EDITORIAL
History Lessons
Hebron, 1929. Arab "rioters" carried out a well-planned assault
on the Jewish community of Hebron, designed to eliminate the an-
cient Jewish community 19 miles south of Jerusalem. Sixty-seven
Jews were killed, 60 wounded, synagogues and homes were destroyed.
In 1936, after more Arab riots, British authorities evacuated Hebron's
Jews.
Detroit, 1967. Riots in the inner city led to a mass exodus of Jews
to the northwest suburbs within a year. Some 43 persons, mostly
black, were killed by rioters, police and National Guardsman dur-
ing the week-long "disturbances."
Gaza, 1988. More than 40 Palestinians have been killed while
stoning Israeli soldiers and civilians during two months' of rioting
in the Gaza Strip and on the West Bank. The rioters' goal: Drive
the Jews out of the territories? Out of Israel?
Jews have seen the lesson before — riots and warfare instead of
poltical solutions to major problems.
We made it clear last week that we are shamed by Yitzhak
Rabin's policy of beating the rioters, but it should also be clear that
Israel must use every legal means to control the situation. It has
the same responsibility as the U.S. government in Detroit in 1967.
Otherwise, the only law that will prevail is the law of violence.
The primaries were intended to "empower" the "people," to
remove the decision of who would be a party's standard bearer from
the proverbial smoke-filled rooms and bestow it upon the party
faithful in each state. But the system has gone terribly, terribly awry.
It is interminable. It is physically and mentally exhausting. It is
financially taxing: Including federal matching funds, the candidates
have already amassed $100 million. (Secret Service protection will
cost taxpayers an additional $30 million.)
Few of us can say the "issues" and the candidates' positions
on them have become any more defined than they were a few months
ago. With the one glaring exception of the Gary Hart-Donna Rice
episode, few of us can say we know much more about the candidates
as people than we did a few months ago.
The primary marathon has disintegrated into embarrassment,
especially for a nation that prides itself on being a model of
democracy. Whether a candidate survives the process may have less
bearing upon his ability to govern the nation than whether he takes
enough vitamin pills and hires the best TV advisors.
It is too late to change the primary system now We are in
the thick of it. But after the November elections, both parties —
perhaps in tandem — should revamp the primary system. What is
needed is something shorter and less grinding, something that tests
not so much a candidate's threshold for exhaustion as his vision and
his proscriptions for the nation and his true ability to lead the nation.
Sensible Primaries?
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The payoff of the last 12 months or more of grueling, extra-human
effort begins Monday evening. Then, the approximately 17 percent
Iowa voters who trek to the party caucuses will debate, argue and
filibuster about the relative merits of the 13 men who have declared
that they want to be president.
The Michigan GOP debate two weeks ago and Monday's vote are
the start of a process of elimination that will end at the party con-
ventions this summer. They are also the beginning of the end of an
ordeal that has exhausted everyone: the news media that covers the
would-be nominee; the public that has followed (with ever-waning
interest) what has turned into a battle of quips, TV sound-bites, and
deliberate and probably inevitable repetition of generalities while
on the hustings; and the candidates who have devoted incredible
energy to this political Golden Fleece.
In the last six months, the candidates participated in more
than two dozen debates. Each has put in more 18-hour days than
they want to remember. They have been coached by media con-
sultants, issue specialists, "image" manipulators. Amid all this, it
is difficult to know where the "package" ends and the genuine con-
tents begin.
"PS
LETTERS
Israeli Policy
Is Assailed
Regarding the Israeli policy
of beating people into
submission:
Somehow the breaking of
bones in the night has a more
ominous tone than the sound
of breaking glass during
"Kristalnacht."
Joseph Borrajo
Dearborn
Article Helped
The Elderly
All of us involved in the
newly-expanded door-to-door
transportation service to the
6 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1988
Ten Mile Jewish Community
Center want to thank you for
the fine coverage of this pro-
ject in your Jan. 22 issue. The
significance of this service to
the isolated elderly was clear-
ly and poignantly defined .. .
Just what we need at this
time when intermarriage
threatens our future.
Miriam Sandweiss
One Reader
Liked It
I just returned to the good
Birmingham
No Thanks To
'Videodating'
Kudos to The Jewish News
for your article
"Videodating" (Jan. 29). It
gives free publcity to a
private business which will
help make it easy, comfor-
table and convenient for
Jewish singles to meet and
marry non-Jews.
Ruth Beck
written story and my special
thanks to Glenn Triest for the
lovely photos that accom-
panied the article .. .
West Bloomfield
Bette Schein
old U.S.A. via Miami, Florida,
and was greeted there by
friends and relatives with the
fact that my picture was on
the front page and a lovely ar-
ticle in the middle of the
paper ("Without God," Jan.
15).
The members of Sholem
Aleichem Institute thank
David Holzel for the well-
President,
Sholem Aleichem Institute
Misrepresented
Organization
David Holzel's article (Jan.
15) concerning secular
Judaism seriously mistates
the philosophy of our
organization, Branch 1088 of
the Workman's Circle, the
"young families" chapter. We
are neither a secular nor a
religious organization.
Rather, we are a cultural
Jewish organization which
eschews dogma of any kind,
religious or secular.
Our purpose in creating our
organization was to provide
ourselves and our children
with a sense of Jewish com-
munity unfettered by a
Continued on Page 10
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