I NEWS I Religious Bias Upheld As Basis Of Firm's Lawsuit Does your present alarm system: • Tell police if you're home or away? • Work when your phone line is cut? • Prevent false alarms? • Tell police which door or window is open? JAMES D. BESSER Washington Correspondent Does your present alarm company: • Have a UL approved central station located in Southfield? • Offer radio dispatched patrols? • Have 24 hour a day, 7 days a week service? • Offer key vault service? ••••••• .a.410# ---•• • -• Old World Cra smanship New World Design Get the best of both worlds! MB Jewelry Design & Manufacturing offers quality craftmanship that is rare in today's high-production, meet-that-quota world. Couple that with some of the most talented designers in the jewelry industry, and you can be assured that your next purchase from MB Jewelry will be perfect! Recliner shown in $69900 Leather Plus° DARCALOUNGER On SALE MB JEWELRY DESIGN & MFG. LTD. Applegate Square • 29847 Northwestern Hwy. Southfield, Michigan 48034 • (313) 356-7007 "THE REMEMBERED WOMAN"- ff THE NEW Special Order Delivery available BrenT FURNITURE 1914 Telegraph FASHION HAS NO SIZE ...14 PLUS NEW HIGH FASHION SPORTSWEAR, CAREERWEAR AND DESIGNERWEAR ARRIVING DAILY .... AND MORE AFFORDABLE THAN EVER BEFORE. OPEN SUNDAYS 313-851-8001 LAYAWAYS WELCOME \...6209 ORCHARD LAKE RD.• SUGAR TREE • 1 Block North of Maple • West Bloomfield 34 FRIDAY, MAY 17, 1991 north of Square Lake Rd. just past Carl's Golfland Bloomfield Hills 338-7716 A n obscure court deci- sion in Washington last week could have important implications for Jews who have felt the bite of discrimination. The case, Gersman v. Group Health Association, involved Alan F. Gersman, owner of a Washington com- puter security firm that did business with the large health maintenance organ- ization. According to the lawsuit, an assistant to Mohammed Ghafori, a new GHA manag- er, asked Mr. Gersman if he was Jewish. When told that he was, GHA ended the rela- tionship with the computer security firm as a matter of religious discrimination, ac- cording to Mr. Gersman. A federal judge in Wash- ington ruled that Mr. Gersman and his company did not have the right to sue under U.S. civil rights statutes. Last week, that ruling was overturned by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Jewish activists said the decision has mixed implications for the Jewish community. The court ruled that the company was allowed to sue for discrimination — but not Mr. Gersman, who failed to demonstrate he was injured by the alleged religious dis- crimination. "This is potentially a very important case," said Nathan Lewin, a leading legal advocate for the Or- thodox community. "What the court basically said was that based on the old civil rights act of 1866, the right to a contract is protected — but this does not apply to what somebody does after the contract is concluded." In other words, the rights of Jews who - feel they have been discriminated against after a contract has been signed are not subject to civil rights protections — a deci- sion Mr. Lewin sees as potentially dangerous. Calling the case "mostly a negative one," Mr. Lewin said, it "could make its way to the Supreme Court" and possibly become precedent for the nation's judges. Other observers suggested the case was a clear example of how the civil rights bill now under consideration in Congress would protect Jews, as well as other minorities. "The language of the new civil rights bill directly re- sponds to the narrow reading of this civil rights act," said Marc Stern, legal director for the American Jewish Congress. "HR1 ex- plicitly deals with the ques- tion of continuing or renew- ing contracts, which was the issue in Gersman." David H. Shapiro, an at- torney for Mr. Gersman, said the appeals court judges were sending a clear and ominous message to the Jew- ish community. "They are in effect telling us that in current-day America, if a restaurant won't serve you because of discrimination, you can sue," he explained. "If they won't let you on Amtrak you can sue. If an employer dis- criminates against you can sue. But if a company won't do business with you be- cause you're a Jew, or be- cause you hire Jews, you're not protected." Mr. Gersman will ask the appeals court panel for a rehearing. ❑ Religious Ban On Fast Food Tel Aviv (JTA) — The re- ligious township of Bnei Brak has banned hot pizza because the fast food could lead to contact between the sexes, rabbinical authorities say. Two usually feuding rabbis, Moshe Landau and Nissim Karlitz, concurred on the issue when they jointly signed an order to pizza par- lors and kiosks to stop serv- ing hot pizzas. The problem arose when fast-food shops added hot pizza to their menus, requir- ing an operating license from the religious au- thorities. Rabbinical aides explained that the rabbis feared boys and girls would have to stand in the same line c( waiting for their pizza slices to be heated. "They might look at each K other, an offense against modesty, or God forbid, even touch each other," the rabbis' aides said. But pizza fanciers needn't despair. They have rabbinical sanc- tion to buy the product cold and heat it at home, prefer- ably in mother's kitchen.