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in Recorded Jewish History
A tragic anniversary date coinciding with Lincoln's
Birthday is approaching.
There were gun shots on the Bima of one of the
largest synagogues in the world, the eminent Rabbi of
the congregation became the victim . of a depraved
act, and the deranged assassin himself fell as a suicide
in a pact that made no sense, that shocked the entire
world, that caused untold grief not only for the two
families but for entire communities.
That act caused this nation to think in terms of
curtailing free access to firearms. It caused people to
wonder whether anything of its kind. as sacrilegious,
had ever occurred in a synagogue, or in a Jewish place
of study, anywhere in the world, in any age.
In his State of the Union message, when he addressed
both houses of Congress, and the nation over the TV chan-
nels, on Jan. 10, President Johnson said
"We will recommend strict controls of the sale of
firearms."
Several days later, several members of the right-wing
Minutemen organization were given jail sentences in
Kansas City for illegal possession of firearms.
Acting upon the President's recommendation, it be-
came a certainty that the U.S. Senate will now seriously
consider what is being referred to as the Gun Bill — to
curb the sale of arms and to control it more firmly.
At the same time, the role of the press in educating
the people or in pressing for a firearms law is being
debated and serious consideration is being given to a
major issue which is costing so many lives!
* *
It has been estimated that since the assassination of
President Kennedy more than 55,000 persons were killed
by guns in the United States. Among the most frightening
occurrences during the past year was the mass murder
by Charles Whitman at the University of Texas, the
slaughter of the eight nurses in Chicago, the slaying of
five in a Mesa, Ariz., beauty parlor by an 18-year-old de-
mented boy.
There is no doubt that the more than 17,000 killed
by guns in the U.S. annually represent a major problem
for our legislators.
In a recent article, Dr. Robert Gordis discussed the
Constitutional right to "bear arms" and, applying the
privilege to the present time, stated:
"When the Constitution of the United States was
adopted in 1'7'78, it was amplified by what may perhaps
be called its crowning glory — the first Ten Amend-
ments, called the Bill of Rights. The Second Amend-
ment specifies that "the right of the people to keep
and bear arms shall not be infringed." In 1791, when
these amendments were added to the Constitution,
the memory of soldiers breaking into homes. stealing
property, imprisoning the residents, and wreaking havoc
generally, was fresh in the minds of the American
people. Moreover, most Americans lived on the fron-
tier, or close to it, where law and order were often
nonexistent. It was therefore of the greatest possible
importance that citizens should be free to provide for
their own protection by possessing the right to bear
arms.
"Now, nearly 200 years later, the situation has
been totally transformed. What was a basic right yester-
day has become a grievous wrong and a dangerous
threat to security. Today the wholesale distribution of
arms is one of the principle factors making for crime.
Those who gain most from the present state of affairs
are the criminal classes. Thus the Second Amendment
to the Constitution, originally intended to defend the
honest citizen, has turned into a shield for criminals
and other social elements. The right of the past has
become the wrong of the present."
* * *
Have there been instances of shootings in syna-
gogues?-The Detroit Shaarey Zedek tragedy has induced
many, scholars to search the records. This writer asked
two historians of such records. Prof. Salo W. Baron had
this to tell us shortly after Rabbi Morris Adler's death:
"I do not recall any instance of shooting in the
synagogue before the Adler tragedy. In the Pre-Emanci-
pation Era, which as you know lasted in east-central
Europe and the Muslim areas to the twentieth century,
Jews were not handy with guns. There were, of course,
many brawls. On one occasion, in the 1830's, an aroused
Russian congregation is supposed to have beaten an
informer to death. Whatever assassinations took place,
occurred outside the synagogue so far as I know."
Dr. Jacob R. Marcus, director of the American Jew-
ish Archives in Cincinnati informed us he "did not know
of any attempt on the part of a Jew to assassinate another
in the synagogue. I do, however, know of two incidents
involving shootings."
One of these incidents is culled from the Minute
Book — 1845-1869 — of Congregation Bene Israel, Cin-
cinnati, now Rockdale Avenue Temple. It contains an
account of a charge leveled against a member, S. R.
Biesenthal, by another member, I. Marienthal, that he
had hired an Irishman for $50 to take his life. By a vote
of 9 to 1, Biesenthal 'was declared guilty, at a meeting
of the synagogue's board of trustees on Aug. 22, 1854,
and was suspended for two years.
The other incident involved a rabbi and a layman.
It was a feud between Rabbi M. May and Mr. A. Wald-
Slomovitz
man, in Portland. Ore., in October of 1880. The rabbi,
according to newspaper reports of that period. shot twice
at Mr. Waldman, "tore a piece out of his coat and came
near killing an honest man, and Mr. Waldman put a
pair of beautiful rings about the rabbi's eyes." The
shooting took place, however, not in a synagogue but on
Portland's Front Street.
