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THE CONTINUING STORY OF JEWISH LIFE IN THE DIASPORA
by Jordan B. Gorfinkel
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IN YOIR TIME PeRIOD--
1-000 YEARS AGO--
THE JEWS WERE aNgial./
Passover All Year Long
Passover remains one of the truly remarkable
Jewish holidays. According to the National
Jewish Population Survey, at least 80 percent
of American Jews will sit down at a seder
Monday night. In an age when we often moan
about the woes of assimilation, lack of af-
filiation and dearth of Jewish
knowledge, this is a stunning
statistic.
Some of us believe that
so many Jews come to a
Passover seder be-
cause of the holiday's
eternal Jewish mes-
sage. But that is not
the case. The seder
stands out because
it is fun, usually in
a friend's or rela-
tive's home, and in
no way smacks of or-
ganized religion.
That last matter is
most important. Obvi-
ously, the legions of un-
and under-affiliated Jews
stay away from the structured
Jewish world.
Yet, they seem to have little difficUl-
ty in celebrating Passover on some level. At
seders, we join them to sing songs and eat a
large meal. Together, we gather to retell a mul-
tilayered and intriguing story replete with fas-
cinating imagery open to vast levels of inter-
pretation.
Such a warm and near-universal Jewish par-
ticipation in the seder provides a potent message
to the organized community: Those not within
the fold will turn out when they can have
a creative hand in shaping their ob-
servance. And they want to do
it — at least initially — out-
side of the synagogue.
With this in mind,
our community's
greatest challenge re-
mains finding ways
to throw increased
energy into the bat-
tle to persuade
more Jews to ad-
here to the Jewish
calendar all year,
not just on Passover.
That is, how to make
a weekly Shabbat ob-
servance and other less
celebrated holidays a fac-
tor in the lives of more Jews.
As we sit down to the seder,
let us ponder this. We should look
at everyone around the table and ask
what our fellow Jews want from the Jewish
community. Together, we might learn to attract
more people to live a more Jewish life all year
long.
Tinged Gold
To every silver lining there must be a gray cloud.
Such a thought must have surged through the
creative minds of whoever crafted the World Jew-
ish Congress' most recent fund-raising letter. In
the past few months, the Swiss government and
the Jewish group had praised one another for fi-
nally moving forward to expose Nazi gold and
Jewish-owned funds stashed in Swiss banks.
Many observers thought this would end the ac-
rimonious period in which the Swiss government
seemed to be slowing the investigations.
Then came the four-page appeal by the WJC.
"We just found Hitler's secret Swiss bank ac-
count," it starts. This claim is disputed by sev-
eral intelligence documents, while another,
according to the Jerusalem Post, says only that
"it is quite possible that Hitler's foreign exchange
revenue from his book [Mein Kampf] and foreign
exchange revenues from the Nazi Party abroad
are held at this Swiss bank."
That's a far cry from the triumphalism of the
WJC letter. It goes on to praise Great Britain's
Jewish community "who got their government
to release a scathing report that listed the Swiss
misrepresentations about the money they re-
ceived and still retain from the Nazis."
The language, of course, is common in Jewish
fund raising, which often relies more on scare
tactics than positive messages. The WJC and
other Jewish groups are helping to rebuild Jew-
ish communities around the globe. Why not fo-
cus on that? It, too, can be done with passion that
will solicit funds.
Finally, why not recognize what has been done
— while always urging more action. The Swiss
have been far from angels. Yet, we must recog-
nize some positive steps. The Swiss have creat-
ed a joint investigation committee with Jewish
groups and announced a humanitarian fund for
needy Holocaust survivors and others.
Certainly huge problems remain. High on the
list is the virtual impossibility for Holocaust sur-
vivors and refugees to document accounts that,
when they were teen-agers, their now murdered
relatives opened in Swiss banks. These matters
are being addressed in private talks. We need to
encourage that. We will speak out when our con-
cerns are not heeded. Likewise, we will recog-
nize the start of a good effort.
The WJC should be roundly applauded for its
outstanding leadership in the Nazi gold effort.
Bui, it should be held accountable to tell a bal-
anced story, not just the part from which it be-
lieves it can best solicit funds.
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11415 57A71.4
I'M WORKING ON?
Letters
Real Story
Was Missed
religious expression and violate
the First Amendment rights of
their students by removing all re-
ligious expression from the class-
In your article "Church-State room.
The center has no intention of
Boundaries" (March 21), you in-
flate a relatively minor disagree- pursuing one of the programs it
ment into a full-blown initially considered, that of en-
"controversy." In the process, the couraging teachers to "use reli-
real story was missed: A broad- gious sources in efforts to prevent
based coalition of Jews and Chris- drug and alcohol abuse and teen-
tians is working together to age pregnancies." From the be-
ensure that religious freedom and ginning, we always intended to
expression be protected more gauge the reactions of our col-
leagues in the Jewish communi-
faithfully.
As the article noted, the Cen- ty to the various parts of the
ter for Jewish and Christian Val- program and modify it accord-
ues project seeks to implement a ingly. The Jewish News article
set of guidelines drafted in 1995 appeared, unfortunately, while
specifying what kinds of religious this process was still ongoing.
In fact, well before your article
expression are permissible in our
appeared,
the center made pub-
public schools. These guidelines
were endorsed by 36 national or- lic its decision to drop the "pre-
ganizations within the Jewish vention recommendations" when
and Christian communities, in- we learned that some Jewish
cluding the American Jewish groups such as the AJCongress
Congress, B'nai B'rith and the objected to them. Indeed, Marc
Anti-Defamation League as well Stern of the AJCongress, whom
as Americans United for Sepa- you quote as being opposed to our
ration of Church and State, the program, is actually fully behind
ACLU, the Christian Legal Soci-
ety and the National Association
of Evangelicals.
Shortly after the guidelines
were drafted by Jewish and
Christian leaders, nearly iden-
tical guidelines were sent out to
every school district in the coun-
try by the Department of Educa-
tion under President Clinton.
Later that same year, the na-
tional PTA distributed a set of
guidelines that also mirrored the
original guidelines. Despite these
attempts at guidance, many prin-
cipals and teachers remain igno-
rant of the legal boundaries of
it, particularly since he is the pri-
mary author of the guidelines on
which our program is based.
In short, the center remains
committed to its campaign to en-
sure that the guidelines are im-
plemented in school districts
nationwide. Jews and Christians
from many points along the po-
litical spectrum and in various
cities around the country are fi-
nally working together to protect
allowable forms of expression.
That is the story that ought to
have been told — of Jews and
Christians cooperating on a pro-
REAL STORY page 36