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THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE November 14, 1986 Page 5
Letters
Is abortion ‘silent holocaust’?
Editor:
On Oct. 11, 1986, I was privi
leged to attend a conference
sponsored by Georgia Nurses for
Life titled “Are We Accounta
ble? The Medical Profession
Looks at Abortion in the’80s.” It
was not an easy conference to
participate in—no challenge to
accountability ever is.
When 1 returned home that
evening, I read Rabbi Alvin
Sugarman’s beautifully moving
New Year’s prayer (TSI, Oct. 10)
in which he wrote of our need to
live so that the memory of our
Holocaust victims “remains as
sacred as sacred can be.”
As 1 read this, 1 had to con
front the fact that I, as an Ameri
can, am living in the midst of
another holocaust—a “silent”
holocaust in which the “quality”
of a woman’s life—her reproduc
tive freedom, if you will—now
takes legal precedence over the
sanctity of the unborn human life
within her.
Can we—Jews and Chris
tians—who are bound up in the
covenants of Life with theGod of
Israel (TSI, Oct. 10, page 15)
stand silently in the midst of this
holocaust—as so many others
did in the generations that pre
ceded ours? We have vowed “never
again” and yet, here it is, albeit in
subtle disguise: tiny, helpless,
innocent victims who will have
no Second Generation—Children
of Holocaust Survivors (TSI, Oct.
10, page 10) to ensure that others
will never forget them and the
evil that was perpetrated upon
them in the name of legality. The
question we must grapple with: It
is legal, but in the eyes of the
Lord—and therefore, of man cre
ated in His image—is it moral?
I believe the choice is clear.
The Lord G-d Himself set it forth
in Torah, Deuteronomy 30: 19,
20: “I have set before you life and
death, the blessing and the curse.
So choose life in order that you
may live, you and your descend
ants, by loving the Lord your G-d,
by obeying His voice and by
holding fast to Him... .”
May G-d grant us the courage
in this New Year 5747 to make
His will our will—no matter the
cost to our personal comfort or
reputation.
Barbara Freid
Jewish alumni directory in making
Editor:
This letter is addressed to all
the professionals in your com
munity who have once worked
on college campuses serving Jew
ish college students. Although
many of you have gone on to
other fields and other interests,
your interest in college life and
the events on the campuses remains
strong. A natural connection
exists between those of you who
were formerly involved in cam
pus activities and those of us who
are now currently involved in
such endeavors.
Therefore, the Association of
Hillel and Jewish Campus Pro
fessionals, the organization of all
the directors, assistant directors,
directors of students activities,
etc. on the campuses, is putting
together an alumni directory. We
would like you to join us in this
effort and to become a part of
this project. We feel that this
directory can greatly benefit all
of us. You will receive all the
mailings, bulletins and updates
concerning events on the cam
pus, trends among Jewish college
students and other important in
formation. The directory would
include all former directors, all
former directors of students acti
vities or program assistants, all
former staff members of any kind
who once worked in a Jewish
campus setting with Hillel or
with other organizations.
Please send your name, cur
rent mailing address and current
position to the following address:
Rabbi Sally Finestone
B’nai B'rith Hillel Foundation
University of Houston
Religion Center
3801 Cullen Boulevard
Houston, Texas 77004
A call for help
Editor:
A group of academicians in
Atlanta area colleges and univer
sities have signed an open letter
protesting the treatment of Soviet
Jewish academicians and scient
ists. This letter will appear in a
newspaper ad in the Atlanta
Journal/Constitution around
mid-December. We believe this
ad can have an impact on the
plight of those persecuted.
• the ad will read by many pol
iticians in the Southeast and will
be sent to politicians all over the
United States;
• the ad will be sent to Soviet
officials in the U.S. as well as to
many officials in the Soviet Union;
• the ad will be sent to Soviet
Jewish scientists/academicians as
an encouragement to continue
their struggles;
• the ad will be sent to other
media in Atlanta and other U.S.
cities in the hope that they will
pick this up as a news story;
• the ad will be sent to Jewish
leaders in other U.S. cities to
serve as a model for similar ads
elsewhere.
To fund the ad, we have been
collecting $10 from each acade
mician. We currently have over
120 signatories and hope to even
tually obtain more than 200.
We believe that the impact of
this ad will be directly propor
tional to its size. As the cost of
Journal/Constitution ads are very
expensive, we are asking that
each of your readers also con
tribute $10 (or more) to make
this ad as successful as possible.
