• s I ' . V • #. 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.