K/emsti Ulariidnai m
Off Tampa
(6 Number 13
Tampa, Florida Friday, March 30, 1984
Ffd Shochtl
Price 35 Cents


Former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to Address Tampa April 4
ier Israeli Prime Minister,
lhak Rabin, will speak in
hpa on Wednesday, April 4, 8
at Congregation Rodeph
om, 2713 Bayshore
Uevard. Rabin will be the
k speaker at the closing
jit of the 1984 Tampa Jewish
eration-United Jewish
eal Campaign. This special
lit is open to all contributors
he 1984 campaign.
This is the first time that this
f event has been held in
Dpa and we are looking for-
to a successful conclusion of
'84 campaign," John
jerweil, General Campaign
lirman stated.
fitzhak Rabin was born in
J--H lem where his father
after coming to the
itry from the United States
Ing World War I as a Jewish
Legion volunteer. His mother
was an early member of
Haganah, the underground
volunteer army of the pre-State
period.
In common with many of his
contemporaries, on leaving
school he enlisted in the struggle
for Jewish independence. He
volunteered for the Palmach, the
crack unit of the Haganah, and,
with this, there began a career
dedicated to Israel's security that
was to last 27 years. By its end,
he had reached the supreme rank
of Chief of the General Staff and
with it, Commander of the Israel
Defense Forces in the 1967 Six
Day War.
Yitzhak Rabin retired from the
army on January 1,1968. Shortly
afterwards he was appointed
Israel's Ambassador to the
United States.
During his five year tour of
duty in Washington, he estab-
lished a reputation as an
unusually influential ambas-
sador.
His knowledge of Israel's
defensive needs combined with
this grasp of the political
processes taking shape in the
Middle East won the attention of
the Administration, Congress
and the national leadership
generally. Close working ties
emerged that contributed much
to the dialogue of cooperation
and friendship between Israel
and the United States. It was as
Ambassador that Yitzhak Rabin
revealed the qualities that were
to eventually elevate him to the
post of Prime Minister.
He returned to Jerusalem in
the spring of 1973 and became
active in the Labor party ranks.
In the national election of
December 31, 1973, he gained a
Knesset seat representing the
Labor Alignment and with the
formation of the Golda Meir
Cabinet in March 1974, he was
appointed Minister of Labor.
He was nominated by the
Labor party as its choice for
Premier following Mrs. Meir's
resignation in April 1974. He
served as premier until June
1977. Mr. Rabin is presently a
member of the Knesset.
The Rabin meeting will be open
to all contributors to the 1984
Tampa Jewish Federation-United
Jewish Appeal campaign and
there will be no admission charge.
Anyone who has not made their
pledge to the campaign may do
so at the event. Refreshments
will follow the program.

