Newspaper Page Text
r
News Briefs
Shcharansky tired, but ‘well’
Echoes of the Leo Frank case
JERUSALEM (JTA)- Anatoly Shcharansky says he is feeling
“quite well." The 38-year-old aliyah activist who spent nine years in
the Soviet Gulag told reporters here Monday that reports that his
health deteriorated since he arrived in Israel are untrue.
“According to the newspapers I am in very bad health. But the
truth is that 1 actually feel quite well. 1 am only tired, and regret
that the vacation is over,” he said. He was referring to his month
long vacation with his wife, Avital, which kept him out of the
public view. That apparently gave rise to rumors he was ill.
Shchransky returned to his job at the Council for Soviet Jewry
• Sunday. His only complaint is that he is unable to sleep more than
four hours a night. He said it might be the result of the excitement
attending his arrival in Israel. He also admitted he suffers from
nightmares.
‘ Actually, there might be some good in it since at night I dream
of prison and when I wake up, I am here,” Shcharansky said.
Fire hits third matza factory
TEL AVIV (JTA)—A fire that swept through the IsraelMatza
factory in Petach Tikva Monday night—the third blaze in a matza
factory in recent weeks—destroyed more than 200,000 packages of
matza.
The fire was second at the Petach Tikva plant in six weeks. It
followed by less than a week a fire that gutted the Aviv matza
bakery in Bnei Brak where 100,000 packages for export were
destroyed. Fire marshals said the three conflagrations in bakeries
all owned by the same family could not be coincidental. Experts are
investigating the possibility of arson.
Israel’s matza factories are working around the clock to avert a
Passover matza shortage while experts search for evidence of arson
in the three fires.
Croatian weekly is censured
NEW YORK (JTA)—The Australian Press Council has cen
sured a Croatian weekly newspaper, Hrvatski Tjednik, for publish
ing an article that contains “wild and unsubstantiated” anti-
Semitic statements. The Press Council, according to information
made available here by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai
B’rith, acted on a complaint filed against the weekly by the Anti-
Defamation Commission of B’nai B’rith District 21 of Australia
and New Zealand.
The article, which charged that Jewish organizations “run the
world,” was a “classic case of conspiracy theory which has been
used by anti-Semites for the past century,” according to the Press
Council, which added that it was “typical of the kind of propa
ganda that has been used to stir up anti-Jewish prejudice and
justify racial persecution.”
Togo to re-establish Israeli ties
WASHINGTON (Polakoff)—The government of Togo will
soon resume diplomatic relations with Israel, an American spe
cialist on West African affairs has reported here. Speaking on
background, the specialist who had just returned from Togo, said
that like the Ivory Coast, a neighboring country on the Atlantic
Coast, it is looking forward to resuming ties broken after the 1973
Yom Kippur War.
Togo, with a population of three million, was described as a
“benevolent dictatorship" with a largely free market economy
under the leadership of Enassingbe Eyardemea. It has good rela
tions with the United States and is antagonistic toward Libya. Its
major exports are phosphates, cotton, cocoa and cottee.
The capital of the former French colony is Lome, a seaport with
modern facilities for visitors. About 4.000 French citizens live
there. Many of the businesses are operated by Lebanese. The
specialist said he was certain some Jews are residents but could not
provide specific details.
Mohels feel unkindestcut of all
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Tax collectors here were cut to the
quick hy the realization that they were not receiving a fair slice of
the profits made by Israel's mohels (ritual circumcisors). They
reacted sharply upon learning that, with only 94 ol the 224 licensed
circumcisors bothering to file returns for 1984, they had only
scratched the surface of the mohels’ income.
The 130 mohels who did not pay taxes, Israel television
reported, will now be subjected to acute audits and their incomes
most probably slashed. The circumcisors are now aware that this
time round they will not be able to circumvent their civic duty.
Editor:
Echoes of the Leo Frank case
are still being heard. Celestine Sib
ley’s most recent series in the
Atlanta Journal/Constitution was
quite interesting. She carried a sim
ilar series (five-part) eight years
ago in the papers, which at that
time, was quite literally “news” to
most Atlantans. Much has been
written, however, since 1978 about
the Leo Frank case.
Even though we have had many
years to digest this case, it is still
very shocking and disturbing to
read all of the gruesome details
involving the case. I’m sure that
many people, for some of their
own personal reasons, did not
want to make this case public. It
opened too many wounds, since it
happened in the not-so-distant
past. It is probably the most hei
nous crime committed against a
Jew in modern American history.
Contrary to Ms. Sibley’s opin
ion that prior to the Frank case.
anti-Semitism was unheard of in
Atlanta, we must all know that the
have-nots were just waiting like
vultures. Aside from the fact that
jurors were prejudiced from the
inception of the trial, and that out
cries from the enraged crowds out
side the courthouse influenced the
jury, the real culprit wasnoneother
than Hugh Dorsey. He seized every
opportunity to discredit Mr.
Frank’s good name, using some of
the most repulsive and ludicrous
descriptions, and would not let the
case rest or the crowds outside
until he convicted this “outsider,
Yankee Jew.”
He certainly had his “golden
opportunity” to further his own
political career, and fell right into
the hands of the man who could
help him the most—Tom Watson.
