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The Southern Israelite
A Weekly N~ *-*>*ner for Southern Jewry
— arsT
OUR NEW ADDRESS
627Vi Peachtree St., N. E.
Atlanta 3, Ga.
New Phone: Elgin 8249
VOl. XXVIII
PANORAMA by David Schwartz
YOMKIPPUR
Yom Kippur is a solemn and
even awesome Holy Day. We fast
on it and that in itself is enough to
make it awesome. When we Jews
fast, there is no monkey business.
Yes, Yom Kippur is on the ser
ious side very decidedly - and yet
it is a pleasant day withal. In an
cient days in Jerusalem, it ,was
you might say, the market day for
wives. The girls all got dressed up
and danced and called upon the
men to pick their mates. Nowa
days, we are not so open about
these things. Maybe now after Mr.
Kinsey, such a frank procedure
may return to fashion.
But even now everybody gets
dressed up in his and her best and
comes to the synagogue and every
boy has an excellent chance to
meet the girl. The synagogue ser
vice has always been flexible en
ough for these auxiliary ends.
The old gag about the policeman
saying to the man going into the
synagogue without a ticket, “If I
catch you praying I’ll run you in”
is very much of a gag. Conversa
tion is just as much one of the
ends of synagogue attendance as
prayer. At least, as a youngster I
remember, as many people were
usually found talking outside of
the synagogue as praying inside
and it seems to me it’s a good idea
t o alternate conversation with
prayer. Maybe the Lord too appre
ciates a little respite from being
prayed to.
I think the times are with Yom
Kippur. There is such a thing as
the times going against holiday.
Some years back, it might have
been thought that this would ap
ply to Yom KiKppur, but it seems
instead to acquire strength. It’s
very rigor seems to have some
thing in its favor now.
Take this very thing of fasting.
Fasting has become something of
a vogue. It is the exceptional per
son today who is not on some sort
of a diet. Yom Kippur thus gives
one a chance to lose a couple of
pounds and be religious at the
same time. We can acquire more
graceful figures and more grace
ful souls at one and the same time.
The one may lead to the other.
Most people are not concerned
about having graceful souls. If
their figure is all right, they are
willing to take a chance with their
souls. The rabbis of course were
more concerned with the inner
man - with the soul - and pro
bably in the end they will be pro
ven right. The Kitzker rebbe ex
plained why we fast.
“It is a fact of nature,” he said,
“that weakness precedes strength.
Man himself at birth is the weak
est of all physical creatures, yet
he has become master of the earth.
We fast to gain the weakness in
order to attain the strength which
follows it.”
We beat our breasts on Yom
Kippur and make no bones about
baring all of our sins. “We have
sinned, we have falsified, we have
robbed, we have perpetrated
every wickedness.” Think of a
man confessing to having robbed,
and yet we all say that on Yom
trlnu
3ER 18, 1953
No. 38
a, Eisendrath Hit
Red-Label Of Wise, Magnes
NEW YORK (JTA)—Dr. Israel
Goldstein, president of the Ameri
can Jewish Congress, and Rabbi
Maurice N. Eisendrath, president
of the Union of American Hebrew
Congregations ,in a joint state-
noun, “we,” that is used. Judaism
seems to assume that there is very
little of private individual guilt.
We are all equally guilty in the
democracy of sin. It assumes that
in one way or another every man
has sinned in about the same way.
It is a sound assumption.
Who has not been moved by
Yom Kippur’s Kol Nidre? It seems
to me that in the litany of religion,
Kol Nidre stands almost supreme
in sounding the majesty of the Di
vine Presence before whom we
stand on this sacred day. Yet it
was at Kol Nidre time that one of
the greatest of Jewish rabbis arose
in his pulpit and “commanded”
God to “give a good year to his
people.” In the mouth of another,
it would have appeared as blasp
hemy, but coming from him, it re-
Kippur. It is an awful thing to say, | fleeted rather the depth of his
it would seem, yet even this some- | feeling of utter intimacy with the
how does not appear so terrible Divine Father of creation, the
for it is always the plural pro- acme of the religious feeling!
ment, this week castigated
House Committee on Un-Ameri
can Activities for having “per
mitted the publication of the fan
tastic charges of ex-Communist
leader (Benjamin) Git low"
again the late Rabbi Stephen S.
Wise, world-renowned leader of
the AJC and the World Jewish
Congress, and the late Dr. Judah
L. Magnes, president of the He
brew University in Jerusalem.
Both men had been spiritual lead
er osf Reform congregations in the
United Sttaes.
Gitlow testified that both men
were among a number of clergy
men “who carried out the instruc
tions of the Communist Party or
collaborated with it.”
The joint statement by Drs.
the Goldstein and Eisendrath pointed
out that the two late Jewish lead
ers “were hailed the world over
as among the most independent,
courageous and moral figures of .
our generation.” It added: “To
charge them with having taken
instruction from the Communist
Party and having collaborated
with it is a contemptible and vile
desecration of two of the most
noble and revered names in Amer
ican Jewish history.”
The statement also expressed
the “hope that this climactic re
velation of the irresponsible char
acter of the Committee’s proce
dures will move the American
people to action in defense of their
liberties.”
Republican, Democratic Parties
Greet U.S. Jews On New Year
WASHINGTON (JTA) — In
Rosh Hashonah messages issued
to the Jews of America by the
Democratic and Republican Na
tional Committees, the role played
by the Jews of the world in the
continuing struggle for peace and
freedom and the specific part of
the young State of Israel in this
drama were underlined.
