Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Israelite
The Weekly Newspaper For Southern Jewry
Our 55th Year
VOL. LV
Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, October 5, 1979
J 'J-
7 2
Sukkot’s here!
Jerusalemites circle Torah with Lulav and Etrog while
reciting the Hoshana prayer. The circling is done every day and
seven times on the seventh day of Sukkot, Hoshana Rabba.
Consider Palestinians, says Pope
by Yitzhak Rabi
UNITED NATIONS (JTA) —
Pope John Paul II, in a major address
to the United Nations General
Assembly Tuesday called for a
comprehensive settlement of the
Middle East conflict, implied
approval of the lsraeli-Egyplian
peace agreement and declared that
a peace settlement “cannot fail to
include the consideration and just
settlement of the Palestinian
question.”
He also spoke on behalf of the
territorial integrity and tranquility
of Lebanon and reiterated the
Vatican’s position on Jerusalem,
calling for a “special statute" for
that city.
Early in his speech, which he
delivered in English, the Pope
recalled his recent visit to the
former Auschwitz death camp and
urged that “everything that recalls
those horrible experiences
should...disappear forever from
the lives of nations and states,
everything that is a continuation of
those experiences only in different
forms. ..” He also declared that
“All human beings in every nation
and country should be able to
enjoy their full rights under any
political regime or system.”
In his remark on the Middle
East, the Pope said: “It is my
fervent hope that a solution also to
the Middle East crises may draw
nearer. While being prepared to
recognize the value of any concrete
step or attempt made to settle the
conflict, I want to recall that it
would have no value if it did not
truly represent the ‘first stone’ of a
general, overall peace in the area, a
peace that, being necessarily based
on equitable recognition of the
rights of all, cannot fail to include
consideration and just settlement
of the Palestinian question."
The Pope said, “Connected with
this question is that of the
tranquility, independence and
territorial integrity of Lebanon
within the formula that made it an
example of peaceful and mutually
fruitful co-existence between
distinct communities, a formula
that I hope will, in the common
interest, be maintained with the
adjustments required by the
developments of the situation."
Yehuda Blum, Israel's
Ambassador to the United Nations,
following the Pope’s address,
declared that Israel welcomes the
appeal of Pope John Paul II “to
solve peacefully all outstanding
international problems and his
clear, unequivocal condemnation
of violence and terrorism.”
Blum said that “Israel, too, is
committed to a just and peaceful
settlement of the Palestine
question," noting that Israel is
engaged in negotiations “to that
end" with Egypt and the United
States.
Responding to the Pope's call
for an international statute for
Jerusalem, the Israeli envoy stated:
“With regard to Jerusalem, the
eternal capital of Israel and the
Jewish people, Israel has
repeatedly given evidence that it is
very conscious of the fact that
Jerusalem is of deep spiritual
significance aLso to the adherents of
other faiths
"We are mindful of the manifold
historic treasures and spiritual
heritage of Jerusalem, to which the
Pope referred. Under Israel's law
and jurisdiction the strict
inviolability of and unrestricted
access to all of Jerusalem’s holy
places is guaranteed to members of
all faiths, in the manner
unprecedented in the city’s
history. 1 hese holy places arc now
administered by the religious
authorities of the faiths that hold
them sacred."
Meanwhile, the Pope’s visit to
Boston Monday caused some
problems for the congregants of
Temple Sinai in Brookline who
have been observing Yom Kippur
at the John Hancock Hall in
Copley Square in Boston for the
last 10 years. The seating capacity
at the hall is 1,100. The temple in
Brookline seats only 400 and
previously Yom Kippur services
had to be held in two shifts.
After the Pope’s visit to Boston
had been arranged. Rabbi Frank
Waldorf of Temple Sinai was
reported to have gotten a call from
a secretary of the John Hancock
building asking if it would be
possible to postpone the Yom
Kippur services for a day because
of the Pope’s visit. The rabbi took
the call good-naturedly, saying
he realized the secretary did not
understand the meaning of Yom
Kippur.
