JieadiHf fewUA Weekly
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VOL. XXIX, No. 35—Tishri 14, 5728 VANCOUVER, B.C., FRIDAY, O
Lou Zimmerman resigns post
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Moscow synagogue stoned during Holy Day services
NEW YORK
The Jewish
BulleHn News Digest'
LOU ZIMMERMAN The Jewish Community Council announced this week that it had accepted with regret the resignation of Mr. Lou Zimmerman as executive director. The resignation, which was hck;e3si-tated as a result of Mr. Zimmer-ihan's new appointment as full-time director of the United; Jewish Appeal, was tendered >y letter to the executive meeting of the Council b^ld at the home of Mrs. M:. Freiman, Tuesday eyeniog. Mir. Zimmernmn had .served, as Cpipinunitx <;Q^ttcil ciireclor for the pisist l4 yeijre.^^
Rebbe receives key to cify
New York—The Lubavitcher Rebbe. Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, world leader of the Lubavitcher movement^ was given a golden key to the city of JCiryat Gat, a new booming city in the Negev part of Eretz Israel.
Four years ago, when Kiryat Gat was founded, the Rebbe es-tablis}?.ed a school for immigrant children sent to that area. The city has since become a booming industrial site with more than 20,000 families having established residence, and with a continual influx of new residents.
The once small Lubavitcher school has now an enrollment of more than 1,000 children. A Yeshiva has also been established there for the advanced education of children.
Su€€as rise at mi/itary bases
Daily Forward first reported this week that the central synagogue
of Moscow, largest and most important Jewish ho use of worship in the Soviet Union, was stoned on the first day of Rosh Hashona'. Highly reliable sources have now confirmed the stoning which took place while High Holy Day services were in progress before a congregation crowded beyond capacity.
According to reports received
NEW YORK
A most un-
military structure is appearing, at U.S. military installations and Veterans Administration hospitals here and abroad. At countless Air Force bases. Army posts and Naval stations, succas are rising to celebrate the eight-day Feast of Tabernacles, the happiest and most colorful festival on the Jewish calendar, which begins at sundown Oct. 12.
Wherever American troops are stationed, including Formosa, Korea, Japan, the Canpl Zone, Germany France and Turkey, the booths will shelter Jewish men and women who enter to worship. Jewish chaplains have been preparing for the holiday and the tabernacles have taken on a variety of forms to fit local available mrterials and designs. In building their succas, GI congregations frequently have the help of non-Jewish buddies--whose special construction skills and sources of material are of inestimable help.
Ben Lax is guest at B. L banquet
A joint banquet of the Beth Israel Men's Club and the Sisterhood upcoming on Wednesday, October 17, will feature Mr. Ben Lax of Los Angeles, national vice-president of the United Synagogue of America, as guest speaker^ _----,-^'..r.^~:—--- ~ .- _
Renowned as a great wit and fine raconteur of humorous stories, Mr. Lax is frequently called upon to appear before groups. Raised in Philadelphia and a Los Angeles resident since 1921, his list of activities appears endless. He has been pist president of United Synagogue of America, Pacific Southwest Region and was one of the founding fathers of the region. A former national V.P. of United Synagogue of America, he is chairman of the Board of Camp Ramah in California and past president of Ramah in California. Presently he is also national vice-president of the National Rsmah commis,-.«ion. Inc.; chairman of the board of the Valley Jewish Community centre and past president of the Congregation. Mr. Lax is a member of the board of overseers of the University of Judaism, as well.
The joint banquet is open to the public and will be held in the Beth Israel main auditorium commencing at 6.30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 17. Reservations may be made now at the synagogue office, RE. 1-4161, and are $3.25 per person.
here, Moscow's central synagogue was jammed with worshippers, while an overflow crowd of hundreds of other Jews milled in the street outside, when a sudden hail of stones smashed through several windows, shattering the glass and showering the worshippers with broken splinters of glass.
Moscow's venerable Chief Rabbi Yehuda Leib Levin was conducting services. Shocked by the stoning, congregation members were thrown into a panic, but were barred from leaving by the crowds outside. No Soviet militia men were on duty at or around the synagogue as had always been customary on Jewish holidays.
There were no reports of injuries or arrests and no mention of the entire occurrence has been made to date either in the Soviet press'or on the Soviet radio.
A subsequent interview given in Yiddish by Chief Rabbi Levin to the Moscow correspondent of the New York Times indicated that Jewish religioiis leaders in "fEe^iSoviet capit^^^ nervous' about what may happen to their synagogue. The Chief Rabbi warned all foreign and Israeli visitors not to leave religio'.is articles in the synagogue as this practice "was being utilized by black-marketeers" and is exposing the synagogue to vicious attacks in the Soviet press. He stated, too, that the congregation membership has also been warned that the Government frowns upon marriage matchmaking as ideologically undesirable.
