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8 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE Women and Their Leisure By MRS. LEONARD HAAS On the day when this house of wor ship was dedicated and Rabbis from all over the country were compliment ing us on. its beauty, I could not help but realize that we could only enjoy its loveliness if our contribution to this community was fine enough to make our temple a symbol of some thing of which we could be proud. When I was asked to make this talk, I siezed the opportunity not be cause I feel that I am an orator but because I feel that the Jewish women have an opportunity to lead the way in the most magnificent work that has ever been done by volunteers. The Jewish woman has always been primarily a mother, a wife—a home maker. Jewish family life has been a thing of beauty. Why have Jewish homes always been so fine? Because though the Jewish father was the stern head of the family the mother was taking her full share of responsi bility, thus making this family life what it was. The period of adjust ment through which we are now liv ing is worrying some. We hear on all sides: What will become of the home? What is to become of the younger generation? We Jews have faith that our strong family ties will hold even though they appear in new forms. Yes, the Jewish mother has been a splendid homemaker through out the ages. To keep that reputa tion she cannot rest on her laurels. There is a new meaning to that word home and the Jewish woman has new work to do. In a recent interview a New York Times reporter asked H. G .Wells what would be outstanding in the next chapter in the Outline of History. Wells answered “The annihilation of space." When New York is four hours from Atlanta and Paris only thirty- six. When scientists tell us that we soon shall be able to breakfast in New York, lunch in London and have dinner again in New York, we real ize what Mr. Wells means. Space is literally being annihilated. How does this effect the Jewish woman? It does so very vitally. The four walls of her house no longer bind her home. When a woman could supervise all of her children’s pleasures and knew all of her children’s friends because they were in her home—her job was within the four walls. Those children are no longer within the four walls of any house. Those of you who have child ren away at school realize how far from your influence are even their closest companions. Many of them you shall never meet. A mother’s home is always where her children are and if modern inventions have en larged the space which that home cov ers then she should again assume her share of the responsibility to keep that home in order. The intelligent modern mother real izes that she must be more to her children than a conscientious nurse maid. There is the indisputable fact that a woman’s chief interest is in the home, but, she is bringing to the rearing of her children an enlighten ed view point, an intelligent consci ence, and to the care of her home, a heightened conception of home mak ing, and through her sponsorship of education, public health, social wel fare and religion, she was immeasur ably benefitted her domestic circle. What are some of these jobs in the larger home which are simply magni fied pictures of the smaller? There is the great field of welfare work which offers the opportunity for all kinds of interests. The field of family rehabilitation has appealed to many women. It requires special tal ents. Leah Morton, in her book, “I Am A Woman and A Jew” tells that it took; her twelve years to learn that what a social worker needs is not a soft, emotional heart—but a clear ana lytical brain. Handing out food or money doesn’t put people on their feet. But a careful study of individ ual problems and constant encourage ment can help a family to reach an independent place in society. This work is never finished and takes an infinite amount of patience. But wo men are used to work that is never finished. Have you ever seen a little boy’s hands that stayed clean ? Don’t they have to be washed over and over and over again ? And meals—as soon as they are planned they are eaten and have to be planned over again. Welfare work requires this same kind of patience, but if it re sults in putting a family in a self- respecting place in the community isn’t it worth it? There is, too, the field of research which is the founda tion of all social work methods and in which volunteers can make valu able contributions. There is the job of understanding community pro grams so that you can explain the need convincingly to a prospective contributor. In times like these the job of social work is overwhelmingly large, more than the trained worker can handle without the aid of volunteers. We could all find something of interest to do in the field of social work, but there are other fields of equal import ance. The field of educational work is of peculiar interest to Jewish women. The sooner we are ready to hold re sponsible positions on boards of edu cation and boards of institutions the better our educational needs will be met. There is another side to this question of education and that is self- education. It seems so illogical to spend fifteen years getting an in tensive education and then to sudden ly stop. The business world seems to force men to keep alert and informed, where the social world requires that women keep up with little more than the latest Culbertson convention or the fine points of the Eugenie mode. But we must keep up. It has often been said that the progress of the world depends on how leisure time is used. What progress can be made if half of the people are willing to stop learning