THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Friday, February 14, 1975 45

World Laws Hit Genocide

The Genocide Convention for
the prevention of genocide and
the punishment of the organiz-
ers of genocide arose out of a
general reaction to the Nazi
crimes against the Jewish peo-
ple. After World War II, the au-
thoritative Encyclopaedia Ju-
daica relates, a movement
developed demanding that such
acts be condemned as an inter-
national crime, and their perpe-
trators be punished.
This condemnation was to be
Id by all civilized nations.
i,erm "genocide" was coined
in 1944 by the Polish-Jewish
lawyer Raphael Lemkin in his
book "axis Rule in Europe."
The Genocide Convention was
directly connected with the In-
ternational Military Tribunal
at Nuremberg, where the Nazi
plan to exterminate Jews wher-
ever possible was publicly re-
vealed in all its brutality.

The United Nations, which
in the preamble to its Charter
had renewed the affirmation
of basic human rights and the

recognition of the value of
human life, could not ignore
what happened in this sphere.

Consequently, at its first ses-
sion on Dec. 11, 1946, after it
had confirmed the principles of
international law which had
been introduced by the legisla-
tion of the Nuremberg tribunal,
the General Assembly adopted
a resolution, condemning geno-
cide as a crime in international
law, and determining that all
nations have an interest in pun-
ishing such cases.
The text of the Convention
was unanimously adopted by
the Genera'! Assembly on De-
cember 8, 1948. By January
1969, 67 countries had ratified
it, some with important reser-
vations.
The Judaica reports that the
Convention outlaws not only
mass murder but also several
other actions of a less extreme
nature, taken against groups of
individuals. While there is no
legal definition of the term
"genocide," the characteristic
trend is the intent to destroy,
wholly or partially, a national,
ethnic, racial, or religious
group.

Since the Convention aims
at the prevention as well as
the punishment of genocidal
action, it determines that not
only those who carry out such
actions are liable to punish-

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ment, but also those who take
certain measures liable to
bring about genocide.

One of the main achieve-
ments of the Convention is its
application to every criminal,
regardless of his status. It
therefore applies equally to rul-
ers who bear the legislative re-
sponsibility for the act, on pub-
lic functionaries, and on private
indivuduals.

This directive overrules the
argument of an "act of state,"
which contends that leaders of
'the state are free of responsibil-
ity, performing their action not
in their own name but in the
name of the state.

The effectiveness the Conven-
tion had in the first 20 years of
its existence has not been put to
the test. Claims of genocide
being committed -were made in
regard to Negroes in Southern
Sudan, to Kurds in Iraq, to
Nagas' in India, communist
Chinese in Indonesia, and to the
Ibos in the Biafran War in Ni-
geria. But, says the Judaica, no
attempt was made to "seize"
the General Assembly with
these claims.

During early 1974, the Con-
vention came up for Senate rati-
fication in Washington. Al-
though hundreds of American
organizations had endorsed it,
the opposition, especially the
ultra-right wing Liberty Lobby
and the John Birch Society, had
campaigned hard for its defeat,
and they were victorious. The
treaty, signed by the U.S. but
never formally ratified, was not
approved.

Lahay Youth
to Join USY
Parley Here

Lahav Chapter United Syno-
gauge
Youth, based at Cong.
, ISRAEL, U.S.A.,
Beth Achim, will join youth
and EVERYWHERE
chapters from Central Region
• for the USY Regiohal Conven-
tion March 21-23 at the Shera-
ton Cadillac Hotel.

Plane, Bus, Car and Hotel
ReServations

POTTER

MOVING &
STORAGE CO.

One of Allied Van Lines Largest Haulers

1300 N. Campbell Road
Royal Oak

2253 Cole Street
Birmingham

MI 4-4613

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Lahav has services 10 a.m. ev-
ery Saturday at the synagogue.
Everyone is welcome.

Lahav is preparing for a win-
ter retreat to be held Feb.
28-March 2 in Canada. There
will be religious, cultural and
social events.

There is a "Drop-In" for all
area youth 6:30 p.m. Wednes-
days at the synagogue.

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Indian immigrdnts_ out for a stroll

ALIYA and ABSORPTION

Blind Immigrant Studies to Help Others

Ellen Rubin went totally blind at the age
of 17, a year before her high school gra-

duation in Baltimore, Maryland. Now in
her late 20's she has had an outstanding
career, first in America and for the last
six years in Israel, as a teacher of the
blind, a teacher of teachers, a lecturer
and a researcher„ Still not satisfied that
she knew enough about teaching, she ap-
plied to the famous Bank Street School
of Education in New York, to study for
a Master's Degree in Special Eudation,
and was accepted.

