1994 MODEL CLOSEOUT • The Great Purge of 1994 JAMES D. BESSER WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT p SC300 2 Door Coupe WE MUST MOVE OUR '94's '95's COMING IN LEXUS OF LANSING The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection For a personal showing: Call 1-800-539-8748 OR 1-800-LEXUS-4-U Exit 104 off 1-96 • 5709 S. Pennsylvania, Lansing • 517/394-8000 (CALL COLLECT) • 36 month closed end lease. $3,000 down. 12,000 miles allowed, 15t per mile overage. The Julius Chajes Concert Series 1994-95 presents Zvi Plesser "Within five minutes of the first move- ment, Plesser proved equal to the task of soloist . . . Plesser drew out the poetry with delicate definition." — The Washington Post r SEASON TICKETS STILL L AVAILABLE General Admission: $10.00 Senior/Student $8.00 Call 967-4030 for more information and reservations. Zvi Plesser, cellist Robert Kulek, piano Performing the music of Beethoven, Schumann, DeFalla and Shostakovich Sunday, November 20 4:00 p.m. The concert will be performed at the Jewish Community Center fmimy Prentis Morris Building 15110 West Ten Nfile Road Oak Park, MI This concert funded in part by: the Irwin and Sadie Cohn Fund, the Boaz Siegal Culture Fund and Co-sponsored by The Jewish News. Next time you feed your face, think about your heart. Go easy on your heart and start cutting back on foods that are high in saturated fat and cholesterol. The change'II do you good. V American Heart Association olitics and government are more than just mathemat- ics: The numbers that add up on election day produce far-reaching consequences that often take years to measure. That will be particularly true as the political earthquake of 1994 — and the unexpectedly deep fault lines that created it — begin to shake American domestic and foreign policy. For the Jewish community, there was ominous news in both areas. In the realm of foreign policy, last week's upheaval can be summed up in one word: Helms. Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., that is, a master of parliamentary ma- neuver. The senator already is making noises about how he plans to handle his new job as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee. Mr. Helms, a fierce opponent of foreign aid, expects to force sweeping cuts in Ameri- can assistance — and, particu- larly, in this country's commitment to reinforce the Mid- dle East peace process with fi- nancial help. But the change will go beyond simple slash-and-burn budget- ing. It is no secret that Mr. Helms and other conservative legisla- tors are not happy about Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's land-for-peace policies. Cutting American aid to the new Pales- tinian autonomy area is a way of undermining that process. So is signaling that new assistance to Israel will not be forthcoming to help that country maintain its se- curity after any additional land- for-peace deals. The Republican sweep provid- ed instant momentum to the ef- fort to prevent using American troops as monitors of a Syrian-Is- raeli deal, a key component of Mr. Rabin's strategy for reassuring nervous Israelis that relinquish- ing the Golan Heights will not compromise their country's se- curity. The newly minted Congress may also be inclined to use legis- lation to hold Yassir Arafat's feet to the fire, something the ad- ministration prevented in the last Congress because of Israeli con- cerns that it would jeopardize the experiment in Palestinian self- rule. And a badly crippled ad- ministration may invest less time and energy in complex negotia- tions that are unlikely to pay po- litical dividends in 1996. The election also confirmed a message that George Bush learned the hard way two years ago: In the isolationist 1990s, WERE FIGHTING FOR YOUR LIFE even foreign policy triumphs don't score points with voters. In the short term, the Rabin govern- ment will need to prepare for a possible cooling of American ef- forts to mediate the Syrian-Israel talks as the Clinton White House adjusts to its radically narrowed horizons. And since the chances plummeted last week that Amer- ican troops will help guarantee the peace if Israel withdraws from the Golan, the Rabin gov- ernment will have to change its political and diplomatic calcula- tions accordingly. Yet, there are several potential bright spots for pro-Israel groups. President Clinton's nascent efforts to fight state-sponsored terrorism may be one area where he can find some common ground with the new congressional foreign policy elite. And although American world leadership will not be a pop- ular concept in the 104th Con- gress, many Republican leaders do see a need for more American leadership in the anti-terror fight. In the isolationist 1990s, foreign policy triumphs don't score points with voters. Also, the Republican takeover will mean more money for the American military. This could help ensure that Israel gets the advanced weapons systems it will need to guarantee any peace. But overall for the Rabin gov- ernment and its supporters in this country, last week's midterm elections represent an ominous development in the high-stakes peace process. Domestically, the changes for the Jewish community will be just as profound. Despite the con- tinuing pleas of Jewish Repub- licans, the Jewish community remains largely committed to the kinds of activist government pro- grams that the voters resound- ingly rejected last week. Jewish groups continue to be- lieve in strong federal interven- tion to protect the rights of minorities. But with Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., running the House and Senate Judiciary commit- tees, Congress will now be a ma- jor obstacle to such intervention. The workplace religious free- dom act, introduced in the last days of the 103rd Congress to protect the on-the-job rights of Sabbath observers and other re- ligious people, will be harder to