Major Jewish Groups Condemn Jdl Invasion of N.Y. Board of Rabbis’ Office

Major Jewish organizations today condemned the invasion yesterday of the Manhattan offices of the New York Board of Rabbis by members of the Jewish Defense League and called upon the total Jewish community to repudiate them. In a statement issued by the New York Board of Rabbis and endorsed by top officials of the American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith. Workmen’s Circle and National Council of Jewish Women, the JDL’s invasion was termed “a senseless act” and compared to “stormtrooper tactics.” The statement asserted: “The New York Board of Rabbis feels it is time to call a halt to such terrorist activities.” It added that the Board “is a religions organization serving the entire Jewish community. To disrupt our daily work on behalf of the Jewish faith, the Jewish people and the general commun- ity is intolerable.” Twenty one JDL members invaded the Board’s offices and also forced their way into the office of Rabbi Harold H. Gordon, executive vice-president of the Board following the transfer of 26-year-old JDL member Avraham Hershkowitz from the Manhattan Federal House of Detention to the Lewistown (Pa.) Federal Penitentiary. (See separate story.) General Counsel Bertram Zweibon said that the JDLers entered the offices to demand that “the Board make sure that Hershkowitz be permitted to maintain his status as an Orthodox Jew in the penitentiary.” Zweibon charged that the “activities of the New York Board of Rabbis with regard to Jewish prisoners is worthless. They do absolutely nothing,” he charged, “and maintain minimal contact at a time when they could be of great influence.” A spokesman for the Board of Rabbis stated that it had informed the JDL on a number of occasions that “JDL has no right to demand that the Board take responsibility for JDL’s illegal actions.” According to the statement by the Board of Rabbis, the JDLers were removed from the Board’s premises by police one hour after having entered it, leaving “our offices in shambles and our staff terrorized.” Damage was estimated to run “into thousands,” according to the statement. “Papers and files were strewn about, equipment demolished, phone wires ripped out and irreplaceable religious books damaged,” the statement added. The 21 JDLers were arraigned this morning on charges of illegal trespass.