FOCUS Blood And Ashes t:StNA 1ZVA Best wishes for a Happy & Healthy New Year Professional Interior Designers Tel-Twelve Mall 12 Mile & Telegraph Daily 10-9, Sum 12-5 354-9060 Audio8 Gi Wishing The Jewtsh Communi A HAPPY HOLIDAY 181 SOUTH WOODWARD AVENUE BIRMINGHAM, MICH. 48011 Daily 9:30-5:30, Thurs. til 8 Next to Birmingham Theater Adjacent Free Parking 42-1690 _Qaycliaricc Wishing The Entire Community A Most Prosperous and Healthy New Year!!! L 646.0002 280 N. Woodward • Great American Mall Suite #2 Birmingham, MI 48012 142 261-4456 32108 Plymouth Rd. Livonia, Michigan 48150 (lower level) Advertising in The Jewish News Gets Results Place Your Ad Today. Call 354 6060 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1989 - Continued from preceding page ingful in its implications than the utterances of Car- dinal. Glemp. On the evening of Tisha B'Av, which is for us a day of commemoration and faith, Pope John Paul II, in a homily, spoke of the people of Israel and reproached them for having chosen in- fidelity toward God. Not less and much more. God, according to the pope, would have broken his covenant with the Jewish people be- cause they had sinned. This is why he sent prophets to convert them. And so God would have concluded a new covenant with the Christi- ans. In other words: Let the Jews convert and they will please God and the pope. How dos we repress or even hide our indignation? The prophets said terrible things about us. True, but it was to make us more Jewish, not less Jewish. The God of Is- rael sometimes has prob- lems with the people of Isra- el? In fact, that happens, but when it does, it's our business, we don't - allow anyone to interfere in our dealings with God. In truth, it seems to me that it is the pope Who has problems with us, just as we have problems with him. He doesn't know us, he doesn't understand us. Sometimes he gives the impression of wanting to provoke us. Ex- amples? Waldheim's visits, the mass at Auschwitz, the omission of the word "Jew" at Mauthausen, the non- recognition of Israel, the meeting with Arafat. But, then, you will ask me, why does he receive so many Jewish delegations? And why did he go to the syna- gogue in Rome? I am unable to read the thoughts of someone else. I cannot unravel those of the pope. But I can measure the consequences. If nothing is undertaken to dissipate the malaise, if nothing is done to correct the fault and reas- sure the Jews, the separa- tion between the Jewish people and Catholicism will once again become an abyss. And this abyss will be a danger for the whole world. But things have suddenly improved. After a long si- lence, the Vatican has finally issued a statement favoring the relocation of the con- vent. Will it happen soon? Let us hope so. At least, the next Vatican statement must include a timetable. Even this beginning is en- couraging and hopeful. It seems possible for Jews and their Catholic friends to build on it once more. That I say this for the day of Rosh Hashanah is not at all incomprehensible. Al- I though essentially and total- ly a Jewish holiday, Rosh Hashanah is more universal than many others. On that day we crown God as our sovereign. Only ours? The God of Israel "our Father and our King," we share Him with all the peoples of creation. On that day, God judges all the nations and seals the fate of all beings. On that day, God and we think not only of Jews but of all humanity. But it is as Jews that we think about it. To be Jewish, then, means to stay faithful to the tradi- tion, to the teaching and to the memory of our people. The secret of the Jew is in his memory and in his faith- fulness. All 4.1 ❑ This article was translated from the French by Anne Stiller. Elie Wiesel, 1986 Nobel Peace Laureate, is Un- iversity Professor at Boston University. This article was made possible by a grant from The Fund for Journal- ism on Jewish Life, a project INNI of The CRB Foundation of Montreal, Canada. Any views expressed are solely those of the author. I NEWS I Seiden Gives Himself Up Atlanta (JTA) — Saying he was "tired of running and scamming," 27-year-old Daniel Marc Seiden, a con- victed Jewish con artist who preys on other Jews, volun- tarily turned himself in Sept. 1 to police in Baton Rouge, La. The admitted heroin addict now faces extradition to his hometown of Denver on fraud and theft convictions and ex- cape charges. Several other jurisdictions are expected to prosecute the fugitive in connection with similar scams dating back to 1985, which bilked thousands of dollars from charitable Jewish community leaders. 1 46 1 4 ORT Convention In Washington New York — Women's American ORT's 30th bien- nial national convention will take place Oct. 29-Nov. 1 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, D.C. Over 1,200 delegates are expected to at- tend. The theme of the con- vention is "Education and 4 Democracy: An Agenda for the 90s." The opening banquet will be addressed by Senator Nancy Landon Kassebaum (R-Kan.) and Israeli Am- bassador Moshe Arad.