14 Friday, August 19, 1977 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Rabbi Delcares Sex-Change Jewish Activist Mikhail Mager Jew Law Exits USSR, Joins Family in Israel Operations Against terpret as referring to any SAVE BUY YOUR NEW FORD FANTASTIC SAVINGS LEASE FORD LINCOLN GRAND PRIX OLDS, ETC. Mikhail Mager, 32-year- old radio engineer, has ar- rived in Israel from the So- viet Union, after five years of being denied an exit per- mit. In 1972, Mager's wife, par- ents and brother received permission to emigrate, but Mager himself was denied emigration and was contin- uously harassed by the KGB. Through the efforts of the Detroit Committee for So- viet Jewry, Cong. Shaarey Zedek "adopted" Mager two and a half years ago, and began a campaign of telephone calls, letters and telegrams to Soviet and American officials, pressing for Mager's release. Shortly after arriving in Israel, Mager underwent IM E REPAIR SHELDON METZ In Our Store "Your Something FORD Special Shoppe" 10 MILE & GREENFIELD Oak Park Center 967-3700 9 Mile & Coolidge 545-1399 MIKHAIL MAGER circumcision, and took the name Moshe. He and his wife have sent a letter of graditude to the members of Shaarey Zedek. Meanwhile, since his re- lease from prison in April, former Prisoner of Con- science Alexander Slinin has been awaiting his exit visa to Israel which, accord- ing to reports reaching the National Conference on So- viet Jewry, was received July 25. Indications are that he will be leaving Kharkov with his mother the end of August. Arrested and tried in June, 1974, the former stu- dent from Kharkov Univer- 5 lbs. of MATZO If ARNOLD MARoOLIS I can't Beat Your Best Deal argolis Household Furniture 30 YEARS at the some 0L-D STAND 6 Mile, 1 Blk. W. of Schaefer SHARPENING the PENCIL On All Name Brands Furniture and Bedding •SCHOOLFIELD •SELIG • SIMMONS •SEALY •SERTA •SPRING AIR • LA-Z- BOY •STIFFEL LAMPS • KROEHLER •AMERICAN •BURLINGTON •BASSETT •BARCALOUNGER • LANE • UNIQUE 13703 W. McNichols 342-5351 Hrs. Mon thri; Sat. 9:30 tit 5:30 NE11111•1110111111•W JEANETTE MAGER sity, refused to report to his local military registration office for army service after he had applied to emi- grate to Israel. While in prison, Slinin's health de- teriorated drastically due to the harsh conditions he ex- perienced. The Al Tidom Association reports from New York that sources in the Soviet Union indicate that the KGB has begun torture of Jews wishing to emigrate to Israel, with Eprit, a sul- fur derivative, which burns the skin with intense pain. In New York the Con- gress for Jewish Culture, on the eve of the 25th anni- versary of the execution of 24 Yiddish writers, poets and intellectuals by the Sta- lin regime, called upon So- viet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin "to relay to your government our deep con- cern about the future surviv- al of the Jewish minority as a cultural and religious en- tity" in the Soviet Union. Merzon Honored The United Aged Home of Moshav Sekenim in Jerusa- lem is erecting a tablet in honor of M. Manuel Merzon of Oak Park. According to Jacob Blau, secretary of the • home's board of trustees, the tablet will recognize Merzon's gen- erosity and devotion to the home. and orthodoxy in gen- eral. NEW YORK (.JTA)—The transformation of an individ- ual's sex through surgery is forbidden by Jewish law. ac- cording to a Yeshiva Uni- versity authority on the Tal- mud. - Rabbi J. David Bleich. professor of Talmud at the university's Rabbi Isaac El- chanan Theological Semi- nary and at Stern College for Women, made that as- sertion in a new book. "Con- temporary Halakhic Prob- lems." The book is de- scribed as analyzing mod- ern social, political. technological and moral problems from the per- spective of Jewish law. Dr. Bleich cited Leviticus 22:24 in support of his con- tention: "And that which is mauled or crushed or torn or cut you shall not offer to the Lord, nor should you do this in your land." He de- clared this was an explicit biblical prohibition of sex- change - operations. He also noted arguments by rabbinic scholars who in- EAST BERLIN—In the civil-rights dispute that has shaken East Germany since last year, authors and in- tellectuals say that tactics used to repress dissention are in some cases exacer- bated by subtle anti-Semitic overtones. A Communist Party mem- ber in Dresden has said that officials had com- mented in a closed session that "the ringleaders among the opposing in- tellectuals are Jews." Communists have avoided public statements on the highly sensitive issue, but Rolf Schneider, another writer involved. but who is not Jewish. reported that he found the words "dirty Jewish swine" scrawled on his garden wall. Overtones of anti-Semi- tism were also seen in the D doesn't fit El is a mistake ❑ can be avoided ❑ shouldn't be my problem as an employer ❑ all of the above* may make a clever cartoon, but it's not funny when translated to an office/employee situation! 'At JVS — We prescreen employees to match their abilities with your job openings. Give Us A Call at 557-5341 Jewish Vocational Service & Community Workshop 24123 Greenfield Road, Southfield Mich. 48075 22:3). , Dr. Bleich added that once such a sexual transfor- mation has taken place, a host of practical halakhic questions arise, hinging on "the crucial conceptual problem of whether or not a change of sex has indeed occurred from the point of view- of Jewish Law. He cited as the most obvious questions those involving marriage. divorce and the performance of religious ob- ligations. He also declared that while Judaism does not sanction surgical reversion of sex, trans-sexualism is considered a disorder "which should receive the fullest measure of medical and psychiatric treatment consistent with Halakha." Anti-Semitism Said to Exist in E. German Drive on Dissent A square peg in a round hole A square peg in a round hole action uniquely identified with the opposite sex, the commandment: "A woman shall not wear that which pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman's garment." (Deuteronomy expulsion from the Com- munist party of Sarah Kirsch, a writer and poet who is Jewish, but has no religious ties, Gunter Ku- nert, whose mother was a Jew, and Jurek Becker, who grew up in the Lodz ghetto. The three were thrown out of the party in the wake of a protest last November against the forced exiling of dissident singer Wolf Bier- mann. Miss Kirsch has ap- plied for exit papers and the latter two are also con- templating emigration. Most dissident emigres are not Jewish, and some in- tellectuals have remarked that the East German gov- ernment is deliberately driv- ing critical artists into emi- gration, albeit with a subtle anti-Semitic touch. Reformed Passion Play Is Presented OBERAMMERGAU, West Germany — A week- long series of test perform- ances of a reformed version of a traditional passion play that blames the crucifixion of Jesus on mankind sins rather than specifically on the Jews, has begun in the village of Oberammergau. Depending -on the villa- gers' reaction and general reaction to the perform- ances, the town council will decide whether to use the revised version in the 1980 regular season, or revert to the standard text, which many have branded as anti- Semitic. The present reformed ver- sion of the play is the prod- uct of a town actor who re- signed in 1966 over his fail- ure to change the text of the play. The town council later shifted attitudes, and asked him to present the play to test reactions., •-•