EDITORIAL

Dedicating Max Fisher

There are precious few individuals alive
today who have touched the souls of a
world of Jewish communities.
On Sunday, the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit dedicates its new
headquarters to Max Fisher. The honor is
absolutely fitting for this man of such
international esteem and the work he has
done for the international Jewish commun-
ity.
But as we look around, we see that the
testimony to Mr. Fisher transcends even
having a building named after him.
There's planeload after planeload of new
Americans, free Jews who probably never
heard the name Fisher. That's the
testimony in human terms.

There are Federation staffers who are
able to get involved with the rising
numbers of dysfunctional Jewish families
because a man like Mr. Fisher gives of
himself to this community.
And then there is the feeling, the feeling
of security knowing that when it comes to
national affairs as they affect American
Jewry and international affairs as they af-
fect the security of Israel, Mr. Fisher is
sought out and listened to.
The new Federation headquarters on
Telegraph Road is a beautiful tribute. But
if we just looked around, we'll see the real
tribute is more than bricks and mortar.
Max Fisher's work, his vision, is all around
us, and will continue to be.

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Damascus Dealings

News that Syria is lifting its travel ban
on its 4,500 Jewish citizens was greeted
with cautious optimism by Jewish organ-
izations this week.
Though the New York Times, in a front-
page story, interpreted the move as tanta-
mount to allowing Jewish emigration from
Syria, national Jewish leaders noted that,
so far, the assurances from. Damascus have
been verbal rather than in writing and no
one has actually been given permission by
security authorities to even apply for pass-
ports, let alone leave.
We are hopeful that Syria will back up its
assurances and allow Jews to leave a land
where they have long been treated as
prisoners rather than citizens. But it
should be noted that even if President
Hafez el-Assad does, indeed, make good on
his promises, it is more out of a desire to
please the United States than to expand
Syria's dialogue with its neighbor, Israel.
The source of reports of Syria's softening
of its treatment of Jews has been Washing-
ton, not Damascus, and there • has been a
pointed effort by the administration to

credit Secretary of State Baker for the
breakthrough.
From a political point of view, Mr. Assad
appears to be attempting to please Wash-
ington, now that his major patron, the
Soviet Union, is no more. And while the
administration can do little to counter the
perception that it is scapegoating Israel, it
hopes to score points with Jewish voters by
indicating how its persistence has paid off
regarding easing restrictions on Syrian
Jews.
The fact remains that if the Jews of Syria
are allowed to leave, there is more than
enough credit to go around, and the State
Department deserves its share for keeping
the issue at the forefront of the agenda. But
until now, President Assad has — literally
— been getting away with murder, having
plundered Lebanon and harbored terrorists
while Washington has chosen to look the
other way.
We can only remain vigilant in pleading
and demanding that he permits Syrian
Jewry to go out into the light of freedom
from the darkness of oppression.

Yom Hashoah's Choices

Yesterday was Yom Hashoah — Holo-
caust Remembrance Day — a day of collec-
tive grief, of recollection of the horrors of
an era that has passed but must never
recede from memory.
On Yom Hashoah, we have choices,
which is far more than did the Jews who
perished in the flames and the gas ovens.
We can choose to be consumed by the
drive for revenge and hate, or we can
choose to try to learn from the past and
help the rest of the world learn along with
us. We can vow never to succumb to the
contempt that planted the seeds for the
Holocaust, and to assure that the rest of
the world is never tempted by prejudice
and loathing.
It is in this spirit that a four-day meeting
will begin on- Monday in Baltimore, con-
vened by the International Catholic-
Jewish Committee.

6

FRIDAY, MAY 1, 1992

The committee consists of the Vatican's
Commission for Religious Relations with
the Jews and the International Jewish
Committee on Interreligious Consultations
(IJCIC). The 60 clergy and theologians
from 15 countries, plus the Vatican ; will
primarily discuss the Holocaust in Catholic
history and teachings; combatting the res-
urgence of anti-Semitism, and common
areas of cooperation.
In 1990, the group issued a powerful con-
demnation of anti-Semitism as "a sin
against God and humanity." For Jews, this
may- seem self-evident; for Catholics, this
was one more acknowledgment of their
church's centuries-old teachings of con-
tempt for Jews.
It is to be hoped that this year's meeting
will produce a spirit of mutual understan-
ding so that the church can continue to
counter negative perceptions of Jews.

NOTEBOOK

Elvis, Pi And Arafat

GARY ROSENBLATT

Editor

Who says
Americans are
apathetic about
elections?
I know that
when it comes to
presidential poll-
- tics this year, No
Opinion has a good chance of
beating out Bush, Clinton
and Perot.
But when it comes to elec-
tions that really mean some-
thing, John and Jane Doe
have been out there casting
their ballots, taking quite
seriously their democratic
right to express their views.
I voted, too, of course. And
personally, after careful con-
sideration, I concluded that
my vote was too important to
squander for emotional
reasons.. That's why I opted
for the Early Elvis.
I'm talking about The
Great Elvis Debate, natural-
ly, in which millions of
Americans went down to
their local branch of the post
office to fill out a postcard
and mail it to the Elvis Poll
in Memphis, Tennessee.
When the votes are tallied,
the U.S. Postal Service will
determine whether to issue a
stamp featuring a youthful
depiction of the late rock and
roller or a likeness of The
King in his later years.
Doesn't it make you proud
to be an American?
The point is that when
something matters to people,
they're not apathetic. Far
from it. In recent weeks, the

debate raged and viewpoints
were heard. That's because " 4
people knew that their vote ad
on that Elvis stamp really'
could make a difference.
The most depressing
- aspect of the presidential
campaign is that most
Americans don't feel that 1
their vote will make a
significant- difference in
their lives. They believe that
no matter who gets elected,
the rich will get richer and
the poor poorer, in keeping
with recent trends. And
drugs and crime will become
more serious problems while-4
education and arts will
suffer. And the politiciansl
will say one thing now and
act differently later, as in
Read My Lips on never rais-
ing taxes.
The lesson here is not that
people don't care. It's that
they care deeply — so muchA
in fact, that they protect
themselves by not allowing
their hopes to be raised, and
then dashed, by the promises
of politicians.
H. Ross Perot may be the .4
man of the hour because he's.4
different. But once he
becomes a candidate, and is
exposed to the scrutiny of
the media and the public and
must articulate detailed,
opinions on any number org
issues, domestic and inter-,4
national, his appeal will
diminish, too.
Indeed, the only viable
candidate who could excite
the populace is The King
himself. And rumor has i
that he was spotted las

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