2
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS — Friday, January 4, 1963 --
Purely Commentary
Christians in Israel and the Law of Return
Considerable misunderstanding has arisen from the Israel
Supreme Court's decision barring Brother Daniel, the former
Jew who became a Catholic, from naturalization as a Catholic
of the Jewish nationality.
It is an eccepted Jewish principle that "Israel of al pi
shehata, Israel hu"—"a Jew, even if he has sinned, remains a
Jew." On the basis of this idea, a jew, no matter how he has
abandoned his faith, or whatever other religion he may have
been converted to, remains a Jew. But Israel's high court inter-
preted the Law of Return — under which any Jew who wishes,
and who declares himself a Jew, can enter Israel—as having a
secular interpretation; and under an interpretation the estab-
lished Israeli aspiration is never to break the traditional chain
that links Jews with history. Such a principle has been ruled
as invalidating from Jewishness those who abandon their faith.
What about Christians who desire to become Israeli citizens?
David S. Tescher, who will soon leave his post as Consul General
in Chicago to become Israel's Ambassador to Australia, offers
interesting explanations and sends us some valuable figures to
prove that it was sheer nonsense for some newspapers to reach
the conclusion that the Israel Supreme Court decision implied a
flat denial of citizenship to a non-Jew. Mr. Tescher offered some
interesting figures with this explanation:
What the court decided is merely that Father Daniel
cannot base his claim for Israeli citizenship on the Law
of Return of July 6, 1950. However, he could claim natural-
ization according to Paragraph 5 of the Naturalization Law
of April 1, 1952, which took effect on July 14, 1952. I
attach excerpts from this Law covering the conditions of
naturalization.
As you can see for yourself, Father Daniel has legal
ways of achieving Israeli citizenship other than to try to
impose on Israel the impossible notion that a person can
be a Jew and a Catholic at the same time.
The answer to your question: Can a Christian become
a citizen of Israel, is yes. For your information there are
52,000 Christians among the citizens of Israel. Perhaps you
are interested in the breakdown of their denominations,
which is as follows:
Greek Catholics
19,00.0
Greek Orthodox
17,500
Latin
10,000
Maronite
2,500
Protestants
1,500 •
Eastern Rites
1,500
There are 200 Christian Churches in Israel.
Any attempt, therefore, to interpret judgment in the
case of Father Daniel as a denial of citizenship to a non-
Jew by . Israel is based on ignorance or even worse on
deliberate intention to impair the true image of my
country.
The excerpts from the Israeli naturalization law referred to
by Mr. Tesher read as follows:
Part One: Acquisition of Nationality .
5. (a) A person of full age, not being an Israel national, may
obtain Israel nationality by naturalization if:
(1) he is in Israel; and
(2) he has been in Israel for three years out of the five years
immediately preceding the day of the submission of his
application; and
(3) he is entitled to reside in Israel permanently; and
(4) he has settled, or intends to settle, in Israel; and
(5) he has some knowledge of the Hebrew language, and
(6) he has renounced his prior nationality or has proved that
he will cease to be a foreign national upon becoming an
Israel national.
(b) Where a person has applied for naturalization, and he
meets the requirements of subsection (a), the Minister
of the Interior, if he thinks fit to do so, shall grant him
Israel nationality by the issue of a certificate of naturali-
zation.
(c) Prior to the grant of nationality, the applicant shall make
the following declaration:
"I declare that I will be a loyal national of the State of
Israel."
(d) Nationality is acquired on the day of the declaration..
Israel's position is clear, and the realism of the decision of
its Supreme Court seems well established. What matters is tha:
one cannot claim retention of a kinship with his people if he
had abandoned his people's traditional faith; and what matters
even more is that non-Jews are assured just rights of citizenship
in Israel.
Brother Daniel Bears No Grudges
It has been reported that Brother Daniel may reopen the
case with an appeal for reconsideration of the denial to him of
naturalization on the basis indicated. Yet, he has emphasized
that lie bears no grudge, that he found the court hearings to be
scrupulously fair. He had said: "I haven't had the feeling of
being Daniel in the Lions Den."
He expressed "surprise and pain" when he was told of a
campaign of slander by groups that charged Israel with being
"a racist state." He added, repudiating disparaging comments
about Israel:
"These people simply do not grasp the essence of the case
and maybe they do not even care. My Christendom has not
removed me from the Jewish people. Indeed Christendom itself
has sprung from the Jewish people and no dispute on my case
could warrant any incitement against my people. My rights
as a future subject of Israel have not been affected in the
least by the outcome of the case, and to exploit the occasion
for villifying the State of Israel is unwarranted".
