Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 47, No. 51, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 23, 1993 Page: 24 of 24
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24
TEXAS JEWISH POST, FORT WORTH, THURSDA Y, DECEMBER 23, 1993 -IN OUR 47TH YEARI
Funding
continued from p. 1
private school where they
wanted the funds—and their
child — to go. The funds
would help offset their
child’s tuition at that school.
Several mainstream Jew-
ish groups have worked
against school vouchers,
while the Orthodox commu-
nity. which often sends its
children to private day
schools, has solidly backed
the idea.
In California, more than
15 major Jewish groups led
by the American Jewish
Committee, American Jew-
ish Congress, and Anti-Defa-
mation League formed the
Jewish Coalition Against the
Voucher, an organization that
campaigned heavily for
Proposition 174’s defeat.
The coalition joined ma-
jor teacher's unions in turn-
ing voters against the mea-
sure by a 7-3 margin. Mem-
ber groups hope to spread
the anti-voucher wave to the
rest of the nation
On the opposing side, pro-
voucher forces including the
fervently Orthodox group
Agudath Israel recently
formed Americans for
School Choice, a national
organization designed to
work with activists in trying
to promote school choice
proposals.
Orthodox Jewish groups
disagree with the rest of the
Jewish community on two
issues: the effect of vouchers
on church-state separation
and the Jewish community’s
longstanding support of pub-
lic school education
On the first issue, groups
opposed to school vouchers
argue that government fi-
nancing of private religious
institutions violates the First
Amendment’s mandated di-
vision between church and
Lubavitcher
continued from p. 1
Russian Culture Minister
Yevgeny Sidorov, after con-
siderable intervention by
President Clinton, Gore and
the U.S. Senate, said Rabbi
Boruch Shlomo Cunin.
Cunin, who received the
book from Gore in Mos-
cow. personally delivered it
last Fnday to the rebbe, who
generally does not receive
visitors since he suffered a
debilitating stroke two years
ago
Cunin was accompanied
before the rebbe by an en-
tourage that included his
wife, Miriam, his sons;
Rabbi Yosef Aranov, head
of Chabad Lubavitch in Is-
rael; Rabbi Yitzhak Kogan
of Israel, a former promi-
nent Soviet refusenik, and
Albert Rosenhaus of New
Jersey, who has been “help-
ful all along” in the quest
for the books, Cunin said.
Veronica Inna, an attor-
ney who is also the rector of
Maimonides University, the
first Jewish state university
in Russia, was also present
at the book' s deli very to the
rebbe.
It was she “who the rebbe
pul in charge of the full strat-
egy to receive the books.”
Cunin said.
The Russian Supreme
Court ruled in 1991 that the
state.
“Government funding of
any religious institution con-
stitutes support of that reli-
gion and an entanglement of
the government with reli-
gion," said Sammie
Moshenberg, Washington
representative of the National
Council of Jewish Women.
“It is not proper for the
government to aid schools of
12,000 books of the seized
library be returned to the
Lubavitchers, but the deci-
sion was not followed and, in
fact, set off anti-Semitic dem-
onstrations.
Virtually the entire U.S.
government, from the presi-
dent down, has pressed the
Russians relentlessly on the
Lubavitcher library.
The matter of the
Lubavitch library, Cunin
said, “was raised by Presi-
dent Clinton both times he
had a summit with (Russian
President Boris) Yeltsin, in
Vancouver and Tokyo.’’
He said, “At the climax of
the summit, I approached
both Clinton and Yeltsin.
And Clinton said, ’I asked
the president twice for the
books and he said, ‘We will
get them.”’
When Clinton met again
with Yeltsin, Cunin related
that Yeltsin had responded.
“I thought it was taken care
of already .”
Cunin, who lives in Los
Angeles but spends most of
his time in Moscow, has spent
the past 13 years seeking re-
turn of the collection of the
books at the rebbe’s behest.
Gore, who had been visit-
ing Moscow as part of a trip
to the former Soviet Union,
used the occasion of receiv-
ing the religious tome to pre-
dict that the disputed collec-
tion will be returned to the
one particular religion, even
if it's ours," said Sam
Rabinove, legal director of
the American Jewish Com-
mittee.
Groups opposing vouch-
ers believe that government
funds bring government
regulation, which could seri-
ously limit the religious ac-
tivity of Jewish day schools.
“We don’t want the gov-
ernment to decide which pri-
vate schools can receive gov-
ernment funds and which
cannot," said Michael
Lieberman, associate direc-
Lubavitchers.
The vice president de-
scribed the relinquishing of
this book as “a wonderful
humanitarian gesture.”
Gore made the comment
after the librarian at the Rus-
sian State Library — for-
merly the Lenin Library —
allowed him to pore over
several old books at the
library’s Museum of Reli-
gious History.
Gore has been involved
in the matter of the library
since he was a senator horn
Tennessee and was ap-
proached about the matter
in the Senate hallway by
Cunin’s sons, all of whom
are rabbis.
