•the pope stated that "the church
deplores the hate, the persecu-
tions and all forms of anti-
Semitism which target the Jews
of any era and which are carried
out by anybody."

Discord In D.C.
And New York

A

t November's Council
of Jewish Federations
General Assembly in
New York, Shoshana
Cardin, president of CLAL, the
National Jewish Center for
Learning and Leadership, chas-
tised delegates for practicing
"checkbook Judaism": doing with
cash what they could not do with
their own children — creating a
generation of Jews willing (and
eager) to practice their faith.
"We need soul building," she
said. "Memories of the Holocaust
and of Israel won't move us to
the 21st century and won't moti-
vate the next generation to be
Jewish."
November also saw the elec-
tion of Bill Clinton, whose cam-
paign Jews had given over-
whelming support. Many of his
closest advisers — both before
and after election day — were
Jewish. But by late spring,
Michael Lerner, editor of the
Jewish progressive journal,
Tikkun, was being hooted for
declaring himself Hillary
Rodham Clinton's spiritual
adviser. Of his "politics of mean-
ing," an effort to make the work-
place more humane, the New
Republic chuckled, "What are
these people talking about?"
In Crown Heights, followers of
the Lubavitch rebbe, Menacheth
Schneerson, jockeyed for power.
Some declared him the Messiah,
others said such announcements
were nonsensical apostasy. The
messianic faction scheduled a
satellite hook-up for Jan. 31 so
the rebbe, who is speechless after
a stroke, could reveal himself the
Messiah before an international
audience. He did not do so.
Tensions between blacks and
Jews continued to smolder,
despite Jesse Jackson's efforts at
mending fences. In April, Louis
Farrakhan, the Nation of Islam
leader who had called Judaism
"a dirty religion" and Hitler
"wickedly great," played a
Mendelssohn violin concerto in a
concert in North Carolina. Many
interpreted the selection
(Mendelssohn converted out of Bill Clinton and Al Gore, victorious in November.
Judaism when he was 7) as a
bridge toward Jews. But when
asked later this year whether he
would apologize for his anti-
Semitic statements, Minister
Farrakhan roared, "Jews got a
hell of a lot of nerve asking me
to apologize for telling the
truth... They want everybody to
bow down to them, and I ain't
bowing down to nothing or
nobody but God."
All this occurred against the
backdrop of an Anti-Defamation

s Peace