.4

OPINION


Page 4

Wednesday, September 29, 1982

The Michigan DaiIly



Now is truly a

time for

atonement

By David Spak
Being a Jew is difficult enough in the best of
times. Jews always have and always will suf-
fer-if not from overt physical per-
secution-from a subtle hatred directed at
them because of the religious culture that is
their birthmark.
Overt persecution has taken many forms
over the past 5,743 years. The Egyptians and
the Romans enslaved us. The Spanish
Inquisition attempted to convert us by killing
us. The Germans slaughtered us.
BUT WE JEWS survived.
And we Jews grew more and more attached
to our history of survival and perseverance. As a
people and as individuals we are inextricably con-
nected to that past. Thus, we all share equally
in our injuries and recoveries, our failures and
successes.1

It is this very unity that makes the recent
events in Beirut so difficult to deal with.
BY NOW, the horror of the massacre at the
Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps in Beirut is
familiar to everyone. The shock waves caused
by the cold-blooded murder of up to 1,800 have
resounded throughout the world.
But the exact number of victims, or the fact
that the Christian militia pulled the trigger on
them, is not important. What is important for a
Jew to remember is that another Jew knew
about the horror and did nothing to prevent it.
Both Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon
and Prime Minister Menachem Begin knew
that, if the Christian militia forces were let into
the camps, something terrible was bound to
happen. The Israeli government may not have
known a wholesale massacre would occur, but
it had to suspect that something unacceptable
or perverse would take place.
THAT SUSPICION is enough to make Begin
and Sharon responsible for the subsequent

events. That suspicion-which went
unheeded-was their means to stop the
disaster.
The Israeli government cannot shirk its guilt.
By taking control of west Beirut, Israel accep-
ted' responsibility for the safety of the residen-
ts. They had a duty to protect the refugees; let-
ting the Christian Phalagists into the camps
violated that duty.
Because of our oneness as Jews, guilt for that
violation is shared. Begin's and Sharon's guilt
makes the whole Israeli government, Israel as
a nation, and Jews around the world guilty.
WE MUST MAKE amends for this guilt.
Begin and Sharon could have made
atonement-and made it coincide with the
Hebrew Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur-by
starting a complete and thorough investigation
on the massacre immediately after it hap-
pened.
But they chose not to do so until yesterday.
Because of their neglect, the responsibility for

atoning now falls on the shoulders of Jews
throughout the world. We must now show that
we will not stoop to collaboration in the murder
of even one innocent civilian. We must show
that we will not stand for the atrocities we our-
selves have been the victims of time after time.
We must show that we are truly interested in
peace.
We must make sure that Menachem Begin
and Ariel Sharon leave the Israeli government.
WE MUST EXPOSE the truth of this
terrible slaughter to the world.
The first difficult step toward atonement has
already been taken by those Israelis who have
called for Begin's resignation and a complete
investigation of, the tragedy at Chatilla and
Sabra.
The massacre, however, already has become
a black mark on our history. Long after most of
the world has forgotten about the tragedy,
Jews will still remember it and still atone for it.

WE CAN ONLY hope that those who seek the
destruction of Israel will see the protests by
Jews everywhere and recognize that we don't
want war.
Sitting at Yom Kippur services Sunday night,
I listened to Rabbi Michael Brooks quote Golda,
Meir. After the Six Day War in 1967, Meir said
she could forgive the Arab boys for killing
Jewish boys, but she could not forgive Arabs
for making Jewish boys kill Arab boys, evei,'
in self-defense.
That's because a Jew never forgets his past
and can never forgive himself for killing, even
in self-defense.
We have experienced too much of that - both
murder of Jews and by Jews - in our turbulent
past to forget.
It is our history to remember.

Spak is a Daily staff writer.

I I

Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan

Stewart

Vol. XCIII, No. 18

420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board

From horror, hope

T HE SLAUGHTER of hundreds of
innocents in west Beirut can
never be regarded as good or
wholesome or justified. It was an
atrocity, and would be totally unaccep-
table in any context.
But the repercussions are just being
felt, and not all of them are as horrid as
the massacre itself. Some, in fact, are
quite encouraging.
For example, the 350,000 Israelis
who took to the streets in Tel Aviv last
weekend to protest their government's
reaction to the massacre represent one
of the most hopeful signs to come out of
the area in months. That protest-and
its success in forcing the Begin gover-
nment to start an investigation-
suggest that Israel may be about to
make some basic, needed changes both
in its foreign policy and in its concep-
tion of itself.
As a result of the massacre, Israelis
and Israel's supporters could start ad-
dressing the right questions-and
coming up with the right answers. An-
swers, that is, that will put the nation
back on the road to peace, answers
that will get Israel's army out "of
Lebanon as fast as possible, and an-
swers that will start serious
negotiations on the future Palestinian
state.-
For months, Israel, under Begin and
Sharon, has been occupying a large

