Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1986-05-01

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Serving Columbus and Central Ohio Jewish Community (or Over 60 Years
JBromcle
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UIBnABY, OHIO HISTORICAL SOC^^Y
1902 VELMA AVE.
COLJ. 0,  43211     '    EXCH
VOL.64   NO. 18
MAY 1,1986-NISAN 22
Davoted lo American
and Jewish ideals.
Reconstructionists Denounce SCA For Denying
Them Membership In the Umbrella Organization
m \.
1
'Shoah' To Open On May 7
Henrik Gawkowski, a Polish locomotive engineer
who drove Jews to a death camp, is shown in a scene
from Claude Lanzmann's epic film on the Holocaust,
Shoah. The film which opens Wednesday, May 7, for a
two-week engagement at the Drexel Theatre has been
acclaimed as one of the greatest films ever made by
critics throughout Europe and America. Tickets for the
opening night premiere are available at the Jewish
Center, 1125 College Ave. Tickets for all other performances are on sale at the Drexel Theatre, 2254 E. Main
St., or by calling 231-1050.    f ,	
NEW YORK (JTA) - The
Federation of Reconstruc-
tionist Congregations and
Havurot (FRCH) sharply
denounced the Synagogue
Council of America (SCA)
following the Council's decision to deny it membership.
Warning that the denial
can harm "Jewish unity,"
Lillian Kaplan, president of
the FRCH, charged in a
statement issued here last
week that this rejection
"negates the very essence of
its mandate.iL.
The, application of the
FRCH for membership in
the SCA was rejected on
March 11 after the Union of
Who Is A Jew In Federal Prison System
To Be Determined By Rabbis, Not Officials
i
r
I
NEW YORK (JTA) - The
Federal Bureau of Prisons
has recently agreed, after a
lengthy legal battle, that the
question of "who is a Jew"—
and thus eligible for kosher
food — will not be deter-:
mined by prison officials,
but by religious authorities.
It will send a directive to this
effect to all prisons in the
federal system.
The action came about as
a result of a court case triggered in 1980 when prison officials at the Federal Correc-
I" tional Institution at Texar-
kana, Texas, decided that
none of the participants in
■■■ the kosher food program
were Jews and removed
them from the program, in
effect, closing it down.
Clifford Noe, one of the
then-inmates who had declared himself a Jew and
had participated in the
kosher food program, sued
the, prison system on
grounds that his First
Amendment rights were violated. Robert Roach, Jr., of
the Houston law firm of
Mayor, Day and Caldwell,
who has represented Noe on
a pro bono basis, told the
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
that a Constitutional issue
was at stake here: "The.
government or any of its
agencies should not decide
who is a member of ya religion."
Federal  prison  system
1 regulations, arising out of
1976 court cases, mandate
that inmates are entitled to
full kosher meals within 13
days of signing a statement
that they are Jews and request such food, said Roach.
The rules say nothing about
verifying  Jewish  background.
Background Of The Case
Noe, he said, V?as admitted
to the kosher food program
'
The next year, he made
several complaints to the
warden: one was that the
prison had inadequate facilities for keeping kitchen
equipment, used to prepare
kosher food, clean; another
was that the food — cheese,
frankfurters and sardines —
was not comparable to that
served to non-kosher inmates.
Prison officials, however,
responded only to Noe's
third complaint: that non-
Jews were in the kosher food
program and were flaunting
their non-Jewishness. Deciding to determine "who is a
Jew," prison officials turned
to a local Texarkana rabbi,
and later, to Rabbi Uriel
Smith of Shreveport, La.
Both rabbis. turned down
the idea of testing the inmates to discern whether
they were Jews, on grounds
that this is against Jewish
law except when someone is
about to marry. Smith, as
well as Rabbi Ted Sanders,
the Jewish chaplain for the
• state prison system, later
testified in court to this effect.
'   Turned down by the two
rabbis, the prison officials
Reagan To Head U.S.
Ben Gurion Centennial
WASHINGTON (JTA)~-
President Reagan has accepted the invitation of Israel President Chaim Herzog to act as honorary chairman of the David Ben Gurion
Centennial Committee of the
United States, it was announced here by the Centennial Committee,
Reagan's participation in
the year-long celebration of
the birth of Israel's first Premier acknowledges the special relationship between the
United States and Israel, the
called upon Dr. David
Geigerman, a Texarkana anesthesiologist who served at
the time as president of the
local B'nai B'rith chapter.
Geigerman spoke with the
nine* or ten inmates in the
kosher program for several
minutes, said Roach, asking
them to translate some Hebrew and provide information on several Jewish festivals. He concluded that none
of them was Jewish.
Geigerman later testified
in court that, had he been informed that to be eligible for
the kosher food program a
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 16)
Orthodox Jewish Congregations exercised a unilateral
veto by voting against the
admission. The other members of the SCA—which was
founded in 1926 by the three
major synagogue movements of American Judaism
(Reform, Conservative and
Orthodox) and their rabbinical affiliates—supported the
admission of the Reconstructionists. The SCA by-laws
include the rule that a nay
vote by any of its six members can veto any proposition put before its Board.