It is very curious that not even
one of the lynching mob was ever
arrested. Were the Jewish people
living in Atlanta at that time so
fearful for their own lives or the
lives of their businesses to have
spoken out more boldly? Why
wasn’t Mr, Frank given protection
at the prison? I suppose all of these
questions and many more like
these will forever go unanswered.
Cynthia Hatten Morgan
Hannah Senesh’ reprise?
Editor:
On behalf of the Second Genera
tion/Children of Holocaust Survi
vors, we wish to thank publicly the
community for its outstanding sup
port of the play, “Hannah Senesh,"
which we sponsored. The produc
tion was a sell-out.
The night of the play we were
encouraged to bring the produc
tion back, and we have already
been contacted by one organiza
tion which has expressed an inter
est in sponsoring the play.
We would also like to thank the
Jewish Community Center for its
support and assistance.
We do hope this wonderful play
will return by popular demand,
and that those who unfortunately
missed it can see it on its return
engagement.
Stanley M. Lefco
An oleh’s view of Kahane
Editor:
Flere in Jerusalem we receive
The Southern Israelite two months
late, so this week I read the end of
the articles and letters about Meir
Kahane’s visit to Atlanta. I re
membered, only two years ago,
when my husband and I sat in an
Atlanta hatel listening to his un
changing rhetoric. Although Ka
hane is old news to those of you in
Atlanta, here in Jerusalem he is
new news, every day news. He lives
here and serves in our Knesset and
has a strong effect upon the every
day lives of those of us living in
Israel, so 1 thought that the Atlan
tans who hear him once a year
might like to read about him from
the perspective of a resident of
Jerusalem.
Here in Jerusalem we suffer
from three basic problems, prob
lems that exist all over Israel, but
with greater intensity here in the
Holy City.
The first problem concerns the
hatred that exists between the reli
gious Jews and secular Jews. The
religious Jews feel that Jerusalem
is the Holy City and that those who
live here or visit here should tem
per their behavior in a way that
reflects this.
For example, religious Jews be
lieve that Jerusalem is not the place
for pornography shops, or on a
lesser scale, that movies and res
taurants should not be open on the
Sabbath in this city.
Secular Jews, on the other hand,
feel that Jerusalem is their home,
and that no one should be able to
tell them how to behave in their
home. They feel that living in Jer
usalem should be no different than
living in Atlanta.
Those of us who love this city.
Orthodox Jews like myself, and
secular Jews work very hard to
overcome this problem. We work
for compromise, and we try to find
ways to bring the two groups closer
together. Meir Kahane, on the
other hand, uses this issue to help
himself get support. He presents
the secular Jews as monsters who
want to destroy Israel. He causes
hatred between one Jew and an
other in order to help himself.
The second problem we have
here in Jerusalem is between Jews
from the Middle East and North
Africa, and Jews from Europe and
the West in general. The Eastern
Jews, many of whom arrived in
Israel in the 1950s, comprise 90
percent of the poor in Israel. The
Western Jews make up most of the
middle and upper class.
Some Easterners feel that they
are discriminated against. Some
Westerners feel that the Eastern
Jews are different from them and
do not wish to associate with them.
But again, those of us who love this
city work very hard to bring all the
Jews of this city together, to stress
not the differences but the similari
ties. We work to remind the people
that we all came from one father —
Abraham —that we are one people
who are different only because we,
in recent history, have lived in dif
ferent parts of the world. Now, we
are all here in Jerusalem, and we
are all the same.
Meir Kahane uses this issue to
help himself get support. He pre
sents the Western Jews as monsters
who want to destroy the Jews of
the East. He causes hatred between
one Jew and another in order to
help himself.
The third and most difficult
problem we have in Jerusalem —
one that may never be totally
solved—is the divisiveness and ha
tred that exists between the Jews
and Arabs of this city. Many Arabs
feel that they are discriminated
against. Many Jews feel that every
Arab in this city would like to kill
them. Again, those of us who love
this city know that it cannot exist
upon hatred. We work hard to help
all of the citizens of this city to
learn to live, if not together, then at
least side by side in peace. Meir
Kahane uses even this issue to help
himself get support. He presents
the Arabs as monsters who must be
thrown out of our city. He asks us
as Jews to do to others what was
done to us for 2,000 years. He asks
us to break the most fundamental
of Jewish laws, “Do not do unto
others, that which is hateful to
you.”
Meir Kahane has come to Israel
to seek power. He has found sup
porters among those whose lives
are difficult, just as other despots
before him have in the past. Those
of us who fight all of our lives
against hatred find it hard not to
hate Meir Kahane. We cry for the
wife and children of the policeman
who was crippled while protecting
Kahane on one of his missions of
hatred in the Village of Umm el
Fahm. We wonder when a man
who calls himself a rabbi does not
hesitate to interrupt the funeral of
a Jewish soldier if it brings him
political gain. He does not hesitate
to cause hatred between Jews and
between citizens of Israel if it helps
his cause. I live in this city of Jerus
alem, and I would like to live here
in peace. 1 wish that Meir Kahane’s
supporters in the U.S. would in
vite him to live in their city and not
support him in his attempt to de
stroy ours.
Esther Ben- Yaacov
Jerusalem
PAGE 5 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE March 28, 1986