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News Briefs
Beirut report gives pullback date
TEL AVIV (JTA)—The Israel Defense Force pullback from
the Shouf mountain area and the main Beirut-Damascus highway
will begin Sunday and be completed by the eve of Rosh Hashana
on Sept. 7, according to reports from Beirut. But Israeli army
spokesmen declined to comment on the report, saying that the date
of the IDF pullback will be published “in due time.”
JDL patrols Connecticut city
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. (JTA)—The Jewish Defense
League announced here last week that its members have begun
round-the-clock patrols in the Jewish community here and around
Young Israel Synagogue and Temple Emanuel as a result of arson
at both congregations in less than a week. Jeremy Pincus,
chairman of the JDL chapter in New Haven, said that 20 armed
JDL members will comprise the patrols.
Fern Rosenblatt, national director of the JDL in New York, said
the patrols were started “in the wake of virulent anti-Semitic
outbreaks” in the West Hartford area. “The JDL forces have been
sent as a warning to those perpetrators of these atrocities, and all
those who feel that Jewish blood is cheap and can be shed with
impunity will be met with a strong Jewish hand."
Shamir hints at role for Soviets
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir
indicated last week that Israel may view favorably the participation
of the Soviet Union in the efforts to achieve a Middle East peace
should the Soviets renew relations with the Jewish state.
But, speaking to reporters at Ben Gurion airport on his return
from a three-day official visit to Romania, Shamir also said as long
as the USSR does not maintain normal diplomatic relations with
Israel, there will be no cooperation between the two countries.
Israel to mark King anniversary
Israel will mark the 20th anniversary of Martin Luther King's “I
have a dream” speech on Aug. 28 with the planting of additional
trees in the forest that bears his name near Nazareth, in the hills of
Galilee.
The new trees will be planted by Lenore Siegelman, a
Washington, D.C., economist and leader of the American Jewish
Congress, who established the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Memorial Forest in 1976.
The memorial to Dr. King, for which every Black and Jewish
member of Congress serves as an honorary sponsor, has been
enlarged by gifts from American Jews and Blacks each year since
then.
Dutch cartoon draws protest
i
AMSTERDAM (JTA)—Letters have been deluging the
leading Dutch daily, NRC Handelsblad, in protest against a
cartoon of former U S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger which
carried a caption, “Frustrated Jewboy Responsible for United
States Central American Policy."
The cartoon, by Frits Muelle^, appeared after President
Reagan named Kissinger to chair the National Bipartisan
Commission on Central America. In an earlier cartoon, Mueller
depicted Kissinger as a very ugly Jew, Several letter writers, both
Jews and non-Jews, protested against the description of Kissinger
as a "Frustrated Jewboy.” The newspaper has so far refused to
apologize nor has Mueller apologized or reacted in any way.
Fair exchange
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israel will reopen its embassy in San
Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, in October, it was confirmed
here last week. This confirmation followed statements from El
Salvador that the Israel Embassy will be reopened there and that
the El Salvador Embassy in Israel would be moved back from Tel
Aviv to Jerusalem. The Israel Embassy in San Salvador was closed
several years ago by the then Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan for
budgetary and security reasons.
etters to the editor
Connecticut will never be the same
Editor:
There are a great number of
Atlantans whose lives have been
quietly altered this week by the
departure of Rabbi Shlomo and
Esther Bluming, who directed the
Lubavitch Chabad Center.
We will miss their five bright,
sweet children; and we will miss
Esther Bluming’s. generosity of
heart and of intellect; and we will
miss the fervor and energy and wit
of the rabbi, who hit Atlanta like
some combination of Groucho
Marx and the Baal Shem Tov.
He created classrooms and
festival celebrations and a
congregation not only for devout
and well-educated Jews, but also
for Jews who had been listless,
uncurious, estranged, hostile, or
unacquainted with their Judaism
before they ran into this fiery,
humorous young rabbi and his
exhortations and his home
computer.
New London, Conn., we hear, is
a peaceful coastal town. Like
Atlanta, it surely will never be the
same after a buhch of happy,
loving, religious Blumings descend
upon it. It will be richer.
Melissa Greene
Praise
Editor:
I want to praise the AJCC and
their new camp group, “Camp
Rishona.” It was a pilot program
for teen girls ages 12 to 14 years
old.
The program was led by
Sharon Miller and Sandra
Schmulker, AJECOMCE day camp
for Camp Rishona
director.
The girls had so much fun and
did so many fantastic things. One
could tell how much time was
spent in planning a great expErience
for these girls.
