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The Southern Israelite
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry - Established 1925
Vol. XLVII
Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, May 26, 1972
Two Sections—12 Pages
No. 21
I {alibis Among Arrested
At War Protest in Mass.
WITH THE PRESIDENT
BOSTON (JTA) — Twenty-
nine persons including six Bos
ton area rabbis, were arrested
at the John F. Kennedy Federal
Building May 17 during a dem
onstration against the Vietnam
war. The demonstrations, or
ganized by the Massachusetts
Board of Rabbis, drew about
300 persons and was peaceful.
The arrested persons were re
leased on $1000 bail each pend
ing a hearing before a Federal
magistrate May 31. They were
charged with violations of Fed
eral regulations involving tres
pass and obstruction of Federal
property. The demonstration be
gan with prayer services outside
the building. The demonstrators
remained outside for two hours
Hijack Passenger
Dies of Wounds
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Mrs.
Miriam Holtzman died in Tel
Hashomer Hospital May 18 of
wounds sustained during a gun
battle between Israeli paratroop
ers and Palestinian terrorists in
a hijacked Sabena jet at Lydda
Airport last week. The 22-year-
old Israeli was the wife of
a Belgian. She was the only
passenger fatality resulting
Rum the gunfight that liberated
100 hostages aboard the airliner
and in which two terrorists were
killed and a third seriously
wounded. Two other passengers
injured in the battle were dis
charged from the hospital last
week and a third was recover
ing from wounds. Mrs. Holtz
man was struck in the head and
neck and was in a coma at the
time of her death.
and while some of them blocked
one entrance, they were not
molested by police. But police
moved in when about 35 demon
strators more than 15 of them
rabbis, entered the building and
sat on the floor singing Hebrew
songs.
The six rabbis arrested, all
affiliated with Reform Congre
gations, are Rabbi Herman
Blumberg, Daniel Polish, Her
man Pollack, Benjamin Rudav-
sky, Cary Yales and Lawrence
Kushner.
Also arrested was Arthur
Alintuck, president of Temple
Beth Elohim Congregation of
Wellesley, Mass., ^hich is Rabbi
Blumberg’s congregation, and
Mrs. Malka Rudavsky, Rabbi
Rudavsky’s wife. All the rabbis
arrested were in their 30s and
40s except Rabbi Pollack, the
Hillel director at MIT, who is
G4. The Masachusetts Board of
Rabbis represents all three bran
ches of American Judaism but
its membership is largely Re
form and Conservative. Last
week the Board denounced
President Nixon’s decision to
mine the harbors of North Viet
nam.
Soviet Jews Hope Nixon Visit
Will Introduce "Era of Peace
By Jimmy Wisch
MOSCOW (AJPA)—The Rus
sians are a great and proud peo
ple. Before one tries any eval
uation of their society, one has
to predicate all remarks and
observations on this “greatness.”
The Soviet Union has consis
tently tried to forestall a “two-
front” campaign against it. One
has to realize that since before
Peter the Great, Soviet strate
gists realized that one of the
strangle holds against it would
be a combined attack from the
east and west.
One can conjecture about the
consequences of summitry One
thing is positive: It has to pro
vide some assurance that the
United States will not be part
ner to any decimation or deni
gration of the Soviet Union or
vice versa.
Nor should it be.
One can easily ascertain from
one visit to the next the great
improvement in the freedom of
Soviet citizens. One can “feel it
in their approaches to wes-
AJPA Newsman With President
Priest, Born a Jew,
Returns to Judaism
The president of the American
Jewish Press Assn., Jimmy
Wisch, editor of the Texas Jew
ish Post of Fort Worth-Dallas,
is among the newsmen accom
panying President Nixon on his
trip to the Soviet Union.
Wisch, who has previously
visited Russia, is in his third
year as president of the AJPA,
an association of most of the
i major Anglo-Jewish newspapers
published in the United States,
TEL AVIV (JTA) — A 60-
year-old Benedictine priest who
was born a Jew returned to the
Jewish fold 33 years after he
converted to Catholicism in
order to “save my life” on the
eve of World War II.
