Mild' Outrage At
The Wall
Though
Conservative
worshipers were
heckled in
Jerusalem, their
Shavuot certainly
wasn't as bad as
last year's.
LARRY DERFNER
Israel Correspondent
T
he Conservative Jews put -up
with chants of "Nazis!" and
"Goyim!" They got hit with a
few pebbles and a few plastic
bags of chocolate milk. They got pushed
and pulled by a throng of furious hared-
im trying to break through the ring of
policemen to get at them.
All in all, it wasn't a bad Shavuot at
the Western Wall for the Conservative
prayer group.
A year ago the black hat Orthodox
Jews, known as haredim, reportedly
threw feces (some say it was diapers)
and rocks at the Conservatives, who in
turn were dragged off roughly by the
police. Last Tisha B'Av, the police
wouldn't even let them pray at the Wall
on orders of the Chief Rabbinate.
This year, more than 200
Conservative Jews, men and women,
came to the Wall for Sunday morning's
Shavuot prayers. Actually, they stood a
couple of hundred yards away from the
Wall, in a far corner of the public plaza.
"We tried to be as inconspicuous as
we could possibly be. Anybody who
hassled us had to go out of his way to
do so," said Rabbi Andrew Sacks, who
led the prayers.
Police had warned the group that as
soon as they started to pray, they would
YU Student
Found Dead
New York (JTA) -- The body of a
Yeshiva University sophomore who
was last seen at the Manhattan
school on May 12 was found float-
ing in the Hudson River.
New York police said there was
no evidence of foul play or of sui-
cide. F-amily and friends of Joshua
Bender had launched a large-scale
search after he had disappeared two
days before a final exam.
Report On SS Gold
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mainly teenage boys. Over the years,
be forced to stop — to prevent a recur-
they've developed two annual Shavuot
rence of last Shavuot's melee. The
customs at the Wall: First they harass
police, however, changed their minds
the Conservatives, and then —
and allowed the prayers, forming a
when
the morning prayers are
ring around the Conservatives to
Peo Pie
over
—
they storm through the
keep the hundreds of haredim at
prayi ng at
Old
City
and do considerably
bay.
the Wall.
greater
violence
to the Arabs in
"The police really did a remark-
the Moslem Quarter. Unlike the
able job," Sacks said. The Conservatives
Conservatives, the Arabs fight back.
also got some moral support from a few
In the Moslem Quarter on Sunday,
members of the Orthodox Aish
haredim and Arabs threw stones at each
Hatorah yeshiva near the Wall, who
other, and members of each group
passed out leaflets reminding the hared-
threw stones at police. A number of
im that violence was a "desecration of
Palestinian cars and shops had their
God's name." Members of Jerusalem's
windows
smashed. Four Arabs, four
modern Orthodox synagogue Yedidya
haredim and two policemen were
prayed alongside the Conservatives in a
injured. Arabs say the haredim started
show of solidarity.
it, haredim say the Arabs started, and
Sacks said an important precedent
police aren't saying.
had been set. The police had protected
Bar-Ilan University Prof. Eliezer
their right to hold prayers their way at
Don-Yehiya,
an expert in religious poli-
the Wall — with men and women pray-
tics,
explained
that with so many hared-
ing together instead of being separated
im
living
close
to
Arab east Jerusalem,
by a partition — instead of giving in to
"the proximity causes friction."
the violence and threats by their detrac-
He said the haredi attack on
tors. Furthermore, Sacks said, the police
Conservatives at the start of Shavuot
defended the group even though the
was mild compared to what happened
Religious Affairs Ministry had urged the
on previous holidays at the Wall.
police to block the prayers.
Noting that these violent incidents are
"I don't think we're going to have an
terrible for the public image, Don-
easy time praying at the Wall on holi-
Yehiya
added, "I wonder if some of the
days from now on, but I hope it will be
haredi leaders didn't work behind the
somewhat easier than it has been for us
scenes this year to make sure that things
in the past," Sacks said.
didn't get out of hand." ❑
As usual, the haredi bullies were
New York (JTA) — Switzerland's
central bank made no effort to
ensure that it was not getting
Holocaust victims' gold when it
purchased. $280 million in gold
from Nazi Germany, according to a
report issued by an international
onded.
panel of historians commis_sisai
by the Swiss government to probe
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ntelligence
Buenos Aires (JTA)- The United
States and Argentina agreed to share
intelligence information in an effort
to combat international terrorism
The decision was announced
after a meeting between Argentina's
president, Carlos Menem, and visit-
ing U.S. Defense Secretary William
Cohen. Argentina has been unable
to find those responsible for two
terrorist bombings of Jewish sites in
Buenos Aires in 1992 and 1994
that killed 115 people. Recent
charges by Argentine officials that
Iran was involved in the bombings
has resulted in the two countries' all
but suspending their diplomatic
contacts.
6/5
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