THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Jewish Organizations Testify
on U.S. School Prayer Proposal
WASHINGTON (JTA) —
Spokesmen for national
Jewish organizations, tes-
tifying before Congres-
sional subcommittees, ex-
_ pressed strong opposition
last week to legislation that
would bar federal courts
- A hearing legal chal-
- .,es to organized prayer
in public schools.
Alvin Gray of Cleveland,
co-chairman of the Ameri-
can Jewish Congress gov-
erning council, testified be-
fore a subcommittee of the
State Judiciary Committee.
- Samuel Rabinove, legal di-
rector of the American
Jewish Committee, testified
at hearings of the House
Judiciary Committee's Sub-
committee on Courts, Civil
Liberties and the Adminis-
tration of Justice.
Gray testified as a
spokesman for the Ameri-
can Jewish Congress as one
of the affiliated organiza-
tions of the National Jewish
Community
Relations
Advisory
Council
(NJCRAC), which also re-
presents 108 local Jewish
Community Councils. Both
the AJCongress and the
AJCommittee are member
agencies of the NJCRAC.
Gray testified that "we
believe firmly that any
impairment of the
authority of the courts to
redress constitutional
violations would imperil
our system of law and
impede progress toward
unity and common pur-
pose in our society." The
amendment would dep-
rive federal courts of
jurisdiction in determin-
ing challenges to state
and local laws calling for
voluntary prayer in the
public schools.
Gray said the amendment
"manifests a hostility to the
principle of church-state
separation ostensibly under
the guise of protecting reli-
gious freedom."
Gray declared that if the
amendment becomes law, it
would establish "the
dangerous precedent of dis-
abling the federal courts
from protecting constitu-
tional rights when those
rights become politically
upsppular" and "in effect,
overrule the salutary prin-
ciple of judicial supremacy
in matters of constitutional
interpretation."
Citing Supreme Court de-
cisions in and 1963,
which held unconstitu-
tional the recital of non-
denominational, state-
sponsored prayers or
readings from the Bible in
Foreign Students Are Impressed
With Program at Hebrew University
JERUSALEM — Some
18,000 students from out-
side Israel have studied at
the Hebrew University's
School for Overseas Stu-
dents since its programs
began operating after the
Six-Day War.
For many of the students
it was a first step towards
immigration to Israel. For
-many others, it was the be-
ginning of a relationship
with Israel or with Judaism.
For some, it meant the
start of political awareness
of Israel's place as a nation
in the Middle East; for
others, it awakened dor-
mant Jewish identity and
led to personal involvement
in a local Jewish commu-
nity, affecting many others.
Statistical estimates
have hinted at a very
large rate of return to Is-
rael among Hebrew Uni-
versity ex-students. The
President of the Univer-
sity, Avraham Harman
and the Provost of the
School, Dr. Zev Klein, op-
erate under the assump-
tion that the School for
Over-seas Students
exemplified the univer-
sity's sense of responsi-
bility to World Jewry.
The thousand students
who come annually for their
"Junior Year Abroad" take
an array of courses in the
school's one-year-program,
primarily in English, for the
most part in the fields of
Jewish, Israel and Middle
East Studies.
public schools, Rabinove
argued that "no prayer can
ever be truly non-
denominational. In at-
-tempting to incorporate the
tenets of several major reli-
gions, the meaning of
prayer can only be diluted."
He added "it is simply not
the business of our govern-
ment to compose or to spon-
sor prayers for American
children to recite" in public
schools.
He also contended, as did
Gray, that the amendment
was "perilous" because it
would "open the door to fu-
ture legislation to divest the
federal courts of juris-
diction over other matters
involving fundamental
liberties." If the amend-
ment was adopted, he tes-
tified, "nothing in the Bill of
Rights would ever be truly
secure again."
Council Follows Helms Debate
In a letter to the Michigan
issues."
