Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

'(5 >o 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.