Plans Formulated for Official Campaign Opening March 25
( Samuel Haber
Facts, Fiction,
Arab Resort
to Fantasy:
A Direction
Toward
Realities
Commentary
Samuel Haber, 'executive vice-chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee, will be the guest speaker at the official onening of the
Allied Jewish Campaign-Israel Emergency Fund March 25 at a dinner meeting at the Jewish Center. A reception will be held at 6:15 p.m. followed
by dinner at 7.
Haber directed the program of aid for 200,000 Jewish displaced persons in Germany after World War II and was instrumental in emptying
the DP camps after the establishment of Israel in 1948. He set up welfare programs in Poland and Morocco and in 1958 became assistant director
general of JUC with headquarters in Geneva. He is an authority on the needs of Jews in the eastern European countries. He is the brother of Dean
Emeritus William Haber of the University of Michigan.
Reports on pre-campaign activity, which has been going on since late fall, will be given at the opening dinner, and the total is expected
to be the highest figure to be announced at a Detroit opening meeting, Maxwell Jospey, campaign chairman, said.
Pre-campaign chairmen are Lewis S. Grossman, Milton J. Miller and David S. Mondry. Vice-chairmen are Paul Borman, Warren D.
Greenstone and Harold S. Victor.
THE JEWISH NEWS
Michigan Weekly
Page 2
vE
Review of Jewish News
Detractors
Apologies:
Sensibilities in
and
Loyalties Not
to Be Abused
Editorial and
Commentary
Pages 2, 4
Michigan's Only English-Jewish Newspaper — Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle .
VOL LVI, No. 26
01110" 2 7
17515 W. 9 Mile Rd:, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075 356-8400 March 13, 1970
$7.00 Per Year; This Issue 20c
!Russian Jewish Anti-Israel
a amen/ Branded Forced;
pudiated by Moscow Jews
Genuineness of USSR Jews' Attack on Israel
Zionism Refuted in Poet's Letter to Nehamele
Some of Russia's most prominent Jews, including Chief Rabbi Y. L. Levin, joined in
of Israel and of Zionism. The Russian government's policies received en-
dorsement from the Jewish representatives at a time when Israel's Foreign Minister Abba
Eban told the Knesset that the Soviet Union was "the main obstacle to peace" in - the:Middle -
East:and that Moscow was aiming a "double-barrelled attack" against the Jews, consisting
of military and political support for Israel's enemies and suppression of Soviet Jewry.
Eban said the USSR vetoed Four Power action to restore the cease-fire and encouraged
Arab terrorist organizations by characterizing them • as "liberation movements" while abu-
sively comparing Israel to the Nazis at whose hands a third of Jewry perished.
The new Russian tactics came almost simultaneously with scores of appeals to the
Soviet 'authorities for exit permits requesting permission to leave Russia for settlement in
-
.
Deeply moving among the revealing statements exposing the agony of Jews liv-
ing in Russia is the letter _front the noted Rnssian Jewish poet, Joseph Kerler, to the Jew-
ish folk singer,_Nehama Lifschitz, who managed to leave Russia in 1969 and settled in Is-
rael. Kerler, 52, was denied an exit visa to go to Israel. He had served in the Red Army .
in World War II and was wounded. In 1948 he was among thcarrested Jewish intel-
lectuals and was released in 1954. He began to publish his poems In 1944, and they were
reissued- in 1959, but he was prevented from publishing them again since 1965. Many of
Miss Lifschitz's songs include -the Kerler Lyrics.
The plightof Kerler and his wife was described in the letter he wrote to Miss Lif-
schitz on Nov. 18, 1969, and which was recently released, creating another sensation be-
cause of Kerler's warning "We are on the verge of destruction." His letter, which, like
those of others pleading for the right to leave Russia refutes the statements of the Jewish
leaders who have signed statements—believed to be under pressure — attacking Israel and
Zionism, -follows:
ture here. Without educational and cultural
Dearest' Nehamele,
a_deauneiation
43- you see, four years have gone by
white the' authorities granted us an exit
permit - to join our - family in Israel. Unfor-
tunately; however, when .all was ready for
our departure, the permit was suddenly,
aitd unthout - explanation, annulled. You
know -very well how •these developments
have affected our situation and our health.
Especially _my Anya's - health. In the past
few years,'she has twice been hospitalized
with dangerous infections and serious heart
attacks: Small wonder: It was she whose
father, mother, brothers and 'sisters (eleven
souls,, -all told!) were slaughtered by the
Fascist beasts. It was she, the lone survivor,
who over the many yearesearched and ti/ti-
',lately found her only remaining relatives
in Israel.''It was she, aAerate, dedicated
nitre,- -qaho -•:serned on 'OB .:fronts of the
battle itOdinst the Faseiet 'invader—from
Kliarkoticto:Bucluirest to Belgrade. And so
of: .course. it was she who was hardest hit
by - -.the.- vicious injustice ' perpetuated
against- its. - • •
YOu -ask, dear Nehama; what medicines
to. send for Anya. For Anya, - as, for all of us,
there i e,one and only one .cure—to be re-
totited:with_our family .in Israel!
.Yep - for all of us; this is. the right medi-
cine;'.atore, indispensable to us than bread,
than air.
`,Dear Nehamele! I am the last person
here- whO -wrote Jeivish poems for you, and
you were the last to sing my songs. Who
could grasp ml) situation as well as you?
