UP FRONT

Held Hostage

Baker's ultimatum makes it clear that Israel's
> request for U.S. loan guarantees has fallen
hostage to White House political needs.

drive Israel back to its pre-
a way that have played
havoc
with
the
assistance
1967 borders.
JAMES D. BESSER AND
"Every time we are ready
desperately needed by Israel
HELEN DAVIS
to negotiate there is a
to settle tens of thousands of
change in the conditions set
new immigrants, most of
ecretary of State whom are from the old by the Americans," he said.
James Baker's blunt Soviet Union. "Indeed, I think the
ultimate goal of America's
In addition, those same po-
ultimatum to Israel on
policy is to force Israel to
litical forces will probably
Monday was the clearest in-
agree to withdraw to the
dication yet of the overlap drag the Middle East peace
1967 lines with minor
between domestic politics, in process, which resumed with
modifications."
both Israel and the United a new round of bilateral
A key ingredient in the
States, and the steadily de- talks in Washington this
new political equation at
teriorating relationship week, into a nether world in
work here was Yitzhak
between the leaders of the which real progress is out of
Rabin's emergence last week
the question for now.
two nations.
as the new Labor Party
Interviewed on Israel
In testimony before the
standard bearer.
House Foreign Operations Radio, the Israeli ambas-
Until Mr. Rabin's victory,
subcommittee, Mr. Baker sador to Washington, Za-
American planners had
indicated that only a total loran Shoval, said the hard-
assumed they would have to
halt in settlements would line White House stand on
strike a bargain with a stub-
the loan guarantees had cast
secure the $10 billion in U.S.
born Yitzhak Shamir over
loan guarantees requested a shadow over the peace
the loan guarantees, or face
talks. The Bush administra-
by Israel.
a politically costly fight with
That toughening of the tion, Mr. Shoval said, was
the American Jewish corn-
U.S. position signaled a har- forcing Israel to choose bet-
munity.
sh fact to pro-Israel activists ween "the safety of our
Now, however, American
brethren in the Soviet Union
in Washington:
officials see Mr. Rabin as far
Political forces in both now and the safety of Israel
more agreeable to the ad-
countries have converged in tomorrow."
ministration's unchanging
In an even harsher corn-
bottom
line in the loan
ment,
Israeli
Health
Min-
James D. Besser is Washing-
guarantee debate, which is
ister Ehud Olmert charged
ton Correspondent, and Helen .
that Israel must stop
that the ultimate aim of the
Davis is Foreign Correspon-
Bush White House is to
dent for The Jewish News.
Continued on Page 13

S

U.S. Secretary of State James Baker.

ROUND UP

Writing The Book
On Intermarriage

The rate of intermarriage
is an issue of critical impor-
tance to contemporary and
future Judaism. Some ex-
perts say the rate is as high
as 57 percent. It's not
necessarily the number, but
the impact on synagogue life
that concerns many Jewish
organizations. To help con-
gregations cope with these
concerns, the Reform move-
ment has published three
new manuals analyzing the
challenges posed by the
growing numbers of Jewish-
by-choice and intermarried
couples.
The manuals include:

Defining the Role of the Non-
Jew in the Synagogue,
Outreach and the Changing
Reform Jewish Community,
and Reaching Adolescents:
Interdating, Intermarriage
and Jewish Identity.
In Defining the Role of the
Non-Jew in the Synagogue,

Rabbi Alexander M.
Schindler, president of the
UAHC, writes that the role

of the non-Jew in the syn-
agogue requires clarifica-
tion, and its bounds must be
defined, bounds that must
include the preservation of
the integrity of Judaism.

DEFINING THE ROLE OF
THE NON-JEW
IN THE SYNAGOGUE:

So Many Issues;
Such Little Time

The Young Israel Council
of Metropolitan Detroit will
host the Myer and Pauline
Senders Off-Campus Lecture
Series featuring Rabi
Yonason Sacks Friday and
Saturday, Feb. 28 and 29.
Rabbi Sacks, the Rosh
Yeshiva of the Marsha Stern
Talmudical Academy,
Yeshiva University, will lec-
ture Friday night, beginning
8:30 at Young Israel of
Southfield on the respon-
sibility of the Orthodox
community to the unaf-
filiated Jew. On Saturday
he'll discuss Parashat
Shekalim: The Purim Expe-
rience, also at Young Israel
of Southfield.
On Saturday night, begin-
ning at 8:30, Rabbi Sacks
will lecture on the challenge

0:z=v=.7zo-z-zz-=

/ I
UAHC: Three manuals.

of contemporary Jewish edu-
cation, at the Young Israel of
Oak- Woods in Oak Park.
The presence of Rabbi
Sacks in metro Detroit is
made possible by the Myer
and Pauline Senders "Off
Campus" Lecture Series.

A Bat Mitzvah Girl
All Over Again

While Jewish males have
been publicly celebrating
their passage to adulthood at

age 13 since medieval times,
it wasn't until 70 years ago
that a female was honored in
much the same way.
On a Saturday morning in
March, 1922, Judith Kaplan,
the oldest daughter of Rabbi
Mordecai Kaplan and Lena
Rubin Kaplan recited the
blessings over the Torah,
and became the world's first
bat mitzvah.
Judith Kaplan Eisenstein,
now 82 and a musicologist,
will celebrate her life by
once again becoming a bat
mitzvah on Saturday, March
21. The commemoration,
organized by the Federation
of Reconstructionist Con-
gregations and Havurot will
take place in Flushing
Meadeows, N.Y.
To honor Dr. Eisenstein's
achievements in the field of
Jewish musicology, there
will be a production of the
cantata "What Is Torah"
that she composed 50 years
ago with her husband Rabbi
Ira Eisenstein. In addition, a
group of 70 prominent wo-
men, will be honored.

Enlightening Way
To Cure AIDS Bug

Remember those sultry
summer evenings when you
punched some holes into a
lid of an empty mayonnaise
jar, filled it with grass and
went hunting for fireflies?
A new Hebrew University
of Jerusalem study isn't us-
ing a mayonnaise jar, but
researchers are hoping to
use the firefly as a way to
bottle up AIDS detection.
It's being called a simple,
inexpensive way to directly
identify active viruses in
human blood, including the
virus that causes AIDS.
The technique is based on
the ease with which the
presence of light is detected.
The researchers isolated the
gene which causes light in
the firefly and through a bio-
engineering process suc-
ceeded in creating a row of
cells in which this "light
gene" produces light in the
presence of viruses.

Compiled by
Phil Jacobs

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

11

