2 — THE BULLETIN — Thursday, March 2,1989
Smali ship makes historic waves
By HUGH ORGEL
TEL AVIV — The 2,180-ton Russian freighter Vita Novitsky docked at Ashdod last week, the first Soviet vessel in nearly 22 years to call at an Israeli port.
The freighter was at dock-side only five hours, loading 40 tons of flour and foodstuffs and another 40 tons of clothing and other articles for victims of the earthquake that devastated Soviet Armenia last December.
The coUectiorr was organized by Israeli peace advocate Abie Nathan immediately after the disaster. Israel also sent rescue teams and supplies by air at the time.
The relief cargo, which includes toys for young children, was packed by volunteers
WEST GERMANY
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Shultz presented Kohl, who was visiting Washington, with embarrassing documents on the affair.
Kohl said later the American behavior had been unfriendly and insulting.
But his aides concede now that Shultz had correctly informed West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher of his intention to confront Kohl. \
Officials here cannot explain why the information was not passed on to Kohl. jta
in hundreds of cardboard cartons, each destined for a family deprived of their home and possessions by the earthquake.
Nathan wanted to charter a ship, but he was told by Soviet authorities that direct sailings from Israel to a Russian port have been banned since Moscow severed all relations with Israel in 1967.
When the Vita Novitsky was diverted from her normal voyage to Ashdod, no one was more surprised than her 54-year-old skipper, Igor Nitkin.
He told reporters at the, dock in Ashdod that the cabled orders were totally unexpected. "But this is a time of change, worldwide," the Soviet sea captain observed.
The loading of the relief supplies was witnessed by members of the Soviet consular delegation from Tel Aviv aind Armenian church dignitaries.
The Vita Novitsky sailed for Cyprus, Greece and Turkey, where relief supplies were to be loaded.
Her final destination is the Black Sea port of Poti, from where the supplies will be carried by truck to «the stricken area.
The little vessel got off just in time. Ashdod was hit by a strike of tugboat men and other port workers the next morning, tying up scores of inbound and outbound ships.
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TWO-STOREY BUILDING adjoining Moscow's Choral synagogue will be returned for use as a Jewish community centre. Standing In front of the building which will be restored by Its sister congregation, New York's Park East synagogue, are (left to right): Rabbi Adoiph Shayevich, spiritual leader of the Moscow congregation; Konstantin Kharchev, chairman oif USSR Council off Religious Affairs, and Rabbi Arthur Schneler. A plaque affixed to the wall reads; In Hebrew and Russian: "Moscow Choral Synagogue — Rabbi Adoiph Shayevich, Park East Synagogue — Rabbi Arthur Schneier, Sister Congregations. Kol Ylsrael Arevin Zeh Lazeh.— AIIJews are Responsible for One Another 1989-5749."
Arab armies are greatestM
TEL AVIV — Despite al! the attention' and headlines the intifada has generated. Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin still rates the Palesti-
London loves Jackie Mason
LONDON
After
playing to packed houses in charity performances, American comedian Jackie Mason opened a season in London's Playhouse Theatre, which had already been extended from four weeks to eight weeks on the basis of advance bookings.
Jewish audiences, already familiar with Mason's recordings, are flocking to see him in person, many of them making repeat visits.
He has made guest appearances on talk shows and has been the subject of many profiles and inter-vie^ws on national TV and in the press. jta
From Page 1
the Inquisition or confinement in ghettos imposed by churchmen.
"No attempt is made here to trace a complete history of racism, or of the attitude of the church in this regard," a footnote at the opening of the document explained.
"This by no means implies an effort to gloss over the weaknesses and even, at times, the complicity of certain Church leaders, as well as other members of the Church in this phenomenon," it said.
The concentration on 20th-century anti-Semitism and neglect of its millennial aspects was acknowledged by Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, president of the Pontifical Commission for Justice and Peace at the Vatican, and Monsignor Jorge Mejia, at a hews conference here.
Etchegaray said the document was not intended as a replacement for a long-planned document that is to specifically address the question of anti-Semitism and Catholic-Jewish relations. ' "Jf it's a question of anti-
Semitism, we hope that our colleagues in the Commission (on Religious Relations with the Jews) will take up completely the subject," Mejia said.
"Here, we thought this was enough. It's quite clear to recognize that we have not lived up to the standards always and everywhere, particularly regarding anti-Semitism," he said.
The Vatican document said, "If anti-Semitism has been the most tragic form that racist ideology has assumed in our century, with the horrors of the Jewish Holocaust, it has unfortunately not disappeared.
"As if some had nothing to learn from the crimes of the past, certain organizations, with branches in many countries, keep alive the anti-Semite racist myth, with the support of networks and publications."
The document took note that "terrorist acts which have Jewish persons or symbols as their target have multiplied in recent years and show the radicalism of such groups.
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Meyer and Yankel, two old friends who haven't seen each other for years, are exchanging notes on their respective
synagogues.
"And you should hear our cantor," Meyer exclaims, "He's absolutely magnificent!" _ "It's no big deal," says Yankel. "If I had his voice, I'd sing just
as well."
nian uprising third among the threats to Israel's security.
