Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 25, No. 1, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 7, 1971 Page: 1 of 20
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jess jaw in OUR 25TH VEAR'
With this issue your Texas Jewish Post enters its 25th year of weekly j.
publication.
We know what your first reaction might be: "Is it really that long?"
Yes, dear friends, it is.
The years run through the fingers fast and a near quarter century
soon becomes a fact. Time remains a constant but all life and things
age.
It would take all our volumes of the 24 years that preceded this
issue to tell you where we've been and indeed most of you have read ,
them and a great many have enjoyed your family paper, the Texas
Jewish Post.
It is hard to believe that the births we reported over two decades
ago are now young marrieds rearing children. And the happy grand-
parents qvelling are with nachus they richly deserve! This is all part
of the record of simchas we've reported.
The totality of Judaism is more than the simchas. It contains the
compassion for suffering of all peoples and the dedication to L'Chaim,
to Life, and its nobler concepts of learning, progressing and living a
full, rich life.
What about some of the milestones over the years?
The Texas Jewish Post, from its inception, has been committed to
the establishment of a national homeland for Jews. We were born as a
newspaper prior to the declaration of Israel's independence in May,
1948. We believed so much in Israel's right to exist independently
that it was the first and only time we ever wrote a headline pro-
claiming and printing a fact days before it was to happen. Some rabbis
and many others told us not "to stick our neck out."
But telling a Jew not to stick his neck out where his fellow Jews are
concerned is like picking a fight with a Jew in the desert.
Yes, the Great Milestone is Israel. It's here, to stay, function and
_Continued on Page 4 _ _
JTA-Jewish Telegraph Agency
WNS- World News Service
AJP- American Jewish Press
SAF-Seven Arts ft
JCNS-Jewish Chronicle News Service
Zcms Jewish
DEDICATED TO TRUTH, LIBERTY AND JUSTICE
In Our Twenty-Fifth Year of Continuous Service!
MEMBER
AMERICAN JEWISH PRESS ASSOCIATION
TEXAS PRESS ASSOCIATION
THE SOUTHWEST’S LEADING ENGLISH-JEWISH WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
READ BY MORE THAN 20,000 EACH WEEK
VOLUME XXV NO! 1 THRUSDAY, JANUARY 7, 1971
20 PAGES 20i PER COPY
SOVIETS DROP DEATH
CHARGE ON 2 JEWS
I he death sentences for attempted skyjacking against two Jewish citizens of the L .S.S.R.
were commuted December 31 to 15 years by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation
because the alleged attempts were averted.
Thus the fate of Mark Dymshits and Edward Kuznetsov, who along with six other Jews
and two non-Jews were convicted of the charge, will be one of serving their sentences in
rugged Soviet prison labor camps.
Jewish sources told journalists
that the death sentences had been
commuted and that labor camp
sentence passed on three of the
other defendants were reduced.
The nine others accused had re-
received sentences of from four
to 15 years in labor camps.
They said they were told the
news by three relatives of the
accused who observed the supreme
court hearing of the appeal by the
defendants.
have to serve his term in a special
regime camp - the toughest grade
of Soviet corrective labor colony,
the sources said.
Kuznetsov, who has already
served a term in a labor camp, will
Dymshits will serve his in a
strict regime colony, which is one
_Continued on Page 8
‘Conversation With President9
President Richard M. Nixon, in his "Conversation with the
President" telecast to the nation Monday night, would not be
pinned down to what the United States would do if Israel was
threatened by its enemies during a crisis. However, he said
that Israel now has $500 million in credits to purchase mili-
tary supplies here for which it must pay. He stressed the
importance again of his previous comments on Russian
participation saying the Soviet Union must be "conciliatory”
if there was to be any permanent Middle East peace.
U.N. PeaceTalks Resume
The United Nations again held the opportunity for promoting peace in the Middle East
as Gunnar Jarring presided over indirect talks between the Arabs and Israelis which started
Tuesday.
Israeli Ambassador Yosef Tekoah called on Jarring and their talks lasted for a half hour.
Meetings between Jarring and Ambassador Mohammed H. el Zayyat of Egypt and Jordan’s
Ambassador Muhammad H. el Farra were also scheduled. Continued on Page 8
School for Converts Probes Motivations of Candidates
BY BEN GALLOB
A Long Island school for converts has a standing policy of seeking to
determine—before accepting candidates for conversion—whether the reasons
for the application involves pressures of such a kind as to make highly
doubtful the possibility of a durable commitment to Judaism. Such
candidates are discouraged.
