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The Southern Israelite A Weekly VoJ. XLIV Newspaper for Southern Jewry - Estakjjfgv Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, October 10, 1969 Political Gobblcdygook Lindsay—Let Soviet Jews Come to NY City Rohan Pleads Innc Arson Before Packed No. 41 NEW YORK (JTA) — Mayor John V. Lindsay called on the Soviet Union to allow it§ Jews, who he said, were trapped “half- free and half-slave’’ to come to New York City, “where they will find the kind of freedom you cannot grant.” Asserting that “we are all bro thers of the Soviet Jews,” the Mayor spoke at Simhat Torah demonstration at Dag Hammar- skjold Plaza near the United Simhat i Torah Brings Out 12,000 in Moscow LONDON (JTA)—About 12,000 Moscow Jews sang and danced on the Quarter-mile long Arkhipov St. outside the Choral Synagogue in a spontaneous celebration of Simhat Torah. Eyewitnesses said that youngsters outnumbered the middle aged and elderly. They sang traditional Jewish songs, in cluding “Hava Nagila” and some groups chanted, “I am a Jew, we are all Jews.” The normally quiet street near the headquarters of the central committee of the Sovet Commun ist Party was closed to traffic by police. There was no interference with the celebration which has become a Jewish tradition in Moscow on Simhat Torah. But some elderly Jews told foreign observers that they doubted if oelebraticns of the holiday were allowed on the same scale in other Soviet cities with large Jewish populations like Kiev, Kharkov and Odessa. One elderly Jew reportedly complained to visitors that Mos cow’s 300,000 Jews had no central meeting place outside of the syn agogue. The young people learned of the holiday by word of mouth because no Jewish calendars are published in the Soviet Union and the press never reports the event of religious holidays. The outpour ing of emotion was seen by ob servers as a demonstration of identification with Israel by some Jews or simply of Jewish identity by others. Moscow has no formal Jewish schools but people in the Simhat Torah crowd said many youngsters studied Hebrew in private groups. Nations, at which New York’s Jewish community expressed its solidarity with Soviet Jews. “We say to> the Soviet Union— if you cannot let our brothers live in freedom, then let our brothers go. If you cannot per mit them to raise their children by the faith of their fathers, then let our brothers go. If you cannot let them think, speak, pray and live as freemen, then let our brothers go.” The demonstration was organ ized by the New York Confer ence on Soviet Jewry and the Student Struggle for Soviet Jew ry. The Conference, under the chairmanship of Rabbi Norman Lamm, represents the major Jewish organizations of New York and the local branches of major national Jewish organiza tions. The theme of the gather ing was "let them live or let them leave.” The event was organized as the American coun terpart of the annual practice of young Soviet Jews who mark Simhat Torah with singing and dancing in the streets outside theh Central Synagogue in Mos cow. Similar celebrations are be ing sponsored by the American Jewish Conference for Soviet Jewry in 59 other American cit ies. Seven religious processions bearing the palm branches and torches crossed Hammarskjold Plaza, each in behalf ol a selec ted Russian Jewish community — Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Odessa, Riga, Vilna, and Tash kent, Mayor Lindsay led the first procession. Or VeShalom Has First Bat Mitzva On September 28, Miss Terry Franco, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charlie Franco of Atlanta, observed her Bat Mitzva at Or VeShalom Syn agogue. This was the first Bat Mitzva ever held at Or VeShalom. Out-of-town guests includ ed Mrs. Franco’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Shapiro of Tampa and Mrs. Franco’s uncle, Isaac Shapiro of Silver Spring, Md. JERUSALEM (JTA) —Michael Denis William Rohan, the 28- year-old Australian sheep-shearer accused of setting fire to the El Aksa mosque Aug. 21, pleaded innocent Tuesday to each of two charges of arson and two charges of violation of a Holy Place, The charges were read by Judge Henry E. Bsiker, a Scottish-bom Israeli jurist who heads the three-mem ber district court trying Rohan. The defendant pleaded Innocent through his court-appointed law yer, Yitzhak Tunik, a prominent criminal lawyer from Tel Aviv. The Rohan trial opened in a 400 seat hall of Binyanei, Haoma, the city’s convention center. It was packed to capacity with police se curity guards, newsmen, TV cam era crews and spectators including members of the foreign diploma tic corps, Moslem dignitaries from East Jerusalem and Israeli offic ials. The sight of Rohan flanked by two policemen in a bulletproof Rabbi Hooted At Montreal MONTREAL (JTA) — Rabbi Abraham Feinberg, rabbi emeri tus of Toronto’s Holy Blossom Temple, was shouted down this week by Quebec separatists and students during an address at McGill University. He urged Jewish students to become racial activists but was repeatedly in terrupted by shouts of “facist,” “down with the Zionism,” and “Yankee Go Home.” Visibly shaken, Rabbi Feinberg appealed to the hecklers to “re spect a 70-year-old man and wait for the question period.” He was allowed to finish his speech and some of the separatists, addres sing him in French as a “fascist Zionist,” demanded to know why he talked about the struggle for liberation.” The Ontario Province rabbi re plied that “I have a simple answer to that. I don’t know enough about it.” Earlier in his address, Rabbi Feinberg told the crowd that “to be a Jew is to mean to be a radical. In my in terpretation of Judaism, I be lieve there is one unmistakable command or life stule — and that is to take the radical way.” First Regional Meeting Oct. 12-15 For Brandeis U. Women’s Group ,eadors of the newly formed itheast Region of Brandeis iversity National Women’s nmittee will gather in Atlanta October 13-15 their first re- inal confer ee. Thirty men from thej ven chapter s expected lition to Mrs.