C Right. Wing Rise
The Battle of Israel's Chief Rabbis
By MOSHE RON
with in the Chief Rabbinate,
Jewish News Special
Israel Correspondent
but Rabbi Goren rejected
this demand. The legal ad-
viser of the government,
Prof. Aharon Barak, ruled
that the Chief Rabbinate
could deal with any matter,
without approval of the two
chief rabbis.
The last conflict between
the two chief rabbis
stemmed from the nomina-
tion of new religious judges.
Rabbi Yosef vetoed one of
Rabbi Goren's candidates.
There were counter-charges
against. Rabbi Yosef's son-
in-law.
Rabbi Yosef demanded
new elections for the Chief
Rabbinate, accusing mem-
JERUSALEM — The
"open war" between the two
Chief Rabbis of Israel, the
Ashkenazi and Sephardi,
has split the Orthodox popu-
lation into two camps and
strengthened the anti-reli-
gious feelings of a great part
of the Israeli population.
Israel has two dynamic
chief rabbis, who know how
make use of the mass-media
;- "heir sharp controversy
clashes.
Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi
Shlomo Goren was born in
Eretz Israel of pioneers and
founders of Kfar Hassidim
near Haifa. He was chief
army rabbi and reached the
rank of brigadier general
and was even a parachutist.
He is stubborn, strong-
minded, and belives that
Israel is an integral part of
the redemption of the Jew-
ish people and continues the
visions of the prophets.
The extreme Orthodox
circles in Israel reject this,
and do not recognize Rabbi
Goren.
Rabbi Goren is a Zionist
and member of the
Mizrachi movement,
which creates friction be-
tween him and the extreme
Aguda circles.
Sephardi Chief Rabbi
Ovadia Yosef was born and
educated in Iraq. When Is-
rael was established Rabbi
Yosef was vice chief rabbi of
Cairo.
He came to Israel in 1951.
He thinks himself superior
in rank to the Ashkenazi
chief rabbi because Se-
phardi chief rabbis have
been active in Eretz Israel
since 400 C.E.
A major conflict be-
tween them is Rabbi Goren
advocating abolition of
the two chief rabbi posts
and election of one chief
rabbi by the Israeli popu-
lation.
Two extreme rabbis of
Jerusalem, Bezalel Zalty
and Eliezer Goldschmidt,
who were not members of
the Chief Rabbinate, organ-
ized rabbinical oppostion
against the ruling of Rabbi
Goren regarding
"Mamzerim" (illegal chil-
dren). They gained the sup-
port of Rabbi Yosef in this
case.
Also, Rabbi Goren, has an
absolute majority of sup-
port in the Chief Rabbinate.
Rabbi Yosef demanded that
only matters which are
agreed upon between the
I chief rabbis be dealt
Coming in Israel?
NEW YORK — Israeli
frustration over the Middle
East situation and the
domestic economy has en-
couraged the growth of the
country's right wing, which
now holds slightly more
than one-third of the 120
seats in Israel's parliament.
Writing in the current is-
sue of Present Tense: The
Magazine of World Jewish
Affairs, Naomi Shepherd,
Israel correspondent for the
New Statesman (London),
points out that the Likud
bloc (the right wing), "polled
nearly half-a-million votes
in the last elections in 1973
and theoretically there is no
reason why, with slightly
better luck in the next elec-
tions and a new political
alignment of parties in ac-
cordance with present be-'
liefs rather than past tradi-
tions, the Likud should not
form a government."
Present Tense, whose edi-
tor is Murray Polner, is pub-
lished by the American Jew-
ish Committee and is
sponsored by the Bergreen
Institute of Foreign Policy
Studies and Publications.
It is quite possible, Ms.
Shepherd writes, that the
Israeli political right wing,
and the nationalist groups
on its fringe, may influence
Israeli policy in the near
future.
bers of blind support for
Rabbi Goren in exchange
for religious judgeships.
One of the members of
the Chief Rabbinate, Rabbi
Eliezer Shapira, sued Chief
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef on this
allegation.
"Peace-angels" from both
sides went into action in
order to seek a compromise
for peaceful co-existence.
Rabbi Yosef restrained two
Knesset members of Agudat
Israel from making a formal
Knesset proposal to abolish,
the Chief Rabbinate.
Experts believe, that if a
compromise between the
two chief rabbis is ar-
ranged, it will last only a
very short time.
`Women in the Pulpit' Renews
Women's Role in Ritual Issue
Women are slowly mak-
ing gains in professional
fields traditionally domi-
nated by men, but in the re-
ligious realm, establishing a
presence may be slower
still.