Rabbi Levin told the New York Times correspondent that 300 Jews attend daily services at the Moscow synagogue, on Sabbath their number reaches
36TH CONVENTIOK:
up to 1,000, while on High Holy Deys, worshippers overflow into the streets. He asserted that the financial condition of his synagogue is "good" and explained that the financing of the synagogue comes from private contributions.
Asked about the yeshiva which he conducts in a room at the synagogue, the Rabbi reported that he has six students attending. The 1959 Jewish census showed a Jewish population of 236,000 in Moscow.
Meanwhile from London a reliable report from the Soviet Union told of the arrest of a number of Jewish community leaders in the city of Llov, in the Ukraine, and the dissolving of the city's synagogue council.
The measures were taken by local Soviet authorities on the claim that the a.rrested Jews were involved in illegal currency dealings. No details were received on the fate of those arrested. In earlier cases, some of the arrested were put on trial and given various sentences, including the death penalty.
ISRAEL
Goodwill gesture
Jerusalem—^Because there are no diplomatic ties between the Vatican and Israel, the invitation for an Israeli delegation to attend the Vatican opening session of the Ecumenical Council on Oct. 11 is regarded as a further goodwill gesture since Pope John XXIII acended to the papacy.
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Boycott- lessens
Jerusalem—r In the past five months it has been revealed that not one firm interested in doing business -with Israel or investing in Israel has withdrawn under Arab pressure while several companies who yielded previously to the Arab boycott have approached authorities with plans to resume Israel operations.
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Need middle class
Jerusalem — Providing the Israeli economy creates necessary conditions for such immigration, a Jewish Agency survey has disclosed that Israel can absorb 3,000 middle class newcomer families annually including 2,000 self-employed newcomers and 1,000 experts and professionals.
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New hospitol
Jerusalem — At dedication ceremonies of the Sophie Tucker Forest in Judaean hill township, the American entertainer announced the future construction of a Sophie Tucker hospital to be built at Beit Shemesh village near Jerusalem. Miss Tucker has raised funds for two JNF forests.
mffel forma/ dinner to bonor U,B.C. presidents
Special attractions for ZOC delegates
It won't all be business for the delegates to the Diamond Jubilee Convention of the Zionist Organization of Canada, to be held in Toronto, November 2 - 6, at the Park Plaza Hotel. A number of side attractions are being developed, eye-openers not only to the convention participants, but also to the general public invited in to see them.
High on the list of interesting and informative attractions isi
DR. NORMAN MacKENZIE
DR. JOHN B. MACDONALD
bution to the recently announced B'nai B'rith Scholarship project designed to ma-ke scholarships available to deserving students in need of financial assistance to attend high school in Israel. The scholarship honoring Dr. Mac-donald will be offered by HiUel MacKenzie, who has been a to the Faculty of Dentistry which staunch supporter of Hillel ever will be opened at UBC in two since its inauguration on the years.
UBC campus in 1946, the dinner { j fu ^„ tvt^
^ ' Proceeds of the dmner on Nov.
The B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundation will honor retiring president of the University of Briti.sh Columbia, Dr. Norman MacKenzie, with a formal dinner to be held at the Bayshore Inn ^n Wednesday, Nov. 7.
Besides paying tribute to Dr.
will also serve to welcome newly appointed president of UBC, Dr. John B. Macdonald.
In a letter to Hillel supporters this week, Jack Aceman, Jack
the Israel Trade Fair, the same display now on view before several million visitors to the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto. To this impressive'Diamond and David A. Chertkow
array of Israeli products will be added a miniature supermarket operation in which all foodstuffs will be from Israel. Everything displayed in the Fair will be for sale.
announced that a scholarship for High School students in Israol will be established in the name of Dr. MacKenzie and a scholarship in Dentistry at UBC will honor Dr. Macdonald. Mr. Ace-
BEN LAX witty raconteur
The Trade Fair will official- man and Mr. Diamond are co-ly open Friday morning, Nov-, chairmen of the Hillel schokr-ember 2nd, in a brief ceremony jghip campaign and Mr. Chertkow attended by Mr. Yaacov Herzog,; Hillel chairman.
The new scholarship for High School students in Israel will be
Israel Ambassador to Canada;
See CONVENTION (Continued on Page 4)
Vancouver Jewry's first contri-
7 will also go tcvvrards other Hillel scholarships including two $125 graduate scholarships at UBC, four Hillel scholarships to B'nai B'rith Camp Starlight leadership training camp and a work scholarship at Hillel, totalling approximately $2,000.
Contributions are now bein^ received as follows: Honor roll, $50 and over; patron, $35 and over; and sponsor, $20 and over. A minimum contribution of $20 will entitle donors to an invitation for two for the dinner. Contributions should be mailed to Mr. J. Aceman, 630 Rogers Building, Vancouver 2, B.C.