Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1983-11-17

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'LIBRARY*,   OHIO   HiSTOfTl'CAU   SOC4*>T*£
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VOL. 61   NO. 47
NOVEMBER 17, J983-KISLEV11
Devoted to American
and Jewish Icteats.'
OOLB,   0,
43211
EXOH
Riegner: It Is Wrong To Second Guess
Klezmer Conservatory Band
Klezmer Conservatory Band
Plans Columbus Premiere
The Klezmer Conservatory Band will present its Columbus premiere performance Tuesday, Dec. 13, at
the Agudas Achim Synagogue at 8 p.m.
From the shtetls of Eastern Europe, through the emigration to America, from the -
jazz clubs of the cities and.
the stages of the Yiddish
theatre, comes the music of
the Klezmer Conservatory
Band. Consisting of 14 musicians, the band is at the forefront of today's Klezmer
revival. Through their tours
and their album, "Yiddishe
Renaissance," the Klezmer
Conservatory Band is dedicated to nourishing and fulfilling the Klezmer tradition.
In the Boston Globe Magazine, Debra Cash stated,
"The melody rises from the
shadows, from half-forgotten recesses of a people's
musical imagination. The
clarinetist is bowed over his
instrument, his eyes closed.
Slowly a wail rises: It is a
Jewish melody, a doyne.
from Romania, suffused
with complaint and resignation and layered with vir-
tuosic cantorial ornaments.
The trombone amens from
the corner. The violin and
piano rumble and the bass
viol drones. Suddenly, the
music breaks into a coy
tango and then, as if despite
itself, into a joyous, upbeat
wedding dance."
The term "Klezmer"
comes from the Hebrew
words "kleizemer," "vessels of song," and almost
any song seems suitable for
a klezmer musician. In Easter n Europe, klezmer fiddle
bands began traveling from
town to town 500 years ago,
playing at Jewish weddings
that sometimes lasted a
week and at peasant dances
and banquets given by local
landowners. Over the years,
the groups added brass
instruments and clarinets
for a fuller sound.
The performance is sponsored by the Agudas Achim
Synagogue and the Israel/
Judaic Department of the
Leo Yassenoff Jewish Cen
ter. Tickets are available at
both locations. General
Admission is $7, Patron
Tickets are $12 (first several
rows) and Senior Citizens/Students are $4 with
ID.
For further information,
call the synagogue office at
237-2747 or the Jewish Center
at 231-2731.
Wh
To tee
NEW YORK (JTA) —
Dr. Gerhart Riegner, who in
1942 as representative of the
World Jewish Congress in
Geneva first informed the
Western world of the Nazi
plan for the genocide of the
Jewish people, indicated
recently that he felt it improper to cast judgement on
what should have or could
have been done to help rescue European Jewry during
World War II.
' 'Certainly we could have
rescued more, but don't have
any illusions that we could
have rescued millions,"
Riegner told a group, of
American representatives of
the World Jewish Congress
at the Minskoff Center here.
He said the international
political situation was differ
ent and the American Jewish
community's influence was
limited compared to what it
is today.
Observers interpreted
Riegner's remarks, which
included a reference to
Stephen Wise, the former
president of the American.
Jewish Congress, as having
been a direct reference to
the ongoing investigation
under the chairmanship of
former U.S. Supreme Court
Justice Arthur Goldbert into
what the Jewish community
did or did not do in its efforts
to save European Jewry. An
interim report issued by the
Goldberg group has specifically cited Wise's wartime
efforts.?
The Nov. 9 gathering was
in commemoration of the
Jewish Feminists Assess Challenges
And Gains In Struggle for f quality
By Susan Birnbaum
NEW YORK (JTA)-
Challenges facing American
Jewish.women in their longstanding' effort to achieve
equality in all areas of Jewish life and ways to attain
this objective were the basis
of a recent two-day Jewish
feminist conference here.
The 250 women who met in
Congregation Ansche Chesed
also examined achievements
gained during the past
decade.
... ten years ago...
"We had three rabbis
speaking, all of them
men. Today, we have five
rabbis speaking, all of
them women."
One of the primary goals
Jewish feminists set a little
more than ten years ago was
met last week when the Faculty Senate of the Jewish
Theological Seminary of
America voted 34-8 to admit
women to the Seminary's
rabbinical school for ordination as Conservative rabbis.
THe vote culminated a
decade-long, struggle that
was sparked by the members of Ezrat Nashim, the
first Jewish feminist organization, founded in 1971, to
convince the Conservative
movement that women are
equally capable of intense
study of the Jewish religion,
are equally devoted to keeping traditional Jewish precepts and practices and
should be considered bound
to fulfill all the religious obli
gations ("mitzvot") of men.