The first and most serious is posed by the Arab armies, and the second is terrorism, the defense minister told volunteer workers for the Soldiers Welfare association.
But according to Rabin, all three have the same goal — the elimination of Israel.
He said three Arab states — Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia — possess surface-to-surface missiles that can reach Tel Aviv from their own territory, with warheads containing between a half-ton and a ton of explosives.
He said the Arab states are investing $30 billion to $60 billion a year to maintain and equip their armies, and, in addition, have weapons such as poison gas, which they did not have at the time of the Yom Kippur War in 1973.
"We'd better have the answers to everything they've got, even if the defense budget
keeps getting cut without regard to the tasks incumbent on the IDF," Rabin said grimly.
He said the uprising is unlike confrontations between students and police in Paris or Seoul.
"The Palestinians are not fighting for human rights or more freedom as individuals. Their aims are the same as those of the Arab armies and the terrorist organizations," he said.
"Whether you want Greater Israel or territorial compromise, we just can't fold up and go away because the situation is unpleasant," Rabin added.
He called for less criticism of the Israel Defense Force and more activity for soldiers' welfare to help the troops deal with the tensions and demands of their active or reserve duties.
The Soldiers Welfare Association runs IDF canteens and recreatiori centres. '
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Rare perfume found
i    JERUSALEM — A 2,000-year-old flask, still filled
"Anti-Zionism — which is s not of the same order since it s questions the State of Israel and its policies — serves at times as a screen for anti-Semitism, feeding on it and leading to it."
The document noted "furthermore, some countries impose undue harassments and restrictions on the free emigration of Jews."
It called the racist policies of the Nazi party "insane" and "responsible for one of the greatest genocides in history.
"This murderous folly struck first and foremost the Jewish people in unheard of numbers, as well as other peoples," the document stated.
But it went on to defend the policies of Pope Pius XII, who, as the pontiff at the time the Holocaust was being perpetrated, has been accused of having done far less than he might have to help Jews and other Nazi persecutees.
The document presented him as launching in 1942 "a vibrant appeal for a new and better social order" for "hundreds of thousands of persons who, without the slightest guilt on their part, but simply because they belong to a given race or nationality, are doomed to death or to gradual extinction."
But Monsignor Mejia maintained it was "an open historical question" whether Nazi anti-Semitism had its roots in Catholicism.
"1 think to the contrary," he said.
g
with an exotic oil unknown to modern man, was found in a cave at Kumran on the Dead Sea last year. .
The discovery, by Hebrew University archaeologist Joseph Patrich, was announced after chemical tests on the liquid in the vessel were completed.
The oil is apparently a balsam oil, used in ancient times for making perfume and certain medicines. The flask, wrapped in palm fibers, was buried less than three feet under the floor of the cave.
Balsam oil, one of the most treasured ingredients of the ancient world, was extracted from thorny bushes, which grow near the Dead Sea.
The oil was manufactured by a secret process at Ein Gedi. The oath of secrecy is inscribed in mosaics in the remains of the Ein Gedi synagogue.
A perfume workshop also has been excavated in the area. jta S
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Israel Sun Photo
YA'AKOV KOGAN, Jewish computer expert who recently defected from Soviet Union in Paris and turned up in Israel, has applied for an Israel immigration visa. Kogan, (at right carrying bag) who became weary of the press, tries to avoid photographers as he prepares to visit Jerusalem.
Chemical warfare
JERUSALEM — Warning agaiiist international complacency on poison gas, Moshe Arens said Israel could spare no effort to protect itself in light of the "terrible loss of six million Jews during World War n, victims of unconventional but deadly chemical warfare." He noted that Libya and Iraq, which see themselves as at war with Israel, have not only developed but actually employed this noxious weapon in the Middle East.
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C.O.L jumps 4.7%
TEL AVIV —The cost-of-living index soared by a hefty 4.7 percent in January, one of the highest monthly increases in the past three years. The figures released by the Central Bureau of Statistics touched off partisan recriminations.
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Thinking ahead
TEL AVIV — Daylight-saving time will begin in Israel April 29 and end on Sept. 2, according to an order signed by Interior Minister Arye Deri. The dates were announced well in advance, at the request of industrialists and airlines who want to arrange their work schedules' well before the clocks are set ahead by one hour.
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Presents credentiais
JERUSALEM — Japan's hew atnbassadbr to Israel presented his credentials to President Chaim Herzog and expressed his government's "deep appreciation" of Israel's decision to send Herzog to Tokyo for the funeral of Emperor Hirohito. That decision was widely criticized by Israelis because Hirohito ruled Japan when it was allied with Nazi Germany and fascist Italy in World War II.
Subdeal flounders
BONN
The Defense
Ministry said it had no knowledge of reports Israel was reconsidering a projected order to build three submarines in West Germany.
The two countries have been trying for three years to negotiate a deal.
But a senior Israeli military official said that the negotiations were off and other possibilities were being considered. jta *      * *
ORT to train hi-teoh teaohers
NEW YORK — The ORT School of Eiigineering in Jerusalem will open an advanced teacher training program to help meet Israels growing need for teachers in high technology fields.
The training program, first of its kind in ORT's network of 113 schools and training centres in Israel, will qualify teachers in advanced electronics technology in the initial courses.