Black Muslim's Right to Wear Beard Backed in Court by Orthodox Group NEW YORK (JTA)—An Ortho- dox Jewish group, supported by three major national Jewish or- ganizations, has asked the New York Court of Appeals to compel Greyhound Bus Co. to hire a Black Muslim who was refused a job be- cause he wears a beard. In August 1968, Abdullahi Ibra- him applied for a position as bag- gage clerk with Greyhound. When he appeared for an inter- view, he was advised of the com- pany policy that its employees be clean shaven. Ibrahim stated that he is required by his religion to wear a beard. Greyhound refused to hire him when he reiterated that he would adhere to his religious practices and beliefs and would not shave his beard. Ibrahim filed a complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights, charging Greyhound with violation of ttie state's Hu- man Rights Law ban on discrimi- nation in employment because, of religion.. The state division ruled in favor of Ibrahim and ordered Greyhound to offer him a job. However, Grey- hound appealed this decision to the appellate division. Several months ago, the ap- pellate division reversed the di- vision of human rights ruling and held that Greyhound was not guilty of discriminatory practice because Its policy was not based on any intent to bar employment on religious grounds. An appeal was then taken to the Court of Appeals by the State Di- vision of Human Rights. Because of the broad implica- tions that the case may have to Orthodox Jews who wear beards or other religious garb, the Na- tional Jewish Commission on Law and Public Affairs (COLPA) de- cided to submit a friend of the court brief urging the state's high- est court to uphold the Division of Human Rights ruling. COLPA's brief is supported by the New York chapter of the American. Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress and the Metropolitan Council of the Anti- Defamation League. In its brief, COLPA argues that "the impact of a company's em- ployment policy on the individual's employment opportunity must be decisive—and not the presence or absence of a specific intent to dis- criminate . . . Thus, in the case of persons such as the complainant, to refuse to hire because of reli- gion of necessity means to apply to such individual an employment pol- icy which ineluctably forecloses him from employment if he ad- heres to his religious require- ment." According to Howard Rhine and Sidney Kwestel, COLPA of- ficers who wrote the brief, the decision of the Court of Appeals may have an important bearing on the employment rights of Sabbath obseryers — Orthodox Jews, Seventh Day Adventists and members of other religious groups. Many Sabbath observers have encountered difficulty b e c a u s e they are required to leave work early on Friday afternoons during the winter months. Compassionate Act Stirs Up Controversy Tribute to Israel's President Shazar for His Humane Altitude to Arabs By MOSHE RON Jewish News Special Israel Correspondent TEL AVIV — Israel President Za 1 m a n Shazar, when he re- ceived a big delegation of Israeli Arabs who delivered their New Year greetings to him, said: "I am not sure whether I shall be- come popular because of what I am about to say. I cannot forget that the Arab Moslem world has sustained a great loss a short time ago which caused great mourning. If I would know that my expres- sions of condolence would be ac- cepted by the people of Egypt with understanding and not as an act of hypocrisy, I would have expressed them on the day of the burial of Abdel Nasser. But as Egypt considers itself at war with Israel, I can only hope that the president and prime minister of Egypt will one of these days wish for peace like the president of Israel." Next day, the former member of the Knesset and now chairman of the Arab department in the Histadrut in Haifa, Amnon Linn, came out with a strong declara- tion against the president of Is- rael. Linn said at a press con- ference that the president made a severe mistake when he expressed condolences on the death of Nas- ser and damaged the endeavors to turn the Israeli Arabs into faith- ful citizens of Israel. The general secretary of the His tadrut in Haifa, Eliezer Molk, im- mediately rejected Linn's decla- ration, which stated that Nas- ser expressed the docrine of des- troying Israel and no Israeli should mourn his death. Linn also said that when the Israeli Arabs saw the Israeli reaction on the death of Nasser, they arranged big mourning demonstrations. After a talk between Molk and Linn about this delicate matter, Linn admitted that he had made a formal mistake when he re- proached the president of Israel with his declaration as chairman of the Arab department in the Histadrut in Haifa. CONDOLENCES REJECTED I learned from an authoritative source that at a meeting of the Israeli cabinet after the death of Gamal Nasser, the