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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Friday, May 17, 1985

NEWS

`Who Is A Jew'

Continued from Page 1

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form conversions by adding
the words "according to
Halachah" for conversions.
This would mean that only Or-
thodox conversions would be
accepted by Israel.
Rabbi Spectre's motion
called on all Conservative
rabbis to make the new policy
known to local officers of the
United Jewish Appeal, Jewish
Welfare Federation, Jewish
National Fund and Zionist
groups.
Last February in a local
vote, Detroit's Conservative
rabbis voted 11-1 in favor of
Rabbi Spectre's motion. Rabbi
Milton Arm of Cong. Beth
Achim was the dissenting
vote. He told The Jewish News
that he "walked out before the
vote because I was so angry,
but I would have voted no.
"This means that we don't
accept Yitzhak Shamir and
Moshe Arens, but we do accept
Abba Eban, Shulamit Aloni
and Ezer Weizman — they're
not entirely kosher." He also
included the Arab Communist
MK, Tewfik Toabi.
Rabbi Arm said that he re-
sents the resolution because it
limits the freedom of expres-
sion. "I resent very much," he
said, "that people who ask for
freedom of expression and
speech will deny it for someone
else . . . That kind of thinking
and action can only splinter
further the Jewish commu-
nity."
The local rabbis who voted
in favor of the ban in February
were Robert Abramson, Hillel
Day School; Irwin Groner and
Kenneth Cohen, Shaarey
Zedek; Noah Gamze,
Downtown Synagogue; Ben-

jamin Gorrelick, rabbi
emeritus at Beth Achim;
David Nelson, Beth Shalom;
Stanley Rosenbaum, B'nai
Moshe; A. Irving Schnipper,
Beth Abraham Hillel Moses;
Efry Spectre, Adat Shalom;
and Rabbi Max Weine.
Rabbi Spectre responded to
Rabbi Arm's criticism. He said
that not everyone who voted
with Conservative and Reform
on the "Who Is A Jew" ques-
tion was necessarily "right" on
all issues, or was auto-
matically a welcome guest in
every synagogue. "But we
should not give honor to those
who do not recognize our
validity."
"Who defines 'according to
Halachah?' " Rabbi Spectre
asked. "It can become a politi-
cal football, as it has." He said
that many of the MKs who
voted in favor of the motion
had no understanding of the
Conservative movement, nor
its importance in the Ameri-
can Jewish community.
"I am an American Jew. I
believe in pluralism. I respect
the rights of others to practice
as they wish. At Adat Shalom I
question. But I don't question
others (outside Adat Shalom).
"Why," Rabbi Spectre
asked, "should somebody who
is Orthodox be automatically
kosher, and somebody who is
Conservative be auto-
matically treife?"
"I don't have to fight this
fight," he said. "My converts
(at Adat Shalom) can fight this
fight. They are good Jews.
They were converted properly.
But now I hear them wonder-
ing aloud, 'Are they discredit-
ing my Judaism?'"

NY Archbishop Calls
Dachau Trip 'Compelling'

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New York (JTA) — Wearing a
red yarmulke he had been given
only moments earlier, Cardinal-
designate John O'Connor told
some 2,500 members and guests of
Sutton Place Synagogue that his
visit to Dachau was "the most
compelling experience of my life."
Archbiship O'Connor, who flies
to Rome next week for his investi-
ture as a prince of the church, was
warmly received by the Jewish
audience in the opening event of
the synagogue's Jewish Town
Hall series. It was his first ap-
pearance in a synagogue since be-
coming Archbishop of New York
over a year ago.
The Catholic leader called the
Holocaust "a mystery that can
never be washed away, any more
than the Crucifixion can be
washed away. Let it be seared into
every heart and every being, so
that each of us will remember to
look at every other human as
someone made in the image and

likeness of God," he said.
In response to a question on the
effectiveness of demonstrations
for Soviet Jewry, Archbishop
O'Connor replied: "These demon-
strations are tremendously im-
portant because their ultimate
impact is in Washington. We
must make it consistently clear
that the Soviet Jewry movement
in this country is a serious matter,
and that our government must re-
spond. This is a valid and legiti-
mate way to influence the makers
of public policy — and we must
never falter."
The Cardinal-designate had
greeted Soviet Jewry marchers
from the steps of St. Patrick's
Cathedral during the Soviet
Jewry Solidarity Day.
On Catholic-Jewish relations,
Archbishop O'Connor said he was
"gratified bit not satisfied" at the
progress made since the Vatican
Council acted 20 years ago in issu-
ing "Nostra Aetate."