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Praying for peace
Will K ever come?
Federation is
‘we’ not
by Vida Cold {ar
In hit Tint public remarks since
being elected president of the
Atlanta Jewish Federation, Max
Rittenbaum called for greater
participation by all Atlanta Jews,
“not only in the funding campaign,
but in all Federation activities.”
Rittenbaum, who had served as
acting president since the recent
' death of David Goldwasser,
addressed the Federation's annual
meeting last week. He said, ”1 want
the Atlanta Jewish Federation to
become a Federation of “we,' where
all of you are just as familiar with
everything that is going on as the
officers and board are.
Rittenbaum added, “In
speaking of federation, don't say
"they,’ say ‘we.’”
Campaign Chairman Jack I.
Freedman reported that to date,
the annual fund raising effort had
passed the S2 million mark toward
a $5 million goal for the regular
campaign. Additionally,
Freedman said, $550,000 had been
pledged for Project Renewal. The
Women's Division, he noted, is
running 20 percent ahead of last
year’s campaign.
Over 500 persons are involved in
the campaign, with more than 200
having received training in new
solicitation techniques.
Even so, Freedman said, “We
are still looking for more help."
Rittenbaum, though pleased
with campaign progress, stressed
that the $5 million goal was not an
v»
illusory figure. “Federation and its
constituent agencies are facing the
same inflation problems as you are
in your homes,” he said.
Inflation, however, does not
bear all the burden. Rittenbaum
cited many causes for increased
community needs. “We used to be
proud of the fact that there weren't
many family problems in Atlanta,”
he said. “Whoever heard of a
Jewish kid taking dope? Whoever
heard of Jewish divorce—teenage
suicides?” Increasing problems
such as these have brought a staff
increase to the Jewish Family and
Children’s Bureau from three to
nine. “But even that is no longer
adequate,” Rittenbaum said.
An additional 175 Russian
Jewish families are expected in
Atlanta this year. “We provide
counseling and placement, as well
as other Assistance,” Rittenbaum
noted.
One by one, Rittenbaum ticked
off other community responsibil
ities: The Jewish Home, education,
Hillel, the AJCC, job placement,
youth activities...
Overseas needs were empha
sized by Samuel Haber, honorary
executive vice president of the
Joint Distribution Committee.
For more than 30 years, Haber has
cnss crossed the world, developing
and implementing aid and rescue
programs for hundreds of
thousands of Jews in over 25
countries. |
He painted a clear picture that
these operations remain as
urgently needed as ever.
VOL. LIV
Israelite
The Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry
Our 55th Year
Atlanta, Ga. Friday, March 2, 1979
No. 9
Can Carter-Begiri
find key to peace'
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Horn press dispatches
WASHINGTON—After sever
al days of uncertainty, Israel's
Prime Minister Menachcm Begin
agreed to come to Washington to
discuss the deadlocked peace talks
with President Carter.
Begin and Carter were expected
to meet Thursday evening and
Friday after the Israeli Cabinet's
Tuesday 14-2 vote that Begin
would not attend a summit
conference where Egypt would be
represented by Prime Minister
Khalil instead of President Anwar
Sadat.
Despite reports from diplomatic
sources in Washington that the
United States would back
BgypthU* ****** on three key
M||Wa Mm* tso «1 kJirliUo
issues MpanHmj tnc iwo mluuic
East governments. Begin said
before leaving Jerusalem that he
did not expect pressure from
President Carter, but “if pressure is
used against me, we shall reject it.”
The three points of major
diaagt*4Mit are Egypt’s
iMfMeitce ffcft a one-year
timetable he set for establishing
Palestinian civil autonomy on the
West Bank and Gaza; that a treaty
with Israel would not have priority
over Egypt's military pacts with
other Arab cduntries; and that
Egypt would withhold an
exchange of ambassadors between
the two countries until all of Sinai
is returned to Egypt and steps are
taken toward Palestinian
autonomy.
Though State Department
spokesman Hodding Carter
denied the reports that the
President would attempt to
pressure concessions from Israel,
President Carter had called the
differences “absolutely insignifi
cant," a view not shared by Israel.
After Tuesday's Cabinet
meeting. Begin indicated that be
also will discuss with Carter the
full range of U.S.-lsraeli relations
and cooperation to promote
security and stability in the Middle
East.
The Prime Minister disclosed
that Israel had advanced new
proposals at the Dayan-Khalil-
Vance meetings which were
rejected by Egypt. He said that “in
addition to the previous proposals,
which were unacceptabc to Israel,
See Peace, page 21
Restrictions on again y*
Masked Syrian Jew
relates tales of terror
by Yitzhak Rabi
NEW YORK (JTA)—The
situation of Syrian Jews has
sharply deteriorated in the last two
months, with the reimposition of
restrictions on internal travel,
intensified harassment, frequent
arrests and torture of members of
the community, a Syrian Jew who
escaped with his family six weeks
ago, charged at a press conference
here.
The 37-year-old Syrian Jew,
who wore a black mask to conceal
his identity, was presented only by
his first name, Albert. He told the
press conference, sponsored by the
Jewish Community Relations
Council of New York (JCRC), that
he arrived in Israel with his wife,
three children and other family
members Dec. 10, 1978, after he
escaped from Syria, “through the
mountains,” to a neighboring
country. From that country he and
his family were able to reach Israel,
where they how reside. He did not
give further details concerning his
escape, claiming he did not want to
endanger other would-be escapees.
According to Albert, who read a
statement in Arabic which was
translated, simultaneously,
“scores” of Syrian Jews have been
escaping from Syria in recent
weeks. “The remaining family
members of those who escaped are
tortured. Many are maimed and
injured,” Albert disclosed. He said
that all the restrictions by Syrian
authorities on the Jewish
community, which were lifted in
1976, were fully reimposed since
the beginning of last December
when a few members of the Syrian
Jewish community succeeded in
escaping.
Those restrictions ban free
movement within the country,
transfer of property, attending
universities and other denials of
basic human rights. The
Muhabarat (Syrian secret police),
Albert said, had in the last month
alone brutally beaten some 20 men
in Damascus and Aleppo because
they were suspected of helping
Jewish families who successfully
managed to flee the country.
“1 appeal through the American
media to world opinion to
understand the plight of Syrian
Jews and help us gain and enjoy
our freedom.” Albert said.
Albert unfolded his personal
story of life in Syria, which he was
detained and tortured several
times since he was 15 years old. At
one point he lifted up his shirt and
exposed to the reporters a huge
scar, which he said was the result of
torture in a Syrian prison.
Noting that Washington
allocates $90 million in aid to
Syria, Richard Ravitch, president
of the JCRC, declared that the
Jewish community will demand
this aid be halted until the Syrian
government stops denying its
Jewish citizens their human rights.