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THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
77ie Southern Israelite
PublUbed weekly o» Southern Newbpaper BiuerDnse#. Inc. Suite
201-201) Olenn Building. Atlanta 3. Georgia WAlnut 0791-0792 M.
Stephen Bchlfier, publleher; Adolph Rosenberg. editor: Willy Pels,
business manager Entered at second clan? matter at the po»r office.
-Atlanta Georgia, under the Act of March 3 1979 Yearly subscrlplon,
three dollars The Southern l*raell*e invites literary contribution? and
correspondence but Is not to be considered a? iharlng the views ex-
nretsed by writer# All material should be received by Wednesday noon
to insure publication In issue of that week.
♦■*•>**
Everybody Benefits-Everybody Gives
Campaigns for funds are nothing new to members of
the Jewish community and none has become so familiar as
the annual drive for the Community Chest.
Nor is any campaign more welcomed for its intrensic
worth, so the current drive for 191fl funds to support various
civic agencies in Atlanta and elsewhere is a cause to which
our thorough backing is summoned.
What a wide variety of services these agencies, which
have come to bear the “Red Feather” symbol of excellence,
perform in our communities. What a host of social tasks
they perform. What civic problems they tackje. What a
multitude of ameliorative situations come within the scope
of the Community Chest institutions. And through a single
contribution wc can aid them all, thus insuring fine supervi
sion and fair support.
Not all of these essential services are charitable in
nature, although a number of them are. Thf Chest includes
such character-building activities as the Boy Scouts, the
Girl Scouts, the Alliance, and the Y’s, which offer superior
advantages without any tinge of charity for they touch the
normal, healthy youth and elders of our cities.
In Atlanta, the Community Chest supports the Jewish
Educational Alliance and the Hebrew Orphan Homes but a
gift to the Fund is no more earmarked for those two agen
cies than for the Salvation Army, or the Battle Hill Haven,
and it is this spirit of cooperation in a civic enterprise which
merits wholehearted endorsement.
We urge our readers not to wait until a solicitor seeks
them out. Cooperate with whatever set-up the Chest
leaders have arranged but if for any reason your firm or
you yourself are uncontacted, do not countenance such a
civic oversight. Act on your own initiative to do your share
in this civic responsibility.
TEMPLE RELIGIOUS SCHOOL
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Z *Quiz Box
By Rabbi Samuel J Fox
???????????? ? ? ? ?
Question: Why is it that when
visiting the graves of parents the
children “recite prayers for the
father first and then the moth-
j er? (Submitted by A. Klafter,
Biooklyn, N. Y.)
Answer: The fact is that tills is
! not the procedure prescribed by
! Jewish law. The fai»ous authority
1 ' ailed the "Tashbatz" clearly states
that when there is a question of
! precedence in the case of making ,
i .he mondial prayer, the one who
I passed away first takes precedence.
Rabbi Greenwald in his latest book
I on burial customs states that one
| should always visit and make the
• prayer over the grave of the par-
1 ent who passed away first. Most
j interesting is the law which gov-
Ierns precedence in the ease of a
j double burial. The Shulchan
| Aruch (Chap. 354» states that if
a man and a woman are buried at
the same time, tire woman must be
buried before the man. Such a
law might be used to refute the
arguments of those who erroneous-
) ly delight in claiming that Jewish
law considers women inferior
beings.
AHAVATH ACHIM HEBREW SCHOOL
Emphasis on Language and Literature
With the closing of the registra
tion on Monday, Octboer 13, 1947,
all the classes of the A A Hebrew
School have intensively and sys
tematically begun their studies, as
outlined in the curriculum plan
ned by the staff of the school un-
them the eloquent utterances and
exhortations of the prophets and
sages.
There is ground to hope that
such an outlined information will
help our children towards a bet
ter appreciation of the humane
principles and moral attainment
of the Jewish spirit.
The A. A. Hebrew School is
proud of its Post Bar-Mitzvoh class
of students who have become Bar-
Mitzvoh two or three years ago.
This group pursues advanced
studies of Hebrew Literature,
Grammar, and Bible. They should,
indeed, be an example for the
younger students, and a source of
) lnsiration to all of us.
The faculty of the A. A. Hebrew
School consists of Leon Steinberg,
Philip Friedn and Hannah Robkin.
