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Eric Strom finds Cracow on the globe before his bar mitzva.
Bar mitzva in Cracow
shows split in Judaism
by Irving Greenberg
One of the saddest moments of
recent Jewish communal life occured
in Cracow on Sept. 7, 1985. Rabbi
Emily Korzenick rose to greet Eric
Strom on the occasion of his bar
mitzva—the first bar mitzva in a
decimated and aging Jewish com
munity of Cracow in 30 years. As
she strode onto the bema, one
Rabbi Nachum Elbaum, who had
come from America purportedly
to represent Orthodox interests,
pulled her tallit off—to prevent
what he considered a desecration
of that holy place. The bar mitzva’s
grandfather gave her another tallit
and she began to speak. Elbaum
said several times, “But ladies cannot
speak in the synagogue.” Korzenick
completed her homily, nonetheless.
The saddest part of this incident
was not the shame of such a spectacle
on the front page of the New York
Times. Nor was it Elbaum’s pathetic
inability to offeracredible rationale
for his objections. The truth is that
the symbolism and inspiration of a
bar mitzva in Cracow—40 years
after the Holocaust—transcends the
embarassment. The saddest reve
lation of the incident is the extent
to which the Orthodox and the rest
of the Jewish community now live
in two worlds which lack both an
elementary basis of common speech
and some mechanism of reconciling
conflicting visions of reality.
The entire episode started with
an extraordinary mission of New
York City’s Federation of Jewish
Philanthropies which spent Yom
Hashoa at Auschwitz and Yom
Haatzmaut in Israel. In talking
with the Cracow community leader
ship, the mission’s members were
deeply moved when told by Mrs.
Jakubowics—the unofficial Jewish
grand lady of Cracow—that the
Jews (average age 78) were eager
for some experience of Jewish life.
The social welfare help they receive
is, in effect, custodial care for a
dying community. A group of the
mission participants determined to
do this mitzva for the corrrrmmity
and personally pledged the funds
for the cost of sending an American
boy to have a bar mitzva in Cracow.
Anyone who has spent time in
Eastern Europe will identify totally
with their response.
Most of the bar mitzva sponsors
were Reform Jews. One of them
met Rabbi Emily Korzenick and,
through her, an attractive young
bar mitzva boy, Eric Strom, willing
to undertake the mission. The group
did not go looking for a Reform
(or as it turned out, a Recon
structionist) bar mitzva boy or
rabbi—but if this was the right bar
mitzva, so be it.
A generation ago, Reform Jews
had Orthodox parents or grand
parents and they frequently felt
guilty or apologetic for Reform
practices. Now, this group felt no
apology was needed for a woman
rabbi. They were sensitive to the
Cracow community’s feelings. They
telexed the information—including
the fact of a woman rabbi. It was
agreed that an Orthodox man, a
survivor, would accompany the
family and lead the service. Rabbi
Korzenick would come too and
speak at the appropriate time.
A month before the bar mitzva,
the story of the forthcoming cere
mony appeared in the Anglo-Jewish
press and finally was picked up in
right-wing Orthodox circles. For
their part, these Orthodox under
stood only one thing. The great
synagogue of the Rema (Rabbi
Moses Isserles, 1525-1572) was to
have a bar mitzva led by a non-
Orthodox woman rabbi. Rabbi
Moses Isserles is the great Orthodox
posek (decisor) of Polish Jewish
See Bar mitzva, page 24.
ffhe Southern
Israelite
The Weekly Newspaper For Southern Jewry
'Since 1925'
. - cr
w.
Vol. LXI
Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, October 11, 1985
No. 41
>
Israel: Arafat had prioi
knowlegde of hijacking
from wire reports
Despite PLO head Yasir Ara
fat’s denials of knowledge about
the identity of the hijackers of the
Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro,
Israel claims to have evidence that
Arafat had advance knowledge of
the hijacking.
Defense Minister Yit/hak Rabin
said on Israeli radio Wednesday
night: “I believe that Mr. Arafat is
one of the greatest liars on earth.
