8—Friday, April 21, 1967

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

NY Reform Synagogue Group
Urges Kosygin to Allow Jews
to Emigrate Practice Religion

We Cannot Afford the Price of Silence . . .

MIDNIGHT VIGIL,

,

NEW YORK (JTA) — A resolu-
tion calling on Soviet Premier
Alexei Kosygin to make good on
his pledge to allow Soviet Jews
to join relatives in other countries
and criticizing the continued lack
of Je,vish religious and cultural
facilities in Russia was adopted
Monday by delegates from 101 Re-
form temples of the New York
Federation of Reform Synagogues.
Calling on Premier Kosygin to
make good his promise with "deeds,
not words," the resolution also
criticized the continued absence of
the institutional tools which would
provide the Soviet Jews with
adequate facilities for religious and
cultural rights now granted other
groups under the Soviet constitu-
tion.
T h e resolution acknowledged
some "minor concessions" which
the authorities have granted Jews
during the past number of years.

"We are heartened at the greater
availability of matzo last year in
many large Jewish communities in
the principal cities and what ap-
peared to be similar conditions this
year so that our brethren in the
USSR can observe the festival of
Passover."
Delegates pledged to "continue
an intensified campaign not to rest
until the current Soviet program
of attrition against its Jews has
been abated." In that connection
the Reform temples were asked to
participate in a 24-hour vigil tak-
ing place on April 29 in front of
the United Nations as part of a
nationwide demonstration in 18
cities.
The resolution was adopted
after a report on the plight of
Soviet Jewry was presented by
Alfred Ronald, co-chairman of the
federation's community relations
committee, in which he described
a press campaign being carried
out in the Soviet Union to dis-
courage Jews in that country
from emigrating to rejoin mem-
bers of their families from whom
they have been separated since
the Second World War.
"During the past few months,"
Ronald said, "stories have appeared
in the Soviet press calling upon
Jews not to leave the country to
rejoin their relatives from whom
they have been separated since the
last war." Ronald reported that
these stories have particularly re-
peated themselves in the cities of
Riga, Vilna and Talin.
In addition to dissuading Jews
from leaving the country, other
stories have appeared discrediting
life in the state of Israel for a
new immigrant.
In San Francisco, the Military
Chaplains Association, comprised
of 3.000 Catholic, Protestant and
Jewish clergymen, uanimously
adopted a resolution at its 42nd
annual convention which expressed
concern over "the suppression of
the Jewish faith in the Soviet
Union."
The resolution adopted by the
500 chaplains at the convention also
urged the State Department "to
use its good offices to do whatever
it can to encourage religious free-
dom there and everywhere."

In London, Anglo-J ewry's

"deep concern over the situation
of their fellow-Jews in the
USSR" was expressed personally
to Soviet Ambassador Mikhail
Sinirnovsky, at a conference at
the Soviet embassy last Friday,
it was reported Sunday by Sir
Barnett Janner, chairman of the

foreign affairs committee of the
Board of Deputies of British

Jews.
Ambassador Smirnovsky, said Sir
Barnett, had granted the Board of
Deputies delegation a two-hour
meeting, in which he was requested
to forward the views of Anglo-
Jewry to his government in Mos-
cow. The deputation, according to
the report, raised the following

principal points about the Jews in
the Soviet Union:
1) A request that the USSR
permit Soviet Jewish families, "torn

apart by the Nazi war and oppres-
sion," to reunite with their families
abroad. The Jewish delegation
cited in this context a promise
made in Paris last December by
Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin,

who had pledged to facilitate such
family reunifications.
2) A request that the Jewish
minority in the USSR be granted

the same opportunities for cultural
and religious self-expression per-
mitted to other national minorities
in the Soviet Union.
3) A request that the Soviet
Jews be given the opportunities to
teach Jewish history, literature.
languages and Jewish national prac-
tices.
4) A request to permit an or-
ganized Jewish community in the
USSR as well as to allow Soviet
Jews to cooperate with Jewish com-
munities abroad on matters of com-
mon concern.
Members of the delegation
headed by Sir Barnett included Sol
Teff, president of the Board of
Deputies, and other officers of this
central Jewish representative or-
ganization.

