1111111111111•111115-D!G!T 02906 2239 11/30/96 ~* 25 R.I~ JEWISH HISTORICAL ASSOCIA 130 SESSIONS ST. PROVIDENCE RI 02906 Rhode I_ 1s1-and-Jewi-Sh Remarkable Jews HERALD PAGES 12 & 13 The Only English-Jewish Weekly in Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts VOLUME LXV, NUMBER 52 CHESHVAN 23, 5756 / THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1995 35,PERCOPY Rabin Assassin Fits the Profile by Jacob Schreiber death of a man wh~ dared trade JERUSALEM (JTA) - For parts of the Holy Land for peace? weeks, Israel's security services Even Amir's friends are per­ had been warning that the prime plexed by his actions. minister or another high-rank­ "He was a wonderful per­ ing government official might be son," Avner Goldshmid t, a per­ the target of a political assassin. sonal friend, told reporters. "I According to media reports, don' t understand how he could the profile they provided of the do this. I'm stunned." potential assailant was that of "Yigal was quite, sensitive an unassuming, right-wing, re­ and very smart," said Yaron ligious, Israeli Jew. Yehoshua, a fellow student at Yigal Amir, the law student Bar-Ilan who grew up near from Bar-Ilan University who Amir. "We would have some confessed to shooting Prime political arguments, but the Minister Yitzhak Rabin Nov. 4, never seemed radical." fit the profile exactly. But, according to police re­ So how did Rabin's security ports of statements given them agents allow an assassin to get by Amir, he was patient - and near their charge? calculating. Apartfromanapparentlapse Amir reportedly surprised in the security forces' vigilance his interrogators by telling them - which will be the subject of that his decision to assassinate Placing With Pumpkins an official investiga lion - most the prime minister was made Students at the Wheeler School had a pumpkin decorating contest recently. There was only Israelis did not really expect nearly a year ago when, as he one rule-each entry had to depict a character from a favorite story. Samantha Cohen, left, came someone who 'dressed and reportedly said, "G-d told me" in first place in the 3rd grade division for her pumpkin from Charlie and the Chocolate Facton;. Katie looked like an average Israeli to to kill Rabin. Schwartz took second place in the 4th-5th grade division with her pumpkin from Charlotte's kill the prime minister. Foreign Minister Shimon Web. Samantha is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Mark Cohen of Pawtucket and Katie is the Israel's first alleged political Peres, he reportedly admitted, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Schwartz of Providence. Photos courtesy of the Wheeler School assassin was raised in a reli­ was No. 2 on his hit list. gious home in a middle-class He waited for the right op­ neighborhood in Herzliya, just portunity to strike, according to Amir attended an Agudat studied Talmud and other Jew­ Rabin was compared to a Nazi north of Tel Aviv, served in the the police. Yisrael religious elementary ish disciplines in a Yeshiva at­ and was called a murderer and army and was educated in an Foiled _la st January when school before moving on to a mosphere in the mornings, and traitor - rhetoric that has be­ elite track of the country's reli­ Rabin canceled a visit to the Yad state religious high school. law and computers in the after­ come increasingly frequent in gious Zionist system. Vashem Holocaust Memorial in He then opted to enroll in a noons. extreme right-wing circles in Questions that baffle Israelis Jerusalem, Amir said he again Hesder Yeshiva near Ashdod, Bar-Ilan officials said Amir recent months. include how such a young man stalked the prime minister at where his rabbis called him a was a good student who never But Amir's anti-Rabin activ­ came to commit, as he himself the opening of a highway inter­ gifted and friendly student. H e got into trouble. ism was considered to possess reportedly confessed to police, change during the summer. He also served in the Israel Defense A bodyguard wounded dur­ neither bark nor bite, according what is arguably the most hei­ aborted that attempt, he said, Force's elite Golani Brigade. ing the assassination is a sec­ to those who knew him. nous act ever perpetrated by an because security was too tight. After being discharged from ond-year student at Bar-Ilan. "Amir always stood in the Israeli against his people? The murderer was born into the army, Amir was sent by the Amir reportedly attended back at rallies," an unnamed And how does one explain a warm, religious Yemenite fam'­ government to Russia to teach Shabbat group activities at Jew­ friend reportedly said. "No one Arrtir's statement to a Tel Aviv ily. He was the second of eight Hebrew