lstMinrs-
A Sober Look
PROMISED
LAND
THE CONTINUING STORY OF JEWISH LIFE IN THE DIASPORA
ern problems, be it on the diplomatic front or sim-
ply picking up the garbage.
It is, therefore, refreshing to see the series of ar-
ticles by staff writer Lynne Meredith Cohn, which
begins today on Page 114. Ms. Cohn spent three
weeks in Israel recently with the Volunteers for
Israel program. It was an exhilarating experience,
leaving a 25-year-old writer with the full range of
emotions that Israel can extract. She writes about
those emotions, both the good and the bad, and
the experiences that awakened them.
Her stories take us off the beaten path and be-
hind the headlines. Too often the news coverage
of Israel that we see is issue-oriented. Too of-
ten the issues mask the people that create them,
the individuals that are affected, the neighbor-
hoods and their residents that are the real sto-
ries behind the impersonal lines of newsprint.
Ms. Cohn today, and in the coming weeks, will
give us a different look at our perception of Is-
rael. Her articles may shake our stereotypes, our
preconceived notions. We hope so.
ALL RIGHT...
U)
Regardless, for years the organized Jewish world
has lip-toed around its own radical fundamental-
ists, dismissing them as an irksome minority-with-
in-a-minority. But the Orthodox world should
shudder at the damage this week's statements
may cause.
Will a Conservative or Reform Jew now with-
hold a gift to an Orthodox day school or camp? Who
could calculate how this — and Israel's pending
conversion law—may hurt federation campaigns,
Israel Bond drives and other Jewish charitable
works that directly benefit the Orthodox?
Most Orthodox Jews, while fervent and firm in
their beliefs, do not denigrate Jews who choose a
different spiritual path. And we can't believe that
any non-Orthodox Jew would swallow the poiso-
nous notion that their Judaism is unauthentic.
Sadly, the same can't necessarily be said for non-
Jews who read America's newspapers.
We applaud mainstream Orthodox bodies such
as the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations
and the Rabbinical Council of America who quick-
ly condemned this vitriol.
It would be wrong to say the Union of Orthodox
Rabbis merely hurled a rhetorical brick at the Con-
servative and Reform movements. It tossed a
boomerang. We hope that the only one that it even-
tually bops on the head is itself. It deserves as
much.
LJJ
U)
LLJ
CC
t
L_LJ
28
6355360@MCIMAILI.COM .
lis
what
Do You
I Think?"
What did you like — and what
didn't you like about our
March 21 Purim spoof?
To respond: "So, What Do You Think?"
27676 Franklin Road, Southfield, MI 48034
YAEL
the
Peritiezed
LOUIS ZAYDS BUN'S
the
the
the
Rebel If acittonakst Buttri
OKAY...
1
WHO CAN ANSWER 96 OUE5fION
IN ME OfisfARA/1 PROM LA% NIGHT?
CAN ANYONE IXPLAIN tt1 E 0.1.1f5 -noNe
Mf
CAN ANYONE
REMEMBER ANYII/IN6
FROM 1AST AgGitre
(
((
/Pw
Bricks And Boomerangs
The Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States
and Canada may boast many brilliant Torah schol-
ars. But enough of them aren't savvy enough to
know the difference between a brick and a
boomerang— or the damage they caused the Jew-
ish people this week. (Do not confuse the group
with the larger, mainstream Union of Orthodox
Jewish Congregations of America, better known
as the OU.)
Last weekend, the Los Angeles Times report-
ed the right-wing group's plans to no longer rec-
ognize the Conservative and Reform movements
as legitimate Judaism. Truth be told, it never did
so. Nor did it need to. In the modern age, we Jews
have successfully lived within the gray shades of
Jewish religious identity.
Amazingly, the Union of Orthodox Rabbis hopes
that its pronouncement will encourage the 80 to
90 percent of affiliated non-Orthodox American
Jews to switch denominations. Can such hopes be
more ridiculous?
The assertion comes as Israel's parliament con-
siders a bill to formalize the Orthodox monopoly
on Jewish rites and rituals in Israel, including con-
versions, marriages and burials. The Orthodox
Union of Rabbis also thought that its pronounce-
ment could influence this decision. Fortunately,
reports from Israel now suggest that a compro-
mise is in the works.
BECCA BETH BERNIE
the
Se
the
Skeptic Ideal.
Litesal
by Jordan B. Gorfinkel
YEAH! WHEN
KRAMOR BOR -
RowebJERRY',5
CAR/
ALL RI GHTS RE SE RVE D.
Israel remains the center of the Jewish world for
most Jewish people. It was the raison d'etre for
our grandparents, a harsh frontier but a safety
net — the one place where Jews were welcomed
in times of distress in other countries.
The modern State of Israel still carries that
mission and mystique for an older generation,
those who supported and cheered its indepen-
dence, agonized over and subsidized the fledg-
ling country during its pioneer years, its
statehood infancy, its wars for survival.
For younger generations of American Jewry,
Israel carries a different message. It is a pow-
erful country that is able to take care of itself, a
Jewish majority in a historic land that is mod-
ern and beautiful, with a government that com-
mits the same mistakes as every other modern
nation. In other words, Israel is an equal player
on the international scene.
Often it is hard to reconcile these two images
of Israel: the haven for oppressed Jews vs. the
state with all the modern conveniences and mod-
T H E
NO, NO!Ir WAS
fHE MACS CAR!
HA HA!
50 GAO
5A1b, I'L
--
LOVE
... 1-1CN tiAle"
War, NO.501/PA?
TORAH WA5
fELeVIS/ON
WE'D ALL 135
M1313/',5.
ONE
CRC HE
NahlAN
CHICKEN...
0
0
r
id
11 0
•
,kusrite Nat&T 41
-
Comment
Getting Together
As Jewish Men
MICHAEL TALLER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
I
nternational Women's Day gry, resentful, ignored and re-
was marked earlier this jected when women gather to-
month, and it's time for Jew- gether.
ish men to do something. We
I have watched Jewish men re-
should visibly support
act numerous times.
Jewish women. And we
While studying at
should get together as
Pardes Institute in
Jewish men.
Jerusalem in 1991, I of-
Over the past
ten attended the morn-
decade, there has been
ing Orthodox minyan.
a significant increase in
It was made up of 12-15
programming specifi-
men and at most two
cally for and by Jewish
women and was always
women. Many Jewish
led by men.
men have strongly sup-
One day there was a
ported this trend. Nev-
women's
morning ser-
Michael H. Taller:
ertheless, the existence
vice. From down the
Time fo r male
of women-only pro-
hall, we heard the
bond ing?
gramming can chal-
sound of enthusiastic,
lenge even the most supportive inspired singing and dancing. We
men. We may feel confused, an- all looked nervously around and
noticed that there were only men
in the room.
Michael Taller is the founding
Several guys joked about
director of the Jewish Men's
Project in Berkeley, Calif.
TOGETHER page 30