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The Southern Isr** .life
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern 1
VOL. xxx
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, IVL
1925
Q0O *
NO. 20
Jewish Press Group Reelects
Southern Israelite’s Editor
Festival Of Shavuot
WALTHAM, MASS — Meeting
at Brandeis University for its
thirteenth annual convention, the
American Association of English-
Jewish Newspapers on Friday af
ternoon elected Jacques Back,
editor and publisher of the Jew
ish Observer, Nashville, as presi
dent, to succeed Fred Shochet, ed
itor of the Jewish Floridian, Mi
ami.
The election took place at a
luncheon at which Dr. Abram L.
Sachar, president of Brandeis
University, was host to the visit
ing editors and publishers.
Others elected include: vice
presidents, Leo H. Frisch, Minne-
apolis-St. Paul; Arthur Weyne,
Philadelphia; Joseph Weisberg,
Boston; secretary, Adolph Rosen
berg, Atlanta; treasurer, Abe Sla-
bot, New Orleans; members of
the executive board, Elias Jacobs,
Buffalo; Morris Janoff, Jersey
City; Meyer Keleman Los Angel
es; Sam Neusner, Hartford; Sam
Schmidt, Cincinnati; Fred Sochet,
Miami; Philip Slomovitz, Detroit;
Albert Golomb, Pittsburgh; Jack
Fishbein, Chicago; Sarah Singer,
Atlantic City.
The publishers and editors
adopted a warm resolution com
mending the Jewish Telegraphic
Agency for its progressive efforts
to advance the standards of Jew
ish journalism. Victor Bienstock,
general manager, and Boris Smo-
lar, editor, of JTA, were warmly
applauded for their efforts to ex
tend news coverage of the agency
and to improve its feature serv
ice. /
The delegates “pledged anew
their sympathetic support to Is
rael, to the end that the young
state should win the peace and
grow from strength to strength,”
and protested against the arming
of the Arab state to Israel’s det
riment.
Other resolutions expressed the
association’s appreciation to
Brandeis University for its hos
pitality and to Joseph Weisberg
and Ben Bartoff, of the Boston
Jewish Advocate, for making the
convention arrangements.
Important convention decisions
provided for the following inno
vations in the English-Jewish
publishing field:
1. Institution of annual awards
to English-Jewish newspapers ad
judged (a) publishing the best-
written non-syndicated news sto
ry of the year; (b) the paper pub
lishing the editorial adjudged the
best-written of the year and (c)
the papers adjudged the best of
the year typographically in the
tabloid full-sized and magazine
formats.
2. Establishment of a Seminar
on Jewish Journalism, presidents
and publicity directors of all na
tional Jewish organizations to be
invited to participate in discus
sions of the place of the English-
Jewish press in American life and
the relation to them of the na
tional Jewish organizations.
In his address to the convention
delegates, Dr. Sachar revealed
that Brandeis University is the
only school of higher learning in
the country whose student body
On the fiftieth day of the Omer,
seven weeks from the second day
of Passover, corresponding to the
sixth day of the Hebrew month
of Sivan, the Festival of Shavuot
is observed. It is celebrated for
two days by Orthodox and Con
servative Jews, one day by Re
form Jews and the Jews of Israel.
The character and meaning of
the Festival of Shavuot is clearly
expressed in the various names
is on record as having selected
Hebrew as a major subject of
study — second only to French.
He announced that the coming
year’s freshman class of 300 will
be selected out of 2,600 applic
ants.
Dr. Sachar also announced that
Brandeis University has purchas
ed a large tract of land to assure
‘development for the next 100 or
200 years.” The graduate school
will proliferate here, he added.
“We are only at the beginning of
our efforts, but we are confident
that we will be making great con
tributions to Jewish learning
through our excellent Judaic de
partment and to American cul
ture.”
Several of the major conven
tion sessions were held at the
Sheraton Plaza Hotel, Boston. A
dinner in honor of the delegates
was given at the Belmont Coun
try Club, Boston, Saturday night.
by which it is known.
