Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1990-07-05

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Serving Columbus and Central Ohio Jewish Community lor Over 60 Years
Ohio  Hist.Society  Libr.
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Columbus,    Ohio 0
43211 -.    .COMP
VOL. 68 NO. 27
JULY 5, 1990-TAMMUZ 12, 5750
Devoted to American
and Jewish Ideals.
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NEWS ANALYSIS
Mandela's Statements On The PLO
Put Jewish Groups In A Quandary
Wexner Heritage House Cornerstone Laid
An overflow crowd of 600 attended the Cornerstone Laying and Annual Meeting of the
new Wexner Heritage House. Depicted above are some of the Highlights: (top left
photo, 1. to r.) Irving Barkan, past president, Robert Glick, president, look on as Manny
Tzagournis, M.D.; Leslie Wexner, member of The Ohio State University Board of
Trustees and Seth Kantor, M.D., sign the model teaching nursing home agreement between OSU and Heritage Village as Gerald N. Cohn, executive vice president, describes
the historic affiliation. Bella Wexner, honorary chairwoman of the board, and Louis
Robins, chairman of the "We Are Their Children" Campaign, place "Gift of Life"
brochure in cornerstone (top right photo). Morris Skilken, co-chairman of the Building
and Expansion Program, is recognized as "master builder" as he affixes mortar for
Wexner Heritage House cornerstone (bottom right). Eleanore Yenkin, Auxiliary past
president; Eleanor Resler, "first lady," and Cohn place treasured momentos tff ■
Heritage House's past in cornerstone. (More photos and story to appear in the next
issue of the ' 'Ohio Jewish Chronicle.")
Richard Kohn Elected President
Of The Beth Jacob Congregation
On Tuesday, June 26,
Richard Kohn was installed
as president of the Beth
Jacob Congregation.
Kohn, a native of Columbus, is a graduate of South
High School, received his
undergraduate degree at Ohio
State University in 1951 and
graduated from Ohio State
Law School in December of
1953. Upon graduating, he received a commission in the
United States Army and
served in the Judge Advocate's Office in Washington,
D.C. A life long member of
the Beth Jacob Congregation, Kohn is active in the Columbus Torah Academy,
serves on the Board of Trustees at Heritage Village, was
a member of the Board of the
Columbus Jewish Federation, and is active in the
State of Israel Bonds Organization. He is a member of the
Franklin County Bar Association, Ohio State Bar Association, Jewish War Veterans,
B'nai B'rith and other community organizations. In
1984, he, was recognized by
his synagogue and was
honored at a testimonial dinner as the recipient of the
Parness Award.
Elected and installed with
.Kohn  were:   Jack  Rubin,
chairman  of  the  board;
Michael  Weisz,  first  vice
president; Martin Hoffman,
second vice president; treasurer, Yehudah Bitton; financial secretary, Henry
Schwarz; recording secretary, Polly Haas.
Board of Trustees:
Howard Belford, Henrietta
Flox, Farrell' Golden, Eric
Hoffman, Bary Leeman, Dr.
Alan Levy, Susan Luftman,
Gerald Rosen, Irv Szames,
Norman Krause, Beatrice
Binsky, Irvin Flox, Irving
Gutter, Dr. Fred Kapetansky, Janet Leeman, Matthew Levy, Joe Nichol,
David Schwartz, Ofer Weissman, Cheri Friedman,
Marilyn Cole and Philip
Cohen.
Honorary Board: Morris
Weinstock, Dr. Charles
Young, Bernard Gerson,
Bernard Hirsch, Leonard
Quinn, Harold Tanenbaum,
Ronald Golden, Robert Binsky and Joe Steinberg.
The officers were installed
in a special candle lighting
ceremony conducted by
Rabbi David Stavsky. A reception in the social hall followed, which was chaired by
Ruth
Rubin.
