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2 Friday, October 11, 1985

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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

PURELY COMMENTARY

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Internal Challenges To The Unity Of The Jewish People

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When responsible Jewish philan-
thropic leadership proclaimed a recent
United Jewish Appeal year as the task of
Am Ehad, of Jewry acting as One People,
there was jubilation. It was accepted as a
mark of unity that glorified the one-ness
of the Jewish people.
It was, as it has been uninterrup-
tedly since then, a mark of cooperation by
all elements of the Jewish people for the
advancement of the spiritual as well as
the social services. It was a declaration of
unity in defense of Jewish rights, and in
support of everything aimed at assuring
action as One United Peoplehood.
In fact, such a self-respecting aim
was never to be trifled with.
Therefore, the shock when the
Jewish Post and Opinion, the weekly
journal edited by Gabriel Cohen, carried
the accompanying advertisement in a
pre-Rosh Hashanah issue.
The first reaction is one of amaze-
ment: Is it possible that one of the most
important organizations of American
rabbis is undertaking to ostracise the
overwhelming majority of American Jews
from recognized co-existence with it and
its followers?
Then follow the inevitable associated
aspects of such an approach: Is it conceiv-
able that the strictness of Halachah
would permit a segment of the Jewish
people to declare their fellow Jews to be
unacceptable to organized spiritual shar-
ing in Jewish legacies?
Even if the Orthodox were the over-
whelming majority rather than the
minority in American Jewry, could it
possibly undertake to humiliate even a
segment of fellow Jews?
In accordance with Jewish tradition,
Israel of al pi shehata Israel hu — a Jew

Rosenzvelg's Spirited
HMC Guidance

even if he has sinned remains a Jew — no
one has the right to humiliate fellow hu-
mans. In the experience of the Jewish
people, even secularists are out ousted
from Jewish life. Else, Ahad HaAm,
Chaim Weizmann, Vladimir Jabotinsky,
Sholom Aleichem, Mendele Moher

Seforim, countless numbers of Jewish
leaders who dominated in creative politi-
cal and literary tasks, would not be rec-
ognized and would be denied the merest
recognition iuJewry.
Will the Agudas Harabonim go so far
as to restrict Conservative and Reform

AGUDAS HARABON11111

(Union of Orthodox rabbis
of U.S. and Canada)

Warns Not to Pray in Reform
or Conservative Temples

In view of the coming High Holidays, the Union of Orthodox Rab-
bis, whose president is the worldwide accepted Torah authority,
Hagaon Reb Moshe Feinstein shlita, declares that it is a serious vio-
lation of the Halacha (Jewish Law) to pray in a Reform or Conserva-
tive temple whose clergy have long rebelled against numerous sac-
red laws of the Torah and misled thousands of innocent souls.
Every Jew must make every effort to find an Orthodox synagogue
to pray in, and absolutely not to enter a Reform or Conservative
temple. If you do not have an Orthodox synagogue within walking
distance then you should pray at home even on Rosh Hashanah
and Yom Kippur.
Wishing Klal Israel a ksiva v'chaisma tovah.

Union of Orthodox Rabbis of
U.S. and Canada

As the second year commences for
the Detroit Holocaust Memorial Center,
its message continues to reverberate on
a nationwide scale,and the achievements
have gained attention and interest in Is-
rael as well. What has been accom-
plished is a replica of the Yad Vashem
in Israel. To Rabbi Rosenzveig goes an
expression of gratitude for a noble task
well preserved.

Hermelin Adds Pride
To Communal Record

Rabbi Rosenzveig
Scores of communities throughout
the nation have gained inspiration from
the Detroit Holocaust Memorial Center.
The many thousands from nearby states
who have come here to witness the im-
mense achievements in the Holocaust
memorial created here are keeping alive
the memory of the victims and are assur-
ing the dedication to the "Never Again"
obligation that anything akin to Nazism
will not be repeated.
Rabbi Charles Rosenzveig's adminis-
trative skills are directly responsible for
the impressiveness with which the
memorial to the victims of Nazism was
established here. It is due to his ad-
ministrative abilities that more than
100,000 have already visited the center
in its first year of existence.

