NEWS

113 1 7 1 1

The Jewish National Fund
Council of Greater Detroit

IR
kElltEN MENEM LEMUEL

requests the honor of your presence at their

Evangelical Paradox:
Support, Missionizing

Annual Dinner

honoring

HERBERT & DADS
KAUFMAN

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1992

Temple Beth El

7400 Telegraph Rd., Bloomfield Hills

Couvert:
$200 per person

Dietary
Laws Observed

Dinner Master of Ceremonies
David B. Hermelin

Dinner Co-Chairpersons

Norman Allan
Harold and Barbara Berry
Paul Borman
Laurence Deitch
Otto and Patty Dube
Judge Nancy Edmunds
Leonard and Dolores Farber
Nathan and Charlotte Feldman

Merle and Shirley Harris
John and Judith Kamins
Dr. Bud and Judy Kaufman
Mrs. Ira Kaufman
Irving Laker
Edward Levy, Jr.
Alan A. May
Irving Nusbaum

Sanford and Elly Passer
Melvin Rosenhaus
Dr. Jack and Mickey Shapiro
Dr. Sam and Margie Shell
Gerald and Jean Sucher
David and Ilene Techner
Erwin and Isabelle Ziegelmon
Milton and Lois Zussman

Dinner Committee

Noreen Aberley
Mr. & Mrs. Jerome M. Ash
Mr. & Mrs. Martin Bader
Leonard & Nancy Baron
Andrew R. Bass
David & Lynne Baum
Martin Begun
Mr. C7 Mrs. Paul Begun
Jill Davis Bernstein
Debra Bernstein-Siegel
Lawrence & Sharon Berry
Louis & Vivian Berry
Robert & Suzanne Bluestein
Arthur Boschon
Tillie Brandwine
E. David Brockman
Hermon & Dina Brodsky
Robert & Rhea Brody
Dr. & Mrs. Harry Burstein
Robert & Beverly Canvasser
Mark Carney
David & Ilene Chair
Pearl Coffman
Judge & Mrs. Avern L. Cohn
Mr. & Mrs. Leslie Colburn
Jim & Connie Colman
Peter & Shelly Cooper
Warren J. Coville
Linda Deutsch
Albert & Blanche Dickman
Henry Dorfman
Joel Dorfman
Hiram & Lucille Dorfman
Dr. Donald & Eliso Dreyfuss
Mr. & Mrs. Albert Dubin
Dr. Marc & Jan Dunn
Gertrude F. Edgar

Dr. & Mrs. Louis Egnater
Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth Eisenberg
Belle S. Englander
Hilda Erman
Harold & Judy Etkin
Cy & Audrey Feldman
Ilya & Vloda Feldman
Mr. & Mrs. Oscar Feldman
Judith Fisher
Art & Marcia Fligman
Dennis & Peggy Fronk
Michael & Marion Freedman
Harvey & Lois Freeman
Bernice Gershenson
Dr. & Mrs. Conrad L. Giles
Mr. & Mrs. Harry Goldberg, Jr.
Marvin Goldman
Mr. & Mrs. Irwin Green
Fred & Eloyne Greenspan
Eleanor Gross
Estelle Gubow
David Handleman II
Amy Hechler
Alan & Elaine Herbst
Sybil Hoffman
Ruben H. Isaacs
Mr. & Mrs. Sidney Israel
Edythe Jackier-Mulivor
Harold S. Joffo
Kenneth A. Jurist, MD
Dr. & Mrs. Bruce M. Kaplan
Margaret Kaplan
Percy Kaplan
Marilyn Karbal
David I. Kaufman
Judge Ira G. Kaufman

Harry P. Kifferstein
Harvey Kleiman
Leo & Suzanne Knight
Julie Korotkin
Kenneth Korotkin
Miriam E. Kushner
Dr. George Leach
Myron & Sarah Lebus
Julian & Ruth Lefkowitz
Dr. Gertrude Leve Gordon
Yale & Anna Levin
Jerry & Marise Levy
Mr. & Mrs. Bernard E. Linden
Suzanne Lowy
Isadore & Frances Malin
Doris V. Markel
John & Judy Marx
Myron Milgrom
Marshall & Lucille Miller
Marvin Novick
Edward & Anne Osher
Lois Pearl
Joseph & Maxine Pearlman
Ian & Michelle Pesses
Mr. & Mrs. Irving Pitt
Dr. Loretto Polish
Libbie Posen
Alexander Robinovich
Mr. & Mrs. John Redfield
Gerold & Norma Richter
Donald H. Roberts
Jack & Avivo Robinson
Sis Rosenberg
Norman & Dulcie Rosenfeld
William Rossen
Mr. & Mrs. Milton Rotenberg

