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News Briefs
Peres, Mitterrand hold meeting
PARIS (JTA)—Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, on a
two-day visit to France, met with President Francois Mitterrand
for more than three hours at the Elysee Palace Monday. Their
discussion focused on the U.S. air strike against Libya and on other
issues, such as East-West relations, Syrian policies and the situa
tion in the Persian Gulf.
Peres said Mitterrand explained to him why France refused to
allow U.S. F-1 1 I bombers to overfly French territory on their way
to Libya but Peres would not disclose the reasons. He stressed that
in his view France can still be counted on as a firm backer of the
Western world.
SCA urges talks on terrorism
NEW YORK (JTA)—The Synagogue Council of America
(SCA), representing the congregational and rabbinic branches of
Conservative, Orthodox and Reform Judaism, has launched ex
ploratory talks with national Catholic and Protestant bodies for a
four-faith consultation on terrorism.
Rabbi Henry Michelman, SCA executive vice president,
announced at the two-day conference on terrorism here Sunday
that the SCA has asked the National Council of Churches and the
Catholic Bishops Conference to consider convening a consultation
on terrorism with Jewish, Catholic, Protestant and Moslem
representatives.
Israel rejects Syrian charges
TEL. AVIV (JTA)—Israel has rejected Syrian accusations that
Israeli intelligence, using L.ebanese operatives, had engineered a
series of bomb blasts and explosions aboard buses in Syrian towns
last week. Some 150 persons were reported killed.
Israeli intelligence sources here termed the charges, broadcast
on the state-controlled Damascus Radio, a baseless lie and a
transparent attempt by the government to cover up internal Syrian
problems.
Pope ‘moved’ by visit to shul
ROME (JTA) — Pope John Paul II described his visit to
Rome’s main synagogue on April 13 as a “very deep" experience,
“especially from a religious point of view.”
In a television interview Monday night, the first pope in history
to enter a Jewish house of worship said, “It was a deep emotional
experience to enter that place which at least ideally, brings us back
to the times of St. Peter and the first Christians.”
Refusnik receives prison term
NEW YORK (JTA)—Soviet Jewish refusnik Bezvalel Shalo-
lashvili was sentenced to a one-year prison term for “draft evasion”
after a two-day trial, the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry (SSSJ)
reported here.
The 22-year old Tbilisi student, arrested last month, asserted
that he had never received his draft notice. The SSSJ said that the
KGB has told Shalolashvili’s brother, Yitzhak, that “the charge
was in retaliation for the latter’s efforts to prevent the official
destruction of the Ashkenazi synagogue in Tbilisi.”
The U.S. Congress was informed last February of reported
plans by the Soviet authorities to bulldoze the synagogue in order
to build a public square in its place. The Tbilisi Jewish population
is estimated at 20,000.
Shalolashvili and his family applied to emigrate in April 1985,
and their application was refused without any explanation.
Firm agrees to pay complainant
NEW YORK —A Jewish engineer who charged the Ralph M.
Parsons Company, a California-based international contracting
firm, with religious discrimination for turning him down for a job
in Saudi Arabia, has received a $72,500 settlement from the
company.
The complainant, Morris Hochberg, claimed in a U.S. District
Court that although his professional qualifications were never
questioned,he was rejected after a Parsons official asked him if he
was Jewish, and he answered in the affirmative. Hochberg was
supported in his suit by the American Jewish Congress.
The engineer was working in Chicago in 1981 when he replied
to an advertisement in the Chicago Tribune calling for a “principal
project manager.” After checking his qualifications, a Parsons
official invited him by telephone to come to California at company
expense for a series of interviews.
— '
letters to the editor
Rabbi wants to start new shul
Editor:
As an avid reader of your very
fine newspaper for the past several
years, I have followed the progres
sion of the Jewish community in
Atlanta with great interest.
Your recent editorial and the
replies to it, regarding the many
Jewish people, youngand old, who
are having difficulty with “aliena
tion” in the time-honored Atlanta
Jewish community have waved the
simmering coals of idealism in my
soul to a flaming desire to work
with these people. Together we
could establish a synagogue to help
fill their spiritual, emotional and
social needs regardless of their in
dividual persuasion or commit
ment to Judaism.
Together we could establish a
synagogue based on intellectual
stimulation which would be open
to all Jewish people who “long to
belong” with or without commit
ment, to offer to them a sense of
identity, stability and security.
Our synagogue would welcome
everyone to come and to partici
pate with labor of heart, labor of
hands or with pocket.
Our Hebrew school, which would
include adult education, would not
only be a place where children and
adults alike could learn, but where
they could live their magnificent
Jewish heritage with great enjoy
ment and pride.
I am a 39-year-old modern Or
thodox rabbi with independence of
mind, who strives to follow the
teachings of Rabbi Hillel and
Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, of
blessed memory, for as they did, I,
too, love the WHOLE of the Jew
ish people. As in their shuls, in
our shul each Jewish person
would be “worthy” regardless of
age, social, marital or monetary
status—in our shul, each and
every Jew would find a “home.”
