Friday, October 4, 1963 — THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS — 26
State Department Unhappy Over Quebec Jewry Seeks Seat on Education Council
The Canadian Jewish Con-
MONTREAL, (JTA) — The ture" is coupled with a full
Intercessions Against Soviet Union Canadian
Jewish Congress was secular curriculum.
gress reiterated the Jewish
By MILTON FRIEDMAN
(Copyright, 1963, JTA, Inc.)
WASHINGTON — Are recent
Senate and House moves against
Soviet anti-Semitism really good
for the Jews trapped behind the
Iron Curtain?
Doubts have been privately
voiced by State Department of-
ficials and some Anti-Defama-
tion authorities.
The State Department was
displeased when President Ken-
nedy alluded to the closing of
synagogues by the Soviet Union
in his recent United Nations ad-
dress. The deteriorating Russian
Jewish situation had been de-
scribed by the Jewish War Vet-
erans leaders to the President
at a White House meeting. Ken-
nedy appeared shocked and felt
that more should be done to
relieve the plight of Russian
Jews.
A direct appeal was address-
ed to the Soviet Ambassador
here by Rep. Leonard Farbstein,
New York Democrat, and 18
other members of the House
Foreign Affairs Committee. The
Soviet Embassy was so concern-
ed that a Russian diplomat was
ordered to call on Rep. Farb-
stein.
But the State Department
was unhappy that members of
Congress dealt directly with a
diplomatic intercession involv-
ing a foreign government.
. The Department was even
more annoyed when a Senate
resolution denouncing Soviet
anti - Semitism, proposed by
Sen. Abraham Ribicoff, Con-
necticut Democrat, gained 59
co-sponsors.
Speaking off the record, one
official termed the Ribicoff res-
olution "ill-advised and counter-
productive." He noted that a co-
sponsor was Sen. Strom Thur-
mond of South Carolina, a lead-
er in the fight against civil
rights for Negroes. "How can
we expect the Soviets to heed
Sen. Thurmond's demands for
civil rights for Soviet Jews?" he
asked.
Rep. Seymour Halpern, New
York Republican, dared to sug-
gest to the State Department
that the signing of the nuclear
test ban treaty created an East-
West thaw conducive to interces-
sion on behalf of Soviet Jewry.
In reply, the State Department
line was voiced by Assistant
Secretary of State Frederick G.
Dutton.
Dutton said "the Department
continues to believe that formal
United States- Government rep-
resentations to the Soviet Gov-
ernment would not be in the
best interests of the Soviet Jews.
These representations could in
fact antagonize the Soviet Gov-
ernment to the detriment of
Soviet Jews."
"In the past, the Soviet gov-
ernment has often accused
Soviet Jews of susceptibility
to subversive foreign influ-
ences and of being agents of
foreign states, most particu
larly of the United States and
Israel. It hardly would be to
the interest of Soviet Jews
for the United States to take
actions which wottld lend sub-
stance or credence to this
charge against Soviet Jewry,"
said Dutton.
Dutton warned that "formal
actons by the 'United • States
Government or its official rep-
resentatives could have this un-
fortunate result and also lose
in effectiveness because of the
tendency of public opinion in
many areas to dismiss United
States moves involving the
U.S.S.R. as motivated primarily
by cold-war considerations."
Some. Jewish "experts" on So-
viet developments claim that
Congressional protests are based
on exaggerated data. Dutton
himself claimed • there were
"fpoSitive" developments among
the negative.. events He cited
the easing off by the Soviet.
press of linking Jewish attri-
butes to Soviet economic crimi-
nals, the publication of a He-
brew-Russian dictionary, and the
staging of Yiddish theatrical
entertainment.
But what the State Depart-
ment and some "experts" ignor-
ed was that any relaxation of
Soviet anti-Semitism was at-
tributable not to the humanity
of the Kremlin but to its sensi-
tivity to world public opinion.
Protests by members of Con-
gress and leading liberals have
had some impact.
The State Department forgets
that the Congress reflects the
thinking of the American pub-
lic. The Department has also
forgotten that in 1933 it felt
that Nazi actions against Jews
were being exaggerated and
that American intercession
might harm rather than help
the Jewish situation in Germany.
