Jdl Seeks Equal Time with Rju at Temple Emanu-ei and Stephen Wise Free Synagogue

Rabbi Edward Klein of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, citing “pulpit freedom,” said today that he would agree to the request of the Jewish Defense League to address his congregation in response to pulpit remarks June 5 by Rabbi A. Bruce Goldman of Columbia University’s Radical Jewish Union. Rabbi Klein told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he hoped to reach the JDL national chairman, Rabbi Meir Kahane, in time to arrange for a JDL address tomorrow night, as Rabbi Kahane had asked. Rabbi Klein said he was acceding to the JDL request in the interests of equal time for another Jewish organization. He noted that Rabbi Goldman had “observed certain ground rules to the letter”–there was no RJU demonstration, and RJU members attended the complete service. Rabbi Goldman, who spoke for 10 minutes, called for contributions to a $100,000 Black Panther defense fund, Rabbi Klein told the JTA he disagreed with the contention, stated in Rabbi Kahane’s letter to him. that Rabbi Goldman had “defiled a synagogue pulpit” with those remarks. The JDL considers the Black Panthers virulently anti-Semitic and has demonstrated against them.

Rabbi Nathan Perilman of Temple Emanu-El, where Rabbi Goldman has been arrested on two of his three attempts to address the congregation, told the JTA today that a tentative agreement had been reached for talks with RJU representatives but that no date had been set for initial discussions. He denied also Rabbi Goldman’s statement that the “understanding” on which the RJU decided to halt its vis its to the temple, provided for access by RJU members to the synagogue board of trustees through synagogue publications. The JDL, in a letter to Rabbi Perilman, indicated there had been an agreement between it and the synagogue, that “any concessions made to the RJU would be equally granted to the JDL to present another view.” Rabbi Perilman denied any such agreement existed with the JDL.