Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1989-05-18

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VOL.67   NO. 20
MAY 18,1989-IYAR 13
Devoted to American
and Jewish Ideals.
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Swastikas Surface In Turin
ROME (JTA) — Teenage gangs who deface walls with
swastikas and slogans extolling racism are a growing problem in Turin, an industrial city in northern Italy with an important Jewish community and many immigrants from
Third World countries. The youths also vandalize property,
attack passersby and fight among themselves.
Tour By Jewish Vocal Troupe
Is Crescendo For Soviet Jews
MOSCOW (JTA) — In a further test of the Soviet policy of
glasnost, or openness, Soviet Jews thronged concert halls in
Moscow and Kiev for a taste of Jewish music, during a concert tour last month by the London School of Jewish Song
Boys Choir. The series, sponsored by the Vaad L'Hatzolas
Nidchei Yisroel of the Agudath Israel World Organization,
was a complete sellout. Organizers were forced to add two
shows to the original four to handle the overflow. Agudath Israel said some 15,000 attneded the concert series.
Rabbi Feidman To Address
May 31 Community Event
Local Handling Of Controversial TV Program
Avoids Pitfalls Encountered In Other Areas
Rabbi Leonid Feidman
will be the featured speaker
at a "Passage To Freedom"
community event on Wednesday, May 31, at 7:3Q p.m.
A former Jewish refusenik,
Rabbi Feidman is currently
a Conservative rabbi with a
pulpit in Palm Beach, Fla.,
and an associate of CLAL,
the National Jewish Center
For Leadership and Learning-
Growing up Jewish in a
Marxist society creates a
"very sophisticated level of
suffering," according to
Feidman, where "Jew" is
merely a perjorative word
stamped on a passport. At
21, Feidman had no idea that
the Bible was written in
Hebrew, that there was a
Holocaust, that Judaism is a
religion.
"Rabbi Feldmaii's expert
ences mirror those of the
Soviet Jewish emigres we
are welcoming into our community" explained Henry
Epstein, president of Jewish
' Family Services. "We need
to understand the world they
are leaving behind in order
to help them become fully
participating  members  of
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the Columbus Jewish community."
"It will take our' united
effort as a community to
raise the funds, recruit the
volunteers and coordinate
seryicesy to successfully.,
resettle our! people,*' said
Jack L. Wallick, co-chairman of the "Passage To
Freedom" Campaign. The
Campaign is an effort to
raise $1 million in funds
locally and recruit volunteer
assistance and donations to
aid in resettling the 40,000
Jewish emigres who will be
released from the Soviet
Union this year.
All members of the Columbus Jewish community are
invited to attend this evening
provided free of charge by
Jewish Family Services and
the Columbus Jewish Federation. Rabbi Feidman will
speak at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 31, at Temple
Israel, 5419 EI. Broad St. For
more information or to
indicate plans to attend, call
the Federation, 237-7686.
By Judith Franklin
Managing Editor
. Recently, communities
across the nation have had to.
come to grips with what has
come to be known as "hate-
TV." Now, it seems, it is central Ohio's turn to do the
same.
Locally, however, much of
the turmoil engendered in
other parts of the nation has
been avoided by a well
thought-out approach - and
careful planning.
"Race and Reason," produced and hosted by Tom
Metzger, former grand dragon of the California Knights
of the Ku Kliix Klan and current Skinhead leader, aired
last Friday, May 12, on Public Access Channel 21. It is
scheduled to appear again at
10:30 p.m. tomorrow night,
Friday, May 19.
Following a talk-show format, "Race and Reason,"
presents interviews with
"spokesman" for various
hate groups. The hate rhetoric is toned down to give
the appearance of a reasoned discussion, but the
guests' true feelings often
"come out.
According to Carl Kuchar-
ski, executive director of
Cable 21, the ACTV Board
reviewed the program and
found that its "language and
ideas although offensive
were not inflammatory or
vitriolic and felt their hands
were tied." Federal law requires that public access
channels be community
forums, he explained, available to any organization
seeking public notice as long
as programming is not libelous or obscene.
In other communities, the
controversy has revolved
around  the First Amend-
Jennie Roland Education Day
To Feature Cajun Storyteller
J. J. Reneaux, a Cajun
storyteller from Louisiana,
will come to the Leo Yassenoff Jewish Center for an
exclusive engagement next
Thursday, May 25, at 7:30
p.m..
The event is the program
for the 1989 Jennie, Roland
Education Day, sponsored
by the Columbus Chapter of
Hadassah, the Melton Center
at Ohio State University and
the Community College for
Adult Jewish Studies. The
entire community is invited
to attend.
The daughter of an American Army officer who was
among the liberators of
Buchenwald, Reneaux was
raised with her father's
recollections of courage and
spiritual strength in the
aftermath of the Holocaust.
