I EDITORIAL

Breaking Faith

Reports that the United States is negotiating
with Arab governments on a United Nations
resolution criticizing Israel is worrisome. The
text has not been completed, but is said to
deal with Israel's role in settling Soviet Jews
in the occupied territories.
This is disturbing on several levels. First is
the fact that the Bush administration chose
to deliver its message through the United
Nations, well known for its consistent anti-
Israel bias, rather than through Jerusalem.
More significantly, the administration seems
to be mixing two issues that are not related:
the free emigration of Soviet Jews to Israel,
and the status of Israeli settlements in ter-
ritories occupied as a result of the 1967 war.
The administration says that the set-
tlements are a hindrance to peace but that it
supports Soviet Jewish immigration to the
rest of Israel. But surely Washington realizes

that the Arab objective is to halt the influx of
Soviet Jews to any part of Israel. Long before
the state of Israel was created in 1948, the
Arabs opposed the immigration of Jews to
Palestine.
The major impediment to Mideast peace is
not the settlements. It is the refusal of the
Arab states to recognize the right of Jews to
have a state of their own in the Mideast. How
else could it be explained that the Arabs
sought to destroy Israel long before there
were occupied territories where Jews might
settle?
Washington may feel that it is playing a
positive role by toning down what could have
been a more harsh U.N. resolution. But the
perception will be that the United States
agrees with the Arab effort to limit emigra-
tion of Soviet Jews to Israel, an act that,
whether intended or not, smacks of betrayal.

Anti-Semitism In France

Man's capacity for evil seems endless. Exam-
ples, unfortunately, abound. But the anti-
Semitic incidents in France, including the
desecration of 34 tombstones at a Jewish
cemetery, are the most recent evidence of
mindless hatred. Is an entire nation to blame
for the deeds of a few? And how can well-
meaning people respond to such outrage?
Not all Frenchmen are guilty of the crimes
of a few. But it should be noted that during
the Holocaust there was a direct correlation
between the acquiescence of a nation to the
Nazis and the percentage of that nation's
Jews destroyed. More than 90 percent of
Poland's Jews were murdered; virtually all of
the Jews of Denmark survived.
In France today, the appeal of Jean-Marie
Le Pen's racist National Front party is
significant. Le Pen, who has frequently in-
sulted France's 700,000 Jews and called the
Holocaust "a detail of history," denied any

responsibility for the cemetery desecration,
but he has helped create a climate of hatred
and racism in the country.
The fact that as many as 200,000 people
took to the streets of Paris, led by President
Francois Mitterand, in silent protest against
anti-Semitism, is comforting.

Also commendable was the cancellation of
regular programming by the nation's six
major television stations to broadcast the ral-
ly live and follow it with Night and Fog, a
powerful documentary on the Nazi death
camps. But that effort must be followed up
with less dramatic but equally important
efforts to combat anti-Semitism in the schools
and throughout French society.

As France's chief rabbi, Joseph Sitruk,
noted, "a civilization that does not respect
the dead is headed toward destruction of the
living."

COMMENT

Evangelicals And Abortion
Are Among Top 1990 Issues

A.JAMES RUDIN

Special to The Jewish News

A

s we begin the 1990s,
what can we expect in
the area of inter-
religious relations? Here are
seven predictions:
1. Sometime in the '90s,
Evangelical Protestants will
outnumber non-Evangelical
Protestants in the United
States. By Evangelicals, I
mean those Christians who
have had a personal "born
again" religious experience,
who believe in the full au-

Rabbi A. James Rudin is the
American Jewish Committee's
national interreligious affairs
director.

6

FRIDAY, MAY 18, 1990

thority of the Bible and who
actively seek, either in-
dividually or collectively, to
convert people to Christiani-
ty.
George Gallup Jr. has
discovered in his polling that
"Younger people . . . tend to
be more Evangelical, while
the mainline churches (read:
non-Evangelical) have a
higher proportion of older
people, which points to a
higher drop-off rate in the
years ahead."
The increasing number of
Evangelicals means a grow-
ing body of Christian sup-
port for Israel, but that sup-
port will often be combined
with more aggressive con-
version campaigns aimed at
Jews.

2. In addition to the ongo-
ing concerns of the Chris-
tian-Jewish encounter, such
as eradicating the theologi-
cal roots of anti-Semitism,
developing Holocaust educa-
tional material for churches
and maintaining Christian
support for Israel, several
other issues will become im-
portant in interreligious re-
lations.
Sex-related concerns like
abortion — currently the
most fevered issue in our
nation — homosexuality,
AIDS and the changing size
and definition of the family
will enter the Christian-
Jewish dialogue in the next
10 years.
Alcohol, drug and child
Continued on Page 10

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I LETTERS

Walk Was Marred
By Open Roads

More than 10,000 members
of our community joined May
6 at the Jewish Community
Center to celebrate Israeli
statehood. The events plann-
ed were a celebration of our
strength and diversity.
The Walk for Israel,
however, was marred by the
refusal of West Bloomfield
'Ibwnship to close Drake and-
Walnut Lake Roads. Nearly
every city in this country
diverts traffic for parades on
Labor Day, Thanksgiving
Day, Columbus Day and
Christmas. By comparison,
the Israel solidarity walk is a
small event, taking up only a
few hours.
We need to express
displeasure in a united
fashion. We cannot express
our solidarity with Israel or
our pride as Jews if we are not
willing to stand up against
what is blatant anti-
Semitism.

Richard Frank
Detroit

Writer Must Ask
Simple Questions

Joel Shere, who in his May
11 letter quotes, "Meet the
enemy, it is us," was grossly
misstating the case. One
readily admits that the move
into the Christian Quarter
was ill-timed, clumsy, insen-
sitive and not tuned to the
American critical press; the
writer, however, does not stop
here.
Shere adopts the negative
media bias without asking
simple questions. Should
Israelis be forbidden to reside
close to a church? Should
Israel practice racism on its
own citizens?
American aid to Israel has
nothing to do with where

Jews locate in Jerusalem.
Any legal aspects will be
finally determined in a court
of law. Provocation is in the
eyes of the beholder.

Dr. Milton Steinhardt
Southfield

`Kosher' Appears
Only One Time

In his article "What Lies
Behind the Laws of
Kashrut?" (April 20), Rabbi
Richard Hertz made two
statements that require
clarification.
He stated that the word
kosher appears in scripture
three times. To the best of my
knowledge, the expression
kosher appears only once in
scripture, in the Book of
Esther, where the expression
means no more than "accep-
table, appropriate."
In the other statement,
Rabbi Hertz declares that
Reform Jews do not observe
the dietary laws. I know
several Reform rabbis who
observe kashrut.

Rabbi Jack Goldman
West Bloomfield

Coca Cola Yes,
Pepsi No

Regarding "Is Coca Cola
the Real Thing for Passover?"
(April 13).
Coca Cola, yes, any time.
Pepsi, on the other hand,
should not be the real thing
in a Jewish home at any time
because Pepsi boycotts Israel.
Last summer, we asked our
guide in Israel why we didn't
see any Pepsi. He told us they
won't sell to Israel.
Coca Cola is found
everywhere in Israel.

Ed Kohl
Farmington Hills