4 Friday, April 18, 1986 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 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 48076-4138 Telephone (313) 354-6060 • PUBLISHER: Charles A. Buerger EDITOR EMERITUS: Philip Slomovitz EDITOR: Gary Rosenblatt CbNSULTANT: Carmi M. Slomovitz ART DIRECTOR: Kim Muller-Thym NEWS EDITOR: Alan Hitsky LOCAL NEWS EDITOR: Heidi Press LOCAL COLUMNIST:.Danny Raskin ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES: Lauri Biafore Allan Craig Rick.Nessel Danny Raskin If The U.S. Beats Qaddafi Will Terrorism Disappear? BY VICTOR M. BIENSTOCK Special to The Jewish News OFFICE STAFF: Lynn Fields Marlene Miller Dharlene Norris Phyllis Tyner Pauline Weiss Ellen Wolfe PRODUCTION: Donald Cheshure Cathy Ciccone Curtis Deloye Ralph Orme ©1988 by The Detroit Jewish News (US PS 275-520) Second Class postage paid at Southfield, MishIgan and additional mailing offices. Subscriptions: 1 year - $21 — 2 years - $39 — Out of State - $23 — Foreign - $35 CANDLELIGHTING AT 6:58 P.M. OP-ED VOL. LXXXIX, NO. 8 Daring To Talk . One of the more important issues of the day in the American Jewish community is the widening schism among the various branches of Judaism. We have given the ongoing story a good bit of coverage, beginning last August with a story by Rabbi Yitz Greenberg on whether or not there will be one Jewish people in the year 2000. This week we call our readers attention to a story (see page 34) on a recent conference sponsored by CLAL (the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership), an organization headed by Rabbi Greenberg, which brought together some of the key leaders of the Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist movements in this country in an effort to have them engage in dialogue and address thorny theological questions that, if left unanswered, Could result in the irreparable split of the Jewish people. A parallel effort by the Midrasha concluded this week in Detroit. The format of the CLAL conference had the leaders of each • movement deliver a prepared speech, but they never appeared on the dais at the same time and there was no dialogue. Still, given the climate of alienation, it was an accomplishment just to have them present and offering their suggestions to promote a renewed sense of Jewish unity. Rabbi .Alexander Schindler of the Reform movement called for informal forums among the leaders of the different ideologies, Dr. Norman Lamm of Yeshiva University proposed a National Beth Din to deal with halachic questions and Dr. Greenberg noted that there are millions of dollars spent each year on Christian-Jewish dialogue but hardly any on intra-Jewish dialogue. The issues now dividing the Jewish community are too deep and too basic to be solved at one or two conferences. But this was a start, and there will never be progress unless there are more meetings of the minds where proposals can be explored, ideas challenged and differences aired. , The Cup Of Freedom At sundown next Wednesday, Jewish children around the world will • ask the Mah Nishtanah, that oldest of questions for the youngest of children. As we answer with the answers that we have given for generations past, our hearts will again be filled with the joy of celebrating our freedom, our dignity and our rebirth as a people. More than at most times of the year, we realize at Passover that the world is not a gentle place, that the freedom which we celebrate is only . an abstraction for many. And particularly at Passover, we realize our longing for the world that is envisioned in the portion of the Torah that is read on the eighth day of Pesach: And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie - down'with the kid . . . None shall hurt or destroy, for the earth shall be as full of intimacy with the Lord as the waters fill' the sky. Only when this occurs will the full promise of Passover have been realized. Only then will all our brethren —*Jew and gentile alike — have drunk from the sweet cup of freedom. And only then will the youngest child have an answer to his four questions that can truly satisfy his inquisitiveness.. , Is the policy on terrorism now taking shape in Washington being too narrowly focussed on Libya and its highly visible leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, at the expense of a comprehensive program to pre- vent its international manifesta- tions? Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is one of the mounting number of experts concerned over the Reagan Administration's absorp- tion with the Libyan role and its failure to develop a united approach to the problem of international ter- rorism involving our European al- lies. He chided them for their failure to support American attempts to enforce economic sanctions against Lybia and their reluctance to take a firm stand. -Kissinger, who was probably more deeply' involved in the Middle East during his tour of office than any of his 'predecessors or followers, referred, in a TV interview with Ted Koppel, the ABC commentator, to the terrorist bases in Syria, the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon and Beirut and stressed President Hafez Assad's responsibility for terrorism. In the current Administration concentration on Libya and Qaddafi, Syria and Assad have escaped all but minor censure, Iran, whose fanatical Shiites have been responsi- ble for some of the worst of the anti-American outrages, has largely been ignored of late. We have had a schizophrenic approach to Yassir Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organization; they have been routinely condemned for their con- tinued use of violence while at the same time, our State Department represntatives give the organization recognition and status by doggedly continuing attempts to bring it into the Arab-Israel negotiating process. President Reagan and his secu- rity advisers appear to be convinced that Qaddafi was directly responsi- ble for the terror bombing of a West Berlin disco frequented by American soldiers. They flatly blame Libya and want friendly nations to expel Libyan diplomats; `involved in actual In the current Administration concentration on Libya and Qaddafi, Syria and Assad have escaped all but minor censure. ' or potential terrorist activities." 'Their public comments seem to imply that if Qaddafi were neut- ralized, international – terrorism would fade away. Official Washington reportedly seeks the approval of our European allies for some form of military op- eration against Qaddafi. The pros- pects do not appear promising; the Europeans have too many economic ties with Libya, closer proximity and a strong fear of Libyan retaliation. They refused to go along with Re- agan last year when he. called for economic sanctions against Libya and they were strongly critical when Reagan swung the big stick at Qad- dafi in the Gulf of Sidra in February over freedom of the seas. Their relations with Libya are such that, for example, despite the memory of lasy year's incident when British police laid seige to the Li- byan Embassy, Libyan fighter pilots are still being trained in England by the Royal Air Force. There was an Continued on Page 24