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June 21, 1974 - Image 48

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 1974-06-21

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

Discontent Surrounds Creation of Israelis New Government Under Rabin

By MOSHE RON
Jewish News Special Israel
Correspondent

The new government head-
ed by Yitzhak Rabin has
only a majority of 61 out of
120 Knesset members, and
it is a known fact that not

all of the 51. Knesset mem-
bers of the Maarakh (Align-
ment) were eager to vote for
this government.
Mordecai Porat, a member
of the Rafi group, had an-
nounced that he would not
do so and would return his
Knesset mandate to another

B-G's Debate With Churchill

`The Greater Man'

By MILTON MUTCHNICK
The year 1974 marks the
centennial of the birth of Sir
Winston Churchill.
This writer has acquired
some anecdotes on Churchill
—a particular favorite re-
lated by David Ben-Gurion,
former prime minister of Is-
rael.. In a 1966 interview,
Ben-Gurion described the
last meeting he had with
Churchill in 1963.
"For the greater part of
our meeting," said Ben-Gu-
rion, "Churchill remained
fairly .quiet, but when he
spoke it was with clarity of
voice and thought. We en-
gaged in a philosophic con-
versation with respect to our
individual choice of the
greatest man in history."
Ben-Gurion presented the
case for Moses and Churchill
championed the cause of Je-
sus Christ. -
The discussion closed in a
draw, with the battle soon
resuming by written corre-
spondence. The final letter
on the controversy was re-
ceived by Ben-Gurion, where-
in Churchi11 extolled the vir-
tues and enumerated the his-
toric consequences of Moses'
life. Churchill agreed that
Moses was recognized and
revered by more of the
world's population than was
Jesus.

Smiling, Ben-Gurion relat-
ed how "In a postscript to
the letter, Churchill rein-
forced his ,reputation as a
tenacious debater by ending
with the phrase . . . but
over all, of course, Jesus was
the greater man!' "
Ben-Gurion commented on
the fact that Churchill was a
supporter of Zionism al-
though his wartime govern-
ment coalition was not.
"I recall visiting in Lon-
don before World War II and
viewing a meeting of the
House of Commons when the
debate over Palestine was
held. Churchill objected to
the white paper then being
discussed. This white paper
was generally unfavorable to
the Jews, and I was very an-
xious about Churchill's stand.
He stood, faced the other
MPs and vehemently at-
tacked his party's stand. He
decried the betrayal of the
Jews and declared that there
should not be any restriction
on Jewish immigration into
Palestine. As you know, the
white paper was accepted as
government policy and indi-
rectly aided the Nazis in
their plans for the extermi-
nation of the Jewish people."
"After watching Churchill,"
continued Ben-Gurion, I real-
ized that he was indeed a
friend of the Jewish people.'

New 'Jeremiah' Translation
Features Art of Greek Jew

candidate of Rafi. Abba Eban
was very angry, about being
ousted from the foreign of-
fice, and Moshe Dayan told
his Rafi group that in his
worst dream he did not im-
agine that he would vote for
such a government.
Pinhas Sapir told the party
secretariat that had he not
already decided not to join
the new government, he
would have done so as a pro-
test against the ousting of
Eban.
The Eban affair and the
hiding of Yigal Allon for two
days so that no one could
try to influence him to give
up one of his two posts—the
deputy premiership and the
foreign office—have put up
a high wall between Mapai
and Ahdut Avoda. In the
Eban home, a meeting of
some Mapai leaders with
Sapir, and minister of housing
Yehoshua Rabinovics decid-
ed to reorganize a faction like
the Adhut Avoda and Rafi to
avoid having the two minority
groups occupy the most im-
portant government posts in
the future. As the Ahdut
Avoda leader, Yigal Allon,
has taken over the foreign
office from Abba Eban, a
closer liaison between the
Mapai and Rafi groups is
quite possible.
Rabin, who had been elect-
ed on the quota of Mapai and
was supported by Sapir and
other Mapai leaders, had lost
a lot of prestige in the eyes
of the Mapai group.
Eban was: hurt very much
by Rabin and Allon. When
Secretary of State Henry Kis-
singer was Eban's guest for
supper, he heard from Kis-
singer that Allon would be
Eban's successor and that
Rabin also had decided to
make his former commander
in the Palmach.(Yigal Allon)
deputy premier.

