Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

MEU/S BRIEFS ‘Shaloms’ greet Israelis In Cairo CAIRO, (JTA)—Thousands of excited Egyptians shouting “Begin Shalom, Sadat Shalom” greeted the Israeli delegation to the Cairo peace conference as they arrived Dec. 17 for prayers at the city’s central synagogue, the Shaar Shamayim Synagogue on Adly Street. It was the first time that Eliahu Ben-Elissar, Israel’s chief negotiator, and his fellow Israeli negotiators had made a public appearance The unanimous and enraptured reaction by the Egyptian public upon seeing them showed the enormous popular support for President Anwar Sadat’s bid for peace with Israel. This support has been shown until now only to Sadat himself on his return from Jerusalem. A Jewish school In Madrid! TEL AVIV, (JTA)—Sephardi Chief Rabbi Ovadia Vosef is leaving soon for Spain to attend the dedication of the first Jewish school in Madrid, the first school in Spain since the expulsion of Jews from Spain by the Inquisition in 1492. Israeli religious circles are attaching great significance to Yosefs visit to Spain as it would mean the annulment of the “herem deraban”—the boycott of Spain declared by the rabbis of the Inquisitiion era. There are some 9000 Jews presently in Spain, 3000 of them in Madrid. JNF project helps settlement JERUSALEM, (JTA)—A new moshav in the Negev, Ashalim, some $0 kilometers from Beersheba, will be inaugurated soon on land being prepared by the Jewish National Fund. The JNF announced completion of work on the first 175 acres to be used for homes and light industry. Further land will now be prepared for the beginnings of the new settlement’s agriculture. The settlers themselves are currently receiving their training at the nearby kibbutz of Mashavei Sadeh. Another JNF project is to provide a further 250 acres of workable land to the kibbutz of Sde Boker. More help wanted for blacks NEW YORK.—The president of the American Jewish Committee and American Jewish Congress have called for increased efforts at the junior and senior high school levels to help blacks prepare for medical and other professional schools. Such measures, said Richard Maass of the Committee and Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg of the Congress, would be far more effective than any restrictive quota system in admissions in moving toward “the goal of more black physicians, lawyers, and other professionals in our society." U.N. does It again! UNITED NATIONS, (JTA)—The General Assembly adopted : Dec. 14 a resolution condemning Israel “for its Collaboration with 8 the racist regime of South Africa." The anti-Israel resolution was | one of 14 resolutions condemning the apartheid policies of the | Pretoria government. The vote condemning Israel was 88-19 with | 30 abstentions. The resolution against Israel was sponsored, among others, by | Angola, Cuba, Egypt, Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania and Zambia and | was described by them as following from the report of a special I committee on apartheid that cited Israel’s military and economic 8 ties with South Africa. Virtually all the Western countries, including the United States, voted against the resolution condemning Israel. Guatemala also voted negatively. Abstaining were many Latin American nations as well as such African countries as Swaziland, Malawi, Liberia, the Ivory Coast and the Central African Empire. Japan, Thailand, Singapore and Iran also abstained. Begin nice to both U.S. parties WASHINGTON, (JTA)—During his visit here. Premier Menachem Begin met with National Security Affairs Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, several Senators, Jewish leaders, and struck a note of friendship with both major political parties. Sunday morning he met for one hour each with former President Ford and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger who brought his son David to Blair House. At the lunch which Ambassador Simcha Dinitz gave for some 40 guests, those attending included AFL-CIO president George Meany; Vice President Walter Mondale; Rabbi Alexander Schindler, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations; Leonard Strelitz, general chairman of the United Jewish Appeal; and Sam Rothberg, general chairman of the Israel Bond Organization. Before leaving Washington, the Begins stopped at the home of Sen. and Mrs. Hubert Humphrey. "9 S i* H X M s letters to Iheedilor Clarifying the kosher question Editor; I read with interest and admira tion your fine article regarding the “Baby Bluming Bris". Two points in the article, however, I believe were based on misinformation and stand to be corrected. You state “the food was flown in from New York so it would be kosher." The statement may erroneously imply that there are no facilities for kosher food here in Atlanta, which is clearly and totally untrue. On the contrary, there are a number of fine markets and facilities in Atlanta where kosher food is available. If kosher did play a role in having the food flown in—then I believe you’re missing the key word—“GLATT Kosher", which is a slightly different—possibly more stringent—form of kashrut. There is a growing number of families in Atlanta that have chosen to eat only “Glatt Kosher.” Therefore there are those who have their “simehas”—festive affairs— catered Glatt, so that no one is excluded, and everyone will feel comfortable eating there. Al though Glatt meat is available in Atlanta, there is not yet, to my knowledge, a private Glatt caterer here. Definitely, however, there is no intention to cast aspersions on any other form or standard of kashrut. The other statement referred to the bris beginning “as the women were motioned to move towards m 90 Z 55 the-back." This is an error of fact. ^ It simply did not happen. I was m there. Although in orthodox syn- ~ agogues there is a separation of the rr sexes during prayer services— o a bris is not a prayer service. 