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December 12, 1986 - Image 4

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1986-12-12

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

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
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER: Arthur M. Horwitz
EDITOR EMERITUS: Philip Slomovitz
EDITOR: Gary Rosenblatt
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: Elie Wiesel
ART DIRECTOR: Kim Muller-Thym
NEWS EDITOR: Alan Hitsky
LOCAL NEWS EDITOR: Heidi Press
STAFF WRITER: David Holzel
LOCAL COLUMNIST: Danny Raskin

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES:
Lauri Biafore
Millie Felch
Randy Marcuson
Rick Nessel
Danny Raskin

OFFICE STAFF:
Lynn Fields
Percy Kaplan
Pauline Max
Marlene Miller
Dharlene Norris
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 - S21 — 2 years - S39 — Out of State - S23 — Foreign - S35

CANDLELIGHTING AT 4:43 P.M.

VOL. XC, NO. 16

Assuring The Consumer

After years of hearing, and sometimes publishing, charges and
counter-charges between the rabbis and the Detroit area kosher butchers,
The Jewish News has been pleasantly surprised by the high reputation
Detroit's kosher meat industry enjoys around the country. The weeks of
research that led to today's Close-Up report "Kosher Consistency" (see
Page 14), convince us that the reputation is deserved, despite several
areas of dispute.
It was our intention to compare Detroit to, other cities in kosher
slaughtering of beef, wholesale and retail practices, and consumer .
protection. The report is aimed at the consumer, rather than at the area
butchers or the Council of Orthodox Rabbis, and the consumer should be
gratified by the findings.
Friction remains between the rabbis and the butchers, but several
steps are being taken to remove trouble spots. The rabbis are in the
process of hiring a full-time kashrut administrator to standardize its
supervisory practices and policies.
An even stronger step for consumer protection is state legislation to
close a gaping loophole in the Michigan kosher food law. Speedy work by
representatives of the Council of Orthodox Rabbis and the Michigan
Department of Agriculture should lead to a comprehensive proposal for
Michigan lawmakers. They must place a fair and efficient enforcement
mechanism in the hands of state inspectors. This step will remove years
of contention and bitterness that have built up between the butchers and
the rabbis. More importantly, it will assure the - consumer that he is
getting what he is paying for at a fair price.
Other questions remain on the wholesale and retail levels. But the
Council of Orthodox Rabbis should be applauded for its intention to
appoint an administrator and to initiate legislation. These two moves are
essential to lift Detroit's kosher meat industry to a level enjoying
unquestioned consumer confidence.

Converted Ruling

The Israeli Supreme Court decision barring officials from labeling
converts to Judaism as "converts" on their Israeli identity papers is a
wise ruling that should help ease tension. Reform, Conservative and some
Orthodox leaders in the U.S. had been upset that such a lebel would
distinguish between born Jews and converts. The Conservative and
Reform leaders viewed the labeling attempt as a means of further
invalidating the status of their movements.
The court ruling nullified an administrative decision last June by
Interior Minister Yitzhak Peretz that required the words "Jewish
(Converted)" stamped on the identity papers of Shoshana Miller, an
American immigrant who had been converted to Judaism by an American
Reform rabbi.
We agree with the court's ruling that such an action would run
counter to Jewish tradition and undermine the unity of the Jewish people.

Morocco's Hassan Reveals
Syria's Long-Term Goals

ABRAHAM H. FOXMAN
KENNETH JACOBSON

T

he irrefutable evidence that
the government of Syria was
directly involved in the at-
tempt to blow up an El Al jet in
London' has focused attention on
Syria as a terrorist state. Many
questions are being asked about Sy-
rian motivation. Much of the puz-
zlement about Assad's behavior,
however, can be clarified by a look
at comments by one of the Middle
East's most respected rulers, King
Hassan of Morocco.
Shortly after his historic meet-
ing with then Prime Minister Shi-
mon Peres, King Hassan held a
press conference for Arab journalists.
Ostensibly Hassan was using the oc-
casion to defend his decision to meet
with Peres. But in so doing he also
made a number of extremely reveal-
ing comments about the Arab world.
The contents of this Arab media
event were largely ignored by the
western press. Nor did Hassan re-
peat his comments to the western
media.
Following are verbatim excerpts
from the conference with regard to
Syria, broadcast live by Radio Rabat
on Aug. 7, with our occasional brief
explanatory commentary or parap-
hrases in brackets:
"I am going to tell you a story
which happened in an Islamic con-
ference in 1984. If the intervention
of the Syrian delegate had not been
open, in front of the camera, the re-
corders and the video, I would not
tell you the following story: The dis-
cussion returned to the topic of
Palestine and the Syrian delegate

Abraham Foxman is associate national
director and Kenneth Jacobson is
director of Middle Eastern affairs,
Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith.

then, i.e., Mr. Abd al-Halim Khad-
dam (now vice president of Syria),
my friend, stood, and said: As re-
gards the issue of Palestine there is
not a young person, a child, a Syrian
child in the primary school, or a
young Syrian at university who does
not dream of the great Umayyad

King Hassan II:
Revealing Syria's expansionist dreams.

state (i.e., "Greater Syria" of the
Arab past, comprising modern day
Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan,
with Damascus at its center).'
"We closed the session, and I
asked him to come see me in the
office. I told him, by God, what is
this you have said and what is
this hotheadedness? He said, 'No,
this is neither hotheadedness nor
anything else. You have to know,
Your Majesty, that the issue of the
Umayyad state for us is the issue of
the" Sahara (i.e., Morocco's disputed
annexation of the former Spanish
Sahara) for you . .
"The territories which are occu-
pied (by Israel) are hot, according to
Syria, to return to (the people of)

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