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The Southern Isre^lite
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Je v
VOL. xxx
Jewish Press Service
' 1925
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ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, Jv *
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No. 29
News Round-Up
Jewish Ce, .Jr brected at Benning
Dedication Set for Sunday, July 24
The Department of State has
just issued a new booklet in which
it plays up and justifies Henry'
A. Byroade’s anti-Israel stand. Ti
tled “U. S. Policy in the Near
East, South Asia and Africa —
1954,” the booklet devotes a whole
section to ‘‘The Problems of Pal
estine” where references are made
to Byroade’s infamous addresses
before the Dayton World Affairs
Council on April 9, 1954, and the
American Council for Judaism at
Philadelphia on May 1. The U. S.
booklet republished this part
from Byroade’s speech: “To the
Israelis I say that you should
come to truly look upon your
selves as a Middle Eastern state
and see your own future in that
context rather than as a head
quarters, or nucleus so to speak,
of worldwide groupings of peoples
of a particular religious faith who
must have special rights within
and obligations to the Israeli
state. You should drop the atti
tude of the conqueror and the
conviction that force and a policy
of retaliatory killings is the only
policy that your neghbors will
ZOA House Bombed;
Police Investigate
TEL AVIV, (JTA)— A home
made bomb, placed on a wall
that surrounds the ZOA House
here, exploded and slightly in
jured two persons during the per
formance of a play. Police im
mediately began an investigation
of the incident. The investigation
is being carried out under the di
rection of Minister of Police
Behor Shitreet.
The investigation of the bomb
ing of the ZOA House-established
and maintained as a cultural and
recreational center by the Zion
ist Organization of Anierica--
seemed to be concentrating on
two theories. The first was that
an irate neighbor had become so
annoyed with the noise that he
had resorted to the use of a bomb.
The second possibility concerned
the possibility that an anti-Yidd
ish fanatic was responsible, since
the performance under way at
the time was a Yiddish play,
“The Witch.”
JERUSALEM, (JTA)— In a
ceremony reminiscent of Euro
pean ghetto life, the Belser Rebbe
Guatemalan
Ambassador to Israel
Presents Credentials
JERUSALEM, (JTA) — Dr.
Jose Gorge Granados, Guatema
la’s first Ambassador to Israel,
presented his credentials to Israel
President Itzhak Ben Zvi. Ac
cepting the documents, the Pres
ident recalled Dr. Granados’ im
portant contributions to the Unit
ed Nations decision to establish
the Jewish State.
Dr. Granados, who formerly
served his country as chief del
egate to the UN, expressed his
great pleasure with the tremen
dous strides made by Israel in
the seven years of its existence.
Meanwhile Guatemala has accept
ed Eric Heineman as Israel
Charge d’Affaires in Guatemala
City. The Ambassador, Dr. Jo
seph Kessary, will reside in Mex
ico City.
understand. You should make
your deeds correspond to your
frequent utterances of the desire
for peace ...” So spoke Byroade
who is presently the U. S. spokes
man in the land of the Nile whose
Foreign Minister Fawzi this week
compared the U. S. to an A1 Ca
pone gangster giving protection
to smaller nations.
Dr. Izzat Tannous, Secretary-
General of the Arab Palestine
Office in Beirut, announced this
week that the motto for the new
Palestine Refugee Office in New
York will be the New Testament
passage: “Ye shall know the truth
and the truth shall make you
free.”
The B’nai B’rith Messenger of
Los Angeles devoted a special ed
itorial recently, in protest to the
singing of “Ave Maria” at the
dedication ceremonies of the new
L. A. Sinai Hospital, Titled “Its”
Hard to Be a Jew,” the editorial
said: ‘‘What makes us so desper
ately self-conscious about our
Jewishness, especially in our phi
lanthropies? Why should our hos
pitals and clinics, originating in
Jewish ideals of healing — in the
great Jewish ideal of ‘taking care
of your own,’ become so non-sec
tarian (?) that all of its Jewish
origin tends to be wiped away
from the memory of man? Why
should our non-sectarian hospit
als and clinics, which, like Mt.
Sinai Hospital, newly dedicated
last week, founded by moneys
gifts and contributions prepon
derantly from the Jewish com
munity, hide their Jewish face in
public? What are we ashamed of?
Was it entirely proper to dedicate
a Jewish hospital with a song by
the Roger Wagner Chorale, en
titled ‘Ave Marie?’ We have no
objection to a Catholic Priest or
a Protestant Minister joining
with a Rabbi in blessing a Jew
ish home of healing. But the
singing of the ‘Ave Marie’ in the
dedication of Mt. Sinai Hospital
was in the most execrable taste.”
The Rabbinical Council of Am
erica, at its 19th annual conven
tion in Fallsburg, N. Y., last week,
made a formal application with
the Soviet Embassy in Washing
ton to send an official delegation
Continued on page 6
drove dybbuk (evil spirit) out of
the body of a young woman here,
The woman, mother of four
children and a recent immigrant
from Turkey, came to the Rebbe
after consulting with a Turkish
rabbi in Israel and Israeli phy
sicians. The doctors found that
she was suffering from “nervous
disturbances.”
The Belser Rebbe commended
the dybbuk to leave. He em
ployed a Yiddish formula. How
ever, the rites were translated in
to Turkish since it was assumed
that a dybbuk in a Turkish wo
man would not understand
Yiddish commands.
The Belser Rebbe began the
ceremony by asking the woman
whether she accepted the laws of
the Torah. Weakly she replied
that she did. After a number of
other questions, the Rebbe com
manded the dybbuk to depart.
The woman immediately began
to tremble, acccording to wit
nesses. Her husband, who was
present at the ceremony, said
that he heard the dybbuk leave.
COLUMBUS—Dedication of a
model Jewish Center will take
place at 8 p. m. Sunday, July 24,
at Fort Benning, Ga.
First Lieutenant Maurice Lamm,
the Jewish chaplain on the base, *
said it is the greatest development
in the area of Jewish interests
that has occured since establish
ment of Ft. Benning.
The new structure, whose con
struction began the middle of
March, contains a spacious chapel
for worship and recreational
facilities which will enable the
soldiers to hold Oneg Shabats and
other functions as well as to enjoy
leisure in a Jewish atmosphere,
according to Leon Goldberg, At
lanta, area USO-JWB director,
who has cooperated with develop
ment of the Chapel.
Need for a special Jewish
chapel was long felt on the base,
one of the largest in the country.
Previously, Jewish services were
UNITED NATIONS, N. Y.
(JTA) — For the first time since
the establishment of the United
Nations, the Soviet delegation here
disseminated to the press here a
statement on Jewish religious life
in the Soviet Union. The state
ment did not touch upon the li
quidation of Jewish cultural in
stitutions in the USSR, nor did it
make any mention of the fate of
“missing” Jewish writers in Rus
sia, or about the conditions of
life in Biro-Bidjan which was
proclaimed a Jewish autonomous
region more than 25 years ago.
The statement, which attracted
attention in United Nations cir
cles, was written by Mr. Rabin-
owiz who was not identified by
the Soviet delegation, and whose
name has never before appeared
in public. The text of the state
ment reads:
“Citizens of the Jewish nation
ality are found among the inhab
itants of cities and villages in dif
ferent regions of the Soviet Un
ion. Religious Jews attend pray
ers at the synagogues and observe
the rituals prescribed by their re
ligion. Synagogues are always
well attended on Passover, She-
vuoth, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kip-
pur, Succoth and other religious
holidays and at Yizkor.
“In the Soviet Union, the Jew
ish faith enjoys the same rights
as the Russion Orthodox Church
and other churches and religions.
Adherents of the Jewish faith In
the USSR have their religious so
cieties or communities. Syna
gogues or prayer buildings have
been placed at the disposal of
these communities by the local
administrations and they have all
the necessary facilities for pray
ers and for the performance of
rituals. If a Jewish religious so
ciety has been organized in a dis
trict where no special building is
available for a synagogue, the so
ciety may apply to the local auth
orities for a special building for
a synagogue, or for a land allot
ment for the construction of a
synagogue, this allotment being
provided free of charge.
“The religious society has tlje
right to lease premises for a syn-
held at the Hospital Chapel which
also houses the general Protest
ant and High Episcopal services.
While this site was adequate for
services, the other facilities were
limited. To accommodate an Oneg
Shabat, a small four by eight foot
room was available. So crowded
was this space that two lines of
soldiers, wives and friends had to
form to inch past a serving table
for sandwiches and a jug for a
drink. Then there was no room
for discussions, so the group dis
persed.
The New Center, whose design
may be copied by other posts and
bases in the U. S., has large tables
for Oneg Shabat purposes, so that
the entire audience can be seated
at the Shabat and hold discussions
and sing the traditional Zimros
on topics of Jewish interest.
