Aside from a colorful cover recognizing Passover 5744, the April 13, 1984, Jewish Exponent touched upon a multitude of things aside from the holiday.
One story looked into the arrests of four ultra-Orthodox Israeli youths who were calling themselves Terror Against Terror and were charged with committing bomb and grenade attacks on Christian and Muslim religious sites in Jerusalem’s capitol area.
Police said the four people arrested acted alone and weren’t connected with four Orthodox American immigrants arrested two weeks earlier for attacking an Arab bus on the West Bank. Nor were they connected with another group of ultra-Orthodox Jews who were awaiting trial for attempting to blow up the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount.
The Terror Against Terror crew (also known as TNT) were tripped up in part because they were, well, tripping.
The four told police they used drugs to enhance their religious experiences; they disclosed their activities to an undercover agent who gained their confidence by selling them drugs.
Three of the TNT suspects were convicted and received six-year suspended sentences with a three-year suspended sentence.
Meantime, in the Keystone State, voters had just gone to the polls in the Pennsylvania primary to vote for a Democratic challenger that fall to incumbent President Ronald Reagan.
Eventual nominee Walter Mondale cruised to victory, handily winning every heavily Jewish area around Philadelphia. His main competition was Gary Hart and the Rev. Jesse Jackson. That November, Mondale got clobbered by Reagan.
Back in Israel, a planned Friday showing of “Yentl” at a Tel Aviv theater was canceled at the request of its director, producer and star, Barbra Streisand.
Streisand, who was in Israel for a week-long visit, said she didn’t want the film to become part of an ongoing controversy in Petach Tikvah, where the issue of Friday film shows and open cafes was causing tension between Orthodox and secular Jews.
Back in the Philadelphia area, actor Seth Green (who also was mentioned in the February version of “Remember When” for a role in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) spoke to the Exponent about “The Hotel New Hampshire.” The 10-year-old told of rubbing elbows with stars Jodie Foster, Beau Bridges, Nastassja Kinski and Rob Lowe, who played his brother.
Although the film was largely panned, Green was unfazed.
“I don’t care what anyone else says,” he said. “I had a wonderful time.”
