THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Boris Smolar's
`Between You
. . . and Me'
Editor-in-Chief
Emeritus, JTA
(Copyright 1983, JTA, Inc.)
JEWISH POLICY-MAKING: The National Jewish
Community Relations Advisory Council (NCJRAC) —
which opens its four-day plenary session in Cleveland on
Sunday — is one of the most important agencies in the
United States. It is little known to the average American
Jew because it is not hungry for publicity and because its
long name is too difficult to remember.
The NJCRAC can be considered as "the general staff"
of American Jewry in directing national planning and
strategies for combatting anti-Semitism. It also coordi-
nates policies and actions in other fields of Jewish commu-
nity relations that are of concern to the Jewish community.
It is the coordinating body of 11 national Jewish organiza-
tions and 111 local Jewish councils across the country
engaged in community relations activities. Their volun-
tary cooperation through the NJCRAC has made Jewish
community relations more effective as a common cause,
while affirming at the same time the autonomy of each
group.
Created by the Council. of Jewish Federations in 1944
— when anti-Semitism ran high in the U.S: through Hit-
ler's propaganda machine and the venomous anti-Jewish
radio broadcasts by Father Coughlin, a Detroit Catholic
priest — the NJCRAC comes each year to its plenary con-
clave with a Joint Program Plan which is actually a guide
for its constituent organizations in planning their pro-
grams of action. Such a Joint Program Plan for 1983-1984
will now be brought before the plenary session.
COMMON CONCERNS: The NJCRAC does not con-
sider itself a separate community relations agency, but a
mechanism through which the agencies in this field seek to
agree on joint policy formulation, on joint program plan-
ning and coordination, on reassessment and evaluation, on
what issues to take position and what those positions
should be, what priority each program should be given, how
well the methods in use are working, and how the total
resources of all the agencies can be best used to advance the
entire effort.
The NJCRAC builds its program on the basis that no
matter how widely American Jews may differ among them-
selves in economic status, educational and cultural levels,
social and political viewpoints, synagogue affiliation and in
many other ways, they themselves have much in common,
especially in the following fields:
Determination to combat anti-Semitism and all other
forms of bigotry; a commitment to equal rights and to
freedom of thought and religion as the basis for creative
Jewish life in a free America; a sense of affinity with Jews
in Israel and throughout the world; concern for security and
welfare of Israel; concern for the Jews of the Soviet Union
and other lands where Jews are oppressed and persecuted.
Through a broad program the NJCRAC helps its na-
tional and local affiliates in acting together harmoniously
in these fields. It also seeks to strengthen amicable rela-
tionships between Jewish and non-Jewish groups in the
country and to insure separation of church and state.
Among its constituent national groups are such organiza-
tions as the American Jewish Committee, American
Jewish Congress, Anti-Defamation League of Bnai Brith,
Hadassah, and the central bodies of the Orthodox, Reform
and Conservative congregations. At one time the AJCom-
mittee and the ADL left this coordinating body, but they
rejoined it later.
Friday, February 11, 1983 21
El Al Will Fire
_650 Employees
GIVE HER A
TEL AVIV (JTA) — The
El Al management last
week presented a list of 650
employees they intend to
dismiss to Histadrut in
order to restore the airline
to economic health. The
employees have 14 days to
protest. But about 300 of
them are prepared to leave
willingly.
Of 21 pilots on the list, 10
will accept early retire-
ment. The others include 24
flight engineers, 60 flight
attendants and 200 techni-
cians.
The airline, which re-
sumed service on a limited
scale three weeks ago after
being grounded for four
months, is operating under
a new set of work rules that
supersede all previous ar-
rangements.
VALENTINE'S
WARM UP SUIT1,
Bright hearts
on white fleece.
$72
Monday-Saturday 9:30-6:00
tehhIS time
S. E Corner Maple & Lahser
BirMingham, MI 646-4475
his
could be your
$2,000,000
week!
'
You could be closer than
ever to $2,000,000 this
week—if you've.mailed
your entry to the
Tic Tac Two
Grand Drawing.
New semi-finalists
are drawn from
each week's entries.
Each automatically
wins $2,000 and is entered
into the Grand Drawing.
You've got a chance to win every
time you play. And a chance to get
closer to $2,000,000 every week.
Shamir Visiting in Europe
BONN (JTA) — Israeli
Foreign Minister Yitzhak
Shamir said Monday that
he hoped West Germany's
assumption of the rotating
presidency of the European
Economic Community's
Council of Ministers would
contribute to improved rela-
tions between the EEC and
Israel.
Shamir spoke to reporters
after his first meeting with
West Germany's Foreign
Minister Hans-Dietrich
Genscher. The Israeli dip-
lomat is on the first leg of a
European tour which will
take him to Luxembourg
and Brussels.
He described his talks
with Genscher as a "tour
de'horizon" that
encompassed various world
problems, includng the
Arab-Israli conflict.
Asked to comment on
Genscher's recent state-
ment that Bonn expects
Israel and the Palestine
Liberation Organization
to move toward mutual
recognition of . each
others rights, Shamir re-
plied that "responsible.
people in this country
know very well our posi-
tion."
He expounded on that
position in an interview
published in Die Welt a day
before his arrival in Bonn.
Israel will not talk to the
PLO nor will it accept an in-
dependent Palestinian state
on the West Bank, Shamir
said.
To enter the Grand
Drawing: sign the backs
of three non-winning
Tic Tac Two tickets.
Put them in one
envelope with your
name and address
printed legibly on the
outside. Mail first
class only to:
Tic Tac Two
Grand Drawing,
Lansing, MI 48916.
44.• ■•■■ 10V
MICHIGAN LOTTERY
SUPPORTS EDUCATION.
The instant game with the biggest Grand Drawing ever!