Newyorki Figyelő, 2000 (25. évfolyam, 1-3. szám)

2000-01-05 / 1. szám

2000. január 5.

NEWYORKI FIGYEL

WORLD NEWS

(Collected by World Jewish Congress)

The late American poet Ezra Pound lias been denied a place in the Poet's Comer at New York’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine because of his ant-Semitic writings and broadcasts from Italy during World War II.

The dean of the cathedral overruled a decision by a panel of poets and writers to honor Pound - who was indicted for treason in 1943 - after the church’s congregation protested the plans.

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Religious leaders from three major synagogues in Edmonton, Alberta, in Canada, have joined forces to form the Edmonton Rabbinical Council, the first official rabbinic council in the city in 10 years.

The first goal of the board, which encompasses Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform congregations, will be to establish standards for kosher certification.

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A new documentary film. The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, which will make its debut in January 2000, immortalizes the legendary Jewish baseball player who played for the Detroit Tigers, enduring considerable anti-Semitic slurs on the field.

Greenberg survives both in Jewish and American lore as the hero who chose to attend synagogue on Yom Kippur rather titan play in the World Series.

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Six Torah scrolls from the Bukhara region of the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan have been sent to North America, the first time the Uzbek government has allowed such a move.

The scrolls are going to synagogues established by Bukharan Jewish immigrants in the United States and Canada.

Phoenix, Arizona, reports the largest Jewish population gain of any community in the U.S. during the past year according to the American Jewish Yearbook. In the last year its Jewish population grew by more than 13,000 from 70,000 to over i,

83.000. I

Other communities with the largest

increases are Tampa. Florida, with a gain of 5,000; Palm Springs, California, which grew by 4,150; and Greater Bridgeport, Connecticut; Atlanta, Georgia; and Portland, Oregon each of which grew by

3.000.

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The Florida state legislature is considering a bill to provide Holocaust survivors with full health coverage free of charge, a plan which would benefit some 10,000 residents of the state. The coverage would be financed by insurance claims arising from unpaid policies of the World War II ear.

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The DAIA, the representative Jewish organization of Argentina, has successfully lobbied for national congressional reform of labor legislation, to allow Jewish and Muslim workers to observe their respective major religious holidays.

Jew will be allowed to take off official full-salaried days for the Jewish New Year and for Yom Kippur.

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The Albert Einstein Jewish Hospital in Sao Palo, Brazil, has opened a new pediatric wing, which is described by its administration as a gift offered to the country by its Jewish community.

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A synagogue in a north Paris suburb was damaged by arson and Torah scrolls were tom in what is considered a vicious anti-Semitic attack.

The incident took place in the bluecollar district of Garges-les-Gonesses, which has a relatively large population of Jews of North America descent.

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British Chief Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Sacks has been invited to take part in an official multi-faith millenium celebration at the House of Lords in Parliament.

The event will be attended by a member of the Royal Family and a senior government minister, and will be hosted by the Department for Culture, media, and Sport.

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Christoph Blocher, head of the rightwing nationalist Swiss People’s Party, which won the recent Swiss general elections, has expressed support for the work of a notorious Holocaust revisionist.

Blocher wrote a letter endorsing On the Decline of Swiss Freedom by Juergen Graf, a writer found guilty of violating Switzerland’s anti-racism laws.

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According to the President of Austria’s 10,000 member Jewish community, threats against the country's Jews have increased tenfold during and following the successful campaign of farright leader Joerg Haider, whose Freedom Party took second place in recent elections.

Civil rights leaders are considering various actions - including an anti-racist rally - to block any possibility of Haider’s party joining a ruling coalition.

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The Vatican has announced plans to release an archival book defending the wartime actions of Pope Pius XII.

The book, Pius XII and the Second World War, is intended to counter the recently published book. Hitler's Pope, which portrays the Pontiff as an anti- Semite who helped Hitler consolidate power. History records that Pius XII failed to publicly denounce the Nazi persecution of the Jews.

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British-based missionary organizations have an income of well in excess of $1.5 million to fund the conversion of Jews, according to a report in a British Jewish newspaper.

