Page 2-The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, November 5, 1987
World-
v By--; ■■■
RABBI W. GUNTHER PLAUT
This is a report on a brief journey to ah isolated community in the United States and the sentiments I experienced during the visit. I write about it because I think there are some larger issues involved in what I saw and heard.
I was to speak at the 50th anniversary of Temple Emanu-El in Haverhill, Mass. Located some 50-plus miles north of Boston, it is the state's northernmost point and touches on the New Hampshire border. Our ride through the fall landscape was spectacular; this is a beautiful part of the world, and no wpnder that people are drawn
Rabbi Maut
here to make their residence amidst such natural splendor.
Haverhill is of modest size, about 75,000 by current estimates. Some decades ago, this was the heart of American shoe and leather manufacturing; but then the industries moved away or shriveled because of foreign competition. A once prosperous city was reduced to economic dislocation and uncertainty, The Jewish community of some hundreds of families experienced a steep decline and soon its older members far outnum-tyered the rest. The young people went away and did not return; last summer Haverhill had 13 Jewish funerals, while only two bar mi^vahs were celebrated during the whole year. It was a demographic development we in Canada know only too well. ■ ■
Day school
So the Haverhill Jewish community did what has been done elsewhere; they closed ranks and fought for survival. They amalgamated their religious services and made it possible for the great majority to satisfy their spiritual needs. Temple Emanu-El is affiliated with the Reform movement, but by most standards it fits the requirements of Cohser^ vatism. And, small as the community is, they have created a Jewish day school vyhich is affiliataj with the (Conservative) United Synagogue. The school has presently some 40 students.
There is still an Orthodox synagogue in town, but it functions only on the High Holidays and most of its members belong to the Temple as well. Still, to keepjUie old shui alW daily communal mmyanim are held on its premises one week, and the next week at the Temple. There is a spirit of cooperation at work, which no dmibt wais bom of necessity but which since has become part of the community's spirit.
New hope
And suddenly, almost miraculously, the dark days seem at an end and there is a resurgence of hope. Haverhill is coming back. During the last year, high-tech industry has discovered it as a favored locale. Real estate prices are still modest here and general labor is readily available: The town, while in many ways quite isolated, is within reasonable reach of Bpston; and young families who find the metropolitan aiccommcxlaUoris too expensive have moved north and have accepted the chance of acquiring a good place for their families at the price of conunuting.
The new spirit was evident during the 50th an-niyeirsary service. Themembers were proud of having kept Judaism a vital part of their existence. Now the old synagogue will be refiimished; Rabbi Ira Korinow will have new and younger congregants to teach; and most iiiiportant of all, his members are buoyed by these developments which assure the health of the community.
The rabbi and his wife are both natives of the GreateiiBostbn areaand they share aconunitment -to Hebrew as a vital link in Je>yish continuii^ and speak Hebrew at home. When Rabbi Korinow, ac-companiwi by his 5-year-old son, picked me up at the airport, I noted the young boy's fluency in the saicxed tongue; We were driving toward the New Han^Khire border. . . toward nowhere, it seemed, ytL it was also clear that! Was travelling to a place where Judaism was alive and well.
More U.S. Tews backing peace parley
are gotng
By
CHARLES HOFFMAN
JERUSALEM (JPFS)-
Many of the traditions and taboos that have for years guided the political relationships between Israel and American Jews are now falling by the wayside.
The recent decision of the American Jewish Congress. (CJN Oct. 1) to endorse the call by Foreign Minister Shimon Peres for an international conference on the Middle East and to mobilize support for this idea among American JeWs was one of the more visible and controversial expressions of this trend.
It has always been accepted that American Zionist groups affiliated to parties in Israel openly take sides in internal Israeli political controversies.
Thus it came as no surprise that Na'amat, the Women's Labor Zionist Organization of America, issued a statement in support of the Peres proposal; nor was it totally unexpected that the Zionist Orgainization of America, which identifies with the Likud, made it clear that it opposes the idea of an international conference.
The step taken by the American Jewish Congress, however, goes beyond the knee-jerk reactions of support or rejection typical of most veteran Zionist organizations. This is because the Congress is a mainstream community body like B'nai B'rith or the American Jewish Committee which purports to represent a broad, nonpartisan spectrum of American Jews and which traditionally has not taken sides in critical political controversies in Israel.
A key question is whether the move by the Congress, which is not regarded as a particularly influential group among American Jews, will set off a ripple effect that will eventually prompt, other more influential bodies into taking strong stands on life and death political issues in Israel.
Such a possibility exists now, if we may judge from the reaction of Rabbi Alex-knderSchindlery president " of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (Reform), to the appeal made by Peres for American Jews to become more involved in the debate on the peace process.
Schmdler said that he would urge his organization to pass a resolution supporthig an interna-tionai peace conference during its current national convention.
Such a step by an organization which represents a large, active, g^t^rpots constituency that has traditionally taken stands on American social and p^itkal iilsues would portend greater changes in Israel-Dia--^pmv relations than the decidon by the American Jewish Congress.
During the p»st year, the Labor Party has been busy building a new base of support among American Jews that is grounded in the n^^
tion that Israel-Diaspora relations are a2-way street. This represents a break fh)m the traditional Zionist organizational mold.
In setting up the Friends of Labor Israel (FLI), the Labor Party had a dual aim: to mobilize American Jewish support for the Labor Party's positions on foreign and domestic issues, and to create a body that would speak for a liberal-minded segment of American Jewry within Labor forums in Israel.