He denied in 1970 that he was
responsible for the organization
called Black September,” later
admitted to be a front organization
for the PLO.
Though it was not clear at press
time whether the four hijackers
remained in Egypt or had been
taken out of the country, Arafat
said on ABC’s Nightline program
Wednesday night that: “If we have
the role and if they (the hijackers)
will be delivered to us, we will
investigate and we will punish
them.”
Yasir Arafat
At first it was believed that all
80 passengers and 320 crew mem
bers aboard the ship when the ter
rorists surrendered were safe.
However, reports that Leon
Klinghoffer of New York City had
been murdered were confirmed
Wednesday. The 69-year-old
Klinghoffer, a stroke victim, was
confined to a wheelchair.
Rabin was asked if he had de
tailed evidence linking Arafat with
the takeover of the Italian cruise
ship. He replied: “1 did not say so.
But it looks to me quite strange
that even though the ship was near
Syria it came back to Egypt in
accordance with the demands of
Arafat.” Another government
official later said they had irrefu
table evidence about Arafat's prior
knowledge.
Rabin added: “The w hole world
is standing on its toes watching as
the Palestinian terrorists took over
the Italian ship. Perhaps, perhaps
it will teach some lessons to some
countries —including those that
have been doing the screaming.
Nevertheless, it hurts us to see any
terrorist attack.”
For his part. Prime Minister
Shimon Peres said in a speech:
“Those who don't understand why
Israel seizes terrorist ships at sea
will end up with terrorists seizing
theircivilian ships on the high seas.”
Critics inject ‘germ of murder...
into hearts of Jews’—Farrakhan
Strange bedfellows
from JTA reports
NEW YORK—Thomas Metzger, former leader of the Ku Klux
Klan in California, has admitted to reporters that he headed a
“white nationalist” delegation that attended the Rev. Louis
Farrakhan’s speech at the Forum in Los Angeles last month and
contributed $100 to support the Muslim cause.
Metzger told reporters that he had met with Farrakhan in the
past and that this group, the White People’s Political Association,
has shared “intelligence” about “extremist Jewish organizations.”
Metzger told one reporter that he provided information about the
activities of the Jewish Defense Organization and the Jewish
Defense League.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center of Los Angeles condemned the
growing ties between Metzger and Farrakhan.
“Louis Farrakhan apparently thinks so little of his own people
and their history of suffering from racism and bigotry that he is
prepared to form an alliance with the former grand dragon of the
California Knights of the Ku Klux Klan,” said Marvin Hier, dean
of the Wiesenthal Center.
According to Hier, citing information obtained through law
enforcement agencies in California, Metzger had received a
personal invitation from Farrakhan to attend his New York speech
last Monday night and to later meet with Farrakhan’s aides.
by Kevin Freeman
NEW YORK (JTA)—Black
Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan
brought his controversial nationwide
tour to a thunderous conclusion
here Monday in a speech to some
25,000 persons in which he lashed
out at his critics, especially Jews,
whom he accused of having injected
“the germ of murder . . . into the
hearts of Jews” throughout the
country.
“Some person is going to think
they’re doing God a favor and seek
my death,” Farrakhan declared to
the overflow crowd at Madison
Square Garden and the Felt Forum.
“You can’t find a word in the text of
my speeches that calls for the death
of Jews, yet I am made to look like
an anti-Semite.”
Saying the “Jewish lobby has a
stranglehold on government,” he
said, “I will not bend my knees to
the power of the Jews.” At another
point, he said “Jewish control of
black organizations has to be busted
up and broken. We don’t want to
relate to the Jews in a master-slave
relationship,” a remark that like
many throughout the evening, trig
gered a wildly enthusiastic response
from the audience.
Farrakhan’s appearance here,
in the city with the largest Jewish
population in the United States,
generated much anger and contro
versy, as did his other speeches
during the 14-city nationwide tour.
His speech to some 18,000 persons
at the Forum in Los Angeles last
month and the behind-the scenes
efforts between the black and Jewish
communities on how to handle
Farrakhan, has left bitter strains
See Farrakhan, Page 24.