The policy was described by Rabbi Donald Freiman of Atlanta, who
served a Long Island congregation at Westbury before moving to Atlanta,
and who was a director of the Hillel Institute for Judaism, sponsored by
the Nassau-Suffolk region of the Rabbinical Assembly, the association of
Conservative rabbis. His report on the school, which he said was such a
success that "many of our Orthodox colleagues sent their conversion can-
didates to us for training,’’ appeared in a recent issue of "Conservative
Judaism,” the scholarly publication of the RA and the Jewish Theological
Seminary of America. Classes are held in homes and synagogues of the
participating rabbis on a rotating basis.
The cautious approach to the sincerity of the would-be convert was
described as stemming partly from the fact that most candidates apply
because they are planning to marry Jews. Accordingly, Rabbi Freiman re-
ported, it would be in error to consider such candidates as prospective
"sincere converts who make this move out of a sense of belief in Judaism.
Had the candidates not been planning marriage to Jews, they would never
have considered conversion.”
The fact is, he added, such non-Jews are "locked” into the "conversion
situation even prior to learning about Judaism and what it means to be a
Jew.” He reported that some of the candidates at the Conservative school
“never develop” an emotional attachment to Judaism and when this is dis-
covered, "we do not encourage the conversion.”
He cited as an example a couple who came to the school, “expecting
that after 16 easy lessons in Judaism, the candidate would magically become
a Jew.” He reported that the girl told him she was a “confirmed Lutheran”
and that she had “always attended church prior to her meeting her Jewish
fiance.” Rabbi Frieman asked her why she would want to convert and she
replied that her fiance wanted her to.
Later in the interview. Rabbi Freiman broached the matter of her having
to give up her Christian beliefs, explaining that Jews rejected the divinity
of Christ. He reported that “tears came to her eyes” and that he learned that
the sponsoring rabbi “had been pressured into approving that candidate for
conversion. A wedding date had already been reserved in a catering hall.
the rabbi engaged and thousands of dollars had been committed!” He said
the couple was then tactfully shown that conversion was not the answer
for them.
A married couple with three children was referred to the school. The
wife was a Catholic and "happy to remain one,” stating that she would
“always believe in Jesus.” Asked why then she sought conversion, she
replied that “her husband’s relatives were demanding it.”
A non-Jewish college freshman, “engaged” to a Jewish high school
senior, came to the school. It was learned that the girl’s parents opposed
the marriage, even if the prospective son-in-law did convert. The rabbis
decided that since the girl was still in high school, she should follow the
advice of her parents. “As a rabbinical body,” the rabbi reported, “we
had no right to override the wishes of the girl’s parents.” even though an
individual “is entitled to convert to Judaism without seeking another’s
permission.” One young man attended classes for the required 16 weeks and
made the appointment for the mikveh. With the Beth Din (rabbinical
panel) “assembled at the mikveh to query him as to his beliefs, he revealed
to us that, as the moment of conversion was approaching, he had some res-
ervations and was not yet ready to convert. We had great respect for the
young man as he left,” Rabbi Freiman reported.
Among unexpected developments, he disclosed, was one in which, as
a result of her stu ^es, a prospective woman convert, already married to a
Jew, decided “to keep a kosher home-to the consternation of her husband.”
He said the program seeks to provide for the candidates “much of the
background and customs of Judaism.” Nevertheless, he expressed doubts as
to wl. ether regular attendance at the classes could “make a Jew.” He said
that, “at best, all we can do is to dig the foundation upon which a Jewish
home may be built long after the course is over.” He reported that, for many
of the candidates, the instruction was “their first encounter with religion”
since they reached adulthood and the course posed for them the question”
of what practices they are going to adopt as part of their life pattern.”
He expressed a personal opinion that “the Jewish partner of a convert”
will observe more of the practices of Judaism than he would have if he
had married a Jew. “Perhaps.” he suggested, the born Jew “has to justify his
desire to have the other partner convert to Judaism or perhaps the convert
• decides to be more observant. It may also be that the knowledge of Judaism
imparted and discussed at a mature level leads the Jew to a firmer commit-
ment to Judaism.”
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Wisch, J. A. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 25, No. 1, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 7, 1971, newspaper, January 7, 1971; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth754591/m1/1/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .