NEWS I Dealwith the Import Specialists Ethiopian Jewry Groups Cautiously Optimistic San Francisco (JTA) — Israeli officials and groups working on behalf of Ethio- pian Jews are now cautious- ly optimistic that Jewish emigration from Ethiopia will return to the relatively high levels seen at the beginning of the year. "We are beginning to see a breakthrough on the very sad and dramatic story of E- thiopian Jews," Simcha Dinitz, chairman of the Ex- ecutive of the Jewish Agency for Israel, told delegates at- tending the Council of Jew- ish Federations General Assembly here last week. He pledged Israel would use "every device available" to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel. Mr. Dinitz rep6rted that two planeloads carrying ap- proximately 100 Jews each arrived in Israel this month, and that the total could reach 500 by the end of November. That is a big increase from October, when only 58 arriv- ed. Emigration has been slow since late June, when the flow of Ethiopian Jews, which had averaged 500 a month for most of the year, We believe you should be rewarded with convenience. If you wish, we'll bring the vehicle of your choice right to your door for your personal inspection. Call today for your appointment. Factory Authorized Dealer Over 20 Years Experience • Service • Sales • Parts • Leasing • FREE pickup and delivery service • FREE loaner cars available Israeli Absorption Chief Stirs Up 'Who Is A Jew?' 9099 Holly Road • Grand Blanc, MI (313) 695 -4400 Open Saturday 9 am-3 pm TOMGLEAS9N INC. MERCEDES-BENZ Registration Open For All Classes! Directed by International Dancer-Choreographer Barry Douglas Offering Programs In Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Tahitian, Hawaiian, Pre-School Creative Movement and Ballroom Dancing! Also Offering: Street Dancing and Lambadal . CLASSES OFFERED FOR ALL AGES AND ALL LEVELS' CALL NOW 681:4101 3080 Orchard Lake Road, Keego Harbor 24 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1990 k9a,52 SPECIALTIES TRAYS U NOVELTIES FOR EVERYONE ON YOUR GIFT LIST! THE FINEST IN CANDY, NUTS & DRIED FRUIT KOSHER-PAREVE was suddenly cut to a trickle by the mercurial Ethiopian government. Nobody knows how many Jews are left in Ethiopia. But at least 20,000 have made their way from their homes in the northern prov- ince of Gondar to the capital city of Addis Ababa, hoping to receive permission to join family members already in Israel. They live in makeshift housing amid crime, un- sanitary conditions and rampant disease. Many have died after contracting such common, treatable illnesses as tuberculosis, pneumonia and measles. In an effort to address this situation, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, an international relief agency supported by the United Jewish Appeal, set up a medical clinic in Addis Ababa in August, staffed by doctors and nurses from the United States, Israel and E- thiopia. Already, the improved medical care has reduced the mortality rate from 40 deaths in July to 17 in Oc- tober. It. 932-4161 LOCAL & NATIONWIDE DELIVERY Jerusalem (JTA) — A potential powder keg was lit last week in Moscow by the Israeli minister of absorp- tion, Yitzhak Peretz, who claimed that 30 to 35 percent of Soviet immigrants coming to Israel are not Jewish. "I am in shock," the min- ister said, according to a report Nov. 15 by Yediot Achronot's Moscow cor- respondent Amnon Kapelyuk. Following a visit to the Israeli Consulate in the Soviet capital, Mr. Peretz said the problem neces- sitates a change in the Law of Return, which says any Jew is entitled to Israeli citizenship. Soviet Jews have heavily intermarried over the 70 years of Communist rule and are frequently the offspring of non-Jewish mothers, which makes them non-Jews as defined by the Israeli rab- binate and Jewish tradition apart from the Reform movement. The Reform movement ac- cepts as Jews the children of Jewish fathers and non- Jewish mothers, but this not accepted in Israel. Mr. Peretz has long cham- pioned changing the Law of Return to say that a Jew is one born of a Jewish mother or converted according to halacha, or Jewish law. An independent member of the present Likud-led government, Mr. Peretz quit the Orthodox Shas party last year. As interior minister in the previous Likud-Labor unity government, he defied Israel's High Court of Justice by refusing to register as Jewish an American immigrant con- verted by a Reform rabbi. But now Mr. Peretz is complaining that not only are non-Jewish members of Soviet immigrant families gaining entry to Israel, but people with no family con- nections whatever to Jews, His statements drew angry reactions from Labor Knesset Members Arieh (Lova) Eliav and Ya'acov Tsur.