`Zionist Leaning ' Charge Menaces 4,000 Syrian Jews
PARIS, (JTA)—A number of Syrian Jews were
arrested late last week while trying to flee across
the Syrian-Turkish border to escape the persecu-
tions and discriminatory measures to which Syrian
Jewry are being subjected, a French Jewish tourist
reported on his return from a three-month visit to
that country.
The tourist, whose name was withheld and
whose religion was not known to Syrian authorities,
brought back with him a detailed eyewitness report
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on the sufferings of Syria's 4,000 Jews. He said
that a number of Jews were in the Damascus cen-
tral jail, awaiting trial early in 1964 on a variety
of charges, including "attempted illegal exit" and
"Zionist leanings." The tourist said he did not
know how many Jews had been arrested on such
charges.
The most painful discrimination to which Syrian
Jewry was being subjected was a government ban
on movement in Damascus without special "circu-
lation permits," he reported. Without those permits,
he said, Jews are forced to live in the former Jew-
ish quarter which, for all practical purposes, has
been converted into a virtual ghetto.
In addition, the Jewish community has been
hard hit financially. Most of the remaining Jews
in Syria had been peddlers, but they are barred
from such activity in Damascus, where 3,000 Jews
live. The restrictions on peddling do not apply to
the Jews in other cities. Some 800 live in Aleppo,
and the rest are scattered in smaller centers.
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DET ROIT
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7 1 00 W. 7 Mile Rd. —VE 8-9364 — Detroit 35, October 18, 1963—$6.00 Per Year; This Issue 20c
12-Man U.S. Delegation May Confer
With IC on Status of USSR Jewry
Bonds of Brotherhood Stressed
by Pope to UJA Mission Group
ROME, (JTA)—Pope Paul VI received in the throne room of the
Vatican a delegation of 100 American Jews—the first Jewish group
he has met since his accession to the Pontificate—and declared: "We
have a common Bible and Common God. Therefore, we pray together
so that the Almighty guide, comfort and bless us."
The delegation was composed of members of a United Jewish
Appeal Study Mission which convened here Monday for a four-day
session to hear reports of needs in Jewish communities around the
world.
(Detroit members of the UJA Mission who joined in the visit at the
Vatican were Mr. and Mrs. Max M. Fisher, Mrs. Sidney Allen, Mrs.
Abraham Cooper, Mr. and Mrs. Abraham . Srere and Mrs. Henry
Wineman.)
Referring to the purpose that brought the UJA leaders to Rome,
Pope Paul said he could not but feel respect and affection for the
members of the Mission because of the bonds of brotherhood created
by helping people in need. "These bonds," he stated, "are what. we
would like to strengthen." He declared he followed closely the de-
velopments among the new nations, and wished to serve as a bridge
for bringing understanding among those nations.
Another bond with the Jewish people, said the Pontiff, is "our
common affinity for the Old Testament as a source of Divine revela-
tion which I use every day in thought and prayer." For that reason,
he said, he felt he could call on the same God whom both Christians
and Jews worship and love, to ask Him for His guidance, His revela-
tions and His blessing.
Rabbi Herbert A. Friedman, executive vice-chairman of the UJA,
responding on behalf of the group, told the Pope: "All men the world
over are seeking today to find the roots of their brotherhood." He
expressed the hope that the Ecumenical Council now meeting in the
Vatican would further the spirit of solidarity between men of all
faiths. "We are pleased to note that this feeling of solidarity between
men of all faiths- is expressed in the proceedings of the Ecumenical
Council," he said. "It is our hope and prayer that throughout the
Continued on Page 3
NEW YORK, (JTA)—A suggestion to send a delegation of 12 leading
American personalities to Moscow to take up with Soviet Premier Nikita
Khrushchev the treatment of Jews in the Soviet Union was under dis-
cussion here following the appeal adopted Saturday by the all-day Con-
ference on the Status of Soviet Jews asking the Soviet Premier to extend
full religious and cultural rights to Soviet Jewry. The appeal was trans-
mitted to Khrushchev Sunday.
The suggestion to send a delegation to Moscow came from U.S.
Supreme Court Justice William Douglas, one of the sponsors of the Con-
ference. He also urged that a permanent committee composed of American
personalities be formed to follow up the decisions of the Conference—
which was attended by about 100 authors, educators and clergymen—
and to watch developments concerning Jews in the Soviet Union. Justice
Douglas also suggested that the Soviet government be requested to permit
the presence of a foreign lawyer at trials for "economic crimes" some of
which have till now culminated in sentencing Jews to death.
