I NEWS I
Rabbi Says Economy
A Threat To Soviet Jews
J.J. GOLDBERG
Special In The Jewish News
T
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54
FRIDAY, AUGUST 11, 1989
AMERICAN
y CANCER®
SOCIETY
he Soviet Union can
be expected to pass
strong new laws in-
creasing freedom of religion
and emigration by the end of
this year, but the
deteriorating Soviet economy
and the spread of ethnic
unrest threaten to undermine
all the democratic gains
achieved under President
Mikhail S. Gorbachev.
That paradoxically gloomy
assessment was offered
recently by Rabbi Arthur
Schneier of Park East
Synagogue, who had return-
ed from a trip to Moscow. "I
was there only two months
before this, and one radical
change I have sensed is an
element of fear that has not
existed before among Jews,
particularly in Central Asia,"
said the usually upbeat
Schneier.
He said the fear was the
result - of ethnic strife and
bloodshed in Soviet Georgia
and Armenia. More than 200
people are said to have been
killed in interethnic rioting
in various Soviet republics
over the past 18 months. The
worst has been in outlying
regions along the Soviet
borders. Gorbachev himself
warned of the growing danger
to Soviet society in a rare
televised address recently.
"Basically, we're seeing a
heightened nationalism as we
see a waning of the central
authority," Rabbi Schneier
said. "On top of that, the
economic conditions have
worsened. Jews remember
from history that nationalism
and disastrous economic con-
ditions are fertile soil for
scapegoating."
Schneier said the main pur-
pose of his four-day Moscow
visit was to meet the new
chairman of the Kremlin's
Council on Religious Affairs,
Yuri N. Khristoradnov, who
replaced Konstantin Khar-
chev in June. The Appeal of
Conscience Foundation,
which Schneier founded and
heads, works closely with
Communist regimes on
behalf of Jewish, Christian
and other religious
communities.
Kharchev, the former Soviet
religious chief, was said to
have evolved during his four
years at the council into a
strong advocate of religious
rights. Schneier said the new
J.J. Goldberg is a writer for
the New York Jewish Week.
Rabbi Schneier:
Strife, bloodshed.
chairman told him there
would be "no change in
course, that the change in
person in no way affects the
policy that Gorbachev has ar-
ticulated" in favor of
strengthening "the role of
believers in Soviet society."
Schneier said the main
reason for his meeting with
Khristoradnov was to learn
the status of the new law,
drafted by the religious af-
fairs council under Kharchev.
He said the new chief was
backing the bill, but would
not take a stand on several
The worst has
been in the
outlying regions
along the Soviet
borders.
unresolved issues such as
whether to let churches open
formal Sunday schools.
Schneier emphasized that
the current mood of open
debate in the Soviet Union
has opened up both oppor-
tunities and serious new
dangers for the Jewish com-
munity there. While there is
much more opportunity for
Jewish religiouS and cultural
activity, there has also been
a rise in national expression
by groups frequently viewed
as xenophobic or even
anti-Semitic.
"We must not ignore the
fact that there is a human
rights conference corning up
in Moscow in 1991," he said.
"And the Soviets, in prepara-
tion for that human rights
conference, are getting things
in order to conform with
Helsinki," referring to the