CLOSE-UP

Shoshana Cardin

loan guarantees had inadvertently torn away the fab-
ric of security that American Jews had so carefully wo-
ven over the years. This was more than a political
injury, she told Mr. Bush; it was a personal attack that
made American Jews view their secure lives in Amer-
ica in a fundamentally different way.
"He had to understand that — and nobody else was
getting the message through," she said. "I was quite
graphic. And I definitely had his attention. He was
shocked."
The president reportedly went pale at the repri-
mand and a few minutes later, at the meeting with
about 15 other national Jewish leaders, he told them
that Mrs. Cardin "speaks very directly."
That came as no surprise to her colleagues, who
have long admired her grace under pressure as a lo-
cal, national and international Jewish leader and
spokesman. But Mrs. Cardin was clearly disappoint-
ed that her colleagues chose to remain silent rather
than back up her criticism of the president at the Wal-
dorf Astoria meeting.
"These were the key players in the American Jew-
ish community in that room," she said. "This was the
time to tell him that the message I conveyed was valid

and deep and sincere. But this one issue, because it
was personal, nobody touched. I will never understand
that. I was not frustrated, I was shocked, absolutely
shocked that it was not picked up subsequently."
Perhaps it is this sense of mission — and of a lack of
faith in others to speak out when necessary — that is
prompting Mrs. Cardin to let it be known that she is
willing to serve a third term as chairman of the Con-
ference of Presidents. (In the world of American Jew-
ish leadership, it is considered unseemly to announce
one's intention for office.)
Mrs. Cardin is mid-way through her second one-
year term as chair of the Conference, an umbrella
group of some 48 national Jewish organizations that
develops consensus positions on issues relating to Is-
rael.
But despite the respeCt that she has from colleagues,
there are persistent rumors that the new Labor gov-
ernment may want to see an American Jewish lead-
er more closely aligned with Labor as chairman of the
Conference. Will Mrs. Cardin be the sacrificial lamb
in the endless game of Diaspora-Israeli political ma-
neuvering?

Dual Role

S fitting in the spacious living room of her Maryland
home, Mrs. Cardin is a gracious hostess to
two reporters and a photographer, offering them
cold drinks on a hot day, and taking the phone
off the hook to prevent distractions.
But for the several hours of our interview, the
screech of the fax machine is a regular counterpoint
to her steady voice — a constant reminder that she is
the closest thing the Jewish community has to an of-
ficial spokesman.
In her role as chairman of the Conference of Presi-
dents, she seeks to advocate Israel's policies in Wash-
ington and explain American (including Jewish)
attitudes in Jerusalem.
She has a personal relationship with both U.S. and
Israeli officials, and describes being called at home by
Secretary of State James Baker on Mideast peace
matters as well as calling then-Prime Minister Yitzhak
Shamir at home to wish him a Good Yom Toy.
Mrs. Cardin seems well suited to her role, which
is primarily interpretive and consensus-driven. She

What It Takes: Clear Mind, Iron Stomach

hat qualities
are needed to
chair the Con-
ference of Presi-
dents?
"First, you need to be
able to laugh," Mrs.
Cardin responded imme-
diately. "And you have to
be able to not take criti-
cism personally — I get
my share of hate mail.

W

0 1.0

ral_RAVAtl.ntICT_N_I_CIOD

"You need a tough
hide, the ability to re-
main cool under fire, to
think clearly and listen
to those you turn to for
counsel, to be willing to
listen to all viewpoints, to
be accessible and to be in-
clusive."
Warming to the task,
she added, "you need to
draw some order out of

chaos, and to be able to
earn the respect of those
with whom you dis-
agree."
With reference to the
hectic travel and work
schedule she keeps, she
added the need for drive,
innate energy, an iron
stomach and the ability
to get by on very little
sleep.

Mrs. Cardin acknowl-
edged that, given the ex-
penses involved out of
her own pocket, her vol-
untary job is only for the
elite. There is no salary
and she pays for three or
four trips to Israel a year
for meetings as well as
an average of $500 a
month for phone bills.
During her extensive

traveling, it is not unusu-
al for Mrs. Cardin to be
in meetings from 7 a.m.
until close to midnight.
And it seems that she is
always on the road.
"It's come to the point
where I send out my
schedule — and it says at
the top 'subject to change'
— three months in ad-
vance to the two offices I

work with [the Confer-
ence of Presidents and
the National Conference
on Soviet Jewry, which
she also chairs], to my
four children and to my
husband," she said.
Her only support staff
is a secretary in the New
York office of the Nation-
al Conference on Soviet
Jewry.

c=.)

b

„_/