Jewish Post, Indianapolis, Marion County, 12 March 1997 — Page 12

ml*

Pop star advises Israelis to leave country U-S. agencies involved

in Jewish jobs in Saudi

JERUSALEM — Chosen "Personality of the Year" in a poll, Aviv Geffen, considered Israel's leading pop star who is well-known for his unorthodox views, dropped a bombshell when he advised his fans to leave the country. "I recommend to the youth to leave the country," he said. "Therd is no democracy here. I am one of the only people who speaks out. That's my job," he said in an interview with Ma'ariv's youth maga-

zine.

"It's time to pack bags and escape from Israel," he urged. "I am being serious. I am ashamed of this government and the prime minister, and I am ashamed that an empty-headed and deficient person like (Binyamin) Netanyahu is my representative."

Obituaries

Asked about his feeling towards Judaism, he replied, "I value Judaism, but a Pink Floyd record Jurns me on more than the Western Wall. I believe we have created God. I am God, you are God, John Lennon is God. People make money out of God instead of honoring Him." The magazine has confirmed that it has received cancellations and that "thousands" of angry telephone calls crowded the publication's

phone lines.

In a phone-in survey conducted on Educational TV's Erev Hadash program, 70 percent of respondents said they "believed that the mood of the general public was not expressed by Geffen" while 30 percent said he had hit the nail

on the head.

Bernard Roth

WASHINGTON —Two U.S. agencies and a private company which participated in a pact banning Jews from jobs with an American company doing work in Saudi Arabia were fined by the Commerce Department $15,000, but only the company had to shell out any money. The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Air Force had their fines dismissed. The company, CACI, won an Air Force contract to microfilm documents in Saudi Arabia and during a meeting with officials of the two U.S. departments submitted a memorandum which barred Jews from any of the positions in Saudi Arabia. It stated that "no Jews or Jewish surnamed personnel will be sent as part of the Document Acquisition Team because of the cultural differences between Muslims and Jews in the region." The limitation against Jews was uncovered by the ADL. The banquet by Queen for Weizman is kosher

Cantor Pittle dies at age 42

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Cantor Stuart Pittle, 42, of Temple Judea here, died at the age of 42 of complications from heart disease. He previously had served Congregation Bet Breira here and

Temple Israel in West Palm Beach. He was the treasurer of the American Conference of Cantors. (This report was supplied by subscriber and friend Dave Goodman of Surfside, Fla.)

Stanley Fink, NY speaker

BROOKLYN — Stanley Fink, who was the New York Assembly speaker in the postRockefellerera, died at the age of 61. He recently had decided not to run for re-election after 18 years as a state legislator. Mr. Fink and Richard Ravitch were the key players

of the financial plan that rescued the subway system from collapse. "None of the legislation I sought in Albany would have had a snowball's chance in hell if it weren't for Stanley Fink," said Ravitch. "What he did for the transportation system he did for a lot of important causes."

Benjamin Gebiner of Labor Committee

NEW YORK — Benjamin He was the executive director Gebiner, the first executive of the Workman's Circle until secretary of the Jewish Labor his retirement in 1970. Committee, is being mourned. Frank Hollar succumbs at 88

NEW YORK — Frank president of the Westchester Heller, past president of the Association of Hebrew Board of Jewish Education of Schools and of the Hebrew Greater New York, is being Institute of White Plains, mourned. He was also a past Julian Perlman dies in New York NEW YORK — Julian sity, Ben-Gurion University of Perlman, whose benefactions the Negev and the Israel Muincluded the Hebrew Univer- seum is being mourned. We've joined the space age! We now h&ve e-mail! Our address is: t [email protected]

of Pittsburgh PITTSBURGH — Bernard Roth, who served three terms as president of the Pittsburgh and Tri-State Jewish National Fund and was a board member of the American Jewish Committee which presented him with its Appeal for Human Relations Award in 1995, died at the age of 83. He served three years as president of the Craig House, a school for emotionally-dis-turbed teens. Rabbi Isaacson burled In Israel UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Oh. — Rabbi Irwin Isaacson, who served congregations in Nashville, Beacon, N.Y. and Bayside Queens, is being mourned. Burial was in Israel. Ski injury kills Shoah survivor JERUSALEM — Manfred Klafter, a Dutch Holocaust survivor who founded the survivors' support group, Amcha, died at the age of 78 from injuries sustained in a skiing accident in Switzerland. He was an officer in the Dutch army in World War II and helped rescue Jews from Germany, but was captured and narrowly escaped from Scheveningen prison and Westerbork concentration camp the night before the majority of prisoners were killed. He moved to Israel in 1965.

Jewish Religious FREE BOOKS Books by Rabbi Morris Uchtsnstein Jack Botwin (818) 367-4532 12301 S.F. Rd„ Syimar, CA 91342

LONDON — It was almost homecoming for Israel's president Ezer Weizman as he was tendered a kosher banquet at Buckingham Palace by Queen Elizabeth II, who told him of the "close and vital relationship" between Israel and the United Kingdom. Weizman had once served in the Royal Air Force, and was the first Israeli head of state to make an official visit to England. It now becomes the Queen's decision to plan a return visit, which she has often said she would like to make. Weizman also met with Prime Minister John Major and other British officials as well as members of the Jewish community. He attended the unveiling of a memorial to Raoul Wallenberg along with the queen and visiting U N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. $5 M. chassidic wedding is termed exhibitionism

NEW YORK — The day of the thousand dollar bar mitzvahs at football stadiums and on ocean liners was eclipsed by the $5 M. chassidic wedding which joined Mordechai Strujlowitz, youngest son of Vienna philanthropist Chaim Strulewitz, and Shaindy Horowitz, granddaughter of the Williamsburg-based Spinka Rebbe at Brooklyn's Chase Plaza. Attending, according to The Jewish Week, were 35,000 guests who were served by 400 waiters, with musical accompaniment by the Mona Rosenblum Orchestra. The challah itself was part of the extravaganza. It was 28 feet long. Police estimated the crowd at between 10,000 and 15,000. Searchlights illuminated the sky, which led Yisroel Belsky, a dean at Yeshiva Torah Vadaath in Brooklyn, to remark, "There is a psychological condition known as exhibitionism. For a person to set up elaborate directional signs all over the city smacks of crass exhibitionism."

Jewish attorneys

Continued from page NAT 1 tion should not be centered on the law firm. "Nothing should be done to take the focus off the culprits. The culprits are the banks. We're not interested in who their lawyers are. It's now March, 1997. They still have the money." Swiss president Arnold Koller proposed that his country devote $5 B. to a humanitarian fund from its gold reserves. The proposal could face a national referendum. World Jewish Congress president, Edgar Bronfman, who has been leading in securing redress for victims who have suffered, said "we hail President Koller's announcement as representing a victory for the Jewish and Swiss peoples.

Realizing that the establishment of such a fund could take several years, the Swiss National Bank is contributing $70 M. to an already-created Holocaust memorial fund for needy survivors and their heirs. It is expected that that fund will be increased to $200 M when several Swiss industrial firms fulfill their earlier pledges to contribute some $50 M. to the fund.