I Jewish poet and as such I ant
utterly - superfluous in the Soviet Union.
Stietir ,no -one - can any longer deny that,
bebaitse of certain historical developments.
obiolutery'no future for Jewish. rut .
-
institutions, without a press, a theater and,
above all, without a mass Jewish readership
—what is there for a Jewish writer to do
here? It is only natural that a Jewish poet
should want to live where his people, his
culture, his language are firmly established.
Where he can be certain that his child will
grow up not as a person of ambiguous na-
tionality, but rather as a free, proud, pro-
gressive Jew.
Our passionate yearning to go to Israel
is natural, lawful, just and very human!
Does this mean that we are disloyal to
the Soviet Union? Absolutely not! Like my
wife, I fought actively in the Great Father-
land War, and was wounded several- times
in battle against the German fascists. This
earth, soaked in blood and sweat, is dear
to me, is my own. The great culture of Rus-
sia is dear to me, is my own. I was reared
in its revolutionary, freedom-loving spirit.
I love Russian poetry, and the Russian land-
scape. We will never forget the extraordi-
nary sacrifices by which the Soviet people
saved humanity in general and the Jewish
people in particular from the Brown Plague
and extermination!
And yet—we must leave. Russia. Better
to remain friends from afar. My most ardent
desire is to be able to say with a clear heart
and free mind:
Dear land where I was cradled,
farewell !
I leave you now,
Not like a beaten dog
Who, at a whistle or a pat,
Is pathetically ready to bound back
And wag his tail . . .
(Continued on Page 48)
Condemnations of Israel and Zionists by prominent Jewish writers
and scientists in Russia were exposed this week as the result of pres-
sures which forced them to take that action.
Refuting the position taken by those who signed the anti-Israel
statement, a group of other prominent Moscow Jews expressed indig-
nation over the action of those who have joined the Kremlin campaign
against Israel. The 37 who signed the statement refuting the asser-
tions of Israel's enemies declared that there are 80,000 known Rus-
sion Jews who are ready to settle in Israel and have so stated in peti-
tions to the government.
A letter to the New York Times by George Lewens of Brooklyn
pointed out that among those who signed the anti-Israel declaration
is "the writer Boris Polevoi who condemned Boris Pasternak, ousted
Aleksandr Solzhenitzyn from the Union of Writers and brought the
downfall of other known progressive writers. On the other hand. we
notice the absence of names of the well known progressive and lib-
eral Soviet writers."
Dr. William Wexler, president of Bnai Brith, has expressed "great
anxiety" over the Soviet Union's "staged press conference" at which
31 Jews denounced "Israel aggression." He expressed the fear that
these new demonstrations of hatred for Israel may lead to "show
trials" for those who have applied for visas to settle in Israel or may
have otherwise protested against discrimination.
The unusual character and intensity of the Soviet propaganda
effort raises questions whether its ultimate purpose may be to use
Jews as a scapegoat to deflect growing popular disapproval with the
(Continued on Page 6)
Jarring 'Return
Creates New UN
Mid East Puzzle
UNITED NATIONS (JTA) ' —
Dr. Ralph J. Bunche, UN under-
secretary general, said Tuesday
that Ambassador Gunnar Jar-
ring's return to UN headquar-
ters Tuesday was nothing in the
nature of an "emergency" but
was rather a "routine return"
for discussions with Secretary
General U Thant, Big Four rep-
resentatives_ and other "inter-
ested parties."
Dr. Bunche stressed that Dr.
Jarring had not indicated that
his return here was indicative
of any imminent resumption of
his Mid East peace mission.
Thant had written to Jarring
in Moscow, where he is serving
as Swedish ambassador, to ask
him to consider the nossibility
of returning to the UN.
Dr. Bunche cited as evidence
that Thant did not consider this
an emergency return due to the
fact that his letter was mailed
through regular post rather
than by cable or by diplomatic
pouch.
(Continued out Page 7)
Detroit VIPs Back
Direct M.E. Talks
M'ny prominent Michigan Christians. in-
cluding Walter Reuther, president of United
Auto Workers, and the Rt. Rev. Walter J.
Schoenherr. auxiliary bishop of the Catho-
lic Archdiocese, have endorsed a decla-
ration in favor of direct Arab-Israel peace
talks.
The declaration, which sees the only role
of the Big Powers as encouraging direct
negotiations between the parties to the con-
flict, urges President Nixon and Secretary
of State William Rogers to "remove any
doubt about our government's current posi-
tin by reaffirming America's original policy
of support of direct negotiations."
Earlier, the Jewish Community Council.
aeknowledginv, the aid of the Jewish Labor
Committee, announced other signatories to
t' e declaration, including:
Tom Turner, chairman of AFL-CIO of
Metropolitan Detroit and chairman of De-
troit Chapter NAACP; William R. Keast,
president, University of Detroit; Francis
Cisler, board chairman. Detroit Edison
Co.: Very Rev. Malcolm T. Carron, S.J.,
president, University of Detroit; Francis
Kornegay; Bishop Dwight E. Loder, De-
troit Conference, United Methodist Church;
Hubert C. Locke. director of religious af-
fairs, Wayne State University; August
Scholle, president, Michigan. AFL-CIO;
James Watts, president, Michigan NAACP.