Stress on Well-Rounded Curriculum
Tribute to Joe Beeber
Sudden passing; of Mr. Beeher has inspired so much
praise we feel we missed knowing one of the really true and
rare characters who live among us. We hope Mr. Beeher in
“I don’t want to go to Religious
School.” Is an oft-recurring plaint
that haunts the Jewish parent. All
of us are familiar with the inevi
table Saturday night arguments,
the Sunday morning struggle that
finally ends with the child more or
less reluctantly bundled off to "get
a Jewish education.” All too often,
even his eventual presence In a
class room represents only the be
ginning of the problem he personi
fies. The fact that he is there does
not necessarily mean that he wants
to be there—a truism which the
pupil quickly proves by a sort of
“I dare you to teacli me anything”
attitude. This problem is not the
problem of any one school in any
one city. To a greater or lesser
extent, it is an accurate descript
ion of every school—from the best
to the worst of them.
Yet we are all eager to have a
school. Teachers are well-train
ed. teaching methods are modern,
text books are the latest. We even
know, in a general way at least,
what objectives we seek in the
religious education of our children.
We want a school with an enjoy
able program which teaches some
thing useful and elicits the en
thusiastic participation of its stu
dents. Such objectives are clean
and simple enough. All we have to
do is achieve them. At the Temple
our school has a definite program
for realizing these aims.
There is no subterfuge in chil
dren. Part of the child's charm
lies in his directness. Thus, while
his elders philosophize about relig
ious education, hold seminars, con
duct survey the child simply asks
a basic question. He wants to
know: Why do I have to go? I
believe that that is a good ques
tion, an honest question, one that
deserves an equally direct answer.
If we want our our schools to be
successful, they must emerge from
a genuine need. We must reconize
the basic purpose of our religious
education and be in agreement
with that aim.
There is a two-fold answer to
the “why” of our religious school
that we try to adopt as basic to
our whole program. The limita
tions of space permit only its being
briefly noted: Firt. we want to
preserve our Jewish heritage. We
believe that our heritage is worth
preserving. We further maintain
that as Jews we can be proud ot
our part in the world's moral
growth. Secondly, we live in a
non Jewish world. That world
etches our differences in clear re
lief. If the knowledge of that dif
ference shames us. we shall remain
sulking misfits in an alien inimi
cal environment. Only when the
inevitable realization of our dif
ferences fills us with pride can we
be happy. Therefore, we teach our
children their heritage in an ef
fort to give them the proud know
ledge of the greatness of their
past.
Our curriculum, therefore, con
tains more than history, more than
current events. It attempts to
present a well-rounded—albeit ne
cessarily sketchy—picture of total
Jewish life. We study our great
leaders, our inspired literature of
all ages, our community organiza
tion—all the phases of Jewish life
that will serve to make our chil
dren proud of their Jewishness.
Thus do we strive to answer, un
known to the child himself, the
"why” of his going to Religious
School.
Children are direct. They are
also honest. So they voice another
complaint. They say: I don’t
learn anything. More and more,
the progressive school is answer
ing this all too often justifiable ob.
jection. The Temple Religious
School is no exception. We have
a curriculum carefully planned
and equally carefully executed.
Our faculty consists of men and
women who are trained, interested,
and capable. They are no volun
teers, thus they are made to feel
an additional loyalty to their
sacred task. The school is care
fully supervised. Our texts, pub
lished by the Union of American
Hebrew Congregations, are the fin
est and most modern books avail
able. And finally, since Jewish
life is not entirely a matter of
formal knowledge, the school takes
time to make that life interesting.
Our Purim Carnival, begun last
year, has already become an an
nual event eargerly aw’aited. We
have a School Senate made up'of
elected representatives from the
upper grades of the school wlhch
deals with student problems ahd
activities. The children's choir
supplies the music at our assemb
lies and monthly children's serv
ices. Thus the administration of
the school seeks always to insure
tire fact that our boys and girls
DO learn something and even en
joy themselves while learning.
Children are direct and honest.
They are also shrewxl. They recog
nize immediately one of the basic
failures in Jewish life. They say:
What's the use of learning all
this, we never use it in our homes.
That is a just condemnation. It
has been truly noted that our
schools may be crowded—but our
synagogues remain empty. Our
children may with justification
der the guiding supervision of Rab
bi Harry H. Epstein, the Execu
tive Director of tiie A A Educa
tional System.
The curriculum has been pains
takingly planned to meet the pres
ent-day educational requirements
of an enlightened Jewry. Fore
most of the aims of the school is
the teaching of the Hebrew lan
guage and Literature and the
planting of love for and under
standing of Isarel's spiritual and
traditional heritage. These, it is
firmly believed, will refine the soul
of the Jewish child, make it sus
ceptible to every endeavor and idea
of nobility and purity, and pre
pare it to face life inteligently,
courageously, and happily.
