YOUNG ISRAEL
Dr. Laura Has Her
Share of Admirers

By NINA BOXER

EAFFIRMING her heritage as a truth revealed at Sinai, Dr. Laura Schlessinger urged members of Young Israel to “deliver this message to our own people who have sadly forgotten their heritage. We must deliver this message to the world at large.”

She’s been doing that on her controversial syndicated radio program. For taking a firm stand against homosexual practices, for instance, Dr. Laura has been vilified by many listeners and canceled by some radio outlets.

She was warned not to talk Judaism, as there is much anti-Semitism. Yet she said the first support she got was from Christian groups.

It’s not fun getting hate mail, she said. At times it’s painful, “but definitely worth it.”

For every letter criticizing her for her “preaching and nagging” about a return to a moral code of conduct, she received “hundreds more thanking me for leading them to healthier, more meaningful lives.”

Schlessinger was inspired to explore Judaism after a discussion with her son Derek about the Holocaust. She was converted first at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles and then by Rabbi Reuven P. Bulka of Congregation Machzikei Hadas in Ottawa.

“As a convert, I don’t miss cheeseburgers,” she said as she accepted a national heritage award at the National Council of Young Israel 89^th anniversary dinner at the Sheraton New York.

Undaunted by personal attacks in the media, Schlessinger called upon the dinner guests to stand with her and “take your heritage public.”

“We are not involved in a debate in which there exists the possibility of either side being right, or whoever articulates their viewpoints with more clarity and persuasion wins.”

She said her heritage represents truth, and “the Torah instructs us as God’s chosen people to deliver the truth.”

Esther Pollard

A surprise guest at the National Council for Young Israel dinner was Jonathan Pollard’s wife, Esther.

She said her husband was deeply disappointed he was not among the 176 clemencies and pardons granted by President Bill Clinton.

“The Jewish leadership and the government of Israel lobbied more convincingly to obtain a pardon for Marc Rich – a man who was not in prison or in mortal danger – than they did for Jonathan Pollard.”

This was all the more painful when one realizes that Pollard “did not spy against the United States. Jonathan is a Jew who spied for Israel, America’s closest ally. He warned Israel that Saddam Hussein was planning to scorch the Jewish state.

“This vital information was being withheld by her American ally. Because of Jonathan, Israel was ready with gas masks and sealed rooms during the Gulf War.”

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