Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1988-05-19

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Serving Columbus and Central Ohio Jewish Community lor Oyer 60 Years
UBRAKY7   OHIO
1982  VELMA   AVE.
■OOUJ. '0,      *3211
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VOL.66   NO. 20
MAY 19, 1988-SIVAN3
Devoted to American
and Jewish Ideals.
New RCA President
Voices His Concern
About Euthanasia
LAKE GENEVA, Wis.
(JTA) — The new president
of the Rabbinical Council of
America voiced concern last
week over state laws governing terminal patients and the
removal of life-support systems.
Rabbi Max Schreier said
Jewish law and the sanctity
of human life must be respected and protected.
Speaking after his election
at the 52nd annual national
convention of the RCA,
Schreier expressed his disturbance over the "intensification of discussions and
new bills by state legislatures to affect the definition
of death as well as this removal of appliances of life
sustaining support systems
for patients.
"We want to make sure the
sanctity of human life ispro-
tected," he added.
Religious people, Schreier
said, "must and should be
protected against any laws
or methods which would violate the principles of Jewish
law regarding life-support
systems, appointment of
agents to make life and
death decisions for patients
incapable of making those
decisions themselves, the
withdrawal of food and/or
sustenance and other life
and death decisions."
Schreier said "laws such
as the pending New York
state law should not be
passed unless there is consultation with proper
halachic authorities so that
Jewish patients who observe.
Jewish law will be protected."
Reagan Pledges To Push Moscow
On Soviet Jews And Human Rights
Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck
Plant Trees In Israel
Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck,
planting trees in the Jewish National Fund's Modi'in
Forest, near Lod, stepped off the Hollywood screen and
came alive for a group of Israeli schoolchildren. The
two celebrities were in Israel to mark the twin occasion
of Mickey's 50th birthday and the 40th anniversary of
the State of Israel.
WASHINGTON (JTA) —.
President Reagan pledged to
Jewish leaders from the
United States and abroad
last week that he will again
press the issue of human
rights, including those of
Soviet Jewry, when he meets
with Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev in Moscow May
29 to June 2, .according to the
participants.
"In no way are the Soviets
going to get us to retreat
from these principles and
from the insistence on their
adherence to their obligations," Reagan was quoted
as saying by Morris Abram,
chairman of the National
Conference on Soviet Jewry.
The 20-minute White
House pre-summit meeting
was attended by eight leaders of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry and
the World Conference on
Soviet Jewry and led by Abram and Simcha Dinitz,
chairman of the world group
and a former Israeli ambassador to the United States.
Abram, who is also chairman of the Conference of
Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations,
led a delegation from that
I umbrella group in a meeting
with Secretary of . State
George  Shultz, "at  which
Caryn Pawliger Receives Sally Wasserstrom Award
Caryn Pawliger was
awarded the 1987 Sally Was-
serstrom Community
Service Award at the Annual
Meeting of Jewish Family
Service. The award was presented to honor a local
Jewish high school senior
who has been active in
his/her high school, general
and secular community.
A senior at Upper Arlington High School, Pawliger's
activities range from swim
team recorder/timer to
founder of the Key Club, a
community service organization. She is also an honor
student. Pawliger is vice
president of her BBYO
chapter as well as the BBYO
City Council and has been
responsible for organizing
its City Convention. She has
also worked as a hospital
volunteer at The Ohio State
University Hospitals.
The daughter of Nancy
and Richard Pawliger,
Caryn will be attending
Tufts University in September.
In introducing Pawliger,
Toni Selsley of the Jewish
Family Service Board and
member of the selection
committee said, "Caryn's
leadership abilities have
been demonstrated in the
vast array of activities in
which she has been involved.
Although living in the community for only four years,
she has made a tremendous
contribution. We congratulate her and wish her success
in all of her future endeavors."
Sally Wasserstrom, an
active community volunteer,
created the award to recognize leadership and service
and provide the recipient
with a $500 grant to be used
for pursuing post high school
education—university, technical or vocational. The
Community Service Award
is administered by the
Higher Education Loan Program (H.E.L.P.) of Jewish
Family Service. Wasserstrom is a past chairwoman
of the committee on which
she has served since its
inception.
For over 75 years, Jewish
Family Service has served
the community in two areas
of life: home and career. For
information about clinical
counseling, vocational counseling or educational programming and services, call
Jewish Family Service,
231-1890.
In The Chronicle
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Shultz reiterated that the
issue of Jewish emigration
would be high on the summit
agenda.
Reagan also volunteered
to the Jewish leaders that
the United States will not
change the Jackson-Vanik
Amendment until the Soviets
allow the large number of
Jewish emigrants required
by the law, according to
Abram. 	
Orthodox Archives
Partially Destroyed
NEW YORK (JTA) - The
Agudath Israel of America
hopes to be able to reconstruct atleast part of the National Orthodox Jewish Archives destroyed by a recent
fire that swept through one
floor of the organization's
national headquarters in
Lower Manhattan.
No one was hurt in the
blaze, which gutted the 11th
floor at 84 William St. A fire
marshal had confirmed that
the fire was not of a suspicious nature and originated
with a faulty electrical fixture.
The archives contained
thousands of documents and
photographs relating to the
Holocaust, Orthodox Jewish
life in pre-Holocaust Europe
and the activities of Orthodox  Jews  in  the  United
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 161
FEATURE
Search Continues For Mt. Sinai
By Bernard S. Raskas
(© 1988, JTA, Inc.)
Mount Sinai, according to
the Bible, is a mountain
located in the Sinai peninsula, which is part of the
greater Negev that forms a
bridge between Asia and
Africa.
However, the exact location of Mount Sinai, the
"Mountain of God" where
Moses received the Ten
Commandments,, has long
been a mystery. Although
scholars have searched both
the records and the terrain,
there is no clear evidence
pointing to its true position.
It is generally believed
that the mountain is a particular peak which was eventually given the name of
Jebel Musa, or "Mountain of
Moses." In the sixth century,
the monastery of St. Catherine was built at its foot by the
emperor Justinian. According to Byzantine concepts, the sacred mountain
by definition had to be the
highest peak in the region,
the closest to heaven.
EARLY DEADLINE
Deadline For The Thursday, June 2, Issue
Is Noon Thursday, May 26
The OJC Office Will Be Closed
Memorial Day, Monday, May 30
The present so-called
Mount Sinai, 7,486 feet (or
3,759 steps) high, has managed to establish itself quite
firmly as the sacred site,
even though such a concept
does not correspond with the
Semitic version. In fact,
several words in the Bible
appear as alternate names
for the holy mountain,
including Seir Paran and
Horeb, thus intensely deepening the mystery of its true
location.
• This uncertainty recently
stimulated determined
researchers to identify the
true sacred site. Today there
are at least 23 proposed locations fo the Mountain of God.
However, any definitive
geographical idea of the
whereabouts of this most
important mountain has not
been fully authenticated. It
seems to follow the biblical
admonition, "Take care not
(CONTINUED ON PAGE?)
For lb, the winter
is past
The rain is over
and gone,
The flowers appear
on the earth
The time of singing
has come...
\/* These words, immortalized by King Solomon in the ^Vf
A  Song of Songs, aptly describe the feeling with which  -A
we welcome Shavuot—a three-fold, celebration com-    ^j
memorating:
The giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai,
The harvesting of wheat in Israel,
The ripening of the first fruit in the Holy Land
6 Sivan 7
22 May 23
1988
The Festival of Weeks .\i