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