Friday, April 26, 1985
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
19
i
i
K
-_,
and when our conversation
turned to politics again —
Jewish and otherwise — Zion
owed that he wasn't so
sure American Jews weren't
caught in a limbo of their
own, somewhere between
ecurity and being sold down
the river. <
Zion has a more than
healthy dose of cynicism
about America's bottom-line
commitment to Israel. "It's a
fragile commitment," he
s ays, "despite all the nice
words."
I tell him he sounds like he
is contradicting himself.
Earlier, he had said that Jews
are paranoid and there is no
'need to fear anti-Semitism.
Yet now, he is saying that the
national commitment to
Israel is tenuous.
"Let me think this through,"
( Zion says slowly, dead-
serious now, "because I want
to get it right." After a
moment's silence, he responds:
_"if there was a real commit-
ment, why do Jews only win
the exhibition games?" he
asks, citing numerous in-
-stances in recent years when
both Jimmy Carter and Ron-
_ ald Reagan were inconsistent
in their support of Israel.
' "It's idolatry for Jews to
have political heroes in this
country," says Zion, who
notes that his only American
political hero is Thomas
Paine, the Revolutionary
'War-period idealist whose
Common Sense was "a great
" book but they wiped him out
Kof American history — Lin-
coln was also on my list but
--
I admire him less as I read
him more."
When it comes to 20th cen-
tury politicians, Zion has
kind words only for Paul
O'Dwyer, a former New York
City Councilman, for whom
he named his 15-year-old son,
Jedd O'Dwyer Zion. "He's a
fine man — in fact, he's presi-
dent of the TomPaine Society,
the best job in the world —
but he loves- Jesse Jackson
too much."
Zion says that the Bible
and history have taught Jews
not to put their trust in any
politician. "I can make de-
mands on them even though
I don't for a • minute expect
them to fulfill those demands,"
he says, explaining, in a way,
his ability to balance his
idealism and skepticism.
"I can't be detached about
anything," he acknowledges.
"You can't lose your passion.
You just gotta keep your
sense of humor or you'll go
nuts. It's never as bad — or
as good — as it looks, but
you've got to keep trying and
making your point. Right
now, our civil liberties are in
a crisis in this country, our
schools aren't educating
anyone, but no one's getting
mad, no ones shrying
`gevalt.' "
And if it's true in general,
it's especially true for Jewish
life, Zion believes. "The great
tradition of bawling out the
Jews seems to have ended
with the Prophets," he says,
"but Lord knows we still
need it."0
Peres, Herzog Mark
Israel Independence
ir Jerusalem (JTA) — President
Chaim Herzog last week issued a
message marking Israel's 37th
Independence Day on April 25. It
states, in part:
--, "Very close to our commemora-
tion of the establishment of the
`State of Israel thirty-seven years
ago, the world will be marking the
fortieth anniversary of the defeat
I of Nazi Germany. There is much
' more than an unbreakable bond.
Without the victory over Hitler,
- the very existence of the Jewish
. , people would have been gravely
endangered; the broken survivors
in the Camps would not have been
rescued; we would not have been
-, afforded the great, new opening
r- given
given us by the establishment of
,a the State of Israel.
"Since then, there have been
\-, many landmarks in Israel's his-
tory which are all too easily taken
for granted. The Magic Carpet
from Yemen, the airlift of Iraqi
Jewry, the arrival of North Afri-
can Jewry, the absorption of tens
of thousands from the Soviet
Union, the Six-Day War, the
-reunification of Jerusalem, the
heroism of the Yom Kippur War,
the rescue at Entebbe, and now
the absorption of Ethiopian Jewry
— all of these signify the great-
ness of Israel, the new life it has
breathed into Jewry, the unex-
pected reservoirs of strength, ta-
lent and daring it has brought
forth."
Premier Shimon Peres also is-
sued a message marking Israel's
Independence Day.
"Israel's 37th Independence
Day is a day of tears and of price —
tears for the lives of the young
people through whose courage we
have renewed and maintained our
independence and pride in what
has been achieved, thereby
changing the course of Jewish his-
tory.
"Vision and sorrow unify our
people, and bestow upon them a
uniqueness and a strength with-
out equal. Our outlook is guided
by victory in war, but even more
by the hope of achieving peace.
Tranquility is not yet ours, but
the improvement of relations with
Egypt shows that peace is possi-
ble. and our departure from Leba-
non will show that we can secure
peace for Galilee from our own
border.
"Our strength derives from
within, from the closing of our
ranks, from the bravery of our
sons and daughters, from the re-
vitalization of old. economy . . ."
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