From: chrism@cirrus.com (Chris Metcalfe)
Subject: Wayne on Yeheshua Leibowitz
Organization: Cirrus Logic Inc.
Distribution: talk
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 20:03:25 GMT

In article <1993Jan6.1777.22122@channel1> "wayne mcguire" <wayne.mcguire@channel1.com> writes:
>To: Josh Backon
>
> JB> Leibowitz (whose biography was written up 2 weeks ago in
> JB> Jerusalem's KOL HA'IR weekly magazine on the occasion of his
> JB> 90th birthday) is a religious fanatic who believes in
> JB> replacing Israeli secular law with Jewish law (HALACHA).
> JB> Quite convenient that you didn't mention this which only
> JB> goes to show how LITTLE you really know on the Israeli
> JB> situation.
>
>That is an egregiously false statement, Josh. I just finished
>reading Leibowitz's book in its entirety, and the truth is
>entirely the opposite: he believes in the strict separation of
>religion and state. Leibowitz believes that the bleeding together
>of Judaism and secular Zionism is corrupting both of them.

Perhaps you should also read "The Faith of Maimonides" by 
Leibowitz, Wayne.  In this work he fully subscribes to the
halachic life, which includes settling in Eretz Yisrael.
Leibowitz is a Jerushalmi no less.

>Judaism, Human Values, and the Jewish State is a profound work,
>Josh. I know greatness when I see it, and Leibowitz has all the
>hallmarks. This book is going to create waves that will
>reverberate for many decades, and quite possibly longer.

Again with the "opinion elites in the West."  Nu?  You are
truly demented Wayne:

>You don't realize by what a thin thread Israel is hanging in the
>Western world. Writers like Leibowitz, Harkabi and Neusner are
>among a small group of Israelis and Diaspora Zionists whom
>opinion elites in the West listen to with any respect. And yet
>you and many other Israelis insult their sanity, intelligence and
>character without taking the trouble to address any of the
>substantive ideas in their works.
>
>No wonder Israel is increasingly going down the tubes....

Care to provide substantive evidence that Israel is going down
the tubes?  I need a citation here, Wayne, nothing less will
do.  Otherwise, I might have to believe that you are simply
an "emotional detractor of Israel."

>The day you lose your Leibowitz's, Harkabi's and Neusner's is the
>day that Israel is going to be finished.
>---
> ~ OLX 3.01 31-2557 ~ state of the art cryptographic technology
>--
>Channel 1 (R)   Cambridge, MA

=================================================================

Far from going down the tubes...

=================================================================

             Attention Israel Line Recipients
 
               Thursday, December 31, 1992

Positive Growth Forecasted for Israeli Economy in 1993;
Unemployment Not Expected to Decline Due to Immigration
 
Israel Radio, KOL YISRAEL, quotes a special economic forecast
prepared by the "Economic Models" company upon request of the radio
station, claiming that although Israel can expect a 6% growth in
the business sector product, unemployment will remain at 11.5% due
to 100,000 new immigrants which are expected to arrive in Israel in
1993. The forecast predicts a good year for the Israeli economy,
similar to the last two years when the business sector product grew
at an annual rate of 7%.  Inflation is expected to fall between 8%
and 9% in 1993.  KOL YISRAEL: As of tomorrow, Israel's trade
agreement with EFTA countries (Switzerland, Sweden, Finland,
Austria, Norway and Island) will be similar to the agreement
between the EFTA and the EEC. The new agreement will grant Israeli
exporters a customs exemption on all industrial products as well as
reduced tariffs on food and agricultural products.

=================================================================

Far from going down the tubes...

=================================================================

(Article by Gabi Bashan, "Ha'aretz", 8.9.92, p. 1b)

DESPITE ALL THE PREDICTIONS THE ISRAELI ECONOMY IS IN THE MIDST OF  A
PROCESS OF GROWTH, THE LIKES OF WHICH HAVE NOT  BEEN  SEEN  FOR  SOME
TIME.

Realization  of  the  profits  registered  this  week  on  the  stock
exchange, after a long period of continuously climbing  rates,  cools
the mood slightly and enables examining if in truth  "the  market  is
boiling over" and "the balloon is about to pop", as many professional
doomsayers enjoy predicting, or perhaps what is at issue is a logical
economic progression.

Firstly,  all  attempts  at  comparison  with  the   past   must   be
disregarded. The stock exchange of  1992  bears  not  even  a  chance
resemblance to the exchange of 1982. The market has expanded, methods
of trade have altered, direct investment by  the  general  public  in
shares has nearly entirely disappeared, and new forces are at work in
the market, which were not active previously.

