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Ill -1/ I4( llill 'l*l> 11.M k - .. - ll THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE December 12, 1986 Page 7 Abram denounces Soviet emigration NEW YORK The Soviet Union’s newly issued regulations on emigration were denounced by Morris B. Abram as “propa ganda designed to deceive the West.” Abram, chairman of the Na tional Conference on Soviet Jewry and of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, told a news conference: “The decree of the U.S.S.R.’s Council of Ministers, issued Nov. 6, offers little hope for an early rise in emigration from the Soviet Union, now at its lowest level in 15 years. “T he decree ignores Soviet commitments, solemnized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Helsinki Accords, to permit emigration of its citi zens as a matter of right. “The decree restricts the con ventional interpretation of fam ily ties and thus could be used to justify still further cutbacks in the emigration of Soviet Jews to Israel. “Soviet affairs specialists and Jewish leaders with whom 1 have consulted join me in the conclu sion that the new Soviet regula tions, presented by the Kremlin as easing the process of leaving the country, were issued not as the legal basis for increasing emigration but as a restrictive measure crafted as propaganda designed to deceive the West and silence the growing volume of international protests against the cruel policy of the Soviet regime in matters of Jewish emigration, culture and religion.” Abram said, said. Abram spoke on the eve of his departure for Vienna, where he will serve as a public member of the U.S. delegation to the follow up conference on the Helsinki Accords. He will participate in discussions on “Basket 111” of the agreement, dealing with human rights. “In Vienna,” Abram said, “So viet representatives will have to answer for their country’s failure to comply with the human rights provisions of the Helsinki Ac cords. “The new decree has been pre pared to meet this criticism, but NCS J chief to be featured at Temple anniversary gala In honor of The Temple’s 12()th Anniversary, Morris B. Abram will speak at Shabbat Service on Friday, Dec. 19 at 8:15 p.m. His topic will be “Lib eration of Soviet Jews: Is it pos sible? If not now, when?” Abram is speaking on the oc casion of the 85th birthday of Temple member Josephine Hey- man. Mrs. Heyman’s late hus band, Herman, was a law partner of Abram. Friends and family are honoring Mrs. Heyman’s birthday by donating a sound enhancement system for the hear ing impaired to be used in The Temple sanctuary. Abram, a former Temple mem ber, had an illustrious legal and civic career while living in At lanta. He is most noted for chang ing the county unit election sys tem with the 1963 Supreme Court ruling, “One man. One vote.” In addition to practicing law in New York City, Abram currently serves as chairman of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry and chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. He has served, by presidential appoint ment, under John Kennedy, Lyn don Johnson, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. He is a past president of Brandeis University. An Oneg Shabbat reception following the service will be sponsored by Ann and Jay Davis on the occasion of their daughter Elizabeth’s Bat Mitzva weekend. Morris Abram it offers neither hope nor en couragement to the hundreds of Jews who have expressed their desire to emigrate to Israel,” he said. Abram told the news confer ence, “The new decree makes no mention of emigration as a right and thus leaves Soviet authori ties with absolute power to reject applications for emigration. “The new decree spells out no less than nine reasons for deny ing requests for emigration, especial ly a catchall provision that gives Soviet authorities the right to reject applications on grounds of ‘insuring the protection of social order, health or the morals of the population.’ “The new decree is a codifica tion of restrictive Soviet practi ces gradually put into effect since 1979, and confirms the view of Secretary of State George Shultz who,in assessing in the U.S.S.R.’s policy on Jewish emigration last month, stated: ‘The situation is bleak and deteriorating.”' Abram added: “If the Soviet Union wants to demonstrate a new and human face to the world and demonstrate that it lives up to its solemn international com mitments, it need only free the Prisoners of Conscience whom it has incarcerated for teaching Hebrew and insisting on the right to be repatriated to Israel; grant visas to the thousands of refus- niks, many of whom have been waiting for 10 years or more to emigrate; and start issuing visas to the hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews who have initiated the emigration procedure by re questing and receiving invitations from their relatives in Israel. “We would dearly like to be proven wrong in our assessment of the recent Soviet decree,” Mr. Abram said. “Let them stop harassing, intimidating and ar resting Jewish activists. And let them let our people go. “Until that happens, we can only regard the issuance of the Nov. 6 regulations as still another Soviet effort to deceive the West into relaxing its demands.” Hadassah drops cigarette ads Special to The Southern Israelite Hadassah Magazine, the larg est special interest publication of its kind in the United States, will no longer carry cigarette adver tising beginning with its January 1987 issue, Rose Goldman, the magazine’s chairman, has an nounced. She said the change in policy by Hadassah’s executive commit tee makesthemagazineoneof only 36 consumer magazines in the nation to refuse advertising for cigarettes, which have been linked medically to lung cancer and other lung and heart diseases. “For 75 years Hadassah has been committed to healing and to the prevention of disease,” Ms. Goldman said. “The con tinued presence of cigarette ad vertising in Hadassah’s national publication is inconsistent with the organization’s mission and philosophy.” Tobacco companies accounted for about 20 percent of the publi cation’s advertising revenues in 1986. The decision to discontinue cigarette ads will be revealed to the magazine’s readers in an un usual full-page announcement on the back cover of the January issue, a space usually filled by tobacco company advertising. The change in policy also is discussed by executive editor Alan Tigay, who writes in his monthly column that the magazine’s “un- enthusiastic acceptance” of the ads in the past was based on the position that “people have a right to smoke, as long as they don't disturb others,” and that “It fol lows logically that cigarette manufacturers have a right to advertise so long as they do so in compliance with the laws of the land.” Tigay writes that the maga zine’s readers have grown in creasingly vocal in recent years about the “ultimate inconsistency of an organization dedicated to good health accepting advertis ing that, no matter how you look at it, promotes illness.” AtMarriott, tradition isn't just a reason to celebrate. It is the celebration. Marriott takes tradition seriously. With wedding receptions, rehearsal dinners, and Bar Mitzvah celebrations tradi tionally correct down to the last detail. 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