Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 17, 1990 TAG: 9003172510
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE RELIGION WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The shabbat service led by Rabbi Frank Muller commemorated the 100th anniversary of Roanoke's oldest Jewish congregation, part of the Reform movement in Judaism.
Rabbi Alexander Schindler, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, as well as civil and religious dignitaries from Roanoke, addressed the 200 or so in attendance.
In addition to the expressions of congratulations, the audience was reminded dramatically of the fears of Soviet Jewry under glasnost.
Fears of modern pogroms are driving thousands of Jews out of the Soviet Union in a "panic flight," said congregation president Dr. Julien Meyer. Many are waiting in Italy and other countries for resettlement in Israel and the United States.
The Roanoke Jewish Community Council this week decided to sponsor two families for resettlement here, Meyer said. Information on housing and job availability will be sought from members of the community to help place them by this summer, he said.
Schindler, in the evening's primary address, said that "Auschwitz is only one generation behind us, but anti-Semitism is becoming respectable again, and not just in the Soviet Union, but in lands of freedom as well.
"Often it comes in the guise of anti-Zionism. More often it bares its face as plain old Jew-hatred."
Schindler, who has led the 800-congregation, 1.5 million-member organization of Reform congregations since 1973, has been outspoken in his challenges of Orthodox Judaism's power in Israel.
Schindler said he sees hopeful signs in the midst of the collapse of the "paralyzed Unity government" in Israel this week. The government lost a parliamentary vote of confidence in a dispute that focused on the nation's response to a U.S. plan for peace talks with the Palestinians.
While acknowledging what he said are the Israelis' legitimate fears for security, Schindler said "it is better to talk than not to talk." He said the change of leadership bodes as "a positive development for the peace process."
He challenged the members of Temple Emanuel, who were joined for the evening service by members of Roanoke's Beth Israel congregation, to remember "the ideals which the splendid synagogue was built to enshrine: to pursue justice, to be the communal home of our people, and to be a source for the sacred in our lives."
by CNB