Mapam minis- ter, Nathan Peled, put forward a proposal that the president should express condolences to those Arabs in Israel who mourn the death of Nasser. He said that such a step would be esteemed by the Arab leaders as a humanitarian act. This proposal was rejected, as some cabinet members were of the opinion that the Arab leaders would interpret such a declaration as hypocrisy. The former minister and present treasurer of the Jewish Agency, Leon Dultzin, pointed out that the words of the president were a true Biography Notes Chagall's Rebellious Independence "Chagall" is the title of the book published by Coward-McCann. Chagall's relationships to the great men of the past half century Its author is Jean-Paul Crespelle and the translator from the French and more form valuable data' on the development of art as well as is Benita Eisler. Illustrated with photographs of the great artist in the political events that upset dynasties, led to revolutions, experi- various stages and by other pictures of note, this volume will be enced the Holocanstian terrors. cherished by lovers of art. Passing in review in the Marc Chagall story are such word-famous It is a biography that has the special merit of containing the personalities as Maxim Gorki, Baron David Ginsbourg, Ilya Eheren- distinguished artist's personal views given to the biographer over a bourg, Ossip Zadkine, Leon Trotsky, Nikolai Lenin, Pablo Picasso, period of some 10 years during which he met and discussed art and Amedeo Modigliani, Boris Pasternak, Mane-Katz, and so many others, related subjects with Chagall. especially the very great in the world of art. Chagall is now in his late 80s yet he retains the forcefulness In "The Love, The Dreams, The Life of Chagall," Crespelle of ,a young man. His views are as firmly expressed as if he were now discusses at some length the 12 windows Marc Chagall created for the conducting a campaign for realism and for appreciation of the arts synagogue in the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. There is this reveal- and of human values_ ing story about that assignment: Crespelle describes Chagall's late-in-life years as "a bouquet of "More challenged than discouraged by the obstacle present in flowers." He quotes Chagall's "profession of faith": "I ask nothing the form of the Jewish law forbidding the representation of the from life: I work like a cobbler; I love my wife, I am at peace." human face, Chagall exploits the restriction with astounding vir- Primarily Chagall is depicted as the artist, although the many tuosity, using cnjy objects, chandeliers, tablets of the Law, Torah trials and tribulations are reviewed to indicate the turmoil that scrolls, shofars, and Hebrew letters to symbolize the twelve tribes of affected him. To Crespelle, Chagall is "an astonishing mixture of Israel. Unveiled in the spring of 1961, housed in a specially con- Charlie Chaplin and Mephistropheles, of a goat and cat. Cunning and structed annex to the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in the Tuileries sensitive, sarcastic, yet playing the ingenue to ward off the curious gardens built at the behest of Andre Malraux, these windows imme. and to preserve his inner kingdom." diately won great acclaim, to Chagall's vast delight. "I did all that Of course, the Chagall story is begun in Vitebsk, Russia, where as effortlessly as birds sing," he declared. Stained glass is easy. The same thing happens in a cathedral or a synagogue: a mystical he was born in 1887, then to Paris where he lived until the last war, thi ng passes through the glass. his life in the United States during the war and his return to Europe " But Chagall was to be rapidly disenchanted when, in February, where he continued his labors which resulted in so many triumphs. There is an interesting quotation on the manner in which he 1962, he went to the inauguration of the windows In Jerusalem. The synagogue building, conceived in a relentlessly utilitarian spirit, had worked: "I always liked to paint at night; it gave me a feeling of cramped proportions, and ugly, cheap material had been used in the exaltation. My thoughts returned to my own country. I lived for my work. I used tablecloths, sheets and nightshirts torn into pieces of construction. The windows no longer achieved the same effects as canvas." they had in the Musee des Arts Decoratifs. And as the ultimate mis- fortune, the Six-Day War of June, 1967, was to damage them seri- ously. Since then, Chagall constantly shivers in dread over their fate, as he considers them one of the summits of his lifework." Chagall's parents were Hasidim, yet by Crespelle be is described as having been influenced by Christ not as the Messiah but as "the marvelous poet of pity and suffering to whom he could open his heart." Chagall's home town of Vitebsk is depicted as typically Rus- sian. Perhaps there is a better explanation for his religious attitudes in this quotation from Crespelle: "Closed to formal education, Chagall was equally resistant to religious training, which is more surprising In view of the biblical atmosphere enveloping his family life. But the fact remains: he challenged God in synagogue-1f you exist, make me blue, thunder or moonlight,' he would murmur. 