YEAR IN REVIEW 5749 YEAR IN REVIEW
OBITS

THE AYATOLLAH KHOMEINI died after a long
illness; his spirit of fanaticism that transformed Iran
was evident at his huge funeral, when zealous
mourners seized his body.

REP. MICKEY LELAND of Texas was mourned around the world when his goodwill
mission in Ethiopia ended in tragedy this summer. The plane crash claimed
the life not only of Leland, a black supporter of Israel in Congress, but
several others, including young Jewish philanthropist and activist Ivan Tillem.

PINCHAS PELI,
a popular Jewish
thinker and writer
in Israel, died in
April at 59.

for more Jews while uncomfor-
table with forcing Soviet Jews
towards Israel.
And then there was the cost.
With America cutting back
financial support, the Jewish
community could not meet the
expenses of resettlement here.
The United Jewish Appeal
launched a special "Passage To

58

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1989

Freedom" campaign to raise $75
million for resettlement in the
United States and Israel, but
the campaign was struggling.
Efforts to eliminate transit
camps like Ladispoli by having
potential emigrants file for U.S.
visas in Moscow met with
mixed reviews. Some Jewish
groups felt it would streamline
the process while others, like
HIAS, worried that the U.S.

I.F. STONE,
a longtime
journalistic gadfly
in Washington,
died at the
age of 81.

backlog would be endless and
that Soviet Jews would be un-
willing to describe incidents of
persecution to officials in
Moscow.
Despite the serious problems
of resettlement, it was impor-
tant to keep the issue in per-
spective and not lose sight of
the main point: tens of thou-
sands of Soviet Jews are being
allowed to leave the USSR, the
highest numbers since the

A

ABBIE HOFFMAN,
411 the puckish spirit of
Sixties revolution,
died by his own
hand at his home
in Pennsylvania.

record 51,000 who left a decade
ago.
How long will it all last? No
one knows, but there was a
sense of need to capitalize on
the positive conditions while
they apply, with prospects of at
least 500,000 Soviet Jews