Her next problem was to raise enough
money to cover the expenses. She had
some savings, and others helped, but there
was still quite a gap to fill. Joint/Malben,
the American Joint Distribution Commit-
tee's agency in Israel for services to the
ill, the old and the haffdicapped, was very
impressed with her achievements and with
her willingness to make the considerable
effort necessary to take the course. They
contributed $2,500 as a grant towards ex-
penses for the first academic year. It was
also part of Joint/Malben's campaign of
manpower development to help fill Israel's
urgent needs for skilled workers in the
social work field.

Ellen's story reveals her determination
not to allow blindness to drain the mean-
ing and productivity from her life. At 14
she began bumping into furniture. Her
parents took her from doctor to doctor
but her eyesight grew steadily worse. One
finally revealed that she had retinitis pig-
mentosis, that she had almost no vision
left, and that nothing could prevent her
from eventually becoming totally blind.
"I was so low," she recalls, "that there
was no other way to go but up. I could
still see enough to make my way around
the high school by following the lights in
the hall ceiling, but not well enough . to
recognize faces." When she lost even that
much sight, in her final year, someone
had to walk her from classroom to class-

room and a special teacher taught her
Braille and the use of a cane.
After graduating from high school she
went to a rehabilitation center for the
blind and learned street crossing, boarding
buses, finger spelling and speed-listening.
She entered Washington College in 1963
and was graduated in 1967 among the top
third of her class, having spent summer
vacations as an instructor's aid at a home
for blind.
_ She came to Israel in 1968, attended
Ulpan Motzkin and the George Simmons
Rehabilitation Center in Beersheba. She
not only learned to speak fluent Hebrew,
she learned to read, write, and teach
Hebrew Braille. When she found the
Hebrew Braille book poor, she wrote a
new one which was published by the
Jewish Braille Institute of America.
During the Yom Kippur War the Mi-
nistry of Defense asked her to work with
blinded soldiers and she continued that
after the war as a volunteer. She lec-
tured frequently in Israel on blind reha-
bilitation.
She had her own flat in Beersheba —
two bedrooms, living room, kitchen and
balcony — and sometimes had roommates
to help meet expenses. She dates, en-
tertains, cooks, sews, knits, and gets
around alone by foot, bus and now, in
New York, by subway, just with the help
of a cane.
Ellen prefers a cane to a guide-dog.
She feels that with a cane she can tell
better when shes at a curb, or at steps,
or before some obstruction. "And you
don't have to feed a cane, or walk it,
or clean up after it," she laughingly
points out.

Ellen feels there's a great need in Isra-
el for good teachers to work with the

handicapped. She believes the country
needs - people with special educational
skills who are trained to work with the
blind and not just feel sorry for them.

From Israel Digest

GOLD IN BIBLICAL TIMES

Only seven metals are men-
tioned in the Bible and gold is
always listed first (the others
are silver, copper, iron, tin,
lead, and antimony).
The importance of gold is not
a new phenomenon. Proverbs
(21:21) describes the refining of
gold and silver in a furnace
while the working of metals
was executed by special smiths
and craftsmen, the first of
whom was Tabul-Cain.
According to the Encyclopae-
dia Judaica, deposits of gold
found in or along streams were
the prinicpal sources for the an-
cient Middle East. The washing
of gold ore is depicted on Egyp-
tian monuments nearly 5,000
years old.

When members of an expe-

dition, about 1,200 BCE,
seized gold that was washed
out of the river sands in Ar-
menia, and used sheepskins
for this purpose, the legend of
the Golden Fleece was born.

gold they contained. Gold Was a
symbol of 'wealth and position
and served as capital but not as
a means of payment.

The Bible mentions various
places from which gold was
brought into the land of Israel.
The Judaica states that schol-
ars do not agree as to the identi-
fication of most of these places
but in all probability they in-
clude the countries in which
gold mines were located in the
biblical period: Egypt, Sudan,
Saudi Arabia, and India.
As early as the patriarchal
period, gold was used to manu-
facture jewelry and fine vessels
(Gen. 24:22) whose value was
measured by the amount of

Prof to Speak
at Beth Shalom

Cong. Beth Shalom will pre-
sent Leonard Tennenhouse, as-
sistant professor of English`at
Wayne State University, 8:15
p.m. Thursday at the syn-
agogue.

Tennenhouse will speak on
"Israel Among the Powers."
The community is invited.
There is a charge, and refresh-
ments will be served.

