OPINION

THE UNBEATABLE DEALER THE UNBEATABLE DEALER THE UNBEATABLE DEALER

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IS HAVING A 9.8 ACRE

END OF MONTH
FINAL SALE

Soviet Non-Jews

Continued from Page 7

THURSDAY 9 AM to 9 PM, MAY 30, 1991
FRIDAY 9 AM to 6 PM, MAY 31, 1991
SATURDAY 10 AM to 3 PM, JUNE 1, 1991

0

NEW
DEMOS
0 A ACTORY
FACTORY
OFFICAL CHEVYS

CARS INCLUDED ARE

Chevy Caprices:
2 Drs, 4 Drs & Wagons
Chevy Luminas:
2 Drs & 4 Drs
Chevy Corsicas: 4 Drs
Chevy Berettas: 2 Drs
Cavaliers:
2 Drs, 4 Drs, Wagons,
Plus Convertibles
Chevy Corvettes:
ZRI, Convertibles &
Coupes
GEO Metros:
2 Drs, 3 Drs, 5 Drs &
Convertibles
GEO Storm: 2 Drs
GEO Prizms: 4 Drs

—

TRUCKS INCLUDED ARE

Chevy Full Size Pick-Ups

Chevy Crew Cab Pick-Ups

Chevy S-10 Pick-Ups

Chevy S-10 Blazers:
2 Drs & 4 Drs

Chevy Astro Vans

Chevy Conversion Vans

Chevy Dump Trucks
(every size)

Chevy Step Vans

Chevy W-4 thru W-7 Series

FOR THREE DAYS BRING ANY AD OR
ANY LEGITIMATE DEAL AND WE WILL
MAKE IT BETTER

WE NEED USED 1985, 1986, 1987 & 1988
CARS AND TRUCKS
ALL MAKES AND MODELS

Gec)

Dfs3ier

MEDIUM DUTY
TRUCK CENTER

28111 TELEGRAPH
AT 12 MILE & 1-696
SOUTHFIELD

•

355-1000

OPEN • MON. & THURS. TIL 9 PM

THE UNBEATABLE DEALER THE UNBEATABLE DEALER THE UNBEATABLE DEALER

FRIDAY. MAY 31, 1991

creasingly concerned about
the number of non-Jews said
to be arriving in the wave of
aliyah, the immigrants are
feeling increasingly ill at
ease under the spotlight
focused on them in the at-
tempt to discover how many
gentiles there really are
among them.
Jews in the USSR often
ask each other, in one of the
few "Yiddish" phrases I
"One of
know: nostris?
ours?"
"Ours" meaning Jewish,
trustworthy. Here in Israel,
the question has disap-
peared. People feel uncom-
fortable questioning fellow
immigrants.
To understand, one must
look at both the Jews and
the non-Jews arriving today.
The Jews, victims of more
than 70 years of forced
assimilation and persecu-
tion, have been deprived of
any knowledge of their his-
tory, culture, language, and
religion. But they know they
are Jews, and in the USSR
they felt united in their Jew-
ishness because of the anti-
Semitism. As for the non-
Jews, although some have
virtually no connection with
the Jewish people, the over-
whelming majority are
spouses of Jews or related in
other ways. They chose to
share the fate of the Jews in
the Soviet Union: They mar-
ried into the legacy of anti-
Semitism.
In the first years after the
Bolshevik Revolution, mixed
marriages were part of the
thrust to change the old
order, proof that ethnic and
religious barriers were
breaking down and a new,
universal Soviet nation was
being born. A mixed mar-
riage testified to a revolu-
tionary's loyalty to the
cause.
Many Soviet leaders had
Jewish wives: The last ex-
ample was Brezhnev, who
married in the early 1930s.
By the late 30s, however,
anti-Semitism had become a
key component of Soviet
policy. Marrying a Jew came
to mean joining the
persecuted tribe, casting
your lot, and your children's,
with the fate of the Jews.
Jewish parents who worried
about their children inter-
marrying were not concern-
ed about violations of Jewish
law or tradition; they want-
ed to know whether the pro-
spective spouse was ready
and able to cope with the
difficulties of Jewish identi-
ty.
Were the Zionist dream of
mass aliyah from the United
States and West Europe to
be fulfilled, there would be

E

an even higher proportion of
non-Jews immigrating.
Those non-Jews would not
have been subjected to
persecution as Jews, and
therefore would not have
had to pass the same tests of
loyalty as their Soviet
counterparts.
What will happen to the
non-Jews arriving here, and
to the country itself, as the
result of their presence? As
experience has shown —dur-
ing the 70s and 80s roughly
200,000 Soviets immigrated
with the same proportion of
Jews to non-Jews as among
today's immigrants — ab-
sorbing non-Jews will not be

The religious
authorities should
bear in mind that
these people have
already passed
significant tests of
time and loyalty.

a problem unless we make it
one.
The vast majority of assim-
ilated Jews, after going
through the trying period of
absorption, will gain con-
fidence and a sense of com-
fort
fort in their new country.
Many of their technically
non-Jewish family members
will want to become full
members of the tribe. In fact,
a large number are already
in the process of formally
converting.
This process should be as
simple as possible. Like
many Soviet Jews who have
experienced first-hand the
dangers of a Bolshevism
which ran roughshod over
tradition, I am hesitant
about altering practices and
values that have sustained
and protected our people for
thousands of years.
But the religious au-
thorities should bear in
mind that these people have
already passed significant
tests of time and loyalty.
The prior wave of Soviet
aliyah also showed that
there are some loyal citizens
who nonetheless prefer to
remain gentiles in the Jew-
ish state. They feel it is hyp-
ocritical to convert to a re-
ligion one does not believe
in, especially if one doesn't
believe in religion at all.
These people must also be
made to feel at home here.
Without Bolshevik-style
attacks on our tradition,
aimed at creating a univer-
sal, watered-down Judaism,
we must patiently yet vigor-
ously seek practical solu-
tions to the personal status
problems of non-Jewish
citizens.