Newspaper Page Text
Foge
THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
The Southern Israelite
Published Weekly by Southern Newspaper Enterprise!, 627Vi Peachtree St., N. E., Atlanta
S, Georgia. Elgin 1249, Elgin *240. Entered at second dost matter ot the post office, At
lanta, Georgia, under the Act of March 3, 1179. Yearly subscription three dollars. The
Southern Israelite invites literary contributions and correspondence but it not to be con-
e.dered at sharing the views expressed by writers. DEADLINE it 12:30 9. M., TUESDAY but
•neteriol received eorlier will have a much better chance of publication.
Member, American Attociafton of fnglith-Jew/sh Newspapers
Asfeiph totenberc. Editor end PtiM/eher
Meyer Salter
Sol Senamy
Dr. Nathan Host
Dr. Jack llelch
Jea Cohen
•euben Cohen
fnonk Gorton
Jibe Oaldbern
Dr. Irving Goldstein
Horry Harrison
ADVEITISING DEPARTMENT
Gustav Opponheimor Margaret Merryman
n 104“
MCMSERS OP ADVISORY SOARD
Hyman Jacobs
Edward Krick
Sam levy
Irving libewiky
Thomas Makever
Sen Mattel!
Barney Medlntx
Hyman Morris
Eugene Oberdorftr
Gustav Oppenheimer
Sorry Rlttenbaons
Meyer Rosenberg
Hill Schworti
Dave Slann
Harry Spltxer
A. D. Srochl
Kalman Sunshine
Arthur Welte
Sam Weinberg
Paul Wolkin
COME TO THE SYNAGOGUE SERVICES!
Guest Editorial
W<* "missed” you in services last week.
Maybe you were tired. Your religion and your Temple is
never tired when you need it.
Maybe you were weary? Suppose your God was weary when
you needed him!
Maybe you were cold. Many of you weren’t too cold to en
joy the football game Saturday afternoon, now were you? Need
1 say more.
We hope you will "return to the fold” this week and how
about some of you whom we haven’t seen lately? Remember the
words of the Psalmist, “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the
Lord and sing praises to Thy name, O Most High.” Why not make
this a reality this Friday night.
' —RABBI MEYER H. MARX
Temple Beth El. Knoxville.
IN DARKEST NEW YORK
Figures presented elsewhere in this issue about the status of
Jewish education in New York are startling and cause for national
alarm among this nation's |ewrv. A community which by self
appointment considers itself the leader of this country has such
a bleak record, a survey reveals, in the field of Jewish education
that the inequities in Southern racial education are insignificant
in comparison.
Seventy-two per cent of all Jewish children in New York
receive no Jewish education whatsoever, the study shows. A
tad commentary indeed in Jewish annals, ranking in significance
With such historic tragedies as programs and mass expulsions.
Columnist Smolar hints that similar neglect could be found
•Isewhere. We doubt this though we are in no position to speak
for any other section besides the South.
We are proud and happy to report that whatever the bleak
picture in Jewish education in New York and perhaps elsewhere,
though we suspect the case, bad enough, is wn isolated instance,
the South has not neglected the Jewish education of our children.
Indeed the reverse is true. Considerable and intelligent emphasis
has been given to this important communal function and the
evidence pours in of intensified interest and concentration on im
proving educational techniques and facilities. Several significent
Bureaus of Jewish Education have come into existence within
recent years and there is every indication that the increasing num
ber of Jewish children will be educated in the faith of their fa
thers—and probably to a greater extent.
New York's dark picture furnishes great cause for alarm and
American Jewry in other sections may well regard the situation as
a source of great concern and danger, requiring the same atten
tion we devote to alleviating conditions overseas or combatting
anti-Semitism on the home scene.
iW l' * A A AAA A A V A A A k k 4.
THRIFT [
CORNER
BROAD AT WALTON *
•HANUKKAH
Dec. 2, Wednesday
(First Day)
Dec. 9, Wednesday
(Eighth Day)
♦PURIM
March 19, Friday
♦PASSOVER
April 18, Sunday
•HOLIDAYS BEGIN
PREVIOUS EVENING
PANORAMA by David Schwartz
A Thanksgiving Story
This is a true Thanksgiving
story—the story of Petach Tikvah
in Israel.