at the age of twenty ? There is also the great field of civic work. The minute we realize that the entire foundation of our lives is in our government, that we depend on our government for justice, for persoal protection, for health pro tection, for education—the minute we realize this, we can see that it is no longer time for the southern woman to act the clinging vine and say that government and politics are unlady like. As Jews we must be interested in the question of justice for all men. We must see that our schools provide education for our children, second to none. We must see that institutions such as Grady Hospital are able to serve all who need it. We must pre vent more mothers from dying each year in Georgia than in other parts of the country. We must see that young boys are kept out of jails that may make hardened criminals of them. We must see that our cities and streets are as beautiful as our own gardens. These are the fields of civ ic work. The acquisition of the ballot did not emancipate women. Women have to emancipate themselves. They must act like adults, take the re sponsibilities of adults, do the work of adults. Suppose that we have perfect jus tice in our country, the finest educa tion, the best care for the sick, the most modern health laws—suppose we have all of this and more—what good is it to us unless we have PEACE ? If the maintenance of peace is not a woman’s province, what is? It is not easy to get. In a speech over the radio recently Newton D. Baker stated that during the war thousands of letters poured into Washington daily with suggestions as to how to run the war. Everybody wanted to help. If one-half of that same amount of effort were put into developing a machine to insure perm anent peace, we w r ould have peace. It is too late when war has been de clared. Then mothers have to bravely send their sons to kill other mothers’ sons. But war must never again be declared. To have peace we must work for it now, every day, every hour and uud a foundation so strong that no amount of selfish propaganda can up set. Norman Thomas says that the money wasted in the last war could have wiped out all of the slums in the world. Think of what that means. All of the misery—all of the heart- iakes—all of the handicapped child ren—all of these tragedies could have een wiped out. Instead miseyy was increased and fifteen years later we are all suffering from the economic effects of that war. Can we with a "Women and I'heir Leisure" was given as a talk by Mrs. Leonard Haas at the Atlanta Sisterhood' Sabbath, held at The Temple recently. This worthwhile message is reproduced through the kindness of this prominent Atlanta clubwoman. Mrs. Haas devotes much of her time as a sincere worker in the Atlanta League of Women Voters, Temple Sisterhood, and Council of Jewish Women, and her speech embodies truth and sincerity of art earnest devotee of social research. clear conscience sit still and do nntv, ing about it? We must dn m „ re ^ sign petitions. We must know is going on in the world and heln witk all of our might. Let’s keep clear ! our minds what patriotism i s . If t h child next door has infantile paralysi our child is not safe. If the country next door is sick financially or social ly our country is not safe! We must have world peace and you and I as citizens of the world—as women—a? Jews, have clear cut responsibilities to see that peace is everlasting. This is a sketchy picture of some of the fields for work which the world presents to day. Half of the adult* cannot cope with world problems. Men cannot do it alone. Women cannot do it alone. But together there is enough common sense in the world for them to unravel the tangle in which we ar ecoiled. When we behold a world in which people are starving because there is too much wheat and and poverty stricken because in certain countries there is too much gold, we realize that here is important use for our leisure time. Women have a greater amount of leisure time than men and especially Jewish women, because Jewish hus bands are particularly considerate and particularly good providers. We must use this time to advantage. What is the use of modern invention that lessens drudgery and lengthens hours if that extra time is to be spent at cards. Think of what could be ac complished if every one of you would give only half of your leisure time to something that interested you. How much could be accomplished. Use your talents. Leisure is unused capital- use your capital. Realize your powers to the fullest. Women whose hours of leisure are squandered in aim less pursuits are out of fashion. Their clothes may be two jumps ahead of Paris but their ideas are stuffy, t on- sider your leisure time carefully an find some work of interest. People who are busy and occupied are usually happy—but work is not sufficient. When you are in the niids of work and days of discouragement come, you will wonder what is the use of it all. Those days come ''hen our philosophy of life that will cai ry us through. The answer is 0U1 Jewish religion. The greatest an noblest minds of the ages have n - up a philosophy, a religion, ca what you will that has served men an women through the centuries. It serve you and me when we have t intelligence and understanding grasp what Judaism has to teac • And so today I beg you a?- n1 ® 1 . women ready to assume respond • —as Jewish women capable the way—as mothers ms - agin*, new and larger home use oU ^ . f ure time to make the wot a place in which to be born. l \ buiion the chance of making the that women have to make the thrill of having done ov If you privileged Jewis not engage in a big part ‘ of the world today, m’t miss ’nettling- do