16 Friday, August 22, 1975

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Centuries-Old Passion Play to Be Revised at Oberammergau

NEW YORK (JTA) —
Two major American Jew-
ish organizations expressed
gratification at the decision
to shift the focus in the Ob-
erammergau Passion Play
from the Jews' role in the
death of Jesus to that of Lu-
cifer. However, one major
Jewish organization ex-
pressed reservations.
Rabbi Marc H. Tanen-
baum, the American Jewish

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Committee's national direc-
tor of interreligious affairs,
whose departmental staff
conducted and publicized
two line-by-line analyses of
the Passion Play text in the
past 10 years, termed the
change in focus a "signif-
icant breakthrough in the
decades-long struggle to
uproot prejudice and anti-
Jewish hatred."
He declared that the deci-
sion to eliminate anti-Semi-
tic references in the play
was of particular signifi-
cance because it took place
on the eve of the 10th anni-
versary of the declaration
by Vatican Council II which
officially removed the

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charge of deicide from the
Jewish people.

Rabbi Tanenbaum ex-
pressed special apprecia-
tion to "Catholic officials
in Vatican City, West Ger-
many and the United
States, as well as to the
German government au-
thorities and the mass
media," all of whom, he
said, played decisive roles
in bringing about the tex-
tual changes.

The American Jewish
Congress stated, "It is wel-
come news that the people
of Oberammergau have fin-
ally come to appreciate the
importance of presenting

U.S. Rabbi Plans
Romanian Visit

NEW YORK (JTA) — The
Romanian government has
invited Rabbi Israel Miller,
chairman of the Conference
of Presidents of Major
American Jewish Organiza-
tins, to a state visit in Ro-
mania.
Rabbi Miller said that he
accepted the invitation and
that he will be going to Bu-
charest at the end of this
month. The invitation, he
said, "is a significant act on
the part of the Romanian
government."
Noting that there has
been an increase in the
number of exit visas given
to Romanian Jews, Rabbi
Miller said that he was
"optimistic," and that the
most-favored-nation status
extended to Romania by
Congress last month was
"justified" in view of the
recent improvement in the
pace of emigration.

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the crucifixion play with fi-
delity to the Biblical text
and with regard to the sen-
sibilities, rights and dignity
of other religious faiths."
The current Passion Play
text, last performed in 1970,
was written almost 100
years ago, and contained
numerous references to
Jews as having been respon-
sible for the crucifixion of
Jesus. The decision to revise
the text was made on July
30 at a meeting of the Town
Council of Oberammergau,
which agreed to return to
another version of the play,
written in 1750.
The current version takes
eight hours to perform, and
involves 1,800 adults and 400
.children. Town council offi-
cials estimated it would cost
$200,000 to modify the play.
In 1970, more than 500,000
people viewed perform-
ances.

The AJCommittee's
analysis in the 1960s noted
little difference from a per-
formance in 1934, which
Hitler praised in these
words: "It is vital that the
Passion Play be continued
at Oberammergau, for
never has the menace of
Jewry been so convinc-
ingly portrayed as in this
presentation of what hap-
pened in the time of the
Romans."

Feelings ran so high in
1970 that Lufthansa, which
had launched a publicity
campaign for the festival in
the United States, had to
cancel it.
The AJCongress, which
launched an international
campaign nearly nine years
ago to eliminate all anti-

Disraeli, Kissinger Compared

NEW YORK — "We have
brought you back, I think
peace with honor." Thus
Benjamin Disraeli ad-
dressed his populace upon
his return from the Con-
gress of Berlin in 1878.
This was a man consid-
ered alien, who made him-
self fashionably exotic, who
acquired a name by writing
books before entering poli-
tics under various patrons.
He acted alone, by secret
diplomacy, with abrupt rev-
ersals and sudden coups de
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Change the year, change
the name, change the popu-
lace and you might be
speaking of Henry Kissin-
ger, according to Garry
Wills, author of "Kissinger
as Disraeli?," in the July
issue of Moment magazine.

Disraeli was the first
man of Jewish ancestry to
become Prime Minister of
England. Kissinger is the
first Jewish U.S. Secre-
tary of State. Though Dis-
raeli gained respectability
and support through bap-
tism after a Jewish-edu-
cated youth through Bar
Mitzva, Kissinger's Or-
thodox Jewish back-
ground was succeeded by
an adulthood in which he
did not formally reject his
heritage, but studiously
avoids all reference to it.

He likes to impress a Res-
ton or Alsop by quoting
Aeschylus and saying he
formed his ideas of historic
inevitability from Greek
tragedy, never from Isaiah
or the Book of Job.

