16—Friday, January 31, 1969

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Boris Smolar's

'Between You
...and Me'

(Copyright 1969, JTA Inc.)

RELIGION IN USSR: In Moscow's "GUM"—the huge state depart-
ment store on Red Square facing the Kremlin—you find reproductions
in brass of famous Russian Orthodox churches. They are plaques pro-
duced as souvenirs by the Moscow state factory Znamia Revolutzii (The
Banner of the Revolution), and are being sold at $1.85 each.

Don't look anywhere in the Soviet Union for plaques showing the
imposing facade of the Moscow synagogue or the beautiful view of the
Leningrad synagogue. Their reproduction would be considered by the
authorities as Jewish religious propaganda; hence it is out of the ques-
tion for anyone to produce them, especially a state factory.

In Zagorsk, the seat of the Russian Orthodox Church, there is a
factory producing icons. They are being sold all over the country for
religious Russians, the number of whom is still substantial among the ,
older and middle-aged generations. They yield quite a profit to the
church. Don't look for Jewish religious mementos anywhere whether a '
Hanuka lamp. or a Mezuza, or anything that carries a Mogen David
on it—their production is forbidden.
The Russian Orthodox Church maintains a factory for candles
which are usually bought by religious Russians to be placed before
icons in churches and at home. This, too, is a source of substantial
income for the church. But can synagogues produce Yahrzeit candles
which members of Jewish families place in memory of their dead? No,
synagogues must buy the candles: they are not allowed to manufacture
them.
The Russian Orthodox Church maintains its own printing plant, and
is permitted to print prayer books. sermons and liturgical literature
which are being distributed from its central headquarters in Zagorsk
among churches all over the Soviet Union. The plant also prints reli- ,
gious calendars and even a monthly church publication. The leaders of
the Jewish religion can hardly dream of such full privileges, though a
Jewish prayer book was printed 10 years ago in 3.000 copies and re-
cently was redistributed, possibly in newly reprinted form.

Hebrew U.—Hadassah Hospital
Aids Indigent rab e ugees

JERUSALEM — Sickness cares
little about politics — and ailing
Arab refugees care little that
those who cure them are supposed
to be the enemy.
Every day, ambulances bring
patients from among the half mil-
lion refugees under Israeli control
into the Hebrew University-Hadas -
sah Medical Center. Last month.
.Hadassah signed an agreement
with the United Nations Relief and
Works Agency to treat refugee
heart and cancer patients.
The UN agency pays Hadassah
just under $2 for each heart pa-
tient, which according to Dr. Kal-
mann Mann, hospital director, is a
token. The agency pays nothing for
the cancer patients.
The "unusual medical traffic"
across the frontier was reported
by James Feron in the New
York Times Monday. lie pointed
out that prominent Arab patients
had long been cared for by
Hadassah Hosiptal, but that the
open-border policy between Is-
rael and Jordan since the Six-
Day War has meant that ordin-
ary Arab citizens who cross each
week can get treatment.
Some 50 Arab guerrillas. most
from the El Fatah, also have been
cared for in the hospital. Dr.
Mann called them a "nuisance,"
because they occupy the biggest—
and best—rooms to accommodate
both patient and policeman guard-
ing him.

Other patients don't take kindly
to this treatment, but the staff has
been instructed to treat the patients
equally well. When Arab soldiers

were accepted the first week in
June 1967, "I told them (the nurses)
that we have to treat them as in-

I told them of my own experience
in World War II treating German
prisoners in Southampton, Eng-
land," Dr. Mann added.
He said the hospital handles an
average of 35 outpatients from
Arab towns a day and an average
of 10 bed patients a month.
Medical costs are far in excess
of the fees that these patients are
able to pay, said Dr. Mann. A bed
costs about $30 a day, but the hos-
, pital tries to get at least $9 from

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each patient. No urgent case is
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One third of the cancer radiation
cases are Arabs, the doctor said.

