Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

The Southern Israelite t)w Executive Offices: 161 Spring St., N. W. Published In Atlanta Monthly by THE SOUTHERN NEWSPAPERS ENTERPRISES, Inc., M. STEPHEN SCHIFFER, Managing Editor Subscription Rates: 15 Cents Single Copy, $1.50 Per Year In Advance. Entered as second class matter at the Postoffice at Atlanta, Ga., under the Act of March 3rd, 1879. All communications for publication should reach this office not later than 1st and 15th of each month. The Southern Israelite Invites correspondence and literary contributions, but the Editor is not to be considered as sharing the views expressed by the writers except those enunciated in the Editorial columns. minds. If the Bible were written in present day prose form i n modern English, then there would be no need for comment. The passages would read like the exciting adventures of the Arabian Nights, and the children would really derive meaning from what is read to them. But the Bible is, naturally, not written in modern style, and the immature minds of children in school are not capable of grasping the meaning of Biblical passages which are read off to them without comment and without interpretation. To read the Bible without comment to the children of the public schools i s to waste time which could be used to some good advantage in other fields. Conversion and the Jews Missionaries activities against the Jews in America have be come more pronounced in recent years than ever before. An effort to stop these activities was made within the past few weeks by a sincere rabbi of New York, but his efforts were fruitless. Dr. Israel Goldstein appeared before the Home Mission Coun cil of the Presbyterian church at their annual conference in Atlantic City and urged, in behalf of peace, fair play, American freedom and interdenominational good-will, that all missionary propaganda to alienate Jews from the faith of their fathers be stopped. The Christian leaders lent their ears to Dr. Goldstein’s plea, but rejected the insinuation that they were trying to convert Jewish children without the consent of their parents, denied the charge that they sought converts through baits and bribes, repu diated the idea that they were antagonistic to religious freedom in American life. Dr. Goldstein no doubt meant well, but it was a mistake to urge Christian leaders to desist from one of the most fundamental duties of the Christian church. The only way to prevent conver sion among the Jews is to arouse in the Jewish people the con sciousness of a glorious past, a wonderful present and a greater future for our religion. The Jewish people must have before them a clear impression of the beauty and serviceableness of their re ligion, so that no other creed, no matter how attractive, can tempt them away from Judaism. When we beg Christians to desist from missionary activities, we are confessing our own weaknesses and fears, thus giving them cause to redouble their energies and reorganize their campaigns to bring about the greatest measure of success in converting our people. The number of people who are actually converted to the Christian religion is indeed small, so there is no reason for us to make a confession that will display weakness on our part. Only the ignorant Jews, without courage and without truth, are the ones who can be swerved from the Jewish religion, and it is because of them that wide publicity should be given to the missionary activities that are carried on by the Christian sects. When our people are well informed on Jewish religious principles and thoroughly disciplined in habits of self-control, kindness and morality, we have nothing to fear from missionaries, even though they have huge sums of money at their command and an organiza tion that is mechanically perfect. We will not criticize the honest missionaries for their effort to convert us, for their effort is sincere, and they believe that it is the command of their Savior to win all the people of the earth to their religion. However, we shall resist their efforts, for the Jew ish spirit has endured for thousands of years, and we believe that the Jewish heritage will be carried on through the generations to come. Current Philanthropy America is a land in which the wealthy seem to acquire a spirit of responsibility for the proper distribution of their funds Bequests, donations, foundations are events of daily occurrence and the value of the type of citizen which they represent is often lost sight of in their frequency. We have witnessed at least three cases of this kind. Largest in amount is the gift of $1,000,000 by former Congressman Lucius M. Littauer, of Gloversville, N. Y. The purposes of this are research in cancer and pneumonia, promotion of Jewish communal activities and studies in Hebrew, the welfare of mankind and better understanding. This is not the first of Mr. Littauer’s bene factions. They have been numerous and for both scientific and social purposes. In Pittsburgh, Mr. A. C. Lehman has given the Carnegie Institute the wherewithal to award a prize of a maximum of $12,000 for the best painting at its annual exhibition. This is said to be the largest sum ever offered in the art world. It consists of a prize of $2,000 and a maximum purchase price of $10,000 for the painting selected. A former Philadelphian, Dr. Frank Alfred Golder, professor of history in Stanford University until his recent death, has bequeathed his entire estate to a trust fund for the orphan children of college professors. Dr. Golder was an outstanding authority on Russian history and the Russian people. He had also been asso ciated with President*. • Herbert Hoover in relief work during and after the World War. In viewing these three gifts, perhaps the fact that will strike the reader as most obvious is that they were given by Jews. This is very gratifying. It must not, however, be forgotten that what credit is due, is due to the person making the gift and that none of his co-religionists have any sanction for personal pride, unless they, themselves, have been worthy to a proportionate degree. There is this to be said, however. Every general law is composed of a large number of detailed occurrences. The greater the num ber of individual Jews who are of benefit to the world, the more the world will find that it lacks justification for intolerance or prejudice.—Rochester Jewish Ledger. Benjamin Spigel From time to time a community is called upon to face the loss of one or more of its respected citizens. There is a period of heartache and general mourning, and for a while the loss is keenly felt. But time, the great heal er, gradually assuages the intensity of the loss; the threads of communal life are slowly wrought together at the point where they were severed, and others learn to perform the com munal tasks which the departed had been wont to perform. the heart. He was, indeed, a lay- minister whose heart and hearth were ever open for the needy, and now that he is gone, many will be com pelled to harbor their inner sorrows without help from him and to solve their problems without the broad vi sion that came from him. They can go to no one else—truly, his place can not be filled. Benjamin Spigel was not only Nor folk’s finest Jew and citizen; he was Compulsory Bible Reading We fail to see what possible benefit can be derived from compulsory Bible reading in the public schools. Georgia already has a law demanding this, as well as have the majority of states in this part of the country. For what purpose? Supposedly to ac quaint the public school children with the Book of Books. It is a part of the Georgia law that this reading is to be done without comment. That is where the hitch comes in. If certain passages of the Bible could be read with comment, then perhaps the children would gain an understanding of the Book which underlies all religions, and the law would then be worthwhile. But the law emphatically states: “without comment”. This means that several times a week children must sit at their desks in the schoolroom and listen to reading matter that registers absolutely nil to their But in the loss of Benjamin Spigel, of Norfolk, whose sudden demise plunged our whole community into profound grief, there is something ir reparable. His going has produced a void which can not be filled, and the passage of time, far from bringing forgetfulness, will make us realize all the more that his place can not be taken by any other citizen of Nor folk. To him came the orphan and the widow, the sorrowful and the op pressed, the ill and the troubled, for aid in their perplexing problems. To him came Jew and Gentile, big and little, for the sort of help that comes not only from the purse but also from man what the rainbow is to the cloud- filled sky. He was an ambassador of hope and an apostle of human love. He lived Hillel’s Golden Rule in the truest sense of the word. Born in December 1878, his too-brief life was dedicated to the welfare of his fellow- man. His acts of service are too nu merous to detail, and though he wa* affiliated with a score of fraternal and civic orders, it may be said ol Benjamin Spigel that he fitted in best with that broader order whose consti tution is the love of God and whose purpose is the service of man. —Rabbi Alex. Alan Steinbach, Beth El Temple, Norfolk, Va.