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THt SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
The Southern Israelite
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GUSTAV OEKNHEIMER MARGARET MERRY MAN
{ MEMBERS OF ADVISORY BOARD
Mayer Balter Hyman Jacobs Berry Rittehboum
Sol Bonamy Edward Krick Meyer Rosenberg
Dr. Nathan Blau Sam levy Phil Schwarts
Dr. Jack Bleich Inring libowtky Dave Sionn
Joe Cohen Thomat Makover Horry Spitier
Reuben Cohen Ben Mattell A. D. Srochi
Prank Gorton Barney Medintt Kalman Sunshine
Abe Goldberg Hyman Morrit Arthur Wain
Dr. Irving Goldstein Eugene Oberdortar Som Weinberg
Horry Horriton Gustav Oppanheimer Poul Wolkin
PANORAMA by David Schwartz
He Wrote a Chapter of The Bible
OEMS from our III HU:
Whoso keepcth the commandment shall feel no evil things and
d wise man’s heart discerneth both time and judgment— Eccl. 8:5
a a a
And the desolate land shall he tilled, whereas it lay desolate in ,
ihe sight of all that passed hip And they shall say, This land that
was desolate is become like the garden of Eden. —Eztk. 36:34, 35
a a a
Behold the Lord Cod will help me; who is he that shall con
demn me? —Isa. 50:9
BETWEEN US by Boris Smolor
Mission to Germany
1 wonder whether the three of
ficials of the Anti-Defamation
League of B'nai B'rith have done
the right thing by going to Ger
many as the guests of the Bonn
Government. The ADI, has never
engaged in combatting anti- Semi-
tiem in Germany or for this matter
in any other European country.
This has been the work of other
Jewish organizations. And these
organizations have — after the fall
Cl the Nazi regime — sent their
tepresentatives to Germany on
more than one occasion to study
the situation there. Never have
tusk representatives gone there,
liowever, as guests of the West
German Government. This is true
with regard to the World Jewish
Congress, the American Jewish
Committee, the Board of Deputies
•1 British Jews and other Jewish
groups engaged in watching the
international scene.
Why the ADL, whose activities
are after all limited to the Ameri
can scene, should lend its officials
to Germany as guests of the Ger
man Government wil be a puzzle
to many Jews in this country, in
cluding members of the B’nai
B’rith. The ADL has sufficient
funds to finance an independent
trip of its officials to Germany, if
it wishes to study the extent to
which anti-Semitism is still pre
valent there. But when it sends
them as the guests of the German
Government it risks prejudicing
in advance the opinion about their
findings. It stands to reason that
the ADL should be the last to send
its officials as guests of any gov
ernment .
The president of the Synagogue
Council of America is the only Jew
who so far has visited West Ger
many as the guest of the Bonn
Government. But in his case, he
was part of a Christian-Jewish re
ligious delegation which was in
vited by Germany to study re
ligious affairs. And even his trip
did not please many Jews.
It is one thing when a Jewish
group sends a mission to Germany
to study some aspect of Jewish
■ft there, and it is quite a differ
ent thing when the members of the
mission go as the guests of the
German Government.
NEW AMBASSADOR
American Jewish organizations
are being criticized in Israel for
the fact that their leaders and
delegations rarely patronize El-
A1 Israel Airlines when flying to
Israel. On the other hand, these
organizations urge strong Ameri
can Jewish support of Israel’s
economy, while on the other hand
they themselves use airlines other
than El-Al which is part of Is
rael’s economy.
The inconsistency is especially
noticeable with regard to Zionist
groups which go out of their way
to adopt resolutions pledging
themselves to help Israel’s eco
nomic development. Personally, on
my recent trip to Israel, I tried
three separate airlines. I flow from
New York to Newfoundland on an
El-Al plane. From Newfoundland
to London l proceeded on an
American plane. And from London
to Israel I made my way via Italy
and Germany on a British plane.
I must say that I found the El-
Al plane more comfortable than
cither of the other planes. The
scats were wider, the food better,
and the atmosphere very Jewish
and homelike. The crew was com
posed of Israelis, but the pilot was
an American of many years flight
experience.
