NEW YORK (JTA) — Rabbi ticians who would betray Israel
Roland B. Gittelsohn, past presi- overnight if it suited their
dent of the Central Conference of purposes."
That statement, contained in a
American Rabbis, told the JTA
that he stands by the statement joint message by Rabbis Polish
made by himself and CCAR Presi- and Gittelsohn to the Reform rab-
dent Rabbi David Polish that cer- binical body's 82nd annual con-
tain Zionist bodies "embrace vention in St. Louis last month,
America's most reactionary poli- came under sharp attack here by
-
- -

Fur Flies Between AJCongress
and Orthodox Over Parochiaid

front of those who would de•
NEW YORK (JTA)—The Amer-
stroy the entire Jewish educa-
ican Jewish Congress responded
tional system which has been
sharply Monday to a charge by
the main factor in Jewish sur-
an Orthodox rabbinical leader that
vival."
it was using Jewish communal
funds to combat government aid
Rabbi Berzon issued his state-
to the secular programs of reli- ment in reaction to an AJCon-
gious schools but failed "to lift gress announcement last week
a finger to assist or assure the that it would file suits jointly with
continued existence of those the American Civil Liberties
schools. -
Union in six states to bar the
The charge was made by use of tax monies for private and
parochial schools. The suits will
Rabbi Bernard L. Berzon, pres-
be based on the recent Supreme
ident of the Rabbinical Council
Court ruling.
of America, who alleged that the
In a statement issued to the
AJCongress was "in the fore-
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the
AJCongress said that "if its legal
Head of Black 'Army' skills were not devoted to pro-
tecting the separation of church
Sues ADL for Libel;
and state, we would then be re-
miss in our obligation to the total
Asking $24 Million
Jewish community."
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Col.
According to the AJCongress,
Hassan Jeru-Ahmed, director of the "The position of the vast majority
Blackman's Development Center, of American Jews is against gov-
is suing the Bnai Brith Anti-De- ernment funding of—and inevita-
famation League for 824,000,000 for ble government influence in—the
alleged conspiracy to libel and ruin educational aspects of religious
his professional and personal repu- schools. This position has been
tation, the Jewish Telegraphic thoroughly debated, reviewed and
Agency learned.
supported at every national ses-
Hassan's legal adviser, who iden- sion of the National Jewish Corn-
tified herself only as Capt. Moira munity Relations Advisory Council,
of the B 1 a c kman's Liberation with only the Union of Orthodox
Army, claimed that the ADL had Jewish Congregations of America
inspired a letter-writing campaign dissenting," the statement said
by Jews all over the country to get
Earlier, the American Jewish
their congressmen to urge the cut-
Congress demanded that the
off of federal funds to the Black-
National Jewish Committee on
man's Development Corp.
Law and Public A f f airs
Capt. Moira told the JTA that
(COLPA) cease what it called
more than 50 congressmen have
a "campaign of misrepresenta-
tion" against the AJCongress'
complained to the Department of
position on government aid to
Health, Education and Welfare as
religious schools.
a result of the letter campaign and
that one sent Hassan a copy of a
COLPA President Julius Ber-
letter from a constituent.
man claimed, in a statement pub-
According to Moira, the Jew- lished in the Jewish Telegraphic
ish Community Council of St. Agency's Daily News Bulletin re-
Louis wrote Rep. William Clay, cently that the AJCongress' plan
(D.-Mo.) that Hassan was using
to file suits against Federal aid
an HEW training grant to train in six states was a "coup de grace
his Blackman's Liberation Army to the day school movement."
in the use of small arms and
Paul S. Berger, chairman of
guerrilla tactics. She said the let-
the AJCongress' commission on
ter, dated June 21, was one of law and social action, called the
the bases for the libel suit.
charge "indefensible and shock-
An aide to Rep. Clay told the ing."
JTA that the congressman gave no
In a letter to Berman, re-
one a copy of such a letter. Who-
leased to the JTA, Berger wrote,
ever said they got a copy of the
"Far from intending a 'coup de
letter "is telling a bare-faced lie,"
grace,' the AJCongress is inter-
Clay's administrative assistant de-
ested in meaningful cooperation
clared.
to obtain effective financing. I
Moira said other counts of the
suggest you consider the fact
suit are based on letters from Jason
that small sums that are the
Silverman, ADL regional director, most the day schools could have
to HEW Secretary Elliot Richard-
expected from the government
son; and a letter from Richardson
actually reduced the incentive
to ADL national chairman Sey-
financing within the Jewish com-
mour Graubard saying that Has-
munity.
san's training grant was being cut
The fact that an institution gets
off pending an audit.
government assistance can be, and
u b s equent • statements from frequently is, used as an excuse
HEW made it clear that the cut-off for denying it communal funds."
-had nothing to do with charges of
Berger, a Washington attorney,
anti-Semitism leveled by the ADL said the COLPA charge would not
against Hassan but with Hassan's deter the AJCongress from its
particular bookkeeping procedures. "continuing efforts to secure sup-
The ADL said it welcomes the port for day schools from the
libel suit.
Jewish community," but neither
"The litigation," Graubard said, would the AJCongress be "bull-
"will bring Hassan's full career of dozed" into changing its position
public scrutiny." He noted that against government aid.
bigotry and anti-social conduct to
"as recently as Sunday, July 4,
Big Brothers of Oakland County,
Hassan repeated his long-held anti- a Torch Drive service, is pre-
Semitic views on a WTOP-TV sently providing 215 boys, 170 from
(Washington, D. C.) interview poverty level homes, with big
show."
brothers.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

