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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! 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