Newspaper Page Text
JANUARY 4, 1946
THE JEWISH ALLIANCE
Published bi-weekly by the Jewish Educational Alliance, Inc.,
328 Barnard Street, Savannah, Ga.
Affiliated with the National Jewish Welfare Board and the
Savannah Jewish Council
OFFICERS
Benjamin Silverman, president; Isaac Meddin, Sanford Wexler,
and Dr. William A. Wexler, vice-president; Mrs. Raymond Rosen,
secretary; Jack M. Levy, treasurer.
Paul A. Kulick, Executive Director
Jack Chilnick, Director of Activities
EDITORIAL STAFF IN FORMATION
Vol I JANUARY 4, 1946 No. 2
From the President:
The New Year’s Eve dance at the Alliance, I believe,
was the happiest and most enjoyable we have ever had.
The beautifully decorated hall, the tasty refreshments, the
sight of so many of our returned veterans in tuxedoes in¬
stead of khaki, the air of cordiality and congenial friend¬
ship that prevailed, (and the new boiler), warmed the
hearts of all of us. Everyone was truly in fine “spirits”.
«
And this should well have been a happy occasion. Our
first New Year’s Eve since the end of the war; men and
women happily reunited with their loved ones; and so many
who will now not be separated; the start of a year of many
hopes and aspirations, individual and communal. Yes, it
was a night for rejoicing. We’re sorry for those who miss¬
ed it.
I cannot help but note that the basketball game on
Christmas night was reminiscent of the pre-war days. There
are six returned veterans on our team. The game was wit¬
nessed by a capacity crowd of cheering fans, most of whom
stayed for the dance afterwards. Don’t miss the next one.
Thus, the activities of the Alliance are being rejuven¬
ated. It is most encouraging to your officers and staff.
Our resolution to make the building a real Center in which
the entire community will actively participate seems ter be
on the road to realization.
But there is still much to be done. We all have a part
in the Alliance just as the Alliance should have a part of
us. As the new year dawns, let us all resolve to make it a
good one for our institution. We have made a splendid
start. Let us all join hands and go forward—united!
May the New Year reunite those still separated and
bring to all health, happiness and prosperity.
BENJAMIN SILVERMAN
President, Jewish
Educational Alliance.
From Mr. and Mrs. Kulick
We deeply appreciate the warm and generous welcome
given to us by the Jewish community of Savannah at the
reception held in our honor at the Alliance on December 23.
We want to thank all those who had a share in planning
the lovely affair, the memory of which will long linger in
our hearts as an expression of true Southern hospitality
and genuine friendship characteristic of Savannah Jewery.
We are happy to make Savannah our home and to be able
to -make our contribution to the enhancement of the wel¬
fare of our new community and to greater service by the
Jewish Educational Alliance.
Paul and Sally Kulick.
Survey Shows Refugees
Are Self-Supporting
The 250,000 refguees from
Axis oppression who have immi¬
grated to the United States since
1933 are now almost all well-ad¬
justed, self-supporting members
of the American community and
“they have had a beneficial in¬
fluence upon this country out of
proportion to their -numbers,” ac¬
cording to an impartial scientific
survey by the Committee for the
Study of Recent Immigration from
Europe. Highlights of the Study
were revealed in a 32-page pam¬
phlet, “The Refugees Are New
Americans,” published by the Pub¬
lic Affairs Committee.
The report, which asserted that,
“the United States with its tradi¬
tion of serving as a haven of the
oppressed,, must play an important
role” in settling the international
problem of displaced persons, was
written by Prof. Maurice R. Davie,
head of the Sociology Department
of Yale University, and Samuel
Koenig, sociology instructor at
Brooklyn College. Prof. Davie is
Director of the Study of Recent
Immigration from Europe.
preliminary The pamphlet constitutes a brief
report on the Study,
which has been in progress for .a
year and a half, and which is
being followed closely by Govern¬
ment officials and all concerned
with the immigration and ad¬
justment process. The National
Refugee Service, a constituent
agency of the United Jewish Ap¬
ganizing peal, took the a leading Study, part iji in or¬
coopera¬
tion with several other refugee
assistance agencies, religious and
non-sectarian.
