Newspaper Page Text
NOV 28 1952
\ UWVEffSfTY of GEORGIA
The Mon i' „ , 0 ..Israelite '
. , w/ „ to 4 e TH»m
A* Weekly Aimcm ern Jewry
• cstaousnea iyzj
VOL. XXVII ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1952 NO. 46
Prague Trial Spreads Mortal Fear Among Jews of
Israel Moves to Elect New
President December 8
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israel’s
Parliament will meet on Decem
ber 8 to elect the Jewish State’s
second president and successor to
the late Chaim Weizmann. Under
Israel law, the election must be
held within30 days of the office
becoming vacant and election is
by majority vote of the Knesset.
In view of the refusal of Prof.
Albert Einstein to accept nomi
nation to the presidency, it be
came clear this week that the sec
ond president of Israel would be
an Israel citizen and resident of
the country rather thpn an out
standing personality invited from
abroad.
Nominations for the presiden
cy were to close on Nov. 28 and
there was strong belief that the
choice would lie between Josef
Sprinzak, Speaker of the Knes
set, and Isaac Ben Zvi, chairman
of the Jewish National Council
(Vaad Leumi) the supreme rep
resentative body of the Yishub
under the British Mandate. Both
are members of the Mapai Party.
There was a possibility, how
ever, that the Mapai, in view of
the political situation and the
problem of reconstructing the
Government coalition, would not
put forward a Mapai candidate
in the interests of harmony.
The leftwing Party has nomi
nated another Zionist veteran,
Dr. Itzhak Gruenbaum, who ser
ved as Interior Minister in the
Provisional Government. The Mi-
zrachi Workers have indicated
their intention to nominate Dr.
Aaron Barth, and the Mizrachi
will nominate Dr. Mordecai Nu-
rok, Minister of Posts, Tele
phones and Telegraph.
Also named by the press here
as potential choices fo»r the presi
dency were Dr. Nahum Gold-
mann, Chairman of the Jewish
Agency Executive, and Chief
Rabbi Isaac Herzog.
Both Sprinzak and Ben Zvi, are
members of the Mapai Party.'
Sprinzak, who has served as Act
ing President of Israel for most
of the past year, has gained wide
note by his adroit handling of
the Knesset from the Speaker’s
chair. There is strong feeling in
some Mapai circles that the situ
ation requires retention on
Sprinzak in that key post.
Both Premier David Ben Gur-
ion and Foreign Minister Moshe
Sharett w r ere reported to be sup
porting the candidacy of Ben Zvi.
One reason was said to be their
desire to avoid further compli
cations involved in election of a
new Speaker should Sprinzak be
elevated to the presidency.
Sixty-eight year old Isaac Ben
Zvi, a native of Russia, settled in
Palestine in 1907. The Turkish
authorities exiled him in 1917
and he went to the United States
where he recruited volunteers for
the Jewish Legion in which he
himself served. The British la
ter named him to the Palestine
Advisory Council. As chairman
of the Vaad Leumi, he headed
the principal representative body
of the Jews in Palestine.
VIENNA (JTA) — Jews in
countries behind the “Iron Cur
tain’’ are reported to be in mor
tal fear of increased anti-Jewish
propaganda as a result of the
trial of 14 former Communist
leaders in Prague, which is look
ed upon by the non-Jewish pop
ulation in Czechoslovakia, Po
land .Rumania and other Soviet-
dominated countries as official
Soviet sanction of an outspoken
anti-Jewish policy.
Reports reaching here from
Soviet satellite countries all in
dicate that the Jewish popula
tions in those countries are stun
ned by the sudden official out
burst of anti-Semitism at the
Prague trial where 12 of the 14
defendants are Jews. The gen
eral opinion expressed in these
reports is that anti-Semitic ele
ments in all Communist countries
have received the green light to
indulge in open anti-Jewish ac
tivities under the mask of de
fending Communism.
Newspapers received here from
Czechoslovakia and other Soviet-
dominated countries feature the
news of the rial in a manner
which fosters anti-Semitic feel
ings among the non-Jewish pop
ulation. Radio stations in the So
viet satellite countries similarly
inject strong anti-Jewish note in
Einstein Declines Bui
As Weizmann’s Successor
JERUSALEM (JTA)—It was
disclosed last week that Premier
Ben Gurion had sought to find
out whether Prof. Albert Ein
stein would accept the position if
it wove offered him by the Knes
set. After Prof. Einstein’s initial
declination, Ambassador Abba S.
