NOBLIA • .................... Jewish community councils around the country. The OU is the only Orthodox mem- ber of NJCRAC. Under NJCRAC rules, consensus among consti- tuent groups is necessary for it to take public stands on issues. In particular, Mr. Rubin chided the OU for blocking NJCRAC last year from join- ing a coalition on housing rights because the coalition was planning a major march on a Saturday. He was also critical of an OU veto of NJCRAC par- ticipation in a civil rights commemoration for two Jews and a black who were killed in Mississippi during black voter-registration drives in the 1960s. The ceremony for Michael Schwerner, Andrew Good- man and James Cheney was held outside a church. Mr. Rubin said that while the OU passes eloquent and sincere resolutions on social justice issues, including AIDS and the homeless, the Orthodox group is perceived as being a negative force on the Jewish communal scene. Mr. Lewin rejected the no- tion that the OU should be expending more energy on such issues, saying such a focus would create the perception that "our agenda is trivial." He said he did not agree with Mr. Rubin that Or- thodox Jews would gain more respect "by focusing more of our limited resources on their social justice agenda." Mr. Lewin said "our priorities" should take precedence. He criticized proponents of the "national Jewish agen- da" for being less concerned with the needs and rights of observant Jews than with "the success of the United Farm Workers, the battles for improvements of the civil rights laws and whether silent prayer should be per- mitted in the public schools." Mr. Lewin, who has argued in the Supreme Court on such issues as the right for observant Jews to wear a yarmulke in the military, said he cared little about "how others see us." He said that religious obser- vance is treated patroniz- ingly by secular Jewish groups, when in fact, he asserted, "our adherence to Jewish tradition has allowed the American Jewish corn- munity to survive." In a "special resolution" on relations within the Jew- ish community, the OU ex- pressed its commitment to active membership, "without compromising our convictions," in "umbrella" organizations that reflect the diversity of the total Jewish community. The resolution also called on all Jewish groups to put a halt to introducing divisive religious issues on the com- munal agenda, and rejected "public campaigns in certain circles to distort and misrepresent Orthodox Judaism and Torah values." THE QUIN 1 ESSENCE OF CLASSIC STYLING AND CRAFTSMANSHIP IS EMBODIED IN THIS HANDSOME ULTRA:-THIN ADDI 1 ION TO THE NOBLIA SAPPHIRE COLLECTION. THE SIMPLISTIC BEAUTY OF A STARK BLACK DIAL AND SAPPHIRE GLASS CRYSTAL COMPLEMEN 1ED BY A SUPPLE, BLACK LEATHER STRAP MAKE THIS A TIMEPIECE OF AGELESS APPEAL. ❑ NOBLIA N EWS I Warranted to the Year 2001. Shamir Lashes Out At U.S., Egypt, U.N. Tel Aviv (JTA) — Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir sounded a series of sour notes on the eve of his depar- ture for the United States. Last week, he accused the United Nations of interfer- ing in Israel's affairs; held Egypt responsible, along with Jordan and Syria, for allowing an atmosphere of hostility toward Israel to fester; and less than two weeks before his scheduled meeting with President Bush on Dec. 11 in Washing- ton, complained that the United States was prepared to sacrifice Israel's interests in order to hold together its anti-Iraq coalition. American efforts to obtain a Security Council resolu- tion authorizing the use of force to get Iraq out of Kuwait "is bringing in its wake dangerous plans for Israel," said the prime min- ister, at the annual Editors Committee Luncheon held at the Journalists Associ- ation headquarters here. The occasion was the 43rd anniversary of the U.N. General Assembly's Nov. 29, 1947, resolution calling for the partition of Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states. Mr. Shamir criticized the United Nations for trying to investigate the killing of at least 17 Arabs by Israeli border police during the Temple Mount riots in Jerusalem on Oct. 8. "This line of intervention in Israeli affairs is different." ... and now watches too! Southfield Southfield & 12 Mile 552.0080 Farmington Hills Orchard Lake & 13 Mile 851.0440 Madison Heights Dequindre & 12 Mile 541-0808 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 33