Jewish Post, Indianapolis, Marion County, 13 April 2005 — Page 28

NAT 4 Aoril 13. 2005 Obituaries Moshe Kohn, 81, lifelong journalist

JERUSALEM—Moshe Kohn, a reporter and editor at The Jerusalem Post and a former managing editor of the Post & Opinion, died March 7 at the age of 81. While studying at the University of Chicago, Mr. Kohn became a stringer for The National Jewish Post & Opinion. He was appointed managing editor of the JPO in 1951. Mr. Kohn was born in New York City in 1923 to parents who had recently arrived there from Jerusalem, where his family went back seven generations. His education at Yeshiva University was cut short in 1943 by World War II, during which he served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps in Burma. After the war he studied at Roosevelt University in Chicago, earning a BA in social psychology. He later was a doctoral student at the University of Chicago. He was also active in the Hapoel Hamizrachi Religious Zionist Organization in New York and Chicago, serving on the National Executive Board. In 1954 he returned to New York to become editor-in-chief, then director, of the World Zionist Organization's book department, preparing the way for its becoming Herzl Press. In 1957 Mr. Kohn and his family moved to Jerusalem,

where he joined the staff of The Jerusalem Post, his employer for more than 30 years. For most of those years he kept in touch with JPO publisher and editor Gabriel M. Cohen, often suggesting publication in the JPO of various news and opinion pieces about Israel. Mr. Kohn was a pillar of Jerusalem's Anglo modernOrthodox community. Over the years he served as reporter, feature writer, editorial writer, literary editor, Knesset reporter, news editor, Jewish affairs editor, and editor of the weekly Jewish World Page. In the years after his official retirement in 1991, he continued to write his weekly Friday column "A View from Nov.'' In 1968-69 he took leave from the paper to serve as a special consultant on the staff of Prime Minister Levi Eshkol and helped organize the First World Jewish Leadership Conference, held in Jerusalem in spring 1969. Mr. Kohn served as an official of the*Jerusalem Journalists Association. He also translated fiction and non-fic-tion books and articles, as well as poetry and plays, from Hebrew and Yiddish into English. He published poetry in English and articles in Hebrew. He was buried in Kfar Etzion and is survived by his wife, their four children, and numerous grandchildren.

Saul Bellow, 89, Nobel laureate

BROOKLINE, Mass.—Nobel laureate Saul Bellow, whose fiction won him the Nobel Prize, a Pulitzer Prize, a Presidential Medal, and three times the National Book Award, has died at the age of 89. The Nobel Prize presentation in 1976 lauded his "human understanding and subtle analysis of contemporary culture." His novels, set mainly in Chicago, included Herzog, Humboldt's Gift, Mr. Sammler’s Planet, Henderson the Rain King, and Augie March. He was described as the most acclaimed of a generation of Jewish writers who emerged after World War II, a cohort that included Bernard Malamud, Philip

Roth, and Cynthia Ozick. His recent works included The Actual, a novella published in 1997, and Ravelstein, a 2(XX) novel based on the life of Jiis late friend, and for many years colleague at the University of Chicago, Allan Bloom, author of The Closing of the American Mind. After teaching for many years in Chicago, Mr. Bellow in 1993 accepted a position at Boston University, where he taught a freshman-level class on "young men on the make" in literature. Mr. Bellow was born in Lachine, Quebec, a suburb of Montreal, as Solomon Bellow, the son of struggling Russian immigrants who moved to Chicago in 1924 when he was 9.

High court pondering rights vs. rites case

WASHINGTON—A ruling is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court that might prove good news for religious Jews and other religious inmates in the nation's prisons. The justices recently heard oral arguments in an Ohio case dealing with religious treatment requests by inmates. The state has insisted security requirements must trump religious considerations. Marc Stern, counsel for the American Jewish Congress, served as co-counsel for the petitioners, who represented the Bush administration and several prison inmates. The justices appeared concerned about condoning religious expression to the extent of allowing for unconstitu-

tional discrimination. Several times, justices and lawyers referred to prisoners' rights to receive kosher meals as an example of religious interests that should be fulfilled. The case, Cutter v. Wilkinson, challenges the constitutionality of a federal law that was enacted in 2000. The law forbids prisons to impose substantial burdens on religious expression unless there is a compelling governmental interest. While there are relatively few Jews in prison, there has long been an uphill effort to provide religious materials and kosher meals for them. A U.S. district court in Ohio ruled for the plaintiffs in 2001, but the Sixth Circuit Court of

Appeals in Cincinnati reversed the decision in 2003, arguing that the legislation unfairly advances religion by "giving greater protection to religious rights than to other constitutionally protected rights." Ohio's lawyer argued that the state would be forced to judge between real and bogus religions. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg expressed concern that inmates could request racist literature under the guise of religion, or that prisoners could refuse to be housed with people of other races. But David Goldberger, representing the inmates who filed the case, said prisons could rely on the law's language allowing them to exert a compelling government interest.

Students respond to hunger

In response to recent statistics showing a significant rise in poverty and hunger in Israel, RIETS and Yeshiva University students have created Lman Achai: Feed Israel's Hungry. The grassroots student initiative aims to educate the American Jewish community about the problem of hunger in Israel and raise funds to help feed the hungry in Israel, as more than 1.4 million Israelis, including

660,000 children, live below the poverty line. Recently more than 75 synagogues across America and Canada participated inShabbat Lman Achai. The program focused on spreading awareness about the problem of hunger in Israel, with rabbis delivering sermons and lectures on this topic and offering the community ways to respond by participating in Project Lman Achai.

Under the guidance of the RIETS and Yeshiva University administration and with the help of the Max Stern Division of Communal Services, this student initiative has organized several events and raised over $10,000 in one month since its inception. The group is currently conducting a Pesach tzedakah drive. For more information visit www.LmanAchaiYU.org.

Edward M. Bronfman, 77, businessman, philanthropist

TORONTO—Edward M. Bronfman, a powerful businessman and compassionate philanthropist, has died at the age of 77. He was a founder with his younger brother Peter of Edper Investments Ltd., a group of dozens of companies that had vast holdings in real estate, natural resources, and financial services. Mr. Bronfman withdrew his investment in Edper in the early 1990s to devote most of his attention to philanthropies, including the United Jewish Appeal, Hebrew University, and the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada. In 2001 he set up a $1.5-mil-lion endowment for research into mood disorders. His sister Mona had killed herself in 1950 at age 26 after suffering from post-partum depression.

The Bronfman brothers owned the Montreal Canadiens from 1971 to 1978, when the team won the Stanley Cup four times. Edward and Peter were sons of Allan Bronfman and nephews of Seagram Co. founder Samuel Bronfman. They were called the "poor cousins" because they were shut out of Seagrams operations after their father died. However they inherited a wealth of Seagram stock, which they invested in, at first, an unfocused way. They became moguls of commerce after 1968, when they divested their $25-million stake in Seagrams and reinvested it in undervalued Canadian firms. Those investments grew over the next 30 years until at one point the valuation of the Edper companies was thought to have topped $100 billion.

Presbyterians drop messianic support LOUISVILLE—A Philadelphia area branch of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has ended ties with a "messianic" Jewish congregation, Avodat Yisrael, which it had supported since 2002, Presbyterian News Service reported. An official said the congregation failed to meet the goals for membership and attendance in its funding application. Jews had complained that the church was pretending to be a synagogue. Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, praised the decision as a "step toward better understanding and mutual respect," but said serious disagreements with the Presbyterians remain. The church has incurred Jews' displeasure over its decision last year to research divestment from companies that do business with Israel.