1 ,
44 October 17, 1975
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Official Soviet Government View of Jewish Citizens Revealed
Soviet embassy releases
based on the Novosti official
USSR news agency again
deny anti-Semitism in Rus-
sia and glorify the mythical
"Jewish state" of Biro Bid-
jan.
While presenting some
established facts, the new-
est releases portray a glo-
rious picture of Jewish life.
For the first time such re-
leases received by The Jew-
ish News speak of large at-
tendance at religious
services.
The glorification of Biro
Bidjan is a continuing at-
tempt to point to a Jewish
settlement with a Yiddish
newspaper. These claims
have long been disputed.
The paper is a reduced sheet
limited in circulation among
a handful of Jews amidst a
large' non-Jewish popula-
tion.
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by HATTIE •
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SCHWARTZ
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One press release stated:
"On Saturday, at the
very end of September, in
the evening on the eve of
the Torah (Bible) holiday
not less than 1,500 people
gathered in the Moscow
Choral Synagogue. Many
of them were very old men
who seemed to have come
out of the pages of the
works of Sholom Alei-
chem, although young
faces could also be seen.
"According to our ritual,
we daily pray and observe
our forms of worship. There
is in particular a great num-
ber of parishioners on Sat-
urdays, as a rule not less
than 1,000," said Mikhail
Tandetnik, 56, chairman of
the Moscow Religious Jew-
ish Community Board.
"He told me that a great
deal of matzot is baked an-
nually. It is taken home to
the ill and the aged. The re-
ligious community supplies
its members with kosher
meat. The synagogue's base-
ment is provided with a
mikva which is a ritual ba-
thing place. There is a yesh-
iva, a Jewish rabbinical col-
lege.
"When I said that West-
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jerry fenby
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ern information media, in Arkhipov St. (where the
particular the Voice of synagogue stands) has
America and the BBC, con- been repeatedly halted."
stantly mention the 'obsta-
A second press release
cles' placed by the authori- quotes Lev Shapiro, first
ties on the normal work of secretary of the Communist
the synagogue and the 'ar- •Pa\rty of the Soviet Union
rests made for religious con- Committee of the Jewish
victions,' or claim that mili- Autonomous Region:
tiamen burst into the
"There are more than
synagogue, Tandetnik said:
2,000,000 Jews in the USSR,
" 'This is a sheer inven- but no "Jewish problem"
tion.'
exists. Just as citizens of any
" 'Militiamen do not other nationality, Jews have
enter the synagogue. We the same rights and enjoy
ourselves turn to the mili- all the privileges which a so-
tia on the eve of great holi- cialist society provides for
days, asking for help in its members."
maintaining order around
Shapiro says, "There are
the synagogue. Of special. some 8,000 Jews among the
use is the assistance by deputies of the Supreme
traffic regulators to avoid and local Soviets of the
incidents and accidents USSR and the Union re-
when the parishioners publics. Jews are also to be
leave the synagogue. At
our request the traffic in
Gershom Scholem
in Boston U. Post
BOSTON — Gershom G.
Scholem, the world-re-
nowned Judaic scholar who
has devoted over 50 years of
intense study to Jewish
mysticism, has joined Bos-
ton University's faculty for
a single semester. Named to
the university's Department
of Religion, the noted
scholar will teach courses in
Judaic studies.
Scholem began studying
kabala at the University of
Berlin. In 1922, he wrote his
doctoral dissertation on an
obscure kabalist text.
His dissertation was fol-
lowed by eight books and
more than 500 articles on
Jewish mysticism, the sum
of which is credited with
opening up the once esoteric
purview of Jewish ascetics
to concerned scholars and
students of religion.
While at the university,
Dr. Scholem will serve as
the Andrew W. Mellon
Professor in the Humani-
ties. The endowment sup-
porting his stay was estab-
lished last year through a
grant from the Andrew W.
Mellon Foundation in New
York.
It was granted to provide
support for a professorship
in any area within a broad
spectrum of the humanities
on a permanent basis.
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USSR have been received by
1,460 Jews — 13 percent of
the total number.
He added, "The paper,
"They are also among
the executives of major `Birbidjaner Shtern' and the
administrations and enter- monthly literary magazine
prises. The Soviet state- ,`Sovetish Heimland' are
highly values the contribu- published in Yiddish in our
tion made by persons of country. Fiction and other
Jewish nationality in de- literary works of Jewish
veloping the economy, authors are being published
science, and culture.
in rather large editions.
"Some 340,000 Jews have Jewish drama and musical
been decorated with orders ensembles and amateur art
and medals of the USSR: collectives are active in
117 have received the title of many Soviet cities including
Hero of the Soviet Union, Moscow, Leningrad, Birob-
and 80 have received the ti- idjan, Vilnius, Kishinev,
tle of Hero of Socialist La- and Chernovitsy."
