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JEWISH NEWS T-SHIRT 20300 Civic Center Dr. Southfield, Mich. 48076-4138 NAME This offer is for new subscriptions only. Cur- rent subscribers may order the T-shirt for $4.75. Allow four weeks delivery. ADDRESS CITY (Circle One) (Circle One) ZIP 1 year: '24 2 years: $45 Out of State 526 Enclosed $ ADULT EX. La L 14 STATE FRIDAY, SEPT. 11, 1987 ADULT LARGE ADULT MED. CHILD LARGE CHILD MED. CHILD SMALL I "and don't care or understand why Israel can't be a new America, a copy of America. It is superficial to think that way. If Israel should be another America, then why live in Israel? They don't understand that Israel needs a strong national identity!" He called for more mean- ingful dialogue between Israeli and American Jews, such as the annual forums sponsored by the World Young Leadership Assembly. Shcharansky is well aware that he is the focus of intense speculation about his own religiosity, in view of the fact that during his long im- prisonment his wife, Avital, became strictly observant. But he is his own man and seems completely comfortable within himself. "I am a secular Jew," he said, "though to me I am a religious Jew in my own way moving towards God!' He resents how people try to interpret his inner feelings from outward signs, like whether or not he wears a kippah. (He wore a kippah when he spoke in the sanc- tuary at Beth Tfiloh Syna- gogue in Baltimore and dur- ing his meeting with local rabbis.) "When it becomes necessary during my [spiritu- al] progression to wear a kip- pah, then I will," he says simply, noting that his Or- thodox friends , have never pressured him to become more observant though secu- larists encourage him not to "give in" and become Or- thodox. "It is very sad," he says. Shcharansky adds that he deplores "intolerance on both sides" of the religious-secular conflict in Israel, and feels modern Orthodox Jews can play a pacifying role. A fiercely independent man, Shcharansky has learn- ed that it is difficult to work within the organized Jewish community while staying free of organizational ties. He pays his own way on trips to and from America and has turned down lucrative offers to speak on behalf of major Jewish organizations. With little patience for nay- sayers, Shcharansky plans to protest the UN appearance of Soviet Foreign Minister Shevardnadze in New York on Sept. 22, though it is just before Rosh Hashanah and Jewish professionals have warned that many people will not attend. "I say what better way to start the new year than to do something for one's conscience?' He is also critical of Jewish organizations for "retreat- ing" under the pressure of Glasnost and for exhibiting what he perceives as a reluc- tance to criticize the USSR for fear of appearing unpopular. He said it is vital that American Jews continue to visit refuseniks, to protest on their behalf and to write let- ters to them, whether or not they receive feedback. "They [the refuseniks] could not sur- vive without your support!' Shcharansky smiles when asked about the rivalry bet- ween two national organiza- tions working on behalf of Soviet Jewry, the National Conference of Soviet Jewry and the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews. "When you smuggle documents from the Soviet Union to the West," he said, "it seems you have to smuggle two copies, one for the National Conference and one for the Union!' But he said that while he does not af- filiate with either, he works with both. "I learned from Avital not to take sides!' Shcharansky has been spending much of his time these last months in Israel writing his autobiography, due to be published next fall. He says he has no plans beyond the book, though "I must make a decision in the next three or four months." As for the writing of the book, he calls it a liberating ex- perience to describe his prison years. "It is a relief to write it down and, in a sense, take it out of me. I needed to write this book," he conclud- ed, "to free myself." G.R. AJWS To Aid Togo Farmers Montreal (JTA) — President Gnassingbe Eyadema of 'Ibgo met Sept. 3, in Quebec City wih Laurence Simon, presi- dent of the American Jewish World Service, to finalize plans with AJWS for assist- ance with the critical problem of grain, storage in Togo. The meeting with Eyadema was the culmination of a series of meetings between Simon and Togolese officials including, Foreign Minister Yaovi Adodo and U.N. Am- bassador Kwam Kauassi. In those discussions, the AJWS said, Adodo emphasiz- ed his country's numerous unsuccessful attempts at decreasing post-harvest grain losses which reach 40 percent in good years and in poor years can be as high as 60 percent. Simon travelled to Quebec City at Eyadema's in- vitation, where the president was attending a meeting of franco-phone nations.