EDITORIAL
Good Bye, Gorby,
And Thanks
With the departure of Mikhail Gor-
bachev, Jews in Russia and elsewhere in
the new Commonwealth of Independent
States have lost an important ally. Mr.
Gorbachev's place in world history is
secure; his place in Jewish history should
not be forgotten.
During his almost seven years at the
helm of the old Soviet Union, Jewish
emigration policies were greatly lib-
eralized. In his farewell message to Mr.
Gorbachev, Israeli Foreign Minister David
Levy took note of that fact when he saluted
Mr. Gorbachev's "historic part" in ending
the cruel and unjust controls that previous-
ly forced Jews to remain in a Soviet society
where they were, at best, second-class
citizens.
The mass emigration of Soviet Jews to
Israel, for all the problems associated with
it, has been a human bonanza for the Jew-
ish state, and it in no small way has con-
tributed to Arab willingness to engage in
the current Middle East peace talks set to
resume soon in Washington.
Mr. Gorbachev's decision to re-establish
diplomatic ties between his nation and
Israel should also not be overlooked. His
having done so paved the way for the com-
monwealth states to do likewise.
Moreover, under Mr. Gorbachev, Jewish
life, as with all religious and minority ex-
pression, was allowed to again flower
within the Soviet Union following seven
decades of communist repression. Organiz-
ed Jewish cultural and religious life re-
mains delicate in the commonwealth
states, but make no mistake about it, what
does exist is a tribute to Mr. Gorbachev's
liberal sensitivities.
At a time of rising fears among Jews that
they would again become scapegoats for
society's problems, Mr. Gorbachev, at the
request of international Jewish leaders,
also had his personal emissary deliver a
strong statement rebuking all forms of an-
ti-Semitism at ceremonies in Kiev marking
the 50th anniversary of the Babi Yar
massacre.
In short, as was noted by Shoshana Car-
din, chair of the National Conference on
Soviet Jewry as well as the Conference of
Presidents of Major American Jewish
Organizations, under Mr. Gorbachev
"dramatic changes of a positive nature"
occurred for the estimated 2-3 million Jews
still living in the commonwealth states.
The future of the commonwealth and its
Jews is highly uncertain. But if not for Mr.
Gorbachev, their recent past might have
been far worse.
Warning In Algeria
The results of last week's national elec-
tions in Algeria, an overwhelming victory
by militant Muslim fundamentalists, is
sure to cause a ripple of concern
throughout the non-Islamic Arab world.
Neighboring Tunisia and Morocco, where
fundamentalists are severely repressed but
popular among the poor, will surely take
notice, as will Egypt and Jordan, whose
Islamic movements have become more
powerful of late.
In Algeria, the Islamic Salvation Front,
flush with success, says it wants to turn the
country into an Islamic republic like Iran.
A religious leader told 30,000 supporters
that it was time to try enemies of the
movement and he urged women to wear
veils and conform to the Islamic dress code.
What this indicates is that in autocratic
countries with economic and social stress,
the fervor of Islamic fundamentalism is
seen as an alternative to poverty and
repression. All the more reason for the
United States to advocate democracy, not
only among the new Russian republics,
Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa, but in
the Arab world as well.
President Bush has been un-
characteristically silent about promoting
democracy in countries like Kuwait, Saudi
Arabia, Jordan and Syria. And his failure
to support the Kurds who heeded Washing-
ton's call to rise up against Saddam Hus-
sein is shameful.
When it comes to the Arab world, the
6
FRIDAY, JANUARY 3, 1992
administration has placed concerns about
oil over democracy and human rights.
Israel, our strongest ally and only democ-
racy in the region, is bullied about peace
talks while despots like President Assad of
Syria are coddled with arms and money for
agreeing to talk.
Last week's elections in Algeria may be a
harbinger of things to come, an ominous
warning that the most powerful alter-
native to democracy in the Arab world is
militant Islamic fundamentalism.
Dry Bones
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NOTEBOOK I-
The Brave New World
Of The Shalom Hotel
GARY ROSENBLATT
Editor
Israel made
headlines a-
round the world
in late May. Six
months later,
how are these
families faring,
starting life
anew in their ancient
homeland?
For an answer, walk into
the dark, spacious lobby of
the Shalom Hotel, in the
Bayit V'Gan neighborhood
of Jerusalem and re-orient
yourself to a unique society
in formation, struggling to
make the transition from a
primitive African culture to
high-tech Israeli society.
The surroundings are
modern but drab. The one-
time five-star hotel, empty
until Operation Moses, has
become home to more than
600 Ethiopian families since
May.
A few youngsters are play-
ing in the lobby. It's 2 p.m.
and they have returned by
bus from school. Their
parents are on the second
floor completing their morn-
ing Ulpan, learning Hebrew
in 21 makeshift classrooms
built in what was once the
hotel bingo room. (For some
adults, Hebrew is the first
language they are learning
to read and write.) In a few
minutes, parents and chil-
dren will have some time
together before eating lunch
in the hotel dining room.
Then, in the afternoon,
there will be sports and ac-
tivities for the children and
off-site vocational training
for the adults, such as
carpentry and factory work.
Others will stay behind to do
their native embroidery.
A visitor walking through
the halls is most impressed
with the warm, open smiles
from virtually everyone he
passes. Some wear Western
clothes, donated by vol-
unteers. Others wear tradi-
tional robes, and a few wo-
men carry their infants on
their backs.
"Baruch habah," one
young woman, a nurse from
Addis Ababa, greets us in
Hebrew. Welcome.
For all the culture shock
they have endured these last
several months, adjusting
from a society where a father
and his sons, starting at the
age of six, would spend the
day working the fields, these
people, as they gather their
Hebrew workbooks and walk
through the corridors, have
a certain dignity about them
and an air of serenity.
Indeed, a social worker
complains that they are too
gentle, too trusting and
passive. She worries about
them, knowing that in an-
other few months they will
leave the cocoon of the
Shalom Hotel and be trans-
ferred to settlements of
mobile homes, now being
hastily constructed around
the country.
The task at hand is
monumental, for the Jewish
Agency and social service
structure of the state as well
as the new immigrants
themselves.
Israel is strapped for funds
but anxious to accommodate
the 12,000 Ethiopian Jews
Continued on Page 10