According to the American Jewish Archives' records,
the account of the shooting was headlined: "Pastoral
Relations — How Rabbi May and Brother Waldman Serve
the Lord."
The Archives' reports are from the Daily Oregonian
of Portland, Oct. 2, 1880, which reveals that the feud be-
tween rabbi and layman were due to a "misunderstanding
of a personal nature," that: "Mr. Waldman struck Dr.
May twice in the face, when the latter drew a pistol
fired twice at him. Fortunately, neither shot took effecf
Parties interfered and separated the belligerents. Sul,
sequently both Waldman and May were arrested by - "
Constable Sprague."
The newspaper report also states that the shooting
of Oct. 1, 1880, "took place as President Rutherford B.
Hayes was visiting the city, and the firing could have
been heard in the hotel where he stayed. The President
and his escort, William Tecumseh Sherman, Civil War
heroes, - may well have imagined that they were both
back on the battlefields where they had won their laurels."
The American Israelite, reporting on the incident,
Oct. 22, 1880, said it was "a pity that Israel should have
produced a shooting clergyman," and it added that
"poor May will either have to go peddling or join the
shooting Baptists," apparently having been dismissed
by the Portland congregation.
*
*
There is a personal recollection. As a mere child,
this writer and his brother, who was two years his
senior, attended the Dr. Theodor Herzl Memorial meet-
ing in the Great Synagogue in Lida -(Lithuania). Suddenly,
as the proceedings were to start, a group of anti-Zionist
Bundists invaded the synagogue, mounted the pulpit with
guns and threatened to take over the rally. There was
panic, old men jumped for safety from the high windows,
many were injured, Russian police arrived, there were
arrests and the pandemonium was great. I can't recall
how my brother and I managed to get home in safety,
which we did.
Thus, there were episodes of gun-toting in synagogues.
Anti-Semitic police often invaded houses of worship, and
in the instance just recorded Jewish Bundists in a sense
desecrated a Bima. But never before had any one
actually shot. another, and also himself, to death, in a
house of worship. The Detroit tragedy of Feb. 12, 1966,
remains the saddest episode in recorded Jewish history.
(Copyright, 1967, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
•
Basic Issues in Israel—Syria Border Dispute
By ELIAHU SALPETER
JTA Correspondent in Israel
(Copyright, 1967, JTA, Inc.)
JERUSALEM — The blackish,
burnt-out spot on the right of the
small yellow building in the foot-
hills, is the visible part of one of
the Syrian tanks hit by 73raeli
gunners after three days of Syrian
tankfire on the Israeli tractor
drivers and positions in the Tel
Katzir area. Further to the left,
near a whitewashed shed bearing
the huge letters "UN" (a United
Nations observation post), there is
another Syrian tank. And up on
the ridge, covered by a whitish
canvas, are the burnt out rem-
nants of a third Syrian tank.
Between the Syrian and the Is-
raeli positions is the valley, on the
southeastern shore of the Sea of
Galilee, parts of which are the
subject of almost two decades of
dispute between the two countries,
there are two more such areas.
One is at the northernmost tip of
the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias),
where the Jordan River flows into
the lake, the other is just north
of Ashmora. These are the areas
on the agenda of the Israel-Syrian
Armistice Commission, convened
by the truce supervision chief,
Norwegian General Odd Bull, after
both sides agreed to UN Secre-
tary-General U Thant's appeal to
discuss the matter.
The root of the dispute is geo-
graphic and historic. After fight-
ing between Israel and Syria
ended in 1949, it was agreed that
the armistice line should follow
the former international border
between Palestine and Syria.
This border runs, in some sec-
tions, east of the Jordan River
as well as east of the entire Sea
of Galilee. However, in a few
places, Syrian units still occu-
pied several positions east of the
2 Friday, February 3, 1967
—
river but west of the interna-
tional border. It was decided
that, after the withdrawal of the
Syrians from those positions, the
areas involved would form a de-
militarized zone where "civilian
life should return to normal."
The Syrians claim that this
makes the zone a kind of no-man's
land, where their farmers are free
to cultivate their former lands. Is-
rael maintains she has full sover-
eignty over those areas except for
the right to keep military forces
there and, therefore, any entry by
Syrian peasants requires agree-
ment by Israel.
What apparently strengthens
Syrian intransigence is that stra-
tegically they are in a more ad-
vantageous position; they are up
on the hills, while the Israelis
are down in the valley and the
Syrian positions are much more
difficult to hit than the Israel
positions.
As a compromise between the
principle that the full armistice
commission has no standing in the
matter and the Syrian insistence
that the subject be discussed in
the commission, Israel agreed to a
"special meeting" to be chaired
by -UN Truce Chief Gen. Bull.
