THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Mann Rebukes Jakobovits for Statement
NEW YORK (JTA) —
Theodore Mann, chairman
of the Conference of
Presidents of Major Ameri-
can Jewish Organizations,
took sharp issue Monday
with Chief Rabbi Immanuel
Jakobovits of Britain for his
recent remarks implying
that Israel was not suffi-
ciently forthcoming in its
approach to peace with the
Palestinians and the Arab
world as a whole.
Jakobovits spoke to a
group of Anglo-Jewish and
Israeli journalists who were
luncheon guests at his home
in London last week. He ob-
served, at one point, that "If
I knew we could never at-
tain peace with the Arab
world, I would say, liquidate
Israel now."
In a cable to the Chief
Rabbi, Mann declared: "I
cannot be silent in response
to such an astonishing
statement. For 32 years the
message from all but one of
Israel's neighbors has been
'we will never make peace
with you: liquidate now.' It
is beyond my comprehen-
sion that the religious
leader of the great British
Jewish community should
appear to encourage the
Arab world's continued re-
fusal to acknowledge Is-
rael's legitimate place in
the Mideast."
Apparently referring
to Jakobovits' statement
that he would not rule out
the eventual establish-
ment of a Palestinian
state on the West Bank
and Gaza Strip and
- would even allow it to be
governed from East
Jerusalem, Mann de-
clared: "You have once
again publicly advised
Israel how to conduct the
current negotiations, as
you did in the summer of
1978. I will not repeat
now what I said to you
then. I will only remind
you that three months
after your advice was re-
jected by the government
of Israel, the Camp David
accords were signed,
confirming that the Is-
raeli negotiators merited
our patient trust. I be-
lieve they merit our
patient trust today."
He observed, however,
"As we approach the target
date for the conclusion of
the autonomy negotiations
three months from now,
once again I beg you — and
Jewish leaders everywhere
— to understand that the
final throes of difficult
negotiations are a time for
steely nerves, a time to re-
call the admonition that 'to
everything there is a season
. .. a time to keep silent and
a time to speak out.' "
There was great surprise
expressed in Israel in re-
sponse to the rabbi's re-
marks.
Interior Minister Yosef
Burg, a leader of the Na-
tional Religious Party
and Israel's chief
negotiator in the au-
tonomy talks with Egypt,
expressed disbelief.
Rabbi Menachem HaCo-
hen, a Labor MK who, like
Jakobovits, is an Orthodox
rabbi but moderate in his
views, welcomed the rabbi's
statements.
The Board of Deputies of
British Jews dissociated it-
self from the rabbi's re-
marks. Greville Janner,
MP, the board's president,
expressed "regret" at cer-
tain of Jakobovits' com-
ments. While saying that
the chief rabbi was entitled
to his views, Janner ques-
tioned whether they were
"wise or helpful" at such a
delicate moment.
Janner said that "an in-
dependent Palestinian state
would represent a perma-
nent and unacceptable
danger to the life the Jewish
Churches and Teachers Back
Mass. Suit on School Prayer
BOSTON (JTA) — The
Massachusetts Council of
Churches and the Massa-
chusetts Teachers Associa-
tion have announced their
support of a suit brought by
the American Jewish Con-
gress challenging the con-
stitutionality of a state law
that allows ritual prayer in
the public schools. The suit,
a major test case, is ex-
pected to go to the United
States Supreme Court.
The AJCongress, which
has been joined by the Civil
Liberties Union of Massa-
chusetts, has also named'
State Education Commis-
sioner Gregory Anrig as a
new defendant in the suit.
State Attorney General
Francis Belloti is expected
to intervene on behalf of the
commissioner.
The statute, which took
effect Feb. 5, requires
teachers throughout the
state to invite student vol-
unteers to lead their class in
prayer. Children who do not
wish to participate are
entitled, under the meas-
ure, to leave the room.
Last week, a Massa-
chusetts Supreme Court
justice denied a tempor-
ary injunction that would
have blocked the law
until a court ruling was
made.
The judge ruled that it
had not been proven that
the law would irreparably
harm students.
Exxon Funding
HUC Symposium
NEW YORK — The
Exxon Education Founda-
tion has made a grant of
$25,000 to Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of
Religion for a fall sym-
posium on ethics and corpo-
rate responsibility.
The symposium is part of
a program designed to focus
attention on the ethical di-
mensions of public issues
and problems and to apply
historical and philosophic
insights drawn from reli-
gious teachings to them.
state." The Anglo-Jewish
community, he added, fully
supported current peace ef-
forts and regarded the
Camp David agreements as
a "constructive basis" for a
settlement.
In Jerusalem, Rabbi
Simon Dolgin, chairman of
the World Mizrachi-Hapoel
Hamizrachi organization,
issued a statement "vigor-
ously" rejecting Jakobovits'
views, saying the British
chief rabbi did not speak for
the Mizrachi movement.
(Rabbi Jakobovits is
scheduled to speak on
"Who Shall Live and Who
Shall Die" — Bio-medical
Ethics and the Jewish
Tradition — at 7:30 p.m.
March 16 at Cong.
Shaarey Zedek.)
Friday, February 22, 1980 17
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