& m Tick, Riv-|„ lale, N. YJ mediate past^ sident. •s. Harold Mar- ! of Atlanta is qorral presi- - lt Mrs. Tick Che program for the three days LI center on the theme, “Bran- is—Challenge of a New Dec- e,” and will feature thought ivoking and informative ses- ns. Df special interest to Atlanta members and their husbands is the dinner meeting on Monday, Oct. 13, at 7:00 p. m. Thu pro gram for the evening will deal in depth with the question of Black Studies Program on the American Campus. The guest speaker, Dr. Vivian Henderson, president, Clark College, will dis cuss national trends and his view of such programs. Mrs. Sheldon Cohen, immediate past president, Atlanta chater, is in charge of the program and Mrs. Bernard Howard, national corresponding secretary, is Dinner Chairman. Conference co-chairmen arc Mrs. Jack I. Freedman and Mrs. Harv ey Jacobson. Mrs. Tick holds degrees from Hunter College and Hebrew Union College School for Teach ers. Active" in community affairs, Schaarai Zedek In Tampa Plans 75th Milestone Tampa’s Congreg a t i o n Schaarai Zedek is preparing to celebrate its 75th Anniver sary with a special service of commemoration at 8:30 p.'m., on Friday, Oct. 31. Rabbi Maurice N. Eisen- drath, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congre gations, will be the guest speaker. Rabbi David Zielonka will be honored at the service for his 40 years of service aa spiritual leader of the con gregation. glass booth wearing earphones to hear the simultaneous English translation of the Hebrew pro ceedings made comparisons with the trial of the notorious Gestapo deportation chief Adolf Eichmann inevitable. Israeli ahthorities have been anxious to play down the resemblance. But the Rohan trial is doubt lessly the most important from an international point of view to be held in Israel since' Eichmann was tried, convicted and executed. The mosque fire set off violent repercussions throughout the Moslem world and Israelis are ad mittedly anxious to give the trial of the suspect maximum publicity in order to refute Arab charges of Israeli responsibility for the blaze. Rohan was seen to swallow hard when Judge Baker stated that each of the two counts of arson against him carry a penalty of 15 years' imprisonment and the two counts of violating a Holy Place, seven years each—a total of 44 years. The court admitted as evidence the confession he al legedly made to Jerusalem police who arrested him within 24 hours of the fire. Also admitted as evidence were color slides al legedly taken by Rohan of the exterior and interior of the mos que before he set it afire. The latter, according to police, show ed incendiary material inside the shrine before it was ignited. Rohan’s alleged confession was read to the court by David Offer, a deputy police officer, at the re quest of prosecuting attorney Meir Shamgar, one of the lawyers who helped prosecute Eichmann. Deputy Offer testified that when he questioned Rohan following his arrest, the prisoner said, “I got up in the morning, went out and burned the El Aksa mosque.” The alleged confession read by Offer stated: “I read in Prophet Zachariah that one person would be called by God to build the Temple. I deeply felt that God wanted me to build the Temple Aksa Courtroom and that I would have to prove whether this call was true or not by destroying the mosque.” It went on to say that Rohan paid Arab guides to take him on tours of the mosque dozens of times and to tell how he made plans for setting it afire. Rohan has claimed that he is a member of the Church of God, a funda mentalist Protestant sect with headquarters in Cyprus. It Is the alleged belief of the sect that the resurrection of Jesus must follow the restoration of the Temple In Jerusalem. The mosque, the third holiest shrine of Islam, occupies the site on which the Temple is believed to have stood. The' charges against Rohan stated that the accused made an abortive attempt to set fire to the mosque several weeks before the Aug. 21 blaze. At the time only a door was scorched. The earlier fire went unnoticed and was unreported by the Moslem guards employed by the Waqf, the Moslem religious council in Jerusalem responsible for the se curity and maintenance of Mos lem shrines. A joint Israeli-Arab committee inquiring into the cir cumstances of the Aug. 21 fire charged the Waqf with gross neg ligence in a report to Premier Golda Meir. Moslems on the other hand, have charged Israeli police with negligence in protect ing the mosque. The fire led to calls for a holy war against Israel by several Arab leaders, among them Presi dent Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, King Faisal oaf Saudi Ara bia and King Hussein of Jordan. Arab wrath culminated In the convening of an all-Moslem sum mit conference at Rabat, Moroc co last month. The conference ended inconclusively but the Arab states managed to pressure the more moderate non-Arab Moslem delegates to go along with a demand that Israel should rescind its annexation of East Jerusalem. she has headed the Riverdale Women’s Division of the United Jewish Appeal and is a member of its Advisory Board. Tashlich, Roth Hashana 8730. On tha seashore of Tel Aviv. ISRAEL SUN Photo