Mr. Speaker

/–'

7-•

intellect and sincerity. When I cited some
biblical sources, he was very much in-
trigued."
This past year, at nearby Congrega-
tion Beis Chayeinu, an Orthodox syna-
gogue with a Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi,
Mr. Gingrich received an intially skepti-
cal reception.
About 40 congregants turned out for a
breakfast meeting with him. "It was
somewhat of a hard sell to get them to
come," said Rabbi Ruvi New, the syna-
gogue's spiritual leader. "Nevertheless,
they did and were very, very impressed."
Mr. Gingrich spoke passionately about
his recent trip to Bosnia as well as his
1993 visit to Israel. He also had some wel-
come words for Chabad. "He said that he
realizes that in the Chasidic community
that family is very strong; he's interest-
ed in Chasidic life and family values,"
said Rabbi New.
An affinity for family values is one
thing that attracted Rabbi Daniel Lapin,
an Orthodox rabbi, to Mr. Gingrich. Rab-
bi Lapin is the founder of Toward Tradi-
tion, based in Washington state. The
group promotes the idea that Judaism is
more allied with politically conservative
doctrines than liberal ones.
At their first meeting a few years ago,
"we rambled on for a long time about a
shared vision for the destiny of the Amer-
ican people — he from a historical point
of view and for me, from the conviction
that God had a role in the formation of
America," the rabbi said.
A few weeks ago, the two met again in
Washington, D.C., to discuss "the moral
component of welfare reform."

nection to Israel. Last September, Mar-
ianne Gingrich joined the staff of the Is-
rael Economic Development Corporation,
which lobbies for a free-trade zone in Is-
rael's Negev region.
On the Holocaust, Mr. Gingrich moved
quickly in early January to remove
Christina Jeffrey, his then-recently ap-
pointed House historian, from her posi-
tion. That was in the wake of reports that
in the late 1980s she had criticized a
Holocaust education curriculum for pub-
lic schools as lacking the perspective of
the Nazis.
She claimed that her remarks were
facetious and taken out of context. Mr.
Gingrich apparently did not want to take
chances. Mrs. Jeffrey, depending on
whose version one listens to, either re-
signed or was fired.
Mrs. Jeffrey, again teaching at Ken-
nesaw State College in Atlanta's north-
west suburbs, has sought to win back her
reputation.
"I will do a lot for Newt Gingrich and
the Republican Party," she said in a re-
cent interview. "But I will not have my
obituary say, 'She was a racist anti-Semi-
te.' It's not right or fair."
In an address to AIPAC last year, Mr.
Gingrich touched on several important
points for American Jews. He vocifer-
ously defended Israel as America's only
dependable Middle East ally, asked
those present to contemplate what the
movie Schindler's List means to them
and expressed support for the Mideast
peace talks. He also condemned anti-
Semitism and lashed out against Rus-
sia's xenophobic politician Vladimir
Zhirinovsky.
Core Issues
"If you go to see Schindler's List, don't
When it comes to the twin pillars of just feel good emotionally because you
American Jewish identity — Israel and feel terrible," he told the audience. "Ask
the Holocaust — few Jews could argue yourself not about 1945 when Amer-
ican troops first walked into the
with Mr. Gingrich.
Other than three opposition foreign camps. Ask yourself about 1925 and
aid votes early in his first term, he has 1935. What would you have done and
consistently taken a leading role in pro- why?"
moting the U.S.-Israel alliance. In the
current climate of budgeting cutting fren- Future Links
zy, he has repeatedly pledged that Israel As Mr. Gingrich continues to consol-
and Egypt would not face reductions.
idate his power base — he promises
Such convictions, said Dan Cohen, that the first 100 days were but a har-
come from a deep sense of Israel's being binger of times to come — the Jew-
the only dependable U.S. ally in the Mid- ish community will keep in contact
dle East.
with him.
"He's not a fair-weather friend," he
Mr. Gingrich, apparently, will also
said. "On Israel he was our friend before continue to try and bring them into
we were his friend."
the fold. Jews still can hold a swing
In the summer of 1993, Mr. Gingrich vote in many areas and remain dis-
and his wife, Marianne, visited the Jew- proportionately high contributors to
ish state on a trip coordinated by AIPAC. both Republican and Democratic can-
Atlantans Marty and Judy Kogan were didates.
on that trip with about half a dozen oth-
This spring, for the second consec-
er people.
utive year, Mr. Gingrich will speak
'When we went to the briefings with at the high-profile American Israel
political and military leaders, particu- Public Affairs Committee policy con-
larly the military ones, he really un- ference. He also has been invited to
derstood what was going on," said address the American Jewish Com-
Mr. Kogan, a longtime Republican. "The mittee national meeting in Wash-
speakers were particularly taken aback ington, D.C., later this spring.
by what he was asking and because of
'We'll work with him
those questions, they would raise the so- like we work with every
Marianne
phistication level of their comments."
leader of Congress. We
and Newt
The Gingriches now have another con- shouldn't boycott and de-
Gingrich

