18 Friday, February 14, 1975
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
► I
WJC Focus: Diaspora, Israel and Soviet Jews
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The
World Jewish Congress ended
its 6th plenary assembly Mon-
day night with a pledge by Dr.
Nachum Goldmann, its presi-
dent, to bring the congress back
to Jerusalem for a special con-
vocation "on that glorious day
when peace comes to Israel."
Dr. Goldmann said he felt
there might be peace "in one or
two years — not 10 or 20, "as
some others believe." "When
the day does come," he said,
"world Jewery will come to Is-
rael to celebrate peace with its
people and to help launch the
new day- when all the energies
' and genius of ours may be di-
rected toward the creative tasks
of peace."
Dr. Goldmann spoke to some
617 delegates and observers
from Jewish communities in 50
countries.
signing of an accord with the
WZO that he said would permit
the WZO -to establish a more
formalized and responsible as-
sociation and thus make a more
significant contribution to Jew-
ish international projects."
Summing up achievements
Dr. Goldmann said the plen-
of the week long assembly,
ary focussed on: -
Dr. Goldmann said a major
• Mobilizing the support for
success had been the bringing
Israel "in its hour of need".
in of new leadership to the
• Creating some institu-
congress movement. He par- - tional framework for establish-
ticularly mentioned Philip
ing genuine dialougue between
Klutznick of Chicago, the
Israel and the Diaspora.
newly elected chairman of the
• Helping Soviet Jewery's
WJC governing board.
struggle to be free. Dr. Gold-
Dr. Goldmann also cited the
mann expressed-the view that if
the Middle East scene were
stabilized leading to the re-
sumption of normal diplomatic
relations between Israel and
the Soviet Union, "the result
started before the recent an-
might prove most significant
nouncement of the Vatican
for Soviet Jews."
guidelines on the Jews.
do' Resolving the issue of
In his address given at the "double loyalty."
cathedral in the afternoon,
Dr. Goldmann alluded to a
Rabbi Sobel stressed that both
controversial statement he
Jews and Christians must work
made in his opening address,
together to solve problems in
when he said there may develop
New York City and the world.
"conflicts" in times of crisis be-
He urged Jews to support reli-
tween the loyalty of Jewish citi-
gious freedom for the Catholic zens to their own countries and
Church where it is denied such
to Israel."
as in Czechoslovakia and for
"The real danger the WJC
Christians to speak up on the
faces is not the right to equality
plight of Soviet Jewry.
but the right to be different,"
He added: "To truly under-
Dr. Goldmann stated. "The
stand us, you will have to
pressures to conform are enor-
understand the relationship
mous — and the danger to the
between the Jewish people
Jewish community the most
ominous."
and the state of Israel .. .
that land is part of our soul
Dr. Goldmann was re-elected
and we call- upon you, Chris-
president of the WJC by an
overwhelming show of hands.
tian brothers, to lend us your
voice as we proclaim the right
Although no count was
of the state of Israel to exist
taken, it was evident that the
with freedom and peace along
only hands raised against him
side of her Arab neighbors.
were those of the Herut delega-
Justice and equality for Is-
tion which bitterly opposed his
raeli -and Arab; no more and
re-election. There were a num-
no less — that is what we
ber of abstentions, mainly
seek."
-among the delegates of the
Msgr. Rigney said that Jews
World Union of General Zi6n-
and Catholics "need to spend
ists and Mizrachi supporters.
time together . . . meeting in
The election was preceded by
spasm, always on the occasion
a prolonged and stormy debate
of a particular crisis, has been
during which Herut leader
too much the situation up to
Yosef Klarman denounced Dr.
now. With regular conversation
Goldmann for his controversial
views on Israeli political mat-
and inevitable growth in candor
ters and Soviet Jewry.
we will come to a fuller and
Pinhas Sapir, chairman of
more realistic view of our
goals."
the World Zionist Organization
and Jewish Agency executives,
Terence Cardinal Cooke,
vigorously praised the 80-year
archbishop of the Archdiocese
old WJC head as a true Zionist.
of New York, said that estab-
The Denial of a Herut mo-
lishing "a real, dialogue" every-
tion for a secret ballot on
where Jews and Catholics live
grounds that some of the sig-
side by side will result in the
natures on their petition were
betterment of the community.
