Bnai Brith Urges Measures to Aid Jews in Soviet Union; State Dept. Suggests Private Group Pressure today by Sen. Keating, U. S. In- formation Agency Director Ed- ward R. Murrow informed him that the Voice of America broad- casts to Europe, the Middle East and Africa have carried reports during the last several months of "persecutions of Jews and sup- pression of Jewish institutions in On the synagogue closing's, he the Soviet Union." Murrow said said that although the Depart- USIA has also prepared a back- ment "has not been able to con- ground report on the situation firm" the reports; it is known for distribution among the foreign that "the Soviet government con- press. "You may be assured that we tinues to endorse anti-religious propaganda directed against re- will continue to do our part to keep the world informed of these ligion generally." In another letter 'from an ad- and similar Communist violations ministration official made public of human rights,", Murrow wrote. * * (Continued from Page 1) various individual Jews has its basis in anti-Semitism or wheth- er this arises from the intensi- fied campaign of the Soviet au- thorities to stamp out black marketeering and various forms of speculation," Dutton's letter said. Bnai Brith Reports Increased Soviet Anti-Jewish Pressures Bnai Brith disclosed new re- ports of official pressures to discourage the practice of Ju- daism and hamper Jewish reli- gious leadership in the Soviet Union. Label A. Katz, president of Bnai Brith, said the organization had learned that during the June-July period last year, Soviet authorities had: 1 — Quadrupled a special tax assessed against clergy- men and made it retroactive for two years. 2—Dismissed Rabbi Judah Lichterov as director of the Yeshiva in Moscow, the only Jewish seminary in the. USSR, replacing him with a new di- rector. 3—Placed the prerogatives of the Vaad Yeshiva, govern. ing council of the seminary, under Rabbi Yehuda Leib Levine, chief rabbi of Moscow, after disbanding the council. Bnai Brith had reported the disbandment of the council last November, but this is the first indication that it took place during the June-July period, co- incident with the arrests of six Jewish lay religious leaders in Leningrad and Moscow and the removal from their posts of the lay chairmen ,of synagogue con- gregations in Kiev, Riga, Minsk, Vilna and Tashkent. These are the capital cities of five Soviet republics. The increased tax applies to religious functionaries of all sects in the Soviet Union, Katz reported. It imposes a "special hardship" on religious Soviet Jews, he added, since Judaism is not perMitted to maintain a centralized structure or nation- al federation, as are other re- ligious groups in the USSR. In 1958 the Jews of Moscow contributed the equivalent in rubles of $135,000 to construct a new Yeshiva building, af- fililiated with the Moscow synagogue, now occupying a single, second-floor room in the synagogue building. The plan to construct a Yeshiva building was never consum- mated, Bnai. Brith said, al- though at th he funds were colle d it under- stood th Soviet aut rities had ap ved he plan The dispo o e fu Is r un- known He said that the present op- eration of the Yeshiva, with a small enrollment of only 12 stu- dents who are ultimately to guide and assist the religious activities of hundreds of thou- sands of devout Jews, "clearly implies a form of suppression of Judaism in contradiction to Soviet guarantees of freedom of worship" The Jewish popula- tion of the Soviet Union is esti- mated between 2,500,000 and 3,000,000 Katz also called 'it "highly significant" that only one of the seminarians is from Moscow, which has approximately 500,000 Jews, and that there are no students from such major Jewish population centers as Leningrad, Kiev, Odessa, Minsk, Kishinev, Vilna or Riga, all of which have been traditional centers of Jewish scholarship. Instead, he said, the Yeshiva enrollment is made up of stu- dents from Georgia and central Asia where contact with the bulk of Soviet Jewry is regarded as weak. The Moscow Yeshiva was es- tablished Jan. 6, 1957, amid a festive ceremony in which Rabbi Solomon Shliefer, the late Chief Rabbi of Moscow, participated. It began with ten students. The anticipation by Rabbi Shliefer, his successor and others was that the enroll- ment would increase substanti- ally. This has not happened in the five years of the seminary's existence, Bnai Brith declared. * * * 'Large Current of . USSR Anti-Semitism Seen by Ben-Gurion PARIS (JTA)—Anti-Semitism is still widespread in some coun- tries, Prime Minister David Ben- Gurion of Israel said in an in- terview with the correspondent of Le Figaro, leading French newspaper. Asked •by the correspondent whether he considers Soviet Pre- mier Nikita Khrushchev as be- ing anti-Semitic, the Israel Prime Minister said he did not know whether Khrushchev was person- ally anti-Semitic but that among the people in the Soviet Union there was still "a large current of anti-Semitism." Katz id that „ w ling- Branch 11 