November 18, 1983
The Jewish Floridian of Tampa
)abbi Denounces Reagan
bchindler Denounces Reagan Policies as 'Unprincipled'
HOUSTON (JTA) -
abbi Alexander Schindler,
jident of the Union of
oerican Hebrew Congre-
ation, denounced the
Leign and domestic poli-
os of the Reagan Ad-
ministration as neither
Uicipled nor pragmatic.
\ In his address last
Friday to the 3,500
Idelegates attending the
|5"th biennial assembly of
[the UAHC and the 34th
[biennial convention of the
[National Federation of
[Temple Sisterhoods,
|schindler was especially
[critical of the Admin-
istration's policy in Central
f America.
THE REFORM leader charged
that President Reagan's foreign
policy is one of "an obsession
with force," imposing "military
solutions on crises that are
political, economic and social in
their essence." Schindler said
that while it is true that the
Cubans and Russians "cynically
exploit" the miseries of the
peoples of Central America,
Reagan's response was "largely
counter-productive" because the
Administration has its eyes
"fixed on the superpower game
while ignoring all the local
I pawns."
He said that the Reagan
Administration policies "are
neither principled nor pragmatic.
They sow the wind with guns and
bullets and anti-Communist
rhetoric and have already reaped
the whirlwind of violence, death
and anti-American reactions."
Schindler called for "an end to
IJ.S. military intervention in El
(""Salvador and Honduras" and "an
end to the covert war against
Nicaragua." He proposed,
instead, that the Reagan
Administration "seek a
negotiated solution, proffer
support" for
Central American
"and make a
commitment" in
unqualified
neighboring
countries
permanent
economic reform and social
justice."
SCHINDLER was also
sharply critical of the Reagan
Administration policies in the
Middle East. He said Israeli
officials with whom he met
recently, including Premier
Yitzhak Shamir, President
Chaim Herzog and Knesset
members, "were much concerned
about the vagueness and the
vacillations of American
diplomacy." He added that "the
constant and capricious shifts" in
U.S. policy "perplex them."
Commenting on the repeated
changes of Reagan Adminis-
tration policy in regard to Israel's
activities in Lebanon, Schindler
said he feared that the "fragile"
May 17 Israeli-Lebanese agree-
ment on the withdrawal of Israeli
forces from Lebanon and security
arrangements to follow "will be
the price that Israel is asked to
pay for success in the current
Geneva talks" on Lebanon's
national reconciliation.
He declared that the Reagan
Administration "must not broker
agreements one day and on the
next collaborate with one of the
sides to break it," an apparent
reference to Syria.
Focusing on the domestic
policies of the Reagan Adminis-
tration, Schindler noted that at
the UAHC assembly in Boston in
1981, the Reform movement
expressed doubts about the
course the U.S. was following
under Reagan. In his address in
Houston, he observed that "our
apprehensions were fully
justified. Reaganomics has
tightened this nation's belt
around the necks of the poor."
The inflationary cycle "has been
broken, but only by means of a
most severe recession," Schindler
added-
THE REFORM leader also de-
nounced the policy of the Soviet
Union toward its Jewish citizens.
He termed the Soviet regime
"brutal" and "primitive" and
"frightened by the human spirit"
demonstrated by Soviet Jews
enduring persecution and abuse
for seeking to emigrate. He said
Reform Jews must "speak up for
the rights of Russian Jews and
for Ethiopian Jews, too."
Turning to the role of Reform
Judaism in the area of religious
activities, Schindler urged the
delegates to approve a new
Reform Jewish unit to study all
phases of conversion to Reform
Judaism.
He described the goal of the
present UAHC Outreach Task
Force as that of a "positive effort
to come to grips with the reality
of intermarriage, to contain the
loss it threatens to our numerical
strength, and, if at all possible, to
convert that loss into a gain. He
said that the goals of the Out-
reach program were "to make
certain that the majority of inter-
faith marriages will result in the
conversion of the non-Jewish
partner to Judaism, and that the
majority of the children issuing
from such marriages will, in fact,
foreign policy "to democracy,
Highest Level
Israel. Egypt Hold Talks;
U.S. Hand Reported
By DAVID LANDAU
JERUSALEM (JTA) The highest level
diplomatic dialogue between Israel and Egypt since the
outbreak of the war in Lebanon in June, 1982, is taking
place in Cairo.
David Kimche, director general of the Foreign
Ministry, is in the Egyptian capital for political talks
which Israeli sources said cover the entire gamut of
Middle East issues and a review of bilateral relations
between Israel and Egypt.
KIMCHE LEFT for Cairo, and was expected to
return ,. soon. He is accompanied by the Ministry's
legal aide, Elyakim Rubinstein. The two Israeli officials
are scheduled to meet with Egypt's Foreign Minister,
Kamal Hassan Ali, and to hold working sessions with top
officials of the Egyptian Foreign Ministry. Kimche may
also call on President Hosni Mubarak, though no meeting
between them was announced.
