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THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Friday, October 10, 1947
The Southern Israelite
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ouninest manager Euterea a» second cl ant matter at the post office.
Atlanta Qeorgia. under the Act of March 2 1878 Yearly tubscrlplon.
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Reform Groups and Hebrew
For generations, many forward-thinking members of
Reform congregations have been ashamed of the collossal
ignorance of Judaica with which they were permitted to
develop from Sabbath School training into adulthood.
For decade after decade, religious schools confirmed
graduates who had a bare minimum of knowledge of their
faith and very little at that. Basis seemed to have been an
apologetic, defensive familiarity with Judaica. Whatever
else might transpire in training youngsters for Judaism,
the one, united single purpose and resolved seemed to have
been to keep him away from any knowledge of Hebrew.
Under no circumstances must the young Reform Jew re
ceive any conception, save revulsion, of the language in
which unfortunately so much Jewish literature was writ
ten.
And this at one and the same time when for all the
purging of the liturgy, even the extremists had not suc
ceeded in eliminating Hebrew from Reform prayer books
or in producing a single English-version Torah.
It is then a sane facing of facts and a sound decision
which prompts many Reform groups today to introduce
the study of Hebrew into the Temple training for children.
A particularly fine program is being evolved at Knox
ville where under the inspiration of Rabbi Leo Stillpass,
classes are being taught leading up to Bar Mitzvah in the
Temple. Chairman Ervin Newman of the Temple Worship
Committee has arranged for classes for beginners and
other levels.
Mr. Newman explained the purpose of the classes as
preparation of children “for taking an active part in congre
gational worship by teaching them to read Hebrew that is
used in the services, the Hebrew songs of the various holi-
PANORAMA
The Freedom Train
By DAVID SCHWARTZ
Heine in his writings tells o£,&
visit to Westminster Abbey. - He
tells us that he paid two pence to
see this burial place of English
Ijings and that it was well worth
it. He would have been glad, he
remarks, to pay double that
amount, to see this collection of
kings completed.
Of course, Heine was thinking
of kings as arbitrary rulers and
tyrants of all kinds. I was remind
ed of this story in connection with
the Freedom Train which is now
blowing its whistle and making
stops throughout the country.
Doubtless the projectors of t'>o
Freedom Train idea thought to
memorialize the past achievements
of freedom-loving men so that we
might make a better struggle for
its preservation and extension.
I should have liked to see the
Freedom Train carry the works of
Heine among the other celebrated
documents for Heinrich Heine was
ns true a fighter for freedom as
there was. as much a fighter as
Jefferson or Sam Adams or whom
ever you may menion. It was
Heine who said of himself that he
did not know whether he cared to
be remembered as a poet. Poetry,
he said, was "always but a saered
plaything" to him. while "a sword
shall ye place upon my roffin, for
1 was n valiant soldier in the war
for the liberation of mankind."
I haven't seen the Freedom
Train yet. I do not know whether
it carries tire Liberty Bell of 177G
on it. Perhaps it was not cxned-
ient to do so. but certainly it de
serves a place in such an exhibit
und Jews are glad to recall that
the Liberty Bell carries an inscrip
tion from the Old Testament:
"Proclaim Liberty throughout the
land and to all the inhabitants
thereof."
was not to be enslaved. He who
even consented to be sold into
slavery was to have his ear bored
with a nail, for that ear had
heard on Mt. Sinai that the only
master was Jehovah.
So the Jewish Bible helped for
ward the ideal of freedom, and yet
significant as w*as that contribu
tion, I don't believe, it was more
than the Jew himself was subse
quently done for the enhancement
of the same ideal.
It Is significant that the Refor
mation began with an attempt to
burn the Talmud and to add to
the oppression of the Jews. When
ever a tyrant arises, first of all.
he seeks to "take it out" on the
Jews. The Hitlers of all ages
have done so.
That we should have brought
forth such gladiators for liberty
as Heinrich Heine is therefore nut
surprising. I believe that, the tra
ditional prayers of no people save
that of the Jews include a prayer
against tyrant governments. The
Hebrew prayer book contains one
of the most beautiful prayers on
this subject that 1 know. I refer
to the prayer recited on Rush
Hashanah, "Uvchen tavn Pachi-
dacha."
It is a very* old pfiyer. and yet
how modern it is. Not only does it
ask that "arbitrary, evil govern
ment" cease on earth, but it con
tinues to pray for the establish
ment of a United Nations. If you
have forgotten the prayer, let me
recall it to you. It goes something
like this- I am quoting from mem
ory: "And may thy dread be on
all the creatures thou hast fash
ioned so that they shall form one
society to do their will with one
peaceful heart."