Richard Kohn
Stavsky   and
Lois
By Allison Kaplan
NEW YORK (JTA) —
Nelson Mandela's visit to the
United States has become a
moral and political quagmire for leaders of American Jewish organizations.
The deputy president of
the African National Congress received a hero's welcome during his triumphant
visit to this country, but his
unwavering support for Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasir Arafat and
Libyan dictator Moammar
Gadhafi has consistently
troubled Jewish community
leaders.
It was Mandela's comments on ABC-TV's "national town meeting" broadcast
June 21 that most upset Jewish leaders.
In response to a question,
Mandela stated that he considered Arafat a "comrade
in arms." He defended his
alliances by saying that his
"attitude toward any country is determined by the attitude of that country to our
struggle."
Henry Siegman, executive
director of the American
Jewish Congress, who was in
the audience for the broadcast, expressed "profound
disappointment" with Mandela's reasoning.
Siegman said that it suggested "a certain degree of
amorality" to' ignore a leader's human rights violations
simply because that leader
supports the African National Congress.
But Mandela stuck to his
position, saying that black
South Africans fighting for
freedom "have no time to be
looking into the internal affairs of other countries."
The broadcast triggered a
number of statements of
criticism and disappointment from a range of mainstream Jewish organizations;
No Regrets About
Geneva Session
Mandela's position was especially troubling to the
groups that met with him in
Geneva on June 10, in advance of his arrival in New
York: the American Jewish
Committee, AJCongress,
Anti-Defamation League of
B'nai B'rith; National Jew-
' ish Community Relations
Advisory Council and Union
of American Hebrew Congregations.
For many of these groups,
reacting to Mandela's state
ments brought into conflict
two of their basic missions:
their role as community relations organizations, trying
to promote positive black-
Jewish dialogue and their
role as defense organizations, defending Jewish interests and the State of Israel when they are under attack.
"For those involved in
community relations, Mandela presented some ambiguities and ambivalences,"
said Rabbi A. James Rudin,
interreligious affairs director for American Jewish
Committee.
The groups that took part
in the Geneva meeting said
they did not regret it, though
all  condemned   Mandela's
CONTINUED ON PAGE 15
The 15th Annual Conference on Alternatives in
Jewish Education will be. dedicated to Sam* and
Florence Melton in recognition of their years of support for Jewish education throughout the world.
Sam, Florence Melton Receive
1990 CAJE Conference Dedication
Australia To Continue Talks With PLO
SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) - Australia's Jewish community has reacted angrily to the government's decision last week
to continue its dialogue with the Palestine Liberation
Organization. Gareth Evans, the minister of foreign affairs
and trade announced last week that although the government
condemned the terrorist attack against Israel attempted
May 30 by a PLQ constituent group, it would not break off its
dialogue with the PLO, begun in the 1970s and upgraded 18
months ago.
The 15th Annual Conference on Alternatives in Jewish Education (CAJE), to be
held at The Ohio State University Aug. 12-16, will be
dedicated to Sam and Florence Melton in recognition of
their years of support for
Jewish education throughout
the world. The conference is
convened each August at a
different campus and is
sponsored by the Coalition
'for Advancement of Jewish
Education (CAJE), a national organization of Jewish educators whose purpose is to
advance the quality of Jewish education and provide
opportunities for Jewish
teacher and professional development. It is considered
*
Blood Day Is Thursday, July 5
at the Leo Yassenoff Jewish Community Center
Hours: 12:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. Call 231-3696 For Appointment
*
to be the highlight event of
the year for people involved
in transmitting the Jewish
heritage. According to CAJE
Executive Director Eliot
Spack, the national CAJE
Board's decision to have Columbus host the 1990 Conference was a tribute to the
Meltons by honoring their
home community.
"Sam and Florence Melton were supporters of CAJE
long before it became fashionable," added Spack.
"They sensed a spark there
and were willing to keep the
flame alive." In addition to
supporting CAJE from its inception, the Meltons, have
CONTINUED ON PAGE 16
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