Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1987-04-16

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'VOL.65   NO. 16
APRIL 16,1987-N1SAN 17
Devoted to American
and Jewish Ideals.
Israeli Political Scientist Discusses
Major Challenges Facing Israel Today
Leah Forman of the Gesher staff, Rabbi Alan G.
Ciner and Rabbi Daniel Tropper, founder and director
of Gesher, are pictured above.
Agudas Achim Synagogue
To Observe Israel's Birthday
With May 2 Study Shabl
•   •  •  •
The Agudas Achim Synagogue will observe the 39th
birthday of the State of Israel by sponsoring a Shabbat
of Study on May 2 with
Rabbi Daniel Tropper and
Leah Formarf of Gesher as
scholars-in-residence.
Rabbi Tropper founded the
Gesher Foundation in 1970.
Gesher is funded by grants
from groups in the United
States, Canada-and Britain
and from .the Israeli Min- .
istry of Education which
supervises its work.
"It deals with two interrelated problems," Rabbi
Tropper explains. "One is
the growing gap between the
secular and the religious.
The other is the alienation
from religion by secular Israeli Jews and the increasing fanaticism of a sector of
the religious population."
"To combat these twin
problems," Rabbi Tropper
says, "Gesher deals in
?people-to-people' work. This
is done primarily in the
framework of seminars
which bring together high
school students from the two
communities."
In addition, Gesher leaders prepare Jewish programming in a variety of
educational areas and
Gesher sponsors teacher and
student seminars throughout
the country. Through the
Ministry of Education, it
provides Jewish educational
programs from planning
through execution. The result is an Israeli high school:
student with a heightened
sense of Jewishness.
In the Chronicle
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For more than four years,
Gesher's Jerusalem Productions staff has been innovating films and television programs mat deliver powerful
educational paylqads. Gesher puts sophisticated research and production methods to work to bring Jewish
identity, to American and Israeli young people. Computer games with Jewish history, holidays and tradition
as their themes have been
produced, while new ones
continue to be developed.
Technology and resources
from around the world have
been tapped, all with a single
goal: to connect today's
youth to their heritage by
translating Jewish values
into the language of modern
media and to help close the
gap that divides Jew from
Jew the world over.
A new aspect of the Gesher
program was described in a
New York Times article on
Sunday, Feb. 8, 1987, under
the headline "Israeli Course
Tries To Calm Savage
Talk." The article, written
by Francis X. Clines, states
that "an experimental and
very optimistic course has
been introduced by the
Government in 40 of the 600
elementary schools across
the nation." According to the
article, "There is a certain
harshness, a coarseness, in
the way Israelis conduct dialogue," said Dr. Daniel
Tropper, the educator
charged with trying to ease
the decibel level in the nation's schoolyards, if not in
Parliament.
Dr.,Tropper says Israelis
have an inability to be cool
toward public issues. This is
due, he thinks, to a basic tension about where power,
and, therefore, national survival, lies between the nation's variety of competitors
— right and left, religious
and secular, Middle Eastern
Jews and those from Europe.
"Israel, for various reasons, is more like, an extended family than other na-
(CONTINUEP ON PAGE 4)
By Judith Franklin    ' r
News Editor
• A self-proclaimed "dove"
from Israel alighted briefly
in Columbus last week just
long enough to share his
views with Jewish community leaders over lunch at the
offices of attorneys Schottenstein, Zox and Dunn in the
Huntington National Bank
Building and with other interested community members at a B'nai B'rith sponsored lecture and discussion
at the Leo Yassenoff Jewish
Center.
Dr. Shai Feldman, senior
research associate and director of the project on "U.S.
Foreign and Defense
Policies in the Middle East"
at the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv Uni
versity spoke on "Israel's
Strategic Challenges."
Chief among the challenges facing Israel today,
according to Dr. Feldman, is
the state of U.S.-Israeli relations, which have been
strained recently as a result
of the Pollard spy scandal
and Israel's role in "Iran-
gate.'' Although he feels that
the most serious of the two,
the Pollard affair, was a
rogue operation hot known to
Israel's heads of state, he
does hot dismiss the incident. "Personally I regard
the Pollard affair as an inexcusable mistake by those
acting on Israel's behalf," he
said. "The government of Israel made every possible
mistake in dealing with this
problem since it started."
Now that Israel is dealing
seriously with the issue, he
predicts that as a result of
the investigative commission's report, "political
heads will roll."
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Shai Feldman
Another problem confronting Israel today is deterring
Syria from the war for which
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'MdHlshtanalt' . . . The Pour Questions, a beloved,
integral component of the Passover seder, depicted artistically
by Orly Eldar and Rina Mandel of OR Graphic Designs.
Passover Greetings
from the
Ohio Jewish Chronicle Staff
April 14-21
Nisan 15-22
it, seems to be preparing, Dr.
Feldman said. He explained
that  the  Syrian  Armed
Forces have increased by 50
percent in the last five years.
They  have  more  tanks,
nearly as large an air force
and more artillery than Israel and are equipped with
surface to surface missiles
that are capable of hitting
any  target  within  Israel.
While he foresees no short
range  problem  because
Syria is currently in serious
economic trouble, is heavily
involved in Lebanon and has
no motivation to go to war
because no real Mid-East
peace initiative is in progress, he warns that Syria
refuses to talk peace with Israel and is highly motivated
to regain the Golan Heights.
Other major concerns, Dr.
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 8)
Interreligious Seder
Inaugurated April 15
On /Wednesday, April 15,
Temple Beth Shalom hosted
an interreligious congregational seder for the Good
Shepherd Baptist Church at
3100 E. Broad St.
Rabbi Howard L. Apothaker led the first-time joint
service with the Rev. Dr.
Pinkston, spiritual leader of
' this Hudson Ave. black Baptist church. The two congregations shared Passover
customs, reading from a special Freedom Haggadah,
eating Passover foods and
singing traditional songs.
After the seder, members of
the Good Shepherd Church
choir offered choral music
associated with Passover
themes.
"Such services are not
unique," noted Rabbi Apothaker. "The idea of sharing
our Feast of Freedom with
our black brothers and sisters has proved to be fulfilling throughout the country.
We are proud to extend this
custom to our community."
. The seder was organized
by Beth Shalom's Social Concerns Committee, chaired by
Sue Rubenstein. Committee
members participating in
arrangements were Susan
Marantz, Bette Roth, Phil
Lewis, Jeanne Mallett, and
Betty Sugarman. Assistance
was also provided by JoAnne
Grossman, vice-president of
the congregation; by Sharon
Austin, and by the Temple
Youth Group, under the
direction of Beth and Mark
Ackerman.
Following the seder, members from both congregations gathered in the Temple
social hall to share in dessert
and fellowship.
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