1111IC IU, IUOJ Int UtIKUll itWnti)ItW) Jewish Legislators Have Important Roles in Congress By MORRIS AMITAY CD WASHINGTON — We have previously noted the increasing number of Jews who have been elected to Congress — currently some 30 House members out of 435 (hopefully 31 with Sala Burton's special election June 21) and eight Senators' out of 100. But numbers alone do not tell the entire political story in evaluating the growing influence and seniority of Jewish mem- bers of ,Congress on key committees dealing with Is- rael and major U.S. inter- ests. On issues of direct con- cern to Israel's well-being and security, the two most vital committees are Foreign Relations (Foreign Affairs in the House) and Appropriations. Of the total of 38 members on the House Committee no fewer than seven Democrats and one Republican are Jewish, with Steve Solarz of Brook- lyn fifth in seniority on the panel and chairman of the Asian and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee. Also, the chairman of the African Subcommittee is Howard Wolpe of Michigan. They are joined by second-termers Sam Gej- denson of Connecticut and Tom Lantos of California. On the Republican side, veteran Ben Gilman of upstate New York has been enormously helpful. MORRIS AMITAY But it is the three Jewish "freshmen" on the Foreign Affairs Commit- tee who have so far been stealing the show with their energy, political acumen and commitment to a strong Israel as being in the best interests of the United States: Mel Levine of Los Angeles is a former Senate aide to Sen. Johr. Tunney and a state legislator. Soci- able and politically savvy, Levine is acquiring many important friends on Capitol Hill, and teamed on the Near East Subcommit- tee with Larry Smith of Florida, they have already made vital contributions in raising Israel's aid levels above Administration re- quests. Smith, incidentially, who despite his name is Jewish, had to go to great lengths to make his Jewish con- stituents aware of his ethnic antecedents. Not on this subcommit- tee, but always helpful, is another Californian, How- ard Berman, whose leader- ship role in the California state legislature sharpened his political skills. The vital Foreign Op- erations Subcommittee of the House has two Jewish members. Sid Yates, the dean of the Jewish members with over 30 years on the Appropriations Commit- tee, is a quiet powerhouse in the House of Represen- tatives. His influence with the Democratic leadership and the re- spect in which he is held is enormous. Serving with him on the subcom- mittee is Bill Lehman of Florida who was first elected in 1972, and who has been a consistent and active friend. On the Senate side, there are four Jewish Democrats and four Republicans. The chairman of the key Foreign Relations Committee's Sub- committee on Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs is Rudy Boschwitz, Republi- can of Minnesota.' Rudy, who has been tireless in his efforts on behalf of Israel, is up for re-election next year and faces a tough fight. This is the most important Se- nate race as far as the her needs and her value to American Jewish commu- the United States. * * * nity is concerned. (We pre- viosly cited the Clarence With the improvement Long race in the House as in U.S.-Israel relations the number one priority following the Lebanon there.) accord, it is not yet time Also on the comittee (but to become euphoric. not up for re-election) is Ed Some basic differences Zorinsky. Following his remain between the two disappointing pro-AWACS countries in their ap- vote he has been trying to be proach to attaining more helpful lately. He is peace. It Is only because ranking Democratic the Administration's atti- member on the Western tude toward Israel was so Hemisphere Affairs Sub- negative to begin with committee. that by contrast the situa- Serving on the Armed tion looks better now. RUDY BOSCHWITZ Services Committee which Lifting the suspension of is more indirectly involved ranking Democrat on F-16 deliveries to Israel with Israel-related issues is Foreign Affairs; Rep. Clar- should be viewed in this Carl Levin, Democrat of ence Long (D-Md.), chair- light. There is still a basic Michigan. He is the only man, and Jack lack of coordination on mili- other Jewish Senator up for Kemp (R-N.Y.), ranking on tary and political strategy, re-election in 1984. Foreign Operations; Sen. and fuzzy thinking in Wash- On the Senate Foreign Joe Biden of Deleware and ington on the future of the Operations Subcommit- Paul Sarbanes of Maryland, West Bank. tee there are two Jewish senior Democrats on What has happened is the Republicans — Warren Foreign Relations; and reality of Arab hostility Rudman of New Hamp- Senator Bob Kasten (R- toward both the U.S. and Is- shire (another pro- Wis.), chairman, and Dan rael has come up against the AWACS voter!) and Arlen Inouye (D-Hawaii), ranking naive and wishful thinking Specter of Pennsylvania. on Foreign Operations. of the Reagan Plan. In ef- The former has not been fect, Soviet intervention, These are the key players particularly involved who are pushing through Jordanian timidity, Syrian with the Jewish commu- funding this year for Israel threats and PLO radicalism nity or its concerns, while totaling $850 million in have caused the Reagan Specter has been acces- grant military aid, $850 Administration to readjust sible and helpful. million in loans and $910 its policies — for now. Interestingly, and more It would have been far million in grant economic importantly, some of Is- more beneficial if this supporting assistance. rael's most staunch and inf- readjustment had been the luential supporters on these As long as these people product of conscious policy, committees are not Jewish. are in the Congress, Israel `rather than a reaction to the They are such champions as will continue to have strong implacable hostility of Is: Rep. Dante Fascell (D-Fla.), friends who recognize both rael's adversaries. - Kaplan: Young Israel, Reconstructionist