3 Paulette S. Mutnick 9 (We have talked with Rabbi <f Bluming about the reference men- kj tioned In the above letter. The reference was not a direct ^ quotation on Rabbi Bluming's part and carried no intent to question the kashruth standards of the existing kosher facilities in Atlanta on our part. As to the second item, the writer stands on her impression but agrees it may have been an individual, rather than an official, request.— EDITOR) Small turnout for Soviet Jewry rally Editor: On Dec. 12 the Women’s Plea for Soviet Jewry had a community-wide rally at the Temple. The weather was gorgeous, the location central, great newspaper coverage and organizational notifications. All three TV stations and the radio were there to cover this outcry of women against the inhuman Russian treatment of their refusniks and activists. The speaker was a Catholic nun, who dedicates day and night to work towards the improvement of the lot of oppressed Soviet Jewry and other persecuted minorities— and lo and behold—she faced only about 300 concerned Jewish and non-Jewish women. Sister Ann’s message was powerful and it was also well understood by the 200 children from the three day schools, who sang so beautifully. They were impressed that there was a non- Jewish woman so concerned about the plight of Russian Jews. Where were the women of our community? To quote Sister Ann “When we are vocal and they are in the spotlight, they are safer." Does it really take a program for us to show concern and be counted? Helen Spiegel Separate peace may help Editor: It appears that the Cairo- Jerusalem negotiations, now under way, are making our administration in Washington very nervous indeed. A fantastically curious item in the Wall Street Journal of Dec. 14, 1977, expressing dire misgivings should Israel and Egypt make a separate peace has all the ear marks of State Department inspiration. The suggestion (which has appeared in print before) that a separate peace would further split the Arabs and radicalize so-called moderate Arab leaders is so patently absurd that one wonders at the capacity for mental distortion existing among the Arabists in our state department. This kind of twisted logic has lead to the tragic events in Asia of recent history and could cause a fiasco that would completely destroy our credibility in the Middle East. The inexorable logic that buttresses Sadat's great initiative is quite simple and unencumbered by the barnacles that beset the thinking in our ship-of-state. A firm Egyptian-Israeli peace will, through its own dynamism, exert irrcstible pressure upon Jordan, Lebanon and Syria to conclude a similar peace with Israel. Indeed one may, without torturing the imagination, visualize a wider arrangement that would include Iran. Saudi Arabia, the Sudan and perhaps even Turkey in a solid phalanx that could with credible authenticity exclude further Soviet penetration into the Mideast. Of course our state department, in order to regain some of our lost influence and prestige with the Turkish government, requires some lessons concerning the “facts of life” in the eastern Mediterranean and in “how to win friends and influence people." The prospects for success of the above scenario, giving due consideration to our fatal penchant for antagonizing our friends and essential collaber- ationists, cannot be highly rated at this point in time. However since optimism is preferable to defeatism one may hope that geopolitical realities will induce some logical thinking among the experts of our Department of State. R M. Travis Was Churchill a Zionist? Editor: Winston Churchill was many things, bright and brave He was an excellent politician. A “real Zionist" as stated by Martin Gilbert (in his article “Churchill,” 11/18/77)—I’m not sure. In a White Paper issued 6/22/22 by then Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill, he gave the first hint that Britain would waffle on the Balfour Declaration. While he did state the validity of the Declaration and the right of Jews to be in Palestine, he made it clear that Britain did not contemplate that Palestine as a whole should be converted into a Jewish National Home. More importantly, he introduced into the interpretation of the Balfour Declaration the principle, of “economic absorptive capacity" as the yardstick for Jewish immigration. Thus was set up the bureaucratic net work which first controlled and later shut-off Jews from Palestine. It’s true the Mid-East represented a political puzzle to Europe in the 20’s and 30’s. That puzzle became most complicated as war clouds loomed. Churchill and most European politicians were concerned with Arab relations to the Axis powers, not with Israel and Zionism except as Israel and Zionism served their political needs. Wiibam A. Grainick Southeast Regional Director American Jewish Committee