Stanley Ringler, the Israel director of FLI, described the changes in American Jewry that brought about the need for a new type of Labor presence among American Jewry:
"The American Jewish leadership is increasingly knowledgeable and sophisticated about Israel, and less willing to respond to appeals.for automatic support, as in the past."
Before making ally a several years ago, Ringler, a Reform rabbi, was the national director of the B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundation, and also served as a public analyst for B'nai B'rith.
He noted that it is especially harder for the younger generation of American Jews to support Israel "just because it is a Jewish state.
"This kind of approach doesn't speak to them," he said. "If they can't relate to Israel on a principled basis, then they just can't relate to it at all."
FLI signed up 21,000 members in the months preceding the recent elections to the Zionist Congress, which helped Labor avoid the heavy losses that afflicted other veteran Zionist organizations.
As Ringler explained it, FLI should be a vehicle for Labor to mobilize support among American Jews for issues which it regards as critical, such as the need for aa international peace conference.
But FLI also provides a channel for American Jews to press their views and concerns on the Labor leadership in Israel, on issues such as religious pluralism and Who is a Jew. .......—
This sensitivity to mutual concerns is illustrated, he said, by FLI's first study mission to Israel, which came in August. While party leaders here impr^sed upon the participants the importance of rallying sup-.
port for an international conference, they were repeatedly told how crucial the issue of religious pluralism is to American Jewry.
Ringler said that the message got through in both directions, noting that "the mission participants were told by everyone that Labor will not compromise on the Who is a Jew issue."
Concern over the Who is a Jew issue and over the increase in religious extremism in Israel was a major factor in the strong showing in the elections of the Reform and Conservative Zionist organizations, which together now comprise the largest grouping in American Zionism, in terms of delegates to the Zionist Congress.
The growing strength of these bodies, Arza (Reform) and Mercaz (Conservative), is yet another expression of the desire of many American Jews to assert their own values and interests vis-a-vis the Israeli - political system, especially where they see their own Jewish identity threatened.
The FLI membership was mobilized in July when it appeared to Labor that a coalition of the Likud and the Orthodox parties might succeed in amending the
law, he said.
"A telephone bank was set up in the U.S. that called some 3,000 FLI members and asked them to send cables to the Knesset opposing the amendment. About 8(X) people sent cables, and others contributed money to an ad campaign in the Hebrew press against the amendment. "
FLI has apparently succeeded in attracting people such as federation leaders, intellectuals and activists on the general political scene, who would never have joined one of the old-line Zionist organizations.
FLI is now asking its members to lend their names to newspaper ads in the U.S. in support of an international conference, and to make their views on this matter known wherever they have the chance. This might be within the Jewish community, where many FLI members have influential positions, or through political channels that lead to Washington.
Another development pointing to a possible change in Israel-Diaspora relations is the idea thrown out recently by top federation leaders of setting up an American Jewish political pressure group in Israel, tentatively called ' 'IPAC,'' or Israel Political Action Committee.
American Jewish organizations opposed to changing the Law of ReWm have prevailed on the Council of Jewish Federations to take a leading role in this strtig-gle. The CJF, which normally stays out of the political fray, seems to be a bit uncomfortable in this position.
Political action on this issue means raising your voice and making threats, which is not the federation style. Moreover, federation leaders ace worried that they may find themselves in a position, as a result of this struggle, where they are forced to warn the Israeli leadership that contributions to Israel may be seriously hurt if the Knesset takes any step which is perceived as denying the legitimacy of non-Orthodox Jewry.
Some federation leaders have thus begun to think about creating a new vehicle for Diaspora political activism in Israel, IPAC, which would act as a Diaspora lobby vis-a-vis the Israeli political establishment. This would take the pressure off federations to assume an active political role and to use the funds raised for Israel as a weapon in political struggles between Israel and the Diaspora.
Station
defends pro-PLOs^
By
GARY POGROW
VANCOUVER^
The board of directors of Vancouver's Co-op Radio Station says a pro-PLO radio show it airs "is not racist."
The board, responding to a letter from Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region, also stated an article in the station's monthly program guide describing the Voice of Palestine show is "in our opinion fair comment on a matter of public interest."
Congress had objected to statements in the September issue of Radio Waves, the station's program guide, that alleged the. Zionist movement in North America "manipulates, threatens and blackmails the media, when necessary, in favor of Israel and history. It distorts
Middle East history, promotes hatred and tries to block any recognition of Palestinian human or national rights" (CJN Oct.
I).
Pacific Region executive-director Erwin Nest disputed those allegations and in a letter to the radio station board stated ' 'we believe that certain standards of civilized discpurse' should be upheld and in this instance these standards have been stretched, if not ignored."
Citing the station's policy of rejecting advocacy on air of racist; or sexist material and of grossly offensive material, the Congress letter asked the board "if you would clarify for us what your views are concerning the Voice of Palestine material."
Followmg the radk) station's reply, Nest told The
CJN that Congress' board "is considering the possibility of sending an pfHcial complaint to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.''
The radio station board, in addition to backing the show, accu.sed Congress of seekinig "extraordinary prominent coverage in the mainstream media." A Sept. 29 broadcast ofVOP claimed that "when Zionists speak, the establishment, press listens and repeats."
However, Vancouver Province reporter Ruth Teichroeb, who authored the story on the controversy, said Congress did not seek publicity. The story originated in the paper's newsroom where an editor, scanning Radio Waves, suggested investigating the matter.
lan news
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VOL. XXVIII, NO. 25 (2.377)
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