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Anti-Semitic book is protested
NEW YORK (JTA)—The Canadian ambassador to Syria has
complained to Syrian authorities in Damascus about the publica
tion of Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlas’s anti-Semitic book
which revives the myth of the blood libel.
In a letter to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Joe Clark, Cana
dian secretary of state for external affairs, said Ambassador
Jacques Noiseux has met the Syrian minister of information and
vice minister for foreign affairs to convey Canada’s displeasure
with the publication.
Syrian officials informed Noiseux that Tlas’s book does not
represent the official view of the Syrian government, according to
Clark’s letter.
The center sent copies of excerpts from Tlas’s book, “The
Matzah of Zion,” to the Canadian, American, British and French
governments and called for official protests against the book.
The Wiesenthal Center has also sent letters to the president of
the Sorbonne University of Paris urging them to bar an upcoming
doctoral thesis by Tlas on Soviet strategy.
Demjanjuk extension sought
TEL AVIV (JTA)—Attorney General Yosef Harish asked the
Supreme Court Monday to extend for six weeks the detention in
custody of John Demjanjuk The Ukrainian-born autoworker is
awaiting trial for war crime charges accusing him of being “Ivan
the Terrible,” a guard at the Treblinka Nazi death camp who ran
the gas chambers in which 900,000 Jews died in 1942 and 1943.
Harish said he needed time to include new evidence in the
formal charges which are due to be presented to the Jerusalem
District Court by Oct. 1. Key evidence, including an identification
card allegedly issued to Demjanjuk in Treblinka, is in Soviet
hands.
Israel, Cameroon eye ties
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israel and Cameroon will soon resume
diplomatic relations and Prime Minister Shimon Peres will visit
that country on the occasion.
According to reports, Peres is to visit Cameroon at the begin
ning of September. Cameroon, in west-central Africa, severed
diplomatic relations with Israel after the 1973 Yom Kippur War. In
recent years it has begun to move closer to Israel and has strength
ened its economic ties with the Jewish state.
Only woman POC leaves jail
NEW YORK (JTA)—Nadezhda Fradokova, the only woman
Prisoner of Conscience, was released from prison last week and is
now in Leningrad, according to Lynn Singer, Advisory Board
chairperson of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews. Fradokova
had served two years in a Soviet labor carnp for parasitism. She
was refused a visa on the pretext of her father’s “access to state
secrets.”
Fradokova, a mathematical linguist, staged a number of
hunger strikes beginning in March 1983.
Engine snafu fails to ground jet
TEL AVIV (JTA)—A TWA plane with over 300 passengers
aboard, en route from Tel Aviv to New York, returned safely to
Ben-Gurion Airport shortly after take off Sunday, when an engine
developed trouble. The aircraft circled over the Mediterranean for
about an hour while the pilot dumped the full load of fuel in
preparation for an emergency landing. The engine, which had
begun to overheat, was replaced and the plane departed for New
) York Sunday night.
Israeli CPI stable, bodes well
JERUSALEM (JTA)—The Consumer Price Index remained
unchanged during July, the Central Bureau of Statistics has
announced. The figure immediately was hailed as indicative of the
success of the current economic policy of freezing the value of the
shekel and controlling prices.
Last July, the CPI rose 25 percent. It has risen 24 percent in the
year since the government unveiled its austerity plan. Inflation
during that year rose 15 percent. The year before it had reached
about 400 percent.
The good news came a day after the government publicized a
letter from U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz that urged intro
duction of far-reaching economic reform.
Column troubles convert
Editor:
I have read with much concern
the article entitled “On Intermar
riage” (TSI, Aug. 8). I converted to
Judaism and have been married
for four months now to a Jewish
man. It disturbs me to read that
there is still conflict as to what con
stitutes a valid conversion. I am
troubled when 1 see that what 1
have done might not be acceptable
to the entire Jewish community.
Converting to Judaism was a
choice that I made and one that I
am very happy with. During my
conversion process 1 was questi
oned many times as to why 1 was
doing what I was doing. 1 had
many reasons—the main one being
a love of Judaism and a desire to
practice it.
But, 1 also had another reason. I
wanted to share the bond of mar
riage with a man who meant more
to me than anything else in the
world. So, if I converted for the
"sake of marriage,” then it was a
noble cause indeed.
Nancy Skolnick
Ex-legislator defends record on Jews
Editor:
For many years there has been
some misunderstanding among the
Jewish people of Poughkeepsie,
N.Y., who never realized that I
introduced more important resolu
tions in their behalf than any other
member of Congress, Jew or Gen
tile.
My Palestine Resolution of 1922
went through Congress and was
signed by the president, which made
it the law of the United States and
helped to create the state of Israel.
