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The Southern Israelite
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A Weekly Newcr>*r*~- C-- - ^liern Jewry
VOL. XXIV
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Number 22
Festival of Shuvous
Shuvuos or the Feast of Weeks, is one of the most
colorful Holy Days in the Jewish religious calendar. The
festival begins at sundown Thursday, June 2, and for
Jews in Israel and for Liberal Jews everywhere the fes
tival concludes at sundown Friday, June 3. The Hebrew
date is the 6th of Sivan, 5709. Orthodox and Conservative
Jews observe an additional day on Saturday, June 4th.
According to tradition Moses received the Ten Com
mandments from God at this season and established for
all ages the covenant between God and Israel. In its origin
the festival celebrates the harvest season. Seven weeks
are counted from the day when the new barley was of
fered at the Ancient Temple in Jerusalem, and on the
50th day, the early wheat harvest was dedicated to the
Eternal. The authority for this sacred day is written in
the Bible.
Beautiful Confirmation Service are held on Shuvuos
in Temples and Synagogues. Flowers and plants decorate
the pulpit and the young children offer the first fruits
and flowers of the season before the open Ark of the
Covenant. The children who have completed their early
religious education pledge themselves to the principles
of their faith. The Rabbi charges the confirmands to
prove worthy of their heritage by living in such a way
as to be pleased in both the sight of God and man.
Shuvuos has deep significance to modern man. In an
age of ideological conflict, it brings a message of liberty
under law, and of sympathy and understanding in
human relations. It urges the individual to rededicate
himself to the ideals of his faith and to strive to bring
about a better world for all mankind.
Prepared by UAHC and CAR Commission
District 5, B’nai B’rith, Meets
May 29-31 in Savannah
J MAY ill W49
In Liebm\m„Bost of Georgia
Rep. Emanuel Celler will be the
principal speaker during the con
vention of District Lodge No. 5,
B’nai B’rith, to be held in Savan
nah May 29-31.
Mrs. Hyman C. Weisman, na
tional president of the District
Grand Lodge of B’nai B’rith Wo
men, will be present during the
auxiliary sessions to be held dur
ing the convention. She will be
the guest at a joint luncheon on
Sunday at the DeSoto Hotel, at
which Mrs. Nat H. Levy of Wash
ington, District 5 president, will
preside. Mrs. Maurice Bisgyer, a
past president of the district, will
introduce Mrs. Weisman.
William A. Wexler of Savannah,
the current first vice president, is
slated to be elevated to the district
presidency to succeed Dr. Maurice
Goldberg of Washington.
Rev. Celler, a native of Brook
lyn, was elected to the sixty-
eighth Congress in 1922 and has
served successively since as a
fortright member of the national
legislature. He recently returned
from a visit to Israel.
The convention will be held in
Savannah from May 28 through
May 31, the meetings of the men’s
groups taking place at the Hotel
De Soto and those of the women at
the Hotel Savannah. More than
five hundred delegates represent
ing over a hundred lodges and
chapters are expected to attend,
according to Morris E. Rosen and
Mrs, William A. Wexler, who are
in charge of reservations. The dis
trict comprises the District of Co
lumbia and the states of Mary
land, Virginia, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Georgia and
Florida.
Southern Young Judaeans
Chart Camp June 17-23
For therfirst time in many years Literary chairman; Peggy Wilen-
of Southern Young Judaea history, sky of Augusta, Hebrew Arts
the representatives from thirty j chairman; Abe Esral and Bobby
Tuck of Atlanta, Athletics chair
men; Esther Slovis of Knoxville,
Young Judaea Month chairman;
Harriet Koslow of Charleston,
Brandeis Camp chairman.
Approximately 100 Senior Ju
daeans, 14 to 18 years of age, and
their leaders are expected to at
tend the week-long conference.
Applications and information may
be obtained from Herman Popkin,
Youth Director of the Southern
Zionist Youth Commission, 702
Peters Building, Atlanta.
New Hate Group Formed
In Atlanta, ADL Reports
Senior chapters will gather at a
summer camp for their annual
convention and conference.
To be held from June 17 to 23
at Camp Blue Star, Sautee, Ga.,
(80 miles north of Atlanta), the
convention will feature competi
tion in Israeli choral singing, ath-
"letic and swimming events, de
bates, arts and crafts, extempor
aneous speaking and dramatics.
Plans for the annual gathering
are being made by Gerald Sohn of
Jacksonville, regional president,
and his regional officers consist
ing of: J. B. Mazer of Birming
ham, vice president, District 1;
Bert Saul of Atlanta, vice presi
dent of District 2; Janet Cole of
Pensacola, vice president, District
3; Estelle Flax of Atlanta, secre
tary; Teddy Frankel of Atlanta,
treasurer; Joan Osheroff of Miami
Beach, National Executive Coun
cilman; Therese Eisenberg of
Montgomery, Award chairman;
Sarah Shymlock of Atlanta, Pub
lications chairman; Simone Alpern
of Savannah, Israel Projects chair
man; Harold Abrams of Pensacola,
ATLANTA—Formation of the
American Bilbo Club, the latest
hate organization to be spawned
in the South, was announced this
week by Alexander F. Miller, Di
rector of the Southern Office of
the Anti-Defamation League of
B’nai B’rith.
A small group of die-hard mem
bers of the defunct Nazi-like Co
lumbians formed the core of the
new organization whose headquar
ters is located on Bankhead High
way in Atlanta. Ira Jett and P. F.
