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Volume XXI • Number 4 • January 23 - 29, 2014 •
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Remembering Dr. King’s days in Riverdale By ANDREW WOLF Each year, as we celebrate the national holiday to commemorate the birth of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we should recall the very special connection Dr. King had with The Bronx, especially Riverdale. Most of the King Legacy here was positive, and a bit was less seemly, things we know about only because of the constant, perhaps illegal, and certainly reprehensible surveillance of the great civil rights leader. Dr. King came to Riverdale because it was the home of Clarence B. Jones, a transplanted Californian who lived here during the most productive part of King’s career. Jones was an attorney who acted as Dr. King’s private lawyer, advisor and speech writer. In his writings (Jones, born in 1931 is still alive and lives today in California), he describes how he obtained bail money for Dr. King, imprisoned down South, from the late New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. Rockefeller arranged for the main branch of the Chase Manhattan Bank, then controlled by his family, to be opened on a Saturday (at a time when no bank ever departed from the traditional “bankers’ hours), and aides doled out the necessary cash. To the discomfort of Jones, he was made to sign a promissory note to get the cash that, to his relief, was returned to him later marked “PAID.” Presumably thanks to the Governor.
Clarence B. Jones, Dr. King’s lawyer and close adviser, was a Riverdale resident. Jones came to Riverdale, which he describes as a suburban enclave in the West Bronx, looking for good schools both public and private. He lived in a house he described as near West 254th Street complete with Hudson River views and just blocks from the Riverdale Metro North station. His location in New York made him the perfect go-between for Dr. King and perhaps the civil rights leader’s closest friend and advisor, Stanley Levison. Levison was a white businessman with strong left-wing ties. In his youth he was a member of the Communist Party USA, and he was said to have maintained those ties over the years. It was suggested that he may have acted as a conduit for funding the party, presumably with cash
from Moscow. The relationship between Dr. King and Levison was thus a subject of great interest to J. Edgar Hoover, then the all-powerful Director of the F.B.I. Most saw the domestic Communist Party as a toothless, burned-out remnant of a once powerful movement that peaked in the 1930s and was a shadow of what it once was by the 1960s. Under constant surveillance by Hoover, any linkage between the Communists and the nascent civil rights movement was of interest. And for different reasons, that interest extended to U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, and his brother the President, John F. Kennedy. The administration in Washington was pro-Civil Rights and wanted to give Dr. King their full support. But they feared that any linkage between the Civil Rights leadership and the Communist Party, would undermine the movement and its leadership. So Dr. King was told in no uncertain terms by the Kennedys to break off his relationship with Stanley Levison, and he reluctantly agreed. It fell to Clarence Jones to act as an intermediary. Usually, meetings and messages would be between Jones and Dr. King or Levison, separately, or if they met in person it would be in Jones’ home. In 1963, serious planning took place for the historic March on Washington. It was decided that Continued on Page 2
Clarence Jones, pictured above center, coordinated the efforts that resulted in Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered at the 1963 March on Washington.
Israeli rabbis relent: Will accept testimony of Rabbi Avi Weiss
By JEREMY SHARON Courtesy of the Jerusalem Post Reversing its earlier stance, the Chief Rabbinate of the State of Israel has formally decided that testimony from prominent U.S. rabbi Avi Weiss regarding individuals’ status as Jews will be accepted by the Israeli body. The Jerusalem Post has learned that in recent days Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett became personally involved in the issue and spoke to the relevant parties to help bring about the resolution. In addition, local Congressman Eliot L. Engel, the senior Democratic member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, released the following statement after the Israeli Chief Rabbinate reversed course and agreed to accept the religious credentials of Rabbi Avi Weiss. “I was heartened to learn of the Chief Rabbinate’s reconsideration of Rabbi Avi Weiss’ halachic credentials, which will again allow him to submit Jewish status letters on behalf of Jews wishing to marry in Israel. While in Israel to attend the late Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s funeral, I had the opportunity to express my concerns regarding Rabbi Weiss’ treatment face to face with Ash-
kenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau.” “While I am encouraged to see the decision concerning Rabbi Weiss resolved in a positive manner, I would note that the broader issue of how Diaspora Jewish communities and their religious leaders are recognized by Israeli state institutions remains largely unresolved. The Israeli government has taken recent positive steps to help foster a more inclusive environment for the multitude of Jewish religious practices and traditions in Israel – a trend which I hope continues.” In a letter dated January 15 to Weiss’s lawyer, the Chief Rabbinate’s legal adviser wrote that after an internal meeting and “further clarifications on the matter,” the rabbinate reached an agreement to accept Weiss’s testimony on Jewish and personal status. In October, it was discovered that the Chief Rabbinate had rejected the credentials of Rabbi Weiss for providing this kind of testimony, after receiving reports from Orthodox rabbis in the US that said Weiss did not adhere to an Orthodox interpretation of Jewish law. Weiss is a Modern Orthodox rabbi who leads an Orthodox congregation. Some of his activities have
aroused controversy in the Orthodox world, however – particularly his establishment of a seminary for women that ordains women as rabbis. The rejection of his credentials generated outrage in the Orthodox Jewish community in the US, as well as from Modern Orthodox groups in Israel, and strained relations between the Diaspora and the religious establishment in Israel. NGOs such as ITIM, Tzohar and Ne’emanei Torah Va’avodah argued that it was unacceptable for the Chief Rabbinate to make decisions based on hearsay and gossip, and threatened to petition the case in the High Court of Justice. Bennett, who is also the Religious Services Minister, has treated the issue as one of great importance, due to the impact it was having on Israel- Diaspora relations. The Bayit Yehudi leader met with Chief Rabbi David Lau last week, and it is believed that they discussed this issue. Jewish immigrants to Israel frequently need a rabbi from their community abroad to testify that they are Jewish, and cannot marry in Israel without a rabbi’s Continued on Page 3