HAVE YOU RECENTLY LOST A LOVED ONE? Hebrew Memorial Chapel Announces Grief Counseling Sessions At No Charge Pressure Is On Congress To Approve Guarantees JAMES D. BESSER Washington Correspondent group meetings at the chapel on alternate Thursdays beginning August 29, 1991 at 7:15 p.m. led by Elaine Burton Medwed, M.A. For additional information, call 543-1622 ov a • : root 4m Ion Hebrew Memorial Chapel 26640 Greenfield Road Oak Park, Michigan 48237 BAR-ILAN UNIVERSITY IN ISRAEL AND ITS AMERICAN FRIENDS MOURN THE PASSING OF MAX STOLLMAN ONE OF THE UNIVERSITY'S FOUNDERS; FATHER OF ITS ESTEEMED MEMBERS OF THE GLOBAL BOARD OF TRUSTEES, BARBARA AND BERNARD STOLLMAN; HUSBAND OF THE LATE FRIEDA STOLLMAN, THE UNIVERSITY'S "FIRST LADY" FOR SCORES OF YEARS; AND BELOVED BROTHER OF PHILLIP STOLLMAN, THE HONORARY CHAIRMAN OF THE UNIVERSITY'S GLOBAL BOARD OF TRUSTEES. Bar-Ilan's accomplishments in its fewer than forty years would have been impossible without the leadership, the vision, and the generosity of the entire Stollman family. What they have done for virtually every worthy cause of world Jewry and Judaism has won for them accolades beyond description, but what they have done for Bar-Ilan makes them the fami- ly that has been virtually peerless in Bar-Ilan's annals. To all of them we extend sincerest condolences. Blessed we always were because of them and blessed we are now that a second generation continues to lead. May they be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem. RABBI EMANUEL RACKMAN, Chancellor MRS. BELDA LINDENBAUM, President, American Board of Overseers GENERAL (RES) YEHUDA HALEVY, Executive Vice President NEAL ZALENKO, Detroit General Co-Chairman LESLIE M. GOLDSTEIN, Mid-West Executive Director Advertising in The Jewish News Gets Results Place Your Ad Today. Call 354-6060 126 FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 1991 I s the massive grass roots effort on behalf of Israel's impending request for $10 billion in refugee ab- sorption guarantees produc- ing results? . Legislators won't officially tackle the issue until they return from their summer travels. But already, con- gressional offices are repor- ting that the campaign, mounted by a coalition under the direction of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, is beginning to bear fruit. The ad- ministration seems reluc- tant to approve of the five- year loan guarantee unless Israel halts West Bank set- tlements, but Congress is more positive toward Israel's scheduled request. In Nebraska, pro-Israel leaders responded to early calls for letters to senators and congressmen by organi- zing a massive state-wide mailing designed to ge- nerate an avalanche of mail to Capitol Hill. Jewish activists in Miami have worked actively with newspapers in the state, resulting in a number of stories explaining the hu- manitarian basis of the loan guarantee program, in which the U.S. government will back up loans to Israel made by private banks. Buffalo, Cincinnati and Chicago have been hot spots for organizers of the September 12 mobilization in Washington to punctuate the pro-guarantees crusade. In numerous states, Jew- ish activists are taking ad- vantage of the summer con- gressional recess by meeting with their senators and con- gressmen. "These are the kinds of things the Jewish commun- ity does best," said Dan Mariaschin, public affairs director for B'nai B'rith International. "There's no question that the response from the community has been phenomenal." Although the campaign to influence Congress is scheduled to begin in earnest at the end of the month, congressional offices are already feeling the im- pact of the nationwide effort. House and Senate staffers report a big surge of pro-loan guarantee mail and phone calls in July. A second surge is expected in early September after rabbis deliver messages on the loans during the High Holidays. "Every office is telling us the same thing," said Malcolm Hoenlein, director of the President's Con- ference and the man at the center of the far-flung effort. "They're receiving an unbelievable amount of mail on this. And remember: the real push won't begin until September." In recent days, several pro- Israel members of Congress have been planning a strategy for influencing the Office of Management and Budget —the important ex- ecutive-branch agency that will determine exactly how much money the guarantees will cost American tax- payers. As a result of last year's infamous "budget sum/nit," budget director Richard Darman must come up with a figure that will represent the costs of the loan guar- antees to the American tax- payer — at least as far as government bookkeepers are concerned. That figure will reflect OMB's assessment of the probability that Israel will default on the loans — some- thing most observers con- sider highly unlikely. But it will also be an assessment against Israel to help cover other guarantees that go sour. Mr. Darman is expected to "score" the loan guarantees at anywhere from one to seven percent of the $10 billion total. A very low number could help ease the loan guarantees through Congress; a high number might give legislators a good economic excuse to pare back Israel's request. So far, OMB refuses to talk about what they call "hypothetical" loans; Israel will not be officially making its request until after Labor Day. Tactically, one more issue has developed in recent days to keep pro-Israel activists on their toes. What Israel wants, and what pro-Israel groups here are pushing for, is legisla- tion granting the full $10 billion in guarantees, to be spread out over five years. But some legislators are quietly suggesting that only one year's worth of loan guarantees should be ap- proved at a time.