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'Ti> Vol. LXV No. 8 Omaha, Nabr
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SERVING NEBRASKA AND IOWA SINCE 1920
14 OtMhvan, 5748 Friday, Nov. 8, 1987
Beth El to build The Board of Trustees of Beth El Synagogue has announced plans to build a new facility on property the congregation owns near 144th and California Streets. In a letter to the congregation, Ozzie Nogg, president, said,"We're going to build a new house of worship that will carry with it the warmth, joy and traditions of Beth El today. That will reflect the energy, commitment and potential of Beth El tomorrow." The letter also announced that Phil Schrager has been appointed general chairman of the Beth El Synagogue building project. Mrs. Nogg pointed out that the trustees acted only after two years of "careful and sensitive" deliberations. She said that in 1985, a long-range committee was established and a year later recommended to the trustees that fund-raising and planning for a new synagogue begin. Before deciding, the Board of Trustees studied the feasibility to determine if the membership was in favor of a new building, what a new building would cost, and whether the money could be raised to build it. She said the study concluded that congregational interest in a new building is high, that costs of the facility are within reach, that initial fund-raising has produced significant pledges and that financial support from the congregation can be anticipated.
Picture This Damty Knlly, (left) a student at Westaide Middle School, shows the photos that he took of hit friend Michael Baasik, of Millard North Jimior High, on the day of Mike's Bar MUatah ut Temple laraeL He (diotoe appear in Plctare Tltia, a book of people and places ia Onalw idtotographed by children aa a fnnd-raiaiiig project for the Child Savings In•tttnte. The project was conceived by Mary Benut^ and Nancy Noddle of Events, Inc., and Larry Kavitdi played a major part in securing the photography.
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lorah weekend
Gallner honored
Beth El Synagogue
The Jewish Federation of Council Bluffs will honor David Gallner, Sunday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m., in B'nai Israel Synagogue'. According to the announcement, the event marks the annual United Jewish Appeal effort and the guest speaker will be ' Rabbi Isaac Nadoff of Beth Israel Synagogue. The dinner charge is $8 per person and reservations may be made by calling Sandra Kurland at 323-8885.
Rabbi Kassel Abelson is the scholar-inresidence for tonight at 8:15 p.m., Saturday during morning services at 9:30 a.m., and during a Sunday breakfast at 10 a.m. The programs are open to the community without charge. Rabbi Abelson is spiritual leader of Beth El Synagogue in Minneapolis and president of The Rabbinical Assembly.
Dynamic duo launches 'pipeline of aid'
By Morris Maline Omaha businessman Sol Parsow and Soviet Jewry activist Shirley Goldstein have launched a "pipeline of aid" to help immigrants arriving in Israel. The unique supply line involves the sending of new clothes and personal simdry items directly to the Soviet Jewry Education and Information Center which is run by Glim in Israel. The first shipment, involving an estimated $30,000 worth of donated clothing and supplies, is under way at this very moment. Motivation for the enterprise is twofold: Mr. Parsow has been inspired by his relationship with Refusenik Sasha Murinson and his family and their recent release from the Soviet Union—with the participation, Mr. Parsow believes, of industrialist Armand Hammer. And Mrs. Goldstein, chairman of thj Soviet Jewry Committee, has been motivated to start the direct aid program as a result of dissatisfaction with the progress of the Jewish Agency in providing adequate help to the immigrants. Their separate interests have merged, and their first combined effort—14 large bags of supplies—are being hand carried by members of the Omaha Jewish community visiting larael.
