phia in April of 1843 under
the editorship of the able Rab-
bi Isaac Leesser of Congrega-
tion Mikeh Israel . . . The Oc-
cident, like earlier periodicals
which appeared both in
English and in German, was
a monthly publication.
The first English-Jewish
weekly newspaper to make its
appearance in this country
was the Asmonean, which
was published in New York by
Robert Lyon in 1849. From
that year, therefore, begins
the history of the Jewish
weekly press in America,
published in the English
language.
The Asmonean, a "family
journal of commerce, politics,
religion and literature,"
lasted only nine years. Before
it suspended publication it
added occasional German
supplements. These were in-
dications of the prevalence of
German as the language us-
ed by the Jews in the United
States at that time .. .
There were approximately
50,000 Jews in the United
States in the year of the birth
of the English-Jewish Press.
New York and Philadelphia
were the largest Jewish
centers of population. The
first English-Jewish monthly
magazine was issued in
Philadelphia, while New York
saw the birth of the first
English-Jewish weekly —
Robert Lyon's the Asmo-
nean.
❑
NEWS 1
Tsomet Party
Quits Government
1•'
Jerusalem (JTA) — The
Israeli government received
an unexpected jolt last week,
when the Tsomet party quit
the Likud- led coalition and
its leader, Agriculture Min-
ister Rafael Eitan, sub-
mitted his resignation to
Prime Minister Yitzhak
Shamir.
The departure of the far-
right faction, which holds
two Knesset seats, leaves
the governing coalition with
a still comfortable 64-vote
margin in the 120-member
parliament.
But the fear in Likud
circles is that Tsomet's ac-
tion may trigger defections
by the right-wing Tehiya
and Moledet parties, which
would deprive the govern-
ment of five more Knesset
mandates and possibly force
it to resign.
All three rightist parties,
uneasy over peace talks with
the Arabs, have vowed to
leave the government if and
when substantive negotia-
tions begin on Palestinian
autonomy.
But Tsomet's move was
unrelated to the peace t a lks,
which are scheduled to
resume in Washington next
month.
Mr. Eitan quit because
Likud's Central Committee
voted overwhelmingly to re-
ject an electoral reform bill
pending in the Knesset that
would provide for the direct
election of the prime min-
ister.
He and Tsomet Knesset
member Yoash Zidon had a
brief but reportedly tense
meeting with Mr. Shamir.
Mr. Eitan told reporters
afterward that he asked Mr.
Shamir if the Central Corn-
mittee's action was binding
on all Likud Knesset mem-
bers. If so, he said it would
violate the coalition agree-
ment Tsomet signed with
Likud last year, in which
Likud promised to allow its
members a free vote on the
issue.
According to Mr. Eitan,
Mr. Shamir said the Central
Committee's vote was not
formally binding on Likud's
Knesset faction. But he
declined to put that in
writing, whereupon Mr.
Eitan resigned.
Within hours, aides were
clearing out his desk, and
Mr. Eitan informed the
Knesset secretariat that he
would not appear in the
chamber for a scheduled
question-and-answer ses-
sion.
The former Israel Defense
Force chief of staff said he
would not revoke his resig-
nation unless Mr. Shamir
states publicly that Likud
Knesset members are not
bound by the Central Com-
mittee's decision against
electoral reform.
That decision, urged by
Mr. Shamir, sealed the doom
of the reform measure,
which is due for its second
reading in the Knesset.
Many Likud leaders, in-
cluding Mr. Shamir,
originally supported reforms
that would end the unseemly
coalition bargaining process
and reduce the dispropor-
tionate political influence of
small single-issue parties.
But Mr. Shamir and 80
percent of the 3,400-member
Central Committee opposed
it.
They fear it would work for
the Labor party.
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37