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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

26 Friday, April 25, 1980

Czech Synagogue Remains Closed

LONDON — The ancient
Pinkas Synagogue in
Prague, Czechoslovakia,
which dates to the 13th
Century, will remain closed
until 1984, according to re-
ports reaching the Interna-
tional Council of Jews from'
Czechoslovakia.

The building has been
closed sporadically since
1968 because of dampness

and structural damage.

'

Jews in Prague believe
the authorities are keeping
the building closed because
of its memorial to the 77,000
Czech Jewish victims of the
Nazis.
The Communist govern-
ment prefers to identify
Nazi victims as anti-fascists
and members of the -Com-
munist Part

C•H•A.I.M.

Children of Holocaust Survivors in Mich.

Invites Your To Attend Its First

SOCIAL EVENT CELEBRATING
YOM HA'ATZMA UT

Israel Independence Day
Room 333 JCC-MAIN BRANCH (West Bloomfield)

Israeli Food, Song and Dancing
Folk Dancing Instruction by URI SEGAL

Sun., April 27, 6:30 P.M.

Admission $5 —,for more info., call
Celina Aisner — 342-3476 or
Bernie Kent — 355-0673

Eytan Praises
Israel Raid on
South Lebanon

TEL AVIV (JTA) — Is-
rael's sea-borne commando
raid last Friday on the ter-
rorist training base at Ras
el-Shaq in south Lebanon
was praised by Chief of Staff
Gen. Raphael Eytan as
"text book perfect."
Initial reports by an Is-
raeli army spokesman said
6-8 terrorists were killed
and two Israeli soldiers
were slightly wounded in
the raid which took the ter-
rorists completely by sur-
prise.
Reports from Lebanese
sources said that at least 20
terrorists were killed, all of
them members of Ahmed
Jibril's Radical Popular
Front for the Liberation of
Palestine.
The Ras el-Sfiaq train-
ing base is located near
the Lebanese coast about
15 miles north of Tyre
and 30 miles from the Is-
raeli border.
The Israeli raid was the
first direct assault on a ter-
rorist base since the April 7
terrorist attack on Kibutz
Misgav Am' in Upper
Galilee where three Israelis
and five terrorists were kil-
led.

26TH ANNUAL HEBREW MUSIC FESTIVAL

"LET MY PEOPLE GO"

I

osif' Mendelevitch is in Chistopol
Prison in central Russia. He has been
imprisoned for a decade. His body is frail,
but his spirit is strong. He clings tena-
ciously to the dream which brought
about his arrest and conviction ten years
ago. He is determined to emigrate to
Israel.
Iosif is a practicing Orthodox Jew.
Though a prison diet at - its best is
meagre, he refuses to eat non-Kosher
foods. His request for a cereal diet has
been refused. "If he doesn't want to eat
pig's meat because of Kashrut reasons,"
says the prison director, "that is his
problem. As far as I'm concerned, let him
not eat at all."
He refuses to work on the Sabbath,
though he has voluntarily worked extra
hours on all other days to make up for his
lost time. He insists upon wearing his
yarmulke. For these two offenses he was
accused in 1977 under the Soviet Cor-
rective Labor Code of "maliciously
violating the regime of confinement" and
transferred from a labor camp to the
notorious prison where he is currently
incarcerated.
Mendelevitch is denied permission to
receive mail. He has not been allowed to
have visitors for six years. He is forbid-
den books to read,_ though, the prison
storage is full of books confiscated from
him.
He suffers from hypertension and
rheumatic heart disease, yet he is forbid-

den medicine for these ailments. His
weight has dropped from near 200 lbs. at
the time of imprisonment to about 120
lbs. today.
Now thirty-two years of age, Iosif is the
only Jewish prisoner of the infamous
Leningrad Trials of 1970 who remains in
bondage. The other seven were, sud-
denly and without explanation, released
last summer and are now in Israel. Only
Mendelevitch remains.
While is it impossible to ascertain
Soviet motives, it is suspected that Iosif is
still imprisoned because his defiant deter-
mination to observe Jewish Law is an
embarrassment to the authorities and
they are equally determined to break his
spirit. •
Is it worth a few minutes of your time to
appeal for this life of this brave man?
I urge you to write a letter demanding
his release. Send it to: Anatoly Dobrynin,
Ambassador, Embassy of the USSR,
1125 16th St., N.W., Washington, D.C.
20036.
Send me a copy c/o this paper. If
10,000 readers of this column would write
to the Soviet government in behalf of Iosif
Mendelevitch we might swing open the
doors of Chistopol.