Congressional delegation,
The Congressmen were
Jewish Community Council
urged to oppose the Helms
President Marian Shifman
Amendment and "keep the
has voiced concern over re-
1st Amendment intact."
cent attempts by some •
The Michigan Congres-
members of the U.S. House
sional delegation has acted
of Representatives to bring
as follows concerning the
the Helms Amendment to a
discharge petition to bring
floor vote. The bill would
the Helms Amendment out
deny all federal courts the. of committee and to the
authority to review cases
House floor for a vote:
arising from challenges to
signed petition — Davy
public school prayer legisla-
Stockman, Bob Traxler,
tion.
Mrs. Shifman explained Guy Vander Jagt; Don Al-
that the Helms Amendment bosta, Bob Davis; will not
is regarded as not only a sign petition — John Con-
threat to the American tra- yers, Howard Wolpe, Bob
dition of church-state sep- Carr, Dale Kildee, Dave
aration, but also "as a Bonior, Lucien Nedzi, Bill
dangerous assault of ques- Ford, William Brodhead,
tionable constitutionality Jim Blanchard; considering
on the authority of the Sup- or undecided — Carl Pur-
reme Court to rule de=_ sell, Harold Sawyer, John
finitvely on constitutional Dingell, Bill Broomfield.
WASHINGTON (JTA) —
U.S. Senator Mike Gravel
(D- Alaska) who intimated
that Jews from outside
Alaska were opposing his
re-election, apparently lost
his bid yesterday for a third
term.
Reports from Juneau,
Alaska's capital, said
Gravel was decisively de-
r `ed by Anchorage
yer Clark Gruening in
the Democratic primary
election. With 387 of the
state's 421 precincts report-
ing, Gruening had 33,698
votes to 26,789 for Gravel.
In Washington, Gravel's
office refused to concede de-
feat. It told the Jewish Tele-
graphic Agency that 34 pre-
cincts in which Gravel usu-
ally held majorities have
yet to report results.
Gruening, 34, a former
state legislator, is a
grandson of the late Er - .
nest Gruening, one of
Alaska's first two sena-
tors. Gravel unseated
him in 1968 and has been
in the senate for 12 years.
The elder Gruening was
born in New York of
Jewish parents who
joined the. Ethical Cul-
ture Society.
Gravel accused Clark
Gruening of receiving cam-
paign contributions from a
"special interest group" —
Jews. He accused Gruening
of breaking a pledge not to
accept money from special
interest groups by soliciting
contributions from Jews liv-
ing outside Alaska.
"There is no question,"
Gravel charged last week,
that the funds are coming
from "a special interest
group" that seeks to "influ-
ence the foreign policy of the
United States."
Gruening
described
Gravels charge of "border-
ing on outright slander." All
of his approximately 1,600
contributions, totalling
about $230,000 reported by
Gruening, have come from
individuals. About three
out of four of them live in
Alaska.
Not a penny has come
from special interest
groups," Gruening said last
Friday. :Undoubtedly some
At the same time, they
learn the Hebrew language
intensively and, if they
qualify, can attend regular
university classes in He-
brew. Their summer orien-
••
IN THE DAIRY
EVERFRESEI
ORANGE
JUICE"
NEW YORK
Lubavitcher
Rebbe
Menahem M. Schneerson,
has called for vigorous,
widespread efforts to estab-
lish various levels of Torah
study groups for senior citi-
zens in communities around
the world.
The Rebbe, in an address
at Lubavitch World Head-
quarters in New York,
noted the growing number
of elderly or retired Jewish
men and women' who are
worried and frustrated not
knowing how to fill up their
day.
HALF
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GOLDNitiAL
FLOUR
Jewish individuals contrib-
uted. So did Protestants." Of
the $540,000 Gravel has re-
ported spending in the cam-
paign, the political action
committee contributions
make up more than
$230,000, according to re-
ports from Anchorage.
tation period prior to classes
includes a full time Hebrew
language Ulpan, at graded
levels, especially designed
for university students.
•
00 00 0
Alaska Democrats Choose Jewish
Candidate; Opponent Cries Foul
By JOSEPH POLAKOFF
Friday, August 29, 1980 45
GREENFIELD
NEAR LINCOLN
TEL-TWELVE
MALL