I ANALYSIS I now on sale r3) ■ Our storewide summer sale is the same as our winter sale, only warmer. Same well designed, functional furniture built to last. Same serious discounts off our regularly fair prices. Biggest savings are on overstocks, discontinueds, and barely bruised,. Get them while it's hot. Or you'll have to wait until it's cold again. Israeli Court Decision Opens Old Wounds DAVID LANDAU, Special to The Jewish News SALE $49, and $69, Reg. $55 and $79. Our beech dining chair and bar- stool with beige fabric or rush seat. SALE $349, Reg. $475. Our teak or oak dining table extends to seat 10. Teak Windsor chairs $129, Reg. $195. SALE $549, Reg. $690. Our modular oak or teak desk with storage as shown. SALE $299, Reg. $375. Computer center in.white, oak or teak. SALE $349, Reg. $450. Leather chair in black with teak frame. MODERN FURNITURE ANN ARBOR 410 N. Fourth Ave. 48104 a Kerrytown Shop (313) 668-4688 SOUTHFIELD 26026 W. 12 Mile Rd. 48034 West of Telegraph (313) 352-1530 BIRMINGHAM 234 S. Hunter Blvd. 48009 South of Maple (313) 540-3577 OPEN SUNDAYS-CHECK YOUR LOCAL STORE FOR HOURS It Ache- PAIN RELIEF OINTMENT THE ONLY FORMULA CONTAINING THE 30 MINERALS FROM THE WORLD FAMOUS MEDICAL MINERAL SPRINGS OF MT. CLEMENS, MICH. Try Ache-Away® "The Only Thing You Have To Lose Is Your Pain" Now Available At: • Farmer Jack Pharmacies • Arbor Drugs • Health Food Stores • Legend Pharmacies • Perry Drug Stores 68 FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 1989 T he 'Who Is a Jew' issue suddenly and dramatically resurfac- ed when Israel's highest court ruled that the Interior Ministry must register non- Orthodox converts as Jewish citizens. Orthodox rabbis and politi- cians immediately called for new legislation that would reverse the court's decision by specifying that those accepted as citizens under Israel's Law of Return undergo Orthodox conversion. The same Orthodox leaders welcomed a separate High Court of Justice fuling in which the justices flatly and justices flatly and unanimously rejected efforts by non-Orthodox rabbis to gain official status as mar- riage registrars in Israel. The ruling, on a case press- ed by the Movement for Pro- gressive Judaism, reaffirms that marriages and other matters of personal status re- main exclusively in the hands of Israel's Orthodox Chief Rabbinate. Although the two rulings appear to be inconsistent, they are different cases, ex- plained Moshe Aumann, Con- sul General of the Israel Em- bassy in Washington. The first ruling that non- Orthodox converts are registered as Jewish citizens is an interpretation of the Law of Return. "Since the law doesn't specify [the type of conversion necessary for Jewish citizenship] the court felt that it could sanction any type," he said. The second ruling, said Aumann, upheld an existing law that only authorizes Or- thodox rabbis to perform religious ceremonies. This law, he said, is very specific; allowing non-Orthodox rabbis the right to perform religious ceremonies would require a reversal of the law. While that ruling is being seen as a setback for Reform and Conservative rabbis, the decision on the status of con- verts is a major victory for non-Orthodox movements, who have fought efforts by the Orthodox establishment in Israel to invalidate their con- version processes. Although the court ruling validates the non-Orthodox conversions and automatical- ly grants citizenship to those converts, Minister of Interior Arye Der'i and the Chief Rab- binate have independently taken steps to minimize the practical effects of the ruling. Der'i, a member of the religious Shas Party, an- nounced that neither he nor the ministry's registering clerk will sign official identi- ty cards. He also instituted a new identity card that states that the information on "na- tionality" and "personal status" are not admissible as evidence before the rabbinate. He continued that the rab- binate would use rabbinical courts to determine an im- migrant's status as a Jew. He said that the rabbinate has already been ignoring the cards for the past few years. chief rabbis Israel's Avraham Shapira and Menadhem Elon argued that his colleague's definitions for conversion were too loosely applied. Mordechai Eliahu effectively backed Der'i's steps by an- nouncing that they have in- formed all marriage registrars and burial societies not to depend on the identity card as definitive proof that the bearer is Jewish. The court's 4-1 decision in effect reaffirms its earlier rul- ing in the case of Shoshana Miller, a Reform convert who in 1986 gained the right to be registered as a Jew on her na- tionality card. Ina summation of the ma- jority decision, the court president, Justice Meir Shamgar, said Israel's In- terior Ministry had no right by law to investigate the type of conversion undergone by a prospective immigrant. A certificate of conversion issued by any Jewish com- munity abroad should be satisfactory evidence for the issuance of an identity card, he said, provided there is no suspicion that it was fraudulent. Summarizing his dissen- ting opinion, the court's depu- ty president, Menachem Elon, argued that his col- league's definitions for con- version were too loosely ap- plied. For instance, he asked, what constitutes a "Jewish community"? In granting automatic Israeli citizenship, the Law of Return defines a Jew as "one born of a Jewish mother or