Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1989-10-19

              Serving Columbus and Central Ohio Jewish Community for Over 60 Years
VOL. 67 NO. 44
OCTOBER 19,1989-TISHREI 20
Devoted to American
and Jewish Ideals.
Ohio Hist.Society Libr.
198S Ve^rna Ave.  ^
Co 1 urnb us, Oh i o   ™
43S11 COMP
¥
11
it
?!
i
>M
J!
"■■
Ki
*  . aaa.
■
il
:'»■
B
'¥■
I
&
$1
:#B
1
"HI
Ii
''.."iiaB
1
i
HIAS Seeking To Help
Thousands In Moscow
WASHINGTON, (JTA) The
Hebrew Immigrant Aid So:
ciety is seeking permission
to open an office in Moscow,
so it can assist thousands of
Soviet Jews who hope to
come to the United States as
refugees.
Thousands of Soviet Jews
have been pouring into the,
U.S. Embassy in Moscow to
pick up the necessary application forms, which are now
only available there.
Prior to Oct. 1, Jews could
leave the Soviet Union on
Israeli visas and then apply
to come to the United States
once they reached Rome.
For years, HIAS has been
assisting those emigres
-through its office in Rome.
-■HIAS; is now working
through the U.S. Government to get the Soviet Union
to allow it to operate in
Moscow, said Karl Zukerman, the organization's executive., vice president. He
said the discussions are still
in the early stages.
On the first day the U.S.
Embassy in, Moscow was
open to hand out applications
under the new process, the
entire supply of more than
30,000 forms was given out.
r But this actually
represented only about 6,000
families, since people took
five or six applications each,
a State Department official
said. The official said applicants were told that only
one form is needed per family a,nd that photocopies-
would be acceptable.
The Bush administration
has promised that those in
Rome will be allowed to
immigrate, whether as refugees or through some
other means.
r.        Mexican President Praises Israel
NEW YORK (JTA) - The president of Mexico, Carlos
Salinas de Gortari, spoke last week of his country's "growing
bonds of friendship and trade" with Israel, and also praised
the American Jewish community's "key role in providing external financing" for Mexico's economic growth. "Jewish
Americans have believed in our future and have resolutely
supported it," Salinas said. The Mexican president spoke
after accepting the ' 'Distinguished Statesman'' award.from
the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith.
Israel And Egypt Sign Trade Agreement
TEL AVIV (JTA) -- Israel and-Egypt have signed a
memorandum of understanding to promote industrial
cooperation between the two countries. The agreement is expected to result in stronger economic ties between the two
countries in the coming months, especially in agriculture.
The memorandum was signed in Cairo recently by the director general of the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture, Dr.
Dessouki, and Uzi Netanel, outgoing chairman of the Israel
Manufacturers Association, who headed a delegation of
Israeli businessmen and industrialists visiting the Egyptian
capital.	
Jewish Groups Take Opposing Stands
On Many Issues Before Supreme Court
WASHINGTON (JTA) -
American Jewish groups
will find, themselves in
disagreeent on a number of
issues to come before the
U.S. Supreme Court in the
new term that began recently.        ■■.-•■ ;,-■..,
But while Jewish groups
may have opposing views on
such issues as abortion
rights, religion in the. public
schools and a patient's so-
called "right to die," few of
these disagreements will
manifest themselves in
courtroom confrontations or
even in competing legal
briefs.
For example, while Orthodox and non-Orthodox
groups continue to disagree
onthe costs and benefits of a
strict separation of church
and state, their conflict will
not be apparent in the legal
briefs filed in cases dealing
with that subject.
In one such case, Board of
Education vs. Mergens, the
court will consider whether
an Omaha public school
should extend official
recognition to a student
Bible-study club that wishes
to meet on school grounds,
against the school board's
wishes.     .
Groups that support a
strong separation of church
and state are using the case
to try to overturn the 1,984
Equal Access Act, which requires public schools to
grant religious clubs the
same access to school facilities enjoyed by other extracurricular organizations.
Theodore Bikel To Entertain At Torah Academy Dinner
The Columbus Torah
Academy invites all members of the community to its
29th Annyal Scholarship Dinner oh Sunday evening, Nriv.
12, at the Hyatt Regency
Columbus. As in past years,
over 600 people are expected
to attend the 5:30 p.m. dinner which serves as the major, annual fund raising event
benefitting scholarships to
the school.
This year, the evening's
featured entertainment will
be Theodore Bikel, well
known singer, actor, musician, raconteur and star of
the Broadway stage. Bikel,
who has appeared in over 40
motion pictures, is perhaps
best known for his stage per
formances, including "The
Sound of Music," "Fiddler
on the Roof," "Zorba," "The
Inspector General" and
"The Three Penny Opera."
The stage, screen and television performer also makes
over 60 concert appearances
each year. Born in Vienna,
Bikel went to Israel (then
Palestine) at the age of 13.
His career began at age 19
with the Habimah Theatre,
and one year later he become a co-founder of the Israel Chamber Theatre. He is
a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in
London.
At age 65, Bikel is currently president of the Associated Actors and Artistes of
Israel Open University Slates
Noted Israeli Author, Lecturer
Lori Palatnik To Lead Classes
At Nov. 35 Discovery Weekend
Lori Palatnik, lecturer,
writer and teacher, will be
returning to Columbus to
join the staff of the Discovery Seminar, Nov. 3-5.
Lori Palatnik
The Discovery Weekend is
one of the many educational
programs developed by Aish
HaTorah, an international
educational organization
boasting thousands of students worldwide. This will be
the first time it will be offered in Columbus.
Palatnik was recently in
Columbus to speak at the
Beth Jacob Sisterhood luncheon which was held during
the synagogue's Religious
Emphasis Week.
During the seminar, Palatnik will conduct two workshops: "LoVe, Dating and
Marriage: How To Find the
Right One" and "Ms.
Conceptions of the Woman's
Role in Judaism."
While attending Aish Ha-
Torah's Women's Seminary
in Israel, Palatnik ran an
aerobics business, afterwards returning to her
native Toronto, where, in
addition to work in Aish's
Public Relations Department, she appeared on radio,
and television discussing the
CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
Israeli professor, lecturer,
author and pollster, Dr. Sam
Lehman-Wilzig, will be the
featured speaker for the Israel Open University's opening presentation, now in its
sixth year.
Professor Lehman-Wilzig
will lecture on, "Intifada -
Three Possible Solutions,"
Sunday, Oct. 29, at 9 p.m., at
the Leo Yassenoff Jewish
Center, 1125 College Ave. His
areas of expertise include
conflict studies (specifically
public protest and turmoil);
comparative politics; mass
communications, politics
and society, and post-industrial society and politics.
American-born and educated, Dr. Lehman-Wilzig has
made Israel his home for
many years. He has been as-
sociated with Bar-IIan University since 1977, serving as
senior lecturer m the department of political studies and,
since 1985, at the Institute of
Public Communications.
He is currently on sabbatical as the Annual Visiting
Scholar for Israeli Affairs -
The Lipinsky Institute for
Judaic Studies in the San'
Diego State University Department of Political
Studies.
Included in Dr. Lebman-
Wilzig's book publication
credits are:   "Stiff-Necked
People, Bottle-Necked System: The Evolution and
Roots of Israeli Public Protest, 1949-1985" (forthcoming
Spring 1990) and "Comparative Jewish Politics: Public
Life in Israel and the Diaspora" (co-edited) with Bernard Susser, 1981).
Dr. Sam Lehman-Wilzig
Israel Open University is a
program of the Columbus
Jewish Federation's Israel
Department, in cooperation
with the Federation's Community Relations Council
and in conjunction with the
Center's Community College
For Adult Jewish Studies.
"Treat yourself to a stimulating, informative and
thought provoking evening,"
suggests Adrienne Chafetz,;
chair of the Israel Open University series. "The pro-
CQNTINUED ON PAGE 12
Theodore Bikel
America (4A's), vice president of the International
Federation of Actors and
senior vice president of the
American Jewish Congress.
He has been active for many
years in Actors' Equity
Association, having served
as president from 1973 to
1982. Previously, Bikel has
been on the Board of Amnesty International and was
appointed, by President Carter in 1977, to serve a five-
year term on the National
Council for the Arts.
According to Dinner - Co-
chairwomen Arlene Sapir
and Karan Tanenbaum, the
strictly kosher dinner serves
as the school's major resource for scholarships,
allowing any local Jewish
child who deserves a day
school education but whose
family cannot afford the full
tuition the opportunity to attend CTA.
Dinner reservations can
be made by contacting Sapir
at 863-0299. Ticket prices are
$250 per couple for gold
donors and $135 per couple
for silver donors.
The American Jewish Congress is directly involved in
the case, acting as counsei to
the lawyers for the school
board. The American Jewish
Committee and the Anti-
Defmation League of B'nai
B'rith have filed friend-of-
the-court briefs supporting
the school board's position.
Orthodox groups have not
field briefs in the case, but
will be monitoring it closely
for signs of a shift in the
court's position on church-
state separation. Several Orthodox groups have urged
that the court take a less
"absolutist" position on this
issue.
Orthodox groups admit to
mixed emotions on the case.
On the one hand, they fear
the Equal Access Act would
allow fundamentalist Christians to use the public
schools as a base for proselytizing. Yet they are concerned that placing limitations in this area wil erode
the free exercise of religion.
On another issue, Agudath
Israel of America is so far
the only Jewish group plann- *
ing to file a friend-of-the-
court brief in the "right-to-
die" case, Cruzan vs. Harmon. The Orthodox group
supports the state of
Missouri's right to maintain
the life of a comatose patient
over the objections of the patient's family and against
the expressed wishes of the
patient herself.
In the case of 32-year-old
Nancy Beth Cruzan of
Carterville, Mo., members
of her family say the implicit
constitutional right to
privacy, allows them to
decide when to pull the
feeding tube that keeps the
comatose woman alive. The
Missouri Supreme Court,
however, ruled that the state
retains an "unqualified interest" in preserving life.
For Agudath Israel, the
case has implications for
health-care providers whose
religious beliefs may proscribe them from terminating, life. Its brief will
argue that the privacy right
- is not absolute and, taken to
an extreme, could be used to
justify suicide.
In another case with direct
religious implications,
AJCongress is filing a brief
• in support of the Oregon
Supreme Court, which ruled
that American Indians who
use the illegal drug peyote in
religious ceremonies are
constitutionally immune
from prosecution. -
Marc Stern, co-director of
legal affairs at AJCongress,
acknowledges that drug
abuse is a major national
problem. But he said his
CONTINUED ON PAGE 12