Istto
Russian Shutdown
Is Questioned
•
•
Congressional offices have had
a thing or two to say about the
Russian government's abrupt
shutdown of the Jewish Agency
for Israel.
At least three strongly word-
ed letters were in circulation this
week, including missives from
Rep. Ben Gilman, R-N.Y., Mr.
Gingrich, Rep. Nita Lowey, D-
N.Y., and the trio of Rep. Jim
Saxton, R-N.J., Rep. Chuck
Schumer, D-N.Y., and Rep. Eliot
Engel, D-N.Y.
All of the congressional writ-
ers expressed their hope that the
shutdown was just a bureau-
cratic error; more importantly,
they signaled that Congress will
not be happy with any changes
in Russian emigration policy.
The State Department has
been pursuing the Jewish
Agency issue through quieter
diplomatic channels.
"It's been raised in a number
of different discussions," said a
Washington source. "It is part of
a bigger picture that is of deep
concern here — the trend toward
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WERE FIGHTING FOR YOUR LIFE
the nationalists and the corn-
munists, and the tendency of the
Yeltsin government to try to pla-
cate their supporters."
But administration officials
still do not know exactly why the
Moscow government chose to
move against Jewish Agency op-
erations in Russia, or how the
decision fits into President Boris
Yeltsin's desperate fight for po-
litical survival.
"We are monitoring the situ-
ation very closely," said Mark
Levin, executive director of the
National Conference on Soviet
Jewry. "We believe it is very im-
portant to allow the diplomatic
initiatives now under way to con-
tinue outside the glare of public
attention."
As for the upcoming Russian
presidential elections, with Mr.
Yeltsin facing a ferocious chal-
lenge from communist candidate
Gennadi A. Zyuganov, Mr. Levin
summed up the feelings of most
Jewish activists here: "It's nail-
biting time," he said. "It's going
to be a real close election."
Jews, Evangelicals
Seek Common Ground
Activists interested in finding
common political ground be-
tween the Jewish and evangel-
ical communities will get
another chance next week at a
Washington conference featur-
ing a long list of Jewish lumi-
naries and religious right
leaders such as Christian Coali-
tion director Ralph Reed.
The event is the official kick-
off for the Center for Jewish and
Christian Values, a group cre-
ated last year by Rabbi Yechiel
Eckstein, an Orthodox rabbi
from Chicago who has made a
career out of reaching out to
evangelical leaders like Pat
Robertson.
"We will have groups that are
usually on different sides of the
aisle coming together to talk
about the values shared by the
two communities, and to find
public policy issues where
there's the possibility of a corn-
mon agenda," said Chris Ger-
sten, the executive director of
the new center.
He cited such diverse partic-
ipants as Rabbi David Saper-
stein of the Religious Action
Center of Reform Judaism and
Gary Bauer of the Family Re-
search Council. He also pointed
out that he is a longtime Re-
publican, while his boss, Rabbi
Eckstein, is a Democrat.
The Anti-Defamation League,
the American Jewish Commit-
tee and the National Jewish
Community Relations Advisory
Council, which have staunchly
opposed most elements of the
Christian right agenda, will
send "observers" to the confer-
ence.
Next week's session will focus
on two broad issues: the sanc-
tity of human life and the im-
portance of "traditional family
values like hard work, loyalty
and compassion," Mr. Gersten
said.
From there, participants hope
to define a common legislative
agenda focusing on narrowly de-
fined issues such as divorce law
reform.
When the center was an-
nounced late last year, it was
called the Center for Judeo-
Christian Values. But some
Jewish groups objected to a se-
mantic construction that, in
their view, denigrated Jewish
participants; recently, Rabbi
Eckstein, who is already facing
a skeptical Jewish world, decid-
ed to change the name.