ED HURWITZ PAGER 316.4200 OFFICE: 810 ,647 , 1199, EXT. 285 World \Vide Financial SAAB 900S CONVERTIBLE LUXURY AT AN AFFORDABLE PRICE / / 40// .i 1996 CUTLASS SUPREME $349* 36 Months $229* 36 Months $3,399 Down Payment • Sale price plus tax, lic., dent and doc fees. " 36 mo. lease. 500 cap cost reduction, option to purchase at lease end de- termined at lease inception. Plus 1st mo. prit, sec. dep (pyrnt rounded to the nearest 550), tax, title and license on approved credit Lessee responsible for excess wear and tear. 15c per mile over 15,000 miles per year. 36 month lease, 5229 per mo., 51$50 down pay., 52,428.34 due at signing, plus 5250 sec. dep., plus tax, lic., title fees. Lessee has option to purchase at lease end at pace deter- mined, mileage charge of 15c per mile over 36,000 miles. Lessee pays for excess wear & tear, monthly payments to- tal 58,22024. . . • T HE D ETR O 18 ■ 1 5411 .3 1 ^-`,' • ^,15,,RSYMNRSCr., . GLASSMAN GLfi SSM fi N GLOSSMON unDei SAAB OLDSMOBILE ,,:;1{,, ,M.S.,24 On Telegraph at the Tel-12 Mall, Southfield (810) 354 3300 M.¢.9,,IFF9AF4SVXV:V.1220rn" tnr One TlegraS h t the Tel-12 Mall, ou hfield (810) 354-3300 On TelegraS h al the Tel-12 Mall, ou thfeld (810) 354-3300 TOURS page 3 PHOTO BY G LENN TR IEST Best Wishes to all of my Family, Friends and Clients for a Happy, Healthy and Joyous INISSCV En One of the many American groups that tour Israel. spokesman for Rabbis for Human Rights, wrote that the abandon- ment of Israel by American Jews during the Persian Gulf War was repeating itself in the wake of the terrorist bombings that claimed 61 victims in nine days: "Diaspo- ra Jews are distancing them- selves from Israel, even as they make their brave statements of solidarity. (American Jews in particular) see Israel as a place they must visit to strengthen their rather tenuous Jewish iden- tity. But as soon as that identi- ty is challenged in such a way as to endanger their physical well- being, this need for an infusion of Jewish self- identification is quickly shelved." The accounts of travel cancel- lations, or lack thereof, differed depending on who was asked. Aryeh Zomer, the North Ameri- can representative of the Min- istry of Tourism — who officially greeted the delegation on the tar- mac — said "very few," but Jerusalem shopkeepers said their stores, usually filled with tourists, had been practically empty in the last few weeks. Participants in the mission hissed when told, at lunch the next day with Jerusalem's May- or Ehud Olinert, that the Chica- go Symphony had canceled its Jerusalem 3000 performance this fall. The group's own uncomfort- able presence was revealed in its visit to the site of the Dizengoff Center bombing, where one Is- raeli passer-by, observing the horde of American Jews — wear- ing their bright yellow UJA "Am Echad" baseball caps, reciting prayers, snapping photos of the makeshift memorials (consisting mainly of the now-familiar spread of tiny memorial candles), all the while being photographed for the evening news in Philadel- phia — commented tersely, 'This is no tourist sight." But another anecdote from the same stop became almost in- stantly mythic in proportion: A truck came to a stop at the cor- ner where the group stood, sur- rounded by a city intersection Howard J. Lalli is editor of one of our sister publications, the Palm Beach Jewish Times. framed by buildings with still bombed-out windows. A man leaned out of the passenger-side window to inquire about the gathering. When told it was a group of American Jews in Israel to show their solidarity, he smiled and said thanks for coming. `This delegation from Philadel- phia is just minutes offthe plane, and before they did anything else, they wanted to go to the site of the last act of terrorism," intoned one of the television news re- porters on the bus from the air- port, "so we're headed to Tel Aviv." After the Dizengoff Center stop, the group went to Rabin Square. A young Israeli parked his bike a few yards away from the Americans praying near an- other makeshift memorial. "It's very nice," he said of their presence. "This is history; every Jew should come here." Most Israelis are pessimistic after the bombings, he said. "And they are more fearful, of course. I fear for my wife on the bus." Never fear. American Jews had arrived to ride with her and the rest of the frightened coun- try. If we indeed share a destiny, we can share a bus ride on Jerusalem's now infamous No. 18 line. Rather than waiting at one of the city's bus stops — each guard- ed in the wake of the bombings by two soldiers — the Americans boarded a No. 18 at the beginning of the line. UJA "Am Echad" mis- sion signs already were affixed to the front windows of the familiar red Egged city buses when the tour buses carrying the mission participants pulled up next to them. Quietly dismissed by some as a "stupid photo opportunity," the ride mirrored New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani's equally conspic- uous and controversial ride the previous week. The television crews were nev- er more imposing than at this moment. Never mind the delicate relationship between Israelis and their American brethren and the awkwardness of the "courage" to show up for one day to ride one heavily protected city bus before returning to the safety of Amer- ican suburbia, Philadelphians / L=\