Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1989-12-07

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Crilurnfous.   .Ohio
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Serving Columbus and Central Ohio Jewish Community lor Over 60 Years
VOL. (.7  NO. 50
DECEMBER 7, li)8!)-KISLEV 9
Dovotetl to American
and Jewish Ideals.
■is
Three-Year Estimates
Of Soviet Olim Said
To Be About 300,000
JERUSALEM (JTA) - .
Israeli officials are revising
upwards their estimates of
how many Soviet Jews are .
expected to come to Israel in
the next few years, now that
the Soviet authorities are
about to remove virtually all
restrictions on emigration.
The assessments vary
from reasonable projections
to wishful thinking, but there
is a consensus that all the resources of the slate and the
Jewish Agency for Israel
must be mobilized for the
huge absorption task ahead.
Simcha Dinitz, chairman
of the World Zionist Organi-
zation-JeWish Agency Executive, addressed the subject at a meeting of the WZO
Executive here last week.
He was quoted as saying
that   between   200,000  and
| 300,000   Soviet   Jews   will
choose to settle in Israel in
the next three years.
Prime Minister Yitzhak ■
Shamir ■ told the Knesset's
Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee that in the last
month alone, 45,000 Soviet
Jews initiated contact "With
the Israeli government for
the invitations they need to
apply for exit visas.
Dinitz , told reporters in
New York that Israel has received more than a million
requests from Jews in the
USSR for invitations to immigrate.
He said the numbers have
increased since the change
last month in U.S. policy that
no longer grants refugee
status to holders of Israeli
- visas.
Shamir reportedly said a-
half-million Soviet Jews
were likely to seek to emigrate in the next two to three
years. But he was not clear,
|| in his presentation to the
Knesset panel, how many he
expected would come to
Israel.
BEHIND THE HEADLINES
On The Matter Of Reunification,
Israelis And East Germans Concur
Pictured above are (1. to r.) Rabbi Bradley Bleefeld,
Rabbi Steven Engel aid Alan Katz discussing Temple
Israel's participation in the collection of furniture
donations for Soviet Jews who will be settling in Columbus.
Temple Israel Handles Collection
Of Furniture For Resettlement
Within the next month, 100
Soviet Jews will arrive,
making Columbus their new
home. As they begin a new
way of life in the community,
their immediate needs are
many and varied. In response to the extensive demands' of the largest Jewish
resettlement project in recent history, Temple Israel
is facilitating the Furniture
Collection and - Distribution
Project in cooperation with
the Franklin County Movers
Association. Temple Israel's
Youth Group, Brotherhood
and Sisterhood are all doing
their part \o make this pro-
ject successful.
Individuals can contact
Laura Mettler at Temple
' Israel during the day,
866-0010, or Alan and Sandy
Katz in the evening, 866-9293,
for additional information
and to arrange the pick-up of
their furniture donations.
Currently, there is a
desperate need for beds,
dressers, dinette sets and
coffee tables. Pick-ups are
scheduled for Tuesdays, and
it is requested that the furniture be consolidated into one
room wherever possible.
This  would  expedite  the
volunteer moving process.
"Just as the potential they
(Soviet Jews) find here is
boundless.the opportunities
presented to us now to aid in
resettlement are nearly
limitless. As in generations
past,' established Jews directly helped newcomers.
And we are compelled to rise
to the immediate and long
term challenges presented to
us this month.
We need your help!" said
Rabbi Bradley N. Bleefeld of
Temple Israel.
Rabbi Harold Berman,
president of Jewish Family
Services, expressed enthusiasm regarding the support of Temple Israel in this
endeavor. "There is a great
deal that needs to be accomplished in such a short
period of time. Temple
Israel's sponsorship of this
project is invaluable. The
overall volunteer opportunity is expanding daily ... of
course ■ we continue to be
grateful for all the individuals and organizations
who have volunteered to
work on the front lines of the
resettlement effort," said
Rabbi Berman.
EAST BERLIN, (JTA) -
East German officials believe they have found common ground with Israel and
world Jewry in opposition to
a reunited Germany.
That issue surfaced only
recently with the.drastic reforms that suddenly swept
East Germany and put an
end to the Berlin Wall as a
symobolic and physical barrier between East and West.
The establishment of.
diplomatic and other relations between the German
Democratic Republic and
Israel now seems less remote than it was a few weeks
ago.
But obstacles remain.
There is the question of reparations for Jewish victims of
Nazism, for whom East Germany refused for 40 years to
acknowledge any responsibility.
There is also the GDR's
lopsided pro-Arab policy in
the Middle East. 7
But bothr of these issues
are how being addressed at
the highest political level
here.
The new East German
prime minister, Hans
Modrow, told the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency recently that his country is seeking
good relations with all countries in the Middle JEast, including Israel,   ,
He said two principles
guide East German policy
there: the right of Palestinians to self-determination
and Israel's right to live
within secure borders.
Modrow made no mention
of a Palestinian state or of
the Palestine Liberation
Organization, with which the
East Germans have 'maintained close, friendly contacts.
FEATURE
Marrow Transplant Could Save Life
By Nick Kotz
"Whoever  Save   One
Life, it is as if he had
saved an  entire  world."
