Newspaper Page Text
Hebrew Union Ool
Library Ixc
Clifton Ave
Cincinnati Ohio 45220
The Southern Israelite
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry - Established 1925
Vol. XLVII Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, June 16, 1972 Two Sections—12 Pages No. 24
Mixon Expected to Sign
Ethnic Heritage Act
Rabin Denies Expressing
Preference for Nixon
WASHINGTON ( J T A ) —
President Nixon was expected
to sign into law this week the
“Ethnic Heritage Studies Pro
gram’’ act which its sponsor
said will include Jewish com
munities in the United States.
Congress approved the pro
gram Friday as part of the
JTigher Education Aid law.
The act, sponsored by Sen.
Richard S. Schweiker (R.Pa.),
recommends expenditure by the
Administration of up to $15
million for carrying out its pro
visions during the first year.
The act authorizes the US
Commissioner of Education to
make grants for programs, de
velopment of curriculum mater
ial and dissemination of infor
mation relating to the history,
culture and traditions of the
UAHC Demands
Strict Gun Laws
NEW YORK (JTA) — The
Board of Trustees of the Union
of American Hebrew Congrega
tions has unanimously passed a
resolutioh demanding strict gun
control laws.
The resolution called for out
lawing "Saturday night spec
ials” (hand guns) and for con
trol and registration of all hand
guns, rifles and shotguns. The
UAHC’s 700 member congrega
tions and one million members
were asked by the Board to join
a nation-wide public opinion
mobilization for gun control
until effective legislation is
adopted by Congress and state
legislatures. The statement was
forwarded to the Presidential
candidates, who were aSked to
make their views on the issue
known to the public and to
members of Congress, UAHC
officials said.
They said statistics showed
that during this century, civil
ian gunfire has killed over
800,000 Americans, more than
all the military fatalities in all
wars from the Revolutionary
War through Viet Nam. The
UAHC said, “In 1970, hand guns
killed only three persons in
Tokyo, where strict gun control
is in effect. During the same
period, over 500 persons were
shot to death in New York
City.”
country’s various ethnic and
minority groups.”
An aide to Sen. Schweiker
told the Jewish Telegraphic
Agency that “The Jewish com
munities certainly will be in
cluded in this program.” Other
groups include Blacks, Mexi^
cans, Central and Eastern Euro
peans, Puerto Ricans and other
Latin Americans, as well as
Chinese, Japanese, American
Indians and others.
The Department of Health,
Education and Welfare will pre
pare the materials in coopera
tion with representatives of the
ethnic groups. The materials
will be disseminated through
their centers. The aide said “in
the case of the Jewish people,
we expect they would be dis
tributed from a temple, a com
munity center or a school.”
Sen. Schweiker described the
act as “a pilot program” and
said one of the measures of its
success would be “how well
various ethnic and minority
groups work together in getting
this program started.”
'Kamikaze'
PARIS (JTA)—All West Eu-
ropean airports have been put on
a state of alert following reports
that a small group of Japanese
kamikaze volunteers wer pre
paring an attack against an Is
rael-bound plane, authorities re
ported here.
In Copenhagen, Danish au
thorities were intormed that a
group of members of the Jap
anese Red Army, three of whose
members were responsible for the
May 30 massacre at I.ydda Air
port, were planning to attack an
Israel-bound plane at the Copen
hagen Kastrup Airport. In re
sponse to the threat, authorities
ordered armed guards, police and
soldiers stationed since along the
tarmac as well as in the Kastrup
terminal building. The Israeli am
bassador to Denmark, Moshe
I.eshcm, said in a television in
terview that local authorities
were “fully aware of the situa
tion" and could handle any
WASHINGTON (JTA) —
Ambassador Yitzhak Rabin
angrily assailed un-named
Israeli officials and the Jeru
salem correspondent of the
Washington Post for a dispatch
published on the front page of
the Post alleging that the Israeli
envoy favored President Nixon’s
re-election.
