38 Friday, August 1, 1975
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Soviet Jews Urge Helsinki Participants to Help
Reunite Them With Relatives Living in Israel
NEW YORK (JTA) —
Forty Soviet Jewish activ-
ists from eight cities have is-
sued an appeal to "all the
countries participating in
the European Security Con-
ference in Helsinki to assist
us in reuniting with our rel-
atives in Israel," the Stu-
dent Struggle for Soviet Je-
wry reported. The SSSJ said
the reason for the appeal
was that the activists had
heard that the conference
"had accepted the principles
of assisting the reunifica-
tion of separated families."
Commenting on the ap-
peal, Malcolm Hoenlein, ex-
ecutive director of the
Greater New York Confer-
ence on Soviet Jewry, said
that "one of the forms of
harassment employed by
Soviet authorities against
Soviet Jews applying for vi-
sas to Israel is the forced
separation of families. In-
creasingly this new tactic is
in evidence, with parents
separated from children and
husbands from wives.
"The European Security
Conference has called for
the facilitation of the reuni-
I
fication of families. If the
Soviet Union is truly inter-
ested in detente and cooper-
ative endeavors, then let it
start by implementing these
most basic human princi-
ples."
In a related develop-
ment., thousands of New
York residents of all faiths
sent telegrams to Presi-
dent Ford asking him to
remember the plight of
Soviet Jews in his talks
with Soviet Communist
Party General Secretary
Leonid Brezhnev and to
give priority to human
rights considerations at
the security conference.
At the same time, stu-
dents at the Max and Rose
Heller Hebrew Academy,
the Bayside, N.Y. day
school, staged an eight hour
!`Torahthon." The event
raised more than $1,000
from the families and
friends of the pupils, which
will benefit a special fund
created by the Greater New
York Conference on Soviet
Jewry.
three more Jews — Anatole
Malkin, Yaacob Vinarov and
Lev Roitburd — have been
imprisoned and await "show
trials."
Meanwhile, spokesmen
for the Women's Cam-
paign for Soviet Jewry
said Wednesday that six
women activists for Soviet
Jewry, led by Doreen
Gainsford of Britain, were
arrested outside the Amer-
ican Embassy in Helsinki.
The group, demonstrating
as the International Worn-
en's Campaign for Soviet
Jewry, had traveled to the
Finnish capital Tuesday.
In London, the Board of
Deputies of British Jews
has urged all governments
ALEXANDRA
participating in the final
stage of the European Con- They had intended to urge
ference on Security and the world leaders gathering
Orchestra and Entertainment
Cooperation in Helsinki this there not to forget the plight
month to express their great of Soviet Jewry during their
concern to the Soviet au- negotiations. They had also
thorities over the treatment intended to hand in letters
of Jews in the Soviet Union to this effect to Finnish
and to urge immediate steps President Kokkonen, the
SELMA'S
to grant Soviet Jews their chairman of the conference.
YARN SHOP
The six women were ap-
elementary human rights.
13075 W. Lincoln
prehended outside the em-
Board
President
Lord
Lincoln Tower Apts.
Fisher of Camden, declared bassy apparently as Soviet
Ground Floor 96S-1015
summer hrs Mon-Fri 10-5
the situation of Soviet Jews leader Leonid Brezhnev and
has deteriorated since the President Gerald Ford were
European Security Confer- meeting inside. They were
ence first convened two just about to unfurl their
years ago. He noted that the banners as they were
Photography
Soviet authorities had re- quickly transported away.
Weddings - Bar Mitzvah,
duced Jewish emigration Finnish police denied that
Social Events
from 3,000 a month in 1973 the women had been ar-
647-5731
to under 100 a month at pre- rested, but observers in Hel-
Eves. and Weds.
sent. The ranks of Jewish sinki said that if they were
prisoners of conscience sent- peacefully demonstrating
Jack Drapkin
enced to long prison terms they would normally have
851-2671
increased this year and been left alone.
Over 30 Years_
Meanwhile, the Union of
Councils for Soviet Jews and
PERMANENT HAIR REMOVAL
the Long Island Committee
for Soviet Jewry reported
the expulsion of Viktor
Licensed Electrologist
FREE Consultation
Stern, 33-year-old son of
jailed Soviet Jewish physi-
private and confidential by appointment
cian Dr. Mikhail Stern.
358-5493
Inez Weissman, presi-
dent of the union who met
ProieN ∎ intial
Viktor in Israel, made the
announcement. Stern's
The
father, Mikhail, was given
an eight-year sentence on
Sheldon Rot t
a trumped-up bribery
Orchestra
charge.
and
The 57-year-old physician
Vickie Carroll
refused to work as a camp
doctor where he is impris-
oned and is forced to work
in a machine shop. He is
suffering from heart and
stomach ailments and a
SPECIALIST
Foreign Car Service
spinal disorder.
IN
According to Ms. Weiss-
VOLKSWAGEN
AND
man, the elder Stern, issued
PORSCHE CARS
a last will and testament be-
cause he felt he could not
CALL
survive the harsh treatment
he was getting in the camp.
548-3926
The Stern family had
548-4160
been the target of contin-
541-9704
uous harassment since ap-
LARRY FREEDMAN
647-2367
DRAPKIN
1111111111111111111•MMIIMMOSIIIMIMV
Al' s
1018 W. 9 Mile Rd.
Alfons G. Rehme
FERNDALE
MICH.
