Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1977-03-31

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CHRONICLE
t:J BRAKY, OHIO HISTORICAL, SOO l&TY
1-882 [,VELMa  AVE. .
COU3.  0,     43211 EXCH
VOL. 55 NO. 13
zJ[\\>y Scrtf'"fl Columbus and Central Ohio Jewish Community for Over 50 Years yJPfcs.
MARCH 31,1977 - NISAN 14~
Jewish Leaders Meet With Vance
Concerning Issue Of Soviet Jews
talk with Vance who left for
Moscow March 25 at the
head of a 14-member
delegation for wide-ranging
discussions with Soviet of¬
ficials on global problems.
Schindler was ac¬
companied at his meeting
with the Secretary by
Eugene Gold, chairman of
the National Conference on
Soviet .Jewry, and Yehuda
Hellman, executive director
of the Presidents Con¬
ference. Their meeting was
the third in less than a week
(Copyright, 1977, JTA, Inc.)
By Joseph Pplakoff
WASHINGTON, (JTA) -
Rabbi Alexander Schindler,
chairman of the Conference
of Presidents of Major
American Jewish
Organizations, said March
24 that President Carter's
recent criticism of the state
of human rights in the Soviet
Union did not bring about the
"vilification of Jews" by the
Soviet government nor was
it responsible for the
harassment and persecution
of Jewish dissidents and
emigrantion activists in the
USSR. '    -
"I do not believe President
Carter's statements in any
sense can be,linked to the
vilification of Jews,"
Schindler told reporters at
the State Department
following a ■ 40-minute
meeting with Secretary of
State Cyrus Vance. He said,
in reply to questions, that the
barring of symposia on
Jewish culture-irt the Soviet,
■'■Union, the screening of antii**general- chairman ,of «the
between American Jewish
leaders and high level Ad¬
ministration officials.    '"
On March 18, 10- religious
leaders met with Vance and
on March 21 leaders of the
American Jewish committee
had separate meetings at the
White House with Zbigniew
Brzezinski, the President's
national security advisor,
.and Presidential- Counsel
Robert J, Lipshutz. These
discussions -were said to
range - over    international
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 5)
Cummins Appointed To Chair
Campaign Closing On April 17
Millard Cummins has been
appointed chairman of the
Campaign closing program
on Sunday, April 17, it was
announced-today by Ernest
Stern, president of the
Columbus Jewish Federa¬
tion.
Mr.   Cummins,   a   past
QiumSJbe QfaM ©.$ £Jk ©ko Jfewisfo CkoiMcQe
Report Says Missionaries Are Enticing Jews
By David Friedman
NEW YORK, (JTA) -
Christian missionary
groups, especially the so-
called Hebrew Christians,
are using the symbols and
practices of the Jewish
community to entice Jews
from - pre-kindergarten
children to senior citizens
into their movement, the
Jewish -Community
Relations Council of New
York (JCRC) charged
March24. '   ' ''
The JCRC, at a press
conferences announced that
a' special force has been
created to counter the'-ac¬
tivities of some 80 Christian
missionary groups dperating
in New York ' and par¬
ticularly the deceptive
tactics of .the Hebrew
Christians, ' which-. are
missionary groups made up
of converted Jews.
Dr. Seymour Lachman, a
political scientist at the City
University of New York and
former president of the New
York City Board of
Education who is chairman
of the task force, stressed
that "we do not want to over
under-emphasize    the
problem."
Richard Ravitch, JCRC
president, said the task force
was organized by the JCRC
along with 30 organizations
because of the "ac¬
celerating"   activities   of
missionary groups. The
organizational meeting
followed a three-month
study of the problem by
Daniel Mann,' who is now co-
' ordinator of the task force.
Lachman   and   Malcolm
(CONTINUEDON PAGE 13)
■Semitic films , on Soviet
■television and the beatings of
Jews on park, benches in
Soviet cities all occurred
before the President "said a.
solitary word on Soviet
Jews."
