Newspaper Page Text
Page 16
The Southern Israelite
Random Thoughts
By CHARLES II. JOSEPH
Copyrighted
Rather a nice present Rabbi Stephen
Wise received on his 55th birthday.
Easy to remember the Doctor’s birth
day because he was born on St. Pat
rick’s Day. And if you are not well
versed in Irish lore, March 17 is
the date. Just before the services
in the Free Synagogue in New York,
Charles E. Illoch, the President, an
nounced that negotiations had just
been closed for the acquisition of the
site for the future Synagogue Home.
The plot involves an area of over
thirty thousand square feet and is lo
cated on G4th and 65th streets. It will
have an auditorium seating more than
2,000 and over the auditorium will be
the Religious School Department, the
Social Service Department, Men’s
Club, Women’s Organization, the
Junior League (I don’t like that name,
sounds too much like the larger snob
organization among the nation’s blue
stockings). The property costs about
a million and the building will cost
another million and will be completed
if all plans work out as intended by
19112. The Free Synagogue was estab
lished in April, 1907, and it certainly
has made itself felt, through its
Rabbi, throughout the nation, both in
the world of Jewry and non-Jewry.
I congratulate Dr. Wise on having
achieved so much and still half of his
life yet to go.
Well, I don’t know what to say in
answer to the gentleman who writes
me from Chicago, asking whether I
think the name “Jack” sounds better
than Jacob. If a man doesnt like Jake
and prefers Jack, I don’t see that that
makes it much a matter for the
league of Nations to bother about. It
merely shows that some of us do grow
restive under the Jewish yoke. Jacob
H. SchifT managed to get along very
nicely without changing his name and
when old James J. Hill, the great rail
road builder of the northwest, used to
call around to see Mr. SehilT at the
Kuhn Loeb offices, he always called
him “Jacob” and I imagine that
sounded as well as Jack. The name
“Jacob” has quite a historical back
ground, even better than the May
Money Cannot
Buy Better Refrigeration
Than You Get From
ICE
In A Good Refrigerator
An Ice Refrigerator has free air circulation. The air
is washed and purified hundreds of times a day by
the melted Ice, picking up germs and odors and
carrying them outside of the refrigerator through
the drain pipe. That is why food in an Ice Refriger
ator remains sweet and wholesome, retaining its
nutrition and natural flavor, and does not dry out.
Georgia Ice Company
Phone 8158
flower. Of course it is Jewish, but then
we are Jews, you know.
The Zeta Beta Tau has again in
vited me to serve on the committee to
select the person who has done most
for Judaism in this country in the
year 1928. They will award to the per
son chosen, the Gottheil Medal, struck
in honor of Prof. Richard Gottheil.
This medal will be presented at a din
ner to be held in New York in May.
Last year Aaron Sapiro was given the
honor; the year before, David A.
Brown and the first year, Rabbi Steph
en Wise. Confidentially, I have already
voted for a man that I think deserves
it without competition. But mum’s the
word. In the meantime, the Z B T gets
a lot of free and quite worth-while ad
vertising and gives it an edge over the
other fraternities. I think it rather a
nice thing to do and while I don’t be
lieve it makes anyone work harder to
achieve something unusual for Jewry,
yet it is after all, recognition of
worthy service. If you were on the
Committee for whom would you vote?
I am interested to know. Even if your
choice isn’t the Committee’s choice, I
would like to publish the names and
say a word about your selection.
They were going to hold the Ameri
can Jewish Congress in Atlantic City
on Sunday, March 31st, which, of
course, was Easter, which seemed to
me to be rather an inconvenient day to
choose for such a gathering. The Com
mittee apparently thought the same
thing after consulting the calendar
and postponed the Congress until
May.
I still don’t know how I came to
make the mistake. Anyway, some kind
friend in Providence, Rhode Island
corrected me. It’s rather a good letter
and should be included in this CQ \
umn:
“Dear Mr. Joseph:
“May Providence deal leniently
with you. In your article pub
lished in the Jewish Advocate of
Boston, relative to the sermon de
livered by Dr. Faunce of Brown
University, on the auspicious oc
casion of the Goodwill Union
gathering, you have unceremoni
ously dispossessed Rabbi Samuel
M. Gup and removed Temple
Beth-El from Providence to
Cleveland, Ohio.
“I attended the love feast in
question and have since come to
the conclusion that while such a
Union is a step in the right direc
tion, we Jews are sorely in need of
one amongst ourselves first.
“I understand that the objec
tion to a Jewish Fraternity at
Brown University is based on the
ground that it would be sectarian.
“If you can figure out the logic
of this argument I'll ask you an
other.”
I apologize. Just a matter of old age
creeping on me. If you could see me,
dear reader, a decrepit old man, pain
fully moving his rheumatic joints from
place to place (of course, I mean mov
ing my entire body, not just transpos
ing the joints), you would wonder
that I don’t move more rabbis about.
Maybe some congregations would
thank me if I did. But I am not re
ferring to anyone in particular. But
» -HI yn«' u 1)1 nil If ^.1 ^.1 ^l» IU»' ^_I
FURNITURE OF
QUALITY
Interior Decorators
YES!
We Retail Lumber
All Kinds
Cabinets, Frames, Screens
Largest Stock Finest Quality
Quickest Delivery
Savannah River Lumber Co.
VALE ROYAL MILL
Dial 32X43