Rabbi, Priest Switch Pulpits;
Urge Catholic-Jewish Relations
NEW YORK (JTA) — At a
unique convocation Tuesday, a
rabbi spoke for the first time
from the pulpit of St. Patrick's
Cathedral while a Catholic
priest spoke at Temple Emanu-
El here.
The addresses by Rabbi Ron-
ald B. Sobel, spiritual leader of
the Reform temple, and Msgr.
James F. Rigney, rector of St.
Patrick's marked the beginning
of a year-long "honest dialogue"
between the two houses of wor-
ship.
The convocation also was the
scene for making public guide-
lines for Catholic-Jewish rela-
tions in New York City spon-
sored by the temple, the
cathedral, the Anti-Defamation
League of Bnai Brith and the
Archdiocese of New York.
Both Rabbi Sobel and
Msgr. Rigney stressed at a
press conference prior to their
sermons that Temple Emanu-
El and St. Patrick's were not
trying to impose their will on
other houses of worship in
New York City, but hoped
that their example would lead
other synagogues and
churches to adopt similar
programs.
They stressed they would not
be conducting common services
nor shedding their independ-
ence but would work together
to solve problems faced by Jews
and Catholics and to achieve a
better understanding betWeen
the two groups.
The convocation marked the
10th anniversary of the state=-
ment on Jews issued at Vatican
Council II. But Msgr. Rigney
said work on the guidelines had
Congress Won't Raise Syria
Jews Issue During M.E. Talks
WASHINGTON, (JTA) —
Congress is exptected to heed
the Ford Administration's ur-
gent request not to renew ac-
tion at this time on behalf of
the 4,000 persecuted Syrian
Jews and block the State De-
partment's intetion to grant $25
million to the Syrian govern-
ment to help the U.S. peace-
making effort.
dle East this week in his step-
by-step negotiating between
Israel and the Arab states, the
State Department wanted to
grant the gift without having to
insist that Syria end its harass-
ment of Jewish citizens.
granting Syria any part of the
$100 million fund for special
Middle East requirements
without giving the Congress the
prerogative of barring it.
"We're swallowing hard and
being quiet for the moment," a
key congressional source sym-
pathetic to the Syrian Jews
said.
"If the $25 million can help
the negotiations for peace —
and we are told Kissinger
thinks it will — we'll shut up
for a little while," another
source said.
Capitol Hill sources said
that top Administration offi-
cials, including at least one of
Kissinger's foremost lieuten-
In the foreign aid legislation - ants, asked key congressmen
adopted by the Congress in De- not raise the Jewish issue at
cember and signed into law by least for this one time, noting
Syria is a key country in the
President Ford, the Adminis-
on-going negotiations effort.
tration was prohibited from
Under the law, the State De-
partment must inform the Con-
gress of its intention. With Sec-
retary of State Henry A.
Kissinger returning to the Mid-
invalid, precipitated the only
disorder at the session. The
Herus delegation rose en
masse and numbers of them
moved threateningly toward
the podi,um. The chairman
`Anya' Author Gets
Jewish Book Prize
NEW YORK — Susan From-
berg Schaeffer is the 1974 recip-
ient of the Edward Lewis Wal-
lant Book Award to be
presented on April 27 in Hart-
ford, Conn. Ms. Schaeffer is
being recognized for her novel
"Anya," published by Macmil-
lan last September.
Given each year to an Ameri-
can Jewish writer for a work of
fiction, this award was estab-
lished by Mrs. Irving Waltman
and friends to perpetuate the
memory of the young writer of
"The Pawnbroker." It is co-
sponsored by the Hartford Jew-
ish Community Center. Ms.
Schaeffer joins such notable
previous winners as Chaim Po-
tok and Cynthia Ozick.
called on ushers to block
them, at which point Klarman
ordered the Herut delegates to
return to their seats.
Former Premier Golda Meir
sent letters last week to Pre-
mier Yitzhak Rabin, Sapir and
Itzhak Korn, chairman of the
Israeli executive of the WJC,
urging them to block Dr: Gold-
mann's re-election. Mrs. Meir
apparently had some support,
but the Labor Party leadership
concluded that it was too late to
select an opposing candidate
and that opposition to Dr. Gold-
mann would create a breach
with Labor delegates from
abroad who supported him.