The - Jewish leader told
reporters that there is a
distinction between human
rights and the issue of
Jewish emigration from the
Soviet Union. He called them
"problems apart" and said
"I don't like to link these two
problems." Schindler
pointed out that under
existing Soviet laws,
emigration is possible while
Soviet - dissidents want to
change the Jaws. He'declined
to discuss the details of his
United Jewish Fund Cam¬
paign, will serve co-ordinate
the closing program, which
. is designed to . inform the
, community of the results of
the 1977 Campaign. The
program will be held at Beth
Jacob Synagogue at 4 p.m.
and will immediately follow
the Community Walk-A-
Thon, scheduled to begin at l
p.m. at the Columbus Jewish
Center.
The program for the
campaign, closing' will in¬
clude an" address by the
' Honorable William J.
Brown, attorney general of
Ohio, who has recently
returned from a mission to
Israel at the invitation of the
government of Israel.
FEATURE
A Search For Roots And Freedom
By Morton J. Gaba
(A Seven Arts Feature)
It was understandable that
many of us watched the epic
TV production of "Roots"'
from a ■ slightly different
perspective than did the rest
of white America: And if we
didn't, we should have.
' The essence of "Roots"
was the concept of the
perennial struggle for
freedom; the wrenching of a
people from their homeland;
their sale info bondage; their
loss of identity, but the
ultimate' realization, that
freedom can come 'about
only when it is linked with
the knowledge and ap¬
preciation of one's ancestral
  past.
emphasize the danger'rio'r'tb11'' We* 'Jejivs can' em'pathize
with Kunta Kinte because
we, too, .w.ere once
"dispersed." We, too, were
wrenched from our an¬
cestral homeland. Many .of
us, too, lost/the thread of
continuity which was
responsible for keeping us
alive as a people during our .
own centuries of bondage.
The analogy breaks down, of
course, in many ways, but
the core element,, the need
.for freedom, is something
that has a special meaning
that we share with Black.
Americans:
" It is particularly ap-
■ propriate, therefore, that
this time of the year as we .
approach Passover, the
Festival of Freedom, that we
recognize the fact that we'
Vehiain (fr%, 'as Jews,' only4
through an appreciation of
those forces which have
permitted us to survive as
Jews.
Some of us will interpret
these in terms of our com¬
mon   religious   heritage.
the source of the strength
that enabled his people to
survive and triumph over
the degradation of slavery.
In the Haggadah we, Joo,
-look back to the epoch in our
own past which detailed-the
Others see it as our common ,, way in which the children of
historical and cultural
"peoplehood." Some will see
the Tzedakah element as
primary. Others see a return
to Zion as the overriding
factor.
However it is interpretedr
nonetheless, the; common
thread is sufficient to enable
us to-appreciate the fact that
freedom to exist as Jews is
inextricably linked to our
shared experiences,
however we define them. •
Alex Hailey looked back to
Africa and found in Gambia
Israel threw off their slave
chains and commenced the
search for freedom.
It has been a long search
— some 2,000 years since the
dispersal — with the depths
epitomized by the Holocaust
and the heights recorded just
a decade later with the
establishment of the state of
Israel. ; But always, in
despair or in exultation, we
Jews knew the significance
of our "Roots" and the
knowledge that without them
' (CONTINUEDON PAG5?,)
Millard Cummins
Passover Message
Urges Swift
Payment Of .Pledge
"The United Jewish Fund
is entering the final stages of
securing pledges to the 1977
Campaign," said Sol Zell,
treasurer of the Columbus
Jewish Fund, in a Passover
message to the community.
"Increased pledges are
needed to keep our local
beneficiaries strong and to
prevent Israel, so -^hard
pressed economically with.
35% to 40% annual inflation
rate, from creating
regressive reductions in
human services. Only cash ,
payments can make our
services viable.",
''Your pledge to the
campaign",said Mr. Zell,.
"creates and sustains hope
for our people in need from ,
Columbus, to Israel, to
Russia — everywhere along "
the Jewish lifeline.
"Passover,'' said Mr. Zell,
"reminds us that we were
once slaves in the land of
Egypt and calls, on- us to
work for the freedom of all
Jews and all -people
everywhere. One of the most
effective means of fulfilling
the meaning and message-of
Passover is by payment-of
your United Jewish Fund
pledge this w6ek." *•*« , -