Addressing a special press
conference called for Israeli
journalists at the Israel Em
bassy on Sunday, Rabin de
clared that statements he had
made in an interview he gave
recently in Washington for the
Israel State Radio on the occa
sion of the Six-Day War anni
versary was “misquoted” and
“out of context.”
He charged that the Wash
ington Post dispatch, by Yuval
Elizur, represented an “effort
to cause great damage between
1he United States and Israel, be
tween the American and Israeli
people and between the Jewish
communities in Israel and the
US.”
danger.
At Paris Orly Airport, hun
dreds of airport police and bor
der guards have been checking
all passengers and luggage. Pas
sengers are required to pass in
dividual personal checks during
w hich their pockets are searched
and luggage opened for examina-
I ion.
A Jewish Telegraphic Agency
reporter who flew in from Gen-
e\ a reported that such checks
were being applied to all Air
France passengers, including those
flying on European lines only. An
Air France official said these pre
cautions were considered neces
sary because passengers might
board a plane for a European
destination and “then transfer on
route where they will no longer
he searched." It was recalled that
the three Japanese gunmen who
committed the massacre at I.ydda
Airport boarded an Air France
at Rome where there was no
the headline, “Israeli Prefer
ence for Nixon Hinted,” and sta
ted that Ambassador Rabin had
“indicated that he would favor
President Nixon’s re-election in
November’s election.”
It quoted the Israeli Ambass
ador as saying, “while we
appreciate support in the form
of words we are getting from
pne camp, we must prefer sup
port in the form of deeds from
the other camp.”
Rabin said he was misquoted.
He said that in the original in
terview, conducted in Hebrew,
he had indeed distinguished be
tween support by words and
support by deeds but did not
relate them to either “camp.”
He stressed that the policy of
the Israel Government and its
Embassy is not to interfere in
any domestic affairs of the US.
In more than four years as Am
bassador ip Washington he said,
he had pursued that policy and
would continue to pursue it as
long as he is Ambassador.
Asked whether Ambassador
Rabin had ever said publicly or
check of passengers or luggage.
At Geneva and Zurich airports,
planes are now parked far from
the air terminal and passengers
are required to pass a metal de
tecting device. Police armed with
submachine guns surround all
planes from the moment they
land until they take off. Customs
officials and police search all pas
sengers and luggage at Rome's
Fimicino Airport.
privately whether he favored
President Nixon, the source re
plied that the Ambassador has
only spoken of matters relating
to Israel and the US and that
there was nothing in the inter
view that went beyond matters
directly affecting Israel and the
Middle East. No American has
approached the Ambassador
about the story in the Washing
ton Post, the source said.
Ratith said that he was quoted
correctly in the dispatch as say
ing that no other American
President had made such a
far-reaching statement commit
ting the US to support Israel’s
existence as the declaration
made by President Nixon in hla
address to Congress upon his
return from the summit confer
ence in Moscow. In that address,
Nixon said, “Our summit con
versation about the Middle
East situation was also full,
frank and extensive. I reitera
ted the American people’s com
mitment to the survival of
Israel and to a settlement jusrt
to all the countries in the area.”
Zealots Protest
Jerusalem
“Sex Boutique”
JERUSALEM (JT)A)— Police
intervened Saturday night to
prevent religious zealots from
breaking into the “Eros Bouti
que,” Jerusalem’s first "sex
shop.”
The zealots, led by Rabbi
Amram Blau of the Neturei
Karta, had donned sackcloth
and ashes to protest the “prof
anation of the Holy City.”
A shouting match ensued
during which some of Blau’s
followers struck police, but
were persuaded to return home.
No arrests were made.
Undeterred by Tragedy
105 MORE PUERTO RICANS COME
TO ISRAEL FOR PILGRIMAGE
TEL AVIV (JTA)—Undeterred by the deaths of 16 of their
countrymen in the Lydda Airport massacre last Tuesday, 105
more Puerto Rican tourists arrived in Israel Monday aboard
an Air France jet on a pilgrinunage to Christian holy places.