(Addressing a Bnai Brith dinner in Chicago Sunday night, Robert F.
Kennedy, U.S. Attorney General, called attention to the discrimination
against Jews in the Soviet Union. "We believe that the denial of religious
liberty is an ugly blot on the human conscience wherever and whenever it
occurs — whether it restricts the rights of Protestants in Communist China,
Jews in the Soviet Union, or Catholics in Cuba," he said.)
The appeal was adopted at the conference unanimously, Saturday,
after impressive addresses on the discriminations against Soviet Jewry
delivered by prominent American authors, educators and clergymen. Pre-
siding over the conference—which was sponsored by leading American
personalities—was the Rt. Rev. James A. Pike, Protestant Episcopal Bishop
of California.
Documented reports presented at the Conference established that the
Jews in the USSR are being denied religious and cultural rights extended
to other nationalities in the country, and are being subjected to officially-
condoned persecutions. Throughout the discussions it was emphasized by
speakers that they do not seek to conduct anti-Soviet propaganda but
merely appeal for justice to the Jews and for combatting anti-Semitic
`Defection' of Jewish College Students
Raises Serious 'Faith on Campus' Issue
By NATHAN ZIPRIN
Editor, Seven Arts Feature Syndicate
American college students raised as Jews tend to abandon the basic tenets
of their faith regardless of what kind of a college they attend.
This is one of the principal conclusions emerging from a survey of student
attitudes at 12 colleges described by the conservative sponsors of the survey as
"liberal arts" schools.
The study was made by the Educational Reviewer and published in the
current issue of the National Review, the strongly-conservative periodical edited
by William F. Buckley, Jr.
The colleges sampled and the percentage of Jewish students in each sampling
were: Sarah Lawrence, 40; Williams, 10; Yale, 13; Marquette (a Catholic university),
1; Boston University, 42; Indiana, 8; South Carolina, 2; Howard (a Negro University),
4; Reed, 25; Davidson (Presbyterian-affiliated) none; Brandeis, 75; and Stanford, 9.
The other principal findings about student religious attitudes in the survey
were that American liberal arts colleges, with the sole exception of Catholic ones,
"tend to debilitate the religious convictions of the students" and that students
raised as Roman Catholics "are far more likely to retain their faith while at College
than students raised as Protestants or Jews."
Noting defections among both Catholic and Protestant students, the survey
said that "the defections among students of Judaic background are even more
striking than those of the Protestants. At every college in the survey but one
(South Carolina), the number of Jewish students has decreased markedly," in rela-
tion to the number reporting themselves as raised in the Jewish tradition.
The survey found that even considering those Jewish students who have not
formally rejected their faith, for the Jewish students in the sampling Judaism is
Continued on Page 31
Continued on Page 7
Bnai Brith Praised by Kennedy
on Its 120th Anniversary
CHICAGO, (JTA)—The Bnai Brith on Sunday started the nation-
wide observance of its 120th anniversary year with a dinner here
honoring Ambassador Philip M. Klutznick, a former member of the
U.S. delegation to the United Nations and a past president of the
Bnai Brith. The dinner featured a major civil rights address by
Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.
The Attorney General outlined civil rights goals and commended
Klutznick and Bnai Brith for their roles in the advancement of
national human rights objectives.
(The following Detroiters attended the Bnai Brith event in Chicago:
Mrs. Charles Solovich, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Yudkoff, Mrs. Leonard Sims,
Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Lakin and Mr. and Mrs. Jack Musick.)
President John F. Kennedy, in a message to the dinner, paid
tribute to Bnai Brith as "a constructive force in the life of our
nation." The President said that "although Bnai Brith • is the oldest
voluntary service organization founded in our nation, its appeal to
the social conscience of people everywhere remains fresh and new."
The President paid high tribute to Klutznick, stating that "it is par-
ticularly appropriate that he be honored on this occasion, for he
exemplifies the leadership that has projected Bnai Brith to its present
position as an outstanding service organization."
Enumerating the Bnai Brith's achievements, President Kennedy
said: "It organized the first disaster relief campaign; it encouraged
major medical advances in the hospitals it sponsored; it pioneered
innovations in philanthropy and social service; its wartime service
goes back to the Civil War; it has improved the educational oppor-
Continued on Page 5