portion of a foreign nation it invaded on
specious grounds. Now that regime is
coming under intense scrutiny from
the world community and from its own
citizens. At last, a cloak of contem-
ptuous moral certitude is yielding to
mnore constructive reason.
So far, the Begin government has
managed scant remorse over the
massacre. It has agreed to start an in-
vestigation of the massacre, but it did
so only after it had been subjegted to
intense pressure. "Goyim kill goyim,
and they immediately come to hang
the Jews," was the prime minister's
response to the furor over the
massacre. Thankfully, at least 350,000
Israelis see the question differently.
Christians did indeed kill
Palestinians, but only under the most
suspicious circumstances, the com-
plete details of which still remain
unknown - thanks to the Begin gover-
nment. The question is not of
Phalangist motivation or anti-Semitic
slurs, the question is now of Israeli
aggression and Israeli culpability.
Where this questioning will lead is
uncertain, although gains - notably
the start of the investigation - have
already been scored. What is certain,
however, is that the response to the
massacres has potential to make
significant contributions to both Israel
and the cause of peace.

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SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. -
The first step has been taken
toward a new legal definition for
the practice of medicine in
California. The action could lead
ultimately to loosening the grip of
physicians' organizations over
medicallicensingeand a much
wider public choice of alternative
methods of health care.
The action was taken when the
state's medical regulatory agen-
cy, the California Board of
Medical Quality Assurance
(CBMQA), -moved toward
narrowing the areas over which
physicians now have exclusive
authority. The board also moved
to adopt standards for
registration of many other
health-care providers who now
work in the shadow of the
Medical Practices Act.
THE 1937 STATE law defines
"medicine" and stipulates that
only physicians can legally prac-
tice it. The definition is so broad
that, technially, someone telling
a friend to eat more oranges to
keep from catching colds is prac-
ticing medicine.
The board, which for three
years has been studying various
options for revising the law,
voted to ask its staff to develop a
position paper the would redefine
medical practice as consisting
only of three broad
areas-surgery, ifnvasive
diagnosis (those types of
diagnosis requiring the use of in-
struments or devices actually in-
serted into the body), and treat-
ment by prescription drugs and
methods known to be hazardous.
These include chemical agents
with known serious side effects,
radiation, and other forms of
potentially hazardous therapy.
If this redefinition-to be
spelled out further at the board's
next meeting this month-is
adopted and translated into law

Calif ornita
red
may rsdGsefine
medicine'
By Rasa Gustaitis

many others including nurses,
nutritionists, homeopaths,
Chinese tradition doctors, and
herbalists. ,
The American Medical
Association is firmly opposed to a
change in the definition of
medicine. But the California
Nurses Association and various
alternative and holistic health
advocates see a' revision as
desirable. A legislative fight
would be a certainty.
Under current law a medical
license is required of anyone who
practices "any system or mode of
treating the sick or afflicted in
this state, or who diagnoses,
treats, operates for, or prescribes
for ;any ailment, blemish, defor-
mity, disease, disfigurment,
disorder, injury, or other
physical or mental condition of
any person."
THOUGH MOTHERS who
prescribe chicken soup and
friends who advocate ocean
cruises for health are exempted,
the overly broad definition has
stood in the way of citizens' rights

supplement" to that approach.
State regulation is necessary
when there is a compelling in-
terest to protect the public.
However, under current law,
regulations often serve primarily
to protect the medical profession,
he believes.
The law requires physicians in
charge of other practitioners,
whose training is very different-
from that of MDs, though it may
be even more thorough and ex-
pensive. Practitioners who work
without direct physician super-
vision, meanwhile, stand to run
afoul of the law.
IN 1976, for instance, Dana
Ullman of Oakland became the
first lay practitioner of
homeopathy in this country to be
arrested for practicing medicine
without a license. Yet
homeopathy has long been
established in many parts of the
world, including Europe and
Asia. The British Royal Fmily
has been under the care of
homeopathic physicians since

ALSO MAKING a change in the
definition of medicine is the
California Health Practitioners
Association, which represents
many diverse practitioners who
work with vital energies rather.
than illnesses. They include
nutrition counselors,
megavitamin therapists, and
massage practitioners. Steven
Markel, a member of the
association and co-director of the+
Berkeley Holistic Health Center,
argues that there is room for
many forms of treatment in'
American medicine.
It is a matter of matching the
approach and the need, he says.
"If I'm in a car accident, take me
to a physician in an emergency
room. Don't take me to a'
homeopath. But take me to a
homeopath afterwards." Many
people go to doctors when they.
don't need to because they don't:
know what else is available, he
says.
Among those opposing a
change in the law is Dr. Arthur
Rivin, director of medical
education at Santa Monica
Hospital Medical Center. In an
article in the Western Journal of
Medicine arguing against
redefinition, he writes that
"health care is too important for
a let-the-buyer-beware attitude.
It is too complex to expect even
the most sophisticated and
educated laymen, and especially
one who is desperately ill, t
select the proper care from a
smorgasbord of practitioners."
The gorwth of interest in alter-
natives, however, is evidence
that many people believe other-
wise.
If the proposals under study by
the board become law, there is no
doubt would be a period of con-
fusion in which many systems
would have to readjust. Insuran-
ce companies, for instance,.A

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