Yitzhak Rabin
For Baptist
Jewish Was the Only Way
jen members of the Tampa Jewish community attended the
lional United Jewish Appeal Young Leadership Conference in
\hington, March 11 and 12. Seen meeting with Congressmen
hael Bilirahis are (left to right) LUi Kaufmann, Patty Kalish,
iiam Kalish, Congressman Bilirahis, Don Weinbren, Phyliss
varsky, Dr. Irwin Browarsky, and Joseph Kerstein. The Tampa
gation also met with Congressman Sam Gibbons and Florida
itors Paula Hawkins and Law ton Chiles. Over 2,000 young leaders
l across the United States participated in the Conference that was
iessed by President Reagan.
fa Chile
ormer Senator's Charges
gainst Jews Denounced
SANTIAGO (JTA) The Chilean Jewish
immunity has sharply denounced the charges made by a
|rmer Senator that Jews were responsible for the
nnomic ruin of the country, the World Jewish Congress
Iports.
The former Senator, Armando Jaramillo Ly<ra.
kelled the charge during a radio program called "Open
lialogue" in which the political situation in the country
[as being debated. Remarking on the desperate state of
|e economy, he declared:
"Why should we not say that this is due to a plan
iplemented by Jews, too, and it is they who, at this
loment, are actively promoting a whole economic process
Ihich has apparently led to the destruction and ex-
Y mi nation of our country's economy."
In a swift response, the Comite Representative de las
fotidades Judias de Chile, the representative body of
%ilean Jewry and the WJCongress affiliate here,
ablished a denunciation of this "anti-Jewish in-
tement." The statement was signed by Dr. Werner Apt,
Resident of the Comite, and Hernan Fischman, secretary-
Bneral.
The two Jewish leaders reported that Jaramillo Lyon
[ant even further when he later sought to "explain" his
Vmarks. He said that "(the American economist) Milton
Tiedman belongs to the synagogues as do his assistants"
id that he had been criticizing only "the Jew Friedman.
JERUSALEM The
Baal Shem Tov, founder of
the Hasidic movement,
once wrote, "The world is
new to us every morning 
this is God's gift; and every
man should believe he is
reborn each day."
For Dr. John Davidson,
presently a first-year rabbinic
student at Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of
Religion in Jerusalem, these
words hold special meaning. Born
in Beaumont, Tex., into a family
of pious Baptists, "proud East
Texas mongrel stock whose Bible
began with Matthew and whose
year began at Easter," he ex-
plains, Dr. Davidson is a Jew by
choice whose commitment has led
him into the world of rabbinics at
HUC
DR. DAVIDSON remembers a
happy childhood in East Texas.
His father, a mechanical
engineer, and his mother, a home
economics teacher, were both
part-time musicians at their
church. He completed high school
in 1971 as valedictorian, National
Merit Scholar and student body
president, and then entered
Baylor University in Waco, Tex.,
"a city of Baptists, chicken-fried
steak and the Brazos Queen."
It was at Baylor that Dr.
Davidson, a religion major, read
"The Essence of Judaism" and
"This People Israel" by Dr. Leo
Baeck, leader of German Jewry
during the Nazi era, and was
taught by his professors "that
above all else, our task is to
struggle with God." Thus, "this
congenial Baptist began the
transformation into a Jew by
choice," he reveals.
After receiving his BA degree
magna cum laud*, in 1975, Dr.
Davidson moved to Houston to
attend Baylor College of
Medicine. While "delivering 50 or
so babies, assisting at dozens and
dozens of coronary bypasses and
listening to innumerable patients
describe the relentleas progress of
their chronic diseases," he also
continued his study of Judaism,
attended services at Congrega-
tion Beth Israel and maried 
"childhood friend of heart and
For Him to Go
mind." On November 30, 1979,
following hi* graduation from
medical school, Dr. Davidson,
together with his wife, formally
converted to Judaism under the
guidance of Rabbi Hyman Judah
Schachtel, a 1931 graduate of
Hebrew Union College, rabbi-
emeritus of Beth Israel.
"HE CAME to me," Rabbi
Schachtel relates, "already
convinced he wanted to become a
Jew. His own search for the
spiritual approach to life and
man's attitude toward God led
him to Judaism."
After completing medical
school. Dr. Davidson spent three
years as a professor at the
University of Texas Nursing
School, teaching physiology and
anatomy. This was followed by a
medical internship at the Univer-
sity of Cincinnati's teaching
hospital, during which he decided
to apply to Hebrew Union
College.
"I haave no tolerance for
remaining as ignorant as I
presently am regarding Jewish
sources and ritual," Dr.
Davidson says in explaining his
decision to enter HUC. "Judaism
is not for me a congenital conve-
nience. Everything is new, espe-
cially in ritual and observance."
Like all first-year rabbinic
students at the Jerusalem
School, Dr. Davidson is con-
centrating on mastering the
Hebrew language. Norma
Davidson is attending a
municipal ulpan, singing in the
HUC choir and "generally
keeping us both sane."
LOOKING BACK now, what
Continued on Page 7


>Vip \V2V na^n
x.
DR. JOHN DAVIDSON IN ISRAEL
M.. .--.-