First Hero of
World Series
disclosed to have requested the
appointment of at least one Jew
to a proposed Superior Council
of Education of the Province
of Quebec. The Council pro-
posal is a provision of an edu-
cational bill now before the
Quebec _ legislature. A sub-
stantial number of Jewish chil-
dren attend Protestant-spon-
sored schools in the province.
The CJC also demanded Jew-
ish representation on the Coun-
cil's Protestant Committee, to
be chosen after consultation
with the central representative
body of Jews in Quebec. The
demands were made at a meet-
ing with members of the Protes-
tant Committee at which provi-
sions of the educational bill
were discussed.
The •CJC had previously sub-
mitted a brief on the issue to
Paul Gerin-Lajoie, the Quebec
Youth Minister, pointing out
that numerically, Quebec Jews
constituted the largest non
Protestant, non-Catholic part
of the province's population,
and that "historically, we are
the oldest ethnic group outside
of the English and the French."
The brief also noted that in
Montreal "Jewish children num-
ber close to 25 per cent of the
child population of the Protes-
tant schools, and a consider-
able number of Jewish children
a t t e d independent Jewish
schools" where "intense train-
ing in Jewish religion and cul,
The brief noted that special
tax rolls identify Jewish tax-
payers, "indicating the special
position of the Jews in the
school system." In the field of
school taxation, the brief added,
"about 75 per cent of the rev-
enue of the Protestant schools
from school taxation is being
paid by Jews. For all practical
purposes, Jews have been con-
sidered a part of the Protestant
framework, even with regard to
children" attending Jewish-spon-
sored schools.
• "The Jewish community pays
its school taxes to the Protes-
tant school board and yet Jews
are not free to present them-
selves for election or be ap-
pointed to any of the boards,"
the brief concluded, declaring
that despite the admitted legal
and other complications, the
situation constituted "an inex-
cusable violation of even the
most basic tenets of democ-
racy."
community's position previous-
ly presented to a Royal Corn-
mission on Education, asserting
that it was "one of the most
glaring undemocratic situations
in that no Jews sit on the school
board or have any say in the
administration of tax monies,"
a "classical case of taxation
without representation."
96,000 Jews - Live
in Soviet Moldavia
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News)
LONDON — The Moldavian
Soviet Republic — which was
formerly a Rumanian province
— has a Jewish population of
96,000, according to recent sta-
tistics received here from the
Soviet Union. Of the total regis-
tered as Jews, the figures show
48,000 live in the capital city
of Kishinev.
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•
SANDY KOUFAX, winner
of the first World Series
game for the Dodgers, by a
score of 5 to 2, Wednesday,
set a new record for strike-
outs in any World Series
game, by striking out 15. The
previous record was 14. Kou-
fax's last pitch was for a strike
—to set the all-time record.
*
Press Lauds Koufax
for Observance of
Jewish Holy Days
LOS ANGELES, (JTA) —
Sandy Koufax, the star pitcher
of the pennant-winning Los
Angeles Dodgers, did not play
on Yom Kippur, just as he did
not play on either day of Rosh
Hashanah.
The Jewish star, whose pitch-
ing prowess was a key factor in
the Dodger's successful bid for
the National League Pennant,
pitched out of rotation so that
he would not have to play on
any of the High Holy Days. He
pitched against the Philadel-
phia Phillies after only two
days' rest so that he could also
pitch against the Cardinals be-
fore f u 1 f i 11 i n g his religious
duties.
St. Louis Globe Democrat,
commenting editorially on the
athlete's action, said that base-
ball pundits might consider
.whether his determination to
undertake additional pitching
chores so that he could be free
to observe the High. Holy Days
"has helped make him the best
pitcher in the National League
this season. Our strictly old-
fashioned opinion is—could be!"
Vandals Hit Jewish
Cemeteries in Atlantic
City on Holy Days
It
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ATLANTIC CITY, N. J. --
Forty-seven tombstones in three
Jewish cemeteries in this area
have been overturned:and other-
wise desecrated county authori-
ties and state police reported
here. The desecrations took place
during the Jewish High. Holy
Days but were only reported
officially Wednesday. Thus far
none of the persons involved has
been traced, the authorities said.
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