Jewish Religious Leaders Present Letter of Concerns to President

Jewish religious leaders took time during Chanukah festivities at the White House last week to inform President Bush of their concerns on foreign and domestic issues.

In a letter delivered to the president during a White House Chanukah celebration on Dec. 21, leaders of the Synagogue Council of America asked Bush to keep a close watch for a possible increase in anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe, in the wake of glasnost, and to continue efforts for emigration reform in the Soviet Union.

They also said the Jewish religious community “stands ready” to work with the Bush administration on such domestic issues as homelessness, health care, the environment and prevention of drug abuse.

The letter was signed by SCA President Joel Zaiman, Executive Vice President Henry Michel-man and Martin Barell, chairman of the organization’s board of governors. The SCA is an umbrella body of the six major congregational and rabbinic organizations of American Jewry.

SCA representatives and other American Jewish leaders participated in the Chanukah celebration as guests of the White House at a party that had been intended for Jewish staffers in the Bush administration.

The event was held in a room in the Old Executive Office Building, instead of the White House proper, because the White House was extensively decked with Christmas decorations, and officials did not want to offend their Jewish guests.

But the Christmas ambience was more difficult to escape than administration officials originally thought. A Christmas tree that would have been difficult to move stood in the room where the Chanukah celebration was planned.

The Jewish visitors were asked by the officials if covering the tree during the ceremony would suffice, and they assented.

The president appeared at the event, despite a schedule scaled back because of his preoccupation with the U.S. invasion of Panama two days earlier. He spoke of the menorah as a “powerful symbol of faith and freedom.”