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903010-00 60. • NE9R HISTORICAL SOC 15 30 P ST LINCOLN fJE 63508
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SERVING NEBRASKA AND JOWA SINCE 1920
Vol. LXMI No. 42
Omaha, Ke-b., Fri., Juiy 5,1985
Klutznick answe By Morris Maline At 5:45 a.m., the telephone rang at the residence of Soviet Jewry activist Shirley Goldstein and her husband, Leonard. The call was for [ her house guest, j Lynn Singer, past : president and cur- | rently executive di- : rector of the Long | Island (New York) Committee for Soviet Jewry. As a result of this telephone call from " ... Leningrad and other recent calls from the Soviet . Union, Mrs. Singer Lynn Singer made the following statement: "Many of Moscow's Jewish residents will trade places with patients of psychiatric hospitals on or before July 15." In an interview with the Jewish Press, Mrs. Singer explained that Moscow will host an international youth conference for three weeks starting July 15. Her informants have advised her that Moscow will be closed to tourists. during that period and that Soviet citizens have been ordered not to mix with visitors. "The city of Mosepw will be sanitized for three weeks and this includes the relocation of Jewish refusenika and disaidonJo to-psychiatric hospitals where they cannot be contacted by visitors," Mrs. Singer said. "They did the same thing when former President Richard Nixon visited Moscow. Mrs. Singer pointed out. Mrs. Singer, a Soviet Jewry activist since 1970, stopped in Omaha to visit the Goldsteins before going on to vacation in California. ' "I wouldn't think of passing by Omaha without stopping to see my good friend, Shirley," she said. The telephone call she received here was from Aba Taratuta with whom she speaks weekly. She also speaks regularly with several other Jews in both Moscow and Leningrad. "I now can communicate with these friends only by telephone and by mail . . . The Russians consider me a Zionist spy, a
By Theo Stone WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Supreme Court agreed to decide for the first time whether an Orthodox Jew may wear a yarmulke while on duty in any of the United States armed forces. The case centers around Rabbi Simcha Goldman who, while on active duty in the U.S. Air Force, was ordered to remove his yarmulke. Chaplain Goldman had served in. the Air Force for three years when a new base commander ordered him, on pain of disciplinary action, to remove his skull cap. Before his stint in the Air Force, he had served as a chaplain in the Navy for several years, a period during which his wearing his yarmulke was not challenged by his superiors. After leaving Navy service, he obtained a doctorate in psychology and enlisted in the Air Force to serve as a psychologist. . After the warning from the new base commander, Goldman filed suit in the federal district court in Washington in 1981 and a decision in his favor was handed down in 1982. A circuit court of appeals reversed that ruling, upholding the authority of the Air Force. An appeal was filed with the Su-
tag I wear with dignity and pleasure," Because both Mrs. Singer and Mrs. Goldstein are forbidden to enter the Soviet Union, they rely on fellow Jews to make contact. Mrs. Singer said both she and Shirley were "terribly disturbed" during a meal at a local restaurant. "An Omaha man came up to Shirley at the restaurant and announced to her that he was leaving for the Soviet Union on a vacation trip in a few days. "He made it clear that he would not visit or contact any of Shirley's friends, nor do anything to help her or Soviet Jews, Mrs. Singer recalled. For a Jew to act like this is unforgiveable, Mrs. Singer added. For someone "not to do a mitzvah when he has the opportunity is something we don't expect from a Jew." "Shirley was absolutely sick over the incident . . . We expect Jews to be bigger than life and when they aren't, we're disappointed," said Mrs. Singer. o
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By Morris Maline Internationally-known Jewish leader Philip M. Klutznick uq;ed the members of the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society "not only to record history, but to make history." In a wide-ranging talk to more than 100 Society members nnd guests ut the third annual meeting of the NJHS at the .ICC last week, Mr. Klutznick said the "past, is a prelude to what will happen, and supplies answers" for today's problems. Jewish life, he said, always had problems and the only reason that Judaism has survived is that Jews have learned to live with problems. He added that Jews tend to adopt the world's problems as their own and don't realize that certain problems such ns hijacking won't be solved by Jews, Arabs, or Gentiles. "This is not a problem for America, or Israel, it's a problem for the universe," He said, "We must join others to make clear that the problem of taking innocent people is universally contrary to humanity." ,
