[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 82 (Thursday, June 12, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1199]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          RABBINIC CABINET VISITS JEWISH COMMUNITY IN TUNISIA

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROBERT C. SCOTT

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 12, 1997

  Mr. SCOTT. Mr. Speaker, I wish to recommend the following article to 
my colleagues authored by Rabbi Israel Zoberman entitled ``Rabbinic 
Cabinet visits Jewish community in Tunisia'' which appeared in the 
March 14, 1997, edition of the Southeastern Virginia Jewish News. I 
commend Rabbi Zoberman for his efforts to promote peace in the Middle 
East.

      [From the Southeastern Virginia Jewish News, Mar. 14, 1997]

          Rabbinic Cabinet Visits Jewish Community in Tunisia

                       (By Rabbi Israel Zoberman)

       Toward the end of January 1997, I traveled to Tunisia as a 
     member of the National Rabbinic Cabinet of the United Jewish 
     Appeal in a historic mission, the first of its kind to 
     represent all the religious movements of American Jewry. The 
     14 rabbis and three spouses visited the Tunisian Jewish 
     community that is at least 2,000 years old. The Middle East 
     peace process made it possible to visit this remarkable, 
     moderate Arab state that never fought with Israel. Tunisian 
     President Ben Ali has been an active and proud participant in 
     the on-going grand venture to transform a region that has 
     known the burden of costly wars and much suffering, yet is 
     the cradle of human civilization and the birthplace of the 
     three great monotheistic religions.
       The Muslim country of Tunisia, which was freed from French 
     rule in 1956, is located in North Africa in the southern 
     Mediterranean with Libya and Algeria as neighbors. In a 
     population close to nine million people, there are about 
     1,900 Jews, almost equally divided between the capital Tunis 
     in the north and the island of Jerba in the south. The once 
     flourishing Jewish community, which is still quite 
     traditional, numbered over 100,000 members before the 
     establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
       We witnessed first-hand the dedicated labor of faithful 
     love of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee 
     (known as JDC and the ``Joint''), led by Evelyn Peters, in 
     maintaining human dignity for the old and young, ever ready 
     to act on the highest principles and values of the Jewish 
     legacy. As a young child who was born in Kazakhstan in 1945, 
     my own family of Polish holocaust survivors benefited from 
     the JDC's humanitarian services when we were in the Displaced 
     Persons Camp of Wetzlar at Frankfurt, Germany, in the 
     American zone of occupation, from 1947 to 1949, prior 
     to moving to Israel.
       We were warmly received by Chief Rabbi Haim Mador, the lay 
     leaders and members of the Jewish community as well as by the 
     officials of the Tunisian Foreign Ministry who were our kind 
     hosts at a kosher dinner with which they broke the Ramadan 
     fast! We also had an unforgettable reception in Tunis at the 
     official residence of the American Ambassador, Mary Ann 
     Casey. She and her staff were most gracious welcoming us and 
     responding to our questions and insights. They truly made us 
     feel at home away from home. Our nation ought to be proud of 
     the high quality diplomatic team we have in that sensitive 
     and volatile part of the world!
       Joined by the affable Gideon Behar in the absence of Shalom 
     Cohen, head of Israel's Economic Interest Section, we learned 
     of Israel's budding diplomatic presence which, to its 
     discomfort and concern, is still housed at a hotel, and of 
     its earnest desire to have a greater impact on building 
     friendly and mutually productive relations with Tunisia.
       Our Rabbinic delegation continued to Israel via Rome in the 
     improved climate of renewed hope for the peace process 
     following the signing of the Hebron agreement between Prime 
     Minister Netanyahu and Chairman Arafat. However, the tragic 
     accident of the collision between two helicopters resulting 
     in the death of 73 IDF soldiers on the way to their positions 
     in Lebanon's security zone, united the entire small people in 
     mourning, bringing out its unique sense of family. At the 
     same time, it triggered an essential debate, though a heated 
     one, on relations with Lebanon and Syria, particularly the 
     pivotal role of the latter, being the real power broker in 
     keeping alive (and deadly) the Hezbollah attacks on Israeli 
     forces who are ultimately guarding the Israeli northern 
     border and beyond.
       The impressive presence of the aircraft carrier Theodore 
     Roosevelt in Haifa Bay was a moving statement of the powerful 
     bond between the United States, the world's last superpower, 
     and its brave and reliable ally, the Jewish State. I was 
     reminded of my privilege a few years back to speak in 
     commemoration of the Holocaust aboard that Norfolk-based 
     great symbol of American resolve and capability.
       We met with Tunisian Jews in Israel and witnessed their 
     accomplishments and sacrifices. In the southern town of 
     Ofakim, we were in a synagogue modeled after the one left in 
     Jerba. In the nearby Moshav Gilat our host was Aharon Uzon, a 
     former Minister of Agriculture, whose soldier son Shelomo was 
     killed in action and the settlement's synagogue bears his 
     name. Our enchanting guide, Dr. Esther Schely-Newman of the 
     Hebrew university, grew up there and received her doctorate 
     from the University of Chicago.
       We were delightfully exposed to the JDC's collaborative 
     creative work in Israel reaching out to children of 
     disadvantaged and problematic families as well as rejoicing 
     with teenagers from the former Soviet Union who displayed 
     through Hebrew song an admirable peace and spirit of 
     absorption into the ancestral homeland which by their own 
     heroic efforts they now proudly claim as their own.

     

                          ____________________