The UN Secretary-General consi-
ders agreement on the cultivation
of the disputed fields the key to
the return of tranquility to the
Israel-Syrian border. Israeli circles
are sceptical.
Incidents over the fields have
occurred on and off for the past
18 years. What brought tension to
explosion point in recent months
was not this dispute but the regu-
lar dispatch of armed infiltrators
and saboteurs from Syria, to lay
mines, bomb houses and kill civi-
lians in Israel border settlements.
This is an expression of the "war
of liberation" the Syrians are
openly sponsoring against Israel.
Even at the outside chance of
agreement on cultivation of the
disputed lands along the border,
there is little likelihood of peace
as long as Damascus continues to
finance, organize and direct acts
of sabotage and murder inside Is-
rael. If such acts continue, there
is every likelihood that - Israel's
patience will run out and the Sy-
rians be taught a lesson they will
not easily forget. And every armed
infiltrator caught, every mine ex-
ploded or discovered, brings the
hour of retribution closer.
1.■
In the past 18 years, some of
those fields fell under Syrian cul-
tivation, others under Israeli cul-
tivation, more or less without in-
terference from the other side.
But within the easy range of fire
from Syrian positions on the hills
to the east, Israeli farmers are be-
ing prevented from working in the
fields. Israel, on the other hand,
keeps Syrians from entering fields
which they cultivated in the past
but which are .west of the border
or even west of the demilitarized
Done.
Agreement on the disputed fields
has so far been prevented by Sy-
rian insistence that it sho - ild be
discussed by the armistice com-
mission. Israel opposes this be-
cause the armistice agreement spe-
cifically states that responsibility
for the restoration of civilian life
to normal in the demilitarized
zone rests with the UN chairman
of the commission. Israel main-
tains that the full commission,
which includes the Syrian repre-
sentative, has no standing in the
matter, precisely because the area
involved is within Israel territory
and not in some kind of no-man's
land.
Pact Heals Rift Between Two British Bodies
LONDON (JTA) — An unprece-
dented agreement aimed at coor-
dinating the activities of the Or-
thodox rabbinic and congregational
bodies in Britain was announced
here Monday by the office of the
chief rabbinate.
The pact, which was signed by
Dr. Immanuel- Jakobovits, newly-
elected chief rabbi of the United
Hebrew Congregations of the Brit-
ish Commonwealth, and Rabbi
Eliezer Kirzner, newly-appointed
principal rabbi of the Federation
of Synagogues of Britain, heals a
rift that developed a year ago
when the federation withdrew
from the beth din (religious court)
that served all • of British Jewry.
The agreement calls for the
recognition of the chief rabbi
as the spokesman and authority
of the entire British Ashkenazi
community, with the chief rabbi
agreeing to consult with the
head of the federation on all
matters, affecting that body.
The pact also calls for the set-
ting up of a "unified and depart-
mentalized beth din, in which the
Sephardi haham of the Spanish
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS and Portuguese community was
also invited to participate.
The "departmentalized" struc-
ture of the beth din would ensure
the preservation of the individual-
ized character \of each of the par-
ticipating communities.
The agreement also provides for
the "eventual representation of the
Federation of Synagogues on the
Chief Rabbinate Council," which
would be another unifying inno-
vation in British Jewry.
The large majority of British
Jewry are Orthodox, with some
75 per cent of these affiliated
with the United Hebrew Congre-
gations. The Federation of Syna-
gogues comprises some 50 con-
gregations.
Both Dr. Jakobovits and Rabbi
Kirzner were named to their res-
pective posts last fall. Dr. Jakobo-
vits, spiritual leader of the Fifth- -
Avenue Synagogue in New Yorl
will take up his post in Mara
Rabbi Kirzner, of Sons of _Judah. _ - ,
Cqr.gre!zation in Brooklyn, will as-
sume his post later this year.
The agreement was negotiated
between Dr. Jakobovits and Rabbi
Kirzner to heal the split that
developed when federation offi-
cials charged that an understand-
ing providing for their representa-
tion on the beth din was not be-
ing carried out. The new "depart-
mentalized" beth din will include
such representation.
Colin Jordan Gets 18 Months m Jail
LONDON (JTA) — Colin Jor-
dan, 43-year-old leader of Britain's
National Socialist Party, was con-
victed Jan. 25 of conspiracy to
violate the Race Relations Act of
1965, and sentenced to 18 months '
imprisonment. His co-defendant,
Peter Pollard, a 19-year-old former
sailor in the Royal Navy, was also
found guilty, and given three
years' probation.
Both were on trial in the Devon
Assize Court, charged specifically
with desecrating a synagogue at
Plymouth, where swastikas and
Nazi slogans had been smeared on
walls and doors.