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Current subscribers may order the tote bag for $5. Allow four weeks delivery. Please clip coupon and mail to: JEWISH NEWS TOTE BAG 20300 Civic Center Dr. Southfield, Mich. 48076-4138 NAME ADDRESS CITY STAITE_ZIP (Circle 1 year: $24 — 2 years: $45 — Out of State: $26 — Foreign: $38 One) Enclosed $ 30 Friday, March 13, 1987 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS OP-ED Diaspora Continued from Page 7 Rabbi Gunther Plaut, past president of the Central Con- ference of American Rabbis, and Rabbi David Gordis, head of the American Jewish Committee, pleaded for greater religious pluralism in Israel. Congressman Howard L. Wolpe of Michigan and Her- man W. Nickel, former U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, raised telling and unpopular questions concerning sanc- tions against South Africa. Holocaust education and pr- ogramming for greater inter- faith understanding were dis- cussed by experts who shared their experiences. Vatican- Israel relations and their im- plications for Catholics and Jews were reviewed by ex- perts. Such wide-spread interests as these indicate how valid, how kaleidoscopic, are the interests of American Jewry. Of course we Jews must support Israel. We do. The litmus test of political candi- dates, so far as Jews are con- cerned, is how they support Israel. But to support Israel alone, as a single issue con- cern, and to ignore other gut issues vital to many Ameri- can Jews, is neither healthy nor wise. We need to spend time and money to implement the is- sues of a good society that guarantees the safety and se- curity of American Jews. Our agenda must include the cel- ebration of the 200th an- niversary of the Constitution. Soviet Jews can never be for- gotten. The Holocaust needs constant remembering. Our synagogues and temples, our culture and devotion to Jewish learning, our em- phasis on charity, all makes us a multi-issue community. We need American Jews — especially young men and women — to involve them- selves in leadership respon- sibilities, be it in the po- litical, social, religious, charitable or intellectual and artistic areas of Jewish life in order to regenerate enthusiasm, to enhance the Jewish way of life in the Diaspora. Let no one misunderstand: I believe in Israel. I support Israel. I speak up for Israel. Israel needs all the help she can get. Her situation is des- perate. We all need to rally around her in whatever way we can to strengthen her. But let's not forget there is some- thing else involved with Jewish survival besides Is- rael. That is the Diaspora. Let's face it. Most of the Jews in the U.S., Canada, England, France even USSR, are not moving to Israel. They are going to live where they are in a pluralistic society. How they live as Jews, the quality of their Jewish life, is of prime impo- rtance. A genuine Jewish life can be lived anywhere. Jews cluster in com- munities and face their com- munal problems jointly. Old people need to be cared for, not cast aside. Young people need recreation camps and centers. Families with pr- oblems need counseling and social workers. Anti-Semitism is not dead. It has only gone under- ground, to surface in different forms. When an international body like the UN can label Zionism as racism, we are not far past the medieval age of bigotry and hatred. Jews still need to band together for mutual protection and de- fense, to interpret to the broader community our true goals and values, lest stereotypes be believed and our rights be abridged. Judaism and Jewish life must thrive in the Diaspora. It isn't enough to make Israel a substitute religion and put all our energies in that direc- tion, leaving to chance our commitment to Jewish life in the Diaspora. Israel needs the Diaspora, of course! The re- cord of the Diaspora's support of Israel is a proud one that must be continued. But what about Israel's recognition that there must be a viable, exciting, thriving Diaspora? Jewish life cannot be a one-way street. It is not "either you support Israel or you are not a good Jew." Of course we must support Is- rael. But we must also sup- port and make the Diaspora bloom, too. Dr. Hertz is rabbi emeritus of Temple Beth El and an officer of the Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan Detroit. Experts Debate Iraqi Connection Jerusalem — Israel has not derived any political gain from its involvement in the supply of U.S. weapons to Iran, and therefore it should consider some sort of approach — though not necessarily supply of weapons — to Iraq, two speakers stressed at a program on "Israel Between Iraq and Iran" held recently at the He- brew University of Jerusalem. Participants in the discus- sion were Dr. Amatzia Baram, of the University of Haifa, Dr. David Menashri, of the Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University, and Uri Lubrani, coordinator of Israeli govern- ment activities in Lebanon. Dr. Baram, a specialist on Iraqi affairs, said that Iraq had moved in recent years toward a