To Respond On June 8
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BLUFFS, LINCOLN, OMAHA Omaha, Neb., Frl., May 30,1980
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Assembly Favors Women as Rabbis KIAMESHA LAKE, N.Y. (JTA) — The Habbinlcal Assembly, the association of Conservative rabbis, for the first time has endorsed the ordination of women as rabbis. The R.A. after six hours of heated debate, also called on the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, academic founlalnhcad of Conservative Judaism, whose faculty senate last December had tabled a resolution on such ordination, to remove it from the table and act on the resolution.
Olympics Poster "Berlin -1936; Moscow -1080" U the title of the Student Straggle (or Soviet Jewry's new poster on the upcoming "Olympics of Oppression" in the USSR. Many JewUb activists expect ttrbc arrested for the duration of toe Games to bar them from Western . The pposter is available, free, in single g copies p from the t 772nd 2 d Street, S t t suites ite 30-31, N k N.Y. Y 10023. SSSJ at 200 200 W West New York,
• The ADL/CRC Committee of the Jewish Federation of Omaha is preparing a response to last Sunday's World-Herald editorial on Israel. According to Barry Morrison, ADL/CRC director, the response is tentatively scheduled for publication in the World-Herald's issue of June 8. Meanwhile, Mr. Morrison suggested that individual responses from memb e r s of t h e J e w i s h community are encouraged.
Although the resolution, passed at the R.A.'s 80th annual convention by a 156-115 vote "did, not wish to dictate" which way the seminary's senate*'STiould vote, its proponents made it clear In the debate -iliaJ—they—expecled-noihingless than approval of women's
ordination. Arguments against the resolution were based generally on stated fears that approval would "split" the R.A. and the Conservative movement. It ~was pointed out that there was no guarantee that the seminary would approve ordination of women, but members of the R.A. who have fought for it said they could not be expected to give up even if the seminary's vote was negative. There was a proposal, they pointed out, that would have been presented to the current convention if the call on the seminary to act on the matter had not been adopted. This proposal would have had the seminary devote Itself solely Jo education for the rabbinate and leave ordination to a selected panel from the R.A, (Continued on Page 2)
Rabbi Michelman To Visit Lincoln Rabbi Henry D. Michelman, assistant to the chancellor of The Jewish Theological Seminar of America, will address a Wednesday, June 4 reception at which the Seminary will honor Lincoln communal leader Leo Hill. The event will be at 8 p.m., at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Max L. Neiden. Following his ordination by the Seminary, Rabbi Michelman served from 1967-1970 as rabbi of Congregation Baith Israel Anshe Ernes, the mother synagogue of Brooklyn, New York. Before assuming his present post with the Seminary, he was an assistant to its president. Rabbi Michelman has had over 10 years experience working with Jewish youth in the Youth Activities Program of the United Synagogue Movement. During these years, he was Youth Director in several of the Conservative congregations in the Greater Metropolitan area of New York. Prior to coming to the Seminary to study for the rabbinate, he was a management consultant and a systems analyst with the firm of Norman Jaspan Associates. Rabbi Michelman received a B.A. degree from the College of the City of New York and did graduate work in industrial management at the Bernard Baruch School of City College. He holds a master of Hebrew literature degree from the Seminary and the degree of Rabbi, Teacher 'and Preacher. Among the academic honors -he-received—from—thc-J>em-Inary are the William B. Hack-
Rabbi Michelman enberg Prize in Midrash (Corecipient, 1966); the Annie F . Schlmmel Memorial Prize (1967 and 1969); the Sarah Soils Nathan Prize (1968); and the Reverend Zvi Hirsch Masliansky Award In Horn He tics (recipient In 1969 and co-recipient In 1970). Rabbi Michelman is married to the former Joan Caplow of Long Beach, New York, and they have two children, Rebecca and Amy.
TV Program "The Jewish Community," a television program devoted to the Israel Pilgrimage, will be broadcast June 1, 1:30 p.m., on WOWT Channel 6. David Duitch will act as moderator for the panel of pilgrimage participants Mike Herman, Bruce Kutler, Sydney Rubin and Amy Cooper. The program, sponsored by the CRC television committee, was originally aired in April -and is being-repeated throughthe generosity of WOWT.
