OPEN QUESTIONS
from page 29
'99 Land Cruiser
Lease for I Was $52,548
$599
$2000 out-of-
pocket due
at signing.
Now $ 48 5 999
Barak Coalition To Date
Drive the Best!
Auto, air, leather, full size everything.
'99 4 RUNNER SR5
Lease for 48 mos. at Was $34,872
,000 out-of- $41
iv;,, $2
owat
aiiimr
pocket due
at signing.
9
Now $31 / 199
Auto, air, SX sports pkg, running
boards, power, roof, tow package.
12,000 miles/year with $2,500 down
High performance, pearl white.
Moonroof, alloy wheels, stereo, CD,
loaded. Stk. #187
1999 Passport LX
Starting at $ 299/mo., 36 mos.
12,000 miles/year with $600 down
+ tax and title
ti,T0altta
4-wheel drive, auto, air, power windows,
power locks, and more. Stk. #187
SALE ENDS JULY 6THIll
TOYOTA
UTOr_atta
o
2027 S. Telegraph • Dearborn (313) 561-6600
26429 Michigan Ave. • (313) 565-5100
All prices plus tax, title, destination, plate. All rebates to the dealer, based on 12,000 mi. a year. Based on approved credit. Details, call 800-958 AUTO.
A journal
is both an
open book
and an
empty page!
Fill it with Jewish memories.
TRADITION! TRADITION!
Call Alicia R. Nelson for an appointment
(248) 557-0109
V
MONT°
BLANC
RAYMOND WEIL
GENEVE
Watches
RAD 0
GUCCI
MOVADO
iTh121
TISSOT
In Crosswinds Plaza
of Orchard Lake Road
And Lone Pine Road
7/2
1999
248.539.1181
30 Detroit Jewish News
1Pantittott
Cl IR( );\uswIsS
Ccmfer
ORIS
Swiss Al ade 1.44c
Since
19 04
—
LONGINES
LIKELY TO SIGN ON: SEATS
6
Center
United Torah Judaism
5
2
One Nation
17
Shas
6
Shinui
with Shas: 77
TOTAL
with Shinui: 66
Note: Barak needs a 61-seat majority in the 120-seat Knesset. Either Shas
or Shinui will sign; it is highly unlikely they will be in the same coalition.
For the latest news on the coalition, please visit the Jewish News
Web site, www.detroitjewishnews.com .
1999 Honda Prelude SH
Lease for 39 mos. at $299/m0.+ tax
1-101V13.2%.
SEATS
PARTY
26
One Israel
(Labor, Gesher, Meimad)
6
Yisrael B'aliyah
National Religious Party
5
10
Meretz
47
TOTAL
Maurice Lacroix
representatives agreed to pass legisla-
tion lowering to 24 the age at which
yeshiva students get full exemptions.
This means that haredi men, at a rela-
tively yqung age, will be able to join
the workforce without having to serve
in the Israel Defense Force.
A committee of rabbis, lay leaders
and military men will draft new crite-
ria to ensure that serious yeshiva stu-
dents can remain exempt. Those who
do not devote themselves to Torah
studies will be conscripted into forms
of military service that enable them to
preserve their haredi lifestyles.
The recent successful conclusion of
basic training for a group of haredi men
within the Nahal Corps provides a
favorable backdrop for the discussions
between UTJ and One Israel politicians.
The UTJ bloc, which received no
ministries or Knesset committee chair-
manships under the agreement, claims
that its support for the government is
contingent not on jobs or political
spoils but solely on the good-faith
implementation of the agreement on
conscription and other religious issues.
Shas, which is also expected to join
the Barak coalition, effectively empow-
ered UTJ to negotiate on its behalf
over the yeshiva conscription issue, and
Shas' rabbinical leaders have endorsed
the accord between UTJ and Barak.
With UTJ (which has five Knesset
seats), Shas (17 seats) and the
National Religious Party (five seats) in
the coalition, it appears unlikely that
the Knesset will enact legislation insti-
tuting pluralism in the administration
of marriage and divorce.
Non-Orthodox rabbis are likely to
remain legally excluded from perform-
ing these life-cycle rites.
Moreover, the Reform and
Conservative movements likely will
still have to fight hard to receive their
slice of state and local government
support for their educational and cul-
tural programs and institutions.
On the controversial issue of reli-
gious conversion, One Israel and the
NRP, in their agreement, make refer-
ence to the Ne'eman Commission, a
panel created under the Netanyahu
government that proposed the cre-
ation of interdenominational conver-
sion institutes, which give
Conservative and Reform rabbis a role
in the education of potential converts.
The Israeli authorities do not cur-
rently recognize conversions performed
in Israel by non-Orthodox rabbis.
(
Even with the new conversion insti-
tutes, Orthodox rabbis alone will have
the power to perform conversions.
Efforts to implement this proposal
have been going ahead quietly despite
the reservations of the official Chief
Rabbinate and the outright opposition
of some haredi rabbis.
Barak's accession to Sharansky's
unwavering demand that he receive
the Interior Ministry will result in a
new, and much friendlier, attitude in
the ministry corridors toward new-
corners who are not Jewish or whose
Jewishness is not recognized under
halacha, or Jewish law.
Sharansky's immigrant party, Yisrael
Ba'Aliyah, attracted enormous atten-
tion, and probably many votes, during
the election campaign by focusing on
what it charged was the Interior
Ministry's often heartless and insensi-
tive treatment of such people.
Its policies on admission to Israel,
registration and citizenship grew steadi-
ly tougher in the face of waves of immi-
grants from the former Soviet Union
and an influx of foreign workers.
Deportations, sometimes preceded
by lengthy periods of incarceration,
have become frequent occurrences.
To a certain extent, this will now be
changed. Within the confines of extant
legislation, Yisrael Ba'Aliyah officials
can be expected to show more empa-
thy to their former compatriots and,
by extension, to other foreigners. LI