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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS—Friday, November 7, 1958 40

State Court Allows Jewish Reburial

Try Segregationist

Precedent-Setting Case
Refers to Shulhan Arukh

Using the Shulhan Arukh,
the codification of Jewish law,
as the basis for much of his de-
cision, Judge Victor Targonski,
of Wayne County Circuit Court,
recently ruled that Jewish dead
may be disinterred and reburied
in a family plot.
The important opinion ren-
dered by Judge Targonski sets
precedent in Michigan law. The
case was the first of its kind in
this state, although Judge Tar-
gonski made reference in his
opinion to similar cases occur-
ing in New York State.
Reburial, which, according to
Jewish law, is forbidden except
in rare instances cited in the
Shulhan Arukh, was allowed
when the Circuit Court Judge
ruled:
1. That the decedent, at the
time of his death "was not a
member of the Orthodox
branch of the Jewish faith"
and that the burial was "con-
ditional."
2. During his lifetime the
decedent, together with his
wife, has indicated the desire
to be buried next to each
other; and
3. That "such removal un-
der the circumstances of the
case will be within the excep-
tion of Hebrew law as ex-
pressed in the Yoreh Deiah
(the section of the Shulhan
Arukh dealing with burial)."
The case involved the disin-
terment of the late Mr. Louis
Weinstein, who was buried in
Hebrew Memorial Park Ceme-_
tery on Dec. 30, 1929.
After the death of his wife
last year, the family secured a
plot at Clover Hill Park Ceme-
tery. Testimony at the trial
had established that there was
no plot available for Mrs. Wein-
stein adjacent to the grave of
her husband.
The family sought to secure
the removal of the Mr. Wein-
stein's remains to be placed in
the family plot at Clover Hill;
however, the Hebrew Benevo-
lent Society, which operates the
Hebrew Memorial Park Ceme-
tery in strict comformity with
Jewish law, refused to yield the
body, stating it was not per-
missable.
Attempts at arbitration fail-
ing, the case was brought to
Circuit Court, where submitting
a brief for the Weinstein family
was attorney Bernard L. Good-
man, of Goodman and Shifman.
Testimony established that at
the time of Mr. Weinstein's
death the family's financial
means were limited and that
they sought the services of the
Hebrew Benevolent Society, a
non-profit corporation.
The family also testified that
the Weinsteins had expressed
their mutual desire to be buried
next to each other and, in addi-
tion, acknowledged the fact that
Mr. Weinstein was not an Or-
thodox Jew.
Two rabbis, Dr. Max Kapu-
stin and Rabbi Morris Adler
were called by the court as wit-
nesses to interpret exceptions
permitted in cases of reburial
as otulined in the Shulhan
Arukh.
The two exceptions noted
by the court, as taken from
the Shullian Arukh, state that
a body may be removed: 1. If
it was placed there on the
condition that it may be
moved; and 2. Possibly to
place it in a resting place
alongside of his "fathers."
In his opinion, Judge Targon-
ski cited paragraph 11 of the
Ki'tzur Shulhan Arukh, an ab-
breviated compilation of Jewish
laws and customs by Rabbi Sol-
omon Ganzfried, which states:
The dead should not be re-
moved (for burial) from a city
where there is a cemetery to
another city, unless it be from
any country to Palestine, or if

he had to be removed, to the
burial ground of his fathers. If
he had commanded that his re-
mains should be conveyed from
one place to another, it is like-
wise permitted."
Judge Targonski then quoted
paragraph 12 of the same source,
which states: "It is forbidden to
open a grave after it has been
closed . . . (however) if, be-
cause of a very urgent reason,
it be required that the body of
the dead be removed from a
grave, an eminent rabbi should
be consulted."
The judge then cited a refer-
ence in Funk & Wagnalls' Jew-
ish Encyclopedia (Volume 4,
page 613), which he said, "con-
cludes to the effect that where
the burial took place with the
intent that it would be subse-
quently removed, disinterment
is permitted. Further, that au-
thority states that it is per-
mitted even where burial was
not conditioned upon subse-
quent removal, if the body is
to be reinterred in a family
plot."
In indicating that there was
a "vast difference of opinion
even among authorities of the
Orthodox Jewish faith" on the
second point, Judge Targonski
again goes to the Yoreh Deiah,
which states:
"In the midst of his own its
reburial is permitted, even
from an honorable grave to a
contemptible, for it is pleasant
for a man to rest alongside of
his fathers."
Several cases supporting these
views in New York courts were
also considered in the judge's
opinion.
In granting reburial, Judge
Targonski ordered that the fam-
ily relinquish all rights to the
former grave, that disinterment
be supervised by a rabbi and
that proper care be..taken to
avoid damage to adjoining
graves. He ordered the family
to post a $200 bond to protect
the Society from damage and
liability.