Commending Israel's Supreme Court Justice on the fair
treatment of his case, he said:.
"The profound earnestness in which the Justices have dealt
with the case and their intentness on being just, have given
me deep satisfaction. The very fact that they issued the order
against the Minister of the Interior has shown me that they
meant to give my application a fair hearing and to judge it on
its merits as they understand them"
Brother Daniel Bears
No Grudge . Ethnic
Problems in the USSR
By Philip Brazilian Magnate
Donates Tract of
Slomovitz
Land to Israel
Brother Daniel himself has set the record straight. Israel's
sense of justice again emerges in a good light.
The Ethnic Religious Problems in the USSR
-
Dr. Judd L. Teller, prominent Jewish writer who has become
an authority on Russian-Jewish issues, pointed out in a com-
munication to the N. Y. Times that it is wrong to suggest that
synagogue defamations have been part of an anti-religious war
rather than "motivated by anti-Semitism." His letter is of special
interest because of his comparison of the Soviet pattern of action
towards Moslems as well as Jews.
In view of recent window smashings in the Moscow syna-
gogue, Dr. Teller's letter has a special interest at this time. He
wrote in part:
Whenever the Soviet Union launched an internal cam-
paign against Jewish institutions, it was paralleled by similar
action against Moslem institutions. When during Stalin's final
years (1948-53) Jewish intellectuals in western Russia were
purged for "bourgeois nationalism" Moslem intellectuals were
purged for identical reasons.
When Yiddish institutions were shut down, Uzbek writers
were admonished for "tainting the Uzbek language with Arabic
and Turkish elements," and when Jews were castigated for re-
calling Ukrainian collaboration with the Nazis, Kazakh his-
torians were censored for insufficient appreciation of their
"voluntary affiliation with the Czarist empire."
This adds up to a very clear pattern. Periodically the
Soviet Union is seized with suspicion of those nationalities in
its global associations the Jews and the Moslems — and of
those who have shown greatest resilience to assimilationist
pressures—again the Jews and the MoSlems.
The Russification of the civil service of the eastern regions
of the U.S.S.R. is bold evidence of the goals toward which
Soviet leadership is aiming. Attacks on Islam are a subterfuge
for a campaign against resisters to this trend. In Moscow and
Leningrad last summer I had occasion to meet with Uzbeck
and Kazakh intellectuals of Communist persuasion who none-
theless were bitter about Russification.
The minority Christian churches in the U.S.S.R. suffer the
same fate as mosque and synagogue. There seems to be division
of opinion, however, in top Soviet circle as to the Russian
Orthodox Church. A majority apparently is inclined to regard
the church as part of Russian strength, not to be scorned so
long as the masses cling to it and its clerics are willing to
serve the ends of the state. Clerics who balk at this role see
their churches shut down. -
In one major respect, however, the Jews stand apart from
all others. The Moslems have their own republics with reason-
able control of their cultural and economic institutions. The
Jews have none of these. They are. by force completely in-
visible, except by the designation "Jew" on their passports,
which is a practical disadvantage in seeking promotion. They
also become visible, of course, when Jewish names are empha-
sized in criminal proceedings, the synagogue is defamed and
Israel arraigned. JUDD L. TELLER
One would imagine, in view of the deep devotion of Russian
Jews to their country, that the inspired anti-Semitic actions
would have been fought more vigorously; that government of-
ficials as well as individuals would recognize that the practiced
prejudices are so thoroughly unnecessary! But when anti-Semi-
tism has, as Moscow's Chief Rabbi Yehudah Levine stated, an
"historical background"; when it is realized that Soviet anti-
Semitism is so much akin to Czarist anti-Semitism, the frequent
outbursts of hatred in the USSR become more understandable.
SAO PAULO, Brazil (JTA) —
Assi s Chateaubriand, one of
Brazil's wealthiest men, donated
a tract of land comprising 1,000
hectares (2,471 acres) to the
State of Israel, naming the area
"Nova Israel" (New Israel), and
requesting that the land be used
for "transplanting to Brazil Is-
rael's successful agricultural ex-
periments" by founding a settle-
ment on the land.
Chateaubriand, former Brazil-
ian Ambassador to London, one
of the largest land-owners in this
country and the proprietor of a
number of newspapers, radio and
television stations, announced
his gift in a letter to Aryeh Eshel,
Israeli Ambassador here.
