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Tamar Kaufman is a writer for
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Prague To Be Flight Leg
For Soviet Emigres
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RICK WALD (upTo7zones,
14
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1990
nlike previous years,
Jews who get palm
fronds for their
sukkot from the city of San
Francisco are having to pay
for them.
The Recreation and Parks
Department had provided
the branches free of charge
for more than a decade — to
Jews in autumn for the
Sukkot holiday and to
Catholics in spring for Palm
Sunday.
This year, however, the
agency will charge from
$5.50 to $10 per frond,
depending on the number
requested.
"Are they crazy?" asked
Rabbi Eliahu Shalom Ezran
when he heard the news.
"I'm going to send someone
to Los Angeles who will br-
ing 100 back without paying
one penny. This is
ridiculous. It grows
anyway."
One hundred fronds is the
number he needs for Magain
David Sephardim's commu-
nal sukkah, which even at
the lower bulk rate would
cost the congregation a total
of $550.
"I have other things to do
with the money," Rabbi
Ezran said flatly.
Meanwhile, the city's
superintendent of parks,
Barney Barron, insisted he
has no choice.
The past practice of trimm-
ing palm trees on Dolores
Street and in Golden Gate
Park twice a year, he said,
was simply a community
service the city could no
longer afford.
"Since my budget has con-
tinued to shrink, and I've
loSt personnel over the past
few years, we are attempting
to recoup some revenue. It's
difficult to justify sending a
truck with a driver and an
employee to cut fronds,
gather them and bring them
to a central point for dispen-
sing."
Although Mr. Barron
agreed that trees occasional-
ly need pruning, he explain-
ed that in the case of palms,
the fronds "would fall nat-
urally — so I don't have to
send someone up a tree to
cut them."
It's unlikely the city will
realize much profit from
Sukkot palm sales, however,
since none of the San Fran-
cisco Jewish institutions
contacted planned on mak-
ing the investment, but will
instead use bamboo mats,
available at $3 a piece. ❑
Prague (JTA) —
Czechoslovak President
Vaclav Havel has reaffirmed
his promise to let Prague
serve as a way station for
Soviet Jews immigrating to
Israel.
Mr. Havel made the pledge
Oct. 3 to Simcha Dinitz,.
chairman of the Jewish
Agency and World Zionist
Organization Executives. He
told Mr. Dinitz that Israeli
officials could fly here short-
ly to work out the details.
Mr. Dinitz also obtained
permission from the
Czechoslovak authorities to
open a WZO office in Prague,
according to WZO officials in
Jerusalem.
Mr. Dinitz, on a five-day
visit to Czechoslovakia, was
received by the president at
the Prague Castle. He said
afterward that they discuss-
ed a wide range of subjects,
including the establishment
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
of direct flights between
Prague and Tel Aviv.
That issue and
Czechoslovakia's agreement
to serve as a way station for
Soviet Jewish emigres were
discussed during Mr.
Havel's three-day trip to
Israel at the end of April.
But bureaucratic delays ap-
parently prevented
implementation of the plans.
The Czechoslovak leader,
who was the first Eastern
European chief of state to
visit Israel, demanded
"guarantees" that the
newcomers would not be set-
tled in the territories.
Mr. Dinitz's visit, which
began Monday, was widely
covered in the local press,
which referred to him as
head of the WZO, as well as
of the Jewish Agency. That
appeared to signify that the
longtime ostracism of the
Zionist movement is over.