In Mr. Parsow's case, his interest in helping Soviet Jews beyond normal channels started in 1984-85 during a trip to Russia. He met Sasha, his brother, Yuri,_ and their widowed mother, Ethel, and maintained an ongoing interest in the family. During a long air trip, Mr. Parsow read Hammer, an autobiography of Armand Hammer, and was so impressed that he wrote a letter upon his return home. "It was on the occasion of Mr. Hammer's 89th birthday, so I enclosed a miniature hanuner with a black ebony handle and then described the case of Sasha Murinson and his family." Mr. Parsow said he described Sasha as a "Jew wishing to be free" and then asked Mr. Hammer to help. The letter was sent by Express Mail June 9. On June 22, Mr. Parsow received a letter from Mr. Hammer thanking him for the letter and the kind comments about the book and the sift. "He also said that he would look into the Murinson situation." On June 29, Mr. Parsow received a telephone call from Sasha who excitedly announced that the family's emigration papers had arrived and that they were free to leave the Soviet Union once they paid about $5,000 in taxes to
the Soviet government. Mr. Parsow recruited some of his friends to help, the money was raised, and on Sept. 1, the family arrived.in Jerusalem "free at last." Mr. Parsow said that he wrote Mr. Hammer a]gain relating Sasha's comments as speaking "with a voice of freedom." "I also wrote that a hammer is a tool directed by the brain which sends a signal to the arm to strike an object.,. you are that force which freed three Jewish people." Mr. Hanmier's reply, said Mr. Parsow, included the comment,"! have helped many Jews emigrate to Israel." "I am convinced, there is no doubt in my mind, that Armand Hammer made it possible for the Murinsons to leave the Soviet Union." Mr. Parsow added that Sasha is now enrolled at Hebrew University and that he intends to start a local campaign to raise funds for his college education. "My interest was aroused by Mrs. Goldstein years ago when she brought an immigrant to my house. I emptied my closet of clothes and gave them to the mdividual... when he asked why I did this, I told him that (Continued on Page 8)
Thousands to demonstrate in Washington on eve of Reagan/Gorbachev summit By David Friedman WASHINGTON (JTA) -lAa Nudel and Vladimir and Maria Slepak, three long-time refuaeoiks who recently immigrated to Israel, will join thousands of Ainerican Jews and non-Jews in a demonstration for Soviet Jewry on the Mall here Dec. 6, the eve of the summit meeting between President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Plans for the "Washington Mobilization" was announced at a press conference here MondiQr by the Suinmit III Task Force, representing 60 national Jewish organizations, and 300 local federations and councils, which has been planning the demonstratim for nearly two years. The mobilization is expected to be the largest Jewish demonstration ev6r held in Washington, according to Jacqueline Leyine, chairperson of the Washington Mobilization and former chairperson of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory (Council. But she emphasized that the demonstration vilTalso include thou-
sands of non-Jews who support the struggle for Soviet Jewry. "The mobilization will serve as a watch to guarantee and stimulate" both the United States and the Soviet Union to keep the issue of human rights high on the agenda during the talks between Reagan and Gorbachev, Morris Abram, chairman of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, which organized the Task Force, said. "The principle that we will be emphasizing time and again is that while no one ia adking for any direct linkage of arms reduction and human rights or emigration, the credibility of the Soviet Union and the good faith and the return to the normal relationships, which we all hop>e for, will be measured and tested by whether the Soviet Union complies with its obligations under international law, international treaties and the Helsinki Accords," Abram said. Abram said the joint U.S.-Soviet statement issued by the White House after Reagan announced Gorbachev accepted his invitatkn to a summit Dec. 7 was "historic."
He explained that this was because the statement stressed that the suznmit would be "a substantive meeting which covers the full range of issues between the two countries" and would seek to make "significant headway over the full range of these issues." 'f Abram credited the "persistance" of Reagan and Secretary of State George Shultz in making human rights an agenda item in meetings with the Soviets in changing Moscow's attitude that human rights was strictly an internal matter. The demonstration, which will start at the Ellipse and conclude at the Lincoln Memorial, .will be "dignified and orderly," Abram said. "This is not a demonstration against," Levine said, "This is a demonstration for, for a process of emigration which will be sustained, which will be substantive in terms of the numbers of people who will be able to leave and which will be systematic so that Soviet Jews know what to expect when they apply for visas.'[
Levine noted that the demonstration will allow participants to "make our feelings Imown by making our presence known." She said that just as during the civil rights movement, the demonstration will be one of the "very few times in life" when a single person by his or her presence can feel that he or she "made a difference." Martin Stein, national chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, said the mobilization demonstrates the Jewish principle that "all Jews are responsible one for another." He said that the UJA is boving its National Campaign Cabinet meeting from New York to Washington so that UJA leaders can pai^ ticipate in the demonstration. Abram said the sununit comes at a time when there has been "welcome" progress for Soviet Jews. He said 921 Jews emigrated from the USSR in October and near'ly 6,000 Jews have left so far this year; all Prisoners of Conscience have been released, and no teacher of Hebrew has been arrested ^ for a year. I'd