Conducts ness o he re igi e s of Study Group Series Mose to rais t or hem Branch II, Labor Zionist Or- must ave xtr rdin- will hold the first ary m of is f rther ganization, group meeting in a series evid ce of ong ewish study discussions on the selected consc usness lists n the • of essays of Hayim Greenberg in Soviet nion." his book, "The • Inner Eye," at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Zig- IF YO Ci HE mond Moses, 22190 Sussex, Oak likr•• (1 Park. Subject for the evening will UPSIDE DOWN YOU WON'T be "The Nature of Jewish Cul- FIND A FINER WINE THAN ture." A social hour will follow. The study group is under the direction of Herbert Pincus. Guests are welcome. For in- formation, call Pincus, KE Milan Wineries, Detroit, Mich. 3-0216. Leading Communal Figures Greet Miriani's Association with Aronsson Printing Firm Former Mayor Louis C. Miri- ani this week became executive vice president -administrative of the Aronsson Printing Co. on West Lafayette. It is the first i the 46-year history of time in the firm that anyone outside the Aronsson family circle has become an active partner in it, the former Mayor being given the right, in addition to assum- ing an administrating role in the company, to acquire its stock. Maurice Aronsson, who founded the firm in 1916 with two presses, becomes -the first chairman of the board of the company. His son, Herbert, be- came president and treasurer of the firm and his son-in-law, Ronald M. Kottler, executiv vice-president. • The Aronsson Printing has grown to one of the printing establishments in igan, with 41 presses unde roof on 40,000 square fe floor space, besides ware facilities. There are 150 ployees, all on a profit-sha basis. A vast expansion program is planned, $380,000 already hav- ing been allocated for that pur- pose last year. A luncheon on Wednesday, at the Sheraton-Cadillac Hotel, at which Miriani' with the Aro n firm w announced, ended by many o 'nent industrial and nk . g figures, public offi Is d leaders in the S O 1 ser ice field. aurice lo g desire ti e to his a hropic in h es to do iani's as fi and th po in it o in-1 Ar Maurice A rbert Aronsson Louis C. Miriani of the act' ign, communally and is active in the and Detroit Service Group. movements, holds any os s in industri realty., nk- FURNITURE ing and of ts. A mer SERVICE presiden ood ntry Club, er of Refinishing - Restoring Fran , Sta rd and Furniture Cove Clubs. Repaired & Refinished in Her Axons n holds a Any Color of numbe f impo nt local posts, Your Choice. Antiques Old is active in Allied Jewish Furniture Made Campaign Like New. Cig- its arts and crafts PIANO arette Burns Re- FINISHING lzt divisio in the Detroit Serv- OUR, SPECIALTY paired. All work p. He is a member of jaicoLoRSTOCHOOSE guaranteed. t e boards. of Hillel Foundation City-Wide and Suburban Larry Paul and Wayne State University Free Estimates Press. He is a graduate of Bab- son Institute, Wellesley, Mass. ale UN..4-8440 '13 2 c 3 w. mc titckiot-S Ronald Kottler also is known FOR THE BEST DEAL NOW AS ALWAYS .. . YOU CAN BE SURE WHEN YOU DEAL WITH .. . HARRY ABRAM on the NEW "62" onsso t. elevai his ow it of th his to high and son- CORVAIR & CHEVY 11 SHORE CHEVROLET CO. mer chairman 12240 Jos. Campau TW 1-0600 — Res. UN 4-9039 Detroit Artist; Broner, Exhibits Works in California The Los Angeles County Mu- seum, the Pasadena Art Museum, the Otis Art Institute in Los An- geles and the Feingarten Gallery in Beverly Hills will show the works of Robert Broner of De- troit, an artist of national recog- nition. . Broner is having an exhibition in the Pasadena Art Museum this month and at the Otis Art Insti- tute in Los An- geles in Febru- ary. The Los Angeles Coun- ty Museum h just purch a large print. Bron ill have ne-man s h . of his ts at the eingart en allery in Bev- erly Hills start- ing March 0. His wor represente t ction of pri s the Broner M u s Modern Art; e Brooklyn Mu urn, the Gu nheim Museu the New Yor ublic Library, Smithsonian In te, the Na- tional Gallery, th *ladel Museum, the Detroit • e of Arts and in such private collec- tions as those of N.Y. Governor Nelson Rockefeller,' Lessing J. Rosenwald, Gertrude Mellon, the Winstons and the Fleischmans. He is represented in the U.S. State Department show which is touring Europe. He will have a one-man show in the Chicago Art Institute in spring. Broner, whose wife has won a number of literary awards, is the Detroit correspondent for "Art in America." An art teacher, he lives at 18981 Greenlawn BE SURE THERE' IS A BLUE AND WHITE BOX IN YOUR HOME PHONE UN 4-2161 T TREES IN ISRAEL HE NAME OF YOUR VED ONES erpetuate the memory of family and friends . . . celebrate Bar Mitzvah . . honor any happy event by planting trees in the forests and fields of Israel! CELEBRATE J. N. F. SABBATH All synagogues will participate in the Jewish National Fund Sab- bath January 20th. Help observe JNF Sabbath by planting a tree in Israel. Your tree gives new life to the soil. JEWISH NATIONAL FUND 18414 WYOMING AVE. ALL CONTRIBUTIONS TO JNF ARE TAX DEDUCTABLE