0

P.: So the Bible is right.
After some references to
the position of the Jews in
Eastern Europe, Mr.
Sokolow went on to assure
the Pope of Jewish loyalty
and to request his moral
support.
"Yes, yes," the Pope
replied. "I believe that we
shall be good neighbors.
These facts are important
for Zionism, Israel and the
Vatican. Perhaps they add
value also to ecumenism.

Max Fisher:
Secular Jew

Quiet Diplomat, the
biography of Max Fisher by
Peter Golden, is much more
than the story of a diplomat
with impressive achiev-
ements. Mr. Fisher's Jewish
communal leadership also
invites attention to his re-
ligious identifications.
Mr. Fisher's biographer
recorded the rise to U.S.
Jewish leadership with Max
Fisher being elected to world
leadership as chairman of
the Jewish Agency.
The comment in Quiet Dip-
lonuit is that the vanguard of
the U.S. Jewry support for
Israel is "that U.S. Jewry is
largely becoming seculariz-
ed." The Golden reporting
relates the following:
...for most American
Jews, Israel was now the
cornerstone of Jewish
identity. Fisher was a
prime model of the
secular Jew whose stur-
diest bond to Judaism is

Israel. In practice, he was
nonobservant; he belong-
ed to two synagogues in
suburban Detroit: the
Conservative Shaarey
Zedek, and the Reform
Temple Beth El. He at-
tended each one once a
year on the High Holy
Days of Rosh Hashana
and Yom Kippur.
One afternoon, follow-
ing the Yom Kippur
memorial service, Rabbi
Morris Adler of Shaarey
Zedek walked over to
Fisher and said: "I missed
you at services last week
on Rosh Hashana. Where
were you?"
"I was at Beth El," an-
swered Fisher. "I have to
divide my business up."
`Well," said Adler, "I
had lunch with Rabbi
Hertz at Beth El the other
day and we decided that
in this case you don't
have enough stock to split
it."
Fisher laughed, but he
still only attended ser-
vices twice a year.
Is this to be judged as an
introduction of the moder-
nized Jew, with Mr. Fisher's
identification as a seculariz-
ed leader? Rabbi Adler, of
blessed memory, would sure-
ly have joined us in asser-
ting to the contrary. Mr.
Fisher demonstrated a
commitment that does not
eliminate the religious
spark. In his multiple Jew-
ish dedications, he can have
investments in more than
one synagogue. ❑

N EWS

1

Holland Helps Arabs
Build A Seaport

Amsterdam (JTA) —
Holland may contribute its
know- how to build a seaport
in the Gaza Strip, according
to two Palestinian officials
who visited here last week.
Interviewed in the daily
De Volkskrant, Hanan
Ashrawi, spokeswoman for
the Palestinian delegation to
the bilateral peace talks
with Israel, and Nabil
Sha'ath, political advisor to
Palestine Liberation Organ-
ization chief Yassir Arafat,
said a deep-seaport would
enable Palestinian exporters
to ship their products direct-
ly to the European market,
bypassing Israeli ports.
They said a Palestinian
export office would be open-
ed for that purpose, to be run
by two Palestinians being
trained in Holland.

After considerable
pressure from the European
Community, Israel agreed
several years ago to allow
Gazans to export their citrus
products directly to Europe,
bypassing the Israeli
government's citrus-
marketing board.

Ms. Ashrawi and Mr.
Sha'ath also suggested that
Dutch expertise could be
useful in supplying fresh
water to Palestinians in the
Israeli-administered ter-
ritories.
Although political rela-
tions between the Nether-
lands and the PLO de-
teriorated because of PLO
support for Iraq in the Per-
sian Gulf War, the flow of
money to the administered
territories from Holland has
increased, they said.

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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

43