Mrs. Meir Attends Funeral
of Barzilai, Misses Meeting
ent policy is to build smaller syna- With Gabon's First Lady
Centenary of British Jewry's United Synagogue
By S. J. GOLDSMITH.
(Copyright 1970, JTA. Inc.)
classes are located in the vari-
ous houses of prayer and super-
The centenary of the United vised mostly by the resident
Synagogue, British Jewry's largest minister. Last year, the United
and most important synagogal Synagogue paid over to the Lon-
group, is an event in Anglo-Jewry. don Board of Jewish Religious
The actual date is July 14 (by the Education nearly 150,000 pounds
(religious education is free).
Jewish calendar-15th of Tamuz).
We are, therefore, dealing here
A reception on June 22 was held
with
a body which exercises a
under auspices of the Board of
Deputies, to give it an all-Anglo- telling—if not a decisive—influence
in
Anglo-Jewry,
a community of
Jewish character. It was attended
by the Queen and the Duke of nearly half a million souls.
London
Jews
have
moved in the
Edinburgh, which made it a mem-
orable event and a landmark in the last 50 years or so from the East
End
through
the
North
to the North
life of British Jews. The established
church is of course the Anglican West and the West. Nowadays they
are
spreading
into
the
outer sub-
Church. But if any other faith can
be described as "semi-established" , urbs. So they need new synagogues
in
their
new
dormitories.
This is
it is the Jewish faith as represent-
not such a difficult problem. British
ed by the United Synagogue .. .
Jews have the means. The more
The United Synagogue was not complex problem is the ratio of
simply bom into the world because prayer to education.
there were Jews here who prayed
Nathan Rubin, secretary of the
It was established by an Act of United Synagogue, himself an edu-
Parliament. This act amalgamated cationalist of repute, says that it
five existing synagogues. Today is much easier to provide for
the United Synagogue comprises prayer than for education. Educa-
81 houses of prayer in Greater tion requires class rooms and a
London, with a total membership sufficient number of children of
of 160,000 souls, making it one of the same age group. All ages can
the largest synagogal bodies in the pray together but not all ages can
world.
be taught together . . . The pres-
United Synagogue is in tact a
large and important educational
and social organization which
wields a considerable budget
(the members of its synagogues
provide it within their member-
ship fees). It maintains the
Loudon Beth Din (Rabbinical
Court); it is responsible for the
Chief Rabbinate, though the
chief rabbi is deemed to be the
chief rabbi of the whole British
Commonwealth; it sponsors edu-
cational programs for adults; and
it looks after other Jewish needs.
Religious education for children
is supervised by the London
Board of Jewish Religious Edu-
cation but the actual religious
Churchill Says U.S.
Must Defuse Mid East
LONDON (JTA) — Winston
Churchill, grandson of the late
Prime Minister Winston Churchill
and newly elected Tory MP for
Stretford, Manchester, asserted
that "If the United States and her
allies are not prepared to halt
Soviet penetration in the Middle
East and her intervention in the
war, they cannot blame Israel if
she takes it upon herself to halt it."
He added that "One would prefer
the U.S.A. and other Western pow-
ers to stand up and be counted,"
because "such an act would defuse
the situation in the Middle East."
Israel, he said, "could only do it
militarily."
THE DETFt017 JEWISH NEWS
gogues and provide for the rest of
the available funds class rooms,
and also assembly halls, libraries.
For the High Holidays, he says,
assembly halls are used for prayer
anyway.
This is an obvious reaction
against those "huge, empty syna-
gogues" of recent vintage in Amer-
ica, England and one or two other
affluent countries. This policy af-
fects the modern design of syna-
gogues, or rather synagogal com-
plexes.
The United Synagogue has had
a long line of distinguished presi-
dents not all of them known for
their piety or Jewish knowledge
but all of them dedicated to the
spiritual welfare of Anglo-Jewry-
the way they understood it. The
present president is Sir Isaac Wolf-
son, a pious Jew by any yardstick,
a dedicated Zionist and one of the
great givers of our generation—to
Israel and to British causes. He
is nearing retiring age..His suc-
cessor is not apparent. If the
United Synagogue selects this time
a man of education rather than
prayer, it will signify that it
acknowledges the advent of the
seventies.
JERUSALEM (JTA)—A foreign
ministry spokesman explained that
Premier Golda Meir's presence at
the funeral of Minister-Without-
Portfolio Israel Barzilai had pre-
vented her from receiving the
visiting wife of Gabonese President
Albert-Bernard Bongo.
Gabon had recalled its ambassa-
dor over the incident, charging
Mrs. Meir had snubbed her first
lady despite an invitation.
Diplomatic relations, however,
have not been severed, as the
Gabonese Embassy 'here continues
in operation.
Israeli Ambassador Da v id
Ephrati is attempting to smooth
over the incident with Gabonese
officials in Libreville. Gabon is the
smallest of the former French
Equatorial Africa territories.
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Churchill spoke at a luncheon
of the Federation of Women
Zionists of the Women's Inter-
national Zionist Organization,
marking the 50th anniversary of
that federation and the 25th an-
niversary of El AI.
"Remember," he said, "it was
Allied soldiers who gave their
blood to conquer North Africa. Now
we find NATO outflanked by the
Soviets, and the Soviets now have
access to Europe through its soft
underbelly.
"We are too busy bolting the
front door while the Russians are
coming through the back door—the
Middle East."
In another address, departing
Israeli Ambassador Aharon
Remez charged the Western
powers with failing to react
quickly enough to the changing
nature of the Mid East power
balance.
"Israelis, however, cannot be
pushed around any longer," he
said. "We are no longer second-
class citizens and no one can tell
us what our interests are and
should be."
"Chief Rabbi Lord Goodman said
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