Ohio Jewish chronicle. (Columbus, Ohio), 1982-12-30

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VOL.60   NO.53
DECEMBER 30,1982-TEVET 14
Devoted ro American
and Jewish Ideals
UN Resolution Calls For Israeli Withdrawal
i UNITED NATIONS (JTA).—The General Assembly passed
a resolution by a vote of 113-4 with 23 abstentions declaring
that "a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle
East cannot be established without the unconditional withdrawal of Israel from the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem." The United
States, Canada, Costa Rica and Israel voted against the
resolution, which is non-binding.
s Vandalism Against Synagogues
n One Section Of United States
New Synagogue Opened In Paris
PARIS (JTA)—Paris' Chief Rabbi Alain Goldman recently
inaugurated a new synagogue in the Paris suburb of "Kremlin Bicetre" in the heart of the city's "Red Belt" operated for
a generation by Communist municipalities. Several thousand
Jews, mainly of North African origin, live in the area. Goldman said at the inauguration that the new synagogue is part
of a general plan which aims at opening synagogues and
community centers in all areas "in which Jews live and
pray."
NEW YORK (JTA)-
Nearly 600 rabbis in five
states, polled recently on the
extent of anti-Semitic vandalism against their synagogues, generally indicated
caution in suggesting such
vandalism was a problem in
their communities, even in
the face of specifics to the
contrary.
The poll was made by
Penn and Schoen Associates,
a New York public relations
firm, on commission from
the Simon Wiesenthal Center
in Los Angeles. A summary
of the poll was published in
the fall/winter issue of the
Wiesenthal Center's Social
Action Update.
Rabbi Stavsky Announces 'Gettin'
Can Now Be Obtained In Columbus
By Judith Franklin
Chronicle News Editor
You can be circumcized in
Columbus, Ohio. You can
also become a Bar or Bat
Mitzvah, get married in a
religious ceremony or be
buried here, all according to
Jewish law, but, for the last
quarter of a century, there
was one component of Jewish life that could not be
obtained in Columbus.
That was a Jewish bill of
divorce or "get."
Rabbi David Stavsky
Divorced orthodox Jews,
men as well as women, must
have "gettin" in order to remarry, according to Rabbi
David Stavsky of Beth Jacob
Congregation. Many conservative and reform Jews also
desire "gettin," he explained, just in case they
might want to marry an
orthodox Jew some day. For
many people, the religious
divorce also serves to finalize the civil proceedings, he
said.
The "get" has a long,
interesting, sometimes
troubled history. In Biblical
times, when many Jewish
men were polygamous, only
divorced women needed a
"get" in order to remarry,
Rabbi Stavsky explained.
And since only the husband
could initiate the "get" (this
is still the case), a woman
was at the mercy of his good
nature. If she did not receive
a "get," she was known as
an "agunah" and could not
remarry, he said.
*T6oay, the "get" is sometimes used by both men and
women as a form of emotional or financial "blackmail" in civil divorce proceedings. Many states, such
as New York, are trying to
legislate against this abuse.
In the meantime, Rabbi
Stavsky explained, the
promise to obtain a Jewish
divorce can be, and often is,
incorporated into the legal
separation agreement and
rabbis bring pressure to
bear on uncooperative
spouses.
Jewish law, "halacha," in
order to make the "get"
difficult to obtain hastily, in
a moment of anger, is very
strict about its form, Rabbi
Stavsky noted. For instance,
a new one must be written by
a Torah scribe in Hebrew
calligraphy for each specific
person. Moreover, it must
contain all the names and
nicknames of the couple concerned, the city and state in
which it is written and, to
further pinpoint the location,
the names of all rivers surrounding the city.
It was this last stipulation
which caused the problem in
Columbus, Rabbi Stavsky
explained, because all "gettin" written here were lost 25
years ago, along with the
-records of Beth Jacob's
Rabbi Leopold Greenwald.
His successors, not knowing
for sure how he transliterated the English names of
the Scioto and Olentangy
Rivers and Alum Creek into
Hebrew, could not risk doing
it in a different way. If they
did, doubt would be cast on
the validity of all "gettin"
previously written in Columbus, according to the Beth
Din or religious court, and
scores of remarriages would
be in question.
In order to prevent this,
"men from  Columbus  who
wished to initiate "gettin"
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 11)
HAPPY
New
Year
It's nearly time
to say,
4'Hope you have
a happy 1983
... in every way!"
The Chronicle Staff
The summary was
checked out by the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency with the
polling firm, partly to amplify specifics of the polling
procedure and partly to clarify elements of the Wiesenthal Center newsletter
summary.