(Don McEuoy is Senior Vice President of
the National Conference of Christians
and Jews. The opinions expressed are
his own.)

Cabinet Reviews Begin Visit to U.S.

GERALDINE SCHWARTZ

JASON H. TICKTON

Sponsored by the Sandra T. Bloom Memorial Music Fund Friday
Evening, May 2, at 8:30 P.M.

Featuring

• Oakland University Singers
"Night" In memory of The Six Million
Two Salomone Rossi Psalms

John Dovaras, Conductor
Geraldine Schwartz, Composer
John Dovaras, Arranger

Southfield High School Choir and Madrigal Singers
and
Southfield Lathrup Concert Choir and Madrigal Singers

Shalom Roy David Jorlett and Jack Cole, Conductors; Ben Steinberg, Com-
poser
Leonard Bernstein, Composer
Selections From Chichester Psalm
Julius Chajes, Composer and Conductor
Rejoice in Zion

Mrs. Jason H. Tickton, Director
• Temple Beth El Choirs and Chorale
New Liturgical Responses and Anthems
All Five Choirs
• Finale
Ernest Bloch, Composer
Anthem "America"
• Kim RosnerrDoelker, Flutist
• Professor Jason H. Tickton, Music Coordinator and Organist
• Dr. Richard C. Hertz, Narrator

You, your family and friends are cordially invited to hear this
outstanding program of liturgical compositions. There is no
charge . . . all are welcome.

JERUSALEM (JTA) —
The Israeli Cabinet met
Tuesday to discuss Premier
Menahem Begin's meetings
with President Carter in
Washington last week and
the autonomy talks with
Egypt and the U.S. which
resume later this month at •
Herzliya. Egypt will be re-
presented later by Prime
Minister Mustapha Khalil
and Foreign Minister But- -
ros Ghali.
The Cabinet, which usu-
ally convenes on Sunday,
postponed its meeting until
Tuesday because of Memo-
rial Day and Independence
Day.
The ministers devoted
most of the session to Be-
gin's Washington visit. It
was learned later that Ag-
riculture Minister Ariel
Sharon accused Begin,
Foreign Minister Yitzhak
Shamir and Interior Minis-
ter Yosef Burg, head of the
Israeli autonomy negotiat-
ing team, of having over-
stepped the Cabinets' man-
date while they were in
Washington.
Specifically, Sharon
charged that they had no
right to discuss the ques-
tion of water rights on the
West Bank under the au-
tonomy scheme or to
agree to the creation of a
"continuing committee"
which is to take up issues
that are unresolved after
a general agreement on

autonomy is reached.
parently passed the word
Begin replied that he had that he did not want to force
made no concessions. He Weizman to resign. Weiz-
said his talks in Washing- man had called for early na-
ton were useful and ex- tional elections and hinted
pressed hope that President that he would run for prime
Anwar Sadat would adopt a minister.
positive position toward
The Cabinet discussed
some of the ideas he raised Thursday's meeting in
in his talks with President Washington between Shi-
Carter. mon Peres, chairman of the
The Cabinet did not take ' opposition Labor Party, and
up Defense Minister Ezer President Carter. Several
Weizman's controversial ministers, including
television interview in Shamir, attacked Peres.
which he took issue with Shamir exonerated Israel's
Likud government policies ambassador in Washington,
while Begin was in Wash- Ephraim Evron, from any
ington. Weizman had been part in arranging the meet-
expected to come under bit- ing. He said Evron informed
ter attack by some of his fel- him as soon as he learned
low ministers but Begin ap- about it.

Figures on Yerida Are Revealed
by Israel Study on Emigration

TEL AVIV (ZINS) — Ap-
proximately 40 percent of
North American olim and
30 percent of immigrants
from other Western coun-
tries abandoned Israel
within three years of their
aliya, according to a study
by the Folk Institute.
Researchers Dr. Maria
Blether and Dr. Yitzhak
Goldberg show that the
most important factors re-
sponsible for emigration
were the difficulties of find-
ing suitable employment
and the problem of adequate
housing.
At the same time, the re-
search showed that those

immigrants who were in
contact with Jewish Agency
representatives prior to
their aliya and who received
realistic information about
Israel's practical problems
did tend to remain in the
country.
The study explains this
by saying that the informa-
tion supplied by the Agency
representatives prepared
the immigrants and pre-
vented them from having
exaggerated expectations
about the possibilities of ab-
sorption in the country.

You can bear' anything if
it isn't your own fault.