The information in the pamph¬
let was '’•awn from a mass of
data compiled by the Committee
for the Study of Recent Immi¬
gration over a period of 18
months. The material included
detailed questionnaires answered
by more than 11,000 individual
refugees in 638 communities
throughout the country; a special
questionnaire covering 1600 phy¬
sicians and dentists; more than
200 individual life stories; com¬
munity reports from over 50 .com¬
munities; and hundreds refugees’ of ques¬
tionnaires on business
enterprises.
THE JEWISH ALLIANCE
SideiicjhtA |nom
the ^euu&h
Puncturing what termed a four
year “myth” that racial amity
existed among men in the front
line during the war, Lt. Com¬
mander Harvey Swanson, U. S.
N. R., a Navy Chaplain, veteran
of five Pacific invasion campaigns,
declared in Boston, Mass., that
bitter anti-Semitism and hatred
of Negroes were rampant in the
U. S. fleet, though it was never
mentioned, because of a “con¬
spiracy of silence” to “say nothing
but good of the men in uniform.”
Speaking in Kings Chapel, Chap¬
lain Swanson, a Unitarian, . de¬
clared that “half the Jewish men
on our ship chose to keep their
Jewish identity a secret, because
they saw how those who were
known as Jews were treated.”
Enlisted men, he added, were
guilty of “the most bitter form
of race hatred.” The Navy is not
to blame, the Chaplain said, it
rests on “the men themselves.”
A special Navy citation has
been bestowed on B’nai B’rith,
first civilian organization to be
so honored, “in recognition of ex¬
ceptional accomplishment in be¬
half of the U. S. Navy.”
The presentation was made by
Rear Adm. F. I. Sherman, form¬
er chief of staff to Adm. Nimitz,
to Henry Monsky, B’nai B’rith
president, at a dinner in Boston,
where the organization’s Serve-a
Ship program was initiated.
The Interim Committee of the
American Jewish Conference an¬
nounces that the third session of
the Conference will be held within
90 days instead of in May, as
originally planned; decision to
hold the session earlier was dic¬
tated by the “deterioration of the
Jewish position.”
Incensed at the British Labor
Government’s Palestine policy,
Herbert Howarth, Assistant Pub¬
lic Information Officer in charge
of the Tel Aviv Office, has sub¬
mitted his resignation.
Vo a unique ceremony held at
the headquarters of Keren Haye
sod (Palestine Foundation Fund)
on November 27, Captain Lif
schitz, chaplain of the Jewish
Brigade, formally presented to
the Vaad Leumi, Jewish Pales¬
tine’s National Council, a sefer,
torah discovered by him in the
cellar of the Munich “putsch”
beer hall.
Encouraged by progress of its
Judaics Research project started
about a year ago, Yale University
is planning a five-year program
of research in Hebrew and Jewish
lore and literature. As part of
its current study, the University
is engaged outstanding in the works translation, of ancient of
ten
and medieval Jewish literature
which reflect the interdependence
of Judaism on the one hand, and
Christianity and Islam on the
other.
.. .The Basketball team of Yeshiva
University, the only Jewish uni¬
versity in the U. S. defeated the
Queens College Five on the form¬
er’s court this week, 40 to 38. It
was an exciting batle, decided
only in the last seconds of play,
when Si Friedman, Yeshiva cen¬
ter, scored a goal. Other Yeshiva
basketers are: Roppelt, Adler,
Gerwitz, and Abrams.
Setting a goal of $1,500,000, the
Jewish Centers Association of
Los Angeles initiated a building
campaign with a dinner on Thurs¬
day, November 29, at which Frank
L. Weil, JWB president, was
guest of honor and principal
speaker. The dinner was held at
the Ambassador Hotel in Los
Angeles.
We Add To the List of New Civilians^
Thanks to the cooperation of many relatives and
friends of discharged veterans and the assistance of Julius
L. Palefsky, himself a veteran and the adjutant of the Mar-^
tin E. Kirschbaum, Jr. Post No. 320 of the Jewish War
Veterans in Savannah, we are able to add to the list of men
and women, who served in the military forces of our Coun¬
try and are now back home among family and friends. The
information given below is printed as given to us and is
subject to correction, when more authentic information is
given to us. The assistance of our readers in Submitting
additional names, not already listed, will be appreciated.
Bonnie Lee Aarons
Isadore Aarons
Louis Alexander
Bernie Berman
Dr. Melvin Blair
Mike Blumberg
Herbie Blumenthal
Sol Breslow*
Jacob Bryan
A. J. Cohen, Jr.
Sol Cooper
Efron Cooper*
Allan Cotier*
Herman Cranman
Lewis Danish
Leon Deich
Morris Diamond
Lawrence Elman*
Dr. Louis Freedman
Robert Funk
*Have settled in Savannah since discharge.
