all
branches and agencies of
government. Though Ttinik
was endorsed by seven of
the Knesset committee's 13
members, his appointment
was the subject of intense
debate within Likud and
among opposition factions.
The Labor Alignment and
Tami favored former Mayor
Eliahu Nawi of Beersheva
for the office. Some mem-
bers of Likud's Liberal
Party wing backed Uriel
Linn, a high level treasury
official and argued that
Tunik is too old for the
watchdog post. 'But they
were brought into line by
the party bosses who had
agreed earlier to support
Tunik.
J