Marcy Roth
Shirley A. Saltzman
Mr. & Mrs. Barney Schwartz
Carol Schwartz
Lloyd Schwartz
Louis & Flora Schwartz
Jack D. Seedman
George & Josephine Segal
Jean S. Shapero
Jack Shenkman
Grant & Betty Silverfarb
Rick & Carol Silverman
Dorothy Silverman
Edward & Cecelia Singer
Ann Eisenberg Slatkin
Cormi M. Slomovitz
Philip Slomovitz
Mark Small
Vitoly & Ella Soskin
Irving & Dale Sparage
Mr. & Mrs. Irving Stahl
Dr. & Mrs. Stanko Stanisavljevic
Marlene Stein
Ted & Anne Talon
Joel D. Tauber
Sy & Myrna Techner
Mamie M. Tickton
Richard & Ruth Tischler
Mr. & Mrs. Stuart Ulanoff
William & Rose Weinstein
Dr. & Mrs. Israel Wiener
Mr. C7 Mrs. Harvey Willens
Sidney & Melba Winer
Mrs. John M. Wise
Mr. & Mrs. H. James Zack
Sandra Zipser

Arrangements Co-Chairpersons

Judith L. Naftaly

Eli A. Scheer
President

Rose Lynn Schlussel

Edward Rosenthal
Regional Director

(313) 557-6644

58

FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 1992

Lauri Nosanchuk Blum
Assistant Executive Director

New York (JTA) — Pat
Boone, wearing a Western-
- stitched sports jacket and
an engaging smile on his
still-boyish face, is looking
into the television camera
and quoting Scripture to
convince telethon viewers to
donate money to the United
Jewish Appeal's Operation
Exodus.
The Soviet immigration to
Israel is "the most dramatic
fulfillment of biblical pro-
phecy in the 20th century,"
says Mr. Boone. "As it says
in Scripture, God is calling
his children home.
"We need godly men and
women to say 'yes, I am my
brother's keeper,' " he
exhorts. "Send in your
sacrificial gift of $100 or
$600 or whatever you can af-
ford."
And his viewers have re-
sponded.
In addition to the $100,000
that Pat Robertson donated
last year, evangelical Chris-
tians have contributed more
than $100,000 to Operation
Exodus through the tele-
thon, which is called "While
The Door is Still Open." It
has run on dozens of Chris-
tian cable stations since it
debuted in the beginning of
1992.
Viewers' average gift is
$90, says the telethon's pro-
ducer, an Orthodox rabbi
named Yechiel Eckstein,
three times more than the
typical average gift brought
in by telethons.
Rabbi Eckstein is ex-
ecutive director of the Inter-
national Fellowship of
Christians and Jews, an
organization he created in
1983 to help corral support
for Jewish issues in
evangelical circles and en-
courage understanding bet-
ween the two faith corn-
munities.
But not everyone in the
Jewish community waxes
enthusiastic about working
closely with evangelicals.
According to some inter-
religious affairs profes-
sionals and observers,
evangelicals' mission to con-
vert people to belief in Jesus
must be weighed carefully
against the value of their
support for Israel.
Mr. Boone himself seems
to embody the paradox pre-
sented by the evangelicals'
relationship to the Jewish
community: the man hired
by the Israeli government to
be its tourism ambassador to
born- again Christians also
supports Hebrew-Christian
groups like Jews for Jesus.

Still, the evangelical
community's potential
benefit to the Jewish com-
munity is not easily dismiss-
ed.
Thirty-eight percent of
Americans — an estimated
68 million people — call
themselves "born-again," or-
evangelical Christians, ac-
cording to the Princeton Re-
ligion Research Center.
And to Rabbi Eckstein,
these Christians are a well
of support for Israel just
waiting to be tapped by the
Jewish community.
"They feel called upon to
be a blessing to the Jewish
community," he says.
The days under former
President Reagan, when im-
portant evangelical leaders
had close ties to the White
House, are fast receding.
Though some say fundamen-
talist Christians enjoy too
much sway over the Bush
presidency, the connection is

Evangelical
Christians have
contributed more
than $100,000 to
Operation Exodus
through the
telethon, which is
called "While The
Door Is Still Open."

less intimate. Israel-
supporting evangelicals
tried without success to get
Bush to release the loan
guarantees to Israel earlier
this year.
And if Democratic nomi-
nee Bill Clinton wins in
November, evangelicals may
wield less clout.
But they will still be polit-
ically important to Jews,
argues Rabbi Eckstein. He
notes that a recent poll cited
on the ABC news program
Nightline indicated that 46
percent of Democrats de-
scribe themselves as
evangelical or "born-again"
Christians.
Just slightly more — 48
percent — of Republicans
call themselves evangelicals,
according to the survey.
But Jews have an un-
nuanced view of evangelicals,
says Rabbi Eckstein. They
tend to equate the entire com-
munity with the right-wing,
most vocal segment, which he
.says accounts for no more
than one third of the whole.