14—Friday, July 16, 1971

Reform Rabbi. 'LOA Leader at Odds
Over Criticism of Zionist Groups

Miami Grads Take Maimonides Oath

MIAMI—By unanimous choice,
the doctors who graduated this
year from the University of Miami
voted to take the oath of Mai-
monides, which pledges them to
"never see in the patient anything
but a fellow creature in pain," in-
stead of the traditional Hippocratic
oath at their graduation,

Rabbi Joseph P. Sternstein, vice
chairman of the Zionist Organiza-
tion of America's executive
committee.
Rabbi Sternstein claimed that
these "invidious appraisals" were
"utterly naive and lacking in re-
sponsibility."

The reason for the change was
that the Hippocratic oath bans
abortions—while the oath of Mai-
monides is shorter and more gen-
eral in nature.

Rabbi Gittelsohn, reached by
telephone at his study in Boston,
retorted that criticism was in
the honored tradition of the He-
brew Prophets and must not be
suppressed. Rabbi Polish is
presently in Israel.

A university official stated that
he considered the Maimonides
Sternstein called the Reform pledge more in keeping with mod-
leaders' remarks "distorted and ern times and free of outdated
myopic." He told a meeting of his
committee that "Zionists are not as
quick to polarize individuals by
the terms 'liberal' and 'reaction-
ary'—whatever these terms might
mean today.
"For us," he said. "the issue is
not who is a liberal and who is
reactionary. It is who is a friend
of Israel and the Jewish people—
tried, tested and true—and who is
not. There is no need to apologize
for the geo-political reality which
hinds Israel and the United States.
We are gratified by the assurances
that America's security interests
coincide with Israel's survival—
for both seri, e the cause of world
peace and freedom."

concepts that are contained in the
Hippocratic oath.
The scholar Maimonides (Rabbi
Moses ben Maimon) lived from
1135 to 1204 and practiced medi-
cine in Morocco and Egypt.

—C. R.

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Rabbi Gittelsohn told the JTA,
in response to that assertion,
that ZOA leaders were making
"a considerable effort" to damp-
en Jewish criticism of Nixon
administration policies in South-
east Asia on grounds that "we
must not make the administra-
tion angry" because of possible
repercussions against Israel.

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Rejecting that attitude, the Re-
form leader declared, "We must
criticize American policies in Asia
as if there were no Israel while
supporting Israel's relationship
with the U.S. as if there were no
Asia."
Rabbi Gittelshon also complained
spite the ongoing crisis in the
Middle East, "the kind of state
that Israel will ultimately be is
being determined right now. In the
long run, Israel's security will be
assured more by adhering to the
prophetic ideals of Judaism than
by trying to put them in the
freezer."
The Reform rabbi contended that
by the lights of the ZOA leaders,
"Isaiah, Jeremiah and Amos were
`distorted' and 'myopic' in their
utterances." "We are not modern-
day Isaiahs, nor do we have to
apologize for our love and support
of the state of Israel," he said.
Rabbi Gittelshon also complained
that Rabbi Sternstein's statement
mentioned himself and Rabbi Pol-
ish by name while criticizing un-
related statements by a third
American rabbi who Sternstein re-
frained from identifying.
The third target of the ZOA
leader apparently was Rabbi
Arthur Hertzberg of Temple
Emanuel, Englewood, N.J., a
member of the Jewish Agency Ex-
ecutive presently in Israel.
Last June 13, Rabbi Hertzberg
accused Israeli political and relig-
ious leaders of 'apathy and in-
sensitivity" toward the existence
of poverty in Israel.'

.

Rabbi Sternstein labeled those
remarks "unwarranted, unfound-
ed and irresponsible." He said
they were made "without . . .
taking into account the extra-
ordinary difficulties and com-
plexities of its (Israel's) immi-
gration problems."

According to Sternstein, Israel
"is striving mightily, in the midst
of unprecedented defense expendi-
tures, to solve these problems with
justice and equity." He added,
"The pressure cooker of the in-
gathering of the exiles" cannot be
"expected to produce palatable
concoctions overnight."

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