According to the latest available accounts, the three major missionary groups, the Church's Ministry Among the Jewish People. Jews for Jesus, and Christian Witness to Israel are all officially registered charities.

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Recently uncovered British government papers show that both the American and British governments were aware of the murder of Jew s at Auschwitz as early as 1942.

Á twenty page report recording a White House meeting on December 8. 1942. between a delegation of Jewish officials and then president Franklin Roosevelt, was passed on to London, where it was apparently filed away at the British Foreign Office. Tire report described in vivid detail the plight o. Eastern European Jewry.

A new report by an independent public commission lists 180 Nazis and Nazi collaborators who escaped from Europe to Argentina at the end of World War II, and documents the pivotal role of the International Red Cross and the Vatican in providing travel documents to the Nazis - a number of whom were war criminals.

Juan Peron, then president of Argentina, supported the effort to bring Axis leaders and operatives to the country.

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The British Judiciary has received a lesson in Judaism as part of a practical guide geared to ensuring fair treatment for members of all minorities in court and tribunal hearings.

Newly launched. the Equal Treatment Bench Book, distributed to members of the courts, includes information on Jewish festivals, dai'v prayers, dress code, and kashrut.

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Scotland Yard Detectives J.uivc questioned a man living in Wales who is alleged to have been involved in the operation of a Nazi SS extermination squad during World War II.

The suspect, who moved to Britain after the war, is suspected of hav ing been a member of a liquidation unit which murdered Jews in Ukraine. Georgia. Armenia, and Azerbaijan.

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A new exhibit, entitled. "In the Shadow of the War: The Jews of Sweden 1933-1945,” - the first such

comprehensive display in the country - has been opened at Stockholm's Jewish Museum.

Tire exhibit, which incorporates photographs of the period, details the open support for the Nazis shown by mam Swedes form the early 1930s onward.

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A Russian district court has banned the Russian National Unity Movement, a prominent neo-Nazi group, from the far eastern territory of Primorye.

Neo-Nazi groups have been steadily growing bolder and more visible in the countiy in recent months, and are accused of beating members of racial minorities, desecrating Jewish cemeteries, and bombing synagogues.

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Opposition parties in Poland have expressed intentions of scuttling the government's draft legislation restituting private property confiscated by the Nazis during World' War II and by the ensuing Communist regime.

As the proposed law stands, compensation would be offered for some 50% of property taken from indiv iduals, and in cases where the actual property cannot be restituted, investment vouchers would be offered instead.

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kiWWVW'

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VÉSZKORSZAK ÉS ZSIDÓ SORS

A vészkorszak-irodalom, amely bővelkedik a kulturális megnyilvánulások széles skálájában, újabb művel szaporodott, amely mellett azonban hangtalanul nein lehet elhaladni. Rabbi Gershon Weiss a szerzője az album alakban, gyönyörű kiállításban megjelent, ketszázhetvennegy lapot tartalmazó, könnyekre fakasztó képekkel ellátott műnek, amelyben a vészkorszakot túlélt, de számos tagját elvesztett családnak történetét írja meg a fasizmus dúlásának korszakától Hitler bukásáig terjedő időszakban. Ezt követi az az elmefuttatás, amelyet a jámbor lelkeket állandóan bolygató kérdést veti fel, hogy a Gondviselésbe vetett törhetetlen hit hogyan egyeztethető össze a „kiválasztott nép” hatmillió tagjának kiirtásával. A szerző, aki a Staten Island-i Jessiva dékána, művében olyan irodalmi magaslatokra emelkedik, amelyek a legteljesebb elismerésre késztetik a köztiszteletben álló professzor- és rabbibírálókat. E sorok írója a szerzőben nejének édes unokatestvérét tiszteli és kivételes jelentőségű munkáját lelkesen ajánlja a művelt közönségnek. Megrendeléseket kiadóhivatalunk továbbít.

A mű alkotásában dr. Yehuda Sorscher kiváló tudós működött közre.

TERJESSZE LAPUNKATÍ