2 — THE BULLETIN ---Thursday, July 12,1990
arises over plair to import houses for Russia
JERUSALEM — A con- reportedly suggested the troy^rsy has developed over a immediate import of tens of proposal to import prefabri- thousands of houses, proba-cated houses into Israel, an bly from South Africa. The idea that sefckslo solve the cost of each such housing unit problem of the growing gap is estimated at between between supply and demand $17,000and $25,000, to which for housing. one should add some $10,000
Newly appointed Israeli Jbr infrastructure. jta housing minister Ariel Sharon reportedly has considered the proposal seriously in order to overcome the immediate need for housing, which is at an all-time high because of the large numbers of arriving Soviet Jews; as well as other immigrants.
One of the serious obstacles to such a resolution to the
Boys Tcmn Jerusalem
THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD Alexander (Sasha) Gur-Aryeh, first youth to be admitted to Boys Town Jenisalemin current wave of Russian Immigration, carries Sef er Torah (left) at Bar-Mltzvah celebration by Western Wall. Sasha Is flanked by father Boris andgrandfatherJosephyputtlng on teflllln for first time. Right Sasha listens to BTJ founder Rabbi Alexander Linchner at ceremony. Also paying heed: friend IMIchaei Gllvets, eariler arrival from Russia who's studying for engineering degree.
Le Pen charged for 'International Jewry' remark
By EDWIN EYTAN
PARIS — An anti-Semitic remarlc by Jean-Marie Le Pen has resulted in formal charges problem has come from the being brought against the
Histadrut labor federation, which seeks to decrease the number of unemployed persons in Israel. Chaim Haber-feld, head of the trade unions division of Histadrut, threatened that **blood would be spilled" if houses were imported.
The entire housing situation has been caught up in a
leader of the National Front,
an extreme right-wing party in France.
Le Pen was quoted in a recent interview as saying that ^^international Jewry is partly responsible for reducing national patriotism.**
He is expectedtogo on trial in a Paris couit this fall for slander and spreading racist' propaganda. Prosecution of Le Pen was made possible ear-
Cassuto, resigned in April to protest the reception he held for delegates to the National Front*s convention in Nice. That incident became a
Her this year after the Euro- national scandal after Medecin
Czecil Jews brinobaclc culture
By JOSEF KLANSKY
PRAGUE — The Society of Jewish Culture, founded here, will serve the needs of non-observant Jews, but many also help revive Jewish Catch-22 situation. The gov- religious communities in Cze-ernment has already decided choslovakia, says its newly to build immediately some elected president, Bedrich
45,000 apartments, and has allocated a budget deemed necessary for this.
But although more and more funds havebeen directed
Nosek,
The society was officially inaugurated at ceremonies in the ancient Jewish Town Hall. The packed hall was addressed
toward the building industry, by Zevulun Hammer, Israelis construction has so far largely minister for religious affairs.
failed to get started, primarily due to bureaucratic obstacles. Since the beginning of the year, the government has begun construction of only 7,500 apartments, and the shortage has already caused a considerable increase in housing costs.
Yediot Achronot reported that the local construction industry can only manufacture between 1,200 and 3,000 prefabricated houses, a far cry from present needs.
Instead of waiting for the slow process to take its course, Sharon reportedly was seeking to import houses as a quick solution to the long-term problem. Sharon had
on an official visit to Czechoslovakia.
Nosek, of mixed ancestry, holds a Ph.D. in Judaism and Hebrew. He told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the idea for the society arose from the need to give people who do not attend synago^gue services an opportunity to participate in Jewish cultural and social life and learning traditions.::::
He noted that during more than 40 years of Communist rule, which formally ended in January, any specifically Jewish activity except religious services was forbidden. He stressed, however, that the society is not competing with religious institutions. On the
Sports Hall aids to roster
LOS ANGELES Nine athletes were inducted into the Jewish* Sports Hall of Fame at a fundraiser hosted by the Orange County chapter of the American Friends of Hebrew University.
The new inductees, who will join the present 100 members of the Hall of pame, include pro bowler Barry Asher; Harris Barton, tackle for the San Francisco 49ers; Mike Epstein, home-run hitter for Baltimore, Oakland and the California Angels; Noah Klieger, former boxer, now a Jerusalem resident; and Shep^Messing, a goalie for the New York Cosmos during the Pele era.
Others are Harold Solomon, winner of 24 Grand Prix tennis championships; Alex^ Schoenbaum, all-American football player for Ohio State in the late 1930s; tennis-champ BriaiTTeacher; and Neal Walk, centre for the Phoenix^Suns and New York Knicks.
The Jewish Sports Hall^f Fame is housed in the Howard Cosell Centre for Physical Edu^ at the Hebrew University in Jerusalein. jta
contrary, studying Jewish culture, dealing with Jewish traditions and reading Jewish literature may help some people find their way back to religion, he said.
He said the society was considering opening a bookshop and possibly even a printing press. He also said non-Jewish participation in its activities was welcome. There is an active interest in Judaism and in the common Czechoslovak-Jewish cultural heritage in intellectual and academic circles in Prague, Nosek said.
Describing his own background, he explained he was raised in a gentile family, but knew that some of his ancestors were Jewish. His grandmother, a half-Jew, was forced to wear ihe yellow Star of David during the Nazi occupation. His father, his only relative with four Jewish grandparents, was persecuted.
He said his interest in the fate of the Jews and their traditions was first stimulated when his parents took him to the former Theresienstadt concentration camp.