It is, “Chag Shavuot” — Feast
of Weeks. This holiday is observ
ed exactly seven weeks after
Passover. It is the Feast of “Pen-
teecost” — The Feast of the Fif
tieth day. The Festival is so des
ignated because the Greek word,
“Pentacost” means fiftieth, and
the holiday comes on the fiftieth
day after Passover.
Shavuot is “Chag Hakatzir” —
The Feast of the Harvest. In
Palestine the grain harvest lasted
for seven weeks and was a season
of great rejoicing. It began with
the barley harvest of Passover
and ended with the wheat har
vest of Shavuot. To recall this
ancient agricultural life in Pales
tine, the synagogues and the
homes are adorned with branches
and flowers. Also, in the syna
gogue, the Book of Ruth is read.
Closely associated with the
Feast of Harvest is the “Yom Ha-
bikkurim” — the day of the First
Fruits. Shavuot was one of the
three pilgrimage festivals when
Jews from all over Palestine
would “go up” to the temple at
Jerusalem to express thanksgiv
ing for the blessings of life and
rejoice. The expressions of
thanksgiving on Shayuot included
the' cereal sacrifice of two loaves
baked from the new crop and the
“first” of the barley, wheat,
grapes, figs, pomegranates, olive
Welfare Fund Reports
Additional $10,000 In Week
An additional $10,000 in
pledges and contributions to
the 1955 Atlanta Jewish Wel
fare Fund campaign reported
State of Israel Will
Honor Atlantian
A. J. Weinberg, noted Atlanta
communal leader, will be honored
at a Testimonial Dinner on Mon
day night, June 13, at the Pro
gressive Club, it has been an
nounced by the Atlanta Israel
Bond Committee.
The State of Israel will present
Mr. Weinberg with its Distin
guished Service Award for out
standing devotion to its efforts to
achieve economic self-sufficiency
through the sale of Israel Devel
opment Bonds, according to Ben
Massell and Frank Garson, chair
men of the Testimonial Dinner
Committee. They said:
“An examination of A. J. Wein
berg’s record of service through
past years discloses the fact that
he has a broad conception of his
role as a good citizen. He has
given time, service and practical
support to such agencies as the
Community Chest, Jewish Chil
dren’s Service, the Jewish Com
munity Center, the Welfare F'und
and other vitally important local
agencies.
“He is active in the American
Jewish Committee and National
Conference of Christians and
Jews. He has been a source of
strength to the Temple and A. A.
Congregations and the Fund Rais
ing and Building Committee of
the A. A. Educational Center. In
addition to this, he has served Is
rael devotedly and headed Bond
activities in the past two years
during the past week, it was
announced this week by Gen
eral Chairmen Dan Garson,
Milton Weinstein and Erwin
Zaban.
“Although the amount to
date has now passed the
$595,000 mark we will not be
content until we can at least
surpass 1954 figures,” the
chairmen stated. From here
out it is purely a matter of
dogged persistence, of having
the heart and the determina
tion to follow through until
the final hour. And that hour
will have struck when the
last contributor has been seen
and the last card is in..
“To those faithful workers
who have fulfilled their mis
sion we extend our heartfelt
appreciation. To those who
still have tasks undone we
issue a plea to complete the
job in order that we might
all have the deep personal
satisfaction of knowing that
we have lived up to our ob
ligations to each other.”
oil, and honey. These Bikkurim
(first fruits) ceremonies were sig
nificant and inspiring. In Israel
today the Bikkurim Festival has
been revived. The largest and
most impressive ceremony is held
in Haifa. Children dressed in
white and adorned with wreaths
of flowers lead the procession of
farmers bearing baskets of fruits
and vegetables. Floats from the
many settlements, loaded with the
first products of the soil, are part
of the procession. These prod
ucts are sold and the proceeds
are given to the Jewish National
Fund. The celebration is conclud
ed with a colorful pageant.
Maton Torathteinu, the season
of the giving of our Torah. For
the Jews of today, this aspect of
Shavuot overshadows the agricul
tural foundations of the holiday.
