CONTEN S

OPINION

22

CLOSE-UP

Tay-Sachs Ordeal

ADRIEN CHANDLER
Several Detroiters have endured
the agony of bearing a doomed child.

26

BEHIND THE HEADLINES

Sinai's Quints

With Jewish diversity, "Who. Is A Jew" will remain an issue.

A Quieter Who Is A Jew' Issue
Puts Our Rabbis To The Test

GARY ROSENBLATT

0

ne could almost hear the sigh of
relief from the majority of Ameri-
can Jews when Israeli Prime
Minister Yitzhak Shamir announced that
he had formed a coalition government with
the Labor party. What had been the most
burning controversy to consume the Jewish
community of the United States in years
— the proposed legislation to amend the
Law of Return — now seemed a moot point.
The fear that the Knesset would put its of-
ficial stamp on the delegitimation of con-
versions performed by non-Orthodox rabbis
is most likely gone for now. But it would
be a tragic mistake to let the issue, and all
of the passionately argued reasonings, slip
away. For if we do, it will surely come back
to haunt us.
Indeed, this is the best time to examine
the delicate issue of Who Is A Jew, away
from the heat of politics and the glare of
the worldwide media, away from threats of
withholding support for Israel and the
charges and counter-charges about Israel's
religious parties seeking to create a
theocracy in Jerusalem.
But before we can move forward in
seeking solutions to the Who Is A Jew con-
troversy, we must first realize several im-
portant facts. Namely, that the issue was
not simply the Orthodox vs. the non-
Orthodox. Most Orthodox groups in this
country were opposed to amending the Law
of Return, though their reasons varied.
And the status of non-Orthodox Jews was
never the issue. The only question was
whether Israeli citizenship should be
granted automatically to converts whose
conversions did not conform to standards
of Halachah (traditional Jewish law).
The fact is that the Chief Rabbinate in
Israel does not recognize the conversions
performed by some Conservative rabbis in
America as conforming to Halachah, and
does not recognize the conversions perform-
ed by some Orthodox rabbis in America,
whose procedures are questionable. So the
issue is not as black-and-white as Orthodox
vs. non-Orthodox, but deals with the grayer

Gary Rosenblatt is editor of The Jewish News
and the Baltimore Jewish Times.

area of Halachic and non-Halachic
methods.
It is also imperative that those Or-
thodox groups advocating the amendment
realize that the issue goes far deeper than
the wording of a law. It speaks to the gut
of non-Orthodox Jews who feel that such
legislaiton would disenfranchise them from
Israel and from religious legitimacy.
What can be done now?
Rabbis of all branches of Judaism, par-
ticularly in the United States, should con-
vene in the spirit of Klal Yisrael, the uni-
ty of Israel, and seek a common method for
conversion that could be implemented
across the board. Of course this would re-
quire openess, honesty and compromise —
attributes that have not been visible in the
intra-denominational squabbling that has
taken place of late. All the more reason
why American Jews should see that their
spiritual leaders are capable of joining
together to work out a solution for the
greater good of the Jewish people.
Every spokesman, on either side, has
said that his goal is the unity of the Jewish
people. Let us ask them to back up their
words with actions, the way these same
spokesmen are asking Palestinian leaders
to do now on quite another issue.
A prominent Orthodox rabbi has sug-
gested that one way to defuse the conver-
sion situation politically is to remove the
process from the rabbis and allow laymen
to determine the validity of conversions.
There is no Halachic requirement that rab-
bis oversee a conversion, he points out. The
criteria is that the Bet Din, or religious
tribunal, be comprised of knowledgeable,
observant Jews, but not necessarily rabbis.
This is a positive suggestion, but does
not solve the fact that non-Orthodox
laymen will want equal representation on
such a Bet Din. But then, no one said that
this process would be easy. If there were
simple solutions, the problem would have
been solved long ago.
Rabbi Reuven Bulka is an Orthodox
rabbi who believes a universal procedure
can be found. Rabbi Bulka, a prominent
leader and author in Canada, is vice chair-
man of Chevra, an interdenominational
rabbinic dialogue project of CLAL, the Na-

Continued on Page 10

ARTHUR HORWITZ
Hours
of planning
and practice
preceded
the Wilson
qunituplets.

40

SPORTS

Slick Dancing

MIKE ROSENBAUM
Jill Attenson's icy move
is beginning to pay off.

45

EDUCATION

Apple For Teacher

HEIDI PRESS
Energy and excitement characterize
Nira Lev's Hebrew classes.

53

FROM THE RABBIS

A Mezuzah
On My Door

HAROLD SCHULWEIS
The symbol on the doorpost
offers a message for daily life.

63

ENTERTAINMENT

Torch Song Trilogy

MORRIE WARSHAWSKI
Harvey Fierstein's Broadway success
has made it to the silver screen.

100

LIFESTYLES

Cadillac Style

CARLA JEAN SCHWARTZ
Peter Levin's in the driver's seat
as advertising director for Cadillac.

DEPARTMENTS

32
34
50
58
78

86
96
103
108
134

Inside Washington
Synagogues
Business
Capitol Report
Cooking

For Women
For Seniors
Engagements
Births
Obituaries

CANDLELIGHTING

5:04 p.m.
January 13, 1989
6:08 p.m.
Sabbath ends Jan. 14

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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