In conformity with the aim and
purpose of the school, the know
ledge of the Hebrew Language will
be stressed in every class, and all
efforts will be made to make He
brew the instruction medium in
most classes.
The school has a full class of
beginners, two intermediate classes,
a Chuinosh class, and a Bar-Mitz
voh class, where the students will,
in addition to their studies for
Bar-Mitzvoh, pursue also a course
of the Mishnoh (Pirke-Ovos).
An important feature, launched
in the school two years ago, will be
further developed and followed this
semester, i. e.. to thoroughly ac
quaint the students with the Jew
ish moral and historic concepts
and ideas, and to impress upon
feel that while they learn all about
our holidays .they never see them
observe: while they study the great
literature of their people, they nev
er notice its being read.
And they are right. The home
must be the laboratory for the
teachings of the school. This has
become a high aim of our own
school. We have set about the
task of making the home a supple
mental class room. We send
graded lists of Jewish books to the
parents in the hope that they will ■
encourage their reading on the |
part of the child—or even read
them themselves. Cards are sent i
home describing simple home ob
servance of our holidays. Thus
do we strive to overcome the all
too wide disparity between the
teachings of the school and the
example of the home.
This, then, is the aim of our I
Religious School at the Temple.
It is our firm belief that a truly
successful school depends on three
things: to know WHY we have a
school, HOW to run a school and
WHAT the home must do for the
school. We have set about to
learn lire ahswer to these questions
for in their being answered lies
the hope of Israel’s children.—
Rabbi Jacob M. Rothchild.
life knew of the high regard
By JOSEPH A. LOEWINSOHN
It is not easy to reconcile one
self to the cruel fact that Joe Bee-
ber is no longer amongst us.
His sudden passing has left a
vacuum in the life of our com
munity, a vacuum that will never
-be filled. Why, of all people in this
large world, the unfathomable Fate
should have chosen to strike down
Joe is beyond one's capacity to
comprehend.
I have known Joe Beeber rather
intimately for over 25 years and I
doubt if there has ever been a
man so universally loved and re
spected than this quiet and unas
suming person whose heart was as
big as a house.
I had never bet a person with a'
more generous nature and a finer
character than Joe. He was all
goodness and charity and his truly
wise philosophy of life was amaz
ing in its absolute absence of
bigotry and duplicity.
Those who had ever come in
contact with Joe Beeber had in
stinctively felt that they were in
the presence of a man of rare per-
"sonal charm and a beautiful, gen
erous soul.
I don't mean to say that he was
a saint, or an angel with wings
sprouting behind his back—-he was
what a real human being was
created to be: firm in his convic
tions. a champion of goodness and
an uncompromising foe of evil in
all its manifestations.
he merited from his friends.
—THE EDITOR.
Joe loved people and hungered
for human companionship. You
seldom saw him alone—he was al
ways with one or two and. more
often as not, several friends whom
he had wanted to treat to some
thing. It was a passion with him
to befriend strangers and help
them to the limit of his resources.
Joe Beeber was not a male prude,
nor was he a namby-pamby. He
enjoyed a clever ancedote, a risque
story well told and had an appre
ciative eye for feminine charms.
His devotion to his family was
something to admire, and there
was a proud smile and a happy
gleam in his eyes when he spoke
of his first grandson bom a few
weeks before his death.
I have not been in Thompson's
since Joe is gone. To me, I know,
the place will seem to lack some-
] thing vital and familiar—Joe had
been in the habit of dropping in
there for lunch or a cup of coffee.
He believed in the ultimate
goodness of man and his firm con
viction was that money will buy
anything in the world but happi
ness and will secure a fare to any
place except heaven.
It rained hard on the day of
Joe's funeral. It was one of those
dismal, gray, melancholy autumn
| days when one’s spirits are sad
| and depressed.
Could it be that even the skies
! shed tears over the untimely death
of this good man?
Religious Education and Survival
The Jew of America has given evidence of his growing
sense of responsibility for Jewish survival. He has attained
a commanding position in the fields of philanthropy, the
defense of Jewish rights throughout the world, and the up
building of Palestine. However the internal dynamo which
supplies him with vital current is being overtooked. In the
mass of causes of organizations with which it is concerned,
American Jewry seems to have forgotten the source of vi
tality upon which the Jewish spirit depends. It has been in
danger of discarding the secret of Jewish survival and de
fense—Jewish education. If the ^ews in the United States
are to maintain the tradition of Israel within the frame
work of American democracy, there must be substance and
meaning in Jewish life. Americanism and Judaism are
compatible, but only a noble Americanism and an informed
Judaism.