ISRAEL

1

Diplomatic

Continued from preceding page

sion, to conduct purely
diplomatic activities.
Israel's improved relations
with Japan is a major diplo-
matic coup, for until now, the
Japanese had complied with
the Arab boycott. Despite
severing its postal links with
Israel during the Gulf crisis
and ceasing to supply credit
to Israeli exporters, in the
post-war period a number of
Japanese companies invested
in Israel. One, Namik Lamb-
da Ltd., will produce and
develop power generators for
industrial, computer and of-
fice use. Moshe Terry, head of
the Israel Ministry of In-
dustry and Trade's Invest-
ment Center, regards the
opening of the factory as a
step of great importance,
possibly signaling the end of
a long era in which Japanese
firms refused to invest in
Israel. The establishment of
six other new industrial
plants have been approved by

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the Investment Center, the
total investment for which is
$30 million, and it is hoped to
create over 670 new. jobs and
add $70 million to Israel's an-
nual exports.
Des-pite setbacks, the
diplomatic year has been an
exciting one. The results of in-
tense diplomatic effort
brought the majority of the
Ethiopian Jewish community
to Israel. Although Mr. Bush's
peace initiative has come to a
near standstill, the thawing
of relations with many
Eastern bloc countries opens
the way for improved
cultural, trade, scientific, etc.,
ties with the East. And what
does Mr. Raviv look forward
to in the coming year? "I hope
for a fruitful and successful
attempt to achieve direct
negotiations between Israel
and the Arab states. The
quest for peace spurs us
on." ❑
WZPS

Jews In Israel
Split Differences

EHUD KATZ

Special to The Jewish News

T

here has always been
tension in Israel be-
tween the conflicting
interests of religious and
secular Jews. Controversy has
flared up from time to time
over whether a particular
street should be closed to traf-
fic on the Sabbath, whether
or not an archaeological dig
encroaches upon Jewish
graves, or whether an im-
migrant converted to
Judaism by a non-Orthodox
rabbi should be registered as
a citizen of the state under
the Law of Return.
However, a measure of har-
mony between the two camps
has mainly been preserved
through a status quo arrange-
ment. Historically this is bas-
ed on a letter from the Jewish
Agency to the Agudath Israel
party, promising that the con-
stitution of the new state
would recognize the authori-
ty of the Torah. Without this
letter the Agudath would not
support the creation of the
new state.
Theoretically, the status
quo means that whatever was
permitted on Sabbath and
festivals before the establish-
ment of the state would be
permitted after. The same for
whatever was forbidden.
There are bus services in
Haifa on the Sabbath because
there always were. There is no
public transport in Jerusalem
because there never was.
In practice the status quo is

something of a myth. Pro-
fessor Menahem Friedman of
Bar-Ilan University, a
specialist in the haredi com-
munities in Israel, maintains
that the status quo has
always changed to meet social
needs, growing urbanization,
the increasing mobility of the
population and the rise in the
standard of living.
The uneasy truce between
the religious and secular was
shattered when Rabbi
Menahem Porush, deputy

The status quo
has always
changed to meet
social needs.

minister of Labor and Social
Welfare, announced that he
intended to end the "pro-
fligacy" prevailing in the
matter of Sabbath employ-
ment. The Hours of Work and
Rest Law states that a Jew
cannot be employed on the
Sabbath without special per-
mission from the Ministry of
Labor.
Rabbi Porush maintained
that these permits had been
granted too freely by the
ministry in the past, and he
intended to review them all.
In addition, many businesses
had begun to operate on the
Sabbath without permits, and
violators would be
prosecuted.
lb understand the scale of
Rabbi Porush's vision, it must
be understood that the