• • • ••• • •• • •• • •• • •• • •• • •• • •• • •• • •• • •• • •• • •• • •• • •• • •• • • The Neighborhood Project • • • • • is celebrating its • birthday, • • • and it won't be a party without • • • • • • See amazing feats • • of magic by • • Michael Jacobson & • • Jacobson's World • • of Magic • • Showtime: 3:30 p.m. • • • • View a photo • Jewish • exhibit showing • Community • 10 years of • Center • neighborhood • Jimmy • growth • Prentis • • Morris • • Bring the Building • • family for • • clowning 15110 • • around W. 10 Mile • • Oak Park • • Balloons • • • • • • • • • 9e. • • E1GHBOR1-100D • PR OJECT • • • Co-sponsored by The Jewish News & the Jewish Community Center • • •• • • • •• • • • •••• • •••• • •••• • •••• • • • •• • • • •••• • ••• • • lOth Please join us Sunday, March 16 3 - 5 p.m. The Biggest Birthday Cake in the Neighborh ood! N moDd •• 777 Reaching The Area's Most Eligible Customers. THE D ETRO want to know what's hip and happening with Detroit's Jewish young adults and singles? (heck lie Rene!' Every week in The Detroit Jewish News. 1.0•°" for more information, call your account executive or Anne Ward at (810) 354.6060 Ext. 209 THE JEWISH NEWS s. The O.J. Of Israel? The charges surrounding Aryeh Deri make for an ongoing scandal in Israel. NECHEMIA MEYERS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS nesset Member Aryeh Deri, head of the Shas Party, is Israel's O.J. Simpson. To be sure, no one has accused him of murder, but he has been on trial for sev- eral years for serious corruption charges and now is in the mid- dle of Israel's biggest scandal to date. It all concerns the attempt, purportedly masterminded by Mr. Deri, to secure the appoint- ment of an attorney-general who would see to it that Mr. Deri was punished, if at all, with no more than a slap on the wrist. Some say this scandal may topple the Netanyahu govern- ment, but Mr. Deri is certain that it will only benefit him and his party, which speaks for the Sephardim in general and the Orthodox Sephardim in partic- ular. For while Ashkenazim gen- erally regard him as a crook, a large percentage of the people in his constituency believe that he is an innocent victim of a plot cooked up by the Ashkenazic es- tablishment. Arye Deri is not convicted, but remains a paramount hero for many Sephardic Jews. Mr. Deri is not the only Shas leader accused of corruption. So are several others. "But," says Mr. Deri, "the more charges that are filed against us, the more Knesset members we will elect." And that isn't just empty boast- ing. In elections to the last Knesset, when Mr. Deri was al- ready on trial and a fellow Shas leader was already in prison, the party won 10 seats in compari- son to the six it held in the out- going Knesset. In fact, Shas has been orga- nizing a series of rallies in sup- port of Mr. Deri. At a recent one, which began with a full-volume rendition of the song "Israel Need Not Fear," Mr. Deri told the audience: 'The media hate us. You have no idea how much they hate us. They charge us with responsibility for every mishap." He then went on to declare: "This country is now divided into two camps — our camp, which Aryeh Deri still faces charges of bribery and fraud after several years. grows from day to day, and the camp that is trying to harm us. We will fight back by building more synagogues and more mikvot [ritual baths]." It may seem strange that so many Israelis of Sephardi origin still see local society in terms of "them" and "us," of Sephardim who are discriminated against by Ashkenazim. After all, Israel has a deputy prime minister of Iranian origin (Moshe Katzav), a foreign minister of Moroccan origin (David Levy), a defense minister of Kurdish origin (Yitzhak Mordechai), an inter- nal security minister of Yemenite origin (Avigdor Ka- halani) and a justice minister whose mother is of Yemenite ori- gin (Tzahi Hanegbi). Moreover, Sephardi Jews are no less prominent in Labor, the main opposition party. Yet, the fact that many Sephardim have reached the top doesn't end the resentment felt by those who are at, or near, the bottom. And so long as a substantial percentage of such disgruntled people be- lieve in the innocence of Aryeh Deri and cast their votes for Shas, that party will be courted by Labor and the Likud alike — even if Mr. Deri himself ends up in jail. El Publicity Deadlines The normal deadline for local news and publicity items is noon Thursday, eight days prior to is- sue date. The deadline for out- of-town obituaries is 10 a.m. Tuesday, three days prior to is- sue date. All material must be type- written, double-spaced, on 8 1/2 x 11 paper and include the name and daytime telephone number of sender.