Our members would be living
examples that Judaism not only
fits into the large society of man,
but is a necessity in the modern
world.
T hrough this letter, I should like
to find out if there are Jewish peo
ple in Atlanta who would be wil
ling to share in the excitement, joy
and rewards of establishing such a
synagogue.
Rabbi Samuel B. Rosenberg
6429 B Elray Drive
Baltimore, Md. 21209
Olim object to ‘relocation’ plan
Editor:
Since The Southern Israelite
reaches us by surface mail, we are
quite tardy in responding to the
letter by Alan and Linda Lippitt in
the Jan. 31 edition. This is the let
ter in which the Lippitts call for the
“relocation” (read: expulsion) of
Israeli Arabs, lest “we will be a
minority in our own homeland.”
It is hard to tell whether this is
deliberate “chutzpah” or simply
lack of innate sensitivity—to advise
Israelis to become fascists, racists,
and immoral brutes so that some
one whose hands will be clean of
the crime can sit in the safe haven
of Atlanta and claim vicarious
identification with Israel.
This is a good example of what
Jeanne Kirkpatrick once called the
current game in America. The game
is called “What Israel Should Do.”
Any number can play, and there
are no rules. But the best part is
that if you lose, you don’t pay any
penalty—the Israelis pay for you!
However, we hereby offer the
Lippitts a hand in the game: We
personally guarantee them that two
Arab Israelis will leave the country
when they—the Lippitts—arrive to
settle. Two Arabs to whom 1 have
shown the letter say that they
wouldn’t want to stay in the same
country with such people.
David and Frieda Macarov
AJC seeks couples for research project
Editor:
The American Jewish Commit
tee has launched a pilot research
project to examine decisions relat
ing to Jewish family planning.
In this research, we are attempt
ing to establish what factors actu
ally motivate Jewish couples to
have or not have children. The
findings of this research will pro
vide the Jewish community with
the information we need to de
velop appropriate responses to cur
rent population trends.
For this ground breaking re
search project, we still need cou
ples in their childbearing years
who have selected to have only one
child, and those who have chosen
not to have children. If you fall
into one of these categories, please
call Ronnie Henderson at the AJC
office 233-5501.
Sherry Frank
Southeast Area Director
Are we unique?
by Itzhak Sordo
AJCC Israeli Shaliach
Passover commemorates the
Exodus of the Children of Israel
out of Egypt from slavery to free
dom. We must believe that this hol
iday is not only a recollection of
that which happened in our com
mon history, but something still
alive and real. In every generation,
we must see ourselves as if we per
sonally went out from Egypt, so
that the fight for freedom is a con
tinuing one which will never cease.
Even in our day, there are “exiles,”
Jews who are not free to live their
life: Syria (4,500 Jews), Iraq (300
Jews), Tunisia (6,000 Jews), Alge
ria (500 Jews); and let us not forget
Russian Jews who want to immi
grate but are not allowed.
I can’t forget what I read in 1975
in an Israeli newspaper about Is
raeli soldiers who were prisoners
after the Yom Kippur War. They
tried to keep the Seder; they were
prisoners, but their souls were to
tally free.
From my parents I heard how in
the concentration camps they kept
the Seder, and how the symbols of
the holiday gave them strength and
hope.
Often there were “blood libel”
accusations, in the Middle Ages
and also in our time, like the Ballis
trial (1913) when they accused Jews
of killing Christians to use their
blood in Jewish rituals.
In our time all over the world,
Jews—a few days ago—gathered
together to read from the Haggadah
(the word is derived from the He
brew word “to tell”). In Israel, Pes-
ach is celebrated seven days as it
was originally. We talk about free
dom. We must emphasize that there
is “freedom-for” and not only
“freedom-from.” Sometimes even
though you are not a slave any
more, you continue to behave like
a slave. A good example is the
ancient children of Israel. After
they went out from Egypt, and
Pharoah ran after them, they
wanted to go back to Egypt, say
ing, “It’s better to be slaves in
Egypt than to die.” I believe to feel
and behave as a free person is a
positive experience that we in Is
rael, our Jewish State, are expe
riencing intensively.
It’s suitable to conclude with the
words of David Ben-Gurion, the
first prime minister of Israel in
1947: “Three hundred years ago a
ship named the Mayflower sailed
fiom England to America. ! want
to know if there is one English man
who knows when this ship sailed
and how many Americans know
exactly how many people were on
this ship, and which kind of bread
they ate. More than 3,500 years
ago, the Jews went out from Egypt,
and Jews around the world know
exactly on what day they went out,
which bread they ate (Matzo), and
on these days, all the Jews around
the world eat the same matzo, and
they conclude with two sayings:
‘This year we are still slaves; the
next year—free men; this year—
still here; the next year in Jerusa
lem.’ That’s the nature of Jews,”
said David Ben-Gurion.
That was 39 years ago. What is
our answer to this question today?
Are we unique?
PAGE 5 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE April 25, 1986