An Oasis Of Peace
8
Roots Behind The Iron Curtain
29
Mike Burstyn Is At Home On The Stage
112
Impassioned Plea From Yosef Mendelvich 79
THE jEWISITI. NE
SERVING DETROIT'S METROPOLITAN JEWISH COMMUNITY
THIS ISSUE 50c
NOVEMBER 8, 1985
Soviet Jews:
Free At Last?
Rumors are flyiniabout a
major breakthrough in the
long struggle to bring the
Jews of Russia to Israel.
BY ARTHUR J. MAGIDA
Special to The Jewish News
As the two superpowers get
nearer to their Nov. 19 summit in
Geneva and the possibility increases
of peace talks in the Middle East,
reports are becoming more and more
common that large numbers of Jews
will soon leave the Soviet Union.
Estimates of the numbers of
Jews that may leave the USSR
range from 3,000 a month for sev-
eral years to 15,000 over a few
months to 400,000 over three years.
Speculation on the dates they may
leave the Soviet Union range from
just before the Geneva summit or
during the first week in December or
whenever — if ever — the Russians
decide to issue exit visas.
Some of these rumors have been
tracked to a report two weeks ago in
the French newspaper, Le Monde,
that Soviet leader Mikhail Gor-
bachev had asked France to fly sev-
eral thousand Soviet Jews to Israel
on a special airlift. Other rumors
have been percolating from the
offices of Soviet Jewry groups in the
U.S., from press conferences held by
Israeli officials — and from the un-
s Jewish Vietnam
veterans still repress the
bitterness for their experiences
in 'Nam . and at home.
Continued on Page 76
Israel Withstands
Tree Press' Scrutiny
Publisher David Lawrence defends the
Detroit daily's interest and emphasis.
BY ALAN HITSKY
News Editor
David Lawrence
Jr. calls Israel one
of the world's great
democracies — and
therefore able to
withstand the close inspection of
major, in-depth articles in his Detroit
Free Press.
Lawrence's "Morning Friendly"
— he has been publisher of the Free
Press since January and one of its
executives for almost seven years —
recently completed its third major
series in four years on Israel and the
Palestinians.
While writer Stephen Franklin's
latest series, "Israel: What Next?,"
was in the publication stage, Lawr-
ence and his Jewish wife, Roberta,
joined two prominent Detroit Jewish
couples for an eight-day trip to Is-
rael and three days in Egypt.
Lawrence returned to Detroit
and published an article Oct. 20
which reflected Franklin's series. He
wrote brief sketches, presenting
views of Israeli leaders, Jewish and
Arab citizens, and Palestinians in
the territories.
It would be awfully arrogant of
me to come back and say I have any
honest expertise," Lawrence told The
Jewish News after his Oct. 20 arti-
cle. "I'm here to listen as much as
anything else."
After listening to Paul Borman's
views on Israel and the Middle East
for many years, the Lawrences de-
cided to join Paul and Marlene Bor-
man and Robert and Susan Sosnick
for their October Middle East visit.
"Paul and I have had a running dis-
cussion over the years about Israel,"
Lawrence said. "From time to time
I've reflected Paul's wishes for
different kinds and sorts of coverage
on the editorial page, or news cover-
age."
Does this mean that the Free
Press can be swayed by its readers
or advertisers?
Continued on Page 24
Rona Jaffe
Skipped Her
Reunion
See Page 38
Births
B'nai Mitzvah
Business
Classified Ads
Editorials
Obituaries
Purely Commentary
Danny Raskin ... . .
Singles
Synagogues
Weddings
Women's News
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