Do Israelis Create Hardships for,Cqnverts?

NEWS
THE DETROIT J
Fainuay:Ilt- I

43 Jewish Refugees
Arrive in America

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population and Jews all gdfer.the
NEW YORK (jTA)—An unusual
world would not tolerate such a
Sri
"cross-s ctional" flight of 43 e
situation.
r
reingees and migrants arrived
The newspaper Haaretz wrote ish
at
Kennedy
Airport,
it
was
report-
that the resolution of the Israel ed by United Hiss Service, the
Chief Rabbinate is interfering with
the aliya from Eastern Europe worldwide Jew ion migration
and other countries. There is a agency.
contrast between the Israeli de-
The charter flight from Rome
mand, "Let my people go," and and Brussels brought new arrivals
the attitude of the chief rabbinate from Egypt, Morocco, Rumania,
to the conversions in Vienna. Alio, Hungary, Poland and even Cuba,
the change of attitude among some all coming to be reunited with their
leaders of Mafdal is not in the families.
interests of the Jewish people. The
The youngest aboard was 3, and
interests of Jews in Eastern Europe
require an - end to arguing over the oldest 68.
this delicate matter and to stop Among the occupations were:
..Fine Clothes Tor Over.31Xiiers .
changing the "Law of Return," watchmaker, chemist, artist, mu-
w;-, 7:-1141L11-eo.
Wks. East of ornende
which has been approved with the sician, bookkeeper, engineer and
Open Daily 11:30 -,to a
support of the Mafdal members in welder. The newcomers will be re-
settled In Cleveland, Newark, Los
omen .
•• ■
• s•••••••••
the Knesset.
• seserng: - - !mows •
Angeles, San Francisco, Miami and
Election ef the Two
Montreal.
Israel Chief Rabbis
The term of the two chief rabbis
of Israel, Rabbi Isser Yehuda
Unterman and Rabbi Itzhak Nis-
sim, is nearing its end, but there
will not be early election for this
office.
Rabbis Unterman and Nissim
were elected seven years ago for
a five-year term under the statutes
of-a temporary law, but until now
no stable law for the election of
Open for business
the two Chief Rabbis could be
for Appt. 398-4788 or 545-9503
Call
adopted, owing to differences of
opinion between the Labor Party
Owned and Operated by
and Mafdal over this issue..
When the term of the Chief Rab-
bis ended two years ago, the Min-
13805 W. 9 Mile Rd.
ister for Religious Affairs Dr.
Zerha Warhaftig appealed to the
Knesset to prolong the term for
another two years.
lAr
Now, new difficulties come up.
According to the proposed law,
there could not be any candidates
over the age of 75. Both present
Chief Rabbis have passed this age
limit_ Mafdal wishes, therefore, to
put off the elections as far as
possible, in order not to infringe
on the honor of the two Chief
Rabbis. Dr. Warhaftig proposes to
put off the elections at least until
1972 when, the Knesset would be
- For Tax Return for Anyone -
able to adopt the final election law.
Army (Zahal) Chief Rabbi
(includes City, State, Fed. &
Approximately one third of JDC's Shlomo Goren, one of the most
NEW YORK—Malben, the Joint
Distribution Committee w el f are annual budget of $23,000,000 is favored candidates for the office
itemizing of all your -bills)
program in Israel, is moving to spent in Israel, Haber noted. Near- of Chief Rabbi, is satisfied with
erase the distinction its institutions ly $5,000,000 is allocated to the this situation, as the military
Professionally
Prepared by Our Tax Experts
for the aged have had to make be- JDC/Malben program for the aged. authorities have asked him to
tween new immigrants and long- Most of these funds come from the carry on with his job in' the army-
term residents of Israel, Samuel L. canipaigns of the United Jewish Rabbi Goren was elected two years
Haber; JDC executive vice chair- Appeal.
ago as Chief Rebbi of Tel Aviv,
man announced.
To attack the problem of the but did not accept this office, as he
Haber noted that under the aged among the general population, wishes to be a candidate for Chief
12925 Woodviard Ave.
terms of an agreement made in JDC has launched a major re- Rabbi of Israel. Rabbi Goren de-
1949, JDC/Malben was mandated orientation of its health and wel- cided 'to remain 'in ttie . army and
BR 3-5150 or 883-0474
:Higlillanek
to care for aged, sick and handi- fare programs in—.Israel, Haber wait chance until the:elec-
11e/leii Rabin Istorpriso* '
caped newcomers who were pour- said. He noted that the program tions for the two Chief Rabbis' of
ing into the new state by the thou- for the aged was moving in two Israel will take place.
sands.
directions: -
"We were faced with an emer-
Helping regional and local agen-
gency and we met it," Haber cies fill in the gaps which exist in
said. "What Israel needs now the nation's network of institutions
are services for the Israeli who and community services for the
have grown old—the pioneers,. aned. and -
kibutzniks and sabris who built
Reorganizing JDC/Malben's pies-
the nation. Today 180,000 of Is- ent- homes and hospital for the
rael's 2,600,000 Jews are 65 year* aged to serve the aged in.the'lacal
of age or older. Due:third of 'communities in which the institu-
them live In poverty or on the tions happen to be located. .
edge of poverty. Thousands of
Haber estimated thatthe-rear,-
them suffer from lack of the
of JDC/Malben institu-
facilities they need to keep ,thedi ganization
tions
no decline in, standards
healthy and to care for' them either ; with
for
the
2,500 old people who
when they fall ill."
AdmihOrtation.
now live in them or - the aged
in cooperation-with the -Techrtiort- Faculty,
among immigrants arriving in tile.
future, will make 2,000 more beds
available to the general populati
in the next five years.
It's Nice
$825 per _person ..:double occupancy
"However, it is not just *Apt- ..
To Deal With
ter of adding more- beds; even:
transportation from New Iretic' by 'Jet — Deluxe Noteis — Daily Israeli Breakfast — Gala
Reception and Dinner at Dan Carmel for faculty members and Israeli Government Officials —
critically-needed beds for the in-
-all. tlps and . services — baggage handling — professional guide — comfortable airdltIoned
firm and seriously Ill," be 'said.
.
buses: .
10000 Northland
"It is equally imperative'—, and
Briefing 'meeting February - 24, at 8:00 p.m. at Reynolds-
. Drive, Southfield, with representatives, from El-Al and Elkin Travel Agency.
far less expensive — to expand,
DEXTER
improve and coordinate the kind
Via El Al Airlines Offerhig-
of services which help healthy
CHEVROLET
aged people to go on living in
Fennel dedication of the flew".Detroit Mechanical Engineering Campion
_
w
the community."
•la Visits to Israel Major Industrial Plants
20811 W 8 Mile
Last year, JDC/Malhen initiated
Complete sightseeing of ell highlights of Israel, including Masada
& Telegr•ph
between
The Fate Includes
the creation of a national voluntary
Association for the Planning and
For worn details and reservations, please call — 358-3070 ,
Development of Services for the
534-1400
asaossesbers ere woken*. .
Aged. JDC undertook to provide
• Sondoor awl "ftur of tihe'"rechiaiew facilities
Our Promise To You:
half of its $10,000,000 budget over
arreeisesseeplry WOW TRAVEL IIK*IIIIII:?01111 • •
BETTER SERV10E!
a period of five years, with the rest
coming from cooperating local
1 bodies.

