Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1972-05-11

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>S '8TH otho  "AiBatciTI
Serving Columbus, "Central" and Southwestern Ohio
VOL. 50.NO. 19
MAY 11, 1972 - IYAR 27
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H. J .-.MiieVeli
Columbus Sends Petition
Signatures To President
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Harold Schottenstein,
Chairman of the Committee
jon Soviet Jewry of the
Council of Organization,
United Jewish Fund and
Council, has reported that
more than 4,400 signatures
were gotten on petitions
which have already been
sent to President Richard M.
Nixon, .   urging        his
intervention in behalf of
freedom for Soviet Jews.
All. local organizations
, cooperated in obtaining
signatures, according to
Mrs. Carl Mellman,
Chairman of the Council.
Many hundreds were also
obtained by the Youth
Groups of the Jewish Center,
who went from door to door
on. the National Day -of)
Solidarity, April 30, through
Berwick and Bexiey.
Everyone who attended the
Rally that evening at the
Beth Jacob Synagogue also
signed petitions.
Since the President has
delayed his trip to the Soviet
Union until late in May,
petitions may still be
circulated and signed. If you
want to sign a petition, or
will take one to be signed by
your neighbors (anyone can
sign, regardless of age, sex,
color, race or religion) call
the UJFC office, 237-7686,
- and petitions will be sent
you, or stop in at 1175 College-
Avenue and sign one in
person.
Says Women's Lib Needed To
Balance Religious Structure
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NEW YORK (JTA) - The
Jewish religion and social
structure, which has been
male-dominated', for   more
f^rtrfiV^'tMouskhd' 'years,-
needs a measure of Women's
Liberation   philosophy,
according to a young woman
who expects-to be ordained
as a rabbi.     Mrs. Sandy
Eisenberg Sasso,  a  third-
year    student    at    the
Reconstructionist    Rabbin¬
ical     College,     Temple
University, Philadelphia
made her. remarks in ijfipj
course of conducting a study
session on "Women and The,
Bible: Lessons for Today,!}
at the 66th Annual Meeting;
of the American Jewish
Committee.   "There  is an
urgent need to balance the
predominantly     masculine
perspective in Judaism with
a   feminine   counterpart,
.especially  in   regard   to
\&r religious     ceremonies,
liturgy,   and   the   creative-
arts," Mrs. Sasso declared.
-   Among her suggestions for
liturgical modifications, she
urged   changes   in    fj.c
marriage ceremony that
7 would "create a mutuality of1
obligation, rather than the
one-sided sense of man's
'ownership' of woman, and
the double standard it
emplies." She-.-.-also
r^comiri'en'ded. the
development 'of "a '
ceremony that would
welcome the birth of a girl,
in some way a counterpart of
all the ceremonies that now
surround the birth of a
Jewish boy." And she
deplored the fact that most
Jewish art "depits men in all '
sorts of attitudes-
performing the Hasidic
dances, poring over
Talmudic texts, teaching
young boys-while the only
act in which women are
depicted is the lighting of
Sabbath candles."
"Although women have
enjoyed" a significant
position is Judaism, to state
that their status' is merely
different but equal to men js
to ignore'the > facts," Mrs?
Sasso declared. Stressing the
fact that she was not
recommending a' total
'renunciation.of women's
traditional rolpi Mrs. Sasso
stated: ^"n a woman
chooses, after surveying all
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 4)
CHICAGO, May 7 (JTA)-Sixty thousand petitions
were sent to President Nixon as part of a national one
million petition campaign of the National Conference
on Soviet Jewry, uring him to esert his influence on
behalf of Soviet Jews, it was announced by Walter
Roth, president of the American Jewish Congress,
Council of Greater Chicago. President Nixon is asked
to take advantage of his Soviet visit to convey to
Russian leaders American concern for Soviet Jews.
NEW YORK- (WNS)--Four American Jewish
Organizations, the American Jewish Congress,
Americans for Progressive Israel-Hashomer Hatzair,
Labor Zionist Alliance, and the Union of American >
Hebrew Organizations, in a joint statement, called for
"immediate and total withdrawal of all American
forces" from,Vietnam. Earlier, the National Council of
Jewish Women issued a similar statement.
