Klutznick: Proposed Skokie March Reflects Growing Anti-semitism, Neo-nazism Throughout the World

A “growing neo-Nazism and anti-Semitism in the United States and other countries throughout the world is reflected in the proposed Skokie march,” according to Philip Klutznick, president of the World Jewish Congress.

He told the 600 delegates at the 78th annual convention of the Rabbinical Assembly, the association of Conservative rabbis, that the “Skokie saga has become an international symbol of the effort to rebuild Nazism and all it implies and it is internationally observed.” Concerned with the growth of anti-Semitism and the Nazi spirit in West Germany, France, and in many Latin American countries, as well as in the United States, Klutznick said:

“The increasing number of incidents in the Federal Republic of Germany and the recurrence of the Hitler story has upset not only that government but has also raised important questions for all of us. Reports from France, in relation to the recent elections there, have been identified by some as a new wave of anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitic activities of certain governments and groups in Latin America have grown.”

CRITICAL OF CIVIL LIBERTARIANS

Criticizing the civil libertarians, Klutznick said that “the proposed march” in Skokie “is not an effort to expand the freedom of human rights and the freedom of speech and assembly. It is an attempt to stamp out democracy and freedom and to erect in its place once again the hideous symbol, if not the reality, of the tyranny of Nazism. Skokie has aroused a sense of danger.”

The task ahead, he said, “is to act before it is too late. The forces of darkness lurk in Skokie and other parts of the world, once again. And those who would see the light have a huge responsibility to discharge.”

NO ACTION ON WOMEN AS RABBIS

Reporting to the convention on the 13-member Commission for the Study of the Ordination of Women as Rabbis, Chancellor Gerson D. Cohen of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America said the commission had met twice since it was appointed last May. Not even “tentative conclusions” have been reached, he said, “but I am confident we will have a report for the 1979 Rabbinical Assembly convention as we are mandated to do.

“The only two things I would say we have agreed on are: It was generally agreed that any decision of the commission would be based first and foremost on Halachic considerations, as these would be sought out and interpreted to the commission by those qualified to do so. The commission is in agreement that it does not consider the issue to be one which demands only a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer, and consequently it will also be considering possible intermediate positions.”

Dr. Soul I. Teplitz, rabbi of Congregation Sons of Israel of Woodmere, N.Y., was elected president, succeeding Rabbi Stanley Rabinowitz of Washington.