Ohio Jewish chronicle. (Columbus, Ohio), 1988-12-08

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V0L.6G   NO. 50
DECEMBERS, 1988-KISLEV 29
Devoted to American
and Jewish Ideals
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Rabbi Bleefeld Named
Professor Of Religion
Ai Capital University
Temple Israel announces
the appointment of its senior
rabbi, Bradley N. Bleefeld,
to the faculty of Capital
University as professor of
religion (adjunct). He will be
conducting courses on
Jewish history and theology.
Orthodox Split On 'Who Is A Jew,'
Say Matter Of Politics, Not Halacha
Rabbi Bradley Bleefeld
Rabbi Bleefeld receivedk
his rabbinic ordination from
Hebrew Union College-
Jewish Institute of Religion
in 1975. His teaching background is diverse. It includes
professorships at the University of Baltimore, Gannon
University and Allegheny.,.,
College.
His writings and publications include the Jewish
Heritage calendars. His love
for Jewish history and
archaeology is expressed
through his photographic
works and the regular trips
he leads to Israel. His
involvement with Temple Israel's Confirmation Class includes his personal supervision of a study mission to
New York City.
Rabbi Bleefeld is a mem- '
ber on the Board of the
Columbus Area Leadership
Program and is involved
with several projects
through the Community
Shelter Board. He also holds
the office of president of the
Columbus Board of Rabbis.
Rabbi Bleefeld's course at
Capital University begins in
January.
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Charity Newsies Annual Sale
This Saturday, December 10
Many members of the Jewish community are active
participants in Charity Newsies. The annual Charity
Newsies newspaper sale will take place this Saturday,
Dec. 10. Proceeds are used to buy clothing and shoes
for needy children. Pictured above are (back row, 1. to
r.) Howard Lewinter; Marvin Grossman; Alan Rosen;
Mike Hurwitz; (front row) Harlan Ruben; Gil Feiertag ; Mike Callif and Meyer Hoffman. Not present when
the picture was taken were Garry Beim, co-chairman
of this year's drive; Harry Silberstein; Bert Charles;
Geoffrey Stern; Ron Friedman; Jeff Leiberman;
Garry Mentser; Marc Schwartz; David Goldstein; Dr.
Frank Sobolewski; Rabbi Samuel Rubenstein; David
Madison; Stuart Grossman; Sheldon Schwartz;
Bernard Hirsch; Ron Gurvis; Marvin Glassinan;
Rabbi Nathan Zelizer; Sam Weiner; Barney
Greenbaum.
NEW YORK, Nov. 29
(JTA) — Leaders of North
American Orthodox Jewry
are split into two distinct
camps over whether to support the drive by Israel's
religious parties to amend
the Law of Return.
It is a debate over whether,
a halachic issue should be
decided by Israel's largely
secular Knesset and pressed
at the expense of incurring
the wrath of the great majority of Diaspora Jews who are
"non-Orthodox.
The proposed change in
^the law would make immigrants  converted by non-
. Orthodox rabbis ineligible
for Israeli citizenship. Premier Yitzhak Shamir promised the religious parties, in
exchange for their political
support, that he would get
the amendment adopted.
Although the change would
have a direct impact on only
a handful of immigrants,
non-Orthodox Jews protest it
would symbolically delegiti-
Federation Leaders Meeting In Israel
As political activity in
Israel .intensifies with the
formation of the next government, concerns have
heightened over efforts to
amend Israel's Law of
Return through the Knesset.
Acting in concert with the
North American Jewish
community organizations'
efforts to, appeal to the political leaders in Israel, to
resolve this issue in other
than a political context, the
Columbus Jewish Federation has sent two representatives on a special national
mission to Israel this week.
executive director, have
joined with representatives
of other major North American Jewish Federations in
the effort to directly communicate to the Israeli political
leaders the grave concern
over this issue.
Myer Mellman
Myer Mellman; former
Federation president, and
Alan  H.   Gill,  Federation
Alan.Gill
The representatives are
meeting with Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, head of
the Likud Party; Foreign
Minister Shimon Peres head
of the Labor Party, in addition to leaders of the major
religious parties and members of the Knesset. The
group is also meeting with
citizens' groups in Israel in
order to both impact the
body  politic  as, well  as
express solidarity with the
people of Israel.
