The Mail JEWISH PAINTERS' HELPERS

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

Michael Kinsley's article of January 23, "Support the Supercouncil," asks if we "will ever see Hillel's Jay Rothstein and SDS's Cheney Ryan together on the bottom of a leaflet...." That, of course, will depend on a number of things: the issue involved. SDS's willingness to cooperate with Hillel, and the will of the Hillel membership. Last year during the strike, for example, H-R Hillel supported many of the things that SDS and many other groups did: "... no contractual agreements or informal arrangements with the Department of Defense concerning ROTC.....; establishment of the Afro-American Studies Department with a meaningful concentration program...; refrain[ing] from evicting any tenants for expansion plans until an advisory committee has made full investigation ... of housing difficulties [from the resolutions of the Executive Board, April 16]." This fall, we too supported the Moratoria. Last March, however, when Hillel organized a coalition for Biafran relief work consisting of Afro, the Christian Fellowship, Hillel, PBH, the YD's, and the YPSL, we invited SDS to send a representative, but for all of SDS's concern for human life, the co-chairman could not find one member who was interested enough to show up. (Incidentally, Hillel is still working on Biafra relief and needs the help of anyone who has time. Call Steve Langberg, at 547-5727.) Lastly, without the approval of the Executive Board, no officer will sign a letter or leaflet, with Cheney Ryan or anyone else, in other than a personal capacity.

One more thing, in response to Mr. Kinsley's inquiry about Jewish painters' helpers-there are unfortunately Jewish "painters' helpers" as well as black ones. They are languishing in the labor camps of Siberia and the jails of Egypt, and they are dying on the borders of Israel, because they want what the blacks in this country and what all peoples everywhere want-the right to live in dignity as human beings, on their own terms, not on anybody else's. I would hope that SDS, as well as other organizations, will support us in seeking that right, but I know that SDS is not likely to do so. Too many of its Jewish, members are self-hating Jews who are trying to pass, Jews whose attitudes towards their own people make their support of the blacks inconsistent at best and at worst hypocritical.