Goldmann Criticizes Jewish Leaders' Survival Policies
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the
World Jewish Congress, said Saturday that Jewish leadership must
"reassess its political methods" to secure Jewish survival "in a radically
changing world." He told Bnai Brith's board of governors at the annual
midwinter conference here that present policies and actions of the Jewish
community are failing to cope with "the new political realities" of the Com-
munist and Third World blocs.
DR. NAHUM GOLDMANN
Goldmann urged contacts with the Third World which "knows lit-
tle about — and consequently has no understanding of — Jewish con-
cerns and aspirations." The emergence of the Third World and the
status of the Soviet Union and, potentially China as superpowers have
reduced the once preeminent political domination of the Western
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Note on Page 6
VOL. LXVIII, No. 20
democracies, increasing the anxieties of Jews throughout the world, he
said.
He called for "long-range initiatives" by Jewish leadership and added
that "one of the weaknesses of present Jewish policy is that it deals only
with momentary problems, reacts only to crises." Goldmann told the
110-member board that "the Jewish people cannot continue to secure its
survival by means which were useful and effective in past generations.
They must be changed to meet a new world situation."
Goldmann cited what he termed the "growing isolation of Israel"
as a consequence of the changing international scene in which the pol-
itical hegemony of industrially advanced democracies is declining as a
result of new political forces. Because of this development these coun-
(Continued on Page 6)
A Weekly Review
9
f Jewish Events
17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075 424-8833
Editorials
Page 4
$10.00 Per Year ; This Issue 30c
January 23, 1976
Lebanese Crisis, Border Threats
Increase Israel's Military Needs.
Detroit's Synagogues
Formalize Central Body
A movement for the centralization of congregational activ-
ities, along the patterns of the Synagogue Council of America
into which are merged the Conservative, Orthodox and Reform
branches of Judaism, took root here when the Synagogue
Council of Detroit was formalized at a dinner meeting held at
Cong. Shaarey Zedek Tuesday evening.
Robert Steinberg was elected president of the new Metro-
politan Detroit movement which functioned as a provisional
body for the past 15 months under the chairmanship of Robert
Canvasser, who presided at Tuesday's session.
With Rabbi Henry Siegman, executive vice president of
the Synagogue Council of America, as keynote speaker, the
formative meeting of the Detroit rabbis and lay leaders as-
sumed a national character, with this community emerging as
the first of the larger cities in the land to emulate the national
example of unity in synagogue activities.
Rabbi Siegman's address, in addition to defining the mul-
tiple functions of the Synagogue Council of America, took into
account the many duties as well as the obstacles facing reli-
gious institutions. He discussed the problems in American
Jewish life, anti-Semitism, mixed marriages, Federation-syn-
agogue relationships, and as a summation applauded the for-
mation of the Detroit Synagogue Council,
stating:
"We have our differences to be sure,
but the usual polemics can no longer be
permitted to dominate our agendas. The
real question is, how can we strengthen
one another, and what can we do together
to husband those precious Jewish re-
sources which the entire Jewish people
needs to draw on, not only for its survival,
but for a creative and purposeful Jewish
existence.
"In having formed a Council of Syn-
(Continued on Page 18)
Threats of a new PLO concentration on a border hitherto relatively invulnerable to attack by
government troops, the Lebanese crisis has added immensely to Israel's military needs for self-
defense. A Moslem victory in devastated Lebanon, whose Jewish population may already have
totally vanished, would mean an end to the "neutrality" which until now maintained a truce be-
tween Lebanon and Israel, and the only military actions within Lebanon were Israel's preventive
attacks on terrorist installations. There is little knowledge about the status of the few Jews who
may have survived the Lebanese onslaught other than the certainty that most of the 1,800 who
remained there in the beginning of 1975 are gone, that many may have escaped and that there is not
even a remnant of Jews left in Beirut.
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Reports from Lebanon Wednesday said a third brigade of the Syrian-com-
manded Palestine Liberation Army has joined two others that entered Lebanon earlier this week and
that elements of these have joined in the fighting. There were reports that PLA units were using Syrian
155mm artillery to shell Lebanese army units. The Lebanese regulars were trying to avoid contact with
the PLA and are withdrawing to the central mountain ridge that bisects the country, these reports said.
The latest incursion into Lebanon was by units of the PLA's Yarmoukh Brigade which is deployed on
the northern slopes of Mt. Hermon and in the region of southeast Lebanon known as "Fatahland" adjoin-
ing the Israeli border. According to reports from Lebanon they are taking part in the fighting around
Zaleh on the Beirut-Damascus road and in the
southern region. A battalion of the Kadessiyeh
Brigade that entered Lebanon earlier is also
deployed along the Beirut-Damascus road and
some of its elements may have joined the fight-
ing, the reports said.
WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Ford has ear-
Units of the Hittin Brigade are positioned
marked $1 billion for militaiy sales credits to Israel for
around the port city of Tripoli in northern Leba-
the U.S. fiscal year 1977 starting July 1, according to his
non, the country's second largest city. All of the
budget made public Wednesday. He stipulated that he
Palestinian units are equipped with armored
wishes Congress to provide him with authority to grant
cars and 155mm artillery, reports said.
Israel up to half of that amount as a gift at his
discretion .
Aiab affairs experts in Israel said that
The new budget request to Congress represents a
the invasion of Lebanon by Syrian-controlled
reduction of $500 million from the military credit sales
Palestinian units was intended to create a
of $1.5 billion recommended to Congress by the Presi-
"comfortable" atmosphere for the high-level
dent for Israel for the current fiscal year. In that recom-
Syrian delegation that arrived in Beirut
mendation he also asked for authority to forgive Israel
Wednesday, reportedly to seek a cease-fire in
up to half of his requested amount, or $750 million.
the Moslem-Christian civil war. Beirut Air-
The new economic security assistance program re-
quests $1.802 billion for all countries, a reduction of $70
port had been shut down and Middle East
million from the 1976 program. No breakdown of the
Airlines, Lebanon's national carrier, has
Proposed Aid to Israel
Down from '76 Level
(Continued on Page 6)
(Continued on Page 16)
Schindler Elected Chairman of Presidents' Conference
NEW YORK (JTA) — Rabbi Alexander M. Schindler, president of the
Union of American Hebrew Congregations, has been elected chairman of
the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
The first leader of Reform . Judaism to head the coalition of 32 national
secular and religious Jewish organizations, Schindler succeeds Rabbi Is-
rael Miller, who served two terms as chairman.
Rabbi Schindler told an Israeli newspaper the conference under him
will "tell Israel the truth as it (the Conference) sees it, not just as it thinks
Israel would like to hear it."
"It would be bad for the interests of all of us," said Schindler, if
the Presidents Conference were to be thought of only as an extension
of the Israeli government. Schindler's predecessor, Rabbi Israel
Miller, who held the chairmanship for two years, has been criticized by
some Conference members as having been too subservient to Israel.
Schindler, 50, who is also the president of the Union of American He-
brew Congregations (Reform), is noted for his often-outspoken liberal
views.
He told Haaretz correspondent Dan Margalit: "American Jewish lead-
ers tell Israel pleasant things but speak differently among themselves,
in their own internal consultations. I do not think this serves Israel best
because it leads to self-delusion.
"Israel," he continued, "has every right to tell American Jews its opin-
ions on every issue. But the Israeli viewpoint does not necessarily oblige
American Jews to ignore other considerations. Thus, for instance, Ameri-
can Jewry could decide if it wished, that despite the Israeli viewpoint it
opposes American activities in Angola."
RABBI SCHINDLER