Petack Tikvah was the first of
the Jewish agricultural colonies in
Israel. It is now celebrating its
75th anniversary. Jewish develop
ment in Israel begins with it.
Words seem pale in telling this
story. It needs to be sung to opera,
but I shall try to tell it.
Petach Tikvah in English means
“Hope’s Door” or “Hope Gate.”
How did it get its name?
It was in the late seventies that
some religious Jews in Jerusalem
decided to do something more
than pray. They would become the
complete Jews of their an cestors,
who worshipped in the Temple
but also tilled the soil. The Jew
ish historian, Josephus, in fact,
apologized to the Romans for the
fact that his brethren in Israel
were simple husbandmen — plain
tillers of the soil.
These Jews in 1878 had difficul
ty in getting a piece of land. The
Turks ,who were in control at the
time, were willing that Jews
should come to Palestine and pray.
Praying only filled the air. But
the land, that was another mat
ter. The Turks didn’t want any
Jews owning any land and the
Arabs were also averse to selling
them any. The temptation of get
ting some good Jewish money
however, proved too strong and
they did sell these Jerusalem Jews
some land near the Yarkon river.
It was very swampy, full .of
malaria. The Arabs knew better
than to settle there themselves, so
they sold the Jerusalem Jews this
land and the Jews were very
happy. They opened their Bibles
and read, “And 1 will give her
vineyards from there and the
Valley of Affliction for a Door of
Hope.” So they gave the settle
ment the name of the Door of
Hope—or Petach Tikvah.
The Jews brought to the settle
ment a certain Greek physician
who was regarded as the c h i e t
authority on Palestine climate and
hygiene. They followed him as he
went up on a hill in the highest
part of the land and began to look
upward. They did not know what
to make of it as he looked and
looked, turning his head this way
and that—always at the sky above.
Finally, he spoke, “My friends,”
he said, “I have waited these many
minutes looking at the sky above
—looking for birds.
“Looking for birds!" exclaimed
one Jew, “we did not hire you as
a bird expert. What about the
land?”
very strongest in the settlement
were the most affected. Men were
reduced to wrecks.
“And the Valley of Affliction
for a Door of Hope!” What a
mockery to call the place, the
Gate of Hope. The Valley of Af
fliction was its right name.
Zera Barnett, one of the pi
oneers, had an English born wife.
She said to him: “My husband, I
love you but if you insist on stay
ing here, 1 shall demand a divorce
and leave you.” And she insisted
that he go with her to Rabbi Sam
uel Salant, of sainted memory, to
give her a divorce.
The Rabbi suggested that in
view of his wife’s demand, it was
proper that he give her a divorce.
"Rabbi,” said Barnett, “I shall
not give her a divorce, it is im
possible for me to give her a di
vorce — it’s against the Jewish
law.”
“How so?" asked Rabbi Salant,
knowing well the liberality of the
Jewish divorce laws.
“In Jerusalem they call all of
us at Petach Tikvah madmen agd
according to Jewish law, a divorce
given by a crazy man is null and
void,” replied Barnett.
Rabbi Salant smiled. He ad
mitted he had no come hack to
that.
After the malaria, came crop
failure. After the crop faiure came
the floods which drowned them
out. To add to their troubles, there
were the Bedouin marauders.
Once the marauders came on the
Sabbath and it presented a spe
cial problem. The attack came
while the Jews were at religious
services. Jehoshua Stamper took
off his talith and called out, “the
issue of survival overrides the san
ctity of the Sabbath.” All the pray
ing Jews went out and got their
guns.