UNITED NATIONS(WNS)-Sources Here report that
Secretary General Kurt Waidheim has approached the
Israeli and Egyptian Ambassadors to the United
Nations with a proposal for a Mideast Peace
conference that he indicated he would be willing to
chair.
LONDON! WNS)--Vladimir Markman, a Soviet
Jewish activist who has applied for a visa to Israel was
arrested in Sverdlovsk and jailed, Soviet Jewish
sources reported. No reason for the arrest was givea It
was also reported that Jews in the Potma labor camps
have had their diet severely reduced. Ukrainian
' -^Pirtvaar'official organ" Of IKe" tnffalnianToipmubjst1*'
Party, in Kiev, attacked Prof. Boris BoroVby7 -
prominent Kiev Jew, who has applied for a visa to
Israel. /
JERUSALEM (WNS)-In a May Day speech in
Alexandria, Etyptian President Anwar Sadat declared
.that Egypt would lipt be satisfied with the liberation of
the territories occupied by Israel but only with '.'the
complete destruction of the Israeli arrogance."
Declaring that jEgyfrt' was prepared to sacrifice a
million men in trie'batrJe against Israel, Sadat added
"The Russians help us with armaments but we shall
fight by ourselves."-; .	
Hillel To Co-Sponsor 36
Hour Community Festival
Wiesel Rejects Idea That
Jew In Israel Is Superior
NEW YORK (WNS) —
Elie Wiesel, speaking at the
66th annual dinner of the
American Jewish
Committee declared "He
who says a Jew in Israel is
better than a Jew in Russia
or America or Iraq does
nothing but divide our
people, and harms it more
than some of our enemies."
He rejected the idea that
Jewish leaders from other
countries ought to
immigrate to Israel and said
"A Jew can be Jewish
everywhere, not only in
- Israel, providing, he claims
kinship with the totality of
his people's experience."
Wiesel was presented with
the Committee's highest
award, the American
Liberties Medallion.
Bertram M. Gold,
executive vice president,
told a Committee's opening
luncheon session that an
erosion of confidence in
,-A.mer ican -- Jewish
Institutions has been taking
place for the past five years.
He said "The Jewish
community has also
experienced  a   crisis   of
confidence, a serious
questioning of established
Jewish organizations, their
selection of priorities, their
openness to change, their
very right to lead." Touching
on the emergence of
difference between Israel
and Jewish communities in
other parts of the world,
Gold called for the
emergence of "voluntary
Israeli organizations to
which the volunatary
organized Jewish
communities -of the world
can relate, instead "Of
addressing themselves, as
they now do, primarily to
Israeli government
spokesmen."
At another session of the
annual meeting, Howard J.
Samuels, president of the
city'6 Off Track Betting
Corporation, reported on the
Committee's newly launched
program       to       secure
"previously     unavailable"
bank   loans  for   Hasidic
businessmen! Already, - he.   .
said, hundreds of thousands     ,«e
of dollars had been secured  -
for loans to Hasidic-owned
businesses in Williamsburg,
Brooklyn.
Torathon At Agudas Achim
This year the B'nai B'rith
Hillel Foundation, as an
active member of the
Campus Ministry
Association, will co-sponsor
a 36-hour Cgrr.rjiunity
Festival, Friday?»££ay\l2
through Sunday, Ma\ 14. 7
The festival is a cutural
and social- event foX the
entire Northside community,
and hopes to stimulate a
sense of solidarity between
residents, the university
community, and area
businessmen.
Activities begin 'Friday,
May 12 at 6,a.m. with the
streets blpcked 'off and
various displays set up.
Exhibits will include In¬
ternational Studeat-
v Displays, Food Co-op
Market, Crafts Cooperative
Booths     (arts,      crafts,
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 4)
We are all familiar with
the marathon, the telethon
and the talkathon. Agudas
Achim has introdgced a new
term to describe a unique
way of celebrating Shavuoth,
the Torah Festival, called
"Torathon."
