THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Sephardi Laments Condition
of the Egyptian Synagogues

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Nis-
sim Gaon, president of the
World Sephardi Federation,
returned from a visit to
gypt with a gloomy report
on the condition of ancient
synagogues there and the
religious and cultural trea-
sures that belonged to the
_once flourishing Egyptian
Jewish community.
Gaon headed a delegation
of 1-1 Sephardi Federation
by Egyptian
Foreign Minister Butros
Ghali to survey the situa-
tion of Egyptian Jews, their
houses of worship and ar-
tifacts.
"To our regret, these were
not preserved properly and
only part of them still
exist," he told reporters at a
press conference. "Many
precious objects were taken
from the synagogues and
distributed all over the
'world."
Gaon said the delega-
tion found the Adali St.
Synagogue in Cairo, one
of the oldest and once one
of the richest, in a badly
deteriorated state. "The
structure is in danger of
collapsing and its base-
ment was flooded," he
said. That synagogue
once had one of the most
valuable collections of

gold oranments.
The even more ancient
Ben Ezra Synagogue, which
the Egyptians claim was
built on the site where the
infant Moses was rescued
from the Nile, is in worse
condition, Gaon said. He
said a thorough study will
be made but in his opinion
there is no way to save the
building.
The Ben Ezra Synagogue
once contained a priceless
collection of original manu-
scripts, books and scrolls,
but regretably, they are no
longer there, the Sephardi
leader said. He said the
Egyptians post guards
around the synagogues but
much more is needed.
He said an agreement
was reached with Ghali and
with the minister of infor-
mation, Mansour Hassan,
to conduct an extensive
search and registration - of
books, manuscripts and
religious objects belonging
to the Jewish community.
A committee of Egyptian
scholars and administrators
will work in cooperation
with the World Jewish Con-
gress, the Sephardi Federa-_
tion and the Lehman Insti-
tue of the U.S. to determine
what must be done to
preserve these valuables.

Friday, November 9, 1919 15

BETH YEHUDAH SCHOOLS

65TH
ANNIVERSARY DINNER

MEMORIAL TRIBUTE TO

DANIEL A. LAVEN

r117

To be held at-
THE FAIRLANE MANOR

1 9000 Hubbard Drive, Dearborn (across from the Fairlane Town Center)

SUNDAY EVENING. -NOVEMBER 18, 1979

Guest Speaker

CO-CHAIRMEN

Burg Is Rebuked by Cabinet
for His Remarks on the PLO

JERUSALEM (JTA) —
Interior Minister Yosef
Burg was sharply censured
by some of his Cabinet col-
leagues Sunday for having
hinted, in recent public
statements, that Israel
might, some day, under cer-
tain circumstances, talk to
the Palestine Liberation
Organization if the latter
abandoned its covenant
aimed at Israel's destruc-
tion and desisted from ter-
.-orist activities.
In what was seen as a di-
rect rebuke to Burg, who
heads the Israeli negotiat-
ing team in the autonomy
talks with Egypt, the
Cabinet reaffirmed Israel's
longstanding policy that it
-will never negotiate with
the PLO under any circum-
stances.
Burg, a leader of the
National Religious Party,
‘,-;,, received what he himself
( described to reporters as
I a "cold shower" at the
.Cab'net session. He was
task for remarks
, ta'
de during the last
h
10 days, first in London
where he attended a
meeting on Palestinian
autonomy with Egyptian
Prime Minister Mus-
tapha Khalil and U.S.
special Ambassador to
the Middle East Robert
Strauss, and later to re-
L, porters when he landed
(— at.Ben-Gurion Airport
y _ ,_last week.
He said in London if the
PLO were to change sec-
tions of its "Palestine cove-
nant" and refrain from ter-
rorism for two or three
years, that change would
require a change on our
>-- , part."

E

He was more explicit at
the airport, saying outright
that in the event of such
changes, Israel would con-
sider negotiating with the
PLO.

Political observers re-
called that in the first round
of the autonomy talks in
Beersheba last April, Burg
omitted the word "never"
from a paragraph on the
PLO in his opening state-
ment. The prepared text
stated that "Israel will
never negotiate" with the
PLO.

Burg, in his delivery, sub-
stituted "not" for "never."
The U.S. delegation, headed
by Secretary of State Cyrus
Vance, took note of that
amendment and brought it
to the attention of the White
House.

Rift Continues

BONN (ZINS) — Dip-
lomatic circles in West
Germany believe that coun-
try's drift towards the Arab
world is not a passing phase
which will influence the
other eight countries of the
European Common Market.

The rift between Bonn
and Jerusalem began in
June after Chancellor Hel-
mut Schmidt portponed his
scheduled visit to Israel.
Foreign Minister Hans
Dietrich Genscher visited
the Arab countries and an-
nounced his opposition to
the Egyptian-Israeli peace
treaty.
Subsequently, Germany
has taken a pro-Arab stance
in meetings of the Common
Market.

David B. Holtzman

I. William Sherr

Cocktails at 6:00 p.m.
Dinner at 7:00 p.m.

The Honorable Chaim Herzog
(Former Ambassador of Israel to
the United Nations)

For Reservations, Please Call: 551-6150

FOUNDERS

Mrs. Gertrude Reifman
Alex Saltsman
Mrs. Emma Schaver
Robert A. Schwartz
I. William Sherr
The Stewart Family
(in memory of
Dorothy Stewart)
Max Stollman
Philip Stollman
Mr. & Mrs. Marvin M. Tamaroff
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Dr. Arnold Zuroff

Samuel Hechtman
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David B. Holtzman
Arnold Joseff
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(in memory of
Esther Hecker)
Abe Malzberg -
Sol & Anna Nusbaum
Family Foundation
Irving I. Palman
Jack Peitz
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Marvin Berlin
Harold Beznos
Max Biber
A. Howard Bloch
Ivan Bloch
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Borman's, Inc.
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Irwin I. Cohn
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Louis H. Golden
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SPONSORS

Martin L. Abel
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Joseph Roth
(in memory or
William Roth)
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