Elect... An All Too Predictable Future For Tiraspol Jeddy Hood for A Jewish leader holds out, encouraging others to leave, as civil war flares in Moldova. IRA RIFKIN Special to The Jewish News N 'Teddy Hood For Supervisor West Bloomfield Supervisor AUGUST 4 REPUBLICAN PRIMARY These are a few of the people supporting Jeddy Hood: Steven Barr Ru Pevzner Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Kline Robert Dresner Sallyjo Levine Dr. and Mrs. Avery Murav Ida and Ben Bader Nancy and Martin Barr Seymour Gretchko Alan Singer Randolph J. Friedman Mr. and Mrs. Gerry Chudler Steven Goodman John E. Jacobs Dr. and Mrs. Howard Rosenberg Michael Jacob Frederick D. Steinhardt Dr. and Mrs. Mevyn Friedman Michael Gorge Jerome P. Pesick Mrs. Hermi Stone Peter Perlman Dr. and Mrs. Ronald Kerwin Mr. and Mrs. Richard Barr Deedee Perlman Dr. and Mrs. Jeffrey Lipton Mr. and Mrs. Albert Holtz Charles Perlman Mr. and Mrs. Richard Sallen Mr. and Mrs. Jay Tlumak Mary Lou Callaway Kathy and Frank Mamat Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Kline Denise Hammond Dr. and Mrs. Melvin Chudnof Mr. and Mrs. Carl Schram Sharon Law Norman I. Leemon Mr. and Mrs. Saul H. Rose Allen Adelberg Mrs. Frieda S. Leemon Mr. and Mrs. John M. DeMarco Leadership West Bloomfield Can Be Proud Of! Paid for by The Committee to Elect Jeddy Hood C D Ill AV II II V 01_10(10 early a year ago, I spent a few hours talking with Samuel Vaisman in the living room of his drab high-rise apart- ment in the then-Soviet city of Tiraspol. At the time, Tiraspol was in the Molda- vian Soviet Socialist Repub- lic. Today, it is within the separatist region of Trans- Dniester. It has become a city perch- ed on the edge of a bloody precipice. Mr. Vaisman, 45, is the acknowledged leader of the Trans-Dniester region's 6,500 Jews. An agronomist turned full-time Jewish ac- tivist, he is also a national figure in his homeland; re- cently, he was elected co- chair of the Va'ad, the um- brella group that speaks for Jews in the republics of the new Commonwealth of In- dependent States. The war over Trans- Dniester is one of several that has flared along the southern rim of the old Soviet Union. In the past few months, about 1,000 people have died and tens of thousands have made refu- gees because of the fighting, which has been centered in Bendery, a city just across the Dniester River from Tiraspol. The fighting pits ethnic Ukainians and Russians against ethnic Romanians for the right to determine the future of a sliver of Slavic homeland that Josef Stalin grafted on to territory that had been part of Romania when he cobbled together the old Moldavian S.S.R. Stalin's intent was to pro- vide Moscow with an ethnic claim to the area, which last gained widespread Jewish notice as an infamous Nazi killing field during World War II. Today, people such as Samuel Vaisman are pay- ing for Stalin's bit of polit- ical deceit. As late afternoon turned to early evening that August day last year, a sad-eyed Mr. Vaisman patiently re- counted the rebirth of Jew- ish communal life in his city: a cultural association had been formed, a "prayer house," — a hoped-for precursor to a synagogue — had been organized, and a youth group, sports organ- ization and Jewish library were all functioning. Despite all that, Mr. Vaisman was decidedly pes simistic about what lay ahead for Jews in the Soviet Union. "No matter how paradox- ical it sounds," he said through a Russian-speaking interpreter, "I don't see any future for Jewish life here. Despite democratization, na- tionalist passions and econ- omic problems make it un- safe for Jews." Today, I am told by Alex- andr Smukler, an ex- Moscovite who now works in New York for the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, Mr. Vaisman has ceased his efforts to build Jewish com- munal life and is, instead, In the battle for Trans-Dniester, Jews have been caught in the middle. working to evacuate Jews with the aid of the Jewish Agency and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. "Vaisman is the chairman of an emergency com- mittee," said Mr. Smukler, who is in regular telephone contact with Mr. Vaisman and recently saw him in Odessa. "He's working 20 hours a day. If he had any little hopes left for Jewish life in Tiraspol, I think they are gone now." So far, more than 1,000 Jews have fled the region for Odessa, several hours by vehicle to the southeast and safely within Ukraine. An- other 400 or so have fled westward to Kishinev, the capital of Moldova. Mr. Smukler said that Jewish children and the el- derly are also starting to leave Tiraspol, which so far has been largely spared from bloodshed. "They are afraid the fighting will spread," said Mr. Smukler. "They are first evacuating the young and old." Mr. Vaisman had spoken