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Rabbi Supports
Pat Buchanan

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Pat Buchanan hasn't won many
Jewish converts to his presiden-
tial crusade. And that's a shame,
according to a New York rabbi
who serves as a co-chair of the
Buchanan effort.
Rabbi Yehuda Levin serves
alongside the Rev. Donald Wild-
mon, president of the American
Family Association and a leading
opponent of gay rights, and Mike
Farris, a home-school advocate.
Why does Rabbi Levin support
Buchanan when most Jews re-
gard the conservative firebrand
as tref?
"Ifs a rather involved question,"
said the voluble Rabbi Levin. "I
have been part of the pro-life; pro-
family movement since 1978, and
worked with the religious Catholic
and Evangelical communities.
And I have come to appreciate,
from my perspective as a tradi-
tional Jew, that what they're do-
ing for the country, in terms of
advocating family values, is very
much in synch with Torah val-
ues."
Jewish "defense" organizations,
he said, are always on the lookout
for new villains and new victims
who need their protection.
"The new boogyman is the
Christian Right," he said. "And
the civil rights groups have found
homosexuals as the new group
that needs their rights protected."
His relationship with Mr.
Buchanan stems from the 1992
elections, when Mr. Buchanan
was barred from a campaign
event.
"I spoke and stood up for
Buchanan," he said. "That start-
ed a relationship."
Mr. Buchanan, he said, "is a
hardboiled, pugnacious, 1950s-
style Catholic who shoots from the
hip, and sometimes from the lip.
Some of the ways he expresses
himself may go too far; some
things are downright wrong. He
doesn't always show enough sen-
sitivity to the Jewish community.
But "it's very wrong to call him
an anti-Semite or a 'David Duke
in a suit,"' he said. "And I whole-
heartedly embrace a lot of what
the guy has to say. On the social
issues, absolutely."

Russian Results
Have New Spin

The Clinton administration is
working hard to put a positive
spin on the parliamentary elec-
tions in Russia.
But groups concerned about the
fate of millions of Jews in the for-
mer Soviet Union see different
portents in the Duma elections,
where the big winners were com-
munist and ultra-nationalist par-
ties.

"The administration is very
pleased that the rule of law is be-
ginning to take hold in Russia."
said. Mark Levin, executive direc-
tor of the National Conference on
Soviet Jewry. "They are pointing
out that the nationalists and coin- •
munists didn't do as well as in the
last election."
But this time around, he said,
there were some 43 parties on the
ballot. "Given the large number of
parties, it's a real matter of con-
cern when the two top vote getters
are the communists and the na-
tionalists," he said.

New Director
For Jewish Dems

The National Jewish Democratic
Council (NJDC), which has been
in the market for a new executive
director since summer, announced
the appointment of Ira Forman.
Mr. Forman — the consultant
who formulated the plan for
NJDC in 1989 at the behest of
Jewish Democrats who worked in
the disastrous Michael Dukakis
campaign takes over an orga-
nization that is rapidly changing
direction.
In its first incarnation, NJDC
tried to build a sprawling grass-
roots network. But this year, the
group's leaders narrowed their fo-
cus to political fund raising and
grassroots organizing for House
and Senate candidates in a hand-
ful of states.
"We were all taken aback by
the 1994 electoral revolution," Mr.
Forman said in an interview. "In-
stead of panicking, NJDC began
a hardheaded analysis of where
we have to be to have an impact
in 1996."
NJDC will now emphasize
races in California, New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio,
Michigan and Illinois, where De-
mocratic gains could put Newt
Gingrich out of the speaker's of-
fice.

B'nai B'rith Wins
On Travel Book

A major new travel guide will be
revised to include maps that ad-
mit Israel's existence, thanks to
some quick work by B'nai B'rith.
Early this month, the group's
president, Tommy Baer, wrote to
executives of the Alfred A. Knopf
publishing company, protesting
the omission of Israel on maps in
a new travel guide, "The Holy
Land," even though the names of
surrounding countries were in-
cluded for Mideast travelers.
Recently, Sonny Mehta, the
publisher's president, apologized,
calling the omission "an aston-
ishing editorial error ... We are,
of course, taking immediate ac-
tion to ensure that it will be cor-
rected in all future editions." 0

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