This morning I had the pleasure of speaking to Prof. Richard Stone an old friend and colleague.He is the Chairman-elect of the Conference of Presidents.
Richard, a Prof. of Law at Columbia was intimately involved in the OU during my Presidency,snd succeeded me as head of IPA (Ins5titute of Public Affairs).Today he heads the Soviet Jewry movement, which still does terrific work in the former Soviet Union.
Of course I wished him well,as he take office at a critical moment in US-ISRAEL relations. The speech yesterday presents a great challenge to Israel.As does the Sept. UN meeting.
Another problem is the makeup of the Presidents Conf. with its 23 organizations.They range from left to right,secular to orthodox and reform to Orthodox.The new head of Reform Jewry is a J Street advocate.
Therefore the goal is to present a united front,avoid splits or even a breakup of the org.
Luckily he, Malcolm Hoenlein,the Executive V.P. as well as the previous Chairmen have proven leadership abilities and will help create a response that the majority will follow.
An addendum to yesterday.When I looked out the rear window of my Netanya apt.,the distance to pre-1967 territory was 8 miles.On one occasion Bibi invited me to walk with him and the Likud Youth to a Netanya rally from with 2-3 miles of the old border.I was huffing and puffing in my shabbos shoes.Today Im believe the border is closer to 50 miles.