In "Women in the Pulpit:
Is God an Equal Opportu-
nity Employer?" (Dou-
bleday) Priscilla and Wil-
liam Proctor take an
objective look into the diffi-
culties women have found in
pursuing a profession in the
church or synagogue.
Carter Heyward, one of
the 11 "irregularly" or-
dained Episcopal priests,
found that her male coun-
terparts regard women who
desire to enter the church
hierarchy as lesbians.
While in their respective
seminaries, Reconstruc-
tionist Rabbi Sally Sasso
and Reform Rabbi Sally
Priesand encountered a
male chauvinist attitude
by their fellow students
and outsiders who felt they
were at the seminaries to
find a husband.
Rabbi Sasso did find a
husband at the seminary.
However, she and her rabbi
husband, Dennis, occupy
separate pulpits, contrary
to the opinion held by her
co-religionists that she was
going to teach in the Sunday
school of her husband's con-
gregation.
Although not avowed
feminists, Rabbis Sasso and
Priesand have changed
some of the male-oriented
language used in the serv-
ices to make it more human
and less masculine.
According to Rabbi Prie-
sand: "In the prayer book
when I come to the word
Border Villages Honored
Philatelic
The
Services division of
the Israel Ministry
of Communications
will issue a new IL
1.50 multicolored
••• •• •••11•••••• •••••••••••••• ••••••• commemorative
stamp this month to
honor Israel's border
V.rp tr`lan • 1J u.'1.1,no ► u'in)
settlements.
-
.
ind that thi:","
The
stamp
Psaims a4.9
shows a community
in the distance with a strand of barbed-wire in the fore-
ground, and states in Hebrew and English a passage from
Psalms 104:9 . . . "Thou has set a bound that they may not
pass over . . ."
`mankind,' I say 'humanity,'
. . . When I come to 'men,' I
say 'people.' Instead of 'God
of our fathers,' I insert 'God
of our ancestors.' "
Finding a job has been
difficult for women who
pursue the ministry as a
vocation. Many have
found that most congrega-
tions don't want to be led
by a woman for any num-
ber of reasons, from the
flimsiest to the ridiculous.
One rabbi interviewing
Rabbi Priesand said he
wouldn't want a woman
rabbi as his assistant to do
things "like go to a ceme-
tery on a cold day or visit
someone at night." Rabbi
Priesand found his atti-
tude to be "ridiculous."
The Proctors' book deals
with the role of women in
other major religious de-
nominations, including the
Catholic Church, where for
the first time women are
seeking greater roles in
services and administration.
"Women in the Pulpit"
provides an important com-
mentary on a controver-
sial contemporary issue —
acceptance of women into
traditional male-dominated
fields — and makes for
thought-provoking reading
for students of modern so-
cial issues.
—H.P.
Ford's Rabin
Dinner Firsts
Bulk of Free Loans
Aids Day Schools
NEW YORK (JTA) — The
Hebrew Free Loan Society
in New York reported that it
had become an important
bulwark of support for
hard-pressed Jewish day
schools and yeshivot, re-
sponding to a 400 percent in-
crease in requests for loans
since 1972.
Milton Schwartz, presi-
dent, said that while the
society, which provides in-
terest-free loans, has been
making them to Jewish
schools for more than 20
years, "the growth of de-
mand for assistance by sup-
porters of schools indicates
the pressing problems they
face."
He said that in 1975, the
society loaned a total of
$1,050,000 to the schools,
"primarily for cash flow
purposes — meeting pay-
rolls on time, pressing bills
and other emergencies."
.
President and Mrs. Ford
hosted a state dinner for
Mr. and Mrs. Rabin last
week which included several
"firsts."
Mrs. Ford joined a hora
with enthusiastic pro-Is-
raelis who were among the
approximately 260 guests
at the dinner and dance.
The number of guests also
was seen as a first. Usually,
invitations for a Presiden-
tial state dinner go to about
120 persons of whom about
100 attend. Last night 160
came to dinner and an addi-
tional 100 joined in the en-
tertainment and champagne
later.
Although the Rabins, Kis-
singer and Vice-President
Nelson Rockefeller retired
early, the Fords stayed on
the dance floor until early
morning.
Among Jewish commu-
nity leaders attending were
David Blumberg, Melvin
Dubinsky, Max Fisher,
Guilford Glazer, Rabbi Ar-
thur Hertzberg, Frank R.
Lautenberg, Mrs. Rose
Matzkin, Rabbi Israel
Miller, Sam Rothberg, Dr.
Maurice Sage, Rabbi Alex-
ander M. Schindler and El-
mer L. Winter.
