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COMMENT

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THE

JEWISH NEWS!

22. FRIDAY, MAY 26, 1989

merican Jewry's mas-
sive efforts to help So-
viet Jewish emigres
resettle in this country are
"threatening the future of the
Jewish people," Romanian
Chief Rabbi Moshe Rosen
said last week.
"Instead of spending $100
million on Jews who leaire
Odessa to move to
Philadelphia and assimilate,
we should spend it in Russia
to prevent assimilation,"
Rosen said in an interview
with the New York Jewish
Week. Equal priority should
be given to helping Jews set-
tle in Israel, he added.
Rosen, a figure in the Com-
munist bloc for more than
four decades, said the new era
of Soviet liberalization under
President Mikhail S. Gor-
bachev had created a unique
opportunity to save a two-
million-member Jewish com-
munity that was nearly lost.
"Jews everywhere are
debating whether Gorbachev
will stay or go, whether his
reforms are real and so on,"
Rosen said. "But the time for
all that `pilpul' [talmudic
hair-splitting] is over. We
must act!'
Rosen's blunt remarks came
on the heels of a 10-day visit
to the Soviet Union to assess
Soviet Jewry's religious
needs, at the invitation of the
Soviet government. A
member of the Romanian
parliament and of the World
Jewish Congress executive
committee, Rosen led an un-
precedented six-member rab-
binic delegation, most of
whom from Israel, that held
formal talks with both
Kremlin leaders and Soviet
Jewish activists.
"There are three types of
Jews in Russia today," Rosen
said. "There is one type who
wants to go to Israel, another
who wants to stay in the
Soviet Union and another
who wants to go to America."
"The time for hints and
secret messages is past,"
Rosen said. "We must say to
the Soviet Jews: Those of you
who want to go to Israel to
build the Jewish state, we will
do all in our power to help
you. Those who want to stay
— and these are the millions
— we will do everything in
our power to help you

preserve your Jewish religion
and culture."
"As for those who want to
come to America, we should
say: Good luck, but this is not
the Jewish people's problem!"
lb do otherwise "will bring
tragedy upon the Jewish peo-
ple," Rosen said, using the
Hebrew word `chorban', which
refers exclusively to historic
tragedies such as the fall of
the Temple and the
Holocaust.
The national United Jewish
Appeal, aided by the Council
of Jewish Federations, cur-
rently is attempting to raise
$75 million in a special cam-
paign to resettle Soviet
Jewish emigres in the United
States and Israel. About
three-quarters of the total is
expected to go for migration
to and resettlement in this
country, including more than
$15 million to underwrite the
American Jewish Joint
Distribution Committee's
ongoing support in Europe for
emigres awaiting U.S. entry
visas.
Rosen, who chairs the
Joint's Romanian division,
said his harsh message was
directed equally to the Jews
in the Soviet Union and the
leadership of U.S. Jewry.
Rosen said Soviet Jews are
ready to establish Hebrew
schools, cultural centers and
a full religious life, but they
will need massive help from
the Jews of the West. At the
same time, he was sharply
critical of current American
Jewish efforts to help restore
Jewish life inside the Soviet
Union.
"We have a situation right
now where everyone is runn-
ing off to Russia to make his
own Shabbat, to start his own
projects," Rosen said. "This
cannot continue. We need to
unite our efforts — religious,
cultural, Chasidic, Yiddishist
— and use our resources effec-
tively."
Rosen acknowledged that
American Jewry, unlike most
Jewish communities around
the world, has no
authoritative governing body
to impose order among its in-
stitutions. Nonetheless, he
said, "You have your
presidents conference, which
unites your voices on Israel
for better or worse. The issue
of Soviet Jewry is no less
critical and there simply
must be one voice."

J.J.GOLDBERG

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