Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1988. január-június (42. évfolyam, 1-26. szám)
1988-01-21 / 3. szám
Thursday, Jan. 21. 1988. AMERIKAI MAGYAR SZÓ 11. AihaiCAh HutiGARians APPRECIATION FROM THE JEWISH WORLD CONGRESS The Jewish World Congress held a board meeting in Budapest earlier this year, and in its communique the board emphasized the fact that the meeting was taking place in a socialist country for the first time, primarly as appreciation of Hungary's religious policy. The rabbis leading the Hungarian Jewish religious community have a role in this good churchstate relationship 4 t00# Dr. József Schweitzer Budapest has the only college for rabbinical studies in eastern Europe, housed in a century-old building along with a Jewish high school named after the martyr Anne Frank. Pictures of old wise rabbis look down from the walls in the director's room. They include one of Dr. Sándor Schreiber, who died recently and has been succeeded by Dr. József Schweitzer. "This years's rabbinical students have just graduated. How many of them were there?" "Four rabbis graduated. The ordination coincided with the World Congress board meeting, so many guests from abroad were present. We were congratulated on our work. Two of the new rabbis have returned to the Soviet Union after their studies in Budapest, So many eastern European Jews perished in the Holocaust that this is the only rabbinical college in the region." "Among them, 600,000 Hungarian Jews were exterminated, four-fifths of the total. Is there a need to train new rabbis today?" "More rabbis are needed than we can provide. There is regular religious activity in 23 synagogues in Budapest alone, along with Talmud and Torah teaching for children. So rabbis are in demand. I have to explain that rabbis are primarily intellectuals. Their activity doesn't stop short at synagogue services. A rabbi has to read and regularly engage in Judaic studies." Sport I In March 1988, Budapest will play host to the 1988 World Figure Skating Championships. Between March 21-25, championship figure skaters from all over the world will appear in Budapest to compete for top awards in this prestigious world- class meet. The event will be held in the new Budapest Sports Palace - constructed in 1982. Not only will the Championship contests attract the world's best figure skaters to Hungary, but it will also lure thousands of additional sports lovers and tourists. Nevada A7Test Plaintiffs Lose Appeal WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 - The Supreme Court today let die the last appeal by civilians suing the Government for deaths, cancers and other illnesses that they say were caused by open-air atomic bomb tests in Nevada from 1951 to 1962. 'DISCRETIONARY' ACTIONS AT ISSUE The atomic testing involve aspects of the broad doctrine of "sovereign immunity" for "discretionary" actions by Government officials. The Government has invoked this doctrine to shield itself from liability for a wide array of injuries that plaintiffs charge were caused by its negligence. A Federal appellate court held that the Government was protected by sovereign immunity in the atomic testing case regardless of whether, as a Federal district judge had ruled, the allegations that it had negligently killed and injured ■ citizens by failing to provide adequate warnings and to take adequate safeguards were true. The atomic testing were filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act of 1946. In that law, Congress limited the Government's traditional sovereign immunity, which is rooted in the English common law doctrine that "the King can do no wrong." v However, the 1946 law explicitly preserved governmental immunity for a vaguely defined category of "discretionary" actions by officials. And, since 1950, the Supreme Court has carved out another exception, barring virtually all damage An international conference called the "Role of the Human Factor in Development" was held in Budapest, initiated by the UN Development Program together with the private foundation named North- South Round-table. The host of the conference was the Hungarian government and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences' Institute for World Economy. At the closing session participants from countries all over the world discussed the document called Budapest Appeal representing the conference's viewpoint. According to the document, the time has come to assert decisions based on long-range, well planned programs for government policies instead of short-range economic improvisations. In connection with this concept the action programs to be worked out for the 1990s should stress the human factor in economic development and its social implications. It emphasizes the importance of educational reforms in the interest of eliminating illiteracy and upgrading the quality of training forms. The international and national programs to end mass unemployment representing a danger unprecedented in history are considered to be a key question. It devotes an important place to such tasks related to the increasing employment of women, as making working hours more flexible and changing working conditions. suits against the Government for injuries to military personnel. After a 1982 trial in the atomic testing case, Federal District Judge Bruce S. Jenkins of Salt Lake City held that radioactive fallout from above-ground nuclear tests from 1951 to 1962 had caused at least nine people and perhaps dozens of others to die of cancer, and that the Government must pay damages under the 1946 law. He held that while the high-level decision to conduct the tests had been "discretionary" and was thus immune from liability, officials had conducted the tests in a negligent manner by failing to monitor radiation adequately or to tell residents of neighboring areas in Nevada, southern Utah and northern Arizona who lived downwind from the test site about radiation hazards and how to reduce them. But last April a three-judge Federal appellate panel unanimously overturned Judge Jenkin's ruling. Without passing on his conclusions that the fallout had caused the cancers and that the Government had been negligent - both of which the Government has vigorously disputed- the appellate panel held that all aspects of the testing program were conducted in accordance with discretionary decisions of the Atomic Energy Commission and were thus immune from liability. The Supreme Court's decision today refusing to hear an appeal from the appellate decision was Allen v. United States, No. 87-316. The definition of the human consequences and requirements in the new era of technology within the national economies on company level as well as internationally is given a central place in the document. Notable Pensioners To the Editor: You claim the Social Security System is "incredibly expensive" (editorial, Dec. 6), as if it were responsible for part of the huge national deficit. Social Security was never meant to be included in the budget-making process because the Government does not subsidize it in any way. It's said also that retirees reclaim their contributions in two or three years. Note that the President draws a yearly pension of $26,000 from California for his service as Governor. How much did he contribute to the pension fund? How much did the Vice President, members of Congress, the Cabinet and the judiciary contribute, and how long will it take them to reclaim their contributions? Rear Adm. John M. Poindexter, age 51, has just retired from the Navy at an annual pension of $52,764. In 20 years he will have received from the Government $ 1,055,280. Don't make Social Security the deficit scapegoat. Max Plasner Springfield, N.J. (This letter was published in the N.Y. Times) BUDAPEST APPEAL