And The Jews

monize him," said Mr. Bookbinder of the
Committee.
And Mr. Gingrich continues to deliv-
er political prizes to Jewish groups. Last
year, with Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) he
successfully co-sponsored a bill to give
Chabad's leader, the now deceased Rab-
bi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the
Congressional Gold Medal of Honor. Last
spring, Mr. Gingrich co-authored a bill
in the House to condemn anti-Semitism
and racism. That came in the wake of re-
peated and widely reported anti-Jewish,
anti-white statements by Nation of Is-
lam leaders.
Despite such efforts, polls show that
most Jews are not enthusiastic about
Mr. Gingrich's rise to political power.
One such person, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-
Pa.), is running for president. In part,
his platform decries the anti-abortion,
anti-separation of religion and state push
that he says is the product of a "5 per-
cent fringe" trying to "take control of the
party."
That, and other issues continue to
stand out for Jews, a group in which a
majority welcomes support on its core is-
sues of Israel and Holocaust commemo-
ration, but continues to lean to the left
politically and socially.
Mr. Gingrich, however, with his Ph.D.
in European history, knows that
perserverance pays off. Time, he feels, is
on his side. As he said in the interview,
'We think the welfare state is failing. As
that failure is increasingly recognized by
people in the Jewish community, there's
a growing willingness to say that there's
common ground." Li

Neil Rubin is managing editor of the At-
lanta Jewish times.
Washington Correspondent James D.
Besser contributed to this article.

All The Family

NEIL RUBIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

H

ouse Speaker Newt Gingrich is not
the only family member working
on causes of interest to many Jews.
In September 1994, Marianne Gin-
grich, the politician's wife, joined the staff
of the Israel Export Development Com-
pany, Ltd. In February, she was promot-
ed to vice president for business
development.
The private operation is coordinating a
free-trade zone in Israel's Negev region
and trying to convince international com-
panies to set up shop there.
The IEDC has 30 marketing represen-
tatives worldwide. Mrs. Gingrich, who first
visited Israel with her husband in the sum-
mer of 1993, was back in the Jewish state
from Feb. 9 to 15 on an IEDC business trip.
Before going to Israel the first time, she
spoke to the House ethics commitee about
taking a free trip in which she would vis-
it IEDC operations. The committee does
not oversee the spouses of House mem-
bers, but Mrs. Gingrich didn't want to take
chances. Were she working for the com-
pany, the former county planner was told,
there would be no questions. With that,
she asked for a job.
The Gingriches say that they do not dis-
cuss Marianne's work.
"Her job is fascinatink. But I'm con-
sciously staying out of it," Mr. Gingrich
said.
"As long as I avoid going through Newt,
his office or certain members, I'm OK,"
Mrs. Gingrich said. "Even though I don't
do any lobbying, we don't discuss it."
At least one political analyst, howev-
er, questions having the
House speaker's wife in such
position.
"I don't have the slightest
question about the ethics of it
or any formal conflict of inter-
est," said Seymour Martin
Upset, professor of public pol-
icy at George Mason Univer-
sity. "But if you're going to be
legalistic, it's not kosher."
"Maybe I'm being a little too
sensitive, but if I were advis-
ing him, I wouldn't agree" to
Mrs. Gingrich taking the job,
he added.
For her part, Mrs. Gingrich
says she is thrilled with the
people and the issues that
come her way through IEDC.
"You can say that the Unit-
ed States is the world political
power today and that Israel
and Jerusalem is the spiritu-
al center of the world, al-
though there are obviously
other religious centers," she

said. "There's something spe-
cial about being able to help
Jerusalem."

PHOTO BY RELIGION NEWS SERVICE