The Phoenix Jewish news., 1958-12-12

C1On LndIlkS W Tie IS1OlO CAAOA - O-
who rose up in arms, serves to re-
mind us once more of the precious
thing known today as freedom OF
religion, or freedom of conscience
in its broader implications.
The Jews of those days, living
under the rule of the Greek satrap
Antiochus Epiphanes, had every
thing to gain in a material way
from adopting the Greek way OF
life. the Greek religious outlook
The Greek empire in Asia Minor,
which the conqueror Alexander OF
Macedon had established, was rlch
and flourishing. All the nationalitles
which had accepted its sway were
we'll off in an economic sense.
Only the Jews of Palestine retus-
ed to recognize its hegemony for
religious reasons, for reasons OF
conscience. Only the Jews, led by
a stubborn minority, refused to
sell their souls for a mess OF pott-
age, and because of this refusal
Judaism remained alive and and
Jews are here today to tell the
story.
FREEDOM OF conscience re-
mains today, after thousands OF
years, a vital issue in the world,
a thing that must still be fought
for and won. The Maccabean re-
volt which Chanukah celebrates
was perhaps the first example in
world history of a struggle for
religious freedom. Today, as we
continue the fight for the right OF
individuals and groups to hold and
express their own beliefs, Chanu-
kah reminds us of the hoariness
of that struggle, of the long history
of the fanatical bigotry that we are
even now in 1858 witness to.
And as Jews, even 13 years after
the horrible thing that happened to
us with the massacre of 100000
of our brethren in Europe, we still
suffer from this refusal by the
bigoted part of humanity to recog-
nize freedom of conscience. In
Communist Russia. where religion
and freedom generally are frown-
ed upon. Judaism suffers from
special determinations.
The 5000, 900 Jews of Soviet Rus
sia are forbidden to form any sort
of national organization which
would strengthen their religious
life, Sabbath observers who would
refrain from work on that day are
penalized, the number OF Synago-
CUES permitted to be open is ridi-
culously small, facilities for the
observance of kashrut are rarely
made available by a government
which controls everything and
everybody. One rabbinical Semin-
ary for the whole country, located
in Moscow, has a bare dozen stu
dents.
AND, WORST tragedy of all,
Jews in Soviet Russia are in no
position at all to fight for at least
the same rights that are granted
to other groups in Mr.. Khrush-
chev's utopia. Jewish organizations
in the democratic countries have
protested, have asked that the Situ-
alton OF their brethren In RUSSIA De
ameliorated, but as yet have had
Scant success.
But even if the Jews in Russia
are more Disseminated against
than are other nationalities and
religions, this discrimination is
nevertheless part of the general
picture of the denial of freedom OF
conscience which Russia's brutal
tyranny has presented to the world
for the past four decades. There
is no real freedom Of belief in Rus
sia or in any of the other Com
munist countries where people live
in fear of expressing their honest
thoughts.
The latest spectacle which Rus
sia has presented to the world
when it denounced its own writer,
Boris Pasternak, whose novel 1t
refused to publish and who received
the Nobel Prize for literature, Is
one of those spiritual horrors: hor-
rors which stem from the complete
denial of freedom of conscience;
horrors to which free men cannot
accuStom themselves.
OTTTSVnE THE Communist lands,