Regarding the slaughter of six
million Jews by Hitler’s monstrous
and diabolic extermination policy,
it was FDR and his State Depart
ment that refused to approve my
resolution calling on all nations,
even those not involved in the war,
to demand an immediate end to
ADL solves MCl-lsraeli
Editor:
In a recent letter to The South’
ern Israelite (Aug. 8), a reader
noted MCI’s lack of telephone ser
vice to Israel. Within the past sev
eral months, the Anti-Defamation
League has received several inquir
ies on this subject.
After an investigation, we have
concluded that MCI’s lack of ser
vice is due to a decision by the
Israeli government. There is no
evidence of any improper conduct
by MCI. In fact, MCI attempted to
gain entry into the Israeli market
by filing an application with the
Ministry of Communications.
According to our Jerusalem of
fice, this application has not been
granted for economic and techni-
this horrible slaughter. FDR’s
White House secretary, who was
Jewish, publicly stated that FDR
would “not lift his finger or open
his mouth” to stop this mass geno
cide. And I am still angry and will
continue to be until I die.
Hamilton Fish
Member of Congress, 1920-1945
‘hang-up’
cal reasons. Long distance service
to Israel is provided by AT&T and
Western Union.
We did not want your readers to
be misled into believing that MCI
was boycotting Israel.
Michael Winograd,
Assistant director, ADL
The forgotten festival
by Itzhak Sordo
AJCC Israeli Shaliach
Sometimes we find in the oral
Torah or the Bible, clues for cus
toms or festivals that we have diffi
culty explaining today, or finding
their real origin. One of these ex
amples is Tu B’Av (the 15th of Av,
Aug. 20 this year). In the Talmud,
we find a verse (Ta’anit 4, 8):
“There are no days as festive in
Israel as those of Yom Kippur and
the 15th of Av.” What does this
mean? There are a few explana
tions, but we aren’t sure about any
of them:
(1) It’s a day of forgiveness: Yom
Kippur symbolizes the forgiveness
of G-d to the children of Israel for
the sin of the golden calf on their
way to the Land of Israel, and Tu
B’Av symbolizes the forgiveness of
G-d to Israel for the sin of the spies
who spoke against the land after
they were sent to look it over. They
didn’t belive that G-d would bring
them to the promised land, so they
spoke against it. On Tu B’Av, the
plague that killed many of that
generation stopped. It was a good
reason to celebrate, for those who
remained alive were the first gen
eration to be redeemed and enter
the promised land—the land of
milk and honey.
(2) The tribes of Israel were
allowed to marry each other after a
prohibitive period. It was suspended
on Tu B’Av.
(3) The tribe of Benjamin was
allowed to come back and marry
others from Israel. They had been
prohibited because their role in the
case of the concubine of Givah.
(4) On the same day, the King of
Israel cancelled the guards who
would not allow people to make
pilgrimage from Israel to Jerusa
lem. After the split of Israel and
Judaea, the King of Israel, in order
not to lose his population, didn’t
allow them to go to Jerusalem.
He was afraid that they would stay
there and not return to Israel. On
Tu B’Av, the last King of Israel
(Hosha Ben-Elah), cancelled the
guards, and, therefore, that was
reason for celebration.
(5) Up to the day of Tu B’Av, the
Israelis were able to bring pure logs
to the Second Temple Altar, which
was enough until the next year.
(6) After the fall of Beitar (135
C.E.), a large Jewish city in the Bar
Kochba rebellion, the Romans, as
a punishment, did not allow the
Jews to bury their dead. On Tu
B’Av, three years later, the new
emperor allowed them to do this,
and it was very important to the
Jews.
These are six possibilities for the
origin of the festival. I feel that it’s
a forgotten festival. We know that
in ancient Israel on Tu B’Av, the
girls used to dress up in white
clothes and go out into the fields to
dance; young men would follow
after them.
In modern Israel, we tried to
renew this festival. It seemed excit
ing for me. I remember when I was
in a Zionist youth movement, on
Tu B’Av we used to do a marathon
of dancing and singing while wear
ing white clothes. Even on some
kibbutzim, they are trying to keep
the tradition by having group dan
cing.
The question that is relevant
now is: Should we try to put into
this traditional festival current
content, or should we do anything?
if yes, in what character should we
keep it? 1 think that if we rebuild it,
we can renew a tradition that is in
the spirit of “Israel Sabba” (Israel
Grandfather). What is your opin
ion?
r Soviet retusnik on hunger strikes
NEW YORK (JTA)—Cancer research specialist Dr. Iosif Irlin,
52, a refusnik since 1981, has declared a hunger strike to protest
Soviet refusal to grant him and his wife permission to leave,
according to the National to the National Conference on Soviet
Jewry. Irlin, a world-renowned scientist, who worked at the Onco
logical Center of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Medicine, was fired
from his job when he applied for an exit visa to Israel in April 1979,
as was his wife, Svetlana, also a scientist.
v II /
PAGE 5 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE August 22, 1986