THE EWISH NEWS

THIS ISSUE 60c

SERVING DETROIT'S JEWISH COMMUNITY

AUGUST 28, 1987 / 3 ELUL 5747

Battle For Souls
Takes To The Streets

HELEN DAVIS

Special to The Jewish News

SPECIAL
BACK-TO-
SCHOOL
SECTION

Jerusalem — Some 15,000 Or-
thodox Israelis gathered at the
Western Wall in Jerusalem Monday
evening to read Psalms and blow the
shofar, a mass pray-in to protest the
screening of movies in Jerusalem on
the Sabbath.
The rally, which did not produce
an anticipated clash between
religious and secular groups, was
organized jointly by the ultra-
Orthodox Agudat Yisrael and Shas
parties, in conjunction with the
moderate National Religious Party.
Four Jerusalem cinemas which
opened for business last Friday night
reported full houses, and a spokesman
for the left-wing Mapam Party an-
nounced this week that negotiations
are under way for more cinemas to
open on Friday evenings in the future.
Relations between the religious
and secular communities in
Jerusalem have reached a new low
over the Sabbath screenings, with
ultra-Orthodox leaders threatening to
instruct their followers to withhold
municipal taxes if the city does not

enforce legislation which bars com-
mercial activity on the Sabbath.
One of the most significant
developments of the crisis is that it
has created a rare degree of common
cause between the staunchly Zionist
National Religious Party and the non-
Zionist ultra-Orthodox groups.
The battle for the soul of
Jerusalem was also articulated in the
conflicting editorials of Israeli
newspapers.

The National Religious Party's
daily newspaper, Hatzofeh, called on
Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek to
stop the Sabbath movies, "lest the ci-
ty become a place in which anything
goes."
"Jerusalem," said the newspaper,
"must retain its uniqueness and its
holiness. That is its obligation, and it
is also the desire of most residents of
the city who sanctify and are sanc-

Continued on Page 18

Peres Backing Away
From Lavi Support

Jerusalem — Israel's controversial
Lavi jet fighter suffered a potentially
fatal blow this week when Labor Par-
ty leader and Foreign Minister
Shimon Peres indicated that he was
ready to withdraw his support for the
project.
The cabinet, which has been even-
ly divided on the issue, is scheduled
to make a final decision on the fate
of the Lavi at its weekly meeting next
Sunday.

.

Peres is understood to favor scrapp-
ing the present project and replacing
it with a package of three alternative
projects:
• The development and produc-
tion of the Lavi 2000 — a far more
sophisticated version of the present
Lavi which will serve Israel's needs
well into the next century;
in
participation
• Israeli
the development of the next genera-

Continued on Page 18

same milestone
from different
directions