SYRIA page 38
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about their plans. They were also
the most disturbed about the
publicity being given now to the
departures.
All those now in Syria hold
travel documents and could leave
tomorrow, according to Syrian
Jews and officials of the JDC,
which had coordinated the exo-
dus.
Some are still selling property
and getting ready to travel.
Some feel they are too old to
start a new life. Others have sent
their family to safety in the Unit-
ed States but have continued run-
ning their businesses in
Damascus.
And some, said Janet Zolta,
the daughter of Syrians who
came to America early in the cen-
tury and an activist in the Brook-
lyn Syrian community, "are
waiting until they can walk
across the border" when peace
with Israel is achieved.
So why now is Rabbi Hamra,
who was the spiritual leader of
the Syrian Jewish community
since the mid-1970s, moving to
Israel amid such publicity?
"Because of the advances in
peace with Syria," he replied.
He noted the recent Syrian
gestures toward Israel, such as
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk
al-Sharaa's interview with Israel
Television.
"Solving the problem of Syri-
an Jews is a big step toward
peace. Maybe I am a piece of the
peace," Rabbi Hamra said.
One American Jewish leader
voiced similar speculation this
week.
"It is being timed to give a shot
in the arm to the Syrian negoti-
ations and reflect some good will
on the part of the Syrians," said
the leader, speaking on condition
of anonymity.
The fact that thd announce-
ment of Rabbi Hamra's departure
came from Damascus served to
support this view.
At his news conference, Rabbi
Hamra joked with reporters and
sidestepped sensitive questions
with a smile and the skill of a sea-
soned diploinat trained in deal-
ing with Syria's secret police.
When asked, for instance, if
the decision to go public with his
aliyah and to lift the broad cloak
of censorship was based on deci-
sions from political higher-ups in
Israel, the United States or Syr-
ia, the rabbi replied:
"I always weigh every com-
munal decision with reasonable
people."
In remarks directed at the Is-
raeli public delivered in excellent
Hebrew learned from years of
studies and clandestine listening.
to Israel Radio broadcasts, Rab-
bi Hamra was full of praise for
Mr. Assad.
The Syrian president "under-
stood our desire to unify with our
families."
He had praise as well for the
American and Israeli govern-
ments.
And he thanked the Jewish or-
ganizations, which had assisted
in the exodus of his community.
The emigration and resettle-
ment in Brooklyn involved the co-
operation of the JDC, which
handled the arrangements from
Syria to New York; the Hebrew
Immigrant Aid Society, which
helped obtain refugee asylum for
the Syrian Jews who had arrived
on visitor visas; and the New
York Association for New Amer-
icans, an agency of New York's
UJA-Federation, and the
Sephardic Bikur Cholim, an
agency of the Syrian Jewish com-
munity, which cooperated on re-
settlement efforts. In Israel, the
Jewish Agency praised the coop-
eration of these groups with its
emissaries, who were encourag-
ing the Syrian Jews to move on
to Israel.
As to his own plans for the fu-
ture, after he settles in Holon
where he has family, Rabbi Ham-
ra had only a smile and a shrug
of the shoulders.
The mood this week was best
captured by Ralph Goldman, ex-
ecutive vice president emeritus
of the JDC, who quoted a biblical
verse at the Brooklyn celebration.
"Zeh hayom asah hashem,
nagila v'nishmach bo," he said:
"This is the day that God has
made. Let us be happy and re-
joice in it."
Rabin Visit
Creates Problems
London (JTA) — The Lubavitch
Foundation in Britain has de-
nounced its Oxford-based student
society for planning to co-sponsor
a visit by Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin, whose stance on
territorial compromise are vigor-
ously opposed by the Chabad
Lubavitch movement.
Rabbi Shmuel Boteach of the
Oxford L'Chaim Society said last
week that he had been sum-
moned to a disciplinary hearing
after refusing to revoke his
group's involvement in the visit.
The Lubavitch Foundation's
U.K. director, Rabbi Faivish Vo-
gel, said the group should not
have sponsored the Rabin visit
out of respect for Rebbe Men-
achem Mendel Schneerson, the
spiritual leader of the Lubavitch
worldwide movement, who died
earlier this year.
"The views of the late Lubav-
itcher rebbe on territorial issues
and compromise are well-
known," Rabbi Vogel said in a
statement.
"The rebbe's views are not
shared by Prime Minister Rabin,
and it is therefore felt it would
not be appropriate for the Lubav-
itch Oxford University L'Chaim
Society to co-host the visit of the
prime minister," Rabbi Vogel
said.