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ASA Builders Supply Co. & Cabinet Corp. 2100 Easy Street 2040 Easy Street Walled Lake, Michigan 48088 (313) 624-7400 15 Mile j JEWELRY APPRAISALS At Very Reasonable Prices Call For An Appointment Vilatilte9E Ia n established 1919 IL. FINE JEWELERS Pres. GEM/DIAMOND SPECIALIST AWARDED CERTIFICATE BY GIA IN GRADING AND EVALUATION Lawrence M. Allan, 98 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1990 30400 Telegraph Road Suite 134 Birmingham, MI 48010 (313) 642-5575 DAILY 10-5:30 THURS. 10-7 SAT. 10-3 Recently, a letter was sent to all RCA members inquir- ing whether they are in any way affiliated with the FTOR. The implication was that such affiliation would be grounds for expulsion from the rabbinic group. Ap- proximately half the mem- bers of the FTOR are mem- bers of the RCA. Both the Orthodox Union and the RCA acknowledge their hostility to the FTOR. Rabbi Stolper of the O.U. de- scribed it as "a tiny fringe group of peripheral con- gregations" that finds itself out of place as the Orthodox movement becomes "more consistently Orthodox." There was a time in America, Rabbi Stolper said, when modern Orthodox Jews were Sabbath obser- vant but less conscientious about covering their heads, avoiding shatnes or refusing to carry items on Shabbat. Modern Orthodoxy was an emerging community in which a certain amount of laxity was accepted as the norm. Indeed, for the modern Or- thodox, wherever Jewish law appeared to be neutral, individual choice seemed to fill the vacuum. But this is no longer the case. "Orthodox Jews are becoming more committed, and so are we," said Rabbi Stolper. About three years ago, the O.U. decided to take an activist stance on the mechitzah issue and similar issues. "A congregation that refuses to cooperate on the mechitzah issue is generally a congregation that does not have a future as an Or- thodox congregation," Rabbi Stolper said. "Mechitzah has become a weather vane of whether the congregation takes its Orthodoxy seri- ously or not." Modern Orthodox rabbis are deeply concerned about the fissures developing within the RCA and the O.U. "There must be more understanding," Rabbi David Staysky of Temple Beth Jacob in Columbus, Ohio, remarked at the RCA convention last month. "There are too many per- sonal power plays and agen- das, and not enough em- phasis on ahavas Israel," or love of fellow Jews, he said. Rabbi after rabbi at the convention called for greater unity within the RCA and in the Orthodox rabbinic com- munity in general. "A certain religious civili- ty must exist," said Rabbi Jeffrey Bienenfeld of Young Israel of St. Louis. "There can be legitimate diversity, but only if it operates within a broad halachic framework," he said. "If it breaches that framework, then the label of Orthodoxy will no longer be viable. But it must also learn to navigate within it, without hitting other allies' ships." On the other hand, Rabbi David Sladowsky of the Forest Park Jewish Center in Glendale, N.Y., feels that the tightening up of Or- thodox standards is a positive thing. "The parameters have moved, but the principles of modern Or- thodoxy have not been violated," he said. By defining the standards of the modern Orthodox movement, he said, rabbis will now know where the middle is and how far they can deviate from that point without overstepping the boundaries of halachah itself. The challenge for modern Orthodoxy appears to be fin- ding a happy medium bet- ween two equally authentic halachic traditions: the raachmirim, those who are strict, and the maikilim, those who are more per- missive. But as Weiss and other rabbis at the RCA conven- tion said, "Being in the center is a very difficult position these days. The center is being squeezed. The middle is shrinking." ❑ I NEWS I Knesset Ponders Miari Status Jerusalem (JTA) — The Knesset House Committee began deliberations this week over whether to lift the parliamentary immunity of Arab Knesset member Mohammed Miari, whom Attorney General Yosef Harish wants to prosecute for alleged collaboration with the Palestine Libera- tion Organization. Mr. Miari is leader of the far-left Progressive List for Peace and occupies its single Knesset seat. While the faction openly identifies with the PLO and Mr. Miari has had numerous contacts with PLO officials in contravention of the law, the state did not "bother him," Mr. Harish explained, because he claimed he was "discussing peace with them."