"We view our participation in this effort to be a very
positive message to the people of Israel," noted B. Lee
Skilken, president of the
Federation. "Our message is
one of unity—we are deeply
concerned that the efforts to
amend the Law of Return in
a'political context will result
in divisiveness among our
people. At the same time, we
remain united in our support
for the people of Israel —
who, in these challenging
times, need our expressions
of solidarity and support."
Eruv Society Plans
Dec. 11 Reception
According to Dr. Aaron
Saffer, president of the
Columbus Eruv Society, a
reception will take place this
Sunday evening, Dec. 11, at
6 p.m. at Congregation Ahavas Sholom. Rabbi David
Stavsky, Rabbi Howard
Alpert, Doctors Jeremy and
Deborah Cohen and Doctors
Philip and Julie Weinerman,
will be honored as founders
' of the Columbus Eruv.
A light supper and dessert
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 6)
mize their rabbis and movements.
Statements by two Orthodox leaders, both connected
to Yeshiva University, exemplify the debate raging
within Orthodoxy.
Rabbi Norman Lamm,
president of Yeshiva University, said he took exception
to the Orthodox parties who
are pursuing the amendment. He said the Knesset is
"not the right forum to
determine halachic issues."
Speaking in Philadelphia at
the annual convention of the
Union of Orthodox Jewish
Congregations of America,
Lamm said the Orthodox
community is united on such
fundamentals as "the Jewish
identity and the exclusive
definition of conversion as
'according to halacha.'"
But ta'king note of the "bitterly divided Jewish world
and growing enmity and hatred" the issue has precipitated, Lamm declared that
"no symbols are worth hurting the cause of Torah or the
cause of Israel so grievously."
Lamm's statement echoes
one made by leaders of the
Rabbinical Council of Ameri
ca, a major Orthodox rabbinical body, which also called
for the removal of the "Who
Is a Jew" issue from the political arena.   .
The RCA statement heartened Israel's Degel HaTorah
party and moderates within
Israel's National Religious
Party, who have distanced
themselves from those
pressing for the amendment.
But a second prominent
Orthodox rabbi said he was
"shocked" by the RCA's
position.
Rabbi Aron Sbloveichik,
dean of the Brjsk Rabbinical
College in Chicago and professor of Talmud at Yeshiva,
called on the RCA's members to repudiate the statement.
Other Orthodox forces
sharing Soloveichik's view
include Agudath Israel of
America and the Lubavitch
Hasidic movement.
Rabbi Binyamin Walfish,
executive director of the
RCA, said that 90 percent of
those in his organization support its position on removing
"Who" Is a Jew" from the
political process. One thing
all Orthodox groups do agree
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 19)
Compromise Allows 'Temporary'
Display Of Chanukah Lights
■ Compromise was the name of the game last Monday
as principals in a lawsuit filed by the Chabad House of
Tradition against the State of Ohio reached an out-of-
court settlement concerning the placement of - a
menorah on the Statehouse lawn.
The agreement allowed the menorah to be displayed
and lit in two ceremonies on Wednesday, Dec. 7, between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., and on Thursday, Dec. 8, between 5 and 8 p.m. It was erected on the north lawn of
the Statehouse facing East Broad Street.
Because the menorah was not on permanent display
but part of a temporary "event," it did not violate the
constitutional prohibition against establishing a religion as a permanent display would, according to authorities.
The House of Tradition had erected a menorah on the
Statehouse grounds last year but was almost imme-
. diately ordered to dismantle and remove it after the
state received numerous complaints. Among those opposed to such displays on public property are the Anti-
Defafaiation League of B'nai B'rith and the American
Civil Liberties Union.
Rabbi Chaim Capland, director of the Chabad House,
explained that .Chanukah is the only Jewish holiday
that rabbinic scholars say should be proclaimed to the
world. One way in which to do this is to place menorahs
in windows, but he feels that it is important to move the
menorah out of the home and into public areas where
more people can be reached.
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