Ohio Jewish chronicle. (Columbus, Ohio), 1990-02-15

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Serving Columbus and Central.Ohio Jewish Community for Over 60 Years
VOL. 68 NO. 7
FEBRUARY 15, 1990-SHEVAT 20, 5750
Devoted to American
and Jewish (deals,
Mollie Nutis Linen
Shower Set Feb. 28
When Heritage House
began to launder its own
linens, and discontinued a
rental linen service, the first
Mollie B. Nutis Linen
Shower was held to supply
the bedding arid bath linens
for the residents. Since then,
this has become an annual
event honoring the memory
of Mollie Nutis, whose devotion to Heritage House and
the entire Jewish community of Columbus serves as an
example for all to follow.
In the winter of 1913, Mollie Nutis came to Columbus
from Burlington, Vt., with
her husband Isaac whom she
married Oct. 3, 1911. The
Nutises had three children -
Frank, Helen, and Ethel,
who resides in Milwaukee,
Wise.
In 1961, when Heritage
House was constructed, Mollie Nutis was honored for her
tireless work toward the
creation of the new structure, and previously at the
original. Columbus Jewish
Home for the Aged on Woodland Avenue. She was the
first president of. the auxiliary and served in this capacity from 1952 to 1962.
The 19th Annual1 Mollie B.
Nutis Linen Shower Program will be held Wednesday, Feb. 28, at Heritage
House. The Nutis family will
join residents and members
of the community at a special reception to honor the
commitment and'dedication
of the Nutis family to the residents of Heritage House.
Entertainment will be provided by the Heritage Tower ■
Towerettes.
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Kahane Speech Sparks Controversy
A group of Kol Ami's Aleph students are with Principal
Shaula Gurari.
Kol Ami Boasts Enrollment Of
75 Students In Aleph Program
Koi Ami, the Community
Hebrew School of Cojliimbus,
was incorporated and began
its first year of classes in the
second half of 1985. Aleph
class, for beginning Hebrew
students entering third
grade of day school, met
once a week only, while the
other classes met twice
weekly. As the school began
its fifth year in September
1989 the Aleph program was'
expanded to twice weekly
classes.
This year Kol Ami has its
largest-ever enrollment of 75
Aleph students out of the 77
who were second graders in
the constituent congregations' religious schools last
year. Agudas Achim has 13
of its 14 enrolled; Beth
Tikvah has 26 of its 28; Temple Israel has 33 of its 35 student enrolled in Kol Ami.
The impact of this curriculum expansion is currently
being evaluated by the
school's principals, teachers
Blocks Donate To OSU Research
The contribution of a local family will further the advancement of liver cancer research at The Ohio State
University Hospitals. Jeri (right)/and Jeff Block (left)
recently donated $16,907 to help fund the research of
Dr. JohnMinton (center), professor of surgery at Ohio
State. The contribution was one of several annual gifts
made by the Blocks to support liver cancer research at
Ohio State. The donations are-niade from the Block
Scholarship Fund, established in memory of their
father, Herbert J. Block. Contributions to the scholarship fund are accepted throughout the year and are
combined with" proceeds frorn the annual Herbert J.
Block Memorial Golf Tournament held at Winding Hollow Country Club. The 1990 tournament will be held
Aug. 13. Entries in the tournament may be made by
calling the tournament committee at 235-2087.
/
and parents, as weir as by
the congregations' religious
school committees. Principal Shaula Gurari, whose
. area of expertise is language
acquisition and learning, explained, "All the research
clearly demonstrates that
facility in language learning
is at its peak in the earliest
childhood years. That is why
it is important for us to increase the amount of first-
year exposure for these students. We began seeing positive results long before the
end of the first semester."
CONTINUED ON PAGE 16
By Judith Franklin
Managing Editor
His reputation precedes
him. Good or bad, he is Rabbi Meir Kahane, member of
Knesset, leader of the Kach
Party and founder of the
militant Jewish Defense
League (JDL). And true to
form, even before his
scheduled lecture in Columbus on Wednesday, Feb. 21,
his appearance here! has
sparked controversy. •
Since 'his election to the
Knesset in 1984, Rabbi Kahane has become the most
controversial figure in Israeli politics. He advocates the
transfer of Israel's Arab
population, arguing that that
course is preferable to the alternatives of continued
violence or the threat of Israel's destruction.. He also
calls for instituting traditional Jewish law in governing
all aspects of Israeli society.
The rabbi's fiery oratory and
provocative ideas have attracted intense support and
strong condemnation from
Jews around the world. Columbus' Jewish, community
is no exception.
East Germany Acknowledges
Responsibility To Nazi Victims
NEW YORK (JTA) - East
Germany has for the first
time formally acknowledged
its share of responsibility for
Jewish victims of Nazi persecution and affirmed that it
has material obligations
toward them, the World Jewish Congress announced here
last week.
The dramatic reversal of a
40-year policy of denial was
contained in a letter from
Prime Minister Hans Mod-
row of the German Democratic Republic of WJC President Edgar Bronfman. The
WJC said it was "an important first step."
Modrow's statement was
also welcomed as "a first
step" by Dr. Israel Miller,
president of the Conference
on Jewish Material Claims
Against Germany.
Miller has been in recent
communications with Mod-
row on the issue.