Traditionally, on Shavuoth
Eve, Jews studied Torah all
night. A special work
entitled "Tikun Lael
Shavuoth" was composed for
the occasion. 3Tie "Tikun" is
z. compilation of passages
from the" "BiKs^ Mishnah,
Talmud, the Zohar"aral-tfher
. sacred books. Wise meh-
made thia "Sefer" available
so that people- might
adequately study 'Torah
Kulah' — all of Jewish
Scholarship. Many traditions
have evolved concerning
learning    all    night    on
Shavuoth. The basic concern
was how to prepare oneself '
to receive the Torah. When'
ancestors of the  Jewish
people came to Sinai to hear
G-d's    words,    scripture
records, they went through
three  days  of   intensive,,
preparations to qualify as
recipients of the Almighty's
Commands.      In -    each
generation,     co-religionists
emplpyed diverse methods
to prove themselves worthy
of  receiving  the  Divine
Commitment. They finally
•^tctlyed-^the     "Tikun"
formula 7taT?mg*^V^mpIe uf-
Holy Writ and meditating
upon it all night-long..
The     Agudas     Achim
(CONTINUED ON PAQE 4)
SPECIAL NEWS ANALYSIS
Elie Wiesel - -ThefJe
by JACK SIEGEL
JTA Executive
Vice-President
\
3 Jewish'community was quite
{) well'organized and militant
7* jn the . anti-Nazi  struggle.
(.'""HoWj^ipany   marched  on
'  In a recent speech given in -   Washington?" he asked. By
- New York City, Elie Wiesel , 1943, some of that Jewish
k charged    the    American    leadership and many of their
Jewish   leadership   with -> sons 'wer,e in uniform and
' silence and failure in 1942-43- f'J-were, iparching,   not   on
' to come to the aid of the Jews'^rtWashingtbn, but on Berlin.
ih Nazi concentration camps. A'And ,th,at  was  no, mere
and forced ghettos. '"They.vdemonstration;   their lives
| .did nothing," he said. "Why /"Were fieing put on the line.
didn't they go mad?" Apart
from the rather'Bizarre i
suggestion, wha,ti good would
that have done fori the:Jews
Guilt Syndrome
in concentration canipS'and
ghettos? Besides' which, and
| perhaps   Wiesel   does   not
i know  this,  the  American
How many (Jewish
leaders) tore their clothes in
•mourning?" Wiesel asked.
-This is , a rather strange
request^ 40 years later, but
again,! bow'would that have
helped, 4e\ys in concentration
camps and ghettos? "How
many weddings tookiplace
without music?" This sounds
like the end line;bf one of
Wiesel's twice-told dark and
demonological tales. Even in
Auschwitz there was music.
Music is the sound of hope in
the heart of man. But again,
weddings without music
would not have helped the
Jews in Auschwitz and .the
ghettos. "What," asked
Wiesel, - "made one people
(presumably the Germans)
turn overnight into mur¬
derers, another part into
victims, all others Ac¬
complices?" This was not ap
overnight process but the
answer quite simply gn^
horribly is terror, Hlfjer'a
major contribution to con¬
temporary civilization was
the banality of violence. He
made a science of what its
application to human beings
can do. This writer, who was
assigned by the UJJ,Military
Intelligence Service; to an
American internmeiit camp
for Nazi political;1 prisoners
after the war, had j occasion
to see to what depths and
dehumanization the Nazi
terror had reduced people.
In these camps, devoted to
interrogation, but without
(error or violence, there was
nq song. There was only the
cry of betrayal and false
claims of innocence.
Wiesel also asked why the
French did not march into
the Rhlneland in 1936. Now
for the first time in his talk
before the Holocaust
Memorial Day Observance,
Wiesel deals with a reality.
Why, jn fact, did the French
not march into the
Rhineland? Asking a
question in history, Wiesel is
bound by its conventions. He
cannot escape, nor can his
listeners, into myth and
legend. The answer is Ap¬
peasement. It is 'now com¬
monly accepted that the
Western powers appeased
Hitler, gave him concessions
and nations and allowed him
to build his army- on the
promise   that   he   would
march that army into the
East. A.-minor and corollary
casualty would be the
genocide of six million Jews;
but-this the leaders of-the
Western "democracies"
were prepared to accept in
order to insure the success of
the larger goal. By 1943,
Hitler was not to be deterred.
What greater deterrent
could fhere haye been than
the Allied bombers blasting
the German people and
countryside, reducing the
latter to rubble? Hitler by
then was enslaving other
people as well and his per¬
sonal destiny was linked to
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 41
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