EDITORIAL
Determining A Jew
The Israeli Knesset vote last week rejecting any changes in the
wording of the Law of Return was an excellent example of why the
Knesset should not be empowered to make such decisions.
By a 62-53 vote, the Knesset rejected a bill aimed at redefining
the official Israeli position on Who Is A Jew in a way that would
have effectively denied the legitimacy of Reform and Conservative
Judaism. As currently written, the law provides that any Jew in the
world can come to Israel and obtain immediate citizenship. A Jew
is defined in the law as anyone born of a Jewish mother or converted
to Judaism.
Orthodox parties have sought to include the words converted to
Judaism "according to the Halacha," or Jewish law. This in effect
would rule out for immediate citizenship those Jews converted by
Conservative or Reform rabbis, who are not recognized by Israel's
Chief Rabbis as authentic agents of Jewish law.
Leaving aside, for the moment, the implications of how such a
change would alienate the vast majority of Jews in the world, who
are not Orthodox, it should be noted that the swing votes in the
Knesset on this major issue were in the control of six Arab members
of the Israeli parliament.
Both proponents and opponents of the legislation should agree
that it is odd for a handful of Arabs who are members of an Israel
secular body to determine who is a Jew anywhere in the world.
A growing number of Jewish thinkers have proposed that the
deep theological question of who is a Jew should not be left to a
secular political body, the Knesset, and should rather be determin-
ed by a representative body of rabbis and Jewish scholars. The
essence of Jewish identity should not be the result of a majority vote
by politicians; the issue at hand is citizenship in the State of Israel,
not who and who is not a Jew.
Klinghoffer, the elderly Jewish invalid murdered by Palestinian ter-
rorists aboard the cruise ship Achille Lauro, and the Los Angeles
bombing death of Alex Odeh, West Coast regional director of the
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
Hundley's logic, and the Arab community's, falls very flat in com-
paring newspaper coverage of the two murders. The identity and pur-
pose of Klinghoffer's murderers is well known, and the coverge of
the Achille Lauro hijacking, the interception of an Egyptian airliner
by U.S. jets, the release of some of the terrorists by Italy and the
subsequent trial of the others at the end of a spate of terrorist in-
cidents riveted the world's attention for months.
Odeh's death, as tragic as Klinghoffer's, as tragic as the murder
of teenagers in Detroit or the murder of any individual, did not
receive the same media attention. No one has ever been accused in
the case, save for a loose-lipped FBI official's assertion that the bom-
bing had the earmarks of the Jewish Defense League. It is an opi-
nion that has never been substantiated. Intra-Arab rivalries could
just as easily be blamed. There has been no evidence to report. There
has been no conclusion to compare.
The Jewish community has been supportive of the Arab communi-
ty's efforts to combat racism, both in organization and in the courts.
It is time to continue the fight against prejudice, instead of creating it.
Shadowy Prejudice
The Arab community in the United States is justified in its con-
cern over anti Arab prejudice in this country. A Detroit Free Press
series last week documented incidents of discrimination against the
American Arab community, and even printed the series under the
"World of Difference" heading denoting the year-long media project
sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith.
Reporter Tom Hundley, however, took on the tone of bias his ar-
ticles were trying to combat when he linked two 1985 episodes. In
an effort to demonstrate media bias against the Arab community,
Hundley took great pains to compare the October 1985 deaths of Leon
LETTERS
Pickets Not
Lubavitchers
Your July 3 article concer-
ning the Council of Orthodox
Rabbis dinner ("Rabbis Hear
Critique") stated, "The rabbi
and the pickets claim to be
members of the Lubavitch
Community . . ."
The pickets never claimed
to be members of the
Lubavitch community, and
their leaflets did not even
suggest that they were.
Having spoken to many
members of the Lubavitch
community, I can say that not
all agreed with the Lubavitch
Foundation of Michigan that
(the protest) was a Chilul
6
FRIDAY, JULY 17, 1987
Hashem (public desecration).
Instead of hiding behind a
foundation, they should have
issued a signed statement.
Jerry Cohen
Oak Park
I am one of the picketers
referred to in the article "A
Soviet Critique." It is in-
teresting to me that your
paper includes me in the
Lubavitch movement.
Although from time to time I
do go to services at the
Lubavitch synagogue and
have been a supporter of
Lubavitch, I wouldn't say that
I was Lubavitcher.
I am a supporter of Rabbi
David Nerenberg, who is a
Lubavitcher. When your
paper infers that I am, it is in
slight error. I deplore any
discrimination against him
because of that, especially by
other Jewish organizations.
Those of the Lubavitch
movement of Michigan that
say what we as picketers are
doing is a chilul hashem are
the very ones in the power
hierarchies, who other
Lubavitchers have already
disassociated themselves
from for the error of their
ways. Lord knows the chilul
hashem is theirs, and God
willing, will be proven in
court and not by buying ads
in your paper.
Michael Ben Abraham
Oak Park
Autocratic
Actions
Your readers should know
that the departure of Rabbi
Stanley Rosenbaum from
Cong. B'nai Moshe was by no
means the overwhelming
desire of the congregation's
membership. Unfortunately,
the cabal currently in control
of B'nai Moshe's board of
directors seems to think that
it is "the congregation" (as in,
l'etat c'est moi). At no time
were the members of the con-
gregation asked about their
feelings towards their rabbi.
This, and other autocratic
actions on the part of the
B'nai Moshe officers, has
resulted in the departure not
only of Rabbi Rosenbaum but
of several long-time members.
The haimishe shul has, alas,
become a place without a true
Jewish soul.
Barbara Lewis
Oak Park
Papal Audience
"No Surprise"
In recent years the Roman
Catholic Church under the
leadership of Pope John Paul
II has attempted to reshape
the image from an anti-
Semitic body to a pro-Semitic
body. John Paul goes to
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