//. Hockenberg Heads Des Moines Federation
THE Serving Council Bluffs, Des Moines, Lincoln, Omaha Vol. MI—No. 32
OMAHA, NEB., FBI.- FEB. 2, 1873
Aid Urged for Threatened Activists stop his graduate work after he applied to leave for Israel. Eitan's friends insist t h a t there can be no longer any security reason for him to be denied a visa since he has not atprisons. , • • • tended the institute for five According t o Finkelstein's years. '. friends who are now In Israel, Zelik Gafanovich, a 24-yearEitan has been refused an exit. old student, has been struggling • visa approximately 20 times. : for many years to leave the SoRussian officials c l a i m that viet Union. The Russian offiFinkelstein, who attended the cials claim he cannot .leave the - Moscow Physics-Technical In- USSR because of his service in stitute, is in possession of "se- the army. The friends insist cret information" by virtue of that Gafanovich finished his his graduate work there. service over "three years ago, In 1967, Finkelstein, who is and is of no more value to the now 30 years old, was forced to Soviet state. The Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry has issued an appeal for two Vilna activists—Eitan Finkelstein and ZeliJc Gafanovich—who are in danger of being incarcerated in Soviet
Zelik has also been subjected to numerous searches at his home. The Gafanovich family phone has been disconnected. SSSJ's last reports from Vilna state that the Soviet authorities will not allow Finkelstein and Gafanovich to leave the USSR until'1977. SSSJ urges, all concerned individuals to write letters (registered if possible) of support in any language to Eitan Finkelstein; USSR; Lithuanian SSR; Vilnius; L c p o s Street 21/10, apt. 10; and to Zelik Gafanovich; USSR; Lithuanian SSR; Vilnius; Zhirinuniu Street 100, apt. 24.
Des Moines—Harlan Hockenberg has been elected as president of the Board of Governors of the Jewish Welfare Federa• tion. Other officers are Marvin Fomerantz, f i r s t vice-president; Gary Rubin, second vicepresident; Sheldon Rabinowjtz, vice-president; F r e d Lorber, vice-president; Barry Pidgeon, secretary, and Art Kagin, treasurer, . New members of the Board of Governors, elected at the recent annual meeting of the Federation, are Dr. 3r. Leonard Azneer, -Mrs. Matthew Bucks-
baum, Mrs. Lewis Caspe, Dr. Milton Mark, D.r Glenn Purnell, and Marvin Winick.
Harlan Hockenberg
Omaha Teens to Hear Plans ForSummer Tours to Israel Omaha—Information about the broadened program of summer youth programs in Israel available to Omaha teens will be discussed at a special meeting Monday, February 12 at 7:30 p.m. at Beth El Synagogue. Mrs. Sheldon Lincoln, chairman of the Omaha Israel Youth Summer Pilgrimage Committee of the Omaha Jewish Federation, urges all Jewish high school students and ;. their parents to attend. • ';, , Plans will be discussed for the Omaha Youth Pilgrimage as well as.other approved Israel study-tour programs whfch will be partially subverted by the Omaha Federation. Questions will be answered about the various programs, and details will be given about the procedure for application.
Omaha.Teens Stage Peaceful:? Deittonstration for Soviet Jews Omaha—"We are not opposed to boxing matches or to Soviet athletes," said David Duitch, explaining the purpose of the Protest March staged Wednesd a y evcnlng.Jn_fwnt of~ihe Civic Auditorium in Omaha. ; "We are protesting the treatment of Jews in the Soviet Eitan Finkelstein (left) and Zelik Gafanovich (right), major Union," Duitch said. "We want Vllna Jewish activists, are targets of Soviet secret police har- the Olympic athletes from the Soviet Union who are boxing rossraent for seeking exit to Israel. Their homes were searched, here tonight to convey our proand their friends fear the pair might be jailed. tests to their government. We want to remind the entire community of the plight of Soviet Jews- who are being denied their basic rights, including the right to emigrate to Israel. That's why we are here," said the Central High Junior. The 17-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Duitch, David
Activists Under Pressure
initiated the idea of the Protest March to-demonstrate the concern of local,Jewish youth with the problems of Soviet Jewry. • ' "With, the' permission' of city officials to stage the demonstration, David and,some of his friends "spread the word" to as many Jewish teens as possible to participate in the March.
:
' ' '•'.' ."/•'.''.';
. C a l l ing.themselves "Con-. cerned Omaha Jewish Youth,*' the teenagers carried signs • bearing inscriptions of "Let My People Go," during the hour long demonstration in front of the auditorium. Kenny Fishbain, one of the' participants in the March, expressed the feelings of many
of the young demonstrators in his explanation of why he was there. ;'.,.. v "We have to support any effort to'helpi-Soviet"Jews who arftjbeing denied the right to live as Jews in Russia or the right to emigrate to Israel," said Fishbain. This is one w a y to alert .the community to the problems.' ": Among the concerns expressed by Fishbain were the many Soviet Jews who were denied permission to emigrate; the high exit fees imposed upon those who were granted exit visas and the hardships faced by those who express a desire to leave Russia, including their loss of jobs. -
31-year-old engineering Ph.D. Daniel Tcltelbaum, a Leningrad Jewish resistance leader and Hebrew teacher, and family (above), have again been refused permission to leave for Israel.
' Kiev activists Alexa'nlcy r fllhal-(feft) and Zenovy Melamed
above* <the>nlght before the>M.arclv «ome «f the teens Involved in making plans and j»6*U ' C iCindy d K b I M l A t e > t demonstration, • Their 'beads were shaved, 9they tfWd 'irfaad 1W < -. er«, Fromi left/lront >row« Flfihbain* David Duitch. t ileep on bare coldfloors*and were fed little food, < i