t British Near Completion of Preservation Task on Geniza Colection, Judaism's Window to History By MAURICE SAMUELSON CAMBRIDGE, England (JTA) — Cambridge University is about to complete the huge task of preserving the world's greatest treasure house of medieval Hebrew manuscripts — the famous Cairo Geniza collection. The last of the 140,000 fragments and documents, some up to 1,000-years old, are being unravelled, cleaned and sealed in a specially-developed plastic casing by experts at Cambridge University library. Dr. Stefan Reif, the scholar in charge of the priceless collection, says the conservation work begun about 80 years ago when the material came to Cambridge, will be completed this autumn. The parallel task of cataloging the fragments may not be finished until the end of the century, and Reif fears that it will be delayed or even suspended by lack of funds. Nevertheless, the completion of the conservation work will be an important milestone in an archeological epic in some ways as remarkable as the finding of the Dead Sea scrolls. This accumulation of Hebrew manuscript material and Judaica was recovered from the thousand-year old Ben Ezra Synagogue of old Cairo in 1896-1897 by the noted scholar Dr. Solomon Schechter, who later founded the Conservative movement in American Judaism. The Geniza was the synagogue's depository for worn-out copies of sacred Jewish writings. Schechter, then reader in Talmudic literature at Cambridge, was sent to Cairo by his friend and patron Dr. Charles Taylor, master of St. John's College, Cambridge. n Cairo, Schechter secured the approval of the synagogue authorities to empty the Geniza, and the fragments (Continued on Page 6) . 0 . Realities About Beirut Bombing Negating Hatreds and Rejecting Panic-Stricken Giving Comfort to Israel's Enemies DR. SOLOMON SCHECHTER THE JEWISH NEWS A WeekIN Review Commentary, Page 2 of Jewish Events Lobbying Charges Against Israel and the Pragmatic Conditions Which Justify Honorable Resort to Fact-Sharing Editorial, Page 4 Copyright © The Jewish News Publishing Co. VOL. LXXIX, No. 22 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Sbuthfield, Mich. 48075 424-8833 $15 Per Year: This Issue 35c July 31, 1981 Haig, Reagan Administration Still Support Sale of AWACS Detroit Rabbi Visits Archbishop of Paris By RABBI RICHARD C. HERTZ Temple Beth El Earlier this year, Monsignor Jean-Marie Lustiger was named by the Pope as the new Archbishop of Paris. Ordi- narily, the appointment of a new archbishop in a city where some 600,000 Jews live would not raise an eyebrow in Jewish circles. But the fact that the new archbishop was the son of Jewish parents, immigrants from Poland, who were members of the Bund — the left wing Jewish labor move- ment — created special interest. I had read that the new archbishop feels Jewish and maintains his feeling of solidarity with the Jewish people. I therefore was interested in meeting him. My friend, John Cardinal Dearden, wrote to Ar- chbishop Lustiger to tell him that I would be in Paris and would appreciate his receiving me in an audi- ence. The Archbishop wrote back and said that unfortu- nately he would be out of (Continued on Page 10) ARCHIBISHOP LUSTIGER WASHINGTON (JTA) — Secretary of State Alexander Haig said Tuesday that the Reagan Adminis- tration is confident that Congress will approve its proposed sale of five AWACS reconnaisance aircraft to Saudi Arabia. But it still has not decided when to notify Congress officially of the package deal which includes enhancement equipment for the 62 F-15 fighter bombers the Saudis purchased earlier from the U.S., -he said. Israel and its supporters in Congress are vigorously opposed to the AWACS package and there are believed to be sufficient votes in both houses at this time to reject it. Haig made his remarks in denying that the AWACS issue had anything to do with the resignation of the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Robert Neumann, which was announced. Tuesday. Haig insisted that Neumann quit for "personal reasons" but other Washington sources said he was troubled by the Administration's slow movement toward implementing the sale. Neumann, a Vienna-born academician and diplomat associated with the Georgetown University Center for Strategic and Interna- tional Studies, reportedly had urged the Administration to pur- sue the AWACS deal more energetically with Congress on grounds that the Saudis needed TEL AVIV (JTA) — The administrative director of an American the planes to -protect them from firm building a new Israeli air base in the Negev has been dismissed by surprise attack by Israel. the Israel Defense Ministry and sent home after he made anti-Semitic The Administration's position has remarks. According to Israel Radio, Don Bast, administrative director been that the Saudis need the of the U.S. firm, Air Base Contractors (ABC), allegedly said during a AWACS but that the threat is posed quarrel with the wife of an American Jewish engineer that "Hitler by the Soviet Union. Neumann should have finished the job he started" as well as other anti-Semitic served previously as ambassador to and derogatory remarks against Israel. Afghanistan and Morocco and Officials of the firm have protested the dismissal, claiming that the headed the Administration's foreign facts of the case were not as described by the Jewish engineer and that policy transition team before the charge of anti-Semitism is groundless. Bast left Israel last Thurs- President Reagan's inauguration. day. Air Base Director Fired for Anti-Semitic Remarks Embassy Jewish Lead ers Defend Israeli Raids , t Videspread editorial condemnations of Israel, with severe attacks on Prime Minis- t enahem Begin who is personally blamed for the massive civilian losses in the July 17 bombing of PLO headquarters in Beirut, bi-ought explanatory reactions from - the Israel embassy in Washington and from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. The official embassy statement was accompanied by a map indicating the northern Israel Jewish settlements which have been under constant shellings from the PLO. The Israel embassy explanatory statement declares: "The recent escalation stems directly from the fact that the terrorists had amassed huge quantities of Soviet weapons and were planning a major assault on the civilian population in northern Israel. Therefore, in accordance with its policy of pre-emptive defense, Israel struck at the terrorist headquar- ters and bases in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon. Civilian casualties were the direct result of the fact that the terrorists have set up their headquarters in the midst of the civilian population." The statement issued by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations follows: "Operating from bases in Canada, a band of terrorists sets out to destroy the United States. They pour hundreds of Soviet-made rockets into the Northern U.S., raining death and destruction on Ithaca, Buffalo and Rochester. Washing- ton decides to remove this threat to the safety of its citizens and orders aerial attacks on the terrorist headquarters in Ottawa and outposts in Toronto and Montreal. Because the terrorists issue their orders not from military camps but from apartment houses and other places where women and children congregate, the civilian toll of dead and wounded is regrettably high. "The terrorists cry foul, accuse the United States of waging an tinhumanitarian war' and insist on the right to continue their struggle. One of their commanders, in an interview, boasts of 'hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of SAM-7 and SAM-9 antiair- craft missiles, heavy artillery with a range of 20 miles and rockets capable of firing 15 miles. (Continued on Page 6)