President Reagan was criticized here today by the president of the Rabbinical Assembly, the international association of Conservative rabbis, for labeling nuclear freeze opponents as anti-American and “dupes of the Communist world. “
Rabbi Amold Goodman of Atlanta, Ga., speaking to 400 delegates at the 83rd annual convention of the RA, accused Reagan of attempting to bully the American public into supporting his policies on such issues as the nuclear freeze, abortion, and prayer in the public schools. The convention opened here last night at the Dallas Hilton Hotel and will close Thursday,
Goodman warned that coercion by government can never effect real change when the roots of a problem are deep and emotional. He described efforts to prevent “debate from developing as it should in a democratic and open society,”
The rabbinical leader said he lamented Reagan’s recent speech before the National Association of Evangelicals in which the President evoked Christian theological symbols “as he warned us against evildoers.” Goodman contended that such fundamentalist rhetoric by the President is offensive to all Americans who cherish American traditions of pluralism and democracy.
Goodman said a meeting is scheduled, during the convention, between the leaders of major Christian and Jewish denominations in the Dallas area at which he will invite religious leaders of all faiths to join in urging a full and open debate on the pressing issues which are facing America.
HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL PROGRAM
The RA delegates joined with the Dallas Jewish community last night, during the opening convention session, at a Holocaust memorial program at the Jewish Community Center.
Rabbi Morris Shapiro of Melville, N.Y., a member of the RA Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, himself a Holocaust survivor, paid tribute to the non-Jews of Europe who, at great risk, assisted Jews during the Holocaust years.
He told participants in the memorial program that “my survival should not be attributed to any merits of mine but to the righteousness of five Gentiles who risked their very lives and that of their kin by hiding me and my sister from the claws of the Nazis. “He said this happened in his native city of Goraj in Poland during the Nazi occupation.
He related that both his parents, six brothers and two other sisters perished in the Holocaust. An estimated 1,000 persons packed the center for the event, while outdoors, grouped at a Holocaust memorial on the center grounds, an estimated 1,500 persons took part.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