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RESTRICTIONS. RESTRICTIONS: One does not necessarily have Interviews at Art Show

to be an Orthodox Jew to learn in Moscow the extent to which the Jew-
ish religion is being muzzled as compared to the other religions in the
Soviet Union. There is no question about the fact that Jewish religious
activities in the USSR are much more restricted than those of other
religious groups.
Officials of the Council on Religious Affairs—a government organ
attached to the Soviet Cabinet—are very embarrassed when presented
with the facts of discrimination. They claim that the position of the
Jewish religion differs in no way from that of any other religion in the
country. However, it is hard for them to deny that the spiritual head of
the Russian Orthodox Church is permitted to go often abroad—to capital
cities like Jerusalem. Istanbul, Athens—to maintain personal contact
with other Orthodox churches.
No rabbi has been permitted by the Soviet authorities to ever visit
Jerusalem nor to participate in any Jewish religious conference abroad
—even when other Communist countries permitted their rabbis to
attend these conferences. Moscow's Rabbi Levin was, for the first time,
permitted last year to visit the Jews in the United States, but neither
he nor his predecessor was ever permitted to proceed to Jerusalem.
Inside the Soviet Union no conference of Jewish religious leaders has
taken place for the last 40 years.

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of Sholem Aleichem

The sixth annual art show and
sale of the Sholem Aleichem In-
stitute to be held Feb. 7-9, will fea-
ture a diversity of media and
techniques.
Paul Winter, radio and television
personality, will be special guest
8:30-10:30 p.m. Feb. 7. He will con-
duct a "Meet the Artist Evening,"
at which time he will interview
the artists and ask for questions
from the guests.
Featuring Michigan artists and
emphasizing a reasonable price
range, the Sholem Aleichem Art
Show is an opportunity for the
beginning art buyer to try his
taste and for the seasoned buy-
er to enlarge his collection.
Hours will be 11 a.m.-5 p.m. and
8:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m., Friday:
noon-10 p.m.. Saturday; and 1-5
p.m. Sunday.
There is a nominal fee. Coffee
and cake will be served.
Winter, son of Mr. and Mrs. Hen-
ry Wineman of
Detroit, is heard
daily on radio
station W T A K.
He currently
hosts a television
interview series,'
"Free Play," on
Channel 56, Sun-
day evenings.
He teaches at
Wayne State Uni-
Winter
versity and the
University of Detroit and holds an
award from Ohio State University
for his narration of a documen-
tary on the Detroit Institute of
Arts.

PERTINENT QUSTION: I was especially interested to find out why
the Soviet government does not permit existing synagogues to govern
themselves by a central Jewish religious body at a time when other
religions have been given such permission. In my view, Jewish reli-
giious life will cease to exist in the USSR within 20 years if it is not
directed by a central Jewish religious authority.
I posed the queston of permitting the existing synagogues to estab-
lish themselves into a federation. I was presented with an answer
reading: "The state does not prevent the formation of a central Jewish
religious authority. It is a matter entirely for the worshippers to decide.
They arrange their affairs and orders as they see fit." This statement
was disseminated in by Novosti. the Soviet press agency.
This answer implied that if Jewish religious congregations actually
wanted to establish a central body of their own, they could do it. It thus
put the blame for the lack of such an institution on the Jewish religious
leaders in the Soviet Union. I doubt, however, whether this statement
contains the real explanation for having the synagogues isolated one
from the other. Jewish religious leaders in the USSR are naturally
not in a position to challenge this allegation. For this reason, I did not
even attempt to ask Rabbi Levin whether he would confirm or deny it.
Without a central religious body, Jewish religious life in the Soviet
Union will definitely melt away and disappear in a short time. Rem-
nants of it will only be found in Bukhara and in the Caucusus, where the
synagogues are ancient and Jewish tradition is more rooted than in any
There is always some accident in
other part of the country. Jewish religious leaders in the USSR are too
helpless to insist on the right of establishing themselves into a central the best things, whether thoughts
or
expressions or deeds. The mem-
authority. The initiative must come from Jews in the U.S. They are in
a betterr position than the Jews in the USSR to inquire about the Soviet orable thought, the happy expres-
stand on this problem. It is their obligation to address such an inquiry sion, the admirable deed are only
to the Soviet embassy in Washington. And the sooner they do it, the partly ours.
better. I —Henry David Thoreau.

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