It seems that despite the fact
that Jewish organizations do not
make it their duty to send dele
gations via El-Al planes, the aver-
Israel as a visitor does patronize
age American Jew who flies to
the Israel airline. This is borne
out by the fact that one cannot al
ways get a seat on an El-AI plane
unless he makes reservations well
in advance. Tens of thousands of
American Jewish tourists are ex
pected to fly this summer to Is
rael, and for many of them reser
vations have already been made
with El-Al by various traveling
agencies.
ISRAEL'S VOICE
Who will be the next U. S. Am
! bassador to Israel? This question
is now a matter of much specula-
of the major questions in which
tion in Washington. It is also one
Israel is directly interested in. Is-
: rael is, of course, not in a position
to influence in any way the State
; Department’s choice of an envoy
: to succeed the late U. S. Ambassa
dor Monnet Davis. However, it is
known that Israel would like that
the new Ambassador not be a Jew,
! since this would complicate mat
ters. A career diplomat, like the
the best choice from the point of
view of the average man in Israel,
late Ambassador Davis, would be
Washington is, for the time be
ing, mum on whom the State De
partment intends to send to Tel
Aviv. And it is assumed that no
candidate will be announced until
the internal situation in the Arab
countries neighboring on Israel is
cleared up. The recent revolutions
■ in the Arab countries have given
Yale University In conjunction
with the American Philosophicnl
Society of Philadelphia, hoc an
nounced a 15-year project foe
gathering all there is to know a-
bout Benjamin Franklin.
Now that we are celebrating
this year the 300th anniversary
of American Jewish settlement, it
might be worth while to look into
the Jewish aspects of Franklin.
It is not generally known for
instance that the Pennsylvania
Gazette, Franklin’s paper, at the
time of the ratification of the Con
stitution, made especial mention
of the fact that “the rabbi of the
Jews marched arm in arm” with
the Christian ministers and em
phasized the fact that the intent
of the Constitution was to bring
about such things.
Another phase of Frankllnanla
which should be of special interest
to Jews is the fact that he once
wrote a chapter of the Bible.
There are people of course who
will say this is impossible. The
Bible dates back some three
thousand years and Franklin lived
less than 200 years ago. How could
Franklin write anything in the
Bible? they ask.
But people who argue so are
simply following the old Euclidean
logic which Einstein has shown to
be fallacious. A great scientist like
Franklin would have no difficulty
at all in reaching back three
thousand or five thousand years
in the dimension of time.
The piece of the Bible which
Franklin wrote deals with Abra
ham.
How, it will be asked, can you
make sure that it is really a piece
of the Bible?
My answer is—if a thing looks
like an orange and it tastes like
an orange, then it is an orange. If*
not a pickle. And the story which
Franklin wrote appeared in the
Bible—in the Book of Genesis and
it tastes and looks like the Bible.
It is a very simple story. Abra
ham, famous for his hospitality,
invites a wayfarer to his tent. In
the course of the evening, he dis-
that his guest is an ldolator ously to scientific development
and he gives him the haave-ho—he
ejects him from his home. In the
at the night, God appears stove and bifocal lenses. Ha con*
to Abraham and rebukes him.
“Abraham, Abraham,” says God,
“I have stood for this man all of
his life and you cannot abide him
for one evening.”
It is a plea for tolerance. An ar
ticle in which it seems there la
eternally a shortage. Men seem
unable to tolerate those who have
different Gods than their own. Al
most all of the dissension—the
race hatred, the pogroms, the wars
—all are caused by the lack of this
most precious quality.
Whenever some bigot came into
He discovered the basic laws «f
electricity. He invented a new
tributed much to the success of
the American Revolution, but bla
greatest gift was in the example
he set in himself—his simplicity,
his humaneness, his tolerance.
German Supply
Of Telephones
For Israel
COLOGNE (JTA) — A contract
for $3,500,000 worth of telephone
and teletype equipment was signed
this week in the offices of Dr. F.
Franklin’s shop mouthing his e. Shinnar, head of the Israel pur-
prejudices, Franklin would take ! chasing mission in Germany. The
down his Bible and point to the , contract obligates German manu-
last chapter of Genesis which con- facturers to supply a variety of
tained this story. The man would
read it and likely remark, •'Well,
well, I don’t recall reading it be
fore." After he would leave,
Franklin would chuckle to him
self.