She will7 share stories of
true-life Holocaust experi-
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 14)
ment right of free speech,
one even going so far as to
abolish its public access
station rather than air the
show. But the problem is not
just free speech, Kucharski
said; it is combating the racism and anti-Semitism this
type of program disseminates. That is why the ACTV
Board decided to work with
the community to produce
counter-proramming, balancing First Amendment
rights with the needs of the
community," he noted.
Among the organizations
approached was the Anti-
Defamation League of B'nai
B'rith. "Channel 21 handled
this situation in a responsible way from the outset,"
said Alan Katchen, executive director of ADL's
Kentucky-Indiana-Ohio Region. Joining, forces with
such groups as the Metropolitan Church Board and
Urban League, the ADL has
come up with counter-programming with which to
bracket "Race and Reason."
According to guidelines in
an article in the Jan. 6,1989
issue of USA.Today, Columbus has handled the situation
correctly. Author Bob Purvis, National Institute
against Prejudice and Violence legal director, writes
that "experience indicates
communities can successfully combat these problems
without threatening freedom
of speech or sacrificing public access TV."
Purvis advocates:
• Achieving a consensus to
protect free speech under
the First Amendment. "This
precondition lays a positive
foundation on which to build
a coalition that cuts across
lines of race, religion ethnicity and sexual orientation."
• Not making public-access TV the scapegoat.
"When the Klan demonstrates, we don't react by
eliminating public parks.
Public access, too, is a First
Amendment forum, but in
many places that's not
widely understood; the
temptation is great to see
public access as 'the problem.' This negative focus has
caused paralyzing conflict
among people otherwise
united in opposition to bigotry but who disagree on the
public-access issue."
• Using controversy as a
springboard for action.
"When 'hate' programming
causes controversy, this
indicates people are actively
concerned about prejudice.
Channel this in positive
directions, for example by
establishing victim-assistance programs or developing counter-programming."
• Not overreacting. "People learn more about the
white-supremacist message
from news accounts about
the controversy than from
the actual programs."
Katchen also emphasized
the need for the community
"to respond (to 'Race and
Reason') in a measured
way" because "overreaction
leads to giving them (hate
groups) the notoriety they
seek," and Kucharski suggested that instead of
dismissing the program as
"garbage," people should
express their opinions on the
air. If the schedule is filled
with "good" programming,
he noted, there won't be
room for the racist.
EDITOR'S NOTE: See related
article on Skinheads on page 2.
U.S. Pressing Israel To Be
More Flexible On Peace Plan
JERUSALEM (JTA) -
The Bush administration is
continuing to prod Israel to
show more flexibility in its
proposal for Palestinian
elections in the administered
territories.
First signs of the American pressure surfaced three
weeks ago, when high-level:
American diplomats, meeting with Israeli leaders here,
pressed them to clarify several points.
Two weeks ago, U.S.
Secretary of State James
Baker sent Israeli Foreign
Minister Moshe Arens a letter urging Israel specifically
to address the issue of allowing Arab residents of East
Jerusalem to vote in the proposed elections.
According to the letters,
reported by the Israeli news
media last week, Baker also
pointedly stressed Washington's support of the land-for-
peace formula and of political rights for the Palestinians.
Arens, in a reply letter last
week, reportedly sidestepped the matter of East
Jerusalem's eligibility,
explaining that the entire
election proposal has yet to
be discussed by the Cabinet
But according to media
reports, written proposals
currently evolving in top
ministerial circles avoid specific references to that issue,
apparently because Labor
and Likud leaders do not see
eye-to-eye on it.
Defense Minister Yitzhak
Rabin of Labor supports
allowing the East Jerusalem
residents to vote, provided
they do so outside the city
limits, because the city is
Israeli territory.
Other Laborites, notably
Deputy Finance Minister
Yossi Beilin, are strong
advocates of the right of
East Jerusalem Arabs to
vote and to stand as candidates.
But many Likud ministers
are forcefully opposed.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, who formally proposed
the election idea to President
Bush last month, has remained quiet on the issue.
According to the Israeli
proposal, the elections would
choose Palestinian representatives with whom Israel
would negotiate an interim
arrangement for Palestinian
self-rule in the territories.
Heritage Village Arts
To Present Exhibit
At Riverfront Festival
This summer the east and
west banks of the Scioto
River in downtown Columbus will be the site of an
open-air sculpture exhibition, jointly presented by
Heritage Village Arts arid
the Columbus Arts Festival.
Heritage Village Presents
Sculpture on the Riverfront
is an outgrowth of Sculpture
at Heritage Village, the
Columbus exhibition which,
since 1985, has been a major
showcase for regional and
national artists working in
outdoor and site-specific formats. Since Heritage Village
is renovating its grounds and
can not host the sculpture
exhibition in 1989, this show
continues its spirit in a condensed version at a new
location.
Heritage Village Presents
Sculpture on the Riverfront
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 7)
MAY 21
FREEDOM SUNDAY PHONATHON !;i<r
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