MORRIS LIEBERMAN, a
longtime leader of the Labor
Zionist movement in Detroit,
died in January.
RABBI LEON FRAM, founding rabbi of Temple Israel and a
pioneer Zionist within the ranks of Reform Judaism, died in the
spring.
OBITUARI
NATHAN PERLMUTTER,
DAVID SUSSKIND, one of
TV's first and most controversial the popular national director of
talk-show hosts, died in February the Anti-Defamation League of
Bnai Brith, succumbed to cancer
at the age of 66.
after a long illness. He was 64.
ALVIN FOON, founder and
first president of the Michigan
Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
Zion Natan Sharansky, cautioned that Glas-
nost still did not include mass emigration. He
brought his message to the U.S. in September,
including an address to 5,000 enthusiastic sup-
porters at a Baltimore rally, to "re-charge"
American Jewry and urge people to participate
in what he hopes will be a massive demonstra-
tion when Gorbachev comes to Washington for
a summit with President Reagan.
Reagan and Gorbachev did meet in Iceland
last September, but reached a stalemate when
the Soviets insisted that the U.S. scrap its con-
troversial "Star Wars" defense program for
outer space.
Here on earth, the Iran-Iraq war continued
unabated, capturing more attention as the con-
flict threatened the Persian Gulf region. A U.S.
ship in the area was hit by an Iraqi missile, kill-
ing more than two dozen crewmen, but the Ira-
qis insisted that the attack was a mistake. Part
of the U.S. plan to strengthen its allies in the
region was to re-flag Kuwaiti tankers. Another
was to sell sophisticated arms to the Saudis.
The idea behind the revived Saudi sale, an
earlier version of which had to be withdrawn
by the Administration in the face of over-
whelming Congressional opposition, was that
the Saudis need to defend themselves in light
of the Iran-Iraq war. But supporters of Israel
remain opposed to the Saudi sale, arguing that
such arms may someday be used as part of an
Arab arsenal in a conflict with the Jewish state.
Capitol Hill observers say the Administration
should brace itself for another possible
embarrassment.
There was a good deal of embarrassment in
the American Jewish community this year over
well-publicized scandals involving prominent
Jews. Ivan Boesky and Dennis Levine were
perhaps the best-known of a seemingly endless
list of names of Wall Street figures charged
with illegalities. Boesky agreed to pay a $100
million fine, and quickly dropped his associa-
tion with a number of Jewish charities, in-
cluding the UJA and the Jewish Theological
Seminary. JTS dropped Boesky's name, at his
request, from the new library which he had
funded.
There was a good deal of
embarrassment in the
American Jewish community
this year over well-publicized
scandals involving prominent
Jews.
IRA KAUFMAN, active in
Jewish groups and founder of
the Ira Kaufman Chapel, died in
December.
THE DETROIT JEWI S H NEWS
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