I UP FRONT
Are Jewish Republicans
Rising Within The Party?
KIMBERLY LIFTON
Staff Writer
W
Isadore Lipsitz, seated, and Julius Seligson marked their 100th
birthdays at a party last week at Jewish Federation Apartments.
Glenn Triest
Essay Contest Promotes
Arab, Jewish Relations
SUSAN GRANT
Staff Writer
0
rganizers of an essay
contest hope it will
give Arabic and
Jewish high school students
a better understanding of
each other.
For the second year, the
American Arabic and
Jewish Friends is sponsoring
an essay contest in which
high school seniors can win
$500 and $1,000 scholar-
ships to the school of their
choice. The Greater Detroit
Interfaith Round Table,
WKBD TV-50 and the
Greenfield Mortgage Co. are
co-sponsoring the contest.
This year students must
write a 1,000-word essay an-
swering "What it means to
be an American of Arabic or
Jewish descent."
Robert Arcand, executive
director of the round table,
said the essay is designed to
promote understanding bet-
ween Arabic and Jewish
students.
"We are trying to' get
young people to get a better
feeling or understanding
about the community and
customs of their culture,"
Arcand said.
Arcand wants high school
seniors to first concentrate
on what it means to be an
American and then what it
means to be a Jew or Arab
with an unique ethnic
heritage.
He hopes the essay topic
will give Jewish and Arabic
students an incentive to talk
about their background to
each other.
Although the essay was
only announced a few weeks
ago, some school groups and
individuals have already ex-
pressed interest in it, Ar-
cand said.
The essay deadline is Jan.
29. A panel of educators and
members of the American
Arabic and Jewish Friends
will select the top 10 essays.
The scholarship winners are
expected to be announced
two months after the contest
ends.
hen Detroit at-
torney Gerald
Rosen was nomi-
nated to a federal judicial
post earlier this month, it
brought to three the number
of Detroit area Republican
Jews who in the past two
years advanced to prominent
positions within the United
States District Court for the
Eastern District of
Michigan.
Rosen, whose appointment
is pending U.S. Senate ap-
proval, would follow Judge
Bernard Friedman, who
began his federal judgeship
in the spring of 1988. Rosen
would also join Stephen
Markman, who this month
started his post as U.S. at-
torney for the state's eastern
district.
Although some
Democratic and Republican
political watchdogs say it is
coincidental that the last
three nominations have
been Jewish Republicans,
others say the pendulum is
swinging away from the
Democratic Party with
which Jews historically have
been aligned.
"The Jewish community in
general has become more ac-
tive in the Republican Par-
ty," said Friedman, who was
the first Jewish Republican
appointed to the state's fed-
eral eastern district court
Gerald Rosen
Stephen Markman
since 1923, when President
Warren Harding appointed
Judge Charles Simons to the
court. "Traditionally,
Jewish people did not tend to
consider the Republican
Party. But the party has
opened its doors and is will-
ing to listen."
Jim Alexander, for exam-
ple, entered politics because
he wanted to be heard. A
former Democrat, he switch-
ed parties eight years ago
because his concerns became
more economic — not social
— and he felt strongly that
he could make a difference
in a new party.
Last year, Alexander was
elected the first Jewish
Republican chairman for
Oakland County. Now he is
trying to lure Jews into the
party at the grass-roots
level.
To date, state Rep. David
Honigman, R-West Bloom-
field, is the only Jewish
Republican who holds a
state office. That, Alexander
hopes, will soon change.
Five Jewish Republicans,
including Honigman, who is
running for the 24th District
Senate post, already are ex-
pected to seek senate and
house seats in Michigan,
Alexander said. Prospective
candidates _include Univer-
sity of Michigan student
from West Bloomfield,
Debbie Schlussel, Orchard
Lake Mayor Gerald
Kosmensky and Young
Republican member Ben
Mayer, a graduate student
at Wayne State University.
"This is a pretty good
beginning," Alexander said.
"As Jews move into the
Continued on Page 14
ROUND UP
South African Jews
Say NO To Military
New York (JTA) — Thirty-
three young South African
Jews have refused com-
pulsory military service
because of their opposition to
apartheid.
The 33 Jews are among a
group of 771 white South
Africans who publicly
declared that they would
refuse to be drafted into the
South African Defense Force
(SADF) and wished to be
registered as conscientious
objectors.
Each participant in the an-
ti-conscription campaign
faces an automatic prison
sentence of six years.
AFL-CIO Resolution
Supports Israel
New York — The AFL-
CIO, at its 18th convention
held last week in
Washington, D.C.,
unanimously passed a
strongly worded resolution
in support of Israel.
In its resolution, the AFL-
CIO cited Israel's granting
of "basic democratic rights
to all its citizens, Arabs and
Jews alike" and its com-
mitment to Middle East dia-
logue, along with the AFL-
CIO's ties to Israel's
Histadrut.
It also called Palestinian
violence unacceptable, ad-
ding that they "are the vic-
tims of factionalism within
their own ranks and of an
utter lack of concern for
their plight on the part of
the Arab world, which sees
in their permanent refugee
status an instrument for in-
stability and aggression
against Israel."
UAHC Cites Killing
Of Armenians
New Orleans — The Union
of American Hebrew Con-
gregations, the central body
of Reform Judaism, this
month became the first
Jewish organization to urge
passage of a Senate joint
resolution designating a na-
tional day of remembrance
"marking the 75th anniver-
sary of the Armenian
genocide of 1915-1923."
The resolution, over-
whelmingly adopted by voice
vote of some 3,500 delegates
at the UAHC convention,
said in part "The massacre
of over 1.5 million Arme-
nians beginning in 1915 by
the Ottoman Turks and the
subsequent exile of an addi-
tional 500,000 Armenians is
one of the most shameful
chapters of modern history."
.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
5