On March 14, 1972, the 14
members of Ezrat Nashim
attended a plenary session of
the Rabbinical Assembly,
where they issued a "Call for
Change," requesting that
women be granted: synagogue membership; inclusion in the minyan; full participation in religious observances; recognition as witnesses in a Jewish court of
law; the right to initiate
divorce proceedings; permission and encouragement
to attend rabbinical and cantorial school, and to perform
these functions in the synagogue; encouragement to
join decision-making bodies
and assume .professional
leadership roles, both in the
synagogue and the secular
Jewish; community, and to
be considered obligated to
maintain the mitzvot;
Not Enough Changes
Arlene Agus, a founding
member of Ezrat Nashim,
and currently the director of
external affairs and planning at the Cardozo School of
. Law at Yeshiva University,
reminded the conference at
Ansche Chesed that ten
years ago, at the first Jewish
feminist conference, "We
had three rabbis speaking,
all of them men. Today we
have five rabbis speaking,
all of them women."
. .. Jewish feminism
(is) an "eloquent voice"
which has defined and
presented the "needs and
claims of women."
(There are now more than
60 women rabbis, ordained
through the Reform and
Reconstructionist branches
of Judaism; at the time of
the conference ten years
ago, there was only one,
Sally Preisand.)
Agus, who was the moderator of the recent conference
titled "Jewish Women's Conference: Challenge and
Change," a project of the
National Council of Jewish
Women-New York Section
and sponsored by the Jewish
Women's Resource Center,
said that although many of
the changes sought in the
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 13)
Early G^
Deadline for jth^
Chronicle is ?toclay, Thursday,; Nov? 17, at
■/l2?hoon/,w9-9
Deadlinev for ?thebec^?;l issue
?Wednesdaiy,;Noy9^
the Chronicle of fjce^ill be closed Thurs-
, day, Nov *?:249Emd^ ■;.
? Thariksgivihg^qUdayv?^^
©en Done
ewry During WWII
45th anniversary of Kristallnacht (Night of. Shattered
Glass), when Nazi anti-Jewish attacks on the night of
Nov. 9-10, 1938, decimated
Jewish-owned property and
synagogues throughout Germany. The event is considered a turning point in the
treatment of German and
Austrian Jewry marking an
end to independent organized Jewish life, with the
dissolution of cultural and
communal bodies and the
banning of the Jewish press.
While no complete tally of
the destruction exists,
reports said at least 30,000
Jews were arrested in Germany, some 8,000 in Austria,
and were sent to concentration camps in Dachau,
Buchenwald and Sachsen-
hausen
Reports said 815 Jewish-
owned shops were destroyed, and 29 warehouses
and 171 dwellings set on fire
or otherwise destroyed; 1,91
synagogues were set on fire
and a further. 76 completely
demolished. Thirty-six Jews
were killed and 36 severely
injured in the anti-Jewish attacks.
Rabbi  Arthur  Schneier,
spiritual leader of the Park
East Synagogue and a participant in the discussion,
was in Vienna 45 years ago
and said he was a boy on his
way to school on Nov. 9,1938.
"It was a day and night of
horror. I can still hear the
 (CONTINUED ON PAGE 9)
CJF, Tzavta
To Sponsor
Monodrama
On Sunday, Nov. 20, at 7:30
p.m., the Israel Department
of the Columbus Jewish Federation and the Tzavta Club
are co-sponsoring a show entitled "Mrs. Davidson's
Story," a monodrama written by Av Mender and performed by Rosina Fernhoff.
This show is a fictional
account of a terrorist siege
on an international children's school in Israel. The
day's events center* on a
teacher and one of the terrorists who used to be her
gardener. A confrontation
between terrorist and hostage turns into a political
"symposium" at gunpoint.
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 3)
Dr. Samuel Portman Elected
President Of Ahavas Sholom
On Oct. 27, the membership of Congregation Ahavas
Sholom elected Dr. Samuel
L. Portman as its new president.
In accepting this new position, Dr. Portman continues
a long tradition of service to
the Columbus Jewish community. A former president
of the Columbus Torah Academy, Dr. Portman currently
serves on the Board of Trustees of the school as well as
the House of Tradition. He is
also active in the Friends of
Aish Hatorah and is a former
board member of the Columbus Jewish Federation..
Dr. Portman is an obstetrician-gynecologist who has
been in private practice
since 1966.
During his formal acceptance, Dr? Portman expressed his strong belief in
the underlying principles of
Ahavas Sholom and in its
present direction. He also
indicated his appreciation to
the former president, Pearson Press,1 for his dedication
to the shul and the manner in
which he performed his duties as president. Press continues to serve the shul as
chairman of the Board.   .
Other officers include Tom
Schottenstein as vice-president, Arnie Lustiger as
secretary and Ditzi Rising as
treasurer.   Reelected   to
Dr. Samuel Portman
serve on the Board of Trustees are: Sanford Bloom,
Harold Shindel, Ken
Winiarz, Mike Berenstein,
Mike Seidemann. Farrell
Shar, Aaron Yablok, Annette
Tanenbaum, Thea Press,
Mort Rising, Ethel Rising,
Mitchell Cohen, Mel Freed-
berg and Susan Portman.
Newly elected Board members are Steve Factor, Jack
Levey, Yehuda Lowy and
Paul Tanenbaum.