Eban wrote him:
“1 am anxious faa\. you to feel
that the Prime Minister’s ques
tion embodies the deepest respect
which the Jewish people can re
pose in any of its sons. To this
element of personal regard, we
add the sentiment that‘Israel is
a small state in its physical di
mensions, but can
JDA Designates Massell
As National Vice Chairman
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (Spe
cial)—Ben J. Massell, president
of Massell Companies, in Atlan
ta, was elected national vice
chairman of the Joint Defense
Appeal National Council at JDA's
Seventh Annual Meeting in Chi
cago, it has been announced by
Council Chairman Sidney S.
Moyer of Youngstown, Ohio.
At the same time, Mr. Moyer
announced the election to the
JDA National Executive Com
mittee of Abe Goldstein of the
Prior Tire Company, and David
Slann of Butler, Inc.
Mr. Massell, who was named
by the City Council in 1950 as
the outstanding citizen of the
year, is an honorary life member
of the Atlanta Real Estate Board.
He is a member of the Atlanta
B’nai B’ritth Lodge. Mr. Gold
stein, chairman of the executive
committee of the ADL Regional
Board, is an officer of the Atlan
ta Federation for Jewish Social
Services, as is Mr. Slann who
also is a member of the ADL Fi
nance Committee.
Both Mr. Massell and Mr.
Slann are members of The South
ern Israelite Advisory Board.
their broadcast reports of the
Prague trial.
The general tendency in the
press and on the radio in Soviet-
dominated countries is to dis
credit the Jews in the eyes of the
local population by linking them
with “Zionist conspirators” and
“American agents.” Testimony
at the trial to this effect by Ru
dolf Slansky, Bendrich Gemin-
der, Arthur London, Andre Sim
on and other defendants who
“confessed” alleged ties with Is
raelis and American Jews, are
quoted at great length.
The Prague radio played up
testimony by Andre Simon, for
mer editor of the Czech Com
munist party newspaper “Rude
Pravo,” wljo was indicted as a
Zionist and a spy. The broadcast
quoted him as testifying that he
collaborated with an American
Jewish radio correspondent who
told him that “it was the duty of
every Jew to support the policy
of the United States, even if he
did not agree with it.”
Czechoslovak newspapers
reaching here from Prague also
drag in the Joint Distribution
Committee by stating that the
American Jewish relief organi-
zaton “has developed espionage
and sabotage activities.” Other
Jewish organizations aire charged
ed with allegedly training sabo
teurs and spies against the So
viet regime.
level of greatness in the measure
that it exemplifies the most ele
vated spiritual and ihtellectual
traditions which the Jewish peo
ple has estabished through its
best minds and hearts both in
antiquity and in modern times.
Our first President, as you know,
taught us to see our destiny in
tijesq great perspectives'' as you
, yourself have often §xh<frted us
to do!” • ' ? .
Prof. Einstein, in reply, wifote:
"Since all my life I have been
dealing with . the world v -of ob
jects, I have neither the natural
ability nor the expqrienqe neces-
Condemn Trial
U. S. Groups
NEW YORK (JTA) — Amer
ican Jewish organizations and
leading American newspapers
this week condemned the anti-
Semitic tactics at the Prague
trial. The Jewish War Veterans
of the United States issued a call
to its members to boycott goods
produced in the Soviet Union or
rise, to the;’' sary to deal with riutaifCb'-begins
and to carry, out official func
tions. For those reasons'. ! jo not
feel able to fulfill the,’''Require
ments of thig great tafck, even
were my , advanced ag;j* not to
limit my strength to an increas
ing extent.
“This situation is indeed ex
tremely sad for me because my
relations to the Jewish people has
become my strongest human at
tachment ever since I reached
/complete awareness of our pre
carious position among the na
tions.
“After we have lost in recent
days the man who among adverse
and tragic circumstances bote on
his shoulders for many years the
whole burden of leadership of
our striving for independence
from without, I wish from all my
heart that a man be found who
by his life’s work and personality
may dare to assume thhis diffi
cult and responsible task.”
