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." To All The Clients Of THE SCHWARTZ FURNITURE CO. Mr. Nathan Schwartz Proudly Announces That he is now associated with the KAUFMAN FURNITURE & UPHOLSTERING CO. a firm which has been in the custom furniture business for almost 60 years and whose up- holstery department is one of the finest in the area. I would like all my friends to come see me at 2801 N. Woodward at 12 1/2 Mile or call me at 288-6400 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