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4 Nissan 5761 - March 28, 2001 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Oval Office Snubs Reform, Conservative Movements
by Yated Ne'eman Staff

President Bush held his first White House meeting with leaders of Jewish communal organizations a few weeks ago, but the heads of the Reform and Conservative movements were left off the guest list.

Acccording to the Forward, leaders of two Orthodox groups joined colleagues from a half-dozen non-religious Jewish organizations at the March 7 parley. Reform and Conservative movements were conspicuously missing.

The slight raises questions about access to the Bush White House. Some observers suggested that the guest list reflected a desire by Bush to meet with groups that have backed him. Whatever Bush's reasoning, the guest list is being taken as a sign of who's up and who's down in Washington.

"The president wants to talk to people who are supportive," said the head of the Reform movement's Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Eric Yoffie. "The Orthodox Union is. We're not."

Several attendees said that representatives of the non- religious Jewish groups voiced the views of the Reform and Conservative movements. They included the American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, the Anti-Defamation League, B'nai B'rith International, Hadassah and United Jewish Communities.

Most attendees interviewed by the Forward downplayed the significance of the two movements being left out. "I don't think we should read too much into these things," said one participant, Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. "They wanted to keep it small," he said.

In addition to the community groups present, nine representatives of the Republican Jewish Coalition took part, according to the group's executive director Matthew Brooks.

The two Orthodox groups represented, Agudas Yisroel of America and the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, are strong supporters of parts of Bush's domestic agenda, including school vouchers and faith-based social services. Both were careful to reach out to Bush even before his inauguration.

The Reform movement has been a vocal opponent of both policies.

Less clear was the reason for excluding the Conservative movement, which has not taken a position on the contested issues.

Rabbi David Zweibel, executive vice president for government and public affairs at Agudas Yisroel, defended the president's guest list and said the non-religious groups adequately reflected Reform and Conservative viewpoints.

On the other hand, he said, if Mr. Bush were to have left out the Orthodox, it would have been "a misportrayal of the American Jewish community."

"We did notice that we weren't there and that other groups were there," said the executive vice president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, Jerome Epstein. "Our issue is trying to figure out if this is a one-time occurrence" or "a deliberate decision."

The Forward article noted that other groups left off the invitation list included the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, an association of Jewish community relations councils, and the National Council of Jewish Women.

Neither the White House press office nor the president's liaison to the Jewish community, Adam Goldman, who was present at the March 7 exchange, would comment on the meeting or how the invitees were selected.

A one-time Republican White House liaison to the Jewish community, Jacob Stein, is also a former Conservative movement official. He said he was surprised that the Conservative movement had not been included in the meeting.

Since the discussion addressed issues of faith-based funding and social welfare, he said, "I would have thought they would have the full spectrum" of Jewish religious organizations.

Bush devoted much of the meeting, which lasted nearly an hour, to the Middle East.

The president "could not have been stronger in every reference" to Israel, said Mr. Hoenlein, whose group, a coalition of 54 national organizations, is often seen in Washington as the main voice of organized American Jews.

According to the Forward, Bush discussed his policy of dual containment toward Iran and Iraq, and he spoke of the need to check the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East and to build strategic alliances with moderate nations in the region, several participants said. He also argued for the development of a missile-defense system.

Several of those present noted the president's evident willingness to consider divergent points of view and his familiarity with a broad range of Jewish concerns, from the threat of Iranian-sponsored terrorism to the Workplace Religious Freedom Act, which would require employers to accommodate needs of religious employees.

The chief executive officer of United Jewish Communities, Stephen Solender, said he cautioned the president on changing tax policy, urging him to maintain tax incentives that encourage charitable donations, because "our social services are so dependent on those contributions."

 

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