EDITORIAL

New Stones

Amy Harmon had a problem with her bedroom window last week.
The glass was shattered by a brick with a note, reminding the co-
editor for the University of Michigan student newspaper's opinion
page of her Jewish heritage.
With the onset of Passover, perhaps the perpetrators wanted to
remind Harmon of the bricks and mortar that burdened the children
of Israel in Egypt. But Ann Arbor is not Egypt, and those who live
in the Michigan city should not adopt the tactics of West Bank and
Gaza Strip Palestinians who use stones, not words, against those
with whom they disagree.
Intimidation has no place in a democratic society. Jewish students
and others demonstrated against the Daily and have voiced their
displeasure with its editorial policies on the Middle East in meetings
with its editors. They continue to express dissatisfaction with the
lack of change in the Daily's stance.
If a Jew threw the brick, he has forgotten the lessons of democracy
and Passsover. Adopting the vile tactics of our enemies is no victory. ,

Ladispoli Challenge

aliyah, but she has done a shamefully inadequate job of seeking to
reverse that trend.
The real Zionist effort, though, should be made in the USSR,
before Soviet Jews decide where they want to settle once they
emigrate. The propaganda they are hearing is completely negative
— that Israel is a tropical war zone with no food and no jobs. Israel
needs to send representatives, preferably former Soviets who have
made a successful aliyah, to talk about the realities of life in Israel.
Finally, for the majority of Soviet Jews who do come to America,
the organized Jewish community has done an excellent job of meeting
their human and social services needs. But it has failed in terms
of Jewish education and continuity. With a few notable exceptiohs,
the majority of Soviet Jews do not affiliate with the Jewish communi-
ty, never receive a class in Jewish life and culture, and are difficult
to find within a few years of their arrival.
If we are seriously concerned about Jewish survival, we as a com-
munity must seek to provide a formal Jewish education for adults
and children, welcome them into our synagogues and homes, and
not abandon them once they are settled into a job and a place to live.
In that way, we — and they — can fulfill the words of the Hag-
gadah: "Whoever is in need, let him come and celebrate Passover.
Now we are here; next year may we be in the land of Israel. Now
we are slaves; next year may we be free men."

This week's Close-Up offers a firsthand look at the human dimen-
sion of an international drama, a report on the 9,000 Soviet Jews
stranded at a transit camp in Ladispoli, Italy. They left the Soviet
Union, hoping to come to America. But the United States has been
rejecting up to 40 percent of their refugee visa applications, leaving
these people stranded, confused and filled with despair.
In a sense, the current crisis underscores the triumphs and
tragedies of not only the Soviet Jewry effort, but of Israel and the
American Jewish community as well.
Despite the fact that tho Soviet Jews are leaving the USSR on
Israeli visas, less than five percent are choosing to settle in Israel.
And many of those who come to the United States assimilate quick-
ly into the general culture and never explore their Jewish heritage.
What can be done? First, the Jewish community should continue
its lobbying effort, though ironically it is now focused on Washington
rather than Moscow. The administration must understand that
allowing Soviet Jews into this country is an issue of human rights,
not politics. To continue to reject Soviet Jewish transmigrants is a
betrayal of those who depended on America's pledge to be a place
of real refuge.
Israel has decried the fact that so few Soviet Jews are making

Haggadah Does
Mention Moses

With all due respect to the
revered and scholarly editor
emeritus of The Detroit
Jewish News,
Philip
Slomovitz, there is an obvious
error in the lead essay of his
Purely Commentary column
which appeared in the
Passover issue, April 14.
The headline reads, "Moses
the Lawgiver Unmentioned
in the Haggadah." Slomovitz
goes on to explain that the
omission was intentional.
The rabbis felt that Moses
was such a holy man, so close
to the Most High, that there
were genuine fears that the
people would deify him .. .
But it isn't so! Moses is
mentioned in the Haggadah.

6

FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 1989

I LETTERS I

True, there is no elaborate
discussion of the key role that
Moses played in the Exodus;
his geneology is not given; we
don't see a recitation of
his magnificent accomplish-
ments, but he is mentioned.
Right after the mentioning
of the Ten Plagues and their
acronym, in the comments of
Rabbi Yossi the Galilean,
Scripture is quoted and these
words appear: "And the na-
tion feared the Lord, and they
believe in the Eternal One
and in Moses his servant!"
What a great honor — to
mention the name of Moses
and the Almighty in one
breath, as it were, and
on the highest level of
the people's dedication to
their new faith: belief! They

believed in the Lord and in
His unique human instru-
ment, Moses! .. .

Rabbi Jack Goldman
West Bloomfield

Overwhelmed
By Response

Allow me to thank The
Jewish News for publishing
(March 31) the need for
Russian- and Yiddish-
speaking volunteers in the
Sinai Hospital Lip Service
program to help our Soviet
Jewish immigrants who are
arriving almost daily to
Detroit.
I was overwhelmed by the
response. When I got home,
there were a dozen calls on
my answering machine. I
answered every call after

Shabbat, but most of them
were Yiddish-speaking
volunteers only. So, please!
Please! Russian-speaking
volunteers, call me
(851-6474).

May No s anchuk
West Bloomfield

Chemical Warfare
On The Agenda

Although an Inside
Washington item of April 7 is
headlined "Jewish Groups
Forget Chemical Warfare
Issue," just one week earlier,
on March 30, B'nai B'rith In-
ternational sponsored a full-
day symposium in our na-
tion's capital on "The Danger
of Chemical and Biological
Weapons in the Middle East!'
Many leading international

experts and several Bush ad-
ministration officials discuss-
ed this important issue before
a distinguished audience.
B'nai B'rith is one Jewish
organization that will not ig-
nore this life-and-death
matter.

Thomas Neumann
Executive Vice President
B'nai B'rith International

Soviet Jews
And Israel

Shortly before World War II
the British government
issued the infamous "White
Paper" which practically cut
off the Jewish immigration to
Palestine. The main reasons
given were supposedly

Continued on Page 14