Cunin described Gore as
“a very special, warm hu-
man being" who "had tears
in his eyes when he gave me
the book."
Cunin said U.S. Ambas-
sador Thomas Pickering
was also instrumental in (he
matter and had discussed the
matter with the Russians
“until 3 in the morning” last
Thursday.
“Then we got to the
nuclear discussions.” Cunin
said Pickering told him.
Cunin described the turn-
ing over of the book as “a
massive step forward, mas-
sive."
Susan Birnbaum is a JTA/
TJP correspondent.
tor of the Washington office
of the ADL.
“Government funds inevi-
tably come without strings at
first, but later come regula-
tion and oversight," said
Marc Stern, co-director of
legal affairs for AJCongress.
Orthodox groups, who
have long sent their children
to private schools for Jewish
learning not provided in pub-
lic schools, disagree that a
church-state problem exists.
David Zwiebel, general
counsel of Agudath Israel,
said that because government
money in the form of vouch-
ers would go directly to the
parent under the voucher sys-
tem, he sees no First Amend-
ment problem.
“It is constitutionally per-
missible for the government
to provide parents with a
voucher" so that they may
choose their children’s
schools, Zwiebel said.
Zwiebel dismissed gov-
ernment regulation as a worry
because religious institutions
are already exempt from
many federal laws, such as
anti-discrimination statutes
that allow religious schools
to hire only members of their
own faith.
Even without religious
exemptions, he said, reli-
gious schools could escape
government regulation by
choosing not to accept vouch-
ers and charging students full
tuition.
Another ground for oppo-
sition to school vouchers by
mainstream Jewish groups is
the traditional Jewish sup-
port for public school educa-
tion.
Jewish immigrants have
long enjoyed the benefits of
public schools, which they
say provide solid, nonde-
nominational education at no
cost beyond taxes.
A school voucher system,
opponents argue, will take
• III •
tey and students away
from public schools and thus
further their decline.
Jews support the public
school system because of
their “commitment to an in-
stitution in American life that
brings people together as
equals," added Stem of the
AJCongress.
Zwiebel said that the Or-
Jox community' s reliance
on private schools has re-
sulted in less enthusiastic
support for public education,
which he said the rest of the
Jewish community overly
favors.
“It doesn’t speak well of
the Jewish community if our
commitment is to a system
rather than to our children,”
Zwiebel said. “Our commit-
ment must be to our families
and children, not to institu-
tions.”
Steven Weiss is a JTA/TJP
correspondent.
Example
continued from p. 1
Last month, Clinton delivered a well-
received address on the crime issue at the
Memphis church where the Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr. preached his last sermon
Clinton invoked King’s name, asking
what the slain civil rights leader would have
thought of the crime and violence prevalent
in today’s society.
In response to Clinton’s address, a group
of religious leaders that included Jews wrote
to the president, praising him for his speech
and offering to work with him to combat
crime.
The Religious Action Center of Reform
Judaism and its director. Rabbi David
Sapersiein, played a key role in coordinat-
ing the Dec. 15 letter.
“The eloquence of your speech in Mem-
phis at Mason Temple Church of God in
Christ and your call to the religious com-
munity to play a central role in ameliorating
this crisis deeply moved and challenged us
all.” the several dozen religious leaders
wrote.
“We want to convey to you our own
commitment to continue to mobilize our
respective religious communities to com-
bat the violence and moral decline you
spoke of in your address,” the religious
leaders wrote.
At the White House session with the
religious reporters, Clinton referred to hate
crimes legislation now pending in Con-
gress
The legislation, backed by many Jewish
groups, would increase federal penalties
for crimes committed because of the victim's
race, religious nationality, gender or sexual
orientation
The hate crimes legislation — and some
other bills currently awaiting consideration
by a joint House-Senate conference com-
mittee — has been criticized by some as
being symbolic and not having much prac-
tical effect.
Critics note that most hate crimes are
under local, not federal, jurisdiction.
“I think a candor (the legislation) will
have more symbolic effect than practical
effect,” Clinton said.
“But symbolism is not bad,” he said.
“I think that the practical impact of it will
be to encourage hate crimes to be pros-
ecuted more vigorously at the local level,
where they should be,” the president said.
He added that he would try to set and
example for the country in promoting di-
versity.
“That's why 1 had the children from the
Jewish Community Center come in here
and sing me some songs for Chanukah,” be
said.
The Dec. 8 event featuring Clinton and
21 children became famous, because one 6-
y ear-old girl standing next to the president
singed her hair by leaning too close to the lit
candles in the menorah.
In a scene repeatedly shown on national
television, Clinton helped rub her singed
hair, thus preventing further damage.
“There are people who have religious
views that your can’t even imagine," the
president said.
“But if they share your civic values, that
is, if they honor family and work, and they
don't break the law, and they respect other
people" he said, “then they can learn and
bridge those differences."
Deborah Kalb is a JTA/TJP correspon-
dent.
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Wisch, J. A. & Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 47, No. 51, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 23, 1993, newspaper, December 23, 1993; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth755302/m1/24/?rotate=270: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .