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? %k! Ci-iKt eNT ViCRIZO RZA.7.TION TO CUR REV ► 8ED FGLICY oN TilfeST iN 'Mc 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 Let Us Know Letters must be concise, typewritten and double- spaced. Correspondence must include the signa- ture, home address and daytime phone number of the writer.