Jews from contributing to their causes, or
will the philanthropic dollar be kashered?
A sense of shame is aroused by the
advertisement, for a major reason: If such
rabbinic instructions become permissible
then many Jewish movements would
have to go out of existence under restric-
tions imposed by an important rabbinic
body. If Conservative and Reform Jews
have no right to synagogue procedures
they choose to alter, do they have a place
in the Holocaust Memorial Center, in the
Jewish Community Center, in the He-
brew schools, in homes for the aged which
would not dare question the type'ef syna:
gogue an applicant chooses to pray in be-
cause they would not dare discriminate
against senior citizens?
The examples quoted probably
should be multiplied.
. To the recent Parade of Notables
listed on this page, this writer adds a
couple of additional names. Rabbi
Charles Rosenzveig of the Holocaust
Memorial Center is one of them. He is an
Orthodox rabbi. Should he perhaps bar
Reform and Conservative Jews from the
important center because he, as an Or-
thodox rabbi, differs with them?
Another valuable name: David
Hermelin. He was remarkable as the
Torah reader on Yom Kippur at conser-
vative Shaarey Zedek. Should people stop
buying Israel Bonds, the movement he
heads as national chairman, or contribute
to the many causes in which he is in-
volved, because he is a Conservative and
a former president of Shaarey Zedek?
In the ultimate, there is a feeling of
regret that the Orthodox should have as-
sumed so negative a role against the Am
Ehad; a sense of pity that so destructive
an act should ever have been placed on
the American Jewish respectable
spiritual record.

Jewish needs. With his wife Doreen, the
Hermelin home has become a center for
major Jewish identifications that have
served to unify the community.
On Yom Kippur, at Cong. Shaarey
Zedek, he proved his devotion to syna-
gogue and traditions with his ability to
read the entire Torah portion during the
morning service. It was a faultless read-
ing of Leviticus 16:1-34 and Numbers
29:7-11.
Always recognized for his ability to
lead, as public speaker, as pleader for im-
portant needs, this was an additional role
performed with skill and dignity. It pro-
ved his justified right to the widest
recognition given him in Jewish leader-
ship. On Yom Kippur, in the Conserva-
tive Shaarey Zedek, he earned acclaim
for spiritually devout sharing in Jewry's
noblest legacies. It is no wonder that the
Orthodox-principled movements share
with his Conservative fellowship and Re-
form memberships in the acknowledged
dominant leadership role accorded him
with respect and appreciation.

for boasting of such a professionship.
He leads in tasks in behalf of aid to
the retarded in Israel. The display this
week, prior to its shipment to Israel, of
the fully-equipped ambulance presented
by him and his wife Helen through
Magen David Adom (Red Cross) of Israel,
now on view in front of the home of MDA
leaders John and Eva Mames, is another
indication of the multiplicity of the Zuc-
kerman concerns.
Now comes another notable contribu-
tion to human needs. Paul and Helen
Zuckerman are mobilizers of another
movement that is receiving in the fight
against the devastating disease of cancer
and to assist financially in the research
conducted to find a cure for _
Paul and Helen invited 60 friends to

Continued on Page 20

The Parade Continues .
With Paul Zuckerman
Leading The Notables

David Hermelin
David Hermelin wears many hats.
He is the world chairman of the Israel
Bond Organization. He is actively associ-
ated with every important Jewish move-
ment. His home has been opened to major
Jewish efforts and to the most pressing
appeals for Israel and the most vital

Paul Zuckerman was credited with
many philanthropic and social service ac-
complishments in the original. Parade of
Notables on this page. He is credited with
the world and national positions of lead-
ership in the United Jewish Appeal. He is
a factor in the Hebrew University in
Jerusalem where he is a guest lecturer on
economic and social needs. He has reason

Paul.Zuckerman

