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High Spanish Priest Greets U.S. Jews;
Believed First Meeting Since 1492
NEW YORK (JTA)—A high-
ranking Spanish priest represent-
ing the Franco regime met with
a group of American Jews, includ-
ing two rabbis; and was extremely
cordial to the Americans, it was
reported by the National Jewish
Welfare Board.
The meeting was held in the
Madrid Naval Ministry last month
on the invitation of Rev. Fidel Go-
mez Colombo, chief chaplain of
the Spanish Navy. The Jewish
participants were Rabbi Selwyn D.
Ruslander of Temple Israel, Day-
ton, Ohio; Lester Emoff, a member
of that temple; and Rabbi Nathan
Landman, U.S. Air Force chaplain
serving Jewish personnel in France,
Spain and North Africa. Present
also was Cesar F. Pardo de Cela,
curator of the Spanish Naval Mu-
seum.
According to Rabbi Land-
man's report to the JWB, it is
believed that no such official
meeting between Spanish Catho-
lic leaders and Jews has been
held in Spain since 1492, when
Hebrew U. Uses
Ancient Codex for
New Bible Edition
TEL AVIV — Ancient manu-
Scripts that have recently come
to light are being used in a new
edition of the Hebrew Bible being
edited at the Hebrew University.
The basic text of the new edition
will be the manuscript book, or
code, called the Aleppo Codex,
said to be the same one used by
rabbinic sages in the Middle Ages
as the master text of the Holy
Writ.
The Aleppo Codex had been
feared lost in 1948 when Arab
rioters burned and looted the Old
Synagogue in Aleppo, Syria. Most
of it has been rescued and smug-
gled into Jerusalem, however.
Comparisons are being made of
the salvaged texts with scrolls re-
covered from the Dead Sea caves
and other manuscripts and frag-
ments, some of them 1,000 years
older than the Aleppo Codex. The
editors believe that footnotes to
the next text pointing out all diver-
gencies between the Aleppo Codex
and Hebrew texts familiar to con-
temporary rabbis will offer the
most complete compilation of vari-
ant readings ever assembled.
The project is scheduled for
completion by about the year
2000. The first volume, the Book
of Isaiah, has been issued as a
sample volume for comments
by scholars throughout the world
before it goes to press.
The Aleppo Codex is a Masoretic
text, so called after the specially
trained scholars, or "Masorites,"
who, after the 2nd Century, passed
down orally from generation to
generation the art of reading the
biblical texts and even a pre-
scribed melody for them. The
Masorites began inscribing vowel
signs and cantillation marks in
Old Testament folios in the 8th
Century, when such symbols were
invented. The Aleppo Codex is
such a text, its 24 books written
by Solomon Ben Buya.
The codex was carried off to
Egypt as booty by the Seljuk Turks
who sacked Jerusalem in 1071, and
it was ransomed by the Jewish
community of Cairo. How it
reached Aleppo is unknown, but
it is believed here that it was
brought by Maimonides' great-
great-great-grandson, Rabbi David
Managid, who moved the Aleppo
in 1375 and took various manu-
scripts with him.
The community jealously guard-
ed the Codex, but two years later
it was burned. Only 11 pages of
the Pentateuch were rescued, but
most of the Prophets were saved.
V' 666
two Jewish leaders tried unsuc-
cessfully to persuade the Span-
ish authorities to revoke the
order for the expulsion of Span-
ish Jewry.
"Only a year has passed since
Franco's government officially
tendered recognition to the Jewish
community of Madrid and its syna-
gogue," Rabbi Landman reported.
"The official reception of two
rabbis by a high church official
signifies an additional step in the
process of the reestablishment of
Jewry after a hiatus of almost 500
years in the Iberian Peninsula."
The Madrid 'meeting, Rabbi
Landman said, had been initiated
by Father Gomez Colombo after
the U.S. Air Force chief of chap-
lains notified the Spaniards that
the American rabbis would visit
Madrid in the course of a series of
Torah convocations for European
bases in England, Germany,
France, Spain and Turkey.
During the visit to the Naval
Museum, Rabbi Landman also re-
ported, the curator told the Jew-
ish visitors that Christopher Co-
lumbus was a Marrano.
* * *
1496 Document on Role
of Spanish Jews Stolen
MADRID (JTA)—An important
document in Hebrew and Spanish,
dating back to 1496 and dealing
with the contributions made by
Spanish Jews to the fields of medi-
cine, astronomy and navigation,
has been stolen from the city ar-
chives of Valencia, officials here
announced.
The document reported data of
general interest, detailing the par-
ticipation of Spanish Jews in sea
discovery voyages.
Conservative Movement
Urges Day School Support
NEW YORK (JTA)—A call urg-
ing the rabbis, educators and lay
leaders of the Conservative move-
ment to fully support the growth
of Conservative day schools was
issued at the North American Con-
ference on Day School Education,
sponsored by the United Synago-
gue Commission on Jewish Educa-
tion.
The religious and educational
leaders attending the two-day
conference, at the Waldorf As-
toria Hotel, noted that, in the
past decade, 23 Conservative day
schools have been established in
the United States and Canada.
Dr. Louis Finkelstein, chancel-
lor of the Jewish Theological Semi-
nary of America opened the con-
ference. The evening session was
addressed by Dr. Simon Greenberg,
vice-chancellor of the seminary,
who stressed the importance of
providing the child enrolled in a
day school with a "complete" sense
of Jewish identity. He said that
the strength of religious faith de-
pends upon the depth of religious
knowledge.
