HARRY KIRSBAUM

Staff Writer

Ann Arbor

I

am just as much a Jew as any-
one else," insisted Heather
Dreyfuss, an 18-year-old
University of Michigan fresh-
man from Bloomfield Hills. That's
right, added Shari Katz of Farmington
Hills. Darn right, said Debbie
Ornstein of Michigan State University.
The three — one Reform and two
Conservative — were among 150
politically interested students who
turned out Sunday for the annual
political leadership conference orga-
nized by the Michigan branch of the
American Israel Public Affairs_
Committee (AIPAC) and held at
Michigan Hillel.
In interviews between the formal
presentations on American-Israeli rela-
tions and Michigan politics, the three
said they were disturbed by a com-
ment by Israel's Sephardi Chief Rabbi
two weeks ago. The rabbi, Eliyahu
Bakshi-Doron, said that by encourag-
ing assimilation, Reform Jews were
"more dangerous to the Jewish people
than the Holocaust."
Dreyfuss, whose family belongs to
Temple Beth El, said all Jews should
respect the different streams of
Judaism. A member of AIPAC, a major
national lobbying force for Israel, she is
a staunch defender of the Jewish nation
even when she is disturbed by what
some individual leaders may say.
Likewise with Katz, a U of M
freshman and member of Shaarey

political process and to lobby
support for Israel.
These students, represent-
ing seven statewide colleges
and universites, said internal
divisiveness is wrong, but it
comes from a minority and
they still support the Jewish
homeland.
Andrew Ceifetz, 18, a first-
year U of M sophomore, and
Congregation Beth Shalom
member said religious pluralism
is a "definite point of tension."
Citing more Conservative
and Reform members in the
world, "it is something that
the Orthodox in Israel should
realize and work with if they
want to gather the national
support.
An Adat Shalom member,
Matt Holtzman, a U of M
medical student from
Farmington Hills, said he's
dealt with pluralism on a more
personal basis. He said many of his
friends are Reform, while he is shomer
Shabbos and keeps kosher.
"I think what that rabbi said was
quite possibly the most divisive thing
he could have said about the Jewish
people," he said.
"I have lots of respect for the
Orthodox. I think there's a good
chan- ce that a hundred years from now,
we may say, 'Thank G-d they were
there to do their part and keep the tra-
dition,' and I respect everybody's desire
to observe the Halachah as they see fit,"
he said. "I just think it's wrong for any-
one to make a judgment about me." E

Dissenting Students

At AIPAC meeting, young Reform Jews
reject Israeli Chief Rabbi's remark.

Reform Jews "are
more dangerous to
the Jewish people
than the Holocaust.

3

)

Chief Sephardic Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron

Zedek in Southfield. "The rabbi's
statement }pothers me a lot," she said.
The political science major and three-
time visitor of Israel said that plural-
ism will not kill Judaism, "but
Judaism can be killed if we can't unite
as one community, as a religion."
The comment angered Ornstein, an
AIPAC liasion at Michigan State
University. "The rabbi does not repre-
sent all of Israel, it's still the Jewish
homeland," she said. The 23-year-old
Farmington Hills senior, majoring in in
religious studies said, "I love Israel, but it
angers me that people think that way"
Another U of M freshman, Amy
Tenebaum, 18, from West Bloomfield

said that as a Reform Jew, she believes
that the various streams are all Jews,
and doesn't rate who is more Jewish
than another.
Tenebaum and other students at
the conference heard speeches, includ-
ing advice on starting a career in poli-
tics by staff members of U.S. Sen.
Spencer Abraham and U.S. Rep. Joe
Knollenberg; a day in the life of U.S
Rep. Lynn Rivers; and an update on
U.S. - Israel relations by U.S. Sen.
Carl Levin.
AIPAC's political leadership devel-
opment program works in more than
200 campuses across the country to
educate and involve students in the

IVIordechai Makes Clear Appeal To Orthodox Voters In Campaign

JERUSALEM, (JTA) —

"Let us walk the
path of
</
Maimonides,"
Yitzhak Mordechai
Election
urged a throng of
cheering followers.
gee
"Let us walk the
center path." The
leader of the new, as-yet unnamed
centrist party has wasted little time
getting into the thick of campaigning
— and in the process he has already
begun clothing the often nebulous
centrist stance with meaning.
This has been particularly true in
the area of religious-secular relations,
where the former defense minister has
-ot hesitated to state his views.

"I would like, no less than anyone
else, to see yeshiva students serving in
the army," the much-decorated former
general told an audience Sunday
night, bringing up a long-debated
topic.
"But there is no way for the one
camp to forcibly foist its views on the
other," he added. "The Orthodox can-
not threaten the secular, and the secu-
lar cannot impose themselves on the
Orthodox. The yeshiva boys should
serve — but through dialogue, not
through threats.
Mordechai's stance on religion-state
issues is being closely watched by
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu,
who is also courting the Orthodox
vote.

The Labor candidate for prime
minister, Ehud Barak, all but gave up
Orthodox support with his strongly
worded statements last year favoring a
draft for yeshiva students.
In the 1996 election, Netanyahu
took virtually all of the Orthodox vote
in his race against former Prime
Minister Shimon Peres. But the latest
polls indicate that the Orthodox elec-
torate is making a serious defection
from the prime minister in favor of
Mordechai.
Mordechai's appeal to Orthodox
voters became clear last week, follow-
ing his controversial vote in the
Knesset in favor of legislation requir-
ing all members of local religious
councils to abide by the rulings of the

•

Orthodox Chief Rabbinate. The bill,
introduced by Orthodox legislators,
was intended to prevent Conservative
and Reform representatives from serv-
ing on the councils — or, failing that,
to force them into a blanket accep-
tance of Orthodox authority on mat-
ters under discussion at council meet-
ings.
Mordechai emerged in two weekend
polls as handily defeating Netanyahu in
a two-way runoff. And Mordechai's
party — which is still without a list of
legislative candidates or platform —
won 15 of the 120 Knesset seats in the
weekend surveys. Likud and Labor got
just 27 and 26 seats, respectively, in
those same polls. Fl

— David Landau

2/5

1999

Detroit Jewish News

7