The library, which has become
a branch of the Main Post Libra
ry, contains over 120 volumes, do-
agogue from the local authorities
or from private owners. The only
condition required for the organ
ization of a Jewish, or any other
religious society in the USSR is
that there be no less than twenty
members. The Jewish religious
societies have their own shoctim,
mikvahs, etc. Before Passover
the state designates special ba
keries in places with a large Jew
ish religious population for bak
ing matzohs for sale. Especially
appointed religious observers are
required to sanction the use of
matzohs as ritual bread. Those
who desire may bake matzohs at
home.
“Foreign visitors interested in
the status of the Jewish religion
in the USSR usually visit the syn
agogues. No one in the Soviet
Union interferes with religious
Jews in performance of the rit
uals prescribed by the dogmas
and traditions of their faith. The
right of Soviet citizens to profess
any religion, or none at all is
guaranteed by Soviet legislation.
‘‘The Jewish religious societies
in the Soviet Union have no cen
tral governing body. Nqr was
there any before the revolution.
Each society conducts its activi
ties independently under the lead
ership of an elected executive
board, auditing committee and
rabbi. In practice, however, the
rabbis of neighboring synagogues,
get together to discuss religious
questions of general significance
“All the leaders of the Jewish
religious communities in the So
viet Union, rabbis and religious
Jews take part in the nationwide
movement for peace. Prayers for
peace are offered in the syna
gogue. In their sermons the rab
bis urge the congregations to con
duct an active struggle for peace.
The rabbis of the biggest Jewish
religious communities in the So
viet Union — Rabbis S. M. Schlei-
fer of Moscow, Rabbi Panich of
Kiev, Rabbi Diment of Odessa,
Rabbi M. Masliansky of Riga, Ha-
ham K. V. YeliashviU of Kutaisi,
Rabbi Berger of Minsk, Rabbi I.
Rabinovich of Vilna and Rabbi
Vorkul of Kovno — published an
appeal in the press urging Jews
nated by the Atlanta JWB, the
Jewish Chatauqua Society. There
is also a music room with a hi-fi
record player and over forty class
ical albums as a starter.
The kitchen utensils, books, re-
ords and interior decorations were
supplied by the Jewish communi
ties of Columbus and Atlanta,
through the specific Armed Serv
ices committees, headed by Dr.
Dave Berman of Columbus and
Herbert R. Elsas of Atlanta.
Creation of the Center required
the coperation of Catholics and
Protestants as well, it has been
learned. Post Chaplain, Col John
S. Kelly, a monsignor in the Cath
olic Church, opened all the doors
which allowed the Jewish Chap
lain to enter into the “Sanctum
Sanctorum” of the Quartermaster
and Engineer Corps. The Protest
ant Chaplain cooperated by yield
ing a facility to make room for
the Jewish Chapel.
the world over to join with mil
lions of people who protest against
the threatened use of atomic and
hydrogen weapons.
“Rabbi S. M. Schliefer of the
Grand Synagogue of Moscow, at
tended the fifth USSR Peace Con
ference in Moscow as the dele
gate of the Jewish religious com
munities of the capital,” the state
ment declares.
Groups Protest
Immigration Laws
NEW YORK, (JTA)—American
immigration policy has complete
ly eliminated the humane idea
“that this great free country
should be a haven of refuge fox
the persecuted of the earth,” Sen
ator Richard L. Neuberger of
Oregon told a Carnegie Hall Rally
for a Fair Immigration Law. The
meeting was called by 30 Cath
olic, Protestant and Jewish org
anizations, to protest against the
provisions of the McCarran-Wal
ter Immigration and Refugee Re
lief Acts'.
Sen. Neuberger described the
McCarran-Walter Immigration
Act as the product of “men who
think all people are not God’s
equal children, but that there is
some magical super-race, ordained
to rule mankind and to occupy
superior status on the face of the
globe.” The Oregon Senator ven
tured the opinion that “everybody
in this country except the direct
decendents of American Indians
are the result of immigration to
our continent.”
The McCarran-Walter immigra
tion law was termed by Senator
Herbert H. Lehman “a disgrace
ful law,” in a message to the Ral
ly. “The McCarran-Walter Im
migration and Naturalization Act
is a disgraceful law,” Sen. Leh
man said in his message. “In the
present state of world affairs, we
dare no longer to tolerate on our
statute books a law which every
day is losing friends abroad for
the United States. The McCarran-
Walter Act has dropped a red-tape
curtain in front of our country.”
Wonder Israeli Rabbi Exorcises
A "Dybbuk” From A Woman
Soviet Government Disseminates
Statement on Jews in U.S. S. R.