Other officials elected in-
cluded Klutznich as chairman
of the governing board; Chair-
man of General Council Leon
Dulzin of Tel Aviv; Treasurer
Sol Kanee of Winnipeg, Can-
ada; Secretary General, Dr.
Gerhard M. Riegner of Geneva
and North American regional
vice president Edgar Bronfman
of New York.
WJC vice presidents include
Nissim Gaon of Geneva; Dr. Ar-
thur Hertzberg of Englewood,
N.J.; Dr. Joachim Prinz of
South Orange, N.J.; Ezra Shap-
iro of Jerusalem; and Sam Nor-
ich of Madison, Wisconsin.
The congress also unani-
mously adopted a "Decla-
ration of Jerusalem" which
pledged the delegates to
"stand steadfast with the peo-
ple of Israel in the resolve to
maintain the unity and integ-
rity of Jerusalem as the capi-
tal of the state of Israel."
Mordechai Bar-On, director
of the World Zionist Organiza-
tion's youth department, told
the WJC "a central place" must
be found for Israel in the lives
of young Jews all over the world
and that their ultimate identifi-
cation with Israel must be
aliya. -
At another session, two let-
ters from Jews in the Soviet
Union were read. One urged the
WJC to continue its efforts on
behalf Orthe struggle of Soviet
Jews to emigrate. The other
sought the organization's help
to imporve the absorption proc-
ess in Israel.
Dr. Gerhart Riegner, - secre-
tary general of the World Jew-
ish Congress, said- that the or-
ganization's future tasks
included building relations with
Third World countries that
have no Jewish populations and
therefore, no understanding of
the history and aspirations of
the Jewish people.
broad spectrum of Jewish opin-
ion: from Communist and non-
Zionist to extreme nationalist
Herut views.
He -said Menachem Beigin's
proposal — for a "council of_
world Jewry and the State of Is-
rael" comprising 30 Knesseters
and 30 elected diaspora leaders
— was not viable or realistic.
He said Israel could not con-
template such a violation of its
sovereignty.
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He also urged further devel-
opment of relations with
Christian churches and preli-
minary steps toward the initi-
ation of similar talks with the
Moslem authorities.
Harry
( :( STON I
(1.6- rwrit
During the plenary, Dr. Gold-
mann defended the rights of
individual Jews abroad — or of
individual Jewish organizations
— to take issue with Israel on
policy matters. The WJC, he ex-
plained, obviously cannot do so
because it embraces such-a
Diners' Club
Almogi Rejects Cabinet Seat
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Pre-
mier Yitzhak Rabin is still
searching for a suitable candi-
date to fill the cabinet vacancy
created by the resignation of In-
formation Minister Aharon
Yariv last week.
Yosef Almogi, the mayor of
Haifa who was offered a cabi-
net post by Rabin, rejected it
last Friday on grounds that it
would conflict with his mayoral
duties.
Alrnogi, a leader of the Labor
Party's Mapai faction, had been
expected to accept Rabin's invi-
tation to serve as a minister-
without-portfolio which would
have allowed him to devote
most of his time to Haifa's
municipal affairs.
Just West of Coolidge
LI 5-3558
pressed in Yariv's letter of res-
ignation that there was no need
for an information ministry
and that its functions could be
better exercised by a depart-
ment of government attached to
the prime minister's office.
Monday, Thursday, Friday
9 to 9
Tues., Wed., Sot.,
9 to 6:30
SUN. 11 to 3
UESS WHAT?
a
However, he told the pre-
mier during a visit to Haifa
that he felt he could not serve
in the government and at the
same time exercise his obliga-
tions to the citizens of Haifa.
Rabin announced Almogi's
decision to reporters last
week.
That decision was said to
have been influenced by Justice
Minister Haim Zadok's view
that it was poor administrative
practice for a cabinet officer to
hold a local elective office.
Almogi had been minister of
labor in the government of for-
mer Premier Golda Meir. He re-
signed last year to run for
mayor of Haifa. -
Meanwhile, the Mapai leader-
ship is reportedly pressuring
Rabin to name former Foreign
Minister Abba Eban to the va-
cant cabinet seat. Rabin, whose
cool relations with Eban precip-
itated the latter's resignation
from the government, has so far
refused.
It appears certain, however,
that Rabin will abolish the in-
formation ministry, created
less than a year ago. He is said
to agree with the view ex-
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