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Rabbi angry at the ACLU by Ben GaUob An Illinois Reform rabbi has told m congregant that he was considering resigning his member ship in the American Civil Lib erties Union because he believed that the ACLU defense of the American Nazi Party's “right" to stage a march in Skokie made “a mockery" of the free speech principle to which the ACLU is dedicated. The exchange of correspond ence between Rabbi Robert I. Marx of Highland Park and the congregant, Alexander Polikoff, was reprinted in a bulletin of the Late News NEW YORK, (JTA)-A number of Jewish organi zational leaders met with American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) key officials this month, at the request of the ACLU, to discuss a drop of Jewish support because of the ACLU defense of First Amendment claims of Nazis. Seymour Samet, director of the American Jewish Com mittee’s domestic affairs department, said that the ACLU officials sought the cooperation of the Jewish leaders in understanding that the ACLU is committed to defending the rights of all groups, not Just those objectionable to Jews. Central Synagogue, a leading Reform congregation in New York City. Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman, rabbi of the Central Synagogue, wrote that he personally concurred with Rabbi Marx's position. The legal battle of the Nazis to overturn an injunction against a demonstration in Skokie, home of several thousand survivors of the Holocaust, has been tied up in the courts. The issue is currently before the Illinois State Supreme Court. Polikoff argued that the ACLU was "a staunch defender of the individual liberties that we all—as Americans and Jews—rightly per ceive to be an essential part of decent human society.” He added “OLLILA ORIGINALS” Custom Tailoring A Alterations For vou, your family Call for Appointment 355-4137 that while the ACLU could not be right “all the time in the view of all ~of its supporters," he nevertheless felt that he and Rabbi Marx would agree that “it has a very good batting average" and deserved the continued support of Jews despite its decision to represent the Nazis in Skokie. ACLU officials, admitting that a substantial number of Jewish members have resigned from the organization over the Skokie issue, have indicated the ACLU intends to continue its legal service to the Nazis. Rabbi Marx continued that “the heart of my concern is my conviction that the Nazi cause does not represent a test of free speech but rather represents a satanic force unlike any that the world has ever experienced." He declared that, in defending Nazis, the ACLU “makes a god of freedom of speech, while debasing other civil liberties—including the freedom to live." He said what the Nazis are saying now in Skokie has already been manifested in action and that action is genocide. He declared that if the ACLU decided to refuse to defend Nazis, it would “by no means abandon its principles. The Nazis have been uniquely condemned by the world's tribunal. They were found guilty of crimes against humanity." Stressing that the United States fought a war to defeat the Nazi regime and its “evil program," Rabbi Marx said that to defend the Nazis now “is to make a mockery of the very principles of freedom of speech which the ACLU has so valiantly upheld in the past." 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