The summary declared
that "those who view vandalism against synagogues as a
phenomenon isolated in one
part of the country are sadly
mistaken." The newsletter
asserted that, in the past
three years, 57 percent of
New York City synagogues
had been vandalized, as
were 49 percent of synagogues throughout New
YorkState.
The percentages of vandalized synagogues,
reported in the newsletter
for other states, were: 32
percent in California, 32 percent in Florida, 38 percent in
Illinois and 19 percent in
Texas.
Effort To Gain
Better Perspective
A polling firm official said
the telephone calls to 568
rabbis were made between
the fall of 1981 and the summer of 1982. He said 332
rabbis were polled in New
York State, 77 in Florida, 76
in California, 62 in Illinois
and 21 in Texas.
The official also told the
JTA that the rabbis were selected for polling on a
.weighted basis related to the
size of their congregations in
an effort to get as representative a sampling for each
state polled as the limited
nature of the survey permitted.
In declaring that the findings showed that the responding rabbis were
"exceedingly cautious" in'
suggesting that anti-Semitism was a problem in their
communities, the newsletter
summary asserted that
"invariably, rabbis were
more likely to say that anti-
Semitism was a problem in
the country as a whole than
in their home cities or com
munities. Indeed, the closer
one gets to the rabbis' home
communities, the less likely
they are to suggest that anti-
Semitism is a serious problem,"
Far from any problem of
rabbis "obsessed with the
issue of anti-Semitism," the
newsletter said that the poll
findings suggested that the
rabbis "tend to de-emphasize rather than emphasize
its occurrence in their home
communities."
Mellman Named Chairman
Of UJF Super Sunday'83
Dennis Mellman has been
named 1983 Super Sunday
chairman by General Campaign Chairman Edwin M.
Ellman. Mellman will coordinate the day-long event,
which is scheduled for Jan.
23 and will involve more than
100 volunteers in an intense
fundraising drive for the 1983
United Jewish Fund Campaign and the Israel Special
Fund.
Super Sunday is an annual
national fundraising appeal
designed to reach a large
number of contributors in
the shortest period of time.
Last year, on Super Sunday,
more than 35,000 volunteers
in 139 U.S. communities
raised $26.9 million for
humanitarian programs in
their local communities,
among the people of Israel
and for Jewish communities
in need throughout the
world. That was a record
amount for a one-day mass
appeal.
Rabbi Berman To Participate
In Rabbinic Mission To Poland
• During the first week in
January, Rabbi Harold Berman of Congregation Tifer-
eth.Israel will participate in
a mission of rabbis from all
over the United States who
will travel to Poland for
ceremonies to commemorate the 40th anniversary of
the uprising of the Warsaw
Ghetto in 1943.
Rabbi Berman and 20
other rabbis will travel to
Warsaw, Krakow and Auschwitz. At the conclusion of
their travels in Poland, they
will participate in ceremonies in Paris marking the
same anniversary.
Rabbi Berman will be
serving as a delegate of the
Columbus Jewish Federation .
Active in a number of local
and national organizations,
Rabbi Berman participated
in the 1982 Rabbinic Mission
to Israel of the United Jewish Appeal.
Regarding this trip, Rabbi
Berman stated: "It is my
hope that I will not only be
able to participate in this historic mission, but also that I
will be able to bring back
valuable information and
insight to share with the
Rabbi Harold J. Berman
Columbus Jewish community. It is especially important at this time, both in
America and in Europe, that
people remember the tragedy of the Holocaust and continue to discuss the importance of responsibility iri the
relations of peoples toward
each other,"
Dennis Mellman
"I am looking forward to
the challenge Super Sunday
'83 represents," said Mellman. "Last year Columbus
raised $200,000 from 1600
pledges. This year, we have
increased our goal to help us
meet increasing needs and.
keep pace with inflation."  ,
Mellman, who is a member of the Executive Committee and Board of
Trustees of the Columbus
Jewish Federation, serves
as chairman of the Education and Culture Budget and
Planning Committee. Mellman is also a member of the
Federation/Jewish Center
Oversight Committee and
the Federation Committee
on Leadership Retention and
Burnout.
"Our goals for Super Sunday '83 are higher, both for
securing volunteers and
raising dollars," Mellman
stated. "Our goals are
higher," he continued,
"because Jewish needs are
greater. Super Sunday this
year will seek crucial additional pledges to the Israel
Special Fund to help the
Jewish agency I maintain
vital humanitarian and
educational programs
endangered by the enormous
economic impact of 'Operation Peace for Galilee.' With
such a mandate, in addition
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