Zorinsky: Israel Has A Right to Secure Borders Senator Edward Zorinsky has shared with us an exchange of correspondence Initiated by the co-chairman of the Parllmentary Association for Euro-Arab Co-operation, and the Senator's response. The correspondence follows: HOUSE OF COMMONS LONDON SWIAOAA 25th April 1980 Dear Senator Zorinsky I am a British Member of Parliament and Co-Chairman of the Parliamentary Association for Euro-Arab Co-operation which includes among Its members more than three hundred and fifty members of the European Economic Community parliaments. I do hope you will find It possible to give the enclosed letter from members of the Parliamentary Association your personal attention. Yours sincerely, Dennis Walters Dear Senator,
The signatories of this letter are all, like yourself, members of their national parliaments. We also belong to the Parliamentary Association for Euro-Arab Co-operation, which Includes in Its ranks more than 350 MPs from the E.E.C. countries. We are venturing to write to you because of our profound concern over the Middle East crisis. May we begin by expressing our sense of outrage at the kidnapping and detention of your fifty diplomats in Tehran. All of as have made our feelings on this issue plain to our governments, and, through them to the government of Iran. We also share to the full your abhorrence and alarm at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. It is, however, with the conflict In Palestine that we are particularly concerned: we believe that only If they handle this problem correctly can the Western nations deal effectively with the crises in Iran and Afghanistan. We are all specialists in Middle Eastern affairs, with firsthand experience of the Arab and Israeli view-points, and we are writing after the conclusion of a three-day conference in Strasbourg.wlth a delegation of ten leading members of the Palestine National council. As you will know, this council acts as a Par-
liament for the Palestinian people and Is formed as democratically as the dispersion of the Palestinians permits. We have been impressed by the precise, public statements by this delegation In favour of the peaceful coexistence of two states in Palestine and by their insistence that their "dream" of a united ArabJewish Palestine can and will only be pursued by peaceful and democratic means. In defence of the P.L.O. Charter they argue (with some justice, we think) that they cannot be expected to make formal amendments to it on a unilateral basis i.e. without a parallel formal abandonment by the Israeli government of Its commitment to "Greater Israel". (We feel there might be something in this point which your administration could follow up helpfully). However, the main point which we wish to make is the vital importance for all Western countries of united support for the principle of Palestinian self-determination. Only with this can our countries hope to establish normal relations with the Muslim peoples, or enlist them in defence co-operation inthe region, or secure our oil supplies, or create for Israel the conditions of stability, peace and security to which (within her proper frontiers) she is entitled. We believe that these arc all vital interests for the Western nations, and that your government and ours should act in concert to achieve them. But this cannot happen — to speak frankly — while the United States continues to provide Israel with the economic, military and diplomatic support which alone enables her to defy world opinion and maintain and consolidate her occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. We believe that It is vital that our governments should keep step on major matters such as the Middle East. But if we follow your government's lead, we are plunged into contradictions. We must support armed resistance to foreign military occupation in Afghanistan but oppose it vigorously In Palestine. We must support the use of sanctions to liberate SO oppressed people in Tehran but vigorously oppose It to liberate the oppressed people of the West Bank and Gaza. We feel that you are asking us to apply 'double standards' to an unacceptable degree, and to do so in a manner which would strengthen the position of the Soviet Union in the region and endanger the vital interests of the Western world. We wanted to write to you frankly about these matters because these arc critical times for the Western nations and a full
exchange of views between their elected representatives may help their common interests. Yours sincerely, Dennis Walters (United Kingdom) • Co-Chairman Tilj Declerc (Belgium) Co-Chairman Lasse Budtz (Denmark) Lenelotte Von Bothmer (Germany) DanielGoulet (France) Noel Mulcahy (Ireland) MicheleAchilil (Italy) Klaas De Vrles (Netherlands) Mr.,Dennis Walters, M.B.E., M.P. House of Commons London SWIAOAA Dear Mr. Walters: Thank you for your frank letter regarding the Middle East. I will try to be just as frank in my reply. President Carter stated on August 10, 1979: "I am against any creation of a separate Palestinian state. I don't think It would be good for the Palestinians. I don't think It would be good . for Israel. I don't think It would be good for the Arab neighbors of such a state." I agree with the assessment of President Carter. The creation of an independent Palestinian state would not lead to a situation where Palestinians and Israelis lived in harmony, but rather to a Soviet client state, an escalated arms race, and probably another Mideast war. Peace and stability in the Middle East are dependent on security, and that security never will be achieved so long as Soviet-sponsored radicalism and terrorism are allowed In the area. Your group was "Impressed by the precise, public statements by this delegation In favour of the peaceful coexistence of two states In Palestine and by their insistence that their dream of a united Arab-Jewish Palestine can and will only be pursued by peaceful and democratic means." Those words sound hollow, indeed, in the face of continued terrorist attacks and murders by the PLO. . Your comparison of the situation in Afghanistan to that (Continued on Page 2)