Tho group was organized by the same travel agent that ar
ranged the earlier tour which met with tragedy on arrival in
Israel. Members of the group that landed said they learned of
tho massacre while enroute to Israel but none of them cancelled
their visit.
The dispatch appeared under
Wesf European Airports Alert for
on Israel-Bound Plane
EUROPEAN NEWSLETTER . ... By Maxim Goldenhirsch
A Jewish Museum Flourishes In Spain
TOLEDO, SPAIN—
Tho least known Jewish Mu
seum in the world has been
showing striking examples of
Sephardic culture for the last
ten months in tho ancient and
and abandoned Jewish Syna
gogue of Transit, also called the
Samuel Levi Synagogue, in the
heart of this historic walled city
in central Spain.
In the synagogue where a long
lino of Jewish sages and rabbis
taught, where Maimonides and
Rabbi Karo, Rabbi Abarbanel
and others were listened to and
venerated, the Spanish Ministry
of Fine Arts has installed a col
lection of Jewish tombstones,
amulets, ornaments, and pictor
ial reproductions of Jewish
sites throughout Spain.
The texts of the tombstones
and other exhibits are repro
duced carefully in Spanish and
Hebrew. Some of them, dating
from the Arab conquest of
Spain, also bear inscriptions in
Arabic. Among the exhibits are
pieces found in Toledo, Valen
cia, Loon, Sevilla, Merida and
other cities. A magnificent mar
ble washbasin is one of the
museum’s showpieces. It is as
yet unclear if it was actually a
ritual hand washing vessel, an
ossuary or a child’s sarcopha
gus. The inscriptions appear to
be in three languages: Greek,
Latin and Hebrew, but the ac
tual inscription is unclear.
The Transit Synagogue itself
is one of the best examples of
Jewish architecture. A still bet
ter example is the neighboring
Santa Maria La Blanca Syna
gogue which is deserted and has
decayed over the centuries in
which, after the expulsion of
Spain's Jews in 1492, it became
successively a church, a nun
nery, a monastery, a church
again, and then—thanks to a
Spanish general’s deep concern
for this example of Judeo-His-
panic culture—a treasure cham
ber of the King’s armies, which
it was forbidden to profane.
Nowadays, however, the Santa
Maria La Blanca Synagogue is
profaned again and again and
not only by non-Jews. The
colonnade which supports the
vast carved vault has been de
faced by hundreds of inscrip
tions made by tourists. Many of
them are in Hebrew and Yid
dish.
Among those graffiti are found
both anti-Semitic and pro-Fatah
slogans, and deeply religious
and at times bloodthirsty fana
tic Hebrew inscriptions. All to
gether, the impression is less
than favorable.
In spite of the fact that both
the Santa Maria La Blanca Syn
agogue and the Transit Syna
gogue museum have been de
clared national monuments,
Santa Maria is damp and un
cared for. Large parts of the
walls are falling away, destroy
ing in the process large seg
ments of the carved and painted
Hebrew inscriptions on the wall.
Tiie roof is also decaying.
Tho Transit Synagogue, on the
other hand, is perfectly cared
for. “This is only the begin
ning,” the Spanish caretakers,
all Christians, say. “We shall
extend this.” Displaying a con
siderable amount of pride in
their exhibit and a not neglig-
able pride in their knowledge
of Jewish Sephardic folklore,
they explain each exhibit to vis
itors, and ask thirstily for fur
ther explanations from tho9e
Jewish foreigners who might
understand Hebrew.
The Transit Synagogue has
been considerably improved
and enlarged, thanks to the gen
erosity of Madrid's Jewish com
munity vice-president Jacques
Pinto, 75, who has also donated
the ground of an adjacent plot
on which the erection of a libra
ry of Jewish-Sephardic works
has been started.