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THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Friday, September 9, 1949
Tlift Soul liorn Israelite
Published weekly by Southern Newspaper Enterprises, Inc., 312
Ivy Street, N. E., Atlanta 3, Georgia. WAlnut 0791-0792. M.
Stephen Schiffer, publisher; Adolph Rosenberg, editor; Willy Pels,
business manager. Entered as second class matter at the post of
fice,Atlanta, Georgia, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Yearly
subscription, three dollars. The Southern Israelite invites literary
contributions and correspondence but is not to be considered as
charing the views expressed by writers. Deadline is 9:00 a. m.
Wednesday but material received earlier will have a much better
chance of publication.
Selection from Our Bible
Thus soith the Lord unto the House of Israel:
Seek ye Me, and Live,
Amos 5: 4.
An Honor Well Deserved
Phi Epsilon Pi fraternity, meeting in Atlanta for its
forty - fifth annual convention, has double reason this
year to be proud of its National Service Award which
has come to be a real sign of achievement for the man or
woman making “the finest contribution to the essential
Jewish life of America.”
Stanley C. Myers of Miami, the current recipient be
cause of his stellar leadership as president of the National
Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, has a
distinguished record. Under his leadership, organized
Jewry raised $150,000,000 for overseas, national and local
needs. Besides, the organization has taken the initiative in
eliminating duplication, in supervising a host of other
agency functions which have already resulted in substan
tial advantages for communities here and which will have
an even wider sphere of influence as the projects mature.
In selecting Mr. Myers, the fraternity went off the
beaten path and gave honor to a man who has not been in
the limelight—who moved quietly and modestly behind
the scenes. In so doing, the group disdained the usual hue
and cry it could have accumulated by selecting a cele
brity more before the public eye. Certainly, dignity and
stature gathers to the award for this reason.
The Southern Israelite is proud of this recognition com
ing to a Southern leader and we congratulate both Mr.
Myers for his fine achievements and % the fraternity for
making such a sage choice.
Mission Not Completed
Guest Editorial
Sept. 11, 1944, Allied Supreme Headquarters: "U. S.
TROOPS ENTER GERMANY—HITLER’S ARMIES IN
FLIGHT.”
On that fateful day in 1944, when the U. S. First Army
stormed the Reich, it looked as if the world would soon
be rid of Nazism—once and forever.
Today, five years later, we are shocked to learn that our
mission in Germany is still far from completion.
Every official poll taken in the American Zone of Occu
pation has revealed the same persistent symptoms of in
ternal disease. The majority of Germans are still addicted
to National Socialism. Fanatical nationalism is on the
march again. “New” political parties are currying popular
favor by airing the old Nazi line—master-racism, anti-
Semitism, aggressive militarism and contempt for demo
cratic processes.
In a recent survey taken by correspondents of the New
York Times, boys and girls of the Rhineland expressed
‘‘affectionate nostalgia” for the old days of Hitler youth
and declared themselves in favor of an authoritarian
form of government centered around a “leader.”
Meanwhile, notorious Nazi big-wigs like Schacht and
Von Papon are scot-free; Use Koch, the Beast of Buchen-
wald, has been liberated; Fritz Thvssen. who started the
Fuehrer on his rise to power, was declared a “minor Nazi”
by a denazification court.
As if this weren’t enough, authoritative observers that
lesser ex-Nazis have been steadily climbing to positions
of influence in industry throughout the American Zone;
that Hitler’s formeh disciples have been found serving as
judges, prosecutors, city officials and teachers.
These are the facts. They highlight a situation that is
jeopardizing our whole program in Germany.
No one will deny that the rehabilitation of Germany is
essential if we are to have a prosperous Europe and a
stable, peaceful world. But there is little chance of stabil
ity or peace so long as Nazis are returning to positions
where they can foment unrest, fan the desire for revenge
and form alliances with the sworn foes of democracy as
they have done in tfie past.
Fortunately, we still control large sections of Germany
and there is yet time to repair the damage. If we want to
avert disaster in the future, we would do well to inten
sify our efforts to re-educate the German people. We must
root out all Nazi sympathizers from places of leadership '
and replace them with liberal, anti-Nazi and anti-Com-
munist elements.
Heretofore, the genuinely democratic groups in Ger
many have been assigned a negligible role in the recon
struction of their homeland. They have been mainly ig
nored and even ostracized. They must receive the active
support and encouragement of U. S. authorities in their
attempt to build a responsible, peaceful Germany.
Only in this way, can we complete the mission under
taken by our soldiers five years ago.
Sachar and the Brandeis Tradition
The Atlanta community is privileged to welcome next
week the distinguished first president of Brandeis Uni
versity—Dr. A. L. Sachar.
Known widely as a speaker of rare talents, Dr. Sachar’s
talks invariably are highlights of intellectual delight and
we commend the presence of those of our readers who
have not as yet heard his oratory. Those who have al
ready had this experience will be present as a matter of
voluntary compulsion.
For many years, the name of Sachar was noted for the
depth of his scholarship, for his popular method of inter
preting Jewish history and lore, for the inspired direction
he lent to the Hillel movement among the college campus
under the aegis of B’nai B’rith.
To such heights had he achieved in the academic world
that none could imagine there would be any additional
summits to climb, for in the education field of even the
democratic United States, it was not decreed for a Jew
to head a university.
That is until Jewry founded a university of its own, a
non-sectarian institution dedicated to live up to the name
of an illustrious Justice of the Supreme Court, whose
name the school bore. To Sachar, an experienced Jewish
educator and administrator came the lot and honor of
guiding this center of higher learning.
There followed a period of planning, of determining of
policy and then in the fall of 1948 the doors opened for
the first class with the following pledge by Sachar.
