Zan?' and Judaism:
'What's the Connection?

reforms.
Mubarak's son is not the only off-
spring of a leader to embark on a differ-
ent path from his father. Many of the
Western-educated young businesspeople
at the Doha conference were sons of
prominent Arab government officials.
Critics say that the new generation
of Arab businessmen may have little
influence because their aim is making
money rather than changing the sys-
tem. They describe these people as
materialistic and selfish — even if
their command of English is a lot bet-
ter than their fathers.
Despite the brave talk of some,
many of the new Arab generation still
don't dare to buck the system.
Ibrahim, the Bahrain businessman
who deals with Israelis, points out that
his country still bans Israeli products.

• Doctor-Assisted Suicide
•Jewish Law in the State of Israel
•Science and Halakhah

You are cordially invited to

join your colleagues in the le-
gal profession for a lunch-
and-learn session discussing
these subjects and others.

•The Moral Politics of Abortion
•The Law of Return
• Jewish Divorce Law

ftioNlost

The Cardozo Society provides

community members in the
legal profession with Jewish
learning, involvement and
networking opportunities.

Dr. Daniel Sinclair, Dean of Jews'
College, London, England and author-
ity on Jewish law and medicine, will
speak on "Genes & Levis: Jewish
Wisdom for the Genetic Age."

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26
NOON-1:30 P.M.
TOWNSEND HOTEL

Young
businessmen
influence
governments.

ioo TOWNSEND STREET • BIRMINGHAM

$20 PER PERSON

To make reservations, call Jodi Berger, (248) 203-1486

Sponsored by Federation's Community Outreach and Education Department (CORE)

He is not sure whether this boycott
will be lifted anytime soon.
"We have to look over our shoul-
ders at the Saudis," Ibrahim says,
referring to Bahrain's huge neighbor
which provides the sheikdom with
economic aid. "These people help us."
Even the most fervent of Arab busi-
nessmen don't expect much democra-
tization in the Middle East anytime
soon.
Democracy, they say, leads to calls
for respecting human rights by impov-
erished minorities, and this tends to
anger the leaders of neighboring
nations bent on remaining totalitarian.
Salah acknowledges that he feels
like an iconoclast operating in a region
that demands conformity.
His main worry is not about
whether his businesses will fail, he
says, but about how he can keep mak-
ing money with Israelis while anger in
the Arab world continues to grow
against the government of Prime
Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
"At the end of the day, the risk we
are talking about is not business," he
says. "The risk is that things will con-
tinue the way they are. Then it will be
hard to find an explanation for what
we do." El
Steve Rodan is a writer for the

Jerusalem Post Foreign Service.

, th

co

E D

I I

tA.

°Polits0.°6
Allied Jewish Campaign

Spring
'98

Ne;:h

r.L.

A :I." .11'7 , F

,

-

•

• 'N v I N
k K IDip ly

11

•

•

286 West Maple • Birmingham

(248) 540-1977

Mon.-Sat. 10-5:30 • Thurs. 10-9

2/13
1998

137