HERALD SPECIAL ISSUE the Only English-Jewish Weekly in Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts
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* J' J e~· ~ · ~~ '~ ...1,,1 ,1,1.,! I, 1,,11,L,.,,l.l,1 Rhode Island Rosh Hashanah HERALD SPECIAL ISSUE The Only English-Jewish Weekly in Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts VOLUME LXVI, NUMBER 42 ELUL 21, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1996 35, PER COPY Netanyahu-Arafat Meeting May Be -· Crucial Turning Point by David Landau hold ing that characterized the JERUSALEM (JTA)-On the Pa lestinia n leader's meeting face of it, the long-awaited, pain w ith Shimon Peres.And it was fully orchestra ted Netanyahu even cooler than the more re Arafat meeting tha t took place served meetings Arafat had with this week produced little of sub Yitzhak Rabin. sta nce, but this was a diplomati c The most the Likud prime encounter of the kind w here the minister could do, it seemed, fa ct that it took place a t a ll is was to provide the photogra much more significant than any p hers with a perfunctory hand specifi cs that were said . shake. Both diploma ti cally and do There were few smiles or mestically, this meeting may other gestures between the two p rove in the not too d istant fu lead ers. ture to have been a Rubicon fo r But the fact that Netanyahu, Prime Minister Benjamin Net as recently as February, pledged a nya hu - a line that o nce not to meet with Arafat means Seventy-Nine Years of Service crossed , cannot be crossed back. that something of major politica l Touro Fraternal Association recently installed its officers for the corning year at ceremonies A fter talking for little more importance transpired this week. in Cranston. Pi ctured here, front row, from the left, are Michael Smith, Natha n Lury, Milton than an hour, Neta nyahu a nd And the fact that Terje Larsen Bronstein, Peter Traugott, Si mon Chorney, Andrew Lamchick, and Gerald Hodosh. In the Palestinian Authority head - the Norwegian diplomat w ho second row, fro m the left, are Joel Pressman, Allan Gourse, Irving Wolpert, Robert Miller, Arthur Yasser Arafat told waiting re was instrumental in brokeri ng Poul ten, Rodney Locke, Bruce Weisman, Charles Dressler, Andrew Gilstein, David Fieser, and porters that the ma ny issues on the ini tial Oslo co ntacts between Robert Hodosh. In the third row, from the left, are Peter Hod osh, Barry Shaw, Morton Coken, the agenda between them would the previous Labor government Barry Newman, Stevan La bush, Jeffrey Goldberg, Alan Lury, and Alan Hochman. be taken up by various joint com and the Palestine Liberation Not present for the picture were Michael Mitchell, Judah Rosen, and Lester Nathan. mittees. Organization in 1993 - was shuttling once again between Arafat and Israel to arrange this This was a diplomatic la test meeting also refl ects its Why Washington's Letter Is So Significant significa nce. encounter of the kind Larsen announced Wednes The fo llowing is a portio n of the history, and a very specia l, al But as time went by, the atti where the fact that it took day that the joint Israeli-Pales keynote add ress given by Rear Ad most unique series of events that tudes of their hosts changed . tinian s teering co mmittee - miral James R. Stark, presiden t of redirected that history which The hard work, the educa tion, place at all is much more w hi ch oversees implementation the Naval War College, at the re took p lace here in the d ays when the cohesion, and especially the significant than any of the self-rule accords - would cent George Wa shingto n letter the United States of America success ofthoseJewishcommu specifics that were said. co nvene Thursday to begin deal reading at Touro Synagogue in were still young a nd searching nities created jealousy and re ing with the issues separating Newport. Th e speech received a forwhatthis newconceptcalled sentment. Jews who had been the two sides. standing ovation. democracy really meant ... welcomed because they brought On the Israeli political front, We're here to commemorate needed skills and built the local "We have to take into account the fa ct that key fi gures in the an event which is of such impor economy graduall y changed the need s and requirements of Likud and its coalition partner tance, that it resonates still today from being neighbors to being both sides on the basis of reci were blasting their leader's "be across the length and bread th of outsiders, tolerated when nec procity and assurance of these trayal" at the very moment that America. That event was an ex essary and persecuted when it curity and