Technion's Harvey Prizes Going
to British Metallurgist-Physicist
and Kabala Scholar in Israel

HAIFA — A distinguished
British metallurgist-physicist
and former science adviser
to the British government
and a renowned Israeli schq-
lar in Jewish mysticism are
the 1974 winners of the Har-
vey Prizes, it was announced
by Maj.-Gen. (Res.) Amos
Horev, president of the Tech-
nion — Israel Institute of
Technology and chairman of
the Israel Committee for the
Harvey Prize.

Each prize bears a cash
award of $35,000.

The winner of the prize in
science and technology is. Sir
Alan Howard Cottrell, chief
scientific adviser to the Brit-
ish government from 1971 to
1974 and, since last April,
master of Jesus College of
Cambridge University.

"Just like clay in the hands of the potter, so are you in
My hands, 0 House of Israel!" is the title of one of the
woodcuts by Nikos Stavroulakis, Greek-born artist now liv-
ing in Jerusalem, which embellish the new translation of
"The Book of Jeremiah," newly published by the Jewish
Publication Society.

48 Friday, June 21, 1974



THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Leaving the two former
members of Ahdut Haavocla
Israel Galili and Yigal Al-
lon) in the new 'government
made a .bad impression on
the public. Both were mem-
bers of "Golda's kitchen cab-
inet" and were held respon-
sible for the mistakes before
the Yom Kippur War, to-
gether with Golda Meir and
Moshe Dayan.
An awkward situation has
come about: In the place of
Meir, Day a n, Sapir and
Eban, new members like
Moshe B a r a m, Shulamit
Aloni, Ahron Todlin, Gad
Yacobi and Abraham Ofer
join the new government
headed by Rabin. Sapir ex-
pressed his wish to dedicate
himself to aliya and absorp-
tion problems as chairman
of the Jewish Agency.
Most Israeli newspapers
wrote against the composi-
tion of the new government:
Maa-riv—The day will come
when we shall long for the
government of Golda Meir.
If occupying seats and port-
folios reflects the new style
in political, social and party-
life in Israel, we are cer-
tainly in a bad state. After
Rabin has proved himself
too weak to withstand pres-
sure in his party, it is doubt-
ful whether his government
will be able to solve the dif-
ficult problems facing Israel
and hold out for a long time.
Yediot Ahronot—It is the
first time in the history of
Israel that a government will
be supported in the Knesset
by some non-constructive
factions and also by Rakach.
Golda Meir's cabinet had a
golden government compared
with Rabin's government.
The new Rabin government
will have to face a strong
opposition of 54 of 120 mem-
bers of the Knesset. The
leader of the Likud opposi-

Prof. Cottrell is being
awarded the prize for his
"comprehensive theories con-
cerning the mechanical prop-
erties of materials," and for
relating "the role of gov-
ernment to advanced tech-
nologies," and for "his bold-
ness in harnessing the knowl-
edge of science to the wis-
dom of government which
has been an inspiration to
the scientists of his time,"
according to the prize cita-
tion.

The other winner is Prof.
Gershom Scholem, professor
emeritus of the Hebrew Uni-
versity, a pioneer and lead-
ing authority in the field of
Jewish mysticism and Kab-
ala, who was selected for the
prize in Literature of Pro-
found Insight Into the Life
of the Peoples of the Middle
East.

Prof. Scholem's citation
reads: ". . . His mind
which was trained in mathe-
matics and philology has
focused rational analysis,
scholarly investigation and
historical imagination onto a
strange and esoteric manifes-
tation of the human spirit.
He has inspired a new disci-
pline and revealed historical
roots pertaining to 20th Cen-
tury Jewish religion and
political thought."
Israel President Professor
Ephraim Katzir will present
the prizes to the Harvey
laureates at a ceremony at
the Technion Wednesday.
The Harvey Prizes bear the
name of the late Leo M.
Harvey of Los Angeles,
leader of the American
Technion Society. The , prize
fund was established by a
gift of $1,000,000 from the
Lena P. Harvey Foundation
in Los Angeles to the Ameri-
can Technion Society in 1971.

tion, Menahem Begin, has ment with non-confidence
declared that the new govern- votes, and the members of •
ment is an affront to the peo- the coalition hardly would be
ple, and everything should able to leave the country
be done to get rid of it as even for a short time. It
soon as possible. It looks as could be that the government
though the opposition bloc of would save itself at times
Likud, 'Mafdal (Religious) only with the support of the
and Aguda would try each two Communist factions,
time to oust the new govern- Moked and Rakach.