A Haifa rabbinical court offic-
German Students
Protest Rehiring
Of Nazi Prof
BONN (JTA) — German stu
dents have protested the rein
statement of a former SS leader,
Hans Fleischhacker, as biology
professor at the University of
Frankfurt.
Brought to trial four years
ago on charges of having aided
in the mass murder of 115 Jews,
he was suspended from the uni
versity. In March 1971 he re
ceived a surprise acquittal. It
was not denied, however, that
he had gone to Auschwitz in
June 1942 to select skulls of 150
Jewish inmates. Within five
days he had chosen 79 Jewish
men, 30 Jewish women and six
non-Jews, all of whom were
subsequently killed in gas cham
bers. Their skulls were con
served.
Fleischhacker began lecturing
at the university April 20.
'ally declared Dornland Rhein-
hold a Jew once more. ‘It’s the
greatest day of my life,” he told
reporters. According to Jewish
religious law, a born Jew who
converts to Christianship need
not undergo reconversion to Ju
daism but a rabbinical court
must approve his assumption of
Jewish religious obligations.
He was born in Germany of
Jewish parents, became a Com
munist and fled to France. In 1937
he entered a Catholic seminary
and was ordained. In 1968 he
was sent to Jerusalem, where
he lived in a Benedictine monas
tery until this week. Asked
what made him return to Juda
ism. Rheinhold said, “When I
came here I suddenly discov
ered that I have a people of
mine, a land of mine.”
Statue Honors
I bn Gabirol
MADRID (JTA)—A statue in
memory of Solomon Ibn Gabi
rol was unveiled in Malaga, his
home town in southern Spain,
on the 950th anniversary of his
birth. The statue was put up
by the town council of Malaga.
The ceremony was attended by
several leaders of the Sephar
dim in various countries. Ibn
Gabirol was one of the greatest
Hebrew poets of the golden age
of Hebrew letters in medieval
Spain. He was also an impor
tant philosopher.
including The Southern Israe
lite
A report direct from Moscow
as well as one from Salzburg,
Austria (first stop enroute) ap
pear in this issue.
Also accompanying the Pres
ident are Joseph Polakoff Wash
ington bureau chief for the Jew
ish Telegraphic Agency, and
Trude B. Feldman, White House
correspondent for The Southern
Israelite and other publications.
Theo. Blank Dies;
Was Fired By Nazis
BONN (JTA) — Theodor
Blank, who was expelled from
his union post by the Nazis in
1933 and became West Ger
many’s first postwar Defense
Secretary in 1955, died here May
14, aged 66.
When Mr. Blank refused a
Nazi Party position in 1933, he
lost his job as general secretary
of the Factory and Transport
Workers Union. Blocked by the
Nazis from obtaining work else
where, he returned to high
school and went on to university
studies.
A sergeant and then a lieuten
ant in World War II, he was
captured by the Allies in 1945
and later released. He was elec
ted to the first Bundestag in
1949, serving until struck by ill
ness several weeks ago.
He was named Defense Minis
ter in 1955, but the next year
Chancellor Konrad Adenauer
bowed to election year opposit
ion to Mr. Blank’s “weakness”
— i.e., anti-militarism -— and
replaced him with Franz Josef
Strauss. During 1957--65, he was
Minister of Labor and Social
Affairs.
terners in the way they dress
and their other customs of
music, cosmetics, motor cars
(which have increased greatly)
and other indicators.
The greatest “openness” is in
the “feel” of the people. They
are more outgoing. They estab
lish more immediate rapport.
This is not “eyewash” because
all one has to do is observe the
change in attitude from one
visit to the next.
While President Nixon was
being welcomed on a tight secur
ity-guarded Kiev highway lead
ing from Vnukovo II airport in
the southwest part of the city
leading into Leninskiy Prospekt,
with its American-Soviet flags,
this writer did an interview with
a group of Soviet Jewish citizens
who told him that although they
basically feel that most Soviet
Jews enjoy certain freedoms,
there still persists the ingrown
feeling that the majority of So
viet citizens and leaders are
their “enemies.”