well-being of both the meeting was taking place change of letters between the became convenient ... Israelis and Palestinians alike," reveals the full complexity of wardenofTouroSynagogueand ... What we see is that, again N etanyahu said at a joint news the move that Netanyahu has President George Washington and again, people can get along conference after the meeting. made. over 200 years ago. for decades on the surface. But "I want to repeat here once Science Minister Ze' ev Some may say, what's the when society is placed under again our commitment to secu "Benny" Begin, who is opposed big deal? What's so important stress, when it's confronted by rity cooperation with Israel and to the self-rule accords, said about an exchange of letters? war, or famine, or plague, or eco our commitment to cooperate Wednesday that Netanyahu They're not even legal docu nomic collapse, people turn on with Israel in all aspects in ac was capitulating to blackmail ments. They're just a couple of those who aren't quite like them. cordance with the agreement and was acting in violation of pieces of paper, written by They look for something or signed," Arafat said. the government's basic policy people long dead-people who Rear Admiral J. R. Stark, USN somebody to blame- and then they take out their fear and frus The meeting at the Erez guidelines. hadn't a clue about life in the Herald photo by Neil Nachbar Crossing, which marks the bor Uzi Landau, the Likud chair late 20th century, people who trations on them. For Europe's der between Israel and the au man of the Knesset Foreign Af never imagined the airplane, or Jews, that cycle was all too fa tonomous Gaza Strip, involved fairs and Defense Committee, the internet, or MTV. Interestingly, history tells miliar ... none of the hugging and hand- (Continued on Page 19) Even their language seems us that - except for their peri .. Let's be very clear. Reli stilted and old-fashioned-and odic revolts in Judea - Jews gious freedom wasn't always the issue of religious freedom fared well under the Roman em the norm in colonial America. really doesn't appear to be es pire. They were merchants and The same colonists who had fled Calling All Sukkah Builders pecially relevant today, does it? craftsmen who were welcomed religious persecution in England Wouldn't this be a good year to build your own sukkah in So what? wherever they settled. And by were only too happy to impose the yard? And wouldn't you like to have it featured in the But we know better, don't the end of the Roman era, strong their beliefs on others when they Jewish Herald? we? Those letters had an im Jewish communities had sprung were in control We are asking everyone who builds a sukkah to let us know pact that went far beyond the up all around the Mediterra Fortunately, the tolerance about ii. Include your name, address and phone number so we little community of 18th-cen nean. Even after the fall of Rome, established by Roger Williams can come by,schedules permitting, and take a picture of it. Our tury Newport. Jewishsettlements continued to here in Rhode Island made it a mailing address is P.O. Box 6063, Providence 02940. Our But, you know ... this celebra spread - first into Western Eu mecca for people of all faiths phone number is 724-0200. Ask for Neil or Alison. tion is about more than just let rope, and then, after the 12th who sought the right to wor- ters. It's about 2,000 years of century, into the East. (Continued on Page 19) INSIDE THE OCEAN STATE ALA/RI and Dr. Sidney Braman Miriam Plans 'Treasures in Your Attic' Program on Offer Free A1AD Testing Kenneth Gloss, proprietor of Healthy Eating the nationally known Brattle Dr. Sidney Braman, chief of inherited deficiency, many of There wi ll be an eight-week Book Shop in Boston, will speak pulmonary medicine at Rhode them are of Northern European course on "Eating fo r Good at a free and open lecture at 7 Island Hospital and professor descent," said Tina Ragless, lung Heal th" at The Miriam Hospi ta I p.m., Sept. 17, at the North of medicine at Brown Univer health program manager, "If beginning Sept. 9. Smithfi eld Public Library, 20 sity will join the Lung Associa there is a fa mily history of lung Each session of the eight Main St., Slatersville. tion in providing free Alpha 1 disease or a person is diagnosed week program, w hich runs Gloss's talk is entitled, "Trea Antitrypsin Deficiency testing with AlAD, then it is important through Oct. 28, will be taught sures in Yo ur Attic: Old and at Vasa Hall, 43 Bald Hill Road, for siblings and chi ld ren to be by a registered dietitian to teach Rare Books." Cranston on Sept.