But the exchange is only a mirror of the economy, and here as well we
live in a totally different world. The early years of the 1980's were
characterized by an economic freeze, a rise in  consumption,  a  real
growth in salary and above all -- with uninhibited inflation.

But today's  scene  is  different.  The  exchange  has  been  growing
continuously since 1989, and share rates have risen in this period by
about 600%, from an index of 100 to 700.

In retrospect, it appears that the increase overlaps identically with
the growth period of the market. A market which grows at  an  average
rate of 6% annually, and whose exports grow at an average rate of  7%
annually, can be defined, even when understating it, as a market with
a positive atmosphere.

The background for  the  economic  changes  is  social  and  security
related, even though fundamentally it was begun by a  technical  step
-- setting the exchange rate, which compelled industrialists to  make
their production processes efficient.

At precisely the moment that this process reached its apex, came  the
immigration boom. An increase of 10% in the population during a  very
short period, less than two years, cannot but make its mark.

One  of  the  most  positive  outcomes  of  this  immigration,  whose
contribution to growth and halting the inflation was crucial, is  the
erosion of salary. This derives actually from a  negative  phenomenon
from  the  aspect  of  society  --  a  rise  in  unemployment,  which
intensified what economists call in sterile language "flexibility  of
the job market," or in simpler language -- erosion of salary.

With all due regret over the personal situation of  every  unemployed
and every salaried worker whose pay has eroded,  one  must  be  aware
that what is concerned is an erosion which compensates for  illogical
pay raises, which were paid precisely  during  the  period  when  the
market was  frozen  in  place,  the  1980's,  primarily  due  to  the
mechanisms of murderous linkage. The time for pay raises  is  yet  to
come, but it must come from the fruits of investment, and not at  the
expense of capital.

Back to the exchange. The average profit multiplier in the  exchange,
which  is  a  significant   parameter   in   determining   investment
considerations on the level of the single society, reaches 20%.  This
is considered a high multiplier,  but  it  is  typical  of  societies
undergoing a process of growth.

It must be remembered that the multiplier relates  to  reports  which
have already been published, while the profit attained  in  the  last
quarter is still unknown. The data indicate that the balance of  most
companies display in recent years a  gradual  but  steady  growth  in
profits, and nearly every publication of  a  fiscal  report  directly
causes a drop in multipliers.

The populist charge that "what  goes  up  must  come  down,"  is  not
serious. Any contemplation of the past  is  lacking  in  significance
regarding present and future data. High or low rates do not relate to
past profits or losses, but rather to the profit possibilities of the
future. What does it matter to us if a share  rose  200%  last  year,
attained a profit multiplier of 30 --  if  in  the  coming  year  the
company  will  double  or  triple  its  profits?  The  investment  is
undertaken every day anew, and we  must  direct  our  vision  to  the
future, and not the past.

But more than  anything  else,  what  propels  the  process  are  the
economic results of an uneconomic move -- the progress of  the  peace
talks. The positive atmosphere prevailing in the region, despite some
incidents which cloud the process, performs its  task.  It  commenced
with the approval of the American guarantees, and has already  had  a
practical affect in the overflow occupation  these  days  of  hotels,
flooded with tourists in numbers never recollected in the past,  even
though it is not even tourist season.

A large part of the tourists are business people and  representatives
of investment companies from all over the world. Some of them come to
Israel because the flourishing Israeli  stock  exchange  tempts  them
with the background of the world economic recession, but many  others
come intending to invest in industry, while professing faith  in  the
future of the Israeli economy.

All this does not mean that the  exchange  cannot  collapse,  and  it
still has many  phenomenon  which  require  urgent  change.  A  large
portion of the monies of  the  issues  are  recycled  back  into  the
exchange, instead of moving on to real investments. Prominent is  the
lack of financial tools designed to protect investors  from  an  over
acute change in rates. The new stars on the  market,  pension  plans,
are beginning to indicate that the Tel Aviv exchange is too small for
their  needs.  The  capital  market  still  suffers  from  structural
distortions, such as the continuation of bonds being sold at a  fixed
and higher rate than pension funds.

But all these do not refute the basic facts: the Israeli market is in
the midst of a process of structural change, and is about to begin  a
process of growth such has not been remembered in a  long  time.  The
scope of growth is dependent on exploiting the  right  opportunities,
but first and foremost -- on the continuation of the peace process.

And what of the doomsayers? They are right, of course. Every exchange
has periods of high and low tide. And even if they are not right this
instance, they will  be  very  right  some  other  time.  Those  that
cautioned "the exchange is in the clouds", when the exchange  was  at
an index of 250, will say "I told you so" when the index  drops  from
1,000 to 900. This could also happen on the way to an index of 2,000.
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