5,000 Christian Arabs
Cross to Jordan to
Celebrate Christmas
JERUSALEM (JTA)—A record
number of Christian Arabs, tourists
and pilgrims, estimated at over
5,000, crossed into Jordan last
weekend to spend Christmas with
relatives and to visit Christian
shrines. -
In accordance with the yearly
practice, the visitors spent 48 hours
in Jordan before returning to Israel
through the Mandelbaum Gate.
In Israel, Christmas was cele-
brated at Christian centers of wor-
ship throughout the country. The
major observance took place at the
New Church of the Anunciation in
Nazareth.
In that city, hotels and tourist
accommodations were filled to
capacity.
Over 1,100 British tourists, in-
cluding 600 school children, landed
in Haifa shortly before Christmas
Eve to spend three days of sight-
seeing in Israel.
A lean dog gets nothing but
fleas.
—Spanish Proverb
Farband Adopts Plans
for New Youth Emphasis
Philadelphia Archbishop
`Cannibals, Chemicals'
Lauds Vatican Declaration on PGASP Menu at
and Defends Changes
Cong. Adas Shalom
PHILADELPHIA (JTA) — The
recent Ecumenical Council's
schema on relations with the Jew-
ish people, later promulgated as a
Catholic church decree by Pope
Paul VI, was "indeed an improve-
ment" over previous drafts of that
document and showed clearly that
the Catholic church shares "a com-
mon patrimony with the Jews," the
Most Rev. John A. Krol, archbish-
op of Philadelphia, declared here.
At a news conference discussing,
the results of the Ecumenical Coun-
cil's actions. the archbishop sup-
ported the document relating to
the Jews, and stated that certain
changes from earlier drafts were
fully justified.
On the deletion of the word
"deicide" from the schema, he
stated: "One must not get lost in
words. The impact of the docu-
ment is clear. It would have been
ridiculous to use that word "dei-
cide' in the declaration. We can-
not condemn the Jews of today
for the acts performed 2,000
years ago. The word `deicide
implies the knowing that a god
was being killed."
Archbishop Krol also upheld tht
change in the document, dropping
the word "condemn" in regard to
anti-Semitism and substituting the
word "deplore." The use of "con-
demn" he said, "would have been
alien to the mind of Pope John
and to the total tendency of the
Council. The word has always been
deleted when it arises at the Coun-
cil. As a pastoral Council, we do
not condemn.
Archbishop Krol was the only
American on the preparatory com-
mission formed after the late Pope
John XXIII first announced his
intention in 1959, to convene an
Ecumenical Council. Later, he was
the only American bishop among
five Council secretaries. In gener-
al, he said, the Council "far sur-
passed the expectations" of the
late Pope John.
*
Catholic Institutions Hold
Special Hanukah Events
NEW YORK (JTA)—The spirit
of ecumenism was manifested in
several Hanukah programs held in
Catholic institutions in several
parts of the country for Catholic
adults and children.
In Chicago, an audience of Catho-
lics and Jews watched as parishon-
ers of the Queen of the 1.Tniverse
Church f or m e d the. traditional
Menorah, each person holding a
candle. The "Christianized" version
was enacted so that members of
the Catholic congregation "could
try and get closer to our Jewish
neighbors and friends," said Rev.
Stanley Ryzner, pastor.
He added that the purpose
was to "foster deeper under-
" standing and greater respect for
the Jewish faithin keeping with
the ecumencial spirit." Rabbi
Gershon Rosenstock of the Lawn
Manor Hebrew Congregation,
served as commentator.
Another such program was a
Hanukah candle-lighting event at
the Ressurection Academy in Rye,
N.Y., designed according to school
officials, to show the relationship ,
between the Old and New Testa-
ments and a similarity of Jewish
and Christian traditions. Three stu-
dents lighted the candies of a
Menorah candelbrum while a sis-
ter stood by in the first program
of its kind at the Catholic school.
In Reno, Rabbi Phillip Wein-
berg took over as chief of police
"as a gesture of good will" while
Chief Elmer Briscoe was observ-
ing Christmas. It was the second
Christmas that Rabbi Weinberg
had volunteered.
The percentage of women in the
Israel Knesset is steadily drop-
ping. Their number is down to
nine in the new Knesset, compared
with ten in the fifth and eleven
in the first three Knessets.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, December 31, 1965-13
PGASP (Post Graduates of Adas
Shalom Present), a new, cultur-
ally-oriented group of young
adults, will hold its first open
event of the year, a slide-illus-
trated lecture, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 16
at the synagogue.
Dr. James V. McConnell, pro-
fessor of psychology at the Uni-
versity of Michigan, will speak
on "Cannibals, Chemicals and
Memory," a lecture based on widely
known laboratory experimenta-
tion he has done at the university.
The Hi-Liters, led by guitarist
Lenny Somberg, will entertain
and lead in a sing-along follow-
ing the talk. The quartet, which
was in the touring company of
Hootenanny '63, has performed
at several clubs throughout the
city and on radio and television.
Refreshments will be served.
All young adults age 20-30 are in-
vited. For information, call Rabbi
Leonard Cahan at Adas Shalom,
UN 4-7474.
NEW YORK (JTA)—A blueprint
for new organizational procedures,
more intensive educational and cul-
tural activities oriented to the
younger elements of American
Jewry and social action programs
dealing with vital questions af-
fecting American, Jewish and
Israeli concerns was adopted by
the national advisory board of
Farband-Labor Zionist Order at
its annual meeting here.
Among the resolutions passed
by the three-day conclave were
sharp protests against deferral of
indemnification payments by the
West German government and
against the proposed infusion of
highly sophisticated weapons in-
cluding jets, missiles and related
materiel by a British-American
consortium to Saudi Arabia valued
at $400,000,000. The delegates
urged the United States to help
combat disease, poverty, and il-
literacy in the Middle East in-
stead, and to seek to bring the
Arab states and Israel to the peace
table.
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