Questioned about this they told
this writer that, “How can it be
different, isn’t it the same the
world over?”
They also feel that Israel is the
one place that they can enjoy an
expression of freedom, but it is
very difficult to get a visa to go
to Israel. One cited a Jewish
family he knew in Moscow, Mi
chael Arnoff, who left within the
past few days with his wife and
four children. Another said it is
very difficult to get visas. One
who had just had a visa appli
cation accepted by OVIR, the
bureau in charge, did not know
when he would ever be approved
and conjectured whether he
would be better off to leave by
plane or ship if it ever was ap
proved.
Soviet Jews have been discuss
ing President Nixon’s visit. They
feel that it “will improve rela
tions between the U. S. and the
Soviet Union, and that it might
improve Soviet relations with Is
rael” which is a great concern.
They would like to see it intro
duce “a great era of peace in the
world.”
Shalom is not an easy word fol
lows to forget. They live by it
and. alas, too many Jews have
died for it.
Local Jewish worshippers say
that in Moscow’s Central Syn
agogue and its two satellite syn
agogues there has been a tre
mendous turnout for the Shavuot
holiday which concluded two
days ago. Long term members
of the Central Synagogue say
that there were more than 2500
w-orshippers for Shavuot and that
the synagogue is drawing 1000
worshippers at Saturday morn
ing services. They claim that
attendance at the two smaller
synagogues has improved.
One must consider, however,
that Moscow is a city of well
over one million nominal Jews
and that these numbers, even if
they are accurate, although im
proved from former years, are
still infinitesimal. The important
thing to remember is that tra
ditional Jews do not really feel
“secure” in a country which has
been home to them more than
a century.
//
out any coercion. It is true that
the Soviet Union has increased
migration to Israel tremendous
ly considering that it was nil
previously.
A question to high level of
ficials about this problem today
brought immediate unresponsive
Thus is reason for the Soviet
Union to act positively and al
low any Jews who care to mi
grate to do so freely and with-
Petitions from 5000 Georgians
wero presented to President
Nixon before his departure for
Moscow by Fifth Dist. Rep.
Fletcher Thompson. To drama
tize the presentation, Rep.
Thompson walked from his of
fice to the White House where
a staff member accepted the
petitions urging the President to
intercede on behalf of Soviet
Jewry.
answer. The mayor of Moscow
was asked the same question
following a most cordial recep
tion to the press in which he
granted this writer a private
interview. Moscow’s Mayor Pro
myslov toasted an “era of peace
between the United States and
the Soviet Union.”
However, when he was spec
ifically asked about the ques
tion of whether Jews who want
ed to migrate should be given
the opportunity without ob
struction, he said, “Wait until
my press conference tomorrow.
I will direct my answer to this
question”
Perhaps this is the reason that
Jews have a feeling of instabil
ity. They told this writer they
would like to see a change ef
fected to this instability by Mr.
Nixon’s visit to the Soviet
Union.
Copyright. 1972, American
Jewish Press Assn.
ALGERIAN CITY
MAY LOSE LAST
SYNAGOGUE
RABAT (JTA) — Algerian au
thorities are threatening to ex
propriate Kanoui Temple, the
only remaining synagogue in the
Algerian city of Oran, according
to informed sources in that city.
Since Algeria proclaimed its
independence from France in
1962, 17 of the 19 synagogues
in this city have been nation
alized. One of the two temples
left for the Jewish community’s
use was later rented out for
commercial purposes.
Kanoui, built in 1880, is there
fore the only synagogue left for
the approximately 300 Jews of
this city.
British Post Office
Restricts Israel Mail:
Bomb Parcels Feared
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The
British postal authorities have
informed the Communications
Ministry that postal matter other
than letters sent to Israel after
May 5 are to be transported by
ship not by airmail.
According to the Ministry
spokesman, British authorities
gave no reason for their decis
ion. However, he believed it
stemmed from the fear that the
mails are being used for bomb
packages. Britain is the only
country restricting airmad to
Israel to letters.