The Israeli sources said the visit emerged from
"Bilateral diplomatic contacts." They conceded, however,
that the United States has been applying pressure on
Egypt for some time to thaw the "cold peace" that has
existed since Israel invaded Lebanon. The sources firmly
denied that Kimche's visit was connected in any way with
the current tension in the region involving Syria and the
U.S.
1 be raised as Jews."
DECLARING THAT even
our work with non-affiliated
mixed marriage couples is
encouraging," Schindler said the
effort "established beyond doubt
that they, too, need not be lost to
us, that we can, if we but try,
regain them for our people." He
added that "there is no dilution
of our Jewishness when others
join our ranks. Quite the
contrary, our Jewishness is
enhanced because of them."
Noting that he had proposed
the Outreach program to the
Reform movement five years ago,
Schindler said a Joint Com-
mission on Outreach had been
created by the UAHC and the
Central Conference of American
Rabbis (CCAR) "to carry
forward" the Outreach program.
Dr. Mordecai Kaplan
Passes Away at Age 102
NEW YORK (JTA) -
Dr. Mordecai Kaplan, the
founder of the Reconstruc-
tionist movement and con-
sidered one of the most in-
fluential scholars in the his-
tory of Judaism, died Nov.
8 at the Hebrew Home for
the Aged in Riverdale, N.Y.
He was 102 years old.
Many of the key developments
in Jewish life today are based on
concepts Kaplan developed
during his long career 
concepts like the organic Jewish
community, Judaism as a
religious civilization with its
spiritual center in Israel, the syn-
agogue center and summer camp
movements, Jewish community
centers, the public celebration of
Bat Mitzvah, and an American
version of the European self-gov-
erning Jewish community
(kehillal
KAPLAN'S ideological history
was one of a struggle between the
Orthodox beliefs he was taught
and by which he lived, until he
decided that such a Jewish out-
look was incompatible with the
outlook of Jews born and raised
in the unique freedom of Ameri-
can life. Out of that struggle, the
Reconstructionist philosophy
emerged. He was denounced by
the Orthodox who put him in
herem (excommunication), a
somewhat less than drastic ban
in an open society.
Kaplan originally developed
Reconstructionism not as
another branch of Judaism but as
a stimulation to thinking in non-
Orthodox forums. His ideas pro-
foundly influenced Reform and
Conservative Judaism. But the
pressures for change which his
teachings generated lad to the
crystallization of the movement
in its own institutions.
One was the Society for the
Advancement of Judaism (SAJ),
the pilot Reconstructionist con-
gregation in Manhattan, which
Kaplan founded and served as
rabbi even while continuing his
teaching duties at the Jewish
Theological Seminary of America
and his busy schedule of writing
and lecturing.
KAPLAN ALSO founded the
Reconstructionist Rabbinical
College in Philadelphia and
taught in it. The Reconstruction-
ist movement also has a network
of congregations in many parts of
the United States and Canada, in
addition to the Mevakshei
Derech synagogue in Jerusalem,
and its own journal, "The Recon-
structionist. '
With the publication in the
1930's of his major work, "Juda-
ism aa a Civilization," Kaplan
delineated the basic structure of
his outlook, in which he defined
the elements of an "evolving reli-
gious civilization." This was to
be developed in his prolific
writing over many decades. A
bibliography of his printed works
on the occasion of his 100th
birthday included over 700 items.
Born in Lithuania, Kaplan
came to the U.S. with his parents
at the age of eight. A student at
the JTS from the age of 12,
Kaplan was ordained in 1902 and
began to serve as "minister" of
Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun
in New York. Later be became
the rabbi there after receiving his
ordination on a trip to Europe in
1908.
Kaplan was considered an in-
tellectual giant and was one of
the key figures, along with Judah
Magnes, Israel Fried lander and
Samson Benderly. in the devel-
opment of various intellectual
circles in New York before World
War I. One of his earnest acts
was the founding of Young
Israel.
Rabbi Alexander Schindler
But Schindler stressed that the
Reform movement had done very
little research on the aspects of
conversion and he was therefore
proposing the creation of an Ins-
titute for Reform Jewish Public
Policy, jointly undertaken by the
UAHC. the CCAR and the
| Hebrew Union College-Jewish
Institute of Religion, the Reform
seminary, "to undertake such a
comprehensive study" of all
elements of mixed marriages and
conversion.
REGARDING ISRAEL,
Schindler declared that American
Reform Jews must do everything
possible to support Israel
"economically and politically and
with every resource at our
command." He said he was
making this statement despite
the refusal of the Orthodox-
dominated rabbinate in Israel to
recognize Reform Judaism.
He stressed that he "had
nothing against Orthodox Jews
per se. What I denounce is the
politicized element within
modern Orthodoxy that appeals
to the coercive power of (the
Israeli) State rather than to the
conscience of the individual
Noting that the discrimination
by the Orthodox establishment
against non-Orthodox Jews is
"a mockery" and "a perversion,"
Schindler said that "these
narrow-minded attitudes and
schemes are destructive of
Orthodoxy itself." He said
Reform Jews would have to fight
such conditions in Israel until
achieve that full equality
"we
which
Jews.'
is our entitlement aa
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