K   (Talmud)
Allison Atlas, a 20-year-old
college student from Bethes-
da, Maryland, faces death
from leukemia, possibly in
months, unless a donor can
b« found to provide her with
a marrow transplant.
Today, the possibility of.
finding a marrow donor
among family and friends
exhausted, a quickly formed
Friends of Allison committee "is   widening   its
search, through a mass appeal that is being made to
synagogues and Jewish
organizations throughout the
country. Allison suffers from
a rare form of leukemia for
which there is no treatment,
only the possibility of a cure
through a bone marrow
transplant,
Allison's family is seeking
help from Jewish organizations because the young
woman is Jewish, and the
best chance of finding a
suitable donor outside of her
own family is from someone
of Jewish ethnic origin.
For unrelated individuals,
the  chances  of finding  a
,,i blood tissue match is l in
15,000, said Dr. Rudolf
Brutoco, chairman of Life-
Savers Foundation of
America, which leads the national marrow donor recruitment program.
"Not many of us get the
opportunity to be a hero, but
a marrow transplant donor
is truly herioc," said Dr.
Brutoco. "No one in this
country should have to die
because people have not
been informed or asked to
help. I am confident that the
American public will respond in an overwhelmingly
positive manner once they
know about the problem."
The problem is that not
enough persons have had
their blood tissue typed and
recorded in the files of the
National Marrow Donor Program to be a potential donor.
Allison and many others face
death because a match has
not been found for them.
"Persons who volunteer to
have their blood tissue typed
may have the chance to save
Allison's life now," said
Fern Ingber, chairman of
Friends for Allison, "and the
next time there is a need in
the Jewish community for a
marrow transplant, we will
have a far greater Jewish
base in the national registry
from which to find a po-
' tential donor."
CONTINUEDONPAGE2
PLO leader Yasir Arafat
was a guest of Honor at Easjt
Germany's 40th anniversary
celebrations on Oct. 7. But
that was before the recent
upheavals, during which
veteran Communist liard-
liner Erich Honecker was
deposed as East Germany's
leader and replaced by
Modrow.
An even stronger signal
that the GDR is disposed to
improve relations with
Israel was-'given by its
foreign minister, Oskar
Fischer, who was interviewed by the Israeli daily,
"Ha'aretz."
- The interview was reprinted in the official Com- y
munist Party organ "Neues
Deutschland" and in most
other East German newspapers. And it was the opening item, on "Aktuelle
Kamera," the main news
program Qn East German
television.
Fischer said his country
was ready tp talk ab^ut reparations payments. "This
subject will certainly come
up" in future negotiations
between Germans and
Israelis, he told "Ha'aretz."
Fischer disclosed that he
had approached the Israeli
foreign minister, Moshe
Arens, when both were at the
U.N. General Assembly in
New York two months ago.
But there was no positive
response to this initiative,
and "I understood that it
may have been too early"
for talks to get anywhere,
Fischer said.
The fact that an approach
was made to Israel on a high
ministerial level and w.as
publicized, despite its rejection, cast light on the
posture adopted by the new
East German regime.
The government intends to
make clear to the world, and
to Jews and Israel particularly, that the division of
Germany is an enduring fact
of global politics, speculation to the contrary notwithstanding.
While in the United States
a week ago, Israeli Prime
Minister Yitzhak Shamir
spoke out emotionally
against a united Germany.
He fearc.'. a powerful, united
Germany might try to complete the Nazi extermination
of the Jews.
East Germany responded
swiftly through Fischer, assuring the Israelis they had
no reason to worry, because
a united Germany was "out
of the question."
On this matter, East Germany's and , Israel's interests converge. Both coun
tries want to prevent the
emergence of a ' 'big" Germany, which conceivably
could again become a haven
for fascists and anti-Jewish
elements.
East Germany is trying to
establish itself as a socialist
state on German soil. Many
officials here think they have
discovered a natural ally
among Jews who oppose a
huge, economically unbeatable, united German
state.
Fischer contrasted the attitude in Bonn, which sees
reunification strictly a mat- ■
ter of Germans exerting
their right to self-determination, and the view in East.
Berlin: that it is a matter
which concerns all of
Europe.
The existence of two German states is fully in accordance with the wishes of other
European states, Fischer,
pointed out, He said voices
against reunification must
be Hedfd ahd respected when
decisions of such magnitude
are contemplated.
Half Million Israelis
Live On Poverty Line
JERUSALEM, (JTA) -
Close to half-million Israelis
live on the proverty line, almost half of them children,
according to figures released last week by the National
Insurance Institute.
Mordechai Zipori, director
general of the institute,.believes nothing can be done to
improve their situation as
long as Israel's economic
stagnation persists. "Life
around the poverty line
means neither living nor dying; it means surviving,"
Zipori told a news conference.
At the moment, 488,000 Israelis live in what he termed
"terrible poverty," and of
that number, 223,000 are
children, he said. They live
on less than $7.50 a day, compared to the average Israeli
family's expenditures of
about $50 a day.
■ Without financial assistance from the institute, a
fifth of Israel's population
would be living beneath the
poverty level this year,
Zipori said.
Ronni Milo, the acting
minister of labor and social
affairs, confirmed Zipori's
figures. He said the situation
was the same last year, and
while the trend is stable,
there are no real prospects
for change.
But Milo sees hope in a bill
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