Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1982-01-07

              w
15* i
9  '.»
• iM
ii
If'''
I
111,
i
y
1
■>
JWRONICLE
lIW// Scrvln9 Columbus and Central Ohio Jewish Community far Over 50 Years ^/A\Jl
LIBRARY,   OHIO   HJSTOBICAI,
1982  VEUMa   AVE*■
COLS,   0*
43an
EXCH
VOL.60 .NO.l
JANUARY 7,1082-TEVET12
Devoted/to American
and JpwlJh ideal*
BBSBBB
Report Less Jews Allowed To Leave USSR In '81
While Harassment, Persecution Intensifies
Linda Fisher, Publicity Chairman for Night For Life,
is accepting reservations for the Jan. 10 special
evening.
Federation Annual Night For Life
Finalized For This Sunday, Jan. 10
Gary L. Schottenstein and
Ellen Burnett, Co-Chairmen
of the Federation's 12th Annual Night For Life scheduled for Jan. 10, remind all
young men and women in the
community that reservations should be made by Jan.
8.
"Night For Life" featuring
Professor Allen Pollack,
Chairman of the Professors
for Peace in the Middle East,
will be held at the Hyatt
Regency,1 Columbus. Cocktails and hors d'oeuvres will
be served at 6 p.m. with din-,
ner and program following
at 7 p.m. The cost for the
evening is $18 per person.
Dietary  laws  will   be
observed.
According to Schottenstein
and Burnett, "this year's '
'Night For Life' should be
the best ever. We have attempted this year to focus on
increasing the knowledge
and education of those who
• attend the event and expect
that Professor Pollack will
be remembered as one of the
finest guest speakers at
'Night For Life'," according
to Mrs. Burnett.
Reservations and further
information about "Night
For Life" can be secured by
calling the Federation office
at 237-7686.
Hundreds Of Jews In Far East
Seek To Join Zionist Movement
JERUSALEM (JTA)-
Hundreds of Jews in the Far
East have expressed their
wish to join the Zionist movement and to be represented
in the next World .Zionist
Congress in 1982, it was reported here by Miriam
Meyouhas of the World Zionist Organization department
of organization, who returned from a tour of the
area. She said that various
Zionist groups are signing up
members.
Reporting on various Jew-
. ish communities in the Far
East, Meyouhas said the
Jewish community in Thailand comprises 80 families,
some 300 persons, all
residing in Bangkok-. Ten of
the families were bprn in the
country and hold Thai
citizenship. The other
families are either aliens
who have lived there for
many years or temporary
residents who reside in the
country for brief periods of
time. tThe community
operates a large communal
center in downtown Bangkok. It includes a synagogue,
classrooms, a library and an
apartment for guests from
overseas.
Some 300 Jews live in the
Philippines, mttSt of them of
East European origin,
Meyouhas said. The community operates a synagogue and a Sunday school
with 30 students. A new synagogue is scheduled to be built
soon. There are some 600
Jews in Japan, most of.
whom live in Tokyo. The new
communal center includes a
synagogue, an auditorium, a
swimming pool and a kosher
restaurant. The community
employs a young and active
Conservative rabbi.
The Jewish community in
Hong Kong numbers 1,200
persons of various origins.
The community operates a
large communal center and
publishes a Jewish newspaper. There are some 500
Jews in Singapore, mostly
East Europeans. They maintain an active communal
center and recently renovated two'svnagogues.
There are 6,000 Jews in India, 4,000 of whom live in
Bombay. There are some 40
active synagogues, as well
as  a  Jewish  club  which
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 4)
NEW YORK (JTA)-
While the number of Jews allowed to leave the Soviet
Union in 1981 was the lowest
in the past 10 years, the harassment and persecution of
Russian Jews increased and
became more brutal, it was
reported here last week at a
press conference at the
Roosevelt Hotel, sponsored
jointly by the Greater New
York Conference on Soviet
Jewry (GNYCSJ) and the
National Conference on
Soviet Jewry (NCSJ).
According to Dr. Seymour
Lachman, chairman of the
GNYCSJ, the number of
Jews allowed to leave the
USSR this year was 9,249
compared to a 10-year high
in 1979 when 51,320 Jews left
the Soviet Union, and 21,471
in 1980. This year's figures,
Lachman noted, do not
include numbers for the last
11 days of 1981. However, no
more than 175 Jews are expected to receive permission
to leave the Soviet Union
during this period.
To illustrate the staggering decline of the Jewish
exodus from Russia, Lachman pointed out that in
August 1981 only 430 Jews
emigrated—an all-time low
for a single month. Each succeeding month of 1981 was
lower still, with only 363
Jews leaving the Soviet
Union in1 November, a mere
10 percent of the 4,193 Jews
who arrived in Vienna in
November 1979, the peak
year for Jewish emigration,
Lachman noted.
.While the emigration
movement dwindled to a
trickle, the three million
Jews living in the USSR are
gravely mistreated—their
human rights usurped and
anti-Semitism  encouraged
by the authorities, Lachman
claimed.
. He warned that "The survival of Jewish culture and
Jewish identity of some
three million Jews is at
stake" in the Soviet Union.
.He charged that the Soviet
Union has become the major
source for anti-Semitic literature in recent times. He
also disclosed that more
Jewish activists were arrested in 1981 than in any
single year since 1970.
Sen. Alfonse D'Amato
(R. NY) said that about a
half .million Jews are estimated to have applied for
exit visas and they are
"interned" in the Soviet
Union against their will. He
said the sanctions imposed
on the USSR by President
Reagan because of the situation in Poland should also be
applicable to the situation of
Soviet JeWry.