One day, a man looking like a
Bedouin, riding on a beautiful
white horse, dismounted at Petach
Tikvah. “Shalom Aleichem,” he
said. “Aleichem Shalom,” he set
tlers responded. “Shema Yisrael,
Adonai Elohenu Adonai Echad,”
he went on. The Jews were puz
zled. The man said that he was a
Jew belonging to a wandering
Jewish Bedouin group of the Sinai
Desert. Someone had stolen his
fine white horse and he had vow
ed that if he recovered it, he
would offer prayers at the Wailing
Wall. In Jerusalem, a Sheik had
told him that there were people of
his religion working the land. This
explained his visit. He agreed to
remain as head watchman for a
and they chose Abraham Kopel-
man, one of the colonists who al
ways managed to smile in the
midst of trouble, to go to Europe
to enlist support.
The whoppers that Kopelman
would tell! The watermelons were
so big, he would say, that a half
of one watermelon would suffice
for a whole family’s daily food and
of the other half—the rind alone
would make a boat in which the
family could sail on the Yarkon.
When a European Jew, deciding
to move to the Holy Land, asked
whether he should take his top
hat along, Kopelman advised him
strongly against it, warning him
that it would be spoiled by the
honey dripping everywhere from
the trees.
Kopelman died only a few years
back at 'the ripe ago of 103. Just
before his death, he asked that he
be not buried among the notables
of the villages but “near the wine
cellers where they make the drinks
that cheer the heart of man.”
Made up of such people as
Kopelman, the Valley of Afflic
tion turned into a veritable Gate
of Hope. Through that gate were
to come many thousands.
Today Petach Tikvah counts a
population of 75,000. This includes
25,000 immigrants who have
settled there since the establish
ment of the State. The once agri
cultural colony is now a mixed
farming and industrial settlement.
The recent newcomers have been
given employmnt in a tannry and
textile factories, set up with pro
ceeds from the Israel bond drive.
The Valley of Affliction turned
into a Gate of Hope! What better
Thanksgiving story could there be
than this!
“I am coming to that,” said the; year. He taught the Jews how to
I Greek doctor. “If you want to j deal with the Bedouins. He ate
judge the land—look fos the birds, only one meal a day and drank
On the land below are thousands! water drop by drop. To a man
of worms and other insects and used to the.desert thirst, water is
ART Theatre Starts
Wednesday, Nov. 25
THE MOST MAGNIFICENT
MUSICAL SPECTACLE
y OF THEM All!
HORIZON PKTUKS pm-i
*pa#Uce
MUNSEL
vegetable life on which birds
might well banquet, but the in
stinct of the birds is sound. They
know this land is unhealthy.”
Yehoshua Stamper, a leader of
the group, had been a student in
as precious as champagne. He rode
about armed only with a sharp
sword and long lance. He dis
dained to use firearms. Even a
woman, he said, could fight with
a pistol.
SLR DOYD. See'jr At*. H
«*«*««**«*«**«««****++«*
* n
* We Specialize in J
I HAND CLEANING *
J Keep Neat and Trim With *
| \ Polly Prim j
® • Cleaners and Launderers -*■
ELgin 7495
996 Va. Ave. at Highland
Rubo libewiky Goorgia D. Alexander
*»»*»»»»*****»**»»*»»»»*
Rumania. One day, just before; Slowly things began to pick up.
dawn, he rose, took a map of If the colonists could get a little
Palestine and another of Europe outside aid, they could do better
and Asia and started walking to
Palestine. It had taken him six
months to walk to Palestine. With!
the exception of a very small!
stretch he had walked all the way. j
What could men with such dog-;
gedness do when the doctor fills 1
their minds with foreboding about !
the site of their settlement? There:
was only one thing to do. They'
erected tents and mud huts and j
began to till the land.
Malaria came and it seemed the!
a
TECHNICOLOR #■
fttlustd thru VhltD ARTISTS
Wagstaff Motor
COMPANY, INC.
878 SPRING, N. W.
at Eighth
• PLYMOUTH
• DESOTO
DISTRIBUTORS
Automobiles — and
Parts Wholesalers
dale
LAmar 5226
In Birmingham visit
In Montgomery visit
CELLAR RESTAURANT
PEACHTREE AND IVY STREETS
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
clolg^e CELLAR RESTAURANT, 1927 - 7th Aver.e North
PENTHOUSE RESTAURANT, Atop Walter E r ccg Smith Apts.