Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012, December 02, 1980, Image 1

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    emerald
Vol. 82, No. 62
f
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Tuesday, December 2, 1980
L’chaim
Jewish Student Union striving for campus unity
By MIKE RUST
Of ttw EmaraM
The University's Jewish
Student Union is a jack-of-all
trades
On the one hand, the union
reassures Jewish and Israeli
students suddenly immersed
in Eugene’s mellowspeak cul
ture.
On the other, the JSU
promotes and explains Jewish
culture to the University com
munity.
And the organization is poli
tically involved because, as
JSU director Bill DiMarco puts
it, “the very existence of the
State of Israel is itself a threat
to some people's political
thinking.”
However, DiMarco is quick
to point out that the JSU has
no desire to become another
obscure participant in the par
tisan political battles fought
with speeches and pamphlets
in and around the EMU.
“Instead of counter-demon
strating, we d like to turn it
around and be a force for unity
on campus — a group that's
known for cooperation with
other groups.”
In keeping with this goal, the
JSU helped coordinate the
benefit for Cambodian relief
last spring The organization
also has brought the plight of
Soviet dissidents to the atten
tion of the University com
munity. Next February, the
JSU will bring Edward Kuznet
sov, a Jew who left the Soviet
Union a year ago, to campus
JSU members speak to high
schools students, church
groups or anyone else inter
ested in Jewish culture
Beginning winter term, JSU
classes in Hebrew, Israeli cul
ture and issues and folk danc
ing will be accredited.
“Around 25 percent of the
people attending the classes
and social events aren't
Jewish, which we really try to
encourage," DiMarco says.
“We want students to know
that the JSU exists for the
whole campus.”
Among the non-Jewish
students of Hebrew are Christ
ians who plan to use the lan
guage in their Biblical studies
However, DiMarco is realist
ic about the union’s identity
on campus.
"Jewish culture isn’t what
most people are interested in
Most people are primarily in
terested in Israel because of
the Mideast situation and how
it affects America "
The JSU provides informa
tion about study opportunities
and travel in Israel as well as
emigration.
While most students as
sociate the JSU with Israel,
they probably hold many false
stereotypes, DiMarco says
The organization is “not a
nest of Reaganites," nor is it
filled with knee-jerk sup
porters of the Israeli govern
ment, he says. Rather, JSU
members “support the ideas
that established the State of
Israel and the formation of a
democratic society for all
groups in the area
“There are hotheads and
fanatics on both sides Peace
is a definite possibility if prob
lems of leadership are elimin
ated on both sides ”
DiMarco half-seriously sug
gests that removing the pre
sent leaders of the Soviet
Union, the United States and
the Palestine Liberation Or
ganization, as well as some
Israeli leaders, would go a
long way to promoting peace
in the region
The Mideast issue aside,
most JSU members have no
trouble blending into the poli
tical landscape of the Univer
sity Many are associated with
a monthly newspaper called
David's Sling that is published
in Eugene. The paper en
dorsed Independent presiden
tial candidate John Anderson
in the November election.
Most JSU members con
sider themselves Zionists, but
only under their own defini
Hanukkah finds new meaning
For eight days beginning
today, Jews around the world
will light a candle at dusk in
observance of Hanukkah.
The "Festival of Lights"
celebrates the ancient victory
of Jewish patriots over Syrian
armies that invaded Israel in
167 B.C. The Jewish uprising
in 164 B.C. gave the Jews
nearly a century of indepen
dence
Predictably, the holiday has
changed since its beginnings
"Hanukkah was much more
spiritual than it is now,
especially in the Middle
Ages," says Rabbi Myron Kin
berg of Eugene's Temple Beth
Israel. "Since the establish
merit of the State of Israel, it
has become much more na
tionalistic.
“For Americans it's really
cultural, but in Israel it’s more
a nationalistic and political
celebration.”
The commercialization of
Christmas also has affected
Hanukkah in the United States
and other predominantly
Christian countries.
Many Jews have adopted
Christmas practices — such as
sending cards — and many
Jewish parents give gifts at
Hanukkah so their children
won’t feel left out.
“In America, to balance the
influence of Christmas parties,
we do Hanukkah parties,”
says Kinberg. Jodi Cohen, one
of almost 500 Jewish students
and faculty members at the
University, plans to have a
Hanukkah party for her gentile
friends so they can "see what
Hanukkah’s like.”