Members of the U.S.-Is-
raeli Joint Business Council
present were John R. Bunt-
ing, Raymond N. Carlen,
James P. Horn, and William
B. Nicholson. Among celebr-
ities were actor Danny
Kaye; author Herman
Wouk; quarterback Terry
Bradshaw of the Pittsburgh
Steelers football team;
Olympic skiing champion
Suzy Chaffee; tennis player
Christine Evert; and Carl-
ton Fisk, Boston Red Sox
baseball team catcher.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, February 6, 1976 45
Late Pope John Israel Friend?
(Editor's Note: Rabbi
Marc H. Tanenbaum, na-
tional director of interreli-
gious affairs of the Ameri-
can Jewish Committee,
delivered the following
statement in New York on
the recent release of de-
classified documents on
the Vatican's role in the
Holocaust, during his
weekly commentary pro-
gram.)
The publication two
weeks ago of declassified
Vatican docments that deal
with the role of the Holy See
in relation to the Nazi
slaughter of Europe's Jews
and the rise of the state of
Israel raises as many ques-
tions as the documents were
apparently intended to re-
solve.
What is surprising is the
opposition attributed to
Pope John to the rebirth of
Israel.
My sense of shock grows
out of the fact that in March
1963 the Vatican's Augustin
Cardinal Bea informed the
late Rabbi Abraham J. Hes-
POPE JOHN XXIII
chel and myself on a confi-
dential basis at a private
meeting in the Boston Chan-
cery that Pope John was
planning to recognize the
state of Israel during Vati-
can Council II as a gesture
of friendship to the Jewish
people.
Tragically, Pope John
died shortly thereafter, and
so apparently did that rever-
sal of Vatican policy.
Israel's Battle and the Bottle
BY DAVID SCHWARTZ
(Copyright 1976, JTA, Inc.)
Chaim Herzog, the man
who leads Israel's battle at
the United Nations, has had
a very interesting career. He
fought alongside of the Bri-
tish in World War II and
was a general in Israel's war
of independence, but he is
not a combative person nat-
urally. On the contrary, it is
generally agreed that he is
friendly and a bit easy-
going.
He comes of that kind of
stock. His father was Chief
Rabbi of Ireland. His fath-
er's work on Jewish law was
praised by the late Supreme
Court Justice Cardozo as
one of the best works on the
philosophy of law he had
ever read. Also being Chief
Rabbi of Ireland, he was
naturally something of a
fighter. All Irish are fight-
ers.
Chief Rabbi Herzog also
possessed a good sense of
humor. We recall hearing
him tell an Irish story about
a priest who had refreshed
himself with a bit of stimu-
lant before administering
last rites to a dying man.
"Father, will you please re-
peat that last prayer?" said
the dying man. The priest
obliged and then the daying
man asked for another repe-
tition.
"But Pat," said the
priest, "there is nothing to
be gained by repeating the
words." "It isn't the
words," said Pat, "it is
your breath."
Chaim Herzog tells a dif-
ferent kind of story about
the subject of drinking. Her-
zog had occasion to call on
the Russian envoy to the
UN, Yakov Malik, in the lat-
ter's capacity as president
of the Security Council. As
he was received, Malik told
Herzog he was sorry he
could only offer him some
water. "That was all," he
said, "the UN had provided
him."
"Don't worry," replied
Herzog, "I'll bring you a bot-
tle of Israeli Vodka." At
this, Malik said, "In my
view, Scotch can only be
made in Scotland, Pilsner in
Czechoslovakia and Vodka
in Russia."
So Israel, according to
Malik, has no right to make
Vodka. It seems as wrong
for Jews to make Vodka as
for them to have a little
state of their own.
But if Malik was indig-
nant at the thought of Israel
daring to manufacture some
Vodka of its own, he is ap-
parently not as bad as some
of the other envoys to the
UN. He does condescend to
recognize and talk with the
Israeli envoy.Many of the
delegates, according to Her-
zog, even refuse to greet
him.
Others might be of-
fended by this, but accord-
ing to a story in the New
York Times which reports
the incident, Herzog feels
that this non-recognition
has its good side.
"It reduces the amount of
official drinking one has , to
do," Mr. Herzog said. "I
think it must be terrible to
be the representative of a
country that is recognized
by everybody." Herzog is
further quoted as saying
that envoys lack guts.
But after all, if as Malik
says, only Russia has the
right to make Vodka, what
can you expect? And surely
Israel has quite a problem
fighting not only a battle
but the bottle.
Bar-Ilan U. Has
Exhibit on U.S.
TEL AVIV — Bar-Ilan
University recently opened
a special exhibition to honor
the American Bicentennial.
The display comprises of
1,500 books dealing with
United States during the
past 200 years.
In conjunction with the
Bicentennial, the depart-
ment of general history at
Bar-Ilan is organizing a se-
ries of seminars dealing
with various subjects con-
cerning the U.S.