F
Balser Accepts Chairmanship of BIG Day
for Israel Bond Drive on Sunday, Dec 14
By ADOLPH ROSENBERG
Climaxing the successful award
dinner honoring I. M. Weinstein
Monday evening at the Progres
sive Club, officials of the Atlanta
Bond Committee announced ap
pointment of Meyer Balser as
chairman of BIG Day.
Mr. Balser will head a one-day
community drive on Sunday,
Dec. 14, to obtain Israel Bond
subscriptions from the mass of
Atlanta Jewish citizens.
The outpouring of sales, most
ly from big givers, at Monday
evening’s affair, pushed the to
tal credit to Atlanta so far to a
figure of $101,000.
General Chairman Weinstein
said this must be just a start to
put a Bond into each Jewish
home in Atlanta.
“BIG Day will mark a high
point in*the present intensive
campaign to enlist a million new
Israel Bond subscribers through
out the United States,” Mr. Bal
ser said, in indicating plans for
the one-day observance.
He asked volunteers to come
forward in advance, using the
coupon printed elsewhere in this
issue, and offer their services so
that adequate coverage can be
made.
Mr. Balser added “that BIG
Day falls during the eight-day
Festival of Hanukah which Jews
the world over will begin cele
brating Friday, December 12.
Hanukah commemorates the es
tablishment of Jewish freedom
in Israel of yore.”
Purpose of the Bonds of the
Israel Government has a purpose
closely similar, Mr. Balster con
tinued, for in aiding the nation
to economic security, purchasers
of the bonds are materially aid
ing its freedom and indepen
dence.
Iron Curtain
in Soviet-dominated countries.
The American Jewish Commit
tee said in a statement. “The
trial of Rudolph Slansky, rene
gade Jew and his colleagues, who
betrayed Judaism in serving the
Communist cause, should awaken
everyone to the fact that anti-
Semitism has become an open in
strument of Communist policy. It
is ironical that these men who
deserted Judaism, which is in
imical to Communism, are now
being used as an excuse for the
Communist anti-Semitic cam
paign.”
The New York Times said in
an editorial that the anti-Jewish
allegations at the Prague trial
are a “Stalinist version” of the
notorious Protocols of the Elders
of Zion. It points out that the
groundwork for this version
“was laid four years ago in So
viet Russia’s own campaign
against ‘cosmopolitanism,’ a cam
paign whose victims were pre
dominantly Jews.” The paper
said that the Prague trial “may
well mark the beginning of a
major tragedy as the Kremlin
swings further and further to
ward anti-Semitism marked as
anti-Zionism,” adding that “this
latest evidence that Stalin can
emulate Hitler bodes ill indeed”
for well over 2,000,000 Jews liv
ing in “Stalin's empire.”
Agency Denies
Trial Gharg es •
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The
Jewish Agency this week denied
“with contempt” the charges that
Zionist leaders and the Zionist
movement were linked with es
pionage rings in the Soviet sat
ellite nations of East Europe,
which were contained in “con
fessions” of defendants at the
Prague trial of 14 ex-Communist
leaders, 12 of whom have been
identified as Jews.
Usiel Regrets Signing
Rosenberg Plea; Herzog
Refused to Sign
I EL AVIV (JTA)—Rabbi Ben
Zion Usiel, Sephardic Chief Rab
bi of Israel, today confirmed that
he was among the 20 Israeli rab
bis who signed a plea for clem
ency for Ethel and Julius Rosen
berg, sentenced to be executed in
New York as atomic spies. A-
skenasic Chief Rabbi Isaac Her
zog denied that he had signed the
plea. Rabbi Usiel added that he
regrets signing the petition.
Beauty Salon in
New Cleveland Mikveh
CLEVELAND (JTA)—A mod
ern beauty salon will be a feature
of a new “community ritularium”
or mikveh now under construc
tion in Cleveland Heights. The
edifice, being erected by the Mik
veh Association which includes
the Orthodox raibbinal and other
associations, will'have four mik-
vehs, eight dressing rooms, the
beauty salon and off-street park
ing in the rear of the building.