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News Briefs
Demonstrations for Anatoly
PARIS (JTA)—Several hundred people, including (he wife of
former French Premier Pierre Mendes-France, demonstrated
Sunday in front of the Soviet Consulate asking that Jewish
Prisoner of Conscience Anatoly Shcharansky be freed. Among
those who asked to be received by a Soviet representative
was former French Communist leader Jean Elenstein, and
members of the French Scientific Committee for Soviet Jewry.
Jane is Fond-a Israel
JERUSALEM (JTA) American actress Jane Fonda was here
last week to attend the Israeli premiere of her latest film, “On
Golden Pond." The proceeds of the film are going to the Amit
volunteer program for the elderly. Ms. Fonda was profuse in her
praise of and support for Israel. She met with Shulamit Shamir,
wife of the foreign minister, to discuss efforts to free Soviet Jewish
Prisoner of Conscience Ida Nudel. She also met with Jerusalem
Mayor Teddy Kollek and Labor Party chairman Shimon Peres.
During her visit, Ms. Fonda received an award from the Hebrew
University for her activities of behalf of Soviet Jewry and for her
advocacy of social justice.
Minnesota passes landmark law
ST. PAUL, Minn. (JTA)—The City Council passed
unanimously last week a “Religious, Racial and Ethnic Acts of
Malice Law" which makes it a misdemeanor to place a “symbol of
hate" on both private and public property.
Rabbi Bernard Raskas. spiritual leader of Temple of Aaron,
said the council action marked “the first time in America that a
city council makes a law, punishable by fine and imprisonment
against the placing of a symbol of hate" on property. He called it a
“landmark law” which he said would go “a long way in protecting
the rights and freedoms of all minorities."
Israel denies Habib warned Begin
>
JERUSALEM (JTA) Israel officially denied last week that
President Reagan's special envoy, Philip Habib, conveyed a
warning to Prime Minister Menachem Begin not to take any
military action in Lebanon. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said
“no warning whatever" was received from Habib, who met with
Begin on March 8.
Notwithstanding the denial, observers here are speculating
over what prompted U.S. sources to leak stories of an alleged
warning to the media. Israel Television's military commentator
suggested that the leaks were intended to demonstrate to the .
moderate Arab states that the U.S. alone—not the Soviet Union—
has the ability to restrain Israel.
U.N. blacklists tennis star
UNITED NATIONS (JTA) The United Nations Special
Committee Against Apartheid has placed Israeli tennis star i
Shlomo Clickstein and other Israeli athletes on a blacklist of 350 1
sportsmen who compete in South Africa. The list includes athletes
from 30 countries/
The committee in a report issued here recently included the j
following Israelis as collaborating with South Africa: Timor !
Friedman, in gymnastics; the Petah Tikva soccer team; and the
Alpha-Beton volleyball team
Flower lady can stay In Canada
TORONTO (JTA)—A 57-year-old Jewish woman from
Yugoslavia, who entered this country illegally six years ago and
was facing deportation, will be allowed to remain here. Giselle
Confino-Levi, who has been supporting herself by selling flowers
outside a downtown Toronto subway station, has been the subject
of considerable sympathy after her plight was reported to the press.
A native of Yugoslavia, she immigrated to Israel in 1957 and
then, with her husband, went to Uruguay where he was
subsequently imprisoned for political dissent and has not been
heard from since. Immigration Minister Lloyd Axworthy has
signed a permit allowing her and her son, Daniel, 29, to remain in
Canada. The case will be reviewed after one year, and if she and her
1 son are self-supporting and law-abiding they will be granted
^^vermanen^
A fundamental issue
Editor
During my entire lifetime, as far
back as I can remember, 1 have
been an advocate for a Jewish
state, and, since its independence
in 1948, an outspoken supporter of
the State of Israel. This feeling
started long ago when, as a small
child, 1 saw my parents deposit
coins into pushkies—coins they
could ill-afford to give up in the
hope that a Jewish state might be
redeemed and its educational
institutions sustained. I have a son
and a daughter-in-law who have
made aliyah, and a grandson who
was born in Israel. I am today, as 1
always have been, a staunch
supporter of the State of Israel and
yet I am disturbed.
The ultraorthodox, a minority of
Israel's population, is literally
tearing the state apart. They
demand full observance to Torah
and religious law. According to a
recent report they are trying to
compel government employees to
dress more discreetly, to keep their
arms covered even in blaring hot
weather
Automatic citizenship and other
benefits to converted Jews would
be granted only if they have been
converted by orthodox rabbis.
This would, of course, stymie the
growth of Conservative and
Reform Judaism.
It is insisted that El Al, the
national airline, close down on
Saturday, even though the cost of
doing it may he overwhelming. All
(lights of all airlines would be
prohibited from using Lod Airport
from sundown on Friday to sun
down on Saturday and the port of
Haifa would be closed to ships on
Saturday.