Ethel, thanking the magnate,
said he would turn the land over
to "the Brazilian people." He in-
formed Chateaubriand that Israel
would be happy to provide ex-
perienced technical aid to help
develop agro-technical experimen-
tation at "Nova Israel." Because
such an offer of land to an em-
bassy is without precedent, it is
not yet known in whose name the
deed will be registered.
The background of the offer
was the work done by Yitzhak
Levy, special envoy for agricu•
tural matters in the embassy.
Levy has been visiting several
Brazilian states advising state of-
ficials on irrigation and land
reclamation.
Wayne State Has
Largest Student
Population in Nation
21st
Figures released recently by
the 43rd annual enrollment sur-
vey made by the University of
Cincinnati rank Wayne State
University as the nation's 21st
largest university with 20,832
students.
The report shows that there
are now 3,492,626 students en-
rolled in the nation's colleges
and universities. It marked the
10th straight year of increased
enrollment with the total grow-
ing by 6.5 per cent over 1961.
The University of California,
with 56,519, leads the nation
in full-time enrollment, with
the State University of New
York second with 48,452.
Revitalization of Jewish Religious
Life in Central America Reported
MEXICO CITY, (JTA) — An
enthusiastic "progress report"
of revitalization of Jewish reli-
gious life throughout Central
America and the Caribbean
area, as well as in outlying, pro-
vincial communities in this
country, was issued by Rabbi
Abraham M. Hirschberg, direc-
tor of the Central American-
Caribbean office of organized
Orthodox Jewish communities,
which has its headquarters here.
The Center represents two
separate organizations, estab-
lished at a conference in Pana-
ma City last January, under the
names of the Union of Rabbini-
cal Organizations and the Coun-
cil of Orthodox Congregations.
Both groups represent Ortho-
dox Jewish communities in all
of Central America and the
Caribbean area.
Having just returned from
a tour of a number of coun-
tries served by both organiza-
tions through their common
center here, Rabbi Hirschberg
reported that new rabbis have
been installed in various com-
munities that had no indi-
vidual spiritual leadership
heretofore, expansion of ser-
vices toward observance of
kashruth, an increase in Jew-
ish religious educational ac-
tivities, especially for the
youth, and increasing de-
mands from Jews in many
small communities for still
further revitalization of their
religious life.
Serving all of the Central f countries where there are no
American - Caribbean communi- I facilities for ritual slaughter.
ties, he noted, are the new Nicaragua and Honduras will be
C en t r a I Rabbinate installed served from this center.
here, and the Central American Applications have been re-
Yeshiva, now making "great ceived here from many coin-
progress" in this city. The Rab- munities for the filling of vacant
binate is the first ever estab- rabbinical posts, Dr. Hirsch-
lished for the entire region, in- berg said. Among them are
eluding among its members all petitions for strengthened, indi-
Sephardic and Ashkenazic rab- vidual leadership from Jewish
bis, as well as a Beth Din for communities at Surinam, Dutch
the entire region.
Guiana; Curacao, Quito. Ecua-
The Yeshiva, headed by Rabbi dor, Tijuana and other Mexican
Moshe Raas, a young scholar communities.
who came here from Belgium,
Costa Rica was reported by
now has an enrollment of near- Rabbi Hirschberg to be bring-
ly 100 rabbinical ,students.
ing its own ritual slaughterer
Another development serving from Israel. This schochet is
the entire region is the large due to arrive soon and will es-
increase in number of publica- tablish a second center for
tions distributed from the Cen- kosher meats in the region. A
ter in both Hebrew and Yiddish. committee has been formed in
R a b b i Hirschberg's report, Costa Rica for the purpose of
showed the following develop- enlisting a rabbi and installing
ments:
him in that country.
In Guatemala, a new rabbi
In Colombia, a new rabbi
has been installed and, for
has been installed by the
the first time in the history
Ashkenazic community in the
of the local community, a
capital city of Bogota. He is
single spiritual leader guides
Dr. H. Gotesman, former
all three congregations in
Chief Ashkenazic Rabbi in
Guatemala City—the Ashke-
Puerto Rico. The Sephardic
nazic, Sephardic and German.
community at Bogota, under
The seat there is now held by
Rabbi David Sharabani, aids
Dr. Meyer Rosenbaum, former
other Jewish communities
Chief Rabbi of Cuba and of
throughout its a r e a. Dr.
Caracas, Venezuela.
Hirschberg reported.
Guatemala City has now also
At Caracas, Venezuela, Rabbi
been developed as a kashruth S. Karelitz, formerly of Wind-
center serving with kosher sor, Ont., Canada, has now as-
meats a number of other Jewish sumed the chief rabbinical post
communities in several nearby in that country.