THE JEWISH NEWS
SERVING DETROIT'S JEWISH COMMUNITY
THIS ISSUE 60(P
CLOSE-UP
FEBRUARY 2, 1990 / 7 SHEVAT 5750
Christians Plan
Israel Support
ALAN HITSKY
Associate Editor
C
hristian clergymen
who support Israel
met in Southfield last
weekend to plan more efforts
on behalf of the Jewish state.
Some 15 members of the
National Christian Leader-
ship Conference for Israel
(NCLCI) met at North Con-
gregational Church. The
group, according to host Rev.
Jim Lyons of the Ecumenical
Institute for Jewish-
Christian Studies, plans to
intensify travel programs to
Israel.
"There is general recogni-
tion that we (Christians)
have to go to Israel," Rev.
Lyons said. "It is easy to
know all the answers if you
have never been there or
have gone only one time."
NCLCI Chairman Sister
Rose Thering of Seton Hall
Univerity and NCLCI Secre-
tary-Treasurer Dr. William
Harter, a Presbyterian min-
ister, addressed a small
gathering of Jews and Chris-
tians Sunday evening. They
described positions taken by
the NCLCI on behalf of
Israel.
Sister Thering, a Roman
Catholic nun, was strip-
searched by Viennese police
two years ago when she pro-
tested the election of Kurt
Waldheim as president of
Austria. She has visited
Israel 37 times, and on a
study tour last year "we felt
Israel's pain. We saw the
results of the intifada, but
we see no Palestinians
prepared to negotiate" a
peace settlement.
The major points of her
speech to an audience of 25
Continued on Page 20
B'nai Moshe
Rejected Again
SUSAN GRANT
Staff Writer
C
Strike Up The fland!
They've been around for more
than 40 years, but Detroit's Jewish
bands are always right in tune
with the most popular music.
ongregation B'nai
Moshe must fight its
battle to build a West
Bloomfield synagogue in an
Oakland County Circuit
Court room.
Synagogue leaders had no
victory party plans, but were
quietly optimistic that West
Bloomfield Township trust-
ees would reconsider their
decision to deny the con-
gregation's plans to build a
new facility on Drake Road,
south of Maple Road.
Those hopes shattered
Monday night when trustees
voted 5-2 to let Oakland
County Court Judge Hilda
Gage decide the issue.
Trustee Gordon Allardyce,
who had previously sup-
ported the synagogue's
plans, agreed with fellow
trustees Sandra Draur,
Sharon Law, Denise Ham-
mond and Dennis Vatsis to
continue the court hearings.
Trustees Judith Holtz,
Raymond Holland and
Hammond had called an ex-
ecutive session meeting to
discuss whether to pursue
the litigation. B'nai Moshe
had filed suit in December
after trustees denied the
synagogue's building plans
because it interfered with
the development of a five-
acre parcel south of the syn-
agogue's proposed site.
Before the meeting,
Sharlene Ungar, synagogue
president, said she hoped the
congregation could break
ground at the building site
this spring. Instead, the
township's decision to con-
tinue the fight means syn-
agogue leaders will be in
court. Both township and
synagogue attorneys will file
briefs in court today, but no
court date has been set.
Rabbi Allan Meyerowitz
said he is surprised the
township board did not
reconsider its decision.
"They spend so much
money on litigation when
they should be concerned
with building the future of
West Bloomfield," Rabbi
Meyerowitz said. "It's clear
they just don't like Jews."
But Township Supervisor
Continued on Page 22