"He seems to have been
convinced, from the outset,"
according to Wills, "that
this would impress the
Christian gentlemen of Har-
vard." This analysis of the
parallel paths and philoso-
phies of Disraeli and Kissin-
ger is the opening article in
Moment's second issue.

Semitism in the Passion
Play, said "It has never been
a question of seeking to sup-
press a celebration of the
Passion of Christ. The
choice is not between the
genuine and synthetic but
between two texts of equal
standing, one of which
avoids a deplorable attain-
der of the Jewish commu-
nity for the death of
Christ."
The AJC said, "We op-
pose that kind of religious
or artistic commitment
which can find satisfactory
release only in discredited
libel against the Jewish peo-
ple."

However, Rabbi Leon

Klinicki, director of the
Anti-Defamation League
of Bnai B'rith's depart-
ment of Jewish-Catholic
relations said, "The an-
nounced changes if they
are real changes, are wel-
come and will help the
cause of Christian-Jewish
understanding.

"However, it is important
to point out that in medieval
times, Jews were charged
with being 'agents of the
devil' and some texts even
referred to Jews as the chil-
dren of Lucifer. It is to be
hoped that the elders have
not exchanged one set of an-
ti-Semitic references for
another."

Doreen Gainsford-Catalyst
of Soviet Jewry Struggle

By MARK SEGAL
(Copyright 1975. JTA, Inc.)

LONDON = Doreen
Gainsford, the attractive
mother of two, who has
been among the driving
spirit of the Women's Cam-
paign for Soviet Jewry (the
355) in Britain, has now
achieved world fame as the

force behind the Soviet
Jewry demonstration in
Helsinki. There she drama-
tized with her fellow women
activists the plight of Soviet
Jewry before the watching
eyes of the mass media
gathered from the world at
large.

The wife of a business-
man, Mrs. Gainsford was
brought into public Jewish
affairs by a deep concern for
Soviet Jewry. She has - led all
of the major Soviet Jewry
demonstrations in London
in the past few years at the
head of an organization -
known as the 35s, not neces-
sarily because of the wom-
en's age but because it was
the number of the original
prisoners of conscience im-
prisoned by the KGB.
Mrs. Gainsford's imagi-
nation and flair for leader-
ship soon added an extra
dimension for demonstra-
tions for Sylva Zalmanson
and the Panovs. They had
such demonstrations with
humor as taking a goat
along in a large cage rep-
resenting a scapegoat
theme, or a long-haired
woman in flesh colored
tights riding a horse in a
Lady Godiva act.

Such ideas kept the Soviet
Jewry fight alive with the
British public. At the same
time, parallel activities
emerged throughout Britain

for Soviet Jewry galvanized
by incoming reports of Jew-
ish suffering — these in-
cluded special committees
for doctors and scientists,
and all kinds of local activist
groups, which combine on
occasions for joint cam-
paigns.
In keeping with the cen-
tralized, traditional nature
of Anglo Jewry, the Board
of Deputies resolved to take
the campaign under its wing
and formed a Soviet Jewry
actions committee.
In recent months there
has been mounting; criticism
that this body is moribund

and for various reasons is
soft pedaling the Soviet Je-
wry campaign to near para-
lysis. The call went out to
form an American-style
national conference on So-
viet Jewry.
This was seen as threat-
ening the establishment by
some of its members and
the result was the forma-
tion of a special committee
to study recommendations
on how best to organize the
Soviet Jewry campaign.
But the activists including
Mrs. Gainsford, Dr. Harold
Merskey, chairman of the

medical and scientists coni-
mittee, and others, came out

against this body. One of
the driving forces behind
the activists is June Jacobs.
a leader of the Association
of Jewish Women's Organi-
zations in Britain, who has
personally brought over
from Israel at her own ex-
pense a number of Soviet
immigrants to speak to au-
diences here. Their com-
plaint is that the silence of
the official line does not
help the cause of Soviet Je-
wry.

Israel Flood Aid
Sent to Romania

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Is-
rael is providing flood-
stricken Romania with $2
million in aid, Commerce
Minister Haim Barley said
Monday.
Speaking at a rally of
Romanian Jews marking
the 31st anniversary of Ro-
mania's liberation from
Nazi rule, Barley said the
aid will be in the form of
fertilizer, fodder, seed and
medical supplies.
He said a Romanian eco-
nomic delegation will visit
Israel at the end of the year
to negotiate trade agree-
ments.

Barley said there is room
to expand trade between the
two countries as Israel's
exports to Romania total
$17 million and imports $27
million. However, he noted
in the area of tourism there
is much room for expansion.
While 16,000 Israelis visited
Romania last year only 2,-
000 tourists came to Israel,
Barley said.