It is a prayer for peace and a
prayer for liberty and indeed the
two ideas are twins. Where there
is no liberty there can be no peace.
There must be liberty for all too,
or the liberty is no liberty. Liberty
is indivisible.
Liberty Is something which we
often think of as an abstract thing.
It Is an abstract thing, but it is
not for that reason to be under
rated. You cannot see liberty, it
is true, but you can't see electricity
either. Freedom, like electricity,
has a physical basis. In the opin
ion of the present writer, freedom
is grounded in a free earth. It is
significant that the commandment
"Proclaim liberty to all the land”
is mentioned in connection with
the institution of the Jubilee, when
the soil was reapportioned to the
people.
As soon as seme of the people
! were deprived of their portion of
I land, they became mendicants,
beggars. They were forced to sell
their labor cheap or starve. With
this land monopoly began the un-
| employment, the exploitation of
labor high rents, share croppers
| and fascism. The "Single Tax-
| ers" used to say "vou can't hold
! a man up in the air and say he is
| free.” I think this idea tallies
I with the idea of the Bible. Free-
. dom in its fullest developments
! demands ^ free eaith.
J. N. ROSENBERG SAILS
FOR EUROPE TO CONFER ON
INTERFAITH COOPERATION
NEW YORK, i JTA» James
N. Rosenberg, a member of the
executive committee of the Na
tional Conference of Christian
1 and Jews, sailed this week on the
j Queen Mary for Europe, where he
will confer with Catholic. Protes-
! tant and Jewish leaders in England
and France on further develop
ment of the International Council
of Christians and Jews formed
earlier this year. He will be fol
lowed by Dr. Everett Clinchy,
president of the National Council.
Great is peace: it is to the
world as yeast is to dough.
—Mesifhta Derech Erelx
days, and to prepare those boys for Bar Mitzvah who wish
to be Bar Mitzvah in the Temple. Later advanced classes
will take up Bible story translation.”
We do not know if this is the first time this program is
being offered at Knoxville but we do feel it is a straightfor
ward effort to rectify a very serious defect in Reform reli
gious training. Many other Reform congregations would do
well to study the Knoxville idea closely and adopt similar
efforts of their own.
JWB In Savannah
GUEST EDITORIAL
The Southern Section of the National Jewish Welfare
Board (JWB) is having its third annual meeting this week
end in Savannah. Delegates to the sessions will spend a
good deal of time on the many questions which affect the
17 Jewish Community Centers in the ten Southern states-
which comprise the section, but foremost among their de
liberations will be those which surround the far-reaching
recommendations submitted to the 1947 JWB annual meet
ing in May by the JWB Survey Commission.
The most important of these recommendations, which
were based on a year-long study of JW J operations in rela
tion to community needs, urges the formulation and adop
tion of a definitive statement on the fundamental principles
of the Jewish Community Center. JWB, in accordance
with the terms of the recommendation, drafted such a set
of principles, and now the Southern Section, in common
with the seven other regional JWB sections, will consider
all aspects of this “design for Jewish Center living.”
The final phases of putting this statement into action-
study by JWB's constituent Centers, adoption at JWB's
1948 Annual Meeting, and its inclusion into the conditions
for membership in JWB by Jewish Centers, lie in the fu
ture; the action taken this week-end. however, is a most
important one.
It is not astonishing that the Jewish Community Cen
ters of America grew from a few scattered independent
organizations to a body of over 300 community institutions,
with a membership exceeding 500.000 young people and
adults, owning facilities representing an investment of
$40,000,000. without adopting a generally accepted state
ment of principles before this. Their urograms, geared to
the needs of American Jews everywhere, gave them com
mon purposes. However, the Survey Commission found the
need now to crystallize these purposes into a clear-cut ex
pression of raison-d’etre.
In deliberating on this vital question, delegates to this
week-end’s Southern Section convention will make Jewish
Center Movement history indeed.
—JEWISH WELFARE BOARD.
It Is truly remarkable what a
bastion for freedom the Old Testa
ment has been. It was the English
historian. Leeky, who said that the
Old Testament was the arsenal
for the defenders of liberty as the
New Testament was for the up
holders of despotism. In the Eng
lish Revolution, the Puritans con
stantly pointed to the passages of
the Old Testament and in the his
tory of the American Revolution,
one may point to numerous quo
tations from the Old Testament by
the leaders of the Revolution.
It is remarkable too that the
Greeks, though they reached so
high a state of civilization, could
not grasp the idea of freedom.
