Orthodox Leader and Jewish Youth Group Leaders Score Use of Violence Against Dissent

The president of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America and leaders of three Jewish youth organizations have called for the forsaking of “violence” in quelling campus disorders. They also called for the cessation of “abusive” and “inflammatory” language on the part of both political leaders and campus militants. Rabbi Joseph Karasick, the Orthodox leader, asserted that the “needless deaths” of students at Kent State University and at Jackson State College were “in substantial measure an outgrowth of the lack of communication between those who guide America’s destiny and those who are America’s future.” He said that “The raw use of power has undermined the respect before the law and its representatives.” and serves only to advance the cause of “the small minority of violent campus revolutionaries and outside agitators.” Jack Mintz, Amy Horowitz and Pam Gewirtz, international presidents of Aleph Zadik Aleph, B’nai B’rith Girls and B’nai B’rith Young Adults, branches of the B’nai B’rith Youth organization urged “a more sensitive response to mass protests.” They said, “what we need is not less–or even less intense–debate and discussion; far from it. Young people must become more–not less–involved in the issues of our time.”