Founder Marks 102nd By DR. DAVID GEFFEN World Zionist Press Service JERUSALEM — "Judaism is a civilization that has evolved through different stages, whose common denominator is neither belief, nor tenet, nor practice, but rather the con- tinuous life of the Jewish people." This description by Prof. Charles Liebman of the phi- losophy of Reconstruc- tionism captures one of the focal points in the thought of Dr. Mordecai M. Ka-plan. His personal concern with "the continuous life of the Jewish people" has been one of the hallmarks of Kaplan's lifetime. On June 11, Dr. Kaplan will celebrate his 102nd birthday. Many of the key developments in Jewish life today are based on concepts which he formulated during his long and productive career — concepts like Judaism as a civilization, the organic Jewish commu- nity, the synagogue center and summer camp move- ments and the public cele- bration of Bat Mitzva. Born in Lithuania, he came to America with his parents at the age of 8 when his father, Rabbi Israel Kaplan, was selected to be one of the- dayanim for the chief rabbi of New York, Yaakov Yosef. A student at the Jewish Theological Seminary from the age of 12, Mordecai Kaplan was ordained in 1902 and began to serve as "minis- ter" of Cong. Kehilath Jeshurun in New York. Later he became the rabbi there after receiving his semikha on a trip to Europe in 1908. Appointed dean of the Teachers' Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1909 by Sol- omon Scheeter, Dr. Kaplan worked there for half-a- century, retiring in 1963. An intellectual giant, he was one of the key figures, along with Judah Magnes, Prof. Israel Friedlander and Samson Benderly, in the development of the various Jewish intellectual circles in New York before World War I. One of his earliest acts was the founding of the Young Israel movement. Wrestling with the chal- lenge of living in "two civili- zations," the Jewish and the American, Kaplan began to develop a new philosophy of Judaism which came to be known as Reconstruc- tionism. He founded the Society for the Advance- ment. of Judaism in New York and served as its first rabbi. To this day it remains the fountainhead of the Re- construction movement. With the publication in the 1930s of his major work, "Judaism as a Civilization," Kaplan de- lineated the basic structure of his position, in which he carefully de- fines what are the ele- ments of an "evolving religious civilization." This was to be developed in his prolific writing over many decades — a bibliography of his printed works on the oc- casion of his 100th birth- day included over 700 items. The Reconstructionist Movement has for the last 15 years had its own rabbin- ical school in Philadelphia and a network of congrega- tions in the U.S. and achieved in terms dictated by Jewish life itself." For Kaplan, this is how "the best of modern thought can be fused with the perma- nent values of the Jewish heritage through the living needs of collective Jewish life." He believes in "the power to rise above mere passivity and subjection to outer forces and to be, so to speak, an unmoved mover, self determining and crea- tive." With these glowing hopes, Kaplan spent two productive years in DR. MORDECAI KAPLAN Jerusalem at the Hebrew Canada as well as the University, teaching the Mevakshei Derekh principles of education synagogue in Jerusalem, and helping to get the field of education recog- and its own journal. In preparing for his trip to nized at the university as Eretz Yisrael in 1937, Kap- one worthy of academic lan wrote -an article that study. He lectured all spring about the "Resurrec- over the country and was tion of the Jewish Spirit." noted - for going on foot He suggested that the "re- from his house in Re- vival of the Jewish people" khavia to the campus on in its own land is based on a Mount Scopus. On his return to the U.S. "will to life physical" and a "will to life spiritual." The in the summer of 1939, he Hebrew University of presented a report on Jerusalem, of course, fell "Palestine Jewry: Its into the second category and Achievements and was "the instrument for Shortcomings." He noted (Jewish) intellectual, cul- that Palestine was "begin- tural and spiritual de- ning to give the Jews new history, history that is not velopment." merely cause for lamenta- Viewing the university as tion birt one that is an epic of facilitating "the process of creation." After stressing synthesizing the Jewish the significance of the re- heritage with the best in the newed Hebrew language, he civilizations of mankind," praised the new folkways, a Kaplan believed that only continuation of the old "tra- in Eretz Yisrael (Palestine) ditional -legalism." could such "a synthesis be He referred to efforts, especially in rural settle- ments, by those who did not observe the Shabat in a tra- ditional fashion, to make the day more than just a cessation from work. Still Kaplan stressed: "The real problem is how to create a genuine spirit of religion that will be unmis- takably identified as being - in line with the highest manifestations of that spirit in the Jewish past." As to the shortcomings in the country, he noted that he felt that Palestine had not succeeded in re- taining the distinctively religious character of Jewish civilization through the ages. He also regretted that Jewish law was not evolving in a `- modern sense (four legal systems existed at the time — the rabbinical, the general Zionist courts, the workers' courts and the British courts). Kaplan was also critical of the educational structure which had three strands to it: the workers; the general Zionists; and the Mizrachi. Kaplan went on to stress what the educational cur- riculum should really con- tain. "One misses in Pales- tine education," he wrote, "anything that would give the child an awareness of a Jewish people that is dis- persed throughout the world, and that must some- how find a way of maintain- ing its unity and vitality de- spite the mighty forces of disintegration."