4 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, June 14, 1985 THE JEWISH NEWS Serving Detroit's Metropolitan Jewish Community with distinction for four decades. Editorial and Sales offices at 20300 Civic Center Dr., Suite 240, Southfield, Michigan 48076 Telephone (313) 354-6060 PUBLISHER: Charles A. Buerger EDITOR EMERITUS: Philip Slomovitz EDITOR: Gary Rosenblatt BUSINESS MANAGER: Carmi M. Slomovitz ART DIRECTOR: Kim Muller-Thym NEWS EDITOR: Alan Hitsky LOCAL NEWS EDITOR: Heidi Press EDITORIAL ASSISTANT: Tedd Schneider LOCAL COLUMNIST: Danny Raskin OFFICE STAFF: Marlene Miller Dharlene Norris Phyllis Tyner Pauline Weiss Ellen Wolfe PRODUCTION: Donald Cheshure ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES: Cathy Ciccone Lauri Biafore Curtis Deloye Allan Craig Ralph Orme Rick Nessel Danny Raskin © 1985 by The Detroit Jewish News (US PS 25-520) • Second Class postage paid at Southfield, Michigan and additional mailing offices. Subscriptions: 1 year - $21 — 2 years - $39 — Out of State - $23 — Foreign - $35 CANDLELIGHTING AT 8:50 P.M. VOL. LXXXVII, NO. 16 Russian Roulette protests and demonstrations are almost Wash in commonplace. They are part of the pulse of the city, part of the civic dialogue that comes with being the nation's capital. But two sets of demonstrations at two different embassies in Washington have raised some troubling questions. Since last January, more than 2,000 people have been arrested outside the South African Embassy. They have been demanding an end to apartheid. But after being taken to a D.C. police station, they are not prosecuted. About a mile and a half from the South African Embassy is the embassy of the Soviet Union. On May 1, 24 rabbis and a Lutheran minister were arrested for protesting the Soviet Union's treatment of Jews. They will be proSecuted for violating a 1937 statute banning demonstrations within 500 feet of an embassy. Last Monday, 21 rabbis were arrested for the same offense. They, too, will be prosecuted. The government has absolute discretion in deciding which cases it will prosecute. It has no legal duty to prosecute every offense. The decision to level charges only against those outside the Soviet Embassy clearly illustrates a double standard on the part of Joseph diGenova, U.S. District Attorney for the capital. But one can only assume that diGenova's selective prosecution has its genesis in some sub rosy agreement with the respective embassies. South Africans have publicly asked that those demonstrating outside their doors not be tried. Nothing has been heard — publicly, at least — from the Soviets about the rabbis who blew shofars and read the Torah and spoke about freedom for their brethren. But it is highly probable that the Russians have not been as amenable as their South African counterparts and have let diGenova know he should treat the rabbis as would any good commissar in the Soviet Union — try them and, preferably, throw the book at them. But this is not the Soviet Union. And diGenova is not a commissar. He is an adjunct of the United States government and, as such, he should not be influenced by an efforts by the Soviet government to interject itself into the internal affairs of the United States. American law must be leveled fairly and equitably and without regard to such external questions as foreign relations. To do so could conceivably turn our law into a tool of the State Department and not the Justice Department and make a mockery of the essence of our judicial system. - - Endless Pressures An analysis of problems in the Middle East, appearing in the New York Times Magazine under the title "Israel's Defense — As Good as Ever?" by Drew Middleton, the recognized expert on military problems, concludes: " 'Defend' is the operative word. It is difficult to see the post-Lebanon generation of Israelis invading an enemy country. It is equally difficult to see them failing to smash an invader. But there can be no doubt that as Arab military power expands, Israel will face a hazardous period. "In the end, the Israelis know that their salvation and security are in their hands and their hands alone. And they find little consolation in the knowledge that those hands are not now as full as they would like with what is necessary for their survival." Chiefly, Israel depends upon herself for her safety and future progress. To guarantee such continuity, the encouragement provided Israel and the Israelis must never be reduced or polluted. OP-ED Splitting The Campaign: Home Vs. Israel Priorities BY BEN ZION LEUCHTER Slowly and tragically, the fabric of timers" prefer not to see the connec- the American Jewish community, tion between the local Jewish commu- painstakingly woven over many de- nity's future and the financial sub- cades, is now being torn apart by two sidies given by the federations today to Jewish education and Jewish well-meaning groups. The first, in their love and concern cultural/social activity. They bitterly c.; for Israel, are supernationalists. Most resent being asked to "pick up the tab" for the children of families whose life were born before 1940. Their memory cells are seared by the cumulative Jewish experience of the past 1,900 years. They know what life was like There is sufficient when there was no Jewish state. Israel has given them, justifiably, a new affluence for us to meet our sense of pride, and they have re- responsibilities both sponded to Israel's needs emotionally locally and abroad if we and financially. They want every possible dollar of what they contribute could stop pulling apart ... to the annual fund-raising campaign to be sent to national United Jewish A pp eal hob" dqu.n.rt 'pro iu New Yor-k-"-- City, for transmission to Israel. Al- styles suggest that they have money though they accept in principle the for everything else but the respon- idea of an organized, functioning sibilities of Jewish peoplehood. Jewish community, in general they The younger parents, on the other regard local Jewish education and so- hand, say Diaspora communities, with cial welfare needs as less compelling creative and competent educational, than Israel's needs. cultural and recreational programs, The second group tend to be are vital if there is to be understanding younger. They are the local equivalent of and support for Israel a generation of national-level isolationists in that hence. their attention and concern are fo- Each of the two groups, of course, cused primarily on their home com- is partially right and partially wrong. munity. All Jews in every generation There is sufficient affluence for us to are admonished to regard themselves meet our responsibilities both, locally as having been slaves in the land of and abroad if we could stop pulling Egypt, but this group seems not to be apart and begin reweaving our Jewish able to take the next step and to con- community fabric. sider themselves equally as survivors The first step is an end to of the Holocaust, and there is not much negativism. "Who shot John?" isn't as of a bond between them and Israel, the important a question as "How can we people and/or the land. They object to better understand one another?" the large sums of money that are sent The second step, unless somebody overseas, and what they consider un- can suggest something better, is an balanced allocations is their excuse for outreach program. Leaders of the fed- minimal giving to the local Jewish eration "establishment" will have to campaigns or for rejecting them make the effort to initiate private entirely. meetings with those who have been Because in most cases their sons conspicuously uninvolved in the- , _ and daughters are adults now, the "old Jewish community, in their financial ■.■