Israel Chief Rabbinate in Serious
Disputes; Goren May Quit Army Post
By MOSHE RON
Jewish News Special Israel
Correspondent
TEL AVIV—For 23 years Chief
Military Chaplain Shlomo Goren
kept watch like a devoted soldier
on the front, and accompanied the
Israeli army in all its activities.
Immediately after the establish-
ment of the Israeli army, Rabbi
Goren found a synthesis and co-
existence between the religious and
non-religious soldiers. He opened
the religious department of the
army, which safeguards the uphold-
ing of Jewish religious tradition in
the army.
This department always refrained
from putting hardships on soldiers
serving on the front line, Rabbi
Goren always tried to adapt reli-
gious laws and customs to the
special front-line conditions. The
Chief Rabbinate and the rabbis
were dissatisfied with the vast
activities of the army religious de-
partment.
Rabbi Goren was elected Chief
Rabbi of Tel Aviv three years
ago. As he could not abandon
his important job in the Army,
he put off taking over his office
in Tel Aviv.
In recent years, the Israeli Chief
Rabbinate became very active. Not
one week passes without the press
being full of revelations and sen
sations about stormy sessions of
the Chief Rabbinate and differences
of opinion between the two Chief
Rabbis, Sephardi Rabbi Yitzhak
Nissim and Ashkenazi Rabbi Isser
Untermann, concerning questions
such as •conversions in Vienna, il-
legitimate children, etc.\ Relations
also are tense between the Chief
Rabbinate and Minister for Reli-
gious Affairs Dr. Zerach Warhaftig.
The two Chief Rabbis were elect-
ed seven years ago. It always was
proposed that their period of office
should be prolonged, but according
to the law, the Chief Rabbis cannot
be candidates for another term
owing to their high age. They are
both past 75 years, but their parti-
sans already have taken the initia-
tive for altering the law to enable
them to run for another term of
Office.
Rabbi Goren, who is a member
of the Chief Rabbinate, has decided
to free himself from his military
duties and to take over the office
of Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, in order
to moderate the anti-religious at-
mosphere in Israel, and, in due
time, to be a candidate for Chief
Rabbi of Israel. He and his Seph-
ardi colleague, Josef Ovadia, could
be the new religious leaders of
Israel and find a "peaceful co-
existence" with the non-religious
circles by, the delicate
problems o conversions, illegiti-
mate children, etc.
In the meantime, a new contro-
versy has broken out between the
Chief Rabbinate and Defense Min-
ister Moshe Dayan. As Chief Rabbi
16 - Goren is about to end his 23-year
Lerm of office as chief military
rabbi, Dayan wishes to appoint his
deputy, Mordechai Firon, as his
successor. However, the Chief Rab-
binate argues that the candidate
for this office, who would be re-
sponsible for all religious affairs
in the army, should be nominated
by the Chief Rabbinate.
Dayan reacted to this demand,
saying the Chief Rabbinate has no
right to interfere in army appoint-
ments. The Chief Rabbinate an-
swered that the defense minister
could nominate his candidate, but
he should not be invested in his
new office without the approval of
the Chief Rabbinate. If this demand
should- not be accepted, the Chief
Rabbinate would not, recognize the
Army Chief Rabbi.
Israeli public opinion is angry
about this new demand of the
Chief Rabbinate, and thinks that
the army should not give in over
this dispute.
When Rabbi Goren was appointed
chief military rabbi in 1948, there
were no terms yet for procedure
in the Israeli army about the elec-
tion of such a rabbi. Then the _Chief
Rabbis, Herzog and Uziel, gave
their consent to the nomination of
Rabbi Goren. Now, when Rabbi
Mordechai Firon is about to be
appointed military chief rabbi
there are laws which enable the
army to appoint its Chief Rabbi
without the consent of the Chief
Rabbinate.
The dispute between the Chief
Rabbinate and Dayan could prevent
Rabbi Goren from leaving t his of-
fice in the army to become Chief
Rabbi of Tel Aviv.
Dayan also is in the midst of a
dispute with the Chief Rabbinate
on the question of two soldiers,
who are Jews and Israeli citizens
and have had difficulty in getting
marriage permits from the Chief
Rabbinate, because the latter main-
44—Friday, May 21, 1971
Angela Davis' Candidacy for President
of Brandeis Alunmi Is Rejected
WALTHAM, Mass.—New York
tains that their father was a Gen-
tile and they have not undergone attorney Morton L. Ginsberg has
been overwhelmingly re-elected
conversion to Judaism.