The six members of the
SCA are: the Central Conference of American Rabbis
and Union of American
Hebrew Congregations
(Reform); the Union of
Orthodox Jewish Congregations and the Rabbinical
Council of America (Orthodox), and the United Synagogue of America and the
Rabbinical Assembly {Conservative). The FRCH
claims to be the fourth major
movement in American
Judaism.        - .';-.
SCA's Credentials
Demeaned
Noting that the SCA claims
to be "the umbrella for
Jewish religious life in
America," Kaplan said that
the rejection "does not
weaken our movement, but
it does demean the Council's
credentials in terms of religious leadership."
FRCH executive director
Rabbi David Teutsch told
the Jewish Telegraphic
Agency that following the
veto, his organization held
discussions with leaders of
the Union of Orthodox
Jewish Congregations in an
effort to change their opposition to the Reconstructionists' membership in the SCA,
but to no avail. It was after
these efforts failed that the
FRCH issued a statement
denouncing the rejection.
The SCA Explains Its
Decision
Asked to explain the
reasons for voting against
the admission of the FRCH
to the SCA, Rabbi Pinchas
Stolper, executive vice president of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations,
said in a telephone interview
with the JTA:
"In our view there were
and are three major divisions of the American synagogue community — the
Reform, Conservative and
Goldstein Brothers Arrive In Israel
TEL AVIV (JTA) - Isai
arid Grigory Goldstein,
brothers who waited almost
15 years for visas to leave
the Soviet Union, arrived in
Israel April 18 with a plea
that the Jews they left behind in the USSR not be forgotten.
Isai, accompanied by his
wife, Elizabeta and their
15-year-old son, Avi, said at
Ben Gurion Airport: "Our
dream has at. last come true.
We want no more publicity.
All your attention must now
be given to those who have
been left behind. There are
still hundreds of thousands
wanting to leave."
Grigory, who is 55 and
unmarried, said he and his
brother, both physicists,
were not allowed to emigrate
15 years ago because both
had worked on scientific research. They are natives of
Tbilisi, the capital of Soviet
Georgia. Grigory was exiled
to Siberia for a year because
of his Zionist activities..
The  brothers  renounced
1972, after Arab terrorists
massacred members of the
Israeli Olympic team in
Munich. They charged that
Moscow had provided the
terrorists' weapons. Exit
visas were granted them
earlier this year after Sen.
Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts intervened on their
behalf during a visit to
Moscow.
Passover
5746
Next Year
in
Jerusalem
Peace,
Prosperity,
Health And
Happiness
The
Ohio Jewish
Chronicle
Canadian Jewish Congress
Exports Passover
MONTREAL (JTA) — The Canadian Jewish Congress, as
in years past, dispatched Passover foodstuffs to the Jewish
community of Cuba to help its members celebrate the
holiday. The CJC's Moes Chittin Project sent the Cuban Jews
$16,000 in matzoh and matzoh products, oil and wine several
months ago, timed to arrive before the Passover festival.
Peres, Mitterrand Meet For Three Hours
PARIS (JTA) — Israeli Premier Shimon Peres, on a two-
day visit to France, met with President Franchois Mitterrand for more than three hours at the Elysee Palace last
week. Their discussion focussed on the U.S. air strike against
Libya and on other issues, such as East-West'relations,
Orthodox. We feel that by
admitting additional groups
we open a Pandora's Box
which would needlessly confuse the already confused
landscape. Our opposition to
admitting the Reconstructionists is not directed at the
Reconstructionists per se
but to the realization that
there are many sub-groups
of the three divisions and by
tolerating the creation of further division we will only
render a disservice."
According to Teutsch, the
FRCH last applied for membership in the SCA more
than ten years ago and was
rejected. "We did not ask all
these years to be admitted
because we knew we are
going   to  be  rejected,"
Teutsch told the JTA.
Cites 'Insufficient
Comitment To Pluralism'
Teutsch  said   that   the
FRCH   has   about  75,000
members with over 56 congregations around the country. "Our congregations are
located in most of the largest  ,
Jewish population centers of
the country and our members are leaders in local
Federations,   branches   of
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 9)
Temple Israel Women
To Host Jack Hanna
Jack Hanna, executive
director of the Columbus
Zoo, will be the guest of Temple Israel Sisterhood at their
luncheon meeting on Tuesday, May 13, 11:45 a.m. at
the Temple.
Hanna has been executive
director of the Zoo since 1978
and is responsible for its $4
million budget, 150 employees and its 150 acres of
property. The Columbus Zoo
is the eighth largest zoo in
the world and the only zoo to
successfully breed the first
gorilla born in captivity.
Hanna has become the
country's foremost Zoo crusader and his media experi-
• ences include regular guest
appearances on "Late Night
with David Letterman" and
the "Sally Jessy Raphel
Show." He has also reached
an agreement with "Good
Morning America" to appear monthly on the show to
promote the Zoo's Adopt-an-
Anjmal program.
Early reservations are
recommended for this program. Couvert is $8 for
members, $8.50 for non-
members, through May 8,
and $9 after that date. A
check is a reservation and
should be sent to Jody Altschule, 2601 Sherwood Rd.,
43209. The event is open to
Sisterhood members, guests
i at Texarkana orison in 1979.. Committee said. their Soviet citizenship ins - Syrian policies and the situation in the Persian Gulf. - and the entire community.'    *
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