Archaeological digs must stop
unless the site is approved by the
Council of Sages, an elderly group
of ultraorthodox rabbis.
The Agudat (religious group)
would, if it could, ban TV on
Shabbat though radio broadcasts
have been allowed since the State
was formed. It is sinful to ride in a
car on Shabbat but throwing
stones to break windows and
windshields does not offend their
religious observance and is
stopped only when police
intervene. The list of these zealots’
demands could go on and on.
Yes, the fundamental issue is
whether Israel is basically to be a
secular state or a religious one. To
hope that it would be secular is
wishful dreaming and, on the other
hand, must the majority in Israel
bow under the pressures of an
extremely right-wing minority
group which when added to
other very real problems may bring
about Israel’s collapse? I cannot
help but be concerned.
Max E. Rohkin
Who’s to blame tor Jewish agony?
Editor:
While President Mubarak of
Egypt has not made up his mind to
travel to Jerusalem, we are all
saddened by the sight of Jewish
army boys using force on Jewish
settlers in the Sinai. Once again
Israel is experiencing agony; it is
the agony of aill the Jewish people.
Is there anyone to be blamed?
Not the government, which has to
fill the promises of the Camp
David accords and pay a high
price for the sake of not having
more wars. And not the settlers
who have put so much dedication
and love into achieving the
showplace that Yamit turned out
to be.
I have been following the
progress of this north Sinai group
of communities for the last 10-12
years when 1 first learned of an
American group joining forces
with a Russian new settlement to
develop a model center; with
agriculture, fishing industry and
good community planning; and
transform the perennial desert into
a blooming center. It is normal
that the settlers don't want the
results of years of efforts to go to
nothing. _
The indifferents and the enemies
of Israel might be amused; but to
see it is agony. Agony seems to be a
constant companion of the Jewish
people. It goes away occasionally
but not for good. We might be
unaware of it after three or four
generations of freedom and
prosperity, in the United States;
but it is still in Russia, it is still to a
certain extent in some European
countries; it is still present in some
Arab countries and certainly is still
alive in Israel.
Is there any solution? None that
I can think of, except as in past
centuries, live through it. gather
ourselves together and find
comfort in each other.
Sylvia Scaf’a
Campaign $$ help Atlanta Jews
Every Atlantan who supports the
Atlanta Jewish Federation’s
annual campaign can feel good
about the part he or she is playing
in meeting the needs of Atlanta’s
Jews. There are people with
problems in the Jewish
community. But Federation’s
beneficiary agencies are meeting
those problems, taking them on as
challenges, and turning them into
positive situations. y
The Jewish Vocational Service
has placed countless Jews in jobs
where their skills or particular
expertise is desired. Lawyers,
accountants, secretaries, PR
people people who have all the
right resume entries—still need
help being in the right place at the
right time.
But JVS has a very successful
record in securing jobs for people
with special needs-people who
before coming to JVS were already
labelled “unplaceable” by other
social service agencies in the
general community.
Anna Dobrin, a JVS counselor,
tells the story of a deaf-mute
person whose greatest wish was to
find a job and cam an independent
living JVS not only took on the
task of job placement, but also of
crisis intervention counseling to
help restore a positive self-image to
this person in desperate need.
After many calls to companies
with affirmative action programs,
JVS was able to arrange
employment for this person in a
data processing related area.
In a very different situation, JVS
was able, through its industry
connections, to encourage the
creation of a middle management
job for a young father with a
definite skill who had lost his job.
With the economy in its depressed
state, JVS felt it had really met and
overcome a big challenge!
Another example of a
Federation beneficiary agency
meeting a growing community
need can be found in the Jewish
Family and Children’s Bureau’s
initiation of a single-parent project
at Ahavath Achim Synagogue.
Rona Schpeiser, caseworker at
JFCB, explained that she was
called in to consult with Alan
Teperow of AA about creating
some programs for single parents.
Through this connection, a single
parent group was begun, and out
of that a support group for the
children of divorced parents was
started This support group
became, for some of the children,
the first opportunity for them to
talk about and begin to deal with
the conflict they felt about their
relationships with their parents.
Countless more examples can be
found in this community —
examples of how Federation
dollars are turned back to the
community in a wide range of
services and opportunities. The
1982 Campaign is approaching the
$4 million mark. The goal is $6.2
million.
Atlanta's Jewish community is
an exciting one—full of vitality,
growth and change The Atlanta
Jewish Federation, the centra)
fundraising, planning and
allocating body for the Jewish
community, is working to meet the
changing, ever increasing needs of
Atlanta’s Jews. Everyone can help
meet the challenge.
PAGE 5 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE March 19, 1982