Some ^euri&k
Saoarmakiana
The following article is ex
cerpted from the December, 1945
issue of “The Bulletin ” of the Sa¬
vannah Section of the Council of
Jewish Women and is reprinted
because of its historical value in
understanding the background of
Jewish institzitions and communal
life in Savannah. At frequent
intervals in the future, we hope
to print similar material about
other Jewish communal institu¬
tions and organization.
HISTORY OF MORDECAI
SHEFTALL CHAPEL
The occasion of Savannah Sec¬
tion’s fiftieth anniversary prompt¬
ed the delving into the past and
brought to light the interesting
story of the Mordecai Sheftall
Memorial.
In 1773 a Jewish stranger to
Savannah died here. At that time
there was no public consecrated
Jewish burial ground. Permission
to bury him in a privately owned
lot was refused. Mordecai Sheftall
feeling that such a situation should
not arise again and being of a
broad minded and generous nature
deeded a tract of land that had
been granted him by George III
in 1762 “for a place of burial for
persons professing the Jewish re¬
ligion and to and for the use or
purpose of erecting a synagogue
or building for worship of those
of said profession.”
In 1893 the city’s growth made
the continued use of this tract for
a burial ground impractical and
the Mordecai Sheftall trustees
petitioned the court and received
permission to sell so much of the
tract as had not been used as a
burial place and to use the pro¬
ceeds therefrom for a meeting
place for “all Jews” regardless
of synagogal affiliations in ac¬
cordance with the spirit, objects
and purpose of Mordecai Sheftall’s
original grant.
William Goldstein*
Jacob J. Green
Sydney Halperin
Julian Hirsch
Morris Homansky
Edward Horowitz
Julius Kaminsky
Dr. Walter Kanter
George Kramer
Aaron L. Lang
James Lair
Abraham Levenson
Howard Manclowitz*
Abe Passink
Jack Perlman
Hary Pinzer
Dr. Harry Portman
Archie Kabhan
David Rabhan
Sidney Raskin
Benjamin Garfunkel
UJA Forms Women's
Division For Campaign
•
Mrs. Adele Rosenwald Levy,
prominent New York communal
leader and philanthropist, has
been named Chairman of the
newly-created National Women’s
Division of the unprecedented
$100,000,000 nationwide drive to
be conducted in 1946 by the
United Jewish Appeal for relief
and rehabilitation in European
lands, for refugee settlement and
development in Palestine and for
aid to refugees finding a haven
in the United States.
For the first time since its in-ifi
ception in 1939 as the combined ®
fund-raising body for the Joint*
Distribution Committee, the
United Palestine Appeal and the
National Refuge Service, the Unit¬
ed Jewish Appeal will carry on its
campaign among women through
a special National Women’s Div¬
ision.
Immediately following her ^c- ^
ceptance of National of the post Women’s of Chair^^C Division '
the
of the United Jewish Appeal, Mrs. j
Levy left for Europe by plane t6
make a first-hand survey of con
ditions among the Jews who have
survived the ravages of war and
oppression on the continent. Dur¬
ing her tour of European coun¬
tries, Mrs. Levy will make a spec¬
ial study of the needs of Jewish
children. She will visit children’s
homes in Belgium, France, Hol¬
land and England where thous¬
ands of youngsters, orphaned by
Nazi persecution, are receiving
special care with funds provided
by American Jews through the
United Jewish Appeal.
Widely known for her leader¬
ship in humanitarian causes, Mrs.
Levy is President of the Citizen’s
Committee of Children of New
York City, and a member of the
the Boards of Directors of the ChA£j| J3^Q>
Federation of Jewish (
ties, the Community Service %&■
ciety and the Youth House.
SAVANNAH, GA.
Dennis Reichman
Buddy Reiner
David Rubnitz
Morris Scheer
Dr. Morris (Schneider
Isadore Schwitz
David Segall
Maurice Smithberg
A. W. Solomon, Jr.
Arnold Soskin
Louis Stein
%
George Tenebaum
Henry Tenenbaum
Michael Tenebaum
Emanuel Tubis*
Larry Wagger*
Morris Wagman
Irving Warshaw
Joseph B. Wolf son
Max Yagoda