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In response, Rabbi Shmuel
Kaplan, Lubavitch's
Maryland regional repre-
sentative, distinguished
between God's rebuke of the
angels and his failure to
rebuke the Jews.
Jews who are saved by a
miracle, he said, are re-
quired to recognize such
divine intervention. But the
angels, who had not been
threatened by the ap-
proaching Egyptians, did not
have such a reason to
celebrate.
Regarding the recent war,
the rabbi said, "It is not a
question of rejoicing, but of
recognizing that miracles
were wrought" in the Gulf
conflict.
"That many Iraqis were
killed," said Rabbi Kaplan,
"does not mean that a
miracle did not occur."

New Republic Claims
About Pope Rejected

vomsc.erik's

ki4chers

MOW*

T

he New York Times is
a catalyst for many
things, but perhaps
never before for a theological
tiff between Reform and
Chabad Lubavitch leaders.
Such a squabble started
recently with a full-page,
Lubavitch-sponsored ad in
the Times that appeared a
few days before Passover.
The ad quoted from a letter
by the Lubavitch rebbe,
Menachem Schneerson,
which urged Jews to reflect
on the "miracles" that had
occurred during the Gulf
war, especially the
"stunning and quick" vic-
tory and the "amazingly
few" casualties.
The ad, said Rabbi Alex-
ander Schindler, president of
the Union of American Heb-
rew Congregations, was "a
profanation of God's name, a
stain on the Jewish soul."
Rabbi Schindler, who had
supported the war, said he,
too, was "glad that its out-
come was so swift and
decisive," but his "joy" was
"muted" by the approximate
100,000 Iraqi casualties.
"Are they not God's chil-
dren, too?" asked Rabbi
Schindler, adding that this

is "a time for trembling, not
for jubilation; for relief, not
rejoicing."
The rabbi also asked Jews
to remember that when
Moses and the newly freed
Jews broke into song after
Egyptian forces drowned in
the Red Sea, the angels, who
joined them in celebration,
were rebuked by God, who
said, "My children (the
Egyptians) are drowning
and you sing praises!"

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Allegations in the New
Republic that Pope John II

was biased toward Saddam
Hussein before and during
the Gulf war were rejected
by Rev. William Au, director
of public relations for the
Baltimore Archdiocese.
The pope, said Rev. Au,
"condemned Iraq's invasion
of Kuwait, but didn't think
that war would be good and
would just create more suf-
fering."
Rev. Au referred to papal
statements that urged Iraq
to withdraw from Kuwait,
but also opposed the Allies'
decision to go to war.
On Feb. 18, for instance,
according to a Catholic News
Service dispatch, the pope
stated that Iraq's invasion
violated international law,
that the Gulf crisis was
widening the gap between
the West and the Arab
world, and that "for justice
to take root in the region, a
settlement for all the area's
problems is needed."
At the time, a Vatican

spokesman said, "You
cannot make an over-
simplification that the pope
is with one side or another."
But according to the
Italian journalist Furio Col-
ombo in the New Republic,
the Vatican was critical of the
Allies and insensitive toward
Jewish concerns.
Mr. Colombo also wrote
that in mid-February, after
19 Iraqi Scud missiles had
landed in Israel, the pope
finally mentioned Israel:
"We want to express our
solidarity to the suffering
people in the state of Israel."
According to the jour-
nalist, this marked the first
time since 1947 that a pope
had used the expression
"state of Israel."
The day after the pope's
statement, Rome's Jewish
community petitioned the
Vatican to immediately rec-
ognize Israel. The move was
backed by two-thirds of
Italy's Parliament.
The pope rejected the re-
quest.