As this project is under the aus
pices of the World Wide Jewish
Affairs Committee of the Atlanta
Jewish Federation, please send
your contributions to: Soviet
Jewry Newspaper Ad, Atlanta
Jewish Federation, 1753 Peach
tree Road, N.E., Atlanta, Ga.
30309.
For more information, contact
Noah Levine of the Federation,
873-1661.
A rnie Schneider
Assistant professor
Georgia Tech
Mainstream
Continued from page 4
director of the Metropolitan At
lanta Recovery Residences, i.e.
half-way houses, called the rabbi
and told him that he had 10 Jews
in his program and would he like
to talk to them.
The rabbi’s group averages
around 15 people with both sexes
represented equally. Ages range
from 18 to 65, and the partici
pants come from all walks of life
and professions. They also run
the gamut of religious observance
and beliefs. Some who come to
the group are hostile, because
they believe the Jewish commun
ity hasn’t helped them. One par
ticipant expressed the feeling that
the community deceives itself by
denying that a problem exists.
Others are afraid that God is
angry with them. All are curious
to learn how Judaism addresses
and deals with their problems.
Feldman stresses that he does
not try to push Orthodoxy on the
group, but clearly does not deny
that this is his orientation. They
study the Torah and Jewish texts,
and he explains how they relate
to drug and alcohol addiction.
The rabbi defines addiction as a
“disease of denial.” He does not
view it as a social malady. Drug
addicts and alcoholics have lost a
perspective on living, which
evolves into spiritual and psy
chological issues and questions.
His program considers the 12
steps to recovery, which is the
technique used in Alcoholics
Anonymous. The first step is to
acknowledge that one is out of
control. The second is recogni
tion that a power greater than
one’s self can restore one to san
ity. Another step is to repair the
damage that has been done such
as asking for forgiveness from a
spouse. Humility is another step
in which one recognizes his place
in the world.
During sessions the members
determine for themselves the
agenda. In addition to the Torah,
they may discuss the concept of
free will and such basic questions
as how to pray. “No question
asked at a meeting is stupid,” a
member of the group noted. Learn
ing about Judaism has helped
bring structure to his life. Not
only has he been able to discover
faith, but he has learned to have
faith. He emphasized that the
Rabbi’s group is not a substitute
for Alcoholics Anonymous, which
he also attends. While A. A. deals
with everyday problems, this
group provides him and others a
“handbook for living.”
A Christian’s advice to Zionists
by Dr. Eugene J. Fisher
National Conference of Catholic Bishops
When Zionists seek my advice
on how to promote their views
among Christians, 1 first stress
that the Christian community,
no less than the Jewish commu
nity, is pluralistc. This is true
not only among denominations,
but within dominations. So no
single approach is apt to be suc
cessful.
Having said that, 1 do have
some suggestions. First, Chris
tian individuals or institutions
sometimes are alleged to have
views that they do not actually
hold. For example, people keep
trying to tell me that the Vatican
advocates “internationalizing” the
city of Jerusalem, when it doesn’t
or that the pope refuses to recog
nize the existence of Israel, which
he does.
1 have also noticed that the
posture of Zionist organizations
and Jewish agencies in general
tends to be less critical of Israel in
public than in their own internal
discussions.
Criticism conducted within
the context of unequivocal sup
port for the existence and secur
ity of Israel should include ongo
ing discussion about resolving
the needs of Palestinian Arabs.
Responsible criticism also de
mands careful consideration of
all the actors in the Middle East,
not just Israel. It is more than a
little hypocritcal, for example,
for Christians to continually cri
ticize Israeli policy on the West
Bank as “pushing out" Palestini
ans from their homes and yet to
ignore, as we mostly have, the
Judenrein (not to mention
“Christianrein”) official policy of
our “moderate” ally, Saudi Ara
bia. It is hypocritical for Chris
tians to condemn Israel’s incur
sion into Lebanon and yet acqui
esce, by silence, in Syria’s occu
pation of that tragic land. One
can, it seems, be anti-Zionist
simply by the selectivity of what
one chooses to criticize. The line
between anti-Zionism and anti-
Semitism is a notoriously thin
one.
Christian theologians need to
remind their co-religionists that
the Jews are Jews. For centuries,
with often tragic results, we
Christians have claimed to be
“the New Israel,” a phrase no
where found in the New Testa
ment. To see Christian theolo
gians now declaringthe Palestini
ans to be “the true Israel" is
frighteningly reminiscent of cer
tain elements of the ancient teach
ing of contempt. It needs to be
challenged theologically as well
as factually. Denying that Zion
ism is racism, as most Christian
denominations have done, is only
the first step.
A dapted from a talk before the
Jacob Goodman Institute of the
ZOA.
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