and Judaism, as part of a ish settlements in the West Bank ever dreamed he would come judge at his custody hearing that children. His mother, Geula, is program for Hesder graduates. and right-wing rallies during the to this." he had no remorse for his crime a kindergarten teacher; his fa­ He then enrolled in a presti­ past year. But in recent months Amir and that he could not understand ther, Shlomo, a scribe known gious "kollel" program at Bar­ Two weeks ago, he report­ reportedly became open about why anyone ;yas upset over the for his religious piety. Han University, in which he edly attended a rally where (Continued on Page 24) Why Didn't Holocaust Hit Front Pages? Jazz Group to Perform by Gary Rosenblatt For example, The New York for the true enormity of the situ­ at 'Show of Hands' New York Jewish Week Times reported in 1942 that 1 ation to emerge; Jazz will be part of the entertainment wh~n "A Show of Hands," NEW YORK (JT A) - One of million Jews had been killed by • The American focus and the annual artisans crafts fair held at tl1e Jewish Community Center the more disturbing findings of the Nazis. But the story ap­ emphasis on winning the war at 401 Elmgrove Ave., celebrates its 20th anniversary on Nov. 19. a three-day academic conference peared on an inside page and rather than saving Jews, which The R.L Youth Jazz Ensemble Junior Division from The Music here on "Journalism and the was given little prominence. contributed to the seeming in­ School will provide musical entertainment on Nov. 19 from 1 to Holocaust, 1933-1945," was that In his keynote address at a difference in Washington. 1:30 p.m. many of the facts of Hitler's de­ conference at Yeshiva Univer­ • Anti-Semitism was a sig­ The ensemble which consists of seventh, eighth and ninth struction of European Jewry sity Marvin Kalb discussed the nificant factor in America at that graders from all over the state plays Big Band jazz and will perform were reported at the time in the marginal coverage of the Holo­ time; under the direction of Wendy Klein. European and American press. caust in American papers. • Many Americans could not The memJjers of the ensemble are: Sharis Ahmend, Jess Decelles, Contrary to some views, the He offered five basic reasons believe what they were hearing Ami Hersh, Eitan Hersh, Gianni Ianero, Corinna Klibanoff, Fred problem was not that the facts for this "insensitive" coverage: about the Nazi atrocities and in Patinaude, Ben Reed,Justin Raich, Brian Robertson, Ben Rotenberg, were repressed, but that their • The Nazis' control of the fairness, as late as 1944, many Tammy Sousa, and Cynthia Taylor and Michael Furman on the publication spurred little action, foreign press in Germany and European Jews did not believe piano. or ever, interest, among readers. their use of highly stylized lan­ such reports either; The fair, which features jewelry, ceramics, wearable fiber, glass, In addition, the coverage guage - such as labor camps • Journalists tended to be toys, leather, wood itemsandjudaica made by artisans all overt he never dominated the press in and resettlement programs, more comfortable following country, wil be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and include children's keeping with the magnitude of which contributed to the "un­ rather than taking the lead on a activities and entertainment. the tragedy. conscionably long time" it took (Continued on Page 24) For more information, call Evy Rappoport 861-8800. 2 - THE RHODE ISLAND JEWISH HERALD, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1995 INSIDE THE OCEAN STATE Park Zoo Announces Federal, RI Memorial Sponsors Lecture Winter Lecture Series Tax Workshop on Emotional Eating - ltistimeonceagainforRoger and crustaceans in the Planned Memorial Hospital of Rhode provide participants with tech­ Williams Park Zoo's Winter Lec­ NarragansettBayonJan.21 with The U.S. Small Business Ad­ Island will sponsor a program niques for feeding the heart and ture Series. "The Magnificence of Narra­ ministration, is co-sponsoring on emotional eating as part of soul and providing the emotional The 1996 lecture series is gansett Bay," by H. Perry an annual federal and state.tax its Fall Nutrition Lecture Series. nourishment necessary to prevent sponsored by the Zoo Docent Jeffries, Ph.D., of URI. workshop on Dec. 1 at the On Nov. 20, from 6:30 to 8 the emotional eating cycle. Council and is held on Sunday's Find out what winter is like SheratonTaraHotelinWarwick. p.m., a program entitled "Emo­ Memorial Hospital nutrition­ from 1 to 2 p.m. during January for the animals and visitors at In cooperation with SCORE tional Eating: Breaking the ist Lyn Schwartz, M.S., R. D., will and February, in the Sophie the zoo on Jan.