'Hide me In the altar of the Torah— do something, God!' He even went as far as sacrilege, assuring his mother of his observance of the ritual fast when he had, in fact, Just eaten. All this explains his personal attitude toward religions ques- tions and his lack of interest in creating works destined for churches or temples of whatever faith. "In school, as in synagogue, what he liked best was music and singing. His parents had arranged singing lessons for him, and an ironmonger neighbor taught him the rudiments of the violin. On the High Holy Days in synagogue, be imitated the cantor, feeling himself borne aloft by a kind of holy intoxication." It is as a world figure that Chagall emerges especially in this volume, as a rebel, as one uninfluenced by pressures and as a formula- tor of his own ideas which were, indeed, Influenced by his family background, even though his biographer depicts him as somewhat aloof from his religious upbringing. MARC CRAGALL Crespelle's work is among the latest on art and artists that is certain to create greater interest in Chagall while arousing debate over the 56—Friday, Nmadrer 27, 1970 THE DETROIT JEWISH HEWS Issues that affected his life. — P.S. expression of humanity and not a political act. The chief editor of Davar, Hans Zemer, wrote that the words of the president were very cautious. It was an expression of good taste, that the president didn't voice his own mourning over the death of Nasser but only the mourning of the Israeli Arabs. Hana Zemer added with sarcasm: It turned out that only in one respect did the president not regard his caution: "He did not take the ad- vice of Amnon Linn before he said what he said. Without doubt, Linn would have amended, with his known' liberal access to mat- ters, the statement of the presi- dent and we would have been spared the sham of Linn's press conference and his later excuse. It would be advisable for the pres- ident to take council with Amnon Linn whenever he intends to say something . . ." A stream of letters arrived at the office of the Israeli newspapers about the presi- dent's statement. THINKS FOR HIMSELF Our beloved President Zalman Shazar, who is a Talmid Haham, writer and thinker, does not like to subject himself to the instruc- tions of the government. He has proved several times that he has his own opinion about certain mat- ters. Several months ago he criti- cised those Israeli leaders who waged a strong campaign against the president of the World Jewish Congress, Dr. Nahum Goldmann, on his political activities. He said at a meeting of the Zionist Council that he was shocked to hear how Israeli students received the for- mer nresident of the World Zion- ist Organization, how one tried to turn him into an Uriel Acosta like the fanatics in Amsterdam. He said the Zionist conscience must treat those who wish to express their free opinion in another way, that if their atti- tudes are not acceptable, one can contest them, but not proclaim them as traitors and boycott them. The president accepted four years ago the proposal to head the public committee to mark the 80th birthday of David Ben-Gur- ion. At the satne time. a great drama occurred in the Manai Par- ty. A party court dealt with those who left Mapai and founded the new Ran Party. It was headed by the present minister of justice, Jacob Shimshon Shapira. who in- dicted the former Mapai leaders, including Ben-Gurion, as neo- fascists . . . Now Minister Shapira has again become a good friend of B-G and has accepted the chairmanship of the Ben-Gurion archives in the col- lege at Sde Boker. He recently headed the festivities marking B-G's public committee. YIDDISH PARTISAN President Shazar had many ar- guments with former Premier Ben-Gurion owing to the latter's negativism to the Yiddish lan- guage. The president is a partisan of this language. Now there is a public contro- versy going on, whether the presi- dent was right or not in expressing his condolences to an Arab delega- tion on the death of Nasser. His statement was accepted by public opinion in the world as proof of the high moral and hum- anitarian feeling in Israel and as a liberal expression of the presi- dent of Israel with regard to the Arab world, though this world is in a state of war with Isfael. It can only be said, that the president of Israel has proved himself once again as a great democrat, who strives for peace and Is not afraid to express hum- an feelings on the death of one of the chief enemies of Israel.