EDITORIAL
The $10 Billion Question
The battle between Washington and
Jerusalem is being joined over congres-
sional approval later this year for up to $10
billion in U.S. loan guarantees for the
resettlement of hundreds of thousands of
Soviet Jews in Israel.
Not since the bitter struggle over the sale
of AWACS planes to Saudi Arabia ten
years ago has there been the makings of a
direct confrontation of such magnitude bet-
ween a U.S. administration and pro-Israel
forces.
The Bush administration, privately, is
seeking to link the five-year loan guar-
antees to concessions by Jerusalem to
discontinue settlements on the West Bank.
President Bush and Secretary of State
Baker have cited the settlements as major
obstacles to peace, and they are hoping to
apply leverage, in the form of the des-
perately-needed loans, as a means of
bolstering support for their Mideast peace
plan.
Israel says the issue is humanitarian, not
political, and appears prepared to take on
the administration. Prime Minister
Shamir said last week that there is "a
danger" that the U.S. will link the loans to
the settlements issue. "Creating such a
linkage is dangerous," he added, "and I
hope that the American people won't ac-
cept the linkage that the administration is
trying to create between the two."
Pro-Israel forces in this country, led by
the American-Israel Public Affairs Com-
mittee, are preparing for a major lobbying
effort this summer. The expected request
from Israel will come when Congress
returns from its summer recess, after
Labor Day. But timing will be critical be-
cause the fiscal year ends Sept. 30.
American Jewish leaders are worried
The RCA took aim primarily at "second-
hand smoke," as smoke coming from
tobacco products used by others is known.
In a resolution adopted at its recent con-
vention, the RCA concluded that "it is the
opinion of a preponderance of rabbinic opi-
nion that one may not smoke in the
presence of those who would thereby be
offended or harmed, thus making smoking
a desecration of God's name."
The rationale is an extension of the con-
cept that one may not harm one's body,
since it belongs not to us but to God.
Reform and Conservative groups, while
not necessary citing Halachah, have al-
ready taken similar stands. "Jewish tradi-
6
FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 1991
III ,
and have warned Mr. Shamir that winning
the U.S. aid will be difficult without sup-
port from the White House. It is vital that
American Jews explain to their represent-
atives in Congress, and to the administra-
tion, that linking the Soviet absorption to
the peace process is a mistake.
Israel needs the funding to help hundreds
of thousands of Soviet newcomers find ade-
quate housing and employment. Only a
stronger, more economically viable Israel
will have the courage to take bold steps
toward peace; for the U.S. deliberately to
weaken Israel, by denying the loan guar-
antees, would ensure the opposite effect.
If the administration really believes that
settlements are the primary obstacle to
peace, how does it explain the Arabs going
to war against Israel when the Arabs con-
trolled the West Bank? And where is the
pressure on Arab states to drop their econ-
omic boycott of Israel or their United
Nations resolution branding Zionism as
racism?
For the U.S. to put pressure on Israel in
this one-sided way and jeopardize human-
itarian aid for hundreds of thousands of
immigrants to whom the U.S. would not
allow entry, is to preclude the possibility of
meaningful peace negotiations.
Finally, though, Israel would be prudent
and wise to put a quiet moratorium on
creating new West Bank settlements. We
do not dispute Jerusalem's right to these
settlements, but to flaunt them at such a
sensitive time is a tactical mistake. If the
primary issue is, indeed, providing funding
for the new immigrants, Jerusalem should
not try to prove its independence from
Washington at a time when it is most
dependent.
No Butts About It
The Rabbinical Council of America,
citing Halachah (traditional Jewish law),
has banned smoking from all its functions
and has called upon its members to "set an
example" for their Orthodox congregants
by not smoking.
Finally, a halachic decision that all Jews
can live with.
C . 4
tion enjoins us to cherish life, nurture it,
preserve and protect it," noted a 1987
resolution passed by the Reform Union of
American Hebrew Congregations.
But one does not have to be a rabbinic
scholar to understand the dangers of
tobacco, even for those who do not smoke.
According to the American Cancer Socie-
ty, even nonsmokers exposed to the smoke
of 20 or more cigarettes daily at home or at
the office face twice the risk of developing
lung cancer as those who are not. Non-
smoking wives of husbands who smoke
have also been found to have a 2-to-3.5 per-
cent increased risk of lung cancer com-
pared to those married to nonsmokers.
The RCA resolution falls into the
category of better-late-than-never. But it is
a welcome sign of the increasing recogni-
tion that tobacco is a deadly substance, and
that its use is counter to Jewish, and com-
mon, sense.
We now await rabbinical action on an-
other health concern: banning schmaltz
(chicken fat).
I COMMENT
For Jews, The Special
Meaning of July 4th
SHELDON ENGELMAYER
Special to The Jewish News
A
nother July 4th is
soon upon us. It has
become a day to
reflect on many things —
what shopping malls to visit,
how charbroiled the steaks
should be, which fireworks
displays to watch.
Only passively do we
reflect on what is truly im-
portant about July 4th: the
unleashing in 1776 of a
whirlwind called liberty,
that gale-force burst of fresh
air that infused life into two
unique documents, the Con-
stitution of the United
States in 1787 and the Bill of
Rights in 1791.
For Jews, July 4th is of
special importance. For two
millenia, we lived in fear of
the next law. The benevolence
of one generation did not
vouchsafe immunity from the
malevolence of the next.
On whims, the nations
playing host to us, or ruling
us in our own land, would
forbid the teaching of the
Jewish religion and the
study of its sacred tomes,
ban Jewish entrance into
commerce and the profes-
sions, and banish the Jews to
ghettos. Some laws enslaved
Jews, others forced them to
convert under penalty of
death, still others required
their death.
Then came the tolling of a
bell upon which were in-
scribed the words of Moses:
"Go, proclaim liberty
throughout the land, unto
all the inhabitants thereof."
Mr. Engelmayer is a writer in
New York.
And then came other
words, written by men who
acknowledged their debt to
Moses and his code: " .. .
that all men are created
equal . . ."; "Congress shall
make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise
thereof . . ."; "no state shall
. . . deprive any person of
life, liberty, or property
without due process of law
To be sure, what the
forefathers of this nation
wrought that day in July,
215 years ago, was not a
perfect document. The ex-
igencies of union required
that slavery remained valid;
equality of the sexes was
still a concept without a
voice. Despite the lofty
words and noble hopes, the
history of the United States
is stained with the blood of
racism and bigotry, in-
cluding the stains of anti-
Semitism. Over two cen-
turies have passed since
1776 and hatred and dis-
crimination linger still.
This is not a perfect nation
because people are not
perfect. Yet this is a nation
in which the law is supreme,
stronger than any one per-
son, including the president.
That law militates against
the efforts of those who
would deny others their
basic human rights because
of race, religion, sex, or na-
tional origin.
As a result, for the first
time in Jewish history, there
is a country in which we can
live without fear of the next
law. We are free to live as
Jews and still be equal part-
ners in the American
dream. ❑