Whereas, Passover commemor
ates the birth of the Jewish peo
ple, Shavuot commemorates the
birth of Judaism. On Shavuot
the Ten Commandments, the laws
which have become the founda
tion for the morality of civilized
humanity, are read in the Syna
gogue. On Shavuot the Jew once
again becomes the "People of the
Book” because of the Torah’which
gave life, direction and meaning
to our people.
On Shavuot the "Akdamut," a
rhymed hymn written in Aramals
in the 11th Century, glorifying
G-d and the Torah is chanted In
the synagogue. On Shavuot the
Jew reaffirms his faith in the fa
therhood of God and the brother
hood of man; he rededicates him
self to the faith that people and
nations will live in harmony only
when their lives will be estab
lished on the ethical concepts of
Justice and Righteousness derived
from the G-d idea.
Many synagogues have intro
duced confirmation exercises ei
ther on Shavuot itself or on the
day close to it. Shavuot is the
anniversary of the giving of the
Torah and is therefore an appro
priate time for the younger gen
eration to express publicly their
allegiance to the Torah and to
our people.
— LOUIS RABINOWITZ
ZOA Plans Testimonial
For Tra vises May 29
A. J. WEINBERG
which grossed over $250,000.00 in
Israel Bond sales.
“Israel does not bestow high
honors on anyone lightly. Mr.
Weinberg will be the fourth recip
ient of a Distinguished Service
Award in Atlanta since 1951.
Those Atlantians who were sim
ilarly honored by Israel in past
years were I. M. Weinstein, Ben
J. Massell and Jpseph B. Jacobs.”
Principal speakers will be Is
rael’s Ambassador Anthony Eban
and Dr. 'Joseph Schwartz, head
of the Israel Bond set-up.
Celler Challenges
Passport Official
WASHINGTON, (JTA) — The
appointment of Miss Frances G.
Knight as new head of the State
Department’s Passport Division
has been challenged by Congress
man Fknanuel Celler, chairman of
the House Judiciary Committee,
because of charges, published in
the Washington Post and Times-
Herald, that she was “very in
terested” in the Nazi puppet re
gime of Father Tiso in Slovakia.
In a second letter to Secretary
of State John Foster Dulles, Rep.
Celler this weekend again ques
tioned the appointment. His first
letter, dated March 3, 1955, was
sent to Mr. Dulles immediately
after publication of the charges.
The Secretary has since pleaded
ignorance of the charges against
Miss Knight in a letter to Rep.
Celler and at a press conference
last week.
The Atlanta Zionist District is
tendering a testimonial dinner to
Bert and Bob Travis Sunday
night, May 29 at the Progressvie
Club. The Travises have recent
ly returned from Israel and all
their friends are invited to hear
them give their first public re
port on the Jewish state as they
saw it.
Irving Libowsky, president of
the Atlanta ZOA district, states
that the reception to Bert and
Bob “is in tribute to their dis
tinguished lifetime of dedicated
service to Jewry ... to the State
of Israel . . . and to all humani
tarian undertakings.” Plans for
this gala occasion were worked
out while the couple were still in
Israel, Libowsky reports, and the
date was confirmed by long-dis
tance phone while they were still
in New York 1 .
“Long active in local and na
tional Zionist and Hadassah af
fairs, both Bert and Bob have
held numerous offices in the two
organizations. Each is a former
president of the Atlanta organiza
tions, as well as the Southeastern
region. The time and effort they
have each given has won them
the esteem of their fellow work
ers, and therefore this dinner,”
says Libowsky.
Sol Benamy has been appointed
chairman of the dinner steering
committee, assisted by Israel
Katz, Max Robkin, Herman Pop-
kin and Melvin Pazol. Mrs. Phil
Schwartz is head of a committee
of Hadassah women who are
helping with preparation for the
dinner. Mortimer May, ZOA na
tional president, and Rebecca
Shulman, Hadassah national pres
ident, are honorary chairmen.
Leo Burson, president of the
Southeastern ZOA Region, and
Miriam Levy, president of South
eastern Hadassah Region, are
honorary vice chairmen of the
dinner committee.
Mr. Benamy reports that reser
vations have already started com
ing in fast, and urges all those
interested to contact him imme
diately at Suite 7(XJ, 41 Exchange
Place.