'. *
president of the Brandeis Univer
Mordechai Firon came to Israel sity Alumni Association (BUAA)
35 years ago with Youth Aliya from by decisively defeating petition
Vienna. He was a student at the candidate Angela Y. Davis, black
agricultural school in Mikve Israel, radical who is in prison awaiting
in Yeshivot in Jerusalem, and at trial on charges of murder and
the Hebrew University where he conspiracy.
graduated in philosophy. He wrote
In making the announcement,
a book, "Legends of Our Sages."
Sanford
I. Freedman, chairman of
He has served in the Israeli army
since 1948 and is active in the the BUAA's nominating commit-
religious and cultural life of the tee, said that more than half of
country, He has a son and two Brandeis' 6,000 alumni voted in
daughters.' His wife is a teacher the election, which drew nation-
wide attention. Ginsberg, a 1956
in a religious school in Bat-Yam.
Firon often is mobilized for the Brandeis graduate, was placed in
Magbit and Bonds actions all over nomination by the alumni associa-
the world. He speaks Hebrew, tion's nominating committee, while
Yiddish, English, French and Ger- an independent group, utilizing a
man. His cooperation with Rabbi provision in the alumni constitu-
Goren for many years has made tion, placed Miss Davis' name in
him able to continue the traditional nomination by petition. She is a
way of synthesis between religious 1965 Brandeis graduate.
and non-religious soldiers in the
The final vote was Ginsberg,
army, and the coexistence between 2,489; Miss Davis, 793.
them.
Commenting on the election,
Brandeis University President
Charles I. Schottland said that the
vote shows clearly "that the over-
whelming majority of our alumni,
having deep concern for their uni-
age 78, continued his interest and versity, would not accept having
activities on behalf of the AJC any individual or group use the
throughout his lifetime.
Brandeis Alumni Association for
Dr. Blaustein, speaking for him- political purposes.
self and on behalf of his mother,
"There are those, I am sure,
Mrs. Hilda K. Blaustein, and other
members of the family, explained who will interpret negatively the
that the institute would be estab- votes w h i c h Miss Davis re-
lished by a $1,000,000 endowment ceived," Schottland said. How-
ever, I think they err for the
grant from the family.
The institute will engage in a . trend to use established insti-
wide variety of projects involving tutions for political purposes is
increasingly prevalent in these
action and research programs, and
furthering the AJC's current activ- intensely troubled times for our
ities, particularly on the interna- young people, many of whom
utilize opportunities such as this
tional and human rights scene.
Blaustein. Institute for Human Rights
Established in Name of Blaustein
NEW YORK—The Jacob Blau-
stein Institute for the Advance-
ment of Human Rights, dedicated
to the furtherance of Jewish se-
curity and universal human rights,
is to be established as a memorial
to the late Baltimore industrialist,
statesman and philanthropist.
The institute will function as an
arm of the American Jewish Com-
mittee and will be located at the
New York headquarters of the
AJC in the Institute of Human Re-
lations, which also houses the
Fishman Re-Elected PS Prexy
[
LATE JACOB BLAUSTEIN
Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Library
and Center for Human Relations
Research.
The establishment of the Insti-
tute, which will operate through
the offices of the AJC, was an-
nounced by Dr. Morton K. Blau-
stein of Baltimore, Jacob Blau-
stein's son, at the 65th annual din-
ner of the AJC.
Blaustein, president of the
American Jewish Committee
from 1949 to 1954, and honorary
president from 1954 until the time
of his death last November at
Reports Must Be True
TEL AVIV (ZINS)—If confir-
mation were needed that the So-
viet Union is a Godless land, it
has come from the postal authori-
ties in Leningrad.
Manahem Levin, a Tel Avivian,
addressed a letter to the USSR in
the name of "Rebono Shel Olam"
(Hebrew for Lord of the Uni-
verse) 7 Gorki St., Leningrad.
For months the postal authori-
ties sought to locate the addressee
without success and finally re-
turned the letter to the sender
with a notation, "Addressee Un-
known in the Soviet Union."
PHILADELPHIA — William S.
Fishman, president of ARA Serv-
ices, was re-elected to a third term
as president of the Jewish Publi-
cation Society of America at the
83rd annual membership meeting
held at the Warwick Hotel Sunday.
The society, established in 1888
with headquarters in Philadelphia
at 222 N. 15th St., publishes and
distributes books on Jewish sub-
jects. During its history it has
published more than 700 books,
exceeding 7,500,000 copies, for lay-
men, scholars, children and adults.
In his annual report Fishman
pointed out that the society, with
a membership enrollment of
more than 13,000, published 12
new volumes and reprinted 14
titles during 1970. Best-selling
books for the year were S. Y.
Agnon's "Twenty-One Stories"
and "Notes on the New Transla-
tion of the Torah." There are
more than 250,000 copies of the
society's new translation of the
Torah now in print. It was pub-
lished in 1962.
Re-elected with Fishman to serve
third terms as vice presidents of
the society were Dr. Samuel A.