The Republican Party’s mes
sage, issued by Leonard W. Hall,
chairman of the party’s national more
AL CHET
Guest Editorial
And these are the sins, Oh, Lord, which we, the Jewish Com
munity, pray Thy indulgence and Thy forgiveness for the coming
year:
For the sin of arrogance, in believing that if the problems
of the Jewish community were solved that the problems of all
.humanity were solved;
For the sin of believing that the problem of the Jewish com
munity has no bearing on the problems of all humanity;
For the sin of believing that the State of Israel is the end-all,
and the be-all of Jewish survival;
For the sin of believing that the State of Israel had nothing
to do with survival of Jewish life;
For the sin of holding back our contributions to the United
Jewish Welfare Fund because our “pet charities'’ did not receive
enough;
For the sin of not contributing to our pet charities hoping
that the United Jewish Welfare Fund would carry the whole
burden;
For the sin of unthinkingly acceding to the idea that we should
keep our collective mouths shut when a Jew is accused of being
a communist, even if definite proof is not made;
For the sin of keeping our mouths shut in denouncing those
who are of the subversive tribe, whether they are Jews or not;
For the sin of keeping our mouths shut even if we didn t know
whether those who were accused were really of the subversive
stripe;
For the sin of keeping silent where democracy was attacked;
and for the sin of keeping silent because we were afraid to attack
those who used anti-Semitism or anti-democracy as a defense for
totalitarianism.
For all these sins, do we as members of the Jewish Community
repent and ask Thy forgiveness and understanding love.
’ —B’NAI R’RITH MESSENGER
Los Angeles, Calif.
committee, read:
“On behalf of the Republican
National Committee, I send greet
ings to the Jewish people of
America on the occasion of Rosh
Hashonah and the New Year of
5714. When Jews the world over
pray for peace, for justice, and for
freedom, the people of all peace
loving nations join them in fer
vent hope that their prayers be
heeded and that the coming year
will witness the beginnings of a
tranquil world. Americans
are grateful for the many contri
butions the Jewish people have
made toward our Country’s great
ness.
“In the age old struggle for the
rights of man and for the freedom
of nations, the Jewish people have
always played a prominent part.
We all hope that the Jewish peo-
(Continued on page 10)
Torah for Post’s Arson Victims
Rabbi Harry H. Epstein is
shown turning over a Torah which
his Congregation Ahavath Achim
is lending to Jewish soldiers at
Camp Gordon near Augusta. In
the picture are Leon Goldberg,
Atlanta, regional USO-JWB field
representative who arranged the
loan and Chaplain Major William
C. Taggart who personally escort
ed the religious Torah to Camp
Gordon. The Jewish chapel and
all its contents, in readiness for
Rosh Hashonah had burned to the
ground on September 5. Au
thorities later announced that
Pvt. Jack L. Polliard of Port Hay
wood, Va., had confessed setting
fire to the Jewish and Catholic
Chapels and a classroom. Damage
was set at $65,000. Polliard’s
records shows a previous military
court conviction for larceny of
government property and being
AWOL.
S.O.SSentOutforOvernight Hospitality
for Servicemen in Atlanta for Yom Kippur
An urgent appeal for overnight
hospitality for servicemen in At
lanta for Yom Kippur has been is
sued by Herbert R. Elsas, general
chairman of the JWB-Armed Ser
vices Committee.
Mr. Elsas stated that late mi
nute developments indicate that
ire than 200 men alone will
come from Camp Gorden, near
Augusta. This group had already
paid for private transportation to
Atlanta with an almost equal
number wanting to come and not
having transportation. Many
might use other means to reach
Atlanta.
It was anticipated than an add
itional hundred or so, at least,
would make the trip to Atlanta
It is requested that Atlantans
able to take care of the service
men come by the Jewish Commu
nity Center with their cars late
Friday afternoon and pick up the
men. Though Mrs. Frank Garson is
in charge of registering homes,
Friday will be late and it will
simplify matters if would-be hosts
would just come by for the men
available.
The soldiers will begin register
ing around 1 p. m. and continue to
5 p. m. The Augusta group cannot
leave the post however until 12:30
p. m. and it should take a mini
mum of four hours for the trip.
They were not scheduled to take
time to eat before leaving.
For the 1952 holidays, the Camp
Gordon contingent came in a con
voy and when one bus broke down
the entire group was held up for
several hours. When finally they
arrived it was too late to get to
private homes in time. Buses this
year will travel independently.
They should arrive between 4 and
5 p.m.
iEach of the congregations in
Atlanta is accommodating mem
bers of the Armed Fbrces at reli
gious services.
Following the Yom Kippur ser
vices, there will be a special re
past meal for servicemen
through the compliments of the
Atlanta JWB-Armed Services
Committee. Later that evening, a
USO-JWB dance will be held at
the Temple, in cooperation with
the Atlanta Jewish Community
Center. On Sunday, the service
men will be guest of a USO-JWB
Matinee Dance at the Progressive
Club with the Goldie Myerson
Chapter of Pioneer Women serv
ing as hostesses.
It was revealed that about 50
men from Camp Gordon will go to
Savannah and another 300 will be
guests at Augusta homes. Around
150 have been unable to make ar-
rangenjnts as late as Tuesday.
Servicemen from Anniston, Fort.
Benning and other installations
were expected to be in Atlanta for
the weekend hospitality, if avail
able. \