4 Friday, May 23, 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 'D Suite 240, Southfield, Michigan 48076-4138 Telephone (313) 354-6060 PUBLISHER: Charles A. Buerger ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER: Arthur M. Horwitz EDITOR EMERITUS: Philip Slomovitz EDITOR: Gary Rosenblatt CONSULTANT: Carmi M. Slomovitz ART DIRECTOR: Kim Muller-Thym NEWS EDITOR: Alani-litsky LOCAL NEWS EDITOR: Heidi Press LOCAL COLUMNIST: Danny Raskin ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES: Lauri Biafore Randy Marcuson Judi Monblatt Rick Nessel Danny Raskin OFFICE STAFF: Lynn Fields Percy Kaplan Pauline Max Marlene Miller Dharlene Norris Phyllis Tyner Mary Lou Weiss Pauline Weiss Ellen Wolfe PRODUCTION: Donald Cheshure Cathy Ciccone Curtis Deloye Joy Gardin Ralph Orme © 1986 by The Detroit Jewish News (US PS 275-520) 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 8:35 P.M. VOL. LXXXIX, NO. 13 A Domestic Bitburg President Reagan was not well served when his aides hastily arranged a meeting on Tuesday with a handful of so-called Jewish leaders to promote the Administration's planned sale of military arms to Saudi Arabia. The list of names of attendees pointed out that the criteria for admission to this White House meeting with the President of the United States was based on political affiliation (Republican) and religion (Jewish). It also showed how desperate the President and his men were to reverse the Congressional action blocking the sale of missiles. How else explain why the principal of a Bais Yaakov yeshiva in Boro Park was among the 12 participants at the meeting, which included representatives from the Jewish communities of Nevada and Oklahoma, not known for either their national leadership or representation. The meeting came about because many Republicans who opposed the sale said they could not switch their votes without some "political cover," according to a spokesman for Sen. Richard Lugar, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. Lugar suggested the Administration enlist the support of major Jewish organizations to provide that cover. To their credit, most leaders of major Jewish groups declined to attend such a White House meeting, asserting that they did not want to be "used" by the Administration in a political skirmish between the Congress and the White House. They also contend that the Saudi arms sale is not a Jewish issue per se. Tuesday's incident reminded one of a domestic Bitburg, a case where politics prevailed over common sense and decency and where insensitivity to Jewish concerns was paramount. The White House made a mockery of the concept of national representative Jewish leadership and there is a lesson here for all of us to consider. What Israeli Expert? The Kremlin showed its true colors last week when it called in three medical experts from the West to help deal with the health crisis resulting from the Chernobyl nuclear accident and failed to acknowledge that one of the three experts was an Israeli. Dr. Richard Gale and Dr. Paul Terasaki of Los Angeles were thanked for their assistance by Soviet leader Gorbachev in his television address to the Soviet people, but no mention was made of Yair Reisner, a biophysicist from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, who has developed techniques for a revolutionary method of bone marrow purification. The Soviet authorities disregarded the absence of diplomatic relations between the USSR and Israel and waived normally stringent customs and immigration procedures in giving Reisner a visa upon his arrival. So when the Russians want someone or something badly enough, they manage to look the other way when it comes to the rules. But they couldn't bring themselves to tell their people that a doctor from Israel is making an historic medical and humanitarian contribution to the motherland. „ OP-ED The Mormon Center Case Is Mistaken Democracy BY MOSHE DANN Special to The Jewish News Jerusalem — John Hart's article in The Jewish News, "Israel's Mor- mon Dilemma" (April 11), misrepre- sents this issue as the inherent con- flict between being a Jewish state and a full-fledged democracy." This approach brings into question Israeli society itself, and deflects the real issues away from the Mormons and the local scandal. Today is Holocaust Day (May 5) in Israel. All public places of entertainment are closed this eve- ning by law, and enforced by high fines, and if necessary, jail. One might argue this infringes on the desires of those who wish to remain open for business. Yet, it does not af- fect our democracy. In fact, it makes it stronger. This is an example of what Israel is all about. It also tells us something about the fuss over an attempt by the Mormon Church to build a huge missionary center in the heart of Jerusalem. The desire of foreign organizations to establish centers here which are inimical to the char- acter of the city and the purposes of the state, raise serious doubts about its propriety. The question of the Mormons here is whether they have concealed their true intentions in Israel, their past missionary work, and their true concerns about Jews. For' example, one of the most interesting state- ments in Hart's article is this: "Exactly how the Mormons went about procuring their campus is far from clear." How is this possible when such an important issue and piece of property is at stake? What are the Mormons and Mayor Kollek hiding? The Mormons (and Hart) try to Former Detroiter Moshe Dann is a resident of Jerusalem. present this as an issue of "religious and academic freedom." It is nothing of the sort! There has never been, nor is there now, opposition to a Mormon presence in Israel. They have three regularly advertised church centers in Israel, a training center, and other property. But a Mormon center next to the Hebrew Have the Mormons concealed their true intentions in Israel, their past missionary work, and their true concerns about Jews? University that will, in one way or another, sooner or later be used in their missionary work will never be accepted here. This past summer, Jeffrey Hol- land, president of Brigham Young University (the Mormon university), reiterated that the center would in- clude "educational and cultural pro- grams" that would also promote the interests of the church. A score of church documents confirm these plans. Until a few months ago, the Mormons (and their spokesmen) had been saying that in the nearly two decades that they have been in Is- rael they have never engaged in missionary work in Israel. When documents were revealed that pro- ved that they had baptised Jews and others here, and that they planned to use their new center as a mis- sionary base, they changed their line. Mormons have a special ap- proach to missionary work here. The Continued on Page 38