D'Amato charged that the
Soviet Union "virtually
halted the emigration of
Jews. This is a flagrant
violation of the letter and
spirit of the Helsinki accords
of 1975, which committed the
Soviet Union to allowing the
free movement of
people—including the right
to emigrate."
D'Amato, who is a member of the Congressional
Commission on Security and
Cooperation in Europe which
monitors Soviet compliance
with the Helsinki accords,
said he is going to increase
its efforts in the Senate and
among other Senators on
behalf of Soviet Jews.
Rep. Theodore Weiss.
(D. NY) announced that he
and 27 other Congressmen
from the greater New York
area have already signed a
petition to Soviet President
Leonid Brezhnev calling
upon him to permit the
emigration of Soviet Jews
and to "free all Jewish
Prisoners of Conscience."
He said he expects every
member of the House to sign
the petition. The NCSJ and
the GNYCSJ expect more
than one million people to
sign the petition. Lachman
said that so far 85,000 persons have signed it.
Meanwhile, Theodore
Mann, chairman of the
NCSJ, said in a statement
that "the sharpest decline in.
emigration, which occurred
in the last six months of this
year, suggests that the Jewish minority (in the USSR)
may have become hostage to
U.S.-Soviet relations. If so,
they   are   unwilling   hos
tages,"
He called upon world lead-,
ership to awaken to the current critical situation for Soviet Jews and appealed to
the U.S. government to
"take vital steps to make
certain that the tragic plight
of more than two million
Jews in the Soviet Union
receives attention necessary
for their security and well
being."
In urging President Reagan to take action, Mann
stated that if is essential that
"this issue be placed on the
agenda of the forthcoming
meeting between Secretary
of State Alexander Haig and
(Soviet) Foreign Minister
Andrei Gromyko when they
meet at the end of January."
Anti-Semitic Acts On
Rise In Massachusetts
Jewish, Israeli-Linked Institutions
On Palestinian Terrorist 'Hit List1
VIENNA (JTA)-Palestinian terrorists compiled a
"hit list" of 60 targets in
Austria, mostly Jewish or
linked to Israel, the daily
Kurier reported. According
to the newspaper, the list
was found by police investigating the,synagogue bombing here last August and the
murder last May of city
councilman Heinz Nittel, a
friend of Israel.
On the list for terrorist attack were -the Jewish com->
munity center, the Israel
Embassy, the offices of El
Al, the Israeli airline, a
kosher restaurant, the
homes of Israel Embassy
staff members, the Israel
Tourist Office and the Jew
ish Welcome Service and the
offices of the Austrian resistance fighters organizations.
Kurier said the list had
been circulated among
various extremist Palestinian groups but gave no
source for that information.
The paper said that police
believe the former Palestine
Liberation Organization
representative in Vienna,
Ghazi Hussein, who was expelled from Austria recently, might have compiled
the list with the help of his
wife. The list was said to be
out of date with lespect to'
some of the targets which
have moved to different
locations.
BOSTON (JTA)-An official of the Anti-Defamation
League of B'nai B'rith has
charged that law enforcement agencies are not taking
seriously the alarming upsurge of anti-Semitic acts of
vandalism and defacement
of property reported in
Massachusetts during the
past year. According to Leonard Zakim, civil rights
director of the ADL, the
number of such incidents in
the state nearly doubled, rising from 34 in 1980 to 64 in
1981.
ADL records showed that
most of the complaints were
received from persons in 32
towns in Massachusetts. An
ADL audit ranked this state
third in the nation with
respect to anti-Semitic manifestations, Susan Feinberg
of The Jewish Advocate reported.
More frequent were the
' scrawlings of swastikas and
graffiti such as "Hitler
should have burned all
Jews," "Jews should be
buried," "kike" and "Kill
Jews" found on homes, synagogues, businesses, schools
and public transportation
facilities.
Ms. Feinberg reported
that Zakim said one of the
factors responsible was "the,
economic tension in the
country which contributes to
the desensitization of many
people to these acts." But he
added, "the faijure of the.
law enforcement'community
to take these problems to the
attention of the authorities,
encourages the perpetrators
to think that they can get
away with it,"
Zakim said the police often
dismiss  anti-Jewish  acts
committed by juveniles as
malicious mischief rather
than serious crimes. He also
accused the police.of hiding
behind the funding problems
induced by Proposition 2 1/2,
a state law reducing property taxes similar to California's Proposition 13. "I
don't think 21/2 should stand
in the way of police protecting the rights of Jewish citizens," he said according to
The Jewish Advocate.
Martin Walsh, regional director of the U.S. Justice'
Department's Community
Relations Service, attributed
the increase of anti-Semitic
graffiti to "a developing climate in the country today, a
growing intolerance for people who are different."
But Walsh also indicated
that many people are not
aware of the Massachusetts
Civil Rights Act, passed in
February, 1980, which allows
persons who were previously
restricted to suing under
federal civil rights law for
redress for acts of vandalism, to bring criminal or
civil action in state court.
The law provides for fines
up to $1,000 and prison terms
up to one year for such violations where no bodily injury
results. According to the
ADL, there has been only
one successful prosecution
under the new law.
Sol Kolack. the ADL's
East Coast director, cautioned Jews to, keep the increased anti-Semitic vandalism in perspective, the
Advocate reported. Nevertheless, the ADL is urging
the Jewish community to report promptly any and all
anti-Semitic incidents. "The
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 4)