Adams, Columbian organizer, head
the new movement. Despite cer
tain unverified reports to the con
trary, neither Homer Loomis, Jr.
nor Emory Burke, guiding lights
of the Columbians, are members
of this new organization according
to Miller.
The purpose of the American
Bilbo Club is to perpetuate the
ideals and objective of the late
Senator Theodore F. Bilbo as out
lined in his last book, “Take Your
Choice—Segregation or Mongreli-
zation,’’ published in 1947. In this
book, Senator Bilbo advocated the
expulsion o# all Negroes to Africa.
Bilbo accused both Jewish scien-
(Continued on page four)
Rabbi Abram J. Klausner, D.
D., (above), Provost of the He
brew Union College—Jewish In
stitute of Religion of Cincinnati
and New York, has been selected
to succeed the late Rabbi Joshua
Loth Liebman, D. D., D. H. L., as
rabbi of Temple Israel of Boston,
it has been announced by the
Board of Trustees and Joseph H.
Cohen, President, of Temple Is
rael.
Rabbi Klausner was the unani
mous choice of the board’s Selec
tion Committee, which has been
screening candidates for the post
since last June, when Rabbi Lieb
man, author of the best seller,
“Peace of Mind,” died. Rabbi
Klausner was one of the many
prominent American Reform
Israel pulpit since that time.
Z. O. A. Autonomy
U nsettled-Goldmann
NEW YORK, (JTA)—The ex
tent to which Zionist bodies in the
United States will enjoy autonomy
British Zionists
Mark Jubilee
LONDON, (JTA)—Prof. Selig
Brodetsky, president of the Board
of Deputies of British Jews and
veteran British Zionist leader,
was elected president of the Brit
ish Zionist Federation this week
at the closing session of the gol
den jubilee threeday convention
oi ttte Federation.
Guide to Israel
NEW YORK—“So You’re Going
to Israel” is the title of a concise
and handy guide book for the
American tourist just published
by the National Education De
partment of the Zionist Organiza
tion of America.
PANORAMA
The Talmud and
BY DAVID SCHWARTZ
The Talmud quotes the rabbinic sage Resh
Lakish as saying that the proselyte to Judaism
is more worthy of reward than he who is born
a Jew. He argued that the latter Reserved no
thanks for believing for he saw all the miracles
which the Lord wrought for Israel, but the non-
Jew believes, despite the fact that he did not
witness these miracles.
One might also say that the non-Jew who
shows himself sympathetic to Jewish pains and
travails is more deserving of our support than the
Jew who may try to alleviate them. The non-
Jew who helps has not personally experienced
our pains. When a stranger helps you out you
are more thankful than when a member of your
own family does it. We naturally expect it from
a member of our own family.
I think there was something of this feeling
among the multitude of Jews who voted for
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., rather than for the
Jewish candidates who were also running for the
seat left vacant by the death of the noted Jewish
Congressman, Sol Bloom. Many thousands voted
for Roosevelt, Jr., in tribute to his father. They
wanted to pay tribute to his father but perhaps
they also thought that the apple does not fall far
from the tree. Young F.D.R., they felt, looks at
life much as his great father did.
The election of F.D.R., Jr., proves that people
are not as chauvinistic as some of us think. The
election shows that the mass of Jews think very
clearly. They are not for everything Jewish just
Roosevelt Junior
because it is Jewish. The election shows that
those people who organize councils of this and
that, fearful about American Jewish patriotism,
are themselves the benighted ones.
The Roosevelt election also demonstrates that
politicians keep on making the same mistakes.
Just about three decades ago, when the elder
F.D.R. was nominated for governor of New Yorjc,
the Republican politicians fearful that he would
get the Jewish vote named a Jew, Albert Ottin-
ger, to run against him, but the Jews voted for
Roosevelt and not for Ottinger. The Tammany
machine committed the same folloy this time.
The machines always underrate the people.
Despite all that we have seen of the evil of men
in this generation—and what generation has seen
more of it—people respond to the good. They
may not think it out fully, but the good has a
clang to it like music and when the harmonious
chord is struck, the heart responds.
It is significant that the largest majorities
for Roosevelt, Jr. were obtained in the district
in which the Jewish voting was the heaviest.
The Jewish voter is really the most independent
voter in the electorate. Sometimes, it seems, he
is almost too independent—note the large num
ber of parties which have arisen in the new state
of Isoael.
But let us not worry that “the kaleh ist zu
schein” (the bride is too pretty) as the Yiddish
saying has it. The independent, thinker, who
cannot be swerved by machines, is a very healthy
thing for America.
and whether they must subject
themselves to decisions of the
Jewish Agency executive was not
formally disposed of by the Zion
ist Actions Committee, as there
was no motion to this effect, it
was reported here this week
by Dr. Nahum Goldmann,
chairman of the American sec
tion of the Jewish Agency execu
tive. Dr. Goldmann, who addressed
a press conference, has just re
turned from Jerusalem where he
attended the ten-day session of
the Actions Committee.
This issue was the one over
which Drs. Abba Hillel Silver and
Emanuel Neumann resigned from
the executive. Dr. Goldmann em
phasized that while no formal de
cision was taken by the Actions
Committee, the tendency of all
parties was to maintain the central
authority of the world executive
with regard to vital problems con
cerning the whole of the Zionist
movement.
“The resignations,” Dr. Gold
mann said, “were accepted unan
imously and one of the vacant
places filled. The other was kept
vacant in order to allow the Zion
ist Organization of America, after
its forthcoming convention this
month, to make proposals as to the
filling of this sedt at the next
meeting of the Actions Commit
tee.”