Boris Smolar's

'Between You .1

. . . and Me

Editor-in-Chief Emeritus, XV"
(Copyright 1974, JTA Inc.)

-

I

FEDERATIONS AND SYNAGOGUES: The Jewish Fed-
erations are the bastions of Jewish philanthropy in this
country. The approximately 3,000 synagogues of all three
denominations -- Reform, Conservative and Orthodox — are
the bastions of Jewish religion. Both are the central sources
of Jewish strength and commitment.
There is cooperation among the two in some fields of
Jewish activities. Synagogues are usually cooperating with
the Federations in their fund-raising efforts. Federations
in some communities are subsidizing congregational schools
but this is not the case in all communities.
There are congregations where no member can be
elected to the board of the synagogue if his contribution
to the Federation, or to the United Jewish Appeal, is not
considered satisfactory. And there are federations where
a local rabbi, or synagogue leader, must be a member of
the board of the federation. The practice differs in various
communities.
Of the approximately 3,000 synagogues .functioning
throughout the country—not counting small Orthodox
"shtiblach" whose' number is not known — some 1,000 are
in New York City. In the other larger Jewish communities
the number of synagogues is much smaller. Los 'Angeles,
the second largest Jewish community in the U.S., has only
about 150 Jewish houses of worship. Chicago has about 100
synagogues. Boston has 80; Philadelphia numbers 65; Mia-
mi counts 40; Cleveland 20; Baltimore 33; Detroit 25; St.
Francisco and St. Louis about a dozen each.
These figures include only cities with—ovem40,000 Jew-
ish population. In cities 'where the Jewish population is
smaller, the number of synagogues hardly reaches a dozen.
In a city like Atlanta, or Buffalo, or Minneapolis there are
onL six synagogues in each community. In the smaller com-
munities the number of synagogues is naturally smaller.

NEW LOOK: The Council of Jewish Federations and
Welfare Funds has taken a new look at the relationship
between the federation and the s:,-nagogues. It created
a, special task force on federation-synagogue relations and
it conducted an inquiry to which 74 federations responded.
Of the responding federations, 31 reported holding
regularly scheduled meetings among its executives and
rabbis for discussion of mutual concerns. This practice
was somewhat more frequent in large cities and in small
cities than in intermediate cities. Nineteen communities
were convening regular meetings betAen federation lay
leaders and synagogue officers. Some of the federations
emphasized that such liaison was maintained on an ad hoc
basis, in relation to specific issues.
Thirteen of the participating federations reported re-
cent direct allocations to their local board of rabbis for
general programs and chaplaincy services. The New York
Federation—which maintains a full-time consultant on re-
ligious affairs—allocated last year $120,000 for chaplaincy
services and mila board. The Chicago Federation allocated
$113,500 to the local board of rabbis and the chaplaincy
services. In Los Angeles the sum of $73,000 was allocated,
and in Philadelphia $39,600. The allocations by the remaining
nine federations was from $5,000 to $150.
Twenty federations reported some sort of relationship
to synagogue capital financing. On the other hand, syna-
gogue meeting room facilities were available and ir
federation and the general community in two-thirds
responding 74 communities, on a'rental basis in some cases.
The use of more specialized synagogue facilities, such as
camps, gymnasiums, swimming pools was reported by
less than five per cent of the responding federations.
The federations now spend more than $11,000,000 a
year on Jewish education. However from the data collected
by the Council of Jewish' Federations no clear-cut picture
emerges on how much of this sum is spent for synagogal
Jewish education. This is because of conflicting interpreta-
tions by federations as to their role in synagogal education.
Almost half of the federations provide funds for day
schools. In the 10 larger cities the day schools have received
from the federations in 1971-72 more than $1,345,000. This is
about $250,000 more than in 1970. These cities include Boston,
Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Newark, Los Angeles, Miami,
Philadelphia, St. Louis and San Francisco. In the 10 - large
intermediate cities the federations granted more than
$400,000 to local day schools in 1972 as compared with
$321,000 in 1970.

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