THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
12 Friday, July 1, 1983
New Jewish Agenda to Seek Community Councils' Recognition
(Continued from Paide 1)
would not hinder, bui help
facilitate the Agenda's posi-
tion and help create an out-
let for its specific positions
to be heard.
The chapters of the
Agenda in Detroit,
Hartford and Ann Arbor
sit on the local JCCoun-
cils. Levin said in a
statement on the deci-
sion, "We think it is a dis-
grace . We are a Jewish
organization and deserve
to be included in the um-
brella organizations of
our community."
Levin said the New York
Chapter of the Agenda is in
the "process of exploring"
membership in the Jewish
Community Relations
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Council of New York, an
umbrella organization re-
presenting local New York
agencies and New York
units of national organiza-
tions.
In explaining the Agen-
da's policy toward applica-
tion in local councils, Levin
said it is undertaken as a
local option by the specific
chapters of which she said
would have a better sense of
the relationship main-
tained between the local
Agenda and JCCouncil.
There appears to be no
overall national initiative
for the Agenda to apply to
Jewish umbrella organiza-
tions.
The vote barring the
Washington chapter of the
Agenda was taken June 2.
The delegate assembly
voted 98-70 against admis-
sion at a meeting that was
attended by more than 400
persons. Although 173
delegates attended the
meeting, only 168 cast a bal-
lot, according to a report in
The Jewish Week of Wash-
ington. The report said a
total of some 600 JCCouncil
delegates represent 215
member organzations.
The delegate assembly
vote followed by three
weeks the JCCouncil's
executive board's 22-5
vote in favor of admission
of the Agenda. While
some. charged that the
executive vote indicated
that the board was "out
of touch with their con-
stituency," three former
presidents of the Greater
Washington JCCouncil
sharply criticized the
vote by the delegate as-
sembly.
Immediate past president
Ben Silver was quoted as
calling the outcome "unfor-
tunate," while his predeces-
sor, Phyllis Frank, said "the
community was the one that
lost out by not having all
viewpoints represented."
Aaron Goldman was
quoted as saying, "I hope
that the Jewish Community
Council will never make
conformity a condition of
membership," in a letter of
resignation to the Louis
Brandeis District of the
Zionist Organization of
America, which the Jewish
Week said led the campaign
against admission of the
Agenda.
Nathal Lewin, president
of the JCCouncil of Greater
Washington, said the vote
by the delegate assembly
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tion.
According to the Agen-
da's .platform, peace has to
be made through negotia-
tions between all parties in-
cluding the, legitimate
representatives of the
Palestinians, including the
PLO, on the basis of mutual
recognition. It further sup-
ports the right of the Pales-
tinians to chose to establish
a state on the West Bank
existing at peace with Is-
rael.
"We strongly support a
safe and secure Israel," said
Moe Rosenstein of the
Washington Chapter of the
Agenda. "We also believe
that there must be a change
in the Israeli government's
"does not indicate at all that
thd executive board had
some fundamental dif-
ferences with the full dele-
gate assembly" but that "on
this particular question
there were substantial and
strong feelings that made
themselves heard," accord-
ing to the Jewish Week. He
reportedly voted at the
delegate assembly meeting
in favor of admission of the
Agenda.
The delegate vote came
after a heated discussion
which primarily focussed
on the Agenda's Middle
East platform, particu-
larly its call for Israel to
negotiate with the Pales-
tine Liberation Organiza-
policies in order to achieve
that security. I am dis-
inayed that the JCCouncil
cannot stand internal dis-
sent, but I was heartened by
many people who had the
courage to speak out on our
behalf. We will apply again
to the JCCouncil next year."
After a question-and-
answer discussion between
Rodenstein and two other
Agenda representatives on
a variety of topics, including
public dissent in the Jewish
community and Soviet
Jewry, 14 speakers lined up
at the microphone to speak
in support of the Agenda's
application while 10 speak-
ers spoke out in opposition.
$120,000 NEH Funding Produced
Three Texas Films Glorifying the PLO
(Continued from Page 1)
the Middle East conflict,
it idealizes the PLO ter-
rorists and their
womenfolk.
"The Israelis," he said,
"are depicted as a forebod-
ing off screen presence, un-
seen villains who evicted
the women from their
homes and invade and bomb
their present habitations,
while the PLO guerrillas
are pictured as victims
transformed into idealistic
revolutionaries dedicated to
democracy and freedom."
He added that "no at-
'
tempt is made to present
another side of the con-
troversy or to discuss the
terroristic acts which pro-
voke retaliation."
Rashadiya, for example,
was among the PLO stron-
gholds used as staging
grounds for the March 1978
terrorist attack on the Tel
Aviv-Haifa road in which 36
civilians were killed.
A school "study guide"
designed for use with the
film notes that "the Pales-
tine Liberation Organiza-
tion was born in the refugee
camps and emerged as 'an
active force' in the 1960s." It
cites as one event focusing
international attention on
the presence of women in
the PLO the "celebrated
case" of Leila Khaled, the
terrorist who participated
in hijacking airplanes in
1968 and 1969.
Although the study guide
includes a disclaimer that
the film was not designed to
investigate the political ac-
tivity of the PLO, the result,
Perlmutter said, "no matter
the disavowal, romanticizes
and launders the terrorist
PLO."
Intervale: S. Bronx. Synagogue
By RIFKA ROSENWEIN
NEW YORK (JTA) —
The Intervale Jewish Cen-
ter is the only synagogue
still in use in the South
Bronx, an area in New York
City whose name has be-
come synonymous with
urban devastation•and de-
cay. The congregation is
tiny; its members elderly
and poor. Its spiritual
leader and acting rabbi is
Moishe Sacks, a baker. Its
newest member is Dr. Jack
Kugelmass, an an-
thropologist.
Kugelmass, a research
associate at the Max Wein-
reich Center for Advanced
Jewish Studies at the YIVO
Institute for Jewish Re-
search, does not live in the
neighborhood. But for the
last 3 1/2 years, he has reg-
ularly attended Shabat
services and the Sunday
brunches and study sessions
held in the synagogue.
He became interested in
the synagogue when he was
asked to write an article`
about it; he continued his
visits when he decided to do
his fieldwork project there.
Now he just goes. When he
speaks of the congregation,
he says "we."
"I don't want to keep
going," he said in a recent
interview. But he can
learn so much there, he
continued. "I find it dif-
ficult not to go."
The result of his research
and interest is "The Miracle
of Intervale Avenue," an
exhibition of photographs,
accompanying texts and a
slide presentation at the
Jewish Museum through
Oct. 31. He is also writing a
book about his experiences.
The point of the exhibit is
to show "how people man-
age their own deaths," he
said. The question is, he
said, why, despite the ef-
forts of family and relief
agencies, do "these old
people choose to stay?"
"Their main concern," he
explained, "is how to man-
age the last stages of their
lives. They want to die in
dignity, which in effect
means they want to live out
the end in dignity."
They also worry about
immortality, about who
will say Kadish and who
will commemorate their
yahrzeit, Kugelmass
said. "To them, the in-
heritance is immortal-
ity," he continued. "They
want to leave an object
for their children, a
house, a car. You sit in a
luxury car;" to these
people, "it will be them."
His other main hope for
the exhibit is that it will
"break the barrier between
us and old people. It's not
that these people are stupid
and why don't they get out."
Rather, "here are people
dealing with the deck of
cards life dealt them.
"These are us later in life.
They don't demand pity,
they don't demand money.
They don't demand any-
thing from us. They are giv-
ing us, giving us informa-
tion on how to deal with
life," Kugelmass explained.
The backdrop for their
lives is almost the an-
tithesis of life. In fact,
Kugelmass sees the South
Bronx "as a metaphor for
death itself."
A father is responsible for
the actions of his son until
the boy becomes Bar
Mitzva.
Council, ADL Challenge
WXYZ Radio Talk Shows
(Continued from Page 1)
Recently, Joyce hosted Alfred Lillienthal, an
anti-Israel speaker, whom Joyce identified as an "ex-
pert on Middle Eastern affairs." He followed it up
with a program featuring a local Lubavitcher rabbi,
Yitschok Kagan, who stated he was not there for polit-
ical purposes, but only had a spiritual interest. Joyce
thereupon asked his opinion on the politics of the
Middle East.
Lebenbom and Block stated that they had hopdd to
resolve the matter through friendly negotiations which
would result in a greater sensitivity by the station, a more
balanced presentation of opposing views, and a greater
tolerance to varying viewpoints of callers, but ". . . in view
of Mr. Packer's apparent refusal or inability to respond to
our letter, we have no choice but to bring our concerns to the
attention of the Jewish community as a whole."
,