Australia Is Receptive
to Jewish Immigration,
Says BB Head Wexler

MELBOURNE (JTA) — Dr. Wil-
liam Wexler, president of Bnai
Brith, told a press and television
conference here Sunday that he
thought Australia had a "better
climate for Jewish immigration
than most other countries because
Australians were made up of peo-
ple from so many countries and
were naturally more understand-
ing of other people."
He also said he was very happy
with the way Jews had become
integrated in Australian life, adding
"they are making not only an
economic but also a cultural con-
tribution to this country." He cited
a conference in Sydney at which,
he said, several instances of anti-
Semitism in Australia had been
listed. He said "organizations like
the John Birch Society are filter-
ing into Australia but they are
not a serious problem."
"A few other small groups with
neo-Nazi connections have come
here," he stated, but added that
the only real danger stemmed from
economic problems which could
lead to a coalition and strengthen.
ing of such groups. He spoke to
a capacity crowd at Bnai Brith
Hall. Prior to his lecture he met
with Jewish communal leaders.

ON BEHALF OF SOVIET JEWRY

JEWISH CENTER — APRIL 29, 11:30 P.M. - 12:30 A.M.

PROGRAM

Greetings

DR. SAMUEL KROHN

President, Jewish Community Council

Recitation of "RAN TAR"

SUSAN MERSON

Songs of Russian Jewry

CANTOR REUVEN FRANKEL

Jews in the Soviet Union face the threat of religious and

cultural destruction.

Join in the petition campaign on behalf of Soviet Jewry !

BRING YOUR COMPLETED PETITIONS TO THE MIDNIGHT VIGIL

(Petitions available through the Jewish Community Council - WO 2-6710)

The Jewish Community Council and American Jewish Conference

urge that the following Statement be read at the Seder of

on

Soviet Jewry*

every Detroit area Jewish

household:

That the Jews of the Soviet Union may know
that they have not been forgotten .. .

0111S

is the Matzo of hope

This Matzo, which we set aside as a symbol of hope for the three
million Jews of the Soviet Union, reminds us of the indestructible

link that exists between us.

As we observe this festival of freedom, we know that Soviet Jews
are not free to learn of their Jewish past, to hand it down to their
children. They cannot learn the languages of their fathers. They
cannot teach their children to be the teachers, the rabbis of future

generations.

They can only sit in silence and become invisible. We shall be
their voice, and our voices shall be joined by thousands of men of
conscience aroused by the wrongs suffered by Soviet Jews. Then
shall they know that they have not been forgotten, and they that
sit in darkness shall yet see a great light.

Need for Intellectuals
in Jewish Community
Leadership Posts Stressed

NEW YORK (JTA)—The 41st
annual conference of YIVO Insti-
tute for Jewish Research concluded
here with discussions on American
Jewish communal life and _ apers
read on subjects dealing with Jew-
ish history in the United States.
Dr. B. W. Lappin, associate pro-
fessor of the school of social work
at the University of Toronto,
speaking on the role of the pro-
fessional Jewish social worker in
strengthening' Jewish communal
life in the United States and Can-
ada, suggested that Jewish intel-
lectuals be attracted to assume
positions of leadership in the Jew-
ish communities.
"We must not depend on techni-
cal competence alone," he said,
"new vision must be injected if
we want to reach the large num-
bers of young people who stay
outside of the organized Jewish
community life. Such vision can
be brought into communal work
only by intellectuals."

Prayer for Soviet Jewry

RABBI LEON FRAM

*AMERICAN JEWISH CONFERENCE ON SOVIET JEWRY

Constituent Organizations

American Israel Public Affairs
Committee

American Jewish Committee

American Jewish Congress

American Zionist Council

American Trade Union Council
for Histadrut

B'nai B'rith

Central Conference of American
Rabbis

Conference of Presidents of Major
American Jewish Organizations

Hadassah, Women's Zionist
Organization of Americo
Jewish Agency for Israel,
American' Section
Jewish Labor Committee
Jewish War Veterans of the USA
Labor Zionist Movement—Poole
Zion, Farband, Pioneer Women
Religious Zionists of ,America-
Mizrachi-Hapoel Hamizrachi
Mizrachi Women's Organization
of America
National Community Relations
Advisory Council

National Council of Jewish Women
National Council of Young Israel
Notional Jewish Welfare Board
Rabbinical Assembly
Rabbinical Council of America
Synagogue Council of America
Union of American Hebrew
Congregations
Union of Orthodox Jewish
Congregations of America
United Synagogue of America
Zionist Organization of Americo

Auspices: Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan Detroit

in cooperation with

American Jewish Conference on Soviet Jewry

