EDITORIAL
A Great Deal
Remains The Same
In just over 60 years, so much about the
American Jewish community has changed.
Yet, so much has remained the same.
Then, our community was planning on
how it would assimilate thousands upon
thousands of immigrants from "the old coun-
try." But then the Great Depression hit, and
Jewish organizations not only scrambled to
feed, clothe and house its newcomers, but
also to take care of those who had been here
for some time. The economic shock of the
Depression spared few. The upper class
found itself on the street with the lower
class.
As staff writer Kim Lifton reports in this
week's special section on the current reces-
sion, beginning on Page 34, much of the
news of 60 years ago is very real today.
Only today, we don't call anything a
"depression." Instead, the word recession
will do. Now, the people from the "old
country" are coming almost exclusively
from places like Moscow, Leningrad,
Lithuania and Minsk. In the next five
years, international Jewish organizations
will have to help settle at least 1 million
Soviet Jews, the overwhelming majority
settling in Israel.
It's the miracle we've all been waiting
for. But it's coming at a time when consti-
tuent agencies such as the Jewish Voca-
tional Service and the Jewish Family Ser-
vice are stretched to their limits helping
Jews native to this country. As Washing-
ton correspondent James Besser reports,
the problem is afflicting agencies all over
the nation. It is also influencing the way
we give and how much we give to these
agencies.
In Ms. Lifton's report, Sid Erlich, a fairly
secure, hard working member of Detroit's
Jewish middle class, tells what it is like to
lose his job, his savings and a great deal of
his hope. For Mr. Erlich, it wasn't supposed
to happen this way. But as anyone in Jew-
ish communal work will tell you, it's hap-
pening more and more.
No, we're not selling apples on the street
anymore, and we're not jumping out of
windows. But, we're finding that in 60
years since the Depression, much has
changed in regards to the American Jewish
community. And a great deal has stayed
the same.
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Baker's Bias
Secretary of State James Baker's frustra-
tion after numerous talks with Arab states
and Israel, and so little to show for it, is
understandable. But Mr. Baker does a
disservice to Israel by singling her out for
blame.
When the secretary left Jerusalem last
week, he issued a statement saying that
Israel failed to give all the responses he
needed to continue trying to put together
an Arab-Israeli peace conference.
"Questions remain here in Israel," he said.
"We still need some answers from the
Israel has proven that, given
an Arab partner willing to
negotiate with her, she is
prepared to make peace.
Israeli government relating primarily to
modalities before we can move this process
forward."
Granted that Israel is unwilling to accept
representatives from East Jerusalem as
part of a Palestinian delegation and that
she continues to resist more than a
ceremonial role for the United Nations in
any peace conference. The merits of these
positions can be debated. But the Israelis
have been no less flexible than Syria and
the Saudis, with whom Mr. Baker has also
been conferring.
The Saudi decision not to take part in
direct talks with Israel was a blow to
6
FRIDAY, MAY 3, 1991
I LETTERS I--
`Violence Climate'
And The Holocaust
Washington's plans, but there was no
public criticism of Riyadh. And when a
clearly annoyed Mr. Baker left Damascus
after 10 hours with talks with President
Hafez al-Assad, which made no apparent
progress, the secretary called the talks
"useful."
Given that neither the Arabs nor the
Israelis are enthusiastic about seizing
what Mr. Baker calls "the window of op-
portunity," the irony here is that it is
Israel that has made several concessions
regarding the peace process. One was to ac-
cept a European and Soviet role in the con-
ference once Moscow establishes full dip-
lomatic relations with Jerusalem. Another
was to accept a ceremonial opening con-
ference, though Israel preferred simply to
have direct talks with the Arab states.
What concessions have the Arab states
made in their talks with Mr. Baker? Have
they expressed a willingness to repeal the
UN resolution equating Zionism with
racism? Have they considered ending their
economic boycott of Israel or their state of
war with the Jewish state?
Israel has proven that, given an Arab
partner willing to negotiate with her, she
is prepared to make peace. The burden is
on the Arab states to indicate that they are
serious about negotiations.
By rebuking Jerusalem, Mr. Baker has
only exacerbated the concern there that
the world is ganging up on her. Such action
is perceived as bullying rather than diplo-
macy, and it can only hinder his peace
efforts.
I found Irving Warshaw-
sky's letter (April 26) on my
Revisionism article difficult
to understand.
Accepting "the climate of
violence" concept does not of-
fer a rationale for the whole-
sale killing of Jews, nor does
it account for the real motive:
coveting the Soviet "leben-
sraum" and world domina-
tion. Hitler's haste to li-
quidate European Jewry did
at times take precedence over
the war effort.
There is no doubt that the
crushing Nazi defeat at Stal-
ingrad in 1942 humiliated
and enraged Hitler's cohorts.
But can any civilized person
in "historical setting" ra-
tionalize the mass murder of
unrelated civilians because of
race?
Dr. Milton J. Steinhardt
Southfield
German Ties
Story Mislead
The story "German-Israel
Ties Called Good" (April 26)
is a misleading story that
sanitizes the German role in
the Gulf war. The story omits
that, according to reports, at
least 20 German companies
were involved in building
Iraq's chemical and biological
weapons, and that German
companies helped Iraq extend
the range of the Scud missiles
from 350 to 800 kilometers.
The fact that Dr. Niels
Hansen, the former German
ambassador to Israel, did not
apologize for the German
behavior in the Gulf war is
appalling. The fact that the
Jewish "leaders" did not raise
this issue with Dr. Hansen is
an insult to all Jews in
general and to Holocaust vic-
tims and survivors in
particular.
Saul Grunfeld
Oak Park
Editor's note: These issues
were raised at the meeting and
were discussed at length in the
article.
`Shameful' Editorial
Deserved Apology
Regarding Paul Borman's
letter to the editor in your
April 12 edition responding to
your April 5 editorial, we the
undersigned subscribers to
The Jewish News were shock-
ed and dismayed that your
shameful editorial ("Shame-
ful Gloating" about the Per-
sian Gulf war) was not follow-
ed with an apology.
You do not seem to care
about your 21,000 subscribers
feelings. You are completely
out of tune with them. Every
person we spoke with in the
Holocaust survivor communi-
Continued on Page 10