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JERSEY CITY, N.J. (JTA) —One-of the few memorials to the Holocaust on public property was dedicated in Liberty State Park, N.J^ with the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop and in the presence.of more than, 5,tJiiO-persons/ '. . . . " • The memorial is a 15-foot sculpture, entitled "Liberation" and portraying an American soldier carrying a Nazi death camp survivor to safety. It was sculpted by Nathan Rapoport and was the product of two years of work by a Liberty Park Memorial Committee of 100 residents, with Gov. Thomas Kean serving as honorary chairman. The committee raised more than $1 million for the memorial. * A total of 28 representatives of New Jersey veterans organizations placed wreaths at the base of the two-ton sculpture. Gov. Kean told the throng that "This monument says, for all time, that we, as a collective people, stood for freedom and we, as Americans, will never go to war for the purpose of conquest." He lauded the labors of the committee, state agencies, organizations and individual
preme Court, which is-expected to hear the case during the fall 1985 term. The defense has been handled by Nathan Lewin, a vice president of the National Jewish Commission on Law and Public Affairs (COPLA). Lewin has argued there is a constitutional right to wear a yarmulke under the.freedom of religious expression clause of the First Amendment, and that this does not interfere with the military functions of the wearer. ..•-.. Lewin declared that the Defense Department has argued that any variation in the uniformity of the military dress code would result in disintegration of morale and discipline in the armed forces, a position sustained by the appeals court. Lewin said the case represents the broader problem between exercise of reliI gious belief and laws which appear to be prohibiting the exercise of those religious beliefs. He said an important larger question is: When does a general obligation have to yield in the face of a religious conviction? Goldman quit the Air Force but retained reserve status. He is now a practicing psychologist at-Chabad House in Loa Angeles.
supporters and said their reward would be "the knowledge that they have put in place a monument that represents the very essence of America." .,:.;Sen^Franl: Laiitehberg (D.N.J.) an honr . orary co-chairman of the monument committee, said the monument saluted the "courage" and "resilience" of the death camp survivors, many of whom came to the United States to start a new life. David Kotok of Veneland, committee cochairman, presented Kean with the deed to the monument, declaring that the theme of the monument was "to recognize that our servicemen fought, not to conquer, not to be aggressors, but rather to rescue and restore freedom to those persecuted and oppressed by fascist powers." Representatives attended from the governments of Israel, Austrailia, Belgium, Finland, West Germany, Italy, Poland and Hungary. At a luncheon after the ceremony, Rapoport presented Kean with a bronze placque of the governor, entitled "Son of America," honoring the governor for his work on the monument.
Such a problem, he said, will be solved only when an aroused humanity returns to the universal notion that innocent people cannot be taken and destroyed. According to Mr. Klutznick, many people despair of man and his future, but history .shows both peaks and valleys and that "peaks are going upward." "Learn from your history, and help make history." is a phrase repeated by Mr. Klutznick during his 45-minute message. Mr. Klutznick, a charter member of NJHS and one of two Omahans who were international presidents of B'nai B'rith, paid tribute to the other president, the late Henry Monsky. "Henry was a great man. He took an organization when it was asleep, awakened it, reconstructed it, and made it grow." . ' This little Jewish community of Omaha, said Mr. Klutznick, was one of the liveliest Jewish communities in the United States during the time he resided here. "I don't think you people appreciate what Omaha has done in the past two generations." He said there was "ferment" . . . religious fervor resulting from the competition of new leadership flowing into the community. "There were rough moments and no guarantee of success, but Omaha became a better Jewish community because everybody was trying to do better to serve God." '-• Mr. Klutznick, who has served seven United States presidents, told the audience that Franklin Delano Roosevelt obtained inspiration from the "feet of his headmaster" and that Harry S. Truman once wrote: history is made by man, not the reverse." He called upon the new officers of the Society to "show leadership and courage in standing up for what is right." Upon installing the new officers, he said, "Never forget that you are the leaders of your people — temporarily." The new officers are Mary Fellman, president; Saranne Gitnick, executive vice president; Neal Malashock and Oliver Pollak, vice presidents; Lois Friedman, treasurer; Robert Goodman, recording secretary; Bonnie Horwich, parliamentarian; Betty Laser and Ruth Cohen, dues secretaries.
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Mary Fellman, president, Nebraska Jewish Historical Society, thanks Philip Klutznick for his participation in the third annual meeting of the Society last week at the JCC. Additional photos on page 3.