He said, "The ow
bor. The title of Lenin Prize
Laureate has been received whelming majority of So-
by 120 Jews — 11 percent of viet Jews do not even im-
the total number of prize agine leaving Russia, their
winners. State Prizes of the Motherland. At the same
found in the highest execu-
tive body of state power,
The Council of Ministers.
Black Rejects Racist Tag
for Israel After Long Visit
BY DAVID FRIEDMAN
(Copyright 1975, JTA, Inc.)
NEW YORK — A Black
psychologist who spent 15
months in Israel believes
that the Jewish state cannot
be considered a "racist" so-
ciety as some American
Blacks have charged.
The conflicts in Israeli
society cannot be viewed in
American terms of Black-
white relations since they
are based on cultural differ-
ence rather than color, ac-
cording to Dr. Sandra A.
Garcia, an associate profes-
sor of psychology at the
University of South Florida
in Tampa.
Dr. Garcia was in Israel
from Sept. 1973 to Dec. 1974
on a Ford Foundation fel-
lowship to study the assimi-
lation of Jews from Mor-
occo. She said she had
become interested in Ash-
kenazic and Sephardic Jews
and wanted to see if this
could be compared to the
American race problem. She
chose the Moroccan Jews be-
cause they are the largest
Sephardic group in Israel.
Although the Sephardic
Jews tend to be darker
than the Askenazic —
some Indian Jews are dar-
ker than most American
Blacks — there is no color
prejudice in Israel in the
American terms, Dr. Gar-
cia stressed.
She said the conflict is
chiefly based on the fact
that Jews from North Af-
rica and Asia come from dif-
ferent cultures than the
Jews who immigrated from
Europe. The social conflict
in Israel should be com-
pared to the conflicts be-
tween different immigrant
groups to the U.S. in the
early part of the century,
she noted.
However, Dr. Garcia said
certain conditions on the
surface do seem similar to
present day American prob-
lems. The Ashkenazic Jews
are predominant in the
power structure and hold
the top jobs in Israeli so-
ciety; poor Sephardic Jews
live in slum areas which
could be compared to Amer-
ican ghettos; Sephardic
Jews test lower on IQ exam-
inations and they, particu-
larly the Moroccans, are
blamed for increased crime.
There is even busing for in-
tegration in Jerusalem.
At the same time, every-
one in Israel is committed to
closing the social gap, Dr.
Garcia noted. She said she
never found the hatred of
other ethnic groups that
she, as an American Black,
has experienced in the U.S.
Perhaps most important
since everyone is a Jew, all
want to assimilate and be-
come Israelis, she said.
Dr. Garcia said the
problem may be solved in
Israel in a few generations
as groups intermarry and
as the various ethnic
groups assimilate into so-
ciety. She said one poten-
tial source of a race con-
flict could appear when
some 25,000 Falasha Jews
immigrate from Ethiopia.
Dr. Garcia said the 25
million Blacks in the U.S.
have enough problems at
home without getting in-
volved in the Mideast con-
flict, especially without first
having adequate informa-
tion.
She does not want Blacks
to hang a Black-white racial
conflict tag on Israel. She
said that before Blacks call
Israelis names in solidarity
with their so-called Third
World brothers, they should
learn the facts.
Orthodox Slate
National Event
NEW YORK — The first
national Orthodox leader-
ship conference on public af-
fairs has been announced in
a letter by Harold M. Ja-
cobs, president of the Union
of Orthodox Jewish Congre-
gation of America, to promi-
nent leaders of the North
American Jewish Commu-
nity. The conference will be
held Nov. 26-30 in New York
City and will be open to rep-
resentatives of all North
American Orthodox com-
munities and institutions.
Jacobs has also an-
nounced the appointment of
David H. Hill, chairman of
the UOJCA commission on
internal Jewish affairs as
the conference's chairman,
and Sheldon Rudoff,
UOJCA vice president. as
conference co-chairman.
time, due to religious
views, unbridled Zionist
propaganda, and the fact
that some Jewish families
were disunited as a result
of World War II, a definite
number of persons of Jew-
ish nationality expressed
their desire to leave the
USSR."
He said the USSR re-
stricts emigration for per-
sons who have received spe-
cial military training, who
are employed in enterprises
of the defense industry.
"Due to their activities,
they have access to confi-
dential state material. The
consent of other members of
the family, who are legally
entitled to the care and ma-
terial support of persons
wishing to emigrate from
the USSR, is also taken into
account."
Shapiro said more than 95
percent of those who apply
are permitted to leave the
USSR, but did not mention
application difficulties.
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