Trip of Moscow’s Chief Rabbi, Interfaith Delegation to U.S. Cancelled

The first visit to the United States by Moscow’s new Chief Rabbi Yaacov Fishman, as a member of an interfaith delegation of Soviet religious leaders, has been cancelled, the Appeal for Conscience Foundation reported yesterday.

The foundation, sponsor of the scheduled visit of the delegation of Jewish, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Baptist, Russian Orthodox and Moslem spiritual leaders, said the delegation’s visit had been cancelled because its chairman, Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningrad and Novgorod, had suffered a heart attack. The delegation was due to arrive today in New York.

Rabbi Arthur Schneier, foundation president, said the foundation’s sense of disappointment is shared by leaders of other religious communities who joined in preparations for the Soviet religious visitors. Rabbi Schneier said the foundation anticipated “early re-scheduling” of the visit. ago when he and Robert H. Arnow, president of the JTA, initiated the intern program. Since then, six young people have participated in the program working for periods from three to five months in the JTA editorial office in New York, four in Detroit for the Jewish News, and one at the Jewish Advocate in Boston. The Boston internee, Earl Lefkovitz was one of the five finalists in the competition for the Smolar Award.

Slomovitz, recalling his own early student days as a journalist for the University of Michigan Daily when “a few dollars meant the difference between eating or going hungry,” said that the $500 check is “my contribution to the JTA’s intern program which fills a vital role in helping to replenish the field of Jewish journalism with new, talented and dedicated people.”

PROMISE OF REVITALIZED AMERICAN-JEWISH PRESS

Jerold C. Hoffberger of Baltimore, chairman of the CJF’s Smolar Award Committee and chairman of the JTA Executive Committee, said as he presented the award to Slomovitz that he earned the honor for “his comprehensive coverage of the main currents and concerns before the Jewish community and for the consistently high quality of his reportage” The award to Slomovitz covered the contest period from June 1,1971 to May 31,1972. Hoffberger announced that nominations for the 1973 Smolar Award are now open and will cover reporting and writing published in the American-Jewish press between June 1,1972 and May 31, 1973.

Focusing on Boris Smolar, Editor-Emeritus of the JTA, vice-president of the JTA and a founder of the American Jewish Press Association, and a columnist for the Forward, Hoffberger said: “By virtue of this award, Mr. Smolar and the Council (CJF) are hoping to elevate the esteem in which Jewish journalism is held throughout North America and to encourage promising reporters and editors to enter the field.”

Hoffberger told the audience that a total of 65 journalists–newcomers to the field and veterans–appearing in American-Jewish newspapers in the U.S. and Canada, submitted entries for the 1972 Similar Award. “The keen interest and competition gives promise of a revitalized American-Jewish press, alert to the growing needs of the community.”

In its review, the CJF Award Committee narrowed the field of 65 to six journalists and was “impressed by the journalistic standards, competence and vigor they manifested.” Hoffberger stated. The six were, in addition to Slomovitz: Dr. Arnold Ages, the Chronicle Review, Toronto; Esther Blaustein, the Jewish Community News, Union County, N.J.; Jack Fishbein, the Sentinal, Chicago; Joseph Weisberg, the Jewish Advocate, Boston, and a member of the JTA Board of Directors; and Lefkovitz.