Jewish Post, Indianapolis, Marion County, 30 January 1981 — Page 3

— Jewish Chronicle of London photo

THE YARMULKE WEARER — The man wearing the yarmulke in this photograph is among the most important, if not the most important, personage in Sweden. He is King Carl XVI and is shown with Queen Silvia, left, as they were guests of honor in the Great Synagogue of Stockholm at the opening sessions of the Scandinavian Youth Federation, which includes all Jewish youth movements not only in Sweden but also in Denmark, Norway and Finland. At right is Avraham

Avidar, Israeli Ambassador to Sweden.

World Zionism, U.S. Section Termed Useless, Ineffective

JERUSALEM — Outspoken criticism of the American Section of the World Zionist Organization almost cost Aharon Kfir, director of the Israel Aliya Center in New York, his job. Charlotte Jacobson, who is chairman of the American section, took offense when Kfir caUed it “a useless and inefficient organization that costs the Jewish people many millions of dollars and acts as a brake and a barrier to the orderly operations of the WZO in the United States”. JACOBSON, according to an interview by Judy Siegel with Kfir in The Jerusalem Post, demanded Kfir’s resignation, but Arye Dulzin, who had to reprimand Kfir for a previous outspoken comment, mollified the former president of Hadassah who then accepted that Kfir would not be reappointed when his present contract expires this

summer.

Kfir told Siegel that “it’s

still not clear to me what the American section does. No one explained it to me before I started in New York, and I still haven’t figured it out. I know they fly to Israel to attend meetings and congresses ....” The inference seemed to be referring to free trips and

expense accounts.

KFIR TAUGHT public administration at Haifa University before accepting his New York post, which directs operations of all aliya emissaries

in North America.

Kfir opposes the “legitimization of sterile Zionism" in the Diaspora, that gives honor, power and money to Zionist organizations whose members and leaders don’t intend to come on aliya and fulfill the basic Zionist tenet. Kfir wants an official distinction made between “supporters or lovers of Israel” — who give money, offer political support and the like — and “Zionists” — who intend to settle here.

Progressive Jews Said To Have So/d Out To Extremists

LONDON — Charging mindless me-too loyalty to Israel, Rabbi David Goldberg criticized Liberal and Progressive Jews for supporting Begin’s West Bank policies, and called on them to associate with “loving but outspoken critics like Nahum Goldmann, Abba Eban, the Peace Now Movement and the Chief Rabbi." THE ASSOCIATE rabbi of the Liberal Synagogue St. John’s Wood, expressed his views in the bulletin of the Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues. “...we are identified instead,” he wrote, “as support-

ers of the Herut Party, Greater Israeli nationalists, biblical fundamentalists and right wing extremists like Geula Cohen.” He added that the fact that Progressive Judaism should have “sold eut” was a source of personal sorrow and astonishment. RABBI Sidney Brichto, director of the Union, told The Jewish Chronicle that Rabbi Goldberg has only “minute” support for his views. He went further, stating that he didn’t believe that “Dr. Goldmann, Mr. Eban or the Chief Rabbi would want to be associated with rabbi Goldberg’s article.”

So Says Jacob Neusner

Opposition To Dissent Is War Against Ideas

BOSTON — An attack on those who would exercise thought control in Jewish life was the substance of the third in a series of articles by Dr. Jacob Neusner in The Jewish Advocate here. The - Neusner articles are the speech the University Professor of Brown University will deliver March 3 (P-O, Jan. 23) at the Morris Adler Memorial Lecture at Congregation Shaarey Zedek, Southfield, Mich. “Rather than arguing with those from whom they differ, the ‘Jewish leaders’ condemn and even vilify the dissenters,” he wrote. He added that “the fact that the very legitimacy of dissent within the Jewish community is called into question is profoundly troutv

ling.”

HE THEN examined this opposition to dissent. “First,’ he asserted, “those who would exercise thought control are themselves ignorant and mindless” and said “I mean, some Jewish federations and other organizational leaders who tell the Jewish intellectuals what they should and should not think as Jews.” As for his second view, Neusner, who may have inherited some of his inclination to air problems from his late father who published the Hartford, Ct. Jewish Ledger, said “still more troubling (for no one in fact pays attention to these ‘Jewish leaders’), when people wish not to argue but to suppress, it is because they are frightened. And I did not think that things are so Bad for Jewry that this state of primitive terrors should prevail.” NEUSNER THEN expressed his confidence in the Jewish situation. “I have far more confidence in Jewry than do the Jewish leaders who want us to all say the same thing at the same time and in the same way. But then the ‘leaders’ are leading the Jewish war against the Jews. And if you want to weaken the Jews, what better way do you have then to stifle dissent and drive out the dissenters.”

Getting into his stride, Neusner outlined what lay in store if criticism were to be banned. “For in the consequent desert of sameness and imposed unanimity lies the death of all emotion; ali commitment, all caring will perish. The one who does the job mechanically and heartlessly is the jvalking corpse. So in this war against fresh and different ideas and approaches to Jewry, the Jewish leaders are corpses who wish the living to become like themselves, also dead.” THE RESULT of willingness to entertain opposing views was then described by Neusner. “In a conflict comes sharpening; and in difference of opinion lies vitality. In criticism, and especially, in selfcriticism, lies the chance to grow and improve. If we do nothing but defend what we have done as the best and only way of doing things, then we are not likely ever to do better than we have already done. The great forces for renewal and renaissance, the powers capable of responding to change in a changing world — these do not emerge from the ranks of those who tell us to shut up and conform. They emerge from the ranks of those willing to take risks, able to sustain criticism and ready to recognize and learn from error. Indeed, just as a scholar or artist or other creative person finds nourish-

ment in learning from error, so must we all. “But the route to criticism is to think freely and express possibilities without restraint. The Jewish war against the Jews will win its final victory when it persuades the Jews to stifle difference and to reject dissent. That war is very nearly won by the enemies from within, our ‘Jewish leaders.’” WITHOUT NAMING Rabbi Emanuel Rackman who attacked Leonard Fein mercilessly and defamed him as having no Jewish interests in his column in The Jewish Week of New York, Neusner rose to the editor of Moment Magazine’s defense. “Indeed,” he wrote, “the president of Bar Han University called into question what he called ‘the Jewish qualifications’ of a principal voice of dissent. Indeed! — as if any of us can or should stand in judgement upon ‘the Jewish qualifications’ of one another!” As to those who contended that opposition views should not be made public, Neusner had this to say: “The dissenters were told to shut up and whisper their complaints into the ears of the ‘leaders’, — if they can get an appointment. The fact that there were and are serious and legitimate points of difference on objective matters of policy means nothing.”

Massive Federal Action Needed

i lie gaum let was thrown at those in Um Jewish community whe have aligned themselves with the net 1 conserva lives as the ex ecutive SHM president oi the National JewChernin ish Community Relations Advisory Council (NACRAC) called for a continuation of liberal government policies at the organization’s annual plenum here. The plenum, attended by some 400 lay and professional leaders in local Jewish community relations councils, sets the policies of the agency for the coming year. While Washington is seek-

ing ways to balance the budget, Chernin called for “massive governmental action” as a cure for the present ills afflicting the United States. He was not unaware of the temperament in Washington, and said, “let’s brace ourselves for the long struggle.” “Where would we have been without social security, welfare, SSI, aid to dependent children, food stamps?,” he asked. He called for “the same kind of vigor that characterized Jewish community relations in the 1940s and 50s. That struggle for social equality and economic justice should be the mandate for the Jewish community relations field in the 1980b,” he concluded.

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