By MOSHE RON
Special Jewish News
Israel Correspondent
TEL AVIV—When, a few years
ago, mixed couples of olim arrived
from Eastern Europe in Israel, the
late Mafdal leader, Moshe Chaim
Shapiro, and Israeli Chief Rabbi
Isser Yehuda Unterman agreed to
acknowledge a conversion outside
Israel, in order to spare hardships
for such olim in Israel. The con-
version procedure abroad is much
easier than in Israel.
In Vienna a special conversion
court was established under the
control of Chief Rabbi Akiba Eisen-
berg of Vienna, Chaim Grunfeld
and the chairman of the Sohnut,
(Jewish Agency) Rabbi Alter Stein-
mek.
During the last two years more
than 300 conversions were reported
in Vienna. All went well until
the extreme Agudists in Vienna
"crowned" their own rabbi, Rabbi
Jacob Stern from Australia, and
established their own religious
court, for ritual slaughtering, etc.,
and therefore Rabbi Grunfeld left
the special court of conversion for
new ;Aim. In his place the religious
leader of Poalei Agudat Israel,
Breuner, was co-opted into the con-
version court, which caused great
excitement among the extreme
Aguda circles. These appealed to
the Chief Rabbinate in Israel and
requested strong action against the
conversions in Vienna.
At the beginning, the Israeli
Chief Rabbinate did not interfere.
The Mafdal was in a tight posi-
tion, as the plan of establishing
a special conversion court in
Vienna was originally put for-
ward by the Mafdal leader of
the Jewish Agency, Rabbi Mor-
dehal Kirshblum. The conver-
sion action. in Vienna was also
supported by Israel Minister for
Religious Affairs Dr. Zerab

Warhaftig, in order in avid ..a
religious crisis in Israel, over,
this delicate matter.
But now the Israeli Chief Rab-
binate has decided to intervene and
the conversion of new olim in
Vienna and Marseilles were tem-
porarily suspended. This came just
at a time when many mixed cou-
ples are coming as olim to Israel
from Eastern Europe and the
Soviet Union and have to pass
through the extremely difficult and
long conversion procedure in Is-
rael. In the meantime, their chil-
dren might join the Israel army
and fight on the front while their
mothers are not yet accepted as
members of the Jewish community.
The campaign against conver-
sions has spread from Neturei
Karts and Agudat Israel to certain
leaders of the Medal who dissent
from the conversion action of their
colleagues, Dr. Warhaftig and
Rabbi Kirshblum, in Vienna.
Last week the Chief Rabbinate
of Israel decided to send two spe-
cial emissaries to Vienna, Rabbis
Kalik and Kook, to e x a mine
whether the 300 conversions were
carried out according to Jewish
law. Should they find otherwise,
there would, without doubt, be a
new internal crisis in Israel on
religious, grounds, like the one
two and a half years ago, about
the question "Who is a Jew?" Be-
cause then the Chief Rabbinate
could demand the annulment of
these conversions and more than
300 olim would be compelled to
undergo another conversion in
Israel. This would lead to an
uproar in Israel, because nowadays
new olim arrive daily from East-
ern Europe and the Soviet Union,
who have waited for years for the
permit to go to Israel, and now
they will have to undergo all the
hardships of the Israeli conversion
procedure. The majority of the

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MAY - 4 TO MAY 17„197,1.

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