Modrow's letter to the
WJC, dated Feb. 1, was accompanied by an official
declaration by the prime
minister containing the
same points which he said
"might be published immediately." •
It stated that the GDR recognizes "the responsibility
of the entire German
people" for the crimes of the
Nazis and that it commits itself to "material support" to
the Jewish victims.
The responsibility, Mod-
row's letter and statement
noted, "is a consequence of
the deep guilt of Hitler fascism which committed terrible crimes against the Jewish people in the name of the
German people."
Modrow said that East
Germany "recognizes its
humanitarian duty with regard to the survivors of the
Jewish people who suffered
under Nazi oppression, and
confirms its readiness in a
spirit of human solidarity to
provide material support to
former persecutees of the
Nazi; regime of Jewish
origin."
The letter also vowed that
East Germany would do
everything it can to prevent
anti-Semitism and hatred
from again taking root in
German soil.
It invited Bronfman to "an
early meeting" with the
prime minister "in order to
further our common aims"
Wexner Art Center
Tour Set For Women
National Council of Jewish
Women, Columbus Section,
presents its winter meeting
on Tuesday, March 6, at
11:30 a.m. The meeting location will be Mershon Auditorium Lobby, on The Ohio
State University's campus,
corner of 15th and High Sts.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 16
His speech here is being
sponsored by Americans for
a Safe Israel (AFSI), a national organization that
openly supports Israel's
claim to all of the ancestral
homeland, including Judea,
Samaria and Jerusalem.
According to AFSI spokesman local attorney Larry
Pollak, the Kahane lecture is
only the first in a planned
series of informative lectures to be sponsored by AFSI. "Before we can bring
more passion to the cause,
we must become knowledgeable and informed. For that
reason, the Columbus AFSI
chapter will present a continuing Lecture Series of
compelling speakers. We
knew we would get some attention by starting the series,
with Rabbi Meir Kahane.
Kahane is both loved and
hated, but he is certainly
thought-provoking. When
AFSI members heard that
Kahane was scheduled to
speak to a sociology class at
Ohio State, we decided to
plan an evening program so
that interested community
members could decide for
themselves about Kahane's
controversial ideas. It will
not be boring next Wednesday night at the Hilton
East."
Many people in the community, however, don't
agree with Pollak or the AFSI.
"My reaction when I was
told the sponsoring group
was bringing in Rabbi Kahane was that he and his
Kach Party represent racist
and undemocratic currents
of thought and that his policies can only succeed in raising hatred to hew heights in
Israel and for world Jewry,"
said Alan Katchen, regional
director of the Anti^Defama-
tion League of B'nai B'rith.
'' Any person has the right
to speak, but I would certainly hope that Columbus
Jewry would not pay any attention to Kahane," he
stressed, addingi "I would
further hope that responsible
individuals in the sponsoring
group would themselves reconsider their invitation and
decide it is not in the best in-
. terests of the Jewish community for Kahane to speak
at this time. There are too
many problems in explicating and interpreting Israel
and Israeli government in
central Ohio right now without adding fuel to the fire."
Rabbi Harold Berman of
Congregation Tifereth Israel
echoes these sentiments.
"There are three categories
of how to respond to an individual in the community,"
he explained. "I respect his
opinion and I agree with
him; I disagree with him but
still respect him; I disagree
with him, and I do not re
spect him. Meir Kahane falls
into the third category.'' And
while he emphasized that
"I'm not going out to picket,
not opposing his right to
speak," he said that he
would discourage people
from attending and would
not attend himself, \
The Columbus Jewish Federation agrees, emphasizing
to the non-Jewish community especially that Rabbi Kahane is not appearing under
the auspices of the official
Jewish community of Columbus. In an official statement, released on Tuesday,
Feb. 13, the Federation's
Executive Communittee
stated:
"The Executive Committee of the Columbus Jewish
Federation views with concern the visit of Rabbi Meir
Kahane to the Columbus
community.
"In 1988, Israel's Supreme
Court ruled that the party
headed by Kahane was promoting racism in the country. His party was therefore
prohibited from listing candidates in Israel's elections.
"Israelis of all political
persuasions agree that there
is a need for a political solution to the unfortumate violence being experienced in
the area, a view rejected by
Kahane and.his few followers.
"Rabbi Kahane is appearing under the aegis of a private group of the community
and not under the auspices of
any official communal body.
We take pride in our country,
the United States, in being
able to have many views expressed. We should take into
account, however, that
Kahane does not constitute a |
-valid expression of Israel's
government nor the vast majority of its citizens as well
as the majority of the American Jewish community."
AFSI's Pollak answers the
critics. "Rabbi Kahane's '
ideas are probably not wholly shared by anyone in Columbus. But since when did -
we limit ideas we are exposed to to those we agree
with? Kahane will be worth
hearing just because he will
make you think. As an umbrella organization for the
nationalist camp, AFSI
agrees with Kahane's support for the Jewish claim to
Judea, Samaria and the Old
City of Jerusalem."
In addition to the AFSI-
sponsored program at the
Hilton East, Rabbi Kahane
has scheduled a morning appearance at the Ohio Union
on The Ohio State University
Campus. He will speak at 11
a.m. Following a campus
press conference, at noon,
Rabbi Kahane will teach an
OSU sociology class in the
CONTINUED ON PAGE 16
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