EDITORIAL

Parenting Center

At last November's Council of Jewish
Federations General Assembly, the main
topic of discussion occupying crowded San
Francisco auditoriums and ballrooms was
the tens of millions of dollars needed to pay
for the miracle of the Soviet exodus. Most
of the major sessions focused on this most
pressing of needs.
In the background, however, the smaller
meeting rooms and workshops were also
pretty crowded. There, they weren't talk-
ing miracles. Instead, the conversation
centered on the day-to-day "routine" of
Jewish life. People shared chairs and sat on
the floor to hear a distressing account of
the rise and consequences of intermar-
riage.
Down the hall in another packed meeting
room, people's eyes welled up with tears as
they revealed personal accounts of a
brother or friend who had died of AIDS.
There were talks on divorce and the Jewish
family; Jewish children in new family
situations; where singles fit in Jewish life
and other like discussions.
All of the discussions had a common
thread running through them. Where did
these issues fit in Jewish life? At times,
there was an expressed feeling that the
synagogue was generally not sensitive to

the changes happening in the Jewish fami-
ly. Most synagogues and their rabbis do a
credible job in working with their con-
gregants. But the situations that the
rabbis in the 1990s face are sometimes tax-
ing beyond the resources available to them.
Jewish Family Service is also doing more
than its share to adjust to the changes in
the Jewish family. But still, caseloads are
stretched.

Congregation Shaarey Zedek's creation
of a parenting center in West Bloomfield is
an important milestone, one that the entire
community and nation will no doubt wat-
ch. Here is a chance for a synagogue to step
out of tradition as a place only for worship
and Hebrew school and recognize that Jew-
ish family tradition is rewriting its defini-
tion. Jewish families need to know that so-
cial service agencies are available to them,
and that their synagogues are part of the
equation.

We applaud Shaarey Zedek's mission in
West Bloomfield. There have to be similar
efforts across the community. A syn-
agogue, we're quickly learning, is no
longer just a place to buy High Holiday
tickets. Its definition is changing to mirror
the changes faced by its community.

President Bush's
Double Standards

A double standard in United States
policy was underscored this past week.
President Bush, in the Soviet Union for a
summit meeting, spoke of the importance
of freedom, democracy and economic liber-
ty.
"We will determine our support," he
said, "not on the basis of personalities, but
on the basis of principles."
Expanding on that statement, he said
that "no terms have been abused more
regularly nor more cynically" than
freedom, democracy and economic liberty.
"Throughout this century, despots have
posed as democrats. Jailers have posed as
liberators. We can restore faith in govern-
ment only by restoring meaning to these
concepts."
But the very next day, Mr. Bush sent
Secretary of State Baker to the Mideast to
pressure the only democracy in that region,
Israel, to make concessions to a despot like
Hafez Assad of Syria and to King Hussein
of Jordan, who rules on the basis of per-
sonality rather than principle.
One of the legitimate worries Israel has
regarding a peace conference is whether
the United States empathizes and appreci-
ates Jerusalem's positions and views. As a
vibrant democracy, Israel is subject to dis-
agreement and dispute among its citizens
as to which is the best path to security and
stability. For Arab leaders, on the other
hand, their word is law. Whether their

6

FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 1991

(

word is truth, however, remains to be seen.
For Mr. Baker, the means is the end: he
has been so intent on bringing the parties
together to the peace table that there is
little indication of what might happen once
they get there. Israel has reason to worry
that the United States expects Jerusalem
to return virtually all of the land captured
after the 1967 war.
If that is true, Washington would be guil-
ty of a second double standard. Consider: in
the case of Kuwait, the administration
asserts that as the victim of aggression,
Kuwait deserves compensation; and Iraq,
the aggressor, deserves to be punished.
But in Israel's case, the United States
appears to be suggesting that as the victim
of Arab aggression, Jerusalem not only
does not deserve compensation but that the
aggressor Arab states should be rewarded.
The land that the Arabs could not capture
by initiating wars and terrorism would be
returned through intense pressure from
Israel's strongest ally.
Washington needs to reassure Israel that
this is not the case. The administration
also must indicate that it is consistent
when it encourages and supports democ-
racy and freedom around the world. To br-
ing the Arab states to the peace table
without demanding changes in their form
of rule is to increase the risk that their
assurances will last, at best, only as long as
the ruler in power.

if >Cu Ly AGREE ro
BE Ilia AND caw IBM
Nredtrime Tfrig yfini
HE RIGHT irriTUPE ,
suRE Ake
evem 6ET OUR

CLOD FREUD HERE
1 ReaPPOCRIE!)

ANALYSIS

h—

Candidate Needs Unity
Of Blacks, Jews To Win

JAMES D. BESSER

Washington Correspondent

I

n Jewish political circles,
black-Jewish relations
remain a major worry.
But Mel Reynolds, in
Washington last week
gathering support for his
challenge to Rep. Gus Sav-
age, D-Ill., has a different
slant on the issue — and a
unique opportunity to put
his theories to the test.
Last year, a Savage-
Reynolds primary battle
aroused the wrath of the
Jewish community when
Mr. Savage gave a campaign
rally reading of a list of Mr.
Reynolds' Jewish con-
tributors — and criticized
pro-Israel backing for the
challenger.
This time, the battle bet-
ween the two black can-
didates may be different.
"The major difference is
that we're starting early,"
Mr. Reynolds said in an
interview. "It's going to be
very close — but the results
of our exploratory committee
are looking positive."
Last time, pro-Israel
groups tried to maintain a
low-key presence in the
Reynolds campaign. This
time, Mr. Reynolds is
unabashedly seeking Jewish
support.
"Savage would raise the
issue even if I didn't get a
dime from the Jewish com-
munity," he said. "Bigots
don't raise issues for logical
reasons. Savage wants to
cover the fact that he hasn't
done anything in Congress."
Mr. Savage's use of the
"Jewish money" issue did

not help him last time, ac-
cording to Mr. Reynolds.
"This is a 10-year incum-
bent who barely received 51
percent of the vote," he said.
"There is a widespread feel-
ing that he has very strong
black support. That's not
true. He got only 54 percent
of the black vote in the last
election."
The idea of a serious black-
Jewish rift, Mr. Reynolds
argued, has been exag-
gerated by people who want
to exploit differences.
"There are some in the
leadership on both sides
who, for whatever reasons,
have done things to hurt
those relations," he said.
But "in the rank-and-file
African-American commun-
ity, there is no widespread
anti-Semitism."
He pointed to Chicago's fif-
th ward, where an incum-
bent Jewish alderman re-
cently won 75 percent of the
vote — in a ward that is
three-quarters black.
Mr. Reynolds has a
longstanding relationship
with the Jewish community
and with Israel. In fact, in
1977, he lived on a kibbutz
for a month.
Mr. Reynolds is confident
Mr. Savage will be
vulnerable in 1992. But
some Jewish political analy-
sts are not as certain.
"Savage remains very
strong," said an official with
one pro-Israel organization
in Washington. "Reynolds
may get some pro- Israel
money — but there are so
many other pressing races
that I don't think this will be
a top priority." D