The festival itself is a time for
singing songs, eating “potato
latkes” and spinning the
dreidel, a four-sided top that
children and adults use in var
ious gambling games.
Unlike Yom Kippur,
Hanukkah is not particularly
religious. The only special
prayer, says Kinberg, is one
"reminding us about the vic
tory of the poor over the rich."
tion To many American Jews,
Zionism “means signing a
check,” DiMarco says.
"If Zionism is sticking to a
particular traditional border
without regard to the con
sequences for innocent peo
ple, then I’m not a Zionist,” he
explains. “But if it means
believing that a State of Israel
can be set up to benefit all the
people, then I'm a Zionist.”
While DiMarco downplays
the issue, instances of anti
Semitism pop up occasionally
in the Eugene area.
Nazi grafitti has appeared,
and earlier this year a member
of a communist organization
shouted "Kill the Jews” at a
rally outside the EMU
“If something like an oil cutt
off takes place, it'll be easier
to blame it on Israel or the
American Jewish community
than it would be to blame it on
American lack of finesse in
dealing with the Arab govern
ments in the Mideast, ” DiMar
co says.
Among members of the
campus community, know
ledge of the Jewish culture
and the Mideast situation is
“very rudimentary,” accord
ing to DiMarco One small
group is very aware and sup
ports Israel, while to another
small group it’s a "code word”
similar to imperialism that
evokes a strong negative re
sponse.
"Then there's a big middle
ground," DiMarco says.
“They’re not sure where it is.
They may have read Exodus.'
They know the Israelis are
good fighters."
Supreme Court decides to rule on all-male draft
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme
Court said Monday it will decide whether
any U S. military draft, or draft registra
tion, must include women.
In a case likely to become the most
closely watched controversy now before
the high court, the justices will decide
whether a male-only draft unlawfully
discriminates against men.
The court’s eventual decision likely will
not be announced until next May or
June. Oral arguments probably will be
held sometime in March.
In Eugene, anti-draft activists received
the news cooly.
Alan Siporin, director of the Coalition
Opposed to Registration and the Draft,
said he would have to await more
developments before commenting on
the court's decision.
"People would have been pretty sur
prised if they (the court) hadn’t decided
to hear the case,” said Dave Fidanque,
legislative aide to Rep. Jim Weaver, D
Ore.
However, Fidanque said the case
could lead to new precedents on the
issue of equal protection for men and
women.
“There’s plenty of legal issues to deal
with in there that they (the court) couldn’t
ignore.”
Historically, young American men
have been required to register for possi
ble military service and to serve. Young
women face no such obligations.
A three-judge federal court panel in
Philadelphia last July struck down the
system, citing unconstitutional sex bias.
If the Supreme Court were to uphold
that ruling, Congress would have to
amend the Military Selective Service Act
to include women as potential draftees.
Despite the lower court’s ruling, some
4 million men were required to register
for the draft last July. If registration and
the draft are ruled unconstitutional, the
goverment might have to destroy all
records of that registration.
There has been no military draft since
1973. Even if the male-only registration is
upheld, Congress still would have to
pass a new law before call-ups could be
resumed.
While arguments before the Supreme
I
I
Emerald graphic
Court likely will be limited to the validity
of draft registration, the three-judge
panel's decision struck down the entire
Military Selective Service Act, which
includes induction as well as registra
tion.
The case does not involve the separate
policy of not assigning female enlistees
to combat duty.
The legal challenge that led to the July
18 ruling was filed in 1971 by three
Pennsylvania men as a protest to the
Vietnam war. It had gone unnoticed in
the federal courts for years but was
revived last December when President
Carter reinstituted draft registration in
the wake of the Soviet Union’s interven
tion in Afghanistan.
On July 19, Justice William Brennan
allowed the government to go ahead with
its July 21 registration of all 19- and
20-year-old men.
The court’s decision conceivably
could have an effect on the future of the
proposed Equal Rights Amendment.
Opponents to ERA have pointed to the
drafting of women as one of the amend
ment's evils, but such an obligation now
could come about without the ERA.
If the ERA were to become part of the
Constitution, courts would have to use
the same "strict scrutiny” to cases of
alleged sexual bias as they now do in
cases of alleged racial or religious dis
crimination.