Newspaper Page Text
Senate votes against
yarmulkes in military
by David Friedman
WASHINGTON (JTA)—The
Senate narrowly defeated an a-
mendment last Thursday night that
would have allowed Jewish mem
bers of the military to wear yar
mulkes if it did not interfere with
the performance of their military
duty. The vote was 51-49 to table
the amendment to the 1987 Depart
ment of Defense Authorization Bill
introduced by Sen. Frank Lauten-
berg (D-N.J.)
Lautenberg told the Jewish Tel
egraphic Agency that by voting to
table his amendment, senators were
able to reject the amendment with
out actually voting against it. He
said he would urge the Senate-
House conference on the defense
authorization bill to include the
amendment which is contained in
the House bill. He said if this fails
he and others would offer new leg
islation later.
Lautenberg and Sen. Alfonse
D’Amato (R-N.Y.) introduced the
amendment after the U.S. Supreme
Court voted 5-4 last March that
the military had the power to ban
the wearing of all headgear indoors.
The case involved Simcha Gold
man, an Orthodox Jew, who, as
an Air Force captain working as a
psychologist in 1981, was repri
manded for wearing his yarmulke
on duty.
Lautenberg noted that his a-
mendment specified that Jews and
members of other religions could
wear headgear required by their
religion only if such “apparel is
neat and conservative.” In addi
tion, either the secretary of defense
or any of the service secretaries
could prohibit the headgear if it is
determined that it would interfere
with the performance of military
duties.
“Simply because a person has
joined the military, he or she should
not be deprived of their basic con
stitutional rights, such as the free
exercise of religion,” Lautenberg
said. He said Jews and others should
be able to feel free to be “religious
and good Americans” and not “have
to apologize” for practicing their
religion.
Three of the Senate’s eight Jews
voted against the amendment, in
cluding Sen. Rudy Boschwitz (R-
Minn.), who had been one of its
original sponsors. The other two
were Sens. Chic Hecht (R-Nev.)
and Edward Zorinsky (D-Neb.)
Hecht spoke against the amend
ment on the Senate floor. “When
one enters the Armed Forces of the
United States, certain religious ob
ligations are foregone—dietary
laws, morning prayers and the
wearing of religious items,” he said.
He noted that he served in the
Army. “1 was proud to wear the
uniform, which did not differen
tiate me from any other soldier of
any other faith, and that is the way
I always want it to be,” Hecht said.
The Southern
Israelite !
The Weekly Newspaper For Southern Jewry
'Since 1925'
Vol. LXII
Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, August 15, 1986
No. 3 3
>
IT
Israel, Egypt take step|
to end Taba controversy
by Yaacov Ben Yosef
Special to The Southern Israelite
JERUSALEM—Israeli negotia
tors returned from Cairo Sunday
and declared that an accord has
been reached with Egypt on virtu
ally all of the issues related to the
Taba controversy.
On Wednesday, Israel’s inner
Cabinet is expected to give its
approval to the accord, which spells
out how Israel and Egypt will arbi
trate the problem of deciding who
owns the 250 acres of sandy Red
Sea beach.
In the next few weeks, the three
arbiters will be selected and a map
of the Taba region agreed upon by
the two sides. Then the govern
ments of Israel and Egypt will rat
ify the accord to take Taba to arbi
tration. A month later, the arbitra
Yaacov Ben Yosef
tors will begin meeting in Geneva
for vfliat might be an 18-month
period leading to a decision on
whether Israel or Egypt wins Taba.
Once the two governments ratify
the agreement, expected by Sept.
1, Prime Minister Shimon Peres
and Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak will hold their long-
awaited summit, perhaps in Alex
andria or Ismaliya.
Probably one important outcome
of that summit will be the return to
Israel of Egypt’s ambassador, re
trieved from Tel Aviv in the fall of
1982 at the time of the Sabra and
Shatilla massacre. Egypt will prob
ably agree to boost tourism and
trade to Israel as well.
Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir
may try to delay approval of the
Taba accord when the inner Cabinet
meets Wednesday. In an Israel
Radio interview, Shamir said some
See Taba, page 19.
Success story
Judge Ben-ltto is a woman for all seasons
Judge Ben-ltto taking the oath of secrecy at the Palais De Justice in Paris, to permit her to sit in on French
Court sessions regarding sensitive matters.
by Lili Eylon
World Zionist Press Service
She is a lawyer and a judge, a
stateswoman and a teacher. The
life story of Judge Hadassah Ben-
ltto. reads like the history of the
state of Israel with pioneering and
service as its major themes.
In her warmly furnished Tel Aviv
apartment, overlooking the Medi
terranean, the judge explains that
Zionism has always been in her
blood. “Although my family is
related to the Hassidic rabbi of
Gur, my parents were indomitable
Zionists,” she recounts. “We came
to Palestine from Poland in 1935.
My father, who had been in the
textile business, threw his hat and
his trade out of the window and did
what was then needed in the coun
try—worked on building roads.
And from the very day of our arri
val, both my parents stopped
speaking Polish. They drew a line
across the past, and looked for
ward to the future.”
Ben-ltto was educated in Jerusa
lem, where her university studies
included history, psychology and
English literature. A major part of
her education was a stint in the
Hagana. The judge’s Zionist career
began with a position as secretary,
and later secretary-general of Young
WIZO, which brought her to the
1946 Zionist Congress in Basel as a
delegate. It was the first Zionist
Congress after the Holocaust and
the one immediately preceding the
establishment of the state. For the
young woman it was “a very mov
ing affair.”
After a year at law school, Ben-
ltto served in Zahal, the country’s
newly established defense forces.
Her propensity to instill values was
recognized by army superiors who
installed her in Zahal’s educational
and cultural branch as officer in
charge of services including enter
tainment troupes and soldiers’
newspapers. Following her army
service, Ben-ltto slid naturally into
apioneeringjobforthe Ministry of
Education, working with teenagers
in immigrant tent camps. Living in
a tent herself, often through peri
ods of harsh weather, the young
woman trained youth leaders from
among the immigrants. She organ
ized a program which sent kib
butz youth to live in the tent camps
for a month, to help bridge the gap
between the new youngsters and
the “veterans.” As a result of her
successful endeavors Ben-ltto was
invited by David Ben-Gurion to
head the youth department of the
Ministry of Education in 1949.
Married the following year, and
continuing her law studies, Ben-
ltto left the Ministry of Education
and took on only part-time work
as a tutor of English literature. The
study of law took her briefly to the
United States where, following
stints at Northwestern University
in Chicago and at Denver Univer
sity, she emerged in 1955 as a full-
fledged lawyer.
Success followed success. In 1960
Ben-ltto, not yet 35 years old, and
with five years of experience as a
criminal lawyer, was appointed
judge in a first-instance trial court.
Four years later she was sent as
Israel’s representative to the con
vention of the International Asso
ciation of Women Lawyers in New
Delhi. It was the first of many mis
sions on behalf of her country. In
1965, Golda Meir, then minister of
Foreign Affairs, asked the young
judge to represent Israel on the
United Nations’ Third Commit
tee—the committee on social, cul
tural and human rights.
“This is when the equation
“Zionism is racism” first raised its
ugly head,” Ben-ltto recalls. “Under
discussion was the creation of a
convention to eliminate all forms
See Success, page 19.
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