An International symposium on the Jewish family will be held in Tel Aviv University May 28-30, it was announced here by Ruth Ben-Zur. personal advisor to Israeli Cabinet Minister Sarah Doron. The symposium will be the first of a series of seminars to deal “with the various aspects of Jewish family life and the role of the family in reinforcing Jewish values and attitudes,” Ben-Zur said.
According to Ben-Zur, who was visiting the United States to promote tresymposium, the Jewish family unit is eroding both in Israel and in the Diaspora as a result of intermarriage and the neglect of or indifference to Jewish tradition and values.
‘The family os the basic unit serves as the transmission belt for Jewish values from one generation to the next,” Ben-Zur quoted Doron as saying. “If this unit breaks down, then the only values transmitted are those alien to Jewish tradition. The erosion of the family in Jewish life is a form of a spiritual Holocaust, every bit as dangerous as the Holocaust 40 years ago.”
SAYS PROBLEM IS ACUTE
Ben-Zur said that Doron, one of the sponsors and spark plugs of the symposium, pointed out that the problem is acute because young Jews are becoming alienated from Jewish values under the influence of non-Jewish Western values.
“They are more attracted to hard rock and counter-cultural pursuits than to Judaism,” Ben-Zur observed. “This is true both in Israel and in the Diaspora. But the real problem, the real danger, is that if family life in Israel breaks down there is no example for Diaspora Jews to follow, no standard and no light unto the nations.”
The symposium, which is also sponsored by the Prime Minister’s Office, Tel Aviv University and the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research of the Jewish Family Heritage, will include secular and religious experts from the United States, Canada and Israel. A permanent world committee will be established to continue the process of dialogue begun in the symposium and to be responsible for planning the next annual conference.
Doron, a Minister-Without Portfolio who is a member of the liberal Party, is the only woman in the present Cabinet. She is in charge of dealing with family affairs and the status of women. Ben-Zur pointed out that Doron was responsible for having the Knesset adopt a law making it a criminal offense to discriminate against women on the job in terms of hiring, promotions and equal pay with men. As a result, women are now suing firms that fail to comply with the law, Ben-Zur said.
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