DETROIT 'Times' Writer Sees President, Saddam As Threats To Israel ALAN HITSKY Associate Editor W illiam Safire had a warning for Israel on Monday evening. The New York Times colum- nist sees a diminished com- mitment from the Bush ad- ministration to the Jewish state. Speaking at a major gifts meeting of the Allied Jewish Campaign at the home of Paul and Marlene Borman, Mr.. Safire said, "I don't know if it's Bush's Texas oil background or CIA background or what, but whatever the reason the feeling (between Israel and the Bush administration) just isn't there." He said Israel-U.S. relations are at their lowest point in Israel's history. Mr. Safire sees a change in Mr. Bush's position on Israel since his campaign for the Presidency in 1980. "He has moved the line from what is the West Bank to what is Jerusalem," Mr. Safire said. "The real message of the Temple Mount should be: "If you throw rocks at aged Jews praying at the Wailing Wall, or the Western Wall if you will, then you run the risk of getting shot.' And the U.S. joined the U.N. twice in condemning Israel." Mr. Safire backed Israel's position of mistrust of the United Nations because the U.N. has never condemned Syria or Iraq for large-scale atrocities, but condemns Israel when its police try to keep peace. The State Department excuse, he said, is the United States must keep the Arabs together against Saddam Hussein of Iraq. He was critical of the ad- ministration's stance on Iraq, saying Americans will not go to war over oil prices, Educators Seek Ways To Life Student Interest SUSAN GRANT Staff Writer etting children, in- cluding those with special needs, inter- ested in Jewish education will be the focus of the up- coming Mini-CAJE/Op- penheim Family Teachers Institute. About 400. Jewish educators and lay leaders from Michigan, Ohio and Il- linois will gather for a full- day conference Nov. 18 at the Days Hotel in Southfield to discuss the latest tech- niques teachers can use to keep their classrooms inter- esting. "It's an opportunity to provide a teacher in-service program of high quality that none of us could do on our own," said Dottie Dressler, educational director at Tem- pi e Emanu-El and co- planner of the conference. "It's a conference designed to provide a feeling of esprit de corps, if you will, with programing similar to what CAJE (an annual Jewish educators conference) pro- vides." For the past few years, Detroit Jewish educators have wanted to put together a regional one-day con- ference for teachers and lay leaders, but until recently did not have the financial means to do so, Ms. Dressler said. Then conference co- planner Bayla Landsman contacted Pat Levin, who along with her father, Royal, G 16 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1990 oversees the Oppenheim Family Teachers Institute. For the past five years, the Institute has sponsored pro- grams about educating chil- dren with special needs, which includes students with severe learning disabilities to gifted chil- dren. Those children are usually the first to be turned off by traditional methodologies in Jewish education, Ms. Levin "We need to have all the tools we can to provide a learning environment." Dottie Dressler said. In many cases those students with learning disabilities are highly intel- ligent, but they tune out "because teachers don't have alternative methodolo- gies to use. We are trying to give teachers additional ap- proaches so they can reach out to the youngsters. When Ms. Levin agreed to provide the funding, the In- stitute and mini-CAJE were combined, Ms. Dressler said. The result is a mixture of 12 workshops and nine speakers dealing with chil- dren with special needs and teaching educators new classroom techniques for ages ranging from pre-school to college. The mini-CAJE will also feature 15 exhibits of educational material. While Mini-CAJE/Op- penheim Family Teachers In- stitute only lasts a day, it does give Jewish edu- cators the incentive and techniques they need to in- terest children in Jewish ed- ucation, Ms. Dressler said. Reaching students with tra- ditional teaching methods isn't working, particularly in the supplementary educa- tional system, she added. "I think (this conference is important because we have in Jewish religious schools in the past used old methodology and turned kids off," Ms. Levin said. "Royal Oppenheim, my father, decided no one seem- ed to support in-service training of Jewish teachers. If we want to have good Jew- ish teachers we need to im- prove methodologies in our religious schools." That's where this con- ference comes in. "We need to have all the tools we can have to provide a learning environment," Ms. Dressler said. "It can't be all fun and games. Learn- ing is work. Teaching is work. But we do need as many tools as possible at our disposal. That is why we have CAJE to begin with, to help teachers revitalize and find out what other teachers do that works so they can expand their repertoire." "If a teacher walks away with one more methodology, then we will have ac- complished something," Ms. Levin added. ❑ William Safire, center, meets with Campaign chairmen Larry Jackier and Joseph Orley. to save sheiks or collective security. "What will sway the American people is the world threat of poison gas and atomic weapons that will be posed by Iraq in 18 to 24 months," Mr. Safire said. "That's why you see the world moving toward con- ventional war." The danger to Israel, he said, "is if Saddam gets smart and pulls out of Kuwait and says Israel must pull out of the. West Bank." If Iraq attacks Israel after Israel rejects his suggestion, would the world stand idly by? Mr. Safire believes it would. "The best scenario is to hit Iraq quickly, remove Saddam and his poison gas and his atomic weapons." Otherwise, Mr. Safire be- lieves Israel is likely to be attacked by Iraq "if Saddam sees this as the way to cor- don off the Arab world." Mr. Safire predicted that Governor Mario Cuomo of New York would team with Senator Sam Nunn to run against a Bush-Quayle ticket in 1992. Mr. Safire defended Mr. Quayle, saying he was the only member of the National Security Coun- cil who speaks up for Israel. He said Mr. Quayle could be replaced on the ticket by Housing and Urban Devel- opment Secretary Jack Kemp, Secretary of State JamesBaker, or Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Colin Powell who is a black, conservative Republican. Allied Jewish Campaign contributors at the meeting brought the pledge total for 1991 to $12.6 million, 'a 4.5 percent increase from the same contributors last year. The Campaign has a 1991 goal of $28.5 million. Peter Alter told the au- dience their pledges send a message to the Detroit Jew- ish community and to Israel. Jewish Welfare Federation President Mark Schlussel asked the audience to join the Federation board of gov- ernors study mission to Israel in January. "This is a pivotal time for Israel, and it should not feel abandoned," he said. ❑ Caryn Nessel Named Federation Lobbyist KIMBERLY LIFTON Staff Writer C aryn Nessel, assis- tant to the American Jewish Congress' Washington representative, has been named the first government affairs consul- tant for the Michigan Jewish community. Ms. Nessel, 23, will work for the recently formed Michigan Jewish Con- ference, a statewide net- working group aimed at engaging in advocacy for communal needs and social concerns. The group hopes to build coalitions with other human needs and social justice organizations at the state level. "We hope to bring together all of the Jewish com- munities," Ms. Nessel said. "And we will be a Jewish voice in Lansing." A project of the Jewish Welfare Federation, the Conference includes several communities throughout the state. Among them are Detroit, Flint, Ann Arbor, Lansing, Grand Rapids, South Haven, Muskegon, Jackson and the tri-city area — Bay City, Midland and Saginaw.