Neither Aristotle nor Plato could
conceive of a common man not
being enslaved. The Jews, on the
other hand, emphasized by the
most drastic methods that man
WISHENGRAD SCRIPT
Flernal Light Program Seeks American
Understanding of World Food Emergency
As a contribution to Arrterican
understanding of the world-wide
food emergency, a special script
entitled. A Journey To Ger, has
been prepared by Morton Wishcn-
grad for presentation on the Eter
nal Light radio program. Sunday.
October 12. iNBC. 12:30 P. M.t
"A Journey To Ger" is a fan
tasy based upon the theme of the
well-fed who pray for the hungry
and fail to sacrifice for them. To
a simple teamster named Gadiel.
cornes a stranger who insists up
on reaching the town of Ger be
fore the Sabbath. He explains that
there is hunger in Ger and he must
preach to the sleek people who
limit their efforts to singing
psalms for the starving.
Gadiel's faithful team of horses
dies of exhaustion on the speedy
journey to Ger Though at first
the townspeople respond to the
I stranger's appeal they soon grow
weary of giving and again there is
! hunger in Ger. Gadiel. embittered
The
QUIZ BOX
By Rabbi Samuel J Fox
Question: Is it permissable for them are to be considered above
Orthodox Jews to have flowers or '
ivy planted on their graves? isub
mitted by Mrs. G. L. W.—Brooklyn.
New York'.
Answei: Cemeteries which are
strictly Orthodox generally do not
permit this practice. It is for this
reason that we find comparatively
recent Rabbinic literatures advis
ing those who establish new ceme
teries to see to it that not all the
acreage be included as cemetery
space. This would permit the lat
er planting of trees and shrubbery
in spaces not marked off for
graves. We do find explicit rules
which state that Orthodox ceme
teries should not permit the plant
ing of flowers or shrubs on the
graves (Shaare Tzedek. Minchas
Eliezer and the Responsa "Tzof-
nas Panayach."'
Question: Why is this prohib
ited?
Answer: The origin of this pro
hibition is not too clear. Some
authorities feel that such a prac
tice constitutes an act of copying
the customs of foreign sects. Oth
ers feel that the technical grounds
for such a prohibition might be in
herent in the legal fact that a
grave may not be put to any use
for the living. Planting flowers
and shrubs might cause the living
to derive pleasure from the na
tural beauty of the grave. It
might also be added that the dead
and all that is associated with
| and beyond the realm of our ev-
j eryday life. Their* appearance to
us is to be valued intrinsically—
j for what they really mean to us—
j and not. as is the case in the liv
ing world, for whatever outward
{ manifestations we admire in them
| Question: Why is it customary
to cover the mirrors in the house
I of a mourner?
| Answer: A number of reasons
I are offered for this custom. Some
authorities say it is done to prevent
enjoyment. Looking into a mirror
gives one a sense of enjoyment at
his own reflection and a mournor
w*as forbidden to enjoy himself
during the seven-day mourning
period. If this reasoning is fol
lowed out pictures should be cov- j
ered too.
Other writers state that the
reason hinges on the fact that it
is customary to conduct public
prayer at the home of the mourn
ers and one is forbidden to pray j
in front of a minor—or even a pic
ture of a living object, so that he
shall not appear as worshipping
some being. It seems to me that
the covering of the mirrors might
have had another aspect. A
mourner was not to be subjected to
excessive grief. Certainly if he
were exposed to mirrors he would
look at himself—a dejected and
grevious individual—and worry all
the more.
- j at the fruitless sacrifice of his
“ horses asks:
j "What good is a journey to
Ger?" To which the stranger re-
I plies:
All our lives we are on a jour
ney that must be undertaken.”
Appealing to the people of Ger,
the stranger says:
"Do you only mouth the name
of God? What does He mean?
Specify. Concretely. In terms of
your hand against the hungry . . .
in terms of your heart against the
alien and the stranger who plead
for help? Who else pleads for
help? It is always the hungry
and the stranger. I measure your
God by your heart. And you will
not have one heart for God unless
you have two hearts for men.”
The Eternal Light, a coast-to-
coast radio program presented un
der the auspices of the Jewish
Theological Seminary of America,
is a public service presentation of
the National Broadcasting Com
pany.
JEWISH CALENDAR
HO SHAN AII KABBAH
Sunday. Oct. 5
SHEMINI AZERET
Monday. Oct. 6
SIM HAT TORAH
Tuesday, Oct. 7
EREV HANUKKAH
Sunday, Dec. 7
FIRST DAY HANUKKAH
Monday, Dec. 8
EIGHTH DAY HANUKKAH
Monday, Dec. 15