I hope tlfflr program will
continue and grow, and I am
thankful for the wonderful time
my child, Holly, had.
The campers were Jennifer
Barton, Vickie Gamburg, Alison
Litt, Alexandra Litt, Melissa
Miske, Lynn Rosenthal, Rachel
Shapiro, Holly Rosen, Jody
Nathan, Caren Solomon and Kelly
Stine.
Linda Rosen
Do you have roots in Nebraska, Iowa?
Editor:
The newly formed Nebraska
Jewish Historical Society is trying
to locate all former residents of
Nebraska and Council Bluffs,
Iowa. We are seeking information
about the immigrants and settlers
in the early and mid-1800s (and to
the present time), synagogue and
organization histories, family
histories, and any other pertinent
information and pictures to help us
develop archives for research and
display.
If you who read this are formerly
from this area or know of anyone
who was, please send name,
address and phone number to
Editor:
1 am looking for family and
friends from. Zdunska WoJa,
Poland.
Giant Address Book, 333 So. 132
Street, Omaha, Neb., 68154. Our
thanks and appreciation for your
assistance and cooperation.
Mary Fellman. president
Please call 451-7706 with any
information or contacts that you
may have.
Nacha Weisman
Looking for family
Johanna’s guide to new life
by Carl Alpert
—HAIFA
It has been estimated that about
1,000 persons a year make
applications to convert to J udaism
in Israel, but only about half of
them complete the process. Some
complain that preparatory courses
given by some of the rabbis are too
costly. .Others tell that they were
discouraged because of the
dragged-out procedures, or
because of the hostile attitude of
the rabbinate. There is no doubt
that the conversion process is
deliberately made difficult, almost
as a test of sincerity.
With all that, there are also some
bright and encouraging spots, and
word has gone out that a course
given in Haifa turns the whole
process of study, preparation and
eventual conversion into a
beautiful and soul-stirring event.
Who is the rabbi that gives the
course?
It is not a rabbi; it is a housewife
and mother who has almost
unconsciously acquired a new
profession. About a dozen years
ago Johanna Neumann got a call
from a local rabbi asking if she
could give lessons in Judaism to an
English-speaking girl from Britain.
Johanna had never tried before to
teach Judaism to an English-
speaking girl from Britain.
Johanna had never tried before to
teach Judaism to anyone but her
three sons and daughter, but she
was willing to try.
Since then, more than a score of
girls have found their way to the
Neumann home. They have come
from Holland, Denmark,
Norway, England, Germany,
Switzerland and the United States.
Each of them wanted to become a
Jewess.
“Of course, I realized that most
of them looked upon conversion as
a step toward marriage with an
Israeli boy,” Johanna told me,
“but I did not hold that against
them. However, I did insist that
there must be a genuine desire on
their part to be part of the Jewish
people. Where I felt that such
sincerity was lacking, I refused to
go on with the course.”
H er cou rse lasts a year and a half
and entails meetings several times
a week. There is an extensive
reading and study program, and
Johanna encourages her girls to
come back with questions. Blind
acceptance is suspicious, but if
they ask “why” and “how” she
knows they are honestly searching
and seeking.
Herself a fully observant Jewess,
Johanna is a realist and
understands that her converts
cannot change their way of life
overnight. One does not enter a
mikva as a Christian, she says, and
come out suddenly a Jew. The
process is a lifelong one. While she
would like her girls to observe all
the mitzvot, she is understanding
of the problems. She does require
three bas^c minimum observances:
I. To abstain from non-kosher
food like pork products and
shellfish; 2. to fast on Yom Kippur;
3. to eat no hametz on Passover.
Sabbath observance? She would
earnestly hope that her girls would
find it possible to do that, and most
of them do, but as stated, she is a
realist.
The Johanna Neumann course
is not limited to books and
lectures. The prospective convert
in effect becomes for a while a
member of the Neumann family.
The interviews with the rabbis
are not always a pleasant
experience, Johanna admits. Some
of the rabbis are sympathetic and
understanding Some are
unfeeling, even rough, and
occasionally undignified. Johanna
shelters and helps her girls. They
are beautiful people, she says. They
are taking a step which requires
spiritual strength, courage,
integrity. She often wonders if the
sabra boy she sees is worthy of the
precious, sensitive human being
he is getting.
Is conducting conversion
courses a profitable profession?
She wouldn't know. Johanna
accepts no payment. For her it is
all a labor of love.
PAGE 5 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE August 26, 1983