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From: teitz@aecom.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Jews and Israel
Message-ID: <1888@aecom.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 4-Sep-85 14:49:30 EDT
Article-I.D.: aecom.1888
Posted: Wed Sep  4 14:49:30 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 11-Sep-85 04:55:57 EDT
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Distribution: net
Organization: Albert Einstein Coll. of Med., NY
Lines: 58

> 
>   Glad you made the point. On a similar note, why are more Jews getting
> arrested in recent months outside the South African embassy than outside
> the embassy of the Soviet Union?  And how come while the Jewish leaders
> were busy getting arrested at the South African embassy , there were
> no Black leaders participating in the daily vigil outside the Soviet
> embassy? 
> 


	A good point about the blacks. However, in a few months, the novelty
 of getting arrested in front of the S.A. embassy will wear off and less people
 will come out. 

	When it comes to Russia and her Jews there are differing opinions as 
 to what should be done. Some say raise hell. Others say deal quietly. The
 rabble rousers make alot of noise but other than that get very little 
 accomplished. Statistics bear out that emigration has gone down over the
 past few years. This has more to do with US trade laws than it does with
 rallies and telegram campaigns ( there was a law by Sen. Scoop Jackson [ i
 think ] that tied US grain trade with Jewish emigration ). More people were
 let out during Jimmy Carter's presidency than Reagan's because Carter was
 not as anti-Soviet as Reagan ( this is how I personally see it ). In fact,
 there are people who have travelled to Russia as guests of the Russian 
 Jewish community who say that the Jews in Russia say that the rallies only
 make a bad situation worse.

	When an American goes to Russia he is not permitted to see just any-
 one he wants. The Russians are very good at steering the right people to
 meet with the visiting tourists. The view of these Russians is not always
 an accurate picture of what the situation really is.

	When my source ( my grandfather, who has visited Russia 20 times
 in as many years ) goes to Russia, he speaks with people on the street. 
 He gets a more accurate picture of what goes on. He says that the best
 way to help Soviet Jews is to not go to rallies and in general not make 
 alot of noise. He has been sending tephilin and other religious articles
 ( we are just finishing the lulav shipment ) to Russia for years. He
 happens to be somewhat of an expert on the matter.

	Matters of life and death, and Russian Jewry is no less a consideration
 than this, should be decided by the sages of our generation and not by some 
 young hot headed rabbis. Most of the older rabbis, when given both sides of
 the argument usually opt for a quieter approach.

	So, not going to the Soviet embassy does not mean that people don't
 care. It's just that they care in a different way.

>   There's nothing wrong with taking up for causes that are worthwhile,
> but shouldn't our priorities be such that we first try and do what we 
> can for Jewish causes  ? 

	Definitely.


			Eliyahu Teitz.