YEAR IN REVIEW 5747 YEAR IN REVIEW
RABBI MORDECAI WAXMAN, honorary president of the Synagogue Council of America,
presented American Jewish officials' concerns about the Vatican's relations with Jews in general and
Israel in particular, in an historic meeting with Pope John Paul II in Miami. Donna E. Natale, The Miami Jewish Tribune
RELIGION
STEIN BEATIFIED. Pope
John Paul II beatified a Jewish-
born Carmelite nun, originally
Edith Stein, who was killed in
Auschwitz. Beatification is the
last step before sainthood and
she is the first born Jew to
receive this honor.
WOMEN CANTORS will receive the diploma of Hazzan, the
Jewish Theological Seminary of America decided this year. Erica
Lippitz (left) of Evanston, Illinois and Marla Rosenfeld Barugel of
Merrick, Long Island are expected to be the first women to be
awarded the Conservative cantor's diploma.
CARDINAL JOHN O'CON-
NOR of New York was the
focus of intense interest and
criticism for his visit to the
Mideast in January during which
he called attention to the plight
of the Palestinians. On Vatican
orders, he refused to meet with
Israeli leaders in Jerusalem, but
achieved a compromise by
meeting the prime minister and
president in their homes rather
than their offices.
The planned Miami meeting did take place
as originally scheduled, although two national
Orthodox organizations boycotted it, charging
that the pope had not sufficiently responded
to criticism regarding Waldheim or recognition
of Israel. Rabbi Mordechai Waxman, honorary
president of the Synagogue Council of
America, offered the Jewish address in an
ecumenical spirit while not shying away from
the issues of contention. For his part, the pope
focused on the Jewish tragedy of the Shoah,
or Holocaust, defended the conduct of Pope
Pius XII during that tragic period and noted
that the Palestinians as well as the Jewish peo-
ple have a right to a homeland.
The Arab-Israel conflict continued this year,
though Abba Eban noted that Israel had never
been more secure against external menace or
more vulnerable to domestic folly. There were
several acts of Arab terrorism, followed in some
cases by anti-Arab rioting by Jews. But atten-
tion focused on the spirited Peres effort to hold
an international peace conference and the
realization that he was literally flying solo.
The 20th anniversary of the Six Day War
focused attention on the continuing crisis over
Israel's occupation of the West Bank. An NBC
television documentary on the subject was con-
sidered so biased by Israeli leaders that for a
brief time they refused the network access to
the government's three top leaders.
The new equation in the ongoing Mideast
dilemma was the renewed interest of the Soviet
Union in playing a major role. The Soviets
broke a 20-year diplomatic freeze when they
sent a small delegation to Israel this summer,
downplaying the significance but nevertheless
intensifying interest in whether this would lead
to renewed relations. Israel reportedly was call-
ing for mass Soviet Jewish emigration as a pre-
condition to allowing Soviet participation in
any future peace talks.
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's much-
discussed new policy of Glasnost (openness)
was praised in some quarters for the fact that
emigration, while still small in numbers, in-
creased about tenfold over last year and in-
cluded the release of several prominent
refuseniks, including Yosef Begun and Victor
Brailovsky. A small delegation of Jewish
leaders, including Morris Abram, president of
the Conference of Presidents of Major
American Jewish Organizations, returned from
a visit to the USSR enthusiastic about prom-
ised improvements, including the indication
that mass emigration is on the horizon.
But others, most notably former Prisoner of
The Arab-Israel conflict
continued, through Abba
Eban noted that Israel had
never been more secure
against external menace.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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