conversion to the Israeli
Beth Din.
The idea involves com-
promises on all sides, but it
is a major step forward.
Their proposal has to be
accepted by Israel's chief
rabbinate and the religious
movements in the United
States. All the players were
willing to sign off on this
solution until pressures
began to build up from the
extremes on both sides.
The worst pressures are
those of the ultra-Orthodox
on Israel's chief rabbinate,
which must be involved in
this decision if the necessary
Israeli Bet Din is to be es-
tablished. The ultra-
Orthodox are bringing
pressure on their American
centrist Orthodox colleagues
as well.
On the other side, there
are Reform Jewish leaders
who accuse their colleagues
of betraying the principles of
liberal Judaism, by at least
tacitly recognizing that con-
version must conform to
Halachah, as interpreted by
the Orthodox. In the Con-
servative movement, there
are those who say that until
Conservative rabbis are rec-
ognized as equally halachic,
no solution is acceptable.
The Jewish people, espe-
cially the non-religious
leaders of Israel and the
Diaspora Jewish com-
munities, must quickly come
to support the agreement
and stand up against those
who would sabotage it.
Now is the time to see
whether the Jews who cre-
ated last year's uproar are
serious. Did they just want
to avoid being told that
somehow they or their chil-
dren or grandchildren were
not as good Jews as others,
or were they serious about
trying to find a solution to a
perplexing and very real
problem?
Why do we even have to
bother with creating a com-
mon definition for who is a
Jew? Why are we so worried
that some people who are not
halachically Jewish but
wish to identify with us
might "pass? "
These are good and impor-
tant questions. To those in
ultra- Orthodox ranks who
are so fearful that somebody
who is not halachically Jew-
ish may somehow be
mistaken for a true-blue
Jew, those of us who are se-
riously concerned with the
Jewish future can only say
they are either reacting out
of partisan considerations to
protect their monopoly or
they are too short- sighted to
understand what a great
thing it is, after all these
centuries of isolation, for
non-Jews to want to join our
ranks
Why should such people be
viewed as other than a
potentially positive addition
to our ranks, especially if
they help us retain our own
young people? We must find
ways to welcome them even
as we insist on some ap-
propriate standards for
citizenship in the Jewish
people. Reasonable citizen-
ship requirements are not
only justifiable but
necessary.
As for those who think
"anything goes" is accep-
table, those of us seriously
concerned about the Jewish
future must ask them
whether they know of any
permanent association that
does not set some standards
for membership, not to speak
of whether there are any pol-
icies that do not set stan-
dards for citizenship.
Do they want being Jewish
to be no different than iden-
tifying with a particular po-
litical party, sometimes say-
ing yes and sometimes say-
ing no? ❑
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Neo-Nazi Link
With PLO May
Be In Germany
Bonn (JTA) — A violent
criminal suspected of being
the main link between West
German neo-Nazis and the
Palestine Liberation Organ-
ization's El Fatah faction is
believed to be hiding
somewhere in East Ger-
many, according to the fed-
eral prosecutor in
Karlsruhe.
Federal sources said that
the East German authorities
were cooperating in the
search for Udo Albrecht,
who is wanted for a series of
violent crimes, including
bank robbery.
According to the prosecu-
tion, he fled West Germany
in 1981 and found haven in
East Germany, which was
governed by a Communist
regime until earlier this
year.
Mr. Albrecht, who has
boasted of direct access to
PLO Chairman Yassir
Arafat, is believed to have
used PLO facilities in Leb-
anon to train neo-Nazis.
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