“To be vigilant in guarding the academic standards of
the University; to bring in a faculty and a student body
without regard to race or creed or color; to differentiate
in study and research between mere brilliance and basic
content; between amenities and integrity.”
The record of that first year alone has been spectacular
and substantial. This record will grow until there is a
full student body and there are divisions of special re
search and schools for law and medicine. It will mature
wisely under the philosophy of Sachar—in the tradition
of Justice Brandeis.
Mrs. H. Blumberg
From the Dothan, (Ala.) Eagle
Mrs. Hyman Blumberg, who died at her home Sunday,
Aug. 28, was a pioneer citizen of Dothan in every sense of
the word. When she came here from Baltimore. Md., in
1893 as the bride of a young merchant, Dothan was
already founded as a community. But to grow and be
come something besides a cross-roads village, it needed
people with a pioneer spirit, people with a faith.
Mrs. Blumberg was one of those. With her husband, she
sensed Dothan’s destiny. Together they cast their lot with
a handful of people whose principal asset was confidence
and hope in a community’s future. Establishing a small
mercantile business, which began in a tent, called for more
than dreams of a better day. It required hard work and
long hours. It was a struggle in self denial, in resting the
temptation to give up and go elsewhere.
But the Blumbergs stayed. They worked and they pros
pered in the community that they called “home” from the
day they came here. Faith, plus work and a determination
to overcome adversity, rewarded them. They saw their
little store in a tent gi 4 ow into the largest department
store in Dothan. They saw a faith justified, they saw the
truth in the teaching that America offers opportunity to
those who appreciate it.
The story of the Blumbergs covered half a century. It
is the kind that will endure for generations more, for
there is a quality in it that is inspiring to a community.
Paying the Pledge
Guest Editorial
Through your Welfare Fund campaign you made your
pledge to the UJA. You atlirmed your readiness to help in
the resettlement and rehabilitation work in Israel.
With your pledge as security—and your honor is first-
class security—your Federations borrowed a considerable
sum in the bank and advanced that amount to the UJA
to rush the process of rehabilitation.
This was done in your community and in many other
communities. And properly so. But with all that money
borrowed and advanced there is not enough to finance the
minimum necessities. The summer months are passing
fast, and thousands will have to spend another cold winter
without adequate shelter.
You cannot help them all. But you can help some. This
is what you can do.
If the outstanding Federation pledges are paid now,
the interest which the Federation will thus save will build
a few houses to settle several families who have not en
joyed a home for many years. How long can people endure
being homeless without breaking down? Compare the sac
rifice you may have to make in paying your pledge now
against the joy and the new hope and strength which you
give to those families!
If you and your neighbors and if your neighbors and
you will pay now the pledges made, the Welfare Funds
can borrow and advance enough money to house a hun-
This is not a dramatic picture. It is the sober reality
of the situation. You can see it as clearly as anyone else,
dred more families this year.
Seeing it, and having an imagination and a heart, you
will act accordingly. You will send a check to the Feder
ation now\
—American Jewish World (St. Paul)
What About
That?
by Rabbi S. J- Fox
QUESTION: Why is it forbid
den to slaughter a calf and
its mother on the same day,
even for food consumption? (A.
T., San Francisco.)
ANSWER: The Bible expressly
forbids this practice in the
Book of Leviticus, without giv
ing a reason for it. Later com
mentaries mention several rea
sons: since mother and off
spring are usually together,
writers claim that the Biblical
injunction was prescribed so as
to prevent one from suffering
the pain of seeing the other
slain before its eyes; others
have seen even a deeper mean
ing. While the slaughtering of
animals was permitted for the
purpose of food, the killing of
the mother and the child to
gether would practically be a
means of obliterating the fam
ily at one stroke. This was re
garded as sheer barbarism and
prohibited so that man would
never to kill whole families at
a time, even in the animal king
dom, thus wiping out “both the
branches and the roots at once,”
as the Rabbis put it.
QUESTION: What does the
term “benschen” mean?
ANSWER: The term “ben-
schen” is Yiddish for “to bless”.
Sometimes the saying of grace
after meals is referred to by
this term because grace actual
ly constitutes a series of “bless
ings”, thanking God for the
food consumed.
QUESTION: Why is it custo
mary to remove knives from
the table before reciting grace?
ANSWER: A number of in
teresting reasons are offered
for this custom. A symbolic
reason is offered in the Codes,
citing the fact that metal,
especially in the form of a
sharp knife, is a means of cur
tailing life, while the family
table, which has often been
compared to the Altar in the
Temple, is a means of prolong
ing life.
Reciting grace is a means of
thanking God for prolonging
life by means of food. Doing so
in front of an instrument that
symbolizes the curtailment of
life would be contradictory.
QUESTION: Why is it custo
mary to place broken pieces of
earthenware over the eyes and
mouth of the corpse before
burial takes place?
ANSWER: Several reasons
are offered, chief of which is
the fact that originally, burial
was supposed to take place di
rectly in the earth. Since cas
kets are used today the broken
pieces of earthenware grant
the corpse direct contact with
something that stems from the
soil. Some read into the cus
tom the symbolism that man’s
life is compared by the Bible
to a ‘broken dish” which
crumbles in the hands of a
higher power.
$ewiil dafenJa
ROSH HASHONA
Saturday, Sept. 24
(First Day)
Sunday, Sept. 25
(Second Day)
YOM KIPPUR
Monday, October 3
succos
Saturday, Oct. 8
(First Day)
Sunday, Oct. 9
(Second Day)
Saturday, Oct. 14
(Eighth Day)
HANUKKAH
Friday, Dec. 16