A Digest of World Jewish Happenings, from
Dispatches of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Other
News-Gathering Media.

United States

—UPI Photo

JOHN KASPER, New Jer-
sey segregationist who is
charged with inciting to riot
as a result of inflammatory
speeches made when the
Nashville schools were de-
segregating, talks to two of
the 235 witnesses called in
his defense at his trial in
Nashville, Tenn.

Israel Protests
Soviet Campaign

Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to Tfie Jewish News

JERUSALEM—For the first
time since the Soviets launched
their propaganda campaign of
charges that Israel was planning
to attack Jordan, Israel made a
formal protest Tuesday at the
diplomatic level.
Milkhail Bodrov, Soviet Am-
bassador to Israel, was called in
by Mrs. Golda Meir, Israel's For-
eign Minister, who voiced Is-
rael's objections to the Soviet
press and radio campaign.
Mrs. Meir was understood to
have called to Bodrov's atten-
tion both Israel's official deni-
als about any hostile intentions
toward the shaky Hashemite
Kingdom as well as Prime Min-
ister Ben-Gurion's statement on
the matter in the Knesset last
week.
The Soviet emvoy, it was be-
lieved, had repeated the stand-
ard Soviet attitudes toward Is-
rael and promised to transmit
Mrs. Meir's complaints to Mos-

cow.

Mt. Clemens Case on Mixed Seating
to Go Before State Supreme Court

The controversial "m ix e d
seating case" of Cong. Beth
Tefilas Moses, in Mt. Clemens,
will receive new notoriety in
January, when an appeal is
brought before the Michigan
State Supreme Court.
The case was dismissed last
year by Macomb County Cir-
cuit Court Judge Edward T.
Kane.
The appeal is • being brought
by Meyer Davis, Sam Schwartz
and Baruch Litvin, members of
the Mt. Clemens congregation,
against members of the board
of trustees of the synagogue.
The case involves the issue
of allowing husbands Ind wives
to sit together during religious
worship. Litvin and his asso-
ciates charge that it is unlaw-
ful to allow men and women
to sit together in an "Ortho-
dox" synagogue. T h e v e r y
word, "orthodox," is in dispute
in the court case.
In a brief submitted prior
to the trial date, Charles
Rubiner and Arthur James Ru-
biner, attorneys for the defen-
dant congregation, outline four
points, upon which the Circuit
Court based its opinion in
dismissing the case without
trial. These questions are:
1. Does a civil court have
jurisdiction over ecclesiastical
questions where no property
rights are involved?
2. Where there are neither
constitutional nor trust restric-
tions imposing any obligation
to maintain a particular form

Around the World...

of worship, may a majority of
the members change the man-
ner of conducting their service?
3. Is this controversy only
over ecclestiastical and doc-
trinal matters? and
4. Are there property rights
involved?
The lower court, the defense
attorneys point out, agreed
with them, in answering, "No,"
"Yes," "Yes" and "No," to the
questions, when it dismissed
the case.
When the case comes to
trial, one of the major ques-
tions to be decided will be the
right of the court to determine
what constitutes being a "Jew,"
especially as concerns Ortho-
doxy, Conservative and Reform.
The controversy over mixed
seating of men and women has
been an issue of Cong. Beth
Tefilas Moses for many years.
Support for combined seating
has been forthcoming from a
majority of the members of
the congregation.