Of course, it may be that what
Franklin did was to simply write
this story about Abraham and be
ing a printer, have it bound in his
Bible as the last chapter of Genesis
In fact, according to Franklin
himself, that is what he did. He
says he found this old Jewish
rabbinic legend and it pleased him
very much. He rewrote it in Bibli
cal style. His imitation of Biblical
style was very good.
equipment, including electronic
devices, as reparation goods to Is
rael.
The materials will be used to
install automatic interurban tele
phone exchanges in Israel’s central
sector, as well as to tie in the
most far-flung of Israel’s settle-
telephone network. The initial
ments with the main centers ef
population and defense by a radio
automatic exchanges will be set
up in the area between Tel Aviv
and Acre, including the Haifa in
dustrial and port zone.
The teletype machines will en
able business firms in Tel Aviv,
Jaffa, Jerusalem, Beersheba and
the State Department much food
for thought. They have proven be
yond doubt the instability of some
of the Arab countries as compared
with the stable internal situation
in Israel. On the other hand they
strengthened the position of those
in Washington who advocate the
merger of Iraq with Syria and
Jordan. Israel very strongly op
poses such a merger.
The new American Ambassador
to Israel—whoever he is—will
have to be a person able to medi
ate. The American Government
seems bent on carrying out its Jor
dan Valley Authority plan which
affects Israel and Syria. Syria is
opposed to this plan. Israel did not
say “no” to the project, but neither
did it say “yes.” There will still be
a good deal of negotiations with
Israel about this plan as well as
about other aspects of the Middle
East situation in which the U. S.
Government is interested. Thus,
the choice of an American Am
bassador to Israel at the present
moment is a very important matter
for the State Department.
And that is how it came about Tiberias to conduct business trana-
that there was this 51st chapter actions over the wires, for the firat
of Genesis—one which we need to time in Israel. The machines will
read with particular care today, be owned by the Post Office, whick
Benjamin Franklin was great in wil] rent them to Individual user*
many ways. He contributed enorm- 1 on a monthly fee basis.
QUIZ BOX by Rabbi S. J. Fox
Thirteen Months This Year
Question: Why are there 13
months in the Jewish Calendar
this year?
Answer: The Jewish calendar
year is a lunar year. That means
that it is calculated according to
the revolutions of the moon around
the earth. Therefore, the months ;
are of 29 and one-half days dura
tion. The Solar year, which is
reckoned according to the earth’s
revolutions around the sun, has
months usually either 30 or 31
days in length.
In comparison to the solar year,
then, there is a shortage of 11 days
in the Hebrew calendar each year.
It is necessary to equalize this dif
ference so that the Passover al
ways falls in the spring time.
Otherwise Passover would fall
back 11 days each year and thus
come out in different seasons at
different years. To prevent this,
an additional month of 30 days Is
added to the Hebrew calendar
seven times in 19 years.
Thus, for example in a cycle of
19 years, the third, sixth, eighth,
eleventh, fourteenth, seventeenth
and nineteenth years, respectively,
are the years in which the extra
month is added to equalize the two
calendar systems. As complicated
as this reems this lunar system ef
the Hebrew calendar has proves
more accurate than that of our
secular Gregorian Calendar whick
has already been adjusted because
of apparent inaccuracy.
a a a
Question: Why is it that the ex
tra month is added to the Montk
of Adar and called Adar II, instead
of any other month?
Answer: It has already been in-
uicated that one of the prime
reasons for adjusting the calendar
is the Passover holiday whick
must fall in a certain season. Adar
is the last month before the spring
month of Nisan in which the Pass-
over festival falls. Also, there is e
motive of adherence to the words
of Scripture in which it is written
id the Book of Esther that Adar is
the twelfth month. Since the Bib
lical system of numbering the
months begins with Nisan, adding
a month to any other month would
make Adar the thirteenth month
instead of the twelfth, as the first
Adar is in the case of every leap
year. Also, the other months,
some of which are numbered ac
cording to their sequence after
Nisan would also retain their origi
nal number. Thus Tishri would
always be the seventh month, etc.
♦PASSOVER
April 18, Sunday
(First Day)
April 25, Sunday
(Eighth Day)
June 7, Monday
•SHAVUOT
(First Day)
September 28, Monday
•Rosh Hashonah
(First Day)