Nosek, who earned liis doctorate at Charles university in Prague, is employed by the Jewish Museum^ in Prague. He is fluent in Hebrew, and has many academic contacts in Israel \ jt^
pean Parliament stripped him of the inimunity he enjoys as a deputy to the body.
Le Pen, who has frequently denied he is anti-Semitic^ has demeaned the Holocaust as a "footnote" to history and claimed in a Radio Luxembourg broadcast several years ago that gas chambers never existed.
The right-wing leader suffered a political setback in Nice late last month when his former ally. Mayor Jacques Medecin, refused to approve the nomination of two National Front members to city council. Nice is considered a National Front stronghold.
In addition to voting against the two National Front members, the mayor issued a statement condemning racism and affirming his friendship for the Jewish community. Medecin appar-antly was trying to mend fences after two Jewish leaders, Andre Sfar and Jill-Patrice
made a number of statements thought to contain veiled anti-Semitic references. Foreign and local artists refused to participate in the inauguration of Nice's new art niuseum, and French minister of culture Jack Lang, who is Jewish, refused to loan artworks from the nationial collection.
Meanwhile, legislation that would make denial of the Holocaust a barrier to public office is waging an uphill battle through the French parliament.
It passed its second reading in the National Assembly last month by a vote of 908-265, and is expected to pass its third and final teist this month.
But it faces serious obstacles in the Senate, where it was defeated on first reading. The upper chamber contended that the proposed law would curb freedom of expression and freedom of the press. Further debate is scheduled in September.
English City bans distribution of 'lyierchant of Venice' poster
LONDON
The
city
council of the northern English city of Leeds has banned distribution of a controversial poster for the Shakespearean play The Merchant of Venice that local Jewish leaders call
anti-Semitic.
A fiiniiy thing happened...
For thirty-six years, Krasnitz had been a salesman — and a shnpok. Oneliay, a young salesman asked him, "How do you
handle irisultsr . ^
>*Insults-shniinsults,** replied Krasnitz, I have been selhng m stores, on the road, door-to-door. I have been kicked out of places' Had my samples thrown on the floor. Had doors slammed in my face. But insulted? Never."
Gerald Nagelf American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
HISTORIC FIRST EDITION Of Me/iora/i, new Jewish Journal published by Moscow's Choral Synagogue, is presented to Norman Tilles (left), co-chairman of American Jewish Joint Distribution GommltteeV Eastern Europe Area Committee, find Ralph I. Goldman; JDG honorary executive vice^presldentCnext to Tilles), by Moscow Synagogue president Vladimir Federovsky. Menonh LEO ROSTEN, VFOR YIDDISH! contains news of interest to community, featuring in-depth arti-
'^-^v^^" cles on religion'and culture.; ;
The poster, which had been used to promote a production of the play at the Leeds Civic Theatre, features a pair of jackboots in the shape of a swastika marching across a yellow Star of David.
Richard Manning, the Jewish representative to city council, complained that the sight of hundreds of swastikas displayed throughput the city was both "provocative'* and "offensive" to Jews. Local authorities responded by ordering the poster withdrawn from shop windows in the city.
An alternative poster was distributed, but the London-based Phoenix Contemporary Theatre Co., which is staging the play. Claims both the city council and the Jewish representative overreacted.
The current production of the play has been updated to take place in Mussolini's Italy, and its director, Gerrard Riedy, claims the poster was justifiably relevant to the period. "We have been touring for months and never received any complaints before,'' Riedy said.
But he added that "there-is. no way that we intended to cause offense. After aU, the rplay isabM^fanfi^Semitisnt — it is not an anti-Semitic play."
Lontlon Jewish CimnmlelJTA
Terrorist killed
TEL AVIV — One terrorist was killed aind several others were routed in a clash with an Israel Defense Force patrol in the southern Lebanon security zone. The dead man, wearing a military uniform, was identified as a member of the Deniocratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a terrorist group heajded by Nayef Hawatmeh.
Sunnis claim raid
TEL AVIV — A hitherto unknown Sunni Moslem group in Lebanon has claimed credit for an attempted seaborne raid on Israel, foiled by the Israeli navy. A pro-Iranian group calling itself the Dawn Forces announced in Beirut that it lost two men in an encounter with the **Ziohist enemy."
TEL AVIV — The start of direct flights between Tel Aviv and Prague has been postponed for security reasons by order of the Israeli transport ministry. The joint service by El Al and the Czech airline, CSA, was to have begun under an agreement reached between the carriers in mid-June.
Cat not allowed In
TEL AVIV — Pop singer Cat' Stevens^ who converted to Ulani somie years ago ahd changed his nanie Yusuf Islaih, has been denied entry to Israel for "security reasons" as an "undesirable alien*' Interior Ministry sources said Islam was black listed because of anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic statements he made during a 1988 visit here and on other occasions abroad.
Bush asked to halt Soviet hate
NEW YORK — A letter transmitted on behalf of Soviet Jews by the Anti-Defamation League called on President Bush to "persuade President Gorbachev and the Soviet government that they cannot join the family of civilized nations carrying anti-Semitism in their luggage."
The letter was written by VAAD, the umbrella organization for Soviet Jews in the USSR, which works with ADL to combat Soviet anti-Semitism.
CJF releases oral history booic
NEW YORK — A "Manual for Development of an Oral History Project" has been released by the Council of Jewish Federations for use by Federations and national agencies.
The CJF has finished and bound 12 oral histories, sending copies of each to the American Jewish Historical Society.