Name Physician to Head
Turkish Rabbi's Council

CHICAGO—Israel is floating among its own people a vol-
untary loan of 20,000,000 Israeli pounds ($11,000,000) to help
support an anticipated influx of new immigrants, Moshe Sharett,
former Israel Foreign Minister, announced here at a dinner
on behalf of the sale of Israel bonds.
WASHINGTON — A request was submitted to the White
House by Senator Jacob K. Javits, asking the summoning of a
White House conference to discuss the bombing of religious
institutions and schools . . . The American Jewish Congress
made known last week that Nelson Rockefeller, Mrs. Eleanor
Roosevelt and Adlai Stevenson said they favored such a con-
ference, but President Eisenhower has rejected the proposal (see
page 3 . . . The U.S. Bureau of Internal Revenue moved to with-
draw tax-exemption from an extreme right-wing group, the
"Constitution and Free Enterprise Foundation," headed by
Edawrd A. Rumely, who is mentioned in a number of Anti-
Defamation League reports.
NEW YORK—Prof. Selman Waksman, noted Jewish scien-
tist and Nobel Prize winner, accepted the honorary chairmanship
of the Association to Perpetuate the Memory of Ukrainian Jews.
. . . Israel Ambassador Abba Eban, who was elected president
of the Weizmann Institute of Science at Rehovot, will continue
to serve in his present post in Washington and as head of the
Israel delegation to the United Nations, Maurice M. Boukstein,
vice president of the American Committee for the Weizmann
Institute, announced . ... Tributes to the late Dr. Joseph Klaus-
ner, who died in Jerusalem last week, were paid by all Zionist
groups and at a memorial meeting of United Zionists-Revisionists.
. . . The 60th birthday of Aleph Katz, noted YiddiSh poet,
editor of the Yiddish department of the Jewish Telegraphic
Agency, was honored by the Yiddish PEN Club on the occasion
of the publication of Katz's latest volume of verses, "Cholem
Aleichem" . . . The American Civil Liberties Union has an-
nounced its intention of filing a "friend of the court" brief
opposing erection of a Nativity scene at Christmas on the
grounds of an Ossining public school. The case is currently before
the New York State Supreme Court in White Plains, N. Y. . . .
Hadassah will send $200,000 to Israel to help facilitate absorption
of newly-arriving Romanian Jewish children within the frame-
work of Youth Aliyah, it was announced by Mrs. A. P. School-
man, Hadassah's national chairman for Youth Aliyah.
WALTHAM, Mass. — The late David K. Niles, an early
trustee of Brandeis University and administrative assistant to
President Roosevelt and Truman, will be memorialized through
the dedication of a room and a fellowship program in his name
at Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass.

Europe

LONDON—The British government will continue to cooper-
ate with the United Nations in an effort to relieve tensions in
the Middle East, Queen Elizabeth II declared in a speech from
the Throne . . . Several speakers who participated in the debate
on the Speech from the Throne in the House of Commons urged
on the government a policy which would combine loyalty to
Britain's commitments to the State of Israel with measures to
establish friendly relations with all Arab states ..
BONN—Algemeine Zeitung, a Jewish newspaper, charges
that payments to victims of Nazism under Germany's indemnifi-
cation legislation is decreasing . .
ROME — Premier Amintore Fanfani concluded a foreign
policy debate in the Chamber of Deputies with an admonition to
critics who had accused him of paying too much attention to
Israel and the Arab states by stating they were blind to facts
of history and geography, and indicated strongly that Italy had
pursued an active role in the Mediterranean on the direct en-
couragement of American, British, French and German leaders ...
PARIS—United Hias Service Director James P. Rice was
on hand to greet a party of 83 Egyptian Jewish refugees who
arrived at Marseilles . .
VIENNA—The Austrian Jewish Community will file 8,000
applications for compensation under terms of recent legislation
to indemnify victims of the Nazi regime . .

Canada

MONTREAL — The Canadian Jewish Congress announced
that a memorandum was submitted to Mrs. Ellen A. Fairclough,
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, outlining proposals for
action to assist prospective immigrants from Poland and Hungary
and Egyptian refugees, seeking increased immigration possibili-
ties in Canada . .. Three ten-pound rocks were hurled through
the stained glass windows of a synagogue in Peterborough,
Ontario, the Canadian Jewish Congress reported. Rabbi A. M.
Babb, spiritual leader of the Peterborough congregation, esti-
mated the damage at $200, but expressed doubt that it was the
work of an anti-Semitic organization. He said it was "probably"
an act of vandalism by "youngsters who had too much to drink."

Israel

TEL AVIV—The prototype of a French trainer jet plane
arrived here to become the standard training plane for Israel
pilots, after being assembled at Ludda facilities of Bedek, Israel's
maintenance and assembly plant . . . Premier David Ben-Gurion
presented a twoseater Piper Cub to Ghana's Premier Kwama
Nkrumah in a ceremony at Lydda Airport, as a birthday gift
from the Israel government . . . The World Jewish Congress
aims to collect a $20,000 fund to be used as a reward for per-
sons providing information leading to the arrest of Adolf Eich-
man, arch-persecutor and murderer of European Jewry, who
disappeared in 1945 and was joined later by his wife and children
in an unknown place . . Joseph Avidar, former Israel Ambas-
sador to the Soviet Union, denied reports that Premier Khrush-
chev refused to receive him for a farewell visit .. .

ISTANBUL (JTA) — Dr.
Aaron Chiprut, well known
Istanbul physician, has been
elected president of the Grand
Rabbinate's Council, the admin-
istrative lay body of the Tur-
kish Jewish community- The
Australia
post has been vacant for 'six
SYDNEY — Richard G. Casey, Australian Minister for
years while the community
sought an acceptable candidate External Affairs, warned upon his return from overseas that the
to the 20-member body, few Middle East remained an area of potential trouble because not
of whose members are active. one of the basic problems of the area had been solved ...

47