Between Livernois
& Pmehurst
mobs. Ida Stern, wife of the
jailed physician, an d her
sons, have been interrogated
numerous times and subject
to illegal searches. Mrs.
Stern is suffering from
brain cancer.
The SSSJ also reported
that Joseph Gurevich, a
recent Russian Jewish
emigrant, has appealed to
"American public opinion
to save my cousin Alexan-
dra Dmitrochenkova of
Riga."
"The Soviet authorities
constantly persecute her.
She is shadowed by police
agents, her telephone has
been disconnected and mail
is not delivered. The KGB
told her, 'We will never let
you go'. All the invitations
for exit from Israel have
been intercepted, and all
eighteen registered letters
that I have sent her since
October 1974 have not been
received.
Letters of protest may be
sent to: Director, KGB,
Lenin and Engels Street,
Riga, Latvian SSR, USSR
and to Alexandra Dmitro-
chenkova, Gorky Street 159,
apt. 37, Riga, Latvian SSR,
USSR.
In Jerusalem, Pinhas
Sapir accused the Soviet
Union of deliberately issu-
ing exit visas to Jews who
had no intention of going
to Israel in order to prove
that Soviet Jews seeking
emigration had no interest
in Israel.
In a radio interview, Sa-
pir, who is chairman of the
Jewish Agency and World
Zionist Organization Execu-
tives, charged that the So-
viet authorities continued to
take measures against Jews
seeking to immigrate to Is-
rael, including the interro-
gation and arrests of aliya
activists. The measures
were designed to intimidate
Jews who want to to go to
Israel, Sapir said.
•
Jerusalem Newsvendor
•rsi from "Present Tense"
Jordan Bans Book
by Hassan, Elon
JERUSALEM — Reports
reaching here stated that
the Amman newspaper Al-
Rai reported that the direc-
tor of press and publications
in Jordan has ordered the
banning of the book "Be-
tween Enemies", published
in Arabic as "Bin Al-Aa-
dah", and written by Egyp-
tian-born author Sana Has-
san and the Israeli
journalist Amos Elon.
The book deals with the
differing perceptions of the
two writers regarding the
Middle East conflict but
concludes with an appeal for
Arab-Israeli understanding
and mutual tolerance.
Soviet Jew in U.S. Teaches
Gymnastics in New Jersey
DEAL, N.J. — Aspiring
gymnasts at the Monmouth
YM-YWHA here are getting
the opportunity of being
coached by Leonid Blacher,
a newly arrived Russian
Jewish immigrant who
earned the Soviet Master of
Sport Award twice, and is
certified as in international
gymnastics judge.
Blacher, who grew up in
Leningrad, has been in the
United States since June
1974. He now lives in New
Jersey with his wife in the
U.S. today. In an interview
with the Asbury Park (N.J.)
Press he explained how in
Russia "you have to write
everywhere that you are
Jewish, on every paper, ev-
ery form. It is not just a reli-
gion with them. Everybody
keeps it a secret that he is
Jewish if he can."
For many reasons,
"political, social, na-
tional," Blacher felt that
he had to leave. He had
plying for exit visas to Is- thought about emigrating
rael, and their home has since 1953 but, "It was the
been frequently stoned by , time of Stalin. It wasim-
possible. I could only
dream about it."
After receiving an invita-
tion from his sister-in-law
in Israel to join her, Blacher
and his wife spent four
months filling out forms
before they were allowed to
leave for Israel, their first
stop on their way to the
United States. After a brief
time in Israel, they contin-
ued on to Rome, where they
stayed three months while
awaiting for an entry visa
for the U.S.
The gymnast,
who
worked for 16 years as a
gymnastics coach in the
Soviet Union, began his as-
sociation with the Mon-
mouth YM-YWHA as a
part-time gymnastics in-
structor. The board of trus-
tees was so impressed by his
talent and expertise, and by
the reaction of their mem-
bers to his classes, that they
decided to expand his part-
time teaching into a total
program, complete with full
gymnastic. equipment. . .
Jewish Burial
By RABBI SAMUEL J. FOX
(Copyright 1975, JTA, Inc.)
Jewish tradition insists
upon burying the dead as
soon as possible.
Basically the practice was
derived from a passage in
the Bible which dealt with
the corpse of a criminal who
had been executed because
of a crime that carried a
death penalty with it.
The Bible writes that
such a person, whose corpse
had been hanged: "You shall
not allow his body to sus-
pend from the tree . . . you
shall bury him on the same
day" (Deuteronomy 21:23).
According. to Ibn Ezra
this was a means of sancti-
fying the holy land of Is-
rael for whom it would be
a desecration to have a
corpse hanging overnight.
In Jerusalem there still is
a tradition, somehow,
which prohibits holding a
body overnight in general
circumstances.
This prohibition has been
extended to other countries
where traditionally, an at-
tempt is made to bury the
corpse no later than the
next day.
Other
commentan
claim that the reason for the
prohibition is that man,
even in his bodily form, still
reflects the image of God
(perhaps because the body
housed the soul). Not to
bury the corpse as quickly
as possible would therefore
be an insult to the Creator
in whose image man was
made.
Others claim that with-
holding the body from bur-
ial pays excess attention to
the body of man which
could lead to overstress and
even some sort of deification
of man's bodily existence.
Each child carries his own
blessing into the world..