Ajl and Dr. Edward B. Shils of
Philadelphia, Judge Phillip Forman
of Trenton and Gustave L. Levy
of New York. Isaac L. Auerbach
of Philadelphia was named to a
first term as vice president.
Robert P. Abrams of Philadelphia
was named to his first term as
treasurer of the society and Philip
D. Sang of Chicago was re-elected
for a third term as secretary.
Dr. Chaim. Potok was named
to a sixth term as editor while
Lesser Zussman was re-elected
to serve a 22nd term as executive
director. •
Named as trustees for three-year
terms were Leo Guzik, New York
attorney; A. Leo Levin, professor
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
of law at the University of Penn-
sylvania; Robert P. Frankel, Phila-
delphia attorney; Morris Cohen,
librarian at the University of Penn-
sylvania Law School; Gershon
Kekst, New York financial rela-
tions expert; and Mrs. Alfred Soffa
of Wynnewood, who is active in
educational organizations. Elected
trustees for two-year terms were
Dr. Marvin Wachman, Temple
University vice president in charge
of academic affairs; and Harry
Silver, Baltimore attorney.
Renamed as trustees were Fish-
man, Dr. Ajl and Sang, as well as
Samuel N. Katzin of Chicago; Ber-
nard G. Segal and Jerome J. Shes-
tack of Philadelphia, Philip Slomo-
vitz of Detroit, Albert A. Spiegel
of Los Angeles and Morton H.
Wilner of Washington.
Speaker for the afternoon was
Dr. Salo W. Baron, historian, who
discussed the cultural reconstruc-
tion of Russian Jewry.
Wexler Sees Fight
With Nixon on M.E.
LONDON (JTA) — Dr. William
A. Wexler, president of Bnai Brith,
declared that "Israel-American re-
lations are causing anxiety to
American Jews and to the world
Jewish community. It may be nec-
essary for American Jews to fight
the administration over its atti-
tudes to Israel."
Delivering the keynote address
at the opening session of the 11th
plenary session of the Bnai Brith
International Council here, Wexler
said: "I believe that during the
first missile crisis the U.S. should
have shown a tougher stand," and
stated his fear that "another Mun-
ich is in the air,"
to Make what they believe to
be a statement of protest.
"The one truly negative aspect
of this whole election is the fact
that one of the foundations of a
free society, the university, has
been exploited by certain groups
for an unrelated political gesture."
Schottland's remark referred to
statements by supporters of Miss
Davis who said last month when
they announced her candidacy that
they would use the alumni election
to "make a serious political state-
ment and express rejection of the
racist, imperialistic and repressive
policies of the reactionary estab-
lishment."
•
In accepting re-election, Gins-
berg said that he was confident
that "the Brandeis University
Alumni Association would be
stronger because of the experience
it just underwent."
Ginsberg, who graduated from
Brandeis cum laude with distinc-
tion in politics, earned his LLB
cum laude from Harvard Univer-
sity Law School and an LLM in
taxation from New York Univer-
sity.
He served as an assistant U.S.
attorney for the Southern District
of New York in 1960-63.
Federation Job Unit
Plans Aging Parley;
Aid to Orthodox Told
NEW YORK—The success of a
special employment program for
Orthodox Jews in New York was
related at the annual meeting of
Federation Employment and Guid-
ance Service (FEGS) here recently.
Burton M. Strauss was elected
the agency's fifth
president. FEGS,
which provides
employment,
counseling, test-
ing and guidance
services on a non-
sectarian b a s i s,
is supported in
part by the Fed-
eration of Jewish
Philanthropies.
It was an-
nounced that a
national confer-
ence on the vo-
Strauss
cational rehabili-
tation of older disabled persons is
to be held in Washington, D.C.,
Sept. 14-16. The conclave is sched-
uled to produce a policy statement
and program proposals for sub-
mission to the White House Con-
ference for Aging in December.
FEGS will organize and run the
conference.
FEGS Executive Director Ro-
land Baxt cited a special em-
ployment program centering
about two Brooklyn communi-
ties with a- high proportion of
Ultra-Orthodox and Hasidic Jew-
ish residents, Williamsburg and
Boro Park. He reported that a
second manpower training cen-
ter had been established April
29 in Williamsburg; the first has
been operating since last year in
the Boro Park area.
More than 500 Boro Park resi-
dents were placed during the year,
he reported.
The Boro Park - Williamsburg
programs include not only job re-
ferrals, Baxt indicated, but also
training courses.
"The 533 Boro Park applicants
who were placed in jobs this past
year were all unemployed when
they came to the FEGS center,"
Baxt noted. "At that point, there-
fore, their earnings totaled zero
dollars per year. Now, a survey
indicates that their aggregate
earnings total more than $2,000,000
annually."