FROM OUR ARCHIVES

50 YEARS AGO

January 10, 1968

Ashkenazi chief rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman declared his opposition to any attempt to “legislate” a uniform liturgy for Orthodox worship. Addressing the first plenary session of the World Conference of Ashkenazi and Sephardi Synagogues at Heichal Shlomo in Jerusalem, Unterman expressed the belief that such a liturgy would develop “naturally” in the course of time. He also called for less music and cantorial recital in synagogues, and for more decorum. The chief rabbi of the British Commonwealth, Dr. Immanuel Jakobovits, told the delegates that Orthodoxy “must learn that in this democratic age, our convictions can prevail only by persuasion, not by authority or legislation,” only by winning over dissidents, not by coercing or ostracizing them. Dr. Zerah Warhaftig, the religious affairs minister, called on delegates to oblige their synagogues to recite the prayer for the welfare of the State of Israel, in addition to the prayer for the welfare of their own countries, at every Shabbat and festival morning service, and to celebrate Israel’s Independence Day in the synagogues.

25 YEARS AGO

January 10, 1993

Prime minister Yitzhak Rabin agreed to allow Red Cross officials to make a second visit to the deportees’ tent camp in southern Lebanon and bring back nine deportees who had been expelled by mistake.

Plans by El Al to fly to Australia were being hindered by the airline’s insistence it be allowed to use its own armed security force. The Australian government did not allow foreign security forces to operate on Australian soil. El Al’s security precautions included individual baggage searches, dedicated airport check-in points, and special aircraft parking positions.

About a dozen Syrian Jews were allowed to go to the US in recent weeks, but Damascus was still considered to be holding the remaining members of the Jewish community “hostage,” diplomatic sources said. Officially, Syria continued to contend that “technical hitches” had held up the departure of the remaining Jews who wanted to leave, the sources said.

10 YEARS AGO

January 10, 2008

Supreme Court justice Mishael Cheshin, in his role as chairman of the Central Elections Committee, stopped live coverage of a press conference by prime minister Ariel Sharon in mid-sentence, maintaining the prime minister was violating the law since his remarks constituted election propaganda. Sharon angrily dismissed as “despicable libel” allegations about his involvement in corruption that had dealt a major blow to his Likud party in the polls. But Sharon’s rebuttal against allegations was dramatically overshadowed when Cheshin ordered all radio and television stations to cease broadcasting the press conference live, ruling that Sharon’s criticism of Labor contravened the law forbidding public media from broadcasting election propaganda. Sharon had promised to prove that the leak regarding suspicions of wrongdoing by him and his two sons, Omri and Gilad, was “a political plot” and that he would “prove the allegations false with documents and facts.” But the opening minutes of his prepared statement was a diatribe aimed at the Labor Party and its leader, Amram Mitzna, whom he accused of being corrupt himself and of doing nothing to halt corruption in his party. In response, the Central Elections Committee decided to reduce Likud broadcast advertising time.